It's Official

Matt and I are now officially Mr. and Mrs.! 

We are so happy and excited to be starting this new chapter in our lives together.

We are also so grateful for the love

of family and friends who surrounded us on that day.

Married life, is AWESOME!

"Standing beside you,

I took an oath to make your life simpler

by complicating mine and what I

always thought would happen did:

I was lifted up in JOY."

-David Ignatow

The Reading Continues

I have been too busy with life and apparently too busy reading to do much posting so here is a recap of the last few weeks...in books!

Book # 30 of 2010 is...

Three Weeks with my Brother
by Nicholas and Micah Sparks

This was such a great book!  I was surprised by the difference in this book from other Nicholas Sparks books, it was so real and honest and insightful!  This book was also suprisingly informative.  As I read I traveled to all of the coolest and holiest places in the world...it was a really good read.




Book # 31 of 2010 is...

The Glass Lake
by Maeve Binchy

Maeve Binchy is absolutely one of my favorite authors...and this book is one of the best she has written!  The story was so engaging that two nights in a row I stayed up until all hours just to finish it.  The story, like most of Binchy's books, takes place in Ireland and it is such a twisting and heartrenching tale.  If you haven't read Maeve Binchy...read this book, it is one of her best!





Book # 32 of 2010 is... For Time and All Eternity
by Paul Bailey

This was a very different book that explored plural marriage in its hay day.  It was a book of historical fiction which I always like reading, and it was about something I know very little about so it was a really interesting read.


Book # 33 of 2010 is...
Heart and Soul
by Maeve Binchy

This is another great book by Maeve Binchy.  It is a typical Irish Binchy story...a good read.






Book # 34 and # 35 of 2010 is... The Quilter's Legacy and The Master Quilter

by Jennifer Chiaverini

These are both great books.  These Chiaverini books have really lived up to my expectations.  They are all in a series, but they are completely self-contained.  In other words, you can read them in any order and still get all of the characters and all of the "stuff" in them.  They were both fast reads.

A Moment of Gratefulness

This morning as Gunner and I went for a run, I was struck by how WONDERFUL life is.  Right now, in this moment, I want to take time to pause and feel grateful for the love and light that fills my days. 

First of all, I am lucky to be home on this Friday morning because my "full-time" job where I teach kids one-on-one is only four days a week...that means I ALWAYS get a three day weekend.  What a blessing in helping me balance work and home.

I am grateful for how strong and healthy my body is...a 2 mile run makes me feel satisfied and at peace with my physical body.  My skin, my wrinkles, my thighs...running helps me put the insecurities of my body into perspective.  It reminds me that I am strong and healthy, and that these are the things that really make you beautiful.

Matt and I had a long talk on the phone early this morning (he is en route to South America for work) and I am so grateful for the love and friendship of this wonderful man.  His life has been so blessed by a wonderful job that challenges and engages him, and I know that blessings in Matt's life are blessings in my life as well.  I am so lucky that I get to go through life with Matt, he is everything I need him to be.

I am so grateful that my life includes Gunner and Bailey.  Having good dogs makes you understand unconditional love.  If you have never had a dog lick your tears when you are sad, or run next to you ready to defend you, then you have missed out on one of life's greatest rewards.

I am so thankful that I live where I live!  I live in a place where I can run through fields of sweet alfalfa for two miles and never step on a paved road or see another house or person.  I live in a place where my neighbors (a mile or so away) invite me to dinner and watch out for me when Matt is away.  I live in a home that has been lovingly created through the years with handcrafted quilts, homemade curtains, and walls painted by friend's helpful hands.

I am so grateful for friendships that keep me honest and grounded!  My two best friends from high school are still the ones I turn to when life is overwhelming or when I want to scream, laugh or cry.  And even though neither of them live in my same time zone anymore, I know I can call them any time, day or night...and I do.  I am also blessed to have friends who I get to see daily and who are never too busy with kids and life for a hug or a talk.  I am also so grateful for the strong women in Matt's family who have become my family as well.  His aunts and cousins who encourage and strengthen me have helped me heal. 

My high school friend Suzette, when she visited this summer.

(Becky is coming to visit in a few weeks!)

Matt's aunts and me shopping last Thanksgiving...early.

I am also so blessed by the friendship and love of my church family.  My Lutheran church is full of good people who are wise in the ways of the Lord and who love and support Matt and I, come what may.  I am "mothered" and "sistered" by many of the amazing Lutheran women in my church and I grow and learn from their love. 

I know this is all a little sappy, but I really wanted to take a moment to recognize the good stuff.  God has blessed me over and over again and being grateful is a way to show my thanks.  Life is short, but life is good. 

The Reading Continues

I have not been keeping up with my book posting!  What does it mean when you are reading books faster than you can get them posted?  Yikes.  I guess it means that I like to read more than I like to write posts about reading.  So here are the books that I have read in the last few weeks.

Book #26 of 2010 is...

