Crashing the Hard drive.

I know this is crazy late. The computer crashed, broke, died Thursday night and Dave ran a bunch of tests to confirm what he already knew, that the hard drive had crashed and he had to call Dell (who were extremely helpful and hasselfree) Sunday and order a new hard drive. I was absolutely no help at all. When it stopped working and Dave was frustrated and trying to run some sort of diagnostic test I said to him, "What if you just turn it off for awhile and then turn it back on. Would that work?" He looked at me, blinked a couple of times (I'm quite certain, bit his tongue really, really, really hard) and said, "No, no that won't work." I shrugged, "Well, I'm out of ideas!" Poor Dave...lucky me he installed the new hard drive last night (being Wednesday) and we're up and running a week later...now to catch up!

Monday: Pasta Primevera...of sorts
Tuesday: Southwestern Quinoa Salad
Wednesday: Lentil Loaf, Beet Greens and Carrots, Potato Chips and Garden Tomatoes
Thursday: Forty-Clove Broccoli and Chickpeas with Greek Bulgur
Friday: Individual Omelets, Mushroom Pate on Toasts and Fruit
Saturday: Eggplant, Green Olive and Provolone Pizza
Sunday:  Perogies and Corn on the Cob

Pasta Primevera...of sorts
The last week before school starts, although Hannah doesn't start until the week after, and even then it's a staggered week and she only goes the Monday, Wednesday, Friday but for most it's the last week of holidays. I love the changing of all seasons, I'm always ready for a change and although the freedom

of spring and summer seems to rise me up so high there's something so comforting to me about the beauty of fall and even hunkering down for the winter. I particularly love fall, the crispness, watching the trees shed their leaves preparing for a new beginning, the sight of school buses once again along the road, kids waiting at the bus stop, the return to order and routine, new school supplies and the potential of a new year laid out before you. I realize that it's the same year but for me September marks a new year way more than January, this is one of the reasons I became a teacher. In honor of the summer coming to an end, we are trying to slip back into a routine and some regular activities. Hannah will be taking the bus next year and so today we made school buses together and talked about all the safety rules. It felt good to do a few planned activities and the girls were shocked (happily) that I had a craft for them to do. So here's what they did...

Recipe

I was sent home from the shower with a bunch of leftover veggies and we still had some leftover pasta from Saturday so I mixed the two to make a Pasta Primevera.

Olive oil

2 cups of veggie stock

3 cloves of garlic, pressed

1 red onion, chopped

3 to 4 cups of chopped veggies (I had peppers, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots)

3 tomatoes, chopped

Handful of basil, chopped

Cooked Pasta (I used leftovers from Saturday night, fresh Spaghettini, about a 454g package)

Heat a good glugg of olive oil in the bottom of a pot and add the onion, saute for a few minutes and then add the veggie mix and saute for a few more minutes. I then added the garlic and sauteed for a minutes before adding in about 1/2 - 1 cup of the stock and lowering to a simmer until the veggies were just tender. Stir in the remaining stock and tomatoes and pasta. Mix together until all warm, add in the basil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Southwestern Quinoa Salad

You know what they say about pay back don't you? The girls put on another show for us this evening. Dave and I sat in our chairs as the girls twirled around and around singing a made up song. It was really cute for the first five minutes but then...I wish I wanted to watch more, I think we both did, does that make up for wanting it to e.n.d. I tried to be really polite in telling them to wrap it up, yeah - kids don't really get subtly, finally we just had to walk out. I know it sounds heartless but you weren't there, for my parents and aunts and uncles and grandma that were there (only 30 years ago) you know we're not heartless only human.

Recipe

Sometimes I have this weird time thing where I think I'll only be gone for an hour and then I fly through the door three hours later, this is what happened today. My parents were watching the girls and Dave beat me home so I ran around and got dinner ready (which I'll confess I hadn't totally planned yet). This is what I came up with and it was pretty good.

225g package quinoa, cooked according to package directions

1 19 oz can black bean, drained and rinsed

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1/2 yellow pepper, chopped

1/2 orange pepper, chopped

1/4 red onion, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1/2 cup olive oil

1 cup cilantro, chopped

1  1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

In a large bowl whisk together lime juice, olive oil, cumin, salt and cilantro add in all other ingredients and mix together, let sit at room temperature for 1/2 hour and serve.

