Cubby Archive: Dec 17, 2020

This Cozy Home (in One of the Coolest Suburbs) Embraces a ‘Poetic vs Perfect’ Design Philosophy

Don’t dismiss the value of a child’s input. Their wildly imaginative and sometimes brilliantly simplistic ideas are key to the design plan.

Adrienne Breaux

Dec 17, 2020

Grocery Shopping Used to Be My Alone Time … Not Anymore

What Cara Shultz misses most about her pre-pandemic routine isn’t the bars or parties: It’s the grocery shopping. After dropping off her 4-year-old son, Jack, at preschool, the New Jersey mom and YA author would often head to Trader Joe’s for a few essentials — and a sliver of peace. “They would play ‘80s Madonna and I would leisurely stroll the aisles, checking out the seasonal muffins,” Shultz says. “It was my ‘me time.

Lisa Lombardi

Dec 17, 2020

My Kids Can’t Stop Eating Their Vegetables, Thanks to This Freezer Trick

I could write a whole ode to the humble cream cheese sandwich. Cream cheese and jelly sandwiches got me through a particularly picky time when my daughter was in a nut-free preschool. And veggie cream cheese has become one the most reliable ways for me to get vegetables into my two kiddos. In fact, so much veggie cream cheese has been coming out of my kitchen that I make it in bulk and freeze it for future use.

Meghan Splawn

Dec 17, 2020

5 Ingenious, Family-Friendly Dinners from Joanna Goddard of Cup of Jo

When it comes to feeding her family of four, Joanna Goddard — the voice and founder of the much-loved lifestyle site Cup of Jo — is all about keeping it simple and ultra-comforting with weeknight dinners that she, her husband, and her small boys can love. Like us, she’s a big fan of Trader Joe’s and happily takes advantage of smart store-bought shortcuts to minimize time in the kitchen, as well as maximize time with her husband and adorable boys.

Kelli Foster

Dec 17, 2020

I Let My 4-Year-Old Rearrange Our Living Room—and It Was Surprisingly Fun

I’ve always loved rearranging furniture. It’s a great opportunity to deep clean and it just feels good to look at everything from a different perspective. My family is a few weeks out from beginning a living room makeover, and the state of the space is currently a jumble of pieces for the redesign mixed with pieces that have found their way in from other rooms—and a little bit o’ Christmas sprinkled in there because at this point, why not?

Ashley Poskin

Dec 17, 2020

The Best Ways to Clean Slime from Your Carpet, Sofa, Clothes, and More

To this day, my mother has a mark on her ceiling from when my younger sister threw a glob of slime on the ceiling and it stuck for a while. I guess the oils or whatever was in that abominable stuff seeped into the paint as the slime slowly dripped and squelched away from the ceiling and fell onto the carpet where, thank goodness, it didn’t stick.

Shifrah Combiths

Dec 17, 2020

How To Make Rolled Ice Cream at Home (No Fancy Equipment Required)

Whether you know this frozen dessert as Thai rolled ice cream, stir-fried ice cream, or even marble-top ice cream, its signature look and flavor are the same: Rolled tubes of sweet, milky, almost-chewy ice cream presented in a small cup with plenty of whipped cream and garnishes. Places that sell rolled ice cream make it on super-chilled flat tops or marble slabs specifically designed for rapidly chilling an ice cream base.

Meghan Splawn

Dec 17, 2020

75+ Easy, Wholesome Food Ideas for Toddlers & Preschoolers

Toddler parents know this one thing to be true: A hungry toddler is a cranky toddler. And while we’re often in a rush to feed our littlest eaters before they melt down, we also want to make sure they are regularly trying new foods and getting balanced nutrition, too. Need fresh ideas? We got you. Some of my fellow editors (all parents!) and I brainstormed a massive list of our favorite easy and wholesome toddler food ideas — and below, you’ll find all of them.

Meghan Splawn

Dec 17, 2020

Kids’ Weirdest Christmas Wishes, as Shared by Mall Santas

If you have kids or have spent a lot of time with them, you know they have an outsized ability to say things that catch you off-guard. Apart from parents and preschool teachers, there’s another group of people who get to hear kids at their most candid: mall Santas.Because mall Santas hear the deepest wishes of hundreds of kids per day, they’re bound to hear some interesting things. In a recent Reddit thread, mall Santas (and elves and Mrs.

Mia Nakaji Monnier

Dec 17, 2020

Martha Stewart’s Secret for the Best-Ever Baked Potato Ever

Last year, thanks to my colleague Sheela Prakash, I fell madly in love with jacket potatoes. As Sheela explains in her ode to the British take on the classic baked potato, a longer baking time at a lower temperature makes Russet potatoes incredibly crisp on the outside and super fluffy on the inside. So when Martha Stewart shared a method for something similar using Yukon gold potatoes on her Instagram page, I knew I had to try it.

Meghan Splawn

Dec 17, 2020

These Air Fryer Donuts Are Magically Easy to Make

Love donuts, hate deep-frying? Same. Luckily, there’s a way to get around that. In fact, this method is so easy, and it uses an appliance we’ve come to love (and know that many parents love too). If you aren’t currently the proud owner of an air fryer, let this be the recipe that convinces you to buy one. (Here’s a list of our favorites at a range of price points.

Grace Elkus

Dec 17, 2020