The Cross-Country Quiliters

by Jennifer Chaverini

Yes, I have read another book by this author.  Her books are really well told stories that I don't want to end!  This book was about  a group of friends who decide to work on a quilt (a square each) even though they live far apart.  But each friend has things going on in her own life that she promises her friends she will work on or figure out before she can start her quilt piece.  The book weaves the individual stories of these friends nicely and it is just a real feel good book but it has some substance and it isn't really very predictable.  I LOVE reading about quilting and friendship which is making Jennifer Chaverini my new "go-to" author for a solid good read.

Book # 27 of 2010 is...

The Runaway Quilt

by Jennifer Chiaverini

I know...another one, but they are all so different and yet just as good as the last one!  This book was about the underground railroad and a family's history of helping slaves escape to the north comes into question years later.  This book develops the idea that quilts were used to signal passangers on the underground railroad and it explores the history of one family during this monumental time in American history.  It is again beautifully written and woven from present day to the Civil War era.  A story that makes you WANT to quilt!

The Runaway Quilt: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel

Book # 28 of 2010 is...

The Art of Mending

by Elizabeth Berg

This was a book that really hit close to home.  It is about three siblings, two sisters and one brother (named Steve), who are forced to reexamine the memories of their childhood.  When one sister confronts her other two siblings with devasting allegations about their mother, the three have a difficult time reconciling their varying experiences in the same house.  When their father suddenly dies, the three siblings must face their past, their differing experiences of their mother's love, their own culpability in causing each other pain, and their common need for love, acceptance, and forgiveness with each other.  This was a book that was hard to read for obvious reasons, but it helped me to understand how children can be raised in the same home and yet be so different even in their understanding of each other.  A heavy, emotional read.

Book #29 of 2010 is...

Empire Falls

by Richard Russo

This was a book about a family and the town they live in and how the history of the town is their family's history as well.  It was an okay book with twists and turns throughout that kept my attention, but it was hard to relate to some of the characters and it was lengthy in some of the memories and descriptive moments.  It was an okay book, overall, but it's not a keeper...this one is getting donated to the library. 

Rotten Tomatoes

That is the smell at my house right now...

Be grateful there is no picture.  We have eaten, picked, canned, pickled, frozen, and LOVED this garden to DEATH but the summer garden is SO done and it needs to be pulled out.  Unfortunately we have been so busy with work and life that it just hasn't happened yet.  Matt and I can barely look outside right now without being overcome with guilt.  I have plenty of fun plans for our winter garden, but they have to wait until that old summer garden is tilled under.  This is the LEAST appealing part of gardening, getting in there with the moldy, old veggies and weeds and destroying everything we spent hours putting together.  I can't wait for the lettuce, broccoli, potatoes, and carrots of the winter garden...if only I can convince Matt to do all the hard stuff so that I can get on with the fun planting of seeds!  Meanwhile, all I hear in my head these days is this old nursery rhyme...

"A man of words and not of deeds,

Is like a garden full of weeds."

I know, I know, an awful mantra...we have GOT to get out there this weekend!

The Reading Continues

Book # 25 of 2010 is...

The Grapes of Wrath

by John Steinbeck

I've never read this book before, which is pretty amazing because I majored in American Literature in college.  It has been one that I have always MEANT to read, but it was never required and so it just never happened...until now!  I feel like it is sort of cheating to say that I read it because I listened to this book "on tape" (CD really) and because I listened to in in the car it was a fast "read."  I like "reading" heavy books this way because it doesn't use up any of my reading time.  Does that make sense?  I'm driving in the car a certain amount of time anyway and so I get to "read" useful books with my wasted driving time.  Grapes of Wrath IS a useful book!  Don't smirk.  It is a book that every Californian should have in their repertoire because of the historical narrative that it tells.  It is a beautifully written and moving book.  John Steinbeck is a master at storytelling. 

The Reading Continues

Book # 24 of 2010 is...

Five Little Peppers

by Margaret Sidney

I re-read this book from my childhood on a whim.  I had forgotten how special this book is!  I was discussing old childhood favorite books of mine with Matt's aunt and we both remembered reading about the Pepper family.  I was inspired enough by the memory to check it out of our public library and I re-read it last weekend.  It is truly a childhood classic and would make a great read-aloud book to read to kids. 

Packing a Lunch Idea

I hate plastic sandwich bags!  I hate buying them (it is literally like throwing away money) and I hate using them because I eventually toss them into a landfill...NOT AWESOME.  But I had sort of accepted the idea that when packing a lunch I just needed to deal.  I have invested in plastic containers for sandwiches...but be honest, how many tubs do you want to haul to work?  Even with a container for my sandwich, I was still using two or three sandwich bags for pretzels and carrots and cookies every day. 

UNTIL I DISCOVERED THESE...

