Snow, New York City, Groceries

I went out to buy groceries today, and just the teensiest little bit of snow was falling.  I wonder if we will have more snow later today, or overnight?  The weather forecast calls for possible snow on Tuesday.  Hmmm....


We had our first snowfall of the year shortly after Hurricane Sandy.  Thankfully the lad and I live in an area that while hit by the hurricane and subsequent nor'easter, was not that badly impacted.  Unlike many others...some as close as a few blocks away...we were able to enjoy the snow. 

After that snow melted, JP and I had an afternoon in New York City.  Actually, he had a class in the city, and afterwards, we went down to Union Square for dinner.  The plan was to snack from the many food trucks that are usually in the area.  Unfortunately, Union Square was big used as a staging ground for hurricane disaster relief, and only a tiny handful of food trucks were around, and one looked very appetizing.  Instead, I got a vegan falafel salad thing at Maoz which was O....M....G.... yummy!  I am not a huge falafel fan, but this was downright amazing!  I will definitely go back there!  The bonus was the crazy wall tiles in Maoz.  I LOVED the tiles.  JP got a sampler platter from TGI Fridays.

We also made a stop at Mario Batali's Eataly which was...overwhelming.  I am sure it is a great place, but the layout was awful, there were TONS of people, and it is expensive!  We got sorbet, but it wasn't anything special...

But...back to my grocery shopping.  I'm trying to be extremely frugal about groceries while still eating well, but it is a bit hard when we don't have a car and I don't want to PAY to get TO the store!  We have a few small local shops around the corner, and a small but full-service grocery.  Beyond that, I would have to take a bus or train or cab to any chain grocery, farmers market, or other such place.  The full-service grocery takes coupons, but has high prices, and often lacks things I need/want (so, is it truly full-service???).  The other shops are a CVS (expensive if you are buying groceries!), a Korean run market, and a Turkish run market.  The Turkish and Korean markets have a mix of ethnic foods and typical American fare.

So, I spent $30.68 today at the Turkish place after considering the food already in the cupboards and fridge.  I am sure I could have saved more if I'd gone to a store outside of my neighborhood, but the cost of transportation and the time would have negated those savings.  Here's what I got:

• celery...$1.15
• bananas...$1.32 (2.7lbs)
• butternut squash...$1.70 (1.72lbs)
• Roma tomatoes x 2...$0.49 (0.49lbs...funny!)
• bag of baby carrots...$1.19
• pkg mushrooms...$1.25
• Chobani yogurt x 3...$1.19 each
• Chobani yogurt with mix ins x 3...$1.39 each
• can of tuna...$1.79
• small jar of dill pickles...$3.99***
• zucchini x 1...$0.16
• blueberries, small pkg fresh...$1.99***
• corn meal...$2.29
• Canadian bacon...$3.49***
• onion...$0.63
• eggs, 1dz...$1.50

***I did make a few "splurge" purchases.  The pickles are a gourmet brand, the blueberries are maybe a twice yearly purchase as JP won't eat them, and the Canadian bacon is also a twice yearly purchase.

All of the above is available at the regular grocery in our neighborhood except for the Chobani yogurt with mix-ins.  All of it costs less than the regular grocery in our neighborhood.  I know I could have saved on several items at a larger store outside of our neighborhood, but not enough to make up for the cost of transportation and time.  Next Friday, we will go into the city for one JP's classes, and there Trader Joe's and Whole Foods both have stores within a short distance of his class, so we'll fill up on a few other items them...like organic apples.


How does my list and the prices compare to your area?

Now to make our groceries last!  JP is 14 and growing!  He is like a vacuum cleaner when it comes to food lately!

Mini-goals and mini-rewards...

I have been playing little games with myself today in order to motivate myself and get stuff done.  Our sink was overflowing with dirty dishes, the living room is a mess, and I have a ton of work to do for tutoring, not to mention several personal goals that I've been ignoring.  Sigh...  What to do, what to do?  I know! Make it a game!

Now, before you get all excited, these aren't really fun games...more little mental tricks to keep me going, and allow me to feel like I'm accomplishing my tasks.  I have been bopping between several chores, tutoring tasks, and personal goals today by assigning a mini-goal for each one.  Once the mini-goal is accomplished, I switch gears and set a mini-goal for something else, and so on until I'm back where I started.

So, the starting point....

