viking mom

sweet potato anyone?

2009-04-12T08:26:00.000-07:00

Wow, has it been over a month since my last visit? oOops!
I wanted to share this delicious cake/ cupcake from this blog post. She has a book out which is suppose to be great and someday I will check it out from the library....when I have a second to read again.
I have made this cake and it was SO yummy. So I thought that maybe if I made cupcakes it wouldn't disappear as fast into out bellies. I followed the recipe except I only added three eggs (since that was all I had). The batter came out a little thicker, perfect for cupcake scooping. And I adjusted the time to 20-25 minutes. Right now half (about 20) are in the freezer and the rest are, all accounted for...

awe, I love this place.

2009-03-10T17:53:00.000-07:00

via dog hill kitchen

Amazed

2009-02-26T11:26:00.000-08:00

So I was cruising around the internets and I saw this recipe from Elana's Pantry. hummmm. There was absolutely no flour in this brownie recipe. How does it not come out like a brick? There is already a minimal amount of flour in brownie recipes so this was something I had to try. I did have to substitute the cup of dark chocolate for vegan chips.
These brownies turned out so light and addictive! AMAZING! I would like to think of them as a power or energy bar but they are SUCH a treat! Baked here in my grams old, old pyrex dish. I think I am gonna have to try the blondie recipe just to compare:)

I love

2009-02-10T11:09:00.001-08:00

this
Printable Checklist
(via swiss miss)

last taste of summer

2009-02-06T10:38:00.000-08:00

Sad but true we just finished our stash of tomato sauce that I made from our summer CSA tomatoes. The boys would eat this on pasta every night if I would let them. This was the first time I canned sauce, but not the last. It was so easy! I watched a lot of You Tube for pointers. There are some very serious canners out there. And then I dove in for about 8 hours of canning. What I would do right now to be canning again in the warmth of the summer. Ahhh.
At least we still have our pickle stash.

no money? read google

2009-02-03T18:06:00.000-08:00

Books that is. I have known about this but have had little time to actually investigate and research Google Book Search. So, today I typed in one of my favorite cookbooks and voila! I know, I know, I am a librarian and I am suppose to push books on everyone. But no, that is not quite right. Resources are a librarians friend. So this is just another resource! Off to do some more investigatin' and research! Hope you can too. Show Google some love.

there it is

2009-02-02T06:30:00.001-08:00

A new banner. Since it is February I thought it would be nice to represent the weather and a little slice of life here in the valley.
There you go!
And I hope to get back in the blogging mood...More recipes to come. And since we are inside most of the time, some crafts.
Stay warm.

don't go out there!

2009-01-16T10:21:00.000-08:00

Well, when we woke up to -13 temps outside I was totally dreading my new routine to get fit and leave the house for the gym. But I did, pfew. But now, how am I going to stay warm? I guess that is why so many of us gravitate to the kitchen and start baking.
This book has totally changed the way I bake bread. One, I now bake bread. And two, I can't stop! The process is so easy. And after the 'master recipe' has been....mastered, then the possibilities are endless. Not to mention you are the hit of any dinner party when you bring four freshly baked artisan loafs through the door.
This book is forever on our kitchen counter and has been for over a year. Thanks to this post.
***And if you do end up getting this book (via library or your favorite book store) you should read this too.....
Stay warm and cozy.

pasta anyone?

2009-01-12T06:53:00.000-08:00

On Friday while reading Apartment Therapy: The Kitchen, I noticed they had Weekend Project. I thought hey, we have all the ingredients..lets do it! Usually when I say I am making pasta it means that I throw a box of pasta in boiling water. But not this time....Started around 5ish and finished by 6:30ish and used this recipe. It was very helpful, and speedy to mix the dough in the mixer and one more egg than suggested had to be added because the dough wasn't the consistency that it needed to be to go through the pasta maker. Although, I really wish we had this, we have just a regular old manual labor pasta roller. Which works GREAT when you have a toddler jumping up and down asking if he can help. This recipe could feed an army so a few balls went in the freezer in hoping they will be rolled out later with the same yummy results.

