something in the air

Can you feel it?

There's a chill in the air that has me wearing socks in the evening, and snuggling up closer to my husband at night. It has me wearing a sweater out to the chicken coop in the early morning, and craving the tastes of autumn.

I know. It's still summer. Technically. But the temperature in the evening is just a few degrees shy of woodstove-weather, and I find myself leaning eagerly towards those cozy fall evenings of reading and knitting in the kitchen.

For now, I will settle for a taste of something I don't make in the heat of summer:

Soup.

Today is our CSA pickup day, which means I have to use up last week's produce to make way for fresher fare. Three chairs pushed up to the island, three little paring knives, and at least three admonitions to be careful!

Celery is an easy thing for small hands to slice.

Mama cuts the onions to save little eyes from more tears than usual.

Carrots...

and zucchini are all added to the pot, sauted in coconut oil, with salt, pepper, and basil, till tender. Add six cups of stock, 3/4 cups yellow split peas, and 1/2 cup of rice. Simmer for 45 minutes, then whiz up till smooth. I have a feeling my children will proudly eat this soup without complaint, since they had a hand in its creation.

Their cooking zeal was not quite quenched, so out Jude went to gather apples from our old tree. With much paring and carving out of brown spots, we had enough to create a crisp topped with flour, brown sugar, rolled oats, cinnamon, and butter.

When the older two headed out to gift the chickens with all our seeds, peels, carrot ends and onion tops, someone was left behind to ensure that the apple crisp spoon was not neglected. Let no spoon go unlicked is her motto in the kitchen.

Lest you think, "Oh, her life is so idyllic! Her children are so responsible! She always says yes when her kids ask to help!", let me just add that Violet cut herself while slicing an apple, and wept, "I can see my skeleton! I can see the inside of my body!" (it wasn't quite THAT deep, but this girl does have a flair for the dramatic), and Jude protested mightily (for over an hour) when I confiscated his knife after I caught him wielding it, machete-like, over an innocent apple). We talked again about safety, and he announced that I am the meanest mother in the world for NOT letting him cook.

Still, the mouth-watering scent of apple crisp cooking on this cool evening more than makes up for the tears and the mess and the patience  required when cooking with children.

A New Heroine

 I'm almost in tears writing this, because I just baked these:

nut butter-and-jelly cookie cups

and when the kids came in, Violet said, "Can I have a cookie?". I said yes. Then Jude said, "Can I have one, too?" His expectant little freckle-face searched mine for the word that I sometimes cannot say because of his gluten and dairy intolerance:

Yes.

I used to bake, a lot. In our home, baking is synonymous with love and comfort. I remember coming home from school and finding the kitchen table covered with cookies sitting on a layer of newspaper. The greasy rings left behind spoke of home.

I rarely bake anything now because I hate to say "no" to him when the girls can eat it, and have found that gluten-free substitutes just don't make the cut. Without butter and the sticky, binding qualities of gluten, baking is often tasteless, gritty, or just...blech. It can taste like dried peas (if it contains chickpea flour), crumbles into a million pieces, or makes your tongue feel weird.

Last week I hit a wall. I do the majority of the cooking and feeding around here, and with a gf/df child, a picky preschooler, a husband who always feels underweight, I feel like I need the skills of a specialist, when really, I'm just a mom trying to work, garden, farm, knit, and sometimes sleep. My husband came home and no dinner was made and I made him take the kids out to the chip stand for fries. I stayed home and ate a scrambled egg. I was at the end of the line, after having spent too much money on mixes and substitutes that just didn't satisfy.

I knew there had to be something I was missing, but I don't have the know-how (or the time or discipline) to experiment with flours, starches and gums to come up with the best gluten-free flour blend.

Lucky for me, Silvana Nardone has done if for me! Author of "Cooking for Isaiah", Silvana tested and experimented and perfected gluten and dairy free cooking. I just got her cookbook and have made three recipes from it since yesterday: Sloppy Joe Stuffed Potato Skins, homemade pizza crust, and the cookies you see above.

Not only did all three recipes get rave reviews from Jude, they were also enthusiastically eaten by everyone else! The cookies are everything you want from a cookie: sweet and a bit salty, crispy on the outside, dense and chewy on the inside. Unbelievable.

I asked my hubby to pose for a shot. I told him to act sexy while eating the cookie. He wasn't sure what that meant, but I'd say he nailed it, wouldn't you?

Porn for moms of gluten-free kids: exhausted-looking dad enjoys homemade cookie.

So, I am now following the church of Silvana. She's helped me out of a rut, inspired me, and has made me a heroine in my son's eyes, just because I made a delicious cookie that he, too, can eat.

Preparing for Monday: Let's Get Cracking!

On each day of the March Break (with one day "off") I'll post ideas of activities you can do with your children ages 2-6. Many of the ideas can be adapted if you have older children.  I hope to post each day's ideas the dayjui before so you can prepare and plan ahead!

