Wednesday

I don't read a lot of blogs but I have noticed on some that they pick themes for the days of the week; like meatless Monday or Wordless Wednesday.  I ran across one yesterday that had a Worms for Wednesday theme.   I'm haven't been able to pick one for myself but have several ideas for today.

WOW! Museum Wednesday:

I wish they were both looking at the camera!  Elena especially enjoyed herself there today.

Worm Watching Wednesday:

Can you see the big fat worm by Addy's hand? We rescued it from the sidewalk during our bike ride/jog this morning.

Or perhaps Whole Wheat Wednesday:

We made a really tasty whole wheat corn bread last night.  I put the dry ingredients together and got the pan ready while the girls napped.  After nap we had a play date and returned home just in time for Addy to crack a couple of eggs and stir in the milk and butter. 

I love sweet moist cornbread and have always made it with white flour.  I tried this recipe yesterday though and was completely surprised at how well it turned out. It was still light and moist even with whole wheat flour and fairly coarse stone ground corn meal.  Chad didn't ask if it was different and both of the girls ate it right up.  There are a couple variations on the recipe. I used melted butter, regular milk and brown sugar. 

Juggling with Kids

I think I should rename my blog.  It isn't just Addy anymore and we are up to a lot more than cooking these days.  Although cooking does factor into our days quite frequently.

Addy woke up Saturday morning asking to have all of her preschool classmates over plus several other friends.  Unable to pull off such a party at short notice I attempted to pacify her with a long family walk, Home Depot and Taco Bell (!) with Daddy, and an after nap trip to the Butterfly Pavilion.

Not to be dissuaded, Sunday morning, she awoke with the same request.  I put her off again with a planned swimming date and an afternoon bike ride.

Ever persistent, I knew what to expect Monday morning.  I emailed a bunch of friends.  We ended up with 8 kids and 5 moms, including us.  As one mom said, "Addy is getting her mega playdate."

Partly in their honor and partly because we didn't eat very many bananas last week we made some mini banana muffins this morning.  Addy and I had just started when Elena woke up from her very short morning nap.  So I popped her in the sling and we continued. 

I took this picture with my phone with Elena in the sling.

We stuffed our incomplete mixture in the fridge while we rode the bike and bike trailer to a La Leche League meeting and had a picnic lunch. We finished them off when we got back.  The muffins turned out just fine despite the rest and the fact that I let Addy measure the sugar completely by herself.

Addy made the muffin on the left for Elena and the one on the right for herself.

Wordless Wednesday

They are so proud of the peanut butter Gingerbread Man we made Monday. 

Cooking for Addy

The weather was cool enough by dinner time to enjoy our new picnic table without be harassed by yellow jackets.

Of course, cooking with Addy often looks a lot more like cooking for Addy. Making dinner has become a balancing act of timing Elena's naps, the wishes of an active creative preschooler and my desire to put good quality fresh homemade food on the table.
Weekends are easier since Chad is home to grill or otherwise take over cooking. Saturday we had a busy morning watching the Broomfield Days parade and then spent the afternoon watching Nebraska beat Washington. Elena, at 7 weeks, really likes to be held so my hands were busy in the late afternoon and Addy was keeping Chad hopping as they planted a few new plants around the yard.  Chad was going to grill the chicken but I needed to come up with some sides. 

I got Elena settled in the Ergo which gave me just enough time to thin slice a few potatoes, half an onion, and a couple of cloves of garlic.  I folded these into two foil packets topped with butter, salt, pepper and a couple of sprigs of rosemary. (I love the smell of rosemary and Addy loves to pick it from the garden.) 

Chad grilled the packets along side the chicken for about 30 minutes over indirect heat.  The potatoes were soft and yet just enough browned to have good texture and flavor and Addy was proud to taste the rosemary she had contributed. 

These packets could have been prepared earlier in the afternoon or even prepared in advance of a camping trip.  I think the potatoes might discolor if done earlier but as far as I know that doesn't change the flavor. 

