Rockie Road Brownies

While I claim to be a super-healthy eater, the fact is I've got a serious sweet tooth. I eat something desserty every day. But these brownies? They are not an everyday dessert. They are so rich, so ridiculously decadent, that they are a once-every-couple-of-years dessert. Or, as was the case this past Saturday, a "I'm hormonal and hated today" dessert.

Rockie Road Brownies
Serves 12

1/2 c. butter
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 c. flour
3/4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. vanilla

Topping:
1/2 c. chopped peanuts
1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2/ c. mini marshmallows

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9" square pan.
2. In a sauce pan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat. Set aside to cool.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.
4. Beat eggs until light; add sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until mixture is thick. Add vanilla.
5. Gradually add chocolate mixture to eggs, then stir in dry ingredients.
6. Spread mixture evenly in the buttered pan, and bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until the edges pull away from the side of the pan.
7. Remove the brownies from the oven and sprinkle peanuts, chocolate chips, and marshmallows over the top. Bake 8 - 10 minutes more until marshmallows are lightly browned (if you like your marshmallows on the darker side, try turning on the broiler for the last minute or so).

Enjoy!

CSA Supper: Zucchini & Tomato Pie

For the last month our kitchen has been overrun with tomatoes and zucchini. I've frozen I don't know how many loaves of zucchini bread, and we've canned at least three dozen jars of tomatoes, pasta sauce, etc. But those darned zucchinis and tomatoes just keep coming via our weekly farm share and our own garden. In the spirit of 'waste not, want not', I'm trying my best to use them up...but my enthusiasm and creativity are waning.

This zucchini and tomato pie is always my end-of-summer savior. It's dead easy (as Jamie O. would say) and super-fast to throw together. Plus, it always yields leftovers. I even baked this one over the weekend, then just reheated it (which was extra nice since I've been waist-deep in baby food and laundry for the last three days...CANNOT get caught up on either). Throw in a simple salad and frosty beer, and my day just got a whole lot better.

Zucchini and Tomato Pie
Serves 6

2 cups zucchini, diced
1 cup tomato, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 organic baking mix (or Bisquick)
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup Parmesan
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees; grease a 10" pie plate.
2. Spread diced zucchini, tomato, and onion in the bottom of the pie plate.
   
3. Beat remaining ingredients until smooth, then pour into pie plate.
4. Bake until knife comes out clean (about 30 minutes), then remove from oven and top pie with the two cheeses.
   
5. Turn on the broiler; place pie under the broiler until cheese is melted and golden brown.
6. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

(Recipe adapted from an ancient Bisquick recipe book that my mom probably pulled out of the Good Housekeeping back in the '80s. If you can get your hands on one, it's a treasure trove of deliciousness!)

Whiskey and Sage Cream Sauce

Usually this time of year we head to our favorite restaurant, Hazelnut Kitchen, for their sublime butternut squash ravioli…but, you know, the kiddos make it a wee bit harder to just pop out to dinner. My taste buds, however, don’t understand that. They sense fall in the air, and they want creamy/buttery/squashy/sagey. And they want it RIGHT NOW. So that leaves me with one choice: Make the ravioli at home.

But here’s the problem…dough terrifies me. I’ve failed miserably at all previous dough-making attempts. I know every fall magazine/cooking show for the last several years has had a piece on how e-a-s-y it is to make your own squash ravioli, but the thought strikes mortal fear into my heart. And using wonton wrappers? Something about that just seems not right.

So what’s a squash-craving, dough-fearing girl like me to do? Buy frozen butternut squash ravioli and dress it up with an amazing sauce, that’s what. Thank you, Rosetti ravioli for saving me from another dough-FAIL-induced meltdown.

Whiskey and Sage Cream Sauce

2 tablespoons of butter

1 medium onion, finely diced

½ teaspoon dried sage (I wanted to use fresh, but I forgot it and no way was I running back to Wegmans on a Sunday afternoon!)

