‘Project 365’ Articles at Sweetnicks, Page 2

Weekend Photos in Review

February 15, 2010 · Narrative

Too tired to put this batch of pictures in chronological order, but all from the weekend. Madeline’s Birthday Week has come to its official close, and we capped off the weekend celebrating Valentine’s Day, my sister’s birthday and Chinese New Year in one fell swoop. Hope your weekend was just as wonderful – enjoy!

I heart seeing all the fun Valentines the kids come home from school with. Nothing like a little box filled with love.

We’ve celebrated Valentine’s Day in our family for as long as I can remember. Not a go-all-out thing, just small tokens of love. My Dad always gave my sister and I small gifts for Valentine’s Day, along with a card, and I love that.

(cupcakes for my sister’s birthday – happy birthday!)

Pint Sized …

Letter to My Daughter – Happy Second Birthday!

February 11, 2010 · Narrative

One day old

Dear Madeline,

Oh those chubby little cheeks! Even though you’ve been with us for two years now, I’m still tickled when I say “my daughter.” Heck, your brother has been with us for nearly 8 years, and I’m still tickled to say “my son.” That feeling never changes, and I love it.

I can hardly believe you turn two today! And rest assured, I will be saying this for every birthday you and your brother have for the rest of your life, so you might have to get used to it. I still remember vividly the day you were born. As soon as the doctor held you up, I burst into tears and kept saying “thank you, thank you, thank you” over and over and over again. I was so happy to see you and as much as I love being pregnant, yours was a bit of an emotional one and I was elated to have it over so I could breathe again. In more ways than one.

This last year, it has been such fun to watch you really grow into your personality. You may be a little peanut, but your personality is anything but. You are fearless, thoroughly impish, fiercely independent, and full of happiness and sunshine.

Your vocabulary is fast and furious, and, although you get mad sometimes, I’m still working on decoding some Madeline-speak. You say coo-gee for “excuse me,” milk used to be milt and put-put is pretzel. You learned to say thank you a few weeks before Halloween and darn it if you didn’t say thank you to every single person that gave you candy when we went trick or treating. Love the manners! The past week or two, you have loved saying the word hug and giving them. “Hug ME!” “Hug Nick!” Hug Mommy!” Unfortunately you’ve been waking up in the middle of the night, asking for hugs. You have a little crush on one of the boys in carpool and say “Hug, Mac!” every time you know we’re going to pick the kids up from school. When I come into your room in the morning, you usually say “morning,” a great start to any day. If it’s not “morning,” it’s “eat!” My kid, through and through.

Four days old, first Valentine’s Day

You need a stuffed animal intervention, just like your brother. I told Gigi that she could go through your collection and pull out anything that wasn’t a dog, cat, cow or monkey and that we would donate them. She laughed and told me that applied to some 95% of what you had! We have frequent conversations about which puppy needs to go for a ride in the car, which kitty needs nap time, which puppy needs medicine, and believe me, others might not think there are differences between puppy 1, 2 or 3, but there are and I’ll pay the price for fetching the wrong one.

An old friend who knew has known me since I was 12 said that you are like my “cursed child.” I didn’t know what he meant at first, but he said it’s the child that is payback for how I was when I was a kid. If that is the case, the teen years are going to be fun.

You freely blows kisses to everyone, and I do mean everyone. The gas station attendant. The cashier at Staples. Cars in the pick-up line at your brother’s school, and me when I put you to bed.

One Week Old

Your favorite books are Goodnight Moon and Good Morning, Farm. Goodnight Moon was your brother’s favorite book when he was your age too, and I love that we’re reading from the same copy I read to him.

Like Nick, you don’t “do baby.” There was no rocking once you learned how to protest and wriggle free, but you show affection in different ways. This afternoon, you kept running up to Nick and throwing your little arms around his neck to give him a big fat hug. And then running back for kisses. He was loving it.

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Inside the Sweetnicks’ Mailbag

February 8, 2010 · Narrative

When there are questions in the comment section of posts, or in my e-mail box, I try and answer them right away, but I get distracted easily. It happens to the best of us. Forgive me! So I thought I’d tie up some loose ends and answer some of the recent questions here, and share a little Sweetnicks’ link love to boot. Here we go.

Where did you get the curtains in your living room?
I received that question a few times after I included a picture here, and given how hard it is to find the right curtain, I totally understand. I’m still on the hunt for the right curtains for the office and playroom and, at this point, it might just have to come from making bed sheets into curtains, one of my favorite tricks that my Mom taught me. Ok, so the living room curtains came from Bed, Bath & Beyond. The line is called Paris, and the color is Oyster. I love the pinched pleated top, making them look really rich and lush, without the matching price tag. Because the living room and dining room are next to each other, and open to each other, I wanted to find a curtain that would work in both rooms. I needed a total of ten panels, and once I found the curtains, I collected a handful of Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons so I could use one on each panel. This is the direct link to the curtains online.

