Kitchen Corners

History Repeats Itself, Especially Parenting History

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Fri, 10 May 2013 23:43:55 PDT

At the end of the day I'm like, "what just happened?" There are quiet moments. There are even moments of connection. Enzo and Maria sleep on the same bed. It's a full size bed packed with stuffed animals. ~~Every~~ Most nights I go and lay down with them and sing a couple songs and make several mental notes - change sheets, change pillow cases, remove all these stuffed animals. And then lights off. And then, just like that the day is over. Sort of. My parenting Enzo and Maria day is over; Eliza and I still hang out at night, nursing you know.

Most of my day is not filled with sweet moments. Its filled with short sentences. "You, brush teeth." "You, potty, wipe, flush." "You, diaper. Blow out."

My days are also filled with work. In fact that's what most of my day is filled with.

I feel like I'm back in school. You know how with school you study, study, study and there's still more studying to be done. You're basically never done. My job is like that. I'm not complaining, I'm just stating the facts. I work a lot. Christian works a lot. I hate how much my 7 year old works. I feel like he works way too much. I'm not a fan of schools starting at 8:20 and going until 2:20, I'm just not. I wish school was half day every day. He's just gone so much of the day and then there's homework. And just like that the day is over.

We were all sick last week and it was miserable, minus the part where Enzo was too sick to go to school but not too sick to enjoy himself at home. He just played with blocks and Legos and read all day long.

Then I started having problems nursing. I won't go into details. I will say that I am doing everything possible to not wean this baby just yet. She seems totally uninterested in food, except for eating paper. I should just leave random food on the floor and let her graze, or I could stop vacuuming.

Funny how history repeats itself, especially parenting history. I swear I was writing about the same things just a couple years ago when Maria was a baby - sleep deprivation, nursing issues, baby putting everything in her mouth. Also, all of our babies look exactly the same so there's that eery element mixed in there.

But you know, it doesn't get old. It's like when a friend has a baby and you're all like "awwwww, so cute" even though your other friend also just had a baby and you had the same reaction and you will forever have the same reaction every time you see a baby. It's like me pickng up Enzo and rocking him even though he's almost to my shoulder. For me they will always be babies and it will just not get old.

As for the pictures above, what does it illustrate? Just a glimpse of a moment in time; something that happens quit often - the kids wanting a snack after they've brushed teeth, after they're tucked in bed, and me caving. I cave a lot these days.

oh hi

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 08:54:51 PDT

Photo booth? No, our bathroom mirror. Christian took these pictures with my phone l~~ast week~~ two weeks ago and I forgot about them until ~~now~~ last week when I started this post. Enzo and Maria were in the bath and Christian and I were ignoring them.

Say cheese!

Very early on in my blogging career I learned to never apologize for not posting. Frankly no one really cares if you blog or not. It's not that blogging doesn't matter, it does matter. It matters to me because I fell head over heels in love with social media and knew I wanted to build a career that involved social media. Also, I already have a box full of handwritten journals. Journals I started writing when I was 11 years old and because when I was 11 I actually had time so I wrote every single day for 8 years. This is not a lie. Ask Christian, he'll tell you all about my big box of journals and how we've had to haul this box on every single move. We've moved 7 times in the 8 years we've been married. He's made me swear to never write in a journal again. Thank you google for carrying my virtual box full of journals/post. Blogging is great! The other reason why I love blogging is because it keeps me on my toes as far as social media is concerned. I'm telling you, when my babies are old enough to tweet or facebook or whatever the next big things will be I want to be right there in front of my computer stalking them.

So yeah, life. Well life in the Palmer household went from busy to mega busy. I got hired full time with Glam! Yay! I'm an online editor. The official title is Editorial Producer. The un-official title is Editor Who Works During the Day and Then Some at Night. Typical. Good thing I like what I do. I also get to work from home (wouldn't have it any other way). Seriously, this is what I've wanted for myself ever since I decided that, well, this is what I wanted for myself. So come say hi to me at bliss.com and foodie.com I'm over there being an editor and stuff.

Farewell to March

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 15:52:30 PDT

Enzo had a birthday. He turned 7. How easy it is to just Instagram my life? Easy. Using my DSLR is so much harder. I didn't take as many pictures of Enzo's birthday as I had intended. He had a good time though, and that's what's important. Also, we did a group gift this year and I swear I'm never going back. Whenever we say no gifts someone always brings a gift and then everyone else feels bad. One year we did a group gift towards swim lessons and that was great. I'm sticking to group gifts. Everyone chipped in and Enzo is now the proud owner of a season pass to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. He even made a bit extra and decided to also buy a pass for Maria. This week is his spring break. We're planning on going a lot. Basically I forsee a lot of cotton candy in my future.

And then today we tried to get a couple pictures of the kids in their Easter outfit.

My friend made these dresses for the girls and this shirt for Enzo. Stay tuned, we're working on redesigning her Etsy shop and it's going to be awesome.

We tried to get the kids to, you know, just stand still. Chocolate much? When they're excited I say, let them be excited. It's Easter, He's risen[!], how can you not be excited?

