January 2013

It's been a while since I've posted so here's wishing you and yours a very Happy (belated) New Year!

Things I've been reminded not to take for granted this month:

• working hot water tanks
• husbands with untwisted ankles
• water service without main breaks
• cell phones that have not been dropped in a bowl of reserve drinking water
• healthy kids
• healthy ears (mine)
• sleep
• people who really care about me (thanks, if you're reading!)
• like my grandma says, there's no such thing as perfect
• working car batteries
• super wonderful clowns who had our kids in high spirits after a couple of ouchie vaccinations, thanks Sunny
• and the Caesar's Pizza guys who let me cut through their mini mall pizza place to get from parking lot to parking lot when I couldn't find a regular spot...and then let me cut through again an hour later with a newly immunized little boy. I said to them, "If you ever decide to have kids I hope someone is as nice to you as you were to me." and I meant it.

You know, the usual...

Anyways, I found a great recipe for my favorite Vietnamese dish - Charbroiled Pork Vermicelli (Bun Thit Nuong), here...

P.S. This website comes with free meal plans and accompanying grocery lists

I realized that toothpicks are the perfect size for kid fruit kabobs. Two pineapple and grape kabobs + 4 chocolate chips and a swish of whipped cream for dessert reinstated me as her best mom ever, phew...

This is not my photo, find it here. Obviously this is not a new idea - but who cares?!

I found The Eight Step Home Cure at the library so now I don't have to buy it and store it somewhere...

"About the Book: From not enough space and too many things to not knowing what color to paint the living room walls, many of us struggle with our homes. Now Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, frequent makeover expert on HGTV's Mission: Organization and Small Spaces, Big Style, shares the do-it-yourself strategies that have enabled his clients and fans to transform their apartments into well-organized, beautiful places that suit their style and budget.Week by week, Apartment Therapy will guide you to treat common problems, eliminate clutter, and revamp even the tiniest space. Here is an eight-step process that includes:

• A therapeutic questionnaire
 to help you get in touch with your personal taste and diagnose your home's physical, emotional, and energy flow issues

• A prescription
 with recommendations for each room based on your needs and lifestyle: including tips on how to use color, lighting, and accessories

• A treatment plan
, including regular maintenance schedules to ensure the ongoing health of your space

• Illustrations of floor plans
 and decorative examples that allow you to visualize concepts before you begin

With surprising ease and without elaborate professional help, Apartment Therapy will help you clear a path through disorder and indecision, to reveal a home you'll love. 

Ok, ok,  warning/disclaimer/whatever about the book - the author (and co-founder of one of my favorite sites ApartmentTherapy.com) and his wife are splitting up...

"He believes chasing the perfect domestic life led to the end of his marriage, telling Page Six, 'You start out with certain hopes and dreams, and you get stuck on perfection." 
Excerpt here. 

That may be depressing, mostly for them, but it's a good reminder for me that a magazine style house doesn't = a happy marriage. But, both would be nice...hey, I'm only human.

Singing and Cooking

My husband is looking up bbq rubs, and is asking me what spices we have and commenting on the different recipes. He just came across this quote: 

"If I sing when I cook, the food is going 

to be happy." Pasquale Carpino

We both laughed and then I immediately Wikipedia'd Pasquale. Turns out he was not only a chef but an operatic singer. 

"Oh if he's an operatic singer no wonder the food is happy."  Hubby

Happy indeed. Hey, how happy is your food? Not from the quality of your singing (if you're hard on yourself) but because you're singing!

Next library search item...

Easier (for me) Meal Planning

Meal planning is a big deal. Although my intentions are good, I've realized it needs to be as simple as possible for me to make it work (see original post).

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. I tried and...voila! 2 weeks in, so far so good.

Supplies

• Baseball card protector sheets + 3" x 5" index cards cut in 1/2
• 8.5" x 11" sheet protectors + 8.5" x 11" paper
• Dry erase marker

Method (see corresponding images below)

1. Front of card: meal (including sides), cookbook shortcut and recipe page number (Disney Family Fun Cookbook recipe on page 82 = DFF-82)
2. Back of card: all ingredients for meal
3. Separate page: list all ingredients and rough quantities and sleeve into sheet protector (add a check mark to the end of each ingredient for the amount of times you'll be using it) This works for me rather than a master grocery list because it cuts down on my prep time before heading out to the grocery store. Each meal has a grocery list ready to go.
4. Ingredient inventory: cross out all ingredients you already have with dry erase marker and add missing ingredients to your weekly grocery list. I keep my weekly grocery list on the cupboard and add thing to it as we run out: milk, spray cooking oil, tissue, etc. 

