Crib Notes: iPhone Applications for Parents (and Kids) V

Here is yet another Apple iPhone application that will help to make the world of parenting easier for Moms (and Dads) everywhere!

Urban Spoon
Cost: Free!


Looking for a nice family night out? Or maybe you and your spouse would like to call the babysitter and have a night out on the town? Urban Spoon will help you find the perfect restaurant based on your needs. Simply select your area of interest, the type(s) of food you crave, and a price range. Finding the perfect spot (with directions and contact information) is just a shake of the phone away. Who said planning had to take more than five minutes?

Rise to the Occasion: Easiest and Best French Bread

I’ve been cooking for many years and have always enjoyed discovering new recipes and techniques. Until recently, there was one staple food I have artfully avoided testing in my kitchen – fresh bread. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made my share of breads – pumpkin bread, banana bread, and other “quick” (ahem – baking soda) breads. My experience with yeast pretty much started and ended with pizza dough. I don’t know what about the elusive yeast frightened me off. I think I revered bread-making as a craft that only true artisans and grandmothers made.

Feeling confident one morning, I pulled out my “go to” cookbook – How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. This cookbook is hands down the most useful gift I’ve ever received (thanks Jen!). This is what I love about the book -- when I page to the fresh bread recipe it reads:

Easiest and Best French Bread
Time: At least 3 hours, largely unattended

Sounds perfect for a newbie! And it was true to its description…easy, delicious, and largely hands-off.

Easiest and Best French Bread

YOU NEED
3 ½ cups bread or all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
Scant 1½ cups water

MAKE IT
Note: The cookbook gives a variety of methods, additions, and shapes for making the bread. To follow is how I made my French bread round loaf.

1. Place the flour in a food processor. Add salt and yeast and process for 5 seconds.
2. With the machine running, pour most of the water through the feed tube. Process about 30 seconds. The dough should be in a defined and shaggy ball, still sticky and not something you’d want to knead by hand.
3. Dump the dough into a large bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a towel. Let it sit for 2-3 hours at room temperature.
4. Sprinkle a small amount of flour onto your workspace and shape the dough into a ball sprinkling more flour as needed. Shape the dough into a “boule” or round loaf by working around the ball, continually tucking the dough toward the center of the bottom, stretching the top slightly and creating surface tension. Pinch together the seam created at the bottom of the dough.
5. Place a clean kitchen towel in a colander or round basket. Sprinkle it with flour. Place the dough ball, seam up, in the towel and sprinkle with more flour. Fold the towel over the dough and let rise for 2-6 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 450°F. When you are ready to bake, turn the ball onto a baking sheet or pizza stone. Slash the top of the ball a few times with a razor blade. Spray the inside of the oven with water to create steam. Place the dough in the oven.
7. Spray oven 2-3 times during the first 10 minutes of baking. After 20 minutes, lower the heat to 350°F. Bake a total of 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

--Cooking Mom

Crib Notes: Start a Snack Revolution

Is your family always on the go? Are you constantly on the lookout for wholesome “on the go” snacks? You may want to check out Revolution Foods. Their line of organic, balanced nutrition snacks include: Jammy & Grammy Sammy, Pop Alongs, Mashups, and more. A glance at the nutritional label of the Mashups, described as squeezable fruit, reveals that it’s just that…mashed fruit in packaging that makes it easy for children to eat anywhere.


The company’s claim that their foods are “simple for parents to pack, simple for kids to eat, and a simple way to maintain a healthy diet at school or home” makes it a simple choice for me.

Cold Mountain Couscous

I was recently leafing through my husband’s Backpacker magazine fondly remembering the days when we had time to spend an entire Saturday hiking our favorite White Mountain trails. Interrupting my daydream was a section called, On the Menu. Always on the look-out for new recipes, I scanned through the eclectic variety of meals one could make over a fire or 4” burner. I figure if backcountry hikers could make a delicious meal packed with enough energy to spend the day scaling mountains, I could easily make one of these recipes to boost up dinner or lunch. Below is one that sounds good to me. I think I’ll give it a try this weekend.

Cold Mountain Couscous


YOU NEED
16-ouch pouch (or can) of cooked chicken
½ cup instant couscous
2/3 cup water
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small zucchini
1/2 red pepper (I added this ingredient!)
1 teaspoon fresh basil
¼ cup chopped pine nuts (optional)
¼ teaspoon salt (optional)

MAKE IT

1. Chop the zucchini and pepper.
2. Sauté the zucchini, pepper, chicken and pine nuts in a pan until veggies are softened and chicken is heated through. Set aside
3. Bring the water, salt and olive oil to a boil. Stir in couscous. Remove from heat.
4. Add chicken and vegetable mix. Stir. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes.
5. Stir in the chopped basil.

