Spring baking!

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be spring cleaning. I'm kind of doing that. But spring baking and crafting sound more fun to me, so I'll be posting a bunch of new ideas we're working on soon. I will also be posting recipes for very light and healthy dinners to counteract the spring baking thing. Hey. Balance.
Last week Laney and I decided to do a little brownie baking (or as she calls it--Chocolate Lake!!) To celebrate the springy 40 degree weather I grabbed my new flower-silicon-shape-thingy! This was so fun and it occupied Laney for more than an hour. First, we mixed the brownie mix (yep, mix.) Then baked the brownies in the silicon pad (we had a ton of batter left so also made a traditional half-pan of brownies.) After kind of letting them cool (it would have worked better had I completely let them cool) I turned the chocolate flowers out onto parchment. Then I set up Laney's workstation: a flat sheet of foil, cookie frosting in a glue bottle, and various pastel sprinkles. Mia got her own workstation with a sheet of foil and various Mia-safe foods to smoosh, nibble and toss on the floor. Laney is particularly artsy-crafty but I can't imagine a tot who wouldn't be in heaven with this project. It was a fantastic afternoon and a great memory. And Mike enjoyed the brownies (ok. so did I.)

*A note on brownie mixes- Target brand was meh. The best I've had is Costco brand but I'm not sure if that's due to the mix or to the baker (my mother-in-law is a master baker. She even has cookie recipes memorized.) No matter the mix--I underbake them.

Spaghetti with Sole

I have to post my dinner last night because it was a huge event at our house. Laney has been boycotting meat since her stomach flu a few weeks back and I have tried everything to get it back on her palate. Well, last night when we arrived home from the Dells Mike and I really wanted something light after all the chicken finger action at the Wilderness. I dug some sole filets out of the freezer and set under running water. In the meantime, I made some whole wheat spaghetti. I sauteed the fish, onions and garlic in olive oil and heavily dusted with Italian seasoning. The fish cooked in a minute and I removed it to a plate. I added a big handful of sundried tomatoes to the pan along with the cooked pasta. I squeezed a lemon and tossed in chopped basil.
Served the pasta with the fish and microwaved green beans.
I served Laney's plate with the components separate and the back-up cheese for protein because I expected sole rejection. She ate the whole filet (and seconds of the green beans!) I am so happy! We usually have fish 1-2 times a week but I may be stepping it up now!

Wild at the Wilderness!

We managed a quick escape to the Wilderness Resort in the Dells this past weekend. I was a bit apprehensive as family travel has been less than stellar since Mia's arrival. No need to worry, it was fabulous! We stayed two nights at the Wyndham at Glacier Canyon at the Wilderness in a 2 bedroom presidential suite. Ok, so the fact that we stayed in a suite about the same size as our house only with a BETTER layout probably helped. We had a kitchen to prepare some healthy meals. We also timed drives to perfectly coincide with naptime and ran the girls ragged with activity so we actually stayed on sleep schedule! The key I think was everyone having their own sleeping space. Laney had a giant bedroom and Mia stayed in the second bathroom. Yes, it was that big. The girls had so much fun in the waterpark and play areas. Mike ate a ridiculous amount of ice cream. I slept in until 7 each day as my generous husband got up with the girls. I was not at all ready to leave. We may be ready to extend our vacations to THREE nights away soon!

Daddy goes bananas!

So I've mentioned Mike, Laney and Mia's shared affinity for bananas. Well, last weekend we had some past-prime bananas and he and Laney set off to make banana bread. I had some whole milk vanilla yogurt that the girls weren't going through fast enough, so we tried to incorporate that instead of oil. Here's what we came up with...

1/2 c. butter
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. applesauce
2 ripe bananas
1 cup whole milk vanilla yogurt (we used Stonyfield Farm)
1 c. white flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. soda
1 c whole wheat flour
2 shakes cinnamon

350 for about 40 minutes (toothpick comes out clean.)

This worked out. The bread was quite tasty but also extremely moist/dense. Probably because it had a cup of yogurt in it. Mia even ate it. Good stuff.

Pasta with NotTryingToSneakVeggiesIn Meat Sauce

Let me be clear. I am not a fan of *sneaking* or *hiding* vegetables in food. Vegetables are yummy and the natural way to add flavor to a dish without adding fats and gross stuff. When I make a dish full of veg I am almost show-offy about it as opposed to playing it down. I've heard about these books that encourage camouflaging healthy stuff for your kids/husband/self and that's not really a good plan for me. If my kid thinks something is tasty, I want her to think vegetable=yummy instead of brownie=yummy. So enough about that. Moving on.