I've been doing several tasks at my desk, which is really just a table and camp chair in the living room.  As you can see it has been semi-taken over by my son's crap (Legos, video gaming headphones, and so on).  But...I've also been trying to centralize all of my tutoring supplies, and have a plastic crate on its side as a makeshift bookshelf on my desk.  (Yeah, we have virtually no real furniture, and it's going to stay that way until we are able to move out of this dump of an apartment into something nicer.)  Our lovely pooch got all excited when I busted out the camera, so I purposely shot the pic so she'd be in it.  See the SAT world history subject test book on the floor?  One of my tasks today is to create ONE timeline from the book for my tutoring student who will be taking the SAT II in December.  He is away on vacation for a few weeks, so I'm creating some additional study materials for him (and by extension, for my son!).  That brings me to mini-goal and mini-reward #1...

Mini-goal and reward #1:  Condense 5 mini-timelines from the study guide into my larger timeline.  After those five are done, spend no more than 5 minutes on social media.

Mini-goal #2:  Go to the kitchen and wash at least 5 dishes/items in the sink.  Individual silverware pieces are NOT individual pieces!  5 pieces of silverware = 1 item.  After those 5 are done, clean a 2' x 2' section of the kitchen counter.  Then, refill coffee cup, and read a blog post.  This is a good one:  You Gotta Give it Away - Dreams of My Home by Rosalind at A Little R & R.

Mini-goal #3:  Sort the recycling from the trash, and figure out what the mystery odor is in the kitchen.  Use the old ratty kitchen sponge to do a preliminary cleaning of plates on which JP has made cheesy pizzas, and thus also made the plates impossible for me to use in the process thanks to my dairy allergy.  Throw away disgusting sponge, put plates back in sink for a real washing with a new sponge.  Check supply of paper plates for future cheese related episodes.  Reward:  More coffee, and another blog post to read.  I really like this one by Gabriela at Luminous Fire - Good Thing We Took Our Rain Jackets.  So full of beautiful pictures!

Aren't you glad I am showing you clean counter space, and not a picture of my sorted recycling and trash?

Mini-goal #4:  Go back to the desk, and practice some Spanish using Duolingo.  Duolingo is a mini-reward in and of itself.  I think it's fun, and much easier to use than Rosetta Stone although it has a similar methodology, plus it is FREE.  Today, I practiced plurals.

Now, I'm starting over with the timeline, then into the kitchen again, but this time to bake some lemon-zucchini bread which I found on Pinterest!  Due to a dairy allergy, I am making some substitutions. The original recipe HERE. UPDATED - a review of the recipe linked here.  Um...we didn't really like it.  The glaze was too tart, and the muffins were...odd. :/

After the zucchini bread, I plan to work on a post about our homeschooling curriculum choices for this coming school year...I keep promising to do that!  Today, it is on my list, and I WILL get it done (I think...).

Ok, so those aren't really games, but they are larger jobs, broken down into smaller tasks, with tiny rewards along the way.  I am in a bit of a funk today, and really needed to break things down to much smaller steps in order to accomplish anything today.  And, the next time you are feeling so down, lame, tired, or whatever that you just want to say, "Chuck it! I'm going back to bed!" instead, choose one chore or task, and break it down into several smaller steps.  Choose one tiny step, and accomplish that itty bitty goal.  Give yourself an itty bitty reward, then move on to another itty bitty goal with an itty bitty reward.  Eventually, you will have accomplished something larger, and will hopefully feel good about the results, even if you still feel like going back to bed!

There was a time in my life many years back, when JP was quite young, that I felt stuck in every possible way.  Even the simplest of tasks felt impossible and not worth doing.  So, I would just set myself to one TINY task.  Usually it involved cleaning a 2' x 2' section of the kitchen counter.  I would do that, give myself a little reward, then come back to do another 2' x 2' section.  Over the course of a the morning, my depression would ease a bit, though wouldn't go away entirely (2 years of therapy, and a year of anti-depressants helped it go away...mostly).  At the very least, I felt like I'd accomplished something, even it if was something small. 

Off to work on that timeline, then mix up the lemon-zucchini bread, then walk the dog while the bread bakes!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

UPDATED:  Nom nom nom!!!!  I have the lemon zucchini bread baking now, but I decided to go the cupcake/muffin route instead of baking a loaf.  And, oh my goodness!  Do you like mushrooms?  Do you like breaded mushrooms???  Droooooooolllllll....try these!  Super duper easy!  For the inspiration,  WITH dairy, recipe visit  HERE.  For a dairy free, but still cheesy tasting, version, keep reading:

Breaded Mushrooms

8oz pkg whole mushrooms, cleaned (mine were HUGE, so I cut them into quarters)
2 eggs
generous handful of breadcrumbs (I didn't measure them, sorry!)
1 Tbsp so of nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

If you haven't cleaned your mushrooms, or cut the big ones into halves or quarters, start by doing that.  To clean the mushrooms, just wipe them with a dishtowel.

Put the two eggs into a little dish, and whisk.

In a shallow bowl, or on a plate, mix the breadcrumbs, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and pepper.

