Rainy Days And Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays....

This pretty much is how all of us have felt lately. Too much to do. Not enough sleep. Not enough time. And the weather has not helped. So. Much. Rain. We are about an inch away from this being the rainiest winter on record. It will be the second highest for sure.

But we soldier on. Doing the best we can. We visited this sweet baby over the weekend and I was again reminded of how hard these first days are. Some new moms get lucky and have a baby that learns to eat and sleep easily. Many more have little ones who don't. And that means the new moms don't get much sleep either. As someone said, "The days are long, but the years are short." New mamas are in the "days are long" stage. They have a hard time comprehending anything to do with "short years." But at my age I am fully aware of the "years are short" part." And I remind them that new parents manage somehow.

Because not much has happened in my own kitchen. lately, I've looked back through my food photos to find a recipe to share. And there is only one I haven't already posted here. That means I need to get busy in the kitchen. (Daddy-O will be glad.) I came home from my "Mimi duty" with a new cookbook that Jessica gave me. She and her sister have made many of the recipes from the Defined Dish cookbook and they have loved them all. I made a Defined Dish recipe back before Christmas when I stayed with Jessica. This recipe is from her blog. You might like to explore her recipes there before you decide you might want to buy the book. Her recipes are mostly Whole30 compliant. But she never skimps on flavor!

Skillet Lemon Dill Chicken

The recipes in this cookbook are not difficult at all. But they tend to have a longer list of ingredients, mostly seasonings, than I use. (More seasoning are why they are so tasty.) But the recipes are not hard. Once everything is measured, the cooking is pretty simple. I've learned to pull out the seasonings. Measure everything. Chop the garlic and dill and squeeze the lemon juice, all of this before you start cooking. Then it's a breeze.

I was making this at Jessica's house, using her pantry ingredients. I don't typically have almond flour in my own kitchen but I imagine you could probably substitute regular all-purpose flour if Whole30 or gluten-free is not a concern for you. I will say that making this WITH the almond flour was delicious. I ate a piece of leftover chicken the next day, cold, straight out of the fridge—I was in a hurry to get on the road and head home—and it was still delicious.

SKILLET LEMON DILL CHICKEN

1-1/2 lbs chicken cutlets

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup arrowroot starch

3 tablespoons almond flour

3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1 large lemon)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Season the chicken cutlets generously on both sides with kosher salt and pepper.

Combine arrowroot and almond flour on a large plate. Individually dredge each cutlet until well coated. Shake off excess and set aside on a clean plate. Continue until all chicken is coated.

Heat 3 tablespoons oil in large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. When hot (but not smoking) sear chicken until golden brown on both sides and cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Remove cooked chicken to a clean plate and set aside. You will likely need to do this in more than one batch. Continue until all the chicken is cooked.

Reduce heat to medium-low and add remaining teaspoon of oil to the same skillet. Add the garlic and gently cook, stirring and being careful not to burn, for 30 seconds.

Pour in broth, lemon juice, and dill. Stir to combine. Put the browned chicken back into the pan, into the sauce and let simmer until the sauce has thickened and coated the chicken, 3 to 5 more minutes.

We served this over oven roasted cauliflower rice. (Toss 1 bag frozen cauliflower rice with a little olive oil and House Seasoning--or salt & pepper--and spread on baking sheet sprayed with Pam. Roast at 375 to 400 for about 20-30 minutes until lightly browned. Stir halfway through. Be careful not to burn.) 

Let me add a comment about salt. There IS a difference between kosher salt and table salt. Table salt is "saltier" by weight. You can read more about it here. You can swap one for the other but only if you "salt to taste." The measurements are not equal.

For the record, my daughters are not on gluten-free diets or doing Whole30 now, but they are both very conscientious about cooking whole food. Clean food. And they like good food. This recipe checks all the boxes.

Presidents Day = Grandkids Weekend

We were in full grandparent mode this weekend. The littles had a long weekend off for Presidents' Day. They might have been more excited that it also included Valentine's Day. They arrived at the farm loaded with Valentines from schoolmates and lots of candy. And a dozen "Valentine doughnuts" for Daddy-O.

I have made heart shaped pancakes many times over the years. I did it by making heart shaped aluminum foil "collars." (Fold foil over several times to make long strip about 1 inch wide. Join the ends by folding together. Pinch tight to hold. Shape into hearts.) But this year I happened up on silicone heart shaped pancake makers at Target. So much easier! 

As I was making pancakes I thought about my own mother who never owned a griddle or a wire whisk. But she was an excellent pancake maker. My favorite was when she would fry bacon first and then pour batter over a strip of bacon. 

The littles received a special treat from a friend of mine. She had made them Valentines that included s'mores kits. After the candy and doughnuts and the pancakes with syrup, there was still room for "s'more!"

