Sunday, January 24, 2010

Winter CSA, Week 5

This week we got a pumpkin, blackberry preserves, corn, cornmeal, green beans, popping corn, fettucini, tomato juice, sorghum & sweet potatoes.

On an unrelated, but totally obsessive note: I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who was fascinated at what Claudia Kishi wore. I'm back in 6th grade all over again. I always felt sorry for Mary Anne.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Heart Shaped Garland

Finished up a little heart-shaped garland to pretty up our house for Valentine's Day. I love felt projects It was as easy as this girl said it would be!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Turnip Fries

Turnips are pretty. A little bit of purple that fades to white...So pretty. But they have a little bit of wang. (Yes, I just made that up, but you probably know what wang would taste like.) And I found a fun, simple little recipe for turnip fries. And I thought potatoes were the only way to eat fries!!! These are worth a taste.

TURNIP FRIES
8 med. turnips
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. ground paprika
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Pare and cut turnips into 2 1/2 x 1/2 inch sticks. In gallon-size sealable plastic bag, combine cheese, onion powder and paprika. Add turnips; seal bag, squeezing out air; toss to coat turnips. Place turnips on baking sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes or until turnips are tender and golden. Makes 8 servings.

What Have I done?

Anyone know much about html? I have done something crazy to my blog. Just uploading a picture (this one of my great grandparents) to see if I can add a picture.

By the way, I have deleted every single one of my blogger friends from my blogroll. Would you be a dear and leave your blog address below, or post a comment so I can find you again???

Added note: I have corrected the wackiness, but never got to make the changes I wanted to make. Plus I did forever lose my blog links. If you know about html, and would like to help this housewife out with her blog, let me know!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Help for Haiti

Like all of you, my heart goes out to those suffering right now in Haiti. Many of you have churches and organizations that you want to give to right now. If not, here's a list of large organizations who are doing good works in Haiti.

Compassion International
Red Cross
Manna Global Ministries
Healing Hands International
Doctor's without Borders
Hope for Haiti's Children
Christian Relief Fund

Image of people waiting for aid, from Jae C. Chong from here.

Amishables

The Amish know a thing or two about food. A new shop opened up down the street that specializes in Amish foods - cheeses, breads, noodles, canned goods, etc. Check it out!

Uncool?

"I don't want to take that lunchbox this morning. The other kids think it's not cool"

(Thinking: WHAT? My son is 4 years and 3 days old, and people are saying he's uncool? Don't they know? He is the definition of cool! How can this possibly be starting already?!) But I say calmly, "Who says it's not cool?"

"Everybody in my class."

So we retire the Laptop Lunchables for "cooler" preschool lunch fashion. But those 4 year olds better watch it. That's all I'm gonna say. Watch your backs kids, watch your backs.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Corn & Green Bean Filled Sweet Potatoes

Some of you think I'm a healthy eater. Well, you know who is really healthy? My mom. She was packing my high school lunch bags with avocado sandwiches & molasses cookies before it was cool. Dinner at their house is always a culinary adventure, so it was no surprise to go to their house last night and have Corn & Green Bean Filled Sweet Potatoes for dinner. It was surprisingly yummy & quite lovely! She also had some filled with who know's what? I think beans, peppers, avocado & red pepper. But only Mimi knows for sure.

Bubbles

Less than a year ago, Ethan had his first dairy products. It has been an even shorter period of time that he has been drinking glasses of milk. As hard as I have tried, he has no interest in drinking milk. But we've turned a corner, thanks to our friend Benjamin! Ethan saw him blowing bubbles in his milk, and now he'll drink it so he can blow bubbles too! So now we encourage blowing bubbles in our house!

Who knew? The little tricks to getting kids to eat and drink can be so simple!

The Angel and the Man

I recently started using this hand embroidered hand towel that my mom bought at a garage sale in the '60s. I have all these old linens, but never use them. What a shame! Ethan loves this towel. He calls it the "Angel and the Man." The other day he said, "Mama, when I get married, can I have that?" How cute! He's never said anything about getting married before. Of course he can!!!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Keeping Away From The Joneses

I'm so glad you are all back. Remember when you all vacated your blogs? That made me sad. But I know several of you are vowing a comeback in 2010. Yeah! My sister-in-law started a new blog, Keeping Away from the Jonses. Every monday she's posting a workout you can do at home. Head on over and give today's workout a shot! She posts about food (she does the CSA too, and gets a way bigger allotment of food), simplicity, healthy living and much more. Well, she's doing something way cooler than all that. For every person who comments on her post from Saturday, she's donating $3 to Haiti relief. So visit her blog today!

And while you are at it, why don't you get to posting on your own blog. I miss you!

Top 50 Design Blogs

My favorite thing I've read in the Times lately - Top 50 Design Blogs. Deep, right? The #1 and #2 blogs are regular web spots for me, Apartment Therapy, and Design*Sponge. It's kind of like how I listened to The Lemonheads before they were famous, right?

PS. Apartment Therapy recently awarded their Homies for 2009. They voted for the best blogs for Home Design, Green Home, Kids at Home, Home Tech & Home Cooking. Check 'em out.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Getting Stood Up

We thought we had a weekend jam packed with activities. Friday, Saturday & Sunday night would be spent with friends. And we also prepared for company on Saturday morning! So we cleaned the house, and I made some sweet potato pancakes (YUM! I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO REGULAR PANCAKES AGAIN!), breakfast casserole, a lovely bowl of fruit, and a fresh pot of coffee. We waited and waited and waited. Kept the house clean (a miracle with small children). For an hour and a half we waited. They never showed. An hour and a half later, we realized that our breakfast guest are coming in 2 weeks from now! So we just had a fancy little Saturday morning brunch with just our little family. It was kind of fun just having a fancy breakfast at home!

