I haven’t been feeling terribly creative lately. Not a lot of making but I have been doing a lot of cooking. Partly because I’m trying to be more careful on what I’m spending at the grocery store and partly because we’ve had so many days at home in a row and maybe just a little bit because I got a new magazine in the mail. Read the rest of this entry »
neurosesgalore.com
Posts Tagged ‘Food’
Sunday, November 7th, 2010
Fall Back
How come weekends are never long enough? Not even when you get an “extra” hour? I guess because getting an “extra” hour just means that everyone is thrown off of their game for an entire day more than anything else. I suppose I shouldn’t complain. Both of my kids slept until almost 8 yesterday’s time or almost 7 today and were both asleep by 7 tonight or 8 by yesterday’s time. So it really wasn’t so bad. Even though they were tired and my head is spinning a little. You know? Like, hey why ARE these kids so tired, it’s only 6:30? Oh, right. It’s kind of really 7:30. How’d the switch go at your house? Read the rest of this entry »
Related Posts:
Friday, November 5th, 2010
Bad Babies, Books and Lactobacillus
In spite of all the toys there are two things that Avery truly loves to do. Dig in the rocks and dirt in the only living plant that we have in the house and open the door on the tv cabinet and pull all of the cords and devices out. She broked the blue ray by pulling on it and then after several weeks mysteriously “fixed” it the same way.
Read the rest of this entry »
Related Posts:
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
Derailed
Sooo, we had pizza for dinner. And not the homemade kind. The kind that comes in a greasy cardboard box. I went into the kitchen this morning to get the crock pot down so I could put the ribs on and dropped the lid from on top of the fridge. It shattered. It shattered into thousands of tiny shards of glass. It was such an unbelievable mess. It doesn’t help that I feel crappy and that it took me a long time this morning to get Avery down for a nap. I could have fashioned a lid out of something I suppose and I will probably do that tomorrow but in the moment I just couldn’t cope. Read the rest of this entry »
Related Posts:
Saturday, November 14th, 2009
Check It Out :: Mallow Munchies
Amazingly I remembered to take a picture before I ripped the package open and completely devoured the contents. Doesn’t it seem like I’m always apologizing for pictures taken after the fact? Sorry, I almost ate all of this before I took a picture but, after all, it was delicious. But I digress. Ben pointed out this stand to me this morning knowing I have a weakness for rice crispy treats. A weakness so great in fact that I will resort to eating the ones in the blue foil. I have however thus far managed not to buy a super-sized box of them at Costco and now I won’t ever have to. Read the rest of this entry »
Related Posts:
Monday, March 16th, 2009
Chili Mac
Saturday was rainy, dreary and busy. I almost froze my pinkie off getting meat out of the deep freezer. I realize now that I should have a plan before I go off and start just randomly digging through what’s down there. I find that with the deep freezer, I have to take certain cuts out days in advance to get them to thaw completely in the fridge. Sometimes overnight isn’t enough to do it. That being said, I had a plan for the rest of the week but no idea what to do for dinner that night. I pulled out some ground turkey and some ground beef because they defrost relatively quickly. By 6pm the turkey was ready to be browned and we were good to go.
Read the rest of this entry »
Related Posts:
Monday, February 16th, 2009
Happy Belated Valentine’s Day
We made some last minute valentine’s on Saturday afternoon. Chase can’t say love so Ben taught her to say I heart mommy which is kind of cute and a little funny too.
Things have been so busy in general that it was great to have 4 solid days of free time. I finished reading twilight, got crackalackin on some home organization projects (which are all, of course, only half finished) and did some cooking.
I was skeptical about Twilight but Chelsea insisted that I read it. I trust her opinion on books but I think she’s biased when it comes to stories about Vampires. Our tastes always diverged somewhere between Snoop and Anne Rice. But she was relentless and since I love discussing what I’ve read with her I took her up on it. It took me a week to get through and I thought I was over it about 2/3 of the way through but the sexual tension and then the ending kept me going. I don’t think I’d shell out for the rest of the series but since she’s kindly offered to ship them to me I think I’ll push through. While I’m waiting for them to arrive I have the prequel to Anne of Green Gables that I borrowed from the library to read. I hope it’s not just full of sad things that happen to orphan children. We’ll see.
Last night we made pizza for dinner using a simple recipe from the BHG cookbook. The crust was just ok. It lacked chewiness and flavor as far as I’m concerned. Ben thinks it was pretty good but that I made the crust too thin and crispy for his liking.
I also made a huge batch of ‘chex’ mix with all kinds of goodies that I like in it. And I made a big batch of granola that tastes fantastic using a recipe from Martha’s website originally published in Body + Soul magazine.
Tomorrow it’s back to work for me but it will be a short week… I think, you never really can tell. What have you been up to? Oh, and that patch came out of the wash just fine, yay.
