Friday, November 30, 2007

Rainy Day Observation Walk

We finally have rain!!!

This morning, we went for an observation walk in the rain.

We tasted the rain by sticking our tongues out and turning our faces to the sky.

We closed our eyes and felt the rain on our cheeks and palms.

We stopped and stood still and listened to the rain pitter patter on the street, sidewalk, grass, trees and plants around us.

We watched the rain fall into puddles and raced leaves and seed pods down the street water runoff.

We smelled the rain... both in the air and on the different plants and flowers around us.

The photo shows some of the things we picked up and will continue to observe today.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

First Food Since Sunday

The Celtic Mommy home has been on a wild roller-coaster ride the past few days with everyone getting a super nasty stomach flu that lasts FIVE days! Saturday, Ro got it. Sunday, I got it. Monday, Rob got it. And today, Em is getting it... it's just awful.


But a bright note for Ro... solid food! Well, it's not really solid, but it is pretty close. The first for him in days. He looks so skinny! The adults are living on watered down Gatorade (blech!) and broth. We'll see how it goes with Em. I promise once the copious loads of laundry and sheet-changing is done, I'll catch up on everything.


Perfect downtime book to read: UNplug the Christmas Machine. This was a fast read for me and hit home in many ways! You can also find the newer and older versions to trade on

and of course on Amazon.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

A turkey

Our front door decoration.

Feathers, glue, and a foam turkey from Michael's for $3.50.

Just add creativity.


Made my Em.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

An Addictive Appetizer

A lot of my prep work today was making breads, pies, cookies and appetizers for tomorrow... one of which is so deliciously addictive I felt I must share the recipe with you. This is from an old Bon Appetit magazine and I've modified it a bit according to family taste.

Fire and Spice Nuts

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoon chipotle or regular chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 large egg whites
2 cups pecan halves
2 cups walnut halves and pieces
2 cups raw cashews
1/3 cup white sugar

(I've also used macadamia nuts, peanuts, almonds and even pine nuts-- just make sure you've got 6 total cups for this recipe)
OPTIONAL: Dried cranberries, chopped. About 1/2 to 1 cup.

DIRECTIONS:
Position rack in the center of your oven and preheat to 225°F.
Line two heavy large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Stir first seven ingredients in small bowl to blend.
Whisk egg whites in big bowl until foamy.
Whisk in spice mixture.
Add the nuts and toss to coat completely.
Sprinkle sugar over the mixture and toss to coat.
Divide nut mixture between prepared baking sheets; spread nut mixture in single layer.
Bake until nuts are toasted and coating is dry, stirring every 20 minutes, about 1 hour 20 minutes.
Sprinkle nuts with salt to taste, if desired.
Transfer nuts to large bowl.
Mix in dried cranberries if using them.
Cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temp for up to a week.

Here are the other recent recipe links for
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, Persimmon Cookies and Basque Cake. I will continue to post more throughout the coming weeks (Cherry Walnut Bread, Chocolate Truffles, Apple Oatmeal Bread and Brown Sugar Bars to name a few.)

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Things I love (a bit of a rambler...)

Several things have been swirling in my head today as I run from one errand to the next in preparation for Thanksgiving. My to-do list from this past Sunday all the way up to Thursday morning is 50+ lines long.

I'm not nuts... really! And, somehow I am not overwhelmed like many in my family assume I am with so much prep going on.


I'm pretty serene. And not, calm-before-the-storm serene.

Just serene.

This past year has been a great challenge for me in many ways. But it has also been immensely rewarding and eye-opening.

A friend from MySpace named Dee (a.k.a. Finding Jack) once asked me to think of things I love and kindly challenged me to come up with 100 things. That night I came up with 201. I woke up with more and each day I add a few more things I love. This list has made me see the things I value and cherish most in my life just through the simple action of putting pen to paper.

Here are the first 15 that I wrote over a year ago when Dee requested this of me. I just started writing them... they are in the order that I wrote them.

1- I love my grandma’s messages on my answering machine. She would always say "... love you" and make kissing noises. I have them recorded and listen to them from time to time.
2- I love talking to my gramma even though she is no longer on earth and telling her about her great-grandchildren. I miss her more than I could ever express!
3- I love my husbands' heart. He is a wonderful man.
4- I love my son's mischief. He is not afraid to try anything at least once.
5- I love my 2nd son’s excitement. Everything is so new to him.
6- I love my mother's laugh. They way her whole face gets into it.
7- I love my dad playing the song 500 miles (or any other song) for me on his guitar.
8- I love the color green... every single color of green.
9- I love almost every holiday now... I love experiencing them more with my sons and the rest of my family. Making crafts, treats.
10- I love sewing gifts for people rather than buying them whenever I can.
11- I love repetition meditation in many forms.
12- I am finally starting to love me after 33 years.
13- I love Kitaro (musician). Great to write to.
14- I love chocolate. LOVE chocolate.
15- I love donating books to my library and knowing they are being better used there than collecting dust at my house.


