We got this from a "favorite recipie" cookbook assembled by the caregivers at daycare..
Hot Artichoke & Spinach Dip
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
1 can (14oz) artichoke hearts (drained)
1/2 cup spinach
1/4 cup mayo (not miracle whip)
1/4 cup romano cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 tsp dry or fresh basil
1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 tsp garlic salt
salt
pepper
1. Allow the cream cheese to come to room temperature. Cream together mayo, parmesan, romano, garlic, basil and garlic salt.
2. Add artichoke hearts and spinach. Mix everything together until blended well.
3. Spray a pie pan with pam (or very lightly grease w/crisco) Pour in mixture and top with mozzarella.
4. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes or until top is brown.
5. Serve warm with bread or crackers (be careful when dipping fresh out of the oven - it'll burn the roof of your mouth like hot pizza)
Please comment below, or tweet http://twitter.com/Jollyronald and let me know how this turns out for you. My favorit part of cooking is tweaking the recipie to my own taste. If you alter it, let me know if it worked well so I can try it too.
Enjoy!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Do nothing with your kids
When was the last time you did nothing with your children? I don't mean when have you ignored your kids. I mean when was the last time you just hung out with them for no reason at all? When have you just spent time together with little or no plan? You'd be amazed at what you can discover when you just let your kids roam and give them room to discover.
We had just gotten home from work and daycare. Mom was at the hairdresser's. Yay! Daddy get's to make dinner, and clean up, and play, and give tubbies...alone. No, it's not the biggest deal. Plenty of moms and dads do more single handedly, for more kids (I only have 2) and probably complain a lot less than I do. But, it can seem like a big deal when you're used to sharing the usual evening duties with another person, then sometimes have to do them alone.
"So, honey," I asked my 3 year old, "what do you want for supper?"
"SPAGHETTI!" she yelled from the back seat.
"But we just had spaghetti last night" I reminded her.
She quickly shot back with, "HAMBURGERS!"
OK, I thought. I can do hamburgers. I'll fire up the grill and we can spend some time in the backyard together. When we got home I quickly dumped the kids' bags inside and sliced a tomato and an onion, grabbed some cheese, a package of frozen hamburgers, buns, the tongs, and we were back out the door to enjoy what little time we have of summer in Maine. I lit the grill to wam up and burn off most of what we ate a few days before, then paused to take a breath. We live next to a forest and it's nice to just listen to the trees and birds and soak up the whole scene. It's rather tranquil...until you realize the kids are fighting over the Little Tikes car (30 years old, can you believe it! http://tinyurl.com/lp87th ) and the one year old is pulling his sister's hair. So I broke up that fight and turned the grill to low, threw the burgers on and turned my attention back to the kids.
By this time my son was halfway up the ladder on the side of the swingset, so I went out to spot him. I try not to be the dad who brags about the traditional gender stereotypes with my kids, like, "Would you look at my daughter, she is so pretty." or "Check out the grip that boy has." I have to say I am impressed that both of my kids are such good climbers. After my son came down the ladder, my daugher wanted to be pushed on the swing, so I did that. Then I ran back to flip the burgers. Now it dawned on me. We're about 30 minutes past our usual dinner time and the kids are going to revolt if I don't get some toddler hors d'oeuvres ready. I ran back inside to grab two bananas and two cheese sticks. Back outside I found the kids starting to climb up the stairs. (Like a zombie movie with little people. "Daddy. Daddy. We want to eat your brain")
If I haven't lost you, keep reading. I'm getting to my point.
Ok, I'm outside again and the kids are on solid ground and not fighting for the time being. I flipped the burgers again and headed to the children's picnic table (the one I built myself last summer!). Just like wild animals, kids calm down considerably when they have food. Now we were all enjoying the peaceful summer evening. My daughter is spouting some child philosophic observations, "Daddy, a kite touches the sky." and my son is doing his impression of a chipmunk with the pieces of cheese I've given him when I noticed a grasshopper on a nearby tree stump.
"Hey, Do you want to see a grasshopper?" I asked them.
"Grasshopper?" My daughter responded.
