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Aug

2010

Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted by amanda | Comment (1)

Category : cooking

The other day Ve woke up asking for cookies. After a couple hours I finally decided we could make some. The girl really loves her sweets.

I went through my bookmarked recipes, thinking about trying something new, one of the recipes that I saved ages ago but haven’t got around to making yet. Instead I went with these cookies. Last year I was obsessed with them and probably made them a dozen times. Plus, I froze so much pumpkin last year I still had 2 bags left that I needed to use since fresh pumpkin will be available soon.

These cookies are delicious. I use chocolate chips in place of the pecans and skip the glaze altogether (there’s nothing wrong with them that way, I just prefer them my way). They are thick, kind of like little cakes. I actually call them cakies.

ve loves baking

ready to be mixed

then we ate some cookie dough

then we ate more cookie dough...

cakies!

Aug

2010

The Morton Arboretum

Posted by amanda | Comments (0)

Category : fun

I’m so tired, today was a loooong day! We woke up this morning, got ready to go and headed straight out to pick up Jen and head to the Morton Arboretum. I’ve wanted to go there for so long and I’m so happy that today I finally did. It’s so beautiful and there is so much to see, if you like nature, and I do. Plus, it was free. I got a museum adventure pass that was good for 2 admissions.

my big girl with her backpack

First we went to the children’s garden, which is 1400 acres, and saw as much as we could before all the screaming kids got to us (don’t let that deter you, it was great!). Ve ran away from me twice, once in the maze and terrified me, so I had to yell at her in public. I’m waiting for the day to come that she understands danger! I had a stroller for her, but I think keeping her strapped in takes away part of the experience for her, and I wanted her to have a good time.

in the path walking into the children's garden

such a pretty tree!

a shiny ball!

ve playing in the mini cabin

the children's lily pond

this picture was an accident, but i think it looks really cool

marshy

she was so excited to climb the rocks!

in the secret grotto

entrance to the maze

ve's sad after she was in trouble

Then we headed to the west side of the park to see a really old oak tree and a lake, both were incredibly beautiful. It was hard with the little though, her legs are too short to do much hiking and she’s easily distracted by everything. I plan to go back in the fall without Ve and without bugs to explore that part of the park more. We still got to see a lot though!

they were learning stuff

lake marmo

lake marmo, again

the old, old oak

they keep all the witch hazel under lockdown

so many butterflies in the 4 seasons garden!

in the wild garden

i love this tree!

jen and a breathtaking weeping willow

We ate a lovely meal: Jen had a sweet yogurt parfait and me and Ve split an asian chicken sandwich with pasta salad that contained some of the best fresh mozzarella I’ve ever had. Jen struck up a conversation with one of the membership desk workers who started telling us about the lore of the place. Apparently Joy Morton was named from his mother’s maiden name, which was tradition, and the Joy Path is so named because he would have his driver drop him off a ways away from his house and he would walk that way home to decompress from his day before seeing his family. I would have loved to hear more, but I knew that Ve was moments away from a meltdown, which means I was moments away from a meltdown, and it was time to go home.

Aug

2010

How to Freeze Broccoli

Posted by amanda | Comments (2)

Category : cooking, diy, recipes

Tags: preserving

Last summer I started learning preserving. I wanted to be able to eat locally all year, avoid preservatives in food and save money. I did a great job of it, we had a wide variety of jams to enjoy through the winter and plenty of veggies frozen. This year I’m behind, I didn’t put up any asparagus or rhubarb, and I know I’ll be kicking myself for not having any on-hand when I feel like eating some. I did make 10 jars of strawberry jam with honey, which will taste incredible on toast or stirred into oatmeal on cold winter mornings. I’ve also already made and frozen 6 bags of marinara sauce which isn’t nearly enough, but there is time left on fresh tomatoes. This week I realized that summer is coming to an end and if I want to eat well this winter it’s time to step up the preserving before it’s too late, so I bought just under 6 lbs of broccoli at the market yesterday for $6, and a few bunches of parsley to dry for $1.50.

I would recommend preserving food to anyone. It’s not always easy and it does take time but it’s worth it to have a freezer and cabinet stocked with food that hasn’t travelled 3000 miles to get to your door. Plus, having a selection on hand prevents unnecessary trips to the grocery store and you never end up eating tasteless, out of season produce. Check out The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving and The Busy Person’s Guide to Preserving Food for instructions and recipes.

My simple method of freezing broccoli is adapted from the Busy Person’s Guide, and is a great place to start for beginning preservers.

Remove any leaves from broccoli, wash and chop
Blanch in boiling water for 3 minutes
Remove and quickly cool, using ice or under running water
Let dry and put as much as you typically use at once in freezer safe bags

blanched broccoli, drying

my strawberry jam

Aug

2010

Container Gardening ~ Week 11

Posted by amanda | Comments (0)

Category : gardening

Tags: container gardening

I haven’t been writing about my container garden because I haven’t been working on it much. It’s not in the best shape and I’m embarrassed about that, and I feel guilty. I didn’t expand as I wanted to, I skipped waterings on hot days and I ended up with not much of a harvest at all.