Baby Kale Chips with Sesame Seeds

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:29:27 PDT

I made kale chips because I thought it would be a great afternoon snack for me and the kiddies. Kale chips and carrot ginger juice, yum! I know, I'm such a rockstar mom, I feed my kids awesome nutritious food - yeah, right. They didn't really like the kale chips and were fine drinking the carrot juice until I told Christian "come get some carrot ginger juice before it's all gone" and they immediately decided that they hated the juice, because they hate ginger because ginger is too spicy. I'm not a fan of spicy food myself, but really?! I don't even think Maria knows what ginger is. Whatever, I was so not in the mood to argue. I was in the mood to get out and enjoy the sunshine and not make a storm out of something so unimportant like kale chips. Besides, more for me!

After snack time I told Enzo and Maria I wanted to go to the park. They were down with that idea until I told them they needed to clean up first, at which point Maria went into hysteria and Enzo looked at me as if I had just said something in Greek. Ohhh-kayyyy then, I guess this is how it's going to be. Fine. Forget cleaning up, lets just get out!

We got to the park and our old neighbors were there. Love. Also, there was a dad who was there with a guitar playing for 2 hours straight. Love. And I just want to make it very clear that he was totally paying attention to his kid. He would follow his kid around and play the guitar simultaneously. I think it was a great trick so that his kid wouldn't ask him for a push on the swings, you know 'cuz dad has his hands full. If this is the case then double love!

Seriously, remind me to leave the house more often.

Kale Chips with Sesame Seeds

5 oz baby kale pre-washed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon seasame oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 300*F.In a big bowl toss together the kale with olive oil, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. Divide between two cookie sheets and spread the leaves out so that they're not touching. Bake for 15-20 minutes until crisp.

Magnolia Ice Cream Party

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:06:49 PDT

Spring has sprung in Santa Cruz and we're taking full advantage of it. Few things make me happier than moving our table outside and eating on our deck. For one, we happen to have a great ocean view. And then, there's the less vacuuming factor that always makes me smile. Yay[!] for spring, and dinner parties, and friends, and cool tropical flavor ice cream.

Magnolia sent us a box of goodies to explore. We explored every single one, it took no effort at all. The avocado is rad. Ube (sweet potato) was also pretty great. Starting April 1st these cool flavors will be ready to ship - something to look forward to.

Has spring sprung where you're at?

Our current thing

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:24:33 PST

If you see Maria please refer to her as bunny rabbit. Pretending like she's a certain animal for weeks on end is her thing.

We all have out thing.

My current thing is to get crazy organized. This has been my thing for a while now, and finally I feel like I'm getting a pretty good grasp oh how to make it happen. We have a budget. We have a food budget (I know!). I have gotten rid of things I don't use and added a few things that have helped me save money, save space, and save time.

The Magimix by Robot-Coupe Food Processor is a new addition to our kitchen, complimentary of Magimix, and it is an absolute thing of beauty! I already had a food processor. In fact I had two. One was big and one was little. I mostly used the little one and occasionally I would bust out the big one. Bust out is a bad way to describe it. Bust out makes it seem fast. It wasn't fast. I have a small kitchen with limited counter space, so the big food processor was tucked away in a hard to reach cabinet. I wanted something that was more accessible and the Magimix by Robot-Coupe Food processor fulfills my need because it comes with 3 different bowls, 3 different sizes, and they fit inside each other, so now I have a big, medium, and small food processor all in one, on my counter, with an added bonus.

This is the bonus.

Carrot juice! Lots and lots of carrot juice. Carrot juice is my other thing. Carrot juice is one of my absolute favorite things. A close contender is passion fruit juice, but in order for passion fruit juice to taste good you need a whole bunch of sugar. With carrot juice you need carrots. And it tastes so good, so so so good. I could put pictures of me jumping up and down to show my excitement but ~~mini-me ,~~ bunny rabbit is cuter. The juice extractor and smoothie attachment for the food processor is a mega bonus. It makes it so that our 25lbs bag of carrots do not go to waste and helps me save time and money from trips to the store to buy carrot juice. Plus, fresh carrot juice is a lot tastier than any store bought stuff. I guess that's true for most things.

And because we believe that all good things has a popsicle version we're converted to carrot juice popsicles.

So basically here is a quick rundown of our current happenings.
// our daughter is on sabbatical and in turn we have a bunny.
// a 25 pound bag of carrots is a common sight in our house these days
// new food processor / juicer = good addition to our kitchen
// carrot popsicles are the bomb and since we live in sunny California I'm thinking of making a bunch of these for our big Easter egg hunt

So tell me, what's your current thing?

