Somethin' For Nothin' + Ready In No Time Pizza

Well, we survived Winter Break. I had intended it to be a pretty low-key week at home for the kids and I, and purposely didn't plan any extra activities or trips so that we could avoid spending extra money. My visions were of knitting and reading aloud in front of a cozy fire, hot chocolate and baking cookies... But life (or LIFE, as it sometimes seems) ended up botching the whole relax at home plan. Between family visiting and personal commitments, plus piles of academic work and "real" work, we didn't have much time to just hang out. Not that I'm complaining - this is part of being a grownup, after all. But I really wanted the kids to enjoy their time away from school this week. So on the couple days that I could find a few free hours, we got a little creative with no-cost activities... and then we revolutionized our pizza routine (recipe at the bottom of the page).

Given how little snow there was last year, we made sure to spend as much time outdoors as we could.

New snow friend!

We also took advantage of a sunny 50 degree day to have a picnic at a local landmark - a defunct fairground site. It's really cool because many furnishings are still there from when it was last used over 20 years ago, so it's almost like a ghost town. Each time I've walked around I've asked myself if I'm trespassing, but there isn't a sign or fence to keep people out, so I'll just keep going until somebody comes along and stops me, I guess.

A visiting Mama-san added to the adventure

I love this bleak landscape - makes me think of all the untold stories this place must hold...

Behind the bleachers at the racetrack - old concession tables and
vinyl tablecloths just waiting to be dusted off and used for our  picnic

We picked up a free museum pass from the library and went to check out some ancient mummies and sculptures. The museum also has an aquarium with fish, frogs, turtles and snakes. Plus a super-cool bat exhibit and a resident chameleon, too.

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful

We looooove marble, it's so cold and smooth...
and we promise we won't touch anything...

During school vacation week, the museum turned one of its galleries into a shantytown...no, just kidding. But they did put out a whole bunch of recycled materials, duct tape and markers, and let the kids go crazy building things. As I remarked to one parent we met there - better here than my living room!

I love this fort - it says, No Boys alowd. I meen it!

Wonder who's gonna clean all this up??

We also visited a library we'd never been to before in another town and picked up some goodies to bring home. Libraries are such wonderful places.

Any day now, I'm gonna learn to read!

Must have more books...more books!

Ready In No Time Pizza
When all the adventuring was over, we were very hungry. Thankfully we had a big batch of homemade dough in the refrigerator and pizza was on the table in under 30 minutes. I forgot to take a picture this time, but the pizza itself isn't the headline here, anyway. It's this wonderful way of making dough - all you need is 5 minutes to make a large batch that can sit in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Each time you want to bake a pie, you just pull out a ball of dough and stretch it to fit your pan, sprinkle on some toppings, and you're all set to go. The recipe comes from the book Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in 5 Minutes a Day. There are tons of variations, including gluten-free, all kinds of whole-grain crusts, etc. We really like the basic recipe, which takes on a nice sourdough flavor as it continues to ferment.

In a large plastic container with a lid, stir together:

• 3-1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 1 T granulated yeast
• 1-1/2 T kosher salt
• 7-1/2 cups unbleached flour (they use a scoop and sweep method to measure the flour consistently)

Mix it all together with a wooden spoon, then place the lid on top without sealing it and let the dough sit on the counter for two hours. After that, it's ready to use. Just put a little flour on your hands and scoop out a grapefruit-sized ball for each pizza round. Whatever you don't use can go in the fridge for 2 weeks and you don't want to stir it when you get more out, just scoop what you need. The flavor gets better as time goes by.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees and bake the pizza for about 12 minutes on the bottom rack. If you're using a sheet pan, remember to dust it with cornmeal or grease it with oil before you lay down the dough. Also, stretching it thin in the middle and leaving it thicker around the edges will help make sure the middle gets cooked all the way through. A light touch on the sauce helps with that, too. Buon Appetito!!!

Hurrah for Winter Break!
(Btw, this pose came waaaay too naturally for them.
I'm starting to worry we might have future cheerleaders on our hands...)

Winter Comfort Food + Cabin Fever

It is freakin' cold out there. Blame the Arctic wind (thanks for sharing, Canada), blame the cold front coming in off the Great Lakes, blame the bloody groundhog. It doesn't matter who you blame for the frigid temps, there's no avoiding the fact that meals this time of year need to be hot and they need to be substantial.

