It's time to slow down

The presents have been opened, the cookies devoured, friends and family visited and the past month has flown by in a blur of non-stop celebrations.

After spending weeks in anticipation, always looking forward to what is happening next, it can be hard for the kids (and parents) to switch gears and slow down.

Now is the time for a bit of quiet, for a bit of reflection, some semblance of sanity returned and a whole lot of Orange County beauty.

These five places will give you the calm and quiet you need:

see the rest of my article HERE

#2 / 52 Food Adventures: One Ingredient Ice Cream

I've been seeing this ice cream for years now.

Just one ingredient, can you believe it?

It's creamy and delicious and sweet.

It's just frozen bananas!

Of course, I had to try it 3 different ways and I already have a plan for more ways to try this.

~~~~

But first, let's talk Pinterest.

Let's be honest, half of us can't plan a party (or a dinner... or a present....or get through the day) without first consulting Pinterest.

The lovely LeAnna suggested I start a Pinterest Board for inspiration and then we thought- 

Hey!  Let's do a community board!

It's a place we can all pin fun ideas for our 52 Food Adventures and 

comment on recipes or ideas we've tried.  

Check out the 52 Food Adventures Community Board and let me know if you'd like to be a part of it- I'll send you an invite to the board!

By the way, stop by LeAnna's blog and see how her food adventure went this week  ~snicker~

So back to the one ingredient ice cream.

You freeze and then blend a banana.  Tada!

I loved it.  It's like a healthy eaters dream.  Don't even tell people that it's straight frozen banana.

Give it to your husband, your kids and your I'm allergic to everything friend.

For more detailed directions go here.  I found that it blended better in a food processor (I used a mini for just one banana) as the small amount bounced around in my blender.

But I think I'll make this again in a big batch.

It comes out like soft serve

 so if you want it to be more like regular ice cream I suggest freezing it again for another hour.

I've seen this all over Pinterest and so I decided to try adding peanut butter.  

I thought 2 tbs for one banana was way too much.

I also tried a chocolate version by adding cocoa powder.

2 tbs cocoa powder for every banana.

This was a big win for me.

Chocolate and banana.  Yes!

Peanut thought he was getting away with murder when I let him eat some.

I mean, you could sprinkle this with some crushed nuts and you have a deconstructed frozen banana!

As you can see, it was a big hit.

Other variations I've heard of are Nutella (but seriously, an open jar of Nutella around here would just be dangerous), honey or a splash of vanilla.

I've seen other things that would up the calorie content but seriously, 

start by trying the plain banana.  I think you'll be impressed. 

Now, if you'd like to link up, thanks to Alicia I'm trying out this new link tool, so click below and link up!

Kula Revolving Sushi Bar

It's January and everyone still has ink stains on their fingers from the long list of New Years Resolutions.

Do people use pens still or is it just me? Are pens becoming obsolete?

Anyway, January is the month where everyone eats healthy and works out.

My solution the January mindset is sushi.  Actually my solution is not to have the mindset, but if you do, well then head out and get some sushi!

Don't just go anywhere, try Kula where all the plates are a mere $2.

Did you hear that?  $2 for quality sushi.

See my post on Kula at Eating The Orange.

Bicycle Dreams

The last couple weeks we've had the most amazing weather.  

It's been anywhere from low 70°s to low 80° but most often it's right in the mid 70°s which is absolutely perfect.

A few days after Christmas we were having one of those days.

Peanut was still exhausted from all the festivities but could not seem to settle down to nap.

We've never been able to force him into a nap and I just wasn't up to trying.

We decided that a bike ride down the street to the park would be the best remedy.

The park down the street from us has lots of different play areas for little Peanuts to tire themselves out.

He could spend hours in the sand/dirt/wood chips.

After a while we could see the Peanut slowing down.

He quietly sat there poking his stick in the ground.

Poke. Poke. Poke.

Look at that sleepy smile and those tired eyes.

The little Peanut was not happy to be leaving the park.

That's the worst part about the park, you know.  Mommy always makes you leave.

On the way home B started laughing really hard.

Apparently Peanut just sort of leaned his helmet on B's arm and fell asleep.

Of course, all our loud laughing woke him up but before long his head was bobbing around, looking for a landing spot.

