Daddy's Special Oatmeal

It wouldn't be fair of me to give up my special recipe if I didn't give up Marc's too.  Even though technically *I* make this 90% of the time the kids request it, it is still, always and forever, "Daddy's Special Oatmeal"  And it's so easy, it really shouldn't be called a "recipe", but it's something the kids eat at least four times a week - sometimes for breakfast, and sometimes for lunch or dinner, and sometimes for  all three!  Here's how we do it...

DADDY'S SPECIAL OATMEAL

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Old Fashioned Oats

1 Cup Milk

1tsp-1tbsp ground flaxseed*

1tsp-1tbsp wheat germ*

*these are the healthy ingredients that Mommy includes.  Daddy might not even know where they are in the kitchen, and he certainly wouldn't be caught putting any of that stuff in HIS special oatmeal.  But as far as I'm concerned, what they don't know won't hurt them! (and neither does a tablespoon or two of pumpkin puree if you can sneak it in, hint hint)

To taste:

Smart Balance/Butter

(we use about a tablespoon)

Pure Maple Syrup

(a tablespoon or two...or four)

Cinnamon

(a dash or two)

Brown Sugar

(a sprinkle)

Half and Half

(a splash)

To prepare, mix the oats and milk in a large microwave bowl.  It's going to bubble up to 5 times it's starting size, so be generous with your bowl size if you don't want to clean it up off your microwave turntable!    Microwave it at full power for 3-5 minutes, until it sort of "gels". 


 If it's still soupy at ALL, keep cooking.  See the soupiness below?  This is bad.  This is not what you want.  You can jiggle the bowl and it sloshes around.  Keep it cooking!

See this below?  This is PERFECT!!  Kind of like how you don't flip a pancake until the bubbles form on top?  Like that. Jiggle the bowl and NOTHING MOVES.  

Now add in everything but the half and half and stir it all up.  Splash the half and half on top, and you're done!  




Of course, any of the mix ins are optional and adjustable, depending on how you like it.  You could add raisins, craisins, chia seeds, nuts...but this is the way that works for us.  The key to the entire recipe is the "gel factor" - if you don't achieve proper gellation, the rest is moot.  It'd be like eating pasta that wasn't al dente.


Al Dente Oatmeal.  It's Daddy's Special! :)

Playing Hooky on Navy Pier

I'd been waiting for the first stretch of nice weather to sneak the kids out of school for a day of sightseeing in the city.   Auntie Treecie's visit was perfect timing and we decided to make Friday into a long weekend for the kids.  Paul had the day off too, and he and Ulia and Cam were going to meet us, then we'd all meet Marc for dinner.  I'd bring Marc a change of clothes and then he could take Jack to a cub scouts event at the Museum of Science and Industry.

Perfect!!

Except you know what they say about the best laid plans...

First, I managed to forget the Museum tickets and change of clothes at home.  I had to turn around for them halfway to the city.

My bad.

Then, due to some weird, "lake effect" weather pattern, while it was 80 degrees here in Naperville, it was 50 degrees on the Lakefront.  And the 'nearby' restaurant turned out to be a mile or two walk, pushing a double stroller with 80lbs of kid in it.  In flip flops.

Due to Molly's poor choice of footwear, she got blisters and refused to walk (or even wear shoes for that matter).    Paul came down with full-blown dysentery and the Egan crew had to bow out, and then poor Patrice and Marc started feeling icky too.

So if you looked at it through a certain lens, the trip was a disaster!

BUT WE MADE IT!!!!  

18 months living in Illinois and we finally went sightseeing!!  The other stuff just adds drama to the story in my mind, I was just so thrilled to finally be downtown.  

We enjoyed some "test batch" ice cream at Ben and Jerry's

I was giddy with anticipation when I saw that Schweddy Balls was on the menu!  For the uninitiated, they are based on a Saturday Night Live skit from the nineties (back when I could stay up late enough to watch SNL, ha!).  Here is a link to the skit, but the fun doesn't start until about 2 minutes in.

Those balls were mighty tasty Ben and Jerry's style!  Then we began our trek to dinner at the Grand Lux, stopping on the way to chat with Bob Newhart.

