May 2017 - Page 2 of 2 - NY Foodie Family

Five on Friday {Happy Cinco de Mayo!}

Posted on May 5, 2017 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Yeah for Friday and happy Cinco de Mayo! Unfortunately, this has not been the greatest week for me, as you will read below. I’m glad that it’s over and hope to have a hopefully enjoyable weekend! This weekend my son has soccer and we are going out to dinner to celebrate my mom and brother’s birthdays! Here are five from this week:

1. Mother/Son time – Last Sunday my husband and daughter went to her Girl Scout Father/Daughter dance. I took my son down to the local park so he could play on the playground and play some Pokemon Go. Then I took him out for some ice cream. This local ice cream shop has board games available to play, so we played a couple of rounds of Guess Who? (yes, there were two pictures missing from my board!) while he ate his ice cream. On the way home, we picked up some Smash Burger for dinner. Lucky boy got to eat dessert before dinner!

2. Dentist Problems – Excuse my rant here. I had a dental cleaning this week. Since we got new insurance at the beginning of the year, I had my husband call ahead and make sure the office had all the correct info needed before my visit. Except, when I got there, they had made an error and gave me a difficult time, when they were at fault. Needless to say, I ended up stressed out before my exam. I’m already not a fan of the dentist and this didn’t help. Luckily, I had a good visit and no cavities. And then yesterday, while eating lunch I chipped a tooth!! Now, I need to go back tomorrow! Waah! I like my dentist a lot. However, I’m not a fan of the office staff at all. I’m debating whether to switch dentists for one with a friendlier staff…..but not sure if it’s worth it. Decisions, decisions.

3. Allergic Reactions – I’m fortunate enough not to have any food, pet or seasonal allergies. Last Saturday at my son’s soccer game, I was sitting in my camp chair and noticed tons of little black caterpillars all over me. I flicked them off my arms, the camp chair, my jeans, etc. This went on the entire hour and a half of soccer! The next day, I started breaking out in itchy, mosquito bite-like bumps in the areas where the caterpillars were (my arms and upper chest area). At first, I didn’t think much of it. But the number of bumps increased and I was so uncomfortable from the itchiness. After some research, my husband and I concluded that the tiny caterpillars were gypsy moth caterpillars and I had an allergic reaction to them. Yes, there’s such a thing, and I am lucky enough to be one of the few who are allergic. After several days of Benadryl and anti-itch ointment the bumps have subsided and I’m doing okay. But it’s been an itchy, uncomfortable week.

4. Reading – I’m currently reading The Circle by Dave Eggers. It’s a Book of the Month read for a Goodreads group that I’m in. It’s science fiction/dystopian and definitely not a book I’d pick up on my own. However, I’ve been sucked in and am really enjoying it. And I just discovered that Tom Hanks and Emma Watson star in the movie that is currently playing! I’ll wait until it comes out on DVD but I do want to watch it.

5. Bargain Shopping – I haven’t been doing much shopping since we’re trying to stay on budget and cut unnecessary expenses. Yesterday, I was shopping for a birthday present for my mom at Kohl’s. I ended up finding this spring/fall windbreaker type jacket (Don’t mind the unflattering pic of the jacket. There’s a reason that I’m not a fashion blogger, LOL!!). It was marked with the original price of $90. Since I found it on the clearance rack, I decided to price-check it, and discovered it was $9.00! With my coupons and discounts, the jacket cost me a whopping $6.50! I couldn’t pass this bargain up!

ICYMI this week on the blog:

Monday I shared our weekly meal plan.

Tuesday I wrote about why you need a seasonal family bucket list.

Wednesday I co-hosted the monthly Currently link up.

I’m linking up with Katie, Andrea and April! Have a great weekend!

Currently May 2017

Posted on May 3, 2017 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

I am so excited to be Anne’s guest-host this month for the Currently link up! It’s hard to believe that it’s already May. The school year is almost over and summer will be here before I know it. This month is super busy with fun! We will be celebrating my mom and my brother’s birthday and of course, Mother’s Day. There are class trips and extracurricular activities. And the month ends with a long Memorial Day weekend. Here is a look at what I’m currently:

Baking – Yesterday I made an adapted version of these Raspberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins. These muffins are tasty and a hit with the kids! I’m not much of a baker, but I usually make a weekly batch of muffins. They are just so easy and convenient to have on hand. I give them to the kids with yogurt and fruit for a quick and easy breakfast or lunch. Then I freeze the extras, which are super easy to defrost when needed.