Where did you get Madeline’s tutu from her first birthday?
Wow, she looks soooo different in those pictures, doesn’t she?! Baldy! I love that tutu, and right now, it’s hanging in her bedroom. I found it on Etsy. That one I bought from this seller, Trinity’s Tutus; I loved her pictures, and she was very easy to work with, customizing a few things on the tutu for me along the way. If you do a search for tutus on Etsy, there are tons of other great sellers too though – almost too many to choose from; I had a hard time narrowing it down!

How many cookbooks do you have, and what do you do with them when you don’t want them anymore?
I used to have a crazy amount of cookbooks, but every time we move, I try to whittle down the collection a bit more. Hopefully there are no more moves (knock wood!) – I’m staying put! On the last move in August, I thought long and hard about each cookbook I put into a box. I only wanted ones that I loved or really would use. I don’t just want to collect them just to collect them, you know? I’ve got my collection down to four bookcases now, and it’s much more manageable. My clippings, on the other hand, is a work in progress. As far as what I do with them when I don’t want them any more, it runs the gamut. I sell some on eBay, Craig’s List and Cash4Books.net. I also donate a bunch to a local hospital that has a used bookstore, and also to our local Freecycle chapter.

What is your favorite recipe?
Oh my gosh, that’s like picking a favorite child, I couldn’t possibly. And equally important, tastes change. I couldn’t pick a favorite overall. I mean, maybe a favorite recipe in each category. Maybe. The recipes on my OMG list are still pretty much my OMGs, but lately I’ve been trying to make an even bigger effort in making more new recipes than repeating old ones. I still, of course, have a cache of recipes that I do repeat, but also trying to mix it up a bit with new ones as well. When we entertain, I usually have a few tried-and-true recipes and some new ones. A nice mix, that way if the new ones bomb, we’re still covered.

What blogs do you regularly read?
My bookmark list is all over the place. I have a short list of food blogs that I regularly go to, and a much longer list of ones that I pop in on sporadically. When I first started food blogging, there was a large group of us, but it was still small enough that I felt like I knew them all or had visited their blogs. Now, flash forward nearly five years later, there are so many, it’s seriously hard to keep up. But amongst my regular reads list, I also read a bunch of photography blogs (like Ashley Ann and Karen Russell), decorating blogs (like Apartment Therapy and Ohdeedoh), crafting blogs (like Joy’s Hope) and more all-purpose blogs (like Meg’s and Darby’s)….

Weekend Photos in Review

February 7, 2010 · Photos

(although I know she loves spaghetti, we certainly pay for it in clean up)

(apparently toys are no longer needed in our household; the box that Eli’s dog food came in will do just fine.)

I have a short list of things I worry about. Well, perhaps it’s not especially short, but that’s besides the point. Most of the things I worry about are things that I can’t control. Comes with the territory of being somewhat of a control freak, I guess. One of the things that weighs on my mind lately that I can control are pictures. I am usually the one behind the camera. I think it’s that way with a lot of moms. It’s not just me. Always grabbing for it and getting the shot. Documenting memories. And moments. Big ones. Small ones. And I worry that when I’m gone that my kids will look through albums and say, “Hey, where’s mom?” Not keep-me-up-at-night worry, just something that has started to nag at me a bit, particularly since I got separated. I also read a powerful blog post last year about Aleida’s Challenge, and that certainly spoke to what I worried about. (You can see the Flickr group for it here, and scroll down to the bottom half of the page to read what it’s about. It made me cry the first time {though commercials sometimes make me cry too}, so consider yourself forewarned. So one of my goals this year was to make an effort to hand over the camera sometimes. To be in on the action in another way. So that being said, I handed over my camera today.

Although Madeline‘s birthday isn’t until Thursday, today begins “Birthday Week,” and we had a party with family. I seriously had to take a deep breath to really relinquish camera control, and I think I only took maybe 10 shots myself. The bulk of what’s below were taken by Nick, with a few from my sister and Payton as well. A lot of pressure to hand over the camera for the first time at my daughter’s birthday party, but I did it. I gave Nick some general direction of what to make sure to take pictures of it, and I swear I only checked the camera ~~a few~~ thirteen or so times to make sure there were some good ones there. When I got my camera back at the end of the day, there were 171 pictures on it, so I’m going to spare you the endless pictures of the dog … and Barbie dolls … and things that I can’t figure out what they’re pictures of, even though they’re in my house.

