G5 Weekend Report

Hope everyone had a great weekend. We had a nice relaxing weekend.  Friday I cooked an enormous dinner, which I enjoyed making, thoroughly.  Everything from scratch, just as I like to do.  I suppose I was inspired by watching the movie Tortilla Soup on Thursday while I was folding what seemed like a mountain of laundry.  I spent most of the afternoon cooking.  I made corn tortillas, roasted salsa, tortilla soup, enchiladas beans and rice.  I was a little disappointed that the tortillas had kind of a funny aftertaste.  I am guessing because the masa may have gone stale.  It had been in the cabinet for quite a while.  I didn't know that it could, but I guess it's just as perishable as anything else.  I made a mole enchilada sauce and a Mexican beef roast as filling.  The roast practically fell apart when I was preparing the meat to go in the chili mole sauce for the enchiladas, which is just the way I like it.  Ethan liked the "chippy soup" (tortilla soup) as we called it, which was very surprising.  It's garnished with creama (kinda of sour cream) and cilantro.

Saturday we went to Kaylee's first real playdate (meaning a play date that was actually scheduled for her).  We went to a meet up with the families from my speech class.  It was the first time we had actually seen all the kids in person.  We get to watch videos of each other utilizing the techniques we learn in class.  The kids were so cute!!  Kaylee had a really good time.  So did Ethan!  He didn't want to leave.  They had other children that Ethan played with that were more his age.  Kaylee really like playing with our host's eldest daughter.  It was nice to see her get some time in with a "big sister" type.  The girl also seemed thrilled since she has all younger brothers.  She was fascinated to get to play with a little girl.  We headed out to the outlet mall after that to pick up some much needed clothes for Mark and Kay.  

We relaxed the rest of the day.  We watched AFV for the first time with Ethan.  Man, was it a crack up to see him laughing at all the video clips.  I think it was funnier to watch him react then it was to watch the videos themselves!

Sunday, we made some time to teach Ethan how to ride a bike with training wheels.  Javi never rides his bike.  He just never really took to it.  He's always been more interested in his scooter or skate boards.  Although the bike is too big for him, he did a really good job pedaling.  We decided it was time to get Ethan a bike of his own, so I think I will take a look at the second hand sports shop to get him a little 12" bike.  He won't need it for more than a year or two at best, so we thought it better not to spend too much. 

Here's a clip of him riding with Mark teaching him.

Delayed G5 Weekend Report

We had a pretty full weekend.  Friday was a long day with Kay's MRI.  I took Ethan and Kaylee out to grab some lunch when we got home from the hospital and we did some grocery shopping at Trader Joe's (health food store).  That evening we just watched movies and hung out, nothing too exciting since we were wiped from the early morning at the hospital.

Saturday we took the kiddos to the train park and to lunch at the Hamburger Factory.  We always love going there.  It was such a beautiful day too!

It was such a nice day, Mark decided to take the boys to the pool so I could get some cleaning done while Kaylee took a nap.  It was nice to be able to clean one room with out worrying that another one was getting blown up at the same time :)

I also started purging closets, spring cleaning!  The kids have pretty much out grown their entire closets.  Ethan has especially been stretching lately.  Good thing I have plenty of "Javi-downs" to give to Ethan.  It does help with clothing costs and I only save the ones that are in good shape.  We donate the rest.

The kids all helped daddy put together Javi's k'nex roller coaster.  They worked on it for three days straight, but after all that, it's missing two pieces!!  Oh well, they had fun building it.  Especially Kaylee!!

Sunday was a relaxation day for the kiddos.  For mommy it was a Costco day.  It seemed like we were out of all of our paper products, paper plates, paper towels, napkins, tissue, etc.  So $265 we headed home with a trunk full of bulk.  Thank goodness that is only a once every few month purchase. Our typical Costco bill for the month is about $150, since I usually only go once.  I know the days of my shopping at a regular grocery store are numbered, with the way our kids are starting to eat.  Javi can mow through food like nobody's biz, since he eats about every 2 hours.  This kid is like a bottomless pit!  So that means more bulk, and less variety, but easier on the pocket book.

