Since my children have been denied the pleasure of English muffins, we made individual pizzas with them last Friday. I counted this as a new recipe, too, since I had to look up how long and at what temp to bake them. Oddly enough, only my picky little guy liked them! The older two ate them, but didn't really enjoy them.
The kiddos couldn't all agree on a food they all liked that starts with an E. So, on Monday for breakfast #1 & #2 had eggs and #3 had the last English muffin. I had intended to get some edamame to snack on (believe it or not, they will all eat it), but completely forgot.
Our E treat was Edy's ice cream (thanks to my friend Lisa, who brought it over for my birthday last week). I let the kids make s'mores sundaes with it. It was French Vanilla ice cream, marshmallow topping, dark chocolate chips, and Annie's graham bunnies. Everyone loved it. :)
*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC Summers here.*
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Friday, June 13, 2014
Eating our Ds
Our first D day happened to be my birthday, so we celebrated with yummy donuts from Topped Doughnuts, my favorite local donut shop.
On Wednesday, we tried dumplings (of the PF Chang's frozen variety). I have personally had hand made dumplings in China Town in NYC, but the kiddos have not experienced that. None of them were huge fans. I think they'd appreciate the "real" thing more, but I did not have time to attempt making them from scratch.
I did try a recipe that began with D, but only for myself. It was a Dilly Beef Sandwich, which included horseradish, dried beef, dill pickles, and tomatoes. I knew none of my children would love those flavors together, so I didn't ask them try it. It was an okay combo, but I probably wouldn't go out of my way to make one again.
Yesterday, we snacked on dried fruits... banana chips, dried apricots (per my daughter's request - and then she didn't like them), raisins, and craisins. On to Es today!
*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC Summers here.*
On Wednesday, we tried dumplings (of the PF Chang's frozen variety). I have personally had hand made dumplings in China Town in NYC, but the kiddos have not experienced that. None of them were huge fans. I think they'd appreciate the "real" thing more, but I did not have time to attempt making them from scratch.
I did try a recipe that began with D, but only for myself. It was a Dilly Beef Sandwich, which included horseradish, dried beef, dill pickles, and tomatoes. I knew none of my children would love those flavors together, so I didn't ask them try it. It was an okay combo, but I probably wouldn't go out of my way to make one again.
Yesterday, we snacked on dried fruits... banana chips, dried apricots (per my daughter's request - and then she didn't like them), raisins, and craisins. On to Es today!
*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC Summers here.*
Monday, June 9, 2014
Eating our Cs
Last Thursday was our first C day. We enjoyed cheese and crackers for snack time (these are definite staples in our house, since the youngest prefers to live on cheese, carbs, and sweets). For dinner, we had corn on the cob, which everyone in our family loves. It's still too early in the season for local corn, but what we found (on sale, even!) was very good.
My sister's family and our mom came to visit on Friday, and they brought along plenty of junk that began with C. Along with the sandwiches I made the kids for lunch, they gladly partook in chips, chocolate milk and chocolate chip cookies. My niece babysit while the adults went out to dinner, and my sister (whose name starts with C!) chose Cosi Cucina, without even knowing about our ABC summer plans.
Today I decided that since we made two new recipes during our B days, that I would forgo a new recipe with Cs. I had initially thought it would be fun to try making crepes, but I got too lazy. ;) We did try a food that was new to all of us. I bought some Cacao Nibs (tiny pieces of cacao beans). I explained to the kiddos that chocolate is made from cacao beans, and we all eagerly tried a piece. We now understand why sugar, butter, and other yummy ingredients are necessary in chocolate. Hopefully I can figure out how to use the rest of the nibs. Maybe they'll work in a trail mix?
After 4 hours with a (very sweet) home inspector who arrived unannounced... no thanks to our wonderful real estate agent (and a half-hour with the buyers of our home)... I was a little stressed. Casey's pizza came to the rescue tonight. It is a family favorite. Since there are no Casey's stores in the Portland area, this dinner made three very content children and a happier mom.
