Perfect Peasant Bread

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Kerri

This is one of my favorite bread recipes.
It is delicious. It is fast. And it is flexible to what flavor you want that day.

When dinner is going to be served soon and I realize I would LOVE homemade bread with the meal, but don't have 5 more hours to make it, THIS is the recipe I turn to.
It can be done and on the table in an hour, if needs be, by skimping on the rising time and making it one loaf instead of two. But for the sake of posting the recipe, I'll give you the full directions.

Peasant Bread

Prep time: 5 min Rise Time: 20 min-2 hours Cook Time: 25 min

Ingredients:

2 1/4 tsp yeast (1 packet)
1 Tbs sugar
2 Cups warm water
2 tsp salt
4 cups flour
(oil, butter, and cornmeal)
(optional spices: rosemary, parmesan cheese, Italian Seasonings)

Directions:

1. Mix yeast, sugar, and warm water and allow it to sit for a few minutes.

2. Next add the salt and flour. With this recipe, you do NOT need to add more flour. It will be soft and sticky, I know. Mix together until all incorporated, but do not knead! Isn't that wonderful!

3. Cover and let rise until double. If you are doing a speed method and only want one loaf, skip this first rising.

4. Punch the dough down and split into 2 equal halves (or keep as one if doing the speed method). Place as a rounded mound on oiled cookie sheets, sprinkled with cornmeal. Let rise.

5. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare your bread for baking by making shallow slices in the top of the loaves, in a checker board fashion. Next spread melted butter on the top (or for an Italian taste like at Macaroni Grill, brush with butter or olive oil and sprinkle Rosemary and sea salt on top).

6. Bake for 10 minutes at 425. Then, keeping the bread in the oven, turn the temperature down to 375 degrees and cook for an additional 15 minutes. If you want, spread with more butter before serving.

Delicious! And for an ironic story. Since it makes two loaves at once, I served one for dinner the other day, and took the other to a neighbor who recently moved in. My hubby and I had a great time talking with John, and we got to talking about his most recent trip to his hometown in Ireland and onto his wealthy relatives, the original Monet and Picasso paintings that hang in their homes, and showed us pictures of the family castle still standing on an Irish bluff. Steve and I were blown away. And we all chuckled as after talking of so much wealth and royalty we handed him our homemade Peasant Bread. It was all too fitting!

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The Power of Words

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Janae

Tonight I had an epiphany. Okay, it wasn't anything new or original, but it is life-changing.

My son left for school this morning angry. When I wouldn't allow him to take a set of paint brushes to school (in obedience to a school rule), he proceeded to yell at me, using a slew of very original 7-year-old insults. All this while he was running to catch the bus. All I could do was remind him that after school he would have to have a consequence for his actions.

I entered the house, completely baffled by what that consequence should be. For this particular child, time outs and removal of privileges has never worked. Since I had 8 hours to think about it, I wanted to come up with something new. But, when 4:00 rolled around and I heard the bus go by, I still hadn't thought of the right solution. But, as he came through the door, it started coming together.

I asked him to write an essay about the power of words. He looked at me with a very baffled expression. I'm sure he was thinking, "What happened to a simple time out?" or, "Why can't you just take away the wii?" He got upset and stormed to his room, but emerged minutes later asking me to explain again what the assignment was. I explained that I wanted him to think about what name-calling and negative words could do to someone and write about it. He came up with "It makes them sad." Exactly. But, I wanted him to learn more. So, we went to the internet to research the Power of Words. When I googled the term, all sorts of things came up and we read some of them together. He read that words pierce the heart and leave a lasting impression. He read that it hurts someone's spirit more than physical pain can hurt their body. He seemed to genuinely start to understand.

But then came the epiphany. Here I was spending all my time focusing only on the behavior I didn't like. I needed to help him learn how to exchange that behavior for the behavior I wanted to see: kind words, uplifting conversations, etc.

I pulled up the following youtube video and asked him to watch it. Then, he was to finish his report on the Power of Words. Watch it. It's well worth the watch and the lesson that it teaches:

He came upstairs completely calm and easily shared with me the Power of Words in the most perfectly 7-year-old way. "Words can hurt or words can make people smile. Good words can help people who feel sad feel happy again." And he must have understood the lesson. For the rest of the evening, he was validating everyone. Jayden got praised for his efforts on the wii. My cut-up hoagies that passed as breadsticks got raving reviews. His sister was thanked for helping me with the baby.

