My kids love hard-boiled eggs

Hard-boiled eggs=Gross

Just a few moments ago, my kids ate hard-boiled eggs for dinner. My daughter ate two. I realize this is not exactly exciting news. But since I was 2, I have hate, hate, hated eggs. It was all I could do to cook them and smell them while they ate.

In fact, I had to look up how to hard-boil eggs online. My mom has told me before, but seeing as how I've maybe done it one other time, I didn't remember. [I use blown eggs for Easter. That way you can keep them from year to year.]

Apparently, I figured out this whole egg-boiling thing, but you're going to have to take the kids' word for it, because I certainly didn't try any.

We found some peanuts. We cracked them open. Fun ensued.

I bought this 3 lb. bag of organic peanuts in the shell at the grocery the other day. I have no idea why. I don't really have plans for these peanuts. But the 2yo loves them.

Let me also add this, before I get to my point:

I'm a freak-a-holic about children and allergenic foods. I read all this crap important research before the 8yo was born. About how even if food allergies don't run in your family, but other allergies do -- I personally have had most auto-immune diseases known to man -- then you should be careful of allergenic foods, which can be triggers.

I sent the 8yo to day care with a chart of what foods she was not allowed to eat. No chocolate. No strawberries. No raisins and hot dogs [for safety reasons, of course]. No eggs. And of course, no peanut butter.

I have photographs of the now-8yo enjoying her first peanut butter and jelly sandwich at the age of 3, when the allergy gurus finally deemed she was old enough to try the offending legume. The pics are adorable. And we were really fortunate with her. So far, the 8yo has nothing more than a raging case of hay fever....same as everyone else in my family.

When the 2yo came home at the age of 7 1/2 months, he was already eating table foods. Basically, he'd eat anything he could get his hands on. And I had no real way of knowing either his birth family's medical history, or what he'd eaten already in the past few months.

So I started from scratch, testing each food, just as I had with the 8yo at the same age. The 2yo probably made it to the age of 1 or so before he had some chocolate, and strawberries. I didn't worry about eggs this time around. And he could chew nuts [I learned by accident] before his 1-year molars came in. So I wasn't too worried about him choking.

But I was determined to wait til he was 3 to give him peanuts. You know, just as a precaution.

Well you know, children have a way of handling these issues for you. As I mentioned last year, the 2yo took it upon himself to demonstrate that he's not allergic to peanuts. And he's been enjoying large quantities of peanut butter the last 9 months or so. But this was his first exposure to real peanuts.

I discovered quickly that the process was just as much fun to him as eating the peanuts. He tried hard to crack the peanuts open, and was successful a couple of times. The rest of them he handed to me, instructing me: "Mommy, smash it!" And so I would. And he'd eat the peanuts, get down from the table, throw the shell away, and come back to start again.

This is one of those things I guess that's cutest when it's your own kid. Because every single thing the 2yo does is precious. Don't ya know.

This is what I'm dealing with

I got so exasperated tonight with the 8yo. She was ready for dinner and I had nothing to make for her. Nothing, that is, except for the peanut butter and crackers I sent to school with her the past two days, or the macaroni and cheese she had for dinner two nights ago. I actually got her to try some ambrosia [oranges, pineapple and cherries, so delicious] and it made her gag. Sigh.

So I had her make a list for me of ALL the foods that she will eat. And she agreed that I can feed her anything off this list at any time, and she will eat it. It's not that long a list, if it's your entire diet:

Peanut butter
Pinto beans
Baked beans
Peanuts
Pistachios
Cashews
Pecans
Macaroni & cheese
Biscuits
Spaghetti
Tortillas
Campbell's Goldfish meatball soup*
Bagels
Honey Nut Cheerios
Cheerios
Graham crackers
Apples
Strawberries
Bananas
Red grapes
Kiwi
Dates
Artichokes
Corn
Potatoes
Peas
Tomatoes
Tomato sauce
Alfredo/cream sauce
Spinach salad**
Yogurt
Frozen yogurt
Cheddar sticks***
Milk
Cream cheese
Croutons
Ranch dressing

As a side note, with the exception of salad with salad dressing and tomatoes, or a tortilla with beans or peanut butter, she eats almost all of these things alone. Meaning, there's no point in getting creative and making a dish with cream sauce and vegetables....she won't eat that. She doesn't eat melted cheese at all, for instance. Lots of traditional ways of combining food? Forget it.

I know, I know, everyone keeps telling me she will grow out of it. All I can tell you is that she started becoming a picky eater around the age of 5, and it has gotten progressively worse since then, dramatically so this year. And not just because she became vegetarian this year -- she's limited herself in lots of other ways, too. She used to eat green beans. Several other cereals. Any kind of cheese we had. Hummus.

