I feel like I’ve been so busy this year. Kids are growing and time is flying. Hardly any time or brain bandwidth for blogging. But here is a glimpse into what I’ve been up to all year.
We’ll start with baking….
Category: Food
Baking Binge
“It’s Fall!” they say.
My favorite bloggers are sending out their new fall baking recipes: apple cinnamon and pumpkin everything. The local grocery stores have had giant bins of pumpkins lining the front sidewalk for at least a month. Pinterest and new memes are featuring flannel again. Not to mention a certain flavor at a certain coffee chain that’s already sold out in some places(???)! (But also can we be thankful that said coffee chain is open. This post is brought to you mostly by sitting in a coffee shop “dining area.” Unfortunately it’s the chain one, because my current city lacks ANY local options.)
Meanwhile….
Arugula
…and more thoughts about salad and food.
I had never heard of arugula before I went on a pilgrimage to Rome at the end of my freshman year of college.
Back up. I didn’t really eat salad at all until my freshman year of college. In my opinion, this was one of those cases where peer pressure was healthy. “Huh, all these people like salad. I should start eating it, too, I guess.” Growing up….
Buy More Veggies
Let me humbly begin by mentioning that I just used up some extra homemade cream cheese frosting that’s been in the fridge for five days by squirting it onto chocolate teddy grahams and basically making epic makeshift mini oreos. #lifehack
Anyway, back to the subject at hand: vegetables!
Well, actually, first, I need to talk about candy for a second. When I was first married, with no employment except catching up on Dexter and learning how to meal plan and cook, I finally gained the “freshman fifteen” that I had managed to avoid in college. Darn. Sugar is a weakness for me. I quickly learned that it’s WAY easier to not buy candy at the store, than to buy it and then mete it out in moderate portions at appropriate intervals at home. So, I made myself a rule….
The Worst Cake I’ve Ever Made
My baby girl turned one last month. She’s my third. We already have everything a one year old could possibly need. And we were about to be moving. So, I didn’t get her a birthday present. And there was a pandemic going on. So, I didn’t throw her a birthday party. I felt kind of guilty about it, because I got my other kids First Birthday Presents, and hosted First Birthday Parties for each of them. But, such is the nature of Baby #3 having her First Birthday in 2020.
I calmed my conscience about it with the intention of making her a cute and delicious First Birthday Cake. “The cake will be the gift,” I kept telling myself….
“how to cut celery”
Wherein, as a bonus, I showcase some of the yummy stuff I’ve cooked so far this year.
When I first got married, I was extremely unconfident in the kitchen. I don’t say incompetent, because given a decent recipe and enough space and time, I could make good food. However, I was nervous about every step, so I read each one at least twice, worked painfully slowly and only by the book, and I could not handle the imagined pressure and judgment of another person observing me while I tried to cook.
The first time I cooked dinner for Justin, early in our dating, I may have yelled at him to get out of the kitchen….
My Favorite Cheap Olive Oil
One day, we were down to the last tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. I usually try to buy more before we actually run out, because we use it almost daily to sauté and roast veggies, sous vide chicken, toss with noodles, etc. I was frustrated that I had to break into the fancy, expensive, infused olive oil—generally reserved for homemade caprese or salad dressing—for some everyday usage. The next time I went to Aldi, I bought five bottles of it: one of each kind they had. I was not going to run out again any time soon.
Then, one night after all the kids were in bed, I poured a little bit from each bottle into my cute tiny bowls, and got out my adorable teensy spoons, a loaf of Italian bread, and a pen and notebook. Justin and I sat down for a little snack and a little judging…
A History of Birthday Cakes
I think the first birthday cake I ever made, not from a box, was for Justin, the first summer we were dating. Back then, I said “I like baking,” but most of my baking was really simple. Boxed brownies and cakes, 4-ingredient meringue cookies, and occasional ventures into creative-baking-pinterestland.
So, taking on a homemade angel food cake was a little bit scary. Justin had told me that he only likes it from scratch, and “plain”: no icing and no flavorings other than vanilla. He also warned me that angel food cake requires some skill. What he left unsaid, but I sensed, was…
Pumpkin Roasting 2018
How seven pumpkins became 3.75 gallons of home-roasted pumpkin purée. (And how you can roast your own pumpkins, too!)
Last year, we made an irrevocable (but honestly, unsurprising) discovery: Homemade pumpkin purée really does taste better in pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread than what’s in the can from the store! I make a lot of pumpkin bread. Justin always makes his grandmother’s pumpkin chiffon pie for the holidays. Hence, we will likely be roasting our own pumpkins every fall for the rest of our lives….
Halloween Veggies
(Halloween update AND a quick recipe!)
Last night for Halloween, my kids’ enthusiasm got me into the spirit, so I put on a cat ears headband while taking them trick or treating. I’m pretty sure the last time I dressed up for Halloween was senior year of college, when my roommate was Rapunzel and I was her hair. Halloween’s just not my holiday.
The kids were, in Miryam’s words, “a monster Batman girl” and “the leftover cow” (leftover because we recycled her costume from 2 years ago for Luke).
Also uncharacteristically, I let them stay up late…