Today for the Gratitude Challenge I’m supposed to take a photo or video of a person, place or thing that makes me feel grateful. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to photograph, and then I realized it was right behind me, chatting and humming away.

Ever since Cate was a little baby, she has had the biggest imagination and can play {literally} for hours on her own. I love that about her for so many reasons. Here is a video of one of my most favorite sounds.

Okay, on to the meal planning!

MONDAY:
- Aaron & Lindsay’s Chicken Tortilla Soup Extravaganza (plus another link to a follow-up post on this recipe)…I didn’t do this last week, we ended up with lots of leftovers throughout the week, and we only ate out once…love those weeks!

TUESDAY:
- Tortellini, with maybe pesto…a few of you did something similar last week and that sounds good!
- Salad and bread of some sort

WEDNESDAY:
- Beef stroganoff w/egg noodles
- Veggie

THURSDAY:
- Leftovers

FRIDAY-MONDAY:
- Camping at Big Sur!

Please share your menu plan for the week! Since I’m on a gratitude theme, I really am so grateful for your menus. I browse through them every week, so thank you.

Also, for you camping aficionados out there…any tips or recipes for cooking while camping are most welcome! Nate and I don’t have a great track record and we’ll be camping for three nights! Also, Labor Day ideas I’m sure would be welcome, too!

We had chili last night and it struck me that I’ve never done a chili call for recipes. This is definitely a dish I know people have recipes they are proud of and want to share. So, it’s time for a good old fashioned Chili Cook-Off! Well, as old fashioned as sharing recipes online can be, anyways!

I’ll share my chili recipe. It’s not fancy, but it’s good and EASY. And you can just use whatever you have lying around, it’s a very flexible recipe. For you chili die-hards out there…yes, I’m breaking all kinds of rules. So, be nice. This is a FRIENDLY chili cook-off…anything goes, there are no rules!

Jane’s Chili
As inspired by her mother-in-law, Pat. Measurements are approximate.
- About 1/3 of an onion, chopped
- Bell pepper (about half of one…red tastes better, but green offers a nice color contrast…you choose!)
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped or minced…if you don’t have fresh garlic, just sprinkle some garlic powder
- ~3/4 lb ground beef
- 1 can kidney beans (15 oz size…don’t know if it’s exactly 15, but around there)
- 1 can of baked beans (small/med size can…yeah, I know baked beans probably offends some chili purists…I like the sweetness they offer and I like this type of bean, so whatever)
- 1 can petite diced tomatoes
- ~1/4 C salsa
- ~1/2 C spaghetti sauce (yup, spaghetti sauce…I make sure it’s a neutral one, without lots of italian spices or veggies like mushrooms in it)
- ~2 Tbsp. chili powder
- ~1/2 – 1 tsp cumin
- salt and pepper to taste
- HEAT…red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, tabasco sauce, whatever you have on hand…I usually don’t add this to the pot b/c we have little ones, so Nate and I sprinkle a little cayenne pepper in our individual bowls.

Saute the onion, garlic and bell pepper in olive oil until soft – I season with salt and pepper at this point. Add ground beef, season with salt and pepper, and cook until browned. Drain off fat. Add everything else and simmer for a little while. Serve with shredded cheese, corn chips, corn bread, whatever you like!

Time for you to share your favorite chili recipes! Any kind of chili counts, variety is a good thing! So, bring it on! You want to win the blue ribbon, right?

One of the Gratitude Challenge tasks this week was to focus on the five senses, taking note of the gifts that come to us through each port of entry.

To stop, at any given moment, and focus on one sense is not something I often do. It really forced me to observe the world differently, to take notice of small things that are beautiful and miraculous in my life. And it made me oh so grateful for each and very sense that I have, allowing me to appreciate what I have now and not take it for granted.

Sight. Watching my children watching the world.

Taste. What would I do if I couldn’t taste this?

Sound. The best part of fireworks is the feel-it-in-your-bones loudness of it all. I literally squealed with delight when I saw these a few weeks ago. They were so loud, in fact, not a soul knew I was squealing. It doesn’t get better than that.

Smell. The smell of fresh baked cookies. Let’s be honest, the smell of fresh baked ANYTHING.

