Mommy's Potpourri

     Last week, to celebrate the official start of Autumn we took a little nature walk at a nearby park. I just love this park because there is so much space, that I don't worry about the kids running too far ahead of me.   My little Luke especially loves that I am not constantly asking him to 'wait' or 'come back'. He is ever the explorer.        Our mission was to observe nature in the beginning of Autumn, and collect things we find on the ground.       We had a really fun time exploring. Anthony spotted some lilypads, but to his mild disappointment, no frogs. We saw a squirrel in a tree making a really weird noise that I had no idea squirrels were even capable of making. We came to the conclusion that he may have been sick, or singing us a song. Lukie made friends with a couple of ducks. We observed the very dark gray skies, and predicted that it would begin raining sometime during the day. Not even 5 minutes later, we

     Oh man. I cannot believe I have passed these by in the store so many times. They are kind of strange looking and always caught my eye, but I had no idea what to do with them. Do you peel them? Do you cook them? Do you slice them and put them on a sandwich? I didn't know, and to be honest I was intimidated by these little green guys. One day when they were on sale, I got brave and scooped some up. Then I went home and googled : How do you cook a tomatillo?  Image from Wikipedia        I was relieved to find that they are used primarily in Mexican cuisine (I used my superb knowledge of the Spanish language to deduce as much while in the store).   This was good news for me because Mexican food is usually very allergen friendly, and not too difficult for me -admittedly a culinary novice, to make.        The first recipe I made was salsa with roasted tomatillos, onion, and garlic. Very similar to the recipe found here:  Chef Rick Bayless- Roasted Tomatillo Salsa      

Let me just say that Lukie has such a helpful little heart. He loves to do helpful little tasks. I, mommy of 3, take full advanta--er-- encourage his helpful character by giving him a super-special helper task just for him. I have been asking him to throw diapers away in the trash can. He is so cute. He gets all excited, takes the diaper and scurries off. How many diapers does it take before I, mommy of 3, realize that my sweet & helpful toddler has been throwing dirty diapers away in his dresser drawer instead of the trash can? 7. A poopy one from yesterday tipped me off.