The haute cuisine at my house. These are Holiday Crabby Patties: Tofutti cream cheese on oyster crackers (drat you, Bobbie, for that idea!) with added holiday sprinkles.
Showing posts with label oyster crackers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oyster crackers. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
My Holiday Cooking
The haute cuisine at my house. These are Holiday Crabby Patties: Tofutti cream cheese on oyster crackers (drat you, Bobbie, for that idea!) with added holiday sprinkles.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Lunch Planning, With Autism
Kari had a recent post that included how she packed her son's lunch. Her son The Cat has long reminded me of DuckyBoy, and even though my comment on her post got posted twice (sorry, Kari!!) I thought I'd put my ideas here as well.
Kari was relating an experience about trying to pack her son's lunch and having him say no to everything she tried to put in. DB would do the same if I let him. I think he would have oyster crackers, potato sticks, and Newman-O's every day in his lunch if I let him decide.
I also don't have the time or the tolerance for the back-and-forth negotiating at 7 am, so now we decide in advance, in writing, what main dish I will pack each day of the upcoming week. I choose the sides and dessert each morning (or the night before) based on what he likes, occasionally trying something new.
Most weeks I remember to do it, at bedtime snack time on Sunday night, and it works pretty well. I post the list on one of the kitchen cabinets. It helps me as much as it helps him!
Some weeks I'll let him choose the same thing (like pasta) every day. Other weeks I figure, in exchange for giving him the privilege of mostly picking what he gets to eat, I get to pick the 5th day (and I tell him what it is immediately) or I'll say he needs to eat 2 different things over the 5 days.
So this week, for example, he has pasta today -- with Grandma's sauce, which is great since we were eating that for dinner as we made the list and it's an unusual lunch choice for him. Tomorrow is his school's Field Day, so no Thermoses, so he can have one of his beloved Uncrustables.
I told him that today or Thursday he needs to have a homemade ham sandwich, so he chose that for Thursday. (Poor kid, Boar's Head honey ham on Arnold whole-wheat bread, it's a tough life.)
For Friday he chose another Uncrustable. At $1 apiece, I try to limit those to 1-2 a week, which is why he has pasta today (his first choice was another Uncrustable). They're also not that hearty -- pb&j on white bread, I might as well pack him a candy bar -- but it has the appearance of being a Real Lunch Choice, so that counts for something.
It helps that we do this menu planning at a time when he usually wants to be doing something else -- he's finished his dinner and wants to go watch TV, and I don't let him until we have this done.
And he's good about it -- even when he doesn't eat the homemade sandwich, for example, as happened a couple of weeks ago, at least he knew it was coming. And I try to give him something hearty on the side those days just in case ... like peanut butter cookies for protein and potato sticks for the fat.
Kari was relating an experience about trying to pack her son's lunch and having him say no to everything she tried to put in. DB would do the same if I let him. I think he would have oyster crackers, potato sticks, and Newman-O's every day in his lunch if I let him decide.
I also don't have the time or the tolerance for the back-and-forth negotiating at 7 am, so now we decide in advance, in writing, what main dish I will pack each day of the upcoming week. I choose the sides and dessert each morning (or the night before) based on what he likes, occasionally trying something new.
Most weeks I remember to do it, at bedtime snack time on Sunday night, and it works pretty well. I post the list on one of the kitchen cabinets. It helps me as much as it helps him!
Some weeks I'll let him choose the same thing (like pasta) every day. Other weeks I figure, in exchange for giving him the privilege of mostly picking what he gets to eat, I get to pick the 5th day (and I tell him what it is immediately) or I'll say he needs to eat 2 different things over the 5 days.
So this week, for example, he has pasta today -- with Grandma's sauce, which is great since we were eating that for dinner as we made the list and it's an unusual lunch choice for him. Tomorrow is his school's Field Day, so no Thermoses, so he can have one of his beloved Uncrustables.
I told him that today or Thursday he needs to have a homemade ham sandwich, so he chose that for Thursday. (Poor kid, Boar's Head honey ham on Arnold whole-wheat bread, it's a tough life.)
For Friday he chose another Uncrustable. At $1 apiece, I try to limit those to 1-2 a week, which is why he has pasta today (his first choice was another Uncrustable). They're also not that hearty -- pb&j on white bread, I might as well pack him a candy bar -- but it has the appearance of being a Real Lunch Choice, so that counts for something.
It helps that we do this menu planning at a time when he usually wants to be doing something else -- he's finished his dinner and wants to go watch TV, and I don't let him until we have this done.
And he's good about it -- even when he doesn't eat the homemade sandwich, for example, as happened a couple of weeks ago, at least he knew it was coming. And I try to give him something hearty on the side those days just in case ... like peanut butter cookies for protein and potato sticks for the fat.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Making Cookies
DuckyBoy came home with a book made by his class, "Things We Like - Things That Make Us Happy." (It was only supposed to be titled the second part, he said, but A., one of the girls in his class, wrote the other as well. About which he was obviously still.slightly.peeved! Haha.)
Anyway, for some reason several pages showed mommies making cookies and kindergarten spellings, "I lik wen Mom bks cukeez." (Say it out loud.)
We read the book together and one of us commented about the multiples of the same thing and DuckyBoy says, "You never bake cookies."
Oh! Ohhhh! OHHH! I had to shelve that jab, which I know he didn't mean as a jab, just as his perception. So, it arose this morning in the shower, when I am thinking that I need to bake cookies today for tomorrow's bake sale.
