WFLW - The Three Little Pigs

For this week's after-gym bento, I decided on a 3 Little Pigs theme, to go with the bacon-wrapped tater tots I saved from the previous night's dinner!

The Three Little Pigs 

Green bean "straw," bacon-wrapped tater tots, Big Bad Wolf PBHoney sandwich (on Ranch and ketchup containers) Cheese pigs, cut-up string cheese and pretzel sticks, Tomato "bricks" and blueberries.

 

Little Z loved her Little Piggies lunch. After playing with the piggy picks and hearing me tell her the story of the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs, (and having me huff and puff and blow your house in a few more times,) she ate a few cheese pigs and a bunch of green beans and polished off the sandwich.Oh, and several pretzel sticks. All dipped in ketchup and Ranch, of course!

I got to eat the 'bacon tots,' after she dipped them in ketchup for me. And a few tomatoes and cheese bits dipped in ketchup. Bleah.

An Invisible Mother

Gramma Barp just set me an email, which turns out to be written by or based on the book "The Invisible Woman" by Nicole Johnson.
Here is the message in the email she sent. It's so plastered across the internet, I hope I'm not stepping on any toes by posting it here.

Invisible Mothers

"It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store.

Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'

Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

I'm invisible - The invisible Mom.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more.

"Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?"

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?'

I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?'

I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. She had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. 

It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:
'With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A story of legend in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.'

And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does.
No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.
The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime
because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at four in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand-bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women."

photo credit

I'm not very religious, but religion still moves me. People's faith moves me. And the sacrifice people make for their love of God and their faith moves me. And the sacrifice people - often especially mothers - make for their families moves me. Even though I don't worship God the way many of my friends, mom club moms and the bloggy moms I follow do, this story still speaks to me in a very powerful way, and I wanted to share it with all the moms (and dads!) out there. 

Whether you are constantly questioning yourself as a person or as a parent. Constantly doubting whether you are doing the right thing, or whether any of it matters. I always tell anyone I hear asking these questions: You matter. You are amazing. You are making the right choices and best decisions you can for your family and your situation. And whether your child grows up to become a scientist, a janitor, or a sociopath; you did the best job you could with what you had, and you did it beautifully.

This story is just a beautiful, stirring and poignant way of reminding us how important and valuable our thankless jobs are! I love you all, and I hope this has touched you or helped you in some way.

(I know, right? No cute food. No humor. No kitchens aflame. And no pictures of The Princess. Maybe next time!)

Tried-It-Tuesday - We're Baaaa-aaack!

Sorry for the hiatus. The holidays had me running so ragged, it'd be Wednesday before I realized I had forgotten to post for the week! But you were warned from the beginning - sometimes I just flake. :)

This week I'll link up my Onion Rings, since they were such a hit, and so out of my comfort zone. (Toast is too many steps for me, quite frankly. Take bread out of bag. Re-seal bag. Put toast in toaster. Wait. Remove toast owowhot! Butter toast. Sheesh.)


I also want to tell you about my husband's new blog which I will force him to he will link up. It's also cooking-related, and about trying new things. The three years we lived in separate states were the best thing that ever happened to us, for so many reasons. [Bear with me here. It becomes relevant.] We were we able to see that we wanted to be with each other for real, and not just because we were used to each other, or settling. And he was also forced to learn to cook for himself. (Not that I cooked for him before he left or anything. Really, I don't know why he decided he needed to cook. *I* survived on take-out and frozen entrees while he was gone!) He found that not only was he quite good at it, but also that he enjoyed it. Now I get to enjoy it to. His cooking, that is. I'm still not sure I enjoy the actual cooking process. But if I can give up playing World of Warcraft [*twitch*] for my child, I can learn to cook for her too. Darnit.

Link up or leave a comment on something new you've made, cooked, done or tried this week!

Blogger's Santa Swap - It Arrived! Hooray!

This week I got my package from my Blogger's Santa Swap partner, Ver from It's "A" Sweet Life! Wahooo! I was super excited picking out stuff to send her, and super excited to open my package! I was starting to chomp at the bit, but I had told her not to rush, since I love getting after-Christmas presents too! Keeps the magic alive longer!

