Spice of Life

I have always had a difficult and distant relationship with my father.  I won't go into it now, but over the last few months we have gone from talking about once a month to not at all.  I have written and emailed and he does not respond.  It's been very painful and confusing for me that my own father doesn't want to speak to me.  As a parent myself I have often wondered, how is that possible?  How do you just cut off your children and not communicate at all?  It will always be a mystery to me.  My reason for writing this however is not to get into all that, but to share a recent revelation.  Rather than focusing on what I am lacking in my life, I need to focus on what I HAVE.  I have an awesome mom, with whom I have a very good and healthy relationship.  It makes me so happy when I see the excitement in my kids when they get to see "Ahmo".  I have an amazing husband who loves me and our kids.  He is caring, patient, and I still...

When my son turned one, I made him a carob zucchini cake.  What is carob you ask?  It's the healthy version of chocolate, but doesn't taste like chocolate.  When my daughter turned one, I made her super fancy chocolate raspberry cupcakes.  This year I'm lazy, I admit it!  I made Zoe Pillsbury Strawberry cupcakes... Just look at that, it's horrible.  My hippie/health food side is SO ashamed of my lazy side right now.  Why am I even posting this?  I shouldn't have even looked at the ingredients...but just the fake pink color gives away how much crap is in there.  Have any of you mom's ever done this?  I usually feel very motivated to make something healthy and/or super tasty and homemade.  I don't know what happened to me this year.  Dear next year self, take note!  Don't do this again!  Oh well...it won't kill them this once.  So they'll be all hopped up on sugar and red dye #40.  It'll be fun, right?!?

Getting ready for Fall, my absolute favorite season.  I love the changing leaves, the crisper air and smells of cinnamon and spice.  I enjoy decorating here and there with whatever I have or can find that's cheap.  This Jack Skellington bobble head was something my mom got us a few years ago and it always comes out at this time! Our garden has been blooming and it's so exciting!  I can't take credit for it, other than occasionally watering.  It's Norm's baby and I'm so proud of him.  :)  We're still waiting on the pumpkins, but our zucchini has been doing great!  Here is Kieren, our 4 1/2 year old son.

This morning I felt like baking something for the kids so I found a recipe online for applesauce muffins. 1 1/2 c. flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp allspice 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/4 tsp salt 2 eggs 1 c. brown sugar 1 stick plus 3 tbsp butter, melted 1 c. applesauce Topping 2 tbsp sugar 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp allspice 1/4 tsp nutmeg Preheat oven to 400 F.  Stir flour, baking powder and soda, spices and salt together.  Whisk eggs and brown sugar til smooth.  Add butter slowly and whisk til creamy.  Stir in applesauce.  Fold in flour mixture til just wet.  Add chopped walnuts or pecans if desired.  Fill muffin cups and sprinkle on topping.  Bake for 20 min. **These turned out good, but I found that 20 min was too long, 15 is better. Now the house smells of the spices of fall and I LOVE it!!  The kids loved them too, which is a plus.  :)

A couple days ago I was planning our meals and decided to make a roast chicken and then use what we didn't eat for chicken noodle soup, or as I like to call it "chickie noo noo".  I rinsed and dried the chicken and put it in the pan.   I tried "trussing" for my first time and I think it helped.  If you don't know what that is, look it up.  What I did differently this time was I didn't put any butter, oil or mayo on the chicken but instead just put seasoning on it.  I used salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder and thyme (basically all the seasoning I had in the cupboard).  I put several cloves of garlic inside the chicken.  I then cut up carrots, onion, green, yellow and orange bell pepper, and red potatoes.  I put the same seasoning and olive oil on the veggie's and tossed them in the pan with the chicken.  I baked it at 400 F for 40 min.  At that point it wasn't up to temp (165) so I set the timer for 10 more min (several times).  O...