Victory!

It may be possible that Ben had not eaten a green vegetable for two years. I know, what kind of parents are we anyway? As many of you can relate, when you have a child who is a finicky eater who barely eats at all, with food allergies to boot, you carefully pick your battles, right?! My theory: always offer and put it on the plate, but don't create a struggle over it.

Well, on Saturday, we experienced our first green veggie victory! You cannot imagine the excitement that resulted from this mama! Ben loves chips, so I made kale chips. I can't say I had ever eaten kale myself, but supposedly it is a super food, so I thought we'd give it a try. Here is how you make it:

1 bunch of kale
1 tbsp of olive oil
seasoning salt

Cut the kale away from the thick stems. Wash well and rip into bite size pieces. Some of my pieces were too big and didn't get crispy, so next time I will make sure I really make them bite size. Drizzle the kale with olive oil and salt to taste. Toss together. Spread on parchment paper on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 until edges are brown, but not burned, probably about 10 minutes.

I watched in stunned amazement as Ben devoured them, had seconds, and then had thirds. Unbelievable! Kale chips are going on the current short list of "likes" for Ben!

Halloween Weekend

Halloween at our house was quite festive! We had a lot of fun doing activities beyond Trick or Treating, although that was a lot of fun, too. Ben gets such a kick out of us having "parties", so of course, we had a Halloween party at home filled with all kinds of fun and treats.

Our Halloween festivities started with some slime! This water and cornstarch mixture is a throwback to the solid, liquid, and gases science units in elementary school. Ben played in the "slime" for 45 minutes and told me, "I could play with this forever!" I think we'll have to do that again sometime!

Ben and I enjoyed making these black cat brownies (box brownies, York peppermint patties, candy eyes, chocolate chip ears, white decorative frosting). We also had pumpkin floats (orange sherbet and 7Up). Besides the candy from Trick or Treating, why not add litte more sugar to it?!

Nothing says Halloween like eating dinner by candlelight with black candles covered in wax rats.

No Halloween party would be complete without a little pumpkin carving.

Getting ready for Trick or Treat! It was a beautiful night and Ben had such a blast filling his pumpkin with candy! Seeing how thrilled he was made it lots of fun for Brant and I, too. Abby, our adorable pumpkin, rode along delightfully!