Daisy Hunts the Christmas Tree, with Help

Do I have my mittens? Check.


Do I have my Papa? Check.


And Papa has a tree.


All is good.

Dairy-Free Enchiladas

My maternal instinct spurs me to make casseroles for my hungry boys. Giles fed himself successfully all semester in his apartment, but the college-boy skills don't rise to the level of a dairy-free casserole, which is an advanced endeavor.

*Schoolhouse Enchiladas*

(Note: these are not as good as regular, loaded-with-cheese enchiladas. But they are good for dairy-free!)

In a good-sized skillet, saute a small onion, 1/4 c. diced green pepper, and 2 garlic cloves in 1 T. olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

When onion is translucent, add 1/4 c. margarine to the pan. When it melts, stir in 1/4 c. flour to a smooth paste. Cook, stirring, for a minute. Then slowly add 2 c. good chicken broth. Cause you're making a spicy white sauce. Whisk and stir until sauce bubbles and thickens, letting it simmer for a few minutes. Season with a little more salt and pepper, then stir in 1 t. minced chipotle pepper in adobo, or more if you like things really spicy.

In a medium bowl, put about 3 cups cooked diced chicken. Or cooked ground beef. Pour enough white sauce in to moisten the chicken. You can add a can of mild minced chilies to the meat if you want.

Roll the chicken mixture up in corn tortillas, and lay them in a greased casserole dish. Pour the remaining white sauce over the enchiladas, then drizzle with a can of enchilada sauce. Bake at 350 for about half an hour.

Definitely serve this with a starchy side dish, like rice, or corn and black beans, and a big bowl of guacamole and chips, and a salad with vinaigrette. Your hungry boy will love you.

Lights to String

At last we are through our big projects and putting up the tree! After jam-packed weekends we are looking at a slow Sunday afternoon for stringing lights and getting out the ornaments. Special treats from the Christmas hamper, a fire in the woodstove, and several quiet hours together in a row.

Happy Sunday to you too!

A Little Bit of Orange

I'm finding a little bit of orange creeping into my rooms--a surprise to me, since besides Daisy's mango walls, orange is a town I don't travel to much.


Orange with white, orange with gray, orange with a little bit of black . . . .


Can't resist!

Daisy in a Red Dress

Random Neutrals

Fed up with all the linen scraps in various shades of neutral, I am ridding myself of them in one fell swoop.

So, guys, if you are a neutral linen, you are getting used up. No exceptions. You're going in these baby quilts I'm making where I cut you into as large a square, rectangle or strip that I can, and I'm stitching you to a neighbor. Then I'm quilting you.

Roast Chickens in a Black Pan

For some reason these came out of the oven *extra* good today. I stuffed each with a celery stalk and half an onion, sprinkled each with salt and then drizzled with olive oil--nothing new. After two hours in the oven at 400 they had reached that nice medium mahogany color, without being dry.

One chicken went to a friend recuperating from neck surgery (it was very successful!), and one stayed home, where it was much enjoyed.

Shop for Kimmie

Beautiful-spirited reader Katie let me know that all the proceeds of her current Etsy listings are going straight to support Kimmie's adoption. She's got stoneware, knitted items, Grace Livingston Hills . . . . need I say more?

Thank you, Katie!

A Pink Flannel Dress, with Ruffles

A variation on this pattern: in flannel again, but this time with long sleeves and a ruffle at the bottom, by special request. This time I actually made up the bodice and skirt in a size TWO for my five-year old daughter, and omitted the zipper in the back, and it still fits loosely enough to slip over the head with no closure.

So beginning seamstresses, this is a good one to try--lots of style, and if your child is slim, just omit the zipper. Also, feel free to omit the bird's nest.

Grandmother's Sofa Totes

The pristine, short-length remnants jumped right off the thrift store shelf into my basket. I just know that they all came from the same grandmother. And she chose one of them for her sofa. In 1968.

Giles hopes that they all get purchased together so they can go clashing to the grocery store as a shocking team.

Shop here!

The Running Plan

This running plan has been hanging on my fridge for sixteen weeks. I've run nearly every run on it.

