What I Ate in NYC

No excuses. I have been a bad blogger for the last two weeks.

I spent almost 2 weeks in New York City, as part of a program I'm participating in through Hebrew Union College, my alma mater. Ten days without my kids and husband, staying in Midtown Manhattan. Yep.

So I did what any left-alone mama would do.

I ate.

And of course, I photographed much of what I ate.
Isn't that what everyone does?

Starting at the top...from left to right:
Crepe for lunch (I may have also had a dessert crepe but ate it before I could photograph)
Magnolia cupcakes
Latte
Cinnamon-Raisin Peanut Butter Sandwich
Pizza...as only you can eat it in New York City
White Pizza
Macaroni and Cheese
Molly's Cupcakes - the butterscotch salted caramel cupcake may have changed my life.
Moroccan Oranges by JaneTheWriter
Cupcakes Baked by Melissa
Crack Pie from Momofuku
Poached Eggs Florentine from Cozy Soup n' Burger

I ate a bunch of other food...but luckily I walked an average of 5 miles a day...how else are New Yorkers so skinny!?

I don't know how I would ever live in a city with such amazing food. Since I actually ate other things too. I can't believe I didn't photograph the food I ate at Shake Shack (milkshake, french fries, veggie burger, and hot chocolate), Crumbs cupcakes, Rice to Riches (I know I took that picture, where did it go?), various bagels and snacks and such...

Thank goodness I live here instead.
Whew!

Monday Matters: Mazon

This is a new series I'm starting here at Ima on and off the Bima.
Monday Matters will feature various causes and charitable organizations that I think are important. I don't have any affiliation with these organizations. For every comment on today's post, I'll give $1 to today's organization, Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger.

I am incredibly blessed.
I never have to make a choice between feeding my children and paying for electricity.
I never have to worry that my children are getting enough food.
I never have to worry that my children have enough nutrititive food.

In fact, my children have the freedom to be picky.
They have the freedom to bake cookies, and to have birthday cakes.
There is milk in the refrigerator, and vegetables in the crisper.

There are millions of people in America who don't have enough to eat.
The new term is "food insecure" and I can only imagine how scary it must be to worry and wonder where the next meal is, if the meal will have enough nutrition, if children are getting enough.

"In this world of abundance, there is no excuse for hunger."
Mazon means "food" in Hebrew. They are the national Jewish organization dedicated to the cause of hunger, through advocacy and education, partnership grants and strategic initiatives. There is a dual focus on the immediate need to provide food and the long-term need to find solutions to the greater problem of hunger in our country.

You can donate here, online. Why not send a donation today?

For every comment on this post, I'll give $1 to Mazon.
Do you want to participate in Monday Matters? Share a favorite organization in your own post!

Bread with Soup....Delicious AND green

I always think it's more "green" to make something yourself. Think you can't make bread? Here's the super-easiest-quickest bread to throw in the oven while soup is simmering on the stove. And delicious!

Beer Bread

(From an old issue of Women's Health magazine)

3 cups self-rising flour (I have read that you can substitute 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt to one cup all-purpose flour if you don't have self-rising flour. But it's an easy thing to keep on hand.)

2 Tbsp sugar

1 can (12 oz) light beer at room temperature (I usually have bottled beer, I usually don't have light beer, and I don't always remember to get it at room temperature. It works.)

1 egg + 1 Tbsp water, beaten (last time, I doubled the recipe but I didn't double this part and it worked fine)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a bread-loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar and beer. Pour into pan. Let sit until doubled in size, about 15 minutes.

Brush the top with egg mixture.

Bake for one hour or until you believe it's done.

Cool if you can wait.

If you make it with light beer, it's pretty low-cal.

Sounds good, doesn't it? Went great with vegetable soup!

Delicious Dinner for Me!!!

Early last year, I read The Six O'Clock Scramble, by Aviva Goldfarb. (I figure if I take the cookbook to read in bed, it counts as a book I read.) It's got a whole lot of great recipes, many of them vegetarian or adaptable to vegetarian. Truthfully, I didn't make any of the recipes. Truthfully, I took the book out of the library and marked a few recipes down that I wanted to try. And I never did.

