"What I"m reading" (recipe)

So as of late I've been reading all sorts of good books.  Mostly fantastical, to quench my inner child's imagination.  However, I got a book for Christmas that might be one of my all time favorites....and it's a cook book!  Now, I'm not just being dramatic when I say this-but this cookbook has seriously changed my life!!  It's call "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld.  It's all about hiding vegetables in everyday meals.  I don't have time to go on and on about how much I love this book, but I will say this-Ingrid is the pickiest eater!!  I hate to admit, but she hasn't consistently eaten vegetables since she was on baby food.  It's nothing we did or didn't do, she is just a picky eater.  I have salted, sugared, buttered and done anything else you can imagine to a vegetable to get her to ate least try it, and nothing works!  So I decided it was time for another approach, and this cookbook has solved my problem!  I highly recommend it to anyone who has picky eaters, or just anyone looking to add more nutrition to their family's diet.  So far I have made pancakes with sweet potato's, grilled cheese with pureed squash, rice balls with carrots, maccaroni and cheese with pureed beans, and today-chococlate oatmeal cookies with chickpeas!  I will definitley be sharing these recipes with you...because they are ah-mazing!  On a exciting note, since starting our meal plan out of this cookbook, Ingrid has actually taken to eating raw carrots....which is a HUGE step in the right direction!  I'm over the moon! 

Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

-Nonstick cooking spray

-1 Cup of firmly packed brown sugar

-3/4 cup of butter or trans-fat-free margarine spread

-2 large egg whites

-2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

-1 15oz can of chickepea's, drained and rinsed

-2 cups of chocolate chips

-2 cups of all purpose flour

-1/2 cup of old fashioned oats

-1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Directions

1.  Preheat the oven to 350F.  Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray

2.  In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and margarine with a wooden spoon or on medium speed until smooth.  Beat in the egg whites and vanilla, then the chikpeas and chocolate chips.  Add the flour, oats, baking soda, and salt, and mix on low wpeed until a thick dough forms.

3.  Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto the baking sheet, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart.  Press gently with a fork to flatten.  Bake until the cookies are golden brown and just set, 11 to 13 minutes; do not over bake.  Transfer to a rack to cool.

4.  Don't tell your kids they have beans :)

I let these cookies cool, then tried one-and you can't even tell they have beans-score 1 point for protein!  I hope you enjoy these cookies, and I look forward to sharing all the new recipes I'm trying!

Ta-Da!

In my quest to teach myself to crochet "fo-real", I found this easy beanie pattern and had to whip up a little something for Ms. Nightingale.  I will attach the pattern I used (I had to make my hat bigger...because if you know Ingrid-then you know she has a large noggin). 

Here it is!

Talk about "picture perfect"!

http://blog.innerchildcrochet.com/?p=380

Thoughts on discipline.....

Ingrid is definitley to the age where the tantrums and wineing have started.  I know some parents who just let there kids wine and throw fits, and think that the best way to curb this behavior is to "ignore it".  That's never made a ton of sense to me.  Isn't ignoring the behavior only enforcing the fact that they can get away with it?  I know the reasoning behind the "ignore" method is that you are not giving them the attention that they are trying to get through the tantrum....but as parents I feel like our job is to prepare our children to be well rounded adults who can function at their jobs and personal life.  How often can an adult throw a huge tantrum at work and have it just be "ignored"?  Of course Ingrid is only 1 1/2, so immediatley addressing her behavior in the middle of a fit is hard to do, since she is still working on reasoning skills.  What we do is remove her from the situation, and very firmly address the fact that the wineing or "fit" is not behavior that we will accept.  And even at 1 1/2 years old, she gets it.  

So if ignoring ill behavior is not the method for us, we can move on to discussing age appropriet "spanking" and hand slaps.  We never wanted to spank our kids, but we do.  To be honest, the jury is still out on whether or not I think this is okay.  Here is an example of the inconsistencies of spanking:  This afternoon Ingrid was getting a little over zealous....she has began waving her arms at you (okay, I'm trying to make this sound better...she has started the hitting) when she doesn't like something.  So we were playing on the floor and she got frustrated at started swinging her arms at me, so to address this behavior I looked at her and said "Ingrid, NO!" and gave her a little slap on the hand.  Immediately I felt that the situation was laughable.  Here I am, slapping my child on the hand because she was hitting.  Does anyone else see the hypocrisy in this? How can I teach her that hitting (or whatever else comes up in the future) is not acceptable behavior by a slap on the wrist or on the tush?  It seems to be nothing else but "fighting violance with violance".  

