Gathering the Fragments

One of my favorite features of More-With-Less Cookbook (World Community Cookbook) and Extending the Table: A World Community Cookbook is the Gathering the Fragments section - using up the leftovers!

We have found that with the CSA box we do need to have a plan to use up the leftover veggies, although the fruit never seems to be a problem! There are the standbys of stir fries and soup, which are always good. You can always roast veggies for a lovely remake on them. Or you can make this casserole from Eat, Shrink & Be Merry! Great-tasting Food That Won't Go From Your Lips to Your Hips! (Although my favorite book in the series is still the original: Looneyspoons: Low-fat Food Made Fun!):

Viva Las Veggies
(Yes, all the recipe titles are punny in these books)

2 medium tomatoes, cut in chunks
2 medium zucchini, chopped
2 large portobello mushrooms, chopped
1 medium red onion, coarsely chopped
1 tsp garlic (I go with 1 large clove)
1 tbsp each olive oil and balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp each fresh herbs such as rosemary, basil, oregano, or thyme (can substitute dried)
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper

1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp thyme

In 9x13 mix first group of ingredients - I usually just keep the zucchini the same, add some kind of onion and then just throw in what I need to use up. Mix this well.

Roast uncovered at 425F for 25 minutes.

Mix remaining 3 ingredients and sprinkle evenly over top. Return to oven for 5 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve hot.


How do you like to use up your veggies that are at the end of their prime?

Multitude Monday 19

Totally forgot to post this last week until Wednesday, so I just continued adding....

193. Another mom I was talking to at Classical Conversations just happening to know 2 excellent realtors in the area for us to talk to as we get ready to start looking for our home...and she would know, she was an agent for years!

194. She also asked if I would be interested in organic fuji apples at $0.60 a pound. Did I mention they were organic? I tried to not jump and down and squeal with delight as I requested a case.

195. Our new friends. It is hard to make new friends, but I see now how God is bringing them my way.

196. My 2 year old singing the first half of the nominative pronouns cheer. "I, you, he, she, it!"

197. Miss Pear singing the Lord's Prayer.

198. Baby joining her on the "amen"s.

199. My husband's very successful business trip.

200. The very delicious coffee from "Eataly" he brought me after carefully reading all the offerings and choosing the one he thought I would like best - he was right!

201. That everyone is on the mend from the yuck.

202. God's encouragement through His word.

203. The excellent doctors Baby will see this afternoon for her hip dysplasia check up - at this point she should just need to grow and as she does the hip socket should just catch up.

204. God's encouragement in prayer.

205. That God will never leave or forsake us.

206. The hugs of daughters.

207. The understanding of my husband who took care of so much when I was sick last week and kept sending me to bed early as he did dishes and tidied up.

Christmas Wrap

For many November is all about Thanksgiving, but in our house, with so many gifts needing to be in the mail the first week of December, it is also about getting things done for Christmas. Plus, to be truthful, I like having all my shopping, crafting, and shipping done by the end of this month.

The past couple years I have been looking hard at my thoughts and ideas about Christmas. Particularly the gift giving and the wrapping. Accepting the fact that I was raised with impossibly high standards that were sucking the fun out of it I decided to start over. (One credo was that you must never be able to see the tape, and ribbons and bows must be used in a plethora of abundance that overwhelms.)

In starting over I discovered a few things:

1. Costco has the best deal for me on wrap because you get this huge thick roll that is double sided at a very reasonable price. It may not be the cheapest, but it is a great help for me.

2. I like making my own ribbons with that wired ribbon. Costco's price in the past couple years has even beat the after Christmas sale when comparing yard to yard. These ribbons are beautiful, creative, and last wonderfully from one year to the next. They make me very happy so it is worth it to me.

3. I love furoshiki! (The link shows you some different ways to wrap with it). It is basically a square of cloth where you put your present in the middle, fold in 2 opposite corners, then fold in the other opposite corners, tying a neat knot. I always keep my eye out at the quilting store for fabric this time of year and try to add some new ones each year, yes the quilting store, the fabric is thicker so it holds up better and is harder to see through. If you buy a yard and a quarter you have a large square that you can then cut into 4 squares. A quick hem around the edge and you are done. Once your present is wrapped you can always add some ribbon. This is my favorite way to wrap books! It lasts beautifully year to year.

