Party Planner

One month ago, Ada's birthday party was easy: she'd have an exact replica of her older sister's fifth birthday party. Oops: our favorite clown is in Hawaii this week. But that's OK, she had another idea, anyway. "I want an Alton Brown party!" Oops: this TV celebrity doesn't know you as well as you know him. But two weeks ago, Ada's birthday party was still easy: we'd go to Whole Foods for one of their cooking parties and I wouldn't even have to clean my house. Oops: Whole Foods had a massive kids' event last Saturday and no birthday parties were held all weekend. This is when things got a little complicated.

Alton Brown hosts a science-themed cooking show on The Food Network called Good Eats. He's also the host/food historian/scientist/commentator for Iron Chef America, but Ada doesn't watch that show. (Good Eats is a show we occasionally watch together while I nurse her baby brother.) It turns out that not only does Alton Brown not regularly perform at children's birthday parties halfway across the country, but also he's not a popular children's party theme. There are no canned party-in-a-box options to purchase. There aren't even Alton Brown-themed party hats. What to do? Here's Ada's 5th Birthday Alton Brown Party, for your amusement.

We decided on a Saturday morning party from 9-11, at which guests could wear pajamas (so that Ada could wear her favorite footie pjs). First came the homemade invitations (since I couldn't exactly order Good Eats invites):


Could you tell that's supposed to be an egg with bacon?

Ada was turning 5, so allowed 5 guests plus herself and her sister (4 guests came, for a total of 6 little girls). As they arrived, we greeted them with homemade name tags so that all the adults would know the children's names - the girls are now old enough that not all the parents needed to stay! A first. The girls went into the dining room and began decorating colorful aprons that would also serve as party favors.


When they'd finished their aprons they washed hands and divided themselves into two groups (by the color of their nametags). The Red Team stood on stools at the kitchen counter with Paul, making vanilla cupcakes. The Purple Team sat at the dining room table with me, making monkey bread.


As the projects baked, Ada opened her presents. Then all the girls sat in the family room to watch me standing behind the kitchen counter making a fool of myself demonstrating yeast and gluten while baking bread. (Thanks to Kristy for taking pictures. Thanks to my sister-in-law for the loaner lab coat and glasses!)



We secretly had three loaves of bread going so that the girls could see the mixing/kneading stage, the risen stage, and the baked stage in short order. After scraping dough from their hands, the girls divided back into their baking teams. The purple team decorated freshly baked cupcakes at the kitchen table while the red team made fruit kabobs in the dining room. The teams then switched stations, and when everyone was done the kids sat down together to eat at the dining room table.



Between activities there was time for free play in Ada and Ellie's room or taking turns flying Paul's remote controlled helicopter. I think it all went remarkably well! THANKS to Paul for co-leading and for making so many of my ideas come to life (including the cupcake toppers and laundry basket of gluten). Many, many thanks to my parents for making the 300 mile drives (separately!) through ice and white-out conditions to be here and to take care of Teddy during the party.



Today was Ada's birthday proper and she got to pick all the food: doughnuts for breakfast, mac and cheese for lunch, and tacos with re-fried beans for supper. Then more presents and it's all over for another 364 days! (Here she's opening a cookbook from her sister.)

How Embarrassing

Tonight's dinner: Cod en Papillote, Brussells sprouts with bacon.

Between last week's MASSIVE trip to Whole Foods and this week's trip, I took a cheater trip to our local chain grocery, Schnucks, for Diet Coke, cupcake decorating supplies, etc.

But Whole Paycheck drew me right back in this week with its promise of organic, sustainably, ethically farmed everything. Well, that and the story time with a guy from the local Little Gym that got the kids involved and active. Since I was already in the store . . . might as well shop! And I did so well this trip! Almost everything I purchased was from the outer rim of the market: produce and cooler sections. I only needed three items from the aisles: oatmeal, couscous, and chickpeas. (See above re: cheater trip to Schnucks.) I was also shopping for fewer meals since we'll be eating out a couple times this week. But I "only" spent $206 this time, so: win.

