family – Page 13 – Peaceful Reader

Last minute summer road trips w/ G.G.

(Groovy Girl and her aunt)

Groovy Girl and I have been on a road trip frenzy to finish out the summer with a bang! We headed northeast first to the Rochester area of my former home state of Minnesota. I can wax poetically about growing up in the Land of 10,000+ lakes and my dad and his boating adventures. We spent many fun times going up and down rivers, camping on islands, going round and round lakes as generations of children and adults took their turns water skiing. I recently saw an old pair of wooden skis at an antique store and it took me back to 3rd grade when I had them on my feet for weeks at a time.

(Groovy Girl and her wee cousin)

We went to visit my stepmother and stepsister who is about to have baby #2 (remember when hashtags represented number). It was wonderful to see everyone and we delighted in seeing Groovy Girl’s young cousin, Amalia, who is growing fast. My other stepsister is in the process of moving with her husband and two young daughters to Minneapolis from the south side of Chicago so soon we’ll be able to easily get together.

We came home for one day turnaround and headed east to visit my friend Barb. She lives in the great state of Indiana in the northeast corner. She just purchased a new house and we helped her move, clean, organize, and build to make the new house a little more ready for her family to live in. We spent one long evening doing battle with an IKEA closet organizer for her son’s room.

She runs a very busy business, Marilyn’s Bakery, and was pulled in several different directions while we were there (every day for her) so it was great that we could be there to help. Groovy Girl and I like to help in the bakery but this time it was even more fun to stay at the new house, all shiny and beautiful, and work on that major project. We also had time to get pedicures, attend two yoga classes at The Yoga Room with Mike and go kayaking in the small lake that sits behind her new house.

(Barb and Groovy Girl)

Barb and I have known each since before we were married or had children and there is something comfortable about spending time with someone who knows you so well. We can talk about just about anything and we are lucky that we’ve landed only 2 states away from each other even though busy schedules keep us apart for most of the year.

While we were gone my youngest brother sent me an email asking us to visit before summer ends. We saw each other in Montana but it would be great to see them again and see the new house they have under construction. We’ll have to see what the end of August-beginning of September bring as school starts next week for both of us. How are you ending your summer?

Birthday Greetings

My birthday is ~~just around the corner~~ tomorrow! Yikes. Did you shop for me yet? If not, I’ve put together a quick list of possible suggestions in case one of you is still searching for that special something.

This Sony music player would be really great so I can listen to my playlist while I work around the house. I was just at my friend Barb’s house and she had one right there in the center of the house and made it so easy to listen to good music all the time.

I also adore these beautiful dresses at eShakti. This one in particular caught my eye. This would be a wonderful dress for back-to-school.

My list wouldn’t be complete without a few books:

1. The Santa Monica Farmer’s Market Cookbook by Amalia Saltsman (2007)

2. Everyday Thai Cooking by Katie Chin (2013)

I just finished Lament by Maggie Steifvater and I’m interested in Ballad, the companion novel to Lament which features James, Dierdre’s best friend.

I also really need to bump up my yoga gear. I wear the same outfit almost everyday and I’d like something new to slip on. This tank from R.E. I. would get me up and going.

Also this 3/4 zip shirt will keep me warm in the mornings as I walk or bike to school this year.

That’s probably enough suggestions. I don’t need much, really. My husband already gave me a nice bottle of red wine. Life is good.

Weekend Cooking; Recipes of the week

{The Kitchn}

I made this wonderful pasta dish: Lemony Ricotta Pasta with basil. I will definitely make this recipe again as it was easy and tasted great. Groovy Girl’s comment, “too cheesy,” didn’t even bother me one bit as I took another bite. I’ve got a lot of basil to use and am going to make a pared down pesto to freeze to use up my bounty.

I did make these healthy (and delicious!) swiss chard rolls. It’s a little like eating a sushi roll and the lemony flavor makes my mouth sing. They were very easy to make and it was my first time cooking with bulgar.

I plan to make this swiss chard risotto this week because I’ve acquired another huge bunch. Candace at Beth Fish Reads suggested risotto. I love risotto so it’s perfect.

I made a blueberry pie as my grocery store had USA blueberries on sale. And my husband LOVES pie. He left for RAGRAI yesterday and I wanted him to leave with a belly full of pie.

I also made him my mother-in-law’s famous chicken salad. It’s so easy (and worth it) to compliment someone on the food they make simply by asking for the recipe. I found myself in Target thinking about making the chicken salad and so I called Phyllis to ask for a run-down of the ingredients. As we were chatting about the recipe she relayed that Kaylee, my 22-year-old step-daughter, had called her and also asked for the recipe recently. That’s how simple it is to compliment someone on their cooking.

