Vulcan Red Chard

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I know it isn’t the most romantic food in the world, but when planning my garden for the year, I always order lots of Swiss Chard (especially Vulcan Red, and Brightlights, and Fordhook Giant).  It looks so beautiful in the planting beds, requires little help, is extremely cost effective to grow, and some years here in the NW I can get it to keep growing right through the winter.

More importantly, it is very healthy, full of vitamins, and I use it a lot in cooking (second only to my beloved Russian Red Kale) .  I often chop it into any stew we’re having (adding the stems about 20 min before the greens, since they take longer to cook).  My favorite recipe (the kids love it, too!) comes from Cook’s Illustrated Nov 2004 issue – Balsamic  Chicken with Swiss Chard and Tomatoes.   It is a little involved, however (honestly, though, aren’t most Cook’s recipes??).  If you’d like one,  I can get you a copy.

Chard is also great just steamed by itself and topped with a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil, or lemon juice and capers.  Not to mention the possibilities in stir fry!

I’m glad we make room for a little patch in our garden and our diet.

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PS – there are many tips of the hat to yummy greens lately (some kicked off by Shining Egg‘s Green Week, I believe)- A Friend to Knit With,  In the Kitchen, Hurrayic, Orangette’s Broccoli Soup, and many others.

Look who’s big stuff!

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And they say boys are harder to potty train? My 9 month-old things he’s really big stuff when he sits on his little Baby Bjorn infant potty. Anything that reduces how many loads of diapers I have to wash per week is a good thing!

Okay, proud Mama done bragging.

Hot Pink Baby Booties

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For a friend who’s sweet baby girl’s baptism was this past Sunday.  The pattern is free (Ruth’s Perfect Baby Booties), and I’ve made it many many times and like it a lot (I prefer a mohair blend or Cascade 220 for this pattern, and a pretty vintage ribbon for the lacing.)

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New Frosting

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I know it seems that I’m a bit frosting obsessed  (Sour cream, mocha , honey cream cheese, you name it, I love it!), but let’s be honest, a good frosting really does makes the cake.

So, how had I -a confessed frosting addict- never heard of Marshmallow Cream frosting until recently?  One of my husband’s coworker’s had made cupcakes with the creamiest, yummiest frosting, and I asked her what her secret ingredient was.  She replied, “Marshmallow cream!”

Below is my chocolate version, but the original is here.

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Larksong’s Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting

1/2 cup room temperature sweet cream unsalted Tillamook butter

1- 7 oz jar of marshmallow cream

a handful of chocolate chips (I actually used a Lindt Chocolate Snowman I had left from my Christmas stocking, I just chopped it up.)

16 oz confectioner’s sugar

1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa

3-4 tbsp whole milk

Directions –

1. Sift confectioner’s sugar and dutch cocoa together in a bowl.

2.Melt chocolate in the microwave in 15 second intervals, stopping to stir in between, until melted.

3.In Kitchenaid mixer with whisk attachment, beat the melted chocolate, softened butter and marshmallow cream until fluffy and combined.

4.  Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar and cocoa mix, then trickle in the milk until desired consistency is achieved and frosting is fluffy.  Spread on chocolate cake or cupcakes.  Makes approx 3 cups.

Back from our break!

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Feels like it’s been forever – In the past two weeks, we’ve had rotavirus, then a chest cold, then a fever, viral pink eye, and now Firecracker has an ear infection. We’ve also found and put an offer an a house we loved, only to have the inspections reveal major problems, so we backed out, and actually ended up putting an offer on the house next door. Fingers crossed on the inspection (this afternoon), but the house was remodeled three years ago, so we are hoping for nothing drastic to turn up.

Also, as my dear friend Trish posted, my computer decided to self-destruct as did my card reader. My sister came to the rescue and graciously gave us her old laptop, so I’ll be able to catch up on some blogging while trying to close on our first house, and pack up and move!

I have two recipes to share, some knitting, some mothering and gardening…can’t wait to get it up and posted.img_4101

Backing up, and the joys of computer ownership.

Hello All, I am Trish.  I will be your guest author today and I want to talk to you about backing up your computer and the joys of owning a computer.

First off, who am I? I am one of Angela’s friends whom she has known since about 8th grade. When Ang went off to her College, We held tight our friendship and we tried to keep in contact as much as two people just out of high school can. Usually these bits of contact involved me trying to help her with her computer problems.

