Health

2 Comments Posted on November 2, 2015 food reviews, funny, Health, Nostalgia, parenting, Storytelling, Uncategorized, vegan

Dear Jack: Using Halloween Candy for Science Experiments Instead of Eating It

4 years, 11 months.

Dear Jack,

Being the daddy blogger who denounces artificial food dyes in food, I must admit it is quite convenient that my almost 5 year-old son has willingly chosen to use his Halloween candy for science experiments, as opposed to actually eating it.

This was completely your idea. It was the convenient timing of you rediscovering your Magic Science kit that Mommy and I got you’re a year ago for your 4^th birthday.

Saturday morning, which was Halloween, you and I took a walk at the park and you found a green acorn; which you referred to as a coconut.

You announced to me: “Daddy, when we get home, I’m going to put this coconut in the water with peanut butter!”

That’s exactly what we did. (Featured in the collage below.)

I supervised as you randomly mixed the ingredients included in the kit, with the “coconut” as well as some peanut butter. Needless to say, you weren’t following the instructions included in the kit at all. Fortunately, no explosions occurred…

Even during dinner, as you ate the pizza Mommy made, you were constantly checking on the progress of your science experiments. (Not to mention, you had previously dunked some of the uncooked pizza dough into some chemicals as well; as part of its own experiment; as seen below.)

We then took about a 90 minute break to actually, you know… go trick-or-treating.

It meant so much to me to finally go trick-or-treating in our own neighborhood; since we moved in our new home back in January. When we lived in the townhouse community before, it just wasn’t the ideal environment like our neighborhood is now, for something like this.

Needless to say, after we got home from church on Sunday, you spent all of your time testing all types of the candy you earned the night before.

I think you favorite to dissolve were the Nerds. You explained to me:

“Daddy, the Nerds turn in to crystals!” You scooped them out from the bottom of the cup, using a plastic spoon; revealing the now colorless pieces of sugar.

It was also interesting to see Runts without their coloring as well. And the Laffy Taffy looked like a brain.

A dentist in our neighborhood is buying back Halloween candy; paying $1 per pound, then sending the candy overseas the U.S. troops.

You were planning on selling most of your candy so you could use the money to buy a toy.

Instead, it looks like you’d rather use the candy for scientist experiments; as opposed to selling it, or even crazier… actually eating it.

Love,

Daddy

3 Comments Posted on November 1, 2015 food reviews, Health, Uncategorized, vegan

I Invented the Vegan Frosted Chocolate Coffee Cake at the Whole Foods in Franklin, Tennessee

If you ever visit the Whole Foods in Cool Springs (Franklin, Tennessee), just turn to the right as soon as you walk in, and go all the way to the back of the store, where you’ll discover their bakery department; which is where I ordered my son’s vegan birthday cake a year ago when he turned 4.

Once you are standing there in front of their bakery display, you’ll notice a few containers of chocolate coffee cake, marked “VEGAN”.

That’s because of me. You’re welcome.

I invented the vegan frosted chocolate coffee cake about a year ago.

After we had bought my son’s birthday cake last year, I then specifically looked in the Whole Foods bakery to see if they already make some kind of vegan cake on a daily basis for my wife and I to casually enjoy.

Turns out, they did: For about 2 bucks, I could get a small vegan chocolate coffee cake; which serves about 4 people.

But there was no icing.

So I asked the baker if they had any vegan icing they could put on there for me, being familiar with the fact they indeed make vegan icing because of my son’s birthday cake.

The baker went to the back, and returned with my piece of vegan chocolate coffee cake; this time with icing.

To get the icing, it does cost around a dollar more, since they charge you by weight; but it’s worth it.

I made a habit of having them frost it for me and it wasn’t before long that they just began including the icing on those cakes anyway; keeping them in stock not only for me, but for the general public.

Therefore, I take credit for making it possible for vegans in to walk in to the Cool Springs Whole Foods and pick up a vegan treat.

My name shall go down in history.

2 Comments Posted on October 28, 2015October 28, 2015 Health, parenting, Pregnancy, Uncategorized

Family Friendly (Mommy) Blog: Jill Shell on Pregnancy Hunger Cravings

People often ask me what type of cravings I am having now that I am pregnant.

This used to be a funny question to me because when I was pregnant with Jack, I felt like I had virtually no cravings at all.

Actually, aside from the horrendous leg cramps that crept up in the middle of the night throughout the second trimester, I felt like I had very few “normal” pregnancy symptoms throughout the duration of it.

Well, I can tell you for a fact, I have cravings now!

It’s not the old fashioned “pickles with ice cream in the middle of the night” cravings; it’s the “you name it, I want it” type of cravings. For example, I was talking to a co-worker one day (who also happens to be preggers, too) and she mentioned how she stopped at Panera to grab a breakfast sandwich on the way to work.

Now, I am vegetarian not a vegan (because I don’t have the will power to say no to ice cream and things of that nature at all times), but because Nick is vegan, I often eat more of the vegan fare, which means we stay away from foods with animal products (no beef, no chicken, no fish, no dairy and definitely, no eggs).

