Snowed in means.....Homemade Pretzels

So, last winter I planned on making pretzels each snow day, but then we didn't get very many and I also had a 4 month old, so it wasn't exactly practical.  I decided this year we would try again, of course we've already had about 4 snow days, but better late than never.  I am a big fan of traditions, so when PC is a little older hopefully she will enjoy this....and hopefully I will also be able to perfect them.  I mean, who doesn't want to eat a fresh warm pretzel as they watch the snow come down? I mean other than gluten free people.....and since we aren't, bring on the white flour! LOL, actually the last time I made them I only had whole wheat flour and while they were good, I bet these will taste even more glutinous! I also didn't boil mine last time, you know like they do with bagels?

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, approximately
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• Vegetable oil, for pan
• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• Pretzel salt

I got the directions from here, but you can also find the recipe from Alton Brown from here

I have to say that my dough just never seems to double in size, maybe that's why my pretzels always seem so dense and not light and airy.  I still have to perfect this. If anyone has any suggestions.  They say to put the dough in a warm place to rise, so I placed it on the stove. Maybe too warm?

I will say, I enlisted my hubby to help with rolling out the dough- also they suggested breaking into 8 sections. I might do more so that the pretzels are not soo thick.  Anyway, he ended up doing a fantastic job.  The job is now his, until PC wants to help:-)

 Boil in the baking soda/water mixture for 30 seconds- we were literally timing it.

 Brush after boiling with one egg yolk mixed with 1 tbsp water.

 Salt with pretzel salt- which we didn't have, so kosher salt it is

 Bake 12-14 minutes or until golden brown

 We also decided that, being a snow day, why not also make a dipping sauce. We are not mustard people.  So, the hubs whipped up a batch of beer cheese dip.  If there are two things that we ALWAYS have it is beer and cheese.  Although- I might add less beer, a little too boozy for me...haha- we also added a little hot sauce for some heat and some paprika to make it pretty. Hubby got the recipe here- it was real easy and he whipped it up super quick!

Meatless Monday

It's Tuesday,  yes, I realize that.  So, this post is a little late in coming, but meatless Tuesday just doesn't sound the same.

As part of our 21 day fix I have been trying to add variety to our meals, so why not make Chana Masala.  I mean, I looove Indian food, plus I could just add all the ingredients to my wondrous crockpot! Best device ever, although I am saving up for a 7-1 Pressure Cooker, which does that, plus rice cooking and sautéing as part of the deal! WIN!

To make it healthier, I made brown jasmine rice (in our rice cooker) and we bought some whole wheat naan from Trader Joes. I've actually made whole wheat naan before, I just didn't have the time this time.  I got the recipe for my Chana Masala from here.

Ingredients:

• 4 C. water ( I changed it to 3, based on comments, I still thought it seemed a little watery so I thickened it up*) 
• 1 large onion, diced (I also sautéed this up first to break it down and then added it to the pot- actually about half way through)
• 1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1 6-oz. can tomato paste
• ⅓ C. chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 tsp. garam masala
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• ½ tsp. cayenne pepper (more if you like more of a kick)
• 1 tsp. ground coriander (I omitted because we didn't have it, but the garam masala had some in it already)
• 1 tsp. turmeric
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 2 cans chickpeas (I added three because we love chickpeas and I just felt two didn't seem like enough, plus we wanted to have left overs.  
• Serve over Basmati Rice, or brown jasmine rice in our case
• Cook from 6-8 hours ( I did 8, because I wanted to let it really soak up all the flavors)

*to thicken it I mixed 2 tbsp. corn starch with 2 tbsp. water

Today's Toddler Play Brought to you by....Playdough

Yesterday Ms. PC had a little bit of a temperature and was not her usual chipper self, although she still played, she was just more cuddly and a little more whimpery than normal.  Now, if it were the hubs he would be incapacitated lol.  I will take more snuggles with her any day, even though it does mean she is under-the-weather.  She apparently also is fighting off an ear infection.  We would never have known if the doctor hadn't told us.....well maybe we would have it it had ruptured or something. She's a trooper that's for sure!

PC had her 18 month appointment on Wednesday, complete with shots. Again, the lil trooper only had one little whimper. Good girl! Her stats: She is 19 lbs on the dot still in the 8th percentile, which is normal for where she's been on the chart and her height is 30 1/4 inches which places her in the 10%.  No shocker as her father and I are NOT giants.

So, with it being wintery/icy mix out today we stayed home from Church and didn't venture out into the city, for the sake of her, as well as road conditions.  I haven't done too many toddlery activities with her, as her attention span isn't very long and she still tries to put most things in her mouth.  However, with her dad at home, I decided to try and make some edible no-cook playdough.  The less time it takes the better, as well as the fact that we had all the ingredients here in the house, otherwise we would have tried some other activities, but we don't have xantham gum or borax- guess I need to add that to our shopping list.

I pulled out all the ingredients, vegetable oil, flour, salt, food coloring, cream of tartar. I got the recipe from Pagingfunmums.  P.S. This recipe literally takes all of 5 minutes! WIN!!!

Mix all the ingredients except boiling water and food coloring.
1 cup of flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tbsp of cream of tartar
1 tbsp of oil

Then add 1 cup boiling water- with the food coloring mixed in (I didn't add enough to make it bright. Maybe I need the neon food coloring.) Mix together

 We tried using a stool at the counter, but it didn't work and we were afraid she was going to fall off.  I found toddler step stools online, but $200 no thanks!

 So, we put her in the highchair...I'm a little worried that she will start associating playing in the highchair and then start playing with her food, but this contained her, no fear of her falling and it's easy peasy to clean up!