We're talking about hearty soups and stews, yes. Things that will warm you up and you can double/freeze for another week. But eating this kind of spoon-food day after day can become tiresome for a vegetarian. This is where roasted root vegetables come to the rescue. Their salty-sweet crunchy-tenderness make for a lovely break from all that mush. Even when it doesn't seem like there is time, it's still worth it to squeeze in a few extra minutes to preheat the oven, peel and quarter a couple sweet potatoes, a handful of parsnips, or a bunch of beets. While they cook, you can get the rest of the meal going, then relax and enjoy your glass of wine while the oven and stove do the rest.

The other night I put together a quick red lentil curry over brown rice (pictured above), but before I even got that going, I threw some sweet potatoes and beets into a 450-degree oven after being tossed in olive oil and kosher salt. The curry recipe was nearly as basic: saute a chopped onion, a couple smashed garlic cloves, and a grated thumb of ginger together, then stir in a teaspoon of cumin, a half teaspoon of coriander, and a teaspoon of curry. Stir in 3 cups water, bring to boil, then add 1 cup rinsed red lentils and simmer 30-40 minutes and salt to taste at the end. Served over rice (put the water on to boil before chopping onions for the curry) with a large dollop of plain yogurt on top, and we had some nice sweet and sour flavors going, but not much texture. Pairing it with roasted veggies played up the sweetness of the ginger, but it also gave us something to chew. A sprinkling of fresh cilantro leaves would have been great, too, but my freezer bag of herbs needs replenishing.

So don't forget about root veggies. Other good choices are celery root, rutabaga, turnips, carrots, potatoes (okay, technically not a root vegetable, but play along with me). Of course there are many more but these are likely to be at your local market. And when you are done cooking and everybody is going stir crazy from too many craft projects and too much quality together time in the house, get the heck outta there! 

Here are a few pics of what we've been up to lately...

Some old fabric, foam core and batting came together for a pelmet box window treatment
thanks to a great tutorial on a friend's lovely interior design blog

Enthusiastic skater - 1st time out on the ice!

What a trooper - never cries when she falls (often!)

A visit to the remarkable Phoenix sculptures at MassMOCA - made from all recycled parts. Can't imagine what they'll look like at their next installation inside the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan!

The girls love Sol LeWitt's mesmerizing wall art

Imagining herself covered in tattoos -
help me Lord!

Time to get back outside and enjoy Winter while it's here!

Pervasive Potlucks and the Perfect Pilaf

First I just have to say that there is something wonderful and wacky about having a blog and being able to see the "stats" behind the scenes. As I was writing this post just now, apparently someone in Canada typed into their search engine "myers briggs slow cooker recipes" and stumbled upon my blog. Bizarro, right? G, if it was you, I hope you found the recipe you were looking for!

Now onto today's long-overdue post, which is sadly lacking in a photo of the dish described below, but this is where imaginations come in handy. I do have several gratuitous pictures of the girls, though! :)

Potlucks and Pilaf

Sometimes I wonder whether I’ll ever truly leave the potluck phase of life. It was a no-brainer right after college, when we held potlucks in our first apartments because we were broke – I’m convinced that potlucks and happy hour buffets accounted for the majority of calories we consumed during that period (nachos bar at the Irish Times, anyone?). We showed off our newly acquired cooking skills (I’m still nostalgic about a mozzarella, basil, caramelized onion and sundried tomato-stuffed bread I used to make) and ate off mismatched plates. Later, coming home from the Peace Corps, we were broke again and eternally hungry from never getting quite enough food in our villages (actually it was often too much food, just not the foods we craved!). Stateside potlucks became a regular event where we commiserated about re-entry culture shock and saved our pennies for grad school.

After that, I seem to remember a few brief years of living the high life – eating in nice restaurants or getting takeout (even, gasp, several times a week!) and ordering expensive, complicated drinks at chic bars. Somehow over the last five years or so, potlucks have snuck up on me once again. I think it started with the economic downturn – fully catered holiday parties at work morphed into “dessert competitions” where everyone had to bring something from home. Then it was vegan holiday celebrations (not a fun crowd to hang with), classroom get-togethers (no nuts, please!), church coffee hours, community meetings and the like. We are definitely back in potluck land once again.

It’s not that I mind potlucks so much. Aside from the guarantee that I’ll eat more than I need to - buffet syndrome - I enjoy the low-key atmosphere, the nice variety of food, the overabundance of dessert options, the chance to converse about random topics with people I don’t know very well and won’t remember the name of the next time I run into them. The problem is that I never decide what to make until the last minute, and it usually turns out badly. Something I’ve never made before (like the brownie “bites” last week that I overcooked and couldn’t pry out of the mini-muffin pan). Something I’ve never transported before (tamales on a platter with no raised edge – car seat disaster). Something that looks a little weird and gets completely ignored (hibiscus iced tea with the blossoms still floating in it; chilequile casserole made with blue corn tortilla chips).  Something that takes way longer to make than I think it will and ensures that the hour just before the potluck will be very unpleasant for everyone in the house (handmade spring rolls).