Today, this relationship continues.  I am the admin to her website as well as about 6 others, including my own company Lucky Lola studios, a wedding and portraiture company based in Columbus, Ohio.

This week, Angela, in dealing with ALL that’s going on in her world right now, seems to have lost her computer to the nastiest of all nasties in the computer world, Hard Drive failure.  (We are trying to get all her info off it currently, don’t despair yet, it might be repairable!)

Because of this, i wanted to reach out to all of her readers.

I personally believe that EVERYONE, in this day and age, should have a back-up system.  I truely believe that having an external hard drive is the best thing for all those digital pictures that we all take a million of.  If we were all honest with ourselves, we all know that 99% of all of our photos will never be printed.

But that doesn’t mean they aren’t important.

Here is a GREAT website for purchasing external hardrives. Newegg is where i purchase all of my parts. I highly recommend them, for their reviews, and purchasing.

Next on my list of things to discuss with you is your Virus Protection and your ADaware Protection.

Please dont be snow’d. They are NOT the same…

Since this is a HUGE post, i will not clutter up the whole page with the information… I would ask that you continue by clicking the “More” tag below.

…

Backing up, and the joys of computer ownership.Read More »

Nurk

We are reading this delightful little book, by Ursula Vernon.  What better to do on a sick day, than curl up on the sofa in your PJs and read a cute story about a little shrew and a fun little adventure that falls in his lap?

We also spent a little time surfing the internet for information on real shrews.  Not quite so cute in real life, but still truly fascinating.  In case you’re interested, we learned a little here, and a lot here, and here.

Click to see an enlarged picture

(Common Shrew.  Picture in the public domain)

Asking for your patience.

 

Please continue to bear with me.  I have some yummy recipes, LOTS of knitting, and some fun homeschool crafts and books we’ve been exploring that I am excited about sharing, but we’ve all been under the weather, my youngest has been quite ill and we are trying to buy our first house this week.  Posting may be infrequent for a few weeks, but I hope to be back to regular posting soon.  I hope you are surviving February and enjoying the lovely, talented women (and a few men) that have blogs I have linked to in my sidebar.

Apologies

My apologies on the recent lack of updates.  We’ve been struck by chest cold after tummy bug after chest cold.  Also, my card reader decided to up and die on me, so I can’t upload any photos.  And we’re in the middle of house hunting.  Life is kinda crazy, to say the least.

  I hope to have us all well and my gadgets cooperating and get back to posting very VERY soon.

Get well soon, my little Valentine

On top of the cold we are all battling, Firecracker has been throwing up all afternoon and evening.  Poor kiddo.  While she slept (for 3 hours!), her big sis suggested that we make her some get well/Valentine cards.   That’s my Little Hen, always thinking of ways to show her love and care for the sick, the sad, the lowly – especially when it’s someone in her family. 

A little pink, a little glitter, a little love note – that has to cheer a girl up, right?

The evening prescription was a dose of The Jungle Book and a back rub, and lots of being fussed over by a concerned big sister.   Get well soon, my little Valentine. 

A lesson in germs

We are all sick with a cold and sore throat, spending most of yesterday and today resting on the sofa, listening to this peaceful music and reading together. Coincidentally, this month’s Spider and Click are all about germs and being sick.   We’ve been reading all about bacteria, allergens, playing doctor, and of course the ever fascinating “magnificent mucus” (the girls keep snickering about the phrase “snot rocket” in the article about sneezing).

I thought this might be a good opportunity to reinforce good handwashing technique.  A long while back, I had read of this lesson in on of our kid magazines, and Little Hen wanted to try it out.  You will need:

Cinnamon

Apply cinnamon all over your child’s hands (about 2 tsp).  The cinmamon will represent bacteria. 

Now, let child wash hands in warm running water with soap until all the cinnamon is gone.  It will take at least 30 seconds, which is the minimum time a child should spend washing his/her hands. 

Little Hen said she would think of “invisible cinnamon” every time she washes up.  I think it provided a pretty great visual aid for the necessity of good handwashing, plus, my bathroom smells like lovely cinnamon now.

Wishing you good health today and through your weekend!

Crayon Heart Pendants

 

 

Last night’s Valentine crafting – silly me, trying to work on Valentine’s crafts with the girls and cook dinner at the same time while Tum Tum crawls everywhere and all before my husband is home from work!  They turned out pretty well – I adapted the “recipe” from Feb 2009 Wonder Time magazine (although I skipped the cookie cutter bit and just used a heart-shaped cupcake mold).  Tomorrow we will string ribbon through them.

