Tag Archives: kids

Taking advantage of the things around us

12 Jun

Of the six hours we spent at the Great Outdoors Pursuit event on Sunday, I think four of them were probably spent in the spray park, a huge hit with our kids.

Summer gives us a great opportunity. The weather is nice and we get the chance to be outdoors more and to explore the places around us that we don’t often have the time to explore during the hectic school year.

Our parks and recreation department has something each summer called “The Great Outdoor Pursuit,” and it consists of outdoor family events from May through August. Each event is free, lasts the day, and the locations change. Families will visit seven different outdoor state parks and forests throughout the summer if they participate in all of the events.

The Great Outdoor Pursuit “seeks to connect families with outdoor public spaces and inspire active outdoor lifestyles while educating them about environmental and health issues,” and as a recent participant in one of the events, I can say that they definitely achieved their goals!

We were able to attend an event this past Sunday and we were there from 11 am to 5pm, outdoors and active the entire day. There was swimming, boating, a spray park, archery, bounce house, and more, all day long. You could turn in any electronic devices you no longer use, in a safe and eco-friendly manner. There was plenty to do and even though the event officially ended at 3, we stayed on location for two more hours.

The day cost us nothing other than a few dollars for hot dogs but we had such a great day. The kids were exhausted by bedtime, always a good thing, and they can’t wait to visit again or to try out the next event.

We may not be able to do all of the events due to schedule conflicts during the summer, but the events are there and open to the public and free.

It’s just another example of how you can have tons of family fun on a small family budget and not be sitting inside in front of the TV, computer or video games all day long.

With just a little bit of looking around, you can find events near you that can keep your family busy and active all summer!

 

 

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A word about Summer and The Whole Bag of Chips

11 Jun

We spend tons of time outdoors in the summer!

Summer is coming! School days are numbered now, down to the single digits, thankfully.

Summer is my absolute favorite time of the entire year. I love having my kids all home and I love having no set schedule. We spend lots of time together as a family, since the majority of Don’s time off as a school administrator takes place during July and part of August. It makes up for the zillions of hours he spends at work during the school year. When he went to work for a full day this past Saturday, I knew in my head that Summer is coming, and that made it an easier pill to swallow, knowing he’d be gone for the day on a weekend, normally our family time, but that soon we’ll have lots of time to spend together with him.

I started this blog on September 25 and since that time it has had over 15,000 hits. I am thrilled with the response it’s had.

However, like I said, it’s summer.

As a work-from-home-mom-writer, I find it hard to balance all the hours of computer time I have to put in with the time I want to spend with my family, but this year with them all in school all day, it was easy–I just type when they’re not here during the days, or when they’re in bed at night.

During the summer, not so much.

Therefore, during the next couple of months, until school starts again, I can make no promises as far as my blog posting schedule. Right now I post five days a week consistently, never missing a day.

I can promise you this: summer won’t be that way. I’ll be working my regular newspaper job as always, but the blog will be on hiatus temporarily, while we’re off doing our family thing.

Family First. Always.

If I have time to post I will, as often as I can, but I will not make a commitment to any type of schedule for the summer. I’m sure you all understand.

Enjoy your own summer, enjoy your kids tons and tons while you have them home. As we all know, it won’t always be that way. They won’t be little forever and we will wish we had this time again. Cherish every single minute, even the tough times. (Yes, my kids bicker constantly too.)

Happy summer!

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Balsamic & Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower

7 Jun

Besides the new recipe for cauliflower, this was also the first time I’d used Panko bread crumbs.

Veggies are great side dishes to your main meal, but finding new ways to cook them is always a challenge. A while back, I came across this recipe for Balsamic & Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower from the EatingWell website. Since I love both those ingredients, I thought I’d try out the recipe. I liked it, Don liked it, but the kids didn’t love it. They thought the balsamic was too strong, but did I mention that I liked it?? I’d make it again, but provide an alternate vegetable for the kids.

Additionally, Panko Bread Crumbs: am I the only person on the planet who had never used them before?? I love them!! They have so much more crunch to them than regular bread crumbs do.

This meal was a meal of chicken thighs, which I don’t buy often because they’re fattier than some of the other kinds of chicken parts I buy, but every once in a while I just want a change so I buy them.

Anyway….here is the recipe for the cauliflower. If you try it, let me know what you think!

