I think the only thing that can surpass Hannah’s love of Starbuck’s is her simultaneous love of both Wal-Mart and Target. Whenever she wants to go to either of those places and asks Jacob or I to go with her, our question to her is “are you only picking up a couple things or walking around the whole store?” Because she loves to spend a minimum of two hours at each store!
She called me at work yesterday telling me she bought me something from Target. I told her she shouldn’t spend her money on me, but she said as soon as she saw it, it screamed me, and well, she just had to buy it. So when I got home yesterday, this is what I was presented with:
PIZZA PAJAMAS! Omg, I absolutely love them. They aren’t too thin, or too heavy. I told her if I could I would wear them to work today. Oh, and Jacob bought me a new pair of slippers because someone (ahem, Roman!) ate through my other pair of slippers! I will most likely have these jammies on within five minutes of coming in the door each day. Thanks Hannah!
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Like I am sure most of you do, I meal plan using my stores sale flyer. If chicken breasts aren’t on sale, I am not having chicken breasts that week. And while I’ve stated before that I am no longer a short order cook for dinner, the truth is, my home cooked dinner is about the healthiest thing the kadults eat during the day. They both are a grab and go kind of breakfast person – bowl of cereal, bagel and cream cheese, etc. Lunch? Usually eaten out – tacos, Burger King, etc. So while I could be selfish and just make whatever I want (chicken tikka masala!) I am taking into consideration their likes and dislikes. Jacob is easy, because even if he doesn’t like something he’ll eat it. Like pizza – he’s not a big fan, but he’ll eat it come Party Pizza Friday!
So when I saw boneless short ribs were on sale for $3.99 a pound I knew I would be making something with short ribs. I knew the meat would be tender, so that was a plus for Hannah. I knew she’d like the vegetables and gravy, and I knew she’d love the creamy polenta too, so I threw caution to the wind and made Mario Batali’s short ribs. Except I modified the recipe to serve a normal amount of people and decided to serve it over cheezy polenta.
This made six servings. I wish the last picture was better and did it more justice, because this is comfort food at it’s finest. The meat was so tender (although I did have to chop up Hannah’s so fine that you’d think I was feeding a baby that didn’t have any teeth yet) but we all gave this two giant thumbs up. And don’t skip the gremolata – the lemon and horseradish kicks made this dish for me.
I knew if nothing else, Hannah would eat bread. I made up a batch of Artisan Bread in 5 minutes over the weekend and only used 1/4 of the dough to make this loaf.
I stuck the rest of the dough in the fridge and last night Hannah said she felt like macaroni and cheese, so I made mac n cheese using unsweetened almond milk and light Cabot cheese and added in some chopped broccoli. I saw the dough and told Hannah I thought I’d make another small loaf of bread and she said “why not make a giant loaf?!” Um, that would be cheddar cheese on top.
I am pretty sure Hannah’s favorite food is carbs. I ate 1/2 of once slice of bread (although I could have eaten half that loaf!) and one cup of the macaroni and cheese.
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I am happy to say our temps are on the rise – the last couple days have been pretty brutal, although it’s to be expected for January Chicago weather.
The highs over the weekend are going to be in the upper 30s, so pretty sure I’ll be pulling out my shorts. 
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So excited that I finally booked our tickets to Austin! Cannot wait to spend time with my brother and his family and my step-son and DIL. Shelley, I’ll get in touch with you soon to see what day works best for you to meet for lunch – can’t wait to finally meet you in person after all these years! So proud of your amazing race in Houston last weekend!
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Time to get this show on the road – but I’ll leave you with this. I saw this on Instagram yesterday and thought it was worth a share. Life is 10% of what happens to us, but the other 90% is how we handle that 10%. Make it a great day!
I love the pizza jammies!!! And so excited that you’re going to meet Shelley in person!
I know – then I need to add you, Helen, Lori and Fran to this list! #bloggerbucketlist!
Love those pizza pjs! Now, you really are the queen!
Ha, yes – I feel like a queen when I wear them too. Now if I only had enough nerve to wear them to work 😀
i NEED those pizza pajamas. i can’t even. SO CUTE. also, my boyfriend is the same way as Hannah/Jacob – grab & go for lunch/breakfast. I’ve started making sure i put together lunches/breakfasts for him and then i cook for us for dinner. him eating out is SOOOO expensive in the city 🙁
Luckily if the kids eat out, it’s a cheap places – like our local taco place – each taco is only $1.79 and they are delicious!
