Don't Pee on the Bee

More cake, Mommy!

Yes, I made the cake yesterday afternoon!

But no, it was not gone by the end of the day!  (I didn't get to it until about 4:30!)  But it will be gone tonight!

I've made this cake twice now, and it is delicious, I promise!  The funny thing is that both times I have left out the melted butter!  (It's been melted but left in the microwave!)  But it hasn't made a difference to me!  I'm sure it would to some fabulous baker!  But if the butter is left out, it has even less fat in it, right?  Yahoo! 
 

Butternut Squash and Blueberries--NOT Together, Of Course!

The other night I made the most delicious dinner!  It was from a recipe I had ripped out of the November 2009 issue of Parents magazine--Butternut Squash Casserole.  Unfortunately, there is no link to it, but I can give you some of the details!

Essentially, you just bake some cut up butternut squash.  Cook your pasta (whole wheat elbows or whatever you have!)  Then make a cheese sauce, mix it all together and bake it until it is warmed through.  It was sogood!  The butternut squash (which I happen to love!) was so carmelized and yummy!  I will definitely add even more squash the next time.  And I'll probably play around with the cheese sauce to make it less fattening.  Either way, it was immediately a fave in our house!

If you need more details, let me know!  But this is definitely a dinner worth trying on one of these cold, rainy nights!

Today is a "stay-at-home day" in our house, and I am feeling like cooking and cleaning!  (What's wrong with me?)  We're going to make this yummy blueberry cake recipe from one of my favorite blogs 101 Cookbooks.  Not only does she make great food, but she takes beautiful pictures as well!  (This cake will be gone before the end of the evening!)

I hope you enjoy whatever you do today!

Yum-mo!

I don't know what it was this weekend, but I finally felt like cooking again!  I haven't really been feeling that inspired, but it hit me!  The February 2010 issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray had some super delicious dinners!

The first one was Potato-Topped Beef Stew which I will definitely double the next time!  A nice slow cooked (but easy to make!) stew.  Baked with butternut quash, this had such a deep flavor.  The kind of funky thing about this stew is that it has tater tots on top!   (I had a bad experience with tater tots and an ex-boyfriend, so it took me some time to get over this one!)  But I will tell you that they tasted delicious on this!  And you could always leave them off if you aren't a tater tot person.   You could also add any other vegetables to this dish.   Like most stews, it's very versatile!

The second recipe I made was called Toasted Orzo Chicken Soup.  Again, super delicious with (duh!) toasted orzo, chicken, zucchini, red pepper, onion, carrots and peas.  Topped with Italian parsley and lemon peel, it was so fresh and tasty!  (No link to this one.  Sorry!)

Tonight I think I am going to try the Fennel-and-Onion Chicken--even though it is Meatless Monday!  Oh well!  Maybe we'll go meatless on Tuesday this week!   I would definitely recommend buying this month's magazine.   I have seven pages turned down to try out this month!  I'll let you know how they go!

**I just updated the Recipes page.  Besides adding the stew recipe, I also added 3 of my other all-time winter faves--Spinach-Mushroom Quiche (a pared down, lower calorie version!), Italian Sub Stoup with Garlic Toast Floaters, and Mexican Lasagna.  Check them out!  Roll over the titles on the Recipes page for some of my notes about each recipe!

The Lunch Box

Check out this still-being-developed website The Lunch Box.  It's for parents, administrators and anyone involved in preparing children's lunches.  While I'm always a bit skeptical when a recipe is touted as "kid friendly," (isn't it all a matter of personal taste?), I love to look through recipes, and there are plenty here.  Scroll down to the Healthy Kid's Meal Wheel (a great graphic!)  and click on the vegetable section.

My kids have gotten a lot pickier about what they are eating lately.  Looking at the Meal Wheel makes me want to make something similar to show them and "graph" what they are eating.  I think that JJ would get into it!  Sarah?  Who knows!  She's three, you know!

Holy cow! What a FUN treat!

This being the holiday season, my husband is beginning to get gifts from some of the other companies that he does business with.  He brought a gift basket home the other night that is now safely hidden in my laundry room where no prying eyes--be they children's OR a grown man's!--will find it! 

Check out this website Hanzel and Pretzel and support a Sacramento area woman as she makes hand-dipped chocolate covered pretzels AND rice crispie cookies!  Now I am not currently a big rice crispy cookie fan, but let me tell you what!     

Each night after everyone is asleep, I sneak into my laundry room and gently lift the tissue paper up to see what is inside the box.  I just can't bring myself to rip open the paper!  It's more fun to peek!  After picking which little treat I want, I then go plop my behind on my couch and enjoy my little secret!

I haven't even made it to the pretzels yet!

These would be such a fun and unusual gift to give to someone who is hard to buy for!  Or even your child's teacher!  They cost about $2.oo each and come in sets of a dozen.  You can choose which flavors you want in any combination!  If nothing else, you should at least look at the fabulous photos of these goodies on her website!

We'll head to the gym in January!!!

A quiet Michael Pollan

I had dinner in Berkeley on Friday night with a good friend from grad school.  Driving through Berkeley and eating dinner at a fabulous Greek restaurant reminded me about this article I read in the most recent Organic Gardening magazine.  It was a conversation with Michael Pollan (author of The Botany of Desire and The Omnivore's Dilemma).  I haven't read either of those books, but I have heard him interviewed on several radio shows.  Usually there is a debate going on with farmers, and the shows have gotten pretty testy, in which case, I usually turn them off.   I listen to enough heated debates between 2 preschoolers!  So what I liked about this article is that it was a quiet, one-sided process in which I was taking part.

Pollan has researched and written about different aspects of  food and asserts that the highly processed foods that most people eat are not only hurting our bodies but the environment as well.    He talks about the link between gardening and cooking and believes that those who garden are the 58% of Americans who are still cooking.  (This number continues to decline.)  He goes on to talk about eating locally and organically as well as the differences between shopping at the farmers' markets vs. the supermarket.  (Bottom line:  Eat organically when you can and locally as often as you can.  Local is frequently organic without necessarily being certified as such.  Grow a garden in any space you have--small is OK!)

One issue that was addressed that made me think concerns certified organic foods.  Pollan became more controversial when he stated that some organic farmers are not really improvements over traditional feedlots and farms when all they do is switch to organic fertilizers.  The impacts of the process is still detrimental to the environment and to our food.  He says, "Organic is in danger of being co-opted.  I've been on organic factory farms, and if most organic consumers went to those places, they would feel they were getting ripped off. I think organic risks a real crisis of perception if the values that they're selling don't accurately reflect the practices they're engaging in.  They're organic by the letter, not organic in spirit."  (Another bottom line:  Shop farmers' markets when you can.  If you shop at a supermarket, then buy organic there since you know less about the farmers who grow your food.)

The interview took place in his garden in Berkeley.  He talked about some of his ups and downs with gardening and raising food.  Click here for an excerpt of the article.   This article made me feel better about our attempt at a garden this year and how we will try again next year.  I don't see myself buying tomatoes during the middle of winter this year.  It just doesn't seem right when I know how good the ones from my garden tasted!

Yes, soup for you!

Soup is sounding good with the cooler weather arriving and that beautiful rain!  I am going to try this recipe for Lemony Lentil Soup with Greens (from October 2009 Parenting Early Years magazine).  They think kids will eat it.  I'm not betting on it with my kids!  This is more for me!  With a nice piece (or two!) of bread . . . maybe some nice wine . . . Hmmm . . . lunch might not be so bad that day!