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

1 cup organic half-and-half

1 teaspoon whiskey (I used Maker’s Mark)

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons toasted, chopped pecans

1. Melt butter in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add diced onions, a pinch of s&p, then cover to let onions sweat about 3 minutes. Uncover, reduce heat to medium-low and sautee until onions are lightly caramelized (about 10 minutes).
2. While onions are caramelizing, add pecans to a skillet over low heat. Toast the nuts until they are browned and fragrant (about 5 minutes…watch them because they will go from perfect to burned very quickly).
3. Add sage and garlic powder to caramelized onions. Let cook about 2 minutes until spices are incorporated into onion mixture.
4. Stir in the whisky and half-and-half. Add another pinch of s&p. Bring to a slow simmer, then let cook about 10 minutes or until sauce is slightly thickened and coats the back of a spoon.
5. Add the cooked ravioli to the sauce and toss.
6. Sprinkle ravioli with toasted pecans (and some parmesan shavings if you’re so inclined…we didn’t think it was needed) to serve.

Finger Foods

For the last month or so, the lads are wanting to feed themselves more and more, which is so sweet, but it makes it harder to ensure they are getting balanced, full meals. I liked the consistency of seeing an empty bowl at the end of every mealtime versus a semi-empty tray that gives no indication whether the food went into their tummies or Zelda's.

I've been trying to think out of the box about fingers foods, so I thought I'd share some of our current favorites (FYI...we're still having super porridge for breakfast and a yogurt-based lunch, so these items are used as add-ons, snacks, or sometimes even dinner):

• Pieces of Applegate Farms yogurt cheese slices or Wegman's/Applegate Farms organic chicken and turkey
• Roasted broccoli (1 bag frozen organic broccoli florets, tossed with 1 T. sunflower oil and pinch of sea salt and pepper, roasted at 425 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until really fork-tender)
• Ricotta spelt pancakes and pumpkin spelt waffles
  
• Dollops of Dr. Weil's white bean spread (I halve the amount of salt and use dried basil instead of pesto)
• Raisins or diced dried apricots
• Toasted Ezekiel bread with a light schmear of almond butter
  
• Carrot cream cheese sandwiches (Shred 3 medium carrots, then blend with one 8 oz package of organic cream cheese, 1/2 cup chopped golden raisins, and 2 T. sprouted sunflower seeds)
• Diced tomato, peaches, plum, kiwi, sweet potato, or sliced grapes or berries
• Hard-boiled egg (chopped)
  
• GoRaw Live Pumpkin bar (finely chopped)
  
• Wild Wood SpouTofu veggie burger
• And, of course, lots and lots Happy Baby puffs, munchies and MumMums (when in doubt, they are always a hit, right?)
  

Super Porridge

Starting solids was one part of parenting that I was the most excited/nervous about. Food is such a central part of our lives that I wanted give the boys an introduction that would make them love mealtimes as much as S and I do. Plus I had all this guilt about my low milk supply/milk drying up at 5 months/blah, blah, blah that I wanted to start G and Q off with as diverse a diet as possible to help make up for the nutrition (I felt) they weren't getting from me.

Enter Super Baby Food. My bff M recommended I check it out, and since her word is always gospel for me, I immediately ran out to buy it. The concept behind the book is feeding your baby whole, natural, homemade foods from the start to help maximize their nutritional intake and use food to build a robust immune system. The basis of the diet is a whole grain cereal, dubbed 'super porridge'. (By the way, I love the phrase 'super porridge'. It takes something so mundane--hot cereal--and elevates it. It's not just 'oatmeal' or 'Cream of Wheat' any longer; it's SUPER PORRIDGE. Who doesn't want to eat something that sounds like the breakfast of a superhero?)

But I'll admit it: I was a bit apprehensive about embarking on milling and mixing my own grains. I kept putting it off, opting instead to feed the boys a mix of Earth's Best rice and Happy Baby oatmeal cereals until they were 7 months old. And then one day I intrepidly entered the bulk foods at Wegmans and starting scooping organic grains and seeds into bags.

I brought them home convinced that my pathetic little blender would never be able to grind them up; but to my amazement, it whizzed them up with aplomb. "Take that!" the blender seemed to growl as it dug into the steel cut oats.

Less then 10 minutes later, I had a 1/2 gallon jar full of gorgeous, nutritious baby cereal. But the question remained: would G and Q actually eat it...?

