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making a 3 course dinner on Sundays.

I’ve been wanting to make fancier dinners on Sunday evenings for a bit now and, sometimes, invite people over to eat with us.  This Sunday was the first time I actually did it.  Andrew invited his coworker and his wife over and we made a 3 course meal of bruschetta // parmesan chicken + salad // cherry pie.  

This was my first time making a fruit pie, so I decided to buy a store bought crust and focus on getting the filling right first. 

Annndddd the pie came out runny lol.  I texted Andrew’s mom about it this morning and I think after baking I needed to let the pie sit longer than 3 hours so it would thicken up a bit more.

It was pretty though! I’d been wanting to do a crust top with the circles cut out.

The parmesan chicken came out super tender and tasty, but could’ve used a little more parmesan.

The bruschetta was good, but the bread came out a bit too hard. 

BUT the pre-made bagged salad came out great hahaa. 

Jojo ate dinner before our friends arrived.  With Jo I’m not doing only baby led weaning or only store-bought baby food. I’m just feeding her.  Sometimes I prep some food for her, sometimes I buy baby food from the store, and sometimes whatever Andrew and I are eating for dinner I can easily give to her.  There is a lot of noise out there when it comes to how to start feeding a baby solids and it’s been stressful and overwhelming for me for a few reasons.  I’ve been reminding myself to make an effort at turning down the volume on all the external advice and listen to my gut feeling on how to feed Jo.

Then I did bath time + Jo’s bedtime routine (bath + pjs/brush hair + boob + 2 books + bed).  Jo went to bed at 6:30pm right as our friends arrived.

I know I’m not going to want to spend every Sunday afternoon in the kitchen, but occasionally it’s nice.  If you are someone who gets stressed out and anxious if you spend too much time cooking, maybe a better way for you to approach a 3 course meal would be to buy a pre-made appetizer, entree, and dessert so you don’t have to spend so much time around food.

I’ve started a Pinterest board where I’ll be keeping track of all the recipes I wanna make this summer.

32 comments

  1. This is a great idea! I love meals served in courses. I feel like I get to fully enjoy each item instead of eating it all at once.

  2. I loved that you made some things from scratch but also used a bagged salad mix & pie crust. I think the meal looks gorgeous, & despite it being a little runny, your pie looks so pretty! I need to make an effort to make one someday. I actually love pie more than cake. ?

  3. Awesome – way to go on doing something you’ve been wanting to do for a while! Random question – do babies get a bath every night? Is it gross that I’m asking that? We’re abiut to have our first and it seems like of course they need a bath but maybe they also don’t get so dirty? Hahahaha 

    • I think they recommend you don’t bathe them every day at first! We were twice a week for a while. Now that our 8mo is eating solids, we do a bath most (but not all!) nights just because he’s gross, haha.

    • You’ll figure out quickly what is right for your little one, Ana<3 For us we do baths daily now because Jo enjoys them and I enjoy a baby who smells nice lol. Early on we didn't do baths daily because I was exhausted just keeping up with feedings/getting her to sleep.

  4. That pie is so cute!  Love having fun with pie crusts.  And now you’ve got me thinking about my must-makes this summer!  Top of mind: grilled romaine Caesar salad (had it last year and it gives it a little something extra…and it’s such a fun way to present it too!); grilled fish tacos with mango jalapeño salsa and lots of guac; cherry and peach pies; lemon bars; and just in general taking advantage of fresh tomatoes as much as possible. I also want to make a bunch of iced tea to have for the week…I drink tea all fall/winter long, and so now just plain water is feeling kind of stale haha

  5. I really wanted to do BLW because everyone touts it as “being easier,” but for me it is not! I love your mixed approach; it’s similar to what we do. Honestly we do a lot of purrees/spoon-feeding our 8mo and only occasionally give him what we’re eating. Honestly right now with both of us working, most of our dinners are out or what I call, “Fend for yourself,” aka make a sandwich or eggs for yourself. So it’s just easier to feed our son baby food. I meal prep lunches, but I don’t want the hassle of boxing up food for daycare, so he gets baby food there, too, haha! But I definitely let him try food off my plate if it seems appropriate, and he can self-feed puffs or bits of fruit if I happen to have them on hand. Whatever works, mama!

    • YES! Looking back, I feel so silly for stressing about which approach to use for feeding. Why do we make it seem so black and white?? Like, just make sure your kid gets some food in some format or another, along with some formula or breastmilk and call it a day. They transition for such a short period of time, lets not make it harder than it has to be!

    • Oh I hear you, Lindsay! To me it seems like BLW is easier IF you plan your meals around baby. I’m sure sometimes it’s easier and sometimes it’s not. I’m so tired of hearing people live in extremes of “this is ALWAYS the best way to do it.” Thanks for sharing!

  6. I wish I was more motivated to try something like this! Haha! Maybe one day…

    Also, thanks for sharing thoughts on feeding JoJo. I have a 9 month old boy and have been sooooo overwhelmed by all the different thoughts and opinions on how to feed him and we are currently struggling with him learning to self feed and sometimes I think I just need to stop researching or asking others and just do whatever I feel is right in the moment and make adjustments as he keeps learning and expanding his palate. I feel like there’s a lot of “noise” out there and it ends up making the experience way more stressful than it needs to be!

  7. Please talk to me about how you got your daughter to sleep at 6:30! My 7 week old goes to bed no earlier than 10 despite our best efforts..and then sleeps most of the morning. Give me all your tips to get there!

