I Feel Like We're Cheating.

But we're not. Well maybe just a little. We had some awesome food yesterday, so I thought I'd pass the goodness along.

First, we had Seafood Brodetto for dinner. It was inspired by this really yummy dish I got at Olive Garden. We went there right after the challenge started to use a gift card we got for Christmas. I got this

It was awesome. I started craving it Saturday, but since we're on a semi-strict food budget these days, I started looking around the internet for recipes. I found a pretty good copycat recipe that I tweaked so that it worked for what I had.

Seafood Brodetto
Serves 4-5

1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 eight ounce can of tomato sauce
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 cup white grape juice (the recipe called for white wine)
1 cup water
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon Old Bay
salt and pepper to taste
1 big handful of spinach
3 roma tomatoes cut in big chunks
3-4 tilapia filets
1/2 pound scallops
1/2 pound shrimp (We didn't have scallops, so we just did more shrimp)

Saute oil, onions, and garlic until onions are tender. Add tomato sauce, vinegar, grape juice, water, Italian seasoning, basil, sage, oregano, Old Bay, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 20-30 minutes. Add tomatoes and scallops. Cook for 10 minutes or so. Add spinach and shrimp about 10-15 minutes before you want to serve. You don't want spinach that's too wilty or shrimp that's too rubbery. If you're using pre-cooked shrimp probably wait until 5 minutes before you serve.

The tilapia is what MAKES this dish. It's really easy to prepare and makes a huge difference. Set the oven at broil. Drizzle the fish with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put in oven and keep a close eye on it. It should only take 4-5 minutes. It's best in the soup when it flakes apart really easily with the spoon. Broil it until it's just barely starting to flake. Usually the olive oil starts to sizzle around the time the fish is done.

To serve, load up your bowl with the soup and then place a tilapia fillet right on top like this.

Next we made honey oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies. They were so so yummy and had no butter or sugar in them. I basically followed the recipe on this one. But I only had all-purpose flour, so I just used that. I didn't do the molasses either, since I've never in my life had a need to buy molasses. I used golden raisins, added lots more walnuts than it calls for since I'm obsessed with Omega 3's. And I added 1/3 of a bag of milk chocolate chips since I'm obsessed with chocolate. For the oil I did 1/4 cup canola oil and 1/4 cup no sugar applesauce.

They were so so good. The raisins were awesome in them. I think the cinnamon and nutmeg gave them a really gourmet taste and made it so you didn't miss the sugar. Unfortunately, we felt it best to give most of our batch away to home and visiting teaching families so that we didn't have all three dozen around the house. They're gone today and I'm feeling like giving them away was a big mistake. I want more.

Four Eyes

Adam gave Jack some 3D glasses to play with. Usually he just eats them. Sometimes he lets us put them on his head, though.

Is anyone else reminded of this?

Where have the past six months gone?

Further Evidence

I hereby present further evidence that Jack is both sitting up regularly like a pro and also that he's the cutest baby alive.

Al Got Married!

My best best friend, Al, just got married this weekend. She was the prettiest bride and hosted an awesomely fun reception. I just love 'er. The night before her wedding we had a girly girl party and gabbed til the wee small hours of the morning.

 It's not a 202 get-together if Kelsey doesn't burp Al.

 She's pwetty and I wuv her. So does Ben.

 I said, "Stevie and I get to sit on this couch cause we both have kids." Of course Al said, "Oh, then I get to sit here too!" Someday we'll find out that Al's illegitimate kid joke isn't really a joke.

As promised. This one's for you, Janelley Belly. My Photoshopping skills aren't up to par, so I just had to use Paint. Don't fret, though, we talked about you the WHOLE time.

Then the wedding day came. Al was just stunning in the temple. When she walked in the Sealing room she was just beaming from ear to ear. She looked so so pretty. I gave her a big hug after the ceremony and, of course, couldn't keep from crying. I just love 'er. After the ceremony we all waited in the foyer since it was sprinkling outside. Then they came out. I don't think I've ever seen Al looking so happy. She definitely had the, "I just got MARRIED" look on her face. 

 BIG smile

 So so PRETTY!

 The shoes are SO Al.

 Sisters

The reception had Al written all over it. Everything was fun and bright and the dance floor was packed all night. One of my favorite parts of the night was getting to catch up with old friends from high school. Jack got passed around A LOT. 

A few of my favorite moments from the night:

-All the 202 girls were hovering around the line to get a picture with the bride. Al was visiting with some people in the line and Ben was visiting with people out of the line. Al kept calling for Ben to come over, but he couldn't hear. So I said, "Hey, Ben, your wife is calling you." He gave this pretend exasperated face but was also half smiling. He's really really happy to be married to my best friend. That makes me pretty happy.

