Like many other schools who are doing the Read Across America today, we joined in on the Dr. Seuss fun.
There was plenty of Dr. Seuss reading, watching a short animated bit about Dr. Seuss on Brain Pop Jr., and some short animated stories watching. Though judging by the girls’ excitement, I say their favorite part was getting to eat green eggs and SPAM for lunch! And I threw in some green fried rice for fun.
Okay, so after all the healthy eating I talked about yesterday and eating fresher foods, well, I had to break it a bit and give them dyed green spam for lunch. It is processed to the max, but it did the job for today’s activity!
Are you doing anything to celebrate reading today?
Totally getting into this cooking thing! I have been doing well with pairing with veggies. I think it helped that last weekend I was able to go the market and pick up some vegetables that I thought my pair well with my menu. The girls all have been pretty good eaters, but they have been especially devouring our meals of late.
We started off the week with Spinach & Chickpeas, which Ben made over the weekend.
This particular dish is a favorite of ours and gets made often. Ben added some tofu in it this time around and it was good, but a little more watery. If you do add tofu, make sure to let it sit on a paper towel for about 10 minutes before adding with the rest of the ingredients. Brave loves the garbanzo beans, True loves the spinach, and Soul kinda loves mixing it together. There is something for everyone!
And indeed it was! I doubled the recipe because I had a feeling it would be a hit. You must make these meatballs! We used lean ground turkey and it was seriously yum. That sauce is amazing. Just make sure you let it sit on the stove for a long time (45 minutes) simmering so that you can get that nice thick glaze. We paired ours with some brown rice and we were all about this meal.
I did the Spiced Coconut Spinach without the coconut because 1) Ben couldn’t find unsweetened coconut and 2) turns out Ben doesn’t like coconut filled food, so I just did without it. It tasted really good to me and frankly, I think I could do without the coconut too. Instead of the ghee or clarified butter, I used canola oil. I liked how simple this vegetable dish was.
Loved them both, but I accidentally put fresh rosemary in the noodles instead of tarragon. I am not sure how that change affected the flavor, but I will try making this dish again to see how it tastes with tarragon and pumpkin seeds instead of rosemary and sesame seeds. Also, I used much less than the 1/3 of oil it calls for at the end. True hasn’t found her love for tofu just yet, but Brave and Soul have, so I think it is just a matter of time for True and the right recipe.
The bok choy was yummy, though I did also saute it with some shallots. We had some left over from the day before, so I threw it in there. This veggie dish was another hit!
Thursday, we had plenty of leftovers to cover our dinner. They all tasted just as yummy a day or so later. Since I started meal planning, we have also started to revise our lunches and have been eating fresher meals. Honestly, with all the kids, I was just happy that Trader Joe’s had healthy ready prepared meals that was quick to pop in the oven or make, but with all our dinners, sometimes we have that for lunch or I am able to whip up something else for the girls. This meal planning has helped make me more motivated to spend time in the kitchen cooking for my family. I am kinda loving the challenge!
I want to note that none of these recipes take very long to do. At most, maybe 40 minutes of active time from start to finish for both vegetable and main dish. I don’t have all day to be in the kitchen, so I need recipes that will let me get in and food out on the table fast. Another thing, sometimes I might not have all the ingredients, so I use the site Food Subs to help me find appropriate substitute for that particular ingredient. Nine times out of ten, I have something that will suffice. This saves us money and time… love Food Subs!
Tuesday: Oven Fried Chicken (made this in week 1, but True is asking for it) and Mashed Sweet Potato
Wednesday: Turkey Tacos (something I already know how to make)
Thursday: Leftovers, but will probably be at my mom’s.
Friday: Rehearsal dinner
On the weekends Ben usually cooks, but I have found myself whipping up something for the family too. This cooking thing is getting kind of fun! What’s an easy go-to meal for you?
The end of the month is what gets me most excited about March because in April, Ben finally takes his paternity leave from work and he gets to do some baby bonding time with us all. The idea of Ben home with us all day long, every day makes me quite giddy.
