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FOOD

May 21
0

Food Friday: Strawberry Season & Meera’s Birthday

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Yesterday was 2010’s opening day for my favorite farmer’s market. We live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which –honestly– has got to be one of the most beautiful parts of the country. Obviously I am biased, but I thought that long before we ever lived here too. We are within 90 minutes of both NYC and Philadelphia, and yet within 20 minutes of our house we have 6 fully operational farm stands and farmer’s markets (and that doesn’t even include the road-side stands that many folks set up seasonally in their front yards). My favorite farmer’s market is on Thursdays, 3-7pm, from May through October. It is about 10 minutes up the road from us, right on my drive home from work. Yesterday I picked up a bunch of great stuff — as I’ll do every Thursday from now until October — but the real star of the show was the strawberries. Strawberry season has just burst here, and for the next couple of weeks we’ll be eating them in mad quantities by the quart-full. Yesterday I bought two quarts of these annual treats. The farmer I bought them from told me that they had just been picked from his field that morning. One of the quarts was immediately devoured by K, O, and M within five minutes of my arrival at home. I could barely get them rinsed off fast enough! The other quart was hidden in the fridge to save for the next day. There is just nothing like a fresh field-grown strawberry. Nothing like it. I have always loved them, my whole life long. But now– for the past two years– these ruby-red drippy-delicate things have had an even more special place in my heart. For me now (and really, for our whole family now), these strawberries represent Meera’s birthday. Strawberry season is at its highest height right around May 28th (click). Many a sweet strawberry will be eaten here during Meera’s birthday week– which officially started today and will run through next Friday. Every quart I buy, and every strawberry I eat, I’ll think of my girl. I remember us eating them while I was 9+ months pregnant, waiting for her arrival. I remember a bottomless quart of them sitting 24×7 on the small table in our hospital room for the few days after Meera was born. I remember Meera eating them in massive quantities in the days leading up to and just after her first birthday. All year round strawberries are one of Meera’s favorite foods, and somehow that seems so poetic. Strawberry season and Meera’s birthday. Two such special things. That will now forever and always be intertwined in my mind. The details of deeply living never cease to amaze.

May 07
0

Food Friday: The Best 6th Birthday Treat Ever

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In Waldorf Schools, the kindergarten birthdays are very special. Great care is given to the celebrating of them. We had Kyle and Owen’s “school birthdays” on Tuesday. Since they are in two separate classrooms, we had two separate celebrations. Braydon and I were there the entire morning (crazy!). One of the things that happens during the “school birthday” is that the child’s parents are asked to bring in a special treat for the class. Typically people bring a cake, or cookies, or brownies, or something special to the child. Kyle and Owen are not huge sweets/desserts fans. There are a couple of specific things they love (whipped cream, for example! –and– Owen only: frosting!), but they don’t really have a favorite dessert. They love fruit. They love ginger cookies (although they associate them with fall and/or Christmas). Kyle loves fig newtons and Owen loves chocolate chip cookies. But I wanted it to be really special. I was kind of stumped as to what to bring in this year. In the past I’ve always brought store-bought cupcakes for their school and daycare birthday celebrations. But this year I really wanted to bring something homemade– the boys are old enough now to ‘get it’ and to appreciate something truly good and special and made-with-love-by-their-mama. I discussed it with them several times, but we couldn’t come up with anything that they really wanted. Owen finally declared that he wanted a “cake with lots of frosting with no cake inside it” (i.e., a big pot of frosting!!!!!!!!!!) LOL!!! But I knew that wouldn’t go over well with the teachers. 😉 And I also know that Owen is actually very picky about his frosting. So, I set out to create the best 6th Birthday Treat Ever. And, boy, did I ever!!! Seriously… it was incredible. Two classrooms of kids ages 4-7 and not one child didn’t love this. Kids were begging for seconds and thirds. We witnessed more than one child literally licking their plates (and that doesn’t even include Owen, who regularly licks his plate). The teachers told me it was the biggest hit ever– they’ve never seen the kids in their classes love a birthday treat so. I highly recommend this whole spread for any occasion… but if you’ve got little kids to charm… this is the way to do it!!!! Make it and you will not be disappointed! I cannot rave enough about this (and neither can Kyle and Owen). By the end of that day Tuesday we had nothing— nothing!– left! Nada! And believe me, we started out with a lot that morning! (Braydon and I made all of it the night before)…

Kyle and Owen’s 6th Birthday Treat — the Best Ever!!!

