We had a great 4th of July Weekend. We went to my cousins High School Graduation Party on Saturday and The Cove beach at Brigantine on Sunday. We had a jam packed good weekend. For my Cousin’s Party we brought cupcakes. My daughter who is 3 made them. I will say this over and over in my blogs. Cook with your kids. We do the box cakes we aren’t from scratch kind-of bakers. The thing that is great about it is she can count how many eggs she needs from the back of the box and tell me how many she needs to put in. She is also using those fine motor skills when she is cracking the eggs and fishing out the eggshells.
She adds all of the ingredients (with help from Mom on the measurements). She then spoons out all of the batter into the cupcake pan. Mommy bakes it then Baby girl gets to help decorate. This time because my Cousin is going to Temple University in the fall we decided to go with these adorable owl cupcakes we found the idea online at : www.annies-eats.com/2009/04/29/owl-cupcakes/ . She pulled them out of the Hello, Cupcake book. We also made some plain cupcakes with Temple’s – T logo out of Twizzler’s Pull apart. The best part for my candy girl was that she got to cook with Oreo’s, Junior Mints, M&M’s, Runts and licorice. She went through and sorted out what she needed counting the right amount of Banana runts for his beak, She sorted all of the M&M’s by color.
It takes time to bake with your kids and it certainly isn’t a life necessity. What is important is teaching your children to be self sufficient adults. That is the job of parents. When Candy Girl brings her treats to the party, everyone makes a fuss over her. Encouraging her, telling her she’s smart, telling her she’s special. Kids need to hear this from other people besides their parents. She gets so proud of herself.
The next day we spent the day at the beach. The thing I love about going to a bay beach is the experience of actual sea life that you don’t get as often at the ocean barrier island beaches. We swam with turtles peaking up over little ruffles of waves. We could pull sea snails right out of the water and it became a biology lesson for the kids. Boys pulled in fish with nets.
Today, we lounged in PJ’s most of the day and we had variation grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. Kids wanted regular grilled cheese. Daddy preferred grilled cheese with Pepperoni. I devoured my favorite grilled cheese with sliced tomato and basil. Than we had dinner at the in-law’s house!
Favorite Tools:
Arcoa Pro Easy Reacher Tool. I have owned dozens of grabbers. I use them to pick up toys every day, to do my quick little clothes pick up, shoe straighten after the kids or to get something from Hard to reach spots. Usually, I break these after 6 months but these specific Grabbers I’ve had for over a year. I have really worked them hard and they have stayed reliable.
Free Day Out:Check out your library. They are always having free programs. Also, check out your town’s website.
Food Stuff:Today’s favorite my culinary vision for today would have to be my new favorite snack. Cherries pitted stuffed with an almond. I like that the almond mimics the cherry seed but is edible. It is even yummier dipped in chocolate.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
Jersey Global Momma
OK so I'm taking the plunge and making the commitment to writing a blog. I've wanted to do this for years... So here she goes. What I have to tell you is it is easy to be the Global Momma in Jersey. It is my goal to teach my kids about the world we live in and there are a lot of great resources here in Jersey.
For example this week we learned that searching for a new playground doesn't always mean a better playground when we went from one my kids told me was "BORING" to one that I would have thought was better but was still reported as "Lame". Please someone explain to me where my 4 year old picked up the word Lame it is.... Lame!
Out and about in NJ:
We have had a fun packed summer so far so my plan is to write a little bit about everything we've done.
Clementon Park- Liked it, priced fairly, we got the membership. Crowds are minimal, the water park is great for toddlers and small children. It is a bit run down, the food is over priced and the bathroom with the changing room is not up to par. The kiddie riders are great and again, the price can not be beat. This is a great thing for a family on a budget, instead of rides on the boardwalk you can do Clementon Park over and over again for around the same price.
My sister and I took the kids last weekend to Coco Keys water Resort. All in all it was a great day. I will say we were lucky we had an aunt who won free passes because at $27- $32 a person that makes one expensive day. It was very clean, the staff very attentive, the pools well kept and in working order. The food was Nathans or Pizza Hut and a great value. Parents of older children could enjoy the adults only hot tub or bar. Me, being obsessively worried Momma that I am, was right there with the kids. The only down side of our whole day was that many parents left children too young to be unattended to "fend for themselves". We befriended a 2 year old in a 3 foot pool whose mother seemed never to even notice him even after he came upstairs with us to where she was reading her book. The water park was warm with very clean water. The Lazy River was fast moving. The kids have been begging to go back.
