Mom Meals: Shrimp Tacos

This meal was a big hit in our family, and literally took me like 20 minutes to make!

Shrimp Tacos
Serves 4

1 pound Shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails off {I have a bag of frozen deveined, EZ peel in the freezer}
1 tablespoon Canola Oil
1/4 teaspoon Cumin
1 Garlic Clove
1 bag Cole Slaw mix without dressing {who has time to slice up all those ingredients??}
1/4 cup Mayonnaise
1 teaspoon White Vinegar
2 Tomatoes
2 Avocados
12 Corn Tortillas
Lime Wedges


1. Mix mayonnaise and vinegar together until it forms a thinner consistency

2. Chop tomatoes, slice avocado, and mix together

2. Heat oil in a heavy skillet. Throw in garlic. Mix in shrimp and cook until opaque. Stir in cumin and cook for another minute or two. Remove from heat

3. Warm tortillas in a toaster oven or microwave. Place slaw mixture on top of the tortilla and pour some of the mayonnaise mixture over. Add the shrimp, tomatoes, and avocado. Serve with a lime wedge on the side

Enjoy!

Aggressive Little Lady

Crystal came over with baby Hudson, and Leah couldn't have been more in love. She immediately attacked him with hugs and kisses. Poor guy definitely felt a little smothered! It was fun to catch up and see these two interact. Play dates are going to be way more interesting once Hudson is running around too! 

And here's a little video of Leah playing the drums. Do we have a little rock star on our hands?

Yum Yum!

Eating eggs with guacamole.

When Leah likes what she's eating, watching her eat sure is fun!

Eating frozen yogurt

Kelly Reunion Part II

The Kelly Klan descended upon Los Angeles this past weekend. We started it off by eating dinner at Pizzeria Mozza Friday night with Fred's family. Dinner was incredible as always. We were all starving, so the minute the plates hit the table, we all devoured the food without any pics being snapped. Sorry! I'm craving the squash blossom, tomato, and burrata pizza and butterscotch budino as I type this. 

Saturday, we woke up early and headed to their hotel (Roosevelt Hotel) to hang out and swim in the pool. This was where Matt and I had our wedding reception, and the first time we brought Leah. It was surreal walking into the lobby now with Leah. We used to go here as a couple to hang out with friends by the pool, eat lunch, and grab a cocktail. Now we arrived with our baby, slathered on sunscreen, and made fun of the young crowd lounging and drinking a couple cocktails. ;) We headed back home to let Leah nap before the rest of the group arrived. 

Photo by Beverly Israely

When everyone arrived at the house, Leah was in heaven. She loved the attention, and she loved playing with the kids! They take such good care of her. She really is blessed to have such loving family members. 

Sunday, we met up one last time at the Hollywood Farmers Market to say our good-byes. We were sad to see our NY family members go and can't wait until the next time. What a fun couple of weekends! 

Choo Choo!

Today, I took Leah to check out Travel Town in Griffith Park. It's a little historical museum with real trains and a little train ride for $2.50. There was a little area with a train table for kids to play, and you can borrow toy trains from the gift shop for free. Kids can't really climb on any of the trains, but Leah enjoyed just walking around and exploring. 

Doesn't she look like such a big girl now?!

Hope you have a great weekend!

16 Months!

Photo by Bob Cho

Leah turns 16 months today! This month has been marked by her molars coming in. She's actually been a total trooper, but I can tell they're bothering her when she seem fussy for no reason or when she's needs some extra TLC at bedtime. She has also been wanting mommy a lot more for comfort, and won't let Matt near her during bedtime. Poor guy. At Gymboree yesterday, she had her hands on her cheeks and had this very serious face. While sad, it was adorable. Here are some of her latests:

• New words: nana for banana, baby, bubble, please, good girl, po po (grandma in chinese), why, no, wow, whoa, hi, uh oh
• New signs: train and help. I think I'm going to teach less signs now that she's starting to talk a lot more
• New animal sounds for cat and cow
• From her 15 month appointment - Weight: 20 lbs 13 oz, Height: 31.5 inches

Leah: Mommy and daddy wish we can take the pain of your molars away. I do know that it can be a lot worse though, so I'm thankful for how well you're taking it. Good girl! The past few weeks you have been a non-stop chatterbox. The way you lay on the pillows in the living room watching your videos or color makes you look like such a little girl. You say "bye!" after each song ends, shout "E I E I O" when "Old MacDonald" comes on, and the minute you hear the song for "Itsy Bitsy Spider" start you do the hand motions. You also would much rather sit with us at the table than in your high chair. While you still look like a baby, you're definitely not acting like it much anymore. This time has been so much fun for us to witness. We love you! xoxo

Family Reunion

Baby Crocs are the cutest!

Over the weekend, we drove down to San Diego for a little family reunion. Matt's brother's family is visiting for the week, so we had the whole Kelly family together. We stayed at the Hotel del Coronado, which has become our favorite hotel in SD. We stayed in a junior suite, which was perfect for our mobile toddler. Leah had plenty of room to run around and explore. There are so many other kids running around the resort which kept Leah throughly entertained. 

Leah could live on the beach if we let her. She was so fascinated with the sand and water that we couldn't get her to look up for a picture!

Photo by Beverly Israely

Photo by Beverly Israely

Photo by Beverly Israely

Sunday, we all hung out at the house for lunch. The cousins are the sweetest with Leah. The girl cousins spent the entire time hanging out with her. When I look at them all sitting next to each other, they actually all do look like they're related!

