Roasted Curried Green Beans An unexpected respite

Due to some less than rigorous flossing and a lapse in regular dental appointments, I had to have what is scarily known as a "deep cleaning" today, when the dental hygienist numbs one side of my mouth so that she can attack everything that is the evil on the left hand side.  I didnt really think much about the appointment, but I did have a slight sinking feeling as all my friends, when I mentioned I was going to the dentist, made that "Oh, I am GLAD I am not you" face, all the while trying to pat my shoulder reassuringly.

Upon my arrival to my dentist, whom I really think is great, I was ushered into a quiet room, where the hygienist asked me to sit down.  She also told me to lean back and put my feet up.  I grabbed my phone/music and asked if it would be all right to listen to some music while she cleaned my teeth.  "Absolutely.  Id love it if youd do that," she said, smiling.

Hold on.  You want me to sit still, lie back, put my feet up, listen to some music so YOU CAN DO THE CLEANING?  Its like a vacation!  I opened my mouth, let her numb it and let the rest of my body completely relax and listened to a bunch of songs I have not been able to listen to because of the Frozen obsession at home.  Before I knew it, she was pulling my chair to an upright position, and I almost found myself saying, "But wait!  Dont you have to do any more?"

After a quick mouth rinse and quick check to make sure she was satisfied, she turned to me and said, "Wow.  You were an amazing patient."

"You probably say that to everyone," I remarked.

"No seriously.  You were so still and so relaxed you really made my job easier," she replied.

"I have three kids and believe me, no one in my house EVER tells me to sit back and relax.  You just gave me a mini vacation!"

The hygienist looked completely surprised and began laughing.  I finished with, "You should only take patients who have three kids.  Theyll be the best."

Now these green beans arent exactly as relaxing as dental visit, but they are pretty relaxing to get on the table.  The beans only require a few ingredients, but the end result is slightly exotic and different, almost like a mini vacation.  And all you have to do is mix some ingredients and roast.  Trust me, youll love these almost as much as I love going to the dentist.

Roasted Curried Green Beans
Serves 4 to 6 people

Ingredients
1 lb french green beans trimmed (these are the thinner green beans)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon curry powder
½ teaspoon sea salt

Method
Preheat oven to 450.    On a large baking sheet (go bigger as more room means the beans roast better) place beans, drizzle olive oil and sprinkle curry powder and sea salt.  Using your hands, toss all the ingredients together to coat the beans.

Roast beans for 12 to 15 minutes, until they are shriveled and the tips and bits are brown and golden. Before removing beans from pan, shake the pan to coat the beans with the spices.

Printable recipe

Make these beans and put your feet up and relax.

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Turkey Arugula Meatballs gluten dairy egg free The end of an era

Since 2004, with the birth of Daughter #1, I have been non-stop with diapers.  For the past nearly-nine years, I have had in some way shape or form diapers on one, or two, and at one point, three children.

However, and Im a bit scared Im about to jinx it, I think that my diaper time is over.  I think Son is finally out of his nighttime diaper.  For the past 10 days, hes been waking up to a dry diaper, so last night he said he wanted to try not wearing one and this morning he woke up dry.  He asked to try again, stating, "Its much more comfortable not sleeping with it on," and its faster getting to bed so I allowed him to try again.

Hopefully I wont be writing another post to the contrary of what Ive said here, but I do feel it is an end to the era.  Although the diapers only took up one moment of my evening and a quick check in the morning, it is a signal of something far crazier - a time where I will no longer be buying diapers and dealing with "baby" stuff.  The last one, my last baby is no longer that, but now grown up.

Today I picked up Son, held him in my arms the way I used to when he was a baby, only now he overflowed out of my arms, legs dangling, with barely his torso making it into the lock of my arms, and he asked, "What are you doing Mom?"

"Im holding you one last time like the baby I remember you as."

"But Im not a baby anymore.  I dont even wear diapers now," he announced proudly.

I practically burst into tears at how quickly time has flown.  But I know that its all good and environmentally wonderful that hes no longer using the diapers, (not to mention a $20 savings each month that I may put towards something completely frivolous like chocolate!) but still - I wish, I just wish they could stay babies for a little bit longer.

Who knows, maybe hell regress and Ill be ranting about how he cant get OUT of his diapers, but for now, Ill mourn a little at the loss of my baby.

