presto, pesto

the final garden harvest saw us toting home a great deal of kale, and owing to the hardy nature of this veggie, I have procrastinated on 'putting it by'.  i had every intention of freezing, canning, drying, chipping and otherwise preparing vast amounts of kale for the winter.  instead, i have been giving it away, (a pleasure of the gardener) or eating it outright, cooked and in salads.  this morning, however, I tackled the last stalks of kale by whizzing together a pesto.   this reduced my huge pile of greens into five small vacpacs, destined for the freezer.

kale pesto:

Into the bowl of food processor, place lots of washed kale, 

torn from its ribs.

Whirr it down to fine confettii, then dump contents into a large bowl.

Repeat with more kale, but also add 2-3 cloves of garlic,
and about 1/2 cup natural almonds.

Whizz until there are no weird chunks remaining.
 Dump this into the mixing bowl.

Shred up one more batch of kale, this time adding the oil and flavourings

(I used cilantro olive oil and homemade pepper vinegar, but any acid/oil and flavour booster would work well, I think.  Some fresh basil and lemon would be nice,
or cilantro and lime, or maybe simply balsamic vinegar and olive oil.)
Whirr the kale, herb (if using),  about 1/3 C vinegar and a spoon of salt,
then add the oil while the processor is running.
( enough oil to make a good saucy mix.)

dump this into the bowl also.
mix well, take a few nibbles, adjust oil and seasonings.
 i like the bitterness of kale, but a hint of something sweet could be added at this time if desired.
~
cook up your favourite pasta, dollop on some pesto,
 top with fresh pepper and grated parmesan or peccorino to taste!

Potions and toast

A rainy day brings out the sorcerer in some people...

 

 

 so i opened up the pantry, and brought out the eye of newt, toe of toad, and powdered zombie teeth.

(as well as several plates of cinnamon toast!)

 

 

 

 the apprentices went wild,

mixing, grinding, and smelling until each concoction was perfected.

 

The resulting delights were labeled and admired:

parfum

turns you into a werewolf

zombie potion

good potion

frog potion

and one simply marked with a

skull and crossbones.

 

(overheard during the production: 'this one turns anything into a frog...'

'anything?  even santa claus?  even a FROG?')

 

very powerful stuff.

dog breath

 

 

a rainy day after many rainy days...

 

already we have made so many cookies,

muffins, and human treats...

time for doggie snacks.

(a great way to use up a few odd ingredients in the pantry also.)

 

(and no, we don't have a dog.)

 

Dog Biscuits:

mix up in bowl:

1 C oats

3 C whole wheat flour

1/2 cup ground nuts

(whatever is on hand...I used toasted pumpkin seeds, hull on)

1/4 C wheat or oat germ

1/4 C flax seeds

~

cut in:

1/3 C fat

(I used bacon drippings...yum!)

1 beaten egg

1/2 C milk

~

when that looks like the mix is in even chunks, stir in 1 C boiling water.

 then when cool enough,

knead until a nice elastic ball of dough.

(add flour as required.)

~

roll out about 1/2 inch thick,

cut out with your favourite ironic cookie shape,

pop onto a cookie sheet and

bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes.

to let them get nice and hard,

leave the snax in the oven after you turn it off.

pack in paper bags, and

deliver to dog households around your 'hood.

~

enjoy the love that love brings.

 



bubbles

as long as it has nothing to do with a bath,

the children find soap a very interesting substance...

 

 

bubbles are considered to be such fun, in fact, that some rainy-day times 

 I just fill a very soapy sink

and let the kids scoop out handfuls of foam

for free-form art projects, disguises, or just plain hurling about.

 

the best place to enjoy the world's best toy,

 though, is out in the street, where they shimmer and float like feathers,

and invite passers-by to stretch out a finger and pop a few along their way.

novel reading

a quiet afternoon of reading Captain Underpants books with Capitain No-Underpants.

blue whale

edgar succumbs to a compelling autumn deluge...

ahhh.  refreshing.

treasure islands

it is impossilble to organize all of the bits and bobs

in this house...so i have quite a few boxes that are just

bits and bobs.  these boxes come in handy on loose-ends sort of days,

days when we might have a little extra pizza dough lying around as a canvas...

