Buffalo Mozzarella, Balsamic Glazed Plums, Pine Nuts & Mint

Another amazing, fabulous, winner of a recipe from Food52.com.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="694" caption="Buffalo Mozzarella with Balsamic Glazed Plums, Pine Nuts and Mint "][/caption]
I made a version of this appetizer to take to my friend's dinner party last night. It wasn't really a party, just two couples and three kids, but it always feels like a party when we see them. How can you beat good company, happy kids and free flowing wine?

I didn't have pine nuts so I used pistachios. We didn't have buffalo mozzarella so I used fresh. Then I didn't use a well sealed bowl to carry it in the car so I wore the smell of balsamic vinegar all evening. I would suggest avoiding that.

This was a smash success. Super easy, too. I'm thinking about putting the whole thing over pasta as a main course. Think?

Line Diet, First Week

Okay, before we start let me just say that I KNOW I'm not fat. I've really wrestled with posting this because I'm sure I'm going to piss some people off. I WAS 160 lbs but I lost most of that 2.5 years ago. This is about those last few pounds that will NOT go away. This is about being in my forties and wishing for my twenties body. This is about a post baby body and the cute, pre-baby wardrobe in boxes, still waiting for me. Anyway, this week ends in defeat.

Friday, September 24 - 126 lbs - Didn't think to take a screen shot.

Saturday, September 25 - 123 lbs
[caption id="attachment_249" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="September 25"][/caption]

I'm only trying to lose about 8 lbs, the last of the baby weight. I was a skinny girl and even though I'm 44 years old, I'd like to fit into my old jeans. But seriously, the goal eludes me. I've seen drops like this a zillion times. Tomorrow or the next day I'll be 126 again. It's like a magnet. Or a Twilight Zone episode.

Sunday, Sept 26 - 124 lbs
Didn't juice yesterday. It shows.
[caption id="attachment_253" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="September 26"][/caption]

Monday, Sept 27 - 124 lbs
Juiced yesterday, did pretty well and had a fabulous dinner but ate too much of it. I'm guessing I'll be lighter tomorrow if I'm careful today.
[caption id="attachment_260" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="September 27"][/caption]

Tuesday, Sept 28 - 123 lbs
Ate well yesterday. Juiced until noon then mostly had left overs from the Farro with Roasted Butternut Squash dinner I made the other night. Unfortunately, I'm out of good produce so there won't be juice today. So sad there's only three weeks left at the Farmers Market! Here's my weigh-in:
[caption id="attachment_287" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Sept 28"][/caption]

Wednesday, Sept 29 - 124 lbs
Ugh. I feel lighter but the scale does not lie. I meant to juice all day today but Coco and I slept in until 9 am (don't be a hater!) and somehow, even though class (Adventures in Storytelling) doesn't start until 12:30, we ended up rushing around trying to get out of the house on time. Oh, and it turns out there's a candy store RIGHT NEXT DOOR to the school. Very evil clever, those candy sales people.
[caption id="attachment_298" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Sept 29"][/caption]

September 30 - 125
I am officially over the line.
[caption id="attachment_314" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="September 30 Screen Shot"][/caption]
What did I say last week? It's like a Twilight Zone episode. Except that by logging my weight daily, I am forced to accept the truth. I made NO effort to lose weight this week. I only made juice two days out of seven (well today is still possible!) I had a glass of wine most evenings. There was candy involved. Last night was a friend's birthday and there was MUCH wine and PIZZA involved. So I can't feel betrayed by my body. Pretty much the other way around if I'm being honest.

I'm going to call this a learning week. The question is, do I need to reset the goal? What would I have to weigh tomorrow to be back on track? Sigh.

I Have to Share: ZipList.com

Do you ZipClip? It's a function of ZipList.com and it's awesome. ZipList is an online recipe clipping service that puts all the ingredients into a database so when you're menu planning, you just click on the various recipes in your recipe box and a shopping list is automatically generated. Did I mention it's free?
[caption id="attachment_305" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Recipe Screen Shot from Ziplist.com"][/caption]

ZipClip is a little button you put on your menu bar. Whenever you come across a recipe you love, click the button and viola, ZipClick sucks up the ingredients list, photo and URL into your own private database.
[caption id="attachment_308" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="ZipClip Screen Shot"][/caption]

I'm not saying it couldn't be better - the software needs work. But even as is, ZipList has revolutionized menu planning and grocery shopping in the Fitch home. If anyone knows of a better online recipe clipping service, let me know!

