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The latest edition of Party Savvy is up over at Savvy Mom, and this month we're planning the ultimate splash party.
My kids don't have summer birthdays, but when they saw me working on this party theme they were trying to devise a way of having a water party this summer anyway.
I think it sounds like fun and with lunch served in sandpails, accompanied by jello sailboats and chocolate banana popsicles it's an easy way to entertain the kids.
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As I sat down to write up this week's meal plan I was practically horrified to see the word "June" appear across my page. For those of us with school children, June means that there are approximately 24 days left in this school year. It also means end of year concerts and parties, spring sports, social gatherings, good byes, vacation planning, and a constant nagging in the back of the brain asking me "what the heck are you going to do with the boys for 69 days (yes, I counted)".
Just kidding. I really love having the kids home for the summer. We're building a vacation wish list of things to do, and have a long sheet of paper taped to the wall for our many ideas. The markers are kept nearby and when we think of something fun we add it to the list.
One of my wishes is to teach each of the boys to make one complete meal. I recently picked Jackson up from a playdate and while I was chatting with the mom in her foyer, her eldest son walked by and told his mom he was going to start the hors d'oeuvres for the dinner party they were having later that evening. I was so impressed and thought that's exactly where I want my boys to be in a few years time. In fact, I keep telling Rob that my wish is to send them both off to University armed with the knowledge of how to cook their lady friends a fancy meal.
But for now I'll let them finish out grades three and five, or what's left of them anyways. Here's what we're cooking up for dinner this week. What's on your weekly meal plan?
Monday:: Frittata, roasted potatoes, strawberries etc.
Tuesday:: Grilled lemon-rosemary chicken, asparagus and crostini with goat cheese
Wednesday:: Mini burgers, romaine salad with avocado, apple and asparagus
Thursday:: Egg-fried rice with veggies (we've been eating this once a week and we love it)
Friday:: Make-your-own grilled pizza night
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It's really nice when food blogging presents opportunities that may not have come my way otherwise. One of those is PartySavvy, which I've told you all about, and now I'm happy to have joined the Savvy Mom team as their new food blogger.
Twice a week you can find me over there sharing ideas on breakfast foods, lunch box ideas, snack staples, activities for getting your kids in the kitchen and savvy kitchen tips for the everyday busy mom.
My very best breakfast loaf (with quinoa!) has been a big hit in our house, and although it's designed for an easy breakfast we've also enjoyed it for lunch and after-school snacks as well. Head on over to check out what I'm up to, and stay tuned for some great posts I've been planning for June....
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If left to my own devices, I could, and probably would, eat eggs and/or potatoes for most of my meals. They are two of my favourite foods and I have yet to meet them served in a way I didn't approve of.
Of all the potato-dish variations out there, and believe me there are many, I would likely choose mashed potatoes last. I love hasselback potatoes, roasted potatoes and baked potatoes, and while mashed potatoes are good too, I find them to be just a little boring.
Until now that is. Mashed potatoes are often served as a fall or winter dish, but what about a spring inspired mashed potato? Think red potatoes, fresh peas, chopped mint, fragrant lemon zest and a hint of ground black pepper. All mixed and bashed with a wooden spoon just like regular mashed potatoes, only different.
The kids lapped them up, Rob mentioned three times after dinner how much he enjoyed them and I wished I had doubled the recipe. Then I could serve the leftovers for breakfast, with an egg of course.
Mashed Potatoes with Peas and Mint
Place the potatoes into a pot of well salted water and bring to a boil, cooking until the potatoes are tender. When the potatoes are 2-3 minutes away from being done, add the peas to the pot of water and cook them with the potatoes.
Drain the potatoes and peas and return them to pot. Cover with a lid and allow them to dry for a minute.
Add the butter, milk, mayonnaise, mint, lemon zest and fresh ground pepper. Mash well with the back of a wooden spoon and season with salt.
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You know when you hear a song on the radio, or in a movie, and you can't get it out of your head for days? You find yourself singing the theme song to iCarly as you wash the dishes, or better yet, all you can hear in your head is (as your talking to a client at work!) is "shake ya a**, watch yourself" after watching About a Boy for the sixteeth time.
