Happy Birthday Max!

Refrigerator Roundup

We live in a small house. Very small. We love it though and it is fun getting creative with storage solutions.  I had Ryan build this lazy susan for the top of the fridge to hold my Le Parfait jars full of our most used dried goods. It is SO useful and also quite pretty. Much better than gathering dust bunnies.

My largest jars are for the items we use the most: pinto beans, brown rice, quinoa. The medium jars are for other legumes and grains. I recently added the adorable small jars to hold bulk teas: Rooibos, earl grey, chamomile, herbal chai and hibiscus. 

I started using mostly loose leaf tea from the health food store because it is so much less expensive and I was sick of all of the waste from the numerous tea bags we were consuming. Not to mention that loose tea tastes better as it is only the top quality leaves, not sticks and twigs.

Belly Love

You can probably guess we are just a little bit excited!

I had a dream last night and met the baby...hair, eyes, name, everything. It was amazing! 

Hurray for Hijiki - Tofu Hijiki Saute and Summer Hijiki Salad

We are trying a new recipe tonight from Moosewood's Simple Suppers for a Tofu Hijiki Saute.

Cook:
1 1/2 cups brown rice in 2 1/2 cups water for 30-40 minutes

Soak:
1/2 cup hijiki in warm water for 15 minutes

Toast:
2 Tsp sesame seeds and reserve
Saute:
1 Tsp sesame oil
1 cake firm tofu cut into small cubes
remove tofu and add to pan
1 Tsp sesame oil
3 cups carrot marchsticks
1 onion in slices
cook for 5 minutes until tender
ass tofu, hijiki and 2 Tsp soy sauce


On the back of the Emerald Cove Hijiki bag I found this recipe which has all of Gracie's favorite foods.

Summer Hijiki Salad:
1/2 cup hijiki
water to cover
1 Tsp soy sauce
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1/2 grated carrots
 (we'll try it for lunch today with TJ's soycatash: edamame, corn and bell peppers)
Dressing:
4 Tsp mustard
4 Tsp tahini
3 Tsp brown rice vinegar
1/2 cup water

Soak hijiki in water to cover for 10 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid, and rinse. Simmer soaked hijiki , covered, in soaking water to cover for 35 minutes. Add soy sauce and cook 10 minutes. Heat corn and peas for 5 minutes and sprouts for 1 minute then toss with carrot and dressing.

This would be great for a picnic with sauteed tofu cubes.

Cinco de Mayo - Zucchini Tacos

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Gracie was excited to drive by Lulu's today which was decorated with balloons galore. So we are making our own tacos...Coffee Cottage style.

My mother in law bought me a micro-plane with interchangeable plates years ago in Boulder and it is really one of the best kitchen tools we have. It is perfect for grating cheese or zucchini right onto a tortilla.

Zucchini Tacos:

preheat oven to 350 degrees
lightly coat corn tortillas (preferably handmade) with olive oil
spread refried beans on tortillas
sprinkle cheese on top of that
grate zucchini on top of that
bake for 5 minutes

top with your favorite salsa, guacamole, etc

Almost Pantry Pasta

We have been battling naps lately (and whether or not they are going away forever or hopefully NOT) so when Gracie took a late nap today and was still asleep at 6 pm with nothing, I mean nothing, not even milk, in the fridge...I had to get creative. Good practice right?
So I started a new category--almost pantry--to collect last minute meals that can be made from pantry items, with maybe an onion or frozen vegetable thrown in for fun...and nutrition. Here is what we are attempting tonight with frozen spinach, garbanzo beans and olives.

Almost Pantry Pasta:
saute
1/2 red onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 bell pepper
add
dried basil and oregano s+p
1/2 bag frozen spinach
one can of olives
2 cans garbanzo beans
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

toss with
whole wheat fettucini (Gracie loves the "long" noodles)
olive oil
grana if you have it in the freezer

On another note, this family HATES plastic, so indeed I started another category for this soapbox.
Canned goods are lined with a plastic coating that contains  bisphenol A  which we have tried to keep out of our household as well as other plastics. Eden brand canned goods is the only brand to date that does NOT contain BPA so stock up and send a message to other canning companies. I stock up when it is on sale at the market on goodies like the above items that we always try to have on hand.

DIY Diaper Wipes

I am going to try, really try, not to use disposable wipes with the little one arriving in September. If we can do cotton diapers, we can do cotton wipes can't we? We have gone back and forth with Gracie but now we use some bumgenius flannel wipes with California Baby diaper spray at home and Nature Baby wipes for on the road. I really want to try to have a stockpile of these soaking and ready for the diaper changes to come.

There are lots of DIY wipe solutions out there but we are going to try this recipe (from SouleMama)

Diaper Wipe Solution:
1 Tsp baby castile soap
1 Tsp almond oil (jojoba oil) I may omit this for ease in washing with cloth diapers.
1 drop tea tree oil
1 drop lavender essential oil (may omit for newborn)
3/4 cup water
change everyweek