Ingredients

Directions

1. Start a pot of water boiling for the spaghetti.  Cut up the chicken & vegetables and sprinkle chicken with pepper. Combine the chicken broth, soy sauce, and marsala wine.  Sprinkle sauce mixture with pepper.
2. Spray a large skillet with the olive oil spray, and cook the vegetables over high heat for about 1 minute. Add chicken and stir-fry until no longer pink. Add sauce, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer uncovered.
3. Add spaghetti to boiling water and cook for 10 minutes or according to package directions, while chicken mixture simmers. Aftter spaghetti has finished cooking, add flour & water to chicken mixture in skillet, increase heat, and cook until sauce has thickened. Serve the chicken over the spaghetti.

Recipe By :Lisa Clarke
Weight Watchers Points: 9 for 1/2 of recipe

Notes

Here is the explanation I posted to my BBS (The Polka Dot Cottage) on August 4, 1996:

Friday night, at around 11:30, Neil and I packed a bag, hopped in the car, and went to his parents’ Long Beach Island house. They weren’t going down until Saturday night, so we had a nice day to ourselves. Anyway, I decided I was in the mood to cook supper Saturday night for the 2 of us, so I took a quick trip to Shop Rite, and grabbed some chicken, an orange pepper (’cause it was cool-looking) and some scallions. Then I scrounged around the kitchen for the rest of the ingredients. I followed my usual chicken routine, but the flavors were quite different than usual - and very good! I will definitely be making this again sometime.

And I have. Many many times.

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Some days when the boys are home from school, I get all domestic and get in the mood to take care of laundry, clean up the kitchen, maybe catch up on some business email.  This is not one of those days.  When it became clear to me that the guys were hunkering down for a long morning of imaginative play in their pajamas, I decided I wanted to play something myself.  So, I sat on my bed with a pile of fabric, cut out the pieces for my mother-in-law’s birthday present, and I cut out the fabric for a skirt.  I didn’t stitch up my MIL’s napkins, but I did make this skirt - my Thanksgiving skirt.  Yes, I realize these guys are roosters and not turkeys, but I couldn’t find turkeys.  Or pilgrims.  Or cornucopias.  Or depictions of Thanksgiving feasts.  So roosters it is, and I think they’re nifty.  Specifically, the fabric is Alexander Henry’s The Roost.  The skirt itself was made without a pattern.  I just folded it selvage-to-selvage, stitched it into a tube, hemmed it, and made an elastic casing on the top.

I still felt like playing after that, so I colored my hair.   I spent this summer squirting peroxide here and there on my head, leading to streaks of lighter color.  I did have a plan, but I kind of lost interest in pursuing it at some point, and stopped bothering.  And it was starting to look like I stopped bothering.  So, I got my hands on a box of temporary 28-shampoo Chestnut Brown and went to town.  Now I look more like nature intended ;-)  At least for the next few weeks, anyway.

I didn’t make the soup this morning - I did that on Monday, but I did eat the leftovers for lunch yesterday, and that’s when I took this picture.  It’s Turkey Curry Meatball Soup, and despite the fact that it’s full of vegetables, I really like it!  I even liked it for lunch a few days later, and I am not a leftovers fan, generally-speaking.  Good thing it was delicious, because the recipe made quite a bit.  As part of my “get organized” initiative, I’m planning our meals for the week, and giving each day a “theme.”  Mondays are to be “try something new” night and this soup was the first candidate.  I’m so glad we liked it, because I now have three containers of it frozen for future “grab something decent out of the freezer” nights.

Day two and I’m already thinking of skipping the NaBloPoMo festivities.  Not that I won’t post every day, because I might, but I think I’ve lost interest in the idea of being part of the whole organized movement.  Still, being thankful is always a good thing, so I’ll end this post with what I am thankful for today:  Days off from school that we can spend playing (together or on our own) and spontaneously visiting with family.

And with that, I must go and straighten up the living room - my mother and nephews are coming over shortly to join us for lunch at Stewarts (see?  I meant it when I told them “maybe another day”) followed by a little play time.

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This morning I tried a new soap. One minute I was a 36-year-old woman taking a shower and the next I was five or six, in a movie theater with my grandparents watching Pete’s Dragon and eating butterscotch candies from Granny’s pocketbook. That’s some powerful soap.

