For the past year or so Anna has slowly been eliminating foods in hopes of settling into an all-pasta diet. Don’t get worried though! She works in plenty of variety. Sometimes she eats spaghetti noodles, sometimes penne, sometimes wheels, occasionally cellentani, but almost never elbows. Our girl has standards. This is the same child who,
Every Christmas I make loaves and loaves and loaves of cinnamon bread. The first time I make it, the kids run to the kitchen like they just heard that Shawn Mendes was playing a concert in my stand mixer. (JK, my kids don’t know who Shawn Mendes is. But now that I think about it,
The other day Mary followed me out to our garden while I was planting some broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Last year both plants were complete failures, but I decided to try again. After all, it’s 2020! Anything is possible! Mary was chatting to me about her new stuffed animal obsession (bunny surprise) and I gave
Last week one of the kids said, “Mom! You should write about this on your blog!” And I responded, “Do YOU want to write about it on my blog?” They said sure. This first blog is by Mary, telling the story of last week when we made homemade lemonade (which we only did because I
When I planted these beet seedlings back in August, I promised them that in September the temperature would at least occasionally dip below the 90s. I promised that it might rain at least once a month. And I lied. They’re limping along, despite the lack of rain, incredible heat, and yesterday afternoon when my 8-year old filled
Every year I plant at least three jalapeño plants and harvest buckets of jalapeños every week. This recipe is why. I love jalapeño poppers. Years and years and years ago I posted my very favorite jalapeño popper recipe. You can find that recipe here. It’s still a phenomenal recipe, but I haven’t made it since I posted
Here’s a confession: I don’t know who’s playing in the Super Bowl. Ok, that’s not completely true. I know the Patriots are playing thanks to social media and my friends who do not like the Patriots. Other than that? I have no idea when or where or who. But regardless of all that, even though I truly
This summer, in the strip of yard where we grew pumpkins last year, we planted watermelons. We decided on a watermelon because when I left to go pick up a few seedlings, Thomas shouted, “I want watermelon!” Certain that what he meant wasn’t “I want watermelon NOW,” but instead, “I want to plant a watermelon
How’s you’re vegetable garden doing these days? It’s late September, hot, muggy, and how my garden’s doing can be summed up by, “I forgot about my garden.” Every year, every single year, in the springtime I am positively giddy about planting a garden. Then after three crippling months of heat and humidity and weeds and vine borers,
It’s mid-July, and right on schedule we have homegrown tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers from our garden. We didn’t plant much this year. We have a small space for our garden, but more importantly, I was trying to be realistic (for once) about my ability to maintain a garden. I tried to be really thoughtful about
While on a walk a few weeks ago David noticed a bramble of blackberry bushes. The berries weren’t ready, the branches were covered in white flowers and tightly-packed clusters of green and pink, so we promised to come back in a few weeks. When we did, we found the bushes heavy with black, shiny berries.
When David was a baby I used to make Cookie Dough Popsicles all the time. We would eat lunch together and then for dessert we would share one. It’s a sweet memory of that time, when he was little and an only child. That was six years ago, and lunches are a lot different now.