As I was trying to think of what to make for dinner tonight, I found the pile of recipes that I've been jotting down, saving, etc. In there was this recipe for Chickpea Tomato Stew, which sounded just about right for dinner. Oh my goodness, it was wonderful....so here I share it with you, with my comments/modifications.




CHICKPEA TOMATO STEW
(adapted from Aviva Goldfarb)
Prep + Cook = 25 minutes
6 servings (okay, I'm not sure that it's really six. I think maybe 3-4 nice hearty servings.)

Ingredients
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 onion and 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped I used almost a whole onion, not so finely chopped, and two big tablespoons of minced garlic from a jar that I keep handily in my fridge.
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin (which I almost lost while making the recipe and helping with homework. I set it down near the math-doing child. Then spent 10 minutes looking for it and trying to decide if I could make the recipe without it because how did I suddenly run out of cumin. Then I found it.)
• 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, drained
• 1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes The can I used had chili peppers in it, I think.
• 1 cup prepared pasta sauce or tomato sauce I used Newman's Own Sockarooni which added quite a kick.
• sour cream for serving
• handful of fresh mint and/or fresh oregano for garnish (optional) I mean, you can, but I didn't bother.

In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute them until they start to sizzle. Add the curry powder and cumin and cook the onions, stirring, for 1 more minute. Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, and pasta sauce or tomato sauce and simmer the stew for about 10 minutes. (During this time, run around looking for the cumin you misplaced.)

Serve it over couscous or rice, topped with a spoonful of sour cream. I used rice.

It was so darn good, I could have eaten the whole pan. Which would have, of course, defeated the purpose of the whole healthy-eating thing.

The kids ate pasta with the rest of the sockarooni sauce. No accounting for taste.

Here it is all set up in a re-usable container for tomorrow's lunch. Rice on the bottom. Sour cream in a little container to take with....yay!

 By the way, the Kosher Cooking Carnival is up over here at kosher.com and I'll be hosting KCC in the near future (yay me!)...

Oh, and if you're interested in food these days, check out FrumeSarah, she's giving installments on her experiences at the Hazon Food Conference!

My Best Winter Menu...aka Comfort Food

You're looking at it.
This is my favorite meal to make and to eat in the winter.
I like lots of food, don't get me wrong.
But Sukkot comes, I make this meal for our Sukkah party,
and then I love every wintry opportunity to make it. Oh, and it's super easy.

Vegetarian Chili
I don't have a recipe. I do something like this: open cans of beans, all varieties. Rinse. I usually use "chili" beans, preferably the organic ones. Small can of chili peppers. Can of refried beans. Corn? Sometimes. Spinach? Usually, although it appears not in this photo. (package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed) Oh, don't forget the canned tomatoes. The really big can. Sprinkle in some chili powder. Let simmer.

Cornbread
Go to Costco. Buy the cornbread mix (Penguin brand), follow directions on package plus add one can of creamed corn. Bake it.

Macaroni and Cheese 
all measurements approximate. just dump it in.

1 (8 ounce) package elbow macaroni

(or whatever shape pasta you have on hand)
8 oz shredded sharp
Cheddar cheese
1 (12 ounce) container cottage cheese
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Make noodles. Drain. Return to pot. Dump in cheeses and stuff. Mix well. Add salt, pepper, seasonings to taste. Spray nonstick cooking spray in a large baking dish. Spread mixture into pan, bake for about 30 minutes until crusty on top. Sometimes I sprinkle wheat germ on top but don't tell the kids, k?

If you're feeling healthy or the Queen is coming to visit, serve a salad with it.

 What's your favorite comfort meal?

Zucchini is Delicious!

My neighbor has a much bigger garden than mine. Today she came over with this zucchini. (Pardon the quality, it was taken with my Blackberry. The glasses are there for size comparison. It was massive!)

