Pasta Fagoli

Pasta e Fagioli

(Cuisine Art Pressure Cooker Recipe Book)

1 T olive oil 

1 1/2 c chopped onion 

1 c diced carrot 

1/2 c diced celery 

3 cloves minced garlic 

2 t Italian herb blend (divided) 

6 cups water

1 lb dry cannellini or white beans, rinsed and picked over (about 2 cups)

1 bay leaf 

4 cups low sodium vegetable broth 

2 cans diced tomatoes with their juice

1 t real salt 

1 1/2 cups quinoa macaroni noodles (multi grain work as well)

chopped fresh parsley 

freshly grated parmesan (optional)

Saute in oil until translucent, onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Season with 1 t of herbs. Add sautéed vegetables, water, dried beans and bay leaf into pressure cooker.

Pressure cook on high for 35 minutes. Allow natural pressure release for 20 minutes.

Add broth, tomatoes, salt, and remaining herb blend. Boil and add pasta.

Cook for 9-10 minutes, until al dente.

Serve garnished with parsley and grated parmesan.

With the holidays upon us, cooking for big groups may be looming.  This a great easy dish for adults and children.  I allow my kids to pick out one item, that may not be their favorite.  :) Nothing beats the kind of meals that result in huge amounts for easy delivery, mass feedings, or leftovers.  Almost every time I make this meal I bring a pot to a friend.  One of the easiest ways for me to store and deliver soups is filling quart jars.  I don't need to worry about getting them back or missing them for storage of more perishable items.  

I saute my vegetables directly in the pressure cooker, add the dry beans and water, cook, and then boil the noodles all in the same pot.  This serves well with a green salad, fresh fruit and sourdough bread.  

Thanksgiving in Aspen Grove

Piling into a family cabin. Moonlight hikes. Wild remote helicopters. Dance parties. Great times.

Kitchen Snuggles. Is that Possible?

Kitchen Window Seat  

       Yes!  One possibly more unusual item, I felt was essential in my kitchen was a cuddle spot for reading.  As the hub of family life I wanted a place directly in the action, out of the action.

 This has to be our family's favorite single or double snuggle spot in the house.  We have a super soft blanket just wrapped around some foam, until I get around to sewing cushions.  In the mean time it is a luxurious snuggle.  The seat is 25" deep and 54" long, so there is plenty of room to curl up with a book, or the morning newspaper.  I added a soffit, corbels, and arch to enhance the feeling of enclosure.  With your feet off the ground you become entirely out of the "work way."  It is a perfect place to be right in the action, but out of the action. The large window lets in lots of natural light all day, but indirectly, so it never becomes uncomfortable or glaring.  A peek at Mt. Timpanogos and the back yard are just added perks.  Finally below the seat are 2 gigantic drawers.  One is filled with books and quiet games, the other with pillows and blankets.

Another fun aspect of the window seat, is it allows Emmett and Berkeley to be in on the action without pushing and banging around stools and chairs.  Our toast supplies are in the adjacent cupboard.  The two little munchkins love to stand on the window seat and help Ellery and Callista make toast.

Kitchen Remodel: Before and After Part 1

Kitchen Before

"Hearts and Jewels" or "My New Kitchen"

It's cliche but the kitchen is the heart of my home.  It is the organ circulation and life.  It pumps and throbs about 16 hours a day.  But it wasn't enough to be the heart, I wanted my kitchen to be a jewel too.  For those 16 hours a day spent in my kitchen, I wanted light and beauty.  I knew this house could provide that.  I had a vision the first time I was invited in.  Natural light pours in from four directions.  My kitchen is the crown jewel and the heart of our home.  

Kitchen After

Acting as the sole designer I poured over my graph paper drawings, ipad architectural apps, home design books and the houzz blog.  Every kitchen I walked in and worked in, I kept mental notes of what I loved and what they lacked.  I thought about the way I cook, when I cook, how I want to cook when I have teenagers.

Each walkway, cabinet, countertop, fixture, appliance, and line of sight, I took into consideration.  Would it be spacious, functional and beautiful?  I literally went through hundreds of iterations until I felt I had designed my perfect kitchen for the space I was given.  For the way I function, my taste and our family's needs it turned out like a dream.

Kitchen After

I created a list of everything that was most important to me and set out to tackle it.  Creating the list was a lion share of the project.  That said, implementing it was a colossal undertaking.  Here is what I came up with in no particular order:

Kitchen Hit List

• Large, high quality appliances

• A snuggle spot

• Large work surfaces, including a huge butcher block cutting board

• An Island

• A pantry

• Flow:  It was critical to me that the kitchen be able to handle a large number of people comfortably, and for me to be able to function with the children close yet not under my feet.

• Classic Beauty:  To be completely honest, I really wanted it to look pretty and classic.  I spend all day in the kitchen.  We do school in the kitchen, eat, and cook, this is where my life happens.

