In honor of the U.S. men’s hockey team – past and present – let me share with you this adorable video of Josh Sacco, a 4-year old viral sensation who nails the pregame speech that Coach Herb Brooks delivered to the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” Olympic hockey team.

The kid is fearless. The speech is inspirational. It’s the perfect thing to watch before clicking on Olympic coverage this weekend and watching the U.S. win another medal in hockey. Or, watch it the next time you need to get pumped up (like before that job interview).

“This is YOUR time. Now, go out there and kick it!”

P.S. Curious what Josh is like when he’s not motivating millions? Check out his appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

A dear friend who has two sons adopted from Korea forwarded a video starring ten moms (including herself) who have adopted children.  The lead-in line to the video is – “When a child is adopted, a mother is born.”

It’s very heartwarming and I thought it was worth sharing, especially with so many children around the world in need of a family.

For the short clip on you tube, click here.

To see the full five minute video, click here.

If adoption is something that you have been considering, I think this just may inspire you to take the next step.

Since Elaine has been posting about such wise topics this week, I thought I would bring it down a notch.  I sit here thinking about Octomom’s new beach body.  Have you seen it on the cover of Star Magazine?  (No, don’t worry, I’m not a subscriber). She has dropped 145 pounds since giving birth to her eight babies.  I think to myself I did buy that Beach Body DVD set last May although no beach body did I attain in 2009 … I have to start working on that plan for 2010 now (work and children aside).

So back to Octomom.  How did she do it?  First, with no help from Nip and Tuck – just three hour daily work-outs at the gym of course.  Right.  Makes sense.  What?  How did she get away from her family of fourteen children (and no husband) for three hours a day?  Oh, her two nannies could take care of all those children.  Oh, OK. Makes sense.  What?  Two nannies?  Has our whacked out need for reality TV already made her a mint?  I guess so.  And I guess enough money to keep her out of the house shopping, working-out, and managing her public profile – while the 14 mint-makers lay about at home with the hired help.

Just one last blog on our rooster. Every year I tell my children that I want home-made gifts from them for Christmas.  I have received great pictures, calendars, CD mixes, home movies, quote-aids (quotations written on band-aid like pieces of paper) and this year, a replica of our Lakenvelder Rooster, Michael Jackson.

David, my 15 year old, escaped to the basement, and used a jig saw to cut out an outline of a Lakenvelder rooster with plywood, and then painted it.  I LOVED it, and it’s now hanging on my kitchen wall.  It’s very professional looking I might add.  The only mistake that he made in making it is that the rooster’s mouth is not open crowing – which was pretty much the perpetual state of MJ, as you can see by the below picture.

I now need to convince him to go into production – and add Chicken Wall Hangings to his egg sales!

I have always been a Puttanesca fan, although I’ve never made it.  Over the holidays, sitting in a rental house in Vermont, I was perusing one of the house’s cook books – one which is most likely on your own shelf (as it is on mine) if you enjoy cooking at all.  In Rosso & Lukins (Silver Palate) The New Basics Cookbook was this fabulously delicious and simple puttanesca recipe.  My friend even commented that the sauce was better than the puttanesca sauce that her favorite local Italian restaurant serves.

So for those of you who don’t have this book on your shelves, here’s the recipe. (For those who do, p.133).  It’s a great wintry pasta sauce to drink with a robust red wine in front of a fire!  And it was a nice little discovery for me, as I hadn’t picked up this cookbook in at least a couple of years.

Here it is:

Puttanesca Sauce

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 can (2 ounces) anchovy fillets, undrained

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 can (35 ounces) plum tomatoes, drained

1 jar (2.5 ounces) capers, drained

1 1/2 cups pitted imported black olives, coarsely chopped

Coarsley ground black pepper, to taste

1.  Place the oil, anchovies, and garlic in a heavy medium size saucepan.  Mash thoroughly to form a paste

2.  Add the tomatoes, capers, and olives.  Stir, and heat to simmering over medium heat.  Reduce the heat to low, and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.  Season with pepper.

2 portions (I think you can stretch it to 4); enough for 8 ounces capellini (I think you can stretch to 16 ounces)

Enjoy!

