Eating Issues

Evie has always been a pretty good eater.  She is no pickier than the average toddler, but lately mealtimes have been a BATTLE!!!  She won't sit in her high chair.  She won't eat anything I put in front of her.  But she will run for the cupboard that the graham crackers are in as soon as I am done cleaning up whatever meal she hasn't eaten.

One of Evie's first meals in her high chair

Today, she didn't eat a single "real" meal.  She ate half a yogurt cup for breakfast (she usually finishes the whole cup), ate most of a fruit and veggie pouch for lunch (they are only 3.5 oz of baby food style fruits and veggies), and for dinner she ate two graham crackers because I gave up and just let her have them.  Her weight is fine, so I'm not worried about her health (at this point), but I'm more frustrated by the fact that she throws a fit every time I try to put her in her high chair.  Even bribing her with her beloved yogurt bites doesn't do the trick anymore.  When she actually wants to eat, she wants to sit in my lap to do it.

It's bad at home, but it's even worse when we go out to eat.  M and I have always enjoyed going out for dinner on the weekends.  (Seriously, who wants to cook on the weekends?!?!)  Having a child didn't really slow us down.  Evie has always been pretty good at restaurants, and we usually stick with places that are kid friendly.  (Buffalo Wild Wings is our favorite - it's loud and there are lots of distractions...and really good wings!!)  Since Evie has wanted to sit on my lap to eat, we have to eat in shifts.  M hurries to finish his meal.  By the time he is done, Evie is sick of sitting at the table, so I eat by myself while he wanders around the restaurant trying to entertain her.

I think times are a-changing.  We are going to try a booster seat at home to see if that novelty will get her back in the habit of eating in her own chair and not in my lap.  M and I had a talk yesterday about the fact that we may not be able to go out to eat as much for the next few months.  :(  I suppose we'll save some money...or just start ordering take out, lol.  I know that it's just a phase, but it's sure a frustrating one!!!

I'd love to hear some suggestions!!  Have you had any similar issues with your child?  How did you get through it?

Waffle Fail

I had a major craving for waffles on Sunday morning, but we were out of the box mix that I usually use, and I was WAY too lazy to run to the grocery store to pick up some more.  So, I was resourceful and I turned to the trusty internet to solve my problem for me.

I found a waffle recipe that had good reviews and I gave it a whirl.  The batter turned out really runny, and kind of chunky.  I usually like to eat some of the pancake/waffle batter (totally gross to most people, I know, but we all have our sick little vices, right??!!?!), and I wouldn't even eat the batter, so I knew that this was not going to end well. 

Gross-o batter that I wouldn't eat.

I put it in the waffle iron anyway, and what came out was an awful, not a waffle.  (That's M's pun, he has to take all of the credit for that  great pun.)  I didn't even take a picture of it because it was just a pile of sort of cooked batter...it was pretty nasty.

However, the waffle craving was so strong, that I actually started over with a new recipe.

This batter was edible...by my standards.

And the waffles turned out great too!!

Evie and M both loved them.  I was so disgusted with the fact that I spent over an hour attempting to make about 6 waffles that I didn't have much of an appetite to eat them anymore.  Oh well, at least I found a recipe I can use in the future.  Or, I'll just get off my lazy ass and go to the grocery store.  :)

Gingersnaps a la Grandma K

My Grandma K passed away in the summer of 2004.  She was bound to a wheelchair from the time she was about 60 years old until she passed away when she was 76.  Obviously this made it difficult for her to get around.  My grandpa was 10 years older than her, so it was difficult for him to get her around too.  Spending so much time at home, she devoted herself to baking some the best cookies to ever grace this earth.

When I was at college, she would bake some cookies and put them in the freezer for when I came home.  Using her great-depression era sensibility, nothing ever went to waste and some of her cookie concoctions were a little unorthodox.  (Ever heard of chocolate chip and hickory nut cookies?  Or peanut butter walnut cookies?)  If she had it in the kitchen, she could find a way to put it in a cookie.