--Cooking Mom

Great Pumpkin Pancakes

Growing up, I was a big Peanuts fan and I waited patiently each year for It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!  to come on TV.  My daughter is already a budding Snoopy fan like her mom and recently received the Halloween classic book from a family friend.  Now, I’m looking forward to watching the TV special with my daughter and I think we’ll have “pancakes for dinner” night. Good thing we already have a family-favorite recipe for the occasion.

Great Pumpkin Pancakes


YOU NEED
2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs
1 ¾ cup milk (or as needed)
½ cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon oil
Cooking spray

MAKE IT

1. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
2. Whisk together the eggs, milk, pumpkin puree, sugar, and oil until well combined.
3. Pour the “wet” over the “dry” ingredients. Stir until just mixed together. Lumps are okay.
4. Carefully heat a griddle or frying pan on medium heat. Grease with cooking spray or a pat of butter.
5. Ladle some of the pancake batter onto the pan to form 2-3” disks. For fun, spoon a little batter at the top of the circle to make a stem so the pancake resembles a pumpkin.
6. When the bubbles start to pop on top and the bottom is slightly brown, flip with a spatula. Remove from pan when under side is browned.

--Cooking Mom

Cooking with Kids - Ravioli

When I was leading my kids’ cooking company, I noticed a trend emerge with children who spent time cooking with their parents. They were mostly making baked goods. Understandably, baking is a safe, easy, and reliable method of cooking with delectable results. There are exact measurements, everything gets scooped into a bowl, children can do most of the project (measure, scoop, pour, mix, crack eggs, smoosh, etc.). My goal as an educator, however, was to show children and their parents that children were capable of making all kinds of food (with the proper direction). We made soups, oodles of noodle dishes, empanadas, and even the elusive “Wild Thing Toes” – I’ll leave that one to your imaginations.

And I did all these things with 3 year olds!

Recently, I realized that my own almost-3 year old daughter mostly did baking projects with me. Oh no – how did this happen?!? It was a natural progression but, ultimately, it is a lot easier to plan a baking project on the weekend when we have time to cook rather than during the rushed weekly dinner prep. Don’t get me wrong, she has helped in the kitchen shucking corn, snapping green beans, washing and spinning lettuce but not much in the way of a full project. I was on a mission to change that!

So, I got out my pasta machine one Sunday for some fun. We cleaned off the counter, washed our hands, and got ready to get messy. We had a blast making the flour volcano, filling it with eggs, and kneading our pasta dough with our hands. My daughter had fun measuring (and sampling!) the cheese filling ingredients and mixing it around like we do with our baked projects. Then, we rolled out the dough in the pasta machine and made our ravioli. By the time we got to actually stuffing the ravioli, she was pretty much done so I went at it alone. In the end, it was fun, messy and the whole family enjoyed the results. Of course, she mostly ate the fat noodles we made from the remaining dough but definitely with “I did it myself” gusto!

Fresh Tre Formaggi Ravioli

YOU NEED

For Dough
2 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs, room temperature
4 eggs (separated), room temperature
½ teaspoon salt

For Filling
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 cup mozzarella, shredded
½ cup Parmesan, grated
2 teaspoon basil
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon salt (optional)

MAKE IT

1. Sift the flour onto a clean work surface into a mound.
2. Create a shallow “crater” in the center of the mound. Add 2 eggs, 4 egg yolks, and salt to the crater. Keep egg whites for later.
3. With a fork, mix the center ingredients gradually adding a bit of flour until it is too sticky to keep mixing with the fork.
4. Use your hands to finish mixing in the flour. Knead the dough until it is firm and no longer changes shapes when you remove your hands. Add a bit of water if it is too dry.
5. Wrap in plastic and let rest for 30 minutes. (Optional)
6. Measure and add the filling ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Stir together.
7. Follow the instructions on your pasta machine for making sheets of dough (thickness at setting 5 is best!). Or, roll out by hand.
8. Place dough sheets on waxed paper. Cut rectangles (about 2” x 4”) – larger is best when working with children.
9. Scoop a bit of filling onto one side of each rectangle. Finger paint egg whites around the edges of the dough. Carefully fold the dough over the filling and press the edges to seal.
10. Drop in boiling water for 4-5 minutes. Drain with slotted spoon and serve with favorite sauce.

