Category Archives: eats

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

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Wren and I were on the road for a couple days, but we’re happily back home again in our cozy nest while the snow & blow continues to swirl out there. It was a super fun whirlwind trip to Detroit and back. I found Wren to be pretty darn good company, but I think she found me a bit boring. She started a new sort of babbling that I believe my drivel (“hey Wren, look at that huge snow pile over there! Wow!”) was most likely the catalyst for… and the one tooth is actually TWO teeth. She’s such a trooper, that little birdie. I swear she’s turning into a little girl more every day, yikes!

One highlight from our trip was a pit-stop at Ikea. I’m a sucker for that place. As it turns out, Wren seems to be giddy over cheap Scandinavian stuff too! We both got a kick out of these cookie cutters:

LOVE!

I can’t wait to make some cookies with them. And after almost nine months without a working oven, we now have one! Chris is amazing; he single-handedly brought our electrical system into the 21st century and we are so very, very (very) grateful. Go, Chris! So if I gain about ten pounds in the next week, this is why: lasagna, muffins, shepherd’s pie, cookies, cupcakes, OH MY!

More soon. Happy mid-week, dear readers.

mini eats.

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Even if you don’t have a baby, doesn’t this photo inspire you to make baby food?! I can’t stop looking at it. Why would you buy Gerber when you could take three hours out of your life and make a month’s worth of baby food that looks like this? WOW! Click on over here to see how you can do it.

But. Did you know there was a *but* coming? After several months of gastronomical exploration via spoon, Wren refuses to eat from a spoon anymore. She will only feed herself with her amazing pincer grasp. I gotta hand it to her (no pun intended here). She is really good with her hands and if I were her, I probably wouldn’t want to eat mushy stuff from a spoon either. So the world of “baby food” is a distant past now. Sigh. But it might come back when she masters eating from her OWN spoon. I give her a couple more months on that.

If you do plan to buy commercially produced baby food, I recommend Sprout. It’s organic and yummy. Yes, I tried it! Wren enjoyed it when she was an agreeable spoon-fed baby. If you live in northern Michigan, you can now get it at Meijer and Tom’s Market. It’s pricier, duh, but look at the packaging design. Love!

Last night we were transported to an exotic place via this yummy salmon dish that my sister-in-law wrote about on her blog. Honeybells, salmon, fennel, oh my! As it turns out, Wren loves salmon. That’s my girl!

Any fun baby food stories to share, dear readers? Do you make your own food? Do YOU like eating baby food? I’ve discovered that some of the purees are great added to cookies or cakes for a healthier fat substitute. Or added to plain yogurt. Maybe that’s what I’ll do with all the baby food cubes in our freezer…

gotta have kid stuff

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Amidst all the mountains of plastic electronic crap for kids out there, live some really cool things for kids too. Here are a few I love. Today.

Don’t you love these funky plates for kids or even your next dinner party? Who says you can’t play with your food anyway? It’s fun!

Or flex your foodie kid’s creative muscle with these “gourmet” colored pencils, called “Smencils.” Ooh, la la. They’re also made from 100% recycled newspaper. Bonus!

Speaking of food, I’m interested in reading the book Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea from Alice Waters.

Have you read it yet? I think I’ll look for it at our library. Trying to do that more and save a few bucks. Plus it’s such a cool place to be with lots of nice natural light and usually a few freaky people from all walks of life. Same folks you might see at the Secretary of State office. That’s why, even though you can avoid going to the office now by doing everything online, I like to physically step into the office once a year. Hey, this is northern Michigan. I gotta get my kicks where I can. And it’s refreshing to be reminded of the human spectrum from time to time, isn’t it?

Confessions.

  • It’s finally cold and a bit snowy again. Bring it on! This is what it’s supposed to be like in January, right?
  • Orange is my favorite color today. uh huh.
  • Yesterday Wren and I went to the local bakery and the woman at the counter asked if Wren could have a cookie. I said, “no, thank you. She’s a bit young for a cookie.” And the woman looked at me like I was the center of the freak show. Maybe I should have charged her admission.

best!

menu planning

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I love the idea of planning what our nest will eat for the next week, but life usually jumps in my way. We end up going out to eat for a meal or two, or what I planned on making Sunday just doesn’t sound good anymore on Thursday. Often, I make too much for 2.5 people and we end up eating something for several days instead of one meal, blah blah blah. On top of that, when I do manage to get us all packed up and head out the door to buy the groceries, I’m lucky if I remember to take my list with me. Sigh. Sound familiar? (Cile, don’t answer that. I saw her grocery cart once. It was amazingly organized and they DO manage to plan out their weekly meals. WOW!) So this year, I invested in a really cute squirrel memo pad for groceries, thinking this would help. Has it? In a way, yes. I love writing things on it and it lives right between the fridge and the back door so it’s sitting on fairly valuable real estate. Kind of like the Marvin Gardens of my nest.

Isn’t it cute?

Where is this post going, anyway? I’m not really sure, but if you’re still reading, many thanks to you…

Other ideas. I thought this was a really cool idea for menu planning/grocery shopping too:

For details on this DIY Grocery List, click on over to Design Sponge.

In some ways, grocery shopping is a lot more phone (it’s early, cut me some slack) FUN now that I have Wren along with me. I like to carry her in our Baby Bjorn and see how many times people say, “awwww, what a cute boy!” She really enjoys being in the middle of everything and I enjoy having somebody to bounce ideas off of while I’m trying to decide whether to buy the organic bananas, which are still green, or the standard bananas, which are ready to be eaten now and in some cases, yesterday. She squeals and kicks and I take that to mean, “buy both.” Some for today, tomorrow and a couple for yesterday. Thanks for the great idea, Wren.

