Baked Eggplant {Surpize}

I made dinner for family last night; grilled bbq chicken drumsticks, tater tots, and baked eggplant. When told the menu, each of them separately told me they didn't like eggplant. I encouraged them to try it before they made a decision.

                                                                         And then the eggplant was the first to go. 

So I thought I'd share the recipe with you guys {since its been slightly modified from anything I found online}. 

BAKED EGGPLANT SLICES

2lb eggplant (give or take) 

Sea Salt

3 eggs

1c flour

2c Panko flakes

Seasoning* {See below}

Olive Oil

Prepping the eggplant
                                        is crucial.

If you change anything, it can't be this part. 

Slice the eggplant in approx 1/4 inch slices.

Layer on a paper towel generously sprinkling salt between the layers {no worries, this will be rinsed off, don't be greasy with the salt}.

Place a paper towel on top of the layers and cover with another plate or item heavy enough to slightly squish the eggplant. The goal is to draw the moisture {and subsequently bitterness} out of the plant. Let this sit for at least 30 mins.

Then rinse the eggplant slices well and pat dry.

Prepping for cooking

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using three bowls {or plates} fill one with flour, one with whisked eggs, and the third with panko and seasoning.

Cover the slices with flour, then egg, and finally panko mix. Place on a baking sheet in a single layer. Immediately prior to placing in the oven, drizzle with olive oil.

Bake for 30 mins {or until golden brown} flipping them once half way though.

Tip: For the third bowl, I used 1 tbl seasoning* to every 1 c panko. I suggest using a cup at a time because it tends to get clumpy once you put the egg covered pieces in it. When it's gotten to clumpy to use, add the additional Panko and seasoning.

*You can use just about any seasoning you'd like. We used a Herb & Salt mix from Village Garden we purchased at the South of the James Farmers Market. Old Bay would also work, or any of your favorite seasonings. Get creative.*

Seriously delish. I didn't like eggplant before either.
                                                                               Now I'm so glad we planted 5 eggplant plants. 

{Mommy} Time

"My child is my life"

It's a quote I've run upon a lot recently in my bedtime routine blog perusing. It's a quote that both rings true and confuses me. I've spoken these words myself, but now it's making me think.

     What's the real meaning of this quote?

          How should we be using it?

I also recently broke out the glitter and paints.

                                                                         And that's when it all come together.

My child IS my life, she's my everything. This doesn't have to mean I put my entire life on hold while I teach her to be amazing. In fact, how can I teach her to be amazing if I'm not?

Along with reading, writing, and arithmetic, I want my child to learn to be inquisitive and take chances; to be strong and independent, yet compassionate and giving; to know herself, her limits and to test them often; I want her to learn to be herself, and be proud of herself. These are not lessons she can read or hear and learn, these are lessons you can only learn through experience and observation.

"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them." 

                                                                 - James A Baldwin

I have learned {there she goes teaching her mom lessons again} that I have to continue to be me. And this is where my glitter and paints came in. I LOVE to craft, and I mean LOVE. I've been called Martha a time or two {minus the jail time}. And in the last few days, these small projects have been completed. {Sorry for the bad pictures}.

I need to continue these things to show Madison the woman she can be. The things she can do, and how to live a fulfilling life. I can't tell her that, I have to show her.

Does this mean that I'm going to start taking a girls night every month or more away time without her? No. Because quite frankly that was never me. It beyond frustrates me when people tell me I need more time away from her. I don't, I just need more time to do what makes my heart sing. And that's create.

With her, without her. Doesn't matter. I just need to remember to be me. So she can learn to be her.

What do you do to make sure your children see you being you?

Learning our {Body Parts}

I discovered by accident a great activity a few days ago.

My 16 month old is big on learning body parts these days. She gets very excited to be able to point a new place on herself. I was playing with the camera the other day and she wanted to 'help' as she always does. So I started showing her pictures of herself, this sent her to the moon. She was so excited to see herself on the tiny screen so we took it a little further {and she was entertained for a while!}.

And looked at her toes ...

                         
                                                                                                     And her ears ...

                                        

                                                Hair ... 

Her cute little belly ... 

Those engaging eyes ... 

             And button nose ... 

And those perfect fingers ... 

This continued on for a while. She loved it. And we've done it a few more times adding parts as we go {shoulder, knee, ... }. She gets to learn her body parts {even the ones she can't see} and pose for the camera in the process {another favorite}.

{Piggy Paint} Natural Nail Polish Review

My daughter was watching me put eyeshadow on the other day {A SUPER rare occurrence in this house.} and wanted some of her own. I had some obvious reservations about putting makeup on her face, but there was a bottle of nail polish on the counter so I thought 'what the heck?' and began to paint her nails.

She sat there patiently as I put a tiny drop on each of her adorable little nails. Never wiggled or got bored. Enthralled in the idea that her fingers were now a pretty pale pink. When I was done she immediately went to show daddy, proud of her new look. 

A few days later I returned home from work to a toddler with that same pretty pink color on her hands and arms. Daddy had tried to paint her nails. {Insert 'awww' here, I know, I know.} 

Since then she's brought me the bottle a few times, but I'm super hesitant to continue this because of the strong odor nail polish has. It just can not be good for you, and certainly isn't good for a young developing set of lungs and brain. 