Pound Cake, Strawberries, Buttercream Frosting, and Whipped Cream

Owen loves buttercream frosting and they both love whipped cream. I made both for both classes. I had everything in separate containers so that kids could pick and choose their toppings for their cake. Some chose just strawberries, many chose either the buttercream or the whipped cream, but most chose to load it up with it all. Everybody left happy!

POUND CAKE

I got this recipe from the foodie blog Black Girl Chef’s Whites (a great food blog). I altered it only a tiny bit (using fresh lemon juice instead of lemon extract; omitting the glaze/frosting that she calls for; and using two large pound cake pans instead of one large angel-food-style-pan).

1  lb butter, room temperature

3 cups sugar

6 large eggs, room temperature

4 cups flour, sifted

3/4 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Butter and flour two pound cake style baking pans.

In electric mixer cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time, beat until incorporated.  Add flour and milk alternately, ending with the flour.  Add vanilla and lemon, beat well, making sure to scrape down bowl as needed.

Pour batter evenly into prepared pans, bake for about 1 hour or until pick inserted in cake comes out clean.  Cool in pan on rack for 30 minutes, then remove cake from pan. Let cool completely before storing in airtight container until serving.

STRAWBERRIES

Cut up, or slice, fresh strawberries (I used five pounds of strawberries total for the two classrooms). Sprinkle with sugar. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

I doubled this recipe.

1/2 cup butter, softened

4-1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

5-6 tablespoons milk

In a large bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add in sugar, vanilla, and milk. Beat until light and fluffy. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve. Bring to room temperature before serving.

WHIPPED CREAM

This was Braydon’s contribution. He’s the best whipped cream maker ever. He doubled this recipe.

In mixer, whip together 1 pint heavy whipping cream, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Beat until desired consistency. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

P.S. Meera loved it too! She could not stop taste-testing it the morning of their school birthdays!

And, yes, I am crazy for doing this kind of stuff for my kids. I know that. And yes, we were up ’till all hours on Monday night making all this stuff (although that [the up late working our tails off part] is not unusual). When they were 3 or 4 or 5 it wouldn’t have been worth it (they wouldn’t have appreciated it), but we’re raising quite the little foodies here and they are now old enough to truly appreciate these things–  it was so, so, so worth it!!!

Apr 23
0

Food Friday: Sustenance

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We come home after a day of work. Whatever that work has been, we’re tired, we’re still spinning in our minds, frazzled and exhausted.  It’s not just us, the kids are spent too.  Everyone is tired and ready to end the day.  We look up to the clock, in 12 hours, over the course of which, we’ll sleep 7 hours; then we’ll start it again.  And it’s still four hours until bed time.

Many days it’s overwhelming, and imaging dinner in the midst of it – food, sitting and eating, and dealing with three tired children and two adults is enough to….

And I set the table, sometimes with Kyle and Owen, sometimes alone.  Our “wedding plates” go out, with the silverware.  Smaller plastic glasses for the boys, taller glasses for us.  Meera’s pink bunny plate and cup, and her own “pinkware”. Ikea towels for napkins for all of us.  Heather is cooking dinner.  We can smell:

garlic and oil; lemon, browning chicken, fresh parsley, tomato….

fresh fish with lemon, rice, salad with homemade vinagarette

blackened asparagus

The kitchen is warm and safe, Meera is in her little dress, Owen in his ‘vitaman man’ costume, Kyle looks like he’s 15 and belongs in a cool-boy catalog.  Heather wears an apron, which still strikes me as funny since when I met her she took pride in not being able to boil water; but she is dressed for work, and it’s hard to get oil out of clothes. We light the Haiti candle in the center of the table – it’s just a little candle we put “we love Haiti” stickers on but it means a lot to us.  We don’t light it every night, but a lot.

