Superbowling

Superbowl-pajama party.  Double win!

The day before Superbowl, we had a fun but very busy day- we were jetting from one activity to another for 12 hours.  So on Sunday, we really didn't feel like getting back on the road. Mister was practically threatening revolt if He had to miss one more nap.  But we still wanted to have all the most important elements of a good Superbowl party:  chips, dips, game, good company.

So we decided to throw our own family Superbowl party!  

For dinner we had nachos (Little One's thanks to daiya vegan cheese), chips, raw veggies, and lots of home-made dips.  The Sisters thought it was about the most awesome thing ever.  

Missy was unimpressed by the football ("They don't even SAY anything.  They jus' run AWOUND.  This is a boh-ring movie")  but She sat and watched, and waited for the halftime show.  

And then fell fast asleep during the commercial break before the halftime show, and missed it.  

Little One has long liked to watch football, and She was super into the game.  She didn't like the commercials, but loved the football, and the halftime show (during Missy Elliot- "I don't know what they call this dance- but I. LOVE. IT!) and, also, the chips.  

She almost made it to the end of the game, but got too tired.  

Little One: "How much more of the game is there?" 

C: "Well we are in the 3rd quarter, and - how many quarters in a whole?"

LO: "In a what?"

C: "A whole. How many quarters do you need for a whole?"

LO: "What?! You don't need any quarters for a whole. All you need is a shovel!" 

Yes For Dessert

I have this artist friend.  I love the way she mothers.  She and I parent the same in some ways, differently in some ways, but we find the same kind of joy in it, I think.  So when she talks about her Way of parenting, I listen.  And when she posted some random link on Facebook today, I clicked.  I read it.
The article was about how it is important to say "yes" to children, when as parents we are so constantly saying "no".  Important to say yes; not "maybe", "I'll think about it", "if you this" or "after that".  But really, truly, "yes that's a great idea"; "absolutely".
Ok, whatever, that's nice.  I clicked on.
But that article popped into my head today, every time I admonished my girls for using their hands instead of a fork, or the tablecloth instead of a napkin.  Every time they asked if we were done waiting for the doctor, or could go to the zoo today, or have skittles for lunch.
They say Eskimos have 100 words for "snow", but moms have at least 1000 ways of saying "no".
Today was a long day.  The kids were up early.  We spent four hours at the allergy clinic, waiting and meeting Little One's new top doc.  We grabbed lunch and drove through DC traffic to the commissary where we shopped for the next month (because I'm not doing that again all the time, Peanuts.  I mean really) and hauled it all back home and unloaded.  Because J has an overnight shift tonight (which started at 5am today), I made him dinner- a new Chinese recipe requiring lots of pots and pans- and brownies for the whole resident team.  I packed it up, fed the kids, washed the dishes, bathed Mister- because no matter how busy we may be, this face:

needs a bath after dinner- got the Sisters faces washed and hair brushed.  Got the text that J didn't want dinner (another resident went out for Chinese), but loaded all the kids and the brownies into the car anyways.  We drove 45 minutes through rush hour, and Missy fell fast asleep.
So I put Her in a stroller, brownies in the basket, Mister on my hip, and pushed Her in, with Little One holding the handle.  We waited 20 minutes in the lobby while J finished helping a patient, and saw him for about 10 minutes.
By the time we left, the sun was setting, Missy still fast asleep with Mister following suit, and I was thinking of how much I had to do as soon as I could get the kids into bed.  As we made our way to the parking lot, Little One said,
"So, mom.  I was thinking...how 'bout since the kids are asleep and it's past bed time, how 'bout you and me do something fun? Like have a girls night? 
"We-elll....we might still have time to read our special book.  But it's already after bed time, love."  (We've been reading chapter books lately, after the younger kids are in bed.  We're currently in the middle of "The Little Prince").
"But.  But...well...I was thinking more like, you know, like a game, or something, or....Oh! I KNOW! Let's BAKE something! Something from my new cookbook Aunt Sherry gave me?  Just us two? 'Cause, 'cause you know, mom.  You know, you and Dada have been working a LOT lately....and Missy has been reading the Little Price wif us, and that's ok because She likes it and that's great She does, and so we also shouldn't read any more wifout Her, you know, but well.  So we haven't had that much time.  With us, just.  Please?  Please could we just have a fun girl night and bake some stuff?  Us two?"  
I began preparing a good version of No in my head- after all it was already past bed time and I had a lot of cleaning up to do and some other chores to get done.  But that article flashed through my mind. I asked myself why I was saying no.  Did it really, truly, need to be a no?  Or was I just used to saying it?  We had nothing to do in the morning; there was nothing waiting for me at home that couldn't wait a little longer.  Besides which: there will be a time, soon, when Little One might not want to hang out with me "just us two".  A time when I will wish She would.  Here I had Little One, offering Herself up to me on a silver platter, offering me a whole evening of time together having fun.
So I said, "Little One.  I think that is a terrific idea! Absolutely.  Let's do it!"
She lit up like a firefly.  "Ok! Great! Oooohhh I can't wait to decide what we are gonna make! There are TONS of great recipes in my book, mom.  We are gonna have fun just deciding which one!"
 We did.  We put the littler Littles to bed, dawned our matching aprons, and pored over the book until we found the perfect thing.  We adjusted it to allow for the fact that Little One really wanted to use strawberries and bananas.  Then we measured and mixed- Little One doing almost all of it Herself.
We chatted about our day, about kindergarten coming up, about lots of things.

