This weekend we got a real taste of what's ahead for us this season. We got a good dose of low temperatures, rain, and gloom. Which led to a slow-down in our usual activity. We were stuck indoors. And honestly, there was almost nothing to take pictures of.
So we turned to food instead.
In times of boredom, in times of stress, in times of cold:
food is our sunshine.
Matt made the family Belgian waffles and bacon on Saturday morning (with blackberries from the garden).
On Sunday, we boiled up some ears of corn.
And I let Kale have his way with one of them.
I declared Tuesday "make your own pizza day."
I wanted Sage to design and construct his own pizza. I think it's important for him to fall in love with food at an early age. He needs to learn what goes into making dinner every night. And I want him to actually sit down and eat with the family. This is something we struggle with on a daily basis. Throughout our dinners, Sage is usually darting back and forth between the table and his toys, rummaging through the cabinets for something sweet, or actually standing on his chair doing a fidgety dance, while Matt and I try to eat. The boy can't sit still. And he usually boycotts what I've served. I thought making his own pizza would be a fun way to give him more ownership of dinner.
He did a great job with each pizza-making step.
(And I love the way he arranged his little pepperonis!)
But in the end, he chose not to eat it. No thanks, he said. Dad inherited the rejected pizza instead. I give myself points for coming up with a good idea. But it didn't work.
I made myself a caprese style pizza.
Before baking:
After baking.
And then on Thursday night, we had a real recipe breakthrough.
It's been a while since I've had a real winner. But on Thursday it finally happened.
I know I've hit gold when my husband fist-bumps the air in response to a dish. And that's exactly what happened within moments of his first bite. Success!
I made black bean soup in the slow cooker. I looked up a couple recipes online, then took what I liked from each one and invented my own. It had 5 jalapeno peppers from the garden, and two chipotle peppers from a can. So it was spicy. But seasoned so well.
I woke up half an hour early to get the crockpot prepared Thursday morning before I left for work. My alarm when off at 5am. I snoozed it until 5:30, then finally got going. I was sauteing bell peppers, jalapenos, and onion throughout all of breakfast. Tossed them in with my spices, vegetable broth, and beans. And set the whole mixture to cook for 8 hours on low before I darted out the door at 7:45.
After work I pureed the mixture (twice) in my Ninja blender. Then served it with sour cream, avocado chunks, and cornbread.
Just one word - YES!
This weekend I'm wanting to try my hand at tomato soup. I've got to do SOMETHING with all the tomatoes in my kitchen. Every week I'm getting two big bowls like the ones pictured below. And I've exhausted every other tomato recipe in my normal rotation.
And that about sums up the week. The only other thing I can even think to share, is that Sage and I did a fair amount of glitter art over the weekend. Glitter was everywhere.
Tables, floors, clothes, and in between toes.
So when Kale went to school the next day, and I got a text from his teacher telling me he legitimately pooped glitter, I wasn't the least bit surprised. I was expecting that!
And oddly this isn't the first poop-related text I've received. The first time his teachers contacted me, it was to announce that Kale had pooped a sticker.
I guess you can tell a lot about a person by their poop!