These 3 things compose the bulk of my gift wrap stash. I do have a lot of gift bags that were given to us, or I collected when we traveled at Christmas, but I am not really a fan, and I most often use these to give gifts outside our home.

The thing that has been the biggest learning curve for me has been gift tags. I was raised that you had to have the fanciest ones and that you had to write a LONG message on each one.

Yeah, not so much.

I like the sticker ones a lot, and we do have some fancy ones that we just reuse year to year because they basically just say to and from.

I have made some of my own, but my favorite make it yourself ones are the ones I print and the girls color - they may not be fancy, but they are made with lots of love.

Here are a couple links I will be using this year:

What are your secret weapons in your Christmas wrap stash? Do you have other links for colored tags?

Lessons Learned

It has been an odd week around here. Miss Pear got sick on Sunday, I got sick on Tuesday, and yesterday it appeared that my dear husband was not going to escape this either.

Homeschooling obviously did not happen yet this week, except the lessons that occur naturally in life and our regular morning Bible reading time and bedtime family worship.

But this has been a great lesson for me.

So often I feel like I am chronically behind on everything, but this week that has not happened. Upon reflection I realized that by not homeschooling in the morning I have tons of time. We are certainly not going to quit homeschooling, but at least now I know where my time goes, and it is a great investment! I am encouraged to try to stay more on top of things though.

I learned that my girls are really good friends. Baby has been trying to nurse her sister back to health, and it is so sweet.

I am reminded that there is very little a squeeze and a cuddle cannot fix, especially when accompanied by a good story book.

And I am reminded why I love being able to stay home with the girls, a blessing not to be taken for granted.

CSA Box

It is time for another yummy box today, and we had to make a change. We have switched to getting the bigger box every 2 weeks because I find I am buying more to add on than I would like, so we will see how that goes. We can switch back with an email if it ends up being too much produce.

This week we are getting:

Broccoli, Organic - 1 each
Leeks, Organic - 3 each
Green Bell Peppers, Organic - 3 each
Red Bok Choy, Organic - 1 bunch
Brussels Sprouts On The Stalk, Organic - 1 each
Bunched Baby Carrots, Organic - 1 bunch
Green Leaf Lettuce, Organic - 1 bunch
Gala Apples, Organic - 6 each
Valencia Oranges, Organic - 6 each
Red Flame Grapes, Organic - 1.25 pounds
Bartlett Pears, Organic - 6 each

We are getting broccoli instead of potatoes which are forbidden in our house, and I substituted green peppers in place of spinach. Spinach is one of those things I am learning to like. I kind of like it sauted in oil with garlic, but if you have a great recipe for spinach could you please share it with me?

I have never had red bok choy before, but love bok choy so I don't anticipate a problem. I do anticipate a stir fry though!

Some hesitation lingers in me over the brussels sprouts. My experiences have not been stellar, but I am hoping that like everything else it will be much better directly from the farm. Plus, my husband loves it, so this is basically suck it up time if nothing else. In order to prepare for this I consulted on of my favorite cooking people, Alton Brown at Food TV and found 2 recipes of his to think about:

• Basic Brussels Sprouts which is currently ranking last, but it is good to know how to prepare them simply in case we love them. Reading this makes me think the ones I tried that turned me off for good were over done.
• Brussels Sprouts with Pecans and Cranberries which could be the recipe to convert me, but also plays up the "hey, they are just little cabbages" angle.

I am also a big fan of Ina Garten so I checked out her recipe for Roasted Brussels Sprouts because I really do like roasted veggies, and this might be a winner too.

If this were arriving on your door step tonight what recipes would you be considering?

Coconut Oatmeal

Now that the weather is turning cooler I find myself making this recipe a lot more. Often for lunch with fruit. We love it so much I bought a case of coconut milk from Amazon at a great price, and cinnamon sticks! What recipes are you pulling out for the fall and winter?

Coconut Oatmeal

4 cups whole milk (2% works fine)
14 oz can coconut milk
1/4 – 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp salt (optional)
3 cups oats (rolled, instant, either work)
1 tbsp butter (optional)

Bring milk, coconut milk, brown sugar, cinnamon stick and salt to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan, stirring with a whisk.

