lunch?

Today’s question is: Why, why, why can’t my 9 1/2 year old daughter get her lunch started without me?

Background: For the most part my kids bring a packed lunch every single day to school. I usually make them lunch. My oldest girl helps out a lot, because she has to leave early and I don’t always make it to the kitchen quick enough for her. My middle girl, she’d wait forever before she started making her own lunch. This morning we have snow:
On snowy days it’s usually my job to shovel all the walks (and now that the ice rink is back there I must shovel that too, I kind of like shoveling but well, sometimes it’s a bit of a hassle). So I walked the dog (isn’t that a kid job?) and then I shoveled the back walk and took out the garbage. When I came back in it was almost time to leave for school and the kids were playing with the dog. I went to check the weather on my computer. The next thing I hear is my sweet 9 1/2 year old yelling to me that I need to make her lunch because it’s time to go.
I asked her if she had attempted to help me out at all while I was shoveling and walking the dog? Well, of course not. Why, why doesn’t she just pop some bread in the toaster and get it going? She even tried to get her brother to go down to the basement fridge to get her a drink and he was buying lunch at school today!
UGH, kids what’s up with them?
January 7, 2010 @ 2:18 pm

supper surprise?

Today’s question is: Why is it that when you think the family is going to be eating slop for dinner because you didn’t make it to the grocery store, you sometimes end up with a wonderful pantry special?

Background: As of 4pm I had no idea what I was going to cook for dinner. Because I never made it to the grocery store today I figured it was going to be a cereal night (aka slop) because we have barely any food in the house. Instead I decided to look through my (very small) pantry and see if I could make something with what I have. I had white beans and tomatoes and vegetable broth in the cupboard and onion, celery, peppers and cucumbers in the fridge.
I ended up finding a recipe for white bean soup on SimpleDailyRecipes.com. I had to make a few adjustments. Here’s a picture of the final product and the recipe to follow.
White bean Soup
2 cans white beans (puree one can and leave one can whole, but drained)
1 28oz can diced or whole tomatoes (I only had whole so I broke them up in the pot)
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
1/4 onion (chopped)
3 stalks celery (chopped)
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
2 bay leaves
Crisp bacon
Pour oil in the pan and cook onion until translucent. Then add, tomatoes, vegetable broth, water, celery, whole and pureed beans, bay leaf, salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer for 30 minutes. While simmering cook the bacon. Serve soup with bacon as a garnish. Enjoy.
You know sometimes it’s the quick and simple recipes that make all the difference in a good dinner.
January 6, 2010 @ 8:12 pm

it’s cold?

Today’s question is: Why is it that when it’s the coldest, the department store windows have to tease us?

Background: On Monday, when it was 12 degrees F in Chicago with a wind chill of about 2 degrees F I had to run to the mall to return something (first day the kids were back at school, yeah for me). I parked by the Nordstroms, first spot because I was lucky, and the first thing I noticed was the window, it was teasing me.
Have a look see:
bikinis? In the window in the middle (beginning) of winter. Can you make me out in the window in my full length winter coat with my huge and unfashionable shoveling gloves, my hat and my scarf? I couldn’t even fathom taking off all my clothes to try on one of these little numbers. It’s a tease, no doubt, and I do not like it one bit in the beginning of January. Stop already. Put some parkas in there, or scarves for goodness sakes.
January 5, 2010 @ 6:44 pm

I’m important?

Today’s question is: Why do some people find themselves more important than the rest of the people on the planet?

Background: I walk my dog to school many days. Walking the dog, means I can’t stand on the school property. I typically wait for the kids directly across the street, where I get the pleasure of seeing people at their driving/parking best. Let’s just say I should have my camera with me more often. About a month ago I snapped this with my mobile phone:
This lady is clearly covering half the cross walk, and because of the snow piled up on the walk, there is very little (and a little slippery at that) space to get into the street. Not to mention that in order to get out of this spot she’s going to have to back up, possibly running over a kid. Now, I did say something to her (I don’t always say something) about how she’s parked in the crosswalk and what makes her kid more important, exactly, than all the kids that are going to use that cross walk. As the times frequently show, she completely ignored me, went to get her child and backed out (almost running over a kid) to get to her next, very important I’m sure, destination.
Dang, I find people so annoying sometimes.
January 4, 2010 @ 10:40 pm

dread?

Today’s question is: Why do we dread doing things and then end up having fun doing them?

