girls and a lemonade stand

This was the latest in sidewalk sales out front of the old birthing center, my girl and her sweet best friend.
Quite the lovely sight, these two girls on a 85 degree day, enjoying each other and the momentary responsibility of retail life.

cookies.

grain free peanut butter cookies

All my life, well, thus far, I have been obsessed with cookies. I have, without giving it much thought, memorized simple straightforward recipes and tweeked them to my heart's content. Switched ingredients to fit the lifestyle currently living...(vegan, refined sugar free, wheat free, gluten free, dairy free, grain free... you name it.) Sometimes I write down what I come down with, other times not, and never to be recreated.

Thankfully, there are hundreds, if not thousands of people out there who are just as crazy about this dessert as me.
Phew.

coconut chocolate chip cookies by Paleo Parents

Here is my virtual cookie recipe book...sigh.

Yum.

Pumpkin Soup

"Pumpkin soup, the best you ever tasted.

Made by the Cat who slices up the pumpkin.

Made by the Squirrel who stirs in the water.

Made by the Duck who scoops up a pipkin of salt, and tips in just enough."

Helen Cooper, Pumpkin Soup.

The past few days I have spent dreaming up the creamiest most delicious pumpkin soup, just like these three little guys, deep in the woods in their own white cabin.

So, a variation of this Sally Fallon recipe is in our day.

Squash and  Tomato soup (Using Pumpkin instead!)

1 butternut squash

2 medium onions, peeled and chopped

3 TB butter

1 cup tomatoes, chopped.

1 quart chicken stock

1/4 tsp. red chile flakes

2 TB finely chopped basil

sea salt

cultured cream

Roast the squash until tender, about an hour.

Saute onions gently in butter until tender, then add tomatoes, stock and chile flakes.

Bring to a boil. Scoop cooked squash out of the skin and add to the soup. Simmer about 1/2 an hour.

Puree soup in a blender, thinning with water if necessary. Add basil and season to taste. Simmer gently five more minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve with cultured cream.

Green Tomatoes

Tomatoes. Tomatoes and more green tomatoes.

I never thought I would pick so many green tomatoes. I pick them green and bring them inside, hoping they eventually will ripen in our warmer then outside inside. And something about this dark dank kitchen... they simply love it. Bazaar, huh?

Well, because of our overabundance of green tomatoes I have decided that when time allows, whenever that may be, I am making many more batches of Salsa Verde. So, if you happen to come over for dinner any time in the next month, be sure that you will be eating green salsa. Or something vaguely like the old El Mirador cuisine (a Mexican taco stand I used to work for back in the days of the Portland Public Market...when I was childless and fried chips at five am....). 

Salsa Verde

one pound tomate verde (tomatillos, but green tomatoes will work too...)
1/2 cup loosely packed chopped cilantro
1 large garlic clove, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons white onion, chopped
1/2 tsp salt

cook tomatoes in just a bit of water, until they are soft (five minutes).
Put a bit of the cooking liquid in blender with remaining ingredients and pulse until blended. 
Add tomatoes and pulse for a few seconds.  
Serve on everything. (Scrambled eggs and avocado, refried beans, chicken tacos, "black" tortilla chips, quesadillas, etc, etc.)

the kale. (our other very abundant crop)

Dinner with two girls

It's true. We now have the high chair back in the kitchen (out of the garage), and two girls on one side of the table.
A friend of mine once said that he loved to take pictures of his kids eating meals...just because how many times are you going to think back on this time and try and remember sitting around the table, all together.
I know when I was a kid family meals were precious. My mom would make something fabulous (of course!!!) and we would all sit together and eat. I try and remember specifics and where we sat and what we talked about and even what we ate. But all that is hard, 20 years later.
This won't give me that, but at least I will remember my two girls... with pureed peas.

Tacos, again.

Last night's dinner was drop down holy cow unbelievable good. If I do say so myself. I guess I have a tremedous weakness for tacos, of any sort and variety, and admittedly I will eat them with just about any combination as long as there is salsa and sour cream involved. And so will my whole family. Luckily. We play the game frequently of "what do we fill these corn tortillas with, anyway?" (Or rather the question is all mine...nobody else much cares...)

So here is the recipe. Maybe I'm just nursing so much it's gone to my head...but either way...


Beef and Zuchinni Tacos

1 pound ground beef
1 clove fresh garlic, minced
2 leaves of swiss chard

cook the above all together with a lid until done.

1 baseball bat size zuchinni, cut into chunks and fried with about 3 tablespoons of butter. (low heat)

enough sprouted corn tortillas for a crew
cheddar cheese grated
tomatillo salsa
sour cream
guacamole (optional. Or you could just eat it all with a spoon before anyone even notices there was any...)
chopped up fresh tomatoes (if you have any...we didn't, but it sounds good...)

YUM!

coffee.

I love coffee.
I just do.
All these people with their hardcore addictions...Secretly I understand because my obcession/adoration of this drink. I can only ever not even look it in the eye when I am pregnant (I made Nathalie's dad grind and brew coffee in the hallway of our apartment building in Portland so that I couldn't smell it...) But that is seriously the only time in life where I haven't simply drooled at the idea.
Cafe au lait, lattes, mochas, espresso, and straight up coffee. (I suppose technically you can't get any straighter then a shot of espresso...it is simply less water and more finely ground...and pressure.)

Travis and I used to go out for super early morning coffee and walks over bridges. We were those people, sitting outside the cafe, waiting at seven a.m.  We'd squeeze together on a couch and look at picture books of old English houses or country side. Try to daintily sip coffee, when in reality we both gulp it down so fast it's more like water.
Sigh.

The most used piece of equipment in our kitchen, besides the stove itself, is the french press. That little beauty has been in my world for about ten years. (I love you, french press.)
-----------------


Now onto our day... Nathalie came down with a high fever yesterday afternoon. And by evening it wasn't any lower, but she didn't really have any other symptoms. Poor girl. She watched movies and sipped juice through a straw. And then, she found a tick on her head. Ah ha.  So not sure what this means...but we will spend the day relaxing and watching to see what happens next.  Maybe making a trip to the drug store for some much despised antibiotics...