Listening To – I love listening to podcasts. Besides my regular rotation including Happier with Gretchen Rubin, For Crying Out Loud, Heather Dubrow’s World, Spawned with Kristen and Liz of CoolMom Picks and Call Your Girlfriend, I’ve recently added The Travelers into rotation. Although the podcast is no longer producing new episodes, there are 222 old ones for me to get through! I love hearing how people get into traveling and their tips. Once the kids are grown up I plan on doing some serious traveling!

Loving – My library book haul! Yesterday was library day and I came home with this haul! The Perfect Stranger is my current read, but the rest just came in. All of them except The Circle are new releases and two of them are 14 day books!! I know what I’ll be doing the next two weeks! I love my reading time…..now I just need to make sure I fit more of it in!

Planting – We haven’t actually started planting anything yet, but have plans to! The weather has been rainy and chilly. Once we get some free time and nicer weather, we want to plant some flowers around the outside of the house. I’m also debating whether to do some container gardening. My husband made the container planters, pictured above, last year. Unfortunately, we don’t have great sun exposure on our back deck and the plants didn’t do as well as I would have liked. We got this idea from my parents who have full sun exposure in their yard and get amazing results with these container gardens! Plus, I’m not sure how much we’ll be home this summer, so we will most likely pass on the container gardening. I will be planting herbs though. A summer fave is fresh basil and mozzarella on a ripe tomato! So, I have to make sure I have plenty of basil.

Remembering – Thank you family calendar and Happy planner! Without these two life-savers I could not remember all that is going on this month. With the end of the school year quickly approaching there is so much going on. Girl scout events, cub scout events, class trips, the school book fair that I’m helping out with, doctors appointments…..the list goes on and on. Every night I check the family calendar and write out everything that needs to be done in my Happy planner. If it’s not on the calendar and in the planner, it’s not getting done!

Now it’s your turn! Link up and share what you are currently up to!

Why You Need a Seasonal Family Bucket List

Posted on May 2, 2017 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Recently, our family started creating a seasonal family bucket list. By definition, a bucket list is a list of things that one has not done before but wants to do before they die. Quality family time is important to us. However, as our kids have gotten older our time together has become limited. Social time with friends takes precedence over family time and their schedules are packed with lots of extracurricular activities. These seasonal bucket lists have become a fun way for us to enjoy quality time together. Here are some reasons why you need a seasonal family bucket list as well!

New Experiences

How many times have you thought, oh, we should do that one day (when referring to any number of activities or events)? That was us until we realized that the “one day” would never happen unless we actually scheduled it in. By definition, a bucket list is a list of things that one has not done before. Therefore, each family member selects an activity or experience that is new to him/her and the whole family gets to enjoy the experience together. It’s been so much fun to see the joy on my children’s faces as they get to experience new things! And of course we take lots of photos to capture the memories!

Seasonal Fun

Every three months we create new bucket lists and make them seasonally appropriate. In the summer we’ve gone berry picking, been to a Renaissance Faire, gone clamming and attended a local baseball game. In the fall we have been hiking and geocaching. In the winter, we either do outdoor winter activities (like snow tubing) or indoor activities (like going to an ice hockey or basketball game or doing an indoor adventure ropes course). In the spring we took a trip to Philadelphia and went to a cupcake festival. The ideas are endless! But the point is that you get out and enjoy them!

Limited Number of Activities

Making a seasonal bucket list means that you’re not doing something every day of every weekend (unless you want to!). Each family member gets to choose only one activity per season that they would like to do. So, in our family of four we have four activities that we consider must-dos each season. Weather-dependent, we try to schedule them out throughout the three months and make sure they get written into the calendar. For the four of us, that averages to one activity a month.

Quality Family Time

In our personal experience, when the kids are home they tend to bicker a lot. Somehow, when we are out and about doing things, almost no fighting occurs. We truly get to experience quality family time.