Back to that trip to Schnucks for a moment. I went with Teddy and Ellie on a Saturday afternoon and the place was hopping. As I entertained my kids and tried to help load my cart, the cashier next to "my" cashier called over with a question.

"Hey, this lady can't buy HER ALCOHOL with her FOOD STAMPS, can she? No, I didn't think so. I'd better look that up!" And she proceeded to make her whole line wait while she pulled out a three ring binder and perused it for a while.

I busied myself with my children, not looking up, horrified. At first I thought it had to be a joke. No way the (familiar, long-time) cashier could possibly have been so rude, callous, horrible? Oh, but yes, she certainly could. My jaw literally hung open for a while.

As I walked out of the store a few minutes later, I passed a woman talking to the manager. The woman was nicely dressed and looked like she might have just come from work with her black slacks and black-and-white blouse. She was about my age, had no children with her, and defied just about every stereotype you might have heard about people on food stamps (which incidentally, is supposed to be a relatively private matter. as I understand it, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - SNAP - is now administered via a debit-like card, so other customers need never know who's receiving benefits and who is not).

I was very glad to hear her explaining the situation to the manager and how she'd never felt so degraded, so humiliated in her life. I marveled at her composure. I'd have been a red-faced, shaking-voiced, emotional wreck. I hope some good (and, at the very least, staff retraining) came from such a painful experience.

All this threw my nutrition-rich but COSTLY trips to Whole Foods into sharper relief.

They're Just Lazy Gluttons!

I want to be sure I'm feeding my family healthful foods and not dosing them with massive quantities of pesticides, herbicides, hormones and antibiotics. So I went to Whole Foods.

I stuck carefully to my prepared shopping list, which corresponded to my menu for this week:

Monday

Breakfast: old-fashioned oatmeal, cutie

Snack: cheese stick

Lunch: Mediterranean Chicken Salad

Snack: hard-boiled egg

Dinner: Spinach-stuffed Salmon Filet, vegetable medley, salad  

Snack: a glass of wine

Tuesday 

Breakfast: Berry smoothie

Snack: hard-boiled egg

Lunch: Lemon-couscous chicken

Snack: yogurt

Dinner: Turkey/Oatmeal meatloaf, steamed asparagus, mushrooms sautéed in olive oil, salad

Snack: fruit and unsweetened peanut butter

Wednesday

Breakfast: cereal, berries

Snack: apple and peanut butter

Lunch: Greek salad

Snack: yogurt

Dinner: Logos/leftovers

Snack: pear & peanut butter

Thursday

Breakfast: scrambled eggs, cheese, spicy fresh salsa

Snack: celery & laughing cow cheese

Lunch: Chef’s salad

Snack: yogurt

Dinner: Herb-marinated chicken, salad, steamed vegetables

Snack: yogurt shake

Friday

Breakfast: berry smoothie or half grapefruit

Snack: hard-boiled egg

Lunch: open-face roast beef sandwiches

Snack: yogurt

Dinner: Pizza and salad

Snack: baked apple crisp

Saturday

Breakfast: egg "muffins"

Snack: yogurt

Lunch: leftovers

Snack: veg and hummus

Dinner: Beef Burrito Bowls

Snack: pudding

Sunday

Breakfast: fruit/toast/cheese

Snack: cheese stick

Lunch: tomato stuffed with tuna salad

Snack: cheese & tomato

Dinner: out!

Snack: a glass of wine

I spent $335.

And I've spent a lot of time in the kitchen over the past couple of days.

And my children - while they get the added benefit of carbs (a side of bread or pasta for dinner, pretzels for a snack, etc.) are not exactly excited about most of this food.

Contrast this with a dinner at the pizza buffet place, which costs $4.99 for adults, $3.99 for kids, and makes everyone happy (if not healthy). No wait, no prep time, no baby crying in his high chair while Mommy chops veg for salad.

So, yeah, it's easy to see why everyone doesn't eat this way all the time.

Weekly Menu

In December I like to eat out. A lot. I crave Mexican food, Italian food, Red Robin. I want warmth and comfort and calories. So I have to make sure that my frig is stocked with stuff I really want to eat at home or we'll be out every night.

