Snow Day

Everyone loves a good snow day, except for me yesterday. What a cold front, huh? I was grumpy about lots of things yesterday, including, but by no means limited to: Finding hats, snow pants, mittens, tights, sweatshirts, and fuzzy socks. Sometimes you've just got to send everybody out to play while you take a hot bath.

Today I was ready to earn my Fun Momma badge back and we went out to play– but this time I knew where everything was!

We whipped up some snow cream, which my mom used to do when I was a kid.

Here's my recipe:

• 8 cups fresh, clean snow
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Stir vigorously.
Serves 6

This isn't the first snow of the year for us, but my family used to celebrate first snow with a day off,  a pot of hot soup, board games and a jigsaw puzzle. There was a family in our church who threw a big pot luck party the night of the first snow where all the food was white. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water for Chile Blanco!
How about you? Do you have any beloved snow traditions?

Can Pumpkin Cupcakes Cancel Out Hard Weeks? Still Testing...

Here’s a little “secret”: When my blog is silent it usually means I feel like I am flunking life. In this case I know it is not true, but it feels true because life has been chock full of stuff I am not good at. There is definite progress, but it hasn’t been easy! 

Case in point, the only thing I have made successfully in the last few weeks are these heavenly pumpkin cupcakes with chocolate cinnamon buttercream frosting, and these pineapple flower toppers. I can't communicate how good they are except to say that my husband who only eats chocolate chip cookies is contemplating requesting these for his birthday instead. I haven't the heart to tell him that pumpkin cupcakes are not done in April. He just spoiled me with two pairs of really cute shoes though, so I'm going to give him what he wants, regardless of seasons! I only have this little iPhone pic of the cupcake because it was a birthday party and I was pulling it off at the last minute. Oh, I also tried making these darling chick rolls, and... uh... they turned out Halloween appropriate. Not my finest baking moment!

My workspace and laundry have been in the basement, main housekeeping duties on the ground floor, and the bedrooms and toys upstairs. This was a great improvement on some other living arrangements we have had recently, so I wasn’t complaining, but living equally on 3 floors had me feeling like I was living 4 lives: The housekeeper-keep-things-running life, the good mommy life, the creative life, and the adult with interests other than picking up shoes and Legos life. I was spasming with exhaustion and popping B12 like an addict when Daniel suggested rearranging the house: The dining room and living room are now happily sharing space, and my studio accoutrements are filling up the former dining room now. I’ll be darned if life didn’t resolve into a single, natural, peaceful rhythm once the dust settled! It just hasn’t been long enough to have a routine yet. I am really hopeful about this. 

Meanwhile, I attended my first big blues dancing event. The classes were great, but the DJs for the social dances brought out disappointed rage in me I thought was reserved for politicians! As it happens, choking back anger limits my dancing. Needless to say I am missing some dancing friends and DJs who could make this all better. Do I need to become a DJ?

Then I spent the past week doing the last bit of paperwork and baby-proofing for fostering. Neither of those things are hard, Just time consuming. Did I mention the girls have croup? 

This weekend I wanted to bust out of this rut and I tried to just get into the (new!) studio and make something- anything! Spinny winter dresses for the girls are urgent, and I took the challenge. I can just hear Heidi Klum ripping it to shreds on the runway in my mind. It was a cute sketch, but executed from fabrics I had lying around: an un-childlike color combo, a bad print for a child, flowing fabric when stiff was called for... it was turning into a medieval princess something or other. Ay yi yi. I wanted to scrap the whole thing and start again with new fabrics, but my little real life judge decreed that she likes it and I have got to make it work. On the bright side, I guess that saves time? I may have an idea for saving it from the landfill, but I haven't had a chance to try yet. 

And now we are off to enjoy some of this fall sunshine! May your days be full of joy and your nights full of peace dear friends!

Four Cheese Spinach Garlic Pizza with Roasted Red Chile, Cilantro, and Lime Cauliflower

Can we talk about soul food? Not necessarily fried chicken and definitely not Chicken Soup for the Soul. Food that enables you to rise up with David in Psalm 27:13-14 and say “I would have despaired unless I believed I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” and know that the goodness of the Lord is right there on your plate. What I mean is really good adult food. Date food. Food that makes you feel closer to God and mankind when you eat it. 

I was just using up things that were taking up room in the fridge, and that kind of soul food is what showed up on my plate. That’s the kind of food I am suggesting you eat this weekend with people you love, but maybe serve the kids chicken nuggets if they aren't big into spinach because this is too good to waste. 

