Friday Night Bulletin

• I'm tired tired tired tonight. It's been such a long week, with the new job and the swallow study and the whatnot. But I am soldiering on to make a delicious Italian Cream cake for a friend's baby shower tomorrow. Go ahead and click the link--I swear to you on holy cream cheese frosting that damn thing is the best cake I've ever had. It's the "light" version and better than the original. Honestly. And she's having twin boys, so she definitely deserves it.
  

• Bug's got a new weird feeding issue and it's stressing me out. He decided to wait until after the swallow study to start doing it, of course. He's pushing out about half of every bite that goes into his mouth, almost as if his swallowing reflex has gotten stuck in reverse. He's not spitting it, but it's dribbling out nonetheless. I haven't quite made up my mind whether it's just a weird kid thing or if it's a weird medical thing. I'm going to watch him over the weekend and experiment with some different textures and thicknesses and see what happens. If it's not any better come Monday I'm hauling his little butt off somewhere to get things figured out. He doesn't have much extra weight to lose.

• The job is, I think, going to work out nicely. It's low key, the people are pleasant, and everyone keeps telling me how family-friendly the office is. On the downside, it has a pretty restrictive internet policy that is forcing me to come up with new ways to goof around. No more blogging during working hours!

• The cake is done. Now if I can just keep it off the floor....
  

WICLN: Saturday Night Edition

Lately, I've been cooking a lot more. My husband, K, owned an italian restaurant when we met, so I took a backseat on most meals since his are so delicious. But when I started working on the weight, his meat-laden dinners didn't fit so well into the plan. I have gotten pretty good at finding and making recipes that fit our criteria: relatively cheap, healthy, balanced and kid-friendly. For the 3 other people who might be interested in such things, I offer the first in a sporadic series: What I Cooked Last Night.

Roasted Garlic Lentil Soup

1 medium yellow onion
2 Tbl olive oil
2 carrots, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced, plus one head garlic, whole
2 t. oregano
2 t. basil
1 bay leaf
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes, undrained
2 c. dry lentils (I used half red/half green)
8 c. stock (I used homemade chicken stock)
1 c. fresh or frozen spinach, chopped
3 Tbl. balsamic vinegar (or more, if you like)
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450. Wrap whole head garlic in foil and roast until soft--15 to 20 min. Let cool, remove from skins and smash with a large knife (or puree, if you're feeling fancy).

Heat olive oil in large stockpot on medium heat. Cook onion, minced garlic and carrots until onion softens. Add spices and cook for a few more minutes. Stir in lentils, tomatoes, and stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 1 hour. Stir in spinach and cook until it wilts (if fresh). Add vinegar, salt & pepper, and smashed/pureed roasted garlic. Cook 2 more minutes to combine flavors. Serve!

Makes a lot of damn soup (maybe 8-10 servings?)

I tried out this focaccia bread recipe, which was good, but a little more of a flatbread than I prefer. It would also be tasty delicious with any kind of crusty bread your little heart desires.

What did you have?