Salmon Comes Back to Life

Bryce caught a lot of salmon last summer.  Which was great.  And fresh salmon on the grill is one of my most favorite meals ever.  But salmon that's been in the freezer all winter?  Not so much.  We just haven't been eating it anymore, so I decided to pull some of the old stuff out and smoke it.  Delicious.  Now we can finish off that stash before the new ones start rolling in!

I made this smoked salmon and goat cheese quiche last night that was incredibly tasty.  Even Porter ate it, which is saying a lot for someone that doesn't really like eggs.  I make my fair share of quiches with all the eggs we have, but I had never made one with goat cheese before.  It really made the dish.

Smoked Salmon Goat Cheese Quiche
adapted from Simply Recipes

1 recipe pie dough
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
6 ounces smoked salmon, broken up
4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
5 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
grated zest of one lemon
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350.  Roll out dough and place into a 10 inch tart pan.  You can use any kind of pan, but using a deeper pie dish might make the cooking time longer.  Line pastry with parchment paper and fill with dried beans or pie weights.  Bake for 15 minutes, remove from oven at let cool a few minutes.  Carefully remove parchment paper and weights.  Poke the bottom a few times with a fork, and return to oven.  Bake for 10 minutes more or until just barely golden.  Cool while making filling.

Cook the onions in the olive oil over medium heat until soft.  Whisk eggs in a bowl with milk, cream, basil, lemon zest and pepper. 

Scatter the cooked onions in the bottom of the pan.  Put half of the smoked salmon and half of the goat cheese on top of the onions.  Pour over half the egg mixture.  Then place the rest of the salmon and cheese in the pan, followed by the rest of the eggs.  Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes until set and lightly browned on top.  Cool for 10 minutes before serving.  Great with a green salad for a summer meal.

Black and White

My kids have recently made friends with a neighborhood family.  They have five kids, and Porter waits at the bus stop with some of them, although they attend a different school.  They came over one day while we were out in the yard, and we all had a good time playing in the tree house and running around outside.  Then they came over the next day.  And the next.  And they started coming over in the morning before school.  And being here every day while I cooked dinner.  They are very polite, nice kids.  The older girls dote on Molly, and my kids really seem to like them. 

But.  It's a lot.  No matter how nice they are, four or five extra kids is more mess and attention, and it was getting hard.  And then one day after school, Porter was playing with his Legos while Molly was napping.  We saw them coming down the hill, and I could see in Porter's face that he didn't want to play.  He just needs his down time, he's always been like that.  They came anyway, and it was all fine. 

Afterwards, I told Porter that if they ever came over and he didn't feel like playing, he could tell them that I needed him to do something and that it wasn't a good time.  I know it's hard for him to say no and to be assertive, so I was trying to give him an easy out without hurting anyone's feelings. 

He looked at me funny, and said "Mom, wouldn't that be a lie?"  Sigh.  Yes, bud, I guess so.

It's so hard to know how to teach your kids about life.  Because, yes, lying is bad.  But you also don't want to hurt feelings.  So I thought about it.  And he's right, lying is probably the wrong way to go about it.  He's going to have to figure out how to tell them he doesn't want to play.  Or he's just going to have to suck it up.  And deal with life his own way.  That goes for me too.  Thanks Porter, for teaching me the lesson this time.

Post Party Pictures

The owl cake was pretty easy to make, and everyone got a kick out of it.  Here's the link where I got the idea, I didn't even have everything mentioned and it turned out fine.  Cedar wasn't so sure about the whole candle/singing thing, but she did love chocolate cake.

Also, if you have leftover chicken (I've also done similar things with salmon), here's a great wrap idea.  These are super yummy, and easy to reinvent with whatever you have on hand.  The cheese and a bit of sour cream make them really nice and creamy.  And the browning step in the pan is a must.

Happy Birthday Baby!

Happy First Birthday to my sweet, sweet Cedar.  Even though you have no idea, we are all so excited to share this special day with you.  Keep on rockin' girl.

Also, a year?  Really?  Sigh.

What A Difference Three Weeks Makes

When we left our home three weeks ago, I was waking up the kids for school in the pitch black night.  It was also dark by dinner time, and snow was still falling pretty regularly.

When we returned, although flowers are not yet blooming and the old snow is still in the yard, it was LIGHT.  What seemed to me all of a sudden.  I get to wake the kids up in the morning, with the sun already rising.  And the air feels warm, like we are definitely headed in the right direction.  I know that soon I will be slightly annoyed at the 3am sunlight, but right now, it feels absolutely perfect.  It was a nice way to come home.

Also, Cedar finally started crawling on our trip.  She is a girl on her own schedule, but she is now on the move.  She also has one singular mission in life no matter when you set her down.  And that is to get to the Legos.  Wherever they may be, you will find her hightailing it in that direction.  And then beaming in glee with fists full of mini figure heads and other totally chokable tiny pieces.  She may be Porter's best friend later in life, but right now I have to pull her howling body away from certain death all day long.  Hopefully this is a short lived phase, because it is hard for Porter to keep the one thing he plays with all day every day constantly out of her reach.

And a couple of pictures from our travels.  Look, they are all smiling at once!

Home Again

We just returned home yesterday from a three week trip down south to see family and friends.  It was wonderful and busy and exhausting like these trips always are.  I survived flying with all three kids by myself, and we immersed ourselves in big city fun.

I also took a lot of pictures of groups of kids, most of which ended up something like these.  

And those are the good ones.

We are now digging out of the post-vacation mess, but I hope to be cooking and parenting again very, very soon.