the Fairy & the Pumpkin

a kitchen bewitching: the skinny, week 2

I wrote this last week with the intention of posting it on the usual Monday.  But, I never wrote up the recipes so it never was ready for posting.  Between wrapping up the school year, getting the house ready to sell, trying to get another home in Portland, and do this workout program/diet-makeover all at the height of allergy season (which means something severe for us), I am not able to keep up with so many other things.  Important things like cleaning the house, reading or doing anything (besides yelling) with my children, brush out the shedding dog who rains hair whenever he walks, or remove the half-way chipped off toe nail polish.  It's not pretty around here.  (Actually, I'm not pretty right now.)  But we're here and life is good.  So, I'll try to be patient with myself.

In the meantime, I'm going to go ahead and put up this post and maybe tomorrow I'll link it to the recipes.  Do you mind?

These past 2 weeks for us have been punctuated with happy, out-of-the-ordinary events, my birthday being one of those.  Because of some normal age-related changes, like an unmistakable salt-and-peppering of my front hairs, as well as a gradual 8-lb (!!) weight gain this past year despite mild dietary and exercise improvements, I am surprised at just how much older 33 feels compared to 32.  

I realize that I'm not old, that I'm still in the prime of my life, and that in 10 years I might be justified to have made the previous statement.  Still, the onset of creaky knees and shoulders, pain in the hip when I sit too long, as well as the aforementioned whitening of the hair and weight gain make me feel more "middle-age" than "prime of my life."  

It's not just how I feel either.  The face that looks back at me from the mirror is one that is beginning to exhale the last breath of resistance against creases and fine lines, and tells me about a woman who has been too preoccupied with other things to have even cared.  I can't say I'm happy to see all of these little age-related changes, but in fairness, the face that looks back at me also communicates how full life has been, of the happy, busy, little blessings that have fully occupied (possibly "depleted") all of my energy.  Ideally, I would stay young forever, but I wouldn't trade it for even one blissful day I've had this past year.  

Sometimes the children ask me why my tummy is so big and squishy.  (No kidding, they really do.  Little self-esteem-killers.)  I like to remind them that their creation in this world was responsible for said tummy-grossness.  And silently, in the back of my mind, I think of how worth it it was.  Aging and a post-partum body are like my own (red) badges of courage, my evidence that I have fought a hard battle.  (see novel by Stephen Crane)  I won't lie and say that I'll never post on here exulting the merits and benefits of botox and fillers (hopefully not for at least 10 years though!), or that I won't keep dying my hair or trying different ab-exercises.  Moreso that I respect the manifestations of age and motherhood because they indicate how meaningful my life is and that I equally respect the work it takes to hide or change them!

It looks like I have a contradiction here:  a respect for aging yet not wanting to look aged.  Does this make me a hypocrite?

Anyway, I digressed for quite a while there.  I merely meant to say that we cooked less than normal this week, which was a nice break for me.  I love to cook but I just do not love the piles of dishes that make angry faces at me afterwards!  When Oberon can, he will come to my rescue but I still have to do my fair share of dishes.  It's always nice when we take a break from that!

I have to warn you that this first meal, directly from Tracy Anderson's 30-day Method book, looked much better than it tasted and I struggled finishing my plate.  In fact, the only part I liked was the roast vegetables.  Had I actually used steamed broccoli instead of the frozen/boiled kind, I would have liked that too.  But while I couldn't stand the turkey, Oberon really liked it.  I guess it's a turkey thing.  (I happen to really dislike turkey at Thanksgiving and am very particular about the recipe I use.)

roasted turkey and vegetables with steamed broccoli

This next meal though was a smash hit.  It was so much so that the next day even the Imp (who only ever wants fast food, donuts, cake frosting or cookies) asked me if we could please have more turkey burgers.  In fact, while exiled from our home during an inspection, I offered to take him to go eat fast food and he actually asked if he could have turkey burgers instead.  The turkey burgers themselves are a recipe from Tracy's book.  The buns (my addition) were fantastic and filling and are actually a wheat-reprise of a recipe I've already posted.

turkey burgers and sweet potato fries

half-wheat hamburger buns

Words will fail me when I try to explain how delicious it was to put that little teaspon of butter on my corn.  The lime and cilantro flavors atop the corn are the definition of perfection and my tastebuds were genuinely treated.  The cedar plank helps to give the fish more flavor; just make sure to let them soak in water for at leas two hours before you grill!

