Today

Sometimes there are days when I take several photos that I like, and all are put in the running for "photo of the day".  Today was one such day.  I have to ask the love of my life to help me choose.  There was something about each of these photos from February 25th that I love, so I posted one on my Heather Grace Photography blog and posted the rest of them here....maybe you'll love one of the "rejected" photos better than the one Steve and I ending up choosing for Project 365.

I love this photo of Grace because it perfectly captured her mood today, it documents her current habit of choosing summer-time outfits to wear, and the lighting on her face made me happy (I can't help being technical).  It also shows the once-beautiful gardenia that I nearly killed and am trying to revive.  I wonder if it will make it to the end of my Project 365?

I love this photo of our friend because her hair looks so soft and whispy and her big eyes are shining so much.  She's sucking on the pacifier that she somehow manages to find whenever she comes over to play (don't worry, mom, I washed it!)

I love this photo of Leah and her friend (still with the pacifier!) because it highlights her amazing eyelashes as well as her particular way of pursing her lips when she's really concentrating on something.  Her daddy does the same exact thing.  In this case, the girls are playing a game on my iPod Touch.  I also love how they're sharing so nicely.

I love this photo because I love Leah's little toes, especially when they're peeking out from jeans.  Those toes won't stay so little much longer.

I love this photo because of the texture and "bokeh" (more technical photo-geek lingo).   It captures the deadness that is my yard, now that the snow is finally, slowly, melting away.  I haven't seen plants in a long time.

I love this photo, the official Photo of the Day here, because it makes me feel.  I feel joy, giggles, and love when I look at it.

Snack time

For Grandma

18 months old!

Leah is quite a conversationalist now!  Within the past couple of weeks, she's gone from saying some 2-word sentences to 3- and 4-word sentences; some that we hear often are "I want watch Elmo," "I want a pop [lollipop or icicle, depending on the day's activities],"and "I need help."  One of the things I like the most about kids at this age is that they change so much from day to day.  Leah is sprouting new words, new skills, and new teeth like it's going out of style.

She's starting to show some memorization skills-- she can say the answers to the first 3 catechism questions just from hearing us go over them with her big sister, and Leah also likes to sing the B-I-B-L-E.  It just goes to show that little siblings need to be included in the "big kid" activities; they'll always surprise us!

She's now 22 lbs. 3.5 oz. (20-25th percentile), 31.5 inches long (50th percentile), and her head is a moderate 47 cm around.   For those who have been wondering, Leah still has eczema breakouts, although we have some prescription cream that seems to work really well keeping it under control.  She also breaks out in a rash around her mouth after eating sometimes, and although I can't seem to narrow it down to one food culprit, the allergist says there's the chance that her sensitive skin just reacts to acidic foods.  Today's tomato and basil hummus is the latest rash-inducer to add to the list.  As she gets older, we'll simply have to remind her not to eat tomatoes on a first date, especially if she still smears food all over her face at that point (see photos above)!

"Picture of the Day" Reject

Snow House 2010 Reborn (2)

Snow House 2010 Reborn

Forty Days of Pictures

Today marks day 40 of my Project 365!

I'm liking it more and more as time goes on. Today's picture is impromptu story time with grandma. Steve's parents picked him up this morning so they could all go dig out his grandmother's driveway before the next 20 inches of snow hits Annapolis. When they returned, Grace and Leah had a book ready...click on the link to see!

Blizzard Food: Spicy Chicken & Black Bean Soup

Sometimes in the kitchen I like to make things up as I go- and soup is no exception. I found two soup recipes that I wanted to try, but didn't have the complete ingredient list for either of them. To add to tonight's supper challenge, Steve is a rather picky soup eater.

I decided to take the essentials of my found recipes, mix them together, and make the rest up as I went along. This method doesn't always work out as well as I hope, but after Steve ate one spoonful of this concoction I knew that Heather's Spicy Chicken and Black Bean Soup had made its way from his stomach straight to his heart xoxoxoxo. We have a winner! Grace and Leah loved it, too.

Here's the slow-cooker recipe I came up with:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces

2 cans Cuban-style black beans, you can find them here

1 can sweet corn

1/2 cup chopped green, red, and/or yellow peppers, mine were frozen

2 large cloves garlic, minced

16 oz. salsa

2 tsp. cayenne or chili seasoning

2 tsp. cumin

16 oz. chicken broth

1 1/2- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup sour cream

2 Tbsp. flour

1/4 cup milk

Add the first 9 ingredients to your slow cooker. Give it a stir, cover, and set on "low".

Go about your day feeling like a superwoman since dinner is essentially done.

An hour or so before serving, stir in the cheese. Combine the sour cream, flour, and milk (I added the flour and milk to the sour cream container, which was almost empty, then snapped the lid back on and gave it a good shake). Stir the flour mixture into the soup, then continue to cook with the lid off to thicken.

Serve with chopped cilantro and green onions. I think that a healthier version, made without the flour mixture or the cheese, would still be delicious.

But we like the cheese.

More Blizzard Baking: Bread Sculpture

Clockwise, starting from the far left: panda bear head by Grace, braid by Steve, over-easy egg by Steve, snail by Heather, and in the center is a bird with a cracked head, by Heather.

This recipe satisfies both the baker and the artist in me. It was a little challenging for an 18 month old and maybe even an almost-3 year old, but sculpting bread dough gave us a good 15 minutes of something "different" to do, and it made a really tasty, warm snack straight from the oven. In case you didn't know, my girls are all about snacking.

I simply made this really quick bread dough recipe and then gave the raw dough to the girls to sculpt into whatever shape they wanted. Steve and I joined in, too. We put the finished raw masterpieces on parchment paper, arranged them on a baking sheet, and then baked them. They got a little puffy in the oven, but it was a worthwhile activity even if the end result was not recognizable!