Ahem. Anyway. I’ve decided we spend too much time staring at screens, be they computer monitors or televisions. This point was driven home to me this morning when I suggested to my little henchmen that we should have a few hours today with no TV and no computers. From the looks on their panic-stricken faces, you’d think I had put forth the idea that we spend the day organizing our underwear drawers and vacuuming.

At approximately 9:30am, after ample warning and time to play a few games, I turned off their computer monitors, closed the lid on my laptop, and set the timer in the kitchen for 2 hours. Then Eamonn and I set to work making a pie. I was under the impression that I had taken a glass pie plate from among my grandmother’s things (the other grandmother, not the one with the butterscotch candies) a few years ago. I thought it was part of the small collection of items I picked out when my parents were cleaning out Grandma & Grandpa’s house in preparation to sell it. I suppose I could be wrong. Or maybe I put it somewhere weird. Either way, there was no pie plate to be found. Eamonn crawled into the cabinet for me to check the dark corner in the back, but he came up empty.

So we improvised. Round, rectangular, what difference does it make? It all tastes the same, right?

And as far as that goes, it was good but not great. We used pre-made crusts and canned filling and you can tell. Don’t get me wrong - I still had a piece for lunch, and will probably have another slice or two before the day is up. But I think the next time I want to take the easy way out pie-wise, I’ll just do my usual thing of throwing a Mrs. Smith’s Apple Pie into the oven. Those are delicious.

When not baking, I flipped leisurely through Sue Heaser’s new book, and the boys tried on their clearance costumes from yesterday. The two hours ended when the oven timer beeped, the little people scurried off almost immediately to watch their new Backyardigans DVD, and I (who really am no better when it comes to screen time these days) flipped open the laptop, did a quick email check, and processed my pie-making photos. It’s probably pretty sad that we find ourselves twitching when the tv and computers are taken away, and I think for all of our sakes, I’m going to institute more of these screen-free times. I’d like to see more baskets of books in strategic places around the house. I’d love to find the boys engaged in a good story sometimes, instead of bathing in the blue glow of the computer screen. Aidan has been able to read since he was four years old, but he considers it more of a utilitarian skill than something that can bring him pleasure. Eamonn is learning to read now, too, and while it’s hard to deny the contribution that tv and computer games have made toward that goal, I think I’d like for his reading vocabulary to extend beyond play, quit, bonus features, and scene selection.

It could be worse. Most of the games they play on the computer have significant educational value. When they watch TV, they are watching either PBS, or DVDs from our collection. And often (as is this case this very minute) the TV seems to just be there for background noise. A few minutes ago, they set the language to French (on purpose), quickly got bored because they couldn’t understand what anyone was saying, and proceeded to play some imaginative game completely unrelated to what the French Backyardigans were doing. This kind of thing happens a lot. So, they’re not playing shoot-em-up games all day or being barraged with harmful advertising, but they are missing things with their eyes on the screen so much. I need to think about ways to restructure our days and minimize the amount of time we spend being passively entertained, and now is a good time to do it, while I’m working on tasks, calendars & scheduling.

As for me, I have some business-related work to take care of this afternoon, but I am craving some more screen-free time. I’m going to drag the vacuum down to the family room, crank up some Polka Dot Radio nice and loud, and do something physical (not to mention useful) with my time! Actually, forget Polka Dot Radio for the moment - I have this strange desire for Christmas music suddenly. Maybe I’ll indulge in a little Christmas Broadband for a while.

I hope you’ll pardon me now. There are halls to deck!

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We made a different kind of cookie yesterday and were waaaaay more successful than we were with the ill-fated Pumpkin Biscotti. This time I had the “help” of a little person, which is always nice, and we slaved away all afternoon getting that sugar cookie dough perfect. Yes, it takes the ultimate concentration to combine melted butter, an egg, and a pouch of cookie mix just right

It also takes the proper attire. During the early summer, when I was on my big apron kick, I had made one for Eamonn using some Curious George fabric and a thrifted sheet. He’d never used it since then, and wouldn’t you know it, I had no idea where to find the darn thing. So, he wore my Susan Branch apron - the pocket ended up in the back, and the ties could have wrapped around him twice before tying, but he was happy, and I think he’s just cute as a button like that.