SNACK TAXIs...someone's brilliant idea for reusable/washable bags (so glad that it is finally cool to be earthminded).  Throw these laminated fabric bags in the washing machine and they are new again.  Plus they have really chic looking fabrics to choose from (or plain green, brown, and blue colors if you are Matt, and NOT into chic looking when packing a lunch).  They also have sandwich/bagel size bags and lunch bags.  Please check out their website and go green with your lunch, every little bit helps!  Too bad I didn't come up with this brillant idea!

http://www.snacktaxi.com/

Preserving the Garden - Canning and Pickling!

This is just a picture of one batch of canning!  I have been a busy bee for the last few weekends trying to preserve some of our garden bounty for this winter.  The canned tomatoes are great for spaghetti sauce later, and the pickled okra are great gifts for Christmas.  Pickled okra is great as an appetizer (it tastes like a dill pickle, only better) and it is also great in Bloody Marys.  It is just tons of work to get all that picked, washed, in jars, and then canned.  Especially since the okra is horrible stuff to pick.  It gives me an itchy rash if any part of the plant touches my skin, so I have to suit up to pick it and then hop in the shower right after being out in the rows.  I hope to be done with all the canning by next weekend.  Okra is easy to pickle though, once it is picked and washed. 

Pickled Okra (makes about 4 pint jars)

3 cups water

3 cups white vinegar

1/3 cup salt

2 tsp dill or dill seeds

4 cloves of garlic

3 1/2 lbs small whole okra pods

1.  Prepare jars and lids in boiling water to sterilize. (I run my jars through the dishwasher, high heat, and I put my lids in boiling water in a saucepan where I leave them until I am ready to fish them out and use them.

2.  Put dill, garlic, and okra into sterilized jars.

3.  In a saucepan combine water, vinegar, and salt.  Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve salt.  Reduce heat to low but don't take off heat.

4.  Ladle hot liquid into prepared jars.  Put a sterilized lid on each jar and place jar upside down (inversion method of canning)

5.  When jars are cooled turn them right side up and test the lid to see if they are sealed.  There should be no resistance in the lid.  (The boiling liquid causes the lid to seal).  If the jars aren't sealed (sometimes they just don't seal) then place them in a pot of boiling water (enough water to cover the top of the jars) for 15 minutes. 

Wait at least one week before eating the pickles in order for them to "cure."  But if you leave them sealed, they can be stored in the pantry for up to one year. 

The Reading Continues

Book #23 of 2010 is...

Where or When

by Anita Shreve

This was a quick read, and like Shreve's other books it has unexpected twists right up to the very end.  I needed a book that was different and this fit the bill.  It was a book that describes a forbidden love, and it pushes the boundaries.  In fact there was a few times while reading where I didn't know how to feel about the main characters.  This was a compelling book because of the complexity of emotions it brings out in the reader, and I would tell you more about the plot, but I don't want to ruin any of the twists and turns for you!

The Reading Continues

I know that I have been doing A LOT of reading lately...but don't judge me.  My house is clean...sort of and no one is starving.   Besides...

"Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability."

-Sam Keen

And that is just the kind of beautiful thought I need before I go back to school/work.

Book #20 of 2010 is...

The House on Mango Street

by Sandra Cisneros

This was another book that I had to read to prepare for my 10th grade English class.  I have read parts of it before (it is a book of short stories) but this is definitely not a book I would have picked up to read on my own.  I think it is on the reading list because it is written by a Hispanic author and it is very much a book that details Hispanic culture.  I don't know how I am going to teach this book this year because I didn't really enjoy it at all...and there are many OTHER Hispanic authors that I do enjoy reading.  Oh well, I guess I just won't spend as much time on this one.



Book #21 of 2010 is...

The Quilter's Apprentice

by Jennifer Chiaverini

This book was AWESOME!  I sort of bribed myself to read The House on Mango Street knowing that I couldn't start this book until that one was finished..  This is a brand new author to me that I discovered by reading a magazine article about her (Country Woman Magazine...one of my favorite things).  This is the first book in a series of 14 books (I think?) about friendships and quilting.  This book was not the fluff book that I thought it would be though, it was really well written and had some historical and technical quilting info.  If you like Debbie Macomber books (as I do) but always wish that there was a little more substance to the storyline you will REALLY like the Elm Creek Quilts Series by Chiaverini.  I am definitely going to read more from this author!


Book #22 of 2010 is...

Madness in the Family

by William Saroyan

William Saroyan is my most favorite local author.  I loved him when I read his novel, The Human Comedy.   He first started writing in 1934 and is from Fresno (begrudgingly so).  His books are fun because they refer to many familiar streets and sights around the valley.  But they are also thought-provoking and deep.  His Armenian background is also a part of his books and it adds a richness to the stories he tells.  This is a book of short stories and his singular voice and shrewd humor give each story such a sense of fullness and life.  For example, one story in this book ends with this moral, "In short, don't count on being terribly spiritual unless you are also always slightly sick.  A proverb seized upon eagerly by Fresno."  This is a quick read and full of funny and just good stories.  Besides who wouldn't love a book called Madness in the Family?  Goodness knows there is always plenty of that.

