Mrs Mallard

And on that note...

2011-08-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

I've lost that blogging feeling.
Obviously.

If you really need something to read right now, I'd suggest some Rowdy Kittens.
Castles in the Air.
re-nest.

A book.

Or get up out of your chair and go do something.
You're on your own with that one, but I'm pretty confident there's something else you should be doing right now.
Something better.
Detaching your butt from that chair would be a good start.
And don't go turn on the television.
Really do something.

This is your life, after all.
Do you really want to see yourself staring blankly at a computer when the whole thing flashes in front of your eyes one day?

...and go!

Something to think about...

2011-06-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

How Green Is Your Internet? from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.

Of course, I'm not doing much to help by offering this, as well:

Do What You Love - Afton from The Panic Room Videos on Vimeo.

Growing...

2011-05-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

I'm still here.

I'm just outside.

Much to our surprise, our rhody is actual starting to bloom. The poor thing has had a rough life (planted, swamped, transplanted, hacked way back--all in less than a year) and my heart leapt when I saw bright pink starting to bust out of the buds.

I was pretty sure it was a goner.

Resilient little sucker.

Garlic is starting to put off scapes.

Must. Be. Patient.

Peas!

Two little rows of them!
And we're adding another row this weekend.

Strawberries! We planted three different varieties this year and they're all taking off.

It's a tiny flower now, but it will be a tasty berry soon enough.

Bloomsdale spinach.

We're going to need another row or two, at least.

Bordeaux spinach--again, we'll be planting another round this weekend.

Itsy bitsy Chamomile

Peppermint

Spearmint

Are you getting that we're growing our own tea here?

One of the onions we planted last fall. I couldn't resist. I had to see how big they've grown. It was the runt, anyway. And it was delicious.

Gave up the goldfish because we can't recycle the mylar packaging and totally rocked some homemade cheddar crackers. No surprise--they're far more delicious and extremely easy to make. Now I just need a tiny cookie cutter...

When I am inside, I've been reading a lot of this: click
And this: click
And this: click

And that's about it for now.

Winning!

2011-04-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

My desire to frolic about on the intraweb has waned drastically over the last couple months. It started with No TV Tuesday and the very appealing concept of a digital sabbatical. More and more, I find I'm less and less entertained by the shiny baubles of technology. It's not a bad thing. It's a fabulous thing, really. Stepping away from the computer means, for me, stepping back into my day. My house. My garden. My projects. My daughter. My husband. My life.

My life.

What would it be like if we didn't have (gasp!) an internet connection? Can you imagine?! I try. I've definitely cut waaaaay back on the amount of time I spend in front of a screen of any sort. Checking my email one afternoon, I realized very little of it was from actual people--the majority was advertising and sales. Sales for things I don't need with links to more things I really don't have any interest in perusing. In a fit of tears (seriously), I systematically unsubscribed from nearly everything that was cluttering up my inbox and I can't begin to tell you how liberating it was to cut those cords.

This is my life. These are the days that make up my life. Why on Earth have I been spending so much time clicking it all away when I could be doing something? And I'm being pretty hard on myself here, because I don't (didn't) spend all that much time online. I still managed to accomplish a lot with my days. What I noticed, though, was a deeply engrained habit of "just checking". Email. News. Blogs. Weekly grocery ads. Any random thought that needed further clarification. And it wasn't making me feel good. So I stopped. Well, I'm stopping. It's a process.

Now...now I am beating the jeepers out of my to-do list. The collection of sites I actually pay attention to has dwindled until they can be counted on one hand. I'm reading so much more--in fact, I find I crave time to read a book more than I yearn to watch a movie lately. I'm imagining, in full color, what it would be like to completely disconnect and live outside of town. To raise a child with books and gardens and seasons, rather than Elmo, iPads, and days full of often fruitless tasks that do nothing but lead us further and further from feeling genuinely satisfied.

So, what's left is for me to find a balance. I do get some satisfaction from writing, but I'm not super thrilled that it sometimes feels like an obligation. We can't run away and build a life in the hills just yet, so I'll just have to bring the hills down to the Valley floor for now. And we haven't won the lottery, so the epic cross-country tour and the EuroVan will just have to wait. In the meantime, there are plenty of amazing things for us to do right here at home. And I will write when I feel like it.

And I will cook.

And step outside...

...to take a very good look...

...at all the extraordinary things...

...that are happening in my life.

Speechless

2011-03-23T17:44:00.000-07:00

I have, as it were, lost my voice as of late. Sitting down to write, I find I struggle to keep my thoughts focused and I believe my time would be better spent on the things I always feel I don't have the time to accomplish. They are mundane things--laundry and the like--but they are the things that will keep me on my feet at the end of the day when I could be (should be) sitting, relaxing, taking a breath.

Since I am obviously going to be less than entertaining, here are some people who actually have something to say...

Rowdy Kittens This site has been a tremendous inspiration as Mr. Mallard and I have spent the last six months methodically sorting through every single little thing in our household, determining what we really need. And when I say need, I mean need. It has been a ridiculously liberating process, full of purging and revisiting and purging some more. I can't recommend it enough.

Re-Nest & The Kitchn As part of the Apartment Therapy family, Re-Nest and The Kitchn have provided me with altogether too many hours of pretty pictures and useful information. Ohdeedoh and Unplggd are equally enlightening, as are the house tours and decorating ideas at Apartment Therapy. Really, I live in a tiny town and these sites give me access to the ideas and inspiration I won't find by walking down Main Street. I can find a gas station and a cigarette shop, but I won't find this: click.

Crunchy Chicken This site makes me realize our pursuit of a low/no-impact way of life isn't crazy and the comments are evidence there are others like us out there. We are not alone! viva la revolucion!

...and that's all you get for now. The laundry needs to be hung, the living room straightened, granola needs to come out of the oven and I need to go enjoy the momentary hush that has fallen over Casa de Mallard before we launch into the noisy, possibly rainy evening ahead.

DIY Chalkboard Table

2011-03-15T16:59:00.000-07:00

I could have sworn I had a Before picture of this little table, but I don't, so I'll just tell you a little story, instead. Once upon a time, we went to a garage sale and paid seven dollars for a slightly battered/obviously loved pint-sized table and chair set. The table and chair set then experienced a long period of neglect as it sat in the cold, messy garage, waiting patiently for us to do something (anything!).

Unable to watch the little table suffer another moment, Mr. Mallard scuffed up the surface with some sandpaper and put three coats of chalkboard paint on the top, followed by a couple coats of some baby blue paint on the legs. You have to let the chalkboard paint dry for at least three days before you use the surface and you also need to prime it with some chalk. Just make sure you read all the directions and be patient. Very patient. And while it comes in about a dozen different colors, we went with the classic Schoolhouse Green.

Chalky good times!

Evidence of a successful project: I can't get her to step away long enough for me to take a picture of just the table.

There are still some touch-ups to be done along the edge of the chalkboard part, but the Biggest Girl was going to lose her little marbles if she didn't get to use her table, so we handed it over. And don't think the chairs will be forsaken--no, we've got plans for those, too. Mod Podge-based plans, even. Using the time frame for the table as a basis, we should get to the chairs sometime before, oh, Halloween.

The leftover chalkboard paint will be put to good use, as well. In an effort to reduce our post-it consumption, we will eventually make a chalkboard to hang in the kitchen. We've also got a wall in the garage that's just aching to be painted and I can see a chalkboard being very useful in a garage.

So, there you have it. Twelve bucks for a quart of awesome paint and the Biggest Girl has a chalkboard table. Now we just have to resist the urge to chalkboard paint the entire interior of the house. This stuff is just too fun.

Homemade Applesauce

2011-03-08T16:55:00.000-08:00

Gather your bruised, battered, not as great as they once were apples, along with one lemon.

Or grab about three pounds of organic apples next time you're at the market--nearly any variety will do, so just get whatever's on sale.

Peel those apples.

Core them by slicing off the two big sides and then the two little sides that remain.

Rough chop the apples.

Fill a stock pot with your peeled, roughly chopped apples...

...and about a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice and about 1/4 cup water.

Note: If you will not be feeding toddlers, try using bourbon instead of water.

Oooh...saucy applesauce!

Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the apples are soft enough to pierce with a fork. This will take about 20-30 minutes, depending on the type of apple and the size of the chunk.

When they are soft...

..blend 'em up with a hand mixer to your desired consistency. Leave some chunks, if you like. If you plan to use the applesauce for baking, puree until smooth. Now's the time to season it, as well. Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves...just add a little at a time until you're satisfied with the flavor.

Victory!

Pour it into freezer containers, leaving a little room for expansion. Stick it in the fridge and then move it to the freezer once it's completely (and I mean completely) cooled.

No added sugar and no grody preservatives.

It freezes well and it's simple to make.

This will be the reason we finally get a giant chest freezer next fall.

Our regular program won't be seen today...

2011-03-03T20:51:00.000-08:00

...because I am ridiculously uninspired and the ice cream in the freezer has been calling my name since it got home this evening. In the place of actually writing something, I give you the Swanson Pyramid of Greatness. If you need to, you can click on the picture and it will pop up in a bigger, less squint-inducing size. Study it. Live it. I'm going to spend the weekend attacking the list of half-finished projects that's been following me around for weeks (months, really) and celebrate by eating something delicious. Deeelicious.

Homemade Coconut Milk

2011-03-01T17:16:00.000-08:00

Before

After

It was a dark and stormy night. Seriously--it was supposed to snow, if I recall correctly. I opened the cabinet to grab a can of coconut milk and my poor cupboard was bare (of coconut milk, anyway). Woe is me! It wasn't the type of night where a challenge was an exciting adventure. Noooo...it was the type of night that had me totally losing my mind in the kitchen while the Biggest Girl ran around, wailing and shrieking and very obviously feeding off my completely frazzled vibes. Mr. Mallard, meanwhile, wondered how both his ladies could spill all their marbles at the same time and assured us both we were not only pretty, but also very capable women. Using his superhero-like powers of being awesome, he managed to save us all from perishing of fits.

In the process of restoring calm, we discovered we can make our own coconut milk. Silver lining to the freakout! woohoo!

You will need:

1 to 1-1/2 cups hot water

1 cup unsweetened dried coconut, preferably organic and sulfite free

Heat the water, but do not let it boil. Pour the water over the coconut and let it steep for about 30 minutes. After steeping, use a blender or hand mixer to pulse a few times before blending for a minute or so. Slowly pour the resulting coconut mess through a fine mesh strainer, stopping from time to time to squeeze the moisture out of the coconut that ends up in the strainer.

That's it. You're done. Less water will give you a creamier milk, while more water will, obviously, give you a thinner milk that's well-suited for soups, curries and the like.

And here are four reasons you should give this a whirl:

1. The coconut milk you make will be soooo much tastier, thereby rendering whatever you're making that much tastier.

2. No can to recycle. Buy the coconut in bulk and you eliminate the need for packaging. Use a reusable container when you get your bulk coconut and you'll be rockin' a zero-waste coconut milk.

3. No preservatives to help stabilize the milk while it sits in the can for a couple years means no preservatives in your culinary masterpiece. Plus, you won't have to worry about what might be seeping into the milk as the lining on the can degrades over time. BPA--it's in there!

4. It's incredibly inexpensive--about fifty cents per batch. Each batch makes roughly a can and the good ones go for about $2.45 here. That means I've got $1.95 to blow on a fancy scone the next time I'm near the bakery case and feel the need to reward myself for simply making it out into the world. Perfecto.

Picture of Peas

2011-02-22T16:43:00.000-08:00

I wanted to write something today, but my ability to concentrate is completely nonexistent. It's almost storming outside and it's got me all giddy, hoping it turns into a gnarly rain/ice storm that paralyzes the town, but doesn't knock the power out. I'm talkin' snow day, people. Snow day! Come on, Universe...we could all use a break. I've even got a chicken to roast...

So, I'm going to go stare longingly out the window and attempt to will the weather to do my bidding.

In the place of having something to say, I give you one of the best pictures I've ever taken:

Do have a lovely day.

The Very Best Cornbread

2011-02-17T17:15:00.000-08:00

Adapted from The Sunset Cookbook
Makes 9-12 servings
Printable recipe here: click

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter an 8- or 9-inch baking dish and make sure you use real butter to do it. Don't cheat and use cooking spray because it's just that important you use real butter.

Mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in one bowl. In another bowl, beat the eggs and then mix in the buttermilk and melted, cooled butter. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and then scrape it all into your well-buttered baking dish.

Bake for 20-25 minutes--until the bread starts to pull away from the sides just a bit. Let it cool slightly, slather it with more butter and scarf it down.

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two days.

----------

Not at all dry, totally rich, fabulously dense little hunks of delight, this cornbread. I've tried a lot (a loooot) of cornbread recipes and this is the one. This is it. This is the Mother of All Cornbreads. I dare you to find something better. I dare you!

Note: simply adding bacon to this recipe does not constitute victory.

And it stays delicious for two days. Two days!

Ikea Hack Bookshelves

2011-02-15T08:03:00.000-08:00

The books. We have so many stinkin' books. Big books, little books, daytime books, bedtime books, books we've read a thousand times and books that are queued up for the days that lie ahead. In the meantime, I've been losing my mind just a little, trying to find a way to store all these books in a neat and orderly fashion.

Problem area: Biggest Girl's room. This corner by the rocking chair was just sad. At only 22", the little wall just wasn't big enough for a bookshelf.

No es bueno.

That's more like it!

Two Ikea spice racks--painted in a shade called Totally Cool--make the most awesome bedtime book bookshelf ever.

Pretty great, eh?

Seal of approval.

I wish I could claim the idea as my own, but the inspiration came from a post on Ohdeedoh. I do love these little shelves, though, and I keep looking around the house to find more places to put them to use. I'm not only thrilled the books are off the floor, but also impressed we managed to accomplish the task without adding another piece of furniture to our lives. woohoo!

Total cost: About $13 for the shelves and the sample quart of paint. This total does not include the gas it took to get to Ikea or the piles of hot wings it took to soothe our battered souls after navigating Ikea. At noon. On a Saturday.

Special Weather Statement

2011-02-11T17:04:00.000-08:00

The language in the following Special Weather Statement, issued by the National Weather Service in Portland, kind of made my day:

145 PM PST FRI FEB 11 2011
...A RETURN TO A MORE ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN OVER SOUTHWEST
WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON STARTS THIS WEEKEND AND CONTINUES
THROUGH MOST OF NEXT WEEK...
AFTER A RELATIVELY BENIGN WEATHER PERIOD THAT HAS LULLED THE AREA
IN TRANQUILITY...MOTHER NATURE WILL SHAKE THINGS UP AGAIN.
THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF POTENT WEATHER SYSTEMS WILL PUSH INTO
THE REGION THIS WEEKEND. THE MAIN COLD FRONT WILL BRING RAIN TO
SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON MAINLY LATE SATURDAY AND
SATURDAY NIGHT. THE FRONT WILL STALL AND THEN LIFT BACK NORTH AS A
WARM FRONT SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT FOR MORE RAIN. THIS WILL GIVE
MORE PRECIPITATION TO THE AREA THAN HAS BEEN SEEN IN A COUPLE OF
WEEKS...BUT NOT ENOUGH FOR ANY RIVER FLOODING.
SNOW LEVELS WILL DIP A BIT SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY BUT STAY
ABOVE THE PASS ELEVATIONS OF THE CASCADES...WITH SOME DECENT
ACCUMULATION EXPECTED AT SKI RESORT LEVELS...BUT THEN RISE AGAIN
BY SUNDAY NIGHT.
ANOTHER POTENT FRONT WILL APPROACH MONDAY AND MOVE THROUGH
SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON MONDAY NIGHT. THIS WILL
PRODUCE MORE VALLEY RAIN AND POSSIBLY SOME WIND ALONG THE COAST...
WITH SNOW LEVELS LOWERING INTO THE COASTAL MOUNTAINS AND CASCADE
FOOTHILLS TUESDAY. THE ASSOCIATED COOL UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL
THEN BE OVER THE AREA THROUGH AT LEAST WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY FOR
MORE SHOWERS AND RATHER LOW SNOW LEVELS. THE SNOW LEVELS MAY
POSSIBLY LOWER TO AROUND 1000 FEET OR SO. ACCUMULATIONS ARE NOT
EXPECTED AT THE VALLEY FLOOR DUE TO THE LOW LEVEL WIND FLOW BEING
ONSHORE.
STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES AND THE LATEST FORECASTS AS THE
WEATHER TURNS MORE ACTIVE...AND AS THE TIMING AND INTENSITY OF THE
EXPECTED SYSTEMS BECOMES MORE CERTAIN. THOSE WITH TRAVEL PLANS
OVER THE CASCADES NEXT WEEK SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR WINTRY
DRIVING CONDITIONS.

The benign weather and the lulling us into tranquility (it totally did) and Mother Nature shaking things and such--it was just good reading. The compost has been emptied, recycling taken out. Still have to put away the outside toys and I'd like to sweep. Batten the hatches, boys! There's a storm a-comin'! I keep looking for it to peek over the Peak and creep it's way into our backyard. Nothing so far. Rest assured I'm going to huck a shoe at a weatherman if the wind is whipping tomorrow.

It was a cool 60 degrees today (versus a warm 60) and I'm finding I feel irritated I don't know more about foul weather gardening. Can I plant something? Do I need a cold frame? When can I do something about the white flies I know are on the way? How early is to early for strawberries? Let me grow some peas. Spinach? Come on. Peppermint? Pleeeease.

Additional qualification for the Volunteer Personal Assistant position: Must be a walking encyclopedia of gardening knowledge and folklore (very important). Master Gardener certification preferable.

In the meantime, while the rest of the nation has been washed away and/or buried in snow, we've had a mild, barely needed my gloves type of season. The past week has been the same week we have every February--the one that tricks us into thinking spring is here before it dumps buckets for the next three months. It's different this year. It's earlier. And it's making me realize just how much gardening brings you back to the very simple things in life. Is it going to rain? Can we dig in the dirt? Just let me plant something! I want to see things grow!

For the first time in my adult life, I'm actually looking forward to summer.

I'd appreciate a good storm first, though.
I'm not done baking.
And I'm kind of in love with my sweatpants.

Great Backyard Bird Count

2011-02-09T08:04:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for the perfect excuse to sit quietly and stare at a tree the weekend after next, I'm here to help. It's The Great Backyard Bird Count! It starts a week from Friday and you can participate as little or as much as you'd like. It's an "annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent."

