Meal Exchange

My neighbor and I have been exchanging meals once a week for about a year and a half.  I have heard of people doing this with a larger group of people so that they only have to cook one night a week, but we have found that our small scale meal exchange works for us and means that we get off at least one night a week from cooking and it is much easier to just double a recipe than to triple or quadruple it.  It is so nice to have a meal brought to you at least one night a week.  We have found some recipes that work for both our families as we try to focus on healthy and kid-friendly.  I will be sharing some of our tried and true recipes here on this blog.  I have also found that doing this helps me do better in planning meals for the week as well as giving me something to look forward to.  Today's recipe is Daube provencale, which is basically a fancy or French name for beef stew.  The past time in making it I felt like Rachel Ray because it really did take less than thirty minutes to prepare, but the cooking time is longer.  You can follow the recipe and cook it in a dutch oven in the over for about 2-3 hours, or I like putting mine in the crock pot for a good part of the day.  This makes the beef extra tender.
2 t olive oil
12 garlic cloves, crushed
2 lbs stew meat cut into pieces
1 1/2 t salt, divided
fresh ground pepper
1 cup dry red wine
2 cups chopped carrot
1 onion chopped
1/2 cup beef broth
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 bay leaf
3 cups hot cooked egg noodles (about 4 cups uncooked)

Preheat oven to 300. Heat olive oil in dutch oven, add crushed garlic (not minced!, just take garlic clove and smash them with butcher knife) and cook til fragrant.  Remove w/ slotted spoon; set aside.  Increase heat and add beef to pan, sprinkle with 1/2 t salt and pepper.  Cook 5 min til browned.  Remove from pan.  Add cup of wine to pan and bring to boil, loosen browned bits.  Add garlic, beef, remaining one teaspoon salt, pepper, carrot and rest of ingredients.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and bake in oven for 2 1/2 hrs or until beef is tender.  OR--transfer to a crock pot and cook on low for 5 hours.  Before serving over egg noodles, remove bay leaf.  (I also remove the whole garlic cloves if I can find them).  Garnish with fresh chopped thyme or parsley. (Recipe by Lia Huber, from Cooking Light).  It is great served with a green vegetable or salad.  I lucked out last week when my neighbor made fresh bread!!

Decorating with maps and globes

I love the idea of decorating with maps and globes.  My son has had a map of the United States above his bed since he was two.  He loves looking at all the states, pointing out where his friends were born, where relatives live, and where he has been.  I have been looking on EBAY for a vintage globe to put in his room not only because they make a colorful addition, but because of the conversations it can start.  He and I share a fascination for world geography.  A friend of mine's son, who is in fifth grade, received a globe for a Christmas present and she says he has to use it constantly for homework assignments.  This makes me think that I should get a "current" globe, but the vintage ones have lots more character.  Some people collect world globes and I've seen pictures in decorating magazines of them arranged together to make a colorful display as the one above which I found on the website lovelydesign.com.  The photo below is from one of my favorite blogs Chez Larsson (chezlarsson.com), and it was taken in the blogger's fifteen-year-old son's room, and the last photo is from my five-year-old's room.  The map I purchased for him is from the Land of Nod.

Simple Mom

I was just introduced to a great web site/blog called Simple Mom.  The site is dedicated to simplifying the complex job of a mother and is filled with many helpful hints and ideas.  One of the most helpful things I found is a daily docket download.  This is a "to do list" made especially for moms.  At the top, you will find a section that contains "Today's MITs" (or "Most Important Tasks').  These are the three things that you really want to accomplish that day--whether it be writing that note you've been putting off, RSVPing for a party, or doing the dark wash.  It was a section where you write down what's for dinner, a water log (to make sure you're drinking enough), an area to write down the general plan for the day and at the bottom a miscellaneous notes section.  There are other downloadable forms on the Simple Mom website like grocery lists, chore lists for kids, etc.  Go to the Simple Mom website, click on "resources" then "downloads."  Check it out.  I plan to use the daily docket today and will let you know how it goes. www.simplemom.net

Annechovie

Recently I discovered a really talented artist and blogger, Anne Harwell.  She does illustrations of exteriors, interiors, and her greatest talent in my opinion is illustrating interesting chairs. One of her chair illustrations made its way to the movie "It's Complicated." I also love the giclee quotable prints that I think could add warmth of color and playfulness to any room.  Looking at her work, you see that she has a way of bringing life and personality to mundane things through her use of color.    Check out her blog and Etsy site.  annechovie.blogspot.com

Organized bookshelves

I love to see ideas for organizing bookshelves and these really impressed me.  The shelves are from IKEA and I love the matching storage boxes, magazine organizers, open bins and toys at the child's level, and the general overall feel.  When organizing shelves, first remove everything before putting it back.  You may want to do something fun like cover the back of the shelves in a fun wallpaper or paint them an accent color.  Be very critical about any books, magazines, or collections you feel like you need to keep.  If you really don't feel that you'll ever read the book again or it's not a classic, consider donating it.  I also go hard-core on getting rid of any self-help or parenting books that are no longer relevant.  Ditch the travel books that are out of date--chances are if you go on a trip you can borrow a book from someone else or a library or find all the information you need on-line or through your phone.  As far as kids' books, make sure they are age-relevant to your kids.  Donate the others unless you feel like you need to hold onto the classics for your grand kids, and in this case keep just a few and store them away in a bin (in a previous post I recommended keeping ONE bin of this kind of thing for future generations of kids or for a special friend's kids, etc.).

Picture found on oohdeedoh.com

Serena and Lily Love

I am in love with Serena and Lily bedding for kids' and adults' rooms.  It is definitely pricey, but when you find something you adore sometimes it can be worth it.  A local store here in Mt. Pleasant has almost all of their beds adorned with a few Serena and Lily pieces.  Watch out for their sales and sometimes you can find some of their products on EBAY.

Young House Love

One of my favorite blogs of the moment is Young House Love younghouselove.com--the story of a young couple falling in love with their house as they transform it into the house of their dreams.  The DIYers have become very popular and have even been featured on HGTV and in various publications.  Visit their blog to gather home improvement tips and to follow how they transformed their home step by step.  They have great ideas on paint colors and great places to shop.  You can send them pictures of your own home and they will come up with ideas about what you can do to create a space you love.  One recent post I saw on their site was about "vacation jars,"  a really neat and funky way to display vacation memories using simple (and cheap) mason jars.  The next time you go on a trip, bring back some sand, shells--if not the beach a ticket stub, a matchbook, a plane ticket.  Put the objects in a mason jar and create a nice label for it and display them somewhere on a shelf.  Don't forget to write yourself a postcard from the trip to include in the jar!