The next morning I nervously cooked up my first batch, mixing in some nutritional yeast and a little pureed sweet potato as the book suggested. I apprehensively sat before G (he always eats first...no reason why) and very warily approached his lips with the porridge. He opened his sweet little mouth, closed his lips around the spoon, and his eyes widened. "MMMMMmmmmmmm! MMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmm!!!" He liked it! He really liked it! And Q liked it, too!

In fact, S and I even liked it. We're now a family of super porridge devotees. The boys eat it (almost) every morning, while S and I have it a few days a week. It's incredibly versatile, filling, and easy. I love that I can cook a big batch and just reheat individual portions*, which means each family member can customize their cereal with the toppings they like best. Probably the most super thing about it? It's ridiculously cheap. I fill that enormous 1/2 gallon jar for approximately the same cost as one 7 oz. can of Happy Baby cereal (I've included some cost information below based on what I pay for organic bulk grains at Wegmans), and it lasts almost twice as long as store-bought cereal.

G/Q's Favorite Super Porridge**
1/2 lb ground steel cut oats, $1.00
1/2 lb pearled barley, $1.25
1/2 lb mulled millet, $1.21
1/3 lb oat bran, $.66
Total: $4.12

Also:
1/2 lb nutritional yeast, $3.03
1/4 lb pumpkin seeds, $1.20
1/4 lb flax seeds, $.57

Directions:

1. Using a blender, grind each grain separately using the 'Grind' or 'Mill' setting. For babies just beginning cereal, grind grain(s) until they are a soft, powdery texture; for more advanced babies, grind just until grains reach a coarse, sandy texture (as seen in the photo above).
2. After each grain is ground, pour into a mixing bowl. Once all grains have been added, add the oat bran and stir until well mixed. Pour the mixture into an air-tight container (preferably glass) and store in a cool, dark location since bugs love organic grains (I keep mine in the fridge).
3. Bring 1 cup of water to boil in a medium saucepan. Slowly whisk in 1/3 cup of porridge mixture. Reduce heat to medium low, stirring often and cooking porridge for 10 minutes.***
4. For beginning eaters, serve cereal plain or with one food serving and a 1/4 teaspoon of nutritional yeast. For advanced eaters, combine one fruit serving and one vegetable serving along with a 1/2 teaspoon of nutritional yeast and some ground seeds. Every other day, serve super porridge with a hard-boiled egg yolk.


*I reheat the porridge in the microwave for about 45 seconds.
**Once you have the grinding/cooking technique down, it's really easy to vary your porridge. For example, I've also made one with brown rice, lentils and quinoa. For beginning eaters, you'll want to stick with just one grain, most likely brown rice or oatmeal.
***This was the quantity I made when the boys were 7 months old and were eating a tablespoon or two of cereal per morning. This batch lasted 3 or 4 days in the fridge. I now double this amount, since they each eat 1/4 cup per morning and it still lasts 3 or 4 days.

CSA Supper: Swiss Chard with Garbanzo Beans and Tomatoes

It's around this point every summer where my enthusiasm for the copious amount of greens we get each week in our farm share starts to wane. Those giant bags of kale and chard become less of a blessing and more of a curse. I feel obligated to take them, but the idea of eating them braised, steamed, tossed with a vinaigrette, etc., honestly makes me gag a little. It's too much of a good thing, if you will.

That's why last week I did a little nosing around on the 'nets for some inspiration to get me through the next 12 weeks of farm pick-ups. I came across this recipe on AllRecipes.com and loved the sound of it because I'm trying more and more to make dinners that all four of us can eat. G and Q love chard and chick peas, so with a little alteration, this meal was perfect!

I think this recipe was intended as a side dish, but to make it a complete dinner, I increased the amount of beans and served ours over Wegmans Golden Jewel Blend, a mix of Israeli couscous, mini-garbanzo beans, orzo, and red quinoa. The lads had their's with sprouted white quinoa. We all had grilled asparagus on the side. (Oh yeah...and S and I had a glass of Malbec rose.)

Swiss Chard with Garbanzo Beans and Tomatoes
serves 4 (or 2 adults and 2 babies*, with some leftover for the hubby's lunch the next day!)

