Preparing For Pesach

Even though we are fortunate enough to go away for the entire Pesach, I still have a ton to do to prepare! I know that I’d have to do a whole lot more if I were making Pesach myself, but with working full-time, I have to be really organized about getting things done. So, here are the things I'll have to do:

1. Clean out both cars.  They are covered in cheerios and other types of chometz crumbs, so this is a real must. Plus, we will be using our cars over Pesach, so it becomes a double must. We were debating whether or not we’d be using both cars, but if we don’t clean them out now, we’ll never do it, so both cars are on the list.
2. Buy some kosher l’Pesach cereal/snacks. If we’re cleaning the cars on Sunday, that leaves too much time before Yom Tov not to have a back-up. Sometimes the boys like to eat on the way to school, so at least I wouldn’t have to clean the cars again.
3. Buy sippy cups. DS1 is good with a small cup, but DS2, not so good. To avoid having to change two very wet boys, we’re investing in more sippy cups. This will be pretty cheap, since I plan on buying something like this. And maybe two that don’t leak.  While I'm at it, I think I'll buy new pacifiers too... If we want to get any sleep, it's probably worth the investment.  Plus I know I'll regret it if I don't.
4. Pack.  This will take a while, since I feel like I’ll have to pack everything.  I'm not sure when I'll start, but I guess the first step would be to tweak the packing list I used last year.  No need for all the nursing supplies anymore...

That's my list for now.  Aside from the usual, how do you prepare for Pesach?

I Miss Sleeping Late!

Back in the good 'ol days I used to sleep late on the weekends.  I loved waking up completely rested without the blaring sound of an alarm clock.

Long gone are those days.  DS1 has an internal alarm clock that goes off at about 6:20 every morning.  That is NOT when I want to wake up, weekend or not.  On the weekdays I don't mind it as much, since I have to get up early anyway, but on the weekends, it is sooooo annoying.  DS1 will play by himself for a little bit, but there's no telling what he'll find.  I've found him taking all the tissues out of the tissue box, ripping up a book and his all-time favorite, playing on my laptop.  

I know, I should keep all these things out of his reach, but it seems like he's constantly growing.  Every week he can reach higher and higher.  Soon I'll have to tape all my stuff to the ceiling.  And anyway, I think it's worth it to sacrafice some tissues or a book (not my laptop) for a few extra minutes of sleep.  Luckily DS2 sleeps a little later and since he's still in a crib, we don't have the same mischeif issue.  I don't know that I would have the same attitude if I had two little ones teaming up together.  I'm cringing at the thought.  I know that time will be here sooner than I think.

But back to my point.  I don't sleep nearly as much as I used to and I have to say that I really miss my sleep.  Sad how my ultimate dream day would be to just sleep late without any kids waking me up.  Oh, how I wish DS1 would learn from this picture:

 "Guarding Mom's Sleep" taken by Nikolai Zinoviev

A baby cub protectively watching over his mother as she lays sound asleep.  See how the cub is just sitting quietly while his mom sleeps?  Boy do I wish that could be me!

I really hope I'm not alone in this thought.  I love my kids and want to play with them, but not at 6:20am.  I wish they would realize that I'd be a better mom if I had more sleep.  I know I'm asking too much, so maybe when they're teenagers we can all sleep in?

Don't Judge Others

I just read this article called Apologies To The Parents I Judged Four Years Ago.

If you've ever spend some of your child-less years with anyone with children, then you must read it!  That person in the article was me just a few short years ago, although in all honesty, I never thought I would do the cloth diaper thing... ewww... 

I had little tolerance for screaming children and always wondered why my friends weren't strict enough and/or didn't set enough boundaries for their children.  Now that I have two kids of my own, I completely understand.  I run a tight ship in our home, but when my friends are over, it's hard to enforce the rules.  And sometimes, it's just hard even when there are no guests. 

So, to all my friends and fellow parents- Don't Judge Others.  It's not worth your time and very often, you would do the same thing if you were in that situation!

Counting Calories

I try my hardest to cook healthy dishes, but sometimes wonder if what I'm cooking is actually healthy.  Do all the added ingredients take away from the "healthiness" of the dish? 

Well, now I found this calorie count website, where you enter in a recipe and it gives you the nutrition facts.  It's so easy to use.

For example, I wanted to see if this Crockpot Sesame Chicken recipe was at all healthy.  Since it has sugar in it, I never made it.  So, I put it in the calorie counter.

It gave each ingredient a grade, gave the good points and bad points and gave the recipe an overall nurtrition grade. 



click to enlarge

This recipe got a C-, which in my book, it not all that healthy.  Don't think I'll be making this recipe anytime soon, even though it looks really good.

How do you evaluate whether or not a recipe is healthy enough to cook?

Purim is Here!