Touch. Feeling the weight of this tiny child on my lap, this amazing little person that for some reason I am entrusted with. Knowing the time that she fits on my lap will pass in the blink of an eye, and appreciating it even more for that very reason.

It’s been a few days since I did a Gratitude Challenge post. Time flies when you’re having fun! I have been doing the assignments each day, which have involved a lot of writing and contemplation. Here’s a quick summary of each day’s assignment so you can join along!

Day 7: The Gratitude Challenge provided me with a Flip camera (thank you!) and my assignment was to create a video blog post talking about how the challenge has changed my perspective so far. Obviously that post isn’t up yet! Don’t worry, I’ll do it. And, yes, I’m grateful for the camera…even though I have to put a video of myself up here. Maybe I’ll hire an actress…

Day 8: Send thank you notes to five people who deserve a little recognition.

Day 9: Enjoy the people around you. Take a moment to appreciate their unique talents, abilities and personalities.

Day 10: Pick one of your five senses to focus on each day and discover how many gifts come to you via that single port of entry.

Day 11: Try to see the world through the eyes of a child. Think about the things you take for granted on a daily basis, and express gratitude for the necessities that sustain your life.

I spotted these magnetic clips at Bed, Bath and Beyond last year and thought they might come in handy, so I grabbed a pack. I soon discovered that not only are they handy, they are indispensable!

I bought another pack last week to add to my collection. If 7 clips are good, 14 is GREAT! You simply don’t realize how often you need a clip in the kitchen until you have an abundance lying around waiting to be used. And not only have I discovered the handiness of clips in general, but being able to “store” them on my fridge means they’re always right at my fingertips and not lost in a drawer somewhere.

Someone is bound to ask about the ‘Fun Recipes for You and Child’ paper hanging from the black clip.  So, I’ve typed them up for you! Click more to read the recipe for Playdough, Flubber and Koolaid Playdough.

(more…)

I have wanted a super duper blender for YEARS. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned my desire for a super duper blender on this blog several times.  I am happy to report, I am finally the proud owner of a super duper blender and I can’t wait to tell you all about it!

One day my Auntie Barb (who is a happy VitaMix owner and got me on the quest for a super duper blender in the first place) mentioned the Blendtec Total Blender. I did a little research and decided that the Total Blender was my super duper blender dream. Since I have this food blog, I thought I’d give a shot at getting one of these blenders for a product review. I emailed Blendtec and they responded immediately. And sent me my dream blender! (By the way, Blendtec told me I could keep the blender or give it away on my blog. Now, I love all of you dear readers very much…but…there’s no way I’m giving this blender away. I just can’t part with it! Maybe next time. And now that you all hate me, let’s get back to the post.)

Here are the reasons I love the Blendtec Total Blender:

- First and foremost, our smoothies are soooo good. The texture is amazing. No more Jamba Juice for us.

- Preset buttons…there is a computer chip in the Total Blender with a bunch of presets. You want a smoothie? Just hit smoothie. You want soup? Hit soup. It does all the slowing down and speeding up for you and knows just how long to go for.

- You don’t need a little stick thing to push everything down. If you get the right combo of fluid and liquid and/or put things in the right order, you never need to push your ingredients down into the blender. It’s amazing. Once in a while we don’t get the balance right and have to do a little urging, but not very often.

- It blends things to bits. Or I should say PULVERIZES. You can toss strawberries in whole, leaves and all…and you don’t even notice there are LEAVES in your smoothie. The motor is super strong, so this would outlive several normal blenders in succession. Definitely makes it worth the investment.

- It’s really easy to clean. No parts to unscrew and get all yucky.

- If you make soup, it blends so fast it heats the soup up! Although, when I made my tomato soup (which was yummy, very fresh tasting), I did heat it on the stove afterward to get it really hot. I’m still perfecting the art of blender soupmaking.

Only one thing so far that I didn’t love about the blender – peanut butter. I don’t know if my peanuts were just old and yucky or if I was doing something wrong, but my peanut butter was gross. I may try another type of nut butter, but I’ve decided homemade peanut butter isn’t for me.