(I asked Nick what PM meant. “Princess Madeline.” But of course.)

(My sister has been putting potato chips in her sandwiches for as long as I can remember. Some things never change.)

(When planning the menu for today, I asked Maddie if she wanted cupcakes or cake. She chose cupcakes. And then went on to choose the color of both the cake and the frosting as well. “Yellyow” frosting and hot pink cupcakes it was. She done good.)

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How Old is Too Old?

February 2, 2010 · Narrative

It’s always interesting to see where conversations lead. Gather a bunch of different personalities (or even similar ones) in the same room, set a relaxing vibe with good food, and let the topics lead where they may. Even without the presence of alcohol. Sometimes especially so. Tonight was one of those nights, and one of the topics that came up amongst friends was How Old is Too Old? Our opinions for how old is too old to get a tattoo, nose piercing or belly ring definitely varied, and that leads me to you.

We’d love to know what you think to settle some of our friendly debates from tonight. I think *some* of us might be off base. Perhaps it’s me though. I’ve never claimed to have my finger on the pulse of what’s socially acceptable or age-appropriate, but I also don’t think you shouldn’t do some things because someone thinks that you’re too old. Sure, there are some things that we are too old for (that side ponytail that might have been hip in the 80s won’t exactly work on my nearly 40-year-old head), but there are some things that I think you should be able to do if you want to. Feel free to add your own comment, or just take the survey (only three questions), or if you’re all about the food, then come back tomorrow, when the heaviest topic will be a new recipe for Buffalo Chicken Dip, perfect timing to hit your Super Bowl Game Day table.

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January 2010 Recipe Round-Up

February 1, 2010 · Narrative, Project 365

A few years ago, when I started Sweetnicks (can you believe next month it will be five years?!), I did a monthly recipe round-up, listing all the new recipes I made during the month. I liked it because it was a quick trip down Memory Lane, recalling some new favorites and new duds, and after seeing the list every month, I felt I was making a good dent in my to-try recipe pile. Truth be told, I could probably make 30 new recipes every day from now until the day I die, and I won’t make a dent, so it’s purely a mind trick, but humor me.

One of my small goals this year was to start doing the monthly round-up again, so here we are. It’s fun to go back and see where our taste buds have taken us; I definitely quickly forget some of the recipes. Yes, even just a few short weeks later. All of the below were new recipes we tried in January. Some you haven’t seen here yet. Some of those you will, some you won’t (they just don’t make the cut).

Booze Battered Shrimp – hands down, my favorite recipe from the month.
Oatmeal Toffee Cookies – quick and easy cookies from Tasty Treasures that were liked by all.
Three Herb Chicken Drumsticks – a Weight Watchers recipe that Nick and Gigi made recently for dinner. Easy peasy, and coming here soon.
Gorgonzola Burgers with Cucumber Sauce – my number three favorite recipe from January. Loved the sauce and used it for many things after.
Extra-Special Chocolate Chip Cookies – from Woman’s World magazine, the surprise addition of potato chips made this a favorite with Gigi, and pretty much anyone else who ate them.
Oatmeal Carmelitas – made yesterday for two platters. Old recipe from Pillsbury, coming soon here.
Charmin’ Cherry Bars – see above.
Five Minute Lentil Soup – Definite soup weather here lately, this one comes from Martha Stewart, and you’ll see it here this week.
One Bowl Easiest Ever Brownies – recipe from Tasty Treasures. Just didn’t do it for us.
Sicilian Lentil Soup – made this one last week. Easy and makes a ton, so perfect for freezing for one batch servings to grab and go. Coming here soon.
Turkey Piccata – full of flavor and super simple to make. Guilt-free.
Bleu Cheese Onions – this was last week from Taste of Home and will be making many more appearances in our house. So very good.
Not Your Mama’s Green Bean Casserole – loved, loved, loved this one. This was a fight for the #2 spot of favorite recipe this month, barely edging out the Gorgonzola Burgers.
Artichoke Bread – a fun starter that was gobbled up even by those who don’t like artichokes. ‘Nuff said.
Broccoli Pie – recipe from Stacey’s Snacks; a great thing to make in the beginning of the week and have for lunch all week long. Perfect recipe to change up based upon your family’s preferences.
Meatloaf from Martha. I know the world is strongly divided into “hate it” and “love it,” but since I’m firmly in the “love it” camp, I was happy with this one. Coming here soon.
Truck Stop Potatoes. They looked good. They sounded good. But the love affair ended there.