A few hours later, I did find George. I had never put a polymer clay button on it, so I found one that I’d made in navy blue & white stripes and sewed it on with orange embroidery floss - I figured I’d be consistent with the theme of none of the elements of this apron matching each other. Now I just have to remember where I put the apron the next time we bake…

Pants. Made ‘em. Love ‘em. These look even more like pj’s than the other ones, though. What I really need to do is make a pair in a plaid flannel or a solid brown, or something like that - something that doesn’t scream “I rolled out of bed this morning and didn’t bother to get dressed all day.” As much as I love my Heather Bailey Freshcut Painted Mums, they really do look more like a lazy morning than a conscious fashion choice.

This week’s flickr favorites. Check out the Sharpies! Did you know there’s an entire flickr group devoted to photos of Sharpies? Two, in fact! Guess I’m not the only one who needs to have every color…

The boys have been asking us all week if we can go to a hotel this weekend. Being very much not made of money at this point in our lives, I think a spontaneous weekend away at a hotel is not in the cards for us. However, I have had them think about what their favorite parts of previous hotel stays have been. They’re making a list, and we’re going to try to recreate those experiences as much as we can. So far their list has things like

• Buy jellybeans (like we did at Ocean City in April)
• Go shopping (not sure how this got on the list, but I’m not going to complain about it, LOL!)
• Go to the boardwalk (Ocean City again)
• Have hot chocolate (like we did when they came to Philadelphia with me for the Donna Kato class in September)
• Stay up late playing Rummikub (Philadelphia again)

I think we can do these things with a game night followed by a day trip to a shore town about an hour away from here. I just hope the weather cooperates and that having to sleep in their own beds is not too much of a disappointment!

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I have these days where I know there is work to be done. Days where I have a glorious four hours of time alone. Time alone that could do serious damage to my to-do list. But something distracts me. Something makes me spend my four hours doing other things. Things that feel like fun at the time, but then later make me less-than-proud of my actions.

I’m not talking about anything sinister or sundry. No, it’s really just something that I’ve been prone to all of my adult life - doing “work” that doesn’t need to be done, simply because it’s fun, regardless of the important work that does need to be done. This morning I found a tool that would help me splice together three different feeds so that I could offer one single Polka Dot Radio feed that would let subscribers know when there is a new blog post as well as when there has been an update to the station’s playlist. Is that a cool thing to have? Oh, yeah! Could my radio station have lived without it for another few days, weeks, or months? Most certainly.

I didn’t spend my entire four hours playing around with radio-related things, but I did spend more than half of it that way. And when I skip my morning shower in favor of turning on my laptop, and when I get lured into blowing off a task list so that I can tinker with code, it sets a precedent for the day. No matter how many times I said to myself today that I would put down the computer after such-and-such a time and concentrate on other things, it was an uphill battle all the way. I did the bare minimum - straightened up the living room & dining room, processed new orders & payments, and finally took that shower. Other than that, there were feeds to play with, blogs to read, and Moo cards to order.

When I’ve had a productive day, but productive in an “I did what I wanted and shirked all other responsibilities” kind of way, it leaves me feeling like I somehow cheated my way through the day, and that I’ve probably missed some of the better moments having my nose buried in my laptop.

The day wasn’t a total loss. I did orchestrate a small treasure hunt for Aidan to do when he came home from school. At the end of the hunt was his favorite snack waiting for him. He loved that. And tonight the four of us sat on the boys’ beds daydreaming about a fun trip we could take this weekend. Aidan wants to stay in a hotel, and while that is probably a cost-prohibitive diversion, I think we can manage to replicate some of the great things about hotel-stays right here at home. Making plans has a way of pulling one out of their self-absorbed doldrums. It’s optimistic thinking infused with enthusiasm, and one can’t help but feel better in its wake.

