Y is for...Yes, Please!

...It is Friday, the last Friday in a crazy month of April (a month that started on a Friday as well!)...A month full of paperwork, competitions, Easter, more paperwork, baseball games, an Audit (more paperwork), a great visit from my Mum, lousy weather, a science project, more lousy weather, less than stellar behaviour and more paperwork.  But today is Friday (again) and the sun is shining and there is promise of decent weather...meaning that the deck furniture will soon be out (like maybe tomorrow)...And it is time for a drink!  So, yes please!
  This is a tasty mixture that you could put in someone's lunchbox, but you would want to leave out the vodka...It is my favourite "Happy Friday" treat and it always tastes best when sitting on the deck with the sun going down.  Here it is...A Sparkling Citrus Sipper
     One glass (highball)
     2-3 ice cubes
     2 oz vodka
     slice of orange, lime, lemon, 2 pieces strawberry, a few blueberries
     2 oz Mango tangerine juice
     2 oz Club soda
1. Put ice and fruit in glass, add vodka.

2. Add juice; add soda.  Mix and enjoy.  Leave out the vodka for a great virgin sipper or Kids drink (my kids love it better than pop).  

Happy Friday!


    

U is for...Unanimous

   When the liking of a food is unanimous in our household, I cheer!  Up until a year or so ago, the list was very short...Spaghetti & meatballs and chicken & black bean stir fry with broccoli and noodles were about it.  Yes, there were other things that my children would eat and loved: macaroni and cheese for example, or baked chicken with rice and peas, chicken quesadillas and grilled cheese sandwiches...But when I say Unanimous, I mean all of us, and while I will eat those things, they are the foods I make so that everyone eats, not necessarily because I like them. 
   As the parent primarily responsible for the food in our house (I am not saying Mother, because I know that in many homes it is the father or the grandmother, or the big sister who takes on this roll, and not necessarily the Mother), it isn't very often that I make something just because I like it.  I make steak when it is on sale and we haven't had red meat in a while.  Seafood however, I make because I am craving some.  And tonight, we will be having Seafood!  Again though, not because I am craving it or because it is what everyone likes, but because my Mum is here visiting from Montreal and she loves seafood. She is heading home in a few days and it would be nice if we could have it once while she is here. 
    The rest of the week, however, I am shooting for a "unanimously popular"  (where is my English teacher husband?  can I even say that?) menu....
-Spaghetti and turkey meatballs on Tuesday (Turkey Tuesday, don't you know!)
-Caesar salad and baked chicken pieces on Wednesday (I can make both ahead of time and then we avoid the baseball game/dance class/soccer practice rush)
-Chicken Pot Pie (that I am making this afternoon) on Thursday (another silly day: Skating, baseball practice and gymnastics all requiring that folks be somewhere by or before 6pm and then some not home until 7 or 8pm).
-Pizza (frozen for now) and salad on Friday.

 Wednesday, Thursday and Friday lunches will all take care of themselves with leftovers, which means I really only have to "think" for tomorrow's lunches.  But now, I am off to check the fruit situation for the week...Might just be heading to the grocery store AGAIN before the long weekend comes to an end.

Happy Packing!

Another trip to the grocery store?

Boy, do we go through a lot of milk in this house!  And why is it that a trip to the grocery store for what should amount to $9 worth of milk, ends up costing me $30?  Nevermind, I managed to pick up three bags of goldfish crackers (for $2.00 a bag)!  What?  I know, they are full of salt, and really worthless as far as nutrition goes (altho I do buy the whole grain ones)...But, if you pop a bowl full of air popped popcorn (and then add a big dollop of butter and a whole whack of salt, you have completely undone the healthy aspects of popcorn as a snack!), and toss in a half a bag of goldfish crackers, you have taken a good chunk of the sodium down to a manageable level, and (in our house at least) there is less demand for the added salt and butter.  And it is fun to search for the goldfish swimming in the big bowl of popcorn.  It also packs nicely into a lunch box as a nice little treat that the teachers don't frown at (okay, well, don't send the whole bowl, unless of course it is for some sort of class celebration!).
I also grabbed some of those ready made smoothies from the yogurt section, but those are for weekend lunches!  Yes, those days when its not a school day, but you still need to pack somebody a good healthy bag of food to take to some gynnastics competition or extra long basketball practice or skating competition...Uh huh, all of which we have coming up this month...I know that the kids will want to purchase food as well, and that is fine, but a big day of competing means that they need to be eating healthy foods (and then pigging out at Micky Dees on the way home from the tournament!  Go figure!)...I plan for the food from home before the action and then it is always good to have a sandwich or wrap from home ready to grab first thing afterwards (remember how good things taste when we are starving!)...This way at least, you can get in there before they hit the concession line or the drive thru on the way home.  With our little kids, we give them $5.00 to spend when we are at a competition, and always tell them that they can keep the change...Amazing how good that lunch from home is when you want to keep as much change as possible!  Kate usually ends up with a box of smarties and then eats the lunch I have packed her...(by the way, smarties tossed into a bowl of hot popcorn, mmmmm!  Just remember the napkins, and maybe don't send that bowl to school).
...So, what is going into the lunches tomorrow?  Chocolate chip cocoa banana bread, mandarins, carrots and celelry with hummus for dipping, and then some turkey chili in the thermoses  (okay, well, Duncan has half turkey chili and half meatballs, child still doesn't do beans...The deal is he gets the meatballs if he promises to also eat the beans)...
Welcome, first hump day of 2011...I am so ready for the weekend~