Major Updates After a Long Hiatus

Things have been crazy around here lately! We have been so busy working around the house and doing stuff with the dogs, that I have been a bad blogger. So here is what we have been up to....

I should start by saying that we are having a baby girl...in 7 weeks! Havent posted much about that yet, but wanted to share a few photos. Some things have become more difficult for me, but overall being pregnant has not slowed me down much. I passed my dietitian exam, still teaching flyball classes and getting lots and lots of projects done around the house.

Here I am hanging out with the dogs on 2/8

And again on 2/24

Here is the newly painted baby room....we went bright!

Our first experience at refinishing furniture. This will be her dresser/changing table. I wish I had before photos, because it seriously looks amazing compared to when we got it. It was only $20 and totally falling apart from Craigslist.

We also remodeled our family room to make it a multipurpose room (office, play room, family room). Its looking great. I will post photos of both the baby room and family room when they are finished. Also I will try to start posting weekly or so photos of me!

We are still getting a CSA and have been trying to come up with ways to use all the interesting produce. The one thing that I havent used is the burdock, but everything else seems to make its way into our recipes.

White Bean and Kale Minestrone with Sausage

Adapted from a recipe by Cynthia Lair
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Italian Sausages
1 1/2 - 2 cups finely chopped kale
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 large cloves of garlic
3 cups cooked white beans (from dried beans is the best)
2 ½ cups stock 1 tablespoon tomato paste
4-6 fresh sage leaves
1 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Freshly grated pecorino cheese

Slice sausages and sautee in olive oil until browned and cooked through, set aside. Wash kale and remove the stems from the leaves. Rollup kale leaves and cut into thin ribbons. Set aside. In a 4-quart soup pot, heat olive oil and sauté onion until carmelized, add garlic and continue to cook briefly over medium heat. Add about half of the cooked beans and part of the stock. Puree the rest of the beans and stock in the blender along with the tomato paste and sage. Stir the pureed beans into the soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix the kale and sausage into the soup and simmer until kale has wilted (about 10 minutes). Add the lemon juice and enough water to make the soup a desirable thick consistency. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust seasonings. Serve the soup topped with pecorino.


Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad
Adapted from a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

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• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons shallots, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 medium beets, cubed
  
• 6 cups salad greens
  
• 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup dried cherries, cranberries or currants
  
• 3 ounces soft fresh goat cheese, coarsely crumbled

Other optional ingredient: sliced avocado

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Whisk the vinegar, shallots, and honey in a medium bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in the oil. Season the vinaigrette, to taste, with salt and pepper. Toss the beets in a small bowl with enough dressing to coat. Place the beets on a baking sheet and roast until the beets are slightly caramelized, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Set aside and cool.

Toss the salad greens, walnuts, and dried fruit in a large bowl with enough vinaigrette to coat. Season the salad, to taste, with salt and pepper. Arrange the beets around the salad. Sprinkle with the avocado and goat cheese, and serve.

Dogs

The dogs have been great and little do they know, we have been preparing them for the baby in some ways. We are working really hard to get the border collies to walk nicely on leash. Its going really well. They are doing awesome. Ari doesnt use a leash, so it should be manageable to walk the 3 of them along with the baby.

Indy is officially retired after her short career in sheep herding. The best I could have hoped for was going to be obedience type training and possibly some day a novice trial (possibly). Also it seemed to stress her out and she was always putting herself and the sheep in danger of injury when she ran full speed directly at the sheep. This is fine with us because she has taken up agility more seriously and is doing great with our new instructor. Ben will be her handler.

This leaves me without a herding dog for now, we will see what happens with that!

Epic has become both a solid herding and flyball dog. He has been very reliable in flyball and his speed amazes us, considering he started training at over a year old has only been racing for a few months. He will be going away for herding instruction when the baby is born for a month or so. We are hoping he comes back almost ready to enter a trial with Ben.

Ari is trucking along, slowing down and still enjoying life and his two border collie buddies. He goes for a nice leisurely walk around the neighborhood every night and goes for car rides whenever he has the chance. He is a good boy!

