Callapidder Days

It started snowing yesterday around noon. Nothing too heavy, but it was coming down.

By 3:30, the roads were covered and the plows weren’t quite keeping up with it.

Around 6:30 last night, someone in our neighborhood abandoned their car at the bottom of the hill. Heavy wet snow covering the roads left things slick and not friendly to small, light cars.

Chad shoveled at least 6 inches of snow before we went to bed.

And overnight? It just kept coming. The power went off and on, off and on, off and on. Tree branches around the area were snapping off under the weight of the snow, landing on power lines. We are happy to have electricity this morning, when many people have none.

And this is what it looks like outside our garage this morning.

Remember how I said Chad shoveled 6 inches before bed? Well, here’s where things stand now:

Yes, apparently we got at least 20 inches of snow since noon yesterday. The local news can talk about nothing other than record-breaking snowfall, the importance of staying home today, and the fact that there are states of emergency being declared all over the place but that (thankfully) things should taper off this afternoon.

Some more pictures for your enjoyment.

Here’s Chad’s car, huddled under a thick blanket of snow in the driveway:

Can you see it? There’s a stop sign across the road from our house. It’s still peeking out above the drifts:

Oh, and those trees on either side of the stop sign? They are not pine trees. They’re not spruce trees. They’re not any kind of conifer whatsoever. They’re oaks. You know, trees whose branches usually stick straight out to the sides. They look so tired right now:

Apparently, other cars were abandoned last night. Here’s one I just noticed across the street. At least, I’m pretty sure that’s a car. It’s hard to tell with all the snow.

And here’s my wonderful husband, attacking the next 14 inches of snow:

The crazy thing is, I don’t think we’re getting the worst of it. People further east may get even more snow.

As for us, we’re just going to sit tight today. I’m thinking that, as long as our power stays on, I’ll get some hot chocolate going on the stove. Maybe we’ll play some board games or watch a movie. Maybe we’ll just each cuddle up with a blanket and a book. I don’t know. But I do know that we’re not going anywhere. We’ll be perfectly happy to hibernate today.

So…did you know that these existed?

I didn’t. Until a recent trip to the grocery store, that is.

As I walked down the cereal aisle, this brown box practically jumped out at me, set off in stark contrast to the standard yellow Cheerios boxes.

Let me tell you something about my childhood: My favorite cereal of all time was Count Chocula. My mother (wisely) did not allow me to eat it each and every day, but boxes of Count Chocula occasionally showed up in our house, and I happily consumed the chocolaty goodness. Crunchy cereal pieces first, saving the marshmallows for last. (And yes, I might have had some cereal-eating OCD-type issues.)

There was something magical about chocolate for breakfast.

Now, as a responsible adult, I attempt to eat responsible-adult-type cereals. You know, things with fiber and whole grains. Things without way-too-much sugar. Things, sadly, without marshmallows — chocolate or otherwise.

That’s not to say that I have never pilfered a bowl of Lucky Charms when Chad was out of town and the kids were in bed. Because I have. But for the most part, I try to eat cereals that are somewhat good for me.

Which is, perhaps, why the box of Chocolate Cheerios caught my eye.

After all, the cover clearly announces that they’re good for you, with phrases like, “May Reduce the Risk of Heart Disease” and “with Whole Grain Guaranteed.” At the same time, there are words like “Chocolate” and “Real Cocoa” calling to my sweet tooth. I had no choice: I had to take a box home.

L. (3) was not impressed. I should tell you that he’s an incredibly picky eater, and picky in weird ways. (This is a kid who asked for peas and carrots one night when I offered him waffles and ice cream for dinner. Yeah. Really.) He tried a few of the Chocolate Cheerios, and then asked me to take them away.

But I don’t take his word for anything, so I poured a bowl for myself.

The verdict: Meh. Okay.

