Had a good visit with Canadian grandparents lately.

What's Cooking

I've been trying to cook more at home lately.
Some of the things I've made are:
sweet potato muffins
Chicken Pot Pie
curry chicken
lentils w/brushetta over rice
breakfast (sausage, potato, caulifl, cabbage, onion, mushroom)
Korean noodles (jap chae)
Multigrain pancakes
Nutty granola
caroby treat

Not your average wish list

This is not a list of things I want but instead a list of things I want to get done around here.

Not in any particular order
1. Paint my bathroom
2. clear off the top of the dryer
3. declutter every room of the house
4. do regular meal planning
5. organize the den
6. finish stripping living room floor
7. get craft items out of entryway
8. Install dining room light/fan.
9. train the girls to wash up breakfast dishes  and sort and put away their laundry daily.
10. eat or juice more of what grows in my garden
11. Create a place to entertain in the back yard
12. Get caught up on mending
13 finish a quilt or two
14. Patch holes in walls in various rooms of the house
15. frame and hang some children's artwork
16. clean off front porch
17 finish planing for homeschool year
18 organize and cull in attic

I am thinking about what Claire and Emily should take for lunches during summer school. Emily has been so picky lately she suddenly doesn't even want to eat yogurt, applesauce, cheerios, bananas, English muffins etc. I think I need to focus more on veggies. Today she ate a pretty good lunch. And even before lunch she had some sauerkraut and home made pickles.This post is to brainstorm ideas for what to send for lunch:
Emily
broccoli
green beans
 zuccini
cauliflower
okra
cucumbers carrots
celery
grated cheese or sliced
salami
peaches
grapes
apples
pineapple
blueberries
Cesar salad
pea soup

 Claire
Beans and tortilla chips
salami
roast beef
celery
carrots
cabbage salad
pea soup
lentil soup
cous cous salad
teriaki chicken
peaches
berries
pineapple

Country Moose and City Moose

A story dictated to me by Claire after reading Aesop's County Mouse City Mouse

Country Moose and City Moose 

Once upon a time there was a country moose and the country moose wanted City Moose to come to her house.

She didn't  like the food there. It was just bread and cheese and water. In a day or two City Moose asked country moose to come to her house. When they got to City Moose's house they were hungry. When they got there they found food on the table. They helped themselves to cake and dabs of jam.  After they were done eating they went upstairs for a nap. Then they got up and went to the store for more food.

They bought peas and onions and potatoes, carrots, radishes, turnips and celery and some potato chips, pretzels and fruit leather and water to snack on in the car. Because all the nice food was so great Country Moose decided to move to the city and live with City Moose.   

Chapter 2 - Country Moose goes to town.

Country Moose got up one day very early and quickly ate her breakfast and brushed her teeth then put her clothes on and got into her car and went to the store to buy more food because they had used up all their food. She went without her friend because they would quarrel too much at the store if they went together. She got all the things that she knew her friend liked.

Then she came home and put the things away.

Next she got out some of the things and made lunch.

Then City Moose came home from work and sat down for lunch. They said their prayers.

She said. "Thank you very much for making lunch Country Moose." Then they went upstairs to listen to CD's. They don't really nap they listen to CD stories. They had a cat named Rosie and she came upstairs and she was their furry alarm clock and she jumped on them and licked them. They said, "Funny Kitty you really like licking us." Then they go downstairs...

Current Recipies

I made two things this week which Claire likes so have decided to share them here.
Bulgar wheat salad
I soaked 2/3 cup bulgar in hot water 15 mins (I also added grated carrot, several tablespoons dried barberries (commonly found in Persian food) and 1 tsp curry powder before pouring boiling water over everything.
later I added
a handful of raisins
a splash of cider vinegar
juice of 1/2 lime
several tablespoons of olive oil
Notes: Next time I might add some diced apples or grapes or leftover chicken chunks

Yum Stew
with olive oil I sauteed
1 medium onion
1 tsp fresh minced garlic
1 tsp fresh minced ginger
2 c finely chopped napa cabbage
1 c cauliflower chopped
1 potato diced
a handful of chopped arugula and kale
1/2 c chopped summer sausage. (Emily thought this was spicy but ate it up)
1 c broth