Italian Wedding Recipes
Written by Carrie Pacini on July 15, 2008 – 11:59 pm -
This all started for me with the Italian Wedding Cookie recipe at age 5. This is an amazing little cookie that you can do so much with. Growing up in a Italian family this cookie was used for bridal showers, saby showers, and Christmas parties. I am sure we could fit it into Easter if we tried. The recipe always stayed the same for each occasion, but the shape of the cookie changes.
For a bridal shower you would make the cookies in the shape of wedding rings and join them together. Then for baby showers you would make them into pacifiers, and for Christmas you just make the shape of a ball to resemble snow. You could also make them into snowmen and snowwomen as well. This cookie is timeless and you don’t need any fancy ingredients to make it happen.
But wait….the Italian wedding recipes don’t stop there!
There are so many more you should discover. My mom for example created an Italian Wedding Cake Tea. It is really good and doesn’t even need sugar so if you are a tea drinker try it out.
Our family favorite is the Italian Wedding Cake, which is to die for! We love this cake and make it for special occasions like birthdays and sometimes even Easter. Then there is the Italian Wedding Cake Martini which is fun to serve at bridal showers or bridal cocktail parties.
I love the Italian Wedding Soup which is perfect for a chilly day. The soup has nothing to do with vanilla, almond, or pineapple. The name Italian Wedding Soup came from the mistranslation of Italian language, minestra maritata, which means to go well together as in vegetables and meat “marry well together” hence Wedding Soup. A good friend of mine, Katherine Druckman, was inspired by all the Italian wedding recipes, and created the Italian Wedding Ice Cream recipe! I hope these recipes inspire you to create your own wedding theme recipe. I would love to hear about it.
Below are the recipes from OpMom.com:
Tags: cake, cookies, icecream, italian, martini, soup, tea, wedding
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Getting a ‘Tox’ Refund
Written by Carrie Pacini on April 9, 2008 – 5:23 pm -
Detox Mud Treatment? Umm, never again.
Well, well – I’ve been feeling pretty smart over the past few days. I was miserably sick for about 7 days. Flu? Nope. Random, debilitating depression? Not a chance. The best reason I can figure for this random, week-long illness was (seriously) because of a detox mud treatment, called the Hungarian Spa Kur, I received at a local spa. I purposely chose a homeopathic, natural path to alleviating stress and prevent myself from getting sick in the first place. Nicely done, right? I mean with all the toxins and pollution out there I thought maybe I could do my body good.
Heidi, one of our opmom.com members, is also concerned about pollution in our city. She recently started a MomCircle on being Environmentally Conscience where Joanie says “I am getting really serious about going Green.” She encourages others to figure out their carbon footprint and take some simple steps towards leaving a smaller ecological footprint. All good advice, which is why I think for now I’ll just stick to recycling and carpooling.
Back To My Nightmare
I’m typically a one-Tylenol sort of gal. When my son was born, they gave me a labor-inducing treatment that was supposed to take about 24-48 hours to take effect… and there I was 15 minutes later in full labor. So needless to say I am super sensitive to outside forces. Fast forward and I’m in bed for 7 awesome-tastic days, treating my body to two cycles of antibiotics in the process to get “well.” And no, dear friends, the irony of antibiotics saving me from homeopathy wasn’t lost on me as I lay there for a week.
I posted a talk in one of my favorite groups on opmom.com, Alternative Medicine, and asked what others have experienced after a detox mud bath. Leslie says “I have a sister who is a nurse and she tells me those detox things are hogwash???” Thanks Leslie, I know now this is true for me too.
Evil Toxins Released!?
The spa blames the evil toxins I was carrying around in my body, which their treatment “successfully” released and subsequently wreaked havoc on my body. If it really takes a week to get all those toxins out of your system, the sign at the reception desk should read, “Dear Patient: Here for a Detox? Clear your Schedule.”
But still, I don’t want to sit here and just bash homeopathic detox treatments. The reason I did this in the first place was because so many people I know and trust swear by it. But for me, it just sent me running back into the arms of Dr. Pfizer or Merck or whoever else makes those antibiotics that aren’t offered in an affordable generic substitute. Which reminds me, I’m craving a yogurt.
Tags: detox, health, mud bath, toxins
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Skin Cancer? No Thanks. Orange Heels? Not this Mama.
Written by Carrie Pacini on March 28, 2008 – 11:37 am - 
Spring has arrived!