That's how I felt about these sprinkle-rimmed glasses of milk I spotted over on Oh Sweet Babies. I couldn't get the image out of my head, and for days all I could think was what a fun idea for a party, don't you agree?
In my mind these would be absolutely perfect for a tween birthday party. Originally I was thinking a real girly party would be the ideal time to serve these, but the reaction of my tween boys to these kiddie cocktails made me realize they would work for both genders.
Little kids would love them too, but I might consider forgoing the glass and using plastic or disposable sippers for them if you're serving them at a party. For playdates, or smaller groups, I would definitely use the fancy glasses. Won't the kids feel so grown up and special?
As I was sitting here uploading these pictures, it also occurred to me that they would be wonderful to serve at a baby shower, where there are generally a few ladies in attendance who can't indulge in a nice glass of wine. For that type of event I would likely use little shot glasses, and serve a milk and cookies shooter to the crowd.
Milk and Cookies Cocktails
Using two plates, place a few tablespoons of agave nectar or honey on one and coloured sprinkles on the other. Dip the rim of the glass into the honey, allowing the excess to drip off before dipping the rim into the sprinkles. Leave the glasses upside down and allow the sprinkles to adhere before turning the cups right side up (or the sprinkles will run down the side of the glass).
Make your favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe and shape some of the dough into small balls, approximately 1" in size. Place a lollipop stick in the middle of the dough ball and press down to ensure the stick is covered by dough on all sides. Bake as per your cookie recipe.
Fill the glasses with milk and rest a cookie garnish on the rim of the glass.
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As I sat down to write this, all prepared to tell you about the vegetarian dinner we ate last night, I looked out the window to a wall of grey. There has been so much grey this Spring! And while I try really hard not to complain knowing that others are suffering far worse than we are, it would be nice to see just a peak of the sun, don't you think?
The dinner is going to wait, and instead I'm going to offer you the garden cake I made for PartySavvy. Created for a Spring-themed birthday party, I think it would make for a really fun indoor rainy-day activity for the kids. Easily customizable for boys and girls, the flowers can be removed and replaced with bugs if your boys aren't interested in a blooming garden of pink petals.
I don't know about you, but I'm about done with trying to plan weekends worth of indoor activities to keep my active boys entertained. If I wake up to continuous days of grey again this weekend, I'm breaking out the baking supplies and letting the kids loose in the kitchen. A girl can only play so much UNO.
Recipe and instructions over at PartySavvy.
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"Let's eat vegetarian next week, okay?"
These words came from Rob's mouth on Friday morning. Rob, my meat-lovin' man, decided that he consumed enough meat over the past few weeks, and that he'd like to try veggie living for the week. I was not going to complain.
So, here we are on Monday, day two of our vegetarian experiment. Last night we had a delightful penne primavera with ricotta and lemon. It was light and fresh and incredibly filling. The rest of the week sounds pretty tasty to me as well, don't you think? Let me know if you're at all interested in our little experiment, and if so I'll post our meals all week long and let you know how we're doing.
Here's our vegetarian meal plan for the week. What are you eating for dinner these days?
Monday:: Black bean and corn nachos, chopped romaine salad with lime vinaigrette
Tuesday:: Egg-fried rice with carrots, snap peas and sprouts
Wednesday:: Potato pizza with rosemary and feta, mixed green salad
Thursday:: Asparagus and caramelized onion quiche, lemon-pepper peas
Friday:: Portabello mushroom burgers with brie and roasted garlic aioli, sweet potato fries
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I made this a while ago. I was longing to break out the ice cream maker, just about the time we were celebrating a birthday, and felt inspired to have my ice cream taste like the party I was planning.
We're not big cake eaters, but for this particular birthday I was indeed making a cake. So I didn't serve the ice cream to the guests, but I did offer it to the boys, complete with sprinkles and sparklers, for a mid-winter afternoon snack and they were smitten with the idea and the presentation.
