Lionden Landing

Cucumbers have arrived in our garden. I had been checking and checking but seeing essentially no progress is the development of the fruit. Yesterday we discovered some that were finally starting to develop some. While looking at these emerging fruit we found two beauties hidden deep under the vines that should have been picked at least a few days earlier. Now at least I know where and how to look for all my hidden gems. For dinner last night we had a green salad with the last of our lettuce and the first of our cucumbers. We will not be buying any more cucumber from the store for the rest of the summer. As you can see, some one could not wait for dinner to sample the goodness. We took out the remains of the lettuce and added in some additional tomato plants. We will see how they do. So far the count from the garden is Lettuce ++ Spinach ++ Cucumbers ++ peas + beans - strawberries - Potatoes ?

My in laws will be here for Father' s Day and will be staying for about 10 days. I do not do any menu planning while they are here as my mother in law loves to cook for us. I will make Shabbat dinner since they are not Jewish and anything else would be awkward. In preparation for their coming, we eat foods we know they won't enjoy sharing with us or we pretest things to share with them. Regardless we try to make sure we have no leftovers when they arrive. So here is our menu this week Monday - Pasta with Homemade Sauce Tuesday - Dinner at the Amusement Park Wednesday - Tofu Stir Fry Thursday - Salmon Burgers Erev Shabbat - Challah, Brown Sugar Salmon, Sugar Snap Peas, Rice, Keem. A neat parve cake

Most of the experimenting in my cooking right now is in my search for the perfect supper salad for my family which does not seem to like salads at all. This week it takes the form of pasta primavera salad. Monday - Chicken Salad Primavera, basically this recipe for the dressing with our own mix of veggies. Tuesday - Burgers, corn, green salad Wednesday - Concernt in the park - Picnic Dinner - a wonderful selection of breads, spreads, meats,salads and fresh fruit with some small cookies and brownies for dessert. Thursday - Pasta, homemade sauce, green salad Friday - Pot Roast, acorn squash, green beans, ,melted ice cream cake

I just ordered the last of our curriculum for the new school year. Since we run a year round program here we just started our new Judiaca studies, Jewish Values , having finished Alef Celebrations with sadness as it missed. We will continue with our current two parsha book, restarting My First Parsha at Simchat Torah. I am not sure whether or not we will restart My Weekly Siddur probably though. We will be using Five In a Row (FIAR) as the focus for our secular studies. We are also giving Singapore Math and Story of the World a try. Since this is our preK year* I am only testing the waters with both of these. I have yet to figure out how to add them into our daily routine but at least I know what pieces I am working with. The current plan is to keep the morning school routine focused mostly on Judaica and add in Math only. The FIAR story will be her bedtime book with the activities placed through out the day/week according to practicallity. I have no idea what we are going ...

Our little garden is doing amazing things. The lettuce and spinach took off like gang-busters. We have plenty to eat. There is something about lettuce and spinach coming from HER garden that means Froggy will eat at least a few bites of it. Today we harvested the very first of our peas. The peas have been a serious hassle as they do not seem to like my trellis material. Still they are growing. It was fun showing Froggy how to open the pods to get at the peas. She ate all the peas right there in the yard. Our squash-family plants are growing phenomenally. Unfortunately the fruit is developing at a glacial pace. I am concerned that some how I planted a winter squash rather than the desired cucumbers. Our tomato plants are growing but not producing anything yet. We just had the first flowers appear. We have a couple of spots vacant in the garden. I am going to add either tomatoes or cucumbers in these holes.

Everyone likes to receive unexpected presents in the mail. Right? Well PJ Library sends my daughter a book every month. So not only does she get mail but she gets a new book. She gets a great book. As they say, "The PJ Library program sends Jewish-content books and music on a monthly basis to children from age six months to five, six, seven or eight years depending on the community." The selection process is rigorous. The only books we have not liked are because of our family's strange indosyncracies. PJ Library helps me finds books I would never even know exist. This month's selection, First Gift , was so good and so sweet it made me cry as I read it. This is not the first time I have had that reaction to a PJ book. They touch a very special place in my heart. It is about our name, the first gift your parents give you. The text of the story is short and funny and sweet yet the end notes delve into Jewish naming customs and the reasons for these customs. Las...

I am trying out some new recipes this week, new conceptual plans for family dinners that work better with our summer life style. My plan for the summer is to cook as little in the house as possible and to turn the oven on only once a week for Shabbat. Our general dinner plan will be A Supper Salad Something on the grill - kebobs, burgers, etc pasta or pizza or leftovers stir fry Shabbat leftovers surprise - ie whatever I feel like that week. The trick will be finding supper salads and grill items the whole family is willing to eat. Here are the specifics for this week. I have the specific menus but since my evening plans are greatly in flux with several possible meetings, the order of the meals is not set yet. Hamburgers, corn on the cob, green salad with lettuce and spinach from our garden Black bean and rice salad using either this or this recipe, fresh fruit and crusty peasant bread (hopefully homemade) Pasta, homemade sauce and a green salad Tofu Stir Fry, Rice and Keem Shabbat...

