Chichen Marsala

Back off ladies, he's mine.

Here's what hubs made for dinner tonight:

My favorite dish. Hubs' Chicken Marsala was better than any restaurant version I have tasted.

And check it out, bitches, homemade pasta.

You could make a meal out of Hubs' pasta alone.

Elving

This is what we woke to last week. Pretty, no? 

Surely, if this can't get me into the holiday spirit, nothing can. 

Well, by the following weekend it was raining and gray. Blah.

I grew up in the northern part of Michigan. We had snow banks taller than the average man. Christmas just isn't the same without freshly fallen snow blanketing the houses. Picture a nice little town, houses covered with pristine snow, smoke puffing from the chimneys and lighted Christmas trees in every front window. Get how I might be a little blue if it's raining when it should be snowing?

This morning we had the slightest cover of snow on the roads and a dusting of white stuff was falling from the sky. We had the day together, with nothing planned but holiday prep.

I've been wanting to make bread bags that I saw on one of the many blogs I read. We have some people on our list whom we love dearly, but who have everything. I like to give gifts that will get used up and not clutter the recipients home. Fabric brad bags with a homemade loaf or two seem perfect to me.

I gathered my sewing equipment and set to work. My grandma was a seamstress extraordinaire. That woman could sew anything and everything. I wish I'd had the desire to sew while she was still living because I know I could have learned so much from her. She did show me the basic way around a sewing machine and with a little gap-filling by one of my sorority sisters, I can fumble through some basic sewing.

I miss my Grandma so much still and she's been gone over ten years.

Anyway, I put together my own amateur plan and sewed most of the morning.

Although the size is not quite right for the loaves we bake, I think they turned out pretty well. Grandma would be so proud of me!

I just love the bird fabric. Not sure why, exactly, I just couldn't leave the fabric store without it.

Here's how it looks with the tasty bread inside. How would someone not love a homemade loaf of old-fashioned white bread?

It's so cute in a basket with other breakfast fixings. The gift for the people who have everything. Yes, sparkling wine included. We're on holiday, duh.

While I was stitching away, Hubs was tackling his own Elf project.

Yes people, my man bakes.

And what of those two sweet girls we adore?

Here's what they worked on while Hubs and I were elving:

Ho Ho Ho

Fall at camp

Where did the time go?  I've had these pictures just waiting to be published since October and now it's December.

Oh well, here they are. I was so beautiful up there that weekend.

I love fall. The crunch of leaves underfoot and the crisp air make me happy.

Lovie's enthusiasm for the outdoors is awesome.

I also love hot chocolate to warm us up after a leaf romp!

"Look! A tree!"

They both napped, at the same time, in their own beds. I think this is a first.

I should be cleaning, but instead, I ate a cookie and drank tea. It was really nice.

Grrrr...wasted food.

I'm so annoyed with myself.

Last night, I made Sushi Bowls for dinner. I like these because the are healthy, vegetarian (read inexpensive) and tasty. Hubs says they are not at all like sushi, but he loves Spicy Tuna Rolls. He's right, they are nothing Spicy Tuna Rolls. However, I really love California Rolls and I think this dinner is close to the same flavor.

Anyway, the recipe calls for nori, crumbled. We had Trader Joe's Roasted Seaweed, so I just opened the package and took my kitchen scissors to it.

We're happily building our sushi bowls when Lovie takes the nori and dumps the remaining flakes on her plate...along with the DO NOT EAT packet, that has be scissored to shit. Holy crap! We all have the little silicon beads in our food. STOP EATING!!!

Bowls of delicious food wasted. Hubs said, "How did you not know that was in there?"

In my head, I said, "How do you back the blazer onto you son's car-in our driveway?"

Stuffed Wontons

I have a confession to make. While I really, really do want to feed my family healthy, made from scratch meals, I fall short of my goal often. One of my biggest weaknesses is those tasty stupid pre-packaged cheese tortellinis in the refrigerator case at the grocery store. Probably twice a month, when Hubs is working, I throw them into some chicken stock with veggies and make soup for dinner. It's so easy and it really does taste good, but I decided I can do better.

Tonight, I stuffed wonton wrappers with a mix similar to what Martha uses for her Wonton Soup.

I used ground pork, napa cabbage, green onions, ginger (oh, Martha-way too much ginger), garlic, finely grated carrot, soy sauce and sesame oil.

I filled the wonton wrappers and put them on a parchment lined, cookie sheet to freeze.