The Reading Continues

Book #19 of 2010 is...

Hiroshima

by John Hersey

I read this book because it is required reading at my new school for my 10th graders.  It was an interesting, devastating, and sickening book...sort of like watching a train wreck.  But, like a train wreck, you just can't look away and this book was a page turner.  I read it quickly because I wanted to know what would happen to all of the characters in the end.  I was also really surprised that this book was written and published in 1946, so soon after the bomb was dropped.  It is a book that is VERY sympathetic to the Japanese people and while it is not so surprisingly American to be so compassionate, it is sort of interesting that there was a publisher and a market for this book so soon after the war.  Either way it is a good thing for students to read and know about.  

The Reading Continues

Book #18 of 2010 is...

The Clue of the Broken Blade

by Franklin Dixon

This is a Hardy Boys mystery (#21).  I own 58 Hardy Boys mysteries ( I prefer to think of myself as a collector, not a nerd).  I have been reading and "collecting" Hardy Boy mysteries since elementary school.  I love to re-read these stories because of the era they take me to.  This book was written in 1942 and it describes such an innocent time.  Besides I think I fell in love with the Hardy brothers Frank and Joe.  I promised myself that someday I would marry a Hardy boy... someone who is SO capable they can sail a boat, land a plane, triage a wound, outsmart swarthy characters, and just generally get me out of any jam.  If you know Matt, you know he is as close to a Hardy boy as one could get.  Lucky me, because if you know me, you know I am usually in some I-Love-Lucy-type jam. 

The Reading Continues

Book # 17 of 2010 is...

The Call of Service: A Witness to Idealism

by Robert Coles

This book was inspiring and just down right interesting.  Especially right now, in my life.  In it, Robert Coles recalls his encounters with volunteers, young and old, who have given something of themselves to others.  From civil rights activists and charity workers, members of the Peace Corps and the military, volunteers in shelters and inner-city schools, Coles writes the testimonies of the satisfaction that comes with "something done, someone reached." He has been a "witness to idealism" and he has written about all he has seen and learned.  

Coles is a child psychiatrist and in 1961, he worked, at the behest of Federal Judge Wright, with the four black six-year-old girls who initiated school desegregation in New Orleans.  In one chapter, he describes the ordeal of six-year-old Tessie, who had to fight her way through angry, threatening mobs every day for months.  He describes how every morning he would sit with Tessie and her grandmother while they waited for the Federal Marshalls to arrive to escort her to school.  Tessie's grandmother would pray for her and while she would finish her breakfast she told her, "You see my child, you have to help the good Lord with His world!  He puts us here - and He calls us to help Him out.  You belong in that McDonogh School, and there will be a day when everyone knows that, even those poor folks - Lord I pray for them! - those poor, poor folks who are out there shouting their heads off at you.  You're one of the Lord's people;  He's put His Hand on you.  He's given a call to you, a call of service - in His name!"  Tessie later told Cole that service meant serving, and not only on behalf of those she knew and liked or wanted to like.  Service can mean an alliance with the Lord on behalf of people who are even mean or unfriendly.  "If I can help the Lord and do a good job, then it'll all be okay, and I won't be wasting my time.  The marshals say, 'Don't look at them, just walk with your head up high.'  My granny says God is looking too, and I should remember that it's a help to him to do this, to change those people's minds."

I too believe in a call of service.  As a teacher at an Alternative Ed high school, my days are filled with pregnant and scared teenage girls, gang members who are scared and lonely, abused and lost youth who have never met their fathers and are being raised by relatives.  This world is a broken and scary place, and it is up to us to take the time to get to know each other, to take an interest in one another, and to help each other heal as much as we can. 

Earlier this month, a group of teachers and myself had the first of many meetings with the head of the California State Department of Education - Charter Division in Sacramento.  It has been a long journey here.  Our "service" to the students of our school have landed us on the capitol's steps so to speak.  It is inspiring to see how far a group of teachers will go to insure an equal and equitable education for their students and I feel privileged to be serving with this group of amazing women.

"For of those to whom much has
been given, much is required."

-Luke 12:48, and quoted by John Kennedy

Using that Garden - A week of recipes

Saturday Dinner Menu
Okra Frittata
Green Salad with Creamy Tomatillo Dressing
Chips and Homemade Salsa

Frittata (I make this in a cast iron skillet, but you can use any skillet that is oven proof)
Olive oil for pan
8 eggs
1/2 cup milk
About 2 cups chopped okra
Salt & Pepper
Feta or other cheese

1.  Beat eggs and milk together, then pour into oiled skillet over medium heat.
2.  Promptly add vegetables and stir evenly into egg mixture.  Add cheese.  Cook on low without stirring until eggs are mostly set, then transfer to oven and broil 2-4 min., until lightly golden on top.  Cool to set before serving.