Once she reaches the appropriate age, we will most definitely steer away from "spankings" and move towards time outs, and inevitably, that will stop working eventually and we will have to find some other method of enforcement.  Because if I know one thing, it's that kid's are constantly changing. Until that time greets us, I will continue to examine our disciplinary actions with her....who said this discipline thing was easy? 

Molars and More!

Just a quick update, just to clear my joggled thoughts....

The past few days my happy, energetic, outgoing, 16 month old has been anything but normal.  Everything is a cause for a fit.  Now, we're not talking normal 1 year old "tantrum" type behavior, but more so just overly fussy and winey.  I have gone through my check list:  well fed, well rested, healthy, lots of activity...so what could be the cause?  Yes, molars.  Let me be more specific...TWO YEAR OLD MOLARS.  What?!  She hasn't broken them through yet....but I've been in denial that she could be teething since she has all of her teeth until she is 2 years old.  However, Ingrid has always gotten her teeth in really fast and early (first 2 teeth at 16 weeks old!!).  I'm sure it will be a while before they pop through, but she is most defnitley working on them.  Poor little chip munk cheeks.  I am just working on patience, extra hugs and understanding, and teething rings!  :)  Wish me luck.

On another note:  How long have we lived here now....2 weeks?  We are already planning our next move.  Don't act surprised...we move a couple times a year (or so it seems).  We won't be moving until our lease is up (in 6 months), but we are thinking about living out our nightmare......a move to the CITIES.  Yes, it's true.  It is our nightmare.  Both Michael and I lived in Minneapolis and Roseville for a while, and it was our personal hell.  The congestion, floods of traffic, cookie cutter everything.....makes me a little sick to even think about.  BUT it's time Michael finds a "real" job, complete with health insurance and a 401k.  So we are begining our job search in the metropolitan area....we will have to see if anything comes out of it.  We have already started our pro/con list: and on the list of "pro's"....

-more education opportunities for our children 

-more education opportunities for me (when I go back after the babies are born and in school)

-more "stay at home mom" activities (i.e. science museum, MOA, Como Zoo, Walker Art Center etc...)

-maybe an opportunity to find a "church" (and i use the term church loosely)

-many more job opportunity's for Michael

-more opportunities to find midwifery care (for when we decide to have more littles)

All right, so the list can go on and on...I will save my "con" list for another time, but ultimately we just pray for the right opportunities for our family.  Who knows what the future will bring....

Weird Fact

A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second!

2010

I can't believe tomorrow we welcome in January!  This past year has just flown by.  I love January and February, they are two of my favorite months.  I love the excitment of what the new year will bring.  I also have a serious addiction to Valentine's Day decor from Target.   We don't actually celebrate Valentine's day (not our style...we're too cool for school), but I can't get enough of the candy, hearts, and cupcakes.  Anyway, I digress.....

Here is a bit of what our year looked like.

January:  We were still living in Mankato while Michael finished up his last semester in college.  Ingrid was 4 months old, and still NOT sleeping.  In fact, she was up ever 2 hours.  Now this might have been due to teething (she got her first two teeth in mid-January....at only 16 weeks old, phew!) or just due to the fact that she is the strongest willed baby I know.  Either way, we started the  CIO method of sleep training...because when you have a kid like Ms. Nightingale, that's the only thing that will work.  The first night we let her cry she woke up at 3am, I clenched my fist and ground my teeth through the screaming,but 45 minutes later-she was asleep.  And it's been 10-12 hour night's of lullaby sleep since.

February:  We celebrate Valentine's Day!  I am enjoying all the special occasions when I get to "doll up" my little girl!

Ingrid celebrates her first 1/2 birthday!   I can't believe 6 months have passed, and that we are 1/2 way to having a 1 year old.  I'm loving having a "big" girl that sleeps through the nights, eats well, nurses well, giggles, and is FULL of personality.  This is from Ingrid's "6 month photo shoot!"

