The Littles Kitchen

To read Madeline's latest article in Edible Columbus, click here.

Merry Christmas....and a new salad dressing

What else would our family do on the afternoon of Christmas?  Of course we formulated a new salad dressing for our dinner tonight.  My girls love to add sesame and poppy seeds to our salad dressings....not really sure how that started.

At any rate, this is a simple one but I decided to jot it down (since I am terrible at that!) for future reference.

Christmas salad dressing:

1 c. good olive oil
1/2 c. raw apple cider vinegar
1/2 c. raw honey (usually I would probably go 1/4 c. but, its Christmas!)
nice hearty sprinkle of poppy seeds (2T?)
little less hearty of sesame seeds (1T)
dash paprika
2 dashes of worcestershire
real salt and pepper

Combine and shake.

Do you see the topper on my mason jar?  Jealous? ;) 
See recapmasonjars.com and Merry Christmas to you!

Merry Christmas Eve

Words cannot describe how incredibly blessed I felt as I snapped this picture tonight.  I am humbled at the incredible opportunity I have been given to raise up these children to give Love Encounters to this world.

Not just during the Christmas season (though that is fun) but each and every day.  Their creative ideas to love on others amaze me and bring me to tears.  I continually thank God for equipping me with all the tools in my arsenal to train them to love God.  To be accepting of others.  To show grace.  To love radically.  I. am. blessed.

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

My Baby

We've had so many fun, Christmas activities that my little Lincoln fell asleep sitting up as I was preparing dinner.  Did I stop everything to cuddle him up?  You bet I did.  

Here's to hoping I can still do this when he's 10.  And yes, I realize he's wearing "sports shorts and my Puma shirt" in the middle of winter.  Choose your battles.  Carefully.

First Snow!

We managed to catch the (very!) tail end of our first winter snow and took the kiddos sledding.  Fun memories!

Maddie's Ranch Veggie Dip

1 cup of raw yogurt

pinch of mustard seed

1 clove garlic pressed

2 pinches of Bragg organic sprinkle

4 T. organic mayo

dash of organic dijon mustard

real salt and pepper

I walked into English Essentials as my girls were diagramming sentences with their classmates.  This was one of my kiddos' sentences.  Hilarious.  And excellently diagrammed.  

A beautiful book that sparked a touching conversation around the breakfast table this morning.  

Mapping

One of the things we work on are map skills.  Not me though, I already know it all.

Last year the kids learned the United States.  Gabe (then PK) would trace the outline of our country and try to identify Ohio, while Madeline (then 5th grade) could outline the US and label each state.

This year we are working outside our country and one of my goals is for the younger ones to be able to identify each continent and place it (somewhat) appropriately on a sheet of paper.  Above, you will find Lauren's current rendition.  Not too shabby for 2nd grade.

My best investment was to hang a world and US map on a wall near our kitchen.  Whenever a country or place is mentioned, I have the kids run and find it on the map.  They now tell me, from memory, where places are located without even referring to the map.  And I am trying my best to learn along with them!

Happy (Or Not So?) 2 Year Anniversary

The kids wanted to snap a picture of our "food" today on the 2 year anniversary.  Yuuuuuuck.
For more on the story, click here. 

"And the little child shall lead them."

Unsubscribe!

In an effort to de-clutter, simplify and add back a few minutes (or hours) to my life each week, I have spent some time unsubscribe-ing (I'm pretty sure that's not a word) from numerous emails in my inbox:

 

Gap?   You always have a sale.  I'm good. 

Banana Republic?   See above.

Shutterfly?   Finally acquiesced, I'm not going to become a scrapbooker.

Green Smoothie Girl?   I think I got the gist.

Home Depot?   How did that happen??

Vitacost?   I'll call you, don't call me.

Nordstrom?   Ok, this one was actually hard.

Groupon?   I already have 10 I haven't used

Mint.com   I already know I'm "over budget" on groceries for the week...

USA Triathlon?   Bwhahahahahaha.  That. is. hilarious.

My Habit?   That's exactly what I'm afraid of.

My inbox is smiling.

The ALT

I'm pretty sure I've posted about one of GLLAM's favorite lunches but we made fresh bread yesterday and it was too good not to make and share again.