(also known as days i forget to add the yeast to the pizza dough.)

on this day, the scraps turned into a beach of  butterflies and basking beauties,

and an island oasis, guarded by fierce beasts!



record

we have been enjoying the more bittercold days by cranking up the ol' victrola...

a dance party inevitably ensues.

we bought it years ago, with an eye for lovely furniture, and an ear for musical history.

a few 78s came with it, and my dad found some more for us; operas, jazz, big band...

this disc is one of campfire songs...like blow the man down, charlie is my darlin', and clementine.

the kids connect immediately with the magic of the scratchy, strident sound,

the magic of how a crank of the handle

brings voices of the last century back from the dead,

and how those voices enliven the limbs of our dancing children.

dressing?

 the combination of two fun projects led to another mesmerizing mixture!

one afternoon, we were decorating cookies.

the next day, we blew off a little steam with a baking soda and vinegar volcano...

the day after that, the sprinkles and vinegar (which happened to still be on the counter)

 plus a glug of oil turned into a kalidoscopic experiment! 

not suitable for a salad, but nourishing, none-the-less.

um, Cowman?

star wears

the girl (a.k.a. princess padme amidala) contrived a very convincing tough-girl costume

 while playing star wars with thomas and edgar.

~

(and none of these kids have even seen any of the films...)

out of (his) control....

"mama, why you not let me go to space?"

seeing things

hey, is that a fuzzy blue elephant?

~

the girl directed that this drawing was never to be erased.

so, just in case, i'll store it here.

puddle ducks (+ bugs+froggies)

the perfect day to sport the new autumn attire!

more of an alley than a runway, but they do look great. 

(and did track down a small puddle at least!)

thanks, ron and marg, for the lively 'creature' comforts!

~

it was the girl's first day of senior kindergarten also, and she took to it with great enthusiasm!

lined up with her friends, and didn't look back.

well, she is five!

to-do list

wondering what to do on the next rainy day?  

look this site up.

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/index.htm

paper dolls, printable pages, games... a wealth of fun generation for the entire family.

personally, i'm looking forward to the colour-in russian stacking dolls here.

good thing i have little kids!!!

ducks and diego

well, it turns out that if i e-mail a picture from my computer to myself, through david's email, then save it to our desktop, i can access it and finally post it here.  dave's mail program emits a little swooshy airplane noise as it 'sends'; certainly does seem as though these pics are taking the long way around.  some progress anyway!!! 

so a double batch of playdough today...the mama duck needed a baby and a drake.  while esther was patiently waiting for another round of 'dough, edgar was on the countertop, inventing an adventure for diego...

i'm not sure he has anything in his backpack that is quite up to this challenge.

~

best cooked playdough recipe yet:

2 c flour

2 c H2O

1/2 c salt

1/4 c cream of tartar

(p.s. what is this stuff, anyway???)

2 T vegetable oil

~

find 10 minutes.

mix ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat until thick and squishy. 

 turn out onto a floured board and carefully (it's still hot!) knead out the last of the stickiness.  offer it to amazed child.

recipe for a robot

a rainy day afternoon, a cardboard box and some time.

the buttons are labeled:
on
off
silly
killy
hokapoka
crazy
and happy.
the white plastic box add-on is labeled:
treasure box jewelery.

it's not oatmeal..

here is a play-clay recipe that comes in handy when one's pantry is out of..... salt?
which is a situation i realized i was in today, kind-of.
(honestly, can you believe that i have fleur-de sel, Himalayan pink, Australian pearl, rock, french grey sea, sea+garlic, kosher, et cetera, et cetera, salts....and no ordinary table salt??? i need to give myself a shake.)oatmeal play-clay
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup flour
1 cup intant oatmeal
food colouring
mix it up!
a great little squish-ball...
store in an airtight container.
~

(recipe from 'the ultimate book of kid concoctions' by j. thomas and d. pagel)

magic muck

a great treat arrived in the mail today...marg sent us a book called 'the ultimate book of kid concoctions' and it truly seems to be as described...a great selection of recipes for paints, glues, clays, putties, and yes, muck. the girl and i chose the *muck* for an activity during edgar's naptime.

food colouring

3/4 C corn starch

1/3 C water

mix it up, let it sit for a few minutes, then have fun!

this stuff is liquid until you squeeze it, and then it firms up very convincingly only to melt away as soon as you relax your grip...very good fun.

and serves as a very good bog in which to ensnare unwitting creatures.