A Glorious Day....

We've had some wonderful weather this month. Today was so beautiful, I am now so very anxious for summer! We had the windows open. The kids were in and out all afternoon climbing trees, raking leaves, riding their bikes, and watching Eric (Nina's favorite outdoor activity.) Eric was working hard on more raised beds, but he managed to hide some money in a dirt pile and let Nina think she was finding treasure. What a guy.

I left my projects inside and did some serious yard work, and it felt great. Well, I should say at the time it felt great. Now my body is achy beyond belief. But that will go away.

Our garden is taking shape. As I mentioned before, last Saturday, Zig, Erik, Ben, and Rollin worked from dusk till dawn moving a truckloads of dirt into the boxes. Rollin operated the dump function on the trailer. He loves to have a job and be a part of the big boys. I think we will have 12 raised beds and lots of trellises when it's all through. Oh boy, it's going to be a busy summer.

Power Balls....

Rollin made some power balls for our hike tomorrow. The girls were outside playing and he sure seemed to enjoy creating what he called his "odwalla balls." He did a lot of sampling but was also quite focused as he scooped fifty little balls. I didn't think he could do the scoop and drop part but he did it just perfect. It was cute to see how proud he was of his efforts. He was most excited to serve the finished product to his sisters who enthusiastically approved!

This takes about five minutes and we used oats, honey, a few mini chocolate chips, peanut butter, millet puffs, unsweetened coconut, and ground flax seed.

Valentine's Day Brunch

Sela and Nina love croissants. As they were eating their Valentine's Day brunch of croissants, fruit, vegetable quiche, and fresh squeezed "pink juice" (beet, carrot and apple) this morning, they were thinking of their favorite friends, Tennie, Adele, and Ceci, who are living in France this year. They were commenting that if they lived in France they would surely eat croissants for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! I told them about pan au chocolats and they just looked at me with their mouths watering. They asked me to please, please, please try and make some...I might be able do it, but I think they need the real thing for their first try...I'll have to talk to Zig about that.

Anyway, we had a girls-only brunch, not because we didn't want the boys, but because Rollin's late nights have finally caught up with him and he couldn't be roused out of his slumber. And Zig was already out with Eric and Ben and the 2 truckloads of dirt dumped in our garden area today. Our garden is taking shape with the boxes and trellises put in and no surprise here, it's quite a bit larger than I had imagined. So, bring on the visitors, by the looks of things, I think come summer we could feed a small town!

I didn't mean to take a picture of Nina praying. She was just so anxious to eat she started to pray while I was taking her picture.

Chocolate Beet Valentine Cupcakes

I love beets. And chocolate. And I've always loved the idea of Red Velvet Cupcakes for Valentine's, but I know I couldn't bring myself to dump that much red dye into a cake for my family or anyone else I might be feeding. So when I came across this recipe earlier in the week, I was almost giddy with excitement. And curious. Beet cupcakes. We keep getting beets in our CSA box so I had plenty on hand. And this recipe has a significant amount of beets...2 cups! Whether you love beets or not, there is no denying they are a gorgeous color! The batter was just lovely, a deep dark burgundy red.

The result? Amazing. I promise. So super moist. And beautiful to look at. I think I have a new Valentine's tradition. And no, I'm not kidding myself into thinking these are health food. There is way more sugar than I'm typically comfortable with, but it is Valentine's Day so no guilt here :)

p.s. Geoff Davis, I'm sending you a virtual beet cupcake...enjoy!



























Chocolate-Beet Valentine Cupcakes
These make for the perfect Valentine treat, something decadent, something surprising and something seasonal (you can find fresh beets at most February farmer's markets).

1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup water
2 cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry)
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa (I used dark chocolate)
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 cups beet puree*

*To make beet puree, I peeled and trimmed 5 medium-sized beets and simmered them, covered in water, for just under an hour. Once cooled, I pureed them until very smooth in the food processor (a blender or food mill would probably work as well).

Preheat oven to 325F.
Fill 24 muffin tins with liners.

Combine melted butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla and water until smooth. Sift flour with cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet in small batches. Fold in beets.

Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full. Bake cupcakes for 20-30 minutes, checking for doneness with a knife. Allow to cool in tins.

For the indulgent, these would be great with frosting (cream cheese? ganache?), but we chose to simply dust them with powdered sugar. We placed paper hearts on each one for a stencil and shook the sugar through a sieve.

Enjoy!

Valentine for the PE teacher....

Last year Sela made a special button for her PE teacher, Mr. Hogle, for Valentine's Day. He sent for her and brought her from class to the gym and thanked her in front of a couple classes of older students. She felt so happy and it made a big impression on her. This year she wanted to make something else unique and special for Valentine's Day so she made a protein bar card. He really is a wonderful PE teacher and goes above and beyond. His intramurals afterschool are a huge hit, especially in the winter months and you can tell he loves his job by the way he interacts with the kids. He's definitely the most popular teacher on campus!

Nina's Valentines

Last Friday we had all the neighbor girls over for a little Valentine Making Party. There was lots of cutting, pasting, stamping and glittering going on. It looked like a tornado hit within minutes, but that was to be expected! After everyone finished their Valentines, we decorated individual heart shaped pizzas for dinner. Nina and I made some Valentine cookies for dessert earlier in the day. At the end of the night, they settled down for a movie. I didn't get to take any pictures because I was very busy the whole time, but we had a lot of fun and all the girls had their Valentines ready to go a week early.

Nina put the finishing touches on hers this week and was super excited for her class party!

Taming the Laundry Beast

I can wash and dry the laundry and usually stay fairly caught up. Everyone always has clean clothes, but the absolute bane of my existence is putting the clothes away before all my folded piles get knocked over into one big wad by someone digging for something. I finally found containers small enough to fit six (one for baby) over the washer and dryer. Everyone will know their box because it has their photo and put away will be much easier, even if I'm the one doing it, which is not the goal, but you know how that goes. This might be the extent of my nesting, but I think it will be a huge help. Time will tell!