We regularly discuss the fact that we don’t eat enough nuts. We love nuts, and they’re good for us, but we just don’t always think to use them as often as we could.

When we were given a large quantity of walnuts in their shells, I wondered if we would manage to eat them all—our damp winters can cause walnuts in the shell to mould. I spread them out on a drying screen for a few days, to make sure they were fully dry before bagging them.

But when I went to bag them, I found there were far fewer there. Because they were sitting out, we were all snacking on them throughout the day. The kids enjoyed cracking them, enjoyed the challenge of trying to extract a nut meat whole.

So instead of putting them all in the cupboard, I left a small bowl of them sitting on the table with a nut cracker. I’m finding I have to refill the bowl every couple of days.

Who would have thought it would be so easy to get us to eat more nuts? I didn’t have to work out a new nut burger recipe, or remember to throw a handful of cashews into my stir fries. All I had to do was make it easy and fun to snack on them.

*Sigh*

Dropped a wall on my hand today, so this will be short…typing skills aren’t really up to snuff at the moment.

It’s been a busy week of DIY at our house. Everyone in the family has been involved in one way or another. The days have been long and exhausting, but it’s been great to watch the kids help out, confidently and competently, in so many ways. Not just hammering nails and measuring things. In spite of the demands of the project (in fact, because of it, most days) we still need to eat. Fortunately, the kids are old enough now, they can take care of food, letting the adults spend every possible minute building.

At lunch time, kids get out the bread, cheese, pickles and other lunch items, and call us when it’s ready.

They can also cook dinner, if we’re at a stage where we can’t stop to cook. All those frustrating times teaching them how to chop, sauté, and bake (when having them “help” meant it took twice as long to make dinner), have begun to pay off!

(Especially handy when you’ve dropped a wall on your hand.)

First, they dyed the eggs.

The annual glut of hard-boiled eggs is about to begin. The children dyed eggs this afternoon. This year I challenged them to create Lego machines that would allow them to paint designs on their eggs. They took on the challenge with enthusiasm! One created a remote-controlled machine to rotate the egg. The other created a machine that rotated the egg, and moved it up and down, and held a cotton swab soaked in food colouring, all at the same time. The results were pretty impressive.

The remote controlled model.

The deluxe model, complete with cotton swab holder.

With older kids, now, I didn’t even need to do anything–they did it all (except the dishes).

I don’t go in much for Easter candy. Waxy chocolate rabbits and creepy marshmallow chicks? Ick! I do, however, have in inordinate fondness for homemade peanut butter and coconut eggs, made with good dark chocolate. Years ago, one of the secretaries where I worked made them and sold them every Easter, and I had no resistance whatsoever. They were a daily treat for me until her supply was gone.

Thankfully, I don’t have that temptation any more, but last week my son asked me to pick up smooth peanut butter and chocolate for peanut butter eggs. What could I do, but comply?