Happy Purim! I know it isn't Purim until tomorrow, but since I'm taking the day off, I probably won't have time to blog ;)

DH and I are both working on Ta'anis Esther, so tonight will be busy. My kids are still too young to go to Shul, so for now, DH and I go separately. DH will go straight from the train and I will go to a later reading. Our mishloach manos are fairly simple (and by that I mean 1 bag, two items, and a poem from last year) and were prepared on Saturday night.

Now for the fun part. I don't usually dress up, but I'm considering wearing my sister's Amish bonnet that she bought when she went to Lancaster. DS1 will be a fireman and DS2 will be a penguin! DH- not sure what he'll be, but he does have a really cool hippy costume he usually wears. Luckily my kids are still young and dress up as whatever I tell them they will be. I know that will change, but for now it makes my life a whole lot easier not to have to shop around for a specific costume.

To get the kids prepared for Purim I taught them songs (made use of our travel time to and from daycare) and this past Sunday I printed out coloring book pages for them to color.

We do have many colorful crayons, but both kids like coloring with highlighters, that's why the pictures are mostly pink and yellow. Anyway, I made sure to hang up their beautiful pictures for everyone to see. They are so proud of their creations!

I'm not much of a baker and even though I wanted to, we did not make hamantashen. I thought it would be a good activity for the kids, but just didn't have the energy to do it with them. Instead we bought them on our Sunday trip to the supermarket. All the yumminess without any of the work. Just how I like it!

Purim is just one of those days that I've come to appreciate. It's a happy day off I get to spend with family and friends.  Wishing everyone a very happy Purim!

March 2012 KosherOAMC Menu Plan

With Purim almost here, that means Pesach is on its way! With all your Pesach prep you don't want to get bogged down with having to cook for Shabbos too. What better time is there to start Kosher Once a Month Cooking?

The menu this month isn't the healthiest one I've prepared (warning: it does have margarine), but it's one that tastes really good.

On the menu is:

Soups:

• Healthy Mushroom and Barley Soup
• Hearty Split Pea Soup

Main Dishes:

• Honey Pecan Crusted Chicken with Apricot Chutney
• Lemon & Garlic Chicken
• Spiced Braised Beef with Sweet Potatoes
• Sweet BBQ Chicken Kabobs

Side Dishes:

• Baked Squash and Apple Casserole
• Broccoli Corn Kugel
• Lentil Vegetable Medley
• Onion Kugel

Desserts:

• Apple Pie Bars
• Pumpkin Crisp

The entire menu plan can be seen here. It includes a complete shopping list, recipes, cooking time tracker, detailed instructions for your cooking day, and a freezer inventory. Link to labels is here.

I'm always looking for new recipes to include in my KosherOAMC plans. Please contact me with any tried and true recipes you have that are easy to make and freeze well. Happy cooking!

Abandoned Baby Syndrome

Last night I was freaking out because I can’t seem to find an afternoon babysitter for DS1 next year. I’ve been seeing a lot of posts for people looking, but as far as I know, no one has been responding. So I did what any good problem solver would do- I googled it. I typed in the words “yeshiva working mother after school childcare” and came across the most disturbing article called, “The Abandoned Baby Syndrome.”

I wish my computer had a filter against these types of editorials. I already feel guilty enough about leaving my kids for so many hours during the day. Now, not only do I feel guilty, but I feel like the Worst. Mother. Ever.

While I do agree that things in my life would be very different if I were a stay at home mom, I don’t know if the time with my children would be better. If I stayed home I probably wouldn’t be sitting on the floor playing with them all day. I would have to cook and clean. I would drag them along on all of my excursions, which would probably not be fun for any of us. And I’d also probably spend more time chatting on the phone, surfing the internet and watching my soaps. (It’s hard to believe I gave up General Hospital after having kids… probably wouldn’t have happened if I were home all day.)

If a mother would emotionally abandon a child it would happen whether or not she worked. When I’m with my children I hug and kiss them all the time. They come to me whenever they get a boo boo and I think that they know and feel that they are truly loved.

I was also stunned to read how many people completely agreed with the article, but was glad to see that there were a few who didn’t. My favorite comment came from “shameful” who wrote:

"like mothers don't already feel guilt enough. We feel guilty because we left the baby crying as we were helping the older kids with homework or we feel guilty for not helping the older kids with homework as we are attending to the baby. I'm a working mother, and yes, I'm sad that I have to leave her in crèche. However, if I didn't do that, she wouldn't be able to have the opportunities of a Jewish school (not funded in my country).

Shame on you, "therapist". I'm a psychologist too and there is absolutely NO empirical evidence to what you are claiming. Abandonment syndrome isn't linked to working mother, but to orphaned children who don't get individual care. Shame on you for giving mothers more guilt."

I couldn't have written it better myself. 

In the end I never did find my answer on Google, but I was glad to find one more person out there who is on my side!