My epiphany was this: Too often I spend too much time punishing my kids for bad behavior and not enough time teaching them how to overcome it.

I'm convinced that my son knows that name-calling and yelling at people is inappropriate. But, before today, I'm not sure I ever took the time to really teach him how to build people up or how to compliment people sincerely. It was a lesson learned for both of us.

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Posted in Challenges, Children, Discipline, Family, Janae, Relationships, The Moms | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Great Books for Your New Reader: Mo Willems

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Cheri

My daughters and I go to the library every week. And for a while, I would scour the shelves in search of great books to help my kindergartener practice her new reading skills. She needed books with simple words that were not simply Dr. Seuss Hop on Pop type books. But I couldn't find any winners.

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across my new favorite books. Every one of them is funny, easy to read, engaging, and confidence building. She can read 99% of the words on her own, understands the storyline, and is able to reflect the punctuation as she reads. And every time she gets to the end of the book, she just laughs because these books are SO funny!

Her sisters love that she will sit and read to them, and I love it too! Our very favorites are "Can I Play Too?", "I Will Surprise My Friend", and "I am Invited to a Party!". But the others are fantastic too. So if you have a new reader in your home, check out these awesome books!

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Posted in All Writers, Cheri, Learning | 1 Comment

Terry Top Winner!

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Sunny

Congratulations to

Heidi

(not the Heidi from Five Real Moms)

the winner of our Terry Top giveaway!

We will be contacting you shortly--go to TerryTop.com and pick out your color!

(chosen at random by random.org)

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Brené Brown: The Power of Vulnerability

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Sunny


"There's a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in."
--Leonard Cohen

I have been enjoying accompanying my husband on a business trip. We are at a convention-like gathering called the Crown Council Event "Where dentists unite, and give." It is an event like no other and these dental practices that are members of the Crown Council are incredible, but that's totally beside the point I'm trying to get to here.

We got to hear Brené Brown, a speaker/researcher who had some great insights about being vulnerable and what role it plays in feeling worthy of love and belonging. Like the above quote by Leonard Cohen that she shared with us, she reminded us that our imperfections are what allow us to connect with others and truly feel love.

Below is a shorter version of this talk that she gave on TEDx. It is 20 minutes long, and that may be more than you can carve out today, so I would suggest that if you have to just take a peek, cut out the beginning and start 5, 10 or 15 minutes into it. It won't be quite as powerful, and if you only get the very end it will seem cheesy without the context, so after getting a taste of it now, you may want to come back to it when you can make a little more time for yourself. (Just to warn you, there are a couple of expletives.)

I tell you, in a large room full of mostly women, we were like thirsty sponges soaking up a cool drink. I know it applies to men, too, but I suspect it speaks to women more universally (especially the self analytical type). Maybe you can enlighten me on that point, any males out there who have listened to this talk. I also wonder how these insights apply to teens, and with young people, how if differs between genders.

Some of the things I want to do better because of listening to her speak include:

How I see my children. Instead of seeing a new child as perfect, seeing them as worthy of love. Then as reality accumulates and they aren't so perfect, they are still worthy of love. Just as I, who am sooo far from perfect, am worthy of love. Isn't it odd that a newborn who is completely helpless and dependent is "perfect" and a mom who spends most of her day taking care of others can feel like a worthless failure? We often expect the wrong things.

Build my file of joy. This wasn't on the TED talk above, but she talked when I listened to her live about how we store images, both violent, destructive images and joyful images. We are not hard wired to see violent images, and they tend to jar us and stick with us. Avoid them when you can (like the media you choose). We need to have more joyful images on file to draw on especially when times are hard. This takes more deliberate effort to recognize and store in your memory moments and scenes that will lift you up when you need it.

Practice Calm. Anxiety and calm are both contagious (this is another tidbit not in the TED talk). Defuse anxiety by practicing calm: breath, ask a lot of questions ("Why do you think she did that?"), and ask yourself, "Do I have enough data to freak out?"--and if you do, will it help?

Value my "cracks" and those of others. Not only did I realize that my imperfections or "cracks" let light in, but they are also necessary to let light out. Thank goodness that we have cracks! Thankfully my spouse, children, and everyone we meet every day have cracks to let in the light, and to share the light they have inside. How could we ever understand each other without them.

