MommyCoddle

good eatin'

Thank you for all the book suggestions, folks! I just sat down and created a huge checkout list from my library. My local library can be accessed online. I can reserve books and have them "sent" to a drive-thru window where I pick them up and checkout. It's pretty much what keeps my reading life alive b/c any time spent at the library is usually spent downstairs in the children's department. Now if I could just find a grocery store with a drive thru window....

Strawberries aren't quite in season here, but were are just on the cusp. So I'm getting ready because I'm pretty much a strawberry fanatic. My grandmother told me that you should only wash the serving of strawberries you are going to eat because they spoil more quickly after you've washed them. So armed with that wisdom, I now only wash a handful at a time. This ritual had me thinking how much I wish I had a tiny collander to wash my one serving of berries. So I emailed my genius potter friend, Melissa and described what I was looking for and offered a swap for her design and potting services.

She sent me this beauty in the mail last week and it is just perfect. Perfectly sized for a large handful of berries--enough this morning for my cereal, a few in my mouth right away and some extras for my berry-lovin' babe, Elizabeth who was tugging on my leg and grunting for more. Melissa, I love it. And if you want one of your own, she says she'll be making more later this month. So go favorite her etsy shop and keep watch. And Melissa, your swallow mobile is in the works.... :) **edited to add: she's making more next week!**

And on the topic of food, I made this snack for the girls today which is straight from the latest issue of EDF's after school snack section. Oh.My.Man. as my children would say. It is so good--cinnamon swirl bread, toasted. Plain cream cheese. Apple slices. Oh geez. Try it.

Yesterday, I called my mom on the phone. The woman makes the best salads in the world. So as I was making out my grocery list this week, I called to ask what key ingredients I needed to make a mom-esque salad...She really doesn't know exactly what makes them so good. They're these clean out the refrigerator, never the same twice kinds of salads. But her guesses were the cheese--feta. The olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Salt and pepper. Those were the base of almost every salad. So today, I made one for lunch--using the same base and adding some leftover grilled salmon, and some black beans. It was really, really good and filled me up for the rest of the day. (It's 4:30 right now.) Now if only I'd made some crackers to go with it.

I'm still doing my weekly meal planning and I'm not sure I'll be able to turn back. It is so helpful. (Although this week, I was a few days behind on my big shop and had to leave a "Dear John" letter on the fridge for Dan about his breakfast that wouldn't be there for him.) But unfortunately my grocery bill keeps creeping higher and higher. Gone are the days of the $79 shopping trip. These grocery prices are making me want to add an extra acre to my garden. I saw a gallon of organic milk for seven dollars!

beauty in the every day

I always feel funny posting late on a Friday afternoon. Like everyone has left for the weekend and I'm still in the office. I had a wonderfully relaxing evening yesterday...Elizabeth was having a late nap, Dan had taken the girls to the hardware store and I was left, alone, in my kitchen to prepare supper. Last night was the first dinner meal I've prepared for my brother-in-law, while he has been here helping with the new house. And as I sat at the table and peeled apples for a quick batch of applesauce and mixed together the bright yellows of farm fresh eggs and lemon zest for a cake, I was reminded of how much I enjoy cooking for people, having people over to eat and talk and relax. It's one of the things I've neglected while living here in the apartment and one of the things I enjoy. It's one of the things I look forward to doing more of once we have a little more room around the table.

There's something romantic about working in the kitchen. Following a creative process from raw materials--eggs, flour, sugar--to end product--a warm bowl of applesauce, a lemony cake. It's part of the beauty in the every day.

I hope you find a little beauty in your every day this weekend.

See you on monday.

the boys are back in town

Dan and his brother arrived safely home after a 21 hour drive, two fill-ups of a 50 gallon diesel truck, and a stay in a hotel that, as my brother in law put it, "I felt dirtier after my morning shower than when I began." But they are here.

My sous-chefs and I went over to the house this morning with egg sandwiches and warm muffins and they were already up to their eyebrows in work. I walked in to a bare dining room floor consisting only of the log beams running across the floor and an eerie view into the basement. They're jacking things up and preparing to lay down the barn flooring later in the day. I try not to ask details, just the basics, like, "Now when we put our dining room table on this floor, will we fall through to the basement?"

