Jam plan

Freezer Jam- It's so simple, quick and look at those darling little canning jars.  This is raspberry-strawberry freezer jam. It's delicious on scones, pancakes, and vanilla ice cream. I'm thinking about making clementine curd and Concord grape jelly too. Of course, those will be a little more involved than the freezer jam, but I'm beginning to love canning at the end of the summer. 

Cook book Dilemma

I am a cook book junkie.  I've collected more than my fair share of cookbooks over the years, but one thing I've noticed is that many of them sit, untouched on my hutch. They still look new. I peruse them every now and then and put them back. For instance, I've owned a couple of Martha Stewart cook books that I received as an intro gift when I joined a cook book club many many years ago. Yes, I belonged to a cook book club.  To my knowledge, I've never made anything out of them except the pie dough recipe. As both my cooking skills and tastes have evolved over the years, I've sold some and given away more. I check most cook books out from the library now.  Stacks and stacks of them! There are definitely more cook books published these days mostly in thanks to the popularity of the Food Network. I refer to allrecipes.com often. I check to see how Alton Brown would make something Now that I have a Kindle, I've downloaded a couple of cook books there too. I'm not sure the Kindle is the right place for cook books.  Something gets lost from the hardcover edition to the digital edition, but that's a topic for another day.

 So, with that said, I have a question for anyone out there reading this. If you like cooking, do you collect cook books? Are there only a handful worth having? If so, what are your indispensible cook books? Do you prefer searching the web for culinary inspiration? Have any cook books been huge disappointments?

I'm definitely in the trimming-the-cook-book-collection mode. I've sold four cook books recently on the Amazon used marketplace and I continue to trim the fat, so to speak.  So, please tell me about your cook book collections or even if you don't have lots of cook books. I don't want to have these books just to have them. I want to use them.  Certainly there are definitely the go-to cook books and some come out only seasonally.  That's okay.  I'm more about having a truly smaller yet more loved collection. Tell me how technology has changed your way of thinking in the kitchen as well. Thanks.

My Summer Girl

I've got a lot swirling around in my brain right now.  I'm thinking about school plans for the Fall. I'm thinking that my theme for the year will be Streamline. (I think that might be another way to say Less is more.)  I'm thinking about how quickly the summer is slipping away (I know. Glass half empty. I'm terrible.) I'm thinking I can almost see my Mammoth sunflowers growing every day. I can't wait to see them. I'm thinking about sewing quilts for the twins and I'm thinking about getting around to sewing the cupcake quilt for Tess. Since I've been thinking about sewing, I've been thinking that I need to finish the little apple dress for Tess as well. I've settled on a pirate themed quilt for one of the twins, but I haven't come up with the other theme. I'm thinking that Idon't really have time for another quilt project, but I can't help myself from thinking about it. I'm thinking about yarn and books. I'm thinking about Christmas projects. (Yes, Christmas!)  I'm thinking I don't feel like cooking right now despite all the veggies from our CSA. I'm thinking about feeling conflicted about trying to relax during the summer and still trying to do it all.  I'm thinking about capturing more summer moments. I'm thinking about popsicles and homemade ice cream. So much to ponder every day....It's fun to dream even if I won't be able to get all of these things done just yet. School plans to follow. I intend to get my act together the first week of August so that Luke can begin on September first.

On knitting:

I know my little girl is featured frequently on my blog lately and well, it's because knitting for girls is just so much fun (although I do have some fun plans for boy sweaters too. I better start liking knitting for boys. Don't you think?) Here she is in her new Haltermelon.  This is another pattern by Alana Dakos. I knit this last year in the pink and green, buy my aunt Rosie recently gave me 4 balls of this Ty-Dy cotton yarn and I thought it would it look great in a halter. Using yarn that resembles a tie-dye shirt seems sooo summer to me. I knit the size 4 even though she's 2 1/2. It came out a little loose on the back, but a ribbon through the eyelets cinched it up perfectly. As you can see, it fits nicely. Details on Ravelry.