2 T. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 16 oz. can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 large bunch of Swiss chard, cleaned and sliced into ribbons
1 large tomato, sliced
1/2 lemon, juiced
salt & pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cook until translucent, approximately 5 minutes.
3. Pour in the garbanzo beans and season with salt and pepper.
4. Layer the chard ribbons over the bean and onion mixture, top with the tomato slices, and season with more salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low, then cover the pan, cooking until the chard has wilted.
5. Once the chard has wilted, juice the lemon over the top. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Baby version:
Once the chard has wilted, remove 1 cup of the chard/bean/onion mixture from the pan and transfer it into a food processor or food mill. Add one tomato slice. Puree to the consistency to which your baby is comfortable. I decided to leave out the lemon juice since this was our first experience with tomato (two new foods at once seemed risky). I was also pretty light on the s&p until I removed the babies' portion.

*We follow the Super Baby Food diet, which says it's safe to eat cooked onion, greens and beans at 9 months and tomato and citrus at 12 months.

Ricotta Spelt Pancakes

Sunday morning was the last day of our first family vacation (we were technically home at that point), and even though we often make a big breakfast on Sunday mornings (like this one), I decided I wanted to do something extra special. Try something new. Most importantly, I wanted G and Q to be able to eat whatever I made. I looked for some inspiration online and decided to make ricotta pancakes. To make them baby-friendly, I opted to use spelt flour instead of all-purpose.

The result? The lightest, moistest, most flavorful pancakes ever. To gussy them up for S and me, I topped them with a homemade lemon thyme syrup and blackberries from our bushes. The lads just had them plain, but loved them any way. Q scarfed two in two minutes flat (mmmm-mmmming the entire time, as he is wont to do (that kid is a serious foodie already!)) and would have eaten more if we hadn't already polished them off!

Ricotta Spelt Pancakes, aka Babies' 1st Pancakes
serves 4 (or, in our case, 2 piggish adults and 2 babies)

1 cup organic whole milk ricotta
1/2 cup water (you could use milk to make them richer, but I used water since the lads haven't had milk yet)
2 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp raw sugar
1 tsp sunflower oil

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, water and egg yolks. Add the flour, baking powder, and sugar, stirring to make a thick batter.
2. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are white and foamy, but still loose. Gently fold the beaten whites into the batter. (Note: you could easily skip this step if you aren't yet ready to give your baby egg whites. The result would simply be a denser, less fluffy pancake.)
3. Heat the oil in a skillet or large frying pan over medium heat. Using a tablespoon, drop batter onto the hot pan. Cook pancakes approximately 2 minutes per side, or until they are a golden brown. I ended up getting about 24 half-dollar size pancakes (yep...we ate them all!!!).

Lemon Thyme Syrup

1 cup water
1 cup raw sugar
5 sprigs of thyme
1 lemon, zested

1. Add water, sugar, whole thyme sprigs, and zest of the lemon to a small sauce pan over medium low heat.
2. Bring mixture to a slow boil, just until sugar is melted.
3. Remove from heat and let cool. Remove thyme and strain lemon zest (if you'd like--I left the zest in because I think it looks pretty!).

Pasta Salad Nicoise

It's always during those few days leading up to doing some major food shopping when your true culinary mettle is tested. There's nothing fresh...just a few limp leaves of lettuce and a wrinkly apple staring out of the crisper drawer. Your pantry is a hodgepodge of random ingredients (pasta shaped like Christmas stockings? Where did that come from?) I love those days. Some of my best recipes have come to me during those times (like this one). But, you know, I also like to watch Chopped and mentally play along (what would I make out of calamari, prickly pear, chocolate syrup and Wasa toasts?). I'm crazy like that.

During such a time this Pasta Salad Nicoise was born. It was a particularly dry spell for our kitchen because I was in the middle of giving myself about 20 shots of fertility drugs each day, which meant grocery shopping was a super low priority. That said, I was also preparing my body for the embryos that would be transferred in a few weeks and eating lots of protein, lots of Omegas, lots of greens, blah, blah blah...but let's be honest, the hormones were making me crave lots of CARBS. This salad fit the bill on many levels, so we ate it frequently over those few weeks (while watching copious hours of Golden Girls to distract ourselves!). And hey--two out of our three transferred embryos took, so who's to say there isn't some secret fertility juju in it...eat it at your own risk!

