November 2015 - NY Foodie Family

November in Review

Posted on November 30, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

It’s hard to believe that today is the last day of November. The month just flew by! Since November was so busy, I thought that I’d do a quick review of happenings this month.

The kids had several days off of school in the beginning of the month for Election Day, Veterans Day and Parent-Teacher Conferences.

On Veterans Day my son helped place flags on the gravestones of Veterans buried at our local cemetery and both of the kids participated in our local Veterans day parade and ceremony with their Girl Scout troop and Cub Scout pack.

The Weekend Chef started his new job (which is so far, off to a great start!).

I went ice skating with my daughter for a community Girl Scout event while my husband and son went hiking and engaged in other outdoor activities with his Cub Scout pack. The Weekend Chef and my son also did another hike later in the month with just the Cub Scout den.

My son played his last soccer game of the season this month as well as started basketball practice.

We had our monthly supper club, with this month’s theme being pizza. We also got to engage in additional adult conversation when we went to a friend’s house for dinner. The kids played and watched a movie while we got to converse!

My daughter auditioned for the 3rd and 4th grade school musical, Annie. She finds out tomorrow what part she got. She also participated in the 3rd and 4th grade gym show, doing circus arts (juggling scarves and using diabolo sticks) and the dance show (The Evolution of Dance).

We used our daughter’s Every Kid In a Park pass for the first time and visited the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt in Hyde Park.

I went on a class trip with my daughter to Madden Outdoor Education Center where she made a Jacob’s Ladder, a homemade candle and a pretzel with hand-churned butter. The kids all brought apples to make pressed apple cider as well.

We drove down to Maryland to visit my sister and her family who hosted Thanksgiving. My kids loved getting to see their younger cousins, whom they don’t get to see a lot. We enjoyed great food and spending time with family!

My daughter and I helped sort and pack boxes to send overseas to the troops with United for the Troops, as part of her troop service project.

We put up our Christmas tree and decorated the house!

What a November! We are super excited for December, which looks like another jam-packed month of food, family and fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted on November 25, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

We are taking tomorrow off to celebrate the holiday with our family. We have so much to be thankful for this year! We wish you an early Happy Thanksgiving! May you have your fill of turkey and pie and also take time to reflect on and appreciate all that you have to be thankful for.

Every Kid In a Park

Posted on November 24, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Do you have a child in the 4th grade? If so, then you might have heard of the White House youth initiative Every Kid In a Park. If you haven’t, then it’s definitely worth reading on! The goal of this initiative is to allow every 4th grader in the country the opportunity to “experience their federal public lands and waters in person throughout the 2015-2016 school year.” Our daughter brought home a paper pass from her teacher a couple of weeks ago. This pass admits the student and three adults (age 16 and over) into all federal sites including national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, waters and more for FREE! This pass expires on August 31, 2016. We are super excited that our daughter is in the 4th grade and that we are able to participate in this initiative. You can follow along on our adventures in our upcoming “Every Kid In a Park” series as we document our visits using this pass!

If you have a pass, what are you waiting for? Start planning your trips!

If you have a child in the 4th grade and they have not received a pass from their teacher, or you homeschool your children, then you can print your free pass.

Weekly Meal Plan {Week 21}

Posted on November 23, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Happy Monday! We are super excited about a shortened school and work week and getting to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family. Fall means comfort food and we are cooking up lots of it! You can read more about our meal planning process if you need some inspiration or assistance. Here is what was on our menu last week:

Saturday: We had our monthly supper club and this month’s theme was pizza! I made a Kimchi Chicken Bulgogi pizza, since one of our members doesn’t eat beef. It was tasty but really spicy! My pizza recipe came from a combination of several different recipes that I found online.

Sunday: We had leftover chicken bulgogi and kimchi from the pizza I made for supper club, so the Weekend Chef made another pizza for us for dinner and a plain cheese pizza with chicken bulgogi, no kimchi, for the kids.

Monday: I made Naked Turkey Bruschetta Burgers from Skinnytaste.com. This recipe worked well for my husband’s diet, since there’s no bun. I’m sure these burgers would be even tastier in the summer, when using fresh, home grown tomatoes to make the bruschetta. Despite using store bought tomatoes, these burgers were good. Plus we got extra veggies in the kids with the grated zucchini in the burgers! I did serve these with French fries for me and the kids! Unfortunately, no photo was taken of these.