Cooking simple

I saw this cook book at Barnes & Noble sometime before Christmas.  I think I was sucked in by that shopping bag filled with all that fresh produce. There was something simple and inviting about it. Anyway, while I was at the bookstore, I perused its pages slowly. I love looking at cook books and this book was no exception.  I didn't know who Claire Robinson was since I rarely get a chance to watch the Food Network, but I was inspired by her philosophy of cooking delicious food with minimal ingredients.  So, later on, I checked out this cookbook from the library so I could enjoy it a little longer. I didn't have plans to purchase the book, but, I did.  Did I really need another cook book? No, I did not. In fact, I don't have room for all the ones I own now, but I love cookbooks. There are plenty of fancy dishes here using her 5 ingredient philosophy, but there are some simple inspiring dishes as well.  I like that she simplifies cooking without making her dishes seem plain or lacking.

In the letter to her readers, Claire Robinson writes about both her grandmother and her mother, but it was the advice her grandmother gave her that struck a chord with me. Claire's grandmother suggested that she learn a handful of dishes well.  This got me thinking. I like to try making new things, but I do spend an inordinate amount of time referring back to the recipe and that sometimes makes cooking new things unappealing.  So, I started thinking about learning to make ten or so dishes really well so that I could gain that ease and confidence in the kitchen.  Learn a handful of dishes well.  What other advice could simplify meal prep more? Would this make cooking even more fun? I'm sure it would. There are several soups that I love to make during the cold Winter months, but I still have to look at the recipes. Wouldn't it be nice to memorize the recipes so that I could have more energy to put my heart and soul into the meal for my family??  See how less can be more?

A boy's life

This book encourages the kind of life I want for my boys.  As a mother of now four boys,  I know this book is a keeper.  Alice Cantrell's Tin Cups & Tinder gently introduces outdoor skills to boys.  In a way, this book reminds me of The Dangerous Book for Boys in that encourages boys to go out and have great adventures!  I especially like the section on cooking.  I think it's important for children to learn to cook basic things.  My oldest son often joins me in the kitchen and as a cautionary tale, I often tell him that I left home for college only knowing how to scramble eggs and make peanut butter sandwiches.  There's both campfire cooking recipes and indoor recipes here. 

There are beautiful clear photos scattered throughout  with step-by-step illustrated instructions for some of the projects.  I like the section on assembling a mess kit and collecting essentials for a day pack.  This book truly encourages boys (and girls too) to get outside, to enjoy God's creation and to use their imaginations.  With the help of this book, soon you might just have a Sam Gribley on your hands. 

I truly appreciate books that revive some of these lost Boy Scout skills.  It's important to teach our children self-reliance and Alice's book gently teaches these skills with a creative and artistic approach.  Her book may spark a life-long interest in camping, bird-watching, carving, whittling, cooking or keeping a nature journal. It's beautiful world.  Go out and get lost in the great outdoors!

Zucchini Madness

Every Thursday this Summer, I head over to our local farmer's market to pick up a large box of veggies. Stephanie and I split a share of veggies and thank goodness we split a share. It's too much! Every week, there's a pretty good variety of vegetables and some fruit, but I've picked up several varieties of zucchini over the past couple of weeks and I needed to find some creative uses. First, I made a loaf of zucchini bread which turned out pretty tasty, but I still had more zucchini to use up. Stephanie picked up some yellow zucchini to grate into cheese quesadillas for the kids. She's her own sneaky chef. The kids can't even taste it and it blends in with the cheese! Well, she has been looking for some creative uses for zucchini as well and she found this cake recipe from the Fanny Farmer Baking Book. I actually googled the recipe and I found it here, but Steph made a few changes and it might be my new favorite cake. I thought I'd share the recipe here in case you find yourself with a lot of zucchini as well.


ingredients
preheat 350 degrees

12 TB butter, softened
1 C sugar (the original recipe call for 2 C of sugar, but Steph made it with 1 1/3 C and I made it with 1 1/4 C and I think it could be reduced further to 1 C)

3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

zest from 1 orange

2 C grated zucchini (Okay, I grated the zucchini in my food processor, but Steph took it one step further. After grating the zucchini, she put the blade attachment in the food processor and pulsed it to make the zucchini even smaller. In the cake, you can't even see the zucchini this way!)


2 3/4 C flour ( I used 1 C of whole wheat flour and AP flour for the remaining flour. Next time, I might increase the amount of whole wheat and reduce AP.)