The list is up to about 550 now and I intend to keep doing it. For me, it seems to help me focus on what is most important to me and for my well being-- and to steer clear of things that don't really matter.

So, back to Thanksgiving. Why am I going all-out with the homemade everything and the shi-shi silver and the china and the crystal and the la la lalalalla...

I'm doing it because I love my family and this meal is one way for me to express my thanks for having them in my life.

I'm doing it because there is no reason to keep all that silver and china and crystal if I'm not going to use it...

I'm doing it because it makes me feel good not because I HAVE to. I want to. It's another thing I love...

So, what do you love? Can you come up with 100 things (big or little) that you love?

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

My husband comes home from work the other day and announces that he's just had the most amazing pumpkin cookie and that I HAVE to make it! Uuuum, okay. Can I get some details please?

The recipe came from an old high-school couple/friends of ours that Rob works with. He was so anxious for this recipe, he actually called the wife of the co-worker/h.s. friend to ask for it personally rather than wait for me to call her. I made the cookies and they were *poof* gone in an afternoon! Since I am making another batch today, I thought I would share the recipe with you. If you make them, please let me know what you think. (Can be doubled)



Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
· ½ cup soft butter
· 1 ¼ cups white sugar
· 1 tsp. vanilla
· 1 egg
· 1 cup canned pumpkin
· 2 ½ cups flour
· 2 tsp. baking powder
· 1 tsp. baking soda
· 1 tsp. cinnamon
· ¼ tsp. salt
· 1 tsp. nutmeg
· 1 cup chocolate chips

Blend butter and sugar 'til light and fluffy.
Add eggs vanilla and pumpkin.
In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Beat flour mixture into butter mixture slowly.
Add chocolate chips.
Make generous teaspoon dropped cookies, 2 inches apart on ungreased sheets.
Bake at pre heated 375 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes.

Thank you Mary!!!

Monday, November 19, 2007

Sunday

Lots of Thanksgiving and Christmas preparations going on.

Polishing my great-grandmother's candlesticks. They haven't been this clean in about 30 years! (Left is the almost done "after" picture.) Cleaned the chemical free way. I also clean my hubby's grandmothers' silver leaf dishes to use at Thanksgiving... I think his family will be surprised to see them.


Here's a few pics of Rob making these two foot tall Christmas trees. Each tree is made from a floral wreath holder and 300 white or green lights. Eventually he wants to be one of those crazy families who have their own radio station with synchronized music that the lights turn on and off to... I think it's a bit much. We try to find a happy medium between our two styles. And, as long as he doesn't make the house light up like National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, I'll be okay with it.

Lastly, we have a bit of normal life. Fun brotherly drawing. Each day brings new artistic renderings for proud display on the fridge. Ro is really enjoying using his hands and they both still seem to be ambidextrous... switching from left to right randomly... never really using both at the same time. Fine with me.
Next recipe up will be Mary's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies... cakey cookies that are highly addictive!

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Saturday

Went to Penzey's spices.

Bought some local organic fruit.

Worked on presents.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Is the cake done Mommy??

The holiday baking and confectionery season is upon the Celtic Mommy household! Cookies, breads, cakes, pastries, scones, candy, truffles... pick a sweet or savory treat and it mostly is made here at some point between now and New Year's.

Yesterday's baking lesson was a Gale Gand recipe from an old Sweet Dreams episode. Basque Cake with Cherry Preserves... yummy! This is a rich but not overly sweet cake that you can make pretty quickly. I originally sought out this recipe after receiving an amazing sour cherry preserves gift... but any tart preserves would also work well if sour cherry is not to your taste.

Em helped me to sift the flour, fold in the butter and spoon the preserves into the center of the cake... and then waited patiently for the timer to go off! Here's a picture of him in his custom apron from Grandma.
After waiting for the cake to cool down (also known as eating dinner) we had lovely slices of cake with Vanilla Bean ice cream. Mmm, heavenly!

