Creature Bug

Stamps, Tiny Reads, TVs, and Energetic Cranberries

A few random items...

: stamps :

Postage stamps are going up in price on Monday, so you should do as I did and stock up on those terribly un-pretty Forever Stamps (seriously. would it kill them to put a flower on the Forever Stamps? the Liberty Bell is so not great). If you get them now, they're *only* 41 cents a piece. Starting Monday, they'll cost you 42 cents. Consider this your friendly PSA reminder.

: tiny reads :

I've added a new link feature to my left sidebar. Under the Tiny Reads heading, I've "shared" different blog posts from my Google Reader that have caught my attention, for one reason or another. I'll be updating it daily.

: tv :

We are now the proud owners of two TV converter boxes. In case you haven't heard, if you are one of the few dozen people who doesn't have cable and instead uses an antenna/rabbit ears to get your tv signal, then you'll have to get a converter box so that you can still get free tv after the signal changes to digital next February. We received converter coupons in the mail a few weeks ago--thanks to a reminder from Sophie (who, sadly, is no longer posting)--and each coupon is worth $40 off a converter box. Walmart sells the boxes for $49.95, but the south Commercial store was out when I checked last week. Fred Meyer sells the boxes for $49.98, and so I got ours there. Twenty dollars for the privilege of free tv. Yippee.

As it turns out, we may not even need the converter boxes if we sell our house before next February. Our new house will probably have to have cable, although I am totally willing to have an antenna on our house if it means we'll get free tv.

: cranberries :

And finally, here's a review for a drink I've been trying out this week...

Last week I got a sample of Ocean Spray's Cranergy juice in the mail, courtesy of Mom Central. Being someone who loves cranberry juice, I quickly drank the whole thing. It tastes a lot like...hmm...cranberry juice! With a healthy, green tea kick. Then I went to Winco and got some more. Then I went to Fred Meyer, saw they were having a sale on jugs instead of the more expensive personal-sized, and got even more. This could be trouble.

Even though I am perpetually tired all the time, I stay away from those energy drinks because I'm deathly afraid of them. I am certain I would drink one and drop dead from a heart attack within minutes. As someone who has no caffeine addiction at all, consuming that much caffeine in one sitting would totally screw me up. However, I am acutely aware that some amount of caffeine--preferrably something natural from a tea source--might actually help me feel better. Or at least, feel capable of folding laundry. So, after reading the label for the Cranergy juice, it evidently gets its caffeine naturally from green tea. And it has a whole host of B vitamins, which I think are supposed to give you energy.

Since it's juice-ish (23% juice isn't exactly Juicy Juice), since it has vitamins, and since green tea extract is a natural source of caffeine, then I've been drinking it every day with breakfast. It does have Splenda, although the juice doesn't taste crazy-sweet like some things do that have been sweetened with Splenda. Even Jason, who hates cranberry juice, has said it's not too bad (especially the cranberry-raspberry version), although if he starts drinking it then that means less for me, so...I don't know how I feel about that.

The thing is, I actually feel more energized after drinking it, but maybe it's just a pyschological trick I'm playing on myself. I feel like it should energized me, so then it does. But trick or not, I'm all for it. Probably someone who depends on energy drinks and/or multiple cups of coffee wouldn't notice a difference. Nevertheless, for me it's definitely better than drinking soda, it has cranberries in it, and even though I wouldn't let my girls drink it (no caffeine for them,natural or not, thank you. they have plenty of energy), I'm all for something that helps me stay just a little more focused on something other than dreaming of a nap.

Jason thinks I should exercise more often, but for as much as I do like to exercise, so often I'm too tired to even think about doing it. Anybody have any other suggestions for fighting fatigue? B vitamins? Multi-vitamins? Iron supplements? Less sugar? More sugar?

Please say "eat five dozen marshmallows" because I could totally do that.

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

A regular joe

Way back when I was regularly trying out recipes from Deceptively Delicious (which isn't to say that I don't still use the cookbook, just not as diligently as I did when I was reviewing it), I noticed a recipe for a chicken noodle soup that used alphabet pasta.

