Nuts, Grains, And Lost Marbles

This is Mark's new breakfast. It's probably the healthiest cereal in the world, and has already worked wonders for him. He sprinkles some cinammon on top, and calls it good. Not sure that I'm ready to jump on this bandwagon, but I'll let you know it if I ever decide to. These small packets are just to start out with to see if it helps him at all. I've already been scouting out bulk prices and have found most of this at either Haggen's or the Food Co-Op. Still working on hunting down the hemp seed.

Juice art. The green -or kiwi's- would only show up without the flash. I thought it looked cool enough to take a dark picture of. I believe this was oranges, mango, kiwi's, and carrot's. It was tart, but we drank it and the girls actually enjoyed it. They had fun drinking it together at their little table.

So I hadn't made bread in a while, and was a bit scared to at first. We've been eating so light, I was worried that bread would do me in. I snuck into Mark's cereal box and stole some raisens and roasted flax seeds. It gave the bread a nice flavor and tasted good with the vegetable soup and rice.

Veggie soup...yes, again. This time I added some fresh broccoli and garlic. I had more beef broth than chicken broth so I used both of them together and it came out well, had nice blending flavor. This pot is so big, sometimes I wish I had one smaller than this, but larger than my largest sauce pan. Spoiled.

Speaking of blending. This was my "lunch". Dry roasted peanuts (no salt), banana's, chocolate frozen yogurt, milk, a heavy scoop of protein powder, and of course ice. A full blender makes enough smoothie or shake for all 4 of us to have an appropriate serving. Again, I think the girls are liking these little juice and smoothie surprises. They giggle and laugh, and make a mess or two, then giggle some more. Then they pitter patter over to me and look up with the messiest little smiles asking for more. Makes me want to bake them a cupcake.

Today was my day at the preschool. Dealing with other peoples kids can be a challenge. Some are just brats, and some are so sweet. I've been toying around with some fundraising idea's lately, and feel I have come up with some good ideas, but haven't completly crossed the line toward's obligating myself. Baking a bunch of my most complicated cakes would require me to spend no less than 3 days in the kitchen - without a babysitter - to pull it off.

I've also been thinking about making a ton of chocolates. Liquor laced chocolates, butterscotch chocolates, hazelnut chocolates, peanut butter chocolates. It's far less time consuming, I can make ahead and freeze no problem since they have to be cool anyways. I could take my time to really perfect them all, and the stress - would be eliminated. I kinda don't like this fundraising thing.

Today's Take

While out today with my girls, I stocked up on a few extra fruit items for the juicer and blender (for smoothies). We fly through banana's already and have been using them for smoothies so I bought some more, just to ensure I didn't run out. Also found some good pears, a mango, and grapefruits.

I also came to the realization that I would have to change my grocery shopping schedule to accomadate for the constant flow of very fresh fruits and veggies. That will also take some adjusting as I spent a long time perfectly timing when I run out of staple items - so I only had to endure the sometimes 4 hour shopping trip just once every 2 weeks. It will be worth it in the end but will take some getting used to. I think I have a strong love-hate relationship with grocery shopping.

Being a mom has been difficult lately. Learning to let go, but wanting to hold on, is harder than I ever thought it could be. I've let go of Mia being a baby, and then a toddler, and accepted that she's now in preschool. I see her forming friendships at school and I know what's around the corner. Sleepover's, school 5 days a week, sports, teachers, a coach or two, friends parents - and then as I was browsing Pinterest, I found that perfect saying to match how I felt. "It's been lovely but I have to scream now!" Perfect.

I have this urge to re-arrange the house, mainly just the girls stuff. I still would like to update Mia's room. I came to the harsh reality just today in fact, that I would soon not be able to change Isabel on her changing table. She's just getting too big for it. I suppose I should figure out how to utilize it into a bookshelf or something. Before I know it, she's going to be in a big girl bed. It's been lovely but I have to scream now!

I'm excited to be moving forward in this direction, but it scares me at the same time. My parents will never fully understand how much I appreciated the freedom I was given as a child. I wonder if I'll be that strong as a mother as time goes on. I only see myself as the overprotective, ready to pounce, eyeballing every strangers every move, type of mother that desperatly needs to learn how to give my girls the freedom I had, but still be myself, as well as a protective, loving parent. Is there really a middle ground? I need to find it.

