summer's end

Summer is really feeling "over" now. I go back to work officially in the morning and the boys on Tuesday. I love having a routine, so I'm not too sad. Next year I do want to feel and be more productive and at the same time more relaxed. This summer had some very fun elements, but I never really felt it clicked for me. Too busy up front and then too lacking in my beloved structure and routine. I'm going to make some notes on what I *hope* to do differently next year.

One thing I want to get started right now is a regular Sunday project with the boys. Today we made these little origami balloons or water bombs, inspired by our copy of Action Pack magazine (issue 1). The instructions in the actual magazine were really confusing so we ended up using a You Tube video to see how to do it (SO much clearer). I did the actual folding, but I bet Dieter could do these pretty well himself now that I get it and can teach him. The boys enjoyed coloring them and throwing them.



Back to school will be tiring, so I expect I'll be posting a bit less frequently, maybe once a week for a month or so. In the meantime, I'd love to know--what is your favorite, go-to, easy kid and mama art or craft activity?? Next Sunday we're going to branch out and make origami boats.

some vegan meals and a recipe for plum syrup

I have not been completely on-track with the vegan program this time around. I think I grossly underestimated how stressful this transition back to work would be and I just have not been able to do it. On the last 30 day vegan, I was very serious about it and remained almost entirely vegan the whole program, but this time I have not. I do hope to get back on track soon. In the meantime, I have eaten vegan when I can. I thought I'd share a few noteworthy meals with you.

A few nights ago I was home alone for dinner (very rare) so I made myself toast with mashed avocado, sea salt, and sliced heirloom tomatoes. Basically, the best thing I've ever eaten, or so it felt at the time. Yum! The heirloom tomatoes are home grown Cherokee Purples and they are so very yummy.


(Sorry, the photo here shows the lunch halfway eaten--I didn't think to snap a picture until partway through). This was not a very creative or inspiring lunch, but it was notable for me because I was going into work that day (I'm not officially back yet, but have had to go in a few days this week), and had to pack a quick vegan lunch, and it just turned out to be so satisfying. I borrowed one of the boys' Planet Boxes* and it just made it so easy to put in lots of little healthy sides. In addition to a pb&j, I took sliced cucumbers and radishes, plums, and cherry tomatoes--all from the garden. I loved being able to take so much home grown produce, even though the garden is small this year. I put a square of dark chocolate in there, but didn't even eat it because the meal was so delicious and filling on its own.


Over the weekend I made this plum syrup and it was just so good! I got the recipe from a vegan cookbook I've had for years--Teany. I'll share it with you at the end of this post.


To go with the syrup I made vegan pancakes from Susan's blog (I used the second recipe, using regular whole wheat flour and a little white spelt flour and instead of agave I dissolved some succanat into the wet ingredients). I was really impressed with these pancakes. Super yummy, nutritious, and easy to whip up on a Saturday morning.


Here's the recipe for plum syrup:

Plum Syrup from Teany

3 plums
2/3 cup maple syrup
2/3 cup pear or apple juice
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. vanilla extract
a pinch of black pepper (I omitted this)

Stem and pit the plums and cut into quarters. Mix everything together (plums through pepper) in a food processor until the plums are thoroughly pureed. Place mixture in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and cover and simmer on low for 15 minutes or until syrup is thick. Strain through a fine mesh strainer and serve warm.

*By the way, I have NO connection to the Planet Box company--I just really like their product. It seems like I'm always raving about the Planet Box and leaving comments on other's blogs about them and such. Maybe it's just because I'm a lazy person, but I hate dealing with a lot of little containers or plastic bags in a lunchbox, so having a divided tray just seems like such a revelation for me. Sorry if I seem to go on and on about it!

back to school shopping

{crewcuts}

{threadless}

We've done a bit of back to school shopping so far (shoes, t-shirts), and I thought it would be fun to post a little "review" of Crewcuts vs. Threadless, as we are trying both for the first time.

I used to love Hannas, but the boys have become a little burnt out on all the stripes and have wanted to branch out. After my Hannah phase, I mostly dressed them in thrifted shirts for a year or two. That worked out really well too, but this year I wanted them to be able to pick out what they want for back to school.

