I have never and will never go with a fake Christmas tree.  It’s never been about going green for me, I just love the smell and the feel of a real tree. Plus, going out to cut your own is one of my favorite Christmas traditions!

But if you do care about which is more eco-friendly, check out this article…

We used this recipe last night up until the dumplings (bisquicked them instead) and it was absolutely amazing!

Admittedly, I’m posting this one for selfish reasons. I am in charge of the sweet potatoes when we join our friends in Jersey for Thanksgiving. If I post the recipe I need online, I’m less likely to lose it.

Ingredients:

• 6 pounds large yams (red-skinned sweet potatoes)
• 3/4 cup marshmallow creme
• 9 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 6 tablespoons maple syrup
• 3 large eggs
• 9 large oranges
• Additional marshmallow creme
• 36 pecan halves

Preparation:

Pierce each yam all over with fork. Working in 2 batches, cook yams in microwave 15 minutes. Turn yams over; cook until tender, about 12 minutes longer. Cut yams in half; scoop pulp into bowl. Add 3/4 cup marshmallow creme, butter, and syrup; mash until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk in eggs. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut thin slice from top and bottom of each orange to make flat surfaces. Cut oranges in half. Scoop out pulp; reserve for another use. Place orange cups on 2 baking sheets. Divide yam mixture equally among cups. Top each with dollop of marshmallow creme and 2 pecan halves. Bake until beginning to brown, about 30 minutes.

Recipe courtesy of Bon Appétit via Epicurious.com

Slice and halve a baguette, spread maple, honey or agave syrup lightly over the top. Place chunks of brie on top of each slice and toast in oven for a couple minutes until the brie has slightly softened. Top with pieces of fried bacon and serve.

Also shown, farm fresh eggs from the Steven’s farm,  scrambled with havarti dill and salsa, seasoned with salt. Topped with flat leaf parsley.

In our house, lunch is frequently prepared by frying a flour tortilla in some butter, layering  leftovers and cheese and topping it with another tortilla. Frying it until lightly browned, and flipping it over to brown the other tortilla.  Sound gross? It’s really very good. We’ve done all sorts of cheeses;  swiss, sharp cheddar  or  gruyere.  Leftovers have ranged from prepared tuna, or leftover roast beef, or chicken in spaghetti sauce. If there are no suitable leftovers, we simply dip our cheese quesadillas in ranch dressing. You’d be surprised how much the kids love having a hot lunch and you’ll love a one pan meal that puts those pesky leftovers to good use.

• You want to you buy organic mushrooms. Why? Because to wash a mushroom is to ruin it. Mushrooms are sponges, they will taste like whatever you cook them with. So if you run them under water to wash them, they will absorb some water and be rather rubbery and tasteless. If you must wash them, take a dry paper towel and dust off the dirt.
• When browning mushrooms,  do not use salted butter or add any salt until after they have browned.  For more tips click here.

Not to worry, we aren’t going vegan or anything. Ben and I have just been contemplating the amount of meat we consume. Questions along the lines of, yes, God gave us permission to eat steak, but still some cow has to die and shouldn’t we show respect by not eating beef every night of the week? That’s another tangent, but my point was, that we are cutting back on meat. We have been finding other places to gain protein through food (I’m not a big fan of vitamin supplements). Lots of legumes and cheeses. I’ve learned to soak the beans in salt water to add flavor and to slow cook lentils for 12 hours to make very filling and delicious soups. But sometimes life gets in the way of meal prep and I’m stranded at 6 o’clock with no dinner on the table and not an idea of what to do about it. Yesterday was one such night. I’ve been reading a lot of Alice Water’s The Art of Simple Food, in which she provides a list of food to keep on hand for such emergencies. It is because of that inspiration that I did have potatoes, olive oil, thyme and frozen asparagus on hand. I prefer red or little golden potatoes, which have so much flavor and are easy to quarter into bite sized pieces, but you could just as easily use russets. I washed and quartered my reds and spread them into a glass cake pan. I laid full sprigs of thyme (stripping them takes so much time and I didn’t have it!) on top, and poured a generous amount of olive oil on top of the whole she-bang. Fresh ground sea salt and pepper topped it, of course. I baked it at 375′ turning the potatoes occasionally, which allows for the cooking thyme leafs to fall off and mix in. Once the potatoes were soft, I turned up the heat to 425′ and placed some frozen asparagus spears on top of the potatoes. I kept it in there about 10 minutes until the asparagus had heated through. Ben and I like to dip our roast potatoes in prepared horseradish for an extra kick.

Approximate cost for serving 3 (1/2)

• red potatoes  =  $1.75
• fresh thyme = $2.00
• 1/8 c. olive oil = $1.00
• s & p = $0.25
• frozen asparagus = $1.00
  ____________________
  Total meal cost: $6.00
  Cost per serving: $2.00

Optional prepared horseradish will make each serving about 15 to 20 cents more.

In prelude to Autumn I give you my favorite seasonal  smells:

• Fresh Bread: best if honey has been drizzled on top after 2nd rising and before baking.
• Burning Wood: accompanied by a warm glow.
• Chicken Soup: simmering on the stove in an excessive amount of thyme.
• Rotting Leaves:  an scent best enjoyed outdoors.
• Cloves: in cider, candles, chili & tobacco.

I am feeling a bit under the weather today so for breakfast I just asked what Ophelia wanted. She asked for yogurt with honey and cinnamon.  We usually buy Brown Cow Maple yogurt, but they didn’t have it at Trader Joes last week so we have Un-flavored Greek Yogurt. We added a bit of local honey and a pinch of cinnamon. Not only did Ophelia love it, so did Mira and I!

Over our summer holiday, Ben’s mom bought the girls a really adorable butterfly garland during our layover in the Seattle airport. We kind of fell into a butterfly theme for their room some time ago and it stuck.  Since their bedroom has no overhead lighting, and the idea of putting standing lights in there made visions of crashing stands and broken light bulbs dance in my head, I opted to hang colored Christmas lights instead. We also found some cute patio butterfly lights at Target that fit right in and Ophelia is rather partial to them. The only downside to the arrangement was the single unsightly cord hanging from the corner. It’s tucked out of the way of the children’s reach, but still, there it was. Ben had the ingenious idea of wiring the new garland so we could wrap it around the cord to hide it. I had some craft wire on hand, and tied the garland tight in between a door knob and a cabinet to hold it still. After locking the cat in the laundry room (she thought it was all a fantastic game), Ophelia and I spiral wrapped the wire around the fishing line that suspended the butterflies and tacked it to the ceiling before wrapping around the offending power cord. Tada!
(Side note: Ophelia does not sleep in the crib. It’s in there for Mira, but since Mira hasn’t graduated out of the pack n’ play yet, Ophelia makes good use of the crib as a trampoline.)