March:  We are counting down the days until Michael graduates.  He is busy working at the Waste Water Treatment Plant, which includes working some weekends.  Ingrid is 7 months old and continues to painfully welcome more teeth.  Ingrid sits up!  We experience one warm day and I take my baby for our first walk with just the two of us  I get my first tattoo!  This tattoo represents pregnancy and natural childbirth, which I am ever so passionate about.  We take Ingrid to visit the Underwater Adventures Aquarium at the Mall of America, she LOVED it!


Our first walk of the season, we are
thrilled to get out of the house!

My tattoo

Underwater Adventures Aquarium

April:  We are enjoying warm weather, and going out on walks.  Ingrid's preferred method of transportation is rolling...everywhere!  Ingrid continues to get more teeth, and now has 8!  My sister comes for a visit and we enjoy going on walks, making cheeseburgers, and watching the Princess and the Frog.  Ingrid goes on her first slide ride and is enjoying play dates with friends!

May:  My 24th birthday!  I am enjoying celebrating my 24 years with my precious child, and awesome husband.  Ingrid is 9 months old!  She is pulling herself into a standing position, and turning into quite the little lady.  I get to experience my first mother's day by snuggling in bed with my baby. I am starting to get more opportunities with photography, and even get to shoot my first wedding!  

Michael graduates!!!  What an amazing journey the past two years had been.  We moved to Mankato, and 5 months later found out we were expecting our first baby.  The next 9 months would bring so much anticipation and excitement and the following 9 months would bring trials, tribulations, and so much joy.  Michael worked so hard and managed to balance, school, work, and family like a pro.  

June:  We are enjoying summer, more play dates, and more weddings and kiddo's to photograph!

July: July brings many changes for our family.  While Michael is busy looking for a job as a post-grad, we decide to make a move back to our home town, where Michael has the opportunity to work with his dad.  We were so sad to leave our awesome apartrment, filled with awesome memories, but so excited to live near family again.  Michael turns 24 the day we move, so it didn't turn out to be much of a fun day for him.  We move into our new house, only to find that half of our furniture doesn't fit up the stairs!  We spend the next several months futon-ing it!  

August:  August is the month that I've been waiting for for 1 whole year.  We celebrate Ingrid's 1st birthday with a big bash!  We can't believe she is walking, talking and now a full blown toddler.  The past year proved to be the best year of our lives.   We also get our first family pictures taken by my friend Carlie.  It was a blast to know that these would be our first official "family photos".

September:  Michael is full blown engulfed in harvest season, and it's hard to believe but he's busier than he was when he was still in school!  12 hour days, 6 days a week.....oofta.  We experience one of the worst flood's Owatonna has ever seen, and our backyard looked something like this....

October: Michael is still harvest-ing, and we are missing him so much!!  The waters have finally receded and we are in autumn mode!  Ingrid is a butterfly for Halloween, and as you can see-was not thrilled about her costume!  We also make a trip to the apple orchard for a fun filled day!

November:  We celebrate Thanksgiving in Grand Marais.  It was an awesome trip and we enjoyed every second of the huge waves and beautiful scenery.  

December:  We move, once again-into our new house.  We are loving it and it works sooo much better for our family.  (1 word: dishwasher).  We can't believe how much Ingrid has changed in 1 year.  She went from a sleepless 4 month old to a walking, talking toddler.  We can't believe how many words she knows, we lost count!  Everyday she seems to be able to say something new.  We are excited to see everything the new year brings!!

My first crochet pattern!

I am soooooo thrilled with myself.  I made it my goal this winter to teach myself to crochet.  I knew how to do simple stitches (the wrong way), and that was it.  After watching different You Tube video's I've slowly been learning the right way to crochet.  BUT today I made a big accomplishment.....I crocheted a slipper from a pattern!!  No video's, just me and the pattern!  I am patting myself on the back for this!  It really is like teaching yourself a second language.  It was a pretty easy pattern, but I'm convinced that I can now move on to bigger and better things!  Here is the finished product:

(Again, this was a dry run-so I didn't even put a button on the slipper.  I did however, have a need to embellish with floral.)  I will post the link to the website I used!

http://crochetcurbsidecouture.blogspot.com/2005/01/crochet-mary-jane-slippers.html