One of Carolyn's biggest concerns about living in a hotel was that we could do no baking. No oven, just a two-burner stove top. But today her mind was blown when I introduced her to the beauty of the no-bake cookie!

Of course, we had to overcome the challenge of limited hotel-supplied utensils and cookware. Luckily the non-stick pot fit all the ingredients, and since we had no cookie sheet we had to lay the parchment paper directly on the bottom shelf of the fridge and drop them directly into the fridge... which got the job done!

I love our tiny space, and I love showing the girls that we can be innovative even if we don't have every supply we are used to.

I do not, on the other hand, love the hat Carolyn insists on wearing. It may find its way to the bottom of a deep drawer (cough *trash* cough) very soon. That child is her own person, and I love her for it!

Pot lucks often mean meat loaf and potato bake. If the Schultz Party is involved you can also bet on pigs in a blanket, cause that's how we roll. And we rolled tonight, over and over, and all the children in attendance were surely grateful, and some of the adults too.

Enchanted Forest has become a Halloween Tradition that my girls will be sure to remember. My Aunt is the hostest-with-the-mostest treating us to white chocolate bones, cinnamon ghost chips, string cheese fingers and mummy dogs. We feast on chili and sides before heading off to the Parks and Recreation "Enchanted Forest" which involves waiting in line for an hour and a half and then walking through the woods to watch adorable 2-minute plays acted out by storybook characters. The line waiting is the best. Seriously. (Not seriously, my back is still killing me and Carolyn sat in goose poop, but I got to spend time with some cool people, including Waldo, so that made it all work out in the end).
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And by "Tradition" I mean this:
2007
2008
2009

I picked up Ellie Krieger's book "So Easy" on clearance the other day, and of all the clearance finds I've picked up in my life, this might be the absolute best. We've already enjoyed a delicious, healthy (and affordable dinner) as well as this Blueberry Almond French Toast Bake that was likewise delicious. I highly recommend this cookbook, its truly easy, affordable and so far its very yummy, too!

When someone goes to the trouble of mailing frappe coupons to me in a sweet card - I know I have made myself exceedingly clear about my love of frappucinos, and I know my friends ROCK.

Taking photos isn't the only thing he's good at! Dinner was served with a smile. He even made his own homemade barbecue sauce to go along with it. It was a very yummy meal indeed. Then he and the girls were off to dance to rehearse the "Father-Daughter" routine for the upcoming recital - earning him an extra 1 million brownie points in my book.

This is what dinner looks like when its cold outside and the cupboards are bare. I asked B to do his best to come up with something so we didn't have to go out in the cold and spend more money on yet another meal (they just keep coming don't they???) I came home to fried potatoes, peas and spinach salad - we didn't have mandarin oranges to top the salad but apples substituted nicely. We wrapped up with a pot of hot Jasmine tea straight from his visit to China (bottom left are the little beads of tea leaves, really amazing stuff, very soothing). Dinner was free. Dinner was delicious. Dinner was perfect.

Hope your Thanksgiving was fabulous.

(Learn how to make the pilgrim hats here)

(See more photos here)

J: [screaching as we walk down the cereal aisle] STOP! Mommy! Stop!!! Hannah-Tan-Tanna!!!

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Did I buy it? You know I did.

We've been trying to do with a little less meat.

Kind of for our health, kind of for our environment, kind of for our souls.

No legalism necessary, just a little extra effort a few nights a week.

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So far pancakes are the cheapest and easiest option (not exactly healthiest).

And we've been exploring other options as well:

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Monday it was Roasted Cauliflower and Pasta

with lots of bread and dipping oil.

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Tuesday is was Tomato Basil Soup

with oyster crackers and cheesy bread.

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Tonight my mother-in-law made Burritos

and that was delicious, too!

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And out of the mouth of my babes:

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- As B was just taking off his shirt..."Look Mommy! Daddy is fuzzy!"

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- Describing Grandpa's trampoline..."I jumped on Grandpa's jump-oline!"

Before we left on our road trip Saturday morning,
we hosted Grandpa for a birthday breakfast.

What better way to start a birthday than breakfast with three princesses?

What better way to start a roadtrip than a big plate of biscuits and gravy?

Sometimes B takes good pictures. And sometimes he takes GREAT pictures.

This would be cornbread batter she is licking,

I guess it could be considered an addendum to yesterday's post.

Sometimes I like to make pancakes for dinner.

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Tonight I felt guilty (and nervous) about the massive amounts of sugar in the traditional syrup I normally float my pancakes in.

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So, I made THIS blueberry sauce that was one of the easiest recipes ever and got two happy thumbs up from the handsome one.

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In other news, the granola bars have received rave reviews - here's the link in case you missed those as well. They're moderately easy, too, but seriously my kids could make the blueberry sauce...it was that simple.

I'm on a kick, and with the possibility of severe abdominal pain looming, the kick might actually be permanent-ish. Here's a synopsis (since part of my kick is getting better sleep, too):

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- Reading this book called Food as Medicine and wishing I could download every bit of knowledge into my brain like Neo on the Matrix

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- Finding the food tips extremely helpful on this site appropriately named GallbladderAttack.com

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- Wishing I could live ten lives, because in one of them I would attend this college and become a healer (maybe some night when I can't sleep I will elaborate on what I would do with the remaining eight lives if you're lucky)

I guess the lack of a/c mixed with the early morning sun told the girls that it was time to rise and shine at 6:30 this morning. They 'shone' in the living room as they lined every doll they own on the couch, perhaps to play school or doctor or princess - the top three as of late (with 'doctor getting baby out of tummies' being #1 by far). Princess was probably the game of the day, as every ball gown in the house is strewn at this very minute around my living room.

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My handsome (you like that nickname? I think it's kind of sweet) and I were in a summer dessert mode and made homemade ice cream sandwiches (huge bust) and homemade strawberry ice cream (huge hit). I used the recipe my Grandma wrote out for me last summer, her homemade ice cream always amazed me, and I added macerated strawberries (which sound like berries tortured in indescribably ways, but in fact just means I cut them up and put sugar over them to sit for a day in the fridge).

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The ice cream was too good not to share, so we took a small container over to my Grandpa. Julia made him laugh, but the verdict is still out on the ice cream.

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