Mom Blog Work

Who else is craving yummy frappuccinos and iced lattes every afternoon around 2:30 or so? Me! Me! But it's a hit to the wallet if you get coffee in the morning already like I do. That's why I was excited when my friend Michelle offered up her homemade frappuccino recipe on Facebook the other day. Her recipe was perfect! Here's the scoop:

Homemade Frappuccino

• Freeze DOUBLE strength coffee in an ice cube tray. (You could also use chilled double strength coffee but the drink won't be as icy.)
• 4-5 coffee cubes (or about 1/2 c. chilled coffee)
• 1/2 c. milk
• ~1 cup (or less) ice
• 1T sugar (or less)

Blend until all the ice chunks are gone. Add chocolate or caramel syrup and top with whipped cream if you're feeling fancy. Recipe makes 1 serving.

Enjoy!

We usually do a food post on Tuesdays or Thursdays but I'm coming up empty handed. Breastfeeding has been on my mind a lot lately though so, while it's a little bit of a stretch, it is food, right?

I am a big breastfeeding advocate. "I make milk, what's your superpower" tshirt, nurse-in organizer, lactivist group founder, extended nursing, dreams of becoming a lactation consultant...I've got a lot of it under my belt. But it's all from nursing Margeaux. Brady has nursed for 1 year now and it went by so fast I barely had a chance to find my breastfeeding symbol shirt in the never ending laundry pile.

B is already taking whole milk like a champ and 2 weeks ago I stopped not pumping at work for him. I pumped 1 year and 3-4 months for Margeaux. I made it a year and my dedication to pumping was waning a little early this time and I'm pretty happy to be done with it all for reasons I can't really put my finger on.

We aren't done nursing altogether but I doubt this one will nurse as long as the first. He already nurses less frequently and without the same fierce attachment. Some days he chooses a bottle of nursing which Mo never did. We will get there eventually - probably sooner than later - and it's weighing heavily on my mind lately. My thoughts and feelings on this are all over the board:

• This will be the first time in 4+ years I'm not nursing or pregnant
• Damn...I'll get my period again
• No more quiet time in the mother's room on busy or boring days
• Bleh - schlepping bottles or sippy cups around is a pain
• Organic, hormone free, store brand? So much easier when I'm the source
• Yay! Normal, nice bras again!
• Into the toddler years we go, I guess...when did that happen?
• hmmm maybe I should just keep going to the mothers room 2x a day for the break
• I'll miss the snuggle time with the little guy - he hardly slows down now
• How will I ever get him to sleep?

Wow! The vast majority of those thoughts show how lazy I am, I think. But that's not just it. There's more, like any mama who nurses will tell you. There's just something special about nursing and weening is always a little bittersweet.

Believe it or not, I usually take the kids on my weekly shopping trips.

Karissa kicked off a great theme last week when she discussed the way her family goes about planning meals for the week. For the past few years, this has been a Really Big Deal in our family. Even when it was just Ernest and I (seems like AGES ago), we had issues making sure that we made fresh, healthy, home-cooked meals for dinner. One day I'll have to tell you about our Dinner Dictator experiment. Let's just say that it did not end well.

Anyway, I have a few different meal planning methods that I use, depending on how busy the week looks and how much time I have on the weekend to prepare. I agree with one commenter on Karissa's post: it's really hard to plan for more than one week out. We just never know what's going on that far in advance and I sort of like the routine of weekly grocery shopping.

Weekly Meal Planning

• Everyday Food: Grocery Bag features. I've been subscribing to Everyday Food for a very long time and have kept most of the issues. (Food Geek!) In virtually every issue they have a feature where the provide five meals and a shopping list. These meals are really good, well-balanced, quick and are usually things that I don't normally cook. Here are a few of my favorites:
  • Easy Weeknight Meals: 5/2005
  • Spring Meals: 5/2006

  Unfortunately, they don't appear to have put all of them online. Boo...now you know why I keep all of my issues.

• Freezer Meals. I blogged about this book a few months ago, and while I haven't been quite as gung ho in its use lately, it still is definitely one of my main meal planning strategies. Lately, instead of cooking a bunch of meals in one weekend, I'll cook one or two freezer meals (which make 3-4 entrees each). This way I can stock up my freezer without having to cook an entire weekend away. Over the course of a few weeks, we're all stocked up. Woot! It's so nice to be able to grab something out of the freezer, especially on those weird weeks when I don't get a chance to go grocery shopping, or we're out of town for some of the week.
• Ad-hoc. Sometimes, even I get sick of plans. (Gasp!) For those weeks, I've got some of my usual recipes stored on Tasty Planner. These are our comfort foods, usually, like mac and cheese, chop suey, chicken pot pie, for example. These weeks are all about picking 3-4 entrees and shopping accordingly. I usually don't plan for more than 4 meals; we usually have leftovers for one night. We also do usually eat out (or get take out) one night a week. I strive for less, but it usually works out that way. (BTW, the Domino's Pizza by our house has large 1-topping pizzas for $5 (carryout). I'm not going to lie. We like us some Domino's.)