Monday Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 12:09:32 PST

// Peace and plenty here abide, smiling sweet on every side. Time doth softly, sweetly glide, when there's love at home //

Eliza woke up at 6:30. I cranked up the space heater in our room to 85 and then Eliza and I just smiled at each, and I kissed her 100 times. I counted. At 7:15 the older kids got up. Enzo practiced piano while Maria, Eliza, and I enjoyed some cuddle time together in my warm room. 7:50 I realized I was late. gave Enzo a banana made him some toast and got into my exercise clothes. 7:55 Chris come home from surfing and I left to take Enzo and his friend Xhuba to school on the bus. We arrived early. Enzo and I spend some time together talking in front of his classroom. I walked back from his school to my house while listening to an audio book. This morning ritual of taking Enzo to school on the bus and then walking home is one I hope to maintain.

Got home at 8:50. Called my mom to wish her a happy birthday, also asked about my new niece that was born yesterday - baby Hamaya. All is well.

9:00 I started work. Ate breakfast while I worked. Maria is off to preschool with Marley and Katie. By 9:30 The house is still; just me with my thoughts, the sounds of the key board, and Christian and Eliza sleeping on the hammock.

Mornings like these renew my soul.

Today | 30

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 22:27:23 PST

No Bake Cheesecake with Hot Guava Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:43:21 PST

Since Christian and I are only doing desserts once a week we figured that whatever we make better be worth our time and our inevitable sugar-high.

This cheesecake was worth it.

No Bake Cheesecake with Hot Guava sauce

1 package of graham crackers
5 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
1 tablespoon sugar
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cups sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup guava paste
1/2 cup water

Crush the graham crackers in a food processor until very fine crumbs form.
Pour crumbs into a medium bowl and stir in the coconut oil and sugar.
Press the crumb mixture into a 9-inch springform pan. Chill crust in freezer for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the filling: Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sweetened condensed milk a little at a time until well incorporated. Beat in the lemon juice and vanilla.
Pour the filling into the crust and smooth the top with a spatula. Cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours.
Unclasp sides of pan and remove the cheesecake.
In a small saucepan add the guava paste and water and stir on medium-low heat until the guava paste is completely melted. Serve the hot guava sauce over the slices of cheesecake.

Have a fun and delicious weekend! I'm planning on turning 30 in the company of friends and my kids who keep me young. Those are my weekend plans.

See you back here next week.

xoxo

Easy Taco Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:12:37 PST

It should come as no surprise to you that I have a really bad memory. My obsession for documenting things is because I honestly can't remember that one thing we did on that trip that everyone else seems to remember, or that one time we went to that place that I supposedly loved.

So I take pictures, and I write, and every time we move we lug around my huge box of journals.

I always wonder about what my kids will remember. Will they remember that on Sundays, when they walked in the door, famished after church, the house smelled like warm meat falling off the bones? Will Enzo remember how when Maria says a blessing on the food she always starts with "Amen." Will they remember our light-weight chairs so un-sturdy to sit on but perfect to be picked up even by our 3 year old? Will they remember me being mean to them about how distracted they are when they eat and randomly go on the hammock for a swing with food in their mouth?

I wonder what I'll remember when my kids are adults. I bet that when a young mom tells me about how her kids act around the dinner table I'll try to think back and my only memory will be one of my children sitting down and eating their food, never misbehaving. Does that ever happen to you, where you tell someone about your kids and they look at you like you must be crazy because their kids never did that? It happens to me all the time but only with people who have adult kids but no grandkids yet.

I can't wait for them to have grandkids!

In some ways though I want to remember the crazy. I want to remember Enzo cracking up in the middle of a prayer because he thought of a funny passage in the book he's currently reading. I want to remember Maria falling off her chair because, I'm sorry, it is kinda funny. And when Christian and I live in a house free of carpet I want to remember that every night Christian vacuumed the floor under the table, and that every night he would chase the kids around with the vacuum cleaner, and I want to hear their loud, oh so loud, screams of delight.

I want to remember it all.

EASY TACO SALAD

chips
cafe rio chicken (1 lbs of chicken tenders in the crock-pot with 1 cup salsa and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Cook on high for 4 hours and then shread it)
cherry tomatoes cut in half
lettuce
cheese
sour cream
chopped green onions

Asemble. Serve. Enjoy.

The Picky Eater Conundrum

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 12:09:58 PST

The question I get asked the most by my readers is, "how do I get my kid to not be picky?" Funny you should ask considering that my kids are far from being easy when it comes to food. However, there have been some things that have worked out well for us.

Feed them when they're hungry.

This seems so obvious right, but it actually took me a while to figure this out. When Enzo wakes up in the morning he is hungry. He'll have pancakes, eggs, bacon, and a bowl of cereal on the side. Or he'll just have 3 big bowls of cereal and some fruit since most mornings I'm not cooking anything. When I wake up in the morning I'm not hungry. I can wait 2-3 hours before I eat breakfast, and by then it's already lunch time. If I have a piece of toast and some tea as a morning snack then I'm good to go. Maria just wants milk. At around 10:00am she'll eat a handful of Cheerios. If I feed Maria when she's hungry she'll eat anything.

On Friday I made a cauliflower, chick pea, curry stew, the kind of food I usually have to trick my kids into eating. Lunch was ready at 2:00pm. By that time Maria was hungry, really hungry, so she just sat down and ate two big bowls without a single complaint. On Saturday I tried to give her the same thing and she wasn't at all interested, she just wasn't hungry.