She gently challenged me to make zucchini bread - she would make some and I would make some, and we would compare! (She had another of these giant zucchini with which to work.) Always game for a bake-off, I shredded the whole thing in my Cuisinart:

Um, that's a LOT of grated zucchini! (Turns out, by the way, enough for about 6-8 loaves of zucchini bread)

Super-Yummy Zucchini Bread
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 3 eggs
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
* 1 1/2-2 cups white sugar (depends on how sweet you like things...I think the cinnamon-sugar topping and crust makes it really sweet.)
* 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 cups grated zucchini
* cinnamon and sugar for topping

1. Grease and cinnamon/sugar two 8 x 4 inch loaf pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3. Beat eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar on top.
4. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

This recipe totally freezes well. I will cut it up, wrap each slice in plastic wrap, put the pieces into a freezer bag, and freeze it. That way we can take out just one slice for a quick home-baked breakfast, snack, or lunchbox treat! If there's any left...

 

The proof is in the faces!

(Going back to the idea of the bake-off, my neighbor's zucchini bread was mighty tasty too. She made a recipe with sweet potatoes!)

And that's what works for me this week.

How many brownies did you eat?

I love the summertime. Inevitably we go to family parties and the kids run wild have a great time. They have a lot of different adults around who think they're really cute and will give them whatever they want. And they've learned to work the system. After you get a brownie from your mom, you go and ask your grandmother. And then your dad, and then your grandfather. Eventually you've eaten a week's worth of brownies and you're not even old enough (in the case of Sam and Yael) to actually recall how many brownies you ate.

How many brownies do you think each of them ate?

David - I think 4.

Sam - I think he had at least 3.

I caught this one on camera and I know there was at least one more.

Just a side bar - this photo my father entitled "Future Metorologist."
Yes, she's checking if it's raining.

See more Summer Stock Photos (any other brownies?) and more Best Shots here.
More about the party and why we were holding it later...and more about BlogHer eventually too.

Oh, and P.S. Haveil Havalim is up over at Jewschool. And it's great.

Corny but true....

 

 

 Finally!
A warm and sunny day!
I broke out the sweet corn, which isn't exactly in season yet but just felt right for the first real day of summer fun.

Yael was very happy with the corn.
(Sam was too but wouldn't let me take his picture!)
David doesn't like corn.
His loss.

Corn-on-the-cob is such a summer joy. Tomorrow - the pool!
See more Summer Stock Photography over here by Robin.

Baked, Not Fried....and a Mazon Giveaway

For those of you not familiar with this truly incredible food, soufganiyot are jelly-donuts, deep fried and usually doused in powdered sugar. What could be bad about such a delicacy? And not only a delicacy, but a mitzvah! In Israel, where potatoes are not really native, these jelly-filled-fried-dough-balls are the delightful alternative for latkes (levivot), a food fried in oil. And, since oil is really the heart of the Chanukah matter, oily foods rule the day.

This month's issue of Cooking Light had this recipe for Baked Soufganiyot.

Baked!? How can you bake something that's meant to be fried? I have no idea. But they sure were yummy.

Yield 8 servings (serving size: 2 rolls)
Ingredients

• 1 1/2  teaspoons  dry yeast
• 3/4  cup  warm 1% low-fat milk, divided
• 6  tablespoons  granulated sugar
• 1  tablespoon  butter, softened
• 1  teaspoon  grated orange rind
• 1/2  teaspoon  vanilla extract
• 1/2  teaspoon  kosher salt
• 1  large egg
• 14.5  ounces  all-purpose flour, divided (about 3 1/4 cups)
• Cooking spray
• 3/4  cup  strawberry jam
• 1  tablespoon  powdered sugar