In honor of Sons accomplishments, I decided to make something that he loves - pasta.  Ive made meatballs for him before, without egg and milk  but wanted to experiment with more gluten free and dairy free options for my friends who are still struggling with their gluten intolerance.  These meatballs are herbaceous, delicious, light and tender (because of all the herbs and arugula) and are flavorful just in tomato sauce on their own.  Ive also roasted cauliflower and served it with roasted cauliflower for a completely gluten and grain free option.

Turkey Arugula Meatballs (gluten, dairy, egg free)
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
2 cups arugula leaves
1/2 cup basil leaves
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
1 lb ground turkey
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil

1 jar or a quart of your favorite tomato sauce.

Method
In a food processor chop onion, arugula, basil until finely chopped.  Combine onion arugula basil mixture with garlic, turkey, salt and pepper.  Mix with hands.  Roll turkey into 24 to 30 ping pong sized meatballs.  (Meatballs will be less firm than other meatballs as there is no egg or wheat to help pull things together.  However, be gentle when cooking and it’ll be fine.)

Heat tomato sauce in a large pot.  Reduce heat to low.

In a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat, heat olive oil.  Cook meatballs in skillet in batches, leaving enough room to turn meatballs to brown the sides.  10 minutes per batch of meatballs.  Add meatballs to simmering sauce and partially cover pot.  Continue cooking meatballs in tomato sauce for an additional 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve with your choice of pasta or for a totally new option, roasted cauliflower.

Printable recipe

seeking and finding some solace in this plate of food

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Hot Butternut Squash Gruyere Dip When you want an assistant

For DS - who totally understands what I mean

Im sure most of us have that desire - to have a personal assistant to do all the stuff that we dont want to do.  Many of my friends say they want a personal chef, others just a personal paperwork filer and organizer, still others someone to drive their children to their 2,700 weekly activities, and those who simply need someone to help get everyone ready in the morning.  In this day and age, the job of a parent is so intense, that there are more than a few moments in a single day where we think, "If only I had an assistant to take care of it."

For some of us, (ME) our spouses consider US as the assistant, in the manner such as fielding a phone call which leads on random wild goose chases finding something, filing something, or locating something.  Sometimes Im the dry cleaner to press the shirts, the filer of our paperwork and the organizer of all travel and vacation.  I dont mind so much the job of assistant to Husband and for the most part simply handle it.  But every fall, I realize that there are moments when I want MY OWN personal assistant.

What I need is a personal translator for the 30 or so email messages I receive in Korean from Childrens Korean school.  Im fluent in Korean speech, and passable in reading, but the sheer volume of messages I receive from the school (3 kids, 3 times as many messages) makes me want to poke my eyes out.  I find myself slowly and painfully reading each email message and at some point getting frustrated with the sheer volume that I STOP. READING. THE. EMAILS.

I tried to be really good about it this week, even trying to have google translate read to me the messages while I listened, which turned out to be much faster than my reading the messages on my own.  But despite my best efforts to abuse the web for my advantage, invariably by the 13th message from Korean school I quit.  I couldnt manage to keep up with all the messages, and what I really wanted at the end of the day was a bullet point "Korean Readers Digest" of the emails.  

Turns out, I failed.  Daughter #2, who is probably by definition, my most anal and difficult child, showed up at Korean school without having done her homework.  The anger and dismay shooting from her after Korean school was slightly humorous but more scary than anything.   In her defense it was my fault that she didnt do her homework.  In my defense, my assistant failed to show up to read all the emails and find the SINGLE email that had the homework assignment in it buried under the rest of the emails.  And to further my defense, the others had no such homework to speak of and it was only Daughter #2 who had any assignment to do.  

Sigh.  If only I had an assistant to read through all the pertinent emails and give me the essence of what is important, namely HOMEWORK, I could focus on making such yummy simple things as this dish.  Technically this dish is so easy I shouldnt HAVE to rely on an assistant and I could do both, but what fun is there in THAT?  So, as you dream of an assistant, you can throw this dish together, pretend you have your own personal chef and enjoy this simple bit of decadence after a hard day without your personal assistant.

I decided to roast the squash first to give the dip a special savory sweetness and added garlic to the roasting pan to just amp of the flavor.  The garlic mellowed with the squash and the overall dip just ended up being warm, comforting and delicious.  With crusty bread, crisp crackers, it totally will fit in at your next gathering - with or without an assistant.