I'll just throw them in a freezer bag and they'll be ready for my next last-minute dinner throw-down.

I also made a few to fry and try. Ha!

Hubs and I dipped those golden babies in a quick sauce of sesame oil, sesame seeds and soy sauce. Thinly sliced green onion in there is great, too, but I skipped it this time. My sister-in-law is Asian and this awesome dipping sauce is a trick I learned from her.

The wontons were tasty, but I think next time I'll do a version of my sister-in-law's mondu dumplings instead.

Tricky Treat

I have been thinking a lot about traditions. The temp are cooling in Michigan and the brisk winds whisper to me: Thanksgiving, snow, Christmas...

I want so badly to create traditions and memories for my girls. Stuff they will look forward to each year and look back on when they are grown. I was feeling a little sad, like I had been letting them down-not giving them enough of what they deserve.

But the more I thought about it and started to make plans, I realized we already really do have traditions.  

Every Halloween we carve pumpkins. All of us together. Hubs even makes his son do it with us-we like to torture him every once in a while with mandatory Family Time.

Lovie is scooping in this picture, but mostly she just smacks the pumpkin over and over with her spoon.



Tootsie shoveled a handful of pumpkin guts into her mouth. It's a vegetable, right?



I carved the middle one. It's a bird.

Sister loves to stare into the pumpkin.

Here she is last year...staring. What the heck does she see in there?

Lovie was a cowgirl, because she LOVES Woody, Jessie and Bullseye

Tootsie was a fairy. What's cuter than babies in tights?

Lovie said, "Tricky Treat!"

Then she would run back to me and squeal, "Mommy! Look!"

My cowgirl with Jane and Lola-both Sleeping Beauty.

Best Effing Cake on the Planet

I'm not kidding. It may not be pretty, but oh momma, it is the most delicious cake I have ever eaten. Ever.

I found the recipe on one of my favorite blogger's page. Hers was a Plum Upside Down cake. I made it that way once, but then I had pears from my neighbor's tree to use up.

Dig’s Upside Down Cake

1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar 
2 pounds Italian plums, pitted and quartered   I used pears
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, separated
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk

Preheat the oven to 350°. 

Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter and pour it in a 9-inch cake pan. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly in the dish. Arrange the plum (or pear!) wedges in the dish in several concentric circles.

In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt. (I just put it all in my flour sifter and sift onto wax paper.)

In a medium bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat the remaining stick of butter with the granulated sugar until fluffy

Organic, Creamline AND from Grass-Fed Cows?

 Be still, my heart!

Beat in the egg yolks, 1 at a time, until incorporated, then beat in the vanilla. Beat in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with the milk.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold firm peaks. Using a rubber spatula, stir one-third of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it, then gently fold in the remaining whites. 

Spread the batter over the plums and bake for about 55 or until a butter knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes, then turn it out onto a plate. Cut the cake into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature. Try not to make a pig of yourself.

*I have made this cake several times and every single time I swear it is the best cake ever.

Hell-Bent

There were two very determined plants on my yard this year.

First was this guy. We moved into this house last spring and had so much to do, including gestate a human, I didn't have time or energy to put in a proper garden. I put a couple of big planters in the old sand box that was in the back yard for cherry tomatoes.
While the tomatoes were plentiful, my heart ached for a big garden. Hubs hooked me up this year with a badass garden plot, so I turned the little sandbox into an herb garden.
As soon as stuff started to sprout, I noticed a familiar little guy making an entrepreneurial start next to the oregano, so I let him go.
He thrived and I got several dozen little tomatoes from him.

The second was a creeper bush from my neighbor's yard. To Lovie's great delight, it spilled over and crept under the fence.

We had raspberries AND blackberries to enjoy every day for weeks. Lovie would pick and eat and pick and eat.
Poor neighbor, because her chickens stripped her side of the plants clean. I'm crossing my fingers that the plants spread enough to withstand the chicken abuse.

Tootsie spend so much time on my back this summer. It's hared to believe next summer she'll be running the yard with her sister instead. Lovie just had to have her baby on her back, too. She calls it her Pack-Pack.

This is the one I had when I was little for my Cabbage Patch Kid. I rejected her given name and called her Applejack.

Our Village

We are really lucky to have wonderful people in our family. 

People who love us and love our kids. Sometimes I forget how truly awesome that is.

Tromping through the woods with my brother. Lovie adores him.

My brother and I grew up many hours from our cousins, so I feel very lucky to have my nieces and nephew so close.

Oh, the love!