Corduroy Peasant Top and Dancing with the Stars

Well the "star" in this case is the Cat in the Hat. Coco hates getting her photo taken but I bribed her with an episode on PBS. She broke into song and started dancing. "Here we go go go go on and Adventure!"
[gallery]

So viola! The the new peasant top in corduroy. This will go really well over a turtleneck sweater when it gets colder. I love the colors and with the fine wale, it was surprisingly easy to work with. The last time I tried corduroy was when I first got my sewing machine and had NO idea what I was doing. I purchased a thick wide wale corduroy skirt at a thrift shop with the plan to upcycle it into a cute dress for Coco.

Well it was awful to cut and worse to sew. I was getting the fluff out of my hair and off the floor for days. And forget about getting the needle through several layers at the hem. It was easier to get the needle though my thumb (which I did.)

Coco took one look at the finished project and started crying. The little rat critic was only 2.5 years old...

By the way, I only used half a yard of Patty Young for Michael Miller. With a size T3 it was tight - some of the selvage made it into the seams but I have improved my skills to the point that all the seams are enclosed so that you would never know. Next time I'll buy a full yard and make a skirt with the left overs!

Linking up to:

Farro with Roasted Butternut Squash

Do you know about 101CookBooks.com? Heidi writes and photographs beautifully - she's got a great eye and great taste. All the recipes I've tried have been delicious . I definitely can't say that about Martha Stewart.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="654" caption="Farro with Roasted Butternut Squash"][/caption]

Last night we had Farro and Roasted Butternut Squash. The balsamic vinegar and fresh thyme mixed beautifully with the roasted squash and onions. One thought, though. The recipe did not call for soaking the farro so I didn't. It tasted lovely but I thought the consistency wasn't quite right. Next time I'll give it a soak for twenty minutes and see if that helps.

Halloween Skirt... or Pirate Skirt, I guess

So today was our first day of Children's Theater (yet ANOTHER drop off class. Who knew and why didn't anyone tell me this??) Coco proudly sashayed in wearing her new Halloween skirt covered in scary skulls and was promptly told by the one boy in the class, "You're a pirate."
[caption id="attachment_226" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Halloween Skirt"][/caption]
"No I'm not, I'm scary!" she replied. "Pirates are scary" the sweet boy explained as he wandered away. "WELL I'M A HOLLAWEENIE!" she yelled after him. Yes you are, my love.

The inspiration was the Lazy Days Skirt, of course, but the hem is my own strategy. Next time I'll take photos while I'm putting it together. And there will be a next time, never fear. I'm basically a two hit wonder at this point. I can do a peasant shirt and an elastic skirt and I plan on doing both until my kid gets a job and starts buying her own clothes. Or until I take another sewing class. Magic Eight Ball says, "Cannot predict now."

I'm linking up to:

The Line Diet or Steve Ward Diet or Easiest Diet Ever...

[caption id="attachment_218" align="alignnone" width="534" caption="The Line Diet"][/caption]
Nicole at Make it Lovely has this great 30 Before 30 list that I'm way too old to join in on but I did crib a fantastic idea she cribbed from the internet. It's called the Steve Ward Diet which basically is just a simple graph where you plot your desired weight loss by date. On days when you're above the line you eat nothing but broccoli or lean fish or if you're me, you drink fresh veggie juices all day. On days when you're below the plot line, you eat as you wish.

Nicole's chart is here and the original post is here. My contribution to the conversation (besides potential public diet failure) is the awesome online chart I found here. This lovely thing does all the work for you. Did I mention it's free?

And here's another contribution: a juice recipe that will keep you going.

One large cucumber, whole
One zucchini whole
Two small apples whole (if they'll fit through the mouth of your juicer)
One lime (sloppily cut off the peel)
Two handfuls of spinach
One small red pepper (deseeded)
One stalk celery
Quarter avocado (peeled)

Put everything except the avocado into the juicer. Soft stuff like spinach will juice better if you sandwich it between the apples. Pour juice into blender, add avocado and a handful of ice. Blend, drink a full glass immediately and put the rest in a sealed container. Drink in three hours.

That should get you through til lunch. On fatty days I'll repeat three more times throughout the day. You'll pee a lot but you feel pretty great. Let me know if you want more recipes. I'll probably post more anyway but I can get more specific if you tell me what you like.

