Our family loves pizza. It is ridiculous how much pizza we consume each month. No matter what recipe I make, no matter, how I cook it, the pizza we get from a brick oven restaurant always tastes better.
Recently I got an email from Williams Sonoma featuring a new product from Breville. I have many Breville products, and they are all awesome. I deleted the email, only to read about this same pizza maker on a blog two months later. Somehow Williams Sonoma must have been reading my mind, since that same day they sent me a coupon for 15% off any item in their online store. I showed the son who is a chef, and he said buy it.
The Breville Pizza Maker is pretty amazing. It has a pizza stone that can be removed and cleaned. The crust that comes out of these pizzas is incredible!!! I have no idea how this works, but it is awesome. A few warnings about this pizza maker
*You will consume too much pizza
*You will make a big mess while creating your pizzas
*You might set off your smoke detector if you do not clean your pizza stone. And then your dog will completely freak out at the beeping of the smoke detector.
*You might inhale many amazing pizzas in a short period of time. You have been warned!
*It will be hard to get a good photo of a pizza, because they are eaten too quickly.
What is your favorite kitchen gadget?
Yesterday was Take Your Child to the Library day. If you went to the library yesterday, great job! If not, you still can go another day. We love the library. We reserve our books online, and go pick them up as soon as we get the magic email that they are ready. Of course, we also browse all the new books in the kids area. The library is one of the best free spots around.
Now that Diane is reading on her own, and really getting into a groove with reading, the library is even more important and we go more often.
Back in September we attended a We Teach Workshop locally. We learned a ton, got out of the house, and Diane even got to decorate her own cupcake.
Win win, right? In our swag bag, we received a free three month trial to an app we had never heard of before, Bookboard. We downloaded it as soon as we got home. The app allowed us to customize the reading experience as well as find age appropriate books for 3 of my kids. My older kids have not used it as much, probably because the new 6 year old avid reader is not letting them! Diane can choose if she wants to read a book herself or if she wants to have a voice read to her. After each book she reads, she unlocks another level, and after 3 levels, a NEW book! Unlocking the new books is really exciting when you are six. There is a nice variety on the easy reading level. We really have not looked closely at the harder books, but we will. In honor of Take your child to the Library Day, Bookboard was nice enough to give me a one year subscription to their service. Can you say best gift EVER? We have been busy reading and unlocking books in the past week. And guess what??? Bookboard also gave me a one year subscription to share with one of my readers.
I attended a preview screening of The Nut Job in 3D this morning along with a 4 year old and two 6 year olds. We all enjoyed this movie on many different levels.
You can see the trailer for the Nut Job here:
First, the 3D animation, it was pretty awesome.
Many time the kids reached out to grab and catch various items. Popcorn flew in your face, bricks popped out and almost landed on you, and the 3D aspects made you feel like you were a part of the animal life at Liberty Park.
The premise of the movie is that the animals who lived in Liberty Park were running out of food. They needed to find a way to get more food for the winter. The subplots though, were really tackling areas that were not appropriate for the young crowd that was in attendance. Many scenes and quotes I did not enjoy included:
*Banishing Surley from the park
*More than once an animal said, "We all might die"
*A group of bank robbers were planning a heist at the Oakton Bank
*Fart jokes, butt jokes, "I will kick both of your butts"
*Gun pointed at a hostage and at various animals
Of course when I attend a movie I expect many of the scenes to go over the kids heads. But, the idea of robbing a bank and planning a bank heist, was a huge focus of the movie, and was discussed for most of our car ride home. You should know that these ideas are included in the movie, and you can decide if you want to discuss it with your own children.
This movie will be popular, I am sure. Why? It is winter and there are not many other kid friendly options. The animals are cute and my kids want to know where they can buy a stuffed Surley or Precious. Kids love adorable animals and most of the animals (except for the disgusting rats with mange) are really cute.
The best part of animated movies, for the adult attendees, is figuring out the voices behind the characters. My favorites were Liam Neeson, Will Arnett, Brandan Fraser, and Katherine Heigl.
One really interesting discussion that I had with the kids on our drive home, revolved around how dangerous life was for Surley once he left the safety of Liberty Park. He had to dodge strollers, and big feet, and flying garbage, and cars!! The kids could really relate to these important issues. They felt the apprehension that Surley experienced when he left the safety of being in a familiar place.
