Singin’

Some of you know me as a mommy.  Some of you know me as a friend.  Some of you know me as a teacher.  And then some more of you know me as a musician.  And then there are the lucky few that know me as all of those  Some of you have no idea that I sing or play piano or that I taught both of those things for a while just a few years ago.  Well – SURPRISE!  It’s so fun to learn new things about your friends…isn’t it?  I lived in a wonderfully artistically welcoming environment for several years in Indianapolis.  When I moved to Boston, that welcoming environment went away and I lost my music for a couple of years.  Luckily, I decided to step back into singing this year and sang the role of Ellen with The Augusta Players with a 6 month preggo belly in tote.  Quote of the year “Oh my god!  Ellen wasn’t pretend pregnant!” This is what I was greeted with by the post-show crowd.  Just last weekend, I had the great chance to sing at a bar/black box theatre downtown Augusta called Le Chat Noir.  They are fabulous there!  The people that work there and own the place are absolutely lovely and so open to new ideas, music, theatre, etc.  They are striving to open up the arts for people in Augusta, which makes them pretty rad in my book.

I have posted the clips of my songs here for those of you that aren’t always here to share all these moments with me.  Singing holds a special place in my heart and I am truly grateful that I get to share it with people.  In a time when so much of our communicating takes place through the convenience of technology, the opportunity to share emotions through music with other people is very personal to me.  I hope you can find a way to do the same in your own life.

Way Back to Then from [Title of Show]

Meadowlark from “The Baker’s Wife”.  This one’s dedicated to Ben and Todd

Gimme Gimme from “Thouroughly Modern Millie”

I Have Dreamed from “The King and I”

More healthy snacks for kids!

Hey there – so I am posting some more healthy snack options for kids.  You all can thank my 32 week pregnant back and belly pains for all these amazing blog posts.  Me and the heating pad are BFFs at least 3 times a day right now.  I’m just hoping this little lady doesn’t try to break out early!  She sure is giving me a run for my money.

The snack tray

There is an inevitable time in every child’s day when they are cranky, unpleasant, tired but not tired enough to nap and you just don’t know what to do with them.  Convincing them to sit down and have a healthy snack is sometimes almost impossible to do.  And then you both get cranky – so unless your toddler/young child’s life is so busy that they don’t have an open hour at some point during the day, I found this to cure the “fighting about your food” issue.  All of the things I mention in this idea can be purchased pre-cut and pre-made at the grocery store.  Don’t make it harder than it has to be.

1. Get a muffin tin: fill it with different things in each hole.  i.e. baby carrots, broccoli, apple slices, pieces of melon, nuts (if your child can handle these), yogurt covered nuts or dried fruit, small pretzels or crack or some kid…you get the idea.  Anything that doesn’t have to stay warm.
2. Set out some dips.  i.e. ketchup (there are several companies that make it sweetened with agave instead of sugar now), yogurt mixed with honey, honey mustard is a big hit with my 2 year old, hummus (we really love roasted red pepper around here), guacamole.  It doesn’t matter if you think it would be good to you.  Apples and ketchup might be delicious to your child and neither is bad for them.
3. Leave the tray out in a place where your child can safely reach things and let them come by and grab some while they are playing or watching TV or whatever they are doing.  Of course you have to set some ground rules, but you decide what those are.  You may find your child is more willing to eat something new on their own schedule. We frequently force our children to sit down and be strapped in for every meal. While learning the manners of how to sit at a table and eat is very important, giving them a chance to enjoy food on their own is also important.

Applesauce or Fruited Gel Squares

This is a jello substitute.  Asha never gets a “sugar high” from these.

• 1/8 tsp cinnamon (optional)
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce (or add thin dices of banana, peach, pear, grapes, blueberry etc)
• 2 cups apple juice
• 3 small packages unflavored gelatin

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, mix cinnamon into applesauce and set aside.
2. Pour 1 cup cold apple juice in 8×8 pan and sprinkle gelatin on top. Heat remaining 1 cup of apple juice in the microwave for 3 minutes or until boiling.
3. Stir boiling juice into the gelatin and cold apple juice. Stir in applesauce.
4. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour and then stir to keep applesauce evenly distributed. If you do not stir when in the fridge, the applesauce settles to the bottom, but it still tastes great.
5. Refrigerate for an additional 2 1/2 hours or until firm. Cut into squares with a knife, or use cookie cutters to cut into shapes, and serve.

