A World Cup Menu and a World Cup Playlist

 Posted on June 17, 2014 by

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The World Cup is here! The World Cup is here! I almost never watch soccer but I absolutely adore the World Cup. There’s just something about the passion from around the world that is so fun – all of the drama (stunning upsets, inspiring Cinderella teams – looking at you Costa Rica) of the NCAA basketball tournament and the national pride of the Olympic games. This year the World Cup is in Brazil and since Brazil is basically synonymous with futbol (soccer) all of the excitement is even more heightened.

feijoada, kale and white rice from a world cup dinner and world cup playlist

In order to celebrate the opening match, we had a special Brazilian meal for dinner and a special world cup playlist to go with it. Our dinner was feijoada, white rice, sauteed kale and fried yucca.

a photo collage with ingredients for the feijoada; kale sauteing; and fried yucca.
Ingredients for the feijoada; kale sauteing; and fried yucca.

Of course a brazilian celebration wouldn’t be complete without a little bit of Cachaca:

a bottle of brazilian cachaca to accompany the world cup dinner and world cup playlist

Finally, you can’t skip the music if you want to set a mood. Here’s my World Cup playlist – first don’t even think about that terrible Pitbull/J.Lo world cup song – seriously, don’t even go look it up if you haven’t heard it, it’s awful. I like to start off with some of the better world cup songs from the FIFA World Cup Official Album –

La La La – Shakira     iTunes | Amazon

Vida – Ricky Martin     iTunes | Amazon

Lepo Lepo – Psirico      iTunes | Amazon

Next comes a few ‘unofficial’ world cup songs, including one “Todo Mundo” that is Coca-Cola’s World Cup song (and that I think is one of the best of the bunch – Coke has a way of picking great songs (see “Waving Flag” from the 2010 Cup).

Todo Mundo (feat. David Correy) – Monobloco and Gaby Amarantos     iTunes | Amazon

País do Futebol (feat. Emicida) – MC Guime     iTunes | Amazon

Golea Brasil en Fiesta – Dacelys & DJ Papi Electric     iTunes | Amazon

Then add some classic music from some of the superstars of Brazil:

Mais Que Nada – Sergio Mendes     iTunes | Amazon

Magalenha – Sergio Mendes     iTunes | Amazon

Quem Mandou (Pe Na Estrada) – Gilberto Gil & Jorge Ben     iTunes | Amazon

Finish the mix off with these songs to get your hips moving and your face smiling:

Piradinha – Gabriel Valim     iTunes | Amazon

Show das Poderosas – Anitta     iTunes | Amazon

(Disclosure: Please know that if you make a purchase using a link on this page, I may earn a commission and I am very grateful for your support of this site. Thank you!)world cup playlist

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Seattle Summer Activities: A Giant List of Things to do with Kids

 Posted on June 10, 2014 by

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seattle summer activities sq

Something I try to do each year at the beginning of the summer is make a list or calendar of all the different Seattle summer activities there are to do with my family. Sometimes it seems like just about everything fun to do around here happens in July and August – we really have to take advantage of those two months of sun to soak it up for the long grey months ahead. Here’s my list for this year: we won’t do nearly everything on the list (since there’s more than 150 things), but I can look here when I’m looking for things to do, and you can too! Let me know in the comments if there’s something your family especially likes to do in the Seattle area during the summer, and I’ll add it to the list.

Festivals, Fairs and Parades

Parades

Cultural Festivals

Street Fairs and Farmers’ Markets

Country Fairs & Carnivals

Fourth of July Celebrations

Art, Music, Culture, Cinema

Family Concerts

Movies! Movies! Movies!

Children’s Museums

Child-Friendly Museums

Sporting Events

The Great Outdoors

Zoos and Petting Farms

Amazing Playgrounds and Spray Parks

Urban Hiking, Beaches and Natural Parks

State / National Parks

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Cars and Trucks and Things that Go

Air Shows

Fun Day Trips

Downtown Seattle

Going Farther Afield

 

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 seattle summer activities

Summer Travel with Kids: A Roundup

 Posted on June 8, 2014 by

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summer travel roundup collage square
clockwise from top right: find-it jars, road trip tips, airplane snacks, travel journals, air travel tips, restaurant activity kits, route maps, scavenger hunt pages, car bingo, travel trays, color matching activity.

