April Days

Terrible rain storm here tonight, rumbling, with lightning. I enjoyed a walk with friends this afternoon around a large lake and it was cloudy and smelled like rain but lucky for us it held off. It came tonight with lots of rumbling and a light show display.

Groovy Girl and I are dog sitting for a friend and I had to bring the dog back here with me.  Her sad yellow lab eyes looked at me through the door and I just couldn’t leave her alone. So we have a doggie sleep over guest who’s had a good time getting to know our house and our two labs.

{Pre and Post-baked shells}

I made one main major meal this week-Stuffed Shells with Arrabbiata Sauce from Giada on Food Network. My brother made it for GG and I a few months ago and we both liked it.  It’s a little labor intensive though so I made it last Sunday afternoon when I had the time. Throughout the week GG was able to eat the leftovers for dinner before dance.  Next time I’d leave out the pancetta; I didn’t really enjoy the flavor.

While I was looking through some old blog posts I found this Sweet Potato Black Bean burrito recipe that I love. It is perfect to make and keep extras for lunches as well.  Also I found this great recipe for breakfast sandwiches that can be made ahead. I’m trying to make Anton one every morning so he leaves for work with something for breakfast. The recipe says you can freeze these; I’ve just been keeping 3-4 ready to go packaged up in the fridge. It’s easy to take one out, heat in the microwave for 20 seconds, and hand it to him before he heads out the door.

Tomorrow we celebrate Easter with a church service where Groovy Girl will do a celebratory lyrical dance for about the 4th year and after we head to MN to have dinner cooked by my stepmother.  I’m very excited to just sit at her table and enjoy the family around me. Blessing abound.

Weekly Update

It’s been a week of quick meals, crazy schedules and yet I’ve managed to create a few recipes to share.

{Janssen’s granola and photo}

I’ve been meaning to make Janssen’s granola recipe for quite awhile now and when the last few clusters of my TJ’s ginger mix landed in my morning yogurt the opportune moment was upon me.  It took me 3 days to gather ingredients and find a space of time to make and bake it.  It’s delicous!  Just because it’s my nature I will play with it next time. This time I did add in some mixed nuts (cashews + pecans) because they were sitting in our nut jar and some chopped dried mango.

Last night I hosted book club and I gave the granola away in little cloth giveaway bags (that I made from white cotton squares).  It was a combination Earth Day/May Day gift from me to all my book club friends.  Hopefully it brightened their morning yogurt.

I also whipped up a jug of ginger beer this weekend.  Jenny from Dinner; A love story introduced me to the Dark and Stormy and ginger beer is a major ingredient.  I don’t like the jacked-up expensive price of ginger beer ($10 for 4 bottles) so I thought it would be worth it to make my own.  Now I know why it’s not cheap…it’s hard to make.  I chopped up two large roots and then squeezed it through my mesh strainer to just barely produce 3 tablespoons.  I rinsed cold water through the pulp to eek out 1 more tablespoon.   I thought with the added yeast in this Epicurious recipe that it would be fizzy but it is not.  It does have ginger flavor though and I will use it. Maybe this weekend I will test run it with a Moscow Mule.  I will probably have to add club soda though to give it that extra POP and zing.

I planned to make Dark and Stormys (we’ve had rain + the last time I hosted we had a tornado warning) for book club but I changed plans when I wasn’t happy with my fizz-less mixture.  Luckily we had plenty of wine.  And delicious food.  My favorite was Katinka’s Greek salad.

What I’m reading:

Book club:  Orphan Train by Christine Baker Kline  ( I read this months ago so didn’t have much to contribute)
School: The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Groovy Girl: Nest by Esther Ehrlich

Next up: Swamplandia by Karen Russell