-I only saw this moment from a distance, because Jack was screaming from all the noise. But I really liked when they cut the cake and smashed it in each other's faces. I only saw the actually moment out of the corner of my eye. But I did see the aftermath of Ben pulling cake out of his ear. You just don't see many good cake smashings these days.

-My favorite moment of the night, I think, was when all of us 202 girls started a dancing train on the floor. It started with the four of us, then Al joined in front, then Ben joined in front of her. By the end there were fifty or so people in line jumping around the church gym with the bride and groom at the front. I had the great honor and privilege of being behind the bride, so I got to hold on to her train. It was no small task. She was hard to keep up with.

 Jack and pretty Aunt Al

 First dance

 My mom and dad had the Drake kids overnight, so they came to the reception and played with Jack.

 High school friends. Cute prego Erica had already left, though. :(

 With the hat. I can't believe that thing is still going around.

 202 girls, minus a few. The weird placement of my head is an ode to Janelley, since she was stuck in stinky old Hawaii.

jk jk jk. I totally didn't mean to do it. It must run in the Drake genes or something.

 Cutting the cake.

 Really blurry, but you get the picture.

The blurry aftermath.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Al is just so so cute. I just love 'er. I can't believe she's Al Jacobsen now. So weird. It'll be tough to get used to that one. Sorry if this was too many pictures. For anyone who doesn't have any idea who Al is, sorry about how long this post was. I just thought it best to err on the side of too many pictures and too much detail rather than not enough for Janelle's sake.

Houdini

A lot of people have seen me swaddle Jack. It's some pretty hard core swaddling. Despite my efforts,though, I heard him fussing this morning and found him like this:

He woke up to eat at 6:00 am, I put him back in his crib all swaddled up. So in two hour's time, he managed to get himself free. I didn't mind because lately he's been waking me up at 7:00 or 7:30. This made it so he went clear til 8:30. I suspect that his motive to break free came from the toys you see scattered in his crib. When he went to bed, the duck was up where his head is and Comet was on the other side of the brown blanky. Lately, he's been very determined when it comes to toys. If he sees something he wants to grab, he gets very one-track-minded. He'll get a hold of that toy even if it costs him a big bump on his head from toppling over.

He Rocks. He Rolls. He Sits.

Of course he still does a lot of toppling over, but the sitting thing is coming along very well. He rolls over a lot too, but we just don't have a lot of space for him to play on the floor. He does full 360° rolls, though. Maybe he can get some good practice in this weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We're heading down there for my best friend, Al's wedding. Caaaan't wait.

Happy Birthday To Me

It's true what they say. As you get older birthdays just become another day of the year. At my ripe old age of 22, I've found this to be true. Here's a recap of my day for all those of you who have been calling to wish me a happy birthday and asking what I've done. For my birthday...

-I received all manner of girly beauty products. I got a new fancy blow dryer from Bob and Linda, which I LOVE. I got a new straightener, nail polishes, and a gift certificate for a hair cut from Adam. My appointment is tomorrow at 5:00 if you have any ideas or suggestions. I'm excited to take a little length off my hair so that there is less for Jack to pull on.

-Jack gave me two two-hour naps today, and one shorter nap too.

-After he woke up from his first nap, Jack gave me 10 full minutes of cuddle time. This rarely happens anymore, so I thoroughly enjoyed it.

-Mother Nature gave me a beautiful, warm day by Rexburg standards.

-Jack and I went for a walk, but quickly found that it wasn't super warm by Jack's standards yet. We made it around the church parking lot, just long enough to snap some pictures.

 Pretty blue skies, the temple in the background, and a huge mound of snow

 We went in the front pack, looking something like this.

And we found that an Accord owner had lost their metal label thing. 

-The laundry needed to be picked up. So on our way home from the walk, we stopped to grab it. Easier said than done. Stop for a moment, close your eyes and imagine in your mind's eye a young, pretty, blonde 22-year-old mom with her handsome baby in the Baby Bjorn. Now imagine that pretty mom carrying two baskets of laundry as well. I thought about going African and putting them on my head.

But I ended up stacking the baskets on top of each other and balancing them on my hip. I'm sure it was entertaining for the five or six people I passed on the way out, none of whom offered to open the door for me. Needless to say... I. Am. Supermom. 

-Once I got Jack and the laundry in the door. I took Jack in to switch out his soiled diaper for a clean one. He returned the favor by peeing on himself, me, and the changing table. 

-Jack went down for another nap and I folded the laundry while watching Oprah. Then I talked on the phone for two hours straight.

-Rather than making dinner I treated myself to this:

YUM!

So, in response to the question you've all been asking today: No, I didn't have any special plans today, but it was a good, memorable day nonetheless. Thanks for all the phone calls, texts, and facebook messages. Love you all a bunch!