Sunday afternoon, I went to the Indian market.  Oh my, the aroma of the east was intoxicating.  I picked up some spices, naan and almond ice cream for that evening's specialty dinner.  My friend, Natalie was coming over for dinner and a movie (postponed to Sunday, since Ethan was sick on Thursday).  I made Butter Chicken, a popular Indian entrée served over basmati rice.  It's very rich and very flavorful.  Mark said it tasted like it was from an Indian restaurant, which is always one of my fav compliments.  I also made some masala raita for dipping the naan.

Nice weekend with the fam.  Hope yours was great too, now that we are half way to the next weekend!!

G5 Weekend Report

Better late than never! I actually had this post ready last night, but had one video that had to be uploaded. I got a migraine and never finished it ;) Hope everyone had a wonderful Superbowl weekend.  Friday and Saturday were pretty uneventful since two out of three kiddos were sick.

Friday, I made some Greek chicken avgolemono soup for Mark and I for lunch.  I had prepared chicken souvlaki (Greek marinated chicken breast) for dinner for ladies' dinner and a movie night on Thursday, so we had a lot of leftovers.  It was d'lish soup!  We also had some leftover pita and tzatki that we munched on with the soup.  

That afternoon, we had a "Superhero Afternoon" boys played a little live action Super Smash Bros with their plushy Sonic and Mario dolls.  We also watched Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer.  I also worked on the football cake a little.  I baked the cake part.  I rested most of the evening and went to bed early, since I too was feeling a little under the weather.

Saturday morning, Ethan and I made the chocolate buttercream for the cake.  Yum!  It smelled heavenly.  Ethan was the official taste tester.  It is so cute to see how interested he is in cooking and baking.  He would rather cook with me in the kitchen than play video games.  He actually shut off Wii when I asked if he wanted to cook with me!!  

Javi went to Bates' Nut Farm with his cousin, Nana and Aitona for the day.  Javi's dad left for the CHP academy in Sacramento on Saturday and will be there for the next six months.  He will be coming home every other weekend, so Javi will still get to see him, but it's definitely going to be a big change for him.  It was a nice distraction for Javi to do something fun with his grandparents for the day.

Daddy brought home some McD's for lunch and a much needed ice coffee for Mama.  It totally hit the spot and I felt recharged to finish off decorating the cake.

I stayed up pretty late on Saturday night preparing food for our party on Superbowl Sunday.  I made all the dips, veg tray, etc.

Sunday the kids woke up early and we played for most of the early morning.  Then it was go time for mama.  I started cleaning, more food prep, and setting up for the party.  I made a much needed coffee run to Starbucks for daddy and I.  Since the kids had gotten up early, I was sooo ready for a cuppa.

Our party kicked off around 2:30.  We served food from just about every ethnic group.  I had made some lumpia, pizza, wings, hot artichoke dip, garlic fries, my famous roasted salsa, asian pineapple teriyaki meatballs, hummus & pita, and of course, cake for dessert.  

We had a really good time.  There was about 15 of us, including the little people.  Even did a little karaoke during half time.  Here are the pics and vid.  Mark & the boys were very elusive and managed to skip out on the pics and the vids.

Easy GFCF Spicy Meatball Soup

This one was a fav of Javi's.  He ate three bowls for dinner the other night and had two bowls after school yesterday.  He's a growing boy!

1 jar Organic Basil Marinara (We use Muir Glen)

2 jars Organic Chunky Salsa (We used 1 jar of homemade and one Muir Glen Med, woo, spicy)

1lb Turkey meat browned and seasoned with garlic and salt

32oz of water (Hint: two empty jars of salsa is about 32oz)

Brown turkey and add to simmering wet ingredients.  Simmer on med-low for 20 minutes and serve.