Related Posts:
Thursday, November 13th, 2008
On Local Eggs
I bought my first dozen eggs from a coworker that lives out in Carroll County. I try to weigh every food decision I make in consideration of all the information that I’ve accumulated on the subject of food. There’s so much information out there that when it comes to figuring the mess out it’s hard to know whether you’re coming or going. Marion Nestle wrote a good book that provides a comprehensive analysis of what can be found inside your local supermarket, how to decipher the information given and what it all means for the consumer. She also has a blog that she updates regularly with useful information that you can find here.
I mention that because on some level I’d prefer it if the carton my coworker’s eggs came in was stamped with words like organic, natural and free range. The whole idea of it has just been drilled into my brain for so long which, of course, was the goal of ‘big organic’ that produced those eggs for the grocery store. All this is to say that I’ve concluded that I am happy to pay a buck fifty (I was wrong about 75 cents) for a carton of oddly shaped and randomly sized eggs even though they’re not certified by any government agency because I know that a) the chickens are her sons pets, b) she feeds the same eggs to her family and c) they are incredibly fresh.
Oh, and Chase’s first order of business? Crack and egg just like I showed her on Tuesday night, except unsupervised and on the dining room table. I saved the egg after the first tap and before it was completely decimated but as soon as I had the egg put somewhere safe Chase had moved on to carrying half a cake into the kitchen for me. Carrying it, I should add, by the plastic dome as opposed to the base. I saved that too and then I scooped her up and gave her a big hug.
Related Posts:
Sunday, October 26th, 2008
New Shoes and Art Blast
Chase got a pair of new shoes today. When I’m not in the market for new baby shoes I see tons of cute styles in all the stores but as soon as I’m actually ready to shell out for them I can’t seem to find anything that will do. We tried Nordtrom yesterday they had a couple of different styles but they had might as well have just had two pairs of loafers, one in brown and one in black in terms of available cuteness. I ended up buying an ok looking pair for way more than I wanted to spend because any price is too much to pay for something you don’t actually want. I feel the same way about buying stuff you don’t need because you have coupon. Anyway, they’re super cute and what I was looking for, I’m happy, she’s happy.
I’ve been buying Stride Rite shoes for her since she started walking and I’m really happy with them. The shoes, while not fabulously cute, strike a good balance between appearance and comfort. The shoes are both sensible and durable and I haven’t heard any complaints from the wee one yet. They make all of their shoes in wide widths that accommodate her fat little feet. In spite of all that I still sometimes, as I do in all similar circumstance, question whether or not it’s really worth the extra money. I have decided that it is.
I base my conclusion on a pair of patent leather mary janes that I picked up at Target. The shoes are cute but they’re the first and only pair that gave her a blister. The shoes are the right size but as soon as they were on she started complaining that she didn’t want to walk. Sure enough, there was a blister on her foot by the end of the day. That was enough to satisfy me, particularly since I discovered the Stride Right outlet at Arundel Mills. Lots of good deals there and plenty of selection.
Our neighborhood has many faults BUT today I was extra happy to be here. We stumbled upon Art Blast at the BMA which ended up being a totally awesome way to spend an absolutely beautiful fall Sunday afternoon. It was nice so we walked over to the playground. We could hear loud music that sounded like a concert. After swinging for about 2 minutes she decided it had to be investigated. Of course, by the time we got down and up the other side of the park the band was playing their last number but no matter; the whole street was closed off and set up for big art projects to celebrate the museum’s newest installation. We ran into some friends, did a little sidewalk chalk and then a big drawing that we turned into a button. Have I mentioned that I’m really big on having fun for free?
I haven’t posted a recipe in eons but I have one, maybe two in the works. In the meantime, I made this fake trifle. There’s no recipe for it. It’s just a quick way to use up leftover cake. I had intended to make a luscious version that I saw on Everyday Food but when it came down to it I just needed something sweet and quick. I just cut the cake into small pieces and layered it in the cup with whipped cream, topped with berries and a little more cream and ate. It was good though and looked really nice… made Ben jealous that I didn’t make him one, hee.
Related Posts:
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
I Don’t Care What They’re Saying About HFCS
You’ve seen the new ad campaign right? I think I take the position on HFCS that a lot of home cooks take which is simply that if I can’t procure HFCS to use an an ingredient as a home cook I’m going to be highly suspicious… highly. But this isn’t really a post about HFCS, this is a post about snacks. HFCS comes into play because the ones that ben likes to eat unfortunately contain it and Chase loves to have bites whenever she sees him eating one. All of my feeble attempts to offer her a store bought substitute also failed so as a last resort I decided to try my own. Not to mention that dad agreed to give up his faves if the experiment was any good.
I used a lot of different sources for inspiration including this, this and this. I used a little big of each of the recipes and the result was a success. I think that next time I would mix a double batch because 2c of oats comes out looking kinda puny but the taste and texture was right on. They kept perfectly well stored on the counter in a tupperware container.
They flipped out nicely and in one piece. I meant to take a picture of them cut… but I forgot. It was almost too late but I got a shot of Chase nibbling on one.
So they were good, the thing is now I have to make them… like all the time.