Fiona wanted hearts on her cupcakes…
May 7, 2012 Food, Posted From My Phone
I might have gone overboard. But I think she’ll like them, and so will her classmates.
This is so easy to do, by the way. I piped melted dipping chocolate onto waxed paper, let it dry for about twenty minutes, then carefully peeled the hearts off and stuck them into the frosting.
I’ve even piped cursive words to place on cakes. As long as you’re very careful when peeling them from the paper, they’ll hold their shape. Plus, you can keep trying on the waxed paper until you get it right, instead of messing up your cake trying to draw with frosting.
So cute, so simple, so many different shape possibilities!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom, from Amy’s cell phone (so please excuse any weird formatting). All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Ranch Dressing With Lasagna? Yes Please!
Apr 16, 2012 Paid/Sponsored Post
[The following post was written as part of my paid ambassadorship with Hidden Valley.]
I have to admit, when I first saw this recipe for Bloomin’ Lasagna on the Hidden Valley website (a version of spinach lasagna with ranch dressing in it), I was skeptical. Actually, I think I wrinkled my nose and said “gross!”
I love ranch dressing. I’ve always loved it on salads, or as a veggie dip, and I add Hidden Valley Ranch mix to mashed potatoes – it’s amazing. But my initial reaction to the very idea of mixing tomato sauce with ranch was not good.
However, curiosity got the best of me. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to see what they tasted like together. Plus, the recipe looked fun – I’d only made lasagna the traditional way, with the noodles layered and the filling in between. I really wanted to try this.
I made this recipe on Saturday for dinner, and it was ridiculously easy. While the lasagna was cooking I mixed the filling ingredients together. I used pre-washed baby spinach since I can’t stand washing greens of any kind. Instead of the Hidden Valley Original Ranch the recipe called for, I used the light version since that’s what I already had open in the fridge. And a great tip for shredding mozzarella: put the block of cheese in the freezer for about 20 minutes first. You don’t want it to freeze, just harden up a bit.
continue reading: Ranch Dressing With Lasagna? Yes Please! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Food, Hidden Valley Ranch
Don’t like the ice cream truck? Here’s what you can do
Apr 6, 2012 Around NYC
Every single spring, on some listserv or moms group or forum I’m on, somebody complains about the reappearance of the ice cream trucks and slushie carts in Brooklyn. This year, since it happened on the much-maligned Park Slope Parents listserv, it’s getting a lot of attention. Everyone from the San Francisco Chronicle to my friend Marinka (writing on Babble’s MomCrunch) to some Park Slope Parents members themselves (with a hilarious parody clarification) have been writing about this latest bit of whining from parents who blame the rest of the world because they have trouble saying “no” effectively to their kids.
The specific complaint that started the brouhaha involved carts entering the actual playground, and personally, I think that sucks. I get aggravated when anybody comes into the playground to sell anything. Most days in good weather we get pestered to buy slushies, cold water, balloons, stuffed animals, and cotton candy. My problem with this is that those people simply aren’t allowed in NYC playgrounds. If you’re not there with a kid, you’re there illegally. I’m sure you’re breaking other rules about vending inside the playground as well, but I just care about the rule that keeps creepy loners in trench coats out. So anybody who wants to ban selling anything within the wrought-iron-fenced confines of the actual city playgrounds, you’ve got my support.
continue reading: Don’t like the ice cream truck?... Read the rest of this entry »
Drinking & eating…& eating…& eating on the Disney Fantasy
Mar 8, 2012 Travel
Anyone who has cruised has probably gushed about the food. Multiple seatings, buffets, snacks, sundae bars, piles of dessert. It’s everywhere, sure, but on the Disney Fantasy, it’s also awesome. Because what’s the use of massive amounts of food if it’s the equivalent of a $3.99 steak dinner in Vegas?
I visited the Fantasy twice last week, and on the second visit got to have dinner in The Animator’s Palate. As you would expect with Disney, this restaurant has excellent food and entertainment.
My favorite thing about dinner on Disney ships is that your wait staff follows you from restaurant to restaurant, night after night. If you tell them the first night that you drink Diet Coke with every meal and hate mushrooms, those are things you won’t have to repeat. Disney restaurants also take great care with food allergies.
The decor of The Animator’s Palate is whimsical but classy. TV screens are everywhere, but at the beginning of your meal they simply look like lithographs on the walls.
I’ve never wanted to create a distraction and steal a couple of chairs so much in my life!
continue reading: Drinking & eating…& eating…& eating on... Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Disney Cruise Line, Disney Fantasy, Food, Travel
And then a few zebra wandered by…
Feb 24, 2012 What's Going On
Zebra
So after a check-in glitch that left me without a working room key until 11pm last night (very un-Disney-like!), I’m now happily ensconced in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. The thing about these press trips is that we do more in a day than I usually do in a week, and I’m still not feeling well, but my first twenty-four hours here have still been really fun.