What are your favorite combinations and tips for grilled foil packets?

Twice in one week!

Can you believe I'm blogging again this week!  Amazing. 

What's really amazing is that, after taking an almost two month hiatus, Addy is napping again. She heads to her bed happily and easily now and sleeps for over an hour.  Elena also seems to enjoy a good long afternoon snooze.  This gives me time to straighten up the house and sit down and relax with a nice cup of tea. 

Lately I've been enjoying fair trade loose leaf organic Earl Grey from Arbor Teas with local honey and milk.  Arbor Tea says their packaging is backyard compostable.  I'll let you know in a couple of months if the bag is still in our pile or not.

Earlier this week Addy, Keenan and I made a quick and delicious semi healthy cookie that you see above on my snack plate.  These fruit and oat squares are quick and kid friendly to make and good enough to take with you or serve if you have short notice on a potluck or play date.  We used whole wheat flour and raspberry jam that we made last fall.  Addy is in love with sprinkles so they decorated the crumb topping with sprinkles.

1 cup flour
1 cup oats (it called for quick oats but I only had regular ones)
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup apricot, cherry or other fruit flavor preserves

1.  Preheat oven to 350.  Grease 9 inch square baking pan.
2. Combine dry ingredients then stir in melted butter until crumbly.
3. Take out 3/4 cup crumb mixture and set aside.  Press remaining mixture into prepared pan.  Bake 5-7 minutes.  Spread preserves on crust and then sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.
4.  Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown.  Cool completely before cutting into 16 squares. 

This recipe is from Silly Snacks, Classroom Treats, and Cookie Dough Fun.  We haven't done a lot of cooking out of it but is does have some really cute ideas if that is what you are looking for.  The recipes definitely lean more towards cute than healthy.

Back with Bran

Cooking with Adelina has changed quite a bit over the past months.  Not only was our life busier but the exhaustion of pregnancy had me napping rather than cooking or blogging.  We did plenty of cooking and baking during the months not accounted for here but it was many of our tried and true recipes that have already made the blog and the imputus to document and write up new recipes has just not been there for me.  Now that baby Elena has arrived and we begin to settle into the routine of a family of four I plan to update this site more often.

I have found that as Addy has grown more independent, she has been less likely to follow my suggestions of activities in the kitchen.  But perhaps as fall and winter keep us indoors more we'll pick up our cooking. 
Last Wednesday we made a fall inspired Apple Bran muffins from Mothering.com.  We didn't add the seeds/nuts and substituted part water for the apple juice.  They lasted well in the fridge and taste best fresh out of the oven or toasted with butter. 

Addy ate every bit of this yummy lunch.

Addy wants to do more and more of the measuring and pouring on her own.



Although her accuracy is not great she handles a small broom and dustpan well. As she has gotten older I find it important to include her in the clean up as well as the fun parts of mixing and tasting.



The apples were from our tree and we're using local organic flour.

It has been too long!

It has been quite a while since I posted.  We've been doing plenty of cooking but I've also been enjoying the first trimester of pregnancy which means that I NEED SLEEP.  My blogging time is usually Addy's nap or bedtime.  Lately I've been needing to sleep during those times too.  I'm far enough along now that I'm feeling a bit more balanced so I'm going to try to do more frequent updating.

Yesterday was Monday so here is a quick meatless meal that we've been enjoying lately.  Gnocchi with roasted cauliflower.  We still have sage in our garden and even though it is is basically dried on the branches now it still has nice flavor to add.  Addy enjoyed helping me break the cauliflower up into bite size bits and adding the salt and pepper.  She ate a lot of the raw cauliflower as she was breaking it up.  I was glad to see that since I really don't enjoy it raw and last time she tried it she didn't either.  It's wonderful to see her so willing to try foods again and maybe change her mind about them.

We had a great time traveling to my parents house over the holidays and visiting with friends.  Here's a great picture taken by my brother of Addy and Chad sledding.  I'm just helping them get started down the hill.