And right now, I shouldn't be sitting here, but dealing with the unmade bed on my right, the hairy, dusty floors below me, the piles of laundry I'm tripping over in front of the washing machine, and the thousand legger corpses in my kitchen sink. They come out in droves when our house sits empty for any length of time. And they seriously creep me out.

But I'm drinking my reheated coffee from this morning--three hours later. And taking the moment to pop in and say hello and thank you--for all your overwhelmingly encouraging and "I'm so happy for you" comments from my last post. You're great people. What would I do without you all? Thank you for reading the long version and for taking your precious time to leave me a comment and tell me about your experience, your excitement, your understanding. It really means the world.

More reno pictures coming, I'm sure. But first I must regain control of the apartment homestead.

(The muffins were from the current issue of EDF. The basic recipe and I added a topping made of brown sugar, melted butter, cinnamon, flour and some oats to sprinkle on top. yum.)

Happy Monday. (Oh and go here to get yourself some free pastels from Pentel. One per household and use the promotional code SA2008. )

my favorite cracker

Emma and I made these crackers together Friday afternoon. The recipe is from a back issue of Everyday Food. They were crazy-good and so simple, Emma was pretty much running the show after the first batch. Although the girl's a little heavy-handed with the salt. They were so good that I actually called up my sister and crunched on them over the phone to her, "Hear how crunchy and good they are?!!?" Actually, she may have called me first, but that last part is true. I did eat them into the phone.

The recipe is simple: Take a package of egg roll wrappers, (not what the recipe called for exactly, but what we had on hand), lightly brush both sides with olive oil and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with coarse salt and sesame seeds (or whatever floats your boat--fennel, rosemary??). Using another piece of parchment paper, cover the wrappers and press the seeds into them. (otherwise, they'll all slide off after they are done baking--lesson learned the hard way.) Cut them into whatever size you like. We used a pizza cutter and cut each square into four smaller squares. Bake them at 350 for about 6-8 minutes until they are golden brown.

Delicious. My next variation is to try them with cinnamon sugar. I think that would even be good with ice cream if you served the crackers warm. Oh stop. I can hardly look at these pictures. We've eaten the whole batch, and I'm already craving more.

In other news....

This is one of the perks of homeschooling and where we live--an impromptu trail ride early this morning for Emma. She had her half chaps, riding boots and helmet on in a flash and was waiting at the door.  School work shoved aside for some fresh air and exercise on horseback.

Another perk? fresh eggs. So fresh, the little feather was still sitting there inside the box.

dinner, revisited

Hello, I'm still here. I owe my disappearance from this blog to a writing deadline that was using up my brainpower, another round of (milder) sickness hitting the youngest two, and just too many sunny days. Although Elizabeth seems to have the worst of it now, but she had a milder case of the flu when we were all suffering with it the first time around. I see sick eyes in this picture....

I finally finished my mobile for meg's mobile swap last week. It is a variation of the one hanging over elizabeth's changing table, which she is demonstrating in this picture, needs to be raised a wee bit! And instead of hanging it on an embroidery hoop, I attached a few fabric leaves to a willow branch and hung the swallows from there. If you haven't seen the mobile swap flickr group, you must check it out. There is some amazing work floating around--(one of my favorites being the one meg made...)

So this week I planned my menus again, just dinner--and spent a little more than last week--$131. But last week I think I did a better job of using some of the things I already had in my pantry and made some old standby meals. This week I tried two new recipes. Several people have asked me to share what I made, but let me warn you, we are a very meat and potatoes type of family. Well-balanced and colorful, yes, but meat and potatoes. This is nothing fancy, all very simple menu items....

Monday (b/c the planned roast didn't defrost):
Cream of Broccoli Soup
Baked potatoes
salad

Tuesday:
Marinated chicken
Couscous
Broccoli
Tomato/Bocconcini cheese/Basil tossed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Wednesday:
Meat Loaf
baked sweet potatoes
homemade corn bread
salad

Thursday:
Spaghetti with turkey meatballs
homemade bread
salad

Friday:
homemade pizza--
"white" pizza--chicken, artichoke hearts, spinach, a bit of bacon, mozzarella cheese.

tabouli over mixed greens--
this was a first try for me, the tabouli. I made it from a mix out of a box and it was no good. But I want to find more grains to include in my menus besides rice and couscous, so if anyone has any suggestions?)

