Musical Monday - we played the piano (We would sit together on the piano bench and she told me what songs she wanted me to play (mostly the ABC's) and we'd sing together or she'd sing alone and she "played along" at the high end of the keyboard) and I got out the guitar for her to play with. We did a little bit of guitar playing where I held the chord and she strummed. That was sort of fun, I just have to figure out how to play some children's song on it. Most of the guitar songs I know are praise and worship songs from college.
Tactile Tuesday - I have to admit that I didn't do much with this this week. I had ideas, but she mostly wanted to play the piano and guitar again, so I let her. Maybe next week we'll pull out the playdough or something. Leif did try to teach her somersaults today, so I guess that counts.
Wordy Wednesday - Leif (who is home from work this week) played starfall with Ellie, and we did an alphabet puzzle on the floor. It is a new puzzle for her and it might be above her skill level, but it was good practice at matching up letters.
Theatrical Thursday - I didn't do anything specific with her today, but she spent a good deal of time at the Children's Museum playing with the other kids, including dress up. So I count that as good imaginative play.
Fun Friday - No art projects today, just a couple hours spent at the splash park with the Danielson and Morales kids! She was pretty worn out after that so she actually took a nap today!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
My First Bento!!
Today I had the opportunity to make my first bento, so I did!! Ellie and I were going to spend some time at the splash park with friends, so I decided to pack a lunch for us to share. Perfect time to try my hand at this new technique, right? So here it is... my very first bento:
I think my container might be a little big, but I don't really know how big a bento box is supposed to be. And maybe, if I weren't calorie counting and trying to lose weight, this might be the right size box, but it seemed like it was a little deep. Anyway, it worked well, and I'll use it again for bento-ing when Ellie and I need to take lunch somewhere. I'll also let her eat the leftovers for snack this afternoon. Here's what I packed into it...
1. Strawberries. These are actually placed all the way across the box and the silicone cup is sitting on a layer of them. Then I filled in around the silicone cup with more strawberries to finish off that section. We shared the strawberries.
2. Macaroni and Cheese. This is leftover from yesterday, so I just threw it in a silicone cup for Ellie to eat. I made it a smiley face by adding hot dog eyes and a fruit leather mouth. I just cut off pieces of the hot dog and fruit leather that are also in the box.
3. Fruit Leather. I used the fruit leather as a barrier between the strawberries and the proteins. I think the proteins might have been just fine against the strawberries, but it was an easy place to put the leather and I wanted to use it for the smile anyway. =D
4. String Cheese. This is at the bottom of the box, right next to the fruit leather. It's still in its wrapper, so I wasn't worried about it getting contaminated.
5. Turkey Hot Dog. This is right on top of the cheese and under the turkey rolls. It's in once piece, except for the two slices I cut off to make the smiley face eyes. This is Ellie's protein.
6. Turkey Deli Meat Rolls. Instead of rolling each of the slices up individually, I just rolled all 5 together and figured I'd roll them separately when it came time to eat. It was laziness. =D This is my lunch protein, so I figured I'd just make do. It worked pretty well.
7. No Sugar Added Blackberry Jam. This is in the little pink Tupperware container at the top of the picture. It's my dipping sauce for the turkey rolls. Weird, but it's low calorie and good. =D
8. Carrots. We were pretty much out of vegetables that I could take along, but I found a little bag of carrots in the fridge, so they came with us at the last minute. They help form a barrier between the proteins (which are cold and lunchmeaty, so they're sort of wet) and the dry goldfish crackers.
9. Goldfish Crackers. These are sort of a filler for the box and snack food, and the carb portion of the box. I put them on the opposite side of the box from the macaroni to help balance out the colors a little. These are Ellie's snack for this afternoon, too, since she didn't really eat them with lunch.
10. Ranch Dressing. I put the ranch in another Tupperware container (the taller, old style midge containers) for dipping carrots. Ellie loves to dip her carrots, so this was *her* container.
I admit, this was more food than Ellie and I needed for lunch. I was sort of shocked by that, because if I'd packed everything into separate containers like I normally do, it would take a lunch box at least twice the size of the bento box to fit it all in. But this was extremely compact and held plenty of food. And I only had a couple lids to keep track of (the lid for my bento box fits right underneath it, so that is nice) instead of 6 or so! I opened it up and held it on my lap while we were at the park and I didn't have to worry about ziplock bags blowing away or gathering together all the containers every time I wanted to stand up. AND the bento box fit nicely into my bag (which also held a towel, change of clothes, sunscreen, nalgene bottle, sippy cup, and diapers) so I only had to carry one bag and my purse (oh, and my chair) to the park and I was set for a couple hours! Easy to do in one trip!