INGREDIENTS

  • 8 cups 1-inch-thick slices cauliflower florets, (about 1 large head; see Tip)
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Freshly ground pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
  2. Toss cauliflower, oil, marjoram, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Spread on a large rimmed baking sheet and roast until starting to soften and brown on the bottom, 15 to 20 minutes. Toss the cauliflower with vinegar and sprinkle with cheese. Return to the oven and roast until the cheese is melted and any moisture has evaporated, 5 to 10 minutes more.

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What’s for dinner Wednesday: Garlic Chicken and Shrimp

6 Jun

An internet search provided me with this recipe. We all enjoyed it!

A lot of times when I post a recipe, it’s not something I’ve just made this week. Sometimes it’s something I had a while back, took a photo of and waited to post it. This is one of those recipes. We had it in November and I’ve been waiting to post it ever since!

Way back in November I was sitting one afternoon trying to think of something different to make for dinner. We had pasta, shrimp and chicken on hand so I did an internet search for recipes using chicken and shrimp, and on About.com, under the “Southern Food” category, this recipe for Garlic Chicken and Shrimp came up. It can be served over rice or over pasta.

It was delicious and got a thumbs up from everyone all around, which is rare.

Here is the recipe so that you can try it out too!

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 to 3 boneless chicken breast halves or tenders, about 1 pound
  • 1 pound large shrimp
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 4 medium cloves garlic, smashed and minced
  • 1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil, or 1 teaspoon dried leaf basil  (In my opinion there was too much basil, I’d use slightly less next time.)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley, or 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning or seasoned salt blend

If Alex gives a recipe a thumbs up, you know it’s got to be good. She’s a tough customer. She hates chicken but loves “strimp” and pasta, so this was a winner in her book.

DIRECTIONS

Lightly pound chicken between sheets of plastic wrap to an even thickness. Cut in strips about 1-inch wide.

In a large skillet, melt the butter with olive oil. Add garlic, basil, parsley, salt, and seasoning. Heat over medium low heat and add the chicken and shrimp. Cook the shrimp and chicken mixture, stirring, for about 10 to 15 minutes, until cooked through. If shrimp are small, add a few minutes after adding chicken. Serve with hot cooked pasta. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley, if desired.
Serves 4 to 6.

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Experiences like no other

4 Jun

Girl Scouting has provided our girls with experiences they might not be able to get anywhere else.

I’ve just returned from a Girl Scout camping weekend. Not quite a whole weekend, but about 36 hours.

Long enough.

It was not my first time going to, participating at or working for a Girl Scout Camp. I’ve been a leader for five full years now, and as a kid I was a Girl Scout for many years. I went to camp then, I’ve worked there as an adult so my kids could go, and I’ve chaperoned camping trips for all my daughters with this weekend being the most recent one.

Of course it rained like crazy yesterday, poured actually. Again.

And in my head through much of the trip I was thinking, “I’m getting too old for this ‘job.'” I thought it as I drove half the troop down there in the rain yesterday with my co-leader driving the other half down right behind me, and I thought it as I traipsed all through the camp in the rain, and I thought it as I laid awake in our leader “cabin” until 4am listening to them laugh and giggle and tell stories.

Four A.M.

But, throughout the whirlwind weekend I also watched them in amazement, thinking and talking with my co-leader (who was a saint to spend her wedding anniversary at a rainy camp in a cabin with me rather than at home with her husband of 16 years) about how much these girls have grown and matured and changed from when we first started this troop together as Brownies, second graders, five years ago. We looked at them all, not even believing it.

We had eight really great stations to rotate through at camp yesterday which took us from first thing in the morning until the movie and campfire at the end of the night. We watched them create beautiful beaded jewelry at the jewelry-making station, being instructed in the craft by some of the leading women in the jewelry industry here in our state. We listened along with them as they learned about how to write a check and a deposit slip at the financial literacy class, from an instructor at one of the local universities. We cheered and encouraged them as they shot their bow and arrow during archery class, knowing full well that some of them were doing it for the first time. There was a science class, a tie-dye station, a dance class where they learned the moves to an upcoming flash mob taking place this summer, S’Mores, and they were laughing and smiling, and hugging, and chatting, and laughing some more, the entire day.

And night.