Sometimes, you DO have to be creative about vegging up a dish. Take spaghetti with meat sauce. Mike's favorite, asks for it twice a week. I like it too, and Laney will sometimes eat it, but I think it needs more good stuff. And by good stuff, I mean nutrition AND flavor. Luckily, veggies accomplish both things. Unluckily, too many vegetables make a pasta sauce a watery mush. Here's how I get around it. I'm detailing my recipe for meat sauce but I am sure the system would work for whatever favorite recipe.

an onion
4 cloves of garlic
a lb of ground turkey/sirloin/Italian sausage whatever

a few cups of various veg--last night I used 3 cups of spinach, a handful of asparagus tips, 3 giant carrots

red wine or balsamic vinegar
3 cans of diced, whole or stewed tomatoes (a variety is great)
a few palmfuls of Italian seasoning
2-3 cubes of tomato paste

add-ins--roasted red peppers, colored pepper strips, mushrooms

Here we go. Let's make our various veg first. I'll call it "veg paste." I have a Cuisinart Mini-Prep. Maybe you have a full size one. Or a blender. Whatever. Cut the veg in large chunks and pulse it to a paste (this may take a few batches). If you use spinach this looks like pesto.

Ok, so put some olive oil in the medium-heated giant pan/pot/cooking vessel and sautee the onion, add the meat, get browning. Half way through, add the minced garlic and the veg paste. Now, give this time. What we're doing here is browning the veg and getting the water out. Really let it cook until it's got color. Now is the chance for evaporation. If you go too fast now everything is going to be watery.

After 10 minutes or so and a bit of shoving stuff around in the pan, add a cup of wine. Last night, I had a bottle of a red blend open (Coppola Rosso.) Thing is, I had a rough Tuesday and possibly drank a good part of the bottle. AND, I wanted to nurse a glass while cooking the sauce! What's a girl to do? I used a splash of the wine and supplemented with a few turns of balsamic. So, either open a new bottle, buy some minibottles for cooking, or use balsamic. Ok, now let that cook. Then add the tomatoes and the seasoning. Now's a good time for red pepper flakes if you so wish.

At this point I took a good look at the sauce and thought it looked too green for a red sauce. I did use almost a bag of spinach. So I went to the freezer and took out a few cubes of tomato paste. Yes, cubes. You know when you need a tbsp of tomato paste for a recipe? What do you do with the rest? Well, I freeze it in an ice cube tray and then turn it out into a freezer bag. I do the same with chipotle peppers in adobo because that stuff is too spicy to use a whole can in anything. Anyway, the tomato paste straightened out the color issue and it's good flavor. I also have something called "tomato paste powder" moistens into tomato paste. It's ok.

Add in extras and make the pasta. The sauce is done when the pasta is ready. Whole wheat rotini is good at our house because it's much easier for a toddler to eat than spaghetti.

Oh, and the sauce freezes well.

Fashion Forward

Laney has been quite a diva lately, in both behavior and style. Very, very particular and quite independent. She will struggle for 10 minutes to zip her own coat and insist on spreading her own peanut butter on her bread. I think this is normal toddler behavior. What is not so normal is what occurs when I allow Laney to pick out her own clothes. I've struck a kind of compromise with the little lady--I choose her clothes for the morning (she chooses the color, however) and she can choose her post-nap attire. We generally don't go anywhere late afternoon so it doesn't really matter what she ends up wearing. Which is lucky, because the outfits vary from pajamas, to my tees and scarves, to diaper with tons of hair accessories and jewelry, to my personal favorite--naked with tap shoes. I do get a little worried when she dresses normally but delights in walking around in my pointiest highest heels--I can barely walk in some of my shoes. Poor Mia has a tough role--the "hat wearer." Laney doesn't mess with her outfit too much--but she is very focused on sticking a hat on the babe at all times. And yeah, it's not really hat weather in our living room. Mia's interest in fashion only extends to chewing on shoes at this time. I am happy to still have some control there. Of course, the pics really explain Laney's creativity...

Clean Mud Day

The girls and I have been wiped out with a stomach bug the last couple of days so we have no fun activities to report. Mike came home for the afternoon and is caring for the girls who are currently on the upswing and I...am not. So I thought I'd take this time to look back on an activity we attempted a few weeks back. I posted an account of Clean Mud Day on Facebook so I am able to retrieve it and share again, with pics!

Creative Mom Fail--Winter Activity "Clean Mud Play"

So after fingerpainting (messy kids) I decided to do clean mud (torn toilet paper, grated bar soap, warm water). I pile to girls into the tub, and get them going on ripping the toilet paper. Meanwhile, I grate my thumb while grating the soap. Take toilet paper out of Mia's mouth. Add grated soap, give Laney pitcher of warm water. She pours it on Mia. Give Laney another pitcher of warm water, make mud. Start playing with shapes in mud. Take mud out of Mia's mouth. Take muddy shapes out of Mia's mouth. Laney has rejected clean mud play and is wet and soapy, and still covered in paint in the kitchen now. Take Mia out of tub. Place Mia in sink to rinse. Put Laney in shower, spend 10 minutes getting clean mud out of hair. Dress shivering Mia. Dress shivering Laney. Plop in front of Yo Gabba Gabba and spend 10 minutes cleaning soap out of grater. Band-aid still bleeding thumb.

If anyone thinks their kids might actually enjoy this activity, you can make clean mud by ripping up a roll of Charmin, grating a bar of soap and dumping water over the mess. Be warned that your toddler will then think it's appropriate to rip up rolls of Charmin.