For little girls who live in a neighborhood with a small yards, it's always fun for them to come here where there is so much space for outside play. 

Bicycles, scooters, roller skates, a wagon, a swing. And plenty of space to ride and run.

It doesn't matter what else goes on around here, every day the cows are fed.

And sometimes Daddy-O has helpers. Something for them to tell their friends about when they get back to school.

There was even a little driveway fishing. Baby Girl has gotten pretty good at casting her line. She'll be ready when she gets a chance to fish off the pier at the lake this summer.

And when they were packing up to head home today, Baby Girl asked for a snack to take with her. Bless these girls. And the mommy who has taught them to eat well. The youngest one was happy to take a bag of carrot sticks home with her. How good to choose healthy snacks to balance the Valentine treats!

A Look Back

It's my "blogiversay!"  This blog began nine years ago today when I was keeping Little Sister full time. Very small babies aren't very good company because they sleep a lot. A LOT. I needed something to do to keep my brain active. So I started a blog. A project I could work on during the baby's nap time. I enjoy writing and I discovered that I also loved the editing process that a blog requires. There are now over 1,000 blog entries here.

The blog has become a great place to house my recipes, too. It makes them easy to access when I'm at the grocery store. My friends and family can look up recipes easily with the index here. Sometimes the recipes here are THEIR recipes that they've let me share. A couple of times friends have told me, "I couldn't find my recipe for -----.  I was thankful it was here on your blog, or it would have been lost forever." Another friend told me that her son called her to get a favorite recipe. But she was on a trip and couldn't give it to him. Instead she told him, "Go look on the Grandmother Gig. I'm pretty sure it's there." And it was.

This spot in cyberspace is a tiny one, but I've made friends here. Online friends I may never meet. It's also a way to keep up with friends that I do know in the real world. Or rather, for them to keep up with me. And it's been my journal. So many family stories and memories that I would have forgotten except for the fact that they are documented here. If my handwriting were better I might have kept a paper journal. But my handwriting is dreadful. And I find a computer keyboard much more efficient.

How long will this blog last? I have no idea. But we just welcomed a new granddaughter last month. She deserves to be included here, so I hope to keep going for quite a while.

Looking back I see that I don't post as often as I did years ago. Times change. I've never done this blog to make money. So there are no annoying ads popping up all over the place. The down side is that the older format I still use has no "print" button for recipes. "Copy & paste" works fine. (Ask a grandchild to help if you still don't know how to do this.) I can live with that because I want to keep it simple.

So let me say thank you to the readers who visit here. Thank you to the readers who give me ideas. Thank you to the readers who share recipes. Let's keep meeting here!

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In the spirit of looking back, here is my very first blog post from nine years ago today....

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

And It Begins

In my life I have been a daughter, a sister, a student, a home economist, a wife, a stay-at-home mom, a volunteer, and a musician. I bake, I knit, and I paint (well, I used to). I have taught people to play guitar. I've taught them to sew, to cook, to hang wallpaper, to cane a chair seat, and I've taught them how to start a music jam.  

I've led a horse judging team (state champs), a song circle, a Sunday School class, and a ukulele band. I've taken children to camp, fed teenagers by the hundreds, hiked to the top of Diamond Head, and helped move a herd of cows. I've tended to sick children (sometimes not mine) and cared for older folks. I've learned to use a smart phone and an iPad.  

I think it was all to get me ready to be a grandmother.

Little Socks - Tiny Socks

Knitting surely hasn't been top of my to-do list lately, but some happened during my extended grandmother stay. I had started a pair of socks for Baby Girl (still thinking about new names) right after Christmas. Kid socks are so quick to make and she is a big fan of my hand knits. I thought I'd send them home with her when they left at the end of the holiday visit. Well, that didn't happen,

As Mommy and J-Daddy were loading their car to head home after the holidays, we got the call that Jessica and Todd were headed to the hospital. I threw a few things in a bag and dashed out the door. I did have the presence of mind to grab the unfinished socks. I figured I could finish these socks quickly. And I did get them done, but not as quickly as I had hoped.

But the socks were finally finished and delivered and Baby Girl was really happy to have a new pair. All of the kid socks I've made have been from Susan B. Anderson's Ribbed Socks for Kids pattern. If you are on Ravelry, it's a free pattern. If you're not on Ravelry, find a friend who is and ask her to print it for you. And there are some yarn shops who will find these patterns for you. This is the 8th pair I've made with this pattern. I've used it to make socks for 2 year olds to 9 year olds, only adjusting the cuff length and foot length. 

Grandmother's Favorite dishcloth pattern.
It IS this grandmother's favorite.

And then I realized I was out of knitting projects. Except for dishcloths. I made 7 while I was here. Most of them knitted in the middle of the night when I was up on baby duty. (One was in use when I made this photo.)

