My Husband’s Birthday, Hummus and Veggie Wraps, and DJ’s 1st Haircut

Whew! I’ve got a lot of ground to cover…

Today is my sweet husband’s birthday! To celebrate, Cakes gave him a makeover.

She made him wear the neon green vampire teeth, because they’re his “makeover teeth.” Doesn’t he look thrilled?

We also bought him gifts:
A Chumlee (from Pawn Stars on History Channel) t-shirt
Beavis and Butthead on DVD (he’s not 12 years old – honest)
James Taylor’s Greatest Hits
New bedroom slippers
A jar of pickled okra (which he loves, and everybody else hates)

As you can probably tell, he’s a man of varied and eclectic tastes.

I made his favorite birthday cake – white, with chocolate frosting:

As well as poached eggs, and scratch cranberry streusel muffins for breakfast.

For lunch, I made hummus and veggie wraps, my homemade version of a restaurant favorite (you know how I love veggies, and especially veggie sandwiches – see The Famous Veggie Deluxe Sandwich). We had this wrap once at our local bulk/organic foods store, which also serves breakfast and lunch, but at $5.99 for half a wrap and a cup of soup, it wasn’t exactly a bargain. For around $4.00, I can make two WHOLE wraps at home, and they’re SO delicious! Honestly, I think I could eat one every day, and considering that I need a lot of variety in my diet, that’s really saying something. If you’d like to try this recipe at home, you’ll need:

Hummus. If you have a favorite brand of hummus, go for it. If not, you might want to try my scratch recipe. It’s great! (My husband calls it YUM-mus). I even make tahini from scratch by toasting hulled sesame seeds and blending them in my coffee grinder with a little olive oil. I started doing this when my favorite tahini rose sharply in price.
A package of your favorite tortillas. We like Mission sun-dried tomato and basil wrap tortillas for this sandwich.
A mix of fresh, raw veggies. Today I used romaine lettuce, red onion, red and green bell pepper strips, cucumber, and carrots.
An avocado, cut into small segments. I like Haas best.
Your favorite salad dressing.  Today I used Kraft Sun-dried Tomato Vinaigrette. It was excellent.

Just warm the tortilla for a few seconds in the microwave so it’s pliable, spread with hummus, top with your veggie mix and avocado segments, and drizzle with salad dressing.

Roll up, slice in half, and enjoy!

In other news, DJ got his first haircut! He really, really needed one, but he wasn’t happy about it. I had to bribe him with a steady stream of Skittles from those quarter candy-vending jars in the mall, and when that no longer worked, I let him spray me (A LOT) with the stylist’s water bottle.

Bee was sad, because she said he didn’t look like a baby anymore. She always tells me how much she’ll miss “his baby years.”

In my own desperate attempt to hang on to his babyhood, I saved a lock of his fine, silky, baby hair. This is one of those weird Mommy things that people who’ve never had children can’t understand. I have a “memory box” for each of my kids, containing their hospital ID bracelets, going home outfits, locks of hair, lost baby teeth….and really, what am I going to do with their teeth? I have a feeling that someday, when they’re grown, if I present them with a box of their teeth, they’ll probably say, “EEEWWWW!” and have me put in a home.

I did draw the line at saving their umbilical cord stumps, because I found them slightly repulsive, and also because someone I know told me that she saved her first baby’s cord stump in a container, and when she opened it a couple years later, the smell was so revolting she almost passed out.

But if you DID save your baby’s cord stump, don’t worry…I won’t judge you. Believe me, I get it.

Tagged as: Bee, Cakes, DJ, Economical Eats, Holidays and Celebrations, Parenting