One of my wreaths from my etsy shop got onto a random blog:
http://diyonthecheap.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-latest-love-burlap.html
I should have taken a better picture of that wreath. And it looks crooked in the picture. I guess I should get working on my etsy shop again.
We're still alive over here...
My husband just got a new job!!!!!!
We are so excited. In a bad economy like this it's been a bit rough, but after almost a year of job searching (and struggling) we made it.
So now starts the list of things that we need:
*A new washer that doesn't make banging noises on the spin cycle
*A car that holds more than 4 people (no we are not expecting any new family members) and that neither me nor my husband drove in college
*A vacation. We have not been on vacation together (just my husband and me) since long before my almost three year old was born. I can't even think of the last time we did anything just the two of us
*A maid. Just kidding (but wouldn't that be nice)
I think right now we are just relieved that we are finally going to be able to afford life.
We are so excited. In a bad economy like this it's been a bit rough, but after almost a year of job searching (and struggling) we made it.
So now starts the list of things that we need:
*A new washer that doesn't make banging noises on the spin cycle
*A car that holds more than 4 people (no we are not expecting any new family members) and that neither me nor my husband drove in college
*A vacation. We have not been on vacation together (just my husband and me) since long before my almost three year old was born. I can't even think of the last time we did anything just the two of us
*A maid. Just kidding (but wouldn't that be nice)
I think right now we are just relieved that we are finally going to be able to afford life.
Grilled cheese with butternut squash
I had such a busy past month that I'm really far behind on this blog from where I wanted to be. So I decided I needed another post today. And it's another food one!
I made this recipe for lunch today. It was really easy to make. I'm going to be honest, I didn't have very high hopes for it. I don't like grilled cheese sandwiches and this recipe calls for that gross soft tub margerine plastic that people seem to think is a butter equivalent. I also haven't had great luck cooking with butternut squash.
I think I have pretty much given up on attempting food photography. So if you're wondering why I am just posting pictures of the recipe book, that's why.
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sweet potato or butternut squash puree
1 tablespoon of previously mentioned plastic food substitute
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 slices of whole wheat bread
Nonstick cooking spray 1 teaspoon olive oil
I started this recipe by baking the butternut squash. I cut it in half and faced it flesh down on a baking sheet for 45-50 minutes at 400 degrees. I scooped it out of the skin when it was done and put it in the food processor until it was smooth.
I mixed 1/2 cup of the squash puree with 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese and 1/4 teaspoon salt. I should have added the plasic food substitute here but I left that out entirely since no one needs to eat that. I didn't think the sandwich would need any more flavor since the salt was being added to this mix. I spread half the cheese/squash mixture on one slice of bread and put a plain piece of bread over the top to close the sandwich.
I put the sandwich on a frying pan that was sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. The recipe says to put olive oil on the pan but I didn't think that was necessary because I was using a nonstick frying pan. I just grilled the sandwich until the cheese melted and cut the sandwich into little squares so my kids could eat them.
The result: I loved them. I thought the squash made the sandwich taste really good and I have never really liked butternut squash. My kids... well... to be fair, they don't like any sandwiches and never eat them. I also fed this to them just before nap time so there wasn't a whole lot I could have fed them that was going to make them happy. But when they get a little older I'm going to make this for them again because I thought it was a great alternative to regular grilled cheese.
As a side note, I packaged the rest of the butternut squash into plastic bags in 1/2 cup portions and stored them in my fridge to use for future recipes or more grilled cheese sandwiches.
Mac & cheese
I got this book for Christmas:
The interesting thing about this book is it encourages parents to puree vegetables and sneak them into foods your kids like eating. That's kind of the main idea of this cookbook.
Pros: You get your kids to eat more vegetables if they refuse to eat them. The recipes are quick and they tell you how long it's going to take to make each recipe. The ingredients are pretty basic and ones most people generally have around or could easily get.
Cons: I'm not super impressed with the recipes themselves. They are almost too simplistic to taste that good. Also, I was hoping for more recipes about how to get the vegetables to taste good. Hiding vegetables in food doesn't encourage life long vegetable eating habits. There's also no nutrition facts listed with the recipes. One minor complaint is that this book encourages the use of margarine from a tub. I refuse to cook with that stuff, but it's easy enough to just replace that with real butter when I make these recipes.
This is a good book if you don't know how to cook. Basically, it's for a very busy Mom who needs simple meal ideas that may or may not taste that great. There are some basic recipes for dinner and dessert ideas but nothing in this book is particularly outstanding. If you ever considered getting this book I would suggest just adding pureed vegetables to recipes your family already likes and it will probably work much better for your family.
I will give a few of these recipes a try and let you guys know how they turn out. Reviews on Amazon complained that the pureed vegetables altered the taste of the meals at times.
