Thursday Dinner

Fantastic night for sandwich. On the menu, left over pork roast sandwich, served on sourdough bread, with mango ginger chutney, and sprouts. On the side a spring greens salad. This dinner created quite the controversy in my house. Thursday is usually every man for himself night. This means left overs, a sandwich whatever. Elvin had a deli sliced sandwich of Italian turkey with chips while I enjoyed this fantastic meal. Here is the facebook convo that ensued after he spotted my plate.


Elvin Alvino Jr is looking at the great meal michelle made for herself wondering where mine is

Raul Victor Smith at 5:00pm March 26
Go outside and it's in a bowl that has the name FIDO on it. LOL!

Elvin Alvino Jr at 5:05pm March 26
Lol we are outside.... And now i cant stop her from laughing.

Michelle Castro-Alvino at 5:11pm March 26
I love that grown men can talk smack about their wives with buddies and wives on facebook but can't slap a meal together. Thats what you get Elvin for the quick fix meal baby cakes. Patience Grass Hopper... at the end you have a dish like mine... and it was GOOOD!

Elvin Alvino Jr at 5:20pm March 26
I love that the same women who make these wonderful meals and have such wit about them cant use a hammer and nail to hang a picture frame to a wall

Michelle Castro-Alvino at 5:27pm March 26
wow Elvin you put me on blast on facebook. I hope you are ready for a long lonely night with palm -ela

Elvin Alvino Jr at 5:29pm March 26
Lol....patience Grasshopper she will knock on your door soon as well.

Michelle Castro-Alvino at 5:38pm March 26
why did i even get you on facebook. leave me alone brat

Michael Jason Williams at 7:01pm March 26
Yo Elvin..this is funny..:>)
Elvin Alvino Jr at 7:03pm March 26

Just me and the wife busting chops... LoL

Raul Victor Smith at 7:05pm March 26
Holy crap! I can just visualize the remote control flying across the room. Followed by a "Oh no you di int!"

Michael Jason Williams at 7:07pm March 26
yes i di id..:>)


WHATEVER. The Sandwich was yummy, I loved it and look forward to making that roast again so I can do a sandwich redo. After all of that I am not sure why I urged E to get on facebook.

CV Stroll

Saturday took the littles for a stroll through CV. I live about a mile from my parents and thought today would be a perfect day to brave the rolling hills of CV.A mile later my butt muscles were burning but it was a fun adventure and the litles loved the walk. Once we got to my parents we chilled out , had a little lunch then trekked home again.

Weekly Shopping

Random snaps of the shopping this week. Monday PW market for dinner supplies, milk and littles snacks. Tuesday Trader Joes run for the major shopping. I also visited Daiso in Union City for bento/ toddler meal supplies.I made a target run in there this week but had no interesting pics to snap just pull ups.

Sweet Tooth

I had a rotten sweet tooth on Thursday. I had some time to kill and was on the face whether to go starbucks and grab a latte or something sweet. My good friend Jessica suggested I drive over the hill to Dublin and visit Denicas. I was up for an adventure and an outing so motored over the hill to see what I could find. I was pleased. A cute little shop with a delicious bakery. I picked up a cupcake and a rocky road brownie (for my love)and then headed home to pick up my littles after my sweet treat.

Spud Box Wednesday

In the fabulous box this week!
Asparagus
Avocado
Bananas
Cucumbers, Long English
Oranges, Blood
Pears, Red Danjou
Salad Greens, Spring
Spinach, Baby
Sprouts, Alfalfa
Strawberries
Tomatoes, Roma
Rosemary Potato bread

Wednesday Dinner: Pork Roast

For dinner I made a pork loin roast. I picked up this slap of meat at Trader Joe's on my trip to the market this week . It was pre seasoned which always makes dinner faster. I sliced up some taters, and carrots sprinkled with olive oil salt and pepper and stuck in the oven for 45 mins @ 350 degrees. It was delicious! A very hardy meal. Plenty of left over for a quick sandwhich tonight maybe with a salad .


Done and plated, served with a green veggie favorite!


The littles dinner basket. They were not fans of this meal and hardly touched it.