The box was a little crushed, but the contents all survived!

Ooo Ooo! What's inside?

The Swag:

A (slightly smooshed but all unbroken!) package of Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark Squares.
A (slightly smooshed, but contents undamaged) box of 'Club Frills' picks - those fun little sandwich picks with that plastic fancy stuff on top! Z's gonna LOVE to see these in her lunches!
A set of 3 Wilton cookie cutters! (Tulip, Daisy and Butterfly. I love butterflies!)
3 sets of cupcake liners. A set of mini pink-striped-ones with a matching set of regular-sized ones from Wilton, and a Staybrite polka-dot set from Reynolds. I have been eyeballing these for months, but couldn't justify paying regular price, since I already spend so much on picks and cutters and lunchboxes and such. Squeeee!
A Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison paperback, which I'm super excited about, as I love this series, but have fallen behind since Little Z was born, since I'm no longer working at the grocery store, snapping up new releases the second they come out!
A baggie of Hershey's Kisses Cherry Cordials. Oh. My. Gawrsh! It's like she KNOWS me! I love love love these ones, and they only come out this time of year. I even got a bag to send to her, since she said she likes anything chocolate as well, but I couldn't bear to send the whole bag, so I got some caramel kisses and mixed mini Snickers/Twix/etc to make up for withholding some of the cherry Kisses. Even Z loves them! She's always asking me "Can I have a cherry one please, Mommy?" whenever we're in the computer room, since I hoard them like dragon's treasure keep them by my computer.

Tinkerbell stickers, pens and pad of paper (could be for me, since I told her I love fairies, but could be for Z too, since I'm brainwashing her she loves Disney too.)

Here's a close-up of all my new 'beautiful lunch'-making swag! Squeeeee!

I'm going to have to feature my new toys in a Muffin Tin Meal soon! Double squeee!

Muffin Tin Monday - The Twelve Days Of Kimmens

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

12 drummers drumming

11 pipers piping

10 lords a-leaping

9 ladies dancing

8 maids a-milking

7 swans a-swimming

6 geese a-laying

5 gooooolden rings

4 calling birds

3 French hens

2 turtledoves

and a partridge in a pear tree!

Our version:
On the Twelfth [technically the 8th, when I actually made it. The 12th day isn't until Jan. 5] Day of Christmas, my Mommy made for me...

12 carrots drumming

11 macaronis piping

10 crowns a-leaping

9 ladies dancing shoes

8 cups of milk

7 swans a-swimming (in ketchup)

6 geese a-laying 

5 onion riiiiings!

4 cheesy birds

3 chicken nuggets

2 Dove turtles

and a partridge in some pear chunks!

Carrot 'drumsticks' and broccoli 'drum,' Mac N Cheese, PB/Honey sandwiches
Banana bread, milk, ketchup
Hard-boiled egg, Onion Rings, Cheddar birds
Chicken nuggets, Turtles candy, Apple chunks

I had wanted to do this theme last week, but the holidays and lack of time conspired against me. This week's Muffin Tin Monday theme is "Picks, Skewers and Kabobs" so I added a lot more picks than I normally would have and got to do my 12 Days of Christmas anyway!

I got some ideas from A Little Bit Of This And That's 12 Days of Christmas, but I changed some up as well, to fit what foods I had on hand, and also to make mine different.

12 Drummers Drumming: Instead of pretzel or Pocky 'drumsticks,' I did carrot slivers. 24 of them, to be exact. So each of the 12 drummers can have a pair. They have to share the broccoli 'drum' though!

11 Pipers Piping: Instead of 'piping' mashed potatoes, or using pretzel stick 'pipes,' I opted for Macaroni and Cheese, since they look like pipes. I served them piping hot and I piped on some ketchup to make an '11.' Super corny, yes. But also genius! :)

10 Lords A-Leaping: While the others I saw used a food that makes their child 'leap' for joy, I didn't want to load any more candy on her lunch, so I opted for the lords' crowns. I used jewel picks to jazz them up.