Minimum time commitment is 15 minutes and you don't have to be an experienced bird watcher to participate. You don't even have to be in America--Canada is taking part, too. Even if you only know the name of a single bird, you can just count that one. Is this getting easy enough for you, yet?

Dig around their website a little: click. You'll find tons of information about past Bird Counts and step-by-step instructions on how to participate this year.

viva la birdies!

Things that have worked

2011-02-07T16:40:00.000-08:00

The Biggest Girl has moved away from the plastic kid bowls and into Fiestaware. I only wonder why I didn't do it sooner. Yes, the ever-looming possibility she may drop one (a green one!) exists, but she's old enough to learn responsibility and truly seems to appreciate eating out of the same dishes as Mom and Dad. She uses the salad plates as dinner plates and the smaller bowls for oatmeal (lots and lots of oatmeal). When the meal is over, she takes her dishes to the kitchen and then washes her hands. It's pretty amazing.

Vegetable Lasagna with Butternut Bechamel

I found the recipe at one of my new favorites, The Kitchn. We had some squash in the garage that was threatening to go all rebel on us, so I cooked it up, froze some of it, and used the rest to make this delicious, nutritious bit of lasagna delight. It's strange, at first, to have a non-tomato based lasagna, but it does a great job of being unapologetically sweet. And it's got chard! Perfect meal for late winter crops and, since there's no meat, it's also great for Meatless Monday.

Pumpkin Cranberry Walnut Bread

Also roasted, pureed, and froze some pumpkin the same day as the squash. I kept some out and made an extremely tasty pumpkin bread. The recipe made two loaves, so I put cranberries in one for the Biggest Girl and chocolate chips in one for Mr. Mallard. I got the best of both world when I made a tiny sandwich with a slice of each and ended up with Pumpkin Cranberry Chocolate Chip Walnut Bread. de-lish. As soon as I remember which recipe I used, I'll get back to you.

I am making a potholder. Just saying that reminds me I need to finish it, asap. It's for another contest at Prudent Baby--this time the prize is a badass sewing machine. I was feeling super confident until I saw the most recent entries. Holy moly. These folks can sew. It's inspiring and soul-crushing all at the same time.

I left the house and hung out in a new backyard for awhile.

It was just what I needed.

I taught a good friend how to sew this past weekend. And I didn't yell at her a single time. I also didn't rip the project out of her hands and tell her I'll just do it myself. I was patient and kind and encouraging and this is good news for anyone who has to/wants to work next to me in the kitchen. I am learning to be patient while other people learn. I'm proud of her for bustin' out some adorable curtains the same day she sat down at a sewing machine for the first time ever and I'm proud of myself for knowing enough to teach her how. We're a good team.

The Super Bowl was a sort of whatever incident here at Casa de Mallard. I did make a White Chili that was delicious, though. It wasn't as chili-y as we thought it would be, but it was tasty. Tonight, we'll be scarfing it down as a quesadilla filling on homemade tortillas. I will be very honest with you here: the homemade tortillas are not the result of a passion for cooking from scratch. Nope. They are the result of my absolute lack of interest in leaving the house for just one thing. And so I will make them.

I also made the most delicious cornbread I've ever had in my entire life, but I have to go get dinner started now, so the recipe will have to come later.

Mrs. Mallard, out!

Peanut butter jelly time!

2011-02-01T16:52:00.000-08:00

The further we get from processed foods, the more exciting my days become. Yesterday, I mastered peanut butter. The inspiration to conquer the PB came from a very huge, very real addiction to Whole Foods' Fresh Ground Honey Roasted Peanut Butter. It's got crack in it. Lots and lots of crunchy honey crack and the nearest Whole Foods is more than an hour away. Oh, woe is us! We want (read: need) the Honey Roasted Peanut Butter, but taking the time (and money) to drive all the way to Whole Foods just for the greatest peanut butter ever invented became more than we could justify.

Enter the Cuisinart.

I can do this. I can put stuff in the 'Nart and turn it on. I've got skills.

Dry roasted peanuts from the bulk section of our local co-op that I brought home in a reused one-quart yogurt container, thereby eliminating any waste. Rock it!

A couple minutes later, the peanuts look like this. Last time, I stopped here and thought, "I've done it! I've done it!" I hadn't, though. You have to keep going.

A couple minutes more and you've got some actual peanut butter.

That means we've got homemade peanut butter slathered on
homemade bread for our peanutbutterjellytime.

Added bonus: no added sugar or preservatives. No palm oil, either, and that's nice because it's nasty stuff that's no good for you or the planet. Just dry roasted peanuts and a few minutes spent peeking in the food processor to see if it's done. Store it in the fridge and revel in the no-stir goodness of your tasty creation. Our days of mass-produced peanut butter have just come to a glorious, delicious end.

Next stop: making our own honey roasted peanuts. Bring it!

Quickly!

2011-01-28T17:27:00.000-08:00

Though I imagine I would probably find ways to fill them and make the same proclamation, there simply are not enough hours in a day. What I wouldn't give for a giant pause button and the opportunity to just do the things I want to do for a day. Even an uninterrupted hour would be nice. Then I greedily think I'd need more than an hour and wish for an afternoon.

No giant pause button, though. Just the blur of another week.

Quick research renders our leftover potatoes and cabbage into a modified Colcannon. I knew such a thing existed, but I never imagined it had a name. It's delicious and you should try it. And don't stick to the recipe--go crazy. Ours had carrots! Rebels!

Garlic, I believe.

Maybe onions.

I forgot which ones are in which bed and it's too dark to go out and check.

Onions? Garlic? Who knows?

I should.

I'm sure I have it written down somewhere.

I'm pretty sure these are the onions.

Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc biscuit recipe is nice.

Also made English Muffins, but forgot to take a picture of them during the day.

I also modified the recipe to include whole wheat flour.

They were tasty, but I'm convinced I can do better.

...and off we go into the weekend, I guess. The place where aspirations meet reality and you learn to just relax into what your able to achieve as it compares to what you wanted to achieve. Failure to do so will result in losing your ever-loving mind.

The end.

Take a look, it's in a book

2011-01-25T16:25:00.000-08:00

Inspired by the mention of a Book a Week Challenge on Rowdy Kittens, and with the recent addition of No TV Tuesdays to our weekly schedule, Mr. Mallard and I have embarked on a more modest Two Books a Month Challenge.

We ease our way into these things, we do not leap.
Not anymore.
Used to leap all over the place.
No more.
Just well-researched steps in carefully calculated directions these days.

Anyway...we're reading more. After all the years of fiction in school, I find I have developed an aversion to the stuff and I've got a pretty good line up of predominantly non-fiction to tackle.

1. Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life by Francine Jay. I just call it Joy of Less. It's a guide to, well, decluttering, organizing and simplifying your life. There are no makings of lists or ridiculous assignments. Just a great explanation of the habits that caused us to accumulate and retain so much crap and how we can go about changing those habits to get rid of all that crap.

2. No Impact Man by Colin Beavan. I'm beginning to wish I had my own copy of this book because I know I'm going to want to come back to it again and again. The movie is great, but the book is so much better that it makes me wonder why they even did the movie. Colin Beavan is an incredible writer. Incredible. And the book isn't all preachy and "I might stink from not showering, but I'm better than you." The manner in which he presents his experience allows readers to benefit from his realizations without having to suffer through the discovery themselves. Very helpful. Very well written (very well). Very fun to read.

3. The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin. What is with the long titles, people? Jeez. I have to admit my eyes kind of rolled a little when I typed the title out just now, but I'm going to give a shot. I haven't started it yet, but I'm curious. The title kept popping up everywhere, so I thought I'd give it a chance. I have a very strict Abandon Ship clause in my commitment to read two books a month. I'm not going to suffer for this quest. The moment I start to dread reading something, it's out. Out! I've suffered enough assigned reading for one lifetime. I am free from the shackles of academia and I will read whatever I please. Do you hear me? Whatever I please!

4. Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart. How could I not want to read this? It's written by Gary Shteyngart.

...and there you have it. The next six weeks of reading material. I'm already halfway through both Joy of Less and No Impact Man, so...insert calculations...my goal is to finish all these books by the end of February and have four more on the horizon. Will it last all year? Can I really read two books every month and raise a child and run a household and get back in shape and figure out what to do with my hair all at the same time?

We shall see, shan't we?

Shan't we!

Dry Brushing

2011-01-20T17:14:00.000-08:00

It's called Dry Brushing. You don't know it right now, but it's your new favorite thing and you can't believe no one told you about it before.

Weapon of Choice

Step one: Get a brush. We got ours at our local co-op, but you can also find them at your local health food/hippie grocery store, Whole Foods, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, or online. I love the one in the picture, but you might be a wuss and need a softer brush. Don't be ashamed. Just get a softer brush.

Step two: Read the instructions found here: click

Step three: Read this Cliff Notes version, too: click

Step four: Get to it! I start with my feet. I actually stand on the bath mat to do them, because I'd hate to step in a tiny puddle in the tub and get my feet wet before I brush them. So feet, hop in the tub, and then legs, buns, back, arms, belly, neck/collarbones. Always move the brush toward you heart in long, gentle strokes--you're trying to get things moving, not draw blood.

Step five: Take a shower. End it with at least one hot/cold cycle: as hot as you can stand it for 20 seconds and then as cold as you can stand it for 20 seconds. Or just do it a little cooler than you normally would. Whatever works. This is your amazing thing, not mine. I happen to enjoy ending my showers breathless from the cold water. I also like jumping in the Pacific Ocean in January. It's exhilarating. Or maybe I'm addicted to minor hypothermia. I don't know. Point is: shock yourself a little with the cold. This is especially nice in the summer.

Step six: Do this for two days in a row and then tell me how stinkin' soft your skin is now! Softer than it's ever been before in your life, right? I know! Stretch marks? Yeah, they look awesome. I mean, they're still there (they'll always be there), but they don't look all sad and angry. It's amazing.

amazing.

Seriously.

After our last scrubby pouf thingies had collected enough dry skin that they morphed into living creatures and actually climbed out of the shower to go find a better life, we decided not to replace them. They don't last that long, they're made of totally non-renewable materials, can't be recycled or composted, require additional shower products to use them properly and those products have packaging and chemicals of their own to deal with...and for what?

Soft skin, that's what.

In the days between breaking the scrubby pouf habit and discovering the dry brushing, I relied on a washcloth. A washcloth! Why did we abandon the washcloth? While I was happy with the washcloth and so very proud of us for eliminating yet another source of garbage in our lives, I was intrigued by the health claims of dry brushing when I read about it on Crunchy Chicken. Can't hurt, right?

It's only been a week, so I can't say with any certainty if I'm healthier, but I do feel better. That could be because I can't stop feeling my arms and my body thinks it's getting lots of hugs or something. I don't know.

So, back to the point: you must try this. You MUST try this.

Trust me.

Oh, and Molly Sims, too. Trust Molly Sims: click!

No TV Tuesdays

2011-01-18T16:53:00.000-08:00

When Mr. Mallard graduated a month ago, we promptly sat down on the couch. We had a stockpile of shows we wanted to catch up on and a few we had never seen. Beyond that, we were exhausted. Nearly three years of full-time work, full-time school, full-time baby, buying a house, project after project after project, trying to figure out how to do this whole family thing...we were spent, emotionally and physically. Staring blankly at the television seemed like the most relaxing thing we could do.

Oh, but it wasn't.

Okay, maybe we weren't physically engaged, but we weren't really mentally engaged, either. And we were staying up way too late. Just one more episode. Let's just see what house they choose. Oh, the news is on. Let's check the scores. Then we'd turn the television off and find we were too tired to get up off the couch and go to bed.

So, all at once it's almost midnight again and we're swearing we're going to go to bed earlier and the next night rolls around and we hop on that same stagnant little pony and it's midnight again and what has happened to us?!

No more! Now we have No TV Tuesday!

It was harder than you'd think to get started. In fact, the first week, we (read: I) decided that just coming up with the idea to not watch television was enough progress for the week and flipped on the tube. The next week, we sat on the couch and sort of smirked as we read quietly. How novel! Reading! At night! When there are programs on! Can you imagine?!

We've started cracking the whip a little more on the nights we do watch television, too. No more "just checking" to see what else is on. We watch what we plan to watch and then we're done. That's it. The results have been fabulous. Without the television to lull us into a drooling state, we've actually been getting to bed at an extremely reasonable hour. And Mr. Mallard has already finished an entire book. He read a book, people! It wasn't assigned--it was for fun! He even started another book the next day.

So, if you want to join us,we'd love to have you. Here are the only two rules:

1. No television.

2. No using the interweb to fill the void, so no surfing/email/research after 7pm.

Exceptions:

1. Playoff games.

2. Homework-related internet use.

And don't think for a second that the Biggest Girl gets to wave some sort of toddler card and plop down in front of her evening program. Nope. No bedtime programs for anyone on Tuesdays. It gets a little loud until she realizes we're telling her we can read all the books she wants. Or draw. Or dance. Or just play. Then it gets amazing and fun and more like an evening with your family really should be.

Tonight, I'm actually looking forward to not turning on the television. What I am looking forward to is a giant mug of peppermint tea and a much needed steaming hot bath. After my bath, I plan on crawling to bed to read a little before I pass out from too much bliss.

And I won't be missing a thing.

We all know the Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

Clean the Fridge Quesadilla

2011-01-13T16:49:00.000-08:00

There will be no official recipe for this quesadilla. It's one of those things that will never be the same twice. There are two easy steps:

1. Dig through your fridge to find tortillas, cheese, and anything on the verge of needing to be tossed/composted.

2. Turn the things you've found into a quesadilla.

Simple enough, eh? The beauties in the picture above are filled with black beans, broccoli, Monterey Jack cheese, green onions, green chilies, diced tomatoes, and cilantro. There's really no end to the possibilities here. And you can use kind of cheese. Maybe you've got some artichoke hearts, olives, tomatoes, and feta you need to use. That works. Sweet potatoes, cauliflower, red pepper, and swiss? Why not? Just pile it between two tortillas and cook it over medium heat until the cheese melts enough to hold the thing together.

Be brave! Be adventurous! Be happy you didn't have to toss any of your leftovers!

If you happen to come across these tortillas in the refrigerator section of your local supermarket/co-op, you should grab a pack:

You'll never go back to those scary shelf-stable tortillas again.

Five naptimes equals one new room

2011-01-10T16:44:00.000-08:00

On any given day, I have roughly two hours to myself. And by "to myself" I mean "to get stuff done." After I toss in a load of laundry, straighten up the house, do a mental check on dinner, make phone calls, do dishes, check my email, and take a deep breath, I've really got about ten minutes to myself, for myself.

aaaahh...ten minutes.

There are days, though, when I boldly shirk my housekeeping obligations (read: obsessions) in favor of something much more thrilling: projects!

Here's what you can get done in just under two hours...

Day one: Paint the ceiling. You can leave the ceiling white, but it's so much more fun (and elegant!) if it actually matches your walls. Paint it first and you won't have to be super careful near the edges. If you move quickly, you can get two coats on before being called back to duty. Be warned, though--if you paint a ceiling that quickly, you may or may not be able to actually lift your child afterward, as your arms will be incapacitated from the brutal pop-quiz of a workout.

Day two: Torture your arms even more by going back to touch up the edges and corners where the ceiling meets the walls. It's okay if you wait 4-6 or 6-8 weeks to get to this step. Wait three months, if you like. When the lights are out at night and you can't sleep, the unpainted cut-ins will whisper sweet horribles in your deliriously tired ears and, since the unfinished work is the first thing your bleary, unrested eyes will see in the morning, you feel soundly defeated before you even get out of bed to face the day.

Or something like that.

Day three: Tape and paint the cut-ins. Taping is boring, but necessary, unless you're a trained professional with a ridiculously steady hand. And again, you can wait several weeks to make it to this step. Because an accomplishment isn't really an accomplishment unless you've been tortured by its unfinished state for weeks, right?

More taping

Day four: Mutter under your breath about not wasting time checking your email and goofing off online while you finish the cut-ins that should have only taken a day.

Day five: Empty the room while your youngster is still awake. This might seem daunting, but kids love to see their parents lift heavy things. They also love dust bunnies, stray socks, getting in the way, toys that have vanished under furniture, and teamwork. Get everything ready and, the moment that little tax credits' head hits the tiny hay, paint like you've never painted before. Open a window and go for it. Swear openly--the baby is sleeping!

You'll get two coats on faster than you would have thought and your arms will, once again, be extremely angry with you.

Silly arms. You think they'd be used to this type of abuse by now.

Day six: Put your room back together. This can be done while the wee one is awake.

Revel in the greatness of Rodda Paint's Horizon Interior Low-VOC paint and the precision with which they've color matched Benjamin Moore's Hathaway Gold.

Later on day six, begin wringing your hands and grumbling about crown moulding. Fret about the rugs, as well. The rugs! The rugs! We're going to need new rugs!

Day seven and beyond: Show off your hard work to everyone who walks through the door. Make sure you tell them you did it while the baby slept. They'll be very impressed. And they should be. You're amazing.

Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy and Mashed Potatoes

2011-01-06T07:57:00.000-08:00

So quick, so easy, and soooo delicious. I stumbled upon the recipe while I was absent-mindedly flipping through a Cooking Light magazine. Since they've already got the recipe all typed up and I'm feeling--once again--like a total lazypants, here it is: click.

I made three changes to the recipe when I made it:
1. Extra lean ground beef instead of ground sirloin because that's what we had in the freezer.
2. Skipped the red wine and did all beef broth.
3. Apple cider vinegar instead of red wine vinegar.

I don't have anything against red wine. I just didn't have any. And the red wine vinegar...I was paralyzed by the options when I stared at the grocery store shelf and fled empty handed. Seriously. How many different red wine vinegars do we need? Apple cider vinegar works just fine as a substitute. Balsamic vinegar will work well, too, but it was hiding down on the bottom shelf of the fridge door and I always forget it exists.

I threw a sweet potato in with the mashed potatoes and that was a total game changer. No potato dish in our house is complete without a sweet potato these days. The flavor boost is tremendous, as are the nutritional benefits.

So, there.
Now you know what to have for dinner.