The high lasted all of 5 minutes before I found myself sitting downstairs on the couch, one eye on the TV, the other on my laptop. I was reading some of my favorite crafty mom blogs, and while often I find them uplifting and inspirational, that is not the case when I’ve had a slacker kind of day. Seeing all of these women who make beautiful things and find creative and special moments with their children gave me this feeling of terrible inadequacy. I found myself wondering what I’ve missed with my nose in the computer so much. Why wasn’t I outside pushing the boys on the swing, or taking a walk in the crunchy leaves today? The winter will be here before I know it and I’ll wonder where the fall went. Where did it go? It left, while I was being picky about an irrelevant rss feed and reading about other people’s lives.

The final straw for me was reading about Stefani’s muffins. Her kids were enjoying homemade muffins for breakfast in a tee pee they’d made together in the yard. A stray thought crossed my mind: “how nice it would be to give the boys something homemade for breakfast instead of the usual pop tart.” I almost dismissed it like I’d lazily dismissed all other thoughts just like it today, until I paused. What, exactly, was I doing right now that was so important? Was I particularly interested in what was on TV? No. Could I really enjoy any more crafty mom blogs while I was in this dark place? No. Is 9:15 too late to start baking? Well, usually, but not tonight.

So now I blog as the smell of a recipe I’d never tried before wafts through the house. Awash in a sea of cinnamon, cloves, and ginger I feel more in balance right now than I have all day. Pumpkin Biscotti cooling on the counter, I’m ready to think ahead to a better day tomorrow. Tomorrow I will tackle that task list. Tomorrow I will be open to putting aside the laptop for a little real living. And tomorrow I will greet the boys with a smile and we will have cookies for breakfast.

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As you may know, I’ve been up to my eyeballs in so much stuff this week, but I needed some moments of brainless activity to help keep me sane.  Sewing a series of straight lines is brainless enough for me, so I worked on my non-seasonal everyday napkins.  I did a few every day this week and finished up the last of them this morning.  I really like them - they go nicely with the navy blue and white color scheme in my kitchen.  These are all patterns from Susan Branch’s Martha’s Vineyard Watercolor collection.  I already had the navy blue fireworks and the white/navy toile patterns, which I had made 4 napkins and an apron out of a while back, but I wanted more (in quantity and in variety).  I’m so happy with the way they came out!

I’m less happy with the success rate of my brainless activity at keeping me sane…  I spaced-out on two commitments today.  It’s bad enough to forget one thing, but two?  At 1:30 today I remembered Aidan was supposed to go to a birthday party from 12:00-2:00.  He missed it.  And at 2:30 today, as I was driving to the store to buy orange thread for my next napkin project, I remembered I had committed to making pumpkin bread for the MOMS Club bake sale at our town’s street fair this weekend.  The bread was to be dropped off at 4:00 today.  Needless to say I blew it there, too.

I am feeling so overwhelmed this weekend with things that I have to do and things that I want to do, and things that I don’t really have to do, but feel like I should do.  Normally, I am the queen of lists, but I haven’t written any of this down.   Maybe that’s why I feel so much like I am juggling - and why I keep dropping the ball.

It’s already 11:00 and I still have three important things to accomplish business-wise before I hit the sack.  It’s Saturday Night, for crying out loud.   I should be sitting on the couch with my sweetie watching almost-unwatchable comedy together and maybe sharing some pumpkin biscotti (a treat I haven’t made but really wish I did today).  I should not be answering email, processing orders, or planning what to bring to tomorrow’s guild meeting.

Executive decision time:

• I’ll process the orders that are necessary for tomorrow’s meeting.
• I’ll just bring an armload of Judy Belcher’s new DVD with me to the meeting and not worry about any other titles.
• Answering email can wait until tomorrow.

There.  Thanks for being here while I brain-dumped.  I feel a little better now.   I’d feel a lot better if I had a pumpkin biscotti to munch on, though

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It seems that my favorite time of year has arrived. The house is filled with the quintessential smell of fall - fresh-baked pumpkin bread. If your house doesn’t smell like this today, why don’t you take my recipe and see if you can rectify that, hm?

I welcomed autumn this morning with the very first hot apple cider of the season, and I nursed that mug all afternoon, refilling and re-heating as necessary.

The cornerstone of the First Day of Fall Ritual is, of course, the baking of the pumpkin bread. I was hoping to have some little helpers, but they preferred to watch a Netflix movie. That’s ok. I cranked up the music and enjoyed myself anyway.