With the sun out later and the weather more inviting, our family starts to take lots of meals outdoors. We grill and eat on the patio enjoying lots of variety there. But we also go to the pool, playground and outdoor concerts with packed meals. Our travelling picnics are rather redundant evenif they yummy and enjoyed in the beginning. I need some ideas for picnics that are dairy-free, easily transported (ie not too too many components) and family friendly. I would love some that are more elegant although variety is more important than anything else right now. What are your favorite picnic foods?

Tomorrow is Shavout. There are several good descriptions of the holiday out there so I won't repeat all that here. It is a harvest holiday as well as commemorating the giving of the Ten Commandments and Torah at Mt. Sinai. It is a mitzvah to hear the commandments read in Hebrew during Shavout. It is a tradition to eat sweet dairy foods during Shavout to remind us that Israel is a land flowing with milk and honey. The two are combined at our local Chabad with an ice cream party and special service for the children at Mincha tomorrow. Last year's was so fun we will be back this year. We will welcome Shabbat in a special Shavout style manner with a dairy picnic dinner at shul and Shabbat under the starts Chag Samech All

Today was baking day. So much baking all at one time is rough on the kitchen but it was fun. Froggy helped lots. We also baked ahead for a weekend trip. We will finish up the final touches tomorrow. Today we made: Strawberry muffins Strawberry crisp Granola Challah dough - it will rise overnight in the fridge and get baked tomorrow. Chicken pot pies Chocolate covered macaroons Tomorrow we will bake the challah and pack our pick dinner of Salmon burgers

Last week Orgjunkie threw out a challenge. How do you choose your recipes? Here is my top 10 ways of choosing a recipe. My Top 5 List for Selecting New Recipes I start with the need I want to fill, vegetarian, leftover chicken, or breakfast. I look for recipes with simple, uncomplicated instructions. I look for recipes that use simple fresh ingredients as the focus. I don't like to use processed products. I prefer recipes that are already non-dairy although I have become more efficient at modifying recipes to suit my family. I pass on all pork recipes As a bonus, I love it when a recipe comes to me from someone else that is recommending it. If a recipe meets my above criteria and is tried and true how can it possibly go wrong :) The Menu Monday - Baked Salmon, Peas, Rice - A real dinner after all the cold meals at the beach Tuesday - Pasta with Homemade sauce and salad with greens from our garden Wednesday - Picnic at the pool - Salmon burgers, carrot sticks, and fruit Thursday...

I got an early Mother's Day present thanks to Chasing Cherrios . She shared a poem prompt that she did with her daughter. It was wonderful fun to do with Froggy. Her answers were confusing at times but always sweet. Here is her poem. The bold is the prompt. The regular text is dictated by Froggy. My Mom I really love it when my mom makes me happy My mom likes to wear clothing My mom always tells me , “Weed in my gardens” The best thing she does is love me! It makes her happy when she hugs me My mom loves to relax by putting kisses on my face when I get booboos I like it when she makes me happy The best thing she cooks is scambled eggs When my mom shops she likes to buy mommy snack My mom’s favorite household chore is cleaning and baffing My mom’s favorite TV show is Mogly If she could go on a trip, she would go up to Boston I love my mom because she kisses me when I am hurt This week's edition of Works For Me Wednesday is supposed to ...

This is a short week as we prepare to go on vacation. We will be spending Mother's Day weekend at the beach. That is the best present I could get. Since we will be camping I need to plan and bring camp food as well. We eat out one meal a day when camping and try to keep the remaining meals real simple. We do have a camp stove but obviously can't do any baking. Recipe Review The chicken roll ups were a huge hit. They looked nice too. I will make them again for company. They are super easy. Roll a chicken breast around some asparagus spears and secure with string Brush with sauce* Grill for ~15 minutes The couscous not such a win. I liked it but I was alone in that. I don't know why no one else took to it. The popcorn chicken was also a lose. Froggy who loves all chicken nuggets turned her nose up at "Mommy's nuggets" I am not sure if it was the seasoning in the breading or the fact that the breading did not adhere well. I will try another similar re...