Basically, my "review" is that we like both the Crewcuts and the Threadless shirts. The Crewcuts shirts are incredibly soft and I love the trim fit of them. The sleeves are shorter and they are slimmer through the body than a standard boy's shirt. The Threadless shirts are also of nice quality (though not as nice as Crewcuts), and my boys really loved the fun designs. Each shirt has a clever title. The shirt Dieter is wearing in the photo is call "Loch Ness Imposter." Can you see it? Threadless is quite a bit more affordable than the Crewcuts too.

I love dressing boys! Boys are easy and fun to dress and it's nice sometimes having fewer choices than for the girls (although that was fun too, when Faith was little).

We are going to miss summer flip flops, though, as we trade them in for velcro tennis shoes. :(

If you have boys' clothing lines you love, please leave a link in the comments! For that matter, what shoes do your boys wear? Are they easy to slip on and off?

chaucer's

We were in Santa Barbara today for Rainer's clinic appointment, and we did all sorts of fun things before and after, including a visit to Chaucer's. Independently owned bookstores are getting pretty rare around here these days. We have a used bookstore here in town, and a Barnes and Noble we sometimes go to in Ventura, but this is the only indy bookstore I know of around here. It's always fun for a visit, although I've never been here sans kids, so have never gotten a chance to really linger and look around.


The aisles are long and narrow. The bookshelves are wooden and very high. There were a ton of people shopping today--it was hard to get a shot without people in it.


The journal section was so appealing.


I loved the looks of this book . . .


. . . and these fancy notecards . . .


. . . and the Miss Read books.


The children's section is large and crowded as well.


I loved the Ragedy Ann stories as a child, did you? I'm still enchanted with the idea of toys having a life of their own, when people are not looking.



I like this cute logo on the back of the bag.

After the bookstore we went to Gelson's. Dieter and I wanted water (we were not prepared with our Klean Kanteens, alas!) and a Lara bar. Gelson's is a fancy grocery store--it's always fun to go in there and look around. Anyway, there are outdoor tables and chairs in front of the grocery store, and as we came out I saw the cutest eldery couple enjoying a meal together at one of them. They were really old--all white haired and frail looking. She was eating a pasta salad. They had a half gallon carton of Arnold Palmer on the table. He was digging into a pint of Haagen Daaz. I absolutely loved the whole scene and would loved to have stared at them a bit longer and take it all in. I love people watching.

a yummy vegan lunch

I had such a delcious vegan lunch yesterday, just thought I'd post about it. (I may have posted this before . . . if so, my apologies). It's Angry Chicken's slaw with magic sauce. (Magic sauce recipe here). I really really love this meal. I took this in my lunch a few times over the school year, but of course it was even yummier eaten at home. This is a layer of leftover brown rice (reaheated in the micro), slaw with cilantro, grated carrots, and a few sliced scallions (I followed what Angry Chicken does and dressed the slaw with a bit of rice vinegar and sesame oil), and the warm magic sauce over all. Top with peanuts. So so good!

I had two thoughts when preparing this delicious lunch for myself:
1) Eating healthfully is so much work! How much easier it is to grab some random leftovers from the fridge or make a pb & j, rather than chopping a lot of fresh veggies and making a sauce!
2) How very very delicious it was! And how I felt like a million dollars after eating this way (the green juice helped too).

Dieter was super cute. He helped me grate a carrot then peeled an entire carrot down to nothing, just for fun. I remember liking to peel carrots too, when I was little.

{reading my phone while eating lunch . . . a bad habit I have}

prepping for 30 day vegan

30 Day Vegan--Summer Session-- starts on Monday. I've prepared just a bit so far, by going through my vegan recipes and starting a shopping list. Heather invited us to spend some time in the kitchen this weekend, putting things in order and getting ready. I didn't do anything major--just straightened up and dealt with some piles of clutter--still, it feels good going into the workshop with an organized workspace.

