Making a Come Back From the Flu

I missed last week. I was thinking that I should post that there would be no post, but, well then I didn't. We all had the flu last week (the kind you don't talk about on food blogs), it started with Harper Friday night and went through all of us ending Sunday night (a week later). The week pretty much went like this:

I was sick for a couple of days and spent the rest of my time caring for sick girls, cleaning, doing laundry and fretting that they were never actually going to be healthy again - repeat. Every time I thought we were finally through it, someone would spike a fever or throw up. We've all been healthy for 1 whole entire day and night now, I'm still skeptical, but hopeful that we have met the end. The up side is that after a week of hibernation we have awoken to spring!!! I'm sorry I missed you and I hope that where ever you live the sun is shinning down on you this week.

Monday: Veggie Dogs and Chickpea Salad?
Tuesday: Asparagus Frittata with Salad and Buns
Wednesday: Grilled Shrimp Skewers, Fresh Pasta with Veggies and Greens
Thursday: Hummus and Grilled Veggie Sandwiches on Ciabatta Buns
Friday : A Birthday Party for Two Very Special Little Girls
Saturday: Lasagna, Salad and Garlic Bread
Sunday: Repeat

Veggie Dogs and Chickpea Salad
It was the last skating class! Hurray! Have I mentioned how much I hate going to skating? I do. It's not the sitting in a cold arena and watching Hannah skate, it's the constant state of panic as Harper wibbles and wobbles all over the bleachers, trying to climb in and out of the top rails and jumping on benches. I am not sad to see skating come to an end for this year. Hannah has improved so much, she's gone from walking on the ice to actually taking strides and gliding. I remember her first lesson she fell every two steps, now she often makes it through a lesson without even falling at all - they learn so quickly.

Recipe
For some reason it's taking me awhile to switch from cup of soups and soda crackers to real menu items. I had nothing planned today, stopped at the grocery store on the way home from skating where I couldn't come up with anything different than veggie dogs. When I got home Dave was making this fabulous chickpea salad that we love, I really wish I would have called first and we could have avoided feeding the girls the non nutrient veggie dogs. But, it was nice to sit out and BBQ them while the girls played in the yard,  since it was so nice out!!!

The chickpea salad is on this post, only we had it plain instead of in a pita.

Asparagus Frittata with Salad and Buns
Harper has been feeling better, but she is still lagging a little and needing some extra sleep. In short she is still a puddle and an exaggeration of herself, every little thing that goes wrong (or sometimes right) she breaks down and throws herself on the floor. It's actually coming to the point where it's almost comical (in a kill me now kind of way). Today she asked for yogurt and I said,"sure" she then threw herself on the floor exclaiming, "I want yogurt and I MEAN it!" I mean it, is her favorite thing to yell, I've come to a point where I need to walk away and laugh or I might put her on Kijiji. She's pretty cute, I think I could get a pretty good price (if full disclosure wasn't necessary). But, I guess I'd miss her too much, so I am going to continue to pray that this is residual tiredness from being sick and it will pass.

Recipe
When I was a kid my parents use to make these toasts whenever there was any leftover buns, usually from hot dogs or hamburgers. They are not gourmet, but there's something about them that I think I could eat a dozen and they immediately take me back to my childhood. Sitting at the kitchen table watching my mom sticking a cookie sheet of them under the broiler to toast right before dinner. So when I saw that there were leftover buns that's immediately what I wanted. There are a couple variations, we use to have them with either garlic butter and Parmesan or mayonnaise and Parmesan. Tonight I spread them with some leftover pesto mayonnaise, sprinkled them with Parmesan and toasted them under the broiler.

Fritatta

6 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 red onion, chopped
Bunch of asparagus, steamed
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350F.

Saute the onion in a little olive oil, in an oven safe pan, until soft. Mix the eggs and cheese together until blended and add to the pan cooking for a couple minutes. Place the asparagus over the top and then put in the oven to cook for about 30 minutes, until the middle stops jiggling. Season with a little salt and pepper.

For the salad I tossed together some mixed greens, sliced pear, raisins and toasted pumpkin seeds with a drizzle of maple syrup, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a dash of salt and pepper.

Grilled Shrimp Skewers, Fresh Pasta with Veggies and Greens
Harper loves to play games. She loves Candyland, Monopoly Jr., Jenga, Go Fish and Memory (which she use to pronounce mebory but has sadly learned to pronounce properly). Today we played Go Fish and Memory. Harper has developed two new memory strategies and you have to watch her carefully. The first strategy is that she's started flipping over one card and then peaking at a bunch more until she finds the match, she is very annoyed when I make her take the first one she looked at. Her second strategy is a little more non chalant, she flips over the first card and very casually says, "Apples (or whatever the card is). Mom, can you please pass me the other apple card?"  I always call her out on it (that's right, I do. She knows how to play properly), she gives me this innocent look and says, "What? I can't reach it." When I ask her which one it is she then admits, "I'm not sure." Tricky little one.