Favorite Tools:
The last few days I have been cleaning! Trying to get 10 tons of laundry done! Honestly, where does it all come from? I also did the crazy clean out the couch thing. I have to say for the millionth time I love my Dyson. We bought it pre-kids when I was really just Lint obsessed. Now, I know how good it is. This vacuum sucks! Just like it's supposed to! I loved it when I bought it but now several thousand miss-sucks later I love this thing! When you have kids things are places they never were before so imagine my surprise when sucking up right near the edge of the couch when I got a whole marker sucked up. But it is a Dyson so you can take it all apart and get to it. Finally, someone made a vacuum that is like a copier. If it jammed check here, then here, then here, then voila- unclogged. I actually ran over a toy and had a mini melted thing stuck in the brush once. All I had to do was quickly pull the brush out from the side compartment and it was cleared. The other day I noticed a new feature. I have a hole in the seat of the of and all kinds of things get down there remote controls, toys, pretzels, can't find the phone, it's probably down there. Anyway I took all the attachments off and I could stuff the hose like a soft snake down in there sucking up all the debris. These are the things that make me happy!
Free Day Out:
Check out Red Bank Park and Battlefield. We went again the other day and it is such a nice place. Throw rocks in the Delaware from the beach. Walk out on the pier. Take a nice little stroll along the river. See the Cannons. Watch ships pass by and planes land. Play in the cute little play ground. If you are particular you may want to bring wipes to wipe down picnic tables. Make sure you have tissue in case they are out in the bathroom because sometimes that happens in parks.
Food Stuff:
Tomatoes are so beautiful this time of year. I eat them with everything. I have here included some of my favorite Tomato recipes:
Tomato salad
2 pts. of grape tomatoes
1 red onion
6-7 leaves of basil
1 clove garlic
½ cup Marsala wine
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp lemon juice
Dice red onion and finely chop garlic
1 saute red onion and garlic in olive oil
When browned throw in chopped tomatoes, shredded basil, lemon and Marsala wine
Allow to simmer 3 minutes
Tomato Mozzarella salad
Leave most tomatoes whole chopping only the bigger ones chop onion instead of dicing it toss in round fresh mozzarella. Serves nicely as a side dish or over a bed of greens, also add croutons or olives if wish.
Tomato Basil Pasta
Prepare tomato salad above and top your pasta with it.
Regina’s Chicken Parmesan
4 boneless chicken breast
Packaged Oven Fry (near breading)
1 egg
1 tbsp olive oil
Tomato salad- see above
Whole Milk Mozzarella (I prefer Sargento Artisan Mozzarella)
Butterfly (slice through it to make it thinner) chicken and cut each breast into 2 pieces.
Wet chicken with egg and dredge through oven fry. Coat pan with olive oil. Cook 20 min on 400. Pull out of oven top with tomato Salad (Tomatoes and onions should be diced for this) and Mozzarella- cook a few more minutes until cheese melts.
Tomato Appetizer
½ lb package Panchetta
1 lb Fresh sliced Mozzarella
1 loaf French or Italian bread
Prepare tomato Salad with chopped tomatoes and onion. Spray or lightly drizzle olive oil over thinly sliced French or Italian bread. Toast in oven at 400. Lay Panchetta flat over a baking sheet and bake in oven about 5 minutes until crispy. Layer the toast with Panchetta, tomato salad and Fresh Mozzarella. Serve open faced. Or allow guests to assemble (especially nice for Meat & Vegan dinners).
For example this week we learned that searching for a new playground doesn't always mean a better playground when we went from one my kids told me was "BORING" to one that I would have thought was better but was still reported as "Lame". Please someone explain to me where my 4 year old picked up the word Lame it is.... Lame!
Out and about in NJ:
We have had a fun packed summer so far so my plan is to write a little bit about everything we've done.
Clementon Park- Liked it, priced fairly, we got the membership. Crowds are minimal, the water park is great for toddlers and small children. It is a bit run down, the food is over priced and the bathroom with the changing room is not up to par. The kiddie riders are great and again, the price can not be beat. This is a great thing for a family on a budget, instead of rides on the boardwalk you can do Clementon Park over and over again for around the same price.
