Starting my 2010 Resolution

I've been rather quiet over here while ironically being excessively and obnoxiously loud over on my Facebook account, so I thought that a good way for me to get back into the blog would be to give myself a challenge. The goal I've set for myself is to take one picture each day that I absolutely love. It can be of the kids, the cats, food I make, sights we see, whatever, it just has to be something that inspired me or brought me joy that day.

Instead of waiting until the new year begins, I'm starting this immediately. Here are the two (yes, two) I took today after fiddling around with the timer option and learning how to maneuver my camera while it was set up on the tripod.


I love how my crazy hair looks like some odd sort of toupee gracing Jay's head. I am also amazed that we are all genuinely smiling!


I love the way Aidan looks in this picture, particularly his eyes. I rarely get him to smile for the camera, but he did it this time. Thanks, Bubs! He looks so grown up. It's bittersweet.

Merry Christmas Fail

Lord Help Us!

"Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of...."

Something.

Today's Words, By Aidan

Mushroom (he said this all by himself after seeing a mushroom on my computer screen)

Mammal

Oboe

Cello

Sick Soup

1 T olive oil

1 large onion

A large handful baby carrots, sliced

2.5 Russet potatoes, peeled and diced

1/2 cup of corn

1 can of roasted tomatoes (or other)

1 box of veggie stock (or water and bouillion)

About a cup of Trader Joe's "Mixed Grain" product - quinoa, garbanzos, orzo, and couscous

Saute onion and carrots in oil in your favorite soup pot until the onion starts to soften. Add all other ingredients, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are tender and the grains are edible and lovely, about 30 minutes.

Garnish with a heavy sprinkling of chopped garlic and finely chopped parsley or spinach.

Patience

From cane reeds, sugar.
From a worm's cocoon, silk.
Be patient if you can, and from sour
grapes will come something sweet.
-Rumi

What Have I Been Doing?

We have a lot going on right now and I'm exhaused. I was bit by two baby black widows. Aidan was bit by a dog - what a horrible experience. We're patiently waiting for...something that all of our thoughts center around currently. Luke is growing up too fast. Grandma Vera is getting the sad version of old. Ermie is still alive. Olive is a pain.
I've been making lots of macarons and eight-layer cakes and my house is a disaster zone. We're at that annoying stage in life where Aidan has outgrown nearly all the baby items, but is still too little for all of Luke's big boy stuff. So we just have too many items entirely.

I think that pretty much sums it up. It would be nice to have a vacation or even just a regular weekend off with the husband, but there is stuff to be done.

One great thing - the hideous couches that have lived in my garage for the past four years are finally gone! It's amazing. I will feast my eyes upon them in the new church.

Change is coming. Either way. Get ready.

May the stars carry your sadness away,
May the flowers fill your heart with beauty,
May hope forever wipe away your tears,
And, above all, may silence make you strong.

-- Chief Dan George

Yes, I do!

"Heidi, do you love your wife, Jason?"

- Luke, four years, one month

The Quiet Man

I've been feeling a little weird lately. I'm not really feeling like writing much. Perhaps now that I've said this, all my emotions will come spilling out. Some of it has to do with me turning 30 and getting a little depressed about that. Believe me, I can take the old age. What I'm depressed about is all the change this new decade will inevitably bring to my life. I hope it's good, but I know there will most likely be some goodbyes.

My 91-year old grandma, my 16 year-old cat...the health of my parents, perhaps? The childhood of my children. Perhaps these are the best years of my life. I'm so thankful that I get to be with my kids and not miss out on any of it.

It will be gone in a flash.

7/7/09

Four years ago, life changed drastically. It will never be the same again.

I love you, Be.

Thank you for coming into my life. I'm lucky to know you and love you and have you in my heart and life.

Happy 4th birthday.

Potato and Kale Enchiladas with Roasted Chile Sauce

I have finally tried another recipe from Veganomicon and I did make a few twists with the seasonings/ingredients ratio. This is a wonderfully magical recipe. Your stomach will sing a song of gratitude once it gets to digest such a tasty creation! I plan on making this many more times. It's a sure keeper. If you don't really like lime, I'd stay away from this one. I'm going to recreate this using oyster mushrooms and other grilled veggies when I have another spare afternoon.