The kids really liked Mr. Newhart, and jockeyed for a seat on his lap.

I don't think Molly intended to give him a lap dance...

But Ben definitely intended to give him a head massage!

We finally got to dinner, and faked having a great time very well.

Between Jack crying that he wanted a burger (but couldn't have one because it was a Friday in Lent) and Ben writhing in pain on the floor because he refused to poop for four days, and Molly whining about her aching feet, and Marc and Patrice being nauseous, and Jack and I being late to his cub scouts event....we still managed to pull off dinner by the skin of our teeth.

Barely!

She Lets Me Do Her Hair

I still remember the first time I realized Molly was a 'hair brusher'.  She'd gotten a Dora the Explorer doll with hair for her birthday (I'm fairly sure it was her second) and she sat on the floor brushing that doll's hair for TWO HOURS.  Brush, brush brush...brush, brush, brush...brush, brush, brush.  She was almost in a trance, she brushed Dora's hair with such methodical focus.

To this day, she will sit with a Barbie doll or her American Girl Doll, and just brush hair for as long as I'll let her.  

It didn't dawn on me until recently that we have this trait in common. 

Every morning, after she uses the potty, brushes her teeth, gets dressed and makes her bed (she's so slow at this that the boys are always done and downstairs) we stand in the bathroom together and I do her hair in the mirror.  She stands on the stool by the left sink...she's almost too tall for me to see the top of her head (I can't bear the thought that she's so big she can see the mirror without a stool!)  

Then I get to enjoy five or ten minutes of brushing the massive tangles out of her hair and styling it into something special for the day.  We use the Tangle Teezer brush that we first saw at KidSnips.  It's been a lifesaver!!

Image from My Beauty-Full Life

We also use gobs of leave-in conditioner and "Morning Miracle" spray gel as a lice-repellant.

Since the great lice disaster of 2011, I rarely let her wear her hair down, even though it's grown long past her shoulders and she'd love to show it off!  So we braid it, we put it in ponytails, or maybe a messy bun (or two), and we still tuck a bow in the front to hold the wisps off her face.  Lately I've been taking the hair at her crown and twisting or braiding it back to her ponytail, so that she doesn't need a bow (but we still usually put one in anyway).  

The day she stops wearing bows altogether will be a dark one in this house!

It's such a special time for me, those few precious minutes where it's just her and I.  Jack gets special outings with Daddy all the time (it's the squeaky wheel scenario) and Ben gets time alone with me all day while the big kids are in school.  But Molly is not "squeaky" or home alone with me anymore, and those few minutes (along with the few minutes we spend doing her bedtime routine) are all the "alone time" we get.

I thank her all the time for letting me do her hair, because I know so many little girls that scream and shriek and won't let their mothers near their hair.  My sweet girl lets me indulge, and stands still while I figure out how to use all twelve thumbs to make a french braid.  

Someday I hope she has the joy of having a little girl of her own.  One with as sweet a disposition as she has, who lets her "Momu" brush her hair and indulge her inner "hair brusher".

If not, she can always come to visit me in the retirement community and brush mine!

The Grass is Always Greener

Thursday is for crafties!  This one is quick and dirty, but packs a punch!  I took a clearance ceramic container from Michaels (I think it cost $8) added some potting soil leftover from last year's garden experiments, and tossed some grass seed on top.  It was in a shaker bottle that the little old guy at Ace Hardware convinced me was perfect for the job.  In retrospect, it was probably a little overkill to spend $14 on it, but he was a little old guy and I'm a girl who trusts the judgment of little old guys, so there you go.

Clearance Planter 

+

Old Potting Soil

+

Grass Seed

+

10 Days (really, ten!)

______________________________

It's brightened up our kitchen table all week!  I know it won't last forever, but I've got 7/8ths of a shaker bottle and a half a bag of potting soil left, so we should be able to keep it growing until summer!

Around the Neighborhood

Wednesday is supposed to be my "around the house" blogging day, but after spending 40+ hours a week for the last three weeks sitting in the bathroom with a VERY reluctant popper, my house is so scary and out of sorts that I actually fled the premises today rather than clean it.

