farm to table goodness

this morning i had the delight to attend a cooking class at cups la jolla, a dazzling little cupcake shop in la jolla over on the coast (same place we had jen's baby shower awhile back) with chef jesus gonzalez. the premise of the course was showing you simple and delectable ways to use all the farm fresh goodness we are blessed with in san diego with year round growing conditions.  we've recently joined a csa (community supported agriculture, you buy a share of a farm and they provide you weekly with a box of fresh, locally grown organic produce) and are attending our farmers' market weekly and i am taking full advantage of finding new ways to make our diet even more healthy. i was amazed at the simple yet absolutely gorgeous and delicious dishes we prepared today in a short period of time with just a handful of fresh produce each and some simple additions like agave, milk, flour, saffron, red quinoa and brown rice. thank you to the ladies in the course and the staff at cups la jolla, not to mention the great chef who was so sweet and patient, yet completely in command of a group of 12 women all trying to figure out what jesus wanted us to do (we didn't have recipes, he just flitted amongst us and kept us all going on our projects happening simultaneously, it was brilliant!).

my friend sarah and i with chef jesus

 dessert first, because i can:  5 phyllo dough sheets, laid out one at a time, and between each was sprayed with canola oil cooking spray and a fine sprinkle of brown sugar. once the sheets were laid out, placed a chunk of delicious goat cheese in one corner topped with pears and apples sauteed with some agave and a few walnuts, then rolled it up and baked it. delightful.

 red quinoa burgers: quinoa looks similar to couscous but a bit bigger and it is a complete protein (packed with all 9 essential amino acids) with a slightly nutty flavor. according to this website, "...Because quinoa is a very good source of manganese as well as a good source of magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorus, this "grain" may be especially valuable for persons with migraine headaches, diabetes and atherosclerosis." anway, in addition to red quinoa, there was finely diced carrot, bell pepper, white turnip....they were really wonderful and i'm looking forward to making them for pete.

 fresh ricotta with sweet sauteed fruit topped with granola: WE MADE RICOTTA CHEESE! this blew my mind. honestly, i really didn't know you could make your own ricotta and boy was it absolutely easy. we boiled 1/2 gallon of milk, once it came to a boil we removed the heat and added 1/2 c vinegar and 1 t salt and stirred.  almost immediately the curds formed. after a few minutes we poured the mixture through a cheesecloth draped strainer (and caught the whey which is the liquid that pours off of the cheese to keep for use in a smoothie later as its a wonderful pure source of protein) and served it topped with the fruit that had been sauteed earlier for the dessert, we just added banana to it. we also made granola which was so easy i am kicking myself for having been so afraid to try it before now - simple and delightful! this was an amazing thing to serve as a breakfast dish or even as a dessert.

a fresh take on potato salad: a salad base with another layer of diced tomatoes topped with purple potato salad. we diced the potatoes and then boiled them (purple potatoes have a higher starch content than your average potato so he suggested never to attempt making mashed potatoes with them) and combined the boiled potatoes with 5 diced hard cooked eggs, diced celery and mixed with a beautiful homemade avocado based creamy yet zippy dressing and garnished with sprouts.

dishes not pictured:

-saffron orange bread (so amazing)

-brown rice butternut squash and mushroom risotto - this may be the most delicious thing i've ever tasted

-roasted carrots and turnips

am so very inspired to take my meal plans to a new level after taking this course - and very much looking forward to receiving the recipes via e-mail this week from the chef himself. we're already planning our next course, perhaps a raw foods experience in may!

Song For A Fifth Child

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.


Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo)
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).


The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.
-Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

another awesome reminder from my new favorite magazine - keeping my priorities in check.

seeing the everyday magazine

this magazine is the only magazine that makes my heart leap with gladness when it comes in the mail. which tells me i've successfully made the shift from where i once was to where i am now. it tells me no longer am i feeling like a stranger in my own role in life - i am feeling rooted now in what i'm doing. i understand the magnitude of what it is i am charged with daily.
its the only magazine that makes me carve out time for it. the others pile up and stress me out with my obligation to read them. sometimes i never do. but this one, this one speaks to my heartstrings and beckons me to get cozy with a cup of tea and a fuzzy blanket and make time to read. every. word. its really a collection of 'life stories' and simple, beautiful photographs intertwined to create a publication.  it makes me happy to remember my childhood and understand the lessons and values i was taught. it makes me grateful for the gifts of family, friends and traditions i am so blessed to collect. and it absolutely shows me gentle reminders of the type of mother, wife, friend, daughter, granddaughter i want to be. it whispers directly into my soul and helps me regain the focus of my course.

every issue has the same "why" page at the front, its essentially their philosophy...and i love it.