Now that it's officially ice cream making season (if the sun shines, the weather is warm and baseball is being played, ice cream is fair game in my books) I have a feeling this will be added to our regular rotation of favourites.
Birthday Cake Ice Cream, slightly adapted from Annie's Eats
In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup of the heavy cream with the yellow cake mix, sugar, and salt. Heat over medium heat until warmed through.
Place the egg yolks in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Combine the remaining cream, vanilla, and whole milk in a large mixing bowl with a fine mesh sieve set over the top.
When the mixture in the saucepan is warm, pour a small amount into the bowl with the egg yolks to temper them, whisking constantly. Continue pouring the cream mixture in, whisking continuously until completely combined. Return the mixture to the saucepan over medium heat. Continue heating, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, until the mixture thickens slightly and sticks to the back of a spoon.
Immediately pour the custard mixture through the mesh sieve into the bowl with the remaining cream and milk and mix to blend.
Cover and chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight. Once the mixture is chilled through, freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Scoop the ice cream into a freezer-safe container and cover. Will keep in freezer for a few weeks.
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Hello, Spring. You've finally sprung. And I know this because asparagus graced our table four times last week. Four. We ate in in pasta, on pizza, as a salad and served alongside chicken. Flavourful and vibrant, it was nice to see something other than the root and cruciferous vegetables that have been taking up real estate on our dinner plates lately.
The pasta dish was one that Jackson and I made together. My boys both fear asparagus a little, although they do eat it. The craggy ends are the worst part for them as they assume the javelin-like vegetable tastes as bad as it looks. My solution to this is to chop the asparagus when possible, making the rough-looking ends disappear completely, and somehow this makes it all the more palatable for the kids.
Jackson chopped, I boiled water, the pasta cooked and a simple stirring of three other ingredients made this a vegetarian meal any carnivore can enjoy. Or any kid who fears the monstrous end of an asparagus stalk. But it's specifically good for any Mom who has less than 40 minutes to get a healthy dinner on the table between the end of work and the start of baseball. Welcome back, Spring.
Pasta with Asparagus and Chives
Place the pasta in a pot of salted boiling water and cook until al dente, about 9 minutes.
While the pasta is cooking, add the asparagus, olive oil, salt and pepper to a skillet and saute until the asparagus is cooked through and slightly browned.
Reserving 1/2 - 3/4 cup of the pasta water, drain the pasta and set aside.
Add the reserved water back to the pasta pot and stir in the butter and cream cheese; stir continuously until both are melted. Add the the pasta and asparagus into the pot and stir until well combined with the sauce. Top with chopped chives and serve.
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How did it become Monday already? I apologize for the radio silence here on the blog. My website provider did some behind the scenes updating leaving the blog in an almost-inaccessible format over the past few days. I'm still not certain it's up and running the way it should be (are you having trouble accessing the pages?) but I'm hoping it will sort itself out today.
How was Mother's Day? We had a lovely day and I was the recipient of breakfast in bed made exclusively by the boys, and a raised garden bed put together for me by Rob and my Dad, who is here from BC this week.
Speaking of which, because we have company and my Dad is spending time between our place and my sister's home, we're not eating dinner the way we normally do. For example, tonight we're heading for dinner. What a treat for a Monday night, don't you think? So I'm offering a lose meal plan for the coming days, leaving room for adjustments, if necessary.
Last week I was working on a upcoming article and took to Twitter to ask my fellow food writers and blogging friends this questions: What is your best cooking/kitchen organization tip for busy moms? The answers were great but almost all of them were about meal planning and being organized in the kitchen. Interesting. And I completely agree. I've probably never asked this before, but are you meal planning these days? Do you find it helps you to feed your family well?
Here's what we're hoping to eat this week. How about you?
Monday:: Out for dinner
Tuesday:: Weekend leftovers - hamburgers and salads
Wednesday:: Sticky chicken thighs and drumsticks, salad, rice
Thursday:: BBQ - we have yet to decide exactly what we're going to BBQ
Friday:: Homemade pizza night
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