wednesday. bruschetta.

it seems that summer arrived late this year. right around august 12th or so. the garden is growing, but much of it seems behind and the cool evenings aren't making much of a promise for an indian summer. here's to hoping.


one awesome thing about summer finally showing up is our tomatoes finally decided to turn red. they've been green for weeks. WEEKS, i tell you!

which brings me to my favorite summer food: bruschetta! (this is from last night—trust me, it's worth all the chopping.)

light, easy, and full of summer veggies and herbs from the garden ... or the farmer's market if you don't have a garden! we've eaten it twice in the last week, and i already want it again.

ingredients.
5 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced (remove the seeds if you can. the tomatoes will last longer this way.)
1/2 C. chopped fresh basil
1/2 C. diced onion
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar reduction
1/4 C. olive oil
kosher salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 baguette, toasted and sliced (with olive oil and garlic on both sides is best!)

how to.
in a bowl, toss together the tomatoes, basil, onion, and garlic. mix in the balsamic reduction, olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper. now, put it in the fridge for 1-2 hours. the melding of flavors will make it taste like heaven.

serve on toasted bread slices.

wednesday.

you know it's going to be at least an OK day when you're not so swollen that your wedding ring actually fits for the first time in a month—sweetness!

8 weeks and counting ...

wednesday. addicting.

because i really needed another time-waster ... not. this one is way too fun. it's like searching through never-ending magazines about whatever you want—only in pictures, and you get to instantly add them to your page with all your faves and see how they all look together.



leave a comment if you want an invite to join!

caution: it's addictive.

wednesday. ben's.

my sister, the good auntie that she is, took taylor to get frozen yogurt the other day. and when i heard about it, i got jealous. so, yesterday, the husband and i took the kiddos up to ben's yogurt & deli to see what it was all about.

who knew we had such a gem just a few blocks away? the topping bar is totally awesome. and the flavors change every week—i had blueberry. um, yum. i refrained from putting sour patch kids on top though and went with fresh blueberries and kiwi from the fruit section of the topping bar (don't worry, they have a good old fashioned candy and cookies section, too.


other flavors this week include:
ALPINE VANILLA
CABLE CAR CHOCOLATE
APPLE PIE
VERRY BERRY SORBET
BLUEBERRY (No sugar added!)

once you pay for your yogurt though, i noticed a sign that said, 'outdoor seating.' and upon further inspection, i realized that they have the cutest patio area i may have ever seen. and they're open until 9 p.m., so you can sit out there in the evening ... soaking up all the cuteness. evening tea with the girls may have to switch to yogurt—they're open later than our local starbucks! i'm waiting for the day they start having live bands in the evening—it's the perfect setting and they'd be crazy not to.

wednesday. crazy.

for those who don't yet know ... early october 2011 we'll add another crazy kiddo to our family, making the third and final installment of our family. we are beyond excited and can't wait! we've been waiting a long time for this little bug to come along!

p.s bear with me as i create a new layout for the blog ... it's not cooperating as it should.

wednesday. knitting nell.

nell knits, like, a lot. you name it, she knits it. blankets for new babies, socks and hats and mittens for the children’s home, and scarves for everyone in her family.

i love this book and the fact that it introduces the idea of servicing others. it oozes generosity, and putting others before yourself. nell is super quiet which is a nice change from a lot of characters out there today ... especially when you have a little girl like i do that has a hard time branching out and meeting new friends sometimes.

super lovely illustrations and a super lovely story. only issue? taylor wants me to teach her to knit ... if only i knew more than one stitch!

wednesday. baked acorn squash.

somewhere around 30 acorn squash currently reside on my garden floor. at least half of them, ready to be picked. who knew six little tiny plants would turn into such craziness ...

with that, i present, the greatest recipe for squash ... EVER. Also, the easiest! (thank you ree drummond, aka the pioneer woman)!
ingredients.

2 whole acorn squash
kosher salt
1-2 T butter
2-3 T brown sugar
pure maple syrup

how to.

1. preheat oven to 400.
2. halve each squash, then scrape out the seeds and stringy icky stuff. place the halves, flesh side up, on a baking sheet and sprinkle each half with salt.
3. add a generous tablespoon of butter to the center of each squash followed by 2 to 3 heaping tablespoons of brown sugar. drizzle squash with maple syrup. um, i've started drooling by this point.
   