*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC Summers here.*
My sister's family and our mom came to visit on Friday, and they brought along plenty of junk that began with C. Along with the sandwiches I made the kids for lunch, they gladly partook in chips, chocolate milk and chocolate chip cookies. My niece babysit while the adults went out to dinner, and my sister (whose name starts with C!) chose Cosi Cucina, without even knowing about our ABC summer plans.
Today I decided that since we made two new recipes during our B days, that I would forgo a new recipe with Cs. I had initially thought it would be fun to try making crepes, but I got too lazy. ;) We did try a food that was new to all of us. I bought some Cacao Nibs (tiny pieces of cacao beans). I explained to the kiddos that chocolate is made from cacao beans, and we all eagerly tried a piece. We now understand why sugar, butter, and other yummy ingredients are necessary in chocolate. Hopefully I can figure out how to use the rest of the nibs. Maybe they'll work in a trail mix?
After 4 hours with a (very sweet) home inspector who arrived unannounced... no thanks to our wonderful real estate agent (and a half-hour with the buyers of our home)... I was a little stressed. Casey's pizza came to the rescue tonight. It is a family favorite. Since there are no Casey's stores in the Portland area, this dinner made three very content children and a happier mom.
*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC Summers here.*
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Eating our Bs
We began our B days on Monday. It was a pretty simple day of bananas for a snack (one of the few fruits that all three children in our house love) and a summer staple for dinner: BLTs. Of course my picky little Mr. B's "BLT" was more of a cheese sandwich, but I have to pick my battles.
We tried two new recipes on our subsequent B days. One served double duty as our sweet treat and was amazing. So much so that I'm going to share the recipe with you (I sadly do not recall where online I originally found it, so I cannot cite my source - sorry!). They happen to be gluten free (which we do not require in our family) and relatively healthy as far as brownies go. They are delicious!
Dark Chocolate Brownie Bites
Wednesday's recipe attempt was less successful, but that may be because we all decided that the new food we were going to try was rather disgusting. I made Bacon Braised Brussel Sprouts. I've always been curious what a brussel sprout tasted like (after all, I do love bean sprouts and alfalfa sprouts...), and I thought that as they'd be braised with bacon, they'd surely taste good. Wrong. Not only do brussel sprouts obviously look different from all other sprouts, but they also taste awful. E was graceful enough to say that they smelled like something she'd had (and liked) at school once, contemplated her first bite with a positive attitude, and then admitted that they were not likeable, after all. I only served each child one sprout (luckily I only made a half-recipe) and merely encouraged them to try it (they all did so). I ate four of them, but only to be a good role model. We all agreed that brussel sprouts would not find a place in our kitchen again. Ick.
We tried two new recipes on our subsequent B days. One served double duty as our sweet treat and was amazing. So much so that I'm going to share the recipe with you (I sadly do not recall where online I originally found it, so I cannot cite my source - sorry!). They happen to be gluten free (which we do not require in our family) and relatively healthy as far as brownies go. They are delicious!
Dark Chocolate Brownie Bites
Makes: 24 brownies
Ingredients:
3.5 oz. dark chocolate
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/3-1/2 cup raw honey
2 organic, free-range eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
3/4 cup blanched almond flour
1/2 tsp. unrefined sea salt
Extra 1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a mini muffin pan with coconut oil.
2. In a double boiler, gently melt the 3.5 ounces of chocolate, coconut oil and raw honey. Remove from heat, allow to cool, then add the eggs, vanilla and almond extract.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the almond flour and salt. Add the wet ingredients and mix well. Stir in the remaining chopped chocolate pieces. Fill the mini muffin tin nearly to the top. Bake for 15-25 minutes until golden and set.
4. Allow the brownies to cool in the pan - if you don't wait then they'll fall apart!
Wednesday's recipe attempt was less successful, but that may be because we all decided that the new food we were going to try was rather disgusting. I made Bacon Braised Brussel Sprouts. I've always been curious what a brussel sprout tasted like (after all, I do love bean sprouts and alfalfa sprouts...), and I thought that as they'd be braised with bacon, they'd surely taste good. Wrong. Not only do brussel sprouts obviously look different from all other sprouts, but they also taste awful. E was graceful enough to say that they smelled like something she'd had (and liked) at school once, contemplated her first bite with a positive attitude, and then admitted that they were not likeable, after all. I only served each child one sprout (luckily I only made a half-recipe) and merely encouraged them to try it (they all did so). I ate four of them, but only to be a good role model. We all agreed that brussel sprouts would not find a place in our kitchen again. Ick.