1/2 C cocoa powder (I used Droste Dutched cocoa.)

1 1/4 tsp baking powder (double this for low elevation. I live at 8600 feet!)

3/4 tsp baking soda (double this for low elevations.)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cloves ( The original recipe calls for cinnamon, but I just don't like chocolate and cinnamon together. I think the cloves give this a nice deep spicy flavor.)

1/2 C milk

1. cream butter and slowly add sugar
2. add eggs
3. add vanilla
4. add orange zest
5. add grated zucchini
6. blend well!
7. mix dry ingredients in a small bowl.
8. alternate adding dry ingredients and milk to batter.
9. mix 1 TB melted butter and 1 TB cocoa powder and brush completely over a bundt pan. (I swear by this method. I used to have my bundts stick to the pan, but not using this method. I actually do this first before I start making the batter. Make sure you coat every crevice of your bundt pan with the butter/cocoa mixture!)
10. 50-60 minutes until fork comes out clean.

For the glaze

Whisk together 1 C powdered sugar, 3 TB orange juice and zest of one orange.

Pour over the completely cooled bundt. ( I believe that the glaze makes this cake plenty sweet.)

Enjoy with a tall glass of milk!!!

Soup on a snowy day

It's another very cold and snowy Sunday here and I decided to try another soup. I think Sunday is going to be soup night around here during the Winter. Here's a truly hearty chowder from The New England Soup Factory Cookbook. Recently, I made a corn chowder that turned out just kind of bland. So, when I saw this recipe, I had to try corn chowder again. This one's a winner! I baked up a batch of cream biscuits to go with it and it's the perfect meal for a day like today. I changed a couple of things in the recipe, but I've made note of it below in the directions.
I didn't quite have the amount of frozen corn on hand. So, I made do with about half of what the recipe calls for and I didn't think there was a lack of corn here. It's the slightest bit spicy due to the cayenne, but it's just a hint of spice.

Cheddar-Corn Chowder with Bacon and Scallions

ingredients:
1 pound bacon
1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped
3 carrots peeled and chopped
2 ribs celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
5-6 red potatoes chopped into 3/4 inch cubes
6 cups chicken stock
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsps ground coriander
2 packages of frozen kernel corn (16 0z)
2 cans (16 oz) creamed corn
1 pound sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 C heavy cream
4 dashes Worcestershire sauce
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 bunches scallions, sliced

1. I cooked the bacon in a frying pan until it was brown and crispy. I removed the cooked bacon and poured about 2 TB of the bacon drippings into my dutch oven.

2. I then added the onion, carrots and garlic. ( I didn't feel like chopping celery so I left it out.) Saute about 5 minutes.

3. I then added the potatoes, stock and cayenne. ( I didn't have any coriander so I left it out.)

4. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 35 minutes.

5. Time to add whole kernel corn, creamed corn, cheese, and cream (This isn't a low-calorie soup!)

6. Simmer an additional 7 minutes.

7. Season with Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.

8. Stir in scallions and crumbled crispy bacon pieces. It's done!

Enjoy!

This 'n That

1. Normally I don't miss not having DirectTV or satellite. I'm just not a TV person, but right now, I'm missing the Olympics and I really love the Winter Games. I did get to watch the men's figure skating long program last night where US skater Evan Lysacek won Gold. It's the first time an American skater has won gold since Brian Boitano in Calgary in 1988. It's nice to see a US skater win, but since the 2002 Salt Lake Games where the French judge cheated, the sport has become largely unrecognizable to me. I have a really hard time with the new scoring system and because of the new scoring system, figure skating has lost a lot of its beauty. It's all jumps and weird kicks. Okay, I know, too much about figure skating. I'm just saying. I do hope the scoring system has deductions for ugly costumes because I would have taken a deduction for the glittery snake on Evan Lysacek's costume.


