talk about gift bags and cookies

Amy was asking a few questions in the comments yesterday, so I thought I'd do a little post. She was wondering about these fabric gift bags I made last year. I love sewing bags, and I hate wrapping with wrapping paper, so these are right up my alley. I don't think my little ones will miss out on the joy of ripping up paper, because I don't imagine we will ever totally convert to these bags. I use these more for my own wrapping, while other family members still rely on paper. As far as asking for them back to use next year (for extended family members) I would just see how it goes. If they want to keep them, then I'd hand them over, of course. Otherwise, I'd get them back. It all depends.




I get a lot of questions about the recipe I use for my sugar cookies. I should state right up front that these are not delicate, high-end sugar cookies (those recipes tend to produce a really hard to handle dough). I like these because they taste perfectly yummy, but the dough is easy to work with. They make a nice, thick cookie with edges that stay pretty well defined. They are delicious with a glass of milk and they don't need any frosting or sprinkles (but the children love the bright decorations, so we usually do decorate them). Have fun!

Here are the links to the recipes:
Celebration Sugar Cookies
Best Sugar Cookie Icing

more pics from thanksgiving

We had a fun and family oriented, simple, potluck style Thanksgiving. I have a smallish, single wall oven, so oven space is really at a premium. Here's what we do: my mom heats up her dishes thoroughly at her home in her own oven, then transports them in a cooler lined with thick towels and pieces of cardboard (the cardboard is used to separate the layers of dishes). It works great, and the food arrives hot. I'm not sure how long you can hold food this way, but I'm guessing about an hour or so.

I made three pies this year, simply out of the love of pie: apple with crumb topping, traditional pumpkin, and Toll House. Yes, this messed up my diet, because I am impossible around the leftovers. Fortunately, they are all gone now.


Me and Faith. It was really fun having her home from college.


Setting the table.


James, Lori, Faith, Jacob.


Ken and Rainer.


Ben and the little boys.

I can't believe December is nearly upon us and we only have three more weeks of school and then another vacation!

hello monday! {linking up with lisa}

Hello Monday!
Hello being tired but ready for getting back into the routine of work and school.
Hello laundry that is washed, dried, folded and put away.
Hello feeling a bit more organized than usual for the week.


Goodbye teens that have all gone back to college.
Goodbye random multiple coffee outings over the entire vacation (I loved this one with Faith on Thanksgiving morning).
Hello getting back to reality with my eating and weigh-ins.


Hello advent calendar, assembled and ready to go for Thursday (still loving doing the advent calendar this way).
Hello cleaning up and taking down the fall/Thanksgiving decorations.
Goodbye golds, browns, and yellows. Hello bright and festive colors.


Hello Monday. I am excited and grateful for a new week and for my family and job.
Hello Monday. I am ready for you.

I am linking up with Lisa for Hello Monday. What are you saying hello to today?

trip to kansas

Last weekend I flew to Kansas for a visit with my good friend Carrie. It was so exciting to be flying off alone for a trip of my own--I never do that! Usually Carrie visits here, but this time it worked out for me to visit her and I'm so glad I did. I adore the town of Lawrence (I used to live there) and it was really fun being back. I'm super-hoping to go out a lot more now. It was especially fun to get a dose of cold weather and wear layers that don't have to be peeled off throughout the day. I'm not much of a vacation photographer at all (I prefer to be in the moment) but here are a few instagram/iPhone photos that I was inspired to take while there.


Colorful display of Klean Kanteens--they were so pretty all lined up this way that I very nearly bought one! (Wouldn't it be fun to have all the colors lined up like this on an open shelf at home?).


The dairy selection at The Merc was so beautiful. So much inspiring packaging! I was jealous of their awesome health food store. (Actually, all the shopping was awesome--so much local and handmade stuff).


Me and Carrie.


Cookies at Wheatfields.


The Mad Greek and Weaver's. Two of my favorites.


Little hand pies at Wheatfields.


Breakfast the last morning at Mirth.

Carrie--it was so fun. Thanks for hosting this time! I can't wait to visit again!

new cookbook: 'teaching dad to cook flapjack'

Rainer and I made this sunflower bread on Sunday. It was really tasty, despite the fact that it's kind of dense and low (my 100% whole wheat bread attempts always turn out that way--tasty but low). We found the recipe in a new book that I've actually had for quite some time. I read about it on 101 Cookbooks and had it on my wishlist for a few months then finally decided to buy it for myself. It's lovely. The book originally started out as a collection of recipes Miranda Gardiner compiled for her father, after her mother passed away. Just a collection of family, homey dishes he could whip up for himself. In truth, it's more of a family cookbook, though, and contains lots of pictures of the author's young family and dreamy shots of their location in Great Britain.


