New Wine

If you have a Trader Joe's near you I highly suggest you drive there and buy a bottle of their Black Mountain 2005 Malbec. Dave and I just finished a bottle of this fine, hearty red libation. We accompanied it with sirloin steak salad and stuffed baked potatoes. I think a loaf of crusty bread and strong brie would have been better - and no kids, a moonlit night, the waves crashing on the surf... but that's not gonna happen.
Anyway, we've enjoyed Black Mountain Pinot Noir for some time now and ventured out to the Malbec with our latest outing to TJ's. Mighty fine.

What Can You Do With Plain Non-Fat Yogurt?

I was turned on to a book through mommylife.net. The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Iggulden. It has been our reference for non-boring (I have banned this word from the house - whoever uses it owes me $1) summer days. Today we made the best paper airplanes. Aidan's reading up on famous battles and the history of artillery. He's anticipating my okay setting tripwires throughout the house. This book is filled with fun facts, craft ideas, games that will last will into the late teen years, and beyond. I highly recommend it.Second - Dave and I love greek yogurt. Walmart doesn't sell it (that and Aldis are the only stores in town). We have to drive an hour and a half to Trader Joe's to dish out the big bucks ($1.99) for 8 ounces of the stuff. The nonfat greek yogurt tastes like the richest full-fat yogurt, but no fat! Well, I discovered a way to make the less expensive Walmart nonfat plain taste like the greek. You have to have cheesecloth and a colander. -Simply lay a single layer of cheesecloth over a colander (covering all the holes). I use a smaller colander.


-Place the colander in a slightly larger bowl.
-Dump the yogurt in.
-Cover with saranwrap and place in the refrigerator for a few hours. Overnight is best.
- The next morning the whey is drained from the yogurt and thickened.

I enjoy this as is. Dave adds honey (very Greek). Mixed fruit is a nice addition too.

Pillsbury Cook-Off

I just entered my third recipe on the Pillsbury $1,000,000 Cook-off contest. I've watched the cook-off contest for a couple years on food network and each time I 'd say, "I should enter that!" Finally I got my act together and came up with three recipes that I think are pretty decent. I won't know until October if the judges think so.

You have to use Pillsbury food products of course and being a cook-from-scratch cook that was a bit of a trial. My first recipe uses the peanut butter cookie dough (peanut butter/chocolate mousse bars) and my second used Pillsbury pizza dough and Jif peanut butter (chicken satay pizza) and my third coffee and nutella (using Pillsbury flour and Eggland's eggs).

I'll keep you posted or maybe you'll just see me on food network!

Continuing with Lent

We're in week three of Lent. How are you doing? What are you doing?
Our family is still using Hillbilly Housewife (www.hillbillyhousewife.com) $45/week menu. Lots of beans and some in the family are tired of it -- IAN! Last night was tuna-noodle casserole. He said it looks disgusting. You'd think I'd spoiled him with rib-eye steaks, roasted vegetables and tart tatins every night.

I do love commemorating these days, like Lent and Advent. But it seems there is a plethora of resources for celebrating Advent but very few for Lent. Lent can be an austere time, and hence the lack of "celebrating" it. We are preparing first to remember the sacrifice that Jesus made, and then the resurrection.

The kids and I are reading the lectionary and praying through the Divine Hours. Reminds me of our days at St. John's in Vancouver.

But there are no Lent calendars, wreaths, visual count-downs for the season. Or are there? Do you know of any family-friendly ways to remember Lent? Or is Lent even a significant season for you?

Looking forward to that glorious feast!

Food is an amazing thing. I was watching Iron Chef America the other night and they were cooking with peas. It struck me how many foods are out there and how many ways they can be cooked. Last year for homeschooling we studied George Washington Carver. As a honor and to glorify God Carver searched for the many uses of the peanut. He found thousands, just by focusing all his attention, energy, talent and focus on the tiny, seemingly insignifcant peanut.
But isn't that how God is? He's planted, in the seemingly insignificant, magnificence.
I love food, and it shows. I think of food combinations and plan menus while daydreaming. I turn to the food network whenever I can and I dream of a holiday in Italy, attending cooking school after cooking school up and down the boot.
Yesterday I "invented" a new bread recipe. I'm calling it "real coffee cake". It's basically a sweet bread made with coffee and filled with nutella. It was a hit and if I do say so myself, might good.
Today was a different day. Inspired by a commercial I wanted to make crab cakes. Well, crab is not available in little ole Sparta but mock crab is! I pulled out a recipe from Emeril Lagasse. Instead of the triumphant, self-satisfied mood of yesterday I found myself getting more and more irritated (yelling at the kids, biting Dave's head off). The recipe wasn't working. My crab cakes became crap cakes. I told Dave to order pizza. Well, loving husband that he is, Dave reminded me that even Babe Ruth didn't bat 1000 every time.
Yet, I am still in awe of God's creativeness. He could have given us basic food (like the stuff they eat in Zion in the Matrix, ugh!). But NO!
And every culture uses each food uniquely. How many ways can you cook apples. Think of it...put them in oatmeal, eat them raw with peanut butter, stuff them in pork tenderloin, and apple pie (how many ways are there to make apple pie!). And then again...think how many types of apples there are. Again, God keeps giving more and more of his creative deliciousness.
One of my most favorite passages is Isaiah 25:6
On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich foods for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine- the best of meats and the finest wines.
Oh, what a glorious day to look forward to. I'm sure there will be no crap cakes!