Tuesday: I made Beer Braised Beanless Chili from Melanie Makes. I am not a big bean eater, so this was a win in my book. It was easy to prepare and had great flavor for a short cooking time. I substituted ground turkey for the ground beef and it came out great! My daughter and I had ours over some leftover rice. I defrosted some Zucchini Corn Muffins from the freezer for the kids to eat with this as well. This is definitely a repeat recipe!

Wednesday: I made Pumpkin French Toast Bake from I Wash You Dry. This recipe used English muffins, which was different than any other French toast recipe I’ve made before. I wasn’t a huge fan of this dish, although the whipped cream on top helped! I opted not to make the crumb topping and thought the dish was sweet enough as is, especially with the added syrup or whipped cream.

Thursday: It was the Weekend Chef’s birthday and he requested steak and potatoes. He cooked the steaks, which we topped with blue cheese crumbles, mushrooms and onions. I tossed the potatoes with olive oil and a McCormick Montreal Chicken Seasoning and roasted them. Our son helped make the salad which we served with the steak and potatoes. For dessert he wanted homemade chocolate chip cookies. Because we were eating dinner while they would be baking, I went with cookie bars. This way we wouldn’t be interrupted with switching baking pans and doling out more cookie dough during our dinner.

Friday: The Weekend Chef made it home from work early and actually made this Caramelized Onion and Olive Pizza with Goat Cheese from Cooking Light while I was at basketball practice with my son. He made a plain cheese pizza for the kids. As you can see, we really like pizza in our house! And this one was really good!

Friday Favorites {Week 39}

Posted on November 20, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Happy Friday! Unfortunately, this week I wasn’t feeling the greatest and even had to miss a day of work. I’m feeling much better today and am looking forward to a relaxing weekend! Here are some of the highlights of this week, which seem to be almost all food related!

1. Outlet Shopping – Sunday we took a trip up to Woodbury Common outlets to do a little shopping. We hadn’t been in awhile and they have and are in the midst of renovating the place. We had never been to the Calvin Klein clearance store before, but everything in the store was 75% off! The Weekend Chef scored a suit for $140!! And I was happy to find that a Chipotle was now in the new food court! While shopping is not the kids’ favorite, they did enjoy a Pinkberry fro yo treat!

2. Our daughter’s gym show – Each year, the kids’ school has a 3rd and 4th grade gym show. For the past two months she’s been dropped off at school an hour early, two day a week, to practice for this show. Wednesday night we got to see her perform in the dance production and the circus arts production. She had so much fun and we are so proud of her!

3. Celebrating the Weekend Chef’s birthday – My amazing husband turned 39 Thursday! We celebrated with a steak dinner and at his request, homemade chocolate chip cookie bars.

4. Favorite bookmarked recipe of the week – This Slow Cooker Chicken Marsala Stew from Cooking and Beer. I am always on the lookout for new slow cooker recipes and I love chicken marsala!

5. Pizza Themed Supper Club – Saturday night we had our monthly supper club. This month’s theme was pizza. One of our members made homemade pizza dough for everyone and we all assembled and cooked our pizzas at the hosting couple’s house. I made a Kimchi Chicken Bulgogi pizza and the Weekend Chef made a New Haven Style white pizza with clams and garlic. That night we also had BBQ Chicken Pizza, Deep Dish Taco pizza, a pizza with Butternut Squash, Brussels Sprouts, Pomegranate and Bacon, as well as a chocolate dessert pizza made with a chocolate dough! Needless to say, even eating only half slices, I was super stuffed by the end of the night. But so worth it!

ICYMI this week on the blog:
Monday we posted our weekly meal plan.
Tuesday we posted How to Teach Kids About Money?
Wednesday we posted an update on the Weekend Chef’s diet.
Thursday we posted a review of some children’s Thanksgiving picture books.

We are linking up with Tif @ Bright on a Budget, Amanda from Meet @ The Barre and Andrea from Momfessionals. Have a great weekend!

Children’s Thanksgiving Picture Books

Posted on November 19, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

(This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting this blog!)

Thanksgiving is next week and we have been reading lots of Thanksgiving themed books at bedtime. Unfortunately, many Thanksgiving themed books involve a turkey trying not to be eaten. We did find that some books focus on the true meaning of Thanksgiving including being with family and friends and showing gratitude. Finally, some other books focus on an aspect of Thanksgiving, like sitting at the “kids table.” Whatever your preference, there is a Thanksgiving book out there to fit it! Here is a collection of Thanksgiving picture books that we have read.
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Beauty and the Beaks: A Turkey’s Cautionary Tale by Mary Jane and Herm Auch

The authors sculpted the characters in this picture book out of clay and hand-sewed the outfits that they wear. The kids loved the pictures, especially the hens getting their “nails” painted. The use of “egg” puns got a little redundant after a bit. I personally found some of the hens a little scary looking. Overall, this was an okay read.