Did I mention they were awake in their tent til 4am?

Many of them haven’t slept too far away from home before. Many of them have never slept in a tent or cleaned a latrine (there are some benefits to being a leader and not having to do the camp “kapers” is one of them) many of them have never shot a bow and arrow or a bottle rocket or been in a flash mob before.

Being a Girl Scout has allowed our own daughters and the scouts we lead, to experience things they couldn’t experience in the normal course of their days. With us as leaders, our troop has taken field trips, had a scholarship named after our troop, done community service projects, slept inside an aquarium near the shark tank, gone behind the scenes on movie sets, at radio stations, TV shows, movie theaters, stage theaters, been on the news, in the newspaper, met the mayor, a city councilwoman, a comic book designer, learned how to collect, categorize and display postage stamps, sold cookies, cookies and more cookies-showing a business sense and dedication like you wouldn’t believe- and they’ve loved every minute of it.

And now, they’ve gone camping. Overnight.

All because I chose to be a Girl Scout leader five years ago so that my daughter could be a Girl Scout.

So as I laid in my cabin last night, chatting with my co-leader til I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, someone I hardly knew before scouting, as we were listening to them laugh and giggle and shriek, I knew that this was the reason I was there at that moment.

Thank you Girl Scouts!

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Cookies for a Cause: The Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie that started it all

1 Jun

Baking cookies to help fight kids’ cancer might be the most worthy cause I’ve ever baked for.

Have you ever heard of Cookies for Kids’ Cancer? If you haven’t, you should check out the link and read more about it. It’s a very worthy cause: bake sales to help find a cure for kids’ cancer.

Earlier this year I did a story about a local bake sale event hosted by Heather Wirtz, the editor of the Macaroni Kids newsletter for the Cranston/Kent area. The sale raised money for the Cookies for Kids’ Cancer non-profit organization and it was hugely successful. I baked one of my favorite Christmas Cookie recipes, Brown Eyed Susans, for the bake sale.

At the event itself I was given several handouts to help me in writing my article and I met one of the family members, Bonnie Soper, who told me how her cousin Gretchen lost her son to childhood cancer several years ago. Gretchen and her husband founded Cookies for Kids Cancer as a way to fight back, and they started with a simple bake sale.

One of the handouts that was given to me was for the “Cookies for Kids’ Cancer Best Bake Sale Cookbook” and on the flip side was a recipe for Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies and it was entitled, “The Cookie That Started It All.”

Other than the baking time, which was cut off, the full recipe was there, and I decided that I wanted to try out the recipe some day, in honor of Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. I wrote the news story about Heather’s bake sale in January and it was almost June before I had the chance to try out the cookie recipe.

They were delicious and with every bite I thought of this important cause, and I knew I had to write about it. I’m so grateful and thankful every day that my family has its health. Those who know me well, know my kids are sick constantly, weekly, and it’s exhausting keeping up with it all. But they’re not terminally ill, and I keep that in mind daily as well as every week when I’m running someone to a doctor for one ailment or other. We are very, very lucky. In the big picture, they are healthy.

Caroline was a big help with these cookies, scooping and pressing the batter for each and every one.

Speaking of my kids, my daughter Caroline was a big help to me this past weekend as I made these cookies to take with us to a Memorial Day cookout. The recipe yields quite a few cookies and that’s one reason I made it. There were enough to bring and enough to leave some home as well. I made all the batter and she scooped it onto the tray and flattened them to go into the oven.

The recipe, as I said above, did not have the bake time on the card, which was an advertisement for the cookbook. But, I looked up a similar recipe in one of my cookbooks here and found that 10-12 minutes on a cookie sheet was the perfect time. The only time I went over that time was when I used a baking stone. I find that those take longer for cookies to bake than the metal trays.

I hope you’ll consider doing a Cookies for Kids’ Cancer bake sale for your organization’s next fundraiser, or that the next time you’re looking for a unique gift, you go to their site and order some Cookies for Kids’ Cancer cookies to be sent to that special someone.

And now, here is the recipe, the Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie that started it all.

This recipe makes a lot of batter so you need a good, strong mixer to mix it up.

