That’s what my 3-year-old son said yesterday, softly to himself soon after we arrived at Disney World. I know many families do the traditional Thanksgiving, but this year we decided to pack up the minivan and head south. Today, Thanksgiving Day, was our first day at the parks during this visit. A statement like that, so simple, so almost adult-like, is exactly the reason why this is known as the most magical place on earth.

Day one of #typeatrip (well, full day one as we stayed overnight in St. Augustine and then arrived here yesterday afternoon) was pretty fast-paced but fun.

First of all, staying at Contemporary is wonderful for anyone with kids who will want to hit Magic Kingdom, oh, 3 million times over a few days’ time. I love being able to see the Magic Kingdom fireworks show from out balcony each night. It’s a quick Monorail ride there when you don’t go the wrong way on the Monorail like we did this morning. Let’s just say we got the scenic ride.

We arrived and it was packed, so clearly we aren’t the only ones who decided to spend the holiday at the parks. We kicked around there for a couple of hours, then went back to the hotel for a PB&J lunch made in the room before heading to Disney Hollywood Studios.

That is a photo of Magic Kingdom decked for the holidays. We spent most of the day and evening at Hollywood Studios. The highlight for the kids was seeing Lightning McQueen and Mater and meeting Buzz Lightyear and Woody.

We had dinner at the ’50s Prime Time Cafe. It was a cute restaurant, full on following its theme of eating at mom’s house. We were informed of the rules (“no elbows on the table, no whining” and so on) when we were seated.

The decor was kitschy ’50s.

It was a bit annoying waiting more than half an hour when we had a reservation, but it was a great choice for Thanksgiving. I nagged at the kids to order traditional turkey for dinner, but they insisted on mac and cheese (times two of them) and a hot dog. Sigh.

The food was great. Here was my Thanksgiving dinner, and it was as good as many I’ve had.

At the end, I had a tough time deciding on a dessert. I wasn’t disappointed in my choice. I’ve always loved Boston Cream Pie, so I ordered the Boston Cream Cupcake. Delicious!

After dinner, I had to see what I would argue is one of the best reasons to visit Disney World over the holidays: the Osbourne Family Dancing Light Spectacle. This video doesn’t even do it justice, but this show is just crazy cool and amazing.

And here is a little taste of the show from our balcony each night.

Disclosure: Disney World is hosting our visit to the parks and to Contemporary Resort

Photos and video © Kelby Carr

So when Katja Presnal mentioned doing a test drive of the couponing site, A Full Cup, I was much more intrigued than I normally would be. She sent along a $50 American Express card, and I decided to see if I could really buy groceries with that. I seriously can’t remember the last time I spent so little at the store. If you read my previous grocery shopping post about my reverse shopping list, you know this is something that’s been concerning me.

What happened? Well, watch and see…

Here was my original to-do list with my comments as to status in italics:

• Grow herbs, vegetables and fruit (done! maybe not well, but I did do it)
• Make juices, teas and sodas (made orange juice once… wasn’t impressed with results, but I do still need to make another go at it)
• Make yogurt (well, I have bought plain yogurt as starter several times and let it go bad… does that count for anything? I am very excited to try out a cool crock pot yogurt recipe I just learned about, though).
• Make pasta (no, but I did buy some amazing locally made pasta like a killer ravioli at the Asheville Downtown Farmers Market).
• Bake breads (I have tried this one over and over and over again… my bread is still pretty awful, but seems to be slowly improving).
• Start a compost (well, I have a discreet wooded area of my yard where I have randomly added compost ingredients… I am not sure if it will turn into compost or not. I’ll let you know when I start gardening this year! I did see a cool compost bin at Sam’s Club for $50 that I might buy)
• Buy more local produce and products (This I definitely feel like I did very well. We bought at some of the local farmers markets on several occasions, and I have gone out of my way to buy things that are locally grown and made).
• Learn to preserve items when they are local and fresh with freezing, canning, etc. (I actually made my first go at canning this year and was surprised at just how simple it was. This coming year I hope to have more homegrown produce to can and get much more time to try this).
• Make jams and other condiments (I made apple butter that rocked, with locally grown apples we picked together as a family, and then canned in my first attempt at canning. This was probably the best example, the time I was proudest, of my Sustainable Kitchen Project attempts. That’s because it had the full circle from being local to making the apple butter from scratch to canning it myself. Next time, maybe it will be with apples I grow, too!)
• Make butter (on my to-do list… but I did buy some marbles finally to follow a cool project to let my kids make the butter themselves)
• Make beer and wine (I have made beer years ago, but haven’t tried the wine. I did buy a couple grape plants that have wine grapes, so this could happen this year from grapes I grow myself!)
• Make cheese (can that be done at home? that would be coool!) (still on my to-do list, but this one actually sounds kind of easy so I may do it very soon)

So as you can see, I did actually try several new things and I at least learned more about many of the things on my list. I was kind of impressed with myself, just because it sure didn’t feel to me like I accomplished much on this front.

