The first harvest!

Yesterday I noticed the radishes were poking their little red bodies from the dirt. The kids came running to see and proceeded to pick our "first harvest" from the garden!

Here they are:

These guys went a bit rogue:

Our lettuces are coming along well too!

Here is the red chard:

I must admit....I have no idea what this is....:

The romaine, my favorite lettuce:

The broken bits you see with the lettuce are egg shells. I read a tip that they can stop certain creepy crawlies from eating/getting to your tender greens. It supposedly slices them right up......let's hope it works!

What did you have for lunch?

A bit of brown rice, black-eyed peas, corn, salsa, green onion, romaine, spinach, avocado, carrot.......

Check out mama's Easter dress HERE.

What did you have for dinner?

We had a couple of amazingly, warm days last week and I just had to break out the grill. We are so looking forward to Spring staying put for a while!

The case of the conjoined fruits and veggies.

Gage has been addicted to carrots lately and asks for one nearly every hour. When we reached the end of the bag the other day, this is what we pulled out:

Seems we had a case of conjoined carrots!

Then yesterday, we were eating strawberries and found yet another conjoined food in our kitchen:





Ofcourse, the kids found all of this quite entertaining and I, ofcourse, was there with camera in hand to share with you all! Had any funny looking fruits or veggies lately?

Yes, I am that nerdy.

And to prove it:

These are the snacks I bought for our upcoming road trip:

This is what they look like after I used my scale to put each portion in individual snack bags:

They all fit neatly back into their bag/box and are ready to go. It's so much easier than doling out handful after handful and waaaay cheaper than buying them in the "snack size". So there, I am a nerd, a kitchen scale using kind of nerd.

OK, I'll also admit that I did the math on the number of servings that come in each box so I know exactly how much each person gets, even down to the food I am bringing to the cabin. They may have this snack X number of times per week and that snack X number of times per week.

Hey, don't knock it until you have to travel with four hungry children and stay away from home for three weeks.

We need to make this food last people.

She gets it from me.

Isn't that what we are supposed to say when our kids do something kind or creative or really, really smart? Then when they act out and embarrass us (like screaming in the library because they want to walk, not hold hands and basically act like they own the place) we wonder where did you come from?

So, Ashlynn loves making her now famous homemade desserts. Last night was no exception and we all couldn't help but smile when we looked at our plates:




She said they were "all natural and so healthy" and the mustache was made from "fresh-picked mint leaves from our garden".


Um, yeah, she gets that from me.

The crust and the sauce....

I may have posted these recipes before, but I just didn't feel like digging through the archives. Here they, possibly again.

The Best Pizza Crust Ever

(This make four pizzas for me using one 13" round stone, two of the 10x14 stones, and one deep dish baker)

2 1/3 c warm water, divided
3 t active dry yeast
2 t sugar
1/4 c olive oil
6 c flour (can use all purpose, bread. whole wheat or a combo of flours)
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t onion powder
1 t baking powder
1 1/2 t salt
3 T cornmeal

In a small bowl mix 1/3 c of the water, the yeast and sugar. Let rest while you gather the other ingredients. In the bowl of a standing mixer place 2 c warm water and olive oil. In a separate medium bowl measure out 2 c of flour, add the garlic powder, onion powder, baking powder, salt and cornmeal. Whisk and slowly add to the water/oil in the mixer using the paddle attachment. Mix at medium speed until creamy and blended well. On low speed, slowly add yeast mixture (the yeast should have bubbled up in the small bowl by now) until blended. Measure out another 2 c flour in the separate medium bowl and add 1/2 c at a time to mixer. Measure and slowly add remaining 2 c flour switching to the dough hook for the last cup. Depending on the air in your house, you may not need all 6 cups of flour. Make sure the dough is not dry, a little sticky is good. Transfer the dough to an oiled, deep bowl and place in a warm area (like the oven turned off with the light on) to let rise until doubled.

