"I hope you don't mind that I put down in words... how wonderful life is while you're in the world"
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Fill, Fold, Repeat
Snowbound from the blizzard. My boy and his pals play in the living room. Loudly. So loudly that it becomes unbearable. Several times I request that they lower their voices. I didn't want to end their play, or the noise altogether. Just the volume. I felt a headache coming on. You know the feeling. I surrendered, took medication, then resigned myself to the kitchen where I began preparing homemade vegetarian wonton soup.
“When having a smackerel of something with a friend, don't eat so much that you get stuck in the doorway trying to get out.” - Winnie the Pooh
It's that time of year again...time for sun tea and lemonade, grilled corn and kiddley smackerels that you can pop in your mouth on the way to the pool. Here are some summer snacks found in our nest...
Thread organic grapes on to lollipop sticks and freeze!
Flatten whole grain bread with rolling pin and remove crust. Spread with organic nut butter. Julienne organic apple and place lengthwise on bread to form a row approx. 1 inch wide. Roll bread tightly into a tube. Cut into 4 pieces like sushi.
Other combos:
~Fig & Goat Cheese
~ carrot, cucumber and edamame hummus
~ sweet potato and tahini
~ broccoli slaw and white bean hummus
~ bean dip and shredded cheese
*I like mine with sprouts.
1 cup organic nut butter
1 cup organic dry milk (unsweetened protein powder will do)
2-3 T raw organic honey (enough to make it stick together)
sprinkle of flax seed (or roll them in it)
Handful of carob chips optional (because is makes my son happy)
Mix all ingredients until blended. Roll into little balls.
Refrigerate or freeze if you prefer!
These sweet little protein bombs are perfect fuel for busy summer fun. The original recipe found all over the internet uses 1 cup of honey and some recipes add additional confectionery sugar. Way too sweet for me. This works better for us.
These fit perfectly into little hands and they can make it themselves. Truth be told, I don't like to bake...except for bread, muffins and cookies. I only make cake for birthdays and I never make pie. I just don't enjoy it, so I don't do it. This is a no bake, kid friendly solution...
Break organic graham cracker in half to form 2 squares. (recipe for purists)
Spread each piece with organic cream cheese. (recipe for purists)
Top with 4 banana chunks and close the top.
I'm always looking for kid-funky food to delight my son...so tell me, what summer smackerels are you munchin'?
Thank you for the days,
Those endless days,
those sacred days you gave me - The Kinks
S hopped in his red wagon and I pulled him to the Farmer's Market to buy some goodies for a picnic dinner at our beautiful Nature Center. I always say, in my next life I'm going to marry an Amish cheese maker...well I don't have to wait that long OR don a bonnet. We found one at the market who makes raw goat's milk cheddar! We also bought some homemade cacik and spooned it into pitas stuffed with roasted soy sausage. It's the vegetarian version of a gyro and the combination of flavors tastes quite similar.
After our meal we walked down to the stream and caught a few tadpoles to raise and release because Satch loved the experience last year. There were hundreds, perhaps even thousands of them. And considering the odds that maybe only 10% make it to toad-hood, it was like a heartfelt mission.
"They feel like slippery soap.", he said.
We brought them home and transferred them to our tank where they are quite happy, dining on fresh baby greens.
S received a new set of wheelz from his Noma for his upcoming birthday...a balance bike! He's been zipping around on that thing all day long, and after dinner. And when it's time to bring it in the house and get ready for bed, he sneaks in a little ride around the dining room table in his pajamas. It's amazing - HIGHLY recommend! Check out their demo video and you'll see what I mean.
I cried as I washed off his tricycle and put it down the basement. He's such a big boy now!
On Mother's Day, the Great Robinsky made me breakfast and S presented me with a gift certificate for a much needed massage. Sigh. 'Nough said.
Lastly, and this may not be a big deal to most people, but it is to me. I finally made yogurt and we've been slurping it up like it's going out of style. I hope we remember to save a cup to start a new batch. It's that good and that easy. We love it with berry preserves and a drizzle of blackstrap molasses. We love it with raw honey and a slice of toasted homemade boule...now I want to try making homemade cheese...of course, S wants me to try making stick candy, but that's way out of my league.