cedar plank-grilled fish tacos

grilled corn with lime and cilantro butter

This, below, was another good recipe.  It was remarkably flavorful for how low-fat it is.  Everyone liked it and ate it, which is always a good sign.  I made a few minor adjustments from the original recipe that appears in Tracy Anderson's book.

grilled chicken and mango with short-grain brown rice

My friend T suggested I try making homemade yogurt.  I had it slated on my "to-do" list but never got around to it.  For my birthday, Oberon and the children gave me a yogurt maker (he knew I'd thought about buying one), so I was excited to give it my first try.  You do not need a yogurt maker to try, though I think it makes the process a little more fool-proof.  And while you and your children might be chewing on the differences between store-bought and homemade yogurt at first, you will come to the decision, as all do, that it's definitely better!  And cheaper!

homemade yogurt

I will do a separate post on the yogurt maker eventually.  Maybe even this week.  But no promises!  (My promises-credit score can't take any more hits!)  

We also enjoyed a Greek Salad this week with grilled pita (brushed with olive oil and grilled until toasted).  It was not only delicious but also filling, which means alot to me these days! I hope you like something on today's post and feel inspired to try one!

a summer for canning

This is a bittersweet post for me.  I have never seen my garden so eager to produce but everything I do these days is in preparation to leave it all behind.  This is all good news for gardeners; we've had an early onset of heat along with an abundance of rain.  Add the two together and it equals a a fertile situation.  Absolutely everything has come out and bloomed early this year.

The irises were out by Easter and the rosebushes were literally heavy with roses.  (Yes, we had an egg hunt in pajamas.  It was kind of a crazy weekend.)

My peonies were breathtaking for two weeks but are already done blooming for the year.  I remember them blooming for Mothers' Day, not Easter, last year.

The Arapaho blackberry bush looks prepared to work its black magic in a month's time.

For the past two weeks I'd also noticed that my strawberry plants were thriving and productive, but there was too much rain to do much about it.  When I went out yesterday, I found more than 2 dozen strawberries that had gone bad from all the water.  I had to throw them out!  The Imp had followed me outside and was very puzzled to see me tossing strawberries into the yard.  I had to show him the purplish, opaque splotches and the ants that had taken advantage of the fallen fruit.  Then he thought it was lots of fun to pluck and toss strawberries.  I had to catch him before he tossed any good ones!

See the fallen fruit?

There was a handful of good fruit left and there's more on the way.  I think they're mostly All-Star with some Albion varities.

There's one more surprise: the grapes are beginning to fill out.  This is the Caco grape.

I would feel so fulfilled and pleased any other year to see my garden so eager to give fruit.  But this year, it doesn't feel like it's mine anymore.  In fact, it's really not.  We've already accepted an offer on the house and we are beyond pleased that it's going so well, but it no longer feels like our home.  In reality, we are tackling a few last details (per the lovely inspector's report) for the next owners. I've met them and am grateful to say that they are really wonderful people.

So when I see all of this production and over-achievment, I do swell with gratitude for this last goodbye.   Isn't it nice that you can always see the love someone has had for their home?  I feel like I'm leaving much of that love in my garden.  And, oh, I do love my little garden!  Each plant almost feels like an individual that I've become acquainted with and have learned to care for.  I didn't think leaving it behind would be this hard.  But maybe with this early start, we'll even get to enjoy some blackberries before loading up the packed boxes.

I'm sure the rest of Oklahoma will be bursting at the seams with peaches and blackberries this year!  It will be a great year for canning!  Make sure to look up some good recipes I've used before here, here, and here.  And this is the bittersweet part for me...to see all of this developing goodness and know that I'll be leaving right at the commencement of canning season, right when it will be falling off vines and trees.  We're still finishing up the strawberries and peaches I canned last year and every can that we open up was so worth the work and hot stickiness!

The good news is that I think we'll be in Portland in time for the strawberry and raspberry seasons.  That is a very exciting prospect!!

the 101's: back it up

Today's post isn't very fun I'm afraid!!  But, I've been wanting to share it for quite some time because I thought it might prove to be helpful or inspirational to someone who just needed a little encouragement to take on a project like this.

Have you ever wanted to change your backsplash or realized there was an area that needed one?  It's much easier to do than you might ever have thought (that is if you haven't already done it and realized it yourself).

Click here if you want to read about how to do it yourself.