While they baked, we read The Little Prince, just us two.  When they were done, we split one in celebration.

"Little One, thanks for a great idea.  That was fun! And tomorrow we will surprise everyone with tho special breakfast!"
"Yeah, mom.  They will be happy, right? I guess I do have good ideas sometimes.  Hey mom.  I love you."  
We brushed teeth and tucked Her in.
I didn't really get any chores done.  I didn't get to call and chat with my sister or a friend like I'd planned.  But I did get to spend some excellent time with a wonderful, fun person who is becoming more and more a friend every day.  Plus, our strawberry-banana muffins turned out to be delicious.  

Sometimes, as moms, we have to force ourselves to do something nice for ourselves, to treat ourselves to something purely fun.  But it's worth it to take the time.  Saying "yes", is sweet.

Epipen Apron- Vegan Chocolate-Chip Brownie Lovechildren

When we had our big holiday cookie baking day, we ended up making over 600 cookies.  And yet, here we are. Christmas eve, and there are only a few sad looking cookies crumbling at the bottom of the jar.  Such is the joy of giving (oh, ok.  And of having eaten a ton of cookies).   

Combine that with the fact that the weather went from soaring through the 70's the last few days to taking a lemming-dive into the 40s this morning, and the fact that J went back to work this morning (and we had to take Mister to the Doctor and wow that did not go so smoothly.  Not so much).  What we have here is a recipe for cookies.  

To review: no cookies plus cold plus stress = COOKIES.  It's a simple recipe.  I use it often.

Today all three littles got tucked in for naps and I hit the sugar bowl.  I decided that what I needed was some chocolate, with extra chocolate, and maybe some chocolate.  With chocolate on top.   So I whipped up these suckers, which I highly recommend for anyone interested in chocolate-induced comas.  

I have included the recipe below, although in the interest of full-disclosure I totally made these cookies up on the spur of the moment by throwing stuff together in a bowl and did not take the time to measure anything.  So the recipe is an approximation based on what I remember and might need a little tweaking if you try it at home.  

You should, though, because the result of this combination of kitchen odds and ends is the sinful lovechild of a chocolate chip cookie and a brownie.  It will not make you skinny.  But it is guaranteed to treat cookie deficiency, winter chills, and even severe cases of for-the-love-of-goodness-put-your-dang-SHOES-ON-child-we-are-late.  Merry Christmas.

Vegan Chocolate-Chip Brownie Lovechildren

1/2 cup margarine

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 replacement eggs (I used flax)

2 generous teaspoons vanilla extract

scant 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

generous 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup soy milk

1/3 cup applesauce

1 bag chocolate chips

preheat oven to 375f

Cream together margarine, shortening, and sugars.  

Beat in egg replacer and vanilla.  

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.  

Add these dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and beat the heck out of them all until you have an ugly glob. 

Add 1/2 of the soy milk and beat until the glob lets go of the beater.  Add the rest of the soy milk and the applesauce and blend well until the batter is creamy. 

Stir in chocolate chips.  

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto cookie pan and bake for 10-13 minutes.  

Let cool before removing from pan.

Eat these suckers warm, preferably with milk or ice cream and with your fingers in your ears to further drown out the sound of children crying over lost shoes.  Ahh.  See?  All better.     

