I’ve been making some variation of this meal at least once every fall since I moved out of my parents’ house… and my mom made some variation of it every fall while I was still living there! There is nothing like grilled/roasted pork with homemade applesauce – a favorite of mine when I was a child, and now a favorite of all three J-M kids. (Braydon loves it too!) Heavenly fall. But because Shalinee’s family doesn’t eat pork, this time for the swap I did something I’ve never done before: two different meats for the two different families, but both with the same marinade/dry rub and both to be prepared the same way. I don’t have recipes for any of these dishes; I just make ’em up as I go along. But if someone is desperate for a recipe, I’ll try to conjure one up if need be. This dinner was loved at our house (I knew it would be!).
- Chicken Breasts for Shalinee’s family; Pork Loin for the J-Ms. Both prepared the same way—with a dry rub that I put on Monday night. They were ready to be thrown on the grill.
- Acorn Squash with Butter & Brown Sugar. The acorn squash is cut in half, seeded, and roasted until tender, with butter and brown sugar. We eat it with a spoon, right out of the squash “bowl.”
- Smashed Baby Red Potatoes. Made with lots of sour cream, salt, and pepper. Autumn comfort food to the hilt.
- Homemade Chunky Applesauce. We have a beautiful apple/pear/peach orchard right up the street from us. I bought apples there on my way home from work Monday. They had just been picked that day! And I made the applesauce that night. Nothing in it but the apples, some sugar, and a whole bunch of cinnamon.
Shalinee’s dinner the next night was a big hit with everyone except Meera (who spent the first half of dinner throwing couscous all over the floor. and saying, “yuck!” to the shrimp. lovely.). About halfway through dinner we gave up on her and gave her a big bowl of blueberry yogurt. (sometimes it just has to be done, right?). But K & O really liked this dinner… especially the soup. They went crazy for it; each having thirds of it. Kyle loved putting the croutons in it (and insisted on shredded parmesan too). Owen really got into this meal, mixing the couscous and the shrimp into his soup. I think he ate at least two dozen shrimp that night. No joke. And, of course, Braydon and I loved this meal. How could we not?
As a sidenote (sidenote 1 of 3), I’m glad that Shalinee and I finally broke the seafood barrier this week (with the shrimp). Somehow we had developed some sort of aversion to including seafood in the swap (even though both families eat it a lot). I think it stemmed from our fear of seafood not holding up well in the coolers all day and/or for re-heating. But this Shalinee’s shrimp turned out great. I am inspired now to come up with other creative ways to include fish and shellfish in the swap.
Sidenote 2 of 3: With all the extra mid-week time and energy that results from the swap, this week we were able to pull of something that would have been unimaginable pre-swap. On Tuesday, before dinner, Owen and I made pumpkin muffins/cupcakes while Braydon, Kyle, and Meera played outside. Kyle absolutely loves anything pumpkin flavored, particularly pumpkin bread, so we were making this in large part for him. But I wanted to put icing on it for Owen (our frosting/cake/cupcake lover). I used new recipes and… seriously?!… the best pumpkin muffins ever with the best frosting ever (which, much to the bambinos delight, turned them into decadent cupcakes)! Here are the recipes: Pumpkin Bread (I didn’t make the topping; I just used this delicious batter to make muffins/cupcakes instead of loaves) & The Best Frosting Ever (truly, this is the most amazing frosting! Even Kyle, who doesn’t usually care for icing, loved this! It will be my go-to frosting forevermore from here on out).
Sidenote 3 of 3: Tonight I made Shalinee’s “Basic Udon with Vegetables.” I added bok choy to her recipe, and also threw in the leftover grilled pork from our swap dinner earlier in the week. This was, seriously, a Top 10 Meal for the bambinos. They – all three – devoured it like you would not believe. This is definitely a keeper for us and will, for sure, be made again soon!
