DISODIUM GUANYLATE? What does that even mean??

As I'm sure you might have guessed, we take food pretty seriously around here. We try to grow as much as we possibly can (last week we harvested the peanuts that the kids planted!), and make what we can't. We aren't gluten-free and luckily we don't have any allergies to work around, but all of the bread, hamburger or hot dog buns, pie crusts, cookies, pizza dough, and lately even tortillas and pasta is home made. This takes a LOT of effort, but I can't think of anything better than showing my family my love for them by feeding them the very best food that I can.

Of course, I have encouragement in this. When we are watching TV together (sans kids, of course) my husband will say helpful things to the moms in commercials for fast food or frozen pizza such as, "You're a bad parent!" And, I mean, seriously, who buys Pop Tarts and Pizza Rolls these days? I'd say you might as well give a kid a can of Crisco and a spoon, but Crisco doesn't have transfats, and I'm pretty sure Hot Pockets still do.

Sometimes my husband or kids want to take it a step further than I want to, though. Veggie burgers, for example. Yes, it's still highly processed frozen food, but shouldn't moms feel good about feeding their kids veggie burgers instead of beef? And of course this week when we were doing the meal planning, the kids requested veggie burgers - but home made, of course. "Ugggghhhhh," I'm thinking in my head. Just "uggggghhhh." I've done that before and it's so much WORK. But of course I'm a sucker, and the advantage of doing all the work is that you can make a lot at once and freeze them so veggie burgers become the easy pop-in-the-oven meal they were meant to be.

So here's how I made veggie burgers that kids love out of things that kids think they hate. Wear comfortable shoes.

You're gonna need beans.

LOTS of beans. This is a 2 lb. bag of pinto beans that I rinsed, soaked overnight, and then cooked till very soft. I'll spare you the details as I'm sure every vegetarian knows how to cook beans. I seasoned them with salt, pepper, garlic, and onion powder, and of course a bit of oil to keep the foam down.

BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE!

MORE BEANS?!

Yep, more beans. This is a one pound bag of chickpeas that got the same treatment, plus a splash of lemon juice just at the end.

Now, honestly you could probably use canned beans for this. I'm not sure because I don't buy canned beans, nor anything else that comes in a can other than black olives. Dried beans are much cheaper, tastier, and you can control the sodium content. Plus I had enough from both of these to freeze leftover batches of beans which will make pulling together curry or falafel or tacos a snap. And in fact, if you have frozen beans from other projects, just thaw those out for this. It doesn't matter what kind of beans, anything will work!

But wait! There's still more (work)! So much more (soul crushing, standing on your feet work)!

To get a meaty flavor, we're going to need some natural glutamates. Mushrooms are an obvious choice, but my kids all think that they hate them, so I sent them outside to have an epic Nerf battle while I did this part so no one would question what was in the veggie burgers.

This is about a pound of mushrooms and one large onion, both roughly chopped, seasoned with salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce (you could use the vegan kind if you are more strict about these things than I am) and a bit of reduced-sodium soy sauce. Cook that down and then crank up the heat a bit to get some nice caramelization going.

MEANWHILE...

Soak 1 cup of medium bulgar in 1 cup water. I've tried a couple of things to supplement the texture of veggie burgers, but I like bulgar the best. The commercial products rely on TVP, which I'm sure is fine but I rarely keep it on hand. Brown rice also works well, but if you use that you're also going to have to cook some brown rice, and who needs that?

Move the mushrooms and onions to a food processor and add the softened bulgar to the same pan. That way it can soak up all the flavor left behind.

Now comes the easy part, assuming you have a good food processor. Pulse the onions and mushrooms till well chopped, then add about 3 cups of the cooked pinto beans and a cup and a half of chickpeas. Really just cram whatever you can into your particular food processor. Blend that a bit then toss in the bulgar.

Once it's mixed, scoop it out into a bowl.

Now, here I have a confession to make, but before that a short memory. At one point my mom told me that my grandmother apologized to her for something not being home made since she had used the food processor to make it. And we can all agree that that's pretty crazy, right? Using a tool doesn't negate all the rest of the effort that goes into making something at home. So keep that in mind when you look at the next picture...

YEAH YEAH YEAH SO I USED SOME PANKO. GAH.

Once I watched an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown talked about spraying dough into an electrified screen to make it, but here he explains it a little differently:

In this recipe they really do add a lot of good texture, in addition to absorbing excess moisture to make your patties more patty-shaped. I stirred in probably two cups of panko along with two fresh eggs. If you don't have fresh eggs you might want to taste for seasoning at this point, adding salt pepper and garlic or onion powder as necessary.

