So if you think you recognize the title above a song lyrics, you are right. It's from Christina Perri's "Jar of Hearts" I am completely obsessed with this song right now. Even Amidala loves it! A lot has been going on for us. Amidala has another ear infection, her 7th. We are going to see a pediatric ENT specialist at Mass Ear and Eye/Children's Boston. The poor little kid, she hadn't had one in a month. There is clearly something up other than cold and flu season causing this. I just want to be able to help her. I by any means do not want her to have a procedure just to have it. But if in the long run she will stop getting ear infections I'm ok with that. How healthy can it be to keep giving her anitbiotics and tylenol/motrin for the pain. So we are going to go in and see what they have to say and hopefully help our little munchkin.
Other than that Amidala is doing great, talking more, running, doing more sign language. One good thing is her doctor said her speech has not been slowed by the ear infections and in fact she is speaking more/better than most kids her age. She is a gabber and is still a parrot. When she plays with "her" iPhone she says hi and then oh ok I gotta go. So cute!
Anakin and I have started to diet a bit. I want to get back down to my wedding weight. I have already lost all of my baby weight, I did that over a year ago! It helped that I lost 23 of the 27 pounds I gained when I left the hospital. I'm not loosing weight with the goal of being thin. My goal is to be healthy and active. I have the goal of my wedding weight because it seems attainable and then I will see and go from there if I want to loose more. We are doing a modified south beach diet. We are not doing the 2 week cleanse, as it is too drastic and we don't have the time to commit to it. Also since Amidala eats the same as us, I would be making her separate meals which is crazy. I will keep up on the progress we are making.
So here is also an update for my 101!
#4:We finally went a week where we didn't order food for dinner one night. This one was much harder than it seem but we did it and it was nice to save some money.
#30 I took Amidala to play date number 3. As I mentioned in some earlier posts I was in a sorority in college that I currently help advise. A lot of the girls have had children and we try to get together every month or so. So the kids can play and we can talk mommy. Amidala and I made the drive out and got to meet some new friends. She had a lot of fun and went to bed at 7!
#55: I made and served recipe #6. For Anakin's birthday I always make him a cake either boxed (when we were in college/first married) or from scratch(more recent years). This year's was a lemon cake with a chocolate ganache frosting. Let me tell you the frosting was delicious. The cake was good too. Amidala was not a fan, I think she preferred the cupcakes I made for when family came over the Sunday after his birthday to celebrate. Here is the recipe:
Lemon Cake with Chocolate Gloppy Frosting
Recipe courtesy Alex Guarnaschelli
Prep Time:
25 min
Inactive Prep Time:
30 min
Cook Time:
45 min
Level:
Intermediate
Serves:
makes 1 (9-inch) cake
Ingredients
Cake:
1 stick butter plus 1 tablespoon for greasing the pan
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain, whole milk yogurt
3 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Chocolate Frosting:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon and a few grates of zest
2 to 3 grates whole nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
9 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon almond extract
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch square cake pan with 1 tablespoon of the butter.
For the cake: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or an electric hand mixer, or by hand), cream the 1 stick of butter and granulated sugar together until smooth, 5 to 8 minutes. As you are creaming the butter and sugar, scrape the sides down with a rubber spatula so you are sure to be combining the butter and sugar as it mixes.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
When the butter and sugar are integrated, blend in the yogurt. Add the eggs, one by one. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the dry ingredients. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake, undisturbed, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes before inverting it on to a plate and allowing it to cool for an additional 20 minutes.
For the frosting: In a small saucepan, combine the water and granulated sugar and bring to a simmer. Stir to make sure all of the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl to cool. Stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir to blend. Set the syrup aside to cool.
In a small saucepan, heat the cream. Place the chocolate chips in a medium bowl. When the cream simmers, pour it over the chocolate chips. Whisk to blend. Set aside to cool.
In the bowl of the food processor, combine the confectioners' sugar, butter, and almond extract. Pulse to blend. Continue blending for about 30 seconds until the ingredients are mixed together. Use a rubber spatula to scrape every bit of the chocolate mixture into the processor and mix again to blend. Transfer the frosting to a bowl and allow it to sit a little before frosting the cake.
Transfer cake to a serving platter. Use a pastry brush (or spoon) to put some of the syrup on the cake. Do not make too wet or the cake will be soggy and fall apart, use just a little bit here and there. Carefully spread the frosting over the cake starting in the center and working it to and around the edges. Make sure there is enough frosting to coat the top and sides of the cake. Serve.
Check back soon for more updates!
-Rachel