…(Note how they’ve used a jump-rope to tie the two bikes together.) They call this the “double bike.”
a recent photo from K & O's orphanage
I have been so out-straight lately. It isn’t even fathomable how over-extended and overwhelmed and over-done I am. My mind is spinning from one thing to the next faster than I can keep track of. School (for K & O, and for me) is in full gear. Life is moving at a fast pace. But through it all, lately, I’ve had this thread of consciousness about an adoption-related topic that I’ve been wanting to blog about. My title would be: “Saving” “Orphans.” But the topic is so huge, and I’ve been so crazy-busy, that –despite the fact that I’ve already composed the blog post in my mind about ten times– I just haven’t found the gumption to write it all out. And then today, on another blog, I read a post that speaks to much of my own thoughts on the matter. So, go check it out if you’re interested. Here’s the link (click).
About a month ago, on a Sunday morning, Braydon and I woke up to Kyle and Owen running/sprinting/leaping/bounding/exclaiming/screaming with great excitement that “OWEN PULLED OUT KYLE’S TOOTH!!!” We both bolted upright in bed, because – although just abruptly jolted wide awake from a deep sleep – we were fully aware that Kyle’s tooth had not been that loose the night before. But sure enough, there were the two of them, Kyle proudly beaming his new toothless (and quite bloody) smile, and Owen proudly holding up the tooth (along with a piece of Kleenex dotted with blood). They were –literally—jumping up and down, right there at our bedside, just beside themselves with excitement over the fact that they had managed to get that tooth out. I whispered to Braydon, “My gosh! It wasn’t that loose!?” And he whispered back, “I know!!!” But what was done was done. And so, after jumping out of bed to get Kleenex for Kyle to clean up his bloody mouth, I said, as chipper as I could muster, “Well Kyle! I guess we’ll be getting a visit from the Tooth Fairy tonight!!” It was then that he announced his plan: “No, I’m not leaving my tooth for the Tooth Fairy until Owen’s tooth comes out too.”
This was not the first time we had heard this—Although they both left their first teeth for the Tooth Fairy on the respective nights that they had lost them (Kyle first, and then a couple weeks later, Owen), when Owen was first to loose a second tooth he had declared he’d “wait, as long as it took,” for Kyle to loose his, before leaving his tooth for the Tooth Fairy. And wait Owen did. He waited patiently for about a month for Kyle to finally lose his second tooth, and then they both left them for the Tooth Fairy that night (it just so happened that we were in Maine for Auntie Stina’s wedding that night, and – thrill of thrills! – the Tooth Fairy found us in the log cabin where we were staying deep in the heart of Maine!). So, with the third of Kyle’s teeth now out, he was ready to pay-back-the-deed to Owen… he’d wait and wait until Owen’s tooth was ready.
For the past few days Owen’s tooth has been getting progressively looser. He’s been fiddling and fidgeting with it day and night. And tonight it was clear that it was just barely hanging on by a thread. Kyle convinced him that it was time—time to get the tooth out. And so, after dinner was over and the baths were done, with all five of us gathered tight together on the floor of Kyle’s room (Owen on Braydon’s lap and Meera right beside holding Owen’s hand for comfort), we all got to watch this time as Kyle pulled Owen’s tooth out for him. Turns out they have a whole system, these two, that involves using a Kleenex to grip the tooth and then yanking hard on it. Sure enough, in a split second, there was Kyle, gripping Owen’s tooth with the Kleenex, holding it up high for all to see.
What a ride. Never a dull moment around here, I tell ya. Never a dull moment.
And now the bambinos are sleeping soundly — all three of them awaiting a visit from the Tooth Fairy. K & O are both in Owen’s bed tonight, the bedroom window cracked just a bit so that “she can fly in.” The Tooth Fairy pillow, holding two teeth, is carefully placed right between Kyle and Owen’s heads.
