Say Cheeeeese!!!

I take my hat off to anyone out there with more than two kids who manages to keep their house clean (no nannies or cleaning ladies allowed ;-)

I have only two kids, and well... nice weather we're having!!! (not talking about the state of my house).

I'm not even going to blame it on the blogs, 'cause I usually write short posts anyway, and that doesn't take too much time. Hmmm. Today I think I'm going to blame...

Ooh!! Here's one: the digital photographic revolution. (seriously). Because, you see, thanks to all things data, we can now EDIT every single photograph we take ('cause why not make them all better). AND, thanks to not having to "pay by frame" (i.e. film cost), I don't know about you guys, but I take WAY more pics. At the moment, as a result of Playland, a recent birthday party and some play dates, I have somewhere around 600 photos to look at.

I won't edit them all (which won't be easy on my OCD ;-) but I will play with them endlessly (file, sort, edit some, e-mail, burn to disk, print, etc. etc.). And in spite of it all, I won't get much done.

After Alyssa was born, I meticulously scrap booked the entire first year of her life. Then along came Joseph and... well, let's just say the second child always gets ripped off. Now I have hastily labelled disks in sleeves tucked in empty albums, with scraps of mementos and things stuffed in there as well. ONE DAY.

I have this vision of myself sitting with the kids when they're a bit older (8 & 10?) sifting through heaps of stuff, as they prepare to create pages for their albums themselves. lol. Child labour? Outsourcing? Nah. Bonding time!!!

Meanwhile I write meandering blog posts as dishes sit in my sink, and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of digital memories continue to wait for my time...

Heh heh heh cont'd ;-)

My latest conquest involves cauliflower puree in homemade mac 'n cheese. Hubby and kids didn't skip a beat and ate it all.

Cauliflower is a good vegetable to use because it has a low key, pleasant flavour and an easy to blend colour. I had my doubts because my husband likes his mac 'n cheese pretty bland and basic, so any changes in flavour should have been noticeable. As it turns out the cauliflower complimented the cheese, so it worked out well :-)

Heh heh heh...

In addition to the staples of tomato sauce, onions and garlic, I smuggled in celery, carrot and red pepper puree into the lasagne I made tonight. Hubby and kids had no clue - they ate it and loved it.

I also added fresh spices from the garden: rosemary, savory, basil and thyme. I washed them, and then pureed them with about 1/2 cup of water to made "spice water", which I dumped into the sauce. Yum.

I had other veggies I could have added, but I have to tread slowly because my husband has the most annoyingly acute sense of taste (AND he thinks vegetables are evil). Why he is still alive is a mystery to me.

One final note about the celery puree - it's a bit fragrant and has a strong flavour, so if your intent is to camouflage it, don't use it in a dish that isn't spicy or flavourful in its own right.

Now I'm plotting tomorrow night's dinner... heh heh

Now What???

I have the veggies ready, grated and pureed, and the dinner hour is looming. My only problem now is figuring out what to make.

I'm not going to complain about lunch... I offered pancakes (in which I could sneak zucchini and wheat germ ;-), but that was flatly refused. Really??? even with the syrup? Instead they had apple slices with peanut butter, cut up avocado, mini carrots, and a cheese string. Like I said, not complaining.

Hmmmm. Hey!!! I think I'll try homemade mac 'n cheese, and mix in some leftover cauliflower puree...

Mashed... Potatoes? Really?

Alyssa: "Mommy, what's that?"

I'm scooping out pureed cauliflower from my Magic Bullet. "It's cauliflower, honey. It's for my smoothies."

A: "Oh. I wish I could have a taste."

I gave her a bit on the tip of the spatula, which she gingerly took on her tongue.

A: "Mommy did you put some of that in our mashed potatoes?"

Arrrgh... busted!!! Geez, what now. I suppose I could lie....

Me: "Hmmm... I guess I could have done that. Do you want me to next time?"

A: "No thanks!"

Alrighty then (tell me how you really feel ;-)

Will I add more to the next batch of mashed potatoes? Absolutely! She ate them all this time, so we're good to go for next time. (My real triumph in this case is the fact that I put some in hubby's potatoes, and he ate them too!)