Easy week night meal, since there is next to no prep and leftovers freeze well.  You can add more marinara and less salsa if you like the spice on the lighter side.  You can also add veggies like zucchini,  carrots, peas, even add a puree of veggies for those kiddos that are picky eaters.  The taste of the soup would cover up the puree.  You can also make it fun with a "topping bar" like chili.  GFCF sour cream, green onions, shredded rice cheese. Yum!

10 days to go!!

We baked some cookies for today's 12 days activity.  We made Gingerbread, GFCF Sugar Cookies (click for link to that recipe, in my opinion, they could have used some Xanthan Gum and I put about 1/4cup more sugar)  and these yummies, that were Mark's fav, Toffee Oatmeal Chocolate Chip!  Sounds weird, but they were delish!  I found the recipe in Cooking Light in their 12 Christmas cookie recipes section of this month's mag.  I altered it, of course.  Me being me!!  I hate to follow recipes, they are merely a suggestion to me ;)  So here's what I changed:

I used butter flavored Crisco instead of margarine and I added an extra tsp, Almond Extract instead of Vanilla, Added refined baker's sugar about 1/4 c  and just a handful more golden brown sugar (the recipe wasn't sweet enough for my tastes) and semi-sweet chocolate chips.  

Ok, so they probably aren't very light any more, but what the heck, it's Christmas!!  

Here are the pics.  Our friend Audrey came over to bake with us.  She brought an apron for Ethan, so we all had them on.  Ethan was asleep for most of the baking, but we did get a few pics while he was awake and he of course got to be the official taste tester!

G5 Weekend Report

Ok, so I know I missed last weekend's report, but I'm trying to make it a regular habit. Mama Skates sets a good example ;)

Ethan and Kaylee's sickies are still lingering, so we didn't do much with the kiddos.  Ethan is battling it the most and is still home sick with me.  Let's see...

Friday, we did our 12 days, even though I know it was really 13 days 'til Christmas, I wanted to make sure Javi got to participate before going to Dad's for the weekend.  We "elfed" the kids with Elf Yourself.com as you can see from the previous post.  We had left over pizza and watched movies until we passed out.  We also finished up our holiday cards and mailed them out.  So, look for them in the mail this week!

Saturday, Kaylee and I headed out  to the mall. It was a mad house, just as I thought it would be.  Thank goodness I had a yummy Starbucks coffee to enjoy while battling the crowd.  We went on a three hour shopping sprint.  We did get a lot of stuff, but we have to return some of it sometime this week.  I purchased a Apple Airport Base Station 802.11 N for Mark, but he decided we should wait on such a big purchase with Christmas and Ethan's birthday coming up.  We donated at the Epilepsy Foundation's stand at the mall and got a shopping bag, gingerbread house and two cookies to decorate.  Dr. Neuro's admin was working the stand, so we finally got to meet her in person.  We actually have an appointment tomorrow.  Saturday night was ladies night for Mommy. I made some yummy spinach balls and took a bottle of wine over to my friend Carrie's.  We had a lot of fun.

Sunday I picked up some McD's breakfast for the whole family and some much needed McCafe's coffee.  We enjoyed our 'hashfries' as Ethan  calls them.  Yummy!  The best part of the breakfast, besides the coffee.  Then it was a mad dash to the supermarket to pick up some ingredients for the cake I made for the neighborhood holiday party.  A gift from Tiffany's which I thought would also be holiday neutral ;0)  