Preparation

1. Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm milk in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes or until foamy. Add remaining 1/4 cup warm milk, granulated sugar, and next 5 ingredients (through egg); beat with a mixer at medium speed until blended (butter will not be completed melted). Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add 9 ounces (about 2 cups) flour to yeast mixture; beat at medium speed until smooth. Stir in 4 1/2 ounces (about 1 cup) flour to form a soft dough. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead dough until smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes); add enough of remaining 1 ounce (about 1/4 cup) flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel sticky).
2. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in size. (Gently press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, dough has risen enough.) Punch dough down; cover and let rest 5 minutes. Divide dough into 16 portions, rolling each portion into a ball.
3. Place dough balls on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover and let rise 45 minutes or until dough is doubled in size.
4. Preheat oven to 375°.
5. Uncover balls. Bake at 375° for 14 minutes or until browned. Remove from pan; cool completely on a wire rack.
6. Make a pocket in each roll using the handle of a wooden spoon, pushing to but not through the opposite end. Fill with about 2 teaspoons jam, using plastic condiment bottle or a piping bag. Sprinkle rolls with powdered sugar. (Don't sprinkle until you're ready to eat, though, or the sugar seems to disappear and you have to do it again. Not that I know.)

I did not use jam. My oldest child doesn't like fruit-filled sweets (I'm not the hugest fan either) and since I've had soufganiyot filled with chocolate, I know it can be done. I used chocolate pudding. Delish!!! Plus I served up some extra chocolate pudding on the side to dip the extra dough (each donut had a little more dough than filling) into.

A truly delightful, if time-consuming, new holiday tradition for our family!

Mazon, which means "food" in Hebrew, is an organization working to stop hunger in the world. They do so by particularly linking simchas, celebrations, with helping the hungry. This connection is not new in Jewish life, but Mazon has worked very hard to institutionalize the concept of giving 3% of the cost of life-cycle and other celebratory events to Mazon to help those in need.

In honor of the food of Chanukah, I will donate $1 for every comment on this post to Mazon!

Happy Chanukah!

P.S. Thanks to my colleage Rabbi Paul Kipnes for pointing out this post on the NY Times Well Blog: ReThinking the Latke....interesting roundup of the healthification (a word?) of Chanukah food

Chanukah Countdown, Food, & Giveaway!

Welcome to my Chanukah Coutndown Party!
I'm so excited to be celebrating 2 weeks of Chanukah posts, giveaways, and just general fun. Make sure to check back here every day because I have something great to give away all week and all throughout Chanukah!

I am sure that you knew the traditional food of Chanukah is latkes and/or sufganiyot. Latkes are potato pancakes, fried in oil. Sufganiyot are jelly-filled donuts, also fried in oil. The oil is the key, of course, because of the mythology of the oil and its important role in the story of the holiday.

But did you know that it's also customary to eat dairy foods on Chanukah too? You might be thinking, um, Ima, isn't that Shavuot? Yes, we eat dairy on that holiday too, but for different reasons. This is a really rockin' girl-power reason:

The Story of Judith.

Unfortunately, it's not that cut-and-dried - we don't know what really happened, we have two different versions of the story and it's all apocryphal.

During a siege of the city of Bethulia (which we know nothing about), the supposedly beautiful widow Judith is determined to save her people by assassinating the Assyrians' general, Holofernes. She left the city with the intent to seduce the general. Holofernes invited her into his tent for a nice meal, intending to seduce her. Judith waited until he fell into a drunken sleep, grabbed his sword, and cut off his head, bringing it in a sack back to her town, which turned the tide of the battle. Hooray!

The other version of the story goes like this: Every virgin bride (in the other she was a widow, note) prior to marriage was obliged to sleep with the Assyrian governor (ew). Judith, when it was her turn, fed the governor cheese which made him sleepy and when he went to sleep, she chopped off his head and saved all her fellow ladies.

Because of Judith's heroism, in whatever way it occurred, it's customary to eat dairy foods on Chanukah. Another good vegetarian holiday, if you ask me!

Today's giveaway...full of food!

Oh Nuts Giveaway - $30 gift certificate to anything on their site!


Oh Nuts is a great company that participated in my Chanukah Countdown last year, and from which my mom ordered a bunch of gifts because if it... (Hi mom!)

They have these really nice Chanukah baskets, and some other stuff too, including these jelly bean dreidels which I think are adorable. (And if you're here and Chanukah isn't your holiday, there are other things for other holidays too as well as coffee, other gifts, and even healthy stuff.) See here what Miriam got from Oh Nuts. You could buy these cute cookies too!