Ostrich
I’d never been to the Animal Kingdom Lodge before yesterday, but it’s like staying in a hotel next to some kind of wildlife preserve. When you check in you’re asked not to bring any plastic straws or lids into your room, and to not throw food to the animals.
Antelope
Animals are roaming around right outside of the hotel. Sitting on my balcony so far I’ve spotted roan antelope, reticulated giraffe, zebra, and an ostrich. And no, I’m not some sort of animal expert. There’s a guide in my room that I can use to identify the animals, and check off the ones I see.
Last night our group of bloggers were taken to Sanaa for dinner, which is in the Kidani Village section of the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I was a little nervous that there wouldn’t be anything for me to eat, because I imagined that an African themed restaurant would serve mostly meat dishes. I was thrilled that just about everything brought out to us was vegetarian, not to mention delicious! Plus, it was all very spicy, and since I’ve had a very bad cold this week, I was glad to be able to taste something. From three kinds of bread with about twelve dips, to the best roasted cauliflower I’ve ever had, and a tangy, oniony chickpea salad, the meal was wonderful.
Above our table at Sanaa
Disney World is known for how well they can accommodate special eating requests. One person in our party had some kind of food allergy and they took great care of her. Our servers also came right to me as each course was brought to the table and let me know which of the dishes were vegetarian.
I managed to keep my camera in its bag all through dinner, making fun of everyone else snapping away, but I had to join in and take a picture of our desserts. And they were as delicious as they were pretty.
Chocolate cake, chai cream, and mango sorbet
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has Compensation Levels of 7, 8, and 16. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Want to catch up on my runDisney adventures? Here are the other posts (newest first):
Disney’s Tangled Royal Family 5K
Disney’s Fit for a Princess Expo
From bad, to worse, to great with runDisney
A half marathon that fits on a t-shirt
From couch potato to 26K with runDisney
Diary of a Disney Princess Half Marathoner – Part 2
Disney Princess Half Marathon: Done
Diary of a Disney Princess Half Marathoner – Part 1
So this is what Disney does to me
Tags: Disney Princess Half Marathon, Disney World, Food, Travel
The wheat bagel that almost made me pass out
Feb 21, 2012 Kids
I’ve read that the number one thing couples fight about is money. That was probably true for the first three-quarter of my relationship with The Ass. But around the time our son Jake started pre-school and started getting super picky with food, a new argument emerged: how to tackle the food issue.
It didn’t help – actually, it hurt quite a lot – that I’ve got enough food-related baggage to fill a luggage cart at JFK. And since Jake has the exact same hang-ups and tastes that I had as a kid, I can’t separate his issues from mine. My husband is a great guy, but he’s never understood my relationship with food. And if I even start to suggest that my history gives me more insight into Jake’s issues, my dear sweet husband flips out (which, incidentally, sends me for the potato chips, but that’s another post).
After years of arguing about how to tackle this, and watching Jake’s food choices get narrower and more frustrating, we finally came to an agreement on a game plan about four months ago. I can’t claim that we’ve succeeded – this is the kind of thing that takes years to test out – but I can see small steps in the right direction.
Like today, when Jake ate a wheat bagel without a fight.
And liked it.
I almost fainted.
Forget the fact that wheat bagels really aren’t all that wheaty, and that most of us are trying to eat fewer bagels, and that the last thing Jake needs is more carbs. The important thing is that he knew it was wheat, and he gave it a shot anyway, and liked it. That was huge.
The main traits we’re working against with Jake are the same ones I have:
- He eats more than he needs to based on a fear that it will be gone. This is why I actually do better surrounded by lots of chocolate and potato chips: if there’s so much there that I couldn’t possibly eat it, I’m content with a small amount.
- He’s a carboholic. Take away my carbs, and I’m a bitch. Take away my carbs, and I can’t think about anything else. I could give up cheese or chocolate and it wouldn’t have one-tenth of the impact that giving up carbs would have on my mood.
- He’s afraid of trying new foods. New foods were forced on him too many times in the past – offered up as a trade for something else he wanted, or he was just flat-out required to take a bite – that he gets really tense around new foods, and assumes he’ll be forced to eat them. I was the same way all the way through my mid-to-late twenties. My husband would probably argue that I’m still pretty bad, but I’m way better than I used to be.
- He’s a couch potato. There’s an ass-print on the couch in the shape of my ass too, so no doubt where he gets that from. Although, being a kid, it takes less to get him up and moving than it takes for me, so he’s got that going for him.
- He has sensitive taste buds. If he eats a mint or mint gum, he visibly shivers and shakes until the taste is weakened a bit. One time when his breath smelled I made him take one of those dissolvable breath strips, and for a few seconds I though he was actually going to throw up. I think he actually tastes things stronger than other people. I totally sympathize, because I’ll taste something that will send me running for water while my husband complains that it’s bland.
