Fall heralds the beginning of the holiday season. Throughout the next 3 months there will be many occasions to get together with friends and family...and with every great get together there needs to be great food.
The work however that goes into a festive get together can often be overwhelming...that's why when Justine tabled the idea of pulling together wovenfare&trade's first ever holiday meal plan I was on board in a second. I like lists...I like being organized...and I know how irritable I get when I contemplate cooking and feeding a crowd. I always end up in a grouchy mood!
So this past weekend, Justine and I test kitchened - and served 8 adults and 4 children - a beautiful four course Thanksgiving meal. We successfully followed the meal plan and I'm happy to report it went down without a hitch. We planned to serve dinner by 5 p.m. and no word of a lie, we were seated enjoying the wonderful appetizer (Julie Van Rosendaal's Maple Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Pears) by 4:57 p.m. That is a first for me!
I still can't decide if the Pecan-Thyme Stuffing or the Creamy Pumpkin Cheesecake is my favorite! I'm just glad I get another opportunity this upcoming long weekend to do it all over again with 8 more new guests.
Visit www.wovenfare.com and download your very own wovenfare™ Thanksgiving meal plan. It's absolutely FREE.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Back to the Grind
Despite the above title, I actually relish the return to order in the month of September. I like knowing how my children will spend each hour of each weekday and therefore how many hours that leaves me to myself and my various responsibilities and commitments. I welcome the structure of Monday to Friday.
I know this doesn't sound particularly exciting but when you have as many balls up in the air as most modern mothers do, organizational bliss is hard to come by. I search out as many time saving tricks and short hand helpers as possible. I won't get into my addiction of the wovenfare™ grocery list again, so let it be said: I can't imagine an orderly weekday dinner hour without meal planning.
Anyway, I've come to realize even my young children prefer the structure and order of their school-time weekdays over the lazy days of summer in the third week of August. The boredom and subsequent infighting we typically deal with is enough to make any sane parent contemplate the year round school year stream.
So bring on the fall season, the homework, the carpooling, the nightly dinner plans, the weekly grocery shopping, and the household projects. I'm at my best when I'm following a schedule.
I know this doesn't sound particularly exciting but when you have as many balls up in the air as most modern mothers do, organizational bliss is hard to come by. I search out as many time saving tricks and short hand helpers as possible. I won't get into my addiction of the wovenfare™ grocery list again, so let it be said: I can't imagine an orderly weekday dinner hour without meal planning.
Anyway, I've come to realize even my young children prefer the structure and order of their school-time weekdays over the lazy days of summer in the third week of August. The boredom and subsequent infighting we typically deal with is enough to make any sane parent contemplate the year round school year stream.
So bring on the fall season, the homework, the carpooling, the nightly dinner plans, the weekly grocery shopping, and the household projects. I'm at my best when I'm following a schedule.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Eat Out Much?
Growing up I can remember going out for dinner to a restaurant maybe a half dozen times....this doesn't include when we were vacationing but rather in place of eating at home on an otherwise normal day. So when I recently read an industry article citing various stats on household spending, restaurant menu trends, and the changing mealtime in Canada, I was genuinely surprised. I can say with certainty, my childhood household didn't spend 25% of its food dollars on restaurant food.
My mom was a proficient cook and we ate well balanced meals every day. Admittedly there was a lot of rice and chicken, but with our Mexican heritage, what more would one expect? Anyway, growing up I really didn't miss restaurant eating because I simply didn't know it to be an option. Today things are different. At what point did Canada's children acquire the skill of menu ordering? It's rather disconcerting to hear a 5 year old ask the server to hold the ketchup on her restaurant style chicken burger.
With so many great restaurant choices today it's no wonder we don't regularly delve into making our own authentic Indian or Thai food at home. Having said that, I still enjoy coming as close to the real thing as possible...I'm very proud to say I've mastered Julie Van Rosendaal's Curried Coconut Mango Chicken.
I guess I shouldn't be too surprised by governmental stats. We all live very busy lives and seek out solutions that alleviate domestic pressures whereever we can find them. I just know that with a little bit of planning, it's not too hard to develop one's culinary skills and avoid spending those hard earned dollars at the local family restaurant.
My mom was a proficient cook and we ate well balanced meals every day. Admittedly there was a lot of rice and chicken, but with our Mexican heritage, what more would one expect? Anyway, growing up I really didn't miss restaurant eating because I simply didn't know it to be an option. Today things are different. At what point did Canada's children acquire the skill of menu ordering? It's rather disconcerting to hear a 5 year old ask the server to hold the ketchup on her restaurant style chicken burger.
With so many great restaurant choices today it's no wonder we don't regularly delve into making our own authentic Indian or Thai food at home. Having said that, I still enjoy coming as close to the real thing as possible...I'm very proud to say I've mastered Julie Van Rosendaal's Curried Coconut Mango Chicken.
I guess I shouldn't be too surprised by governmental stats. We all live very busy lives and seek out solutions that alleviate domestic pressures whereever we can find them. I just know that with a little bit of planning, it's not too hard to develop one's culinary skills and avoid spending those hard earned dollars at the local family restaurant.
Monday, May 7, 2007
What's in a Name?
I was recently referred to as an "Alpha Mom" by an acquaintance. Now I've heard of "Soccer Moms" and "Yoga Moms", but I wasn't really sure what to make of this latest title....and I wasn't really sure whether I should be flattered or insulted.
If "leader of my pack" is what it suggests - then I can't argue with that! I am after all the central hub of my household. Who else knows when the library books are due? Where my son's favorite "horse jacket" is at all times? How to talk my 5 and half year old daughter down from a fashion crisis?