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.This is my inaugural adventure into the Daring Baker Challenge. While I am definitely a Daring Baker, I am by no means an expert baker. Being a dairy-free household means we do not eat much cheesecake. I had a fortuitous opportunity to experiment with this challenge while at the same time baking for a great cause. I modified the presented recipe to make Mini Chocolate Mint Cheesecakes I made mini cheesecakes because the items for CASA needed to be individual. I chose Chocolate mint because I had several boxes of Girl Scout Thin Mints left in my pantry instead of the more traditional Oreos. I have used water bath for Flan before but my flan dishes are much taller than my cupcake pans. I first used my lasagna pan for the bath as I do with my flan. But it sloshed and drowned the poor things. I switched to a cookie sheet and mastered the technique of removin...

Sunday - Shepards Pie - uses leftover pot roast from Shabbat Monday - Popcorn Chicken, broccoli and oven fries Tuesday - Pizza with homemade crust, leftover meat sauce from last week and non-dairy cheese. Wednesday - Picnic - Salmon patty burgers, fruit, cookies Thursday - leftovers Friday - Shabbat - Challah, Chicken Rollups with Fruity Couscous (an experiment - recipe to follow), Berry Crisp Need some more inspiration, take a look at what others have on their menu this week a Orgjunkie

I love sheet protectors. We use them for lots of things. They make great pockets for papers that need to travel in the car. We use them to make our own books like this one . But the most common way we use it is with workbooks. Froggy likes workbooks or coloring pages but still tends to scribble over when part way through. Sheet protectors and dry erase markers pair together to make a reusable work sheet that will allow me to challenge her and yet withstand preschool frustration Preschoolers need repetition and with sheet protectors I can provide true repetition, the same sheet over and over, rather than just the same concept.

So the sunflower garden is under way. We have had two work sessions so far. On the first day, we determined which direction was north using both a compass and the direction of the shadows at midday. It was neat to show the children the two options and that the answer was the same no matter how we got to the answer. We placed the door to the house on the north side and marked out the rest of the walls. That was enough for our first adventure. On day two, we dug up the sod where we will be planting and added compost. We are planting only a 4 inch wide area around the house. Even so removing the sod turned out to be a great deal more work than originally anticipated. The children had fun digging and breaking up the sod to save as much of the dirt as possible. The hit though was probably all the worms and bugs that we got to see and identify. The step for day two was adding compost to the soil. Explaining what compost is and where it comes from was neat. It was interesting to see ...

Because this week was not busy enough, I have lots of extra baking to do. Our local CASA is having a huge fundraiser this weekend. They expect roughly 400 guests. I and several others are baking treats for the crowd. Baking List Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Double Chocolate Truffle Cake Balls - a variation of these . Mini Chocolate Mint Cheesecakes Granola Bread for sandwiches I really need to make some more of the first two or something else entirely. Check back later in the week. I will update the baking list as I figure out what I am doing. I also need to figure out how I am transporting all the treats to the admin building. They need to be delivered on Friday and will be transported with everyone else's goodies on Saturday. In addition to this, I am attending a baby shower on Thursday for which the requested gift is a freezer meal for mom. I think that is the best kind of gift an expectant mom can receive. I am going to make a lovely chicken and brown rice casserole...

1 (8-ounce) package no-boil lasagna noodles 2 pkgs cream cheese 1 pkg sour cream 1 cup powdered sugar 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa 2 large eggs 1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips 1 orange, zested 1/2 cup roasted pistachios 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely grated Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bring a large pot of water to the boil and cook the noodles for 1 minute. Drain them and put them into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain again and lay on paper towels to dry. Whisk together the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, cocoa powder, and eggs on medium speed with a hand or stand mixer, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until it is well blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and orange zest. Spread 1/4 of the cheese mixture into the bottom of an 8 by 8-inch baking dish. Sprinkle some of the pistachios over the top and press on a layer of noodles. Repeat, ending with the cheese mixture and pistachios. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the lasagna has risen. Remove the pan ...

Ingredients --1 1/2 cups of brown rice-1 1/2 cups chicken broth --1 1/2 cups milk, divided ( I used soy) --3/4 cup flour --1 small yellow onion, diced --8 oz sliced mushrooms -3-4 chicken breast halves or equivalent parts (1 used 3 huge frozen breast halves) --1/2 tsp onion powder --1/4 tsp black pepper --1/4 tsp paprika Directions. Combine all of the chicken broth (1 1/2 cups) and 1/2 cup of milk in a sauce pan and heat over medium heat on the stove. In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining 1 cup of milk with 3/4 cup flour. When the broth and milk have begun to boil, reduce heat, and slowly stir in the milk and flour mixture. When everything is fully incorporated, set the pot aside to cool. Spray pan with cooking spray. Add the rice and seasonings to pan. Chop up the onion, and add it with the mushrooms. Stir in your broth, flour, and milk mixture. The rice will turn a bit red from the paprika. Lay the chicken pieces on top. Bake at 350 for approximately an hour or unti...