Enchanted Mama

Quiet::

My hands wrap around my favorite mug as i slowly sip in the morning. i breathe. i pause and look into the fire dancing near my toes. the house has quieted. the children tucked into school after a raucous, lively weekend home. the littlest playing nearby. happy with a pile of books. or a doll. or a fur laid on the floor. rolling on and off. on and off. i find solace in the quiet. the time when even my own thoughts slow. these times don't present often when in a house of six.  instead there are levels of quiet. the quiet where everyone plays something, happy, getting along. the quiet of a beach walk. the waves crashing and retreating. the quiet of a late night swim with the family. the quiet of an inspiring conversation with a friend. the quiet once the children are in bed and just the dishwasher hums. the quiet as my guy reads nearby. each of us flipping pages. the quiet that happens, occasionally, in the morning. it's hard to say which is my favorite. more and more i seek solace in these times.

i breathe. i notice. i find the grateful that weaves through the day. i start again. 

 

*linking up with Amanda here. 

 

Dragon Fire::

It's April and there's snow falling outside.  It started again yesterday and, more than likely, plans on continuing into tomorrow.  As grateful as I am for the moisture it seems to be wreaking havoc with my "Spring" ideas.  The "clean up and clear out" part of this season seems a distant thought.  Crawling into a warm, fur-lined nook by the fire with a good book sounds better.  Much better. 

As a distraction, on this otherwise non-spring day, I thought I'd give you an update on the fire cider we started a few months back.  The big daddy loved the whole idea of this recipe and the uses for this magical stuff.  Or was it the super spicy stuff he got to put in it?  He will never say, though I have my suspicions.   

This fire cider may very well be magic.  It seems to prevent and cure all.  This wet, cold, snowy season of Spring seems the perfect time to have our first batch ready to test.  Yes, we have started other batches as it takes a good four to eight weeks to brew.  This past weekend was the first sampling.  I'll admit, I was scared.  How spicy would it be?  Would I be able to take it and still convince my children to try it even if I'm hopping around the kitchen on fire?  What in the world would it taste like?  

Well, it's good!  Spicy. Vinegar-y. A burn in your throat kind of wonderful. Similar to Kombucha only with a kick.  We love it.  At least the two oldest and the two youngest do.  My five year old asked, "if he would be able to breathe fire afterwards"?  Um,(parental decision moment)....absolutely!  I felt like I was breathing fire, so why not?  We have since re-named it affectionately "Dragon Fire".  

If you are strong of heart and up for a challenge I suggest you put together some of this concoction.  There are many ways to make it your own. More spicy. Less spicy.  Amanda added honey, cayenne, and turmeric to different batches that they made. I suppose anything that sounds good to you would work...maybe not chocolate.  

But, then again.... 

 

 

Festive::

The smell of ginger cookies winds it's way into every corner of the house these days.  Our holiday cards have been received by loved ones.  The errands are done.  Late night knitting sessions by the fire, result in the last stitches.  The whir of the sewing machine echoes from the studio.  Equal parts wool, wood, and fabric are used to create gifts that get tucked beneath the tree.  The arrival of snow and colder temperatures bring wool scarves and snowsuits from closets. The lights twinkle all through the neighborhood.  Tomorrow is the children's last day of school and will include an assembly and lots of cookie eating.  

The excitement is building.  There are many, okay all of us, who can't wait for holiday break this year.  Time to play.  Time to honor.  Time to create and give.  Time to sled. Time to wear pajamas all day.  Time to work on puzzles while sipping cocoa. Time to be a family.  

Yes, I have to say, it's getting mighty festive over here... 

How are things in your world?  

 

 

Simple Joys::

My littlest guy reminded me of something this past weekend.  Something it seems I'd forgotten.  

Play dough.

Yes, simple homemade play dough.  The easiest thing in the world to make.  Simple Joys.  

I'd made play dough many times before this.  I even spoke of it here.  You would think I'd remember this bit of fun. 