If the moniker is suggestive of my Type A personality, then I may just need to be taken aback. It's ok for me to reference my perfectionist and somewhat neurotic tendencies but who the heck are you to? I know I’m obsessed with time, not having enough and trying every single day to carve more of it out, but who isn’t? If I didn’t have my various time savings tools in place , like www.wovenfare.com, I’d be one step closer to the loony bin by the end of the week.
Maybe it's suggestive of both... if so, I guess I can live with the label. After all, what's in a name?
If "leader of my pack" is what it suggests - then I can't argue with that! I am after all the central hub of my household. Who else knows when the library books are due? Where my son's favorite "horse jacket" is at all times? How to talk my 5 and half year old daughter down from a fashion crisis?
If the moniker is suggestive of my Type A personality, then I may just need to be taken aback. It's ok for me to reference my perfectionist and somewhat neurotic tendencies but who the heck are you to? I know I’m obsessed with time, not having enough and trying every single day to carve more of it out, but who isn’t? If I didn’t have my various time savings tools in place , like www.wovenfare.com, I’d be one step closer to the loony bin by the end of the week.
Maybe it's suggestive of both... if so, I guess I can live with the label. After all, what's in a name?
Monday, March 12, 2007
Naturally Nutritious
I have to say - who'd have thought?
I am constantly reciting the benefits of healthy snack choices to my little ones and by the looks on their faces you'd think I was speaking in a foreign language! Day in and day out after Kindergarten class my daughter comes home and requests a snack. Inevitably we go through a 7 minute discourse on what options are available to her. Which choices are the healthy options and which could be considered high in sugar and low in nutritional quality. Not that we have a junk food drawer or cupboard begging to be raided. I keep the bare minimum on hand for those monthly cravings which she will likely learn to appreciate in about 10 years or so.
Anyway, one recent weekday morning as I was busily trying to get ready to get out the door with 2 fully dressed, teeth-brushed children and their morning snack boxes in hand I realized I had to check one quick thing in my office. Snacks were not yet packed so I asked my daughter if she'd like to pick a peanut free snack for her and her brother while I shamelessly saw to more important matters - like my email!
As I came back into the kitchen from my office just 2 minutes later I overheard my daughter running through the snack options with her younger brother. It was the same conversation I have with her on a daily basis; but I have to say, she did a far better job at selling the "naturally nutritious" fresh fruit than I ever have!
I am constantly reciting the benefits of healthy snack choices to my little ones and by the looks on their faces you'd think I was speaking in a foreign language! Day in and day out after Kindergarten class my daughter comes home and requests a snack. Inevitably we go through a 7 minute discourse on what options are available to her. Which choices are the healthy options and which could be considered high in sugar and low in nutritional quality. Not that we have a junk food drawer or cupboard begging to be raided. I keep the bare minimum on hand for those monthly cravings which she will likely learn to appreciate in about 10 years or so.
Anyway, one recent weekday morning as I was busily trying to get ready to get out the door with 2 fully dressed, teeth-brushed children and their morning snack boxes in hand I realized I had to check one quick thing in my office. Snacks were not yet packed so I asked my daughter if she'd like to pick a peanut free snack for her and her brother while I shamelessly saw to more important matters - like my email!
As I came back into the kitchen from my office just 2 minutes later I overheard my daughter running through the snack options with her younger brother. It was the same conversation I have with her on a daily basis; but I have to say, she did a far better job at selling the "naturally nutritious" fresh fruit than I ever have!
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Have Internet Will Grocery Shop!
Monday is my regular grocery-shopping day as I have my meal plans set to start on Wednesdays. This week was a particularly busy one for me both personally and at the wovenfare(tm) marketing headquarters. With much on my mind I left the house early Monday morning to take the kids to Montessori. I had a series of meetings set to run right up until lunch. At which time I had to run from the coffee shop back to school to get the kids before feeding them a packed lunch in the car. (It's no wonder my car has taken on a peculiar odor!)
With lunch behind me and one child lighter (having just dropped off my daughter at her afternoon Kindergarten class) I was headed for the grocery store. But wait a minute...where was my grocery list? Agh! I had forgotten my grocery list at home and I was running out of time.
Just as I was figuring out the fastest way to backtrack home, find my printed grocery list somewhere in the chaos that is my desk and still have enough time to do the week’s haul all before having to pick up my daughter from school I realized I had a viable solution right in front of me. It was literally my friend's house. I was half a block away from her place and I could simply pop in and borrow her Internet access and printer! So off I went...I logged onto wovenfare(tm) and had my freshly printed grocery-list in less time it would have taken me to get back to my house! I even had enough time to work through some system ideas with Justine before getting to the grocery store.
Hopefully next week’s grocery trip will be less eventful!
With lunch behind me and one child lighter (having just dropped off my daughter at her afternoon Kindergarten class) I was headed for the grocery store. But wait a minute...where was my grocery list? Agh! I had forgotten my grocery list at home and I was running out of time.
Just as I was figuring out the fastest way to backtrack home, find my printed grocery list somewhere in the chaos that is my desk and still have enough time to do the week’s haul all before having to pick up my daughter from school I realized I had a viable solution right in front of me. It was literally my friend's house. I was half a block away from her place and I could simply pop in and borrow her Internet access and printer! So off I went...I logged onto wovenfare(tm) and had my freshly printed grocery-list in less time it would have taken me to get back to my house! I even had enough time to work through some system ideas with Justine before getting to the grocery store.
Hopefully next week’s grocery trip will be less eventful!
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