A little guidance from daddy and he found himself quite comfortable.

This kid, who naps well on, and only on, every second Tuesday in a month with a full moon when the wind is blowing from the East and Jupiter is in the Second House... fell asleep on a 5 minute bike ride.

I think he's having bicycle dreams.

Perhaps when we can't get him to sleep I should have B ride him around the neighborhood for an hour or two.

PS:  Always wear a helmet, even if you are only riding down the street.  Do not follow our example. :)

Eating the Orange, A New Blog

Back in November, while preparing for the holidays, opening an etsy shop and knowing that I'm going back to work (more on that later), time seemed to be flying by. 

I figured the only logical thing to do was to start a new blog!

Yay!

OK that isn't logical at all.

The thing is, I've been thinking about doing this for a while.  

In fact, Suzanne Broughton and I first talked about me doing a food blog a couple years ago.

Suzanne is a blogging/media powerhouse.  I first met her in 2009 after she invited me to BlogCrush that she so happened to Co-Found and has grown to the largest regional blogging organization in North America.  She is a columnist, a producer and host for OC Family TV, and she writes for several blogs including her own.  

I know.

When she called and asked me if I would start a blog for OC Metro I said yes without a second thought.

OC Metro is a business lifestyle magazine (you may have seen them already) and online site.

They previously had only business bloggers on their main site and have now opened up to 3 lifestyle blogs, one of which is my new blog, Eating the Orange.

Eating the Orange is all about food in Orange County 

and I'll be covering a restaurant or other food related topic every Thursday.

So come on by and visit me there!  I'll be posting links here on Spontaneous Clapping.

Find Eating the Orange HERE!

PS.  If you come across a place that you love or someplace that you think would be worth trying... let me know!

#1 / 52 Food Adventures: Golden Beets

We're starting off the year with an easy new item.

B and I both love beets and eat them fairly often but Peanut has been a bit beet deprived.

A few months ago I made him roasted beets and he liked them but man, do they make a mess!

Oh and did I mention that with the exception of the beets I made Peanut (once) we usually eat the canned kind?  I know, it's just that it was so much easier... until I found this trick to roasting and peeling the beets.

So I've been keeping an eye out for golden beets that Peanut could pick up with his hands without the fear of a red-stained baby.  

Are you ready for the great trick for peeling the beets?

Don't peel them until after you roast them and the skin slides right off.

For the red beets you can cover your hand with cling wrap or a sandwich bag to keep from staining your fingers.

Roasted Beets

2 medium beets, washed with the tops and tails cut off

Preheat your oven to 400°F.

Place your beets in the middle of a sheet of foil and then fold the foil

over the top, folding and folding until it is secured down.

Fold the ends up until they meet the middle as well.

The goal here is to make sure it's airtight so the beets steam in their packets.

Roast for 45 minutes.

Allow the packet to cool a bit and open them carefully.

Cover your hand with a plastic bag, gloves or cling wrap and peel the skin off the beets,

cutting the top and bottom off if necessary.

Now they are ready to eat!

I cut them into chunks for Peanut to eat as a finger food, he ate quite a bit during dinner and I think I'll use it as a snack during the day.

A word about beet greens, eat them.

Prepare them the way you would spinach and you'll find they are tasty and actually much sweeter than spinach.  

Also, remove your greens as soon as possible as they actually suck up the sugars and water from your veggies.  If they sit for too long your beets will end up soft and without the same level of sweetness.

Here's the verdict on golden beets:  sweeter, milder and totally delicious.

Sometimes regular beets can taste a bit earthy, these are different and have an incredible sweetness to them.  We'll be getting more of these!

We can also add Blueberry Vanilla Goat Cheese to this weeks new foods.

I used it on a salad with the beets, romaine lettuce and a vinaigrette.

Although I liked it, the vanilla makes it feel a little out of place on a salad.

I think this would be great on it's own or as the package suggests, with fruit.

A tiny hint of vanilla and lots of dried blueberries and blueberry flavor.

Did you try anything new this week?

I know we're only a few days into the year so you have plenty of time to catch up  :)