Why am I repeating the vegan workshop? The major reason is that, left to my own devices, my diet tends to go off course. Once again I need to straighten out and eat more healthfully. I do very well with structure and following a program, so this is perfect for me. Also, the timing is so much better for me this time. I still have a bit of summer break left, so I'll have more time for food prep and for journaling the experience. Also, last time Rainer was in the hospital right at the beginning of the program and I had to jump right in, two days late, and never really felt rested and organized around the whole experience. I expect the whole process to be easier this time around, since I already have a number of go-to vegan recipes that I know I like and are successful. And of course, with the summer produce all coming due, it's the perfect time to eat more veggies! I love the idea of starting the school year eating healthfully and hopefully feeling more energetic, clearer, and centered. I'll have time over these next two weeks to stock my freezer and gather my recipes and shopping lists so back to school food prep should be pretty smooth.

Here are some scenes from the kitchen today:

{recipe box, chore cards}

{produce from the garden}

{kitchen windows overlooking the back yard}

{stove, toaster}

{open shelves}

I'm not a big fan of my dated kitchen, but I do like that it has a lot of counter space and overlooks the back yard. When I'm cooking dinner in the evenings, it gets the most light, which is nice. A few years ago, Ken painted the super ugly wood cabinets white, and that has been a lifesaver.

There is still time to sign up, if you're interested. Workshop starts on Monday.

flourless pb cookies

I've seen recipes like this before and have always wanted to try them. These are peanut butter cookies made with only 5 ingredients and no flour or butter. They were super easy to mix up (I love a cookie that can be mixed by handl) and although I had my doubts going in, they turned out great. The texture is soft, so wouldn't replace my "regular" peanut butter cookie (which I originally got off the back of the Jif container, back in the day when we were still buying that. I was a die-hard Jif girl for many years but have since moved on to "natural" peanut butter--it was a hard transition . . .) but these are a nice change of pace. The thing that really struck me is that since you don't have to buy flour at all, these would be great for Faith to make at college--at least in theory. She's going to have a kitchen down the hall from her room. I can see her making these and sharing them with her roommates and kids on her floor.



Recipe found via Pinterest. Original recipe here. We froze the extras and they were excellent straight from the freezer. Delish!

staycation update

Our "staycation" is drawing to a close. We have had fun, but it will also be nice to get back to a more regular schedule and get everything ready for back to school. I'm all about having a schedule, so in some ways this is a nice time of year for me.

We have been up to . . .
:: visiting the SB art museum. They had a little "scavenger hunt" for the boys to do, which held their attention a bit longer
:: after the art museum we played at "Kid's World"
:: playing with playdough
:: playing with ice blocks
:: drawing with sidewalk chalk
:: watching Chugginton DVDs and "The Parent Trap" (Linsay Lohan version)
:: making bead bracelets
:: making yogurt

Some notes about the yogurt. We had good success using a half gallon of whole organic milk (pasturized, but not "ultra" pasturized) + 4 T. of nonfat dried milk (to thicken it) + a small tub of plain greek yogurt. We heated the milk and dried milk to 180, cooled it to 110, added the yogurt, then transferred to jars and put on the lids. I incubated them on a heating pad and wrapped in blankets. I set the heating pad on medium-high, but the jars seemed so hot in the morning, so next time I'll try the medium setting.

The yogurt is great with fruit and honey. But now I have to figure out a way to use all of it before I go on 30 Day Vegan on Monday! Not the best timing on my part . . .

**Thanks so much for all your kind comments on my previous post. I hear ya' on most of that. By the way, I'm replying more in the comments now. It seems to be the best way to reply, so check back there if you have asked a question.

review: the rhythm of the family

As you may know, I'm a huge Soulemama fan. Over the years, I've been so inspired by her blog. I especially love her style of quick and satisfying sewing projects and the way she brings so many personal elements into decorating her home. And her blog serves as a wonderful reminder to follow the seasons and celebrate home and family life.

I have Amanda's other books and eagerly pre-ordered this third book as soon as it became available in her shop. And on Saturday we came home from an outing and there it was in my mailbox: my own copy of Rhythm of the Family!