Dunk the mushrooms in the egg.  Then transfer the egg coated mushrooms to the breadcrumb mix.  Your fingers will probably get all goopy and gross - wash your fingers off as needed in order to keep handling the mushrooms without accidentally pulling off the breadcrumb coating.  I found that it works best to drop the egg coated mushrooms into the breadcrumbs and press down a little.  Then flip them, and press again, flip and press again, until the mushroom pieces are well breaded.

Place the breaded mushroom pieces on a lined baking sheet (I just used a piece of parchment paper).  Bake for 8-10 minutes at 450F.

Allow to cool, and enjoy!

In the process of making the lemon zucchini muffins and breaded mushrooms, I completely destroyed all of my kitchen counter cleaning and dish washing progress!

Sugar coma...

I haven't been blogging much lately due to being insanely busy! I still tutor, still homeschool, am in my last term of graduate school AND I started a new job two weeks ago! Whew! I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

The new job is tutoring at a vocational college in Manhattan, and I have been loving going into the city three days per week! I get to eat my lunch at Central Park, enjoy seeing different aspects of the city everyday as I walk from Grand Central Station to my job (about a mile and a quarter each way!), and so much more!

On my most recent walk to work, I went by Rockefeller Center.  While most people were taking pictures of the ice skaters and the flags on display around the ice rink, I was busy taking pictures of the Lego store sign!  The boy and I adore Legos, and if you get up close you can see that the sign is actually made of little Lego people!

 

I also enjoy walking around when I have a bit of extra time, and seeing the little things that probably most people don't bother to notice.  If you are a fan of the early seasons of "Law and Order", then you will like the alternate name for West 53rd Street:

With this new job, I have decided that once per week I will bring home a treat for the lad.  This past Thursday, it was a treat for both of us, and it put me into a small sugar coma! Heeheehee...  Of course, later I had a horrible time sleeping!  Sigh...

I saw something on the news recently about Sprinkles Cupcakes...apparently favored by the rich and famous.  Well, I'm not rich, nor am I famous, but I thought I'd give Sprinkles a try anyhow!  Whooooaaaaa!  These cupcakes are so amazingly good!  They are expensive though, and super high in calories (like nearly 500 calories for some varieties!!!!), so they will not be a regular treat!  Super moist, super tasty, super good!  The young man and young woman working the counter during my visit were also very friendly and helpful.  I brought home 2 lemon cupcakes for JP, and got myself 2 vegan red velvet cupcakes (the only ones in the shop that are dairy free...).  WOWZA!  These were so good!

Not much homeschooling this past week...

We've both been sick this past week.  The boy was sick pretty much from Tuesday through today, and I started feeling ill on Thursday.  We got through some videos, some reading, and one math lesson, but that was it.  We were both just too tired!  So, instead of a blog post about anything home education related, I'm giving you food and a postcard.

My absolute favorite meal is mustard glazed salmon, rice, and wilted spinach with roasted red peppers.

For the mustard glaze, mix your favorite mustard with a bit of white wine, and brush over the top of your salmon, then bake or broil until the salmon is cooked, and flaking nicely.  For the rice, just prepare your favorite rice in your favorite way.  JP and I both love rice cooked in broth.  For the spinach and roasted red pepper, heat a bit of olive oil in a skillet.  Cut a roasted red pepper into small pieces, maybe 1/4 inch, and add to the oil.  Pile the skillet high with baby spinach, and season with a bit of salt and pepper.  A minced garlic clove is a great addition.  Carefully turn the spinach, trying not to spill any over the side - use three or four times the amount of spinach you think looks right.  It wilts down to next to nothing.  When all of the spinach is wilted, it is done.

A couple of nights ago, we had a "make do" meal which is what you get when you are too tired to make a real meal, or when you want to clean out the fridge.

We had one egg, a small bit of sausage, carrots, rice, and spinach.  I made wilted spinach with roasted red pepper for myself, and JP had raw spinach, but swiped a few of my roasted pepper pieces.  I have to tell you that it was hard to let JP have the egg, which I had scrambled.  I love scrambled eggs!  This was a simple meal to make when we both were feeling to tired to go to the store, and too tired to make a proper meal.  As you can see we also had raw baby carrots, and more rice...we eat a lot of rice, and a lot of spinach!

And, finally a postcard.  I recently sent out a bunch of postcards via the Postcrossing postcard swap, and have started to get cards in my box as well.  The most recent is from Veluwe, Netherlands:

Reorganizing the home and the homeschool...

I'm making up for my complete lack of new pictures in my last several really long blog posts...

