The menu I made the previous week said we'd be having Kale Lasagna on Sunday night. However, when I got ready to make it, it seemed I was missing a key ingredient: Lasagna noodles. Lasagna just isn't lasagna when you substitute another noodle.

I don't know about you, but on Sunday evenings, the last thing I want to do is run to Kroger, so I postponed that particular meal and decided to make up something using the kale I had, some whole wheat ciabatta rolls I'd just gotten from Sam's, and some white button mushrooms and portobello mushrooms I needed to use pronto (read: Manager Specials from Kroger).

What I ended up doing was water-sauteeing the kale with the chopped white button mushrooms, some minced garlic and a hint of salt, and then water-sauteeing the portobello mushrooms. I intended to grill the portobello mushrooms, but in the end, didn't want to get that many pans dirty, so I just threw them in the pan I'd just done the kale in.

I toasted the ciabatta rolls and put a big heap of wilted kale/mushroom on the bottom roll and then layered on a few slices of the portobello mushrooms.

Most of the time I eat healthy. I really do. We try hard to follow a nutritarian diet: get as many nutrients as you can for every calorie you eat. There are lots of junk foods we forego and I think nothing of it.  

But if you know me, you also know I have a sweet tooth. For super dark chocolates, first and foremost.

But I also love to bake.

Especially at Christmas.

So I won't waste any time telling you why you shouldn't partake of any seasonal sweets right now, because the point of this post is to share with you an amazing recipe I just found for peanut butter fudge.

How nutritarian is that? Well, not at all. 

And I'm not caring right at this moment.

Yesterday, my mail contained a Penzeys Spices catalog. Are you familiar with Penzeys? I've been buying spices from them ever since my friend Lynnie made me aware of them several years ago. Aside from the enormous variety of spices they offer at what I consider to be fairly reasonable prices, they are a small, family-owned and operated company with very positive values. And every catalog they send out is filled with recipes submitted by Penzeys spice users. It just gives you a cozy feeling every time you flip through it.

And lo and behold, this issue's cover had a plate of Christmas baking items on it. Including my all-time Christmas favorite: Peanut Butter Fudge.

Why in the world this is only a Christmas treat to me, I couldn't say. It could be perfectly delicious year-round, but for some reason, I only really want to make it during this season!

But I've had trouble finding a really good recipe. One that tastes great and doesn't get too dry. And I'd prefer one that didn't require me to stir boiling liquids while simultaneously checking the temperature for a "soft ball" stage. Nor do I want to take the easy route and come up with something less than perfect...

On a whim, I made this recipe in all of 20 minutes and can honestly say I've never had any better than this.

I take no credit for it - it was submitted by a Julie Eesley from Omaha, NE. Hats off to you, Julie!

Without further ado, here is it. If you're a fan of PB Fudge, get to work. It's worth it!

Peanut Butter Fudge

3/4 cup evaporated milk

2 cups sugar

2 TB butter

1 1/8 cups creamy peanut butter

2 cups marshmallow cream (I used a small tub without measuring)

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Grease an 8x8 inch pan and set aside.

Over a medium heat, heat the milk, sugar and butter to a rolling boil, stirring often (it takes about 6-8 minutes to get here). Boil for 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat and blend in the peanut butter, marshmallow cream and vanilla.

Spread in the pan and let cool in the fridge for several hours before cutting.

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Yield: 36 pieces

It is just past the middle of March and my air conditioner is on. This saddens me. I  find myself inexplicably depressed with the lengthening days, budding flowers, warming afternoons...I have no rational explanation for this, except that I really really love winter and my soul yearns for what it did not get this year.

I realize I am possibly the only person around feeling this way.  There may be others who enjoy winter and wish they'd experienced one, but most of them push past that and get really into SPRING! I was happy last Spring because with it came my second son, Dorien. I had that to look forward to! But this year, I really just want to sleep. Reverse hibernation. I am sad that an endless summer looms ahead of me. When it's high 80's the first days of March, that does NOT bode well for what lies ahead this summer. In spite of the gorgeous dogwoods budding in my front yard and exploding white snowball bushes at my gate and fragrant purple wisteria blooming on my trees not to mention my personal favorite - the unfolding crimson leaves of my Japanese maples, like origami magically performing...I am down.