I hope you will find something helpful as well. She has several books and a blog out there too, so you can look her up at the library and online.

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Posted in Challenges, Family, For You, Goals, Love, Me Time, Relationships, Sunny | Leave a comment

Teaching Kids How to Swallow Pills

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Janae

Recently, we've been faced with a new challenge: Needing to teach our son how to swallow pills. He needed to take a medication that only came in swallowable pill form. We had less than 24 hours to help him get the new pills down. Yikes!!

But, we were successful and here are a few tips to help some other parent out there faced with the same problem.

1. Buy a tube of mini m&ms. Invite your child to swallow them. When they're successful, you can move to regular sized m&ms. They'll be excited at the prospect of having their candy, plus m&ms don't taste bad if they sit in your mouth a little too long while you're practicing.

2. If, by chance, the m&ms don't work for you because your child can't resist the temptation to chew them, then try my second suggestion. It worked like a charm. Place the pill in a piece of food, such as a small piece of pancake or a spoon of applesauce or yogurt. I always told my child that it was in the food because the particular pill he had to take would have caused major havoc if he accidentally bit into it. Since I had noticed that he could swallow unnaturally large pieces of pancakes in the morning while hurrying to get off to school, I decided one day to put the pill in a small piece of pancake. Then, I asked him to swallow the piece without chewing. It worked like a charm. We did that for a few days until he felt comfortable enough to swallow the pill whole. Now, he swallows pills with no problem.

Though I hope your child doesn't need to take pills in the near future, hopefully these tricks will make it easier when they do.

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Chocolate Mousse

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Kerri

So decadent. So divine. So Easy

Ingredients

3/4 cup chocolate chips (I reccommend Ghiradelli's Double Chocolate Chips)
1 Tbs water
2 eggs, divided
1/4 tsp cream of tarter
3/4 C whipping cream
3 Tbs powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1) Melt Chocolate Chips with water in microwave until smooth (adjust water as necessary). Stir in egg yolks with a wooden spoon.

2) In a separate bowl, mix the whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla. Using electric beaters mix on high until whipped cream makes stiff peaks. Fold gently into the chocolate until well mixed.

3) In a clean and dry bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tarter until stiff. Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate.

4) Chill until ready to serve. Though always delcious, the longer it sits in the fridge the more set and spoon friendly it will be.

5) Garnish with fresh berries, mint leaves, whipped cream, or chocolate shavings.

PS...Don't miss the TerryTop Giveaway...scroll down to enter.

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Posted in All Writers, Food, Holidays, Kerri, Recipes, The Moms, Valentine's Day | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Terry Top Giveaway–deadline extended

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Sunny

Did you see our post about the Terry Top?

Did you put your name in for the free giveaway by making a comment to the post?

We've extended the deadline until

***Midnight, Monday, February 20th, 2012***

to accommodate all those too busy with Valentine's Day and life in general to have gotten to it yet.

Check it out by going to this link.

Results will be announced in our post Tuesday, February 21st. Good luck!

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Free Give Away
Terry Top — A Towel your Hair will Love

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Heidi

Raise your hand if this is your post-shower routine: You grab the closest towel off the rack and after drying off your body, flip your hair upside down, wrap the towel around your hair, and let it balance precariously up there until you're ready for "Hair Time".

"Hair-time"? Oh, that comes after nursing your baby, bending over to pick up toys, making a meal, getting dressed, doing your makeup...while constantly battling that terrible towel bouffant atop your head. It falls off a dozen times, pulls your hair, weighs a ton, and drives you nuts every morning!

Perhaps you even give up on your twisted terrycloth turban before "hair time" just to find that your hair dries too much to be able to style it. So up it goes in a pony tail, or, if you're drastic like Janae or Heidi, you say, to heck with the whole thing just cut all your hair off

Introducing Terry Top, and their stylish "hair towel". It's simply a thick, absorbant terrycloth tube with wide elastics on either end. After your shower, you put it on over your face then slide it back to cover your hair.

Terry Top Hair Towel
Terry Top -- the towel for your hair

Terry Top asked each of us to give a review on their "hair towel" and (here's the best part) give one away to one of our readers! All you got to do is post a comment on this post and you are entered into a chance to win.