The Juicer

Today I started juicing. I don't plan on getting obsessive over it, but would like to do it at least once a day. My husband was up with me this morning (not normal) so I thought it would be a good time to start. I started with basics and juiced apples, oranges, and carrots.

Here we go! It takes a lot to make a little. I remember that from the last time we juiced.

Breakfast. It really wasn't bad, the apples definitly helped with the flavor. I will say it didn't go well with my morning coffee, but luckily I was in a hurry to get Mia to preschool and head down to the Food Co-Op. Today was 4% Friday, so our preschool recieved 4% of the Skagit Valley Food Co-Op's total sales for the day. So I went down and contributed some bucks, talked to customers and promoted. It was fun, different, and should be pretty successful! Yay!

Dinner. Chicken, avocado, tomato, cucumber, spinach, arugula, seasonings and a bit of Italian dressing. Did good for my 60% uncooked! I did make a pot of Miso, since I stocked up on fresh Miso from the co-op, and I made some sweet potato mash.

Oh and I almost forgot! For lunch I made a protein smoothie. Bananas, chocolate syrup, chocolate frozen yogurt, ice, and a scoop of protein powder. It was yummy! Sort of craving a burger, but I'm good. Tomorrow I shall experiement with kiwi's. Goodnight!

The Last 2 Weeks

For those that don't know, the past 2 weeks have been crazy, scary, and full of anxiety. My husband was admitted into the hospital after going to the walk-in clinic with sharp stomach pains. He was there for 3 days. After running a bunch of tests including a CT scan, he was diagnosed with a severe case of diverticulitis, and a few things on the side.

As a result, he has been on more meds than we can keep track of, it's terrible, and terrible on him. I now have to change my whole thinking of food. He has been on a special bland, soft food diet and it's been hard to come up with things. Last night I did make a good vegetable soup with some jasmin rice that was actually really good, easily digestable, and something I would make again just because it was good.

We were never food junkies, but we weren't health nuts either. We were in the middle. We always stayed away from processed foods and made things from scratch, so I'd say 90% of the time, we knew exactly where our food came from. No packets, no premade, crap.

Now I have to step this up a notch. I have been thinking about how I could go about this without freaking out or starving myself. So here it is:

60% uncooked fruits and veggies.

30% breads, pastas, and any cooked deliciousness that we would enjoy.

10% proteins - preferably chicken and fish before red meat, and an occasional sweet treat and any fats.

Part of me is excited, part of me is dreading, and part of me wants to see how many vegetables I can put in my shopping cart next week. Instead of the regular 2 bags worth, I expect to see 5-6 bags of fresh fruits and veggies. Now, I also have a juicer, but that's a whole other post.

Good Lunch

Our lunch went well! I didn't get a picture of everything, but did get some. I infused garlic and fresh sprigs of rosemary in some good oil the night before. The flavor of it the next day was amazing! I finally got to use this cute little jar.

I made ciabatta strata bread to go with the oil for dipping, and it also went with the baked tomato and feta that was drizzled in the flavorful oil and littered with fresh chiffonade basil. Bread came out good, here it is rising for the 3rd time.

The night before instead of doing something like cleaning - Mia and I baked a batch of good ol' oatmeal cookies. Just for fun.


The fish. This is the Steelhead that I made, I kept it simple by bathing it in lemon juice, sprinkled with sea salt and pepper, a descent amount of dill and a couple chunks of cold butter. Stick in oven of 400 for 15 minutes and this practically melts in your mouth.

I have no proof of dessert. But really, I made Banana mousse with butterscotch sauce drizzled on the dish and on top and then I grated semi-sweet chocolate for a garnish. It was a great lunch and we all had a good time. My husband laughed when I asked him what he wanted for dinner.

Use The Avocado

My breakfast. BLTA with cheese. Now I'm craving another one.

Dinner. This heap is a lot bigger than it looks. I had these wrap size tortillas that are just huge so I filled them well. There's a huge pile of greens, topped with fresh vegetables, lime juice, cilantro, chicken and then we later drizzled salsa verde sauce all over the top. We rolled it the best we could and dug in. I'm getting better at serving 50% uncooked vegetables for dinner.