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Fancy Nancy: Our Thanksgiving Banquet by Jane O’Connor

My daughter was a huge Fancy Nancy fan when she was younger. Unfortunately, I’ve found that once an author gets children hooked on a character (ex. Fancy Nancy, Pinkalicious) they then churn out way too many books after that, which aren’t up to par with the original. Surprisingly, this was one of the better Fancy Nancy books we had read in awhile. It addresses the issue of the “kids” table at Thanksgiving.

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Gus, the Pilgrim Turkey by Teresa Bateman

There’s a common theme to many Thanksgiving books, where the turkey tries to escape being eaten for Thanksgiving dinner. This book was no different. It was cute in some parts, especially when Gus travels to the South Pole and meets the penguins. It also shows children the meaning of the word pilgrim in a different context to what they are used to. Overall, this was an okay read for us.

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The Little Kids’ Table by Mary Ann McCabe Riehle

This picture book was published this past September. Told in rhyme, this book depicts the fun that is had at the little kids’ table. While technically not a “Thanksgiving” book, it describes a situation that many children experience during the holidays!

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Round the Turkey: A Grateful Thanksgiving by Leslie Kimmelman

In this picture book, various family members tell what they are thankful for in different poems. This is an AV2 book, which includes an online code where you can access the book online and have it read aloud.

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Sharing the Bread: An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving Story by Pat Zietlow Miller

This picture book was published this past September. Told in rhyme, the book shows a 19th century family preparing for Thanksgiving. Each family member has a job to help get the meal prepared, which they share together at the end. The illustrations help children compare and contrast Thanksgiving in the past and present.

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Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving by Laurie Halse Anderson

Halse Anderson is the famed author of young adult fiction including Speak and Wintergirls, which I’ve read both of. This picture book tells the story of Sarah Hale, the woman who petitioned to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. This book’s main focus is on the accomplishments of Hale and not on the holiday of Thanksgiving. It’s a great book about an important woman in history. I can’t believe that prior to reading this book I had not heard of Hale!

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The Thanksgiving Door by Debby Atwell

When Ed and Ann’s Thanksgiving dinner burns, they find the door open at a local restaurant. They end up joining an immigrant family who are celebrating their first Thanksgiving in their restaurant and having a memorable Thanksgiving celebration. This book showcases what Thanksgiving is all about.

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Thanksgiving for Emily Ann by Teresa Johnston
This Thanksgiving picture book is told in rhyme. Everyone in her family is busy and Emily Ann feels bored and alone. She attempts to play a trick with the Thanksgiving turkey, but her family comes in at the nick of time and reminds Emily Ann of all that she is thankful for.

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Thanksgiving Rules by Laurie Friedman
In this rhyming picture book, a little boy describes his 10 rules for Thanksgiving. The humorous illustrations help add to the story!

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A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting

When Mrs. Moose wants a turkey for Thanksgiving, Mr. Moose sets out to find her one with the help of some friends. When they finally find turkey and bring him home, turkey gets an unexpected surprise. If you look closely to the illustrations, you will notice that the animals are vegetarians and end up having a vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner.

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Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano

In this picture book Turkey tries to disguise himself to avoid being eaten on Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, his disguises don’t fool the other animals. But, he is able to come up with a disguise to fool Farmer Jake, which results in a happy Thanksgiving for everyone.

He Said/She Said: The Weekend Chef’s Diet Update

Posted on November 18, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

He Said: Weekend Chef here. About a month ago, I wrote a book review for Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It by Gary Taubes. I decided after reading the book that I was going to give a carb-reduced lifestyle a go as a long-term plan. The goal for me wasn’t weight reduction (although the extra Disney World weight from August had to go). I was seeking, to start, a scientific participation in the solution to our global obesity epidemic. No small goal there! I truly believed that the solutions presented in the book were realistic, viable and hopefully sustainable. The task was simple enough: eliminate all sugar and carbs while maintaining no calorie or fat intake restrictions. I started eating primarily meats and cheeses and vegetables and nuts. I kept up the 99% carb elimination over the first 3-4 weeks, lost several pounds and felt pretty darned good overall. The hardest part was finding enough to eat around the house and outside the house. Given enough supplies, I happily keep up eating in this fashion. I’m not out to torture myself, though, so I make the occasional exceptions here and there. Some naan when we’re out for Indian. A bite of treats with the kids. I still believe food and life are for enjoying, but if my general health benefits from reasonable lifestyle changes, I believe I will do my best to see it through.

