Kitchen Time

Boogs has been my kitchen helper this past week. When he was little, he LOVED working in the kitchen with me. Lately, he would rather not. I was happy to have him back in the kitchen with me to make an old favorite and a new recipe.

Baked Kale Chips - Rinse one bunch of kale, tear into pieces, dry in salad spinner, spread out on parchment lined cookie sheet, spritz with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt, bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Boogs' favorite thing about making Kale Chips is using the salad spinner.

 

 He put waaaaaaay too much salt on half of the kale before I could stop him.

 Boogs waited patiently for his chips to bake.

Yum! Nice and crunchy! Boogs ate at least half of the kale on the cookie sheet with his dinner.

Boogs was not as willing of a helper when he found out I wanted to make Beet Pancakes. He let me know that the beet puree smelled like dirty dirt. I put three large beets in 1/4 inch of  water in a lidded baking dish at 425 degrees for an hour and then skinned and pureed them. Then Boogs read the ingredients we needed to get out for our pancakes.

Boogs was being very careful with his measurements.

 Yay, no eggshells in the bowl!

 Greek yogurt for extra protein.

Boogs is in-between being not quite tall enough to help while standing on ground and being too tall to help while standing on a chair.

 

 Didn't the beet pancakes turn out gorgeous? I thought they were delicious.

Boogs only ate the ones that had chocolate chips in them. He said the chocolate helped hide the dirt taste of the pancakes.

Kitchen helper flashback:

Homemade pizza with zucchini and a ton of cheese.

Making pear creatures for a snack.

I miss that messy art cabinet in the background.

Marshmallow snowmen spoons for hot chocolate.

Boogs with his chef hat and doggy apron.

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar. I linked up to Highhill's Hobbies and Handicrafts Linky.

Lunches January 21st - 25th

Boogs' lunches are inspired by the books we read at bedtime the previous evening. Each night, Boogs reads one book to me and I read a book or a chapter of a book to him. I usually post his lunches once a week. Click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post to see lunches from previous weeks.


Dina from What the Girl's Are Having, sent me this adorable hamburger bento box. I had to find a burger book to read to Boogs so I could put a burger lunch in it. 

Burger Boy by Alan Durant
Benny is a very picky eater who loves burgers more than any other food in the whole world. He constantly eats burger after burger. His mom warns him, "If you don't watch out, you'll turn into a burger one day." Pretty soon, his body begins to resemble a burger. He is then chased all over town just like the Gingerbread Man. His mother saves him by feeding him lots of fruits and vegetables. Benny then starts eating so many veggies that his mother warns him to watch out or he will be a veggie. The last page shows Benny turning into a carrot. Boogs thought this was a funny book. He has been learning about fables at school. He told me, "The mortal (moral) of this story is that you should eat different stuff, like a variety. Not only eat one thing every day." In the lunchbox: three mini hamburgers surrounded by a dog & cow who were chasing Benny, Benny carrot, fruit leather letters, and grapes.


Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney

 

The girl in this story is figuring out her place in the world. She draws herself on a map of her room, then her house, street, city, state, country, continent, and finally planet. Boogs and I discussed his place in the world and made a concentric circle model of it to show how we can be in so many places at once. In the ELB lunchbox: cheesehead Boogs in Texas on top of a cheese map of North America with the United States outlined, crackers, strawberries, yogurt, and veggies.



A Good Night Walk by Elisha Cooper

 A walk down the block shows the busy neighborhood while the sun is shining then it shows the quiet neighborhood once it is dark. Boogs really enjoyed seeing all of of the details in the drawings. He especially liked the noisy squirrels in the trees. Boogs and I often go for sunrise walks. We don't usually take walks late in the evening when it is getting dark. We will have to do that this weekend and see how our experience is different than the one in this book. In the Laptop Lunchbox: pb&j house, Babybel full moon, Zbar tree trunk with green bean chip leaves, orange slices, and carrots with hummus.


The Z was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg

 I know I have mentioned before how much I like Chris Van Allsburg's books. This is one of Boogs' favorite ones. He checked it out from his school library this week. This book showcases each letter of the alphabet in its own act of a 26 act play. Each letter is pictured onstage with something happening to it. You have to turn the page before you find out how the author described it. For instance, the J looks very shaky. Boogs guessed that the J was "jumpy". The text said the J was "rather jittery". This book is great for stretching your vocabulary. I used to read it to my 3rd graders and have them make a class ABC book following this format. In the ELB lunchbox: almond butter & jelly Z that was zapped and T that was all tied up, applesauce, carrots, tomatoes, and yogurt.



Fish Fry Tonight by Jackie French Koller

Little Mouse was so excited when he caught a fish. He declared, "The biggest fish I've ever seen." Mouse invites his friend squirrel over for a fish fry and tells squirrel to bring a friend or two. Squirrel tells rabbit about the fish fry, rabbit tells badger, badger tells deer, etc. Pretty soon all of the animals in the forest are headed to Mouse's house for the fish fry. Mouse gets quite a surprise when she opens her door. She quickly closes her door and calls for 100 pizzas. Then she cuts up the fish into small pieces and offers the animals fish fry hors d'oeuvres. Boogs thought mouse was a very fast thinker. In the ELB lunchbox: fish fry fillets, Mouse drawn on cheese, fish drawn on marshmallow, pears, and baked kale chips.


Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.     

Lunches Jan. 14th - 18th

Boogs' lunches are inspired by the books we read at bedtime the previous evening. Each night, Boogs reads one book to me and I read a book or a chapter of a book to him. I usually post his lunches once a week. Click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post to see lunches from previous weeks.

 A Pirates Twelve Days of Christmas by Philip Yates

Boogs likes to check out Christmas and Halloween books all year long. This 12 days of Christmas book is really cute. Boogs and I sang our way through it. The gifts were: 12 pirates cheerin', 11 swallows swoopin', 10 sloops a-sailin', 9 mermaids singin', 8 dolphins swimmin', 7 monkeys swingin', 6 Jolly Rogers, 5 chests of gold, 4 cacklin' hens, 3 black cats, 2 cutlasses, an' a parrot in a palm tree. The illustrations are bright and cheerful. You can see the other pirates hiding in the shadows while delivering the gifts. Boogs wanted to know why I did not get the correct number of each item into his lunchbox. Silly boy! In the ELB lunchbox: parrot pick in tomatoes & spinach salad, pb&j dolphin, marshmallow Jolly Roger, two chest of cheese gold, and a cacklin' hen pick in blueberries & blackberries.



 Riddles and More Riddles! by Bennett Cerf

Boogs gets a big giggle out of riddles and jokes. We found this beginner book of riddles that was just right for him. Boogs' lunch contains the answers to the riddles I wrote on his napkin. I wrote the questions in purple to match the beautiful new lid color choices for ELBs. In the Easylunchboxes (ELB) BRIGHTS lunchbox: salami & cheese hog face (the cheese is cracked because Boogs was playing with it while I was packing his lunch), horsefly drawn on cracker, Fig Newton umbrella, sheep pick in blueberries, and dog/hot dog picks in spinach & tomato salad. Boogs' salad dressing in in the ELB Mini Dipper container.

The hog is made with the CuteZCute cutter.

Fly Guy vs. The Fly Swatter! by Tedd Arnold

Boogs has been obsessed with Fly Guy recently. We ordered a few Fly Guy books from his classroom Scholastic book order. Boogs also frequently checks out Fly Guy books from the school library and the local library. In this Fly Guy adventure, Fly Guy accidentally goes on a field trip with Buzz to a flyswatter making company. He has to face the menacing mechanical flyswatter to save a young fly. Boogs laughed throughout this book. In the ELB lunchbox: almond butter & jelly Fly Guy, cheese fly swatter, kiwi, and broccoli.

*You have to check out What's In Our Lunch Bags? Hi Fly Guy and I Spy Fly Guy lunches. They are awesome.*



 Phonics Comics: The Fix-It Crew by Lara Bergen

Boogs loves to read comic books. I am not a big fan of the ones he usually chooses (Transformers) because they have long made-up words/names and bad plots. Phonics Comics are fun for both of us. In The Fix-It Crew,  three friends help each other repair a shed for a new club house. Their wonderful work is noticed by someone who needs help fixing a leaky roof before a big performance at the school. The three friends fix the roof and make other improvements to the auditorium. Boogs is going to look for more Phonics Comics at the library this week. In the ELB lunchbox: pb&j beaver with fruit roll-up hat, Babybel bear with construction hat pick, marshmallow bird, pretzel logs, mango boards, and salad tools.


Looking At Liberty by Harvey Stevenson

 In 1869, French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi had a vision to create a monument to celebrate liberty. This book tells the story of how the Statue of Liberty was created from vision, design, hard work, transportation, collaboration to its final placement in New York Harbor. In the Laptop lunchbox: Statue of Liberty drawn on cheese with salami on a sourdough roll, veggies, blackberries, and yogurt.

 

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.     

Stuff We Have Been Up To

It seems like it has been taking a while for me to get back into the groove since our holiday vacation. 

We went to Luling this past Saturday and had lunch with my 94-year-old grandmother, my parents, my sister and her family, my cousins, and my aunt & uncle. It was nice seeing everyone.

Boogs and I started working on some late Thank You cards. We decided to do some shaving cream/food coloring prints on them. We put shaving cream in a pie pan, added a few drops of food coloring, gently swirled it around, then pushed cardstock on top of the designs. They turned out really well. Now, we just have to sit down and write the cards.

After the shaving cream prints, Boogs decided that he wanted to make a "brew". He takes all sorts of things from the spice cabinet, pantry, and fridge and mixes them together. He really enjoys doing this.

This time he used salt, cinnamon, paprika, pepper, pickle juice, corn starch, cloves, olive juice, lime juice, parmesan cheese, perfume, and a few other things. It looked disgusting.

Daddy helped him add some vinegar and baking soda to see what would happen. Ewwwww!