I didn’t know it until after I got the Blendtec, but this blender is the one that was made famous on YouTube with the “Will it Blend” series. They do crazy stuff like blend iPhones, it’s funny. So, not only is my blender awesome, it’s famous!

So, there you go. As I indicated, Blendtec did provide me with the blender, but I was not paid for this post. I really love it. And if I was a bazillionaire I’d buy you all a Total Blender right now. Aren’t I generous?

I bought a pizza stone last night. And a pizza peel. I am SO excited. I can’t wait to try them out, so we are definitely having homemade pizza this week! Thanks to Lindsay for convincing me to get a stone and a peel. Okay, so she didn’t have to do much convincing, I was easily sold.

MONDAY:
– Paninis (probably chicken…Cate’s been asking for these, so why not?)

TUESDAY:
– Homemade pizza
- Salad

WEDNESDAY:
– Aaron & Lindsay’s Chicken Tortilla Soup Extravaganza (Here’s another link to a second post I wrote about this soup. It’s that yummy. And photogenic.)

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Cookout (hamburgers and/or hot dogs and/or BBQ chicken)
- Corn on the cob, watermelon, that sort of thing…

SATURDAY:
– Eat out

SUNDAY:
– Chili

Okey dokey, pokies, please share your menu for the week! For those of you who haven’t been planning or posting…I’ll cut you some slack, it’s summertime. But come September it’s back to the grindstone, ya hear?

The Gratitude Challenge is going along swimmingly. Just a quick update on the last few “assignments” in case you want to do any of them yourself!

Day 4: “In your journal, write a short message of thanks for some of the “negative” things in your life…describe how it’s added something positive.”

Day 5: Take 5 minutes to write in your journal about the wonderful things you have in your life right now.

Day 6: “Take a few minutes to call someone you haven’t talked to in a while {whom you appreciate}.”  I called my Grandma. I am so grateful for this strong and elegant woman. I am grateful for her generous heart, for her example of what it is to be truly good, and for her hands that are constantly helping others and reaching out to the ones she loves.

Oh. My. Goodness. The canned whipped cream by Cabot is soooo good. I was skeptical when my mother-in-law whipped out (pun intended) canned whipped cream. Normally that stuff stinks.  But not in this case. DELISH, I tell ya. Delish.

Cabot is based in Vermont, but it looks like their products are available nationwide…in fact, when I did a Google search for the whipped cream, it was on Walmart’s website, so I’m thinking it’s in stores everywhere. I haven’t looked here in California yet, but I’m going to. Here’s what the can looks like, so you can find it too.

Also, we used cake dessert cups from Whole Foods for the dessert pictured…those were also quite tasty! Let the sliced strawberries sit in some sugar for a bit, stack everything and voila! Easy and fast strawberry shortcake knock-off. For a non-chocolate dessert, I was surprisingly satisfied, which is saying a LOT coming from me.

For the next three weeks I’m going to be participating with a great group of bloggers in The Gratitude Challenge. We each received a gratitude kit, with tools and activities aimed at making us more grateful and focused on living in the moment. As part of the Challenge, I’m going to report on some of my experiences here on my blog. I look forward to you sharing your thoughts and joining me on this little journey.

Years ago I kept a gratitude journal. Each day I would write down 5 things I was grateful for. I’ve long since slacked-off on this habit, but I never stopped believing in the positive influence that journal had on my life. I am really looking forward to the next three weeks…it will be good for me to specifically focus on the things that I’m grateful for once again.

Day 1 (was Monday): I signed the pledge and have now told you all about it. I’m committed and ready to go!

Day 2: We are supposed to write in our gratitude journals a list of things we’re grateful for…using the alphabet, A to Z. I thought this would be easy…but some letters were tricky! I actually broke out the dictionary to find words, and found something for each letter. X was the most fun…Xanthan Gum. I really am grateful for that stuff…makes homemade frozen yogurt oh so yummy!  If you’re feeling like getting into a grateful mood, sit down and make your own A to Z list…and share your favorite letters here!

Day 3: “Write a blog post about something you feel grateful for in your life today.” That’s easy…all day I’ve been feeling unbelievably grateful for my 20-month-old Anna. She toddles around chatting up a storm (her little voice brings me so much joy) and makes us laugh countless times a day. Oh, I just love that girl!

