Sore Throat Cinnamon Milk

When you have a sore throat, this hot beverage is so soothing and delicious. Grab your favorite coffee mug and pour about a tablespoon of honey into it. Next, sprinkle in about a quarter teaspoon each of cinnamon and ginger. Then fill ‘er up with milk and microwave until hot (about a minute and a half). Stir, sip, and feel the goodness soothe your throat. 

Not only is the warmth soothing, but the added ingredients all have healing benefits, too. Honey contains antioxidants and has been shown to reduce coughing. Cinnamon contains antioxidants and can reduce inflammation. Ginger can reduce inflammation and fight bacteria. And they’re all delicious; how great is that?!

Happy New Year, Now Go Clean Your Freezer

When I went to my freezer today to pull out something for dinner, I discovered every meal prepper’s enemy: freezer burn. I also took a good, hard look at the sweet potato fries that had fallen from their package into the corner of the freezer many moons ago and realized that I’d put off cleaning my freezer for long enough. I pulled everything out and KonMari-ed the ziplock baggies of meat and produce. I wiped out all the mystery gunk before putting the winners back in (categorized by type of food and level of preparedness, and of course my trusty ice cream maker). I even rinsed the crumbs off of my ice packs and gave them the place of honor in the door for easy access. The whole process took about 20 minutes and made me feel so much more positive about the prospect of keeping my family well fed. It’s something I can’t recommend enough. Especially if you resolved to do anything food related this New Year’s. Clean your freezer, take stock of what you have, and get rid of anything that has outlasted its shelf life. It will help. 

Snowed-In Thanksgiving

This year, our Thanksgiving was smaller than usual. And that's saying something, because five is a pretty typical crowd for us. We had to cancel our Thanksgiving pilgrimage to family on account of snow, which meant trying to make it still feel like Thanksgiving while not overdoing it for the two and a half eaters in our house. And keeping a toddler happy. With approximately two days' notice from not-cooking-anything to cooking everything. I'm pretty satisfied with the menu we ended up with:

glazed ham

mashed potatoes

gingerbread cookies (recipe from my old school Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook and epic selection of cookie cutters from Amazon)

chickpea, avocado and feta salad (from Two Peas and Their Pod)

mini raspberry turnovers (modified from my blackberry turnovers)

So today I'm thankful for my toddler who loves to bake with me, my husband for holding the baby so I can, and my Kitchenaid stand mixer.

Toddler's Favorite Ice Cream

Learning should be fun, right? And food should be fun, right? So how about using food as a tool for learning? Yes, please!

My little guy is great at helping me measure ingredients (learning about math and following directions in a recipe). And we just took our ice cream game to a whole new level of little kid awesome.

We made it blue.

After we'd measured and mixed our 1/2 cup of cream, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 1/2 cup of milk and 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla, I gave him a bottle of blue food coloring and let him go crazy. He'd squeeze a couple drops of blue into the ice cream mixture and whisk it in. Then he'd decide it wasn't blue enough and do it again. And again. Blue ice cream was basically the only thing he talked about all day. And you can use it to teach primary and secondary colors (red+yellow=orange; red+blue=purple; yellow+blue=green) and tertiary colors if you want to get really advanced (the blue greens and variations you kind of remember hearing about in an art class once). When my little guy is a bit older, I'm excited about the possibilities of using different flavors, too. There are the mint and almond extracts you can find in the grocery store, but there's also a whole rabbit hole of food extracts and flavorings available on Amazon. Purple brownie batter ice cream? We just might have to try it...

Happy learning!

kindness

Last week, my boys and I were at story time. This particular story time includes a craft, and the crafts are not always age-appropriate for the toddlers who typically attend story time. I was holding my infant in one arm while sitting with my toddler between my knees and trying to put together the pieces of the "puppet" he was making. 

None of it was working and we were all getting frustrated, when another mom appeared at my shoulder and offered to hold my baby so I could spend some time focused on bonding with my toddler--her daughter was older enough to do the craft without assistance. I hesitated for half a second before handing my baby to this mom who I'd met once before and whose name I couldn't begin to remember. She spent the next ten minutes rocking and cooing to my baby. 

When I stepped over to retrieve him, I thanked her with tears in my eyes. 

She brushed off her gesture by claiming that she was done having kids but wanted a "baby fix." She pretended not to see how moved I was by her kindness. 

I didn't know it, but this was exactly what I needed in that moment. It was so simple, and it cost her nothing, yet it changed me. I vowed to try to be kinder, too, both to others and to myself. 

Perspective

The only difference between “my kids screamed all day and it completely sucked” and “today made me realize how awesome my kids are most of the time” is your perspective.

Bedtime

As I recline in bed with my baby asleep on my chest and my toddler asleep by my side, I think to myself:

It might not always be easy, but it’s not impossible.