She did stick to a recipe every once in a while, and this time of the year it was usually gingersnaps.  After she died, my aunt took her recipe cards, and made copies for anyone who was interested.  This is the only one I've ever attempted, and it usually turns out ok.  Of course, when I made them last weekend, I forgot to set a timer and I burned them.  Oh well, I'm sure my grandma would have eaten them anyway...or at least guilted my grandpa and all of us kids into eating them.  ;)

Here is the recipe and few pictures of yet ANOTHER (see here, here, and here) baking fiasco in my kitchen.

The recipe says to roll them out and cut into gingerbread men,
but I usually just roll them into balls and coat them with white sugar. 

¼ boiling water

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup molasses

½ cup shortening

3 cups of flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp nutmeg

Mix the dry ingredients and set aside.

Pour water over shortening.  (I usually just heat up the water in the microwave)  Add sugar and molasses to water and shortening.  Mix well.  Add dry ingredients.  Chill dough.   

Roll out thin and cut into gingerbread men.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes (I'd keep close eye on them after about 12 minutes though..unless you like them crispy)

Burnt gingersnaps.  I'm sure my grandma is just happy that I tried.  :)

Post-Partum Hair Loss

Same tract of new hair growth...soooo annoying!!!

It's kind of hard to tell from this picture,
but it's about an inch and half wide
tract of hair above my forehead.
That's where it's the worst.

About 3 months after Evie was born, my hair started falling out.  It came out in clumps in the shower, around my house, in my classroom...I was disgusted!  The hair loss waned after about 3 months, and things were pretty much back to normal, except that I was totally paranoid about leaving a trail of hair behind me wherever I went.

 I didn't realize how bald I must have been until all of the hair started growing back.  At first, it was just a bunch of spiky hairs that wouldn't stay laying flat.  Now, it looks like a layer of my hair that is about 2 inches long, and covers my whole head.  It's too short to pull back into my ponytail, but it's too long for my headband...it falls forward over the headband and is incredibly annoying. 

I can't wait for it to grow just *little* bit longer so that it's not so weird looking.  I can't do much with my hair right now and it's driving me a *little* insane.

Did anyone else have CRAZY post-partum hair loss?  How has yours grown back??

Baking Wonderful-ness

I have been baking up a storm lately. I think it's just this time of year that puts me in the mood to bake.  In the last three weeks, I've made Red Velvet Brownies with White Chocolate Icing, two loaves of banana bread, a loaf of bread in the bread machine, rhubarb muffins, and this weekend, my project was Cookie Dough Brownies.

I should have written about the "red" velvet brownies as another baking disaster.  I ran out of red food coloring, so I just put in all of the colors that I had.  They turned out a sort of greenish-black.  M said they looked "like calf shit...and I don't know if the calf was healthy."  Of course, he was raised on a farm and would know what that looked like.  I just took his word for it.  Food coloring doesn't affect the taste, and they were wonderful!!  (Bad blogger...I didn't take pictures!)

The cookie dough brownies, which I found through a crafty/recipe blog hop, turned out great!!  As I'm typing this, I'm biting into my 19384745756th brownie since I made them yesterday.  They took a little effort to make, but it was TOTALLY worth it.  ;)

That's right, they have a layer of brownie on the bottom, a layer of cookie dough (no eggs, totally safe), and then a chocolate glaze on top.

M and I have finished off half the pan since yesterday afternoon.  I'm a little ashamed of us, but it's getting closer to the holidays, and calories don't count during the holidays, right!?!?!?

Oh well, I'll bring some to school tomorrow to spread my caloric intake to others.  Teachers are like vultures for sweets.

Here's the recipe for anyone else who wants to participate in some pre-holiday gluttony with me!!

Found at Chef in Training

COOKIE DOUGH BROWNIES

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1-1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1-1/3 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt

Filling:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Glaze:

• 2 cups milk chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 3/4 cups walnuts, optional

Cream butter and sugar together.  Add eggs and blend well.  Add vanilla, salt, cocoa, and flour.  Don't over-beat.  Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes or until done.  Cool completely.

For filling, in a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light & fluffy. Beat in milk and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour. Stir in mini chocolate chips. Spread over brownies (works best to just press out with clean hands.); chill until firm.

For glaze, in a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate chips and shortening in 30 second intervals, stirring after each time, until smooth. Spread over filling. Immediately sprinkle with nuts, pressing down slightly.

Let glaze harden before cutting in.