Then, Boogs smelled it. His expression says it all.

Boogs also spent some time this weekend with his bike. Daddy helped him ride his bike without training wheels for the first time. I was taking a nap so I did not get a picture of it.

It has been pretty quiet around here. We are just trying to find our groove again.

Lunches Jan. 7th - 11th

It seems like it has been ages since I made a week of story themed lunches.  We spent two weeks in Canada visiting my husband's family for the holidays. We were even able to visit a library and check out books, but I did not try and turn them into lunches.

Boogs' lunches are inspired by the books we read at bedtime the previous evening. Each night, Boogs reads one book to me and I read a book or a chapter of a book to him. I usually post his lunches once a week. Click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post to see lunches from previous weeks.

On the first day back at school, I sent Boogs a leftover pizza lunch. He was fine with that! At least I threw in some colorful veggies, kiwi, and yogurt to make the meal complete.

Bad Day At Riverbend by Chris Van Allsburg
I have loved Chris Van Allsburg's books for years. Bad Day at Riverbend is not as well known as some of his other books. Boogs really enjoyed reading it. In the story, a small Western town is experiencing a strange phenomenon. A light would glow in the distance and then waxy red ropes began covering the horses, plants, buildings, and even some of the townspeople. Boogs quickly figured out what was happening. I will let you read it and figure out what was happening. We did listen carefully to the closed cover of the book to see if we could hear the townspeople moving around inside. Boogs thought he heard the sound of horses hooves through the cover of the book. In the ELB lunchbox: ham, cheese, & spinach on a sourdough roll boulder with cowboys hiding behind it (only their hats are showing), marshmallow cowboy and boulder covered with strange waxy red candy ropes, carrots with hummus, pineapple, and yogurt.

Spiderman Phonics Fun (12 book set) by Lucy Rosen
Boogs has this set of Spiderman books in the car for on-the-go reading. He really likes to read about superheroes. In the Laptop lunchbox: salami & cheese spiderman on bread, radish spiderman, Cheetos, raisins, dried apricot, broccoli, and strawberries.

A Chunk of Cheese by Diane Linden
This book was one of Boogs' reading homework assignments this week. A group of mice need to get a large chunk of cheese into their mouse hole before the sleeping cat wakes up. They try many different ways to make it happen before coming up with a solution that works. Boogs thought they should just eat it all and carry it in their stomachs inside the mouse hole. In the ELB lunchbox: boiled egg cat watching the mini pb&j mice with a slice of swiss cheese, pineapple, spinach and carrots.

      
The Greatest Potatoes by Penelope Stowell 
This book tells the story of the origin of the potato chip, invented by George Crum. Boogs and I talked about his favorite type of potato dish and he said it was home fries. He only recently started eating any kind of potato. I was surprised that home fries were at the top of his list. In the ELB lunchbox: home fries, ground turkey with chiles, carrots, blueberries, blackberries, and a marshmallow with a drawing of Chef George Crum.

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.     

Holiday Wrap-Up Part 3

GM, these are the last of the pictures from our trip.

It would not be a trip to Ottawa without a visit to the Science and Technology Museum.

Boogs remembered this canoe puzzle from out last visit to the museum. The backboard on the puzzle will drop after a certain amount of time. You have to finish the puzzle before time is up.

Boogs said he would NOT like to have a bike like this.

Space Commander Boogs reporting for duty.

Experiments with liquid nitrogen were very cool. (pun intended)

You had to run on the "hamster" wheel to make all ten lightbulbs glow. Boogs was very nervous about trying this out. He was convinced that it would shock him.

Grandmaman lit up all ten lightbulbs. Way to go!

At the snowmobile simulator, Boogs told us he leaned way down so he would be more aerodynamic.

This jeep was a lot of fun. It is equipped with a walkie talkie. The other walkie talkie is not in a direct line of sight to the jeep. We were talking to some kids in the jeep for a little bit and they could not figure out where the voices were coming from. Then Boogs had to try it out and send me a few messages mostly composed of "roger that, over, come in".

When we go camping, Grandpapa always makes Jiffy Pop Popcorn on the campfire. For a special treat, he made some in the fireplace for Boogs.

It was so good that he had to buy some more to make. Unfortunately, the second batch completely caught on fire. Good thing GP had a third one ready to go.

Boogs, Daddy, and GM were ready to go sledding on the BIG hill at Mooney's Bay Park. My camera kept getting too cold. I did not get very many good pictures because it kept shutting itself off or fogging up.

Boogs loved going down the hill by himself, but he was more than happy to go back up the hill with Daddy.

Halfway down the big hill.

It was a long hike back up. Boogs is trailing quite a ways behind his dad.

Look at those frozen eyelashes and rosy cheeks.

Ooops! You aren't supposed to crash into the trees!

Boogs found a tree to climb.

Grandmaman was ready for her turn on the toboggan.

It would not be a proper visit back home for my husband without a meal at Harvey's and a bit of Poutine (fries topped with brown gravy and cheese curds).

I can't believe the holidays are already over. Welcome to 2013!