You're About to be Redirected to the New Home of Ground Control to Major Mom: 4/25/10

Saturday, May 1, 2010

What Does "Natural" Taste Like???

Last Sunday I took both boys to the grocery store. Dave was working at the train show, so I just took both boys along, which is rare for me. I typically go during the week when I only need to take, at most, one of the boys. So it had been a while since I took both Jacob and Timmy. They weren't poorly behaved, but I was inundated with "Mommy, can we get X?"..."Mommy, can we get Y?"..."Mommy, can we get Z?"

Among the items they asked for was Hamburger Helper. Jacob actually cracked me up during his sales pitch, since he even took the time to mention the Box Top for Education at the top of the boxes. While it isn't the most nutritious meal out there, I guess it beats a Happy Meal, right? I remember having Hamburger Helper as a kid. It was okay, but not at the top of my dinner-preparation list.

Here's the one I let Jacob choose. Why not? This can be one of our "sometimes foods", right? I had hoped he'd choose one of the more Italian-themed flavors, like the lasagna-style, but this is what he picked.

If you can't read the label, the description of the flavor is "Pasta & Naturally Flavored Sauce Mix".

What in the world is "Naturally Flavored?" Staring at the packaging didn't give me any insight. It looks like a cheese sauce in the picture, but it turns out it isn't really. Looking at the ingredients, I didn't see anything that indicated milk products. Sugar, beef stock and dried onion and garlic jumped out as a hint to the flavor.

Patricia's Hypothesis: It's going to be a standard beef gravy with the pasta and beef.

So this will be our dinner tonight -- I'll leave a comment this evening and let you know how it turns out. I picked up some 96% lean ground beef, so I know this will be a low-fat meal, at least.

Speaking of Hamburger Helper, who else remembers the jingle from the 1980s where the slogan was "Hamburger Helper helps the hamburger help HER...." Ha ha! Not "help HIM"...."help HER".

Because what man would cook this, right? I found the commercial on You Tube, so enjoy!

Labels: dinner, feminism, food, hamburger helper, processed food, vintage commercial

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Nebraska Discoveries 3: Lauritzen Gardens...Omaha's Botanical Center

Since I won't be in the Omaha area forever, I realized recently that my time is running out for visiting the many attractions in the area. Thanks to my boys' field trips, Cub Scouting and birthday party invitations, they've already been to several area attractions. But I've set a new goal for myself and the family: to visit every attraction on the Omaha Convention and Visitors Bureau's "Pin Map".

You probably can't see it that well, but just click on the "Pin Map" link above and you can see the original PDF. It's called the "Pin Map" because in front of each of these attractions is an enormous mock up of a blue-tipped pin. I'll get a picture of one as soon as I can...

So...my goal is to visit each of the 15 attractions on the "Pin Map" before I leave the area. So far, I've covered 7 of the 15 attractions (numbers 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, and 13)...and we have this summer to make our way through the rest. Maybe I'll blog about these "pins" as we visit them...I hope to, but I won't make any guarantees.

Today I'll share with you my first visit to #8 on the list: Lauritzen Gardens.

Timmy's preschool class took a trip here on Monday. I can't believe I've lived here nearly 2 years and hadn't been here till this week! I guess it goes with living in a house full of boys, right?

This is a beautiful place, full of pretty flowers (of course) but I also really enjoyed the gardens "repurposing" sconces, corbels and other ornamentals from throughout Omaha...the pieces were rescued and help decorate the gardens. The kids really enjoyed the flowers but the weather wasn't very good and the walking was pretty tough on that group of 4 and 5 year olds.

So here are some pictures of the lovely visit. I won't include everything, just some of the more summary-type pics. I STILL can't believe I left our camera sitting on the counter as we headed out the door...so these pictures are with my iPhone camera.

This piece was repurposed from a downtown Omaha building:

From 2010 04 26 Lauritzen Gardens Timmy Preschool Field Trip

This bunny sculpture is called "Baby Jack"...

From 2010 04 26 Lauritzen Gardens Timmy Preschool Field Trip

If you look closely, there's a sculpture of a boy on the left of the stream:

From 2010 04 26 Lauritzen Gardens Timmy Preschool Field Trip

Probably my favorite picture -- the white redbuds in focus, with the kids behind...

From 2010 04 26 Lauritzen Gardens Timmy Preschool Field Trip

Another repurposed decoration rescued from an old Omaha building:

From 2010 04 26 Lauritzen Gardens Timmy Preschool Field Trip

For some reason, looking at this flower reminds me of Salt Water Taffy. Great. Now I want some: Taffy Town ~ Assorted Salt Water Taffy ~ 1lb.

From 2010 04 26 Lauritzen Gardens Timmy Preschool Field Trip

One of my favorite flowers: Bleeding Hearts....

From 2010 04 26 Lauritzen Gardens Timmy Preschool Field Trip

Pink AND White bleeding hearts everywhere!

From 2010 04 26 Lauritzen Gardens Timmy Preschool Field Trip

A Sandhill Crane exhibit...

From 2010 04 26 Lauritzen Gardens Timmy Preschool Field Trip

Pretty redbud tree...

From 2010 04 26 Lauritzen Gardens Timmy Preschool Field Trip

While we were on the walks, we came across a wonderful surprise! A Garden Railroad! Trains weren't running when we were there, but this weekend they'll be starting to run them! How exciting! Timmy thought this was GREAT and can't wait to return to see the trains running!