Mmm Mmm Good

Soup season is in full swing around here. I've been simmering up a pot every week, including velvety butternut squash soup and endless variations on the traditional chicken soup - Chicken Tortilla and Chicken & Dumplings are faves.

A couple of new recipes have climbed to the top of the list this season. Martha Stewart's Winter Vegetable Soup, light and full of healthy kale, squash and white beans, makes a perfect lunch. And the other was a complete surprise find in DaddyBird's Men's Health magazine. A creamy pumpkin soup, topped with seared scallops, that makes a fabulous dinner (especially if you can eat it in a big bowl cozied up by a fire).

What's simmering in your soup pot these days? I'd love to know!

Seared Scallops with Pumpkin Soup

12 oz. fresh sea scallops

1 can (15 oz) unflavored pumpkin puree

2 T roughly chopped hazelnuts

1-10 chives, chopped

1 cup chicken broth

1 T honey

1 T unsalted butter

1/2 T extra-virgin olive oil

- Toast & chop the hazelnuts (10 min @ 400 degrees or 5-7 min over medium heat); set aside.

- Combine the pumpkin, honey, butter and broth (I used more than 1 cup to reach desired consistency) in a medium sauce pan and heat on low until completely warmed. Season with salt & pepper and keep warm.

- Preheat a cast-iron skillet or saute pan over medium-high heat. Pat the scallops dry with a paper towel and season them with salt & pepper. Add the oil to the pan, and then the scallops. Cook 2-3 min. on each side until they are firm and completely brown & caramelized.

- Pour the soup into a wide rimmed bowl. Add the scallops and hazelnuts, and garnish with the chopped chives. Makes 2 servings.

The Dairy Farm

Imagine my delight when the permission form came home for Selby's first Kindergarten field trip to a local dairy farm. I signed us both up right away. And last week we boarded a big, yellow school bus and took a bumpy, noisy ride out to the country.

Experiencing a dairy farm with 5 and 6 year olds was hilarious. They seemed to be mostly focused on the smells and the sizable eliminations of the cows. But me... oh, I was enchanted.
We fed the calves from half-gallon bottles. The power & appetite of these little ones would make any nursing mother flinch!

We made fresh butter at a picnic table on the breezy front porch, and sampled it on crackers, along with little cups of farm fresh, whole milk.

We toured the totally sustainable farm by foot and by hayride, viewing the free roaming cow pens, the milking facilities and process, the fields of grains, and the compost site.

And then, by some miracle, we were given the gift of watching the birth of a new calf. An advocate of natural birth, I could hardly contain my excitement that not only was I watching this most natural of events, but that rows of school children were witnessing it as well. A collective "eww" rose from the children as the calf finally emerged, followed by a group cheer.

The mama cow proudly cleaned her new babe as we all quietly crept by for a peek, then left her to bond with her little one. It was a field trip no one will soon forget!

Rock On!

At Selby's school Fall Carnival a few weeks ago, I paid three tickets per child (at .25 a piece) for my girls to look at a pot bellied pig in a cage. That's a buck fifty for a gander at a house pet! This is how desperate our schools are for money?! Anyhow, I drew the line at the rock painting booth. With a back patio full of landscape gravel that I detest, no way was I paying to bring home more. Instead, I put the idea in my back pocket to pull out on just the right day.
I'm so grateful I saved this activity for a long, lazy afternoon, as the girls painted rocks for almost an hour!

With the holidays creeping up, and times necessitating we all be more creative with our time, money and energy, I was happy for the reminder that simple things - like painting rocks - can be so fulfilling.

I sat on the back patio, watching and smiling as the sun hit the colorful rocks at just the right angle. I marveled as little hands and little minds worked quietly. Happily. Contentedly. "This," I said to DaddyBird, "this is what it's all about!"

A Red Velvet Fairy Birthday

It started with the cake. For her little sissy's 2nd birthday, Selby thought we should have red velvet birthday cake. So I set out to find a recipe for an all-natural, red-dye-free red velvet cake. To me, the alternatives to Red #40 were grim - they involved using some form of beets or spending an unnatural amount on an all-natural food coloring. In the end, I gave in completely and bought a Duncan Hines box cake, full of red dye, hydrogenated oils and lots of sugar. Oh, the shame!

So, I distracted myself - and everyone else - from the cake's origins with fancy decorating. Fairies are BIG around my nest these days, so a fairy ring seemed perfect. A little icing, green sprinkles and a ring of Choco Boy chocolate mushrooms (from our local Oriental Market) did the trick. Plus, a fairy of course.

My little fairy was enchanted. (Fair warning, if you make a fairy ring cake, be sure to buy two boxes of chocolate mushrooms as they tend to magically disappear from the cake!)
The red velvet didn't stop with the cake. Selby & I found this sweet little red fairy costume at a local children's consignment shop for $1.99... the smile says it all!

*Note: The sugar and red food coloring appeared to have no effect on the three kiddos who ate it until hands and mouths were bright red! A confirmation that no child should have to eat beet cake on their birthday!

Eggs & Bacon

Ever since my friend Rose posted about medium-boiled eggs, I have been hooked. I make them just like she suggests, with farm-fresh eggs, served over toast drizzled with olive oil and rubbed with garlic. I've taken to serving them with griddled tomato slices and crispy organic bacon. So delicious!

Last weekend, in need of a quick dinner, I put these now always-on-hand ingredients to use in a different way, utilizing a gorgeous head of spinach I had garnered from my weekly organic co-op basket. The result: a most-scrumptious spinach & bacon quiche. Here's my recipe, just in case you begin stockpiling farm-fresh eggs & bacon at your home too!

Farm-Fresh Spinach & Bacon Quiche
1/4-1/2 lb. cooked organic bacon (I like Applegate Farms Sunday Bacon)
2 c. chopped fresh spinach
5 farm-fresh eggs
1 c. milk
1 c. cheese ( I used Monterrey Jack)
1 pie crust (I used a store-bought crust...feel free to one-up me and make your own!)
Salt & pepper

Mix eggs & milk together. Layer bacon, spinach & cheese in pie crust. Pour egg & milk mixture over top. Salt & pepper to taste. Bake at 400 degrees for approx. 35 min.

Nature & Friendship

Over the weekend, I was gifted with a full 24 hours off the grid. Under the majestic, old trees of a 40-acre ranch, we joined together with our village for a family camp out birthday party that will never be forgotten. It was a weekend overflowing with the beauty and abundance of both nature and friendship.

Late night and early morning campfires.

Hayrides and slow walks through the nearly-untouched land.

Natural discoveries, both big...

...and small.

Sweet family moments that celebrated diverse individuality...

...as well as loving inter-connectivity.

So happy birthday to a very special six year old boy! Thank you for sharing your most magical of birthdays, full of sweet surprises and much-needed reminders of what matters most.

Pumpkin Love

Last weekend we traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina to visit family... and our first pumpkin patch of the season. It was a quaint farm experience complete with a hay ride and feeding of the farm animals. But the pumpkins, oh they just make my heart go pitter-pat. Who knew one could fall so hard... for a squash!

I apologize ahead of time for the sure-to-follow many pictures of pumpkins, pumpkin patches, pumpkin festivals, etc. that will appear here over the next month or so. I simply want to share the love!