LaLa Granola Bars and Food Revolution Day 2013!

As I've mentioned, (here and here) I've got nut allergies. It's really difficult to find a good tasting granola bar that's made without nuts, but beyond that, it's hard to find a granola bar that's made simply. So we take matters into our own hands at my house and regularly make our own, and affectionately call them LaLa Granola Bars. They're nut free, dairy free, full of delicious flavor and have zero added refined sugar. They are snacks that I feel great about packing for my kids' lunch and that I can safely consume myself. Win-win! 

​My son spreading granola bars onto a cookie sheet for Food Revolution Day 2013

In honor of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Day 2013, my son and I rolled up our sleeves and made these delicious and simple granola bars. Here's a link to the recipe we used. ​The whole process took less than 20 minutes but it's 20 minutes of well spent time together. I'm proud to see my son wielding a spoon, ready to help out. I believe that one of my many responsibilities as a parent is to teach him the importance of good, fresh ingredients and to show him the joy that comes from making meals ourselves. Today our Food Revolution Day celebration took part on a small scale but I believe that real change happens both from the bottom up and the top down and therefore, all of these small moments matter. ​I look forward to hearing him tell the story of our adventures in the kitchen this morning when we serve these granola bars to guests this weekend. 

​Homemade LaLa Granola bars! 

Roasted Black Beans and the Healthy Lunch Challenge

You know that phase when kids start counting and then they delight in counting all the time? My son is there now and it's incredibly entertaining. He's super excited to count to 20 these days and, while he skips 17 every single time, it is amazing to hear him sing out his numbers. Though he doesn't truly understand quantity, addition or subtraction in the formal sense, he can see that ten grapes are more than 5 grapes, and if his big sister reaches over and takes one of his four strawberries he can count that he now only has three. Math and food are a thrilling combination. 

Our Healthy Lunch Challenge plan

Enter Crunch a Color, the Healthy Eating Game. It's an award winning card game that families can play together to encourage nutritious eating. The cards have colors, food lists, cute drawings and point values and the person with the most points wins. But there's deeper learning here; avocado and green grapes are both green foods but avocado gets 10 points and green grapes get 5. That makes for interesting conversation. My kids love to compare and it's pretty neat to see my daughter helping out her little brother with the tally (after the whole "haha, I win" bit is done, of course).

When Jennifer Tyler Lee, Crunch a Color's creator, asked me to be part of the Healthy Lunch Challenge, I was thrilled. My daughter chose the lunch below that features three colors, a protein, a healthy grain and no processed foods. We planned it using LaLa Lunchbox so I was sure to have everything I needed on hand. 

This lunch features a delicious and healthy new food that we are crazy about chez moi: roasted black beans! YUM. My daughter calls it black bean popcorn thanks to its satisfying yet light crunch and practically begs for it on a daily basis. We packed this lunch together and snacked along the way. Aside from the roasting time for the beans, this took less than 10 minutes to prepare.

​Check out this deliciously colorful and balanced lunch!

3 colors: Green celery, Orange carrots and Red raspberries
Protein: Black beans (two ways: roasted and pureed into an easy dip)
Healthy Grain: toast crust from whole wheat bread
We always pack lunch with water (5 points extra) bringing the total points to 55!

I used half of one can of black beans for roasting and the other half to make a black bean dip that was finished in three minutes. I cut carrots and celery for dipping and added the toast crust (affectionately called Toast Crust Dippers in my house) that I cut from the bread of my anti-crust son. My daughter grabbed and washed a handful of raspberries and voila! Lunch is complete! 

Here's how we made the roasted black beans: ​

​black beans, ready for roasting! 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Open one can of black beans. Rinse and dry them with a paper towel. Spread half of the can onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and ​drizzle with olive oil and a scant sprinkle of salt. Roast in the oven for approximately 35 minutes or until crispy. 

Here's how we made the black bean dip: ​

​Ingredients for black bean dip

We poured the other half of the beans into a bowl and then added: 
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
* note: I initially intended to add fresh garlic but changed my mind at the last minute.  This dip can be made with either, depending on your penchant for garlic flavor. 

Using a stick blender, blend all of the ingredients until smooth. ​

​Enjoy and happy lunching!

The Wedding Cake I've Dreamed of: 9 Years & 3 Kids Later...

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, my husband and I were newlyweds. Childless. Able to stay out late. Excited to take big adventurous vacations. Wrinkle-free. Okay, fine, maybe not wrinkle-free but the rest is all true. 

​long, long ago

We were married in November 2004 and took a lengthy honeymoon to New Zealand and Australia. It's a lovely part of the world but the weather was not on our side; 20 of our 24 days were rainy, overcast and chilly. We had two sunny days in New Zealand and two in Sydney (we only stayed in Sydney for two days, sadly). Nonetheless, it was our honeymoon and we were excited about everything, met wonderfully warm people and had all sorts of adventures that we're still talking about today. At the end of our journey in NZ when we flew to Sydney we were so grateful for the warmth and the clear, sunny skies that we practically kissed the ground. (I might have actually done that.) You know when you've come through a particularly long, cold winter and feel like the cells deep inside of your bones could pretty much burst open on that first day of spring? Arriving in Sydney gave us *that* feeling. 