2. I've made a couple of soups recently that are pretty good and I thought I'd post the recipes here:

Chicken Tortellini Soup

(I adapted this recipe from the New England Soup Factory CookBook.)

ingredients:

1 pound cheese tortellini (cook according to package directions) (place in a bowl and toss with the olive oil)
2 tsp olive oil
8 C chicken stock or broth
1 C chopped cooked chicken ( I used more.)
2 C baby spinach
1/2 bunch chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 C freshly grated Parmesan Cheese, plus additional for garnish (I used WAY more.)
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

In a stockpot or Dutch Oven, bring the broth or stock to a boil over med-high heat. Add the Chicken and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the cooked tortellini, baby spinach, basil, cheese and red pepper flakes. Stir well and season with salt and pepper. Garnish, with extra grated Parmesan cheese.

Okay, this looked good, but I felt that it was lacking veggies. So, what I did instead, was heat a couple of TB of olive oil in the dutch oven and I sauteed a small chopped onion, a cup or so of chopped carrots and a cup or so of chopped celery and added a couple of garlic cloves. When the onions were transluscent and the veggies were soft, I followed the normal directions. I also chopped up the spinach because the kids can't pick out the spinach and they tend to eat it when it's all choppped up. Oh, and 1/4 C of Parmesan isn't enough. It's so yummy with more!


Creamy Broccoli Soup

(This is my friend Jen's recipe, but I might have modified a few things on this recipe too. I don't think she thickens her with flour since she's gluten-free. I'm going to have to check on what she does to keep this recipe GF.)


ingredients:

6-8 C Chicken Stock
6 red potatoes (sometimes, I use whatever potato I happen to have like russets)
1/2 onion, chopped
5 stalks broccoli
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 C heavy crean
1 C freshly grated Parmesan
2 cloves garlic
3 TB flour
3 TB olive oil

1. chop veggies.
2. add 3 TB of olive oil in bottom of dutch oven on medium heat.
3. add flour to olive oil.
4. add minced or pressed garlic.
5. add onion.
6. saute onion, garlic, olive oil and flour.
7. add potatoes and broccoli and chicken stock/broth and simmer all ingredients except cream and cheese (about 15 minutes on low-medium heat).
8. add cream and cheese.
9. hand blend (optional)

I think this soup is really good blended. It gets so thick and hearty. I don't always blend it, but I prefer it blended.



3. I finished another pair of socks last night while watching the men's figure skating long program. These socks went super-fast on US 4 DPNs and worsted weight yarn. They are comfy! Now, I need to get back to my Ravelympics projects!

4. I've been meaning to take a picture of Tessie with her doll that my mom made for her, but now that she's walking so much, I can't really get her to sit still long enough for me to get a decent photo. So, here's her doll all by herself.
Here's Tess already on the move. See? I can't get a nice photo.

5. Luke and I are listening to The Far Side of the Mountain and so far, I enjoy it almost as much as the first book, My Side of the Mountain.

6. I'm going to try a new soup on Sunday, but I haven't decided which recipe yet.

7. I promise no more pics of handknit socks for a while!

Random Bits

January is a very nice month. At least here in Colorado, January is a nice month. Yes, it's cold, but it's beautiful and we usually don't get much snow. I actually really like cold weather, because cold weather is just plain old knitting inspiration! It's also just plain cozy, but it's gone already and February's here already. Looks like we've already settled into 2010 around here.

Okay, so I started knitting some of these socks on my trip to Breckenridge last weekend and I was making some serious progress when I thought that I better consult with Jenn about how long to knit the leg on the socks. It turns out that I was just happily knitting around and around and before I knew it, my leg was almost 6 inches long and with a single ball of Sunshine Yarn Merino Sport to make a pair of socks I knew I'd have to un-knit. Except that I didn't. I decided that I'm a much better knitter now and I boldly pulled out my DPNs and unravled several rows until my sock measured closer to 4 inches. I thought that I could easily pick the stitches back up and start the heel flap, but I couldn't. I got awfully close, but several stitches kept sliding downward and despite my best efforts with a crochet hook, I gave up and wound the yarn back into a ball. Oh well. I'll just start them again this week. I have plans for procuring some more
Merino sport tomorrow. I have not been buying yarn so that I could save my yarn budget for more Sunshine! I did however order some sock blockers today. I'm so close to finishing a pair of socks, but I really want to begin again on the Sell Your Sole sock pattern.