Heather calls out “Sup-per Tiiiiime!!!” and we all rush to the table.  Sometimes we struggle to get everyone sitting down at the same time, and somehow Meera seems to find her way to the table first, working super hard to climb up to her chair.   An amazing meal loads onto this rectangle in the center of our home. This center of our home, this center:

pasta with garlic, parsley and olive oil; chicken, artichokes and tomatoes in a delectable sauce

turkey & broccoli rabe over penne

thai green curry chicken, rice

We sit, I see stream rising from the stove and the smells have migrated to where we sit, the noise of cooking has abated, the noise from running around has abated the noise in our heads is abating.  We hold hands for Grace.  I hold Owen’s hand, Owen holds Meera’s hand, Meera hold’s Kyle’s hand, Kyle hold’s Heather’s hand; Heather and I make the circle complete.  For a brief instance there is total unison:

God is great,

God is good,

We give thanks for this food,

And help us to to be ever mindful of others needs and wants.

Amen.

The kids dig in, Heather and I take a deep breath, glance at each other and eek out a tired smile. Somehow, and I really don’t know how, she has done it again.  Fed our whole family. Given of love, given of herself.

Kyle eats three plates full; Owen two. I have seconds and thirds.  I taste every fresh ingredient. It’s the best meal I’ve ever had…since the last one:

garlic, oil, artichoke, chicken, parsley, pasta, love.

The boys switch plates since one likes the meat, the other likes the pasta.  Meera starts asking for “pop” “pop” “pop”.  We think she wants Papi, until Owen corrects us and explains she wants a lollipop (“Meera, you want a lollipop?”), which actually means she wants a juice popsicle.  She gets one and gets it all over the table.

The boys make jokes and Owen acts up a little.  Kyle wants to sit on my lap for a while.  Meera gets down and plays her mini-xylophone.  We all applaude her playing. Heather and I sit back for a few minutes and relax, the boys throw a few koosh basketballs.

It’s time for bath; the world feels new again.  Refreshed.  The house is warm and safe. Settled.

Sustenance.

Apr 16
0

Food Friday: Kyle’s Favorite Hummus

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The J-M bambinos all love hummus. For all three, hummus was a first food. K & O have always loved it spread on wheat bread as a sandwich. Meera refuses to eat bread almost 100% of the time, however, she loves hummus (will eat it with a spoon!), especially as a dip with any fresh veggie or fruit. If you put out a bowl of hummus with some stuff to dip in it, these three will devour it all with amazing speed. I love this because, of course, hummus is a super duper food (it has all the qualities a parent loves and longs for in a child’s food). Of the three bambinos, however, Kyle is definitely the hummus connoisseur. He loves it the most of the three, and also has the most opinions about it. The consistency is key for him (creamy and moist; not chunky and definitely not dry). And the flavor is critical (not too much garlic, not too much lemon). And — of utmost importance — he likes it CLASSIC (definitely none of this new-fangled “roasted red pepper hummus” or “black bean hummus” or “smoky chipotle hummus”…..believe me, I’ve tried them all on him….. pleeaaaaaaaaase!– give it to him straight-up and make it classic!). To tell you the truth, I kind of agree with him. Anyway, he is such a Hummus Gourmand that he’ll only eat a couple of specific store-bought brands. The rest he’ll turn up his nose at (literally and figuratively– because, seriously, he’ll be sure to smell his hummus first before digging in). Put it this way: hummus is to Kyle what fine wine is to a sommelier. So, recently, I set out to create the perfect homemade hummus. I studied up big time. And I tweaked and tweaked it. And I now have a hummus recipe that makes Kyle proud. He loves it and even says that it is “the best” hummus — even better than his favorite fancy expensive store-bought brand. His brother and sister agree with him on the perfectness of this hummus. And I love it too: super easy, super healthy, and super super yum!

