Happy Wednesday! We dropped Jaidyn and Kilynn off on Monday evening and as we were getting back into Charlotte Finn said from the back seat, “I had fun with my cousins.” Their mom sent me these photos from Jaidyn’s phone. Cannot wait to see them again!

Oh my gosh y’all, Finn put on the biggest bedtime stalling routine on Monday night when we got home. We didn’t get in until 8:30p and he seemed ready for bed. We read books and he willingly stopped and laid down like he was going to go to sleep. Well, what ensued was over two hours of getting out of bed and giving me every trick in the book.

My favorite antic was when I heard him at the top of the stairs yelling, “I love you mommy. I have a red flower for you. It’s so pretty. Look at it. You smell it? Smell this flower. Look at it, it’s nice.” He had gotten a flower from my bedside table and was trying to charm me with it. There was also a long speech about “I’m so hungry. I need sparkly water. *fake cough* I cough. I need sparkly.” I couldn’t even be frustrated with him because it was all so dang sweet and funny.

It was 11p before Finn finally passed out. I know he was just overstimulated from the day/weekend and out of his routine. We’ll get back to normal. It was all worth the disruption, for sure!

Time to change pace and talk recent eats!

BREAKFAST

Lots of smoothies and yogurt bowls happening over here. Last week I didn’t have fresh fruit in the house that was good for a yogurt bowl so I defrosted some cherries, blueberries and raspberries from my smoothie freezer stash. They make for such a great yogurt bowl topper because they get syrupy as they defrost.

I also very much enjoyed cinnamon rolls on Monday morning as did all of the kids! These are the Annie’s Homegrown canned cinnamon rolls. When I’m not going to make them homemade, these ones are great. We all polished off the whole pan.

LUNCH

lunch

Switched things up with a big snack plate one day. I ended up adding fig jam to the cheese and crackers.

I also switched things up with pitas for my turkey sandwiches. I don’t know why but it was always a treat growing up when my dad bought pitas instead of regular bread for sandwiches. It always reminds me of being at the beach. I saw a pack of soft whole wheat pitas when I was getting bagels at Whole Foods last week and impulse purchased them. I ate this sandwich 3x last week. It was whole wheat pita, mayo, turkey, havarti, avocado and cherry tomatoes. Once assembled, I heated it in the microwave for 30 seconds to take the chill off and soften the bread and cheese.

This was an incredibly delicious salad combo! Chopped baby spinach, avocado, blueberries, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, hearts of palm, feta and a Blue Harbor tuna packet with lemon and dill. I eat a lot of Blue Harbor tuna and salmon (it’s my favorite canned/packet brand) but this was my first time trying the flavored packets. I really liked it and it added a lot of flavor to my salad! Dressing was my honey dijon balsamic.

DINNER

Grilled swordfish, baked potato and roasted asparagus. While I’m a huge seafood fan and fish eater, I’ve only started getting into swordfish in the last year. I really, really like it. So firm, meaty and mild.

Cheese and black bean quesadillas with lime aioli and mashed avocado with salsa.

Dinner salad with chopped romaine, cherry tomatoes, avocado, toasted pecans, shredded cheese, air fried Trader Joe’s gluten-free chicken nuggets and a quick vinaigrette of dijon mustard, white wine vinegar, olive oil and honey.

Brixx pizza. I picked up pizzas last Friday night as I was getting back into Charlotte with my nieces. Finn was a BIG fan of pizza night.

Another chicken nugget dinner salad. This one happened because there were five leftover chicken nuggets on Saturday night from the dinner I made for my nieces and Finn. Romaine, sunflower seeds, shredded cheese, cherry tomatoes, avocado and ranch.

I mentioned in my Easter recap that we had tacos for dinner. Well, I turned my tacos into a taco salad bowl with the last of the romaine, tomatoes, black beans, guacamole, taco meat, sour cream, cilantro and taco sauce.

And finally, I had a girl’s dinner last week with Dorie and Bevin and we tried out Little Mama’s for the first time. We started with the mozzarella presentation which was AMAZING. We got a big warm bowl of fresh mozzarella that was swimming in olive oil along with three sides. We chose grilled zucchini, artichoke hearts and oven roasted tomatoes. They also have the most delicious homemade bread.

And for dinner we shared the chicken carcoifi which was “tender chicken scallopine with artichoke hearts in a light sauce of lemon, white wine, and capers, served with creamy polenta” and the baked Kobe meatball with fresh mozzarella and tomato sauce.

Little Mama’s is sure to make its way into my regular Charlotte restaurant rotation. I can’t wait to take my mom there next time she visits. I know she’ll love it. 🙂

QUESTIONS

What are your toddler’s favorite bedtime stalling antics? 

What’s been your go-to breakfast lately? 

What’s your favorite way to eat a sandwich – wrap, bread, pita, something else?