So the hunt began. We went shopping, and you would be amazed at the looks I got when I asked in store after store if they sold a natural or low odor nail polish. You would have thought I had asked for a paper free greeting card. Seriously. 

We ended up at Wal-Mart ... the least likely place, or so I thought. And that's where we found it ... 

                      Piggy Paint. 

  The slogan reads "As natural as mud."

                                                                                         I love this stuff {so far}. 

It smells natural, almost like mud, more accurately like clay, there's no harshness or offensiveness to it. The colors are super cute, vibrant pinks and purples {or that's what Wal-Mart carried}. The first ingredient listed is water. Plain. Simple. Water. It's non-toxic, eco friendly, and hypoallergenic. Makes me feel alot better about my daughter putting her fingers in her mouth {to eat dirt} after they're painted. 

So how does it work? It only took two coats to get a smooth perfect finish that dries to the touch in less than 60 seconds {two rounds of the ABC song per the website. Hee hee} and I cleaned the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher just minutes after it dried without a chip or scratch to be found. Amazing if you ask me. 

I bought these for my daughter, but you better believe I will be using them as well. We'll see how it holds up to the hand sanitizers at work. {That's the true test.}

And what is more adorable than a little girls pink fingernails?

{Visit their website here.}

We also purchased the polish remover. I love that the main ingredient is corn alcohol, nothing too awful AND it too doesn't have an offensive odor. It works great, especially to get the excess polish off the skin from the wiggles. I used a Q-tip to do this.

All in all, so far, great product!! So glad I found it!

What I've learned from George Zimmerman & Trayvon Martin

I'm sorry but I'm so over the Zimmerman/Martin thing. 

First, I {and I assume many of you} haven't combed the evidence or listened word for word to the trial and obviously weren't there so I feel we really have no say or valid opinion in the matter {that's why we have a jury and lawyers} but more importantly the idea that he was judged by his skin color or dress or actions is not a novel idea. It's been happening since the dawn of day. Is it sad, yes. But honestly it's a matter of survival. 
                           You don't go with the funny looking man offering you candy. 

                                                                    He might be an upstanding citizen, you don't do it. 

What I have taken away from this and what I will teach my daughter is that you should be cautious, after all it's a different world out there, but be cautious about your caution. And for heavens sake leave the situation if you can. Let people be {unless they're carrying a machine gun and yelling at the neighbors of course, and then just call 911 and walk the other way}.

Have frank conversations with your children. You will be judged by your color, no matter what color you are. I'm sorry, but there's a reason I take my African American friends with me to some restaurants, I they know this. The fact that they are okay with it solidifies my beliefs that when I walk in the majority of the patrons are going to think "what is that white woman doing here?" It's okay, I am aware of the situation, I still want the good food so I bring a friend. 

You will be judged by your clothes, no matter what they are. Dress preppy and you're a rich prick who doesn't know what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck. Holes in your clothes, you don't have enough money to buy new. Pants sagging, clearly you don't abide by the law. The list goes on. 

You will be judged by your actions. Give the homeless man a few bucks and you think you're better than him, don't give it to him and your stingy. 

But above all teach them to think before they judge. 

You're children are going to judge their playmates, their family, the patrons at the grocery store. That's okay. They should, again it's a matter of survival to form opinions about those around you. Teach them to think it through. You think the woman in line in front of you is friendly or mean, why? Is it because of what she's wearing? Why? Because of something she said or did? How did it make you feel?

Teach your children to be insightful. Ask them what their first opinion of strangers is and then ask them 'why?'. 

I equate it to teaching teens abstinence. It's not enough to simply say 'dont have sex'. They're going to, teach them to be safe, the emotions that come along with the actions, and the consquensces. 

They're going to judge, teach them to judge with thought, with reason, with solid foundations. Not because someone else thinks so. 

Teach your children to think. This is what's going to change how we treat each other. 

Be Careful ...

It's official. I've become my mother.

Well kinda.

It happened today, my daughter turned to me with pride in her eyes as she handed me a rock. A rock the size of her head. All I could see was the rock falling on her fragile little toes and the unbearable pain that would ensue.

      So naturally the first words out of my mouth ...

                                         "Careful, it's heavy."

                                          Careful. Not "good job", not "nice rock".
          Nothing encouraging, careful.

When I thought about it, it crushed me. She was so proud and I stole that from her.

My husband gets on me all the time about it. The first thing out of my mouth is never encouragement or 'ad-a-boys' but words of caution and trepidation. I love my mother dearly, but it occurred to me that this is one of the things that bothers me so much about her. All my life, every big event shared has been followed by a 'but', or 'if' or 'be careful'. My thunder is stolen each time.

I know that just as it does from me, it comes from a place of love and concern, but it doesn't feel like love, it feels like distrust. Like you're not good enough.

Clearly my daughter {or husband or friends or myself} are not doing things to intentionally hurt themselves, do they really need my warning? My job as a mother is to encourage exploration and growth and am I really doing that when the first thing I say is "be careful".

