Clean Finger Painting

Posted on May 11, 2013 by

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Clean finger painting sounds impossible, but I came across the idea on this blog, and had to give it a try.  All you do is plop some paint, I used Crayola Kids Paint, into a Ziploc bag.  Be sure to SEAL the bag well.  Securely tape it to a door or window.  Kids can “paint” to their hearts’ content, while the sun lights up their masterpieces.

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I made one for Grant, who is nine months, and one for Julia, who is three.  Both kids loved this activity, but for different reasons.

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Nine Month Old:

  • New textures
  • Bright colors
  • Practice standing and pulling up
  • Tape to pull off

painting3

Three Year Old:

  • Gets to choose paint
  • See how colors mix
  • Drawing shapes
  • Working on numbers and letters
Of course he wanted the one he couldn't reach, because his sister's is the coolest.

Of course he wanted the one he couldn’t reach because his sister’s is the coolest.

This was a universally fun project.  Even George and I enjoyed playing with it!  Both bags are still hanging on the window, and they look very pretty.  They should last a few days before drying up.

Neither kid has touched it today, though. They are too busy whining and eating coloring books.  Actually, I shouldn’t say that.  Right now Grant is alternating between tickling the ivories, trying to touch the pretty green power button on my computer, and eating matchbox cars, while George and Julia are shopping for lumber to make a raised bed for our garden.  Whoo hoo! I hope it doesn’t rain!

We are spending Mothers’ Day weekend (since when is Mothers Day an entire weekend?) fixing up the garden and celebrating family birthdays.  My nephew is 14 today!  Happy Mothers’ Day to all the moms out there, and happy birthday, Scott!

Posted in Toddler-Approved | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Thursday Favorite Things

Posted on May 1, 2013 by

iced tea

My favorite thing on this beautiful spring day is this jar of refreshing iced tea.  I brewed a cup of black tea, let it cool, then added it to a jar full of lemons and ice cubes.  I used a Cuppow lid to turn it into a travel mug.  Delightful!

But today I have TWO favorite things:  I get to be the co-host for Thursday Favorite Things from the blog, Katherine’s Corner.  I enjoy posting my latest blog entries on her blog hop, and finding other fun blogs to follow.  If you wish, follow the links and go ahead and post your favorite thing on her blog!

Here’s How…

katherines corner

It’s Time For Thursday Favorite Things! Thursday favorite things is where you can link your favorite post or write a post about your favorite things and share it with old and new followers. You gain visibility for your blog and make bloggy friends too!

Please share the hop with your readers and let Katherine know if you would like to co-host with her.

Remember to leave her a comment if you are a new follower so she can follow you back

Here are the rules, yes there are rules. But just a few: Please DO NOT link and run…visit a few of the wonderful blogs that are sharing at the hop.

  • Follow Katherines Corner preferably through Email it’s on her right sidebar (or facebook, twitter, bloglovin, etc. they are on her sidebar too) And My Blog too
  • Visit as many blogs in the list as you can, please leave a comment so they know you stopped by!
  • Share the button or a link back on your post. Grab the hop button code from Katherines button page It’s always nice to have the hop button on your post. It IS NOT mandatory; but a Link back to Katherines Corner is always appreciated :-)
  • No adult content blogs or links directly to your shops please
  • Yes you can link giveaways ( they are everyone’s favorite thing) Add your giveaways to the Win It Page at Katherines Corner too! 

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Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

Posted in Updates | Tagged , | 21 Comments

Freezer Cooking with Once a Month Mom

Posted on April 30, 2013 by

mealsI recently subscribed to Once a Month Mom, a website that offers different menus that are suitable for freezing and instructions for how to do it all in one day.  The idea of having enough breakfasts, lunches, and dinners in my freezer to last a month sounded too good to be true.  Well, the fact is you have to work really hard for it.  The meals don’t just appear in your freezer. However, at one week post-crazy cooking day, I am already loving this method and looking forward to next month.

I spent a lot of time reading through the site and going over all the menus before I decided to subscribe.  Without a subscription, you can have access to everything except the comprehensive grocery list, labels, and the step by step directions for how to cook all the recipes smoothly in one day. At the first of each month, the site publishes comprehensive menu plans for Whole Foods, Gluten Dairy Free, Traditional, Vegetarian, Baby Food, Paleo, and Diet.  I finally decided to cook the April Diet Menu.

Shopping wasn’t too bad because the menu comes with a ready-made list.  I already had many of the ingredients on the list, so my total grocery bill for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for the entire month was about $200.  We still need to buy things like vegetables and milk weekly, but I am anticipating a significant drop in our monthly grocery bill.

Cooking everything didn’t go as well as I wanted it to.  This was the week that we had horrible rain and flooding.  I was at the store when the rain started, and came home with grocery bags full of puddles. Yes, it rained IN the grocery bags.

