Brussels Sprouts and Roasted Winter Squash Hash...

with black rice and a fried egg on top.

I tried this recipe from the New York Times. I fried the egg since I am not confident of my poaching skills. Anything with a fried egg on top is pretty delicious, isn't it? I made the black rice in the rice cooker. It had a nice crunchy texture to it (or is that because I mixed it into the pan with the vegetables after is was cooked?) and tasted great, especially for a whole grain! I would definitely make this again. I probably would dice up the butternut squash and roast it in the oven (maybe even with the brussles sprouts?) instead of cooking it whole and then scooping it out (too messy). Now I need another recipe for the rest of the black rice. I think black rice is "in" right now, isn't it?

Anniversary Map Papercrafting Project

I felt a little guilty about not finding a unique gift for my parent's anniversary last month. Actually, it wouldn't have been so bad... except I didn't send my mom anything for her birthday which was two weeks prior. I'm the kind of person who will get a gift if I see something great. If I don't see anything I like, I just might not send anything. It's not very nice or consistent but I have a lot of gift angst. It doesn't help that certain people in my family are pretty good at picking out gifts. My family is hard to shop for and I just can't handle the pressure!

The night before my parent's anniversary I started feeling guiltier and guiltier so I spent two hours scouring etsy.com for something special. I found a lot of contenders (must keep them in mind!) but most had a long turn-around time so I drew inspiration from a few artists and came up with this gift myself. I bought an atlas at the bookstore and a cloud punch plus a deep frame from the craft store. I enlisted some help to pinpoint the exact cities that my parents had visited over the years. I punched them out of the maps and affixed them to the frame. It took quite a while to figure out the best way to attach them (sewing was involved!) and the best configuration for them (approximately spatially according to city). The best thing about it is that I haven't made much of a dent in their travels-- I only covered Europe and Asia! This means that next year I can give them Africa and the next South America and then Australia! So in the end, I get a few years worth of anniversary gifts out of this one idea! How awesome is that?

Slightly Belated Recent Happenings

Packers won

Shayna hangs out in her favorite spot

Talia has a tea party for her new American Girl Puppy, Coconut.


I acutally made cookies. From scratch. I let the kids help. It wasn't fun.

Pasta with Mushrooms, Winter Squash and Spinach

Delicious winter pasta dish. I didn't use this exact recipe-- no cream in mine-- but pretty close. This picture is making me hungry!

I've done some more knitting...

I finished Alex's hat and made one for myself. Mine's a slouchy hat and looks a little too hippie-ish for me but is really fun anyway. I got the pattern off Ravelry, which is a new discovery. Wow, what an awesome website! Last night I started a hat for Shayna. I was going to make her a matching bunny ear hat but... she already has one (though it's newborn sized) and she'll just pull it off anyway. I'm going with the marshmallow bonnet from the same book (shout out to a Madison author, woo hoo!). Hopefully the chin strap will help Shayna keep her hat on. Then I promise promise promise I'll make one for Ron. The only problem is... I REALLY NEED TO GET BACK TO QUILTING. I have some major projects to finish and get underway. Knitting is just so much more social. I can do it and still sort of take care of my kids. I can knit while I'm spending time with Ron. I can hold a conversation. I can't quilt and do anything else with it except maybe listen to the radio or watch a little mindless tv. Certain people (like my nephew Joel who is now over 3 months old and hasn't received his quilt yet!) are suffering.

Look who turned one!

Shayna had a fantastic first birthday party surrounded by family and friends. I can't believe she's one! She enriches our lives immeasurably. Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us. Check out that cute cake from Bloom Bake Shop!

I don't remember what this is.

I found it in my picture folder for last month. I have no idea what it was but it sure looks good!

We're a PJ kind of family

Winter Vegetable Tart

This was just delicious! It uses a few too many dishes for my liking but it could DEFINITELY be made ahead and cleaned up and then popped into the oven at dinnertime. This is from the Roasted Vegetable Cookbook by Andrea Chesman (She called it a Fall Vegetable Tart but it's winter now, so there!). I forgot the red pepper so I cut up some jarred roasted red peppers and added them in once the rest of vegetables were roasted. I use fontina cheese, which was a great texture -all gooey!- but I would like to try gruyere or goat for added taste. I ended up making to two separate "pies" with this so we had one for dinner and one for lunch. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 medium beets, peeled and diced small
1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced small
1 medium red or yellow onion, sliced thin
1 medium red or green pepper, diced
2 cups sliced mushrooms
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Large splash of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbl (or more!) fresh rosemary, minced
Pastry for 9-10” pie (store bought is fine!)
8 oz fontina, gruyere, or goat cheese (2 cups) grated

