Shaz by the Sea

Here are a few of my go to side dishes to bring to dinner parties or Thanksgiving dinner. Surprisingly, you may have most of these ingredients in your house already which makes everything a bit simpler. No one wants to go out and buy 5 ingredients and 6 new spices for one dish. So these are really just simple and easy. Also - similar to when I made Conor and Caden's baby food, the Magic Bullet is yet again a must-have because it can save a lot of time slicing and dicing! Sweet Potatoes: Let me start with my favorite side dish -- not just during Thanksgiving but it's my go to. It's great for cookouts, alongside main entrees, and in the fall for Thanksgiving. It's basically chunks of sweet potatoes, rosemary and olive oil. Peeling and dicing he sweet potatoes takes the most time, so once that is complete you can go ahead and spice it up how you like it. After I wash, peel, and dice them, I take a small magic bullet cup and add the rosemary from 2 sprigs, three pie

I haven't had a Blue Apron membership in a long time. I blogged about it over a year ago here and again earlier this year , but I haven't resumed my deliveries since moving back to Massachusetts. However, since having this dish last night, I may just pick it back up.  Chrissy and Lindsey came over last night to celebrate some big work accomplishments for all of us. Chrissy had her first deal close at work, Lindsey was on CHRONICLE for her fitness training, Jimbo is getting some well-deserved accolades at his job, and I had a successful week at work myself.  I wanted to make something special and new, so I did some research and made a little twist on a dish Blue Apron posted on their website . As soon as I saw roasted cauliflower and shrimp, I knew I needed to try it. It called for brown rice and a few spices I didn't have, but I made it with my favorite Israeli couscous and some other tasty things. We also decided to add some steak tips (changed from chicken in the

We had our first Early Intervention session on Monday. Our speech language pathologist (SLP) came to the house and played with the boys.  She said she would focus on Conor this week, and alternate next week when it will be Caden's turn. She wasn't excluding either of them in the session; she actually did a great job balancing both of them. But she made it a point to monitor Conor's speech development and write notes on just him this week. He warmed up to her quickly and enjoyed playing with her. As I mentioned in previous posts, they don't often get individualized attention, so I could tell her liked playing with her. When Caden started to join in, he got a little frustrated but he quickly got over it. Let me back up a little bit.  So a few weeks ago, after the determination was made that both Conor and Caden qualified for the EI services, the next step is for the members involved (parents/family, SLP, pediatrician, child care provider) to develop a