Lentil Loaf, Beet Greens and Carrots, Potato Chips and Garden Tomatoes

"Harper, what does a Kitty cat say?"

"Dance, dance, dance. I a tat, I a titty tat - dance, dance, dance, dance!'

She can be awfully cute sometimes.

Recipe

I'll be the first to admit that lentil loaf is not super fancy or pretty, but I really like it. The leftovers also make great sandwiches.

4 cups cooked green lentils, about 1 1/2 cups dried

1 onion chopped

5 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup sesame seeds

1 cup nutritional yeast

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup soya sauce

1 tsp salt

1 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 350F.

Spread sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and nutritional yeast on a baking sheet and toast slightly. Let cool a little and then pour into the food processor.

Heat a glugg of olive oil of medium heat and add onion, cooking until just soft. Add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes, add the soya and vinegar and stir until combined, add to the seeds in the food processor and process together until fairly pasty. Add three cups of the lentils to the mixture a cup at a time, processing each time until fairly smooth with a little texture. Scape mixture into a bowl and add the last cup of lentils and an egg stirring until combined. Spoon mixture into two small loaf pans and bake in the oven at 350F for 35 minutes.

I like mine with grainy mustard, the kids eat their with ketsup and Dave goes back and forth.

For the Chips:

3 large russet potatoes, peeled and sliced thin

3 Tbsp olive oil

3 tsp salt

3 tsp rosemary

Preheat oven to 500F.

Toss the potatoes with the olive oil and seasoning, lay in one layer on a baking sheet (I used three sheets). Bake for 10 -15 minutes, flip and then bake for another 5 minutes (the time may vary depending how thin you sliced your potatoes, you want them to be crispy, even golden but not dark brown ).

Beet Greens and Carrots:

3 carrots, peeled, halved and cut in chunks

Beet greens from 2 bunched of beets, greens cut off - stem cut out

olive oil

vinegar

In a pan heat a glugg of olive oil over medium heat and then add the carrots, flipping around a couple of times until browned on the outside, about 4 or 5 minutes add the greens and cook until wilted, 2 minutes. Take off heat and add in 2 Tbsp of vinegar and serve.

We also had thick slices of garden tomatoes - is there anything better?

Forty-Clove Broccoli and Chickpeas with Greek Bulgur

Hannah is learning how to climb trees - she's pretty good. I think the motivation of the apples really pushed her to the limits here. I'm trying hard not to be a helicopter parent, you hear about some young adults in the workplace that have been so overprotected throughout their lives and now they need their hands held to get to work on time, work independently and need constant praise for every little job they complete, I don't want to do my children this disservice. I know that climbing trees is part of being a kid, falling is even part of being a kid...yet when I looked out at her in that tree it took everything in me to not go out and tell her to get down because she was going to break her neck (a terrible expression...I always picture a poor chicken getting it's neck broken)! I always think in terms of news stories and all I could think was a headline about a total freak accident where she falls, hits her head and somehow dies. I'm not claiming to be totally sane, what parent is? I held back, she was fine, after throwing down all the apples she could reach she climbed down.

Recipe

We had 40 clove broccoli and chickpea found here. This is really a super simple meal to make, it's not pretty but my kids devoured it.

I also made a salad to go with it with bulgur. I would have normally used couscous but I had tons of bulgur left in the cupboard and I'm trying to empty everything out.

1 tomato, chopped

1 cucumber, chopped

1/4 cup red onion, chopped

1/4 cup cilantro. chopped

1/4 cup olives

2 cups bulgur or couscous, cooked

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp oregano

1/4 cup olive oil

Mix all ingredients except for bulgur and let sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour, then mix in  bulgur and serve.

Individual Omelets, Mushroom Pate on Toasts and Fruit

Friday morning the girls were playing airplane in their chair fort. As I'm trying to take this picture Harper says to me, "Mama, stop! I trying to concentrate - I driving!"

Recipe

The mushroom pate recipe comes from dishesfrommykitchen. I served it on little baguette toasts with omelets and fruit.