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Prepare vegetables by cutting into medium dice and placing in a bowl with the rosemary and salt/pepper to taste.
Toss with just enough good quality olive oil to lightly coat the vegetables.
Spread onto a lightly oiled baking sheet in a single layer and roast in the oven until tender, about 35 minutes.
Move vegetables around with a spatula every 10 minutes for even browning.
Remove from oven, set aside to cool, and reduce heat to 375 degrees.
Roll out dough to a 9 -10”circle, place on foil lined baking sheet and sprinkle cheese to within 2” of the edge.
Top with the roasted vegetables and fold edges of pie dough up and over to partially cover the vegetables.
Pinch and seal dough around edges to create a rustic looking tart.
Bake for 25 minutes until the crust is golden brown.
Serve warm.

DIY light box

1 "under the counter" light + 1 clear Sterilite or Rubbermaid container = DIY light table.

Roasted Asparagus with Feta, Lemon and Orzo

This is one of the very few recipes in which I can remember all the ingredients without a list. That's good because I often find myself at the grocery store without a set plan for dinner. The recipe calls for grilling the asparagus but I find roasting it is just as tasty! I got it from The Vegetarian Grill by Andrea Chesman.


Ingredients:
few jarred roasted red peppers, chopped
1 lb Asparagus, cut in 2 in lengths
1 lb Orzo
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 oz. Feta Cheese
Lots of fresh mint and Parsley

Lemon Garlic Marinade, recipe follows

Instructions for Roasted Asparagus with Feta, Lemon and Orzo:
Heat water for orzo.
Cut asparagus into 2-inch chunks and place in bowl and toss with Lemon Garlic Marinade.
Add orzo to boiling water and cook until tender. Drain.
Place in serving bowl, toss with feta and roasted red peppers.
Remove asparagus from marinade (save as much marinade as possible!), grill,* tossing frequently, until tender.
Remove from grill and add to the orzo.
Add remaining marinade, mint + parsley, salt and pepper to taste.

*I roasted the asparagus in the oven at 425 for 15 minutes, turning frequently. I also deglazed the roasting pan with a little white wine and added it all to the dish.

Lemon Garlic Marinade:
1 tablespoon minced Garlic
1 Lemon, zested
handful chopped Parsley
1 teaspoons Sugar
juice from 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon Mustard, Dijon
1/4 cup Olive Oil

Instructions for marinade:
In food processor fitted with steel blade, combine garlic, lemon zest, parsley and sugar. Process until very finely chopped and the mixture is fairly smooth. Add the mustard and the juice from one lemon and process again. With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil and continue to process until the oil is emulsified.Stir in salt & pepper to taste. Use immediately or store in airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

My NEW sous chef

Move over Alex-- I have a new sous chef! Shayna has made it to the Learning Tower (best purchase EVER) and has been joining me in the kitchen. Apparently she'll eat anything. Yesterday it was raw butternut squash and tonight it's raw aspragus. She seriously ate all of the tips. Of course Alex had to join her (in the cooking, not the eating, God forbid!) and there wasn't a lot of room in the cooking area after that. With just Alex I can leave my knives out but obviously I had to keep them (and just about everything else) from Shayna so I just kept inching away until I was on the other side of the kitchen. She is quite happy to stand at the counter and "help" though.

"Mom! Emergency downstairs!"

I've been working on independence with Talia (Well, I call it "working in independence" but it's really "working on letting Mommy sleep in"). I'm willing to put up with a little mess in exchange for the extra sleep. Talia has successfully gotten herself breakfast a few times recently and also does a pretty good job of taking care of Alex on weekend mornings. I suppose keeping the cereal on the absolute highest shelf in the closet (I can hardly reach it) isn't exactly the best place for it. Over the summer I tried keeping a low shelf with foods that the kids are allowed to take on their own but somehow I fell out of that habit. This is the emergency situation I was called to at 7:45 this morning. Someone owes me about $3 and an hour of extra sleep. I'll just put it on the kids' tab.

