Lasagnette?

I think the picture speaks for itself. Pea Puree Lasagnette from Poor Girl Gourmet is a winner. We made the noodles from scratch, so it did take that extra 1/2 hour (~15 to mix & knead, then the time to roll the noodles out). Oh, & I did add an extra layer of noodles. Beyond that, the recipe itself went together quickly.

The bacon & butter won over my picky 3 year old and she ate her whole piece. TJ gave it rave reviews & asked for more tomorrow. The older girls ate theirs without fuss. :) LX was the only one to abstain & that's because he's not to the age to appreciate gooey fillings yet (he's a finger food man). Definitely a recipe to make again!

Garden Pasta

Remember that fantastic bounty my little garden gave me? I plucked some red chard (front, right) and pan fried it with a little onion, then tossed it with pasta, Parmesan & a little EVOO. Yum!
On the side are the neighbor's lemon cucumbers. They were soaked in oil & vinegar, then egged & breaded, & pan-fried. I've never been a fan of cucumber, but these I enjoyed. TJ likes the seeds!

Cheese Pretzels

I made dough. Wonderful, fabulous, cheesy dough. I'd purchased Baby and Toddler Meal Planner by Annabel Karmel at a local shop whilst living in UK. I haven't made this recipe since then! She calls for Gruyère or cheddar, -I normally have cheddar- but I substituted Swiss & Parmesan. So stinking good.

Pedal Date

Yesterday, I asked Ben if he'd like to bicycle to the county park with me.

Today, we took a ride! (yes, I'm having helmet issues; apparently if you fit one to your head, then the helmet doesn't later fit over pigtails) We rode up to the county park (2.5 miles). When we arrived, we strapped the baby's helmet up so he wouldn't be asphyxiated while sleep-riding, then Ben wanted to explore along the trail (which goes all the way from downtown along the river to the next city outside the valley) and complete our ride home on surface streets.

We rode a modest 2.9 miles to the lot we normally park for walking the trail. The trail was nice, we'd actually walked most of it not knowing the park was just that extra bit further. We refilled the water bottle at the trail head & took to the streets. The last 3.7 miles went well, and the baby was stirring, so we stopped for ice cream on the way home.

When we got home, I made Mega Cheesyburgers (from Saving Dinner) again, with Lebanese Carrot Sticks (the New Preserves book). Satisfying!

Behind the Garden Gate

Took a peek in the garden.. It's a mess!

See that lovely chard? And the Romaine lettuce is getting too big!

A lovely mess that needs weeding!

The basil & parsley are huge. I've got to get the basil processed before I lose it to the winter chill.. Of course, it was mid to high 90s this weekend, so I've got a couple days.

See this lovely? I'd forgotten I planted it. When it came up I was a little lost. I thought at first it was summer squash, which didn't make as much sense with the planting time. Then I saw these lovelies:

That jarred the old memory a bit: butternut squash.

Now, I've got to decide what goes in the patch where the potatoes were.

Spud-Tastic!

Trying to live without using credit can drive one crazy at first. Oops, I spent all my cash well before payday. So, now I'm feeling stuck. It's my own fault -I can't go lots of places, but I have to focus on what I can do. What's worse, though, is that I'm not used to cooking everything. Going into the dinner hour with half a loaf of bread & 5 hungry mouths...
I pulled out the Baby and Toddler Meal Planner book (Annabel Karmel) & just flipped through it. The Lentil & Vegetable Purée caught my eye. Hmm, I have everything but the sweet potatoes in the kitchen. Then I remembered the garden. We'd found one growing in the cupboard & stuck it in the potato patch. It flowered a while ago.. Maybe it's got something for me.

Fantastic! There's a few good sized ones, I could have left the plant growing longer. The potato plants were starting to die off & I found some more spuds under them.

I harvested the whole bounty into my apron and surprised the children. I feel so blessed by this! All these lovely potatoes grew in my yard & I hardly had to do anything but water.

After a quick rinse, MissA peeled, I chopped & into the pot went a handful of sweet potatoes. Fabulous!

