Another snow day- kid lunch

So, we are stuck inside again. Actually that isn't true, we went out and built a snowman and this afternoon both kids have karate. They came in from playing in the snow, put on karate clothes and turned on Happy Feet. We usually don't eat in front of the TV, but today is a day for breaking the rules.

Here is their lunch, it's like a bento box for the home....

It is red grapes, green apple, carrot sticks, snap peas, celery, cucumber, low fat chedder cheese, whole grain wheat thins, light ranch dressing, peanuts, roasted almonds, and 4 mini homemade brownies.

I switched Wednesday and Thursday on my weekly meal plan, so today is dinner out and/or leftovers.

Slowing down

It's a busy time of year. My son's birthday is Wednesday, Hanukkah is upon us, Christmas is coming, and so on and so forth. I have been reading a lot about Slow Parenting, Free Range Parenting, and thinking a lot about getting back to basics. In cooking, that translates to focusing on how I can make it easy to cook healthful, whole food, tasty meals and treats. Doing so in a way that makes it likely for me to do it often.

I always bake a lot around Christmas. Cookies and pies and breads galore. But this year I have been baking every week. The kids have been eating homemade, non processed home baked cookies every day at school in their Bento lunches. So I am not really feeling the need to go nuts. I suppose I could take this opportunity to bake fussier cookies that look beautiful on the table. I don't have time to do this usually. But frankly, who has time to do it now? So instead, I will stick to three cookies (I think)... my famous Big Chocolate Chip cookies (I made double the dough when I baked for the Daisy troupe last week, so it is in the fridge and ready to go), peanut butter blossoms with dark chocolate kisses (because Paul loves them and I love him.) and a simple rustic butter cookie. I asked some friends how they thought I should get my desired rectangle shape, and I got many ideas. Many included using my spritz cookie thing which is gathering dust at the moment, some involved rolling and cutting them into cookie cutter shapes, I went simple. I pushed the dough flat with my hands and cut the shapes with a knife. They came out good and rustic looking and simple. So as much as I love decorating cookies with my kids, this year we are sticking with easy.

Recipes to come, when I have some time to focus on them. For now, I am roasting a chicken for dinner, cleaning the house for the after school religion class my friend teaches here in my dining room, and rushing off to pick up N. at pre school.

Did I mention that I saved $78 at the super market today in coupons? Want to know my method?

Cocktails?

So, the chicken was good. I could have cooked it a bit longer to be honest, but it was good. N. liked the outside crispy part and S. liked the asparagus the best, but did eat some chicken. I need to buy more asparagus and start sending it in her bento lunches. She loves it. We need to get away from the turkey bologna every day. I don't even want to know what is in that. It scares me.

But on to today's topic... entertaining for cocktails. The children are sleeping at Grandma and Grandpa's on Saturday and we have dinner plans with friends. We are going to a new Sushi place in town that looks just wonderful and has received rave reviews. I invited them here for cocktails first. Sounded fun, until I realized that I have no idea what that means! My parents and grandmother have people over for cocktails, not me. I don't even drink much.

So I looked up some recipes and found this...

http://cocktails.about.com/od/vodkadrinkrecipes/r/red_lotus.htm

So I bought what I needed and I will be making Red Lotus Cocktails. I have red wine, white in the fridge, and beer. I also reviewed my notes of how to make a cheese plate. I think I got the info from Ina Garten but I am not sure. I got a strong creamy Blue, a sharp Gruyere, and a soft Italian cheese which is sort of like Brie, but Italian. The man at the cheese counter at my favorite market was very helpful and let me taste everything. I got three different kinds of bread/ crackers and a bunch of concord grapes for garnish. I also picked up a small assortment of stuffed olives. So, Italian/ Asian fusion? I am going with it.

Do you do cocktails? It is old fashioned of me? Wish me luck. I have never even used my shaker.