(and I think we had some applesauce in there somewhere...)

So there it is. In all it's (lack of) glory.
Now I'm hungry....

a culinary convert

Not everything goes smoothly in my kitchen. I'd like to say that my clumsy children spilled the cornmeal all over the counter top, but it was me. And it was everywhere. I actually got out the vacuum cleaner hose to suck it off the counter in some places, and out of the cracks in the drawers.

But aside from this minor mishap in the kitchen, this week has gone so smoothly. Months ago, you all shared some of your grocery-saving tips and one that I heard over and over was, plan. your. menus. You'd think, hearing it over and over, I might actually give it a try, but I confess to still being guilty of the last-minute meal, the standing in front of the freezer/refrigerator/pantry looking for inspiration.

But this week, I sat down with a few back issues of Everyday Food and my notebook and got to work planning the week's dinner menu. Then I went to the grocery store and do you know how much I spent for the whole week, including what I thought were a few splurges like bocconcini cheese and a fresh basil plant for my windowsill?? $87! And do you know how many times I went back to the grocery store for things I forgot or things I needed to make that night's dinner??? Zero. Zero!

It's been pure bliss. Waking up each day, knowing exactly what ingredients to get out, not agonizing over what to make and feeling that panic when 4pm hits and I have nothing concrete planned. Having everything bubbling and simmering and baking happily in the kitchen. Really, it's culinary bliss.

Where have I been? Why I have NOT been doing this every single week? I'm a true convert now, people. I have now become a follower of the meal-planning faithful. 

So, it's Friday folks. If you're not a menu-planner--perhaps I'm the last to get on board--give it a try this week. It is so worth it. It's a time-saver, a money-saver, a sanity-saver. You'll see....

And in the meantime, any inspiration for me for this week's menu? I'd love to hear....

"those hearts are nasty,

They taste like chalk!" My children weren't big fans of the little message heart candy that they dribbled all over the "valentine's cake". I gave them free reign with the decorating of the cake. I frost it and set it down on the kitchen table and walk away. It's great. So when they started biting in to the hard little candies, they weren't so excited about their decorating choices. Now we have a valentine's cake covered in potholes where little fingers have gone around removing the 'nasty' candies.

Another valentine gift that didn't go over so well was the gift I made for Dan. After seeing Blair's post, it was the push I needed to finally sit down and sew some of these rice bags that I've been meaning to make for quite some time.

I told Jennifer that I'd given up sewing for awhile, until life slowed down, but with some of her cute fabric staring at me, a little more time on my hands and some inspiration from Blair, I broke out (my friend's) sewing machine. (my machine is still out of commission...those darn knits!)

 

I think the rice bags would have been a hit, had I not gone the extra mile and put a little handful of dried lavender inside each bag.  That was the spoiler. I was simply trying to avoid that cooked rice smell. But now, the lavender smell was overpowering to Dan, enough that it sent him to bed clutching his stomach. We slept with a window open, if that tells you anything about how strong he thought the smell was. And I swear, the smell wasn't that strong, it's just that I also made a bag for each of the girls, myself and a friend. So I guess that adds up to a lot of lavender. And a whole heck of a lot of rice.

But nevertheless, my girls came through. They love them. We heat them up every night before bed--3 minutes each in the microwave. And they head off to slumberland with toasty warm toes.

(I altered Blair's pattern a little bit--I made the bag out of muslin and then sewed a separate cover with ties at one end. I figured there would mostly likely be a need to wash them in the future, knowing my children...)

And now that I have my sewing machine out, the requests are flying in from my children. The latest (and one that's sounds do-able) is a sleep bonnet/cap like Mary and Laura Ingalls wear in Little House on the Prairie. I can't really find any kind of pattern anywhere. Have any of you made one? I'm thinking just a circle with some elastic sewn in? Is that right? Help?? Anyone?

happy weekend everyone....see you on monday.

good things to know

1. Always check your barley

...before you shake a big pile of it into your hot bubbling stew that has been happily cooking along in the crockpot all day. Because that barley---that you didn't store in an airtight container--just might be laced with tiny bugs that you'll dump into the stew before noticing them wriggling and writhing around in the hot broth. And you'll hurriedly scoop out as many of the offensive bugs as you can, but when you take a big ladle full from the bottom, there'll still be a few stray deceased offenders floating in it.   

