Things M Says (Part 41)

M, after talking incessantly to Super Mario World: "Hey Mom, is there a guy that pops out right here that goes 'zoop! zoop! zoop! zoop! ahh! and then throws fireballs?" 


Um, nope. Pretty sure I would have noticed that.

Things M Says (part 40)

M, comparing his manhood to E's: "E!  Your pen!s is getting bigger, but not as big as mine!"

Oooo-kay.  It starts young, no?

Things M Says (part 39)

M says the full name of any show that he wants to watch.

M: "Mom, can I watch Avatar: The Last Airbender?"
M: "Hey Dad!  We have five episodes of Spongebob Squarepants!"
M: "Can we watch the special extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring?"

Okay, that last one is made up.  But you get the picture.

Things M Says (part 38)

critiquing me, like a judge on Top Chef


M: "This is a really nice smoothie, probably the best one you've made so far.  It's got a good flavor from the kefir and berries, and it's really cold.  Overall, very delicious Mom."
me: "Um, thanks."

M and His Butterflies

M got caterpillars for Christmas.  Well, he got a netted container with a voucher for caterpillars anyway. I love Amazon, and we generally buy most things through it, from grocery items to birthdays and Christmas presents.  We sent away from M's caterpillars at the end of December. His caterpillars finally arrived a few weeks ago.  They crawled around, tiny, eating their food for several days.  They grew and grew and eventually hung from their lid, each forming a chrysalis.  Then, we moved the chrysalides to the netted container and watched them every day.

A few days ago, one chrysalis turned dark and a butterfly emerged.  Yesterday, two more followed.  And today, the final butterfly emerged.  M is the proud papa of four painted lady butterflies.  M named them, in order of emergence from their pods: Iam, Isaac, Sheila and Hella.  According to M, Iam and Isaac are boys, and Sheila and Hella are girls.

We have been giving the butterflies slices of orange to munch on until they were all ready to be released outside.  Of course, M had to be ready too.  A few minutes ago, M announced that he was ready to let them go in the backyard.  We took the net outside, opened the top and gently helped them come out.  They hung around the patio for a few minutes, walking around and trying out their wings.  But then one took flight (we could swear it was Sheila) and we yelled "goodbye!" to her.  While we prepared a plate with sugar-water and orange slices to place in the backyard,  two more butterflies flew off to explore the neighborhood.  M and I hope they come back to visit.  Maybe they will fly by to say "hi" and have a little snack.

(I included the Amazon link above for the brand we bought.  We love it, and their customer service was very nice.)

Things M Says (part 37)

M, choosing a song on the iPod that R doesn't like:

R: "Can you change it? I'm not digging this song."
M, changing it to the next one: "Are you digging for this one?"

Things M Says (Part 36)

M: "I'm not going to spend my money from now alllllll the way until I am a grown-up."
me: "Oh yeah?  What are you saving it for?"
M: "I want to go to outer space."
me: "Well, going to outer space is very expensive."
M: "So they don't have coupons for that?"

Peanut Butter Cups

I love these peanut butter cups.  I made them last February for R for Valentine's Day.  I wrote the other day about looking for candy for Christmas at the store, but coming up empty.  Even in my compromising mindset I couldn't find anything that would work.  So I am making a few different candies and confections to help satisfy M's and E's sweet teeth on that magical morning.

But back to the peanut butter cups.  I have tweaked the recipe just a bit.  I watch Ina Garten on the Food Network quite a bit, and on her show Barefoot Contessa she occasionally shows how she tests recipes.  Ever since she explained how chocolate is enhanced by a little bit of coffee I have been paying attention to how she pairs them in different recipes.  She says that you do not end up tasting the coffee, but the chocolate tastes better.

Sometimes she uses leftover brewed coffee, sometimes it's instant coffee or espresso granules, and sometimes it's coffee liqueur.  I have Kahlua, so I have used that recently in any chocolate recipe I make.  I just eyeball between a teaspoon and a tablespoon.  I don't know enough about how they make instant coffee crystals to use them confidently, and I don't brew coffee at home.  (The caffeine affects my adrenals and such.)