This past week, I reorganized all of our homeschool materials, and our kitchen work space.  It used to look like THIS.  But, now it looks like this:

 

Our furniture is pretty much all mix and match junk since we don't know how long we'll be in New York.  I didn't want to buy anything that I either don't absolutely love and would be willing to tote elsewhere, or that I wouldn't be willing to get rid of should we move.  Put together this way, our junk furniture functions pretty well!  Two old kitchen tables side by side, a hutch without doors or inside shelf for books and random stuff...

 

A box on its side works well as a makeshift bookcase, and is perfect for holding binders.  I have materials arranged in binders by subject...

We've done some schoolwork since rearranging our workspace...

 

Filling out a science lab experiment page...

 

Eating homemade ice cream, made while learning about the movement of molecules, and water temperature...

We've also reorganized a few other areas of our apartment, but I forgot to take a before picture, so instead I have an "in progress" and "after" of our hall...

And, I'm leaving you with what we had for dinner tonight...puffed oven pancake...

 

You should probably eat your oven puffed pancake with a fork, but it was pretty yummy folded in half and eaten with my hands!  I love it with frozen raspberries, and a sprinkling of powdered sugar...yummy!

Homeschooling - Mixing it up, plus a recipe...

This is the very inconvenient place where most of my best ideas come to me:

Where is your "idea" place?  Is it convenient for you?  How do you compensate if it is not convenient?  I often take pen and paper into the bathroom and place them on the shelf above our toilet, and make sure my towel is nearby, just in case I need to dry off my hand and arm to write a note.

Today's brainstorm did indeed take place in the shower, but it was one of the few times I hadn't brought my pen and paper into the bathroom.  Thankfully, it wasn't too hard to remember...  We've been struggling  in our homeschool this year.  My son isn't enjoying the free flow approach that has been wonderful over the last few years.  But, he also doesn't want a lot of structure (nor do I!).  I've been a bit at a loss for what to do about this.  He is struggling to get his work done each day, and really hates the writing projects that I've had him doing.  For social studies, neither of us is inspired by any curriculum or materials that we've looked at, and the same is true for science.  In the past, neither of us had interest in unit studies, but I think we are going to give them a try...and, we will incorporate writing into the studies.

In addition to unit studies, we are going to alternate social studies and science.  We will start by trying every other week, but may adjust depending on how well this goes...  I'm going to give JP the option to choose which we start with.  Once he has chosen, I'll be giving him a list of ten topics to choose from, and then we will pull together materials, and if it is practical, will plan a field trip too.  I'm also going to ask that JP take notes so that he can fashion a report of some kind on each topic.  For some topics, it might be a straight essay style report.  For others, he may build a model to go with a shorter report.  We'll see...maybe he'll do a lapbook type of project for some topics.  I see this evolving as we go along.  I also see it being much more interesting than the approach we've been using!  Wish us luck!

(Amended: we are changing our math curriculum too!)

On to the recipe...while looking around for recipes a few weeks ago, I came upon a broccoli-garlic-pasta combination that seemed so yummy and easy that I just had to try making something similar!  I'm so glad I did!  This version is not vegan but is dairy free.  It would be very easy to make it vegan by just omitting the sausage.

Broccoli Sausage Cheezy Pasta
1 pound pasta
2 cups of broccoli florets, or bite sized pieces of broccoli
4 inch piece of sausage, cut into a dice
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
salt and pepper to taste

Cook your pasta according to the package directions.  While the pasta is cooking, steam your broccoli (I did it in the microwave - just put it in a microwave safe bowl with a couple of tablespoons of water.  Cover tightly with cling film/saran wrap.  Microwave for about 2 minutes.).  Also, while the pasta is cooking, cook your diced sausage.


Drain your pasta, and return it to the cooking pot (or put it in a large serving bowl).  Add the steamed broccoli, cooked sausage, olive oil, and minced garlic.  Stir to evenly distribute everything.  Add the nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper.  Stir well to distribute the nutritional yeast as it tends to clump up when it gets moist.  Taste, adjust the salt and pepper, and serve hot.


YUMMY!

On another note...if you haven't seen the notice already, we are closing our Etsy shop on December 15th.  We need to focus on other things right now...I hope to reopen our shop over the summer.  So, from now until the 15th, we are offering two deals:

• 25% off our entire shop with coupon code SHOPCLOSING at checkout.
• FREE US Priority shipping on all orders over $25 (after discounts) to US addresses. 

Bonus - if you live in the USA, you may combine the two deals! 

Visit our shop at http://maleaab.etsy.com for stationery, art cards, and more!  Great stocking stuffers for Christmas and little treats for other winter holidays, or just because! 

 

In the kitchen...

I am so glad this week is over!  It has been emotionally exhausting, and I've been fighting off a migraine for several days as well (maybe the two are related???).  So, instead of delving into something philosophical or educational, or whatever, I'm sharing some kitchen tips and ideas, poached eggs via two methods, and a bit of random stuff just for fun...