I used only two of the balls which made enough pasta for all four of us.

my muscle for the machine...

And unfortuately I do not have any pictures of the finished product. It went fast. Maybe next time I will remember to take a picture before I ravenously stuff my face with fresh pasta.

a healthy start

2009-01-09T07:21:00.000-08:00

Kale, oh how I love you.
With our winter CSA we have LOTS of kale. So much I am trying to incorporate it into almost every meal. But so far have I have come up with a few solid recipe go to's. This lemon kale with chickpeas is so satisfying. And then there are kale crisps. Be warned, they are very addictive. There are a ton of recipes out there but I found this one to be most descriptive. And don't forget about the kale smoothie....
What is your favorite kale recipe?

We must have been good.

2008-12-29T19:17:00.000-08:00

(can you see the tree? it is the silver thing in the middle....)

Santa was very good to us this year so we determined that we all must have been pretty good. We all got some much needed clothes (and shoes:)) to keep us cozy,warm, and exercising. The kids got some toys of course. Some of our favorites so far are:

we have bought them as gifts and now we finally have our very own! I am testing out some non dairy recipes....

endless hours of fun so far...

we almost like these more than the kids

Books, books, and MORE books

There are more but pfew... too many to list. Was santa good to you this year?

a little too much free time inside today.....

2008-12-21T15:12:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

nothing wasted

2008-12-15T08:30:00.000-08:00

We decided to make some cookies that involve a little more than the mix, drop, and bake method. So here we have vegan gingerbread cookies. I though that we could make boxes of these but while working with a three year old it turns out that it takes a VERY long time to cut out cookies. Way more than I thought. He is pretty speedy at playdough so I though this was going to be a quick and easy activity. As you may see from the pictures I threw all the scraps onto the baking sheet because we really didn't have all day and nap time was approaching fast. And hey, it is all cookie to me!
These turned out so delicious and crispy. Of course if you like more of a chewy cookie then don't roll them as thin as specified. And I did add a handful of chopped crystallized ginger to the recipe.
Oh, and if you still need more sugar and have a can of light coconut milk and pineapple then here is a super yummy ice cream recipe that you can dip your cookies into. We don't have a working ice cream maker (I found out during the trial of this recipe) but we do have an ice cream button on our nifty blender. Presto, Ice Cream! (no pictures of that because it was SO yummy!)

the mixing

the cutting

the sugar-ing (and some finger licking of the sugar...)

Winterlicious

2008-12-10T08:27:00.000-08:00

I am so excited that our Winter CSA started last week. We are still eating from our bulk share that we picked up at our summer CSA (and we will be eating this for a while with 20+ lbs. each of carrots and sweet potatoes). But it is nice to have some super fresh greens, tomatoes, corn, peppers, and to boot they have citrus. So yummy! As you can see from our picture we have A LOT of food. I made carrot soup from this recipe and added some ginger at the end for a little kick. But I can't stress enough to not boil the soup. Because I did (on accident) and it looked totally gross because the soy milk curdled. I just skimmed it out after it was blended, it was good but it was not pretty.

new favorite toy

2008-12-05T09:17:00.001-08:00

Well, I have been wanting one of these things for a while. And I am not sure why. Perhaps my quest to get every last drop of toothpaste, moisturizer, or conditioner out of these tubes. This device definitely does the job. And surprisingly, at Whole ~~Paycheck~~ Foods it was cheaper than listed on the Tube Wringer website. But I did have to ask for it, it wasn't displayed anywhere.

mmmmarshmallows

2008-11-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

Can I have some hot chocolate with my marshmallows? I feel like I ask myself this every time I make hot chocolate. So after eating way too many marshmallows last year, I happen to catch Alton Brown making some on the Food Network. So simple! And way better than the outta the bag ones from the store. I just don't think it is a kid friendly recipe due to the very HOT liquids and the cutting of the marshmallows with the pizza cutter.

