September 2011 – Page 3 – The Creative Salad

About Us, Updated

I finally got around to updating our “about us” page. Here’s what it looks like now:

I write about family life with my husband and three-year old daughter, sharing stories about our homeschooling adventures, love of lifelong learning, cooking healthy and family-friendly food, victory gardening, creative activities and crafty projects, spending time outdoors, and living in a sleepy country town in the heart of Sonoma County’s apple and wine country.

Please follow along as we chronicle family life in Northern California. We thrilled to have you along for the ride!

Felt Dessert Inspiration

I’m planning on sewing our daughter some felt desserts as a holiday present for her play kitchen.

Scouring the web for inspiration, I found an amazing assortment of adorable, pre-made felt food that you can buy! Here are some favorites by the German company Haba.

Should my sewing efforts fail, I’ve got a backup plan.

Featured above:
1. Haba Soft Toys Set of 6 Pieces of Cake
2. Haba Biofino Assorted Ice Cream
3. Haba Soft Petit Fours Set of 9 Dessert Toys
4. Haba Food Assorted Cookies
5. Haba Biofino Petit Fours Set of 4
6. Biofino Sweet Pastries

Sushi Making

I used to make sushi rolls with somewhat irregular and messy results. Then I found this YouTube video and now I roll perfect sushi rolls every time:

In our house, we frequently make avocado sushi rolls, which are easy, quick, and toddler-friendly. Our daughter not only enjoys helping me make them, but she inhales them.

Us grown-ups prefer to diversify our rolls by adding fruit, tofu, smoked fish, or cheese.

Served with miso soup and edamame, you have a simple, healthy meal.

YUM!

Fall Garden and Animal Visitors

We’re had all sorts of animals pop up in our garden over the past three years: turkeys, gophers, frogs, snakes — evidently gopher and garter snakes love our garage, lucky us, and now this snail that we caught helping itself to a drink of water from our hose:

The worst part of what I affectionately call the “snail incident” is that I got sidetracked just after taking this photo so the snail escaped and will continue it’s veggie eating rampage in our garden. Epic Garden Fail.

Speaking of Epic Fails, I’ve spent essentially ZERO time gardening this summer thanks to my sprained ankle. Now that I’m moving around better (hooray!), we’re starting to spend more time outside and more time working in the yard.

I’m floored by how our garden has grown since the Spring:

The tomatoes and strawberry plants are still going strong:

Nevertheless it’s time to add some fall veggies to the mix:

kale and chard.

Our daughter picked out two perennials to add to our front flower bed too:

Euphorbia Gloria and Yarrow.

While the garden has changed dramatically, our view remains constant and utterly lovely:

Love the sight from our porch!

Healthy and Delicious Kale Salad

The grown-ups in our house can’t get enough of this kale salad.

My little helper and I have been making a giant batch each week.

David and I gobble it up and feel incredible the next day. This salad is pure, raw brain food.

Now if only we could get our three-year old to try it.

It’s delicious. Really.

Here are some of the adjustments we make to the original recipe: we half the amount of lemon in the tahini-lemon dressing; omit the tomatoes and bell pepper (because of David’s nightshade allergies), add chickpeas, double the amount of kale, nuts and dried fruit in the salad.

We love the flexibility of the recipe. You really can add whatever veggies and nuts you have in your garden, fridge or cupboard. You can’t go wrong. It’s incredibly tasty and easy (although a bit time consuming) to make. Trust me, you’ll make this salad again and again.

Thanks to our friend Amber for originally introducing us to the recipe! We love it!