I was having lunch recently at a Cracker Barrel (love the country vegetable plate!).

A framed newspaper article hung next to my table. It was from 1942.

Newborn

In the article, there was a photo of three sisters who were in the maternity ward at the same time.

They had had their babies within five days of each other. They were wearing surgical masks.

When did women stop wearing surgical masks when they had babies?

Click here to read a 1944 article in The Journal of Pediatrics, “The role of the surgical mask in the prevention of cross-infections in hospital nurseries for new-born infants”

Click here to read about three generations of women and their experiences with childbirth.

How Long Do Women Stay in the Hospital?

My mother-in-law once told me that when she had my husband in 1945, she was not allowed to put her feet on the floor for a week. I think she was in the hospital for two weeks.

When I had our first son in 1968, I was in the hospital four days. Eleven years later, with our second son, it was three days.

Shortly afterwards, a nearby state sued insurance companies to make them let women stay in the hospital for at least 24 hours.

Insurance companies, state law and hospital policies vary for discharge from five hours to four days.

Click here for an overview of additional factors that affect length of time in the hospital after a baby is born, including cesarian birth, first baby, breastfeeding instruction and practice, and giving birth during non-routine hospital hours.

What About the Masks?

Although it is not clear when between the 1940s and the 1960s surgical masks for new mothers were abandoned, two trends combined to eliminate them – improved sterilizing techniques and the push for less medical intervention and a more natural childbirth environment.

As part of the understanding of the need to separate contaminated and sterile instruments and surfaces in an operating room, called the aseptic technique, drapes became the favored technique instead of masks.

When my second son was born in 1979, he was covered with an extra layer of sheeting that was going to be removed when they took him to the nursery so he would not contaminate the other infants.

I foiled their plan by putting my arm on top of the sheeting after he’d been placed on top of me.

If they’d told me what the procedure was, I would have been more careful. I, of course, was all wrapped up in the glow of how beautiful and perfect my son was.

With improved antiseptic techniques, women no longer had to wear masks in the maternity ward.

Now, the only time anyone has to wear a mask is if they have the flu.

With natural childbirth, introduced by a doctor in the 1930s, but not widespread until the 1960s, the emphasis changed from “twilight sleep” anesthetics that put a woman to sleep during labor until the baby was born to pain management, like epidurals, that left her awake.

Based on nothing more than the tv shows I’d watched growing up, I fully expected to go to sleep and wake up with a baby.

But, such heavy anasthesia was found to be harmful to baby and mother and this practice was stopped with the introduction of natural childbirth classes, training in relaxing breathing techniques and less harmful pain management medications.

Did you wear a surgical mask when you had your children?

Did you go to a natural childbirth class?

Did you know they don’t shave anymore? They found it causes infections.

To you and the wonder of childbirth.

Carol Covin, Granny-Guru

Author, Who Gets to Name Grandma? The Wisdom of Mothers and Grandmothers

http://newgrandmas.com

P.S. Click here if you want to order this blog for your Kindle.

Related articles

• Beyonce, Jay-Z Make People Wear Surgical Masks, Gloves before Holding Blue Ivy Carter! (celebs.gather.com)

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When Did Women Stop Wearing Surgical Masks in the Maternity Ward?

Wedding dresses are on my mind because I just wore mine to a 60s Beatles party.

A 1968 Bride in a Miniskirt

It’s easy to be authentic when you still have a dress from 1968.

Because I eloped, I did not wear the long, traditional wedding gown.

I wore a dress with a miniskirt that I already had. It was all white.

It looked like the short dresses you used to see on Laugh-In.

We got married at 4 o’clock on a cold, gray winter afternoon.

And, the flash on my camera didn’t work.

Some People Just Know How to Make You Feel Better

Feeling rushed – no bridal shower, no honeymoon, no father walking his only daughter down the aisle – what most annoyed me was the fact that I would never have any pictures.

One weekend, a month or so later, while my husband was in Boot Camp, my college roommate took me home for a home-cooked meal.

I shared my story with her mother.