2011, Day Three: I need a nap

2011-01-03T16:10:00.000-08:00

Day one:
-Firework shrapnel landing on the roof just after midnight, followed shortly by a jaunt outside to ask the neighbors if they could please aim the fireworks at their own house, rather than ours.
-A shrieky 4am wake-up call from a wee one with a temperature of 104.
-A tiny temperament that rises and falls with the fever that accompanies the Biggest Girl's first ever viral infection.
-Fabulous crock pot Beef Stew.
-Waking up nearly every hour through the night to listen to the grievances of a disgruntled toddler who "can't feel good" (oh, woe is the Biggest Girl!).

Day two:
-More bad moods and fever spikes.
-Costco.
-More waking up every stinkin' hour in the night.

Day three:
-The backaches that result from deadlifting 32 pounds of feverish misery because it needs a hug.
-A break in the fever, but no sign of a break in the attitude.
-No household staff to assist.
-Disappointing lottery results.

2011...Year of the Rabbit.
Which I hear is great when it's tossed in a stew with some dumplings.

Double-sided napkins

2010-12-30T16:38:00.000-08:00

My, what lovely napkins you have!

Oh, yeah...I made them.

Wazzup?!

They match pretty much the entire rainbow of FiestaWare.

Oh, did I mention they're double-sided?

They are.

And the other side matches all the FiestaWare, too.

Stripes? Flowers? How's a girl to choose?!

Baby blue thread on top and yellow on the bottom, so the seams don't show (genius!).

I sent these to my sister-in-law for Christmas and I was a little sad to see them go. Once I figured out what I was doing, they nearly made themselves. All I had to do was follow the instructions in this tutorial: click, and this tutorial: click. Now that I know how easy and fabulous these napkins are, our everyday cloth napkins are suddenly looking like they should probably be donated to make room for something new. Life is simply too short for dreary napkins.

Cabinet hardware

2010-12-28T16:40:00.000-08:00

After half-heartedly searching for cabinet hardware, we finally stumbled on some we like. Hooray! Impatient, as always, I decided to conquer the installation of said hardware while Mr. Mallard was at work. It was pretty simple and it makes a huge difference in the look of the kitchen.

Before

After!

I was going to do the drawer pulls, too, but the screws that came with the pulls aren't long enough to go through our fancy drawers, so we'll be taking a field trip to the hardware store later this week.

This little dealy made all the difference. Just figure out where you want your knobs and you can make sure they are in the same spot on every cabinet. It came with a drill bit, as well as a drawer pull template, and those are both super handy, too.

Upper cabinets before

After

Pretty darn great, considering it took less than an hour and the knobs were less than thirty bucks.

Blah

Huzzah!

Trick #1: Put an old cookie sheet under the cabinet you're working on and it will catch all the little wood bits, thereby keeping all that gunk off your counters and floors.

Trick #2: Use the right tool for the job. I had to climb up just a tiny bit to get the cabinets above the range and opted for the step ladder, rather than a chair. By using the ladder, the Biggest Girl sees me getting where I need to be, but she doesn't learn to climb on the dining room chairs. Ha! Brilliant, eh?

Trick #3: Keep an eye on the quiet, cooperative child. He/she may appear to be the most amazing kid ever when, in fact, they are quietly pushing every flat thing in the kitchen under the range while you work on the upper cabinets. Awesome. Guess it's time to clean under the range now...

Cream of Potato Soup

2010-12-21T15:55:00.000-08:00

Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special

Serves 6-8

Printable recipe here: click

1 1/2 cups diced onions

1 1/2 cups diced celery

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp canola, olive oil, or butter

3-4 cups cubed potatoes

3 cups vegetable or chicken stock

1 tsp dried dill

1 cup milk

2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

1-2 cups shredded sharp cheddar

In a large pot, heat the oil (or butter) over medium-high heat and add onions, celery, garlic, and salt. Saute until celery is just tender--about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, stock, and dill. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until the potatoes are soft--10 minutes or so. Stir in milk. Using either a food processor or hand blender, puree about half of the soup. Add cheese and stir until melted and evenly distributed. Serve hot with a side of steamed vegetables.

----------

This recipe should be subtitled "How to Use the Rest of a Bag of Potatoes". I used russets, but any potato would work. You don't have to peel the potatoes. I peeled the russets out of habit, but would have left the peel on Yukon Golds or reds. Using veggie stock will make it a vegetarian soup (durh). Add a little more nutritional yeast if you're skipping the cheese and you'll still get a cheesy flavor out of the soup. And speaking of cheese...I used sharp cheddar, but it's great with pepper jack (add a chili to the onion and celery for an extra kick). Any cheese that melts well will do.

The steamed vegetables were a bit of an epiphany. With no lettuce in the fridge and a very strong desire to contain the meal in a single bowl, we steamed up some broccoli and a new tradition was born. Gone are the days of the cliched soup and salad! Any steamed vegetable would be great with this soup, so grab your favorite and join the We've Had Plenty of Green Salads Thankyouverymuch Club.

Have buns, will travel

2010-12-20T16:20:00.000-08:00

Before we travelled to the East Coast this spring, I scoured the intraweb, looking for tips from families that travelled with cloth diapers. I came up pretty empty-handed. Most cloth diaper users just gave up and used disposables when they were going to be away from home for more than a night.

That's not encouraging.

In the face of so many wusses, we became more determined to use cloth for our nine-day adventure. Failure was just not an option. Of all the reasons we do cloth diapers, producing no landfill-bound waste is right up there at the top, so the thought of doing disposables--even for a week--was not something we were taking lightly. It was a repulsive thought, to be honest, and we could not convince ourselves that any amount of convenience would be worth putting our ethics aside.

So, we took a deep breath...and then we totally rocked a cross-country cloth diaper adventure!

During the "maybe-we're-being-too-stubborn" period of this process, we bought a package of g-diapers. They fit nicely into the very awesome Bumkins diaper covers we love and they are, in theory, flushable. Well, Matchbox cars are technically flushable, too, and a little research revealed that most municipalities do not want you flushing anything (and I mean anything) but toilet paper and your...umm...business. So, the g-diapers plan was a bust. Can't flush them, which means you have to add it to the landfill and that doesn't work for us. Not to mention our test run was a dismal failure and the Biggest Girl woke up in a puddle.

Cloth it is, then.

The night before we left, we put all the diapers and wipes in the wash and scrubbed the diaper pail--the last thing we wanted to return to was a gnarly, moldy, stinkpot diaper pail. Though we were not thrilled with them, the Biggest Girl slept in a g-diaper so we could wash the others. We disconnected the diaper sprayer and packed it in a ziploc bag that was very clearly marked "diaper sprayer". Once everything was dry, we packed the diapers, covers, wipes, and sprayer together in the Biggest Girl's suitcase and we were good to go.

We did a g-diaper for the drive to the airport and changed her into cloth once we got through security. She remained in cloth diapers until we washed all the diapers again the night before we headed back home. In all, we used a total of four g-diapers for the whole trip. The rest of them are still sitting in the closet, waiting to be peed on and composted one of these days.

Once we made it to my mother-in-law's house, we hooked up the sprayer and used a 5-gallon bucket with a lid as a diaper pail. We brought an extra wet bag--just to make sure we were prepared--but never needed it. We just went about our days like we normally would, changing buns, rinsing diapers, and trying to control our curly hair in the springtime humidity of the East Coast.

On the flight home, we did cloth the whole way. We didn't have any difficulty getting through airport security and, since the diaper bag doesn't count against your carry-on allowance, we had plenty of diapers to get us home. We did use a tiny sample pack of disposable wipes on the way out, but switched to cloth wipies on the way home. You can get them wet in the restroom and, while they won't have any soap on them, they'll do the job just fine.

Riding high on our success, we did cloth for a two-night trip to Seattle a few months later. I gave the diapers a dunk in the toilet at the hotel, rinsed them in the sink, wrung them out and tossed them in the diaper pail (we brought it along since we drove). Before we headed home, I put about an inch of water and a dash of Dr. Bronner's in the tub, dumped the diapers in the tub, swished 'em around, rinsed them, wrung them out, and hung them all over the bathroom so they could dry a little. The next morning I tossed them all back into the pail and we drove home in the hot summer sun without even a wiff of diaper pail.

Bottom line: traveling with cloth diapers is just as easy as traveling with disposables. Given we didn't have to surrender our diapering integrity, I'd say it's even easier than using disposables. A little planning and a little determination can save you money and keep you from having to compromise your ideals. Plus, it's kind of fun to be belligerent sometimes. We could have given in and done disposables--it seems like everyone else did--but where's the fun in rolling over? Think of it as a chance to show the naysayers it can be done. Think of it as an exciting challenge, rather than a bothersome burden. Think about how marvelous you'll feel when you get home and realize you've accomplished more than most people even attempt (go you!). It might seem daunting to take your buns on the road, but we did it. So can you. And your baby's buns will be so glad you did.

No more vinyl shower curtains!

2010-12-17T16:51:00.000-08:00

It's been almost a year since we gave up our vinyl shower curtain. We always had a fabric curtain on the outside with the vinyl on inside because that's just the way it's done, right? Wrong. I mean, it's still done that way, but there's a much easier way. A far less expensive, less wasteful way. Just toss the vinyl curtain. So easy! It's made of non-renewable products, can't be recycled, stinks like crazy, and always, always, always turns a lovely shade of pink mildew, even though they say they won't. You can try to wash it, but it never comes clean. Little bugger.

It took one shower to sway me to the vinyl-free side. I was terrified I was going to step out of the shower and into an ankle-deep puddle on the bathroom floor, but the fabric shower curtain performed like a champ. Now both of our bathrooms sport only fabric shower curtains (one cotton, one polyester) and it's like the vinyl never existed...except for the part where it's sealed in a landfill twenty miles from here and will probably never biodegrade. Major bummer, but now we know better.

Taking care of a fabric shower curtain is simple. After you shower, give it a quick wring to help get rid of some of the water it so valiantly absorbed. Don't leave it bunched up at one end of the shower--spread it the length of the tub so it can drip off the excess water. Half an hour later (or whenever you remember), move it so it's hanging on the outside of the tub--this will allow it to finish drying. Just toss it in the washer every now and then for a quick wash to prevent mildew and hang it to dry. I wash ours once a month with a load of towels. It's that easy.

Added bonus: I've noticed I don't have to clean the tub as often since we gave up the vinyl. That's a victory in itself.

Maple Pecan Granola

2010-12-14T16:52:00.000-08:00

Makes about 6 cups

Printable version here: click

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup slivered almonds

1 cup unsweetened flake coconut

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

2 Tablespoons flaxseed meal

2 Tablespoons wheat germ

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a large bowl, mix oats, nuts, brown sugar, flaxseed meal and wheat germ. In a small bowl, mix the oil, syrup, vanilla, and salt until blended (the texture will change and it will be very obvious you have mixed it thoroughly). Pour the oily syrup mixture over the oaty nut mixture and stir until oats are well coated. Divide between two baking sheets and cook for 1 hour and 20 minutes, stirring every 20 minutes to avoid the dreaded nut scorch. Cool thoroughly and store in an airtight container. Eat within 7-10 days.

----------

A few tips...

1. Go for whole pecan halves and roughly chop them yourself. Chopped pecans--or any chopped nuts, for that matter--are nothing more than the nuts that fell apart during processing and there's no guarantee you won't get a chunk of shell. Biting a nutshell is no fun for anyone, but it can be especially miserable for a toddler. Slivered almonds aren't bad, since they are very obviously whole almonds that have been slivered.

2. When you're hunting for maple syrup, grab the Grade B. It's got a burly maple flavor and is often less expensive. Buy it in bulk, if you can, and you'll save even more.

3. Toss in some raisins or other dried fruit while the granola is cooling, if you like. There is a very clear division in our house between the raisin eaters and the raisin haters. I love them, as does the Biggest Girl. Our hero, Mr. Mallard, considers them to be the fruit of the devil. Since we all eat the granola, I leave the raisins out, though I have been known to toss a few dried cranberries in my own bowl.

4. While it is tasty enough to eat by the handful, we make a fast, hearty breakfast out of it by mixing it with some plain yogurt. De-liciousness!

Holiday Bias Tape Table Runner and a Christmas rant

2010-12-10T15:14:00.000-08:00

I have exactly no Christmas spirit. In fact, I might even qualify as a Christmas spirit vampire. Mr. Mallard's got a pretty firm grip on the other oar of the USS Grinch, so stepping into our house is like stepping out of the holiday season and into October. Or March.

I'm pretty sure I liked Christmas when I was a kid. Maybe it was working in retail. Maybe it was the restaurants. Maybe it's because I'm not a religious person. Maybe it's because we're mammals and the dead of winter is a time for hibernating. Traveling during the worst weather of the year on intentionally overbooked flights with jacked up prices, the mall, people being trampled to death, dutiful consumers spending money they don't have on things other people don't really need...can't we just mail each other some cards, eat a batch of sugar cookies, and watch some football? In our sweatpants? In our undecked halls? Fa-la-la-la-la-ti-stinkin-da.

Surprising then, isn't it, that I made this...

I was inspired.

Prudent Baby's Bias Tape Table Runner Tutorial was accompanied by the opportunity to win a Simplicity Bias Tape Maker.

I don't have a bias tape maker, so I followed the Carolina Fair Designs Fat Quarter Bias Tape Tutorial and made some of my own. Prudent Baby has a great Bias Tape Tutorial, as well, but I didn't need that much, so I opted for the Fat Quarter option, instead. It was pretty darn simple to do by hand. And way cuter than any store bought bias tape I could find in our neck of the woods.

At 1/4 inch apart, I sewed approximately one million little quilty lines across the runner. Fabulous practice, even if it took a few hours. Oh! I got fancy, too--I did red thread in the bobbin and a pale mint green in the needle. Who knew?! Now both sides have matching thread!

It turned out great.

So festive.

I didn't win the contest, but I did get two amazing things from the project. First, I realized I can do this. I can sew. I can make stuff and it might not be perfect, but I made it. It's more exhilarating than I ever would have imagined. Second, I began coming to terms with the idea of doing something other than baking myself out of my jeans again this holiday season. The Biggest Girl doesn't loathe the holidays and it's not really fair of me to pass on this disdain while she's still such a rookie. If she's really my daughter, she'll grow into it soon enough. In the meantime, I guess I owe it to her to deck a wall or two. Or at least the dining room table.

German Meatballs with Egg Noodles

2010-12-08T15:28:00.000-08:00

Adapted from The Joy of Cooking

Serves 4-6

Printable recipe here: click

One 1-inch-thick slice of bread

1 pound ground beef, pork, or combination of the two

2 eggs, beaten

1 Tbsp butter

1/4 cup finely chopped onions

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

3 Tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp grated (or minced) lemon rind

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

5 cups chicken or vegetable stock

For gravy:

4 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup flour

2 Tbsp sour cream

2 Tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

Soak the slice of bread in enough milk to just cover it. Melt the butter and use it to saute the onions until they are golden. Put the stock in a pot with a lid (stockpot or everyday pan would be ideal) and bring it to a boil. While it's coming to a boil, gently wring the milk from the bread and crumble it into a bowl with the eggs, meat, sauteed onions, breadcrumbs, and seasonings. Use your hands to combine the ingredients (do it!). Gently shape the mixture into roughly 2-inch balls and drop them into the boiling stock. Reduce to a hearty simmer and cook, covered, for 15-20 minutes. Remove the meatballs from the stock and set aside.

For the gravy: Add butter and flour to the stock and whisk until smooth. Cook until thick...like gravy. When it's reached a gravy consistency, add sour cream and parsley. Add a little salt and pepper, if you like. Return the meatballs to the pan to reheat.

While the meatballs are cooking and reheating, boil some water and cook your egg noodles according to the directions on the package.

Ladle the meatballs and gravy over a pile of noodles, sprinkle with a few breadcrumbs, and enjoy!

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I can't claim this is an authentic recipe, but I can claim it is delicious. I made it with all pork, rather than a combination of pork and beef, and I was thrilled with the result. It's strange to use a words like "silky" and "rich" to describe a meatball, but they really were silky and rich. We had two each and that was plenty. Because it's got such a mellow flavor (and noodles!), it's great for kids. We chose fresh, steamed green beans as a side dish, but any slightly crunchy vegetable would be delightful (steamed broccoli, baked zucchini...cauliflower, maybe?). Even a pile of romaine with a simple vinaigrette would be great. It took about 45 minutes to make, but I'm guessing I could whip it up in less than thirty minutes the second time around.

Now I just need to find a tasty German dessert to round out the meal...

Sewing bender!

2010-12-06T15:17:00.000-08:00

A few months ago (or a year...time flies), I bought a sewing machine and made some little curtains. I then proceeded to abandon that trusty little machine, along with the fancy scissors and Project Runway aspirations that accompanied its purchase. When it got cold here last month and I realized the Biggest Girl was going to freeze her tootsies off if we didn't get some cozier bedding, I decided to dust off the sewing machine and just make some sheets. How tough can it be?

I'll tell you: it's not tough at all. It's ridiculously easy, in fact. I followed the Crib Sheet Tutorial from the Michael Miller Fabrics Blog for the bottom part of the sheet and the Top Sheet Tutorial at Whipstitch for the top of the sheet. Two yards of fabric for each sheet--on sale--brings these bad boys in at about $10-12 each. They could have been even less expensive, but I splurged on fancy flannel at a local quilting shop that has a dangerously exciting sale section.

XOXOXO, The Cat by Wendy Slotboom

for In the Beginning Fabrics

Day Dreams from the Just Dreamy collection

by My Mind's Eye for Riley Blake Designs

The babies are particularly fond of this sheet.

I was feeling like a total badass, so I made a fitted sheet, as well. It's folded neatly on the shelf in the Biggest Girl's closet right now, though, and since I'm not nearly ninja enough to sneak into the room of a napping toddler, open the closet, grab the sheet, and escape undetected, you'll just have to trust me when I tell you that it is a masterpiece sculpted of blue polka dot flannel.

After conquering the sheets, I boldly moved on to bigger (smaller, actually), more exciting things. Like flannel pajama pants!

I used Simplicity pattern 8493 and some snowman fabric I found at Joann Fabrics. The most nerve-wracking part of these little pj pants was cutting the pattern--something I had never done before. After I face my pattern cutting fears, they went together so easily that I'm already plotting to get Mr. Mallard and the Biggest Girl in matching jammies by Christmas.

I'm on a roll! I don't know if they sprinkle crack on the fabric or if there's something genuinely therapeutic about the monotonous hum of the sewing machine, but I can't seem to stop. There's more to this sewing bender--specifically an awesome holiday table runner--but it will have to wait. I hear the dishwasher running, but I do not hear the toys in the living room putting themselves back where they belong, so I need to go have a word with them.

