Happy Father's Day!



 

Tuesday evening Hannah went to school for an open house. She wanted Dave to go with her not me (yes, that did make me a little sad). She was able to meet her teacher, some of the kids that are going to be in her class, see the classroom and play with some of the toys. She was very impressed with the indoor sandbox. Harper was very sad, like me, that she was not invited to go so we made a special bedtime snack that Harper built. She was very proud, we layered yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, rice crispies three times in a glass.

 

Weekly Menu
Monday: Mexican Lasagna
Tuesday: Roasted Artichoke Antipasto Salad with White Bean Hummus, Cherry Tomatoes and Roasted Garlic Bread
Wednesday: Lemon Sole, Spinach and Roasted Potatoes
Thursday: Chickpea Salad and Pitas
Friday: Fried Eggs, Toast and Fruit
Saturday: Pizza
Sunday: Mussels with Cream Fennel and White Wine, Caramelized Onions and Blue Cheese Pasta with Salad and Sticky Date Pudding

 

Weekly Pantry List
Taco seasoning or chili and cumin, olive oil, fresh garlic, balsamic vinegar, sage, Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar (or champagne vinegar), hot pepper flakes, flour, yeast, fennel seed, brown sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, eggs (3), butter (about a pound), ground ginger, sugar, maple syrup, mayonnaise, vegetable oil, dried cranberries, walnuts

 

Weekly Grocery List
Mozzarella Cheese
Feta Cheese
Blue Cheese (4 oz)
Heavy Cream (1 1/2 cup)
Mussels (3 lb)
Olives (for pizza)
2 large white onion
1 bag yellow onions
2 red onion
3 shallot
1 bulb fennel
1 pear
Fresh dates (10oz)
3 red peppers
1 zucchini
Cremini mushrooms (1 cup + extra for pizza)
Fresh basil
Fresh mint
Fresh parsley
4 lemons
2 packages of cherry tomatoes
4 9oz bags of frozen artichokes
1 jar of capers (need 6 Tbsp)
Pizza sauce
1 14 oz can tomatoes
2 19 oz can white kidney beans
1 19 oz can of chickpeas
MASA or corn tortillas
Chunky pasta (1 lb)
1 loaf of crusty bread (I used roasted garlic ciabatta)

 

White wine

 

Mexican Lasagna
Hannah declared to me today, after staring out the window at the rain, "It's such a drooly day out there!"

 

Do you want to know when your children will finally break after being up late two nights in a row with little catch up sleep in the morning? After the third night, Harper walked around today being grumpy to everyone, including her stuffed animals and Hannah seriously looked like a really cute zombie, all innocent and stunned, that is until something didn't go her way (like the suggestion that she may be cool in shorts), and then she melted like the wicked witch after having water thrown on her. When the sun finally came out around four they, and their little dark clouds, spilled into the backyard and put their energy into making mud pies, I've never been so relieved to see them play in the mud!

 

Recipe
I have a confession to make, I'm in love with salsa verde. I'd never tried it before the whole bowl the other week and now I can't get enough of it. More importantly, I can't get enough of it smothered on something cheesy, which is perhaps more the issue than eating a lot of salsa verde! I made this dish tonight specifically so I could smother it in salsa verde, but it would hold up on it's own as well.

 

olive oil

1 large white onion, halved and sliced

3 cloves, pressed

1 red pepper, cut into strips

1/3 of a zucchini, chopped
1 cup cremini mushrooms, sliced
14 oz canned tomatoes
19 oz canned white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 pack of low sodium taco seasoning (you could also use a little chili spice and cumin I was just lazy)
7 corn tortillas (homemade with MASA is best)
2 cups mozarella cheese

 

Preheat oven to 350F.

 

Heat olive oil over medium low heat and saute onions until soft, add garlic and taco seasoning and a little water (scant 1/4 cup) stir all together until saucy. Add the pepper, zuchinni, mushrooms and saute until soft. Once all the veggies are ready add the beans and tomatoes, bring to a boil and then simmer over low heat while you make your corn tortillas and grate the cheese.

 

Once everything is ready put a spoonful or two of sauce on the bottom of an ovenproof dish (I used an oval 2 quart Corning ware dish), layer half the tortillas (cutting and piecing them together as necessary), half the sauce and half the cheese repeat all for the top layer and then bake until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly, about 25 to 30 minutes. Serve with salsa verde!

