(i am) nuts

there is something really awesome about starting your day with a breakfast of homemade bread toasted and topped with vietnamese cinnamon and homemade almond butter.  yummmm

why am i telling you this?  because not only is it delicious, but also because i made almond butter for the first time yesterday and it was so quick and easy that it took me more time to clean the food processor.

so if you're interested, go get 2 cups of almonds (or whatever nut you like best) and put them in your food processor--like this:

then turn on the food processor for a minute or two and you'll get this:

scrape down the sides and let it run for another minute or two and then go ahead and put it in an airtight container (like so...):

i think we can all agree on two things--1, i'm obviously not a photographer, and 2--that's super simple.  right??!

i will add that i would use raw almonds next time--i used dry roasted with salt and it's a bit salty for my taste but that's all i had in the house.

so go ahead and grab your nuts and make something delicious...;)

valentine's day, how i heart you

this COULD be a ranting post about how it's absolutely ridiculous that numerous people feel the need to give my kids candy and chocolate just because it's a "special" day.  this COULD be a ranting post about how i think it's really awful that my kid goes to gymnastics, which i thought was a place that promoted healthy living, from 5:30pm-6:30pm (i.e. dinner time) and upon leaving is presented with not one, not two, but FIVE junk food items (including cookies, donuts and rice krispies treats) right before dinner.  this COULD be a ranting post about how it's not really fair for my five year old to have to make the decision about whether she should eat that crap before she's had her dinner (or at all for that matter).  this COULD be a ranting post about how kids don't need to get a "treat" for every little "holiday" or even "just because"--but that if someone DOES feel the need to treat my kid, perhaps a sticker, or a pencil, or a fun eraser or ANYTHING other than food (a term i use rather loosely as many of these "treats" can hardly be considered food) would be a much more acceptable option.

this COULD be a post about all of those things, but it's not.

it's a fairy tale post.  about how i brought in fruit to a school party for M's class, and when the kids were told they could choose two things from items such as two kinds of cupcakes and cookies, and fruit, THEY CHOSE FRUIT!!!!  

maybe it's because the fruit looked like this:

because, let's face it--that's damn cute, ain't it??!  but no matter--i made extras and they were ALL gone!  and there were cupcakes and cookies still left over!  and i even saw kids--who were told that yes, they could go up for seconds--get up and get seconds...OF FRUIT!!

seriously, it was like a dream come true.  because i admit that i was a little nervous that i was going to be seen as "that" mom--you know, the one who brings fruit to party on a day that's "supposed" to be filled with chocolate and candies made red with chemical dyes.  but those kids chose the naturally red colored food i brought and i swear my heart grew like the grinch's.

and they all lived happily (and naturally) ever after...;)

and as a ps, here's a gift i made for my cheese/valentine's day-loving husband:

that's right, folks--no chocolate for my man--that's a box of cheese.  and for the other cheese lovers out there, please know that no cheeses were harmed (i.e. wasted) in the making of this box--any and all scraps were saved for cheese loving man.

happy valentine's day, everyone :)

avocados--they're not just for guac anymore

ok, i know i said i'd regale you with tales of a candy-free valentine's day, but first i need to share two awesome avocado recipes that i tried tonight.

this one is a favorite in our house--and goes perfectly with homemade pasta :)  i use lime juice instead of lemon (personal preference), and less than the recipe calls for (more like a couple squeezes instead of the whole 1/2).  plus i hate anything with zest so i leave that out.  i leave out the basil, too, unless i have some in the house.  tonight i tossed it with homemade pasta, roasted cherry tomatoes, and crumbled goat cheese--so yummy!

and this--oh my!  first, don't adjust any settings--the page you get to by clicking on that link really is for chocolate AVOCADO pudding.  second, if you don't have any avocados in your house, go out and get some.  yes, it's that good.  i'll admit that M took a few bites and decided she didn't like it, but she doesn't like much so unless she DOES like something, i don't count her vote ;)  (incidentally, she ate every strand of homemade spaghetti, so clearly i'm a whiz at pasta making ;) ).  B gobbled every bit and asked for some in her lunch for school tomorrow.  i thought it was delish, and it was super easy to throw together.  so i'm considering it a success--and you should try it :)

so go get some avocados, with which you can enjoy both dinner and dessert--and then we'll talk about how valentine's day can be fun even without added sugar and chemical dyes, k?

absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?!

soooo, it's been a while.

