Well the lovely ScatteredMom is talking lunches over at her little corner of the interwebs. I wish I had been paying attention earlier when she said we should be taking pictures... d'oh.
I find lunches hard both for Abby and myself. Our school is on a balanced day program. For those of you who don't know, a balanced day is set up in five parts. A morning teaching session followed by a 40 minute eating/outdoor time break (20 minutes for each), another teaching session, another 40 minute eating/outdoor time break and then the final afternoon teaching session and then home time.
Twenty minutes isn't that long of a break to eat, especially when you're a kid because there's just so much other stuff to concentrate on. I rely on sandwiches and easy to eat snack type things rather than a full meal. Typically I'll pack a sandwich, Abby likes four kinds of sandwiches - one thin slice of ham with mustard, peanut butter and jam, grilled cheese or an egg white omelet on an english muffin. All on whole wheat bread. The peanut butter is not allowed at school, so she usually takes the first option, although, occasionally she'll ask for a grilled cheese. The egg white omelet is relatively new to the line up and hasn't made an appearance at school yet. Every once in a very long while she'll ask for pasta in her thermos, but not very often.
I round out the main course with an combination of the following:
a muffin - oatmeal chocolate chip seems to be the house favourite
a cheese string - these have lost their appeal, so they'll be out of rotation for a while. Abby is not a milk or cheese fan, but she liked those.
whole wheat crackers and some turkey - This is great as an added extra when it's pizza day (once a week) or sub day (once a month)
pudding or a yougurt - only lemon pie will do.
popcorn - another favourite snack 'round here.
cookies - only home made around here. Usually chocolate or buttersctoch chip
high fibre granola bar - these have lost their lustre too. Time to go back to homemade.
dry cereal - another item that has run it's course for a while.
Recently we found out that she was eating most of her lunch for first break and then had nothing for her second break. As a result she was coming home from school starving. So now we talk about what's in her lunch and what items she'll eat first and what she'll leave for the afternoon. That seems to be working out better.
You may have noticed that there's no mention of a drink. My kids don't drink pop or very much juice. Grandma Sandi will occasionally bring over some fruit and veggie juice and Grandma Linda has koolaid jammers at her place for them. My girls, by and large, drink water. As I mentioned Abby is not a milk fan, but will have the occasional chocolate milk with her pizza lunch. It varies month to month whether or not she wants it. We order lunch for a month in advance. Maya loves milk, chocolate milk specifically, but we buy syrup and make our own and the amount that goes in isn't much. Abby takes refillable water bottles to school and keeps them refilled from the fountain.
It's far from perfect at this point, but it's evolving and getting better and nobody said mounting a revolution was going to be quick or easy.
What do you pack for your kids lunch?
As always, thanks to the fantastic Scattered Mom for hosting food revolution fridays.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
sign of the times
Tonight, my girls who are four and almost eight years old, by the way, spent tonight texting each other. Yes, I said texting each other. Oh and it gets even better. They were sitting about 10 feet apart at the time.
Maya was in the kitchen with Granny and she wanted to send a message to Daddy. So Granny helped her text ~ Hi Daddy ~ to Mike's phone and that was all very exciting. So much so that Abby wanted to get in on the fun. So she's sitting in the living room with Mike's phone texting very important stuff like ~ You smell! ~ back to Maya. And lather, rinse, repeat for the next 30 minutes.
Thank goodness for unlimited texting plans.
Maya was in the kitchen with Granny and she wanted to send a message to Daddy. So Granny helped her text ~ Hi Daddy ~ to Mike's phone and that was all very exciting. So much so that Abby wanted to get in on the fun. So she's sitting in the living room with Mike's phone texting very important stuff like ~ You smell! ~ back to Maya. And lather, rinse, repeat for the next 30 minutes.
Thank goodness for unlimited texting plans.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
what's cooking wednesday - sticky chicky
When you eat as much chicken as we have been, you're always on the look out for ways to make it a little bit different. I adapted this recipe from one I got from the Eat, Shrink and Be Merry cookbook. And since I'm not feeling very well at all tonight, it's going to be a bare bones post.
Sticky Chicky
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup liquid honey or maple syrup
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp grated ginger root
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
Basically you're going to whisk all the ingredients together in a medium bowl. Pour it over the chicken. making sure it's all evenly coated. The recipe says to cook it in a 400 degree F oven, but I grilled it on the barbecue. Oh and I used boneless, skinless thighs for a change. They also suggest thickening the left over marinade into a sauce, but I just used it as a marinade and dumped what was left over. Just make sure you don't cook this on high heat. Between the sugar in the bbq sauce and the honey/maple syrup you may start burning the outside before the inside is cooked through. Definitely a keeper.
What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?
What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page. *All front page links will be deleted!* Don't make me be a jerk. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.
So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html
I'll let you in on a little secret, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday
Sticky Chicky
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup liquid honey or maple syrup
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp grated ginger root
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
Basically you're going to whisk all the ingredients together in a medium bowl. Pour it over the chicken. making sure it's all evenly coated. The recipe says to cook it in a 400 degree F oven, but I grilled it on the barbecue. Oh and I used boneless, skinless thighs for a change. They also suggest thickening the left over marinade into a sauce, but I just used it as a marinade and dumped what was left over. Just make sure you don't cook this on high heat. Between the sugar in the bbq sauce and the honey/maple syrup you may start burning the outside before the inside is cooked through. Definitely a keeper.
What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?
What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page. *All front page links will be deleted!* Don't make me be a jerk. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.
So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html
I'll let you in on a little secret, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday
Sunday, April 25, 2010
sunday love
Well the weather may have been miserable, but there was still much to love about this Sunday.
Walking to church with umbrellas. The girls thought that was pretty great. What little girl doesn't love an umbrella?
Maya actually sang this morning. Usually she just stands up there and scowls at the congregation, but today she sang. And it melted my heart into a puddle of goo because they were singing Jesus, Jesus, Jesus in the morning, Jesus in the evening, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus when the sun goes down. Dudes, that is a lot of 's' sounds for my lispy little girl to make. Adorable!
Now Maya rarely sings in church, but the choir director tells me she sings out the loudest at practice. Maya has crazy love for the choir director and I am right with her on that one. She is an absolute doll. She's just a young high school girl but she is so talented she knocks my socks off every week. Seriously, Mike is getting so sick of me telling him how talented she is each and every week. Whateves, I only mention it five, maybe six times. Even if you don't believe in God you wouldn't regret sitting through a service just to hear her play. Yeah, that good.
I wore a sweater to church today I'd hadn't fit into in quite some time. It fit today. Michael was suitably impressed, so were three other lovely ladies at church. Compliments are nice, yo!
After coffee at church both my girls pulled a chair up to the sink and happily helped out with the dishes.
Flowers from my new neighbour that she cut from her garden. Gorgeous daffodils. More importantly I think she still likes me after she popped in for a chat and had to climb over my vacuum hose that was in the middle of the entrance.
Leftover DQ ice cream cake in my freezer. A gift from my original bestie Robin for my birthday. I would have been happy with that, but she also had the first season of GLEE!! for me. I may have squealed a little bit when I opened it.
Dinner out, thanks to Grandma Sandi and Papa Old Beard.
