Saturday Morning Dispatch No.12
PB&J art, crafting gateway tools, kid-friendly non-nugget chicken, and a tip for tuning in.
Working on this newsletter, I was looking for some PB&J art (see below), and came across some that I didn’t use for that part, but that I wanted to share anyway because they’re fun. Delightful, if you will. Enjoy!
So you wanna be a crafter.
I was going to call this section “She’s crafty” like the Beastie Boys song, but have you listened to those lyrics lately? Not appropriate. Good song though. (Not appropriate.)
On the spectrum of crafters, where zero is “Crafting Makes Me Want to Die” and 100 is “Martha Stewart,” I’m somewhere in the middle. Here are couple recent samples from my oeuvre:
On the left we have ribbon wands for the Rainbow Party, and on the right we have a shirt for the 100th Day of School. We are not trying to sell this stuff on Etsy, people. We’re just making life a little bit more fun, and maybe (but probably not) saving a little money by making it ourselves.
Want to know the secret to becoming a crafter? It’s the glue gun. If you have any interest in crafting but don’t know where to start, a glue gun is the gateway tool. Once you own a glue gun, you will find yourself looking for excuses to use it. I can’t sew to save my life, but I can cut numbers out of felt squares and hot glue them to an old shirt. I can glue wooden beads to wooden dowels which will become ribbon wands for birthday party favors (a ribbon wand is literally ribbons tied to a stick). If my four-year-old can use a (low-temp) glue gun, you can use a glue gun. I have this one which gets hurt-you hot, and this one, which is tiny and has a low-temp setting that makes it more kid-friendly (with supervision!), but it does go through those itty bitty sticks quickly.
And then if I had to pick one other thing to launch you on your crafting journey, it would be a pair of Fiskars mixed media scissors. Have you ever tried to cut through thick cardboard with normal scissors? It sucks. These scissors make it so much easier, and when something is easier to do, aren’t you more likely to do it? That pile of boxes instantly becomes a pile of opportunities.
So tell me, what will you make first?
My kids’ favorite chicken that isn’t nuggets.
I make this chicken at least once a week, and I highly recommend doubling or tripling the recipe because it is dead easy, and you can use it twelve trillion different ways. Ready?
WINNER-WINNER CHICKEN
INGREDIENTS
1-2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp paprika (regular or smoked)
2 tsp Italian seasoning (or oregano)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp kosher salt
a few generous grinds of black pepper
1½ pounds chicken tenders
1-2 tbsp olive oil
DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 425°F. If you want, you can line a rimmed sheet pan with foil or parchment paper, but I never remember to do that.
In a large bowl, combine everything, minus the chicken and olive oil.
Toss the chicken tenders in the spice blend until each piece is well-coated, then drizzle the olive oil on top, and toss again.
Arrange the pieces of chicken on your sheet pan with space in between. You can crowd the pan and it will turn out fine and tasty, but the more space between pieces, the more of a crispy-ish(?) edge you’ll get.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the thickest part of the chicken is 165°F.
Eat it up!
NOTES
We love this chicken! It’s flavorful and juicy, but not too exciting because my kids are
the worststill developing their palates. They like dipping it in ketchup or barbecue sauce or ranch. So does my husband. I serve it with rice or mashed potatoes or noodles and usually a veggie. I like mine with a little squeeze of lemon juice.I often use boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead of chicken tenders because they’re cheaper. To make sure the meat doesn’t dry out, I put each piece between two pieces of wax paper and beat the sh*t out of it with my rolling pin until it’s an even thickness of less than 1 inch. It may need longer in the oven than the tenders to reach an internal temp of 165°, but not much.
When I make a big batch, I shred the extra into pieces and put it in a Ziploc in the freezer until I have a plan for it, then I let it thaw in the fridge overnight. I use it in casseroles, soups, salads, pot pies, quesadillas, buffalo chicken dip… it’s good in everything.
Does this qualify as a parenting hack?
You know how small humans talk ALL THE TIME? And how when you’re the grown-up responsible for those small humans, you have A LOT TO GET DONE? Right, so I’m wondering if you’ve noticed yourself paying half attention when you’re in the middle of making a peanut butter sandwich and your child comes up to tell you about something Kynlee did at school yesterday? Maybe you’re half listening, but you don’t look up from the sandwich, and you do the, “Mhmm” and “Oh really?” thing.
Well, I noticed myself doing this often enough that I was having some feelings about it. Not mom guilt, just an increasing awareness of a default setting I don’t care for. I think it’s easy to get stuck on autopilot as a parent when you’re trying to get through the mental checklist. Add to that bad habits learned from living in the age of constant busyness and distraction, and good luck to any of us being fully present for our kids and our lives. Which isn’t good for us or for them!
Ready for my hot tip for tuning in? Make eye contact. Set an intention to pause whatever you’re doing, look your child in the eye, and give them your full attention for the 3 minutes it takes to find out if Kynlee and Kinsley are in fact two different people, and what they did at school that was so funny. That’s it. An intentional pause and eye contact.
Captain Obvious? I mean, I guess, but only once you’re aware of it. For good or bad, little things add up to big things, and in my own life, this is one of those little things that I’m choosing to do a little differently. Always and perfectly? Certainly not. But better, and at the end of the day, it helps me feel more connected, and I hope that it helps my girls to feel more loved.
Quote of the Day
“Parenting has nothing to do with perfection. Perfection isn’t even the goal, not for us, not for our children. Learning together to live well in an imperfect world, loving each other despite or even because of our imperfections, and growing as humans while we grow our little humans, those are the goals of gentle parenting. So don’t ask yourself at the end of the day if you did everything right. Ask yourself what you learned and how well you loved, then grow from your answer. That is perfect parenting.”
― L.R. Knost
Have a lovely weekend friends and I’ll see you on Tuesday with a brand new Discovery & Play Guide.
Love, Kathryn
I love everything in this newsletter! Wonderful tips from a humble and creative mom.