"kisses are a better fate than wisdom" - e.e. cummings
The Valentine's card that I made for my husband...
A very old Valentine's card that my Grandfather sent to my Grandmother. The girl and boy do in fact resemble my grandparents, and they did have a black cat named Pywackit...
A Valentine's card that my late Dad made for my Grands with a photo of my brother and me...
The Valentine's Crayons that Satch and I made during the blizzard for his friends (from our bottomless pit of crayon nubs)...
Robert made us heart shaped pancakes for breakfast... Satch and I made Valentine's Moon Pies for our dessert that eve...
And last but not least, the Valentine's book that I made for Satch
or why all the neighborhood kids flock to our nest...
The robins have arrived and the daffodils are beginning to emerge and I fear they both may be a tad early as we received TWO respectable snow storms just three days apart. Satch began making tiny snow castles, his very own twist on sandcastles, and I was so inspired by his idea that I couldn't resist making him a giant snow castle to play in.
We started building it after a warm breakfast of oatmeal with fresh strawberries and cream...
After stockpiling the fortress with a stack of snowballs, we went inside to eat lunch...macaroni n' cheese and hot cocoa. We enjoyed the ethereal scenery, the muffled hush that accompanies a good flurry, and the excuse to toast marshmallows in the fireplace.
Here's how to make your own Quick n' Easy Snow Castle:
Dig out a square for your interior floor
Dig a trench around the outside of the square to form the base of your castle's foundation (formally called a Battered Plinth), approx. 12" wide - you can shave off excess later.
Use extra snow as mortar to fill grooves between stones. Satch his Ikea Sandig tools for this.
Add turrets, crenelations and perhaps a flag!
I'm thinking they should rename it Snowdig because it makes awesome snow bricks! *Castle jargon glossary can be found here! And a book of inspiration here!
THEN...just 2 days after we built our snow castle, we were hit with a blizzard! So we hunkered down with some java logs and some - good - books and some serious comfort food. There were fresh banana muffins(sans the espresso) for breakfast. There was steamy homemade vegetarian "chicken" noodle soup with warm Tofurkey sandwiches and mushroom barley stew and tomato risotto with fresh mozzarella.
There were experiments...
to learn about color.
(and the left over potions were used to color snowballs)
There were Lincoln Log constructions with demolitions via remote controlled car. There were card games by the fireplace, visits from neighbors and also some body markers.
When the big snow let up, so began the big dig.
Our street was no longer recognizable and people walked right down the middle of what was once a road to take photos.
Here's the same view after the storm passed. There are many trees down, completely blocking the road.
Our snow castle was buried, but identifiable by its red flag, and...
branches, heavy with snow and ice, created wonderful natural winter forts and tunnels to play in.
"Soup of the evening, beautiful soup!" - Lewis Carroll
I cannot resist a beautiful bowl of soup. Many, many years ago, a cherished soul gave me a vegetarian cookbook from her favorite vegetarian restaurant. In it, she tucked a 50 dollar bill and wrote, "please make the pea soup and make extra for me". Well, I did...and it was wonderful and so began my slight obsession for yummy vegetarian soups.
Ihad the good fortune to review a new vegetarian cookbook, "Love Soup" by the amazing Anna Thomas!It's everything a soup lubbin' vegetarian could dream of!I madeher "Creamy Potato and Roasted Garlic Soup"and topped it with some slivers of chévre cheese and a small hunk of crusty bread (see photo above). It was sooooo good! What made this soup so special though was the bit of sweet potato which added a lovely color and a hint of sweetness. YUM! Naturally, I just had to chat her up...but first, a video clip!
Mom: Anna Thomas Of: Christopher (25), Ted (24) Where: Ojai, California Site: Vegetarian Epicure
1. In what ways has becoming a mother changed you?That’s a big question, sister! It changes everything. When my first baby was born, an organism (me) divided and became two different organisms – a child, and a mother – neither of which had existed before. We were both, in a way, starting from zero.