Can Be as Expensive or Inexpensive as You Want

Although we are big believers in experiences over things, we are still on a budget. Our kids don’t have lots of “stuff.” We’d rather spend money having memorable experiences than buying new toys that become unused after a couple of weeks. Even completing our bucket lists we have found ways to save money. Instead of going to major league sports events, we have attended local ones. For Christmas, we asked our families to give us a state park pass and a membership to a local historic organization as gifts. Other ways to stay on budget include looking on Groupon and local sites for both activity ideas and discounts! Trying a new restaurant at lunch instead of dinner can help keep costs down too, since prices tend to be cheaper and restaurants often offer lunch specials.

Some seasons we don’t complete our bucket list. And that’s okay, we just move the items to next year’s list. In fact, this winter was one of the first times we completed every activity on our family’s seasonal bucket list!

I would love to hear if you create family bucket lists and if so what activities have you done or would like to do?

Weekly Meal Plan {Week 76}

Posted on May 1, 2017 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Happy first day of May! Why does the weekend fly by so quickly?! It’s Monday again, which means that it’s time for another weekly meal plan. If you are looking for some dinner time inspiration, my weekly meal plan is the place for you. Each week I showcase what was on my previous week’s meal plan, with pictures, recipe links and most importantly, my family’s review of each dish. There are so many food blogs, cookbooks and recipes out there and I am always on the lookout for new family-friendly recipes to try. If you are new to meal planning, read more about how I make my weekly meal plan. Here is a look at what was on our menu this past week:

Saturday: We were out at the Sheep-to-Shawl Festival and ended up dining out in Tarrytown.

Sunday: We celebrated my daughter’s birthday with a party with her friends. We had two boxes of leftover pizza from the party, so leftover pizza for dinner it was.

Monday: I made Korean-Style Pork and Rice from the March 2017 issue of Cooking Light. This dish was super quick and easy to make. The only change I would make was not adding the two tablespoons of gochujang sauce to the pork mixture. The dish was super spicy! I only gave my son a couple a little bit of the meat mixture and he ate mostly rice for dinner! My daughter ate her portion with a lot of juice to cool off her mouth! I like a little bit of heat and found this to be a bit spicy even for me. My husband really liked it and took the leftovers for lunch!

Tuesday: I made Hoisin Sloppy Joes from the May 2017 issue of Cooking Light. In contrast to Monday night’s spicy Asian dinner, Tuesday’s meal was on the sweet side of Asian cooking! This was another quick and easy dinner to make. I’ve learned in the past not to buy regular hamburger buns when making any type of sloppy joe. The bun just gets soggy and falls apart. I’ve been buying small kaiser rolls from the bakery section of the grocery store and they seem to hold up well. Instead of the 1 1/2 teaspoons of Sriracha chili sauce, I only used 1/4 teaspoon. I learned my lesson from the night before! Cutting the heat from the dish made it much more appealing to the kids. and they enjoyed these sandwiches a lot. I served fries with these sloppy joes.

Wednesday: I made the rest of the homemade pierogies from our last Polish-themed supper club. I had frozen them after we first made them, knowing we had enough extra for a future meal. So, I boiled and then sauteed the pierogies with some onion in butter. I served them with some heated up kielbasa. Unfortunately, a lot of the pierogies had fallen apart when they were boiling. They were good, but didn’t taste as great as they did the first time we had them.

Thursday: I made Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta Bake from Emily Bites. Seeing this picture now on the screen I realize it’s a little blurry. However, it’s the only one I have of the inside of the casserole. I had frozen bags of leftover ham from Easter and used one of them for this pasta bake. It’s filled with pieces of ham and chicken breast in a Swiss cheese cream sauce. It’s finally topped with a breadcrumb, butter and shredded Parmesan mixture. This was a hearty and filling meal! It took a little bit of time to cook the chicken, chop the ham, shred the cheese, make the sauce, cook the pasta and then bake it in the oven for 30 minutes! It was enjoyed by everyone though and there was enough left over for a couple days of lunches.

Friday: I cooked a Mexican-themed meal with my daughter’s Girl Scout troop for a badge. The meal included a homemade salsa, chicken enchiladas and Mexican rice. There was leftover enchilada filling, so when we got home, my husband used some of it to top the homemade pizzas that he made.

What is on your menu this week?