celebrations

This week will be full of celebrations. Daniel's birthday will be celebrated with family and friends and family again. The first of the many Valentine's Day parties will take place. And this weekend, we will gather to celebrate the life of my Great-Aunt Sarah.




It was, from what I've heard, as peaceful a passage as one could hope for, which is certainly no less than what she deserved. The synopsis of my aunt's life has always amazed me, but as I have moved further into adulthood -- and especially motherhood -- I find myself wondering at her life more and more. Widowed at a young age, she was left to care for her two handicapped children at a time when resources to meet their needs were few and far between. If she ever took pity on herself, I never heard it. She seemed to meet each day with strength and determination.

As time went on, she lost her children, and her memories, too.

I last saw her in the summer months. We spent a few hours together, poring over pictures of the newest generation, going over the ties that linked her to each of the faces in the photographs, assuring her repeatedly that, yes, we are in fact Italian.

We sat outside in the sunshine, where the revolving door of comments turned to talk of how warm the sun felt, how lovely the fountains and flowers were, how nice a place we found ourselves. There was passing confusion on her part, as to who I was and where we were, but never any complaint. Only more mention of the sun on her skin or the birds singing. A lesson to be remembered, finding joy wherever we are.

A lesson that is one more thing to celebrate.

Sunday chicken ... on Tuesday

Tuesdays are our busiest days around here. The kids have classes all morning into the afternoon and we work at the farm in the early evening. That leaves little time (or energy) for cooking dinner. While homecooking is a goal in our house, I'm not above getting a little help from the local grocery store, especially when that help comes in the form of a delicious Whole Foods rotisserie chicken that just happens to be on sale each Tuesday. Prepared food isn't usually cost-effective, but I'd be hard-pressed to buy a whole raw chicken of the quality offered at Whole Foods for the price we pay to take it home already cooked. Make a few healthy sides and a salad and it's a well-rounded meal for a busy family.

I do love a good rotisserie chicken, but honestly, there's only so many times I feel like repeating the same meal in the span of one week. Luckily, cooked chicken is easily adapted to lots of delicious, quick meals. Recently we've enjoyed...

Chicken and roast vegetable enchiladas with a Rick Bayless flair. I was never a big fan of mexican cuisine until this cookbook made it into our home. Matt is quite the fan of mexican fare and extremely good at cooking it, so I'm happy to oblige these dinners.

Another simple chicken dish:

Chicken Stew

2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
3 ribs chopped celery
4 cups stock or broth
1-2 cups shredded cooked chicken
6-8 potatoes, cut into chunks
1 cup corn kernels
1 cup green beans


Saute celery and onion in olive oil. Add stock or broth and chicken. Bring to a simmer. Add potatoes and cook until soft. Toss in vegetables and cook for about 10 minutes more. At this point, you can thin the stew with water, thicken it with cornstarch or make it creamier by adding milk or cream. Season to taste (it goes well with a few sprigs of thyme thrown in while the stock simmers.)

And speaking of stock, what's a girl to do with her weekly haul of chicken bones? We save them in the freezer, and every few weeks they're dumped into the stock pot with herbs and any old veggies lying around (carrots, celery, onion, mushrooms, etc.). Then it's left to simmer all day long.

Stockmaking is one of my favorite culinary undertakings. It makes the house smell good, and it makes me feel good to know we are using every bit we can.


Strained and chilled so the fat can be skimmed off the top, then stored in freezer-safe jars.

From a few weeks' worth of chickens, we have stock enough to get us through a few more creative Tuesday dinners.

snow day

Well, the weather hit as predicted here, a crazy mix of strong wind and heavy snow, lightning and thunder, leaving drifts about our yard so deep that neither children nor dogs could travel through. Much of our snow day was spent deep in it, playing and shoveling -- at our house, the neighbors, the honorary Grandmas and Grandpas in our lives, at my brother's...My husband, brothers and big kids roamed the neighborhood with shovels and snowblower in hand, Sophia returning home to fill thermoses of coffee to fuel the work. It really took all day to dig everyone out.

It might be that some of the thrill of a "snow day" is lost on kids who don't go to school anyhow, but they were certainly excited for the snow and caught up in the high energy of preparing for the blizzard. And they were beaming with pride and a sense of importance as they travelled the neighborhood, working with the big guys.











