Acts of Kindness…NINE

Yesterday was my oldest son’s ninth birthday and we embarked on nine random acts of kindness as a way to celebrate that day. It’s something we’ve never actually shared with him since he arrived and departed at the same moment. And, as regular readers know, we’ve done different things each year to commemorate his too-short life.  Here’s last year’s post. And now for this year’s version…it’s really become one of my very favorite days!

Thanks to all of you who follow and “Like” and comment and show love on Facebook – you know who you are.  For you, it’s just a recap. Oh, and for more on the whole Kindness-as-a-way-to-remember project, go here.

We started the morning with a note in the mailbox for the mailman:

It was a hand-made thank you note from the boys with a Sonic gift card.

RAK #2:  Adopt-A-Soldier

My little helper (and his pet hedgehog) at the post office.

We mailed off a care package to a platoon of soldiers in a remote area of Afghanistan.  There’s a great list of things they like to receive at the Adopt-A-Soldier website with plenty of detailed instructions.  Also, I got the best service I’ve ever witnessed at the post office when they found out what I was trying to mail…so that was a bonus.

RAK #3: Book Donation

The elementary school in our neighborhood was having a used book drive…easy, breezy choice! I got to clean out the kids’ bookshelves and the library got some new goods!

RAK #4: Animal Defense League

We delivered a bunch of items from their wish list to the facility…and then we walked around and paid a lot of attention to the critters there.  What a great facility it seems to be…so clean and well-kept…open access to all the animals and lots of outdoor spaces. We had a great time there and even managed to NOT come home with extra animals (which made Ron very happy.)

RAK #5: Hidden money at the Dollar Store

The boys had a lot of fun doing this one – stealthily sneaking throughout the toy section at the Dollar Store and stashing little envelopes that said “Open Me” which held $1.10 (you know, to cover tax.)  :)  Lincoln really wanted to stick around and see if we could watch someone find it…which I admit would have been fun.

RAK #6: Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas

Seriously, this is one of my favorite programs on the planet. They do amazing, inspiring, heart-wrenching work here…and I hope beyond hope that all the kids I love never need any of their services. But I do feel more peaceful just knowing they are out there doing such important, life-changing things.  They also have an online wish list and the boys were delighted to stock up on art supplies and snacks for us to donate to their groups.

The place is littered with teddy bears…every kid who comes to programs there gets one as a comfort buddy.  Whit clearly wanted to take that one home. (Which would have been better than a dog from the shelter!)

RAK #7: Flowers and cards and hugs

Several years ago my dad’s aunt spent her last years in an assisted living facility fairly close to our house. It has changed names and ownership several times since then, but we spent a fair amount of time there when Lincoln was very small. And nothing lights up a place like that quite like children, right?  So we descended upon their lobby and dining room this afternoon armed with homemade cards, a huge bundle of carnations and endless hugs. If I wouldn’t have been so busy trying to keep Whitman out of trouble, I probably would have teared up several times. It was easily my favorite part of the day.

Lincoln and Whit wooing the ladies with flowers and hugs. I adore the woman’s face with the carnation in this picture.

Lincoln with “Nonnie D” who would have liked him to stay longer.

RAK #8: SAMM Ministries

There are no photos from this RAK…the facility has security measures and I couldn’t manage the bags of stuff we were delivering and a camera all while trying to keep Whit from taking over the place. But I think everyone knows what they need at homeless/transitional housing shelters…big boxes of diapers and laundry detergent and scads of toothbrushes and toothpaste, etc.  The volunteers were delighted to see it all. And I had one of the best conversations of the day with the boys as we were leaving…they had been watching the people walk in and out while in the car and Lincoln had plenty of questions about what it means to be “homeless” and he was really trying to wrap his brain around the big boxes of diapers were we delivering. “So who’s babies are they? Those babies don’t have a home?” “What’s it like inside? Like an apartment or more like a hotel?” and my favorite, “Do people want to be homeless or does it happen by accident?” Which, of course, has a much more complicated answer than I could really give him…but a great conversation nonetheless.

And finally…. RAK #9: Park Clean-Up Egg Hunt

I had planned to head to a park and do a little cleaning up, but the parks by our house happen to all be very well taken care of, so there wasn’t much to do. I was semi-prepared for that to be the case…and it was almost dark by the time we got there anyway…so, Plan B: an egg hunt!

