January was a delightfully busy one in the kitchen! The little one turned 2! I have a 2 year old!?!? I loved all the long weekends/holidays. I had one full week. That is the way to do it! I had a serious flop for a bundt cake and will try again. Many of my weeknight meals have been quick, but I’m loving them. Can we talk about grain bowls again? Love them. I made a falafel one and an Italian one and I have so many more twists…Get. Ready.

Also, Happy new camera to me! Mr. J totally surprised me with a new one for Christmas. I wasn’t expecting it and I’m learning more and more all the time. I’m now using a Canon Rebel SL1.

I baked! Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies

I’m bowl obsessed! Italian Grain Bowl

I tried a new way to cook meatballs! Crockpot Meatballs

I went out to a new-to-us French Restaurant, which was awesome! Sis and I capitalized on a weekday outing without the little ones for Shake Shack lunch & seeing the movie Hidden Figures – so good.

The Little One: 
He turned 2! We had a family party with homemade pasta, meatballs, and cake-cake! He is such a happy guy. He is still sleeping like a champ and he continually makes us laugh. Lately he’s been saying his last name, and is suuuper into coloring. When he doesn’t want to, or can’t do something, he says it is somebody else’s “turn”. He is obsessed with avocado, he was into taco night, and loves anything he can dip: salsa for quesadillas, hummus for crackers, maple syrup for waffles, yogurt for cereal….the list goes on.

Monthly goals:
Year of the seasonal decor: I got this love wall decor and made a bow for an indoor wreath.
do more dinner prep more in advance: I have done this a bit, but I could keep it in mind.
read more (and always carry my book on me): I flew through Here’s to Us
cook more fish: ehh. Does a tuna melt count?
focus on clothes that I really like: I ordered a bunch of deals and then returned them. I guess that counts for not keeping clothes I don’t looooove.
monthly grocery store ingredient: I forgot. I’ll get on it.

Happy almost 2017! December went by quickly. I think I did well to enjoy it. November is so busy that I always want to slow down and appreciate the season. I didn’t cook as much as usual, but I made a few fun things. Mr. J’s treat of the month was chocolate dipped potato chips. So fun!

One of my favs this month were these Bacon Ranch Deviled Eggs for a party. I loved them and they were gone so quickly! I’m making them again for this weekend’s family festivities.

I focused on easy & fast dinners last week during a busy time:
Chicken sausage + roasted red peppers + pasta with ricotta as the sauce

And falafel bowls over a bed of couscous

The Little One:
He loved our Christmas trees, lights on lots of houses, and Santa! He loved cookies, and has been really into avocados lately. He doesn’t love foods all cooked together…like chicken pot pie. Christmas was really fun. He definitely understood opening presents. He got so much that we held on to a few things from us to now be birthday gifts in January. His favorites were: the cheapest matchbox firetruck you can ever imagine from visiting Santa; a felt eye mask that came with his super hero cape; a stuffed Elmo; and dinosaurs.

Monthly goals:
Year of the Pajamas! I’m going to stay with the year of the seasonal decor again. I got a few items for Christmas and I’ll go to snowmen/white for January. Bring on the snowmen!
do more dinner prep more in advance: I prepped for sausage stuffing and for Jess’ chicken & brussels sprouts pasta.
read more: I read Maine and Secrets of a Charmed Life
cook more fish: ehh. I’m struggling with this one.
focus on clothes that I really like: I grabbed this peplum top for $15 and loved that it was a bit more cranberry-red than pink. I want more dresses but they’re always hard to find.
monthly grocery store ingredient: a rotisserie chicken was the answer to a what’s-for-dinner.

Now I’m getting ready for family Christmas #2. We’re hosting and are looking forward to ringing in the new year with the fam of 8! I have a cocktail recipe to come & I hope to share this year’s rendition of my NYE tradition. Catch ya in 2017!

November wasn’t the month I spent the most time in the kitchen, but I think we did pretty well eating real food and being somewhat well balanced during a busy time. I’m ever so grateful to have a beautifully prepared lunch at work daily. Never having to prep or clean up is so amazing. I don’t think I got to eat quite as many pumpkin things as I would have liked, but there’s still time. Thanksgiving was so tasty and again I’m grateful to just show up and enjoy.

My fav dinner was Chicken & Golden Mushroom Slow Cooker served with arugula and pasta. It was so flavorful and lighter than so many other crockpot dinners.

