pie in the sky

Can you guess what kind of pie this is by looking at the picture? If you were here and could taste it, I would pose this question to you: what kind of pie are you eating? Odds are you would say apple pie, and you would be 100% wrong. It's a Ritz cracker pie. But it tastes just like an apple pie (actually, exactly like the McDonald's apple pie, in my opinion). But what does any of this mean? Here's how I arrived at baking a Ritz pie...

In addition to nagging our siblings and running wild around the house, winter break also meant working on our science fair project for a certain first grader at Lee Elementary. Catcher checked out this really cool kid science book--hear the dorkiness in my voice?--from the library right before break. After studying it for three consecutive nights, he finally zeroed in on this little cooking experiment that he could conduct on his sisters. By combining Ritz crackers, cinnamon, water, fresh lemon juice, cream of tarter and butter in a pie shell, he could trick the girls into thinking they were eating apple pie. It was a top secret affair--no one was allowed in the kitchen during the baking process--and it totally worked! Don't tell anyone how it turns out, though, the science fair hasn't happened yet.

it's a marshmallow world in the winter

And here you have another one of the Wheat family's favorite holiday traditions: gazing upon the fancy gingerbread creations at the fancy Four Seasons hotel in downtown Austin. There's merry music, free cookies and cider and--most importantly--free sparkling wine for the adults. Santa is there, too (and he's a really good Santa), but we didn't wait in line this year since we just saw another pretty good Santa a few days ago. The theme for this year's gingerbread houses was Candyland. Yep--just like the game. A pretty ingenious idea for a gingerbread wonderland, don't you think? I'm sorry my pictures didn't turn out better. I had to elbow my way through an enthusiastic crowd of young children while holding a glass of sparkling wine in my camera-free hand.

don't touch my nut butter

Alex was in Hawaii last week. As I was taking the children to get flu shots and dealing with an extraordinarily grumpy, feverish Tillie and a bossy Catcher with a rained-out soccer game (no problems to speak of from Scout), Alex was running on the beach at sunrise and drinking Mai Thais by sunset--at least that's how I imagined it. All was forgotten, however, when he showed up with the one thing that I specifically requested return with him from the tropical isles: macadamia nut butter. The challenge was not impossible considering Hawaii is the land of macadamia nuts, but sometimes husbands get the instructions wrong. For example, I'm grateful he texted "Macadamia Nut Oil?" from the Island Naturals store--the third store on his butter hunt, he reminds me--in Kona so I could respond "Butter. Macadamia Nut Butter" and avoid a potential crisis. We're approaching our ten-year anniversary, so his training is still underway (winky face).

But back to the butter...this stuff is phenomenal. It tastes amazing on anything. And by anything, I mean straight out of the jar and on the fresh baguette I smeared it all over for lunch today. I ate the whole baguette and almost 12 oz. of nut butter. I'm trying to savor this $15 jar of pure deliciousness, but that's pretty impossible. I gave Alex the evil eye when he dipped into it this afternoon. I know he had to smuggle it past TSA--just kidding, he checked his bag--but sometimes I become possessive of such things. Besides, it's the least he could do after touring volcanoes and sitting around on the beach drinking Mai Thais all week.

you might change your mind

It may not be pretty to look at, but the muddy green color of my new invention--the chocolate avocado milkshake!--is a mere cosmetic hiccup. Once you take a sip of this deliciousness (if I can brag for a moment) you won't care that it's the color of sickly, ghastly ghoul. I was so pleased with myself after whipping up this scrumptious concoction that I sent Scout upstairs with her shake to give Alex a taste while working in his "home office." Tell him "it will change your life," I instructed her. Somehow "it will change your life" turned into "you might change your mind" when Scout delivered my message, so Alex's initial reaction to my groundbreaking invention, which I understand I probably didn't invent, was a bit lukewarm (in my opinion). But he quickly realized how amazing the smoothie truly was--or else he just humored me--and eagerly polished off Tillie's when she declared herself "full of avocado milkshake."

I know you're dying for the recipe (at least I hope I hyped it up enough that you would be), so here's what I threw together. Please note: when making smoothies and such, I'm not really one for measuring, so this is an approximation of my work...feel free to tweak to your desire:

1/2 ripe avocado

1/2 ripe (but not too ripe) banana

1 T-ish cocoa powder

1 T-ish agave nectar

6-8 ice cubes

pinch of kosher salt

a little milk (maybe a 1/4 cup, maybe a little less?) and then a little more milk to thin it out a bit *I used milk from grass-fed cows, and I think that probably makes a difference in the taste, but maybe that's just the Austin hippie growing inside of me...

Blend everything together (in a blender, obviously) and then enjoy your luscious pea green shake.

mmm...butter coffee...

The butter, aka bulletproof, coffee sensation is sweeping the nation, and I am enthusiastically riding that train. Today was the first day of fall. It was a cool (honestly!), breezy Austin morning and Alex was on his way out of town for the week. All of these were signs that we must stop and enjoy each other's company over a steaming cup of butter coffee (iced is awesome, too, for those unbearably hot Texas mornings).

On an unrelated manner, Scout is Alex's personal jewelry-maker. That girl loves stringing some beads together and bestowing the fruits of her labor upon her father. The necklace he's wearing above is one of her more subdued styles. The other day she came home with a necklace of plastic faceted crystal jewels and dainty hearts in a choker style. It was pretty adorable; Alex wore it with pride until the string snapped.

ch, ch, ch, chia

This is when you know you're a dorky mom (well, this and also having a PTA meeting on Tuesday morning and preschool Board meeting on Wednesday morning plus soccer Tuesday night, ballet Wednesday night, packing lunches and checking homework...): when you get really excited about chia seeds. Since purchasing a totally overpriced pod of chia pudding at Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago, I've been slightly--slightly means totally here--obsessed with chia seed anything.

