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
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 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
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!
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