Since Shalinee and I didn’t Swap this week, I thought I’d share one of my favorite salads. I can’t use this salad for The Swap because it involves almonds (we have a No Nuts rule because Shalinee’s son, Alex, is allergic to nuts/seeds), but I’m sure that Shalinee would love it. This is based on a recipe for a salad that my cousin Karen used to make. It is no coincidence that I’m posting about this salad now; this time of year I’m thinking lots of my cousins Karen and Eric. Karen was a regular reader of the blog, and she would have gotten a big kick out of seeing this recipe posted here! [[[Love up to you Karen!]]] Anyway, last weekend I made a double batch of the dressing and the almonds (the key ingredients), and we’ve been eating variations of this salad all week. It is great with just about any dinner, and I love it packed for lunch at work. Karen’s friends have told me that she was “famous” for this salad – that she’d bring it to pot-lucks all the time, and that it got to the point where they were begging her to bring it whenever they’d have get-togethers. I can understand why. I can’t imagine that anyone wouldn’t like this. Try it— you’ll see!
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Dressing:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 Tbsp orange juice concentrate
sugar to taste (I use about 3 Tbsp)
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Place all ingredients in a jar. Shake until combined. Store in fridge.
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Almonds:
1 bag of sliced almonds (1 2/3 cups bag)
1 cup sugar
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Put almonds and sugar in a dry pan on stove over medium-high heat. Watch carefully, stirring regularly, until sugar starts to melt. When sugar and almonds start to caramelize stir constantly so as to avoid burning. Keep stirring until almonds are toasted brown and coated evenly with caramelized sugar. Remove from pan by pouring out into a thin layer onto tin foil. Let cool. When totally cool, break up any pieces that might be stuck together. Store in air-tight container.
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Salad:
baby mesclun greens, romaine, or whatever you like
any combination of the following: dried cranberries, mandarin oranges, fresh strawberries, red onion, crumbled goat cheese, and/or any of your favorite salad toppings.
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Toss together with dressing and almonds, to taste. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, if desired.
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I am a very seasonal food person; I like to eat and cook with the seasons. So, there are very few things that I make for our family all year long. This salad is one of the rare few. Karen’s original recipe called for simply greens, dried cranberries, and mandarin oranges (and the almonds and dressing, of course). It is great that way and that is how I make it during late fall, winter, and early spring. K, O, and M love mandarin oranges, so that helps make this salad always a big hit with them! During those seasons I love to serve this salad with a side of baked brie and crusty French bread (few things are as superb of a combo as toasted almonds and baked brie!!!). My favorite variation, however, is with greens, fresh strawberries, and goat cheese (there is something outrageously good about the candied almonds and goat cheese combo contrasted with the brightness of the fresh strawberries). So, as long as I can get relatively decent and relatively cheap strawberries (which I can, pretty much, during late spring, summer, and early fall), I make it with strawberries and goat cheese. From time to time – regardless of season – I’ll add thinly sliced red onion. This is a really easy and delicious salad, nice enough to serve to guests or to accompany a nice dinner. Simple enough to toss together on a weekday for lunch or dinner (especially if the dressing and almonds have been made in advance). And because it is easy-to-assemble, it is also my go-to salad for pot-lucks, picnics, or for including with a dropped-off dinner (for a family with a new baby, etc.). Try it! You’ll love it!
There was no swap this week. We had to cancel since I had a conference in Maryland. I brought Dave and the kids along and we spent a good part of the week down there. After four days of eating out, we are now back home and (happily) eating in.
So in place of the swap, I’m offering a recipe for our favorite Sunday lunch (favorite for the last month or so): Udon with Vegetables. I’ve made this several different ways; below is the most basic version….very fast (so fast it could easily be a weeknight dinner) and much liked in our household.
Basic Udon with Vegetables
– 3 packs of Udon noodles (from local grocery store)
– 1 & 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
– 1/2 onion, chopped
– 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
– ~1 cup of broccoli florets (bite-sized)
– 3-4 oz. mushrooms, sliced
– 1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
– 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce (depending on taste)
– Dash of sriracha sauce (optional)
– Good handful of cilantro leaves, chopped
– 1/2 lime
Directions: Cook udon noodles according to directions. Retain udon broth. Heat oil and toss in onions, bell peppers, and broccoli. Sautee for a couple of minutes, add mushrooms and garlic. Sautee for a few more minutes. Add soy and sriracha sauces. Mix and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Toss in noodles, mix and then add 3-4 ladels of the udon broth (more or less of the broth, depending on how soupy you want the end product). Add in cilantro and juice from lime. Remove from heat and serve.
