January 9, 2018 (Updated March 29, 2023)

Recent Eats + Baby Fun

Good morning from this cutie!

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She’s so fun and awake in the mornings now. The tiny little smiles she gives us melt our hearts! I haven’t caught one on camera yet, but hopefully soon. 🙂

In food news, Matt and I have been using up some leftovers and freezer food the past few days. On Friday night Matt pulled some frozen catfish out of the freezer and served it blackened with some roasted sweet potatoes and asparagus on the side:

And over the weekend I had a couple variations of my leftover Quinoa Salad with Orange Vinaigrette, Arugula and Avocado. The first was the original recipe, but minus almonds since we are out now. (Zara says “meow/hi” to her adoring fans!)

The second had the addition of leftover roasted sweet potatoes and some simply seared salmon (just sprinkled with salt and pepper and cooked in a pan with hot oil for a couple minutes per side) we pulled out from the freezer. The salmon went really well with the salad!

Last on our freezer meat tour of the week, Matt threw together a variation of our old fave Saucy Tomato Artichoke Chicken using some freezer chicken and 90 second brown rice. This hit the spot – I always love anything with tomato sauce!

Our other yummy meal from the past few days was some Thai food! My friend Sokphal and her boyfriend James came by over the weekend to meet Riese, and they brought lunch from Sawatdee, our favorite Thai place, for all of us to enjoy. Yay!

Riese liked her. 🙂

Our friends Sarah and Jochem came by over the weekend to meet Riese, too – she’s been quite popular lately! It’s so fun introducing her to our friends – Sarah was quite the hit and Riese even took a long nap on her while we all hung out! Too cute!

Have a great day guys – see you back here tomorrow for an easy new portable breakfast recipe!

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21 comments

Amber @ Bloom Nutrition Therapy January 9, 2018 · 11:53AM:

I actually love clean-out-the-freezer meals. I'm notorious for taking our leftovers and making my own microwave meals and I take these to work with me a lot. I always feel so accomplished for some reason after we have successfully "cleaned out" the freezer, lol!

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- Anne January 9, 2018 · 2:24PM:
  
  I totally do too! Matt is the opposite, lol. He always wants to eat something new/not leftover! Although he doesn't mind the frozen meat meals since they are basically "new" with fresh sides. :)
  
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Kori January 9, 2018 · 11:58AM:

I can't wait for the recipe! Lovely meals throughout this post! Riese is so cute, and it's so nice that you all have had some friends over. What a fun treat! Enjoy your day!

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Stacey January 9, 2018 · 12:46PM:

she is just so adorable!!!! Your meals look yummy, and I'm sure the company from friends has been a lot of fun!

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Emily @ Pizza & Pull-Ups January 9, 2018 · 12:49PM:

What a little cutie. We are actually starting operation clean out the freezer this week. I hate anything to go to waste and I want to make sure we use it before it gets freezer burned.

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- Anne January 9, 2018 · 2:23PM:
  
  Yeah I did a big freezer clean out a couple weeks ago... needed to get it organized to make room for breastmilk!
  
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Lisa of Lisa's Yarns January 9, 2018 · 1:09PM:

I'm trying to clean out our freezer so I can make room for some freezer meals for after the baby is born! It definitely forces you to be creative and search for recipes, which can be fun. I split a meat share from a local farm with a friend so sometimes we get items/cuts of meat that I wouldn't buy normally but it's kind of fun to figure out how to use them! Riese is so cute! Love that picture of her totally passed out on your friend. Hopefully you can capture a smile on camera soon. Those baby smiles are just so precious. How is Zara with Riese? Is she ambivalent? We have a cat but she is kind of terrified of children. She's not aggressive, though. She just hides when little people are around. She got kind of scarred when some of my friends' kids chased after her the first time they met her. They were so excited to meet her but being chased was terrifying for our cat. I'm hoping that she will gradually adjust to the baby, though, since she'll meet the baby when it's tiny and not intimidating. But our cat is pretty pampered. My husband just adores her and she spends a lot of time on his chest in the evenings. I think she's not going to like having competition for her dad's attention! Plus she sleeps in our bedroom so I am kind of nervous about what to do when the baby comes around because I don't know if I can convince my husband that she can't sleep in our room. :/ She only sleeps on him as he is her favorite. We are going to set up the bassinet and put foil in the bottom of it as I have heard that will deter the cat from jumping in. So hopefully that teaches her to stay away from the bassinet.

