Rachael Ray

My little boy started kindergarten this week.  I can hardly believe it.  He looked so cute walking to school with his new backpack with his name on it.  He was so nervous at first, saying he didn’t want to go, but then when he saw the other neighborhood kids walking to school, he got right into it.  Once there, he was a little nervous again, but by day three, he was wondering when he could stay for a full day (this first week was only half days). I did learn a few things that I thought helped calm his nerves during this process.  I thought I’d share them and then ask you for any pointers if you have been in a [...]...

My son starts kindergarten tomorrow and I don’t know if I should smile proudly, cry or pull the grey hairs out of my head because it makes me feel old.  Either way, he is excited, but I can tell he’s a little nervous, and truthfully so am I.  He will be going to public school where, you are pretty much on your own from the time you start at age -are you ready-4!  He’s not even 5-my baby!  I know his teacher because she taught my older daughter, so I feel pretty secure with his situation, except for…you guessed it…lunch!  If you read my blog you will know that this boy is the pickiest of picky eaters and getting worse [...]...

Today I saw a sight that made me very happy.  An ice cream truck that didn’t have the prepackaged Sponge Bob flat thing on a stick that I can’t even really call ice cream, or the blue and red “balls” that come in a cone (I have no idea what these things are that my children seem to relish), but I saw a truck with homeade ice cream being scooped out into homeade sugar cones. On the side of the truck was this statement: You probably can’t read it but it says : “Welcome to the Van Leeuwen Artisan, the original gouremt ice cream truck.  We make our ice cream with fresh hormone free milk and cream from local farms, cane sugar and [...]...

Warning!  Don’t let any kids under the age of 15 read this post!!!  Adults only!!! Okay now that I know I am writing for adult eyes only, I can be frank.  Today my 6-year old lost her second front tooth.  Very exciting moment in our house as it was hanging on by a thread and now with that tooth out of the way, she can “look like Kayleigh,” which are her words, not mine.  I promptly took the tooth and placed it in this little envelope with her name and the date and stuck it inside another envelope and told her to stick it under her pillow.  I got these cute envelopes from a store near my office but you can [...]...

Mom of a Picky Eater has been on vacation for a week which is why you haven’t heard from me.  If you have a picky eater as I do, you know how hard a vacation can be.  Although we were just at my parents’ house, it was away enough from the familiar that it sent my son into an even deeper state of pickiness, if that’s possible.  First of all, there was just too much fun going on for him to be bothered by eating.  Secondly, he knew that at almost every turn, some family member was going to offer him a treat and if not, there would always be the nightly trip for ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa. [...]...

A while ago, my freezer looked like a disaster area.  It was thick with ice accumulation and stuffed with various plastic and aluminum foil wrapped balls and other oddly shaped and unmarked items.  I also seemed to keep alot of boxed, frozen veggies around. At some point, I realized that the freezer is really my underappreciated friend in the kitchen: it will not only help me save money by storing leftovers, but it will also assist me in getting through the harried dinner hour without so much panic.  As I am stressing out about what to serve my kids, meals I might have made a few days or weeks before and frozen can be a lifesaver-especially since I have a [...]...

I have a picky eater son, as you know if you read my blog. As he gets older, he seems to drop more and more foods off his list of acceptable choices. I try to sneak in the “healthy” alternatives like brown rice instead of white, but he is hip to my game now and gives me a tight lip when I try to sneak a bite into his mouth(maybe I should try half and half next time). However there are a few healthy versions of foods that still seem to work and really do taste good. Nitrate-free products like Applegate Farms Organic Chicken Hot Dogs and Chicken-Maple Breakfast Sausage. These products are widely available and taste great! They [...]...

This summer, my best friend from childhood and her three kids came to visit.  That put 5 kids in my house under the age of nine.  By the end of the weekend my friend and I had each sprouted two huge grey hairs and had a laugh over it, but it was well worth the effort to have these kids together. We decided it wasn’t the summer for us to afford a vacation away, so we made it a “staycation” at my house.  We quickly realized after the first few hours of catching up as adults that we couldn’t ignore the kids and hope that they would just entertain themselves.  No, we needed to keep them active.  “Lead them to an [...]...

You know how they always say the French women are thin because they eat full fat foods, like cheese, but only a small bit?  I have yet another French staple that I have typically Americanized and eaten way too much of-the puff pastry.  You can, however, follow the more healthful route and just add a bit to your meal, offset by tons of greens or fruits, and you have a secret weapon. Last night I decided to try Rachael’s Love Birds -Chicken in Pastry, thinking it was time for my family to try something new and different for us.  I would never normally buy puff pastry dough-no, I am a strong believer in doing everything from scratch or not doing it [...]...