Kyle’s Favorite Hummus

  • 2 cans of garbanzo beans/chick peas
  • 1/2 cup tahini
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • juice of 2 lemons
  • 2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley
  • 6 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1.5 teaspoons salt
  • 1/4 cup water

Combine all in food processor. Blend until smooth and creamy. Can be stored in fridge for a good long while. When serving, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with paprika. Note: this makes a huge amount of hummus– because we eat a huge amount of hummus around here (I made a batch of hummus on Tuesday and within 48 hours it was almost entirely gone). You could very easily halve the recipe if you don’t eat a ridiculous amount of hummus in your household! 😉

Apr 09
2

Food Friday: 3 of our Favorite Family Dinners

Posted by | FOOD, Uncategorized | 14 Comments

Thai Red Curry

Braydon and I adore Thai food. It is probably our favorite “ethnic” cuisine. We would eat it 3 times a week if we could. We first really fell in love with Thai food when we were both in graduate school in Boston. There were lots of Thai restaurants in Boston, but our favorite was a little cafe not far from our apartment called Brown Sugar. We went there often and I think that over time we tried everything on their menu, but our favorite was always the red curry. Since we moved from Boston in 2001 we have continued exploring Thai food but our favorite dishes always seem to be red curries no matter where we go. We have a fabulous Thai restaurant here in PA that we really love (and they do an incredible rack of lamb with red curry) called The Cafe. While we were waiting for the boys to come home we ate there about once every two weeks, becoming definite ‘Regulars’ there. The owners waited with us for Kyle and Owen– always asking to see the latest photos, and always wanting to know everything they could about our adoption. When our waiting days were extra tough they’d often give us an extra glass of wine or lovely desserts on the house. When the boys came home we did bring them to The Cafe to meet everyone. But having kids quickly ended our restaurant-going stint and definitely ended our status as ‘Regulars’ at The Cafe. And sadly, The Cafe does not do take-out. Over all those years pre-kids we had kind of become Thai Food snobs– in the sense that so-so/just-o.k. Thai food (i.e., much of the take-out Thai food we have access to) just didn’t cut it for us anymore… and still doesn’t. We’d rather not have it at all than to have mediocre Thai Food. During our first couple of years as parents Thai red curry was one of the things we missed most about our life pre-kids. So, a couple of years ago I set my mind to figuring out how to make a decent red curry. ~~~ My favorite recipe is one that is based on the “Coconut Curried Chicken” from At Blanchard’s Table: A Trip to the Beach Cookbook by Melinda and Robert Blanchard. Blanchard’s is a famous restaurant in Anguilla. My parents have been spending two weeks in Anguilla for the past several years, and one year they brought me back this cookbook. I have yet to cook anything from it that hasn’t been amazing. Anyway…  my red curry recipe is basically Blanchard’s with just a few tweaks and additions. All five of us J-Ms love love love this dinner.

  • 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
  • 2 cups sweet potatoes (or regular white potatoes if preferred)
  • 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch chunks (or 2 pounds shrimp or other seafood  — or just skip altogether if vegetarian is preferred — I’ve done it all these ways and it is great no matter what)
  • 1 can chicken (or vegetable) broth
  • 1 can unsweetened coconut milk
  • 2 scallions, white and green parts included, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 2 heads baby bok choy, white and green parts, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1/2 pound shiitake mushroom caps, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 big splash of fish sauce
  • juice of 1/2-1 lime (depending on taste)
  • 1 heaping tablespoon of brown sugar
  • salt & chopped fresh basil and/or cilantro to taste

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add curry paste and cook 1-2 minutes, until fragrant. Add potato and chicken and cook for 2 minutes to coat. Stir in broth and coconut milk, reduce heat to low, and simmer gently about 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the scallions and bok choy in the boiling water until bright green and crisp-tender (1-2 minutes), then drain. Heat oil in a small pan and saute mushrooms quickly, just to soften. Add all vegetables to the chicken pot. Add a big splash of fish sauce, the lime juice, and the brown sugar. Stir together for just a minute or two longer. Season with salt and garnish with basil. Serve with jasmine rice.

