adora mama

2 recipes

2010-05-10T20:51:00.000-07:00

I feel lame posting without a picture, so he's a lovely picture of some grass :)
I just typed these out for my madre, so I figured I would share with others who might be interested.

Orange Chicken

ingredients:
2-4 chicken breasts, diced in 1" cubes. easiest to do this when half frozen still
2 cups waterjuice of one large lemon
1/3 cup sushi or other white vinegar
2-3 Tb soy sauce
1/3 cup dried orange peel
1/2 tsp diced garlic
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tb honeychunky chile sauce (optional)
corn starch

Put all ingredients except chicken and corn starch in sauce pan, simmer until reduced to taste

while the sauce is reducing, heat 1" oil in deep saute pan, toss diced chicken in a gallon ziplock bag with cornstarch until well coated. fry in batches, until golden and cooked through. drain on paper towels and bag.

mix 3 Tb cornstarch with 2 Tb water until smooth, and add to the sauce, stir frequently until thickened. toss chicken with sauce and serve with steamed rice and steamed broccoli

Egg/wheat free chicken strips

ingredients:
2 chicken breasts cut in to very thin strips
2 cups corn meal
1-2 Tb dried dill or as much fresh as you want :)
1/2-1 tsp sea salt
fresh cracked white pepper
garlic powder to taste
1/3 cup grated parmesean
greek yogurt

mix all dry ingredients in a pie/cake pan
mix chicken and yogurt in separate bowl
heat oil in large saute pan
dredge yogurt coated chicken through cornmeal mix
fry until golden brown, turning a few times.

orange fennel salad

2010-04-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

tonight's salad course proved to be a hit with us adults, and a moderate hit with the littles (who are not normally fans of salad). so, here i am to share it with whoever might read this. it was super simple

first make your candied almond slices: melt butter in small sautee pan, add brown sugar and powdered mustard and ground cardamom, let that melt and bubble for a while then toss in your almonds and stir till coated, then pour onto parchment in a thin layer to cool

cut up your romaine lettuce
add fresh fennel bulb thinly sliced
peel 3 clementines and cut each segment in half
toss these together in a large bowl

make the dressing in blender/food processor
squeeze one large lemon and one clementine into the bowl
2 Tb seasoned sushi vinegar
2 Tb golden balsamic
a good squeeze of honey
if it's a little strong add a little water to taste
turn it on and slowly add your olive oil. i admittedly didn't measure this, but i don't use much oil in my dressings, so probably 1/4 cup
add a little dressing to the bowl and toss to coat

put into individual bowls and top with soft goat cheese and the almonds and the extra dressing is for those like ME who love lots of dressing :)

goat cheese meatballs with red wine reduction

2010-02-21T17:28:00.000-08:00

Tonight's dinner was such a hit, and turned out so well, I decided to share it :)
I had a pound of ground beef that needed to be used, and a super picky girl who, for some reason, will eat almost anything if I add goat cheese to it. So I looked around for a recipe and came up with nothing. As a recovering vegetarian, not only do I not like to eat beef too much in a really meaty form, I also am at a loss when deciding how to cook it beyond tacos or chili. I also can't eat eggs, unless I feel like having knife-like pains in my stomach for a few hours. I found two recipes in Fanny Farmer, the meat loaf and the Salisbury Steak, and decided to use the moistened bread from the steak recipe and the idea about using a muffin tin from the meat loaf and then just made up the rest myself. I'm calling them meatballs, even though there isn't any eggs, because, well, that's the shape they ended up in after coming out of the muffin tin. These were melt in your mouth tender, and the before mentioned picky girl ate every last bite; even better, I enjoyed eating them.

disclaimer: I didn't measure a thing while making this, I am guessing as to about how much I used. use common sense and your own tastes as a guide for cooking these :) and I'm also terrible at writing recipes, so i hope this is comprehensible

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
4 Tb butter (yes, real butter)
olive oil
1 medium shallot minced
2 Tb minced garlic
2 Tsp (or more to taste) dried Thyme
1/2 cup (or more to taste) crumbled goat cheese
1/2 cup milk
2 slices hearty wheat bread
1/4- 1 cup broth/bouillon (i made a reduced turkey stock at thanksgiving and froze it in an ice cube tray, I used 3 cubes and 1/2 cup of water to make a broth)
1/2 cup red wine
salt to taste
3 Tb corn starch

preheat oven to 400F
In large mixing bowl, pour the milk over your bread and let sit

in medium saute pan melt the butter and add enough olive oil to coat the pan. when the butter is sizzling, add the shallots and garlic and a pinch of salt. saute until they start to brown and add the thyme.

