Ultimate Blog Party

Newbie blogger that I am, I've only just learned about the Ultimate Blog Party at 5 Minutes for Mom, that is starting tonight and going on through next week. It sounds like a great opportunity to meet other bloggers that share the same interests. So I'm going to give it a try.



I'm supposed to use this post to tell a bit about myself to help others at the blog party get to know me.

Let's see... I'm Patricia, and my blog is Worst Mom Ever. I've been happily married to my husband (also known as BadDad) for almost 16 years. Time really does fly when you're having fun! We have three amazing children: K-boy (12), M-girl (8), and D-boy (5).  Well I think three, my youngest just informed me about an imaginary other brother who's been hanging around.

We also have two cats and one dog with whom I have a love/hate relationship.

We started homeschooling after our oldest had attended public school through second grade. Let me tell you, teaching your kids can really test your knowledge and patience at times! But we love it. It works for our family.

As my regular readers know, I love to cook and bake. I try to make healthy changes to existing recipes and sometimes I just make up my own.

The kids and I are bookworms, and we're pretty much fixtures at our local library.

Like any mom, I find myself constantly juggling the demands on my time. Between homeschooling, cooking, driving kids to activities, and now blogging, my life is crazy and busy. I wouldn't change a thing about it though, it's just right for me.

Cactus Soup Review and Recipe

We're on Spring Break this week, and our schedule is much more relaxed than normal. Yesterday before lunch, we sat down and worked our way through a stack of library books. Just as hunger struck, we read the book ,Cactus Soup, by Eric A. Kimmel, and we were inspired to create our own version for lunch.

This picture book is a re-telling of the old folk tale, 'Stone Soup'. This particular version is set in Mexico during the time of the Mexican Revolution. As in most versions, the villagers hide their supplies of food when they hear soldiers coming. Then the hungry soldier asks for food and is turned down. The twist here is that instead of claiming to be able to make soup out of a stone or a nail, the soldier asks for a cactus needle to make his soup with.

Soon enough, the hungry villagers are offering hidden tidbits to add to the soup. By the end of the story, there is enough food brought forth for the entire town and the soldiers to have a feast, or rather in this version, a fiesta.

The kids and I enjoyed reading this version. We sort of have a fascination with folktales and how they change a bit with time and geographical location.

It was a great day to attempt this soup at our house. A grocery shopping trip will soon be in order here, and the pickings were pretty slim. We had to substitute a few ingredients mentioned in the story (most notably ham in place of chicken) and sadly we had no cactus needle, but the end result was pretty tasty.

Cactus Soup

1/4 cup diced onion
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp canola oil
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
4 cups water
6 chicken bouillon cubes
1 cup diced, cooked ham
2 cups frozen corn
2 carrots, diced
5 or 6 mushrooms, diced
1 large sweet potato, diced
4 medium potatoes, diced
1 small red bell pepper, diced
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp chives

In large soup pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and simmer until softened and slightly golden.

Add canned tomatoes, water, and bouillon cubes and stir well.

Add remaining ingredients, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.

Serve with tortillas or cheese quesadillas.

12 servings

The Other Brother

The other night after BadDad and I had put the kids to bed, we were sitting in the family room enjoying a glass of wine when D-boy came in. Naturally I asked him what he was doing out of bed.

He broke into a big grin and said, "I'm pretending that I have a brother, and that I'm him!"

"Um," I said, "D-boy, you already have a brother -  K-boy." I started to feel his head to see if he had a raging fever and was hallucinating or something.

"I mean if I had an other brother!" he exclaimed, with all the logic of a five-year-old. "His name is Johnson," he added. "He's just like me, and people get us confused sometimes."

OK, that cleared things up.

"Good night, Johnson," BadDad and I said, exchanging smiles. I gave Johnson a kiss. After all I'd only kissed D-boy goodnight earlier - not Johnson.

Sometimes I want to be five years old again.

Ham and Broccoli Bread

We're trying to use up the Easter leftovers around here. Last night I made a family favorite for dinner, Ham and Broccoli Bread. I make the dough in my bread machine, but it could easily be made with purchased dough. It makes a nice, light meal along with a salad.

My pictures are from a time when I made Cheddar and Broccoli Bread without ham, but the idea is the same.

Ham and Broccoli Bread

1 lb. pizza dough (I use whole wheat)
2 cups chopped, cooked ham
2 cups frozen broccoli cuts (cooked and cooled)
1/4 cup diced onion
1&1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
1 tbsp Sea Salt
Pizza Sauce for dipping

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Shape dough into a ball. On floured surface, roll out into a rectangle, approximately 10x15. The measurements don't have to be exact.

Sprinkle dough evenly with ham, broccoli, onion, and cheese - leaving about 1 inch around the edges.

