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!

Warm Up to Turkey Day

Tonight's Sunday supper was sort of a warm up for Thanksgiving.

Gabe made chicken in a pot with thyme and a lemon sauce.  Yummy!  And to complete the meal I roasted some rings of delicata squash and cooked some banana fingerling potatoes in a pan with butter, salt and pepper.  It was an easy and delicious fall meal.  What really made it feel like Thanksgiving was the pumpkin pie and whipped cream our friends Drew and Paula brought over for dessert!

Just in case you're wondering...yes we've already had Drew and Paula over for supper.  We've gone through our short list of friends already and are now inviting people over for a second round to finish up the year.  (I think that's part of the reason we've been having trouble getting Sunday supper rolling again!  We sorta feel silly inviting people over again.) Oh well, I'm determined to finish up the year strong!

Pumpkin, Pumpkin

Celebration of fall (and Halloween) is in full swing around here!
Levi had a great time with Daddy and his classmates at the farm.  It was a rainy, cold morning but it looks like the baby cows made everything worth it!

Levi trying to "feed" the cow.

A hayride, apple cider, baby animals, pumpkins, and mud puddles...our kid was in heaven.  In every picture Gabe took of the kids together, Levi's sitting next to a little girl.  What's funny about this is that there are 10 boys in Levi's class and only 4 girls.  Yet he manages to sit by one every time!  In the group shot (which was blurry...unfortunately) Levi has his hand on one little girl's leg.  I'm afraid we're going to have to keep our eyes on this kid!

This morning we carved our pumpkins!
Levi was so excited.
It wouldn't be pumpkin carving without doughnuts and spiced apple cider.

Levi loved helping daddy get the guts out!

Gotta love this smile!

Once our jack-o-lanterns were finished, we went over to the Harvest Party at Grandpa and Grandma G's church.  I cannot even describe how excited Levi was about this "Halloween Party"!

He had a great time playing games, jumping in the bouncy house and eating cookies.
Plus, they had pony rides and face painting!

Levi specifically asked for a red dragon fly.

I have to conclude this post with a video we took at the pumpkin patch last weekend.  Grandma G taught Levi this pumpkin song and he's been singing it for weeks.  Soooo cute!



Happy almost-Halloween!

Squash Sunday Supper

I love fall for many reasons.  But a reason that is in the top 5 is...squash.
I love squash.
I love it so much my son informed me at lunch today, he didn't want squash.  He's tired of it.
But when I saw the New Seasons ad this week had a recipe for Squash & Bean Enchilada Casserole, I was instantly interested.

We invited my sister Becky over to enjoy it with us.
It was great!
And even my son, who earlier in the day informed me he was tired of squash, liked it!

1 cup onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 tsp Mexican seasoning (I just used some taco seasoning, cumin, and Mexican oregano.  And I didn't measure any of them.)
2 tsp salt
5 tbls olive oil
2 14oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
3 1/2 cups enchilada sauce
12 corn tortillas
4 cups cooked squash, cubed then mashed  (We used a buttercup squash.)
28oz can diced tomatoes, drained
2 cups pepper jack cheese
(We also added 2 roasted poblano peppers to put on 1/2 of the casserole)
Sour cream and avocado for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large skillet over medium heat, saute onions and garlic with the Mexican seasoning and salt in olive oil until the onions are translucent.  In a medium bowl, combine onions with beans.  Spread a layer of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a baking dish.  Place a layer of tortillas (6) on top, followed by half the squash, half the bean and onion mixture, and half of the tomatoes.  Top these layers with 1 cup of pepper jack cheese and cover with enchilada sauce.  Repeat layering with remaining ingredients.
Cover and bake for about 25 minutes.  Remove cover and bake an additional 10 minutes.  Serve with sour cream and avocado to garnish.

We've been having a hard time getting Sunday Suppers going again.  Part of that is because we've had several friends return the invitation and join them for supper.  It's been nice to join our friends around their dinner tables too.

Weekend with Georgie

Every kid in Levi's class gets to bring Georgie the monkey home with them for the weekend.  They have fun with Georgie and then share the adventures they had in a little binder so all the kids can see what Georgie did at home with their friends.

So, Georgie spent the weekend with Levi!
The first thing Levi and Georgie did together was take a nap.  Levi quickly informed Grandma G that Georgie knows the sleep rules at Levi's house.  But after nap, Levi did tell Grandma G that Georgie wanted to jump on Levi's bed.
Levi told us that Georgie likes race cars, just like Levi.

Levi also told me that Georgie likes SkippyJohn Jones stories, just like Levi.

Levi and Georgie (plus Mommy) did a puzzle together.

Of course, Georgie had to come with us to the pumpkin patch!
Together, Georgie and Levi led Mommy and Daddy through the corn maze.

And Georgie helped Levi pick out a great big pumpkin.

Georgie also came with us to the farmer's market this morning.  Levi and Georgie picked out purple carrots.

Sure was fun having Georgie with us this weekend!  Hopefully he'll be back again before the school year is over.

Pumpkin Patch Tradition

We went out to the pumpkin patch on Saturday morning.
It was cold.  It was rainy.  It was muddy.  But one little boy was sure excited to be there!

And then magically, the sun came out!  And we found a great pumpkin to carve.

Levi also wanted to do the rides this year.
He loved the barrel train.  (You might notice a "special friend" riding in his barrel.  I'll tell you more about him later.)

