28::26

more food for maeve... mango & peach.

28::21

i am so very thankful that my husband loves to cook delicious and fresh homemade food for our family and friends.    

28:16

fresh pizza dough... recipe here.

autumn cooking and craft

calvin and i made the maple nut granola from feeding the whole family a few weeks ago for my mom. she was coming for a visit and she loves yogurt and granola for breakfast. my mom didn't love it, but calvin and i sure did. it was delicious! great for breakfast, snacking or even dessert!

i also made the emerald city salad from the same book. as i was making it, i wondered if it would taste too earthy because it is mainly wild rice and kale. i loved it. calvin loved it. even my mom loved it. it was a terrific and very healthy salad to have it the fridge to put on the side of anything. my mom and i even put it on tacos.

my sister took calvin out for a walk and they collected some fallen pine cones, leaves and acorns. then they drew pictures of their collection. such a simple and wonderful idea. (the stick colored pencils came from my aunt, they were perfect for this project!)

birthday

it was sam's birthday a couple of weeks ago. i like to cook, but he loves to cook. he loves to make new and different recipes and he loves eggplant. i don't love eggplant. but for his birthday i was determined to find an eggplant recipe to make for us all that was tasty and everyone (including me...) would eat.

so i made rigatoni with eggplant puree. it was delicious. seriously. calvin and i ate eggplant happily (plus my sister and nephew too). sam said it was the best thing i have ever made.

sam also loves nectarines so i made a nectarine galette. it was my first time making anything pie-like from scratch. everyone loved it! i especially loved the almonds on top. fruity and nutty together is so good.

sam is one amazing guy. he works so hard at his job and then makes the most of every moment he spends with us. he cooks, he cleans and makes me feel special every day. happy birthday babe!

2.5

calvin was two and a half last sunday. he is growing so quickly right before my eyes. he loves the word 'why?" at the moment. i mean seriously loves it. he is so curious about how things work and why things are the way they are. sam started having little talks with him as they snuggle off to sleep. these talks consist of calvin saying "talk to me about ______" and then sam talks about whichever subject calvin chooses and calvin inserts about 100 whys. last night i got the chance to snuggle with him and he asked me to talk to him about football. football? i gave it my best shot, but after a few unanswered "why's" calvin changed his mind and said, "ummm talk to me about daddy." that i could do. these talks have spilled over into our everyday conversations. calvin found a cicada shell the other day and looked at me and said, "talk to me about cicada's." then came the why's...

he has been a wonderful big brother. he is so gentle and loving to maeve and he has so many plans to do with her and things to teach her when, as he puts it, "she grows bigger and bigger and bigger".

he is very into the crystal that hangs in our kitchen window making rainbows while we eat breakfast so for his half birthday he wanted a rainbow cake. luckily i remember seeing one here. he loved making it and eating it! sam put one too many sticks of butter in the white cake recipe so it sorta tasted like a big sugar cookie... fine by calvin.

happy half birthday calvin!

fiddleheads

fiddleheads are a delicious local treat. and there are only here for a short time, like maybe a month. my friend and native nutmegger, libby, introduced them to me a couple of years ago and now i stake out the local markets at the end of april/beginning of may looking for this rare treat. they taste like a mixture of asparagus and artichoke - two of my favorites.  we made them for the first time this season the other night (and by we i mean sam), and they were as good i remember.  if you're a local, check them out!  

28::19

we made this delicious and easy focaccia.  see the birthday crown?  calvin wants to wear it everyday since his birthday, which is so adorable... but he also wants cake and presents daily.  who wouldn't?

mojito salmon

have you tried the mojito salmon from trader joe's? i am not a salmon lover, but i have been trying to incorporate salmon into my diet (and my family's diet) over the past year or so. my attempts at making it in a variety of ways have been, well... less than stellar. not matter how i make it, it still tastes so... salmon-y.  well while shopping at trader joe's i spied 'mojito salmon' in the frozen section. i like mojitos... so i decided to give it a try.

it was delicious! and so frickin' easy. i highly recommend it. everyone ate it and calvin did not even ask for ketchup!

chocolate-y

we made the chocolate rice crispy treats from the october food magazine. they were delicious! i had planned to make them for our halloween party but ran out of time. so on friday i made them with calvin and our neighbor. it was great recipe to make with kids. they could taste all the ingredients as we made them (no raw egg to contend with...). it was calvin's first introduction to the marshmallow. he did not like the raw marshmallow, but loved the finished rice crispy treat.