This is a savory white pizza with a variety of cheese tastes, and the garlicky spinach grounds it. Are you paying attention? This is important: Please, please pair it with a delicious side of Roasted Cauliflower and Red Chile, Cilantro, and Lime from REMCooks.com  and something sweet to drink or a good fruit salad, because the savory-spicy-sweet combo is so good I am raving. In this case the side really makes the meal, and I can’t even take credit for it, so go give him some love over there. 

I used to grab any old pizza crust recipe, but I have finally found one I love. It is generously adapted from Allrecipes.com (click the link for the original) and I like it so much I have ditched my other recipes. I especially love it with King Arthur Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour. It’s white but without the carb crash. 

Crust

1 Tbs active dry yeast

1 tsp brown sugar

1 cup warm water

2 1/2 cups flour

2 Tbs + 1 Tbs olive oil separated

1 tsp table salt

cornmeal 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

Stir in flour, salt and 2 Tbs oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan dusted with cornmeal. 

Let rise in a warm place for a few minutes. Use your fingers to press depressions into the dough, and drizzle the final Tbs oil onto the surface. 

Topping 

1 1/2 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs minced garlic

2 bunches spinach well washed and chopped,

6 oz mozzarella, shredded

2 oz. asiago cheese, shredded 

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

2 oz. provolone cheese, shredded

In a large skillet, heat 1 1/2 Tbs oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add spinach and cook for 2 more minutes.
Spread spinach mixture over crust and top with with cheese.
Bake at 450° F for 14 to 15 min, or until lightly browned and bubbly.
Download the printable version

Printable Recipes + In Search of a Truly Paperless Kitchen

Today I am so exceedingly grateful that I am not really a food blogger. I was wanting to share a recipe last night and mid-sentence realized that no one but me probably dares use their laptop in the kitchen. Light bulb. My recipes need to be printable! How hard could it be to make PDFs of 3x5 recipe cards? Not hard, but it turned out to be time consuming even though there were only 6 recipes to do. If there had been more it would have been a lot more daunting!
Without further adieu, here are the newly updated recipes with links to printable PDFs.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever. Period.

Granola Goodness

Three-Tomato Spaghetti

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

Southwest Pasta Salad, and non-edible yet still a recipe,

Play Dough

Speaking of using your laptop (or iPad) in the kitchen, A while back I had been wondering about a way to eliminate all the paper scraps, printouts, 3x5 cards, and disintegrating home-made recipe books from my kitchen, so I got really excited while reading the very inspiring One Bite at a Time by Tsh Oxenreider et. all, about the project to "go paperless in the kitchen."Only, it was about eliminating paper towels and napkins which I am too cheap and enviro-conscious to keep around anyway.
In the wake of my disappointment I asked my App Wizard, Daniel to look into it.  Do you know about Sous Chef? It's an app that I use every day now, and I am slowly transferring my recipes onto it. You can copy and paste text into it, and it will construct your recipe in Sous Chef from pretty much any format if you do it right. I didn't for a while, but no harm done. Plus, you can make and save meal plans as well as construct grocery lists based on a recipe or a folder full of recipes. I wish it consolidated list items: For instance, say you need 5 onions, instead of listing them separately by meal. That's really my only complaint though. It also has a cooking view which is in huge font so you can keep your gadget well away from the action.
It's pretty wonderful. I am using it to make my kitchen completely paperless and somewhat clutter free. For real.

Reclaiming Romance + Bonus Cookie Recipe

In His infinite wisdom, God brought two of the worst dates in the history of, well, ever-  through courtship without having to really date. Long distance engagement was great for us, because picture perfect romance isn't our strongest suit.
Our musical tastes and senses of humor are not the same. Our ideal restaurants could hardly be more different. Our lack of pop-culture romance is due, in part, to my "allergy" (read "skepticism") toward a certain genre of mushy-gushy stuff. The other day Daniel laughed that if he bought me something from Hallmark I would probably change my relationship status on Facebook to "It's complicated." Guilty as charged.
We have a unified front on the big stuff: Faith, children, finances, but what movie to watch on a Friday night is not exactly a foregone conclusion. All that to say Valentine’s Day is a hard holiday to get excited about in our household. I'd be more sheepish about that if I wasn't pretty sure plenty of you have this problem too!
All the hype heaps up a lot of expectation. One day a year cannot be the emblem of a life-long devotion. Daniel and I are finally, gradually, learning to let off the pressure. Here are a few resolutions we have for Valentine's Day.