Here's the version sans bread.  If you have freshly picked, organic, ripe tomatoes...you don't even need dressing!

Stay Safe, Go Organic!

A Mother & Daughter's Food Journey

To read Madeline's latest article in Edible Columbus magazine, click here.

Pumpkin Picking!

We took GLLAM to Jacquemin Farms today for hay mazes, homemade donuts -- of which I ate more than my fair share, and the search for the perfect pumpkin.  Or six.  I wish I could say this was a posed picture but no, Ron actually did piggy-back me through the patch.

I Couldn't Have Said It Better

New Uses!

It's good to know that when the farm fresh eggs are gone the egg carton can be re-purposed as a snack tray.  Thanks Madeline.  Genius!

Gearing Up For Soccer Saturdays!

While I do not advocate the kids inking up their bodies, I needed a way to keep track of the field numbers and game times for tomorrow.  This was my solution.

Buh-Bye Fruit Flies

We have a plethora of fruit flies in the kitchen.  Probably because we have a plethora of fruit and veggies.  At any rate, here's an easy way to get rid of them.  Put some vinegar in a dish and add a couple drops of dish soap.  The dish soap helps to drown the little suckers the flies.

Here's the end result.  Hard to see but after an evening there were a million of them floating in just one of our containers.  After 24 hours, there were no more flies.

Side note, be SURE and eliminate their breeding areas.  I had to wash and put all fruit/veggies in the fridge and flush out the kitchen drain with boiling water.

First Day of School!

Middle school.  Yes, that's right.  6th grade.  I could cry.

4th grade, I'm going to blow through it!

Couldn't-be-sweeter-2nd-grader

1st day of Kindergarden.  Ohmygoodness, I can't believe it.

My little preschooler.  Yep, he's yelling, "PREEEEESCHOOL!"

Today starts our 5th year of homeschooling. I honestly thought I would be transitioning Madeline over at this point but this spring she emphatically said to us, "Why would I go to traditional school?!"  

And off we go....

40%

Isn't this beautiful?  We think so.

Unfortunately, this is a miniscule amount of the produce that is wasted daily in our country.  As a nation, we waste an estimated 40% of the food that is produced for consumption.  Forty percent!  There are trash cans like the one in our local grocer in almost all of the 300,000 grocery stores across the U.S. carrying food that has minor blemishes....or one single berry that is starting to rot.  Tragic.

We make it a point to choose the foods that are not "perfect" as we know they will be scooped up quickly by the produce managers and tossed into the trash....incidentally, most of it looks like the produce coming out of our garden as fruits and veggies aren't designed to be perfect!  At times, we've even tried to buy them out of the trash but they refuse to sell them, saying it is against company policy.  

Just so you know, the organic raspberries pictured were delicious.  We ate them on our granola this morning!

Gull Lake Family Camp

We went to Gull Lake Family Camp last week.  Yes, there are 18 Sch Family cousins so far, ages 2 -16.  The kids had a blast.  I came home whipped, determined to be the "cool" mom who stays up late!

See, I told you.  So the cool mom.

Lincoln caught his 1st fish, all by himself.  He was pleased as punch.

Two of my sweeties getting ready to ride the jet ski

So very blessed

I love this picture that Madeline snapped of her lunch plate.

Daniel Son

I have no idea what they are discussing here but I love this picture.

Thought of the Day

Wisdom.  circa 400 BC

Bible Camp

The girls ran a Bible camp for their cousins and several friends this morning.  Planned and executed completely on their own, I have to say I was quite impressed.  Yes, 11 children ages 5 and under.

(can we all just pretend that I don't still have photo frames on my bookshelves with no family pictures in them?!  It's been months.  Months.  In fact, I recently had a friend stage an intervention.  Yikes.)

That's Just Gross.

I am making a dish with all the eggplant from our CSA and although I usually make my own breadcrumbs, I thought I might save a few minutes and just grab some from the grocery today.

(me, in aisle 10, peaking at the ingredient list)

And then I decided against it.

Garden Gone Wild!

Our garden is going crazy this year....which is a welcome change from last year when we started to think we had lost our organic touch (that's what a cool summer and lots of rain will do to you!)

