Snug as Bugs

This day shall go down in T family history. If we put out a T family newspaper this would be front page material. It's totally blog worthy and I even feel like texting my mom to let her know. That's how exciting this is! Both, yes BOTH of my boys slept passed eight o'clock this morning!!  My boys are usually up no later than 6:30 and they both went through long phases of waking at 5:30! Part of me is extatic at the thought that this may become a new summer sleep in time and part of me is a little worried... I did check on both of them and they are still in their beds sleeping soundly snug as bugs. :)

Eating out with Kids

Okay, so this is a little gross. That's your warning.
D and I have been looking forward to eating out at our fav Mexican place all day. Our enthusiasm must have rubbed off onto N 'cause he wanted to a wear a sombrero (and six camouflage slap arm bracelets) to the restaurant. The closest thing we had to a sombrero was my straw wide brim gardening hat. Daddy veto-ed that because it looked too much like a girl hat. He got the boys each a straw cowboy hat to wear instead. "Load 'em up, head 'em out." We no more than parked the car in the parking lot and L threw up. Which was very strange because he'd been bouncing around perfectly healthy all day! We stayed in the car for a few minutes to see if he was okay. We told him if he felt yucky we could go home! He insisted on going out to eat anyway. To which N replies, "That's right, L. Cowboys never give up!" Fortunately Mama had an extra set of clothes in the appropriate size and season for L to change into! Bonus!
Right after we ordered our food L started to lurch again. Ugh! D whisked him away to the bathroom. Our food arrived while they were gone. I didn't know it, but L threw up on the floor on the way to the bathroom. I would have asked to have our food boxed up before they  brought it to the table if I had known, but I didn't. So, N and I went ahead and ate. D and L were gone for a little while, so N and I had some time for quality conversation. We were quiet for a minute and then N starts the conversation with, "Mom I hear kids today want to get their license and drive away from their parents."

D and L returned from the restroom to tell us that L had a small throw up on the floor outside the restroom while they were gone. Once again we told L that we can pack up our food and take it him, but he insisted that we stay and eat at the restaurant. As soon as I was done eating I took L back to the restroom because he wanted to hang out in there just in case. Fun. I decided to stay in there long enough for D and N to finish eating and paying. So, eventually L and I left the restroom and met D and N and walked to the car. When we got in the car D informed me that while L and I were in the bathroom, he and N paid our bill. And when they were standing at the counter paying the bill, N was playing around with his Styrofoam cup of sprite. He poked a hole in the bottom of the cup and caused yet another spill that the employees graciously cleaned up.

On the way home N said, "L when you throw up, my throat sees it and tells me that it wants to throw up, so don't throw up any more. Okay?" 


Hopefully our next visit to a restaurant won't be quite so adventurous!

Recipes: Side Salads

I have tried out a couple recipes lately. A couple I'd like to keep here for future reference and a couple I won't even share 'cause they will not be put into our "rotation." Ha. I'm supposed to limit how much vinegar I eat right now, so I only make a salad with vinegar in it like once a week or less. Beside, one TBSP of vinegar in a whole salad seems pretty innocent to me. 
Broccoli Salad is a staple at our house. I use whatever I have in the pantry. I don't always have turkey bacon on hand, so I don't always put it in. I also don't always have sunflower seeds on hand. In fact, I usually save the sunflower seeds for the times we have company over. I suppose I could try walnuts or pecans in the salad in place of the sunflower seeds. Anyway. Here is the base recipe.


GF Broccoli-Raisin Salad

3 cups broccoli 

¾ cup sunflower seeds

¾ cup raisins

4-5 slices bacon (I use turkey bacon)

Dressing:

½ cup light GF mayo

1 TSBP apple cider vinegar

2 TBSP sugar

Bake bacon in oven.

Place bacon on cookie sheet in cold oven. Shut oven door. Set oven to 400 degrees. Cook 17-20 minutes. Cool and cut into small pieces.

Run broccoli in food processor until cut into desirable sized pieces.

Place non dressing ingredients in large bowl.

In medium bowl, mix dressing ingredients well. Stir into salad ingredients and serve.

From Healthy Lunch Box Cookbook

We also eat a lot of slaw at our house. This week I made this version I found on pinterest. I like it and will make it again.

Crunchy Apple Slaw
Yield: 8-10 servings
1/2 cup salad dressing (such as Miracle Whip)
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 green cabbage, shredded
1 red apple (Braeburn preferred), unpeeled and diced
1 green apple (Granny Smith preferred), unpeeled and diced
1 Tablespoons chopped green onions
1/4 cup sliced almonds


Mix together the salad dressing, sugars, vinegar and lemon juice in a large bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients and toss to coat.  Cover and chill before serving.

I made the following salad a few weeks ago and really liked it!!

Tomato, Corn, and Bacon Salad

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half
2 cups fresh or frozen (thawed) corn, off the cob
1 Tablespoon minced fresh cilantro (or if you don’t have any, substitute parsley)
5 slices bacon, cooked until crispy and crumbled
juice of 1 lime
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons olive oil
Toss together all ingredients.  Serve immediately.  Or, if you want to make ahead, toss together and refrigerate everything except the bacon overnight and make and add the bacon before serving.

The next salad on my "to make" list is below. I'm interested in it because it will taste good on a warm summer day and it should be filling because of the protein in the Edamame.

Marsha’s Edamame Salad
1 cup frozen edamame, lightly cooked according to package directions
⅓ cup dried cranberries (or dried cherries)
½ cup sweet corn kernels
1 cup carrots, julienned
⅓ cup bell peppers, chopped
¼ cup chopped red onions, rinsed with cold water

Dressing:
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 to 2 teaspoon brown sugar (or honey), depending on how sweet you like it

Boil the edamame according to package directions. Dunk them in cold water to cool the beans and stop the cooking. In a bowl, combine all of the salad ingredients.

Measure the dressing ingredients into a small jar which has a lid. Put the lid on the jar and shake it until the dressing ingredients are combined. Pour most of the dressing on the salad and toss the salad. Taste the salad and add the remaining dressing, if desired.

Sweet Sixteen

N and I had a discussion about saving his money. He has a money bank that Grandpa and Aunt J brought home for him from London a few years ago. It's a cute tin that originally contained little chocolates. It has various scenes of a bear in a telephone booth on each side of the tin. I'm sure Grandpa and J thought N would like the tin when they got it for him, but they would have never guessed it would be one of his treasures.

This morning over breakfast N and I were talking about how kids and grown ups save their money. Sometimes we save money just to have money saved up and sometimes we save money with a specific item in mind that we'd like to purchase. Initially N said he's just saving his money so he can have it. Then, after some more thought, he decided he's saving his money so he can by a car when he's sixteen. He says some of his money will go towards the car itself and the rest will be used for all the paint he's going to use to paint it himself. I asked him what color the car would be and he said yellow, orange, pink and purple. He's going to paint some stripes and one big rhombus (no kidding, he said rhombus) on the side. Groovy, Dude!