*

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burritos

This recipe is a fusion of two “Sweet Potato Burrito” recipes. ~~~ Recipe #1 = For at least two or three years now I’ve had sitting in my recipe book a print out that appears to be a screen shot from a Facebook page. At the top it says “Jennifer Faust’s Notes” and then it gives a recipe for “Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos.” For as long as I can recollect I have thought that my mother gave me this recipe. And I’ve been meaning to try it for as long as I’ve had it (I’ve always thought the recipe looked great and that we’d all love it). But I recently found out, because I was talking about it with my mom, that she, in fact, did not give me this recipe. She’s never heard of it and knows nothing about it. Honestly, I have never heard of anyone named Jennifer Faust. And I have absolutely no clue, now, where this recipe came from or how it ended up in my kitchen notebook!  ~~~   Recipe #2 = We spent New Year’s Eve this year with the Slavins (click!), and for dinner they served us Sweet Potato Burritos. Braydon and I loved them so, so, so much! I immediately remembered that I had that from-who-knows-where recipe at home and even told Jen that night that I had been meaning to try it for the longest time. Jen gave me her recipe and I knew it was going to be a regular dinner at our house. ~~~ During the first three months of 2010 I made Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burritos for our family a bunch of times– I have sort of fused together the two recipes (they are basically the same, but have variations and slight differences) and we’ve now got a dinner that all five of us love. We’re having it tonight, in fact!!!!

  • 2-3 large sweet potatoes (depending on how large)
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 big bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 2 cups Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
  • 8 large, burrito-style, fresh tortillas

Place sweet potatoes on a baking sheet, pierce with fork, and bake at 35o for an hour or so until very soft [this can be done the day before]. Let cool, remove skins, and place sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl. Saute  onion in olive oil over medium-high heat until tender and translucent. Add onion to sweet potatoes. Add everything else (except cheese and tortillas) to bowl. Mash with potato masher to mix. Divide mixture and cheese among tortillas and roll up burrito-style. Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes until crispy and hot. Serve with sour cream, salsa, guacamole, etc.

*

Greek Chicken & Potatoes

When Braydon and I lived in Charleston, South Carolina we used to frequent this great little Greek restaurant there that we loved. We always, always, always had the same thing– the house special– which was roasted chicken, potatoes, brussels sprouts, and a greek salad. When we moved to Boston we searched the city for a replacement for our Greek hole-in-the-wall. We never found one that even came close to comparing to that place in Charleston. And we would crave that Greek chicken! So, over time, I worked and worked at replicating it. And eventually, I perfected it. I would often make this meal for dinner parties pre-kids. Everyone we served it to loved it! Now that we have kids, this continues to be a regular meal for us… and our kids (all three of them) love this as much as us. It is also a great meal to prepare together because every aspect of it is simple enough for young kids in the kitchen.

  • 1 cup of onion, diced
  • about 5 cups unpeeled red potatoes, quartered
  • 2-3 pounds of chicken pieces, bones in and skin on
  • 3/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1.5 tsp paprika
  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 chicken bouillon cube

Place onions in bottom of large shallow baking dish. Layer potatoes on top of onions. Layer chicken pieces on top of potatoes. Mix all other ingredients together until bouillon is completely dissolved. Pour lemon mixture over all. Bake at 350 for 1-1.5 hours, or until done (bubbling ‘sauce’ and chicken browned and crispy on top). Serve with steamed brussels sprouts and Greek salad!