Spatula from Dollar Tree. Pyrex bowl inherited from above referenced grandmother!

 Stir it all together and then it's time to make the gloopy mess ready for those nice, homemade whole wheat buns I'm sure you baked already. You could shape it by hand... OR

REMEMBER THESE? I'm pretty sure as soon as you had a baby in the 80s, the hospital handed you one of these. Every mom had one. And probably twenty or so of the little patty storage Tupperware containers with beige lids that could be frozen! And of course when you use them for meat, the beef shrinks up upon cooking so that you have tiny little hamburgers dwarfed by even standard issue grocery store hamburger bungs. Luckily for us vegetarians, beans don't shrink.

Spray every surface of this thing and a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Add about a 1/3 cup portion of the mix to the mold and press it with the plunger. There is no neat way I've found to de-veggie burger the thing other than just slamming the open side down onto the cookie sheet. Re-spray and/or wipe out the mold pieces as necessary.

Where's the beef? STILL ATTACHED TO THE COW!

Lookin' pretty meaty, right? Stick those right into the freezer until frozen through and then pop them into a bag or freezer container so that you don't have to go through all this for awhile. You can bake them fresh or frozen at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. You might want to flip them halfway through the cooking time for nice color on both sides.

And 289375892375892370459872345 steps later, VOILA! Veggie burgers!

Wherein I cover up the fact that I am staggeringly bad at food photography with a series of online photo filters.

Homemade Veggie Burgers 

Ingredients

2 lbs Pinto beans, cooked according to package directions
1 lb Chickpeas, cooked according to package directions
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1 lb. mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup medium bulgar
2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
2 eggs
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. onion powder
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Cook beans, seasoning with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders to taste. 
2. Add 1 cup boiling water to bulgar, cover and let sit.
3. Over medium-high heat, saute mushrooms and onion in olive oil until nicely browned. Add Worcestershire and soy sauces, plus salt and pepper.
4. Add mushroom mixture to bowl of food processor and pulse to chop. Add several cups of beans, as many as will fit. You may have to work in batches, depending on the size of your food processor.
5. In pan used for mushrooms, add bulgar and toast lightly. Add to food processor.
6. Remove to a bowl and stir in eggs and Panko, tasting for seasoning.
7. Shape into patties and freeze till firm.

Bake 20 minutes in 400 degree oven, turning once if desired. Makes 24 veggie burgers.

And while I still think the frozen kind are pretty good, it's nice to be able to pronounce everything that's in mine. Just what is disodium inosinate anyway?

From the Morningstar Farms Grillers Originals website:

TEXTURED VEGETABLE PROTEIN (WHEAT GLUTEN, SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, WATER FOR HYDRATION), EGG WHITES, CORN OIL, CALCIUM CASEINATE, CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF MODIFIED TAPIOCA STARCH, ONION POWDER, CANOLA OIL, TRIGLYCERIDES FROM COCONUT OIL, HYDROLYZED VEGETABLE PROTEIN (CORN GLUTEN, WHEAT GLUTEN, SOY PROTEIN), DEXTROSE, SALT, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT, SUGAR, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS FROM NON-MEAT SOURCES, CARAMEL COLOR, CULTURED WHEY, MALTODEXTRIN, GARLIC POWDER, SPICE, CELLULOSE GUM, DISODIUM GUANYLATE, DISODIUM INOSINATE, SOY SAUCE (WATER, SOYBEANS, SALT, WHEAT), VITAMINS AND MINERALS (NIACINAMIDE, IRON [FERROUS SULFATE], THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE [VITAMIN B6], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], VITAMIN B12), SESAME SEED OIL, CELERY EXTRACT, SOY LECITHIN.

Happy Halloween

I used to think that I went all out for Halloween. I love costumes, and I have almost as many boxes of Halloween decorations as I do Christmas decorations. This year, however, there was just so much going on that I only managed to decorate inside, throw a wreath on the door and call it done. I still love sharing all the spooky fun with the kids, though, so I made them spiderweb pancakes to have for breakfast this week.

The kids thought they were pretty cool. I just made regular pancake batter, but with white flour rather than whole wheat so the contrast would be more noticeable. Transfer about a cup of the batter to another bowl and color it black with food coloring. My initial thought was to use cocoa powder, but we were out so I just went with the dye. Pour in the white batter first, then swirl on the black and use a toothpick to draw spokes coming out from the center of the pancake.

