There’s always money in the banana stand… (wink wink)

These frozen bananas bring back memories of Balboa Island bananas. Not so frozen you can’t bite into them (like the ones at Disneyland), but still cold & delicious on a hot summer day! The best part about this one is that your kids can dip their own!

Please allow me to explain the use of the Christmas sprinkles.

You see, I followed my own advice & invited some new friends over for dinner Sunday night. I had dinner enough for 4 adults & a Munchkin, but had no idea what to do for dessert. The movers neglected until the last minute to tell us they wouldn’t move food items, so we’ve been slowly restocking baking staples since we’ve been here, & after the previous day’s cobbler I didn’t have much left! Plus, my oven is still refusing to decide how much cooler than real life it actually wants to be, so baking was definitely out of the question.

I was having quite a quandary (like the alliteration there?) when I was going through my Google Reader & saw this great idea over at Talkin’ Chow Playin’ House! Saved! I had bananas, chocolate chips, & some white candy melts I smuggled down from the old apartment. Perfect! But what to decorate them with? I had some sliced almonds… Wait! I’d smuggled Christmas sprinkles too! & only Christmas sprinkles, apparently. So there you go. Christmas frozen bananas. In July. Hey, we’re in Florida, aren’t we? Isn’t it always like 90 degrees on Christmas here?

1. Cut ripe (but not too ripe) bananas in half, one half for each person.
2. Use really sharp scissors or wirecutters to snip the pointy ends off of your skewers (one for each half banana), then cut them in half. Poke two into the bottom of each banana half & lay them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet, plate, etc.
3. Freeze for at least an hour. We ate ours after an hour & a half or so & they were still quite biteable!
4. Put your chocolate chips in a microwave-safe dish. Add a little oil. (If using candy melts, omit the oil.) Microwave a minute or so & stir until smooth.
5. Let everyone roll/dip/drizzle their banana in the chocolate & decorate as desired. It doesn’t have to look great (see above) — just taste delicious.
6. Enjoy!

P.S. If you recognized the quote in the post title, let’s just say My Husband The Recovering Arrested Development Fan & his college roommates would salute you.

Preparing your child for a move. (Part 2 of 2: Settling in.)

We’ve been here a week now & only have a few (granted, giant) boxes left to unpack! Hooray! It feels a lot better than where we were 3 weeks ago. Or even a week & a half ago:

Yikes!

Now that we really are settling in, I thought now would be a good time to post part 2 of my “preparing your child for a move” series. Part 1, before the move, is right here.

The Munchkin playing in the boxes before the move... Recognize the beer boxes I talked about in the last post?

Here some ideas about how to help your kids adjust to your new home & neighborhood:

• When you & your stuff first get to your new place, let your child help unpack & decide where something should go in her room. This can give her a sense of control when things are crazy.
• Set your kids’ rooms up (the furniture, at least) right away. Especially if you’ve been driving a few days, it’ll feel good to be reunited with your stuff. Plus, sleeping in a new, big, empty room is creepy.
• Try to get pictures back up on the walls again as soon as possible to make it start feeling like home.
• As you unpack, talk about what’s better about your new place: “There are so many shelves in your new room for all of your toys!” etc. (The Munchkin’s new room is so cavernous we need two nightlights just to see at night! Whereas ours is barely big enough for our bed & dressers. How is that fair?)
• Even though things are hectic, try to get involved in your new community as quickly as possible to make new friends. Congregations in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as wards, are organized geographically. So as soon as we knew our new address, we were able to find out which ward we would belong to! If you’re not LDS, find a church or temple to attend. Involve your children in lessons, Gymboree, or after-school groups to meet the other parents & help your kids make friends.
• Speaking of making friends, teach your child how to introduce herself to new people.
• Just like before you moved, try to take a little while off from unpacking to give your children attention. Take an hour or two to drive around your new town. Find a new neighborhood pizza place to call “yours” (we just found ours!). Locate the library & get a library card. Go play on the playground nearby!
• Once you get more settled in, if you feel up to it, hold a housewarming party & invite people from your new community!
• Even with all the craziness, try to stick to naptime & bedtime routines as much as you can. With everything else changing, it’s helpful to have a familiar routine to hold onto.
• Understand that certain milestones like potty training & sleeping through the night may regress or suffer setbacks for a little while during this transition. Your kids might start acting out a little more than usual (ours sure did) too. It’s normal.
• Lastly & most importantly, emphasize that no matter where you live, your family will be together, & that’s what matters!

 

Potstickers

Hi all! We made it safe & sound to our new apartment on Friday night & our stuff followed Saturday, but we won’t have Internet until Wednesday. Thankfully, my awesome sister-in-law Lisa is back posting another delicious recipe in my absence! Take it away, Lisa!

I am from the throw-it-in-the-pot-and-hope-for-the-best school of cooking. I look at most recipes as guidelines, and don’t particularly worry about the end result being perfect.

Potstickers are perfect for experimenting. There are only a few steps to actually make them. First, make a filling. Second, spoon the filling onto the wrappers. Third, fold and seal the wrappers. Fourth, cook and eat! This process is time consuming, so that is why I usually make a large batch and work with a friend.

So, for the filling, your options are endless. I prefer pork, while you could use chicken, tofu, or whatever you prefer. If you use meat, be sure to get it ground so it is easier to mix with the other ingredients. We added shredded cabbage, carrot, and green onions. You will also need a binder to help it all stick together. In this recipe, we used about a teaspoon of sugar and about 2 tablespoons each of soy sauce and warm water mixed together. I have also used sesame oil with a dash of chili oil in the past.