Since summertime is right around the corner and a lot of families will be doing a lot of summer travel with kids I thought I’d put together a little roundup of the travel related posts I’ve written over the years. I hope having all of this information in one spot is helpful on your journeys this summer!

Travel Tips and Tricks

20 Tips, Tricks and Activities for Little Kids on Airplane Tricks

24 Tips and Tricks for Surviving Road Trips with Kids

Bringing Food on Airplanes: 20 Easy Healthy Choices for Kids {and Their Grownups}

Travel Crafts and Kits

Travel Trays (to use on road trips)

Find-it Jars

Restaurant Activity Kit

Travel Journals and Activities

Color Matching Game

Travel Journals

Travel Scavenger Hunt

Kids Route Map

Preschool Car Bingo

summer travel roundup Collage

 

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Asparagus Tamales at Los Hernandez Tamales

 Posted on May 28, 2014 by

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a collage of pictures of Los Hernandez Tamales shop

This past weekend we loaded up the kids and dogs into the ol’ family truckster and headed east toward Union Gap and the land of sunny skies and desert vistas in search of asparagus tamales. Union Gap is in the Yakima Valley in Eastern Washington (one of the premier asparagus growing regions in the US) and the season for asparagus is a short one – it can be just six weeks long. Earlier this winter I saw a blurb in the AAA magazine for the asparagus tamales at Los Hernandez Tamales. I love tamales in general, and asparagus too, so I pinned up the article to save for springtime.

When we got there there was a steady stream of customers, and all of the seats in the small restaurant were full. I had a brief moment of panic when the counter woman said the asparagus tamales were sold out, but it turned out she just meant the frozen ones. We ordered a dozen asaparagus, plus two pork and two chicken tamales for the kids.

asparagus and pork tamales from Los Hernandez Tamales

The tamales were delicious – stuffed with chunks of fat asparagus spears and subtly spicy pepper jack cheese. We ate our picnic lunch at a shady table near the playground at the lovely Yakima Greenway and then took a leisurely drive home via Chinook Pass, where there was still a good 10 feet of snow on the sides of the road.  Who knows how much longer the season will go this year, but we’re sure happy we got a chance to sample the tamales!

Clean Spinach and White Bean Hummus {Recipe}

 Posted on May 26, 2014 by

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clean spinach and white bean hummus recipe

Because I’m on a health and fitness kick right now, I’ve been trying to come up with healthier versions of things I love to eat. I’m trying to follow some clean eating principles like less processed foods and leaner proteins. Regular hummus is pretty healthy as is, but I developed this clean spinach and white bean hummus to eliminate some of the fat (so that I can eat it in something else in the day!). It’s got a great earthy flavor that works well paired with vegetables or crackers, and also tastes delicious as a condiment in a wrap or sandwich.

clean spinach and white bean hummus recipe

Clean Spinach and White Bean Hummus

  • 1 can (15 oz.) white beans (Great Northern or Cannellini beans work well)
  • 5 oz. fresh baby spinach (1/2 of the typical clamshell or bag of washed spinach you find at the supermarket)
  • 1 large clove of garlic (peeled but whole)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • pinch of cayenne

Directions

1. In a small saucepan heat a quarter cup of water to a simmer, then add the garlic clove to the water and let it blanch for 30 seconds or so. Leave the garlic clove whole so that it’s easier to fish out later.

2. Add the spinach to the water and cook it briefly until it wilts – then scoop it out with a slotted spoon or tongs (to let the water drain off) and transfer it to a bowl or directly to your blender/food processor. Make sure you get the garlic clove out as well. Save the water in the pan for now in case you need to add more liquid to the hummus – you probably won’t need to but if you do it will be tastier to add the spinach/garlic water than plain water.