Thanksgiving...finally!

2010-11-29T22:12:00.000-08:00

My attempts to blog telepathically have proven to be less than successful. I will admit defeat this time and do an old-fashioned type-it-yourself post, but know that I will continue my efforts to control the Universe with my mind. If I can't control the Universe, I'm hoping to at least be able to fold clothes with my mind. Can you imagine?! That would be delightful.

In the meantime, I give you a quick recap of Thanksgiving...

Winter Luxury Pumpkin.

With a name like that, you don't give yourself much room for anything but total pumpkin domination. This particular pumpkin has been chillin' in the garage for the last month, just waiting to be a part of this festive eat-fest. I roasted it, let it cool, pureed it (5 cups, in all), and stuck it in the fridge. I also tossed the seeds with melted butter and cinnamon and roasted them. I was impatient, though, and they weren't dry enough to be roasted, so they turned into a gooey mess rather than a tasty treat. Lesson learned: let the seeds dry on a sheet pan overnight and then roast them.

The Brine. Oh, the brine! We brined an 11-pound free range turkey this year. Luckily, it fit in our giant stock pot, so I didn't have to use a plastic bag (phew!). I had never brined a bird, so I was a little nervous, but it worked wonders. We kept it simple--water, apple juice, kosher salt, brown sugar, rosemary, peppercorns, garlic, and one orange peel. I brought it to a boil and cool it to room temperature by setting it out in the garage for a couple hours.

The rosemary was frozen.

The garlic was frozen, as well, but those are just garlic babies.

We won't eat them until spring.

Oooh to the la-la-la! My first turkey ever. Well, my first turkey at home, to be more precise. Not to shabby, eh? After an overnight brine, I rinsed it off and stuffed it with an onion, an apple core, and some fresh thyme and sage. The bottom of the roasting pan had chopped apple (except for the core), celery, and water. Rubbed it down with some canola and that's it. So simple, but so darn tasty. We roasted it breast down for just over an hour and then flipped it to finish. I am convinced this is the way every turkey should be cooked. There ought to be a law: breast down or deep fried. These are the only acceptable ways to prepare a turkey.

Homemade Buttermilk Bread--from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, of course

The plate.

Turkey, Fresh Green Bean Casserole (with bacon!), Cranberry Apple Wild Rice, Sweet Potato Casserole, and bread. Yumalicious to the max.

But wait! There's more!

Pumpkin Streusel Pie

Just ridiculously wonderful. I used the pureed Winter Luxury for this pie and I will never go back to canned pumpkin. The pie recipe came from the new Sunset Cookbook and the crust is from Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller. Best pumpkin pie meets the best crust meets me and I literally had tiny little tears in my eyes after I took a bite. I couldn't help it. I worked so hard and everything was so magnificent. It was the first time I'd ever done Thanksgiving on my own and it ended up being one of the most delicious meals I've ever produced. If figure skaters can sniffle as they leave the rink, I can cry at the dinner table.

In an uncharacteristic, food-coma influenced state, I let Mr. Mallard do the dishes. Most of them, anyway. I also let him pick the meat off the turkey and get the carcass ready to make stock. I never let anyone help me. I'm kind of (read: totally) an asshole in the kitchen. It's fine. I said it. It's true. I spent so many years in front of so many stoves, being held responsible for every plate that went out...it's hard for me to trust that someone else can do things the way I want them done. I did it though. I let him help. And it was awesome.

...and then we made turkey stock and had some fun.

Hope you all had a great day, too.

Let them eat Light Whole Wheat Bread!

2010-11-16T16:31:00.000-08:00

I made that!

Some time back in the beginning of the year, I started making all our bread. Sure, we've had to grab a loaf or two from the store along the way, but 99% of the bread we've had in our house this year has been homemade. After a long, hard look at the ingredient list on our favorite breads, we decided we'd rather not eat things like calcium proponate (can also be used as a pesticide) and azodicarbonamide (banned as a food additive in Europe, but you can still find it in gym mats and shoe soles). I boldly announced I would make all our bread. How tough can it be?

First, I got all up close and personal with the bread machine and we were total BFFs. I know, I know...some people think using a bread machine is cheating. In the heat of summer, though, a bread machine is a life saver--who wants to crank up the oven when it's already sweltering outdoors? And, yes, I'm letting a machine do all the kneading for me, but I still have control over what goes in the loaves and that's the goal here. Plus, if I'm going to be honest, all the kneading and rising of traditional bread making kind of intimidates me and using the machine allows me to revel in the success of homemade bread without having to actually man up to my irrational fear of preparing yeast-based breads.

Things have changed, though...

I still use the machine to make pizza dough, but our day-to-day bread recipes come from the most fabulous bread cookbook I've ever laid eyes on: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. Sounds too good to be true, but it's not. It really takes five minutes. Just stir the ingredients together, let it rise, and then stick it in the fridge. When you need a loaf (or a sticky bun or a dinner roll), pull off the amount of dough you need, let it rise, and pop it in the oven. Five little minutes...and the bread is delicious. And I can pronounce all the ingredients. And even if I buy organic flour, I'm still coming in at around a dollar a loaf. The website for the book (artisanbreadinfive.com) has tons of tips and videos that help even a scaredy cat like me conquer the loaf and keep my family fed.

Not bad.

Not bad at all.

Pretty darn awesome, actually.

...and I'd give you the recipe, but you really need this book. Plus, it's copyrighted and I haven't adapted it at all because the recipe is perfect. Kristina at The Former Chef got permission to reprint one of the Master Recipes here: click. She does her loaves on a baking sheet, but I have had great success using a 9x5 loaf pan. Great recipes, flexible methods...are you getting how exciting this is?

So, go get a copy. Grab one at the library. Tell Santa you want it. Or the Thankgiving fairy. He's a kind and generous fairy, right?

Veteran's Day

2010-11-11T08:38:00.001-08:00

As the daughter of a Air Force veteran and the wife of a Army veteran, it is the sudden passing of yet another veteran that has me a little rattled today. My parents' neighbor--a former Marine, veteran of the Korean War, and very close friend of the family--passed away yesterday after suffering a stroke early Tuesday morning. It's a jarring reminder to me that life is so short and so fragile.

Don't just hug a veteran today. Hug everyone you love.

Hang 'Em Dry/Freeze Yer Buns

2010-11-04T16:45:00.001-07:00

This past weekend brought an end to the Hang 'Em Dry Challenge, but you'd never know it here at Casa de Mallard. We're on an earth/money saving roll and have no intention of stopping now. During the month of October, we did approximately 35 loads of laundry and only used the dryer for about 150 minutes. If we had dried every load, we would have used 25 hours of drying time. 25 hours! That's ridiculous! I was feeling a little defeated by the 150 minutes, but I guess it just takes a little math to brighten my day. Of the loads we washed, 10 were diapers, 4 were sheets, and 4 were towels. Our bathrobes were grungy, so that was two loads--they can't be washed together, lest they fuzz all over each other. The car seat cover had to be washed, as did the new quilt. The mattress pad counts for one load, leaving only 13 loads of actual clothes. Not too shabby. Again, the total number seemed like a lot (too much!), but breaking it down makes me feel less defeated and more like a laundry badass.

Now that the habit of hanging our clothes to dry has become a part of our everyday lives, it's time for a new challenge...it's Crunchy Chicken's Freeze Yer Buns Challenge! It's like this: you choose a daytime and nighttime temperature that's at least a degree or two below where you would typically keep the thermostat during the winter and stick with it until Spring. That's it. Totally easy, especially if you work during the day. Since the Biggest Girl and I can often be found lounging about, eating bon-bons and chuckling at the workaday suckers that have to wear pants (can you imagine?!), we've chosen no higher than 68 during the day and 65 at night. There are some bold folks in the challenge that are going as low at 55-60 during the day, but we're not quite ready for that leap just yet.

To make up for our slightly higher choice of temperatures, we're doing a few things to make the most of the heat we use. First, we'll continue to hang out clothes to dry and we'll position the racks under the heat vents on the days the heat actually kicks on. Second, if there's a particularly chilly morning, I'll get the baking out of the way early. This will not only knock a few things of my list-o-stuff to do, but will also take the chill off the house without having to use the furnace. I've done this a couple times already and I have to admit the cozy aroma of homemade granola is a great way to start a rainy day. Not conducive to getting motivated to leave the house, but fabulous, nonetheless.

As an added bonus, there will be prizes and giveaways for those who head over to Crunchy Chicken and sign up to participate.

Prizes + lower gas/electric bill + saving the world=Bring on the brrr!

Squash and Chick Pea Fritters

2010-11-01T16:09:00.000-07:00

Adapted from Sunset magazine, October 2010

Serves 4

Printable version here: click

1-2 cups peeled, seeded, cubed butternut squash

2 slices whole wheat bread

1 can garbanzos, drained

1 egg

2 Tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon fresh sage leaves

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

a dash or two of your favorite hot sauce

Olive oil for frying

Steam or roast butternut squash until tender--whichever method you prefer is fine.

Pulse bread in food processor until fine crumbs form. Add remaining ingredients (except the olive oil) and pulse until blended and relatively smooth. A few chunks are okay.

Heat roughly 2 Tablespoons olive oil in frying pan over medium-high heat. Drop 1/4-cup portions of fritter mixture into the oil and press down every so slightly to spread them out a bit. Cook about 3 minutes on each side--until they are golden brown. Serve hot.

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Another Meatless Monday success story! These fritters took less than thirty minutes to prepare and go great with a salad and a hunk of bread. The original recipe called for microwaving the squash (boo!), chili flakes (not cool for kids), and a scant 8 ounces of squash (do they even grow them that small?). Add a little more squash if you need to use it up or a little less, if that's all you've got. In a pinch, you can make it with canned pumpkin. If you have leftover steamed or roasted squash, stick it in the freezer and wait patiently for me to perfect my recipe for Squash Bread. Or just freeze it and make another batch of fritters in a couple weeks. It freezes really well--the cooked squash, that is--so you can stock up for lazy days.

Oh, and these fritters make an awesome dinner for babies with teeth and toddlers with forks. And they're good as leftovers. I do think they could use a mellow saucey drizzle of some sort, but we haven't gotten that far, just yet. Soon, though...soon.

Wanted: New marbles

2010-10-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

No point here, other than look at those bright orange carrots. Jeepers!

This week flew by. The individual days draaaaagged, but the week zipped right past me. It wasn't until late yesterday afternoon that I realized it was already Thursday. oops.

My list of things to do is huge. Okay, I guess the list of things I absolutely have to do is rather small: feed the Biggest Girl, keep her relatively clean and safe, and stay hydrated. The list of things I want to do--the list that nags at me and tells me I'm wasting time by even sitting here writing this--never stops growing and, no matter how fast I scramble, I cannot seem to make it to the top of this Mount Iwanna.

I want/kind of need to:

finish mudding the drywall in the garage

prime the garage

paint the garage

organize the garage

get the elliptical fixed

errands...lots and lots of errands to deal with

finish the cut-ins on the bedroom ceiling

do the cut-ins on the bedroom wall

paint the bedroom

holy moly...

get a piano

fix the Cabinet from Hell in the kitchen (who makes a kitchen cabinet with a 7-inch opening? I'll tell you who: The Devil)

make new curtains for the Biggest Girl's room

make a cozy dress for the Biggest Girl

learn to knit

cross stitch something

plan the backyard gardens for the spring

wash the car

clean the stupid bathtubs

have another baby

move the sage from the vase of water into a proper pot. with dirt.

make sticky buns

wear a cape

save the world

take a nap

watch a movie

leave a flaming bag of poo on the neighbor's porch

laugh/cry

get a cool hook for the Biggest Girl awesome new fuzzy bathrobe

figure out what color to paint this room

get new switch plates for the rooms that have been painted

find a stand for the Biggest Girl's bathroom

put the last two raised beds to sleep for the winter

quit wishing we lived somewhere else and just rearrange the furniture, instead

push-ups

read a book

You get the point, right? It's ridiculous. I lay down at night and these things roll around in my head and I wake up in the morning, exhausted and defeated before my feet even hit the ground. Well, I'm done feeling like crap about it all. Mr. Mallard will be done with school in six weeks or so and I will have my cohort back. For good this time, not just for a week or two between terms. We'll tackle the list together and I'll get a manicure. Right after we stain the deck and paint the french doors in the dining room.

And get a screen door.

What I am is...

2010-10-22T16:01:00.001-07:00

I have had better days. To be fair, I have had far more horrible days, as well. Lately, there's been a bit of a funky haze keeping me from seeing all the fabulosity my world exudes. I just have the blahs, I guess. It's no fun for any of us. I'm not walking around in tears, I'm just walking around.

That's not entirely true, though. I've been bustin' my buns, conquering project after project, making all our food from scratch, drying the clothes on the line, getting rid of all the useless crap we've accumulated over the course of our lives, resisting the (very strong) urge to get chickens, working to get Running Errands with a Toddler in Tow on the list of Olympic events...

This too shall pass, they say.

...and it will. It's been a rough year. And as we head into winter, I know I've accomplished so much, but I do that silly thing where I only see what I haven't done.

Fortunately, there's help for times like these...

Mushroom Marsala with Artichoke Hearts

2010-10-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

This is going to buh-low yo' mind!

Holy moly. So, we needed a good Meatless Monday meal and I felt like it was time to boldly go somewhere we hadn't been before. I thought this sounded good and Mr. Mallard has become brave enough that he didn't even bat an eye when I suggested it, but I had no idea it was going to leave us speechless. I'm talkin' eyes closed, slow chewing, world vanishes good. Clap your hands, pat yourself on the back, and high-five the baby good. Do a little dance, eat more than you should, and smirk because you know the neighbors couldn't possibly be as pleased with their dinner good.

I found the recipe at Smitten Kitchen and, since she's already posted it, I'll just give you a fancy little link: click! It took less than 30 minutes to prepare (bonus!) and even the Biggest Girl scarfed it down.

I made three tiny changes:

1. I halved the recipe and had four hearty servings. Leftovers were equally earthmoving.

2. Went for Sweet Marsala, rather than Dry. Whatever you do, don't get Cooking Marsala. It's not even Marsala and will only make you sad.

3. If I could remember the type of pasta I used, I would tell you. Next time I go to the Co-op, I'll try to remember to check the bulk bin for a name. It was a smooth elbow that worked so well with the meaty texture of the mushrooms and artichoke hearts.

4. I used canned artichoke hearts because that's what I had. Not marinated. Just canned.

So, there you go. It's not as earthy or as sweet as you think. It's just perfect.

Hang 'Em Dry Update

2010-10-12T16:59:00.001-07:00

I am so rocking this challenge and loving every minute. I was already line drying as many clothes as I could with the one rack we had, but this challenge has inspired me to take it a step further and air dry everything. The first week was a little rough, but here are some things I've learned...

1. All the laundry does not have to be clean all the time. If you have another pair of jeans, there's no reason you should rush to wash the pair you just took off. Give yourself a break.

2. Most loads will dry in under 24 hours. I've been doing a load a day. It sounds like a lot, but it's no more than normal. I just spread it out over the course of a week, rather than exhausting myself by attempting to get it all done in one day using the dryer.

3. Don't wash a load until you have space to hang it to dry. This lesson was learned by Mr. Mallard. To his credit, he was trying to help get things done this weekend and is prepared to string a clothesline in the garage as soon as I am convinced it's a good idea. There are spiders out there, though. Lots of spiders. They give me the willies.

3. Get the right equipment. We already had a drying rack. To this, we added an inexpensive garment rack, some clippy hangers, and some clothespins. That's it. That's all we need. Eventually we'll get some fancy wall-mounted racks, but the racks we have now are actually ridiculously practical. They are both mobile and can be moved to the dining room or the porch or the deck...wherever the sun happens to be at any given moment. Direct sun=Half the drying time.

4. Some hanging techniques I am particularly proud of:

Take the clothes off the rack as they dry, thereby leaving more space for the not-so-dry to spread out and finish drying quicker.

Genius! Rather than draping socks over the rack, clip them together with a clothespin and straddle them over the bar. I am so smart!

This technique is also extremely helpful for cloth diaper doublers.

Sheets can be draped over the garment rack and will dry in under a day. That's a fitted king size sheet there--the flat sheet is hanging over the shower rod in the guest bath. That is also the Biggest Girl and she is now 38 inches tall. She is going to be a giant.

The hangers we use to hang pants--much more effective than draping them over a rack--lend themselves nicely to the quick drying of kitchen towels. Dishrags get a hand from a regular hanger and some clothespins when the clippy hangers are in high demand.

Clippy hangers + Cloth diapers=Match made in line drying heaven

In the last twelve days, we've done 17 loads of laundry. Three loads were diapers. One load was the gorgeous new quilt we gave ourselves for our anniversary. Two loads of sheets. One was the mattress pad. Two loads of towels. One load was the car seat cover on the day I realized we are super potty trained at home, but might not quite be ready to venture out in undies. Seven loads of clothes.

Dryer usage...has happened. The quilt was massive and needed a hand, so it was in the dryer for 50 minutes and still had to be spread out in the study overnight to finish drying. It's burly. And clean. 20 minutes of dryer time will be on Mr. Mallard's card after he washed a load with a piece of paper in his pocket. The little bits refused to be picked off, so we ran them for a bit on low and the paper came right off. 20 minutes to finish the mattress pad because I wanted to make the bed. The last instance was 10 minutes if air fluffing to soften up the diapers a bit. While everything else dries soft, the diapers dry rigid for some reason, and tiny buns should not suffer. So I fluffed them with no heat and it worked like a dream.

Total loads: 17

Total drying time: 90 minutes + 10 minutes of air fluffing

Total minutes saved=550

Total feeling of accomplishment=100%

Meatless Monday

2010-10-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

We've been doing Meatless Monday for quite some time now, but I kept forgetting to encourage you to join in the fun. Along with its British companion Meat Free Monday, the folks at Meatless Monday are working to reduce meat consumption in an effort to improve both your personal and planetary health. It's really quite easy--just don't eat meat on Monday. That's not tough. We've all got a favorite vegetarian recipe or two, right? If not, there are plenty to be found at the Meatless Monday website--or at any cooking site, for that matter. Heck, there are entire magazines devoted to meatless meals!