Turkey Burgers

No – turkey burgers are clearly not snacks, but this is still a great recipe.

• 1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• 3 Granny Smith apples (peeled and diced)
• Canola Oil
• 4 pounds ground turkey breast
• salt and pepper for taste
• Chipotle Tabasco (if you want)
• 1 lemon, grated zest and juiced
• 1/2 bunch parsley finely chopped

1. So – here’s the secret on these.  They can be VERY time consuming if you really finely chop everything.  So, what I do is do a rough/quick chop on the scallions, celery and apples.  Saute them up in a pan with some EVOO for a few minutes (until they aren’t so crunchy).
2. Throw that along with the 4 pounds of turkey breast into a food processor.  Add in the salt, pepper, tabasco sauce, lemon juice and zest and parsley (unchopped) and then process it all up together.
3. This will save you lots of time.  Be careful not to process it too long or you lose all of the flavors you get to enjoy from the apples, etc.
4. This will make at least a dozen small burgers, so be ready to store them in the freezer for quick and easy dinners.
5. I have included a topping below that we use sometimes, but I personally like mine on a toasted bun with just a little bit of wasabi mayo.

EXTRA!! Pear Chutney topping (it’s delicious and takes like 10 minutes to make)

• peeled and diced green pear (put this in the oven for about 10 minutes @ 350 with a bit of oil and cinnamon)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 1/2 cups Major Grey’s chutney
• 1/4 cup raisins

Mix it all together and bam…you’ve got a little topping.  You’re kids will love this because it’s really sweet.  A little sweeter than I like on a burger, but it’s still delicious.

So there you go!  Enjoy and let me know if your kids like them.  Or if you like them.  Or if you all just think I’m a total weirdo.  I’ll blame that on my mother.

Later!

Healthy food for kids…

I know some moms that truly want to give their children better food options but just don’t know where to start.  Before you read any further, you should know….I totally feed my child store-bought chicken fingers (gluten free in our case…we don’t eat fast food because of allergy restrictions).  We eat french fries.  We eat desserts.  We do not eat ultra healthy every day, BUT I do give my child healthy snacks and a lot of vitamin and super healthy protein meals every day.  I swear this is why she is hardly ever sick.  I thought I would share a few of the quick things I make for her that every mom has time to make.  Healthy kids = happy kids = happy mommy and daddy.  Do it for your kids..and for yourself.

Another thing you should know is that I give my family very little dairy.  Somewhere in the last however many years, the idea that cow’s milk was the best source of protein got shoved into our thought process.  It has been found by many pediatric studies in the past 10 years that cow’s milk is really NOT good for the system.  In fact, the reason so many people are lactose intolerant or are so sensitive to milk is because our digestive systems simply are not made to break down the protein.  Additional studies have shown that kids who have an excess of milk products in their diet have many more ear infections and digestive problems, which frequently lead to colitis type issues later in life.  That being said, you will notice my food for her does not have a lot of dairy but I give her other forms of protein and calcium-rich foods.

And one more thing, we eat very little sugar.  Not just our daughter, but us too.  I know a lot of adults do sugar cleanses, etc. and take it out of their diet.  Why is that?  Because sugar isn’t good for you – it makes you feel like crap eventually.  So why, why, why, WHY do we give SO much of it to our children?!  This is the one thing that totally baffles me.  Sugar isn’t good for the immune system.  That leads to sick kids, which leads to sick parents, which leads to everyone being grumpy.  So – cut back on the sugar…really.

1. Smoothies (I give her about 8 ounces of this every morning)

• 1/2 banana
• handful of baby spinach – great source of calcium  (I always pick the stems off if there are any.  They don’t blend up as well)
• frozen organic mangoes or berries (I do frozen because it takes more time to prep fresh ones)
• a few ounces of whatever milk you use (we use calcium enriched vanilla rice milk)
• I also mix in her supplements: omega 3 and acidophilus.  One less thing to make her take later

Kids like smoothies.  They are frequently sweet tasting and the good news is you can hide all sorts of stuff in there.  I have been making smoothies for Asha since she was about 10 months old.  If your child has an aversion to certain colors of food (i.e. they won’t drink or eat green), then get them a sippy cup and straw they can’t see through.  Or if they are REALLY picky and have to look at it before they drink it, pick colors you know they will like.  This is what I give Asha every morning.  TIP FOR BUSY MOMS: If you think you do not have time to make a smoothie for your child/children every morning, just make a whole blender full on Monday morning and then you can just give it a quick stir every morning before putting it in their cup.  Sometimes I drink some of it too!  In fact, you could make it for the whole family.