Michael bathed the kids tonight. I had done the 6784 previous, so he kinda owed me.
Not a bad little Sunday, huh? How was yours?
Walking to church with umbrellas. The girls thought that was pretty great. What little girl doesn't love an umbrella?
Maya actually sang this morning. Usually she just stands up there and scowls at the congregation, but today she sang. And it melted my heart into a puddle of goo because they were singing Jesus, Jesus, Jesus in the morning, Jesus in the evening, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus when the sun goes down. Dudes, that is a lot of 's' sounds for my lispy little girl to make. Adorable!
Now Maya rarely sings in church, but the choir director tells me she sings out the loudest at practice. Maya has crazy love for the choir director and I am right with her on that one. She is an absolute doll. She's just a young high school girl but she is so talented she knocks my socks off every week. Seriously, Mike is getting so sick of me telling him how talented she is each and every week. Whateves, I only mention it five, maybe six times. Even if you don't believe in God you wouldn't regret sitting through a service just to hear her play. Yeah, that good.
I wore a sweater to church today I'd hadn't fit into in quite some time. It fit today. Michael was suitably impressed, so were three other lovely ladies at church. Compliments are nice, yo!
After coffee at church both my girls pulled a chair up to the sink and happily helped out with the dishes.
Flowers from my new neighbour that she cut from her garden. Gorgeous daffodils. More importantly I think she still likes me after she popped in for a chat and had to climb over my vacuum hose that was in the middle of the entrance.
Leftover DQ ice cream cake in my freezer. A gift from my original bestie Robin for my birthday. I would have been happy with that, but she also had the first season of GLEE!! for me. I may have squealed a little bit when I opened it.
Dinner out, thanks to Grandma Sandi and Papa Old Beard.
Michael bathed the kids tonight. I had done the 6784 previous, so he kinda owed me.
Not a bad little Sunday, huh? How was yours?
Saturday, April 24, 2010
maya and her first day of school
So how was Maya's visit to school?
Pretty freakin' awesome.
I mean it was Maya, so it was not without it's trials, but they were all relatively cleared up in short order. We got to the school about 20 minutes into the open house once ML and I had dispensed our kids off on the bus and gathered our own crap together. The place was freakin packed already. I picked up my number, you know just like at the deli.... number 7 now being served. I was number 12 and I think they were at number 5 when we got there.
Our duty as Council reps was to hang out by the doors and hand out the sheet that explained all the different stations or storefronts at the open house and chat up the parents.
And how did Maya do as we worked our way around the different storefronts?
The Registration Centre: Manned by our Office Administrator. It went relatively quick, since we already have a kid in the school so we could skip all the "stuff you need to know stuff" like social history visits and staggered school start dates. Maya stayed for about 30 seconds of the process and then wandered back over to the play doh table.
Meet The Principal: Maya flat out refused to talk to the principal or draw a picture while I talked to the principal or accept the gift of free crayons. Yay, off to a great start. As for me the Principal mentioned that our JK enrollment this year is high enough that it *may* require a blended JK/SK class and asked our preference for MyPie. I gave my okay for Maya to be placed in the blended class if necessary.
Meet The Teacher: We did a bit better with this. Maya was still settling in and adjusting to the controlled chaos that was the kindergarten room that morning. She did speak to her teacher and showed off her mad name writing skills. The teacher let Maya pick out a story book to take with her, a little gift from the school.
Meet the Speech Pathologist: I talked with her briefly about Maya's lisp. Maya of course refused to speak so the pathologist could actually hear the lisp, but we did eventually get her to make her 's' sound. The pathologist didn't seem to concerned after finding out that neither Mike or myself lisped as children. She did mention that they expect children to have mastered the 's' sound by the age of 6, but they'll take a look at her when she starts school.
View a video About the Kindergarten Program: I'm not going to lie to you I'm not sure if one was even playing. Between talking to the teacher, principal & pathologist and hanging out with ML I didn't even notice.
Meet our Safety Officer: Maya wanted no part of this at all when we got there. Community volunteers were there finger printing children. After Maya acclimatized to the situation she agreed to go over with ML.
Allow Your Child To Do Kindergarten Activities: This is pretty much where she stayed, playing with the Play Doh.
Learn About the Early Years Program: I didn't even stop by here. I'm very confident that Maya is ready for school.
The last half hour of the open house Maya spent with ML with her reading group. ML volunteers on Fridays to help out with a group of kids who need some extra reading help. Maya thought it was very cool she got to tag-a-long. ML even took her past Abby's classroom so she could say hi, which thrilled both the Abster and MyPie beyond measure. All the while I was doing my best Cinderella imitation and helping clean up after the open house.
So yeah, pretty freakin' awesome. Maya was not impressed to hear that she won't be going back to school for months, though. Poor little thing. To celebrate our great morning we grabbed lunch out with ML and then a mini shopping spree at Michael's where I planned out what to buy with my gift card. Hello, cake decorating turn table at 40% off next week. I'll be back to see you, then.
Pretty freakin' awesome.
I mean it was Maya, so it was not without it's trials, but they were all relatively cleared up in short order. We got to the school about 20 minutes into the open house once ML and I had dispensed our kids off on the bus and gathered our own crap together. The place was freakin packed already. I picked up my number, you know just like at the deli.... number 7 now being served. I was number 12 and I think they were at number 5 when we got there.
Our duty as Council reps was to hang out by the doors and hand out the sheet that explained all the different stations or storefronts at the open house and chat up the parents.
And how did Maya do as we worked our way around the different storefronts?
The Registration Centre: Manned by our Office Administrator. It went relatively quick, since we already have a kid in the school so we could skip all the "stuff you need to know stuff" like social history visits and staggered school start dates. Maya stayed for about 30 seconds of the process and then wandered back over to the play doh table.
Meet The Principal: Maya flat out refused to talk to the principal or draw a picture while I talked to the principal or accept the gift of free crayons. Yay, off to a great start. As for me the Principal mentioned that our JK enrollment this year is high enough that it *may* require a blended JK/SK class and asked our preference for MyPie. I gave my okay for Maya to be placed in the blended class if necessary.
Meet The Teacher: We did a bit better with this. Maya was still settling in and adjusting to the controlled chaos that was the kindergarten room that morning. She did speak to her teacher and showed off her mad name writing skills. The teacher let Maya pick out a story book to take with her, a little gift from the school.
Meet the Speech Pathologist: I talked with her briefly about Maya's lisp. Maya of course refused to speak so the pathologist could actually hear the lisp, but we did eventually get her to make her 's' sound. The pathologist didn't seem to concerned after finding out that neither Mike or myself lisped as children. She did mention that they expect children to have mastered the 's' sound by the age of 6, but they'll take a look at her when she starts school.
View a video About the Kindergarten Program: I'm not going to lie to you I'm not sure if one was even playing. Between talking to the teacher, principal & pathologist and hanging out with ML I didn't even notice.
Meet our Safety Officer: Maya wanted no part of this at all when we got there. Community volunteers were there finger printing children. After Maya acclimatized to the situation she agreed to go over with ML.
Allow Your Child To Do Kindergarten Activities: This is pretty much where she stayed, playing with the Play Doh.
Learn About the Early Years Program: I didn't even stop by here. I'm very confident that Maya is ready for school.