These were a great use of leftover broken crayons, and surprisingly, the girls’ favorite part was peeling the paper off the crayon nubbins. 

Up next – pink marshmallows, or maybe chocolate flowers.  The weather outside is so nice, we may just head out to the park.  Hope your day is full of sunshine, too!

Banana Sour Cream Cake

The night before last, while waiting for our kidney bean and brown rice stew to finish simmering on the stovetop, Little Hen asked if we could make a cake to serve after dinner.  We didn’t have much time, and I was pretty tired, so we went for one of our easy favorites – Banana Sour Cream Cake.  It’s a simple sheet cake, but very moist and very tasty. 

My version uses whole wheat flour and, of course, bananas, so I can justify it as a “healthy” dessert.  I have made it with yogurt instead of sour cream when in a pinch (but then, I substitute cream cheese frosting for the one I have listed below).   My original recipe below, with a few changes I made this time in parenthesis:

 Larksong’s Banana Sour Cream Cake

 1 cup Bob’s Red Mill whole wheat flour

1 cup Bob’s Red Mill unbleached white flour

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup unsalted Tillamook butter

1/4 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs (I had medium on hand, so I used 3)

3/4 cup sour cream

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

3  very large or 4 medium bananas, preferably overripe

2 Tbsp lemon juice (although, last night I used lime juice, because limes have been the frugal choice of late.  No one could tell the difference.)

Directions –

1) Preheat oven to 350 F.  Butter and lightly flour a  9 x 13 inch cake pan.  In a Kitchenaid mixer with beater blade, cream butter, shortening, and sugar until fluffy.   

2) Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat until quite fluffy (I find this step quite important when making a cake with whole wheat flour.  It helps prevent an overly dense cake).

3) While above is mixing, in a separate bowl, combine flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

4)To the mixer, add the sour cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and bananas.  Beat until combined. 

5)Add dry ingredients in two additions until just combined.  Then, pour into pan and bake for approx 30 min, or until cake tester comes out mostly clean (I find that a banana cake may not come out totally clean until it’s overbaked).  Let cool completely on a wire rack before frosting with Sour Cream Frosting.   

Sour Cream Frosting

4 tablespoons unsalted softened butter

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice  (again, I used lime juice.)

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 cups powdered sugar

In Kitchenaid with whisk attachment, beat together butter, sour cream, vanilla and lemon juice until creamy.  Sift in powdered sugar and beat until fully combined and fluffy.  This frosting is delicious and creamy, but soft, so I chill it before frosting the cake, and I store leftover cake in the fridge if the kitchen is warm.

Cherry Swirl Mittens

We’re home from Florida and back to the grey, cold, foggy drizzle of the Pacific Northwest.  Sigh…I love Portland, just not in January!

So, to keep our spirits up,  we have been taking breaks from the unpacking to research our Valentine’s Day crafts for this year – so many great ideas and we’re having a hard time narrowing things down!  Many Valentine’s craft posts here in the coming weeks.

I have a little surprise of my own for the girls, too.  Back during our snowstorm, they requested some new mittens, and I have finished this pair, for Firecracker.  They are of Lamb’s Pride Worsted in Cherry Swirl, on 5’s.   

I’m working out a pattern for Little Hen’s that have a lightly ruffled cuff and are in pink and pale blue (she loves blue).  I’ll have the pattern and pictures up early next week, I think.

Now, up to the attic to dig out some Valentine’s-y craft supplies.  Hmm…where did i put the doilies and heart-shaped craft punches?

Sanibel

My favorite vacation desination – the beautiful sandy beaches of Sanibel, FL.  The shelling is the best in the world, and the water is clear and warm. 

 

We spent our time making a “beach fairy sand castle”, collecting sea shells, watching shorebirds.  The girls also went kite flying with their Grandpa.  

Wishing you a day just as sun-filled and relaxing.

Cuisenaire Rods

Did you use Cuisenaire Rods for math when you were a child?  My mother found mine in a closet and gave them to us.  They are a wonderful tool for math.  Wonderful.  Little Hen wants to do a math lesson with them daily, and after her intense focus on the lesson, both she and Firecracker will play freely with them for quite a while before putting them away. 

For those not familiar, these are beautifully colored wooden rods used to teach anything from simple addition to geometry to fractions, to patterns…you name the mathematical subject, and you can use Cuisenaire Rods as a natural learning tool. 