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- Anne January 9, 2018 · 2:23PM:
  
  Aw, I hope your cat does okay with the baby! Zara has been curious about Riese, and sniffs her some, but mostly keeps her distance/is ambivalent. She used to sleep in our room some but we don't let her anymore... at first she'd be scratching at the door but now she seems fine with it. I just wasn't comfortable having her in there with the baby when we were all asleep... plus, she was kind of annoying during the night anyway (rampaging around the room, scratching stuff, walking all over us, etc.), and I was like "Yeah, I'm not getting my 5 seconds of sleep I'm actually getting interrupted by Zara... sorry, Zara"!
  
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Katie @ Live Half Full January 9, 2018 · 1:58PM:

Did you do a lot of freezer meals before baby? I would love to hear more on this!

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- Anne January 9, 2018 · 2:20PM:
  
  Absolutely none. Lol! I was so not into cooking/food most of pregnancy... plus Matt is not a big leftover fan so that makes big batch meals hard. We just randomly had lots of frozen meat in the freezer from over the past few months!
  
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Heather @ Polyglot Jot January 9, 2018 · 3:46PM:

So cute!! :) Also, very yummy meals! I've been loving soups and all things warming lately. Do you plan to go back to work? I'm only asking because I would love a post on your plans, tips for working, etc.

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- Anne January 9, 2018 · 5:11PM:
  
  Yep, I was just talking a couple posts about about how we are starting to try to figure out childcare! I've basically already been working since Riese was born, though, since Matt has been home. The blog has been really busy lately... lots of partnerships this month! I'm going to start seeing my nutrition clients again in a couple weeks, too. Will share more details as we figure them out! :)
  
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Amy @ Thoroughly Nourished Life January 9, 2018 · 6:03PM:

Riese is certainly a social butterfly! I'm always surprised at what I can pull out of my freezer when we are really in a pinch and don't want to go shopping. We are in freezer food deficit at the moment though because our freezer defrosted itself randomly one day and we lost everything :( Time to start re-stocking!

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- Anne January 9, 2018 · 6:16PM:
  
  Oh no, such a bummer!
  
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Lisa January 9, 2018 · 9:10PM:

With this flu season I'm surprised you are having so many people over to meet your new little one. I had a preemie though so I'm still terrified of her getting sick. She's so cute!

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- Jill January 10, 2018 · 9:10AM:
  
  I understand the 'flu season' thinking, but man, when I had my kiddo in the middle of flu season, I was still really excited to have people over. Everyone was great about hygiene and not coming if they had so much as a cough, but I loved the company, and having our son 'meet' everybody. Hope your preemie is thriving!
  
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  - Anne January 10, 2018 · 1:09PM:
    
    Exactly - if anyone even is like "I feel kind of maybe like I might be coming down with something but I think I'm fine," nope!
    
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- Anne January 10, 2018 · 1:08PM:
  
  We just confirm with everyone before they come that they are 100% healthy/not feeling sick at ALL, and also have them wash their hands before they hold her. :)
  
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Roadrunner January 10, 2018 · 4:49PM:

Great fun to watch her develop! Thanks for sharing -

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Kris S January 10, 2018 · 6:54PM:

Love it! Especially Riese's face plant onto Melby, lol! Sarah you have a way with babies it seems :)

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- Anne January 10, 2018 · 7:56PM:
  
  So cute right?!
  
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