Something else I added to my bento box was a cloth napkin... I layed it out diagonally, folded in two opposing points, and tied the other two points around the box to create a handle. It was cute in its presentation, functional as a handle, and meant that I had a cloth napkin with me while I was eating - something I was glad to have since I forgot a fork for myself and at strawberry quarters with my fingers! I remembered a fork for Ellie (for the mac and cheese) and just tucked that inside the box on top of the carrots. Here's what the finished, packed up bento box looked like:
So there you have it. My first foray into the land of bento. I like it.
I think my container might be a little big, but I don't really know how big a bento box is supposed to be. And maybe, if I weren't calorie counting and trying to lose weight, this might be the right size box, but it seemed like it was a little deep. Anyway, it worked well, and I'll use it again for bento-ing when Ellie and I need to take lunch somewhere. I'll also let her eat the leftovers for snack this afternoon. Here's what I packed into it...
1. Strawberries. These are actually placed all the way across the box and the silicone cup is sitting on a layer of them. Then I filled in around the silicone cup with more strawberries to finish off that section. We shared the strawberries.
2. Macaroni and Cheese. This is leftover from yesterday, so I just threw it in a silicone cup for Ellie to eat. I made it a smiley face by adding hot dog eyes and a fruit leather mouth. I just cut off pieces of the hot dog and fruit leather that are also in the box.
3. Fruit Leather. I used the fruit leather as a barrier between the strawberries and the proteins. I think the proteins might have been just fine against the strawberries, but it was an easy place to put the leather and I wanted to use it for the smile anyway. =D
4. String Cheese. This is at the bottom of the box, right next to the fruit leather. It's still in its wrapper, so I wasn't worried about it getting contaminated.
5. Turkey Hot Dog. This is right on top of the cheese and under the turkey rolls. It's in once piece, except for the two slices I cut off to make the smiley face eyes. This is Ellie's protein.
6. Turkey Deli Meat Rolls. Instead of rolling each of the slices up individually, I just rolled all 5 together and figured I'd roll them separately when it came time to eat. It was laziness. =D This is my lunch protein, so I figured I'd just make do. It worked pretty well.
7. No Sugar Added Blackberry Jam. This is in the little pink Tupperware container at the top of the picture. It's my dipping sauce for the turkey rolls. Weird, but it's low calorie and good. =D
8. Carrots. We were pretty much out of vegetables that I could take along, but I found a little bag of carrots in the fridge, so they came with us at the last minute. They help form a barrier between the proteins (which are cold and lunchmeaty, so they're sort of wet) and the dry goldfish crackers.
9. Goldfish Crackers. These are sort of a filler for the box and snack food, and the carb portion of the box. I put them on the opposite side of the box from the macaroni to help balance out the colors a little. These are Ellie's snack for this afternoon, too, since she didn't really eat them with lunch.
10. Ranch Dressing. I put the ranch in another Tupperware container (the taller, old style midge containers) for dipping carrots. Ellie loves to dip her carrots, so this was *her* container.
I admit, this was more food than Ellie and I needed for lunch. I was sort of shocked by that, because if I'd packed everything into separate containers like I normally do, it would take a lunch box at least twice the size of the bento box to fit it all in. But this was extremely compact and held plenty of food. And I only had a couple lids to keep track of (the lid for my bento box fits right underneath it, so that is nice) instead of 6 or so! I opened it up and held it on my lap while we were at the park and I didn't have to worry about ziplock bags blowing away or gathering together all the containers every time I wanted to stand up. AND the bento box fit nicely into my bag (which also held a towel, change of clothes, sunscreen, nalgene bottle, sippy cup, and diapers) so I only had to carry one bag and my purse (oh, and my chair) to the park and I was set for a couple hours! Easy to do in one trip!
Something else I added to my bento box was a cloth napkin... I layed it out diagonally, folded in two opposing points, and tied the other two points around the box to create a handle. It was cute in its presentation, functional as a handle, and meant that I had a cloth napkin with me while I was eating - something I was glad to have since I forgot a fork for myself and at strawberry quarters with my fingers! I remembered a fork for Ellie (for the mac and cheese) and just tucked that inside the box on top of the carrots. Here's what the finished, packed up bento box looked like:
So there you have it. My first foray into the land of bento. I like it.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Bento Mania!