So that was our January. Can’t wait to see what February brings to our tastebuds. What about you? New favorite recipes from last month? Would love to hear about it!
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Weekend Photos in Review

January 31, 2010 · Photos, Project 365

Just a quick note before the pictures … if you tried to visit Sweetnicks Thursday night or any time Friday and got a scary “Forbidden Access” message, sorry! Apparently there were just too many visitors, which is a good problem to have, but we’re doing some behind-the-scenes administrative stuff to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Speaking of which, if you happen to have your own website, on a dedicated server, and are happy with the company, would love a referral, because we’re going to be making that move this week. Thanks in advance. On with the show…

Saw It’s Complicated Saturday night. Many great laugh-out-loud moments throughout, loved it. Good for the soul. My soul. John Krasinski (from The Office) might have stolen the show which, considering it stars the luminous Meryl Streep, is quite a feat!

The good news is that this is all clean.

The bad news is that ~~someone~~ I need to put it all away.

When The Star-Ledger needs a freelance editor, I am available. Seriously, this is the headline:

What You Need to Know About Tonight’s Grammy’s. In Sunday

What the heck does that even mean? Hello? Proofreading?

Nick is a champ at spelling, and always goes for the bonus, extra point words to boot.

Math is one of the subjects Nick is working on raising his grade in, so when he brought this home on Friday, he raced to put it on the fridge. So proud!

Birthday Menu …

Recipe: Bleu Cheese Onions

January 28, 2010 · Narrative

Whoever said that a picture is worth a thousand words knew what they were talking about. When I spied the picture for the Bleu Cheese Onions in a special magazine from Taste of Home, Prize Winning Recipes, I was in. In enough that I forked over ten bucks for the magazine. I love all the side items that go with a good steak, and onions are no exception. But put bleu cheese with it? And make it an easy recipe that I can just throw in the oven and let it do its thing? I am so there.

We had company for dinner tonight, and once I got my mind wrapped around this recipe, the rest of the meal was planned from there. Rib Eye steak? Check. Sicilian Lentil Soup to start? Check. Side plate of steamed broccoli? Check. But forget about all those other things (lentil soup recipe coming next week … a mere 120 calories per serving) … let’s talk about those onions. Usually when you think of onions with steak, it’s the caramelized version, which are excellent in their own right, but, let’s face it, they can be time-consuming and need a bit of stir-stir-stir babysitting. These? Five minutes to put together, and then bake for 20 minutes. The perfect accompaniment to your next steak dinner … bringing steakhouse cuisine right to your dining room table, one bite at a time.

Project 365
January 28, 2010, Photo #28

If this is what 23-1/2 months look like, I’m pretty sure I’m in trouble when she hits those teen years.

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Recipe: Turkey Piccata

January 26, 2010 · Narrative

I was all set to tell you about a comfort food dish that we had last week, but that is being pre-empted after a bite of tonight’s dinner. Turkey Piccata … 10 minutes to make, 4 grams of fat and full-on flavor. What more could you want? One pan, one serving dish, basic ingredients and restaurant-quality deliciousness that you don’t have to feel guilty abou

While I was pulling out the ingredients tonight and starting to cook, Madeline kept bringing over the container of grape tomatoes, one of her favorite things. She would hand it to me, thump her chest and say “Me!” I gave her one and she scurried away. Minutes later, she was back. “Moy! Moy!” (Madeline-speak for more). She ended up eating half the container before it even made it into the dish.

As soon as I set the meal down on the table, Nick eyed it suspiciously. “What is this?” he asked, pointing to the capers.

“They’re capers. Try them. You might like them. If you don’t, just push them to the side.”

He asked about the meat. “Turkey. You like turkey. It’s like chicken. It’s fine.”

“I want leftovers,” he pleaded. “Banana pancakes.”

“No, this is dinner. You have to at least try it.”

I left him alone and concentrated on cutting up Madeline’s meat. Once he was done whining and had picked off the shallots and capers, he actually ate his whole piece. Go figure. The pan-roasted tomatoes were a little bit of a challenge, but we settled on two pieces.

Whether you’re looking for a crazyfast weeknight meal, or something new to serve to company, this could be the one for you. Light, packed with flavor and super simple to make.

Project 365
January 26, 2010, Photo #26

Every weekday morning, nearly without exception, Madeline has the same breakfast. Multi-grain Cheerios. A bowl and a half. She is adamant about doing it all herself, so I’ve found a shallow bowl and a big spoon is the key to the least amount of milk on the floor and Cheerios on the table….

