my best pizza yet

{RECIPE: Calabrese Pizza with Nectarine, Goat Cheese, Rosemary and Balsamic Reduction}

When it comes down to it, I have cooking-confidence in just two areas: pizza and soups (vegetable soups at that).  Hot damn if I didn't just tonight make my best pizza yet.  Inspiration leapt from the nectarines on my counter, the Calabrese salami heading south in my fridge, the arugula and spinach attempting to bolt in my garden, this recipe and that pizza in Portland.  Seriously people.  I almost never say this about my own cooking (because it's almost never true), but this pizza is damned good.

The Recipe:

I am an Oh-shit-it's-4:00-and-I-wanted-to-make-pizza! kind of gal, so I typically revert to this super easy, relatively fast dough recipe from Smitten.  I double the recipe for two pizzas and use half white, half whole-wheat flour.  I preheat my oven to its lowest setting then extinguish it for a place to raise dough (most of my house is too cool to get enough rising in an hour or so).  I'm sure there are much better dough recipes out there if you're not in a rush.  This one takes just a few minutes before leaving to rise.  

Dough balls
Olive oil
Fresh Rosemary, chopped
Goat cheese
Calabrese salami in thin deli slices and chopped
Mozzarella, grated
Nectarines, thinly sliced (I used two per pizza)
Balsamic vinegar
Spinach
Arugula
Chives, chopped

While dough is rising, simmer Balsamic vinegar in a pan until it is the consistency of warm, runny honey.  Set aside (it will thicken while it cools--if it thickens too much just add water, stir and re-heat).

Preheat oven to highest setting.  (This is key.  I was always afraid I'd bust my baking stone, and went for a safe 425.  Now I know why my dough was always mushy on the bottom.  No more!)

Roll-out (or toss, if you're that awesome) pizza dough and place on baking sheet.  Spread olive oil all over, sprinkle with rosemary, goat cheese, and calabrese.  Lightly cover with grated mozzarella.  Top with thinly sliced nectarines.  Bake about 10 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

Meanwhile, toss together spinach, arugula and a sprinkling of chives with regular balsamic vinegar.

Pull the pizza from oven, drizzle with your balsamic reduction and top with a great heap of the fresh greens.  And then tell me, did you like it?

^I barely caught a photo of this vanishing pizza.  Sorry--food photography is not my forte, even when it *hasn't* been half-eaten.^  

* Pizza is the one meal where I will make a "kid's version" since I'm making two anyway.  Sometimes I want to go out on a limb that I'm pretty sure my kids won't appreciate.  For this pizza, my "kid's version" was the same except I added a thin layer of red sauce over the olive oil and rosemary, I didn't add as much goat cheese (they claim not to like it but I'm working them up), and I cut the nectarine into chunks that looked a little more like pineapple.  Plus, I topped with just the chives and no balsamic reduction.  Served with garden asparagus on the side, they completely devoured this meal.

flash bang boom! and Devil's Tower

Just like that, July goes out with a boom.  I have about four blog posts in my head, and they will likely stay in my head until September.  Oh, summer.  You are like a hyperactive child.  Camping!  Hiking!  Swimming!  Gardening!  Fishing!  Canoeing!  Rafting!  Biking!  Playgrounds!  Playgroups!  County fair!  Art fair!  Concerts!  Farmer's market!  Can I?  Can I?  Can I please?    

No time to think, no time to reflect.  And I really like both of those things.  No wonder I'm partnered with a long winter.

So here I am.  A dinner of cutthroat trout (pulled from the river), garden green beans (with fennel, pickled onion and fried almonds), and a green garden salad sits happily in my belly.

My garden is a green explosion and I keep meaning to write a post about it, but as soon as I'm ready my photos are outdated and the garden has taken on a new personality.  I think it actually changes faster than a toddler.  You start writing down all the first words and the next thing you know, words bolted, phrases are ripe and sentences just coming on.  All from a tiny seed, warm sunshine and glorious water.  It's incredible.            

New favorite way to eat beets (thanks to my mom): roasted, peeled, sliced thin, sprinkled with goat cheese and fresh parsley.  Yum!  Even my beet-hating husband likes it.  (Juniper still prefers her beets to be "clean"--no cheese or parsley.)

:: (More) Summer Snaps.  Are you ready?  I hope I don't crash anyone's e-mail.  (I'm sorry guys, but this is the best I can do in these crazy days.)

