Outside my window…

It’s really fall! Leaves falling, crisp air, sweater-weather fall. We’re all pretty excited about this. I think it calls for picking up the best apple cider in the world at the farmer’s market I try to walk to with James each Saturday.

I am thankful…

That we have all recovered from our colds, and that I am recovering well from having gum surgery a week and a half ago. Gum surgery is Not Fun. It was a short, simple procedure; in order for them to do my crowns, they had to remove quite a bit of my gums from around my molars. But it was an awful procedure while it was happening (unlike having two root canals, which was a piece of cake), and they did one on each side, which means it hurt really bad to eat, or even talk, for a good week, and one side still hurts. But so much better than before! Soon, all this mouth stuff will finally be done.

Also, two strong men are installing a new dishwasher RIGHT NOW! I’ve never used our dishwasher here, as it was old and gross and the plastic had come off the racks, leaving rust that would stain my white plates. It smelled bad and I took the dishes out feeling like I just had to wash them again. We only have space for one of those tiny apartment sized dishwashers, but I’ll take it!

From the Kitchen…

I’ve gone crazy with the vegetables lately. Our fridge gets so packed every Saturday that I have to stuff the collard greens in and shut the door quickly so they don’t fall out. Speaking of which, this last year I have discovered my two favorite vegetables, neither of which I ate growing up - kale and collard greens. No offense to you Southerners, but as good as you are at BBQ and wonderful things like hush puppies, you do unspeakably terrible things to collard greens. I thought I hated them, but I’ve discovered they are wonderful when cooked right. I slice out the tough stem and chop them. Then I cook up LOTS of garlic (maybe 2-3 cloves for the two of us) in some olive oil. Then add all the collard greens (I stuff the entire saucepan full, since they cook down) and about 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt and a tablespoon of water. Put the lid on and let them steam, tossing them with some tongs with the garlic, until just barely tender. Even a little crunchy is fine. The sea salt makes them taste almost briney. We can eat enormous amounts of this.

I’ve been eating a lot of kale in the past year, since I was advised to eat lots of greens while pregnant, and they’re super cheap. I cut out the tough stem, chop them, and steam them in a steamer basket. We eat them by themselves with some balsamic vinegar, put it in lentil soup, or best of all, put it on…

PIZZA! My favorite thing to make is pizza, and it’s a great way to use a ton of vegetables. I use my food processor, which makes it one of the easiest meals to make, and believe it or not, pizza can be a healthy dinner. I make up the crust, usually using all whole wheat flour, in the food processor and let it rise for an hour. No kneading or mess required. Then I use the slicer attachment to slice up one whole onion, a whole green pepper, a container of mushrooms and half a can of olives. While I do that, I have a panful of kale steaming, and I make the sauce by simmering a can of diced tomatoes, a can of tomato paste, and a handful of Italian seasoning. This makes enough sauce for two pizzas easily, so I freeze half of it in an ice cube tray for next time. After rolling out the dough, I spread the sauce on, then arrange the panful of kale around it (which is especially good if you then sprinkle a whole handful of fresh garlic over it), then arrange the Cuisenart full of veggies over it. I cover the whole thing with cheese (which we buy preshredded in huge bags for really cheap at Costco, so I don’t even have to grate the cheese) and if my husband has been extra good, sometimes I put pepperoni on it too :) This makes a seriously giant pizza, which this photo doesn’t even do justice. My hands are about four inches apart here. I really don’t usually make it covered in giant pepperonis like that, but Paul and our friend Kevin took James to the corner market while I was putting it together and proudly came back with beer and a half pound of salami. So I covered the entire pizza with it :)

We also often eat a lot of vegetables for breakfast. Our normal non-fast day breakfast is scrambled eggs with a ton of diced veggies. I discovered that I really like all the veggies in my eggs as long as they are finely diced. I keep adding more and more veggies to our eggs each time, and now we add so many that the three scrambled eggs (you don’t need a lot of eggs if you’ve got two cups of veggies in there) just barely hold it all together. This morning I did some leftover onion (up to 1/4 of an onion), half a zucchini, about 1/4 of a green pepper, three green onions and a couple handfuls of spinach (it cooks down to nothing). I sprinkle some cheddar cheese on at the end.

I am reading…

The Iliad, still. It’s kind of gory. But it’s kind of funny too. Especially when the warriors make long speeches about how they are going to kill each other before they actually throw the spear.

I am pondering…

“For love does not seek its own, it labors, sweats, watches to build up the brother: nothing is inconvenient to love, and by the help of God it turns the impossible into the possible… Without it, what is the use of prayer? What use are hymns and singing? What is the use of building and adorning churches? What is mortification of the flesh if the neighbor is not loved? Indeed, all are of no consequence… As an animal cannot exist without bodily warmth, so no good deed can be alive without true love; it is only the pretence of a good deed”. -St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

I am listening to…

Our friend Fr. Andrew Damick’s series on Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy. He is giving the talks at his parish up north, but it’s a bit far for us to go, so I’m glad the folks at Ancient Faith Radio are editing them and making them available here. I’ve also been keeping Ancient Faith Radio on pretty much all day while Paul is gone.

On keeping home…

I’m just trying to keep it at the most basic level of cleanliness these days. Having a wrap is the only reason I get anything done (baby James likes to be with his people :)).

One of my favorite things…

Believe or not, having a big pile of clean, soft, folded diapers makes me pretty happy.

A few plans for the rest of the week…

It should be a quiet week. We may have a couple of Paul’s fellow classicists over for dinner. On Saturday James and I will go up to our church for a mini-retreat with our bishop, Bishop Thomas, on “Raising Godly Children.” We will pray the Akathist to the Mother of God, the Nurturer of Children and then hear from Bishop Thomas. Then hopefully we’ll meet Paul to go do something fun until Vespers that night, followed by a dinner at the parish in honor of the bishop’s visit.

James Benedict this week…

James is getting SO big and chubby. Our midwife weighed him when she came over for an appointment a week or so ago, and he was 11 pounds, 8 ounces. I’m sure he’s gained quite a bit since then. He’s such a happy guy and definitely a morning baby! I usually bring him into our bed when we all wake up about 6:30 or so and he smiles and babbles and coos at us. He thinks Papa is particularly funny and Paul can get him pretty close to laughing. He’ll be giggling up a storm any day now.

His new trick is learning to suck his thumb. He can’t always get it in there, but he’s working hard at it!

A picture to share…

I have a feeling this space will be baby pictures for a while still. But isn’t he a handsome guy?