(Little Hen and Firecracker laying out sums – here it’s 8’s.)

We are actually using set curriculum, which includes the lesson cards that came with the set, and a notebook of lessons from my days taking educational math methods in undergrad.  (Yes, sometimes I stray from the “unschooling” path…although, if it’s  Little Hen’s request to work from the curriculum, isn’t that still unschooling?  For that matter, why are labels important at all, especially when simply cultivating a love of learning is the goal?)

Wishing you a day full of mathematical enjoyment and exploration!  (Yes, math can be fun, as my girls will tell you!)

Little Things

Some little things that have added beauty to my day:

A handmade, fair trade leather ring from 10,000 Villages here in Ft. Myers.

A startling little pitcher plant growing right outside my parents’ front door.

 

And most of all, a teensy fairy that Little Hen made for me.

Sewing

I mentioned yesterday that we’ve been hit with a cold front (50 degrees in Florida??), so we’ve had to make ourselves busy with things besides the beach and swimming in the pool the past few days. 

Little Hen asked if I’d make her a pouch/sleeping bag for her dolly.  I said sure, on the condition that she work the pedal (she has more control if she uses her hands instead of her feet). 

We used some 50 cent fabric Little Hen had picked out at the thrift store (she always seems drawn to red), and some old shorts of my mother’s that she was going to donate otherwise, so this was a pretty thrifty project. (Anyone else love my mom’s sewing machine?  Ancient, but it runs beautifully, and I feel like I’m transported back generations when I use it.)

 

Afterward, Firecracker asked if her dolls could have a quilt, so with the scraps of leftover fabric and some remnants of Lamb’s Pride I had in my knitting bag, I churned one out in ten minutes or so.  Not perfect, but two little girls and their dolls (Princess Ruth and Lisa Blue Dress) are very happy.

(Sorry for the delay in posting – isn’t it crazy how busy you can be on vacation?  The past few days we’ve been to the circus, the beach, the park, and making trips to the thrift stores and craft store, not to mention trying to get some homeschooling done!  I promise I will do my best to get caught up on my blog reading this week – I’m so hopelessly behind, and I’m sure I’m missing out on all sorts of wonderful recipes and ideas!  Maybe the kids to get to bed early tonight…)

Purple Pixie

I have a few projects going at once, but managed to finish another one of these.  This time it is in 0-3 mo size for yet another friend expecting a baby (so glad more of our friends are starting to catch up with us!  Growing families are such a beautiful thing).  I used this yarn, size 3 needles.  The yarn is very soft and stretchy, and I love the flecks of pale blue and deep pink, and the slightly nubbly texture.   I will definitely be making more.

The weather has taken an unusual dip into the 50’s, so instead of swimming today, we did some sewing (more on that tomorrow) and hit the thrift stores.  Where else can you spend $40 and bring home two tablecloths, 12 nice shirts and blouses (including some DKNY, J. Jill, and Ralph Lauren!), two skirts, 5 girls skirts, 8 girls dresses, 3 girls shirts, 4 baby boy shirts (Talbot’s!), darning needles, knitting needles, yarn, some fabric, a knitting book, 2 kids books, and a beaded purse?  Florida has the best thrift stores, hands down.    I mean, finding a Laura Ashley girl’s dress in the 50 cent bin??  Getting to the Family Thrift on 99 cent day??  For a thrifty girl like me, it is a big thrill, to say the least.

Hope you had a day of gratifying frugality, too!

Nostepinne – a knitter’s tool

Last year for Christmas, my father made me a nostepinne out of some black walnut he had been saving from a tree that stood in my grandfather’s Indiana yard 40 years ago.  It is a really special gift, and I use it a lot. 

Yes, a ball winder is faster, but a nostepinne is portable, and the natural wood feels very nice in the hand.  It is easy to use once you get used to it, and makes nice self-pulling balls, especially handy if you knit on the go, looping your ball onto a holder, then on your beltloop and knitting while you walk around.  You can only do this with a self-pulling ball.

Some yarn I’m prepping (using my nostepinne) for a new project:

More on the project when I get a few inches completed.

Thanks to everyone who has been leaving such thoughtful and encouraging comments of late.  I am truly honored and overwhelmed at the recent traffic on my little blog, and I really appreciate your kind words.  Those of you with blogs of your own – I am daily inspired and challenged by your creativity and domesticity and artistry.  Keep posting, I’ll keep reading and learning from you!