Recipe
We went to my parents for dinner, on a Wednesday I know it was quite the treat. When I was a teenager we moved to Belgium for two years and my Dad taught on the military base there. One of their good friends from then was in town and so we had a nice evening catching up on the last twenty years. They made the above meal and it was delicious. The shrimp were brushed with a little garlic and olive oil and grilled perfectly. The pasta was simple, with roasted veggies, some olive oil and seasoning. The salad had carrot, pine nuts and greens with an oil and vinegar dressing it was all really good.

Hummus and Grilled Veggie Sandwiches on Ciabatta Buns
So the end of skating means an ice show! Which sounds really exciting and cute...except that my six year didn't hit the ice until 7:30, which is bedtime around here. She's able to handle a late night or two, but by the time she'd gone on Harper had moved into silly town because of her fatigue. I'm all for an ice show for the kids to display their talents, and there was lots of talent with the older students doing jumps and spins and I think you call them axles (clearly a hockey family over here), but really impressive. I agree that there should be a show to demonstrate these talents. I'm just saying that the show was not organized by someone with little ones. We had to have Hannah there, in her costume (she was a kite) with her skates on and then of course her helmet for 5:30. She then climbed the stands (without skate guards, because I forgot them, and that's kind of how I roll) and sat down (thankfully next to a really good friend of hers from school) and waited for 2 hours to go on. Now, while they waited they were able to watch the show of course, but 2 hours, she had her helmet on for two hours. All these little groups went before the intermission along with many older groups and hers had to wait until after intermission, like five or six performances after intermission. Why would you not either a) put the all the littles first or b) have them get their stuff on at intermission, so they can watch with their families and move around a little? Anyway, now we know for next year - if she chooses to take skating instead of playing hockey. She was a very cute kite, doing her little jumps and dips across the ice while Lets Go Fly a Kite played in the background, although slightly wobbling from 2 hours of the cement dulling up her blades.

Recipe
I needed a dinner that we could eat quickly and that I could wrap up and bring with us for Dave as he was meeting us at the rink from work. So I whipped up a batch of hummus, grilled some veggies and slapped it all on a ciabatta bun with the rest of the pesto mayonnaise.

I roasted extra veggies because we are bringing a veggie lasagna Saturday night.

Preheat the oven 450F.

3 eggplants, peeled and chopped
3 zucchinis, chopped
2 onions, chopped
1 bunch of asparagus, broken in three
2 red, green and yellow peppers, chopped
12 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
Olive oil
Sea salt

I put all the veggies in a large roaster and glugg, glugg, glugged some olive oil over them (I know, how very scientific of me), a sprinkle of sea salt, stirred it all up and roasted it in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour. I actually left mine for the full hour, getting distracted, and the veggies were overdone.

For the hummus:
1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup water
pinch of sea salt
couple dashes of cumin, about 1/4 tsp
splash of lemon juice

I whizzed it all up in the whizzer (also known as the food processor). Normally I would add garlic but the veggies were already quite garlicky.

A Birthday Party for Two Very Special Little Girls
We have finally had the first person out to quote on our kitchen. It feels very overwhelming and very exciting to have taken a few steps forward. We have some more people coming in the next couple of weeks and then hopefully we'll be able to make a decision. The guy who came out today was very nice and luckily a family man as he showed up 10 minutes early just as I was in the middle of a potty training mess with Harper. I quickly explained and he waited in the living room as I tried to quietly deal with Harper who kept yelling, "Why is my poop on the fwoor?!"

Recipe
We were invited to my cousin's for supper to celebrate two very special little girl's birthdays, two and four. It was a sea of strawberry shortcake gifts and little frilly dresses. A lovely site! We were also fed pasta with tomato and Alfredo sauce, Caesar salad, bread and delicious cupcakes - yum!

Lasagna, Salad and Garlic Bread
Hannah had a frustrating day, but learned a valuable lesson...maybe. She started to unroll this huge roll of ribbon this morning and I warned her that if she unrolled it she would need to roll it all back up. She said, "I know!" Rolling her eyes at me like she was thirteen and continued on her way. I watched her play with the ribbon, actually a little shocked at seeing how long it really was, it must of been at least three meters if not more. She joyfully ran through the house, tied it to a few doors, tried to skip with it and then tried to leave it in the middle of the family room. When I reminded her of her promise she promptly rolled her eyes at me and said, "I don't feel like it, I'm hungry." I answered that didn't actually care if she didn't feel like it and that she needed to roll it back up before she had something to eat. She was appalled that I wouldn't let her eat, like I was starving her, more eye rolling, and then spent the next hour (honestly it took an hour, I mean she almost faded away to nothing) rolling up the ribbon. She had to start over more than two or three times.