So, mealtimes were a struggle. For years. Between me and Jake, me and my husband, my husband and Jake. I would make pasta or sandwiches for the kids, something else for myself, and my husband would come home and make something for himself. Even on those rare times when he did get home in time to eat with us, my husband often chose to wait until after the kids went to bed.
But, after a lot of research, we finally agreed on some rules we could both live with, and they’re starting to bear fruit. Our main goal is to take the stress out of food, so that the rest can follow.
- I get up and make the kids breakfast every day. This was a big change for me on weekdays. My kids are pretty self-sufficient, and for a couple of years I’d been taking total advantage of that. I’d stay up until 2am, then stumble out of bed in time to shove them out the door for school. They’d usually make whatever could be toasted or eaten cold: waffles, bagels, cinnamon bread, cold cereal. Now, I make sure they get a big, good breakfast. Eggs or pancakes, fruit, etc. And this routine has made me get my sleeping habits under better control.
- My husband tries to be home for dinner at least four times a week. In order to accommodate this, we’ve moved dinner to 7:30. This is late for the kids, since they start getting ready for bed at 9, but it’s what we have to do to eat as a family.
- We cut off all food two hours before dinner. Anybody would be more likely to try something new if he were hungry. That’s the only reason I tried guacamole when I was twenty-five, a food I thought looked disgusting, but I was desperate. So, the kids know that at 5:30, snacking stops.
- I no longer cook different dinners for different family members. However, and this is key, I make sure that there’s at least one thing that Jake likes at each meal. If we’re having lasagna and green beans and rolls, and he just eats rolls, we stay quiet. We make sure to offer him some of everything, but there’s no pressure to try anything. He fills his own plate. We just want him to see us enjoying a variety of foods. This took a while for him to get used to. Each time he saw a new food on the dinner table he tensed up. But now he realizes that he won’t be forced to eat anything, and he’s becoming more willing to try new things. Even if he doesn’t like them, each unforced taste is a victory.
- After dinner, the only foods allowed are fruits and veggies. We didn’t want to get into a situation where Jake was claiming to be full at dinner, then asking for crackers or popcorn an hour later. So, if they’re still hungry, the kids can eat all the fruits and veggies in the house. This has produced a boy who now frequently snacks on apples, bananas and grapes. I doubt he’d choose them over potato chips, but then again, neither would I. The point is, after complaining about it for the first few weeks, it’s now routine. He even asks for apples sometimes when it’s not fruit-only time, and my heart skips a beat.
- They get a serving of dessert every day, no questions asked. This, actually, isn’t new. It’s something we started years ago, when we found ourselves bargaining with Jake at dinner in order to get him to eat some veggies. It was setting things up for a good food/bad food battle that would’ve been with him for the rest of his life. We still have not completely undemonized vegetables, but he no longer sees them as the evil things standing between him and chocolate.
- I exercise with him. I can’t expect him to get off the couch if I’m still there. I’ve started taking him on jogs with me. It feels good. And you know what? He’s a great jogging partner! I’m so slow, he alternates between walking and wind sprints as I plod along at my thirteen-minute-mile pace. We have a good time.
So, that’s our plan. Several of these rules were taken from a really good article I found on BabyCenter, 7 New Strategies for Feeding a Picky Eater.
You may notice I really didn’t talk about Fiona. Her natural eating instincts are to eat lots of fruit and veggies, stop eating when she’s full, try new things gleefully, and exercise for fun. She follows all of the same rules as Jake, but it’s all so much easier for her. I’m afraid to do anything but back away slowly, lest I should upset the course she’s on.
The bottom line is, I don’t care what Jake eats now if it helps him to eat better in the future. Blueberries, avocados, wheat bread, brown rice, asparagus, and edamame are all foods that I wouldn’t even try until well into adulthood, and now I love them all. I don’t want Jake to wait that long. And I really feel like we’re on the right track.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Win $20K in cash AND a $50K cafeteria makeover!
Feb 21, 2012 Contest
My kids are home with me this week. There’s this weird thing in New York City Public Schools that I did not have growing up in Buffalo, called February break. My kids still have Christmas break in December, and then Spring Break in April, so I think this whole February break thing is overkill. Couldn’t they have a week off when the weather doesn’t stink?
So, indoor projects are always good. We play Kinect, we watch movies, and today, we’ll be cooking a rice dish and videotaping it to enter an amazing Uncle Ben’s contest.
Ben’s Beginners is giving away a huge grand prize: $20,000, an appearance on The Rachael Ray Show, and a $50,000 make-over for the winner’s school cafeteria! I can’t tell you how much that would mean to my kids’ school.