Reduce heat to moderate and stir in oats. Return to a boil. Cook while stirring for 2 minutes.

Stir in butter, then remove from heat and let stand covered for 5 minutes.

Remove cinnamon stick and stir oatmeal before serving.

Sunday Morning Breakfast Experiment Week 2

Sunday morning's breakfast was not as well prepared as last week's. My husband had left for a business trip on Tuesday and with flight delays returned Saturday just in time for supper.

Not wanting to spend the evening getting brunch ready I pulled out the griddle so it just had to be plugged in come morning, measured my homemade baking mix into a bowl and covered it so it was just waiting for milk and eggs in the morning to make pancakes.

We definitely enjoyed it, and with all the preparation done it was not a whole lot of work!

Definitely an idea to keep in rotation!

Gingerbread House

Guess what we are making for Christmas tree ornaments this year?

You can find the pattern free to download here.

I may also have to make some of these! Or just save this for next year when the girls can do yet more!

If you cannot tell, the crafting bug has bit me again!

Friday Treat

It has been a long week somehow, and we are all feeling it.

I could fight through it and be a trooper.

Or I could break out the blender and make us a treat and get smiles and better attitudes that way.

So I am going for the obvious - continuing to pray while breaking out the blender for a lunch treat.

What will we be making?

Simple Chocolate Milkshakes

Put 3-5 large scoops of vanilla ice cream in the blender

Add a generous squirt of chocolate syrup

Pour in milk of your choice to about half the height of the ice cream.

Turn on blender.

Get out of the way as children come running.

Add more milk or ice cream as needed to adjust the consistency, and more chocolate syrup if needed too.

Serve to happy little girls.

Enjoy smiles, hugs, and praise for being an amazing chef.

P.S. By using homemade ice cream it is basically just milk, whip cream, more milk, a couple eggs and some chocolate sauce in the end, so not even to terribly unhealthy....don't tell!

Ham and Cheese Crescent Rolls

I needed a quick meal for little girls whose stomachs were not as steady as I would like last night, and after finding a great deal on Pillsbury crescent rolls I decided to try an idea I had.

Ingredients:

1 roll of Crescent rolls
4 slices of ham (Costco ham cut for sandwich meat is great, you cut it diagonally and it is the size of the individual roll)
4 slices of cheese cut in half

On each piece of crescent roll place a piece of ham and a piece of cheese before rolling it up.

Roll up and bake per directions.

Yum.

The girls at more than I expected, and that was a huge compliment to the chef.

You could certainly add mustard, for more flavor, but that would not have worked for my girls.

What is your favorite idea for a quick meal that is still a bit of a great?

Pumpkin Patch

We are beginning to explore more of our new surroundings and are having a great deal of fun doing it. On Saturday we visited a nearby pumpkin far to select the one that would become our jack-o-lantern. We had a lot of fun, and the girls enjoyed looking at everything and exploring.

They were fascinated by how pumpkins grew.

Here is a close up of the actual field:

And another one....

We turned into absolute tourists with our camera because everything was so beautiful! So because I so rarely post pictures here, I am including a few more!

One thing we have loved about our new home is all the farms so close! It is fun to be so close to where your food comes from!

Learning To Say Yes

It seems like by the time I was old enough to be out on my own for university I had gained the expectation that if I asked I was going to be told no. And that made me hesitant to say yes when I was asked things.

Now I am a mom, and I long to be a great mom, a terrific mom, the mom of Proverbs whose children rise up and call her blessed! For me, growing as a mom means learning to say yes.

While I have a ways to go, I think that I am on the right track, and this track is fun!

Sunday night Miss Pear asked if she could make pizza for lunch Monday, and I have to admit, my first thought was to say no, knowing how our morning looked. But I gave myself my check and asked myself, "Why not?" With there being no good answer to that question I said, "Yes!"

Was it easy neat and clean? No, but it also was not hard and horribly messy.

Would it have been quicker to do it myself? Maybe, but that is not the point!

Would it have been as much fun if I had done it myself? Absolutely NOT!

Miss Pear was so proud to have a job, and not just any job, the important job of feeding our family!

She even let her sister pull up her stool and watch.