Indy and Epic are doing some conditioning with weighted back packs

Indy and Ben learning the teeter

Indys Boston Terrier buddy Boomer

We have been fostering dogs and although we are taking a break now, two of our fosters found homes since January. Below are Scout and Dina with their new families! I talk more about our fostering experiences in one of my other blogs. http://fosteroster.blogspot.com/

Thanksgiving Herding Photos!

Diane Pagel boarded the border collies while we went to NJ to visit family. She took some beautiful photos of both Indigo and Epic in action with Janet working them.

Catching up.....Fall and Early Winter

For Thanksgiving this year Ben and I went to New Jersey to visit my family and friends. It was a great trip! We only had a few days but packed in a lot of fun. My grandmother is temporarily living with my parents, so we had a chance to catch up with her and keep her company while my parents were at work. We drove to Sussex County NJ to visit my fathers sister and pick up some apple cider donuts, apples and pies for Thanksgiving at Windy Brow Farm





We were able to meet up with our good friends Rachel and Teddy for some Korean BBQ in Fort Lee, NJ. It was interesting, but not my favorite Asian food. It was more like Chinese food, which I really dont like at all. Give me Thai or Vietnamese any day though!




For Thanksgiving dinner we went to my Uncle Jesse's house with my parents and grandmother. It was a really big group of us including my grandmothers 3 children and all but one of her grandchildren. She was overjoyed to have us all in one place at the same time for the first time in over 15 years. Unfortunately I didnt get any great photos. Here is the best one.....

Seth, Fran, Anne

We also had a chance to visit with my good friend Carly at her parents house in NJ and go for a nice long hike. I enjoy hiking in the Northeast in the Winter. Eventhough everything is brown and compared to Washington looks mostly dead, the crisp, dry air is very refreshing. The large boulders and little streams are beautiful when covered in ice. Maybe its just nostalgia. Either way Im going to have to take some more photos next time I go back.

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On to December......For Christmas this year we decided to keep it low key and stay in our home state. We didnt go against our tradition of traveling for Christmas to the point of staying home though. This year we rented a "cabin" in Packwood, WA near Mt Rainier. I put cabin in quotes because they use the term cabin very loosely. It was more of a luxury home that happened to be in a wooded area.






We did some serious relaxing there. Our four day trip consisted of cooking, taking baths in the jacuzzi tub, hiking with the dogs, playing games and watching movies. And Ben went skiing while I relaxed at the cabin.

Ive really been wanting smores for awhile. I havent had them since I was under 10 years old and always LOVED them. I couldnt resist with the pile of dry fire wood and a fire pit and lots of time on our hands. I ate a lot of smores and they were awesome! I even used high quality imported chocolate and organic graham crackers. Ben was a star smore maker.



We had very little snow at the cabin, but as soon as we drove up a few hundred feet there was just enough on the ground to need snow boots for our hike. We had the trail completely to ourselves. It was unbelievably quiet and peaceful.

We left on the 24th to have a Christmas Eve dinner at home and wake up at home on Christmas morning. We spent Christmas day relaxing around the house. Ben made pancakes for everyone for breakfast and we opened presents for awhile in the morning. We went for an afternoon walk at Marymoor dog park in Redmond. For dinner we went to one of the only restaurants open in Seattle called Andaluca, a Spanish restaurant. After that we went to a late showing of Avatar in 3D IMAX. By the time we got home at 1:30 am, we were exhausted and slept very late the next morning!

Local Fall Cooking and Native Plant Landscaping

We decided to try out a new farm for a winter CSA (community supported agriculture) share. We are sharing it with some friends and still getting lots of fresh vegetables and fruit and even eggs. I love having a CSA because the contents of our weekly box is always a surprise and always inspires new recipes and cooking adventures.

Here are some of the things I've been making this fall:

Pumpkin Ice Cream (adapted from a recipe by williams sonoma)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh pumpkin puree or canned
  unsweetened pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Directions:

In a bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 8 hours.

