Constellations

I think this summer The Monkey will be old enough to stay up late and look at stars. I bought a deck of constellation cards along with a Smithsonian book about how to find constellations and where they are in the sky. There's also some awesome free constellation apps too. 

We live in the city so stars can be difficult to see from our house but we live close to a park with a very large sledding hill so I think I can take a blanket down there some night later this summer and we can look at stars. 

I have no idea how interested she is - sometimes she can be pretty fickle and other times she says she's interested because she knows Bimmer Man or I am interested in something. So we'll see if this summer activity is a hit or if it's a total bomb!

Chewie's Favorite Tortilla Soup

Chewie's Favorite Tortilla Soup AKA A Kid-Friendly Version of Thug Kitchen's Tortilla Soup

2 tbsp veggie, grapeseed, or olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped into half moons
2 small jalepenos or 1 large jalepeno, enough for a little kick but not nose-dripping heat
2 small spoonfuls of minced garlic (or like 4 cloves)
2 1/2 tsp each of cumin, oregano, chili powder
1 can of diced tomatoes (I like fire roasted tomatoes in this, Chewie also approves)
1 small can of tomato paste
4 cups of veggie broth (1 whole box)
1 cup water
6-8 corn tortillas cut into 1 inch squares
Bunch of cilantro if you don't think it tastes like soap
Juice of 2 limes or 2 tbsp lime juice
Thug Kitchen calls for chickpeas for topping, but I've never done that :::shrug:::

Heat a stockpot over medium high heat. Toss in the onions, carrots, and jalepenos. Saute for 5 minutes or until soft.

Add in the garlic. Cook for another minute or two.

Add in the spices. Stir it all around until it smells amazing and all the spices have touched the heat.

Add in both types of tomatoes. Make sure the tomato paste is a bit melted and stirable.

Add the broth and the water. If you have 5 cups of broth, do that instead. The Thug Kitchen recipe calls for 5 cups of broth but there's only 4 cups in a box of broth. WTF...

Stir everything together until it's all combined. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Basically enough time to unload/load a dishwasher, rinse out the recycling cans, set the table, etc...

Add in the tortillas. Simmer for another 5 minutes.

At this point, if you like cilantro, add in a handful of cilantro so it can be blended into the soup. Or you can chop and top as a topping instead.

Using your immersion blender, blend until smooth. Alternatively, you can blend the soup in batches in a regular blender (but cover the hole in the lid with a towel to let steam escape).

Add in the lime juice.

Serve.

Baby Chewie likes to ea

Review: Bobby Flay's Salsa Verde Soup

I requested Bobby Flay's Fit cookbook from the library. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting because it's not like Bobby Flay is in the weightloss or fitness genre. I suppose I was expecting more...Bobby Flay???

I thought that the Salsa Verde Chicken soup recipe would be a great easy recipe to try, expecially during Spring Break when I have some extra time to cook. I mean, the children are still wild animal beasts but whatevs...

In any case the soup was straight up chicken, stock, plus salsa verde. There were no other veggies in the soup, no pasta, no rice, no legumes, no beans. Just straight up chicken.

I thought it was bland too. The two jalepenos in the Salsa Verde did not do the soup justice, it was VERY kid-friendly except for the whole no veggie part. I did have to dig the chicken out for Chewie because he couldn't scoop it out with his spoon which meant that he ate his soup on a plate and I needed to serve cut veggies with hummus for a side dish to make up for the lack of veggies in the soup.

I did make another recipe - Quinoa Con Pollo which was EXCELLENT. I have the book for another two weeks, so I'm definitely going to try a few more recipes from Bobby Flay Fit.

Bruschetta & Goat Cheese Sandwich

Bruschetta & Goat Cheese Sandwich

Just add leftover bruschetta to your sandwich instead of mayo or mustard.

Seriously. That's the recipe.

Sausage And Kale Soup

Sausage and Kale Soup

2 tbsp olive oil or grapeseed oil

1 package (approximately 1 pound) mild italian sausage (or spicy, whatever your taste buds like)

1 small-ish onion, chopped

3 larger carrots, diced for small throats (because carrots are choking hazards, weird parent thing)

6 small potatoes, chopped

1 tsp chopped garlic (about 1-2 cloves, depending on size)

4 cups veggie or chicken broth, whatever you have on hand

1 tsp ground basil

1/2 tsp ground marjoram

1 bunch lacinto kale, rinsed and chopped or torn into 1-2 inch pieces

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: 1-3 ice cubes worth of pesto, parsley for garnish

To serve: crusty bread or pita chips

Heat a stockpot over medium-high heat. When hot, add in the oil, then the italian sausage breaking it into bite size pieces. 

After 3 minutes, add in the onion, carrots, potatoes, and garlic. Soften and let them brown up a bit until the sausage is cooked through, maybe 6-10 minutes. 

Add in the basil and marjoram, stir until it smells amazing, about a minute. 

Add in the broth. Bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. 

Add the kale and chickpeas. Simmer for another 5 minutes or until chickpeas are warmed through and kale is nicely wilted. 

If using pesto, add in 1-2 large tablespoons or 1-3 ice cubes of frozen pesto. I think this is the extra ingredient that makes this soup delicious! I used homemade pesto that I made using CSA ingredients last fall and froze in an ice cube tray. Use homemade OR store bought, whatever is easiest for you.

Add Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with pita chips, crusty bread, etc... 

Frustrations. Girl Mom Frustrations.

The amount of sexism in toys isn't really apparent until you ARE a parent.

Why do I say this?

I don't have a girl that likes typical "girl" toys. Does she like dolls and Barbies? Yes, but she also wants to be a construction worker, a mechanic, a gardener, a Star Wars character and lots and lots of other characters that wouldn't be considered a "girl" thing to do, especially according to toy companies.