This week, it's a Freezer Meal/Ad-hoc combo week. I made two freezer recipes on Sunday and planned for two quick, regular meals the rest of the week: enchilada bake and tacos. Yum!

We all probably read at least a few blogs who have shared thier meal planning tips. The two of us here at MBW have slightly different takes on the whole thing. I'll share my process and reasons for meal planning today.

My little family has only recently embraced meal planning on a regular basis. For us its mostly about time, organization and trying to eat out less. It also saves us money in the end which is good because my husband is unemployed at the moment. It is great to know what is for dinner in advanced - the crazy food craver in me hates it but the planner in me loves it.

Grocery shopping helpers in action

Meal Planning Process
I (seriously...not even joking) daydream of having a household notebook ala Simple Mom and FlyLady complete with a meal planning section but we aren't close to there yet. Our process for meal planning typically takes the form of scribbling a week's worth of dinner ideas on scrap paper Tuesday morning, checking to see what we have on hand and dashing to Fred Meyer and our local produce store. We eat a LOT of ground beef and ground turkey and our menus don't vary much from week to week. We are all about quick and easy meals. We do a pretty decent job sticking to the menu and, since watching Food Inc, not going out for fast food.

Karissa's Meal Planning Tips

• Post your menu - it will help you stick to it
• Plan around leftovers so food isn't wasted
• Take a freezer and pantry inventory every once and awhile and make a list of potential dinners
• Plan your side dishes, not just the main dish
• Look at your schedule/calendar as you plan meals so you know which meals need to be quick

Crockpot tex mex chicken

A peek at our menu
Here is what we are having thus week:
Tue - ate out on a whim (Mexican)
Wed - Sloppy joes with zuccini and squash
Thur - crockpot Tex Mex chicken
Fri - spaghetti with garlic bread
Sat - leftovers
Sun - crockpot roast with potatoes and carrots

Meal Planning Goals
Here are the areas of meal planning I would like to get better at:

• Be more conscious of sales, coupons and seasonal food to cut costs
• Eat healthier, complete meals
• Track weekly menus
• Track expenses
• More recipes
• Find source for better meat

Now, Megan's family is a little bit better at this than we are so I am excited to read her version of this post next week. Got tips to share? Let's hear them below in the comments!

Today, I was supposed to pass on this recipe for Brown Rice Crispy Bars, Alton Brown's delicious, healthy alternative to Rice Krispy Treats, which happen to be a childhood favorite of mine. I've made this particular recipe numerous times and each time it has turned out perfect. Sweet and crunchy, filled with dried fruits and almonds. Not just "not as bad for you as the original", but even sort of good for you.

We all love good intentions, right? Because what actually happened was a total cooking fail. I bought all the ingredients at Whole Foods this time. I've been trying to shop there more, especially for meats and produce. (Yes, OK, I watched Food Inc. and it changed my life. Fine!) For this recipe, there are some specialty ingredients I thought I could get there and honestly, the store is super convenient. (And I think I save a baby seal each time I buy something, right? Or 100 acres of rainforest?)

It all started out perfect, you see?!

Everything started out OK, until I began trying to melt the hippy-dippy, all natural, totally-good-for-you-I'm-sure marshmallows. I'm not sure what these ones were made of (angel wings and sunshine??), but they just wouldn't melt smoothly. Instead of getting smooth and fluffy, they just sort of globbed together in this hardish, clumpy ball. And they were grainy; not an ideal quality for a marshmallow. Like a good cooking soldier, I powered on. Here's what I ended up with:

Strangely, this doesn't look as bad as I thought. Puffed Rice Balls. You might lose a tooth, but it'll be worth it!

I'm not going to lie. We ate them anyway, but it wasn't at all what it was supposed to be. I mean really, you can't go wrong with sugar, fruits and cereal. I tried to salvage the situation by forming them into dense balls, which made it slightly easier to eat. Still not fantastic and totally disappointing.

Never fear, dear reader, I haven't given up. I've procured the correct, mainstream ingredients and will try the process again. With pictures. Promise.