: Earlier this month, my family packed our bags, threw the canoe on the truck and drove across the great, empty state of Wyoming, landing near the eastern border at Keyhole state park with a HUGE lake (like, I think we only saw one little finger of it).  Not far from home we passed a grizzly sow with two cubs, no time to stop.  The drive took us all day, we arrived after dark while fireworks erupted over the lake and lightening split the sky in the backdrop.  We met with my dad (for 24 hours), and my cousin's family.  For the first time Juniper and Hazel met the kid whose clothes they wear almost daily.  And for the first time I met my cousin's smart, bouncy, cheery, inquisitive six-year-old who stops only to eat, draw and read.  It was dark and I hadn't seen my cousin in five years, her husband in eleven years, and yet we all hugged dark, hooded figures as though it had been yesterday (hooded because it had been raining).  Right away, young cousin M whisks Juniper away and asks, "Are you three or are you four?"  Juniper slides right into pace with her like a big kid, but turns to me and adoringly asks, "Mama, how old is me?"

The next morning--even before breakfast and morning pees--my kids were swept into my dad's arms and led across the grassy ravine to M's campsite.  And from that point on our campground was a swirl of "fairy princesses" flitting through the ponderosas.  We had brought the fairy wings and cousin M handed-down the pink dress, which Juniper didn't remove for 4 days straight, except to eat ice-cream.  (Oh, the princess phenomena.  I have a post in my head about that one, you know it.)  

  

Juniper copied cousin M's every move.

Let's get things straight here.  Fairy princesses also like to inspect rotting fish on the lake bank.  With grandpa.  
        

Fairy princesses try out the front-porch swing of a "bear's den."

Meanwhile, Hazel Iris--true to form--fell out of the camper-trailer and rolled down the sharp metal steps pretty much first-thing.  In subsequent days and weeks, she would cut, scrape and bump that exact spot 3 more times.  The other day, my man noticed she has a chipped front tooth.  She's only had front teeth for a few months.  This kid, I tell you.

How cool is it that grandpa still motorcycle-camps?  

  

We hiked around nearby Devil's Tower, (or Bear's Tipi, or Bear's Lodge).  We talked a lot about the bear who made the claw marks in the rock and the sisters who escaped (there are many versions of this legend).  We saw rock climbers and talked to them about their gear.  Most of the time Juniper was whining about the wind, but let's not talk about that now (actually, it's getting better--or less windy, hard to tell).  

^Native American prayer bundle.^

^Juniper, cousin M and her dad.^

^Cousin M and her dad, me and Juniper, my cousin A.  Sorry about all the confusing initials but I forget to get permission and, well, people of my generation are skeptical about internet anonymity.  You understand.^

Hazel, our climber.  The thing is, she's so good at it.  Then, when you're least expecting it, she falls.  Not here though.  She was as nimble as a mountain goat.    

Ice-cream cones afterwards.  

And chase in the grass. 

A day-time visit back to the bench where we had watched the fireworks and lightening storm that first night.  

Relaxing days in camp topped with canoeing and warm-water fishing (walleye!).  

Lake swimming.  They are just getting their feet wet here; they actually did swim, but I stayed on the beach with Hazel who isn't a fan of anything cooler than bathwater.    

Did I mention my cousins drove from Ohio?  And my dad from the northwestern coast of Washington?  My family is literally spread east to west, north to south.  Right now, (I wrote most of this a few days ago) I am with my mom in a hotel in Cheyenne, visiting *more* relatives I haven't seen for a decade.  I declare: no more!  We need to start wrangling reunions.    

I had intended to shove all of July's snaps into this post, but I won't torture you.  So goodnight folks.  I'll hit publish and start the next one.  

better than chicken noodle

It seems like everyone I know is either just getting it, just getting over it, or right smack in the middle of it.  Cold, stomach flu, strep, croup, you name it.  We had it last week and are mostly over it, except Hazel who just takes everything so much harder than the rest of our family.  She continues to have bouts of coughing and puking between the hours of 1:00am and 3:00am.  She is only puking because she coughs so hard.  It is heartbreaking and our bed smells like sour milk.  Anyway.

My man has taken over most of the asian-style cooking in our home and he found a recipe that is like a fairy godmother when you're under the weather.  This is a Thai chicken and rice soup and it is so loaded with garlic and ginger it blows chicken noodle out of the water (or in this case, the soup bowl).  The trick lies in waiting until serving to combine most of the ingredients.  No home should be without this recipe.  

Sizzling garlic in oil.

Adapted from Quick and Easy Thai:

Kao Tome Gai (rice soup with chicken, cilantro and crispy garlic):

2 cups dry brown rice (measure, then cook)
1/2 pound diced chicken breast (or other meat--we'll try wild turkey next)
4 tablespoons coarsely chopped garlic (or 4 very large cloves)
1/3 cup oil (we use olive oil, but veggie oil would probs be more authentic)
6-8 cups soup stock (depending on how brothy you like your soups)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
6 green onions thinly sliced
handful of fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
ground black pepper (optional)

*While rice is cooking, heat oil and garlic until garlic just begins to get gold and crispy; pour into heatproof container and set aside.
*Bring soup stock to a boil over medium-high, add pre-cooked rice, return to boil, add chicken and fish sauce, simmer 3-4 minutes or until meat is cooked.
*Ladle hot soup into serving bowls, top with oil and garlic mixture, ginger, green onions, cilantro and black pepper.  Just before serving, stir well.

