How Are You Improving Your Quality Of Life?

With back to school upon us, it seems like September is the "new January" when it comes to reflection and making life changes.  I was listening to the radio today where the djs were talking about how September is update your resume month and college savings month (eep!) and self improvement month and more.

So it's really appropriate that the #VlogMom prompt this week from Jessica McFadden of A Parent in America is:

What are you doing differently this school year to improve your family's quality of life?

So tell me... what are you doing?  I obviously need some tips!

Baked Kale Chips - Tasty Tuesday!

It's summer, so there is a ton of fresh produce.  Fortunately, I've finished up all the ginormous zucchini that my friend kept foisting on me.  There are other veggies still in my house, however.  Last week, I attended the Chicago Food Swap, and I came home with a ton of great goodies.  Although the honey hot fudge and butterscotch and salted caramel sauces weren't the most healthy, nor was the jam I picked up or the organic butter, I did come home with some awesome healthy treats, too, including dill pickles (two kinds!) and two gorgeous bunches of kale.

Yum.

I love kale.  I know I'm somewhat in the minority on this one, though, so I get creative with how I use it so others in my family will eat it, too.  Yesterday, I attended a barbecue at a friend's house and used up the last of the kale making baked kale chips.  My beautiful bowl of crunchy goodness disappeared faster than I'd hoped it would.  Even the kids liked it.

Yes.  Kids.  Liked.  Green.  Vegetables.  Go figure.

Baked Kale Chips

Ingredients:
1 bunch kale (any variety works)
1 T olive oil
1 t salt

Directions:
Remove the stems from your kale.  They are tough and don't cook at the same rate as the leaves.  I sometimes keep them and grill them (another recipe), but in this case, I just tossed them.  The easiest way to do this is to run a sharp knife along the edge of the stem on either side of where it branches off into leaf to remove it.

Clean your kale.  I like to wash it a little then tear the leaves into slightly larger than chip size pieces.  This is not at all an exact science.  My salad spinner comes in handy at this point where I can spin them pretty dry, as you don't want to bake them when wet.

Once your kale is dry, place it into a bowl and drizzle the olive oil over it.  Use your fingers to "toss" the kale to ensure that all the leaves are equally coated with the olive oil.  This is what helps to get them really crispy.  Place them on a cookie sheet - I put my sil pat on it - in a single layer.  My one bunch of kale usually requires two cookie sheets.  Sprinkle the kale with salt, being sure you don't use too much.  The kale will shrink when baking, so it becomes more intense.

Bake in a preheated 275 degree oven for twenty to twenty-five minutes.  You can flip them halfway through to help them get crispy on all sides.  If you use the curly kale like I did, you often don't have to do this because they curl up on their own and expose all sides to the heat.  When they are just starting to brown, they are done.  Remove them from the oven and serve the same day.

Crunch crunch yum!

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.  Rachel from A Southern Fairytale has an awesome Mouthwatering Monday linkup that I participate in, too.

The Tooth Fairy Ran Out Of Money

You know how children are somehow your genetic miniatures even in ways that shouldn't be genetic?  The first time Mister Man had ice cream, he picked up the bowl when it was empty and proceeded to lick it clean.  I swear he'd never seen me do that, but yet he somehow innately knew that when something's that awesome, you don't let a drop go to waste.

And then there's Little Miss.  Mister Man will let a tooth be loose forever before it finally falls out when there's barely anything left holding it on, simply because he's afraid of the pain - or he has to have me pull it because there's another tooth growing behind it.  Little Miss?  Not so much.  Suddenly late this spring, her two front teeth were gone.  You saw how I had to fake our Christmas card early, right?

I thought we were done with losing teeth for awhile.  And then in the middle of August, Little Miss announced that she had just lost another tooth.  None of us even knew it was loose.  Just like me, the second she got a loose tooth, she worked it until it fell out.  I now had a peg tooth daughter.

I asked if she had any more teeth loose.  She assured me she didn't, and I settled in to have at least a few weeks where I wouldn't have to worry about another tooth popping out.

The night before school started, Little Miss came downstairs with another tooth in her hand.  I stared at her in disbelief, but she truly had another hole where a tooth should be.  We are, by the way, hiring her out as a human jack o'lantern this Halloween if anyone needs one.