So, my guy had been asking for new play dough, blueberry colored play dough, to be made since Saturday. I suspect the prompt came because the other yellow play dough we had was way past it's prime.  As in, completely caked and dried to every play dough utensil we own.  

My excuses were running wild.  I kept saying things like, "Okay honey, tomorrow."  Or "I'm not sure I have enough salt, I'll have to check."  Or  "Not now it's bedtime!"  

Truthfully, I'd forgotten how easy it is. really easy.  Yet, the happiness yield is GREAT!  

 

After lunch today he cornered me next to the apples and the onions.  He kept saying, "Mommy, PLEEEAASSSSEEEEEEEEE."  You know subtle hints.  If I'm honest, I may have considered another excuse to sling his way but the scene was too hilarious.

Since you're looking at the pictures you know how this story turns out.  Though the scene in the kitchen included an energetic four year old and his little sister the parrot jumping up and down yelling, "Mommy, please.  Mommy please.  Mommy, please!"  Pretty funny.    

Two hours they played.  Two hours.  They owned a bakery sold delicious treats like cookies and muffins and pasta and pizza.  I know because I sampled a few.  

At one point my little guy said, "Mommy you're fun."  Enough said little man.  High praise indeed!  I'll make you play dough anytime.  

 

Here is a tried and true recipe from my childhood...oh, and I doubled the recipe.

Homemade Play Dough::

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup salt

1 cups of water

2 tablespoons of cream of tartar

1 tablespoon of oil

Food coloring

Essential oil...we used lavender.

Put the top five ingredients in a pot on the stove on medium heat.  Stir until it forms into a ball.  Throw it onto the counter and add the coloring and essential oil.  I kneaded the dough a bit before handing it off to the little ones.  They loved kneading the warm dough that smelled of lavender. yum.  

Then, play for hours.  

Store in an airtight container when finished playing otherwise you end up with a hard ball of dough and that's not fun to play with at all.    

 

Here's to another week.  Fall must be on it's way right?  It simply must be.  It is October 1st for goodness sake.    

What are you working on today?  

 

 

 

It was messy::

Some of you may need to brace yourself for the whole of this post.  Others may need to avert your eyes as it's going to get quite messy from here on out.  

It's summer right?  It's supposed to be fun?  There's the list we started and all.  

The list is responsible for this next little piece.  I believe I could blame the list, only I did help make the list, so I'm sure that reasoning won't hold much water if you know what I mean.

It began in a simple way.  The big daddy received a pasta maker for his birthday in June.  He's been experimenting on us.  Filling us with all types of different shaped delicious pasta.  Thank goodness it's healthy right?  

 

Our adventure started out like this.  

Very civilized.  Plates and everything.  A lovely salad filled with all things farmer's market.  All of us seated outside.  The children kept bee-lining for the silverware drawer because "someone" had forgotten the silverware.  The oldest was tipped off to our evil plan when we asked everyone to throw on a swim suit before dinner.  Because lets face it who wants to try and get this mess about to happen out of clothing?  I don't!  

Suits doned we began.  Giggles happened as the big daddy served plates of homemade pasta and meatballs with his hands.  They looked around at me with questioning looks like "um, mommy did you see what daddy just did".  I stifled a giggle.  Four inquiring eyes widened as he did it again.  They hadn't imagined it.  

The children stared at both of us with their plates in front of them.  "Enjoy!" we said in stereo.   

Jaws dropped. 

 

It took them a little while to really dig in.  They kept tentatively scooping pasta up looking in our direction like we must be joking.  Secret smiles exchanged across the table to one another.  

Our goal for the meal other than "no utensils, just for fun, the messiest meal we could think of" was to have no "no's" at the table.  No "no's".  This was a challenge for me it seems.  It was on the tip of my tongue a few more times than I would like to admit.  But, I did it.  You know what?  They soaked it up.  

Then, when they realized we were in fact serious about this whole thing well...