This could be influenced by a marked lack of sleep I've experienced the past week.  August has pneumonia. We found this out yesterday at a doctor's appointment after the Lord prompted me to wake up at 3am Wednesday morning to find my son burning up with a fever of 105. It was enough to jumpstart the most asleep of us. Kyle and I (accompanied by a very confused, but amiable Dorien) were awake from 3-7 working to get August cooled down and figure out what was wrong. Pneumonia. That's what was wrong. And although he's now on antibiotics, it takes a bit to work and so last night was another night of super high fevers and cool baths and a wailing, miserable son who just wanted to be left alone.  

And even though the kids and I didn't really get moving around till 10, that was not enough sleep. My eyes are bloodshot and gunky from sleeping in my contacts and my brain slightly dull. I have ahead of me a weekend of planting seeds with my brothers for our veggie co-op and I'm nervous that this whole thing may flop royally. That Michael's flower beds may end up being large plots of jalapenos and nothing else. So, when I find myself slipping into a funk, I turn to something that always makes me feel better.  

Chocolate.

I intend to share with you a recipe I recently tried and seriously loved. There is nothing healthy about it, other than chocolate's natural benefits. It is quite simply, perfection. For this recipe, I call on two of my French cookbooks: 

Chocolate & Zucchini

To make the Chocolate Tart, you need something to hold all that lovely chocolate: a crust. So we'll start with that, because you can make this in advance and freeze it.

You can use a store-bought crust for a 9-inch pie, but I rarely ever use a store-bought crust. I love making my own. So I turned to the Pate Brisee, or Short Pastry, recipe in C&Z. Simple and Delicious.

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

8 tbsp. (1 stick) chilled, unsalted butter, diced

1 large egg, lightly beaten

ice-cold water

Combine flour, salt and butter in the processor. Process at low speed for about 10 seconds, until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the egg and mix again for a few seconds until dough comes together a little. If the dough is still dry, add a little ice-cold water 1 tsp at a time and process again. You do not want too much water- this is not supposed to be wet dough. It should JUST come together and hold itself into a ball when you form it into one.

Wrap the ball of dough in a sheet of Saran Wrap and then smash lightly down with the palm of your hand on the ball, so it becomes a slightly flattened ball. Stick it in the fridge for about 30 minutes (or up to a day). After it's cooled (you're re-chilling the butter that's melted), let it soften enough to roll out. Although I left my dough in the fridge overnight and then immediately rolled it out the next morning, no waiting, and it wasn't that difficult.

Sprinkle flour on a work surface and on your rolling pin and place the slightly flattened ball of dough on your work surface. Roll the pin over the dough 2 or 3 times with moderate pressure. Rotate the dough by a quarter of a turn clockwise and roll the pin over it 2 or 3 times. Repeat until you have a circle large enough to line your tart pan or pie pan.

Now, on to the main recipe:

--makes one 9-inch tart--

1 recipe pate brisee or pie dough for 9 inch pie

6 oz. dark chocolate (70 to 80% cacao preferred), chopped

1/3 cup 2% or whole milk

1/3 cup heavy cream

4 tbsp sugar

4 egg yolks

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Line a 9-inch tart pan with the pastry dough. Prick the bottom of the  dough with a fork and cover the dough with foil, crimping the foil over the edges of the mold. Add pie weights (dried beans or pellets --I have a container of dried chickpeas that I use over and over for this purpose) and bake for 10 minutes.  (instructions continued...)

This is what that looks like.

3. Lower the oven temp to 275 degrees now that the tart shell has par-baked.

Place the chocolate in a double boiler insert set above simmering water over medium heat and melt, stirring occasionally. 

--I used a mixture of chocolate in my recipe...adding up to 6 ounces (2 ounces of Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate, 2 ounces of Girhardelli's Bittersweet chocolate and 2 ounces of Nestle's semi-sweet chips). This was simply out of necessity, but it worked great!--

 A little spot of color towards the end of what feels like a very long week. Reminding me that a very long weekend lies ahead and to just hang in there!!!

The lovely little teacups and saucers were birthday presents from my mom who made me so happy with these gorgeous finds!

 And I realize it feels too early to celebrate Fall, but it is technically September.