Sometimes when I’m in a conversation, I can’t find the word I’m thinking of, so I say, “Sorry, I forget words, but you know what I mean?” And sometimes they offer the very obvious word that I have not been able to fish from my brain of mush, “Were you going to say you took
At the first sign of snow my kids start begging for hot chocolate and popcorn. I welcomed them inside from snow once, and that’s exactly how long it took for the tradition to stick. It’s funny how every single morning I tell them, “It’s time to go to the bus! Put on your shoes, get
When I first moved to Richmond I lived with one of my very best friends. It was our first apartment, first real jobs out of college, first time really living on our own, and because of all those things it was a relatively brief but still formative time for both of us. Today is her
Love Goldfish? Vote for your favorite color Goldfish to have it’s very own limited edition bag — CLICK HERE to vote. (And keep it up, you can vote once a day from now until October 31.) I’m going to be very honest for a second and write something I’ve never read on a blog before
Click here for more information about Welch’s 100% Juice with Coconut water. One thing my kids and I have in common: we both love treats. I love celebrating, making ordinary days special. I love baking half cakes for half birthdays, and surprising the kids with a dollop of homemade whipped cream on their pancakes for absolutely no
When I try a new snack with my kids, I’ve learned to expect anything. They have rejected all things sweet, savory, salty, crispy, and crunchy. Recently Mary Virginia stuck a dagger directly into my heart when she told me that she doesn’t like Cheetos anymore because they’re “too juicy.” Recently I made these, hoping they’d
Wanna hear something crazy? I ate my first Twinkie in adulthood. I know, call the police. My parents withheld Twinkies. I also didn’t know J.Crew was an actual store (I thought it was just mail order) until I was in college. I first heard the words “Pottery Barn” after I moved to Richmond, and assumed
A few weeks I asked in an Instagram story if anyone thought it was maybe, um, a bad idea to eat a gigantic bowl of corn salsa. Like, is that the sort of thing that you regret later? SIDE NOTE: when Instagram debuted stories I hated them and boycotted them by not making any. Instagram
I grew up with a pool, and you could say my childhood summers were basically just one pool party after another. I learned a lot watching my mom and dad host pool parties. I learned from my dad that pool chemistry is important. I learned from my mom that my bathing suit game should be
I became a stay-at-home mom almost six years ago, and one thing (among many) I’ve struggled with for that entire six years is taking time for myself. It’s one aspect of parenting that doesn’t change. Kids go through all kinds of stages and phases, so my days and routines have changed drastically throughout the past
I’ve written before about how most of my brain power is used up with figuring out ways to get vegetables into my kids’ diet. Recently I’ve stumbled upon some tips that I have to share, because even if you’ve got the kind of kid that eats brussel sprouts on the regular, there’s no such thing as too
Any serious baker or pastry chef knows — the secret to amazing results is precision. Serious bakers weigh the ingredients because measuring cups are approximate at best. They use temperature-controlled cookware, and regularly-calibrated ovens. ‘ You can’t just dump all the ingredients in the bowl, you have to follow the instructions. You must not over-beat, you must not over-knead. You have to
We eat a lot of granola bars in our house. They’re portable, usually mess-free, and they’re good at sneaking in healthy ingredients. Plus, they’re almost always delicious. Most granola bars have nuts, though, (or they’re made in a factory with…) and not only can the kids not take foods with peanuts to their school, but we also
It’s almost Thanksgiving, and I wanted to do a little something for my kids’ preschool teachers. I sort of struggle to tell my kids’ teachers that I’m thankful for them because just saying it seems rote. I’m thankful for you, but do you have any idea how thankful? Seeing my little boy blossom as a student who loves
When I wrote about packing as much nutrition into my kids’ foods [here!], I completely forgot to mention SNACKS. Snacks are so, so important for kids. I read once that at least 25 percent of a child’s calories should come from snacks. I can’t find that statistic to verify it (so maybe it isn’t true?)
Alternate title: How I’ve kept my kids from getting scurvy on their preferred diet of jelly beans and begging for jelly beans. At David’s 5-year check up, the doctor asked if he ate a variety of foods, and I kind of tilted my head and admitted, no, he’s pretty picky. The doctor asked me to tell
Last year at preschool, David’s class sang a song that he called the Octopus Song, even though it’s actually called the Butterfly Song. He specifically loved the line, “If I were an octopus, I’d thank you Lord for my good looks.” And because he loved the song so much, and because he related so much to
Moms pack a lot of snacks. A LOT of snacks. In fact, my grocery list usually includes “snacks I can pack.” When we’re out, keeping the kids’ well-fed is second only to making sure they’re buckled in their carseats. Cereal? Packable. Crackers? Packable. Muffins? Packable, not durable. Popsicles? Not packable, sorry Mary Virginia. I pack
I don’t often give parenting advice here, but Thomas asked me to tell you about this. Give your babies a chicken bone. A chicken bone, cooked and stripped — it’s nature’s teether. All my babies have loved chicken bones because all babies love chicken bones because, what’s not to love? It has flavor, it’s the perfect shape for holding and