This gets tricky because if you're trying to feed everyone when they're hungry then you're pretty much cooking and re-heating food all day long, and I have a 3 month old who nurses on demand, plus I work, plus I have a bathroom to clean for goodness sakes. So here is what I do - breakfast and lunch I let them eat when they're hungry, even if it means we're eating at different times. Enzo is in school during lunch 4 days out of the week and and 2 days out of the week Maria eats at preschool. Plus, I work 30 hours a week. Christian is usually the one who gets lunch together. If I have a minute I'll take a break and eat with him, if not I just eat in front of my computer.

Dinner is a whole other story. Yes, I want my kids to get healthy food inside their bodies but I also really want them to learn table manners, and learn how to socialize around the dinner table. At dinner time we all sit together and we eat and we talk. I try to push dinner to 6:30 when I know they're hungry but before 7:00 when they start getting tired.

Get them involved

Ever since Christian started gardening with the kids both Enzo and Maria have been willing to try out all sorts of things. Enzo used to not touch his salad, now he eats it and enjoys it! I like cooking with the kids, but have no interest in gardening. Find some way that you can involve them, as long as this way is also enjoyable for you. One mom told me she likes taking her kids to the store so they can help her pick out produce. I would rather stick a needle in my eye than take my kids shopping. Her idea sounds awesome but I know it's not for me. If cooking is stressful for you than don't cook with your kids, it will just make it more stressful. If you like having your table set then let them help you set the table and fold napkins, tell them how special dinner is when you get to eat on a pretty plate. Find one aspect of food preparation that you enjoy and get your kids involved. If they participate in the process of creating food they are more likely to want to try the food. Also, plan on doing this sometimes not every day. Sure I like cooking with the kids but more often than not I'm rushed and if I have another body in my tiny kitchen it totally throws my momentum off. I try to cook with them once a week max.

When all else fails

If they're being crazy stubborn this is what I do.

Dice. If they're being super stubborn and I'm on the verge of yelling at them (which I have done many times) I make them roll a dice. Whatever number they get, that's the number of bites they have to take. If they want to be mad about it they can just be mad at their own luck.
Books. Maria will eat anything if I'm reading a book to her and distracting her from her food. I don't like doing this, but sometimes I'm in a hurry and it gets the job done. Also, if Enzo is eating by himself I let him listen to an audio book. If we're all having dinner together books are not allowed at the table.
iPad. I have only done this a handful of times but if baby Eliza needs to nurse at the same time the other two kids need to eat and Christian is gone and my patience is running very thin, I prop the iPad on the table (far away from their food) and I let them watch a show while they eat.

And then there's the old favorite, just add bacon.

And here is what you do

I asked my Instagram and Facebook followers to share their tips on helping picky eaters and here is what they had to say. And if you like what they had to say click on their name to follow them (some have private accounts).

marlameridith

Cheese. Lots of cheese.

mombraves

Lots of cheese and breadcrumbs too.

babyboybakery

Butter and parm go on most veggies really well!

ginavon

I make a lot of blended soups that hides some of the least popular veggies and then rough cut those they do like for texture.

lisha_bean

I hide some veggies but cooking things a different way and with different seasonings usually does the trick.

sara_stratford

Puréed veggies in stuff like spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, etc. my picky eater is the worst!!

suzana_h

Cheese on top! Also if I let her play with it for a while..smoosh it, smear it, whatever.. she'll make a huge mess but will eventually be too curious to not give it a taste.

weeklybite

Ketchup!!! I know it's pathetic, but it works every time :-)

karistaskitchen

It takes time for little palates to develop. Serving as many whole foods as possible and the least amount of processed foods will help. Sauces, dipping sauces, cheese, cheese sauces, these always got my kids to try foods they didn't think they liked. Of course now they always want a sauce :(

mamakj

Different utensils to eat the food with! Toothpicks are awesome...making kebabs, etc.

bekahtano

I've found that advertising the weeks meals gets them ready to try a new meal.

victoriajordan

For my step-son who is an extremely pick eater. I'm always finding way to add vegetables he wont eat. When i make spaghetti i chop up zucchini, and add it to the sauce. I will use purees like squash, sweet potatoes when I'm baking cookies, banana bread etc...

How do you help your picky eaters try new things? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to leave a comment here or follow me on Instagram to add to the conversation.

In Love

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:06:27 PST

Christian made pink heart pancakes with pink whip cream for breakfast. It was my idea. More often than not I have ideas of things I want to do and then Christian goes and does it. And perfects it. This is love.

I thought the kids were going to be thrilled about their special Valentine's Day breakfast but honestly they did not seem impressed. Maria just ate the whip cream and Enzo would of been just as happy with a bowl of cereal. Then right when we got to that critical point of "OMG you're late for school. Again. Hurry. Seriously, hurry!" Enzo looks in the KitchenAid bowl and squeals, "the whip cream is PINK, Maria Aurea look, the whip cream is pink" and he jumps up and down the way he does when he's excited, the way I was expecting him to react 20 minutes earlier. Next time I'll turn on the light when they start eating and not wait for the sun to fully come out before they realize that what they have on their plate is something special.