Enchilada Chile Sauce:
2 tablespoons grapeseed or olive oil
1 onion, cut into small dice
3 large green chiles (such as Anaheim), roasted, seeded, peeled, and chopped coarsely
2-3 teaspoons chile powder, preferably ancho
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice (not the kind with basil or other italian seasonings)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons Kosher salt

In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, saute the onions in oil for 4 to 7 minutes, until softened. Add the remaining sauce ingredients, bring to a simmer, and remove from the heat. When the mixture has cooled enough, taste and adjust the salt if necessary. Puree with an immersion or regular blender until mixture is smooth and even.


Potato and Kale Filling:
1 pound potatoes
1/2 pound kale, washed, trimmed, and chopped finely (1/4 lb. works fine if you only want to make 10 enchiladas. That's the amount we had and used. We kept the seasonings as listed so if you use 1/2 lb of kale, please adjust the rest of your seasonings accordingly - taste your creation as you go to get the seasonings right!)
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 cup water +1 or 2 T McKay's Chicken Seasoning-MSG free (to taste) OR 1/4 vegetable broth
3 T lime juice (I like about 4 T)
1/4 cup toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds), plus additional for garnish
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
12-14 corn tortillas
Cheddar cheese, shredded, for the tops of the enchiladas

Preheat the oven to 375 F and have ready a shallow casserole dish, at least 11 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches.

Peel and dice the potatoes, then boil them until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and set aside. Cook the oil and minced garlic in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until the garlic is sizzling and slightly browned (be careful not to let it burn). Add the kale, sprinkle with a little sale, and raise the heat to medium, stirring constantly to cover the kale with the oil and garlic. Partially cover the pot to steam the kale until it has wilted, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove the lid and mix in the potatoes, water, spices, and seasonings, lime juice, pumpkin seeds, and salt. use the back of a wooden spoon to mash some of the potatoes. Cook another 3 to 4 minutes, until the stock is absorbed. Add more salt or lime juice to taste.

Create an enchilada assembly line:
Have ready a pie plate filled with about 3/4 cup of enchilada sauce, a casserole dish, a stack of corn tortillas, a lightly greased, heated griddle or cast-iron pan (for softening the tortillas), and the potato and kale filling.

Ladle a little bit of the enchilada sauce onto the bottom of the casserole dish and spread it around. Take a tortilla, place it on the heated griddle for 30 seconds, then flip it over and heat until the tortilla has become soft and pliable. Drop the softened tortilla into the pie plate filled with sauce; allow it to get completely covered in sauce, flip it over, and coat the other side.
Now, place the tortilla either in the casserole dish, run the potato filling down the middle and roll it up. Continue with the rest of the tortillas, tightly packing enchiladas next to each other.



Pour about a cup of sauce over the top (reserving some for later), cover tightly with aluminum foil, and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the edges of the tortillas poking out of sauce look just a little browned. Allow to cool slightly before serving. Top individual serving with any remaining enchilada sauce, warmed slightly. Garnish with pepitas. Great served with black beans, chile rellenos, your favorite salad, or arroz con gandules.

Don't forget to stuff yourself up to your uvula with these enchiladas!


They look a little homely, I know. Sometimes ugly food tastes the best. Sometimes. :)

There's an Interesting Visual.

Luke loves space. He loves planets, stars, comets, moons, and especially space shuttles. A few days ago we were watching several liftoffs and saw a youtube clip of the Challenger disaster. He's been talking about it ever since.

"Hey mama?"

"Yes?"

"Some people died on the space shuttle. We have to help them. They need to go to the hopsital. [Long Pause] Can I help them?"

"Well...."

"Can we help them? Mama and Papa and Beboy and Aidan? Can we help them get better please?"

"Sure, that's a good idea." It's a nice thought. Why wouldn't we want to help, even if...we could certainly find someone in a hospital to help.

"We need to help them. We need to help Grandma Rhea, too, because she broke her hip. She is in the hopsital."

"Yes, she needs help, too. But she's getting lots of help. Guka is taking good care of her. We'll go see her soon. "

"Oh, and the nurses too. The nurses help. Right?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, they help her like you help Baby Aidan when you nurse him. They are nursers. For Rhea."

"Hmm..."


It really didn't help that I had just watched "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" only hours before this conversation. It certainly gave me a good chuckle.

The Gas We Pass

I hear someone passing gas in the hallway.

I look, it's Luke.

"Oh, do you need to make poo-poo, Sweetie?"

"No. I'm just fart."

Jelly Beans!