I had two pans going on the stove to get them done faster.

Spooky Pancakes

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Mix the dry ingredients, then add the wet and stir just till mixed. Batter will be lumpy. Transfer 1 cup to another bowl and add black food coloring or cocoa powder to make a dark batter. Pour 1/4 cup light batter into a hot pan and immediately swirl the dark batter on top. Drag a toothpick through both colors to create the web effect. Cook until bubbles form and edges are slightly set and flip. 

And of course, don't forget to leave a note so people can appreciate your hard work. In the morning. While you're still in bed.

I just love having a dry erase kitchen table.

Happy Halloween! 

Project Runway and Fabric Drama

I want to make a post about the kitchen now that I feel it's finished, but then I looked at other people's kitchen posts and I realized that I'm really bad at photographing kitchens. And really everything else.

So... how about a rambly post about sewing and TV?

You know all you have to do to get me to watch a TV show? Just put the whole thing on Hulu Plus. That's really all it takes. If I can watch the pilot and keep going through the whole series or at least a season, I'll do it. I'm a Libra, I don't like making decisions. Having the next episode waiting for me means I don't have to make a decision!

Lately I started watching season 10 of Project Runway, having no idea which seasons of Project Runway I've actually seen at this point. It's been years since I watched it, but it seems pretty much what I remembered - over-dramatization of the difficulty of sewing a dress. I mean, it's probably hard coming up with something new and innovative that you're being judged on, but COME ON! They get to go to Mood Fabrics with hundreds of dollars and they're still all "WAH WAH WAH! They don't have anything I liiiiiikeeee!"

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!

Case in point, I wanted to make a dress using this pattern from Project Runway Season 5 winner Leanne Marshall.

Do you see that cute fabric on view B? It looks like some kind of silk print with little Chinese farmers and stags leaping through a forest of pink ivy and palm trees. WHERE DO YOU GET THAT? Where I live I have three choices for fabric: JoAnn's, Hancock, or Wal-Mart. You know what they don't have and never will? Cute silk prints with little Chinese farmers and stags leaping through a forest of pink ivy and palm trees. However, there are roughly 500 different Disney character prints in quilting cotton for the apparent masses who are into that sort of thing.

But I like THAT DRESS with THAT PRINT, so I wanted to find something as close as I could. Unlike at Mood on Project Runway, I found a fabric that I liked and was prepared to get it cut even though it was $7.97 a yard, which is on the high end of my personal price range. As an aside (I told you this was going to be rambly), sometimes people ask me about sewing clothing or mention that they could save SO MUCH MONEY if they made their own clothes. These people are living in a dream world. Fabric and notions are such a racket, and while occasionally you score a deal, unless you are shopping at high end retail stores to begin with, you probably won't save much by sewing. It probably costs about as much to make a dress as to buy one from, say, Target or H&M, although I suppose with those there is the lingering question of the ethical choices of the textile manufacturers. Are their workers well treated and fairly paid? Are they using chemical processes that create a lot of pollution? And I really can't say. Honestly I don't know much about the sources of commercially available fabrics, although it does seem that many of the fabrics that I've purchased were made in the U.S.A. (sometimes it says it along the selvage edge). Everything gets ethically complicated when you think about it enough. Suffice it to say that I sew for personal satisfaction more than budgetary reasons, but I don't like it to become too expensive a hobby.

Back to the point, there I was, $7.97 a yard fabric picked out at Wal-Mart, but the line at the cutting counter was so long that I didn't have time to buy it. Also I needed a zipper for a specific project that I was doing for someone else and they didn't have the right thing. So I resolved to just go to JoAnn's. Before I got a chance to do that, however, I had occasion to be at a different Wal-Mart where the same exact fabric was on clearance for $4/yd. Score! So I waited at the cutting counter. I asked two different employees to find someone to help me. I was there for HALF AN HOUR and no one came. So I left, stopping to complain to a manager on the way out who THEN offered to help me, but I had places to be and no time or patience left by then.

The next day I drove up to JoAnn's which, despite the larger selection, had nothing even close to what I was looking for. They did have the zipper, though, so I bought that and steeled myself to return to Wal-Mart. This time, there was a line at the cutting counter, but still no employee there. One of the ladies in line said she'd been waiting thirty minutes. I told her what had happened the day before. She was asking any employee who passed by to find help. Finally this one woman who was stocking stuff in a different department came over and said she could do it. We all thanked her profusely and two of us just bought all of the fabric left on our respective bolts because she looked dubious about cutting. Success!! I finally had acquired fabric which, while not as awesome as the fabric in the pattern, was still evidently the best choice in a 30 mile radius.