Thursday Lunch Box

Breakfast: Trader Joes chocolate soy milk (3), plain mini bagel (1) , banana (2)
Breakfast total 6

Lunch : salad w/ tomatos (2) cashews for on top of salad (4) , Cliff Bar , carrot cake (4)
Lunch total 10 I packed a weight watchers 1 point cake a little bit smaller than a twinkie to munch on if I get a sweet tooth but I am not sure that will happen today.

Monday Dinner

Decided to make the most of my left over rice and whipped up ground Italian sausage with veggies and black beans. Very tasty meal. I served it over the white rice but it could have been done with pasta or quinoa, cous cous or just by its self This actually turned out more like a stove top chili once I added the black beans but it was very good on a night that was a little on the chilly side. Chopped veggies for dinner. Used a really pretty pepper kinda long and fat. The color was neat it was a garnet colored pepper.


Cooked down with the italian sausage and black beans. Served over rice. Have you noticed a theme with my dinners. They have turned into a one pot stop. I am thinking this is laziness but not 100% sure just yet. Will make less one pot meals in the coming days.


A plate for the littles. Rice, sausage veggie dish with cheese on top. They usually go for things with cheese on top this time not so much. I also made a chocolate, apricot jam sandwich for them. Gabriel love the nutella spread I keep in the house and every once in a while I will make a little sandwich like this for them to enjoy at dinner or lunch.

Things About Me

So because I am bored at work today and rather be home then working let me jot down a quick list of things readers should know about me

- I keep it real--- this is first and foremost. I have learned that this is not always the best way to go about life , you may hurt others feelings. However I am a work in progress and strive to work more on that part of keeping it real

- I never leave the house with out sunglasses, lip gloss and my mobile phone

- I took four years of advance placement Spanish in high school and come from a Latin family and can not speak a word of Spanish to save my life.. sad but true what the hell? This is the as far as my bilingual vocab goes

Hola, Como estas?
Esta Bien!
Donde esta el bano?
Que Hora Es?
Esta muy mala a hoy!

That is is folks! Ha I am so ashamed of this. Especially since LMG is picking up Spanish on the regular from his pals Dora & Diego, and was singing some song en espanol the other day. I should not completely knock myself. I know words but to put them in a sentence and have it make sense nope can not do. I do understand more than I lead people to believe and have been know to listen in on convos around me because I have nothing else to do from time to time


-Gossip is my candy- another sad but true fact. I love hearing dish be it family friends dish, a friend of a friends juice or celebrity fodder I love it all. Recently I have been more apt to listening to the gossip than spreading it but that is an ever revolving door and if the dish is hot enough I may just share.

-Shopping + Me = a day of fun.
-Shopping +Me + a cocktail = a day of blissful fun

- I love to read but can never find the time. Found the amazon kindle app for my I phone so I may be buying some electronic books soon to see if I can read more while on the go.

- Last good book I read (actually listened to ) Born Standing bu Steve Martin. I love learning about people. I have always liked Steve Martin
and after seeing shop girl ( a novella he penned ) I was drawn to his writing and a bio piece about himself was intriguing... it was a wonderful book to listen to and would highly recommend it. Brilliant!

- I have been watching Days of Our Lives for over 20 years. Thats more than half of my life being that I am only 30. I love it and despite the chatter about daytime TV in my circle of friends I am committed and that's it.

- I love Howard Stern. I am so wrapped up in the Stern universe I don't even know whats on the music scene currently.

-If I drank anymore water I would sprout gills and fins ... how boring.

-Being a curly girlie is not easy, tons of products are necessary to either make the curl look good or to flatten it out. While, I am partial to straight hair E prefers the curly me and voices that all of the time.

- I am slowly becoming addicted to facebook and twitter

- I am not ashamed to say I make E a x mas list and a birthday wish list each and every year. I am not the easiest person to shop for and I prefer my own tastes.

- I sing in the shower and in the car.

- For some reason ( why I don't know) my husband does not read my blog.. whatever

- Sometimes I think about a person from the past and wonder do they think about me?

- I thought myself how to cook by watching the food network and reading cook books. My mom gave me the basics growing up but I am a very good cook now.

- I am a self admitted snob of sorts. Everyone that knows me loves me, but not everyone takes the time to know me so their loss.