Have you had golden beets before?

If you'd like to join the 52 Food Adventures Challenge you can read about it HERE or grab the button from the upper right side of the blog.

My Favorite Reads of 2011

Last January I joined Goodreads as a way to journal the books I'm reading and what I think of them.   They host a yearly challenge in which you set a book goal and they keep track of your status on the site.

My goal for 2011 was 52 books, one a week assuming that some weeks I might not finish one and some weeks I would finish several.

I read 55 books last year.

I can hardly believe it.

On January 20th I started The Hunger Games and finished on the 21st.

I read Catching Fire in it's entirety the next day.

I ran out and bought Mockingjay on the 23rd and finished it the 24th.

Despite the fact that I had a 11 week old baby, I gave-up any chance of sleep and inhaled the series.

Read the books and tell me what you think.

These are by far my favorite reads of 2011.

They stayed with me for weeks, the characters living in my mind throughout the days.

Nearly a year later I'm still excited about it.

Oh and the movie will be out in March and I seriously cannot wait.

2011 could also be called the year of YA dystopian society novels.

After reading The Hunger Games Series I was eager to read anything suggested to readers who liked that genre.  I started reading all the suggestions and there you have most of them above.

Out of this group, although I like all of them, my favorite is Divergent by Veronica Roth.

May I also mention that she is 23 years old.  Incredible what people can do.

The Maze Runner, Birthmarked, Matched and Delirium are all the first books in a series.

I'll be reading the next book to all of them but to be honest I typically like to wait until all the books are out and then read them all, one after the other.

Delirium writer Lauren Oliver gets bonus points for being an awesome author/blogger and letting her blog readers name the next 2 books in her trilogy.  How cool is that?

In Delirium, love is a disease that the government cures you of when you turn 18.  It is required and a normal part of every day life.  

I thought love as a disease was an interesting concept as they dive into all the insane and sometimes awful things people do for love.  Life without love, including parenting, is a very odd thing to behold.

I kept my momentum up by reading some fast YA novels in between some of my longer or heavier reads.  If I pick up a book and don't get into it in the first few chapters I put it down to and revisit it soon after.  Sometimes it's just a matter of mood.

That being said, I flew through these.

I won't go describing The Help as I'm sure you already know it's fantastic.

The Thirteenth Tale was awesome and recommended to me repeatedly by different people for good reason.  Lots of twists and turns and I enjoyed them all.

The Red Tent had been sitting on my shelf for years.  I've no idea why I didn't get to it sooner but I really liked it.  Based on a Dinah, mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Genesis it's a very interesting historical fiction.  I'll be reading more historical fiction this year.

I'm positive that my new found addiction to the library (which I hadn't been to in years) helped fuel my reading.  Finding out you can have books transferred to your library for a quarter and having return deadlines really pushed me to find what I want and then read it immediately.

It also kept me from hitting a standstill when I lacked the funds to buy a new book.

Who can afford 55 new books a year?

That being said, I wish I owned some of these as they'd fit nicely in my future library.

I'll wrap up with a few children's books I really liked.

Don't scoff at children's books by the way.  We're not talking picture books, all of these were at least a couple hundred pages long.  In fact, Wildwood by Decemberist frontman Colin Meloy, was one of the longest books I read this year at over 500 pages.  I picked that one up because I got sucked into the gorgeous cover illustrations.

Anything But Typical was is one of those books that I want others to read because of the perspective it gives as the narrator is an autistic middle school boy, in a very simple way, that people of all ages will understand.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate is a coming-of-age tale about a young girl who already seems to be growing against the grain.  She bonds with her grandfather, the avid naturalist, as he teaches her about this mysterious and often shunned-upon topic called science.  Callie has 6 brothers, a resistance to wearing petticoats and lace and the dream of a future that is unique to girls in 1899.

What did you read in 2011 and what do you recommend I read in 2012?