My own Tiger Mom moment

I want to Talia to love reading as much as I do. I was an early reader, so it killed me that Talia was not reading books by kindergarten. I tried not to push her. I believe intellectually that play-based learning is superior to book learning in preschool and kindergarten but in my heart I still wonder. I tried sitting down with her and making reading fun. I gave no judgement and just tried to make it special time with mommy. I offered tons of praise. I bought pretty bookmarks and a book timer. I took her to the bookstore and let her pick out her own books. Every week I go to the library and take about 60 kids' books. We read tons to the kids each night (which they love love love), we fill our home with books, we model reading ourselves and talk about the joy of it. And, eventually, she got it. By the beginning of first grade she was reading reliably and now, in the middle of first grade she can read almost anything with little or no help.

BUT. She doesn't really want to.

And why would she? We have TV, DVD, Netflix on Demand, iPod, iPad, computer, and art closet that rivals any preschool, ballet, swimming, skiing, gymnastics, playing with friends, a million toys and a billion other entertainments and distractions. If it wasn't something I could do in my bed I wonder how much I would be reading too.

Talia doesn't mind reading if it's only for a little while. She will sometimes read eagerly but not for very long. And she likes to read books that she can finish in one sitting. We have tons of easy readers and picture books. I might have to twist her arm a little bit to get started but she's definitely gotten into the habit of reading at least one book for pleasure each night. The problem is... I want her to WANT to read. I want her to see it as an answer to her own question, "What can I DO???" I want her to WANT to snuggle in her bed and open a book and get lost in it. I want her to read chapter books so that she CAN get lost in them.

So finally, I made her. This was my Tiger Mom moment. I am the ever-praising, super-patient, non-pushy, non-disciplining, "find your own path sweetheart" kind of parent that everyone refers to. This time I just put my foot down and told her she had to read one chapter with me every day. "But I don't WANT to!" "But you can't MAKE me!" "Why do I HAVE to?" Because I said so. And because you will not watch tv, play with an iPad, or have a playdate until you do. In the amount of time that you have been arguing with me about this you could be done already. There was crying and kicking and fighting. I did my part in choosing a book that would be really fun for her (Something about a first grade group of girls who decide to have a princess club in school). I also made sure that it was time for us together. Just the two of us. I let her snuggle up all over me and gave her my full attention.

The first day she scowled the whole time and didn't sit with me and read to herself. The second day we went through the whole fight again. "But you can't actually MAKE a person do ANYTHING!" Actually I can, and I will. But she sat with me on the couch and read to herself and I kissed her head and was very very affectionate. The third day she said, "We can go read my book now, if you want..." and she read aloud to me. Then she told me that she kind of likes the book and maybe wants to start the next chapter. Then yesterday she told me she read a chapter to Alex in her bed in the morning. Last night we couldn't find the book and she was quite disappointed. This morning we found it and she jumped for joy and settled herself on the steps and started reading. She brought it to school and asked her teacher if she could read it during reading time in class. I KNEW that if she just TRIED it, she would like it.

Mission accomplished.

Sometimes I knit.

I started this hat for Talia in 2009, while I was pregnant with Shayna. I made Shayna a little newborn one and promised Talia I would make a matching one for her. It took me over a year but I finally returned to the project last week and voila! a bunny hat! Now I've started one for Alex in gray with pink stripes. Sometimes I forget how pleasurable knitting is. It can get a little boring so I try to stick with small projects. For Alex's I put in a rib at the bottom instead of a roll, just to change it up a little and make it more interesting. I just finished the rib and am starting the first pink stripe. Now Ron wants one and Shanya needs a new one so I may be busy with that for a while.

I have many projects I'm working on right now-- a quilt for my nephew (I'm in the basting stage, ugh!), a top secret paper project that is a gift, and a loooooooong wish list of other projects. It's nice to have my creative energy back after a dry spell. But now I don't want to go to the gym as much. I really only have time for one or the other. Not both.

Miso-Glazed Cod

I made fish tonight! Ron hates fish and therefore didn't love it but he did eat it and I thought it was great! And easy! I used Ellie Krieger's recipe for Miso Glazed Cod and as well as her Miso Snap Peas recipe (although I jazzed it up by adding uncooked packaged broccoli slaw and a fresh red pepper- I mean, if you're going to go to all that trouble to COOK her dressing ON THE STOVE you may as well get a big hearty salad from it...). In retrospect, perhaps Ellie didn't leave the cod skin on but that was the best part by far. I never cook fish (because of Ron) or meat (because of me) so I was definitely a little anxious about it. I may have also set a little fire using my broiler for, I think, practically the first time ever (it was broken for three years) but the fish ended up perfectly cooked to all's well that ends well, right? I'm always amazed at how simple and easy cooking a protein for dinner is. I think my life would be a lot easier if I ate some meat or if Ron would eat some fish.

