My big girl turned eleven yesterday. Happy Birthday, honey! Later this week she and some friends are heading over to Feed My Starving Children to celebrate her birthday by making some meal bags. She loves going there and helping out. If you ever get an opportunity to help with one of the assembly dates, you should go. It’s a lot of fun and a great cause! She is growing into quite the amazing young lady.
This year she asked for a star shaped pizza and a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting covered with snowflakes and stars. I made snowflakes and stars out of the base recipe of royal icing a couple of days ahead, peeled the dried snowflakes off the waxed paper (do this carefully! They are fragile!) and popped them on the cake. Easy-peasy, but looks fancy. No where near as difficult as Yoda. It was a very grownup, almost normal, cake. …sigh… They grow up pretty fast, huh? Maybe I can lure her back to crazy cakes with the cupcake book I got for Christmas?
This week is a strange one with various days off from school, a class I am teaching, the Feed My Starving Children event, and various other things that normally don’t end up in the same week… (Huh, wonder how that all came about? Someone wasn’t checking the calendar too well, I think. Hmmmm, must have been me!) We also have gotten the menu for the week long fifth grade trip that is coming up in a couple of weeks, so my menu for the next couple of weeks will include fixing things similar to what is on that menu, then setting aside a portion to freeze for my daughter to bring with her. That will spread out the preparation, my daughter gets to help with the planning and packing of her food (she needs to know how to take care of trips like this later on!) and will keep getting a week’s worth of food together done in a easy way that won’t impact the budget or my sanity.
For a crazy number of menus, head over to Laura’s Menu Plan Monday and see what will be on everyone else’s plate this week. The Gluten Free Menu Swap is being hosted by Sea at the Book of Yum. She has picked lentils as the ingredient of the week. I love making dal with lentils(dahl, dhal, daal?? -a hold over from my vegan days) and papadams; that sounds like it might hit the spot for this weekend. There are also some lentil based pastas that the kids like. However, the easiest way we like to eat lentils around here is by sprouting them. You do it in much the same way as mung bean sprouts, and they are so tasty on salads and sandwiches.
Monday: MLK day/Kids off from school/sledding with friends for big girl/Boy Scout Walagazu practice/mom prep for upcoming class
Maple Chili Boneless Pork Chops, mixed veggies, and salad
Tuesday: Mom prep for upcoming class/big girl orthodontist apt./Piano lessons
Turkey and Squash Soup, corn bread and salad
Wednesday: Mom volunteer in elementary school library/mom teach GFCF cooking class/big girl drama club
Hamburgers, salad and tater tots (Daddy’s cooking!!)
Thursday: Mom volunteer in Kindergarten class/Birthday party at Feed My Starving Children
Garlic Dijon Chicken, salad
Friday: Mom Bible Study/ONLY the girls are off from school today!
I’m still up in the air on this meal…
Also to do this week: Mommy needs to get some typing hours in (gotta bring home the gluten free bacon!), pick up the new kid glasses when they come in, work some more on linking recipes to the recipe page of the blog, try to spend some time on the big girl’s sweater (probably on the weekend – it is almost done, just the yoke to knit, ends to weave in and blocking), figure out a walking training schedule that is compatible with the 3 day walk and my pathetic knees and my usual sloth-like state and get moving on it…
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