This was the vanity in our hall bath when we first put it in.  You can't tell but the marble backsplash was cracked.  A replacement was never sent so we needed to create a backsplash.  Again, click on the link to find out how to do it yourself.

putting up a vanity backsplash

We used leftover marble tiles from the master bath renovation.  They seemed to go well.  And for natural tile, toothpicks make great, easy, cheap spacers.

After setting the tile and letting it dry for 24 hours, we went back and grouted and cleaned.  And it was done.

It's really very easy and will not even take a full hour if you're lucky enough to not have to make any cuts.  A vanity backsplash is a great first tiling project because a small project like this doesn't require too much planning on how to place tiles and where to cut.  I hope this information is helpful to someone out there!

a kitchen bewitching: the skinny, week 1

I briefly mentioned earlier that I was going to work my way through Tracy Anderson's 30-day Method.  Not only is that alot of exercise, but it also means my dietary habits need a makeover.  To be clear, I am not cutting out all fats and oils, simple carbohydrates, or full-fat dairy from my life.  I mean, come on, I still need my reasons to live!!  Take away my butter and cheeses completely, and I just wouldn't know what to do with myself. I am mainly using olive oil now but still use a scant quantity of butter now and then.  And while there is little cheese left in my diet, I make sure to use low-fat cheeses like parmesan, feta, or goat cheeses if I just can't do without.

Also, I previously shared my 30-day calendar for anyone wanting to do the pogram too, but here is an updated version with dinner ideas.  (Tracy's book has lots of suggestions for breakfasts and lunches but I don't think that a mother who is always on the go with her children can prepare those meals for herself.  I find myself choosing "better" options for those two meals instead, like low-fat yogurt with granola, fruit, nuts, or dinner leftovers.)  Some of the dinner ideas are straight from Tracy's book but most are not. Download 30 day goal chart Feel free to follow along with us.

Please let me apologize in advance for some of these recipes.  A few are created on the fly so the instructions and measurements are not very good.  You'll get a good idea of where I'm going with them, though.  I've got a notebook now to write my spontaneous recipes so that I can more accurately document and share my recipes here.

grilled chicken with potlatch seasoning and roasted asparagus and mushrooms

These shrimp kabobs have pieces of bacon dispersed onto the skewers.  For a dieting person, each mouthful of bacon is like an explosion of euphoria on the tastebuds.  That little kick can be just enough to get you over those cravings.  And while the sugar snap pea may seem like an odd pairing, it was per the request of the Pixie for her birthday dinner.  She really asked for shrimp and the sugar snap peas.  What could I do??

garlic shrimp kabobs and snap peas

shrimp tacos

flour tortillas

This recipe for the soup is a cheater recipe.  I basically use Pacific Natural Foods' delicious soup and intensify it with roasted bell pepper puree.  It's so quick but it's everyone's favorite.

roasted bell pepper and tomato soup

spicy orange chicken stir fry with shortgrain brown rice

Apparently lentils are a super food.  I always knew they were great and good for you but didn't realize that they might also have fat-burning potential.  I happen to love lentils so this is great news!  This lentil soup is simple and delicious and happens to be one of Oberon's favorite dishes.  Ummm, normally it looks really good.  I just overcooked the lentils the night I made this!

 lentil soup

This last recipe was one created on the fly but it turned out well and that pungent goat cheese filled the need for cheese.  And the fries, oh the fries!  Oberon and I love these sweet potato fries with a little cayenne or chili pepper to counter that natural sweetness.

stuffed turkey cutlets with sweet potato fries

for the love of home: my six years with her

How would I describe the past six years I've spent with my lovely Pixie?  Exciting definitely comes to mind.  As well as loud and forceful.  But also life-changing, amazing, stimulating, and enrapturing.  Nothing in my life has engaged me so wholly as becoming her mother.  

One of her current favorite pastimes is hearing stories of her when she was a baby and most of the times, the stories we tell have happy connotations.  There are a few that have come to mind, however, that were first experienced with frustration or disappointment although we manage to spin those stories in a funny way so she still laughs.  Basically, I entered motherhood with an idea of what to expect but found something entirely different.  In retrospect, I can see how her ADHD and sensory processing were dictating her wild and dramatic responses to the world but I didn't know that then.  All I knew was that she never calmed down or slowed down or quieted down and that my world was turned upside down.  But when I looked in her face (when she finally fell asleep and was still), I could see the face of an angel and I knew that I would change to become whatever she needed me to be.

