Moms and Muffins

Today was Moms and Muffins Day at Sophie's preschool.  It was a tribute to all Moms for Mother's Day.  Mrs. Chris asked each child basic questions about their Moms.  It was a fill in the blank format.  Soph's answers are in bold and italicized.  

What I know about my Mother:

My Mother is very smart

She is 43 inches tall

She weighs 54 pounds

She has black eyes

She has black hair

The food she likes best is steak and lots of vegetables

Her favorite color is green

Soph's answers aren't too bad, she definitely got the first and last question spot on....well, definitely the last one for sure :o)

As for the 43 inches tall and 54 pounds...here she's crossing streams and getting confused with Mommy's and Daddy's age, respectively.

Overall, she did a pretty good job in "knowing her mother", especially the first question...sorry, can't help myself...LOL !!

Okey-Dokey Artichokey

According to Sophie, Weezy from Dragon Tales says "okey-dokey artichokey."  Dragon Tales is one of her faaavooorite shows.

So this post is about artichokes...

Aside from being a rich source of vitamin C, folate and dietary fiber, artichokes also contain substances that may ease an upset tummy and reduce IBS symptoms.  Sophie prefers the leaves, I favor the heart, Vince likes nothing of this thistle.  

Artichokes are actually the immature flower of a thistle plant and is considered to be one of the world's oldest medicinal plant.  

I love artichokes in everything to include spaghetti sauce, pizza, salads, dips, etc......to just simply steamed or breaded.  You might think preparing artichokes are a little intimidating, but it's very easy.  This is Sophie's preferred way of eating artichokes.

Steamed Artichokes

Ingredients:

1 Artichoke per person

Coarse salt

1 Lemon, halved crosswise

Melted butter, optional

Dipping Sauce:

We prefer a lemon-thyme melted butter dipping sauce.  In a small bowl, stir together 1/2 cup of melted butter (i.e. 1 stick of butter), 1 teaspoon of dried thyme and 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice.  Season with salt and pepper.

Instructions:

To prepare artichokes for steaming, snap off the loose, tough outer leaves.  Using a serrated knife, cut the top third of artichoke.  Snip the remaining sharp or spiky tips of each leaf using kitchen shears.  Trim stem so artichoke stands upright in steamer basket.  Rub all cut surfaces with lemon to prevent discoloration.  Repeat with each artichoke.

Set a steamer basket in a large pot.  Add enough water so it reaches just below the the basket.  Squeeze lemon juice into water and add about 1 tablespoon of salt and bring to a boil.  Place artichokes in steamer basket.  Cover pot, and steam until heart is tender when pierced with the tip of a paring knife and inner leaves pull out easily.  25 to 35 minutes.  Add more water to pot if necessary.  

I then like to sprinkle a little more salt and pepper and lemon juice on top of the artichoke right before serving.

Serve warm or at room temperature with dipping sauce, if desired.

(Picture:  Sophie, summer 2007)

A Happy Cinqo de Mayo

Here's my new Jetta shirt, thanks to Ben from Volkswagen SouthTowne in Draper.  I can't believe he actually remembered.  Ben told me to wear it often for the publicity.  

You know now that I'm thinking about it, we've always received something nice for almost every car we've purchased.  All you have to do is ask; they'll let you know if they can or cannot, or most likely IF they want to.  Even Sophie got a cute bear from BMW.  The bear's name is Mikey, named after the salesperson who sold us several cars.

My Little Kumquat

I like to introduce Sophie to a variety of foods from a nutritional standpoint.  When we go to the grocery store, especially Harmons, their produce section is like eye candy, with all the different colors of fresh fruits and vegetables; it's quite an enticing sight. 

I'm amazed and yet pleased to see Soph interested in trying new foods.  And even if she doesn't like something, I've always insisted on the "2-bite rule."  She knows this all too well.  Sometimes, I'll try to sneak in another bite of something she doesn't care for and she'll come back with, "no, Momma, that was 2 bites, no more."  I have to admit this was one sure way of teaching Sophie basic math in a matter of days when she was about 3 years old.

This "2-bite rule" was actually something my Mom made me do as a kid and I'm so thankful she did.  I've learned to like a lot of different kinds of food, and I am always willing to try something new.  If I keep it up, maybe I'll be lucky to live as long as my Mom who just turned 83 this past month and is still quite independent.

Anyway, back to the basis of this post.....the last time we were at Harmons Sophie convinced me to buy these little dwarf orange-like fruit.  I remember buying kumquats in the past.  Apparently they didn't leave that big of an impression on me as I never bought them again.  But Sophie has never tried them and so I bought a few for her to sample.  