My sister just forwarded this recipe with rave reviews.  I thought it was worth sharing, as it sounds like the perfect accompaniment to a nice Christmas roast beef or filet mignon. Of course after reading through it, my first thoughts are – ANYTHING would be good with cheese, cream and butter! Anyhow, if your heart will so allow, you may want to consider this:

1 garlic clove

2 lbs (or more) russet potatoes, peeled and very thinly sliced (I do all of the potatoes first and then put them in a large bowl with cold water.  When ready to use, drain them and dry on kitchen towels before layering into dish)

1 cup freshly grated French or Swiss Gruyere cheese

1 cup heavy cream

Salt (I used Kosher salt)

Preheat oven to 350.

Thoroughly rub a shallow 6 cup porcelain gratin dish with the garlic.  Rub about 1 T. butter in the bottom and up the sides of dish.

Layer half of the potatoes into dish.  Sprinkle with half of the cheese and then half of the cream and sprinkle with salt. (I actually did three layers, and sprinkled about ½ cup cheese and ½ cup cream with each layer) Add another layer using rest of the ingredients.

Bake, uncovered, until the gratin is crisp and golden on top, from 50 to 60 minutes.

I’m willing to give it a try!

At my 5 year old son’s Thanksgiving feast at school, one of the Moms brought in a pumpkin cake.  Parents and children alike were crazy for it – a huge hit.  I have thought about getting my hands on that recipe since last week, and low and behold – the totally on top of things Class Mom sent all the parents the link to the recipe.  (I must admit I’ll have to put my hurt feelings aside as my cranberry bread seemed to pale in comparison; better yet, maybe I’ll just go with the fact that my cranberry bread is for a more sophisticated palate!).

Anyhow, here is the recipe.  My brother-in-law, who works for McCormick Spice Company, will be happy with this plug:

Spiced Pumpkin Cake (from McCormick)

1 package yellow cake mix

1 package vanilla instant pudding mix

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup water

3 eggs

1.5 tsp. McCormick ground Cinnamon

1 tsp McCormick ground Cloves

Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

Directions:

1.  Preheat oen to 350.  Beat all ingredients, except Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting, in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed just until moistened, scraping side of bowl frequently.  Beat on medium speed 2 minutes or until well blended.

2. Pour into greased and floured 13 x 9 inch baking pan.

3.  Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan on wire race.  Spread with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting.

Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting:  Beat 1 package (80z) cream cheese, softened, 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened, 1 tsp McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract, anad 1/4 tsp McCormick Ground Cloves in large bowl until well blended.  Gradually add 1 package (16oz) confectioner’s sugar (about 4 cups), beating until well blended after each addition.  NOTE:  The cake I tasted just had confectioners sugar spread on top.  Certainly cuts down on the calories!

Calories per serving:  379

My husband, who normally manages and oversees most of the morning routine with the kids (makes breakfasts and lunches) left early Wednesday morning on a business trip. So I was up extra early, showered and dressed for work before I woke up son #1, David, at 6AM.  He leaves to catch the bus at 6:30, then Eliza leaves at 7:25, and Jack and Sam follow at 7:35.  A rather tight hour I might add.  So I was buzzing along until Dave yelled out that he was going to miss his bus (he blamed it on the hot cherry peppers he ate the night before, but I won’t go into any more details on that).

My mind started spinning with this new logistical challenge – as driving him to school takes close to 35/40 minutes round trip.  The domino effect had begun; all four children were going to miss the bus and have to be driven to school.  Sam for some reason, was already very self motivated that morning.  Before this challenge hit, he had elected to put his whole lunch together himself.  He made his PB & J sandwich, packed two drinks, a banana and a snack (and a napkin) and had everything in his lunch bag by the time I left. Luckily I had the other lunches made, and breakfasts were ready to be eaten.  I ran out the door, leaving Eliza in charge, and pleading that everyone eat breakfast, get dressed, go to the bathroom, brush teeth and get shoes on and be ready to go when I returned. (This is a major feat, you see, because I’m typically negotiating them out of bed, dressing them myself as they are too groggy to do anything for themselves, coercing them into the bathroom; the morning routine is rarely a stress free production).

I figured I’d get back and then take the next car load to school – as I was sure we’d miss the bus.  I walked back in the house at 7:33.  Jack and Sam were sitting on the couch, coats on, backpacks on, ready to go.  Eliza claimed she did nothing to help them.  I was pleasantly surprised, ah maybe I should say pleasantly blown-away.

