Full of Thanks!

I love Thanksgiving.
And I was happy to be cooking and hosting at our house again this year.  That was until I saw everything we had to wash and clean up.  (I hate to admit that I still have a roasting pan and dutch oven to wash...and it's been more than 36 hours since the big meal.)

Levi and I made pies together on Wednesday.
Along with my traditional no-bake pumpkin, we also made chocolate pecan (for Grandma G!)
Levi loved helping me put on the pecans!

The meal was great!
(Turkey took a little longer than planned...so Gabe's not in the picture since he's still carving the bird.)  Also, I didn't fix my depth of field on this picture so I'm sorry not everyone is in focus.

Someone loves Thanksgiving just because of the cranberries.  Pretty sure he filled up on them!

When I asked Levi what he was thankful for this year he said:
"I'm thankful for YOU...and Daddy."
Melts this Mommy's heart!
I sure am thankful for these great boys in my life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sunday Work Party

Aaron and Joe manhandling the engine into place

Sorry, no Sunday Supper this week.  Since I spent the bulk of the day in the garage working on my car we decided that we wouldn't do a Sunday Supper this week.  As you can see above, I had some help doing one of the last big pieces of the engine swap that started back in 2008!  Four years, to the month even.  That's some kind of record for the longest engine swap in history I think.  Although, I've had some distractions along the way.  We bought a new house, had a kid, remodeled a kitchen, replaced a deck etc...Not a great excuse, but it's all I have.  Today went great, Doug, Aaron and Joe came over to help, and I'm really glad they did.  I might have been able to do it myself, but it sure would have taken a lot longer.  I've got a quite a few details to work out still but it's a lot closer to driving!

Netarts in November

We spent the weekend at the coast, celebrating a special some one's birthday.

Happy Birthday Grandpa G!

Along with a party, we also enjoyed:
beach walks and digging in the sand

a trip to Cape Meares

cheese and ice cream (before lunch) at one of the best places on Earth!

Watch out!  Levi's driving the cheese bus!

and lots of time in front of the fire reading and listening to the wind blow!
It was a fun weekend with family!

Sad Popeye

Two weekends in a row with Sunday Supper?  Gabe writing a blog post?  Cats and dogs living together...mass hysteria!  Tonight we had Jen and Rich over for their second Sunday Supper experience.  Again we made a Cook's Illustrated recipe, this time it was vegetarian lasagna.  Heidi and I had made this one time before and loved it.  We also though Jen, who doesn't eat meat, would love it, even though it has eggplant in it.

Veggie Lasagna - First Layer - What's Missing?

The lasagna is good stuff, summer squash, eggplant, tomato sauce, white sauce and tons of garlic and basil.  Oh, and apparently there's supposed to be spinach in it too.  The recipe calls for it, I bought it at the store.  Yet, the spinach didn't make it out of the crisper until the lasagna was in the oven.  Whoops.

Luckily, it turned out delicious.  The wilted spinach and garlic we had as a side dish was also good.  If you're interested, the recipe follows.  And don't forget the greens!

Vegetable Lasagna

From the episode: Vegetarian Pasta Night

Serves 8 to 10

We prefer the lasagna made with our favorite wholemilk, block-style mozzarella from Sorrento, but Kraft part-skim preshredded mozzarella is also fine. Our preferred brands of crushed tomato are Tuttorosso and Muir Glen.

Ingredients

No-Cook Tomato Sauce

• 1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

No-Cook Cream Sauce

• 4 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (2 cups)
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Vegetable Filling

• 1 1/2 pounds eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 7 cups)
•   Kosher salt and ground black pepper
• 1 pound zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
• 1 pound yellow squash, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
• 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
• 12 ounces baby spinach (about 12 cups)

 

• 12 no-boil lasagna noodles
• 1/2 cup kalamata olives
• 12 ounces low-moisture whole-milk mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 3 cups)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Instructions

• 1. FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE: Whisk all ingredients together in bowl; set aside.
• 2. FOR THE CREAM SAUCE: Whisk all ingredients together in bowl; set aside.
• 3. FOR THE FILLING: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Toss eggplant with 1 teaspoon salt in large bowl. Line surface of large plate with double layer of coffee filters and lightly spray with vegetable oil spray. Spread eggplant in even layer over filters. Wipe out and reserve now-empty bowl. Microwave eggplant, uncovered, until dry to touch and slightly shriveled, about 10 minutes, tossing once halfway through to ensure that eggplant cooks evenly. Let cool slightly. Return eggplant to bowl and toss with zucchini and squash.
• 4. Combine 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, and thyme in small bowl. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add half eggplant mixture, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Push vegetables to sides of skillet; add half of garlic mixture to clearing and cook, mashing with spatula, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir to combine garlic mixture with vegetables and transfer to medium bowl. Repeat with remaining eggplant mixture, 2 tablespoons oil, and remaining garlic mixture.
• 5. Return skillet to medium-high heat, add remaining teaspoon oil, and heat until shimmering. Add spinach and cook, stirring frequently, until wilted, about 3 minutes. Transfer spinach to paper towel–lined plate and drain 2 minutes. Stir into eggplant mixture.
• 6. TO ASSEMBLE: Spray 13 by 9-inch baking dish with vegetable oil spray. Spread 1 cup tomato sauce in bottom of baking dish; shingle 4 noodles on top of sauce. Spread half of vegetable mixture over noodles, followed by half of olives, half of cream sauce, and 1 cup of mozzarella. Repeat layering with 4 noodles, 1 cup tomato sauce, remaining vegetables, remaining olives, remaining cream sauce, and 1 cup mozzarella. Place remaining 4 noodles on top layer of cheese. Spread remaining 1 cup tomato sauce over noodles and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella. Lightly spray large sheet of aluminum foil with vegetable oil spray and cover lasagna. Bake until -bubbling, about 35 minutes. Cool on wire rack 25 minutes. Cut into pieces, sprinkle with basil, and serve.

Trick-or-Treat

Levi had a Halloween parade at school!  He was very excited and all the kids looked so cute in their costumes.  They made a special snack of pumpkin muffins and it was a fun little party.

We had a tough time deciding if Levi should go trick-or-treating this year.  When we asked him what he thought it was he said, "Hunting for treats....like in the road and in the yard."  I think he might have Halloween confused with Easter.
But one of Gabe's co-workers lives up the road from us and has two little girls.  In their neighborhood they have a big kid gathering and all go trick-or-treating together.  The kid range is probably 7 to 2.  So the big kids showed Levi how it was done and he caught on in no time.  The big kids were off and running (literally), the little kids took things a little slower.

We were pretty impressed at how well our shy little bat did.  I guess kids will do anything for a treat.

Look at the haul he brought back!  And we were the first ones to leave the group at 7:30.

Pretty sure Halloween is now Levi's favorite holiday!