Serves: 4 Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 0 minutes
1 sleeve Ritz Crackers
1 banana
½ c peanut butter
½ c strawberry jelly
8 raisins
Slice the bananas into ½ inch slices. Place the Ritz crackers on a plate winding them in the shape of a caterpillar. Spread every other slice with peanut butter. 
Spread the remaining slices with jelly. Top with banana as desired. Use 2 raisins at the front of each caterpillar for eyes. Grab the book and it’s snack time!
6 cups chicken broth
4 T unsalted butter, divided
½ white onion, finely chopped
1 cup Arborio Rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon chopped saffron strands
10 oz box frozen peas
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
In a medium saucepan bring chicken stock to a simmer. You just want it to be warm when you add it to the risotto. Put it on a burner that is close to the one you’ll be making your risotto in. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt 3 T
butter. Saute the onions until soft, 3-4 minutes. Next add in your rice and toss it in the butter and onion allowing it to toast. Stir for about 2 minutes. Stir in your wine and stir until completely absorbed. Stir in your saffron strands and stir to combine.
Add in 2 ladles of hot chicken broth and stir. Keep and eye on it and stir from time to time. Once the broth is absorbed add in another 2 ladles full, stirring again. Once this has absorbed had in 1 ladle at a time and continue until the rice is al dente. You’ll know it’s ready when it looks nice and creamy and it’s not absorbing liquid anymore, about 20 minutes total. 
Stir in your peas and allow to heat through.
Remove from heat and stir in 1 T butter and parmesan cheese. Season with S&P to taste. Enjoy!
S&P
Ugh, it’s Wednesday, I am not a fan of Wednesday. It’s the hardest of days in my house because I am constantly looking for something to do. The boys don’t have school, there are no playdates (because EVERYone else has school), it always ends up raining (because it’s me and OF COURSE it will rain only on Wednesdays in Southern California so I can’t take my kids to the park), and inevitably they will wake up at 6 am without fail dying to go out and do something fabulous. Ugh. Did I mention I hate Wednesdays?
So what’s a Mom to do in order to avoid another dreaded morning spent at the house of the dirty mouse (otherwise known as that virus spreading quarter stealing home of disgusting overpriced pizza) Ooooh, I know! Costco!
So I empty out the extended trunk of my monster SUV and throw the kids in the carseats and head out the the super store. God knows I could use some diapers, peanut butter, and a lifetime supply of Ritz Crackers. Once I get the boys through the parking lot without being run over by a Mercedes driving, cell phone gabbing, fake boob displaying, clueless soccer mom, we wrangle a cart drop two of the kids into it, and bribe the third with untold candy riches to walk alongside it…and we’re off.
Now the fun really begins, first we pass the DVD section, strategically placed right next to the toy section and the Christmas section, where you can get all your holiday needs, in August. Once I’ve put back the 32 titles the kids have grabbed and thrown into the cart, and curbed 4 tantrums due to Diego and his newest clubhouse playset, we’re off to the bread aisle.
Quick detour to the wine section, come on, it’s Wednesday, and we’re passing the butcher shop. Now is where the fun begins. It’s almost 11 am and here they come. The sample staff. They stand there with their hair nets and gloves, at the red and white checkered tables, slinging their samples for all to savor. Here is my chance…feed the kids free lunch AND give them new stuff to try.
After dodging hip checks from every senior citizen this side of Leisure World we hit every stand, the new sweet smoked sausages with artichoke and pineapple, Macaroni Grill’s new take home bag o’ fettucine and spinach (did Keegan just really eat spinach? He did! He did! We’ll take 5, at $10 a bag!), sundried tomato hummus with whole wheat pita chips, pomegranate and blueberry juice, granola bars, fiber cookies, chicken pinwheels….
Somehow we stumble toward the checkout line, pay for our enormous tub of peanut butter and make it home again. Our bellies full we unpack the car and settle in for the afternoon. How full? Check out Cooper…
Another Wednesday dealt with and in the books. Damn, I forgot the diapers.