My regular readers may remember my son's request to learn to cook eggs in "every way."  Well, we got around to poached eggs and tried two methods: Alton Brown's "slide them in gently" and Julia Child's whirlpool frenzy.  Alton's is easier, but Julia's results in a prettier finished product:

Julia Child method on the left, Alton Brown on the right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Alton Brown method (read about in one of our cookbooks) called for cracking your egg into a small dish or ramekin, then gently sliding it into the simmering pot of water.  First of all, a bit scary because the only way to gently slide it in is to get your hand and the dish close to the surface of the really hot water.  But, we managed.  The result is the lumpy looking egg on the right.  The yolk somehow broke as we slid the egg in and the white went all gooey and spread out, so I used a spoon to try to push it all back into shape.  In fact, I threw away our first attempt because it was just gross and stringy bits of white with a cooked yolk.

The Julia Child method, called for whisking the water into a whirlpool frenzy and cracking the egg over the center of the vortex.  The method was supposed to yield a nicely rounded egg, which it did!  At first, I was a bit skeptical as there were bunches of stringy bits of white floating around, but once the whirlpool effect slowed, I saw that our egg had indeed kept a nice shape!  The hardest part was whisking and sliding the egg in without stopping or slowing the motion of the water too much - whisk like crazy, pull the whisk out, slip the egg in!  I did decide to crack the egg into a ramekin via Alton's suggestion and it was much easier than trying to crack it directly over the spinning water.

Next bit o' business....I mentioned nutritional yeast as a topping for popcorn.  This is the stuff we use, and it gives a lovely almost parmesan cheese flavor:

Have I mentioned that we really like jello?  Yep, we do...especially raspberry flavor, or lime flavor.  And, if we wait long enough, it goes on sale for 8-cents per large box! But, I hate to make a whole bowlful and have it gone in a day because a large bowl means less portion control.  Well, over this past summer we bought lots of packages of Italian ices (with coupons, and on sale), and I saved and washed the cups.  I also saved and washed yogurt cups (So Delicious brand coconut yogurt is amazing!).  They are the *perfect* size for jello servings!  Make your jello, then portion it out into the cups!  A large box of jello is perfect for eight servings.  Of course, you can also buy small plastic containers with lids that work well too...

And, maybe you have a problem with leftovers getting eaten when you had planned to save them for a meal later in the week?  When I make a dish that we both love, I purposely make extra and portion it out to be eaten for two meals during the week.  It is a bonus if I also end up with a snack portion.  Well, several years ago, while living at my mom's house, we had salmon for dinner - one of my all time favorite foods! - and there were leftovers.  My mom very rarely prepared leftovers for meals, so I assumed it was ok to eat the leftover salmon as lunch the next day.  Wow, was I wrong! I was in so much trouble! She had been saving it for another dinner.  But, how was I to know? No one told me, it wasn't labeled, and it was rare for us to have leftovers.  A few times we've had the same problem, with JP eating food I wanted to serve as another meal...so, last night, I labeled the leftovers and snack portion - a simple "NO" and "YES" were sufficient!  By the way, that is peppered beef goulash cooked in the crockpot, and leftover rice.  Although I prefer a vegetarian (even vegan) diet most of the time, I do love salmon, and the occasional meat dish (please don't hate me, veggie people of the world!)...

Last little tidbit, and then some fun postcards received this week...

JP was not feeling well this week, so I picked up some ginger ale for his tummy.  I used to love raspberry ginger ale but can't find it at any store (I think it was made by Schweppes but not positive...).  So, I bought the ginger ale, as well as a small bottle of juice (pomegranate-blueberry).  Oh my goodness!  Heavenly!!!

And, on to the postcard fun...we received three lovely cards this week, as well as a letter from my penpal in France.

From Belarus - a Russian fairy tale scene

The Baltic Sea, Poland

Hilarious card received from a girl in Great Britain

Geography - Landforms Notebook

As part of his Social Studies curriculum this year, I decided to have JP create a Landforms Notebook. When I was in the 3rd grade, we did a huge project on landforms. We learned about peninsulas, archipelagos, isthmuses, and more. Somehow, my son didn't get all of those lessons. I don't recall what land form he didn't know, but I was recently shocked when he asked for a definition. Since I learned all of those things in the 3rd grade, I assumed my son had to. Wrong! So, we are filling in a gap! Feel free to use this landforms notebook page for your own students. All I ask is that you not sell, or distribute the page, and please give credit where credit is due. This is my own creation, and I retain copyright. Feel free to refer people back to this page to print out the notebooking page themselves. Thanks! Clicking on the link will take you to Scribd.com where you can download and print the worksheet.