crumble the moistened bread and mix in the beef with your hands until uniform in texture.

continue to stir your saute pan frequently until the shallots are clear and the garlic and the shallots are both nicely browned.

turn off heat, and add 3/4 of the saute mixture to your large bowl and mix in well. leave the rest of the saute mixture in your pan.

add your goat cheese to the large bowl and fold in, keeping larger chunks as much as possible.

divide the beef mixture into 12 evenly sized balls and push into a muffin tin.

bake for 20-25 minutes at 400F until slightly browned and cooked through.

while they are baking, start your sauce.
reheat the saute pan, with 1/4 of your shallot mixture in it, add your broth and wine and let reduce by half. mix your cornstarch with cold water and add to the simmering saute pan. stir until thickened and remove from heat.

spoon sauce over meat balls to serve.
enjoy! :)

guess the artist

2009-11-10T19:54:00.000-08:00

the kids painted today, and as always, i love how you can see their different personalities coming through in their artwork!

recreating the beach

2009-10-29T04:48:00.000-07:00

i haven't gotten all of the pictures from our vacation off of austin's laptop yet, but i do have some. this is just one of the 800 or so i need to look through eventually. lyra absolutely adored the ocean, and to my surprise didn't actually eat much of the sand.
despite half of our days being rainy and cold, and the unexpected few days of coughing, burning eyes and onslaught of dead fish (courtesy of the red tide), we had a wonderful time. sitting on the beach, my toes buried in the warm sand, watching my children play for hours, never getting bored, listening to the waves crash endlessly, i felt such calm and peace. with 3 little ones and a frequently out of town husband i tend to get overwhelmed and over stressed easily. i haven't reached that level of calm in a long time.

since coming home i've tried to think about the things that made life so much more peaceful there, and find small ways to bring it back.
one- less internet time. i really don't need to care what everyone else in the world is doing all the time. my kids are here, they're amazing and need me now.
two- less STUFF. the simplicity of the beach house kept a state of calm i want to recreate. i have begun to purge excess toys and junk. i was able to keep the beach house clean and organized, and it never felt like the mild hum of chaos that our lives here inevitably turn in to. i have to fight my own overwhelming desire for more and more stuff though. i am always fighting with two strong desires within myself. one, a life of self sustained simplicity, and the other for things- pretty things, shiny things, things i didn't get growing up. my goal is to find a way to live in harmony with a few nice things and lessen my desire for more. and i really hope i can help instill this in my children as i learn it myself.
three- less obligations and wasted time, time spent running around, filling our days with stuff that doesn't matter. doing more by doing less. just going outside and chilling, exploring and relaxing, versus planned activities that entail me loading up three kids, getting frustrated, griping because we're late. i'm tired of getting frustrated and angry at my babies, about stuff that in the end doesn't matter.

i am by nature, NOT an organized person. but i also shut down in chaos. so, in order for me to keep my house clean, and keep up with the children and their needs, and still be the kind of person and mother i want to be, i need to simplify. i need to recreate the beach, here at home.

summer's bounty

2009-07-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

i am so thrilled that we finally have a freezer and a vaccuum sealer! i spent yesterday washing, cutting, freezing and sealing up ripe fruits for the winter. it makes so much more sense (ecologically and economically) to get things in season and save them, rather than pay higher prices for fruit to be shipped halfway across the world during the winter here. so far i've done strawberries, blueberries, peaches and raspberries. next in line are 8 mangos. they're not quite ripe enough yet.

my first photoshoot!

2009-07-13T21:19:00.000-07:00

i think everyone knows how much i love to capture just about every moment of my own family's lives with my camera, but i had the chance today to take portraits for a friend. it was a challenge, but so much fun and i hope she and her family and happy with the results. the full photoshoot can be seen on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/23644519@N02/sets/72157621264255195/

isn't she beautiful?

and her children are simply gorgeous!

fun photo session with the kids

2009-05-30T17:57:00.000-07:00

i finally got my 50mm lens this week! i took the kids and my knowledgeable friend daniel, along with the new lens, down to the downtown square area for some pics today. considering it was high noon, these turned out really well! the kids had a blast too :)
the rest can be seen on my flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/23644519@N02/sets/72157619016867034/

Happy Easter!

