I’m pretty sure this one has a gene or somethin’ that requires a thrice weekly intake of red meat. I’m not saying he always gets that, but if he had his way, it’d be more than three.

Here, he is making up one of his two favorite sandwiches. The Marlboro Man sandwich.

A few curious souls have asked what recipe I use to make pesto. Below are my two favorites - one I make with walnuts because I think the balance of the ingredients works well with the nuts flavor. The other recipe I use with pine nuts for the same reason.  Many people can't tell the difference, so I say use what you have on hand or whatever is least expensive at the time. And if you’re married to a walnut farmer, never admit you use pine nuts or even thought of using anything other than walnuts. Just keep the peace. It’s better that way.

Recipe 1

2 cups tightly packed fresh basil leaves

4 cloves of garlic

1 cup walnuts

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 – 1 cup parmesan (fresh grated is always the best)

Sea salt to taste

Serves 6 (and enough for 1 medium pizza)

Recipe 2

1 cup tightly packed fresh basil leaves

1 large clove of garlic

1 heaping tablespoon freshly grated parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon freshly grated Romano cheese (or more parmesan if you don’t have any Romano on hand

1 teaspoon pine nuts (or walnuts)

2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt to taste

 Serves 4

Process basil, walnuts or pine nuts & garlic in a food processor until finely chopped.

Add olive oil in a thin, steady stream with machine on.

Add parmesan cheese and blend together.

·        A processor of some sort is a must. The ingredients have to be made into a paste.

·        For a great appetizer, boil small red potatoes until soft, when cool, cut in half, scoop out a small bit of potato from each half, and fill with pesto. Place on a platter, cut/filled side up, top with a few large shreds of parmesan and garnish with fresh basil leaves.

·        Pesto pizza: spread pesto over pizza crust and layer with tomatoes and artichokes

·        To spice it up: stir in spoonful of chopped, roasted chili pepper

 J keeps me well stocked with basil

Here is Mike's recipe for the much requested birthday morning, breakfast pull-apart. Pull-apart is small sweet dough balls rolled in butter, cinnamon and sugar and baked to a gorgeous, drippy sweetness. But take heed: if you dare to make this delicious recipe - wear your running shoes.

1/2 C warm water

2 1/2 tsp yeast

1/2 C sugar

2  tsp salt

2 eggs room temperature

1/2 C butter, softened

2 C warm milk

7 - 7 1/2 C flour

Sprinkle yeast over water and stir. Whisk together sugar, salt, eggs & butter and slowly add to water and yeast.  Add milk and then flour. Mix until dough becomes sticky. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Cover dough with a towel and let it rise until it doubles in size - about 45 minutes. Roll out and shape into sweet rolls, dinner rolls or coffee bread.

Bake rolls 10-12 min.

Coffee breads 25 -30 minutes

For pull-apart: Roll dough into golf ball sized balls, dip completely in butter, roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture. Stack dough balls in an angle food cake pan or bundt pan. Bake 30 minutes. You may have to play with the time a bit. The amount of time need to bake depends on the thickness of the pan.

Turn onto plate.

For croissants: roll dough into a circle and cut triangle wedges (a pizza cutter works fabulously). Starting at base of triangle, roll dough into a croissant shape. Butter top. For a sweet flavor brush cinnamon, sugar and butter into the center before rolling. Bake.

*This recipe is super versatile - the dough can be rolled into any shape and stuffed, spread, dipped and baked. Use your imagination.

Tonight,  Mike prayed the Lord would give us enough rain for summer irrigation's. Does he not know it's been raining for 4 day's straight and I am in a moderately sized home with 4 children, 3 of which are boy's? I see the outside as an extension of my home. I wouldn't trade this house for a bigger one if it meant a smaller yard. I wouldn't know what to do. I don't know what to do. Ahhhhhh!

So I cook. We cook.

Yesterday, I ended up at the grocery during piano lessons, without my list. And rather than trying to remember everything for that evening's dinner, let alone the rest of the week, I decided to amuse myself and grabbed an Everyday Food magazine from the rack and plan a few meals right then and there.

You have to get your hands on this issue! It's the "light cooking" issue of the year, it being January and all, and I'm sure over at MSL they're banking on all the 'drop a few pounds' new years resolution's. 

So Yesterday evening, I whipped up the Brown Rice Bowl with shrimp, snow peas and avocado. My family absolutely loved it!

I did steamed peas instead of snow because I new they would go over better, and put the avocado on the side, to be added by the 4 of us who would eat it.

I left the magazine out on the table and J flipped through it, deciding he needed to make the Light Pineapple Upside- down Cake.Two thumbs up!

Tonight, I made the Sesame Green Beans to go with my tortellini, bread (Little Miss helped me make) and orange wedges. Huge hit!

 I am a boring vegetable maker. I like just about everything steamed or roasted and served plain, except carrots. Carrots are better raw. So when I find a recipe that jazzes up a vegetable without compromising the nutritional value, I can get pretty excited.

They make a great evening snack too, with Clos DU Bois.

Hi this is the 10 year old son. We are going have a yard sale tomorrow. So while my mom is getting ready, she let me be a guest blogger. I wanted to tell you about my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.

But first, a joke.

How can you tell when a cook is mad?

When he beats the eggs and whips the cream.

Now for the recipe.