Much to Neil’s chagrin, the other very important aspect of the First Day of Fall Ritual is the giving away of the baked bread. Lest you think I am heartless, I’m letting him keep the muffins The four little loaves, however, are destined for gift-giving. I have been doing this every year for at least twelve years, and ever since the kids have been school-age, the recipients have been teachers. I have to admit that I often drop the ball on end-of-year teacher gifts and some of the other more traditional holidays, but I always have a First Day of Fall loaf of bread to give, and maybe that makes up for it somehow.

This year’s loaves are going to three teachers and a bus driver. The teachers are also getting polymer clay pens and the bus driver is getting a polymer clay leaf pin - all in the Autumn color scheme, of course I made little gift cards from orange computer paper, and a computer sticker. I used some pigment inks to add a little interest, and then doodled on them a little bit with an ultra fine point sharpie. Then I tied everything together with a length of twine.

Before we know it, there will be crunching leaves underfoot, knitted sweaters, cozy blankets on our laps, brilliant foliage, and that crisp smell in the air that only fall can bring. I look forward to drinking in all of those wonderful autumn treats and savoring them as long as I possibly can, until winter arrives.

Happy Fall, my friends!

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I am completely incapable of having one of anything, wardrobe-wise.  If I find something I like, I need to have it in several colors.  This was true of me when I was a teenager and buying GAP pocket tees, it was true of me a few years ago when I was all about the Old Navy perfect fit tee, and this year I developed a liking for Target’s Mossimo tees and Old Navy tank tops.

This personality quirk of mine has manifested itself in my sewing.  Just see the 12 skirts I made this summer, if you don’t believe me.  It’s insane.  I really didn’t think I’d go overboard with sewing shirts, because the pattern I’ve been using isn’t super simple like the Sew What! Skirts have been.  It takes me at least twice as long to make a shirt, and if you know anything about me at all, you know Instant Gratification is my thing.  Still, I found myself buying fabric for another one last week, and stitching it up last night.  I took a page out of Lindamade’s book and made the sleeves about an inch longer than usual and omitted the elastic.  I like it better this way.   The elastic got a bit wonky in the neck this time around, and I am going to have to spend a little time finessing it so that  the kink ends up someplace unnoticeable.  If I’d been on the ball when taking these pictures, I’d have done that first  so you’d all think I was perfect   Still, I got complements while dropping a reluctant Eamonn of at school this  morning, from people who didn’t realize  it was a homemade deal, and that was pretty cool.

Speaking of dropping a reluctant Eamonn off at school…   I wish I knew what happened to the boy who ran into the classroom with nary a goodbye a few days ago.  Today, as soon as we got inside the building, he started playing “hiding” games, and by the time we were at the classroom door, he was physically fighting me to keep from going inside.  He was like this off and on last year, too.  He loves school - comes home happy, telling me stories of all of the great things he did, etc.  He just can’t deal with that initial separation.  He’s got a tougher teacher this year (not that preschool teachers are ever really tough) and I don’t think she’s going to baby him into the room.  As much as I would prefer to sweet-talk him into being happy about the situation, what he probably needs is a strong arm telling him matter-of-factly “this is going to be a nice time, now take off your jacket and go get a puzzle to play with.”

Leaving your kid behind when he’s clearly unhappy is never a fun feeling.  It’s magnified by the general malaise this month has brought to me.   I’ve always considered September to be my favorite month.  I love the feeling of getting back into a routine, and I love the crispness in the morning and evening air.  I love picking apples, making pumpkin bread, sipping hot cider…  I usually make a big deal out of the First Day of Fall and have the kids bring little loaves of pumpkin bread and polymer clay leaf pins as gifts to their teachers.  I don’t know if I can do it this year.  Part of me is in mourning.  And the part of me that isn’t feels like it should be.  I guess I just need to go with that second part of me and make a conscious effort to really do those things that have traditionally made me happy this time of year.  I hate to wallow.  But there’s a fine line between not wallowing and unhealthy bottling of emotion.  I have to find my balance.  Maybe I’ll just give October permission to be my favorite month this year so that I don’t have to feel like I’m missing out while I deal with my September issues.  Nothing like a head game or two with yourself to make everything all better

