random garden photos

our little mandrine orange tree:)

Henry Cowell SP

You can often find us wandering around at Henry Cowell State Park in Felton. Often we meet other families there. Today we enjoyed the company of my dear friend Alison and her daughter Viola. Henry Cowell is one of my favorite places to take the boys... the paths are stroller friendly, lots of spots to stop and breastfeed, and beautiful, majestic redwood trees!!

pizza

mushroom and basil

eggplant and zucchini

Mmmmm, pizza! We usually have pizza once a week and I wanted to share my pizza dough recipes. I do use my bread oven to prep the dough, it's not necessary, but makes it a little easier. I do generally use organic white flour, but often substitute 1/2c polenta (or corn) flour and 1/2c wheat flour. If you have a good wheat flour recipe please let me know!!

Simple thin crust pizza-

I like this recipe because you can make it last minute and don't have to wait for the dough to rise or anything. Its very simple-

3c. flour

1pk yeast (or 2 tsp instant yeast)

1 tbs olive oil

1tsp salt

1 tbs honey (or agave, sugar)

1c water

I put ingredients in bread machine on dough setting for 10 min just to mix, then take out and roll out dough, no waiting. You could also just mix by hand. I don't know if the yeast is necessary, but it was in the original recipe so I use it.

-or-

Dough recipe #2

1c flat beer

2tbs butter

2tbs honey (or sugar)

1tsp salt

2 1/2c flour

2 1/4tsp yeast

I add in bread machine and use dough setting:) If you make by hand follow instructions on yeast package as far as temperature and rising time.

I usually precook the rolled out dough for 5-10 minutes or so in an 400* oven, then add marinara, pesto, cheese and toppings. Cook for about 15m, check after about 10m.

It's really quite simple once you've made it a few times and is kind of a treat that most people like. I usually make it on my husbands Friday:)

comfy little sweater

I adore this child!

I recently finished knitting Everest this sweater. I used color-grown (un-dyed) organic cotton. It's so soft and a little big on him, should keep him nice and warm on our chilly autumn mornings! I'm working on Kylan's and should have it done soon. I'm hoping to stitch a little design on the front, maybe a star or animal, but I am horrible at hand stitching, so I'll have to practice a bit first!

random photos

Ah, the amaryllis are blooming. They are everywhere in our yard, and there bloom always reminds me that the fall will soon be here:)

I couldn't get a good picture because Everest was convinced the camera was a phone he needed to talk on. Amazing child.
Persimmons!

I spent a little time in the garden today, weeded the beds and started some more leeks, chard, and peas. So much to do out there, so hard to make the time!

spirit babies

I found this on another blog and loves it, its about 'spirit babies', here is the original post-

http://asmalltribe.blogspot.com/2009/01/spirit-babies.html

gingerbread cookies

We made gingerbread cookies yesterday. I love this recipe because it's easy, decent ingredients, and I'm not crazy about how they taste so I don't eat them:) They also don't have eggs in them, so they wee ones are free to eat the dough. Kylan loves rolling it out and cutting the shapes. We used candy coated sunflower seeds to decorate with:)

Children's Gingerbread cookies-

cream together-

1/2 c butter

3/4c brown sugar

mix in-

1 c molasses

add-

7c whole wheat pastry flour

2tsp baking soda

2 tsp powdered ginger

1/2 tsp salt

lots o cinnamon

add up to a cup of water to get the right constancy

roll out and cut into a gingerbread family

cook at 350 for about 10min

*enjoy*

new used car

We went garage sale shopping today and bought a ride in car for the boys. We have this really cute wooden ride on toy that Everest fell off of yesterday, so I like this car because he can't really fall off! We don't have many plastic toys, and the ones we do have are 'outside toys', so while I wasn't thrilled to buy a big ol' piece of plastic, it is used and the boys love it.

The only problem is that Kylan can share, but Everest can not! So we drove back over to the garage sale and bought the other one they luckily still had! They were both so happy. We washed the cars and then played in the mud. Good times-

Kylan's car:)

construction zone

??



We are remodeling our entry and 'den' which is soon to be my little office nook. The entry use to be basically waisted space, but soon will have a walk-in pantry and be all clean and new:) I will post before and after pictures when it's done...

Dahlia and the bumblebee

A berry disaster

Well, I'd like to have a picture of a bunch of beautiful jars of canned blackberry jam. But I don't. After many picking sesions of wild blacberries, I had a good freezer stock. I thawed them all out to make blackberry jam. I did something wrong and ruined the WHOLE BATCH! So sad! But I do have this cute picture of Kylan, who clearly enjoyed cleaning out the bags of berries:) There is always next year...

parenting passageway

I like this article from The Parenting Passageway. I have gained a lot of wisdom from her blog, it is from a Waldorf perspective, but I feel has useful info for all parents. As she states, take what resonates with you and leave the rest-


http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/08/17/raising-peaceful-children/

night-night snack

Kylan and Everest having their 'night-night' snack.

We started having the nightly ritual of having a snack before bed. It's great because Kylan is a picky eater so far and tends to not eat much during dinner, then wants to eat right before bed, or after going to bed! Every night they split a piece of whole wheat toast with butter and honey and some milk (soy or almond). They both seam to look forward to it and it adds to our nightly ritual, bedtime tends to go smoothly:) So...shower, snack, brush teeth, story, bedtime.

Seven Grain Bread

Today I baked some delicious multi-grain bread. I usually bake twice a week, but I do cheat and use a bread machine to prep the dough and bake it in my regular oven.

I love this recipe because it uses whole wheat flour and 7-grain hot cereal mix and it comes our very moist and tasty. In the past when I have tried to make 100% whole wheat bread it ends up being to dry and dense... not this bread! Give it a try, it's my new favorite! It is originally from the book 'Uprisings, the whole grain baker book' which I highly recommend! But I modified it a bit-

*Seven Grain Bread*

2 & 1/4 c water

2Tbs molasses

3Tbs safflower oil

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbs yeast

5 c whole wheat flour

1 &1/2c 7-grain cereal (I used Bob's Red Mill 7 grain)

add to bread machine in order suggested by manufacture, use dough setting, then bake on 375 for about 35min. I usually make 2 med. loaves.

*or*

Mix together molasses, 1 & 1/4c water, yeast, and 2c flour and let it rise until doubled.

Add the rest of the ingredience and knead until smooth, then let it rise until double again. Punch down and shape int 2 loaves. Let it rise and bake on 375 for 35min.

*enjoy*

Poppy

This is Poppy, my super sweet kitty. He usually sleeps with me or Everest. Sometimes on Everest, so I have to be aware of wear he is laying (we all co-sleep)! The other night Everest woke up and was VERY excited Poppy was on the bed with him. He started to pet him and then layed on Poppy saying "hug"...and Poppy just let him. It was so cute, but it took a while to get Everest back to sleep! Sweet kitty, I wish Kylan would stop chasing him!

to-ma-to

Finally, they are ripe!

Kylan and today's harvest...tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, summer squash, and green beans!

Everest loves tomatoes, just like his mama. I wear him in my Ergo backpack around the garden ad he calls out "apple, apple", which is what he calls all fruit at the moment. Kylan, on the other hand, is anti-tomato. Odd that I couldn't eat tomatoes when I was pregnant with him, I wonder if there's any relation??

New hat, new hat...

Although it has been very hot lately, I have been knitting winter items! I took a break from knitting Kylan's sweater to make a few hats. Here's Kylan's newest addition-