Pasta Salad Nicoise, serves 4
1/2 lb pasta (I think Barilla gemelli or mezze penne work best for this, but you use the shape you like best)
1 can tuna in water, drained
2 hard boiled eggs
1/3 bag (about 1 cup) frozen, shelled edamame (I know haricot vert are traditional for this salad, but I think the size and firmness of the edamame holds up much better next to the pasta while keeping a similar flavor profile--and majorly upping the protein)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 heaping teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 tsp celery seed
2 dozen kalamata olives
s&p to taste
baby spinach

1. Put eggs on to boil, starting them in cool water. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes, then remove the eggs from heat and let them sit for another 5 minutes. Pour off hot water and recover the eggs with cold water, letting them sit until you are ready to mix them into the salad.
2. Cook pasta to specifications on the box, adding edamame to the cooking pasta for the last 3 minutes.
3. Drain pasta and edamame, then pour into a large bowl. While the pasta is still warm, add the tuna, mayo, dijon, celery seed, and salt and pepper. Mix and adjust ingredients as needed or to your taste (I have a dijon problem, so I actually add more like 2 teaspoons instead of the 1 stated above).
4. Peel and roughly chop eggs. Mix them into the pasta.
5. To serve, place pasta salad on a bed of baby spinach and top with 1/2 dozen kalamata olives. A big hunk of French bread and glass of Pinot Noir can't hurt either.

Bon appetite!

Have you tried...pumpkin seed oil?

We eat a lot of roasted squash around here in the fall (like at least twice a week). Butternut, acorn, delicata, sweet dumpling...we love them all. Usually I simply roast the squashes with olive oil and s&p, but after reading about pumpkin seed oil, I picked some up a few months ago, and it's been my roasting oil of choice since then.

It definitely has a nuttier, richer flavor than olive oil, but doesn't overwhelm an ingredient as light as delicata. I even used it to roast golden beets, adding a little curry powder as well. The result was a super nutty, almost meat-y tasting beet that I added to a curry dish, then later put on top of a salad.

Last night we had one of our favorite meals: roasted sweet dumpling squash, stuffed with a wild rice pilaf filled with celery, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, dried cranberries, apples, and walnuts (normally it would also have onions, but since they don't seem to agree with the twins, I can't eat them until I'm done nursing), with a side of wilted kale dressed in a maple dijon vinaigrette. The best part? The glass of Sauvignon Blanc we drank to wash it all down!

DC...I'm missing you!

For the last four years I've spent this week in DC for work meetings. Other than my annual travel to Chicago in August (hello fall shopping on Michigan Ave.!!!), DC has always been my favorite trip.

But this year, due to the twins and the fact that I'm not returning to work, I'm here in Ithaca, in a funk, missing DC terribly. I've been trying to snap out of it all week, but the reality is, I just really want to be in our nation's capital.

Here are some things I'm missing most:

• Dinner at Firefly (the picture above is from two years ago when some really good friends were living in DC). I discovered this little gem four years ago and have gone back every visit since. The last couple of years, my trip has been timed perfectly with their special of sauteed morel mushrooms and fiddlehead ferns, which is--hands down--one of the best things I've ever eaten. That said, the truffle fries also rock.
• Shopping at Secondi and Carbon...especially Carbon. This store has the best selection of really awesome, yet really comfortable shoes. And what's really cool is that even though I only go in there once a year, the owner totally remembers me and my previous purchases! Now that's some customer service, eh?
• Pizza at Sette Oseteria. I order the same thing every time: Rucola e Finnochio (a salad of arugula and shaved fennel with pecorino and a lemon vinaigrette) and the Margherita Classica. The crust on this pizza is just magnificent...so thin and crispy and flavorful. Plus, after being inside all winter, going to Sette is usually one of my first chances at dining al fresco. Considering that it's been in the 40s here all week, enjoying a pizza outside in Dupont Circle sounds fabulous!
  