The last half hour of the open house Maya spent with ML with her reading group. ML volunteers on Fridays to help out with a group of kids who need some extra reading help. Maya thought it was very cool she got to tag-a-long. ML even took her past Abby's classroom so she could say hi, which thrilled both the Abster and MyPie beyond measure. All the while I was doing my best Cinderella imitation and helping clean up after the open house.
So yeah, pretty freakin' awesome. Maya was not impressed to hear that she won't be going back to school for months, though. Poor little thing. To celebrate our great morning we grabbed lunch out with ML and then a mini shopping spree at Michael's where I planned out what to buy with my gift card. Hello, cake decorating turn table at 40% off next week. I'll be back to see you, then.
Friday, April 23, 2010
food revolution friday #4
This week's post is all about the 80/20 ratio. I can't remember where I read this, but it was on someone's blog as I blog hopped around one night. The notion that while this family tried to eat as healthy and as free of processed foods as possible they still did order in pizza or head out to the golden arches and the question was.... is that okay or is there no room in a healthy life style for such things? Someone left a comment saying as long as you followed the 80/20 rule it was all good, in their opinion anyway... and please remember I'm paraphrasing here. So the idea is you eat healthy, fresh foods 80% of the time, the other 20% is for the not so healthy choices.
I like that idea! I like it a lot. I have often remarked that I love weight watchers because I'm still allowed to eat bacon and I don't want to live in a world where I can't have bacon. That being said, I've had bacon twice in four months. I mean sure I could eat it, but the points I'd have to spend on it make it pretty cost prohibitive, in my miserly opinion anyway. Here's the thing with weight watchers, you become very stingy with your points very quickly. Mike and I have both been known to look something up in the book and be all... p'shaw, 5 points for a serving of that!! No way, I'll pass thanks and eat a kagillion carrots sticks for zero points instead. See how that works?
I think we do better than 80/20 around here, maybe we're closer to 90/10. I think we've ordered in pizza once in four months. I've had red meat twice in the same time period. We rarely buy junk food. I mean it works it's way into the buggy every now and then. This weekend is jammie movie night, so I picked up some sun chips, whole grain crackers and some roasted red pepper hummus. Previously it would have been doritos, ruffles and some delicious full fat chip dip.
It was also my birthday this past week and I celebrated with dinner out at my favourite restaurant, a gift from family. I ordered my favourite dish, enjoyed it immensely and felt zero guilt about it. On my birthday I cooked my very own birthday feast because there were a couple of specific things I wanted to have for dinner. So I cooked them and enjoyed them immensely and felt zero guilt about it. It helped that I did my official weigh in before the birthday feast and lost 2.3 pounds (15.6 lost total).
I used to watch Sandi Richard's show Fixing Dinner all the time and I always loved her closing remarks.... "fixing dinner isn't just about food, it's about family". Sometimes food is more than just fuel for the body. Sometimes it's the experience. Like a birthday feast or an impromptu lunch out with a friend. And I've found in the past four months if you do your best to eat well most of the time it makes those special occasions that much more delicious.
Thanks as always to the lovely Scattered Mom for hosting Food Revolution Fridays. Did you know she was interviewed this past week for an article that appeared in the Globe and Mail? Go take a read it's a great article and not just because she mentions me and the Abster in it. We're the Mom who wants to loose weight the the daughter who I switched to yogurt.
I like that idea! I like it a lot. I have often remarked that I love weight watchers because I'm still allowed to eat bacon and I don't want to live in a world where I can't have bacon. That being said, I've had bacon twice in four months. I mean sure I could eat it, but the points I'd have to spend on it make it pretty cost prohibitive, in my miserly opinion anyway. Here's the thing with weight watchers, you become very stingy with your points very quickly. Mike and I have both been known to look something up in the book and be all... p'shaw, 5 points for a serving of that!! No way, I'll pass thanks and eat a kagillion carrots sticks for zero points instead. See how that works?
I think we do better than 80/20 around here, maybe we're closer to 90/10. I think we've ordered in pizza once in four months. I've had red meat twice in the same time period. We rarely buy junk food. I mean it works it's way into the buggy every now and then. This weekend is jammie movie night, so I picked up some sun chips, whole grain crackers and some roasted red pepper hummus. Previously it would have been doritos, ruffles and some delicious full fat chip dip.
It was also my birthday this past week and I celebrated with dinner out at my favourite restaurant, a gift from family. I ordered my favourite dish, enjoyed it immensely and felt zero guilt about it. On my birthday I cooked my very own birthday feast because there were a couple of specific things I wanted to have for dinner. So I cooked them and enjoyed them immensely and felt zero guilt about it. It helped that I did my official weigh in before the birthday feast and lost 2.3 pounds (15.6 lost total).
I used to watch Sandi Richard's show Fixing Dinner all the time and I always loved her closing remarks.... "fixing dinner isn't just about food, it's about family". Sometimes food is more than just fuel for the body. Sometimes it's the experience. Like a birthday feast or an impromptu lunch out with a friend. And I've found in the past four months if you do your best to eat well most of the time it makes those special occasions that much more delicious.
Thanks as always to the lovely Scattered Mom for hosting Food Revolution Fridays. Did you know she was interviewed this past week for an article that appeared in the Globe and Mail? Go take a read it's a great article and not just because she mentions me and the Abster in it. We're the Mom who wants to loose weight the the daughter who I switched to yogurt.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
tomorrow's the big day
It's been a little bit like Christmas Eve around here tonight. For MyPie anyway. Tomorrow she's going for her kindergarten registration, which at our school is an open house sort of deal. Maya will go to different stations to meet her teacher, the Principal, secretary, representatives of Parent's council as well as tour the classroom and hand in her registration paper work. To say she's excited would be an understatement of epic proportions.
She is disappointed that she doesn't get to ride the school bus tomorrow, but we are traveling with ML and she's pretty dang psyched about that. I will be pulling double duty tomorrow as the parent of a new student as well as a council rep, so Maya gets to hang out in her new classroom for the entire 2 hours. She's going to be over the moon. As it turns out Abby's teacher will be helping out with the open house as well and Maya thinks that's pretty cool beans too. So much excitement. I can only hope she wakes up on the right side of the bed and shows everybody her incredibly sweet adorable side. Let's introduce them to cranky Maya after the new school year has officially started.
She is disappointed that she doesn't get to ride the school bus tomorrow, but we are traveling with ML and she's pretty dang psyched about that. I will be pulling double duty tomorrow as the parent of a new student as well as a council rep, so Maya gets to hang out in her new classroom for the entire 2 hours. She's going to be over the moon. As it turns out Abby's teacher will be helping out with the open house as well and Maya thinks that's pretty cool beans too. So much excitement. I can only hope she wakes up on the right side of the bed and shows everybody her incredibly sweet adorable side. Let's introduce them to cranky Maya after the new school year has officially started.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
what's cooking wednesay - the birthday edition
So I was already to post my what's cooking wednesday post last night, right after I finished watching Glee, which was awesome. All Madonna episode... genius! So one minute I'm on the couch watching them sing the hell out of Like a Virgin. The next minute it's many hours later and I've got a crick in my neck from the way I fell asleep on that dang couch. Oh and I missed Parenthood, my secret boyfriend Peter Krause will not be happy that I stood him up. I must be getting old!