So last week my sister-in-law and I head out to the mall to pick up some gifts for some Fall birthdays that are coming up. Her son, my nephew Carlin, is exactly one month younger than my Cooper. Cooper and Carlin, oh yeah they’ll be trouble together for sure! Well they are just now getting to the age where they get to crawl around with each other on the floor and play. And they have a blast.
So anyway, after we shopped (uh, first things first and Mommy and Auntie Taryn needed some Nordstrom time) we let them crawl around and play for 30 germ infested minutes in the mall play yard for the under 42 inches crowd. They had a blast. After we disinfected them thoroughly, hey I’ve seen far too many Datelines, we decided to grab some lunch. After one look at our food court choices, don’t get me wrong I used to chow down on Sbarro slices like a champ but I was about 20 and it took at least a day or two to hit my hips, we came up with a plan…
The Nordstrom Cafe!
Brilliant, we are ladies who lunch, and we will dine on dark wood tables with silver and cloth napkins. Uh oh, then we realized we were manning the stroller brigade. We discussed, both sets of our older children were tucked away in preschool for the morning, nobody is screaming for hot dogs impaled on sticks, this is our chance! But neither of us brought along any baby food! Ah, screw it, we can find something to eat for the little ones…let’s do it!
So in we roll, literally mind you with our gigantic Bob jogging strollers and almost every head in the place turns and glares in our direction. When did old people get so mean? They certainly didn’t mind poking their hands into my infants’ car carriers in the grocery store as I stared on in horror grasping for the Purell and squirting it indiscriminately in their direction. Now I’m invading your turf? I’ve stepped over the boundaries bringing a 10 month old to lunch at 11 am? Do I have to assemble the Sharks and the Jets and we’ll throw down in a old fashioned rumble? Well screw you, we’re hungry, we’ll try not to hit your oxygen tanks on the way to our table.
So of course this is a tasting menu day and everything they are serving is super chic and there are absolutely NO SUBSTITUTIONS. Oh crap, we can’t give up now, we will not surrender! What are we going to feed these two? And thus began my new venture, thanks in part to the stares of the blue hairs, the beginning of Coop’s Culinary Adventures.
Check these cool cats out…
Cooper and Carlin dined on a tasty meal of Asparagus and Pea Saffron Risotto, Maine Crabcakes, and crusty San Francisco Sourdough bread. No purees here! They couldn’t have been happier and Coop hasn’t had a puree since. They sat happily for over an hour as my SIL and I caught up on all the latest. It was a blast.
Almost everyone of those blue hairs stopped on their way out to tell us how adorable the boys were and how they were so impressed with their behavior, yadda yadda yadda. All except the one set seated next to us. Have no idea what their deal was but they gave us the ol’ stink eye the entire time. Til I kicked one of their canes on the way out…kidding…but I wanted to.
So I think the time has officially come to completely move Cooper past the baby food “purees.” One, because I have decided that he will be my foodie child, but two, and most importantly…
because he simply won’t let me feed him anymore! It just becomes a ridiculous match of tug of war resulting in Coop getting fussy and me getting covered in baby food slime.
Sadly, much like Brady was at this age (and I can’t tell you how much this scares me) Cooper likes to do everything himself, especially when it comes to feeding himself. So today at lunch I didn’t really plan ahead so I went to the fridge for inspiration, and came back…
…with leftovers.
Yes I know, this is hardly exciting, just some green beans and pasta but here comes the exciting part…no food processor!!!! Watch this…
…Voila! Cooper food! With nothing but a cutting board and a knife. Yea! No more constant steaming, no more blending, no more food processoring (I know, that was a stretch) and no more spoon feeding. Simply drop some on his high chair tray and let him go to town.
See? He likes it. I like it. And guess who really likes it….
…Guinness knows just where to park himself to get the good stuff. So Cooper is a huge fan of the big boy food and I can retire my blender from baby food prep and put it back to good use, to what God intended for, making Mommy margaritas.
So stay tuned to see what falls off of Coop’s tray next. God knows Guinness will!