I'll do my best to post our favorite recipes in the weeks to come. Oh, and dig this--tomorrow we're having buttermilk waffles and scrambled eggs for dinner. Meatless meal! So simple, eh? Don't be surprised if you find yourself celebrate Meatless Wednesday and Saturday and Tuesday, as well. In my search for new recipes, I've found so many that we're eating meatless meals more often than we eat meals with meat. We still love to gnaw on a good steak every now and then, but lately we've been leaning into our veggies with a ridiculous fervor.

So, Meatless Monday...won't you join us?

Clean it up!

2010-10-05T16:33:00.000-07:00

We've been on a pretty serious mission here, doing all we can to reduce the number of chemicals we slather ourselves with on a daily basis. I've given up scented lotions and, to be honest, I don't really miss them at all. It was nice to smell like a flower, but an educated look at the list of ingredients left me feeling less like a delicate bloom and more like a rotten bouquet.

Meet our new shampoo:

I was a bit leery. In the trial and error process of finding a new shampoo, my curly locks have been punished while I try to save the world (and myself). I had reached the point of actually considering just letting it go and dealing with the dreadlocks that would inevitably (and very quickly) follow. Just then, Mr. Mallard stumbled upon the greatness that is J.R. Liggett. The bar he chose has a total of seven (seven!) ingredients, all of which I can pronounce and none of which are sodium lauryl sulfate or formaldehyde. It took a little while to get used to the shampoo bar, but I'm sold. My scalp doesn't itch, my hair looks great, and the little bar is lasting a lot longer than a bottle of shampoo ever did.

A few tips...

1. Make sure your hair is soaked.

2. After you roll the bar around in your hands a couple times, rub your hands together to get them lathery before you pounce on your hair.

3. Focus on the roots and your scalp--the rest of your hair will get clean as you rinse.

4. There will be no bubbles. This might bum you out at first, but you'll get used to it and start to love it.

5. Give your hair a couple weeks to adjust. After over-cleaning it for so long, the natural oils on your noggin are going to freak out a bit when they become more free range. Give them their space and balance will come. The texture of your hair is going to change and it will probably get thicker (darn!) and easier to control (seriously).

Oh, and tea tree oil is a great defense against lice, so you should probably tackle any children (your own, of course) that go to schools and day care and give them a leg up on the grody little buggers.

Hang 'Em Dry Challenge

2010-09-30T16:15:00.000-07:00

So, it's late notice (sorry!), but tomorrow is the first day of Crunchy Chicken's Hang 'Em Dry Challenge. Think you can line dry your clothes for a month? Sure you can! We do it all the time and it's easy as can be. Not only do our clothes smell better, they have no trace of static cling, the colors are brighter and they are--believe it or not--more comfortable. Not to mention the deliciousness of a crunchy towel...I love it!

It's funny this challenge should come along when it did. When I was single, I dried all my clothes on a rack. Yeah, it takes a little longer, but once you start, it becomes addictive. I loved the way my clothes fit and felt and smelled. Enter marriage, a baby and the upheaval of moving cross-country and I fell off my line drying wagon. No more! I started parking the drying rack on the porch a couple months ago (sunshine!) and have no intention of stopping now. Just moving indoors for the winter and allotting a little more time for drying. Mr. Mallard and I were standing in the laundry room the other night, planning our attack on its barren walls, and my number one request was a drying rack that either lowers from the ceiling or attaches to the wall.

Rather than repeat the instructions for the challenge (or rattle of the list of benefits--financial and otherwise), I'll just give you a link: click!

If you need more inspiration, check out Project Laundry List.

viva la revolucion!

Bad Blogger!

2010-09-09T16:05:00.001-07:00

Yeah, we've been busy, but that's no excuse. I just got lazy. And didn't feel like I had a lot to say. I should say something, though. What if someone's out there, shaking their fist every time they look at the lawnmower post, thinking "Do something, Mrs. Mallard! Do something!".

Fine. I did something.

Ready?

Before

Dark Helmet sits high atop the pile-o-dirt.

After

A much more comfortable throne for our fearless composter. It doesn't look like much now, but we've planted some Scotch Moss in the uncovered bricks and we're hoping it softens the corners a bit as it grows. It took about an hour, but that time was broken up over the course of the afternoon because the Biggest Girl does not take kindly to projects that occur in areas where she is not allowed to roam freely.

Meanwhile...

Yeah, we grew these.

And we ate them.

Delicious.

Didn't grow it, but we did eat it.

Also delicious.

Forellenschluss romaine lettuce

Cantaloupe are coming along nicely.

There's more to tell (there's always more to tell). We've been potty training and traveling, eating only local meats and opting for vegetarian entrees more often than not. There are a dozen free-range eggs in our fridge right now that didn't come from a store. Clothes have been drying on the line, rather than in the dryer. As the days go by, we're getting rid of more and more of the crap we own and we have no intention of replacing it. Nope. We're barreling down the road toward simple living/minimalism. All that and we celebrated our third wedding anniversary this week.

Life is good.

That is all.

Mow the lawn, save the world

2010-08-14T18:16:00.000-07:00

Once we finally had enough grass to mow, the decision to buy a push mower was a no-brainer. We never even considered buying a gas-powered mower. Why would you? Push mowers are...

1. Far less expensive to buy.

2. Far less expensive to maintain. Get the blades sharpened every Spring (about twenty bucks) and you're good to go. No gas--and at roughly a gallon a mow, that's a big savings these days. No spark plugs. No engine repairs. We did spray a little Soy Lube on the blades after it sat for a month, but that's no biggie.

3. Human powered, so you won't have a stinky gas can sitting in your garage.

4. Rather slim, so they don't take up as much room in your now fume-free garage.

5. Lighter, so they are easier to maneuver and carry. I can easily lift ours with one hand.

6. Engine free, so you won't have to do battle with the start cord or walk behind it inhaling engine fumes while you mow

7. Better for your lawn, thanks to the scissor-like cutting motion.

8. Totally adjustable for both grass height and operator height.

9. Quiet! Why does everyone within a 1/2-mile radius need to know you're mowing your lawn? They don't. I'd rather mow like a ninja! Babies will sleep through your lawn mowing and your neighbors will appreciate the courteous manner in which you don't wreck their barbeque with a stinky, noisy mower. If you can't sleep at night, just strap on a headlamp and go mow the lawn. It's that quiet. Oh, and you can listen to music while you mow and not destroy your eardrums.

10. A good first step. Giving up the things we think we're supposed to need is rough. Following the herd without question is never as much fun as striking out in the direction of fresh air and a clear conscience. The novelty of the push mower is still refreshing for us and I'm proud of our decision every time we mow.

We do have a weed eater to trim along the fence and help with the seemingly insurmountable weeds that we have yet to conquer in the backyard. The weed eater runs on rechargeable, Energy Star-rated batteries and it does a darn good job. Even more exciting is the hand-held weed cutter we picked up this afternoon. Now we can tackle the backyard in true bushwacking style!

...and since a video never hurts...

Carolina-esque Pulled Pork Sandwiches

2010-08-10T15:32:00.000-07:00

Oh, it's good.

It's a Pulled Pork Sandwich with Creamy Lime Coleslaw.

Carolina-esque Pulled Pork Sandwich

Makes about 8-10 sandwiches

Printable recipes here: click

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1 1/2 tsp paprika

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

3-6 pound pork butt (or pork shoulder)

1 giant Walla Walla onion (or 2 smaller sweet onions)

Mix the spices together and rub them into every nook and cranny of your roast. Stick in the fridge for at least a couple of hours--overnight, ideally. Rough chop the onions and layer them in the bottom of a crock pot. Lay the roast on top, add one batch of Wet Mop Basting Sauce, and cook on low for at least 5 hours. Remove the roast from the crock pot and let it rest for at least 15-20 minutes. Use a fork to shred the roast, adding more juice from the crock pot as needed. If you live in Oregon, find some Portland French Bakery Kaiser Buns (preferably the Kaiser Bun) for serving. If you don't live in Oregon, you're missing out and will have to substitute with an inferior bun.

Top sandwiches with a slather of Barbeque Sauce (I use a gravy boat to serve mine) and the delightfully different Creamy Lime Slaw from Sunset Magazine's July 2010 issue.

----------

This recipe puts all my other attempt at Pulled Pork to shame. Shame, I tell you! It's easy and delicious, as well as inexpensive and impressive. Don't spend your money on a good pork loin--go for the cheapy butt or shoulder and cook the heck out of it. The loin will just dry out, but the butts and shoulders get juicier and tastier.

If you throw in a tasty dessert, you'll wake up the next morning to find what appears to be a hobo camp in your front yard. Don't be alarmed. It's just your friends and they're waiting patiently for you to make the meal again.

Oh, and you'll have to click on the Creamy Lime Slaw to get the printable version.

Enjoy!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-07-14T15:46:00.000-07:00

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from the Snoqualmie Falls Lodge recipe

Printable version here: click

1 1/2 cups fresh ground peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (Nielsen-Massey is a good one)

2 teaspoons baking soda

3 eggs

4 cups Gluten Free oatmeal (I used Bob's Red Mill)

1 cup Gluten Free chocolate chips (Guittard, baby!)

Oven to 325.

Bust out the electric mixer to cream together the peanut butter, sugars, vanilla, and baking soda on low speed until smooth. Add eggs and continue to beat mixture until blended. Stir in oatmeal and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes

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Don't over bake them!

They'll look all puffy and undercooked when you pull them out of the oven...

...but give them a couple minutes to rest and they'll look like gooey, chocolatey, peanut-buttery, oatmealy cookies of goodness.

In fact, let them sit on the baking sheet for at least five minutes--ten is better--before transferring them to a cooling rack. I used two baking sheets to keep things moving along. One was in the oven, one was cooling--the baking part flew by.

I know very little about celiac disease or any of the other conditions that would prompt a person to go gluten free. One of Mr. Mallard's most delightful co-workers lives with celiac and, as a result, often has to forgo so many tasty things when potluck day rolls around. We found that to be completely unacceptable and set to finding a way to ensure she could at least have dessert. Seriously...we all need dessert!

If you find yourself needing to do something gluten-free, Bob's Red Mill has an entire line of gluten-free products, produced in a facility that produces nothing but gluten-free products, so there's no risk of contamination. Oh, and make sure all your ingredients are gluten-free! It wasn't until I noticed the bag of chocolate chips boasted their gluten-freeness that I had any idea they could contain gluten. I am, quite obviously, a total amateur when it comes to this genre of cooking/baking. If you need it, you can also find inspiration and information aplenty--gluten-free and otherwise--from Gluten Free Girl.

Still summering away here...

2010-07-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Stout Birthday Cake for me this year.

It was delicious.

Rather than retype the recipe, I'll just give you a handy link: click.

My only tweak was using half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat pastry flour. It was a delectable treat and completely justified the purchase of the Bundt pan.

Meanwhile...

...the goshdarn Allium finally bloomed!

Totally my new favorite flower

They're tall, but remarkably sturdy. We've decided we're going to double up and plant another batch of bulbs this fall. I can't get over how these little puffballs just brighten my day.

Raised Beds: Plan A has completely eaten it, so we're takin' it to the containers.

Brandywine tomato is a-thrivin'.

Romas are well on their way.

San Marzanos are slackers!

But we love you and we think you're pretty, so won't you please just grow so we can eat you?!

Hey, Laaaadies!

aka Lady bug, lady bug, don't fly anywhere! You're home! Just chill. Have a snack. The kids are fine.

Next up: Gluten-free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, Raised Beds: Plan B, and some of the greatest Coleslaw and Pulled Pork I've ever had.

The Botany of Desire

2010-07-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

We're still busy. Super busy. I have pictures of the busy, but who has time for that?! Here's something else we've been working on this week...

The Botany of Desire--it's another Michael Pollan project and it's fablulous. Fortunately, it's divided into sections, so there are very natural stopping points. It might take us an entire week to watch a two-hour documentary, but that's nothing new for us. I can't recall the last time we sat down and watched a whole movie in one sitting. So far, we've made it through the first two sections and it's left us wanting to eat an apple and plant some tulips. I can't wait to watch the rest--marijuana and potatoes are up next.

Turmoil is the new calm

2010-06-17T08:13:00.001-07:00

Waiting for the allium to bloom is torture.

Must. Not. Yell. At. Flowers.

Seriously.

Just bloom already!

My urge is to unleash an obscenity-laced rant about just how busy life has been lately. It's completely ridiculous. And so very amazing. As we head into the last couple days of our assault on the lawn, I am so impressed by all we have accomplished. I am also impressed by how well I have done in the Neglecting Housework department. It's not intentional--more a by-product of complete physical exhaustion and lack of time. So, the breakfast bar is piled with who knows what...mail? toys? I don't know. The laundry room is experiencing a first: a heap of towels just sitting on the floor. The were waiting to be washed, but were usurped by a pail of diapers. Two days ago. There is no menu posted on the fridge. The inside of my car looks like a hobo camp.

This is revolutionary stuff. The me of days gone by would have lost her ever-loving mind and, in a rage of spit and fury, stayed up until the wee hours of the night to get everything back in order. I have discovered, though, there are more important things than order. Shocking, isn't it? For me, it's the complete subversion of a lifetime of an anxious, involuntary need to accomplish neatness.

I don't think I could get used to it, but I understand how it's happening. When we're done with the yard, we'll veer toward the garage. When we're done with the garage, we step inside. When we've re-established control over the interior, we'll look outside and realize it's time to start all over again. Our work will never be done. I get it now. And I like it.

So, while we're outside turning a feral plot into a breathtaking work of art, maybe you can take a look at these:

Bacon Today "Daily Updates on the World of Sweet, Sweet Bacon" How did I not know about this earlier?

GOOP It's Gwyneth Paltrow's thing and it's kinda cool.

ReadyMade "Instructions for Everyday Life" and a great place for inspiration.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must leave you and continue with the conquering of the world. Do have a lovely day, won't you?

Piles of stuff, one hour at a time

2010-06-09T16:33:00.000-07:00

Five yards of 3/4 minus gravel and 4 yards of hemlock mulch look a lot like this:

To put the size of the piles in perspective, that's the Biggest Girl there and she's just over three feet tall now. Furthermore, that driveway normally holds two cars, rather than two piles. When the dump truck pulled away after dumping the gravel, she looked up at me, shook her head, and said, "TOO much!"

She's a wise kid.

I have a plan for every last bit of both of those giant mounds, though. See, Mr. Mallard has a break between terms and, with no homework to fret about, he has very graciously stepped up to help me realize a few of my lofty lawn dreams. The Biggest Girl and I do what we can during the day--you'd be surprised how engrossing yard care is for a toddler--and, after a light dinner, Mr. Mallard joins the landscaping party. Woohoo!

A lot can be accomplished in the hour between dinner and bath time.

For example, this is before...

...during...

...and after.

Pretty awesome, eh?

It gets better!

Once again, here's before...

...with a slight complication during--the drain pipe that leads from the gutters to the tiny little creek behind the house just happens to be right in my way. It's that white thing in between the two bricks and it nearly derailed my motivation. After a quick phone call to my dad to run through all the possible ways to resolve this roadblock, the oh-so-simple solution became very obvious. Since I was stacking the bricks, I simply staggered the base level on either side of the pipe and filled the gap with gravel. Since the base level is submerged halfway, the gap becomes completely obscured once the mulch and dirt are in place. This also keeps any weight off the pipe, thereby saving us from a broken drain pipe episode down the road.

See--you can't even tell there's a gap, can you?

I know it's a tiny little wall, but I'm so proud. I built it in less an hour while the Biggest Girl was napping. By myself. Go, me! It might not look like much now, but it's got a place in a much bigger plan...

So, the plants are feeling the love and the the land/hardscaping is coming along nicely. As I stood back to admire my accomplishments, I heard a little whimper.

It was the lawn.

At first glance, it doesn't look too bad.

A closer look, though...

...reveals a sad, unhealthy plot of grass that wants so badly to be lush and healthy for the Biggest Girl's summertime frolicking. Once again, it took less than an hour to give the grass some much needed attention. A morning field trip yielded a 25-pound bag of Down to Earth Bio-Turf fertilizer and five pounds of grass seed, along with a 16-ounce Coconut Mocha (vital to the success of this mission). During a random sunny break in the unseasonably cold and rainy day, I dashed out and used a hand spreader to coat the lawn with the earthy-smelling all-natural fertilizer, followed by a blanket of seed.

...and I finished just in the nick of time.

Now, we'll stay off the part of the lawn I reseeded for the next two weeks and, in theory, great things will happen. In the meantime, we'll work on eliminating those piles in the driveway, play on the small part of the lawn that didn't need to be seeded, and get to work (finally) on the much delayed raised beds. We've got eleven more days until classes start again. That's plenty of time to set a world record in yard tackling.

Tonight, though, we'll just eat some Clam Chowder and enjoy this last little blast of rain. And rest. It's going to be a long eleven days...

Zesty!

2010-06-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

If your toast is totally boring you, try this:

Who knew they made lime marmalade? It's a sweet discovery and it makes breakfast much more exciting.

And while we're busy using every part of the citrus fruit...next time you make a batch of your favorite Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, toss in a teaspoon or two of minced orange zest. You'll be glad you did.

ADHD and pesticides

2010-05-17T08:21:00.000-07:00

I'm a stickler about getting my hands on as much local and/or organic produce as I can and I'm feeling like a champ for being so stubborn: there's persuasive evidence that exposure to organophosphates--pesticides that attack the nervous systems of bugs--can contribute to the development of ADHD in children. The full text of the report is here: click

It's frightening to think that we just blindly trust the food that's on the shelves of our supermarkets. More and more, it's getting tougher for me to do so, especially when the most amazing person I've ever met (that's the Biggest Girl) is the one that could suffer the consequences the most. So, just like that, our days of conventionally grown produce have ended. It might be a little more work, but we'll be the ones at the Farmer's Market (and our local farms), eating what's in season and asking questions about exactly what went into our food.

People with pets should take a look at any flea products they use--they can contain organophosphates that can poison both kids and animals.

Oh, and viva la revolucion!

Flying Ant Day

2010-05-14T16:16:00.001-07:00

When we left the house this morning, I noticed there were more birds flittering about, perching on the gutters and such, and I thought, "Look at all the birdies! So sweet...all different kinds of birds just getting along. It's going to be a good day."

Ha! It's Flying Ant Day--the day ants swarm the neighborhood and breed like crazy all over your lawn before they lose their wings and die. It's a rough life, I'll admit, but for someone (like me) who has curly hair, swarms of insects are simply not cool. Etymologist race outside, while I sprint inside, shaking my head furiously, hoping I don't have any Flying Ant Hobos stuck in my hair. Oh, they give me the willies!