Background: I got an ebelskiver for Christmas this year. I asked my mom to get it for me because I really wanted it. The day after Christmas, the kids wanted me to make pancakes with it and for some reason I was absolutely dreading it. So I didn’t.
However, I got out of it by promising I’d do it the next day. So when my daughter woke that morning and came to my room the first thing she asked for were the pancakes in my special new pan. Dread overcame me again. I have no idea why, but I just didn’t want to do it.
As luck would have it, when I went to get the pancake mix I normally use (we are gluten free) I discovered we were out. What a bummer. That meant I didn’t want to make them even more, but I made the batter from scratch instead.
And you know what? It was fun to make them and they turned out awesome. I loved it. And it left me wondering why I was dreading it so much!
Check them out:
As a treat here’s the recipe I used. I adapted it from the recipe on the pan packaging (williams-sonoma) because we are gluten free.
Filled Pancakes:
2 cups gluten free flour (all purpose for those of you that can eat it) (I used a mix of brown and white rice flour with arrow root starch and xanthan gum)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs separated
2 cups milk
4 Tbs butter, melted (more for cooking)
jelly and lemon curd and chocolate chips
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks, then whisk in the milk, vanilla and the 4Tbs melted butter. Whisk the yolk mixture into the flour mixture until well combined, the batter will be lumpy.
With an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high until stiff, 2-3 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, gently stir the whites into the batter.
To cook in the ebelskiver, first put about 1/4 tsp of butter in each well and melt, then add 1 Tbs of batter,
then add 1/4 tsp filling,
top with 1 Tbs of batter. Cook until the bottoms are golden and crispy, 3-5 minutes. Using wooden skewers (I use chop sticks) flip the pancakes over and cook until golden brown.
There are just really worth the time and effort to make them. I made them again this morning and we all enjoyed them thoroughly.
January 4, 2010 @ 12:39 am

something different?

Today’s question is: Why is it that something typical and common can be transformed into something out of this world with just a small little change?

Background: Three years ago on new years day we embarked on a life change. My girls and I stopped eating wheat to see if we could normalize our cholesterol. At the time, the girls were 8 and 6 1/2 years old, I was well into my 30′s. We had discovered that the girls had really high cholesterol. Because of our past family history, we already had a really good diet. We decided to make a change and see if we could achieve success. It worked, we have improved our total cholesterol 30%.
So the typical and common thing I’m talking about is rice krispie treats. They are so good and delicious and we really love them. They are easy to make gluten free, because there are a number of gluten free rice krispie makers on the market. When our first birthday came along after we ditched the wheat, I had to really think to come up with a cake that would win the girls over. After much thought I decided a rice krispie treat cake just might do the trick. And it did. Now almost everyone in my family requests the rice krispie treat cake when their birthday rolls around. As a matter of fact, my sister Sarah, has deemed the cake “a party in my mouth”.
Here is it in all it’s glory from today, when we celebrated my dad’s 69th birthday:
Here’s how to make it:

Rice Krispie Treat Cake

6 tablespoons of butter
1 16oz package of marsh mellows
6-8 cups of rice krispies (I never measure, I just decide how much to use based on consistency)
1 container of cream cheese frosting (or make your own)
Melt the butter in a large stockpot. When melted pour in the bag of marsh mellows. Stir together until marsh mellows are completely melted. Remove from heat and pour in the rice krispies. Grease (I like to use coconut oil) two pans, cake, rectangular, square any shape will work and fill with the rice krispies, pat down and leave to cool.
Once cool, flip one pan of the rice krispies onto a plate and frost the top layer. Add the second layer of rice krispies and used the remainder of the frosting to frost it. Have kids decorate however they’d like.
Can I just say there is something amazing about mixing rice krispies with frosting, especially cream cheese frosting. The frosting holds the moisture and tenderness of the rice krispie perfectly. The rice krispie treat cake is the best thing ever. Give it a try, you will not be sorry.
January 2, 2010 @ 7:08 pm

simple things?

Today’s question is: Why do simple little pictures make us long for things we can’t have?
Background: This picture makes me long for fresh tomatoes. Tomatoes bought in the store just aren’t the same. I grew the tomatoes in the picture last summer. Don’t they look lovely?
Now, instead of a lovely fresh garden filling my backyard I have this (picture from today):
The ice rink is nice but not as nice as those tomatoes taste. Only about 6 more months until I can grow some more.
Happy New Year! May 2010 bring you all good health and much happiness!
January 1, 2010 @ 9:11 pm