To enter, leave a comment on this post!

Earn an extra entry by tweeting about it. Let me know below in the comments.

Comments will close at 8am Monday, December 15th. 

Come back all week and next for some great Chanukah posts and giveaways!

Join in the Chanukah Countdown Party - feel free to grab my badge above and link back here with your own Chanukah posts! How do you celebrate, what's your favorite observance, favorite tips and tricks, etc...  
Comments closed. The winner is...@kvetchingeditor Chaviva!
Watch your email.... 

The Ima's Breakfast Menu

I am so tired of fighting over breakfast. Most of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook know that my kids have been getting up super-early lately, and then can be crabby. (Me too!) This means that they tend to fight about whatever I offer for breakfast. And I really believe that giving choices just invites problems. Also, we have been going through frozen waffles like crazy and they're not so cheap!

So I invented the "Breakfast Menu."
Not only did I make a menu, but I now make a big deal about each day's food.

Here's the Menu:

Monday: Yogurt and Cereal
Tuesday: Muffins (and cereal)
Wednesday: Pancakes
Thursday: (Frozen) Waffles
Friday: CheeseToast & cereal
(Saturday and Sunday are more free-for-alls....)

The biggest hits are, of course, Muffin Tuesday and Pancake Wednesday. These even have songs composed in their honor.

How, you might ask, do I serve muffins in the morning? I make them over the weekend or whenever I have time and freeze them, of course! Pancake Wednesday is a little trickier. Sometimes I measure out all the "pancake sugar" (as David called it once) the night before. But today I made this recipe for a Baked Pancake (found via this great blog) and it was a huge hit. One of my kids even said: "Pancake Wednesday should always be this kind of pancake!" (I think I could measure it all into the blender, refrigerate overnight, and then whizz it up in the morning for a really speedy thing.)

Hey, it works for me.

Vegetable Heaven - CSA Delivery

One of the fun side-effects of blogging is that it has opened my eyes to so many thing out in the world that I never knew existed.

I have been reading for quite some time now about CSA's - Community Sponsored Agriculture. I've read all summer as people shared the contents of their baskets, and bragged about the canning and preserving they were doing.

I already receive a weekly shipment from Timber Creek Farms, a local company that delivers milk and organic produce. But even though they're great, I know they're not growing those pineapples and bananas in Indiana. They don't claim to, by the way. They do, however, deliver "hormone-free" milk that is far cheaper than ordinary organic milk (it's not actually organic, but if I had to rank my milk priorities, hormones and price are above organic). I also get a weekly Fruit Box and a few other grocery items like organic cottage cheese. I tried to get a Vegetable Box but it was just far too much veggies for my family to eat!

But I really wanted to try a CSA and HomeGrownWisconsin offers a Winter Share. Plus, it's Wisconsin, from where all good things come (as Sara well knows!). A WinterShare, if you're not familiar (I wasn't) is 3 deliveries, once a month, in November, December, and January. (So you can look forward to a similar post in December, right before Chanukah...I'm hoping for as many sweet potatoes so I can make sweet potato latkes!)

 

So here's what I got on Thursday night. Pie pumpkins, acorn squash, butternut squash, cranberries, carrots, apples, onions, leeks, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, dried celery, and....popcorn, dried on the cob. (That's in the bottom right corner of the picture.) How neat is that? I'm very excited for it to be an activity and a food. Plus I get a newsletter that tells me all about what I've got and how long it will last. 

While I know that we are not in the least bit qualified to be locavores (we like Costco too much), and we don't always eat organic (I pick and choose), I feel like this is my one little contribution to the world of sustainable agriculture. I look foward to figuring out what to do with all my veggies (pumpkin pie? cranberry sauce? leek soup? mushroom pate?) and, of course, sharing them with you all here in blogland.

What are you doing to improve the sustainability of your food?

Closed on Shabbat....not just my blog!

 

Is this a sign you would expect to see at a restaurant in Highwood? (Okay, they claim that it's Highland Park. But I tell you, it's my neighborhood!)