True story.. I am getting old... er. Today is my birthday. To celebrate I cooked myself a birthday feast. Now before you go giving Mike a hard time about that. I really wanted to cook dinner. Since Weight Watchers came into our lives there's a lot of foods that no longer pass our lips. I decided to live it up on my birthday and make my favourite things to eat...
Stuffed Mushrooms - oh my goodness I love these so much. So does everyone else because there was none left by the end of dinner. I'm not going to lie to you either, there was only four of us eating them. Everyone was nice enough to let me have the last one.
Macaroni and cheese - hands down the best mac and cheese recipe I've ever had! I mean any mac n cheese is pretty great in my books, but this is just yummy. Do yourself a favour though and load it into a roast pan and "bake" it on your barbecue, with indirect heat of course. It just adds this nice subtle smokiness to it. So yummy!
We rounded out the meal with chicken burgers, Grandma Linda's yummy mandarin orange salad and chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.
So after four months of healthy eating, that's what I was craving. I planned it great too, very little in the leftover category.
What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?
What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page. *All front page links will be deleted!* Don't make me be a jerk. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.
So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html
I'll let you in on a little secret, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday
True story.. I am getting old... er. Today is my birthday. To celebrate I cooked myself a birthday feast. Now before you go giving Mike a hard time about that. I really wanted to cook dinner. Since Weight Watchers came into our lives there's a lot of foods that no longer pass our lips. I decided to live it up on my birthday and make my favourite things to eat...
Stuffed Mushrooms - oh my goodness I love these so much. So does everyone else because there was none left by the end of dinner. I'm not going to lie to you either, there was only four of us eating them. Everyone was nice enough to let me have the last one.
Macaroni and cheese - hands down the best mac and cheese recipe I've ever had! I mean any mac n cheese is pretty great in my books, but this is just yummy. Do yourself a favour though and load it into a roast pan and "bake" it on your barbecue, with indirect heat of course. It just adds this nice subtle smokiness to it. So yummy!
We rounded out the meal with chicken burgers, Grandma Linda's yummy mandarin orange salad and chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.
So after four months of healthy eating, that's what I was craving. I planned it great too, very little in the leftover category.
What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?
What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page. *All front page links will be deleted!* Don't make me be a jerk. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.
So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html
I'll let you in on a little secret, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday
Monday, April 19, 2010
linky love
I am so jealous, Leah, one of my bloggy buddies got the chance to meet the Pioneer Woman this past weekend. I'm so glad that she took the opportunity to go. I think that book tour thing of hers needs to come to Canada.
Big shout out to my gal the Widney Woman, who tried to help me out with Knowing Me, Knowing You this month. You know, since I was taking forever to get a post up. Funnily enough I had my post scheduled to post the same day. Thanks for keeping on top of me for that:)
Do you remember my wonderful and amazing pal, The Mommy Project. Do y'all miss MP as much as I do... which is crazy when you consider she's right across the dang street. But I miss her. I caught a fleeting glance of her through her dining room window this evening. Maybe one day we'll be in the same room again.... tea soon MP? For reals though!! Well MP is now The Chick Pea, photog extraordinaire. Go check out the gorgeous photos she shot of my galpal Heazer's doggie, Homer. You're going to want to take him home with you.
Shockingly, my bro is still blogging. This may be a record. He's a total designsnob nerd guy, so you may have to put up with the odd rant about fonts he hates, but every once in a while he throws out a line or two about his cool older sister and on those days his blog is dope..... what? That's what the kids are saying now right?
And did you know... I'm famous. Yep, I totally made it into Merry's Monday Mingle vlog. Go check it out and then tell her what a pretty voice she has. And great hair too... if mine would behave that nicely I'd go get it cut like that tomorrow.
Big shout out to my gal the Widney Woman, who tried to help me out with Knowing Me, Knowing You this month. You know, since I was taking forever to get a post up. Funnily enough I had my post scheduled to post the same day. Thanks for keeping on top of me for that:)
Do you remember my wonderful and amazing pal, The Mommy Project. Do y'all miss MP as much as I do... which is crazy when you consider she's right across the dang street. But I miss her. I caught a fleeting glance of her through her dining room window this evening. Maybe one day we'll be in the same room again.... tea soon MP? For reals though!! Well MP is now The Chick Pea, photog extraordinaire. Go check out the gorgeous photos she shot of my galpal Heazer's doggie, Homer. You're going to want to take him home with you.
Shockingly, my bro is still blogging. This may be a record. He's a total design
And did you know... I'm famous. Yep, I totally made it into Merry's Monday Mingle vlog. Go check it out and then tell her what a pretty voice she has. And great hair too... if mine would behave that nicely I'd go get it cut like that tomorrow.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
we barely made it back in one piece
Last week Mike pulled Abby's very first Dora bike down out of the top of the garage, dusted it off, put the training wheels back on it and presented it to a very excited MyPie. She took to it like a duck to water. Jammed her bike helmet on her head and she was off pedaling down the street with barely a look back. We took a bit of time with her, showing her how the brakes worked and how to turn it around and she was good to go. So much so that I thought a family bike ride would be a good idea. Mike had a meeting to go to, so it was just me and the girls. No problem, I can manage it.
So off we go. Abby's way out front because she's 7 and an old pro at this bike ride thing. She also knows that she can't turn the corner until I catch up to her. So there she sits, off her bike waiting for her sister and I to catch up. I am pedaling so slow, I really have no idea how I'm even keeping the bike upright so I can stay with Maya, who's doing pretty great but she's not setting any land speed records.
Wouldn't you know it she had a sudden burst of speed as we got to the corner. She was ahead of me at this point and the corner was fast approaching, a wheelchair accessible corner. I start yelling at her to stop. To use her brakes. To pedal backwards. Instead of doing any of that, she panics and does this.....
And rolls right out into the road! Abby's standing at the corner watching the whole thing unfold, so I start yelling at her to grab her sister and get her off the road. Luckily there was no traffic at that corner, although there was a gentleman in a car traveling parallel to us. Abby leaps into action, grasping Maya's bike by the handle bars and hauling it back up on the sidewalk, but she was so focused on saving her sister she pulled it right out from underneath Maya in the process. So now the bike is safely on the sidewalk and Maya is a crying, hysterical heap on the road. I look over at the guy stopped at the stop sign and he's laughing his face off at the chaos I have at my feet.
Well that just awoke the big sister bear in Abby.... Why is that guy laughing at my sister?!! Doesn't he know she's only 4 years old and she's just learning?!! He shouldn't laugh at her!! Who does he think he is?!!
Oh my she was irate(!!) and now that Maya was safely back on the sidewalk I couldn't do anything but laugh either. At that point it seemed best to cut our losses. I'm not sure how, but we managed to get ourselves turned around and back home without further incident. And it will be quite some time before I take them both bike riding by myself. And after an extensive braking lesson, Maya seems to have actually mastered the brakes. I don't think I'm confident enough to test her skills in a high pressure situation, though.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
knowing me, knowing you - april
Boy oh boy I am way late on the knowing me, knowing you thing. I'm not quite sure where April has gotten to all of the sudden. Seems like it's just flying by.