First Dance Class, First Comments

[caption id="attachment_210" align="alignnone" width="556" caption="Ballet Class"][/caption]My daughter had her first dance class of the season today - new tap AND ballet shoe purchases necessary. I'm not complaining, I love to shop. Even better, Target doesn't carry tap shoes so I got to branch out and hit up a real shoe store (!!) Did I mention a brand new Target just opened TWO BLOCKS AWAY? Three aisles of dollar bins. I KNOW!

So the good news is that it's a drop off class, her first ever. The BAD news is that it's a drop off class - MY first ever. I only got to take one stinking photo before we got kicked out. I did have the grace to hug and thank the teacher for her sacrifice but as the door closed I felt... bereft? Deflated? Where are the tears, child? Where's the "I WANT MY MOMMY!"?

Nothing but giggles and joyous screeches in that room with no windows to the hall where we moms sat, chatting and wondering what we were supposed to do for an hour alone in a hallway without windows...

In other news, came to home to find ...Wow! I posted the Halloween Peasant Top to a few link parties and got loads of visitors. If you're coming back, please stop by the comment section and join Bella and Toni in saying hello! I can't tell you how exciting it is to get an email telling me there's a comment in my queue. In the meantime, I'm working on a new Halloween skirt. Tonight, maybe, after our evening art class and dinner. It's hard to imagine cooking right now. It's 85 degrees out at 5 pm and I'm still STUFFING myself on left overs from the Spiced Bulgar, Chickpea and Squash Salad I made two days ago. Seriously, try it.

The Halloween Peasant Top and Spiced Bulgar, Chickpea and Squash Salad

Today is the first day of fall classes with my three year old, otherwise known (at least for this day) as the demon. We've got art, tap / ballet, gymnastics, children't theater and "Adventures in Storytelling" which I think is another theater class. Coco is a very social child but I didn't want to send her to preschool yet so we're taking lots of classes together. Art is tough because I want to play, too! I have to sit on my hands a lot. Today we played with air drying clay and it was just impossible not to dig in but the demon wasn't having it. She took great joy in destroying everything I touched. Makes a mommy rrreally look forward to quiet time!

So I've decided that mid September is not too early to get our Halloween crafting and decorating on. Am I wrong? Never mind that I made Coco's Halloween peasant top back in August(!!) This is the first time she wore it.


Can you see the little ghosts and gravestones? The sleeves are spiderwebs! I have a ton left of both and I don't know what to do with it. I'm thinking skirts for my "someday" Etsy shop...

This isn't the first peasant top, I've made. I can't help myself, these are so much fun! I just picked up some corduroy I want to try next.

[caption id="attachment_188" align="alignnone" width="1024" caption="Patty Young for Michael Miller"][/caption]

I've only ever worked with light cotton so it should be interesting. I'll gladly take any tips!

Finally, gotta post about dinner last night. This is from a BBC cooking mag called Good Food.

[caption id="attachment_189" align="alignnone" width="440" caption="Spiced bulghar, chickpea & squash salad"][/caption]

This tasted just like Fall. For the Americans, instead of Harissa paste, you can you Siracha sauce (the red Asian sauce with the rooster on it!) Also, 140 grams of bulgar wheat equals a cup and I used two cups of hot broth. I added lemon zest to the yogurt. Any Greek style yogurt will work. I didn't have any spinach handy so I skipped it. This really was beyond easy!

Lazy Days, Slumber Parties and Fancy Nancy

Coco attended her first slumber party and we couldn't be more thrilled with the results. She had a great time, the hosting mom had a blast and has invited her back "any time" and most importantly, Stephane and I had a date night! We climbed the wall at the gym, used a groupon at a new local sushi place and we were even able to sleep in the next morning. Heaven, I tell you.

Oh yes, I've also been sewing. This has been no easy feat since Coco has given up all naps but I am occasionally able to talk her into some quiet time. Good thing the Lazy Days Skirt is so easy! The Strawberry Shortcake skirt was my first attempt and I really didn't get the hem instructions so I had to make up my own. See?



Coco loves it so I call it a success. I also made her a cute little matching drawstring bag from a fab tutorial at Crafty Gemini. If you're learning to sew, you have to visit Crafty Gemini. She does loads of video tutorials that are fantastic for people who learn visually, like me.