So tomorrow I get to make this nice big lunch, and I'm excited to put some of my dinner party recipes to work. I plan on making baked tomato and feta cheese, 2 loaves of ciabatta strata bread to go with it, jasmin rice with butter and pepper, baked Steelhead, a green salad, and banana mouse with butterscotch ripple for dessert. I will be infusing oil for dipping the bread in, although I'm not sure with what, it's too easy to not experiment with.

I will be starting all my preperations today including cleaning, thawing my fish, infusing oil, making bread, and making the dessert - which can be refridgerated until needed, and setting the table. When I wake up tomorrow, I will have just a few things to do - the fish, rice, salad, and doing my best to keep the girls from tearing up any clean rooms and staying presentable. Need coffee!

Heartfelt And Hearty

I've always felt that the best kitchen utinsel you could ever have, would be the wooden spoon. They don't melt, but do occasionally burn - only adding character. They also never fail to properly mix your bread dough before digging in with your bare hands.


With pie dough, I use the pastry blender. With bread dough - always use a wooden spoon to cut your butter.

I let this dough rise about 30 minutes too long. When you have to play with tu-tu's and playdough, you have to play with tu-tu's and playdough. It still came out good.

Vension and sweet potato stew. I was a bit nervous making this with sweet potatoes, but it came out really good. I didn't get a before picture of it nicely dished up, and nearly forgot to get this picture before packing up the last serving. I ended up just doing it on the stove, taking only 2 hours. This house definitly had some smells going on - fresh baking bread and sweet potatoes - definitly something to remember. I think the sweet pots went better with a stew over the usual red's that I use. This was a success!

So I still have like 3 huge sweet potatoes, the 2 I used went pretty far. I might make a simple mash and still wonder what they would taste like paired with Steelhead. I managed to finish all the laundry except a few quick loads, and today plan on packing the 2 large boxes I filled just from Isabels closet and dresser of clothes she's outgrown and baby stuff no longer needed, and placing them in the shed. Very small tear over here!

I have also reignited the desire to completly re-do Mia's room. I had big plans last spring and never got around to it and we ended up renovating a house instead. She needs a big girl bedroom and cool things hanging from the ceiling. Spring is fast approaching and with this mild winter weather, I fully expect it to be a warm one. Can't wait, this winter is already a waste of time.

A Kitchens

Teriyaki

Very seldom do I buy ready made sauces. Recently, I bought this big ol' bottle of teriyaki sauce for no particular reason. I figured I would eventually find a reason to use it. Wasn't much in the mood for cooking, so I pulled out some chicken, this sauce, jasmin rice, and fresh bell peppers. Very simple, very good and oh my gosh - this sauce is really good! I could see it as a good staple. I watered the sauce down a bit and it was good poured over the chicken and rice. The chicken soaked up the flavors well in the pan, and came out juicy.



Yesturday I pulled out a venison roast for today. I plan on doing some sort of roast with sweet potatoes. Haven't decided just how I'm gonna go about it. Crockpot, dutch, stove top. It's nice that I can keep my options open and be chill about it. Today is a major cleaning and laundry day. I try to do that on Friday as the start of our week, but wasn't feeling so hot and took a lazy day for myself and hardly did anything. I have a love hate relationship with catching up on laundry. If I'm lucky, I'll have time to make some bread to go with the beautifully cut piece of venison we plan on feasting on.

Start With The South, End In The Northwest

Avocado. Who dosen't love a good avocado? Last night I decided to make enchilada's which required me to make guacamole. I love guac. I love everything that goes into a good guac. Sorry for the lack of after pictures, I just forgot. The enchilada's were plenty and I have leftovers in the fridge and can't wait to eat them for breakfast - I need a heavy breakfast because I have some serious, heavy duty grocery shopping to do today AND I'm attempting to take both my girls with me. The last few times with them have really not been so bad.

These are the 3 that I have left - they still need a little time to get nice n' ripe - but the other 3 were perfect.

I understand this picture is aweful - I just don't feel like replacing it. That's asking a lot considering my coffee is still brewing and I haven't had a drop yet. But I have these huge sweet potatoes to play with. I will be shopping around for a good recipe that dosen't involve some Thanksgiving twist. Sweet potato fries? I could definitly take another stab at fries. Sweetened mash? I'm sure the possibilities will be endless, and that should be a good thing.

I wonder if sweet potatoes go well with Steelhead? My fisherman husband went fishing recently and brought home 2 HUGE Steelhead fish. We ate some, packaged some and I still have 3 very large halves of the beast. I might just have to experiment and see how it goes. I'm gonna pour my coffee now before I start to freak out and then it should be the start of a long, but good Thursday!

