whatever it takes

Oh sure -- there's plenty to write about:

• the elder lad's First Holy Communion and eighth birthday
• an amazing Day of Service at our home parish
• summer adventures close to home 
• minor victories of the prayer variety
• ongoing efforts to be a better steward and help our bambini do likewise
• creative outlets I've been utilizing at the expense of this chronicle
• the continued challenge of managing minute-to-minute while taking the long view
• other random musings loyal readers have come to expect from me

But for now, this will have to do: homemade chocolate granola.  Easy, tasty, healthy, and a whole lot less expensive than the stuff in the grocery store.  It ranks right up there with our favorite oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but healthier and more versatile.

Check it out at Foodie Proclivities!
(and stay tuned for more about those other things up there)

my kind of study buddy

After a week of saints costumes, school spirit dress, and "crazy hat day" (in which I fashioned a cardinal's biretta something like Cardinal Dolan is sporting here with a little help from this dude), the Catholic Schools Week festivities culminated with school Mass and receptions in the classrooms.  Back in the triple digit heat at the beginning of the school year, I had signed up to supply a "sweet treat" for the younger lad's party. This is what I came up with (by way of one of many gracious hostesses I'm delighted to count among my relatives):

I call it "Study Buddy Snack Mix".  It's crazy good.

It was so easy, I didn't even stay up half the night making it (although I may have botched melting some white chocolate in the process; it all worked out in the end).

Get the full scoop at Foodie Proclivities!

cold-brewed coffee

Any time I can work in a reference to the movie Steel Magnolias, I try to do so.  I've done it again talking about cold-brewed coffee over at Foodie Proclivities today.  Have a look-see and try it! 

survey says...

We go through a lot of yogurt in this house.  A lot.  One might reasonably expect our digestive tracts would be the healthiest on the block (such a pleasant mental picture. You're welcome.).  We go through so much yogurt that we ought to try making our own, but we haven't gotten there yet.  Seeing as how the elder lad is always in search of a science project, maybe that should be our next one.

(or maybe not)

The brand of yogurt we buy has a reward system going wherein we enter codes from the yogurt lids and accrue points that can be redeemed for coupons and "freebies" and what not.  Once when I went to enter in a stack of codes, as the lids tend to pile up on the counter before I get around to entering them in, a brief survey popped up before the code-entering screen loaded.  The multiple-choice questions were mainly about how much yogurt we buy and in what ways we use yogurt.  It seemed the most appropriate response to each question was the maximum one -- how much yogurt we go through in a week, if we bake/make smoothies/finger paint with yogurt (just kidding on the last one -- except the toddler), things like that.  My beloved and I got a good laugh out of the survey.  At its conclusion we appeared to be ideal candidates for a "man on the street" advertising campaign for the company.

lapping up "sweet milk" -- the melted frozen yogurt that no one can bear to waste

One way we love to use yogurt is for making our own frozen yogurt -- chocolate, no less.  Here's how we do it...

good news • bad news • good eats

This can't be good:

our washing machine presently

...especially when we're going on a week with a nasty virus afflicting most of us (the elder lad and I are the holdouts).  One might expect that a few days with an offline washer might mean I'd catch up a little, but alas this is not the case.

Downer as that may be, I am happy to report that the elder lad has been branching out a bit from his standard fare, eating more fresh fruit and even some vegetables.  He says broccoli is his favorite, but he and his sister (the three-year-old elder lass) made short work of some of our backyard garden-fresh peas.

Lass could use a manicure.

We had planned to use those peas in a stir-fry for dinner, but our little field hands took a hefty "fee" for their picking work.  That's alright. 

Speaking of stir-frying, that's what I'm writing about today at Foodie Proclivities.  Check it out here.  Have I ever mentioned that my beloved and I lived in the same high-rise residence hall for a semester but never once met?

He lived in the guys' tower and I lived in the girls' tower, but the two towers shared a cafeteria with a wok station (about which I reminisce further in the post at Foodie Proclivities; please do click over).

I can't help but wonder how many times we were in that cafeteria -- maybe even wok-ing -- at the same time.  The Lord sure does have a sense of humor.  He knew it wasn't yet time for us to meet.  I had to work on my stir-frying skills...

chocolate cake. enough said.