For the past few years I have gone through many different changes. I have gained (and LOST!) 35 lbs. I have been stretch-marked, kicked multiple times on the inside, and suffered from incontinence. I had my boobs balloon...and deflate...and balloon...and deflate. My feet are now half a size bigger. Hmph. One of the most annoying changes, even more irritating than those horrible events listed above, is the fact that my hair has changed color! This effects my makeup and my entire wardrobe. Not that I'm fancy or anything, but it's still a pain! Now that my hair is now, well, brown, I've had to figure out what I can and can't wear. For instance, now I can wear orange, but I really shouldn't wear black. It's all so annoying especially since my skin really is whiter than vanilla ice cream (I have melasma and so I stay out of the sun to prevent the ever-dreaded mustache tan). Thank goodness for blues and greens. There are certain colors that always look great with blue eyes. Phew.

I've been cleaning out my closet for weeks. A shirt that makes my eyes especially raccoon-like was donated here, shoes that no longer fit into my fat feet were given away as well, ALL maternity clothes to a friend (good riddance!), etc. I finally got motivated about making my closet a little more complimentary to the not-so-new hair color after my recent trip to the Banana Republic Outlet (that place is evil!) with Montessa. I only buy it if I absolutely love it!

That's a new policy.

My closet has been filling up with aquas, greens, and more shades of blue than I can describe at the moment. It's been fun, especially since the sales that are out there are insanely decent! My closet is getting there. But I still was missing something.

Ah, yes. Accessories! I know my wedding set is the ultimate accessory, but sometimes that's not enough. I've been wearing a lot of teether necklaces, but I'm craving more than that. Finally, I broke out of my shell. I've always been accessory-challenged, but I just couldn't resist this:


Look! It's basically all the colors I look good in these days! Isn't it great?


I got it from MySelvegedLife over on Etsy, which is an online marketplace that features all things homemade and glorious. Believe me, it is far more trouble than the BR Outlets, at least in my world! The real stinker with Etsy is that most everything is one of a kind and so you feel a little more pressure to buy if you see something you absolutely love. Sure, the seller could probably make another for you, but come on...you know it won't be exactly, exactly the same! The necklace that I bought is called "Jelly Beans" and I just knew I had to have it after (1) seeing all the pretty colors and (2) looking at Luke's reaction to seeing it. "What is that? Jelly Beans? I like that!"

So now it's mine! At least until the baby breaks it. It's fun to wear some real jewelry. I love my teething necklaces, but it's fun to wear something that's not made out of rubber and also something that goes with my hair!

It's okay that I'm not blonde anymore. These colors are way more fun, anyhow!

My Spring Cleaning Theme Song!

I'm Addicted.

To these.

Carrot Oatmeal Cookies


Ginger. Coconut oil. Walnuts. Carrots. Oats.



Good.

It's yet another one of Heidi Swanson's recipes, can you blame me? The woman is so inspiring! This recipe is free of sugar and eggs and is one I'm sure I'll make for years to come.

I made two necessary variations. First off, I didn't have the fragrant coconut oil, just the refined stuff. So I added a splash of coconut extract and this was so freaking delicious! The smell was intoxicating. I guess I'm just a coconut freak, can you tell? I also only had organic pastry flour, not the whole wheat stuff, so substituted that and I'm sure that made these cookies only more enjoyable!

I prefer them on the soft side. 9 minutes is perfect for my oven, at least. When we cooked these for the full 12 minutes they were way too dry.

I made these two days in a row and as soon as I get more maple syrup, I'm making more, baby! The dough is great, too.



They freeze great (cooked) and the best part of making them on the small side is that you can eat about 9 and it's the equivalent of one "regular-sized" store-bought cookie.

Please Don't Pour it in Your Loafers

Several months ago I tried Heidi's Split-Pea Soup recipe and we definitely enjoyed it. While I enjoy the flavors she suggests, I'm NOT a fan of cooking my lentils and split peas for only 20-30 minutes. That texture kills me. I also don't like having to take the extra step of blending, even though I have a hand blender and my awesome Vita-Mix. I'm just so tired, so if I can possibly eliminate the need to wash an extra dish or appliance, laziness will surely win in order to keep my kitchen sparkling.

A few days ago I made a crock pot variation of her pea soup that has been a wonderfully easy recipe to prepare while the boys are eating their breakfast or snacks. This is ultra-fast, at least in preparation, but not the cook time. Luke and I have been making this together at least once a week, along with Chuck Williams' Country French Bread in our bread machine for a delicious dinner!

