What kind of mom am I?

I try to be the mom I "should be". I'm not the mom I "should be". It's all the little things that make me doubt myself. It's the yelling every 5 minutes - because they drive me crazy. It's when they paint on the carpet, turn the living room in to a pig sty, etc... I "should" play with them more - may be then they won't have time to create a mess.

So to make up for my missing gene - the one that would make me enjoy arts and crafts and games with the kids - I tend to overly "mother" in other ways. Vitaly and I drive the kids to classes 4 days a week, I test the big monkey on her spelling words, over and over again, so she can be sure to get a 10/10 (and get her bonus words too), we read every night and I worry like there's no tomorrow.

Which brings me Sunday's. Sunday afternoon's I try to take the kids on play dates so they can play with other kids at the park, at our house, and their house, etc... Today we are going to the park with our friends and we are bringing food. This way we can stay at the park until almost bed time.

A friend of mine gave me a platter of chicken and corn tortillas from her work, so I will be bringing that. I also decided it needed something else - so I made two boxes of couscous. Then I remembered that I just saw a recipe for Easy Layered Beans and Rice from "The Meatless Gourmet: Easy Lowfat Favorites" on the Cooking Light Bulletin Boards. So I made that too. Our friends are bringing snacks, dips, water, juice, etc... Of course it would have been easier to order pizza's, but that's just not the way I roll (lol).

I guess in our own ways, we all try to over-achieve for our kids in what ever ways we can to make up for the ways we can't/won't. Of course - knowing logically that I'm a good mother, because otherwise I probably wouldn't worry, still doesn't make me feel better about all my "self-perceived" shortcomings.

Easy Layered Beans and Rice

HEAVILY adapted/changed from "The Meatless Gourmet: Easy Lowfat Favorites"

1 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked

1 marinated jalapeno pepper, diced

1 (8-oz) can corn, drained

1 1/4 cups boiling water

1 can 3 pepper salsa (Trader Joes)

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup mexican blend shredded cheeses

Preheat oven to 375F.Lightly oil a deep 2-quart casserole or spray with a nonstick cooking spray.Spread rice in the casserole. Sprinkle with pepper. Spread corn evenly over rice. Gently pour broth over corn.Spoon half of the salsa evenly over the corn. Spoon beans over the sauce, followed by remaining sauce.Cover tightly and bake 45 minutes.Uncover, sprinkle with both cheeses, and return to oven until cheese is melted and begins to brown, 5-10 minutes.

This is REALLY good! It can easily be a filling for tortillas. It could use a little chipotle pepper to up the spice a bit, but for kids it was perfect.