We are, once again, mired in our family's Trifecta of Chaos: head colds for everyone, plus work travel for me, plus a weekend of working for DH. Why these things always hit at once is beyond my snot-stuffed brain to comprehend, but they have. Thus, for dinner this week we have had: cereal (Monday), scrambled eggs (Tuesday), and take out from our neighborhood clubhouse tonight. The only thing remarkable in all of this was when I looked up from my soggy chicken quesadilla tonight, I realized my children were naked. Totally naked. Odd, right? When I asked them why, they said it was naked-dinner-night.
Well, okay. In my exhausted, sudafed-plus-Clariten-plus-Aleve existence, I'm sure that makes sense on some level.
Readers, I will return when the chaos departs. Hopefully in a day or two. Stay tuned.
Showing posts with label Children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Children. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Say It With A Smile
The Tar Heels won a really big game last night, with a finish so close and nerve-wracking I had to cover my eyes in an effort to trick the team into thinking I wasn't watching, so no pressure, but please oh please pull this one out. Thankfully, they did. Whew.
My six year old had to go to bed at halftime, and I knew the first thing he would ask this morning was Who Won? So I had his breakfast ready and waiting for him, to let him know:
Peanut butter on toast with a chocolate chip smile and grapefruit. Happy boy, happy mommy, happy Tar Heels.
And to Dook for this upcoming Saturday: Bring. It. On.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Product Placement
Today's post may sound like a tacky product placement, but I promise it is not. I just believe in passing along a good food tip whenever I stumble across one.
***
Once it appeared we had all survived the stomach virus this past weekend, we piled in the car for our annual trip to visit my sister-in-law and her gorgeous family (two girls the same ages as our boys, lucky us). Since I am on the receiving end of these visits myself once each year, I know how hard it is to feed the entire crowd. The adults tend to be a pretty easy going crowd so long as there's a bottle of Pinot Noir open (a shared love between my brother-in-law and myself), but the kids can be any combination of We Eat Anything And Everything And We Want More Now or We Eat Nothing Don't Even Ask Us To Try It or We Would Have Eaten It But My Brother/Sister/Cousin Looked At It First And Now It Is No Good, and everywhere in between. Combine that with iffy travel schedules (will they arrive in time for lunch? dinner? It's anybody's guess!), and you're talking a food planning nightmare.
My sister-in-law, however, has this particular dilemma solved. Here's what she had on hand:
A HoneyBaked ham. But this was not the ham we are used to getting, the one that lasts you a week and you go to the fridge thinking, finally, we're finished with that damn ham but you open the fridge and there it is, staring at you, with another 8 pounds of meat to go before you can justify tossing it. No, she got a mini-ham. Brilliant. It was just the right size for the 8 of us to have for dinner that night, on biscuits the next morning for breakfast, and then Poof! Gone before the party was no longer fun. I can only hope she's saying the same thing about us...
***
Once it appeared we had all survived the stomach virus this past weekend, we piled in the car for our annual trip to visit my sister-in-law and her gorgeous family (two girls the same ages as our boys, lucky us). Since I am on the receiving end of these visits myself once each year, I know how hard it is to feed the entire crowd. The adults tend to be a pretty easy going crowd so long as there's a bottle of Pinot Noir open (a shared love between my brother-in-law and myself), but the kids can be any combination of We Eat Anything And Everything And We Want More Now or We Eat Nothing Don't Even Ask Us To Try It or We Would Have Eaten It But My Brother/Sister/Cousin Looked At It First And Now It Is No Good, and everywhere in between. Combine that with iffy travel schedules (will they arrive in time for lunch? dinner? It's anybody's guess!), and you're talking a food planning nightmare.
My sister-in-law, however, has this particular dilemma solved. Here's what she had on hand:
A HoneyBaked ham. But this was not the ham we are used to getting, the one that lasts you a week and you go to the fridge thinking, finally, we're finished with that damn ham but you open the fridge and there it is, staring at you, with another 8 pounds of meat to go before you can justify tossing it. No, she got a mini-ham. Brilliant. It was just the right size for the 8 of us to have for dinner that night, on biscuits the next morning for breakfast, and then Poof! Gone before the party was no longer fun. I can only hope she's saying the same thing about us...
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Blue's Clues
It's funny what food can tell you about other people. I am always super nosy about the groceries in other people's carts at the grocery store, and try to picture what meals they have planned based on what they're loading onto the conveyor belt.
I bet you can figure out what kind of day I had yesterday just by the food I fed my oldest son. Ready? Here goes: Gatorade, cinnamon toast, applesauce, saltine crackers.
Ah, the fun never ends. Now I'm just hoping that's not what the rest of us will be eating this week...
I bet you can figure out what kind of day I had yesterday just by the food I fed my oldest son. Ready? Here goes: Gatorade, cinnamon toast, applesauce, saltine crackers.