3. Now it’s time to blend. In the bowl of your food processor or blender, combine the white beans, spinach (make sure to leave behind any extra water in the bowl), garlic, salt, cumin and cayenne and blend until it reaches the consistency you prefer. You might need to start out by pulsing the machine to get going, and depending on the ingredients you might need to add a bit more water to thin it out, but make sure not to add more liquid right away or it will be too runny.

4. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary, and enjoy!

Note: If you’re making this ahead to serve later, you’ll want to add a bit of olive oil to prevent it from darkening slightly. Otherwise, keep it in the fridge well covered or in a airtight container and it will be good for a few days.

clean spinach and white bean hummus recipe with breadstick garnish

A Day at the Beach in May: Wordless Wednesday

 Posted on May 21, 2014 by

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edmonds beach baby starfish

 

edmonds beach olympic mountains

 

edmonds beach sandcastle

Embellished Burp Cloths for a New Baby Gift

 Posted on May 9, 2014 by

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burp cloths 4

All mamas with new babies need burp cloths, and generally they need a lot of them (unless they enjoy doing laundry). We recently welcomed a special little one into our extended family and I wanted to make her mama a little welcome home baby gift. I know that with my littles I used a ton of prefold cloth diapers as burp cloths and while they’re functional they’re not very attractive. Instead I made the new mom a set of embellished burp cloths, using plain prefold diapers as a base.

burp cloths 1

Fortunately there’s an easy way to embellish burp cloths to make them cuter (and even a bit softer for that new baby skin). I found some attractive cotton flannel at my local fabric shop, and using the folds in the diapers as a guide I sewed panels of flannel on top. Two of the embellished burp cloths ended up with a center panel of flannel, and one of the cloths has a flannel border. The border I stitched on in a similar method to binding a quilt – sewing one side on and then turning the binding over and sewing it to the other side.

burp cloths 3

With the wide range of flannels available at the average craft or fabric store, you can find prints to match any nursery, outfit or mood. These burp cloths were made with mom’s style in mind, but of course there are a million cute baby prints as well. This is a fun project to make, from picking out the accent flannel to sewing the panels.

burp cloths 2

One last tip: If you do make these for a gift, consider sewing them without pre-washing the diapers and flannel – the washing caused the flannel to pill a bit and they would have been more attractive without it (although it also made the flannel softer).

burp cloth Collage

 

Clean Eating Turkey Chili {Recipe}

 Posted on May 2, 2014 by

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clean eating turkey chile recipe

Since it’s springtime and summer’s just around the corner, I’ve been trying to eat a little healthier and shed some of my winter padding. Luckily for me I have a preschool friend who’s become a Beachbody rep (the company behind P90X and Insanity) and she recently hosted a clean eating challenge on Facebook complete with a meal plan and ‘clean’ recipes. All of the recipes she shared were quite good, but the Clean Eating Turkey Chili was the recipe my whole family enjoyed the most. Now the idea behind the clean eating movement (at least as I understand it) is to eat fresh, unrefined food with lots of fruits, vegetables and lean proteins and to avoid most processed, premade foods, caffeine, alcohol and refined grains and sugars. Sounds pretty sensible and it’s the way we usually tend to eat at home anyways but it’s always nice to have a little more accountability and encouragement, especially around weight loss, so I joined in for the week.

Of course I have trouble sticking exactly to any recipe, so like always I put my own spin on this one. I mean, what’s the fun in cooking if you can’t improvise a bit? I kept the heat from the spices pretty low so that I didn’t get any complaints from the little ones, but I like to add pickled jalapenos to my own serving for extra kick – a little hot sauce or salsa would work nicely as well. If you really want to make this recipe ‘clean’ you can cook the beans from scratch and roast the green chiles (use Anaheim or Poblano chiles) instead of using canned ones.

Clean Eating Turkey Chili
Serves 6

  • 1 TBS Vegetable oil
  • 2 bell peppers (red, yellow or orange) chopped
  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 tomatillos, peeled, rinsed and chopped
  • 1.5 lbs lean turkey, ground
  • 1 TBS cumin
  • 1 TBS chili powder
  • 1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 7oz. can diced green chiles (with their juice)
  • 1 can great northern beans, drained and rinsed (or use other beans of your choice)
  • 2 cups water
  • Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in a dutch oven or other large pan over medium high heat and add the onion and bell peppers, sauteing for 5-10 minutes until the vegetables are softened and browned.  Add the minced garlic and cook for about 30 seconds more, then add the diced tomatillos and cook, stirring constantly until the tomatillos start to soften and give up some of their juice. Remove the vegetables to a bowl and return the pan to the heat.

