Snack Attack

C came in from playing outside, hung up her coat and bopped into the den. She asked me if I wanted anything to eat or drink. "Real food or play food?" I asked.
"Play" she said.
 "OK, I'll have chocolate cake and ice cream."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, we're all out of chocolate cake."
"Really?" I asked incredulously.
"Yes, but we have strawberry cake, would you like a piece of that?" C asked, standing as if she was taking my order at a restaurant.
"Sure" I answered.

"And, what flavor ice cream would you like? We have vanilla or strawberry" C said.
"Oh, vanilla please" I answered.

She hopped out of the room and returned a few seconds later with pink plastic cake, a plastic scoop of vanilla ice cream and a pink cup of pretend ice water.

After I 'finished' my cake, she came back to clear off the dishes.
"Did you enjoy your cake and the ice cream? I hope so because it was the last piece we had" she said.
I told her I enjoyed it very much. She skipped away and went off to play.

Truly, it was the best snack I've had all week.

Hot Chocolate Volcano

I was upstairs, folding and putting away laundry, picking up, etc. S came bounding up the stairs.
"Mama, can we have hot chocolate? I can make it in the microwave, you won't even need to come down."
I thought for a moment. I had shown him numerous times how to use the microwave, he's made the last couple batches pretty much on his own, I think he's ready. Besides, then I can keep on cleaning and not stop.
"OK, go ahead but don't make the hot cocoa too hot."
"I won't, I promise Mama" he replied.
So, I finished what I was doing and started vacuuming. Next thing I know, S comes flying into the room.
"Come quick! We had an accident"
"Is C hurt?" I quickly ask, all the while thinking "I knew I should have said no, I should have made it myself or just made them wait until I was done."
"No, but we had, well, rather a hot chocolate explosion, It looks like a hot chocolate volcano went off!!" S said, "Come quick!!"
There are few things that could have made me move faster. I flew downstairs and this is what awaited me....

Pure misery.
Apparently, C had picked up her hot chocolate and spilled a little on the floor. She put the cup down, she & S wiped it up but didn't dry the floor. When C picked the cup back up, both feet went out from under and the hot chocolate? Well, that went pretty much everywhere.  I took one look at her miserable little face and like any sane mom, said "Oh honey, stay there. I have to get the camera."
Luckily, the hot chocolate was barely luke warm. Her glasses were totally covered (but I didn't get the camera out in time for that pic!). Even her underwear were soaked. There was about 1 tbsp of liquid left in her cup. The rest was on her, the floor, the cupboards, the dog bowls, the counter, the refrigerator and the door.  And probably a few other places that I haven't found it.
Poor thing!

C got cleaned up and yes, she got another cup of hot cocoa. I made this one and carried it to the table for her.
She said hot chocolate tasted much better in the cup.

Two Thumbs Up

We were eating at our favorite Korean restaurant, and we got dessert for the kids. It is very unusual for us to have dessert when we go out, so this was a big occasion. The kids chose fried ice cream (doesn't sound very Korean to me either, but hey, that was one of the choices).

Two thumbs up. It was a hit!

Black Bean Brownies

In my quest for healthier foods, I have been adding veggies to as many foods as I can. So, our spaghetti contains carrots (finely ground), mushrooms (also finely ground) and shredded zucchini. In fact, yesterday we had spaghetti squash instead of noodles. I love this, C likes it, S tolerates it and the Hubster eats it. That's a keeper in my book.
But, my favorite 'hidden' veggie so far? My black bean brownies. I use my favorite brownie mix, puree up a can of black beans and combine the two together (no eggs, no oils, just the brownie mix and black beans). Then I rinse the can and put it out in recycling before I get caught, er, I mean to show my commitment to the environment. Ahem....
Bake brownies as directed on the box.
The brownies taste good and are quite fudge-y. Is that a word? Well, it is now in my book. As is fudgalicious, fudgocity and fudge-0-mania. But I digress.
Sprinkle brownies with a dusting of powdered sugar. The kids LOVE these.
They've had a brownie in their lunch every day this week. And I love the idea that they're getting more vitamins and fiber along with the numminess.