I knew it had gotten to be marshmallow season last week when I started craving them with my hot chocolate...or the other way around. I used this recipe. And if there is one tip that I pass on is that the marshmallows will set up very quickly when you take transfer them from the mixer to the pan so try to make it a speedy.

Perhaps cinnamon or chocolate marshmallows are in my future...

the double marshmallow technique

out and about

2008-11-18T17:41:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we went on a hike with our neighbors. My husband has gone mt. biking many times with them but this was my first, maybe second adventure. They go on hikes just about 5 days a week here in the valley. With 6 kids between the both of them, who are off and in college, I think they just have a little extra energy (unlike us). On Sundays we sort of like to take it easy a bit but are always up for a little adventure.
They took us, or directed us since we car pooled, to one of the trail heads of the M&M trail or the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail. So beautiful and a GREAT work out, especially with a 20 lb. kid on my back. Lots of ups and downs, so much that I needed hiking polls (thanks Mitchel). It took about 3.5 hours and I have to say that our 3 year old hiked about half of it. He wanted to hike more but it would have taken forever since it was starting to get dark (and it was only 4 p.m.!!) So lace up your hiking shoes and get out there!

what is in that cave?

safety first...

oh, so tired

new favorite snack

2008-11-17T07:03:00.000-08:00

This snack is so addicting. Maybe it is the sugar high from the honey or the crispness of the fall apples. But together they bring sweet bliss for a moment. I am new to Raw honey. It is unprocessed, containing pollen, propolis, honeycomb, and live enzimes. Not to mention creamy and spreadable. What could I have been thinking for all these years? This stuff is SO stinkin' good! Especially when you are feeling a little cold creeping on, a spoonful (sometimes two) will do ya. Sort of like Mary Poppins...but with out the medicine afterwords. For a little frefresher about honey in general....

What's new?

2008-11-13T13:41:00.000-08:00

In our latest trip to the library we checked out some of my favorite books in hoping that Soren would like them too.

The Old Tree by Ruth Brown
Catching the Moon by Myla Goldberg
The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers
Fireman Sam story collection by Caroline Hill-Trevor and Rob Lee (Soren's picked out this one)
Around the Year by Elsa Beskow
Peter in Blueberry Land by Elsa Beskow
I Love My New Toy! by Mo Willems
Today I Will Fly! by Mo Willems

So far the favorites are the Mo Willems books (or anything by Mo Willems for that matter), The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers, and The Old Tree. Mostly for the giant pop out tree at the end of the book. I LOVE the Elsa Beskow books but it is looking like they aren't his thing at the moment. Hopefully he will grow to like these beautifully illustrated books.

Mo Willems....
Ruth Brown...

Oliver Jeffers...

weekend excursion

2008-11-09T18:13:00.000-08:00

We made our first trip to Portland, Maine. For someone who has been traveling from Va. to Ma. most of my childhood, we had never ventured north to Maine, Vermont, or New Hampshire. The drive was beautiful. It was sort of ironic that the friends that we were visiting are friends from Portland, Oregon and it was dreary and drizzly most of the time. Some things never change. The kids were great and the atmosphere was so relaxed.

We did visit the coast and it was refreshing to breathe some sea air and hear soothing sounds of the horns in the background.

For dinner we had to have lobster, of course. Our friends know someone who got 10 lobsters for $20. The meal was so delicious! Steamed lobsters are the way to go.

On our way out of town we all drove up to Freeport, Maine to visit the mothership store of L.L. Bean. WOW! is all I can say. The giant boot out side pretty much says it all. I had no idea that this was such a shopping mecca.

We definately would like to return to this cool place and do some more of these things...
#8, check

who are you?

2008-11-05T18:12:00.000-08:00

When we arrived home today we were greeted by a new friend....so beautiful and quiet. I had never seen one like this before. After opening the door about a half dozen times it still did not move. I think it was trying to hide from me or what ever was going on around it because when we looked closer I could see a leg move very slowly. Even after some research I still could not figure out what kind of spider this was or if it was friendly. After a little playing in the leaves we returned to go back inside and our new friend had moved on. Never even got a name.