When the pizzas were ready for the oven I made a huge deal of this and ran for the camera to capture the moment. The pizzas were so pretty:

Once they were out of the oven I took another picture:

Miss Pear was so happy when lunch was served, and we took the leftovers for lunch this morning to Classical Conversations. When it was lunch time she had to tell everyone that she had made the pizza, and everyone made a huge deal out of!

She was so proud of herself and her accomplishment!

And that is an excellent reason to say yes.

Multitude Monday 18

182. A Pumpkin Farm we visited on Saturday who opened despite the rain, and welcomed us to a morning of fun.

183. A quilt store with the perfect fabric to make a blanket to welcome a church friend's baby.

184. Little girls who want to help make the blanket because winter babies need blankets to keep warm.

185. The fascination of children. The construction work never fails to entertain.

186. A large variety of coloring pages in the internet to help feed the fascination. (Although if anyone can find a picture of a cement pumper truck to color, please send me the link!)

187. The faithful preaching of God's word.

188. The words of faith put to music.

189. A sweet daughter who wanted to make us lunch today - pizza. I only helped a little.

190. Fall leaves - I have missed the fall color those 11 falls spent in southern CA.

191. My family's sense of adventure and fun. It makes me spontaneous and adventurous when I am not.

192. An all knowing and loving God who put my family together, truly a special gift! The God and the family.

Sunday Morning Breakfast Experiment Week 1

We are finding that we have girls with a case of the fidgets most Sunday mornings in church. While discussing ways to handle this we decided that maybe a heartier breakfast is in order, especially with the arrival of cooler wetter weather. So this weekend we launched the Sunday Morning Breakfast Experiment (yes, we are all science geeks, we are calling it the experiment!)

The goal is to have a hearty, mostly healthy breakfast for Sunday morning mostly prepared Saturday night with minimal work, or at least minimized work Sunday morning. To complicate this we have a peanut allergy, a potato allergy, and a strong dislike of eggs (egg casserole is out, quiche is out, french toast is fine) to manage. I thought the blog would be a great place to chronicle our attempts and our findings.

This Sunday we started with recipes that were not new Sunday morning, so we knew it would work, and indeed we had a delicious breakfast. We welcomed the Lord's Day with a feast of Orange Overnight French Toast, homemade turkey sausage patties, fruit, juice, milk and coffee.

Results: There was a definite improvement in how everyone felt by the time we got home from church about 12:15PM. In fact, I have to make smaller lunches on Sunday! But the good news was that EVERYONE seemed to do better in church. Okay, so Baby still had a case of the wiggles, but not nearly as bad, and it was a quiet case. This might be the solution!

Recipes:

Homemade Turkey Sausage Patties - I made these Friday for lunch, and we all liked them but found them a little spicy, not hot spicy, just a lot of spice. So I will definitely be making these again, but will be almost doubling the meat, but not the spices...except the onions of course!

Orange Overnight French Toast

4 large eggs
1 1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup milk
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

8 slices of French bread cut about 3/4 inch thick (if fresh, let sit out sliced for about
half an hour to dry slightly)

Icing sugar

Beat together eggs, orange juice, milk, sugar, vanilla and salt.

Arrange great slices to cover the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan. Pour egg mixture over top. Cover, and let stand in fridge over night.

In the morning, uncover, flip each slice of French toast over, and cook at 375F for 40 minutes or until browned.

Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

Sweet Potato Recipes

Last trip to Costco I noticed something that made me very, very, very happy, and I am not talking about all the excellent Christmas gifts, decorations and books they now have in stock, although that worked too!

I saw the cases of SWEET POTATOES!

Sweet potatoes are in stock, it makes me so happy! They are only available at Costco this time of year, and the price is excellent! So I tend to buy a case every time we go! After all, this is the only kind of potatoes we can have in our home due to allergies, and the cases keep for a long time in the garage! (Do not store them directly on the cement, bad idea)

One of my favorite recipes for sweet potatoes is sweet potato fries. It is very simple, heat oven to 375F. Peal sweet potatoes and slice into fries (think 1 cm square-ish). Toss with olive oil and italian seasoning. Cook for 25 minutes, flip them all over, cook for about another 20ish minutes, or until done to your liking.

What are some of your favorite recipes for sweet potatoes? I am looking for some new ones!