She said: I have been pretty good about accepting the Weekend Chef’s new diet. The kids and I aren’t partaking in this carb-reduced diet. However, when grocery shopping, I buy all of the Weekend Chef’s weekly requests including hummus, nuts, olives, pickles and cheese. This diet might have increased our weekly grocery bill by several dollars. However, it’s all for a good cause! I don’t cook a separate meal for the Weekend Chef but even this past week, we all had turkey burgers over a bed of arugula instead of on a hamburger bun. However, tonight, I’m making a Pumpkin French Toast Bake, which is definitely not diet friendly. So, the Weekend Chef will end up eating leftovers of something else this week. The kids are aware of their dad’s diet. However, this past weekend when their uncle brought them a special dessert when babysitting them, they saved some of the chocolate mousse and strawberry cake for us to try. They know we love trying new foods and wanted us to have a taste. Although he’s trying to abstain from sugar, the Weekend Chef might have had some of those desserts. This diet is a lifestyle change. I don’t purposefully flaunt sugar and carbs in front of him. However, if I’m having something new or we’re out to eat, I’ll always offer him a taste. And he usually tries just a bite. As he has told me, he’s not going to deprive himself on special occasions. Overall, his diet hasn’t been too difficult to adjust to as a family. While I commend him, I just can’t go the no carbs, no sugar route.

Have any of you made any long-term diet changes? How has it affected, if at all, your enjoyment of food?

Please share in the comments section.

How to Teach Kids About Money?

Posted on November 17, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

If you were looking to read an instructional post about how to teach kids about money, sadly, you’re in the wrong place. See that question mark at the end of the title post? Yeah, I’m asking YOU dear reader, how do you teach your kids about money? My kids are 7 and 9 years old. While my husband and I do teach our kids about money, I’m not so sure they’ve been successful learning about money.

First, there’s the question of how and how often the kids will get money. We’ve read books and have heard both sides of the allowance/chores debate. I have problems with both. As of now, we do not give our kids any money. The money they have comes from relatives and friends at birthdays and holidays.

Allowance:
From what we’ve read, the rule of thumb has been $1 per week per year of age of the child. My children are 7 and 9. What do they need to spend that money on? We buy all their clothes, birthday presents for friends and occasional treats. I don’t want them buying candy, extra snacks at lunch, or “stuff” just because they have money. I also think that money shouldn’t just be given to them for doing nothing. They see both my husband and I working to earn money to pay our bills, put food on the table, etc. Also, with my husband starting a new job soon and me not working over the summer and only currently working part-time, we are on a tight budget.

Chores:
So, then should we be paying them to do chores around the house? My kids have assigned chores which include feeding the cats, setting the table and helping with dinner prep. I am not paying them to do these tasks. They are part of our family. As a member of the family, we all do our part to help out.

Then, we have the issue of what do they do with their money once they have it. When I was growing up, I had a bank account with a passbook. When I went to the bank with my mom to deposit my money, I could hand it to the teller and then could see and watch how my bank account grew via the passbook. With online banking, how many kids have actually even set foot in a bank? And banks no longer have passbooks. With abysmal interest rates, kids don’t even get the satisfaction of seeing their accounts “make” money.

I’ve read kids should have three envelopes for their money: one for saving money, one for spending money and one for money to give to charity. We are always giving to charities. Anytime anyone is collection donations for a charity outside a store we always give our kids money to put in the donation jar. They also know that charity doesn’t just mean money. They volunteer a lot with scouting and also see me volunteering at the local food pantry.

I am the first to admit that we don’t buy our kids a lot of stuff. Because it’s just that. STUFF!! I see their rooms and they already have too much stuff. I’m trying to rid our house of all the extra stuff. We are not cheap. We’d prefer to spend our money on experiences with the kids – vacations, nice meals in a restaurant, family fun days out. We like to create memories with them, which stuff can’t do. I still get disappointed though when my son makes comments like, “I don’t want to go shopping if I’m not going to get anything.” Say what?! I tell him to browse and add things to his wish list. He has also noted that, “Mom says everything’s too expensive.” Well, I don’t think that I’m totally off there either. But this is where I need to teach him the value of money and how much things cost.