"Well," I thought, "if those aren't the cutest little pasta noodles ever."

I wanted to make it. Right then.

So, I went to the grocery store to find alphabet noodles. They didn't have them. I went to another grocery store. And another. Couldn't find them. I gave up. Turns out, I'm not that committed when it comes to searching for food.

One day, I was talking about the cookbook with a group of friends, and I casually mentioned my futile alphabet noodle search.

"Trader Joe's," someone said. They all nodded.

"Alphabet noodles are at Trader Joe's? I guess I wouldn't know since I haven't ever been there." And then all my friends wrinkled up their noses at me and walked away. No, not really. But I did hear someone gasp, shake her head, and say a little breathlessly, "Trader Joe's is amazing."

I've eaten food from Trader Joe's. I've driven past one more than a thousand times on my drive up to Washington. There it is, right off I-5, in Lake Oswego. My most favorite memory of Trader Joe's is receiving a bag of their chocolate truffles when I was in the hospital after Jules was born. My friend Eiko was like an angel straight from heaven for bringing me chocolate within two hours of giving birth.

However, I've never been in a TJ's store. There isn't one in town, and why on earth would I go grocery shopping in Lake Oswego? Plus, I surmised, it's probably really expensive.

Then a couple weeks ago, I heard that TJ's isn't that expensive. What's this? Not expensive? And they have a great selection of organic food? Well, this I would need to explore on my own.

Still, I wasn't going to drive 45 minutes just to go grocery shopping. So I waited for the perfect timing, and that happened on Saturday. Sydney had stayed overnight with Jason's parents on Friday, and so I suggested that we all meet at Trader Joe's to do the switcheroo. This would be my chance to finally get my alphabet noodle soup.

I have to say, I wasn't disappointed in my first TJ's experience. I got the noodles (under $1.50! cool!), plus a few bags of salad, some scones, a tub of Cat Cookies for Real People, and lavender dryer bags. All organic. Total: under $20. How about that. The scones were delicious, and the alphabet pasta noodles a big hit that night for dinner (although I mistakenly misread the recipe and instead of putting in 1/2 cup of noodles I put in 2 1/2 cups of noodles...now we have two big bowls of cooked noodles in our fridge).

I hear that there are some rumblings to petition Trader Joe's to put a store in town (it worked for Corvallis), but I'm sure that by the time that happens we won't be living here anymore. Good news though: there's a TJ's in Vancouver, and downtown Portland, and, of course, the one in Lake Oswego, which will always have a place in my heart for being the first one that I visited. I'm sure I won't really be visiting the store that often, but now I know where to go for alphabet pasta noodles. And as another famous Joe once said, Knowing is half the battle.

*****

(c) 2008 Creature Bug. All rights reserved.

What's the deal with chickpeas? Where's the chick?

So, I've been trying out a new cookbook that I got from Parent Bloggers Network. I should say that I love cookbooks more than I love cooking (and I do love cooking) and have dedicated the cupboard above the fridge to cookbooks. And the little cupboard next the fridge. And a space on the countertop. And a space on the bookshelf in the living room (that's where I keep my collection of literary cookbooks). While I don't actually use all the cookbooks, I love to look through them, especially if they have great pictures of food. In fact, I will rarely buy a cookbook unless it has great pictures of food.

But, back to this new cookbook...

My newest cookbook is Deceptively Delicious, by Jessica Seinfeld. Perhaps you've heard of it? Because if you haven't, you really should get out just a little bit more. It's a NYTimes bestseller. It's been on Oprah. It's been reviewed all over the Internet. Even our local newspaper had a review (albeit, somewhat unfavorable). Combine all that media attention with the advertisements for Jerry Seinfeld's new Bee Movie, and chances are you've heard of at least one Seinfeld family member this week. They're taking over the world with pureed food and sassy honey-loving bees (make that pureed honey, please).

