Spotlight on Lexi

Lexi never stops thinking...I'm serious.  I really can't imagine what it must be like inside her head.  Lately, my new retort to her questions has been "you should ask God when you get to heaven."  My friend actually told me I should write a book about all the questions she should ask God in heaven.  Here's a sample conversation:
Lexi: Mom, why does God make volcanoes?
Me:  I don't know.  He makes all kinds of cool things.
Lexi:  But volcanoes erupt and squirt out fire and hurt people.
Me: True.  But when God made volcanoes there weren't people living near them.
Lexi: But now there are so why do they still work?
Me:  Well, most of them don't, but I guess God doesn't really understand why people would live near something that squirts out fire.
Lexi:  That is pretty silly.  I wouldn't want to live there.  But, mom, why are there volcanoes?
Me: What do you mean?
Lexi: I know why there are people, because God loves us.  And there are plants for us to eat healthy foods.  But mom, why are there volcanoes?
Me: I don't know.
Lexi:  I guess that's something I'll need to ask God when I get to heaven.
Me:  Exactly.
Now to brag on my sweet girl.  Today in the store she asked if money was important.  I said yes because we need it to buy things.  She said it wasn't the most important thing.  I responded, "oh, really."  She said, "No, it's not.  Caring is the most important thing."  I asked who told her that, and she said she just thought it up all on her own.  Love that kid!

The Races

Every year we have the Triple Crown here.  We get to go to the first two legs - Time Trials and Steeplechase.  We always miss Polo because of Lexi's state gym meets.  We are blessed with great friends who invite us to hang out and socialize.  Here are some pictures from our fun the past two weekends.

Fun Times with Great Friends

Fun in the sun with the Desmonds at the Time Trials

All the kids at Steeplechase - well and one big kid :)

We love Ms. Pat!

 

 Still having fun after the races!  Love that Ms. Hollis!

Spaghetti Squash

To preface this post, I will say that I have taken Eric's advice and started a "sister" blog.  It's meant to be a way to share recipes that I've found that can be made organic and that are kid-friendly.  The sister blog will be a lot less personal and not include names.  My hope is that by removing the "recipe sharing" portion of this blog it will go back to just being family and friends wanting to keep up with the kiddos.  If you would like to see my other blog, it's very new, but you can see it at:
http://lifeofanorganicmom.blogspot.com/

So, tonight's experiment was spaghetti using squash instead of noodles.  I made it through the entire cooking experience without the kids having any idea what I was doing.  Lexi yelled out, "What's for supper?"  I yelled back, "Spaghetti."  This, of course, elicited a "YAY!" response.  Then, much to my dismay, she came running into the kitchen.  She saw the squash and she saw me pulling strands out of them.  "What's that?"  I said, "noodles."  She replied, "I didn't know noodles came from potatoes.  Why are they so wet?"  (Note here that I had no idea that the squash would be so moist and this would be my main complaint...I need to figure out how to dry them out some)  I said, "I don't know what happened, but they'll still taste the same."  She seemed ok with this answer (see how I just lied by omission). 

When it was time for dinner, Jack came running when I told him it was spaghetti.  He ate it up!  Lexi seemed less impressed.  She couldn't really explain what was different and she certainly wasn't going to assume that I was lying...so, they had to be noodles.  She ended up eating it all, but I'm still not sure she bought it completely.  Either way, at least I got a spaghetti dinner that won't increase my waistline ;).

Oatmeal Cookies

So, I've found the perfect healthy cookie that my kids love.  The recipe is here:
http://www.food.com/recipe/oatmeal-honey-cookies-85745

I did tweak it a little to suit us.  First, I used all organic ingredients.  Second, I used wheat flour instead of white flour.  Third, I used oat bran instead of oatmeal.  It makes the texture a little less chunky.  Last, I added some chocolate chips, not many, but enough to add a little something extra.  The end result?  30 awesome cookies, around 50 calories each, that my whole family loves...especially Jack!  Just had to share :)

Punishment According to Lexi

Today, I told Lexi that she needed to do better saying ma'am and sir.  She seems to have forgotten this common southern manners rule.  I told her I would take away one minute of TV time at night for every time she forgot (TV time is precious since we watch so little around here).  She was devastated.  After a few hours thinking about it, she approached me to tell me that she wasn't worried about losing a minute each time she forgot (she was being honest, not bratty about it).  I asked her why.  She said because unless she lost all 15 minutes she would still get to watch TV and one minute was better than none.  Then she told me that she thought I should take away TV completely each time she forgot because she would care about that.  Really, she told me that.  Gotta love her :)

Family Meal

So, Eric suggested I blog some about my cooking.  Take note, it's nothing to be proud of.  I often fear killing someone with my cooking, but I've found if I can follow the recipes, it usually turns out ok (even if I overcook it to ensure all bacteria is killed!). 

In our family, we strive to eat organic.  We don't turn our noses up at fast food or sugar all the time, but on a daily basis, we try to avoid the really bad stuff and fill our diet with non-processed whole foods (organic if possible).  As a result, when I look for recipes, I try to find things that I know have organic counterparts.  I also look for things that will reheat well as I usually make everything on Sunday afternoon to eat all week.  I recently discovered this recipe for Meat and Tomato Stuff Zucchini:
http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2009/09/recipe-for-meat-tomato-and-mozzarella.html

Note - my kids are not crazy about zucchini; however, if I mix anything with tomato sauce and ground meat of any kind, I can usually get smiles.  So, I tried it.  I modified it a little.  First, I didn't mix the cheese in with the meat.  It seemed like way too much and not really healthy.  I sprinkled a little on top though so the kids would think there was a lot of cheese in there.

Also, I don't know where she got her zucchinis, but that was a lot of meat to try to stuff in a few small veggies.  I ended up putting it in a casserole dish and surrounding the stuffed zucchini with the remainder of the meat (see pic).  It worked out perfectly!

To serve, we cut them in half vertically (Eric's idea) and ate them almost like pizza slices (except Jack who still needs things cut up).  It was a hit!

Another suggestion, I made the meat mixture ahead of time.  I hollowed out the zucchini right before stuffing them.  It really cut down on the total preparation time.  Always a plus!