Yes, I know I do yammer on about the merits of cooking with kids healthy things with less sugar and all that good stuff.  But there *is* a time and a place for this:

That time was this past weekend, when we celebrated my sister's birthday a few days late (we celebrate birthday seasons, remember?).  I made this double layer chocolate cake with ganache frosting, which, though it is a rarity, enjoys status as a family favorite after being the centerpiece of a couple of special birthday celebrations (her sweet sixteen being one of them, my beloved's birthday being the other). 

Even though I made this cake all by myself, with no little helpers oddly enough (lassies were napping, lads were helping my beloved with yard work), I overlooked a few ingredients and came up short on another one.  The party people ate it anyway.  Here's the whole story at Foodie Proclivities.  I do hope you'll head on over...

upcycling for Sunday dinner

Talk about upcycling: remember Sammy the robot from the younger lad's fifth birthday?   When his robot days were over, his parts were used to make a tasty Sunday dinner with no metallic aftertaste.  Check it out at Foodie Proclivities.  My beloved cooks up some pretty good ideas.

fruit bots

Oh no, we aren't finished talking about robots yet.  Check out the Fruit Bots I made (with lots of help) for the younger lad's birthday noshing -- details here at Foodie Proclivities.

aloha, annie

My sister the college freshman was in our vicinity this afternoon and thus was able to stop by and liven up our after school happy hour. Her arrival on our doorstep was heralded by squeals of delight from the younger lass.

To thank my sister -- the bambini call her "annie", I fed her a home-cooked Hawaiian-style meal.  (details here at Foodie Proclivities)

It wasn't quite the genius meal my beloved's dear mother made for us this past weekend that I was hoping to replicate, but the marinade I made up miraculously came out pretty good -- even though the younger lad, who mixed the concoction for me, kept saying that "something was missing."  How he knew this without trying the potion, I know not.

At least there were no "incidents" to speak of...

"the incident"

At Foodie Proclivities today I'm talking about broiling.  I've been honing my skills for this technique, which really means that I've had some successes tempered by a few spectacular failures and near misses.

One such near miss was this past Advent.  On the day my beloved and I shared on the family Advent calendar, I wanted to celebrate by making fajitas for my beloved, as it's one of his favorite homemade meals.  Using this fast chicken fajita recipe but substituting flank steak for the chicken, I was excited at the prospect of having everything prepared in the hope of having dinner shortly after my beloved arrived home from work. 

Once I knew he was on his way home, I figured out the timing for broiling first the foil-lined tray of beef and then the vegetables. It was going to work out so perfectly -- so I thought...

I peeked in the oven through the door that I'd left cracked open (and by which I had been standing guard) to see a **flame** rising up off the surface of the beef, so as my beloved walked through the door, I had to greet him not with "hello!" but with "help! the oven's on fire!"

Blessedly, it went out quickly on its own after we turned off the oven (me) and removed the steak (he).  We lowered the rack and were back in business.  It was actually pretty tasty thanks to the char I'd unwittingly achieved *plus* the whole house had a bit of the bambini's favorite Mexican restaurant's ambiance going on what with the wafting smoke and all.

As I was cleaning up afterward, I overheard the elder lad say gravely to the younger lad in reference to the dinnertime excitement, "are you going to tell your friends about 'the incident' at school tomorrow?"

minor victory: crouton edition

Caesar salad on the menu with no croutons in sight = shortcut, please!
Here's one.

good idea: batch grilling

The dog days of summer wear us down handily enough without us doing it to ourselves slaving over a hot grill (or stove).  Batch grilling in the morning (on a weekend!) helps us help ourselves.

Get the full scoop here.

snack attack

Be forewarned: these "nibbles" are addictive.

lamb cake

To say that it isn't Easter without lamb cake might be a teensy bit sacrilegious, so I will try put into context the place of prominence the lamb cake occupies in our family's traditional Easter festivities in a slightly less egregious manner.

We have *always* had a lamb cake for Easter.  It has *always* been this way. 

Whether we've celebrated with our Chicago family either by way of going there or them coming here (the latter recalls pictures of my cousins and me rocking some fancy '80s style Easter frocks with neon purses, for some reason), there's been lamb cake.  When we've celebrated with the family from which my sister-mama hails, there's been lamb cake.   When we've celebrated with my beloved's extended family, there's been lamb cake.

There's always lamb cake.

