Peaceful Warrior

Christmas this year--came in several doses and it happened early.

In September my mom took us to Seattle and Lopez Island, most definitely one of my favorite places to visit in the whole world.

Then, in mid December I got to go to Phoenix with Susan and Crit and the munchkins. It was superb! Hanging out with the BFF, eating midnight pizza, skirts and sandals, fireworks, skinny dipping in Lake Saguaro in December? Yep that's right-- it's true. I still haven't given it up. I dare say I never will. I'll be skinny dipping when I'm 80 years old!

On the way home from Arizona I was a bit sad... and that's when Christmas really happened this year. My dad was there waiting for me and Ezra when we got off the plane. We collected our bag and as we were heading out of the airport my dad pointed out three travellers sitting by the payphone with all their bags. My dad said offhandedly "I think they might be stranded" and without hesitating I walked over to them (mind you Ezra is in the backpack so I'm figuring they will feel less intimidated by a braided hair chick with a kid on her back) and asked them if they needed help. It turned out they had each come from different parts of Central and South America and were on their way to Sun Valley to work at the resorts for the winter, but their shuttle had never come for them so they were stuck in Boise in the terribly stormy weather at 10:00 at night. And the Boise airport is not exactly hoppin at 10 at night so there was no food or anything. Anyway they were waiting for a call to see if the lodge might send someone for them (three hours away). I told them if they needed a place to stay they could come to our place. They said they had to wait 20 or 30 minutes for their call to see what would happen. I gave them my number to call if they ended up stuck and we left. I told my dad I wanted to get them some food and bring it back to them so we went and got them a pizza. When we got back to give it to them they were so shocked. They were like "Why are you helping us?"

Well...why? How many times have I been stuck, stranded, or in need of a miracle? I can't number them. But I can say I totally KNEW the look I saw in their eyes. I knew how they felt. And I wanted to help, for all the times somebody has helped me.

So... they got a tour of the exciting farmland between Boise and Nampa on VERY snowy streets, and they got some dinner. They got warm beds and showers, they got a local bacon, eggs, and fried potatoes breakfast, a lunch bag to go, and a ride back to the airport the next day. Thanks to my dad for going along with how I wanted to help. :) He is such a good sport.

It was the boost I needed to get me back into being home. And now we have three new friends. :)

That's Christmas. If you ask me. And I don't mind that it came a little early this year.

Leandro (from Argentina), Manuela (from Brazil) and Luis (from Peru)Making Breakfast for the crew-- (and yes that is spit up on my arm, its part of my wardrobe now).

So now go watch the movie called Peaceful Warrior. It's a bit odd, BUT here's the point I got from it, which has been stewing in me this last year: In everything you do whether it be pumping gas, making a bed or a lunch, or competing in the Olympics...do it with your heart. Do the little things that no one else may ever see or know about with as much attention and care as you would do the things that seem grand and "important" and noticeable-- and do them all with love.

That is what this world needs.

Morning Goodness

Now listen to me. I am not a big fan of breakfast. I truly have to be in the mood and I still have not figured out what gets me there-- BUT If you like oatmeal AT ALL. you are gonna wanna make this recipe. I got it from my friend Lissa. We met in kindergarten. She had the best art projects of anybody in the class (and I aspired to be just like her in my artistic abilities--but to no avail-- my best art comes out in the kitchen). And she was really nice. We are still friends.We were cruelly seperated in elementary school but we were reunited again in junior high again-- and i know for sure she helped me survive Drama, PE (both of which were terrifying to me) and Orchestra (which was traumatizing for other reasons we don't need to go into).We even got to be roommates at college for awhile. Do you have any friends that you have had for THAT lONG? Lissa is truly my oldest (other than my sibs) and one of my dearest friends. And she is still a great artist! She even got a dgree in it. But she is also really fun to cook with and talk about books and just life in general. So this one goes out to Lissa who is so busy with her three kids she probably won't even have time to read this for a long time!

I've decided to name it

Lissa's Delectable Baked Oatmeal Yumminess (she and her kids have thier own name for it but I can't remember what it is)

In a bowl mix together all of the following ingredients:

3 c. regular oats

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. butter

**2 eggs

2 c. milk

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 apple grated

1/2 c. coconut

then you can add craisins, raisins, bluberries, or any other dried fruit and you can add seeds and nuts-- I used chopped up raw almonds (since i'm ALLERGIC to walnuts--did you know that about me?) and threw in craisins (because I do not- as a rule- like baked raisins).

I also threw in some coconut milk.

Butter a 13x9 pan and dump it all in

Bake at 375 for 25 minutes (mine took more like 35 minutes)

pour milk over it and eat this in a bowl! mmmmmmmmmm

**did you know that if you don't have eggs or don't want to use them you can sub appplesauce (which a lot of you bakers already know) OR you can grind up one heaping tablespoon of whole flaxseeds and blend until it becomes a fine powder. Add 1/4 cup cold water blend 2-3 minutes until thickened and has the consistency of eggs. Each 1/4 cup of Flax seed mixture will replace one egg in baking. I have tried this and it really works!

Let me know if you tried this goodness and if you like it as much as I do.

And now you know at least a few new things about me.

P.S. I got tagged by my other friend Susan so stay tuned for my next post...