2. Add the ground turkey to the pan and season with kosher salt, pepper, and the cumin and chili powder. While stirring, use a spoon or spatula to break up the turkey into small pieces. Once the turkey is cooked through and browned in some spots, add back the vegetables along with the crushed tomatoes.

3. Stir well, scraping the bottom of the pan to mix in the browned bits from the vegetables and turkey. Add the diced green chiles with their liquid, the beans and the two cups of water, mix well and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes.

4. Serve as is, or accompanied with pickled jalapenos, minced scallions and sliced black olives as toppings.

 

clean turkey chili

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Orquesta Aragon and Geoduck

 Posted on April 27, 2014 by

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orquesta aragon

Last week I had the chance to go out with my husband and enjoy three of my favorite things: meeting interesting people, listening to great music, and trying new food. We started off the evening at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley (Seattle’s venerable old jazz club that has seen all the greats over the years, and still gets all the big names in jazz) to see Orquesta Aragon, a Cuban jazz band that is celebrating it’s 75th (!!) anniversary this year.

Every so often I crave a little escape from the routine of daily life, and one of the best escapes is to go out and listen to live music. I can get into anything from a big stadium show to a cheesy cover band at a bar, but my favorite type of venue is a club where you can really be wine jazz alleyimmersed in the music.  Sometimes creativity comes not from making something, or cooking or crafting, but getting swept up in someone else’s creation. Those musicians were really swinging and I could tell how much they enjoyed playing, and listening and dancing along in that intimate room was great.

We were at the show with colleagues of Alvaro’s and they were so pleasant and interesting. It’s refreshing (especially as a stay-at-home mom) to talk with people outside my usual social circle (the 4 – 6 year-old crowd). We were enjoying the conversation and since we hadn’t had much time to talk in between sets we decided to get something to eat after the show. We headed down to New Star Seafood Restaurant in the International District and ate way too much food but it was so good – we had won ton soup, shrimp fried rice, steamed bok choy with mushrooms and the best dish of the evening – geoduck.

Now if you’re not from the Pacific Northwest you might not have ever heard of geoduck (it’s pronounced gooey-duck) – it’s a giant type of shellfish that looks kind of obscene when it’s alive – and while I’d heard all about it I’d never had a chance to try it before. New Star prepared it steamed with vegetables and served it with a very spicy clear dipping sauce and it was So. Good. Sweet and just a bit briny, and I can’t wait to try it again prepared another way (or even that same way again).  All in all it was one of those inspiring evenings where everything turns out just right and it managed to get the gears turning in my mind like they haven’t been in awhile. Really magical.

geoduck new star

Making Homemade Chocolate Frozen Yogurt

 Posted on April 23, 2014 by

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chocolate frozen yogurt

As happens a lot lately (since we’re home alone together so much of the time) my little guy requested that we make something. The specific thing he wanted to make this time was homemade ice cream. He asked me if it was true that when Papi and I were married we had gotten an ice cream maker as a gift. I assured him it was true and boy did his eyes get wide and then when we went to the closet and I showed him the machine he wanted to make up a batch of ice cream immediately. Much to his disappointment we had to chill the bowl (for at least 24 hours) first, but after that we were good to go.

I decided we would make frozen yogurt instead of ice cream (mainly because I wasn’t in the mood to deal with a custard base) and started searching for a recipe online. One of the first recipes for chocolate frozen yogurt I came across was this one from Chocolate & Zucchini and it sounded delicious so that’s the one we went for. The recipe was easy to follow and I think it turned out great, but it did use dark chocolate and no one else in my family is much of a dark chocolate fan (no big deal – more for me then!). I probably won’t use this same recipe again the next time I make chocolate frozen yogurt – I think we’ll do strawberry next time anyways – but I did have good results with it.

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