• Tons of Storage

• Two Separate Work Zone

•  Light:  Natural light, zone lighting, and nothing dark.  The last 2 homes I've lived in have been very warm, woodsy and rustic.  I love that look, but I was very ready for a change.  Given the outside of the house and the floor plan, I chose a colonial, cape cod feel for the home, but I think a definite contemporary flare came out as well. (I just could not resist the clear and chrome bar stools!)

Office Before it Became Kitchen

Kitchen After

The kitchen at first posed a bit of a challenge for me.  It was only 14 ft long and 12 ft wide.  I knew right off the bat I needed 2-3x that amount of space.  On my ipad I moved the kitchen to every location on the main level imaginable.

In the end, I left it centralized in its current location  but completely redesigned the work triangle. I removed the dropped ceiling, knocked out the wall adjoining the office, and widened the opening to the family room from 9ft to 18ft wide (load bearing but worth it).  The result was a dramatic increase in size.

I'll go through the nitty gritty and how I conquered my "Kitchen Hit List" in the upcoming posts.

Whew...Alive and Back!

Wow.  Whew.  Whoa. What?

I'm not really sure which of those words best describes the last 4 months.  Probably they all do.

Best news...we are in our new house, we made our deadline of August 1st (with one toilet and a shower), barely livable but we did it.  As of now, we are just about done.  There are random mirrors and light fixtures missing, but school is underway and life is back on track.

Original
Some of the curb appeal issues include the overgrown landscaping, dated dual-color  scheme, the orange brick, misplaced and proportioned shutters, very worn windows, a hidden entry, and the dimensionless east wall.

I will slowly but surely show you the transformation of our home.  For now, when all is said and done, I feel like I am living in my dream home.  I love how everything turned out.  All my hundreds of hours spent designing, redesigning, drawing, and combing the internet paid off.

Midway through: the brick is painted, the carpet has been removed, the hedge trimmed, bushes removed.  The windows are not yet replaced, columns, windows and front door are not yet replaced and trimmed.  

Lights replaced, new windows and trim.  New pergola, flower boxes, shutters and borders.  We added significant visual weight to the smaller windows on the garage side of the house on the bonus room.  The pergola and flower boxes ground the house and give the long flat surface dimension and interest.  The trim serves to further break up the monotonous space.  We painted the garage door the same color as the brick and siding to blend it into the house.  Replacing the door was not in the budget at this time.

We did not stay in budget (about 20% off), but we did stay on schedule which was a phenomenal accomplishment.  I tried to get all our subs to salute me and call me "General."  Some of them got into it, others didn't think it was that cute.   General contracting is definitely not for the faint of heart.

Front Door Then
 It was very awkward inside the front entry.  The door was built too close to the stairway, so the door would not open completely.  To solve the problem we replaced it with full-light double doors. They added light and beauty to the entire house and solved the inoperable front door issue. 

Front Door Now
  We beefed up the columns, and reduced the number, to proportionally match the house and open up interior views.  We removed the carpet from the porch and coated it with a concrete restorer.  The long term plan is to cover it in slate.   We added crown molding and trim to the door to add interest and visual weight.  I would eventually like to add some trim to our bay windows, but I am not certain of the right way to do it yet, considering the brick ledge on the bottom.

However, we made it.  There were no trips to the pool this summer, but somehow we all survived and are not worse for the adventure.

Callista turns Seven

"Honey Muscle" is Seven!! Once in a Blue Moon...

Pretty exciting to have a birthday on a blue moon...she was very honored.

Everyone in our family now has "honey" attached to a nickname.  It all began with "The Honey Fat" which is of course Berkeley (we are trying to drop the fat...don't want to create any long term insecurity issues :))  Ellery is "Honey Love."  Emmett is "Honey Badger."  And I guess I'm the Queen Bee and Brent is my worker ;)

But back to the subject at hand...

Honey Muscle turned 7!  This little lamb is an absolute treasure.  Of any of my children she rushes to hold me and secure my happiness.  She is as devoted to me as possible.  The other three children would take Brent over me any day.  

Her birthday began with streamers and songs...

Socks and new shirts and shoes were the presents...(picked out by Brent of course)

 We had a great family outing to the dinosaur museum where we were joined by Grandma and Grandpa.  I think all of the adults privately admitted to falling asleep during the gripping 3D dinosaur adventure, but the kids enjoyed it.

The day ended with a campfire in the canyon with her two closest friends and Mimi.

Things to remember about Callista...

You cant just wait outside to pick up Callista from gymnastics.  She would flitter around socializing for an hour if she isn't hounded and rounded up!

She breaks down nearly every night if I don't snuggle her to sleep.

She loves the color turquoise.

Math is a piece of cake.

She is incredibly brave and was a soccer star, with amazing aggression and confidence.

