About a month ago Genevieve noticed the blender and asked me what it was for. I told her it was for making smoothies, because I couldn’t think of anything else right then even though I have never made them before. Since then she’s asked a few times if we can make them, and yesterday we finally did.

After consulting foodgawker and becoming hopelessly overwhelmed by all the smoothie recipes, and then wondering why I can’t manage to make such a simple drink I texted my friend Alaina, who loves cooking as much as I do. She broke it down in simple terms: fruit and a bit of liquid or ice, throw in blender, blend. So easy!

I used canned fruit, because none of the fresh at the grocery store looked delicious at all. I can of peaches, half a can of pineapple and a bit of orange juice. They were delicious, and now I have dreams of making a variety of fruit smoothies to go with breakfast each morning…

Genevieve making smoothies

in the blender

make smoothies today!

The food was fantastic as usual. Some sort of lentil sloppy joes, a spicy tomato-chipolte sauce and baked macaroni and cheese. Dessert was spice cake and pie (I especially enjoyed the pecan apple and NEED to learn how to make it!).

It was a really great night with family and friends!

Ve & Isaac discussing decorating options

All of us have been a bit sick the past few days. Me and Brian have colds, and Ve has yet another ear infection. It also finally cooled down, today was a perfectly crisp fall day in Chicago. Because of all that I was in the mood for some rich comfort food.

I used this Martha Stewart recipe and it was perfect. Fairly easy and all the flavors were just right. I used a mix of olive oil and butter (I tend to burn just butter), I left out the potatoes and peas, because we don’t have any, and added a few cloves of garlic. I also only had the little puff pastry shells, so I baked those separately and spooned the pot pie over them, so it was actually more like a stew, and would have been just as good with biscuits instead of puff pastry. I strongly recommend making your own chicken stock. It’s easy to do, far more flavorful than store-bought, and I feel good about using all of the animal.

Brian liked it so much he asked me to make a similar gravy next time we have mashed potatoes (I’m sure this is because the home made stock is so much tastier), but unfortunately Ve didn’t eat any. She’s recently decided to become a picky eater and it’s driving me crazy. I made her baby food, and as soon as she was on solids made sure that she ate a variety of foods, plenty of fruits and veggies and food from different cultures. I thought it was a fool-proof plan to raise a good eater and I was wrong. Most days she’ll announce that she now doesn’t like some new item that she’s always eaten without a problem. Yesterday it was bananas and today it was chicken. I never force her to eat anything, but the rule is that if she doesn’t eat dinner then she doesn’t get a snack later, and she always breaks down and ends up eating (although I’m sure that later she will ask for some cake and try to convince me that that is a proper meal!).

delicious!

I’ve thought about it and I think it’s because it’s a balcony garden, in containers. I just don’t enjoy it the same way I do digging around in the dirt. I’ll happily weed and water if I have a nice size plot of earth, but it’s just not the same doing it out of pots from the 3rd floor. I’m not giving up on gardening, I just wish there was a community garden or some sort of space available for me locally.

the start of this year's garden, in May

my lone tomato, in July!

ewww! ditch the box!!!

About a year ago I decided to learn how to make my own. I’ll eat any kind of pasta, I like cheese, so I wanted to be able to enjoy macaroni and cheese. My first time making it everything was perfect, I finally understood the appeal! Unfortunately, I lost that recipe and subsequent attempts were only so-so, until today.

I viewed several recipes and combined parts of them to come up with this one. It’s rich and creamy without being too much, it was perfect for me. If you’ve never made roux before don’t be intimidated, it requires attention but is not difficult and is necessary to achieve creaminess and evenly distribute the flavor. I’m really happy I used some chicken stock instead of all milk this time, I think that’s what kept this from being too thick. This recipe is very versatile, you can leave out the meat or use bacon or chicken, switch the spinach to broccoli and use whatever kind of cheeses you like. It probably took me close to an hour to prepare, so this is not a dish for a quick work-night meal.

i forgot to take photos until it was on my plate, ready to be eaten!

1 package rotini (I tried tri-color veggie ones and will use them again)
ground beef (as much as you like, use 1/4 lb for just a bit of meat and go up from there)
salt & pepper
garlic powder
oregano
frozen chopped spinach (defrosted and with the water squeezed out, use fresh if you’d like)
3 Tablespoon butter (I prefer unsalted)
1 shallot, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup flour
1 cup chicken stock
2 cups whole milk
8 oz package of fresh mozzarella
1 cup cheddar
1/4 cup parmesan
1 cup breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 375

Boil water for the rotini, cook till al dente, drain

Brown the ground beef, I added salt, pepper, garlic powder and oregano (a pinch or so of each) for additional flavor

To make the roux:

Melt the butter in a large skillet, add the flour, cook and whisk
Add the shallot and garlic, cook for a few minutes until softened
Add the chicken stock and milk, whisking often
Turn up the heat, let boil or almost boil until it thickens
Add the mozzarella and cheddar and keep whisking until they melt

Mix the beef, spinach, rotini and sauce together, pour into a casserole dish (I’m lazy and did this in the casserole dish), top with the parmesan and breadcrumbs

Bake for 15-20 minutes

I wish I was here!

Wow, I can’t believe I haven’t been writing in all these long months! Well, actually I can because it’s been in the back of my mind that I need to, but I’ve been doing other stuff instead. I’m just going to accept that I am a sporadic blogger and try not to make myself feel too bad about it, while renewing my effort (again) to keep this thing up.