“I understand perfectly,” she said. “Let me tell you about my wedding.”

And, she went on to describe the picture-perfect wedding most little girls dream about.

Family and friends were there. She had a beautiful, long, formal winter-white, velvet gown, as hers was also a winter wedding.

“And,” she said, “I have no photos.”

“Didn’t you have a photographer?” I asked.

“Oh, yes. We had a professional photographer and he took hundreds of photos. His film was bad.”

Suddenly, it was ok.

We re-visited the church where we married on our 40^th anniversary. I didn’t take any photos.

Has anyone ever told you a story to cheer you up, and it worked?

Have you ever shared a sympathetic story with your grandchildren?

Have you ever explained something to your grandchildren with a story about their parents?

To you and sharing the comfort of your stories with your grandchildren.

Carol Covin, Granny-Guru

Author, “Who Gets to Name Grandma? The Wisdom of Mothers and Grandmothers”

http://newgrandmas.com

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Did Anyone Ever Tell You a Story That Made You Feel a Lot Better?

Young Whooping Cranes, Migrating from Wisconsin to Florida in 2009, Led by an Ultralight Aircraft. Organized by Operation Migration

Whooping cranes almost went extinct in our lifetimes.

After overhunting and the loss of their habitat, the Whooping crane population was whittled down to 21 wild and 2 captive birds in 1941.

Then, something happened.

People decided to try to keep them from disappearing altogether.

In 1967, the Whooping crane was declared endangered.

In 1975, the U.S. and Canadian Wildlife Services tried to establish a second flock of whooping cranes by letting Sandhilll cranes foster them and teach them to migrate.

But, after growing up fostered by the Sandhill cranes, the young Whooping cranes would not mate with each other and the Sandhill cranes would not mate with them.

In 1993, a non-migratory flock of Whooping cranes was established in Florida. This flock is up to about 53 birds.

Who Came Up with the Idea of Teaching Whooping Cranes How to Migrate to New Wintering Grounds?

Inventor Bill Lishman taught Canada Geese how to migrate from Ontario, Canada to Virginia and South Carolina for the winter for the first time in 1993.

At the request of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to try the same thing with Whooping cranes, he and Joe Duff founded Operation Migration in 1999.

They teach Whooping cranes in Wisconsin to follow ultralight aircraft. Ultralights are like hang-gliders powered by the equivalent of a go-cart engine.

The pilots are dressed in costume as Whooping cranes and carry Whooping crane puppets.

The pilots in ultralights lead the Whooping cranes from a wildlife refuge in Wisconsin to a wildlife refuge in Florida for the winter.

The project is an effort to establish a new Eastern flyway to complement the flyway from Wisconsin to Corpus Christi, Texas.

How Many Whooping Cranes Are There Now?

In 2007, there were 52 Whooping cranes in the Eastern Migratory Population, using the Wisconsin to Florida route.

In 2011, there were 437 Whooping cranes altogether in the wild and 165 or more in captivity.

How Did Whooping Cranes End Up in Alabama?

The reason I was curious about Whooping cranes, however, is because of the ultralights.

Although I’m not current, I have a private pilot’s license. Ultralights fascinate me.

The FAA downed the 2011 flight of ultralights with Whooping cranes behind them on the way from Wisconsin to Florida.

They said the pilots were paid, not volunteers, and thus had to meet more stringent requirements than volunteer pilots of ultralight, or sport aircraft do.

I wondered what happened to the cranes.

The FAA eventually granted a waiver to allow the pilots and cranes to continue on to Florida, but by then the cranes, downed in Alabama, had had enough and decided to finish their winter stay in Alabama.

Click here if you would like to read the Operation Migration blog for up-to-date news on migrations. When they fly in the fall and winter, you can watch a live CraneCam.

The next winter migration is scheduled to leave from Wisconsin on October 8, 2012.

Who knew you could teach a bird, well, not to fly, exactly, but to fly where it’s safe and there is plenty of food.

Click here to order a movie loosely based on Bill Lishman’s story, “Fly Away Home.”

Click here to order a book by Bill Lishman about his journey with the Canada Geese.

