Daylight Savings

Fall back is usually something I somewhat look forward to... only for the extra hour of sleep or staying up an hour later. Of course I always dread the earlier darkness for approaching winter months. This year I've been dreading it because I have a kid with a pretty strict body clock that probably doesn't recognize Daylight Savings. I spent the last week preparing him for it, pushing off naps, meals and bedtime as much as I could. But when he caught a cold I had to cave in and let him set his own bedtime. Well, here we are on our first day of daylight savings and I have to say, I'm impressed with how well Evan did. We stuck to an almost normal schedule, maybe slightly on the early side for certain things.

Now I have two sick boys in the house! Jack has it the worst, with some nasty chest cold and fever that is moving up into the sinuses. Evan only has a runny nose so far. Poor kid has a chapped nose and cheeks from us rubbing the snot bubbles away so much. I started to catch the cold part too, but was able to fight it off with Zicam before it took over. Love that stuff! Good thing, too because I don't know how we'd all take care of each other if we were all sick!

So Evan is growing and developing every day! Just today he made two pretty big accomplishments... he fed himself applesauce with a spoon (pretty successfully!) and has learned how to sort and stack (with my tupperware). He's also getting much better at walking, and went all the way down the hall today! He can't stand up without pulling himself up on something, but once he's up he can usually get at least 10 steps and sometimes 20-25 before toppling.

I've been watching a lot of Food Network over the last year and have gotten really excited about trying new recipes. Sometimes I just need a little inspiration about what things go together and I whip up my own thing. My latest conquest is Asian Lettuce Wraps, which I made a couple weeks ago for my in-laws. I made it again tonight, and it will probably become a regular in the rotation until I get sick of it! Here's the "recipe" to the best of my knowledge in case anyone (Regan - your mom said you'd probably like this one!) would like to try it out! These are rough estimates on my quantities. You can always taste test and adjust ingredients in the sauce before adding everything back into the pan.

1 lb ground turkey
1/4 cup chopped carrots
1/4 cup chopped bell pepper (red or orange... I prefer red for the color contrast with carrots)
1/4 cup chopped water chestnuts
8 romaine lettuce leaves, closer to the hearts for the "boat" shape
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes
sprinkle of sesame seeds
optional bean sprouts and chow mein noodles for toppings

- Brown ground turkey in deep saute pan. Remove from pan and then drain extra grease if any.

- Add carrots, bell pepper, and water chestnuts to pan. Cook for a few minutes until slightly tender. Remove from pan.

- Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar and crushed red pepper to pan, mixing together until sugar is dissolved.

- Return everything back to pan and mix with sauce. Top with some sesame seeds.

- Serve in lettuce leaves, taco style. Top with bean sprouts and chow mein noodles if desired.

This should serve 3 hungry people, 4 people with some supplementary side dishes, or 2 very hungry people with some leftovers! I served it with a side of brown fried rice with carrots, onions and peas.

This isn't a picture of my actual lettuce wraps but roughly what they look like!