Meatless Monday...Borscht

2008-11-02T17:32:00.000-08:00

from this....

to this...

We have not been eating too much meat. Not for any reason except that it is expensive to eat free range, organic meat and poultry. So, I have dedicated Mondays to an animal free meal day. Let's start the week off right...right? Ok. It is root vegetable season at our CSA and I was thinking that Borscht would be a great way to use many of our vegetables. It didn't take long to make and for a first try on a recipe (and a quick run to the store for sour cream and dill), it was mighty tasty. This recipe will make about 3 large bowls of soup.

3 tennis ball size beets
4 medium carrots
2 stalks of celery
one head of garlic
1/2 red onion
olive oil
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. rosemary
4 cups vegetable broth (since it is meatless monday)
1/4 cup soy milk
a few shakes of worcestershire sauce
a few sprigs of dill

Take all the veggies and cut them up into 1-2 inch pieces. Put them on a parchment or foil covered baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil and add the salt. Cover and put into a 450 degree oven for about 45min-1 hour. When a fork can cut the beets easily, they are ready to come out. Now it is time to blend the veggies with a little broth. It may be easier to do about half at a time . ***hot liquids in the blender***please be careful! When blended, pour into a pot and with the rest of the broth over medium heat. Add the worcesterchire sauce and soy milk. If you like an extra creamy soup you can add some sour cream and a little dill. So yummy and a very beautiful shade of red. Enjoy!

how festive!

2008-10-31T06:19:00.000-07:00

We woke up this am to frost covered lawns and car windows. Burrrr. But it is suppose to turn out to be a beautiful day for the trick or treating.
Lately for breakfast for the past couple of months I have been making smoothies. When we were in Northern California we went to the smoothie place and they made a delicious smoothie called Bugs Life. I have been trying to recreate it and I think I have done it! (hahahhaahhaaaaa...(evil laugh....))
I think the key here is having a powerful blender. I LOVE our Blendtec.

16 oz. carrot juice
1-2 frozen bananas (they have to be frozen or else you won't get that ice creamy consistency)
5 dates (pitted)
big handful of walnuts

Blend away!

I could eat/drink these 3 times a day... They are healthy right?

voting anyone?

2008-10-29T06:38:00.000-07:00

The weather has changed here quite considerably and this is the perfect warm me up meal. A few friends have asked me for the recipe but I actually haven't made this since I moved from Portland. But I think this is the same recipe, if not better. Oh, I decided not for any particular reason that this is the perfect (one pot) meal to eat while thumbing through the "Information for Voters Guide."

1 leek chopped (or a small onion)
2 cloves of garlic minced
one package of sausage sliced( trader joe's sells a 5 pack, with many varieties)
2 cups of broth (I used chicken)
2 cups of water
2 cups of rice (I used organic brown basnati rice but the California blend at TJ's works well too)
1 can white beans
1 bunch of Dinosaur kale (aka lacinato kale)

In your big pot ( I used a casserole pot with a lid) saute the leek and garlic with about 2 Tb. of olive oil and salt and pepper.
Add the sausage and brown a little bit.
Add the rice and stir for about 15-30 seconds. Then add the broth and water. Stir, then add beans and kale. Then put a lid on it. Bring to a boil and turn down the heat. Try not to stir too much because the steam from the rice is cooking the kale. In about 20-25 min, voila!

There is something so delicious about the combination of dinosaur kale, white beans, and sausage.

While I know who I am voting for (go obama) nationally, it is the local stuff that I need reading up on.
Enjoy!

warm feet

2008-10-24T09:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I am not a big fan of Crocs but, I am a HUGE fan of warm feet. With the temperature falling and the floors getting cold my feet were not toasty warm as they use to be.
We bought some of these for our little guy last year. And ever since we got them I have been a little jealous of his toasty feet. So for this winter season we splurged and got some.....