{the start of good chicken salad}

Curried Chicken Salad

Combine in a large bowl:

1 1/2 cups cooked (locally sourced or at least organic) chicken*, cut into bite-sized pieces (about 2-3 breasts)
1/2 cups seedless grapes, green or red (I always use red as my preference)
1 can water chestnuts, sliced and drained
1 can mandarin oranges or pineapple, drained (look for low-sugar content)

Mix together 1/2 cup olive oil-based mayonnaise or healthy egg-free substitute, 1/4 tsp kosher salt, and 1 tsp curry powder (I always use extra curry powder). Combine dressing with chicken mixture. I serve this on top of a bed of salad greens. It is delicious and a perfect meal for summer. Thanks Phyllis for all your inspiration!

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme hosted by Candace. Click to her link to find many other food-related posts. Have a healthy weekend.

Literary list from Groovy Girl

Today is a little like the first day of summer for the two of us. The first real part of summer was all about cleaning up Highland Library, planning our trip out west, and summer arts camp that now we are truly in the state of RELAXING. I read in bed for 45 minutes before emerging from my bedroom. We lazily watched two shows on her favorite HG-TV. I’ve folded a little laundry and we cleaned out the dirty pond that needs a new pump but it has been essentially a lazy day.

So she pops this question off to me as she is eating her noodle lunch:

“Mama, what’s your favorite kid books-

chapter books only-like books that people my age read?”

She asked me for my top three which quickly became five.

The quick list off the top of my head was

1. From the mixed up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
2. The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo
3. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate
4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
5. Wonder by R.J. Polaccio

I quickly added Maggie Steifvater’s The Raven Boys series even though it is YA. Too old for now she says. Just books I would have read.

And once I listened to her list I wanted to add some of hers on as well such as The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle-I had to really push her to read that book which was a school assignment and then once she got into it she couldn’t stop.

Then I asked her for her choices:

1. 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass
2. Ida B. by Katherine Hannigan
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
4. Wonder by R.J. Polaccio
5. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
6. Crash by Jerry Spinelli
7. Pegasus series by Kate O’Hearn
8. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
9. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
10. The Quirks by Erin Soderberg
11. Runaway Twin by Peg Kehret
12. The Land of Elyon series by Patrick Carman

And her 13th title is one we cannot remember title or author. It involves a troupe of traveling actors, a crow as her spirit animal and when she cannot kill her spirit animal she is banned from her community. For some reason I do not have it listed on my Goodreads account. If this synopsis rings a bell to you please let me know!

Happy reading and maybe our lists will inspire you to read one of our favorites.

Montana holiday

{Beautiful bison}

Our trip was amazing. We loved the trip out as we crossed through Sioux Falls, SD (ate at Minerva’s) all the way to Bozeman, MT and headed even further to Big Sky. We stayed at the wonderfully rustic 320 Guest Ranch right outside Big Sky. The large cabin was set up into the woods and we hiked down the small hill to the dining hall for a breakfast buffet and over to the fire pit to roast marshmallows at night. We took several hikes, went on a 2-hour trail ride on horseback, and played a lot of frisbee with the cousins. I am so excited to be home and I’m shocked that I stayed so busy on our trip that I didn’t post once. I always think there will be tons of time to laze around to read and write-not the case though so I have to make up for it with a few key photos.

{Horseback sitting at 320 Guest Ranch}

{Yellowstone Lake}

{Teenage moose}

I will share more of our adventure in the days to come as well as a few book reviews of what I finished as we drove.

For now happy 4th of July! I am happy for our freedom-hard fought as it was and is every day still in many different ways. I wish freedom could come to all people whether it be out of bondage, out of economical trials, or educational access. We have many battles still to fight.

Weekend Cooking; Cooking for a crowd

{Yellowstone}

Now that summer vacation if finally here the weekends and the weeks begin to run gloriously together except that last week I’ve been assisting my husband with his Arts Camp. My husband (I have my bragging hat on) is a pretty talented director and he does an amazing job of connecting with children of all ages. This art camp is in its seventh year and it is a lot of fun. Kids are paired up according to age and rotate through 4 different classes of art, music, drama and dance. We feed all 70 + kids a snack, my job, half way through their time together. It is a two-week camp and as soon as we finish up next week we are headed out to Yellowstone and Big Sky, MT for a family gathering.

I’ve been working hard mentally trying to think of easy meals I can put together while there. I volunteered to cook the first night and planned to make Katie Workman’s enchiladas I’ve made about 100 times this past year because they are easy and my kids love them. I’ve made them for friends and family and church but not for my brothers, wives, and children so I thought it would be the perfect recipe until I talked to my mother yesterday. After our chat I’m not going to make that recipe but am going to turn it into tacos with all ingredients out on the table so everyone can make their own. I’m also going to serve these margaritas that I love and hopefully my family will also. If they don’t; more for me I guess!

