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!