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Three Good Things for the day:
Three Good Things for the day (and today was a rough day):
We’re having a wonderful Christmas in sunny Florida with my in-laws. I’ve been swimming twice, ridden on two killer roller coasters, seen some tigers, read two popular novels, and have been introduced to the greatest game since Pictionary. I took a nap today, too. Hallelujah!
And I have showered and washed my hair 7 straight days in a row. I hadn’t been keeping track, but I’m fairly certain that that is the record since Sam was born 2 years, 3 months, and 23 days ago.
More details to come…
Sing this to the tune of Three Blind Mice:
Chew your food
Chew your food
Chew your food
Chew your food
Chomp it up like a good dinosaur
After you swallow you can let out a roar
And if you’re still hungry you can have some more
Chew your food
Sam eats tiny chocolate bars horizontally, like a sandwich.
I can’t believe our President-elect gave a shout out to Harold’s Chicken Shack. This one was right next to MY old apartment in Chicago. Go South Loop!
Forgive me, Internet, for I have sinned. It has been 26 days since my last confession.
I ate the last of my daughter’s Halloween candy.
I’m still sick, so I’ll continue with my recommendations to close out the week. This is a true Little Thing: champagne grapes, aka Black Corinth grapes. My supermarket carries them and I’ve been tempted to try them all summer, but only bought some last week. They are tiny little packages of nectar. So sweet and delicate. Their tiny size enhances the experience of eating them because you don’t chew them at all, you just kind of pop them open with your tongue and they explode with goodness. They’re like natural Pop Rocks.
Samantha loves grapes and before I trusted her chewing abilities, I spent many hours cutting and tearing up grapes into baby size pieces. I’m pretty sure these champagne grapes would have been safe for her before she was a year old. I wish I had known about them then.
It turns out that these are the grapes they use to make currants, the little tiny raisins. Since regular raisins are also a choking hazard, I’ve been giving Sam currants instead. We call them baby raisins and she loves them. (I should have deduced that the existence of baby raisins meant there existed baby grapes too.) The currants are great for salads and also in recipes that call for raisins when you want a finer distribution of the sweet.
I subscribe to this awesome recipe service, The Six O’Clock Scramble. They send me 5 recipes each week which I can customize. Each meal is fast and easy and includes side dishes, which helps me to remember the veggies. The best part is that I hit a button and I get an automatically generated shopping list with all the ingredients I need for the week.
This is such an easy way to cook healthy meals without spending a lot of time planning. It also prompts me to try new things and maintain a good variety of foods in my diet. If you struggle with cooking for your family, you really should try this service for a few months. Here is one of my favorite recipes from the service, reprinted here with permission:
Many Scramble subscribers and friends of ours are crazy about this vegetable pie, originally suggested by Jackie Cohen. It is mild and simple enough to appeal to the palates of many kids, as well. Serve it with Garlic Cheese Bread and an Ambrosia Fruit Salad.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and sauté the zucchini and onions until (about 10 minutes). Add the salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil and oregano. Press the pie crust into a pie dish and spread the mustard evenly over the crust. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, cheese and zucchini mixture. Pour everything into the pie crust and spread it evenly. Bake it for 30 minutes, until the top is lightly browned. (Meanwhile, prepare the Garlic Cheese Bread and the fruit salad, if you are serving them.) Allow it to cool for a few minutes and cut it into wedges to serve it (or refrigerate it for up to 24 hours or freeze it for up to 3 months.) Scramble Flavor Booster: Use Swiss, Gruyere, or another type of sharp cheese, rather than the mozzarella. |
| SERVE WITH GARLIC CHEESE BREAD & AMBROSIA FRUIT SALADTo make Garlic Cheese Bread, preheat the broiler or set the toaster oven to broil. Split 4 whole wheat pita pockets or sub rolls in half lengthwise. Spread the tops (the uneven insides) with a light coating of butter or margarine, sprinkle them with garlic powder, and top them with a small handful of part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese. Put them under the broiler until the cheese melts and bread turns golden, about 3 minutes.To make an Ambrosia Fruit Salad combine 2 Tbsp. plain nonfat or low fat yogurt or sour cream, 1/8 lemon, juice only (about 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice), and 1 Tbsp. honey in a medium bowl. Add about 6 cups of cut fresh fruit, such as cantaloupe, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, and/or grapes, and stir gently. |
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| Nutritional Information per serving (% based upon daily values) Calories: 200; Total Fat: 12g, 18%; Saturated Fat: 5g, 23%; Cholesterol: 65mg, 22%; Sodium: 520mg, 22%; Total Carbohydrate: 11g, 4%; Dietary Fiber: 1g, 4%; Sugar: 1g; Protein: 11gNutritional Information per serving with sidedish (% based upon daily values) (with 1 slice garlic cheese bread (1/2 pita)) Calories: 449; Total Fat: 20g, 31%; Saturated Fat: 7g, 32%; Cholesterol: 73mg, 25%; Sodium: 776mg, 33%; Total Carbohydrate: 52g, 18%; Dietary Fiber: 5g, 19%; Sugar: 19g; Protein: 19g |
You can find just about any kind of recipe you want on the Internet so I don’t plan to start posting every recipe I like here, but I do like to share my own creations. This is one of my standard “in a pinch” meals since it is so easy to keep all the ingredients on hand. It’s also quick, cheap, and really tasty if you don’t mind MSG.
Prepare one package of Nissin Original Chow Mein Noodles, Teriyaki Beef Flavor, according to package directions. Brown about a half pound of ground beef. Boil some frozen peas in beef broth and drain. Combine the noodles, beef, and peas, in whatever proportions you like. Serves 2+.
Tip: I keep some frozen ground beef in the freezer at all times for quick dinners like this, but if I was able to plan ahead far enough to defrost it properly I’d be cooking a real meal. To quickly thaw frozen ground beef (or any ground meat), put it on a plate, uncovered, and put in the microwave. Set the timer for 20 minutes and microwave at 50%. After about two minutes, check it. Use your fingers to pull off the thawed part on the outside, and put directly in the pan you’ll use to brown it. Put the remaining frozen meat back in the microwave and continue cooking. Repeat until all the meat is defrosted. Be sure to check more often as the amount remaining gets smaller because it will defrost more quickly. As long as you don’t let it get too hot and you don’t mind using your fingers, this is the best way to defrost ground meat.
Here is the first recipe worthy of my blog. It’s not healthy and it’s not even really that tasty or exciting. It’s just super easy and it’s the ultimate comfort food for breakfast. I created it after going to a trendy Chicago restaurant that served only mashed potatoes, but they were mashed potatoes with everything imaginable mixed in to them. I’m sure you could add all sorts of interesting things to this dish, but I like the simplicity of it, and it’s a hit with Adam and Sam.
Meggs
Ingredients:
4 servings instant mashed potatoes
Butter or cooking spray
6 eggs, beaten
Salt and pepper to taste
Prepare mashed potatoes according to package directions. Coat a large pan with butter or spray and cook the scrambled eggs as you normally would, adding salt and pepper to taste. Just before the eggs are done, add the mashed potatoes and stir to combine. Serve hot.
Real Simple magazine’s January, 2008 issue was devoted to “218 best buys,” which, since they do a “best products” section every issue, is the magazine equivalent of the TV sitcom “flashback” episode – it’s just a rerun in disguise. Still, I like the magazine and the editor’s note framed the issue in a more interesting way: a list of the most reliable products and services. I can’t resist indulging in my own list.
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