Veve’s Handmade has now been around for a year and a half! It seems like the time has went by so quickly. I’m still running my company and making soap, but this year I’m not doing any farmer’s markets and have cut back on festivals and fairs. I’ve been focusing on my online shop, which is right here and on stocking my brick & mortar locations. Veve’s in 3 stores now, Homebody Boutique, Ella’s on Drake and Young Blood Gallery & Boutique. I’m so happy to be carried in each of these stores, it’s just so exciting for strangers to be able to walk into a shop and buy my products. I’m especially grateful for Kate at Homebody. That was my first store and Kate has been a constant Veve’s supporter and I consider her a friend (that I haven’t gotten to actually meet yet!).

I’ve been spending time reflecting on business so far, figuring out if I should expand and what has worked for me so far and what hasn’t. There have been so many times I’ve wanted to quit this because of the endless amounts of work and hard choices, but I don’t see that as real option for me. I love this, and I’m so proud of myself for all that I’ve put into it. I did an event at the end of April and several people came up to me and told me they were happy I’m there because they love my products and had been wanting to buy some again. Moments like that make it all worth it.

Here’s some pictures of what me & Veve have been up to the past few months:

the princess doing magic

Miss Ve & me

my sister Ashley & me

me, being ultra-cool in Nashville

my cousin Lynn & me, before seeing Lady Gaga in Nashville

the view from the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building

Ve gardening

Her first carnival! She loved it!

She's so pretty!

Swimming in the baby pool!

This visit we decided to eat at Xoco. It’s a Rick Bayless restaurant that features tortas (sandwiches) and caldos (meals in a bowl) and fresh churros. It’s fantastic! I’ve been to one of his other restaurants, Frontera, before and it was amazing too. I think the greatness of Xoco is that the menu isn’t huge, but everything is made with the finest ingredients and perfectly prepared.

We had to wait for a table for about 30 minutes, but it wasn’t bad because it was right around 6pm and it took us about that long to decide what to order anyway. We started with the salsa and guacamole, and all agreed it was the best any of us have had. I ordered a caldo, the carnitas. It’s slow-cooked pork, potato dumplings and veggies in a broth. It’s true that it’s a meal in a bowl, it was hearty and delicious! Ann and her boyfriend Josh ordered tortas, the gunthorp chicken and the pepito. They both loved them, and I tried bites and loved them too!

For dessert we had a tiny coconut and lime tres leches cake, and churros with chocolate sauce. The tres leches was very good and the churros were the best I’ve ever had. They are amazing on their own, but it’s the rich chocolate sauce that makes them exceptional. It’s thick, and a bit creamy, and packed with flavor.

It’s hard to describe how we felt when we left the restaurant. We all felt very happy and satisfied with the meal, food-drugged in a good way! It was a great meal and a great experience.

salsa and guacamole with fresh chips

a hearty torta

my carnitas caldo

i ate the whole bowl!

tres leches

fresh churros ♥ ♥ ♥

the best part: chocolate sauce

I really wanted to try the breakfast tortas, so a few weeks later me and Ve went. We split the chorizo and egg torta and churros. She had had a classic hot chocolate and I had a latte. It was as amazing as last time! We got there right before 10am, which is when they stop serving breakfast, so it wasn’t crowded at all. Throughout the meal Ve couldn’t stop talking about how good the food is!

churros for breakfast!

chorizo and egg torta with salsa verde

Ve had been asking me for a few weeks to take her ice skating (I think she was inspired by D.W. on Arthur!). It’s been a few years since I went and it’s always fun, so I decided to take her to the rink at Millennium Park. She was excited about it up until she had to walk in her skates, then the day turned into a disaster. She kept complaining about not being able to walk and wanted me to carry her, which I really couldn’t do in my skates. I was hoping that once we got on the ice it would get better, but she really hated it. She kept saying, “I can’t”, and I kept telling her that it’s hard but if she practices it will get easier. I tried holding one of her hands and having her hold the rail, and holding both of her hands, neither worked. For a few brief moments she stopped being scared and was able to take little skate steps, but then she remembered that she hated it and promptly fell down. We didn’t even make it a quarter of the way around the rink!

I wanted to take her again so she wouldn’t have a bad association with ice-skating, but she doesn’t want to go. I don’t want to force her to do anything, but I also want her to know that to get good at anything you have to practice. So, maybe next year?

ve's first time on skates!

For the past few years I’ve been trying to make all my own home cleaning products. There are a few I haven’t been able to master, toilet bowl cleaner and dishwasher liquid. I have been waiting for my furniture polish to run out and it’s taken this long! It’s true that I don’t polish it all that often though…

I tried this one from Better Basics for the Home and it was fantastic! All of the milk splatters and other gross stuff that Ve has gotten on the tables came right off. It left the wood shiny and clean, and was easy to make and use.

Here’s the recipe:

1/4 cup vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
a few drops oil (I used olive, about a Tablespoon)
Optional ~ a few drops essential oil (I used sage, because I like the smell and it’s naturally anti-bacterial)

Just mix all the ingredients together and apply with a clean, soft cloth. You may have to do a second wipe with a dry cloth. Since it doesn’t contain much oil it doesn’t leave a greasy residue and actually seemed to protect the wood.

This is now my go-to recipe for wood cleansing. It’s cheap and natural and works great, so I see no reason to pay money for an inferior product. Try it out!