Sometimes you try really hard as a parent. And you fail. This is still love.

Also, this baby, she is love. I think it has to be her smile. It's so dang sincere it just goes right through my flesh and into my soul. I tell her I love her and I really mean it, even though I've just known her for 3 months. Kindda like when I met Christian for the first time, 10 years ago (tomorrow!) and I fell in love with him. It was fast but very sincere. I loved him right there and then. I loved that he existed. That this cool guy existed and I hoped that he and I would get to know each other more. And then with time I hoped that we would get married and start a family. The best part was that I felt peaceful about the whole thing, like if things didn't work out it would be o.k. I would be o.k. I still loved that he existed even if we weren't going to be together. This feeling was so different from what I experienced with my high-school boyfriend, which was intense, so intense. Lucky for me He fell in love with me too and now we get to grow our love together, adding some little ones in the mix. Some little ones for us to love.

Yesterday Maria said she was the luckiest person alive because she got two lollipops. She asked if I thought she was lucky. I told her I did. She asked if I knew of anyone else in the world that had two lollipops. I told her that I am not sure if anyone I know currently has two lollipops in their possession. I told her that it was possible that someone did. I wasn't sure how she would react, would she all of a sudden feel un-lucky? She smiled and said, "cool, there are two lucky people in the world." Phew! I love when my kids are happy for other people, it's something I try to teach them on a regular basis. With that said if you tell me that you are the luckiest person in the world because your husband/wife/partner/boyfriend/girlfriend is the best, I will believe you. When people tell me about their happy relationships and how much they love their significant other it makes me happy.

And if you don't have a significant other to love, that's cool too. Hopefully one day you will, when you're ready, and when you meet the right person. The type of person you're just happy exists in the world.

Happy Valentine's Day. Hope you have a good day. More importantly I hope you have someone to love today, someone who understands you and cares for you and shares their Valentine's candy stash with you.

xoxo, Da

BLT Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 09:18:24 PST

And then Christian made a heart shaped bacon and I was reminded, once again, that I am in fact the luckiest girl in the world.

So, there's this thing called baby weight and baby weight and I are not BFFs. Baby weight wants to hang out, like all the time, and I'm like "Enough! You are so 2012." So yeah, I've been eating a lot of salad, with bacon - I know, I'm totally hopeless.

Before we move on to this recipe I must add a few disclaimers.

a) Weight does not a person make.

b) I think talking about bodies in a positive way is really important. If you don't believe me let me just say that I love talking about bodies in a positive way more than I love bacon, in fact I think bacon and body positive chats go hand in hand. Amy Hackworth shared some great links to some great articles about all of this on her post on Design Mom.

c) I'm not just eating salad. Thought I should make that clear.

Let me tell you how I made this. Because this is delicious and I think it's a pretty snazzy salad to serve on Valentines Day.

BLT Salad

serves 4

8 slices of thick cut maple glazed bacon

1/2 sour dough baguette sliced into cubes

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/3 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 green onion, thinly sliced

1 bunch of romaine-lettuce, chopped

2 tomatoes chopped

Preheat oven to 375*. Arrange bacon on a cookie sheet and shape it like a heart. Bake until crisp (15-20 min). Set aside.

Toss the bread with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown (15-20 min). Set aside.

In a glass jar mix together the heavy cream, mayonnaise, vinegar, and green onions, Season with salt and pepper. I like making it in a glass jar, that way if I don't use all of the dressing I can easily save it for later.

In a large bowl toss together the lettuce, tomatoes, and croutons. Serve in individual plates. Add two heart shaped bacon slices to each plate. Coat with dressing.

Enjoy!

PS- If you're looking for more salad recipes last year I did 31 days of salad with the help of some of my favorite bloggers. You can also find all of the recipes from that event on this Pinterest board.

Sugar Free Valentine

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 18:07:12 PST

Are you excited about Valentine's Day?
I am! I am!

On February 15th Christian and I will be celebrating 10 years since the day we met, at a Valentine's Dance called The Last Chance. It's fun celebrating our Valentine's Day on the 15th, it makes it a lot easier to go out to eat where we want to without having to fight the crowds. It's also really fun celebrating Valentine's Day with the kids, they get so into it.

I've been looking for some fun ways to say "I {heart} you" with the kids without involving empty calories so that I can stick with our New Year's resolution to do sugar just once a week.

I'm pretty excited about these goodies
// how to make play-doh with Kool-Aid
// my heart pops for you free printable
// photo garland
// paper doily envelope

What are your plans for Valentine's Day?