The Concept

This is both a how-to and concept book; specifically, how to get your kids to eat more veggies and fruit. The solution? Add pureed veggies and fruits to foods your kids are already eating. The book has a great section on how to puree foods (which I needed since I haven't exactly pureed foods before), as well as essential kitchen and pantry items. I should note--because you'll definitely find out if you read the message boards at Oprah or Amazon--the concept of adding purees to foods is not new. In fact, not all the recipes are even original with Jessica. Having not seen the other book that is generally compared with Deceptively Delicious, I can't say which one is better. But I can tell you what I do like about this one.

What I Like

• The design of the book is super cute. Lots of pink (we love pink!), and nifty cartoon illustrations of foods and kids. Also, it's spiral bound, a definite requirement for cookbooks.
• The full-page, glossy, full-color, please-eat-me, pictures of food. When I made the recipes I was able to get my food to look just like the ones in the picture, which is a testament to both the honesty of the photography and the simplicity of the recipes.
• The table-tips on getting kids to eat better. Jessica offers her own parenting advice on dealing with picky eaters, and shares stores from other moms.
• I had initially been skeptical to take nutritional advice from a celebrity. What qualified her to create healthy recipes? Fortunately, I saw that Jessica had help from a nutritional expert (Joy Bauer). Good to know.
• The index. One day I wanted to know what I could make with some cauliflower puree that I had, and rather than looking through the book for a recipe, I just turned to the index and saw that all the purees have been cross-referenced to their specific recipes. So handy.

Getting Started

• I admit that pureeing foods was not as exciting as I thought it would be. I didn't mind the steaming of the veggies, but I don't have a good blender to get the work down efficiently. Even my Magic Bullet wasn't very accommodating. I think if I had a food processor the job would have been lots easier.
• I found myself thinking, "Wouldn't it be great if the foods were already pureed? If someone already did the work for me, and I could just buy it in jars to add to the recipes?" Oh yeah, we call that baby food! True confession: I used jarred baby food for some of the recipes instead of pureeing the food. Definitely not cost-effective. Definitely easier than pureeing the food myself.

The Recipe Low-Down

• Our favorites were the recipes that called for pumpkin, not only because we're big fans of pumpkin but also because I can buy it already pureed in a can for cheap. We tried the pumpkin french toast (it was okay, but I had to add milk), the pumpkin oatmeal (we love it! Sydney asks for it specifically!), and the pumpkin yellow cake (it was good).
• I also tried several main dish recipes like the meatloaf and mashed potatoes, and they were both good. I added my own seasonings because the recipe doesn't call for any.
• The dessert section is no good for me.
  • We made the chickpea chocolate chip cookies that seem to get rave reviews all over the Internet, but Sydney and I did not like them. Jason and Rebekah the nanny did like them. So, it's a toss-up. I'm the one who makes cookies though, and I won't make them again.
  • The chocolate pudding with avocado. Hmm. It was good--Rebekah liked it the most of all of us--but since it doesn't have gelatin or milk then you don't get pudding skins. I make pudding just for the pudding skins, so I don't know if I'll make it again. It was pretty good though, even the next day reheated, but I had to eat every bite with a good dose of whipped cream because I'm so used to the milk quality of pudding.
• I tried a couple recipes without using the purees, and the consistency isn't exactly what it should be. Like the turkey chili was good, but because I didn't add the purees, then I needed to add extra cornmeal in order to get the chili thick enough.

The Kid

• Sydney is a picky eater. Very picky. It's all well and good to add carrot puree to the meatloaf to make it healthier, but Sydney won't eat meatloaf. Or mashed potatoes. Or turkey chili. Or eggs. Or chocolate chip cookies with chickpeas. In fact, when we ate the meatloaf, I just gave her a plate of carrots and she ate that instead.
• The trick was finding foods that she would eat and then adding the purees to those, but of the foods she'd eat (spaghetti, quesadillas, muffins) she is just as likely to eat the added puree as a raw food. She eats carrots. She eats butternut squash and sweet potatoes. Going to the trouble of pureeing those foods just to add to other foods seemed like a lot of extra work for me. I'm sure the point is, however, when you add the purees then you make those foods more nutritious.