[caption id="attachment_160" align="alignnone" width="909" caption="Drawstring bag"][/caption]

Next up was this gorgeous fabric from Philip Jacobs called Daffodils and Dogwood. This was a remnant from a little fabric shop in Healdsburg, Calif. I wish there had been enough to make ME a skirt! By the way, this is how the hem is supposed to look.

[caption id="attachment_163" align="alignnone" width="768" caption="Lazy Days Skirt #2"][/caption]

And, last but soooo not least, the Fancy Nancy skirts I made last night as gifts for a princess themed birthday party we're attending tomorrow. They're for twins, turing five. I also made them matching drawstring bags filled with Fancy Nancy journals and stickers from the dollar bin at Target.

Of course, I had to make a prototype one for Coco. She's nuts for Fancy Nancy and secretly, so am I!

[caption id="attachment_172" align="alignnone" width="643" caption="Fancy Nancy Skirt"][/caption]

Still working on the Halloween costume.

Ohhh and I'm linking up Fireflies and Jellybeans Show Your Stuff Link Party. I learn so much from this blog and their many, many tutorials.

Halloween Costume in Progress

[caption id="attachment_141" align="alignnone" width="1024" caption="Bits and pieces..."][/caption]

Busy little monkeys

What a week! Have done a bunch of sewing but I won't show you the projects until next month when they are theme appropriate. Started another gorgeous little skirt but don't have the right thread to finish it. Bought fabric and bling for Coco's Halloween costume but only have a vague idea of how it will come together.

We went Raspberry picking in Wisconsin. I once lived in the French Alps and we used to drive to Geneva just to pick up Swiss chocolate. And I lived in Los Angeles where we'd make a quick trip down to Mexico for wrought iron candle holders and cheap tequila. So why do I find it so weird that here in Chicago, my husband goes winter surfing in Indiana and I just hop over to Wisconsin to pick some fruit??



I've been sorting through a stack of cooking magazines (food porn) and we've been trying out some new recipes. Tuesday night we had a Quinoa Salad with chickpeas, cranberries, sultanas, mint and almonds. Delicious but obey the recipe, this is meant to be eaten cold.

Wednesday night we had Fish Tacos that made me long for one of those quick trips to Mexico. I want to put the dressing on everything but I'm still just on juices until dinner so it's languishing in the refrigerator

Last night we had this but I tossed it over pasta.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Mozzarella with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes"][/caption]

SO yummy but I won't lie. This was NOT low fat.

Meanwhile we're waiting for this to dry. Can you tell what it is?

Summer Couscous with Halloumi Cheese

Maybe it's the heat or my recent detox but I feel like Coco has lost her mind lately.  She's gotten so tough to be around.  Everything is an argument. EVERY time I ask her to do something she responds with, "Why should I?" Would it be wrong to answer "because I'm going to smack you six ways from Sunday if you don't!"??

Is three really the new thirteen?

I posted on the subject to my mommy group and got some great responses, ranging from "yep, totally normal three year old behavior" to "HAH you ain't seen nothing til you've seen four!"  Some of the moms of babies commented that our stories left them reeling between tears of laughter and pangs of fear.  So very much for all of us to look forward to!

So, to celebrate surviving this day (all three of us!) we are having a favorite dinner,  just the two of us, and watching Inglorious Basterds on cable.  Going big, yeah.  That's how we roll.

Summer Couscous with Halloumi Cheese

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="440" caption="Summer Couscous Salad"][/caption]

Go get the recipe.  This is seriously awesome. And use Israeli couscous instead of the normal stuff. It is ten times better. I promise!

Food, Glorious Food!

It's so good to be eating solid food again.  My juices are super healthy and delicious but there is nothing so nice as the flavors of, well, pretty much anything after a week of juicing.  Last night we had the same beet salad I wrote about earlier, because it's easy and yummy and I really craved feta cheese.  Today for lunch I made the worlds best gazpacho, if I do say so myself.  At least it's MY all time favorite.  Let me know if you want the recipe.

Tonight we are going big with Food52.com's amazing Farro Salad with Roasted Mushrooms and Parmesan.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="584" caption="Farro Salad with Roasted Mushrooms and Parmesan"][/caption]

This dish is to die for.  And so easy!  It could be a side dish but I'm making it as an entree.  You have to check out the Food52 website.  Today they feature a recipe for homemade Sriracha.  HOME.MADE.SRIRACHA.  I'm literally salivating as I type.

As soon as I have 15 minutes I'm going to try to sew a pillowcase style dress for Coco.  It would be a lot easier if she would nap!