On a completely different note, I thought you might like to see some of the entries in this month’s color challenge.  I love the diversity.  What are you going to submit?  You’ve got another couple of weeks to Get Your Olive On…

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I never liked grilled cheese growing up. In fact, I was nearly 30 years old before I realized I could actually enjoy eating it. The trick for me was to avoid processed American cheese and instead use a slice of yummy, spicy pepper jack. Additionally, I found I liked using homemade bread. My favorite for this purpose? Zucchini Bread from Beth Hensperger’s Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook. Have I mentioned yet how much I love this book? If my bread machine and I were stranded on a desert island with only one book for company, it would be this one.

This Zucchini Bread is not the quickbread most people think of when they hear that name. It’s actually a yeast bread made with a combination of white and wheat flours. I like that it’s got a vegetable built right into it, because I really don’t get enough vegetables. And the best part? You can’t even taste the zucchini

Here’s a version of the recipe that I made today. It’s slightly different from the Zucchini Bread as written only because I wanted to use what I had and save myself a trip to the store.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cups milk
• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cups white wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon gluten
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Directions

Dump the ingredients in the bread machine in the proper order, set for the basic cycle and let it do its thing. (I’m paraphrasing here…)

So. School starts tomorrow. Can’t say I’m that upset… We had some nice times this summer (and I’ve got the pictures to prove it, LOL!). The natives seem to be restless here, though, and I think going back to school is going to be good for all of us. My laundry routine has always been very closely tied into the school bus schedule, so if nothing else, our clothes will be a lot cleaner this Fall than they were in the Summer

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Ok, when I say “we” I actually mean “Neil.” My contribution is to keep the children from touching the wet walls. That is a surprisingly difficult task. As soon as they know that they can’t touch it, it becomes a serious problem for them. Just walking through the room, they are inexplicably drawn to leaning on the wet wall, or using it to hold themselves up. You’d think they were 87 years old, the way they need to manhandle the walls just to get from one room to another…

Anyway, for the nearly 10 years we’ve lived here, our living room has been the same off-white shade that it was when we moved in. We decided it was time for a dramatic change, and we chose two colors for the room - pea green and the brown you see above. I really like it! I can’t wait to finish it, put our furniture back and re-hang our decorations on the wall, including a few “new” hand-me-down prints. I think a new living room rug, and new upholstery on the dining room chairs would really complete the look, but that might be a little longer in coming.

As part of my “keep the kids out of the paint” duties, I took them to my parents’ house for a little impromptu Labor Day cookout. They got to spend the afternoon with their cousins instead of in their father’s hair, which was a Good Thing for everybody. We had conversation in the back yard, lunch in the patio, and a shirts vs. skins football game in the front yard. Sort of. The three youngest kids, only one of which knew a football from a hole in the wall, were the skins. My oldest nephew, my 23-year-old brother and his friend were the shirts. Not exactly an even match, and it didn’t last very long, but it was funny.

I almost forgot - I made baked apples for breakfast today. It was a nice change of pace from my usual Fiber One bar, that’s for sure. I used this recipe from Simply Recipes, minus the nuts and raisins because Neil is not a fan of either and I generally don’t have them in the house anyway.

I have to keep reminding myself it’s Monday today. I hope I get my week straight before Thursday - I’d hate to forget to walk Aidan to the bus stop on his first day of school

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Mmmm, looks delicious, doesn’t it? Let me assure you, it is

After yesterday’s issues, it was nice to have a day of productivity. I got a big pile of orders packed up last night, charged cards, printed postage, and got them out the door this morning. I did a little shopping for things like a new stapler, packing tape, printer ink, and snaps (so I could make one more bib for my friend). And I went to see the end-of-week presentation that the boys were doing at their third (and thankfully final) VBS week in a row. I’m really ready not to be schlepping them back and forth to one church or another every morning so we can have some spontaneous summer activities (or laziness, depending on what we need at the time!).