- I have a never ending sweet tooth, I now feel this is a mysterious medical condition that will never be cured.

- My littles are my loves

-Their daddy is my heart

- I want to be a world traveler one day. Italy, Spain , France, Thailand, just a few on my list.

- I played the violin for eight years... thinking about picking it back up.

- I bore easily which is why this list is so long and detailed.

Now you know some things about me I bet you never knew. Ok, muchachos adios for now !
Hasta la vista en la blog sphere (see more hacky Spanish)

Tuesday Eats

A little different lunch box.

Breakfast : Tall soy latte (4) mini croissant (2) , carrot (0)
Breakfast total 6

Lunch : 1/4 cup rice (3), sausage with veggies 1/2 cup (2) romaine lettuce for salad boat 4(0) tomatoes (1)
peanut butter GNU Bar (2)
Lunch total :8

I overloaded this lunch box today because I was really not sure what I wanted to eat today. The fridge and cupboards are bare I need to make it to the market some time SOON. But massage appointment after work so I need to dash out and do that... have table will travel you know.

The Weekend Run Down

Here is a brief run down of my weekend.

E and I met for lunch on Friday. It was fun having alone time together in the middle of the day. We must do that again SOON!
I ran out of gas early on Friday and instead of taking the littles SuperFranks , we made it a DVD night after they fell asleep
Had a SuperFranks playdate on Saturday Instead.
E made a fantastic Friday dinner... I contributed salad boats
Visited my very goods friends Adriannas new baby boy SOO CUTE. I forgot how small they are I almost wanted to give it a go again....almost
Finished a great bottle of wine on Saturday with my honey and then he had a guys night out.
My mom watched the littles on Sunday while my sis and I took in lunch and shopping
Was so lucky to score free sitting from my sis for Sunday night, she even did laundry, cleaned lmG's room and dishes! WOO HOO
We had a Sunday night date night. We double dated with C and R . As always Buffalo Bills rocks... movie we chosse eehh. funny but dragged along.

All in all a fun filled weekend!

Monday Lunch Box

Breakfast:

GNU Foods Fiber and Fruit Bar Orange Cranberry bar (2) Trader Joes Fiberful Apricot (1)
Breakfast total 4 points.


Lunch : hard boiled egg (2), Monterey jack chesse stick(2) , polenta, chicken sausage (3)
Lunch total 7 points

Also shown is this pic is my new favorite item. My Quench bottle. I fill it up twice a day for 8 refreshing cups of water.

Dinner : Wednesday

I was really not in the mood to cook on Wednesday. In fact I am a little behind on blogging and trying to catch up. Wednesdays dinner was Chicken, apple , chardonnay sausage from TJs . I served it with grilled asparagus and spicy polenta. It turned out well, I really liked the polenta. I am not sure E liked it as he was not to into sitting at the table that night but oh well. I served the litles their baskets. Both liked the sausage but the real hit was the octopus bread.


my dinner. yum yum, although sausage was a little burnt.

Veggie Delivery

This Weeks Spud Box

Asparagus
Avocado, Hass
Bananas
Broccoli
Lettuce, Romaine Hearts
Mushrooms, White Button
Peppers, Red
Salad Greens, Spring
Tomatoes, Grape Cherry
Tomatoes, Roma
Zucchini
Potato Rosemary Bread

So in Love

I found this oh so cute shop online. Heavenly Hostess

I instantly fell in love with the aprons. Here are some of my favorites



{Cocktail Apron , Heavenly Hostess}


{Half Cotton Apron, Heavenly Hostess}


{Halter Apron, Heavenly Hostess}

I think the box is also very stylish. This would make a great gift for the hostess in your life, a cute bridal shower gift or a fabulous every day splurge for the favorite blogger in your life.. ME!

Which to get, which to get decisions, decisions...

Dinner for the Littles

Littles dinner on Tuesday. We have pasta instead of traditional Irish food on St. Patricks Day. Oh well. They really dug the duckie bread!

Daily Eats

Wednesday Lunch Box

A fast thrown together box because I was running late today, I stayed out to late with my cousins last night and forgot to pack it.

