Playing in the Snow

Monday: Black Bean Soup with Salad
Tuesday: Stir Fry with Cashews and Almonds
Wednesday: Baked Sole with Roasted Potatoes, Asparagus, Salad and Biscuits
Thursday: Pasta with Edamame Beans
Friday: Pizza and Greek Salad
Saturday: Minestrone with Parmesan Dumplings
Sunday: Veggie Lasagna, Salad and Mini Apple Pies with Ice Cream and Strawberries

The girls made this guy all on their own today!

Black Bean Soup with Salad
Oh, Harper.

This morning she climbs into bed with us at 4:00 (or some ridiculous hour) turns to me and asks,"Mama, how long until Easter?" I answer, "Six months, go to sleep." and she does actually go to sleep! When she got up with Dave and Hannah a little later she exclaimed in a super excited voice, "The Easter Bunny's going to be here in only six months!"

We also watched my cousin's little girl today for a couple hours, she's the same age as Harper. So Hannah and I told her all morning that we're going to watch Alexa this afternoon and she can play with her and share her toys, Harper was very excited. Then at lunch she was especially quiet and she looked up at me with a sad little face and asked, "Mama, are you gonna be here when I watch Alexa?" You could see the relief all over her body when I explained that I would be watching Alexa and she would just be playing with her.

Recipe
We've been having this black bean soup for years, my mom started making it a long time ago and I love it. It's easy and everyone likes it. The recipe is from The Best of Bridge, That's Trump.

2 cups dried black beans (I just use 2 19oz cans, drained and rinsed)
2 onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp hot pepper sauce
1 Jalapeno, chopped
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp fennel seeds
6 cups veggies stock
28 oz can tomatoes
4 tsp fresh lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Garnish: sour cream cilantro or lime slice

In a large pot cover the beans with 6 cups of water - bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand 1 hour. Drain, rinse and drain again (skip this whole step if you're using canned and just start with the onions).

Saute onions, garlic and celery in olive oil until softened. Stir in chili, hot sauce, jalapeno, oregano, cumin and fennel. Cook for 1 minute. Add beans and stock. Simmer for 11/2 hours, until beans are tender. Add tomatoes and lime juice and simmer for 10 minutes. Puree soup in batches - return to pot and heat. Serve with your choice of garnish. If soup is too thick add more stock.

We had this with a salad of lettuce, leftover bruschetta, cucumber, cut up leftover baguette toasts and avocado drizzled with olive oil and red wine vinegar.

Stir Fry with Cashews and Almonds
You know, you decide one day to have a baby and then they grow into these little people...and then big people (but let's not think about that) and you go along day to day. Sometimes you think about how wonderful they are, lots of time you're trying to sort through their clothes that they keep growing out of, get them to their activities, feed them, have enough play time with them, cuddle them, love them, ask them stop doing xyz, help them do abc, and try and remember when the last time they had a bath was (come on, we all forget...right?) and then you're reminded again. Today we had parent teacher conferences, and I was reminded again how between all that stuff, she, this little person we made, is growing into this wonderfully kind, funny, thoughtful, smart little girl. As we sat listening to her teacher talk about how wonderful she is and listened to her shyly recite poems and counting in french I was so proud of her and so, I wanted to gush!

Recipe
The stir fry sauce isn't anything to write home about, it was very tasty but it was mostly store bought. I always feel bad using pre-made sauce because I know the salt and additives are bad for us but we were in a rush tonight and it made it easy.

2 cups bean sprouts

1 Onion, chopped

2 Celery sticks, chopped
1 cup baby carrots, quartered
4 Baby bok choy, chopped
1 Bunch of broccoli
1 Yellow pepper cut in strips
1 1/2 cups of almonds and cashews
2 Cloves garlic, pressed
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated
2 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp soy sauce
4 Tbsp Hoisin sauce

Baked Sole with Roasted Potatoes, Asparagus, Salad and Biscuits
This is what I woke up to...

Harper: "I telling on you, Hannah."
Hannah: (in a condescending voice) "Harrrrper, come back here."
Harper: (sing songy) "Noooo, I'mmmmm going to tell on youuuuu."
Hannah: (same condescending voice) "No, you're not going to tell on me, you're going to come back here."
Harper: (sing song) "I'm going up the tairsss (stairs)"
Hannah: "Then, I'm coming to make sure the real story is told."

Meanwhile, Dave and are listening to this trying to stop ourselves from laughing, both girls climb into bed, cuddle up and say nothing.

Recipe
The girls wanted to make biscuits so we made these ones from Handle the Heart.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 425F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix in rosemary. Add milk and olive oil and mix until just combined. Don't over-mix.

Drop golf ball-sized rounds of dough on prepared baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until cooked through and golden brown.

I tossed a mixture of baby potatoes and sweet potatoes with a little olive oil and then roasted them in the 425F oven for about 40 minutes, turning once or twice.

The fish was dredged through a bowl with a milk Dijon mixture (ratio depending on your taste, I like lots of Dijon) and then pressed into Panko crumbs and baked in the oven, 425F, until done (five to ten minutes depending on thickness of fish).

Because of the lack of space in the oven, I steamed the asparagus. I tossed together, lettuce, apple, raisins, toasted walnuts and almonds and then drizzled it all with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar and maple syrup.

Pasta with Edamame Beans

The girls got hold of the camara last night and this is what they did. They had all their dolls lined up on the stairs and I could hear Hannah saying, "O.K. now that we've had a family picture, let's take a picture of each family member on their own." This occupied them for quite some time and filled up the camara with a number of...well, honestly kind of creepy photos. Except for the ones that Haper took which are mostly of her finger.