I was recently introduced to the idea of bento and immediately fell for them, mostly based on cute-factor. Really, really adorable lunches. And then I started thinking about why I would want to take the time to pack a bento. Are there any real benefits that align with my priorities (other than cuteness, ha ha!) and how I want to spend my time?
Turns out there are. See, one of the things that I hold important is stewardship. Not just of money, though I think we are to be good stewards of money as well. I think it is important to be good stewards of EVERYTHING we are given - our time, our minds, our bodies, our children, our earth... And bento fits right in with at least a couple of those, so I think it's worth a look.
As for being stewards of our bodies and our children, there is a lot to be said for the food we eat and the food we use to nourish our children. Bento encourages a colorful, balanced meal consisting of the 5 food groups. By packing your food in a bento box, you just WANT to incorporate different fruits and vegetables, because, let's face it... a bento box containing a single pbj sandwich just isn't as fun to look at as sandwiches cut into stars surrounded by blueberries and a banana moon. When it comes to adult bento, it's easier to control portion sizes and balanced nutrition when you pack it all into a single box. You can easily see what proportions you have of carbs, fruits, veggies, and protein. Bento encourages balance and moderation.
Because bento boxes are designed to be stuffed full of food (so the food doesn't slosh around and mix with other foods) it is done in a way that uses "neutral" foods (like celery and carrots) to form a barrier between other foods. You might not want your blueberries to juice up your sandwich bread, but place a few carrots as a barrier between them and you've got a problem solved! AND you've got grains, protein (sandwich filling), fruit and vegetables all right there! In a traditional lunch sack, you'd have each item (sandwich, blueberries, carrots) in its own ziplock bag, which just get thrown away. Even if you go for the reusable approach, you'd have 3 separate containers, all in a lunch bag. This way you just have everything in one container, which serves as its own lunch bag. Fewer things to wash (less water used) and fewer things to throw away!
Really it's a great idea. I can't believe I hadn't heard of it until now, but today I picked up a box to use as a bento box, and some silicone baking cups to keep wet foods off of other foods. I still have a few years before I have to send a lunch with Ellie, so maybe I'll have time to perfect the art. In the meantime, I'm excited to give it a try for our weekly picnic lunches after the hikes. It sounds so... fun! =D
Turns out there are. See, one of the things that I hold important is stewardship. Not just of money, though I think we are to be good stewards of money as well. I think it is important to be good stewards of EVERYTHING we are given - our time, our minds, our bodies, our children, our earth... And bento fits right in with at least a couple of those, so I think it's worth a look.
As for being stewards of our bodies and our children, there is a lot to be said for the food we eat and the food we use to nourish our children. Bento encourages a colorful, balanced meal consisting of the 5 food groups. By packing your food in a bento box, you just WANT to incorporate different fruits and vegetables, because, let's face it... a bento box containing a single pbj sandwich just isn't as fun to look at as sandwiches cut into stars surrounded by blueberries and a banana moon. When it comes to adult bento, it's easier to control portion sizes and balanced nutrition when you pack it all into a single box. You can easily see what proportions you have of carbs, fruits, veggies, and protein. Bento encourages balance and moderation.
Because bento boxes are designed to be stuffed full of food (so the food doesn't slosh around and mix with other foods) it is done in a way that uses "neutral" foods (like celery and carrots) to form a barrier between other foods. You might not want your blueberries to juice up your sandwich bread, but place a few carrots as a barrier between them and you've got a problem solved! AND you've got grains, protein (sandwich filling), fruit and vegetables all right there! In a traditional lunch sack, you'd have each item (sandwich, blueberries, carrots) in its own ziplock bag, which just get thrown away. Even if you go for the reusable approach, you'd have 3 separate containers, all in a lunch bag. This way you just have everything in one container, which serves as its own lunch bag. Fewer things to wash (less water used) and fewer things to throw away!
Really it's a great idea. I can't believe I hadn't heard of it until now, but today I picked up a box to use as a bento box, and some silicone baking cups to keep wet foods off of other foods. I still have a few years before I have to send a lunch with Ellie, so maybe I'll have time to perfect the art. In the meantime, I'm excited to give it a try for our weekly picnic lunches after the hikes. It sounds so... fun! =D
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Recipe Review: Deceptively Delicious Aloha Chicken Kebabs
I tried my first Deceptively Delicious recipe the other night, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on it. I made the Aloha Chicken Kebabs made with sweet potato puree. They were really good! I will make them again!