Book goals this week: I seriously need to finish Simplicity Parenting by Wednesday. I can't renew it, but I'm more than half-way on that one. Luke and I enjoying My Side of the Mountain immensely. We're listening to it when we drive around town doing errands. I love listening to books in the car. I also am working through The Day I became an Autodidact by Kendall Hailey. I know I won't be able to renew this one either. It's inspiring in the way that encourages me that there's learning wherever you want to find it. Just be curious and anxious to learn! I think that half the reason I like homeschooling so much is due to the fact that I'm excited and passionate about learning myself and I want to pass that on to my kids. I want to inspire them to want to discover and create throughout their lives.

Meal planning this week: Taking some budget advice from MaryG, I'm going to try implement grocery shopping only twice monthly. It should help me save a little money, help me plan better and make me happier because I'll be at the grocery store much less often. Okay, so this week, I'd like to make Chicken Pot Pie from The Pioneer Woman Cooks . I'm not sure that I'll use her crust recipe, but I'll try the filling recipe. I have plans for a hearty stew as well. I checked out the New England Soup Factory cookbook from the library and I'm going to make that stew. I also just got my new Cook's Illustrated and there's an article on how to bake the best chewy brownies. Usually, I'm a from -scratch baker, but I'll admit that box brownies are usually better. So, I'm now anxious to try the brownies in this month's Cook's Illustrated to see if they are better than my from-scratch attempts. Last week, I modified a chicken tortellini soup recipe from the New England Soup Factory cookbook and it turned out pretty hearty and tasty. I'll share the recipe later.

For now, I'll leave you some pictures from our short weekend trip to Breckenridge.



We strolled around the Snow Sculpture competition.

Tessie bundled up and in a good mood

I love this hat. It's a total boy hat. Sammy wasn't up for being photographed, but he's got one of these hats too in a nice red plaid.

Luke and I went ice skating and he's still trying to get the hang of skating while I worked on my repetoire of figures eights and axel jumps...Yes, I'm kidding. Happy February everyone! We'll see what Punxsutawney Phil has to report tomorrow.

Soup Recipe #1 - Cheesy Potato Soup

Heres' a recipe from The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen:

I checked this book out from the library and I decided to try the Cheesy Potato Soup. I've made this soup a few times and it's hearty and delicious. I never used to like creamy or cheesy soups, but I love them now.

ingredients:

4 TB butter (1/2 stick)

1 C diced carrots (sometimes I use 2 cups.)

4 C chicken broth ( I use Pacific brand Organic free-range chicken

broth.)

5 C russet potatoes (peeled and cubed)- about 4 medium size

potatoes

1 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp- salt (you could probably leave this out since broth has

salt.)

1/8 tsp pepper

1/4 C all-purpose flour

1 1/2 C milk

8 oz sharp cheddar grated (2 Cups)

1. Melt 1 TB of butter in a large stock pot over medium-high heat and add carrots and saute' until softened--probably about 4 minutes.

2. Add the broth, potatoes, basil, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.

3. Lower the heat and simmer until potatoes are tender-- about 2o minutes.

4. While soup is simmering, make the cheese sauce. Melt remaining 3 TB of butter in a medium-size sauce pan over medium-hight heat.

5. Whisk in the flour.

6. Slowly whisk in the milk and cook until slightly thickened. (I think the recipe suggest 2 minutes, but I've found that it takes way longer for it to thicken.)

7. Add the cheese and stir until cheese is both melted and thoroughly combined.

8. Gradually, pour the sauce into the soup and stir until blended.

tip: I made this soup last night and I decided to blend some a little chunky for Tess. Her soup looked so good that I blended mind and oh, Yum!!!

This soup is really good and just so easy to make. I tend to make it when I have potatoes that I need to use up and I always have carrots. Oh, I also add a couple garlic cloves when I saute the carrots in butter for a little extra flavor.

Enjoy!!!