2. Super Oatmeal

Oatmeal is certainly excellent by itself.  I personally hate oatmeal, but I am ecstatic that my daughter and husband eat it because I have something healthy to give them in the morning instead of a bowl of box cereal.  BUSY MOM TIP: I cook a cup or two of oats on Sunday night or Monday morning.  Then I put it in the fridge for the week and warm it up each morning and add the other stuff in.  So this is a few ways I make it for them.

• Instant oats or rolled oats (We use GF rolled oats because of their gluten allergy)
• a little bit of milk (again  we use vanilla rice milk)
• almond butter – great protein (amount varies depending on how much they are eating)
• a little bit of chocolate hemp powder (another great source of protein)

Other versions of oatmeal when we feel like having something sweet:

• warm up their oatmeal with some fresh pears and maple syrup or brown sugar
• add in bananas and brown sugar
• add in any other fruit you want: fresh or dried.

You can let your child pick from three options of additions.  Giving kids an option when it comes to what they eat will take a few extra minutes, but also gives them ownership over their food.  They picked it.  They eat it.  It’s a good lesson for life.

3. Lara Bars

Some of you might be familiar with these bars.  They are frequently in the “raw food/vegan” section.  This also frequently means that they are expensive.  Obviously, our grocery bill is costly due to the gluten free foods and amount of cooking I do at home; however, we spend little to no money on eating out.  We think it’s an easy exchange.  We also frequently count in the fact that we spend almost no money on antibiotics and trips to the doctor because we are all rarely sick, which we largely attribute to our healthy diet.  Yes, you may make fun of me for my “hippy” thoughts if you want.  But don’t complain to me about being sick all year if you eat nothing but fast food.  There you go, let’s have a fight about it  Back to the Lara Bars.  They are nothing but dates processed in a food processor with other things mixed in.  NEWSFLASH: dates are super sweet.  Kids will like them.  Here you go…

• Start by pitting the dates (takes about 5 minutes depending on the number of dates)
• in a small food processor, process the dates.  they will turn into a big sticky glob
• add a bit of cashews, or dried cranberries, almonds, dried cherries, chocolate chips OR any combination that you think sounds good.
• When you process this stuff, the dates will roll up into a big ball of stuff .  When you have blended it up enough, take out the ball, but it in a sandwich bag and smash it down.  Put it in the fridge.  Every time you want some, just cut a piece of and eat it.  Super easy.  Takes 10 minutes.

So there you have it, I have lots more of this kind of stuff.  If you want to know about it, let me know and I’ll be happy to share  The beauty of all of these things is your kids can eat them AND YOU CAN TOO! Snacks for everyone.  Life is so much happier with good snacks…isn’t it?!

Happy eating!

Spinach, quinoa and some more yummy stuff

People have been trying to get me on the quinoa bandwagon for at least a year now, but it’s tough folks.  First, you have to find the “right kind” (I have learned this is just a straight up organic quinoa) and then you have to know how to cook it or it tastes disgusting (in my opinion).  So you might be wondering how I came upon a recipe that involved quinoa that I want to share with you.

My husband and daughter are gluten intolerant, so we are always looking for alternative foods, baking recipes, etc.  I was given this website http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com by a family member and it has been my saving grace.  If you know anyone with a gluten issue, PLEASE send them this website.  She makes magic happen with gluten free ingredients.  She also happens to make magic happen with a lot of vegan recipes at the same time.  So this recipe is both gluten free and vegan-tastic.

It should be noted that this salad was so delicious that my 2 year old ate a lot of it….without me asking her to.  Now if you never feed your child vegetables or things with interesting flavors, don’t expect them to like this.
1 cup organic quinoa
Sea salt

Place the quinoa in a saucepan or a rice cooker. Add 2 cups fresh water, and a pinch of sea salt. Cover and cook on a low simmer until all the water is evaporated and the quinoa is tender- roughly 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork and dump it into a large salad bowl.

For the salad you’ll need:

2 good handfuls of organic baby spinach leaves, washed, drained
1 large ripe pear, washed, stemmed and cored, cut into pieces
1/2 cup chilled chick peas, rinsed, drained
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
A handful of pecans, pan toasted and salted to taste

For the Maple Vinaigrette Dressing:

 
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons golden balsamic vinegar (the closest I found was white balsamic vinegar)
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Whisk together.