To make this with slightly more Thai flavors (mixing metaphors, I know), I tried a simple modification last week: Replacing the soy sauce with a combination of soy and fish sauces and the cilantro leaves with basil leaves. Worked liked a charm.
7ish – our typical Saturday morning routine, all three bambinos are crammed into our bed, watching cartoons on PBS, eating cereal bars, and drinking orange juice. We talk about how we really need a king size bed, according to K & O: “not a queen, not a jack, not an ace, not a ten card bed, but a king size bed.”
9ish – we’re eating eggs and toast and two of us are drinking big mugs of coffee.
10ish – Braydon watches the three outside on the trampoline doing their thing. Crisis hits. Meera’s right arm has been slammed down upon by Owen’s body. She’s crying in serious pain.
11ish – after Tylenol doesn’t cut it one bit, and we’ve observed our baby girl behave like we’ve never seen before (incredibly lethargic, in torturous pain, insisting on being on Mama’s lap and Mama’s lap only, holding her right arm in a sling position with her left hand, refusing to allow anyone to even look at it, turns down offers of Tinker Bell, Lion King, bottles of milk, bunny snacks, and every other of her favorites in all of life…) we make the decision to go to the ER.
11:30ish – the nurse tells us it is presenting as a “Classic Broken Arm” (apparently the way Meera is “guarding it” is the telltale sign to all ER nurses of a child arm fracture). I think I might die right there on the spot, just thinking of it: my baby girl, age 2, sweetest thing on the entire planet, with a broken arm?????… X-rays are ordered.
noon – X-rays are taken while Meera cries on the x-ray table “Mama, mama, mama” and I beg the x-ray technicians to “please hurry!” with tears streaming down my face.
12:30 – the nurses, x-ray techs, and doctors have all read the x-rays. Much to their shock it appears there is no break. They can’t explain it because they all would have sworn it was broken by the way Meera was presenting. We’re given orders to continue with Tylenol and follow up on Monday if she’s still “guarding it.” I cry tears of relief and thank God for sparing us with this close call.
1:00 – we’re discharged. We walk out relieved beyond belief. Hunger hits (in a big way; all that adrenaline has left us famished).
1:15 – we’re at the Burger King drive through. A first for the bambinos (they’ve never had Burger King). Meera sees a picture of an ice cream cone and says, “I want that one!” (some of her first spoken words since the crisis began). Absolutely, she can have whatever she wants. She loves the ice cream. We all love it all… the milkshakes, the french fries, the chicken nuggets, the whoppers… I don’t think Burger King has ever tasted so good.
1:45 – we’re home with boys playing football in the yard outside and girls napping in Mommy and Papi’s bed.
4:00 – Meera wakes from her nap in a terrible crying fit. She cries hard for about 30 minutes straight while we all try hard to console her. There is no consoling her. I’m certain it is not physical pain, but just the fear, anxiety, and stress of it all releasing itself to the four people who love her most in all the world. We absorb it for her and then we all watch Tinker Belle.
5:45 – Meera announces she wants to go outside…. as soon as we’re outside she declares: “I want trampoline.” What????? And sure enough she gets on there and starts jumping with her brothers. Braydon watches the three outside on the trampoline doing their thing… only now it is “their thing” with just a tad bit more care. They come in for dinner with Meera in good spirits and back to her regular old self.
…Dinner and baths and books and bed…
8:15 – The bambinos are all in bed. Braydon and I are done/shot/finished/fried/frazzled. We missed a birthday party today, we missed a fun-loving-fancy-free-R&R-Saturday. Instead we all learned some big lessons. Luckily…
all’s well that ends well.