I had forgotten how much fun it can be to catch a grasshopper. It took a few tries to anticipate the insect's next move, catch it and bring it over to the kids. When I showed it to the kids, my daughter bent her knees to look closer, "Hi grasshopper." she said, like he just drove 5 hours to see us and should be welcomed properly. My son just made some noises and bobbed up and down trying to say grasshopper while he looked at this odd creature. After sufficient inspection of the bug I started thinking about the frogs that can usually be found at the base of a nearby tree. The kids haven't looked at too many frogs up close so I returned the grasshopper to his stump and started looking for frogs. I felt like a kid as I bumbled around trying to catch one. (I think it was a wood frog http://tinyurl.com/mztfda but it may have been a pickerel http://tinyurl.com/mxycgo ) It may have been a toad but I finally caught him and brought him to my kids to see. This was awesome because both kids were getting into it. The 3 yr old was giggling and wasn't too sure if she wanted to touch it (yes, I know, amphibians may carry salmonella, http://tinyurl.com/dataa we washed our hands before eating http://tinyurl.com/meyux8 ). She finally stroked it's back and went back to giggling at the at the strange sensation. My 1 yr old just wanted to hit it, but I finally got him to look at it for a few seconds. This was when it hit me. We were all learning and loving it.
I was getting in touch with my inner child by catching bugs and frogs. My kids were seeing new things up close. And we were all doing it while sharing time with each other. That's what I mean about doing nothing. Just by sitting outside for a while, we had some phys ed. on the swingset, philosophy and nutrition at the picnic table, conflict resolution with a few toys, and biology lab with the fauna at hand. The more I thought about our time outside before dinner, the more I appreciated it. I could have spent all day planning what I could do outside before dinner and not experienced even a fraction of what we did that night. Simply because I had nothing in mind, everything was fun. Maybe it has less to do with "doing nothing" and more to do with learning to go with the flow. Too often we think things have to be perfect to enjoy them and forget to just be. I started thinking about the "child-led learning" techniques that are practiced in some pricey private schools, but I'm not sure where I stand on that issue. (I'd like to have a raincheck for a future blog about my opinions on teaching styles)
So, the next time you can't figure out what to do with your kids, do nothing. Sit still for a moment and see where your kids' momentum takes the day. It may not be the most perfect experience or conform to any preconceived ideas of what you should be doing, but you'll appreciate the time together more than you ever expected.
P.S. For the hard core grill masters out there, don't worry about the hamburgers. They were frozen and I had the grill on a low setting so with minimal fussing, they turned out medium with only one burger blackened a touch on one side.
We had just gotten home from work and daycare. Mom was at the hairdresser's. Yay! Daddy get's to make dinner, and clean up, and play, and give tubbies...alone. No, it's not the biggest deal. Plenty of moms and dads do more single handedly, for more kids (I only have 2) and probably complain a lot less than I do. But, it can seem like a big deal when you're used to sharing the usual evening duties with another person, then sometimes have to do them alone.
"So, honey," I asked my 3 year old, "what do you want for supper?"
"SPAGHETTI!" she yelled from the back seat.
"But we just had spaghetti last night" I reminded her.
She quickly shot back with, "HAMBURGERS!"
OK, I thought. I can do hamburgers. I'll fire up the grill and we can spend some time in the backyard together. When we got home I quickly dumped the kids' bags inside and sliced a tomato and an onion, grabbed some cheese, a package of frozen hamburgers, buns, the tongs, and we were back out the door to enjoy what little time we have of summer in Maine. I lit the grill to wam up and burn off most of what we ate a few days before, then paused to take a breath. We live next to a forest and it's nice to just listen to the trees and birds and soak up the whole scene. It's rather tranquil...until you realize the kids are fighting over the Little Tikes car (30 years old, can you believe it! http://tinyurl.com/lp87th ) and the one year old is pulling his sister's hair. So I broke up that fight and turned the grill to low, threw the burgers on and turned my attention back to the kids.