And September 23 marks our Autumnal Equinox, don't ya know, so it just FEELS right to make my favorite fall food:

Pumpkin Chocolate (and white chocolate) Chip Muffins.

Notice August isn't complaining. Empty muffin wrapper, plenty of evidence left behind on the top lip and a smile for me. Worth every second of mixing and baking.

So, Happy September, Happy Almost Labor Day...

I feel like I've been doing some laboring lately, and I intend to fully leave that behind over the weekend. You do the same. See you next week.

 Lemon-Lime Blackberry Italian Meringue Pie

That is what you see before you. And I made every bit of it from scratch, 'cept of course the blackberries. Those came from God. Ok, truthfully, so did the lemons, limes, cream, etc. But I put all the components together all by my lonesome.

 The "italian" part of the meringue was interesting. It involved whipping egg whites all by themselves until they had soft peaks. Then, taking a little break from that, you combined corn syrup, sugar and water and basically turned it into syrup. Stir over medium low heat until sugar dissolves, then boost heat up and heat without stirring until it reaches 238 degrees. Then you pour that boiling hot syrup into the egg whites while whipping them. It was supposed to make them glossy, but I find that the "non-Italian" way seems to get the glossy effect just fine.  This method actually created little hardened bits of candy on my mixer and a little in the meringue. I must have done something wrong.  It still tasted good, though!

The thing about this pie that means it was probably a one-time thing is that it literally took me all day to make.

There was the crust to make from scratch. The lemon-lime curd to make and chill for hours. The wine compote to make. The gelatin mixture to make, cream to whip, blackberries to soak in the compote. And the whole thing kept needing to be chilled and then chilled again. 

But in the end, it did look remarkably similar to the source. Which was Bon Appetit magazine. And it tasted delicious. It was served in a bowl, though, because with all the blackberry juice and compote juice, it turned into liquid right below that yummy yellow lemon-lime curd layer. 

There are some things you do just because you need to show yourself you can. This was one of those things. And it was delicious.

 It's officially hot outside and that means 2 things for me:

1) I only want cold food

2) and that includes home-made ice cream.

I've been holding on to a recipe for coffee ice cream since last summer. The moment to make it just hadn't presented itself, but it did the other day. Fortunately, I have on hand the best coffee I've ever had: Leiva's Coffee.

If you love coffee, and I don't mean just Starbucks (aka Charbucks), you will LOVE Leiva's. I confess that I used to love Starbucks until I started drinking Leiva's. Kyle and I stumbled upon this brand through some of our dearest friends, Geovanni and Alana Leiva. Geo's family in Guatemala has a coffee farm where the beans are grown, harvested and shipped locally to Geo for roasting and distribution. The coffee is tasty and one of my favorite things...not at all bitter. Not to mention all the good that Geo and his family are doing for the many families that work for their coffee farm in Guatemala.

And once you've had it, you can't go back. Trust me

.

On a cold winter's day (or night), nothing beats soup.  

Seriously, nothing. And so much the better if the soup is pretty easy to make, doesn't require a lot of ingredients and takes little time to make. These days, I haven't the patience I normally do to spend looming over my stove. I get tired! 

So I have been looking for new recipes to satisfy my ever-present desire for hot soup and currently, my impatience at cooking.

In my trusty Cornerstone Cooks cookbook, I found a recipe for Gold Chicken Potato Soup that served 2. What? Seriously? Just 2? And yes, it did appear to contain the ingredients for soup that would just serve 2. So I took the liberty of slightly altering the recipe and it has since served my family of 4 for one meal and provided several bits of leftovers (see above picture).

What I like about this recipe is that is has a sort of peppery heat that just soaks into your bones and if you happen to be a bit stuffy, clears you right up. Without being too hot for your kiddos.

In a dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat and then dump in the chopped onion. Saute until the onions are soft.

Add the water, potatoes and bouillon and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes (until potatoes are tender).

At this point, if you wanted to, you could use an immersion blender to blend up the soup for a creamier texture...I didn't feel like messing with this when I made it. 

Stir in remaining ingredients minus the parsley and heat through. Add parsley as a garnish prior to serving.

The end result: a delicious, easy, healthy meal that warms you up! 

Oh my goodness, you must be thinking, multiple posts in one day! Don't get spoiled...I'm just as likely to get sidetracked for another month.