Winter menu planning

It's Winter and it's now starting to become bitter cold around here. I've been wanting to plan a Winter menu for the past few weeks, but with all the busyness of the holidays, I just didn't make time to look through all my cookbooks, bookmarked recipes and magazines. The past few days I've been perusing through some of my favorite cookbooks and jotting down ingredients for lasagna with turkey sausage, filet of beef au poivre and Paul chose shrimp with tomatoes, basil and garlic from his cookbook, How to Boil Water. When I purchased this book for him a while back, he was a little insulted by the title at first until he saw that it really wasn't a cookbook for college students who can only manage boxed mac n' cheese. There are some good solid recipes in this cookbook! I really think that Ina Garten is the essence of good hearty comfort food. I don't think the filet mignon will make the Winter rotation, but it will be fun to try at home at least once during Winter.

I also want to try this soup that my friend Jennifer emailed to me a while back. It's just soup weather now! So, we'll try out these recipes and I'll add a few more. I'm trying to plan for three dinners during the weeknights with leftovers on the other nights. That makes planning a lot more manageable.

I'm going to try and put up a new soup recipe each week. This week will be the Toasted Bread, Bean and Vegetable soup from Sunset magazine.

Another resource I discovered this year is Everyday Food. I know this magazine has been around forever, but somehow I dismissed it thinking it would be lots of food made with a lot of processed ingredients, but it's not that at all. There are a lot of ads for foods that I would never eat, but the recipes don't really seem to use them. It offers some nice monthly food inspiration whenever I'm growing bored with our routines. I was given Cook's Illustrated as a birthday gift this year and this magazine is just awesome! I learn so much from reading this magazine. I would love it for the cover art alone!

Here's to a season of warmth and coziness around the table.

Cooking Lessons

I couldn't leave my blog with such a downer post. I wanted to write about something that I'm very excited to incorporate into my curriculum this year. Cooking!! As I've written before, I left home for college without any kitchen skills. I could scramble eggs and toast things and I could slice up banana to add to cold cereal, but that was about it. Over the summer, I started thinking that I didn't want this to be the case for my kids. Sammy always asks if he can help in the kitchen and he likes to pretend cook. Luke likes to bake things like chocolate chip cookies, scones and chocolate chip muffins-essentially things he likes to eat. I started thinking that he was more than capable of making breakfast, lunch and dinner on occasion. So, I started checking out tons of children's cook books and I decided on a few to use this year. What I would like to have Luke learn this year is kitchen safety, basic meal planning and budgeting, and creating his own cook book. The final exam will include cooking dinner for the family entirely on his own. Doesn't that sound fun? It might make my life easier.

Strawberries and random thoughts

I got up really late this morning and I don't even feel bad about it. Paul is home and he fed the boys leftover chocolate chip pancakes and milk for breakfast while I snoozed until, gasp, 8:30. It's been a productive weekend. Paul and I went to the nursery yesterday to buy things for our hopefully more-successful-than-last-year's- garden and we got the bunk beds up and Sammy moved into his new bed. The boys are now officially sharing a room! I remember how exciting it was when my sister and I got bunk beds. Since I was older, I got the top bunk. My mom installed a light up there so that I could read without disturbing my little sister. We're going to do the same for Luke. Now, we only have one child in our room! We'll dismantle the toddler bed later today and bring it back out when Tess it. Things are a changin' around here.

I admit that I'm a little giddy that our school year is about to wrap up at the end of this week. We're going to take a couple of weeks off in June and then start back with our Summer term of math review, typing, French and some casual nature study. We've got a nest above our garage and we know it belongs to a dark-eyed junco. We recently re-filled our bird feeders and are hoping to attract some new birds to our house. So, we're on our way with our bird-watching plans!

Today, I want to go buy strawberries. I have been craving them and I'm excited to make some jam. I saw this recipe linked at As Cozy As Spring and I have to make it! I guess I need to buy some blueberries too!

I just finished reading Nina Planck's new book Real Food for Mother and Baby last night just in time for Tess's first meal. I'm trying to decide whether I should feed her avocado or slightly cooked egg yolk first. I'm leaning toward the avocado since I just bought some delicious looking avocados last Friday and that's what I originally had planned for her first meal.

I love this time of the year. I just get so excited over all the possibilities of things to do and learn. Okay, we're off to have some Memorial Day adventures.

Doesn't this look fun?

What could be more fun than combining classic children's literature and cooking fun treats from those great books? I can't wait to check this book out.

I've had it!