Mommy Fail(s)

In the past 15 months, I have been involved in several scenarios I never thought possible prior to becoming a parent.  Some of these aren't necessarily "mommy fails," but none of them would have happened if I didn't have a child.

• The time my *male* principal unlocked and walked into my classroom (which has no windows) while I was pumping.
• The SECOND time my *male* principal unlocked and walked into my classroom while I was pumping, this time with a *male* student following closely behind him.  (Don't fear for my student,  he saw nothing.  I'm pretty sure he knew what was going on, but I ducked under my desk as soon as I heard the key in the door.  They didn't see anything.)
• The first time I tried to give Evie a bath.  I didn't have a clue what I was doing.  My sister was kind enough to help me out by taking pictures of what was supposed to be a relaxing bath. 

You can 't see it here, but she was screaming the whole time.
She was only a few days old, and I was pretty sure that I had scarred her for life.

• The two times I brought Evie to Urgent Care (or called the nurse on-call line) because she was being SUPER fussy and I just needed to know that it wasn't anything serious.  Yeah, I overreact sometimes.  
• The time I was changing Evie's poopie diaper in the restroom at a department store.  My sister was with me, and we were joking around saying things like, "Evie, oh my god.  That's awful.  Uuugghhh!!!"  When we walked out, we found out at everyone at the service desk right outside of the bathroom could hear us, and they were all staring at us.  (Yes, this just happened yesterday.)

Overall, I don't think I've done too many ridiculously stupid things since I've been a mom, nothing too serious anyway. My greatest shortcomings are mostly related to me not trusting my own instincts.  I'm a second-guesser to the core.  Having a child challenges my second-guessing nature on a daily basis.  I have learned to go with the flow and trust my gut a little more in the past year, but I think it's going to take a lifetime for me to truly figure it out.

Oops, I did it again...

I posted earlier this summer about a baking fail, and I've struck gold again!  My sister and I were going to go to the big farmer's market on the capitol square in Madison, but the weather didn't work out.  To make up for missing out on the amazing baked goods, awesome cheeses, and fresh vegetables, I decided I would make some fresh blueberry muffins. 

I looked up a recipe online: "To Die for Blueberry Muffins."  That seemed like what I wanted, so I went for it.  I furiously began mixing everything together, and the batter looked perfect going into the oven.

I took this picture to post about my baking glory...I was WAY ahead of myself.

As I was looking over the recipe and reading the reviews (I know these are usually good things to do BEFORE you put the muffins in the oven), I realized that I had completely missed the part about adding baking powder.  

The devastating results

 So, this is what came out of the oven 12 minutes later.  They look worse than they actually tasted.  They just didn't rise the way they were supposed to.

When I cut one open...

Because they didn't rise, the blueberries had nowhere to go.  It became a kind of blueberry pie in muffin form.  Maybe I'm not the baker/cook I once thought I was.  M still ate one, and I've already had two, just to make sure they weren't as bad as they looked.  ;)  Hopefully I've learned an important lesson.  Better luck next time.


Edited to Add: As I put labels on this, I realized that I have a label for "baking" and a label for "fail" that I have only ever used in relation to each other....LOL.  I think that's a sign.

Total Baking Fail

I normally consider myself a reasonably good cook.  Only once (that I remember) in my married life have I created something inedible.  Around Christmas time a few years ago, I made ginger snaps that turned out so rock hard that even the dog wouldn't eat them!! Then came Wednesday, I believe that my inedible count went up to 2. 

Sometime over the past year or so, I misplaced my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe (if you have a good one, let me know!!), so I looked up a recipe online.  I found one that was "chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies."  I had no desire to put oatmeal in them...we're not really oatmeal cookie people.  I figured I'd just leave it out, and we'd have chewy chocolate chip cookies.

Boy, was I wrong!!!  Here is the result:

Yes, that is 9 cookies melded into one GIANT cookie on my baking sheet.  Apparently, oatmeal cookies don't call for as much flour because the oatmeal soaks up some of the wet ingredients.  Obviously, I was not aware of this.  In hindsight, I did think it was strange that the recipe only called for 1 1/4 cups of flour.

I quickly added more flour to the remaining dough and I managed to salvage a few decent cookies.

In the end, all that really matters is that the dough tasted REALLY good.  ;)