Happy (belated) Halloween

Halloween was a bit more of a festival occasion for Freddy this year compared to last.  Grammy made him an adorable clown costume (although a wig and red nose were just not happening this year).  Everyone asked if I made it and I just laughed. ;)  Maybe one day. Anyway, we extended Halloween a bit.  I guess that's what happens when you have a toddler, right?  Halloween parties everywhere?  He got to wear his costume (which he loved) to a "Night at the Garden" at the local community garden, to daycare where they trick-or-treated around the different rooms in Narda's house, to Music Class, and to his birthday party Halloween night.  We had a 3-way party for Freddy and two of his buddies who also have late October birthdays.

Night at the Garden didn't go so well - it might have been a little too spooky for him at this age:

But trick-or-treating - even in the dark - went over well, probably because there was candy involved. :)

Birthday photos to come next, I promise!

New Recipe and More Fall

Last Saturday, Freddy helped me carve one of our 3 pumpkins.  He was amazed to see the seeds inside, and after we took out all the guts, he wanted to put the seeds back in the pumpkin.  I guess I should just be happy he didn't want to use the carving knife.  He loved seeing the pumpkin all lit up, and also eating the roasted, salted seeds!  I always expect pumpkins to provide tons and tons of seeds, but we ate them all in a day or two.   Oh, and - that is actually my stomach.

I've been trying to be more organized about my meal planning lately, both with the goal of cleaning out the pantry/freezer of things that traveled from Salt Lake to Baltimore and back again - a year ago (like that huge bag of red lentils).  So while this is far from a food blog - no photos and not very regular - I may post the occasional not-too-tricky recipe for your cooking enjoyment.  Well, for those of you who cook, at least.  I made this one last night, and Billy and I both thought it was REALLY good.  It does involve buying almond butter, which I like anyway on PB&Js and toast.  You could PROBABLY use peanut butter, but I'm not sure how it would taste.

By the way, it seems weird to use fettucini here, doesn't it?  But it works...although I think you could sub in rice, rice noodles, or any asian noodles (udon, etc.). This says it feeds 4, but I would say 2-3 based on how much we ate. :)

Noodles with Roast Pork and Almond Sauce
Yield:  4 servings (serving size: about 1 1/2 cups)
. 1/2  teaspoon  canola or veg oil
. 1/2  pound  pork tenderloin, trimmed
. 1/2  teaspoon  salt, divided
. 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
. 8  ounces  uncooked fettuccine
. 1/4  cup  almond butter
. 2 1/2  tablespoons  low-sodium soy sauce
. 2  tablespoons  rice vinegar
. 1  tablespoon  minced peeled fresh ginger
. 1 1/2  teaspoons  chili garlic sauce
. 1  cup  thinly sliced green onions
. 1/3  cup  finely chopped fresh mint
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Drizzle oil in an ovenproof skillet. [we just used a pyrex] Sprinkle pork with 1/8 teaspoon salt and pepper; place pork in pan. Bake at 425° for 10 minutes. Turn pork over, and bake an additional 10 minutes or until a thermometer registers 155°. Place pork on a cutting board; let stand 10 minutes. Shred pork into small pieces. [if you can't shred it reasonably easily w/2 forks, maybe cook a little longer - but don't overcook!]
3. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain pasta in a colander over a bowl, reserving 2 tablespoons pasta water; keep pasta warm.
4. Combine almond butter, 2 tablespoons pasta water, remaining salt, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, and chili garlic sauce. [note: the pasta water is critical for making the sauce liquid-y enough to coat everything. if you forget and toss your pasta water, try just using 2T of really hot water] 
Divide pasta evenly among 4 bowls; top evenly with sauce, pork, onions, and mint.

Easter Fun

Well, Easter has come and gone...quickly. I scrambled last night to make Freddy an Easter basket after I felt guilty that he didn't have one. Not like he would have known if he hadn't, but I came up with a pretty terrible creation of construction paper, pom poms, ribbon, and a yogurt container, and I guess he didn't know what he was missing. The good thing was that it was really small, so didn't have much room for a lot of candy. He had his first taste of Peeps, which he didn't much care for, and could have eaten jelly beans all day long.

Then I settled down to do our taxes (ugh) and Bill got Freddy out of my hair by taking him skiing. Now, if you ask Freddy if he had fun skiing with Daddy, he just says "FAST!" Uh-oh.

We had a really nice dinner with two other couples. I made a ham (and it was GOOD), scalloped potatoes, and asparagus with a yummy walnut puree. The scalloped potatoes were "light", and although they weren't nearly as pretty as Gram's, I'm going to share the recipe because I'm sure the regular ones are really, really bad for you and these made me feel less guilty. It's hard to keep the potatoes in nice slices - especially the sweet potatoes, which fall apart pretty quickly. I think you could skip the fennel bulb altogether. I only added about 1/2 of it. Hardly noticed it and didn't miss it:

Lighter Scalloped Potatoes with Sweet Potato, Fennel, and Leek

Serves 8.