Finding chopped pancetta made me super jazzed. It was right there! Right next to the prosciutto. Who knew? I foresee it being very useful. Muhh-ha-ha. I paired it with pear for a perfect pizza. Ha! Ok. I’m done. Just make pear & pancetta pizza right away.

The Little One:
He’s such a happy dude right now. His current fav foods are meatballs, spaghetti, avocado, anything he can dip, and anything I’m eating for breakfast. Clementine season is always a good time of year in his life. We went out to dinner for Mexican and he loved it…he also enjoyed and devoured almost a whole bagel with cream cheese on a morning adventure. I can’t believe how much he’s talking now. A new fav word is: barking which comes out as “bawking”. He still loves “big truck”s. He’s gotten the hang of Please, but Thank You hasn’t stuck.

New goals:
Year of the Pajamas! I’m rethinking this. I’m so sad for the year of the seasonal decor to be done…I might want to do it again!
do more dinner prep more in advance: ehh. This didn’t happen this month.
read more: I kept up with the bookclub! We read Girl on the Train
cook more fish: ehh. This didn’t happen this month.
focus on clothes that I really like: I tried Thread Up and it was a hit!
monthly grocery store ingredient: I found some frozen cavatelli pasta which was so great for a quick meal!

Six years? Woah! Crazy. It always creeps up on me. Once again, I have no idea what is in store for me or the blog but I wanted to take a moment to thank the blogosphere, thank readers, and think about the year to come!

My fav photo of the year: Cherry Cheesecake Yogurt Parfaits

My fav burger of the year: The Ramen Burger!

Fav new kitchen item: The pressure cooker!

Fav Meal: Pad Thai made at home!

I loved a mini-challenge I self imposed for more creative breakfasts. If you pack lunch I’d challenge yourself to that!

How’d the goals go? They were good! I liked that they were pretty varied this year!

The Year of the: Seasonal Decor: this was such a great year of the…I might need to do it again!
do something a different way: always a good reminder.
drink more water: I could always keep this on the list. I’m not sure I quite got a perfect method for this.
make more interesting side dishes: I liked this since they’re often quicker than the main thing.
cook more soups & sauces: I didn’t make too many soups, but sauces was a good place to start.
watch more movies: this was a fun one! We get Netflix so I wanted to be sure to actually watch them.
make working out a higher priority: I ran a 5K! That was big for me!

And onto the next goals:
Year of the:….wait for it….Pajamas! I’m an adult and want legit pjs…not just pants and old event tee-shirts.
do more dinner prep more in advance
read more
cook more fish
focus on clothes that I really like
monthly grocery store ingredient, recreated

Tis the season for all the fall foods, and for my busiest couple of months at work so I’ve tried to really be on top of dinners when I can, and still trying to get some workouts despite it being sooo dark in the mornings now!

This Fall Burger had sage and pear in a pork patty for all the best fall-ish flavors. It is still great grilling weather!

I made a breakfast calzone with braided puff pastry thanks to a friend from college’s post on facebook. It was a really great and quick for a weeknight meal. I’ll totally make this again the next time I have house guests!

Sour Cream & Onion Deviled Eggs were fun and went quickly at a 3-way baby shower at work. 

The Little One:
He’s such a love! He likes giving us hugs and it just melts my heart. I’ve enjoyed seeing how long he’ll do some activities. We have some fun activities for halloween: a visit from Grammie C; daycare trick or treating; and maybe a jack-o-lantern thing in the park. He’s been into some pumpkin books. The little one is eating everything, even eggs on occasion!

This Year’s Goals: 
The Year of the: Seasonal Decor: Mr. J picked up some leaf garland when he saw it and it is really perfect for the mantle – also spanning the fall/halloween/harvest timing.
do something a different way: I made conscious time to be social. I went to my college reunion;  I joined a new local bookclub which was great; and one group had a dip-party during a Pats game.
drink more water: I need to do better with this.
make more interesting side dishes: yes! I made broccoli & cheddar risotto in the pressure cooker
cook more soups & sauces: Garlic Parmesan Mac & Cheese was all about the cheese sauce
watch more movies: we watched The Neighbors and cracked up. I’ve been super into This is Us.
make working out a higher priority: I can amp this up. Work has a Fitbit challenge going on and I’ve gotten some walks in…nothing major, but something is better than nothing!