W-O-W! Oh my god dinner was nothing short of gourmet, amazing, and relatively easy. Thanks to Frugal Foods for this awesome idea and of course to How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook which I love more and more everyday!

Tonight’s dinner started off with a simple salad - lettuce, red onion, toasted pecans, and fresh parmasean cheese. I made a homemade balsamic dressing to go with it. Best part is, I made a huge bowl of this salad yesterday banking on the leftovers tonight. So the salad was ready to go.

Follow that with crepes filled with caramelized onions and fresh, locally-made mozzarella cheese and beer-braised black beans. I made the crepe batter and onions during naptime and the beans only take 20 minutes to put together, so really the only tedious part is the making of each crepe.

I had bought a big bottle of Newcastle to go in the beans. There was plenty of it leftover for hubby and I to have some with dinner. Man, I am starting to like beer…it was so tasty. It was nice to welcome hubby home and hand him a beer in a fancy-shmancy bar beer glass (not the mugs, but the tall glasses). He asked where I got the beer from and I said, “beer came with dinner!” :-p

Gotta run - life has been busy as you can tell from my lack of posting. I always have a long list of blog posts in my head, it is just a matter of getting to them. Oh, and sorry there is no pic of aforementioned dinner - it looked so good, I wanted to dive right in and totally forgot to photograph it.

Ooops - just heard a hard bonk in the next room and here comes toddler with ouchie….

Remember all the new recipes I was going to try out this week? They were all awesome and fun to make. That black bean and mango salad was a perfect combo of flavors. The vegan nacho cheese was really impressive. I think I could sneak it by a non-vegan with no problems.

The question of the week last week was whether or not I should go vegan. That same night, I found three different vegan blogs with a plethora of amazing recipes right up my alley. I don’t like using a lot of processed foods and although i will use tofu and tempeh occasionally, I prefer to stick with grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables, nuts and spices…and almond and sometimes soy milk. I think that is what I like about vegan recipes - they are just so fresh. I mean - mashed potatoes and zuchini tacos - yummy! I will post some of the blogs I found in case you want to peruse them.

I think I am trying to lean as far vegan as I possibly can. We will see - I have a strange coming together of principles..maybe someday I will have the time and patience to delve into it here. For now, pics of the meals.

Really, I was bracing for this week - summoning all the patience I would need to quell the sibling issues that would bubble to the surface every five minutes. And what do I get today? An abundance of cute moments. Tyler had a friend over today to whom he was pretty antagonistic, so maybe he got it out of his system there. Who knows - but there were lots of fun camera moments today.

We start with a morning snuggle. These two climbed onto the couch and for a little while Tyler was “reading” his sister a book from Grandma. After a while they just sat there for a minute or two and snuggled and chilled out in the bright morning light.

Later, I was making pizza in the kitchen. The kids had been in there for a while with me. Tyler accidentally sprayed the cabinets with the water sprayer at the sink and I required that he wipe it up. I think after he finished, he decided he was outta of there and Quinn was right behind him. 5pm is crazy hour around here and the kids can go a little nuts if their energy isn’t well-guided…like today when Mama was tired and decided to let it ride!

I heard the belly-busting laughter and maniacal laughs behind the closed door of Tyler’s room and assumed that a hurricane was taking place destroying everything in its path. The peer pressure, or rather the “join in my merry-making dismantling”, is strong with these two..usually Quinn starts it. Anyway, I decided that I needed to go check it out and see just what they were up to. I open up the door to a dark room.

I see Tyler on top of the blanket chest at the lightswitch and Quinn at Tyler’s nightstand controlling the switch to his nightlight. They have a little “lights off, on” game going on and are cracking up at it. Quinn loves these on/off games and her laughter fuels Tyler. Yesterday they were in the bath upstairs and Tyler was just turning the jacuzzi part of the tub on and off and it was cracking Quinn up. Anyway, I was quite content with this game and so left them to it.

I hear things getting crazy again. I call Tyler out to see a dark cloud that I think might bring rain and tell him he can open the garage door if he likes. He then tells me, “I have something to discuss with Quinn, Mama” and returns to his room. Things were quiet for a long time, so again I am curious. I walk back to the room and the lights are on. I walk in and Tyler said, “We are doing a puzzle Mom, no worries.” Tyler had grabbed a small puzzle off a high shelf and he and Quinn were gathered around it. Of course, do notice in the picture the downed lamp and clothing hamper behind them.. :-p Even hurricanes need a rest at some point! :-p And eventually frustration at the puzzle resulted in its scattering and abandonment - but it was nice for the 10 minutes they were working on it.

Finally, I give you…dinner! Chris got home and I walk out telling him - “Guess what I made for dinner??” in a very proud voice and taking a big bow. Tyler walks up behind me and says in this “matter-of-fact, what is the big deal” voice - “it’s pizza.” Ah yes, BUT a pizza with a homemade crust! I sauted up a ton of veggies from our CSA in olive oil, used my favorite Muir Glen pizza sauce, coated with the rosemary, oregano, basil and finally Monteray Jack cheese (because the mozzarella accidentally got used yesterday). And WOW - it was awesome pizza. I love the Mont Jack on top and the crust was perfect! And thanks so much to my How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook - I didn’t realize a food processor could make dough so easily and quickly.

