chicken with tomatoes, olives and cilantro & swiss chard with raisins and pine nuts

I made the meal on the cover of Everyday Food cookbook yesterday. It's Chicken with Tomatoes, Olives and Cilantro. I've been thinking about how many of the recipes in EF are side dishes, which means we could enjoy two recipes in the same meal. So when I felt like the chicken dish needed a bit more, I cooked up some egg noodles and also made one of the side dish recipes of Swiss Chard with Raisins and Pine Nuts.

I'm quite used to making the stand-by wilted spinach as a side and saw this as a good switch-up. But I've never cooked with swiss chard. Actually, come to think of it, I've never tried it before! When it came time to making it I saw it in the fridge it took half a shelf the monstrosity it is. It was very sandy and it didn't look terribly appetizing. But like all greens, it wilted down to very little. Once complete, I wasn't really expecting much. That is until I tasted it. Holy cow, what a surprise! This recipe has totally opened my eyes to how I truely need to keep my mind open with new food. Both these recipes are simple but the flavour seem like restaurant quality. And when this book was titled fresh flavour fast, I believe this to be the best way to characterize most of these recipes I'm making. I have to admit, I will never again eat wilted spinach - the Swiss Chard with Raisins and Pine Nuts is THAT good!

I wanted to also mention a quick note about Owen. I'm so pleased he learned to roll from front to back and back to front this week. He's just loving the sensation of finally making it onto his tummy on his own. He's also pretty happy about hanging out in his baby bjorn as you can see. The only problem is as I walk around with him on my tummy I will suddenly hear a 'splat'. The bjorn seems to make him puke (not spit up - outright puke!). I must be doing something wrong. But does this face look like something could be wrong?

The only other thing that brings such giant smiles is when we listen to The Free Design together. Owen is bonkers over them especially the songs, 'Bubbles' and 'Can You Tell Me How To Get To Sesame Street?'. Our little guy already has great music taste!