Sunday night, I walked over to the neighbor's house with cake and a bottle of wine in hand (Mark decided he would prefer to stay home).  It was a great turn out.  It was probably the best turn out ever as far as the holiday neighborhood parties go.  They had a lot of delicious food including a full ham dinner.  Yum!  I hadn't really eaten a whole lot that day just to prepare for it.  I ended up just having a little nibble of each thing. There was some goat cheese pizza with sun dried tomatoes and really delish artichoke jalapeno dip, just to name a couple of my favs.  Everyone was afraid to cut in to my cake.  They said it was too pretty to eat, which of course it was no big deal.  Nothing in comparison to a Sharon original ;)  I knew I could count on my neighbor, Jon, who always boasts about my cakes, to hack in to it.  I made a cake for his daughter's bday a couple years ago and I always take cake to all the hood parties.  He ended up having two slices!  It was half gone by the time I left.  Thanks I'm sure to Sharon's wonderful BC frosting recipe.  Mmmmm....I love that frosting and I hate frosting!!  What I can't figure out though is how you get the butter cream cakes so darn smooth!!  I will have to pick the expert's brain about that ;)

This AM I wasn't feeling to hot, due I'm sure to the three glasses of wine I had at the party.  I am becoming a little bit of a wino this holiday season.  I really enjoy wine.  They had such a huge selection last night, that I felt like I was at a tasting, which is why I ended up having a few glasses.  

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Easy GFCF Chicken Soup

1 Celery Stalk, finely chopped

1/2 Carrot, finely chopped

1 Container of Pacific Natural Free Range Organic Chicken Broth

1/2 Package of Hormel Natural Choice Precooked Grilled Chicken Breast Strips

1 pinch of powdered garlic (check packaging to ensure contents are GF)

1 pinch of onion powder (check packaging to ensure contents are GF)

1 pinch of pepper

1 pinch of thyme

Cook in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes, then add GF noodles or instant rice and cook to desired tenderness.

Kaylee Dances to Elmo

Kaylee was so cute this morning.  She was playing with her little Elmo toy and shaking her hips.  I love to see her dancing.  It gives me hope that I will someday have my little cheerleader.  I was in dance and cheerleading and I always wanted a daughter that would share the same love for dancing.  

Of course, I know kids do their own thing, but I think I can hope that I will have my little dancer for a few years while she is little. 

The therapist says that her love for dancing will really help her want to walk.  Maybe we can find a dance class where she is allowed to use her walker if she still needs it as a toddler.

On another note, I did speak with the service coordinator from the Regional Center.  He recommended a place in Poway (the next town) that sells gently used medical and handicapped assistance items.  I am going to try to see if I can find them on the web today (he didn't have the name of the biz).  They may have the posterior pedi walker I am looking for.  All her therapists agree that she will probably take off and run with a walker.  She is in to everything already, so I can only imagine.

The service coordinator also said to let him know all her measurements for orthotics and we can order them through the Regional Center.  Apparently, it's difficult to get a good fit for the shoe in an infant size and they have a place that does it.   Kaylee is still pronating her feet, which we thought over time it may correct itself, but it hasn't.  PT is going to see how she walks with hard bottom shoes before she makes a final decision.

Well, we are off to Costco in a few.  Going to do some cleaning and cake making today.  Have some friends and family that could use a little pick me up, so I am going to try out the cupcakes in a jar.  My friend Sharon makes delicious cupcakes in a jar and the most beautiful cakes I have ever seen, so we are using her recipe.  I may try a GFCF version too.

Menu Planning

In my latest effort to cut costs, I have had menu planning on my to do's for about a week. I have been putting it off, doing random internet searches on the subject mostly, but I haven't actually planned one yet. I usually just fix whatever sounds good, or whatever the kids want (with in reason). Javi will usually say chicken or pasta.

After my investigation, most say to plan your menu around the store fliers that come in the mail. You plan according to what's on sale. That can be challenging for us, because I try to cook fairly healthy as much as possible, and the stuff on special isn't usually organic, unless I am buying from the health food store. Today was a good day to shop organic (which is why I went), there was an organic sale at our local health food store, Henry's. A lot of their organic produce and organic packaged items were on sale. I definitely noticed a difference. I had a full cart and it was $89. I really spread it around and got a mix of meat, veg, frozen and packaged, so I felt like it was a good variety. That will be our food for the week. I should be able to make a roast, make a stew out of leftovers and make some pasta and tonight we are having a chicken and veg stuffing casserole.

