Pickling things

Pizza night has become an event at our house. John and I work all morning chopping and making ingredients for the pizzas. Last pizza night we made an elote pizza. Corn and goat cheese and soyrizo and sweet peppers and cilantro. It was delicious. But a little too creamy.

I was flipping through a Mexican cookbook and saw a recipe for pickled red onions and I knew that was what was missing! It needed acid with the creamy and a little more spice.

Food for the party

Mmmmm....cupcakes. Just your standard chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese icing and food processed Oreos. With silver jimmies, of course.

Nuts & Bolts: Bins from the 99 cents store. With hex crackers, honey roasted peanuts, twisty pretzels, meringues, chocolate covered sunflower seeds and snap pea crisps for color.

Bricks and Mortar: Carrots and cream cheese. My inventive guests combined the nuts and bolts with the mortar for a delightful treat.

Maccheesehotdog with a twist: Wheel shaped pasta!

And, of course, the prizes for the game...ROCK CANDY!

Paradise by the cooktop light.

Too much Top Chef.

Peanut Butter: Definition: Make the boy go loco

I am a very stubborn person. As such, I try not to give in to every whim of my children. And yet...cute faces, tired voices, sometimes...

Peanut Butter and Jelly with Chocolate Syrup:

At least he ate dinner...

Hotdogs and Wine!

I should be getting my computer back today. So, maybe I'll get to post more often. Until then, please enjoy this picture of baby Bee and his first foray into dipping sauces for corn dogs.  

 

Strawberry Tr-ay

That Aunt Ninny, always with the good christmas gifts. She also gave me these trays. Which are perfect little snack trays for play group. And for when your friend sets the bar too high for the book club snack, and you'll do anything to get up there with her. 

Roux McClanahan

That's right. I made homemade mac and cheese for lunch today. From scratch. I'm crazy, no?
I have this thing where I think my kids' lunch needs too be hot. Lots of leftovers and microwave stuff. Oh! and corn dogs and tater tots. I like to believe it's because I spent my formative years in Germany, but it's probably not that.

The boys aren't fond of ham and cheese sandwiches and I get all mental at the thought of finding peanut butter and jelly in my nightstand drawer.

I thought about grilled cheese today, but the bread is too thick for the little one so he'll just take a bite, get only bread and leave it on the table. Then eat loose cheerios off the floor.

So, roux, milk, cheese and pasta. I think they liked it, mostly. The younger judge ate his whole bowl, but the older judge told me, "Too hot!" and left it there. It had cooled for about 30 minutes and was leaning more toward ice cold than too hot. Maybe he didn't want to hurt my feelings. That'll be the day.

The other picture is of the leftover pasta. I read somewhere that you can freeze it in a muffin tin, pop them in a bag and you get portioned pasta that cooks in half the time. Just saute it with a little water and add sauce.

The older judge just informed me he wants a snack. "How about mac and cheese?"
"No! I want snaaaack!"

So much for giving kids a sophisticated palate. I'm pretty sure he's anglin' for cheese puffs. Or "cheese pups."

How to Trick Kids and Influence People.

One of my MOMS friends offered up an amazing tip to getting kids to eat vegetables. We were discussing Souplantation and how I think it's the perfect restaurant to take the kids. No waiting for food! Lots of variety! Soups full of squishy vegetables! Bread! Pizza! And their breakfast is awesome, too. No squirmy wait time watching my kids check the functionality of the salt shakers and eat napkins.
She had this idea of putting vegetables in the little salad dressing cups to make them seem more exciting. It totally worked! (I waited until Bee was over his need to dump out the contents and just eat the cup, which is a new thing). Both kids loved the colorful beans and veggies in the cups. I think Bee ate all of the peas. And my kids only eat vegetables if they're soaking in chicken broth.

Shanghai via Arcadia

Today we met Cousin Jessica for some dumplings. My mother went to a dumpling place when she was in Shanghai and found out they had a location in Arcadia. So we went to Din Tai Fung Dumplings. My Dumpling/Dim Sum rule is to eat beforehand so I don't end up wanting to vomit when the duck tongue passes by. But this morning I had to get a filling at the dentist and didn't want to eat before I went. Your mouth is open for days! I didn't want my breath to smell. Badly, I mean. It ends up smelling like drilled tooth anyway, so I don't know what I was worried about.
So, dumplings...The boys LOVED them. Loved. I've never seen those two eat so much. Unless it's mac and cheese. They ate the dumplings and the buns and the fried rice.
We are definitely going back. And there's soon to be a frozen yogurt place next door. That's one stop shopping.