Epipen Apron- Vegan Maple-Glazed Spiced Pumpkin Cookies

What to do with all those decorative pumpkins from the front step? Hmm. 
How about what I do with anything I can possibly make edible with sugar? Yes!
How about Spiced Pumpkin Cookies?  Yes!
To kick it fully into fall, how about Maple Glazed Spiced Pumpkin Cookies?  In baking, the more adjectives you have to add to the title the better, I think.  So yes.  Of course, since we have our little Littles peeking hopefully over the countertop, we will add Vegan to the lineup.
This recipe was made up by combining and adapting pumpkin cookie recipes from the internet, and Little One helped me think of the icing at the last minute.  They turned out really yummy.  They are fluffy, soft, almost cake-like cookies and while I didn't get a picture of them all dressed up, the glaze makes them shiny and pretty to boot.  Even if you don't usually go vegan in your baking, this one may be worth a try.  And here you go:

Vegan Maple-Glazed Spiced Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients:

For Cookies






5 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon baking soda
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup earth balance margarine
3 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 flax or replacement eggs 
3 cups baked, pureed pumpkin

For Glaze

2 cup confectioners' sugar
4 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Soy Milk 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450. 
2. Wash pumpkin, poke holes in sides, set on foil in a baking dish and bake for at least an hour, until very soft. 
3. Reduce oven temperature to 350, and remove pumpkin.
4. Peel pumpkin, remove seeds, and puree in a blender or food processor until very smooth.
5. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
6. Beat margarine and sugar until creamy. 
7. Beat in pumpkin, replacement egg, and vanilla to butter mixture until smooth. 
8. Mix in dry ingredients until well combined. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls.
9. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, remove and cool.
10. With a fork, combine sifted confectioners sugar with maple syrup, vanilla, and just enough soy milk (if necessary) to make a smooth icing.  
11. Drizzle over cookies with a fork or glaze with a pastry brush and let set.  
12. Yum.  

Five-O-Saurus

When I asked Little One what kind of birthday party She'd like to have, She said:
"Well. It could be princesses.  All my friends have princess parties."  
"Hmm," I carefully hid my horror,  "That's one idea.  But you don't have to have the same party as everyone else.  Let's come up with another idea, just for fun.  What's something YOU like?"
Little One brightened right up.  
"I know, Mom! I know! How about a- DINOsaur party!!! I LOVE dinosaurs!"
Yes.  How about that.  Dinosaurs I can work with.
I decided to go with the marsh building at the aquarium.  Getting to pet and tour reptiles and an aviary seemed like the closest we could get to real dinosaurs (and I did not have to clean up).
We went to visit one of our favorite local oddities, a war plane museum which randomly has some giant dinosaur models out front, to get a photo for invitations. 

Then Little One and I had craft time; I punched the holes and She tied a toy onto each one. While we were at it, She picked out some paper She liked at the craft store and we fashioned party hats with dinosaur spikes down the back. 

 We scouted for dinosaurs everywhere we went.  Each time we ran an errand the Littles were on high alert for dinos, and before we knew it we had all the makings of buckets of prehistoric party favors.

 

 At a dollar store we found some little wooden cutouts of brontosauruses.  We brought them home and I drilled holes in the top and sanded them down.  I threw in some markers and lacing yarn, so that guests could decorate their own necklace name-tag.

 

 We had a few other craft projects to keep little dino-partyers busy

 

 For decorations, Little One insisted we needed a big volcano.  So I scavenged an unused foam posterboard from the garage.  I cut it out and peeled away parts of the backing paper to add texture, 

Then we painted it with leftover furniture paint, and added red and orange tissue paper and a glittered, red-painted 5 made from leftover posterboard scraps.  

Then Little One helped me use the rest of the craft paper to make a birthday banner.  

My mom took the T-Shirts she'd bought them months ago when we visited a Texas dinosaur museum and fashioned them into fabulous party dresses, and we were all dinosaured up. 

The venue only allowed cake and water, no food.  So we decided to make them as dinosaur-y as possible!  Little One picked out the tape and stickers for the water bottles.

 As for the cake, it took some experimentation...

 

 And it didn't look like much at first...

But in the end we fashioned a vegan chocolate island surrounded by a jello sea and topped by a volcano...

That blew smoke...

 And erupted in strawberry goo.

 

I kind of forgot to light the dinosaurs.  But She wished on Her 5, and even though it was a mess to serve, it tasted pretty good and She was quite amused with the special effects.  