The Question Marks

• Some people have issue with the idea of tricking your kids to eat healthy foods. Sydney has no idea what goes in food anyway, so there's really no issue there.
• Jessica uses trans-fat-free soft tub margarine, which I don't (and won't). I love butter too much to get rid of it. I haven't tried enough of the baking recipes to determine if this is going to be a problem.
• Several recipes call for peanut butter (as the added health benefit), but that's no good for us because Jason is allergic to it. No sense in making food that only Syd and I can eat.
• I understand the idea of making desserts healthier--if a kid is going to eat a chocolate muffin anyway, how about a chocolate muffin with spinach? But truthfully, I won't eat a chocolate muffin with spinach, and so I won't end up making this recipe. I want my desserts to be desserts. I don't want to think that they might have health benefits because then you set yourself up for other bad eating habits, like eating dessert thinking that you're getting some nutritional wonderment out of it.

The Verdict

I think you have to really view the recipes more as a way to eat healthier. Putting carrot puree into foods is no substitute for getting your child to like to eat carrots. Kids should learn to eat healthy foods, and I think this book is more about complimenting that idea instead of replacing healthy eating habits. I'm going to keep it on the kitchen countertop because it's a great cookbook to have around. It has fabulous tips on mealtime habits and practices, and I'm sure I will refer back to it again and again as Sydney learns to eat other foods, like eggs and meatloaf.

However, our cookies will be real cookies.

Key Lime Pie

If there's one thing I love during the summer, it's a good recipe that doesn't require turning the oven on. It's not like I don't do any baking in the summer, but it's safe to say I don't do much. Hot days and hot ovens make me cranky.

This summer we've been crazy about key lime pie. I know officially Key Lime Pie is supposed to be baked. It's supposed to have the consistency of cheesecake, but I don't do it that way because (1) that means I have to bake it and remember me and hot ovens? and (2) if it's rich and thick like cheesecake I'll get a stomach ache if I eat half the pie. And perhaps feel a bit guilty too. Maybe.

So, this recipe is what you might call the quick and easy kind.

And while I'm no Pioneer Woman, I'll do my best to give you the run down of how to make this pie:

Ingredients:

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)
• 1/2 cup lime juice (preferably key lime juice, which can usually be found by the lemon juice at the grocery store)
• 1 carton (8 oz) of Cool Whip -- even if you're not a big Cool Whip fan (like me) the lime juice overpowers the Cool Whip taste and it's all good in the end
• 1 graham cracker crust (you can make your own, or you can be a lazy bum like me and spend the $1.07 and buy the premade kind)
• optional: few drops of green food coloring

 

In a medium bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk and lime juice; let it sit for a few minutes so they can become good friends. I supposed you could use real lime juice, or even lime juice from those little plastic green limes, but I'm partial to Nellie and Joe's 'Famous' Key West Lime Juice (because that's the only kind of Key Lime juice our grocery store has).

After the milk and juice have had a moment together, stir in the Cool Whip. If you want a green Key Lime Pie, now would be the time to add the food coloring. Or you could be tricky about like I get sometimes.

Spoon the pie filling into the crust and make it comfy in its new, albeit temporary, home. You can now put it in the fridge to chill for a couple hours, or...

...you can add a drop of green food coloring to a small bit of filling, mix it up, and use it for some Key Lime fun.

I take a toothpick and add polka dots because, seriously, what's not to love about polka dots? They're just so darn cute. But I'm sure you could get all Martha on this pie and draw in something fancy, or a miniature Eiffel Tower, or something. I still think polka dots are cuter.

And there you have it! A no-cook Key Lime Pie. It's good for any occasion, especially if you get a sassy new haircut. In that case it's mandatory to make such an easy dessert.

And, not to seem vain, but just one more picture because it was Jason's favorite, even though the lighting isn't so great.

Yes, that's Christmas music sitting on the piano. A bit of Christmas music, a lot of Key Lime Pie, and short haircuts: that's how we keep cool around here.

Blue Love

Last week when I was visiting the Family Farm, I noticed that my parents' blueberry bushes are looking rather lively. No berries, obviously, but lots of green foliage and all the grand stuff that means blueberries will be coming this summer. I find this especially wonderful because I do love blueberries, and my stash of frozen berries is getting a bit low. When I was pregnant with Sydney I had a huge craving for blueberries, but that summer's crop hadn't been good, and I wasn't about to spend $3 for a handful of bland blueberries, so my craving went unmet. If there's one thing that isn't good news for anybody it's a pregnant woman craving a food she can't have.