All this cooking tired him out!

All this cooking tired him out!

I had planned to cook everything that Sunday, with the kids out of the house, but it just didn’t work out that way.    I am hoping that I can set aside several hours on a Sunday next month to get everything cooked.  I also made a few dishes ahead of time, which saved a few hours on cooking day.

sesame

So, after about eight hours total of cooking, here is what I have squirreled away in the freezer (each recipe makes enough for two meals):

Breakfasts:

  • Sweet Potato Hash
  • Ham and Tomato Cups
  • Chocolate Banana Smoothie

Lunches:

  • Roasted Red Pepper Tuna Salad
  • Santa Fe Beans and Rice
  • Broccoli Frittata

Dinners:

  • Black Bean Enchiladas
  • Sesame Chicken
  • Ham and Pineapple Fried Rice
  • Sloppy Joes
  • Beef and Barley Skillet
  • Slow Cooker French Onion Soup
  • BBQ Salmon

I didn’t make the Roasted Cauliflower Soup or the Mexican Tamale Pies because it seemed like too much work, and I wasn’t sure my family would like them.

french onion

Our favorites so far are the Santa Fe Beans and Rice and the Sloppy Joes.  Yum!

What I like most about freezer cooking so far is that my focus is off food.  Now instead of worrying about dinner, and trying to find time to cook during the time of day when my kids are not at their finest, I can just spend time with them.  Since food is on the back burner (groan), I can focus on my family, on exercising, on gardening, and on other interests.  I have only been doing this for a week, but I’ve already lost a little weight! Woo hoo!

Happy cooking, everybody :)

Posted in Cooking | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Gardening with the Kids

Posted on April 29, 2013 by

spring flowersFinally, after a very rainy April, we had some beautiful weather last Friday afternoon. The kids and I made it out to the backyard and started some lettuce, petunia, and herb seeds.  By “made it,” I mean it took about fifteen minutes to convince Julia that this would be a fun time, figure out how to get Grant to sit outside without falling on the patio, and gather all the supplies we would need.  It was worth it, though because once we got started, my mood improved, and so did theirs.  It’s amazing what a little dirt and sunshine can do for the psyche.

Maybe Grant was just mad that I made him ride in a pink stroller.

Maybe Grant was just mad that I made him sit in a pink stroller.

I am determined that our kids will not be afraid to get their hands dirty, so I encouraged Julia to help me as much as possible with the gardening.

Julia helped plant dill and basil seeds.

Julia helped plant dill and basil seeds.

She was more than happy to provide all the water necessary (and more) with her watering can.  Grant was kind of nonplussed about everything until I took him out of his stroller and set him on the grass. He loved that, especially finding pieces of straw to wave around and chew on.

grantspringThen his sister joined him, and that look of terror returned.  I never know what she’s going to do around him.  This time she went from a roar to a hug, thankfully!

hugs

Obviously, gardening conditions are not ideal at This Bountiful Backyard, but I’m planning to grow as much as we can this year.  We will plant lots of flowers instead of veggies, so there will be less work at harvest time.  I’m also joining a CSA this year, Steele Faith Farm, so we are sure to have lots of veggies throughout the season.  Pretty soon my gardening helpers will be old enough to actually help, but until then, I will try to instill in them a simple love for gardening and nature.

Happy Spring!

Linking up to LHITS DIY LINKY

Posted in Gardening, Toddler-Approved | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Napkin Folding 101

Posted on April 17, 2013 by

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My very first job was as a busser at Starved Rock Lodge. It was a grueling job of table clearing, water pouring, and people pleasing.  I remember climbing into my car at the end of my shift, taking off my shoes and driving home barefoot because my feet hurt so much.  (Come to think of it, I probably just needed bigger shoes.)  Then in bed, although I wasn’t a waitress, I would wake up in a cold sweat from “waitress dreams,” those dreams in which you replay the disasters and stresses of the evening.

I sometimes still shudder to think of the mistakes I made: putting leftover pasta in a plastic baggie, throwing away someone’s freshly delivered tuna sandwich because I thought he’d left, but he was just at the buffet, spilling water all over someone’s camera (it wasn’t ruined).  Yep, I’m sure they were all sad to see me go at the end of the summer!

When I wasn’t showering guests with my hospitality, I was folding napkins.  We had to fold stacks and stacks of napkins, probably hundreds throughout the day, but that was my favorite thing to do because it gave me a break from running around and touching food.  It also kept the guests safe from my blunders.  I have to say, I was a pretty awesome napkin folder.

1

Start with a square napkin, preferably ironed and starched (yeah right).

Fold in half diagonally.

Fold in half diagonally.

4

Fold left corner to the top.

Fold right corner to the top.

Fold right corner to the top.

Fold it in half.

Fold it in half.

Stand it up.

Stand it up.