Jack ended up catching the bus, but Sam held out for my previous promise of driving him to school.  After the bus picked up Jack, I drove Sam and Eliza to school, and then treated myself to an Eggnogg latte for my drive in to work.

I was very proud of these two, and decided at certain times they can function much better without me.  I think I may just disappear more often in the morning.  No telling what heights they can achieve if I’m not there to coax them along!

Right after Halloween this week, I heard a couple of stories.  First, one of my neighbors told me that they pay their kids each $20 for their candy, and then throw it away.  There were also a couple of local dentists collecting candy, paying $1-$2 a pound, and then sending the candy to the troops.  I started to think about this, and loved the idea of removing those 7:30AM arguments about candy consumption from my house.

So I thought I would give it a try, and see how my young boys received it.  I decided that I would let it be their choice – and if they wanted to keep their candy – that was fine – we would obviously just have to limit the daily consumption of it.

So here was my deal.  I told them that I would buy all their candy for $10, and then take them to the toy store so they could pick out something special that costs $10 or less.  They both took me up on the offer without hesitating, and negotiated to keep two pieces of candy.

One friend pushed back on this scenario a bit – vocalizing that Halloween is one of those special occasions – and it wouldn’t be right to take away the candy.  My response was that candy today is so prevalent – I feel like almost everyday somehow candy is in my kid’s lives.  When we were kids it was candy at Halloween, Christmas and Easter – but not much beyond that.

Anyhow, the boys were very happy with their trade.  Jack bought a Yankees bear, Sam a little stuffed cow (of course, we don’t need anymore stuffed animals in the house either!).  It was very cute watching them walk around the store with money in hand, looking at different prices and deciding what they could afford.

So now I will share all my candy with my co-workers.  See, everyone is happy in the end!

Ahhh, it’s Friday morning (a cold, blustery, rainy 36 degrees on this Autumn day – I might add, but I won’t let that get me down).  Child #1 left at 6:30.  Child #2 left at 7:30.  Child #3 and Child #4 left at 7:40.  And me, I don’t have to leave as Friday is my day off from work. Now I get to sit and decide what I want to do for the next 7 hours.  Which pile should I attack first? Should I get my flu shot today?  Should I finish putting away the summer clothes?  Yes – I know you’re jealous – all such stimulating things to do! But the best is that it’s quiet, and I get to decide when to tackle each of these wonderfully fun projects.

But first, it’s a morning for a pancake treat.  My neighbor at the bus stop always raves about the South Beach pancakes made with oatmeal.  I did finally make them.  For those of you who love pancakes but don’t want all the carbs, this is a great alternative.  The vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg flavors really dominate – so if you like those flavors, I’m sure you’ll like this recipe.  The recipe calls for egg whites (4) , so I ended up using Liquid Egg Whites.  The first time I made it – I believe I used too many egg whites.  Following the equivalency directions on the side of the carton – I followed the rule that 3T equals one whole egg.  Problem was, I didn’t take into account that I probably should have cut this in half – since I was only  supposed to be using the white part of the egg.

Anyhow, it made for very thin pancakes (similar to Swedish pancakes).  But I really thought they were delicious – and I loved the thinness of them – so thin that using a small frying pan with edges is probably best.  This morning my husband made the pancakes – more true to the original recipe – and turned out thicker, more normal looking pancakes.  Because he used less egg whites than I did, the spice flavors were more prominent as well.  Honestly, I think next time I will stick to making it the way I did – more egg whites and very thin pancakes.

Bottomline, give these a try.  With some fresh strawberries and a light maple syrup drizzle, they really are delicious:

South Beach Oatmeal Pancakes

1/2 cup old fashioned oatmeal

1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese (I used no fat)

4 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Process all ingredients in a blender until smooth.  Spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Add the batter and cook over medium heat until both sides are lightly browned.

Note:  The first time I made this – which produced the VERY THIN pancakes – I used 3/4 cup plus 3 T of egg whites.  This is the equivalency of using 4 whole eggs – so more than the recipe called for – but I did like the thinness.  I think next time I would stick to doing the recipe this way.  Of course, maybe some day I’ll also try using real egg whites (when I’m overloaded with eggs from my chickens!)

Anyhow, stay warm and have a great weekend!