Peaceful Mamma: September 2012

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Cookbooks & Menus

There is just something very satisfying about opening up a cook book and picking out a delicious recipe to feed your family. This warm experience is one that a computer or ipad can never replace. I have heard over and over again how cookbooks will go extinct in the near future and I just won't accept that. I really think there are enough "foodies" out there that really appreciate and relish in opening up a cookbook to make sure they stay around. In this extreme digital age, these little things that bring us tangible experiences are so important, and using my new and used cookbooks is just one of those experiences that keeps me grounded and feeling whole. Don't get me wrong...I find it simple and easy to bring the ipad into my kitchen or find an amazing recipe on a fabulous blog, but I still enjoy cookbooks more. My mother has given me most of the cookbooks I own and knowing that she held the same book in her hand while cooking the same food I am now making for my family brings a huge smile to my face.

With all that being said.....I made a point to make my whole weekly menu (except for one recipe) from recipes that I found in my cookbooks. This was a great reminder that I need to do this more. My hope is to post all my cookbook recipes on here for you all to enjoy!

WEEKLY MENU:

MONDAY: Ratatouille with brown rice

TUESDAY: Whole wheat spaghetti with homemade garlic & tomato sauce

WEDNESDAY: Family dinner outing

THURSDAY: Cauliflower Soup, Fall Harvest Salad, and homemade bread

FRIDAY: Homemade Pizza and graden green salad

SATURDAY: Leftovers

SUNDAY: Kale and Potato Frittata

What is your favorite cookbook??

Peacefully,
Alyson

“No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.” -Laurie Colwin

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Harvest Time & Menus

It is that time of year again......my favorite time of year.....Harvest time! When all our hard work pays off in the kitchen and on our dining table! We have been hard at work cooking, preserving, canning, freezing, and baking everything we grew this year. It seems like there is a lot more than past years! Or maybe we are just doing it better this year! From zucchini bread to pickling cucumbers to canning salsa......and everything in between. It has definitely been a full time job preserving everything but this winter when we are enjoying all our delicious goods...it will be worth it! Being able to provide our boys with food grown by us and at the same time teaching them about growing our own food makes me happy! There is a huge sense of joy that overcomes me when I watch my boys walk through the garden, pick their favorite vegetable, and eat it right off the vine.

Our dinner's have been full of harvested vegetables.......here are a few that we will add into this week. Happy to start posting our menus again!

WEEKLY MENU:

MONDAY: Homemade fresh tomato soup and grilled cheese & spinach

TUESDAY: Vegetable Stir fry over rice thai noodles

WEDNESDAY: Quinoa Stuffed Peppers and Baked Salmon with Cilantro & Lime

THURSDAY: Garlic & Greens Whole Wheat Spaghetti and Fall Harvest Pear Salad

FRIDAY: Homemade garden vegetable pizza and garden greens salad

SATURDAY: Leftovers

SUNDAY: Crock-pot Potato Leek Soup and homemade bread

What are you cooking this week?

Peacefully,
Alyson

"In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy." -William Blake

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Dear Ayden

Dear Ayden,

You have started a journey, an adventure, a path full of discovery. You are starting preschool! When I rub your back and sing to you at night, I close my eyes and take my mind back to the first 48 hours of your life and how amazed I was by you and the love I felt for you! You gave me the best gift of my life....motherhood. I feel blessed that I was chosen to be your mother. You have grown so much and every single day you bewilder me with how magical you are. You father and I thought a long time about this part of your life and what we wanted to do as a family. After long talks, we chose this small cooperative community that you will now call preschool. You are going to move mountains my baby boy and I am so happy that for right now I will move mountains with you!

Your daddy and I love you more than all the stars in the sky!

Love,
Mama

Preschool! One of the first decisions we have had to make as parents that seemed harder than any decision before. Preschool seems pretty easy...I mean it is preschool. But there are so many choices and different paths and then I have to take my beliefs and views and make sure I am following them.

Homeschooling, Waldorf, and Cooperative preschools were all our choices that floated around our house and my mind for the past two years. Homeschooling was really the one I was leaning hard on and one that is still an option in our near future! I also fell in love with a great Waldorf school in my area but it was full way before I started looking at it. So, as my children's education journey unfolds I still have a lot of decisions to make but right now I love our choice and the little community that I am now apart of.

We chose a little cooperative preschool that is within walking distance of our home and one that we fell in love with. I was able to meet and spend a lot of time with the teacher and the parents way before Ayden's first day. This journey he is about to embark on is so exciting for us and we will be right by his side the whole time! We love all the aspects of what a cooperative preschool brings to us and the other families involved....from the decision making to community forming! It warms my heart and relaxes my mind that I get to be involved in this journey with my first baby boy!

Oh and did I mention that it is the same co-op preschool that I went to as a kid!!!!!

Peacefully,
Alyson

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about." -Angela Schwindt

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

365 Photo Project- May

The month of May is my favorite month of all! And it was fun to document this whole month! This photo project has definitely been a challenge but....in my eyes that is the point. I am pushing my self harder to think outside the box and perserve my families memories in all different types of ways.

I am slowly catching up on this blog! Key word....slowing!

If you want to know what this 365 photo project is all about....read HERE!

Enjoy the pictures!

May 1st, 2012

PB&J Tree!

May 2nd, 2012

Peek a Boo!

May 3rd, 2012

May 4th, 2012

May 5th, 2012

May 6th, 2012
Baby tomato plants

May 7th, 2012

Brother fun in the backyard

May 8th, 2012
A close friend of mine had us over to create Mother's Day flower pots for our mamas! FUN project yet a little hard with the little babies!

May 9th, 2012
LEGO TOWER!!!

May 11th, 2012
I was very fortunate to have a lot of family in town for my birthday. So we decided to have a family backyard fiesta with margarita cupcakes, sombrero cookies, and a taco bar!

May 12, 2012
My oldest loves bike rides with dada!

May 13, 2012
I love Mother's Day not because of gifts or special treatment! BUT because we always have such a relaxing day all together and for me that is all I need. This Mother's Day, we worked in the garden, ate delicious food, and spent time together!

May 15th, 2012
My husband's father was in town...so we took off to a little cabin on a lake and enjoyed each other! This was also Ayden's first time in a canoe! He had a blast and I only had a small heart attach watching him float away!