the last time i was here i started writing a post about halloween--but i never finished it because it was mostly just me bitching about how halloween becomes a free-for-all for people to shower my children with junk food.  and now i find myself bitching about valentine's day so i thought i'd start another, hopefully less snarky, post ;)

i'll use this post to bring you all (bueller?  bueller?) up to date on what i've been up to, and then i'll post another one ranting about valentine's day ;)

so first of all, back around halloween i decided that if people were going to bring food to M's school halloween party, i would provide at least one "real" food option.  so i made these pumpkin muffins and dressed them up like so:

cute, huh?  thanks again, pinterest!

then for thanksgiving (well, pseudo-thanksgiving--my side of the family was going to be in a bunch of different places for real thanksgiving, so we decided to do it early) i used a loaf of the pumpkin bread from above (i had doubled it when i made the muffins) and made this awesome stuffing.

and for the record, i made my own pumpkin puree.  i only mention this because you should all know how incredibly easy this is to do.  this is how easy.  try it--trust me.  i used a less-than-4lb pumpkin and got about 4 cups of puree.  i freeze what i don't use in one cup containers so i can thaw what i need.

and for hanukkah, my wonderful husband got me pasta attachments for our kitchenaid--which, by the way, i had never used in almost 8 years of marriage!  so with my very own hands i made this pasta:

and turned it into this dinner:

which, just to toot my own horn, my husband said was--and i quote--"Honestly the best spaghetti I have ever had"

and i made these raviolis too:

which looked pretty and tasted ok but not great--they're on my list to try again.

so there you have it--a quick snapshot of the goings-on in my kitchen for the last few months.  now stay tuned for how i'm going to piss off 21 kindergartners by serving fruit instead of candy for valentine's day ;)

busy bags part 2

so the busy bags were a hit--for at least a good...10 mins lol!!

actually, although i thought M would appreciate the paint chip matching thing more, B has really been enjoying it.  both enjoyed the popsicle sticks with velcro but neither for very long.  i think they just liked the idea of it more than liking the actual activity.

here are two others i tried:

i took an old greeting card (sort of amusing that it was a christmas card used for quiet time at temple but i used what i had!), glued it to a bunch of popsicle sticks, and then took an exacto knife to cut it apart.

then the girls put them together to finish the puzzle:

M enjoyed this, but was able to finish the puzzle in about 20 seconds.  B found it more entertaining to take the individual popsicle sticks and hand them out to other people in our row (which were thankfully family members and good friends)!

this one i thought would be a huge hit:

foam sheets cut in half--on one half, i made a design by sticking on different foam stickers.  then i put the other half, together with duplicates of all the stickers i used on the first half, in a ziploc--the idea being that they make the design on their half following my pattern.

my girls LOVE sticking these foam stickers on foam sheets!  they can do this for a good, long while.

so i was right that it was a hit--but again, M was too quick for me!!  she had these done in no time.  B had a harder time with it so although i made what i thought were easier ones for her, they probably should have been even more simple.

in the end, despite my best efforts, the flower-bordered paper my girlfriend brought for her daughter was paired with some crayons and had the longest staying power.  and yes, that is hard for me to admit ;)

i'm still proud of my efforts and i feel that one day my children might look back and think i worked hard at my job to keep them happy, quiet, and entertained ;)

busy bags?? yes, please!

i'm more "pinterested" than ever these days--especially now that i found the "explore" button--what a wealth of time-sucking ideas!!!

the "busy bag" is my new favorite--even though i haven't even shared them with my kids yet!  i just know (ok, hope) that they'll be into these ziploc baggies filled with fun little activities--and such perfect timing because we're in the throes of spending lots of time needing to be quietly entertained in temple!

there are so many out there in pinterest, but here are two of my favorites (mostly because they were easy enough for me to do while watching the emmy's!):

a color-matching activity:

how great is this??!  paint chips from lowes plus clothespins topped with a bit of color--remove the clothespins and match them up again!  i can see the girls loving this :)

and this gem:

popsicle sticks (which i actually had thanks to an overzealous craft run at some point last year) and sticky back velcro dots stuck to each end/both sides of the popsicle sticks.  the girls can make letters, or shapes, or whatever they want--over and over again!  i can definitely see them loving this, as they are constantly making shapes and letters whenever they have pretzel sticks for lunch!

i'll try to remember to let you know how they like these busy bags, but in the meantime i wanted to share them either way because i think they're a great idea!

school days...

