A Bountiful Harvest . . . Although I Didn't Grow It Myself

You can see how big these pumpkins are when a 3 and 5 year old are sitting on them.

Each year, our girls want to stop and buy pumpkins at Bates Nut Farm which is not far from our house, but during the month of October, the road going to and from Bates has an insane amount of traffic.  They have fields of very large pumpkins called "Big Macs" and several years ago, we bought one for $10 which was a steal considering the pumpkin was about 75 lbs.  Over the past few years, however, the price has gone up to $1.00 a pound.  My hubby, however, was biding his time and decided to stop by the day after Halloween to see if there was a deal on these monster pumpkins.  As it turns out, the Big Macs were free for the taking if you could manage to wrangle it into your vehicle (minus the wheelbarrows that are out during October).  I ended up being the happy recipient of three Big Mac pumpkins, which is a lot of free food. 

One of the 3 Big Macs my hubby brought home.

I have heard many people over the years say that you can't eat the big pumpkins, but I can tell you from experience that is definitely not true.  The Big Macs are not super sweet, but they are in the squash family and have a lovely taste once they are baked and pureed.  The meat from this pumpkin can be used in everything from pumpkin soup to pumpkin muffins and pie.  Yum!

Part of the pumpkin after cutting up and baking much of it.

The beautiful pumpkin puree.

Lilah's Puppies Arrive At Long Last

Well, she went a couple of days overdue which was a good thing because the puppies are all a good size and had a few more days to mature inside their mama.  Lilah gave birth to 4 girls and 6 boys between 3 a.m. and 9 a.m. this morning (although she was also laboring from about 7 p.m. on starting the day before).  They are so new and little, but are all eating like champs already and can latch on really well.  Here are a few of the puppies just hours, and even minutes, after birth.

Mini Pizzas on the Go

We have pizza night at our house on a regular basis.  Eating a plant-based diet has not changed our pizza tradition, either.  We use our homemade 1/2 whole wheat dough, pizza sauce, and pile on the veggies for a full and satisfying pizza, and occasionally we will buy a vegan cheese for a little extra something on our pizza.  We like the Daiya mozzarella-style shreds, and we also tried the Follow Your Heart block of mozarella-style vegan cheese and that was pretty nice on pizza, too.  I while back, I was reading a magazine or on the internet and came across the idea to make mini pizzas in muffin tins.  I made them this way several times last spring during softball season when we needed a  meal that was portable and could be taken on the go.  Unlike a usual, messy pizza slice, these little mini pizzas are very manageable and much less messy if you need to take them in the car.  The girls also just like to eat them at home, too, because it is a variation on the usual pizza theme.

I spray my muffin tins with a spray canola oil before putting the pizza dough into the tins to avoid sticking.  Then, I grab a small ball of dough and stretch it with my fingers into a small circle.  Fit the circle into each hole of the muffin tin.

Then, spread a small amount of your desired pizza sauce (many times, this is marinara at our house) on each  circle.  Top the way that you like.

Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 10 minutes, or until the crust is baked through and the ingredients look done.

The kid's favorite, olive pizza.

The parents' version, with lots of veggies.

Yum!

Back from Summer Vacation

Our first day of summer vacation started by taking our 2nd daughter, Selah, down to Children's Hospital for a week where she received antibiotics via a PICC line that aren't given orally.  This was followed up by giving the second week of antibiotics at home via the PICC line on our own after being instructed on the proper technique by an at-home-care nurse.  This, of course, was not how we planned to start the summer, but over the past year we have come to accept that there are situations that have to be accepted and walked through as part of our journey of having two daughters that have bronchiectasis (a chronic lung condition stemming from permanent lung damage).  During that time, I never once got back on the computer to blog and after that, I just disconnected from my school year routine for awhile along with the rest of the family while on summer vacation.  With a husband that is also a teacher, we really do live on the school schedule, so summer is our big time for kicking back and taking a break from the routine, doing household projects, and taking road trips.  Now, however, that is all quickly coming to an end.  School is quickly approaching and  my calendar book is filling up with appointments and events.  I will have new blog material as I start on a new adventure of sending to of our girls to a charter school where the majority of the school work is done at home, all while welcoming another litter of new little goldendoodle puppies into the household in the next couple of weeks. 

Another big part of our summer has been food preparation and eating.  No matter how the routine changes, feeding a family of 7 takes time and is always a big part of my day.  It has been a year now since we began eating a whole-foods, plant-based diet and the more we eat this way, the more excited I get about continuing to explore this way of preparing foods and enjoying the tasty results.  So, I will try and post food ideas and recipes here, too, to share our love of plant-based eating. 

May Photo A Day 5/10/13

"Stars"

 

The night sky.





May Photo A Day - 5/7/13

"Something Beginning with 'F' "

 

 

FAMILY


We tried getting a successful family picture at Christmas and had a very difficult time.  This is the one where everyone was smiling the best, but unfortunately Arianna chose that exact moment to adjust the strap on her dress.  These are the things that make memories, though, and we'll be laughing about as we look back at our pictures over the years. 



