Saturday, February 28, 2009

Produce:
nectarines
lettuce
cilantro
bananas
mushrooms
white onions
grape tomatoes
cucumbers

Meals:
pasta with roasted veggies and salad (x2)
beef stew (from freezer)
chicken fried rice (x2)
tacos with cilantro black bean salsa

Friday we are setting off to visit Amos's family in Ohio, so we don't need a lot of meals.  To use up the cucumbers before we leave, I think I will make cucumber sandwiches for lunch one day.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

The warm weather has officially started -- we are all wearing our summer clothes and sweating in the humidity, and it is not even March yet!  Having lived in New England for most of my life, I don't think I will ever get used to this!


It does have its benefits, though.  Yesterday on the way to Ash Wednesday mass, we saw a cherry tree in bloom, and the daffodils, those cheery harbingers of Spring, have been out for a couple of weeks already.



 image by fleecetraveler from flickr

Today has been a slow day.  After caring for a sick husband for the past week and having two nights in a row with very little sleep and no nap, I have not been up to much beyond the basics and playing with Daniel.  I did manage to get some bread together, continuing my flirtation with rye flour.  This batch is made from my fall-back bread recipe with the substitution of 1/2 cup rye flour for some of the white/wheat.  We shall see how it comes out -- it certainly smells wonderful, and it hasn't even started baking yet!

Daniel is, as always (ok, usually), a delight.  His uneaven bottom front teeth give him the most adorable lopsided smile, and he is enjoying the range of sounds he can now make.  This afternoon we had a little conversation.  He would make a sound and I would echo it back to him, back and forth for about ten minutes.  He can also move with astonishing speed around the living room, and has developed an interest in venturing down the hall!  I have to keep a close eye on him even more than ever!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Something pleasant before I go to bed:





Meal Plans

Produce:
yellow peppers
cameo apples
oranges
eggplant
sweet potatoes
bananas

Meals:
lentil soup (from the freezer)
beef stew (ditto)
pasta with steamed veggies
chicken soup (x2)
pork roast with roasted sweet potatoes and greens (whatever is on sale)

I also want to bake banana bread with some over ripe bananas from last week and (if things calm down around here) make a Moosewood apple crisp with the cameos which requires orange juice which I will squeeze fresh (we really have a lot of oranges).

I am glad that I have so many things stashed away in the freezer for this week, since between Amos's sickness and Daniel's troubles I really have my hands full.  We also have to make a trip into down town to get a copy of Daniel's birth certificate to take to the airport on our trip to Ohio next month, and my husband has a paper due (he is not going to get it in tomorrow, but hopefully before the end of the week he will be up to writing again), and I have not done the food shop for the week.

We have been praying that God will help us to rely on him more and not be anxious, and he is certainly testing us this week.  I guess that is the danger when you ask God to help improve your character -- he gives you what you ask for!

I am working on a post about Lent, but that will have to wait for another day! 
Last week my best friend from college (the maid of honor in my wedding) came to stay with us.  We had a great time, playing with the baby and going out to lunch and talking to all hours of the night.
She left on Saturday and now I am struggling to get back into my household routines.  This process is complicated by the fact that my poor husband has been ill with a fever, head ache, and intermittent stomach pain since Friday, and last night Daniel started having trouble eating and sleeping.  He has scarcely nursed all day, and has only napped for 10 minutes since 7 am after an interrupted night of sleep.  He does not have a temperature, fortunately, so I am hoping he does not have the same virus as his father.
I have managed to make some progress today, tidying and airing out the bedroom (which had the musty feeling of a sick room) and evicting my husband from the bed long enough to straighten the sheets and fix up the pillows, baking bread (rye whole wheat, which is the new favorite around here), and doing some laundry.
I am going to try to feed Daniel again, and then set to work disinfecting the door knobs and light switches, and making my shopping list for the week.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Produce:
red peppers
green leaf lettuce
apples
bosc pears
broccoli

Meals:
chicken fried rice
potato and egg pie with roasted asparagus (on sale at Sprouts!)
pasta primavera
corn chowder and salad
sausage with sauted peppers and onions
tacos

Today I baked two loaves of bread, one for us and another to give (along with some of the corn chowder and a salad) to some neighbors who recently had a little girl.  I will hopefully have time tomorrow afternoon to bake some lemon squares for them as well.

This weekend my husband and I are going to go out on our first real date since August.  Some other neighbors offered (completely out of the blue) to watch Daniel for the evening so we could go out to celebrate Valentines Day.  We have never been much into Valentines Day (with the notable exception of the year that Amos plotted from Rome to have a friend in New Hampshire give me a dozen roses on his behalf) but free baby sitting is free baby sitting!  I am a little nervous to be leaving the little fellow, since he is exclusively breast fed and has never even tried a bottle, but I think it will be ok.  He has been going to sleep at between 7 and 7:30 and having his first waking between 10 and midnight, so we are going to have an early dinner at home and then go out for dessert.  I am really excited for a chance to dress up without having to think of the logistics of breastfeeding!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Today I did a lot of much-needed cleaning in the kitchen. I took the stove burners apart and cleaned under the range, and completely cleared and wiped down the counters. One would think that it would be easy to keep a kitchen as tiny as mine spotlessly clean, but there are just a lot of little nooks and crannies for the dirt to hide in -- and they are sometimes very hard to reach!!! (For example, there is no physical way that I can reach the back of the corner cupboard, and sometimes have to use a long spoon or other utensil to fish out a blender cover or such thing that has fallen out of reach...)

I had prepared a tomato sauce yesterday, and I used a good portion of it this evening for pizza. I make my own crust, from my mother's excellent recipe, and top it with fresh, wholesome things. Tonight it was summer squash, artichoke hearts, and feta cheese.

We invited one of my husband's friends to share it with us, and had a very nice evening.

I really enjoy being able to open our home to our friends, and especially when I have made a dinner that I am proud of. Cooking is both a creative outlet for me and a way of showing love.

Mom's Pizza Crust:

1 cup warm water
1 1/2 tsp. dry active yeast
a splash of olive oil
a dash of salt
2 1/2-3 cups all-purpose flour

 
image by César Astudillo

Mix the water and yeast in the bowl of a mixer and let sit for five minutes.

Add 1 cup flour and begin mixing. While mixture is still soupy, add oil and salt.

Gradually add the rest of the flour until the dough is formed (when it firms up, switch to a dough hook attachment).

Finish kneading by hand and put the ball of dough in an oiled bowl (covered with a clean towel) to rise.

When doubled in size, fold in the four corners of the dough into the middle and let rise again.

Roll out on a large cookie sheet sprinkled with corn meal, and assemble your pizza!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Candlemas

This year I have been working on incorporating more devotions into our lives. I want my son to grow up immersed in the rhythms of the liturgical year, to have access to the rich grace of the Church's celebration of the Saints and Martyrs and the events of our Lord's life. He is too young now to know what is going on, but if my husband and I have a habit of a liturgically and prayerfully centered life, it will be natural to him as he grows to understand.
Today we have been celebrating Candlemas, the presentation of Jesus in the Temple. I have been dealing with pretty bad allergies, so we didn't do anything fancy, but I made a Mediterranean feast for dinner (hummus and tabouleh and balsamic roasted eggplant with pitas and wine) and set the table with a cloth, cloth napkins, and, of course, lots of candles. Later we are going to read the story of the Presentation from the Bible then pray a rosary.
Next year I hope to do more. It is a tradition to have bee's wax candles blessed during mass and then light them at home.