Those Lego sets, video games and clothes from Justice that the kids want do not come cheap! We want them to be able to take pride in knowing that they saved up and purchased items with their own money. We are still in the difficult process of trying to figure out how best to teach this.

And so, I ask you readers… how do you teach your kids about money? Any and all suggestions are welcome!

Weekly Meal Plan {Week 20}

Posted on November 16, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Happy Monday! Here’s a peek at what has been cooking in our kitchen recently! You can read about how we meal plan if you are new and looking for some tips.

Saturday: I made Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti from Damn Delicious. I’ve made similar baked spaghetti dishes before and honestly, this one didn’t wow me.

I also made Halloween Candy Apple Crisp from Melanie Makes, using up some of our Halloween candy stash. This was actually almost too sweet for me. Any treat that I make is kid approved, and this was no different! My daughter even helped me make this.

Sunday: We had leftover Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti since there was so much!

Monday: I made Fish in Coconut Curry from Cooking Light, April 2014. This was flavorful and easy to make.

Tuesday: I made my own variation of the Cookie & Kate version of Roasted Cauliflower & Farro Salad with Feta and Avocado. Since asparagus was on sale, I roasted and substituted that in place of the cauliflower. I also served ours with a fried egg on top, because everything’s better with a fried egg! The kids surprised me with how much they enjoyed this dish (though boy wasn’t a big fan of the farro!).

Wednesday: I made Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers from Damn Delicious. I’ve only made stuffed peppers a couple of times and this was the first time cooking them in the slow cooker. This was easy and definitely repeat-worthy.

Thursday: I made Chicken Tikka Masala using Trader Joe’s Masala Sauce in a jar. I just had to throw it in a pan with the chicken and let it cook. Quick and easy! I served this with rice and veggies. This is a great convenience jarred food to have on hand. The only thing missing was some naan, which my daughter was disappointed that I didn’t have.

Friday: The Weekend Chef was home early and we went out to dinner at a local Thai restaurant. I had Beef Yellow Curry, though Tofu and Veggie is my usual favorite.

Friday Favorites {Week 38}

Posted on November 13, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

So glad Friday is here! This week has been a really long week. This weekend is filled with the last soccer game of the season, a girl scout overnight for my daughter, my weekly volunteer gig at the food pantry, tae kwon do for the Weekend Chef, pizza-themed Supper Club and hopefully some relaxing time on Sunday! Here are some favorites from this week:

1. Veteran’s Day: Both our children are in scouting and they both marched and attended our local Veteran’s Day parade. My son’s cub scout pack placed flags on all the grave stones of veterans who are buried at a local cemetery. My son made me super proud when I asked him if he wanted to help volunteer, which meant getting up early and as it turned out, doing this in the rain, and he said yes!

2. Favorite bookmarked recipe of the week: This Thai Drunken Zucchini Noodles with Spicy Honey Chicken from How Sweet It Is. Since I don’t have a spiralizer, and I like my carbs, I think I’m going to try this with pasta.

3. The monthly Show Us Your Books Link-Up with Steph and Jana. Have you noticed that I like to read?!! I love getting recommendations on good books. If you are looking for your next good read, check out some of the posts. You’ll get ratings, reviews and recommendations from other bloggers!

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4. Audio book: Since I’ve started commuting for work, I’ve gotten back into listening to audio books. After hearing good things about Some Girls Are from a previous Show Us Your Book link-up, I borrowed it on audio from the library. This YA title of this book could be finished with Some Girls Are REALLY MEAN. This book was really good in a sad and depressing kind of way. I think hearing it narrated also added to really feeling for Regina. If you have a daughter, this book will probably make you want to lock her in her room and never let her go to high school!

5. Awesome progress reports – Last night I had parent-teacher conferences for my kids. They both got great progress reports and are doing well in school. I came home and told them that they were academic rock stars! With the behavior chart that I talked about in a previous Friday Favorites post, my son has been doing much better with his talking during class. I think this weekend we will have to fit in a surprise special treat for them working so hard!

ICYMI, this week on the blog:

Monday we shared our weekly meal plan.
Tuesday I posted my October reads.
Wednesday the Weekend Chef reviewed a movie for Veteran’s Day.

I’m linking up with Tif from Bright on a Budget, Amanda from Meet @ The Barre and Andrea from Momfessionals! Have a great weekend!