 The kids had fun getting up close with the reptile visitors,

 Ok Little One was not about to pet the one described as "gooey and slimy"

 And then we all got to take a tour of the aquarium's animals and exhibits.

Little One is always happy to lend a hand

 One of the top highlights for Little One was that after the aquarium tour, She got to go behind the scenes and feed the otters.  The rest of us got to watch, and the otters put on quite a show! 

 

Overall Little One had a blast.  She invited some longtime best friends, and a list of new pals from school.  I was happy to see that they were all awesome, sweet, fun kids.  

They made a fierce group of dino-guests!

 Afterwards, as a family we went to lunch at Her favorite restaurant- a sushi and Japanese food place which She might just eat out of business one day.  Then we opened presents.  At first, Little One was afraid all those fancy packages meant no one had honored Her request for donations. But it turned out they were mostly filled with toothbrushes, soaps, power bars, and the like.  She was thrilled.  

She got some nice gifts to play with and wear as well, and it seemed like a nice balance.  Because She is now FIVE and a BIG GIRL, She even suggested that She make Her own thank-you cards this year.  An excellent idea, I agreed.  I'm glad that She is a big girl, and I'm glad that She is thankful.  

I am, too. 

Epipen Apron- ChocolateCherryChewies

As you all know, we have serious food allergy issues around here, including milk and eggs. 
As you also know, I love to bake.  I mean, love to bake. 
These two facts tend to snarl at each other and make bitey faces.  They don't get along. 
But because of my deep love for both homemade confections and keeping my children alive, I have become an allergy/baking mediator. 
It's an ongoing process.  But I've pretty much got the opposing sides down to a few snarky comments and mild glares across the room. 
I am not trained in this art; I make it up as I go along.  So to both record successes where they occur (so I don't forget them) and share with anyone else who has similarly warring factions residing in their kitchens, I thought I'd start sharing some of my tactics on here. 
How about beginning with the treats I threw together last night? 
I was cleaning up after dinner, when I came across some candied cherries left over from a long ago recipe which called for, like, three.  Then what's a girl to do with a bunch of candied cherries that just sit on the shelf and stare at people?  There are no free rides in this house, people!  I decided it was time for those cherries to earn their keep. 

Vegan Chocolate-Cherry-Chewies   (alliteration is fun)

1 Stick of softened Earth Balance margarine
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1/4 Cup white sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1 flax egg
1 heaping cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp corn starch
Half a bag of ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips*
Half cup maraschino cherries, chopped

Cream together the Earth Balance with the sugars. 
Add the vanilla and pre-whipped up flax egg and beat until smooth.
Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and corn starch and add slowly to the sugar mixture.  Beat on medium speed until combined. 
Stir in chocolate chips and cherries
Bake at 375 for 11 minutes. 
Yum.

A couple of notes.
1) Don't switch the Earth Balance for some other margarine.  I'm not getting kickbacks for saying so (unfortunately) but truly no other brand comes as close to actual butter in baking.  I'll have to try these with coconut cream one day, that might be yummy.  But if for now, only Earth Balance sticks. 

2) A flax egg is just ground flax seeds mixed with water.  You can buy flax meal at Trader Joes, Whole Foods, sometimes regular grocery stores in the health food section. When you whip them up with a fork, they will reach the consistency of a raw egg.  I just estimate the ratio based on making sure that consistency is right, and then use an egg's worth of the goo, rather than measure exactly how much flax to water. Even though most bakers prefer exact measurements, it always turns out better this way. 

3) Don't argue with me about the corn starch.  Just do it.  Trust me.

4) As a disclaimer for allergy people, the ghiradelli people are serious about warning that these chips are made on the same production line as dairy products.  The line is washed off between products, but there could always be trace amounts remaining.  Those with doubts should use a true vegan or dairy-free chocolate chip.  But Little One is as sensitive to dairy as it gets, and I've used these (too) many times over the years without issue.  Plus, they are in my opinion the absolute best tasting of the lot of vegan chocolate chips, especially for cookies.

5) Because of the flax and the high ratio of brown sugar, these cookies turn out a little darker than a typical chocolate chip cookie.  But eleven minutes is about perfect, they will still be soft and chewy.


And there you go. Just skip these posts if you are like me and know deep in your heart that there is no substitute for butter.  But if you are a veganish or allergic baker, check back and click the "Epipen Apron" tag.  Our cookie jar is never empty.