    • Hi Megan! I’m not a sleep expert at all haha. I’ve learned that every baby is different, but here is how it went for us so take anything I say with a grain of salt.

      Jojo didn’t have a consistent bedtime until we sleep trained at 4 1/2 months. We tried to make a consistent bedtime around 7-9pm before 5ish months…but she just wouldn’t have it. Helpful resources for me were Ferber’s Sleep Method book and this facebook group on respectful sleep training… https://www.facebook.com/groups/respectfulsleeplearning/?ref=bookmarks

      Those first 4ish months I found never having consistent time to myself so tough. Hang in there!

      • Thank you for sharing what was helpful for you. I’m dying slowly on 5 hours of sleep and napping during the day just doesn’t happen because he wants held, wakes up frequently, etc. I will just hang in there! Just makes absolutely no sense that mom’s are expected to go back to work at 6-12 weeks running on empty. A lot of societal expectations are crap (in addition to diet culture).

        • I so agree. I didn’t feel like we really hit our stride until like 5 months along. It’s nuts to me that women are supposed to go back to work so early! It’s rough on mom.

    • My daughter was like that too. Actually, she went to bed around 1am for months. It was horrible and nothing I tried really helped. It gradually got better on its own though. By a year she went to bed around 9 pm. Now, at almost 3 years old, she goes to bed at 7:30. My son (6 months old) has gone to bed between 7-8 ever since he was born. Anyhow, it will most likely sort itself out? 

  8. Yay for dinner guests! We’ve already hosted quite a few times this summer…it can be time consuming but it’s so rewarding and fun! Like the idea of making it a more regular/weekly tradition :)

  9. Love that you read two books to Jo before bed. Great way to lay the foundation for Jo to fall in love with reading, expand her vocabulary and make her hungry to become a reader. Lovely. 

  10. That mirror picture of you and JoJo is the absolute cutest! You look so beautiful (just so radiant and happy and full of life), wow! I’m impressed that you did a 3 course meal, but the idea of cooking and hanging out with friends sounds fantastic! 

  11. Hey Kylie, for your pie filling, did you cook it first? I have learnt the hard way with all my berry (or runnier) pie fillings to cook them first, with a mix of sugar and cornstarch (flour/tapiaco whatever thickener floats the boat). Until they start thickening on the stove and then I put them in the pie shell and finish cooking.
    Maybe that helps?

    • I did cook it first and used a mix of sugar and cornstarch. I think for sure next time I should use less liquid and let it hangout on the counter longer before cutting into it. Thanks for the suggestions, Cat!

  12. Love this, we tend to do bigger meals on Sundays and always have a yummy dessert. It’s so true that it can be overwhelming when learning what to feed the baby in new stages. We have done the same as you with our son. I’m in a wonderful place after my ED now, but having a baby and navigating feeding him has been a little interesting and I have to be very mindful. It’s an interesting territory. You want to make sure they get good nourishment but there’s a fine line when you have an ED past. Have you felt any of that as Jo enters this new stage? I’ve sometimes wondered if there’s a “motherhood post ED group” haha

    • Hey Mia, I’ll probably write a post on something similar in the future. I’m still trying to figure out why exactly feeding Jo has felt overwhelming for me…I’m sure it’s a bunch of factors, mainly wanting something to control because having a baby is nuts and chaotic. I hear you tho on the need for a motherhood post ED group haha. I do think having had an ED (even if one is doing really well and rarely has any ED thoughts) will affect the way one feeds their child – many times for the better, but also could cause the mom stress. It’s been unexpected for me. I’m not so much concerned about her getting good nourishment…or maybe I am in the sense that I want her to be gaining weight. I’m actually not sure why I am/was stressing so much about it. I need more time to reflect and think it through haha! Glad you brought this up!

  13. That last picture of you and Jo is SO CUTE. You both look so happy!

    It’s strange for me to hear somebody say a pie is too runny (even though pies totally can be) because as a kid, I spent hours driving around Maine with my grandma looking for runny blueberry pies! (And then sometimes hours driving back to return it when it inevitably was not runny enough for her taste buds). So I’m sure she would’ve loved your pie!

    Anyway, I like this idea a lot. I love anywhere you can make an average day special. (And agreed that what really matters is to make it special, not whether the food is homemade!)

  14. So fun that you decided to do this :) A few months ago I did the exact same thing! The southern girl in me loves the idea of slow, restful Sunday afternoons after church, sharing a big Sunday “lunch” so I started doing this exact thing. Sometimes it’s all made from scratch and from a fun recipe, other days it’s a pot of pasta to share with friends. All really fun, good luck as you continue! :) Also, do you have the Magnolia Table cookbook yet? It’s AMAZING and so good for things like this.

  15. Pingback: Holiday Weekend Eats + Thoughts on Overeating - Satisfy Nutrition

  16. I loved reading about this, and my only thought was “Dude, I bet that the dinner guests thought everything was fantastic!” There’s something about someone – you, obviously, in this case! – taking the time and care to create a meal for others. And I can’t imagine they didn’t appreciate that! (So, really, who *cares* if the bread was crunchy? I loooove it that way! :>)

    • Great point, Anne! They were visiting from Brazil so I wanted them to enjoy…overly crunchy bread or not I know they still did:)

  17. I’m so glad the bagged salad was a success!
    I LOLd at that :-) Can’t believe how big that baby is getting and she looks just like her dad–or that’s what I see!

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