I love how this book is organized into not-your-usual categories like "well-loved food," "mid-week morsels," "chance encounters," and "ozone inspired" (tales of beach-side cooking). Details like that, along with inspiring photos, are what I love cookbooks for. It doesn't even matter very much how many of the recipes I end up making, as long as I'm inspired in my cooking and domesticity. This book is a lovely read for that.


These caramel salties look delicious and very well may end up on a Christmas tray over here pretty soon.


Eek! I love this photo of her boys in a homey kitchen. This picture accompanies a recipe for "deluxe toad in the hole."


I must make these jam tarts too.



I will say, it is frustrating to be doing Weight Watchers when I am faced with so many delicious recipes to try! I figured trying the Sunflower Bread would be a fairly safe bet to start, but even so I could only really eat a slice plus some of Rainer's crusts before I had to stop. Alas.

By the way, did you know I have a little Amazon bookshop? You can see some of my other favorite cookbooks here and "home" books here.

Thanks for all your sweet comments on work/parenting balance on my last post. It's so nice to feel supported and to bounce ideas off each other. I went back and answered some questions in the comments, so check back there if you asked one. Also, someone asked about the acorn cakelet pan a few posts ago. It's from William's Sonoma. A similar one is here.)

more scenes from the weekend and thoughts

Ken was away this weekend, so I had the boys to myself. I wasn't sure how it would go--he is their main caregiver after all, and it was a long weekend (with Friday's holiday), but we ended up having a great time. It was really fun to cozy in with them. We read a lot. I am obsessed right now with the Little House series and so is Dieter. Rainer likes it a little bit and plays close by while I am reading aloud to Dieter. It is fascinating to read about what those pioneers went through. Caroline Ingalls is my new role model for mothering.

Other fun things this weekend--
:: a fun playdate on Friday with new friends we are just getting to know
:: two dinners at Gam and Papa's house on Friday and Saturday nights--it was a treat to get to spend some extra time together. My mom fed us well and the boys got to watch Wild Kratts which they only get to do at the grandparents house
:: a trip to the natural history museum in Santa Barbara on Saturday--it was rainy and cozy there--a perfect day for it. We hadn't been in awhile and the boys were fascinated. Dieter said it is his favorite museum.
:: a trip to the park Saturday morning. The boys decided to dry the whole playground with some towels I had brought. They had a blast and were thoroughly wet by the time they were done. We packed a snack and they talked me into bringing cookies.
:: a walk Sunday morning to Farmer's Market to buy honey and apples (and a tamale and some very expensive almonds at their request).



Also on Sunday we made some leaf mobiles. I sent the boys outside to gather the most colorful leaves they could find, then we dipped them in wax and strung them on threads. I was thrilled that these turned out as well as they did, given our lackluster selection of leaves in So. Cal. I actually think this is quite pretty.



We practically had the museum to ourselves. I love this museum and have in mind to pony up for the membership every single year. In this scene they are looking at the salamanders.



Early morning in the park. The boys awoke very early that day. And somehow I found myself eating a cookie at 9am. By the way, the recipe for these is here.



Friday night at my parents' house my mom served this beautiful loaf cake. She was so excited when I took a picture. She said, "oh my, I'm going to be on the blog!" So here you go mom--your cake is on the blog.

I love spending time with my boys, and I'm still trying to figure out a balance between enjoying them and playing with them vs. rushing around and doing laundry/cleaning bathrooms/making lunches/making dinner and cleaning up the kitchen. It's just so hard to figure that out when you are a working mom. Still, we had fun and we started the week fairly organized, so I think it was a success.

hello monday! {linking up with lisa}

Hello Monday!
Hello feeling a bit exhausted but happy after a weekend alone with the boys.
Hello happy park and museum outings.
Hello beautiful cool fall weather.




Hello thinking about Thanksgiving (I can't believe it's next week!).
Hello getting ready for my little trip to Kansas over the weekend.
Hello making packing lists and shopping lists amongst a busy week at work.


Hello leaves dipped in wax.
Hello brothers having fun and also fighting.
Hello reading chapter after chapter of On the Banks of Plum Creek.