2009-04-24T17:57:00.000-07:00

Archer's 5 year portraits continued :)

2009-04-24T17:54:00.000-07:00

Archer's 5 year portraits

2009-04-24T17:52:00.000-07:00

I took Archer out for a special photosession to Ray Roberts state park. He had a great time, and I learned a lot from a photographer friend who came along to help! Thank you Daniel :)
I am enjoying capturing these special milestones myself now, versus a Penney's studio type place!

custom bow to match hibiscus baby dress

2009-03-29T09:54:00.000-07:00

this bow is a custom i just finished to match an amazing dress made by my uber talented sister in law joline! you can see the dress here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hibiscusbaby/3379097435/

another necklace and a hairpin

2009-03-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

this necklace was inspired by the spring that has appeared in the last two weeks. the budding leaves, flowers and cardinals have suddenly sprung to life in our backyard.

this flower hairpin is made with wooden beads, an acrylic center bead and sterling silver wire on a 2" hair pin. a warm little flower for the summer that will quickly follow this lovely spring.

new necklace

2009-03-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

this is the necklace i got to make last night. i had invisioned it as a 3 strand necklace, with one of them being silver wire and chain with a few stones, but it was just too much. this necklace looks really beautiful on! it has dichroic glass, tiger's eye, amber, ceramic and acrylic beads.

easter bow

2009-03-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

i had a wonderful customer ask for a custom to match the easter dress she'd bought for her daughter recently. i loved the dress so much i went and got it for both of my girls! this is her bow on lyra's dress. i still have to make the bows for my girls, isn't it a lovely classic dress? very pretty, it's from the children's place.

where'd she get this hair?

2009-03-04T20:39:00.000-08:00

if lyra isn't wearing pig tails, this is what her hair looks like! i try to put it back with clips and she tears them right out. her hair naturally hangs straight in her face. she's going to hate it when she's older, lol.

two new necklaces

2009-02-26T12:14:00.000-08:00

These two necklaces are for my first stocking with Venus Vanguard. The theme is "punk rock girl and Renaissance man". The men's necklace is wood and Sodalite with a sterling silver magnetic clasp. I know how much guys hate fumbling with clasps! The punk rock girl necklace is really a women's necklace ;) The pendant is acrylic, the chain and links are sterling. There are faceted rose quartz, faceted glass jet, rose alabaster Swarovski crystals and little black ceramic beads. The charms are unfortunately not sterling, but it's impossible to find really cool things in solid sterling! This is one necklace I wouldn't mind if it didn't sell, hehe.

Scottish Short Bread

2009-02-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

I love cookies, but if I eat more than one or two the eggs in them make me feel like I've got a dagger sticking in my belly. Not the most pleasant experience! I really wanted to make valentine's cookies with the kids and we found this amazingly simple and delicious recipe for Scottish short bread. I added some vanilla to the small list of ingredients (flour, butter and sugar). We used salted amish farm butter, organic flour, sugar and vanilla. Archer and Eleri actually helped a lot! They both used the mixer and stirred in the flour. Archer got a bit more flour on himself than the dough. :) Lyra cooperated by toddling past us numerous times looking cute. My house smells soooo good. I think there may be a danger to being able to eat more than one or two cookies.....

Bird Necklace

2009-02-06T15:11:00.000-08:00

I really love this necklace, I am trying to decide whether to just keep it for myself, or include it in the grand (re)opening of Adora Boutique. All links are hand made in solid sterling silver wire. The heart clasp latches on to a handmade and hammered silver loop that features a fresh water pearl.

a sweet end to the day

2009-01-28T18:09:00.000-08:00

after getting lyra to sleep, i went in to put archer and eleri to sleep, eleri has been such a stinker all night i was so shocked to see this. archer was reading sweetly to eleri, and she was loving every minute of it. it was such a craptastic evening, this makes it all better :) <3

random pics from our day

2009-01-26T20:17:00.000-08:00

today is brought to you by the letter 'K'

isn't this a strange creepy picture of eleri???? i had the shutter set too slow.