--Cooking Mom

Apple Pie

I walked in the front door last night after an annoying commute and the house smelled delicious. I asked what my daughter was having for dinner that smelled so good and she looked at me with a big grin. “It’s in the oven, apple pie. And, I made it. All. By. My. Self.” Huh? My husband made apple pie with her? Really?

No. Turns out they are celebrating Fall at school this week and so they made apple pies. Each child got to make their own full size pie to bring home. My daughter told me how she got to peel the apples with the crank, she measured the sugar and cinnamon, and she mixed it all together. All. By. Her. Self.

The teachers helped them to put the top crust on and then the kids poked it with a fork. The pie went into a large Ziploc with a label – a big red apple cutout with a photo of my daughter with her finished pie on one side, and cooking instructions on the other.

I could get used to coming home to homemade apple pie. Maybe they could celebrate Italy next week and make lasagna.

-- Commuter Mom

Extreme Makeover – Lunchbox Edition

For the first year and a half of my daughter’s eating career, I prided myself on her broad palate of (mostly) healthy food choices. Making her lunch was an adventure in “what cool thing can I pack that’ll boost her up the food pyramid chart for the day.” Veggie-packed frittatas, Hummus, Avocado, Bean and Veggie Quesadillas, Pasta with Beets and Zucchini, and on and on. It was easy for me to accept her “snub my nose at dinner” attitude given her nutrition-packed lunch. As a health educator, I dreaded what I knew was coming. At about age 2 when children’s growth spurt slows is when picky eating behavior starts to rear its ugly nose.

And it happened. About a month after starting a new daycare the daily notes with the glaring “Did Not Eat” checks next to the lunch line came. Day after day, I sent her favorites – veggie burgers, spinach pizza – with the same results. DID…NOT…EAT. I kept trying and finally hit the jackpot with the single thing she would eat – hallelujah! - sunflower seed butter and fruit jam on whole wheat. Since I wasn’t there to encourage her eating and “tasting”, I easily got snagged in that working mom trap. I started sending the same lunch every day only mixing up the fruit to go along with her new favorite sandwich. Soon after, I learned that her new best friend was also a sandwich-only girl. I knew I had lost the battle. Not even a supermom can compete with a girl’s first best friend! But she can try.

This month, I’m calling in Ty and the team from Extreme Makeover to knock down this crumbling structure and to help build a more solid foundation. Well, at the least, I’m going to start slowly mixing up her lunches. My list is below which I hope to work through one by one. Wish me luck and please send your own lunch box suggestions.

• Hummus on whole grain bread or tortilla with cucumbers, shredded carrots, and/or spinach
• Low fat cream cheese on tortilla with cucumbers, shredded carrots, etc...
• Bagel puppets: whole wheat bagels spread with cream cheese and decorated with veggies
• Minestrone, lentil or vegetable soup
• Veggie sticks or kebobs with dip (hummus, bean dip, baba ghanouj)
• Burritos with veggies and cheese
• Quesadillas with roasted veggies and cheese
• Funny Face pizza
• Egg pizza (frittata cut in wedges)
• Veggie burgers

--Cooking Mom

ODE TO A GRILL

If I were a poet, I’d write an ode to my grill (Oh, how I love thee so!). Don’t be confused though. I’m not one of those people who gets all into their grills and spends hours making delectable ribs that fall off the bone. Though, I do respect those ardent grillers and wish I had the same passion and patience. No, my love of the grill is much simpler – less clean-up. I’d make everything on the grill if I could have 1 less dish to wash.

This week I rediscovered one of my favorite grill foods (Shrimp Scampi on the Grill) and paired it with a new farmers’ market discovery – coosa (or cusa) zucchini – which was also great for grilling.

Shrimp Scampi & Zucchini on the Grill

YOU NEED
20 uncooked shrimp
4 skewers
1 coosa zucchini or whatever variety you have
Extra virgin olive oil
2-3 garlic cloves
¼ cup fresh parsley
Fresh cracked pepper
Sea salt (optional)

MAKE IT

1. Soak the skewers in cold water for a few minutes. Carefully place the shrimp on the skewer.
2. Cut the zucchini in large chunks.
3. Chop the garlic and parsley.
4. Mix together the scampi dressing: ¼ - ½ cup olive oil, 2/3 of the garlic, all the parsley. Brush on shrimp skewers.
5. Prepare the zucchini: coat with olive oil, add the remaining garlic, add salt and pepper to taste, mix to fully coat.
6. Heat the grill on medium heat. Cook the zucchini for 10-15 minutes turning to prevent burning. Cook the shrimp 5-8 minutes per side.
7. Serve with fresh salad and bread.