So from here on out I vow to respond with pride and encouragement. I vow to assume that the loved ones around me are being careful. I vow to intervene when danger ensues and not give heads of warning.We will continue to use the phrase "careful feet" as she runs toward the drop off of a curb, or "careful hands" as she reaches for something prickly. That is where it will end. No more will I crush her pride with words of caution.

I vow to try. *smile*

Trials and tribulations of the beach ...

Family vacation number one. Well actually number two, but she was only 4 months old the first round. So in essence, family vacation number one.

So a little background for those of you that may be new. Madison is 13 months old {14 by time I got around to writing this}, walking and highly energetic. Highly. Energetic.

Challenge number one was getting to the beach. And timing became more of a challenge than we thought it would be. The night before she starting running low grade fevers and had a nasty cough. A good nights sleep was out of the question. Sigh.

Our plan was to wake around 7, like usual, breakfast, play, finish packing and leave around 10-11 when she usually goes down for her first nap. Ha. Plans. She woke at 5am because she couldn't stop coughing, we played and packed and then went to breakfast and before we knew it it was 7am and she wanted a nap. 7 am. Really?!?! Did I mention that check in wasn't until 4pm. Leaving at 7 would mean we had 9 hours to kill and a 4 hr drive.

So we managed to keep her up until 8 while we hectically packed and planned for caregivers for the cat. Moral of the story, pack the car the night before. Let me say that again: Pack the car the night before!

Loading her bag. 

I had also planned out all kinds of places to stop on the way assuming she would be awake most of the time. Including a 'Cement store' that is now apparently closed. Oops. Knowing that Madison's favorite place to play is Home Depot, I knew our stops didn't have to be fancy, and the ACE Hardware store made a perfect place to play and get out some wiggles. {She ended up sleeping for all but the last 30 mins of the drive.}

To entertain her for the last part of the drive I loaded her bag {the crochet one pictured} with toys. And handed her the whole bag. 2 mins occupied trying to get the item out of the bag, 5-10mins occupied with each item. 5 items can keep her busy for quite a while.

All in all the drive there was not nearly as stressful as I had anticipated, nor was the drive home. We left at bedtime, meaning she slept the entire ride, and I refused to stop and let my hubby pee. Sorry 'bout your luck. *Smile*

Our time at the beach was a bit more tricky. One thing I did learn was that with a small child, it's even more important than ever to choose your vaca-mates wisely. Especially if you would like to have a little mommy or daddy time, something mommy got very little of this trip.

Many of you wanted to know how she'd do at the beach, and to be quite honest I half expected a scared and clingy girl. After all think about it, if you were only 2 ft tall with the wind and the waves and all those loud sounds that we've grown to know as comforting (waves, seagulls, children screaming with delight), it's all a bit disorienting. Madison however, loved LOVED it all! The wind, the waves, the sand, the cold water {for a minute}, all of it.

Pause for a photo break *smile*

Tidal pools are AMAZING places to play. The warm clear water allows for
collecting shells and water play.

So surprised she kept her shades on.

Cold water ... really cold water. 

Building sand castles with the best of them. 

"Dad, where did my feet go?"

Logs, another source of entertainment, who knew?

Found a friend. 

So tips we learned with a 1 year old at the beach? 

1} Keep plans open. Nap times tend to be really unpredictable. Really. Unpredictable. She would sleep for 5 minutes some times and then hours others, at odd times. Late naps that at home would push back bedtime only made for an earlier bedtime. Let nothing surprize you.

2} Seek out new ways to make the beach less ... harsh. This idea from Pintrest was great on those days when the water was just too cold for comfort. Use a shower curtain {we chose clear to maintain the sand look, dumb I know} to line a hole in the sand a make a pool. A lot less work than taking a blow up pool. No one had to blow it up, only dig a little hole.

3} It does take a village. Like I said before, choose your vaca-mates carefully. In order for everyone to have a good time, you need help. Try to be sure your fellow vacationers have some of the same goals and ideas in mind as you do, it will make things a lot smoother.

4} INVEST IN A FULL LENGTH RASH GUARD. Yes I meant that in all caps. Sand gets everywhere, EVERYWHERE. I didn't purchase one because of the expense, but I wish I had of, and will be for all subsequent beach trips until ... well forever if I can help it.

5} Baby powder is a life saver. I was skeptical, I admit. It takes sand right off! No joke. Well actually it absorbs all the water from the sand that makes it sticky and it just brushes right off. This {and maybe only this} allowed us to continue cloth diapering at the beach without fear of never ending sand in the diapers.

Yea, that right, these crazy parents cloth diapered at the beach. Heck why not. Cheaper than swim diapers and there's no chlorine to mess them up. I say go for it. We did skimp on the inserts when we knew we were going right out the beach and back.

Although Mom and Dad were stressed out and burnt out at the end of the week, Madison had an amazing time at the beach, and in the end, that is all that matters.





I'll leave you with a little breastfeeding hooray. A little snack on the beach. {And no, I did not spend money on a nursing suit, I just found a 'strapless' that I added a strap too. Works just as well.}