Navy? Check. Blue, green, and purple flowers? Eh, it'll do.

So I laid it all out and got to cutting, deciding to omit the little shoulder flappy things. Construction was fairly easy, and I loved that it has pockets! There is a pleating detail at the center front of the skirt and the rest is gathered. I liked this because it makes the gathered skirt look more fitted and sophisticated and slightly less frumpy, polygamous housewife as gathered skirts can lean toward.

Normally I prefer invisible zippers, but recently I came across a huge stash of vintage zippers and got over 100 of various colors and lengths for $8. This one was perfect for the job at hand!

And voila!

I wore it to Back to School night at the middle school where I promptly froze to death because they had the air conditioning going full blast. I really like the pattern and will make it again, but it's big enough that I can put it on without the zipper so I'll definitely size down next time. I especially liked the way the neck and arm bindings were, and I could see doing them in a contrast color. I think this dress would work well sized down and made in knit, too. I didn't end up liking the shoulders, so I added rouching along those to narrow them a bit. Next time I'd change the length of the shoulder, or maybe actually make the flappy things. Maybe they would help. 

Still, I like it, which is good after all the trouble I went through to get the fabric! And in the end, I'd guess it cost around $10 total to make, which is something I bet you'll never see on Project Runway!

Little Green Dress

Years ago on another blog in another time, I used to post a lot of the things that I sew. I used to post a lot in general because I had a lot of alone time. I also used to sew more due to said alone time. Now I use my sparse alone time (although I've been told that football season is starting which translates into sewing time for me!) to actually DO projects instead of just talking about things on the internet all day. I wish I could devote as much time to sewing as I used to, and maybe once we build shelving and organize the office I'll be better set up to do some quick projects. For now, I do what I can when I can.

But I recently made a dress and every time I've worn it I've gotten a compliment from a stranger. Nothing feels better than having someone come up to you and say, "I love your dress! Where did you get it?" and being able to say, "I made it." Of course, this probably annoys the people who complimented you, but why is it suddenly about the feelings of strangers??

I started with this pattern:

It's weird in that there's no View A, B, C, etc. Just a lot of random pieces that you can mix and match to make a dress. This is the fourth time I've used it, and each time I try something different with the skirt. I really love the bodice, but I've never liked the shape of the skirt. It hits right under the bust and is supposed to just have one big pleat in the front and one big pleat in the back. I don't mind it so much in the front, but it is really just too much material in the back. I've tried just gathering it, multiple pleats, darts, and now on this one I did little pintucks that I stitched down in the middle. I'm still not happy with it. I think next time I'll just draft out the excess and cut an A-line skirt. And maybe add in-seam pockets because every dress is better with pockets.

 It's pretty comfy. Since it was a quilting cotton that I picked up at Walmart, I flat-lined it with some navy crepe to give it a better weight. The cap sleeves from the pattern weren't really working for me, so I added loops at the shoulders to gather them up. That turned out to be my favorite part of the dress!

Next up I think I'm going to do a couple of knit projects, and I really want to make a peplum top while they're still in. Looking forward to more sewing as the garden is winding down.

A Home for Pfaff

So... you guys know I like sewing machines, right? And I already posted about one of the cases and antique machines that I restored here. But that was just ONE of... um... the COMPLETELY REASONABLE number of sewing machines that I have. I can tell it's a reasonable number because my husband still lets me buy them without rolling his eyes even a little. I return the favor when he decides he just HAS to order expensive industrial (like crop-dusting) strength herbicides that are only available on the internet. 

The really nice thing about collecting old sewing machines is just how devalued they tend to be on the presumed basis that practically no one sews anymore, and those who do buy fancy Janome or Huskavarna machines with a million stitches built in and an automatic threader. Which is not to say that modern machines aren't great, but they are mostly made of plastic and I've ruined an expensive newer machine with some of the crazy things I choose to sew. 