The ingredients for the pudding were simple enough, so I decided to go out on my own and create some Pinterest-worthy puddings for the whole family to enjoy. The only problem was that my proportions were way off the first go-round--so much for that six dollars I spent on chia seeds at Trader Joe's--and we were left with watery, tasteless mush in our cute Mason jars. Round two, I'm happy to report, has gone much better than the first. I don't have any pictures of the delectable pudding, however, because it was all promptly devoured at breakfast this morning. I'm telling you: obsessed.

Oh, and don't even get me started on butter coffee (another serious obsession of mine right now).

can i have a snack?

By trade I'm neither a food photographer nor a chef, but today I pretended to be a little of both. Knowing I would have to come up with some entertaining indoor activities to sustain us this long, hot Labor Day weekend, I jotted several cooking projects down on our family calendar (we don't have a family calendar). Today we embarked on cooking project #1: Cauliflower Popcorn.

Let me begin by saying that I do not like cauliflower by any stretch of the imagination. But when I found this recipe for cauliflower popcorn on My Whole Food Life and saw the author claim she also hates cauliflower, I figured it was worth a try. Plus the ingredients/method were super-simple--my favorite way to "cook." My goblins weren't as gaga over cauliflower popcorn--Scout thought it should be crunchy, which ours wasn't--as they are over kale or zucchini chips, but it got me over my hating cauliflower hump.

health kick

I recently gave up meat. Not for Lent or any other spiritual or moral reasons but simply because I don't really like it. This isn't the first time I've gone vegetarian. I dappled with it in high school and college, but maybe it will stick this time. Maybe moving to Austin has something to do with it...or the recent article in the New York Times magazine that I read about the food industry. Whatever the underlying reasons, this new attention to food on my part has led me to the kitchen to try some new treats for the kids. Let me assure you that I have not turned foodie on you, and I'm not going to start blogging recipes or try to convert you to the meatless way. I still don't know the difference between a hemp seed and flax seed and a chia seed, but perhaps you will indulge my latest "thing" for a moment.

My sister introduced me to the blog My Whole Food Life, where there are really simple and really tasty recipes. This weekend the kids and I put our following directions skills to the test by trying out the high protein breakfast cookies. Catcher was skeptical when I mistakenly told him the recipe was vegan--but then corrected myself when I realized it called for an egg and milk--and he couldn't believe a "cookie" recipe did not involve sugar. But when these bites of wholesome goodness came out of the oven, the littles gobbled them up like gummy bears. 

*I know my food photography needs some help; these taste way better than they look.

cake ball mania

Way back during our winter break in Virginia, we spent the afternoon after Catcher, Scout and I had the 24 hour bug and before my sister and her eldest daughter caught it making cake balls. Kids love some cake balls. Unfortunately the adults supervising the activity weren't the craftiest of folks, so we lost 50% of the product to minor mishaps such as cake balls breaking in half and cake balls falling off their sticks in a vat of icing. Thank goodness, however, that our incompetency didn't dampen the spirits of the wee ones baking balls. I think they were in it for the icing and the sprinkles...

monkeys making bread

The little monkeys made monkey bread with their grandma today. While we missed the giant storm Hercules--or it missed us--the temperature hovered around 15 degrees, so there was no playing outside in our two inches of snow. To keep the busybodies busy, baking was the perfect indoor activity for this cold winter day.

"The monkey bread was a hit. The kids thought it was awesome," as reported by Catcher.

house of gingerbread

Inspired by Whoville at the Four Seasons last week, the small ones and I decided to try our hands at the crafty trade of gingerbread housing on another freezing day in Austin. Catcher and I picked up a kit at the Trader Joe's this morning, and we were ready for action.

In the past we haven't had the best luck with gingerbread houses, but this one was surprisingly easy to assemble (and was only $7.99!). The biggest obstacle of the afternoon was allowing the girls to help with the decorating while keeping them far enough away that they couldn't eat the house before we made the house. Even with Catcher's vigilance in policing the supply of candy, Scout managed to eat the dog. And Tillie definitely licked one of the candy canes...and I'm pretty sure the gummy raspberry hanging over the back door was in her mouth.

'tis the season for cleaning

Today was day three of this crazy cold front in Austin. By 1:00 this afternoon, cabin fever had set in and I had to do something. It's generally our MO to clean out the kids' toys prior to Christmas, so I figured today was as good a day as any. Catcher was still in school, but the girls were eager to help. It was very exciting for them to go through all the books and toys that we had decided to donate, and they were especially encouraging when deciding that most of Catcher's toys should go. Afterward the girls enjoyed the fruits of their labor by guzzling hot cocoa and noshing pumpkin bars (while I returned some of Catcher's toys slated for Goodwill to their proper home in his room).

the last saturday

Today was Catcher's last soccer game of the season. Alex was in town for this momentous occasion, so we made it a family affair. Alex ran drills with the team before the game while the girls raced each other on the hillside opposite the field. Afterward the troops were in good spirits, so we took ourselves out to lunch at El Arroyo. At some point, following a bowl of queso and three baskets of chips, the girls went a little loco and started a dance party on the extra-long booth bench where we were seated. I am not responsible for teaching Scout her dance moves, by the way. Thank goodness we were on the patio...in the far back corner of the restaurant...before the weekend brunch rush hour crowd arrived.