I guess I was expecting something similar to the Count Chocula yummyness of my youth, but better for me. Alas, it didn’t quite measure up. The chocolate flavor was present, but not very strong. I mean, it was okay. But I think I decided that if I really want chocolate cereal, I should just buy a box of Count Chocula. And I’m perfectly happy with regular (or Honey Nut) Cheerios if I’m in a Cheerios kind of mood.

But for now, I’ll just go back to my responsible-adult-type cereals. (Oh, okay, I might finish the box of Chocolate Cheerios. You wouldn’t want me to be wasteful, would you?)

What’s your favorite cereal (now or as a kid)? Have you tried any new ones recently?

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I’m linking this post to the Moms’ 30-Minute Blog Challenge, hosted each Tuesday at SteadyMom.com.

Thanksgiving plans were a bit elusive this year, and due to some complications at the last minute I decided that, contrary to our initial plans, I would just make Thanksgiving dinner myself.

This is not something I normally ever do. I have a mother and a mother-in-law who are both very good at planning and executing large family meals, and we always benefit from their Thanksgiving expertise. My expertise lies more along the lines of casseroles, pancakes, and desserts. Which I suppose could be served on Thanksgiving, but I was itching to try to something more traditional.

Like, you know, a turkey.

(Oh, and by the way. I had only made one turkey in my entire life before this Thanksgiving.)

So I jotted down some ideas and got to work.

Step one in my dinner-planning was to gather recipes.

I don’t know about you, but I have about a million hundred cookbooks. Seriously, cookbooks abound in my house. But did I open any of them in my search for Thanksgiving recipes?

No. I turned to the Internet. I don’t really know why I turned to the Internet first, but it could be because:

• My laptop is practically attached to my fingers, so the Internet was just handy
• Recipe sites usually include reviews by “real people,” so I can weed through recipes, find advice, and learn about others’ results before I try something new
• It’s much faster to type some words into Google than to go searching through book index after book index or paging through cookbook after cookbook

Whatever the reason, it didn’t take long before I had my list of recipes. I hit the grocery store to pick up all the ingredients, and spread out my prep work over the two days leading up to Thanksgiving. Since all the dishes went over well with my family, I thought I’d share them with you (along with my thoughts and reactions). Just in case you suddenly find yourself in charge of Thanksgiving dinner one year.

The Turkey

We are big fans of the Food Network show, Good Eats. So I couldn’t pass up the chance to try Alton Brown’s Good Eats Roast Turkey recipe (initially shown in the Romancing the Bird episode). This recipe involved brining (something I’d never done) and ignoring the pop-up timer on the bird (something that made me a bit nervous).

Preparing the brine was easy. The hard part was fitting the giant tub-o-brine, complete with soaking turkey, in my refrigerator. With a little creative arrangement, though, I did it, and I have to say that it was worth it.

This turkey was possibly the juiciest turkey I’ve ever had (with no basting required!). The only problem we ran into was that the very bottom of the turkey was not quite as done as I would have liked. I followed Alton’s recipe to the letter, except that I placed the rack on a stoneware sheet pan, rather than a metal one, since that’s all I had. And I think not having that reflective surface caused the bottom of the bird to not keep up with the rest of it. Just to be safe, we tossed that part of the turkey, and enjoyed the rest. Next time, I’ll get a metal sheet pan, because this recipe is one I’ll want to use again. Very yummy.

The Stuffing

My goal was to keep Thanksgiving dinner fairly simple and not overwhelming. So the idea of preparing stuffing in the crockpot definitely appealed to me. I decided to go with a Crockpot Cornbread Stuffing recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking. My husband loves cornbread, and the whole thing looked easy.

I made the cornbread two days before Thanksgiving and then wrapped it very loosely in plastic wrap, to allow it to get stale. I chopped my veggies Wednesday night, so on Thanksgiving, all I had to do was assemble everything in the crockpot after I got the turkey in the oven. Incredibly easy. And everyone seemed to enjoy it. The only thing I did differently was to make 2 batches of cornbread. I ended up using about 1 1/2 of them in the stuffing.