Hello food friends! I’m home after a month of traveling. It’s nice to be home, but it was a FANTASTIC trip for so many reasons. The good news for you is I might actually start cooking again!

Doesn’t this pizza look good? That’s because it is! Bertucci’s margherita pizza is one of my favorites anywhere. I’m so glad I got to have some on this last trip…it’s been years! If you want to see another picture of the same pizza, be sure to check out my guest post on Make and Takes today, Meal Planning Tip: Be a Restaurant Copycat. I’m sure you all have good ideas to add to the post, so go read it and comment!

I went to one of the coolest things you can go to in the WORLD last night. I know I’m prone to hyperbole, but this time I’m telling it like it is. This is a once in a lifetime (or hopefully, if your lucky, once a year!) experience – the Jaffrey Fireworks!

If you can ever work it to get to Jaffrey, New Hampshire the third Saturday of August, you should. Atlas Fireworks, a world-class, big player in the fireworks world, is based in Jaffrey and every summer they put on a show with their latest and greatest. No words or pictures can even come close to describing one of their shows. It’s simply unreal.

Starting Wednesday, it’s back to real life. Wow, I can’t believe vacation is almost over. What a month! Gotta keep the menu items simple this week, ease back into things.

MONDAY:
- Driving from NH to MA

TUESDAY:
- Flying to California!

WEDNESDAY:
- Spaghetti
- Salad

THURSDAY:
- Homemade pizza

FRIDAY:
- Quesadillas

SATURDAY:
- Eat out

SUNDAY:
- Orange chicken
- Rice
- Veggie

Time for everyone to share their menus – bring it on!

This post was originally going to be all about how much I love subs/hoagies/grinders/ whatever-you-want-to-call-them. How I live in California and getting a decent meatball or steak and cheese sub is IMPOSSIBLE. How, when you’re in the Northeast, no matter how small the town, you can always find a pizza place that serves up delicious sandwiches.  Then I started editing my photo for the post, and my dear mother-in-law (she really is dear, by the way) looked over my shoulder and started to list all the reasons the sub pictured is no good.

She has challenged you all, what’s wrong with this sub? And it’s not just one thing…

Regardless of your personal feelings for this particular sub, I still stand by my original premis…I MISS SUBS. Maybe I need to open a bagel/sub shop in California? Except the last thing in the world I want to do is run a restaurant. Guess I’ll have to settle for once a year.

These cucumber sandwiches are one of my sister-in-law Cora’s favorite recipes, so we made them for her baby shower last week. They were mighty delicious and very easy to throw together, so thought I better share the recipe with you! Great for parties, and nice and light in the summertime.

Cucumber Sandwiches
From Cora Wallin
- Sliced cucumbers (pretty thin, with skins ON)
- Cream cheese
- Package powdered italian dressing mix
- Bit of milk – about 1 Tbsp
- Party-sized pumpernickel (I just learned about this bread – they come small and square like this, in the bread section at the store…the brand we bought was called Wild’s Party Pumpernickel)
- Dill (dried is fine)

Soften cream cheese at room temp, mix in salad dressing mix and enough milk to make the cheese spreadable. Spread on bread, top with sliced cucumber. Sprinkle with dill. Voila!

It’s been over two weeks since the Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge and BlogHer, and I still haven’t wrapped my mind around it all! It was an amazing weekend for so many reasons.

First off, as I wrote about already, the Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge was A-MAAAAY-ZING. It was one of the most exhausting experiences of my life, but also one of the most empowering. Six women in three different time zones virtually coming together, bringing to the table unique talents and pulling off a FANTABULOUS event in a city none of us live in.  I still can’t believe it really happened. (Check out our adorable personalized SocialLuxe M&Ms…just one of the many fabulous touches of the night!)

The once-upon-a-time-I-wanted-to-get-an-MBA side of me was also fascinated watching so many companies recognize the value of the blogging community and trying to tap into that in unique and effective ways. I felt like our sponsors did a great job at that. The Swiffer team was really fun and Kodak interviewed bloggers and posted the interviews online. And that’s just scratching the surface of the cool things the different sponsors did, not just at our party but throughout the weekend.

