Here and there

Our turtle, Gerks

Hey, you got some stuff hanging out of your mouth :/

Hello Kitty is getting the job done for Daughter's lunch this year

What she's enjoying: Pb and J, strawberries, sunflower seeds and chocolates, Bunny Grahams, Carrots and hummus. And of course a note to remind her how much I love her. They're mostly stick figures right now ;)

Dinner last night, a bigger success than I anticipated

Won ton soup

 Edamame (I knew they'd love this, they always do!) and leftover garlic bread

 Eat it up!

 Baby LOVED the won tons

 Son was pretty happy with the whole thing ;)

I love that they are getting used to veggies and healthy foods...from early on I've always had something on their plate that I wanted them to eat but wasn't sure about. I hoped that in time, they'd just learn to like things from watching us and really from having no other choice. I've said it before, but I only make meals one time. So if they don't like things, they wait until the next meal or snack time. They have opted to skip meals before, but it's rare. It really pays off though when my kids are happily lapping up soup filled with spinach, green onions, cilantro, soy beans, and carrots or scarfing down zucchini, basil, tomatoes and asparagus. It really pays to keep trying, keep a big variety and of course show your kids how tasty veggies and healthy foods like nuts and fruits really are! If you have picky eaters, take my word for it and just keep trying and offering a variety of those healthy foods. And accept no other options. If they won't eat it, then hopefully they'll like the next meal better ;) 

Disclaimer: Obviously I'm no doctor or nutritionist (although I've always thought I'd love that job) so I know there are extreme cases. I am not suggesting starving your children or refusing them anything other than the broccoli they hate when they are not growing or thriving well. 

Yum!

Cinnamon apple pancakes and bacon...kids' fave!

Baby requested a bowl of just powdered sugar, please. ;)

I don't make meals at my home with my children't "likes" in mind. I make meals that are healthy, varied and hopefully tasty. Obviously I don't purposely CHOOSE things I know they hate, but I figure if I always serve their favorites, they'll never try anything and never discover new flavors. So this meal was just that, a whole wheat pasta with roasted squash, onions and bell pepper, tossed with raw, chopped tomatoes, basil and garlic in olive oil and then sprinkled with feta. Son was gone for this meal, but Daughter and Baby were with me (who are both somewhat picky) and they lost their MINDS for this dish, much to my dismay. I was FULLY prepared for whining and complaining and kids going to bed on the hungry side.

Daughter loved serving herself and helped herself to seconds even!

Being so silly

Dinner: Success ;)

A little post dinner story time

Pizza Time!

One of those nights...hadn't planned dinner...hadn't done much shopping. :/
I pulled some flatbread out of the freezer and decided on pizza! 

Cracked open a jar of roasted garlic spaghetti sauce. So great for dinner in a hurry! Be careful what jarred sauces you keep on hand though, always read the ingredients. There should really only be a handful of ingredients and NO sugar or high fructose corn syrup. Check yours and see what you have. I personally love Trader Joe's brand and Fresh and Easy brand sauces. so tasty, so wholesome, good price.

Spread with fat free mozzarella cheese and some leftover grilled chicken, thinly sliced.

And Pulled out an old stand-by. Artichoke hearts. I ALWAYS have a couple jars of these on hand. They are fabulous for making a stuffing for bell peppers, mushrooms or tomatoes, sprucing up a salad and throwing on a pizza, just to name a few!

After the chx, cheese and artichokes, I felt like we still needed something, so I rummaged through my fridge and found a medley that hubby had made the night before: butternut and acorn squash and onions, roasted! Perfect...I tossed those right on the pizzas.

Except for the kids...they just wanted chx and cheese. So I smashed a little squash and spread it around with the sauce. They never knew the difference. :)

Threw the pizzas on a VERY lightly oiled (olive or grapeseed) baking sheet and popped in oven at 400 for about ten or fifteen minutes. YUM YUM!

Sopas

Hubby and Son made some tasty homemade Sopas for dinner one night...they were so delicious and Son had the time of his life helping Dad in the kitchen.

Rubbing your lips on the sopas before you cook them is a necessary step. Bet you didn't know that.

Ready to cook!

Using the technical equipment all on his own ;)

YUM!

Onions have Layers

I could NEVER figure out how to dice onions. 

How to get that nice, uniform dice. 

Actually, what I did know how to do is put an onion cut in half or quarters in a food processor and "pulse" it to a fine mush. ;)

Then my handy dandy hubby showed me how. Ah, the perks of being married to a chef. Actually he showed me this when he was my boss. Heehee.

And for those of you that are already amazing cooks and have perfect knife skills, just move along to the next blog. This is for those of us who are tired of substituting onion mush for diced onions. ;)

First, cut ends off onion and then cut in half. With flat side down, cut slits into onion as shown. And disregard the chippy Barbie polish on my nails. Whatev. 

 Be careful not to cut the slits all the way back, you want the onion to all still be attached at the back. In fact, a cool trick is to leave one of the ends on the onion, the root end works best (the one with the weird little hairs), and that will keep your onion together, almost like a fan.

Then, take your knife and cut into side of onion, parrallel to the cutting board. Start at bottom and make a cut just a little up from the bottom. If you want a 1/4" dice, go about a 1/4" up. Cut almost to the back of the onion, still keeping the back in tact, just like before. 

I couldn't take a picture and do this at the same time, but my other hand holds the onion, palm flat, right on the top of the onion, so it doesn't move when you are cutting.

Move up a little more and continue your horizontal cuts. The number of cuts will depend on how big you want your dice and how big your onion is. I usually end up with two or three horizontal cuts.

I know I have man hands. 

This is the safest way to hold your product when cutting. Keep the knife against the flat side of your fingers, with your fingertips tucked in, gripping your product. 

Now, just slice down and there you have your perfect, uniform diced onions!

When I get to the end and cannot slice it anymore without cutting off fingers, I turn the last piece on its side and slice it. 

No, I do not normally keep my finger on the top of the knife, but I was trying to get a picture of what the knife and onion should look like. 

Just go with it.

And there you have it!!