Happy Independence Day! When you read this we'll be heading home, but as I write we're gearing up to spend a nice long weekend at the cottage with our friends, Joe & Meg (her parents are so sweet to let them share it with us), and it's right on Lake Michigan! I'm getting my posts ready for next week so I can go without a computer, yay! Check out this beautiful sunset shot from a couple years ago:
- Read about my 2nd 5K run a while back (I'm a very sporadic runner these days), and the time at the lake when Megan and her sister, Mary, tricked me into running six miles. Also, see the links there for beginning runners and a story to help you feel better if you are as slow as I am. 🙂
- Check out the pictures at this Black bean mango salsa post – a recipe I got from a friend of theirs at the lake. It is proof that ONCE in a while, I actually CAN take a great picture for the blog!
- A reader, Jennifer, sent the funny video below via my Facebook wall (be sure to ‘like' my page so you get those updates!) and she had these comments, which were dead-on: “The only problems with this commercial are the kind of butter shown, and the fact that they're making it look like a bad thing! I can name 45 people I know, off the top of my head, who NEED to do exactly this! Anyway – thought you might enjoy, even if it is sending the wrong message.”
- If you're attempting to lower your carbs like I am, you'll want to not look over this mouth-watering recipe from Stan Fishman: Hungarian potatoes. Although it does have plenty of super-nutritious animal fats, so even if you are watching carbs, it's a great compromise dish. As a matter of fact, when I make this, I might use even more bacon than the recipe calls for – I often add extra butter or cream to recipes, how can that turn out bad?! 🙂 (Did you know that healthy fats slow down the insulin response that causes weight gain, similar to how fiber does?)
Jennifer says
Heather – have you ever tried the Emile Henry Butter Pot? It curves in at the “bottom” (the part that is down in the water) and keeps the butter in place. They’re not as cheap as other butter bells, but they’re beautiful, as well as much more practical than the other ones that “drop” the butter. 🙂
Anyway, wanted to also mention that I’ve also had butter eaters. I never did find out which of my four it was – just kept finding fork tracks on the butter!
Heather says
I think I’ve seen those. Mom always used a crock just like what I’m using, and we go through the butter fast enough that it’s not going bad, even in hot weather (It seals tightly, with a wire bail latch, and a rubber gasket), so I think we’re good.
Heather says
Both my kids have gone through a phase (sometime when they are 2) where they will eat the butter if it’s left where they can get it. For example, I keep some butter in an old cheese crock on the counter, to have some soft (I’ve tried the butter bells, but the butter always falls into the water when it’s hot out). Well, one day, I left the butter crock open on the kitchen table. Came back into the kitchen to find my little guy (2 1/2) digging in with a fork. “I’m having a butter snack, Mommy!”
Kate @ Modern Alternative Mama says
One of my kids TOTALLY does that (he’s about 2). The other claims she doesn’t like butter, unless of course it’s mixed into mashed potatoes, mac’n’cheese, cookies, etc. LOL.
Heather says
I’ve seen the topic come up on my local WAPF yahoogroup, too (I’m in Silicon Valley, so so it’s a big, active group). Butter snacking seems to be a common thing for 2-3 year-olds. I’m guessing the kids know something about their nutritional needs that we don’t! My kids (2 1/2 and 4) always show up to get a spoonful of coconut oil when I have it out to use for something, too, and they frequently ask for a little bit of salt (we use the Celtic sea salt, and I buy it in the big crystals that go in a salt grinder, so I just give them a couple of pieces)