Recipe
I'm a little dissapointed because the picture for this pasta just looks, so so, but it was really good.

1 small red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
4 ripe tomatoes
1 1/2 cups edamame beans
1 pkg brown rice spaghetti
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a really good glugg of olive oil over medium heat and saute onion for five minutes, add balsamic and continue to saute until soft. Add garlic and saute a couple more minutes then add the tomatoes and saute until nice and saucy - if it seems too dry add a few Tbsp of veggie broth and then balance with an other drizzle of balsamic. Let this get nice and saucy and then add the edamama beans and cook a few minutes unitl they're warm. Season to taste.

Meanwhile in a large pot bring water to boil, add the brown rice pasta and cook according to package directions. It is really easy to over cook brown rice pasta so error on the al dente side, I usually cook for about 7 or 8 minutes, testing often from minute 6. Rince with cold water as soon as you've strained it to stop the cooking process.

Put the pasta back in the pot and pour the sauce over, stir on the warm element for a minute to reheat and serve immediately.

Pizza and Greek Salad
Before Hannah started school I use to have friends that were stay at home moms and they'd always be so happy when their child had the day off school. They would say how it made life so much easier and honestly, I didn't get it. I would think, "Really? You're a much better person than me, because I think I would find it more difficult to have my kids home then at school." Perhaps I shouldn't have admitted that, but it's true. The difference though is that I had both my kids home all the time and so any break was welcome. Hannah didn't have school today and the day was so relaxed. There were no deadlines, we didn't need to rush out of the house so we could get to the bus stop. All we had to do, we did at our own pace, stopping and reading stories or playing a little hide and seek on the way - it was lovely.

Recipe
Well, it really was a layed back day and I just bought pizza shells and topped them with pizza sauce, grilled zuchini, sundried tomatoes, olives and mozzarella cheese. We had a wonderful greek salad with it.

Minestrone Stew with Parmesan Dumplings
I was the parent carrying a screaming six year old out of Canadian Tire today. It wasn't pretty, people stared (it was really busy in there) but yes that was me. Were you staring because you were judging me, my kid or simply feeling bad for both of us who were clearly having a bad day? The thing is people stare, or they obviously don't, because kids scream and throw fits when they're mad and sometimes, it gets out of control and you have to let it happen or in this case, carry them out. This happens rarely for us and really rarely with Hannah but it happens...I always kind of rather that it happen at a store that's not in our neighborhood because then as you drive home you can kind of try to regain your dignity and there's less chance that someone you know saw you. But, really, I try not to feel embarassed or ashamed, these things happen. Amazingly after finally getting in the car and driving about two seconds in silence, she was back to her old self as if nothing had happend. We did of course talk about it when we arrived home (because, quite frankly I needed the whole ride to cool off from the incident) and went on to have a pretty lovely day of pretending to put up Chrsitmas lights but abandoning it to play in the snow, reading, Dave and I reading our own books while the girl's played on their own, making this perfect comforting stew and dumplings and watching the hockey game.

Recipe
Dave claims that I've made dumplings once before, but I don't remember ever making them. It's a revelation, so easy, biscuits in a pot but warm and gooey. This was declared a winter winner by all tonight. I slightly altered the stew recipe from nofaceplate and she does also have a recipe there for vegan dumplings which I was going to try but I had run out of nutritional yeast and then came downstairs to see Dave finishing the almonds which I also needed and so I found a recipe at Dunkin Cooking the Semi-Homemade Way for dumplings that I did have the ingredients too. I thought the fact that it was a minestrone stew and not soup was stretching it a little but it is a stew, very hardy and filling.

Minestrone Stew

1 28 oz can chopped/diced tomatoes
2 small cans tomato paste
2 zucchini, chopped
1 large red onion, chopped
10 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp freshly minced parsley
1 Tbsp oregano
1 large bunch kale, sliced to ribbons
6-8 baby carrots, chopped
2 large ribs celery, chopped
1/2 cup good quality olive oil
1/2 cup bitey red wine
2 cans cannelini beans, well drained and rinsed
1 can garbanzo beans, well drained and rinsed
1 red pepper, chopped
1 Tbsp + more sea salt, to taste
10 cups water

In a large soup pot (I needed to use two large soup pots in order to have enough room to cook the dumplings), add your olive oil. Over medium high heat, saute your garlic, onion, peppers, carrots and celery for 5 minutes, until onions are translucent. Add zucchini - cook another 3 minutes. Add kale, stir, cook one minute more. Add your wine and turn heat to high for 2 minutes, until it has reduced a bit, then add water, tomatoes, tomato paste, beans, herbs, pepper and salt, stir well, and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Taste. You'll probably need to add a little salt at this point - but it's totally up to you. Now, add your dumplings and cook for 12 to 15 minutes on simmer. Be sure not to lift the lid, as the steam's cooking the dumplings.

Dumplings

1 1/2 cup flour
2 Tbsp parsley
2 Tbsp green onion, chopped
2 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Dash nutmeg
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 Tbsp oil

In a bowl beat the egg, add the milk and oil and beat together. Add the dry ingredients, parsley and green onions and mix until combined. Once mixed, wet your hands and pinch out dough (about the size of a Tbsp) and drop them carefully in the simmering soup. Once their all in put the lid on and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes.

Veggie Lasagna, Salad and Mini Apple Pies with Ice Cream and Strawberries

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Today had a little bit of everything; playing, a few chores, a lovely visit with my cousin with a great cup of tea, a new Christmas tree to put up this week, some baking...well, actually just eating (Dave and the girls did the baking), some football with a delicious dinner and great company. I am ending the day full, tired and ready for the week. I hope your Sunday was good too.

Have a great week, I hope the sun shines down on you.