As you may know, I make a(n almost) weekly menu and post it on the frig along with what's going on each day. Here's this week:

Sunday:
This was supposed to be a meat/wine/mushroom crockpot deal but due to timing ended up being a wine-free skillet hamburger stroganoff type of dish. With peas over egg noodles.

Monday:
Lamb meatballs in a North African sauce over garlicy pearled couscous with glazed carrots.

Tuesday:
Slow Cooker BBQ pork. There's a lot of Christmas prep going on here and I might wimp out and use a bottled sauce. Served on wheat buns with kosher dills, salad, and some sort of vegetable.

Wednesday:
Paul and the girls will be out; Teddy and I will enjoy baked chicken breast. Possibly some yogurt and something in the vegetable family.

Thursday:
Leftovers, yo

Friday:
Pizza and a movie night! Going frozen this week.

Saturday:
Well, I might just get my comfort food out this week, after all. :)

Thanksgiving 2011

Table for 10:


Child #2 vs. Thanksgiving dinner - dinner wins!


Child #3 vs. Thanksgiving dinner - child wins! If I hadn't taken Teddy to bed, I'm relatively certain he'd still be eating. The big hits: TURKEY, mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes.

An Angel, a Cowgirl, and a Mummy

An Angel, a Cowgirl, and a Mummy sit down on a swing . . .

Sounds like the beginning of a joke but it's the end of tonight's trick-or-treating. (The angel is my niece, Abby, age 4. Ellie and Ada are 8 and 4-1/2.)



Trick-or-treating followed a dinner of mummy dogs, grilled cheese jack-o'-lanterns, spooooky spinach soufflé, Halloween salad (including carrots, black beans, and toasted pumpkin seeds), and deviled eggs (some were "tricked" out with cayenne pepper on top).


Not pictured: one 7-month-old sea turtle who went to bed before dinnertime.


On to November -

Good luck to all my writer friends beginning work on National Novel Writing Month!

Practical Magic

I just finished making some fabulous Boston Baked Beans (with salt pork) from scratch.

The process took 24 hours. They're delicious . . . but they're going straight into the frig.

When I realized that dinner was not going to be done on time, I had ten minutes to throw together an alternative meal. Thanks to the wonders of modern kitchen appliances and convenience food products I managed to get thick slices of oven-warmed ham, mashed potatoes, a medley of vegetables, and cheddar garlic biscuits on the table in time for Paul and the girls to enjoy before dance class.

I do enjoy from-scratch cooking sometimes. But I'm really really glad I don't have to do it for every meal!


***


Oh, and that nap thing last Tuesday? It was totally a birthday present. Teddy still refuses to nap during the day. At all. Even though he really needs the sleep. But at least he's a good sleeper at night!

Stay...cation

Glorious world, fall weather is here! Now I'm waiting for the return of the pumpkin spice latte and my joy will be complete. Especially because I just found the Starbucks gift card my in-laws gave me for Christmas. It was tucked inside the wrapper of some new SmartWool socks that I haven't needed for several months.

"Mommy, remember when we went to Wyoming? And Indiana? And to the cabin? And stayed at home?"

This is Ellie, recapping our summer vacations. I had a great time visiting my parents and Paul's, at a family reunion in Brown County, Indiana, in Chicago, and indeed all summer long. But this weekend might have been the best vacation of all, not least because I got to shower in my own shower and sleep in my own bed. It's a blast being a tourist in my own town.

Festivities started on Thursday evening when the girls got haircuts at The Hairy Elephant. This is a real treat. The waiting room is filled with cool toys and books. They get to select their own flavored shampoos from colorful pump bottles. Then they lie on a bench while the stylist washes their hair with a long, gray trunk attached to an elephant head on the wall. How cool is this? With clean, wet hair the girls select a video and a seat. This week Ada chose Lightening McQueen and Ellie a white golf cart. The stylists - experts with kids including children with special needs - make the cut fun and follow it up by allowing the girls to choose plastic clips for their hair, then stickers and suckers. We picked up cupcakes for dessert on the way home.