Follow Up

• Photocopy and/or scan winning meal plan
• Archive winning meal plan and corresponding grocery list together (back to back) in 1 sheet protector in Meal Planning Binder 
• Shuffle cards to make new meal plan for weeks to follow using same/different meal plan cards

Tips

• Baseball card protector sheets seem to come in packages of 10, which is plenty, don't buy more than that. In theory I could have 10 weeks planned (I don't) and some weeks archived. This is looking promising, isn't it?!
• Hand write it, it's faster and more relaxing than being on the computer. It doesn't have to be really pretty because nobody is going to see it but you and your family...and maybe your friends who you really like. This project can take effect immediately and P.S. it's ongoing.
• * Use the remaining 2 card slots to house A) Suggestions for breakfast and lunches and B) Desserts and snacks. List ingredients for these on the back of the cards and add to weekly grocery list.
• Don't feel bad pitching a loser meal
• Don't hesitate adding a recipe you've never tried. You can always pitch it if you don't like it and white-out your grocery list of the ingredients.
• Don't hesitate adding wild cards like Sushi, Pizza Night, Go Out To Eat, Sandwiches in the Park,  Invite selves over to Grandparents (haha!) and so on! You don't have to make every meal, from scratch, at home, every day.
• If you go out for dinner or plans change, you can have that dinner meal for lunch the next day or freeze it for another day.
• Write the date of winning meal plans on the top corner of the archived sheet (maybe one day meals could be organized by what is in season, but it doesn't have to be that organized today, or ever)
• Feel free to add notes to archived sheets (who liked what, good for a potluck, etc)
• Swap out [sides, spices, etc.] if you like to be more spontaneous, if something is on sale or if you have a serious craving (I just wouldn't swap out too much in one week)
• Don't forget to wipe the dry erase marker off of the page protector
• Get the family involved in meal planning while you sip your drink of choice and supervise. Let them pick meals, do ingredient inventory, photocopy or scan winning weeks, do prep work at meal time, why not? Well, maybe after you have your goal number of weeks planed ;)

Good luck and let me know if this works for you or what you thought!

Three New Projects

Warning: this post is long! It's because I'm excited!

I'm adding some new things to my every...I know, I know - am I setting myself up for burnout before I even begin my 30 days? Maybe but I'm doing it anyways. I've been feeling stagnant for a while now and if I have some get up and go...I'm gonna go.

Cute food...

So much for me giving up on making food cuter for my preschooler...look what I came across, here. How can I resist?! Viva cute!

tons more on her website...

Easier Homemade Baby Food

Ok. With the 2nd baby I was all ready to feed him store bought baby food...until...he started reacting to stuff. Long story short (he's fine) I'm serving him up some good homemade mush inspired by a batch of pureed yams my mom (thanks mom) gave us.

So. There are LOTS of recipe books, blogs, newsletters, advice and tips about making and storing baby food. This works well for me:

• boil up [whatever food you're making]
• emersion blender (the hardest working small appliance in my kitchen) w/ cooking water to desired consistency
• pour it all into a parchment paper lined baking pan
• freeze until almost frozen
• take out of freezer, pop onto cutting board, cut up like brownies
• toss back into original freezer bag, if possible (saves labeling & using a zip lock bag), or toss into a zip lock freezer bag
• Please refer to your own trusted sources for best used by date, cooking methods, etc...

I like this because it's fast, easy and I found that not everything freezes well, or to rock hard consistency, in ice cube trays (apricots, prunes, etc...). If more cooking water is added to the blend then the mush is easier to pop out of out of ice cube tray once frozen...but pouring it into a pan (for me) is way easier.

You can use this method for blending up & freezing fruit for smoothies, etc. 

P.S. Another freezer storage tip...pour your soups & other "freezables" that start out soft (chili, pulled pork, etc) into zip lock freezer bags and freeze flat...then store upright like books in a bookshelf - save so much space and thaws quickly. 

Bon appetite!