P.S. our easy Greek salad = red leaf or romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato, red onion, kalamata olives, feta cheese // dressing = shake together in a jar 1/3 cup red wine vinegar, 2/3 cup olive oil, 1-2 teaspoons oregano, salt and pepper to taste —  toss dressing with salad before serving.

Apr 02
0

Food Friday: Cereal Bars & Fruit Leather

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CEREAL BARS

Kyle and Owen love cereal bars. I know cereal bars (or, as K & O used to call them, “syrian bars”) have showed up on the blog several times in the past… because… the boys have been semi-obsessed with them for at least a couple of years now. Cereal bars are, by far, their favorite snack — any time of day, every day. Morning, noon, and night. They’d eat a box a day each if we’d let them. We don’t let them. But still, over the years they have ingested a ton of cereal bars. And we’ve spent a ton of money on cereal bars. These things are expensive. The ‘Nutrigrain’ ones (or similar brands) are expensive enough— but I feel so intensely guilty feeding those to my kids that I basically cannot stand to do it; they are loaded with sugar, additives, and… worst of all… many of them contain Red Dye #40 (Red Dye #40 is a whole other post for a whole other Food Friday), or similar dyes. I was buying those kind (Nutrigrain or similar) from time to time (alternating them with the good — i.e., super expensive — ones), but a few months ago we swore them off for good and vowed to only buy the “good” (i.e., healthier) ones. Anyway… the bottom line is that I end up buying super duper pricey cereal bars. The organic, all natural, no preservatives, etc. type of cereal bars.’ Health Valley’ brand cereal bars are K & O’s favorite. And they are the ones I feel best about feeding them too (in terms of the list of ingredients). But they are around $5.50 for a box of 6 cereal bars. And, like I said, K & O would eat a box a day each if we’d let them. On one hand, I don’t want to discourage them–  I mean, I’d rather have them obsessed with eating cereal bars than with cookies or chips or ice cream. On the other hand, we’re shelling out a boatload of money on these things. And we have been for a matter of years now! So, I finally set out on a mission to make home-made cereal bars that the boys would love. And… eventually… mission accomplished!!! Here is a great recipe for cereal bars that the boys LOVE making and LOVE eating. They swear that they love these even more than their beloved $5.50 a box Health Valley ones!!!!!!!!

2 c oats
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c white flour
1/2 c brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
dash salt
1 c butter
1 – 2 c fruit filling — use whatever you like best: jam, jelly, compote, or any kind of fruit filling you prefer (note: ‘Lucky Leaf’ brand of canned fruit filling’s list of ingredients is pretty decent and we like it because it is not too sweet)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9×13″ baking pan. Combine oats, both flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in food processor. Add in butter and pulse until ‘dough’ is a chunky, crumbly consistency. Press half of the mixture into the greased pan. Bake for about 15 minutes, until a bit brown and set. Meanwhile, prepare fruit filling. If using the ‘Lucky Leaf’ brand I recommend, then pulse in food processor until fruit is of a smooth, but slightly chunky consistency (or whatever ‘spreadable’ consistency you like best). Spread fruit in a layer over the cooked dough, cover with remaining raw dough, press down firmly, and bake another 15 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting and eating!

NOTE: the only problem we have with this recipe is that the finished product is slightly crumbly. they don’t hold together really firmly like “real” cereal bars. if anyone has any thoughts on how to improve upon this recipe, we’d greatly appreciate your comments here!!! :)  Thanks!