Creamy Tomatillo Salad Dressing
1 package of dry buttermilk Ranch dressing (made according to pkg directions)
2 tomatillos, chopped up
1/2 bunch of cilantro (just rinse and put in, stems and all) (I used the other half in the salsa)
Juice of 1 lime
1 can minced jalapenos
1 garlic clove

1.  Combine in food processor (or blender), and blend until smooth.  Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Using that Garden - A week of recipes

Friday Dinner Menu
Hamburgers
Zucchini Casserole
Summer Salad (same recipe as Monday)

Zucchini Casserole
7 cups finely diced zucchini
1 cup EACH, chopped onion, celery, and carrot
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1 package chicken stuffing mix

1.  Parboil veggies.  Melt butter and toss with stuffing mix and seasoning packet.
2.  Mix soup and sour cream with drained veggies. 
3.  Place 1/2 of stuffing mix in bottom of 13x9 baking dish.  Spoon all of veggie mix over stuffing and top with remaining stuffing mix.
4.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min.

Using that Garden - A week of recipes

Thursday Dinner Menu
Tortellini with Pesto
Steamed Sweet Corn
Watermelon and Cantelope Salad

Pesto (Makes about 1 cup)
4 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts (optional, but I add them)
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt

1.  Combine first 4 ingredients in food processor (or blender).  Blend until paste forms, stopping often to add basil.  Add cheese and salt.  Blend until smooth.
2.  Add to hot, drained  pasta or can be made a day ahead and refrigerated. (I usually double this and save some pesto for other things.  It also freezes well.)

The Reading Continues

Book #16 of 2010 is...

There is no me without you

by Melissa Fay Greene

This story was SO POWERFUL and nothing like anything I have ever read.  This is the true story of how one woman, in the midst of her grief over losing her own child to AIDs, changed her world one orphan at a time.  She refused to turn any child away from her home and quickly she became a surragate mother to hundreds of orphans as Ethiopia raged with death during the HIV/AIDs crisis, leaving a whole generation parentless.  This book was evocative and stunning, depressing and uplifting as I learned about a crisis (genocide?) that has taken place in my lifetime (during years where I thought I was informed and politically minded!) and yet one that I was unaware of.  This book sparked passionate discussions around my dinner table as Matt and I wondered about and researched AIDs, Ethiopia's history and politics, and even Biblical history (Queen Sheba of Ethiopia visited King Solomon and claims to have had his son, the first in a line of Ethiopian kings who claim lineage to King David).  I learned more about Africa from reading this book then any African history course that I took in college. It sounds like a heavy book, but it is worth the investment!

The Reading Continues

Book #15 of 2010 is...

Common Sense

by Thomas Paine

I re-read this short book almost every year around the fourth of July because I find that nothing reminds me about what America stands for and what she has fought for as much as the words in this book.  Thomas Paine is one of my favorite writers from the American Revolution, second only to Jefferson.  He writes as if he is divinely inspired (I think he was) and his words hit home still as America struggles to redefine herself in this time of "change."  This book is only 59 pages and should be read by EVERY American.  I will let his words do the telling...

"It is not in numbers but in unity, that our great strength lies."

"Our knowledge is hourly improving.  Resolution is our inherent character, and courage hath never yet forsaken us.  Wherefore, what is it that we want?  Why is it that we hesitate?"

"But where say some is the King of America?  I'll tell you Friend, he reigns above...in America the LAW is king."

Speaking of inspiring Americans...

I know that this is a little belated, but Matt and I celebrated the 4th of July this year by visiting the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.  It has been on our list of places to see for awhile now and it was an awesome day!  I have now seen all of the presidential libraries in CA (Nixon- Yorba Linda, Reagan- Simi Valley).  I want to try to visit ALL the presidential libraries before I die.  Is that weird?

Me and the "Great Communicator"

Reagan's Grave - A quote from Anne Frank's diary 

"I know in my heart that man is good.  That what is right will always eventually triumph and there is purpose and worth to each and every life."

Me and a piece of the Berlin Wall, the graffiti reads "Freedom."  What an amazing thing to see and touch.  We both put our hands on it and just had a moment of deep awareness of the pain and evil this wall was.

"Ideas are more powerful than guns.  We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?"

-Joseph Stalin

"There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world.  Let them come to Berlin."

-John F. Kennedy

I was inspired by this great American during his life.  He was the first President that I wrote a letter to (although not the last) and it was awesome to remember the love he had for freedom, and the courage he showed against the evil of his time.  "Peace through Strength" was his motto.  We need Presidents who will do what is RIGHT, come what may.