Six years later, I'm still trying to become what I need to be and I still fail so many days.  And it occurred to me on her sixth birthday that I have already spent 1/3 of my time with her.  I only have 2/3rds of our time together left to get it right.  When such a beautiful and intelligent angel falls into your lap and depends on you to place them successfully in the world, every day counts.  I have had six eventful years with her and in twice that amount, she will leave my arms to go her own way.  The thought gives me palpitations.

And the thing about turning six years old, is that for the first time, you can see just how big your baby has become.  The chubby arms give way to slenderness, and the fat little fingers become lean and able to maneuver the smallest of buttons.  So, there is only one thing to do: celebrate the grattitude and miracle of having a child who turns 6.

For inspiration, we picked the fab new pink legos line for girls (she loves them as well as her mother, grandmother, and all of my friends, by the way).  We based it on a "build castles" theme and the centerpiece of it all was the castle cake she requested.  My mother has been asking (somewhat anxiously) that these photos be posted so here I present them to you.

Making this cake was an adventure I could not have undertaken without the help of my mother.  I will put links to the recipes for the cake and frostings and icings at the end.  My mother first piped out over 200 flowers made of royal icing.

We used the Wilton Castle Cake set but we deviated from the directions a bit.  Instead of using fondant, we used a homemade frosting and instead of punching the flower decorations out of gum paste with their flower set, we piped them out of royal icing.  Instead of using 10" cake pans, we used 8" because it's what I had.  Some creativity was required to get all the pieces to fit on the smaller cakes.

She loved it though and that made everything worth it!

That darling dress she's wearing was made by my mother.  She looked every year of 6 in it.

My mother also got her a beautiful Gotz doll from Pottery Barn Kids (Gotz were the original American Girl makers before Mattel bought the brand) and sewed her a matching dress.  I think my mother is going for some "Abuela of the Year" award and she's a shoe-in for sure!

I forgot to take photos of the cute lego rings we made as favors.  I was sure the little brothers in attendance would not want a lego ring so we made them lego pins.  To make them, you just need the pins or ring findings, some lego bricks, and some handy-dandy E-6000 glue.  The other favors were the small $10 sets of legos.  Expensive, but that's all they got.

Oh, and download the simple and easy invitations if they'll help you do a pink lego castle party too.   Download Pink lego castle party invites (Paste on some coordinating paper on the front, then glue a 1x2 brick after printing and you're set with the invitations.  Oh, the castle graphic came from a website selling it as a party backdrop.)

For the recipes, you'll want to check out the cake for the best strawberry cake I've ever tasted.  The strawberry frosting was equally delicious.  (These are actually recipes I posted a couple of years ago.)  There was so much leftover that I had enough to take cupcakes into her school class.  For the cupcakes, try the Sprinkles Bakery frosting recipe:  all butter and all flavor!

strawberry cake

strawberry buttercream frosting

buttercream frosting (we used this for the green foliage decorations)

royal icing (for the flower decorations)

Sprinkles strawberry frosting

My darling daughter, if you ever read this some day, I want you to know that you are the most special thing that ever happened in my life.  The moment you were born, you became my world.  When there are days that I fall short, it's only because I have forgotten to stop and think about all the wonder and beauty you have brought into my life.  Through you, I have discovered truer, deeper meaning for love.

no letter from the coop

I am very excited to get back to a week's worth of posting this week.  I have some photos from the Pixie's birthday and some other fun things to share.  So check back because I'm itching to share them with you!

There are no words to describe how beautiful today was.  And it was Earth Day so it was like she sent us an open invitation to go out and admire her beauty.  We sent the children out in the backyard with notebooks and pencils and instructions to write or draw all the many, wonderful things they were grateful for.  And then I decided to grab Oberon and a blanket and try to sneak a nap in.  It felt wonderful and surreal.  The butterflies came out in abundance and flocked to all of the roses in the backyard and the birds felt inspired to sing their hearts out.  The only thing missing were my grazing feathered beauties.  I truly missed them today.

This photo is from a while ago, right after I gave my chickens to my friend C.  I had wanted to see if I could see any color change in Babette's eggs.  Babette, if you remember, is a French Black Copper Maran, a breed rumored to produce the best eggs.  Last I heard Babette was on an extended date with a handsome and virile young cockerel of the same breed.

Here are her first four eggs of the season, oldest on the left and newest on the right.