9 Ladies Dancing: Originally I had planned on a shoe for the Lords A-Leaping, and then a princess cutter for the Ladies Dancing, but the princess cutter was bigger than my bread, so I went to Plan B. My husband had made banana bread the other day, which I don't like, but the Princess likes it, so I used that. The heel fell apart coming out of the cutter, but I didn't want to eat it and make another, so I made it hold together long enough for the pictures! I added a little bow pick to make it more girly, and to follow the theme.

8 Maids A-Milking: A glass of milk. Boooring.

7 Swans A-Swimming: I have a swan pick 'swimming' in a pool of ketchup (to dip the nuggets and onion rings.)

6 Geese A-Laying: Technically they are ducky picks, but work with me here! I stuck them in a hard-boiled egg. My first attempt at hard boiling eggs. And I didn't mess it up!

5 Golden Rings: I made onion rings just for this muffin tin, much to the delight of my husband and Unka Seesee. At first I was stumped for ideas on this, as I don't have little circle cookies, but once I thought of onion rings, this meal was a go! I used 5 little 'gold' (yellow and orange) flower-ring picks too.

4 Calling Birds: Instead of using chicken here (as my 'bird,') I made cheddar cheese birds using a cutter I got from Daiso's bento supply area. I love Another Lunch's take on this, and I had toyed with making a phone for 'calling,' but it was too much work, on an already busy, labor-intensive meal.

3 French Hens: Instead of French-cut green beans, I nuked 3 Foster Farms nuggets and used a mini rooster hen cutter to make them more chicken-y. I thought using chicken here was more appropriate than for the Calling Birds.

2 Turtle Doves: Instead of using store-bought Turtles candies, I decided to make my own. I got the idea from my Blogger's Santa Swap buddy over at It's "A" Sweet Life. And as I happen to have loads of Dove Promises left over from after-Thanksgiving clearance, I loved the irony of making Dove turtles! So I used caramels and Dove Promises instead of Rolos. I had toyed with the idea of using little wing picks, but I decided to stay with the dove-shaped caramel.

To make my dove-shaped caramels. I nuked them for 30 seconds (a little too long, as it turns out. They were very gooey.) Then I rolled them out between 2 wrappers, using a mini roller.

I used my mini dove cutter from a Christmas set to make them dove-shaped.

Instead of a whole Dove Promise per pretzel, I cut one in half. 

I placed the chocolate on top of the pretzels and microwaved them for a minute.

Once the chocolate was melty enough, I dabbed a little on my walnuts (I didn't have any pecans) and used it to glue the nuts onto my caramels. Then I pressed the caramel doves down onto my chocolate. I let them stay in the bowl until the chocolate hardened. They were quite tasty!

And A Partridge In A Pear Tree!: Technically, these are apple chunks, since I didn't have a pear, but you'd never know if I hadn't told you. I used a little faceted jewel partridge-looking bird pick. I wanted to use a cute new bento cutter I got, but this went better with the "picks" theme.

Little Z loved her "beautiful lunch." She went for the turtles to start, but didn't eat much of them at all.

She ended up eating the broccoli, a sandwich crown, most of the nuggets, half of the egg (plus some of the egg Daddy was trying to turn into egg salad to make himself a sandwich!) One-and-a-half cheese birds, and some of the macaroni. I ate the carrots, apples and second sandwich, my husband ate the onion rings. The banana bread, cheese birds, leftover macaroni and egg were tossed later, since I forgot to put them in the fridge when we left for my nephew's birthday party. 

Surprisingly, all of my picks were present and accounted for by the end. Normally she scarpers off to play with them somewhere.

I got the individual tree muffin cups from a holiday cupcake kit at Target, on clearance after Christmas. The picks were all imported from Japan, either from Jlist.com or bought off eBay.

Five Goooolden (Onion) Rings!

I wanted to make a 12 Days of Christmas Muffin Tin Meal this week (well, last week, really, but I didn't get around to it.) We got snowed in a little at some point, and didn't make a grocery run, so my resources were somewhat limited. I was stumped for the "Five Golden Rings." I could have done cheddar cheese rings with my graduated circle cutters, but that seemed boring. I was resigned to using Ritz crackers until I thought of onion rings.
I found a doable-looking recipe online, and had all the ingredients on-hand (barely. The onion was starting to turn black on the outside, but the innards were good.)