Best Snack of 2011....So Far

As always, my children are ravenous when they open the door to come in after school. "What's for snack?" is asked at approximately 0.5 seconds after walking in the house.  I have come to dread this time 'cause I don't like having to come up with more food options. I already plan 3 meals every day, snacks just about push me over the edge.
I know, I know, I can list all the options out, the kids can pick, and get it themselves, they can always have fruit (but with C's lack of teeth, I still have to cut the hard stuff up for her), I can do a lot of things to make it easier. But, frankly, I just don't do that.
But, I have stumbled upon the best snack ever..well, so far this year anyway.
Get out your blender, chop up a frozen banana (you might need to add a bit of milk so it doesn't freeze up the blades, no I didn't measure the amount, just eyeball it, you know you want to anyway) and blend away. It comes out like banana ice cream and it's really, really creamy. I added a bit of chocolate syrup 'cause everything's better with chocolate on it.
Sooooooo tasty.
Next time I'm gonna try peanut butter. Oh, then maybe peanut butter and chocolate together!
Guess I need to plan more of these kind of snacks.
Oh, and the kids? They totally thought I had made ice cream. Score!!

The Biggest Loser

Oh joy of joys, a new season of Biggest Loser has started! I am, well, slightly obsessed with this show. But I really enjoy watching it. Especially the 'where are they now' ones. Anyway, back to last night. The show was starting and C came downstairs after putting on her jammies. "Ooooo, Mama, The Biggest Loser, I love that show!" Now, she only watches the first 10-15 minutes of this show but I guess she likes it.
"Really? Are you sure you like it or do you just watch it cause I have it on?" I asked.
"Oh, I really like it. Say, hey, would you like to lose weight?" C said.
"Well, yes, I'd like to lose some weight and be healthier" I replied, thinking Little Girl, you are treading into some shaky territory, watch it. You may only be 6, but I can take you down!
"Oh, is that why you go to the Weight Watcher meetings?" C asked.
"Yes," I was really wondering where this conversation was going.
"Well, I heard you tell Daddy" (this is where my heart drops, crap, what conversation did she overhear now?) "and you said that you didn't want to make separate food for us kids then what you eat. Well, I have a great idea, maybe you could make all those healthier things for me & S and we'll all eat the same things, cause we need to be healthy too!" C was quite proud of herself.
"That's a good idea, but it's what I already do" I said.
"Oh, you mean we eat healthy stuff?" C asked.
"All the time" I replied.
"Hmmmmm...." C said, "I guess that's not so bad then. And some of your food even tastes pretty good."
I just said "Thank you."
Some of my food, not all, but just some, mind you.
Somedays I just can't win.

Mystery Shopper

In my nightly perusal of the kitchen, looking for snacks, I mean, making sure everything was in order, I opened the refrigerator. There, in the front, right next to the milk, were a brand new carton of sour cream and one of ricotta cheese, both low fat.
"Hmmm, wonder where these came from? I don't remember buying them." I thought back to my last shopping trip before we went up North. "Nope, I didn't buy them. Hubster must have gotten them when he stopped to get milk last night. Weird things to buy, maybe he wants to cook something."  Visions of creamy, yummy Italian dishes started swimming through my head. Mmmmmmm.....Italian...mmmmm.. (whoops, I digress!)
When Hubster got home, I asked, "When you bought milk the other night, did you buy sour cream and ricotta cheese?"
"No, why would I? Besides, you only asked for milk" he defended.
"Well, they didn't just walk into the frig by themselves and the kids aren't old enough nor would they want to buy those items themselves, how did they get there?" I asked back.
I was totally perplexed. The cartons were unopened and the expiration date was Feb 8, 2011. So, they were bought recently.
I truly, truly do not remember buying these on my last shopping trip. Then I started to wonder if I had some sort of shopping amnesia. You know, how you get in the car and suddenly you get to your destination and don't really remember driving there? Not that that EVER happens to me or anything, ahem.  Maybe that's what happened on my last shopping trip. Or maybe I just have a general shopping disfocus problem. Do those really exist? Cause if they do, I totally blame them for the package of Christmas peeps up in the cupboard too.
But, unless someone 'fesses up to putting the sour cream and ricotta cheese in my frig, I'll have to chalk it up to Mr. Nobody getting them for me.
Maybe next time he'll bring cheesecake.

Cakes and Cupcakes

I have a secret, well, more like a confession. I like to bake. I really, really like to bake. I especially like to make cakes and cupcakes. I find it fun to bake them and decorate them. Even if it's a bit tedious at times.

