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!!