After breakfast, we spent some baking. It is a good way to teach the girls sequential order and reinforcing following directions. I pretty much measure it all out for them and separate it in bowls and they just put it all together and mix. Brave did the flour mixture and True was in charge of the liquids. Lots of good things always come out of baking.
This is a cake first introduced to me from my BFF when she made it. I always like Asian desserts cause they are mildly sweet. Though, I really do love all desserts mildly sweet or super sweet… they all taste good to me.
Mochi Cake |from Week of Menus, originally from Gourmet Magazine 2005|
* I changed the ingredients up a bit, but pretty much followed the directions.
The recipe said to put in the oven for an hour and a half, but ours only needed to be in the oven for 50 minutes and it was ready, so I would watch closely to determine its readiness. Also, I wanted less sugar in ours and I used low fat coconut milk. I think it came out fine and the girls seem to like it, but if I trying this type of cake for the first time, I would say follow the original recipe exactly. It isn’t as sweet as I have had it in the past, but it is still sweet enough. Our favorite part of the cake were the edges. The edges are tasty! I think next time when I make this, I might do it in a cupcake pan sans liner, so there will be a whole lot of edges!
We made it after breakfast, but the girls waited until snack time (4 pm) in the afternoon to eat it. Judging from how fast it went, I think they would say it was worth the wait! This recipe might be next on the list.
Honor to be nominated for Apartment Therapy’s The Homies for Best Family Blog. If you love Cakies and would love to cast your vote, you could do so here. Honestly though, there are tons of good family/lifestyle blogs out there, so even if you don’t vote for me, make sure you vote for your fave and let them know they are appreciated.
Today is for listening to Adele, schooling, and baking thrown in for good measure. Week’s half down and the weekend will be here soon. Yay!!!
{where from again? dress: little bean shop; sweater: vintage; rainboots: target; scarf: handmade by mom; lunch bag: built nyc.}
This school day came with an episode…
When I dropped her off, the way she walked into the classroom got slightly changed, and then she didn’t want to go in, then she started crying, so I stayed a bit. It was art class and she loves art class, so I knew it was her shyness overtaking her. I left her with the student assistant thinking she would stop and I made a mad dash out. I was almost home and when I got a call that she was wailing and would not to talk to anyone and they needed me to come back. I turned around and headed back to the school. I walked into the office and see her drooling and crying. I made numerous attempts to calm her down, nothing worked. Eventually, she calmed down and wants to go back into art and wants me to help her. I oblige. We go in, she gets to work on her painting and after another little bit, she lets me leave. Peacefully this time. Whew!
She loves her one-day-a-week school, but sometimes her shyness gets the best of her.
One day, she will no longer be shy and become the President of the United States. Just you watch.
I have a large growing pile of fabric scraps. I refuse to throw them away because I am sure they can be used for something. I have been seeing different types of interesting necklaces made of buttons, beads, and fabric. Then, I figured why not make one out of my scraps...
I think it made my white shirt a little less boring. This was so quick and easy to make.
How to make a recycled scraps necklace (which is very similar to the straps on my braided tablecloth bag):
1. Take your scrap fabric, I cut a .5''-1'' snip and tear the rest of the fabric down for a nice frayed edge. Used 3 different fabrics for each strand.
2. Take 3 of the torn pieces and tie the ends together with a rubber band.
3. Braid the 3 pieces together and tie ends together with rubber band when done.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for more strands. Remember you can make the strands any length you want, if run out of fabric, just weave more into the braid.
5. Once all the strands you want are braided, gather one end of each strand together and straight stitch together with sewing machine. Repeat for the other ends of the strands. Snip off any excess.
6. Gather ends of the necklace and sew together (snip excess) or a ribbon can be sewn at the ends to be able to tie the necklace closed, but I just sewed both ends together.
7. Voila! A nice way to make use of all your lovely scraps.
Sorry if the directions get you a little lost, but it really is easy. I promise. Maybe I should put some in the shop. Please share any other good ideas you may have of things that can be made with scraps. I would love to hear (read) them!
