my little gnome

happy halloween everyone! we are having 5 other one year olds over for some trick-or-treating and food (and maybe even some dancing!)... i must keep cooking. enjoy that last day of october!

g.g. comes to visit

my grandmother came to visit us for five days. she is a strong 75 years old, brimming with stories (like the time clint eastwood flirted with her right in front of my grandpa! and how ellen degeneres flew her out to los angeles and she was on the show to celebrate her 75th birthday). i hung on her every word. we drew out a family tree and she told me about each of her mother's 6 siblings and her father's 2 siblings. she detailed how her mother would make jam and ketchup and how she still has the banjo her father used to play.

grandma raised four girls and dog. she obtained her private pilots license and got to fly a 747 once. she continues to take classes on greece, how to declutter your life and computers at a local adult education center. she says her life is full of times where she was at the right place at the right time. i say she lives her life with an open heart and an open mind and seeks adventure on a daily basis, her life is bound to be full of blessings and miracles.

calvin called her g.g. which stood for great grandma. he loved her from the moment he saw her. he would call out "g.g. where are you?" and he sat in her lap and listened to her read book after book. when he woke up in the morning he would say, "shhh g.g. sleepin' ". it was adorable and i could tell that she enjoyed every smile, hug and word that calvin gave her.

i am so grateful that grandma made the trek out here to visit us and spend time telling us about her life. she (and we) hopes to make it an annual trip. i can't wait for next year...

*my grandma drove the school bus when my mom and aunts were little. here she is with her four girls getting ready to drive them the 50 mile route to school.

kale and swiss chard

my friend lisa is always touting kale and swiss chard as being the best-for-you foods ever. i like them raw in salad... but that is about it. cooked...well... they taste like dirt to me.

then one day i was chatting with crissy and she was making a kale and swiss chard recipe that she claimed was delicious. i asked for the recipe and she promptly sent it (on retro cabbage patch stationary no less...).

then sam and i were at the farmer's market over the weekend and there sitting on a wooden table of one of the vendors were kale and swiss chard. so decided to give crissy's recipe a shot.

it was frickin' delicious. so good i have already made it twice more. calvin loves it too. here is the recipe (which is a tweaked version of a recipe from yoga journal):

Kale and Swiss Chard Gratin

1 large yellow onion

2 tbsp butter plus 2 tsp

1 head kale

1 head swiss chard

1 tsp salt

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup milk ( i used soy)

4 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese

3 tbsp breadcrumbs

1. cut the onion in half lengthwise; then slice it into the thinnest slices possible

2. in a large, heavy bottomed skillet with a cover, melt 2 tbsp butter over medium high heat. when it foams add the onions, reduce the heat to low, and cover the pan, letting the onions sweat, stirring them occasionally until they are nearly dissolving.

3. cut the kale and swiss chard into very thin slices and add them to the onions. fitting all of it into the pan will seem impossible, but it will wilt considerably. put the cover on and cook until the cabbage has wilted, about 10-15 min. remove the cover and continue to cook, stirring until the kale and chard are soft, another 10-15 min.

4. preheat oven to 400 degrees

5. spray baking sheet with olive oil spray and set aside

6. sprinkle the salt, pepper and flour over the greens, and stir. increase the heat to high, stirring still and then add the milk, a little at a time, continuing to stir, creating a sauce for the vegetables.

7. when it has thickened, in about 5 minutes, spread the mixture evenly into the prepared baking dish. mix the cheese and breadcrumbs together and scatter over the surface. dot with the remaining butter, and bake until the top is crusty and golden and the edges are bubbling, about 20 minutes. serve hot from the baking dish.

*it keeps in the fridge and seems to keep getting better.

enjoy!

relaxing

i took this picture last week when we had a day in the 60s and i was determined to spend all of it outside. during calvin's nap i laid outside on the hammock and read a book. it was nice to take time to not make dinner, not make any halloween costumes, not make anything... just sit (or lay) and enjoy the warmish sun.

today it is in the 40s and the trees have all of the sudden changed dramatically. the sidewalks are covered in leaves of all colors. sam and i spent the morning at the pumpkin patch following around a very indecisive 20 month old. he finally found the perfect pumpkin and now they are best friends and must go everywhere together.

ahhh. autumn i love you.

making::food

i have not been doing much sewing lately... but i have been busy in my sewing sketch book with holiday gift ideas (i know it seems too early to be talking about it, but i always seem to be crunched for time the last few days before christmas, staying up until the wee hours on the sewing machine, so i am hoping to get an early start this year to avoid the stress).

we have been doing a lot of cooking. this months food magazine is a good one and we have already made a few recipes. over the weekend we made broccoli and corn chowder (delicious!). it was easy, very tasty and everyone ate it. we made lots and froze some. i love finding it in the freezer in a months time and with a simple re-heat, voila! dinner's ready.

we also made acorn squash quesadillas from smittenkitchen. (the camera battery died just after i snapped the above shot so i don't have any other pics...follow the link for her great step-by-step photos) they were sweet and yet spicy. we had never used acorn squash in anything but soup before and these turned out super good. so tasty in fact that i think we are going to make them for the halloween party that we are having. i am going to try making them ahead of time and then just re-heat them in the oven. i tried it in the toaster oven and it worked. hopefully the oven will provide the same results and allow me to increase the quantity. (fingers crossed)

apples!

the temperature has dropped significantly around here in the last week and in honor of the cooler crisp air we visited our local apple farm.

calvin and i decided to make mom's apple bread from smittenkitchen. as we were making the bread he kept on saying, "calvin bakin' ". i couldn't get enough of his sweet little voice so i continued to ask him what he was doing, to which he would reply "calvin bakin' ". he just learned how to say his name and now he speaks in the third person regularly.

it came out pretty good. the bottom crust is a bit hard, but i think that is due to my 1950's unreliable oven. the fact that i substituted the oil for apple sauce also may have contributed. but the bread is still being eaten around here at a pretty quick pace so i don't think that anyone minds too much.

gnomes and pockets

after much deliberation, calvin is going to be a garden gnome for halloween. i made the hat using a pattern from bend the rules sewing. it turned out cute and calvin loves wearing it (yay!). i am also making a belt and a wee vest. for only using what i have on hand here, i am pretty impressed with how it is coming out (maybe that tells me that i have a bit too much on hand...). the beard is a different story. i have not found one that fits him or that he will keep on. i do have some white felt so i am thinking of fashioning a felt beard and then somehow attaching it to his hat and/or vest so that it stays on without having to go around his head (this seems to be an issue). i will keep you posted on how it turns out.

playing out in the yard last week calvin discovered that pockets have a purpose... he can put stuff in them. a whole new world opened up for him. he is a child that likes to squirrel away rocks, balls, bits of this and that so pockets are perfect. i did learn the hard way that i now have to check all of his pockets before putting his clothes in the wash.