For the toasts:

Heat broiler, cut baguette in inch slices and spray for brush both sides with olive oil. Broil until golden and flip and do the same to the other side.

For omlettes:

Heat a pan over medium heat, spray generously with olive oil and pour in one beaten egg. When the starts to settle flip, fold over how you like and place on plate.

For pate:

1 1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced

2 shallots, sliced

3 garlic cloves, pressed

1 Tbsp butter (I used margarine)

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup silvered almonds

2 Tbsp cream (I had some leftover from something else but, I would have used milk)

2 Tbsp thyme

3 Tbsp flat leaf parsley

1/4 Tbsp red chili flakes

1/2 tsp pepper 

Heat butter, olive oil  in a large frying pan. Add the Red chili flakes followed by onion and garlic. Cook over medium heat until soft. Now add the sliced mushroom, increase the heat and cook till they get soft and most of the liquid has evaporated. The mushroom at this stage will get slightly caramelized (don't burn it). Roughly chop the almonds in the food processor. Add the mushroom mixture and process until smooth. With the motor running, gradually add the cream. Add the herbs, and black pepper. Give it a run again then spoon the mixture and smooth the surface. Keep Refrigerated for at least 4 to5 hrs. This can be stored for 2 days if refrigerated.

Eggplant, Green Olive and Provolone Pizza

We were out at the cottage for the long weekend. The weather was just like fall, which I love but poses the sitting around eating and drinking all day problem. It was actually one of those days that started out dark and even a little rainy, as the day progressed the sun did peak out here and there but by then I was settled in for a lazy day. Hannah and I watched Charlotte's Web together with no tears...well, Hannah didn't cry this time and so I choked mine back as best I could. After the movie she said to me, "Oh, thank you mommy for letting me watch that movie!"

Recipe

The recipe for the pizza we had is from epicurious. It was a little bit of an adventure to grill, as we'd never grilled our pizza before but it was really tasty. We used bought dough but I do want to start trying some different dough recipes to find a good one, the trial for that will begin next week.

1 garlic clove, minced (I would use two next time)

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/4 pound eggplant, cut into 3/4-inch-thick rounds

1 pound store-bought pizza dough at room temperature

5 ounces sliced provolone, cut into short thin matchsticks (1 1/4 cups), I just shredded ours

18 pitted green olives, coarsely chopped (1/3 cup)

1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat grill on high, all three burners. Once hot turn middle burner off and cool for 10 minutes (this is important we didn't let it cool long enough and had some burnt bits on the first side.

Stir together garlic and oil. Brush some of garlic oil on both sides of eggplant and season with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Grill, covered, turning once, until tender, 6 to 8 minutes total. Cut into roughly 1-inch pieces.

Stretch dough into about a 12- by 10-inch rectangle on a large baking sheet and lightly brush with garlic oil. Oil grill rack, then put dough, oiled side down, on grill. Brush top with more garlic oil. Grill, covered, until underside is golden-brown, 1 1/2 to 3 minutes.

Using tongs, return crust, grilled side up, to baking sheet. Scatter eggplant, cheese, olives, and parsley over crust. Slide pizza from sheet onto grill and grill, covered, until underside is golden-brown and cheese is melted, about 3 minutes (this took about 10 minutes for us - just be sure to watch closely).

Perogies and Corn on the Cob

I love Junie B Jones, she cracks me up! On the way down to the cottage we listened to her on audio book, The Stupid Smelly Bus. Which made me think that Hannah and I hadn't really talked about how she felt about taking the bus (we did go over the rules and such but not her feelings about it). So, Sunday night when I was putting her to bed I asked her how she felt about taking the bus. She had a few questions about how the door worked and where she would get on and off. When we finished I asked her if she had any more questions, she thought for a second and then said, "How does a light switch work? I mean it's not even attached to the light!"...I meant about the bus. As my wise friend pointed out, that's a dangerous question to ask a five year old. I think that she's going to be just fine.

Recipe

There's no recipe, we bought the perogies and served them with fried onions, sour cream and boiled corn on the cob - yum!

I hope the sun continues to shine down on you this week!