See...totally creepy.

And they're all over the place. From the living room window, I can see the ones who have already lost their wings crawling around aimlessly on the street, probably unaware they are on the verge of death.

Shivers!

Fortunately, Flying Ant Day is really only supposed to last a couple hours. I'll be skittish for days.

Get ready...it's coming to your town soon!

Fruit on the bottom, hope on top

2010-05-14T07:03:00.000-07:00

What's up with the bananas?

Comedian Mitch Hedberg once said, "I opened up a container of yogurt, and under the lid it said, 'Please Try Again' because they were having a contest I was unaware of. But I thought I might have opened the yogurt wrong, or maybe Yoplait was trying to inspire me. 'C'mon, Mitchell, don't give up. Please try again. A message of inspiration from your friends at Yoplait. Fruit on the bottom, hope on top.'"

I've been out of sorts lately. For the past four months, really. January went really well, but then February sort of knocked me around a bit. Got back on my feet in time to leave town for ten days and returned home just in time to undergo a Nasal Septoplasty with Turbinate Reduction. Oooh, la la! It almost sounds like a spa treatment, but it's just a fancy way of saying I got my extremely deviated septum repaired and had some on the turbinates inside my nose scooped out so I would have more room to get air to my newly functional septum. It's been almost three weeks since the surgery and, while I'm still a little tender in the general nose region, things are healing up nicely and I can actually breathe through both sides of my nose. It's a refreshing change from the first however many years of my life.

The challenging part is not doing more than I'm allowed. Argh! For the first two weeks, I was ordered not to lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk. This was no problem the first week, because I had no interest in doing anything. The second week, however, I discovered the "Mama Beeeg Hugs" the Biggest Girl demands all day are just as important to me as they are to her. I had to sit down to give her a hug, rather than just picking her up. Oh, and diaper changes! Have you ever tried changing a nearly two-year old on the floor? It's like wrestling a small greased pig whose main objective is to get poop on you (and your rug). Fortunately, I didn't have to do a lot of toddler wrestling because I actually asked for (and accepted) help. This is just as challenging for me as not lifting. I like to think I can do this on my own, but ooooh no. No, I needed help. And I let people (namely my mom and dad) help me this time around. The Biggest Girl got to spend some serious quality time with her grandparents and I got to rest, so it worked out well. Plus, there's just no way I'm going to risk messing up my nose because I have absolutely no interest in going through this recovery process again.

So, here we are. Almost three weeks later. I still can't lift as much as I'd like, squatting and leaning over are still precarious activities, and, all at once, I'm feeling like I lost my bearings. Coming off the victory of successfully traveling across the US, you'd think I'd be in Badass mode, but I'm not. Not yet, anyway. I'm feeling a little frail and under-qualified. Even running the simplest of errands is suddenly more of a challenge. And the list of things we need to do right now--both around the house and in the yard--reads more like a list of things I'm not allowed to do. I want to be able to do this on my own, but right now I also desperately want my mommy.

Here's the point, I guess: It comes and goes. As soon as I feel like I've figured this whole mommy thing out, everything changes. More and more, I feel myself pulled further and further away from the fantasy of competence and into the reality of gracelessly stumbling through my days, scrambling just to keep up with the day-to-day tasks associated with a toddler and household, never mind being a wife or attempting adult converstation without feeling like a complete buffoon. I could cry, but I can't really, because it would make my nose hurt. Instead, I get the dishes done and wait to vacuum. I wash the diapers and let the rest of the laundry go. I sit down to read about the ABC's and I don't sweat the fact that the Biggest Girl refuses to change out of her pajamas before noon. In the end, I remind myself once again, she's the most important thing I've got going. It would be nice to have a squeaky clean, shiny bauble of a home, but I'd rather have a happy baby and a smile on my own face. Maybe I'll get the hang of it all one day. In the meantime, I will remain belligerently optimistic. One day, I'll get this. And the next day it will all change. And through it all, I will always be a little bit of fruit on the bottom and hope on top.

Medicine recall

2010-05-01T20:14:00.000-07:00

Holy moly!

I think this is the first time a recall has actually pertained to us and it's a little scary. McNeil Consumer Healthcare is recalling a bunch of their children's medications--inculding Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, and Zyrtec--because some of these items may contain too much of the active ingredients, others contained "inactive ingredients that may not meet internal testing requirements", while others "may contain tiny particles". Um...tiny particles of what?

Grab your bottles and check them here: click.

Gives me the willies, I tell ya!

Leavin' on a jet plane

2010-04-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

Some things we learned about flying with a toddler...

1. If you can, drive yourself to the airport. Parking in the long-term garage costs more than having friends or family drop you off, but it gave us a chance to freak out in private on the way to the airport and decompress on our own once we got back home. If we lived in a city that had an actual airport, I'd probably recommend saving the parking money in favor of letting someone give you a ride, but we had to drive almost 100 miles to the airport and there was just no way we could deal with a witness to our jitters/sighs of relief. Parking garage=money well spent.

2. Clean out the diaper bag before you pack it for the trip. I took a trip down memory lane when I cleaned out every single pocket in the Biggest Girl's diaper bag. Look! There's the sticker she got after her six-month check-up. And I thought she ate it on the way home...

3. Once it's cleaned out, overpack the diaper bag. Most airlines don't count the diaper bag against your carry-on allowance, so make the most of it. More diapers than you think you need, teething tablets, tylenol, diaper cream--anything you might need should come with you. And snacks. Lots and lots of snacks. Not only do airport stores not carry tasty baby snacks, you never know what you'll encounter on your trip. Delays can spell disaster if you've got a hungry baby on your hands and nothing to feed them. Plus, having a familiar snack can make things seem less bizarre for the wee one.

4. Check your stroller at the gate. Even if you end up carrying the baby through the airport, you can use the stroller as a cart for your carry-ons. Some airports (Atlanta) don't have luggage carts available, so the stroller was a blessing. We checked our fancy BOB stroller at the gate--we wrapped three bungee cords around it to keep it from flopping open--and it was waiting for us every time we got off a plane. It survived the trip and came home without absolutely no damage.

5. Buy a seat for your baby, regardless of their age, and strap them into an FAA-approved car seat for the flight. This is my soapbox. I am climbing on it now. You wouldn't sit in the front seat of a car with a baby on your lap, so why should an airplane be any different? Yes, you can save yourself some money by holding your child for the duration of your flight, but is it really worth it? The FAA recommends a car seat for all children. And here's a pop quiz for you: The cabin loses pressure and the oxygen masks drop down (it happens--ask around). Your baby is on your lap, so you've got one mask for the two of you. Who gets it?

6. Check in at the gate and ask to board early. Ask for a seat belt extender for the seat that will have the car seat. The standard seat belt will fasten just fine, but getting it unfastened is a nightmare. The extender makes it so it fastens outside the car seat, rather than behind it, where it turns out there is no room to lift the lever high enough to get it to release. Lesson learned. The hard way.

7. If people are getting snarky about how long it takes you to get the seat and the baby and yourself situated, just smile and keep working. Remember when they used to let people traveling with small children board early? They don't really do that anymore. As a result, the general public is going to have to just sit tight while you do your best and if they don't like it, that's tough. Maybe they should write a letter to the airline and then people traveling with small children will be allowed to board early once again.

8. Given the choice between a 30-minute layover and a 3-hour layover, go for the 3-hour layover. The extra time allows you to forgo the stress of trying to make a tight connection and gives the wee one a chance to stretch their tiny legs. This is more important than you can imagine, especially if you've got a toddler.

9. During takeoff and landing, have a sippy cup or bottle at your side. Every time you feel even the slightest bit of pressure in your ears, offer your child a drink. When I explained that it would make her ears feel better, the Biggest Girl totally got it and eventually started to take sips on her own. Anything that gets them to swallow--snacks work--will help pop their ears and make the beginning and ending of the flight more bearable.

10. Stock your purse (or backpack or whatever) with paper and pens and a new book or two. The novelty of a new book can buy you more time than you think. Drawing is a big deal for the Biggest Girl right now, so being allowed to use Mommy's pen was pretty darn exciting. We also spent fifteen bucks on a little lap desk for the flight home and that proved to be money well spent. It clips on to the car seat and provides tray table for drawing and snacks. Stash it behind the car seat for takeoff and landing. And if you use it in the car when you get home, make sure it's attached snugly and use a bowl with a suction cup for treats--one big corner will send an unsecured snack bowl flying across the back seat and cause some serious distress for anyone under four feet tall who happened to be enjoying that bagel before it went airborne.

11. The freakout will happen. Maybe not on this flight. Maybe it will be the next flight. Who knows? Here's what you do--do the best you can to fix the freakout and don't let the eye-rollers get you down. Case in point: the Biggest Girl's freakout on the way home. Less than an hour into our five-hour flight, Mean Guy (that's not what I really called him) in front of her reclined his seat all the way, so he was essentially sitting in her lap. She started to lose her little marbles and pushed on his seat with her feet. To her credit, she really moved the seat quite a bit, due in large part to her superhero-like strength in moments of distress. Mean Guy was not impressed, though, and shot me a nasty look, along with the hissing of a "Do you mind?!". Umm...yeah, I mind. You're a Mean Guy. I tried to play nice, though, and did what I could do keep her from kicking his seat. This created more angst which led to more kicking which led to me physically restraining her for the first time in her life and that made her cry and that made me cry. Even writing about it is going to make me cry. It was awful and I was doing everything I could and then Mean Guy rings for the flight attendant and asks to switch seats because he just "can't stand to spend the whole flight like this". The angel who was disguised as a flight attendant looks at me wrestling the Biggest Girl/Incredible Hulk with tears running down my face and she smiles ever-so-sweetly at Mean Guy and says, "I'm sorry, but the flight is full. You're just going to have to make the best of it." Ha! In yo' face, Mean Guy! Take that! Five minutes later, all was quiet. The Biggest Girl passed out the moment before the beverage cart rolled up and, after charging Mean Guy seven bucks for a beer, the angel disguised as a flight attendant very loudly complimented my efforts, commended the Biggest Girl on her ability to adapt to a difficult situation, and then bought me a drink. That's right--I'll have a whiskey and ginger ale and I don't have to pay for it because I did the best I could. The lesson? Do what you can. Everyone else can just piss off. And if there's a baby freaking out on your flight, don't be Mean Guy.

12. Don't even try to get off the plane until everyone else does. This is where the longer layover will come in handy. Just wait patiently while everyone else crams into the aisle and attempts to push their way to front of the plane. It's sooo much easier once everyone else is gone.

13. Be prepared to sit by a window and look at planes during your layover. There is no way around this, unless you blindfold your child.

14. Bring an extra set of headphones. The bigger Delta planes we flew on had televisions in the backs of every seat, so you can plug your kid in to Nickelodeon or Animal Planet for a bit, if you like. The Biggest Girl doesn't watch much TV, so this was a fabulous treat for her. The flight back wasn't as much of a treat, though, thanks to the "When Animals Attack" marathon. If you're traveling with a laptop, take advantage of the wi-fi in the terminals and find fun things on youtube to keep tiny travelers amused, should the lure of the planes lumbering about outside wane.

15. I'm not a fan of using Benadryl or Dramamine to keep a baby quiet on a flight. To me, that equates to drugging a child to get it to behave the way you want it to and that's just not cool.

16. Since you're obviously going to hang on my every word and will be paying for a seat so you can use your car seat on the plane, sign your kid up for a frequent flyer card. That way, the whole family accrues miles and then you can all fly for free someday. Or upgrade to first class where it's rumored they have actual leg room, free drinks (no freakout required!) and better snacks.

17. Oh! If your little one is walking, bring a leash. We call it the Froggy Backpack and it saved us during our layovers. Yes, people will look at you funny, but whatever. The Biggest Girl got to run in front of us and dance around while we stumbled behind her like zombies. Trying to hold on to a tiny hand in a big airport can be difficult. The leash is extra security for you and extra freedom for whoever is on the other end.

I think that's it. I mean, I'm sure it's not, but that's all I've got for now.

Happy travels!

jet lag

2010-04-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

We spent ten days traveling to the East coast and back to visit Mr. Mallard's family and we are now learning that children--especially very young children--don't really have a grasp on the whole "time zone" concept. Mornings are earlier here now. Nap time is earlier, too. Bedtime remains the same somehow. I guess she's just trying to get the most out of every day. Meanwhile, I am totally exhausted and have not yet managed to settle back into the pleasantly functional routine we left behind when we hopped on the plane, lo those many days ago. We have groceries now, so that's a start. And the laundry is done, so we can leave the house without looking like we're dodging the fashion police.

While I get my bearings (and take a nap), why don't you check out The Pioneer Woman. She's got a lot of great stuff going on and does not appear to be as sleepy. Or maybe she is just as sleepy, but she's more motivated. Either way, click here: click, and prepare to be wowed. And educated. and inspired. Makes me want a cow. And a farm. And a web designer.

You are what you eat

2010-03-29T20:08:00.001-07:00

Watch The Future of Food...

...and Food, Inc.

...then read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I'm serious--this is an assignment, people! Both films are available from Netflix and Pollan's books are available all over the place--check your library if you want to save some money. Or find a used copy you can pass on to a friend when you're done. Food, Inc. will be airing on local PBS channels later this month (check your local listings). Already fairly picky about what we will and will not eat, the combination of these three--two films and one book--have started a bit of a revolution in our home. I'd be surprised if it doesn't do the same in yours.

So, it's Spring now?

2010-03-15T15:35:00.000-07:00

This past winter did little to renew my love for Oregon. I do not mind the rain. In fact, I love the rain. I just wish the rain was mixed with just a little bit of snow every once in awhile. While the rest of the country got buried in snowy goodness, we suffered through one of the most mild winters on record. So lame! The next time we move, it will be to a place that has an actual winter. Someplace where the Biggest Girl can master the Art of the Snow Angel and guzzle hot chocolate with melty little marshmallows while I lay in the snowy front yard laughing about it all because I've had too much Carolan's in my own hot chocolate. These are memories every child needs.

So, we sprang forward and now we're all sleep deprived and crabby about it, but things are happening out in the yard with very little effort on our part, thus far.

We planted this crazy bulb last Fall...

...and it's given us this awesome little plant this Spring.

It will grow up to be a Fritillaria and I'm already thinking we should have planted more than one.

The once noble Bauer's Draceana...

...totally ate it during a snow-free cold snap this winter and has ceased to exist.

We had named it Jack Bauer and I did get a kick out of saying "Jack Bauer just tipped over and froze to death in our front yard." Fans of 24 were not impressed. I've never been a fan, so I still think I'm pretty witty.

The Allium bulbs have pushed their way through the leaves to make a chivey-looking entrance into this world.

Primroses live in a pot for now.

The weird tiny flowers of the Euphorbia. The plant took a bit of a hit during the winter, but it seems to bouncing back quite well, not unlike the rest of us...

Moving on...

2010-03-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty tough. I can't leap tall buildings, but I totally rocked the natural childbirth thing and I can "mind over matter" my way out of even the burliest of wet paper bags. Knowing how tough I am capable of being makes admitting I'm having a truly difficult time even more challenging.

Having a miscarriage is rough. There are no obvious wounds the world can see. No scars. No empathetic glances and words of encouragement from strangers as they hold doors open to make your passage through the world a little easier. Nope. You open your own doors and try not to burst into tears every time you see a pregnant woman. Or a tiny baby. Or a couple gushing over their ultrasound pictures while they wait for the elevator. To get through it, I stay home. When I do go out, I move quickly. I fight back tears like a samurai and I do what I can to don a happy face.

I'm not happy, though. I'm so sad. It all seems like so long ago and I tell myself I should be over it by now, but it's only been about two weeks since the nurse called to tell me I was officially no longer pregnant. Half of me leapt off the couch to do a little dance while the other half crumbled as I realized we had reached the end. I am so thankful to have come through it all in one piece, but that does nothing to negate any of the grief I feel.

Part of the problem is the hormones. I was pregnant. I was just pregnant enough that my boobs were on their way to meet Pamela Anderson. My desire for braised cabbage was insatiable. My pants were becoming increasingly uncomfortable. As with childbirth, pregnancy hormones don't just vanish the moment your uterus is empty. It takes time to get those hormones out and the risk of postpartum depression is extremely high after any kind of pregnancy loss. Getting back on the proverbial pony is a daunting task, since doing so means it's really over. The babies are really gone.

The second part of the problem is the loss. I lost two babies. In the last three years, I've lost four. The one I didn't lose--the Biggest Girl--shines like a miracle every single day. Life, I am reminded, is a gift. She's not even two years old yet, but we've spent nearly every moment of her life together and she knows something's not right. She clings to me and she whimpers when she catches me crying. She pats me on the back when she hugs me and her compassion keeps me from going to pieces. I am astounded by her ability to unwittingly distract me from my grief to remind me that life is still happening, in spite of my loss.

I guess the point is that this is not easy. I do my best to remain positive, but even my best positive is kind of a downer these days. I don't expect to just bounce back like nothing happened, because something definitely happened. It was a soul-crushing, gut-wrenching, heartbreaking experience that left me feeling hollow and exhausted. In the quiet moments of my days (read: nap time), I let go into the sorrow and I feel as much as I can before I have to return to the noisy chaos of reality. I am more thankful than ever for the opportunity to be the Biggest Girl's mommy and Mr. Mallard's wife. What I lost will stay with me forever. What I have will do its very best to inspire me, even on the darkest of days.

Lampshade Adventures

2010-02-25T16:32:00.000-08:00

This booooring lamp sat on the chest of drawers next to the Biggest Girl's changing table. I bought it knowing I was going to embellish it somehow. Weeks later, I bought some ribbon and a week after that, Mr. Mallard dug out the glue gun for me. Tired of catching the glue gun staring at me from the breakfast bar and in need of a quick "sense of accomplishment" boost, I stole about 30 minutes and kicked some lampshade ass.

So, that's the before picture...

Here's what I did...

Cut ribbon long enough to just wrap around the lampshade. With your glue gun, place the tiniest little dot of glue on the ribbon and adhere the ribbon to the back seam of the lampshade. Making sure you've got the ribbon lined up straight, put another tiny dot of glue about four or five inches away from the first dot. Continue this until you've gone all the way around the lampshade.

If you can do this and take pictures at the same time, you've obviously also accomplished the task of growing an extra arm.

The ribbons look great, but the rough ends were bringing me down.