The flash didn’t make for such a great pic of the boys…but they sure had a blast hiding eggs with their flashlights all over the playground area at the park. And a few quick games of hide-and-seek in the dark might have also occurred. I think if I didn’t have to work in the morning, I’d be tempted to head back out there and watch the kids who get surprised when they show up to play tomorrow!

So there you are…all 9 RAKs in one place.

One of my favorite days concludes…and I feel full and blessed and grateful.  So, so many of you shared in this day, participated in RAKs of your own in Wheeler’s honor and I can’t begin to express to you how warm and fuzzy it makes me feel to have his name spoken and written and shared all over the place in the spirit of kindness and selflessness. I have so much peace knowing that, even though his life did not turn out the way I wanted it to at all, that it continues to have meaning and momentum and a legacy of its own. And for that, I thank you – my friends and family and MISSters and readers.

And lastly, good night my dear, sweet birthday boy.

These nine years don’t look like what I expected them to…but I remain humbled by your lessons and gifts and legacy. Your soul continues to be a source of comfort for me and inspiration to others…and I am just as proud of you as I would be were you running down a soccer field or handing me a report card. Thank you for choosing me as your mom – it continues to be one of the greatest honors in my life.

All my love for all time -

Mom

Paleo…heard of it?

I’m aware that I have been fairly absent from here for the past few weeks.

I’ve been experimenting, again.

I’m not really ready to divulge all the things that have gone on in the past few weeks, but I will say that I’m over 3 weeks into a 30-day-trial of a paleo-style food plan.

“What’s Paleo?” you might be asking.  Yeah, me, too.  And I’m by no means an expert at this stage of things, but I have read a lot, tried several meal plans, read some more, bought a couple of books, scoured some blogs and forums, looked up some research data and then did a little more reading….so I feel like I know more now than I did three weeks ago, that’s for sure.

There’s quite a bit of information out there about a Paleo-based nutrition plan…but here are the places with my favorite explanations:

Mark’s Daily Apple

Robb Wolf’s Paleo Solution

The Whole 9 Life

I’ve been doing the Whole 30 Program from the Whole9 website…it’s part life-style change and part cleanse and I’m already astounded by the impact it is having on me.  In a good way.

So consider this a teaser post…as I’ll wrap up officially when the 30 days are up. But I can tell you I’m already planning on a short break and then starting right over again with another 30-day plan.

In the meantime, here’s some of the stuff I’ve been eating:

Sweet potato with broiled barramundi and zucchini, summer squash and peppers

Those are zucchini “noodles” made with a julienne peeler and steamed for just a few minutes.

Lots of roasted vegetables

Zucchini cakes

Homemade pesto…on eggs!

Lots of salads full of crazy vegetables (like this wrinkly cucumber!)

Tons of that roasted okra I’ve been raving about

Plenty of eggs, all styles (photo credit: clothesmakethegirl)

Grilled and roasted chicken (photo credit life ambrosia)

Steaks of all varieties (photo credit myrecipes)

and grilled shrimp – one of my favorites! (photo credit sunset)

 

I thought I’d show you that before we talk about all the things I HAVEN’T been eating!  Stay tuned for the update at the end of the month…

 

Roasted Okra

While it is getting harder and harder to find fresh, home-grown-style tomatoes at the farmer’s markets, one thing that is still available in abundance is okra. I was officially addicted to okra this summer.  We had tons of it in our CSA share every week…and while I’m a gumbo fan, I was really happy to discover how easy it is to just roast it.

Chopped, drizzled in olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper…25-35 minutes in a 425° oven…

 

…and the slime totally disappears!  The okra is almost crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. Sometimes for lunch, it’s all I would eat. The whole pan, of course…

 

…and I also would add garlic or onion powder occasionally. There’s still time…run out and grab a bunch of okra and see if you can demonstrate a little more will power than I.

Happy Fall-is-almost-here Everyone!

 

Zucchini Bread

We are still enjoying the bounty of our CSA share every week. Honestly, I’m not sure what I’ll do with one more cucumber or squash (although my oldest is enjoying the pickles immensely.  Maybe I’ll post about those, too.)  The zucchini, however, doesn’t present a problem. I just keep making bread and sticking it in the freezer. I know there are other great things to do with zucchini – like roasting it – have you done that?  Yum.  But, I really like having loaves of bread stuck away for the future.

