So Quinn begins Starbright Tuesday. We have been visiting the past week or so and Tyler has been so amazing. One morning all the kids were out on the playground. Tyler was holding Quinn’s hand walking her around. When they decided to swing, Quinn sat down and Tyler gave her pushes.

Later on, then came back over to me to say “hi!”. I suggested to Tyler that he show Quinn all the slides. Next thing I know, they have climbed up to the slide and Quinn is sitting in front of Tyler while he holds her around the waist and they slide together.

On another long visit, Quinn’s class was on the playground first. Her face completely lit up when she saw her brother run out and head towards the swings where she was. She reaches over and grabs the swing next to her to hold it for him.

These are the moments that warm my heart so. Yes, at home there are moments they are at each other’s throats. But then you see them out in the world together and the strength of that bond shows itself as they support and watch out for each other. I am excited for her and I am excited for them..

I planted wheat grass in our Lenten garden and in a few days we had shoots. The kids were quite amazed at this. Then on Good Friday, my Mom came over to make the traditional bunny cake. While she was there, we all wet felted green caterpillars. Once dry, we wrapped them in cocoons on white muslin and laid them near the rock grotto.

On Easter, the garden becomes an Easter garden – the spring animals are out – ducks, bunnies, chickens, the flower children are out to play, and the caterpillars have become butterflies. Spring is completely awake and life is again renewed. I knitted the flower children dresses and made then into dolls, knitted the bunnies last year and the ducks this year.

We also did some baking this holiday. On Good Friday, we made Hot Cross Buns which were quite delicious. We also sang “Hot Cross Buns” much of that weekend and it soon became a kid favorite. Holy Saturday evening, the kids helped me made Easter Bread. I asked them to gather some large rocks which we wrapped in foil and placed in the bread before we baked it. Then they went to bed.

The next morning, dyed eggs filled the holes where the rocks had been. We dyed these in onion skins and they came out really cool! Also, I had knit the two little red birds sitting inside the ring. The one is sitting on a knitted nest with three little knitted eggs inside. The kids haven’t played with these as much as I hoped, but nevertheless, they were fun to knit and are a great spring decoration as we have tons of cardinals this time of year.

It was a fun Easter and I really enjoyed all the crafting, baking and general celebration welcoming spring. And what an incredible spring it was!

Tyler singing:
“Baa Baa Black Sheep, winnie winnie wool…”

I love food and I love cooking. And nothing makes me happier when fresh produce from my CSA and other local sources, some favorite recipes, seasonal cooking and some yummy wine all come together in one incredibly delicious and colorful meal! Even in the cooking – watching the red of the tomatoes combine with the green basil as they break down and become a sauce, cutting fresh squash that is crisp and creating these little packets for the oven….

I hadn’t always felt this way about food. But after a year and a half of joining a CSA I have a relationship with food that is so satisfying. I was so excited to get to summer and couldn’t wait for the first zucchini to show up in my box. And as we near fall, I will wait with anticipation for the root vegetables to come, the incredible greens and the broccoli. I actually have seasonal menus with the recipes that I make at that time of year. There isn’t bordem – every week my box dictates where our food journey will go.

Here is the making of a fresh homemade pasta sauce with tomatoes from my CSA and basil from a neighbor’s garden. Also, I am making parchment packets to back the squash. This will create steam that will cook the squash and infuse the flavor of the basil into it. The kids chowed the squash tonight…

And so dinner was:
Baked Eggplant croquettes with a fresh tomato-basil sauce served with zucchini/summer squash baked in parchment with onions, butter, and basil and a garden salad dressed with olive oil & red wine vinegar. Paired with a 2007 Flat Creek Pinot Grigio.

This fantastic dinner coupled with the amazing bread made today just made my day. I keep wondering where life will take me as the kids get older. And somehow I am starting to think it may have to do with food. Sharing my passion for food, cooking and keeping it simple so you can enjoy the fruits of your labor. The meal above looks fancy, but all in all, is pretty easy to make. Bringing people back to the table to share, love, and laugh over a delicious and healthy meal….

So I was looking for a bread recipe that used cooked grains and found it!! I was wanting to go beyond flour to give my bread more bang for each slice. This Five Grain recipe looked heavenly – it used cooked barley and wheat berries, rolled oats, some rye flour, wheat and white flour, honey and molasses. We had four hours to get it done and we did. The bread is incredible!

I also learned a new technique of sorts where you start of with a sponge which according to the recipe is an “intermediary rising of part of the dough”. Here is the sponge and the fresh cooked grains that went into the bread.

The kids are great help when it comes to breadmaking right up to the kneading part. They will help knead for a bit, and then they are enchanted by the flour and run off to get their cars. This second picture is pretty much what happens after the dough is set out to rise. I figured they were focused and playing, so headed off to the office to take care of a few things….

…and then I came back. Anything look different here? Like maybe the flour multiplied 10 times? I totally forgot that I left the FULL flour container out. So the kids helped themselves and started making mountains and who knows what else. Since I had left them there, I couldn’t get upset. And they were still quite focused and not being wild. So afterward we saved what we could of the flour and cleaned up the rest. I am so glad that Tyler has taken a shine to the vacuum! :-p Of course, there were still flour footprints all over the house!!

..and the end product:

Incredible bread. Seriously my favorite “sandwich” bread recipe of all those I have made. We will see how it slices tomorrow, but even if it falls apart a bit, it tastes so good, you just don’t care. And the recipe made too loaves! What I really need now is an old-fashioned bread box…anyone know where to find one of those?

This year for Easter, I decided to try a Lenten Garden. I made the cut-out – pattern from All Year Round. On Palm Sunday, the kids woke up to the paper cut-out that hung over the table and to our nature table transformed into a Lenten Garden.

At the moment a favorite daily ritual is the hunting for cicada shells. They have been quite successful judging from the extended family that resides on our nature table. Tyler has been curious about the insects that left behind these shells and was quite ecstatic to discover a live one this past weekend.

Family of cicadas on our nature table..