Olive you

I do not like olives. Black, green, minced, whole -- they are the pits, as far as I am concerned. My kids, on the other hand, love them. They will eat even the most exotic of olives, popping them into their mouths with abandon (and, of course, spitting the pits). A bit of an odd choice for 3- and 5-year-olds, to be sure.

I see this as a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because now if we go out to eat, and my salad has olives in it, I have willing recipients. A curse, for a few reasons: 1. Fattening, 2. Expensive, and 3. Pizza. Yes, pizza. The only kind of pizza they want is olive. Not even pepperoni!

I can usually convince them to do the half and half pizza order, which works until we get to leftovers. The kids eat less pizza, so the leftovers are always olive. That means I don't want any. And I love leftover pizza, reheated on my pizza stone in the oven. But leftover olive pizza, blech.

I need to convince myself that this has health benefits for me. If I eat less pizza due to lack of leftovers, I will substitute healthier fare and be the better for it. That's my Spin Mama take for myself. So, thanks girls! (I think)

I love knock-knock jokes, the explanation for my heading:
Knock, knock
Who's there?
Olive
Olive who?
Olive YOU!

On the rind

I have prepared and fed my kids 1,327,965 snacks as a stay-at-home mom. Morning and afternoon, every solid-food-eating day of their lives. Fruit is my first choice, but sometimes the options just get tired, and the kids are less-than-enthused about eating snacks (then crankiness ensues from all involved). With budget and time constraints, I can only be so creative with snacks.

Sometimes I have to "sell" the snacks to them in Spin Mama fashion -- "We got these from the farmers, who grew them just for us" -- and I try to keep it interesting, by having snack outside or at the park.

I had a brainstorm one day that has definitely made snack time a win-win for the kids and me. I didn't want to cut up a whole cantaloupe and cube it into bite-size morsels (laziness prevails!) , so I made a big deal one day that our cantaloupe was "on the rind." I piled a bunch of slices on big plate and let them help themselves. You would have thought I had given them candy! They loved it. And they ate half a cantaloupe between them at one sitting.

I've done the same with watermelon, although that is almost exclusively and outside snack -- sticky pink goo everywhere, anyone?

And now that I'm picking Jellybean up at school each afternoon, and she's so, so hungry, "on the rind" is totally the portable way to go. You can walk and chew cantaloupe at the same time.

Sutherland drink?

I always saw this weird word in the grocery store dairy section, and I couldn't venture how to pronounce it, let alone consume it, so I just left it well enough alone. Now, go figure, it has become one of my go-to snacks for the kids. If they knew how good it was for them, they might not love it as much as they do. So I won't tell them that part.

I'm talking about kefir. It's pronounced KEE-fer, just like Kiefer Sutherland, if you're challenged like I was. I bought it to give to Peanut when she was sick a couple months ago and having a bad bowel reaction (sorry, TMI) to her antibiotic. It's similar to yogurt, although it has more active cultures than the main brands. Plus, it has dietary fiber. And did I mention it tastes like a smoothie?

We call it "yogurt drink" at my house, for simplicity. It is often the afternoon snack, and I serve it in our (previously special-occasion) built-in straw cups. No prep required, it's healthy, filling and everyone loves it.

So if you've seen it and felt a bit xenophobic too, I'm here to tell ya it's worth trying. This is the brand I like the best, and this winter I plan to kick it up in the blender with extra fruit and other nutrition. It also works wonderfully as a dip for fruit or graham crackers.

Now we're cookin'

Cooking blog posts are a bit "happy homemaker," but so be it, I am one! I'm not the sort to seek out new recipes and open up a test kitchen, but I've happened upon good recipes that are very easy to prepare and make a yummy meal. Thought I'd share them. They cover the range of food preferences, so there's something for everyone.

This one tastes elaborate and rich with a spicy kick, but it's SO easy. Thank God for Crock-Pots. I've had the best luck with this when I soak the black beans in water for an hour or more first. This is from Real Simple magazine.

Beer-braised pork and black bean soup

2 12-ounce bottles of beer (preferably lager)
1 tablespoon chopped canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 large onion, chopped
1 pound dried black beans, rinsed
1 1/2 pounds boneless pork butt (pork shoulder)
Kosher salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup store-bought refrigerated fresh salsa
1/4 cup fresh cilantro

In the bowl of a slow cooker, combine the beer, 3 cups water, the chilies, adobo sauce, cumin, onion, beans, pork, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Set the slow cooker to high and cook, covered, until the beans are tender and the pork pulls apart easily, 4 to 5 1/2 hours. Using a fork, separate the pork into large pieces. Divide among individual bowls and top with the sour cream, salsa, and cilantro.