the party and the day after

our halloween party was a success. the little ones had fun and played well together. all of the moms and dads got along as well. i did not want to go overboard on decorating because a) we don't have a lot of money for decorations and b) the decorations you can buy at party stores are often a bit cheezy and get thrown away so quickly. so i went for the less is more approach and ordered these little paper trees from here. i punched holes in each one and hung them on some baker's twine. i also got 10 helium balloons with extra long strings on them so that the little ones could reach them easily. i just threw them in the livingroom and i was done. oh and i also put up the birthday bunting i make for calvin's first birthday. i liked how it turned out... festive without being overdone.

it was a potluck. everyone brought delicious food. i tried to make the chedder cheese cobwebs out of this months food magazine. see photo above. they looked great until i cooked them. then they turned into chedder cheese blobs. they actually tasted okay and they were gone by the end of the night. we also made the acorn squash quesodillas and the kale and swiss chard gratin. they were perfect.

saturday morning sam and calvin spent a long time palying the guitar. it is amazing to me that right when calvin picked up the guitar he started strumming and singing. no particular song, but definitely sing-songy words came out. then today at breakfast he started singing 'a bushel and a peck'. i melted right there. then when he got to the end, he pointed at me when he sang "about you, about you". i choked back tears as my little one kept singing.

kale and swiss chard

my friend lisa is always touting kale and swiss chard as being the best-for-you foods ever. i like them raw in salad... but that is about it. cooked...well... they taste like dirt to me.

then one day i was chatting with crissy and she was making a kale and swiss chard recipe that she claimed was delicious. i asked for the recipe and she promptly sent it (on retro cabbage patch stationary no less...).

then sam and i were at the farmer's market over the weekend and there sitting on a wooden table of one of the vendors were kale and swiss chard. so decided to give crissy's recipe a shot.

it was frickin' delicious. so good i have already made it twice more. calvin loves it too. here is the recipe (which is a tweaked version of a recipe from yoga journal):

Kale and Swiss Chard Gratin

1 large yellow onion

2 tbsp butter plus 2 tsp

1 head kale

1 head swiss chard

1 tsp salt

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup milk ( i used soy)

4 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese

3 tbsp breadcrumbs

1. cut the onion in half lengthwise; then slice it into the thinnest slices possible

2. in a large, heavy bottomed skillet with a cover, melt 2 tbsp butter over medium high heat. when it foams add the onions, reduce the heat to low, and cover the pan, letting the onions sweat, stirring them occasionally until they are nearly dissolving.

3. cut the kale and swiss chard into very thin slices and add them to the onions. fitting all of it into the pan will seem impossible, but it will wilt considerably. put the cover on and cook until the cabbage has wilted, about 10-15 min. remove the cover and continue to cook, stirring until the kale and chard are soft, another 10-15 min.

4. preheat oven to 400 degrees

5. spray baking sheet with olive oil spray and set aside

6. sprinkle the salt, pepper and flour over the greens, and stir. increase the heat to high, stirring still and then add the milk, a little at a time, continuing to stir, creating a sauce for the vegetables.

7. when it has thickened, in about 5 minutes, spread the mixture evenly into the prepared baking dish. mix the cheese and breadcrumbs together and scatter over the surface. dot with the remaining butter, and bake until the top is crusty and golden and the edges are bubbling, about 20 minutes. serve hot from the baking dish.

*it keeps in the fridge and seems to keep getting better.

enjoy!

making::food

i have not been doing much sewing lately... but i have been busy in my sewing sketch book with holiday gift ideas (i know it seems too early to be talking about it, but i always seem to be crunched for time the last few days before christmas, staying up until the wee hours on the sewing machine, so i am hoping to get an early start this year to avoid the stress).

we have been doing a lot of cooking. this months food magazine is a good one and we have already made a few recipes. over the weekend we made broccoli and corn chowder (delicious!). it was easy, very tasty and everyone ate it. we made lots and froze some. i love finding it in the freezer in a months time and with a simple re-heat, voila! dinner's ready.

we also made acorn squash quesadillas from smittenkitchen. (the camera battery died just after i snapped the above shot so i don't have any other pics...follow the link for her great step-by-step photos) they were sweet and yet spicy. we had never used acorn squash in anything but soup before and these turned out super good. so tasty in fact that i think we are going to make them for the halloween party that we are having. i am going to try making them ahead of time and then just re-heat them in the oven. i tried it in the toaster oven and it worked. hopefully the oven will provide the same results and allow me to increase the quantity. (fingers crossed)

apples!

the temperature has dropped significantly around here in the last week and in honor of the cooler crisp air we visited our local apple farm.

calvin and i decided to make mom's apple bread from smittenkitchen. as we were making the bread he kept on saying, "calvin bakin' ". i couldn't get enough of his sweet little voice so i continued to ask him what he was doing, to which he would reply "calvin bakin' ". he just learned how to say his name and now he speaks in the third person regularly.