The margarita recipe:

12 oz can frozen limeade
12 ounces of tequila
12 ounces of water
8 ounces of triple sec (2/3 can)
1 can domestic beer
Ice and Limes as desired

Use the frozen limeade can to measure
ingredients. Mix well in a gallon pitcher. If you would like to
blend them; don’t add the water and blend. Either way serve in a small
glass, with limes and salt. Perfect.

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I’m going to bring the ingredients to make sushi. Groovy Girl and I have been making these easy rolls for lunch and we love them. All you need are one package of nori, sushi rice, a packet or can of wild caught Alaskan Salmon, a couple of thinly sliced carrots, maybe a few sprigs of parsley or leaves of spinach will work and you can roll up a healthy lunch. Beats a PB and J for sure.

It’s hard to believe when we return from our trip it will be July already and my short summer respite will be more than half over. My new school district starts school mid-August.

Stay cool and out of the rain.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts.

Weekend Cooking; Kale, Oh so much Kale

{source}

Last week when I had dinner with my mother we did another vegetable exchange. She’d understood from my last post that I wanted more rhubarb. I don’t know what gave her that idea?? Luckily she can read so she transferred over a large bag of rhubarb as well as a garbage-sized bag of kale, and smaller bags of spinach, basil, and several dozen eggs! It is worth the 40 minute drive I tell you.

Kale is very high in beta carotene, Vitamin K, Vitamin C and calcium. A lot like spinach even though it is closer to the cabbage family. I love both of these green leafy plants but can only have them in small doses. The Vitamin K interacts with the blood thinner I am required to take forever. Because I had 4 large bundles (and I gave two away to my friend Patty for juicing purposes) I had to find some way to preserve mine.

Did you know you can freeze kale? Yes, yes you can. How perfect to freeze medium-sized bags of these and then whip them out in the middle of winter to create a yummy soup or a smoothie. Whatever your heart desires! I froze two bundles and made pesto out of the other two. Kale and I are friends again. I’m going to try the same with spinach.

Julie A. Martens shares her tips on freezing kale in this helpful HGTV article. She sounds very smart and garden-happy. I found this kale pesto recipe here at Bon Appetite. It was easy to through together and tasted good. I made two batches and we ate one last night with gluten-free pasta and the rest I’m going to use for a book club recipe. Book club meets at my house on Monday. I should be cleaning ALL weekend long to get my house in shape but I’m not. I’m racing off to Indiana to help my friend Barb out at her bakery for Strawberry Madness.

Post Note: I just finished reading Ashfall by Mike Mullins (good not fantastic) which kale plays a part in so if you want to survive a terrible disaster in the future learn to eat your kale or better yet plant some in your backyard.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads weekend cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts.

Weekend Cooking; Salt Sugar Fat

Those are definitely three ingredients you use in cooking but I want to discuss the book by Michael Moss. I listen to this book back and forth from school on my phone. I often make faces in my car as I listen and I’m sure that I crack up my fellow drivers. The information in the book really disgusts me. I generally think that food has been ravaged more recently but the book relays how long this “manufacturing” of food has been going on.

I’ve heard all the big hitter names, Kellogg’s, General Mills, Post, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Unilever, and Cargill have all been mentioned and I’m only half finished with the book. Let me preface this with I know they are just trying to make money because they are a company but my answer back is do they have to make money on the backs of others (that would be us the guinea pigs). How much is too much money for CEOs and this goes for many businesses today.

I’m amazed at how all these food companies play with our food, adding more sugar, salt, and fat to appeal and pull us to buy their products repeatedly. It comes down to manufacturing the tastes that our body has adapted to crave because they’ve made you crave it. (crazy, yes) I’ve long been a consumer of a more organic and homegrown options and I don’t buy much processed food. My kids have long been taught how advertising works and to avoid believing even the most ordinary claims. They even know that the word “natural” does not really mean that anymore AT ALL.

But there is so much more to tell and it has a lot to do with psychology and how how our brain and our tastebuds work together. Food manufactured to taste like food. Makes you wonder why we don’t just let it be food. You know the fresh stuff that grows out of the ground and that we raise on farms. All in the name of progress; so women could work and get a meal on the table fast. The biggie food companies hired chemists to turn food into fast food. Jell-O, pudding, TV dinners, boxed mashed potatoes, anything that could be created anew and made quick. Progress.

I wish I knew how we could turn this back because we definitely have a problem with obesity in this country. Right about the time video games and other techno toys pulled kids to the sofa or bean bag chairs and grabbing quick and easy food from the kitchen to fuel their play they stopped playing outside and burning those calories.

My mom was a pretty healthy cook and we ate mostly homemade and homegrown. Going to McDonald’s was a huge treat and it did not happen very often. We had Kool-aid and popsicles in the summer time but we didn’t live on the stuff. Our evenings were spent playing kick-the-can, football, baseball, or other running around games. My mom even kicked us outside in the wintertime to “blow the stink” off us.

