Eve and I made gingerbread cookie dough this morning. The holiday season is upon us and I have been craving gingerbread cookies :) This afternoon we went to work…
Cutting out the cookies
I have no interest in frosting these so I scrounged in the cabinet for some decorations. The kids had a blast and didn't even comment on the fact that we were using sunflower seeds, raisins, pecans, unsweetened coconut... and chocolate chunks! :)
Fun mommy came to dinner last night…
Snowman pizza - before cooking
Snowman pizza - after cooking
We saw this idea in a Highlights magazine and when Eve asked for pizza for dinner I thought it would be a fun treat. Both kids enjoyed looking at it, but only Eve was brave enough to eat it. It was delicious. Silly Lex ate carrots and peppers while Eve and I dug into the pizza.
The other day Lex asked if we could make birthday cookies for my birthday. Hmm… OK! We are making cake tomorrow to share with Julie (her birthday is Monday and we like to celebrate together), so I thought cookies today would be perfect. Apparently by “birthday cookies” Lex meant Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies. Yum! I found a good recipe on Allrecipes.com and whipped up some cookies while Eve napped and Lex was at school. I forgot how quick it is to bake without interruptions :)
Ingredients
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 1 1/2 cups white sugar
* 2 eggs
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2/3 cup cocoa powder
* 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions
* In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
* Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended.
* Mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
* Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. (I used a small cookie scoop and they are the perfect size!)
* Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in a 350° preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
For those of you who think I do nothing but bake all day, here is a healthier recipe. I rejoined Weight Watchers this week so the baking has been put on hold for awhile (but with the holidays so near I don’t think it will be too long!) This recipe is adapted from a WW magazine. I’ve made it a few times and I think it is yummy. Alan mostly agrees, though I think he’d take something full-fat and loaded with chicken over this :)
Cheesy Cauliflower Casserole
1 c. shredded Swiss cheese (divided in half)
1/4 c. grated Parmesan
6 c. steamed cauliflower florets
3 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 1/2 c. fat-free half-and-half
3 Tbsp chopped parsley (I used the freeze dried variety)
Mix 1/2 cup of Swiss cheese with the Parmesan and set aside.
Put the steamed cauliflower into a 2qt baking dish.
Heat the half-and-half over a low heat, add flour, salt, cayenne, and garlic. Cook until it thickens, whisking frequently, about 4 minutes. Add the other 1/2 cup of Swiss cheese and parsley.
Pour over the cauliflower and top with mixed cheeses.
Broil 3-5 minutes, until golden brown on top.
3 POINTS per 1 cup serving. Variations: use low-fat Swiss cheese to reduce points to 2 per 1 cup serving. The original recipe also said to added 3 oz. Canadian bacon strips at the end with the cheese and parsley. I skipped that step, obviously. It will also increase the points value.
PS. Sorry no fancy photo! I didn’t think about posting the recipe until after the leftovers were tucked nicely (and messily!) away in the fridge.
I came across a recipe for Baked Apple “Donut” Muffins the other day and despite my hesitation to bake these days… well, I had to make these! They are sooo delicious!!
Pure yumminess!
This recipe is based on the one I found at Frugality and Crunchiness with Christy. I made some modifications below.
Baked Apple “Donut” Muffins
(makes about 24)
Muffins
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 TBS baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs – beaten
1 cup milk
2 cups cored and finely diced apples
Topping
1/2 cup (1 stick of butter) – I used about 3/4 of the stick
1 cup sugar – I used about 3/4 c
2 tsp ground cinnamon – I just threw a bunch in! Tired of measuring by this point :)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 12 cup muffin tin. (I made mini muffins and ended up with 48 of them, plus 6 regular sized muffins)
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg using a fork. Add the oil and work into the mixture using a fork or pastry blender until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
3. Combine eggs, milk, and apples. Add to the flour mixture, stir just until blended.
4. Spoon batter into the muffin cups (The KAF cookie scoop is super handy here!)
5. While the donuts are baking, melt the butter in a small bowl. Mix the cinnamon/sugar combo into another bowl.
6. Let the muffins cool slightly then dunk them first in the melted butter and then in the cinnamon/sugar mixture.
So yummy! Lex requested some without topping (he doesn’t generally like toppings, even if it’s just cinnamon and sugar!) so we have some topped and some plain. Both are yummy, but of course the cinnamon sugar adds a nice sweetness :)
Let me tell you about my day. It started at 6am, as they all do, with Lex at my bedside. We had a nice morning, read the paper, did the crossword, and then I went to a double-header cardio class at the gym while Alan took the kids to touch-a-truck, a popular event that seems to be springing up everywhere. We got home around the same time and over lunch the kids asked if they could go back to touch-a-truck in the afternoon. We debated, but Alan said they were behaving super well and didn’t get to see everything, so we had a short rest after lunch and headed back to touch-a-truck. This time I got to go too! :)
Eve, pulling the air horn on a huge tow truck.