 

...then they really got going.  Yes, this will scare many of you I'm sure.  It may have scared me when posting these pictures if I hadn't heard the echo of their laughter that night.  Amazing.  

How simple.  How fun. What a mess.  But, in the end...we will always remember that night.  

 

The suits?  Well, that was for the wash up afterwards.  Thank goodness it was a warm day.  Seriously, when they had finished with rubbing sauce on themselves, their hair, and one another it REQUIRED a large sponge, a bowl of soapy water and the hose!  

More giggles and wild screams.  More "did you see when I wrapped that pasta around my head?"  Or "did you see his legs with the sauce rubbed all over them?"  

Good stuff I tell you.  

Now, in no way am I saying you should do this.  It's not for the faint of heart.  It did require some serious hose spraying of the porch, and a few of the suits might very well be stained forever.  

But, I haven't laughed that hard for awhile.  They can't stop talking about it.  In the end, the mess is cleaned up and we all have the memory to tuck into our Summer Fun 2012 and that's pretty worth it in my book.  

You?  

 

 

 

Spinach, Carrots, and Kale...oh my::

There's been some juicing going on around here lately.

Pounds of carrots. Bunches of kale, chard and dandelion greens. Bushels of apples. Stalks of celery.  Cucumbers by the handfuls.  No vegetable was safe in our kitchen for about ten days.  

It just seemed the right thing to do after arriving home from my trip.  Time to let the body rest and recharge and gather up all the delicious vitamins and minerals.  

And, as glad as I was to eat something, as in chew something....I kinda miss the juice.  

So this morning you will find me gathering, washing and cutting up some delicious produce.  It makes me officially feel ready for the farmers market to begin now that I know what to do with all that kale.  

Do you juice?  Do you like it?  Do you have any great recipes you can share?  

 

Dinner::

Have I mentioned how grateful I am that the big daddy LOVES to cook?  

Well, I am.  Big time.  Because there are literally thirty things I would rather be doing than that.  So it works for our family.  

What I love most about this delish dinner he made, is that we ate one last night and the other? Well, it's for dinner another night.  

Don't you love that.  Two meals for one.  Now that's my kind of cooking.  

The recipe is here from the ever talented Barefoot Contessa.   

Let me know if you try it.  It's worth making. 

At least I can say that after just enjoying it immensely. 

 

For the love of ginger::

This weekend we welcomed a few friends over for dinner.  They are expecting a baby in a few months and we happen to have a few baby things to share.  So, it seemed the perfect opportunity to have them to dine and dessert with us.  

This Ginger Cake recipe was given to me by a friend long ago.  She made it for a baby blessing for my youngest boy.  It was delicious.  Nauseous as I was, the ginger in this cake was a life saver.  Since then we have had it a handful of times and every time I wonder why I don't make it more often.

I thought of you, my friends, and knew you would love it.  Remember the fresh whipped cream on top, it's so worth the extra time.  oh man.  

Hope you enjoy it!

 

Gingerbread and Ginger Cake ---

This recipe makes enough for our family of six to enjoy with a bit left for the next day. If you are expecting company, as I was this weekend, I would suggest you double the recipe.  

1/2 cup Butter

3/4 cup Sugar (add 4 more TBSP for ginger cake)

1 Egg

1/2 cup Molasses (sweet un-sulphured)

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup White All purpose Flour

1/2 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 TBSP Ground Ginger

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. Ground Cloves

1 cup Boiling Water

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter and lightly flour a 9 x 11 baking dish or the dish of your choice...I used a bundt pan.  Baking time may vary depending on the pan.  

Mix the butter and sugar until creamy. 

Add egg and molasses and mix well. 

Sift dry ingredients and mix with previous ingredients until well blended.  

Stir in boiling water, carefully, and then pour quickly into a baking dish.  

Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  

Serve with fresh whipped cream (Heavy Whipping Cream + A TBSP of sugar + eager children to use the hand whisk = yum!).  

Then, ENJOY!