In a heavy 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 1/2 cups of the cream and 1/2 cup of the brown sugar. Cook until bubbles form around the edges of the pan, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the egg yolks, cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg, the remaining 1/2 cup cream and the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar. Whisk until smooth and the sugar begins to dissolve.

Remove the cream mixture from the heat. Gradually whisk about 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture until smooth. Pour the egg mixture back into the pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon and keeping the custard at a low simmer, until it is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and leaves a clear trail when a finger is drawn through it, 4 to 6 minutes. Do not allow the custard to boil. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl.

Place the bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice water, stirring occasionally until cool. Whisk the pumpkin mixture into the custard. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours.

Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container. Cover and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days, before serving. Makes about 1 quart.

Pot Roast (adapted from a recipe from Cooks Illustrated)

1	1 bottom round rump roast (2lbs)
2	tablespoon vegetable oil
1	medium onion , chopped medium
1	small carrot , chopped medium
1	small rib celery , chopped medium
2	medium cloves garlic , minced
2	teaspoons granulated sugar
1	1 cup beef broth
1	sprig fresh thyme
1	cup water
1/4	cup dry red wine
1/2	pounds carrots (about 8 medium carrots), sliced 1/2 inch thick
1/2	pounds small red potatoes , halved if larger than 1 1/2 inches in diameter
1/4	pound large parsnips, sliced 1/2 inch thick

Instructions

1. 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees ; sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

2. 2. Heat oil in large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Brown roast thoroughly on all sides, reducing heat if fat begins to smoke, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer roast to large plate; set aside. Reduce heat to medium; add onion, carrot, and celery to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Add garlic and sugar; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add beef broth and thyme, scraping bottom of pan with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. Return roast and any accumulated juices to pot; add enough water to come halfway up sides of roast. Bring liquid to simmer over medium heat, then place large piece of foil over pot and cover tightly with lid; transfer pot to oven. Cook, turning roast every 30 minutes, until roast is almost tender 2 hours. Add carrots, red potatoes, and parsnips to Dutch oven, submerging them in liquid. Continue to cook until vegetables are almost tender 15-20 minutes.

3. 3. Transfer roast to carving board. Allow liquid in pot to settle about 5 minutes, then use wide spoon to skim fat off surface; discard thyme sprig. Add wine and salt and pepper to taste; boil over high heat until vegetables are fully tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer vegetables to warmed serving bowl or platter. Using chef’s or carving knife, cut meat into 1/2-inch-thick slices or pull apart into large pieces; transfer to bowl or platter with vegetables and pour about 1/2 cup sauce over meat and vegetables. Serve, passing remaining sauce separately.

Ina Garten's Carrot Pineapple Cake

Ingredients

For the cake:

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• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
• 3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 pound carrots, grated
• 1/2 cup diced fresh pineapple

For the frosting:

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• 3/4 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted

For the decoration:

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• 1/2 cup diced fresh pineapple

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

For the cake:

Beat the sugar, oil, and eggs together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light yellow. Add the vanilla. In another bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups flour, the cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Toss the raisins and walnuts with 1 tablespoon flour. Fold in the carrots and pineapple. Add to the batter and mix well.

Divide the batter equally between the 2 pans. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely in the pans set over a wire rack.

For the frosting:

Mix the cream cheese, butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until just combined. Add the sugar and mix until smooth.

Place 1 layer, flat-side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake. Decorate with diced pineapple.

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My friend Kate and I went shopping at an amazingly affordable native plant nursery call "Go Natives" in Shoreline, WA. I was overwhelmed at this this place because of the selection and prices. I could have bought way more than I did, but decided to keep it to a minimum on this trip. I ended up with several Oregon Grape (the type that can handle deep, dry shade), a small Goats Beard, Ocean Spray, and several Sword Ferns. We already have a lovely Red Flowering Currant, some Native Columbine and of course 3 very large Douglas Fir Trees. Hopefully over time we can make our backyard a native plant and wildlife urban habitat.

Here are images what our new plants will look like:

oregon grape

goats beard

ocean spray

sword fern

I'll post photos after we plant them!