We will pick our best time to celebrate- There's nothing sacred about February 14th. Racing around to book a sitter and reserve a table at a restaurant on such a high-demand night after a full day of child-wrangling or work is stressful. We try to pick a weekend afternoon when we will have time to enjoy one another at a slower pace.

We will make our expectations clear and reasonable- There's nothing like a completely avoidable let down to bring out the best in us as a couple. It needs to be very clear well in advance who is planning what, and it's good for us to check in about it. Who is getting the kids squared away? Who is heading up the itinerary? Will there be gifts? On Valentine's Day I would like an orchid. He would like chocolate chip cookies (Recipe Below!). Or, if we are trying to surprise one another we define the level of the surprise by budget or genre to avoid those tricky moments when I think the surprise is a getaway trip for 2 to NYC and he thinks the surprise is a clandestine trip to a motel, or he thinks the surprise is a splurge at our favorite lingerie boutique and I think the surprise is a nice long conversation. Completely hypothetically. Of course.

We will be ourselves... together- If dressing up and candlelight dinners are where you are at your best as a couple, by all means go for it! As much as I love dolling up and eating good food, it's not the way we feel most intimate and relaxed. For us a hike, working out together, an afternoon at home (sans kids!) to work on a project together, browsing a book store, or playing a board game at a coffee shop are all better bets for turning up the heat than squaring off over a few courses.

We will choose our own way to communicate- We are ditching cards, flowers, and chocolate in favor of frequent texts and a shared journal to write each other notes in. Everyone is a nerd in their own way. We are nerds in a lot of ways. In the interest of raising our vision beyond child rearing, we are reading a book together and enrolling together in an iTunes U class on sustainable waste management destined to start many an excited non-child-centered discussion. Classes and books on trash are probably not your gig, but think back to your most meaningful communication when you were dating. How can you continue it?

This year we aren't letting our romance be defined by movies and television. How are you making your mark on V-Day?  
Download the printable version

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies. Period.
These cookies are soft yet firm, and the proportions of sugar and salt are just right. The key is to turn them at 7 1/2 minutes. Legend has it the recipe came from a box or a magazine back in the mists of time, but I got it from Daniel's mom. 

2 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 t vanilla
1 cup butter, melted
2 3/4 cup flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
12 oz chocolate chips

Makes 18 large cookies or 2 1.2 dozen small ones

Mix eggs, sugars, vanilla, and butter. Add flour, soda, and salt. Stir in chips. Cover cookie sheet with waxed paper, drop dough with ice cream scoop 6 to a sheet. Bake at 325° for 15 minutes, rotating sheet half way through. They won't look done, but trust me, they are! 
Download the printable version
 


       

Three Tomato Spaghetti

Great weekends always include great food, and I couldn't wait to share mine with you! Ignore, for the moment, that I am not supposed to be eating tomatoes. It whips up in way under half an hour, and the sun dried tomatoes bring a rich smoky-sweet flavor to the sauce. I adapted the recipe from a recipe from Emeals.
Download the printable version

Three-Tomato Spaghetti

8 oz sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

15 oz can crushed tomatoes

15 oz can whole peeled tomatoes

1 lb cherry tomatoes, halved

2 Tbs fresh basil, chopped

16 oz whole wheat spaghetti cooked according to package directions

1/2 c ricotta cheese

Serves 6 

In a large saucepan, heat sun dried tomatoes and 2 Tbs sun dried tomato oil over low medium heat. Add garlic and red pepper and cook for 45 seconds. Add canned tomatoes, breaking up the whole tomatoes into smaller pieces. Add cherry tomatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add basil and salt to taste. Spoon sauce onto spaghetti and garnish with a dollop of ricotta.
Download the printable version

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

 

The other day I found a recipe on Pinterest that claimed to be better than Panera’s broccoli and cheese soup. As a devotee of soup, I felt that was high praise. Panera truly makes as good a broccoli and cheese soup as can be found in a chain restaurant. I know this because I am always ordering broccoli and cheese and am disappointed other places. The pinned soup didn’t live up to it’s claims, but I was emboldened to try my own hand. This is not Panera’s broccoli and cheese soup. It’s more like something you find in a bistro with artisanal cheeses, and it was good enough to share. The smoked gouda gives it a nice flavor, and also it sneaks in more vegetables! 
Download the printable version

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

1 T butter
1/2 C chopped celery
1 clove garlic, minced
3 T butter
1/2 C flour
2 1/4 C chicken stock
1 C carrot, shredded
1 summer squash, shredded
1 1/2 large heads broccoli, chopped into florets
1 bay leaf
2 C cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 C smoked gouda cheese (generous), shredded
1 C cream whipped to a froth, or milk
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Serves 6