(p.p.s. there is a link to Ezra's blog now in my sidebar if you want to check it out)

Friends, cooking, thrifting and all that fun stuff...

This week I found this beautiful quiche dish at a thrift store! It is stoneware and let me just tell you how lucky I feel. I put it back three times because I felt guilty for thinking of buying something I don't need but just want. But I just kept knowing deep down in my gut that it was a true find and that I would regret it later. I told myself-- you have never made a quiche in your life and you will probably hardly ever use this dish. But eventually my little gut gave in. I was tested once again at the checkout line when I saw that it had about 5 people ahead of me and Ez decided he was d-u-n-n done, shopping. I almost set it down and left but at the last second, took my place in line like everybody else and waited my turn. Thankfully the lady behind me entertained Ezra during our wait. I spent a lot of time surfing around on the web for the right recipe for Quiche. I really wanted one that did not call for a boring pre-made pie shell, but I just couldn't seem to find the right recipe. You know how you just know when you've found the right one? It just wasn't happening.

So anyway, my wonderful thoughful friends Susan and Crit and their two little munchkins showed up in my bedroom unnanounced at 10:30 pm Thursday night! They drove a long way to see us-- BFF extravaganza. After the shock of the suprise wore off-- my first thought was that I just had to find the right recipe so I could try out my new dish on them. No more messing around. the time was now!

After I got everyone settled into thier sleeping arrangements I went back to my search. I was trying to find out if a quiche shell is the exact same as a pie shell or if it should be nade slightly differently? I just did not know. And it was simply too late to call my sister who knows everything about cooking and ask her. So I settled on a martha stewart pie crust recipe (found here), and the Allrecipes website recipe of the day which just so happened to be a spinach quiche! I was very unsure of whether this was going to work or not but I just decided to stick with the adventure and have a little faith that I could in fact actually make a pie crust! I have heard that it's tough to get a good one so obvioulsy my perfectionistic-- it's not ok to make a mistake self-- was a little nervous. At 2:00 in the morning I put my "disc" (which I have no idea if I did it right or not) into the refrigerator to chill overnight and went to bed-- well kind of. Just about the time I was ready to go to sleep-- Ezra decided he was ready to not sleep-- :)

But anyway by the time I got up and moving and spent all the time it took to prebake the pie dough ( I read it would be less soggy this way) and make the quiche and bake it-- It ended up being our lunch instead of our breakfast. I made quite a few alterations to the actual quiche recipe based on things I compiled in my head from my quiche recipe research. But this was the recipe I scaled it from-- here --I added pear tomatoes, and precooked bacon, precooked yellow zucchini and onions and I forgot the garlic. I also used a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar and substituted fresh parsley for spinach. I went with sour cream rather than yogurt and added some chili powder, seasoning salt and extra pepper as well as fresh rosemary.

Let me tell you-- the pie crust turned our pretty good-- for my first one with no clue what I was doing-- I was pretty happy with it. I would like to find one that is flakier and not as dense and a tad less butter for next time but all in all this was honestly the best quiche I have ever eaten-- and I'm not just saying that. I want to make one every day now! And I had so much fun feeding my friends-- I am glad they were patient with my experiement :) And I am glad I got that dish.

I did it!

All this yummy stuff

got made into baby food this week for this yummy little person. Seriously. I really could just eat him up.

Thirtysomething

This month I turned 31 and Ezra turned 3 months old! I have been busy canning and cooking and working and taking care of my favorite little boy on the planet.

The days pass quickly and I find myself staring at other people's blogs and my emails and trying to muster up the energy to write on my blog and Ezra's blog...

The mail man babysat her girls so Heather and I could go to Art in the Park for my birthday!Then my dad and Ryan and Mary took me out for Sushi!Ezra had his baby blessing given to him by my dad and my brother Ryan. My mom got to be there too I love my boy!


Marley Jane is just 11 days younger than Ezra and they had their belssings on the same day! My mom also helped me and Heather with some of our many canning and food preservation ventures (Heather is even more prolific than I and she inspires me to keep at it!)
Dill pickles and plums
Bread and Butter Pickles
Corn which we went and picked ourselves and then processed for freezingPeaches and Peach Sauce for Ezra
HUGE Beefstake tomatoes from my dads garden for yummy fresh salsa

Eating breakfast at Honkers in downtown Nampa before hitting the farmers market!

We are staying busy and having lots of good times with our family.

Juballoon

I started a blog just for Ezra so that mine can still be my journal and his can be his. I'll still post about him on mine but there will be more about him on his own blog for those of you that want to follow his sweet little life around in more detail! It's still not much but I'll be adding to it as I have time. If you want to see it go here

McCall Idaho

This is how Ezra felt about spending the week in McCall with Papa J, and ALL of his cousins and aunts and uncles on my side of the family--One 6 year old and 5 babies under the age of two!

Candid shots of Ez for Kim

I am working on a blog just for Ezra but in the mean time-- here are some recent pixies of my boy (and his awesome hair)!

Huh? Uh-Oh busted flirting with that older woman-- oh yeah she's my cousin...dang
It's hard to catch him mid-smile but this is the end of a big one! Man I love his smile and his natural mohawk, and his loooong eyelashes!He loves to suck his two middle fingers. Maybe he's saying I love you :)

Sweet Boy. I love you too.