She can't bear to watch anyone cry or be sad so she immediately tries to attend to their needs.

Is rarely jealous.

Hasn't a single ounce of fat on her body

We love you our Honey Muscle!

"The Honey" is 2

We aren't going to tell her until she is older, but The Little Honey had a very neglected birthday.  Swamped with our house, there was no birthday cake or presents, but there was a whole lot of love to go around and a little photo shoot at the park with big Brother.

These two are quite the duo...

Things to remember about Berkeley...

She is full of personality and ummph!

Loves to say "Okay Mom" a wonderful habit she picked up from Emmett

Is lightning fast to say she is sorry and give any necessary penitence

Idolizes Emmett

Is crazy brave, and loves to flatter adults with her snuggles

We love you our Honey!

A New House

It is finally official!  We closed on our new home last week and today the transformation begins!

The home is full of light and has a wonderful floor plan.  It sits on over 1/3 of an acre, so we have plenty of outdoor living space.

I've been obsessing into the wee hours of the morning about this house for almost a year now.   It seems a bit surreal to finally be moving forward.  Our neighbors are still living in the house for a week or so, so I still don't have the keys, but work on the outside began today.

I am going to try and chronicle the transformation on our blog.  I cant wait!  I have a strict budget, it will be interesting to have the give and take it will surely require to keep under that number.

Finishing With a Bang

These two little gals finished out a fantastic gymnastics season.  Their first year of competition had a learning curve, but all we wanted to see was improvement each time.  That we did.

Ellery ended the season in the top of her class and 3rd in the State for Level 4 eight year olds.

Callista competed level 3 which stays within the gym.  She finished 3rd overall, but most dramatic was her ending bars routine.  She needed a 9.2 to advance to level 4.  That was a very high score for her.  In an unbelievable personal best she scored a 9.25 with the best dismount I have ever seen.

Happy Ninth Ellery and a Perfectly Pink Party

Ellery on her new Beach Cruiser.

A Perfectly Pink Party.

The girls went on a wild scavenger hunt all over the neighborhood.  Tasks included things like "touching a dirty boy," and "forming the number 9 with your bodies."

We opted for a very layered, frosting free cake.  It was dyed pink with beet juice and smothered in fresh raspberries and strawberries.

A few little personal notes on Ellery.  She... 

...has the poise and confidence to match many adults

...is learning intellectual integrity and courage by being unafraid to act and think and speak differently than her peers

...plays the piano with intensity and reflection

....loves to write poetry, especially poetry she considers extremely deep, romantic and metaphorical

....memorizes amazingly

...likes to be alone a lot

....has an intensely emotional connection with her physical body, she wears her emotions in her health

....drives her mom to jealousy because she favors dad

....worries incessantly over safety, which translates into being very responsible and very strict with her siblings

....is known to let out piercing screams when she feels something or someone is in harms way

....loves to perform and be in the spotlight, but wouldn't be labeled as outgoing

....perseveres through scary doctors appointments, and adamantly adheres to treatments, but is also very self conscious of coughing in public

....devotes herself to gymnastics

....loves to sew clothes, flowers, headbands, and pillows for herself and others, but doesn't love following a pattern

....watches and eavesdrops on her parents like a hawk

...loves fashion, dancing, pop music, and takes all of it quite seriously

....begs to sing solos in church

....has an uncanny, tender gift of connection with the elderly


We love you Ellery.  We are better parents because of you.  You've taught us how to love so much deeper.  A first child opens your heart in a way it never has been before.  Each year you grow opens our heart to more pain with an equal balance of love.  We've wept over your pain and struggles from day one battling PCD.  But your talents floor us in kind.  It's a risky game to be a parent but one we gladly take on.

Happy Mothers Day 2012

 I am so grateful to be a mother by choice.  I respect women for all of their choices.  God did not create me just as mother.  It is one of my roles, and one that brings me tremendous joy but also the burden of myriad menial duties and frustration.

 Emmett insisted on having a "dress" made for himself.  So actually both he and Brent got a homemade tie.  Brent was equally as adamant and actually the driving force behind his own matching tie.  We were a bit on the corny side at church but who cares!

My own mom and sisters.  We must have taken 150 pictures to get one we all approved of.  I'm not sure if this was one of them.

 I wish I could say I always have this big of a smile on my face, even when we are piano practicing...  But I do have this smile in my heart, even when I'm a bit grouchy.

Boston Triumph

On what was possibly, historically the most difficult day to run the Boston Marathon course, in record high temperatures, I ran in a personal best, by 3 minutes of 3:13.

I'll post a full race report later, but I must mention I was the 85th woman to finish the race today from a field of 10-12,000 women. Now that is something to feel amazing about.

Unfortunately I lost a very sentimental and valuable earring on the course and my iPhone. Two definite dampers. I will be unreachable for a time except through email.

It was a fantastic day. My legs aren't even sore!