If you've never heard of Gale Gand, she has some scrumptios books out... my favorite of which is "Just a Bite" - a book on, what else, bite sized desserts. Link will take you to B&N and you can view a sample recipe there.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Persimmon Cookies

Grandpa Larry’s Persimmon Cookies

My husband’s grandfather came up with this recipe along with many other persimmon recipes as they had persimmon trees in their back yard. My father-in-law passed this recipe down to his children and eventually it will pass to my munchkins. This recipe calls for the orangey red persimmons and MUST be ripe. Other persimmons should work as well, but I’ve never used them.

Makes 4 to 5 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup shortening
2 cups white sugar
1 ¼ tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. baking soda
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/3 tsp. ground clove
4 cups white flour (can change up to 2 cups to white whole wheat flour, but the texture of the cookies will change!)
2 cups persimmon pulp
2 cups chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans work well)
½ to 1 cup shredded coconut (I personally don’t like it but my sister-in-law does)
1 cup raisins or currants

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease cookie sheets or use Silpat.
Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. Take 1 cup of flour and combine with nuts, coconut and raisins. Set aside this mix and then the rest in another bowl.
Cream together shortening and sugar until fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time to mixture.
Add vanilla and then add half of the persimmon pulp. When combined, add 2nd half.
Add flour in thirds and combine just enough to get wet. Try not to over mix.
Add final cup with nut/coconut/raisin mix.

Drop mixture in teaspoon measurements on cookie sheet. Bake for 18 minutes. If your oven runs hot, check at 16 minutes.

Can make these bigger and dunk in whipped cream for a heavenly over the top treat as well!
I have more Persimmon recipes as well. Send me a comment if interested. If you make them, please let me know how you liked them.
Enjoy!

Monday, November 5, 2007

Handmade Holidays & Holiday Organizing

Preface: For those of you who are shaking your heads in amusement, bewilderment or _____ fill in the blank... read this in a month or so!


For those of you who are nodding, read on!

Yep, it is already that time of year again for me... the countdown to the holiday season... and I have always liked to be a little more prepared... this year I want to be even more prepared than I have ever been in the past. Here's a little background of the how and why of it all for me.

I grew up in a multi-religion family and we celebrated and learned about every holiday under the sun. With so many festivities to celebrate and decorate for and bake and cook for from October to December, things would get a little hectic and I'd often be out last-minute shopping on my birthday and wrapping gifts 10 minutes before people arrived at my door! Sure, I'd had my lists of things to make and buy but time just seemed to fly by so FAST! When my first son was born, I started following something along the lines of this "Organized Christmas" website... it wasn't perfect for me, but it was a good place to start. I kept lists year-round full of little hints I'd hear from my loved ones about things they liked/admired/wanted/needed/loved, but would never buy themselves... etc. I started buying baking essentials (extra butter, nuts and spices) early and freeze them so as not to bust my December budget. I'd get my holiday cards out right after Thanksgiving... yay another thing accomplished and able to be checked off the list! But something was missing...

Some years I'd make one or two things (sewn or painted usually) for someone I thought would want and appreciate it-- and the feeling of giving something I made with love was wonderful! But it wasn't enough...

Fast forward to this year. I'm certainly not Martha Stewart but my preparations have evolved quite a lot! I started making heartfelt gifts in May... and I'm just about 3/4 done with the list I set myself up to do... so I'm actually going to add a few more things and participate in Sew Mama Sew's November Handmade Holidays event (see logo to the right). Each day the blog (second link) will show you examples of that day's gift idea (today is tote bags - a perfect gift for 1-those who like to bring their bags with them to food shop, 2-a tote for library books, 3-a carry all for moms on the go-- it's all up to you!) and different interpretations that might work for you or inspire you to come up with your own idea. If you want to see what's coming up, here is the whole schedule from November 1st through 30th.

Next up, I've got to finalize my holiday baked goodies list! My son will be helping me with this this year as he is enjoying our time in the kitchen! One of my favorite kid-friendly baking books is "The Kid's Holiday Baking Book" by Rosemary Black that has traditional recipes and stories for everything from Cinderella's Pumpkin Pie to Khir to Latkes to Stollen! Em is loving his apron and wears it every chance he gets--- whether in the kitchen or not!

I'll post other family recipes such as Gramma Doris' Cherry Walnut Bread, Grandpa Larry's Persimmon Cookies and Gema Ethel's Carrot Cake in the coming weeks. My own chocolate truffle recipe will be up too!


Truffles.... Mmmmmmm!