1. Do you have a library card?
I used to, back in the day. I think I may get one again. There are so many books I want to read, like Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson to name just one, that it seems like it would be very cost effective for me. Also, Abby brought home a library card application from school and she's very into the idea of her own library card.
2. To carry on with the theme, would you purchase a digital reader like a kindle?
I have to say initially I thought yes, I'd like to have one. Giving it further thought, I can't imagine curling up in bed with a kindle instead of an actual book. Just doesn't seem right.
3. Which night of the week is fright night (aka your busiest night of the week)?
Thursday, no question. Abby gets off the bus and Grandma Sandi takes her right to the stable for riding lessons. Actually Abby has a snack while Grandma gets her horse ready for her riding lesson at 4:30. Abs has a half hour riding lesson and then it's home for 90 minutes-ish and off to church for a half hour choir practice. I really don't like the girls to be involved in a lot of activities. Seems hard to believe with that schedule. Really it's the only two things she's involved in and it's a fluke they happen on the same day. We could change her riding lesson day, but there's no guarantee we'd get the same teacher and we all really like the teacher. Soon, choir will be on hiatus for the summer and we took the winter off riding lessons, so they only overlap for a short time. Another thing that makes it work is the stable and the church are less than 5 minutes away from our house.
4. Watching Idol? Who are you picking to win?
I'd give it to either Crystal or Siobhan.
5. Do you have a clothesline?
I do and I use it all the time, in the nicer weather. Love the way the clothes, especially sheets smell after they've been line dried. I even had sheets out there today, hoping I could beat the rain.... I didn't, but it wasn't the first time I've been pulling clothes of the line in the rain.
So now the rules, they're pretty simple. Post your answers to these questions on your own blog or play on facebook in the next few days. Remember to link back here in your post and sign the Mr. Linky too, so we can all see what you have to say. Please make sure you link to your actual KMKY post and not your blog's front page. Any front page links will be deleted. And most importantly, have fun! Have suggestions for next months questions? Leave me a comment or send me an email and let me know.
1. Do you have a library card?
I used to, back in the day. I think I may get one again. There are so many books I want to read, like Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson to name just one, that it seems like it would be very cost effective for me. Also, Abby brought home a library card application from school and she's very into the idea of her own library card.
2. To carry on with the theme, would you purchase a digital reader like a kindle?
I have to say initially I thought yes, I'd like to have one. Giving it further thought, I can't imagine curling up in bed with a kindle instead of an actual book. Just doesn't seem right.
3. Which night of the week is fright night (aka your busiest night of the week)?
Thursday, no question. Abby gets off the bus and Grandma Sandi takes her right to the stable for riding lessons. Actually Abby has a snack while Grandma gets her horse ready for her riding lesson at 4:30. Abs has a half hour riding lesson and then it's home for 90 minutes-ish and off to church for a half hour choir practice. I really don't like the girls to be involved in a lot of activities. Seems hard to believe with that schedule. Really it's the only two things she's involved in and it's a fluke they happen on the same day. We could change her riding lesson day, but there's no guarantee we'd get the same teacher and we all really like the teacher. Soon, choir will be on hiatus for the summer and we took the winter off riding lessons, so they only overlap for a short time. Another thing that makes it work is the stable and the church are less than 5 minutes away from our house.
4. Watching Idol? Who are you picking to win?
I'd give it to either Crystal or Siobhan.
5. Do you have a clothesline?
I do and I use it all the time, in the nicer weather. Love the way the clothes, especially sheets smell after they've been line dried. I even had sheets out there today, hoping I could beat the rain.... I didn't, but it wasn't the first time I've been pulling clothes of the line in the rain.
So now the rules, they're pretty simple. Post your answers to these questions on your own blog or play on facebook in the next few days. Remember to link back here in your post and sign the Mr. Linky too, so we can all see what you have to say. Please make sure you link to your actual KMKY post and not your blog's front page. Any front page links will be deleted. And most importantly, have fun! Have suggestions for next months questions? Leave me a comment or send me an email and let me know.
Friday, April 16, 2010
food revolution friday #3
I am starting suspect this food revolution thing is growing larger by the minute. My Mom works for a children's clothing store and she mentioned that there were lots of parents and grandparents buying jammies and clothes instead of chocolate this past Easter. Interesting, don't you think, that they would mention that fact to her while shopping?
People often ask me (and I'm sure Mike as well) how the *diet* is going. I hesitate to correct the terminology, but a diet isn't going to fix anything. A diet makes me think that at some point when I reach my goal weight (whatever that may be, because I really don't have a set number in mind at this point) I can just go back to eating whatever I want. I mean sure I could do that, but I'd be right back where I started in a relatively short amount of time, I would imagine. No this has to be a change for my whole life. Forever. Wow, that sounded a little bit dramatic didn't it? But it's true enough.
Recognizing this as a forever change I've realized that I need to find myself some "not so horrible" treats. I mean who wants to live in a world without chocolate? Not me. My biggest find this week was chocolate pudding. Okay, so I didn't invent chocolate pudding. What I did do is figure out that, 100 calorie chocolate pudding with the addition of some fresh strawberries is a pretty decent imitation of chocolate fondue. All for a mere 2 points, in weight watcher's speak. Thanks to ML for sharing her farmer's market strawberries with me. Mmmm.
And the kids, well they continue making changes too. All with relatively no fuss. Abby has recently decided that she likes toasted egg sandwiches. This past week I bought a carton of golden egg whites. Basically it's egg whites with a small bit of egg yolk powder mixed in to give it the appearance of a beaten egg. I switched it for Abby's regular beaten egg, put it on a toasted whole wheat english muffin and she didn't even notice the difference. Abby only likes one kind of pudding, lemon meringue pie. This week I picked her up lemon meringue yogurt which was deemed a satisfactory replacement. Maya, well she's still a work in progress. We have cut back her milk at the sitter's. She's a great milk drinker, but a horrible eater. Really, though, who wants to eat after drinking a glass or three of milk? Our sitter is great, though and makes sure she's eating a certain portion of her lunch before she gets any more to drink. I think that's our biggest struggle with her - milk vs food - she'll pick milk every time. While I'm sure her bones are strong as steel because of it, it will be nice to have her sit down at the dinner table and, you know, actually eat a meal with us.
And I'll close with a tally update. For Mike, he lost just over 8 pounds. Wow, right?! He's now lost the equivalent of Maya, plus a little bit. As for me, I stayed the same. Which I'll take. I was flipping back through my book and noticed that I really drank very little all last week and more specifically had no green tea. Green tea is a well known weight loss booster, but you need to be drinking a minimum of three cups per day. I know it's been said that a food journal is key, when you're trying to lose weight and eat healthier and after this week I have to agree. It was great to be able to look back over the week and see where I could improve for next week.
Thanks to the fabulous Scattered Mom for hosting Food Revolution Fridays!
People often ask me (and I'm sure Mike as well) how the *diet* is going. I hesitate to correct the terminology, but a diet isn't going to fix anything. A diet makes me think that at some point when I reach my goal weight (whatever that may be, because I really don't have a set number in mind at this point) I can just go back to eating whatever I want. I mean sure I could do that, but I'd be right back where I started in a relatively short amount of time, I would imagine. No this has to be a change for my whole life. Forever. Wow, that sounded a little bit dramatic didn't it? But it's true enough.