Once you have the sweet potato puree (I recommend making up the purees ahead of time for these recipes), the chicken is very easy to make. I didn't have any short wooden skewers, like the recipe calls for, so I just used the long metal ones we use for grilling. That didn't work. Because they didn't fit in the pan I was using to cook the chicken, the chicken didn't rest on the bottom of the pan and therefore didn't cook. I just pulled the chicken off the skewers and cooked them in the pan. It worked just fine. It didn't look as festive, but it worked just fine.
The chicken had a nice Polynesian flavor about it, and tasted very different from what I usually make. I really liked it! I think it would be really good served with rice or stir fry with pineapple and almonds (like a Polynesian stir fry). I definitely recommend this recipe if you have the cookbook!
One thing I don't like about this book is that it doesn't include all the nutrition information. As a calorie counter (my choice for dieting) I like to know all the specs on my food. Thanks to sparkrecipes.com, though, I can now tell you the nutrition information for this dish! You'll have to buy the cookbook for the recipe (and I recommend it!) but the nutritional details per serving (3-4 kebabs) are...
Calories: 315
Fat: 8
Carbs: 32
Fiber: 3
Protein: 30
Once you have the sweet potato puree (I recommend making up the purees ahead of time for these recipes), the chicken is very easy to make. I didn't have any short wooden skewers, like the recipe calls for, so I just used the long metal ones we use for grilling. That didn't work. Because they didn't fit in the pan I was using to cook the chicken, the chicken didn't rest on the bottom of the pan and therefore didn't cook. I just pulled the chicken off the skewers and cooked them in the pan. It worked just fine. It didn't look as festive, but it worked just fine.
The chicken had a nice Polynesian flavor about it, and tasted very different from what I usually make. I really liked it! I think it would be really good served with rice or stir fry with pineapple and almonds (like a Polynesian stir fry). I definitely recommend this recipe if you have the cookbook!
One thing I don't like about this book is that it doesn't include all the nutrition information. As a calorie counter (my choice for dieting) I like to know all the specs on my food. Thanks to sparkrecipes.com, though, I can now tell you the nutrition information for this dish! You'll have to buy the cookbook for the recipe (and I recommend it!) but the nutritional details per serving (3-4 kebabs) are...
Calories: 315
Fat: 8
Carbs: 32
Fiber: 3
Protein: 30
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Routine
Now that Eliana has given up her nap, I have been wanting to use that time to do a little organized learning time with her. Nothing too structured, just something to add a little consistency to our afternoons. She functions much better on a schedule and, truthfully, so do I. We typically have things scheduled in the mornings from around 10-noon, but I want to do something together each day in the afternoon as well. So here's what I've come up with so far...
Musical Mondays - activities focusing on music and rhythm. We'll explore instruments (piano and guitar for now), sing together, dance to music, and play rhythm games.
Tactile Tuesdays - activites focusing on motor skills. We'll play with playdough, blocks, bubbles, etc. Anything to get moving in big and small ways!
Wordy Wednesdays - activites focusing on language. We'll read books, work on the alphabet, play Starfall, and color alphabet activity pages.
Theatrical Thursdays - activities focusing on pretend play. We'll dress up, play with puppets, play with baby dolls, and do animal imitations.
Fun Friday - activities focusing on fun things, but mostly art! We'll paint, draw, color, and create! It'll be fun!
I haven't thought it out too much, but this is my basic scheme for right now. I figure we can do a couple activities for 15 minutes each and we'll vary the activities depending on weather, energy levels, and what we want to do that day. It will give us some semblance of schedule in the afternoon without being too rigid, and it will give us organized time to play together! Some days we may just be busy and need to skip it because we're in town or whatever, but this way I know what we'll be doing on which days so we can pick up when we need to.
Musical Mondays - activities focusing on music and rhythm. We'll explore instruments (piano and guitar for now), sing together, dance to music, and play rhythm games.
Tactile Tuesdays - activites focusing on motor skills. We'll play with playdough, blocks, bubbles, etc. Anything to get moving in big and small ways!
Wordy Wednesdays - activites focusing on language. We'll read books, work on the alphabet, play Starfall, and color alphabet activity pages.
Theatrical Thursdays - activities focusing on pretend play. We'll dress up, play with puppets, play with baby dolls, and do animal imitations.
Fun Friday - activities focusing on fun things, but mostly art! We'll paint, draw, color, and create! It'll be fun!