What’s for dinner tonight, dear readers? Re-runs here I’m afraid. But I think I’m going to make this chowder for Saturday night when some friends are coming over for euchre and eats. How do you play euchre and hold a baby? I’m not sure, but I’ll let you know.

Confessions.

  • Instead of buying myself some boots, I decided to buy my Dad some rain boots because he lives in LA where they apparently are experiencing a monsoon of sorts and it’s his birthday coming up AND I needed some retail therapy… So I tried to buy them, but Zappos kept telling me that my ZIP and State combination was “invalid.” And do you think I could get a hold of a real person to tell them that it was a valid combination? Exactly. Screw you, Zappos.
  • Orange is my favorite color today. Still.
  • Only 21 days until the Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies! I better get training, or at least get cable. I love the Olympics. What sport would you play if you were an Olympic athlete?

best!

just marketing?

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There were two things that I dreaded about becoming a mamma. Diapers? Nope. Sleeplessness? Nope.

“Kid food” and “kid music.” Both are awful. Is it just marketing or are these two things an inevitable part of my life for the next ten years? Wren is too young for me to know for sure, but my gut (albeit flabby) tells me it’s a marketing hoax. Keep in mind that this opinion comes from someone who works in the marketing field… and that could be good or bad.

First of all, kid food. Don’t get me wrong. I like macaroni and cheese, chicken fingers and fries (sugar, fat and salt, yum!), but we all know how bad they are for us. Most of all, however, they’re just plain old boring white things disguised as food. While it’s important to me that Wren learn good table manners, it’s really important that she be an adventurous eater. I realize, however, that some of it is out of my control and despite my best efforts, she still might only want to eat macaroni and cheese when she’s four. But I’ll be damned if I don’t try really hard to teach her to love the adventure of food. I’m really enjoying reading Hungry Monkey (A food-loving father’s quest to raise an adventurous eater) right now. If you’re possibly interested in reading the book, but aren’t quite sure, you can click here to read the first three chapters.

What we’re struggling with right now is that the little birdie will put everything we place on the table in front of her directly into her mouth, but she’s not into eating from a spoon anymore. Oh so independent…  She smiles, closes her mouth and politely turns her head waaaaay far away from the spoon. Although her name is Wren, she thinks that she’s an owl and can turn her head about 180 degrees in either direction. You go, girl!

Wren has exquisite taste in citrus, preferring honeybells to clementines. Thanks, Gran Jan!

Now for kid music.

Can someone please enlighten me? I’m not talking so much about lullabies, although the only song that ever comes to mind when I’m rocking Wren to sleep is Kumbaya and if I were her, I’d start requesting something new SOON. Other than possibly some questionable lyrics, why can’t children listen to the Rolling Stones, Vampire Weekend and Ani DiFranco? The thought of taking Wren to a Raffi concert makes me a bit queezy. We took her to a Breathe Owl Breathe concert and she loved it! They were Fun-ky and all three of us enjoyed it.

So my theory behind these two things is that it’s just marketing that makes us believe we have to serve or order “kid food” off the menu and buy “kid music” for our children and I’m just not buying into it. Yet. What do you think, dear readers?

Confessions.

  • My lentil soup I made the other day smelled really good, but I think it needed some sausage. It was really boring. Wren and Chris liked it though–good thing because I made a huge pot of it.
  • Orange is my favorite color today. Still.
  • I’m really impressed with Wren’s pincer grasp. She is getting really good at picking tiny things up. Go, Wren!
  • Thinking about using Twitter… or should I just stay away? Would you follow my tweets (err, drivel)?

Best!

stew over it

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Our nest has been trying to eat with the seasons and with locally grown, organic ingredients (when possible). This stew is perfect for a chilly day (it was 9 when we woke up this morning…) This stew is surprisingly flavorful, nourishing, grounding, cozy and yummy. Enjoy!

Sweet and Savory Root Vegetable Stew

Root vegetables are grown to be eaten NOW (winter!) and you can readily find many of these at your favorite local grocery store. Take a look and try vegetables that you have never cooked before. This recipe is a great way to use up leftover vegetables or fruits (autumn’s abundant apples and pears) in your refrigerator. This delicious stew is vegan and gluten-free.

Serves 6 to 8
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
6 shallots, diced  (I used 1/2 of a large sweet onion and it was a fine substitute)
2 tablespoons grated ginger
2 parsnips, peeled and diced
2 turnips, peeled and diced
2 medium rutabagas, peeled and diced
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 fennel bulb, halved, cored and diced
1 NEW cinnamon stick (amazing what new spices will do for our eats! New year=new spices.) Wonderful source: Great Lakes Tea & Spice .
Vegetable stock

In large pot over medium heat, sauté shallots (or onion) and ginger in oil for 5 minutes or until soft. Add parsnips, rutabagas, turnips, sweet potatoes, fennel and cinnamon stick. Add enough stock to barely cover vegetables, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 25 minutes.

Remove from heat, discard cinnamon stick and gently puree soup 3 seconds using a hand-held blender (or other means) to slightly thicken liquid and blend flavors. Season to taste and serve.

Adapted from Clean Food (2009) by Terry Walters

Confessions.

  • If I had the gumption and courage, I’d be a vegetarian again.
  • Orange is my favorite color today. Still is.
  • I’d love to get in marathon-shape again, but not that interested in running a marathon again.  hhhmmmm.
  • I want Wren to play the cello.