The Best Cereal Ever...

is the one that you make yourself... unless you love cornflakes. LOL. I have no recipe for that ;-).  Since moving to Puerto Rico I have had a hard time getting the breakfast cereal that I love.  My first choice is Kashi's lean crunch, A loves it too.  My cereal has lots of protein, fiber, vitamins, etc. without a cup of sugar to go along with it.  Here I could keep buying Kashi but it costs twice as much and isn't always fresh.  So I've looked up some recipes and got the basic ingredients and decided to make my own... and I wondered why I didn't do this a long time ago. The ingredients may seem to cost a lot on the front end, but I've made about 4 batches and am only half way through my supplies.

Ingredients - Everything varies based on your preferences

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup puffed wheat

1 cup puffed rice

1/2 cup oat bran

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup flax seed

1 cup walnuts (finely chopped)

1 cup almonds (finely chopped)

1 cup pecans (finely chopped)

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1 cup honey

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tbsp. powdered ginger

1 tbsp. nutmeg

1 tbsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1 tbsp. olive oil



Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl (sin spices). Mix the olive oil, honey, and maple syrup in a small mixing bowl. Put the oil in first to keep the honey and syrup from sticking to the sides. Add the spices to the honey and syrup. mix the "wet" ingredients into the dry ingredients. Fold in the coconut. Put in a shallow pan lined with foil (to make it easier to remove when done). Bake at 350 degrees for 15 mins. Remove and let cool. Add the cranberries and move to a container. You should store it in a cool dry place. This should make about 1 bag of cereal. Enjoy!

Girls Hold Up This World

Girls Hold Up This World, by Jada Pinkett Smith.  I love this book!  My mom got it for A when she was first born and we read it every night as part of our bedtime routine.  It is a poem with wonderful photographs of girls from diverse background.  When A was a baby she loved looking at the different faces.  As she got older she loved the rhyming of the words.  I’m not sure if she understands the message yet - that all girls are smart and powerful - but my hope is to embed it in her subconscious.  I recommend it for everyone with a little girl at home.

The Evolution of a Toddler Diet

One thing I know for sure is that when it comes to my toddler and food, there is nothing that I know for sure. She eats bread but not the crust, she eats the crust but not the bread, she eats potatoes sometimes (usually when fried), she eats fish, she only eats raw food, she eats nuts, and she eats berries but only the red ones. LOL! I can’t keep up.


We have evolved from fish sticks and chicken nuggets though. These days A is eating mostly almond butter and honey sandwiches on whole wheat bread (it would have been peanut butter but Costco only offered almond butter as a less processed alternative to the main brands of peanut butter). It is the meal/snack of request 95% of the time and to be honest I really can’t kill her for it. It has lots of protein and lots of fiber; omega 3’s and is low in cholesterol, etc. It is also really easy to make ;-)

So that is it for now… oh, that and Chinese food. Anything that starts with the word Chinese she is game for. Go figure.

You know you live in a Jamaican House when…

Curry chicken is your last minute meal. LOL. At least once every couple of weeks I run out of ideas for dinner and turn to my staple of curry chicken.  I like it best with boness skinless chicken thighs but that's no fun for the bone lovers in the family (of which A has become a member).  Here is a recipe from Jamaicans.com that I thought was good and simple.  I also add potatoes and carrots to mine.  Enjoy!

Curry Chicken

INGREDIENTS :

•1- 3lbs chicken

•2 tablespoon curry powder

•onion, thyme, garlic, pepper, black pepper.

•salt to taste

•lemon or lime juice


METHOD:

1.Clean, skin,and cut chicken in small pieces,then wash with lime or lemon juice

2.Drain, season with curry, onion, thyme, garlic, peppers, salt and let marinate for awhile

3.In a skillet pour about 3 tablespoon of oil. Let oil heat but not too hot

4.Add chicken and let cook until done.

5.Serve over white rice

Benefits of Kids TV

Kids TV isn’t just for kids.  We frequently set down as a family to watch cartoons with A.  I think we’re all getting the same thing out of it. LOL. I find it much better for learning phrases and names of objects because they speak slowly and clearly.  You can’t yell at the novella  “habla despacio por favor!”

Cleaning Revelations

I now know why my Mother in Law washes the dishes AS SOON as a meal is finished. In NC there was a grace period; you could let a couple of meals go by without having to do all the dishes. Nothing smelled no flies were attracted; people wouldn’t be appalled by the way you kept your home. Not any more! These flies don’t let you rest for a second! Walking in my kitchen you would have thought I hadn’t done the dishes or taken out the trash in a month. No, I do the dishes every day. The trash is taken out every couple of days but by then there are fruit flies everywhere.


I can’t stand it, but I also can’t just stop everything to wash the dishes. More often than not I have 1 hand to work with, so those dishes are just going to have to wait. Yuck.

I have also realized since coming to PR that keeping a clean house in the Caribbean is a full time job. The floor must be constantly swept and moped, the dishes must be done after every meal, then there’s laundry (I’m washing 5 days a week), and the regular cleaning, and the cooking, and the list goes on (I didn’t mention the yard). I know why so many people on the islands have a helper, maid, whatever you want to call it. When am I going to have the time/energy to enjoy paradise? I’m tired and I just got here. I just know I’m neglecting some crucial household chore while writing this…