Only the other day, when I literally had two potlucks back to back (bringing the week’s total to three, not counting the one I begged out of), did I finally happen upon the perfect potluck dish: Moroccan-Spiced Quinoa Pilaf. It’s easy and inexpensive to make with ordinary pantry ingredients, tastes good whether warm, room temp or chilled, and is both vegan and gluten free. My kids even like it enough to take a few bites just before dashing over to the dessert table. I doubt this is something that would go over very well if we lived in, say, the Midwest, but around here it holds its own among the rest of the potluck offerings. The recipe is based on one from the Fall section of the Clean Foods cookbook, with a few significant changes. Give it a try, and happy potlucking!

Moroccan-Spiced Quinoa Pilaf

• 1-1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed in a fine-mesh colander
• 2-1/4 cups water
• pinch salt

Bring the water to boil in a medium sauce pan and add the rinsed quinoa and salt. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes.

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• 1/8 tsp turmeric
• 3/4 tsp cumin

Heat the olive oil in a large medium skillet and saute the onion for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Stir in the spices and let cook one minute, adding a little bit of water when the spices stick. Turn off the heat.

• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup toasted, sliced almonds
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or cilantro
• salt and pepper to taste

When the quinoa is finished cooking, gently fold it into the onion and spice mixture. Stir in the remaining ingredients and serve hot, warm or cold.

Last of all...these pictures were all taken at Sophia's recent "7 & 1/2 Birthday Party" - a fun way to make up for her lack of birthday parties thus far (poor summer birthday kids). Before letting them loose at the cupcake decorating station, I challenged the kids to create silly vegetable creatures... and spotted more than a few of them nibbling in the process - who says you can't get kids to eat vegetables at a birthday party, ha!

The Power of Procrastination (and Decoration)

Don't you just find it incredible, the power of procrastination? Since I started taking classes this semester, it has amazed me how tasks and chores that I put off doing for months suddenly became urgent matters. Our house has never been so tidy; the ironing pile has never been so small. Today is December 2nd and I have a big paper due in a couple days, yet our entire house is decorated for Christmas - at least two weeks earlier than we've ever done it before. Now I'm sitting at the computer, needing to polish off the final paper draft, but for some reason there is a blog post that simply must be written...

Actually I don't have that much to say about cooking or abundance today. My mind is preoccupied with the controversy over GMO foods and whether there is enough scientific data to come down one way or another on their safety for people and the environment. Not to mention whether it's responsible to market them aggressively in developing countries where people have traditionally saved their seeds for planting, but now have to take out loans each year to buy GMO seeds and the special insecticides they are engineered to resist... What do you think about these issues? All I know is that I definitely need to think about all this some more before I can call my paper finished.

In the meantime, I wanted to share a few photos of some of the creativity that's been happening at our house lately. As much as I love playing and working outdoors in warm weather, I also really love cocooning indoors when it's chilly outside, and we've been having so much fun decorating our cozy little home over the past couple of months. Everything fall-oriented has now made way for Christmas-themed decorations, but I managed to take a few shots before packing it all away for next year.

I just love these adorable witches and ghosties. They are 100% Sophia - no grown-up input whatsoever.

Great things coming home from the school's weekly art class.

Even though it took me a couple of years to finally get around to finishing these projects, in the end I was very happy with the garland and blanket I made with an armful of wool sweaters that weren't getting much wear.

Finally, there was our table - I'm not big on collecting linens or anything, but a tablecloth I found for $5 on clearance at Crate and Barrel happened to coordinate with our everyday place mats and napkins so nicely, not to mention this adorable little sugar bowl I picked up for free at the swap shop last year.

I love how it looks filled with pine needles.

The last two pictures are just to remind us all that winter is officially approaching and we're beginning to have even more reasons to get outside once more...!

Fun at the school holiday fair!

Sending Lenten greetings to you all!!!

Culinary Stasis + Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chipotle Chili

There is maybe a half inch of snow on the ground and my children are going berserk playing in it. Scooping it into balls, making snow angels, forming it into little sculptures. Hours of fun. This is kind of how things have felt around here lately. Little blessings showing up all over the place. Making the most of each one of them. I'm starting to wonder if this might finally be a reprieve from all the heavy drama of recent months (years?) but don't want to jinx myself. All I know is, things seem relatively settled right now and I'm going to enjoy this feeling as long as I can.