--CookingMom

FARMERS MARKET SANDWICH

The first deep red, juicy tomatoes made their appearance at the farmers’ market this week. Whoo-hoo! Did I mention that I manage my local farmers’ market? Forgive me if I talk about it incessantly. But, it’s always a joyous day when the tomatoes come in. This year makes it even more rewarding in that I managed to survive the past winter without consuming any pale, tasteless tomatoes that travelled a million miles to get to the wintery door of my local grocery store. After a feast of local heirloom tomatoes last harvest and my “all local” frozen tomato sauce as my only saving grace through the barren winter, I feel like I have earned the right to say, “All hail the mighty local tomato!” Or, at least, thank you to the organic farmer who brought this red beauty to me.

My first dish had to be my summer staple…The Farmers Market Sandwich. It was especially good because I was able to secure all my ingredients (less the olive oil) from the market or my own garden.

The Farmers Market Sandwich

YOU NEED

2 slices of favorite country bread or foccacia
Extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic (optional)
1 red ripe local tomato
2-3 slices of fresh local mozzarella cheese
1-2 leaves basil

MAKE IT

1. Preheat the broiler on low (Or, you can use the toaster oven).
2. Slice the bread. Brush olive oil on one side of each slice.
3. Place under the broiler for 1-2 minutes until just toasted. Be sure not to brown too much. Peel the garlic and rub on toasted bread.
4. Slice the tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.
5. Layer on one bread the tomato slices, the basil and mozzarella slices. Place under the broiler again until cheese is melted.
6. Top with other bread slice. Enjoy!

--CookingMom

Fancy Nancy and Summer Lovin’

My sister-in-law bought my oldest daughter “Fancy Nancy Tea Parties” for her birthday. My daughter is very practical, as far as six-year-olds go, and EXTREMELY literal, so she usually says things like, “There is nothing ‘fancy’ about her. She just looks crazy.”

But this book, “Fancy Nancy Tea Parties” had her hooked and folding over the pages of the book to mark the things she wanted to do. She apparently has a new appreciation for Nancy. There are all sorts of little activities and crafts in the book to help you have the most “magnificent” gatherings. First on my daughter’s list was to make sun tea and of course, to have a tea party.

Not being a big iced tea drinker, I have never made sun tea before. Yum! So easy, so fun and so good. It is definitely going to be part of our summer life from now on. We used decaf tea. Just Lipton, nothing Fancy. We used 14 bags and let it sit out in the sun all day. The girls kept checking on it and giving me updates on how dark is was getting. Then we added simple syrup (bring equal parts sugar and water to a boil and let cool) and a trick we learned from the book, orange juice. I used about a half a cup of sugar and we added a few glugs of juice. I didn’t measure it – we just kept doing taste tests. It was delicious. Then we made some cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches (with cucumbers from our garden) and had ourselves a little tea party at the dining room table.

Speaking of the garden, I just had to take this picture of my kitchen counter. A trip to the Farmer’s Market (blueberries and carrots) and our first big harvest in our garden.

And can we talk about these flowers?

I love summer. What are you growing?

---CraftyMom

ZUCCHINI, ZUCCHINI EVERYWHERE!

Commuter Mom asked me recently if I had any good zucchini recipes. Here in Northern New England, zucchini are abundant in CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes and at farmers’ markets. I even have zucchini aplenty in my small backyard garden. When I looked through my recipes, I realized that those are not the only places where zucchini were bountiful. I have a LOT of zucchini recipes. Maybe not the “featured” vegetable in every recipe but the zucchini appears as a supporting role in many of my favorites. I think I love it because it is so versatile. It can be baked into bread (sweet or savory); it can be roasted, grilled, sautéed, or even deep fried as a latke; it holds up in pasta casseroles and can be snuck into many child-friendly recipes. Today’s recipe - Cheesy Zucchini Biscuits - is definitely a child (and adult!) favorite. Plus, they can be frozen.

YOU NEED

3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper (optional)
4 tablespoons cold butter
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
½ - ¾ cup milk

MAKE IT

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pepper.
3. Add the butter and cut into flour mixture to form a coarse, crumbly mix. Set aside.
4. Place zucchini in a colander and squeeze the extra juices from it.
5. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the zucchini, Cheddar cheese, and milk.
6. Pour the “wet” over the “dry” ingredients. Stir until the dough is mostly stiff. It will be slightly wet.
7. Drop the dough onto a baking sheet into 10-12 lumps.
8. Bake for 13-15 minutes until golden and puffed up. Serve warm!
   