Landforms Notebook

On to other things...do you enjoy popcorn? Do you buy those prepackaged microwave things to pop your own? Don't do it! Instead, grab a clean paper bag and popcorn kernels. Measure out 1/4 to 1/2 cup of kernels, and pour them into the bag. Fold the top over tightly several times, and put it in the microwave. Hit your "popcorn" button, if you have one, or set the time, and push start! Stay nearby so you can listen (and smell) for the popcorn to be done popping. I used a paper bag that was a bit bigger than a lunch bag size and 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels. I had to pop my popcorn an extra minute (our "popcorn" button is 3 minutes), but it turned out terrifically! Light, and fluffy! I sprinkled nutritional yeast (gives a cheesy flavor and is perfect for those of us with a dairy allergy) over a bowlful, and JP melted some margarine and put that plus a bit of salt over his popcorn.

I have read that you can do the same thing with a bowl instead of a paperbag.  We don't happen to have any bowls the right size, with lids.  Forget those contraptions that are purposely for popping popcorn in the microwave too.  They are nice, but why bother when a paper bag or regular (microwave safe) bowl will do the job?

Sprinkled with nutritional yeast.

Did you catch my post on my crazy reading spree? If not, I'll briefly fill you in. I counted all of the books I have been reading, plus my haul from the library, and have 37 books on my reading list! As of today, I am done with three and have 34 more to go! My goal is to read them all (or at least the vast majority) by December 1st. As I finish books, I am putting a line through them, and adding the finish date in the original post. I'll periodically be posting my thoughts on what I've read...expect a post in a day or two about Suzanne Collins's Catching Fire, Jack Kerouac's Heaven and Other Poems, Nick Hornby's The Polysyllabic Spree, Ian McEwan's black dogs (lack of caps intended...), Jill Smolinski's The Last Thing on My List, and perhaps a few others...  What are you reading?

Please, pass the brownies...

I have a major league sweet tooth.  I could be quite happy eating sugar directly from the bag with a spoon.  When I bake brownies, I eat the entire pan myself in less than a day.  I've tried tricks like baking my brownies or cookies, and then freezing them, but it doesn't matter...I'll eat 'em frozen, two, three, four at a time.  I LOVE sugary treats!  If I ate all the sweets that I crave I would be a prime candidate for The Biggest Loser, would have a lot of rotten teeth, and probably wouldn't feel very good.  I'd also be a rotten role model for my son.  As a kid, I did eat spoonfuls of sugar...I would sneak into the kitchen and take a packed teaspoon of brown sugar at least once or twice per week.  I would have done it more frequently, but I didn't want to get caught, and was afraid of emptying the box too fast.  Shhh! Don't tell my mother!  Even today, I sneak into my own kitchen for the occasional spoonful, but not nearly as often as I used to.

Thankfully, I eat quite healthfully the majority of the time, and I have found a few ways to combat my sugar cravings.  I'd like to share my top three tips with you...

First, smoothies.  We make whole fruit smoothies quite frequently at our house.  We simply use fruit and fruit nectar.  I would skip the nectar, and use water or ice, but I don't like the texture as much - I have some texture sensitivity issues, but that's for another post...  For years I have bought strawberries in bulk when they are in season, washed them, and then frozen them.  But it didn't occur to me until very recently to do the same with other fruits!  By shopping the sales at my local grocery store, I've found that buying, prepping, and freezing the fruits and veggies myself, I can save quite a bit of money over buying them prepackaged and pre-frozen.  I've frozen whole bananas, in their skins in the past, but usually only when the bananas were overripe and only good for baking banana bread.  Now, I freeze just ripe bananas, nectarines, peaches, and more!  Peel and cut up your fruits into whatever size chunks your blender can handle.  Put them into freezer ziptop bags and toss them in the freezer until you need them!  So simple!  I try to cut everything in 1/2 inch chunks...

In the center of this picture, you can see (from top to bottom): strawberries, bananas, more bananas, nectarines and peaches (in the same bag), pineapple, and more strawberries.  On the right, a bag of frozen blackberries and raspberries.  On the left, in the foreground is a former hummus container that now houses garlic cloves in olive oil (did you know you could freeze fresh garlic? Just put it in olive oil first!), and on top a small container of lemon zest.  In the background on the left, a package of pita bread (2 packages for $2 at our local independent market!), and under that a container of leftover veggie noodle soup.

My second sugar cravings squasher is honey!  I choose raw, locally sourced honey as it not only helps my sugar cravings, but it also helps my seasonal pollen allergies (will post how at another time).  If I eat 1/2 teaspoon of honey every morning, I usually don't have such intense sugar cravings for the rest of the day. 

