Tag Archives: foodie

A Weekend Away from Baby + Foodie Fun Facts #6: Avocado

08/15/2014 R.C. Liley 4 Comments

Yes! Going Mom and I will be free for two whole days to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary this weekend! All the places we can go, sights we can see, things we can do…..FREE! Thanks to G-Ma, my awesome mom, for agreeing to stay at our house and watch Avery! I wonder if this will be the first and last time…hmmmm.

So, where are we going? Just the Embassy Suites in Downtown Fort Worth which is only 20 minutes from our home. Okay, so it’s nothing that exciting, but that’s what we want; low key and relaxing. Plus, we need a room with a fridge since Kelley still needs to pump, and a microwave since we’ll bring most of our own food.

I know, we should be going out and living it up, not cooking food in the microwave from our hotel room, but that suits us just fine. Ideally, we’d have a full season of hit TV show to watch back to back just like we used to, but I’m sure we’ll actually get out too. I’d like to go to the movies at least once as well. I’m all for the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie (obviously), but understand if my lovely bride wants to see something else. Any suggestions?

Simply walking over to a nearby coffee shop will be luxury to us, and won’t break the bank. I’ll be sure to fill you in with all of our shenanigans early next week, but I still have some prep-work to tend to, so on to the Friday Foodie Fun Facts!

I dedicate these avocado fun facts to my mom since every time she comes over (usually once a week), she’ll have one or two avocados that are beyond ripe. Seriously, they feel like balloons filled with water since the skin will give so easily. But, I don’t mind as I love have avocado chunks in my giant nightly salad.

Here are 5 things to think of as you enjoy your hard-as-a-rock or soft-as-a-pillow avocado; it seems you never have them just right, huh? I think this picture says it all…

Avocados mature on the tree, but they only ripen once they are picked. Even more amazing is the fact that avocados can stay on a tree for as long as 18 months. It’s as if the tree preserves them until you’re ready to use them.
They are one of the most inexpensive anti-aging tools for your skin! Rough outer covering aside, the inner smoothness and creaminess has what we need for youthful skin. With all of the nutrients, healthy fat and vitamins, an avocado tree could be the next fountain (tree) of youth!
Avocado trees do not self-pollinate; they need another avocado tree close by to bear fruit. The avocado is an Aztec symbol of love and fertility, and they also grow in pairs on trees
Avocados are a fruit, not a vegetable. They have the highest fiber content of any fruit and contain vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin E, potassium, magnesium, and folate.
The avocado is also called an Alligator Pear because of its pear-like shape and it’s bumpy green skin.

I’m beginning to like avocados more and more, and even add them to sweet things like dessert dips and smoothies. They add a pleasant creaminess, and being a fruit, I think go perfectly with dessert.

Happy Friday!!

Do you like avocados? If so, do you prefer them alone or mashed into something like guacamole?

Have you ever enjoyed a weekend away from your kid or kids? What did you do?

Friday Food Facts, Life, Parenting

My Wife Wins Again, Our Baby Throws Food, and More Banana Fun Facts #5

08/08/2014 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Why must I be so stubborn all the time? Even if I know I’m (probably) wrong, I still end up trying to stand my ground. This part of me seems ingrained deep within, and I’m sorry to those who have to witness my hardheadedness.

Recently, okay, almost everyday, but still, work with me here, Going Mom and I had slight disagreement about something. It’s one of those small things most couples will argue about at least once; the toilet seat.

As the one who stays home all day, takes in a lot of caffeine, and subsequently pees a lot, I always keep the seat up. It makes it easier for me to go in, do my business, and get out back to Avery. Months ago, I even wrote a post defending my “right” to leave the seat up.

In that post, I clearly thought I won this argument fair and square. Turns out, the dispute was still unsettled. During Avery’s bath time, Kelly asked me in a nice tone to please start putting the seat down since Avery is now mobile and can easily make her way to the toilet. I stubbornly said “Just don’t let her.” as if it is always that easy, and thus our small argument began.

We kind of ended the tiff without further discussion, and I resorted to asking other dads on the Dad Blogger Facebook group I am a part of. The responses quickly came one after another with the majority of other dads taking not mine, but my wife’s side. After several of them mentioned crawling/walking kids getting into and possibly drowning plus just having really “pissed” (ha ha, get it?) off spouses, I realized my battle was lost; just like before Going Mom wins again.

So, to my wife who I still haven’t told that I now keep the seats down, I am sorry. Hopefully you’re reading this post today and can find forgiveness; you always do! 🙂

Now that I’ll be putting the seats down after each use, I’m looking into getting toilet seats with the soft/slow close hinges. I live in constant fear about making a loud noise when Avery is sleeping, and slamming the toilet seat is the last thing I want to do, so it only makes sense. Thanks to all of the dad bloggers who pointed this out!

Another “issue” we’ve been having lately is Avery throwing her food on the floor during dinnertime. This is the only time we give her solids since she’s still on breast milk, but she used to actually eat a little before just tossing the food. Before, she’d accidentally drop food on the floor and we’d laugh thinking it’s cute, but now she’s fully aware of what she’s doing.

Going Mom still laughs and does a bad job at hiding it, but it hurts me to see good food go to waste. I realize this is part of raising a baby, and I accept it, but no reason to laugh at her which I think makes her think it’s okay.