• Breakfast at Teasim. Homemade granola, fresh squeezed o.j., and a cup of really strong, really fragrant Earl Grey...what's not to love?
• Pollystyle baked goods. They sell these goodies at Teaism, and I always head there on my first day to buy a bag of the rice crispie treats with dried cherries and apricots to eat during the week (okay, okay...I confess...last year they were gone by day 2), then on my last day buy another bag to bring home.
• Strolling through the National Zoo. The zoo is right up the street from where my meetings are held, and I always have one afternoon with a few hours to kill, so I brave the wild packs of elementary school kids and walk through the zoo. The pandas are always a treat (of course!), but my real favorites are the giant South American guinea pigs.
• A kickass room at the Omni Shoreham. The first two years I traveled to DC, I stayed at the Carlyle Suites, which was amazing, but the cab rides to my meetings were really pricey, so the last two years I've stayed at the Omni. Somehow I've lucked out both years and gotten really awesome rooms. Plus we are members of the Omni "select members" thing, so I get free breakfast delivered to my room every morning, which for some reason tickles me to no end.
• A disgusting burrito lunch at Chipotle. We don't have Chipotle here; we only have Moe's, which is soooooo not the same thing (in my opinion). I'm really not one for fast food, but there's something about Chipotle I cannot resist.
  

I hope you can see now why I'm so miserable. I mean the work part of the trip is always great, and I'm missing that, along with the friends I always see, but the food...and shopping...and FOOD is really what I'm really longing for.

Christen...Elle...E--please go shop and eat A LOT this week for me, won't you?

Ithaca Farmer's Market

Saturday morning was absolutely gorgeous here, and we were up and out of the house before 9 a.m., going to our favorite nursery to buy tomato and pepper plants, stopping at our local Tractor Supply Co. to see the baby chicks and ducklings (it was hard to leave there without one!), running bathroom renovation errands, and hitting the Ithaca Farmer's Market. It was a great morning. I picked up two gorgeous bags of baby salad mix, French breakfast radishes (my favorite!!!), and--most importantly--we ate.

I had my favorite sampler platter from Macro Mamas, which is a different mish-mash each week of a hearty grain, beans, and various cooked and raw veg all topped with a salad and this amazing poppyseed dressing they make (I'd kill for that recipe...that's how good it is!). It's a ridiculous amount of food (and this is the SMALL!!!). Seth always ends up getting at least half, but while he waits...

...he scarfs down one of the most incredible egg rolls ever: crispy, but not greasy, with a filling that's tender-crisp, incredible homemade duck sauce and Chinese mustard to dip in, HUGE, and only $2.

Come visit me...we'll go to the market!

p.s. Note to self: new camera + unshowered, make-up free Saturday morning errands = a scary combo! HA!

Best. OJ. Ever.

Keep your eye out for orange juice from Natalie's Orchid Island Juice Company. It's 100% fresh squeezed o.j. That's it. Nothing else. It's not even pasteurized.

I previously thought the Odwalla o.j. was good, but honestly I have never tasted anything like this juice. It's sweet--but not too sweet. It's tangy--but not too tangy. It's got just the perfect amount of pulp. If it weren't a wee bit on the pricey-side, I could easily drink gallons of it every day (I have a bit of an orange juice problem, can you tell?).

My Vegetarian Pregnancy

One of the really crazy things that happened in my time away from the blog was that after 17.5 years of being a vegetarian, I tried (emphasis on the word tried) to start eating meat again. My decision to do so did not come easily. Although it was partially fueled by fear of the insane amount of protein you need each day when you're having twins (100g!!!) and also pressure from people who kept telling me I'd simply have to eat meat to have safe, healthy babies, I feel like I know enough about diet and nutrition that I really came to the conclusion on my own that it was the right thing to do. And what finally spurred me on was that my body reached this point where I was just so starving from being so sick that I felt like I needed something substantial to fill me up, and meat seemed like the best solution.

The first thing I ate was a meal my mom used to make me as a little girl when I was recovering from the stomach flu or some such ailment. It's a really simple dish of stewing beef (we used grass fed organic beef, of course!), egg noodles and beef broth. Taking the first bite was so gut-wrenching and scary! I mean, after such long time I had NO idea what real meat tasted like, what the texture would be, and morally it was just so, so hard. But frankly, the very worst part was that the beef actually tasted really, really good, and it did provide me some momentary relief from the nausea and the hunger.

But from there it was all downhill. I tried turkey bacon (threw it up), chicken cacciatore (ew--don't even get me started), my mom's ribs (delicious, but they still completely grossed me out), my bff's chicken salad (again, super delicious, but the chicken cacciatore had already done me in for being able to enjoy chicken), a slice of pizza topped with proscuitto (the one meat I always regretted not being able to try was disappointingly chewy, fatty, and tasteless). Trying to eat meat and think about eating meat became this vicious cycle that was making me even more sick. Every day I would think, "I should eat meat today!" I would try to force myself to find something that would sound good and then I wouldn't be able to eat anything, which only made me sicker.