Sprinkle with Italian Seasoning.

Working from the longer side, roll dough gently like a jelly-roll. Seal the edge by pinching. Fold the sides down to seal.

Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 15 minutes.*

Spray bread with cooking spray. Sprinkle with Sea Salt. Cut 5 or 6slits in the top of loaf for steam to escape.

Bake for 18- 20 minutes, until golden brown.

yields 10 - 12 hearty slices

*At this point the bread can be refrigerated until ready to bake.

Muffin Mom

So this morning I woke up feeling energetic. Thinking to give the family a treat, I whipped up two batches of muffins before everyone else was up. Orange yogurt muffins and banana nut. I popped the pans side by side into the oven, and then had my first cup of coffee. A stupid mistake, that I would quickly come to regret.

You see, the orange yogurt muffins were supposed to be drizzled with a powdered sugar glaze after they came out of the oven. My problem was that in my caffeine deprived state, I had neglected to pay attention to which pan was on what side of the oven. The muffins all looked alike.

The kids settled my dilemma by waking up and suggesting that I just glaze all of the muffins. So that's what I did. You know, because I really wanted to give them extra sugar. They don't get enough of it.

Now I just have to make sure they don't hide the coffee on me.

Jellybean Counters

I have a vivid memory from when I was a teenager, probably about fourteen or fifteen. It was very late at night, on the night before Easter, and the house was dark and quiet. Something awakened me, and I realized that there was a light shining up the stairs from the kitchen.

I got out of bed and crept down the stairs to find my mother sitting at the kitchen table, dressed in her night clothes. She had our Easter baskets on the table before her, along with an assortment of candies and plastic eggs. She looked exhausted.

On observing her for a moment, I realized that she was actually sorting the jellybeans by color, and counting them before she filled each plastic egg.

I must have laughed. She looked up at me in despair and said, "I don't want anyone to feel left out. I have to make sure everything is equal."

Now that I'm a mother myself, I understand more what she was trying to do. My own method of dividing the Easter candy is more of a quick stuff and snap, rather than counting and color coding each individual jellybean. I do carefully make sure that everyone has an equal number of plastic eggs, filled with equivalent amounts of chocolates, jellybeans , etc.

Why do I do this? Because as a mother, I want all of my children to feel equally loved, as they are. I never want any of them to feel as if they are cherished less than the others. Something as simple as an Easter basket is a tangible and easy way to show this.

The everyday reality is harder to demonstrate. On a given day, I may need to give more of myself to one of my children and less to the others. If someone is sick, or struggling in math, or simply wants to curl up and read together, I might end up spending more time with that child than with the others.

With possessions too, things sometimes might look unequal. One child might be on a growth spurt and need new clothes or shoes, when a sibling doesn't. If just one child  really needs a new bike, it doesn't mean that the others will receive new bikes then too.

My kids, being kids, are apt to point out these discrepancies in an attempt to guilt me into giving them what their siblings have received. "It's not fair!" is a battle cry that children learn early in life.

I've already admitted here that I'm just as prone to attacks of mom guilt as anyone. But I remind myself, and my children, that love doesn't work that way. I love each of my children equally, each of them with all of my heart. I treasure them though, as individuals, and that is the way that they are treated. Each of them will receive from my husband and I, what they need at the time. What doesn't come their way today will surely come tomorrow, or whenever it should.

This weekend will find me spending some time behind a locked door dividing up candy. I will try not to stress out if it's impossible to split the peanut butter eggs three ways. It's not my love that I'm dividing, but only candy. Besides, I can always eat the extra egg myself! Happy Easter to all of you fellow jellybean counters out there.

Carrot Shaped Scones

I still had some buttermilk left over from St. Patrick's Day, and here it is nearly Easter. The idea for making scones that look like carrots popped into my head. The kids and I headed for the kitchen. Using the family scone recipe and a little food coloring, we came up with this.

These were fun for the kids to help with, and quick to make. I served these with a salad for dinner last night. Some bunnies around here were very happy!

Carrot Shaped Scones

1-Make your favorite scone recipe. (See my recipe for Irish Scones, link is below)

2-Divide dough into one large ball and one small ball.

3-Tint the large ball orange, with red and yellow food coloring.

4-Tint the small ball green.

5- Flatten each ball slightly. On a floured surface, use a knife to cut each ball into 12 triangles.

6-Use a knife to mark lines in the orange dough to resemble the ridges on carrots. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

7-Use a knife to mark lines in the green dough to resemble carrot tops.

8-Place green triangles on cookie sheet above and slightly under each orange triangle. Pinch together slightly.

9-Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from cookie sheet. Serve warm or cool.

http://worstmome.blogspot.com/2012/03/irish-scones.html