Last night I tried this recipe:
I changed a few ingredients but I used this basic recipe:
Macaroni and cheese 1
1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
Nonstick cooking spray
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butternut squash or cauliflower puree
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese
4 oz (almost 1/4 cup) cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Cook the noodles. Coat a saucepan with cooking spray and heat over medium. Add the oil, then flour and cook, stirring constantly until a paste is made, 1-2 minutes. Add the milk and cook until mixture is thickened, 3-4 minutes. Add the vegetable puree, cheddar and cream cheese and seasonings. Stir until mixture is smooth. Mix with cooked macaroni and serve.
What I changed: I didn't add paprika because my spice shelf is a mess and I couldn't find it. I didn't add pepper because my husband doesn't like pepper. I changed the puree to one pureed avocado because it's what I had. I'm also concerned my kids aren't getting the DHA omega-3 they need since I don't like fish and therefore we never eat it. So avocado was the veggie of choice.
The results: For a really quick homemade macaroni and cheese, it was actually pretty good. My husband did complain that every few bites was extra avocado tasting (he hates avocado so that wasn't such a good thing) but I didn't notice that. My kids ate it just fine. It didn't turn the macaroni green- there were only a few green specks so that wasn't so bad. I didn't use the low or non-fat version of the cheeses or milk and that did make the meal a little heavy. If I had the non fat version of each of those on hand I would have used them instead.
Overall, if I'm in a hurry, I would make this meal again. It was very quick to make since I didn't have to bake it and most of the ingredients I usually have on hand. And since I REFUSE to serve my kids macaroni and cheese from a box, this is a good quick alternative.
The interesting thing about this book is it encourages parents to puree vegetables and sneak them into foods your kids like eating. That's kind of the main idea of this cookbook.
Pros: You get your kids to eat more vegetables if they refuse to eat them. The recipes are quick and they tell you how long it's going to take to make each recipe. The ingredients are pretty basic and ones most people generally have around or could easily get.
Cons: I'm not super impressed with the recipes themselves. They are almost too simplistic to taste that good. Also, I was hoping for more recipes about how to get the vegetables to taste good. Hiding vegetables in food doesn't encourage life long vegetable eating habits. There's also no nutrition facts listed with the recipes. One minor complaint is that this book encourages the use of margarine from a tub. I refuse to cook with that stuff, but it's easy enough to just replace that with real butter when I make these recipes.
This is a good book if you don't know how to cook. Basically, it's for a very busy Mom who needs simple meal ideas that may or may not taste that great. There are some basic recipes for dinner and dessert ideas but nothing in this book is particularly outstanding. If you ever considered getting this book I would suggest just adding pureed vegetables to recipes your family already likes and it will probably work much better for your family.
I will give a few of these recipes a try and let you guys know how they turn out. Reviews on Amazon complained that the pureed vegetables altered the taste of the meals at times.
Last night I tried this recipe:
I changed a few ingredients but I used this basic recipe:
Macaroni and cheese 1
1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
Nonstick cooking spray
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butternut squash or cauliflower puree
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese
4 oz (almost 1/4 cup) cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Cook the noodles. Coat a saucepan with cooking spray and heat over medium. Add the oil, then flour and cook, stirring constantly until a paste is made, 1-2 minutes. Add the milk and cook until mixture is thickened, 3-4 minutes. Add the vegetable puree, cheddar and cream cheese and seasonings. Stir until mixture is smooth. Mix with cooked macaroni and serve.
What I changed: I didn't add paprika because my spice shelf is a mess and I couldn't find it. I didn't add pepper because my husband doesn't like pepper. I changed the puree to one pureed avocado because it's what I had. I'm also concerned my kids aren't getting the DHA omega-3 they need since I don't like fish and therefore we never eat it. So avocado was the veggie of choice.
The results: For a really quick homemade macaroni and cheese, it was actually pretty good. My husband did complain that every few bites was extra avocado tasting (he hates avocado so that wasn't such a good thing) but I didn't notice that. My kids ate it just fine. It didn't turn the macaroni green- there were only a few green specks so that wasn't so bad. I didn't use the low or non-fat version of the cheeses or milk and that did make the meal a little heavy. If I had the non fat version of each of those on hand I would have used them instead.
Overall, if I'm in a hurry, I would make this meal again. It was very quick to make since I didn't have to bake it and most of the ingredients I usually have on hand. And since I REFUSE to serve my kids macaroni and cheese from a box, this is a good quick alternative.
Beads on a string
My sister told me about how well this activity works with her students but I thought my two year old was too young. Also I was concerned about the choking hazard- do watch out for that. But today, my two year old found the container full of beads and brought it to me thinking it was candy. I explained that they were beads and she was anxious to give this activity a try. So we did.
It's a great way to build fine motor skills. And keep your kid occupied for a bit.