I love Robin Miller's show on the food network because she really deals with the concept of menu planning. Making extra portions and banking items for later in the week to use for a different recipe. Unfortunately, I hardly ever get to watch the whole show, if at all because it comes on when I have to pick up Ethan. Fortunately, all the recipes are available on the website I linked to.

Anyway...my reason for the post was to ask all of you how you plan or if you plan your menus for your family for the week. Do you have any interesting tips, tricks or resources that you use? Email me or post a comment with your response. I will share all your answers in a post.

Thanks!!

and then there was one...

Only one sinful, fabulous, decadent, cupcake in a jar left. Whatever will we do???? I think we will need to order cupcake in a bucket!!!

Ok, so it's not exactly a whole one left. Mark ate half the strawberry and left the other half for me. I took a couple bites of it and OMG!! It's was hard to stop at a couple bites. I had to exercise complete restraint not to try to shove the whole jar in my mouth.

The kids really enjoyed the cake too. Here's a couple shots of them enjoying. It was a lazy Sunday, so we stayed in our pj's. I had a migraine all morning, so we didn't get dressed until after lunch.





Sharon, I really think you have got something here. I think you should sell these so every one can enjoy your cake, world wide. It's a great gift, for almost any occasion. I'd rather have one of those over flowers any day. It was just perfect. The coolest part, was you could take a few bites, seal it and take a few bites later, if you can restrain yourself that is. Such a neat idea!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for sending us some mama love'n in a jar. Hands down the best cake ever, and I have had a lot of cake!

Cooking with kiddies

We made chocolate peanut butter cookies with kisses on top.  It was fun.  Javi did a perfect job cracking the eggs again and Ethan just loves using my Kitchen Aid mixer.  He knows exactly how to use it too.  He raises the bowl and starts it off slow just like I taught him.

Yay!  I finally got a good pic of Javi too!!

BTW...the kids had their school pics already, Ethan's was today and Javi's was last Thursday, so family, you will finally get some new portraits of the kids.  I'm going to take Kaylee to get her 1 year portraits done (now that she is almost 14 mo, better late than never).

Soups On!

Today was another one of our cooking days.  I try to do a little "cooking class" with the boys at least once a week.  It really helps their sensory issues, builds self esteem, sense of teamwork and following instructions.  Best of all, it gives me a little extra fun time with my growing boys who will some day leave mama's nest.  At least I will feel better knowing they will always know their way around a kitchen, so they will never starve!  

We made Chocolate Marble Banana Bread.  It was Javi's job to read the first four ingredients. As you can see, with the little pics, the last four ingredients were for Ethan's part, since he is just learning to read.  They did an amazing job taking turns pouring in the different ingredients, mixing, and really following the recipe.  Each of them got to crack an egg (of course we cracked in to a separate bowl, just in case the shell fell in).  Javi managed to crack the egg perfectly this time with our little tap tap crack song.  NO SHELLS IN THE BOWL!!

Ethan had a really good time mashing the bananas.  Here he is mashing away.  The ever illusive Javi managed to sneak out of the picture just as daddy was snapping it!

Here's the finished product.  Javi wouldn't try them because he said they smelled funny, which is unlike Javi.  He's not real big on sweets, which is fine with me.  He prefers hard candy if he does have a sweet tooth.

Of course, my little sweetie, Ethan, could barely wait until they came out of the oven!  He would have eaten the whole pan if I let him!  It was so cute to see them patiently staring at the oven like it was a TV set, watching the muffins go from goo to bread.

