An Act of Thanksgiving

On Sunday Jeff and Amelia helped accept Thanksgiving donations at our church's food pantry. The need is greater this year than in years past. We have 400 families who have requested assistance. Heaven only knows how many are in some kind of need, but didn't ask. Thanks to the generosity of many, all 400 will get a Thanksgiving basket full of the makings of a turkey dinner with all the trimmings, right down to the pumpkin pie and whipped topping.

Amelia had a great time helping unload food from people's cars and stack things in the right piles. It was a good lesson for her in helping others and recognizing the many blessings we have.

I am grateful that Amelia really can't understand that some children don't have enough to eat, because she has never had to go hungry.

But I am also aware that is not the case for many, many kids.

I think about this when my kids ask for a certain cereal and I go to the cupboard to discover we're out. Already at age 2, the boys will say "Mommy will get some more at the store," when I tell them that their item of choice is all gone. Then we move on to the other hundreds of available selections.

But what if "we're all out" meant just that. ALL out. As in no more food?

I can't even imagine what it must feel like to tell your child that there's no food, and no money to just run to the store and get whatever they want. How painful it must be to hear your child cry because he or she is hungry.

I hate the idea of anyone being hungry.

I come from German/Irish heritage where food is love, and food is plentiful. My mom fed 10 people on a small budget, so we ate lots of inexpensive meals when I was growing up: spaghetti, casseroles, meatloaf with plenty of cracker crumbs in it. In the early days of my marriage, I scrimped and scraped to put meals on the table, and we ate on the cheap plenty. But I have never truly been hungry.

Jeff and I have always given to our church food pantry, but often we were motivated by special requests like the Thanksgiving food drive. Perhaps it's more obvious during the holidays when we celebrate with huge feasts, but hunger is a year round problem. So lately we've been trying to pick up a few things for the food pantry every time we shop. We drop them off after church so Amelia, Sam, Isaac and Alex can be part of the effort.

Are we saving the world? No. But we are making a difference for someone. We're teaching our kids to take care of other people. And we're reminding ourselves over and over just how fortunate we are.

How about you?

Thanksgiving is just over a week away. There's no better way to celebrate the many blessings you've been given than to share your good fortune with others. Find a local food bank, a church food pantry, a community Thanksgiving dinner, someone who is feeding the hungry, and make a donation.

Someone, somewhere will be very grateful.

© Trippin' Mama 2010

Feeling Like The Lunch Lady?

Today while Amelia was in preschool I took the boys to the local library for the baby story time. We met a mom of twin boys who are just a couple weeks younger than the boys.

As we were chatting she asked what kinds of things the boys like to eat these days. Then she sighed and said, "I just feel like I serve them the same things all the time."

I laughed and assured her that every mom feels like that.

I often feel like the school lunch ladies I grew up with. They served the same dozen or so meals over and over. Monday? Tater tot hot dish. Wednesday? Hamburgers. Friday? Must be pizza day! I'll bet the lunch ladies got bored with the predictability of it, too.

So let's shake it up a bit. Swap some ideas. Your "same old things" might be new to me! What do you feed your kids? (Suzy, I'm hoping you'll post your rice pudding recipe!)

As for us, right now at almost 19 months, my boys like avocado, peas, sweet potatoes, cooked carrots, blueberries (they LOVE blueberries!), chicken, scrambled eggs with cheese and broccoli, rice, and noodles of any kind including spinach ravioli -- especially with red sauce. They are crazy about bananas, eating 14 in 48 hours recently. The boys also like hot dogs (I buy nitrate-free turkey dogs), hummus and asparagus, too.

My theory is that the more different foods I feed my kids now, the more likely they are to enjoy a wide variety of foods as they get older. It has worked pretty well with Amelia, who loves red peppers and eats guacamole and asparagus without protest.

Plus the sooner everyone eats the same thing, the better off I will be, since I'm the one cooking! Amelia almost always eats what Jeff and I eat, and I've been starting to try the boys out on some dishes. The other night I made jambalaya and pulled some out for the kids before I added all the heat to it. I was thrilled when everyone ate it! 

So, how about you? What do your kids eat? What are some of your favorite meals and snacks? Do tell. We're all ears!

© Trippin' Mama 2010

Are You Up for a Challenge?

Some of my fellow mom bloggers (Money Saving Mom and Life As Mom) have issued a challenge for the New Year.

The Eat from the Pantry Challenge encourages us to use up what we have before hitting the store. What I like most about it is that Crystal and Jessica haven't laid out hard and fast rules. It's up to each person to decide how to make this challenge work best for them.

Are you in?

I am!

Now there's no way we can go a whole month without going to the grocery store. The number one reason for that? MILK. Gallons and gallons of it. And bananas.

Milk and bananas are to the boys what oxygen is to the rest of us. Critical fuel. The disappearance of the last banana can cause a disturbance of epic proportions around here.

But, I have lots of things in my cupboards and freezer, so this will be a great way to clean things out.

My plan is to make as many meals as I can from what I have on hand, and to go to the store only for essentials (read: milk and bananas), some fresh produce so we can have well-rounded meals, and the occasional ingredient to complete a dish.

I'm hoping to save at least $200 on groceries this month.