On Monday, we'll be celebrating the humble egg!

Culinary
In the morning, gently tap on the top of a few eggs; pick out the shell to create an opening on the top of the egg. Pour out the yolk and whites into a bowl and scramble. Set the shells aside...you'll need them later! Let your child help assemble this fun and delicious breakfast.

Now, make your breakfast:
Nest Eggs
1. Oil/grease the cups of a muffin tin (one per egg or person in your family; adults might eat 2 each)
2. Press a slice of ham into the muffin cup, to line it.
3. Pour some scrambled eggs into the ham cup, to about 3/4 full.
4. Pour about 1 tablespoon of cream on the egg, with a sprinkle of grated cheese, salt, pepper, and basil.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 min. (or less if you like your eggs soft). Serve on toast or an English muffin! My kids like these with a healthy dose of ketchup, of course!

Creative
Egg Heads!
You'll need:

• egg shells with tops cracked out, washed
• permanent marker
• a bit of planting mix/soil
• seeds (sunflower, alfalfa, red clover )

Fill the egg shell with soil. Spread seeds over the soil, and cover with a thin layer of more soil. Draw silly faces on the eggs with the permanent marker. Water gently, and set in an open carton in a sunny window, with some plastic wrap over them until they germinate. Now wait for the egg heads to grow "hair". Different seeds will produce different hairdos. Once their hair has grown, let your children give the egg heads a haircut! Eat the sprouts! 

Social/Outing
Contact your local library and find out what kids' activities are planned for the week! Or visit a local farm and see some newborn lambs or kids. If neither of these options works for you, call a friend with kids and get the gang together for a playdate. Find out if there are any kid-friendly matinees at your local theatre (for those of you in the Ottawa Valley, there will be a FREE puppet show and concert for children at Festival Hall in Pembroke on Monday, March 14 at 2 p.m.!) Your children may not be stir crazy yet, but it's a good idea to have at least one outing planned for the week!

Fine Motor

This may seem like a funny one to include, but this is a skill near and dear to my heart. Many children come into my Kindergarten class without having had any practice cutting with scissors or holding a pencil. We spend a lot of time working on this. Any experience your child has from the age of 2 on is a big help!

Today, give your child some straws; stripey ones or colourful ones are the most fun! These are easy to cut because they are not floppy like paper. Have your little one snip snip snip the straw into bits! Encourage them to keep the elbow of the cutting hand close to their body. This takes coordination and practice, as well as close supervision! You can help by doing "hand over hand" cutting (opening the scissors up is a particular challenge for beginners). Once your child is comfortable with cutting up straws, they can graduate to strips of cardstock, then strips of paper. Just being able to snip something narrow into little bits can be very satisfying for a wee one. They can then use a glue stick to paste the bits of paper on to a bigger sheet of paper! ART!

Your older child can cut up straws, then take the fine motor practice a step further by threading the pieces onto a piece of yarn. A blunt tapestry needle is helpful, or just wrap a bit of tape tightly around the end of the yarn (like the end of a shoelace). Wear the beautiful necklace your child created for you!

Join us tomorrow for Tuesday: Somewhere Over the Rainbow!
PS My apologies if I've broken any copyright laws by borrowing the photos in this post from the world wide web.

Mama's Elves

Sigh. You know that sigh, the one you may suppress each time your children follow the question "What are you doing, mommy?" with "Can I help?". The sigh that suggests the indicated task just might get done in less time, with less mess, if you could just do it yourself...

I've done a lot of sighing this Christmas season. Untangling lights. Decorating the tree. Making gifts and cards. Wrapping said gifts. But I almost always say yes. This is what memories are made of, after all.

My older sister, wise woman that she is, told me to let myself off the hook when it comes to baking this year. She suggested I go and BUY cookies! They're cheap, they're good, and my kids don't really know the difference yet. I may follow her up on that suggestion, but it just wouldn't feel like Christmas here without at least one batch of sugar cookies.

You can tell that I copied this down as my mom dictated it to me over the phone! Here it is in clearer language:

Cream together 1 cup Crisco shortening and 1 cup white sugar. Then add 1 egg, slightly beaten, and 1 tsp. vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups flour, 2 tsp. cream of tartar, 1 tsp. soda,, and 1/2 tsp salt.

Mix two bowls together. Roll to about 1/4 inch thick, cut, and bake at 325 degrees F for 10 minutes. Cool on rack, then decorate with icing sugar/water glaze (add colour if you wish). Go crazy with the sprinkles!

While you bake, allow your toddler to hang off the pockets of your jeans.

And allow your preschooler to "paint her nails" with the icing, then lick it all off.

Finally, give full creative license to your little decorators!

A memory we'll cherish in years to come, because once again, (albeit through gritted teeth), I said yes.