Friday morning Teddy and I went to our weekly play group while Paul and the girls went on their first horseback trail ride. Ellie got to ride all by herself! Ada decided that instead of gymnastics she'd rather take riding lessons this fall. (Nope, sorry.) We met for lunch afterward then had a quiet afternoon and evening at home (Friday night pizza and a movie).

Saturday morning, one of hottest days of the summer so far, we went to Six Flags. We rode the Ferris wheel as a warm up, then the girls begged to be allowed to go on what looks to me like the most terrifying ride in the park (Pandemonium) a roller coaster that spins in 360's as it moves along the tracks. It was, apparently, fun, though Ellie does not want to repeat the experience. It was so very hot. After lunch we discovered the water rides, and much fun was had by all.


Sunday was all about the bikes. The girls and Paul rode our tandem trail-a-bike to church - I'm told this is very hard work for the lead biker - and they loved doing that. After Teddy's nap we drove downtown to the Gateway Arch and did the most touristy activities imaginable: quadracycle and carriage rides. Then spaghetti, Ted Drewes, and home.


Today was a BBQ at home with family and then one last trip to the pool for the season. Perfect weekend.

Since he comes everywhere with me, I should mention my third child. Teddy was a great sport being carted hither and yon and stuck outside in ridiculously hot weather. But he exacted his revenge in the middle of the night by not sleeping much this weekend.

Bring on Tuesday!

Summer Crockpot Week: The Results Are In

Overall the week was a huge success. Starting the crock pot the night before, or in the morning, or whenever I had the energy to think about dinner made the house smell delicious all day and meal prep was mostly a matter of setting the table, pouring drinks, and maybe heating up a side dish. But some of the meals turned out better than others.

1. crock pot French dip sandwiches
   I rubbed a roast with French onion soup mix and dropped it in the crock pot with some beef broth in the morning. By dinner time it was tender enough to shred easily with a fork. We served the meat on French rolls with a little melted mozzarella cheese on top. The juice from the crock pot served as au jus for dipping. Ellie and Paul loved this dish and devoured their sandwiches. Ada doesn't eat dinner. I found it a bit greasy; next time I'll trim the beef more carefully and make sure I use fat free broth.
   
   
2. crock pot chicken pizza (served over spaghetti squash or pasta)
   I put a couple of chicken breasts in the crock pot at lunch time and covered them with canned tomatoes and some canned pizza sauce. (This is quick and easy prep, not gourmet cooking!) By dinner time the chicken was tender and easily shredded with a fork. Shortly before serving I baked a spaghetti squash (following the instructions on the sticker on the veg) and boiled a little pasta. I served the chicken and sauce over spaghetti squash and put a few noodles on top for camouflage. This dish was a hit with all, but I found the sauce a bit acidic. Next time I think I'll use a light pasta sauce and call it chicken spaghetti. The spaghetti squash was incredibly easy to make, looked just like pasta, and had an incredibly mild squash flavor that hid behind the tomato.
   
   
3. crock pot burritos
   This was by far my favorite dish of the week. Paul's too. I rubbed a beef roast with taco seasoning and put it in the crock pot with broth, Rotel tomatoes, black beans, and corn. A couple of hours before serving I thought the dish looked a bit watery so I added half a cup of brown rice. Perfection! Wrapped in a tortilla it looked liked something I'd order at Qdoba. Serve with salsa and eat in the basement during a tornado.
   
   
4. crock pot Jamaican jerk chicken
   This one was good, too, though the children didn't care for it quite as much. I rubbed a couple of chicken breasts with Jamaican jerk seasoning and put them in the crock pot with broth, limes, cilantro, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and corn (I think. I'm not sure I added the tomatoes or corn and I probably added extra spices). This was served over brown rice and garnished with fresh limes and shredded coconut. I found the meat a little dry; I'll cook it on low next time.
   