almost a walker! she'll take a few steps and flop :)

eleri being sweet

math on a cold day

2009-01-26T14:15:00.000-08:00

today ended up being a cold and rainy day. normally i dread these days, no outside play makes archer and eleri a bit on the crazy side. it was after lunch and time for us to do 'math'. in this case, learning our numbers. i had an idea, that worked brilliantly, to get them moving and recognizing and ordering numbers! on the front door i put post its with 1-15, scattered randomly. then i had them stand at the back door. they took turns running as fast as they could, and had to grab the next number in order. then they ran back and stuck it in on the back door in order. they had a blast, and we played it twice, switching who was odds and who was evens.

a few of the things i accomplished today

2009-01-25T21:58:00.000-08:00

since austin took the babies to his family's house, i had some time to actually make things, and clean unhindered! i love the babies, but they're not the best helpers quite yet. i cleaned about half the downstairs and mopped, and even scrubbed the wood floors on my hands and knees, and then i decided i was done with cleaning! i made a few things for my first stocking at Creatively Serene, it's going to be Feb 1st.

the reason it takes me so long is i hand sew each and every layer before gluing. this insures the bow isn't going to fall apart or come loose :)

these are to match the newest gymbo line! it's so cute. i'm secretly hoping these don't sell so i can have an excuse to buy some clothes :)

and finally, i started making something for ME. i can't remember the last time i did that. i've had this pendant forever and i finally decided to start a necklace with it. the stones are rose quartz, sodalite, amethyst and there is also some freshwater pearl. it takes so long to make each link by hand out of silver wire i didn't get to finish tonight, i wonder when i'll actually finish, lol.

bathtime and photoshop fun

2009-01-24T21:34:00.000-08:00

thanks to discovering the amazing site http://thepioneerwoman.com/
i am finally venturing in to the other side of my camera's dial! i have a lot to learn, but my easily confused brain finally gets what aperture, shutter and ISO settings are for! however, with these pics i completely forgot about ISO and they were shot in 1600! so they are miserably grainy. the pic of archer was so bad i just can't seem to do anything with it. here's my girls, in various states of graininess. and cuteness...

so big, so small, so freaking cute

2009-01-21T19:25:00.000-08:00

i went to wake lyra up from her abnormally long nap so we could go to the park, and she just all of the sudden went from baby to toddler in my eyes. it shocked me how much of her crib she took up, how big her body looked, but it was also so cute. sleeping babies have to be one of the best things to look at for the heart. i went back down stairs after not having the heart to wake her...

i went up again and she'd stuck her big booty in the air, double the cuteness, but my shutter woke her up this time...

and triple the cutenss, look at that sad pouty face! she had fun at the park though :)

lyra and westleigh's party invite!

2009-01-09T17:21:00.000-08:00

My best friend and I took our girls out today for a photo shoot for the 1 year pics. They were born only 2 days apart, and we're having their first party together! This is my first real foray into digital scrapbooking type things. I am SO happy with the way it turned out. We ordered them as glossy 5x7's. it looks slightly funky cause i blanked out the address :)

bread bowl and soup!

2009-01-07T15:54:00.000-08:00

here's the delicous soup and bread bowl! i used the recipe from My Kitchen Cafe here on Blogger, and the soup was adapted from her Broccoli Cheese soup as well. http://mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/2008/12/broccoli-cheese-soup.html
i changed the soup by sauteing shallots and garlic in butter first, then diced potato and carrots in the small sauce pan, then added the broth :) i also used at least 2 cups of cheese, including extrememly awesome sharp cheddar and aged provelone.

making bread bowls

2009-01-07T15:48:00.000-08:00

chilly day at the park

2009-01-07T12:41:00.000-08:00

we went to playgroup, and were the only ones apparently, but we still had fun. lyra even crawled around on the jungle gym a little for the first time :)

you think she speaks elvish?

2008-12-16T20:30:00.000-08:00

lyra's looking a little like arwen in these pics, lol.

a few more customs before christmas!

2008-12-15T13:15:00.000-08:00

here's the last of what i'm trying to accomplish before christmas :)

tinkerbell beds

2008-12-14T13:06:00.000-08:00

i had finally decided to get the sleigh beds, and they sold out that same day! so tinkerbell beds it is :)

my babies are gone!