Fiiiiiive Oooooonion Riiiiings!

Ingredients:
1 large onion, sliced into 1/4" thick rings [I used a yellow onion]
1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1 c milk (or as needed)
3/4 c dry bread crumbs [This may have been a typo. I needed 3 to 4 cups!]
seasoned salt (to taste)
1 quart oil for frying, or as needed

Directions:
Step 1: Heat oil in deep fryer to 365 F. I used canola oil. Peanut oil might taste good too.
My fryer heated up the oil loooong before I was ready to fry... I still hadn't battered them all yet, and they still needed to drip. So you may not need to start the oil right at the beginning.

Step 2: Separate the onion slices into rings and set aside.

Step 3: In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and 1 tsp salt. 

I used iodized salt. I usually use iodized for cooking in recipes, and Kosher to sprinkle on top, since I don't like the iodized flavor, but it gets lost/masked when cooked with other food. (Iodine is needed in small amounts, so you want to be sure to still include iodized salt in your food.)

Step 4: Dip the onion slices into the flour mixture until they are all coated. Set aside.

For some reason, the flour mixture didn't stick well on my onion rings. There were lots of shiny patches, despite my attempts to rub flour on. I placed them on the foil-coated cooking sheet I'd be using later under the wire rack. It's not like the foil needed to be clean later! I also used a dirty cookie sheet, to save from having to clean another one!

Step 5: Use a fork to mix the milk and egg into the flour mixture. Mix thoroughly.

Step 6: Dip the floured rings into the batter to coat, then set on a wire rack to drain until the batter stops dripping.

Have aluminum foil or a cookie sheet under the wire rack to catch the drips for easier cleanup.

Lots of drips!

Step 7: Spread bread crumbs out on a plate or shallow dish, like a pie pan. Place battered rings one at a time in crumbs and scoop crumbs up over the ring to coat completely. Give it a hard tap as you remove it from the crumbs, so shake off any loose ones. Repeat with remaining rings.

I used Panko bread crumbs, since I really like them, but my husband kept pointing out that we had regular bread crumbs, so I took the hint and used those for the second half of the batch. I started out with 1/4 cup of crumbs, since the recipe called for 3/4 c, and I had planned on doing some with both kinds of crumbs. But the 1/4 cup only covered about 2 rings! So I think the 3/4 cup was a typo in the original recipe! I'm thinking he meant 3 TO 4 cups!
I initially just poured the crumbs onto the cutting board, but I switched to a pie dish to help keep them corralled and to help push them up to cover better.
Because the flour didn't stick well everywhere initially, I had lots of bare patches on my onion rings where all the batter had dripped off, and thus no crumbs would stick.

Step 8: Deep fry the rings a few at a time...

(as many as can fit comfortably floating on the top of the oil in the deep fryer without overlapping each other.)

Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until golden brown.

Remove to paper towels to drain.
I removed the drippy aluminum foil and just used the same dirty cookie tray again. Teehee.

They were apparently so tasty, I couldn't get a
picture before most of them were gone!

Step 9: Season with salt/seasoning salt and serve.

My husband loved them, but said they definitely needed salt. I hadn't gotten around to salting them, since I forgot this step, and couldn't think of what to season them with. We just used Kosher salt.
Unka Seesee was like a kid in a candy shop, since my husband is trying to lose weight and so only ate a few, and I hate onion rings (although these tasted okay. I really liked the breading.) So he giggled like a schoolgirl and ran off with all the ones that were done, except for the five I was saving for my Muffin Tin Meal. He really likes onion rings, but they are such a pain in the you-know-what to make!

Muffin Tin Monday - Byoo-duh-fuh Nunch For Baby!