Mmmmm.....so good.


Place in crock pot:
One onion, chopped
Approximately two cups of green split peas, rinsed and picked over
One handful of baby carrots
About twice the amount of water as there are ingredients

Cook on high for 4-5 hours (I think that's right. You know how these crock pot recipes are!).

Salt and pepper to taste. Top with drizzle of good-quality olive oil, a good dash of paprika, and chopped scallions. Lemon juice and zest is great, too.

Here it is with a slice of Panera's Tomato Basil bread. I had half a loaf in the freezer, so it was pulled for the occasion. That Sweet Streusel topping keeps me coming back for more!

El Gatito Nuevo - Aceituna

Olive is growing bigger almost everyday and it's astonishing to see such rapid growth. She plays hard and sleeps hard, all while steering clear of Ermie, who has turned into an grumpy, old, growling lady.

Luke is especially taken with her. He carries her around nonstop and I can tell these two are going to be napping buddies, once she's a little bigger, of course.


As for these two, they have an interesting relationship. He sneaks up on her when she's sleeping and scares her half to death, while she jumps on him around my bedtime and starts attacking his feet. Aidan laughs with sheer delight, but I sure hope these two learn to get along. Even in this picture she's trying to bite our baby!


Her biting really is a problem. It's annoying. It's painful. Thank goodness she's just learned to respond to our emphatic no's. If it weren't for that we really would have followed Jay's suggestion and renamed her "Bug." Man, does she bug.


But we just love her sweet little face.


And her adorable little leopard markings.


And just when she's fooled us into thinking that she's finally growing up and is ready to act like a lazy old cat, she'll go and remind us what she really is.

I Guess This Is Why We Have Bibs.

I have no idea why I forgot to put it on, but I did. Oops.

Forget the Facial Cleanser

I'm eating this instead!

On our way back from visiting Gram V in Long Beach, we took a glorious drive down PCH all the way to Dana Point and stopped at Sprinkles in Newport Beach. We brought home a few and just this morning I tried the brown sugar praline cupcake, which is a special flavor available this week and is featured in their HOP BOX.


Although I wasn't initially excited about trying this seasonal creation, it's one of the best I've tasted. There's just something about those sweetened pecan pieces that is so delicious. That salty sweet crunch just gets you and it's an extremely satisfying crunch that is also delicate due to the size of the granules. The cake part is really good, too!

I was a little disappointed that I wasn't able to try the Flourless Chocolate cupcake that is available for one week starting today in celebration of Passover. We were just one day short. :( Maybe we'll get to try it next year. Yum!

Delicious, really!

My mom gave me this facial cleanser a few weeks ago and I just love it. After trying it the first time I thought, "that's sure tasty!" and licked my lips after giving my face a good scrub. Mmm...orange. These ingredients are edible, aren't they?

Ingredients: glycerin, olea europaea (olive) fruit oil, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) peel oil, avena sativa (oat) kernel flour, lanolin, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, quillaja saponaria extract, avena sativa (oat) kernel oil, vegetable oil, beta-carotene, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf oil, tocopherol

I casually mentioned that the cleanser was delicious to JJ and he actually straight up ate the stuff in the shower. Whoops.

Oh, it's been treating my skin great as well!

Threadless

Our friend Kyle sent Jay a link to an awesome t-shirt online store this afternoon. For the longest time I could not figure out what JJ was doing on the computer. He was looking at clothes, which is a rarity! Jay finally got me to check out the stuff and it's such a great site! I just had to pick up a few for Luke. I just couldn't resist. Now normally I would have waited for a birthday or some insane sale. But we had bought him these shoes a few weeks ago and I've been having the hardest time finding any type of black shirt in the kids department at my favorite stores. Gymboree? Nope. Target? Nope. Old Navy? Gap? Nope, nope. Everything dark is blue. Everything!

Ah...so imagine how happy I was when I found this
We Are Just Pixels After All t-shirt.

Isn't the detail neat?


Then we found the mother of all t-shirts. Luke's going to be so overjoyed when he gets this for his birthday...


Because it has Jellyfish Balloons on it. JELLYFISH BALLOONS!

See?


I just had to get this for him as well. It was on sale, he loves that book, plus I love the message. Haa haaa...


Anyway, go check out Threadless. Maybe you'll find something fun as well!