If you want to see more pictures of our the Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge, click here to see our Flickr page.

The BlogHer conference was amazing, as well. The sessions were great, the keynotes were fantastic…but the best part was meeting so many charming, thoughtful, funny, intelligent, inspiring and kind people.

The highlight of the weekend was attending a food blogger dinner with some of the most amazing women I met all weekend (see list below with links to their blogs). I had gone to a lunch earlier that day where I met Kalyn from Kalyn’s Kitchen and Lydia from The Perfect Pantry. After chatting with them for a bit they said, “Do you want to go to dinner with us? Trust us…you WANT to go.” Boy were they right. The bloggers I met at that dinner were wonderful, supportive, inspiring. It was a truly lovely evening.

Oh, and did I mention I met the oh-so-nice Carson Kressley…who told me I was stunning? And did I mention I love him?

Another fun highlight was seeing Paula Deen speak, and (thanks to Allison who is a champ at wrestling down microphones) I got the chance to ask her a question. Maybe one day when I feel like embarrassing myself, I’ll post the video. I fell in love with Paula, who was an absolute DELIGHT and genuinely loved talking with everyone.

Can you see why I haven’t written about my BlogHer weekend? I haven’t even scratched the surface, but my fingers are tired, so I’m stopping.

Here is the list of food bloggers I met at the dinner I went to.  Enjoy browsing their sites!

Kalyn Denny – Kalyn’s Kitchen
Elise Bauer – Simply Recipes
Kathy Strahs – Panini Happy
Kristen Doyle – Dine and Dish
Maris Callahan – In Good Taste
Cora Sedlacek – Cora Cooks
Deb “Biggie” Hamilton – Lunch in a Box
Gudrun Enger – Kitchen Gadget Girl
Jennifer Leal – Savor the Thyme
Ree Drummond – The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Jaden Hair – Steamy Kitchen
Sandie Hale – Inn Cuisine
Alanna Kellogg – Kitchen Parade
Sara Rosso – Ms. Adventures in Italy
Kelly Schmickle – Barbaric Gulp
Stephanie Tolle – Iron Stef
Stephanie O’Dea – Crockpot 365
Anne Marie Nichols – This Mama Cooks
Hetal Jannu – Show Me the Curry
Anuja Balasubramanian – Show Me the Curry
Krista Nannery – Londelicious
Roni Noone – GreenLiteBites
Kim Sacha – Building Blocks Show
Lydia Walshin – The Perfect Pantry

My 9-month-pregnant sister-in-law and I took my two girls into NYC last Thursday to see my other sister-in-law and her fiance who live in the city. Did you follow that? We met them in the East Village for lunch, because what is a trip to NYC without food?

We ate lunch at S’Mac…a restaurant that only serves macaroni + cheese. Well, they also serve one green salad and DELICIOUS warm cookies. But that’s it.

I must admit, I was a bit skeptical of some of the flavors. But everything was AWESOME. Both sisters-in-law got Masala mac n cheese…which was so tasty. I ordered the garden lite, and it was oh so yummy. S’Mac was also surprisingly affordable, which is nice in NYC. All around a great lunch!

After lunch we walked over to Veniero’s Pasticceria and Caffe…because if there is a good cannoli within a mile of my person, I must eat it. And I did. In fact, I ended up eating more cannoli than I am willing to fess up to. Needless to say, I was a happy camper. Their cannoli was SCRUMPTIOUS.

The shop was FULL of beautiful pastry, cakes and cookies galore. (Check out the size of that cake above Cate’s head. How is that real?)

And I can’t even put into words how heavenly Veniero’s smelled. The line was very long, so we had to wait a while. We were so absorbed in looking at everything, we missed our number when it was called! They let us jump in line once we realized what happened…phew!

My mom put together a lovely summer feast for my sister-in-law’s baby shower yesterday. I ended up running around getting the shower games ready and didn’t do a lick of cooking!