But I'm trying to make up for my bad behavior by treating you to some good things! Recommending good books, giving you a superb recipe...

Background on this recipe: This past summer, I read a book by David Lebovitz called The Sweet Life in Paris. (See, another book recommendation!) The best thing about this book was the myriad of recipes nestled within its chapters. I liked them so much I made copies of all the recipes before turning the book back into the library. Teehee.

Every now and then I pull out my sheaf of copied papers and flip through them for ideas. Usually when my sweet tooth gets to wiggling, because David Lebovitz is a renowned pastry chef and so far, hasn't led me astray.

These little guys look like muffins and/or cupcakes, but don't really fit into either category. They're in their own little arena of goodness. You don't ice them...and I don't really think you'd want them for breakfast, although Kyle did mistakenly scarf one down a few mornings ago. And I didn't hear him complaining. They go exceptionally well with coffee and equally well with plain ole milk.

7 ounces (200g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup (125 ml) vegetable oil

1/2 cup (125 ml) plain whole-milk yogurt

1 cup (200 g) sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 1/2 cups (200 g) flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp coarse salt

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper cupcake liners or lightly butter the pan.

2. In a heatproof bowl set over simmering water, melt the chocolate with 1/4 cup of the oil. Once melted and smooth, remove from heat.

3. In another bowl, mix the remaining 1/4 cup oil with the yogurt, sugar, eggs, and vanilla and almond extracts.

4. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt.

5. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the yogurt mixture. Stir lightly a couple of times, then add the melted chocolate and stir until just smooth.

6. Divide the batter among the muffin cups and bake for 25 minutes, or until they feel barely set in the middle.

7. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack before serving.

Storage: the cakes can be stored in an airtight container, at room temp, for up to 4 days. (and in my own personal experience, even slightly longer).

Note: although you can use regular salt, the coarse salt really adds something special here. Somehow, you get a hint of salt with each chocolatey bite and it adds some serious dimension to the typical chocolate/cake experience. I made these really for my kids, but found myself LOVING them. And with the yogurt, well, they're basically health food!

I awoke from my nap with August this afternoon to the sound of a tornado siren. Not quite the alarm I had in mind to rouse me from my deep slumber. I quickly dashed downstairs and saw Kyle pulling the 4Runner under the house for protection from potential hail. Where did this storm even come from?

No idea, but it was right on top of us according to the weather station, and while it didn't appear to be literally right on top of us, I could see a very dark wall of clouds just in the distance and the rumbling of thunder was very distinct. I dragged my very asleep children out of their beds and hauled them downstairs with me and Kyle to our very safe basement. (Lots of "verys" in there).

So, how do you spend 30 minutes in your basement while waiting for a storm to pass? With a golden retriever leaning very comfortingly against your leg. Chatting with your kids about thunder and storms and playing games on Kyle's Iphone. Realizing that, if in fact, there is a tornado and it wipes out your house, you have nothing but the clothes on your back which are not at all your favorites or even most practical (grungy shorts and a grungy tank top). Plus, you're barefoot. Fortunately, the blankie August and I share was with us, as was our trusty dog. So, I guess we had all we needed.

Needless to say, it passed us by without harm and even blessed us with a little rain for our parched ground. And the rest of our afternoon passed blissfully with the temps about 20 degrees cooler.

And the evening unfolded with a variety of comforting scenes. August peacefully playing by himself.

I try not to make this blog all about my kids or all about anything in particular really, just life. But I feel like lately there have been several not so positive things that have happened and I feel that if I'm gonna pour out those things to you and risk darkening your day, I should also be fair and share some funny moments that happen in my life, too. Maybe to brighten your day.

After having my faith in car dealerships restored by one truly sweet parts supply guy at Audi who snuck me out a master anti-theft bolt key to try with my car - it fits, praise God! That means we can now put our spare on and safely drive to the store to have new tires put on without risking a huge blowout en route! So, see...there's a positive! After that, my evening had a positive spin put on it already.

So it kept getting better when we had a great workout at the gym...Kyle informed me that Bono and U2 are doing the soundtrack for a new Broadway musical about Spiderman (the good news being U2's involvement, obviously)...then dinner!