Recipe
My cousin and his wife bought a new house a little while ago and had the whole family over for supper tonight. I brought veggie lasagna. I had to leave before dinner to go to another gathering, but Dave and the girls stayed and brought home almost a whole lasagna (there were four other meat lasagnas) so we will all be seeing it tomorrow I'm sure.

For the lasagna:

Olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, pressed
2 tsp oregano
2 28oz tins of whole tomatoes
1 20oz tin of tomato sauce
Roasted veggies (from Thursday)
Pesto
Ricotta cheese
Oven ready lasagna noodles
Mozzarella cheese, 3 cups (?) grated

Heat a good glugg of olive oil over medium heat and saute the garlic and oregano for 30 seconds add the tomatoes and tomato sauce and simmer covered for about half an hour. Once it's done simmering break up the tomatoes and stir in the veggies.

Stir together a couple teaspoons of pesto and about a cup of Ricotta cheese (this is what I had left in the fridge you could do more if you wanted). I didn't measure the cheese out but I think it was probably 3 or 4 cups.

Put a little sauce on the bottom of a large casserole dish and then cover with lasagna noodles, I used 4 across and one the other way at the bottom. Cover with some sauce, half the ricotta cheese mixture and some cheese, layer again starting with the noodles and then finish with a third layer of noodles, sauce and cheese.

I baked it in the oven at 350F for about 1 1/2 hours. I did bake it on a cookie sheet to catch any of the spills.

Repeat
It's cold. How soon we forget. It's -2 today and sunny, which normally would be a lovely March day, but after being in shorts it's a little disappointing. I also noticed that I only have a picture of Harper on the blog this week and not Hannah, it makes me feel a little guilty. More so because I went to look for a picture of Hannah this week don't have one. It's funny the guilt that seems to come with motherhood and sometimes, the weird little things that make us feel guilty - like the photo. I'm sure there's some major thing that I should be feeling guilty about that I don't even realized so instead all these little silly things make up for it. Just to be sure that my guilt is holding me down enough!

We had my parents for dinner and fed them leftover lasagna, salad, bread and lemon squares. Now, the week seemed very busy and keep looking over at the couch where I intend to flop for the rest of the evening...perhaps with a little Bailey's on ice.

I hope the sun shines down on you this week!

Monday: Minestrone Soup
Tuesday: Pan Bagnat
Wednesday: Shrimp Curry with Rice
Thursday: Omelets, Roasted Sweet and Red Potatoes and Salad
Friday: Tofu Burgers
Saturday: Beans and Greens Risotto
Sunday: Fried Rice and Veggies with Lime Gelato in Lemon Cups, Raspberries and Cookies

Minestrone Soup

I made this:

Seriously, I made this today! Isn't it pretty and rustic? Thank you Catherine Newman for the recipe! She talks about how it looks like it was bought and bicycled across a field in Provence and it's true. Although my bread fantasy involves an old cottage and a wood stove, wearing a dress with little tiny flowers on it covered by a pretty apron with sunlight streaming in and children running in the kitchen from the field as I shoo them out again, except in Italian or French. But, that's just me, and perhaps I've shared too much. Well, anyway the part about me making the bread is true and it was just as easy as using the bread maker and took about the same amount of time. There's no kneading, seriously. The best part (well, besides how pretty it is and tastes that way too) is that the recipe makes three loaves, you can put the dough covered in the fridge for up to 2 weeks so you can make a fresh loaf as you run out (which means daily in this house).

3 cups warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast (2 packages)
1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons kosher salt, depending on your saltiness preference (or half as much table salt)
1 tablespoon white vinegar
6 1/2 cups flour (I used 4 cups white, 2 cups whole wheat, and 1/4 cup each ground flax and wheat germ.)
Cornmeal

Pour the water in a bowl (one you won't miss if it sits in the fridge for a little while) and add the yeast, salt and vinegar. While it does it's yeasty thing, get out the flour you plan to use and add it to the water. Stir it all up until there's no dry spots, the dough may seem all wrong - raggedy and loose, that's alright, cover it with plastic and set it in a warm dry place to rise for at least 2 hours and up to 5.

Like the sunbeam on the living room floor.