YUM!  This will hit the spot.  

^If there is one art I am quite bad at, it's the art of photographing food.  Sorry about that.^      

^What your kids will do after eating Kao Tome Gai.^

Easter spring

When we left for southeastern Utah it was still winter; the snow was three feet deep and beginning to crest the top rail of our fence.  As of yesterday--except for the tall, snowblower piles and north-facing hold-outs--our snow is gone.  Gone.  I love seasons.  I love the rhythm of change and excitement that each season holds.  I love slow, dark, winter hugs and I love bright, neon-green hope.  Spring.  I love the blank slate.  The expectation.  The frenzy.  After hunching over a new baby all winter, we are now both bigger and stronger.  She holds her head up on her own and I am able to unfurl my body, lengthen my spine, broaden my stride and reach for the sun.  Spring.  

Morning light shifts into our house at new angles, making Hazel flinch.  Evening light smacks us at the dinner table.  Fresh, warm air wafts through our open windows.  The caramel-cream rumps of elk dot the hillside behind our house.  Robins sing on fenceposts.  Magpies are nesting in a tree outside our bedroom window.  Pine siskins flit about our yard.  We have dirt!  And worms!  We bring in clumps of mud on our boots.  Days are measured by how much time Hazel lets me work in the "garden", scratching in our future.  

(I know!  These photos seem so outdated now, what with all the snow.  But really, they're all from the last week, it melted that fast.)

Hazel really doesn't last long on the play mat.  Mostly, she sleeps on my chest while I dig, snoozing to the swaying rhythm of spring with each step on the garden fork.

Juniper adores worms, or "wormers".  She impatiently waits for me to turn over a new dirt pile, finds the worms then sings, "Happy birthday to wormer..." and tucks them back into the ground, sprinkling them with soil so they don't get cold.  The other day she announced that she wanted to sleep with the wormers.  

I am antsy to plant seeds, but at least I'm digging.  Is it no coincidence that my two favorite holidays--Easter and Thanksgiving--bookend the growing season?  

:: When Juniper was just a wee babe, I wrote about how much I looked forward to the ritual of Easter with my kids.  Not so much the resurrection-of-Christ Easter (because, really, I wasn't raised in that tradition), but the one that came before.  The primal Easter, the one with eggs and bunnies and electric neon shoots of life.  This year, I feel like we're laying a true foundation for our own family traditions.  Juniper is old enough to know, to get excited, to remember.  This year, we started the tradition of egg-dying with plants.  We met up with friends and while it was mostly mamas in the kitchen, the kids would make the rounds, swirl our legs and check our progress.    

*Each dye bath was made with 1 quart water, 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1 tablespoon salt, and a vegetable, fruit or spice.  Beets gave us pink.  Tumeric gave us gold.  Red cabbage gave us gorgeous shades of blue, depending on how long it soaked.  Canned cherries gave us peach.  Spinach and parsley didn't do jack, but we got a sumptuous woodsy green by combining canned blueberries and tumeric.  

^Canned cherries made peach.^

There are so many aspects of life I want to add to our rituals and traditions.  I'd like to find books and stories that match our own feelings for this holiday.  Suggestions? 

 ^In the name of Spring, we've been indulging in the last bottles of our 2010 Dandelion wine.  This here is "Dandy B" which is Gretchen-code for one-quarter the amount of sugar as the original recipe and, dang, is it good.  Not too sweet, just perfect.  Even my mom would like it.^ 

:: In other news, our little strawberry blond is growing like a spring shoot.  I made her booties to match the season and her new size.  

An appetizer of Hazel faces:

And my personal favorite photo of Hazel Iris to date (because those fists fly to her mouth like a shark to bait):

:: On chilly days (it seems so long ago...was it really just last week?), we stomped in mud puddles and drank hot coco.  (Mud puddles have been dried up for the last few days--but I hear rain tonight.)      

:: And oh, yes.  In our family spring shows up with a birthday.  

Happy Birthday to my man.  He is so much to me: husband, father--damn good father--hardworking, funny, positive, a hard shell with a soft core.  Love that guy.   

making it

"I draw a buffalo.  And a moon.  They're dancing together."

I have been enjoying the aesthetic beauty of unabashed toddler creations.  Lately we have been making, and making it--this life with two kids.  We weave inside and out and I loudly congratulate myself when the out happens without fanfare.