While the big kids joined the effort, Charlotte and I worked on warming the house.

We designed and tested a new gluten-free banana muffin recipe that turned out so very moist and light, with none of the aftertaste of some gluten-free recipes we've tried.

Gluten Free Banana Oat Muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 stick butter
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
4 Tbsp. honey
2 eggs
1/4 c. applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 c. gluten free flour mix (we used Bob's Red Mill all purpose gf flour)
1/2 c. rolled oats
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
cinnamon and nutmeg as desired

2 mashed bananas
1/2 c. plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 325.

Cream butter and sugar. Add honey, eggs, applesauce and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and add. Mix in bananas and yogurt. Spoon into buttered muffin tins. Makes 12 muffins. Bake 18-20 minutes.

to market

The kids and I are always looking for ways to use our desire to create to meet our needs. It's a driving force around here, to make useful things. We've brought our own bags to the store for a long time, but I've been looking for a way to avoid using plastic for our bulk items. We usually put all our produce into one cloth bag to unload at checkout, but I always feel bad when the fresh stuff leaves a mess on the conveyor belt. Enter our market bags:

Using crayons on thin muslin fabric, the kids got to work designing bags.





Then we laid wax paper between the layers of cloth and over the design, fixing the crayon onto the fabric with an iron.




Sewn up as a drawstring bag,



and it's ready to go to the store!

These work great for holding bulk grains and nuts as well as produce. The kids love filling and weighing their bags and showcasing their artwork for all to see.

This post is part of the virtual playgroup at Beneath the Rowan Tree!

gluten-free baking

For the past several months, I've cut gluten out of my diet. It has been easier than expected to avoid the obvious sources -- traditional breads, pasta and baked goods --though it has been challenging to determine which unexpected foods contain gluten (who knew soy sauce has wheat in it? I sure didn't!). I was impressed with how little I craved sweets through the holidays, but as winter has worn on, I've been in the mood for some homemade treats. The task of mixing different flours and starches seems a bit daunting to me, so I've been experimenting with some of the mixes available at the store.

Recently we tried out a chocolate chip cookie mix.



The cookies were a little dry and crumbly, so with half the batter still in the bowl, I added in enough plain yogurt to make it more the consistency of cake batter.



The result was a tasty, moist chocolate chip cake, perfect with some ice cream on top. Sweet tooth satisfied...

a favorite breakfast

This recipe came to me from my sister, who received it from a friend, who got it from someone else, originating who knows where. It's become a regular around here, not only for its ease and taste, but also for how healthy it is. The batter starts the night before, with whole grains that are blended with yogurt, kefir or buttermilk and left to soak overnight. Allowing the grains to soak in the cultured dairy helps to break down the phytates present in grains that can prevent your body from absorbing nutrients. The room for play in this recipe keeps it at the top of our breakfast list... different combinations of grains, fruits and vegetables make it easy to come up with new, equally satisfying versions. And getting a headstart on breakfast the night before makes for an easy morning.

Soaked Grain Pancakes

Mix in blender at high speed for three minutes:

1 Tbs. Olive oil
1 cup cultured dairy (buttermilk, yogurt or kefir)
1/2 cup uncooked oats (rolled or whole)
1/2 cup uncooked brown rice (try buckwheat, millet, barley, spelt, kamut, or any other whole, raw grain)

Cover blender and leave out overnight.

Just before baking, add and reblend for 3 more minutes:

1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Other add ins:

pureed pumpkin, squash or sweet potato with warming spices
ripe bananas and cinnamon
applesauce
nuts

This will be a thin batter, but you can adjust the consistency as needed by adding flour or liquid.

I usually make a double batch. Our favorite version uses brown rice, cinnamon, chopped almonds and homemade applesauce. We serve it along with my simplified version of:

Cinnamon Poached Pears

Place 2 pears, peeled, sliced and cut to desired size, in a small saucepan or frying pan. Add a few tablespoons of water, a dash of salt and a generous amount of ground cinnamon. Cover and simmer for a few minutes, until the liquid reduces and becomes a syrup.

Hmm, it seems every time I tried to take a picture of this breakfast, someone kept snatching the pears!




This post is part of Pennywise Platter over at The Nourishing Gourmet, as well as on Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist.

just a few more minutes...

it's amazing to see what just a few more minutes of light each day can bring...




the hens are laying again.