Okay, I've tried all kinds of organic whole grain breads and I give up! They're all awful. I mean truly awful. The other day, after a week of making smoothies every day for breakfast, I wasn't very hungry and I was in a hurry. So, I decided on a piece of wheat toast with butter and grape jelly. I didn't have any sourdough English muffins or any homemade cream scones. So, I had to settle for the toast. Well, as I ate it, I started to smell dirt. Now, the smell of soil is okay when you're gardening, but not while eating a piece of toast. I tried to ignore it, but after every bite I realized that my toast tasted like the smell of dirt. (I always think it's weird when something tastes like the smell of something else. It's almost always unpleasant.) As expected, I immediately lost my appetite. I didn't attribute this whole episode to pregnancy since I've been feeling better lately and I'm not turned off by many foods anymore. So, I blamed the whole thing on just plain old bad yucky tasting bread.

I have made bread once in my life and I have to say that it turned out pretty yummy, but I wished the recipe had made note that there was enough dough to yield 2 loaves instead of one. You can imagine how my bread turned out. There were some truly yummy parts, but it was doughy, huge and extremely weird looking. I guess that scared me off from making bread until now. My husband found a high quality bread maker for me at a garage sale about a year ago, but I haven't used it yet, but I'm ready now.

Last night, before bed, I was reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. He was talking about how food science has made something that should be completely recognizable completely alien. Of course, I was thinking about my wheat bread debacle as I read
this:
As your grandmother could tell you, bread is traditionally made using a remarkably
small number of of familiar ingredients: flour, yeast, water and a pinch of salt will
do it. But industrial bread - even industrial whole-grain bread- has become a far
more complicated product of modern food science (not to mention commerce and hope).
Here's the complete list for Sara Lee's Soft & Smooth Whole Grain White Bread. (Wait
a minute--isn't "Whole Grain White Bread" a contradiction in terms? Evidently not any
more.)

Enriched bleached flour [wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamin,
mononitrate (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), folic acid], water, whole grains
[whole wheat flour, brown rice flour (rice flour, rice bran)], high fructose corn syrup
[hello!], whey, wheat gluten, yeast, cellulose. contains 2% or less of each of the
following: honey, calcium sulfate, vegetable oil (soybean and/or cottonseed oils),
salt, butter (cream, salt), dough conditioners (may contain one or more of the
following: mono- and diglycerides, ascorbic acid, enzymes, azodicarbonamide),
guar gum, calcium propionate (preservative), distilled vinegar, yeast nutrients
(monocalcium phosphate, calcium sulfate, ammonium sulfate), corn starch,
natural flavor, beta-carotene (color), vitamin D3, soy lecithin, soy flour.

That ingredient list was seriously tedious to type!
Pollan goes on to write that not for the "...indulgence of the FDA [Sara Lee's] could not even be labeled "bread"."

Now, this wasn't the bread I was eating, but whatever. I know it had way less ingredients than this, but it doesn't matter. It was gross.

By the way, here's Pollan's list of how to choose foods:

1. Avoid food products containing ingredients that are unfamiliar.
2. Avoid food prodcuts that have ingredients that are unpronounceable.
2. Avoid food products that have more than five ingredients or that include High-Fructose Corn syrup.

Now, I'm a serious label reader and I'm often astonished that so-called simple foods become so complex when I read their labels.

So, today, I welcome tasty easy home made bread recipes either using a bread maker or not.
Please help me.

The Jam Plan

I've wanted to make jam for years, but I just haven't done it yet. Every time I go to a farmer's market, I scope out the booth with the homemade jams an jellies. I love the cute little jars and I'm sure half the allure of homemade jam is the jar. Last Fall, when we attended the Fall Festival at the Littleton Historical Museum, they were selling homemade jams. I couldn't help myself. I bought a jar of their grape jelly, apple butter, peach butter and peach jelly. They had made them at the museum and some were made using 1890's techniques. Recently, I bought strawberry plants for my container garden on my deck, but I know that I won't get enough strawberries for jam this year. So, I will just have to purchase them. Last night, I went to the grocery store and bought twelve small Ball jars for the jam. So, I'm well on my way. I saw this over at Elizabeth's and I got even more motivated. Aren't those jars so cute??? Last weekend, I went a little overboard and bought strawberries, blueberries and cherries. We've been eating berries non-stop especially Sammy. It's finally feeling like Spring here. More to come on the Jam Plan...