Why $200? Because that's what we are trying to put away every month for college funds: $50 per child. Doesn't seem like much, does it? But at 6 percent interest, in 18 years that $50 per month will become $20,000. And that's a pretty good start on the average four-year $60,000 tab. (Reader's Digest, Dec. 2009)

So anything extra we save by doing this challenge we will put toward the kids' college funds. That is in addition to our planned goal of $200 a month.

Step one is to take stock of what I have. Well, actually step one is to carefully open the pantry and hope nothing falls out:

It hasn't always looked this bad. I blame babyproofing. I have fewer and fewer things on the bottom shelves so the boys can't get into them when I let them roam the kitchen. That shelf third from the bottom is in reach now, so I have to take all those things out and put them up on the counter every time I turn the boys loose.

Another reason to use things up! Less work for me.
 
Like most challenges, this one will start out pretty easy, but by the end of the month it will definitely be harder. I'll keep you updated on our progress and share some recipes along the way, too.
 
If you want to join the fun, you can go here to link up your blog and see what others are doing. So far almost 700 people have joined the challenge either via their blogs or through comments and as Facebook fans.
 
How about you?

The Triplet Spa

Note to self: If you serve avocados as finger food, you will be giving baths following lunch.

This post really doesn't require an explanation. My kitchen and my boys, on the other hand, are in desperate need of a fire hose right now.

Sam enjoys a rejuvenating avocado mask.

Alex throws in a few Cheerios. Those whole grains are good for you, you know!

Isaac goes for the full body scrub.

Help Yourself!

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words...

Isaac helps himself to some Cheerios.

I'm guessing food won't ever last very long around here!

Finger Food Fun!

A couple days ago I gave the boys some cereal puffs. It was their first finger food, though they munched on some graham crackers at Grandma Alice's during vacation.

They were pretty adept at getting the food into their mouths, and they loved it! (Alex, of course, loved it the most.) I loved the 10 minutes of relative peace and quiet it brought me.

The only squawking I heard was when one brother ran out of puffs and started to "share" off the tray next to him.

Now they can do a little self-feeding while I get the rest of their lunch ready. That sure makes life a little easier.

Here's a short slideshow of some photos I took.



I have video, too, but it needs some serious editing, and as time is always at a premium around here, I'll probably never get it ready to post.

Who knows? The government might come through with my Diaper Czar and Laundry Czar and I might just surprise you.

Late Night Shopping

*Yawn*

Just got back from the local superstore. Went after the kiddos were in bed and wondered how many other women there were moms doing the same thing.

I bought 36 jars of baby food because there was a good sale. The cashier looked at me funny, so I told her I had triplets. She looked at my groceries on the conveyor and replied, "Well then, you didn't buy nearly enough alcohol."

Enough said.

Memories of Days Gone By

Right after Jeff and I got married, which was 15 years ago this month, we lived in England while I did my Master's degree. We did some traveling while we were there, including a few trips to France. As anyone who has been there can tell you, the fruit tarts are out of this world!

Excuse my drool, but yum!

Seriously, I have dreams about these tarts. Luscious fruit on a bed of slightly sweet vanilla cream and a crust that's so tender! Mmmmm...

Once when we were overseas, Jeff went to France and left me behind studying. (Unfair!) But, being the WBH (World's Best Husband) even way back then, he brought back a box with two beautiful little fruit tartlets in it. He went to take a shower and when he came back he found an empty box and a very grateful wife.

Unfortunately, both of the tartlets were not for me.

I believe that is as close as we have ever come to divorce.

You think I'm kidding.

I'm not.

What can I say? The French can make pastry like no one else!

Anyway, ever since then I have attempted to recreate The Fruit Tarts That Nearly Led to the End of My Marriage.

When the spring berries appear in the store, I start searching for the perfect recipe. There are thousands out there, and while many were good, none were quite right.

After 15 years, I'd pretty much resigned myself to another swing and a miss. Something that was good enough to make us say, "Almost..." and vow to go back to France again someday.

Paris, 2002. More research!

Then this year rolled around. I had no intentions of making a tart. Too much work! Too much time! But, a 4 lb. carton of strawberries and a 2 lb. carton of blueberries from Costco convinced me that I needed to do something with all that fruit.

Since I am short on time, I decided to forgo trolling the Internet and all of the big name chefs' cookbooks for recipes. I pulled Joy of Cooking off my shelf and looked for a fast, easy fruit tart.

Good, old Joy of Cooking. I've only had my copy for a couple years. Got it for Christmas one year and thought, "I don't really need another cookbook." Then I made a few things out of it and realized how very, very wrong I was! If you don't have this cookbook, get it. Now. Amazon is always open!

Now where was I...? Oh, yes. Short on time. So what's easy? Pat in the pan shortbread crust. Perfect. Nothing to roll out. I'll use that.

Vanilla pastry cream. Sure! Why not? It's about the 40th recipe for cream that I've tried, but it looked simple and fast to make. Though all three babies cried the entire three minutes I had to stir the filling. Of course.

A little tip to moisture proof the crust with an egg yolk glaze during baking and a couple tablespoons of melted jam before adding the cream, some gorgeous fruit on top and...

PERFECTION!

Or, at least close enough to perfection to BEGIN to redeem myself after that critical error I made 15 years ago. (Not that WBH would hold anything like that against me or bring it up annually, especially not for more than a decade. Unless, of course, it meant I'd make this tart more often.)

I'd post a picture, but I'm sure you've all seen an empty pie plate before.