Then we worked on the next cooking project, Chicken Gumbo.  By this time, Javi was totally bored with cooking and was on to the next activity, but my "lil chef" Ethan was there to lend a helping hand.  I was teaching him all about the different ways to chop and what each was called.  He learned julianne, dicing and mincing.  I even let him do a few hand over hand chops.  He learned how to clean celery, how onions have layers, and how the outsides of onions feel kind of like paper.  He also learned the hard way that onions give off a gas that turns the moisture in your eye in to sulphuric acid and that's why your eyes burn when you chop onions.  Just a trick, if you run water or boil water near where you are chopping, it will lessen the effects of the onion because the gas will be attracted to the moisture.  I think I learned that trick from reading the book "Like Water for Chocolate", one of my favorite books, besides the Harry Potter series.  

Ethan learned all about making a roux, and how important it is to stir it, which was his favorite part (I had the heat off when he stirred).  He just seemed to, if you will pardon the pun, eat up every piece of info I gave him.  I think we have the next Food Network Star in training here :)  I guess I was a regular "Lady and Sons" today!!  Which by the way is one of my fav's on Food Network and where I got the idea to make gumbo today.

My inspiration for making the chicken gumbo was due in part to my neighbor, Andi being in the hospital.  Her kids spent the night last night while her hubby took her to the ER.  They ended up admitting her due to a ruptured appendix.  Ouch!  

I knew she would need some good ole comfort food while she was on the mend, so we made this dish because it freezes very well.  I hope she gets well and comes home really soon!!  Until then, we'll make sure her kids and hubby are fed and cared for.  We sure enjoyed having it for dinner too!  I made enough to feed a small army.  

Who knows, maybe the boys and I will make a cookbook with all our little recipes :)

 

His father's son...and weekend agenda

Mom: What are you doing honey?

Ethan: I'm getting ready. (As he is packing up the "trunk" in Kaylee's princess car)

Mom: What are you getting ready for?

Ethan: I'm going to work.

Mom: Are you pretending to be daddy?

Ethan: Yep, I gotta go. See ya later Mommykins!  Have a great day! (Then he drives away blowing me kisses from the princess car.  Mind you, he is only wearing a t-shirt and underoos, so it was too darn funny)

What makes this even funnier is, it's exactly what Mark says before he walks out the door everyday.

Kids are such a crack up!! LOL

This weekend's agenda:

My friend Carrie is coming over for dinner tonight.  We are going to make meatless tacos (she is a vegan and in to the natural stuff too.  It's nice to have an ally:)  She is way more extreme than us though), beans and rice.  We are going to make some fresh salsa with the tomatoes my neighbor grew (they felt guilty that they picked our plums, so they brought us stuff from their garden) and the peppers my uncle grew in their garden.  I also made some healthy rice crispy treats for our kids.  Recipe below.  No hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup!

Tomorrow, I think we will go to the farmer's market and then go on the train park to take a ride.  Our usual Saturday :)  I had planned to take the boys to go see the new Star Wars cartoon movie, but I thought it would be a nice outing for Ethan and Daddy to do without the girls.  What do you think, honey?  Then I can get some stuff done around the house.  I know our little daddy's boy would love a solo trip to see his favorite geek flick.

Sunday, maybe a picnic at the winery?  We haven't been there in a while and I have been craving some wine and cheese.  Don't know, maybe we will just bum around the house.

RECIPE FOR PEANUT BUTTER BROWN RICE CRISPY SQUARES:

1tbsp Earth Balace Vegan Shortening

1/3c Agave Nectar (natural sweetener, similar to honey, has a low glycemic index)

1/2c Brown Sugar

1c Natural Peanut Butter

2c Barbara's Puffed Brown Rice Organic Cereal

Heat the shortening, agave nectar and the brown sugar in a large sauce pan over medium heat until all the sugar is melted with out any lumps, stirring constantly.  Then add the peanut butter and heat until it melts into a thick, but smooth sauce.  Remove from heat.  Then pour in about half of the brown rice cereal and stir with a wooden or silicon spoon.  When the first lot of cereal is mixed in well, add the rest of the cereal.  