The quickest way to slice the potatoes is in a food processor fitted with a 1/8-inch-thick slicing blade. Halve the potatoes crosswise and put them in the feed tube cut-side down so that they sit flat on the surface of the slicing disk. A mandoline or V-slicer is the other option. Don't try to slice the potatoes with a knife; you won't get them thin enough. It is best to assemble all of your ingredients before slicing the potatoes. If the potato slices discolor as they stand, put them in a bowl and cover with the milk in the recipe. Don't be tempted to slice the potatoes and store them in water—this will remove some of the starch that is necessary to thicken the milk.

Ingredients

1	medium leek , white part only, sliced 1/8 inch thick
1	teaspoon vegetable oil
1/2	teaspoon table salt
1	medium garlic clove , minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)
1	teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
1/4	teaspoon fennel seeds , crushed
1/4	teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2	pounds russet potatoes , peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
1	pound sweet potatoes , peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
1	small bulb fennel (8 ounces), cored and sliced 1/8 inch thick
2	cups 2% milk
2	bay leaves
2	teaspoons cornstarch
1	tablespoon water
3	tablespoons light cream cheese
2	ounces grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 cup)

Instructions

1. 1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees.

2. 2. Combine the leek, oil, and salt in a Dutch oven. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, thyme, fennel seeds, and pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

3. 3. Add the potatoes, fennel, milk, and bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until partially tender, and a fork can be slipped into a potato slice with some resistance, about 10 minutes. Discard the bay leaves. Whisk the cornstarch and water together, then add to the pot and bring to a simmer. Off the heat, stir in the cream cheese and 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan, being careful not to break up the potatoes.

4. 4. Transfer the mixture to an 8-inch-square baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake until the potatoes are completely tender, a fork can be slipped into the center of the dish without resistance, and the top is golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

5. PER SERVING: Cal 210; Fat 5 g; Sat fat 2.5 g; Chol 15 mg; Carb 35 g; Protein 8 g; Fiber 3 g; Sodium 340 mg

Belated Valentine's Day

Since Feb 14th has become such a hallmark holiday anyway, I think it's ok that I'm sending these pictures a week late. They were actually taken ON the 14th, when my friends Julie and Anne Carson and I had an impromptu Valentine's Day gathering that morning. We had great intentions for the boys (all boys - Henry, 2 1/2, Charlie, 2, Freddy, 1, and Will, 3 months) to decorate cutout cookies and make some kind of creative cards for their dads. HA.

What they did, instead, was play with trains the entire time. We managed to slightly distract them (especially sweet tooth Charlie) with cookies that we half-decorated for them with icing...but of course, tearing the sprinkles out of their death grips was no fun, and they lost interest after about 1 1/2 cookies. That only left about 4 dozen undecorated hearts and flowers for us to eat. Oh, and the craft project? Again, HA. We had the supplies, but when we really thought through the idea of 3 toddlers with glue and paint, we wisely decided to let them continue uninterrupted with their trains. Next year, dads - sorry.

TREES

Let me say, for the record, that I am typically NOT that person who puts up Christmas lights before Thanksgiving - or the weekend after. I don't shop on black Friday and I like to keep my holidays separate and distinct from one another. Well, we're hosting a neighborhood 'progressive' holiday party next Saturday, and since we don't have much furniture, we decided that we ought to holiday-ify our house to make it feel like someone lives here. So we went tree shopping on Saturday and found a perfect tree at one of those temporary lots (the sign said they were from Kalispell, Montana, but who knows?)

Bill had visions of Freddy running up and down through the trees. Since he doesn't really run, yet (heck, he still walks with his hands up for balance at least half the time), that might have been a little optimistic. But he did have fun as long as the trees weren't right in his face. Too bad I had the camera on 'manual' and didn't know it - the photos are mostly out of focus.

The tree is up and lit, thanks to Billy's expert light-hanging, and hopefully I'll get around to putting ornaments on tonight after I try to settle on a holiday card. Freddy seems pretty interested but not yet destructive. We'll see what happens! I do love the holidays, especially 'cause it means I'm that much closer to a trip back to VA to see all the family. Miss you guys!

Turkey Day!

Well, we (reasonably) successfully hosted 14 adults and 7 kids for Thanksgiving this year, and it was so much fun! Thanks to everyone who brought dishes - we did not have one 'average' dish in the mix. I'm going to see if I can track down Eleni's stuffing recipe and stuffed french bread recipes. Everyone RAVED about Amber's lemon cheesecake (I didn't try it, as it's not my favorite, but cheesecake lovers thought it was fantastic). The turkey was perfectly cooked and carved thanks to the 2 Billys, and although they got testy here and there, none of the kids had major, unrecoverable meltdowns. I've attached Mel's sweet potato puree recipe here, for those who are interested.

Indie Fixx

I don't usually like to identify myself as some kind of 'indie' consumer. I mean, come ON...but then I found this website that has really, really cool and not very expensive 'indie' stuff that I really love. Oh well. Check out the paper goods in particular, and the jewelry.... And no, Bill, I haven't bought anything. But it might be a source for holiday gifts, I'll admit.