What, it's not okay? — What, it’s not okay?

I’m pretty sure discipline at this age is frowned upon, so I just try and tell her that’s not okay to do, and then I’ll take a bite of my own broccoli in hopes that will help. So far, it doesn’t….

Go ahead, laugh at me, you more experienced parents, I know it only gets worse. Oh well, it’s hard to ever stay upset with her for more than a minute; hopefully that never changes!

Maybe we’ll start introducing fruit to see if she likes the sweeter things. We wanted to start with veggies so she wouldn’t get used to sweeter things first, but I know bananas are always a tasty treat! Speaking of, I have some more banana fun facts in continuation from last Friday’s post.

The fastest marathon ever run by a competitor dressed as a fruit was 2 hours, 58 minutes, and 20 seconds—recorded at the Barcelona Marathon on March 6, 2011. The runner was Patrick Wightman from the United Kingdom, who dressed as a banana.
A few varieties of wild bananas include bubblegum pink bananas with fuzzy skins, green-and-white striped bananas with pulp the color of orange sherbet, and bananas that taste like strawberries when they’re cooked.
Banana peels are actually edible if cooked.
A man in India once ate 81 bananas in a half hour.
More songs have been written about bananas than about any other fruit.
The scientific name for banana is musa sapientum, which means “fruit of the wise men.”

I’m off to enjoy the rest of Friday now, hope you do the same! Kelley is having a girl’s night out tonight, so it’ll be just Avery and me for bed time. It shouldn’t be too bad…..as long as she actually eats her veggies!!

Do you have any tips/tricks on how to not let your child throw food? Or should I just give in and accept it?

Food, Friday Food Facts, Parenting

Mixing Your Pet’s Name with Baby’s and Friday Foodie Fun Facts #4

08/01/2014 R.C. Liley 1 Comment

Happy Friday! Or at least I hope it is! As long as we’re optimistic, right? Kinda like this plop of poop…..or maybe it’s ice cream…

Sorry, this just makes me laugh; hope you laughed too!

I’m sure most of us parents have at least one pet in the house; usually a cat or dog. If not, I’m slightly envious since I am OCD about hair, and now that Avery’s crawling, I’m vacuuming several times a day. #stayathomeparentproblems

We have one each of a cat, Lou, and a dog, Abby, and they both shed a lot. Of course, Avery doesn’t help the situation as she tend to grab at anything and everything.

Our little angel has mastered the art of ninja crawling where she’ll make her way to the other side of the room immediately after we set her down. No clue how she gets there so fast, but it results in Going Mom and I having to tell her not to get into one thing or another.

We’ll attempt to yell out her name, but instead of “Avery”, it’s a combination of one of our pet’s names and “Avery”. Some of the common ones are “Ay-very” or “Abv-ery”. Or we’ll just flat out call our daughter Abby or our dog Avery. It’s typically a mix of Avery and Abby, but Lou sometimes finds his name in there too.

We’ve been doing this a lot, and something tells me it won’t end soon. How many other parents do this? It’s a common thing, right?

Just for fun, I found an online word mixer that will generate a unique name from up to 5 different words. If we’re going to mess up yelling our daughter’s name, might as well have fun with it!

Here’s what I got after entering Avery, Abby, and Lou:

That’s enough to have a new name for our pets each day of the month! Call me crazy, but I…..okay, I’m crazy.

Now for the foodie fun facts. I don’t enjoy most packaged desserts as they’re heavy on fat, sugar, and chemicals I wouldn’t consider food. Yeah, yeah, I know these things taste good, but when you know what’s in it and how it affects your body, I lose all desire to have it.

But, thanks to Nature, we have a plethora of naturally sweet options to choose from. One of those things being bananas! I love them with brown spots all over when their sugar content is highest, but have been trying to consume them more often when they are green.

However you enjoy them, bananas are a great option to satisfy your family’s sweet tooth while providing many key nutrients you won’t find in ice cream and cookies. I have a lot of facts to share on bananas, so I’m going to give more than 5 today, and there will be more next week too. Make them fun to eat and your kids will happily gobble them up!

You can use the inside of a banana peel to clean and polish leather shoes and silver —just rub with the inside of a peel and then buff with a cloth.
Thanks to its oil, rubbing the inside of a banana peel on a mosquito bite (or other bug bite) or on poison ivy will help keep it from itching and getting inflamed.
The highest average per capita consumption of bananas in the world is in Uganda, where residents eat an average of 500 pounds of bananas per person every year. In fact, the Ugandan word matooke means both “food” and “banana.”
India produces more bananas than any other country on the planet, accounting for about 28 percent of the worldwide crop. (China is number two, with ten percent.)
A man in India once ate 81 bananas in a half hour.
More songs have been written about bananas than about any other fruit.
Bananas are the only fruit that contains the amino acid tryptophan plus vitamin B6. They help your body produce serotonin—a natural substance that alleviates depression.
About half of all people who are allergic to latex are often also allergic to bananas.

If you have pets and mix their names with your baby’s, please let me know some of the funny ones in the comments below.

Do you like bananas? Any creative ways you enjoy them if so? You can never go wrong with nut butter and bananas, but I also enjoy mixing mashed banana with eggs and a little stevia and scrambling them for a sweet, protein-packed treat. Great for breakfast or desert!