A self-made Bat

In what is becoming a tradition in the family, Adelaide once again made her own Halloween costume. This year she made sketches prior to the cutting of the fabric: and I did help with a bit of cutting and sewing, but she had the idea, created most of the components and executed the construction. I didn't get a good shot of the back, which had her cape with a bat drawn on, but here is a quick look at the front. Tonight's version included bat face paint and some head pieces, as well.
Happy Halloween!

Smile Update

Little Bunny Fu Fu

Tonight's supper (pasta with tomato sauce and cheese not pictured), inspired by our brainstorming ideas for "Fun Friday" snacks. We are making healthy homemade food, mostly fruits and veggies but also some baked goods and things like hummus, sushi, etc. for a weekly snack and food exploration for the kindergarten class.

Good Times

Oh, how I loved this when I first saw it! Oh, how lovely it is to view yet again, and envision Mr. Bush on his ranch . .

Storytime by Adelaide

Retirement Plan

Well, this blog has officially made its first revenue, though I'm not quite ready to quit my day job. I suppose I would have more time for posting, but really the transition back to school for the whole household has been all-consuming and has left me with plenty to post about, but no energy to do so.

But, back to the big, big profits. Earlier this year I experimented with ads on the blog, mainly as part of my own education to see what kinds of advertisers would show up based on my postings. I took them down after a short trial. Then I looked into the Juicebox Jungle widget (can currently be seen on my sidebar). I haven't done a lot of posting about them, but have been keeping my eye on their website to see if it has anything of interest. Really, for parenting videos, I tend to go to momversation.com, which is a site where blog-writing moms have a virtual video discussion of a topic a couple of times a week. But the latest Juicebox Jungle gig is that they've hooked up with Paper Culture eco-friendly service which addresses and mails your cards for you (birth announcements, invites etc.). The link I posted has a 30% discount for you, my many loyal readers. The sidebar links to ecards, which I have yet to check out. Since I tend to be rather lame with the mailing of birthday cards in a timely manner I am a frequent user of the ecard, and am always looking for a new source since many of the freebies are less than impressive.

In case you're worried that I'm selling out and going big-time, I'm keeping any ad-related posting to a minimum. Again, just an experiment. And so far, drum roll please, the big payout? Twenty-five cents.

Pizza with Tempeh, Peppers and Mushrooms

I must admit that I have never been a big fan of tempeh. In the rueben, yes, delicious. In most anything else, not so yummy. But as with tofu I was fairly certain the preparation is key, and, heady with the success of my rueben, I decided to venture out into another dish. There was also a component of laziness built into this scenario, in which tempeh was already in the frig and other potential protein sources to top the pizza were still at the store.

So, I sauteed the tempeh with yellow pepper, garlic, and a bunch of seasonings. It browned nicely but still looked somewhat uncooked, so I decided to look at the packaging for guidance. No instructions there, but the recipe they included had you steaming the block of tempeh for 15 minutes, which made me think perhaps further cooking was needed. So I added some water and veggie broth to the skillet, brought it to a boil and then lowered the heat and let it bubble for 10 or 15 minutes to cook off the liquid. Needed a little more oil at this point to saute the mushrooms, tossed in some olives and tomato sauce and spread the whole deal on the crust. Topped with some mozzarella and a little parm and baked it up. Turns out, when seasoned well and fully cooked, I like tempeh!