Ever wondered where your milk originates?
Check out this site, called (imagine that!) Where does your milk come from?
Turns out, most milk cartons contain a code that enables you to track their origins.
The milk currently in my fridge comes from the Schepps Dairy in Dallas. Now I know.
Adam and Violet have "Daddy Daughter Dates", and Violet and I have "Mama & Violet Days". I especially want to be sure to keep up with these once there is a new baby in the house. I'm guessing it's pretty hard to be 3 1/2 and have a new baby show up and disrupt your life. I'll try to spend a little solo time every day reading with her, or just snuggling a bit. However, maybe these Mama/daughter days will be a little extra special something for Violet to look forward to.
We went to Braum's for breakfast. If you're in a hurry and don't want to eat a heart attack breakfast you might give the oatmeal a try. It was a healthier choice than the usual fare. I saw people eating ICE CREAM before 9:00 am. Ah, Texas.
We went to Story Time at the library. Unfortunately, we had to stop by and talk to the children's librarian. Violet (gasp!) drew in two of her books, so we had to go 'confess' and pay for the books. "Henry in Love" is her current favorite, and she gave it some good scribbles. Oh, for shame.
She also wrote in this one. I was frustrated with her about the first book, and she proudly showed me this one, saying, "I colored this one, too!" So---we had to have a long talk about how we take care of our books. From now on, she will also not have access to the books directly. She'll have to ask for a story, and I will get it for her, we'll read it, then I'll put it back in her library bag--out of her reach.
The library was more fun after our confession, since they were celebrating Cinco de Mayo. There were great books and songs and dances, followed by a PINATA!!!!! It sure is fun to whack a little unicorn with a stick until candy rains out.
We stopped by to see our dear friend Marcia who is forever embarassing us with too many gifts. Do you hear us, Marcia??? You're spoiling us! And we're running out of room. Violet is quite enamoured of her new fairy purse.
Violet has been into my lotion lately. She really, really likes lip gloss and scented lotion. So, I decided it was time for her first Bath & Bodyworks trip. There are always great printable coupons online, by the way. We both liked "Pink Chiffon" the best, and got a little lotion for her and a spray for me. We also picked up a few of those antibacterial hand gels.
She rode the horses. She got on, was terrified and begged to get off, then immediately wanted back on. The music was pretty loud, and it lurched into motion, so I can see why it might have been a bit startling.
A tiny ice cream cone is never a bad way to end the day.
I love you, my little girl!
I have been craving the following items for about a month:
homemade chocolate peanut butter cups
grapefruit
I have at least one a day, segmented and eaten like an orange. Violet keeps trying to steal my grapefruit.
iced coffee--decaf, of course
...and pancakes. Crappy, pretty nutritionally devoid buttermilk pancakes with butter and syrup.
Those of you with children---what did YOU crave when you were pregnant?
Did you know that the specifiic orange color used on Reese's wrappers is copyrighted? No other candy company is allowed to use that exact shade of orange.
I've been craving chocolate and peanut butter, so I modified this recipe from Bakerella.
The frosting is a yummy ganache made from dark chocolate, heavy cream, and peanut butter. The cake is chocolate with chocolate chips and chopped up mini Reese's cups. I chopped a bunch of minis for the top, too.
Happy Easter, everyone!
Violet, like her father, is very fond of hats. She wanted a 'hat breakfast'.
Look at those disgraceful nectarines and bananas. I purchased those on Thursday. What I want to know is.....is it me or is it Walmart? Do any of you have trouble with your produce going brown so quickly? Maybe it's the time of year, maybe it's how I'm storing it, maybe it's something else entirely. The trouble is, it looks and smells perfectly normal when I buy it. Then, a mere three days later, it's nasty and brown and mushy. What gives?
I have a feeling it's Walmart, since I have this trouble more there than at any other store. When you live so far from civilization, shopping there is a necessary evil. I often don't have time to hit several different stores. I'd much rather buy produce elsewhere, but it's much more convenient to make one store trip at Walmart. When my children are older, I'll have more time to make a leisurely market trip, but for now---convenience it is.
Violet woke up early in anticipation of Easter. The Easter Bunny left 'tracks' leading to her basket of treats. She gets so excited---like, shouting excited---over the tracks! (Odd that the Easter bunny leaves baking soda tracks, isn't it?)
Violet pointed out how both Daddy and the rabbit have whiskers.
More hats. She is at the age where she likes matching things....it's sweet. I'll be sad when she starts to turn her nose up at Mama & Me things.
A hug for her new lamb.
Thanks to everyone who remembered us with cards and treats this year. Violet so loves receiving mail!
An electric flower fan from Fairy Godmothers Jenny and Carol was a big hit. Be warned if you have this toy, though----when smushed into long hair, it can get quite tangled. So don't smush.
Violet takes her candy very seriously. Fairy Godmother Charlotte spoiled us with a fabulous box of Easter candies and eggs from Sees Candies---thank you! The eggs are beautiful, topped with roses. They didn't last long enough to photograph. Their chocolate is quite a treat. If you have a Sees in your area, you should really go by and have at least a bite.
Don't even joke about taking that candy away. She hardly ever gets to eat junk, but I let her have a reasonable amount on Easter, Halloween, birthdays, etc.
Since I'm pretty much stuck sitting down these days, Adam hid her eggs in the orchard while I sat on the patio and took photos.
And she's off!
Mooskies is so happy, bounding along.
Found one!
And another one.
She could do this all day.
I hope you all have a happy Easter!
I'm having camera woes. I have a 'good camera' that (in my opinion) is too expensive and precious to lug around to dangerous events. I have a smaller 'every day' camera I use for snapshots and such. Unfortunately, it met with a tiny tiny bit of Violet's juice and is now totally destroyed. It was even inside a protective plastic bag-that's how little liquid is needed to destroy electronics. Just the tiniest DROP!