Tonight we finally went to La Casa de Isaac. It's a Jewish-Mexican restaurant that's been in my neighborhood for almost 2 years now. 

The place was packed, on a Monday night! The food, excellent, of course. It was Monday night after a long weekend, so I didn't have a margarita, but they looked lovely. And the sign in the bathroom did seem to say it all: "The only thing better than a margarita a day is 2 margaritas!"

The chips and salsa were on the house and they were fantastic. We ordered guacamole, and mmm....I'm going back for more. I had chilaquiles with sunny-side-up eggs, because they serve breakfast all day and I'm just a breakfast-eating-fool! (Oh, and I asked which was spicier, the red or green sauce. The server then offered me the "extra hot" if I wanted it. When I hesitated, he said he could do "half and half." A wise choice. "extra hot" is not a misnomer.)

So why the Closed on Shabbat sign? The restaurant is owned and operated by Isaac and Moishe Nava, Jewish-Mexican brothers who really are running a family business. It's not a kosher restaurant, although they don't serve pork and shellfish. There is milk and meat mixed on the menu (and the plates) and I'm pretty sure the meat served isn't kosher. (Not that I eat it...but, you know.)

The brothers have made it quite clear, however, that they are not willing to compromise on the Shabbat thing. They're closed. Period. I think that shows an amazing conviction - this is a pretty hard-core restaurant area and I am super-impressed that they're succeeding so beautifully while continuing to be closed on Shabbat.

The food is absolutely stunning. The commitment even more so.

If you're in the neighborhood, please make sure to check it out and support this excellent restaurant.

And that's my Tuesday Torah. What's yours?

P.S. Be sure to check out this week's Haveil Havalim.

Eat this Lunch

So...I'm sure you (my 6 loyal readers) have wondered where I've been! I haven't commented on your blogs. I haven't been posting to my own. (Maybe that's because there are 829 posts in my Google Reader right now and that just seems intimidating.) I haven't installed the new Chrome browser. I haven't been twittering...much. Let's just say getting school started for the kidlets has made me b-u-s-y!

Not to mention there are a few holidays coming up soon.

I had big plans for my blog for the month of Elul. And while Elul isn't quite over yet (thank heavens, since I'm not at all ready for that), I think I might not quite get to a big Elul fest around here. But I will work on it. Stay tuned.

Just to show you what kinds of things I've been doing (and enjoying mightily, I must add), here is a sample of the kinds of lunches I've been packing. Will these lovely masterpieces continue for the whole year? Well, the kids have got to eat, and not school-lunch-food. So...probably.



Isn't it pretty? Not quite as ambitious as some. But it works for me!

(And those of you 6 loyal readers know that I usually participate in the Works-for-me-Wednesday carnival. Wouldn't this have done nicely? But you see, since I've been living in the non-online world, I didn't notice the memo that it was a Backwards Edition this week. Oops. Oh well.)

A Strange Obsession with Snacks

Me: Tell me a story, Sammy.
Sam: once 'pon time there was elephant.
Me: What is the elephant's name?
Sam: (something unintelligible)
Me: repeats unintelligible mumbling?
Sam: Yes.
Me: What did the elephant do?
Sam: sat with Sammy!
Me: What did Sammy and the elephant do?
Sam: We had snacks.
Me: Elephants like peanut butter. Did you eat peanut butter?
Sam: No! I like goldfish. I eat goldfish.
Me: Did the elephant eat goldfish too?
Sam: Yes. Elephant and Sammy eat goldfish together. We have snack together.

Later he told me a story about a lion who had a snack with the elephant.

In all his stories, there are snacks.

This is a kid who likes his food.

(at bedtime)
Me: What was your favorite thing today?
Sam: Eating food.
...as though there are days we don't have that.

And that's my kid.

Kosher Cooking Carnival is up...

Mother-in-Israel has posted the Kosher Cooking Carnival #29 today -- it's fantastic! All about preparing for Pesach...go over and see!

Do you think...?

How do they get these little peppers such a bright color? Are they dyed? When you wash the red ones, some red comes off in your hands...is that dye? Or just natural coloring?

