Shaina Olmanson's Blog, page 17
February 27, 2013
Introducing New Foods to Your Kids: Eat Well, Spend Less
This month in the Eat Well, Spend Less series I look at how the group introduces new foods to their children, whether they eat the same food, and whether they think any of that is important at all.
Lights glare from the bubbles above the dining room table, sending yellowish streams through the room. Typical in the winter, when the sun sinks below the horizon before the food has a chance to be set out and the family called around the table. Banter across the warm oak includes sarcasm and teasin...
February 21, 2013
Honey Sweet Potato Biscuits: ONE
Soft, pillowy biscuits are touched with a slight sweetness from syrupy honey and the distinct orange of sweet potatoes baked in.
In that waking moment between the dream world behind your eyelids and reentering consciousness, your body becomes aware. Slowly, the darkness fades as your mind crawls across your body, searching, and you start to feel again. A small electrical current reaches your limbs, exploring where they are at present, noticing the small pain on your toe from where you stubbed...
February 19, 2013
Ham and Potato Beer Cheese Soup
Dark Irish stout and sharp cheese come together around bits of salty ham and soft boiled potatoes in this recipe for a chunky, satisfying soup.
I’ve had this post open for five days now. For five days the white space between the HTML of the images has haunted me and begged me to tell a story, to write an essay, to sum up an anecdote into a few short paragraphs. At the end of each of these five days there has been one consistent constant: I have failed.
Today is really no different. I feel compe...
February 18, 2013
An Under-the-Weather Menu
When you aren’t feeling well, simple things sound best: soup, soup, and more soup. Comfort food becomes a way of life, and the weekly menu tends to be filled with just those things.
I have just turned out the lights and pulled the covers up to my chin. My head throbs lightly, and I swallow past the pain of a swollen throat. Burrowed down beneath the warm, white flannel sheets, my body releases the tension of a long day. I exhale into my covers, the warmth of the breath circling my face and sen...
February 13, 2013
An Artful Valentine’s Day Menu
Getting creative, saying “I love you” with a home-cooked Valentine’s Day menu, and examining your daily routine.
Getting Creative
A few years ago they cut our media specialist to a part-time position. I wanted to cry. Working with her for the book fair had been one of my favorite parts of my kids’ school. I adored how attentive she was in teaching children about literature, showing them how to do research papers, running the student-anchored morning news. The next thing on the chopping block tu...
February 7, 2013
Homemade Lip Balm and Lip Gloss for Your Valentine
Easy recipes for how to make your own natural homemade lip gloss and lip balm for you or your Valentines.
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Valentine’s Day is exactly one week from today.
I have nothing. Frantically searching my brain for some Valentine’s Day subject to write about I toyed with a cute boy-meets-girl and bat eyelashes at one another, the excitement of receiving a handwritten card or a flower from a boy (or girl) and slowly peeling open the note as you look up ever so slightly to see if anyone is watching, the a...
February 4, 2013
Monday Menu and Mindfulness
When making our Monday menu, we look to fit meals together and use similar ingredients in different ways throughout the week to avoid waste. We also benefit from a well-stocked pantry.
Mindfulness is the act of being aware, of paying attention in a particular way. It’s being aware of the underlying intention that drives our actions. I’m not perfect. Often my actions are driven by fatigue and stress, by trying to fit it all in, by life getting in the way of living.
The return of the Monday menu....
January 30, 2013
Back to the Basics of Feeding Your Family: Eat Well, Spend Less
This month in the Eat Well, Spend Less series we are focusing on getting back to the basics of feeding your family.
Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.
Dinnertime is ever evolving in our house. This year we embarked on the path of swim club family, dragging the eldest to and from the pool a mere five nights a week for two-hour-long swim sessions. Combined with basketball, swim lessons for the younger crowd, catechism, homework for four, and time to wind down and read...
January 25, 2013
Cayenne Grilled Steak with Chimichurri Sauce: On Cleaning
Succulent steak spiced with fiery cayenne is accompanied by a cooling, tangy chimichurri made with parsley and cilantro both, as well as the sharpness of a fresh-squeezed lemon.
Temperatures dropped this week. If you live to the east, you’re feeling it now. A wicked wind cut through gloves and coats, stinging any visible skin with its razor-like edge. Hats became mandatory, sometimes left on indoors to keep a small bit of heat from escaping as the wind howled at the doors and shook the window...
January 23, 2013
Sweet and Salty Snack Bars with Attune Foods
Snack bars laden with salty nuts, healthy whole grains, and a bit of creamy chocolate to tempt your sweet tooth are just what you need to get through the day. Introducing my new partnership with Attune Foods.
2:30 p.m. Your coffee cup is empty. Sure, you could fill it, but at this point you’re starting to wonder if the three cups from the morning and the one you had immediately following lunch aren’t just a bit too much caffeine. Your gut is starting to swirl in that rotten sort of way where i...