Shamu Stadium

Olive has arrived and we are in the quarantine stages as described here. I have not heard so much as a growl from Ermie at this point. I figure she can't fathom a worse addition to her life after meeting Luke and Aidan.

Ermie is a little more on edge and I can tell she's picked up Olive's scent. She's not as cuddly with me which makes me sad at times. This whole process is different than I thought it'd be. I thought I'd really enjoy having a little kitten around, but it turns out that a kitten plus a baby and a three-year old is just a lot of work. We were set to receive Olive in two weeks, but the woman taking care of her was forced to move and so off to their new homes went all the little kitties. I'm a little disappointed in that situation because she seems to be only four weeks of age. Regardless, Luke and Jay are enjoying her. We determined from the start that Jay would be her "mother" so as to not tick off Ermie even further, so we're calling it his cat.

The best way to describe our house right now is to say that it's like Shamu stadium. Ermie is held up in my bedroom with Olive in Luke's. They each take turns being in the main living area of the house. When one bedroom door opens, the other closes with brief periods of cat-free moments for the spectators. For now we'll have to see if the cats' tails start flopping over to the side now that they're being held in captivity with one another, just like our orka friends.

Despite all the inconvenience, it has been nice to see that one of my suspicions is correct. Although Ermie can sense the new threat, she has not growled at Luke all week. He has only picked her up one or two times since Olive's arrival and I'm sure she appreciates this. He was carrying her everywhere and I could tell she did not appreciate this. I figured a younger playmate might be a fun source of entertainment and companionship for him.

Perhaps one day our house will be open in peace, but in the meantime we'll be dealing with this tedious period of transition.

It's a Girl!

In three weeks we will be adding a baby girl to our family of five. After attending the SD cat show and seeing crazy stereotype-perpetuating ladies, I caught the kitten bug. It's been something I've been wanting for a long time. I have had our beautiful Ermine since I was 14 years old. She has been amazing, but I want the rest of her life to be good. Luke wakes her up numerous times throughout the day, picks her up, and drags her around the house. The poor thing just wants to sleep! She will be turning 16 in July and is currently the equivalent of 76 years old in human years. I realize that introducing a kitten, a companion that is the equivalent of a 2 year old, is not the best companion for her, but I'm hoping that the new little one will provide distraction that will let the old girl rest.

It's going to be a long process. When I got Ermie back in the day, I had no idea what I was doing. I just put all the cats in the same room and let them hiss it out. I had no knowledge of introducing smells and providing positive experiences for both cats in order for there to be harmony within one multi-feline household. This time it will be different.

I hope.

I plan to make this cat Jay's cat in hopes that Ermie will not reject me. This will be difficult, but Erms is worth it. Besides, all cats loooooove me anyway, so it's just a matter of time.


Here she is. This is the first picture I saw of her and was what helped us decide to pursue her adoption:

She is part Bengal. Bengals are an interesting breed, an extremely exotic looking breed. They are actually bred from Asian Leopard cats. Bengals are the 4th generation cats from this cross. They are supposed to be great with kids and more like a dog. Bengals are known for playing catch, playing in water, being capable of learning to shake hands and walking on a leash and such, and really crave lots of high levels of interaction.

As far as her name, I'm stuck. Here's the growing list. Remember, it must be complementary to or as weird as Ermine (Ermie).
Jadis
Mobius (not very ladylike, I know)
Evangeline Lily (Jay liked "Benjamin Linus Wins")
Olivia
Eden
Olive

I think I REALLY like Olive. Any other suggestions?

Fountain Child

Low Tide.

The Best Hubby/Daddy of the Year Award Goes to...

He gives me back rubs mostly every night, too.

Luke Sings His First Hymn

Pleeeezzzzzzzzze?!?!

This morning I woke up and decided that I wanted a rabbit.

Look...who wouldn't want this guy? This thing is awesome. I'd love to see it hopping around the house. I'd be scared of vacuuming when he was around, but he sure is cute!

I need to go pet Ermie for a few minutes, then maybe this urge will be gone.


(These are angora rabbits. Look how cute they are when brushed!)

You Might Think...

That presents are necessary for Christmas. You might even think that's what my boys want.

Nope. They've stopped playing with those toys. Except the helicopter and the light-up moon. But that's it!

What they really want is a box! At least this year.


It must be one in which they can sit or hide.


A box that's big enough for the both of them is great, too! Such fun!

If it's big enough, I can be quite a jokester. "Hey Be, here's a present I got for you. Open it up!"