I belong to my local MOMS Club, and one of the things we do is take turns bringing meals to members who need them. Usually we do this in response to a new baby, but there are other reasons a family might appreciate not having to think about what’s for supper. Anyway, one of my friends has a new baby girl and tonight is my turn to bring dinner. In the past, I’ve whipped up a batch of crock pot meatballs and bought some rice at the local Chinese restaurant, but having been the recipient of some MOMS Club meals that completely put me to shame earlier this year, I decided I really could stand to put in a little more effort So I spent this afternoon in the kitchen. I made a skillet dish a lot like this one, except I also added chicken to it. I also made a Summer Fruit Crisp. I got the recipe from abbytrysagain. The only real difference between mine and hers is that she used blackberries from her alley, and I used wineberries from my yard. I also think I used more fruit in mine. I made a little extra (about half the recipe extra) and baked it in a small loaf pan for us to keep, and the main recipe is going to my friend. So, that makes a potato/onion/pepper/chicken main dish, a fruity dessert, and three bibs. That beats a bucket o’meatballs, I think…

As soon as I finish here, I have to go deliver my meal and then do a quick bit of food shopping. As it turns out, I didn’t make enough of the potato chicken stuff to keep any for ourselves and now we have nothing to eat There are many things I’d rather be doing at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, but we really do need to restock some things around here. Friday night shopping beats Saturday morning shopping in my book, so I think I’d better suck it up and get going. Busy day!

Happy Friday everybody! I’m going to do some claying this weekend - wheee!

Lisa

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If you haven’t been watching the comments to my previous berry post with rapt attention, you probably aren’t aware that the berries have been identified and I decided to make a cake out of them.

My neighbor Diane let me know that the berries  growing wild in our yard (and much of the rest of the neighborhood) are wineberries and more information about them can be had  here.  I went ahead and used them in the Blackberry Cake receipe I found at allrecipes.com.   The verdict?  Yum!  It’s kind of like gingerbread with the occasional juicy-tart bite of berry goodness.

I still had about 4 cups of berries left after making the cake, so I froze them.  They should keep for as long as 18 months in the freezer, so if  I have a hankerin’ for wineberry jam sometime this winter, I can defrost a batch of berries and enjoy a taste of summer in front of the fireplace.  I may even pick more today.

Lisa

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Originally published at Polka Dot Creations. Please leave any comments there.

Yep, it’s definitely summer. We spent yesterday afternoon swimming at my parents’ house with my sister & my nephews, and today we picked berries in our yard. We didn’t have a gigantic harvest - maybe 2 cups - but it’s a nice haul, when you consider we only lucked into these plants and didn’t have to do anything to take care of them. They grow wild along the perimeter of our property. I’d like to know exactly what kind of berries these are - Neil thinks they may be blackberries, but they’re smaller and bright red. It’s possible they’d turn black if we left them on the vine longer, but leaving them on the vine would be like issuing an open invitation to the local wildlife to come and feast. These berries are always gone within hours of turning red. We were lucky to beat the animals to as many as we did. What am I going to do with this fruit? I think I’m going to try a blackberry cake. Last year I made jam, and it didn’t come out that great, so I’m going a different route.

I did get a chance for a little craftivity today. I made a hat I’ve been wanting to make! Unfortunately, the crown and the brim are both crazy tall. I think there is a problem with the pattern, since others in the Simple Sewing Flickr group have expressed similar sentiments. Luckily, I have a work-around: if I yank the hat way down onto my head and turn the brim up, it’s actually pretty neat! Yeah, I think I might be able to leave the house in it like this

Earlier this weekend, son #1 and I spent his “special night” outside. We filled up the kiddie pool to dunk our feet in, and lit a whole bunch of tea light candles around the patio. While we sat out there and chatted, a few baby owls flew into the yard and had a conversation with each other on our swing set.

Ah, summer

Lisa

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Originally published at Polka Dot Creations. Please leave any comments there.

Here’s a recent family portrait, courtesy of The Simpsons Movie. I wasted far too much time on that site this morning. Neil designed his own avatar, and I did mine & the kids, although the boys did pick out their own outfits (if you couldn’t guess…) Thanks a lot, Neil, for sending me that and ruining my productivity - I just managed to get shipments out the door in time for the postal pickup by the skin of my teeth today!