Sorry these pictures are terrible. We'll pretend I'm a decent photographer for now. Anyway, I took a shoelace and tied a knot at the end. Then I showed her how to put the beads on the shoelace. She loved it and insisted on doing it "all by ahh self!"
It's a great way to build fine motor skills. And keep your kid occupied for a bit.
Random thoughts
Wow! Things have been BUSY! I guess the holidays can do that to you. And my kids are still sick. My one year old just threw up again this week. Go figure.
As soon as life calms down I have a bunch of new things to try out and post about.
My sister who is a special education teacher gave me a new book about activities to do with toddlers. I'm so excited to try some new things out from it.
For Christmas, I got a cookbook about hiding vegetables in your kids food. You know, the one by Jerry Seinfeld's wife Jessica. As much as I (sort of) try, my kids really don't get enough vegetables. I'm really excited to try some of these recipes out. And of course blog about it.
And one day a week I will be babysitting some kids for a neighbor so I will have some new test subjects for some of these foods and activities. And rumor has it, one of these kids will not eat vegetables. We'll see what we can do about that.
As a final thought, I found this blog and laughed so hard I cried. So if you need a good laugh and you have a few minutes, give it a try. Also if you either like or dislike snuggies or wooden blocks with words on them, you may find this mildly amusing:
http://itjustgetsstranger.blogspot.com/2011/12/snuggie-texts.html
As soon as life calms down I have a bunch of new things to try out and post about.
My sister who is a special education teacher gave me a new book about activities to do with toddlers. I'm so excited to try some new things out from it.
For Christmas, I got a cookbook about hiding vegetables in your kids food. You know, the one by Jerry Seinfeld's wife Jessica. As much as I (sort of) try, my kids really don't get enough vegetables. I'm really excited to try some of these recipes out. And of course blog about it.
And one day a week I will be babysitting some kids for a neighbor so I will have some new test subjects for some of these foods and activities. And rumor has it, one of these kids will not eat vegetables. We'll see what we can do about that.
As a final thought, I found this blog and laughed so hard I cried. So if you need a good laugh and you have a few minutes, give it a try. Also if you either like or dislike snuggies or wooden blocks with words on them, you may find this mildly amusing:
http://itjustgetsstranger.blogspot.com/2011/12/snuggie-texts.html
Rotating toys
We have too many toys at our house. With Christmas coming up, it's just going to get worse.
Awhile ago I got tired of picking up toys. All day. Everyday. All the time. So we packed them into totes and put them in our garage.
Lately I've been busy trying to make some homemade gifts for my family. And I've been working on things for my Etsy shop too. And as much as I have loved the non-stop showing of the Strawberry Shortcake movie at our house, it was time for something new.
So we pulled out one of the totes.
It's been fun to watch my girls re-discover their old toys again. And it's kept them busy.
When they get bored of these toys we'll rotate in another tote of toys. Or Christmas will come and it will be time to pack up more toys into the garage. Either way, it's been good "toy control" at our house.
And it's been fun for my girls.
Awhile ago I got tired of picking up toys. All day. Everyday. All the time. So we packed them into totes and put them in our garage.
Lately I've been busy trying to make some homemade gifts for my family. And I've been working on things for my Etsy shop too. And as much as I have loved the non-stop showing of the Strawberry Shortcake movie at our house, it was time for something new.
So we pulled out one of the totes.
It's been fun to watch my girls re-discover their old toys again. And it's kept them busy.
When they get bored of these toys we'll rotate in another tote of toys. Or Christmas will come and it will be time to pack up more toys into the garage. Either way, it's been good "toy control" at our house.
And it's been fun for my girls.
Shapes
I'm so far behind. On everything I think.
Today my two year old and I worked on sorting, counting, and colors. I cut out a bunch of shapes in red and green paper.
She got so excited and named all the shapes and the colors. She even decided all on her own to make a snowman. They must be working on that at church with them because we haven't talked about snowmen at home.
They were talking on the radio this week about a study that said simple toys such a blocks are much better for kids than any electronic learning toy because it allows them to be creative. We got my two year old a Leapster 2 from Leapfrog and gave it to her a few weeks ago. Maybe we should have just stuck with blocks. Or shapes cut out of paper.
Today my two year old and I worked on sorting, counting, and colors. I cut out a bunch of shapes in red and green paper.
She got so excited and named all the shapes and the colors. She even decided all on her own to make a snowman. They must be working on that at church with them because we haven't talked about snowmen at home.
They were talking on the radio this week about a study that said simple toys such a blocks are much better for kids than any electronic learning toy because it allows them to be creative. We got my two year old a Leapster 2 from Leapfrog and gave it to her a few weeks ago. Maybe we should have just stuck with blocks. Or shapes cut out of paper.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)