We've been watching a lot of cooking shows at my house. Alex and Shayna are sick and for some reason that means Alex wants to watch the Food Network all day. Maybe it's because he knows I'll watch it with him. We definitely bond over cooking shows. Hopefully I'll be inspired by another recipe tomorrow. I did see this shrimp one but Ron will NOT allow it...

I made a mermaid!

After avoiding my sewing machine for a few months, I'm back in there. I've been working on a quilt for my nephew Joel who is coming home from the NICU really really soon! I'm waiting for some more backing fabric to arrive in the mail so I can finish the quilt. I decided to work on an easy little project to stay in the creative mood. I used the Mermaiden pattern from the Wee Wonderfuls book. I'm not big on making stuffies but this one looked so easy. I used an old pair of cords for the hair and bits of fabric I had around the sewing room for the rest. She took me an hour and a half but the next one should be much much quicker. I certainly can't give it to Talia without promising Alex one too. There is a cute stuffed trolley in the book but I bet he's still going to want a mermaid. I could maybe change one into a mer-man. That might be satisfactory. Then again, if my boy really wants a mermaid, he'll get a mermaid!

Is it possible that my mom is a genius?

I've written before that my mom isn't the most "domestic" mom on the planet. She has no idea who gave me the "crafty" gene. And yet today, I'm wondering if my mom is maybe a crafty, problem-solving genius. See, I'm always complaining that my pants are falling down. Sadly it's not because I've lost tons and tons of weight (well, ok, a little!) but because I'm always buying jeans and pants with some stretch in them. I've become so used to comfy yoga pants that I can't bear to put on anything that actually fits. (Gee, I wonder why Talia will only wear leggings?!?) So I put on my jeans in morning, straight from the wash let's say, and I can hardly close them. By lunchtime they've stretched enough so that I can pull them down without even unbuttoning them! It's pretty frustrating and always leads me back to those yoga pants (oh how I love thee). Enter my mom who tells me she has been sewing (!) on a second button to all her pants for at least a year. Once the pants start to stretch she just moves them over to the second button. DUH! I bought a package of jeans buttons from Joann's-- you don't even have to sew them, just hammer them in! Now my pants aren't falling down (as much)! I think my mom might be a genius!

Have I solved our nutrition problem?!?!

I have three kids. Talia is a good eater. Recently she has become eager to try new foods. Shayna, so far, has not refused any foods at all. Whatever you give her, she will eat. Then there is Alex. He eats pretty much nothing with nutritive value. He subsists on yogurt, bread and chocolate. I read somewhere about a disorder found in little boys in which they slowly and systematically cut out more and more foods that they previously liked. I think he has that disorder. He used to eat peanut butter. Then he would only eat it on Uncrustables. Now he won't eat it at all. He used to eat cheese sticks. He doesn't like them anymore. As I said, it's only yogurt and bread. The bread shouldn't have crust and yogurt, for the love of God, should only be the "smooth" kind with no "freckles" in it.

The interesting thing is that Alex is my sous chef. He loves to cook. I bought him some kiddie knives and he helps me prep everything. He is the head salad dressing maker. He cuts the cucumbers. He won't try anything. I know I'm not supposed to make a big deal out the eating issues. I rarely mention it. We eat dinner together as a family about 99% of the time and I want it to be a pleasant experience where we talk about our day and enjoy each other's company. Ron, Talia and I model varied, healthful eating. We encourage and reward trying new foods and mostly ignore the rest of it. Maybe it's about control but Alex is so easygoing in every other area that it doesn't make sense.

Most of the time I just ignore it, as I said. I know people who ate nothing but pb&j their entire childhoods and they are fine (and more adventurous eaters) now. Every once in a while I panic about the whole thing. He's not underweight or anything, I just worry about him missing some essential nutrients.

Recently I bought a juicer as a gift for myself. Alex, ever my helper, happily pushed all the fruit and vegetables in. Miraculously-- he drank it! Through juicing he has now had his very first carrots! He had a pear! and a lime! and oranges! and apples! and blackberries! I'm going to try to move into juicing veggies a little bit more and see what I can get him to try! It's very exciting!

Self Portrait T-Shirt: Freezer Paper Stencil

Alex has learned how to draw a self portrait! I took one of his many drawings and turned it into a freezer paper stencil and put it on a t-shirt. (If you want to know how to do it, google the words "how to make a freezer paper stencil" and you will find tons of tutorials.) Isn't it cute?