Once it's risen you can cut off 1/3 of it and cover the rest and leave it in the fridge. Flour a board or pizza peel heavily with flour and then sprinkle with cornmeal. Pull the dough over itself so it's round and taunt on the top gathering the rest underneath. Place on the board, lightly flour the top and cover to let rest for another 40 minutes (if your using dough from the fridge increase resting time to 1 1/2 hours).

When there is 30 minutes left for the dough to rest, heat the oven to 450F and put a heavy pot with a lid in the oven to heat. I used my corningware, it can be cast iron, enamel, Pyrex, or ceramic as long as it holds at least 2.5 quarts and has a lid.

When the bread is ready to cook, slice an X on the top with sure, quick strokes so that your knife doesn't stick, slide it into the heated dish (careful not to burn yourself), put the lid on and pop it back in the over for 25 minutes, then remove the lid and cook for another 15 minutes and then cool on a rack. Presto - beautiful bread. I think total active time was probably 5 -10 minutes (with a little one helping me, so if you're on your own half that time).

"This is my most favorite bread ever!"

Recipe
This recipe is from Jaime's Italy with only a few changes. The original recipe calls for bacon or smoked pancetta which I obviously omitted and I add a sprinkle of smoked paprika to retain the smokey flavor.

19oz can canellini beans

Olive oil

Dash of smoked paprika
2 small red onions, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
1/2 head of fennel, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
a small bunch of fresh basil, leaves and stems separated
2 14 oz cans of good quality tomatoes
2 small zucchini, quartered and sliced
1 glass of red wine
1/2 lb Swiss Chard or spinach, roughly chopped
2 cups veggie stock
2 oz dried pasta
Parmesan cheese

Heat a good glugg of olive oil in a saucepan and add the chopped onions, carrots, celery, fennel, garlic, smoked paprika and finely chopped basil stems. Sweat very slowly on a low heat, with the lid just ajar, for around 15 to 20 minutes until soft, but not brown. Add the tomatoes, zucchini, red wine and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Now add the chard or spinach, stock, and beans. Put the dried pasta into a plastic bag, squeeze out all the air and tie the end up. Bash gently to break up your pasta and empty into soup. Stir and continue to simmer until pasta is cooked. Serve with grated Parmesan and fresh basil.

Pan Bagnats
So we try our best to limit T.V. around here. The basic rules are; the girls get three T.V. tickets a week, each ticket is worth half an hour and they can use them whenever they like, but when they're gone, that's it. Of course there are other times when they get to watch T.V. Usually we have Friday night movie night, and often at Sunday dinner they get to watch a little, also if they are sick or alternatively if I'm sick. The system seems to work fairly well for everybody...Well, sometimes my feelings get a little hurt. Today I had a terrible headache and so this afternoon I took a Tylenol and told Harper I wasn't feeling well and she could watch a little TV while I laid on the couch and had a little nap. This was met with, "Yay! Mamma's sick so I get to watch TV!"

Recipe

These were quite good and would be idea for a picnic dinner. The recipe is from Lemon and Anchovies, and were gobbled up by all.

2 large garlic clove, minced

2 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 ciabattas, halved
1 regular cucumber
2 medium-size, ripe tomato, sliced
1/2 small red onion, sliced
1 tin of Tuna packed in water (the original calls for oil packed)
8 large basil leaves
4 tablespoons sliced pitted olives, preferably a mix of black and green
2 hard-cooked egg, peeled and thinly sliced.

Whisk together the garlic, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper. Slowly drizzle in oil, whisking constantly. Slice cucumber thinly then add to vinaigrette and toss well.

Spread half the cucumbers on bottom of bread. Top with tomato and onion slices, then with tuna, basil, olives and egg slices. Top egg with remaining cucumbers and vinaigrette. Cover with second bread half and firmly press sandwich together. Wrap sandwich tightly in foil, waxed paper or plastic wrap, then place in a plastic bag. Put sandwich under a weight such as a cast-iron frying pan topped with a filled kettle. Weight sandwich for 7 to 10 minutes, then flip and weight it for another 7 to 10 minutes. Unwrap and serve immediately, or keep it wrapped for up to 8 hours before serving

Shrimp Curry with Rice

We have this huge bucket that sits at the backdoor and holds all our mitts, tuques, scarves and who knows what else gets put in there. It's not pretty, not even really convenient since you have to pretty much empty it every time to find what you are looking for, but it keeps it all off the floor and I don't have to get the kids stuff for them because they can reach it themselves. One of the drawbacks is that the kids also then use it all as dress up stuff and then when it's time to go we can never find anything, this drives me crazy. Now that I've actually written this down, I realize that it's really a terrible system because it doesn't even actually keep it off the floor, because the kids play with it all the time and throw it on the floor...but it at least has a place to go and that's more than I can say for most of the stuff in this house. Anyway, what I actually wanted to share with you was not this rant about my bucket, but this picture of Hannah incorrectly using the items in the bucket, but at least it made me belly laugh.