There was a time in David’s life when he wasn’t a picky eater. He ate every single thing we put in front of him. Green beans! Butternut squash! Catfish! Tofu! I’m ashamed to admit I was smug. I gave myself credit for his palate. I had, after all, done everything right. Then one day David became
When I was pregnant I had an aversion to arugula. It wasn’t the taste, it was the texture — the wiry stems. I couldn’t eat sausage either. Once again, the texture. It was a shame, because I had no problem eating 13 Egg McMuffins every day, but couldn’t stomach the thought of this recipe. That
I’ve mentioned before that Tom doesn’t really love dessert. That’s just one way he keeps such a trim frame of mostly sinew and muscle. He does love my homemade blackberry pie, though. I made it for Easter and figured I should share the recipe here since it’s probably the most complicated recipe I use that’s really “mine.” Here’s the
My sister has four kids, and they all have birthdays in the eight-week span between January 10 and March 6. As if that wasn’t enough celebrating, my sister’s, mom’s, and Granny’s birthdays are in there, too. Seven birthdays in eight weeks. That’s why I specifically didn’t make any New Years resolutions about no sweets or eating healthy. My sister and her family is
We didn’t get around to carving our pumpkins in time for Halloween this year. To me, that’s terrible foreshadowing. If I can’t get ready for Halloween in time, then I might as well just forget about being ready for Christmas? Even though our pumpkins weren’t ready for Halloween, I still wanted to harvest the seeds
I thought long and hard about a theme for David’s third birthday. For his first and second birthdays I chose based on the decoration potential. This year I thought long and hard about David’s interests and finally, reluctantly, chose to throw him a Lightning McQueen party. He likes Lightning McQueen a heck of a lot
The other day David asked me for a banana, and when I handed it to him he looked at me the way I look at people when they say “literally” when they should have said “figuratively”. Turns out, the banana broke when I put it on the table. We haven’t had that sort of drama
Mary Virginia’s birthday was over a week ago and I’m just now getting around to the details. Things were so busy last week after the cupcake sugar-high David still hasn’t come down from, Father’s Day, and Mary Virginia getting Hand Foot Mouth Disease. You read that right. Just when I thought Rickets was the only childhood
Strawberries aren’t in season this time of year, but don’t let that stop you from making this cake. It’s red, sweet and special; perfect for Valentine’s Day. Don’t let this stop you either: If you add up the time it took to shop, whip, slice, allow the meringues to dry, and include a few breaks,
Lately Mary Virginia has been a bit fussier than normal, a bit droolier than normal, and waking a few more times at night than normal. I think — and I say this with all caution — I think she might be teething. She might not be. Any book about babies and development will say that you can
Tomorrow is the first day of the pre-race taper for the half marathon. For weeks now Tom and I have been running 10+ miles every Saturday. Long runs on Saturday means carb-loading on Fridays. I discovered long ago that the best pre-run meal for me is one that’s quick and easy (being on your feet cooking
We’ve been on a huge muffin kick over here since a friend brought a plate of muffins over on my birthday. (Thanks, Rachel!) Zucchini muffins, apple muffins, all with probably too many chocolate morsels. We’ll probably eventually make pumpkin muffins, but not because I’m on the pumpkin-lover bandwagon of people who spend fall drinking pumpkin
These days, when Tom comes home and there’s something like a 7-lb bag of pretzel M&M’s sitting on the counter, I just shrug my shoulders and remind him that I’m pregnant; I have no control of decisions at the grocery store. The same thing happened last week when I made candied grapefruit peels. I’ve never
When David woke up from his nap yesterday, my kitchen looked like this. He was understandably elated. You’re probably assuming he woke up early and caught me in the middle of a Halloween craft, but I actually planned this. I love, love, love roasted pumpkin seeds. Usually I just buy a couple of pie pumpkins
David has cried whenever I cook anything since the day he was born. He did it as a newborn, a sitter, a dragger, a crawler, and now that he’s walking he has so much more leverage. Once he pulled my pajama pants down in a fit of rage when I was making his breakfast. A
Since I posted about squirrels eating all my tomatoes, we haven’t had any more squirrel problems. I can’t believe I wasted so much worrying about how to get rid of squirrels when all I had to do was threaten them on the Internet. Now, at the end of the season, we’re finally harvesting tomatoes. Our
Did you ever see the show Fear Factor? It was a reality show where bikini-clad women and shirtless men would “face their fears” by competing in icky and scary challenges for $50,000. Most of the challenges involved eating, and some sort of swimming/underwater challenge. My brother and I really wanted to apply — most of
I thought my pepper plants were done for the year, then I sprayed some epsom salt on the leaves and turns out they had some oomph left before the end of the season. My mom and dad have made this dish as long as I can remember. We call it “peppers,” with no other adjectives,
Tom and I love throwing parties. We’ve thrown birthday parties, Christmas parties and 10K parties. When I’m planning a party I usually don’t worry too much about dishware and decorations and instead focus on having a lot of food and making sure everyone feels welcome. It’s not that I don’t appreciate a well-set table and