Line a 13x9" pan with wax or parchment paper and dump the mixture in.  Take another piece of wax or parchment and flatten out the mixture until it covers the pan.  Refrigerate for about two hours and then cut with a pizza cutter in to bars.  Enjoy!

Wall-E cake

Jav hasn't seen it. He saw part of it, but I didn't finish it until after bedtime, it will be a surprise. He was really excited about it yesterday, that's what it's all about. I love to see his little face light up. He usually starts jumping up and flapping he gets so excited, which is always cool. Today I have to make giant choc chip cookie that will go under Wall-e. Javi hates cake.

Best Garlic Bread Ever!

Here's the recipe:

Take a good loaf of hearty country bread. I like to use ciabatta bread. Split the bread in half, so that you can spread the garlic mix on the bread.

In a medium size bowl, mix:

1/4-1/3 cup of light mayonnaise

1 heaping tsp of minced garlic (I like roasted organic garlic)

3 tbsp of fresh grated parmesan cheese

Spread liberal amounts of the spread on the bread and bake in a 375° oven on a cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes.

I find that eating very aromatic food when you are stuffy, not only opens up the nasal passages, but it also allows you to taste your food! I find that using mayo is way more flavorful than using butter, plus it stays fluffy on the bread, instead of sinking in to the bread completely and making a greasy mess.

Potsticker Recipe

Ok, so I promised to post the recipe for potstickers, so here it is:

Recipe and more on how to fold, cook prepare a dip.

As usual, I did modify the recipe to fit to our taste.  I added a little more hoisin, a tiny bit less tofu, and instead of using garlic chive (couldn't find it at the market) I used green onion.  I also minced everything (garlic, ginger, onion, green onion).  I think the recipe says to dice the onion.  I have kids, so I though they would be more likely to eat it if it didn't have big chunks of anything.  Also, my Grandparents aren't big on onion, so I wanted to make sure it tasted good minced when I make it again on Saturday.

I am so proud of Javi for being open to new food.  Even with the Autism and sensory issues.  A few years ago, he pretty much only ate chicken nuggets, french fries and pancakes (Ethan's current diet).  Now he eats pretty much everything.  We just couldn't be more happy about that.  It's a good thing too, because he will be going to Spain every two years or so with his Dad's (Aita, Basque for Dad) family.  He did really well when he went last summer.  I think we will get there with Ethan. Oh, how I wish we could afford to whisk our children away to a foreign country to give them a real cultural experience. Well, maybe someday ;) Ethan would probably starve to death if we took him now. They would have to have a McDonald's near by. Ahh...the food in foreign countries. Mark and I strive to visit foreign countries just so we can eat. Mark is much more adventurous than me. He is more like the guy from Bizzare Foods, but I too am getting a little more in to eating cultural foods.  One of my two favorite things in the world is lumpia and pancit.  Although, not exactly healthy, it sure does taste good!!  It is food that is healthy for the soul.

I did get some great suggestions at parent education night the other night.  I swear I will post about it soon.  I have a lot of great info, I just haven't had time.  There is a lot to post, so I need a good hour to organize my thoughts.  I just haven't had that kinda time this week.  It's going to be another full day today.  Lots of running around for teacher appreciation.  It's the last day, so next week will calm down, hopefully!!

Cultural Experience at Seafood City

Today, I decided to open up my test kitchen to making some potstickers
or Asian dumplings. I will be making an Asian fusion meal on Saturday
for the family (mom, sister and grandparents are coming over for a
Mothers' Day family feast. Potstickers is just one of the items on the
menu.

We decided to go to Mira Mesa, to one of the many Asian markets,
Seafood City. Mira Mesa is a predominantly Filipino community. Similar to Chinatown
that most major metro areas have.  Ethan has not been to an Asian
market since he was a baby, so it was quite an experience for him. As
always, I go straight to the lumpia counter to purchase a couple for
Ethan and I to snack on. This time we tried a sugar glazed banana
lumpia (similar to an egg roll, but with a sweet fruit fill). It was
delicious. I tried to get Ethan to taste, but he refused.  

