Valentines

Last week we celebrated that most controversial of Hallmark holidays- Valentines day.  While I tend to agree that it is over-commercialized and pretty much ruined by the giant pink and red plastic heart-shaped everything, I refuse to refuse to participate.  I like to be crafty.  To me, Valentines day is an opportunity to do something fun, sparkly, girly, and love-filled with my little girls.  My four year old is in preschool, and we had fun making home-made valentines for her to give to all of her classmates.  My daughter was literally the only child in her class who gave something hand-made, rather than a perforated-edged store-bought card on which a parent had (presumably) hastily filled in the "to" and "from" section and affixed a new pencil or a bag of mini m&ms.  Unfortunately, this left me feeling slightly embarrassed for having put so much effort into this little preschool exchange.  Oh well, we had fun and despite feeling a bit like we overdid it, I know that I stayed true to my anti-commercialism perspective while also taking advantage of a chance to get crafty and break out my glitter collection.

First, we made heart shaped crayons.  This was seriously an exciting project for us both.  We searched through the crayon bin to find all of the broken bits as well as the undesirable very used crayons to be sacrificed for the hearts.  The most tedious part was peeling the paper off of each crayon, but after they were all de-papered the creative part began.  We used a silicone heart-shaped mini muffin pan, filling each little heart with broken crayon bits of assorted colors.  I tried to do hearts with colors that would contrast nicely- pink/orange/yellow or blue/purple/gray or green/yellow/blue, for example.  Once each heart was filled, I let my daughter sprinkle glitter over the whole thing and then placed the silicone tray onto a cookie sheet and popped it into a 375 degree oven for 5-10 minutes, until the crayons had melted completely.  As soon as they were melted, I carefully carried the cookie sheet outside and left it out there to cool off.  The melted crayons definitely gave our whole house a very waxy smell, so letting them cool outside also helped keep the aroma from being overpowering.  Once completely cooled, the heart-shaped crayons popped right out of the silicone pan with ease.  The melted wax creates a beautiful swirling effect, sort of like marbles.  We were both very pleased with the end result!

For the valentines for the class, we went to Michaels and bought several sheets of scrap book paper in all sorts of neat prints.  During my daughter's quiet time, I used a package of plain-white heart shaped cardstock to trace hearts from the scrap book paper and then cut out an assortment of patterned hearts.  My daughter then used a glue-stick to affix the colorful hearts onto the cardstock, and then decorated each  one with glitter and rhinestones.  She wrote the name of each of her classmates on the plain white side and signed her name on each one (this was the most time-consuming part for a four year old!).  We used little circles of double-sided sticky foam to affix a heart crayon onto each, as well.  The finished valentines were unique and very representative of my daughter's personality, and I think that she was proud to give them to her friends.  It was fun to see her select which heart would be for which classmate (only one special little boy got a heart that looked like a waffle, and with a cupcake sticker on it.... cute!). Here are her finished valentines, with crayon hearts affixed.  See the waffle, in the middle of the bottom row?  Her best buddy got the butterfly.  Happy Valentines Day- no perforated edges here! :) 

The Oatmeal Trifecta.

I cannot decide what to call these cookies. They are sweet oatmeal heaven. They are divine. They are, quite possibly, the most delicious cookies I have ever made.

It started with a hankering for a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie. I did a recipe search on allrecipes.com and decided to give the recipe 'Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies III' posted by Janie Mai a try.

The recipe was interesting. First of all, it doesn't call for any eggs. I was tempted to find another recipe, fearing that there had been a mis-type that would result in a failed batch (it's happened before using recipes found online!).  The author made a point of saying that this is an egg-free batter, so I went with it.  I didn't have enough chocolate chips, so I had to improvise... which is what led to the trifecta of deliciousness that made them so crazy good. The recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips and an optional 1/2 cup of raisins. My four year old is vehemently opposed to raisins, so I couldn't add them unless this was meant to be a way to torture her... which it wasn't. So, I used 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1/2 a cup each of butterscotch and white chocolate chips. The combination is very sweet, and the result is a sweet-tooth's dream. I found that they took longer to cook than the 10-12 minutes the recipe called for, more like 14-15. You really have to pull them out when they have *just* finished cooking through, before they become overcooked. They're kind of delicate and wanted to fall apart when I transferred them to cooling racks, but most of them turned out perfectly.

I will definitely be making these again, and plan to use the batter to make a batch of oatmeal trifecta cookie dough ice cream, too (I think it'll be perfect because it's eggless!)!