I loved your everything pigs in a blanket – yum!!
I am so excited for you and Shelley that the 2 of you are going to meet each other. Can’t wait to hear all about it.
The ribs look delicious. I never made polenta, I might have had it on one of our trips to Italy but can’t remember that. Maybe I should try it someday.
Love the PJ’s.
I am so excited too – just like if I met you, it would feel like meeting an old friend!
The polenta takes less than 5 minutes – so good!
That quote hit a homerun for me! THANK YOU BIZ!!!!!!!!!!!
Me too – glad it struck a chord with you! 😀
The short ribs & polenta is like my perfect meal! I love polenta (and cheesy grits) and the creamy polenta with sauce and beef? Heaven!
Yep, and Jacob raved about the leftovers too – #winwin!
Me & Hannah could certainly be shopping buddies!! I can stay in there for hours too! It drives my hubby & daughter crazy & they refuse to go with me. Lol Love the jammies! I knew I should have waited to read this while I was eating my lunch. Ribs, polenta, bread…..My soup just won’t be the same now. 😀
Yes, you guys would be the best shoppers – Jacob and I will stay home with your hubs and daughter 😀
I love those jammies – they look so comfortable and of course PIZZA. But I was focusing more on the slippers, looking at the knitted tops. 🙂
Yay for plans! March will be here before we know it!!
Ha, only you would focus on the knitting! I’ll be in touch soon! 😀
Did you know today is National Cheese Lover’s Day?!?! I will absolutely be having cheese to celebrate today! And yay for Austin!! There is so much to eat here 🙂
Um, for the record, every day is National Cheese Lover’s Day in my book! But I didn’t know it was actually today. 😀
I haven’t been to Austin since 2013! Yep, I’ve got several places on my bucket list to eat at. Can’t wait!
The PJ photo made me smile. They are so perfect for you! Super sweet Hannah! I have been craving short ribs for the last few weeks but they haven’t been on sale. My husband made a BJ’s run by himself (big mistake) and the sample people caught him while he was borderline “hangry” He came home with what was labeled as boneless pork ribs. They were not the worst thing I have ever had but I’m not real sure what they really were. The worst part…the smell the leftovers left in the fridge.
I actually don’t mind boneless pork ribs, but they seem to have so much more fat than the beef ones. I’ve used the pork ribs to make Italian Sunday Gravy that has all kinds of meat in it – so good! How did you cook them – curious!
https://biz319.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/italian-sunday-gravy/
They were some weird preformed boneless hunk of meat with what looked like a “scorched mark” to look like a grill mark and pre-seasoned with a rub and BBQ sauce. I just baked them as they were. My husband said the sample person told him to do them that way or grill them.
Love the pjs, very cute! The short rib dish looks amazeballs, perfect given the weather.
Still trying to figure out how to wear those jammies to work! Yep, this beef dish is right up your alley Jacky 😀
I’ve always been too intimidated to make short ribs. Maybe I should give it a go some time. Pinning your recipe!
Carrie, these are super forgiving and healthy – you’ll notice there is just a bit of fat, you do want to keep that though 😀
I love that quote, it’s so true. There are people with (what we would consider) nothing who are very happy people, and people with everything money can buy who are still miserable.
Yep – money does not automatically = happy! You may have less financial stress, but you alone can only create your happy place 😀
So do you cook a meal like this on a weeknight or is it something you do on the weekend and have throughout the week?
For me, it’s definitely a weekend meal that I can easily reheat for lunches for myself and Jacob. That being said, since you work from home, you could prep all the meat/veggies before you start work, and then take a break around 3:00 to put it all together in the Dutch oven and have dinner by 6:00. With the chunks of beef, John could just eat the veggies and have the polenta – and maybe add parsnips or other veggies to the mix?
It warms my heart to see how thoughtful you guys are to each other. You obviously have done a wonderful job raising Hannah.
Thanks Kimberly! Yep, I hit the jackpot with Hannah – I’ve loved seeing her every day this past year! (and her cleaning skillz too!) 😀