Everything was different. I had no time, I couldn’t bear to read the newspaper because of all the violence, my priorities were re-ordered, and my hair was dirty most days. It took me a while to realize it was not a temporary disruption. A dear friend who was already a father sent us a little handmade membership card: on one side, “Parents Club of the World,” on the other, “Life Memberships Only.”
I entered a new world, one in which there was always someone more important than me, and the future was both more exciting and more frightening. Interestingly, the past changed as well; I began to understand my own parents. And now, as my children grow up, I begin to understand more about who I was when I was their age.
But here’s a big one: I’ve become less judgmental. Being a parent makes everything else you ever did look easy. And when you do that job, really do it, you stop judging others, because you know how incredibly tough and complicated things can get. But would I trade it for anything else? No! Never!
2. What message would you like to share with other mothers?Everything is a phase. No matter what the challenge is, what you’re trying to figure out and contend with, it is a phase; it will pass. Not that you get to ignore it – and it’s diabolical the way just when you’ve figured out how to deal with tantrums, that’s no longer the problem and it’s something entirely new and different that you haven’t thought about yet! But it is a phase, and it will eventually play itself out. And you will survive if you remember that.
And never regret an extra moment you spend with your children. You won’t be lying on your deathbed saying, “wish I’d spent just a little more time in the office.” 3. What is your family’s favorite dish?This has changed a lot over the years – when the kids were little they loved rice pudding and breakfast pancakes, and later they adored summer tomato soup and quesadillas and Tortilla Española… But I must admit that the cream cheese pierogi that I make for Christmas Eve, little savory pastries filled with caramelized cabbage or potatoes, are beloved by all, and through all eras. They accompany my Christmas Eve Porcini Soup – a recipe I included in Love Soup, even though it can be a bit of work to find porcini, because that soup is so amazingly delicious, and such a family tradition. I think it’s in our DNA, the Polish side.
4. What inspired you to write Love Soup?
This goes back a long way! I have always cooked soups, but when my first baby was born soup became even more important. All the years that I was raising my children, when everybody seemed hungry all the time and there was never an extra moment, having a pot of soup in the fridge really was like money in the bank.But then the children grew up and moved out, and I moved, too, downsized in a major way. I was doing a major remodel – a re-build, actually – and was temporarily living in a converted painter’s studio. I put in a teeny, tiny little kitchen under the stairs to the sleeping loft, which I thought would be just dandy for the few months of construction.
You can see where this is going, right? Three years later, I was still in the 81-inch kitchen. And during that time – I was cooking soup, soup, and more soup! It was the food that saved me, allowed me to continue to eat well, to cook seasonal produce without needing a lot of equipment (which was all packed away), to have friends over for casual suppers…A good pot of soup is like a magnet, people just naturally bring the bread and olives and cheese and wine that go with it. Those seasons of soup in the wee kitchen showed me that no space is too small for cooking, or for sharing food with friends. I fell in love with soup all over again - and decided I had to write about it. The whole book was written in that not-so-temporary kitchen! 5. What moves you, grounds you, fills your well?
Two things have always filled me with lasting joy: the true experience of art, and the far, wild reaches of the natural world. I would travel a long way for a good opera, or to see a great painting. Real art never lets you down. And hiking in the mountains is my daily blessing. I live where I live, and drive longer distances for work, so that I can see the mountains out my window, and walk the trails into them any time. For my 50th birthday I climbed Mount Whitney with a couple of girlfriends. I’ve called on that experience many times. Experiencing these things in the companionship of family or good friends has always been my spiritual nourishment.
When I had children, I shared the things I loved with them: art, the beauty of nature, the comradeship of close friends – and I watched them discover the world. And later – the most moving thing of all: seeing my children make art.
*This diary entry is dedicated to Ida May Mahler...When making a bowl of soup, when climbing a tree with my son...you come to mind. Loved, missed and always remembered.
"I've learned there are three things you don't discuss with people:
religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin" - Linus
Satch said he wanted a spooky pumpkin this year and even drew a picture of what he wanted. He explained that he wanted a big pumpkin eating a little one. He wanted spooky eyes NOT triangle eyes. He wanted a skull nose and BIG teeth.