Check Out Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 17:36:45 PST

This is //
FOCO 100% Pure Coconut Water with a Splash of Tropical Fruit Flavors

Why I like it //
Ever since I had my c-section and lost a lot of blood, I've been on a green smoothie kick with coconut water. After living in Bahia Brazil and drinking fresh coconut water every day I can barely stand the boxed up kind. I put it in my smoothie because I know it's good for me but I hate the taste. I don't know how FOCO does but their coconut water is different from the other ones I have tried, FOCO tastes fresh. The tropical flavors help sweeten my green smoothie, and bonus - it's sugar free!

I would change //
I would love to have an Açai flavored FOCO. Yum!

Where can you get it //
Right now you can only purchase unflavored FOCO coconut water, starting in March you'll be able to get the flavored kind. Make sure you try the lychee and the pink guava. Those two were my favorite. To check if your local supermarket carries FOCO go here.

This is //
Nature Box, a subscription service where you get a box with 5 healthy snacks delivered to you for $19.95 a month.

Why I like it //
If you like carrot chips, country ranch peas, and chipotle maple almonds, this subscription service is for you. I like how diverse the snacks are. I like how all of the ingredients are natural, with no trans fats, no artificial sweeteners, no artificial flavors or colors. These are the kinds of snacks I like feeding my kids.

I would change //
The price. I don't think $19.95 is necessarily a bad deal, but it feels like a luxury to spend almost twenty bucks on snacks when you have a family of 5. On that note, I could see this as a treat my kids would enjoy, specially the surprise aspect of it. If I told them every month we would get a new surprise box with snacks inside they would be all over it. Less money going towards goldfish crackers and more money going towards dried pears - it could happen.

Where can you get it //
You can subscribe online here. You can also give a subscription to someone as a gift. Shipping is free.

This is //
FarFaria, an iPad app with over 300 stories, 5 new stories added weekly, and all with the read-to-me feature for $3.99 a month.

Why I like it //
I don't like it, I love it! Since we don't have a TV we let the kids use the iPad for entertainment. Enzo and Maria each get 30 minutes a day to play or watch something on the iPad. Normally they go straight to Netflix and watch an episode of My Little Pony. These days they've been going straight to FarFaria. The app is beautifully illustrated and very intuitive. The read-to-me feature is great for little Maria who is still learning how to read. Also, there are some super cute foodie stories, my fave!

I would change //
I would love to see some stories in Spanish.

Where can you get it //
Get a subscription here. If you'd like to give it as a Valentine's gift go here.

----------------------------------------------

Some other fun things to check out

// Instagram for Chrome, my new favorite way to check out my Instagram feed.
// Superbowl recipes with the Foodie app.
// This great interview with Mrs. Patmore from Downton Abbey about life in that TV kitchen.
// This super cute blog and this super cute blog too.

Have a great weekend. We're off to Santa Barbara to celebrate our nieces first birthday. We're excited to be with family again.

xoxo, Da

ps- Some of the products mentioned in this post were sent to me for reviewing purposes. I was not compensated to write this post. Opinions expressed on my blog are always my own.

Honey Dessert Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:36:06 PST

Christian and I were arguing yesterday about honey. I think honey is better for you. He says, no way it's just like refined sugar. Calorie wise he's probably right. And since we're off sugar (minus 1 cheat dessert on Sundays), so that I can shed this baby weight, I really should put the argument to rest.

But honey is sooooo much better than sugar ...

If you're looking for yummy honey treats, look no further these are as yummy as they come
// Perfect Lemon and Coconut Bars via Green Kitchen Stories
// Pecan-Honey Cookies {in the raw} via Eliza Domestica
// Vanilla Walnut Shortbread via Shutterbean

Also, have you ever had Honey Bites? Crazy good!

//

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:55:51 PST

via Joss&Main

Let's Talk About: Vine App

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:40:01 PST

Colorful Sunday vine.co/v/bJMJOJ5UnPZ
— Da (@KitchenCorners) January 28, 2013

The word on the street is that there's a new addictive social media App in town. Think Instagram for video. Now think Twitter. Vine allows you to make 6 second videos, and share them with your friends and strangers. Yes, strangers, lots and lots of strangers. Twitter has a reputation for being overly permissive. So before you run off to download the newest distraction keep in mind that, unlike Instagram, you can't keep the lurkers out. If you're into having a private account, Vine is not for you, at least not for now.

And like any newborn app Vine has a few little things (if it takes me only 6 seconds to watch why does it take so long to load?) and a few big things (apparently you can film a porn video in 6 seconds flat) to iron out.

Curious? Here's what it looks like.

The reason why Vine is different from other video sharing Instagram-wannabes is that you can put short clips together, like this,

My morning routine. #parenting #school #schoollunch #firstgrader vine.co/v/bJnbvVQj6zU
— Da (@KitchenCorners) January 28, 2013

And comment and watch other people's videos via twitter.
So what do you think, tempted to join?

Check out what other bloggers are saying about Vine
// Design Love Fest
// Kludgy Mom
// Mashable

My Lucky Clovers

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 09:54:02 PST

I know I'm going to regret this, blogging at 11:55pm, but I just haven't blogged in so long and I did just take a little cat nap with the baby on the couch while Christian worked on our taxes. The plan was to work on our taxes together, sort of like a date night minus any romance. But the baby needed me, so I went to her and nursed and fell asleep. I woke up just in time to convince Christian to not leave the house in the dead of night to print documents at the computer lab up the street. Seriously, he can just do it tomorrow. Just like I can blog tomorrow (maybe). I know the feeling of wanting to get things done, that feeling defies all reason.