So there we were, happy as hell, skipping through the streets of Sydney. We walked for hours and hours. And hours. And hours. We were awed by Sydney's sophistication, and urban hipness, with the breathtaking backdrop of living on the water. It was incredible to be able to be outside for so long. Along our journey we spotted a cheese shop – or maybe it was a bakery – and saw this cake: 

​Awesome cake, seen in Sydney @ 2004

I loved it. I snapped that photo and think about it an awful lot. Over the years it has served as a handy – if accidental – reminder that life with a spouse and kids and responsibilities and sleeplessness and day to day crap and repetitive nonsense, is messy, unglamorous and sometimes feels rather bleak. But look at those mice! Look at them running down those stairs! I mean it's funny; I'm deep in thought about these happy newlywed mice without a care in the world and then I realize I'm thinking about mice! Made out of cake! Absurdly hilarious. But it reminds me of that feeling - that welling up happy bursting feeling in my gut when I felt the sun shine on my skin in Sydney  – and it makes me calmer. Happier.

We welcomed baby #3 this past fall and our family of 5 is now complete. To celebrate the many roads we have traveled (both calm and chaotic) since that trip in 2004, I wanted that cake. It was no small task to find someone who would create it and deliver it. Thankfully I was introduced to Elyse Rosati of Joy & Cake and all of the pieces were in place to have this cake for my anniversary. Enter Hurricane Sandy. You know the rest. Elyse's operations were brought to a stand still. Luckily for all of us, she was able to get back on her feet and 6 months later, she delivered this beautiful cake to my home and I am wowed:

​Cake courtesy of Joy & Cake

Seriously. Look at this cake! Forget the fact that I didn't just get married and this is a wedding cake. Forget the fact that there was nothing specific to celebrate on the day that it was delivered. Forget the fact that it's April and winter fatigue is particularly awful this year. Look at the mice. Look at how excited they are to get to that next adventure together. That's what I was looking for. I needed that tasty reminder.
And look at how excited my kids are!

My kids nearly jumped inside of this cake. Did I mention the taste?! Holy cow. Elyse has a flair with the visuals and the palate. This is a lemon cake with vanilla buttercream. It's moist and tangy and not too sweet. It's a delicious reminder that spring is right around the corner. I've been dairy free since Thanksgiving for the benefit of my infant (who is now no longer profusely spitting up) and frankly have been a little nervous about the potential effect of this cake and the onslaught of dairy. Guess we'll find out soon enough. But in the meantime, I am thrilled with this cake in every possible way. And I would absolutely recommend Joy & Cake and the uber talented Elyse. 

​My kids are gonna devour this thing. 

Date Night

The days are long. ​But weeks seem to fly. Months zip by. Years? Forget about it. For so long I've been promising myself that I'll find an awesome way to spend regularly scheduled solo time with my daughter who, shockingly is about to turn 7. It's been a busy time chez moi and as I'm scrambling to figure out life, there it is, quietly whizzing by. 

This morning I decided that if afternoons don't work on a regular basis, how about early evenings? And so tonight my daughter and I stepped out for our first (weekly) date night. Wow, dining al fresco after this crazy winter was an absolute delight. I sat across the table from my gal and tried to drink it all in... the details of her day, the science experiment with magnets, the new game at recess, her people watching commentary. It's been so long since I've been out to dinner with her as just a twosome. I *missed* her even though we live in the same home and spend time together regularly. Somehow sharing a meal outside of home is different. Mostly I'm glad to have been able to let go of the comfort of routine to seize this opportunity with her and am very much looking forward to the next one. 

​Date night! 

Cheerios Pancakes

As I've said before (here and here), mornings can be hectic around here. o in an attempt to make things easier, the kids are starting to make requests for breakfast in advance in an effort to save time in the morning. It's working nicely, I'm happy to report.  I've started prepping whatever I can for breakfast at night, after I'm done packing lunch for the next day. Obviously things like toast or eggs can't be done in advance. But even just knowing what needs to be done is a huge help in the morning. And things like fruit can be completely prepped in advance. 
Last night my children were mulling over what they wanted for breakfast today. Usually what happens is that my daughter (soon to be 7) declares what she wants first. Then my son (almost 3) pretends like he's giving it serious thought but ends up saying the same thing as his big sister. I chuckle. I'm a younger sibling too. I get it. 

I made a batch of my favorite whole wheat pancake batter earlier this week and that's been breakfast a couple of times already. But last night there was a dilemma: they both wanted pancakes and they both wanted Cheerios but alas, my daughter said sadly, "there's not enough time to eat both, Mama!"

How about Cheerios pancakes?! 

​Cheerios Pancakes!

nd so it happened. This morning, I spooned the pancake batter into the pan and drizzled Cheerios on top. Voila! My kids went bonkers for this. Making breakfast was all of 5 minutes and totally stress-free. I sliced the fruit last night so all that had to be done was cook the pancakes and serve them (less than 5 minutes). 

Cheerios Pancakes (**this is my go-to pancake recipe with Cheerios added to it)

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup buttermilk or plain kefir

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon flax meal
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• Cheerios (approximately 1/4 cup)

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Add buttermilk and oil and mix to combine, making sure not to leave any big flour lumps. dd egg and gently fold into the batter. Finally add flax meal and cinnamon and mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. 
Pour desired pancake size into a hot, buttered pan. Sprinkle Cheerios on to the raw battered top of the pancakes.  Flip pancakes when tiny bubbles appear on the top. This recipe makes enough pancakes for my kids for three breakfasts. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days.