Click here for more frequently asked questions about the Whooping crane migration, including why Wisconsin and Florida were picked as their summer and winter homes.

Click here for a Whooping crane glossary about Operation Migration.

Do you feel like ultralight aircraft look a lot like Icarus, who fastened wings on his back to try to fly?

Did you know we could teach birds where to fly?

Have you ever seen a Whooping crane?

To you and sharing the wonders of nature with your grandchildren.

Carol Covin, Granny-Guru

Author, “Who Gets to Name Grandma? The Wisdom of Mothers and Grandmothers”

http://newgrandmas.com

Related articles

• Migration Ends as Whooping Cranes Decide to Stop Flying (youngeagles.org)
• Pilots Can’t Teach Birds to Migrate Until FAA Rules (baynews9.com)
• Whooping Crane Migration Aided by Airplane (parislanding.com)

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Aren’t Whooping Cranes Extinct?

Playing Cards

The posts viewers spent the most time on last week were:

• What Do You Do That Is a Family Tradition?
• Do You Use Self-Serve at the Grocery Store?
• What Do You Do That Is a Family Tradition?
• Do You Remember When Gas Stations Used to Give Free Gifts?
• What Are Some Different Names for Grandmother?

The posts people spent the most time on last month were:

• Pennies from a Heav’n
• What Does a Memory Championship Have to Do with Cancer?
• Did Your Mom Ever Stop You from Doing Something and You Found Out Later She Was Right?
• Belinda is a Treasured Childhood Memory
• What Do You Do That Is a Family Tradition?

Coming up next week:

Aren’t Whooping Cranes Extinct? Monday, February 20, 2012

Did Someone Ever Tell You a Story That Made You Feel Better? Tuesday, February 21, 2012

When Did Women Stop Wearing Surgical Masks in the Maternity Ward? Wednesday, February 22, 2012

How Does What You Eat Help with Cancer? Thursday, February 23, 2012

Playing Cards, Shorts and Toes. Frugal Friday, February 24, 2012

Grandfather Poems. Funny. Poetry Corner, February 25 2012

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Weekly Recap. Sunday, February 19, 2012

Silver Pennies from the Vale of York Hoard, British Museum

Today’s poem is a wish that parents or grandparents might have for their children or grandchildren, born of a life’s wisdom.

I Bid You Keep Some Few Small Dreams

I pray that you may never have

The things you long for most,

For he who gratifies desire

Must pay a princely cost.

The world was spread out at my feet;

It spelled romance to me;

I spent ten years in travel –

Now there’s nothing left to see.

The doll I wanted as a child

Seemed strangely wonderful,

Until I held her in my arms –

Then she was just a doll.

The things we long for give to life

The purpose and the gleam.

The things we get, however fine,

Are never what they seem.

O rather would I bid you keep

A few small dreams in trust,

Than see you have the things you want

And watch them turn to dust.

Helen Frazee-Bower

Click here to order the book of children’s poetry from which this was selected, More Silver Pennies.

Carol Covin, “Granny-Guru”

Click here to order my book, “Who Gets to Name Grandma? The Wisdom of Mothers and Grandmothers”

http://newgrandmas.com

P.S. Click here to order this blog on your Kindle

Related posts

• More Silver Pennies. A Teacher Remembered. (newgrandmas.com)
• A Grandpa Looks Back. Pennies from a Heav’n. Book Thursday. (newgrandmas.com)

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Grandparents. Poems. Wishes.

Golf Ball

A golf ball is heavier than a tennis ball.

But, a tennis ball is bigger than a golf ball.

Which do you think would hit the ground sooner if you dropped them both at the same time?

You Will Need:

• A metal cookie tray
• A tennis ball
• A golf ball
• A feather (optional, but fun)
• A chair or stepladder to stand on

The Experiment

First, estimate which you think will hit the ground first. The metal cookie tray will help amplify the sound to tell you.

Then, decide why you think your decision is what will happen.

Is it the relative size of the balls? The relative weight of the balls?