 

Roasted Artichoke Antipasto Salad with White Bean Hummus, Cherry Tomatoes and Roasted Garlic Bread

Heat! Thank you Goddess of Nature for the nice hot day today. It was the first sprinkler day of the season for us. There is something very...retro about watching my kids run through the sprinkler; except for the fact that they are wearing suns shirts, hats and are loaded up with sunscreen, it reminds me of being a kid. I was trying to convince Hannah to use the regular sprinkler (the one that comes up in a rainbow and moves from side to side) but she wanted to use the little spinning froggy. We ran through the sprinkler a lot as kids and I loved it. I loved the rush of excitement as the sprinkler was getting closer and closer (I know, I was a real dare devil, that water is pretty cold you know) or I can remember the feeling of standing over it with my head right in it and the inevitable thrill when someone picked it up and started to point and run with it. The girls squealed with delight as they ran from the sprinkler to the water table and then sprawled out on their towels to play beach party.

 

Recipe
The recipe for the roasted artichoke antipasto salad is from Circle B Kitchen. I made up the white bean hummus, being inspired by a dip I bought on a whim at the store the other day. They were all good separate but were best when piled together on a nice piece of ciabatta.

 

Artichoke Salad:
4 boxes (9 oz each) of frozen artichoke hearts, defrosted and cut in quarters

Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
1 shallot, minced
3 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp white wine or champagne vinegar
1/2 cup chopped basil leaves
6 Tbsp capers
2 roasted red peppers, sliced thin
1/2 cup minced red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
2 pinches hot red pepper flakes (optional)

 

Preheat oven to 350F.

 

Toss the artichokes in a bowl with 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper and toss to coat. Lay them out on a cookie sheet, in one layer and roast for 25 minutes.

 

Meanwhile make vinaigrette. Place the minced shallot, lemon juice, mustard and 1 Tbsp of the vinegar in a food processor and process for 5 minutes. Add basil leaves and process into a green puree. With the processor running slowly add 1/2 cup olive oil until the ingredients are finely pureed. Set aside.

 

Place the roasted artichokes in a bowl and toss with enough of the vinaigrette to moisten. Add capers, red peppers, red onions, parsley and 1 Tbsp vinegar and toss together. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and set salad aside at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before serving.

 

White Bean Hummus:
1 19 oz can white kidney beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 bulb garlic, roasted
4 Tbsp minced red onion
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sage
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup (scant) water
salt and pepper to taste

 

Preheat oven to 350F.

 

Wrap garlic in a piece of foil with a drizzle of olive oil and roast for about 30 minutes, until garlic is tender.

 

Put all ingredients in a food processor except for water, and process until smooth adding water a little at a time until you get desire consistency.

 

Slice nice thick slices of bread, spread with white bean hummus and top with artichoke salad, we had this with cherry tomatoes on the side



Lemon Sole, Spinach, Green Beans and Roasted Potatoes

I came down from getting dressed this morning to two girls with very wet hair. I determined that Hannah had climbed up and gotten the water bottle and they were playing hairdresser (which I wouldn't normally have a problem with if it didn't result in water all over the hardwood floors). I gave Hannah a dish towel and asked her to clean up all the water while Harper and I cleaned up a large toy dump in the back room that was mixed in with the laundry. After a few minutes Hannah comes in and complains that she didn't make the puddle on the floor. I explained to her that she took responsibility for the water when she took down the spray bottle and her job was to clean up the water. Shortly after, my dad came in and I ventured out of the back room to find Hannah standing over a huge (like half the kitchen) puddle of water with her little dish cloth and her eyes very big and round trying to figure out where to start. Poor Hannah, I didn't realize that the dishwasher had leaked all over the kitchen and that was the puddle she was talking about. Perhaps next time I will ask for a few more details. Dave fixed the dishwasher when he got home and all it back to normal...for now.

 

Recipe 

This was a very simple dinner enhanced by Hannah and Harper setting the table in the dinning room tonight, they wanted it to be a little bit fancier.

 

4 sole fillets
1 lemon
Margarine (butter would obviously be better but I didn't have any)

 

In a pan melt a little margarine add 1 or 2  tsp of lemon zest per fillet and lightly fry over medium low heat until cooked. Once all are cooked squeeze a little of the lemon juice over them and serve. This is very light and mild tasting.

1.5 lb new potatoes, quartered
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt

 

Preheat oven to 450F.
Toss potatoes with olive oil and balsamic vinegar until coated and then spread out in one layer on a parchment lined pan, sprinkle with salt. Roast in oven for 30 - 40 minutes, until crispy.

1 bunch spinach, washed and chopped
leftover artichoke salad
1/2 red onion
Olive oil
White wine vinegar

 

In a large pan heat a little olive oil over medium heat and saute red onion until soft, add the leftover artichoke salad and cook until warm, add the spinach and cook until wilted. Once spinach is cooked drizzle a little of the vinegar over and serve.