Next we hit up the fruit and veg department. I needed just a few
items. I didn't want to stock up, since they did not offer organic. I
did manage to get organic tofu and locally grown strawberries.

After that, we went to the seafood section. They had live fish and
crabs, whole fish on ice out of the case packed with ice, whole shrimp
with the heads still on. Ethan and I took a look at the live fish in a
barrel that just had a small amount of water. Ethan and I got really
close to the barrel and when one of the fish flopped up, we must have
jumped two feet back. It was hilarious! Pictured is Ethan next to the
blue crab. He didn't want to get to close after what happened with the
fish.

Potstickers came out delicious. I even managed to get the pleat down
(one of the many ways to fold an Asian dumplings). Javi called them
hot stickers, it was cute. He loved them. Ethan got as far ad smelling
them and having a healthy curiousity about them, but didn't want to
eat them. Maybe next time!

Tonight we are going to open house at Ethan's school, so Mark will
have to wait to have some tasty potstickers.

I will post the link to the recipe later. I used Sohui Kim's recipe,
chef and owner of The Good Fork (Asian Fusion) recently featured on
Throwdown with Bobby Flay. They do have a wonderful moist flavor with
the tofu. Yummy!

Chia Smoothie

Kaylee and I are enjoying our healthy lunch.  Kaylee enjoyed some organic lentil and brown rice baby food, while I enjoyed humus and pita, chia smoothie, and some apple cinnamon granola.

I am posting my smoothie recipe here:

Strawberry-Banana Chia Smoothie

3 fresh strawberries, washed and hulled

1 ripe banana, peeled

1/3 cup vanilla frozen yogurt

1 cup apple juice (I like simply apple, no preservatives or added sugar or water)

1 cup crushed ice

1 scoop of Chia

Salvia hispanica, also known as Chia (pronounced chee’ah), is the richest and only unprocessed, whole food source of pure Omega3. A member of the mint family, Chia is native to Central America and has been used traditionally for over 3000 years.

Ancient Aztec warriors prized Chia as an endurance promoting Superfood, eating it in bread just before battle, and drinking it in water before running long distances on foot. Mixed in lemonade or fruit juice (known as chia fresca) Omega3 Chia seed quickly becomes a refreshing, performance-enhancing energy drink. more...

© Orange Peel Enterprises

Oooo...spicy!

Making Fire-Roasted Salsa...
Since Mark is really cutting down on his sodium intake, I am trying to get more into making things from scratch. Most jarred and canned items have a lot of sodium since it acts as a preservative. Mark loves my fresh pico, so I thought I would try making some roasted salsa with some of our really ripe produce. The roasted variety tends to last a bit longer in the fridge than the chunky pico. You can also freeze it, although I think it looses a little fire when you freeze.

Here is the recipe:

Fire-Roasted Salsa
1 large onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 tbsp minced garlic
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced (I like to use rubber gloves when handling hot peppers.)
2 serrano chilies, seeded and diced
5 vine ripe tomatoes, cored and cut in half
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red pepper, seeded and cut in half
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 small bunch fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 cup water (I like to add water as needed, so be sure to check consistency and add the water a little at a time.)
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste. (Of course, I used the 1/2 sodium salt, but you can use regular.)

In a large, heavy heatproof pan, spread the onion, garlic, peppers, and tomatoes. Drizzle olive oil over all. Put a little salt on all the vegies, as this will help to draw out some of the water and add flavor. Place pan under the broiler and cook until tomatoes are charred, about 8-10 minutes. Remove and cool to room temperature.
Place mixture in a blender or food processor. Add lime juice, cilantro and water. Process until well combined and slightly chunky, but not completely liquified. Season to taste with salt and pepper.