There are some pretty exciting things happening around here, for example baby may or may not have started sucking her thumb. She's been practicing for a couple of weeks now and as of two hours ago it seems like she finally succeeded. Yes, we do want her to suck her thumb. Yes, we do realize we'll have thousands of dollars to pay for this in the future when she needs braces. But hey, I've always wanted braces myself so maybe Eliza and I can be twinners some day.

The other day I saw a Pinterest idea that I immediately wanted to do. It's mommy-son date nights. The boy dresses up and the mom dresses up. The whole purpose of the date night is for mom to teach boy how to be a gentleman. I thought it was a great idea for 2 seconds and then a total crap idea after that. My boy is 6, does he really need to wear a dress shirt, which he hates, and go out with me and have me nagging him about how to treat a lady?

That same day he came home with a bouquet for me. However, I was too busy being on Pinterest looking up ideas on how to raise my son that I didn't even notice the nice gesture. Just kidding, though I could totally see myself doing something insensible like that. Actually, I've been pretty proud of myself these days, I've had some good parenting moments. Enzo wants to play Monopoly every single day, and after our last Monopoly game that lasted 5 hours I told him to jump in the lake. Maria wants me to play Candy Land with her every single day and I told her to jump in the lake and she told me to jump in the lake because she's a total answer-backer.

So I established a mommy-kid time. For 20 minutes each they get my undivided attention. No phone (I know!), no distractions, just me and the kid doing whatever it is they want. Enzo and I play Monopoly for 20 minutes each day and then continue our game the next day for another 20 minutes. Hopefully we'll finish in a month or so. Maria and I play Candy Land, it usually takes us a good 20 minutes to finish a game. Today she was one card away from winning but when the timer when off she just closed the board and was totally content that we had played. I also do 20 minutes mommy-Eliza time which isn't entirely fair because we get a lot of mommy-baby time with nursing and because she hates to be put down. But still, it's nice to set a timer and just play with her for 20 minutes without the other two kids interrupting us.

Other than parenting I've also been working, and because my work revolves around the internet here are some goodies I found to share.

// Valentine's Day on the Cheap
// this print
// I'm going off sugar for a year minus once cheat dessert a week. This will be my cheat dessert for this week.
// I'm back working with Glam Media and part of my job description is to manage some Pinterest accounts (yes, my job is dreamy). So if you are not already following please follow Bliss by Glam and Foodie by Glam on Pinterest. I'm working on some fun Valentine's Day boards. If you have any suggestions on boards or people I should follow please share.

Happy weekend.
xoxo

Happy 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:46:18 PST

I'm the kind of person that makes resolutions. Most of my resolutions revolve around people I love, and I just so happen to love a lot of people.

It has been an absolute gift to have ended 2012 and started 2013 surrounded by family and friends, in beautiful Hawaii.

All of us in one house, feeding, playing, teasing, cleaning up, messing up, laughing, celebrating, and simply enjoying each other. I've been a part of this for almost 10 years and I'm still amazed that this exists, that we're related, and that we like each other (most of the time).

2012 was a great year. I've never felt more sick (first trimester pregnancy kicked me in the butt), and I've never felt more pain (emergency c-section where the anesthesia doesn't totally kick in), and I've never felt more worried (our baby in the NICU), than in 2012. However, trials really do come hand in hand with blessings and 2012 brought us lots of blessings.

2012 also marked 5 years of blogging for me. Last year I was a pretty bad blogger. Between feeling super sick, homeschooling in Brazil, moving back to California, working full time, and having a baby, I was anything but consistent with my blog. At the same time 2012 brought unexpected professional opportunities. The Travel Channel hired me for 2 episodes, I did some exciting consulting work for Google, I worked at Glam Media for 3 1/2 months doing something I loved, and I wrote some fun sponsored posts on this here blog.

Do what you love and love what you do. I live by this rule and I plan on living by this rule for a long time. I see real change when I do what I love, and I also see real change when I love what I do, even if what I do is hard.

My resolution for 2013 is to love what is hard. I will love feeding Maria, my picky Maria. I will love making Enzo's lunch in the morning and If I don't love it then he can eat school lunch, lets be real. Oh, and I will love being sugar free. Adios sugar, I relied on you way too much last year but this year I'm ready to feel my best.

I have a good feeling about this new year. It should be a good one.

P.S. Shout out to my brother-in-law Adam who's been documenting this whole trip with his mad photography skills.

Gourmet McDonalds

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 12:54:54 PST

So back in April I shot two episodes for the Travel Channel in Brazil. One is airing tonight the other in January. Here is clip. Yes I'll stick to writing and not T.V appearances :)

In other news I'm in Hawaii with the fam, all 17 grandkids and 13 adults. Major fun! See you next year. Happy Holidays!