Recognizing this as a forever change I've realized that I need to find myself some "not so horrible" treats. I mean who wants to live in a world without chocolate? Not me. My biggest find this week was chocolate pudding. Okay, so I didn't invent chocolate pudding. What I did do is figure out that, 100 calorie chocolate pudding with the addition of some fresh strawberries is a pretty decent imitation of chocolate fondue. All for a mere 2 points, in weight watcher's speak. Thanks to ML for sharing her farmer's market strawberries with me. Mmmm.
And the kids, well they continue making changes too. All with relatively no fuss. Abby has recently decided that she likes toasted egg sandwiches. This past week I bought a carton of golden egg whites. Basically it's egg whites with a small bit of egg yolk powder mixed in to give it the appearance of a beaten egg. I switched it for Abby's regular beaten egg, put it on a toasted whole wheat english muffin and she didn't even notice the difference. Abby only likes one kind of pudding, lemon meringue pie. This week I picked her up lemon meringue yogurt which was deemed a satisfactory replacement. Maya, well she's still a work in progress. We have cut back her milk at the sitter's. She's a great milk drinker, but a horrible eater. Really, though, who wants to eat after drinking a glass or three of milk? Our sitter is great, though and makes sure she's eating a certain portion of her lunch before she gets any more to drink. I think that's our biggest struggle with her - milk vs food - she'll pick milk every time. While I'm sure her bones are strong as steel because of it, it will be nice to have her sit down at the dinner table and, you know, actually eat a meal with us.
And I'll close with a tally update. For Mike, he lost just over 8 pounds. Wow, right?! He's now lost the equivalent of Maya, plus a little bit. As for me, I stayed the same. Which I'll take. I was flipping back through my book and noticed that I really drank very little all last week and more specifically had no green tea. Green tea is a well known weight loss booster, but you need to be drinking a minimum of three cups per day. I know it's been said that a food journal is key, when you're trying to lose weight and eat healthier and after this week I have to agree. It was great to be able to look back over the week and see where I could improve for next week.
Thanks to the fabulous Scattered Mom for hosting Food Revolution Fridays!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
when maya gets the camera
Maya is pretty adept at using my camera. She's able to turn it on, snap pictures and review them all on her own. She often does all three without Mike or I knowing until we upload them to the computer.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
what's cooking wednesday - blueberry crisp
When I offered to make dessert for Easter dinner, Grandma Linda asked if I would bring something weight watchers friendly. I ended up making lite mini cheesecakes, that never saw the light of day. Oh my gosh they were the nastiest things I've ever tasted. Just bed and yuck! The went right in the green cart. So I was starting over from scratch. Thankfully ML had given me a whole whack of blueberries earlier in the year that I had frozen. So I turned that into blueberry crisp.
Blueberry Crisp
6 cups fresh blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp grated lemon zest
Topping:
1 cup quick cooking (not instant) oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tbsp apple or orange juice
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 9X13 pan with cooking spray. Add blueberries to the pan and mix together with sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and lemon zest. Set the pan aside and in a bowl combine oats, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Add the melted butter and juice, stir until it looks like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the topping over the berries and bake for 30 minutes.
Recipe Notes: Well I didn't actually try any of this myself, but those who did eat it seemed to like it. Even Papa enjoyed it and he's been heard to remark that he wouldn't give you a nickel for a car load of blueberries. I wish the crust to fruit ratio was more a little more balanced, but I understand that less crust means less calories, so it's all good
Blueberry Crisp
6 cups fresh blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp grated lemon zest
Topping:
1 cup quick cooking (not instant) oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tbsp apple or orange juice
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 9X13 pan with cooking spray. Add blueberries to the pan and mix together with sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and lemon zest. Set the pan aside and in a bowl combine oats, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Add the melted butter and juice, stir until it looks like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the topping over the berries and bake for 30 minutes.
Recipe Notes: Well I didn't actually try any of this myself, but those who did eat it seemed to like it. Even Papa enjoyed it and he's been heard to remark that he wouldn't give you a nickel for a car load of blueberries. I wish the crust to fruit ratio was more a little more balanced, but I understand that less crust means less calories, so it's all good
Sunday, April 11, 2010
dessert disasters
I realize it was a week ago, but I think our Easter desserts are still topical.
As I mentioned we had two Easter meals this year. I offered to bring dessert to both. The brown sugar cake I made was supposed to be a bundt cake, but I felt like layer cake, plus I have no bundt pan in a suitable shape for icing. Anyway I had too much batter in the pans, so I ended up having to trim them. So I trimmed, then I set them aside, took care of something else and came back to this.....
There was only one very guilty looking person in the kitchen when I returned......
Me: So what happened here Abs?
Abby: I was helping you.
Me: I'm not really sure that helps me, honey.
Abby: But Mom it's soooo delicious.
What can I say.... I am very vain about my baking. That little line was enough to get her off the hook, but shhh don't tell her that. She'd use it against me like kryptonite.
And in related Easter dessert disaster news I present you with this....
Okay so once upon a time these used to be seriously cute Easter basket cupcakes. Then I asked Mike to bring them into my Mom's from the van. Apparently he thought the cupcakes were "strapped in" so they would survive being turned dang near upside down. Yeah - it turns out he was wrong about that assumption.
And these turned out so incredibly cute I can barely stand it.
As I mentioned we had two Easter meals this year. I offered to bring dessert to both. The brown sugar cake I made was supposed to be a bundt cake, but I felt like layer cake, plus I have no bundt pan in a suitable shape for icing. Anyway I had too much batter in the pans, so I ended up having to trim them. So I trimmed, then I set them aside, took care of something else and came back to this.....
There was only one very guilty looking person in the kitchen when I returned......
Me: So what happened here Abs?
Abby: I was helping you.
Me: I'm not really sure that helps me, honey.
Abby: But Mom it's soooo delicious.
What can I say.... I am very vain about my baking. That little line was enough to get her off the hook, but shhh don't tell her that. She'd use it against me like kryptonite.
And in related Easter dessert disaster news I present you with this....
Okay so once upon a time these used to be seriously cute Easter basket cupcakes. Then I asked Mike to bring them into my Mom's from the van. Apparently he thought the cupcakes were "strapped in" so they would survive being turned dang near upside down. Yeah - it turns out he was wrong about that assumption.
And these turned out so incredibly cute I can barely stand it.
Labels: creating in the kitchen, my inner martha, Transcript of...
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Saturday, April 10, 2010
check list for a sleep in saturday
#1 Kids having a sleepover at Grandma Linda and Papa's. - check
#2 Stay up a little later than usual watching 17 Again with Zac Efron. Realize Tracy may have been right and develop an inappropriate crush on young Master Efron. - check
#3 Think about going to bed, but instead putz about on the internets twittering and facebooking. - check
#4 Finally head up to bed, but instead of sleeping right away read a few more pages of The Da Vinci Code. - check
#5 Put the book down and turn off your alarm clock before hitting the lights and drifting off into dreamland. - check
#6 Sleep until some ridiculously late hour of the morning. - check
#7 That was the plan. Of course all that planning doesn't mean anything if you forget to turn off your daughter's alarm clock that's set to go off at 5:45 am. That normally you can't hear because she's in her bedroom with her door shut. Except she's at a sleepover and her door is open and so is yours because you thought - who cares, the kids aren't home. And now it's 5:45 and you're stumbling across the hall to shut the dang thing off. While cursing your own stupidity at the same time. - check!!!