It's hard to blame me when the weather has been so unseasonably gorgeous, dare I even say "unbearably hot" the last day or two.  I have had to make a full-scale seasonal switcheroo of household items and clothing, and we are literally acting as if summer was upon us.  Flip flops, sunscreen, sprinklers, the whole nine yards.  I even had to break down and crank the air conditioning on, even all night long, it's been that hot!

Mother nature is feeling it too!  Spring literally leapt out of the ground this past week.  Usually, the season creeps in gradually as one thing after another begins to bloom.  Not so this year!  Every single thing is blooming all at once - forsythia, daffodils, crabapples, magnolias...you name it, and it's literally EXPLODING forth right now.

Yesterday the kids had a day off of school and we spent it at the zoo.  At 10:00am, we entered the gate through a street lined with crabapple trees full of buds.  At 2pm, we exited, to a street lined with fully bloomed trees!  And when we got home, our own street was in full bloom too!

It only took me about three hours to figure out how to make this collage using Instagram coupled with Diptic.
Clockwise from upper left; daylilies shooting up, crabapples blooming, daffodils standing proud and a sweltering 81 degrees at 7pm.  Has anyone reminded Mother Nature that it's MARCH 21st, not MAY 21st?

I can't even imagine what will happen next, but I expect it to be a very interesting Spring.

What's For Dinner? Pasta with "Mommy's Special Sauce"

I have this sauce I make for pasta.  Pasta that's been around a day or two and needs some reviving.  It's kind of a modified riff on alfredo sauce.  And the kids go bananas over it.  I can even throw PUMPKIN in it and they don't care, that is the power of the sauce.  Developed accidentally out of desperation - isn't that usually where the best ideas come from?

Here's how I do it.

In a large skillet over medium heat, melt a hunk of butter or your favorite buttery spread (ours is Smart Balance - not as tasty as butter, but better for Daddy's ticker!)  If you twist my arm, I will say that a "hunk" is equal to 1/8-1/4 cup.  Pour in some half and half.  Cream would be heavenly, but it's a bit too decadent for this house.  Milk will work in a pinch, but won't thicken as well. So half and half is the perfect middle ground.  Add a cup, two cups, it depends on a. how much you have on hand and b. how much pasta you need to revive.  When in doubt, start with one cup and add more later if needed.  The sauce is forgiving like that.

Add your favorite seasonings, but just a touch.  We are happy with a sprinkling of sea salt, fresh ground pepper and sometimes a dash or two of garlic powder.  If we have fresh sage on hand, that's another yummy toss-in.

Throw in a few sprinkles to a handful of grated parmesan cheese and (if you're so inclined) a few heaping tablespoons of butternut squash puree or pumpkin puree (especially if you used the sage - they are a marriage made in heaven!)  In fact, any veggie puree would probably work in this sauce - roasted red pepper, carrot, sweet potato, asparagus...my brain is churning with new ideas!

Stir it up a little - it should be getting bubbly around the edges now.

Now toss in your cold, leftover pasta and stir it into the sauce to get warmed through.  After a few minutes of simmering, the sauce will magically thicken.  I don't know if this is because it reduces or because of some other chemical reaction (i.e "magic!") but when it happens, you're done!  Start to finish this should take about 5 minutes.

So to recap...

Mommy's Special Sauce

1/8 Cup of Smart Balance

1-2 cups of half and half

Salt, pepper and any spices you like

A handful of grated parmesan

Optional: Pumpkin, squash or veggie puree 

Stir it all together over medium heat, add your pasta, warm through until sauce thickens and enjoy!

O'Vindication!

If anyone remembers, last year's Saint Patrick's Day parade was a big, fat, FLOP for the Mallett family.  With the wind chill factor it felt about 20 degrees and everyone was crying.  

This year however, was proof that a dream deferred is not a dream denied.

Last year we FROZE, and this year felt like SUMMER.

Even the daffodils were out to say hello!

Last year, we missed the parade.  And this year?  This year we were IN the parade!