And, third, let's revisit that frozen fruit!  Next time blackberries, raspberries, or blueberries are on sale, grab a bunch!  Rinse them up, and lay them out on a cookie sheet or plate that will fit in your freezer.  Allow them to freeze through, and then gather them up into a freezer ziptop bag.  When a sugar craving hits, just grab a few of these frozen gems, and chomp away!  The raspberries are usually so intensely sweet that a tiny serving - just two or three berries - takes care of my craving!

MAIL CALL:  Junk mail today...a vitamins and supplements catalog.  As it wasn't any brand I'd ever heard of, I threw it in the recycling bin.  Reminds me though - I plan to head to the local health shop and buy some nutritional yeast, not because I feel a need to use it as a supplement, but rather because I crave the semi-cheesy flavor it imparts to some dishes (look for a "goldfish" cracker recipe next week!).

WHAT'S FOR DINNER?  At the dinner hour, we were at the home of one my tutoring students.  We all met to plan this coming semester for my student.  It was a great, and productive meeting, but I didn't plan for dinner tonight.  On our way to the meeting, I let JP get a slice of pizza, and before we left, I ate a bowl of multi grain Cheerios's cereal with vanilla rice milk.  Since tutoring starts back on Tuesday, I have been scouring the internet for make ahead meals, and crock pot meals.  

Next week, I will have posts for you on bullying, Facebook friendships and etiquette, a homeschool roundup, themed potlucks and cook-alongs, meal planning, and some poets and painters. 

Schnofelurpalumphagus...

...is the word of the day.  Do you ever make up words?  Or, try to invent your own language?  We do it all the time at our house.  The new words and language don't have to have real meaning attached.  Instead, just make them up and use the tone and volume of your voice, combined with your expression and body language to convey meaning.  This is a fun game when the kids are bored, or you feel a need to interact in a different way.  Give it a try.  Walk up to your child right now, and say a random made up word, but put real emotion and energy into it.  Then, see how they react!  Give it a try, and let me know what happens!  My son and I have had entire conversations just using made up words and noises, and by observing one anothers body language and facial expressions.  A fun, easy way to relax and connect...

Yesterday, I planned out our first six weeks of the homeschool year...we won't actually start lessons until September 6th, however.  That is the day my grad school classes begin, and the day my tutoring students go back to school...seemed like a natural start to the homeschool year as a result.  I'm very excited for all of us!

Although my classes don't start until next Tuesday, I volunteered today for new student orientation (this will be my second year in the program).  It was great fun to see old friends, and make new ones.  I took the boy with me this evening for a new student welcome dinner - basic green lettuce salad, grilled chicken, fruit salad, dinner rolls, lemonade, grilled veggies.  Then, I took the boy to CVS for junk food - he's been good, he deserves a treat.

To make up for the lack of pictures in yesterday's curriculum planning post, I have four pictures for you today...but no mail call...again...I'm considering getting a P.O. Box and posting my address on this blog just to entice you all to send me snail mail...no, just kidding.  It would be nice to get more mail, but I don't want to spend money on a P.O. Box.  It would defeat the purpose of the careful budgeting that I've been doing over the past two months.

Did I mention previously that we were without cold water for a couple of days last week?  It had nothing to do with Hurricane Irene.  Just dumb luck - the bathroom above ours had a leak AND the boiler in our building had a burst pipe.  That translated to no running cold water for about two and a half days.  Our hot water was so hot that it was probably illegal...as a result, I ended up with this:

and this:

But, I also ended up with this:

I had a few zucchini about to go bad in the fridge, and decided to make zucchini bread.  Don't you just adore those baking dishes?  I will do a separate post on them at another date, as I am trying to research them a bit and find out if they are worth anything.  I scored them for free from a friend who is moving out of state and getting rid of almost everything she owns!  They are definitely vintage...and so cute!

Will post the zucchini bread recipe another day...want to tweak it just a bit more first.

Video games with a side of cabbage and carrot egg rolls...

We have been without cold water, or a flushable toilet for about 36 hours.  I was beginning to really despair when I finally! got through to the building management company today.  Apparently there was a major pipe burst in the boiler room.  At the same time, repairs were happening in the apartment above ours.  No warning about the water being off...no notice that there was an emergency and we'd be without water.  Just BLAMMO...  Well, thankfully, the water was all back on about 20 minutes after I hung up with the management company.  They also assured me that a contractor would be calling me about some other repairs that I've been pestering them about...fingers crossed that the contractor actually calls and can show up in the next few weeks!

Anyhoooo...with the water drama resolved, I was able to wash up a massive amount of dirty dishes, clean the counters, and get on with life.  JP didn't seem too bothered by the water issue, and primarily spent the last day and a half with his new video game, Deus Ex.  Since it was his birthday on Wednesday, I allowed him to stay up late and play the game as much as he wanted on that day only.