it came out pretty good. the bottom crust is a bit hard, but i think that is due to my 1950's unreliable oven. the fact that i substituted the oil for apple sauce also may have contributed. but the bread is still being eaten around here at a pretty quick pace so i don't think that anyone minds too much.

summer cookin'

we have been on a quinoa kick and sam whipped this up the other night as a side for turkey burgers he was grilling. he sort of made up the recipe, but basically he stir fried asparagus, onion, garlic, and some curry powder. then added that mix to the cooked quinoa and added some feta. we loved it and best of all, calvin loved it too. yay! something we can all eat! it is so nice to make meal and everyone eats it.

we have tons of summer squash from the farmer's market right now so i made this summer squash pizza. i put the squash under the cheese which worked well. it cooked through and tasted delicious.

i also made this herbed summer squash and potato torte that i saw over at smittenkitten and i highly recommend this recipe (i also highly recommend looking at her sight because her pics are much better than mine...). we had it as a main dish, but it would make a great side. i cut the potatoes and squash by hand with a knife and it took me about 25 minutes, but a mandolin would make this a fast prep recipe.

it is a super nice august here in new england. it is a 'spend every moment outside' kind of nice. so we have been eating meals outside. we had a deer wander through the backyard the other night during dinner. calvin is now obsessed with deer. while playing outside he asks "where deer go?" when i answer that i am not sure he replies, "deer go home". this line of questioning repeats about every 15 minutes. i don't get tired of hearing his little inquisitive voice ask. so cute.

blueberry jam

the plethora of blueberry picking has led me to jam making. i have never made jam before, but i read about it here and was inspired. i got a few books from the library and read as much as i could about preserving fruits and making jam.

i found a recipe in one of the books for blueberry jam that did not require any pectin (since i did not have any). then i set to work. lucky i was on the phone with crissy as i was making the jam because she is an experienced jamstress and answered all of my questions. it smelled delicious as it was cooking. just the sort of summer berry smell i was hoping for.

i filled the bottles and boiled them shut.

ready and waiting for a cold winter day when i need that warm berry smell to remind me of summer.

dogs, balloons, and stuff

i love japanese fabric. i especially love this linen fabric i just got. two of calvin's favorite things right now are dogs and balloons. so i HAD to get his fabric.

then i saw this one. cars and safari animals. ohhh. again had to get it.

i whipped these two bibs out last night and calvin already loves them. he is carrying around the one with the balloons and dogs everywhere.

i am thinking about making a little lunch/library bag out of the rest. i haven't quite decided yet though.

i have a huge week ahead. last week of my master's program...ever. i am very much looking forward to being done. also we have family visiting for a couple of weeks. i hope to get to some strawberry picking. all of the jam making around the blogisphere lately has got me itching to try making some. calvin just had toast with blackberry jam this morning for the first time and he loved it. the jam all over this face was precious.

bakin' and bacon

i am on a constant quest to make a delicious, yet healthy snack that is good to eat on the go and also easy to make. someone at work introduced me to these babies. they are made from Country Choice organic whole grain cereal (i found it at trader joe's). the recipe is on the back. they are low in sugar, but still taste yummy. i used whole wheat flour and added some flax to pack in more nutrition. there is a topping that i did not include when i made them, but my friend at work topped hers and wow! it was good. calvin LOVES these muffins. so i'm sure i will be making them weekly.

speaking of trader joe's... have you tried their turkey bacon? delicious! it is thick, but still crisps up when cooked. we love it around here.

easter and stuff

we had a fun easter here. it included a trip to virginia to see family. we drove during the day(which we don't usually do so that calvin can just sleep the whole way down) because we were trying to arrive there at a decent hour, but this caused up to have to stop for dinner. we were in the middle of nowhere new jersey and decide to get off when the navigation showed a lot of restaurants. all we ended up finding was a denny's. i haven't eaten there since high school, but the food is exactly the same. exactly. even the menus are the same. it was like a time warp.

my sister and i made these little nests that i saw here. they were easy and fun to make, and not to mention delicious. welcome spring! now it just has to heat up... it might snow here tonight?!?! making these nests will be fun when cal is a bit older.

this was calvin's easter basket. all his goodies were in a pail this year with a shovel attached. i am looking forward to lazy summer days, when my master's work is done, and i can sit on the beach and dig in the sand with him.

29:21

i made this blueberry buttermilk cake to take with us to the moutains. it is from this cookbook. i have been thumbing through the pages of this book for about a week now decided what to make first. not only do the recipes (which are divided by color) sound delicious, but the photography is fantastic and inspiring.

we are off to the snow for the weekend (we are supposed to get 8 inches tonight!). see you next week!