By this time my son was halfway up the ladder on the side of the swingset, so I went out to spot him. I try not to be the dad who brags about the traditional gender stereotypes with my kids, like, "Would you look at my daughter, she is so pretty." or "Check out the grip that boy has." I have to say I am impressed that both of my kids are such good climbers. After my son came down the ladder, my daugher wanted to be pushed on the swing, so I did that. Then I ran back to flip the burgers. Now it dawned on me. We're about 30 minutes past our usual dinner time and the kids are going to revolt if I don't get some toddler hors d'oeuvres ready. I ran back inside to grab two bananas and two cheese sticks. Back outside I found the kids starting to climb up the stairs. (Like a zombie movie with little people. "Daddy. Daddy. We want to eat your brain")
If I haven't lost you, keep reading. I'm getting to my point.
Ok, I'm outside again and the kids are on solid ground and not fighting for the time being. I flipped the burgers again and headed to the children's picnic table (the one I built myself last summer!). Just like wild animals, kids calm down considerably when they have food. Now we were all enjoying the peaceful summer evening. My daughter is spouting some child philosophic observations, "Daddy, a kite touches the sky." and my son is doing his impression of a chipmunk with the pieces of cheese I've given him when I noticed a grasshopper on a nearby tree stump.
"Hey, Do you want to see a grasshopper?" I asked them.
"Grasshopper?" My daughter responded.
I had forgotten how much fun it can be to catch a grasshopper. It took a few tries to anticipate the insect's next move, catch it and bring it over to the kids. When I showed it to the kids, my daughter bent her knees to look closer, "Hi grasshopper." she said, like he just drove 5 hours to see us and should be welcomed properly. My son just made some noises and bobbed up and down trying to say grasshopper while he looked at this odd creature. After sufficient inspection of the bug I started thinking about the frogs that can usually be found at the base of a nearby tree. The kids haven't looked at too many frogs up close so I returned the grasshopper to his stump and started looking for frogs. I felt like a kid as I bumbled around trying to catch one. (I think it was a wood frog http://tinyurl.com/mztfda but it may have been a pickerel http://tinyurl.com/mxycgo ) It may have been a toad but I finally caught him and brought him to my kids to see. This was awesome because both kids were getting into it. The 3 yr old was giggling and wasn't too sure if she wanted to touch it (yes, I know, amphibians may carry salmonella, http://tinyurl.com/dataa we washed our hands before eating http://tinyurl.com/meyux8 ). She finally stroked it's back and went back to giggling at the at the strange sensation. My 1 yr old just wanted to hit it, but I finally got him to look at it for a few seconds. This was when it hit me. We were all learning and loving it.
I was getting in touch with my inner child by catching bugs and frogs. My kids were seeing new things up close. And we were all doing it while sharing time with each other. That's what I mean about doing nothing. Just by sitting outside for a while, we had some phys ed. on the swingset, philosophy and nutrition at the picnic table, conflict resolution with a few toys, and biology lab with the fauna at hand. The more I thought about our time outside before dinner, the more I appreciated it. I could have spent all day planning what I could do outside before dinner and not experienced even a fraction of what we did that night. Simply because I had nothing in mind, everything was fun. Maybe it has less to do with "doing nothing" and more to do with learning to go with the flow. Too often we think things have to be perfect to enjoy them and forget to just be. I started thinking about the "child-led learning" techniques that are practiced in some pricey private schools, but I'm not sure where I stand on that issue. (I'd like to have a raincheck for a future blog about my opinions on teaching styles)
So, the next time you can't figure out what to do with your kids, do nothing. Sit still for a moment and see where your kids' momentum takes the day. It may not be the most perfect experience or conform to any preconceived ideas of what you should be doing, but you'll appreciate the time together more than you ever expected.
P.S. For the hard core grill masters out there, don't worry about the hamburgers. They were frozen and I had the grill on a low setting so with minimal fussing, they turned out medium with only one burger blackened a touch on one side.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
My first blog posted...so what.
Well, here it is. The start of a blog and possible more, just for dads. I was surfing various parental sites looking for some information about toys. I wanted to check out reviews for a few toys and see if anyone had opinions they had posted. After visiting just a few sites I discovered something alarming about parental sites - They're almost all directed towards moms!