I made, yet again, something incredible (not to arrogantly and incorrectly imply that my cooking is always incredible...but lately, everything from this magazine is...) from my Vegetarian Times: Moroccan Lentil Stew. Seriously easy, ready in under 30 minutes and seriously yummy. Worth sharing the recipe. So here it is:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 minced garlic cloves (1 tbsp)

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

2 18 oz cartons of prepared lentil stew (they recommended and I used Dr. McDougall's brand. Really good stuff!)

1 15 oz can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)

1/2 cup raisins or dried currants

1.5 tsp cumin

2 tsp ground cinnamon

sprinkling of red pepper flakes

dollop of yogurt to top off the bowls

1) Heat oil in medium saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and saute 3 minutes or until softened and translucent. Add garlic and cook for about a minute, until softened, but not brown. Stir constantly.

2) Stir in tomatoes, soup, chickpeas, raisins, cinnamon, cumin and red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Bring stew to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.

3) Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes. Stir periodically to keep from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Garnish each serving with a tbsp of yogurt.

per 1 cup serving: 263 calories, 11 g protein, 4 g fat (I am not sure there's any fat at all if you exclude the yogurt or use fat-free yogurt)

Ok, so there was dinner and it was really good! I have learned that my kids LOVE soup. Any soup. They will clean up! Tonight was no exception.

So, we're sitting there eating and Brooklyn is very seriously spooning soup into her mouth. I say to her, "Brooklyn, I'm so glad you like the soup!" She looks back up at me, pausing only a second before shoveling another spoonful in to say, quite seriously, "I love it." I had to laugh and also just be happy!

Then, we broke into a spontaneous round of "I Spy". A particularly funny game when a 4 and 2 year old are involved.

Here's B: "I spy something...green!" And before anyone can respond, she immediately yells out the 4 or 5 green things she's spotted.

Here's August: "I spy something....Daddy! And, YOUR TUWN Mommy!!" He loves to pass on the turns, like he's awarding us with something important. And let's face it, it is! Or "I spy something...BWUE!!!" What is it? "Your gween shirt Mommy!!!!"

And then, after I think everyone is finished and Kyle is washing dishes for me like the wonderful husband he is, B comes over and says, Mommy, I'm still hungry. I want some more soup.

So I dish her out a bowl and we plop down on the kitchen floor. A "kitchen picnic", I say. She beams at this and immediately crosses her legs, scooches closer and invites August to join our Kitchen Picnic. He sees the beauty of this, drops what he's doing and joins in, very carefully crossing his legs just like mine and B's. Kyle's wandering to and fro picking up things when August yells out, "Daddy, we're having a Kitchen Picnic! Come and sit down right by me!" And B echoes, "Daddy, join our Kitchen Picnic!" Just the phrasing they chose made us both just laugh in delight! How can a Daddy resist such an invitation! Clean-up can wait!

About 30 minutes later and 3 bowls of soup later, our Kitchen Picnic wraps up, but not before everyone has mastered saying 'Moroccan Lentil Stew' and August says "Moroccan makes me rockin!"

Moments like that, just kept unfolding tonight, making my cup of joy simply overflow. Literally, overflow. With love, laughter, the preciousness and truly delightfulness of my children, the sweetness of my husband and well, some really good Moroccan Lentil Stew! Definitely ending the day on a sweet note. Signing off....

Every now and then, you just have to take a few days or 7 and just walk away from your normal routine. Go someplace away from it all. And just disappear off the map. Or at least off the map most people know.

I realize my life as a stay-at-home mom sounds REAL taxing, but there are days, particularly days when it feels like all I do is laundry and vacuum (and throw up)..

And even more vital for my beloved husband who hadn't had a real break from work at ALL this past year.

And cuddle with his kids.

In my family, we're so so so blessed to have what you have heard me casually refer to as the Farm. And it just happened to be free this past week, so we packed up our bags, our dog, our many many library books, my knitting projects, a few clothing items, our toothbrushes, lots of art supplies for Kyle, some groceries and got the heck out of dodge.

All the way to Monticello, past the horse farm and curious cows and down the dirt road to our favorite getaway house.

We came on the heels of Josh and Lauren who left us milk and eggs in the fridge. Thanks!

So our week is ended and we are once again settled back in our own home, suitcases packed away.Until this weekend. When we'll head down once again to share Labor Day with the whole clan!