(Excuse my mess, please. My hair, too. I was trying to mail Christmas cards.)

"That's not a present! That's Ermie!"

Then after much laughter, Ermie gets scared and runs away. Poor kitty.

Step one- open the box. Step two - put a cat in the box. Step three- make kids open that box! Yes, that's a much nicer version of a similar song.

YUCKY! Yummy.

Ever since Christmas my family has been plagued. Papi got pinkeye from somewhere and gave it to Luke, who then gave it to the baby, who then gave it to me. Did you know that when a baby gets conjunctivitis, it often manifests itself in the form of an ear infection? Yup. Aidan has one of those, too. So do I. I've also had some type of nasty bug that started off as similar to the flu. This thing is AWFUL, it's the type of virus I imagine kills the elderly. It's that bad. I tried to chase it using Laura's witch-doctor-friendly recipes for curing all ailments. You can read about those recipes here.

I tried the Goot, which is a garlic oil ointment that you slather on your chest, feet, and neck, but it was much harder to do since:
a) I was the one who had to make the stuff - it takes a while to cool and harden. It was much more handy after it was in the fridge for a couple of days and had solidified. When I applied it, it was running everywhere and the experience was just a little too much for me.
b) I am a host to my darling little parasite, Baby A. He loves to suck on most anything and is still nursing, so I was incredibly nervous about him being exposed to garlic too early and developing some type of sensitivity to it, just like his brother had for the first 20 months of his life.

After a couple of attempts, my throat started feeling better, so I gave up on the Goot and tried to get my garlic via Naas-tea instead. That definitely helped. While the recipe says to use 1-2 cloves of garlic, I used a good 3 or 4. When I made this for Jason days later, I upped it to 6. It worked for him and cured those ailments, but he did not enjoy the process one bit!

Unfortunately for me, I think I chased the virus north and since I did not garlic it full-strength, it landed in my ears. I'm not one to put anything garlic in anything that cannot be easily cleaned, such as an ear cavity, so there the bug remained and festered while my symptoms multiplied. Today my ear pain is almost unbearable and I just pray that my eardrum is not ruptured. I finally gave up today and had Jay cash in that prescription for antibiotics. I have not taken antibiotics in nearly seven or eight years, so I really try to hold off unless absolutely necessary. Since I'm doing the dreaded antibiotic treatment, I thought it was a good day to make something with yogurt, you know, because of all that acidophilus and everything. I immediately started thinking about Yogurtland and its impersonators and how that was exactly what I wanted to eat!

(Have you been to Yogurtland before? It's like Pinkberry, only self-serve! Pinkberry must be PISSED!)

I decided that I wanted to recreate some of the "tart" yogurt here at home. I found a recipe on Heidi Swason's website for the stuff and decided to try it. She's a talented vegetarian cook and I greatly enjoy most of what she makes, so I had high hopes. Using her recipe as a guide, I combined 2 cups Greek-Style yogurt and 2/3 cups of granulated sugar and dumped it into my ice cream maker. It was delicious and is definitely one of my favorite new easy recipes.

In the end, I think it was a little too sweet to actually fall under the "tart" category. Next time I'll just add sugar to taste, just until the sweetness is able to be detected. While the machine was chugging away, I diced up 6 kiwis and placed them into three of my favorite Crate & Barrel ice cream bowls that we received as a wedding gift from Bruce & "2nd cuz" Diane.
I saved three kiwi slices as a final garnish and waited. At this point, I probably should have put the bowls in the freezer and walked away and let the machine do its job until the very end, but I was too excited. When the yogurt started looking frozen, I turned off the machine and dove in and dished up. It started melting right away as homemade ice cream and yogurt always does.

I wound up with delicious frozen yogurt!

It wasn't soft-serve style, of course, but it tasted remarkable. This picture was taken about 10 minutes after we dished up, which is why it looks like Luke is eating soup. He was.

It's also Luke approved!

My favorite part was taking the ice cream canister and scraping out any frozen stuff left behind with one of Aidan's spoons.

Mmm...
I'm not sure when the baby spoon thing started, but Jay likes to eat with them because "it makes him feel like a giant."

"The best frozen yogurt I've ever tasted." -Papi


Next time I'll be sure I have some fresh mango and maybe some raspberries on hand. I'm also going to try making this frozen yogurt with the low-fat Greek yogurt. We're going to be eating this a lot!