This shouldn't be too surprising since the majority of stay-at-home parents are women. The number of men choosing to hang up their tie and change a diaper full time are increasing, but the census bureau has the number of stay at home dads as under 200,000 compared to 11million stay at home moms. (http://www.salary.com/careers/layouthtmls/crel_display_Cat10_Ser253_Par358.html) The stats appear to be comparable in the UK. (http://stayathomeparents.suite101.com/article.cfm/stayathome_dads_an_insight)
This doesn't mean men don't want to stay at home with the kids. Information posted on careerbuilder.com shows between 1/3 to almost 1/2 of the men surveyed would be willing to stay at home. What's stopping them? Sometimes it's the need for 2 incomes. Sometimes (traditionally) the husband can, or does make more money than the wife so the financial hit might seem too big. If asked, I think most men would jump at the chance to spend more time with the kids. You could probably ask 100 men why they don't stay at home and get 100 different answers. Whatever the reason, Women still dominate the Homemaker field, and may continue to well into the future.
Anyway, I've had a heck of a time Finding independent reviews of toys. The only site I've found (other than Consumer Reports) is http://www.toyportfolio.com/Index.asp. I haven't had time to read the whole site, but I've put it in my favorites. It seems that Amazon.com may actually be one of the best places for reviews, because folks leave opinions right below the product information. As I was lamenting the lack of toy comparisons I kept thinking about all of those "mom" sites. Why aren't there more "dad" sites. I know there are plenty of dads that are devoted to their kids. They've got to have questions, answers and opinions about raising children that can help others. So I decided to start blogging about my experiences as a dad. Now, there are some good sites I've found, like www.rebeldad.com which gives some great insight into the life of a stay-at-home dad, and www.fatherhood.org which has good all around advice on parenting. But I'm trying to develop a blog, and future site to allow better interaction between dads which allows for some serious thoughts, but more real world stories and anecdotes to help shed some more light on what dads think and do.
Stay tuned and check back from time to time for more info, links, feedback and all around help and advice by dads, for dads.
Take it easy,
Ron
This shouldn't be too surprising since the majority of stay-at-home parents are women. The number of men choosing to hang up their tie and change a diaper full time are increasing, but the census bureau has the number of stay at home dads as under 200,000 compared to 11million stay at home moms. (http://www.salary.com/careers/layouthtmls/crel_display_Cat10_Ser253_Par358.html) The stats appear to be comparable in the UK. (http://stayathomeparents.suite101.com/article.cfm/stayathome_dads_an_insight)
This doesn't mean men don't want to stay at home with the kids. Information posted on careerbuilder.com shows between 1/3 to almost 1/2 of the men surveyed would be willing to stay at home. What's stopping them? Sometimes it's the need for 2 incomes. Sometimes (traditionally) the husband can, or does make more money than the wife so the financial hit might seem too big. If asked, I think most men would jump at the chance to spend more time with the kids. You could probably ask 100 men why they don't stay at home and get 100 different answers. Whatever the reason, Women still dominate the Homemaker field, and may continue to well into the future.
Anyway, I've had a heck of a time Finding independent reviews of toys. The only site I've found (other than Consumer Reports) is http://www.toyportfolio.com/Index.asp. I haven't had time to read the whole site, but I've put it in my favorites. It seems that Amazon.com may actually be one of the best places for reviews, because folks leave opinions right below the product information. As I was lamenting the lack of toy comparisons I kept thinking about all of those "mom" sites. Why aren't there more "dad" sites. I know there are plenty of dads that are devoted to their kids. They've got to have questions, answers and opinions about raising children that can help others. So I decided to start blogging about my experiences as a dad. Now, there are some good sites I've found, like www.rebeldad.com which gives some great insight into the life of a stay-at-home dad, and www.fatherhood.org which has good all around advice on parenting. But I'm trying to develop a blog, and future site to allow better interaction between dads which allows for some serious thoughts, but more real world stories and anecdotes to help shed some more light on what dads think and do.
Stay tuned and check back from time to time for more info, links, feedback and all around help and advice by dads, for dads.
Take it easy,
Ron
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