Courage to Change GIVEAWAY

Super excited to kick the year off with a giveaway on LB,BO.  When I saw that Shell, from Things I Can’t Say, was looking for bloggers to test out and giveaway board games from Courage to Change, games designed for kids with special needs, I knew that it was an opportunity I should jump on.  All the games that I was able to chose from were tempting….but I focused on one that I thought would help and be fun for my special little man.
One of the things that we (Aiden’s Preschool teachers and I) are working on with him is routine and rules. We are planning on putting him in all day kindergarten next year, knowing that it could be tough, to get him use to those routines and rules that go along with being in school ALL day.  So that when he gets to first grade, he has them down pat and can focus on the learning.  So….when I saw “The Classroom Behavior Game”, I knew that would be a great one to work on these skills with him to prepare him for next year.  I also thought that it would be a fun game to take into the school so that his classmates could enjoy it and learn some of the rules as well.

After watching the video about the game and who it caters to, I knew that it would be a fantastic game for Aiden.  And for Jakob!  It will be a fun way for Jakob to teach Aiden how to behave in school, and maybe remind Jakob too!! :)
I am REALLY looking forward to getting the game – my stalking the tracking number says it will be here in three days.  You could have a chance to win one too! a Rafflecopter giveaway  

Be sure to check back here next week for a review of the game itself, after the boys and I get to play it a few times and take it into Aiden’s class for his friends to give it a whirl.

Meatless Monday

 

I am guest posting over at Piccante Dolce, pop over and check out my recipe for an Asparagus & Goat Cheese Quiche.  Leave some comment love while you are there.    Look at this….it’s delicious.  Seriously.

AboutOne Twitter Chat….Raising Kids

I have recently discovered AboutOne.  It is an online website to “Safely Store and Manage Your Household Information”.  A great site to record memories, scan and keep important documents, and health info about the whole family. And now I am going to be a blogger for them, check it out.  (scroll down and you will see me!) I am going to write bi-monthly posts about Military Life….the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Today’s twitter chat was about raising kids.  Some great questions, some interesting answers.

Question #1: What are your tips for traveling with children? Do you travel a lot with your family?

We use to travel quite a bit.  When we were living in Connecticut we were only about 8 hours from my parents and I would make the drive with Jakob (and then Aiden too) about every three months.  It was a long day of driving, but worth it.  Most visits it would be just me driving, leaving Jason at home, so I had to make sure I was prepared.  Snacks, drinks and toys all within reach.  I made sure that all the snacks were portioned out, and easy to open.  Drinks were either juice boxes or premade sippy cups.  And when Jakob and Aiden were infants I made sure to have water from home, or bottled water, for their bottles so that there wasn’t anything in the water that their tummies weren’t use to.

The other side of travelling with children is entertainment….keeping them occupied = happy children!  DVD players in the car was key for us….the perfect distraction.  Now it takes a bit more.  Both Aiden and Jakob are obsessed with my iTouch.  They love the games (the free apps are awesome), and the videos and sometimes the music.   I have a feeling it will be a lifesaver for our cross country trip to Washington.  8 days on the road…help me!

Question #2:  How much TV do you let your kids watch? Do you limit? What are their favourite shows?

I am guilty of my boys watching a lot of TV.  I know it isn’t right, I know it isn’t good for them….I know.  Enough said.

Shows…..Phineas and Ferb, Team Umizoomi, Magic School Bus, most of the shows on PBSKids, and the Food Network!!  LOL

Question #3: Has your child ever been bullied? Have you talked to them about this issue?

Jakob has not been bullied at school.  And Aiden isn’t in school.  Jakob is a pretty popular kid, bit of a teacher’s pet too.  But there have been days that he has come home and said others were mean to a friend, which strikes a convo about how it isn’t nice to be mean to someone.  He knows what is good and bad behaviour, what is nice and what is mean.  He’s a good egg.

Question #4: How do you give your children quality time?