I sent her upstairs to put the tooth under her pillow in the special bag we have, as she does each time.  And then we all went to bed.  She said nothing the next morning, and it took me another day before I realized that the Tooth Fairy had not come.

As soon as she headed off to school, I sped upstairs to check on the status of her tooth.  I lifted the pillow only to find ... nothing.  There was no tooth.  I asked her when she got home what had happened, and she simply shrugged.  That's when I found out that she hadn't put her tiny little baby incisor into anything but instead just laid it under her pillow.

The next day, I did a thorough scouring of her room.

What can I say?  The girl likes to sleep with her toys.  All of them (including the cute cat).  I was lucky that she didn't have her rubber duck collection or Toy Story toys in bed with her, as she usually does.  Unfortunately, under no mattress, nor tucked behind no toy, nor rattling inside no mattress was a tooth found.

So now what?  The tooth is gone.  And the Tooth Fairy rule is that there has to be a tooth for an exchange, right?  The wee ones decided that Little Miss simply lost her teeth too fast and she ran out of money.  What's your theory?

My Favorite Teachers Challenged Me. Did Yours?

It's Thursday, so it's time for another #VlogMom prompt, right?  This week, we're sort of sticking with the back to school theme.  I've written already about how I'm thrilled with the teachers that Mister Man has this year.  And I had some pretty special teachers myself.

This week's VlogMom prompt from Joyce Brewer of Mommy Talk Show is:

Who was your favorite teacher growing up, and why?



I'd love to hear about your favorite teacher, so tell me below!

Oh, and bonus points if you can find where my cat starts meowing in the video.  They won't leave me alone today, so I finally gave up.  He's sitting on my lap as I type and during the video was crouched next to me, demanding that I pet him.  Or else.

Sweet Tomato Chicken - Tasty Tuesday!

So it's back to school.  That means that I now have to be even better about having meals planned out and started while the wee ones are at school - not because we're so much more busy now, after all, the wee ones' activities didn't stop during the summer, but because I need something to put in lunches the next day.

This summer I somehow discovered that Mister Man really loves plain baked chicken (he'll even eat it with some pepper,  yay!) with marinara sauce over it.  Go figure - this from my sauce hating child who thinks tomatoes were put on this earth as a form of cruel torture for him.  And no, I'm not joking.  This is called progress, people.

So last week?  I pushed my luck a little with a chicken crock pot dish on the first day of school because I was going to have to leave the house by one and not get home until after tae kwon do with not one but two starving children.  Whee.

Fortunately?  It turned out awesome.  And yes, it went in the lunchbox the next day, devoured by both the wee ones.  Phew!  And yes, I know the ingredients are a little unusual.  I accept that.  Just trust me that they turn out awesome.

Sweet Tomato Chicken

Ingredients:
4-5 decent size pieces of chicken, bone in or not is your choice
1/2 c soy sauce
1/3 c brown sugar
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
1/2 t pepper
1 T tomato paste

Directions:
Place the diced tomatoes in a crock pot.  Mince the garlic and add it, along with the pepper, soy sauce, brown sugar, and tomato paste.  If you're Mister Man and do truly believe that tomatoes are a cruel trick Mother Nature is playing on you, go ahead and puree them at this point.  If not, leave them in chunks to add some more texture to the sauce later and instead just stir the mixture until fully combined.

Add the chicken and cook on low 4-6 hours.  Go ahead and cook up some rice so it's ready to serve with your chicken.  After it's fully cooked, it will be falling apart, which is just what you want.  Use tongs to break it up, then use a slotted spoon to scoop it out to serve over that rice.  Add as much or as little sauce atop this as you like.

Serve it with a green salad, and this is a perfect weeknight meal.  Yum.

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

Bread. Is It Supposed To Do That?

I'm a bit of a food snob.  I'll admit it.  I blame some of it on the fact that I lived in Belgium when I was seven and eight.  There, we picked up fresh food each day because... that's how you do it.  The meat (aside from the horse that my mom accidentally bought early on in our sojourn there and couldn't figure out why it wasn't browning) was fantastic.  The bread?  Beyond so.  And oh the pastries....

Here?  Sigh.  It's really hard to find, and it's so expensive so often.