*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC Summers here.*
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Eating our As
I decided to start out the summer with Alphabet Soup for dinner the evening school was dismissed. We haven't ever had this in our home, so the kids were excited. And my pickiest little eater asked for seconds!
Sadly, I do not recall ever eating apricots in my lifetime. I'm sure I have, but I have no memory of it. So even though the Alphabet Soup could count as the food we'd never tried, on Wednesday I challenged us to all try apricots as well. I also had the kiddos try avocado. I eat it all the time, but they've never desired to try it. I'm keeping a list of new foods they've tried and having them rate each one. The apricots rated high with my older two, the oldest was neutral on the avocado, Miss Middle Child didn't care for the avocado, and (big surprise here...) the picky one detested both.
The recipe I chose to make was Apple Butter Pork Loin. We had it with sweet corn, which was a bigger hit than the meat. Admittedly, even I didn't really care for pork with apple butter on it. B did eat his 4 "no, thank you" bites and is still leery of any meat that isn't in the form of chicken nuggets or hot dogs (in his defense, he did branch out to eating steak - with ketchup, of course - last month).
We all love apples in this house (especially Honeycrisp!). Despite them being far out of season and therefore, not the best choice in the produce department, we bought a bag of them to snack on this week. Almonds were also on hand, as they typically are. Both make great snacks to take to the pool!
For the special treat, I let the children vote on whether we should get some animal crackers or head to the mall for Auntie Anne's Pretzels. Of course, there was not a consensus. The younger ones wanted animal crackers, but I still took L to Auntie Anne's. Everyone was happy. :)
*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC Summers here.*
Sadly, I do not recall ever eating apricots in my lifetime. I'm sure I have, but I have no memory of it. So even though the Alphabet Soup could count as the food we'd never tried, on Wednesday I challenged us to all try apricots as well. I also had the kiddos try avocado. I eat it all the time, but they've never desired to try it. I'm keeping a list of new foods they've tried and having them rate each one. The apricots rated high with my older two, the oldest was neutral on the avocado, Miss Middle Child didn't care for the avocado, and (big surprise here...) the picky one detested both.
The recipe I chose to make was Apple Butter Pork Loin. We had it with sweet corn, which was a bigger hit than the meat. Admittedly, even I didn't really care for pork with apple butter on it. B did eat his 4 "no, thank you" bites and is still leery of any meat that isn't in the form of chicken nuggets or hot dogs (in his defense, he did branch out to eating steak - with ketchup, of course - last month).
We all love apples in this house (especially Honeycrisp!). Despite them being far out of season and therefore, not the best choice in the produce department, we bought a bag of them to snack on this week. Almonds were also on hand, as they typically are. Both make great snacks to take to the pool!
For the special treat, I let the children vote on whether we should get some animal crackers or head to the mall for Auntie Anne's Pretzels. Of course, there was not a consensus. The younger ones wanted animal crackers, but I still took L to Auntie Anne's. Everyone was happy. :)
*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC Summers here.*
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Our Edible ABC Summer...
...begins tomorrow! Today is the last day of school here, so tomorrow we begin eating our way through the alphabet.
My children and I have agreed upon a few guidelines for this foodie summer. For every letter, we have to:
* Choose at least one food that we haven't tried before
* Choose a recipe to try
* Choose one food that we know we enjoy
And for every letter, we can do one of the following:
* Choose a sweet treat
* Choose a restaurant or special restaurant item
Because we're out of school tomorrow and schools around Portland do not start until the day after Labor Day, this is likely the longest summer my children will ever experience during their childhood years. That means we have over three full months of summer break! We'll be skipping weekends and just eating as usual those days. We will spend three days on each letter of the alphabet with the exception of Q, U, and V (which will each get two days) and X, Y, and Z (which will get one day each).