The kids favorite part of the movie was definitely when Gagnam Style was played in the middle. If you are living under a rock and you have never seen this video here it is:
When the song started, the whole audience stood up and sang along. It was really cute to see all the kids dancing and enjoying the music. At the end of the movie, while the credits were rolling, the kids all got up and started to dance again, in the aisles, and in the front of the theater. Each of the animals from the movie was also dancing on the sides of the screen. Then PSY, the lead singer of the song appeared in cartoon form, and joined in the singing and dancing. It was a really fun way to end the movie. Kids were all laughing, singing, dancing.
I hope this helps you make a decision if this is appropriate for your family to see. Just remember, there is a hero in all of us and we are all a little nuts.
Our ratings for the Nut Job are:
Mom: 4 stars
4 year old: 5 stars
6 year olds: 5 million stars
Update: One week later my daughter said, let's play the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel game. It will remind me of the Nut Job Movie. Such a fun game to play on a snowy day with the under 5 crowd.
Three of my kids love meat burgers. Two do not eat burgers at all. Some nights I am craving a delicious veggie burger and this one hits the spot. It is full of protein and vegetables. I usually have it on a bed of lettuce. You can of course also put one of these on a bun. Add some grilled onions and you have an awesome meal!!
Sara's Veggie Burgers
one can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup dry quinoa, cook as directed on your package
1/2 cup oats, ground fine
1/2 an onion diced
4 small mushrooms diced
1/4 cup shredded carrots
1/2 t garlic powder
1/4 t salt
1 egg or a vegan egg substitute
Put your rinsed and dried chickpeas into the food processor. Pulse until the chickpeas are in small pieces. Begin to saute the onion, mushroom and carrots in a saute pan.
Add the oat flour to your chickpeas. Pulse.
Add garlic powder, salt and 1 egg or egg substitute.
Pulse.
Add in the sauteed vegetables.
Pulse all the ingredients until combined.
Make into patties and fry in a saute pan 4-5 minutes per side.
enjoy!
I don't know about you, but I am growing a bit tired of the standard birthday parties. How many ball pits can you play in? This weekend Diane's friend, Sadie, invited her to a Gem Mining Party. Tim the gem man brought his mobile gem truck to Sadie's house and each of the kids went home with a bag of gems, brilliant!!
Tim waited until all 15 kids arrived, then he welcomed us into his mobile gem mining truck.
It was a cold day outside, but inside it was toasty.
15 kids fit perfectly into the truck.
Each of the kids got one large bucket of sand to start with and a blue shovel. The kids then scooped out a bunch of sand into their sifter. Then they turned their sifter sideways and pushed it into the water. The gems, and other goodies were left in the sifter. Each kid had a small plastic bag hooked to the wall, which you can see on the left side of the above photo. The kids were able to sift through two large buckets of sand.
In front of each station was a chart, showing all the rocks, fossils, and gems you could find.
Each child was so excited when they found an arrowhead.
All the kids had so much fun!! Many proclaimed, best party ever!
This photo shows all the goodies that Diane found. Whoever found an arrowhead had the option to make it into a necklace. Suprised that we came home with a pink arrowhead necklace?? Me neither.
The party ended with the birthday girl banging open two small geodes. The kids were amazed at all the crystals inside. If you are in Maryland and you need a cool idea for a party, give Tim a call!
Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah. I hope that those of you who are celebrating are enjoying delicious Hanukkah fare.
My friend Jane was nice enough to give us an enormous amount of potatoes and 3 dozen eggs so it was time to make the latkes. This is Jane's recipe. It is awesome. Enjoy!! And just a note. These are not healthy, they are not vegan, and they are not typical food that is ever served in our house. But since it is a holiday, we are eating latkes tonight.
Jane's Latkes
4 potatoes
1 onion
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/4 tsp pepper (optional)
1/2 cup flour
Clean, peel and grate the potatoes. Soak them in cold water twice then squeeze out as much water as possible. Grate the onions into the bowl with the clean, dry potatoes. Add in the rest of the ingredients. Fry in a pan of very hot oil. Eat with applesauce and sour cream.