It's lovely. Amanda's style of photography is always inspiring--colorful and celebrating the home and seasons and the everyday beauty of family life. The book is full of her wonderful photography and is arranged by month. Each month has an essay by "mama", an essay by "papa", and a handful of projects to "make" and a handful of things to "do." You will be familiar with the style of writing here, and indeed with the style of the projects, if you are a regular reader of Soulemama's blog (and we all are, right?). Which is to say, having the book is like having a little piece of the blog "to go." You can throw it in your bag and head to the beach, pool, or woods and get Soulemama-inspiration wherever you may wander.

I love seasonal projects, and I love a simple project, as you know. Some examples of what you will find to "make" and "do" in the book: a recipe for potato soup, instructions for how to make a pillow, instructions for how to make a drawstring bag (to hold muffins), a recipe for muffins, the idea to make an "I wonder why" bulletin board, on which to pin all the questions the children might wonder about during the day (to look up later), a few recipes for natural remedies, having a "canning" party, and a recipe for green smoothies.

This is all exactly my type of thing. That said, nothing much is "new" here. Most of these projects and recipes have been mentioned or alluded to either on Soulemama's blog or others' blogs before. For example, I was happy to see an "everyday bread" recipe as I was flipping through the book, but disappointed to see that it is the same "WHO" bread that she has published previously on the blog. Some of the projects, like stamping on fabric, she has shown before but the instructions here in the book are a bit more detailed.

I'm very curious about the Soule's actual life. I think we all are a little. It all looks so picturesque and lovely from the outside. And how awesome would it be to be able to quit one's day job and sew and knit and cook, then blog about it, for a living? So when I heard that Soulemama and her husband (Soulepapa) were writing a book in "real time", over the course of a year, I hoped we might get a teensy glimpse into what real daily life looks like for them. Nothing personal about the children, most likely, but perhaps the adult perspective on things? I had an idea that it might be a little bit like The Happiness Project book. In her blog, Gretchin Rubin writes more generally on the subject of happiness, but in her book she writes really personally about her journey through a year of testing happiness theories. I think her wonderful "real"-ness and down-to-earthness is what has made that book an international bestseller (and one of my favorites). I had no real reason to think that this new Soulemama book would be like that, and indeed it is not. She has said before that she is just not inspired to write about the "dark underbelly" of parenting, but I did hope that we might get a bit more glimpse into their lives. Alas, it was not meant to be!

So should you buy the book? I wanted it and am glad to own it. It completes my set, and, having a hard copy, I'm more likely to get around to making some of these projects (trying the WHO bread recipe at last, for example, and making some postcard holders from tree branches). If you are on a tight budget and have her other two books, I think you could hold off on this. And if you are on a moderate budget, but have a bit set aside for mama-inspiration? I'd wait and see what the 3191 ladies come up with for their next print project or buy the paperback of The Happiness Project.

Do you have Rhythm of the Family? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

some scenes from the weekend

We had a mellow weekend. Rainer is obsessed with picking the radishes from our radish patch (I encourage him to save some for later but he can't help himself!) so I was very interested to try the recipe for roasted radishes and their greens that I came across in my Whole Living magazine. I was so glad I found that, because I had no idea you could eat the greens. Yummy! On Saturday we had a fun book buying trip and drinks at Starbucks. You can see my selections above (except the new Soulemama book was not from the bookstore--that was in the mailbox waiting for me when we returned! So fun).

I'm off to the dentist again this morning. More tooth trouble, can you believe it?

staycation day four

Today we:
:: cut up some plums for a picnic and discovered why they call them 'elephant heart plums'
:: did a child-led creative project (the best kind)
:: visited the Santa Barbara Natural History museum and the butterfly pavilion
:: picnicked in the museum back yard
:: had our usual Thursday night children's produce stand
:: read books and watched an episode of Project Runway season 2

Thanks for all your good wishes about my root canal. I'm feeling much better and the area is only a little sore now. Today will be a mellow day hanging out at home, breaking out some new legos, swimming at the pool, and hopefully cutting out some fabric for a new throw quilt (we'll see about that). The weather has been lovely and summery and the garden is so fun right now. The boys had an awesome time harvesting the radishes for the farmer's market last night. This staycation and staying close to home is exactly what I needed.