I am linking up with Lisa for Hello Monday this morning.
It is suddenly mid-November and I can't believe it!
What are you saying hello to this Monday morning?

eating lately (on weight watchers)

I'm a little behind in posting what I've been eating and making lately. Here's an update.

We made pumpkin muffins over the weekend and made some as acorn cakelets. I love serving these with pumpkin butter. I used my zucchini bread recipe and instead of zucchini used a can of pumpkin. (3 points for 1 muffin or 7 points if you eat two).


These are healthy "cookies" sweetened only with banana and dried fruit. I think they are nice for what they are, but the children are not impressed. I like to eat this sort of thing, but at 4 points per piece, it's a little hard to fit this in on Weight Watchers (because frankly, I'd rather take those 4 points and apply them to a real cookie, or, alternatively, for a healthy snack, I'd rather have apple slices and a string cheese: only 2 points). Recipe found here (via Pinterest).


Corn chowder! This is a very homey old-fashioned type of corn chowder that calls for canned corn and dry milk. I like it and Rainer ate this for several days as leftovers. (8 points for a large cup-and-a-half portion).


Beef and vegetable soup. This is a fall/winter favorite for us. It's really hearty and brothy and heavy with vegetables (I always add extra carrots). I've posted the recipe before. A bargain at 4 points for a cup.


My newest breakfast (5 points): a hearty slice of sunflower loaf (this is a really heavy bread I found at the health food store) with a teaspoon of almond butter and 2 teaspoons (!) of honey. I like it sweet.


I've saved the best for last: Moroccan Chicken Stew. Ok, so this is admittedly not the most photogenic recipe, but it's delicious and kid friendly. Easy too. I've made it twice so far. I still have more sweet potatoes and couscous on hand, so I'll be making this a third time pretty soon. I'm thrilled that the boys both eat it. The recipe says it makes only 4 servings, in which case it would be 14 points per serving (and the servings would be very large), but I counted mine as 3/4 of a serving at 10 points. So, it's kind of high, but hearty and delicious. Maybe I should count this as 12. Anyway, this one comes highly recommended. I didn't have fresh ginger or stick cinnamon, so I used 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger and a pinch of ground cinnamon. Delish!

As always, I'd love to hear your Weight Watchers tips, tricks, and "good deals."

torn from 'whole living' this month

I am *trying* to be better about using my magazines and then moving them along -- either to recycling or the library (if they are still pretty much intact) so that they won't pile up so much. I use the clippings in my various little notebooks or files. Here's what I saved this month . . .


:: I want to make this dark chocolate bark with sea salt and pistachios. Yum!


:: I loved this piece on mindful eating--such a good reminder of slowing down and enjoying your food. Very relevant to what I'm doing right now with the weight loss.


:: I'm definitely trying these "recipes" for homemade perfumes. Just blend essential oils as listed into jojoba oil and dab on pulse points. I'm really excited to try this. I'll blog it when I do.


:: I'm ready for some recommendations for natural deodorants. I'm getting tired of making my own and am on the lookout for a new one. I'm especially interested in the one mentioned that only has to be applied once every few days. That would suit me perfectly.

Also clipped: book recommendations to file for later and a small piece on morning rituals, which I'll take into my health notebook.

Do you clip magazine articles? Do they end up being useful or just contributing to paper clutter? I'm trying very hard to only clip what I truly find useful then to distribute it to where it belongs pretty soon. The recipes for Thanksgiving side dishes look delicious to me, but they are only aspirational, not something I would realistically make, so I did not cut them out.

hello monday! {linking up with lisa}

Hello Monday!
Hello colder days and rainy days.
Hello cleaning up the Halloween stuff and freshening up the nature table.


Hello acorn cakelet season (we love you and are going to make a lot of you!)
Hello pumpkin bread with pumpkin butter.
Hello double pumpkin-y goodness.


Hello second batch of fall leaf cookies (for the soup party that didn't happen).
Hello freezer full of cookies.
Hello feeling better and going back to school today.


Hello bright rain jackets.
Hello holiday on Friday.
Hello midweek trip to Santa Barbara (to find out some Rainer test results).


Hello block structures out on the floor all the time.
Hello dark nights and lighter mornings.
Hello holiday season that is nearly upon us.

I'm linking up with Lisa today for Hello Monday.
What are you saying hello to on this first Monday in November?