FRUIT LEATHER

Meera could not care less about cereal bars. But right now she is going through an intense fruit leather love affair. (Interestingly enough, K & O could not care less about fruit leather!) Fruit leather is, by far, Meera’s current favorite snack — any time of day, every day. Morning, noon, and night. This has lasted a couple of months now. And, kind of like cereal bars, these things can be super duper pricey!  ‘Stretch Island’ brand, for example (a good all-natural brand of fruit leather I feel good about feeding her — and the only brand available in our regular grocery store) is $0.59 per piece! Per piece!!! Meera could (and would if we’d let her) easily eat six of these per day. Per day!!! And homemade fruit leather….  well, let’s just say, been there/done that. Braydon and I have spent our fair share of time with a fruit dehydrator. And while I admit that we did have some good results from our efforts in that arena, for the most part… in our own humble opinion, homemade fruit leather is seriously, seriously not worth it (in terms of time, money, and flavor). So, I’m always on the look out for good (and cheap!) fruit leather for Meera Grace. And get this!!! Turns out that Target (of all places!!) has awesome ‘Target’ brand all-organic fruit leather for awesome prices! And Meera loves this stuff a whole lot more than the Stretch Island stuff (the Target fruit leather is more moist and easier for her to gnaw at). And, get this!!!— These Target ‘Archer Brand’ Organic “Fruit Strips” are less than $3 for a box of 10!!! I stock up on these for Meera whenever I’m at Target. We have yet to find a flavor that Meera doesn’t love.

Mar 26
0

Food Friday: 2 Weeks of K & O Lunches

Posted by | FOOD | 35 Comments

grapes; cheese filled pretzels; mini whole wheat pitas; cheddar cheese; hummus; baby carrots [and a knife for spreading the hummus… they like to make cheese and hummus pita sandwiches, and they also like to dip carrots into hummus]

macaroni and cheese in thermoses; popcorn in snack bags; grapes, pears, apples; special treat: Honest Kids “squeezy juice”!

kiwis and blueberries; whole wheat Fig Newtons; cheese crackers; turkey, cheese, and honey-mustard roll-ups on whole wheat tortillas

banana; yogurt; water bottles; granola in snack bags (to stir into the yogurt)

turkey slices; baby carrots; hummus; crackers; cheddar cheese; oranges

chicken noodle soup (ready to be opened, heated up, and poured into thermoses the next morning before school); dried cranberries, strawberries, and raisins; crackers; cheese

leftover Chinese food and orange slices

grapes; cheese; cereal bar; crackers; ranch dressing for dipping; tomatoes, carrots, green peppers

thermoses ready for filling the next morning; special treat: chocolate milk!; leftover pasta primavera (to be heated up the next morning); grated parmesan cheese; cantaloupe, strawberries, grapes

carrots; pretzels; cheese stick; kiwi; sunflower nut butter & jelly sandwiches (our school is a ‘Peanut-Free-Zone’ –which really cramps our style because we eat a ton of nuts in the family– but it turns out that K & O have come to actually prefer “sun-nut butter” to good old-fashioned peanut butter!??!!!!!)

Mar 26
0

FOOD FRIDAYS!

Posted by | FOOD | One Comment

We asked, and you answered! 12 of you voted for ‘Food Week,’ but 130 of you voted for ‘Food Fridays.’ So, starting today, every Friday we’ll post something related to the subject of food. If you ever have requests in this arena, please just go right ahead and let us know!

Mar 26
0

3 Things…

Posted by | FOOD | 5 Comments

Because some of you asked…

  1. My recipe for the creamy pesto that our three bambinos love is here (click).
  2. All of the recipes I posted during Food Week on the old blog last year can be found here (click).
  3. If you are looking for a great spring dinner that is super easy, super fast, super healthy, and super cheap to make… really, you’ve got to try the Spinach & White Bean Pasta recipe posted from last year here (click). Seriously, I made this a few nights ago and was reminded of how great it is. Our family of five finished the entire thing… there was not one morsel left in the bowl at the end of the meal. K, O, and M love it. I think you will all love it! Would be just as great for a grad student having some friends over for dinner as it would be for a family supper! Serve it with some good bread, a bottle of wine, and a nice chunk of Parmesan cheese for grating… and you’ll all be in spring-time-dinner heaven! Try it! You’ll love it!
Mar 22
0