Last summer my parents had more berries than they knew what to do with, so I helped them out a bit by snagging a few, or several, bags. By September I had a freezer stocked with bags and bags of blueberries to tide us over for the year. If I wanted blueberry pancakes in February, then I was going to get them. And if I wanted shiny top blueberry cobbler in March? Done. Sweet delicious shiny top blueberry cobbler. It is so yummy.  I have been careful, however, not to completely use up our stash because I never know when I might get a hankering for blueberries and then they won't be there.

But guess what I found? BLUEBERRY JUICE! Oh people, if only I had known about this that year I was pregnant with Sydney. It would have saved us all a lot of misery. I don't know who all makes blueberry juice, but so far the only kind I've found is TrueBlue Blueberry juice. They've won juicy awards and everything for their juice, and I believe it. I can just feel those antioxidants making me healthier. Sydney asks especially for it -- "Blue juice, please" -- and since it doesn't have any high fructose corn syrup then I let her drink plenty of it (of course, we cut all her juices with water since she drinks no less than 30 ounces of fluids a day, and has unfortunately inherited my non-preference for water).  I was grocery shopping at Safeway and saw it on the shelves along with several other varieties like Blueberry/Cranberry and Blueberry/Pomegranate, and immediately wished I had thought of the idea so that I could now be rich and famous. Or at least rich. I could give up the fame. I don't want Sydney turning into Paris Hilton, you know.

If you're not crazy about blueberries like I am, then blueberry juice is perhaps no big deal. But around here, where we have an extra freezer in the garage that is dedicated to two things -- blueberries and frozen pizzas -- then blueberry juice is an exciting development. It's my new fave. The TrueBlue site has lots of recipes, but I just drink it straight from the carton. Don't worry, if you come over I'll let you have your own that doesn't have my germs all over it.

So good ahead and make the shiny top blueberry cobbler. You can always drink blue juice until the berries are around in July.

-----

Shiny Top Blueberry Cobbler

In a 13 x 9 pan:

• 5 cups blueberries in a 13 x 9 pan (I have also used cranberries mixed with blueberries and it's equally tasty)
• 1 1/2 T lemon juice sprinkled over the top

Stir together the ingredients below in bowl and spread over the berries to edges of pan:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cup sugar (I told you it was good!)
• 1/3 cup margarine (I always use butter instead)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk

In a small bowl mix the following ingredients and sprinkle over blueberries and batter:

• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp salt

Finally, pour 1 1/2 cups of boiling water over all and bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy the compliments.

------

PS: Since I do reviews for other products, it's a legitimate question to ask if TrueBlue paid me to write about this. They didn't.

Gingerbread Cookies

 

Come Christmastime, there is one thing I can count on Jason to make: gingerbread cookies. He grew up watching his dad make gingerbread every year for their annual gingerbread house, and, of course, they always made plenty of extra batches just for cookies. When we got married, Jason got the recipe from his dad and was faithful to keep the gingerbread tradition alive for our house.

On Sunday, he made this season's first batch of cookies (AND he made breakfast, AND he vacuumed the house, AND he played with Sydney--all while I got to sleep in!), and here's the yummy recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

3 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cloves

1/2 C softened butter
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C molasses

1/3 C water

MIX dry ingredients and set aside.
CREAM butter and sugar, beat in molasses.
BLEND dry ingredients with molasses mixture, mixing in the water as you do so.

ROLL OUT medium sized balls of dough on a floured surface and cut into festive shapes. The thinner the dough, the crispier the cookies will be.

BAKE at 375 for 8-10 minutes (we line our cookie sheets with parchment paper to prevent the cookies from burning or sticking).

OPTIONAL: after you pull the cookies out of the oven, top cookies with red and green sugar sprinkles.

MAKES about 3 dozen cookies

It's time for Jason to make another batch. Ours are all gone!