So here is how to participate. I have created a fancy badge so you can show off your commitment to a more sustainable kitchen:

Copy this code and insert into your sidebar:
<a href=”http://kelbycarr.com/join-the-sustainable-kitchen-project”> <img class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-227″ title=”sustainablekitchenprojectbadge”
src=”http://kelbycarr.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/sustainablekitchenprojectbadge.jpg”
alt=”" hspace=”5″ width=”180″ height=”136″ align=”left” /> </a>

Then do the following:

1. In your Sustainable Kitchen Project post, make your own to-do list of all the things you’ve been meaning to do in your kitchen to be more sustainable but haven’t.
2. Add posts as you try things on your to-do list, especially with pictures to help others learn.
3. Upload pictures to the Sustainable Kitchen Project Flickr Pool.
4. Add the following code at the end of any Sustainable Kitchen Project post: <a href=”http://kelbycarr.com/join-the-sustainable-kitchen-project”>Join the Sustainable Kitchen Project</a>
5. Leave a comment here (preferably right after you post about your project, since CommentLuv will automatically pull the link) to point us to your personal project. Be sure to include a link to your main post.

It basically started one day when I got completely fed up with having no room in my pantry, spending too much on groceries, and still constantly complaining we had no food.

So I went through the pantry. I combined partial boxes or pasta, and generally tidied everything up. Then I grabbed a notepad, and I made a list of everything I already had. I jotted down all the boxes of spaghetti that I kept rebuying because, standing in a grocery aisle, I wondered if I had spaghetti. All the little sauce packets and vegetable cans and cans of beans.

I was shocked! I actually had a ton of space in my pantry. This was after weeks and weeks of cramming things into little nooks and crannies. Only in America, where we have become so accustomed to a life of plenty, could we have a pantry full of food and declare ourselves foodless. Seriously!

Then I went to the freezer. I reorganized there, and realized I had several packages of meat I had frozen when I’d realized the expiration date was approaching and I wouldn’t have time to prepare them.

Essentially, this left me only needing to buy fresh items such as dairy and produce. Let me tell you, that slashes the crap out of your grocery shopping bill. It also lets you put some extra emphasis on the fresh ingredients. It was easier to afford organic, for example, or to get cheeses at my local farmer’s market.

I made some unique side dishes and grains that I had overlooked for months simply because I was afraid my family would reject them. I even discovered dishes that all five people in the family loved that I had never even tried before.

I was actually able to live off the staples and stash in my pantry for several weeks of shopping. I got lax about it the past several weeks, and already I have the same situation… a pantry packed with food, and yet I am spending way too much on groceries. I will revive my reverse grocery shopping list.

Here are some tips for doing your own grocery shopping list:

• First, clean out all of your food storage areas. Look for items that are past their expiration or best by dates (yes, cans do expire!). Consolidate items that are similar, such as pasta with the same cook times.
• Make a list of all meats and side dishes you have. Include notes about what you might need to turn each item into a meal (maybe it’s just ingredients for as sauce for a pasta, or a marinade for a meat).
• Look for recipes that include these items if you have time, and take those with you. You honestly don’t have to make a to-buy list, though. If you’re standing in the produce section, for example, and your list has rice and beef you can buy some fresh broccoli to accompany it.
• Watch your stockpile of unused food whittle away in your pantry.

Photo of pantry, © Gary Scott.

Here is a blurb:

I am all about the speed dinner. In fact, I will be so bold as to declare myself the Queen of the Speed Dinner. When I was working full-time plus blogging plus freelance writing, I would arrive home after work with three screaming, whining kids (including baby twins) almost daily. I could — and had to — slap togethher a healthy, enjoyable dinner for the kids in a matter of seconds.

Read the rest at the Martha Stewart Dinner Tonight blog.

And this whole guest blog thing is something they are just experimenting over there. Let’s be sure to show them how beneficial partnerships with bloggers can be. Please be sure to Digg and Stumble the post (the version at Martha Stewart, not here). Thanks!

My husband took a couple tubs of books we don’t need any more to a local used book store, and now we have a sweet credit to buy more used books. We’ve also been hitting some local antiques stores, the cool Asheville Habitat for Humanity home store, and even a free book exchange (you’ve got to love Asheville!). I’ve made some cool finds, price tag for everything below like $10 (actually I’m still in the negative if you figure we still have bookstore credit).

This was my favorite find, a first American edition of Larousse Gastronomique packed with dozens and dozens of great classic French recipes. I’m so in love…

Here is the cover (it has a protective wrap, so I apologize for the glare):

And here’s the cool thing you get with a vintage cookbook that you just won’t find buying new. There was an old New Orleans Times-Picayune article on truffles tucked inside the back cover (which has great food illustrations on it):

And check out these hilarious 1961-era French food pics. Gag me!