Problem solved! Create a tiny loop of ribbon and glue it to the back seam of the shade to cover the ribbon joint.

Add one more little dot of glue on the inside of your ribbon loop and gently press down on the exact middle of the loop.

Ta-da! Tiny little bows!

Man, I'm good...

Now we have a "new" lamp! It took about 30 minutes to finish and used only a fraction of a glue stick. The ribbon cost less than five bucks and I only doused my thumb with hot glue one time. Fortunately, the Biggest Girl was engrossed in a block stacking project of her own and has not repeated any of the dirty words I might have muttered. When you're all done, any little wisps of glue that might be marring your perfection can be rubbed right off. Do a quick double-check to make sure the ribbon is straight between the glue dots and you're good to go.

So, that's it.

Get to it!

Two Weeks Later...

2010-02-22T16:40:00.001-08:00

I have had a rough couple of weeks. If I attempted to tell this tale with anything other than just the facts, I would end up writing a book. So here's the short version...in ten sentences or less, just to make it more fun.

1. I was pregnant.

2. I was having a miscarriage, so the doctors did a D&C (my choice--waiting around for a miscarriage do its thing would be pure torture).

3. Turns out I was still pregnant, even after the D&C.

4. A shot of methotrexate (a chemotherapy drug) in each hip was Plan A to attack what was revealing itself to be an ectopic pregnancy.

5. I get to wait around for a week to see if the methotrexate is working, all the while bracing myself for the chance the ectopic--which was growing precariously in my one remaining fallopian tube--could rupture, thereby landing me in the back of an ambulance with internal bleeding that leads to emergency surgery (been there, done that, it's not cool) and render me unable to naturally conceive a child ever again.

6. I try to be tough and I do a pretty decent job, unless I listen to the Indigo Girls, look the Biggest Girl directly in the eyes while thinking about all of this, or happen to still be awake between 11pm and midnight--it's like my emotional witching hour or something and, if I'm going to lose it, that's when it happens and I would like to take this opportunity to both thank and apologize to Mr. Mallard for keeping his saintly ass up waaaay too late the last couple of nights. Big ups, yo. You da' man!*

7. Today, four torturously long, not so great days after the methotrexate shot, I went in for more blood work and then met with my doctor, who now suspects this whole thing can be labeled as a heterotopic pregnancy (again--been there, done that, not cool) and gives me a hug while promising to call as soon as they get the blood work back.

8. The doctor calls and it turns out that, rather than increasing slightly as would be expected, my hcg levels have plummeted and now she's not sure exactly what it was that happened, but is confident I am no longer in danger of having an ectopic rupture and we make a plan to continue with the blood work until I reach the "not pregnant" level.

9. I was in the middle of changing the Biggest Girl's diaper when the doctor called, so she gets the opportunity to run around wearing only her socks and an unbuttoned onesie and somehow manages to pee on just one of her socks.

10. That's what I've been doing since February 9th...how are things with you?

*props to Mr. Mallard do not count against the ten sentence maximum. Plus, there aren't that many words in those sentences and there's just no way to work them into another sentence while still adhering to the rules that govern modern punctuation.

Pottery Barn Sweepstakes!

2010-02-08T18:01:00.000-08:00

Enter to win a $5,000 shopping spree at Pottery Barn by clicking here: click. Holy moly! $5,000! At Pottery Barn! Can you imagine?! You can enter once a day and the last day to enter is February 15th.

Apple Poppyseed Coleslaw

2010-02-05T16:27:00.000-08:00

The perfect companion to the Pulled Pork Sandwiches.

Printable recipe here: click

One medium head shredded green cabbage (8 cups or so)

2 medium carrots, peeled and grated

3 medium apples, peeled and either grated or chopped

3 or 4 green onions, thinly sliced on a bias

For the dressing:

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2/3 cup sour cream

1/2 cup tangy, all-natural yogurt (plain or vanilla)

1/4 cup frozen apple juice concentrate

2 Tablespoons poppy seeds

Combine all the fruits and veggies in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Pour the dressing over the fruits and veggies and toss to combine. Add a little salt and pepper if you so desire. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

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For the apples, I'd go with either Granny Smith or Fuji. Really, any apple that has a bit of a bite to it (as far as flavor goes) will work just fine. Whether you shred or chop the apple is simply a matter of preference. Shredding makes them blend in, while chopping makes them stand out a bit.

This recipe is going to work best if you actually shred fresh cabbage, rather than using a bag of pre-shredded cabbage. Choose a cabbage that is just bigger than a softball, cut it in half and start slicing thinly until you have about 8 cups. If you do opt to wuss out and buy a bag of cabbage (shame on you!), soak it in ice cold water for about 20 minutes and then run it through a salad spinner before you add it to the slaw.

If you're feeling sassy, you could toss in a bit of diced fresh pineapple (ooh, la la!).

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

2010-02-02T20:18:00.000-08:00

It's going to seem like an epic recipe--probably because there are four recipes to deal with--but it's really not that much work. All told, it will take less than half an hour of actual activity to create this masterpiece and it time so well spent.

Without further ado, I give you...a slightly modified version of Emeril Lagasse's Pulled Pork Sandwiches (ta-da!)

Serves about 8

Printable version of all recipes can be found here: click

4-6 pound boneless pork butt or picnic pork

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

2 Tablespoons Essence (recipe follows)

1/2 Tablespoon salt

1 Tablespoon ground cumin

1 Tablespoon paprika

1 Tablespoon freshly ground pepper

Wet Mop Basting Sauce (recipe follows)

Barbeque Sauce (recipe follows)

Combine brown sugar, Essence, salt, cumin, paprika and pepper. Rub the seasoning into the pork, making sure you get it into every little nook and cranny. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours--overnight is ideal.

Drop that sucker into the crock pot and carefully pour the Wet Mop Basting Sauce into the crock pot without washing the rub off the pork. Cook on low for about five hours, basting occasionally (about once an hour).

Once the roast starts to crumble when slightly nudged with a fork, remove it from the crock pot, cover lightly with foil and allow the roast to rest for about 20 minutes before shredding it. In a large bowl, toss the shredded pork with enough Barbeque Sauce to coat, reserving some of the Barbeque Sauce for serving.

Serve on good quality rolls.

Emeril's Essence

2 1/2 Tablespoons paprika

2 Tablespoons salt

2 Tablespoons garlic powder

1 Tablespoon black pepper

1 Tablespoon onion powder

1 Tablespoon cayenne

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

1 Tablespoon dried thyme

In a small bowl, whisk all ingredients together. Store in an airtight container.

Wet Mop Basting Sauce

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 Tablespoon red pepper flakes

1/2 Tablespoon freshly ground pepper

1/2 Tablespoon salt

The night before you plan to serve the pork, combine the ingredients in a large bowl and whisk well. Refrigerate until needed.

Barbeque Sauce

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup ketchup

3 Tablespoons packed brown sugar

1 Tablespoon yellow mustard

1 Tablespoon molasses

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

Combine all ingredients and whisk well to dissolve sugar. Refrigerate overnight for best results. Use part for mixing into the pork and the remainder for serving with the sandwiches.

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Whew! Sounds like a lot of work, right? Well, it's not. And the results will make your guests and loved ones think you toiled for days to produce such perfection. The Essence is available at most supermarkets (in the spice aisle), but it is soooo much better if you make your own. If you don't have the spices on hand, save yourself some major moolah and get what you need from the bulk section. No need to spend a pretty penny on an entire bottle of something if you are only going to use a fraction of that amount.

Splurge on the rolls, though. This is no ordinary sandwich. It's a King among sandwiches and deserves to be treated as such. Indulge a little--it's totally worth it.

We're going to make this as our Super Bowl meal (Go Saints!), so I'll have some pictures to accompany this recipe next week. It's great game day food--the majority of the work is done before it goes in the crock pot. All you have to do is jump up during the commercials to shred it and serve it.

Oh! And there's a great coleslaw recipe to accompany this, but I have to figure out where I wrote it down. I'll do that before the weekend and maybe we can all have a Pulled Porkalicious Super Bowl!

In other news, I figured out how to make printable recipes! It will take some time to go back and create printable versions of all the recipes posted prior, but I will make sure I create a printable version of anything from here on out. Just look for "Printable recipe here: click" and click on the "click". I almost sprained my elbow patting myself on the back for figuring that one out. I do have my moments...

Pork Roast with Apple Butter

2010-01-26T14:54:00.000-08:00

Serves about 6-8, depending on appetite and ability to restrain oneself in the face of deliciousness

3-4 pound pork roast (I use boneless picnic pork)

2 cups organic apple juice--not from concentrate

Put the roast in the crock pot, pour the apple juice over the top of it, and cook on high for about two hours.

In a small bowl, whisk together:

1/2 cup organic apple butter

2 Tbsp packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp apple juice from the crock pot

Couple dashes each of cinnamon and cloves

After the roast has been on high for two hours, reduce the temperature to low and coat the unsubmerged portion of the roast with the apple butter paste. Cook on low for an additional 2-4 hours.

Prior to serving, remove the roast from the crock pot and cover loosely with foil. Allow the roast to sit for a good ten minutes or so before cutting.

Best served with some wild rice and steamed green veggies of some sort. Make sure you invite friends to dinner. They'll go back out into the world so impressed, you'll become a legend.

Printable recipe is here: click

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I'm not one for acronyms, but OMG! This is easily the most delicious pork I have ever had. The apple flavor is mellow and not too sweet, but it penetrates the roast completely. The apple juice keeps the pork from drying out--even leftovers were tender and moist. And don't skimp on the ingredients! Organic apple products are a thousand times more flavorful than conventional apple products and you want that rich apple flavor. Plus, the organic apple butter won't be loaded down with sweeteners and syrups that could really go awry when cooked.

The roast I used was a 3-pounder that was then split into two chunks. It cooks faster that way and allows the appley goodness to really soak in.

A minute or two under a broiler would probably caramelize the apple butter, but I wasn't about to risk drying out the meat. If you're brave enough to try, let me know how it goes. I'd be willing to bet this recipe would work pretty darn well with a turkey breast, as well.

Leftovers were absolutely delicious. Mr. Mallard sliced up his share and made a sandwich. Judging by the muffled sounds of delight coming from the dining room, I'm guessing it went well. I reheated mine with some leftover wild rice blend and it was so yummy.

Enjoy!

Gimme a break!

2010-01-18T15:33:00.000-08:00

In a perfect world, all our meals would be made of fresh ingredients and I would have the time (and patience) to make every little thing from scratch. In reality, I do the very best I can, but I do have to give myself a break from time to time. When time is short--or I'm just knee deep in burnout--here are a few things I turn to in order to keep us from turning into a drive-thru...

Tasty Bite Kashmir Spinach...it's a pouch of spinachy goodness that takes all of two minutes to make and serve. We have it with a few slices of baked chicken breast and a scoop of brown rice. It's a little spicy, but it's a good spicy. Despite coming from a pouch, it still tastes fresh. It's also opened Mr. Mallard's eyes to the world of Indian food, thereby opening another cuisine for me to attempt to conquer.

If you're trying to avoid dairy, Tasty Bite makes shopping easy by clearly marking their vegan products. Just look in the back right corner of the package and you'll be able to quickly identify which ones you can eat. There's also a list of vegan products available on their website. While the company does offer a growing number of enticing entrees, our exploration is somewhat limited by the stock available at our local grocery stores. I can confidently recommend both the Kashmir Spinach and the Madras Lentils. If you can't find them in your local stores, the website actually has the best prices around--unless you find them on sale--and the shipping prices are pretty reasonable.

Next up...Amy's Organic Soups. One can feeds two people. After attempting it myself on more than one occasion, I would really recommend NOT trying to eat the whole can yourself. You're hungry, I know, and it sounds so harmless, but you'll find yourself about halfway through the second half of the can, wondering how you're going to get up from the table unassisted and whether you'll ever need to eat again. Too. Much. Soup...

Delicious soup, though. My favorite is the Split Pea--you'd never guess it doesn't have any ham. I used to eat it with a bagel and some string cheese, but we're fancier now--we have it with a Toasted Ham and Cheese Sandwich for a filling, comforting meal on a rainy night. The Lentil, as well as the Black Bean, is great served over rice. The Minestrone works well with a salad and a chunk of bread. The Semi-Condensed Cream of Mushroom is great in casseroles, but make sure you adjust the amount of liquid in your recipes to accommodate the extra liquid of the semi-condensed state (versus the typical fully condensed). Most of the soups come in a low-sodium version, too, if you have to keep an eye on your sodium intake. If you flip to the back of the can, the ingredient list is preceded by the disclosure of whether the soup is vegan or just vegetarian.

Last, but most certainly not least, Annie's Beef Stroganoff. You probably didn't hear it, but I had to pause for a second there to let the angels finish singing after I typed out the name. Absolutely our favorite dinner shortcut. We refer to it as Hippie Hamburger Helper and we never pass up a chance to share the Gospel of the Strog with those who will listen. It's not available locally, so we special order it by the case from our local co-op. It comes out to about four bucks a box and it makes four hearty servings. While it can be made with tempeh or tofu, we don't mess with perfection and just keep it real with the beef. The beef we use comes from a local farm (Bald Hill Farm) and the quality of the grass fed beef helps make an already delicious meal even better [insert "Grass Fed Beef from Local Farms is Awesome and Totally Worth the Slightly Higher Cost" rant here: click]. Toss some sliced crimini mushrooms in when you mix in the pasta and it gets even better. We often have this with a side of sauteed zucchini and a sourdough baguette, though we'd eat it all straight out of the pan like animals if we weren't trying to set a good example for the Biggest Girl. If Stroganoff isn't your thing, they make a great Cheesy Lasagna, as well as an oh-so-satisfying Cheeseburger Macaroni.

So, take a night off once in a while! You'll feel so much better about spending ten minutes making a delicious, inexpensive dinner, rather than spending ten minutes stuck in a drive-thru that will only reward you with an empty wallet and the feeling you could have done better...

Happy First Month of the New Year!

2010-01-10T16:16:00.000-08:00

The last time I actually celebrated New Year's Eve, I did so with a group of rowdy friends. We spent a good chunk of the evening drinking (a lot) while trying to blow up a Hulk Hogan doll with bottle rockets. The Hulkster proved to be quite the adversary, though, and we ended up only inflicting flesh wounds. It hadn't occurred to us that they design toys today to be inflammable. We succeeded with the drinking part, though. In the wee hours of the New Year I defended my Handstand Champion title and woke up the next morning with muddy feet, a hard-earned hangover, and the feeling that great things lie ahead.

I was right. Great things did happen that year. I graduated from college (finally), moved halfway across the country to a town I'd longed to inhabit, and, at the end of the year, I met the man I eventually married.

This past New Year's Eve was far less eventful. While we had planned to be in bed as early was humanly possible, we ended up awake at midnight, listening to our neighborhood erupt into a barrage of fireworks and hooting and hollering. I'll admit it made my heart ache just a little. While I was thankful to start the new year clearheaded and functional, there is a part of me that will always miss the shenanigans of days past. That said, I don't think I would last more than a day or two in my old life. These days I need to take a nap halfway through my first beer. Oh, to be young(er)...

Dinner on New Year's Eve was...

Huevos Rancheros! So easy and so delicious. Two baked corn tortillas topped with a scoop of seasoned beans, two fried eggs, and condiments including avocado, sour cream, cheese, salsa, olives, green onions. Round it out with some chopped romaine lettuce and you've got yourself a rich, filling meal.

So, this year...2010. I am not the type of person to make serious resolutions. I've tried, in the past, but I tend to forget what I've resolved to accomplish by about May, so why bother? I have, however, found myself on a bit of a health kick since the beginning of January. Over the holidays, I baked myself out of the majority of my jeans. I just couldn't stop with the Neiman-Marcus cookies. The Sour Cream Coffeecake(s). The Virginia Gentleman with ginger ale. The morning coffee with Carolans and the tiniest little scoop of Tillamook Vanilla Ice Cream. Oh, it was all so decadent, delicious, and totally satisfying. Couple the baking with the complete lack of physical activity and the fabulous disruption of Mr. Mallard's time off work and we've got a wardrobe disaster.

Since I'd rather workout than go shopping, I finally got our elliptical machine repaired and I've been kicking my own ass ever since. I get up early (woe is me!) to work out and shower before the Biggest Girl beckons. It's not easy, but it is so rewarding. Becoming the Prime Minister of Portion Control, I retired my baking apron for the time being and managed to work off seven pounds in the last week. Seven pounds! I would love to make a cake shaped like the number seven to celebrate, but I'm really loving this whole being healthy thing. I'm not going to call it a resolution, but I am going to hope I have the discipline to continue down this path.

Oh, and I've been working a slogan for 2010. So far, "Learn to pluck a hen in 2010!" is the only one that's sticking. I might need to put a little more effort into this. Or find a chicken farm...

Fiesta Tragedy!

2009-12-30T12:51:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, I had a full set of Cobalt Blue and Chartreuse Green Fiestaware plates. It was a lovely collection in the two greatest Fiestaware colors ever. Then disaster struck. Several years ago, one of the small salad plates broke. I carried the pieces with me from town to town until I finally admitted to myself that I wasn't going to use them in a mosaic or make a necklace or do anything at all with them, other than carry them around, lamenting.

Christmas Eve brought a similar disaster. While I was out running errands, Mr. Mallard hung out with the surly Biggest Girl. In a "mood" because her teeth were bugging her (I can only imagine!), she was in the throes of a fit when Mr. Mallard decided to distract her from her woes by letting her sit on the counter for a spell. It worked for a brief moment before the tribulations of toddlerhood got the best of her and she resumed her conniptions.

In one swift kick, she sent a Chartreuse dinner plate flying and it appeared she planned to follow suit as she wiggled about on the kitchen counter. Poor Mr. Mallard was caught in the age-old quandry: Save the plate or save the baby? What to do?! It's a discontinued color! She's our only child! Oh, no!

He saved the Biggest Girl.

It wasn't until the next day that I realized it was a dinner plate that had perished. A Christmas Un-Miracle.

After some searching, we found we had to options: pay four times the original price for a Chartreuse plate or add another color to fill in the blanks.

So, before:

...and after:

We chose option two: add another color. I feel like I'm betraying the green, but I'm just not ready to pay forty bucks for one dinner plate. Now, we welcome Tangerine to the mix, as well as the lone Turquoise salad plate. We were always running out of little plates and, as long as we're mixing it up, why not just go crazy, right?