CHOCOLATE CHIP OATMEAL COOKIES

Yield: 3-4 dozen cookies
INGREDIENTS

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

1 large egg at room temperature

1 large egg yolk, at room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup quick cooking oats or old fashioned rolled oats

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. kosher salt (I didn’t have kosher)

3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cookies bake until lightly browned around the edges.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Place butter and sugars in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle and beat until smooth and creamy.

Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla, one at a time, beating well between additions.

Place the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl; mix well and add to the butter mixture.

Beat until everything is well incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the chocolate chips and beat again.

(You can cover this and refrigerated up to one week.)

Form the dough into heaping teaspoon sized-balls and place them about two inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet. I used the smaller Pampered Chef scoop to scoop out my balls of dough.

Using your palm, gently press down.

*At this point the recipe begins to say how you can alternately roll the dough into a log, and it gets cut off here. I assume it says you can slice and bake them. The baking time is cut off as well, since this was an advertisement for the cookbook. However, I can take it from here.*

Bake 10-12 minutes on a cookie sheet, slightly longer on the baking stones, until lightly browned around the edges.

Let sit 1-2 minutes on cookie sheet to cool before removing to cool completely on wire racks.

Consider hosting a Cookies for Kids’ Cancer bake sale for your organization’s next fundraiser.

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The Big Salad

31 May

You can load almost anything into a salad.

Anyone out there a Seinfeld fan?

Anyone remember the episode with “The Big Salad?” According to The Big Salad’s very own Wikapedia page, “”The Big Salad” is the 88th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the second episode for the sixth season. It aired on September 29, 1994.”

So there you go. More information than we needed to know about that episode, and there’s even more if you click on the link to the page itself if you so desire, but that’s not crucial today’s post.

I recently got one of those AllRecipe.com emails for a Wonderful Berry Salad and when I clicked on it to see, it was a Raspberry Walnut Dinner Salad which looked so good and reminded me of my Strawberry Salad from a few weeks back. But it also reminded me of The Big Salad episode on Seinfeld and the fact that we often will make a Big Salad ourselves either as the dinner or to go alongside the dinner.

The one shown here is one we made a few weeks back. The thing I like about salads is 1) you can put just about anything you want in them and 2) people can eat what they want to and skip the rest that they don’t like, so basically it’s something everyone likes. I often get tired of the traditional lettuce/tomato/cucumber salad, and throwing in random “stuff” makes it more fun to serve and eat. I like hearing my family say that the love this part or that part of the salad. The salad above has lettuce, olives, craisins, cheddar cheese, strawberries and grape tomatoes.

So the next time you’re at a loss for what to make, consider The Big Salad. See what you have in your house and throw it all in there!

Enjoy!

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What’s For Dinner Wednesday: Chicken and Veggies with Rice

30 May

This may not have been on Alex’s Like List, but it sure was on mine!

If you’re a regular reader, you know I’ve been going through my friend Karen’s cookbook from college almost page by page, making all my old favorites again. Last week I made one that was a big hit with everyone, except Alex, who took one look and said, “THIS is NOT on the Like List.”

But for the rest of us it was. Don even had it leftover a day or so later for dinner and said it was just as good leftover as the first day.

Like List or not, I’d make it again. According to Karen, she still makes this at her house too, and she sometimes adds shrimp, which does happen to be on Alex’s Like List, so maybe next time I’d throw some in. It’s the kind of thing you can put in whatever you want, as you’ll see from the recipe.

Super easy, super delicious, super good.

CHICKEN AND VEGGIES WITH RICE

I put all my fresh cut veggies into one bowl and threw the whole thing in at once when it was time. Saves on cleanup.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. chicken (I used tenders)

2 cups fresh veggies, cubed (she suggested broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, peppers, squash etc. I used broccoli, peppers, mushrooms and carrots. I almost did onion too, but quit while I was ahead.)

1pkg. rice pilaf (I might double it next time, I felt like we needed more rice for all the other stuff we had in there.)

1/4 cup parm. cheese

Italian Dressing

DIRECTIONS

Marinate chicken in the dressing.

Cube and cook in large skillet on stove.

Remove.

Prepare rice according to stove top directions in the same skillet.

Halfway through the cooking, add veggies. Cover and cook until rice is done. (This steams the veggies right in the rice.)

Add chicken and parm cheese, toss and simmer 5 more minutes and serve.

Quick, easy and delicious!

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: A new-to-me chicken recipe and an oldie but goodie

23 May

This meal was new to us, and we all gave it thumbs up. I’d definitely have it again.