You need:

2c. butter

1 1/2c. brown sugar     

1 1/2c. white sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

3 eggs

3 c. flour

1 c. carob powder

Add as many chocolate chips as you want.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix the flour, carob powder, and baking soda. Don’t use the mixer. Next mix the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla, and the eggs in the mixer. After that’s done mixing, add the flour, carob powder, and baking soda mixture in little by little. Hand mix in the chocolate chips. When it’s done mixing, make it into little balls and put them on a cookie sheet. Bake them for ten minutes. And when you take them out let them cool and enjoy.

I've been making list's, which isn't too surprising. I make them for everything. Yes, I even write things down that I did but weren't on the list to begin with.  It's just a feel good.

I made a summer job cleaning list, a summer personnal reading list, a school preperation list for the fall term, a summer read aloud list, a canning/dehydrating food list, a running (like one foot in front of the other) goals list and a

Things we want to do this summer (list)

1. Make fresh sqeezed  lemonade

 (this will happen more than once this summer. But it was worth putting on the list, in order to get to the actual making it part.)

This is our favorite recipe because it can be served right away over ice. The ice melts just enough and doesn't water down the lemonade.

In a small sauce pan combine 2 1/2 cups of sugar and 2 1/2 cups of water.

Bring to a boil over medium- high heat and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large container, combine 3 cups of freshly squeezed lemon juice (15-20 lemons), sugar syrup,

 4 cups of cold water and 4 cups of ice.

Makes 3 quarts

Delicious!

My cupboard holds a basket with many random tea bags transferred out of their almost empty boxes. When the season changes to warmer weather, I begin using up these little bags by making iced tea. This afternoon, I brewed 2 green tea bags, a peppermint and a chai in 6 cups of water for about 5 minutes. (Any longer and the green tea turns bitter.)   This makes surprisingly great tasting tea  - sweetened just a bit with agave nectar.

The games we played

Blink. This is a fast paced, 2 person  game where you race to empty your pile by laying down cards that fit either by shape, color or number to the card piles in the middle of the playing area. S (3) even played, though anyone who played her went at her pace. And rumor has it, that I am the one to beat. Great game!

Last Word.  There are category cards and letter cards. Pick a category and a letter card and everyone tries to name something from that category beginning with that letter. Get in the last word before the end of the time and you or your team moves forward. Even Z (6) could manage answers by using phonics sounds. Mike and I played alone and in teams. Another winner.

 We also completed a 500 piece puzzle that has been out for 2 weeks. When I want to get any of the men talking in this house, I pull out my secret weapon, and get them busy with their hands. Try it! Even if only a few pieces get in at a time, it’s a great way to unwind and ‘get in their heads”.

And for our Good Eats!
Here is a link to our family’s most requested main dish  - Turkey Burgers

* I use parmesan instead of Gruyère cheese

 Click here

Pressing On,

Dana

Installment #2 of Apples in season...... makes me want to bake features son number 3 - Age 6 and holding. On today’s menu we have Oatmeal Apple Cupcakes. In my opinion, healthy enough to be called breakfast muffins. Recipe follows.

PS. I added the recipe for the apple turnovers to the last post per the request of Stacy, who has a mean recipe for a strudel and pictures for the non-visionary types such as myself.

Oh and one more thing.....

Some people around this blogging world seem to think I am a good time, "the coolest". Remember: this is the Sunny Side of the Room. I hate to disappoint anyone, so just don’t turn around because the clouds are looming On the Other Side of the Room

and its not so pretty.

Oatmeal Apple Cupcakes

Apple Glaze (optional)

YIELD: 24 cupcakes

and a plenty leftover for a lickn'.

For that reason, I told the kids to each pick out an apple recipe we could bake together.

I am not looking forward to daylight saving’s time ending. My vitamin D levels drop just thinking about it. The consolation is our central California weather - we’re still in the mid to high 70's

The boy’s have spent a few warm afternoons helping Daddy at the walnut huller. Feeling like the men when they are done and appreciated.

             Shaking the walnut tree

Friday we spent on a field trip along the river studying the riparian life. A fine affirmation for a Mamma who see’s info being retained from what we have studied and reissued back in an answer.

                       We have to touch what?

We had a great Sunday dinner. I made French dip in the crockpot that turned out so yummy.

2lb. beef top round roast, trimmed

3 cups water

1 cup lite soy sauce

1 tsp. dried rosemary

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 bay leaf

3 whole peppercorns

Place into crockpot. Cook on high 5-6 hours.

Take out meat and pull apart. Strain juice for dipping.

I served them on whole wheat french roles with melted monterey jack cheese.

Grapes and an avocado citrus salad for sides.

So good!

I have been posting simple meals so my sister can have them at her finger tips. Now for a quick snack.

Smoothies

I have a smoothie blender from Back to Basics ($50.00) purchased at Target.

(My dream machine would be a Vita Mixer - someday.) Don't do this in a regular blender, it will burn up the motor

I buy frozen fruit at Trader Joes and Costco - mangos, pineapples, strawberries and mixed berries. And I use what ever fresh fruit is in season. Lot's of possibilites.

The mixer has line guides on the sides -

I pour in apple juice to the liguid line and then add fruit up the fruit line

For  protien I add firm Tofu (It adds no taste or grit just makes it a little creamier.)

Mix and serve.

Some add ins have been coconut milk, lecithin, aloe vera juice,  liquid chlorophyll, Udo's oil...