If you don't have any leftover artichoke salad add a clove of pressed garlic with the red onion.



We also had some green beans which I just washed and steamed.

 

Chickpea Salad with Pitas

There's this book by Adam Mansbach called Go the F to Sleep and I'm going to go ahead and call it a parenting book. Clearly it is meant to poke fun at the difficulties of putting little ones to bed. It is told in a gentle voice but ends each page with go the F to sleep or some other variation. It takes you through the hour or two ordeal of putting a two year (or insert child's age here) old to bed that makes you question every parenting decision you've ever made. What's so lovely about it and what makes it a parenting book is that you can think about it after you've been trying to put your little one to bed for 64 1/2 minutes and realize you are not alone. All over the world there are other parents (well, in your time zone) who are frustrated thinking about the few precious hours that they get to spend on their own or with their partner slipping away. You are not the only one actually counting the seconds and fighting to stay awake so you can clean up the dishes and sneak in a T.V. show, few pages of your book or a little adult conversation before you collapse into bed (often only to be woken by a little cry from the same room that you have just left) and ironically enough have no trouble falling asleep. So Adam, I thank you for keeping me company while I listen to my two year old declare, "I awready sweep, let's get up, come on mama, come on!"

 

Recipe

I have already posted this recipe here, where we had it in wraps with tztiki and potatoes. Tonight we just had it with warm pitas on the side, Hannah declared it a ten.

 

Fried Eggs and Toast with Fruit

Wow! For the most part, the weather this week feels like summer! The girls and I headed out to Children's Garden again at Assiniboine park but, I think the magic was on a break when we got there. There were so many people and lots and lots of big kids. I have nothing against big kids, in fact I hope that my children one day will become big kids (not really, please make them stop growing), it's that Harper likes to play with anyone. She's very non discriminatory, you seem to be in the sand, I seem to be in the sand, let's play together - never mind that you're three times my size, tossing large rocks around and not really at all noticing me, I'll still play with you. It was making me very nervous, and I was trying distracting her to other places but she just kept going right back to where they were playing. Finally we all toddled off and had some lunch and then came back, and so did the magic. We all sat down in the sand, far from the water and tossing rocks, and built sandcastles. Harper was very happy to fill the pails, let Hannah or I flip them, squeal in delight and then smash it. Hannah is the perfect age for sandcastles! She can fill and flip the pail quick enough to make it stand. She was also planning out her whole castle in advance, the moat and towers and how it could be decorated with leaves and flowers, I could actually see the picture of it in a little thought bubble above her head. We unfortunately didn't really have all the equipment to make the castle she was planning but, I'm planning a sand castle expedition the first weekend we get out to the lake this year. It was so amazing to watch the pride on her face when she flipped the bucket and it worked!

 

Recipe

Seriously, am I going to give you a recipe for fried eggs? No, this wasn't the actual plan but the risotto I was going to make has cashews in it that need to be soaked over night and I forgot. I actually forgot all week, this was planned for Tuesday but I never soaked the nuts. We spent the whole day outside and I really didn't feel very creative...I actually have to say a fried egg and buttered toast is kind of a comfort food for me.

 

Pizza

How dirty do you let your kids get? If you read this blog regularly you will see that I am fairly lax when it comes to my children playing in, rolling in and even at times eating dirt, although I do try to discouraged the later. Today I went to my cousins for a play date. She has two boys and a girl and as the sun got hotter the kids seemed to be unable to connect and engage in any activity (it was really very scattered and bizarre), she brought out the sprinkler. A brilliant idea! All kids love the sprinkler; running it, picking it up and spraying others, there was even some head soaking involved. They had a blast! But there comes a time when the sprinkler needs to be turned off. Somewhere in the pit of my stomach I always start to get this sick feeling as I watch the water pour out of it, because I'm wasting such a precious resource. I always think back to my environmental studies class where we did a water audit and it was very eye opening to see, in gallons, the amount of water we waste. But our children, very resourceful (or really, really gross), found some dirty rain puddles on the street and began to run through and splash in them. When the first child's hands touched the water we recoiled in heebee jeebees and called out, "No hands in the water, only feet!" Our children were too excited and we decided to look the other way. Then, the first child sat down in the puddle and as we processed this, quickly thinking about the hands probably being the worst part of the body to go into the puddle, they laid down! Now, someone did make a comment about it being an economical above ground swimming pool and I suppose you could look at it that way and see the resourcefulness of our children. Although, at this point I think we mostly saw it as a cesspool of germs! My cousin ran a bath and in a panicky voice called to the girls to come in and get in the tub (much to my total relief), the boys followed. Kids were scrubbed, hair was washed, finger nails were clipped and the line of how dirty we'd let our kids get (umm...well again) was drawn in the dirt, right before the mud puddle! My cousin snapped this picture of them!