And that in a nutshell was the day. I am pooped as I often am on Thursdays. I have still been going to bed too late and I can feel its affects. Sadly Chris will be working late into the night tonight and will have to work this weekend too. Bleh! On a positive note , I am off to plan our vacation to Arkansas this autumn!

Writhing - that is what I have been doing lately. I am wanting out of my shell in a big way. Those vacations can’t come soon enough. So this 4th, I told Chris we should go see the fireworks Downtown. I even had a secret plan - the new Town Lake fountain park was wide open and right next to Auditorium Shores where the main action was taking place. I was thinking we could be out of my main crowd, but yet able to get a great view of the fireworks. The kids would have more room to run around and the fountains nearby. My friend Susan further simplified the adventure by suggesting we bike down there from their house instead of drive.

It couldn’t have worked out any better. The weather was breezy, mild and inviting - not at all hot. The park was much busier than I had ever seen it, but still in no way crowded blanket to blanket.

We had a fantastic picnic - gourmet grilled veggie sandwiches with pesto and fresh mozzarella (made my me!), Blueberry oat bars, a fresh locally-grown watermelon from our CSA, cherries, carrots, and tamari nuts. Not to mention fabulous Maine Root rootbeer and Real Ale beer. And we could even faintly hear the symphony playing in the distance.

When it came time for the fireworks, turns out we were front and center for the show. Tyler kept worrying they were going to fall on our heads! And wow, I forgot just how breathtaking fireworks can be!! The technology has come a long way from when we were kids. It was a good 20 minute show if not a longer and the kids were pretty enthralled. As Tyler described the next day, “They were going boom! boom! boom!”

The kids were a bit cranky getting to bed, but passed out fairly quickly. It was so worth it. I loved being out with all the people comfortably near the middle of the action! I felt so alive - it was really wonderful.

Our CSA Bounty This Week!

In a CSA, I basically pay for a “share” of the harvest and receive my share once a week. I also order a dozen fresh eggs every week. The total for this comes out to about $38/week. And every week I receive the most beautiful, locally grown, organically grown vegetables. I was concerned about joining a CSA because I am such a planner and I didn’t know how I would handle having to design my weekly menus based on what I received.

I am so glad I did it. I think for the first time in my life I am truly eating in season. You are somewhat forced to do so based on what you receive each week. This summer has been amazing! I have been trying so many new recipes and having a blast in the kitchen. Our meals and snacks are lighter, have great color washed in the hues of summer, and so fresh. It is has been so cool. Even with the kids snacks, I find us eating more carrots, cucumbers, grapes, bell peppers - a lot of fresh, crispy, cooling things. I don’t think I have had this much fun in the kitchen in a long time!!

I am over the moon. And I must give thanks to my new cookbook, Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. His recipes are simple and delicious. Also, you MUST check out an awesome blog, Frugal Foods - a Mom in one of my Mama’s group spends $225/month on groceries and blogs about how she does it while cooking these amazing, healthy foods. I have gotten some great recipes from her and have been able to cut my grocery bill utilizing some of her tips. And try the vegetarian sausages - they are amazing! We grilled them and I was really impressed - so was hubby!

Cooking is so fun these days….and so colorful! Summer cooking is such a blast!

Black Bean Croquettes with Yogurt and Salsa, Squash Skillet and a Spinach Salad with homemade oil and vinegar dressing - YUM!! Light and Delicious!

Those are two lines from the book A Good Day by Kevin Henkes which is a very simple book about 4 animals who are having hard moments and then things turn around. Today was like that. We had a terrible night with both kids - Quinn was up for more than an hour in pain from molars coming in and refused to take any ibuprofen and Tyler was up for about the same amount of time with growing pains which he has been having frequently - almost every night. Sunday night had been no better, so I would have thought today would be hard.

I tried to get the kids to go to the playground or out for a walk, but neither wanted to and Tyler wanted to stay home. So I opened the garage door which automatically sucks the kids out to the front yard. It is magical, I swear. I got a wild hair and went and grabbed my FIL’s miter saw. I started sawing some raw cedar I had and began making blocks. I made a wicked cool home/tunnel/bridge branch with some of the stock I had. I had been wanting to do this for a while, so I was really psyched and having a blast working with the wood.  The kids were quire content looking for bugs and weeding the garden.

We came in after a while and made muffins for lunch - Sweet Squash (actually sweet potato today) Corn Muffins. We had our favorite lunch which was comprised of those muffins, kidney beans, and blanched bok choy. Delicious, colorful and nutritious.

In the afternoon, we played at a park Tyler had requested and had a good friend join us. We got home and Daddy was already there. It just turned out to be a way better day than I could have imagined. So nice when that happens!

It is definitely spring! I have of course been busy with projects and haven’t had as much time to blog, so I will give you a photo montage of some of our spring activities and fun happenings! I will try and post more details on some of the fun projects soon!