Breakfast: pumpkin muffin (3 ), string cheese (2) , hard bolied egg (2)
Breakfast total 5

Lunch Side salad (o) , Ground turkey meat seasoned with veggies (2) , whole wheat tortilla (2) Fruit Strip (1)
Lunch total 5

I am getting bored with my lunches. I need to snazz it up. Looking for other food options, any suggestions?

Dinner Diaster

Dinner date with Sandra and her family

Leperchaun day came and it went. I of course wore green. Came home and whipped up a dimple meal for the littles and then headed to Chilis in SL for dinner with my cousin and her kids. The food was good but service afwul. I yelped it read here for the full story .

Cupcakes & Muffins

Project Fab-U Baking 101 Weeks 2 & 3 back to back

I skipped last weeks baking task as I had no motivation to bake anything . We had a house full of sweets with the girl scouts out and about in the neighborhood. This week I made up for it by making muffins and cupcakes all in one day ... busy me ya know? Found very helpful recipes at The Joy of Baking.com I was really proud of myself that these cupcakes and muffins came out so well. I think that my baking is getting better. I substituted with whole wheat flour and splenda for both recipes . I did not take pic of the frosted cupcakes because quite frankly I was tired of snapping pic and baking Monday night and I still need to work on my frosting skills.


Click here for the cupcake reciepe & here for the muffins



pumpkin muffin batter


Muffins in the pans


funky pic... flickr would not flip it ... but done muffins


chocolate cupcakes in pans waiting for the oven



ingredient shopping @ safeway


I am thinking that I am ready to explore the wonderful world of cookies... looking for a shortbread cookie recipe that I can play with for the next project.

Tuesday Eats

Tuesday Eats

Breakfast : pumpkin bran muffin(3), WW yogurt (1)
Breakfast total: 4 points

Lunch : turkey pasta (3), hard boiled egg(2) , cheese stick (2) fruit strip (1)
Lunch : lunch total 8

Monday Lunch Box

Monday Lunch Box


Breakfast: mini crossiant (2), short caramel latte w/ soy (3) , ww yogurt (1)
Breakfast total: 6

Lunch Side salad (0) two veggie somoas (4) , goldfish and cashew mix (3)
Lunch total 7

Weekend adventures

We had lots and lots going on this weekend. Friday I headed over to Palomares Grill for a cocktail event with the CVMC. There was a live band playing and it created a fun atmosphere. I have lived here forever and never been to the PG for cocktails and live music but it was different and I enjoyed it

Saturday we headed over to our little cousins 6th b day party, another fun event. We chilled there for bit then took the littles to my parents house to spend the night. After E and I headed to another cousins house for his b day party. This was a busy house party, lots of music, talking and drinks ... I only partaked in a small rum and rootbeer{ they were out of coke =( } After chillen thee for a bit we headed home.. for a quite house and an opportunity to sleep in!

Sunday morning , after some sleep in time we headed over to the cheesecake factory to pick up breakfast, I had french toast and bacon, as well as one of theur espresso bar treats. I totally chucked points out the window this weekend. As usual we selected cheesecake to end the meal. it was E's turn so he selected the Key Lime. It was tart and sweet all at once and the only bad thing I can say about oit was the abondance of whipped cream on the slice.

Sunday afternoon picked up the littles and headed home to do a fun art project. Hand print canvases to hang on the wall. I found these at Red Envelope... one of my favorite places to shop. The hand print canvases wasfun All of them cake out well. I wish i had selected another color for my print as it really can not been seen well enough in my opinion. Posting pictures of the hung items later.

Lunch with bbD

And now because my mother always says "Michelle... You have to do everything for the boys equally, equally hugs, love and photos"... I present lunch with David. Some how today these littles got on different nap/lunch schedules.

For lunch David had pumpkin butter tortilla stars, string cheese swords and, Pirate cannon balls, and an orange sliced up.



pretty cute, no? I would eat it


This child will eat anything , but of course he goes for the cannon balls first


Please ignore his expression. When he saw his basket he said "WOW"



He topped the "wow" off with a "YUM"

A Littles Lunch

Home from work today on my three day weekend... who cares about what I am eating if we can follow what LmG is eating for lunch...




lmG's lunch basket... very delightful if I do say so myself!



He's checking it out


He's going in for it...


SUCCESS! fabulous!


And true to picky eater form .. what he left behind...