Just a few months ago, I think I had even convinced myself that I was allergic to eggs. But wouldn’t you know, as soon as my friend began talking about that breakfast sandwich, the brain in my stomach started churning and demanding some eggs.

When I got home that night, nothing sounded good to me, but an egg and cheese sandwich, and I barely ate my dinner. Hours later as I laid myself down to sleep, I made my plan to get up just a few minutes early to make it into the Panera closest to work.

When my alarm rang, I got up without even so much as a hitch in my step and was out the door 10 minutes sooner than I had been in weeks. I was second in line in Panera and couldn’t wait to get my hands on that egg and cheese sandwich. And, even though my mouth suffered a few burns from eating it so quickly, it was just as every bit of delicious that I had needed it to be.

Please do not ask me how many times I have been back to Panera to get this same sandwich . . . it’s a little embarrassing just how much this little baby wonder in me is causing me to crave things I wouldn’t normally care about.

And, don’t even get me started on meat (blackened salmon and steak have never sounded so tempting) . . .

Leave a comment Posted on October 10, 2015 food reviews, Health, Storytelling, Uncategorized, vegan

Annie’s Vegan Organic Pasta Dinners (Vegan Mac and Cheese)

Thursday evening I came home from work, anxious to see the responses I had received after officially announcing just that morning that our family will have a new addition scheduled to arrive in April 2016.

(Take a moment to process that fact if you didn’t already know. That just happened this week.)

But before I could make it to the laptop, my wife informed me that we had received a package from Annie’s Homegrown!

It’s funny because before I even opened the box, I sensed what was inside, and I was indeed correct.

No one from Annie’s had ever told me they were working on “vegan mac and cheese” but I had a feeling they were; as they are keen to cater to organic, plant-based demographics like my family.

When I opened the box, there was a potato and a pumpkin with special messages for me.

Then I saw the brand-new product:

A box of Annie’s “Organic Vegan Shells & Creamy Sauce”, as well as their “Organic Vegan Elbows & Creamy Sauce”, which is made from rice.

Both options are made with pumpkin and sweet potato.

Here’s a reminder about vegan food: It contains no cholesterol. It may contain fat, but when you look at the cholesterol percentage, you’ll never see more than 0% on the label.

Some other things that make Annie’s vegan organic pasta dinners special compared to the average “mac and cheese” dinners is that these contain no artificial flavors, synthetic colors or preservatives.

I’m the vegan of our family (my wife and son are vegetarians) and I must say it sure was nice being able to eat mac and cheese for both dinner Thursday night and lunch on Friday.

Consider this: I’ve been a vegan for exactly 2 and a half years as of this week. That means no mac-and-cheese for that whole time for me… until now.

My wife was very delighted to see Annie’s had also sent a very nice vegan cookbook; as my wife is by default, a vegan chef. After all, she’s now exclusively been making vegan meals every day for our family for the past 2 and a half years.

It just so happens we are planning to launch a spin-off of Family Friendly Daddy Blog, which will feature my wife’s journey of “baby #2”, who is currently 12 weeks old inside the womb. My wife plans to also focus on cooking vegan meals as well.

Our son Jack was happy because he took it upon himself to decorate the pumpkin that Annie’s sent us.

So there, you heard it first from me: Annie’s now carries “vegan mac and cheese.”

Leave a comment Posted on October 8, 2015October 8, 2015 Health, parenting, Spirituality, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Dear Holly or Logan: You’re Due on April 21, 2016

12 weeks.

Dear Holly or Logan,

Where should I begin? First of all, let me officially proclaim it: You exist. In about 6 months, you will be meeting your family face to face.

You are a human being with a soul. You are currently 12 weeks old.

God has created you and is knitting together in the womb as I write this. He has placed you with us, the Shell family; you will be the newest and youngest member.

It sounds so cosmic, doesn’t it? But I suppose it really is.

By the way, I am your Daddy. I will serve as your guide, your mentor, and ultimately, the narrator of your life.

You will learn so much from me. But I can’t fit it all into just one letter. That’s why I’ll be writing you at least once a week, for the rest of your life; just like I have for your brother since several months before he was born.

Speaking of, you have an older brother named Jack, who will be 5 and a half years-old by the time you are predicted to be born on April 21, 2015.

And of course you can’t forget Mommy; you’re actually in her tummy right now. She’s taking good care of you.

Oh, you should know this: There’s actually a decent chance you and I could share our birthdays, since I’ll be turning 35 the day before your due date.

Right now, we don’t know whether you’re a girl or a boy. If you’re a girl, your name will be Holly; and if you’re a boy, your name will be Logan.

We should know for sure around the first week of December, which is 2 months from now.

Until then, I’ll just refer to you as “Holly or Logan.”

Now that you have met your family, you should take a look at yourself. That’s what all these black and white pictures are. That’s you.

It looks like you have a halo about you, as you can see. Apparently that’s the yolk sack, and it’s completely normal.

But it’s fun to think of you as a tiny little baby with a halo.

So there’s what you need to know for now. We should be seeing you in about 6 months. Until then, I have plenty more to say to you in a lifetime supply of letters to come.

Love,

Daddy

P.S. Here is a fun video I made with your brother, which helped tell everyone about you coming into this world.

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