There is always discussion as to which end to cut first, who wants the sheepie's ears, and whether the smile of chocolate chips (or raisins) is appropriate.  My sister delves a little deeper into the origins and traditions of the lamb cake (and gives the family recipe -- you're welcome) at Foodie Proclivities...

Happy Easter!

fun in a jam jar

For the Kindergarten moms' monthly gathering last week, I took something tasty and (partly) homemade...

 Get the recipes at Foodie Proclivities!

Gran-tastic help

Grannie's lake house has been the family getaway for a good long time now.  We'd pack as many as 25 people in the four-bedroom cottage for the Fourth of July festivities.  What fun that was.   All the adults pitched in to help in various ways -- cooking, cleaning, taking people out on the boat, playing with kids, attending to household fix-it needs, etc.

While there were no boat rides this weekend and we didn't have 25 people staying under our roof, the same "many hands make light work" principle applied.   Among other things, my beloved manned the grill.  My dad put himself on KP.  Last night my sister made the breakfast casserole for this morning's brunch.  My mom picked up last minute groceries.  Grannie held the raven-haired lass as much as the wee one would allow her to before returning to me for some resetting.  Several of us chased after bambini on tricycles. 

As Grannie is at the lake, we might have been the hosts, but (at least we hope) everyone's at home here.

three weeks of two & two

"Mom, remember the first day I held this little missy?" the kindergartner muses as he snuggles his littler sister after school.  Yes, I do: three weeks ago today... how is it even possible?

All too easily, I'm afraid, after seeing some big kids at school Mass this morning.  My bambini will be that big someday. Oy.

After the snuggling, he traded the sister for a cup of chocolate milk, most of which ended up all over his uniform.  Stay tuned for the verdict on my stain treatment measures...

The middle two bambini are holding their own with their distinctive personalities.  The younger lad has been spontaneously singing "Dancing on the Ceiling" (yes, by Lionel Richie) after it skyrocketed to the top of our charts last weekend.  The not-so-littler-lass has new monikers for my beloved and me: "Daddy-O" and "Mommy-O."  We'll answer to those.

sweet tooth revisited

This happens every time.  My sweet tooth just goes berserk after I have a baby.  When I'm pregnant, it waxes and wanes depending on how nauseated I am, but it reaches fever pitch after the baby is born.  It's all I can do to keep it in check, allowing myself a little indulgence but trying to be smart about it.

In this fourth bout with the Sweet Tooth (it gets capitalized now -- it's that formidable), I'm trying a few things to make sure things don't get out of control:

1. I try to have a protein-dense breakfast, like our pancakes, cheese grits, or breakfast casserole.  If I have something like a bagel and cream cheese (much as I love that), I'm more inclined to go for something else high in carbs later on, and the rest of the day I struggle to keep from consuming nothing but carbs.  This gets me nowhere good.
2. When I do have something sweet, I try to choose something like our chocolate chip chickpea cookies (protein and fiber are hidden amongst the chocolate) or protein-laden chocolate Greek yogurt.
3. I'll allow myself such delights as chocolate milkshakes (though the trash-can sized ones are only for right after delivery) and my mother-in-law's apple küchen so long as I've had enough protein beforehand to take on the sugar spike that ensues. 
4. Once these mint Milano cookies I'm so very fond of that my mother brought me are gone, they're gone. 

*Note: dark chocolate (like my favorite dark 85%) lies beyond the realm of the balanced diet parameters.  Dark chocolate is nearly always considered "health food" thanks to the antioxidants and endorphins it imparts.

For my family's sake as well as my own, I must eat well -- not only so that I can supply the raven-haired lass with the best nutrition, but also so that I feel well enough to be able to take good care of everyone. If I haven't eaten well, I can't do that. Too much sugar and not enough protein spell sluggishness, irritability, and muddle-headedness, and I'm already plenty muddle-headed!

It's an ongoing battle between my Sweet Tooth and me, but I think I might just have the upper hand.

cheesy goodness

This is Quattro's "due date," but I'm not going there.  Instead, I'm waxing nostalgic about true comfort food from my childhood: cheese grits.  I consider it an appropriate way to mark the day, as many times these have been the only thing that sounded even remotely appealing to this pregnant mama green around the gills (at least in previous pregnancies).

crouton love

Laughably simple and tasty beyond all get out, these homemade croutons are simply fabulous vittles.