"Our lives are the sum

Of each moment and interaction.

Each day we work, eat, laugh, teach, play, read, remember...

And work at it all again the next day.

Within seemingly small moments we find opportunity

To build relationships, develop character, find joy

For the price of our time.

Life's most essential possibilities are realized at home.

Where we share, teach, grow, learn, serve, give

Our best without praise or fanfare.

Because every effort, every moment matters

In the development of a person.

Nothing is really routine.

To all who SEE THE EVERYDAY."

get back to simple

beautiful words to make you consider the task ahead of you in a days work...the way things were....and the way things are and realizing the importance of going back there -

this video, 'hand wash cold' from Karen Maezen Miller's blog is a beautiful reminder of what is important in life.

i'm a student in learning this art.....of the doing with love....of the realizing the beauty in what i do....and her book sounds just like the sort of thing that could help a girl get an A+ in really, truly living.

her blog offers great wisdom in a single phrase:

"Having the good life is simple when you savor the one you have"

MEGATRON

petey has a new best friend of the canine variety. poor baxter became chopped liver over the weekend while petey doted on our friend's dog, megatron who stayed with us for the weekend while she went to vegas for some much needed girlfriend celebrating.  megatron is a sweet, wonderful, well-behaved and tolerant puppy who gets old man baxter all riled up into a playful frenzy 12 or 18 times a day and allows petey to tug and hug and roll and tote him around wherever he pleases.  of course, this amused petey to no end. all will be sad when sweet megatron goes home in a few hours.  and if you are paying attention, you'll get a look at the fabric of our new couches which petey also adores (well, we all do...they are heavenly to sink into at the end of the day).

now, i'm off to try something new - making my first rotisserie chicken in the slow cooker which will become shredded and used for chicken fajitas later in the week and added to some homemade chicken noodle soup which will feature my first ever homemade chicken stock from the chicken bones....all thanks to much inspiration from my new top favorite blog, new nostalgia. this gal really gets me excited!  the header of her blog reads: 

My quest to recapture the simplicity
of yesterday and apply it to today.

 

i love it and am trying to incorporate more of that into my life here....now, its true - the simple life requires a lot of effort to achieve, but that effort makes it all so much more meaningful.  some other things i am hoping to try out over the course of the next year:

homemade laundry detergent

homemade house cleaner

homemade dishwasher detergent

cloth diapering little baby girl nannen

planting a garden - i just had an epiphany about the unused, fenced in dog-run on the side of the house

and a whole host of healthy homemade recipes from her blog and others like it.  

WOO HOO!!!! 

 

real simple - real truth.

"The time to relax is when you don't have time for it." -- Sydney J. Harris

today's daily thought i get from real simple magazine's website.  and my goodness, how very true it is!  its a good reminder to me as i get increasingly worn out from the simplest activities (getting out of bed seems particularly tiresome lately, hehe) that its ok to stop and just sit. the problem lies in the fact that i am quite positive i've already started nesting so the need to get the baby's room ready and the house ready (for what? i've no idea....i just know its been really really important for me to clean a lot lately, i am pretty sure if i had a therapist she'd tell me it was my way of dealing with stress)....and i'm having a BLAST crafting and creating for my sister's bridal shower in february. all things to keep my hand busy, my heart full and my head happy - just wishing i had the stamina to keep up with myself. :)  spent last evening blissfully cutting fabric and the sewing machine is out and at the ready once the hemming is done. that's the hardest part, isn't it? the cutting and ironing and pinning....the sewing part is EASY-PEASY.  wish i had my grandmother here by my side to direct my paths, it should definitely be a law for grandmothers to live right down the street from their granddaughters. i'm going to start petitioning for this immediately.