Ethan Turns Four!!!

I can't believe my baby is turning FOUR! Instead of a gigantic birthday like last year (see party here, and party details here), E just wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese with his buddy Luke. With cupcakes. How easy is that? It was perfect. Happy birthday Ethan!
Ethan & Luke had a blast. At this time last year, I made an insane amount of vegan cupcakes for his #3 bash. And he'd never even eaten pizza before! This year, he enjoyed 'regular' pizza & cupcakes. Eating is so much easier these days.
I just found out about The Cupcake Collection. The most delicious cupcakes made in the Germantown living room of a family that moved here from New Orleans. I love family businesses!
The boys inspect gifts. I love that these boys are only 2 weeks apart in age, but they are at total opposite ends of the growth chart. They are so cute together!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Recovered Chairs

Lance & I recovered chairs last week. Can you tell I really stocked up at the big ole fabric sale? I'm slightly concerned about the fabric cushion + small children, but it was an easy project and fairly low expense. So we can always recover them if needed. I'll just wait for another sale!Most of you know that our house was renovated, thanks to the big mess that happened right here. It has been almost a year since we moved back in! I've been meaning forever to recover these chairs.
And finally I think my work is done here.
Does everyone love a before & after as much as I do? I'm thinking of posting some, since it has been almost a year since we finished all our repairs!

Even More Napkins

I made a bunch more napkins!And then decided to make some more. I think i'm FINALLY done.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Winter CSA, Week 4

This week we got canned corn, popping corn, strawberry preserves, sweet potatoes, green beans, whole wheat noodles, bread & butter pickles, acorn squash, little pumpkins (?) and what I think is a Blue Hubbard Squash.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

My Favorite: Cornbread in a Cast Iron Skillet

I dream about cornbread in my sleep. I am a big big fan. What's even better than cornbread, is cornbread cooked in a cast iron skillet and served right from the oven to the table. I love it. I usually use this vintage skillet, but I'm glad that Lodge Cast Iron Cookware is just right over yonder from me! (Notice what I did there? That's good Southern grammar!) Did you know that cooking with cast iron gets extra iron into your diet? And do you know how to make your own buttermilk? Save yourself a trip to the grocery, and just do this!

Here are some yummy cornbread recipes. Make yourself a pot of soup & try one of these out tonight!
* Rosemary Corn Muffins: I have tons of rosemary in my yard, so here's a good use for it! I actually have not tried this one.
* Jalapeno-Rosemary Corn Muffins - I was loving this one this summer, when my jalapeno was growing like crazy!
* Vegan Cornbread - You would never know there was no dairy or eggs. Plus, it has flax (can be used as an egg replacement), which is super-good for you!
* Quinoa Cornbread - I just made this tonight (this is the one pictured above). Quinoa (called a super-grain) is so good for you, and it was surprisingly delicious. I ground the quinoa in my coffee grinder;
* Cornbread Mix - This is what I made for my Christmas gifts. It's not the world's best cornbread, but it's a fun gift & tasty enough. Many of the cornbread mixes called for Crisco, which I did not want to use. And If you like your cornbread sweet, you might want to throw in a little sugar.

And one final note about cornbread...A friend recently made us some cornbread and threw in some small florets of frozen broccoli! It was delicious, and I had never even thought about this. Turns out there are bazillions of broccoli cornbread recipes online. And another thing I'm excited to try out - cornbread with sorghum. Got some from a local farmer, so I'm excited to try out the combo.

What about you - do you have any favorite cornbread recipes?

Monday, January 11, 2010

On a Snowy Weekend

You know what we do on snowy weekends around here? We stare at the 1/4 inch of snow, we sled around in trashbags! And we had a big ole filing party!!! We're nerds, right? I never said I was cool.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Ethan's Awesomeness

I've been keeping a running list of all the funny things that Ethan says. There have been countless times that I've said, "Oh I could never forget that." But of course, I always do. So I try to write them down. Here are a few classics. There are tons and tons that I haven't included. Some are too long for blogland!

After getting new shoes, "Sweet, They're brown!"

"I left you loose!" (meaning "I left you hanging" after a high 5)

"Mama, you look pretty. Just when you wear princess shirts & pants. Not just regular clothes."

"What's that brown food? [thinks a minute] Oh - Chocolate!"

"Dinner, lunch and food are funny words."

to Katie Belle: "I love you Katie Belle. [whispers now:] But sometimes I do bad decisions."

"God told me there were mountains in heaven. He has quiet voices and told me at night. And I will get to play with Jesus and God in heaven."

"Spiderman is my favorite thing that God made."

"God calls Oreos, 'oreo cookies' "

praying "and thank you God that Grandfather died. Because he was old. And thank you for heavens... [pauses to think] I mean, Texas. In Jesus Name, Amen"

yesterday he woke up and shouted at the top of the stairs, "GOOD MORNING! Did I scare you guys a little bit? 'Cause I think i scared mySELF a little bit!

Photo from Mary Alice Duncan Photography. If you book her, give me a shout out - I'll get a credit for a future photo shoot!