At any rate, we have so many veggies between the garden and our CSA that I have been making up new smoothies almost daily.

Today's smoothie was a combination of broccoli, celery, snap peas, green beans, squash, zucchini and cucumbers.  Combine your veggies with purified water and freshly squeezed organic lemon juice and the fruit of your choice (I threw in a handful of organic strawberries.)  My kiddos loved this one.

You will be amazed how many veggies you can blend up!  I blend, re-fill, and blend again.  After pouring this one for GLLAM, I make another blender full for Ron and myself.

Kale Girl

Caught my Yale Kale girl in the middle of a belly laugh today.  That's my Abble-Dabble.

Zucchini Beet Smoothie

Our garden is going zucchini-crazy while our CSA's garden has more beets than you could use in a lifetime.  This gave me the idea to start grinding both into our morning smoothies.

Today, I was completely out of greens and too lazy to hit the Farmer's market decided to do a smoothie with only those 2 ingredients.  Well, those combined with a lemon and a chunk of fresh, organic mango (throw it in the freezer the night before and your kiddos will really love you!)

Delish!

What's Up Doc?

My SIL Rachel and I were chatting in the living room when Lincoln appeared.  Thanks for the belly laugh, Linc.

15 and Counting!

Our Cos family sibling/cousin annual camping weekend last weekend.  

This would be why we frequent the library.  They haven't moved since we arrived home 3 hours ago.

Puerto Vallarta

6 days in paradise.  I love you babe!

The Ron Show

After showing Daddy their friend's video, they asked him to do some improv.  I laughed hysterically.

Rainbow Chard Green Smoothie

This smoothie was especially delicious as all the chard came from our garden.  I can't tell you how fulfilling it is to plant, grow and harvest your own food.  And let me tell you, the garden is going craaaaaaazy this year.  Yay to organic veggies!

I added a lemon and a handful of fresh, organic strawberries to this and hit Blend.  Yum!

Salmon Cakes

Combine 1 tin of wild caught salmon with the following:
1 organic egg
1/2 small onion, diced
1 slice of bread, toasted and broken into crumbs
1/4 c. raw cheese shredded
dash Worcestershire (I really like Edward & Sons)
dash hot pepper sauce
real salt and pepper
(I would add some fresh parsley also but I used the rest in our green smoothie...oops!)

After this is well combined, form into round cakes.  Heat cast iron skillet and add a generous spoonful of coconut oil.  Add cakes and cook about 8 minutes on each side.  This will make 3 cakes, adjust as needed for your family.  :)

Sauce:
Dollop of organic mayo
few slices of organic cucumber, diced
slice of onion, diced
juice from 1/2 organic lemon
1/2 clove fresh garlic

This meal takes about 20 minutes to prepare and cook and my kiddos make it disappear in less than 1/2 that time.  You can serve it atop a big salad or tonight, my kids ate them alongside diced zucchini and carrots.  After they finished they said, "Can you make that whole thing again?" 

Happy 3rd Birthday, Lincoln

Suffice it to say, he's mildly intrigued by Star Wars.  Thanks Grandma and Papa for my Star Wars costumes....Gabe and I have been wearing them non-stop since I opened them!

Triathletes

The girls competed in their 1st kids' triathlon last weekend.  On the way home I asked them, "So, was this a fun-one-time-thing or would you want to do it again someday?"  They replied, "Can we do one next weekend?"  

Here's Madeline on lap 2 of her mile run.  She finished 4th overall in her age group!

Abigail finished 3rd in her age group....2 boys beat her by seconds.

(speaking of, are those boys still competing in the background as you enjoy picture time with your medal?  I think they are! ;))

Lauren finished in the top tier as well, passed a 10 year-old boy in the swim (you go girl!), and was the youngest competitor in her age group!

The boys created their own triathlon as they watched the girls compete.  Love!

Beet Smoothies!

We've been getting a plethora of beets in our CSA bag each week so I've started adding a couple into our green smoothie each morning.  Today's smoothie was collard greens, beets (I already smoothied the tops yesterday! :)) and a lemon.  I also added a handful of frozen mango.  Yum!