I first came across this recipe, actually called "bread sculpture", a few years ago when I was a teacher/nanny. One change I would make to the recipe is to add more flour to the dough-- I think it would make the dough more sturdy and less likely to deflate into a blob during the sculpting process.

1 package active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

1 tsp. sugar

2 cups flour

1 Tbsp. oil

1 tsp. salt

Mix the water, sugar, and yeast in a bowl. Let sit until foamy.

Add 1 cup flour and stir with a wooden spoon. Beat until smooth, then add the oil and salt. Stir.

Add the second cup of flour and stir until smooth. (*I needed to add 3-4 Tbsp. more flour at this point, my dough was much too sticky)

Turn out onto a well-floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, adding more flour if you need to, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place in an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 45 mins.

Punch down the dough and work into a smooth ball in your hands. Create sculptures!

Bake sculptures for 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven, or until golden. Remove from pan to cool.

We enjoyed our panda head, snail, braid, egg, and bird with butter and boysenberry jam!

p.s. For our snowed-in Superbowl viewing pleasure, I made another batch of this dough, and after letting it rise I divided it into two equal pieces, rolled each piece into a long rectangle, then arranged pepperoni, ham, roasted red pepper, and mozzarella cheese down the centers. I folded the long edges in and pinched them together to seal, flipped them over seam-side down on a baking sheet, cut some slits down the center, baked at 385 degrees for 20 minutes, and viola! Stromboli!

This dough is really versatile. What would you create with it?

Blizzard Baking

These are two lovely loaves of bread on their last rising. I made Martha's Honey Whole Wheat Bread yesterday, since we ran out of bread and there were no snow plows in sight. I just realized that I have a honey thing going on...it's so yummy.

The bread was delicious-- great plain or with butter and sturdy enough to use for sandwiches.

3 1/2 cups warm water

3 Tbsp. honey

2 packets active dry yeast

4 cups bread flour (I used all-purpose with great results)

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup wheat germ

2 Tbsp. salt

Combine water, honey, and yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes, til foamy.

In a large bowl, whisk together 3 1/2 cups bread flour, whole wheat flour, wheat germ, and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast mixture. Use a wooden spoon to stir.

Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface. Knead the remaining 1/2 cup bread flour into the dough, 10-15 minutes. ( barely made it 10 minutes-- as long as the dough is smooth and elastic, you should be ok, even if you don't knead as long as Martha does.)

Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl, cover and let rise until double, 1-1 1/2 hours.

Punch down, divide into two oiled loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, 30-45 minutes (see photo above).

Bake 50-60 minutes at 400 degrees, until golden.

Blizzard Food

Since Saturday, I've had a great time cooking and baking some new recipes...since, you know, we've kinda been stuck at home. Steve encouraged me to share them on the blog, and I thought that would be fun. As well as a nice change of pace from the usual.

Blizzard recipe #1 is Fruitalicious Honey Oatmeal, adapted from the Quaker Oats website (to give credit where credit is due).

3 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup honey

1/3 cup dried fruit (I used pitted dried dates), chopped

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 cups oats (quick or old-fashioned), uncooked

In a medium saucepan, bring the water, honey, dried fruit, and cinnamon to a boil. Once it's boiling, stir in the oats. Return the mixture to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes (for old-fashioned oats, only 1 minute for quick oats) or until it's thickened to your liking, stirring occasionally.

I served the oatmeal with chopped walnuts and a drizzle of honey. Great substitutes or add-ins include Craisins, dried apricots, or golden raisins.

Serves four.

Blizzard of the Century, Part III

Blizzard of the Century, Part II

I am very impressed with the snow house Steve made today. The girls absolutely loved playing in it!

Complete with a cup holder in the seating area:

Seating for three across the room from the love seat. There's a little peek hole behind Grace; it's opening up to the floor of the porch (the bottom of the hole is level with the porch):

Sucking on "ice pops", or icicles.

Here's Grace peeking out from the snow house. She's contemplating whether or not she should venture out to gather some snow food:

I agreed to head inside for some bowls and spoons for a snow meal. You can see Steve in the back, relaxing on the couch with the snow coffee table in front of him:

Self portrait on the snow "love seat"!

The snow house from above, before it was completed:

If you're local feel free to stop by the snow house for a visit...although we realize it might take a few days for everyone to dig out...

Blizzard of the Century, Part I

If our power goes out, Steve has provided his family with a warm and cozy igloo, complete with a love seat, coffee table, and three chairs.

It started at 11:00 am yesterday morning, and the snow hasn't stopped since. We're up to about 30 inches so far. As much as I wanted to walk around and take pictures of the snow, I couldn't really move in it without snowshoes or cross-country skis. I took pictures from the porch instead!

These pictures are from 10:00 this morning and 1:00 this afternoon, there are more to come from later in the day.

It's so lovely. Here's some of the picnic tables in the back yard:

This morning was our first attempt to go out and play. The wind was whipping snowflakes around and Leah was a bit overwhelmed by the drifts that are taller than she is. She decided to stand in the doorway in all her gear and talk to her Dad and sister from the safety of the kitchen:

Grace, on the other hand, was ready for some snow storm action:

Note the H.U.G.E. pile of snow behind Steve, next to the porch. It's the snow that he shoveled off the porch and from around the car, starting last night. This, ladies and gentlemen, was destined to become his snow house.

("It's for the girls," he says. Um hmmm Steve. We all know who it's really for.)

We spent some time this morning doing some finger painting:

Next we'll share some pictures of "Grace and Leah's" snow house and the additional 6 inches of snow since 1:00.