Granola time!

Many mornings I find myself asking my kids "What would you like for breakfast?" And in return I always get "What do you have?"  My run down is always the same....bagels, pancakes, waffles, toast... Blah, Blah, Blah.  Not very exciting day in and day out.

So today I went to one of my favorite cookbooks; Feeding The Whole Family by Cynthia Lair for a little inspiration.  One of our favorite recipes is: Maple Butter Nut Granola.  This is absolutely heavenly!  The smell of it coming from my kitchen is like Autumn to me. The maple and nut...I can just picture us eating it with yogurt or soy milk and some coffee (for mama only of course ;) ).

Maple Butter Nut Granola
Makes 8 cups

3 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup almonds, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon nut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, seeds, almonds, cinnamon and salt; mix well.

In a small pan melt butter; add syrup and nut butter and stir to blend. Remove from heat and add extracts.

Slowly pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients, using a spatula to fold and evenly coat the dry mixture with wet.

Spread on a cookie sheet or shallow pan and bake until granola is dry and golden (45 to 60 minutes), turning granola every 15 to 20 minutes so that it toasts evenly. Store in an airtight jar.

Enjoy!

What are some of your breakfast favorites?

Reading together...

Every evening at bedtime my husband and I read to our kids; switching who reads to who.  Sophia is the oldest and now reads to one of us most evenings.  But I also think it's important for us to read together as a family.

The book I've chosen for our family read is: The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren. You may recognize her, she's the author of the Pippi Longstocking books. It's a tale of six children living on a group of three farms in the Swedish countryside

Why this book, you may ask? It's the title of the book that stopped me in my tracks. I swear we live in Noisy Village!  Our village consists of ten noisy children; all within yelling distance to each other.  While we don't live in the Swedish countryside, the similarities are striking.  Our ten children play together EVERYDAY! Many a morning this summer (now on the weekend) you'll find one of them riding their bikes on the street and that starts the steady stream of the nine others out to follow.  My two have used walkie talkies as a form of communication with two others when getting outside just wasn't an option.  They've all shared lunches outside when stopping play to eat was just unheard of.

It's a wonderful thing!  I feel very lucky that my children have such wonderful friends.  Friends that at times feel more like family.  And sometimes they may fight like family.  One may be "mean" because he or she doesn't want to play what the other wants to. Or sometimes the Village really is too noisy and one (or more) of the ten need some quiet time.  And they all "get it".  They all have it figured out, because really to be a child should be that simple.  Like a storybook.

I'm excited to read this book together; and look forward to reading many others as a family.

What are you and your family reading these days?

Harvesting the last of it....

Fall is settling in nicely here on the East Coast. With it brings cooler temperatures and threats of a frost for the next couple of evenings.  It's time to harvest what is left of our summer garden.

 

 

 



We've had a plentiful garden this year.  We are so grateful for all the nourishment it has brought to us, the ability to share our bounty with friends and family, and the full shelves of jarred food we have to sustain us through the winter.  It's with a sad heart, though, to see it coming to an end.

 

I saw it only appropriate to make a large pot of vegetable lentil soup for this chilly, harvest day. There is something so comforting, other than the soup itself, in knowing that I stepped out my back door to make our dinner.

 

 

And there is very little you need to add to brussel sprout goodness. These gems are quite close to perfect as is; but add a touch of olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for half and hour and they're even more amazing! I added a sour dough artisan bread for added measure. :)

 

 

Even though the garden season is ending, plans for next year are already being made.  Plans for additional veggies to be grown (kale, swiss chard, grape tomatoes, garlic, more beets) and scaling down what we just had way too much of (zucchini and large tomatoes).

 

 

I look forward to next year and will enjoy all that this year has brought to our table.

 

 

 

 

In this moment....

Wishing you a fantastic Friday!

 



Healthy Appetites

Today I start a new adventure; a kid's cooking class!  My children's school has a wonderful after school enrichment program that I feel lucky to be a part of!  It's an interactive 6 week program. I plan to teach the kids how to make healthy snacks and/or small meals. Each child will bring home a container of the food they've prepared along with the recipe to be shared with their family.

I have fond memories of cooking with my grandmother as a child.  Meatballs!  Oh her meatballs were stellar.  Never truly duplicated, but still I try.