Filling ready to go.

Make sure not to put too much filling in the wonton wrappers. They won’t seal and when you cook them, the filling will come out into the pan. Generally, less than 1 teaspoon of filling is a good guideline.

Don't use too much filling!

To seal the wrappers, dip your finger into a cup of warm water and wet around the edges. You will need to make a pleat in one side of the wrapper as you seal it to the other half to keep excess air out of the potsticker.

Ready to cook or freeze.

At this point, you have a couple of options. You can cook them all first and then freeze, or you can freeze first and cook later. If you want to cook first, put enough vegetable oil into a pan to just cover the bottom. Heat on medium heat until water dropped in makes the oil spit. Place the potstickers in the oil and brown on three sides. Then add about one-quarter cup of water and put the lid on. Steam for about four to five minutes.

If you would like to freeze the uncooked potstickers, line them up on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan that has been lined with waxed paper and floured. You can add another layer on top, just be sure to generously dust the first layer with flour before adding an additional piece of waxed paper. Freeze for 1-2 hours and then you can transfer them to a gallon size freezer bag.

Cooking frozen, uncooked potstickers is a little different. You can still cook them in the pan, but don’t steam them or they will just fall apart. I usually finish them in the microwave to be sure the filling is cooked. A deep fryer also works. It takes about 5-7 minutes.

You can use plain soy sauce for dipping, or add a dash of lemon juice for a little kick.

Our recipe used:

1 lb ground pork        1 green cabbage
2-3 carrots                   several green onions
soy sauce                      sugar
water                              2 pkg. wonton wrappers.

This made about 100 potstickers.

I don’t have any pictures of the finished product because we ate them too quickly.

Have fun experimenting!

Preparing your child for a move. (Part 1 of 2: Before you leave.)

We’re moving. In a week & a half. Yikes!

Since that’s what’s on my mind right now, & since lots of people move during the summer, I thought I’d offer a few tips for helping your kids adjust to moving to a new place. Today I’m posting on how to prepare for the move itself; later I’ll post on how to settle in.

• Show your kids photos of your new home & new town. Help them find reasons to be excited about the new place. The Munchkin is especially excited to be near the beach.
• If you are packing yourself, START EARLY. Last year, with a husband taking law school finals, I started packing two months in advance while The Munchkin napped. There’s only so much you can pack that far ahead of time (you’re using everything else too frequently), but it really helps as you get down to the wire. It also helps your 10-month-old skip crawling in favor of cruising, because there are handholds everywhere!
• Also if you are packing yourself, don’t pay for boxes! I had hoarded diapers.com boxes for months. Any time you get a package, collapse the box right away & stash it in a closet. Another great resource for free packing boxes is liquor stores; just go in & ask for some of their beer boxes. They’re the perfect size & durability for books & other heavy things. The people helping you move in might look at you a little funny though…
• If your firm is paying for movers, PRAISE HEAVEN. The end.
• Try to keep pictures up on the walls as long as possible. Even if there are boxes everywhere, having these familiar touches will help keep home feeling like home right up until you move.
• Moving is a time-consuming process. Even if you’re not having to pack everything yourself, there are still things like getting a place to live, arranging for utilities on both ends, forwarding mail, etc. Kids can feel neglected; take a few minutes every day to just listen to them & give them your undivided attention. Even better, let them choose something special to do to take some time away from moving. This brings me to…
• Have a “bucket list” of one thing each family member wants to do in your old town before you leave. This will help everyone feel valued (see above) & let all of you “say goodbye.” The Munchkin really wanted to go on the “mewwy-woun.” We’re also planning final visits to Magnolia & Shake Shack.
• If you have time, throw a goodbye party with friends! Or let a friend throw one for you! That way everyone can say goodbye at once.
• Speaking of friends, explain to your kids that they won’t get to see their friends all the time anymore. Let them know it’s okay to be sad & miss them, but encourage them by saying that they’ll be able to make new friends in your new town.
• Explain the moving process to young kids: “A man will pack up your toys & clothes & put them in a big truck (bonus points for showing them the truck if they love trucks) & drive it to our new house! We’re going to drive separately in the car, & our things will meet us there!” {We just had a Family Home Evening about moving, where we talked about Nephi’s family in the Book of Mormon & how they moved to a new place too, & they packed up all of their things as well (see 1 Nephi 18:5-6). After we explained the process, we did the activity below.}
• Parents magazine just had an article about helping kids adjust to moving, & one thing I thought was a great idea was to let your child decorate her own “treasure box” with stickers to put her favorite things inside. Then take it with you in the car so she isn’t separated from it. Here’s The Munchkin’s treasure box; the first thing she did was put in the 3-inch plastic Woody & Jessie dolls that go with her everywhere lately.
• MAKE SURE THE LOVEY DOESN’T GET PACKED. IT GOES IN THE CAR. THE END.
• Lastly, take a minute to say goodbye to your old house. (This was another Parents idea.) During your last meal there, likely on paper plates in your empty house, let each family member say his or her favorite memory of living there. Get your kids excited about making new memories!

Any other tips for moving with kids?

We’re moving!

After 4 years of law & professional school & lots & lots of waiting, My Husband The Lawyer can finally be called a lawyer! He just got his dream job, so we’re moving! See if you can guess where.

They have lots of these:

& these:

& we’ll be an hour & a half west of this guy:

We’re very excited about this new opportunity, but I’ll be sad to leave NYC & all the amazing stuff here.

Anyone from the area who can give me some tips?