Jason and I try our best to spend some one on one time with each of the boys.  Jakob is old enough to sit through a movie, but Aiden isn’t quite there yet, so Jakob gets some one on one time going to the occasional movie.  Aiden gets special treats like trips to the ice cream shop.  We also do things like taking one out to run errands while the other stays home. 

We also swap out bedtime.  We each take a boy, read or talk, and tuck in.  That way they are getting equal attention from us.

It’s important. We make it a priority.

Question #5: How do you treat yourself?

I am happy to say that I am pretty good at treating myself.  I work dinners out into our budget so that there are days that I don’t have to cook.  I take time with my friends to get our nails done, go out for lunch, or even go to the bookstore for a coffee and poke at some books.  I am lucky.  I have a great husband who understands that “if Mama ain’t happy, no one is happy”.  Jason is great at hanging with the boys so that Mama can have some me time.

I also find a few minutes at the end of the day to reflect.  I keep a gratitude journal and write the highlights of the day.  Things I am thankful for.   AboutOne has a section on their site for keeping track of memories and I am looking forward to adding to that part of my account as well.

Whew….Those are some great questions, and long answers.  It was a great opportunity to hear what some other mother’s are going through, and realizing that I am not alone, that we all have similar things going on, choices to make, and love for our children. I will definitely be participating in the AboutOne chats on twitter.  You can too!  Wednesday mornings, 10 am EST, #AOChat  See you there?

Tuesdays With Dorie….MY choice!

 

I have been trying to write this post for over two weeks.  Seriously, two weeks.  And I had hoped to have something clever, something inspiring, but alas….my writer’s block continues.  I was hoping to get my mojo back once Jason got back from Iraq.  Having him home on vacation this past month has sent me into a bit of a tizzie….my routine was pretty much turned upside down.  Not that I am complaining (well, maybe a little), we are SUPER happy to have him home.  It has been nice to have someone to cook for, and to bake for….especially breakfast treats on the weekend, which brings me to this week’s Tuesday With Dorie goody….Devilish Shortcakes! 

I was perusing the TWD website the other month looking for my name to see when I would be making my choice and noticed that my name was NOT on the list.  I tweeted Mrs. Laurie lickity split and she quickly rectified the situation and let me know that my turn would be in November!  WHOO HOO….then came the challenge of choosing the right recipe, a daunting task.  And after choosing a couple of recipes that had already been done (before my time, and coming up the next week – duh) I chose the amazing, chocolatey goodness of the DEVILISH SHORTCAKES!

These shortcakes are fantastic.  They are light and airy, and have JUST the right amount of chocolate in them….enough to call it a dessert….but not too much that you can’t indulge and have them for breakfast – which is what we did.  I whipped up some cream, defrosted some mixed berries….and voila…breakfast.  All three of my “boys” were delighted.  They were quite the treat.

Thank you Dorie for providing me with a recipe that I can use as a weekend indulgence!

Devilish Shortcakes, from Baking; From My House to Yours  by Dorie Greenspan

For the Biscuits:

1 1/3 cups Whole Milk

1 1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

1 Large Egg

3 1/3 cups All-Purpose Flour

2/3 cups Cocoa

2 tablespoons Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Sugar

1 1/2 Sticks (12 tablespoons) Cold Unsalted Butter, cut into small pieces

Directions:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

To Make the Biscuits:

Whisk the milk, vanilla and egg together.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar into a large bowl.  Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour.  Quickly, working with your fingertips (Dorie’s favorite method), or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly.  You’ll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes, and pieces in between – and that’s just right.

Pour the milk mixture over the dry ingredients and toss and gently turn the ingredients with a fork until you’ve got a very soft dough.  When the dough comes together, you’ll probably still have dry ingredients at the bottom of the bowl – just use a spatula or your hands to mix and knead the dough until it’s evenly blended. Don’t overdo it; it’s better to have a few dry spots than an overworked dough. Even with all the flour mixed in, the dough will be soft and sticky.

Spoon out about 1/3 cup of dough for each shortcake onto the baking sheet, leaving about 3 inches of space between the mounds. Pat each mound down until it is between 3/4 and 1 inch high. (The shortcakes can be made to this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept in the freezer for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting – just add at least 5 more minutes to the oven time.)