Toys are not for boys or girls. Toys are to play with. Toys are just toys. They don't all need to be pink or blue. They don't all need to be marketed to just boys or just girls.

Crap like this really irritates the shit out of me. Why? Because boys can play with dollhouses too. Girls can be construction workers too. There's no boundaries or limits to children's imaginations.

The Monkey asked for a pink utility belt.

Blue, yellow, green, red? Yes. Your typical "boy" colors? Yes.

BUT PINK. I COULDN'T FIND PINK. WTF.

So I made one. A better utility belt than I could have purchased.

And I'm tempted to make more and sell them.

Parents of girls need more options when it comes to dress up clothes. Melissa & Doug has absolutely awesome options for dress up clothes, but when it comes to kids that know what colors they love to wear and are concerned about fashion at a young age...it can be hard to find what your kid will play with.

Same with boy options too. Not all boys want blue. Some want green, yellow, red, teal, orange, AND pink. All of those colors are awesome options.

All children need to be treated equally and have an equal opportunity to imagine whatever they want. As parents it's our job to cultivate their creativity - and to make sure they have what they need to play. Can I change how toy companies make toys and their color choices? No, but I can make my child happy by making what she wants.

Are there any other children out there that want "utility" belts like this?

Super Easy Use-It-Up Pizza Burgers

I hate that you never have enough burgers to use up the buns in a package of hamburger buns. Plus I can only eat so many sloppy joes in two days and deal with drooling dogs at the grill with burgers. I hate tossing burger buns into the waste bin, it just seems so wasteful to buy 8 buns for 4 burgers. 

I needed to come up with something quick and I realized that I had leftover tomato sauce in the freezer and grated cheese in the fridge (and since when do I not have cheese in my fridge? I LOVE CHEESE). 

My mouth was starting to water as I put these together. I had made sauce with red wine... it smelled extra great to me after a long day in the sun, biking, playing, cleaning, etc...

And the cheese. I should have put more cheese on top so they were extra gooey.

And baked. Crispy bread, hot sauce, melty cheesy goodness.

Pizza Burgers (sort of)

2 - 4 hamburger buns split in half

2 cups pizza sauce, leftover spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce

2 cups of grated cheese - I use an Italian blend or a cheddar jack blend

And pizza toppings of your choice (I didn't feel like anything other than cheese)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Put bun halves on baking sheet.

Top each half with sauce.

Then top with cheese and all other pizza toppings you want!

Bake for 10-13 minutes or until cheese is melty and buns are nice and crispy.

Serve with a salad.

Freezer Meal Planning For 2

Ugh. After the end of a long day I really, really hate to open the fridge and think "Oh shit, I didn't defrost anything." Even with freezer meals, I still do that every once in awhile (and it's worse when Bimmer Man is home - he just says, what are you thinking for dinner? And what I want to reply is: GO LOOK IN THE FRIDGE AND MAKE DINNER WITH WHATEVER YOU FIND but then I remember that he can't cook, it really can feel like the 50's sometimes in our house... Oy).

But my other problem with freezer meals is that most recipes and items that I've found are really for families of 4+. That's not us at all. I really only cook for 1 1/2 (me and The Monkey). The other problem that I have is the crockpot - we just don't eat too many leftovers from crockpot meals other than beef stew. So when I came across this post and this post, I instantly did a fist pump and ran to Costco for chicken and pork.

Costco sells chicken in bulk (obviously) in packets of 2 boneless, skinless breasts and there are 6 packets stuck together. I bought two of those with making 12 meals total for chicken and then I bought a package of 8 boneless pork chops with plans for 4 pork meals.

So I was going to marinade 2 chicken breasts together in one freezer bag, basically halving whatever recipes I could possibly find that a 2 year old might like.

These are all recipes for defrosting from the freezer and making the meat on the stove or the grill - I make chicken funny as I've learned in the past few weeks - when I saute chicken I put the cover on the pan so it doesn't all splatter all over my kitchen. I hate cleaning. It works for me and I think it turns out juicier that way (maybe I cook it 7-9 minutes on each side). You will not find a crockpot recipe below!

I ended up making two of each from the Dump Chicken post -

Lemon Garlic
Garlic Dijon
Spicy Sweet Glaze (I omitted the "spice" keeping in mind my 2 year old)

From the Freezer Meals Prep post I also made two of each -

Greek Chicken
Sesame Chicken
Margarita Chicken
Oh So Easy Pork Chops
Marinated Pork Chops


The only recipe that my 2 year old didn't like was the Margarita Chicken. Everything else has been delicious and the leftovers were absolutely eaten the next day!

The next time I do freezer meals, I'll make only one margarita chicken and find another recipe - I don't think I'll have to do this again until August. There's enough variety here for us that I can make a meal of something beef and the next day I'll want chicken again!

Toddler Activity - Family Book

I have a HUGE family. I mean HUGE. There's about 25 of us???? Maybe more, maybe less. I don't keep track anymore.

But since we don't see everyone all the time, I want The Monkey to know her family. So I compiled pictures of everyone, cut them down to 4x4, glued them to 5x8 cardstock, hole punched the top, added a book ring, labeled everyone (just first names and their family "title").

I was going to laminate them but I didn't have a laminator at the time. Now I do. So I'm thinking I might laminate them...

Scrambled Eggs With Pesto

Oy, I've got pesto coming out of my ears. And I still have salad greens for more pesto.

MORE PESTO. 

Good thing The Monkey & I like pesto.

This is super easy.

Put a heaping spoonful of pesto on a plate.

Scramble eggs (I always add cheese to mine).

Put scrambled eggs on top of pesto. 

With each bite you'll get pesto & eggs. Yum!

Also - my 16 month old LOVES this!