Before you run out and get this game for your kid, you should know that it is rated M - and with very good reason.  Of all the rated-M games that JP has expressed interest in, this one has by far been the most violent and bloody.  The online reviews that I read all did a poor job of expressing just how bloody this game can be, not to mention the swearing - more than I expected.  Before I allow JP to get any game rated T or M, I make him figure out why the games have those ratings, and to read multiple reviews, including those posted at Common Sense Media.  He has to convince me that the games are ok before I allow him to play them, or buy them.  I think we both weren't entirely prepared for Deus Ex.

That said, however, we talk frequently about video games and game violence, language, drug use, sexual themes, and all aspects of the games (and of movies...).  We talk about the fact that these are just games; they aren't real.  We talk about the fact that some people get so wrapped up in their games and in these fantasy worlds that they begin to obsess and become game addicts.  We talk about the pros and cons of gaming in general.  When was the last time you had a talk with your child about these types of things?  As a result of our discussions, my son has made up his own mind about some games being too violent or graphic.  He's told a friend, "Dude, I think you are a little too into this.  It's just a game.  We should take a break and do something else for a while."  Talk to your kids...they need to hear you.  Talk to your kids so that they are empowered to make smart choices when you aren't around.  Your kid may not want to hear it, but you need to talk to them anyhow...

Enough soap boxing...on to the cabbage and carrot egg rolls!  Originally, I had planned to make these for dinner last night, but with the water drama, that didn't happen.  And, I was so excited to have the water on this morning that I couldn't wait until dinner time to cook! These turned out so much better than I expected!  JP is allergic to soy sauce, and I don't like oyster sauce, plum sauce, or many other sauces that seem to be in or accompany many egg roll recipes.   So, this recipe is without those additions...  These came out tasting fresh and had just the right amount of crunch to go with the soft veggies inside.  I should also tell you that I am terrified of frying anything in a pan of oil, so I did more turning and fiddling than necessary while cooking these.

Amended to add:  I have been reading egg roll recipes all week, and although I used just what was in my own fridge, and took measurements, tasted and adjusted, etc along the way, I realized today that my mind was also guiding me along the lines of recipes I had read, in particular the peanut sauce recipe from Love Veggies and Yoga.  You can read the original recipe HERE.

Cabbage and Carrot Egg Rolls with Sunflower-Sesame-Ginger Dipping Sauce
1 package of egg roll wrappers (I used 8 out of the entire package of Nasoya brand wrappers.)
1/2 of a red cabbage (mine came out to about 3/4 of a cup)
1 large carrot, peeled (about 2/3 of a cup)
1/4 C sprouts (We had alfalfa sprouts on hand, and I packed the 1/4 cup.)
4 scallions, including green parts
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil for frying (or your favorite type of oil)


Shred your cabbage and carrot.  Make sure the cabbage and carrot pieces are small enough that they won't rip your wrapper when you fold it up.  Dice the scallions.  I like to peel my carrot, and then just use the peeler to keep going and make thin curly strips from the carrot instead of bothering with a knife.  You could also grate the carrot.  If you haven't minced your ginger, do so now...peel the skin off first.

Add 1 to 2 Tbsp olive oil to your frying pan.  Add all of your vegetables, including the sprouts and ginger.  Cook, stirring and turning frequently, until soft. Taste and adjust seasoning by adding salt or pepper, if you like. Set aside to cool.


Once your veggies have cooled, place an egg roll wrapper on the counter in front of you, fill and roll according to package directions (mine had a nice graphic on the back, Nasoya brand...available in our grocery's produce section).  


Pour a few Tbsp of olive oil in your frying pan, and gently place a few egg rolls in the hot oil, turning occasionally as they become golden brown and crispy.  I pour in just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan, and no more...I am way to chicken, and recall an incident involving a friend's sister being badly burned by spattering hot oil.  Once browned on all sides, set aside on a plate layered with paper towels to soak up any excess oil (I used so little oil there was not much to soak up!).

To make the dipping sauce:
1/3 C sunflower seed butter (or peanut or almond butter...whatever you prefer)
1/4 C maple syrup
1/4 C vinegar (just plain white vinegar works fine)
1/4 C sesame oil (the flavor really does make a big difference!)
2 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1/4 tsp chili powder (I found the sauce was a bit too sweet without the chili powder...the chili powder gives a little heat and kick)


Use a blender (I used my immersion blender) to combine the ingredients until smooth.  My sauce turned out very thick.  You could thin it with more syrup, vinegar, oil, or even just plain water.  Taste, and adjust seasoning.


Serve two or three egg rolls with a small dish of dipping sauce, and enjoy!


Our mail has been coming quite late so I don't have a mail call entry for today...