not quite right

Here is a picture of what snickerdoodle cookies are supposed to look like fresh from the oven:

This is what they look like if you accidentally add only 1/2 cup sugar instead of the 1 + 1/2 cups the recipe calls for:

I knew something wasn't right when they didn't flatten at all. Instead of cookies, they are cinnamon biscuit balls! I guess that's what happens when you have a 3-year-old trying to help you measure. Oops!

What happens when you leave a two-year-old alone with a giant bowl of popcorn?

You can probably guess.

If not, here's a visual for you.

She wears it as a hat of course! Isn't that what you would do?!

Gobble Gobble

Happy Turkey Day!

{via - as seen on}

ice cream with cousins

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Do I have something on my face?

A text message from me to Rob:

"I think Sara and I could easily eat that whole thing of raspberries in one sitting."



Rob's appropriate reply:

"If I want any raspberries, I'll have to buy them and hide them!"



I think he may be right.

It was a Costco sized container. And they were delicious.

Look for the red tape

I learned something new today, and it's something that will save you money, so I'm passing it along!

When shopping for bananas, look for the ones with red tape around them. Today when I was buying bananas, the produce man was restocking them and also putting red tape around certain bunches. I asked him what the tape was for, and he said, people will sometimes break off a banana from a bunch because they want 6 instead of 7, so the grocers gather all the lonely single bananas and group them into bunches with red tape. There is nothing wrong with the bananas. They are not old or bruised. They are just the ones that people pulled off their bunches. BUT the red tape tells the cashier to give you a discount! So not only are you saving those poor little lonely bananas from rotting all by themselves on the shelf, you're saving money too! That's a win-win if I ever saw one.

(p.s. - I'm not sure if all grocery stores do this, but mine does. Hooray!)

Carrots

Sara forgot that she likes carrots. She hasn't been eating very many vegetables lately, and I've been trying to get her to. Well today I cooked some baby carrots for her, cut them into smaller sticks, and put them on her tray. She didn't want them, and wouldn't try them. I held one up and said, "carrot!" She was not impressed. I tried putting one in her mouth, but she just yelled "NO!" and shook her head back and forth. I had had enough. I put a carrot in her mouth as she shook it "no", and suddenly she slowed her head shaking because she realized, Hey! This tastes good! I like carrots! Then she got a big smile on her face and pointed to the other carrots on her tray. "Carrots!" I said. "Carrots!" she repeated. Then she ate the rest of the carrots without complaint, and even took some more when her tray was empty. I don't think we'll have trouble with carrots anymore! Now, what to do about those green beans and broccoli?

I don't like candy

But I do. But I don't. I like the taste, but I don't like the way my mouth feels after I eat it. Chocolate on the other hand.... Probably the perfect treat. Tastes good, and no weird "my teeth are falling out" feelings after. In fact, I think I'll go eat some right now to cure my sugary mouth syndrome. Or I suppose I could just brush my teeth, but that's not nearly as tasty.

baby spoon, I am so over you

I have always thought that baby food from a jar is just too runny. In the past I would mix the pureed food of choice with some baby cereal to make it thicker and easier to handle with a spoon. But today I had a mental breakthrough.

Here is how Sara enjoyed her baby food today.


She downed two and a half jars of it this way! A jar of green beans (which she normally refuses to eat), a jar of squash, and half a jar of applesauce. I tell ya folks, I'm converted. Baby food smoothies from here on out!

And yes, in case you are wondering, Sara does eat cut-up pieces of regular food also, but we got a whole bunch of baby food for FREE from WIC, so we might as well use it, right?

So what interesting methods have you employed to get your kids to eat their food?

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving here in Salt Lake with Rob's family. All his siblings were in town, so we decided to take some family photos.

Sara was quite tired after all the photo taking...

so she took a much needed nap on the dining room floor.

Eating her first Thanksgiving meal.

Yummy sweet potatoes!


Indian feathers.

Playing with the cousins

Thirsty?

Playing Pat-a-cake


And finally, this is how we all felt after stuffing ourselves full of delicious Thanksgiving food...

Hope you all had a great holiday!

Dear Anna,

Please stop buying me. We both know I'm too delicious to resist, so just do yourself a favor and keep on walking when you see that frozen section at the grocery store. And don't go sending your husband out to get me either. You know you'll just regret it later after you've eaten half of me in one night. I know I'm tasty, I know I'm sweet, but you're just going to have to get over me and move on.

Sincerely,
Mint Chocolate Cookie

Who knew?!

I bought some frozen raspberries have on hand to mix into baby food for Sara. Last week I put some in a glass dish on the defrost setting in the microwave and to my surprise, the raspberries started to spark like they were tinfoil in the micro! It was crazy, and very weird since (to my knowledge) there is no metal in raspberries. I went online to see if this phenomenon is common, or if I just got a bad batch of frozen berries. Well it turns out it's happened to other people too! See for yourself here and here. Apparently it doesn't happen to other berries, just raspberries. To quote from the first link,

". . . they tested the frozen raspberries in several different microwave machines and they all sparked. The manufacturers of the microwaves said that it could be the size and shape of the ice crystals. They were able to coax sparks from some frozen blackberries, but the raspberries always sparked."

So if you ever need to defrost frozen raspberries, sit them out at room temperature, use the oven, or even sit the dish on top of the toaster while it's on, but by all means--avoid the microwave!! Unless, of course, you're in the mood for a stunning firework display, in which case just pile a bunch of the little red berries on top of some tinfoil and a CD or two, and then you'll really get a good show. Just don't blame me when your microwave explodes.

I've learned...

that this

(stone ground mustard)

is not the same as this

(ground mustard)

and think these items shouldn't have such similar names since they are such different things. One is in the condiment aisle with the regular mustard; the other is in the spice aisle. One needs to be refrigerated after opening; the other is kept on your pantry shelf. Very different. Not to be confused.

I've also learned that this is a simple and tasty salmon recipe. You should try it. But be sure to use the stone ground mustard from the condiment aisle (like the recipe calls for) and not the regular plain old ground mustard from the spice aisle, cause if you used that instead I'm pretty sure the recipe wouldn't turn out quite the same way. Just a hunch.

out to breakfast

Sara was surprisingly unsure about applesauce the first time she tried it, but as you can see here, she is now thoroughly enjoying it!

Also, we did not finish all that food. It was a ton. Yummy though!

I'm normally not this good at baking

Banana Bread Muffins

{Recipe from the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook}

I made this

And yes, it was as delicious as it looks!

(recipes here and here)

Rice Krispie Treats

For best results, use fresh marshmallows.
For disgusting results, use marshmallows six months past their "best by" date.

Eggo Cinnamon Toast Waffes

I'm really good at burning stuff that should be really easy not to burn.

Food for thought

Is it wrong to eat a chocolate chip cookie while watching "The Biggest Loser"? --- It feels wrong.

Chew it over

Rob came home late and brought half a twix with him. While handing it to me he said, "You probably don't want to eat this right now, but here you go."

I guess he doesn't know me very well. -- The wrapper was empty 2 minutes later.

Mmmmmmm! Maybe THIS is why I got that cavity!!