Kicking it into LOOOOOW gear.

I have times where I can really kick it into high gear and get an massive amount of stuff done in an amazing amount of time on surprisingly little sleep. It hasn't been that kind of a month. I won't go into the details of all the ailments and hitches-in-get-alongs, but it has been a weird month. We did manage to eat food. Fortunately and unfortunately, my kids food allergies don't allow many easy pre-packaged things or take-out, but I did buy bread and a box load of "bunny" cereal to get us through.

We managed a 7-year-old birthday party in there somehow, too. Now I have been known to get a bit...um...excited about birthday parties in the past. I love them. I love themes. The more I do, the more inspired I get and the more ideas I try to implement. I enjoy it, really I do, but by the end I am really tired. So, with that in mind and all the other things going on, we decided to keep it simple. The middle one turned 7 and wanted a jungle party. Our family made the decorations together. We used a total of 9 brown paper bags, 5 pieces of green tag board for these vines and leaves and 7 sheets of tissue paper for these leaf garlands and in an hour, the place looked great. We put up a 4x6 sheet of paper on the wall with the beginnings of a jungle background and cut out jungle animals for the kids to color and add to make a mural.



Then they went outside to blow bubbles and play freeze tag before coming in for lion sandwiches and cake. The other fun thing about this party was the gift that the big one and I made for her. We made her and her doll matching skirts out of 3 old T-shirts. We were all pleased with the results!

I am probably too late for the Menu Plan Monday but, nevertheless, here is the menu for the week:

• Sunday: Rick Bayless' Savory Golden Country Ribs, salad, guacamole, mexican rice, beans
• Monday: Chili, polenta and roasted cauliflower
• Tuesday: Black bean soup, fried leftover polenta
  
• Wednesday: Baked sweet ribs, rice and asian slaw
• Thursday: Baked potato with toppings (strained goat yogurt, bacon bits, chili, etc...)
  
• Friday: Pizza with steak, grilled onions and feta, sauteed chard, carrots and pepper strips
• Saturday: Tuna melts, potato dumplings, salad

I made these vegan brownies for treats to have on hand. I substituted spelt flour and rice milk and omitted the nuts. They fast and easy to put together but taste more like a rich chocolate cake. I am not hearing any complaints. I, also, found this new cookbook at the library. I thought it seemed really similar to the Home Baking book I mentioned here and then was pleasantly surprised when I saw they were from the same author. I made the Blueberry Bannock recipe from it already and it was fatastic!! It mixes flour, salt, baking powder then adds water and frozen blueberries, puts it in a greased cast iron skillet and bake for 25 mn. The total prep time is under 5mn and it tastes like a cross between biscuits and blueberry muffins. We had it for breakfast with yogurt. Now it is time to tackle some laundry and ease back into normal for a bit before the big one turns 9. She wants an "arts and crafts" party.