Warm Butternut Squash Gruyere Dip

Makes 3 cups, enough for 8 people

Ingredients 

1 butternut squash, about 2 to 3 lbs, cut in half, seeds scooped out and removed

Olive oil for drizzling

salt and pepper

4 to 7 peeled cloves of garlic (choose your personal garlic level)

½ cup cream

½ lb gruyere cheese, grated

3 tablespoons finely chopped sage

Method

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Drizzle olive oil over surface of squash, and using hands, rub in.  Don’t be stingy with oil.  Toss whole garlic cloves with oil as well.  Salt and pepper all over surface of squash and garlic.  Roast squash in oven until tender, about 35 to 45 minutes.  Squash is tender enough when the flesh yields easy to a fork or a knife.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

When squash and garlic are cool enough to handle, prepare dip.  Remove garlic from pan, and with a fork in a bowl, roughly smash until cloves are broken up.  Using a fork, scoop squash, measuring two full cups of cooked squash.  Add squash to garlic, and mix in cream, stirring until it is consistent in texture.  Add grated gruyere and chopped sage.

In a ramekin or baking of your choice (I use small ramekins so I can have a constant flow of warm dip), preheat oven to 400.  Bake until dip is golden and bubbling.  Serve warm with crackers and bread.

Printable recipe

Is it bad that I still want an assistant after eating this?

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Happy Thursday And A Story Of An Unhappy Baby

Hello everyone, is it Thursday already?

So, Mr. Lovely is eight weeks old today and he weighed 11.6 pounds which is 2/10 more than last week. So, basically he stayed the same weight.

But the story starts with preparing for the photo shoot with Mr. Lovely by first taking a few snapshots of his bigger two-year-old brother, Stavesacre.

See, isnt he cute?

And I am always fighting to keep that beautiful mug of his clean.

But, no matter, he and his car make a great picture.

What with those beautiful curls...
Now...lets welcome Mr. Lovely to the scene...

Who is not looking so lovely with that big frown of his.

I swear the second I put him down...nothing would stop him from crying...

Last week...it was he was sleepy...

This week... he wouldnt stop crying.

So, his bigger brother, Stavesacre tried consoling him by patting him on the arm.

But it just didnt work...

He was inconsolable.

So, then Stavesacre introduced his red car.

Maybe that would help.

No, I think it made him cry harder.

I even wrapped him in his blue blanket that his great aunt made for him.

But that seemed to make him cry harder still.

Then, wait!

Whats this?!?

Why did he stop crying?

Was it the car on his head?

Nope!

Back to crying we go.

Hearing her brothers cries from afar...

Six year-old Iris Anna makes her entrance

And tries to calm him down...

"Its ok, its Ok... dont cry!"

Accompanied with the comforting hand (upper left-hand corner) of her four-year-old brother, Peach Blossom, who has also come to the aid of his little brother.

The sudden attention by his siblings may have just done the trick.

Hes no longer crying.

Wait.

I spoke too fast.

Time to bring out the big guns...

How about a little holding...singing...

See, hes stopped crying.

Add in with that the getting-him-to-look-at-your-finger-as-you-move-it-around-in-front-of-him-maneuver.

Where did she come up with that idea?

I dont think she got it from me.

Hmm....must be a girl thing.

This ability to calm a crying baby.

Well, at least the car tastes good.

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Hi folks! Hope you enjoyed seeing Mr. Lovely again.

Maybe next week I can get him smiling.

I have some really, really, really good news for you all.

Ready for it?

Its official:

I CAN NOT STAND MYSELF ANY LONGER!

I started cleaning up my diet today.

But even better is I have been hitting the gym.

Today was the third day this week.

Ive been doing my sit-ups, push-ups and this week have started running as well.

Ive ran three times this week and may still run tomorrow or Saturday.

Ive designated this coming Monday as the official start of my diet.
Next week also marks the beginning of working out five days a week instead of three.
Next week is also when I will cut out all sugar and flour and processed foods.

Why is it good news that I cant stand myself?

Because Ive gotten to the point where I feel aweful enough about how I look and feel to finally stick to a committment.

Also, I have set a fitness goal that requires some fat loss.

Will I lose 20 pounds in 10 weeks?

I sure hope so.

I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama

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