Oh, and one last thing: after I use up the natural peanut butter in the jars in my fridge I want to make my own peanut butter.  It's very handy to have peanut butter around, so I think it's worth the trouble to soak peanuts in salt water, dehydrate them and then put them through the food processor.  The point of doing all of that is to avoid the enzyme inhibitors present in peanuts and nuts in general.  The soaking process neutralizes the enzyme inhibitors, helping you to not only digest them better but absorb more nutrients from the nuts.

Peanut Butter Cups

peanut butter base:

3/4 cup natural peanut butter, preferably from soaked and dehydrated peanuts

1/4 cup gently melted coconut oil*

2 tablespoons raw honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup chopped nuts, preferably soaked/dehydrated/roasted at a low temperature (300), optional**

chocolate topping:

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons raw honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon coffee liqueur

1. Mix peanut butter and coconut oil together until smooth, using a rubber spatula.  Add honey and vanilla and stir until smooth.  Using a small ice cream scoop, divide among the 24 mini cupcake molds in a mini cupcake pan.  Put into the freezer for 20 minutes or so while you make the chocolate topping.

2. In a glass bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stir chocolate, honey, vanilla and coffee liqueur with a wooden spoon until almost smooth.  Remove from the pot and set onto a hot pot holder while you continue to stir until completely smooth.

3. Remove mini cupcake pan from freezer and spoon chocolate mixture onto each peanut butter cup, smoothing a little with the back of a spoon.  Place back into the freezer until solid, about 20 minutes or more.

4. Remove with a spoon or butter knife.  They should pop out with a little elbow grease, as long as they are completely solid.  If they mush together at all, put them back into the freezer for a few minutes and try again.  Store in the freezer until you want to eat them.

5. To eat, I like to take a few out and let them rest on a plate for a few minutes to soften.  And, of course, my favorite way to eat them is with a cold glass of whole, raw milk.  Enjoy.

*You can use virgin coconut oil (which will taste like coconut), or expeller-pressed coconut oil (which will have neutral taste).  I prefer the expeller-pressed, but I have tried it both ways and the coconut flavor does work in this recipe.

**(I didn't add these, E can't chew them very well; he choked on a swiped cashew yesterday when I wasn't looking, scary!)

My New Quest: Make My Own Candy for Christmas

I was at Trader Joe's today, one of my favorite places to go.  I had grand plans to buy some candies there to use for stocking stuffers.  I remembered from last year that there was a lot of variety.  So I was excited.  However, that did not pan out the way I wanted it to.

First of all, I could not find a single piece of chocolate without soy lecithin in it.  The reason I am avoiding soy is due to it's effect on hormone levels, not to mention it is usually genetically modified.  Then I looked at some jelly beans and cookies.  They contained soy flours, corn syrup, and soybean/sunflower/canola oils.  Is it so much to ask for foods made with recognizable ingredients?  I just want whole grain flour, butter, whole sugar, natural flavors.  Sheesh.

But then I remembered these chocolate macadamias sprinkled with sea salt from last year, which I have still not attempted.  But I did make peanut butter cups and coconut-chocolate mounds this year for Valentine's Day and they were wonderful.  I also have loved this coconut-orange fudge recipe.  At least I know I can make those from experience and try some new recipes too.  I can make a few kinds of candies and then put them in a cute package for each of our stockings.

I also have an excellent pair of shortbread recipes that I need to whip up.  It's a good thing I started sprouting some white wheat berries tonight.  I even found recipes for basic chocolate fudge, caramel corn, and these almond cookies!  Maybe something that looks similar to this Nature's Candy Box idea.  It really is worth it to me.  I'm going to do it, dammit!