Shopping Smarter with RedLaser

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 10:08:10 PST

Last week Christian cooked breakfast for all his students, yes all 40 of them. Our house was invaded by college kids with a big appetite for crepes and homemade cinnamon rolls. When we're just cooking for our family we kind of have the drill down, but when we're cooking for a crowd we do a little extra research and planning.

I was recently introduced to the RedLaser app, which helps you shop smarter and faster. When we were planning this breakfast I used the app to search for berries and figure out which store around my area had the best price for berries.

And then I discovered the scanning feature of this app and now I'm a little obsessed scanning items so I can get a description of what's going in my shopping cart, from calories to allergens. I can find prices for things online as well as locally. My favorite is that I can shop from my phone and have the items I purchased waiting for me at the store, so I can walk in and walk out. My style of shopping.

You can download the app for free. Check it out and then start scanning things in your local supermarket, seriously addicting. Hope it helps you save some money specially during the Holiday season.

This post is brought to you by RedLaser. Get the free app at RedLaser.

Gingerbread House - Kiwi Crate

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 11:22:42 PST

This year we're going to Hawaii for Christmas, I know so lucky right?! Consequently we're keeping low on the decorations around our house since we won't even be here on the 25th.

Kiwi Crate sent us their December box and it was perfect, just what we needed to get our home looking a little like Christmas. The kids and I spent Saturday pouring over our Kiwi Crate, making a cardboard gingerbread house and 3 ornaments. We'll have to take the ornaments to Hawaii to decorate the Palmer family Christmas tree when we're there.

If you haven't heard of Kiwi Crate do check them out. They deliver craft projects for kids to your doorstep. Pretty fun stuff, and a cool gift for Holidays for sure.

Glad to be A Good Cookie

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 17:04:50 PST

One of my favorite things to do during the Holidays is a cookie exchange. You bake a bunch of cookies and get together with friends who have also baked cookies and then you swap your treats. At the end you leave with a variety of cookies. It's that simple and that fun.

This year I've teamed up with Glad Product Company and Daily Buzz Food and stepped up my cookie exchange a notch to help the organization Cookies for Kid's Cancer.

Today Pediatric cancer is the number one cause of death by disease of children in the U.S, due in large part to the need for funding for research into new and improved therapies. Glad is proud to continue it's long-standing support of Cookies for Kid's Cancer and is calling on all of us to help by participating in their Glad Holiday Cookie Exchange.

When you register your cookie exchange Glad will donate $1 for every cookie exchanged. Yesterday we exchanged 144 cookies between 6 of us which means that not only did we get to girl talk, eat cookies, and share recipes, we were also able to raise money for a good cause.

Thank you ladies for making yesterday so fun!

It was wonderful to come home to my kids and eat cookies with them during our afternoon snack time.

If you're planning on baking up a storm this Holiday season do consider hosting a cookie exchange and registering it with Cookies for Kid's Cancer so that for every cookie you swap Glad can donate $1 to an important cause.

If you don't have time to host a cookie exchange you can send a virtual cookie instead. It's fun and simple, and Glad will make a donation for every virtual cookie you send.

I hope you'll join in on the fun!

I have partnered with The Glad Products Company through DailyBuzz to help promote their Food Storage products. I have been compensated for my time commitment to work with this product. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments. Thank you GLAD!

Still Thankful

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:39:07 PST

Unfortunately my kids got the unphotogenic gene from me, but I promise he's happy in this picture.

Every Thanksgiving we drive up to Martinez to hang out with Christian's aunt Shelly, his uncle Steve, and a bunch of other awesome family who live in Northern California and the Bay Area. Christian has lots of cousins, and I swear I have to yet meet one that I don't like.

While the adults were busy getting food ready Enzo and Maria were keeping themselves entertained. During the evening Enzo found a piece of string he liked and was playing with it. When it was time to go home he couldn't find the string and was really upset. I wanted to just get everyone in the car and not deal with lost string drama. Christian's cousin Jake (father of 7 kids), could tell I was getting frustrated and turned to Enzo and promised him that he would look for the string. A couple days later Enzo received an envelope in the mail, inside was the string and a card signed by everyone who had stayed at Shelly and Steve's house, telling Enzo that they loved him. This is the kind of stuff Christian's family does. I mean, how can you not be Thankful for that?!

November was definitely a month of gratitude for our little family. On the first of the month we welcomed Baby Eliza to our fold. It has not been easy recovering from my emergency c-section, but I am alive! Eliza is alive! The more I read over the medical records of what happened that day and the more I talk to different professionals the more I realize that we were dang lucky. And then there were ALL the people who quickly jumped to our aid, too many to name, but to give you an idea I did not have to cook a single meal the entire month of November. We had dinners brought to us daily. We had friends picking up and dropping off our kids at school, and then taking them on play dates. We have been diligently cared for from our church community, our neighbors, our friends, and our family.

This Thanksgiving was an extra special one for us.
We had much to be thankful for, and the food was also mighty fine!