Not anymore. Hahaha she tried to get me to put Cheetos on this list. You really don't want to know my response.

*She knows this has meat in it. She says that is OK, that she is vegetarian about everything else.
**I viewed this as a major concession on her part, for which I am most grateful.
***Apparently these are some mysterious kind of cheese sticks, which I have never bought, but that one of her friend's mothers feeds her on the way home from dance. I can't wait to find out what they are, and how close they are to all the other kinds of cheese [and there are many] already in my refrigerator.

Crunchy peanut butter apples

  Crunchy peanut butter apples

An impromptu recipe, adapted from Mr. Rogers by the 8yo.

Crunchy peanut butter apples
1 apple
Peanut butter
A couple graham crackers

Stick two graham crackers in a plastic bag and seal. Roll with a rolling pin til they are crumby. Peel the apple and slice it into thin planks. Spread each plank with peanut butter. Dip into the crumbs.

I tried one too; they are surprisingly delicious!

Menu plan

When I am able to cook again, I can assure you the menu will include squash. Right now at my house, I have

• 3 acorn squash
• 5 butternut squash
• 2 spaghetti squash
• 2 zucchini

I have promised the 8yo she can choose the first meal to be cooked on the new stove. This is all manipulation on my part. Despite my efforts, she eats more junk and less nutritious food than I'd like, and sometimes seems to go for days subsisting on the occasional tub of applesauce.

Any hope of her choosing some of that squash for her meal? Somehow I doubt it.

However, she has -- after a lengthy flirtation with the idea -- declared herself this week to be a full-time vegetarian. Both her father and I have made an effort to educate her on the fact that that will require her to actually eat vegetables.

Her reply: I like artichokes.

Eight-year-olds can muster up quite a bit of scorn when they try. I then urged her to get a paper route so we could afford to feed her year-round.

No end of fun here

Here we are at Fixin' Supper, having one of our regular madcap Saturday nights. The 8yo has a friend over for the night. They are having fun, but let me tell you, I've decided it's best not to be in the room when two bossy 8yo girls play. I have already said about 15 times tonight: I am not getting in the middle of this. You girls work it out yourselves. So far no one has cried, so I'm calling it a big success.

The 2yo has managed mostly to mind his own business.

And I made a zucchini cheese bread that I highly recommend to you.

Also, I have this tip. If you do like I do, and frequently end up with 2 or more cantaloupes in your refrigerator for days on end, because you somehow think it will be such a hassle to slice them, even though cantaloupe is quite possibly your favorite fruit in the world, volunteer to bring snacks to church. The cantaloupe is at a peak of perfection, despite my attempts to kill it, and it will be all I can do to actually take it to church, now that I was forced to slice it. Get some now before summer is gone!!

I have to go now. I'm dividing up animal crackers into zipper bags so the 3rd graders will have sustenance to make it through the day at school next week.

Stop me before I go this crazy next time, will ya?

Banana split!

  The finished creation 

I ran to the store this afternoon to pick up some Diet Coke and the 2yo noticed the bananas. He's at that age where he both a. comes up with new words every day and b. surprises you constantly by appropriately using his new words in context. So as we wheeled by a stand in the middle of an aisle, he gleefully shouted out [there's a lot of shouting when you're 2, apparently], "Bana!" I like to reward the language usage whenever possible, so I put some nearly-not-green ones in the cart, and then got a sudden inspiration. I got one ripe banana and some squirty whipped cream.

We think ran down the street and stopped in Pied Piper, where we got them to pack up some chocolate ice cream for us. At home we already had strawberry from Pied Piper, and some Cherry Garcia from Ben & Jerry's.

So we piled up the banas, three scoops of ice cream, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, squirty whipped cream, some candy sprinkles and four cherries.

Wow.

We took it outside to eat it. Though it melted faster, it was a lot easier for the 2yo to manage outside. Despite some impressive spoon work, he still ended up covered with chocolate -- face, hands, shirt, shoes. So then I got the hose out and sprayed him off. Y'all, there's no happier person in this world than a 2yo playing with a garden hose.

At the beach

We're here in Florida, this time for quite a special occasion. My parents have been married 40 years today, and tonight they're going to renew their vows on the beach! NYC sister and her fiance are here, and supposedly, Nashvegas sister and her boyfriend arrived late last night. I wouldn't know for sure....I fell into bed exhausted at 10 p.m., long before they were projected to arrive. [And of course, no one except the kids and me is up yet today!]

