What's Good This Week

I've had some very proud parenting moments this week.

There was the one when, having delayed the small one's nap to accommodate daycare drop off, I got us all out the door rushed and frantic, only to pull up to the school and spot a conspicuous absence of strollers in the parking area.... Yeah, didn't realize they were closed for a planning day.

There was the one where, when I was letting my big kid ride up on his knees, facing backwards in his stroller seat, I manage to flip him out of the stroller and onto the pavement of a busy parking lot when I started moving quickly.

Or, when I told Niko to go play on some bikes and I'd just feed his brother before we went to the store I realized that I'd left the bottle in the microwave... at home... 45 minutes away from where we were.

Some of us were more pleased about daycare being closed than others.

Or, and this is probably the best, when another family treated us to ice cream at the park after the preschool year end concert, and my kid, who had been acting like a turd since I got there, was pitching a fit about not getting the right kind of ice cream (they were out of the dumb kids cone he wanted and he was instead given an EVEN BIGGER luxury adult cone, but three-year-olds be crazy).

Having FINALLY convinced him to try it he took one bite and started wailing and I snapped and yelled, NIKO, KNOCK IT OFF! I'M GOING TO TAKE THAT ICE CREAM AWAY IF YOU DON'T SMARTEN UP! Only to have another mom point out that he'd, in fact, bitten his tongue so hard that it was bleeding.

This is a sequential order of events, by the way, and coincided with Paul being away in Italy for an alpine marathon (yes, he is an actual crazy person, I appreciate your concern).

Year end concert at preschool. The paper crowns kill me.

So, you know what I gave my kids for dinner on Friday? Frozen pizza.

I went to the store and said, fuck this, I am not cooking tonight, I am not fighting about food tonight, this is what we're doing and it's done.

You know what? Frozen pizza is delicious. Frozen pizza is a good dinner. There is no shame in feeding your kids (and yourself) a frozen pizza when you feel it's appropriate. I felt it was appropriate.

Just in case any of you need permission to feed your kid (or yourself) a crappy meal from time to time, now you have it. I am the Nutrition Lady and I say it's ok.

I got Niko a plain cheese (aka, the king of pizzas) and myself a spinach and ricotta thing and Odin got to gnaw on the crusts of both of them. We had the leftovers the next day for a picnic and they were delicious then too. Now you know.

Yesterday we went to Skansen, this big open-air museum in Stockholm, with a friend of mine and her son. Totally by accident we turned up on drop-in wedding day, which is exactly what it sounds like. They have facilities set up in the main square to pull off a little wedding on a whim, including dressing tents, florists, places to get your hair and makeup done, and even a nail bar.

Then, you wait for your number to be called, choose whether you'd like a religious or civil service, and proceed to one of a dozen or so little tents for your wedding. Once the 10-ish minute ceremony is done, there are photographers available, a champagne bar, a music tent where a band will play your song by request, and a massive park full of places to stop and have a celebratory picnic.

I knew this was a thing they did, but I've never seen it before, and I must say I enjoyed the vibe. There were hundreds of couples milling about waiting to be married, people in wedding dresses ranging from super casual to super fancy, and the sound of champagne corks popping all throughout the park.

We steered our boys toward the Nordic animals and the children's zoo rather than disturbing the rivalry too much, but did head back to the main square for ice cream. While Odin slept and Niko went on a train ride with our friends, I sat in the shade and watched the weddings, which was a frankly lovely way to spend a warm June afternoon.

A sleeping baby is the best kind of baby, ammiright?

So, I polled folks here, on Facebook, and on Instagram Stories about dessert hummus and whether it should be a thing. To be clear, by dessert hummus I mean a sweetened chickpea based mush that you'd eat for dessert. Chocolate chip cookie dough hummus and the like.

It seems like about 60% of you are firmly against the notion, and 40% think it's delicious. I'm definitely in the no thank you group, I just can't wrap my head around it. Admittedly, I haven't tried dessert hummus before, so maybe I need to open my mind. I put beans in my smoothies and I've got a bean-based brownie recipe in the pipelines, so why should dessert hummus be so weird?

I don't know. It just is.

There's something I react to in the notion of dessert hummus because it seems like a product of diet culture and the shame around enjoying desserts, and I'd much rather just eat a damn cookie than have cookie dough hummus.

Interestingly, I also posted an Instagram poll with a video of me washing my pre-washed bagged greens, and THAT was way more provocative than the dessert hummus issue! People were either like OF COURSE YOU WASH THEM or GIRL, YOU CRAZY!!!

Guys, wash your pre-washed greens. Seriously. First of all, do you really trust the bag people?! I do not. And secondly, there have been more cases of food-born illness from salad greens than anything else lately, so you should be doing your due diligence. Wash 'em!

Also, apparently jaw botox *is* a thing. I stand corrected.

Aaaaaaand, remember last week when I said that "a reader" told me there's a connection between jaw clenching and forehead pain? Well the "reader" was my friend Sarah, who promptly messaged me and was like, "oh so I'm just a reader to you now?!"

I was worried that you guys were getting like, OK, WE GET IT, YOU HAVE A FRIEND! So I changed her name to "reader". I'm an ass. Please go read her post about Zero Waste Food Storage to make up for it.

ON HEY NUTRITION LADY THIS WEEK

We kicked off the week with a recipe for Balsamic Baked Strawberries that's so easy and delicious you'll be putting that shit on everything this summer. {Pin for later}

And because you need something to do with that bonkers delicious strawberry sauce, I updated an old (and frankly kind of tragic) recipe from the archives for Strawberry Yogurt Cake. {Pin for later}

Lastly, I did a deep dive into digestive health with this article What Are FODMAPS. This is actually the first of a series of posts about FODMAPS, so you can look forward to more content coming in this area soon! There is a printable version of this FODMAP food chart in the post, be sure to click through to get it! {Pin for later}

WHAT’S TRENDING ON HNL

You’ll always find the top 5 recipes (like Mung Bean Curry and Chia Fresca) over in the sidebar. Here’s a look at what else is trending this week, according to Google Analytics:

1. 37 Vegetarian Freezer Meals For New Moms. {Pin for later}

2. Is Popcorn Healthy? {Pin for later}

3. Chocolate Black Bean Smoothie. {Pin for later}

4. No Sugar Banana Bran Muffins. {Pin for later}

5. 20 Vegetarian Lunch Ideas. {Pin for later}