Hannah: LOOK I'M A CHICKEN!!!!

Recipe

This curry was so incredibly easy and good. It was inspired by this recipe from Wishfulchef  with only a few changes.

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 cup potatoes, diced into small cubes
1 can light coconut milk

900g shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 medium tomato, diced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon honey or sugar
3/4 cup frozen peas
salt and pepper, to taste

In a large pan, heat oil and add curry powder, cook for about two minutes. Stir in garlic and shallot and cook for a minute. Mix in potatoes, then stir in coconut milk. Add shrimp, tomatoes, tomato paste, honey and chili powder. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add frozen peas and cook for a few more minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with rice.



Omelets, Roasted Sweet and Red Potatoes and Salad
Harper is trying really hard to understand that there was life before her. Whenever we talk about when Hannah was Harper's age she asks, "And I was how many Hannah is now?" Hannah of course very quickly responds with, "No, you weren't born yet Harper." Harper will look at her very intently, frown a little and say, "No. I was 6." Perhaps, she isn't trying really hard to understand, but she is managing to infuriate Hannah.

Recipe
Did I ever tell you how I learned to make an omelet? I was at the Fort Garry Hotel for brunch, (mmmm, brunch) at the omelet station with a friend and we were discussing how we didn't know how to make omelets, they always turn into scrambled eggs. Somehow it ended with them explaining it to us and me having to flip my own omelet...I didn't quite make it with the flipping motion, but it did inspire me to go home and practice. Now, if I could only get them to teach me how to fry an egg...

Tofu Burgers
It has been windy the last couple of days. Normally I would be annoyed by the cold chilly wind, except this week it seems to be my ally. Harper has taken to running to the bus stop when she feels the wind pushing her. When it's not at her back, she likes to tell me what the wind does do when it's at her back and run some more. Mother Nature is a genius!

Recipe
I was going to make a different kind of veggie burger tonight, but as I was cooking up some of the ingredients my attention was diverted by a certain little one and smoke filled the kitchen while they burned. I think I had enough ingredients to try again, but sometimes you need to admit defeat for the time being...

1 block of tofu, cut in half and then horizontally into 8 slabs
1/2 red onion, sliced
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 clove garlic, pressed
Roasted red peppers (I used jarred)
4 thin slices of cheddar
4 thin bagels
Basil

In a pan heat a glugg of olive oil and saute onions and mushrooms with garlic until soft, season with a little salt and pepper.

Spray a baking sheet and place the tofu on it, spray the top and broil until golden and then flip to do the other side.

Slightly toast the bottom half of the bagel under the broiler and then top with tofu, roasted red pepper, mushroom mixture and cheddar. Place under the broiler again with the top half facing up to toast. Once the cheese is melted top with some ripped up basil and the bagel top and eat.

Beans and Greens Risotto
I had a big day planned today to visit a new little one and his family and then to have my two nephews and my niece sleepover. Last night, Harper got sick and so after giving her a bath, new pjs and new bedding (three or four times) I put her into bed and crawled in with her in the wee hours of the morning. She slept and I stared at her, finally closing my eyes only to wake at every little sound. So instead of a day filled of busy and activity we're riding the couch together watching TreeHouse (poke my eyes out).

Recipe
This recipe is from Moosewood Simple Suppers.

1 quart low sodium veggie stock
15 oz can of diced tomatoes
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
15 oz can of red beans, rinsed or drained
1 small head escarole, chopped (about three cups)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
lemon wedge (optional)

In a saucepan, bring the broth and tomatoes to a boil and then reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer.

Meanwhile, in a large, heavy saucepan on medium-high heat, cook the garlic in the oil until just golden, a few seconds. Add the rice and stir until the grains are well coated with oil. Ladle in the hot broth and tomatoes a cup at a time, stirring often. After each addition, let the rice absorb most of the broth before adding more. Add the beans with the last cup of broth.

When most of the broth is absorbed and the rice is tender but still al dente, stir in the escarole, in batches if necessary, until it wilts but is still bright green. Stir in the cheese and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot, with wedges of lemon if you wish.

Fried Rice and Veggies with Lime Gelato in Lemon Cups, Raspberries and Cookies
It's spring! It's spring! It's spring! It was plus 9 outside today and so we took full advantage. By full advantage I mean, a family castle building activity which took a couple of hours an outdoor picnic in the snow castle and a shared beer on the swing in the sun...ok so the last part was just for Dave and I, sort of. We thought it would be lovely to watch our girls play in the snow while we sat back and shared a beer, they thought it would be way more fun to climb all over us while we tried not to spill said beer - it doesn't matter, PLUS NINE!!!!