You are now ready to enjoy an elegant dinner, or…

Do you like my hat?

Do you like my hat?

a lovely hat.

What was your first job?  What skills did you learn from it?

Posted in Around the House, DIY | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Easter Celebration and Roasted Baby Artichokes

Posted on April 11, 2013 by

artichokes2

Did I mention that I love artichokes?  Actually, I “very love” them, as my daughter would say.  For Easter dinner, I made some roasted artichokes to go with our leg of lamb, scalloped potatoes, salad, and lemon cheesecake.  Everything was so delicious, thanks to everybody’s help.

I made Julia Child's recipe for Roasted Leg of Lamb. The hardest part was finding a store that sold lamb.

I made Julia Child’s recipe for Roasted Leg of Lamb. The hardest part was finding a store that sold lamb!

But let’s get to the artichokes!  I found this recipe through Ziplist, but it was originally posted on the cleverly-named blog, What’s Cooking, Good Looking.  If you would like the exact recipe, simply follow the above link!

artichokes

Peel more leaves than this!

Basically, though, you find some baby artichokes, and peel the outer leaves off. I should have peeled off more than I did, but I didn’t want to waste the delicious leaves. Next time I make these, I will be more liberal in my leaf peeling.

Then, you trim the tops and bottoms. Be careful when cutting off the stem to leave enough of the heart. That is the best part!  When they are trimmed, cut each artichoke in half.

Artichokes are very photogenic.

Artichokes are very photogenic.

 

Soak them in water so they don’t turn brown.  Blanch them for about three minutes. You don’t want to cook them all the way through because they are going in the oven as well.

Remove them from the boiling water, and place them on a *foil-lined pan.  Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and Asiago cheese, and place in the oven at 425 degrees until they are roasted, about 15 minutes.

The perfect accompaniment to this dish was the lemon garlic aoili sauce that is also on the website.  Oh my goodness!  It’s mayo, lemon, garlic, and salt and pepper. Heavenly.

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*Here’s a fun fact!   Apparently something in the artichoke reacted with the aluminum foil, and they turned blue! You can’t really tell from this photo, but they were definitely blue.  They turned back to green after I roasted them, though.

easter

But it wasn’t all lamb and artichoke eating at our house on Easter!  We started the morning by going to 8:00 Mass, which was amazing that we got out of the house that early. I think we shocked the kids, because they weren’t really even that awake, thus they were more compliant.  We will have to try the early mass again.

As soon as we got home, we discovered that the Easter Bunny had been to our house! Julia and Grant loved their Easter baskets, especially the giant rice crispy treat from Aunt Dodi, the carrot bubbles, and the new watercolors.

When they awoke from their naps later that afternoon, the kids were greeted by Grandma and Grandpa, Grammy and Papa, Uncle Jarryd, Aunt Cori and Uncle Ed, and Cousins Scott and Ethan!  Everybody went outside to discover that the Easter Bunny had been to our house again during naptime, and this time he had left eggs filled with candy.  The cousins loved the Easter egg hunt, and the adults had just as much fun helping them find where the bunny had hidden all the eggs.

We are very blessed and thankful to be able to celebrate this important holiday with our family. We love you all, near and far!

Posted in Baking, Cooking, Family Fun, Holidays | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

TWD: Rustic Potato Loaves

Posted on April 3, 2013 by

rustic 1

Better late than never!  I have been very busy over here, party planning for a very special soon-to-be-three-year-old’s birthday party!

But without further ado…

Allow me introduce to you another stellar bread recipe from Baking with Julia. This versatile recipe features white flour and russet potatoes, although you could substitute whole wheat flour, add herbs, and gussy it up in numerous ways.  I wonder what would happen if I tried whole wheat flour and sweet potatoes…

rusticcollage

I think if it was up to me to name, I’d call it Backwards Bread because as you are kneading it together, the dough starts out crumbly, like you are making a pie crust, and then magically comes together into a soft ball after about three minutes of kneading.

The recipe instructs you to spray water on the interior of your oven in order to create steam to yield a hard crust and soft middle.  I just used the Five Minutes a Day method and dumped a cup of water into my broiler pan. That did a fine job of creating steam without the hassle of finding a clean spray bottle.

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It made two loaves, one of which was consumed within two days. I saved the other for Easter dinner, but by then, four days later, it had lost its freshness. Bummer.

I would certainly make this recipe again, but I would freeze the second loaf, or make sure that both loaves were consumed in a few days to ensure maximum freshness.

My youngest sous chef helps out by playing with his farm magnets. He loves them!

My youngest sous chef helps out by playing with his farm magnets. He loves them!

To see the recipe for Rustic Potato Loaves, please visit Simply Sweet, and to see others’ renditions of Backwards Bread, visit the baking group, Tuesdays with Dorie.

Posted in Baking, Bread Box, Tuesdays with Dorie | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments