food

Photo from Food Network

Last year on St Patrick’s Day I made my first Corned Beef, and I have to admit it was pretty darn tasty! I decided to continue the tradition this year.

Food Network has come up with five different recipes for corned beef….their slower-cooker version sounds wonderful, as does the hash you can make with the leftovers.

I’ve also read a lot about people and their green meals….imagine a green buffet of salad, broccoli, asparagus, apples, and avocado to name a few. Maybe some green eggs and ham would be in order?

So what’s on your plate for St. Patty’s this year?

A rhapsody of beautiful colors...and CHOCOLATE!

I made the best “O” face when I saw these. I mean, really, where were these this past Christmas when I was searching the web for chocolate spoon ideas! They are so wonderful, I am filled with giddiness just looking at their candied beauty.

And who do we have to thank for this sweet whimsy? Mr. P of Delicious, Delicious, Deliciousis who. If you are a baker, you just hit the motherload. He is in the U.K., and has a fondness for a dessert called a Lamington. He also takes stunning photos of his creations. Be sure to have your metric conversion chart close at hand…all of the recipes are measured the British way. I think the extra effort will prove to be worth it.

Photo from Kaboose.com

Sunday is Valentine’s Day, but it is also the beginning of the Chinese New Year. So if you are ready to move on from the pink and red invasion that is Valentine’s, celebrate the year of the Tiger with these simple and fun crafts from Kaboose. My favorites are the paper lanterns and the red firecrackers (TP rolls!) 

Before getting started, you can go here to read how the Chinese celebrate the New Year, why they use the lunar calendar, and other facts and information. Talk about the culture and traditions with your kids as you create your New Year’s crafts.

If you feel really festive, you could plan a typical Chinese New Year meal. If not the whole meal, maybe serve some dumplings (they look like golden nuggets,) oranges (perfectly round, symbolizing completeness and wholeness,) or long noodles (served to symbolize long life) at some point this weekend.

Mesh laundry bag = produce bag. Ingenious!

If you read this blog on a regular basis, I’m sure you are by now aware that I am a fan of the 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. I use reusable bags 90% of the time when I go shopping, but I don’t know how to avoid using the plastic produce sacks at the grocery stores. I try to use as few as possible every time I go, and the two or three I do use make me slightly cringe.

I visit Dollar Sore Crafts at least once a day, looking for cheap crafty goodness. I stumbled upon these reuseable mesh produce bags and was, like, “DUH! Why didn’t I think of this before!” I added the mesh bags to my list of items to look for the next time I was at the Dollar Store.

I usually hit the Dollar Store on Cantrell…I can’t walk out without spending $10 or more. I looked in the home organizing section and found a 3-pack of 12 x 12  mesh laundry bags with a zipper closure. I decided these would work just fine as is.

I took them to the shiny Kroger (Kroger on Polk) and filled one with apples. As I was checking out, I wondered what kind of reaction I’d get from the cashier. He said, “Is this a laundry bag? That’s pretty cool.” No problems.

So pick up a pack of these mesh bags and keep them with your reusable bags for your next trip to the grocery store!

Here’s a few of my tried-and-true recipes, and a new one I just saw today on TV.

Photo from Allrecipes.com

I made these for a scrapbooking get together in October, when the fall chill was first in the air. They are called Big Soft Ginger cookies, and I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com, a wonderful site that has great recipes for everything. They smell DIVINE and taste wonderful.

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I added a few photos to my Flickr set, hope you like them!

My son turned four on Tuesday, as unbelievable as that is for me to fathom. For his party he had a construction theme smashed up with a fancy, dress-up tea party theme, since he shared a party with a pal from his school. It made for some neat (read psycho-looking) invitations:

Invites for the construction/tea party

Since he decided on a construction party, I’d had my eye out for ideas on how to make dirt cakes. I found inspiration here and here, and with some help from my husband I came up with a plan.

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The bento fest in my head has not waned since my first confession of obsession earlier this week. I’ve been juggling my desire to go full-on Japanese and buy some real bento boxes and accessories between just using what I have at home to create containers and dividers with the qualities of bento. After all, in the end my goal is to be frugal and creative.

I had read on a blog that someone had good luck finding cheap bento box-type containers and accessories at their local Dollar Store, so when I had some free time Saturday night I went to the one on Cantrell Road to check it out.