For a long time my sewing machine Holy Grail was to find a Pfaff sewing machine. I'd read blogs and heard people talk about what nice stitching they do, how they are powerhouses and aren't phased by the thickest seams or material. How they last forever and are basically the most awesome thing ever to come out of West Germany. But it's hard to find the old, mostly-metal mid-century models because they now belong to little old ladies who are NOT giving them up. Fortunately for me one day we were at a thrift store and my husband came over and asked, "What's that sewing machine brand you're always looking for? Something with a 'P'?" And then he showed it to me! The beautiful, perfect, Pfaff 284 that became mine for only $25!!

I stole this photo from the internet.

That is not my Pfaff, but it did look just like that after I cleaned it up and oiled it. Unfortunately, my machine didn't come in a pretty wooden case like that. It came in a broken press-board base that snagged every piece of fabric in its immediate vicinity. So for a long time I'd wanted to give it a proper home where I could use it without having to either leave it in the scratchy box or take it out and worry about the bottom of it destroying my desk. Good thing I hoard have other sewing machines!

I picked this table up at another thrift store for $15. It contained a pretty neat in its own right vintage White 468 that was made in Japan.

That's the box that the Pfaff came in.

The neat thing about this is that the motor and belts are internal, so it was late enough they'd figured that out, but not so late that someone thought to, I don't know, PUT A BASE ON THE THING. Why did they used to make sewing machines with so many spikes on the bottom, anyway?

The thing I liked about the table was how it had simple lines that seemed appropriate for the stark, German Pfaff styling. The thing I didn't like was that the finish was orange-y and all scratched up.

Lookin' a little rough there, pal. 

Don't worry! I will help you!!

So I took the thing all apart and promptly let it sit in the basement for five months. What? I'VE BEEN BUSY! A couple of weeks ago I finally had some free time to start working on it. Unlike other sewing machine cases I've refreshed, this one actually had decent wood that wasn't chipping or ruined with peeling veneer. Step one was to strip off the old finish which I did with chemical stripper. Then I sanded it with 150 grit sandpaper, followed by 220, and then 0000 steel wool. Once it was nice and smooth, I was ready to stain.

I wanted it somewhat dark, so I did two coats of Minwax Wood Stain in Dark Walnut. After that dried, I covered everything in three coats of polyurethane, sanding with 320 grit sandpaper between coats.

And voila!

I also changed out the handle with something more industrial/modern which I may or may not regret depending on how often I snag cloth in the return.

It could be styled as a cute side table when not in use.

But with this beauty inside, what are the odds it won't get used?

Fun fact: if someone at Lowe's asks if you need help, you will waste a lot of time if you ask him whether or not they used the metric system in post-Soviet West Germany. They did. Metric all the way. There was only one of the original set screws that hold the machine onto the brackets in the case, so I had to get another. Unfortunately they only had M6-1.00 pan head screws at Lowe's, which wouldn't fit due to the head. So the next day we had to go to Home Depot for proper set screws. Whereupon we returned home and I realized that we don't own a metric hex-wrench set. *SIGH* Luckily we had a star-head bit from one of our various bit-driver sets that was close enough to get the job done.

TA-DA!

Couldn't be happier with the way it turned out, except that now I have to get it upstairs.

If I Never Hear the Theme Song to Zelda Again It Will Be Too Soon

You'll be glad to know that I sat down and had a long talk with myself. I was in a car taking the very, very scenic route back home from an overnight getaway to Atlantic City, but technically that is still sitting. "Self," I said, "What you need to do is not less things. It's to just make more of the blog posts that you mean to make." Being very sensitive about the topic of things, as I generally feel that I have to do all of them - ESPECIALLY in the summer - I replied, "Yes. I know. But I have to DO THE THINGS." Master of compromise that I am...

...let me just point out that even while trying to type out this thought my husband asked if I was "feeling egg-y" which is his way of implying that I should probably get my butt into the kitchen and make some breakfast. So yeah, THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE BLOG POSTS. And the washer just dinged telling me to put stuff in the dryer. And start another load in the washer. And if we're going to eat eggs we'll need toast which means I should start a batch of bread going. And and and...

ANYWAY. "Self," I offered, "Why don't you make a post about something you've done before you start doing something new?" And I've done LOTS of things, so that doesn't sound entirely unreasonable. If I do say so myself.

So what's up lately? It's summer which means the kids are home all day and they. are. BORED. Despite the house full of toys, books, science experiment sets, a trampoline, playground in the yard, bikes, metal detectors, weekly library trips they are BORED. When they say that they are bored what they actually mean is, "We want to play video games but you won't let us so we will get even by telling you every twenty seconds just how BORING life is until you give in and let us play video games." It's only in their heads that I will ever give in, though. We have video game time built in to our daily schedule and I have a saved (I really should laminate that) sheet from one of the kids' 9 to 11 year old check-ups at the Pediatrician which says that kids in that age range should have NO MORE THAN one hour of screen time a day. If the DOCTOR says that, it means that I am RIGHT and boredom is not, in fact, fatal.