Here's another Real Simple recipe that takes 20 minutes start to finish (really!). The textures and flavors in this are restaurant quality.

Lemony shrimp with white beans and couscous

1 10-ounce box couscous (1 1/2 cups)
Kosher salt and black pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 scallions, chopped
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 15.5-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

In a saucepan, bring 2 cups water to a boil. Stir in the couscous and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cover and let sit off heat for 5 minutes; fluff with a fork before serving.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and scallions and cook for 30 seconds. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring, until they begin to turn pink, about 3 minutes.

This soup, from Mario Batali, is thickened with bread -- hence, the name. You can use whatever vegetables you have on hand. It is much more flavorful than the separate ingredients would seem.

Bread Soup (Zuppa di Pane)

• 1-½ cup chopped mixed fresh herbs, such as marjoram, thyme, basil, mint, arugula, and Italian parsley • 2 medium zucchini, cut into ½-inch dice • 8 ounces green beans, tops and tails removed and cut into 1-inch lengths • 1 pound russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks • 2 ripe tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped • 1 spanish onion, cut into ¼-inch dice • 1 clove garlic, crushed • 8 cups cold water • Salt • Two 1-inch-thick slices thick Italian peasant bread, crusts removed • ½ small dried hot chile pepper or 1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes • Freshly ground black pepper • ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Preparation

1. In a large pot, combine 1 cup of the herbs, the zucchini, green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and cold water. Add salt to taste and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, covered, until the potatoes are tender, 20 to 25 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, soak the bread briefly in water to cover, then squeeze to get rid of excess liquid. 3. Crumble the bread and add it to the soup, along with the chile pepper. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the bread has broken down and thickened the soup, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 4. Ladle the soup into bowls, drizzle with the olive oil, and sprinkle with the remaining ½ cup chopped herbs.

Happy meal or pleasant partaking?

Now I've done it. I knew the day had to come, and it has. My 3-year-old now knows about McDonald's and Happy Meals.

We are not the fast-food eating kind. Frozen meals out the wazoo, yes, but they're organic frozen meals and they don't involve anything fried or otherwise empty calories.

For whatever reason, the golden arches were calling our names today. My husband has been out of town for three days, and I just wanted a break from washing every dish, cleaning every bib and wiping up every single crumb from a meal. So, I took us to the Mickey D's around the corner, knowing full well that this might end up memorable, especially for my 3-year-old Jellybean.

I gave her the (oh-so-nutritious) choices: hamburger, cheeseburger and McNuggets. She chose the hamburger. [Side note: I cringe at the meat quality, knowing a little about cattle farms and meat-packing plants. I wish restaurant chains would start looking into improving those industries, but that's a discussion for another day.] I was dubious because she unconsciously qualifies as a vegetarian bordering on vegan some days. I ordered the apples instead of fries so there could be fruit involved and got a milk for each girl. (The 15-month-old Peanut obviously can't verbalize her own decisions yet, and she's pretty good at wolfing down whatever lands in front of her.)

Full disclosure here: I did not just spontaneously jump in the car and plan to have them receive all of their nourishment from the fast-food establishment. No, I'm the kind of mom who brings vegetables -- organic, no less -- to McDonald's. There was lovely bright green cooked spinach to accompany the Happy Meal. There was also cool cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon to bolster the pre-fab apples. I just can't fill my kids' tummies with exclusively junk. Whether it's OCD on my part or justification, I don't really know, but I had to bring some home stuff.

The most amusing part of the whole meal is that Jellybean didn't like it. Really, not one bit. Not even the colorful Happy Meal bag and milk with a straw (well, that was the biggest hit). She took one bit of her burger and announced, "I'm done with that." She picked up each fry I had put in front of her and one by one transferred them to back to me without taking even a bite. She ate her entire portion of spinach, a couple apple slices and drank all her milk. That was her McDonald's experience. She does like the little toy, though, so that will be our sole souvenir.

As for Peanut, she ate about 1/3 of the hamburger, proclaimed "Mmm!" and chowed down about 10 fries, in addition to her milk, spinach and apples. Maybe she's the one I have to worry about. She has a lot of new words lately -- that would be a riot (tragedy?) if the word "McDonald's" were to spill forth one of these days soon.

So, I think our foray into fast-food dining may have been an isolated event. Even if we're traveling and need the Playland, it appears I am going to have to continue my trend of bringing plant sustenance into Big Mac land. But at least someone else cleaned up our crumbs and wiped our table!