Vegetable Basics

Ha so much for more frequent postings. I actually had such good intentions, Tess and I have been working on a lot of great projects and I've even managed to capture some of them with the camera but... I had some computer problems. I guess you could call it user error. My computer just stopped recognizing my camera and download images. Immediately I went online lurking around tech sites to see if I could figure out what the problem. I tried like every thing. Nothing worked. Finally after a week I had to admit defeat and call Matt in to fix my buggy camera but moments before I was about give up I noticed that the camera wasn't even connected to the port. It was only half way plugged in but looked like it was connected. I felt like such a dunce...arghh and the time wasted troubleshooting. So again I am committing to more frequent posts... wonder what shenanigans will come up this time.

In the mean time I wanted to post some images from a cookbook I've been using all week. It's called Vegetable Basics - 84 Recipes Illustrated by Jody Vassalo. The recipes indeed are pretty basic but what I love is the design and layout of the pages. This is by far the easiest to follow visual cookbook that I have ever used. You barely need read the instructions to be able to follow along...exact what I need since most of my cooking is done darting into the other room checking on a toddler or trying to juggle dinner with a baby in arms or clinging to my left leg. If you are in the need of a basic veg cookbook that will inspire you to make great simple tasty food this is a good one to check out.

Super Natural Millet Muffins

Okay this is officially the first of my attempts at more frequent posts. I'm hoping to get at least a few posts a week up and capturing more of the everyday. Just quick little snippets of the simple things that keep me busy, thinking and constantly on the move. I've been working on clearing out most of the processed foods from our families pantry and getting rid of boxed anything. I recently purchased the cookbook Super Natural Everyday and love the recipes, they are high on flavor yet easy, healthy and uncomplicated. We have an almost impossibly small kitchen so keeping anything but the essentials for cooking on hand just isn't practical and Heidi Swanson's recipes make the most out of ingredients that I usually have on hand. Here is my go at her Millet Muffins the recipe can be found on her amazing site. Here is the link to the muffins and five others from her beautiful cookbook.

I switched it up a bit and used 1/2 unbleached flour and 1/2 whole wheat pastry flour because that's what I had on hand. I ended up having to put the batter in the refrigerator and run and pick T up from school so they set up some before I spooned them into the muffin tins. They came out having a very scone like texture which look very different from the photos of Heidis in the book but the flavor was amazing. And I loved the denseness of the muffins. She compares the muffins to cornbread muffins but they are so much better.

Sanibel

Things have been hectic to say the least since we got back from vacation. Every year we can justify taking the extended time away from work because we bring the company laptop along and do a bit of work between walks on the beach and playing in the pool. This year the laptop decided it was in need some vacation time as well and stopped working the first day there - not so good for the 4 big projects Dad was juggling but left us without excuses to just enjoy our time together. This year like every year we were looking forward to recharging and reconnecting with family. Matt and his family have been coming to the island for more than 35 years and for me to be apart of that legacy with our family is truly special. This was T' third year coming and T-o's first and the third year that my cousin brought her sweet family of 4 - it was a magical week of friends, family and good times. The best moment of the trip was this late day walk with Matt & the kiddos. The beach there is always pretty deserted this time of year so it felt like we had the ocean all to ourselves. Knee deep in shells the lowtide beach was covered in stuff to explore and the seagulls were chasing sandpipers for small crabs and little coquina. We walked up the beach watching for the sunset and trying to stretch out the last day. I got a few good pictures of Dad with TnT that really capture our slow sweet simple time of Sanibel.

Three

Posting a bit late but wanted to make sure I captured Tess' 3rd birthday. We celebrated her special day in Sanibel with her extended family while at our yearly family reunion. We we under the gun this year with several big book projects and a whole bunch of small client stuff so getting everyone packed and party ready was a bit of a challenge. Next year we plan to do a "best buddy" party at home so she can celebrate with her friends but I think she enjoyed her family birthday just fine. We picked up the ingredients for a simple ice cream cake the night before at the local island grocer and to make it easy on everyone we opted to order in pizza. We lucked out and got a great island breeze and enjoyed the day reuniting with family and meeting a Great Aunt & Uncle for the first time. It was a Happy Day…my girls growing up - said with a big frog in my throat.

First Day

Here's my little girl going off to her first day at school. I had fretted over this moment for the past two weeks, afraid I would breakdown and cry. I imagined myself pulling over afterwards sobbing into my steering wheel while seasoned moms honked for me to move on. The truth was she didn't shed a tear and barely looked back as she walked away from me to meet her new awaiting classmates. As for Mom, there was no crying I was too filled with pride at my brave little girl to do anything but smile and watch her bounce off. This week we are only going partial days to get used to all the newness, develop positive routines and get acquainted with the whole school thing.

It seemed I barely had time to get home, drink a cup of coffee down and it was time to go get her. When I got to school I queued up with the other cars and waited my turn to pick up my pumpkin. Her new teacher walked her out to the car and helped her buckle up. As she was seeing to Tess's car seat straps the teacher said to me, "You have one sweet sweet little girl here". I smiled ear to ear so glad she made a positive impression but even more glad that she was back with me safe & sound.

I had worked it out with Dad that he would work from home and watch baby brother so that after pick up I could take Tess for a special Mommy & big girl cupcake. I was barely able to contain myself I wanted to know EVERYTHING about her day. Over the cupcake I tried to pull out as much info about what she did in her new environment. I guess I had thought I was going to get this great download but she was much more interested in having a conversation with her cupcake icing than me. Oh well. I guess that's how it's going to be from now on - Moms on a need to know basis.

Noodle Necklace

Today as I was cooking up T a big freezable batch of homemade spagettio's I starting wondering if she would be to young for some good old noodle jewelry making. I took a handful of the noodles I was using and got out some watered down paints and set her up for some pasta painting. She had such a great time. She put all the noodles on a metal skewer which was a great exercise for her fine motor skills and used a small paintbrush to color the noodles. After drying she applied glitter glue to some and she finished off the project by stringing them on some pink nylon cord. She was so proud of her necklace and I was so impressed that she tackled this project all by herself and the result was just adorable.

Noodle Necklace Materials:
Pasta Noodles
Water based paints
Glitter Glue
Nylon Thread

Homemade Spagetti O's
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup pasta rings
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cut fine diced or pureed carrots
1/2 can drained and finely chopped garbanzo beans
1/4 tsp garlic powder
dash salt
1/4 cup milk
1/4 grated cheese

In a sauce pan combine tomato sauce, veggie broth, carrot puree, salt, garlic powder stir until combined and hot. Add cooked pasta, beans, milk and cheese cook until heated through. Can increase recipe to make big freezer batches holds up and is good in freezer for 2 months.

Boy Toy

I'm trying to get a few more Theo posts up - but that little guy is hard to get a picture of. He's a fast one and always on the move, moreover any time he sees the camera or any other electronic device he beelines right for it. Anyway I managed to capture him with his newest little softie friend. It's really the first dolly I've made for him but I promise that he won't go without for much longer. Tess starts school and he is just starting to nap for longer stretches. When school starts you can bet I will have that sewing machine out and working double time. Here's a quick little guy I made for Theo. I used the pattern from the book "Softies Only a Mother Could Love". I modified the design to include an all felt face with machine sew details and a second side. The original is a single sided cosmonaut and I thought how lonely to be a space man without a buddy. So on the second side I added a one eyed spotted alien and now the two are best friends.