Adventures in Cooking, Part Tres

My normally not-so-picky eater, Gizmo has of late decided she does not like vegetables.  What's a mom to do to encourage healthy eating?  Turn to Dora, of course.

Today's treat: Backpack's Salad Bundles.  In an effort to help her enjoy her veggies more, we went to the garden to pick the lettuce for the project, and after I got everything cleaned and prepped, we began the assembly.

I can't quite figure it out.  She loves picking recipes out of the book to make.  She loves the process of making them.  She even initially enjoys eating her creations, as evidenced by this picture:

Following that bite, she immediately said, "Yum!"  It wasn't long, though, before she had unrolled all of the wraps, made a neat pile of the lettuce, ate out the carrots, dipped her finger in the ranch cup to clean it out (at one point she asked for a spoon so she could get it all - she is such her mother's daughter), and asked for peanut butter and jelly.

Gonzo has also been increasingly picky.  She no longer eats strawberries or broccoli, two items she scarfed down as an infant.  She'll eat anything orange - cantaloupe, carrots, sweet potatoes.  Anything green is off limits.  She also won't eat regular potatoes in any form, except for french fries, of course.

Any ideas?  Is this a phase?  I did get both girls to gobble up linguine with pesto and chicken and fruit salad for dinner.

Summer Fun

Adventures in Cooking, Part Dos

Today's cuisine?  Pirate pizza coins (also known as pizza on cut-out tortillas).

                                     

And yes, Dora was an observer during this process.  

Gizmo and I got all of the ingredients assembled and began the (much easier than the empanadas episode) process of making our little pizzas.  We topped them with pepperoni, mushrooms, red peppers, and cheese.

They looked pretty good going onto the oven, and looked almost like the book when they came out.  (How can you mess them up, really?  They're pizza.)

But would they pass the taste test?  I let Gizmo try them before lunch to make sure.

A winner!  "Mom, these are pretty good!"

To be fair, she did pick off the mushrooms initially, and then picked everything off but the cheese and pepperoni at lunch, so I'm not calling it a total success.  We did also make a "rainbow smoothie" with mango and strawberry that she only received lukewarmly at lunch.  Her reaction to the smoothie?  "It's not very smooth."

I think we might try a breakfast frittata next week.....Gizmo's been awfully picky about veggies lately, so I'm trying to get them into her any way I can.

Dear Mitch, Gizmo, and Gonzo -

I will be able to focus on you when I finish my books.

For our trip to Vegas, I purchased the first book in the "Fifty Shades" trilogy.  I read the first book in two days and bought the second one in the airport on the way home.  I just finished the second book, and I have only two words that sums up the books:

Oh. My.


I'm sure you've heard about the books - they are the ones that many libraries won't put on the shelves because they are so dirty and explicit.  And they are.  Oh. My. They. Are. Dirty.  And I am beyond addicted.  I have not been able to put the book down all day.  I read it this morning while Gizmo watched Hello Kitty.  I read it while Gonzo napped and Gizmo played with her sticker dolls.  I read it while Gonzo ate her afternoon snack.  I did absolutely nothing but read since the girls have gone to bed.  I am devastated that Barnes and Noble is closed and I can't run out and buy the third.  Truth be told, it's probably better that I don't have it, as maybe I can be productive at some point this weekend.

Read the books.  You can borrow them when I'm done.

Adventures in Cooking, Part One

A few weeks ago, I ordered the "Dora and Diego" cookbook so that Gizmo and I could cook up some mean (and healthy) breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.  I let her choose the first item to create, and she picked Dora's Empanadas.  

In my opinion, this recipe was entirely too in-depth, as we had to cook the broccoli, grate carrots, then roll out dough, cut out circles, fill them with broccoli, carrot, and cheese, then fold over and seal.  Gizmo had a great time, as the rolling out of dough was her favorite part. 

After 12-15 minutes of impatient waiting, our final product was finished -

We had them for lunch with dipping sauce (Dora calls for salsa, but we only had sour cream - a much finer dipping sauce, I believe).  After all that work, here was Gizmo's reaction:

She was underwhelmed, and after one bite, she declared, "I don't like empanadas".  Gonzo, however, thought they were the greatest thing since her rice cereal earlier that morning:

Today's cooking adventure was much simpler - chocolate pudding with crushed up chocolate chip cookies and whipped cream on top.  Gizmo didn't have much trouble eating that for a snack today....

Hello, Summer!

Oh, how we love the summertime....

Here's to the next few months of sun and fun!  (And hopefully more blog posts!)

Name The Object

What on earth am I holding?

Take your guess in the comment section!  I'll tell you what it is on Friday afternoon.

It Took a Long Time to Get This Post Up....

....but I think you'll find it entertaining, as you can ogle Winnie's cute baby belly.  (And anytime we can poke fun at Katie, well, it's worth it, yes?)

Katie, the girls and I headed south to Illinois a couple of weeks ago to celebrate Winnie and Sarah's soon-to-be bundle of joy.  This picture in the car on the way there sums up the entire driving portion of the weekend - "How long did you say I had to sit in this chair?"

Despite the fact that it was a long drive, the girls did OK (but I think Katie has sworn off having kids forever after a round-trip weekend with both of them).  The few days we were there were spent preparing for the shower, spending time with family, and laughing.

It's always great to see Winnie and Sarah, since we just don't get to visit with them as often as we'd like.  Winnie makes one good-looking pregnant girl!

Gizmo enjoyed being a helper at the shower.  As she gave Winnie and Sarah our gift, she said, "It's a glow worm, just like Gen's!"  There's nothing like the element of surprise.

In addition to the essentials that Winnie and Sarah received, there were plenty of cute and adorable girl outfits, and I have no doubt Sarah will have that baby on the pageant circuit in no time.

If the baby and the shower weren't enough, let me now dive into quite possibly the best Katie story in the last few years.

This cake is the one Katie ordered on Friday when we arrived.  She called the local grocery store, ordered the cake ("Winnie and Sarah? OK!"), and promptly went to pick it up on Saturday morning.  I got a panicked call from her about 20 minutes later, saying that they did not have the cake.  The store claimed they never took the order, and after she chewed everyone at the store out, they gave her two free ice cream cakes to take with her.

As she walked in the door of Mom and Dad's, she says to me, "I think I called the wrong store".  She, indeed, did call the local grocery store in the town twenty minutes away, and after calling to confirm that yes, they did have a cake for her there, she hurried off to pick up that cake and be back in the hour left before the shower.

Is it sad that I thought this was hilarious?  Because sometimes it is just fun to see Katie wrong.  Since she never is, you know.

Anyway, there was plenty of grandparent fun, as Gonzo learned to stick out her tongue and bond with her second cousins.

While I never enjoy the 9 hour drive with the girls, it's always nice to be home and see family.  Congrats Winnie and Sarah!