It's the New year

I took down the Christmas tree yesterday. It seemed to be an all-day process, but somehow I managed to get the ornaments put away and the lights stuffed back into their boxes. I know it's still Christmas, but I couldn't take the pine needles all over the floor anymore. I can't eat another cookie either. I'm done with the sweets. I intended to keep the tree up until the Epiphany, but after the new year, I tend to look ahead and start planning again. I find that it's difficult to celebrate Christmas for twelve days. Of course, I did keep the Nativity up as Luke moves the Wise Men a little closer each day.

As I put away ornaments yesterday, Luke commented that Christmas and Advent passed entirely too quickly this year. I agreed, but in general, I think time passes quickly all the time (except when I'm doing laundry). I thought about all my exciting Advent plans and how we accomplished most of them. We're still reading our Christmas picture books and yes, we did end up comparing the art work in many many editions of The Night Before Christmas from Tasha Tudor to Jan Brett to Will Moses To Gennady Spirin and many others. There were so many mediums of art to accompany this poem. From paintings to photographs to pen-and-ink drawings to pop-ups that it was difficult to decide which artist had the best interpretation of the poem. They were all creative. Along the way, Luke almost memorized the entire poem. He's even working on his own artwork to accompany the Clement C. Moore poem.

We're still only about a third of the way through A Christmas Carol, but there's still plenty of time during the twelve days of Christmas to finish this read aloud since it's not that long and we're all familiar with the story. I can tell that I'm already in that mode where I want to move on.

There's also a small stack of Christmas picture books that we haven't gotten to yet and I'm reluctant to turn them in until we've read them. With all of our nightly read alouds, I did end up with some new favorites this year. We loved loved loved Angela and the Baby Jesus by Frank McCourt and Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo and The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey.

Luke and I did make the gingerbread cookies and he actually ate them and enjoyed them. I discovered that they taste much better undecorated. Plain gingerbread men with a tall glass of milk is mighty tasty!

I'm in planning mode. I'm thinking about the books I want to read this year. I'm also thinking about our winter menu. This Potato soup will definitely warm the tummy during the cold months, but I need at least eleven more dinner dishes. So, I will be sitting down with a cup of tea and a stack of my favorite cookbooks this weekend. I plan to read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I bought it last year as an impulse buy at Costco, but didn't get around to reading it. It's been sitting on my nightstand for most of 2007. (I need to start the new year right and clear off the nightstand, but I know another stack of books will grow again.) I received A Walk with Jane Austen:A Journey into Adventure, Love, and Faith by Lori Smith for Christmas and I'm excited to read about the author's adventures around England as she follows in the footsteps of Jane Austen. I also bought this book before Christmas because as I've stated before, I love cookbooks and a book that will combine simplicity with food is something I want to read! I also have plans to read In this House of Brede hopefully in time for Nutmeg's bookclub. At present, I can't find my own copy. So, I hope that my library has an available copy and soon! Now, I'm still working on learning how to knit from this book. So, I've spent a lot of time reading from Kids Knitting trying to understand how to knit. Now, I know that this list will probably change as I discover new topics that excite me. I'm still working on Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature. I've had to take a break since I've spent a lot of my reading time reading children's Christmas books. I'm still fascinated by Beatrix Potter as it is clear that she seemed to learn best when she immersed herself in a subject and not when she had lessons. I've also started reading Atonement thinking I might actually go and see this film, but I'm not sure yet what I think of this novel.

Anyway, all my plans are well and good, but that Baby in a manger has led me to start thinking about 2008 and how much I want to incorporate Him even more into my daily life. I'm thinking about how to get back our good rhythm of learning we had for our first term. Our schedule got derailed during Advent (which I totally expected would happen) but now I realize it's getting close to the beginning of our second term.

My new cook book

I told you that I loved cook books! This is my latest acquisition. I made the Little Stars with Butter and Parmesan for Sammy yesterday. This is really just pasta with parmesan and butter, but I know there are more exciting pasta dishes to try in this book.