Bucket Bikes

I love the idea of using my bike as a mode of transportation, not just an exercise machine. The weird clothes and sweat just don't seem necessary for being on a bike. But, with 5 children to get around, what's the best solution?
I've been looking into bicycling accessories for a while. Most recently, I've had a bike trailer, but it's aging - the safety strap broke, the connector arm is somewhat bent. The older 3 children can go about 3 miles without too much complaint, but MissC isn't on a pedal bike yet & LG is just too little.

With the loss of the trailer, we're only taking short rides to the store. I'd like to ride to that park, but I'm not sure MissC could even make the library comfortably.

We'll probably get another bike trailer, but what I think would be fabulous to get is a bucket bike. The Dutch have just about perfected the art of delivery bikes. The only distributor I knew of in the states is in Chicago: http://www.defietsfabriek-usa.com/
Ah, to be able to test ride one!

But, perhaps.. http://www.mydutchbike.com/about/ I'll have to stop by & see if I can or if they just order them in from abroad..

Goodbye Facebook

I deleted my Facebook account.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed using the service. I felt somewhat connected to others. All summer, a conversation with some random friend was available at almost any hour.

Suddenly, though, with the start of school, no one is out there. When I started watching the time, I found I was checking every hour. Funny how in the season where I need some human contact most, humanity always fails.

What a grand reminder this is of the first commandment: No other gods.

Expansion

We went for a picnic at the county park. It's only 2 1/2 miles from the house.. Maybe we can bike there..

Pasta

Since I've been off my feet, I've been an insomniac & just fatigued all day. My foot is finally feeling better. The bump near my toe joint (?) went down a day or two ago & I've been wanting to try this recipe for a while. It's been years since I made pasta!

Yes, I do prep work with the Little Guy on my back. He loves watching the mixer do its deed & has a much better view up there than on a chair where his fingers are at risk. This also happens to be the best way to get a tired baby to sleep when all needs are satisfied. I'm holding him. He's content, safe, in the conversation, and capable of seeing what's going on. After all, if I ignore him, I'm just a hair tug away! & I hate hair pulling!

So, pasta! The recipe is a basic egg pasta recipe, so perhaps the length of kneading time helps it more, or that substitutes not using the crank at the end. It does call for flavorings in the pasta, which most don't. I don't have the Italian pasta flour, so I'm trying this with cake flour (big no no? I don't know). If this doesn't go well, I'll give it a go with all-purpose. I like whole wheat, but figured that I need to learn the "art" before I get too crafty. Maybe I'll pull out the old pasta book I have & make green spinach pasta..

The girls are "doing teamwork" to work the dough. The dough seemed a bit dry, but with a good pressing, it's come together nicely. TJ put a stockpot of water on to boil & we'll be enjoying our "House-Made Pasta" in no time!

Delicious!

A Letter to the Principal

Dear Mr. Principal,
TJ is a student living in my dorm. He has a brilliant mind, yet is wasting it. His room was left a mess -against regulatory policy- and when he failed to clean it, those excess things were removed. He has since gone into the storage department & removed the items he desired.
Also, as per regulations, he has certain set "chores" to do each morning. Today is Thursday, & it has come to my attention that the said work was left undone. Indeed, the scanty work he performed this AM was not complete.
Please advise me on how to proceed with this young man. I perceive him to have an underlying brilliance that I do not wish to be tainted with such tarnish.
If you would like to schedule a telephone interview with the student, please advise me of a good time.
Thank you, the staff.

Spelling Course

In class today, I introduced the SWR Learning Log to the girls. As we went along, I explained that we would be writing example words that include the letter making the different sounds. This page was a learning experience for me!

For the letter A, its sounds are /a/, /A/, /ah/. The example words were /a/: am; /A/: apron; /ah/ wasp.. MissB spelled that last one W-O-S-P.

When we got to Y as a vowel, I again explained that we would be using Y to say it's vowel sounds, /i/, /I/. The first word was gym, /j-i-m/, using a G for the /j/ sound. They both wrote G-I-M.. And Y also says /I/, as in cry, /k-r-I/. Guess what? I want to cri, too.

Deep breath, they're just learning & will sort it out as they learn the rules.