#2 Stay up a little later than usual watching 17 Again with Zac Efron. Realize Tracy may have been right and develop an inappropriate crush on young Master Efron. - check
#3 Think about going to bed, but instead putz about on the internets twittering and facebooking. - check
#4 Finally head up to bed, but instead of sleeping right away read a few more pages of The Da Vinci Code. - check
#5 Put the book down and turn off your alarm clock before hitting the lights and drifting off into dreamland. - check
#6 Sleep until some ridiculously late hour of the morning. - check
#7 That was the plan. Of course all that planning doesn't mean anything if you forget to turn off your daughter's alarm clock that's set to go off at 5:45 am. That normally you can't hear because she's in her bedroom with her door shut. Except she's at a sleepover and her door is open and so is yours because you thought - who cares, the kids aren't home. And now it's 5:45 and you're stumbling across the hall to shut the dang thing off. While cursing your own stupidity at the same time. - check!!!
i'm here for the party
Welcome all you 2010 Ultimate Blog Partiers. Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the interwebs. Please help yourself to some punch and a cookie or three.
Now a little about myself... gah! I hate public speaking. My name is Shannon, but you can call me Shan or Shanny. I am a soon to be 37 year old wife and mother of 2 gorgeous girls. Michael and I have been married for 13 years. And we're having huge amounts of fun raising our seven year old, Abby and our four year old, Maya.
Besides all the laundry that a family of four requires me to do, in my spare time I like to cook and bake. I also knit, mostly scarves and hats for a local agency. It's my way of making some good come out of all the trashy TV I watch, like Dancing With the Stars, American Idol, Survivor, Parenthood, The Office and Greys. I host a monthly movie night with my girls friends... we just celebrated our 1st anniversary. It's the best thing ever. I highly recommend it. We also like Family Movie Nights with themed snacks. And we love to play board games of all kinds. Not surprisingly we call those, Family Game Nights. I truly love social media and waste copious amounts of time of twitter and facebook.
Mike and I both enjoy volunteering, giving back and paying it forward. We are both on the parent's council at our daughter's school. He as co-chair, I as secretary. We are both active with our local agricultural society and the fair it puts on every year. Mike is 1st vice president this year as well he sits in on other committees. I help out with the society's social media stuff (more time for twitter and facebook, heaven!) as well as looking after prize tabulation for the school fair.
Wow, once I get started I just can't stop.
And when I'm not doing all of that I also find time to be -- be it by blood or by marriage or by choice -- a daughter, sister, Aunt, best friend, niece and cousin. I am currently in the midst of making healthy life changes - which for us means being on weight watchers. Between Mike and I we've lost over 50 lbs - the difference being split 80/20 for him. I love my crocs, my yoga pants and my jammies - not necessarily in that order. Also the Wii, my kitchenaid mixer, sprinkles, royal icing and my barbecue... oh and Chef Guy Fieri and his show Diners, Drive ins and Dives. I'd love to own a diner or a drive in or a dive one day. Or a bakery. Or small general store.
Thanks for stopping by.
Friday, April 09, 2010
it's a revolution #2
So the food revolution continues around here. This week has been pretty exciting because for the first time Maya has been voluntarily stepping out of her box. We had Easter lunch with my Mom this past weekend and I almost fell over in my chair when Maya asked for some sausage and then actually ate it. And then asked for some more. My Mom is Polish, so it's not unheard of to have a plate of cut up kielbasa at the dinner table. It is unheard of for Maya to actually -- you know -- eat any of it. She did the same thing the night we had eggs and turkey sausages for dinner. So it's looking like I'll be able to send her to school in September without worrying that she'll starve to death since she can't take her beloved peanut butter sandwich for lunch.
This Easter weekend was rough for me and not likely in the way you would think. I did well staying on track and lost 1.3 lbs this week. Not bad considering the smattering of chocolate that's been hanging around the house. Oh and the easter bunny sugar cookies I made. And the cake. And the cupcakes.
Here's the deal though. We had two Easter dinners. One with Papa and Grandma Linda and one with Granny. Both completely delicious. And both made me pretty dang "sick". Don't get me wrong, it was all delicious. So delicious. We had scalloped potatoes, ham, carrot casserole, turkey, sausage, broccoli with cheese sauce, stuffing and various assorted vegetables including super yummy brussel sprouts that my sister-in-law makes with bacon and onion.
See the problem?
With the exception of some of the veggies, that's some pretty heavy food on that menu. And afterward my stomach protested greatly. That got me thinking of all the foods that I haven't eaten in the past couple of months - bacon, red meat, white bread, cheddar cheese, and full fat sour cream. Those are the ones I miss the most and to be truthful I don't really miss them all that much. With the exception of the sour cream and the bacon. We tried to have perogies with fat free sour cream and no bacon.... it was awful. Really. And I think my poor Polish grandmother was likely spinning in her grave. I won't be doing that again. But it's all for the greater good right?
This Easter weekend was rough for me and not likely in the way you would think. I did well staying on track and lost 1.3 lbs this week. Not bad considering the smattering of chocolate that's been hanging around the house. Oh and the easter bunny sugar cookies I made. And the cake. And the cupcakes.
Here's the deal though. We had two Easter dinners. One with Papa and Grandma Linda and one with Granny. Both completely delicious. And both made me pretty dang "sick". Don't get me wrong, it was all delicious. So delicious. We had scalloped potatoes, ham, carrot casserole, turkey, sausage, broccoli with cheese sauce, stuffing and various assorted vegetables including super yummy brussel sprouts that my sister-in-law makes with bacon and onion.
See the problem?
With the exception of some of the veggies, that's some pretty heavy food on that menu. And afterward my stomach protested greatly. That got me thinking of all the foods that I haven't eaten in the past couple of months - bacon, red meat, white bread, cheddar cheese, and full fat sour cream. Those are the ones I miss the most and to be truthful I don't really miss them all that much. With the exception of the sour cream and the bacon. We tried to have perogies with fat free sour cream and no bacon.... it was awful. Really. And I think my poor Polish grandmother was likely spinning in her grave. I won't be doing that again. But it's all for the greater good right?
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
what's cooking wednesday - brown sugar cake
Well I ended up making dessert for the various Easter meals we attended. Which is good, cause I love desserts, especially my own. I was tempted to go for my old standby - the award winning chocolate cake, but I've made a lot of those in the past little while. So it was time for a change. Then I stumbled across this recipe in one of my What's Cooking magazines that Kraft puts out a half dozen times a year or so. It seemed like the perfect match to my oh so yummy maple frosting and it was.
Brown Sugar Cake
1 pkg (2 layer size) yellow cake mix
1 pkg (4 serving size) vanilla instant pudding
4 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tsp icing sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat the first 6 ingredients in a mixer until well blended. Add brown sugar and nuts and mix well. Pour into a bundt pan and bake for for one hour or until done. Oh and don't forget to spray your pan with some cooking spray first. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack. Sprinkle with the incing sugar before serving.