I don't know what it is, but just being here with kids wears me out. We did go swimming yesterday for a couple hours, but I don't know why that would sap all my energy.

Today, everything is going to be planned around getting the Hungry Toddler fed and ready for the 6:30 ceremony, so that hopefully we'll get good behavior long enough to have a few family photos made, too.

Well, it's time to make the doughnuts as they say. In this case, that means give the kids Chocolate Lucky Charms for breakfast. EEEK! Yes, my mother bought that for them. They don't get that at home. But they appear to be very, very excited about consuming their monthly allotment of sugar all in one sitting.

Peanut lottery

For my whole life, allergies have been an altogether annoying presence. Frankly, I'm now convinced that when they find the genes controlling immunological response, mine will have a couple of critical mutations, since my immune system's favorite target is the rest of my body.

So when the 7yo was born, I was a real freak about potential allergens in food. I don't have food allergies personally, but some researchers now believe that food, respiratory and skin allergies are all related. Which makes sense if you think about it. And given my troubles in the later two categories, it seemed prudent to be careful about what the 7yo ate.

I had her on a strict schedule. No eggs til she was a year. No fish. No chocolate or strawberries til she was two. And, most critically, no peanuts til she was three.

We pretty much hit all those targets with the 7yo, and she ended up able to eat everything, whether through good fortune or careful planning. Either way, it seemed a small sacrifice for the first three years.

Now, the Hungry Toddler was adopted, and he was born in Guatemala. We don't know his birth family's medical history. [Many adopted children are now fortunate to receive such information. You may never realize what a blessing it is to know your medical history, until you meet someone who doesn't.] At any rate, since we didn't know, again, it seemed wisest just to be careful about his foods. The funny thing about it is, when HT came home, though he was only 7 months old, his foster mother insisted—and was obviously right—that he would eat anything. This child could chew things with his gums that grown people gag over. So, how was I to know that he hadn't been enjoying peanut sauce on top of all his veggies for the past few months?

Still, we embarked on the no-peanuts campaign. Have you ever tried to keep one member of the household from eating something that everyone else eats? Or from touching it? And it happens to be sticky?

I'm making it sound like we've painted the house in peanut butter, but it is true that the 7yo practically lives on the substance. So it was a pretty big effort to ensure none of it crossed his lips.

Last week while we were in Florida, the 7yo and I made one of my favorite childhood snacks: peanut butter sticks [more on these later]. We had them out on the meatblock to set while HT was napping, and I neglected to pack them away before he got up.

You can see what happened: He's tall enough to reach to the top of the meatblock, whether I think he is or not. :) And I found him chowing down on a peanut stick, standing right behind me with a big grin on his face.

I snatched the peanut stick away from him and washed him off, but the damage was done. My only question was, was there any benefit to waiting until he was three for the second dose? It would make my life a lot easier if we could get this over with. So I called his doctor today and they said, once he's eaten it, he's eaten it. He's either made the antibodies or he hasn't. So they recommended I give him a little and see what happened.

So tonight, HT got his second taste of peanut butter, just a little on some graham cracker bits. He found the texture quite amusing. And he wanted more.

Best of all, no rash! No wheezing! No nothing!

I realize that's the regular outcome, but you have to understand the paranoia. We have several friends with kids who have deadly peanut allergies. And it does change your life, and that of everyone around you, to have to avoid such a common food. We'll try some more peanut stuff over the next few days, but I'm hopeful in saying, Jif all around!

Anyone out there eat deviled ham?

Tonight the 7yo and I were enjoying an appetizer while dinner [leftovers] was microwaving. The appetizer was a delightful spread from The Moosewood Cookbook called "Walnut Feta Paté." [OK to be honest, she was enjoying a cracker, while I enjoyed a cracker with the spread. More for me.] I'm seriously addicted to the stuff....have been for about 10 years now. Good night, do you realize 10 years ago it was the late '90s???

At any rate, tonight, for some reason, I had this thunderbolt about the walnut-feta spread. It tastes almost exactly like deviled ham. Salty, rich....mmm.

I asked the 7yo if she knew what deviled ham was. No idea. Looked at me like I was from Mars.

I told her that I remembered deviled ham as the mainstay of my school lunches....I took my lunch a lot during certain periods of my childhood and I would take a can of deviled ham and eat it on crackers, or have a plain deviled-ham-and-white-bread sandwich. Just thinking about it now makes my mouth water.

I tried to tell her it was for me like peanut butter is for her, but I really don't think she could appreciate it. [You know, something terribly bad for you that you just can't help but eat.] I may have to get some and let her try it.