Recipe Review

Last weekend at the Farmer's Market I loaded up on veggies. So this week they made an appearance in almost every single dinner. I even tried to sneak some eggplant past Tyler, but there was no fooling him. He's not a fan. At least he ate everything else without complaint.

First we had Moussaka, a recipe from an older Rachael Ray magazine.

It's a layered casserole with slices of roasted eggplant and zucchini, a tomato and meat sauce, and a cheesy topping. I thought it was great, but Tyler just couldn't get past the eggplant. Ugh! The other problem I had, was that the juices came out of the vegetables as they baked and the dish became very soupy. I actually had to drain the excess liquid out before we could eat it.

Next we had Cheese Tortellini with Tomatoes and Corn.

I found this recipe in the latest Healthy Cooking Annual, but I followed it loosely. Instead of using basil, olive oil, parmesan cheese, and garlic powder (which is more or less the ingredients in pesto), I just used several spoonfuls of pesto sauce. It was still kind of bland and could have used something to punch up the flavor. Maybe grill the corn next time? However, everyone cleaned their plate, so I can't complain too much.

Then we tried Sesame Chicken with Green Beans and Scallion Rice.

This one, from Rachael Ray, was hands down my favorite meal of the week. Yum. I left out the hot sauce, but it still came out delicious. It probably had something to do with the tamari. That stuff is good. And I also have to point out the green beans....they're straight out of the garden.

Lastly, we had Chicken Picadillo.

This one is from a Cooking Light Annual, you know, the kind that practically have no pictures. Somehow it didn't come out looking like I imagined it would, so I was disappointed before I even tasted it. It was okay though. I liked the sweetness of the yellow raisins and the crunchy almonds that were mixed in. Still, I don't think I'll make it again.

No Training Wheels

I can't believe it's August already. There's only 3 weeks left before Tyler starts Kindergarten. Wow! That means we'd better hurry up and teach him how to ride his bike already before the summer is over. You know, sans training wheels. So tonight we went over to the school so he could practice in the parking lot.

First he had to put on his helmet, knee pads and elbow pads.

Then he got on the bike, but things started out rough. There was plenty of shrieking and a whole bunch of "I can't".

But before he knew it, he was getting the hang of it. Rick let go of the back and Tyler kept on pedaling. Phew! Progress at last. However, the sun was going down fast and we ran out of time for the night. Hopefully we can try again tomorrow or this weekend.

BeanBoozled

The Jelly Belly Mobile was in town today, so I stopped to check it out. They were parked outside of Boehm's Candy Store. I guess it was a double promotion. Jelly Belly was promoting their BeanBoozled jelly beans and giving away samples, but if you wanted to buy anything, you had to do so in the candy store.

Driving around the country in an RV doesn't sound so bad when it's as cool looking as this.

The car isn't bad either.

I got in line for my chance to spin the wheel and see what flavor jelly bean I'd be eating. In case you've never heard of the beanboozled jelly beans, I'll explain it. They have 10 different beans, but 20 different flavors. That means each of the 10 beans has two different flavors...a regular flavor and a wacky or gross flavor. So let's say you pick a white jelly bean. It could taste like coconut or baby wipes and the only way to find out is by eating it.

See where my spin landed? My bean was going to taste like banana or pencil shavings. You wanna guess what it was? Pencil Shavings. Yep, I was beanboozled!

But hey, look at all the free stuff I came away with. A few packets of candy samples, a Jelly Belly magnet, and some tattoos.

Brain Freeze

A few weeks ago I found not one, but two coupons in the Sunday paper for a free drink at McDonald's....your choice of either a fruit smoothie or a frappe. We don't usually eat at McDonald's or any other fast food place for that matter, but for a free drink with no strings attached, I figured, what the heck?

Realizing that the nutrition facts in fast food items are usually outrageous, I did a quick check to see what the damage would be. For the 12 oz caramel frappe, you'd be ingesting 450 calories, 20 g of fat, and 57 g of sugar. Whoa! The 12 oz smoothie has 210 calories, 1/2 g fat, and 44 g of sugar.

We went with the smoothies.

There's actually a McDonald's near Tyler's school, so we stopped by on the way home from school.

Tyler tried the Strawberry Banana flavor and I had the Mixed Berry. I liked mine the best and Tyler liked his the best, so there you go.....they're equally enjoyable.

Brain Freeze. Ouch!

Three To Get Ready

I've been working in my scrapbooking room. You wanna see?

This afternoon I put the finishing touches on Tyler's birthday layout, so now I have three new pages to put in my scrapbook.

Here's the one I did for Tyler's Easter egg hunt.

Then I completely stole the idea for this 2-page spread from the February issue of Creating Keepsakes.

I really like how it turned out. It's probably my favorite birthday layout so far.

Aaaahh! I feel so accomplished and yet I'm still stuck in April. How can that be?

Balloon Hat

I brought Tyler with me to the Farmer's Market this morning. I enjoy the company except for the fact that he always asks for kettle corn, lemonade, shaved ice or anything that is not fresh fruits or vegetables. He has a sweet tooth, that's for sure.

I didn't have any cash on me, so we stopped by the ATM across the street. And since I hate breaking up large bills at the market, I stopped in Essencia real quick and broke my $20 on an iced latte. Yum!

Then it was off to the market, where in addition to a strawberry lemonade, Tyler got a groovy balloon hat.

Ooops....I cut off half of the hat.

That's better. There's a doggie up there on the top of the hat. I guess I should have taken a picture from the side...you still can't really see it.

As for the rest of the market, I filled my bag with pattypan squash, zucchini, eggplant, cucumber, and some corn on the cob. I was looking at the peaches and blueberries, but that'll have to wait for another time. Well we can just pick our own blueberries, once the patch opens up to the public later this month.

Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls

After coming across this recipe last month, I knew it was just a matter of time before I made a batch for myself. I mean really....blueberry cinnamon rolls?! Of all the things I've made with blueberries over the years, I'd never even considered putting them in a cinnamon roll.

Let me tell you....they were good!

I'm not going to lie though, they were time consuming. Between making and shaping the dough and the two separate rises, I probably invested a good 7 hours. That's not including the overnight hiatus. And yet, after tasting one bite of the finished product, I already knew I'd be making them again.

Don't they look yummy? The glaze does a great job covering up the imperfections. The hardest thing was rolling the dough into a log. With the blueberries in the way, it was hard to get a tight coil, so mine came out a little loose and floppy. No matter. They were still delicious.