Tarek and Christina are common names in our household. I am addicted to everything HGTV, mostly because all other news is too stressful and/or ridiculous to watch / listen to. So if you’re a T&C fan as much as I am, the thought of the title “Flip or Flop” may be worth a ponder. Think about it…..they never show a “Flop” – at least I’ve never seen one. Have you? Leave me a comment if you’ve seen one. Where am I going with this? I decided to show you a “flop” of mine. If you follow me on Instagram (check lower-right on the homepage) you saw my genius idea of…
Quick Green Chicken Chili
One of the best parts of traveling is trying new food. And then taking that idea home with you and recreating it in your kitchen. I haven’t always been adventurous with creating delicious food. And I’m probably even more cautious now with a nut-allergic child. However, I still try to sample things I normally would not. Like Green Chicken Chili. I had a spicy version of this when we were in Chicago a few weeks ago. Technically, I consider myself a chili connoisseur. If a restaurant has chili, I try it. It’s a quest to find the BEST CHILI EVER! After we got back from vacation, I was flipping through…
Snack Dinner in 10
Back to school week hustle is real. I spent 7:30am – 1:30pm in my car driving two kids around to their school functions and activities. By 2pm, I’m the one that felt like nap time. Errr. Wrong. Afternoon activities and clean up from the morning to do! Not to mention my expanding email inbox and the 2,000 photos my phone is yelling at me about. Still, I’m trying to be in the moment. It’s so hard when there are a million things pulling us in different directions. Be. In. The. Moment. Tonight we have a parent welcome night at school, no kids. So we have a babysitter. Our garden exploded…
White Cheddar & Bacon Risotto
It’s the night before the first day of school and our house is all a buzz. The kids have been busy getting their outfits ready, shoes out, backpacks packed (although pretty empty since we did the ship-directly-to-my-school-awesomeness this year). Exciting day in our household. Last minute haircuts, too! (Did you notice the Ninja Turtle jammies in the photo above? That was a last minute Amazon Prime purchase since poor buddy didn’t have any that fit :)) For dinner tonight, I wanted something cozy since the nights have been getting cooler. Something I gladly welcome. I love this time of year. Football, chai tea lattes, light jackets, snuggly sweatshirts, mums, pops…
School Safe Treat Box
It’s back-to-school time! If your child has food allergies, now is the time to be pro-active and get your plans and snacks in place. Here’s how we prepare: Contact the school nurse/office and keep an EPI-PEN on file at the front desk. Make sure all medical forms are filled out and complete with the front office. Know your school’s allergy policy. Make sure there is an allergy policy. Make contact with the child’s teacher (s) and make sure they all know about your child’s allergy, and what the steps are to keep him/her safe. Keep it simple here. Talk to your child about saying “no” to all classroom treats. This…
Target Dino Nuggets
You always need a plan B. Especially for dinner. We ALWAYS have dino nuggets stashed in the freezer. These nuggets are from Target and are safe. The Mickey Mouse nuggets from Costco are also nut-free. We have tried the Market Pantry version of chicken tenders by Target and have been 100% safe. Most Tyson brands are OK, too, but I honestly prefer these Dino nuggets. Not only are they DINO’S, the first ingredient is chicken breast white meat. I also love making dino adventure land because deep down we are all 6. Happy plan B dinner day! #tgit
The Rest of Vacation
I was so wrapped up in having fun, I didn’t blog the rest of our vacation. Here are the highlights: Two days in Chicago. Six days in Milwaukee. Three days in Green Bay. You heard about Chicago already. So Milwaukee. We love Milwaukee. It has so much to offer. It’s grown so much in the past 10 years. And every time we visit, we say we’re going to do XYZ, then never do it because we are busy doing something else. This was kind of a “stay-cation” for us. It was great. State Fair Paddle Boats on the Lagoon Visited with all our family Hosted Packer Party Dined out at…
Veggie Burrito Bowls
I can’t believe school starts next week?! It has been an AMAZING summer, but I’m still holding on tight to these looooong summer days. Today, we picked a bunch of great tomatoes from the garden, and we made veggie burrito bowls. They were amazing, fresh and very flavorful. Veggie Burrito Bowls 1 cup of your favorite rice 2 tbsp evoo 1 tsp ground cumin 3 garlic cloves minced (or powder is fine) 3/4 tsp salt divided 1 can black beans 1 tbsp chopped chipotles (I left these out – too spicy for kids) 1 cup cherry tomatoes chopped – or more 1/3 cup finely chopped onion 1/4 cup fresh chopped…
GF Gluten Free at WI State Fair
Just a quick post to let you know there are GF menus available at State Fair. You can get them at the information booths with a map of the fair grounds. I post this because many times things that are GF are also nut free, and we used the GF map as a guide as to where to go with food requests. If you’re a nursing mamma, there are very nice and clean nursing stations set up near the entrance of Spin City, the games + rides area.
Wisconsin State Fair
Yesterday we tackled the fair. It was a last minute choice after dance camp. If you’re planning on going to the fair, pack the following in your backpack for allergy kids: Extra clothes Container of wipes, sanitizing hand wipes Bottled water Complete backup allergy meal / protein bars – I like Luna bars, the s’mores and lemon flavor are the two safe ones. Sunscreen Epi pens Chewable benadryl We started off by getting a few ears of corn near the entry way. The very nice woman confirmed they used soybean oil plus plain butter on their corn. The various salt options were on a table for me to check th…
Family Vacation – Day 2 Chicago
Chicago has been very allergy friendly. They have to be. With how populated the city is, and the crazy number of tourists on a daily basis, it’s a must. This morning we woke up (after a restless night of sleep, had to put my R.A. skills to go use, again. Noisy Lollapalooza neighbor!) And decided to head over to Grand Luxe Cafe. The decor at Grand Luxe was fun to look at. Very opulent and whimsical. We were seated in the round room, floor to celing windows with a giant floral Chandler in the middle. Huge murals above. It was quite striking and made for great conversation with the kids.…
Family Vacation Day 1 – Chicago
It’s our annual summer vacation and since we haven’t had the greatest luck traveling with the kids (influenza x2 at Disney, among others) we decided to follow the good old KISS principle. Keep. It. Simple. Stupid. We are keeping simple this time. We aren’t far from home and if we need anything, we can buy it. Our trip consists of a few days in Chicago, a week in Milwaukee and a long weekend in Green Bay to visit those Packers! This vacation has no plan. I’m a planner. This is challenging me in new ways. We literally are making plans on the fly. In many ways this is amazing. We…
Thunder Cake
When my son was born in 2013, he received a book titled Thunder Cake, by Patricia Polacco, from my Mother’s good friend and neighbor, Julie. Thunder cake is about a child who is afraid of Thunderstorms and her Babushka helps her overcome her fears of storms. For the past 4 years, we have carried on this tradition each summer (the season of the book and secret ingredient). My kids hate storms, and just like th book, the focus of making a delicious cake helps them stay calm. So today, among the thousand things we must do, we are making Thundercake because it’s storming and the secret ingredient was JUST PICKED,…
Weeknight Homemade Chicken Soup
You don’t have to be sick to enjoy a good bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup. I’ve been craving this soup for a while. I made a version of it last week for a friend and I just couldn’t help myself today. I had to make it. Ingredients: One Rotisserie Chicken, you can find this at your grocers deli counter. Cube your chicken pieces and set aside. 8 cups / two boxes of salted chicken stock (Rachael Ray is safe) 1 carrot, peeled + thinly sliced 3 ribs of celery, halved + thinly sliced 1/2 white onion, diced small (can also use 1 palm/tbsp powdered onion) 3 garlic cloves, minced…
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