How do they get these little peppers to taste so good? Is anyone else out there addicted to these wonderful little treats? (Thank goodness for Costco, since they're not really affordable anywhere else!)

Just wondering...

Waste Not... and a Giveaway!

Did you know how easy it is to save the world?
One Sandwich at a Time!

If you would like to slow global warming, if you would like to save water, if you would like to slow deforestation and overgrazing and cut back on the pesticides and fertilizers used to grow your food, all you have to do is change your lunch today (or tomorrow, if you’re reading this after lunch):
Pack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead of buying a lunch based on animal products, like a hamburger, fried chicken, or ham sandwich. Want to do more? Have another PB&J tomorrow.

from the PB&J Campaign -- check it out!

But has this ever happened to you?
One "regular" piece of bread...and one "end" (which the kids won't eat, right?):

So here's what I do...spread peanut butter (in our case, chocolate soy nut butter -- peanut-free school) on the back of the "end" (and a little on the other side too), like so:

Put it together...and you'd never know the difference! And you haven't wasted the end.
Pretty neat, huh?

Put it in your reusable container:

And then into your re-usable lunchbox! (Although not as cool as these and my lunches don't look nearly as beautiful as hers.)
That's what Works for Me! What works for you?

And now....The Giveaway:
In honor of Tu B'Shevat (the Birthday of the Trees) and the commitment to the earth that the holiday brings with it (read more here and here), Skeeda: Reusable Bags for the Hip, Eco-Chic Shopper is giving away one gorgeous, awesome re-usable shopping (shlepping) bag! The bag is very strong, washable, folds flat and is beautiful! Visit their lovely site to see all their affordable and beautiful styles. (Read more about re-usable bags here.)


How can you win?

1. Make a comment here or on any of my Tu B'Shevat posts today or tomorrow. Do you use reusable bags for groceries, lunch, shlepping? This is your entry! You can enter each day - once per day. Come back and visit all week for this and other giveaways.

2. For an extra entry, post on your blog or tell a friend about this giveaway and Skeeda's Bags and link back to me. Use my button:

<a href="http://imabima.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc126/imabima/tubshevatparty.jpg" border="0" alt="Birthday Party for the Trees at imabima.blogspot.com"></a>

3. Don't forget to give me a way to get in touch with you if you win!

4. This giveaway ends on Thursday, January 18th at 9pm Central Time. Winner will be announced Friday morning, along with the next Tu B'Shevat Birthday Giveaway!

Come back all week for the Tu B'Shevat Birthday Party and more green green green....re-use a bag, hug a tree!

My Previous Tu B'Shevat Party Posts:
Go Vegetarian and be green?
For the Love of the Trees

Magical Meal in a Minute - Works for Me!

This week's Works for Me Wednesday is themed...what do you do when it's time for dinner but nothing's been made and everyone's cranky?

Here we go...

1. Open beer or wine, pour into glass. (In a true pinch, drink either from the bottle.) This is, of course, for the mommy, not the kids.

2. Consult Magical Meal in a Minute List, posted in the kitchen.
(click that link to download your very own copy or click on the pic below to see it larger and print it out...)



3. Consult freezer/pantry and determine which one will work. One has to work. Pray for one to work.

4. Create meal in five minutes. Try to make it look pretty on the plates.

5. Serve to the family. Explain to 6-year-old that it doesn't matter what he thinks he wants to eat, this is for dinner.

6. If all else fails...order pizza!

(For those of you who were hoping I'd put together a Chanukah edition of last-minute latkes...I actually ordered my latkes from a local grocery store this year. Theirs are superb and my house does not have that yucky oil smell...delish!)

Happy Chanukah, y'all!

See more Works for Me Wednesday here at Rocks In My Dryer.

friends and family

seeing family friends
is so wonderful for us
years pass but still close

have to hit the gym
when we get home because we
eat eat eat and eat!

skipping t-day meal
the calories don't equal
all that we've eaten!:)

still we're glad to eat
break bread with all that we love
not just one day to THANK!