It was such a hoot, she was so excited to try them out and quickly popped one in her mouth.   Moments later, her face had a scrunched up look and the first thing that came out of her mouth was, "ooh, ick, sour, sour, sour!"  She was so right, they were quite tart.  But we still ate all of them making goofy faces and laughing all the while we were eating them.  

Maybe kumquats taste better made into a marmalade or jam.  We may have to go that route the next time we decide we like the cutesy look and color of kumquats.  

(Note:  There is another variety of kumquat that is not tart, the Meiwa kumquat.)   

Good "Pho" You

There are days where I don't feel like cooking even though I really enjoy cooking.  Like most people, it's the cleaning up afterwards that leaves much to be desired.  

So, I love to find ways to cook that are not only healthy and delicious, but easy to prepare with minimal cleaning to boot.  

One of my favorite foods to make that's so satisfying is Pho soup, a Vietnamese version of chicken soup.  Traditionally it's is a meal-in-a-bowl soup made with beef and beef bones.  However, this is my spin on Pho soup using roasted chicken.

I hate to measure (which is why I don't like to bake that much), so you'll have to adjust ingredients according to your taste.  The measurements provided are approximations.

Serves 4 

Ingredients:

1 roasted chicken

1 32 oz (907 g) chicken or vegetable stock

1 package of dried rice stick noodles (the small flat rice noodles)

1 cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 oz fresh ginger pounded and crushed

1/2 yellow onion thinly sliced crosswise

1 thinly sliced scallion

1 tsp of sea salt

2 to 3  cups of water

1 tablespoon of fish sauce

Garnishes:

8 to 12 cilantro sprigs

4 fresh mint sprigs

4 to 8 fresh Thai basil sprigs

1 thinly sliced scallion

2 cups fresh bean sprouts

2 limes cut into wedges 

2 to 3 sliced fresh jalapeno, Serrano or Thai chile peppers

Sriracha HOT chili sauce

Fish sauce

Instructions:

Shred chicken by hand, set aside

Rinse bean sprouts, set aside

Place chicken and/or vegetable stock and water in a large stockpot with the cinnamon, yellow onions, scallions, fresh ginger, salt and sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Reduce the heat to low and continue cooking for 1 hour.  Add the fish sauce and set aside.

Meanwhile follow package directions to cook rice noodles.  When noodles are done, about 8 minutes, remove from heat, drain in colander, rinse in cold water and set aside.  

To serve, place a handful of noodles in a large soup bowl.  Top with some bean sprouts and shredded chicken.  Garnish if desired with the fresh cilantro, scallions, mint and basil.  Ladle in the hot soup broth and sprinkle fresh lime juice.  Add more fish sauce to taste, and HOT chili sauce and fresh chile peppers for those who like some heat.

Hope you Enjoy.  

Rainbow Plant

Sophie's rainbow plant has been upgraded to having it's own flowerpot. I believe rainbow plants can thrive outside, but we decided to enjoy it inside...

and delight in seeing a real rainbow outside, power lines and all.

This Old Grout

After trying out several grout sealants, and always being disappointed, I finally found a product that is just TOO GOOD to not share.  I found out about it almost 5 years ago when we lived in Mesa, AZ.  

If you hate house cleaning as much as I do, but yet like to have a clean and spotless house, then this product will help reduce the amount of time spent on cleaning anywhere you have tiles.  

It is a color seal that not only colors your grout giving it a contiguous and uniform appearance, but seals it for 15 years.  Once it's applied, using a toothbrush, all you have to do to maintain your floor for example, is use warm water.  Having a 5 year old, 2 big dogs and a man in the house, I've already discovered that it's quite impervious to grape juice, pomegranate juice, grease, mud, oil, dirt, etc.  And even if you have an area of high traffic, this sealant is so easy to use, just reapply and everything looks good as new.  I once had to reapply to an area where Sophie decided to copy me and use the permanent markers to color the grout ;o/  The color seal hides everything.  

This product is really amazing and does an outstanding job of transforming the look of old and dingy looking grout back to new again; unfortunately you can not find it in home improvement stores.  It has to be ordered on-line www.thisoldgrout.com.  Or you can call them in Chandler, AZ at 1-866-OLD-GROUT.  You might also be lucky to find this product at a tile retail store, however, I was not that successful here in SLC, besides most tile stores were not even aware of this product.

We've been in our house in Utah for almost 3 years and the grout still looks great.

As noted on the bottle:

• Makes old grout look new
  
• Preserves new grout color
  
• Seals and coats against stains
  
• Changes grout to any color
  
• Long lasting, fast drying
  
• Easy to apply
  
• Environmentally friendly