M is starting kindergarten tomorrow, and i swear i tear up every time i think about it!  it is tough work sending your first child off to "real" school!!

so i figured i'd distract myself and make a new blog post--two birds with one stone :)  i haven't made too many fun lunches this summer--the girls were in camp for several weeks, and then it seems like we were on the go a lot.  but i couldn't let her start her school in career with just a regular sandwich ;)

i hope this helps her remember how much i love her and how proud of her i am :)

good luck to all the kids starting school this week--and especially to all the mommies and daddies out there too!!

pintrified cookies

remember how i said to stay tuned for some posts based on pinterest findings?  well, here's one.  there's not even much to say about these cookies except that you must try them.  for real.  i feel like they're a balanced meal.

yummmmm

i feel like i've lived up to the term "balabusta" today--let's take a look:

first, i made a few of these smoothies.  i made strawberry banana, and mixed berry (blueberry, raspberry, strawberry and blackberry).  they're "interesting", as my husband declared after trying the first strawberry banana one i made.  but then this morning he asked for more so i guess "interesting" is good.  i found these on pinterest, along with many other fun things, so stay tuned for some "pinterfied" posts in the future ;)

then i made egg salad for B for lunch.  this was the first time i've ever made egg salad.  is that weird?  i think it's weird.  probably not as weird as the fact that i've never eaten it, but i digress.  and yay for a kid who's willing to eat more than just pb&j!!  she gobbled it up--and all i did was use a hard boiled egg, a droplet (seriously--maybe 1/8 tsp??) of mayo, and some garlic salt.  soooo easy!

now on to doughs!  first i made this pizza dough.  i use garlic flavored oil and i bake at 450 degrees, not 500.  i double it and with one half i make a few crusts that i bake and then freeze--it's like having my own boboli, only totally homemade and unprocessed!  then with the other half i break it into individual dough balls and freeze those, for days when i have a little more time (and i mean a little--it takes a surprisingly little amount of time to roll out a pizza crust!).  i even made a little pizza for the girls so they could take it in their lunches tomorrow.

and i also made this rye bread because despite her pickiness, M actually likes rye bread!  and so do i :)  now, i should say that the flavor of this is delicious--but i would definitely never be able to sell this bread (not that i'm planning on it!) unless the buyer likes to make three-inch-wide sandwiches, because no matter how many different ways i've tried, the whole loaf only rises to about that high.  it's super delish, though, and no one here seems to mind (esp because we usually just use it as toast).  i only like seedless rye, so i use a spice grinder to grind the caraway seeds.

B and i had to stay home for the plumber today, but it reminded me that before i know it it will be time to stay indoors!  looks like i'll have to up my number of workout days if being home means i'll be in the kitchen more often...

lowes v. law degree

ok--i'm the first to admit that becoming a lawyer is NOT that difficult--so don't be thinking that i feel holier than thou because i did just that.  i do not.

i do, however, feel a hell of a lot holier than the lowes guy who told me my garden wouldn't grow--because guess what.  i recently made zucchini muffins with these babies:

and whenever i figure out when i'm supposed to pick this, i'll make something with this, too:

(that's a butternut squash, in case you're wondering)
and then i'll be making a salad with this beauty:

granted, it will be a salad for one person, but that's not the point!  the point is, never again will i allow myself to be discouraged by a mean guy at lowes!!

so that's what's been going on around here--i know i've disappointed my legions of fans by not keeping up with the blog, but i've been enjoying the summer and all it's bounty!!

take that, guy from lowes!! (aka a veggie update)

i recently went to lowes to see if someone could help me with the planting of my "babies".  i met a man who basically told me i started too soon with all my plants, and that nothing i planted would grow.

so then i went crying to one of my plant-growing friends, who told me to just go for it--so i did :)  after a fabulous weekend enjoying my nephew's bar mitzvah, i spent a bit of mother's day "just going for it"--and planted my "babies" in our city-dweller raised beds.  because they were either going to die inside, or outside--or they would flourish, despite the mean guy at lowes.

and guess what i found the very next day:

yep--a beautiful flower on my zucchini plant!!

and even better, guess what i found today:

yep--that's right!!  a green bean!!!!  an ACTUAL green bean!!  and what's more, there are TWO of them!!

so take that, guy from lowes!  my black thumb and i have beaten the system!!!

"z" is for zigzag

sadly, "Z" week doesn't get much better than "Y" week...;) 

sure, i could have done a zebra, or zipper--but i went with zigzag.  what can i say--i had an episode of the big bang theory to get to so i needed lunch to be packed and out of the way!

not much of a (big) bang to end the alphabet, but i'm sure M will be ok with it--especially b/c they worked on cutting out zigzags this week :)

thankfully, even though we're at the end of the alphabet, we're not at the end of the school year--i still have a whole month left of lunches to make!  hopefully my creative mojo will return soon ;)  in fact, if anyone wants to make a request, i'd be happy to try and oblige!  so feel free to make them :)

"y" is for yawn-y face

i've been dragging my feet posting this one b/c i'm just plain embarrassed--this is bad folks!  so i'll just post the pic and get it over with, ok?!

i didn't know what else to do for "Y" week!!

at least "X" week was a respectable effort--remember this??