Hard at work!

Resting with a little snack.

We were at my aunt's for Sunday dinner and it was lovely and delicious, but we unfortunately had to cut our visit short, returned home where Hannah, Harper and I were struck down with the flu. My apologies for this late post, but I have just risen so to speak.

I hope the sun shines down on you this week (and the flu avoids you). Happy St. Paddy's day to you all!

Getting Out the Door with the Littles and Some Yummy Eats!

Monday: Tortellini Soup
Tuesday: Warm Sweet Potato Salad with Black Beans, Feta and Lime
Wednesday: Fish Tacos
Thursday: Mediterranean Chili
Friday: Pizza (a different kind)
Saturday: Sushi and Edamame Beans
Sunday: BBQ Salmon with Dill Sauce, Roasted Potatoes, Broccoli and Cauliflower in Cheese Sauce and Salad with Vanilla Ice Cream, Strawberries and Peanut Butter Cookies

Tortellini Soup
I manage to keep my cool in many situations...and not in many as well. But getting out the door to get to an activity on time is starting to take it's toll. I like to be on time, I actually get worked up into a little bit of a frenzy when we're going to be late, it stresses me out and to what end, really? What's the worst thing about being late? I mean, besides the fact that it's completely disrespectful, I guess maybe it's a value thing with me. Anyway, I decided today that I'm done rushing Hannah over and over again to get to her activities. I asked her four times today to get ready, only to find her playing in the bathroom (this is a whole other pet peeve) with Harper instead of getting ready and I was ready lose what ever "it" I had left. So I took a deep breath, thought about how much she loves skating, grabbed my book and sat down on the couch and started to read. I've decided that I'm not going to stress over getting her there on time if she's not going to be concerned about it. I think it backfired.

I was hoping that she would be upset that we were late and it would spark a little hustle in her the next time we were getting ready for an activity. When we arrived at the rink, late, she looked around and said, "There's no one here, are we early?" I was exasperated, this whole life lesson exercise I was sitting on my hands and biting my tongue to teach her and she had no clue, and I had mentioned to her that we were late! So, she skated onto the ice, joined her class barely noticing that she missed anything. On the up side, although it was difficult for me to keep my mouth shut, it was nice to not leave the house in a big huff of stress of guilt. I may be teaching her it's alright to be late (cringe) or apparently nothing at all, but I think that I may stick with this plan and see where (or when) it takes us.

Recipe
I made this tortellini soup recipe inspired from Alida's Kitchen. I love having soup Monday, because I can make it ahead of time and have it ready for when we get home from skating, also because I'm always freezing from sitting in the arena. This wasn't knock your socks off good, but it was a solid meal, we all liked it and it was super quick and easy to make.

glugg of olive oil
2 small onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 tsp oregano
1 28oz can whole tomatoes, chopped
5 cups veggies stock
12 oz fresh cheese tortellini
1 bunch of kale, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil over medium low heat and cook the onion until soft, add the garlic and oregano and cook another minute. Add the stock and tomatoes and bring to a boil, add the kale and pasta and simmer for a couple minutes until the pasta is ready. Adjust seasoning if needed and serve.

Warm Sweet Potato Salad with Black Beans, Feta and Lime
We weren't really sure what to do with ourselves this evening. We had the guy come and assess our house today (weeks of work, he was here for about 15 minutes), and the house is so clean that Dave and I didn't want to mess it up. We started chores with the girls this week and so it was Harper's turn to do the dishes (she gets a little extra help) so that was done early. The girls were a little out of sorts in this clean house and occupied their time randomly strewing toys about, to make it feel like our house again. Harper was running around in a shirt, her underwear and a pair of leg warmers so naturally we all took a break to sing Maniac (Good 'ol Flashdance) and do a little running on the spot. Imagine, we could be doing this all the time if we had a clean and organized house!

I couldn't stop laughing at Hannah's face in this picture!

Recipe
It felt like spring today, it was beautiful out and it was light out when we had dinner, so this salad from the wonderful blog of Catherine Newman was perfect! I strongly recommend trying this, or invite us for dinner and ask me to bring a salad, because this is the one I will be bringing for the next little while.

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes


6 tablespoons olive oil, divided


salt

2 limes, 1 zested, both juiced

½ teaspoon chipotle puree
*
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup green pumpkin seeds
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed (or 2 cups cooked black beans)
A 
few handfuls of greens
½-1 cup crumbled feta

*Because Hannah hates anything with a little spice to it, I omitted this and added 1/4 tsp smoked paprika for the smokey taste.