I'll do my best to post at the end of each letter's edible adventures!
*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC Summers here.*
Monday, April 28, 2014
I Have Not Fallen off the Face of the Earth (yet)
True, I haven't posted since December. That is sad and pathetic. However, I am still alive and kicking.
Things got crazy with our family in the last several months. My husband was laid off (for the second time in a little over 5 years) from a job he loved. He had known for months that it was coming, as the company he worked for was being bought out, so he'd been networking/job searching for quite some time. The lay off was at the beginning of October, and we had really hoped he'd have something else in the Des Moines area by then. No dice. Ross had traveled for interviews near and far. He'd been a finalist for a position in St. Louis that we were excited about, but it did not materialize. Christmas came and went, and there were three great possibilities around here at that point. The first vanished early in February. The second was not a job he was dying to have, as it would require traveling 90% of the time, but it would compensate well. We both knew he wouldn't be able to stand it for more than a couple years, at which point he'd be searching again. The third was stable, and had a great job title, but he feared it would be a bit boring.
We prayed (and asked everyone we knew to pray) for clarity. Even though every closed door hurt, we knew it would eventually lead to one open door that was THE one God wanted us to walk through. During the last year, he had not only interviewed in St. Louis, but also Chicago, Minneapolis, Baltimore, Atlanta, and Seattle. Truly, the only one of those places that appealed to me was St. Louis. I could live with Minneapolis because of its proximity to DM, but I don't love it. The others were less than desirable, some downright appalling to my little Midwestern brain. Early in March, while we waited to hear from the last two opportunities in our area (I should mention that his skill set is very specialized in the derivatives/fixed income area of the investments field), my husband traveled to Portland, OR, for an interview. This didn't concern me. I was fairly confident that one of the jobs here would be offered to him.
The next week God closed the door on the job that would require all the traveling. This was honestly a relief, yet we were concerned at this point. We were both born and raised here in Iowa. Both sets of our parents still live in our childhood homes. Two of our four siblings are still living in Iowa with their families. We have been in Ankeny for over 14 years, and in our dream home (designed by me and built by one of the best builders, who also happens to be our neighbor) for 10 years. We LOVE our church here, and we have an awesome group of friends. The last thing on earth we wanted to do was leave.
Before hearing one way or the other on the last job opportunity, my husband was offered the job in Portland. It sounded like a job he would really like at a company that seemed fairly stable. They offered much less than he had hoped, but after some negotiating, they met him not quite half-way. He held off on accepting by asking if they'd let him take me out there over spring break to get a feel for the area. For such a huge move, we wanted to be sure it would be a good fit for our family. All the while, we were both hoping and praying that he'd get the offer in Iowa for the other job. We spent two days in Portland with realtors provided by the company. Lots of stress. Little sleep.
We got back to Iowa Thursday night and before we were even out of bed Friday, the Portland company had already left a message asking for my husband's decision. He stalled and asked for the weekend to think about it. Monday finally brought God's final closed door. The last possibility for us to stay here disappeared. God made it perfectly clear that He wants us in OR.
Here's the odd part. I never felt any major anxiety or qualms about moving to Portland. Even from the time he first went out to interview. When we visited over spring break, I couldn't believe how beautiful it was out there. I could immediately picture our family living there. Don't get me wrong: I continued to pray for the Iowa job. But, God was definitely working on my heart. This Iowa girl has always loved traveling, but has not ever wanted to live anywhere outside of Iowa. Certainly never wanted to live outside the Midwest. And yet, somehow God has changed me so that I know beyond the shadow of a doubt, that we are going to love living in Portland, OR. Weird.
Now our house is on the market and I'm striving to keep it clean with three kids and a husband who has been in OR for almost three weeks. We are staying here through the school year, and into June if the house doesn't sell as quickly as we hope it will.