The good news is that I’ve gotten a few tiny tomatoes and enough sage and rosemary to dry for the winter. I transplanted most of the tomatoes too late and they now don’t have enough time to grow big and delicious. My roma’s are green but I haven’t had any red ones, I’m still hoping, or I will just fry them green or let them sit on the counter until they eventually ripen. All of the tomatoes have stem primordia and I never bothered to try to fix them. If I’m in an apartment next year I may use big pots instead of the hanging containers, even though that doesn’t look nearly as cool. Honestly, I’m not sure if it was so much of the containers or that I was more focused on work, my daughter and doing fun stuff that doesn’t involve chores. This experiment was unscientific and did not turn out as well as I hoped. So, it’s a loss but I’m okay with it, kind of.

no tomatoes! at least the basil is fine...

green romas

the few I've gotten are delicious!

poor calendula

my falling in love poppy is heartbroken

my evening primrose at least looks okay!

Aug

2010

Coconut Shrimp

Posted by amanda | Comments (0)

Category : cooking, recipes

Tags: recipes, seafood

A few months ago my cousin Lynn made coconut shrimp and raved about how delicious it was, so of course I wanted to try it too. I’m a seafood lover, but have never made shrimp before so I decided that today would finally be the day. It was quicker and easier than I expected, and it was good! Ve had seconds and said, “The food is nummy, Mama”. Okay, she says that about almost every meal I cook but it never gets old!

This is the shrimp recipe, and I served it with another variation of rice and quinoa.

Rice and Quinoa

1/2 cup brown rice
1/2 cup quinoa
1 3/4 cup chicken stock
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Put all of the above in a rice cooker for 25 minutes, then add
salt, to taste
1 Tbl peanut oil
2 Tbl green onion, chopped
1 Tbl fresh or dried lemon balm
2 Tbl crushed coconut cashews

the food is nummy

coconut shrimp

Aug

2010

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Posted by amanda | Comments (0)

Category : cooking, recipes

Tags: cupcakes, fresh cooking, recipes

I am looking forward to fall. Everyday I look in my closet and dream about sweaters and boots. I want to go outside and feel a cool breeze on my skin. Instead every day I go outside to air so thick that it’s hard to move, and I’m tired of it. This summer is starting to drag.

I feel bad even saying that, I love the sun and I love the heat. This year there has just been an overabundance of it. I’m probably going to regret it, in January when I can no longer remember how glorious it is to walk around bare-limbed, but I’m ready for fall.

In anticipation of cooler weather, this week a made a yummy chili/jambalaya hybrid dish (I intended to post the recipe but kept throwing stuff in there and lost track!), and pumpkin cupcakes. I feel that pumpkin is totally underrated. It smells and tastes great, and fresh pumpkin really isn’t hard to prepare, and is easily freezable.

These cupcakes are good! They are a bit mushy (they really do resemble the texture of pie), but the proportions are perfect. Just enough pumpkin, just enough sweetness. Ve ate 2 and really wanted another, but I couldn’t let her (or myself) eat that many in one day!

raw batter should be a food group

a perfect cupcake

ve's tiny fingers going for another

Aug

2010

Lollapalooza

Posted by amanda | Comments (0)

Category : special events

Tags: adventures, lallapalooza

When the warm weather started I planned to have adventures this summer. Nothing too thrilling, just to take advantage of the outdoor activities Chicago offers in the summer, museums and just being out and about. Oh, and to hopefully leave town at least once, for a few days. Ve is old enough this year to enjoy things and (hopefully) be on good behavior in public. It’s August already and we still haven’t done much. We’ve swam often, went to the park, went to the beach once, but I haven’t gotten in nearly all the things that I wanted to do. I’m blaming the oppressive heat. And work.

Some of my friends were going to Lollapalooza on Sunday, and at the last minute I decided to go too. I haven’t seen live music in a long time, and sometimes I really miss doing the things that I used to do before I became a mom. I’m not one of those people that gave up everything to just be a mom, but it’s true that I don’t get out nearly as much as I was able to before Ve came along. I love being her mom, but I also love taking time away from her to do my own thing.

I’m so glad I went, it was a great time! It was hot and crowded, but there is something amazing about large groups of people coming together for a purpose, even if the purpose is to listen to music and mill about in a large group of people. Grant Park is a great place to see a show at. It’s downtown Chicago, so you can see the skyline from inside the park, which just adds to the special atmosphere.

The music was great, all day. I didn’t sit and watch that many entire performances, mainly because it was hard to sit directly in the sun for a long time. We walked around and tried to hear almost everyone, and took lots of breaks in the shade. I had been looking forward to MGMT, but thought their performance was lackluster. We listened to some of Flosstradamus on the DJ stage and they were great, I wanted to dance but it was too hot. The Arcade Fire was amazing, they sounded great and brought enough energy to the show to send it out into the crowd. I always wonder how some performers can do that, what it is about them that enables them to get up there in front of so many people and really put it out there. It’s a beautiful thing.

I had so much fun, and hopefully I will be inspired to get in some more fun stuff before the nice weather ends!