dinner for 3

Joaquin's appetite has taken off in the last few days. A week ago I put a teething biscuit on his tray and he gagged just looking at it. Today he grabbed it from me and put it right in his mouth. He widdled that thing down until it was little more than soggy brown drool on his handmade bib. I got him all cleaned up just in time for company. A co-worker turned friend came over to learn how to knit. Have you ever seen someone for the first time and thought, "that's my future friend."? That's the feeling I got from Lana. I like having company because Joaquin really enjoys it. He loves to check out new faces and giggle and it just seems to bring out the best in him. Is that an odd thing to say about an 8 (almost 9) month old? I guess I mean that it's really fun for both of us and that rocks.

Joaquin held his crochet hook while I showed Lana the very basics of knitting. We took lots of breaks from knitting to read stories and eat pears and nurse. I think it's very important to teach hand crafts, pass them down to whoever wants to learn. For free. With a joyful spirit. Yep, that's what I think.

After knitting class Lana left to finish out her day and we made smoothies. Joaquin drank it with a straw.
Baby smoothie
Frozen blueberries
little bit of frozen pineapple
banana
Pour a little bit in a glass and let baby sip with a glass straw. Mom drinks the rest.

Last night, Justin and I enjoyed a nice dinner served on vintage cafeteria trays that I purchased on ebay. This purchase was directly inspired by the greenandcrunchy blog, and her awesome section plates. Check it out!
I made some basil potatoes with the local potatoes I bought from the winter market. I like to make big batches of stuff so we have leftovers. Basil potatoes are perfect for that because they are great for dinner, breakfast, snack, with nutritional yeast cheese...you get the picture.

Basil Potatoes
7 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 onions, chopped
9 medium potatoes, cut into chunks and boiled until tender
1/2 bag of Trader Joe's melange a trois (or two bell peppers cut into strips)
2T. dried basil
Good shake of Trocomare
1 tsp asafoetida
pepper
salt to taste
What is Trocomare and asafoetida? Trocomare is a seasoning blend with salt and herbs that you can find in most health food stores. I like it a lot. Asafoetida is a spice you can find in Indian markets. It takes the place of garlic or onion powder in recipes and is delicious. A little goes a long way!

Saute the garlic and onion in oil until translucent. Add peppers and saute until onions begin to carmalize. Drain and add potatoes and basil and asafoetida. Season with Trocomare, salt and pepper. So good.
The beauty of using section plates lies in filling them. I had only planned to make potatoes and green beans for dinner, but in order to fill our plates I washed what was left of the living lettuce with and added leftover dressing, grabbed some pressure cooked soybeans we had in the frige, and cut up an orange. A feast!
After steaming the green beans I tossed them in a little bit of earth balance, sprinkled on some chopped almonds and seasoned with salt and pepper. Joaquin could not keep his little hands off of these. I decided to let him hold one and he nibbled delicately while squeezing whole-heartedly. He's so cute.