   
5. crock pot vegetable jambalaya
   Jambalaya, normally a skillet favorite here, was my biggest disappointment of the week. The taste was fine, but the vegetables suffered greatly from spending too much time in the crock pot so I ended up serving jambalaya-flavored mush. I intended to make this as a vegetarian dish but ended up adding some turkey sausage. This was a good thing, since the sausage was the only texture in the dish. I don't remember which vegetables I added but I know I used vegetable broth, brown rice, garlic, onion, Louisiana seasoning, bell pepper, peas, broccoli, tomatoes, corn, and maybe some tomato paste. I think jambalaya is a much better stove top meal than a crock pot meal. Alas.

This week I used no crock pot at all. We had homemade mac & cheese (the children prefer Kraft), homemade baked chicken nuggets with baked sweet potato fries (huge hit), French toast with low sodium bacon and fresh organic mixed berries (quick meal before a dance recital), and homemade crusty pizza calzones (universal joy). Also side salads, etc., usually from a bag.

My favorite warm weather dish is my mom's taco salad, but it takes a bit of last minute prep - time and energy that are hard to find at the end of the day. We eat it a few times each summer, frequently when we have guests. What's your favorite summer meal?

How Do You Grocery Shop?

I only know one way to do it:

I make a menu for the week and go through recipe by recipe to create my shopping list. I divide the list up by section of the store (fresh produce, coolers, frozen, aisles) and try to keep items roughly in order within the appropriate sections. By "in order" I mean the order in which I'll encounter them as I race through the store shoving impulse items into my cart.

Anyway, lately I find myself lacking in time, patience, energy, and enthusiasm for menu planning and cooking. This is the last week of school and warm weather is finally here to stay (more or less). So I set myself a challenge:

This week we'll eat summer-inspired crock pot meals all week.

Features:
crock pot French dip sandwiches
crock pot chicken pizza (served over spaghetti squash or pasta)
crock pot burritos
crock pot Jamaican jerk chicken
crock pot vegetable jambalaya

Yum.

As you might expect, I usually take the meal-planning thing a bit too far. Due to my aforementioned lack of energy, I've gotten away from also planning breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and desserts in advance. But I do print out a weekly dinner menu complete with clip-art highlighting the week's key events.

My house might resemble a dusty, stinky recycle bin, but at least our food is well-organized!

Valentine's Day

At night before bed, the girls enjoy sharing one rose and one thorn each. (Ellie learned the habit of sharing one good thing/one bad thing about your week at bible study and they've adapted the practice for daily home use.) This week all three of us had the same thorn - we missed Daddy who was away on a business trip. Tonight Ellie was eager to share her rose: Daddy's home! (I considered the cookie bouquet a lovely salve on Valentine's Day!)

Uncomfortable Dinner

Last weekend, after Paul ran a very cold 12.5 mile race, we treated ourselves to a nice pasta dinner out. Our neighbors at the next table were two elderly people and two middle aged people, one of whom was in a motorized chair and, apparently, wearing an adult diaper.

I was sympathetic, imagining this scenario: a middle aged person with a disability who perhaps couldn't completely care for himself, and older parents who could no longer care for him, either.

But on the other hand, my dinner was pretty miserable because the stench of bodily uncleanliness and an adult diaper that needed to be changed overwhelmed my sensitive pregnant nose. It wasn't just me being hypersensitive; Paul admitted later that he noticed the situation, too. (He was seated across the table and does not have a particularly sensitive nose.)

The party next to us were already seated when we arrived at the restaurant and sat to enjoy conversation after eating. We ate our dinner and skipped dessert while I took the kids to the car and Paul waited to pay.

I am sympathetic (and empathetic and concerned about the future of my own family). And certainly this family deserved an evening out at least as much as any other family. But at the same time I had a very uncomfortable time at a nice meal out that I, too, was looking forward to.

I'm comfortable with the way we handled the situation. The girls (thankfully!) did not complain or draw attention to the problem. I buried my nose in Paul's wine glass when necessary (after smearing a bit of menthol chapstick under my nose) and I did not need to excuse myself from the table. Perhaps we should have asked our server if we could move, but that would have felt really rude to me (in fact, writing this now feels rude to me).