Turn out dough onto a floured surface and divide into four equal parts (if you want thicker crust divide into only two or three). Shape into balls and let rest five minutes. Oil whatever pizzas pans you will be using with olive oil (I use stones, but have used cheap pizza cookie sheets and it works fine, just not quite as crusty). Slowly start to stretch the dough to ft your pan. Just let it rest a minute or two in between stretches and it will cooperate a little nicer.

Top with sauce, meats, veggies, cheese and whatever you like on your pizza. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes rotating as necessary. Enjoy!

The Best Pizza Sauce Ever!

My sister, Nicole, came up with this...so glad she wrote it down as she went!

1 T olive oil
3-5 cloves garlic
2-3 6oz cans tomato paste (depending on how thick you like it)
1 15oz can tomato sauce
1 T sugar
2 t Italian seasoning
1/4 t red pepper flakes

Saute garlic in olive oil over medium-high heat for two minutes. Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, sugar, Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes. Let the sauce simmer 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!

A New Twist.

You all know that Friday night is pizza and movie night around our house. Though sometimes it falls on a Thursday or Saturday with Randy's schedule, you can bet that at least once a week some pizza will be coming hot and fresh out of the oven.

Most of the gang prefers sausage & salami, while Paula and I load the veggies on ours. Last week I tried something a little different, I sauteed the vegetables first. Maybe this seems like common sense to some of you, but I usually just chop up what I have, throw them on raw and let the oven take care of the rest.

Something about caramelizing them first just sounded good last week, so I gave it a try. I chopped what I had: red bell pepper, mushroom, zucchini and green onions. In the saute pan with a touch of olive oil they went and I stir them until they were looking browned and delicious. The dough and sauce were in the pan ready to go, so I spread the veggies on top, put a layer of fresh spinach on top of them, then cheese and baked as usual.

All I can say.....I ate five pieces with no problems, well, I mean I was quite full, but I managed to get it all down. You have to try it, and let me know if you use other vegetables, I was just using up what was left from the week. I'll post the sauce and crust recipe tomorrow.

Next time, I'll just try to stay home.

Since we are leaving for San Diego on Sunday, I tried really, really, hard to spend as little as possible on groceries this week.

I even avoided going to Costco.

Costco, people. My little home away from home.

Yesterday, I realized my wheel cap had come off. The wheel cap on the wheel on the tire that came from.....Costco.

Hey, sometimes you want go where everybody knows your name....and they're always glad you came....

Since I was going to be there, I might as well pick up one more gallon of milk, and some cheese, oh, and I was almost out of half & half, and those avocados look so good, and those waffle fries would go perfect with dinner tonight.

$45.00 later, I left.

Moving on to today. Ashlynn's shoes are hurting her feet and Gage's are actually Ryder's and are way too big. What's a girl to do?

Did someone say "Target". Cute, cheap shoes, right?

While Gage walked out in his new skater shoes and Ashlynn with the cutest polka dot shoes ever, my bag contained a lime and cilantro (hey, those avocados were just crying to be made into guacamole), four pairs of 2 for $5 flip flops....for the kids, oil and sour cream (wouldn't tacos go good with the guac?) and ice cube gum.

Next time, I'll try to take care of wheel business over the phone, cut the toe portion out too small shoes and stuff the big ones with bigger socks. I might save a buck or two.

Addie loving her apron!

Valentine's day is big around here, so when we broke out the heart molds for pancakes, the kids came running to the kitchen. Each one donned their apron and Addie decided to wear hers the rest of the day:



The big tie on the back made Randy laugh...

Thanksgiving '09

First, we need to start with what is important...FOOD!

Here are the rolls courtesy of Our Best Bites:

Here are the pies, we had apple, pumpkin and cherry, mmmmmmm!

Dale modeling and using the apron I made for him:

Jake and Addie:

Ashlynn beating all of us at the game table:

Gage feeling privileged to sit at the head of the table (how that happened only Grandpa knows...):

Ryde making his usual face for the camera:

We had a great day and ate until we couldn't move...hey, it's tradition. And we've just sort of been eating ever since. Snickerdoodles. Pecan Balls. Peanut Butter Blossoms (my personal fave). Christmas colored M&M's. Welcome holiday season!

She does do more than sleep in her high chair.

