Breakfast

One of my new years goals for this year - a bullet point under the heading "be a better mom"- is to actually get up and make my kids breakfast. 

I am a cereal person. I come from a proud tradition of cereal people. I'm pretty sure my mom ate raisin bran every morning of my growing up years, and my dad has never and will never eat anything but corn flakes for breakfast. And I like my parents. They're pretty cool people. And I turned out pretty darn awesome, so there is absolutely nothing wrong with eating cereal for breakfast.

But....

While taking inventory of myself and pondering what my resolutions would be I realized I was using cereal as babysitter. My boys are big enough to get their own cereal and cereal for all their little cereal-eating brothers. On one hand, it felt like the greatest day of my life when they could get their own cereal,  buuuut, it was enabling me to give in to my inherent laziness. *let me sleep ten more minutes....zzzzzzzz* 

So here we are several weeks into the new year, and this mama has made breakfast every morning.It's hard for me to get up earlier every day. But I feel better. And my boys feel better. They have told me now several times how they like when I "make them food in the morning." 

Well, wish me luck. I hope I can keep this resolution for a long time to come. 

What are some of your resolutions?

So anyways....you should make these. The boys were thrilled to get "cookies" for breakfast. And, no, I did not get up and make these in the morning! I made them the night before and doubled them so I could be semi-lazy the next morning... and for several mornings after.... but the little rats wanted them for after school snacks, too! Oh well, at least they liked them :)

Oatmeal Breakfast (or after school!) Cookies

1 1/2 cups regular rolled oats
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 cup of almond meal (almonds chopped in a food processor)
1/2 cup mixed nuts, finely chopped
1 cup dried fruit

3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 175C. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine rolled oats, almond meal, mixed nuts and coconut flakes. Stir in allspice and cinnamon. Add dried fruit and stir until well and evenly mixed. Make sure the dried fruit do not stick together in big batches. In another bowl, combine canola oil, mashed banana and vanilla extract. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and stir until well combined.

Take a large cookie cutter and press spoonfuls of the batter into it. Remove cookie cutter. Bake for about 20 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Rice Pudding

One of my little boys' favorite books right now is "The Poky Little Puppy." In the book the puppies' mom makes them rice pudding for one of their desserts. Tonight we had sweet and sour chicken (which all the boys LOVED) and there was some rice left over. As we were cleaning up dinner, I mentioned that we could make rice pudding out of the leftover rice. The boys were a little skeptical, but excited about the prospect of getting dessert. I was surprised at how truly delicious it was. Like, old-timey, warms-your-very-soul delicious.  So if you would like to re-create our delicious evening, here you go:

• 1 (16oz) can pineapple chunks in juice
• 1tsp cornstarch
• 2Tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2t garlic powder

• cooking spray
• 2tsp sesame oil
• 1 medium-size green pepper,coarsely chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1lb chicken breasts, diced

Rice Pudding

3/4 cup uncooked white rice or (1 1/2 cups cooked rice and start at step 2)

 2 cups milk, divided

 1/3 cup white sugar

 1/4 teaspoon salt

 1 egg, beaten

 2/3 cup golden raisins

 1 tablespoon butter

 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

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Directions

1. (Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a saucepan; stir rice into boiling water. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.)

2. In a clean saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes.

3. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg, and raisins; cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

You can eat it as is, which is delicious, but I sprinkled it generously with cinnamon. 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/creamy-rice-pudding/

The boys were thoroughly impressed. :)

• Drain pineapple, reserving juice; set pineapple chunks aside. Combine reserved juice, cornstarch, and next 3 ingredients; set aside.
• Coat a large nonstick skillet or wok with cooking spray, and add oil. Place over medium-high heat until hot. Stir fry chicken for a few minutes. Add green pepper and onion; stir-fry 2 to 3 minutes or until crisp-tender. 
• Stir cornstarch mixture and pineapple chunks into chicken mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick and bubbly. Serve immediately over hot, cooked rice.

Butter pie crust

I found this recipe a couple of years ago while looking for a good pie crust recipe for Thanksgiving. I have the same feelings about shortening that I have about spam: I know I ate it my whole life in various recipes, but I can't bear to buy it or use it myself.. Strange. But I digress. This crust is so delicious and so simple....

So just in time for Thanksgiving:

Butter pie crust

1 1/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c butter
1/4c ice water

Mix flour and salt. Cut in butter. Add water a tablespoon at a time and mix until soft dough forms. Form into a ball and refrigerate overnight.

I never remember to refrigerate overnight. I just roll it out between two pieces of saran wrap and try to work fast before it gets too soft :) OH! and this is a single pie crust recipe, which tricks me every time. Don't forget to double it for a pie that needs a top!

It's sooo yummy and I use it for everything from regular pies to pot pies to homemade pop tarts....

which we made this morning. Just spread jelly between two pieces of dough, cut out with cookie cutters and, like my boys informed me this morning, "if you're a nice mom you'll put sprinkles on top."

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Pumpkin Baked French Toast

I am posting tonight for 2 reasons:

1. My boys went absolutely nuts over this recipe. Like 3 helpings...

2. For my dear Grandma Goodwin (technically Dan's grandma, but I claim her, too). This comes out very soft and is so delicious with real maple syrup on top. I think it could make her happy.