Bake for 15 – 18 minutes, rotating the sheet from front to back at the midway point, until the shortcakes are puffed and give just a bit when prodded.  Pull the sheet from the oven and transfer the shortcakes to a cooling rack.

Then you can do with them what you please….we chose to cut them open and fill them with mixed berries and LOTS of whipped cream….see?  like this:

They are light, airy and oh so delicious.  Plain and simple.  We ate them later in the day plain, with large glasses of milk.  Thumbs up from the WHOLE family.

I hope you all enjoyed making them.  Everyone needs to check out all the others on the Tuesdays with Dorie Blogroll. 

Thank you all for your patience.  I will be doing my best to get back my blogging mojo….and have fun things starting in the new year.  2011 is going to be MY year.  I can feel it.  Do you have anything planned for 2011?  Tell me…maybe we can inspire each other.

I have always wanted to belong to a club…

Seriously….I have always wanted to belong to a book club.  The idea of reading a novel and then spending time with like-minded people talking about the book….that would make me happy.  I just never found the time, the right group, or the right books.  So I have decided that since I have made so many great online friends that are also interested in joining a book club but just can’t seem to find the time, the right group, and the right books….that we should have an online book club.  I am still fine tuning the plans for this, but I wanted to put it out there, to get some ideas of what kind of books people want to read together, how long do think we need to read said book, etc. 

So these are the questions….leave me a comment if you would like to join us, or email me (lovebigbakeoften@gmail.com).

1.  What are some books that you have been meaning to read?  What “genres” would you like to read?

2.  How long do you think you would need to read a book? Is a book a month too much? 

3.  Would you want to be checking in through the month and discuss or just discuss after everyone has read it?

4.  Do we want to take turns choosing the books we read, or take a poll/vote?

I think that is all the questions I need some help with.  Hope you will join me. 

My First Taste And Create

So this is my first time participating in Taste and Create. It is basically a blog event where you are matched up with another blogger and you each bake/make something from each other's blog. Simple, right? Not so simple. I was matched up with Laura and her blog "The Spiced Life", and let me tell you choosing just one recipe to make wasn't easy. There are so many recipes on her blog that tempted me....Thai food, pasta dishes, bread, cookies....etc.... But I finally saw this one and knew that I had to make them with the boys! Aiden didn't really want to participate and Jakob was really only interested in the M&M's...but these are awesome. I, too, was a little skeptical of a recipe that came from a Sesame Street Cookbook....my boys love these...and so did all the gals and their kiddos at the playgroup where the pan of them was devoured!

I managed to get a couple of photos before everyone snatched them up, and I was able to bring a couple home to Jason to try, and he liked them too!

I give you.....Sesame Street M&M Oat Bars....

Sesame Street M&M Oat Bars

Adapted from Sesame Street Yummy Cookies: Baking With Kids

1 cup (126 g) AP flour

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 large egg

1 T water

1 1/2 t vanilla

1 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 1/4 cups total of chocolate chips, chunks and/or M&Ms (I used mini M&Ms and mini chocolate chips and topped with regular M&Ms)

Preheat the oven to 375 F with a rack placed in the center. Grease and then line with parchment paper a 9 inch square baking pan. The grease will help the parchment paper stay down.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.Beat the sugar and butter until creamy (it will not get fluffy). Add the egg, water and vanilla and then beat until well blended.Add the oats and the flour mixture and stir in. Add 3/4 cup of the chocolate chunks, chips or M&Ms into the batter and mix in. Do not over-mix.

Spread the batter--it will be stiff--into the prepared baking pan with a spatula. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of chocolate chunks, chips or M&Ms.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the center is set.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Try these - they are easy to make, fun to make with your kids, taste delicious, and they aren't terribly bad for your kiddos!

And I think I will participate in Taste and Create again....what better way to find new blogs, make new friends, and try new recipes?!? Be sure to stop by Taste and Create and see what everyone else has been making....

Take Care,
Tania

Love Big, Bake Often