Despite the shocking fact that snow is still falling in some places around the country, for most of us spring has arrived in all her pollinated, Claritin-selling glory. These soggy days, mind wanders past the wet and sneezy weather, past those hectic final weeks of school that are still to come, and lands at some point in June where I know I will be expected to be seen in a swimsuit. Now this isn’t some poolside, Mojito-in-hand (thanks anne!), kids-in-college relaxation fantasy – it’s the reality of my pale skin blinding everyone while my kids perform cannonballs and splash innocent bystanders. Despite having a good amount of European and Native American blood in me that would indicate I *might* have the potential for some skin pigmentation, the reality is not!
Liquid sweater to the rescue!
I made it through high school as an avid sun worshiper, blissfully ignorant of the damage I was doing to my skin, just trying to be tan and thin. By my mid 20s, I started realizing that sun exposure was no better than the fat I had been avoiding in my diet. Except it was actually worse: we all know that the sun has permanent effects on your body – in effect the sun is like a cheeseburger that stays on your butt forever. So while I always kept the kids slathered in SPF 70, it took a cancer scare to really wake me up. In 2005 we had a near-miss with Melanoma in my family, and that sealed the deal. Sun was now the enemy, and it was the super-high SPF stuff for me and my husband. He calls it the “liquid sweater.” Whatever, it’ll save your life pal.
Bathing suits! Bottle tans! Spray tans! Help.
So back to my reality check about the number of weeks until bikini season. What’s a busy mom to do who would prefer to…
A) NOT be reflectively white in a bathing suit
B) Age gracefully
C) Avoid skin cancer
The only options are bottle tans, spray tans, etc. So far I am not happy with any of the home spray tans that I have done, and the tan-in-a-bottle deal is usually a nightmare. The blame falls partially on the products, and a lot on the do-it-yourself application. That said, the very best solution I’ve found is the professional spray tan, where you go to a salon or spa and they basically use an airbrush. If you’ve never had it done, just imagine the MTV show Pimp My Ride…but you’re the car.
If you don’t want to spend the cash on a spray tan, which given it’s 7-day max duration is a rare luxury, I’ve found a few things that work ok for home use. Check these out and let me know what you think!
Seriously, I really want to know what works for you! If your an OpMom member I started a SkinCare MomCircle so we can get to the bottom of this…
Tags: , bottle tan, melanoma, skin care, spf, spray tan, summer
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Easter is here! Small colorful outfits needed.
Written by Carrie Pacini on February 21, 2008 – 4:00 pm -
As I found myself dumpster-diving the clearance sale on Valentine’s candy last week, I noticed the pastel displays popping up where red & pink had occupied since New Year’s. Easter is upon us, my friends.
For parents, that means it’s time to figure out which colorful little outfits will make it into the Easter fashion repertoire this year. Like miniature Kentucky Derby socialites, there will be no shortage of tiny suits, pastel dresses and floppy hats. But where to start? Put away the Mint Julep and fear not, here is a short list of our favorite online boutiques. Some may be familiar, some not, but they’re all pretty cool. Have another idea or a favorite boutique? Submit it in our comments.
Here’s our starter list:
Best Dressed Child – This is a nice source for “traditional” Easter Clothes. They have everything from Smoked dresses to Eton suits for boys.
A Childs Closet – Has most hip brands under the sun like “Room Seven”, Gregory Girl, Indygo and much more!
Forget Me Knot Kids – Is a great store for Baby LuLu and Baby Nay.
Cute Little Clothes has great stuff for boys up to 7 years from cool brands like Tea.
And… a few other non-Easter finds:
Moochie Moo, our cool-but-impractical find of the month. This Australian boutique has amazing stuff… the best in unique toys, cool clothes, kids furniture and Red Envelope-like personalized items. And their service is beyond awesome. I ordered gifts for friends in Brisbane (the Charlie and Lola doll set was a hit), and the owner sent me no less than 4 personal emails confirming the order status, gift wrapping selection, shipping, and receipt. And then sent me a paper credit card receipt via regular mail to the US, with a little ID bracelet gift for my daughter. Obviously this exact business practice can’t sustain huge sales growth, but I really like the concern for detail and quality control. Love it!
LuvCharlie – forget the kids, this one’s for you. Cool, hip fashions at pretty reasonable prices. One of my favorite, most unique blouses came from here, and the service is pretty good too.
Tags: easter, parents
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Dear Sleep: I Miss You.