 

This particular recipe is a hybrid of about 3 other recipes that I kept toying with…and while I’m not going to say it’s “healthy,” I will say it is considerably healthier than any of the original recipes.  I cut the oil down by more than half and substituted applesauce. I nearly doubled the zucchini and reduced the sugar by about half as well.  (I omitted the walnuts…though that would be some extra protein and good fat…you could certainly add them in if that floats your boat.)

 

It freezes very well and also keeps in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. If you have an abundance of zucchini, I recommend making a double or triple batch for the freezer. The last time I made it I had left over batter that wasn’t quite enough for a loaf, so I made muffins.  They had all disappeared by the next morning. I only ate one. No one else is talking, of course. Suffice it to say, next time I’m making more muffins!

 

A lot of zucchini recipes will give you elaborate instructions for getting all the water out of the grated zucchini. I’m pretty lazy about stuff like that (see tomato sauce) and really don’t want to spend the time wringing water out of vegetables. So I don’t. I grate all the zucchini a day or two ahead of time, layer it lasagna-style in a bunch paper towels in a big Tupperware container and stick it in the fridge. The paper towels soak up most of the liquid and the zucchini is crisp and cold when it’s time to go into the batter. It seems to work out just fine.

 

 

This recipe has proven to be pretty flexible…so if you want it sweeter, add a little more sugar….moister, add more oil or applesauce. As long as the ratios stay pretty close it really turns out every time. So consider this a template for your own experimentations…enjoy!

 

Almost-Healthy Zucchini Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 eggs

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

2-3 cups grated zucchini (I use three)

Grease and flour two 8×4 inch loaf pans. Preheat oven to 325°. Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, soda, cinnamon in a bowl. Beat eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla and sugars together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat well. Stir in zucchini until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.  Bake for 50 minutes (up to 60…use tester until it comes out clean.) Cool in pan on rack for at least 15 minutes, then remove and cool completely.

Asparagus Tart

I think I promised someone I would post this recipe after Easter. As you can see, I’m really on top of my to-do list!

We had a lovely Easter potluck at my aunt’s house and one of the things I took was this tart.

So easy and delicious…and pretty!

Just a few steps…blanching asparagus, then a quick ice bath:

Roll out and pre-bake some puff pastry:

Spread the cheese mixture all over the pastry:

Lay out the cooled asparagus:

And it is ready for the oven. Really, it’s that easy.

I originally pinned this recipe on Pinterest as part of my “Holidays: Easter” board. And I’m happy to have it in my repertoire for it’s simplicity and because I love asparagus and having a new way to use it.

This tart is perfect at room temperature, so great for summer when you want don’t want to be serving things hot.

Asparagus and Cheese Tart  from FoodNetwork

• 1 pound asparagus, trimmed
• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry (about 1/2 pound), thawed
• All-purpose flour, for dusting
• 1 cup grated fontina cheese (about 3 ounces)
• 1 cup grated gruyere cheese (about 3 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon minced shallot
• 2 large egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons whole milk (or almond milk)
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Fill a large bowl with ice water. Bring about 1 inch of water to a boil in a large skillet. Add the asparagus; cook until bright green and crisp-tender, 2 to 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the asparagus. Drain and transfer to the ice water to stop the cooking; drain and pat dry. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

 Roll out the puff pastry into a 10-by-16-inch rectangle on a floured surface. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet and prick all over with a fork. Bake until light golden brown, about 12 minutes. Let cool slightly on the baking sheet.

 Meanwhile, mix the fontina, gruyere, shallot, egg yolks, milk, nutmeg and a pinch each of salt and pepper in a bowl until combined. Spread the cheese mixture evenly over the puff pastry, leaving a 1-inch border on all sides. Toss the asparagus with the olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste. Arrange the asparagus on the tart and bake until the cheese mixture is slightly puffy, 15 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle with the lemon zest. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The kitchen is overrun…and Father’s Day!

Each year at about this time I have one of my favorite “problems.”  Remember this? Well this year we have the bounty of our CSA share, a generous co-worker and my in-laws’ incredible garden (they have tomato plants growing “wild” in their compost pile that are producing more tomatoes than any plants in my garden ever have – true story.) I feel kind of fortunate, actually, that my garden is full of weeds at the moment – we never made the time to get anything in it before it got too hot…you know, back in February – because I don’t know what I’d do with any more vegetables!

Tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, basil , squash, and more tomatoes. I’ve made zucchini cakes and zucchini bread…two kinds of pickles…squash casserole and even pickled some peppers. But we’re not talking about any of that today. Tomatoes are what we are talking about today. I’m not a huge fan of canning, though I wish I were. But I do like to make big batches of things and freeze them. Like tomato sauce.

I read a bunch of different recipes for tomato sauce and settled on a combination of two, with some adjustments for my own laziness. I’m not going to peel tomatoes. I’m just not going to do it. And I sort of seeded them…if you count cutting them in half and quickly squeezing them over the sink as “seeding.” What can I say? I like to cook, but come on, I also have a million other things I must get to before midnight.

So with those exceptions, I generally followed the recipes and wound up with a tomato sauce that my husband said was one of the best he’s ever tasted – and that included all those trips to Italy…I was sure to clarify that.  He made sure I kept my notes. And also wanted to know how much of a stash was going in the freezer. Oh, and could he please have this for Father’s Day over gnocchi followed by blueberry pie?

This sauce is not unlike the Bolognese sauce…but without the meat. And I only reduced twice instead of three times.  Oh, another thing the recipe does not call for is the blender. I added that part to make up for the fact that I did not peel them.  And also because I think it looks prettier when it’s all smooth like that.

I think it clings to the pasta and meatballs better when it’s smooth like this… divine!

And so went Father’s Day dinner…and the boys liked it as much as he did, so that’s a bonus.  (I didn’t tell them about all the other vegetables that were in there!)

Followed up by blueberry pie with “yuck” cream (as we call it in our house thanks to my younger brother’s honesty at a semi-fancy restaurant one time when we were little. The chef asked him how he liked it just as my brother skimmed a big spoonful of real whipped cream, sans sugar, off the top of his dessert…disappointed and confused that it didn’t taste like CoolWhip as he’d expected, he looked up and said, “It’s YUCK.” Cue: my mother’s mortification. My brother has never lived it down. However, that chef would be pleased to know that CoolWhip has rarely, if ever, been in my house, I just can’t eat the stuff, and I happily whip fresh cream when we need it…with a little bit of sugar and vanilla, just in case my brother shows up.)

A perfect pie for the Fourth of July, if you are so inclined.  The recipe can be found here.

And finally, tomato sauce…

Tomato Sauce

6-8 pounds of fresh tomatoes

2 TB olive oil

2 TB butter

8-10 cloves of garlic, minced

1 large onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

4-6 carrots, chopped

2 cups vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

2 cups red wine

1/4 – 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped (depending on taste)

Cut tomatoes in halves or quarters and squeeze out as many seeds as you can. Coarsely chop tomatoes and set aside.

In a large stock pot over medium heat, melt butter and add olive oil. Add garlic, onions, bell pepper and carrots and cook until they start to soften, 5-8 minutes. Add tomatoes, vegetable stock and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a low simmer and let reduce for at least 90 minutes. (Watch for the lines on the inside of the pot to tell how much liquid has cooked off – it should be at least an inch, two is better.)  Repeat with the wine and reduce for 2 hours. Add chopped basil for the last 10 minutes and remove bay leaves. Allow to cool enough to go into a blender (or use an immersion blender in the pot) and process until smooth.

If freezing, be sure to cool completely before placing in bags for freezer.  Also, I made this the following week with the next batch of tomatoes and I omitted the peppers and carrots…simpler flavor, but just as yummy.

Summertime…and the very best husband.

Well, summer is officially here again.  (And I say “officially” because summer weather is pretty much always here…so without the calendar, sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.)

That means I’m already fantasizing about making it through the next 3-4 months without turning on my oven. It’s possible, right?

Especially if you are married to my husband. Who is totally OK with me putting this on the table and saying, “Dinner’s ready!”

The CSA shares these days have tomatoes in them. Beautiful, flavorful tomatoes. And so much basil that it smells up the whole house…which no one minds one little bit. I honestly think I could eat this every day and be perfectly happy.

There’s plenty of ways to have your Caprese Salad…or Insalata Caprese, if you want to get technical. And, according to a tiny bit of investigating, the original salad (popular since the ’50s) is dressed only with salt and olive oil. I personally can’t do without the balsamic vinegar. But I do love the “requirement” for buffalo mozzarella. Heaven.

So here’s to oven-free meals…and fantastic husbands.

Happy Summer everyone!

(Another great Caprese Salad favorite, not as kabobs and with the balsamic reduced…here.)