That's Jack in the striped top hat.

It was all thanks to little Miss McSunshine who started taking Irish dancing lessons again six months ago.  Her school marches in the parade each year, and families are allowed to join in the fun!

Molly is behind the little girl in white holding the school banner.

And here she is marching with her classmates. 

I was SO PROUD of my shy girl for jumping right in and holding hands with a girl she didn't know and jigging her way down the parade route.   She was proud of herself too.  I overheard her telling Ben "We get to walk in the parade!  We're going to be famous!!"  

After we were through with the parade, we met up with Auntie Treecie (who was visiting us on her spring break from nursing school, just like last year!) Auntie Ulia and cousin Cam (who is a whole lot bigger than he was at this time last year!).

 Ben and Molly had a ball sitting on the rock ledge around the fountain.  I couldn't believe Ben was still standing - he walked the entire 2 mile parade route, refusing to sit in the wagon, or even hold my hand!

He was so adorable in the shirt Auntie Treecie brought him!  Cameron had a matching one too.

They really are best buddies.  It's so sweet to watch.

Then we met back up with Daddy, who wasn't able to get back to walk with us after dropping us off, the parade traffic was so congested.

We found our neighbors at their perch outside Sullivan's Steakhouse.

And we got to watch the last bit of the parade with Daddy.  You'll never believe who came to celebrate St. Paddy's Day in Naperville....

Darth Vader!  Apparently, he's "Black Irish", har har.

He brought his buddies too....

Bet you never saw a Storm Trooper in a kilt before!  

What a fantastic day!  We all went home exhausted, kissed Auntie Treecie goodbye as she headed back to Boston, and collapsed for the afternoon (except for Marc and Jack, who went and played 9 holes of golf)

We had a great time, and were absolutely, 100% vindicated from our disastrous parade-fail last year.

I can't wait to see what our next St. Patrick's Day in Naperville brings!

Recipe of the Week: Broccoli Crunch Salad

I'm not ashamed to admit that I had an out of body gastronomic experience at Whole Foods last week.  I was out running errands and about to do my grocery shopping on an empty stomach (never a good idea!).  So I popped into Whole Foods and had myself a $10 salad bar fiesta.  I love to try a little bit of everything, especially their asian dishes (because I don't have all the funky ingredients needed to make something like that) and their nutty dishes (because we have a no-nuts policy at our house on account of our favorite tree-nut-allergic 4 year old).

Who knew that I would nearly fall over from happiness over BROCCOLI?  I mean, I enjoy cooked broccoli like most people, but trying to gag down the raw stuff is a challenge, even though it's soooo good for you.

Whole Foods' Broccoli Crunch Salad was like a broccoli evangelist, and praise the vegetable gods, I have been converted!!  I spent the next week trolling the internet for a DIY recipe, and cobbled together a few to come up with something mostly healthful, that tastes so good I ate it for every meal until it was all gone.

If that isn't enough of a reason to try the recipe, how's this? 

 I lost TWO POUNDS the day I ate it.  And I was so full all day I thought I'd burst.

I guess raw broccoli really does do a body good!

BROCCOLI CRUNCH SALAD

A Whole Foods Knockoff

For the Salad

4-6 Cups Broccoli Crowns, chopped bite size

1/2 Cup Dried Currants, Raisins or Craisins (or any mix of them)

1/2 Cup Bacon Crumbles

1/2 Cup Finely diced red onion

1/2 Cup Sesame Sticks* (for a nut-free salad)

OR 1/2 Cup Candied Cashews

For the Dressing

1/2 Cup Light Mayonnaise

1/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar

2 T Honey (more to taste)

Pinch of Cayenne Pepper

Toss the salad ingredients in a bowl.  *If using sesame sticks, sprinkle them on just before serving or they will get mushy.  Whisk the dressing ingredients together, adjusting as necessary for taste and consistency.  I find some days I add more honey and others more vinegar, depending on the mood my tastebuds are in.  Toss salad with dressing and let the flavors meld in the fridge for a few hours if you can stand it.   (I can't - I eat it straight out of the bowl.  In fact, just pausing to take the picture was torture!)