So I gave up eating meat again--almost before I had really started. I decided that getting back to a place where I was eating something was way more important than eating meat and that ultimately I needed to stop listening to outside opinions and do what was right for me and my babies. I started doing research online about vegetarian pregnancies, bought the book Your Vegetarian Pregnancy, and met with a veggie friend who is a nutritionist who helped me put together a plan to reach 100g of protein per day without eating meat. So far, so good. Yesterday I topped out at around 90g of protein, and it was actually pretty easy!

Sorry this was such a long post...it just feels like we have a lot to catch up on!

Tips for Staying Well this Winter, Part I

Something that I'm very passionate about but haven't really focused on here on the blog is natural health care. For as long as I can remember I've hated taking any kind of medicine, but spent many years being forced to take one round of antibiotics after another due to chronic sinus and allergy problems. I finally got fed up with that vicious cycle about six or seven years ago and started to pursue alternative remedies. What a difference I've seen (despite the fact that I was sicky-poo last week)!

All this being said, you can imagine that I am also not the biggest fan of vaccines, so all the current bombardment of media attention--and even commercials for cleaning products--pushing the H1N1 vaccine has me a little bit peeved. Obviously, to vaccinate or not to vaccinate is a very personal choice (particularly when it comes to children), and I in no way profess to have any medical knowledge. Regardless, since we are all looking for ways to stay healthy this winter, I thought each day this week I'd share a few of my sure-fire stay-well-naturally tips, since you all are just too lovely to go pumping yourselves full of scary, scary things!

Tip #1: Traditional Medicinals Organic Echinacea Plus Tea

Much has been written in the last decade about the health-promoting effects of echinacea. Whether you buy into the hype or not, I know that as soon as I start to feel a bit run down or sniffly, I reach for this delightful herbal tea and after a few cups I always start to feel better. I love how the light, minty/citrusy flavor immediately clears my head and soothes a scratchy throat. The fact that the echinacea is helping to boost my immune system is just an added bonus!

Tomorrow's tip: Have you heard of alkolol?

Have you tried...?

I'm not usually into those supped up juices, protein bars, etc., even though a lot of people think it's the only way for vegetarians to get all the daily protein they need. I think as a culture we are way too obsessed with protein, and I have happily--and healthfully--lived and cooked using very few of these faux proteins for the last 17 years.

That said, a friend recommended the new chocolate flavor of the Odwalla Super Protein drinks to me the other day, and I decided to give one a try. It rocked!!! Seriously, it's like a chocolate milkshake that's healthy! What's not to like about that?!

What're you doing New Years?

We're such homebodies that even on a big night like New Year's Eve we prefer staying in to going out. For many, many years we spent NYE at my in-laws, a night that would always include a huge lobster dinner and the equivalent of a bottle of champagne per person. It would also include a rousing, slightly-tipsy game of TV Bingo played during Dick Clark's Rockin' NYE.

TV Bingo is an awesome game from the '70s that challenges you to match up the pictures on your playing card with images you see on TV. It's so, so fun (particularly when played after imbibing much champers!)...but when my graphic designer bro-in-law came into the family, it got a tad less fun because his sharp, trained eye picks up things at lightening speed, so he always wins before the rest of us even gets a chip down on our card. Darn him!

Last year we started a new tradition with our closest friends--dinner and a slumber party at their house. We went out to dinner last year, but since they now have a three-month-old, we're cooking in tonight. My bff and I have been excitedly planning our menu all week, and it includes:

• a lovely cheese board and baguette
• butternut squash soup for the first course
• king crab legs with lots of butter, jasmine rice, and fennel slaw for the entree
• creme brulee for dessert

YUM! I can't wait! I haven't had crab in years and years, so we'll see if I enjoy it or get grossed out.

The hightlight of last year's NYE was a rousing, slightly-tipsy game of Clue (are you picking up on a pattern here?). I have to tell you, Clue was a favorite among my cousins and me growing up, and they are a very cut-throat group of gamers, so I learned to be very, very good at Clue. The hubby and our friends all accused me of cheating last year, but the truth is that I'm just a very perceptive player (wink, wink).