Is there some other factor at work, like gravity or magnetism, the tides, the season, the time of day?

Finally, conduct the experiment to test your theory.

• Turn the cookie tray upside down on the floor next to the chair or stepladder.
• Stand on the chair and hold the golf ball and the tennis ball at the same height.
• Drop the balls at the same time.

Which one hits the tray first?

Do you hear one sound (bang) or two sounds (bang-bang)?

What Will Happen?

This is a trick. They both hit the ground at the same time. You will hear one bang.

Why?

Because gravity is a stronger force than the relative weight or size of the balls and it pulls them both with the same force.

Galileo published his theory that all objects with different weights would fall at the same speed in a vacuum in 1638.

Though his biographer claimed trhat Galileo tested this theory by dropping objects from the top of the Tower of Pisa, Galileo never wrote that he performed such an experiment.

Feathers Are Light. What Happens With Them?

What about if you drop a feather and golf ball at the same time?

The feather falls slower than the golf ball.

Why? Doesn’t gravity work on feathers too?

Yes, but the feather has so many air pockets in it that the air slows it down.

Astronaut David Scott tested this on the moon during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971.

With no air, gravity was the same for both the hammer and the feather and they hit the ground at the same time.

Click here to watch a video of Astronaut Scott performing this experiment.

Thanks to Bill Nye, the Science Guy for this activity.

Did you ever imagine you would have to go to the top of the Tower of Pisa to test Galileo’s theory?

Did your grandchildren figure out what was going to happen?

Did they want to test other objects, like a baseball ball and a pingpong ball?

To you and the delight of discovering the world through your grandchildren’s eyes.

Carol Covin, Granny-Guru

Author, Who Gets to Name Grandma? The Wisdom of Mothers and Grandmothers

http://newgrandmas.com

Related posts

• Universe. Nutshell.

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Why Doesn’t a Golf Ball Fall Faster Than a Tennis Ball? Frugal Friday.

U.S. Median Household Income

Though Book Thursdays usually review classic children’s books or cancer survivor stories, this one is about a cancer survivor who wrote an essay about how to cope with the despair of a cancer diagnosis.

A scientist and statistician, Stephen Jay Gould was diagnosed with abdominal mesothelioma in 1982.

When Gould asked his oncologist for the scientific literature he could read about his diagnosis after surgery, the doctor said there was nothing worthwhile to read.

Gould, used to deep research, set out to find out for himself.

That was when he learned the median time for survival of his cancer was eight months.

What Is a Median?

A median is a statistical measure that means half will live longer than eight months and half will live less than eight months.

A common measure for many things, the median, as in household income or median home price in a city, is a statistic we read about frequently.

If the median home price in your city, for instance, is $100,000, then half the homes in the city cost more.

Half cost less.

If the median household income is $50,000, then half the people in the city make more. Half make less.

Where these numbers can be misleading is if you have very low or very high numbers in the mix.

Let’s say, for instance that in a population of 20 people, two are making $1 million a year and 5 are making $10,000 a year, with the rest making $50,000.

Half are making $50,000 or less. Half are making $50,000 or more. The median income is $50,000. But, there is a lot of variation in each half.

What Is an Average?

We are more used to the common calculation of average.

If you add all the incomes for the 20 people in the above example and divide them by 20, you find the average income is $135,000.

Gould fell back on his training as a statistician to interpret the median statistic as it applied to him, and his training as a biologist to understand that the wide room for variation could be hopeful for him.

He wanted to be one of the, figuratively, millionaires, and set about to see if this was a reasonable expectation.

What Do Statistics Mean in a Cancer Diagnosis?

The first thing Gould wanted to know was whether he was likely to fall into the less than eight months or more than eight months half of the median.

None of the risk factors applied to him, so he reasoned he fell in the more than eight months half.

• He was young.
• His disease had been caught early.
• He had excellent medical care available.
• He had much to live for as he was in the middle of a well-respected scientific career.

He believed that attitude mattered in extending your life after a cancer diagnosis, by helping to build up your immune system, and was naturally confident and even-tempered.