Using that Garden - A week of recipes

Wednesday Dinner Menu
Grilled Salmon
CousCous with Swiss Chard and Beans
Artichokes with Mayonnaise to dip

Cous Cous with Swiss Chard and Beans
Box of Cous Cous, make as directed on box (You can substitute white rice for cous cous)
1 lb. Swiss chard, center stems removed (You can substitute spinach or kale for the chard)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 can white kidney beans, drained
Salt & Pepper

1.  In a large skillet bring Swiss chard and 1 inch water to a boil.  Cover and cook for 5 min.  Drain.  Place in serving bowl. 
2.  In same pan, heat oil and saute onion and garlic.  Add vinegar, basil, honey, mustard, beans, salt and pepper.
3.  Toss all together with chard in serving bowl and serve over prepared cous cous.

Using that Garden - A week of recipes

Tuesday Dinner Menu
Chinese Chicken Salad
Steamed Yellow Squash
Sliced Tomatoes with Feta (drizzle with Balsamic Vinegar)

Chinese Chicken Salad
1 head of cabbage, shredded
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used the leftovers from Monday's dinner), cooked and sliced
2 packages of original Top Ramen noodles, crush dry noodles, discard seasoning packets
olive oil
Rice Vinegar
Garlic salt
Salt and Pepper

1.  Combine cabbage, chicken and noodles.  Drizzle olive oil, vinegar and seasonings to taste.

Using that Garden - A week of recipes

Monday Dinner Menu
Potato and Green Bean Chicken (I used our Adirondack Blue Potatoes and our fresh green beans)
Summer Salad
Beer Bread

Potato and Green Bean Chicken
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast
1 cup chicken broth
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
2 large potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 cups fresh whole green beans
1/4 cup white wine
1 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1.  Heat oil in skillet.  Add chicken and cook for 10 min. or until it's well browned on both sides.  Remove and set aside.  Increase heat to high.  Stir broth, wine, lemon juice, mustard, garlic, rosemary, thyme, potatoes, and green beans into skillet.  Heat to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.
2.  Return chicken to skillet and reduce heat to low.  Cover and cook for 12 min. or until everything is cooked through.

Summer Salad
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 Armenian cucumbers, sliced thin,
1 red onion, sliced thin
Italian dressing (I used Good Seasoning mix packets to make my own)

1.  Let the cucumbers and onion sit in the dressing for at least 1 hour prior to adding tomatoes and serving.

Beer Bread
3 cups flour (I use wheat flour)
3 Tbsp sugar
1 bottle beer (I use a stout beer like Hangar 24's Orange Wheat)

1.  Mix together and put into a buttered loaf pan.
2.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Using that Garden - A week of recipes

"One cannot

think well,

love well,

sleep well,

if one has not dined well."

-Virginia Woolf

(from A Room of One's Own)

I want to share how we have been using the bounty of our garden.  You have to get creative when you have such a lot of food that needs to get picked and used each week.  It has been so much fun to try to eat from our garden and to only have to buy things that we really can't make or grow ourselves.  I am going to try to post our menu and recipes each day this week.

Sunday Dinner Menu 
Summer Vegetable Pasta
Bruschetta and French Baguette
Watermelon

Summer Vegetable Pasta
1 lb. corkscrew pasta
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup Italian style breadcrumbs
3 zucchini (about 1 lb), thinly sliced
4 ears corn, kernels cut off
6 oz. Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Salt & Pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil

1.  Cook pasta in salted boiling water.  Drain, reserving 1 cup of cooking water in the pot.
2.  In a small skillet heat 2 Tbsp olive oil, 2 cloves of garlic, and breadcrumbs.  Cook about 1 min. and remove from heat.
3.  In the pasta pot, heat the remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil.  Add the remaining garlic, cook.  Add the zucchini and cook until crisp-tender, about 5 min.  Stir in the corn, cooked pasta, and reserved pasta water.  Add 1 cup cheese, salt, pepper.  Toss.
4.  Stir in remaining cheese, basil. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture on top of pasta. 

Bruschetta
4 tomatoes, cored and chopped
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
Salt & Pepper
1 baguette (crusty French bread), sliced 1 inch thick
1 garlic clove, peeled and sliced in half
3 Tbsp olive oil

1.  Mix the tomatoes and basil together and season with salt and pepper.
2.  Place bread on baking sheet and broil in oven for 2-7 minutes, turning once.
3.  Rub garlic clove over one side of toasted bread and brush with olive oil.
4.  Drain the tomato-basil mixture and spoon it over each slice of bread.

The Garden - Full Bloom

"Who loves a garden

still his Eden keeps."

-A.B. Alcott

We have been so busy weeding, picking, canning, pickling, and EATING our garden.  What a wonderful endeavor this has been for our little family.  This has really been a lot of work this summer, but the truth is, we have had more fun doing this together.  Our garden...in pictures.

Basil and Dill

My flower garden!  Zinnias, Cosmos, Dahlias, and Bells of Ireland

Tomatoes and Sunflowers!  Corn in the background, and our owl (Nigel the Night Owl)'s box up high

Melons!  Canary, Cantelope, and Watermelons

Our cucumbers are growing UP this year as we tried trellising them.  This turned out to be a brilliant idea!  We have pickling cucumbers, regular burpless cucumbers, and Armenian cucumbers.