--CookingMom

I am Cooking Mom!

Hi! I’m Cooking Mom and, like the other moms on this blog, I juggle a full-time career with raising a family. I am contributing to this blog to share my culinary adventures to prepare wholesome, nutritious meals for me, my husband, and our 2-year old daughter. As a working mom, I don’t have much time each night so I tend to use recipes that take less than 30-minutes or that can be prepared ahead. I also am on a mission to be less wasteful so you’ll see many recipes that say “using any stray veggies in your fridge.” I should also share that this is my first time blogging (I know – I’m way behind the times). I hope you will join me on this journey and come back often to check in with me. Please leave comments and definitely share your favorite recipes.

For my first post, I want to share one of my favorite foods, Rainbow Frittata. What do I love about it? It can be a breakfast, lunch or dinner food; it takes less than ½ hour to prepare; you can prepare it ahead and reheat for any meal; it can use any “stray veggies in your fridge.” One may say it’s the perfect recipe. You can judge for yourself.

Rainbow Frittata

YOU NEED
12 eggs (for a large pan, use less for smaller pans)
Splash of milk
¼ - ½ cup favorite “melty” cheese
½ - 1 cup fresh stray veggies:

• red onion
• yellow or red bell pepper
• carrot
• zucchini
• baby spinach

2-4 tablespoons butter
Oven-safe frying pan (no plastic handles)

MAKE IT

1. Preheat the broiler on low heat.
2. Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl. Add the milk and cheese. Whisk until well blended. Set aside.
3. Dice the veggies. Set aside.
4. Heat a large frying pan on medium-high heat.
5. Melt the butter. Add the chopped onions, pepper, carrot, and zucchini. Sauté for 5 minutes.
6. Add the spinach. Cook for 2 minutes.
7. Stir in the egg mixture.
8. Cook for 7-8 minutes occasionally stirring the mixture being sure not to scrape the bottom. The bottom should set and be slightly browned.
9. Place under the broiler for 5-10 minutes until top is set and browned. Be sure to check often so it doesn’t scorch the top.
10. Cool for a minute, slide from pan, cut & serve.

-- Cooking Mom

Crib Note: Make your Frosting go Further

If you use store-bought frosting, before you frost your cakes or cupcakes, empty the container into a bowl and whip it with your electric mixer. By whipping air into the frosting, you will get so much more frosting and it will save you from getting another container for just a few cupcakes.

New Mom: A Week’s Worth of Meals

I am desperately and continuously trying to come up with meal strategies that work for my family and our work schedules that avoid ordering take-out as much as possible. So one recent Saturday morning I decided I would buy meals that could all be made almost exclusively on the grill, have a big grill fest on Saturday night and have meals all cooked and prepared for the entire week. Here’s how it worked out:

Saturday morning: Unpack the groceries, putting chicken and steak tips directly into marinade bags before they even go into the fridge. Also, unpack hamburgers, turkey sausages and assorted veggies. I feel I’m off to a good start.

Saturday night: Husband insists it’s easier for him to pick up pizza on his way home from running errands than for us to grill. (Never mind that his credit card had expired and pizza pick-up required two trips and resulted in cold pizza.)

Sunday night: Husband makes a quick trip to Target while I put the chicken on the grill. I return 10 minutes later to put vegetables on only to find the propane tank is empty. I transfer chicken and veggies into the oven. My husband comes home and switches the propane tank for a spare full one that I didn’t know we had. I cook steak tips on the grill. We eat steak tips, Uncle Ben’s microwavable rice (a surprisingly big hit), and some of the oven-baked veggies. Chicken and remaining veggies go in the fridge.

Monday: Husband and I each take some chicken to work for lunch. Cook hamburgers for dinner. We all eat hamburgers, veggies and a tomato and mozzarella salad.

Tuesday: Husband and I go to the Red Sox game and eat ballpark food. Daughter has leftover hamburger for lunch and leftover take-out pasta and meatballs for dinner with the babysitter.

Wednesday: Husband has leftover chicken for lunch, I have a work lunch, daughter has more leftover hamburger for lunch and chicken for dinner (though she barely eats any). Cook turkey sausages in stove top with onions; red peppers and asparagus roast in the oven. That’s parents’ dinner.