Owen stayed home from school on Wednesday with a cold. It was just a little cold, but he had been up much of the night, struggling to sleep through the sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, etc. So, we kept him home for some R&R. Meera was thrilled to have Owen home, all to herself. The two of them have a special bond. It is what I imagine as the quintessential big-brother-little-sister relationship. My heart practically explodes just thinking about it. Words cannot do it justice, so I won’t even try. I just know that these two have something extraordinarily special. Something precious, rare, and wonder-filled. I am so happy for them.
Kyle and Meera. These two have something extraordinary too. And so different from the relationship between Owen and Meera. One vignette (amongst many): Last Friday I took Meera grocery shopping while the boys were at school. On our way out of the grocery store Meera spotted a scarecrow amongst a display of potted mums. She went crazy for the scarecrow, insisting that I get it down from amongst the mums so that she could see it up close. She checked out every detail of it, hugged it, kissed it, and told me how much she loved it– “Meera loves scarecrow! I love it! Mommy, I love scarecrow!” Several people walked by during this, commenting on how “cute” it was and how I better “not even think about leaving without buying that scarecrow for her!” etc. I looked at the price tag: $6.99. I thought about buying it, but wouldn’t let myself… it seemed ridiculous, frivolous, and I didn’t want Meera to think I’d just buy her anything she’d go ga-ga over at the store. She was upset that she couldn’t bring it home. But Meera’s a tough little cookie and it takes a lot for her to express upset in anything but the mildest fashion (rare fussing and even rarer tantrums). Later that day I had to go back to the grocery store because I had forgotten one ingredient that we needed. I brought Kyle with me this time. As we were heading into the store he pointed out the scarecrow to me and said, “Meera would love that.” I stopped dead in my tracks. “Kyle,” I said, “I was just here with her this morning and she did love it! She loved it so much, she really wanted to bring it home.” “Why didn’t you buy it for her?” he asked. “Well,” I searched for an adequate explanation, “we don’t need it, and, well, I don’t know, I just didn’t think we should buy it for her.” Kyle was outraged. “You should have!” he said, “She never asks for anything!” he said, “She’d love it!” he said. “How much does it cost?” he asked. “Six dollars and ninety-nine cents,” I said. He then told me that he was going to buy it for her– “Ok, then, if you won’t buy it for her, I will. I’m going to use my own money from the Tooth Fairy to get it for her.” He told me that the next time we went to the store he was going to bring his money to buy the scarecrow for Meera. He could not bear the thought of anything otherwise. This Tuesday, on my way home from work, I stopped at that store and spent the $6.99 to buy the scarecrow… for Meera… and so that Kyle wouldn’t have to buy it. When I arrived home with it they were both ecstatic, jumping up and down at the sight of it, thrilled, shouting, “Thank you Mama! Thank you Mama!” The plan was to put it outside in our front garden. However, it has been inside this whole week, right next to Meera’s little play area in our kitchen, with Kyle and Meera spending lots of time with it.
Today, being Friday, I was home with Meera for the morning while the boys were at school. I watched as she played and played. At one point she played for a long stretch of time with three toy ‘Little People’ that she pulled out from our small collection of them. I watched as she selected the three very carefully from the bunch. Over and over she lined them up on the playroom table, ever-so-carefully to ensure that they were all three “holding hands.” Always in the same order (in her words)– “Owen, this one with blue hat”; “Meera, this one with yellow hat”; and “Kyle, this one with red hat.”
Like much of America, we drive. Load everything and everyone in, car seats, toys, stuff – from here to there and back again. We’re going together. Inside a car is special; small, close, everyone is there. We may be hurtling along at deadly speeds, but we’re together and I am a safe driver.
Trees whistle by, the corn fields are beginning to be plowed under, it’s cool enough to drive with the windows down. And I look in the mirror to check on my kids. I twist the rear-view mirror, I see them behind me. I bring them where we’re going.
When I look forward, I often I don’t know where we’re headed. I look back and I see the rapid changes in the mirror beyond the road: their faces thinning out, moving from car seats to boosters, reading books instead of using chew toys, asking for music they like instead of the music I choose, wanting the window down to see and feel and smell the air outside.
And though I don’t know where we’ll end up, we’ll get there safely together.
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