Weekend Photos in Review

January 24, 2010 · Narrative

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Recipe: Not Your Mama’s Green Bean Casserole

January 21, 2010 · Narrative

Timing is a funny thing. It seems like you meet important people in your life when the time is right. At a time when they need you. Or you need them. Such is the case with the kids’ babysitter. She started babysitting them a few months before The Husband left, and with me working full-time, the extra help came at an opportune time, allowing me to keep Madeline at home (although she does go to daycare once a week) and have an extra pair of hands when I need it. For her, she doesn’t have family nearby, and I know we fill that void for her. She often calls herself my other daughter, and unfortunately doing the math, that’s actually possible (just barely!), even though she turns 24 at the end of the month. She comes over for dinner at least once a week, off the clock, just because. Because she truly loves the kids and wants to hang out with us. She helped me paint the ceiling last weekend, but managed to swallow less paint than I did, just because, off the clock. What can I say? We’re a fun bunch. That and the cooking’s not so bad either.

I tease her about her lack of musical knowledge (“U2?! You’ve never heard of U2?!” And then she reminds me she was barely born (“Bon Jovi? Seriously, not even Bon Jovi?!”) and listen to her boyfriend woes. We test her on math terms, listen to her presentations for student teaching and make her try Pani Puri, artichokes, and Portobello mushrooms.

Over the past year, she’s been trying to get Madeline to say her name, and Madeline refused. I think, honestly, she was just playing with her. Her name is Jamie, and Madeline says juice perfectly, so it’s not an issue with the letter J. She says “me” just fine. New people would come over, and Madeline would say their name perfectly, right away, without hesitation. Finally, on Christmas Eve, she said her name. Well, kind of. She called her Gigi. And so it was. She couldn’t have been more thrilled, a perfect present, and now both kids call her Gigi. She’s been with us over a year now and truly is a part of our family.

Last week she asked if we could make Green Bean Casserole. “But with fresh green beans,” she requested. I made a mental note to keep an eye out for recipes, as I wanted to steer clear of the kind of traditional Green Bean Casserole we all grew up with. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, I just wanted to find a more updated and different version. The next day I did.

We planned to have it tonight, and she and Nick made it this afternoon after he was done with his homework. While she chopped and stirred, he gathered ingredients and measured. When it was baking, he took her flash cards and tested her on a test she has on Saturday, learning new words himself like linear, perpendicular, and vertex. She returned the favor, testing him on words for his spelling test tomorrow.

Along with the casserole, they added this dish as the main course, using up ingredients we already had on hand. I love the roasted sausages in this recipe, and sausages for the kids are usually a home run. Madeline took one bite tonight, however, and decided it was more fun to play with her place mat.

While they were making the Green Bean Casserole earlier, I wandered into the kitchen, drawn by the amazing smell. OMG, the smell is enough to lure you, if the taste doesn’t. Garlic. Mushrooms. Shallots. Purely divine.

The taste? You just might never have that other green bean casserole again. The crispy shallots on the top replaced the ones from the can that you’re familiar with. The mushrooms throughout the recipe really make the dish, giving it a rich background that you will swoon over. The green beans, the fresh ones she wanted, retain their crispness in this recipe, quickly making the mushy canned ones a very distant memory. Like green beans? Like that old-school casserole? Make this one. You won’t be sorry. And my green-bean-hating kids even approved.

Project 365
January 21, 2010, Photo #21

After dinner, we played two games of Chutes and Ladders. Apparently I’ve never played before. How did I miss that? Apparently I’m also terrible at the game since I lost both times. I was having trouble figuring out the concept with the slides and ladders. Clearly a long day and I was distracted. If nothing else, I served as great entertainment for my seven-year-old. My job was done.

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Wordless Wednesday

January 20, 2010 · Wordless Wednesday

“I’m sorry, honey, you can’t have cookies. You haven’t even had breakfast yet!”

“I know you’re upset, but you can’t. Maybe you can have one with your lunch?”

“Yes, I know where they are, and I know exactly which one you want, but I’m sorry, no, not now.”

“The funny faces aren’t going to work, Maddie.”

A moment of silence while we come up with Plan B.

“I’m glad you’re feeling a bit better. A little later, I promise.”

There, there, the fingers make everything better.

A momentary lapse as the memory of the cookie comes rushing back.

No almost-two-year-olds were harmed in the taking of these pictures. I’m certain that when she’s a teenager, I might regret posting these, but in the meantime, while I still retain control, all bets are off. My little drama queen. Minutes later, still without said cookie, she was throwing her arms around me, “Hug, Mommy, Hug!” and all was forgiven….