The Box

My recipe box. One of the first things my mother bought for me when I moved out at 18 - a recipe box with a bread recipe. It's spent some time in storage, some much neglected time, and now it's full of love.

I have a notebook that I write things down on, like recipes, list etc; So in my short lived cleaning spree, I went through every page and pulled out the old to clean it out. I found a stack of recipes - some that will become family recipes handed down by that cranky old gramma Val, some that were so so, and some that I don't even remember trying. So I spent some time writing them down on recipe cards and filing them away to be placed out of sight from others. Some were soo long and complicated and had numerous additions, hints, and don't do's, so I simply folded those and filed it away as is. Like the lemon cake I made for my father-in-laws birthday. Definitly one of my proudest cake moments. Strawberry Savarin - a true 18th century French dessert, my own concoction of blueberry jam, crackers, fondue, chai pumpkin cheesecake and much more. What a year!

I've also decided to retire that old notebook. It's pretty beat up - I've had it for 5 years. With some Christmas money, I bought myself the neatest little notebook that isn't so big, and I can buy replacement pages for it if I ever fill it. It's perfect for recipe's, dinner party planning, and my usual random listings. I do have a dinner party coming up soon and I'm excited for it. I'll post about that when it comes, I've skipped blogging about the past few - oh my gosh the food was just amazing!

Difficulty Simplified

So the past few months, I have battled with successfully producing good hashbrowns. I know, how hard could it possibly be? Well, as my husband always says, "you struggle with the most basic things, I don't get it." Me neither. The first time I made them, they were aweful and took almost an hour. I followed no recipe and didn't know what I was doing because I thought "how hard could it be?" Watching the process, you easily could have called me for a lush.

I proceeded to shred the potatoes by hand...forget the $200 food processor in the cupboard by your feet...do it by hand. I know. Then I think I just threw them in a pan with probably butter and wondered what the hell did I do wrong, because they were aweful.

So anyways, I've been working with one recipe for a while now. I've managed to get browns that taste good - I just have a hard time flipping them without them falling apart so it ends up looking like a mess - a good mess, but a mess none the less. I DO however use the food processor now so it takes me a whole minute to get a large bowl of shredded pot's. Then I give a good rinse, dab the excess water with a paper towel the best I can. Add flour, salt, pepper, and 1 scrambled egg. Toss well and throw in a hot pan with oil and butter.

I do need to make a trip soon to Gretchens, it's been too long.

New Year, New Brain, New Me

Dear Sweet Birds - Thanks!

As a child I can remember at least a few times, waking up on New Years Morning, and looking forward to the planned trip to gramma Monosso's house for sweet bird treats. I didn't know what the sweet birds were, or why they came. So I asked my dad. He told me they were spirits that bring good luck and blessings along with a sweet treat or two for the New Year.

So we would show up at grammas only to be overwhelmed by all sweets we got to choose from. Baked goods. Full size candy bars. It was definitly a treat. So 2 years ago, I decided to continue this tradition with my family. This year, I woke to homemade carmel popcorn which is delicious and hard to stop eating, and homemade rum chocolate truffles topped with chopped nuts. Top that with a hot cup of coffee, and we have the start of a hopefully wonderful year ahead!

On New Years Eve, I had big plans to stay at home. My husband works and I don't really care to go out anyways, I'm such a homebody as a mother and that's fine with me. The past few months have been stressful for me, and I wondered how I would make it through them. I have come to terms with things (I think) and am ready to put all of it behind me and move forward. This is not a New Years resolution as I feel those are a waste of time and a pathetic excuse to convince yourself of something that probably won't be. I've been mulling over this for some time now.

So anyways, I tried a new recipe for our New Years Eve dinner. Ham and lentil soup in the crockpot. Add veggies, herbs, tomato paste, and chicken broth. Cook on high 2 hours, low on 6 hours and you have dinner. I made a fresh batch of dinner rolls to go with it. Really, Mia helped me with them. I taught her how to knead bread and for a 4 year old, I was pretty surprised how well she did. A little reminding here and there to NOT use your fingers and we have some well kneaded bread. My Mia. Dinner was a big hit and sorry I didn't get a picture. This is one for the box.