Ah, the fun never ends. Now I'm just hoping that's not what the rest of us will be eating this week...
Sunday, January 3, 2010
You've Come a Long Way, Baby
We have just returned from a fabulous beach weekend with our Tar Heel friends Katie and Chris, and their adorable munchkins who are the same age as our kiddos. Katie and I first became friends when our oldest kids were 5 months old and in the same daycare class. Now those boys are 5 years old, a fact I find simply amazing.
Our first night at the beach all 8 of us were seated around the dining table, and it was a sight to behold. No highchairs, no booster seats, no jars of baby food, no bottles. Just four beautiful children and their very happy parents. Is there anything better in life than sharing good food and wine with family and friends? I think not.
***
I'm working on my menu planning and grocery list for this week, and focusing on my serve-more-veggies mantra. My plan this week is to try setting out a tray of nibbling-friendly vegetables (baby carrots, grape tomatoes, snow peas, and some ranch dressing) around 5pm, and see if the boys (hubby included) will pick at those instead of coming into the kitchen every five minutes to tell me how hungry they are and how they will surely die from starvation if I don't feed them that very minute.
***
Finally, here's the question of the day, brought to you by my afore-mentioned 5 year old: Are pickles vegetables?
Our first night at the beach all 8 of us were seated around the dining table, and it was a sight to behold. No highchairs, no booster seats, no jars of baby food, no bottles. Just four beautiful children and their very happy parents. Is there anything better in life than sharing good food and wine with family and friends? I think not.
***
I'm working on my menu planning and grocery list for this week, and focusing on my serve-more-veggies mantra. My plan this week is to try setting out a tray of nibbling-friendly vegetables (baby carrots, grape tomatoes, snow peas, and some ranch dressing) around 5pm, and see if the boys (hubby included) will pick at those instead of coming into the kitchen every five minutes to tell me how hungry they are and how they will surely die from starvation if I don't feed them that very minute.
***
Finally, here's the question of the day, brought to you by my afore-mentioned 5 year old: Are pickles vegetables?
Thursday, July 23, 2009
One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others
Can you guess what doesn't belong on this list?
Live starfish floating in the waves
Dirty shoe
Fiddler crab
Hermit crab trying to hide in a shell
Used kleenex
Pool noodle
Blackberry
Dollar bill
Cheese grits
If you guessed cheese grits, you got it! Now, can you guess the name of the list?
No?
Here it is:
"Things my toddler has put in his mouth in the last 96 hours and tried to eat."
That's right, all of those things apparently looked like a delicious source of nutrition, except the nice bowl of cheese grits offered to him this morning, which were met with a howl of outrage that I would consider that to be an appropriate breakfast, and promptly dumped on the floor.
GRRRRRR.
Here's my recipe for crockpot grits, which could not be easier, and so lovely to wake up in the morning and have breakfast waiting for you!
1 cup Quaker old fashioned grits (Not instant grits! And to my Northern readers: not polenta - that stuff is not grits, I don't care what misinformed folks tell you).
4 cups water
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons butter
Dump in crockpot right before you go to bed, set on low, and let it cook overnight (about 8 hours). When you get up, add 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (or more if you like), give it a few good stirs with a whisk, and voila, you have enough for 4 perfect bowls of grits.
Add more or less water the next time you make it, depending on how thick you like your grits - this is just the right amount for me.
***
I did make the linguine with shrimp scampi last night, and cutting the lemon juice in half was exactly right. Delish!
Live starfish floating in the waves
Dirty shoe
Fiddler crab
Hermit crab trying to hide in a shell
Used kleenex
Pool noodle
Blackberry
Dollar bill
Cheese grits
If you guessed cheese grits, you got it! Now, can you guess the name of the list?
No?
Here it is:
"Things my toddler has put in his mouth in the last 96 hours and tried to eat."
That's right, all of those things apparently looked like a delicious source of nutrition, except the nice bowl of cheese grits offered to him this morning, which were met with a howl of outrage that I would consider that to be an appropriate breakfast, and promptly dumped on the floor.
GRRRRRR.
Here's my recipe for crockpot grits, which could not be easier, and so lovely to wake up in the morning and have breakfast waiting for you!
1 cup Quaker old fashioned grits (Not instant grits! And to my Northern readers: not polenta - that stuff is not grits, I don't care what misinformed folks tell you).
4 cups water
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons butter
Dump in crockpot right before you go to bed, set on low, and let it cook overnight (about 8 hours). When you get up, add 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (or more if you like), give it a few good stirs with a whisk, and voila, you have enough for 4 perfect bowls of grits.
Add more or less water the next time you make it, depending on how thick you like your grits - this is just the right amount for me.
***
I did make the linguine with shrimp scampi last night, and cutting the lemon juice in half was exactly right. Delish!
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