Here's the recipe..... try it, and then tell me what you'd name them.  I don't think oatmeal-chocolate-chip-butterscotch-white-chocolate cookies sounds very good......

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies III a la Maryanne:

Ingredients:

* 1 cup butter

* 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

* 1/4 cup white sugar

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

* 1/2 teaspoon salt

* 1 teaspoon baking soda

* 1/4 cup boiling water

* 2 cups quick cooking oats

* 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

* 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

* 1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Directions

1. Beat butter or margarine, sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add flour and salt, mix well.

2. Dissolve baking soda in boiling water and add to mixture. Stir in rolled oats, and the 3 kinds of chips.

3. Drop by teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10-12 minutes. Don't over cook.

Kickin' Salad!

That's what Paul said when I fed him last night. I always feel a bit guilty when dinner is either a)ethnic or b)healthy.... and this salad was both. He's a hamburger helper loving, American cheese worshiping, crispy-fried kind of guy.... he recently told me that if I'm planning on making Indian food I should give him several days of forewarning so that he can mentally prepare himself to walk into our curry-scented house thinking 'Mmm... Indian food!' instead of 'Crap. Indian food.'. Being vegetarian, it can be challenging to come up with a good variety of meals which provide us with our daily nutritional needs while also making us feel satisfied. I try to balance out the mac n'cheese and burritos with things like roasted vegetables and cheese-less ethnic items. Last night I made an Asian salad and was pretty thrilled when Paul scarfed it down saying, "This salad is kickin'!".

Here's what I did:
In a calm moment during afternoon nap, I sliced half a zucchini, half a red pepper, and half a cucumber into long thin strips. Meanwhile, I cooked some 'smart' spaghetti (the kind that looks like white pasta but is really full of protein & stuff), and made an Asian sauce/marinade. For the sauce I mixed together a splash of apple cider vinegar, plenty of ginger-soy sauce (Kikomans... it's hard to find, but SO good!), a good glug (don't you love the exactness of my measurements?) of sweet chili sauce (bottled, in the Asian food aisle), a splash of toasted sesame oil, and some sesame seeds. Once the noodles were cooked & cooled I put them into a bowl, added the slivered veggies, and poured on the sauce. I gave everything a good "jooj" (as Rachel Ray would say), and put it in the fridge until dinner time.
When Paul got home I assembled our salads. First, I sliced up some scallions and some fresh cilantro, then diced an avocado. I put a bed of baby spinach leaves onto a large plate, topped the spinach with a mound of the marinated noodles & veggies, topped that with the diced avocado and sliced scallions and cilantro. For some crunch I sprinkled toasted slivered almonds on top, and then drizzled some of the sauce on top.

Voila. Kickin' salad! I suppose I should have taken a picture to include here.... oh well, I'm sure you can imagine it in all of it's glistening soy-noodle-avocadoey goodness. Try it, let me know what you think.... and go ahead and throw some chicken or shrimp on top if that's your thing.

Drowning in Life.

Life feels so up in the air lately. I find my mind racing all the time, trying to shuffle through the 'to-dos' and the 'what ifs' and the 'if onlys'.... trying to make sense of this crazy thing that is life. Time really does keep ticking, ticking, ticking into the future and if I'm not actively managing every little aspect of life, I tend to feel like like I'm just being dragged along by it, constantly trying to catch up, get organized, get it together.
The biggest problem at the moment is one that Mama Berenstain Bear would put under the heading of 'too much stuff'. We are 7 living creatures living under the roof of this two bedroom house, and we are at max-capacity. I feel like I'm in a perpetual state of disarray and that no matter how often or how hard I try to get organized and find a proper place for everything, nothing is where it should be most of the time. I'm also in a perpetual state of clutter-clearing. I've got bags labeled 'give', bags labeled 'Craigslist', bags labeled '2T Winter', '3T summer', etc. I haven't seen my kitchen table for a few weeks now. It, too, has fallen victim to the 'too-much-stuff' syndrome which I am currently losing the battle against. Try as I might to develop systems for organizational storage, everything seems to find a place in the wrong place.
I like to think that all we need is more space, but my logical mind tells me that if I had more space I would probably just acquire more stuff with which to overload the spaciousness. What we really need is LESS STUFF. I have to remind myself multiple times a day- I must value space more than I value stuff if I am ever to feel organized and in control of my external surroundings. I resent this consumer-driven world and the tendency to be brainwashed by billions of ads- they're everywhere- constantly trying to make us feel like we'll be better/happier/more fulfilled if only we have this thing or that product or whatever.
Even my four year old daughter is already falling for it- every supermarket display and television commercial geared towards her demographic causes her to feel absolutely, wistfully, desperately void of whatever that particular sparkly-sneaker or battery-operated hamster could do to improve her sense of self.
At least I am aware of the situation (and knowing is half the battle, right G.I. Joe?), and am determined to get things under control. I like to re-read Karen Kingston's book 'Clear Your Clutter with Feng-Shui' to boost my motivation. Watching the occasional episode of 'Hoarders: Buried Alive' doesn't hurt, either! Note to self: if I ever come up with a logical reason why I need to save a dead kitten in the freezer I have lost this battle (seriously saw a hoarder explaining that she just kept ONE of the dead kittens from her cat's litter... no big deal, just one.). I resolve to not let that happen, hah! :)