I am looking forward to finding amazing new ABC activities and places in the Pacific Northwest, and I'll be adding them to my blog. This summer we're still planning to eat our way through the alphabet. Some of that will be on the road, as it's a long drive to OR from here, but I will still do my best to post about our edible adventures. Don't give up on the ABC Summer Mom! :)
*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC summers here.*
Things got crazy with our family in the last several months. My husband was laid off (for the second time in a little over 5 years) from a job he loved. He had known for months that it was coming, as the company he worked for was being bought out, so he'd been networking/job searching for quite some time. The lay off was at the beginning of October, and we had really hoped he'd have something else in the Des Moines area by then. No dice. Ross had traveled for interviews near and far. He'd been a finalist for a position in St. Louis that we were excited about, but it did not materialize. Christmas came and went, and there were three great possibilities around here at that point. The first vanished early in February. The second was not a job he was dying to have, as it would require traveling 90% of the time, but it would compensate well. We both knew he wouldn't be able to stand it for more than a couple years, at which point he'd be searching again. The third was stable, and had a great job title, but he feared it would be a bit boring.
We prayed (and asked everyone we knew to pray) for clarity. Even though every closed door hurt, we knew it would eventually lead to one open door that was THE one God wanted us to walk through. During the last year, he had not only interviewed in St. Louis, but also Chicago, Minneapolis, Baltimore, Atlanta, and Seattle. Truly, the only one of those places that appealed to me was St. Louis. I could live with Minneapolis because of its proximity to DM, but I don't love it. The others were less than desirable, some downright appalling to my little Midwestern brain. Early in March, while we waited to hear from the last two opportunities in our area (I should mention that his skill set is very specialized in the derivatives/fixed income area of the investments field), my husband traveled to Portland, OR, for an interview. This didn't concern me. I was fairly confident that one of the jobs here would be offered to him.
The next week God closed the door on the job that would require all the traveling. This was honestly a relief, yet we were concerned at this point. We were both born and raised here in Iowa. Both sets of our parents still live in our childhood homes. Two of our four siblings are still living in Iowa with their families. We have been in Ankeny for over 14 years, and in our dream home (designed by me and built by one of the best builders, who also happens to be our neighbor) for 10 years. We LOVE our church here, and we have an awesome group of friends. The last thing on earth we wanted to do was leave.
Before hearing one way or the other on the last job opportunity, my husband was offered the job in Portland. It sounded like a job he would really like at a company that seemed fairly stable. They offered much less than he had hoped, but after some negotiating, they met him not quite half-way. He held off on accepting by asking if they'd let him take me out there over spring break to get a feel for the area. For such a huge move, we wanted to be sure it would be a good fit for our family. All the while, we were both hoping and praying that he'd get the offer in Iowa for the other job. We spent two days in Portland with realtors provided by the company. Lots of stress. Little sleep.
We got back to Iowa Thursday night and before we were even out of bed Friday, the Portland company had already left a message asking for my husband's decision. He stalled and asked for the weekend to think about it. Monday finally brought God's final closed door. The last possibility for us to stay here disappeared. God made it perfectly clear that He wants us in OR.
Here's the odd part. I never felt any major anxiety or qualms about moving to Portland. Even from the time he first went out to interview. When we visited over spring break, I couldn't believe how beautiful it was out there. I could immediately picture our family living there. Don't get me wrong: I continued to pray for the Iowa job. But, God was definitely working on my heart. This Iowa girl has always loved traveling, but has not ever wanted to live anywhere outside of Iowa. Certainly never wanted to live outside the Midwest. And yet, somehow God has changed me so that I know beyond the shadow of a doubt, that we are going to love living in Portland, OR. Weird.
Now our house is on the market and I'm striving to keep it clean with three kids and a husband who has been in OR for almost three weeks. We are staying here through the school year, and into June if the house doesn't sell as quickly as we hope it will.
I am looking forward to finding amazing new ABC activities and places in the Pacific Northwest, and I'll be adding them to my blog. This summer we're still planning to eat our way through the alphabet. Some of that will be on the road, as it's a long drive to OR from here, but I will still do my best to post about our edible adventures. Don't give up on the ABC Summer Mom! :)
*For those new to my blog, check out the beginnings of ABC summers here.*
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