And here is my personal favorite find, a hilarious 1963-era book, The Working Wives’ (Salaried or Otherwise) Cookbook. I was just going to laugh at it, but the whole theme of the book is recipes you make ahead the night beforehand and heat the day of. That actually could come in handy, and it included some classics like Beef Burgundy.

As cool as those cookbooks are, the coolest find was at the local Habitat store: a vintage Betty Crocker recipe card file in which the person actually got all of the recipes. How retro-cool is this?

And here are some of the categories. My personal fave? “Men’s Favorites,” whatever the hell that means (no it isn’t cards with recipes for beer, pizza and sex… but it probably should be):

I was sold when I saw a whole file section on recipes for kids to make, but I think we might skip the pizza with hamburger crust. It’s kind of a miracle the baby boomers who ate this crap in childhood are still around, don’t you think?

But there actually are some healthy options in the recipes for kids to make:

Here is the best part. Whoever once owned this must have used it to store all recipes, because there are several other recipes tucked in (and even filed properly!). Some are handwritten, and some typed (yes, typewriter typed), and some clipped from magazines. There’s even one that’s scribbled on note paper without even a name for the recipe. I’m dying to try that one!

In the chaos that is my house, I also find it soothing to go outside to check on my veggies and water them. Some gardening tasks I don’t like. They actually seem to me to be hard labor with dirt and bugs, to be frank. Would it be wrong to hire someone to dig up my grass for a garden plot? Hmm…

But I digress. The idea had been in the back of my head, but then I went to a local used book store, Downtown Books and News, and flipped through the cookbook section. I happened on Fresh in Winter, and that basically sparked the idea that I should plant, in fact must plant, a fall and winter garden.

So I started with some pumpkin seeds I actually bought in the spring. Those have been growing like crazy in front of my house. Here’s how they look:

I also purchased a whole bunch of seeds from Park Seeds. Here is my little basket full of seeds and my new winter cookbook:

I am not feeling in the mood to undertake a whole project of digging up a new garden plot. I do have a book with really cool directions on a low-effort method to have a plot next year by laying down cardboard to cover the grass, piling up organic materials on top, piling on compost all fall and winter, and then ta-da: garden plot next spring. That sounds more like my kind of effort level.

For now, I am going to clear some of the flowers from my bed, put in something for the climbers like the peas, and plant in front of my house. I also have three big aluminum containers with holes drilled in the bottom that I plan to use for the lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.

Here are the seeds I have. I may not get room to plant them all, but I hope I get close. The root vegetables concern me the most, since I know they need some room down deep and around the roots to grow. I thought there wouldn’t be much that was enticing to choose from, but then I happened on this great Cool Weather Vegetables section at Park SeedCool Weather Vegetables. And the entire order cost something like $20 plus shipping:

• Leeks
• Celery
• A master chef lettuce blend
• Blondie (white) peas
• Touchstone gold beets
• Radishes
• Very cool-looking orange cheddar cauliflowers
• Small miracle hybrid broccoli
• White satin carrots
• Tumbling cherry tomatoes in yellow and red (which I plan to try inside in a hanging basket with a light)

I can’t wait to see how they do as I get into fall and winter (and I need to get to planting ASAP with some of these!). There are some really amazing-sounding recipes in my cookbook, like Allspice Cabbage, Chicken and Butter Leek Soup, and Thyme Buttered Baby Roots.

Even though cupcakes aren’t a healthy option for kids, I figured making them ourselves instead of buying them at the store is in keeping with my Sustainable Kitchen Project. Plus, the cupcake pan made teeny tiny cupcakes, so that is in keeping of my feeling that it’s OK to indulge in moderation. Plus, it just looked like fun.

The kit itself was actually impressive for something from the cheapo shelves at the bookstore. It came with a cupcake baking pan that surprised me with its weight and quality. It came with a little chef’s apron (actually too small to fit my 5-year-old, but a perfect fit for my 2-year-old daughter). It came with icing piping kit that is actually pretty flimsy, but that my 5-year-old thought was pretty cool.

The best thing about it was, in fact, the cupcake baking and decorating cookbook. It has an impressive range of photo illustrated instructions and recipes ranging from choco-peanut butter cupcakes on the bad-but-so-good side and Zippy Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes as one of the great healthy cupcake alternatives. The book also has a kickstand so you can prop it up on the counter!

I was impressed with this product and would love to tell you where to find it. I just spent 20 minutes scouring the web to find this thing for nothing, so it must be discontinued. The cookbook mentions Flying Frog Publishing, which I also can’t find online. But just FYI if you see this on the cheapo shelf of your own local bookstore and want to buy it.