In a large saucepan, melt 1 T butter over medium low heat and gently saute celery and garlic until celery is soft. Set veggies aside. In same saucepan melt 3 T butter and add flour. Slowly add chicken stock, stirring constantly. Add celery and garlic, carrot, squash, broccoli, and bay leaf. Simmer for 20 min. Stir in cheeses, cream, and nutmeg and heat until warm, not allowing it to boil.
Download the printable version

Granola Goodness

There are many opinions about breakfast, but in this household it seems easier to carpe our diem with a filling meal under our belts. Granola is our usual breakfast of choice, and I've been tweaking this recipe for a long time.

I try to make two batches at a time to save myself trouble. Granola freezes nicely, but I have never had to freeze any since marriage!
The biggest mistake with granola is scorching it by trying to get it to clump in the oven. Granola actually clumps as it cools, not as it cooks. To get softer granola pile it deep in a lasagna pan. For crunchier granola try a cookie sheet. If I am missing any particular ingredient like oat bran, I substitute the same amount of oatmeal.
Download the printable version 
Granola

Ingredients

• 8 c rolled oats
• 1 1/2 c wheat germ
• 1 1/2 c oat bran
• 1 c sunflower seeds
• 1 c finely chopped almonds
• 1 c finely chopped pecans
• 1 c finely chopped walnuts
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1/2 c honey
• 1 c vegetable oil
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 c raisins
• 1 c mixed dried fruit
• 1/4 c flax seed

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment or aluminum foil. Combine the oats, wheat germ, oat bran, sunflower seeds, almonds, pecans, and walnuts in a large bowl.
Stir together the salt, brown sugar, honey, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then pour over the dry ingredients and stir to coat. Spread the mixture out evenly on the baking sheets. Bake until crispy and toasted, about 20 minutes. Stir once halfway through.
Cool, then stir in fruit and flax seed before storing in an airtight container.
Download the printable version

Southwest Pasta Salad

Tonight this is what I would eat if goat cheese were not forbidden my pregnant self. 

Oh yeah! I'm expecting!

Summer is all about light meals that don't heat up the kitchen, and this is one of our favorites. This recipe is very flexible. I often use whatever is in the refrigerator like corn, black beans, mushroom, or green pepper: But the goat cheese is the key. It would be nice to use riccia larga noodles, but if your grocer, like mine, doesn't carry them, cutting lasagna noodles in half the long way works just fine!
The ingredient list is for one entree, just multiply for how many plates you need. 
Download the printable version

Ingredients:

4-5 lasagna noodles, boiled, drained, and halved,
1 egg, scrambled,
1 slice bacon, fried & crumbled,
1/2 apple, chopped,
1/2 avocado, sliced,
5 cherry tomatoes, halved,
2 Tbs goat cheese,
1 tsp cilantro, chopped,
1/2 lime, and
salt and fresh ground pepper.

Arrange noodles on plate, and add cilantro. Sprinkle on egg, bacon, apple, avocado, tomatoes, and goat cheese. Squeeze lime over the whole thing, and add salt and pepper to taste.
Download the printable version
Enjoy!

How To: Make Advent Cinnamon Ornaments

Life is exciting in the little rock house these days. We moved our bed from the tent out back to the living room two weeks ago, because I was sick. That six and a half month saga is closed! Since then we have been sandblasting walls, framing, and generally preparing for a barn-raising, or more accurately, a bedroom drywalling, our church’s diaconate is throwing for us.
I have been sewing, but not as much as I ought to. The wind was somewhat taken out of my sails when I couldn’t get up and running by the end of November as I was hoping. However, I did get financial things accomplished, and I have an Etsy store, there’s just nothing in it yet. So don’t look for me, just wait. 

I’m loving the start of this Christmas season. We are listening to Blackmore's Night's Christmas album, and drinking hot apple cider.

In preparation for Advent, I made these (inedible) fragrant cinnamon cookies as a nightly devotional. This week is the Hope/Prophecy week of advent, so each little ornament has a verse on that subject attached, and its shape has something to do with the verse for the day.

Cinnamon Ornaments

¼ cup flour
3 T cinnamon
2 T applesauce

Blend well, roll ¼ “ flat. Cut shapes with cookie cutters or a knife. Use a drinking straw to make the hole at the top. Bake on a cinnamon dusted cookie sheet at 325 for 30 min turning once. You can use more cinnamon for darker cookies. Sometimes I also use nutmeg.