Preheat oven to 450F.

Toss the sweet potato with 2 Tbsp of the olive oil and 1 tsp salt and them spread them out on a cookie sheet and bake on the bottom rack for about 20 minutes. Flip, (don't go crazy trying to flip all of them, use a spatula and flip as many as you can...) and bake for another 10 minutes, until they are nice and brown and caramelized.

Meanwhile make your dressing and toast the pumpkin seeds. In a pan over medium low heat, heat 2 tsp of olive oil, add you seeds and toast until nice and brown. In a jar mix together lime zest and juice, rest of the olive oil, sugar and paprika or chipotle and shake until it's all blended, taste and add a little salt if needed.

Once sweet potatoes are ready put them in a bowl, add the black beans and dressing and mix well. On a platter spread out your lettuce (I used romaine and green leaf because that's what I had to use up, but arugula would be really nice), top with bean and sweet potato mixture and then sprinkle with the feta and pumpkin seeds. Serve immediately.

Fish Tacos
Sometimes leaving the house in the evening is like a fire drill. You need to let those around you subtly know what's going on, but without causing too much fuss or confusion. Never run, this draws too much attention and can lead to the trampling of small children as they throw themselves at your feet or attach themselves to your leg in a panic. Walk briskly, making no sudden movements and taking only what's necessary. The most important thing is to be sure to turn and wave as you leave and then NEVER look back.

Recipe
Really there are many little variations you can do with fish tacos, but tonight we went plain and simply. Corn tortillas, pan fried fish, guacamole (a must), tomatoes mixed with cilantro and red onion and banana peppers! I love fish tacos because they please everyone, every time.

Mediterranean Chili

Some days getting out the door to get Hannah to the bus stop on time takes a lot out of Harper and I. Sometimes when Hannah gets on the bus all we can do to relieve our frustration with each other, mine because she won't get ready to go right away and doesn't want to wear her winter clothes, hers at the fact that she can't finish her task and eat an extra meal and wear her slippers and rain jacket, that all we can do is move slow and spend a very quiet afternoon giving in to almost all of Harper's whims (I'm sure guilt plays no part here). Today it was painting, I never want to take out the paint, I'm not sure why it always makes her so happy and really only takes an extra few minutes to take out and clean up.

Recipe

The idea for this recipe came from Tasty Trix, I altered it for what I had in the house. Next time I will leave out the saffron as we discovered, Dave does not like saffron and it turned him off of the dish, Hannah and I gobbled it up, Harper didn't even taste it (she was so tired tonight, I was just happy she didn't fall asleep with her little face in the soup). This dish would still have great flavour if the saffron was omitted and I will do that next time.

3 Tbsp of olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 shallot, chopped

1/4 - 1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes

5 cloves garlic, pressed

1 lemon, zested and half the juice

4 cups veggie stock

1 large pinch saffron - optional

2 tsp oregano

5 sprigs fresh thyme

2 - 19oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/3 cup kalamata olives, chopped

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

Banana peppers

Feta cheese

Salt and pepper

In a large soup pot heat the olive oil and cook the onions and shallots until soft; add the garlic, chili pepper flakes and oregano and cook for another 30 seconds. Add the veggie stock, chickpeas, lemon juice and saffron, bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Puree half of the soup and then add it back to the pot (or use a submersion blender) and then add in the thyme, olives and lemon zest and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook until they soften, about 5 minutes, adjust seasoning to taste.

Serve topped with chopped banana peppers and feta cheese.

Pizza (a different kind)
My cousin and his wife had their third child this morning, a beautiful baby boy. Welcome to the world little one!

This is the baseline difference between Dave and I. In the wee hours of the morning (4am) we woke up to the sound of an alarm. Not an alarm in our house, it sounded like a car alarm going off on the street, but somewhere close by. The clock was flashing and it was all very confusing so naturally I listened for the kids, heard nothing and pulled the covers over my head and went back to sleep. Dave got up checked the whole house, noticed the PVR was flashing like crazy, rebooted it, noticed a breaker had been flipped when he was checking the basement (?) flipped it back, set the clocks, rechecked all the doors and came back to bed. I'm curious, if he had been away would I have done that, or would I have done the same thing that I did do? I honestly don't think I would have gotten up and I definitely would not have noticed the PVR or gone down and checked the basement...it's about complimenting each other's personality (and perhaps picking up the slack here and there), right?

Recipe 
We actually had a different kind of pizza today. I had planned on the same kind but we ran out of a few things and it was kind of snow stormy out today so I decided to only venture out on foot, meaning in the yard and to the bus stop and back, so we made due.