Thursday: Pizza day at the center for daughter! Leftover turkey sausage for husband and me for lunch. Daughter and I go out to dinner with friends. Husband has leftover chicken, maybe?

Friday: We’re out of food and ordering out again.

Modern Mom: Picky Eaters

I’m not sure why, but I always assumed that as my kids got older, their eating horizons would expand. I thought they’d become a little more adventurous with their food choices, develop more sophisticated palates, and at the very least, tolerate a vegetable every now and then. Instead, it seems like just the opposite is happening. With each passing year, they are becoming pickier and pickier. Case in point: My 6-year-old went from enjoying all pasta to refusing to eat anything other than macaroni and cheese to drawing the line at macaroni and cheese “with white cheese.” My 3-year-old would subsist on a diet of bread and clementines if only I would allow it. My 1-year-old, on the other hand, will eat absolutely anything but I can only assume he’ll follow in the footsteps of his siblings and whittle his food choices down considerably over the next couple of years. What do I do? Everyone tells me to cook a balanced meal and tell them they can eat what I’ve prepared or go to bed hungry. They remind me that I’m not a short-order cook and that my “kitchen should be closed” once we sit down at the table. The only problem is that my kids would be perfectly happy to go to bed without supper if the alternative is eating – heaven forbid – a fish stick or a piece of lasagna. I do insist that they try what I’ve prepared, though that has yet to result in them deciding they actually like it. It seems like a fruitless endeavor (unless of course it includes fruit, which is the one food group they unanimously support). Some people have recommended Jessica Seinfeld’s bestselling cookbook that contains recipes for hiding vegetables in kid-friendly foods but what I really need are some ideas for hiding a nutritious balanced meal in macaroni and (white) cheese, bread, and clementines.

Commuter Mom: Snow Day

I thought I’d share our current list of snow day activities…there is only so much playing in the snow you can do before your nose gets too cold.

• Clean out the magazines. My daughter likes to help me decide what to keep and what to recycle then put them in the appropriate piles.
• Bake cookies. Chocolate crinkles are the current favorite.
• Paint our toenails…or toes --it really depends on who is doing the painting.
• Make play dough.
• Read a book.
• Go on a virtual trip to a zoo or museum.
• Wash dishes. It amazes me how long my daughter can spend washing a bowl.
• Watch home movies. My daughter loves to see herself on the computer.
• Have a tea party. For some reason that always includes me eating too much pretend cake and getting a stomachache.
• Build a pillow fort.
• Make a construction paper collage. Or, just cut paper with scissors into little tiny pieces.

Enjoy your next snow day.

Crib Notes: Turkey Pot Pie

Wondering what to do with Thanksgiving leftovers? Try this Turkey Pot Pie recipe.

Green Mom: Baby Carrots

I was stunned recently when I found out that baby carrots are not really “baby” carrots at all. They are really just regular sized carrots cut down into the convenient size everyone seems to love. Also, depending on what you read, they may contain more sugar than regular and less beta carotene than regular carrots and they may or may not be cleaned with chlorine.

I guess I never really thought about how they were grown. Did I think that there were mini-carrot plants lining the rows of vegetable gardens? The problem with knowing all this is that I just can’t bring myself to buy them now; I feel like I’m being scammed. Even though they are regular carrots, because they have to be cut down and prepped, they cost more than regular carrots. Sure they are convenient, but does it really take that much time out of my meal prep to peel and cut a few carrots? I’ve begun to see other “baby” vegetables, like baby cucumbers (basically the size of two baby carrots), in the store, but won’t buy those either, even though I’m pretty sure those are legitimately smaller cucumbers. They’d probably be hard to peel though.

GreenMom: Home Cooking

I recently saw a show where a natural living expert was helping a busy family improve their eating habits by using more natural ingredients. She did a taste test and had them try organic macaroni and cheese as well as the blue box macaroni and cheese. All three members of the family chose the blue box and you could tell that the host was annoyed. The same thing happened in my house.

I decided that I was going to make all of Green Baby’s food. How hard could it be to steam and mash carrots or peas? I bought several jars of baby food to have on hand for when we were out or when I needed something quickly. Well, in our own home taste test, the jarred food won. There were several nights that I had to scrape my homemade organic baby food off the floor, high chair, and walls; while on the nights I served the jarred, I’m sure he would have licked the jar clean if I let him. I continued making his food and eventually he learned to like it, but I can’t help but think the people at Earth’s Best are out there snickering at me.