But I'm wondering about the ethics of this situation. When we eat out is this sort of situation just a possibility of being out in public? Or do we as individuals have a responsibility to keep our aromas to ourselves? Certainly I've experienced uncomfortably strong perfume, smoke, and bodily aromas in public before (as well as parents who are none too prompt about changing their child's diapers). But there really is a difference, at least for me, between other strong aromas and those associated with bodily waste, at least when it comes to mealtimes.

Thoughts? Or am I just an insensitive jerk for asking?

Edited to add a link to Changing Places. If I can't walk - or stand - on my own, should I not go out in public? That sounds ridiculous, right? But when was the last time you saw a public restroom equipped with a hoist to handle lifting someone who can't lift him or herself? I don't think I have ever seen one.

Reading and Cooking

Over the past week or two I've read:

Like mother, like daughter!

• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
  
• March by by Geraldine Brooks
  
• The Heretic's Daughter by by Kathleen Kent
  
• Sanctuary of Outcasts by by Neil White
  
• Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher
  
• probably a couple more I've forgotten,
  
• like Case Histories by Kate Atkinson,
• and gotten ahead on my Newsweeks.

This one, too.

One of Ellie's all time favorite dishes is pearled couscous and she's always thrilled to help prepare it. Also served with this meal: Greek salad, spanakopita, and roasted chicken and potatoes seasoned with basil and rosemary. (I didn't make the spanakopita from scratch; that would have cut too far into my reading time!)

Bad Mommy . . .

. . . no Facebook during lunch.

One day lunch ran a little long. I had long finished my meal but the girls were still chatting happily so I slipped away for a moment.

I heard pouring. A cabinet opening and shutting. More pouring.

So I walked back into the kitchen.

Ellie said, "Uh oh."

Ada politely wiped her face with a napkin hoping to distract me from her masterpiece on the table . . .


My water. Ada's milk. The remains of someone's sandwich. And a whole lot of fresh raisins from the cupboard.

No Offense Intended

with all of our celebrations yesterday, Great Britain.


I thought we'd BBQ alone as a family last night as the quiet before the storm this week (more on that later).

Instead a couple of friends came over. But these are the best kind of friends - the kind we don't have to clean house for, or cook a special meal for, or change clothes for, or put on lipstick for. The kind we can talk about whatever with. The kind we've known for a long time. Good friends, lovely evening.

A lovely whole day, actually. I ate way more than I should have of foods I should never have eaten. But since I ran four miles the night before, this didn't feel so terrible. Also, two people I see all the time didn't recognize Paul and me from a distance due to our updated silhouettes and that felt great.

And my hair is still not Cat Deeley's but I didn't hate it all day long, either.

So, in short, it seems that my mood is on an upswing and I'm heading back to a good place. Hooray for that!

P.S. I finally know how to spell "silhouette" (see paragraph 4 above) because of my friend Amanda's new novel!

Ellie Is a First Grader!

This week clobbered us a bit with end-of-year busyness - including gift procurement. We make end-of-term gifts for the girls' teachers and helpers.  Since the number of gifts is usually  between one and two dozen, economics are a factor in our decision about what to make, as is time.  This year we wanted to do something the girls could help with (ruling out hot wax) and slightly healthy if food-related.

From a book of such ideas, we decided on dipped strawberries that were supposed to look like balloons against a blue sky (photo at left).

The instructions made this look very easy. I've melted candy and dipped foods into it before (pretzels, crackers, etc.). We had containers, foam, food coloring, and wooden kabob skewers. All we needed were the strawberries! Couldn't be easier, right?

The girls loved the idea. They loved helping. Ada helped me wrap the foam and push it into the containers. Both girls helped dip strawberries and sampled the chocolate. But there were some hang-ups.

1. It turns out that liquid (including food coloring) ruins candy coating and powdered food coloring isn't readily available at the 11th hour.
2. And produce stand strawberries aren't necessarily as long lasting and resilient as store-bought giant monstrosiberries.
3. Also, as with all such projects, tiny time-sucks like hot gluing fluffy clouds and tying tiny ribbons kept Paul and me up past 2:00 am.

