Mama Guilt: Get Over It

I have a serious problem with guilt. Not just any guilt, but possibly the worst kind of guilt. Mama Guilt.

I'm sure you know the kind, where you feel inadequate as a mom and you compare yourself and your children's behaviour to the other families that surround you.

The other day I was talking to a mama friend of mine who commented that she only allows her children 30 minutes of television per day. 30 minutes!?! In the back of my mind all I could think of was a few weeks ago when I was laid up on the couch with cramps and it was all I could do to get a few moments of peace to sit Gage down in front of the television for awhile to watch enough television to make those other supermoms shake their heads in disgust. Or better yet all of the times when I had to trek down to the basement to do a load of laundry or out to the mailbox, tasks that are much easier without a child hanging on my leg, where I stuck my boys in front of the television in order to get things done.

Brayden, my oldest child, casually mentioned to me that one of his new friends at school only packs his lunch because he is an organic vegan.... at age 7. The last time Brayden asked if he could pack his lunch it was thrown together last minute and consisted of a pb&j, an applesauce cup, some fruit snacks, and a boxed kids drink that I'm sure had enough sugar in it to make any mom scoff in disapproval.

When Gage goes into the nursery at our church he's often lined up with other kids his age who are all wearing their Sunday best clothes complete with creased dockers and sweater vests. The last time I dropped him off there, Gage was wearing torn jean shorts that showed off his poor scrapped knees paired with an old tee shirt with juice stains on the collar.

All of these factors add up to Mama Guilt, and those who have it carry it around with them everywhere they go, always sizing up the competition and feeling inadequate in their role as a mother.

Now there is nothing wrong with taking a few tips here and there on how to better improve things in your household, but on what scale are you using to deam yourself as an unfit mom? The fact is, there is no scale and every mom and every household is different as they do what works for their family dynamic.

Sometimes I feed my kids cereal for dinner because I'm too exhausted to cook a nutritious meal that night.
Sometimes I let my kids skip their nightly bath/shower and be smelly the next day just to get them into bed that much sooner because this mama needs to rest.
Sometimes I only read every other page of the bedtime story books because after a long day wrangling two rambunctious boys I'm exhausted.

And really, a little high fructose corn syrup never hurt anyone.

Chevy's Fresh Salsa + 7 Ways to Use Up Tomatoes

By far, the most popular recipe on my site (via Google searches) is for Chevy's Fresh Salsa. Followed by Cafe Rio Chicken, Chevy's Sweet Corn Tomalito, and Applebee's Fiesta Lime Chicken (speaking of bad photos. Yikes.) All excellent recipes, if you're looking for restaurant copycats.

I hadn't made this salsa since I originally posted it over a year ago, and since I have a giant tub of (not so) freshly picked ripe tomatoes, I thought I'd give it another go and update the photos.

Man, I forgot how much I loved this salsa.

Instead of simply updating the old post (found here), I decided to revise the recipe a bit. A while ago I noticed that someone had re-posted the recipe and said something to the effect of the salsa being created from Satan himself. (It was hot. But he liked it.) I didn't remember it burning my face off. I don't have a high threshold for heat, either.

Anyway, I doubled the recipe while reducing the number of jalapenos and the amount of liquid smoke. This recipe should fit nicely in a quart-sized mason jar. Unless you add all of the extra liquid from the tomatoes.

See exhibit A:

This go-round I grilled the vegetables at night, then stuck them in the fridge and finished the salsa the next morning. When I pulled the bowl out of the fridge, there was a considerable amount of liquid in the bottom. I decided to leave it out for a thicker salsa (which thickened even more after sitting in the fridge). If you want a looser salsa, then reserve it and add it to achieve the consistency you want.

Oh yeah. If you're swimming in tomatoes (like me), here are a few more ways to get rid of a lot of tomatoes:

Sun-Dried Tomatoes Without the Sun
Fresh Pico de Gallo
Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce
Tyler Florence's Roasted Tomato Soup
Rigatoni with Eggplant (and Tomato) Puree
BLT Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette

Chevy's Fresh Salsa, Revised
adapted from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur

2 1/2 pounds tomatoes
3 large jalapenos (use more if small, fewer if large)
1/4 med Spanish onion (or yellow)
3 cloves garlic
1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 c white vinegar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp liquid mesquite smoke

Preheat BBQ (or stovetop grill pan like I used) on high. Remove stems from tomatoes, then rub some oil over each. Leave stems on jalapenos and rub oil on them, too.

Place tomatoes on grill when it's hot. After about 10 minutes, add all jalapenos. In about 10 minutes, turn the tomatoes and peppers. When almost all of the surface of the peppers are black, remove them from the grill. The tomatoes will turn partially black, but when the skin begins to come off they are done. Remove from grill and allow veggies to cool.

Remove skin from tomatoes and place in a food processor. Pinch the stem end from each pepper, remove any skin that has burned, and place into food processor with tomatoes.

Add remaining ingredients and puree on high for 5-10 seconds. Chill for several hours or overnight before serving. Makes about 2 cups.

Nat's Notes:
1. After scraping all of the seeds and some of the whitish veins from the peppers, it was still quite spicy -- about like "medium" salsa you'd buy at the store.
2. After the tomatoes have cooled, you'll notice quite a bit of liquid left in the bowl (especially if you let them sit overnight). Adding it all back into the salsa makes it sort of watery (see picture on original post). I didn't add any back into it this time around and I liked the thicker texture. It also thickens as it sits in the fridge, so hold on to that liquid in case you want to thin it out later.


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Re-posted from Perrys' Plate

Advice for Young Girls From the Disney Princesses

Okay, so I'm just going to go out there and say it: I like Disney fairy tale musicals. No. I love them. Particularly the ones that came out when/before I was in elementary school (3rd grade The Little Mermaid - 5th grade Beauty and the Beast)

I'm a humongous fairy tale junkie, and enjoy seeing Disney's take on the classic tales (I am ALL for fairy tale retellings), but being a mom with daughters, I couldn't help cracking up over the Advice for Young girls videos from The Second City Network on YouTube.

Advice for Young Girls from The Little Mermaid:



Advice for Young Girls from Belle:



Hope you laughed as much as I did!

And then, because I love to know about all things fairy tale-related - what is your favorite fairy tale, Disney, or otherwise?

(Mine is Rapunzel. Yes, I am flipping out over the Tangled trailer.)

xoxo,