2008-12-12T12:56:00.000-08:00

they are so excited! their first trip away from mommy & daddy. i know they're going to have so much fun with grandma robin and grandpa! i already miss them.

mmmmm......

2008-12-09T22:45:00.000-08:00

i need practice and better icing tools. don't eat these! they're actually bath bombs :)

busy saturday

2008-12-07T13:06:00.000-08:00

saturday was a long fun day! my friend debi and her family came over. while the kids played and the daddies supervised we learned to make bath bombs! i can't wait to make more :)

and i stayed up till 2am to do it, but i finished a custom of 12 small bows and made eleri's christmas bows for the North Pole Express Train today! the kids wear their jammies, and i got archer and eleri new jammies to wear. so eleri of course needed new bows to match it! they also match her cheap christmas outfit from target. gotta love double duty bows.

crafty ramona makes the girls a new door name hangy thing

2008-11-24T18:20:00.000-08:00

now that the girls are technically sharing a room (even though eleri's still sleeping in archer's room), i had to make a new door hangy thing with both of their names on it. so, i'm sure there is a real name for these things besides door name hangy thing right? someone help me out here! their room is decorated in the Flower Fairies, and i love this one most of all because the baby looks like lyra :)

a few more customs for my cousin

2008-11-20T08:34:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more of the customs for my cousin's daughter. i hope she loves them!

Customs 2

2008-11-13T18:08:00.000-08:00

the first set is for the Gymbo trade, and the last three of for my cousin's beautiful daughter :) i still have at least 7 more to make for her!

finally, some customs!

2008-11-13T18:06:00.000-08:00

i can finally use my blog for it's intended purpose! i am back to making bows some, here are some for a trade, they all match Gymbo lines

i can't believe she's 9 months!

2008-11-11T22:40:00.000-08:00

my last baby is growing up tooooo fast! she is such a silly happy girl.

eleri, before & after

2008-10-22T17:36:00.000-07:00

eleri, her with her gorgeous natural to die for curls....

and eleri, after some fun with my flat iron! she looks so different! not sure why we've never even thought about straightening her hair. i spend most of my time getting dreadlocks out of her curls. not that i'm going to do it all the time, even though she was VERY enchanted with her own reflection!

Lyra and Iorek

2008-10-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

snoozing together this afternoon, lyra and iorek. it's only fitting that lyra's lovey is a polar bear :) only those that have read his dark materials or seen golden compass (horrid movie, wonderful book) will get it.

just a cute girl

2008-10-14T13:44:00.000-07:00

nothing special or important happened, she is just so dang cute :)
i had to post some pics!

do blondes really have more fun?

2008-10-12T21:26:00.000-07:00

i can't quite remember really.... but i shall soon find out! 3 hours and 3 inches less hair later, i'm a blonde again. it would all be perfect if the car would have started afterwards and poor josiah hadn't had to come rescue me. i am so very thankful for josiah, and debi for lending him to me! i have no idea how else i would have gotten home.

if the wind is strong enough

2008-10-10T13:43:00.000-07:00

it doesn't matter if your kites are tragically non-aerodynamic :)

quality killian time

2008-09-24T21:47:00.000-07:00

the kids just love killian, and i finally told them about him being sick and that he's going to be gone soon. i decided they should know. we had some fun with him, he got to know lyra a little better, and i took lots of pictures. with killian you just never know what tomorrow might bring, and i want the kids to remember him. lyra really didn't freak out to the dog kisses like i thought she would, lol.

the sweetness of slumber

2008-09-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

i debated long about leaving them this way tonight. there is nothing sweeter than sleeping babies, and it's exponentially sweeter when it's your babies sleeping together. after calling austin for a 'what should i do?!', i decided that eleri's propensity to flop like a fish out of water, right out of her bed, meant leaving her 4 feet above the floor was definitely a bad idea. sigh..... i had to move her. but i ran and got the camera first :)

2008-08-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

my back is in major pain, so i was laid out all day yesterday with ice on it. i couldn't even sit up to drink. check out the nifty straw austin made me, lol

blawwwwwwg

2008-07-03T09:31:00.000-07:00

since it's the thing to do, i am doing it too!