There was some variation but no noticeable color loss in that week.  Perhaps by the 3rd or 4th week I would have seen a difference.  Sadly, I couldn't keep her longer than a week after she started laying!

For anyone considering keeping backyard chickens, I found an interesting new coop.  The company that makes excellent and highly durable incubators, Brinsea, now makes a chicken coop in two sizes.  The smaller size, the Winscombe, is designed for 3-6 hens.  My coop was so beautiful that I don't think I could ever truthfully say it won't be hard to replace, but these smaller, easy-clean models have their appeal.

 And there's always the Eglu for 2-4 chickens.

I am already eagerly awaiting when we can have chickens again!  And happy Earth day to you!

a kitchen bewitching: lime love

It's not even the season for limes.  I'm not sure if it's in winter (like I thought it was) or if it's June-August like the internet says.  Regardless, April is clearly not the right month to be craving limes.  And yet, there they were, bags and bags of fragrant and juicy key limes, on sale at the local grocery store.  And thus I was beguiled and thus I partook.

Everything in tonight's post has lime juice in it (well, almost everything) and, conveniently enough, makes one delicious, lime-filled meal.  Click on the links below for the recipes.

pork kabobs

coconut rice

asian spinach salad with orange and avocado

The pork kabobs were slightly dry and not my favorite recipe (go figure...I came up with it).  The rice and salad, however, are attention-worthy.  Definitely check those out.

The piece-de-resistance was the key lime cheesecake.  I love citrus cheesecakes (remember my post on the lemon-marbled cheesecake?) and this one takes it old school.  You begin with a custard layer typical of key lime pie, top that with lime-infused cheesecake, and finish it off with a 1950's classic sweetened sour cream layer a la Betty Crocker.

Can I tell you how many limes I squeezed??  And then I found a bottle of key lime juice in my fridge.  C'est la vie.  Thank goodness I love my little citrus reamer.  It made the process more efficient: get in, get juice, get out.

Click on the link for the recipe on this sure-to-please recipe.

key lime cheesecake

And by the way, there won't be many more recipes like this for a while.  I decided to go ahead and try that 30-day method by Tracy Anderson I posted about earlier.  I can do this for 30 days (that was a self-affirmation, fyi).  I can do this.  (Still self-affirming.)

Holy crap.  Today is day 1 and I'm so hungry.  

(For anybody else who wants to do it too, here's a chart I made to mark off the 3 objectives for each day.  The box for "diet" is larger so you can write in your menu and plan ahead.  Download 30 day goal chart)

breathing life: in the closet

We love closets around here.  My children are always, always hiding in them.  Like I'm not going to guess, right?  "Hmmmm.  Where could she be?  Not in the closet, that's for sure.  Nope.  Not in the closet because she ne-ever hides in the closet!  What?  Oh, my goodness!!  You were in the closet?!!  What a surprise!"

I've even cleared out the bottom of the linen closet for them to play in.  They get to hole themselves in, while burrowing into thick, soft quilts and play with their light-up toys.  It's the small things.  (It's also something many children with sensory processing issues crave when they are stressed or upset.)

After organizing my closet, I'm feeling the love too!  I wrote a post a while ago about refinishing our master closet.  We took it from uninspiring to polished.  But it was still disorganized and cluttered and lacked that level of completion, that final step that makes it feel worthy of admiration.

These photos were taken after working on the closet but before organizing it.  See the clutter and chaos??

After deliberation and careful measurements, I finally took the plunge and stocked up on supplies and bins from The Container Store, which is the equivalent of Disneyland for me.  It's literally the place where dreams are made.  I ordered some mens' shoe boxes, boot boxes, sweater boxes for the top shelf, clear drawers for the built-in cubbies, and shelf dividers.  And of course, I had previously bought all matching wood hangers at Target for an amazing price.

Now this is what it looks like all the time.  Honestly, nothing strays anymore.  Everyting is so...so...contained I guess you could say.

Oh yeah, I can't forget this super handly little stool.  It folds completely flat for storage but pops out quickly so I can quickly and easily reach my upper shelves.

So what do you think?  It's better, no?  There are still some bags of old children clothes to pass on to family hiding in the shadows; decluttering closets is never over I guess.  Even so, I absolutely love it.  It makes me so happy to have a place for everything and to not have piles falling over me as I'm reaching up on tippy toes.

Oh, and by the way, the mens' shoe boxes from The Container Store are the perfect size for Barbie-type dolls.