Our Orange Dinner

No, I did not plan to have an all-orange meal.  But...it turned out that way.

So for dinner tonight we had one of our favorites, chipotle cheddar jack burgers with baked sweet potatoes and cantaloupe.  I didn't mean for it to be all orange, but seeing as that's Will's favorite color, it worked out well for all involved.

The burgers are one of our all time favorites. Here's what you need: 1 pound of ground beef (we use 90% lean, but you can use whatever), cheddar jack cheese slices, 1-2 chipotle in adobo peppers (the same kind you use for the tortilla soup I posted earlier.  Just put them in an airtight container and throw them in the fridge. They'll keep forever), 4 whole wheat rolls and barbecue sauce.

All you do is chop up the chipotles, mix them into the ground beef, season with salt and pepper and form into 4 patties.  Our grill is acting weird and some parts of our food were coming out extra well-done while other parts were raw.  No matter how you like your meat, it isn't a good situation, so I did ours on our indoor grill pan, but you can grill them outside too.  When they are done, serve them on the rolls with BBQ sauce on top.  They are SO good.  Smoky and spicy and the BBQ sauce adds just a little sweetness.  We rarely have regular burgers anymore because these are so delish!
I also tried a new recipe for baked sweet potatoes with cinnamon sugar.  Steve seriously LOVED his and ate every.last.bite.  All you do is mix 3 Tbsp. sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon together in a small bowl.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  With a fork, poke holes into 3-4 sweet potatoes.  Place them on a baking sheet lined with foil and bake for 45-75 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.  Cut the potatoes open and on each potato add 1 Tbsp. butter and sprinke with cinnamon sugar (you'll have some leftover).  Since Will decided not to try his, I gave Emma his portion and she gobbled it up!

After dinner Steve suggested we go out to DQ for dessert, which I was all about.  We had a nice family evening, and Will was super excited for ice cream and he even got rainbow frinkles (no, that's not a typo) for Zia Kristen.  Here's the evidence:

 Emma even had a good time, especially considering she's too little to eat ice cream.  She sat on Steve's lap chewing on a spoon, happy as could be:

We're gearing up for Steve's 32nd birthday on Wednesday!  Happy Birthday to my Old Man Hubby!  I wanted to order Chickie's & Pete's, but it's his birthday so I :guess: he gets to choose what he wants to eat and he's requesting that I cook so I will try to post the menu tomorrow.  Steve's favorite color is blue, but I can guarantee that unlike our orange dinner, blue will not be the food theme on Wednesday!

In other news, we are gearing up to potty train Will. We probably won't really start until the summer, but we're trying to set the stage now so he's ready when we kick it into high gear.  I like to call it Potty Training Preseason.  I think we'll probably handle it the way that we've handled most of our parenting issues - acknowledge that we don't know what we're doing, ask the doctor, find the book that most people use with any sort of success and do that.  We are rookies, but we recognize that fact and we follow directions well, so as long as the doctor gives us a plan, we can execute it.  I'm really not all that stressed about it.  Maybe it's just the optimism that comes with ignorance. I am, however, looking for potty training book suggestions, so if you have one that worked for you let me know!