And Levi really wanted to ride the pony this year.
He was super brave and LOVED it!  So wish he had a hat and boots.  Next time we're in Nashville...

We ended the morning having lunch at one of our favorite spots out that way.  And we were lucky to run into friends there who were headed out to the patch to shoot pumpkins from cannons.
We love our fall traditions!
And Levi gets to go on his first school field trip to a different farm tomorrow morning.  He's very excited!
So check back later in the week for pumpkin patch outing #2.

Speeding right by...

I keep telling myself things are going to slow down.
But it's just not happening!
Between work, a bi-monthly class I'm taking, evenings out with friends, and projects we're trying to finish up before winter...the week has been a blur.  And more of the same is lined up for the coming week!

In order to document some of the things going on around here I'll share a few photos.
First up, Levi's current obsession.

And it's not sitting around in his underware.
He loves these books.
Like loves them so much he listens to them on tape as often as we'll let him and has lines memorized.  Even lines that are Spanish.  And he's taken to saying "zero, nada" anytime he can.

My friend Peggy (and her little men) are here visiting from LA.  We tried to take the boys to the zoo yesterday, but it happened to be the first day we've had rain in months.  And it wasn't just a little rain.  It was pouring.  We made it about an hour and decided we all needed some dry clothes and lunch.  So, a lunch play date at our house instead.

This was the best photo I got of the boys.  I love that the only one actually looking, and smiling, is Zane who is 1/2 the age of the other two. 
And who does that kid on the right belong to?  Why didn't his mother wipe his lunch off his face?

 Gabe's been busy trying to finish the deck railing this weekend and we've been grinding up massive amounts of breakfast sausage.  And shopping for materials for some one's Halloween costume...it will be Monday again before we know it!

Apple Picking

We are having the most beautiful fall.
The sun is out, the clouds are not.  It's cool in the morning and 70 degrees in the afternoon.  Perfect!

We went out to Hood River to pick apples this morning.
It was a perfect morning.

We picked (and ate apples) until we could carry no more.  And our friends Alexis, Eric and Addison joined us for the fun too!

This kid ate three apples and then we had to say enough!
But really, this is what fall is all about right?

 Amazing smells will be coming from our kitchen tomorrow.  We'll be busy making apple sauce and apple crisp.

Garden Tomato Soup

I'm pretty disappointed in our tomato crop this year.
We planted cherry tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, Roma tomatoes and then plain old beefsteak tomatoes.
Someone in our house LOVES tomatoes after all!
But the only plant that really did well was the yellow pear tomato.  In fact the other two plants (in the same bed) got blossom end rot!  Really sad, and I guess next year we need to feed them some calcium early!

When we planted 4 tomato plants in May, we were hopping for a huge haul and some serious canning.
After the nice hot weather we've had the last few weeks we had about 3 lbs of ripe tomatoes. Not nearly enough to can with!
So, I made tomato soup tonight instead!

In know we've been really slacking on the whole Sunday Supper thing.  (But Gabe was in NC all week and it was tough being a single working mom all week!)  I do promise we'll be back to hosting Sunday Suppers again before the year is over.  Things will settle down a bit here after Gabe gets back from hunting with his dad next week!

Anyway...the soup was really easy!
Saute up some red onion and carrots.

Then add garlic, fresh tomatoes, some sugar, a little bit of tomato paste, chicken stock, fresh basil and it looks like this:

After some simmering...
Put it through a food mill, add some cream and enjoy!

We had to top ours with a little more basil and chives.  Levi said he didn't want any "green stuff" on his.

Since fall is officially here we also made pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin bread today.  Autumn is the yummiest season of all!

First Day of School!

This big kid started preschool today!

He was so excited!
I'm going to be honest, Mom and Dad were a little nervous.  Levi's never been left with new people so we weren't sure how he'd handle being left at school.  We've visited his classroom twice and talked a lot about school.  He must have been ready because he walked right in.  Found his cubby.  And went right to the table to play with the RED play doh.  Gave us kisses and then didn't even care when we waved good-bye.

First Day of Preschool Interview:
Levi (age 3)

What's your favorite color?
RED

What do you want to do when you're a grown up? (like Mommy and Daddy)
I think...I will maybe...um...I might like to do something...like do a project.

What's your favorite song?
The wheels...you know that song.

What's your favorite book?
SkippyJohn Jones

What was your favorite part of school today?
Playing with kids

Good-Bye Summer

I'd say we spent our unofficial last weekend of summer finishing things off right!

Friday, we got out of town early to get to Eugene and listen to Gabe's dad play music here.  Good beer, great music and time with grandparents.  Perfect!  Then Saturday afternoon, Tom had another gig up in Oakridge, so we went up to hear some more music at the park.

Levi got to ride around the bike path, throw rocks in the river, see Grandma Winnie and enjoy Grandpa Tom's harmonics.  Good times!

Yesterday we went down to the Oregon State Fair.
Levi's first trip to the fair was full of fun.
He loved looking at the animals (but not the petting zoo so much).

He loved the rides!

This roller coaster he did with Daddy was his favorite.

And he loved the food!  It wouldn't be the fair without food.  A lunch of hand dipped corn dogs, curly fries and strawberry lemonade was topped off with Levi's first taste of cotton candy.  (Mommy and Daddy didn't share their deep fried Snicker's bar with him.)

Today we've been hanging out at home, getting some much needed yard work done.  And I'm slowly trying to wrap my brain around the fact that another school year starts tomorrow.  I'm not ready to say good-bye to summer.  It was such a great one!