 

Let's hear it for baked goods on a Monday morning...hip, hip, hooray!!!

 

So Easy::

That's what this recipe was supposed to be.  Easy.  

I tried.  I really did.

I didn't think it was possible to mess up---melt chocolate, pour, spread, etc.  

Yet, I did.  

With the three youngest children banging around the kitchen and the clock showing--late afternoon I should have seen that train coming from a mile away.

I didn't.  

It all started on twitter.  Mentions here and there about peppermint bark.  Small comments.  Others trying it.  

I had to have some-and-quick.  I would whip up a batch or two, or four, and give them as gifts and take them to see family and, and, and....

I pulled out the necessary pans.  The chocolate and peppermint. I loved the idea of this so much because we could use dark chocolate and the white chocolate without all the gross stuff.  Peppermint without the dyes and artificial flavoring.  These were going to be delicious.  

Then dodging two of the three children I filled the double boiler with chocolate and went to work.  I spread the melted chocolate on the pan and only when I had finished this did I remember that I was supposed to add the cream and peppermint extract to the dark chocolate.  

"Oh well, what's the difference?"  I thought.  

I proceeded to pour these items into the white chocolate and melt them together.  All was going well I assumed.  Until the white chocolate turned yellow.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't supposed to do that.  

More rambunctious children and now the littlest decided she wanted extra attention and I have a boiling mess of yellow chocolate fit for a laboratory.  

I pick up my girl poured the second batch of chocolate one-handed onto the cookie sheets.  Hoping for the best because really I had no other choice, and spread it out evenly-ish then dropped some peppermint on and shoved the whole thing into the fridge.  

I'll tell you that hot liquid chocolate may not be the best time to have the children bounding around the stove.  Nope.  It is not.  

Most of the time I have one to four children around whenever crafting or baking.  It just seems to work that way.  Unless they are in bed, they sense mama is up to something and they are magnetically drawn to me and whatever I'm doing.  Usually, I'm prepared for this.  This day, I was not.  

I tossed the dishes in the sink and sat down frustrated.  That was supposed to be easy.  Easy.  (The very word that I will now be on the lookout for---tricky trickster that it is).  No one else mentioned any difficulty.  Theirs came out perfectly.  And, delicious.      

An hour later we took a chance and tried some after dinner.  The surprise was that it tasted pretty good.  Almost edible.    The problem began two minutes later when it hit the air and it all turned gooey on top.  GOOEY.  That is no exaggeration.  

In fact, if you look at the above photo again I think you will see it.  

See?  

My family ate it of course.  We thought the "peppermint mess", as I have delightfully re-named it, could be stirred into some ice cream and wouldn't that be good?  If not a-bit-too-sweet.   

 

Note to Self::

*One might need to read the recipe, regardless of how easy it seems, at least the first time. 

*Working with Hot Liquid Chocolate may be better when the children are in school. Or the little one is napping.  Or it's not late afternoon when everyone here seems inherently grumpy.  Yeah, I'm talking to you mama.   

* Try this recipe again, because who knows, next time it might work.  

 

Any recipe mishaps for you this season? 

 

Soup Night::

If there's one thing I love about Fall it's the pots of soup set to simmer on the stove.  Smells that waft throughout the house.  Meals that can be prepared and set to warm all afternoon.  

The next best thing is friends over to huddle together around the fire with bowls of soup in our hands.

A few weeks back we decided to do just that.  Three basic soups were whipped up by the big daddy and this mama.  Different types of condiments and add ins made for some serious decisions to be made.  Custom soups abounded.  Laughs and fake elbow jabs were seen as the most precious items were bartered over.  Fun, I tell you.     

Delicious as well, if I can say so myself.  The real treat for us, to see so many head back for seconds.

note to self...Do this again, soon!   

 

Then, peach galettes for dessert.  I've spoken of them before...but really do we get tired of seeing them?  Ummm, I don't.  

Anything delectable cooking up in your kitchen?