Wordless Wednesday - The view from here

What do you suppose the 4 year old was looking at on a recent sunny morning?

Our view from the backyard is pretty interesting...

...when the hot air balloons fly over.

Spring Vegetable Beef Stew

I mentioned this provencal beef stew awhile back but I decided to feature it again and include the recipe this time.  What I love about this stew is that it uses spring veggies instead of potatoes.  Last week's CSA box just happened to have some lovely zucchini in it.  I also used carrots, bay leaves and thyme sprigs from recent CSA boxes.  So perfect!

There is a little bit of prep for this meal, but since it's a crock pot recipe you don't have to do the cooking at the busy part of the day.

Spring/Summer Vegetable Beef Stew
Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
1 1/2 lbs stew meat (I used grass fed roast cut into 1 inch cubes)
1 tsp salt, divided
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 medium onions, cut into 8 wedges
8 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup dry red wine
1 cup beef broth
2 Tbsp tomato paste
3 fresh (or dried) bay leaves
3 fresh thyme springs
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
3 cups (1 inch) sliced zucchini
2 cups (1 inch) sliced carrots

Directions
1. Heat oil in a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat.  Sprinkle beef with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper then dredge in flour.  Add beef to pan and saute 2 minutes, browning on all sides.  Place beef in crock pot.
2. Add onions and garlic to pan, saute for 5 minutes.  Add wine to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.  Place onion mixture in the crock pot.
3. Add broth, tomato paste, bay leaves, thyme and tomatoes to the crock pot.  Top with zucchini and carrots.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or until beef is tender.
4. Stir in remaining 1/2 tsp salt and remaining 1/4 tsp pepper.  Discard bay leaves and thyme sprigs.

Enjoy with some freshly baked or heated bread.  I bought a lovely loaf of par-baked (partly baked) bread from Trader Joe's.  And remember if you have left-over beef stock, this is a handy way to save it for your next recipe.

Easy way to keep track of medication doses.

My poor 9 mo old baby girl has had a few rounds of sickness in her short life.  More than one of them required antibiotics. :(  I'm not one of those moms that demand the Dr write out prescriptions, I prefer my kids have the least amount of medications as possible.  However, I am thankful that there are antibiotics especially when my little one had a fever of 103.6, or when her eardrum burst b/c an infection was so bad.

I was happy to see a hint on Pinterest just in time for our most recent round of medication.  It's pretty simple but I hadn't thought of it, ha!  You just make boxes for each dose and check them off the bottle as you go.  Genius!  This is especially helpful if you're like me and you can't remember if you've given the dose oh-say 10 minutes after you did. ;)  I plan on using this method for my own medications next time I'm sick too!

Hurrah for Keurig!

I got the best gift for my birthday, a Keurig Platinum coffee machine.  I have secretly wanted one of these magical beverage machines for awhile now, but it seemed impractical since we don't drink coffee all the time around here.  In fact our other coffee machine is a 4 cup Mr Coffee, you know the kind college students have in their dorm rooms.  Ha!

However, I have admired them from afar and used them with great glee while traveling when they were in our hotel rooms.  And now I have my own, oh the caffeine bliss!

The Keurig came with 60 K-cups (4 boxes!) and a reusable filter in case I want to use our own ground coffee.  I can also use it to make hot water for my tea.

Seriously, I am loving this machine.  Anyone else have and love the Keurig?  What is your favorite coffee K-cup brand?

Thank you thank you to my BFF Anne C.  You're the best! (and ah-hem, you've set the bar high)

Fisher Price Fridays - Little People Floating Marina

I'm so glad it's Fisher Price Friday, aren't you?  I had a hard time deciding which Fisher Price Little People (FPLP) play set to talk about this week.  Choices choices.  Ha!  Eventually I will run out of FPLP toys to feature, but not for a few more weeks yet. :)

I finally settled on my newest addition that arrived just this week.  It's the Little People Floating Marina #2582.  The marina was made between 1987-1990 and is designed to be a tub or pool toy.  This is not a toy I ever played with as a child, I would have been too old for it.  However, I saw it on Etsy and couldn't resist.  It has so many fun features and I knew my 4 year old would LOVE it.  I put it together tonight and it was a big hit.  The original set came with two children (shown above) and a sea captain with a big white beard (not the captain/pilot in my photo).  The other piece that I am missing is a yellow life vest.  Otherwise it's a complete set! 

The set has two exclusive boats, a red and white speed boat and an orange rowboat.  Both boats have loops in the top that hold them on the dock.  They also have pegs in the back so that they can fit on the yellow boat lift.

The yellow boat lift moves up and down so that the boats can go in and out of the water.

The marina set came with an exclusive orange and white sea plane.  The plane has a black propeller that spins around. 

 The sea plane has its own garage with a door that flips up to open.  Also a little ramp that it can use to gently slide down and into the water.  The only lithograph in this waterproof set is the LP Floating Marina sign above the garage.

There is a retractable orange diving board in the roof just in case the LP want to swim.  The top of the set has a handle that folds down and a flat area for playing.  The sea plane garage has two nautical looking orange windows. 

The dock side of the play set has a back door to the garage and a gas pump with a fabric cord.

While looking over the set and playing with it we discovered the slide in the lighthouse.  You put a LP in the top and twist around the red beacon.  Then the person falls down the hole and out the bottom of the slide.  Too fun!  The detailing is great on this set, you can see stones on the ground at the bottom and even a starfish on the stairs.

It is a perfectly adorable set and I think quite a steal at only $13 (plus shipping).