The Potatoes

I knew what I was looking for in a potato recipe: marshmallows. Personally, I don’t mind marshmallows, but all three of the guys I live with absolutely love marshmallows, so I wanted to indulge them. I used a very basic recipe — Sweet Potato Casserole II from AllRecipes.com — and it was a big hit.  I left out the orange juice, but we didn’t miss it. I think they tasted great without.

Though I didn’t do anything in advance for this recipe, it would be easy to make ahead. Just cook the sweet potatoes, and blend them with the sugar, butter, etc. the day before. Then on Thanksgiving, just spoon them into a casserole dish, top with marshmallows, and bake.

Fruit

I happen to have a 3-year-old who is a picky eater. Fortunately, though, he loves fruit and most vegetables. So when I was planning our dinner, I wanted to make sure I had something else for him to enjoy, since I was pretty sure he’d be ignoring the turkey and stuffing.  I found this recipe for Winter Fruit Medley and decided it looked like the perfect choice. It was easy, tasty, and L. gobbled up lots of it.

Other Sides

I went with store-bought rolls and steamed veggies to round out our meal — nothing fancy or complicated. And my mom brought her homemade Cranberry Applesauce — one of her holiday traditions, and something we all look forward to devouring every year. (Thanks, Mom!)

The Dessert

Though I don’t usually cook Thanksgiving dinner, I do usually make some kind of dessert. I’ve been making this Pumpkin Cheesecake for several years now. Yes, I know, it’s not the traditional Pumpkin Pie, but I happen to love it, and so far, I haven’t heard any complaints from others. I serve each slice with a dollop of whipped cream, and Thanksgiving evening usually finds us seeking out seconds of this yummy dessert.

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Yes, I know I’m a very inexperienced Thanksgiving cook. So I was very happy to have the handy Internet available to provide recipes for my attempt at putting together an actual holiday dinner. I hope there’s something here that you can enjoy, too!

Back in June, I posted about some smoothies we’d been enjoying. And in that post, I mentioned that I wanted to (eventually) try a “green smoothie” — i.e., a smoothie containing greens, specifically spinach. I also said that I’d let you know if I worked up the fortitude to actually give one a try.

Well, I did. Finally. Almost three months later.

I know, I know. Spinach in a smoothie? It sounds…questionable. Maybe even disgusting. I mean, I’m a fan of spinach. I enjoy a summer salad with spinach and strawberries and feta cheese. But spinach in a smoothie? Drinking spinach? Well, it gave me pause. Which is why it has taken so long for me to actually make one…and drink it.

The verdict: Not bad. Not bad at all.

Here’s what I combined in my blender:

1 banana
1/2 cup plain, lowfat yogurt
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 dash of sugar
A gigantic handful of baby spinach
Some water (1/2 cup?)
Ice

I blended it for…um…quite a while. Because, while I was willing to try a green smoothie, I wanted to make sure that the green part was completely and utterly pulverized. I was not interested in drinking chunks of spinach.

I did not take a picture of the final smoothie, but that’s probably for the best. It was rather, well, mud-colored. Not exactly attractive. The spinach and the cocoa combined to make a not-too-lovely shade of smoothie. But that was okay. I didn’t have to look at the smoothie in order to drink it, right?

I poured some for C., who specifically asked if he could try it. I was impressed. Not many 10-year-olds would ask for some of their mom’s spinach-drink — at least not the 10-year-olds I know.

We started sipping.

The taste? Much like a plain ol’ chocolate-banana smoothie. I didn’t taste spinach at all. There was certainly a taste of “something” in addition to the chocolate and banana, but it wasn’t strong, and it wasn’t offensive. C. drank all of his, and I drank all of mine. We agreed that we liked it. And considering that this recipe is an awesome way to get all kinds of nutrients into myself and my tween, I consider that a major success.

In the interest of full disclosure, I made another one of these chocolate-green smoothies a few nights later, and Chad tried some as well. While he drank all of his, he did not seem impressed. But it could have been the color — the color was really and truly unappealing. But if you can look past the color, and you have a good pulverizing blender, give it a shot.