The trellising cucumbers and moonlight sunflowers.

Tomatoes!  First few rows are Ace tomatoes, then a row of yellow Lemon Boys, a row of Stuffer Tomatoes, and a row of Heirloom Cherekee Purple.

Our view from the back porch swing.

The Reading Continues

Book # 14 of 2010 is...

Stina - The Story of a Cook

by Herman Smith

This book was given to me by Judy Werner and it is an old treasure!  It is a book written by a man who remembers the cook of his childhood and tells her story as he remembers it.  Each chapter is filled with her recipes and they are old fashioned but delicious sounding.  I have made a few things from this book including a cucumber salad and herb garden eggs and I hope to try champagne watermelon and apple blossom ice cream among others.  This is a fun book because it is a story with a cookbook imbedded in it.  A beautiful story, wonderful recipes, and old time rememberances that paint vivid pictures of farm life that will never be again.

Getting Crafty - Vintage Kitchen Towels

I was inspired by these vintage kitchen towels to create a bridal shower gift for a friend.  One for each day of the week, add a few fun kitchen gadgets, throw everything into a basket and the gift is done!  It turned out to be a quick project and a great gift! 

7 towels with days of the week and edging embroidered - $45.00

The Reading Continues

Book #13 of 2010 is...

Fearless

by Max Lucado

My church bible study group has been reading this book for the last few months.  I love Max Lucado!  He is one of my all-time favorite authors and I have read almost everything that he has written.  In this book he asks the question "Can you imagine your life without fear?" He goes on to say that "each sunrise seems to bring fresh reasons to fear.  They're talking layoffs at work, slowdowns in the economy, flare-ups in the Middle East, and upswings in global warming.  But what if faith, and not fear, was your default reaction?" 

This book and the bible study that we did around it has been perfectly timed for my life.  God has not given us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7) and when we cower and live meekly, we are not living up to who we are meant to be.  This has been a time for me, when there is a lot to be fearful of...many changes, money worries, sickness, the state of our country...but God can only use us when we are boldly walking by faith, and that is supposed to be the purpose of our lives, to be USED by Him.  This book was good for my soul and the friends in my bible study are closer to me because of the time we have spent sharing over this book.

The Reading Continues

Book #12 of 2010 is...

Moo

by Jane Smiley

This was an interesting and quick read about a sleepy midwest agricultural college and all of the substories that go on there. It was a good summer read and it reminded me of my college days.

Zucchini for sale...or free

Zucchini is a weird plant. One day it is a little plant, the next day you are drowning in some serious squash! We love to eat zucchini and yellow squash, but it gets old fast when you are trying to eat bucketfuls a day. I think that our neighbors are avoiding driving by our house because we flag them down with bags of zucchini. They are so kind that they have made zucchini bread out of some and have SENT IT BACK TO US! Yikes.

PLEASE SEND ME SOME ZUCCHINI OR SQUASH RECIPIES! Because already this week I pureed it and put it into a mac n cheese casserole, I steamed it, I stuffed it, I fried it, and Matt BBQed it. I came across this Barefoot Contessa recipe for Zucchini Cakes (think crab cakes...not chocolate cakes) and it was really good...oh yeah, so I also "caked" it. In the hopes that if I share, you will share... here it is!

Zucchini Cakes

Grate 2 large zucchini

Mix in 2 Tbsp grated red onion

2 beaten eggs

8-10 Tbsps flour (depending on how wet the zucchini is)

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Mix well

Coat frying pan with olive oil or butter

Heaping tablespoons of batter onto griddle (like pancakes)

About 2 min on each side

Eat warm!

The Reading Continues

Book #11 of 2010 is...

The Persian Pickle Club

by Sandra Dallas

 This is a book that I re-read a lot. I LOVE the place that this book takes me to. It is set in a Kansas farming community in the 1930's and it is about a group of women who get together once a week for quilting time together. Friendships are so important to women, and so vital to keeping them strong when the crops are burning up and there are no jobs to be found for their husbands. The story revolves around a murder mystery, and it reveals the ties that unite women, through good times and bad.
I of course love the female friendship message, and the quilting/sewing that is such an intricate part of the story, but it really makes me long for a time when days were spent sitting around a quilting hoop with your neighbors and sharing the burdens of chores as well as the burdens of life. This is a book that I have read at least half a dozen times...it is full of good friends.

Harvesting Carrots!

Our Rainbow Carrots are here! Yellow, red, and orange, they all still taste like a carrot.

We ate the first of them this week. They taste even better than they look, which is good because like most things in our garden, there will soon be more carrots to eat then I will know what to do with. Any ideas?

The Garden

What we have been spending every waking moment on...in pictures.

