Lots of projects!

We've all been busy this Memorial Day with projects large and small. Rollin and Nina were big helpers in the kitchen. After much hanging on my legs and under my feet in the kitchen, I plopped Rollie up on the counter and pulled a chair up to the counter for Nina. Then I introduced them to the lemon zester! After a little demo, they got to work zesting the lemons for a new recipe we tried out today (another Heather Swanson recipe). They also helped by tearing up spinach and breaking the broccoli heads. I am always amazed, though I shouldn't be by now, by just how much they enjoy working beside me doing simple and rather mundane kitchen tasks. They did so much today that they really felt like they made lunch. They were very excited to tell Dad "eat your food!" rather than the other way around :)



















Baked Pasta Casserole Recipe
(We made a few changes...we used less pasta and along with the spinach we added a bunch of broccoli. I'm sure we used more lemon zest, but that's just because it was so fun to zest.
extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 pound whole wheat pasta shells
sea salt
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 cups well-chopped fresh spinach
1 1/2 cups sliced almonds, lightly toasted
zest of 2 lemons
8 ounces mozzerella, shredded or torn into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter/oil a large casserole dish or baking pan - something roughly equivalent to 13x9-inch pan.
Boil the pasta in salted water per package instructions. Drain pasta, toss with a glug of olive oil. Set aside.
In the meantime, heat a bit of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high. Saute the onions with a couple pinches of salt for a few minutes (or if you want a bit more depth of flavor until caramelized). Stir in garlic. Stir in spinach. Cook for just about 20 seconds, until the spinach collapses a bit. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of the almonds and 1/2 of the zest. Add to pasta and stir and stir - mixing extremely well, a minute or so.
Now sprinkle the bottom of baking dish with the rest of the zest. Add a layer of the pasta to the bottom of the baking pan, now sprinkle with some of the cheese, add more pasta, then more cheese. Finish with a layer of cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes or until cheese on top is bubbly and melty. Serve sprinkled with the remaining almonds.
Serves 8.



















Sela worked hard on her own little pumpkin patch. She weeded and raked and then planted four rows of pumpkins. Our neighbor, Austin, came over and helped her hoe and pull weeds for awhile.








I started a new batch of light whole wheat bread. Have I mentioned how hooked I am on making bread?! This dough took less than five minutes.
Zig and his power tools built a pen for our baby chicks.














For family home evening, we made baked donuts and had a picnic outside. I had wanted to try this recipe on a saturday morning, but with two rises, I'd have to get up really early. Evening was much better and the girls were able to help cut the donuts out.



These donuts were so delish I probably won't make them for a loooooong time! Dangerous.












And that was our Memorial Day.