Written by Carrie Pacini on February 16, 2008 – 2:16 pm -Seeing as it is now mid-February, and my New Year’s resolution for better sleep has been pretty much mocked by the universe for the last 45 days, it was time for a new plan. A reader’s suggestion of two Ambien and a glass of Amaretto is much appreciated, but I’ll pass for now. Part of the goal is to actually wake up at some point. Just sayin’…
I’m always amazed by how seemingly busy people claim to get 9 or 10 hours of sleep a night. Then it hit me, of course they’re busy all day. They spend half of their day either preparing for, emerging from, or snugly tucked in their bed. Back here in the real world, I need a workable plan.
So I finally accepted the obvious fact that there are a few small things I can change for now, and I’d better focus on those quickly – or you’ll be reading a similar post next year. So what can I change? The kids’ bedtime routine. My bedtime routine. My husband’s bedroom (just kidding).
First trick, we started focusing on having more relaxed, non-stimulated kids going into bedtime. Sounds simple enough, but hoo-boy, it isn’t. Getting homework done early, baths out of the way, and mitigate the kids’ general propensity to assault each other when left alone, all these are important but really hard. And although yelling at bedtime was a proud tradition in my house growing up, my mom probably had to hit the Amaretto herself to wind down after we hit the sack. And second, I had to put a restraining order on my laptop. It’s no longer allowed within 10 feet of my bedroom. Sorry, folks, but as many of our readers know, when you run an active website you could pretty much work the laptop all night.
So we’re off to a start with some action items, and I’ll report later how that’s working out. And then to facing facts: What I can’t change is the fact that life is indeed crazy, my kids are handfuls, I own a business that has a 24-hour on-cycle, and that the online nature of that business means I can work whenever and wherever. So ease off the stress a little…the business or blog will not fail without you for a few hours. You can go back to sleep at 3:00 am without dwelling on the little stuff, and seriously, the computer will be right there waiting when you wake up.
There’s a group on OpMom that was recently set up where moms share tips and tricks on sleeping with each other, and hopefully that will provide some shared tidbits of sanity for our busy Op-Mamas.
So what helps you sleep in your busy life? Let me know and I’ll share ideas in a future post.
Tags: bedtime, sleep, tips and tricks on sleeping
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10 Family Holiday Ideas
Written by Carrie Pacini on December 6, 2007 – 12:50 pm -
- Take your children to see holiday lights!
Taking the family to see holiday lights is easy, affordable fun! Grab some holiday music and set the mood in the car. I like Putumayo’s New Orleans Christmas. For an AWESOME holiday drink try our White Hot Chocolate Recipe. like to take this drink with us so everyone gets a thermos. - Adopt a child or a family for the holidays
My husband and I do this and involve our children in the process: reviewing the family’s wish list, picking up their wished-for items, and delivering them to the charity. We usually try to add in a really special surprise gift for the family, which always excites the kids and ignites their giving spirit. You can also visit “My Two Front Teeth” online to do some Holiday giving (visit My Two Front Teeth) - Take some time in the kitchen with your family
This is a great time to bring some of your cultural heritage into the fold! Every year we set aside an afternoon to bake Italian Christmas Cookies, and the kids really look forward to it! Try this Italian Cookie Recipe - Attend a Tree Lighting Ceremony!
Nothing kicks off the season better and is a fun way to start or end an evening. Note: if you do this, expect daily countdowns and re-inactments at home with the family tree! - Order a family ornament
This site has so many to chose from! The Ornament Shop
What’s also great about this site is that you can browse and select the ornaments by the number of people in your family, then customize them with family members’ names. - Take the video camera out and start filming!
There is no better time to record the moments of your family during the holidays. There are also tons of online tools that you can take advantage of to make your film debut! Have an older video camera? Let the kids have it and record the holiday experience and memories from their perspective - if the camera survives, the memories will be priceless! - Buy festive pajamas for the family to wear
On Christmas Eve my brother’s family exchanges pajamas with each other, and then they all wear them that night to bed. It’s part special holiday memory, part comical, and 100% fun. Check out Pajama Gram - Create a Family Time Capsule
Get your kids thinking about their goals for next year. Get a box and write down, collect pictures and otherwise catalog the things each person wants to accomplish during the coming year. Then put it away until the next year, when the opening ceremony will become its own new tradition. - Declare a “family day” during the holidays
If you have older kids, try to find time to hang out - go see a movie, get some shopping done together, or grab a memorable weekday lunch! For families with the little ones, make a meal together and play some board games or the Nintendo Wii! - Read traditional holiday stories
I love the Strega Nona Series - Merry Christmas Strega Nona
This is such a great Italian Christmas legend about a “grandma witch” named Strega Nona. Strega Nona is also known in Italy as La Befana. I make a point to read it every year to the kids, and they make it a point to remind me!
Tags: , family, gifts, holiday, ideas, pajamas, recipes
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