You Just Never Know

Christian is definitely a finicky eater, but I've always counted my blessings in the fact that he likes many kinds of fruits and vegetables.  Lately however, he's been rejecting anything with skin, like grapes, peppers, and unpeeled apples.  He used to love all three of these things, so I've really been at a loss as to what to put in his lunch.  I mean, how many days in a row can the kid eat PBJ, a banana, chips and yogurt for lunch?  Anything else I put in his lunch goes untouched.  My goal is to go for high protein lunches with lots of fruit and vegetables and less sugar and refined carbs.  This has been working great with Ehren and Anna, but now that Christian is on strike against every plant product with skin, I'm at a loss.  Did I also mention that he has never eaten tomatoes, carrots, celery, raisins or craisins?  The other day, I had a little talk with him: "Christian, you know your body needs fruits and vegetables.  What can I put in your lunch besides bananas?"  His answer was "How about peas?"

He wanted the bagged sugar snap peas they sell at Costco.  So Friday night after work, I stopped at Costco for peas and some other groceries.  I also brought home a hot pizza.  When I got home, I thought the kids would be so excited about the pizza, but as I unpacked the groceries from Costco, they spied the bag of sugar snap peas.  Almost all together, they yelled, "PEAS!" and lunged for them like they were a hot fudge sundae.  Somebody asked in a desperate tone, "Mom, can we have some?"  When I casually told them "sure," they all started tearing at the bag grabbing handfuls of peas. They left the pizza sitting unopened on the table and even passed up a carton of fresh raspberries. Apparently they've really been missing Costco peas for the last five months while we've been eating out of the garden.

Almond Poppy Seed Muffins

I'm definitely in fall cleaning mode, even in the pantry.  So, in an attempt to use up the poppy seeds my Czech au pair Bara bought last year {for one of her many delicious Czech cooking projects}, the kids and I made almond poppy seed muffins.

I'm not an expert baker, but these were pretty tasty.

I had to make two versions, some with almonds on top, as shown above, and some with sugar on top, because my kids turn their noses up at the only nutritious part of the these muffins, the raw almonds on the top.

Almond Poppy Seed Muffins

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
2 teaspoons almond extract
sugar or raw almonds to sprinkle on top (optional)

Directions:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Mix all ingredients until just blended.  Line a muffin tin with paper liners or butter and flour each muffin cup.  Spoon batter into muffin cups.  Sprinkle the muffin tops with sugar or raw almonds.  Bake for 20-24 minutes.  Makes 12 jumbo muffins, 18 medium muffins, or 3 pans of mini muffins. 

227 Jalapenos!

227 jalapenos picked and roasted from one plant!

You Know It's Fall When...

You glimpse kids hugging pumpkins

or picking apples

or ooohhhing and aaahhhing over a perfect find

or devouring that just-picked apple with gusto!

Since we still don't have any fruit trees of our own, Anna and I did a little "apple research" at a local orchard.  Hope you're enjoying a beautiful fall day too!