The menu was full of much yumminess, including beautiful fruit and chicken salad sandwiches. I forgot to take a picture of the salad that called for onion juice, but I put the recipe up on the Side Dishes page (called Jenny’s Green Salad). I’m pretty sure my mom just left the onion juice out, but that’s because we made the dressing before we read your tips and reassuring comments. Next time maybe we’ll give it a try! Thanks to everyone who shared light dinner ideas last week – they were great and I’m going to incorporate them into my regular weekly menus as well!

So, last week’s menu was a BUST. We did have Chicken Croissants, but that was the only thing planned that we ate. Planning and vacation just don’t go together! So, here is my more realistic vacation meal plan.

MONDAY:
- Driving back up to Massachusetts at dinner time

TUESDAY:
- Probably driving to New Hampshire at dinner time

WEDNESDAY:
- If we didn’t drive to NH on Tuesday, we will be on Wednesday!

THURSDAY:
- Maybe I’ll try to make something for my in-laws…perhaps Green Noodles?

FRIDAY:
- Maybe hot dogs and hamburgers?

SATURDAY:
- Maybe eat out?

SUNDAY:
- Maybe my mother-in-law will cook us a Sunday dinner feast?

I am being SO helpful with giving you ideas. Yeah right. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE share your menus! You really need to give each other ideas since I’m NOT. Remember…if you have a menu planned, we want to see it! It can be simple, it can be fancy…doesn’t matter!

We’re preparing the food for my sister-in-law’s baby shower this afternoon…and a salad dressing recipe calls for ONION JUICE. Yes, that was how we reacted, too. Is onion juice for real? How does one make onion juice, anyway? Can you buy it? I just have to put it out there!

I’ll post pictures of the salad with the recipe later today…but we’ll be skipping the onion juice. Unless someone on here convinces me otherwise!

My little sister just returned from spending two months in India. Last night she and her friend Kristen cooked us a vegetarian Indian dish called Gobi Matar Sabzi. It was awesome. I can’t wait to try cooking it myself when I get home and maybe even trying some other Indian recipes. By the way, for you parents out there…both of my girls gobbled this dish up!

Gobi Matar Sabzi
Original recipe from my veggie world – Anne and Kristen changed it up
- 1 big onion ground to a fine paste
- 1 big tomato pureed
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp garlic powder (or minced fresh garlic, 1-2 cloves)
- 1 tsp green chili paste
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
- 1 cup cleaned cauliflower florets
- salt to taste (between 1 tsp and 1 TBSP)
- pinch of turmeric
- 1/4 tsp red chili powder
- 3 tsp garam masala powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tbsp oil
- chopped fresh cilantro
- Jane note: this dish would be good with more kick, as well – I liked it mild, but I want to experiment with making it spicier some time

Directions:
In a large skillet, heat oil (mediumish heat). Add onion paste and fry till cooked or until raw smell disappears. Add ginger, garlic (if using fresh), green chili paste and saute for one minute. Add tomato puree and cook till paste is thick. Add powdered spices and salt. Stir then add vegetables. Cover and simmer over medium heat until cauliflower is tender. Add chopped fresh cilantro prior to serving.

Serve with basmati rice, with fresh cilantro added to the rice just prior to serving.

I know I’ve written about bagels in the northeast before. More than once, in fact. But I have yet to find a real, live, honest-to-goodness bagel outside of the tri-state area (NJ/NY/CT). So, when I’m in Jersey and get the opportunity to eat an amazing bagel, I just have to write about it. HAVE to. I can’t help myself.

This morning my dad picked up bagels at Chester Bagel, one of my favorite bagel haunts. My all-time favorite is H&H Bagel in NYC, but I rarely get a chance to get into the city when I visit. Anyway, when I opened the bag this morning my heart was all a flutter. I know, I’m a little crazy, but these bagels are OH SO GOOD. They are bagels that know how to be bagels.

Here’s a little guide for identifying REAL bagels.

• The outside is shiny and crispy
• The inside is moist and chewy
• The word “bread” never even crosses your mind as you are eating your bagel
• It is so big you can barely eat the whole thing, but of course you do because you can’t stop yourself
• ‘Everything’ bagels include garlic, onion, sesame seeds, poppy seeds and salt

I think that about covers it! Enough rambling about bagels. Well, until next summer vacation in New Jersey, of course.