S asked for sunflower cupcakes to bring to school on his birthday. Here's what they looked like:

Then, for his birthday party, S requested a cake that looked like a present. "OK, no problem" I told him. Then I silently panicked as I realized I had no idea how to do that. But, I figured out something and this is what his party cake looked like:

Then, C asked for 'special' cupcakes and pretty much left it up to me to figure out what that would be. I made really cute cupcakes, the cupcake itself looked tie-dyed with a large fancy dollop of frosting on top with colored sprinkles on it (the closest thing to cupcake bling in my cupboard). Here's what they looked like:

Well, you'll have to guess since I forgot to take a picture. Ooops!

For C's birthday party, she didn't want cakes or cupcakes, but she requested cookies. I made the largest flower cookies I could manage. At the party, I frosted them, the girls decorated them and they were quickly devoured. I'd post those, but they're still on my camera. Even though it wasn't cake or cupcakes, they were still fun to make!

Sorta Apple Cobbler

Tonight, I made teriyaki chicken drumsticks, green beans, pan fried potatoes and some apple cobbler for dessert. The kiddos RAVED about the cobbler. Once they finished it and had their dishes put away, I told them my little secret. My sorta apple cobbler did not have any apples in it. It was made with zucchini! Neither of them believed it at first and then Wolfgang requested that I make more healthier things that taste as good as the cobbler. I did have to tell them that it still had a lot of sugarand it is, in the words of Cookie Monster, 'a once in a while food' but it was quite tasty. The recipe I had was for Zucchini pie but I didn't want to take the time to make pie crust (and I had no crisco) so I made cobbler instead. It was very yummy and I will definitely make it again although I would add at least 1/4 cup less sugar. I'll post the recipe when I have a little more time.
It's fun to fool the kiddos. I need to do this again!

Mama Mia Pizza

My menu plan this week included pizzas for dinner tonight. But, not your average throw the frozen pizza in the oven and bake it kind, not even the call Papa John's and pick up a hot one (pizza that is) kind. Not even the 'please can we please go to Pizza Hut' kind. Nope, we did it the old fashioned way. We made our own pizzas. Dough from scratch and each of us got our own private pizza.

Wolfgang made a double decker pepperoni pizza.

Princess made a ham and pineapple pizza and so did I (but mine was bigger of course).

And, I made Hubster an onion and pepperoni pizza since he wasn't home from work yet.

The kids bit into them and said "MAMA!!!!!!"

Crap, I thought, here we go with complaining about what's for dinner again and I just busted my butt getting these individual pizzas done. Well, truth be told, the kids rolled out their own dough and put on their own toppings, but still. Don't these kids appreciate my culinary expertise???!

"We LOVE these pizzas!" "Even better than Ruffalos pizza!" my youngest declared and that's high praise indeed.

Guess that's what I get for jumping to conclusions. Too bad that kind of jumping doesn't count as exercise.

Oh, and this is what Maggie did while the pizzas were cooking. Right next to the oven with a forlorn 'all I want is a bite!' kind of look. Darned cute though.

Perusing the Web

In my quest to find more and varied recipes online, I ran across this website: www.recipesofacheapskate.blogspot.com. There's some tasty ones on there, but I make no claims as to how healthy they are. I must say the author sure does like her cheese though.

In other food related news, I have found that I really pared down my cookbooks. Why? Because I found that I did a lot of searching online. My other favorite recipe blogs are these:
www.mykitchencafe.blogspot.com
www.realmomkitchen.blogspot.com
www.reluctantentertainer.com (this is just a fun website in general and it has tasty recipes too)
Sometimes I just search for the main ingredients I have for dinner that night. Let me tell you, there are some, well let's just say, interesting recipes out there!
What are your favorite recipe sites?

Fat Tuesday

Yum, yum, yum, my king cake turned out great! It was even complete with the baby inside. The Hubster took this cake to work. Since I underestimated the time it would take to make one cake, I didn't have time to make one for Wolfgang too. So, I improvised and made cupcakes for him to take to school. I did decorate them with purple, green and yellow sanding sugars though. Stinker gave away all the cupcakes at school and didn't even save ONE for his dear mama. I must teach him to get his priorities straight! :)