The other night, as I was loading her baby dolls and accessories into the new (used) Cinderella toy chest Unka Kee-ile and Auntie Nizzie gave her for Kimmens, she decided she had to play with one of her babies right now. She chose "brown baby" (her name for it, not mine. I just call them all "baby." The others are "pacifier baby" who came with a pacifier tied on; "bottle baby" who came with a bottle tied to the wrist, although now I think she calls it "feeding baby" since it makes sucking sounds when you use the bottle it came with. There's a "pink baby" too, with a pink body/outfit (they ALL came with pink clothes!) but that may be Tually's. Oh, no wait. They each have a "pink baby." Slightly different ones though.)

Brown Baby is the second baby doll I ever got for her, and it was on super clearance at Target for $3! (First baby doll was Pink Baby. Then Brown Baby, Pacifier Baby and Feeding Baby.) She came with a hat, cloth diaper, and footie pajamas. When you press her tummy, she cycles through "Mama," "Papa," giggling and crying. When we first got her, Little Z would burst into tears whenever the baby made the crying sound, after I told her that the baby was crying because she was sad. Oops. I was just trying to teach vocabulary and emotion identification! I told her that feeding the baby made her happy again, but it didn't work. So we had to turn Brown Baby off for a while.

The reason behind the name, I'm ashamed to say, is because of the doll's skin color. This doll was intended to be Hispanic (hence the "Papa" instead of the more standard "Dada.") I don't care about what race/color her toys are, and it was super cheap, so I bought it. I have *never* called the doll 'brown.' I *have* shown her that her skin is a different color from that doll's (and any other toy with different coloring,) in an attempt to teach diversity acceptance in a safe setting where I won't offend anyone by pointing out their differences! But I also point out that *my* coloring is different from hers (I have brown hair and eyes, she has blond hair and blue eyes) and I talk about how everyone is different and looks different and can do different things, and everyone is special. I've started playing "I Spy" games with her when we eat out, as a way to get her to see differences without saying "look at the kid in the wheelchair." I'll say something like "I spy someone with brown hair" or "I spy someone with a hat." "I spy something that rolls." "I spy someone wearing purple" etc.

Anyway...

She finds the feeding spoon I got for her with a set of baby doll crap accessories and decides she must feed Brown Baby. Since I refuse to open the dolly sippy cup of old stale Goldfish crackers that was in with her baby stuff, she gets out the muffin tin from the Melissa and Doug Cupcake Decorating set and starts putting cupcake liners in each cup.
When I ask her what she's doing, she says she's making a "byoo-duh-fuh nunch" for her baby. Awwwwwwww! Too cute! A Muffin Tin Meal just like Mommy makes!
She puts a wooden cupcake in one liner, the cuppie with stale goldfish in another, and starts spooning out imaginary food to feed the baby from an empty cup.

Her very first Muffin Tin Meal!

FYI: Preemie clothes fit great on the littler baby dolls, and you can often find them super cheap on clearance racks, thrift stores or consignment stores! Cheaper than buying doll clothes! I like to shop Carter's outlet store's clearance racks, but sometime Fred Meyers has some too. Many other brands, like Osh Kosh B'Gosh, Children's Place and Gymboree don't make Preemie sizes. Gerber probably does. Babies R Us might carry some, but I've never seen any on the clearance racks. Newborn size (not 0-3 months. NB specifically) fits medium to larger baby dolls okay too. Brown Baby is wearing a NB-sized outfit I got for $.50 at a garage sale. Many moms clubs have community garage sales, so search Craigslist for club, group or multi-family garage sales! The moms club ones tend to have a great selection of baby stuff!
I usually have a 20% off $40+ purchase coupon for Carter's, so if I'm buying other stuff, I tack on some clearance Preemie clothes for her dolls. Off a 70% off rack I found a set of 2 onesies and a pants for $3, 3 pairs of Preemie booties for $2, and a 2-pack of PJs for $3. Plus the 20% off! So $6.40 plus tax for it all! Most toy store doll outfits you only get one shirt and pants, or one dress, plus maybe shoes or socks or a hat for that price or more!

**Shameless plug alert!**
If you know a kid totally into her doll, like an American Girl doll, for example, my sister makes awesome custom jewelry for the doll and/or child. She can do bracelets for both, necklaces for both, bracelet/necklace set for either/both, whatever! Personalized, if desired. Check her stuff out! You can contact her directly too!