My sister and I took the kids last weekend to Coco Keys water Resort. All in all it was a great day. I will say we were lucky we had an aunt who won free passes because at $27- $32 a person that makes one expensive day. It was very clean, the staff very attentive, the pools well kept and in working order. The food was Nathans or Pizza Hut and a great value. Parents of older children could enjoy the adults only hot tub or bar. Me, being obsessively worried Momma that I am, was right there with the kids. The only down side of our whole day was that many parents left children too young to be unattended to "fend for themselves". We befriended a 2 year old in a 3 foot pool whose mother seemed never to even notice him even after he came upstairs with us to where she was reading her book. The water park was warm with very clean water. The Lazy River was fast moving. The kids have been begging to go back.
Favorite Tools:
The last few days I have been cleaning! Trying to get 10 tons of laundry done! Honestly, where does it all come from? I also did the crazy clean out the couch thing. I have to say for the millionth time I love my Dyson. We bought it pre-kids when I was really just Lint obsessed. Now, I know how good it is. This vacuum sucks! Just like it's supposed to! I loved it when I bought it but now several thousand miss-sucks later I love this thing! When you have kids things are places they never were before so imagine my surprise when sucking up right near the edge of the couch when I got a whole marker sucked up. But it is a Dyson so you can take it all apart and get to it. Finally, someone made a vacuum that is like a copier. If it jammed check here, then here, then here, then voila- unclogged. I actually ran over a toy and had a mini melted thing stuck in the brush once. All I had to do was quickly pull the brush out from the side compartment and it was cleared. The other day I noticed a new feature. I have a hole in the seat of the of and all kinds of things get down there remote controls, toys, pretzels, can't find the phone, it's probably down there. Anyway I took all the attachments off and I could stuff the hose like a soft snake down in there sucking up all the debris. These are the things that make me happy!
Free Day Out:
Check out Red Bank Park and Battlefield. We went again the other day and it is such a nice place. Throw rocks in the Delaware from the beach. Walk out on the pier. Take a nice little stroll along the river. See the Cannons. Watch ships pass by and planes land. Play in the cute little play ground. If you are particular you may want to bring wipes to wipe down picnic tables. Make sure you have tissue in case they are out in the bathroom because sometimes that happens in parks.
Food Stuff:
Tomatoes are so beautiful this time of year. I eat them with everything. I have here included some of my favorite Tomato recipes:
Tomato salad
2 pts. of grape tomatoes
1 red onion
6-7 leaves of basil
1 clove garlic
½ cup Marsala wine
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp lemon juice
Dice red onion and finely chop garlic
1 saute red onion and garlic in olive oil
When browned throw in chopped tomatoes, shredded basil, lemon and Marsala wine
Allow to simmer 3 minutes
Tomato Mozzarella salad
Leave most tomatoes whole chopping only the bigger ones chop onion instead of dicing it toss in round fresh mozzarella. Serves nicely as a side dish or over a bed of greens, also add croutons or olives if wish.
Tomato Basil Pasta
Prepare tomato salad above and top your pasta with it.
Regina’s Chicken Parmesan
4 boneless chicken breast
Packaged Oven Fry (near breading)
1 egg
1 tbsp olive oil
Tomato salad- see above
Whole Milk Mozzarella (I prefer Sargento Artisan Mozzarella)
Butterfly (slice through it to make it thinner) chicken and cut each breast into 2 pieces.
Wet chicken with egg and dredge through oven fry. Coat pan with olive oil. Cook 20 min on 400. Pull out of oven top with tomato Salad (Tomatoes and onions should be diced for this) and Mozzarella- cook a few more minutes until cheese melts.
Tomato Appetizer
½ lb package Panchetta
1 lb Fresh sliced Mozzarella
1 loaf French or Italian bread
Prepare tomato Salad with chopped tomatoes and onion. Spray or lightly drizzle olive oil over thinly sliced French or Italian bread. Toast in oven at 400. Lay Panchetta flat over a baking sheet and bake in oven about 5 minutes until crispy. Layer the toast with Panchetta, tomato salad and Fresh Mozzarella. Serve open faced. Or allow guests to assemble (especially nice for Meat & Vegan dinners).
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