Silly Eve in a Jeep
That sweet girl just does not belong in an open-top Jeep with a skull for a gear shift and a tricked out horn. I told her she looks like a puppy with her tongue hanging out!
Once she found the bounce house it was all over. She jumped until she nearly passed out from exhaustion and heat, it was a hot day! (The pictures are all of Eve because I followed her around while Alan followed Lex.)
When we got home the kids agreed to help me make applesauce. We still have (had!) a half bushel of apples from when we went apple picking. Lex was actually really helpful with the process! Not only can he turn the handle on the apple peeler/corer, but this year he can do the whole thing. Put the apples on, turn it, take them off, reload. The whole thing! It was great. For awhile he even set it up for Eve and let her do the handle turning. He used such a sweet voice with her and taught her how to use it. Truly helpful!
Lex and Eve, peeling apples.
At this point I went a little apple crazy. I was hoping the applesauce would use up the rest of the apples, but I filled the biggest pot I have and it still only used about half the apples. I really wanted that bushel off my (very limited!) counter space, so I made eight jars of applesauce, plus apple bread, apple spice cake, apple pancakes (for dinner) and some sourdough bread because we were out of sandwich bread. Whew! And we still have over a dozen apples left! I’m going to keep those for eating. Amazingly everything went very well. Dinner was on the table at the usual time, everyone was thrilled to have apple pancakes and fresh applesauce for dinner, bath and bed went smoothly, and I made it through the kitchen cleanup before it got too late!
When the kids got done helping in the kitchen they decided to have some computer time with Alan. I love my little family of computer geeks.
I like bundt cakes. I don't get to use this pan very often.
Yum!
While I was cleaning though, and finally breathing again, I started thinking about how goofy I am. I spent 2 hours in the gym this morning, busting my butt, and then spent the evening in the kitchen making delicious baked goods. I like to say “they’re for the kids” but really we all know who will be eating them. I certainly won’t let the kids eat an entire cake! It’s like my inner Jillian Michaels and my inner Martha Stewart are duking it out, in my neutral body. Some days it leaves me paralyzed and other days I accomplish a lot, though not always towards the same goal!
Overall we had an awesome day. Everyone was happy, no fighting, no crabbiness, fairly productive… pretty great. I credit it to a few things:
Here’s to a sunny Sunday as well!
We had some really nice reading time this afternoon. The kids ate snack (more on the below) and I read books to them, in an effort not to eat their snack! Eve picked out a big pile of books and we read. I was feeling really good about this reading time because we normally just read before nap and bedtime, but I like reading throughout the day as well. Halfway through her book pile I realized that I was reading a pile of really dumb books. Dora books, and DC comic books (both aimed at early readers, but they feel like they are aimed at babies!), and other silly things. This got me thinking… the kids have lots of high quality, award winning books, but just as often as not they choose really stupid books at story times. I wonder if it’s still beneficial to read to them, even the dumb ones that are below their reading and comprehension levels, or should I start getting rid of these dumb ones? I’ve put away the baby books, and I throw away books I don’t like at all, but these are kind of in-between. What do you think?
As for snack, I’m loving it these past few days. What I’m loving most is hearing Lex say, “Mom, I really like the afternoon snacks you make for us!” Like music to my ears. I got fed up with the make-your-own snack we’ve been doing for years. It started back when they were toddlers and needed easy finger foods and it’s evolved through the years into a mix of crackers, dried fruits, and nuts. Now they like to stand at the counter and make their own “cracker snack” but it drives me crazy. They play at the counter, they eat at the counter, they bounce around, they make a huge mess… it has literally taken them an hour to make a snack. Then, when they finally get down with a full bowl of snack, they barely touch it because they were eating so much at the counter. Drives me crazy! So this week I started putting out a nice snack on the table before meeting Lex at the bus. One day it was peanut butter and crackers. My friend calls them Peanut Butter Smilers. :) I put out little bowls of dried cherries, banana chips, celery smiles, etc. They made faces and loved it! Today it was “yellow snack” which consisted of crackers with cheese cut into heart shapes, dried pineapple, and fresh pineapple. They loved it! Lex even ate the cheese, which has been on his personal do-not-eat list for awhile now. I was thrilled!! Not only did he eat the whole snack and ask for more, but he complimented me again on it and told me how much he loves the snacks I make. Ahh… simple things can make a momma swoon!
