Thank you CHERRY much!

Dear Abby and Elise,

Thank you for playing dress up today. I loved seeing you, Abby, in your jammies, apron, and knee-high black boots. I loved seeing you, Elise, in your flowing, flowered dress, hair in a bun, bonnet on as you pretended to be Marian (madam librarian). Thank you for dressing up your babies for a tea party - Abby, you are so strong to clear the entire work table off and drag it halfway from the workroom to the living room. Elise - it was a great idea to tie your baby into her hair chair. Falling out of a chair at a tea party is zero fun. Thank you both for covering every visible surface of our house with: books, CandyLand, building blocks, books, dress up clothes, doll clothes, books, pillows, paper, pens, markers, books, pretend food items (including pretend homemade apple crisp), and books. It was a great day and all of the above happened because you got to stay home and play ALL DAY LONG! 

Love,

Mom

And as long as I'm throwing the "thanks" around, let's give a shout out to Kay and Dylan for sharing their awesome cherry tree with us!

The girls helped pick these delicious tart cherries on Saturday, so naturally for breakfast Sunday morning something had to be baked! We settled on cherry scones and they were fabulous. 

Cherry Scones

adapted from For The Love of Scones

• 5 T organic unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 C local, organic tart cherries (pitted and halved)
• 1/2 C local whole milk
• 1/2 C organic sour cream
• 2 C organic whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 C organic coconut sugar
• 2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
• 1/2 tsp Himalayan pink salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• Combine dry ingredients
• In separate bowl, whisk sour cream and milk
• Using pastry cutter, mix cold chunks of butter into dry ingredients
• Combine wet and dry until dough forms
• See here for steps on shaping and chilling dough, as well as adding cherries
• Once scones are cut and ready for the oven, brush the tops with a bit of butter and sprinkle with coconut sugar
• Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes

Foodie Friday: Stop...It's Spinach Time!

Here are a few things that popped up in the kitchen this week:

• Honey Whole Wheat Bread
• I'm on a roll with homemade bread! This recipe is seriously simple and has produced two great loaves of bread so far. It also doesn't hurt when one of your precious children says "You're the best mommy because you make our bread.". Sigh...
• Banana Ice Cream:
• 2 organic frozen bananas
• Scoop of organic, unsweetened cocoa powder
• Scoop of organic peanut butter
• Blend all until creamy and delicious

• Quinoa Muffins (courtesy of Martha Stewart)
• 2 C organic quinoa, cooked (I rinsed 1 C of quinoa, toasted it in a dry pan, added 2 C of water, and it cooked up to about 3 cups)
• 2 C organic whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 C organic coconut sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 C organic raisins
• 1/4 C organic coconut oil
• 3/4 C local 2% milk
• 1 large local organic egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt; add cooked quinoa and raisins
• In separate bowl, combine melted coconut oil, milk, egg, vanilla
• Mix all together
• Bake in greased muffin tin (I greased mine with coconut oil) at 350 degrees for approximately 25 minutes

• Spinach Salad
• The recipe is not the important part here nor is the appearance of spinach in our weekly diet - the girls have been packed full of spinach since they were tiny, sometimes in soups or enchiladas... most often in smoothies... But this week the girls each ate an entire (child's size) spinach salad for lunch. And I'm so stinkin' proud! They were proud of themselves, as well - as soon as John got home that day, when he asked how their day had been, the first thing mentioned was "We ate salad for lunch!". A few weeks ago, I started thinking about how few times I've offered or required the girls to eat/taste raw, leafy greens. They consume so much of it in other forms that the act of eating a piece of lettuce just hasn't been a must. I decided it was time to change that. So, I've been eating a lot more salads. Each time I fixed one, I offered a bite - just one bite. They saw me eating salads more, which is so important. When adding spinach to smoothies, I offered a leaf - just one leaf. And we've been doing this for several weeks. The taste, the texture, the experience - just like that it became familiar. They picked out tomatoes, shredded carrots, raspberries, and blueberries to dress their salad; I whipped up a little homemade dressing. It was delicious... and so exciting! When it comes to feeding my children, my job is never done. I love the challenge; I love the reward!

Wee Fruit Pizzas

For the girls' birthday this year, we had a small gathering in the morning, the day of their birthday. Little did we know that it was going to be 110° that day, which made the morning celebration that much more pleasant. Adding extra bodies to the house does nothing for the coolness quotient. I am now a huge fan of the morning party! I loved that the girls were able to wake up and start celebrating rather than waiting all day, the summertime birthday fits well with an earlier start, and the snacks were fun and easy! I didn't want to load them up with a sugary cupcake before lunch and naps, so when I saw these Mini-Muffin Fruit Pizzas, I was sold. I used homemade dough but definitely stole the idea. And I frosted/fruited a tray of them ahead of time for the adults, leaving some un-decorated to entertain the smaller humans as they did their own.

Mini-Muffin Tin Fruit Pizzas, with Lemony Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies
**I doubled the recipe for this occasion**

• 1/2 C organic unsalted butter
• 3/4 C organic sugar
• 1 local egg
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
• 2 C whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• Zest of 1 organic lemon
• Juice of 1/2 organic lemon
• Mix dry ingredients
• Mix wet ingredients
• Combine all and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes
• Preheat oven to 350°
• Butter a mini muffin tin
• Roll dough into small balls - do not squish into muffin tin; just drop a ball in each spot
• Bake for 4 minutes; remove from oven and press tops down with the back of a spoon
• Return to oven for 3-5 more minutes
• Topping: basic cream cheese frosting and organic fruit of your liking

Frozen banana? Yes, please!

Okay, so does everyone know about frozen bananas???? I just discovered them. Go right now. Buy some bananas. Let them ripen. Freeze them. Once they are frozen, don't assume that the ugly, brown peel is a sign of what you'll find inside - slice that unattractive thing open and you will find a cold, in tact, perfectly preserved banana. Talk about a tasty treat! So far we've used them in smoothies, popsicles, and psuedo-ice cream (did you know that if you throw frozen, sliced bananas in the blender with a splash of milk to get it going, the consistency totally mimics ice cream????)... I feel like there is a lot more that could be done. Ideas, anyone????

Strawberry Banana Popsicle

• 1 frozen organic banana
• 8 medium-sized organic strawberries
• 1 C organic apricot nectar
• 1/2 C organic plain yogurt
• 1 T local honey
• Place all ingredients in blender
• Follow Zoku popsicle maker-instructions, adding a few strawberry slices before filling