So we set out to make the cupcakes. My daughter chose the white cupcakes simply because there were instructions on using food color. We bought some fun neon food colors. To be more sustainable, I decided to use manual beaters to make the cupcakes. All I have to say on that point is power is a good thing. I felt good about using something that didn’t require power, but my wrists weren’t thanking me during or afterwards.

I also never realized quite how many steps are involved in making a basic cupcake, but it was a whole lot of fun. Between preparing the batter for the cupcakes, then cooking them, and then making the icing, and then cleanup, it really is a commitment of a good, solid hour. It never got boring, though.

My daughter lobbied pretty hard to making the cupcakes pink, but I vetoed it because our lone boy always gets subjected to girlie stuff. I thought we’d make it a little less girlie and we went with purple icing, and a purple-blue cake.

The icing, too, didn’t turn out so hot. It tasted great, but I think my substitution of banana extract may have curdled the icing. I’m really not sure, but it definitely would not go smooth no matter how much we mixed. But in the end it didn’t matter.

After all that work, we each got one miniature blue and purple cupcake with a hint of banana flavor. The kids were all abuzz about our little cupcake snack. It was fun, and I felt good about making it from scratch instead of snatching it off a shelf at the grocery store.

Of course, we won’t be making cupcakes daily. Or weekly for that matter. At least we know we can do it ourselves.

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My husband and I used to be all about nightlife. Then we had a kid. But we still did a lot. After all, we traveled for months living in Europe, so she saw a late night here or there. Then we had two more kids at once. And nightlife was pretty much killed with the exception of the lively party happening upstairs when the twins chit-chat and giggle in their room, and my 5-year-old stays up way later than she should.

We still would love to have a nightlife, and oh we tried to have one. We hired babysitters. They never showed. Ever. Something about twins under the age of 2 seemed to spook them, I guess. No one seemed capable or willing or interested in watching our gaggle of spastic children.

So if you can’t beat them, let them join you. We started doing the nightlife thing anyway. With the kids. Now this isn’t the kind of nightlife we indulged in when we first dated (if there are Jello shots involved, they are virgin, and cut into cute jiggly shapes, and have fruit inside).

Each week, we’ve been hitting downtown Asheville (which is a cool and funky place, but is small enough to feel comfortable out with little ones). Our fave thing is to go to the drum circle, which is a weekly gathering of dozens and dozens of people playing drums, dancing, performing and even (oh, yeah, I said it) playing hacky sack. Umm, anyway.

The kids have a blast, and we’ve gotten them their own little drums. They also get a chance to see many other kids there. We’ve been going out to dinner, and just strolling around town. The kids loved eating at Cats and Dawgs, a little kid-friendly hot dog joint downtown.

No, we don’t get drunk or stay up half the night. In fact, we often end up home before it really gets fully dark. But we all are getting a chance to get out and experience some nightlife. The kids get to see a side of life they don’t normally see during the daytime. We get to have what feels like a semblance of our former socializing selves.

Best of all… and I know this probably sounds a little sad coming from a reformed party girl turned minivan mom… I almost think it’s more fun than real grown up nightlife. But don’t quote me on that.

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Tomatoes. Tomatoes that I grew on my own. This may not sound amazing, but considering my brown thumb, this is nothing short of miraculous.

It’s funny the simple pleasures for a foodie mom like myself, too. It’s amazing that I found the time to grow these tomatoes, and it’s amazing they grew. It’s amazing that I could walk over and pick four fire engine red tomatoes from my own garden.

I looked at my special little tomatoes and pondered what to do with them. There really wasn’t enough to make something for the whole family. Each tomato was maybe one to two inches around. I could smell the tomato awesomeness just oozing from them. I also have so much basil growing, I don’t even know what to do with it. So it clicked. It was time to make bruschetta. Brilliant.

I should also specify that I decide to make brushetta for me, and just for me, and not for anyone else. It isn’t very often a mom can do something completely and utterly selfish. We’re constantly thinking of the kids first. But I had this gift, and it was just enough for one.

I waited for the kids to go down for nap. Then I did it. I diced the tomatoes. I grabbed a couple of the little dices just to get a pure taste of the tomatoes. It was so amazing, I had to take a sample to my husband. I had to bug him to try it (“This is what home grown tomatoes taste like, honey!”), and even he (the lover of all things pizza and burger) was impressed with the flavor.

I chopped some basil, then let them marinate in some organic extra virgin olive oil. I then tossed in some crumbled feta cheese and sprinkled a little sea salt, and served it over toasts.

Then I sat back, relaxed, and tasted. Unbelievable.

So even though it took hours of effort, and it cost money for my raised bed, and I had to encounter all sorts of Homeric-like challenges (well, bugs, dirt and the threat of frost), it was all worth it.

This is the ultimate local food. Forget farm to table, this is yard to table. Delicious!

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