4. pour 2 cups water in the bottom of the baking pan.
5. cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. remove foil and bake an additional 30-45 minutes, or until squash is golden brown.
6. in the last 5 minutes of baking, turn on the broiler and allow tops to get a little more brown and the butter/sugar mixture to bubble.

my kids detest squash ... and they each ate half when i made this. although, i can't quite bring myself to qualify this as 'vegetable,' it makes an awesome dessert!

wednesday. the kite runner.

i've spent the last two days thinking about this book, and i finished the last page almost a week ago. i, like much of the population, hear and read about the middle east on almost a daily basis—and have, for much of my life. but this book, although fiction, turned on a switch that didn't exist for me before. the switch that truly opened my eyes to listening and paying attention.

it's so easy for us to sit here in our comfy lives, watching war after war unfold on the television screen; skimming the headlines day after day; another bombing, another city taken, shooting, killing ... the list goes on. i think desensitization is an understatement. the problem i found with my own opinion and my own outlook on what's happened and is happening is not recognizing that each time one of these atrocities occurs, someone loses a family member. all too often i don't think, what if it were my family? what if something like this happened to me?

the civilians in many of these cities and countries are just as afraid of what's going on as we are, and it's so easy to group them together. but they're the ones living it EVERY single day. they're the ones waking up to the noise. we wake up to headlines. war is such an ugly thing—but some of these people have been rooted in war for hundreds of years. i can't even imagine. i'm no expert, and don't know nearly enough to even feel like i'm able to give an educated opinion ... but i think that's part of the problem—most of us are that way, and many of us still form the opinion—without the knowledge behind it.

the kite runner isn't about war. well, it is, but it's not a history lesson. it's a story ... and SUCH a well-told story. one that i know i won't ever forget, and wouldn't want to. a story of two boys, a specifically horrible incident, and how it shaped them into who they are, haunted them, and eventually, a quarter of a century later, lands right in the face of one of them.

this book is a bestseller for a reason. read it. you won't regret it, or forget it.

wednesday. the pioneer woman.

i've had a bit of a farm theme going this week, i blame mother nature. the whirlwind of weather we've had the last couple weeks gave us some lovely weather, causing me to go into garden/cooking/cleaning/wanting to live on a farm overdrive ... and then she took it away. at the moment, i see raindrops and grey skies. yuck. mother nature needs a timeout.

but, i digress (fancy word, huh? you can thank fancy nancy), here's something to turn that frown upside-down! ree drummond. a.k.a. the pioneer woman. a.a.k.a. kitchen genius. a.a.a.k.a. my hero.

i suspect that hours of well-paid work-time are spent drooling over her website (don't ask me how i know this). cooking, home & garden, photography, homeschooling—i'm telling you, the woman does it all. here, spend some time getting to know her. she's hilarious.

her recipes are to die for. her cookbook is unbelievable. she's funny. she lives on a ranch. she has four kiddos. four! she refers to her husband as marlboro man. she says things like this when talking about butter: This butter was a little soft because I’d left a sack of groceries in my car for two hours because I have a rebellious streak and like to leave one or two sacks of groceries in the car when I get home. Issues.


check out her cookbook. people like her deserve to have us spend $15.00 on a cookbook she's put her life into. and yes, i'm rambling on and on like a love letter about this lady i don't even know (p.s. my mom got to meet her. jealous isn't a strong enough word.), but that's because she's awesome. and pretty much, i want to be her.

seriously. you will go to her website and look at the amazing recipes and her witty, goofy humor ... and you will want to be her, too. promise.

wednesday. wintergirls.

definitely a teen book. now, if you're like me, you like to read teen fiction. wintergirls moved me in a way that teen fiction has not—in a long time. not in the fun, funny, fast, and easy read—way. but in the thoughtful, philosophical, contemplate the way things are—way.

laurie halse anderson takes two young girls, body image, and a scary and deadly reality, and combines them into a beautifully written piece of literature. the reality is not pretty. it's very scary—especially being the mommy to my own little girl. but it's real. the eating disorder thoughts of this girl struggling her way through her disease is uncomfortable. but, it's real. it is unlike any book i have read regarding this topic, and it's a book that all mothers should read.

beautifully heartwrenching. and again, i reiterate—the voice and thoughts in this book are so very frighteningly real.

wednesday. 500 days of summer.

seriously. for any of you that haven't watched this movie yet—get it on your netflix queue, red box, blockbuster online, whatever! it's darling, and fun, and unconventional, and real, and so very, very, full of goodness.


zooey deschanel is one of my all-time favorites anyway, but this movie made me love her even more! her vintage-y, laid back, feminine style is utterly wonderful—mass props to the costume designer! (of which i read yesterday, they dressed her in blue, and no one else, to make her eyes dazzle endlessly throughout filming. gosh. it's got to be rough being her.) ... and yes, i might have a girl crush on her. how can you not?!

anyway, it's quirky, fun, and not your average 'romantic comedy.' and the soundtrack is good, too!