I look at the ingredients on the "fresh" bread loaves, and there are things I've never heard of before.  That's not the wonderful European bread I'm looking for.  The worst was last week when a friend dropped off a loaf of "European style, gourmet Italian" bread because she is going on a diet and bread doesn't figure into her eating plan.

We ate a few slices of it, but there was still some left over on Friday.  I went to pull out a slice to go with the goat cheese and smoked salmon omelet I had made for myself for lunch.  It was wonderfully still soft.  Orrrr maybe not to wonderfully.  Bread is supposed to go stale, but this was still pillow soft.  I squeezed it, mentally rolling my eyes.  Then I noticed the mold.  The bright green and pink mold.  The entire loaf was going bad but retained its not so natural dreamy soft texture.  Ew.

There are some wonderful traditional bakeries near me, and I patronize them from time to time.  And this is a good reason why I bake so much, I think.  At least I know what I put in my food, and it goes stale before freaky colored things start growing on it.  And that's assuming that mold even starts going on it at all.  There are some foods that just... keep hanging around.

Me?  That's not what I want to eat.  It's why I make most of my food from scratch at home.  It's why I avoid processed foods whenever possible.  And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to make toast for breakfast with some of my homemade sourdough bread.  And maybe - just maybe - I'll stop by a true European bakery for something special a little later.

When I eat, I want to love what's going in my mouth and enjoy it.  How about you?  What's your food philosophy?  Or better yet, what are your horror stories?

In the interest of full disclosure, this post was part of the From Left to Write book club where we write posts inspired by books we read rather than true reviews.  This month's book "The Baker's Daughter" by Sarah McCoy was sent to me, but I received no compensation.  The novel follows a reporter in 2007 interviewing about German Christmas traditions and flashes back to Elsie's time living in Nazi Germany where she worked for her family's bakery.  As always, all opinions remain my own.

I'm Crying Today - In A Good Way

I haven't written much about Mister Man's school change.  I'm still frustrated about a number of things at the old school, but I'm so glad we moved him before the end of the year last year.  He's now at the same school as Little Miss (whoo hoo, first time ever they've been in the same school at the same time and they get to ride the bus!), and it's been good so far.

The "so far" is what I'm worried about, of course.  It's so easy for the early part of school to work because everyone gives the kids a little leeway.  The things that grate on nerves aren't yet grating on nerves.  And Mister Man isn't fully comfortable, so he's on his very best behavior.

I wrote earlier this week about the special needs introduction letter "Mister Man" wrote to his teacher explaining his strengths and weaknesses and sharing strategies that we know work well for him.  It was sprinkled with pictures, and the hope is to have them understand him better so that the year is smoother for everyone.

The first day, I picked the wee ones up from school because Mister Man had tae kwon do.  His teacher stopped me in the hall and told me he had a wonderful day.  She said he was "the sweetest kid, and he got along so well with all the other students, too."  Phew.  Those are the things that ease a little of the weight from my shoulders.

Yesterday afternoon, I received an email from the art teacher.  Apparently the social worker shared the letter I had prepared with the specials teachers, as well - something I appreciate.  I read it while sitting in the car in a parking lot while running errands.  Whenever I see an email from the school, I always have to read it immediately so that I can fully process it before the wee ones get home.

Dear Michelle,
A copy of Mister Man's letter was in my mailbox. You are a wonderful Mommy to help Mister Man learn to advocate for himself and know that although he doesn't look exactly like the other kids in the crowd, he is the beautiful person that God made him to be. I have a son like that too.
You can rest assured that here, at New School, we will love your babies no matter what. They will be taken care of with love and respect and dignity. In fact, we often love the quirky ones best.
I know that Mister Man had a hard time in my overfull summer school class a few years back, although he did make strides just during that short time. I have been working to make sure he knows that I think he is awesome just as he is. I try to let all my students know that the art studio is a safe place where they will be listened to any time.
Thank You, and I am completely psyched for a GREAT year!
Mrs. Art Teacher

Now that?  That brings tears to my eyes.  Completely unsolicited.  She had to go look up my contact information to send this.  They care.  And they get my kid here.  No wonder the end of the year for him was so smooth and peaceful and trouble free.

I heaved another sigh of relief, called my mom to read this to her, and then I finished my errands for the day with a smile on my face.