Mussels with Cream Fennel and White Wine, Caramelized Onions and Blue Cheese Pasta with Salad and Sticky Date Pudding

I love father's day. I love that we made Dave's father's day gift at the beginning of the week and the girls have been making gifts for him (flower arrangements in the backyard) ever since. I love to see the excitement in their faces when he opens it (painted mug) and makes all the right faces and all the right comments so that they beam with pride. At this age the day is really more about the kids making the fuss than Dave being fussed over and he graciously accepts this, even revels in it a little. He is an amazing dad. I love observing the girls climbing all over Dave, wanting to do everything with him while I quietly putter away in the background thinking about my Dad. Remembering him opening the ceramic baseball glove change holder and making all the right faces and all the right comments so that I beamed with pride. I have many fortunes in my life, my dad is definitely one of them. What is it that makes a good father? Is it one that takes an interest in our lives; helping with homework, coaching or cheering for us at sporting events, listening to our stories? Is it one that is sure we are healthy; eating our veggies, ensuring we exercise and caring for our bumps and scrapes? Is a good father a teacher; running down the street holding on to the back of our bikes (or not), helping with homework and giving us an allowance with advice on how to save and spend? There are a million little details, jobs that make a good father, my dad has them all, he really does. But most importantly he has always made me feel loved, valued, safe and for that I am blessed and grateful.

Recipe

Mussels

This one is from epicurious, be sure to have lots of bread to sop up the sauce.

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

1 cup chopped fresh fennel bulb

2 shallots, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

2 teaspoons fennel seeds

1 1/2 cups dry white wine

1/2 cup whipping cream

3 pounds mussels, scrubbed, debearded

 

 

 

 

 

Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add chopped fennel, shallots, garlic and fennel seeds. Sauté until fennel is tender, about 5 minutes. Add wine and cream and boil until liquid thickens, about 10 minutes. Add mussels. Cover and cook until mussels open, about 5 minutes. Divide mussels among 6 shallow bowls (discard any mussels that do not open). Ladle broth over and serve.

 

 

My mom brought a beautiful salad with baby greens (some from her garden), pears, almonds and dried cranberries dressed with a maple dressing, which I believe is this one also from epicurious.

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

3 tablespoons Champagne vinegar or other white wine vinegar

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

We had Pasta with Caramelized Onions and Blue Cheese from Moosewood Simple Suppers.

1 lb chunky pasta

1 Tbsp olive oil

6 cups chopped onions

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup dry white wine, veggies stock or water

4 ounces crumbled blue cheese (1 cup)

Bring a large covered pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente.

In a skillet on medium heat, warm the oil and cook the onions with the salt and pepper until soft, golden brown and lightly caramelized. Add the wine, stock or water and continue to cook on low heat, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is done. If the onions begin to stick, add some pasta-cooking water.

When pasta is ready, drain it, reserving a cup of the hot eater. Place the pasta in a serving bowl, add the onions (swirl a little of the reserved cooking water around to make sure you get all the good bits) and the blue cheese, and toss together to melt the cheese and coat the pasta. Add more of the pasta-cooking water if you'd like it saucier. Serve hot.

The sticky date pudding (we have this every father's day) recipe was also from epicurious (what a great resource).

For pudding

1 3/4 cups packed pitted dates (about 10 ounces)

2 cups water

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

For sauce

1 3/4 sticks (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

 

Make pudding:
Preheat oven to 375°F. and butter and flour an 8-inch square baking pan (2 inches deep), knocking out excess flour.

Coarsely chop dates and in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan simmer dates in water, uncovered, 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in baking soda. (Mixture will foam.) Let mixture stand 20 minutes.

While mixture is standing, into a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, ginger, and salt. In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, beating after each addition until just combined. Add date mixture and with a wooden spoon stir batter until just combined well.

Pour batter into baking pan and set pan in a larger baking pan. Add enough hot water to larger pan to reach halfway up sides of smaller pan and bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove smaller pan from water bath and cool pudding to warm on a rack.

Make sauce while pudding is cooling:
In a 1 1/2- to 2-quart heavy saucepan melt butter over moderate heat and add brown sugar. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally, and stir in cream and vanilla. Simmer sauce, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 5 minutes. Cool sauce to warm.

Cut warm pudding into squares. Serve pudding with ice cream and warm sauce.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful day celebrating the Dad's in their lives and that the sun shines down on you this week!