Eating our Us & Vs

This week we discovered that U foods are hard to come by. I did make Upside Down Cake for the first time, and it was also the first time my children had eaten it. Half of the cake was pineapple (for three of us), a quarter was cherry for L (who doesn't care for pineapple), and the final quarter had no fruit for the picky little one. It was all good.

We made a concerted effort to locate an ugli fruit. Our awesome little local produce store didn't have any, so I went searching online. Walmart typically stocks them according to their website, but we just missed the ugli fruit season. Bummer. For those of you who have never heard of it, it's a hybrid of tangerine, orange, and grapefruit. It can also be called a tangelo.

V foods were a little more abundant. I let the kids choose a V8 Splash juice, which is a treat in this house since I normally only buy Trop50. B thought it pretty much tasted the same as the OJ, but E didn't care for it (which is perfectly fine by me!). I never heard L's opinion on the V8, but he drank what was in his cup.

Also on our menu were lots of veggies (carrots, red bell peppers, spinach, and tomatoes). We also ate a few vanilla wafers yesterday. Today my husband brought us a special Portland area treat: Voodoo Donuts. This is not a child-friendly donut shop, but the donuts are delicious. Here is a pic of the yummy selections he brought home for us. Clockwise from top left are: the Portland Cream (note it has eyes... in true "keep Portland weird" fashion), the Marshall Matters (cake donut with vanilla frosting and mini M&Ms), the No Name (yeast donut with chocolate frosting, Rick Krispies, and PB), and the Maple Bacon Bar. Mmmm.

*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC Summers here.*

Eating our Ts

I can't believe we're nearing the end of the alphabet, but I realize that all of our IA peeps have already started back to school! We have two more weeks of summer break to enjoy here, so I'm not complaining.

Last week we ate (plate) tacos, toast, and Tootsie Rolls... all foods that are much loved in our home.

I couldn't find a T food that I wanted the children to try for the first time, so we improvised and tried a local pizza bistro Friday night. It's called Twilight Pizza and it was tasty.

Monday I made Tator Tot Casserole. Definitely not a new food in this home, but I did try a slightly different recipe. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but it hit the spot!

Yesterday and today are U food days and the rest of the week will be V foods, and we didn't find a lot of either, so I may post those letters together.

*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC Summers here.*

Eating our Ss

I believe S is the letter that has been the easiest for us. We probably could have found enough S foods to eat solely S foods for three days straight.

We started off a day early on Sunday, which happened to be National S'mores Day. Who can resist that? We fired up our backyard fire pit for the first time and roasted some yummy marshmallows for our s'mores. Mmm-mmm, good.

Monday brought us smoothies, steaks, sweet corn, and spinach salads (okay, B did not eat a salad...).

On Tuesday, I made Simple Scones from allrecipes.com. I swapped out the raisins in the recipe for dark chocolate chips... just because I felt like it! They were buttery goodness and all of the children (trying scones for the first time) agreed that "British cookies" are great. We had spaghetti for dinner that night and in a mind-blowing turn of events, B asked for a second bowl. Oh happy day!

Last night my husband and I actually got to eat out (on his company's dime - we took out a couple from Des Moines as part of an interview process). It was the first meal I've had away from my children in almost a month, and it was in the swanky Portland City Grill, so I was in heaven. Here at the house, we had a new babysitter (whose name is Sierra - perfect for an S day!), and she served the kiddos sandwiches, strawberries, and veggie straws. A great night was had by all!

*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC Summers here.*

Eating our Rs

I may have improved a tiny bit with this letter, but not all that much. ;) Truly, I believe God has finally made it clear that I can let go of control and still survive. I do still want to have fun with the rest of the alphabet this summer, though.

During a trip to the Oregon Zoo this week, we all had raisins for snacking. They are easy to throw in the bag, everyone likes them, and as a bonus, they're made from red grapes.

We often have smoothies for breakfast around here, and the kids aren't always aware of what healthy items I include in the blender. Ignorance is bliss, as far as smoothie ingredients go. For instance, I almost always throw in plain Greek yogurt for protein, spinach for vitamins, Ningxia Red juice for immune system boosters, and a variety of frozen fruits. Thursday morning, I made a point of letting them know that there were raspberries in their smoothies, since that was our R food for the day. You would have thought I had told B there was rat poison in his cup. Despite assuring him that he'd had many smoothies with raspberries in the past, he would only succumb to one little drink (insert eye roll here).

I saved the week for him by making Rice Krispie Treats to finish out our R days. I love these sweet treats so much that I could easily devour an entire pan of ooey-gooey goodness in one sitting. Alas, I did share a few with the kids.

Earlier this summer, one of our Ankeny neighbors (Ginger, of the beloved neighbors... Fred and Ginger... no joke) made us a homemade rhubarb pie. None of our children had tried rhubarb before, but they all loved Ginger like a surrogate grandmother, and since it was in pie form, they all tried it. Our oldest proclaimed it to be good (especially with lots of Cool Whip), our middle child declared it to be "eh" and wouldn't have a second piece the next day, and the picky youngest took one bite and said, "yuck." There was not enough Cool Whip in the house to make it edible in his opinion. I decided that since they'd all been brave and tried that, I wouldn't make them try another R food this week.

They are already asking what we're having for S & T this week, but I haven't even thought about it yet!

*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC Summers here.*

Eating our Qs

I really wussed out on Q foods. Not much imagination left, I guess... Yesterday we ate quesadillas for dinner. Everyone chose their own ingredients and even The Picky One was satisfied.

Today I let the kids have Quaker Popped Rice Snacks for their afternoon snack. Again, they each chose the flavor they wanted, and all was well. That's as exciting as it got for Q foods. I wanted to find Suzy Q's, but either they don't exist anymore, or they just don't sell them around here. Since Quaker is a good ol' Iowa company, I just went with that. I will try to be more creative for R days!

*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC Summers here.*

Eating our Ps

As anyone can see, I have let go of some (or most) of the guidelines I set out for this edible ABC summer. Though it always makes me a little sad when things don't go as I've planned, I am practicing flexibility and it hasn't killed me yet.

Last week we did have a couple of P-themed days. I found it odd that the Fred Meyer grocery chain was advertising pumpkin pie when we went grocery shopping on Tuesday. The kids were excited to sample some pumpkin pie in the bakery section (I was surprised to see even picky Mr. B inhale his sample). THey begged me to buy a pie, but I declined. Wednesday night as I was thinking about what we could eat for P foods, I decided to go for it and make pumpkin pie.

I don't think I've ever eaten (or had any desire to eat) pumpkin pie in any month other than October or November. But, I went for it and made it for the first time (every Thanksgiving I make Pumpkin Walnut Cheesecake that is to die for, but have never made basic pumpkin pie). Before serving it up, I also made pasta and Parmesan garlic bread. Everyone was pretty pleased with this meal.

Friday night we planned to make homemade pizza. This normally includes whole wheat pizza dough I make in our bread machine, but we ran errands after my husband got off work and I forgot to get the machine going before we left home. Since it takes a couple hours, I knew we wouldn't have time to make it for dinner. So... our pepperoni and pineapple pizza was prepared on a Pillsbury pizza crust. ;) Not quite as tasty (or healthy), but the kids thought it was funny.

Bonus: the leftover pumpkin pie was consumed on the beach of the Pacific during our picnic lunch Saturday afternoon. That was another first for me: eating pumpkin pie at the ocean. Peculiar picnic indeed.

*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC Summers here.*