Dinner Last Night: Vegetarian Chili Verde

This might be my favorite new dinner - Giada's Vegetarian Chili Verde from her latest book, Giada's Feel Good Food.  I've made this chili three times thus far; and concluded it is definitely a go-to recipe for Winter months.  It's a simple, with fresh, colorful ingredients, and the end result has been delicious every time!  A few minor changes I've made: Giada suggests using poblano chiles and fresh tomatillos.  Well…my local Safeway doesn't carry poblano chiles, so I omitted this ingredient.  Second, rather than fresh tomatillos, I opted for 2 cans of whole tomatillos, pulsed for about 15 seconds in the Nutribullet - same desired effect in half the time!   

This past Sunday night, feeling especially ambitious, I decided to make the suggested side of buttermilk-sour cream cornbread.  It was superb!  Now I'm not a cornbread aficionado in the slightest, but my husband is a fiend for the stuff, and he heartily approved.  Of course I adjusted this recipe as well - because really - who EVER has buttermilk on hand?  I imagine only farmers who actually milk their own cows for dairy ever actually keep buttermilk readily available in their fridge!   This has to be one of my least favorite ingredients ever, as I feel it's such a waste to buy a whole carton for the tiniest smidge a recipe calls for!  I didn't have sour cream, so I subbed in plain Greek yogurt instead, and just topped off what I would've included in buttermilk with more Greek yogurt.  To-may-toe, to-ma-to…it worked!

Thank you Giada, once again, for a fresh, healthy dinner that reheats excellent for lunch the next two days.  

image/kahakaikitchen

10 Reasons Why I Love You

{4 months}

1. You have the cutest little dimple just above your elbow.  Finally, you’ve gathered enough fat to create those adorable, pudgy, baby rolls, albeit only in your arms and legs.  I could eat them up!

2. You love touching our faces.  You palm our cheeks, cup our chins (and attempt to bite with gusto), tug at our hair, all the while sharing your sweeter than sweet gummy smile.

3.  You’ve discovered your feet.  On the changing table (which for the record, is still your favorite place IN the world!) you lift your feet up in the air, grabbing them toward your face - usually mid diaper change, and roll back and forth boasting your flexibility with bravado.

4. You are growing so fast - already wearing 9 month, even 12-month clothes and you're only 4 months!  While the clothes hang around your mid-section, your lengthy physique causes the need for the bigger size, you are one long little babe.

5. Your hair is growing in! You have a tuft of long, dark hair atop your head that curls across your forehead in a wisp of straight bangs.  Of course, countering that, is a patchy bald spot centered on the back of your head where your hair has rubbed away from laying on your back.  When your dad and I look back through pictures of you from birth until now, we’re amazed at your full head of hair and how quickly it has grown.

6. You are a giggler!  You love to laugh, giggle, coo, and blow raspberries much to your delight and our own.  We love hearing your sweet chortle, it’s the sweetest music my ears have ever heard.  I could listen to you giggle all day long.

7. You definitely enjoy your naked time.  At the end of the day, just before bath time, we turn up the heat and allow you to indulge in a little naked time, letting you wiggle, roll, kick, and play in the buff.  You love every minute of it!

8. You have grippy little toes, just like mommy.  I've been able to pick up items with my toes since I was young, and I’m predicting you’ll bestow the same talents.  When I kiss your toes, you can grip my lip with a single foot, which makes you giggle as your grip is steadfast.

9. You continue to play with your hair as a self soothing technique.  While eating, you extend your fingers, and palm your face, running your fingers back and forth from your eyebrow, across your forehead, to the nape of your neck, and back. It's the sweetest thing.

10. Sometimes, when you're tired, you'll lay your head gently upon my shoulder, tucked in the nook between my chin and shoulder, and exhale a deep sigh.  I enjoy these quiet little moments of closeness together more than you'll ever know.