He determined that those in the half who died before the eight-month median point gave the left half of the median a small band.

While those who died in the more than eight-month half could live for several years and still be within that statistical band.

This is what is called a right-skewed distribution, with the right side of the median stretching out in a long tail.

He had every reason to think he would be in the long right tail.

He says this understanding of what the statistics really said probably saved his life.

He was not lost to despair.

Are There Factors That Can Change the Statistics?

In addition to not having the risk factors associated with a poor outcome, Gould followed an experimental new therapy.

Since statistics can only report on what has already happened, introducing a new factor, like a new therapy, can change the outcome that statistics will only catch up with after several years.

Gould died in 2002, twenty years after a diagnosis that seemed to spell out an eight-month outcome. He died of an unrelated type of cancer after a complete recovery from mesothelioma.

Two months before he died, he published his definitive life’s work on evolutionary biology.

Click here to read Stephen Jay Gould’s entire essay, “The Median Isn’t the Message.”

Click here for a YouTube video of the essay being read, with some illustrative graphs and photos.

To you and the understanding that may give you peace.

Carol Covin, Granny-Guru

Author, Who Gets to Name Grandma? The Wisdom of Mothers and Grandmothers

http://newgrandmas.com

Related posts

• What Are the Odds?

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Does Attitude Matter in Cancer? Book Thursday.

I rarely use self-serve at the grocery store.

The Original Piggly-Wiggly in Memphis, Tennessee, the First Self-Service Grocery Store

I know it’s a generational thing. I know that some people prefer checking their own groceries and getting out the door to waiting in line for a cashier.

I know that the first President Bush was famously ridiculed for not knowing that cashiers scanned prices in instead of keying them into a cash register because it had been so long since he’d done his own grocery shopping.

In political terms, this meant he was out-of-touch with average Americans and he suffered for it.

But, he just hit the intersection of the relatively new scanners and typing in prices on cash registers. It’s not hard to hit those intersections.

When Did Self-Checkout Terminals Become Popular?

Introduced in 1987, but not widespread until 2000, there were 92,600 self-checkout terminals worldwide in 2008.

Although this number was projected to grow to 430,000 units by 2014, some major retailers are now taking them out of their stores.

Theft, customer dissatisfaction and anticipation of new technology, like scanning with smart phones, are cited as among the reasons for the withdrawal of the machines.

How Could Anyone Not Like the Convenience and Speed of Self-Checkout?

I’ve noticed little things that make me reluctant to use self-checkout terminals:

• Fresh foods that have no bar code on them
• Bar codes that don’t scan at all
• The machine scanning the wrong price on an item
• Figuring out how to recover if it seems it didn’t scan and you end up scanning twice
• Switching from scanning to finding the picture of an item on the screen to select
• The warnings from the machine if you don’t bag the items you’ve just scanned, since it compares the weight of the item in its database with the item on the belt.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been carded, so clerks don’t stop me when I buy wine.

Our grocery store now places clerks near the self-serve scanners.

If they notice anyone having trouble, or, if you just look up with a question on your face, they are right by your side to help.

Apparently, I’m not the only one that sometimes needs help.

Transactions using self-serve checkout were down to 16% of all transactions where this was an option in 2010, compared to 22% three years before.

The History of the Grocery Store

The self-serve grocery store, or supermarket, was a concept developed by an American, Clarence Saunders, in 1916, and patented in 1917 for his Piggly-Wiggly stores.

Before that, food was kept behind a counter and retrieved by clerks.

When I lived in Argentina in 1975-76, the counter and clerk model was the most common kind of market.

Supermarkets were just starting to take hold there.

Do Customers Care About the Social Aspects of Cashiers?

Just as with the transition to self-serve checkout, the clerk and counter arrangement was slower and more social than its supermarket replacement, and, similarly, more expensive because of the cost of labor.

I am a quiet person and had to take a class to learn how to start a conversation with a stranger, even though I’ve been doing my own grocery shopping since I was 21.

After my conversation starter class, I started practicing on cashiers at the grocery store. My son was so startled when I first started doing this he asked what I was doing.