I may even try to convert some of my old favorites into nourishing versions and see how it goes.  I really love these cookies, and these sugar cookies, and these peanut butter cup cookies, and these checkerboard cookies, and these mexican wedding cookies.  I want to have all of them again.  Wish me luck, I will be blogging my success!

Things M Says (Part 35)

earlier today, for the millionth time:

M: "Mom, we're going to make popsicles, right?"
me: "No, and if you say 'popsicles' again you will go to time out.  Don't ask me again."

just now:

M (very concerned and upset): "Mom.  I feel like saying 'popsicles' again."
me, bursting out laughing: "It's okay buddy, I know you really really want to make them!  But we can't, we don't have frozen berries."
M (feeling much better after seeing me laugh): "Okay, we will make them another day." (and then, overcome with love and relief after realizing, again, that I'm not mad) "Mom, I love you SO MUCH!"

Things M Says (Part 34)

M, looking out the window at the moon: "Hey Mom, do you see Earth's moon?"
K: "Yes."

Lol!

Things M Says (Part 33)

Whilst singing the revised "Spider on the Floor" song today in the car:

M (singing): "There's a spider on the switch on the swiiiitch,

there's a spider on the switch on the swiiitch

...(thinking of a rhyme)...

he looks like Harry Potter looking for the Snitch,

that spider on the switch,

there's a spider on the switch,

on the swiiiiiiiiitch!!"

Things M Says (Part 32)

On the way home from preschool lately, M and I have been singing "There's a Spider on the Floor", but with silly words put in. It's a good way to learn rhyming, and creativity, and just be plain ol' silly. (Though it's not like we have a shortage of silliness at our house.)

M was singing his own version of "There's a Spider on the Floor" when he came up with this rhyme:

M, singing: "Oh there's a spider on the flag, on the flag. Hey mom, 'gag' rhymes with 'flag'. There's a spider gagging on a flag, gagging on a flaaaag!"

Things M Says (Part 31)

While M and R are playing "20 Questions", M's new favorite game:

M: "Is it something we can go inside?"

R: "Yes."

M: "Is is a big dinosaur bone with cracks in it so that people can walk inside it?"

R: "Uh, no."

M: "Oh, I should have said a big dinosaur skeleton."

R was thinking of a house. Lol!

Things M Says (Part 30)

This morning while I was in the kitchen making breakfast, I heard M on the couch calling for me: "Mom! I'm a little birdie freaking out for it's mom. TWEET! TWEEEEEEEET!!!!!"

Things M Says (Part 29)

I was trying to remember the whining exchange M and I had earlier today and just blogged in the previous post (Part 28), so I asked M if he remembered what I had thought was cute and funny in the car. He said he didn't remember, and asked why I wanted to know.

I explained about my blog and said: "I like to write cute and funny things you say on there."
M: "Like 'funny quarters'?! Hahahahaha!!"
me: "'Funny quarters?' You are so silly!"
M: "That's funny! Write that on your blog!"
me: "Okay!"

Things M Says (Part 28)

me, in the car: "No you can't hold the iPod, we're almost home."
M, after a moment: "I was about to whine, but I thought to myself 'Hmm, I think if I whine I will go to time out, and I don't want to go to time out' and then I didn't whine!!!"
me: "Good job, buddy!" *snicker*

Things M Says (Part 27)

While driving in the car with R and E earlier today, listening to the iPod, commenting on E's dancing in his carseat: "E's really feelin' it."

Things M Says (Part 26)

M, while dancing to Metallica: "Mom, now there are LOTS of ninjas doing cartwheels around me."

So. Awesome.

Things M Says (Part 25)

me: "M, you need to pick up all this paper money, because E will rip it up."

M: "I don't like that idea."

me: "I know, but it must be done!"

M: "I reaaaally don't like this idea!"

me: "Well, you still need to do it."

M: "Mom, if you say that again, even when you're 45, I will still not pick these up. I will go with my dad to find a new family, and I will not clean these up!"

me: *eyeroll*