Harper and I made the dough, she was very focused on kneading it...

The recipe is actually the focaccia bread recipe from Best of Bridge: That's Trump, but just plain.

2 1/2 tsp yeast

1 3/4 cups warm water

1 tsp sugar

4 1/2 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

3 Tbsp olive oil

Add yeast and sugar to warm water and let stand 5 minutes. Work in 4 cups of flour, salt and 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Knead dough, adding as much of remaining 1/2 cup flour as necessary to form soft dough. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size. Here I just divided the dough in two, stretched and rolled each piece out and put it on a parchment lined pan.

We topped the first pizza with:

Marscapone cheese (leftover from the Mushroom soup last week) mixed with a little balsamic for flavour, spread all over the dough like sauce

Sliced pears

Caramelized onions

The second pizza with:

Pizza sauce

Caramelized onions

Roasted red peppers, chopped

Sun dried tomatoes, chopped

Feta cheese

Bake both in a 400F oven for about 20 minutes.

Sushi and Edamame Beans

My new parenting strategy is going to be slow down and think about saying yes before no. I feel like we rush around so much to get to the next activity, get supper ready, sneak in a run here and there, get the kids to bed on time - it's too much racing. Have you ever seen that youtube video where Joshua Bell plays in a subway station in Washington at rush hour and all these people rush by him barely paying any attention? He captures the attention of many children, yet most often their parents rush them along...I would totally rush my kids along (on most days at least). What am I doing? Don't get me wrong I am in no way saying I need to stop and enjoy every moment, because that's simply too much pressure and honestly there's a lot of moments in a day that I don't enjoy and I'm not going to beat myself up over it (revisit last weeks potty training rant, for example), but when I slow down and put things in perspective it seems, easier or something (like this weeks painting). Today started rush, rush, rush with lots of power struggles between us and Hannah and nothing really in particular that needed to be accomplished. Finally around 1:00 we kind of looked at each other and thought what are we doing? We all sat down and played chess together, Hannah and Dave together and Harper and I (heh, I'm sure you can guess how me and Harper's game went, but she wanted to play and we have two sets, so we practiced moving our pieces around. It's been so long since I've played that I feel like we were pretty evenly matched). For the rest of the day I said yes to almost everything (reasonable) and they played happily, were patient and much more understanding when the answer had to be no. We ended the evening with game night! We played Gobblet Gobblers, which my parents brought back for us from Australia. If you have little ones and can find this game it's fantastic! It's like Tic Tac Toe but you can move your pieces around on the board and gobble up other players pieces.

All in all, the day started out poorly, but ended quite well. Stay tuned next week for when my new parenting philosophy becomes, rush through everything and always say no first!

Recipe

Sushi was Hannah's choice because she loves making it and eating it. The instructions for making it can be found on this post, or on the back of the package of nori wraps. We filled ours with different combinations of:

Smoked salmon

Cream Cheese

Avocado

Roasted red peppers

Cucumber

I had bought a sweet potato and was going to cut in cubes and roast it in the oven and put it in the sushi, but I completely forgot.

BBQ Salmon with Dill Sauce, Roasted Potatoes, Broccoli and Cauliflower in Cheese Sauce and Salad with Vanilla Ice Cream, Strawberries and Peanut Butter Cookies

Hannah had a gift card to Chapters from her birthday and Dave took her out to spend it today. He said she was so excited she flitted from one thing to another trying to decide what to buy. Dave texted me saying that she wanted to buy this science kit that makes candy and cupcakes, knowing I would not be happy about it. As I was texting him this very long winded text about how these were things that we could perhaps do at home with our own ingredients, and had he looked at the chapter books with her? It really went on and on with other options, while the control freak in me thought, "I wish I would have gone." He texted me (before I finished mine and sent it), that's what we got. Shit. In the end it isn't that bad, I thought it was going to come with all sorts of premade cake mixes and stuff but really the only ingredients it comes with is baking soda and sprinkles, and lots of test tubes and things. There is some flavored crystals that I'm not thrilled about, but apparently the alternative was a manicure kit (although, not really, because she's not allowed such things - but that's a whole other rant).

In the end we ended up doing one of the experiments this afternoon which was making cupcakes, test group A without baking soda and test group B with baking soda.

The scientist.

Group A and B.

Testing and concluding: "Baking soda makes things taller...I think it's rise, and fluffier."

Dinner was at my parents, is there anything better than your own parents cooking? It was delicious and comforting as always.

I am starting to tweet, follow me @littlebellies, although I am a newby and a little slow to jump on (just keep that in mind)!

I hope the sun shines down on you this week.