Anyhoo, despite the nasty weather here, I'm so looking forward to a good meal tonight with some of my favorite people and then kicking their butts at some board games. I wish you all a very fun, very safe, very bubbly New Year's! See you Monday! xo

(via jeongyun)

Last chance to enter Holiday Giveaway #2!

Don't forget to enter my holiday giveaway #2 by midnight tonight! I mean, doesn't a cup of Earl Grey and a crumpet with some lovely violet jelly sound so yummy?!

Holiday Giveaway #2: Violet Jelly

For my second holiday giveaway, I decided to offer up something a little different: a jar of our homemade violet jelly.

Made from violets gathered in our yard (that sounds soooo pretentiously Martha, I apologize...it just happens to be true!), this jelly is so delicate and unusual, that I'm sure the winner will love it as much as we do! The flavor is slightly floral, as you'd imagine, but not overwhelmingly so, as it's cut by a crisp citrus undertone. It's also the most lovely shade of pinkish-lavendar. We like to eat it as you would any other jam or jelly (it's especially good on an English muffin or crumpet), but for something different, try it on a water cracker with a schmear of Saint Andre or a nice, hard aged Gruyere.

Here's how to enter:

• Comment below, sharing your favorite toast topper!
• Reblog or tweet to get an extra entry!
• Do both of these things by 11: 59 p.m. on Thursday, December 10.

Good luck, ladies!

The Hubby's Spinach Stuffed Shells

We're spending the night in Rochester tonight so I can recuperate after my last procedure. It'll be kind of fun because we're staying in one of those suite-y hotels with a kitchen, and it's pet friendly so even Zelda is coming along.

Instead of getting take-out, the hubby decided we'd eat in, and he's making my favorite of his recipes: spinach stuffed shells. He started making this dish back when we were dating in college and he was trying to woo me with his culinary prowess (it worked). It's one of those really cozy, homey, familiar dishes that make you feel so good...which is exactly what I'm needing this week.

Seth's Spinach Stuffed Shells

Ingredients:

• 16 jumbo pasta shells
• 1 10 oz. box of frozen, chopped spinach
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1 cup shredded cheddar
• 1/2 cup Parmesan (we have Grana Padano...so that's what he used)
• 1 jar of tomato sauce (or your homemade sauce of choice...this time he used Muir Glen Organic Italian Herb)

Directions:
Cook pasts as directed; drain and rinse with cold water to suspend cooking. Drain thawed spinach well to remove any remaining water. For filling, combine eggs, ricotta, mozzarella, cheddar, half of the Parmesan, and spinach. Coat the bottom of a 9" x 12" baking dish with sauce, then fill the shells and place them open-side down into the pan.

Top the shells with sauce (the hubby wants you to note that he likes to place one spoonful of sauce on each shell versus just pouring sauce on top--he thinks it makes a better presentation...isn't he cute?) and remaining Parmesan cheese.

Cover the baking dish; bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

So easy, right? Give it a try next time you're in the mood for some comfort food!

It's Beaujolais Day!!!

It's Beaujolais Day, a holiday I've come to eagerly await each and every third Thursday in November. Although I've gone on to drink heartier red wines, I have a real soft spot for Beaujolais Nouveau as it was the very first red wine I ever had...I was at the hubby's parents' house (and, like many, they are big fans of the Georges Duboeuf) and felt tres chic, merci beaucoup. Beaujolais Nouveau is a great place for the wine novice to start, and since I still consider myself a wine novice, I like that this fruity, light wine has a freshness that you just don't experience with a lot of reds, a quality that makes it very drinkable and enjoyable with a variety of foods.

I think it's fun that a lot of restaurants and small wine merchants hold parties to celebrate Beaujolais Day. We've been to one at one of our favorite restaurants, Just a Taste, and here we are two years ago after we went to another at Paris while we were in Vegas.

Anyone holding a Beaujolais Day party by you? If not, do what I'm going to do...stop by your favorite wine store and pick up a bottle, go home and put on your favorite striped tee and ballet flats, serve up the runny, gooey, yummy cheese of your choice, and enjoy!