Recipe Notes: Well if you've been hanging out here then you know that I totally left out the chopped pecans because... ick! This cake was fabulous, perfectly moist, great brown sugar flavour. Although next time around I think I'd add a tsp or so of cinnamon. I can't believe I didn't think to add some this time around. It was a nice change of pace from all the chocolate cake and peanut butter frosting that's been coming out of my kitchen.
Brown Sugar Cake
1 pkg (2 layer size) yellow cake mix
1 pkg (4 serving size) vanilla instant pudding
4 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tsp icing sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat the first 6 ingredients in a mixer until well blended. Add brown sugar and nuts and mix well. Pour into a bundt pan and bake for for one hour or until done. Oh and don't forget to spray your pan with some cooking spray first. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack. Sprinkle with the incing sugar before serving.
Recipe Notes: Well if you've been hanging out here then you know that I totally left out the chopped pecans because... ick! This cake was fabulous, perfectly moist, great brown sugar flavour. Although next time around I think I'd add a tsp or so of cinnamon. I can't believe I didn't think to add some this time around. It was a nice change of pace from all the chocolate cake and peanut butter frosting that's been coming out of my kitchen.
Sunday, April 04, 2010
happy easter
What beautiful weather we enjoyed this weekend. And two Easter meals. And family, lots of family time. Was just about perfect. Now to sleep. Full report tomorrow.
Friday, April 02, 2010
it's a revolution
I've mentioned here and there that Mike and I are doing the weight watchers thing. Mike is doing tremendous and has lost 41.8 pounds so far. I can't claim those kinds of numbers, but I have lost a respectable 12 pounds so far. Now if you're paying attention you'll notice that last week I said I had lost 13 pounds. Yep, I gained a pound back. That's what happens when you lose focus my friends.
I could tell you it was because of my messed up sleep patterns this past week. Or that I misplaced my book, so nothing was getting written down. Both of which are true, but what it all boils down to is - I just wasn't putting in the effort. So, I'm regrouping. I found my book and I'm ready to get back on track.
This is about so much more than just losing weight, which is awesome, don't get me wrong, but let's keep in mind that we are parents to two young girls. I don't want them to think it's all about losing weight. So we talk about making healthy choices to be healthier and the positive changes we're making are having a trickle down effect to them.
These kids of mine are picky eaters and if I'm being honest, I'll tell you that we let them be picky eaters. We do. I make them separate meals. I let them refuse to try new foods. I like to think that I'm a pretty good Mom when it comes to raising these girls to be productive functioning members of society. I am willing to be the "bad guy" if it means my kids learn manners and respect for themselves and others, but you know what... when it comes to food I'm a total pushover. I have to stop that. And we have..... well we're working on it. And the shocking part of it is, the girls have been working on it too. I mean it hasn't been without it's hiccups, but so far it's been pretty great.
Yep we've started a food revolution of our own.
Here's some highlights so far......
1. We switched to whole wheat bread. I really thought there would be a mutiny with this, but the kids barely mentioned the switch from white. At Abby's school they have a sub day once a month and I made the switch to whole wheat there too. I almost fell over when Abby came home from school and thanked me for switching her sub to whole wheat because it "tasted so good that way". Why whole wheat and not whole grain? The whole wheat bread we buy has a lower point value than the whole grain. It's hard to have a sandwich if you're dealing with a bread with a high point value. It becomes very "cost prohibitive".
2. I've been trying to make our meals a mix of things I know they'll eat and things they usually turn their nose up at. They are free to eat or not eat anything on their plate, but we have a reasonable expectation that they try a bit of everything. Abby is much more willing on this than Maya. In fact Abby even voluntarily tried a bite of cucumber the other night. She didn't like it, but I was so impressed that she wanted to give it a try. Unheard of!
3. The amount of junk food in this house has decreased significantly. Replaced with healthier snacks. I do still bake cookies and what not. I prefer the kids eat my chocolate chip cookies then store bought. At least I know exactly what's in them. And it gives us an opportunity to teach the kids about "sometimes" foods.
Those are probably the biggest little changes we've made with the kids so far. As they say... it's a marathon not a sprint. We keep plugging away at it. And while there may be set backs, we're just looking to keep the forward momentum going. I mean I may have had a less than stellar week, but today both my kids picked yogurt to have as a snack. Something neither one of them would touch with a 10 foot pole before! So I'm still going to count it as a success.
Thanks to the lovely Scattered Mom for hosting Food Revolution Fridays
I could tell you it was because of my messed up sleep patterns this past week. Or that I misplaced my book, so nothing was getting written down. Both of which are true, but what it all boils down to is - I just wasn't putting in the effort. So, I'm regrouping. I found my book and I'm ready to get back on track.
This is about so much more than just losing weight, which is awesome, don't get me wrong, but let's keep in mind that we are parents to two young girls. I don't want them to think it's all about losing weight. So we talk about making healthy choices to be healthier and the positive changes we're making are having a trickle down effect to them.
These kids of mine are picky eaters and if I'm being honest, I'll tell you that we let them be picky eaters. We do. I make them separate meals. I let them refuse to try new foods. I like to think that I'm a pretty good Mom when it comes to raising these girls to be productive functioning members of society. I am willing to be the "bad guy" if it means my kids learn manners and respect for themselves and others, but you know what... when it comes to food I'm a total pushover. I have to stop that. And we have..... well we're working on it. And the shocking part of it is, the girls have been working on it too. I mean it hasn't been without it's hiccups, but so far it's been pretty great.
Yep we've started a food revolution of our own.
Here's some highlights so far......
1. We switched to whole wheat bread. I really thought there would be a mutiny with this, but the kids barely mentioned the switch from white. At Abby's school they have a sub day once a month and I made the switch to whole wheat there too. I almost fell over when Abby came home from school and thanked me for switching her sub to whole wheat because it "tasted so good that way". Why whole wheat and not whole grain? The whole wheat bread we buy has a lower point value than the whole grain. It's hard to have a sandwich if you're dealing with a bread with a high point value. It becomes very "cost prohibitive".
2. I've been trying to make our meals a mix of things I know they'll eat and things they usually turn their nose up at. They are free to eat or not eat anything on their plate, but we have a reasonable expectation that they try a bit of everything. Abby is much more willing on this than Maya. In fact Abby even voluntarily tried a bite of cucumber the other night. She didn't like it, but I was so impressed that she wanted to give it a try. Unheard of!
3. The amount of junk food in this house has decreased significantly. Replaced with healthier snacks. I do still bake cookies and what not. I prefer the kids eat my chocolate chip cookies then store bought. At least I know exactly what's in them. And it gives us an opportunity to teach the kids about "sometimes" foods.
Those are probably the biggest little changes we've made with the kids so far. As they say... it's a marathon not a sprint. We keep plugging away at it. And while there may be set backs, we're just looking to keep the forward momentum going. I mean I may have had a less than stellar week, but today both my kids picked yogurt to have as a snack. Something neither one of them would touch with a 10 foot pole before! So I'm still going to count it as a success.
Thanks to the lovely Scattered Mom for hosting Food Revolution Fridays