Bon Appetit!

Happy Birthday to Cam!

In the first installment of "Something We Did" Mondays, I present Cameron Angelo the Great and his super-amazing, wowtacular, first birthday party.

Absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to believe, that this baby boy we waited....and waited....and waited for, has suddenly gone and turned ONE YEAR OLD on us.  Ulia spared nothing to plan a celebration and special and unique and SWEET as Cameron is to all of us.  This party was one for the ages and it was SO much fun to be a guest!

The party theme was

Winter ONEderland

Get it? Wonderland? ONE-derland? Genius!!!

I was lucky to get to make the invitations, taking the color scheme from 

Cam's trademark sock monkey hat....

And the color scheme carried over in a BIG way into all the party decorations and special touches.  It seriously looked like something straight out of Martha Stewart or TomKat Studio.  From before you walked through the door, even!

Once inside, you were greeted by the most amazing and inspiring (and sugar coma inducing) sweets table you could ever dream of...

There were so many little details that you just couldn't stop gasping at the sheer fabulousness of it all.

 Like the water bottle labels....

The milk glasses with straw holders made from powdered donuts and teeny tiny fleece scarves...

The party favors - handmade snowmen kits, with handmade hats, detachable felt flowers, stuffed noses, river rocks, oversized buttons, and giant googley eyes?  Are you kidding me??

My kids don't know how lucky they are to get such a fantastic favor.  And they won't either, because I stole all their kits so they can't mess with them until the next good snowmen-making snowstorm hits.  Winter 2013 look out!

Oh, and did I mention the penguins made out of olives?

No, seriously.  Penguins.  From OLIVES.

(Martha, eat your heart out.)

Filled with cream cheese and accessorized with tiny carrot bits for feet and beaks.

All lined up marching around their bacon and cheese dip igloo.

They were so cute it was hard to eat them!

But we did. (YUM!) And they were delicious!

I knew I was going to go on a picture-taking rampage, so I came up with an idea that would enable me to build a guest book of sorts into the pictures.  I've been to a million showers and parties where some kindhearted bridesmaid undertakes the challenge of getting pictures to match up with guestbook comments.  It's a thankless, and impossible job.  

Enter, the DIY wipe-off board....

It's really just a picture frame with scrapbook paper underneath the glass.  Guests can write a message to the birthday boy, snap their picture with their message, and voila!, instant guestbook.

(disclaimer: Jack's statement was verbally revised to reflect that Cameron is Jack's favorite ILLINOIS cousin ever.  Not to be confused with Jack's four favorite NEW YORK cousins ever, or his two favorite REVERE second cousins ever, or his two favorite REVERE sorta-kinda-it's-complicated cousins ever.  Just to make sure we're clear on that.  Because everyone's a favorite in this house.  Unless you ask Molly about her friends.  She has a ranking system.  It's complicated, but I"m assured that everyone in first grade is on the same page.  But I digress....)

 Everyone wanted in on this action.  Even the pets!

No pets were harmed in the taking of this picture.  Though some may have been bribed with cold cuts.

And then it was time to SING to the birthday boy!

Get a load of this CAKE!!

Ulia found the most amazing local baker to create this confection.  And the icing on the cake (pun very much intended) was that Cameron got his very own mini-igloo cake to smash.

He didn't though.

Because he's sweet like that. 

(or he could have been overwhelmed by the dozens of screaming lunatics singing at him...just a guess)

But I also think he kinda likes those lunatics - he is one of us after all!

And we like him right back...even if he did go and turn one on us after we told him he's not allowed to get any bigger or older until we're good and ready for him to!

Dear Ulia, I'm sorry you blinked.  But this is the only picture I got, so I'm running with it.
I hope the gorgeous pre-party pictures with your hair flowing like a Pantene commercial make up for it.

Happy Birthday Cameron!

Thanks for such a swell party - it was so much fun to be a part of your special day!

Outfits for the Mallett family may or may not have been coordinated with the party theme on purpose...
Styling secrets have been withheld to protect the coordinate-aholics from the fashionista polizei.