It’s a good book and I’m going to finish it as I begin my summer cleaning. I think we foodies have to band together to work toward change in this area.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts and recipes unlike this one which is really just a infomercial about the hazards of processed food. Stay tuned for fresh spring pesto, freezing leafy green veggies, and the rabbit that ate my garden.

New Beginnings

{Kaylee and Greg}

I’ve learned to love the phrase “When one door closes another will open” even though it has taken on new meaning for me as I’ve grown older. I used to think the door was closed on you and I now see it that sometimes you can be the one to close the door.

We’ve had a few recent and exciting changes in our family. My stepdaughter Kaylee recently graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio and we made the trek across three states to attend this monumental event. My in-laws and my brother- and sister-in-law with their young daughter, Sophie made the trip as well. They came from the opposite direction to meet us. We not only celebrated Kaylee’s graduation all weekend but also honored Allen, my father-in-law with a family dinner, a craft-beer tasting and many unique cards for his 80th birthday.

As Kaylee closes the door on her last four years of school she is open to new possibilities of where ever her talents will take her. She is spending the summer in Bar Harbor, MA, working at a local brewery with a group of young people. Over the graduation weekend I watched her explain her choices and stand by her idea that she was seeking adventures that would lead to writing opportunities and not just taking a post-college job. She is an excellent writer and my husband and I feel her stories are strong enough that she will sooner rather than later be paid to write creatively. I look forward to watching her develop even more as a writer as she immerses herself in unique experiences.

And I need to find a way to get to Bar Harbor for a visit. I’ve never been to Maine and I’ve heard it is absolutely one of our prettiest states.

As for myself I’ve recently been hired by a new school district to take the place of their retiring teacher-librarian. I’m very excited about this new opportunity but also scared and thinking “what was I thinking…” Even interviewing was a challenge for me but I made it through. It will be frightening to get to know a new staff. I’m comfortable with the staff at Highland and know the expectations of students, staff, and administration. Getting to know a new place of work, student’s names, reading ranges, and likes will be a big hurdle. I did want to push myself professionally though and to do that I had to close the door on the known.

{Groovy Girl and friends after talent show performance success}

Groovy Girl faces her own doors as she graduated out of her beloved elementary school and is now a 7th grade student at one of our local junior high schools. She is excited for the adventure right now but I know once we hit August her anxiety will build until she walks through those new doors and finds she is capable. Luckily my new elementary is just across the parking lot from her school so we’ll be able to give each other strength as we open the doors on that first morning and the second and the third.

Lots happening in this neck of the woods…
How about you? What new challenges are you tackling over the next few months?

Weekend Cooking; Juicing

{Rise and Shine Juice}

For the last few months I’ve kickstarted my day with hot water and lemon. It is refreshing and a great way to cleanse the body before you eat breakfast. My inspiration was an article I read in my Yoga Journal magazine. I plan to keep this habit up even as the temperature starts to heat up (anytime soon would be great!) and recently I was reminded of an old routine I once had.

My friend Patty started juicing recently and she practically glows at work! She shared some of her morning juice with me last week and I liked it. She and I share food recommendations back and forth as we chat at school because we both try to eat healthy. Her juice was so yummy I decided to dust off my Juiceman Jr. this morning and whip up some morning time juice.

I could not locate the exact recipe Patty shared with me from the Just on Juice website but a quick web search gave me this recipe at Giada De Laurentis’s Food Network page for what I thought were close ingredients.

Rise and Shine Juice

Ingredients:

5-6 ounces baby spinach leaves, rinsed
2 apples, cored and halved
2 medium carrots, scrubbed and halved
2 celery sticks
1/2 large lemon
One 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled
Ice

Directions:

Pass the spinach, apples, carrots, celery, lemon juice and ginger through a juice maker, according to the manufacturer’s directions. Pour the juice into 2 ice-filled glasses and serve.

It tasted great and it was more orange than green. My husband tried it and said it was far better than he though it would be. Groovy Girl surprised me and backed away as if I were her worst nightmare. Suffice it to say she won’t be borrowing the juicer for awhile.

I used to juice and then I quit because I felt bad for all that pulp (fiber from the veggies) I dumped into the compost bin. It seemed like a lot of work for one beverage-a delicious and healthy one but still isn’t it better to actually eat your veggies I concluded. Plus I had a toddler roaming at my heels and it was hard to keep up. The glow my friend Patty has developed is appealing though.

While I drank my orange glassful of juice and after she’d backed up from me Groovy Girl said “Now look you’ve had all those veggies and it isn’t even lunchtime!” So wise that little one.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme even though there was absolutely no cooking done for this post. Click her link to find many other food-related posts.