Leah had so much fun that she pretty much passed out the minute we got in the car to go home. FamilyReunion Part 2 coming up this weekend in Los Angeles!

Happy Friday!

Leah has been looking a lot like this lately with her molars coming in.

The weather has been gorgeous this week so we've been out and about on play dates. Leah got to see her best friend Ruby 4 days in a row! Lucky girl! Wednesday, our Gymboree group of mommies had lunch at Din Tai Fung for my favorite pork dumplings, and then we headed to the Santa Anita mall to let the kids play around in the little play gym inside. I must admit, I never used to think about going to the mall if I had no intentions of shopping, but this place is great for kids! This one had the following services for families:

• Family Lounge: a space to relax and recharge, featuring private nursing areas, baby changing-stations, family restrooms, play areas, toys and plasma TV
• Family Parking: convenient and close to Center entrances
• Family PlaySpace: a fun area designed just for kids
• Smarte Carte® strollers: strollers shaped like little cars

I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

Mom Meals: Sausage and Roasted Vegetable Penne

This recipe is another great way to clean out your fridge and also gets your family to eat more vegetables!

Sausage and Roasted Vegetable Penne

Serves 4

1 red bell pepper, remove seeds and stems and chop into chunks

1/2 pound sliced crimini mushrooms

1 pound broccolini, ends trimmed

1 package Trader Joe's sweet italian sausage, remove the casings and break them up into small chunks

1/4 cup white wine (optional)

12 ounces penne, cook according to package instructions

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Grated parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

2. In a bowl, toss all the vegetables in oil. Season with salt and pepper

3. Place on a baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes or until caramelized. Turn the vegetables halfway through the cooking time

4. In a large skillet, saute sausage until cooked through

5. Turn up the heat and deglaze with white wine

6. Once the vegetables are cooked and cooled, add them, along with any pan juices, to the skillet

7. Toss in the cooked penne. Add reserved pasta water or some tomato sauce, if desired, to moisten

8. Season with salt and pepper, and garnish with parmesan cheese

Enjoy!

Over the Weekend

We had such a fun weekend being spontaneous and enjoying family time.

Saturday morning, we grabbed coffee at LAMILL {and had an amazing piece of coffee cake} and walked over to the playground by Silverlake Reservoir. Leah loves other kids, and she's has no problems walking up to kids and hugging or playing with them. In the evening, we ate pizza at Palermo  and then walked over to Ramekin for dessert. The chocolate bread pudding was delicious! I can't wait to go back and try the homemade ice cream!

Photo by Bob Cho

Left Photo by: Bob Cho; Right Photo by: Joy Cho

Sunday was Daylight Savings, and I was hoping Leah would wake up past 8am (since that's really 7am), but nope she decided to wake up at 7:45am. Her molars are coming in, which have been bothering her, and she's been waking up earlier than normal! We went to church and walked across the street to grab lunch at the Hollywood Farmers Market. Later in the afternoon, we ran some errands and then got a call from Bob and Joy to hang out at the playground. We met up with them and the two girls were the absolute cutest ever. I really hope they stay friends into adulthood! The husbands kept talking about Mexican food, so afterwards we all grabbed dinner at El Tepeyac for some AMAZING food. The girls were so well behaved.

Matt and I are sitting in bed looking through these photos over and over again. So much fun!

Happy Friday!

Here's what we've been up to this week. Wednesday, I took Leah to Kidspace Children's Museum in Pasadena. It's an educational museum with different exhibits where kids can learn about animals, physics, chemistry, etc. It will be more fun for her in another year or so when she can interact more with the different stations, but she still had a lot of fun with her buddies!

Yesterday, Matt found out he had a half day, and since Leah was in day care, we took advantage of the time and watched a movie together in the theater! It's been over a year since we did that! We watched Life of Pi which was a really cute and entertaining movie. The images in the movie are spectacular.

And today, it was hailing in LA this morning! The closest thing we'll ever get to snow. 

Have a great weekend! We actually don't have anything planned this weekend, so hopefully it will be somewhat lazy and relaxing! 

Mom Meals: Prosciutto and Mushroom Pizza

This is probably the easiest meal to make ever, and it's also a great way to get rid of any leftover meats and veggies hanging out in your fridge. I happened to have mozzarella and mushrooms readily available, so that's what was going on my pizza.

Prosciutto and Mushroom Pizza

Serves 4

1 16 ounce bag Trader Joe's pizza dough (I got garlic and herb)

5 slices of Prosciutto di Parma

Sliced Mushrooms

1 jar of Tomato Sauce

1 fresh Mozzarella Ball

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Take pizza dough out of the bag and let it rest at room temperature for 20 minutes

3. Roll or stretch out pizza dough on a floured surface to desired shape, and place dough on a pan that has been coated with non-stick cooking spray

4. Spread tomato sauce on dough and top with prosciutto, cheese, and mushrooms (If Trader Joe's didn't run out of basil, I would have included that too)

5. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until crust is lightly brown

Enjoy!

Product Testing

We're looking for a new trash can to put in our master bathroom. Right now, we have a small basket style trash can which Leah has found fun to try to pick through. We took her to Bed, Bath, and Beyond today to test out the different cans. Hmm...is this one a fail? 

Spring is in the Air

The longer days, warmer weather, and blooming flowers means Spring is just around the corner. Today, it actually feels like Summer. I definitely welcome it, and as you can see, someone else is also a very happy camper! Hope you're having a great weekend!