I carved while he instructed. Once again, he would not touch the pumpkin goop because, he said, "it smells like a diaper pail" and then he added, "why does pumpkin pie taste good?" And exclaimed, "Mama, you made my dream come true!"
Satch was inspired by the hundred of pumpkins we saw at the Annual Pumpkin Glow! He examined them all quite closely commenting on various details and using his pumpkin light necklace to illuminate the ones that had grown dark. Before heading home, we enjoyed a moonlight hayride.
We made some tiny chocolate Autumn cookies to take to Satchel's Creative Zone class.
With the leftover dough we made some animal cookies for our stash...
and some robots.
The robot cookie cutter was terrible. We could only get 3 cookies to turn out. The rest got stuck in the cutter and was impossible to remove. We tried everything...re-chilling the dough; flouring the cutter; spray the cutter with Pam...eventually we gave up.
*The Fall Forest Cutters and Animal Cutters are spring loaded and were so easy that Satch was able to do it all by himself.
We have TWO Halloween parties to attend! Satch wanted to be Max from Where the Wild Things Are and I made his costume last weekend. I'll post some pics next week. Robert and I will be wild things, of course.
*I would like to dedicate this post to my childhood best friend, Nancy, who will celebrate her 46th ride around the sun today. Happy Birthday, pal, I love you so!
I've been a bit under the weather without much energy to do anything 'cept make soup and sew a few birds (from vintage hanky scraps - fitting fabric considering the current state of our snouts) for our Xmas tree during Satchel's nap (Will post bird pics tomorrow).
I made this "Creamy Cauliflower Soup" from Heidi Swanson's book, "Super Natural Cooking". It is sooo delicious, in fact, that my husband (a devout cauliflower-hater) LOVES this soup. I didn't have Brazil nuts in the house, so I made the spinach pesto with cashews and it was darn tasty. I have served this soup without the pesto and it's terrific on its own. I even tried spreading some pesto on toasted crusty bread and floating it on top of the soup like a giant crouton and it was mighty yummy.
The recipes in this book are wholesome, simple and seriously delicious. Heidi focuses on, natural sweeteners, less processed fats, and whole grains in this collection of highly nutritious recipes. We've enjoyed them so much that I've subscribed to the RSS feed of her recipe journal.
*Cauliflower, by the way, is a nutritionally dense vegetable and high in vitamin C, so I suspect we'll all be on the mend quite soon.
In regard to our schnozzes: Last week I took Satch to a play group at our community center and had merry time when I noticed a wee girl with a wicked runny nose. Each time she licked the steady stream of snot off her top lip, I thought, why do parents bring sick kids to play groups? I would have left, but I didn't want to disappoint Satch. Well, despite my efforts to fend off the germs with thorough hand washing prior to departure, my son developed a runny nose and other symptoms on cue a few days later. Then my husband took a punch from this nasty virus which knocked him off his feet and in bed for the entire day (no kidding) before passing the super morphed version on to me.
The play group came and went yesterday and I did not take Satch because I didn't want to infect other children and because I felt like crapola.
"Let your life dance lightly on the edges of time like dew on the tip of a leaf" - Rabindranath Tagore
It was a bit cold and rainy when a portly critter came tapping at the window asking for treats (no kidding- note the motion blur at its paw) so I had to run out and refill the clay bowl at the chipmunk cafe.
The event was worth another reading of "Nuts To You" which I just can't read without laughing...
And we made some acorn shaped brownies with this pan because a dessert that doesn't include chocolate just isn't worth eating. The making of said brownies required a fresh shirt for the Satch-man.
And a post nibble recital of a poem he learned from his friend, R.
We then decided to make a rain stick, not that we needed more rain. I poked all the holes around the cardboard tube, and satch sat on the floor with a pile of nails and a wooden mallet and hammered all the nails in. I taped the bottom of the tube and handed him a cup of rice and a funnel so he could fill the stick. Then after sealing the other end, I wrapped the tube in paper, and he painted it all sorts of colors and added some animal stickers. Then we wrapped one end with yarn using a glue stick so that it would look like a traditional rainstick seen here.
(By the way, this is Satchel's newly requested freezer paper pirate ship shirt.)