Pumpkin Baked French Toast

(Serves 4-6)

• 3 1/2 cups cubed bread (I used Ezekiel, but other types are fine. French bread would be really good in this recipe, as would cinnamon-raisin. Depending on the type of bread, you might need more or less than 3.5 cups. You want enough to fill an 8×8 pan.) (175g) (I (Melissa) used day-old homemade bread)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or just add a little extra cinnamon)
• sweetener of choice (If you want to top the casserole with syrup post-baking, use 3 nunaturals stevia packs or 3 tbsp sugar. If you’d prefer a sweeter breakfast casserole that needs no topping, increase the amount to 5-6 tbsp)
• 1 1/4 cups milk of choice (300g)
• optional: 2 tbsp butter-type spread of choice (for a more buttery result) (30g)
• 1 cup MoriNu silken-firm tofu, or 1 cup yogurt of choice (240g)
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (I used canned pumpkin) (120g) 
• optional: handful of raisins

In a very large bowl, combine first 5 ingredients and stir well. In a separate bowl, combine all remaining ingredients and stir very well. (If using the tofu, you should blend liquid ingredients. Otherwise, just stir by hand.) Grease an 8×8-in baking pan, and pour dry ingredients into pan. Cover evenly with the wet mixture, then cover the entire dish with a lid or saran wrap and fridge overnight. The next morning, preheat oven to 400 F and cook about 30 minutes. Top with maple syrup or your favorite French toast topping (or eat plain, if you opt to use the extra dry sweetener pre-baking.)

from http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/11/04/pumpkin-baked-french-toast/ (this website is AMAZING.)

Election day memories...

I do not have time to write this tonight, but it popped into my head tonight and I wanted to make sure I wrote it down.

I feel all sorts of nervous about the election tomorrow. I'm probably not going to turn the TV on all day long, then turn it on the morning of my birthday and see which president I get for my birthday. My birthday is always right around or on election day, and I have gotten a president or two.

 Today I got a birthday card from my Mother-in-law. It's probably the only birthday card I'll get  since mostly people resort to the facebook birthday salute these days (which I'm guilty of as well.... *added to my list of things to be better about*). But it's fun to get a birthday card. It took me back to the days when I used to get two birthday cards every year. One from each of my grandmas. I always loved getting Grandma Stewart's birthday card, with her gorgeous, flowing script, accompanied by generous, beautifully wrapped gifts (always wrapped in tissue paper, then wrapped in wrapping paper. Her talent did not pass on to me...). Grandma Stewart sent a card for every holiday, even Halloween, and it was always accompanied by some cash. Man, as a kid, didn't you always feel so special when you got MONEY? I think I miss the Halloween cards the most. But I digress....

 The other birthday card was always from Grandma Shirley. It was always a card, with a check for $10 and in the subject line of the check, she had always written a note in shorthand (so who knows what it said??). The best part of my birthday cards from her, which were usually the only communication I had from her all year long, was that she always talked about whatever election was coming up. It was hilarious. I remember the year it was Bush v. Gore and she could barely handle how nervous she was about the election, and that's what my entire birthday card was about. Dan and I went to visit her when I was VERY pregnant with Ben and we both laughed when we went into her bedroom: on one wall she had probably 9 or 10 pictures of my family, the grandkids, etc... On the facing wall?? 20 or 30 pictures of various republican candidates. She was as republican as you can get, and she had gotten most of her pictures as thank you gifts for donating to their campaigns.

 So tonight, on election day eve, I'm nervous about the election, but really I'm just sitting here missing my Grandmas. And I know, if they could, they'd each send me a birthday card, special in its own way.

The lion, the spider, and the wardrobe....

I've said before I love Halloween for oh so many reasons, but I always look forward to getting to sew for my boys! This year's creations:

-The lion:

As seems to be tradition for me, I couldn't find a pattern I liked. So I just had to make something up. I really like how the mane turned out. I made little bundles of this furry yarn I found, then had to hand-sew them on. That was kind of a pain... :) but I liked it in the end.

These are from the school parade.

The spider:

George at the school parade. We had to look up how many eyes black widows have and what color the eyes are. In true George fashion, he was concerned that his costume be anatomically correct. Oh, and that's fishing line holding up the other legs. 

Ready to trick or treat!

 The wardrobe:

 You will recognize the last two from years past....

Henry really wanted to be the night fury. I don't blame him :) This is one of my favorite costumes I've made. (For a better look, see http://blogztheblogtoendallblogs.blogspot.com/2011/11/halloween.html)

Our sweet little Sam tiger. Sam loved his "tiger shirt." I did not let him wear it to bed as he suggested, though :)

Then there was our little Jack-o-lantern. I didn't make this outfit, just found it at Walmart :)

We had a great Halloween! Hope you had a happy Halloween, too! 

on this day...

All day today I've been thinking about what this day was like for me 4 years ago. I woke up and got the kids ready for the day. Around 9 am I started feeling like I was having a few heavier contractions than normal. At 10 am I called a friend and asked if she was free in case I might need to bring my kids over later, but I was still feeling pretty good.. I started getting ready to take George to his 11:15am gymnastics class. At 11 I decided I probably shouldn't go, this was starting to feel like it might be the real thing. So I called Dan and asked him to come home from work and I called my mom and asked her to come over. Dan got home and brought me a Subway sandwich and a chocolate milk. By about 12:00 I was really feeling intense labor. My mom arrived around 12:30 and we headed to the hospital. I walked in and told the ladies at the front desk I was in labor. They sat me down in a room and started chatting with me for a while and asking how I was doing. The had me change into my clothes and lie down. The nurse, still in a very calm and casual manner came and checked me. Her eyes got wide, she ran to the hall and yelled, "We have a nine and a half, bulging bag!!!" swooped her hair into a ponytail and started running around the room opening packages and getting things ready. I followed her lead and put my hair into a ponytail. It was go-time. She informed me I wouldn't have time for an epidural. I got really sad, but decided in that case I would push this baby out as fast and hard as I could. The doctor arrived and my 9lb 3 oz Mr. Henry was born about 20 minutes later. Henry has never slowed down. That boy is as full of life, mischief, wit, and energy as they come, and we love him to death. Happy birthday to my 4 year old.