Add the baby spinach, pear, chick peas, and chopped parsley to the quinoa and fluff. Pour on the vinaigrette and toss gently to coat. Season to taste with sea salt and ground pepper.

Read more: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2010/10/quinoa-salad-with-pears-and-baby.html#ixzz13OStKiJn

Jennifer’s notes:

1. I did not use the full amount of quinoa because we are still warming up to quinoa in this house.  I used about half of it, so it was more like a spinach salad with quinoa instead of quinoa with spinach.  The flavors were delicious.
2. Be careful roasting the pecans.  They can burn very quickly.  If you smell burning, STOP and get them out of the pan!
3. The dressing is super delicious and makes more than enough.  I could have gone without using all of it, so if you don’t like a lot of dressing, add it on slowly, mix and then add some more.
4. You could add some crumbled goat cheese or a more mild cheese if you want.  I didn’t because I found the chickpeas gave it a nice creaminess.
5. This will not store well.  Make what you want to eat right then or keep the ingredients separate.  The dressing and quinoa will make the spinach wilty if sitting for too long.
6. This salad only took me about 15 minutes to make from quinoa start to table.  So, please try it even if you think you won’t like it.  I ended up loving it AND it filled me up.  Maybe you will like it too and then you will have a super healthy meal that only took you 15 minutes.

Healthy eating friends!

Cozy Lentil Soup

Whenever it rolls around to fall (which takes a while here in Georgia), I want to cook things that make me feel cozy.  Frequently, this involves a crock pot recipe of some kind.  Well – this is not a crock pot recipe.  So far this year my crock pot recipes have totally blown.  Moving on now.

I am a struggling healthy eater.  I WANT to eat healthy.  I really want my little one to be a healthy eater.  I grew up on frequent fish stick and tater tot meals.  If this information gets back to my mother, we will have words.  She swears she cooked real meals all the time.  Maybe I missed them somehow.  I struggled to be a good eater all through college and into adulthood.  I didn’t really grasp the concept of healthy eating until I started making food for and feeding my own child.  BIG self realization moment.  Anyways – I’ll get off the shrink couch and on with my recipe.  Lentil soup has always reminded me a little bit of canned dog food when you first look at it.  It was kind of starting to gross me out when I opened the can to eat it, so I decided to make it myself.  It took a little bit of prep with chopping, etc. but largely un-time consuming and it makes a heap load.  We actually ended up freezing half of it.

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups dry lentils
• 4 cups low sodium broth
• 4 cups water
• 1 1/2 pounds of yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubes
• 2 tablespoons vinegar (??)
• raw spinach (however much you choose) right at the end.
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, and celery; cook and stir until onion is tender. Stir in garlic, bay leaf, oregano, and basil; cook for 2 minutes.
2. Stir in lentils, and add water and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for at least 1 hour. When ready to serve stir in spinach, and cook until it wilts. Stir in vinegar, and season to taste with salt and pepper, and more vinegar if desired.
3. Jennifer’s added twist: Take about 1/3 of the soup out, give it a quick puree and then add it back in.  It gives the soup a little better consistency.  Otherwise it’s just a bit chunky.

Things to note, I did not add in the vinegar.  Any vinegar in food right now gives me crazy heart burn, so if you add it and it’s disgusting…please let me know so I will not make that mistake in the future.  I know it seems like a lot of liquid…trust me.  It all works out.

I may or may not be posting a white turkey chili recipe.  Verdict is still out on whether or not this is “scrumptulescent” enough.  I will love you even more if you tell me where I got that word.

Happy Fall!

 

 

 

Mommy

I have had the pleasure of a lot of people asking me what I “did right” with my 2 year old during the past couple of months.  She is polite, smart and pretty funny, though I don’t think they find her humor as funny as I do.  I guess that’s part of being a parent.  I was telling a woman what I thought I had done (because you really never know for certain) and she told me I should write it down.  So here I go.  I know…you’re waiting with notepad and pen in hand.

I could write a bunch of things about sleeping, breast feeding, nutrition, education, etc.  But I’m not going to.  I’m going to cover broad topics.

Consistency: For me, consistency with discipline and routines worked well in a classroom when I was teaching.  SURPRISE!  It also works well with your own children in your own house!  Some weeks this means that the two of us have the “this is what you’re eating or you get nothing” argument every other day; however, at the end of the week, month, etc. I have gotten my child to eat a diet that is healthy and has a wide variety of tastes, etc. This doesn’t mean that I don’t give her french fries, ice cream, and all those other fun things.  But those things are fun things – not every day things.