May Photo A Day - 5/2/13

"Morning Ritual"
 

Our mornings just wouldn't be the same without "Miss Silvia", our espresso machine!

May Photo A Day - 5/1/13

"I Bought This"

 

 

For a family that loves Kalamata olives, this is a gold mine.

Baba Ghanouge and Hommos (Hummus)

More hummus

 

One of our local Mexican grocery stores that is very nearby also has a large Middle Eastern food section.  We love to make hummus platters and eat falafel, so this discovery was wonderful and also pretty surprising, considering the store is primarily a Mexican market that evens has its own tortilleria in it.  You can buy everything from a piñata for your next party to hummus imported from the Middle East at our local Valley Max.  It's so much fun finding local treasures, especially ones of the culinary kind.

A LEGOLAND Birthday

The adventurers, with the birthday girl, front and center.

 

A couple of weeks ago, our second oldest daughter turned 8.  It also turned out to be the day after the puppies were born, so things were pretty hectic around the house at the time.  We already had a plan to use some LEGOLAND tickets that were given to us to take some of the girls on a birthday excursion.  So, despite the lack of sleep and much exhaustion, my valiant hubby, who is also a wonderful dad, got up and took our middle three for a very, full day at LEGOLAND.  My oldest, #1, and youngest, #5, stayed home with me, for which I was very thankful because Isabella was a huge help to me that day, not only with puppy care, but also helping out with her baby sister.  While they were gone, I did manage to bake a carrot cake for the birthday girl, about the only non-puppy related project I did that day.  The girls returned late, exhausted, but very exited and happy about the fun day they had at LEGOLAND for Selah's birthday. 

Volvo driving school with stoplights, streets signs, and all. 

3 happy campers.

Beautiful San Diego Bay

Some time ago, my hubby had the opportunity to go on a bay cruise and took some really nice pictures on the San Diego Bay.

No Horsin' Around

On our recent trip to Bates Nut Farm to the pumpkin patch, my hubby got up close and personal (with his camera lens) to some draft horses that were pulling wagons for hayrides.  When the girls realized how big draft horses are in person, they decided that it would actually be very difficult to ride one considering how wide the backs of the horses are.  They are very pretty horses and my hubby took some nice pictures of them!

Dash to the Desert

Going on camping trips during the school year can be a real challenge due to schedules, school activities (both for the kids and for Augustus as a teacher and speech & debate coach), church, etc.  Thankfully, though, we close enough to the desert to get there in just a little over an hour and Anza Borrego Desert State Park is at our disposal.  In times of economic hardship and budget crunches, with outrageous camping fees at California parks and recreational areas, the bargain price of camping for FREE (yes, you read that correctly) is great!  All we do is drive out to a pull-off on one of the roads in a designated recreational area, park the van, and set up a tent.  Another huge bonus is that it is legal to have a campfire in a protected enclosure, so we bring the basin to our fire pit which fits the bill.  We have our favorite area in the park called Blair Valley and there are several short to moderate hikes right there that are great for the family during the day.  So, last weekend, knowing that we could only go for a short trip, we dashed out to the desert on Friday afternoon and came back on Saturday around lunchtime, with enough time so that Augustus could get cleaned up to go and chaperone Homecoming.  

Four really cool highlights from our trip:  (1)The three older girls got up in the morning, with their Dad already off hiking, and decided to take a hike of their own.  They started up the big hill directly behind our tent (in my full sight the whole time) and made it half way up.  I loved seeing them go out on their own adventure, helping each other along, and developing camaraderie as sisters.  (2)As we ate breakfast, we heard the tale-tell sound of an Air Force jet coming (the military does training out over the desert).  As the jet came into sight, it was so low, if felt like you could just reach up and touch it and then a second later it had darted over the next hill and was gone.  (3)Before leaving and after packing up,  we went on a short hike to a historic Native American village sight were there are morteros, deep indentations and also more shallow indentations for both grinding grain and rolling out the dough; the Native American people came to these areas seasonally.  Once the girls got going, they kept looking all over to find evidence of more morteros and also old cooking sights in the boulders and campsites.  It was fun seeing them imagine being out there in a different era, having to fend for themselves in that terrain.  (4)And finally, the highlight for me personally was seeing the most brilliant shooting star that I have ever witnessed.  It was glowing red and yellow on it tail end, light a natural firework flying through the sky.  Both Augustus and I were aghast and in awe of this evidence of God's wondrous creation.

The night sky is amazingly beautiful out there.

Waiting for dinner in the dark.  We didn't get as quick of a start as we had hoped for, but we made it.

Enjoying being around the campfire.

Tricks with glow sticks.

Our campsite from up above.

The hubby playing with his camera as the sun rises.

Selah, up the hill, hiking with Isabella and Arianna.

Isabella and Arianna, hiking.

A steep uphill.

Our campsite.

Dakota, basking in the sun.