 I originally gave her a fork to play with- disposable Great! However, after second thought I did take it away so she would not try and eat the dough (even though it is edible). Fork=eating in her mind

Note: The next time I make it, I might add either jello or Kool-Aid to the mix for coloring, as well as great smell!

*~Snow Day!~*

It's been awhile since we have had a "good" snow.  Actually, in my mind, the latest snow here in the DC metro area was, meh.  Let me say this though....it was beautiful and I LOVE watching it fall serenely and softly to the ground. There is something so peaceful about falling snow.  Pre-daughter, the hubs and I would take walks in the snow, at any time of night (that is, if we had the next day off).  Perhaps we need to invest in a longer range video monitor.

Any way....we ended up with about 4 inches and a SNOW DAY! That's the best part.  Because we are teachers it is even better.  Perhaps the love of snow and snow days is due to the love my dad had for snow.

The snow was so light weight that we could just use a broom to sweep it off the deck/porch/stairs.  We have yet to invest in a real snow shovel, as we just don't get huge snow storms.  I would totally eat my words if that means we'll get a HUGE storm, BOSTON HUGE!  That might handicap the DC metro area for many days!

PC had a blast in the snow, well as much as I could tell. She liked walking down the sidewalk and she liked brushing the snow off of the steps and the walls of other people's yards (*sidenote: I need to get PC some legit winter mittens, waterproof ones, but I just haven't been able to find some for her lil PC paws, or good boots, but as she isn't doing too much walking in the snow,  I guess they aren't necessary)

She didn't really walk in the snow, she would stand there and when she would attempt to walk she would basically fall over. Kinda cute.  We don't have a sled, so we couldn't even pull her through the snow, nor are there many hills here....
She did love sledding when we visited my bestie and her daughter and hubby last weekend in Pittsburgh.

but the pups, the hubs, PC and I bundled out and trudged down the block to our park to let the pups run free.

 Snow Dog!

Here's hoping that we get some a few more storms this year! I'll be turning my PJs inside out and flushing ice cubes down the toilet and PC and I will do a few snow dances! 

We <3 SNOW! 

Baby Wearing

I have two baby carriers, no wait, make that three. I just picked up a used hiking backpack from a neighbor.

But....originally I had 2 when PC was born.  I had the Ergo and the Moby Wrap.  Both of which I had researched and new that I wanted a few years before PC was even born.  Call me a planner, or maybe a little crazy...but, it's what I do.

I know some people say to wear your babies as much as possible, to hold them close, to keep that bonding time.  Others say, if your baby is super fussy, wear them. If they are colicky, wear them.  If they don't want you to put them down, wear them.  You get the idea.  I will agree, wearing your baby is a lot easier than carrying them around if you need to get household chores done.  Thankfully for us PC was none of those.  She didn't need to be held round the clock (although I could have if I wanted) and she wasn't sickly, other than jaundice and I wasn't allowed to hold her when she was on her special light anyway.  She was completely content sleeping in her rock n' sleeper, so I figured, why disturb her.  When I did need to wear her around the house though I would use our Moby.  It pulled her close and was less bulky, well other than the fact that I felt like I was mummified with all the wrapping.  One thing that I wish the Moby had was a pocket.  In the summer/fall when PC was lil I would wear the Moby when I took the dogs out, worked up a sweat, but had no where to hold my phone or keys.
Another negative with the Moby is it isn't practical when you go out, unless you already have it tied around you.  If you don't, the long "tails" drag on the ground collecting all kinds of goodies.

Oddly enough I still wil
l randomly wear the Moby, especially if my husband takes the car with the Ergo.  For short walks she's fine.  She does move around a lot more though.  Today I watched a video on how to do a hip hold with the Moby. I of course then had to try it out immediately, much to PC's dismay, but she seemed to like it.  I think that this would be very convenient when doing a quick walk, or quick errand (via walking).  As far as I can tell, this is not one that you can pre-do.  I didn't wear it very long so I can't say how my back or hips would feel.  I will say that she is 15 months old, but only weighs about 17 lbs. so that might make a huge difference versus another child.

** Apparently I wrote this two months ago, whoops.... PC is now 17 months and I'm not quite sure how much she weighs....somewhere between 17-20lbs.  I think she actually went through a growth spurt as I had some new pain in my one mommy arm- lefty is my dominant hold baby arm, even though I am a righty.

Does anyone have a favorite baby carrier? Do you use a sling? 

Maybe we will try an ergo360 for the next baby- I dunno, does having baby face outward throw you off balance at all?

Role Model

Of course I want to be a great role model for PC. I make sure to eat right around her and give her balanced meals. I wanna make sure I don't say inappropriate things around her. They are sponges after all right? So of course I go to sit down tonight where? Yup the coffee table. Actually it's a very common place for me to sit ask the hubs. I will even sit cross legged up there. I know weird right?!  So of course lil miss PC saw me tonight and this happened.

I better watch out. Also she's super flexible I'm a little jealous. Ha 

I love books!

We started reading to PC almost as soon as she came home.  My parents read to me growing up and there are so many books that I remember and love.  One thing that I wanted to do, at an early age, was tointroduce lil to all of them, old and new.  She will be well versed in Caldecotts.  I hope she will have a love of reading like her father and I do.  Thankfully our local library is stocked full of children's books, saves us some money and rotates the books frequently.  

PC loves turning the pages and she especially loves those touch and feel books and books where you can lift the flap.  There are times when I won't hear anything for a little while, I'll be in the kitchen or in the bedroom and I'll go and look for her and this is what I find...... She will just be quietly sitting there looking through her books. I LOVE THIS KID! LOL....I mean.... I will even if she doesn't love books like we do, but I hope she will.  <3  <3