Push Me, Pull You

Meals are something of a loosey-goosey affair around our house. H works very hard for long hours, meaning he is out a good portion of the time. All the physicality his job entails also means that when he gets home he is hungry. For me, left to my own devices I tend to subscribe to the eat when you're hungry, stop when you're not routine - one not governed so much by the clock.

Enter the three year old. The three year old who is currently surviving on crackers. He's steadily shrinking his list of acceptable foods, and it's driving me a bit battier than I already am to begin with. Days often start with a request for warm juice (not sure where the warm trend started for him, blech, but I'll run with it). Then it's a request for crackers. How about some peanut butter on those? Nope, just crackers. Crackers and cheese? Oh, Okay. Only to have me discover a plate full of cracker crumbs and a mound of cheese not long after.

I recently nixed a breakfast request for marshmallows.

And oh, the wailing and screeching at not getting his way! Well then, I'm not hungry and he marches away from the table.

And we all stage a repeat of this scene, center stage, at the next mealtime.

This tug-of-war is getting to me. Thank goodness for Flintstone's chewables!

Right place, Right time

Growing up in the Midwest, lobster was always a real treat for our family. Several times I've had some packed to take with us when we visit Wisconsin. A visit from my parents often prompts a little look-around to see if there are any good deals out there. The local Stop and Shop got rid of their tank awhile back. The usual spot that H had picked out a lobster or two from was a Shaw's. After some shopping and driving, we were mightily disappointed to be greeted at Shaw's by an empty tank.

I started calling around, discovering that a local Hannaford's carried lobster - and so we headed in that direction. Mom chatted with the elderly gentleman in front of us about the best way to cook lobster. He handed the deli-guy a slip which I took to be some sort of rain check for his lobster. Dad took his place in line and requested four of the beasts from the large tub that had just been brought out for transfer to the tank. We continued with our shopping, and headed home.

Dad remarked on the way up to our place that the price seemed really reasonable for four lobsters and a few other assorted items. Upon closer inspection, we discovered that we had been given the elderly gentleman's "rain check" price of $4.99 a pound!

Sometimes the deals just find you!

I am off to take my butter/lobster-soaked self to bed.

Mmmm... Chocolate

We're finally seeing some relief at the gas pumps. (I saw gas for $2.39 at one stop in town!!!) Grocery prices are still a pinch, as they are for so many people. There are some very talented ladies out there blogging about how to save on your grocery budget. Some current favorites are $5 Dinners and Money Saving Mom.

I'm cooking challenged, even without a picky preschooler. It's always a struggle to balance convenience and ease with creative cooking with fresh ingredients. Daniel is big on chocolate milk, and rather than replenish our supply of store-bought powder I remembered writing down this recipe for some make-your-own syrup/sauce. I ought to be chocolated out, this close to Halloween and all, but this sounded pretty good and certainly fits the "easy" requirement I have of recipes.

1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. vanilla

Mix cocoa and water in saucepan. Heat and stir until dissolved. Add sugar and stir to dissolve. Boil exactly three minutes. Remove from burner. Add salt and vanilla. Keep in refrigerator.

I'll amend this post as soon as I can with the source citation, as well as a "taste test" report!

The Prince of Carbs

Sigh. I know that it is typical of toddlerhood to be incredibly picky about what you eat, but c'mon Daniel! At the moment you seem to be thriving on bananas and whole wheat ritz.

Seriously. This kid ate more variety as a baby. I could put most kinds of baby food in front of him (or shovel it in...) and he would at least try it - and ate most of it. The one exception was the spinach, which earned me the first all-over-body-shudder from the little guy. (I couldn't really blame him!)

I made the online acquaintance of Amy at Ice Cream is not for Breakfast recently, and have found some solidarity in reading some other Moms' struggles with this issue. I have even gotten a cookbook that talks of ways to hide the "good stuff" in food that your kids will actually eat. I've tried a pizza bagel that contained carrot, sweet potato and white beans in the sauce that actually went over fairly well. I do believe that this should be in conjunction with trying to get them to eat "non-hidden" good stuff too, but I do like the idea of taking some of the battle out of kids meals.

Now I just need to conquer my personal battle of being a "non-chef" in the kitchen. I love good food, but have a tendency to look for the four-ingredients-or-less, toss-in-a-pot, no-fuss sorts of dishes to make. Any good recommendations?

It's a good thing...

Back from a mini-blogging break... This was the very first time I cooked for Thanksgiving. I'm thankful my turkey went off without a hitch! And also thankful for a Mom and Dad and brother who made the trek out to New England from the wilds of Wisconsin and Michigan to help make this a fun time for H and Daniel and I.

There was lots of eating, lots of football on the television... as an experiment I tried these thin mints from a Kraft recipe. Very yummy! Daniel was in heaven with all the attention and company... and the case of 30-year-old matchbox cars that his uncle brought with him.

I feel the miles between my family and I rather keenly at moments like these. But I am so thankful for visits like this just the same. Wishing you all a belated Happy Thanksgiving, and a glorious start to the Christmas Season!

For my next trick...

Subtitled: One of those days?

I ambitiously thought I might make muffins this morning for breakfast. Can't explain how they wound up upside down in the oven...

This is going to be an interesting cleanup job.