Consistency also comes in the form of having the same way to discipline her every time.  She understands what “go to your room” means.  It means, you made a mistake.  Please come out when you’re ready to apologize and talk about it.  Sometimes it involves tears, but frequently it doesn’t.  If you randomly scream at your child because you didn’t say anything about the first 10 things they did that totally ticked you off, they’re going to be terrified and run away crying and probably learn nothing.  Do I raise my voice sometimes?  Yes.  Does it go anywhere good?  Never.

Take them into public…really. Now, this might just be a regional thing but where I live it is wildly popular to not ever have your child with you in public. i.e. the grocery store, restaurants, etc.  You either send them to day care or you have a full time nanny.  I have been told this is so you can go out and have “fun”.  Most women that I have met that do this have children that don’t know how to act in public.  That’s right folks…I’m judging people.  So do yourself and your child a favor – take them places with you.  Let them learn things at the grocery store, at restaurants, etc.  You can teach them manners, foods, the list could go on and on.  Somedays this may not be fun but most of the time, it is.  This does not mean you need to always schlep yourself around in your dumpy “mom” clothes (whatever those might be) and look a hot mess because you’re toting your toddler around with you.  You might find that having your little one with you can actually be fun once they learn how to act in different settings. The key to learning how to have fun…wait for it.  Be consistent with what you do and do not put up with.  If running up and down the grocery store aisle is OK day one…they’re going to think it’s ok day two as well.

Sneaky love: After telling my friend all the “hard ass” things I do as a mom to make my child so “lovely”, I was driving home and realized I had missed telling her the most important thing.  Love them…all the time.  Even when they are bad.  Even when they don’t listen.  Tell them you love them.  Kiss and hug them when they don’t expect it.  Hugs and kisses and “I love yous” aren’t simply for bedtime or times when they are perfect.  My daughter and I say I love you every time we have a disagreement.  Even if she’s crying (or sometimes if I’m crying), I still give her a hug.  She’ll be 2 1/2 in December and she frequently comes to me and says “I need a hug Mommy!  Let me kiss you!”  for no reason.  And you know what?  Right then, you forget all the fights you had to endure with your toddler that day.

Having love, being appreciated makes a person feel great and it makes children feel great too.  So please, love your children.  Even if you’re tired.  Even if you’re frustrated.  It will teach them how to love too and THAT will make for a wonderfully happy family.

Happy Mommying (and Daddying)!

 

Simple chicken in a pan…

Some people have suggested I post some more recipe stuff, so here’s another tasty (not difficult) dinner.  For starters, it is super simple.  Secondly, everyone likes it (Asha repeatedly says “I LOVE THIS!” during dinner). Lastly, it is extremely hearty.

Chicken in a Pan (I know…fancy name)

• 4 chicken thighs (bone in, skin on!!!!!) coated in paprika, pepper and salt
• Handful of pearl onions
• 4-5 red-skinned potatoes (quartered)
• 2-3 large carrots (peeled, and diced into chunks)
• 1 cup broth
• 1/2 cup white wine (or you can do a 1 1/2 cups broth if you don’t want to use the wine)

1. For starters, get out your big ass pan.  Everything is going in there.
2. Brown your chicken on each side in some olive oil.
3. Take out the chicken (don’t worry…it will go in again later.  This is not a raw chicken recipe)
4. Add veggies and then then pick up some of the chicken juices and such for a few minutes
5. Add in the liquid broth/wine mixture and bring it to a light boil
6. Add the chicken back in, cover it up and let it cook.
7. It typically takes ABOUT 20 minutes for my chicken to cook through

Now, for those of you “healthy” folks, don’t worry.  We don’t actually eat the skin; however, if you try to cook it without the skin and bone, it just doesn’t have the same hearty flavor.  I usually serve this over some rice, but it really can be eaten by itself.

Lastly, the DOES NOT heat up well.  So, if you think you’re only going to eat 2 pieces, just cook 2 and adjust the recipe a bit.  This is not like baking, there is no science.  I’m pretty sure it would taste good if everything wasn’t the same ratio stated above.

For Moms, If you have little ones, this is a great chicken dish for them.  The potatoes and carrots get nice and soft and the chicken is very tender and easy to chew.  So – there, you just made dinner for your whole family.  You didn’t even have to figure out what your child was going to eat  You can send me flowers at a later date…or right now would be fine too

Enjoy