I scoured the aisles of the kitchen and food sections of the store and here’s what I found:

This container had locks on all four sides and a gasket-type seal on the top, good when you want to keep the saucy items in.

A silicon baking dish, good to keep wet food items separate from the rest of your food.

Little picks to use for kabobs or cut pieces of fruit.

Sandwich cutters to make shapes from your plane jane bologna.

A Bob the Builder container that would make a great snack bento for a kid...they had Strawberry Shortcake ones too.

Another great container for a snack bento.

A long and narrow container would be great for sandwich bentos

Little containers with lids for sauces and condiments.

I picked up several items that I thought would really work out well, all for about five bucks. The next day was beautiful and perfect, so we decided to try out my new goodies on a picnic for the three of us at Knoop Park. Using my stash of goods and my new Laptop Lunch I created three bento boxes in about 20 minutes.

I packed vanilla yogurt and have my bread ready for sandwiches.

I used one of my cutters from IKEA for the kiddo's sandwich...a little touch that makes lunch so much fun!

Muffin cups ready to be filled with fruit.

Here's the kiddo's...sandwich, mini rice cakes, ranch; carrots; pears, apples and bananas; vanilla yogurt with sprinkles.

Here's ours: sandwiches; kiwi and bananas; pears squeezed in to fill up the empty spaces; carrots and mini rice cakes in mine; vanilla yogurt with blueberries for the husband.

I packed it all up in a tote with napkins and drinks, then with a blanket for us to sit on.

Later, at the park for our picnic….

He REALLY likes this box. And he said his sandwich was "really good!" Any sandwich shaped like an ameoba is better.

The husband checking out his box o' goodies.

The yogurt with sprinkles didn't stand a chance.

Carrots are meant to be drenched in ranch and eaten with forks.

Showing the kiddo the view of NLR from Knoop.

It was a great afternoon, and the boxes were clean empty when we left.

I just started a Bento set in my Flickr pool and I linked to it on the left tool bar. I’ll add photos of the boxes as I make them. Let me know what you think of them!

photo from thefoodpornographer.com

I am SO OBSESSED with bento boxes right now…last night I spent 3 hours on the Internet, searching for boxes, accessories and blogs by people who make bentos. Oh the compartmentalized joy! Here is an explanation about what bento, also called obento, is.

I have loved all things Japanese since I was young, starting with the Hello Kitty craze  in the third grade. Everything is so little and has a special purpose (Jerk reference.) It’s all modular and perfect and handy and…

Anyway, I found out about the Japanese store Daiso through the blog WhiMSy love. It’s like IKEA for the Japanese, except most things cost below a couple of bucks. They have 9 stores in the U.S., but they do have an online store and I spent some time perusing the obento section (boxes and accessories)…such heaven.

The accessories make bentos so much fun: food dividers, cups, picks, animal shaped food cutters and sauce containers. The list is absolutely endless. Everything is made to look like  little anime characters and you can’t read most of the writing on anything because its all in Japanese. That’s part of the fun, though.

Now, some people go crazy with their obento. Here are some of them. My fascination is not with these people, although I do admire the time and effort they put into their craft. What I admire and want to emulate are the people who make the simple bento boxes daily for their family.

photo from wendolonia.com

Wendy of the mama blog Wendolonia is a woman of my own crafty heart who blogs about the bentos she make for her grade-school aged son. She has a week in bento series, a great bento FAQ section and a tutorial on how to make a bento for a preschooler.

photo from lunchinabox.net

I also enjoy reading Biggie’s Lunch in a Box blog, a very informative blog that gives great advice and tips, like what size box you should buy, how to fill in gaps in your bento, and tips for making bentos for picky eaters. 

I purchased a Laptop Lunch bento box (looks just like the one from the Wendolonia photo) last month at a great eco-living store in Dallas called green living  and I’ve only used it once so far. I packed my leftovers from taco night and it worked out very well.

Anyway, we’ll see how this goes. I told the husband that when the kiddo start pre-k and has to take his lunch, it will be bento-style. He is curious to see how long that lasts. I think the kiddo will love it…he’s very much his mother’s child.

UPDATE: I completely forgot to metion the owner of the first picture, an Aussie who writes The Food Pornographer. She takes her yummy-lookin’ dinners and turns the leftovers into bentos. She even puts little notes in the ones for her partner….awww….