I did it.

I think I'm still adjusting. I'm still absorbing the reality that I have actually, finally completed my bachelors degree. It is insane to consider how many years ago I began my first college courses. The years that encompass my undergraduate education have been a journey, to say the least. I am so proud of myself. I think it is hard to compare anything in life to the amazing sense of pride, joy, happiness, awe, etc. that motherhood has afforded me, but knowing that extreme of positive emotion helps to put perspective on everything else, I guess. I can say in all honesty that I am so proud of myself. I went through a long phase of feeling ashamed of the academic aspect of myself and my life, I really bottomed-out and had a hard time knowing what to do about it or where to begin or how.... fortunately, time puts space between the hardships and confusing phases in life and takes us to the places where we can see things from a clearer perspective. Fortunately, I wound up in the right place. My journey brought me to the Liberal Studies program, and my degree turned out to suit me perfectly. I am finally a college graduate. I went back to school while I was pregnant with Eila. I began my fall semester when she was two days old, and I completed my spring semester- and my degree- when she was almost nine months old. I went from pre-motherhood grades that put me on academic probation, to post-motherhood grades that earned me invitations to student teach and offers from my professors to be of assistance in my future endeavors. I am thoroughly enjoying the feeling of lightness that has come with the attainment of my degree. I feel happier, more relaxed, more present. I am so proud of myself! I did it!

My mouth is en fuego!

Today I harvested 8 large jalapenos, 4 tiny green chili peppers (still trying to determine what they are), and tons of "sweet million" cherry tomatoes. I decided to pickle the jalapenos for using on nachos or as a condiment. I found Guy Fierri's recipe for pickled jalapenos & carrots on foodnetwork.com (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guys-big-bite-/pickled-jalapenos-and-carrots-recipe/index.html) and since it seemed simple and got great reviews, I used that as the basis but jazzed it up a bit. I added a bunch of whole garlic cloves, a generous amount of black pepper, a dash of salt, and a Tbs or so of honey. It made enough to fill a large Clausen pickle jar, and is now sitting in my refrigerator looking quite tasty.

Creative Writing Assignment

I just finished an assignment (well, part of it...) which required me to compose a creative writing piece inspired by a survey I created for a previous assignment. The survey was about television influencing American values, and it inspired this poem/monologue.



This isn’t South Park. I’m living in The Real World and there’s not enough room in The Hills for everyone. I’m all about the High Society and I’m making my own True Hollywood Story. I’m Keeping Up with the Kardashians and I think I need a Nip/Tuck, somebody call Dr.90210. I’ve only got One Life to Live....there’s got to be 1,000 Ways to Die and the last place I want to be is Six Feet Under. Make Me a Supermodel! I want to be America’s Next Top Model! I want to be on top and I’ve got No Reservations when it comes to What Not to Wear. If I’m not picked to be one of The Models of the Runway, I’ll feel like The Biggest Loser. But I’ll make it, I know I will.... they’ll send me to The City and I’ll bring my Entourage, all my Fly Girls and we’ll show them we know How to Make it in America. And when I’m ready to settle down, I’m gonna be one of the Real Housewives of Orange County, I don’t belong in The Office, I’m no Ugly Betty. I’ll spend my summers at the Jersey Shore and if that falls through, I’ve heard It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Most people think I’m just a regular Girl Next Door but sometimes things can get Pretty Wild.... I hope I don’t wind up Sixteen and Pregnant. Can you just imagine the Gossip, Girl?