sweetisu

I’m sorry I made everyone worry! As a thank you, I give you an eyeful to feast on. Healthy eats and quick bites.
Click on images to enlarge.

Spinach salad.

Mix spinach, cubed apples and cubed strawberries together with salad dressing. Sprinkle with pine nuts, procchiuto (how the F is that spelled!), and cheese.

Fried rice

Scramble a few eggs, put aside into a bowl. Brown whatever leftover meat you have, add peas, carrots, and whatever veggies you want in there (broccoli tastes very good, also onions but I don’t do onions). Add cooked rice and the scrambled eggs, mix well. Add salt, pepper, a tad of soy sauce, and a couple drops of sesame seed oil.

Eating these dishes at the same meal does not result in the greatest satisfaction.

Do you know what a toddler diet is? Have you heard of it too AND you practice it? For those of you fortunate people who have no idea what I’m talking about, be glad.

A toddler diet is one where your little picky eaters leave all kinds of food on the plate and you, you feel the need to finish it because you feel guilty if you let it go to waste. THERE ARE STARVING PEOPLE IN CHINA (or name another country) YOU KNOW. And I know, because I was one of them. And this happens on a pretty regular basis because, some days they will eat a lot while other days they eat nothing but cheerios. It also depends on what kind of things you’ve made. If it’s bacon - forget it - there wouldn’t be any left for you.

I hope things are different once they start kindergarten.

***
Dear Kids,

Mama love you both lots. But will you please please please try to finish your meals? Or at least, most of the time? When I was your age, I had very little to eat and this is why I’m so tiny. Not that tiny is a bad thing, but you will definitely have a better advantage if you are tall. I want you to grow into healthy tall grownups and you need all the nutrients to make that happen.

Not to mention I wouldn’t be grinding my teeth and going up the wall as often.

Love,

Mama

Care for a cup of tea with this?

I have always resisted buying cake mixes in a box. I’m not a big cake person to begin (cookies on the other hand.. yum!) and I’m pretty sure there are some preservatives that comes with cake mixes from a box.

The other day I brought home a box of cake mix. Velvet cake mix by Duncan Hines. Instead of making it into a sheet of cake, we made them into cupcakes. I substituted with half milk and half water instead of the whole 1.25 cups of water. It turned out really well. I’m surprised by how easy it was, and so tasty, especially with some frosting!

Now we’ll probably have to live with the consequences of having those preservatives in our system for a while.

But really, how impossible it is to get away from preservatives - it’s in almost everything.

Things that make me go mmmmmmmmmm (imagine eyes half-closed..)

Pineapple Tart photo from PabloPabla. This guy can cook! You should check out the rest of his photos.. I’m not sure if all of them are his creations, but wow. WOW. I want one of those man-who-can-cook-this-good types.

I know! It says HALF a pound!

Annual cost for milk in this household:

$3.49/gallon x 4 gallons/wk x 52wks/year = $725.92

$725.92 per year!

.

That is, if the cost of milk stays where it is. The cost per gallon has gone up $1 whole dollar since May, just 7 short months ago.

Updated:
Melissa at Taking What is Left made a very good point, in which I’ve completely neglected to calculate, is that the cost of EGGS have also gone up tremendously in the last few months.

To wit, eggs were $2.99 for 2.5 dozen large eggs (that would be 36 eggs, or two cartons of 18) when we first moved here 7 months ago. Now it’s past $5.25

Our kids are picky eaters and eggs is on the small list of things that they will eat.

The verdict is, to buy one dozen chickens along with a strong rooster, and two cows.

‘Tis the season to share.

Tonight I made this Christmas garland (as usual, the kids helped). I wish some of you were here to share it. Not just because it would be cool to chat over coffee, but also because this garland is really big. The hole in the center? A ramkin fits nicely inside it.

Hope you are enjoying a jolly mug of eggnog or something and there are no crazy uncles around.

p.s. If you’d like to get the recipe, let me know. It’s fabulously yummy. I modify the fruit fillings a little bit myself.