"w" is for whale

poor M was sick AGAIN last friday!  but she wasn't when she went to bed on thursday, so i made her a lunch--and she requested a whale for "W" week

when the girls had a "picnic" (indoors, as it was pretty cold out!) with their packed lunches, the first thing M said was "why didn't you do a blow hole??"  i told her it was because i thought she was going to school and hadn't figured out a way to pack it--she was very understanding :)

"v" is for volcano

once again i am so thankful that my children are not very discriminating!

M asked for a volcano for "V" week:

man, i love this kid--when i picked her up from school she said she loved it and told me that yes, it really looked like a volcano.  i was thinking maybe i should take this opportunity to discuss the merits of telling the truth, but i figured i shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth...

veggie update and another tip

my "babies" are getting so big :)

ok, enough bragging ;)  on to one of my favorite tips:

i don't know about you, but i find a lot of recipes online--and that means either making sure i have my laptop on the kitchen counter, or i have to print them out.  and then throw them out.  and then find them and print them when i need them again. 

until i figured out a better way!  i got a three ring binder and some sheet protectors--such a simple thing!!  i only have to print out a recipe once--if i like it, it goes in the binder (and if i don't, it goes in the garbage!)  voila!  modern day recipe book :)



"v" is for veggie garden

M didn't have school last friday, and she was under the weather last wednesday...so it's no wonder that on the "first" day of spring break, we're already at each other's throats ;)

there actually wasn't a letter for school last week, but i was thinking that if there WAS a letter, it would have been "V"--and it just so happens that last week we started our own vegetable garden around here!  and i'm sort of unnaturally excited about it--as in, checking in on my "babies" many, many times a day excited ;)

i've been wanting to plant a vegetable garden for a while now, but i didn't know how and i have a black thumb, so i figured it wasn't in the cards.  but i also thought i could never make bread or crackers from scratch, and i've been doing that for a few months now, so i decided to try it out!

first we got some seeds...

planted them in biodegradable planting pods...

and placed them by a window. on very fancy folding tv trays...thankfully it's only temporary!!

and voila!!!!  this is less than 10 days!! 

you know, i have carried and birthed two babies--but this?  this is miraculous!!

so, so, SO proud of my little babies :) 

i'm figuring in about three months i'll never have to go to wegs again, right?!

"u" is for umbrella

i suppose i could have gone with unicorn, but umbrella seemed easier :)

it sort of looks like something from a dr seuss book, no?

this is how i would do it if i didn't have to pack it for school:

i can't believe how far into the alphabet we are--not only does this mean i'll have to think of other things to post about, but it means M is getting closer and closer to kindergarten....!!



"t" is for toothbrush and tooth

sorry for the delay--as you can see i've changed the name of the blog and didn't want to continue to post until i'd done so--so even though it was "U" week this week, i still have to post for "T" week :)

i couldn't decide what to do for "T" week, and M requested a tiger.  i said i didn't think i could pull that off, especially when packing it for school.  i was racking my brain and was about to just use my "T" cookie cutter when it hit me--i'm married to a dentist!  how could i NOT do something tooth-related for "T" week?!

my husband said the tooth has "external resorption of the distal root" for all the dentists out there.  for the non dentists out there, it means the root on the left hand side looks funny...;)

"s" is for sushi, and a tip

ok--the tip has nothing to do with "S" week, but i was thinking about it and i had a positive response to the muffin tin post (from people in "real life") so i thought maybe in addition to the girls' lunches, i'd start posting some tips i find useful, and whatever else i feel like talking about--hey, it's my blog, right?!

but first, "S" week--i had just been out with my girlfriends for sushi, and when i came home i remembered i still had to make M's lunch.  ugh. what to do, what to do...but wait!  sushi starts with "S"!!  and i can do that.  quickly.  so that i can put my sushi-stuffed self to bed.

i thought the cheese-stick "ginger" was a nice touch ;)  i sent some chopsticks in M's lunchbox with it too :)

apparently M's awesome teacher had the same idea b/c she brought in a toy sushi kit for "S" week--great minds think alike i guess!

speaking of great minds...here's my tip:  i keep a little magnetic pad on the fridge, and any time i think of something we need, or we use the last of something, i write it down on the paper so i don't forget to put it on my grocery list.  but here's the best part--before i leave the house, i sometimes take a pic of the list with my phone--that way if i get to the store unexpectedly, i have my list!  come on--before you roll your eyes and think "i can't believe i read this far and this is it?!"--how many times have you gotten to the grocery store and either forgot your list or lost it, or just didn't have it b/c you didn't realize you'd get to the store??  huh??  right.  you're welcome.

happy lunching!