I’m sure you’re all curious how our family meal plan is going. I’m sorry I’ve gotten lax with the daily updates, but really it’s not that exciting. The first week Eve, Alan, and I enjoyed tasty meals and Lex went to bed hungry. This ended in him waking up Saturday morning feeling very sick. He threw up some stomach bile and eventually was able to eat some food. I think maybe he realized that his stomach was too empty. The next week Eve, Alan, and I enjoyed tasty meals while Lex sat at the table with us (yay!) and ate carrots. I think maybe he also had some cucumbers and applesauce that week. Earlier this week he decided to branch out and try green peppers. The next night he tried yellow peppers and told me that if I bought corn on the cob he would try that too. He says, “I think I used to like corn on the cob when I was little.” Oh if only he ate everything he used to like when he was little! Tonight he ate corn on the cob and grapes for dinner. And three bowls of watermelon for snack! The fruit and veggies dinners seem silly, but he gets plenty of grains throughout the day (like a big bowl of oatmeal for lunch) and milk with two or three meals, so I think we’re doing ok. The key is he now sits with us, eats what he likes on the table, and doesn’t complain. It’s awesome!! :)
PS. He starts school in 12 days. Eek!
Check out my new garden work! I spent the morning transplanting irises (after spending two days digging them up and separating them!) I didn’t want them back in the same bed, so I put some in the front garden, some by the mailbox, and many, MANY more in plastic bags to give away! :) I can’t believe how many were packed into that tiny space.
As I separated them I threw them into our kiddie pool. It filled the pool and then some!
New foliage around the mailbox.
There was a bare spot in this front garden (not sure why), so I put some irises there as well.
Now for the day three update. Tired of this potentially never ending story yet? I got Lex to look at the table tonight before he scurried upstairs. I made the most basic kid-friendly meal possible – Annie’s DW mac & cheese, steamed broccoli, and fried tofu, with carrots and cucumbers on the side, both veggies he normally eats, but he wasn’t interested. Oh well. He was quiet upstairs and went to bed without much fuss. Though he did say “I’m ready for this new meal plan thing to be over with soon!” :) I told him it would not be over with anytime soon and once again encouraged him to work with me to find meals he might be willing to try. Guess what he said?! NO! Sigh. At least the rest of us are eating well. Eve loved the mac & cheese, which in the past she would never taste because he wouldn’t either. She ate that and broccoli and was happy.
However, the lack of dinner doesn’t appear to be affecting his brain power. Check out the train setup he made today. It’s the first time I’ve seen him raise the station and build tracks under it. Cool, huh?! Earlier today he was elevating all of the tracks with random things, like flipped over cars and monster truck tires. It was awesome to watch him experiment. He even put the station on the end table at one point and had hills going over the arm of the couch and down to the cushions. He was excited about that, but took it down when I told him he couldn’t leave it that way over night. Where would I sit?! :) So he rebuilt on the floor.
Tonight’s meal went much the same as last night’s with one small exception. I explained to Lex (again) that family meals are so we can all sit together as a family and spend time together. I told him that he doesn’t have to eat, but I would like him to join us at the table. Unfortunately I cannot force him to sit at the table, so I gave him the choice of joining us (eating or not), or being alone in his room. No playing. Guess what he chose? A good book in bed. Sigh. At least he didn’t fight about it and didn’t mention once tonight that he was hungry. When I was laying in bed with him at the end he said he wasn’t going to eat any dinner until it was something he liked and there was nothing on the menu that he liked. I told him that I would be happy to work with him to find dinner ideas that he likes, but cereal and yogurt (breakfast foods!) do not cut it as a family dinners. Sometimes they do, of course, but not for now. :) So we will try again tomorrow. At least he made it through the night last night, slept until a reasonable hour (6:30am, which is great in our house!) and didn’t even want to eat the minute he came downstairs.
Thanks all for the advice and support. Much appreciated and I’ll incorporate ideas as I can.