Entering is really easy. It involves making a short video of you and your kid making a rice dish. BUT, here’s the catch: the deadline is in five days. I meant to post about this a few weeks ago and forgot. And, frankly, I don’t know why I’m lessening my chances of winning by sharing this with all of you anyway, except that I really love the people at Uncle Ben’s (they hosted my daughter’s class for a cooking project with Angie Harmon and Chef Cricket Azima last month, and it was a ton of fun).
I strongly suggest that you check out the FAQ page and official rules on the contest facebook page, because it gives some specific guidelines and good tips for making your video.
And now, I’m off to cook with Fiona! We’re still trying to decide what our recipe will be. I wanted to make one of the dishes that we made at the event, Sweet & Sticky Rice Salad. But Fiona absolutely loves chicken and rice soup and is pushing for it. While I’d rather make something I can eat (I’m a vegetarian) I’ll probably let her win this one, since I’ve made the Sweet & Sticky Rice Salad already. Plus, I’m going to make her do most of the work. :-)
Here’s the recipe for the rice salad though, it’s a good one. It keeps for several days and since it’s best served room temp, it’s a great dish to bring to parties and pot-lucks. I leave out the raisins, because I don’t like them, and I only make half – the recipe as written is really big. Enjoy!
Sweet & Sticky Rice Salad
by Cricket Azima
Ingredients:
For salad
- 1 1/2 cups Uncle Ben’s Rice, uncooked
- 2 carrots, grated
- 1/2 yellow pepper, diced
- 1 15.5-oz. can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1 cup frozen peas, defrosted
- Salt & pepper to taste
For dressing
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp dried mint, or to taste
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
(everything after the rice is a kid-friendly step)
- Cook rice according to package directions and let cool. Place in large bowl
- Add carrots, yellow peppers, red kidney beans, raisins, and peas
- Add salt and pepper to taste, and stir to combine
- In a separate bowl, combine dressing ingredients and whisk together
- Pour dressing over rice and gently stir
- Serve chilled or room temperature
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has Compensation Levels of 1, 8, & 17. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: Contest, Food, Recipes, Uncle Ben's
Today’s Agenda: keeping up the momentum
Jan 26, 2012 Today's Agenda
So there are six days left in the DietBet blogger contest and I’m happy to say that I’ve met my goal of losing 4% of my body weight in four weeks! But, I can’t really stop trying to lose because I want a buffer for the weigh-in. I am exactly at the goal, and what happens if I wake up bloated on the final weigh-in day? Or the clothes I wear that day are heavier than the ones I wore during the first weigh-in? Or my hair grew so much in a month that it adds a few ounces to my weight?!? Clearly I need to lose a couple more pounds to feel safe.
Luckily I’m still going strong on my weird diet plan after six week. I had a hiccup on Tuesday, though. I was going out to lunch with the nice people from visit Raleigh (huge thanks to Molly Gold for inviting me!) at a southern food restaurant on Ninth Avenue, Tipsy Parson. One look at the menu online and I knew I would be eating most of my 1,400 calories at lunch! Sure enough, we started with Fried Green Tomatoes (yum) and Fried Pickles, and then I moved on to a bowl of scrumptious Mac & Cheese.
And this was all OK, because I proved at CES (where I lost two pounds) that I could eat pretty much what I wanted for a meal as long as I didn’t eat a ton the rest of the day. So, each day in Las Vegas I would do Slim Fast during the day, and then eat at the cocktail parties and dinners. And it worked great!
But know what doesn’t work great? Trying to flip that schedule around. I can deprive myself during the day and then let loose in the evening. What I can’t do, it turns out, is have a huge lunch and then a salad for dinner. It simply doesn’t work with my brain. I ordered pizza for dinner, had two huge slices, and then some leftover mashed potatoes, and then some Thin Mints!
So, to salvage things, I made Tuesday my cheat day – I get one a week. Which means it will be a long time until my next one! But I’ll survive. And I’ve learned a lesson: the will power I have during the day, when I’m busy and looking forward to dinner, completely leaves me in the evening, when I’m with other people and watching TV and being lazy.
The other thing on my agenda today is playing with my new BeachWaver rotating curling iron. It was delivered yesterday and even though I wasn’t going anywhere, I just had to try it out! I mean, it’s not cheap, and I took a big chance buying it without actually seeing if it would work with my hair first. But I trust its creator Sarah Potempa, who has cut my hair a couple of times thanks to a contest I won a while back. I figured she knew my hair, and if she said it would work, it would. So I bought it, and it totally works! I only did a quarter of my hair last night, but it was gorgeous, and so quick. So today I’m going to do all of my hair, to see how long it takes (curling my entire head used to take about 40 minutes). I’ll be sure to post pictures and a video!
In the meantime, here’s a video of Sarah curling her own hair with the BeachWaver.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 14 (DietBet.com). Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: DietBet, Food, Raleigh, Weight Loss