Six Mile Cypress, Part II

More from our day at the Six Mile Cypress Slough.   I love being able to share my interest in the outdoors and birdwatching with the children.  My mother was excited to share her botanical knowledge and interests with us, too.  Not to mention the perfect sunny day spent exploring out of doors! 

The new nature center was a big thrill for the girls – it was really well designed for young children (a rarity in Southern Florida, where children themselves are a rarity, it seems).  We had the place to ourselves, and the volunteers were eager to show the girls around and go through the exhibits with them.

Afterward, we sat out at the various decks and blinds and did a little bird watching. 

TumTum was more content to flirt with the nice ladies volunteering there, and then occupy himself with his toes for a while.

I hope your day was spent enjoying family and sharing your passions with them, too!

Six Mile Cypress

The weather was a little cool for another trip to the beach, so instead we went for a walk in this gorgeous preserve.

The entire walk through the slough is on a boardwalk, since the cypress preserve is flooded most of the year.   

 Last year we saw lots of alligators and a family of otters playing right in front of us.  No such luck this year, but we saw lots of birds (yay!), including green herons (below), white ibis, palm warblers, Carolina wrens, anhingas, great blue herons, great egrets.  Oh, yeah, and some non-avian wildlife - lizards, various turtles, butterflies, beetles.  My mom is a Master Gardener and she’s a plant buff the way I’m a bird brain, so she was able to teach us a lot about the bromeliads, ferns, cypress, and other plants in the slough, too.

The Preserve has added a new nature center since last year, and I will write a bit about that tomrorow.

Prairie girls hit the beach

 

This is why I love Southern Florida  – beautiful 80 degree days (in January!!) spent relaxing on the beach.  It was a windy day, but the sun was shining, and the girls were very busy searching for shells, splashing in the shallows, and building fairy castles in the sand. 

Tum Tum really enjoyed himself, too.  After a brief attempt at eating the sand, he settled for just squishing his fingers and toes in it.   A pair of osprey kept circling overhead (their nest post was directly behind us), and he’d squeal with delight when they flew over.

This weekend we’re driving the half an hour to Sanibel – with the best shelling in the world, but yesterday’s excursion to Bowditch Beach was a wonderful beginning to the sun-n-sand season.

 

Ahhh, bliss…

Mayo Cake

My apologies for the lack of any decent pictures.  This is my sister’s birthday cake, my mom’s recipe.  It is the best chocolate cake EVER.  It makes a very dark, rich, moist cake, and is perfect with Mocha Frosting.

Larksong’s Mother’s Mayo Cake

1 C sugar

1 C mayo (Please, not Miracle Whip.  Ugh.)

1/2 C Dutch process cocoa

2 C unbleached flour

2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1C hot water

2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 F.  Butter and flour a 9 x 13 inch pan.  Mix first three ingredients.  Alternately, add flour and soda water.  Then add vanilla, stirring briefly until combined.  Bake for 45 min. (Don’t overcook, or it will dry out!  Just until the edges of the cake pull away from the pan.)

Let cool completely, and frost with Mocha Frosting (see below.)

Mocha Frosting (From The Joy of Cooking)

Sift together:

1 2/3 cups powdered sugar

2 tbsp Dutch process cocoa

Beat in mixer until fluffy:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

Then, add in the sugar +cocoa until creamy and whippy.  To this, add 1/8 tsp salt and 3 Tbsp very strong coffee or espresso.  Beat for 2 min.  Then, beat in 1 tsp pure vanilla or 1 tsp rum.  Let stand 5 min.  Beat again briefly, and spread on cooled cake.  Enjoy!

I promise some decent posts the next few days – we’ve been doing some fun homeschooling stuff, had a great trip down the street to the beach, and Little Hen has been taking pictures with her new digital camera.  It’s so hard to be motivated to blog while on vacation, but I will make some time tonight after the kids are in bed.  Hope you have a relaxing day!

Six

 

 

My apologies for the long absence.  We are settled in Florida and have been far too busy enjoying the warm, sunny weather and swimming in the pool to be on the computer.

We also celebrated my oldest daughter’s 6th birthday.  Her auntie’s birthday is two days before, so we had a quiet little joint celebration – Little Hen had angel food cake, and my sister had  mayonaise cake, and we all had a really nice evening.   

Happy birthday,  Little Hen.  Not so little anymore.  You can read and write, tie your shoes, scramble your own eggs, and you have such big ideas and creations.  Don’t grow up too fast, kiddo.Â