A few pics of some of the little blessings we've been enjoying as of late...

Snow enthusiasts!

A surprise flower from the yard that managed to survive our first hard frost - maybe a relative of the periwinkle?

Succulents I brought indoors to hang out with the fairies for the winter. In the left back corner you can just make out the tiny nasturtiums I salvaged from outside plants that got frozen - they seem to be recovering nicely.

Our sweet and saucy little witch posing in front of a recent wonderful change -  the reopening of the general store/cafe that is the center of our little village. That means plenty more opportunities to run into friends and neighbors!

We recently discovered a great sunny trail near our house, with fantastic views of the surrounding hills.

And it's been lovely to have more chances than usual to hang out with my amazing stepson, who never ceases to inspire me - big hurrah for all the fall birthdays in our  family!

Part of what's working for us, I've realized, is that we're beginning to develop routines, something our household has never really had before. There is a joke between Stephen and I that whenever we discover a restaurant or hotel we like, we'd better fully appreciate it at that moment because it's highly unlikely that we'll ever make it back there again. That's just how we seem to roll - neither one of us is much of a habit-former, and we each tend to generate a fair amount of extra unpredictability in our lives. Maybe it's no surprise when you consider that the only Myers-Briggs attribute we share happens to be P, and "perceptive" types supposedly like to keep their options open...

In the realm of food, for me the words "routine" and "cooking" have never fit together. If I have a craving, I usually just drop everything and make whatever will fulfill it. That works just fine when you have only one other person with a limited sense of smell/taste to satisfy and no picky children whining that they don't like what you made. Cooking to meet my own cravings also worked when I had plenty of time to spend in the kitchen and a large food shopping budget. But over the past few years I've found out that this kind of cooking is not the best way to produce family meals. In fact, it might actually be the worst approach!

Just like with everyone else, as the kids have grown and our personal commitments have increased, our family's schedule has gotten busier and busier. Finally, I've gotten to the point where my mind no longer has the mental capacity to dream up my ideal meal each evening. Okay, I still do have days like yesterday, when I served French onion soup for dinner (if there is a more pointless food to serve hungry vegetarians I don't know what it is, but hey, I wanted it so I made it!) But then I made a batch of kale-mango yogurt smoothies for dessert because I felt guilty about not serving any protein or vegetables in the meal.

For the most part, though, my cooking lately has become uncharacteristically predictable. And rather than make me cranky, it's actually making me feel calm. No more performance jitters, hoping they'll like what I made. No more regrets that I blew twenty bucks on fancy ingredients I just had to have for a certain recipe. And no more frustration from trying to fit in an hour each day to make dinner. Saying no is hard for me, but I have finally learned to just say no to all of that.

So, you might be wondering, what have I been saying yes to? For starters, yes to making our tried and true favorites on a regular basis, even *gasp* once a week! So we now have a chili night, a pasta night, a soup night, a pizza night, and an eggs night. And when I make a dish, I double it and freeze half for another week. That also goes for rice, quinoa and pasta - they don't get frozen, but the extra is served a few days later.

I also recently scored a slow cooker at Goodwill and that's been interesting to use. It still feels a little funny to be chopping onions at 7:30 am, but it's also pretty damn satisfying to leave the house with a clean kitchen in the morning and know that when we all return at 5:30 that night, a delicious Moroccan stew will be waiting for us. The other cool thing about this plan is that it leaves me with enough time to continue making the things from scratch that I care about - bread, pita, granola, yogurt, muffins, cookies - because I don't spend so many hours planning and executing time-consuming meals anymore.

Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chipotle Chili
(this recipe comes from the delightful vegan cookbook author Robin Robertson)

Saute in 1 T olive oil for 5 minutes on medium heat:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, pressed

 Add the onions, etc. to slow cooker turned to low heat. Stir in:

• 1T minced chipotle chil in adobo sauce
• 1 T chili powder
• 1-1/2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 15-oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 15-oz can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1-1/2 c water
• 1/2 tsp salt

Cook in the slow cooker on low heat for 6-8 hours. It's okay if it cooks longer than that, too. Serve over rice or on top of polenta or tortilla chips, or drain the liquid and fill a burrito. Sprinkle avocado slices on top, or shredded sharp cheddar cheese, or crushed tortilla chips. Trust me, these will be leftovers you'll look forward to eating the next time.