The only other yarn I had was a dab of pink sock yarn and the leftover yarn from Baby Girl's new pair. Thankfully I had tossed a set of DPNs in with my knitting stuff. So I figured I could make even tinier socks. For the tiny baby. 

Oh my goodness, these are fun to make!

The Perfect Newborn Socks pattern is also free on Ravelry. It is written for stitches to be divided and worked on 4 needles. I knit socks on 3 needles, so I used the numbers and adjusted the directions. I weighed the finished socks and this pair weighed 4 grams. Yes. Tiny, tiny socks. 

I wouldn't say I'm a tight knitter, but you could call me a "snug" knitter. These little socks were good for this very small baby. (She was 5.5 lb at birth.) I used a size 1 needle as that's what the pattern called for. Next time I think I'll go up to a size 1.5 needle. And it is really important to use a stretchy cast on and be conscientious of not doing that too tightly. Maybe I'll even try the one-size up needle for the cast on and a few rows of leg ribbing and then go back to the smaller needle. Knitting is a perpetual experiment.

**Heads up if the babies in your world arrive bigger than ours. At one month old and weighing over 7 lbs, her little foot fills up these little socks. It was great to have some that were truly "newborn" size for her but I think I'd make the foot a little longer for other babies.

Baby Girl was excited that she and her new cousin have matching socks. I can't wait to see them together in their pink socks. The sock yarn is Cascade Heritage Hand Painted from my deep stash. It's been discontinued in this particular color.

FYI...the newborn socks are easier to put on if you fold down the cuff. Then you can roll them back up if you wish. They did stay on really well.

My Grandmother Tour Of Duty

It's my last day here. For the past four weeks I've had the honor and great privilege to be here to welcome this new baby girl to the family. To be helping hands to the brand new parents. To help in the middle of the night when the mommy and daddy were both so tired. To keep everyone in clean clothes and to keep the refrigerator stocked and meals cooked.

But being a grandmother is more than doing the practical. It's about offering encouragement to the new parents. It's about loving. It's about passing on that feeling of being loved beyond measure that I always felt when I was with my own grandmother. I adored my grandmother and hope that years down the road all these girls will feel the same about me.

In my time here I've felt all the feels that come with rocking a tiny (less than 6 lbs.) baby in the middle of the night. I've remembered how terrified I was my first couple of weeks as a new mom. I've remembered the rush of love that overwhelmed me when I would watch my tiny sleeping baby. (When she ever would go to sleep.) And I've remembered that at the very same time I was overwhelmed with love, I could be overwhelmed with anxiety. How will I do this? What am I even supposed to do? And here we are, over 30 years later, and my babies are grown, well-adjusted adults. I know we didn't do everything right, but we did okay.

And in these weeks I've watched my own baby—yes, Jessica is my baby—grow in confidence and skill as she learns to do the things that mothers do. When it's your first, it's all new and unknown and.... Well, you moms know. She's made me proud.

I've been interested in watching mothering in the age of the internet. All I had was the Dr. Spock book and the weekly long distance phone call to my mother. Now there is a crazy amount of information at your fingertips. Maybe too much information. But it's also wonderful that you can text your new mom friends and ask questions and share what's going on. Friends are only a tap-on-your-phone away. How wonderful that would have been for me back in the day.

Sausage Butternut Squash Breakfast Casserole

I've made several new-to-me recipes while I've been here. Recipes from Jessica's repertoire. I'll share a few of these as I get home and my life settles back down. I'm putting the recipes here so that I can find them again. The easiest of these new recipes was the sausage/vegetable breakfast bake. I'm going to share how I did it. I couldn't find chorizo and we swapped out the fresh spiralized sweet potato for frozen squash. Certainly no time around here to spiralized fresh potatoes! Here is the link to the original recipe.

SAUSAGE BUTTERNUT SQUASH BREAKFAST CASSEROLE

1 lb sausage (I used Jimmy Dean Regular)
1 bag frozen spiralized butternut squash (12-oz, I think)
8 large eggs
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

3/4 cup milk or heavy cream (I used 2% milk)
1/2 to 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (who measures this?)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Brown the sausage, breaking apart, until cooked through, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, salt, pepper, and milk until very well combined and frothy. Set aside. 

Spread the frozen squash across the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Next, spread the cooked sausage over the top of the spiralized squash. Then, pour the egg mixture over the top. Sprinkle the cheese over the top. 

Place into the oven and cook until the eggs have just set, 35-45 minutes (depending on your oven). 

This was a delicious supper. It also was good reheated for breakfast. The squash was a fun substitute for the more traditional hash browns. I think this may have started as a Whole30 recipe. Maybe I should say it's now "Whole30-ish."