Now that the Farmer's Market is open I know I'm not the only one who can't stop thinking about food! All the beautiful, local, fresh produce has me wanting to try new recipes. I can't get enough of the fresh basil that is growing in a large pot on our deck. And even though I detest string beans (I re-taste them every year since I can remember), I think the scent of the pole beans growing around Satchel's garden teepee smell heavenly.
He has two new rituals...he always invites you to smell his food, "You want to smell dis?", he asks and he pops it beneath your nose before you have a chance to respond. The other thing he does is - he takes your hand at the table and says, "We are happy for dis food dat comes from da ERF - LETS EAT!". He does this even if we're at a restaurant. I introduced this custom to him months ago after reading, "Seven Times the Sun" and he loved it and has made it his own supper ritual.
I wanted to see what all the fuss was over Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper so I got a copy. NOW I know! I made both versions of the supper tart (one with tomato and goat cheese and the other with GRAPES and asiago cheese) and Satch said, "This is a good dinner you made mama". Score! I also made the "Luxury Eggs" that are folded with cream and bits of cream cheese and tarragon. Satch liked it...he LIKED eggs, people!!! (sorry Uncle Chip) I am reading this cook book cover to cover because there's all these really nifty tips like gilding your pasta with grated cheese BEFORE topping it with sauce to give it extra flavor...a trick they use in Naples. And using puff pastry dough for the tart crust...YES...why the heck didn't I think of that? You can check out the radio show here!
And I have another new favorite...Easy Indian Cookbook by Manju Malhi! We're big fans of Indian food and I thought I made a pretty good masala until I got this book. Now I make a DANG good masala, AND Matar Panir! It comes with a cd of traditional sitar music too. Food and music are a terrific way to share the culture with your children. There are other books in this series as well.
Food Play - Our trips to the Farmers Market will never be the same! Satch loves looking at all the creations and guessing what veggie or fruit they are made from in this chunky, imaginative book. Some of the faces give him a giggle and it certainly encourages little minds to look at the ordinary in refreshing new ways.
Oh and by the way, I tried Marie's recipe for Pop Up Pancakes and they were wonderful. The batter is thin like crepe batter and they bake all golden yellow... prettier than a pancake! They sink in the middle creating the perfect dimple to hold fresh berries. We liked the texture which was chewier than a traditional pancake. And the best part is they are all cooked at once so you don't have to stand by the stove. We also made her frozen grape pops. We bought 6" lollipop sticks at Michaels and they were just the right size. Satchel was completely tickled over the idea of grapes on a stick and they were a big hit with his friend R as well!
Olive oil
1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar reduction
2 large flour tortillas
1 cup shredded Asiago cheese (about 2 ounces)
2/3 cup ricotta cheese
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a small sauté pan on medium hight heat. Add the sliced onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to soften. Add the balsamic vinegar reduction, cook for a few more minutes until the onions are thoroughly softened and slightly caramelized. Remove from heat.
Place tortillas on baking sheets and brush with olive oil.
Sprinkle each tortilla with half a cup of shredded Asiago cheese. Add bits of ricotta cheese, 1/3 cup for each tortilla. Sprinkle with caramelized onions. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
Place the baking sheets in the oven. Bake until the crust is crisp and brown all over between 5-10 minutes.
Each pizza serves 1..unless you're super hungry.
*Here's how to make balsamic reduction...it's too easy for words and way better than straight up balsamic vinegar. It's thicker, sweeter, has a slightly chocolaty taste and is awesome drizzled on roasted veggies, sandwiches and even fruit. Basically...it's like the poor man's version of THIS! We're addicted to it so now I just reduce the whole dang bottle when I buy balsamic vinegar. How did you spend your weekend?
Location: Taproot in NYC, Tertiary Roots in VA, United States
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Mother, Artist, Biophiliac,Vegetarian, Joyologist, VA Master Naturalist, CCMA
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CONTACT: wendy(at)wendycook(dotcom)
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This is my JOURNAL. I come to this page to write about our days so that my son will have a diary of our life together. Perhaps you will find something useful here as you navigate the terrain of your own path. ...........................................
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"To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty...
To leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition."