We’re on Day Three of Readercon. Well, let’s make that, Neil is on Day Three of Readercon. The rest of us are on Day Three of Weekend Without Daddy. Whenever this happens, I try to come up with a few interesting things to do to help break up the weekend, give us something to look forward to, and help insure that I am not tearing my hair out and looking longingly at the front door by 5pm Usually our agenda involves a movie, and this time around we saw Ratatouille. It was very enjoyable. And just when you think they can’t do much more to improve animation, you see a rat being washed away by a raging river. Wow.

Another thing that will break up our weekend some is the NJ Polymer Clay Guild meeting tomorrow. My parents have graciously volunteered to come and hang out with the boys for a while so I can go to the workshop. I’ve got Donna Kato books to deliver, dontchaknow The theme for the meeting is “Faux Techniques” and if I have a chance tonight I’m going to put together a little collection of books & videos with that theme and bring them with me.

I plan on feeding my parents after I get back. It’s been a while since I have had dinner guests, and it certainly hasn’t happened since I started my latest domestic streak. So, here’s what I plan to have on the menu:

• Hamburgers (pan fried, since our grill is busted)
• Homemade hamburger rolls (pictured - aren’t they HUGE?! I adore this recipe from Beth Hensperger’s Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook. I always stick them in the freezer right after they cool, and then use them one at a time, as I need them. I haven’t had them in a few years, and my mouth is watering just thinking about them now…)
• Potatoes, onions & peppers (all from the Farmer’s Market, and prepared in the same manner as last time)
• Sweet Corn on the cob

I’ll, of course, have to set the table with my new napkins, and I’d like to also make some strawberry smoothies. And that leads me to…

I didn’t get a chance to post last night - a raging headache will keep one off of the computer, generally - and so I missed out on Color Week’s last day, which was blue/purple. So, I’ll do it today. How about some frosty blue mugs full of strawberry heaven?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Lisa

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Originally published at Polka Dot Creations. Please leave any comments there.

I made another little project today. This is another version of this tote from Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing. I like the first tote, but it’s a bit flimsy. I decided to try adding a lining, but of course, I didn’t bother to do any research on how to do that. I just flew by the seat of my pants. It actually came out pretty good! I just see, now that I’m done with it, that there is a better way to make a lining, and that if I’d done it the right way, there’d be no visible seam allowances inside the bag. Ah well, live and learn. I still like it, even if there was a more elegant solution, and the edges don’t quite meet up evenly at the top It’s going to look nice with my most recent wraparound skirt.

My tote made its shopping debut about 15 minutes after I finished the last stitch, when the boys and I took a short trip to a local Farmer’s Market. I absolutely love the idea of a farmer’s market. All of that freshly-grown food, waiting to be brought home and turned into wholesome meals and snacks? Wonderful! I only wish I actually liked fruits and vegetables

I’m only sort-of kidding. We did manage to bring home a few bags of things that made us happy. First was cherries. And I don’t know where I read this brilliant idea, (and I must have read it somewhere because it seems too clever for me to have made up on my own) but I took two nesting glass bowls, filled the space between them with water, and put the bowls in the freezer. Later when I took it out, I had an “ice bowl” that I was able to set out on the table, full of cherries. The cherries were able to stay out for a few hours and still be nice and cold. Yum!

We also came home with baby potatoes, a green bell pepper and an onion (all of which I chopped up and fried in a small amount of olive oil), a little container of sweet pickles that Son #2 taste-tested at the market and proclaimed purchase-worthy, and a basket of strawberries that I turned into jam tonight. Did you know some bread machines have a jam cycle? Mine does, and I’ve made all kinds of delicious jams in summers past. Strawberry is my favorite, though.

Tomorrow, as long as I’ve got the bread machine out, I’m making a Banana Sandwich Loaf. It’s like white bread with a bit of a banana zing to it. It makes a great peanut butter sandwich, particularly when I spread a little homemade strawberry jam in there, too - I feel positively domestic when I make a sandwich like that!

Now if only I could figure out why, with all of this wholesome goodness in the house, I’ve been scarfing down pretzels and Kissables during my computer time tonight, I’d be in good shape…

Lisa

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Originally published at Polka Dot Creations. Please leave any comments there.