“I’m practicing making small talk with people I don’t know. It’s a good skill to have and I need to learn how.

He is now a skilled speaker and host.

But, most people must not be as quiet as I am because social interaction is one of the reasons customers cite for preferring cashiers.

Self-serve checkout is still cheaper than having clerks at every cash register, because clerks designated to help shoppers can cover four to six self-serve terminals at once.

But, I’m willing to wait the three minutes in line to have a cashier do it all.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Do you prefer having someone to talk to when you check out?

Is speed or predictability more important?

How about your children?

To you and making life simpler for your grandchildren.

Carol Covin, “Granny-Guru”

Author, Who Gets to Name Grandma? The Wisdom of Mothers and Grandmothers

http://newgrandmas.com

Related post

• When Was the First Time You Used an ATM Card?

Related articles

• Grocery Store Grieving (grownandflown.com)
• Scan on a mission (boston.com)

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Do You Use Self-Serve at the Grocery Store?

I always loved that, but now, as a mother myself, understand it even more. Sentimentality, that is.

Here is how I see my children:

This is how a big part of me still relates to them. Cherishing every last morsel of their innocence; going to great lengths to give them the gift of more and more innocence – to keep the wonder alive. Occasionally using words with them that used to be an every day part of our vocabulary… These habits are hard to break!

Here is how they are now…

They are not babies. They are in the throes of school, and playgrounds, and bullies, and hurt feelings, and painful things that are just a part of life. I find myself really having to work on a conscious level with much intention to be present with them AS THEY ARE rather than as they were. All the while savoring every morsel of their ‘little girl-ness’ or ‘little boy-ness.’

How much longer will my son need the step stool in the bathroom?
How much longer will my daughter have to sit in the back seat of the car?
How much longer until my daughter no longer wants to sleep on the top bunk of my son’s bed?

Poor kids… There’s a lot of eye rolling going on in our house right now.

But I do have a little bit of time left! Time for being in the most exhaled place in their lives! (Well, friends have kind of taken over that spot.) Giving my 8 year old a ‘bathy?’ I can still get away with that one. Using different plates for them than I use for the grown ups? There’s really no need for that one anymore…

It’s the weirdest feeling. I don’t want to turn back the clock. Most mothers I know would say a big, ‘”NO THANK YOU!” to that one! I have no regrets, so I’m not feeling regretful about that time in their lives. I even really like having a nice chunk of time while they are at school to pursue work, shopping, or whatever needs to get done on a given day.

It’s just who I see when I look at them. And probably, I will always see them that way on some level. It’s good and pure and sweet, and a beautiful reminder of how God sees us, as his cherished children. But it is also imperative that I see them as they really are, and base our relationship on who they are rather than who they were or who they may become.

This Valentine’s Day, my wish for you is that you can enjoy the phase of life where your children are to the fullest. And in addition to that, truly ENJOY the woman you have become and continue to become alongside your children. Savor in the beauty that you have created in your family, the commitment you have shown to your kids, the lessons you have learned from any mistakes made.

You continue to inspire me and move me every day.

With love and gratitude for each of you,

Darcy

Start with Dried Cherry Scones as an appetizer, leading to a main course of Ravioli Pesto Hearts. Finish with Raspberry Shortbread Tarts or Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups with Sea Salt, and top it all off with Strawberry Milk! Maybe they don’t make a meal, but certainly each is an entirely fun Valentine treat!

Dried Cherry Scones (Makes 13 3-inch Heart Scones)

2 ½ Cups Flour
½ Cup Sugar
2 ½ Teaspoons Baking Powder
½ Teaspoon Salt
6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Chilled and Chopped
¾ Cup Whole Milk
½ Cup Dried Cherries
1 Egg, Beaten, or 1 Tablespoon Heavy Cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together first four ingredients in a large bowl. Add the butter to the flour mixture and mix with your fingertips, pastry blender, or two knives to form a coarse meal.

Add the milk and cherries and mix gently until just incorporated (the dough may look a bit dry, but allow it sit for a few minutes and the flour will soak up all the milk). Place dough on a lightly floured surface and gently press to 1 inch thick circle.

Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out scones. Place scones on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush hearts with beaten egg or heavy cream if desired (this will give the scones a golden crust).

Bake in oven for 25 minutes. Move immediately to a wire cooling rack and serve.

Ravioli Pesto Hearts Serves 4-5

1 12-ounce Package Wonton Wrappers
1 Recipe Weelicious Sun Dried Tomato & Basil Pesto (recipe below)
2 Tbsp Water
Parmesan Cheese, for sprinkling

Using a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut the wonton wrappers into hearts.

Place 1 tsp Pesto in the center of one wonton heart. Dip finger in water and rub around edges of heart.

Top with a dry wonton heart and gently press the edges to seal. If the wonton wrappers are not sticking just rub more water on the outside to help adhere.

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Gently place several hearts in the water and cook for 2 – 3 minutes.

Remove from water with a slotted spoon and place on a plate. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

For Weelicious Sun Dried Tomato & Basil Pesto , place 1 8.5 oz Jar Sun Dried Tomatoes, 1 Cup Basil (packed), 1 Small Garlic Clove, 1/2 Cup grated Parmesan Cheese, and 1/2 Tsp Salt in a food processor and blend until smooth. If the pesto is too thick, add additional olive oil.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Heart Tarts (Makes 10-11 Heart Tarts)

1/2 Cup Raspberries
1/4 Cup Whipped Cream Cheese
1 Tbsp Honey
1 Double Pie Crust Recipe or 1 14 oz Pre-Made Pie Crust
Water
1 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
10 Raspberries for Icing or 2 Tbsp Juiced Raspberries
1 Tbsp Milk or Water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the raspberries, cream cheese and honey in a bowl. Using the back of a fork, mash the raspberries with the cream cheese, leaving some pieces of raspberry intact.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the raspberries, cream cheese and honey in a bowl. Using the back of a fork, mash the raspberries with the cream cheese, leaving some pieces of raspberry intact.

Place one heart on a lightly floured work surface and place 2 tsp of the cream cheese mixture in the very center, leaving a 1/4? border around the cut-out.

Lightly dip your index finger into a cup of water and “brush” the border with the water (this will allow the two sides of the heart to adhere to one another).

Top with another heart and take the tines of a fork and gently press down along the edges to adhere (making sure the cream cheese mixture stays inside the heart pocket). With a toothpick, poke some holes in the top of the heart to remove any air pockets.

Place on a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until golden.

While the hearts are baking, take 10 raspberries, place in a strainer and press down with the back of a spoon to release raspberry juice into a bowl – should be about 2 tbsp of juice depending on how juicy the raspberries are.

Whisk in the milk and slowly pour in the powdered sugar to make icing. When cool, take a spoon and spread the raspberry icing over the hearts. Serve.

You can use prepared Pie Crusts too such as Pillsbury or your favorite brand. To Freeze: place hearts on a cookie sheet and freeze for one hour. Remove hearts and place in a ziploc bag, label and freeze up to 3 months. When ready follow steps 7-11, adding an extra 3 minutes to the baking time.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups with Sea Salt (Makes 20 Chocolate Cups)

¾ Cup Smooth Peanut Butter
¼ Cup Powdered Sugar
1 11.5 oz. Bag Dark Chocolate Chips (I actually think it’s 10 oz)
1 Tbsp Fleur de Sel

Place the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and melt for 90 seconds stirring halfway through until smooth.

Place 1 heaping tsp of the chocolate into paper liners in a mini muffin tin and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, roll 1 tsp of the peanut butter mixture into balls and then flatten into disks and then place on top of the refrigerated chocolate mixture.

Top with remaining melted chocolate, a few flakes of fleur de sel and refrigerate until set. Peel the papers off and eat. Serve refrigerated or at room temperature.

Strawberry Milk (Serves 2)

1 Cup Milk
¾ Cup Fresh or Frozen Strawberries, defrosted
1 Tbsp Agave Nectar or Sugar

Place all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve immediately.