A Little Deer

The perks of spring

  
 We have a fun time going to a 4-H farm thats about 20 minutes away from the house. Gabe was delighted to be able to "help" with the spring lambs. I just found out they are doing  week long summer camps this summer for his age group....something to think about.

 
 We have also been enjoying all the seriously delish asparagus that is in season. We eat it almost everyday. I even pureed some into baby food so Judah wasn't left out. I made a super simple frittata with chorizo and tender baby potatoes from this book. So far I have made 3 recipes and ALL of them have been stellar. I love you Jamie Oliver! Tonight it's his lamb kebabs, made with fresh local lamb from the farmer's market.

My kind of meditation

 So today as I was dropping Gabe off at preschool I got a surprise. Today is David's helping day. SURPRISE! Not really a surprise, just me messing up the dates. I guess we are helping day wasn't the 29th. SHIT. OK.

 The teachers are awesome so I dropped Gabe and ran to the grocery store for bananas (Gabe's favorite). Helping parents are in charge of snack too. I called David and told him what happened. This is how great he is....he left work and came in his suit to be helping parent. I would have stayed but having Judah on my hip while wrangling 4 year olds is kinda tough. I thought I could do it but he insisted he come anyway. So we shared the helping parent duty to the delight of Gabe, me the first 30 minutes, him the next 2 hours and them I relieved him 30 minutes before the end. I went grocery shopping while David was being my hero. We haven't done a big shop in weeks and we just redid our budget and planning our meals is vital to staying on track. It's just to hard to haul both kids along so I took full advantage of only having one along for the ride.

So after a hectic start, I fed the kids and put them down to nap. It was my time to meditate, Stephanie style. I started a homemade chicken stock, I boiled potatoes, I made four kinds of baby food, I planned out the rest of dinner. Being in the kitchen just chopping and blending away in peace is a glorious thing. It's also fun for me to "get stuff done". See my last post for details.

Happy Tuesday!

yummy stuff

I like to eat. I have a few favorite snacks I'm really into lately. I thought I'd do a little show and tell

Up first is Navitas Trail MIx. I guess you could pack it in your bag to have a snack on the trail but I prefer to have a few handfuls sitting on my porch in the sun while the boys sleep. It tastes so much better when you do that.

 

The lovely hannah introduced me to my next favorite treat. It makes a good snack or quick breakfast/lunch when kids need to eat large amounts of food upon waking and then sprint out the door to preschool (I don't who that could be). The Macro Greens Bar in the chocolate and cinnamon flavor. YUM!

OH and I wanted to tell you about another great blog, Happy Foody. Sara Janssen sound like a super fun girl and has a few other blogs you should check out here and here. I have been reading along for awhile and I just love hearing about their amazing lifestyle. SO inspiring!

We LOVE almond milk in this house. Good thing since I'm on a no-dairy diet because I'm nursing and it does not agree with my little bugaboo, Judah. Here is the recipe we used and it was soooooo yummy. We have been buying it in the super market for months now, but Hannah had mentioned how great homemade was. Why do I always forget homemade is always better? I'm going to use this recipe and sub almonds for hazelnuts next!

Homemade Vanilla Almond Milk
Cookbook: Living Cuisine: The Art and Spirit of Raw Foods
Renee Loux Underkoffler
Makes 4 cups.

“A sweet and delicious fresh milk with the elegant essence of vanilla”

1 cup soaked raw almonds (soaked 4-8 hours)
4 cups filtered water
Pinch of sun-dried sea salt
1 T non-alcohol vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean (optional)
3 T raw honey or maple syrup (or 3 soft dates, pitted)In a blender, at medium, then high speed, blend soaked almonds, water, and sea salt until smooth. Pour through a strainer (or use a nut bag) to separate pulp. Pour liquid back in the the blender and blend in vanilla extract and bean (if using) and sweetener until smooth.

 

***OH I forgot to say, we took the almond pulp and toasted it on super low in the oven for just under an hour. I hated to see it go to waste. I plan on runing it through the cuisinart to make almond four (A great gluten free alternative!)***

gearing up

I'm so excited for today!

My best friend Lilly is coming up from New York ( lucky girl lives in the east village)to hang out. I'm planning on some serious thrifting, good food and lots of laughing. I can't wait to take her to Seven Stars bakery where their scones are to die for and the pecan sticky are sent straight from heaven. I swear I sound like Meg Ryan in "When Harry met Sally" when I eat their amazing baked goods.

I'm also going to take her to the ginormouse Salvation Army and Savers as well as a few other places. I'm hoping to go out for drinks later tonight too( husband will be watching the pot-sticker)! Something I NEVER get to do anymore. Hooray for visiting friends!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Diary of a tea anemone

Seeing as it's the new year I thought I would broaden my horizons a bit in the tea dept. Spurred by Susie and her suggestions I ordered a stash of samples from SpecialTeas.

This tea was mighty tasty and though good on it's own I bet it would be great with sushi...it sort of tastes like those nori seaweed wrappers...in a good way!

p.s. click on the picture to see them close-up. How lovely is it when it's all puffed up like a chrysanthemum?