It's going to take some getting used to and I don't have a firmly established stacking order to which we will adhere (all in good time), but at least we have plates. And a cupboard to put them in. And a fabulous house for the cupboard. And a Biggest Girl who did express some serious remorse when the plate shattered. Probably because she knew it was a discontinued color. She's smart like that.

Neiman-Marcus Cookies

2009-12-20T21:44:00.000-08:00

Did you hear? It's almost Christmas! The Winter Solstice is upon us! It's the most wonderful/stressful time of the year. And when I get stressed (or bored)(or curious)(or hungry), I bake. This weekend, it was Neiman-Marcus cookies.

The most elegant chocolate chip cookie ever. If you are called upon to provide dessert for a small crowd--the recipe makes two dozen--this is the dessert you want to present to the world. If you are craving chocolate chip cookies and you don't want to eat nothing but cookies for the next three days, this small batch recipe is perfect. If you want to win a heart, land a job, or make amends, this cookie can accomplish all those tasks and more.

Since it's late and Neiman-Marcus has already posted the recipe on their site, I'm going to be lazy and just give you a link. It's right here: click. Be warned: they will not look like they are done when the timer goes off, but they are. Trust me. Just take them out, let them cool, and you will find you have achieved perfection with very little effort.

I also made some Blueberry Oatmeal Scones...

This recipe isn't ready just yet. They were delicious right out of the oven, but super crumbly the next day.

In unrelated news, I started working out again.

Something happened to my pants and they no longer fit comfortably.

My Right Thumb

2009-12-12T09:25:00.000-08:00

Several months ago, I totally annihilated my thumb while I was grating cheese. Parmesan, to be more specific. I wrapped my thumb up in a dishtowel, finish putting together the Mac & Cheese I was making and, once it was in the oven, I went to Immediate Care. I resisted going to the doctor at first, but then realized I could see something that looked like bone, so fine...I'll go. Whatever.

I kept it bandaged and wore a little splint to protect it, but the cheese grater had really done a number on my poor thumb. The chunk it took out produced a crazy little scar that actually deformed the profile of my thumb and bumped up just enough to get caught on every little thing. So frustrating and genuinely uncomfortable.

A meeting with a fabulous hand surgeon resulted in surgery last week. He wasn't able to tell if I had taken a chunk out the bone or if the scar tissue has grown so invasively that it attached itself to the bone. Either way, it's gone now and I am on the path to a full recovery. I had a sort of half-cast splint for four days and then moved to band-aid/plastic splint combination to protect the stitches for a full week. Now I've had the stitches removed, but still have to be careful with my thumb. I have to work on regaining the range of motion by doing little thumb-bending exercises, being careful not to pop the scar tissue open. While I am frustrated by my gimpiness, I am thrilled with the results of the surgery and learning to wash dishes while wearing gloves (not cool!).

I am also thrilled with Mr. Mallard. He took last week off work to help while I was in the cast and he totally blew my mind. I spend all day taking care of the Biggest Girl and the house. We have a routine and it was so very aggravating for me to let Mr. Mallard toss that routine aside and get things done his way. Oh, I drove him bonkers while I hovered, pointing and picking and bossing him around! I managed to chill, though, at some point, and watched with wonder while he and the Biggest Girl kicked so much butt as I recovered. He kept house, got up in the middle of the night to take care of diaper changes and freakouts, made dinner, did laundry...he did everything. Totally exhausted and sporting dishpan hands, he returned to work on Monday. I returned to my normal duties and the Biggest Girl searched high and low before realizing he really had gone back to work.

Point is--he's awesome. I didn't think anyone else could do my job. Apparently, he's been paying attention, though, because he rocked it. We love him like crazy and are so fortunate to have such a great man on our team. Go Daddy!

Tonight, we celebrate my recovery and Daddy's awesomeness with a batch of Macaroni & Cheese. I think I'll leave the grating to Mr. Mallard. In fact, I think this whole incident might just be enough to convince me to splurge on the new Cuisinart Elite Die-Cast 12-cup Food Processor. It's safer than a cheese grater, right?

Lemon Herb Pork Roast

2009-12-04T07:53:00.000-08:00

Mix together:

Zest of one lemon

2-3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (aka the juice of one lemon)

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp granulated garlic

2 tsp onion powder

1 tsp poultry seasoning

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Put a boneless 3-pound pork roast in the crock pot and rub the lemony herb paste all over the top of the roast.

Being careful not to wash the rub off, pour 1 cup chicken stock in the crock pot.

Tuck one or two 6" sprigs of fresh rosemary into the chicken stock alongside the roast.

Cook on low for about 5 hours.

Remove from the crock pot and let it sit for about ten minutes before serving.

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It's so easy! And delicious! We had ours with scalloped potatoes, steamed spinach, and homemade garlic rosemary bread. The potatoes were fabulous, but they were also a runny disaster, so that recipe is going to need some work.

What? You don't have fresh rosemary? Well, that's easy to fix: go to your local nursery and tell them you need a rosemary plant and a pot. Take it home and set it in a sunny spot. Ta-da! Fresh rosemary at your fingertips!

Any boneless chunk of pork will work. We used a 3-pound boneless pork tenderloin. I'd be willing to bet the rub would go really well with the darker meat of a pork shoulder, as well.

The leftovers were almost more delicious than the original meal. The roast stayed moist and the flavors mellowed to perfection.

Enjoy!

Weaner!

2009-11-29T22:39:00.000-08:00

We weaned our Biggest Girl this weekend. After 18 months of exclusively nursing (the bottle was never a hit), I haven't nursed her since Wednesday night. What I had expected would be a soul-wrenching, tear-filled, booby-aching journey turned out to be quite the opposite. The Biggest Girl (did you already know this?) is a total rock star. With only the tiniest bit of strife, she has moved on to a life beyond the boobies. My guess is that it all went so well because we were both ready. I was ready. I was ready months ago. It just didn't seem like the right time, though, so I kept nursing. I had no idea if she was ready or not, but it really seemed like she was. She only nursed for a total of about ten minutes a day and it was purely for comfort (bedtimes).

Oddly, I think the whole weaning thing was far more difficult on me than her. I expected her to have such a tough time letting go, but she's totally chill. She's letting Mr. Mallard put her down for her naps now and hasn't made a single attempt to gnaw through my clothing to get to my boobs. I, on the other hand, am a bubbling vat of emotions--ranging from bliss to the deepest sorrow. It's the most depressing liberation ever.

Some things I learned:

1. If the time is right, weaning is a piece of cake.

2. Having a second body around is essential. I don't think this would have gone as smoothly if Mr. Mallard hadn't stepped in to put her to bed and stayed so cool while she told him exactly how she felt about his presence (at first).

3. If you are only nursing (or pumping) once or twice a day, the agony of engorgement can be almost entirely avoided.

4. Cabbage leaves are your boobs' best friends. Maybe it's because they're cold. Maybe it's because the leaves fit almost perfectly in the cup of your bra. I don't know what it is, but I tried the Cabbage Leaves in the Bra trick on the one evening my boobs were feeling a little hefty and the relief they provided was both instant and delightful. I actually sighed aloud and started wondering if any of the day spas have a Cabbage Wrap (Cabbage Roll?) Treatment. If, at any point, you find yourself in a state of boob-related discomfort, get a cabbage. Trust me. It's heavenly.

5. The Biggest Girl's appetite was nearly non-existent for the first two days of weaning, but she has more than made up for it in the two days since. She has also become more vocal about telling me she's hungry.

6. We ran and jumped and hiked and sang and just plain wore her out before we put her down and that made the job so much easier. She was too pooped to protest. Not entirely too pooped, but pretty close.

7. I married the most amazing man on the planet. I know a lot of you think you might have married the most amazing man on the planet, but you didn't. I did. And I've never been more proud of our little family than I have been over this holiday weekend.

I'm still waiting for all the milk to dissipate, so I have no idea what I'm going to be left with when this is all done. My poor boobies. Thankfully, I very rarely have the urge to go streaking these days.

Buy Nothing Day 2009

2009-11-24T09:14:00.000-08:00

It's that time! Take a stand by doing nothing--could it be any easier?

Buy Nothing Day is a challenge to consumers to stop consuming for 24 hours and it just happens to fall on one of the busiest shopping days of the year--Black Friday. The idea is that we don't really need the crap that's on sale, but we're so programmed to want it that there's a knee-jerk reaction by most that leads us blindly to the mall, credit card in hand. Buy Nothing Day is a chance to liberate yourself from over-consumption and the debt that follows, as well as do the planet a favor by just chillin' at home, rather than driving from store to store to collect a bunch of disposable goods.

Give it a try--don't go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. This means no grocery shopping, no ducking out for anything. No online shopping, either. Don't spend a single penny. Keep your hard-earned money for yourself. Appreciate the things you have. Spend the day with your family, instead. Unplug yourself from the machine and just be for a day.

Our commitment to participate in Buy Nothing Day was permanently engrained in us when a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death last year at 5am on Black Friday. In the rush to get in the doors for the oh-so-great bargains, the Wal-mart customers knocked down and killed an employee. He died and the store remained open. The same people that pushed to get past and climb over his dying body got to finish their shopping and suffered no consequences for their truly horrendous actions. All in the name of Christmas...the most wonderful time of the year, right?

Right...

Banana Wheat Germ Muffins

2009-11-22T22:35:00.000-08:00

Adapted from Eating for Pregnancy

I got 24 mini muffins and 9 regular muffins out of the batch

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 all-purpose flour

1/3 cup toasted wheat germ (see note)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup applesauce

1 egg

1/4 cup soy milk

3-4 large, mashed ripe bananas

Oven on to 350 degrees. Spray your muffin tins.

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, wheat germ, baking soda, and salt.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, applesauce, egg, and soy milk. Once they're mixed, add the bananas and mix until blended.

3. Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients and, again, mix well.

4. Fill up your muffin tins and pop 'em in the oven. Mini muffins will cook for about 10-12 minutes, while regular muffins need about 25 minutes.

5. Cool slightly and enjoy. Store any extras in an airtight container in the fridge (or freeze them).

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Toasting wheat germ=So easy. Just put the wheat germ in a nonstick skillet over medium heat and stir it often. The moment you can smell the toasty smell of wheat germ toasting, take it off the heat and stir it around a bit more. Let it cool for a few minutes before you add it to the rest of the ingredients. Simple, right?

At any given moment, we have at least 3 or 4 bananas in the freezer. As soon as they reach the perfect banana bread ripeness, I stick them in the freezer--peels and all--usually one or two a week, at most. When the urge to bake strikes, I pull them out and let them thaw for an hour or two in a bowl on the counter. They're mushy and messy when you unpeel them, but they work just fine in recipes.

You can also add 1/2 cup chopped nuts, if you like, but they're a bit of a choking hazard for us still, so we just make due without. Some mini chocolate chips would be delightful, though, and not at all hazardous.

Victory!

2009-11-13T15:40:00.000-08:00

Turns out the toughest part of making curtains is choosing the fabric!

Just in time for the season finale of Project Runway, I finally busted out the sewing machine and made the kitchen curtains. Since it was the first time in almost thirty years I sat down to sew and, since the curtains turned out fabulous, I'm pretty sure I'm ready to be a contestant on the next season of Runway. Maybe...

I found some great instructions here: click.

Here's the formula I used to measure the fabric:

______Desired finished length of curtain (A)
+ ______ Header (B)
+ 1/2" to turn under top raw edge
+ ______ Hem amount (C)
+ 1/2" to turn under the bottom raw edge (or the hem amount for a double hem on sheer fabric)
= ______ Total length

Once I had my measurements, I folded the edges over and ironed them before sewing some simple straight lines.

The sewing machine was great! It was so easy to use...I guess that's why they call it the Singer Simple. It's nothing fancy, but I'd highly recommend it as a starter machine. I even threaded and installed the bobbin without incident.

Walking into the kitchen this morning, I couldn't help but smile and do a little dance...

I did it! I made those curtains!

Of course, it doesn't hurt that I had The Force on my side.

Tupelo Honey

2009-11-10T21:18:00.000-08:00

I never deliberately remember to turn the show on, but we always end up listening in and I couldn't be more pleased. It's Tupelo Honey and it comes on Tuesday nights from 5-7pm PST on KRVM. The show, hosted by Shotgun Majors, boasts "Sticky-sweet Americana music" and I'm pretty sure it's got to be the most happy-inducing show on radio today. As we sit down for dinner on these rainy winter nights, this music just makes our little world that much cozier. Where the stereo is generally just something in the background, this is one night of the week we actually turn it up and really listen. Such a pleasant, old-timey way to spend the evening--hanging out with the family, listening to a radio show. Simple pleasures, I guess...

The playlists are available on the shows blog (located here: click), along with instructions on how to download the playlists from iTunes. You can listen to the station online, as well, by going here: click. It streams 24/7, so there's always something on.

Hippie Pancakes

2009-11-09T09:26:00.000-08:00

Okay, so they're actually Wheat Germ Buttermilk Pancakes, but that doesn't sound as fun, does it? These have become a weekend staple here in Casa de Mallard.

Makes about 20 4-inch pancakes

2 eggs

1/4 cup applesauce

2 cups buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, wheat germ, baking soda, and salt.

In a bigger bowl, whisk together the eggs, applesauce, buttermilk, and vanilla.

Now whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing until just blended.

Fry 'em up in your favorite pan (or use your awesome griddle) and enjoy!

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So, there are a few little notes (aren't there always notes?!)...

1. If you can't have dairy, mix one tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice with one cup of your favorite non-dairy beverage (soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, and so on) and let it sit for ten minutes. Use this mix the same way you would the buttermilk. For example, in this recipe, you'd need two cups of "milk" with two tablespoons of cider vinegar or lemon juice. Additionally, if you don't have buttermilk (and you can have dairy), you can use the same little recipe with regular milk, if you choose. Just make sure you let it sit for ten minutes and all should turn out well.

2. You can use 1/4 canola oil in place of the applesauce, if you like. We've tried it both ways and really prefer the applesauce version.

3. Get your wheat germ in bulk, if you can, preferably from a store that has a rather quick turnover rate in their wheat germ bin (think Whole Foods or, even better, a local Co-op). This allows you to buy a small amount and use it before it goes rancid (which it does rather quickly, if you aren't using it a lot). It should smell nutty when you take a big sniff. If it smells musty at all, toss it. Store it in a tightly-sealed container in the fridge for best results. And pat yourself on the back for eating it because it's loaded with nutrients and fiber.

4. These pancakes keep so well for a day or two. Cool them to room temperature and store them in a container in the fridge. When you're ready for breakfast the next day (or a snack), pop 'em in the toaster to reheat them. They reheat to a crispy deliciousness that will come very close to their original glory. Just make sure you keep an eye on the toaster while they're toasting. The Biggest Girl ate two whole pancakes yesterday morning and is making quick work of the leftovers this morning. Smear a little peanut butter on top for an even tastier treat!

Pork Chops and Wild Rice

2009-11-06T15:20:00.000-08:00

There should be a picture of this meal, but there isn't--we ate ourselves into a food coma and I couldn't operate the camera in such a bloated state. This is one of my favorite winter meals. My mom got the original recipe from a friend twenty years ago and I've adapted it over the years to satisfy my own craving...

In a 9x13 baking dish, mix:

1 cup wild rice blend

1 cup brown rice

1 Tablespoon each--Garlic Powder and Italian Herb Blend (dried)

A bit of salt and pepper

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup (we use Amy's), plus enough chicken stock to make a total of 3 cups of liquid.

On top of the rice/soup/stock, scatter a sparse layer of sliced crimini mushrooms.

On top of the mushrooms, nestle as many pork chops as you can fit without overlapping.

Top the chops with a hearty layer of sliced mushrooms, cover with foil and bake at 350 until the rice has absorbed all the liquid and the pork chops are done. I want to say about an hour, maybe? It's going to depend a great deal on the cooking time for the rice you choose. Let it sit, covered, for about 10 minutes and then eat up!

A few other notes:

1. A good Cream of Mushroom (read: not Campbell's) will make a big difference in the flavor.

2. I used about twelve good-sized crimini mushrooms last time I made it, but I have no idea what that translated to in pounds.

3. You can use button mushrooms, if you prefer, or mix crimini and button...whatever you like.

4. If you use a clear baking dish, it's easy to see if the rice has finished absorbing all the liquid without having to pull the pan out of the oven and lift the foil and all that...

5. This dish is made even more heavenly when it's served with steamed asparagus or sauteed spinach and a crusty bread of some sort.

6. The leftovers are deeeelicious.

7. Oh, yeah! You can use either bone-in or boneless pork chops. We've had tremendous success with both.

8. In place of the chicken stock, you can use beef stock or veggie stock. Water will work in a pinch, as well.

I think that's it.

Enjoy!

BHG-Thanksgiving contest

2009-11-01T08:24:00.000-08:00

Happy November! Already! Jeepers!

Better Homes & Gardens is still giving away the kitchen. This time, the focus appears to be on Thanksgiving-related items (roasting pans, baking dishes, carving sets, and the like). As always, they're offering the chance to win 5,000 smackaroos. Click here to enter: click

I should say, too, that their newsletters are actually pretty useful. Tons of home improvement and decoration slideshows and great recipe ideas. At the very least, there are lots of pretty pictures.

Gonna wash that carcinogen right outta my hair...

2009-10-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wish we lived in Europe. They have much smaller houses, great accents, and, as legend tells it, the women don't worry so much about shaving their legs (what a relief!). They also label their genetically-modified foods and refuse to stock personal care products that contain toxic chemicals.

Check out the The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics to find out about formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane that is present in many mainstream baby shampoos, body washes, and disposable diaper wipes. The links in their articles are well worth the time it takes to explore--there's a ton of information that's presented in a layman's terms. If your curious where the products you use--either for yourself or your baby--fall in terms of tested toxicity, check out the Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. You can sort the lists there either by tested score or alphabetically. I found alphabetically to be be easiest, simply because of the vast number of products tested. There's also a great article here: click.

It's bothersome to me, this whole "Toxic Tub" issue. And it's easy to say that we were raised using the same products and we turned out fine, but did we? Our children are being diagnosed with autism at a frighteningly high and medically unexplained rate. Infertility is rampant...

...oh, and there is more to say, but there's squeaking and giggling coming from the next room, so it's on with my day I go...check out the websites. It's troubling, but eye-opening. And just in time, too, since I'm running out of moisturizer. Time to try something new!