So here goes!

Quality

Janae: "As for quality, it is very well made. I find the stitching to be strong and secure. The elastic is strong. The towel is soft and very water absorbent. Have you ever bought a towel thinking it was so soft and fluffy only to find out that it wipes the water around rather than soaking it up? Not so with this towel. It does the job and does it well. For quality, I would give it 5 stars."

Sunny: "There are two different fabrics -- one is print and one is a solid color. The print is thinner and velvety soft on the outside, with the terry cloth on the inside. The solid color is terry on both sides. They were both just as effective."

Cheri: "After a use or two, the Terry Top softens up. It holds back my hair perfectly and is so lightweight that I hardly notice it is there."

Usefulness

Sunny: "If you’ve ever done the head band thing while you wash your face and had to keep your chin up so your hair doesn’t fall over the head band and stick to your wet face, you’ll appreciate using a Terry Top instead. It holds your hair way back without having to put it up."

Kerri: "AMAZINGLY convenient for a mom with small kids. If you have a nursing baby, this stays put if you have to nurse before doing your hair...or dress kids, or make breakfast, or...EVERYTHING we do before we get to our own needs."

Cheri: "My favorite part is that after those typical 30 minutes between my shower and doing my hair, my hair stays wet enough to style."

Heidi: "Okay, here's why I think every mother with a daughter ought to have a Terry Top: As my seven year old daughter stepped out of the shower the other day, her hair created a small rainshower, forming a puddle on the bathroom floor.

Have you ever tried to wrap a towel atop a small child's head? For kicks and giggles, try it - it's a terrycloth disaster! Hair gets pulled and the thing topples back and forth like a tall tower of Jenga until finally falling limp on the bathroom floor.

Horray for the Terry Top! No more small rivers between the bathroom and bedroom! No more wet hair in the cold air! No more shirts soaked through by undried hair! No more toppling turbans!"

Besides, doesn't she look so cute?!


The Terry Top

Coolness Factor

Kerri: "Less broken or pulled out hair from the Twisted TerryCloth Turban -- way cool."

Heidi: "Not slipping on puddles left from my daughter's wet hair and landing flat on my back in the middle of the hallway -- awesome."

Janae: "Cleaning my face and hair with a *clean and fresh* towel instead of a body towel that's been hanging on the rack with who-knows-what on it (ew - it could even be day-old bum scum!) -totally tubular"

Alright, Mommas, is it going to be this...


The Twisted TerryCloth Turban
*yikes!*

...Or this?


Terry Top Diva

Post your comment by Midnight, Monday, February 20th for your chance to win a Terry Top for FREE! (your email will be kept confidential and used for the purpose of this giveaway, only.)

Comment once for one entry.
Post it on your blog with a link to this page for another entry.
Link to this page on facebook for another entry.
Pin this product on pinterest for another entry.

You must admit
that's pretty awesome!

Or go to terrytop.com and get one now!

To read our full reviews, click on a real mom image below now:
Janae, Heidi, Kerri, Cheri, & Sunny

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Posted in All Writers, Cheri, Christmas, For You, Gift Ideas, Heidi, Janae, Kerri, Life is Better With..., Money Saving Tips, Sunny, The Moms | 20 Comments

Civil Duties

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Cheri

I am ashamed to admit this. I did not vote last night in the Republican Primaries. I wanted to, but I didn't. Why? Because I am not registered to vote. At least not in our new city. Sure, we moved here 6 months ago, but since we did not change our driver's licenses, we've never taken the opportunity to register in our new city. When we found out voting day was approaching much faster than we expected (since we never watch the news), we didn't have time to get registered. Sure, we could have gone to our Caucus and filled out one of those special things. But we didn't. Yes, voting started after the kids were in bed. Yes, in the end it didn't matter because our candidate lost in our state by a HUGE margin. But still. It is my civil duty and RIGHT to vote. And I didn't. So, to all you who are in the same boat as me, please register. Please make sure your information is up to date. Please vote when it is your state's turn to vote. We cannot afford to stand idly by. If you're wondering when your state's voting day is, see this link.

Republican Party Primary 2012 Election Schedule

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Posted in All Writers, Cheri, For You, Holidays, Proud to be an American, The Moms | 1 Comment