Carrots anyone?

I want to be Tallon.

Today is my nephew Tallon's 9th birthday! He reminds me so much of Ryder, they have the exact same playful smile with that sparkle in their eye. Last night I was talking to Nicole and she began to tell me the list of food this kid was getting for his birthday. So, here in no particular order is why I want to be Tallon today:

• Pancakes for breakfast.
• In-N-Out Burger delivered to him at school for lunch.
• Chocolate Chip Cookies and Brownies for dessert at school.
• Tacos for dinner.
• Cheesecake for dessert.

Need I say more? Don't you want to be Tallon?

What are the odds?

Nicole and I were talking on the phone last night and she got into this story about burning toast and throwing it outside so the house wouldn't smell like burned toast and we were laughing about keeping it away from their dog and how burned toast makes your house stink forever.

She was making the toast because she was short on breadcrumbs.

Hmmm, funny I was short on breadcrumbs last night and made toast too.

She said it was mostly going to be flaxseed meal.

Hmmm, mine was going to be the same.

"Nicole, would you be making breadcrumbs for chicken tenders? The same chicken tenders we just finished eating for dinner?"

Two sisters, two thousand miles apart, both making chicken tenders for dinner, both burning toast trying to make breadcrumbs that we were out of. Seriously, either our menu needs to be expanded or we have some kind of crazy sister mind reading stuff going on!!

Dirt 'n' Worms

The kid wanted to make a special treat for their neighbor friend who had been in the hospital. Cookies were my first thought, but Ashlynn suggested the much more appealing dirt and worms. We doubled the recipe so the kids could enjoy it as well.....well, sort of:

Gage was convinced it was real and did not like the "dirt".

He tried to take a bite of the "worm" but ended up asking me to wash it off first!

Ryde had no problem putting it down the hatch!

It was made with chocolate pudding, cream cheese, whipping cream, butter and cookie crumbs, so I had some too. Not too bad.....but I did let Ashlynn have my worm.

My favorite time of year....

One of the reasons late spring and early summer is my favorite time of year:

If the kids (and Randy!) don't eat them all after I wash them, I like to "flash" freeze them and have strawberries at the ready for a smoothie!

Bring on summer!!

Shrek, it's what's for dinner....

You never know what things might greet you when you open the refrigerator with a two year old in the house. It was tough deciding between the red bear, the car and the ogre. We eventually settled on the little green guy, and, with a dollop of sour cream it wasn't bad.

Attention - Distraction =

Sunday, I was making chocolate chip cookies and Gage decided to make a creation of his own. This happened right under my nose, mind you. Apparently, he really wanted my attention and let's just say he definitely got it. The real bummer in all of the distraction was this:


My precious cookies were a tad overbaked. Maybe I have issues and too much love for chocolate chip cookies? Oh well, the paste washed out and the crumbs will be used for ice cream toppings. Never a dull moment around here. Never.

How to Gain Five Pounds (or more!) in Five Days:

First, hang around when these are being made (you can drag out hanging curtains in the next room for a good while!):

Second, you must "taste test" each kind (yes, that is my hand up there!):

Hmmmmm, the glazed or the chocolate?

The raised or the cake? Better try just one more....

Then have some of this (that would be chocolate torte cake with buttercream frosting):

With a slice of cherry and apple pie, heavy on the REAL whipping cream, please.....

And you might look like this when you're all done:

Crust, it's whats for lunch.

One of the joys of motherhood: lunchtime. A time when you give your kids a few options and try to move as quickly as possible before the hungry mob erupts. By the time I am finished feeding four little mouths, including seconds and thirds, I have little energy or ambition to make anything for myself. Now, don't take this as a "poor me, never any time for a real lunch". This is more like a "I really don't care and the crust is already there and....", you get the idea. So, here is what my lunch often looks like (gotta love PB&J):


Though I don't think they actually ate any, here is what the kids made themselves for "lunch" the other day (I think theirs looks more appealing than the crust!):

This one sort of looks like burnt couscous or a pilaf.

Salad anyone?

The table is set.

Ashlynn is a very talented food arranger!