So there were a couple extra trips to the store and some modifications to the design. Results:



Hopefully they tasted good.

Friday Photo Blogging

Spring "candid" school photos with optional props. (Ellie still loves her beads!)

First ice cream of summer.


The first lost front top tooth!

Tonight's Dinner - not vegetarian

Ingredients:

• EVOO
• 2-3 pound brisket
• steak rub (I make my own which is quick and fun. Also cheap.)
• beef broth (low fat and low sodium since there's probably salt in the rub and the salsa)
• salsa (the chunkier the better for this dish)
• black beans (2 cans, drained and rinsed)
• corn
• fresh cilantro

Main dish: spicy roast

1. Heat a little olive oil in a large skillet while trimming all the fat off the brisket.
2. Rub the brisket with steak rub and brown it all over.
3. Place the meat in a crock pot and cover with broth and salsa
4. Leave on low heat overnight and all throughout the next day. Serve with a slotted spoon for dinner, making sure to catch some tomatoes. The meat will be so tender it's falling apart.

Side dish: cilantro beans

1. Place beans in a saucepan over medium-high flame.
2. Add a cup of water an a chicken bullion cube (or a little chicken broth)
3. Toss in a cup or so of corn
4. Dice up some fresh cilantro and stir in.
5. Boil off excess liquid, stirring occasionally.

This makes a delicious, easy, family-friendly meal and you can control the heat with both the salsa and the steak rub. Plus your house smells fabulous for at least 24 hours!  (Paul was out tonight so he missed first dinner. To tide himself over until second dinner he wrapped his first serving in a tortilla to eat in the car on the way to his meeting. He says it would make a great taco filling or spicy salad meat, too.)

Did I Ever Tell You . . .

about the first time my children got their own breakfast?



Yes, that's a frozen pizza and a bottle of vanilla vodka. Both fortunately unopened. We no longer keep alcohol in the kitchen freezer! Isn't it cute when they surprise you by learning new skills all of a sudden?

Go! St. Louis

At heart, I am a lazy, slovenly, and gluttonous person. Fortunately, I've found that being healthy and active doesn't necessarily mean I need to change my nature.

Active weekend:

Friday evening: We head down to SLU so that Paul can pick up his race packet then drive the course together, explaining to the girls about Daddy's big run on Sunday.  Then home for dinner and a movie.  (The active part here comes from playing outside with the kids earlier in the day plus making exercise - like this weekend's big race - a regular part of our lives.)

Saturday: We all go to soccer with Ellie. Afterward, Ellie and Daddy head to "practice reading class" and Ada and I go for a nature walk at Powder Valley. My favorite part of the day: pasta for dinner followed by cheesecake for dessert.  This is OK because of the morning's exercise, plus we're gearing up for tomorrow . . .

Sunday: the girls and I go downtown to watch Paul compete in the Go! St. Louis Half Marathon. This involves a bit of walking and running while stroller pushing for me and lots of standing, waving and shouting. I'm sure Paul extended a little effort, too, running 13.1 miles in 154 minutes.

After the race we hustle off to a reception for some friends leaving town. Alas! Then home for lunch and down time: Ada down for a nap, Ellie downstairs to watch a video, and Paul down and out on the couch in the front room.

Since I've been carb loading as if I too were competing in a half marathon, I decide to take advantage of my own down time. I turn on the Wii Fit and run for 80 minutes. According to me, I covered zero miles. (After all, I was jogging in place on a trampoline in front of my television set.) According to the Wii Fit I ran 13 miles. Of course I ran for just over half the time Paul ran, plus I didn't have to propel my body forward at all. So I didn't really do a half marathon.  Still, it was a solid workout.  Tonight?  TV and a treat.

If I exercise, I can eat without counting every single calorie.  For me, this is a very good thing. 

Tomorrow?  Housecleaning!   (See above, re: slovenly.)  Also on the schedule: catch-up on overdue things like email and committee work.  That should set me up with enough free time to keep up with my lazy later in the week.  Cheers!