Homemade goodness

The other thing that we really got into is cooking stuff from scratch. Eric makes a great homemade pizza with Caputo flour; he stretches the dough by hand and even tosses it to get the appropriate "window-paning" effect. We also joined a CSA at one of the grocery stores and have been getting some great local produce - everything from veggies to bread to meat to dairy. It's been a great adventure in food. We've tried some new veggies such as swiss chard, patty pan squash (those cute ones that look like flowers), and meats such bison, grass fed beef, etc. And because of trying new foods, it's really forced us to find some interesting recipes such as black bean and swiss chard empanadas with homemade dough. The girls really liked them. I even made it with soaked black beans vs. canned black beans. It was quite the undertaking but a lot of fun.

With the CSA, we've also gotten a ton of squash so not only have we been making zucchini bread every few days (and frozen for later enjoyment) with stuff from our garden, we made some great zucchini fries, and this great zucchini - egg casserole. It was so colorful, I couldn't resist taking pictures. Check it out.

Take away the garden veggies and I've been making (not lately) homemade granola - which is delicious with yogurt or as a cereal - and granola bars. You can not go wrong with either of these in case you're interested in trying them.

Also, check out these BLTs. We use Fritz's Smoked Meats thick cut bacon (a local favorite) and discovered a great garlic mayonaise from another recipe and it turns out awesome. It's perfect this time of year with fresh tomatoes. Our suggestion - just find some good bacon. If you're looking for another good sandwich for tomatoes, pair a good tomato with some fresh slices of mozzarella and fresh basil. Yummy! Grill it to melt the mozzarella; you can also squeeze out some of the juices from the tomato slices by pressing it between paper towels) to decrease the soggy factor.

Oh - I can't forget my Saturday trips to the local farmers market. I have this thing for getting blackberries and blueberries from one particular farmer. He's become my supplier. Before they are out of season I have no doubt we'll have a freezer full of berry goodness to be enjoyed throughout the non-local fruit season - fresh blueberry pancakes, blackberry cobbler, smoothies, etc.

Fast forward to summer

It's been quite some time since I last posted. I guess that's what happens when you get back in the daily grind - you blink and it's summer's end. Yikes!

Well, since my last post, spring arrived and so did a new garden in the backyard. It's quite a nice 12x6 plot for a new gardener. This is in addition to the 4x8 community garden plot just down the road. This has been a fun experiment since I can't even seem to grow potted flowers. So far, we've been able to harvest lots of zucchini and basil. (Oops - I guess I have some carrots in the community garden...I wonder how those are doing now.) I'm trying my hand at growing San Marzano tomatoes so that we can make our own spaghetti sauce. Those are coming along slowly. I'm still hopeful about those. As far as the zucchini - we've been baking a lot of zucchini bread. Who knows, if you're around here, you may get some in a goody bag.

We also went on a nice family vacation to Whistler and Vancouver, B.C. for my cousin Jason's wedding. We went around the July 4 holiday and spent some wonderful days in Whistler hiking, walking around the village and then on to Vancouver for fun in the city and the wedding.

School is just around the corner now so we are gearing up for one more vacation before school starts - Disneyworld. This should be so fun. The girls are really looking forward to it - seeing Mickey, Minnie, and everyone else. Eliza is also hoping to go to Mickey's Clubhouse. More to come on that vacation...

Pizza, art, and cupcakes

Molly just turned 6 years old - I can't believe it! Where has 6 years gone! We were in the midst of planning her birthday party when she changed her mind of doing paint-your-own pottery at a store downtown (with someone else cleaning up the mess) to having a pizza party (and now the mess is at our own house). It threw me for a loop but, in the end, it turned out rather nice. We were able to have a five of her school friends over to make their own pizzas, create their own art masterpiece, and decorate cupcakes. Highlights from the whole shindig:

• Making Grandma's cake icing recipe from scratch (need to practice that recipe just a little bit) tinting the icing ourselves! Molly was giving me pointers based on her experience with Grandma.


• Using the dough docker on the pizza dough is always fun (if you don't know what a dough docker is, visit Shakespeare's in Columbia - it's the thing they roll on the dough to make little holes, so the crust doesn't have big bubbles).


• "Taste of the Hill" pizza sauce from Urzi's in St. Louis, yummy - enough said.


• 550 degree double ovens to bake the pizzas just like (almost) in the restaurants. It only takes about 5 minutes per pizza!


• Painting their canvases but even more fun was mixing paint colors to create new hues.


• Decorating the cupcakes with lots of icing


• (This one's purely for me...) Timing the activities just right so that I had enough time to clean up the table for the next round of activities.

Here's a short video from the party!