If you've noticed, my blogging has slowed down a bit. I am very, very tired. I am not getting much sleep these days. My new 'comfy' size (yeah, right!) combined with pregnancy hormones and heartburn keep me from sleeping more than 1 or 2 hours at a time. The lack of good sleep is starting to wear me down.
I try to nap with Violet, but she's never been much of a napper. I make her have 'quiet time' with me in a dark room, though. I'll wake up to her petting my face and saying, "Wake up, Mama. Open your eyes." I'll ask her if she had a good nap. She just sighs and say, "I don't take naps. But you took a good nap, Mama."
Recent randomness.....
Our Walmart has had pre-bagged Meyer lemons lately--what a rare treat. Walmart isn't known for their culinary experimentalness, so I was surprised to see them there. They're a regular lemon crossed with a mandarin orange, so they're a richer color and slightly sweet than regular lemons. I made a whole meal using them:
Violet received her first piggy bank on Valentine's Day. We started out with 5 cents, then give her a penny raise per week. We figured it would help her with her counting skills. And, hey-piggy banks are just fun.
She likes to rattle it and talk about what she might buy with it. Violet will walk up to one of us and say, "Can we please talk about money?" That makes me laugh. Adam and I take turns showing her our wallets and the different kinds of money....checks, coins, bills, credit cards. We were surprised how interested she is in the whole thing. Maybe she'll be a banker. Or the next Fed Chief.
I tried this great recipe I saw at Posie Gets Cozy. (I sure like Alicia Paulson's blog. It's my 'comfort food blog'. She's so mellow and soothing, but creative at the same time.)
It's a No-Knead Bread. It took less than 2 hours start to finish, and smelled great. It has a nice crumb, and probably would have made a prettier crust, but I forgot to brush it with butter. I followed their advice to divide it between 2 loaf pans. If I hadn't, I would have had bread exploding outside the pan and a big mess to clean up.
I'm sure a fan of oatmeal. I prefer the steel cut Irish oats, but I don't always have the patience to wait 45 minutes for them to cook. A friend of mine makes them overnight in her slow cooker. I need to try that some time.
(photo from FoodNetwork)
So---super easy and tasty:
-make your oatmeal---instant, slow-cook, Irish, whatever (I always add a dash of salt and a knob of butter)
-toss in a handful of frozen or dried cherries
-a splash of milk
-a handful of walnuts
-a sprinkle of brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger
YUM! Kid-friendly, too.
I'm always sleepy these days. I guess being almost 7 months pregnant will do that to you. I'm just so tired all the time. I guess I'd better get used to it. Between the breastfeeding all night long and weird baby sleep schedules, "tired" is probably going to be my normal state for the next 6-12 months.
Enough kvetching----onto some food.
Someone recently asked how I always ate so healthy. I think I cackled. Like I'm going to show you a photo of ramen noodles with a side of peanut butter dipped in chocolate chips and cereal for dessert. I eat some really weird junk sometimes, especially now that I'm pregnant.
Here's an example of me trying to redeem crappy food choices. I'll eat canned ravioli (I know, I know---but we actually like it occasionally.), but I'll add a salad and fruit. I'm not always virtuous enough to add the veggies and fruit, though.
Also---I live in the boonies. It's not like I don't want to go through the Wendy's drive thru, it's just that it takes me half an hour to get there. Living in a remote area forces me to make healthier choices, as long as I keep healthy choices in the house.
Terrible photo, but---St. Patrick's Day dinner:
Fortunately, Violet is a very enthusiastic and experimental eater. Here, she's telling me how good cabbage is! That seems sick, huh? Thank you, Food Gods, for giving me a non-picky child!
I got the chance to meet three old friends in Fort Worth for a Girls' Night. We tried to catch up--as much as you can in a few hours, anyway.
We stayed at a cute bed and breakfast called the Hattie May Inn.
I'd highly recommend it if you're traveling to the Fort Worth area. It's in a quiet neighborhood, but very close to downtown. The prices were reasonable, especially if you're splitting a room with friends, and breakfast is included. It's also a mile from Magnolia Street, where there is a long strip of interesting stores and restaurants.
The owner left us a nice bottle of wine and we all brought a few snacks to enjoy on the turret. (Cranberry juice and club soda for me, due to baby #2.)
The beds were comfy, and there were all sorts of fun things to look at. If I'd been alone, I'd have enjoyed browsing their book collection. We had a great breakfast of bacon (oh, how I love you, bacon), pancakes, yogurt, fruit, coffee and juice. Why does breakfast always taste so much better when someone else makes it?
(photo from HilaryInspired.com)
We ate at Spiral Diner, a fun vegan restaurant on Magnolia Street. It's a fun place with a relaxed, kind of hippie vibe. It's like a quirky 50s diner with tasty, healthy food--the menu is huge. It took us forever to decide what to get. They had a bunch of fun natural sodas made with agave syrup.....watermelon, ginger ale that was almost hot, grapefruit, grape, root beer....and a coconut limeade I never got around to trying.
I wish I lived closer to these women! Oh, well...at least we get to look forward to getting together.
I saw this great galette recipe at Three Many Cooks. It's one of those pastries that's super easy but looks impressive and tastes great. Couldn't we all use more of those recipes in our repertoire?
It has a yummy cream cheese filling. You can make a simple crust or buy an already-made one.
I used rhubarb, apples, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, and pineapple. My friend Sarah had a great idea...cut it so each slice has two kinds of fruit on it. I think this would be pretty in a circle, too.
I can't wait until the orchard starts producing fruit. This will be a great recipe for any fresh fruit, I think. Oooh.....fresh sour cherry galette sounds great, huh?