It's true, I don't bake many cookies. For the fall bake sale I -- we -- made marshmallow-Cheerio pumpkins. And I made the Groundhog Day cookies after he went to bed one night.
Now, I love to bake and eat cookies, and I grew up loving that my mom baked cookies. So why don't I? Let me count the ways.
1. Because Daddy and I will eat most of the cookies I bake, and our waistlines don't need them.
2. Because cookies are not something I need to worry about you eating. You will eat, or at least consider trying, any cookie baked by anyone and I don't know that homemade-by-me gets any extra points in your book. You obviously know you needn't worry about getting any nutrition from cookies. And surprisingly enough there are plenty of shelf-stable baked goods without dairy ... Teddy Grahams being chief among them.
3. Because I'm too busy making the rest of your special-order diet, or thinking about what to get you to try next. Between the sensory/control issues and the dairy-free, I think about food, YOUR food, way more than is normal for a mom of a child your age. I haven't yet had time to thumb through the Jessica Seinfeld cookbook, but sneaking pureed veggies into brownies just doesn't thrill me. I've got to get you to eat more real food first, then I can sneak something extra into the desserts as well.
* My freezer has 3 types of french fries. Partly because the SuperTots are actually made from vegetables other than potatoes and you eat them because they're alphabet shaped; partly because I consider it a score that you also eat McCain Smiles, as they are more mashed potatoey than regular fries.
* Chicken nuggets (currently stocked with 2 brands because one "tasted chewy" a week ago and now you eat no protein at all except however much is found in egg noodles and, of course, peanut butter);
* Oyster crackers with (Tofutti) cream cheese. At least we moved away from the faces -- made with sprinkles and half a Cheerio for the mouth -- compared to that, the sandwiches are less laborious. Is it any wonder I need a new eyeglasses prescription?! However, adding a layer of sprinkles because you like to call them Krabby Patties makes them way less fun for me as a labor of love for your health.
4. Because whenever I am baking, you'd much rather being doing something else. Is it the autism or a control thing? I don't know, but it would be more fun if you wanted to help me. I know you like to do this stuff.
Tell you what, my son whom I love. When I can regularly cook something for my dinner, and that is also what you eat for your dinner, then I can start to make you cookies.
Meanwhile, there is at least one cookie recipe we've talked about baking together. I don't know how well Sesame Crisps will go over for the bake sale, but the important thing is we will make them together.
Post-Bake Sale Update: The sesame cookies were a success -- the toughest mom even asked me for the recipe!! And, amazingly, I was able to remember it off the top of my head. Wow.
Anyway, for some reason several pages showed mommies making cookies and kindergarten spellings, "I lik wen Mom bks cukeez." (Say it out loud.)
We read the book together and one of us commented about the multiples of the same thing and DuckyBoy says, "You never bake cookies."
Oh! Ohhhh! OHHH! I had to shelve that jab, which I know he didn't mean as a jab, just as his perception. So, it arose this morning in the shower, when I am thinking that I need to bake cookies today for tomorrow's bake sale.
It's true, I don't bake many cookies. For the fall bake sale I -- we -- made marshmallow-Cheerio pumpkins. And I made the Groundhog Day cookies after he went to bed one night.
Now, I love to bake and eat cookies, and I grew up loving that my mom baked cookies. So why don't I? Let me count the ways.
1. Because Daddy and I will eat most of the cookies I bake, and our waistlines don't need them.
2. Because cookies are not something I need to worry about you eating. You will eat, or at least consider trying, any cookie baked by anyone and I don't know that homemade-by-me gets any extra points in your book. You obviously know you needn't worry about getting any nutrition from cookies. And surprisingly enough there are plenty of shelf-stable baked goods without dairy ... Teddy Grahams being chief among them.
3. Because I'm too busy making the rest of your special-order diet, or thinking about what to get you to try next. Between the sensory/control issues and the dairy-free, I think about food, YOUR food, way more than is normal for a mom of a child your age. I haven't yet had time to thumb through the Jessica Seinfeld cookbook, but sneaking pureed veggies into brownies just doesn't thrill me. I've got to get you to eat more real food first, then I can sneak something extra into the desserts as well.
* My freezer has 3 types of french fries. Partly because the SuperTots are actually made from vegetables other than potatoes and you eat them because they're alphabet shaped; partly because I consider it a score that you also eat McCain Smiles, as they are more mashed potatoey than regular fries.
* Chicken nuggets (currently stocked with 2 brands because one "tasted chewy" a week ago and now you eat no protein at all except however much is found in egg noodles and, of course, peanut butter);
* Oyster crackers with (Tofutti) cream cheese. At least we moved away from the faces -- made with sprinkles and half a Cheerio for the mouth -- compared to that, the sandwiches are less laborious. Is it any wonder I need a new eyeglasses prescription?! However, adding a layer of sprinkles because you like to call them Krabby Patties makes them way less fun for me as a labor of love for your health.
4. Because whenever I am baking, you'd much rather being doing something else. Is it the autism or a control thing? I don't know, but it would be more fun if you wanted to help me. I know you like to do this stuff.
Tell you what, my son whom I love. When I can regularly cook something for my dinner, and that is also what you eat for your dinner, then I can start to make you cookies.
Meanwhile, there is at least one cookie recipe we've talked about baking together. I don't know how well Sesame Crisps will go over for the bake sale, but the important thing is we will make them together.
Post-Bake Sale Update: The sesame cookies were a success -- the toughest mom even asked me for the recipe!! And, amazingly, I was able to remember it off the top of my head. Wow.