Growing a garden is such a labor of love. We are excited to see what each new day of sunshine brings. The most amazing thing is watching the seeds slowly push the dirt away and GROW. As we walk the rows, we celebrate every new leaf. But the best part of working the garden is the HOURS of quiet togetherness that Matt and I get. This is the season of the garden when it is just waking and you can keep track of each new leaf, each little bud. Soon it will be too busy to take note of...the full bloom of production. But now the work is plentiful, the hands are again sore and calloused, and the garden (unique every year) starts to take shape. How blessed we are to have room to plant and grow!

"To forget how to dig the earth

and to tend the soil

is to forget ourselves."

-Mahatma Gandi

You win some, you lose some

WE HAVE WATER! Alleluia. They have put in a pretty intense sand pump (again, I'm not the person to talk to about the technical aspect of this whole thing...I THINK it's a sand pump, but that probably isn't the technical term) until they can drill us a new well, so we have sand in the water...BUT WE HAVE WATER! The sand sort of freaked me out at first (I wasn't sure if I should be boiling it...until Matt reminded me that boiling water doesn't remove the sand) but it has decreased and I am also getting use to it. We are just grateful for the precious WATER. I am still blown away when I turn on a faucet and it WORKS and it is HOT! What a blessing! But like most things in life, the good comes with the bad.

On the same day that we got water, our beautiful, 30 year old elm tree was GONE WITH THE WINDstorm. I was so sad that I cried for this beautiful old tree. I know that it could have fallen on the house. I know I should be grateful that it didn't, but I was too busy being horrified that the BEST tree at our house was suddenly GONE. If I could have traded water for the tree I would have...and that is saying something. But life doesn't work like that. It gives and it takes. What a bittersweet day.

Ode to My Water Carrier

This is the man who fixes everything in my life. From cars to bad days, he can usually fix it all. But one thing I have learned about Matt in the last few weeks is that he will carry water for me. No matter what. (These are the important things you find out about someone when wells go out.) He has to drive to the dairy down the road just to get that precious water. The water just appears without my asking for it and when it is gone, it is replenished. He will get up early just so there is water there when I get up.
Seriously... the best way to show love to someone is to serve them with a cheerful heart.

This is a man who carries water for me...how sexy is that?

"Work is LOVE made visible."

-Kahlil Gibran

The Reading Continues

Book # 10 of 2010 is...

Plain and Happy Living: Amish Recipies & Remedies

by Emma Byler

This book explains how to live simply as the Amish do daily. I bought this book last summer on a trip to Crossville, Tennessee with Becky and her family at an Amish store, but I haven't really sat down to read it until now. I thought this book might give me some ideas about how to do dishes, laundry, and cook without running water...since I am still living without that lovely amenity. I was right, the first chapter ("Running a household on next to nothing") goes into detail about how to clean, wash and cook with literally next to nothing! As Amish woman, Emma Byler says, "Not having money meant that we couldn't just go to the store to buy things we wanted...we had to make do with what we had...for medicine, gardening, housekeeping, and caring for our animals." Emma has a quick cure or fast relief for nearly everything that ails her family, along with old family recipes for everything from homemade soap to Amish wedding punch. It was a great reminder that simpler is often better, and these old ways were things that EVERYONE once knew how to do to live. I am so glad that I bought this book on that fun trip!

The Reading Continues

Book # 9 of 2010 is...

Five Quarters of the Orange

by Joanne Harris (author of Chocolat)

This book was nothing like I thought it would be when I started it. It takes place in a small French village during the occupation of World War II. The story is really the murder mystery of a German SS officer that unravels up to the very last page. The tale is told by the protagonist, a nine year-old girl, who from the very beginning makes it clear to the reader that she is somehow mixed up in the whole mess. This was a really good story that keeps the reader in suspense right up to the end.

Morning Has Broken

"Where there is great LOVE

there are always MIRACLES."

- Willa Cather

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins...God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love was made complete among us." -1 John 4:10 & 16, 17

Happy Easter Everyone! The day the stone was rolled away and the tomb was found empty was the day when death lost its victory forever. This has always been my favorite holiday for that reason. Who is scared of death when there is a resurrection? Great love equals miracles! Thank goodness!

The Reading Continues

It is Easter break, and I have been busy reading!

Book # 7 of 2010 is...

The Big Rock Candy Mountain

by Wallace Stegner

I finally finished this saga! It was a good story and well told...and it spanned a woman's whole lifetime. She lived through a rough childhood, a mis-matched marriage, praire droughts, poverty, a bootlegging husband, wealth, the Great Depression, poverty again, raised two boys, buried one...and all the while she is full of love and a source of strength for her family. This was a good, but long, book.

Book #8 of 2010 is...

A Year in Provence

by Peter Mayle

THIS BOOK WAS WONDERFUL! In fact I read it in one day (it's only 207 pages). This is a book that is so full of juicy descriptions of French food that it made me HUNGRY while read it. It is about a man and his wife who realize their dream by moving to a 200 year old farmhouse in Provence, France and how they learn to live the simple country life among small town characters who live by the seasons and not by days. This is a book everyone should read.