Cooking with children has such wonderful benefits.  It teaches patience (and boy do we need patience), math skills, fine motor skills and the simple yet most important: the feeling of  accomplishment!  They see the end result of something they made with their own hands!

I'm also hoping that the children will understand the importance of healthy eating.  That eating healthy doesn't have to be boring, or "yucky" tasting.  I also hope that sharing their food and recipe with family will spark their interest to cook healthy at home! Healthy eating leads to healthy kids!

 

Today's snack: No-Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Yield: 10 bars

 

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup honey

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 cups quick cooking oats (not rolled oats)

1 cup crispy rice cereal

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips

 

Directions:

In a large bowl, stir oats and rice cereal together.  Set aside.  In a small pot, melt butter, honey and brown sugar together over medium heat until it comes to a bubble.  Reduce the heat and cook 2 minutes.  Pour in vanilla and stir.  Pour over dry ingredients and mix well to moisten all ingredients.  Pour into lightly greased small jelly roll pan and press out to be about 3/4 inch in thickness.  You really want to press them down so they stick together.  Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and press down lightly.  Cool on a countertop to room temperature for 2 hours or until the chocolate chips are set before cutting into bars.  Wrap in parchement or plastic wrap and store at room temperature.

Chick pea mania!

My family and I were consuming more hummus than I could keep in the house.  The containers, even the"family size" ones just weren't big enough.  As Vegans, my husband and I eat it quite often for lunch in wraps with tabbouleh and baked tofu. Our daughter loves her own hummus and tabbouleh wrap packed for her school lunch.  And our son...well, if it's out in a bowl with some carrots and pita crackers...watch out! He devours it!

I've tinkered with making my own but could never get it quite smooth enough.  Not as smooth as the commercial brands.

 

But I finally found a recipe that I think is just as good, if not better than it's commercial rivals.  And it's just as smooth! 

Here's the recipe:
2cups of chick peas
1/4c chick pea liquid
1/4 c fresh lemon juice
2 tsp crushed garlic (usually I eyeball this since we love garlic!)
1 1/4tsp salt
3tbsp tahini
2 tbsp olive oil

Blend. Enjoy!

How easy is that?!  I double this recipe (the picture above is a double batch) and it lasts for a couple days. Like I said, we eat it faster than I can keep it around.  But making my own is much more cost effective!

Soccer, Fairies and Food

This weekend was the rainiest we've had in a long time.  We needed the rain; and quite frankly I welcomed it.  I was ready for a bit of hibernation.  Some forced quiet time within the solace of my home. 

 

But first we must have some fun outside!

 

I took our daughter, Sophia to our local greenhouse for some Fairy House making.  Sophia and her friends have been actively making houses for their Fairies in our flower garden throughout the summer.  This workshop was to make an indoor house. Brilliant!  I figured this was a perfect tie into her current fascination.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Fairy could resist such a home?!

 

 

 

It wouldn't be Saturday without Soccer!

 

Roman has been participating in a British Soccer camp for the last four summers.  This fall he's decided to take part in our hometown House league.

 

He's quick, this boy of mine!

 

 

Alas....time for a bit of down time at home.  What better way to spend it than a bit of cooking and baking.  This time of year I gravitate towards comfort foods.  Casseroles, baked goods....wine.  OK, so wine isn't a "food" nor do I wait until fall to enjoy it. ;)

 

I love having help in the kitchen!

 



 

 A Carrot cake seemed just perfect on this cold rainy day.
The kids loved it so much they asked for it to be packed in their lunches for school tomorrow!

Here's the recipe:
3/4cup 100% pure maple syrup
One 8oz can crushed pineapple, drained.
1/2cup unsweetened applesauce.
1tbsp ground flaxseed
1 2/3cup spelt flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4tsp baking soda
1/2tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4tsp ground allspice
3 medium carrots, peeled and grated
3/4 cup golden raisins
1/2cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Have ready a 8X8 inch non stick baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together maple syrup, crushed pineapple, applesauce, and ground flaxseeds
3. Sift in the spelt flour, baking powder and soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice. Mix well. Fold in the grated carrots, raisins, and shredded coconut.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 28 to 32 minutes, or until the toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
5. Remove cake from the oven and let cool in pan for about 30 minutes. Invert the cake onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Enjoy!

Share with me...what did you do this weekend?