Joe starts first grade tomorrow. At 7:20. A.M. Have I mentioned I’m not a morning person? Summer for us consists of baseball games and midnight bed times. The transition isn’t going to be easy. Knowing the lazy days of summer were coming to an end sent me on a grocery shopping spree, stocking up on healthy food, snack food, and pantry staples. I even made a meal-plan Pinterest board to…
One of the biggest lessons I have learned as a mom is that I should never assume anything about my kids. They surprise me all the time! Like the time Joe, my overly cautious child, rode Space Mountain at Disneyland and said, “Huh, that wasn’t scary at all.” Or the time Leila asked for salami and clementines for breakfast. Kids are a curious bunch. So why do we limit their…
Jeff had two days off for the all-star break this week, so our family did a mini staycation at a local water resort. We sipped on cold drinks, played in the waves, and took 3-hour naps even though we insisted we were not tired. I repeat, we were NOT TIRED. For my personal food safety (and to save money) we packed all of our own food for the hotel stay.…
I had the opportunity to share my thoughts on gluten-free labeling with a reporter from the Arizona Republic a few weeks ago. Yesterday the story was finally printed. If you would like to read it, click on the image below. From the article: The rise in popularity of the gluten-free diet has been both a blessing and a curse for consumers such as Alysa Bajenaru, for whom a gluten-free diet…
A few years ago I started making breakfast cookies. Most mornings I’m a grab-n-go kind of person, and who doesn’t like the idea of eating a cookie for breakfast? But then I went gluten-free, and my baking life came to a halt. I wasn’t a huge fan of baking to begin with (it’s so messy…and precise), and the extra challenge of baking without gluten just overwhelmed me. But oh, how…
Around here we live and breath minor league baseball. Back in the old days, when Jeff was making his way through the White Sox farm system, I reveled in the adventure that took us from town to town, exploring minor league cities, tasting all of the unique ballpark food. “Dragon Tails” in Charlotte (fried pickles), boiled peanuts in Mobile (yuck), and soft serve “Ice Dream” in Chattanooga (yum). Now that…
I’m back! Well, sort of. I’m kind of enjoying the lazy, crazy days of summer that leave us looking happily spent at the end of the day. We’ve been doing lots of swimming, fort building, game playing, and reading. Dinners with friends, art classes, playdates and simple meals. I had my friend Amy over one day, and as our kids ran screaming around the house, we shared good conversation over…