2. You can't register for classes at the local community college

....if you're on academic probation. If, last year, you accidentally signed up for pottery workshop as a credit class instead of an audit, and then you had a difficult pregnancy and didn't do one stitch of pottery, and your professor called you two days before the end of the semester wanting to go over your goals and see your work, and you had nothing, he'll give you an F. And if you have an F on your permanent record, you can't sign up for pottery again (as an audit) without dragging your three children over to Student Services to meet with an academic advisor who will give you permission to take another class. You're never too old for a little academic probation.

3. Don't give your daughter a sharpie

...and tell her to draw her best bird on the muslin cloth so that you can embroider it, without first giving her some direction. Because she'll draw a really good bird on the cloth, one that you really love, with wing bars, but she'll draw it so close to the edge of the cloth that you won't be able to fit it into the embroidery hoop. And the project that you wanted to sit down and work on right away that evening to unwind, will have to wait until you figure out a way to get more room around the edges of that very good drawing of a bird. But then she'll draw you two flowers to work on instead, and that will make you happy. And as you work, you'll realize you really know nothing about embroidery, but it's extremely relaxing and it just might be your new thing.

a new baby

First of all. Wow. Thank you for all the ideas on my breakfast post. You guys always pull through with the good advice. This weekend, I'm going to sit down with pencil and paper, go through the comments and make my grocery list. There's new ideas, forgotten ideas and recipes I want to try. If you haven't checked back with the comments, it is definitely worth a second look. It will give all the healthy, hearty breakfast motivation one could need. I'll go through the names this weekend and pick out a bumper sticker winner.

And secondly, I feel like I need to say hello and thank you to all those new readers that showed up in the last post. My inbox was full of new names. It was wonderful. Thank you so much for stopping by and for saying hello. It warms a girl's heart.

So the 'new baby'....you'll have to go over here for the details. And I have a feeling there will be a book (or two) you'll want to add to your home library...or at the very least, pick up at your library this weekend.

Dan and I will be finishing up series five of BallyKissAngel and hunkering down with the kiddos for some cold weather on the way.

Happy Weekend, friends.

illustration from "the book"

breakfast, bumper stickers and baby LIVE

It seems odd, but one of the biggest challenges I've had with home schooling Emma this year has been keeping her well-fed and full of energy. She is a lot like Dan I think--high metabolism, low blood sugar tendencies and when she's the least bit hungry she has no energy and gets very grumpy. It seems like I'm having to constantly give her snacks to keep her focused and "with me" so we can sit down and do a little concentrated school work together. I often find myself wondering how she'd ever cope in school--going all morning without a snack before lunch.

So I've been starting with breakfast--trying to wean them off cold cereal and juice and on to things with a little more substance--eggs, granola and yogurt, oatmeal. I've been setting up for breakfast each night before bed, hoping it will keep me on track with making them a hearty breakfast, instead of falling back on the easy box of cereal. Yesterday's eggs seemed to go over well and help us get a little farther into the morning before a meltdown indicating snack. And today's oatmeal was a moderate hit--thanks to some cream and raisins on top.

I'd love to hear some of the things that you feed your children for breakfast? Or do you have a great snack that you give them mid-morning for a boost of energy? Is there something I should be cooking up? I'm hoping Emma will grow out of this "eat every 90 minutes" kind of lifestyle, but maybe not.

Speaking of food--a little giveaway. I recently got some mail from American Farmland Trust, which included a few bumper stickers. I kept one for myself, but I'd love to give one away. They say, "No Farms. No Food." If you'd like it and use it, leave me a note in the comments and I'll get in touch. If more than one of you want it, then I'll just draw a name.

And for your viewing pleasure--she kept squawking at me while I was trying to write this post--I think she just wanted to be on camera. please ignore my mommy voice. yuck.

Hello Elizabeth from molly balint on Vimeo.