I haven't thought it out too much, but this is my basic scheme for right now. I figure we can do a couple activities for 15 minutes each and we'll vary the activities depending on weather, energy levels, and what we want to do that day. It will give us some semblance of schedule in the afternoon without being too rigid, and it will give us organized time to play together! Some days we may just be busy and need to skip it because we're in town or whatever, but this way I know what we'll be doing on which days so we can pick up when we need to.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Scripture Memory
Eliana is 2 years old and has been soaking up information like a sponge. She knows her famous landmarks (20 of the them, at least!) and all of the letters of the alphabet, both upper and lowercase, plus the sound most of them make. Dr. Benda said this would be a good time to introduce her to a musical instrument. It occurs to me that this would also be a good time to start her on scripture memory.
I have been thinking a lot about what I want I want Ellie's mind and heart filled with. As she absorbs information so much right now, I want to make sure that she is absorbing what is good and true and right, and not what the world says is fun for toddlers. According to what I see all around, my 2 year old is supposed to be obsessed with Dora, or the Disney Princesses, or Blue and they are to be the primary moral influences in her life. I don't want that for my daughter! Girls who start out being obsessed with Dora and Disney Princesses turn into teenagers obsessed with Britney and Paris. But I want a daughter who grows up to be obsessed with the Lord and His ways!
So I have to be careful now what her mind and heart is filled with. I'm not saying there's anything necessarily wrong with Dora, the Disney Princesses, or Blue's Clues. But I don't want to fill Eliana with something just because it's not bad. I want to fill her mind and heart with things that are GOOD! I want her to think on things that are good and true and right, and that starts now.
Right now she basically has my favorite CD memorized. We listen to it in the car all the time and she sings along. You know, if we had been listening to scripture set to music, she would know it by now! Wouldn't that be wonderful to have God's Word hidden in her heart so young?! So I have been searching for a good way to approach scripture memory for a 2 year old. I came across this blog that lists abbreviated verses for each letter of the alphabet and I thought that was a pretty cool idea. A family friend suggested Scripture Memory Fellowship, which actually has a preschool scripture memory program! AND the preschool memory books also have CDs for purchase with the scriptures set to music. That sounds perfect for us! I might even get one of the adult memory books since I have fallen out of the habit of memorizing scripture and would like to get back into it.
So that's my new goal to work on with Eliana - scripture memory. I'll let you know how the Scripture Memory Fellowship products are. I trust the source that recommended them, so hopefully I'll have a good report!
I have been thinking a lot about what I want I want Ellie's mind and heart filled with. As she absorbs information so much right now, I want to make sure that she is absorbing what is good and true and right, and not what the world says is fun for toddlers. According to what I see all around, my 2 year old is supposed to be obsessed with Dora, or the Disney Princesses, or Blue and they are to be the primary moral influences in her life. I don't want that for my daughter! Girls who start out being obsessed with Dora and Disney Princesses turn into teenagers obsessed with Britney and Paris. But I want a daughter who grows up to be obsessed with the Lord and His ways!
So I have to be careful now what her mind and heart is filled with. I'm not saying there's anything necessarily wrong with Dora, the Disney Princesses, or Blue's Clues. But I don't want to fill Eliana with something just because it's not bad. I want to fill her mind and heart with things that are GOOD! I want her to think on things that are good and true and right, and that starts now.
Right now she basically has my favorite CD memorized. We listen to it in the car all the time and she sings along. You know, if we had been listening to scripture set to music, she would know it by now! Wouldn't that be wonderful to have God's Word hidden in her heart so young?! So I have been searching for a good way to approach scripture memory for a 2 year old. I came across this blog that lists abbreviated verses for each letter of the alphabet and I thought that was a pretty cool idea. A family friend suggested Scripture Memory Fellowship, which actually has a preschool scripture memory program! AND the preschool memory books also have CDs for purchase with the scriptures set to music. That sounds perfect for us! I might even get one of the adult memory books since I have fallen out of the habit of memorizing scripture and would like to get back into it.
So that's my new goal to work on with Eliana - scripture memory. I'll let you know how the Scripture Memory Fellowship products are. I trust the source that recommended them, so hopefully I'll have a good report!
Update on Crudites
The "no snacks before dinner except veggies" rule has been going great! Last night I offered her carrots and she didn't want them but requested bread. I told her that she couldn't have bread because we were only going to eat vegetables before dinner. She paused a minute and then said, "Hmmm.... I want cucumbers!" So I got out a cucumber and cut her a spear and she ate it and then came back for a second spear!
So far so good!
Tonight I'm trying my first Deceptively Delicious recipe - Aloha Chicken Kebabs.
So far so good!
Tonight I'm trying my first Deceptively Delicious recipe - Aloha Chicken Kebabs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