One of the things that two of them have decided to fill the time with is piano practice. The mom in me thinks this is a fine idea. The person in me who doesn't want to hear Fur Elise 327498573984579387593875938 times a day disagrees. But mom wins out even when this happens to the piano bench:

One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just isn't the same...

I'm not sure how they even managed to do that to the leg, but they did it. Of course, it wasn't in the best shape to begin with. For one thing, this is the bench that came with the piano that my mom bought used when I was a kid, so it's pretty old. Like getting way too close to 40 for my comfort old.

So that was also a problem.

 It was pretty much just held together by a piece of twill tape and some rusty screws. When we moved to this house I decided to paint the piano itself (Why yes, yes I am THAT crazy), but the bench had already been through two makeovers as you can see from the bottom of the lid. I'd covered it with fabric that matched the upholstery on my old, old couch and did like a shabby-chic finish. Then, in a different house, with a different couch, I painted it brown and added fabric that matched a throw pillow (which I still have in this house with yet another couch).. Under all of that there is still the original brown vinyl covering.

Uh, yeah, it's SUPPOSED to look like that...

The only hope was to pull off everything, strip off the paint, and start over.

I didn't take any photos of the fun bubbly paint, or of my lovely then-10-year-old assistant sanding it down, but it looked pretty nice when it was cleaned off. Not nice enough to stain, mind you, but nice. I spray painted it with Krylon Dual Paint + Primer spray paint in glossy black and then covered the top in easy to clean black vinyl. I still like the old fabric, but I just wanted it to sort of disappear into the piano itself.

Look! The legs work!

 I also had to bend the bolt in the leg back into place so that they could, you know, sit on it. I filled the screw holes with wood filler so that the hinges would go in tight, and I used slightly longer screws.

Better, right?

And here it is, now camouflaged in its native environment...

Someday I will figure out how all those other ladies who blog take the pretty pictures where their houses looks nice and you don't just see every bit of dirt and chipped paint.

So now it's all set for kids to sit there and play the theme song to every video game ever over and over and over so as to remind me that even when I don't let them play video games all day, they're still thinking about them. Figuring out the notes to the songs. Writing them down in video game character illustrated song books so that their brothers can build upon their knowledge and play EVEN MORE video game theme songs. But, most importantly, they are, for a few minutes anyway, not BORED.

So it begins...

Several months ago I started using Bloglovin' to read all the blogs I like to follow, and since I liked the format so much I started following a lot more blogs. The thing that impresses me is not so much all the beautiful homes, smart children, and impressive wardrobes that these lady-bloggers have (after all, my home is great, my children have their moments, and have you seen my closet??), it's how freaking often they can talk themselves into sitting down and writing a post. Honestly I have the best of intentions. I am ALWAYS up to something like what I read about on other blogs, and I'm usually even pretty good about taking pictures of it. What I'm bad at is actually getting around to writing the post. Which I guess is why they're able to support themselves by blogging, and I have to post a link to my Facebook to even have anyone notice.

For example, I wrote that probably three weeks ago and then never finished a post. I don't know why I make it into something so hard in my head, since compared to the ancient days where you had to upload your photos to some server then manually do all the HTML it's really easy. So anyway, I'm going to try to start posting more, but be warned that it will probably just be things from the garden for the foreseeable future. Like this!

One day I was so excited to pick the first summer squash of the season. I ran right inside stopping only to pull up an onion and grab a handful of garlic bubils that I'd recently harvested.

The goods.

Chopped it all up, threw it in a pan with some olive oil, salt and pepper.

And then ate it all in one sitting. Well, my husband got some, and even though he's not a big summer squash fan, he did like it. That's the magic of onions. And Parmesan.

That's summer in a bowl right there.

The hard part was that there had been just ONE squash. Now I'll have to wait like FOREVER to eat more squash. Right?

The next day:

OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE??

Just kidding. This took like two days. And now that the zucchini has started as well there is no way that even an enthusiastic squash eater such as myself can keep up. But I sure will try!

That took like ten minutes. What is wrong with me? (Please don't answer that)






And, in case you like Bloglovin' as much as I do, I added a big ole button over on the right so you can follow my blog there.