^Hazel under my coat, as per usual.^    

Making: cooking.

Getting out: 

Making: painting & drawing.

 ^Contributions from dad on this one.^

Getting out:

Around the time I was over in Idaho pushing a baby out of my body, Juniper's imagination took hold and by the time we returned, she was regularly serving up sandwiches, milkshakes, cupcakes and salsa and carefully laying out elaborate picnics.  This was the start of her pretend play.  It's super fun (and goes to show how dumbed-down we become as adults).  Well, now days, we go fishing.  We catch the fish, bake the fish, fry the fish and--most importantly--eat the fish.  On this day, Juniper picked up a flake of snow and proclaimed: "I caught a fish!"  And thus began our post-lunch walk.  

^Carefully carrying the fish to the oven.  Not so carefully eating the fish.^

Making: crafting with seemingly useless stuff:
Borrowing the idea from this blog, I saved all the pine needles that had fallen off our Christmas tree for a "rainy day" (re: too damned cold to take a newborn outside) project.  We just mixed pine needles and glue together, formed it over a bowl covered in plastic wrap and let it dry.  Ta da!  We made a nest.  Only thing was...I didn't have any non-toxic, kid-friendly glue.  So, we made some.

It was ridiculously easy.  And edible too!

EDIBLE HOMEMADE GLUE:
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups water
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vinegar
Combine flour and sugar in a saucepan, add half the water and mix until it's clump-free, add second half of water and mix until smooth, add vinegar and cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until a thick paste forms.  Supposedly, you can let it cool, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for several months.  But we used the whole thing, warm,  with our pine needles.

I probably either should have let the glue cool first or taken our nest off the bowl before it was completely dry, because now we have a cute little pine needle nest with just a touch of mold in the center.  But I think I can fix it up with more glue and some sparkly bling.  I'll keep you posted.

:: In the meantime, this mama's been in a making kind of mood, sneaking it in when I can: naps, car ride, late nights.  My first needle-felting project:

  (What?  It's an egg.  You know, for the nest.)

Also, finished those booties for my preggo friend.  I'm kind of on a bootie kick and I know five pregnant women right now.  Hmmmm.

  Made a knit-felted bowl for Juniper.  Right now, she's using it to store her crayon rocks.

Prior to this bowl, rock crayons inevitably ended up in pockets:

Getting out:

 ^Juniper nearly always removes her mittens and has thus perfected the art of falling without sinking delicate flesh into icy cold.^

Juniper pooped while on one of our walks the other day.  This is unusual.  She usually doesn't poop while playing outside.  We talked about it a lot and began to make our way back home for the diaper change.  We passed a pile of dog turds and I *tried*, really I did, to steer J bug away from it because I knew what was about to happen:  "POOP!!"  Yeah, that's dog poop.  "HI DOG POOP!!!  Mommy, you wanna wave to the dog poop?"  Oh, toddlers are so fun.  Yes, my friends, this is how you find yourself waving "hi" to dog shit on a Sunday afternoon.

:: "Where'd Hazel doe, mom?"  Maybe you're wondering the same thing.  Well, sometimes, at the start of a walk, Hazel looks (and sounds) like this:

But after a few minutes, she snuggles in and sleeps soundly next to my heart.

And while Juniper and I are busy making, Hazel works to strengthen her little neck:

^My step-mom made this playmat/quilt for Hazel.  If you think this side is cool, wait 'til I show you the other side.^  

We always joke how Hazel "suffers in silence."  I might find her--even in my own lap--flailing her arms all around, eyes wide and stricken, face scrunched and mouth wide open as though she's absolutely wailing...except she's perfectly silent.  Really, this girl doesn't like to make a fuss unless she has to.  

^Junebug loves entertaining her sister.^

And sometimes, when Juniper naps, I get Hazel Iris all to myself.

^That baby bottle is evidence of a (so far) failing mission.  Despite almost daily efforts for over a month, it seems our girls are nipple-snobs: they won't settle for less than the real McCoy.  We gave up with Juniper early on.  But not this time, I'm sticking to it.  I want to go to book club and knitting group and have some one-on-one with my firstborn, without worry or fuss.  Keeping my fingers crossed.^    

:: Random note to my future self; a little tidbit I want to remember because it's happening less and less: For a long time now, Juniper has had her own version of Tourettes syndrome.  When she is tired and mad, she'll start spewing out words:  "OTAY HERE WE GO NO JUST LEAVE IT ON I SLEEP RIGHT HERE HAPPY BIRTHDAY CUPCAKE."  Then she falls to the floor.   

:: Goodness.  It really is a 2012 goal of mine to keep these damned things shorter.  Thanks for hanging in here.