JAVA MAMA

I know I need to be updating more, but it's been hectic and busy -- all the things I hate, detest, despise. I would love every morning to be a Sunday morning, just because on Saturdays it's up and out the door for two soccer games, usually in different cities. It was beautiful here over the weekend so we just sat outside and watched our kids and the kids in the neighborhood play.

Guess what I want? I want Jessica Seinfeld's new cookbook "Deceptively Delicious." I watched some of her stuff on Oprah the other day and she hides veggies in all kinds of foods, and your kids never notice. Like pureed spinach in brownies. I've had brownies with things in them (a very long time ago), but never spinach. And pureed cauliflower or squash hidden in mac and cheese. I have got to try that on the boys. I have to admit though, they do like a lot of vegetables. My child was the only one in his sixth grade class at the beginning of the school year who wrote that his favorite food was salad and turnips. His teacher talked about that at Open House. To think they were eating brownies or mac & cheese or chicken nuggets with all their daily vitamins and veggies in them to boot, why, that would be just too much for me. Anyway, I think I'll be making a trip out tomorrow to Barnes & Noble to get one and try some of the tricks this week. I have tried really hard since the beginning of summer to buy organic as much as possible. They actually LOVE the organic milk and think other milk at other homes tastes funny. The only thing I complain about is it does make for a difference at the check-out. A half-gallon of organic milk (and I usually buy 3) is 3.87 around here. So that doesn't sound like a lot until I add up the three half-gallons I just bought. I cannot seem to find Horizons or Promise Land in gallon jugs and my DH said it's because no one would buy it when they saw the price! I'll have to agree with him there. I made homemade spaghetti sauce (sauga, as my family calls it) the other night with all organic ingredients and they loved it, but I kind of tasted a difference. I really couldn't put my finger on it but I think the organic pureed tomatoes taste rather bland and bitter, but all the men/boys in my family really loved it, I just didn't feel the same. I'm used to my moms and it definitely did not taste like that! But I really try to do the organic thing if they are going to eat it without being cooked or steamed, like lettuce, carrots, celery, etc. I just wish I could be that disciplined to reach for carrots instead of Pringles! Maybe soon, I can only pray, Pringles will be all organic, non-fat, non-caloric, and let's not forget the biggest aspect of that: NON-EDIBLE! That's not a word is it? Oh well, it's funny. They probably already have it but it just hasn't made it down here to southeast Texas yet. If you know of any organic chips that are good, let me know. I'll keep you updated on any of the recipes I experiment with and rate them or I'll let the boys rate them on taste; then again, I guess not because I'm not going to tell them what's in it! Ciao!