For the past few months, my local paper has been featuring my blog’s recipes on their Facebook Page each Wednesday in a feature called “What’s for Dinner Wednesday,” so I have been trying to coordinate my blogging schedule to coincide with that feature by showing a dinner recipe each Wednesday.

Today, you’ll get a bonus, two recipes in one post.

The recipe in the photo to the left is one that was new to us, but I was inspired by an old recipe I used to make, one that was given to me by the math coach I used to work with in New Jersey when I taught there. It was a one-dish chicken and rice recipe. It called for cream of mushroom soup and rice. We used to make it a lot.

I wanted to make something similar to that, but not a baked casserole, so I searched for recipes using Cream of Mushroom Soup and Chicken until I found one here that was sauteed, and that’s the one we used and the one that is shown in the photo here. I wanted to be able to use brown rice with it, and be able to serve the rice “on the side” if someone didn’t want it all together, even though in this particular instance I do actually let my foods touch by putting the chicken on the rice.

I know, that’s big for me.

What I’ve decided to do is feature both recipes here and you can choose to make the one you’d like to make.

Enjoy!

ONE DISH CHICKEN AND RICE CASSEROLE

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup rice (not minute rice)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup water

boneless chicken breasts

DIRECTIONS

Combine soup, water and uncooked rice in layers with the boneless chicken on top, in a casserole dish.

Sprinkle with paprika and pepper.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

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This recipe is a great new addition to our family’s menu.

BIG OVEN CREAM OF MUSHROOM CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

1 cup mushrooms (we had none so I skipped this part)

4 medium skinless/boneless breasts (I used tenders)

1 ten ounce can cream of mushroom soup

2 dashes salt

2 dashes pepper

cooked rice (I used Aldi’s Instant Brown Rice)

DIRECTIONS

Heat oil in a medium skillet.

Add chicken and brown both sides for 5 minutes over medium heat.

Add mushrooms and cook for 2 more minutes.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add can of cream of mushroom soup (Do not add water).

Stir until chicken and mushrooms are well coated.

Cover and simmer for 10 minutes (or until chicken is no longer pink), stirring once or twice.

This dish is best served over rice.

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Grandma Grello’s Green Bean Marinade

22 May

Marinated green beans are great for cookouts and great to bring to a party. This is one of our favorite summer “regulars.”

Grandma Grello’s birthday is this week. There’s a story surrounding her birthday where she was born on one day but it didn’t get recorded for a few days, making the date on her birth certificate different than the date that she was actually born. This makes her birthday date a little sketchy, but we always celebrate it some time this week. In honor of that, I thought I’d share her Green Bean Marinade recipe with you today. Summer is here and we’ve already made this once, one time of many over the upcoming months.

One thing we’ve discovered, is that if you want to, when you’re done marinating the green beans, you can re-use the marinade to marinate broccoli, which is also very good.

Last time I made this, Caroline picked the beans, minced the garlic and pretty much did the entire recipe herself with my supervision, so it’s a good recipe for kids who like to help in the kitchen, as mine do, and I love the idea of passing along family recipes to my kids at a young age, so that when they’re old enough to do their own cooking, they’ll have all their favorite recipes on hand and they will have made them, too.

GRAM GRELLO’S GREEN BEAN MARINADE

Caroline made most of this recipe by herself last time around. Her garlic was so perfectly minced, I thought Grandpa Grello had come back and done it himself, as he was always known for the most perfectly cut ingredients when he cooked.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound clean, snapped fresh green beans, the ends picked

1/3 cup blend of olive oil and vegetable (or canola) oil

1/4 cup white vinegar or cider vinegar (we use white mostly)

salt

pepper

parsley

garlic

Caroline has the marinade ready and awaiting the cooked beans.

DIRECTIONS

Bring salted water to a boil in 2 qt. sauce pan.

Drop in beans.

Bring to a boil and cook for 10-15 minutes uncovered.

Remove with a slotted spoon (apparently this step is the most important. Spoon must be slotted.)

Don’t drain or rinse and place beans into the bowl that has the marinade.

Marinate in the fridge for several hours.

Remove garlic and serve. (We never remove the garlic.)

Wings, roasted potatoes and marinated green beans; a simple summertime meal.

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