Our Demographics & Blog-blog-blogging About Food

Posted by | BAMBINOS, FOOD | 20 Comments

So, one unexpected occurrence resulting from our switcheroo-to-the-new-bloggeroo was this: in the process we acquired a lot of interesting and valuable information regarding our readership. We received hundreds (about 5 or 600) of emails from people all over the world. After scoping people out, we have invited 460 readers (we’ll continue to add people who want to read along on a case-by-case basis). Anyway, the thing that was so crazy, to me, was not the number of readers but the intensity of the readers— I was shocked to find out that almost all of our readers are reading daily (like, religiously! as part of their daily routine!) and have been for years. Most of them have either been reading since the beginning, or have gone back and read our entire archives. The vast, vast, vast majority of people told us that they had never left a comment. Like, never ever left a comment. Interesting! Anyway, totally by default we found out a ton about our blog readers’ demographics. There are a whole bunch of men reading, but the majority of readers are women– including a total mix of stay-at-home-moms, working-outside-the-home-moms, and women with no kids. The majority of readers are white, but we have a ton more black and Hispanic (and other non-white) readers than I ever imagined. There are lots of families and/or couples who are reading together (and having lots of interesting conversations sparked from here!– I heard about so many of those conversations!). There are large contingents of readers from the following groups (some of you overlap with ‘membership’ in multiple of these groups):

  • Adoptive Families (or families considering adoption or in the process of adoption)
  • Multiples Families (parents of twins)
  • GLBTQ Folks (mostly gay and lesbian couples — some with kids, some thinking about starting families)
  • Female Graduate Students (lots o’ PhD students, med students, and law students)
  • Teen and Twenty-Something Adoptees (most of them black)
  • Heart for Haiti (people who– for whatever reason… and usually there’s a good one… — love Haiti; this includes actual Haitians and Haitian-Americans, as well as non-Haitians who have been touched by Haiti)

There you have it. I’d say that pretty much sums up our readership. The other thing we found out is what people are interested in on our blog. From what y’all told us, I’d say these are the main subjects that most of our readers are reading for (in no particular order):

  • Happy-Healthy-Whole-Hearted-Great&Grateful-Living (turns out that people are seriously inspired by this blog… honestly, this was the biggest revelation to me. I had no idea people were so enraptured with this aspect of our blog)
  • Adoption (especially inter-racial adoption, especially white-black adoption, especially Haitian adoption)
  • Mixed-Race Family Life
  • Dual-Career Family Life
  • Twinny Twinny Twinship
  • Travel
  • Foodie Stuff (raising foodie kids, recipes, and ideas for dealing with the whole food/eating challenge in daily living)

I’d say that after the Happy-Healthy-Whole-Hearted-Great&Grateful-Living revelation (which, truly, was a huge revelation to me), the second most surprising thing that I learned in this whole process was that a ton (I mean, a ton) of people are interested in any/all food-related stuff on this blog. I find that amazing, since, from my perspective, we rarely post about food and I’m constantly feeling tortured by the challenge of getting dinner on the table. I feel like we posted a lot on the subject of food during Food Week last year, but other than that I feel like it is pretty much a silent subject on this blog. That is not, however, how a lot of readers see it. The food stuff is a major draw for a lot of readers. And honestly, as much as it does drive me absolutely to the brink of insanity on many (most?) days… I do love thinking about — and trying to mastermind — the whole food thing for my family. So… that made me think, “geesh, I better get going on The 2nd Annual Food Week!!!!!” But then I got to thinking… “maybe I should do more than just one (or two) weeks on this, maybe I should start doing ‘Food Friday’ and posting something related to food once a week?”  Anyway, I’d love to hear what y’all think! I know a lot of you are averse to commenting (LOL!!!), but you could vote… right??… so we created a little poll for you to partake in. Check it out on the top right hand corner of our sidebar. And vote! Your vote counts! (since I’ll go with whatever you all tell me) Poll closes at midnight on Thursday.

P.S. Late edit to this post…  I forgot to mention the most fun tidbit of all about our demographics!— we even have someone really, really, really (like super really) famous reading this blog!!!! I will never say who it is– but I bet y’all will have some fun imagining who it might be!  😉