I have faith in this plan. I did what it says, and it says I'm going to be able to run 26.2 miles, something I've never done before.

I'll let you know!

Bean Soup with Ham

Always on my mind after a holiday feast involving ham . . .

The day before Soup Day, soak 2 lb. small white beans in lots of cold water to cover. The next morning:

Drain the beans and rinse. Cover with fresh cold water, deeply. Add all the remains of the ham, bones, and broth to the pot. Put on the heat, and add 2 chopped onions, 4-6 diced celery stalks, 4-6 diced carrots, a couple of bay leaves, and 2 t. salt. Simmer all day. Add pepper. Let cool before dinner so you can skim off most of the fat.


Serve with cornbread.

A Walk in the Thanksgiving Woods

Woodpile

A pile of logs ready to go in the wood stove. Yes.

Lots in the Shop

Lots of stored-up gorgeousness in the shop!

Frederick Chews in the Sewing Room

Parrots love to chew. Frederick loves to chew.


I thought to give him the extra packaging from my Amazon order. Don't worry, he doesn't ingest it. He chews it and it falls to the floor in bits.


Boy, is he good at chewing.


He brings everything to the table.


And doesn't he randomly look like a corporate spokesperson in this picture? I think so.

Peace and Plenty of Pie

Happy Thanksgiving, dear readers. Wishing you peace and plenty (of pie)!

A High View of Sunset

If you have one of those big map books with every hollow, ridge, and lane in the state on its pages, you can find your way down the dirt roads and up 1200 feet to the highest point in the county.


And if you leave at just the right time of late afternoon, you'll get there right before the sun sets.


You had better bundle up, because pure and leafless late November gets chilly on that windy knob.

What a beautiful world.

A (Relatively) Easy Feast for Fourteen

Yes you *can* put together a delicious feast for fourteen people without stressing! We had a big family dinner here tonight and once again I was gone practically all day bringing Felix home from school. This menu is mostly do-ahead and can't-go-wrong. And the quantities will feed a lot of hungry teenagers.

• Slow-roasted pork loin
• Potatoes au gratin
• Tart gingery slaw
• Sauteed squash
• Roasted garlic focaccia

1. For the meat, I laid two good-sized pork loins in my roasting pan early in the day, squeezed the juice of two limes over them, and dosed them liberally with Cajun seasoning (or any favorite spice mix). These need about three hours in a low over (300 or so). So plan accordingly.

2. The potatoes can be fixed at any time of day and reheated for dinner. Peel and slice about 5 pounds, chop an onion, mince two garlic cloves, and put all into a pot with two cups each of milk and cream and a small palmful of salt. Simmer until the potatoes are tender, then dump into a large pan and bake at 500 for about 20 minutes. Let rest before serving.

3. Slaw: Use two bags of slaw from the produce section, and slice a few radishes, a cucumber, and a red pepper to add. Dress with this: 1/4 cup vinegar or lime juice, 2 T. grainy mustard, a lot of grated ginger, 1/3 c. oil, 2 t. sesame oil, and a bunch of chopped peanuts. Toss it all together, and cover in the fridge for however long until you need it.

4. Just before dinner, or even early in the day, saute your squash or zucchini by slicing thin, putting in a skillet with about 2 T. olive oil and salt and pepper, and cooking covered over a high heat, shaking occasionally. Best when served immediately, but if you're busy no reason you can't do it early and reheat gently.

5. Make or buy some tasty bread.

6. Serve ice cream (or get Bella to make a cake!)

A Flannel Dress for Daisy

I picked up McCall's 5966 last time I was at Hobby Lobby and saw a sale, in need of something quick and comfy to throw together for Daisy out of stash flannel. She is so very very picky about her clothes and so loathe to wear pants and so in need of a warm dress or two.


What a relief to find that this dress was acceptable. Because it looks like the one Nancy wears to the ball at the end of Enchanted. It does? As long as Daisy thinks so.


Now I don't have to take her to town in her bathing suit.

By the way, it runs huge. I cut out a size 3, with the length of a 5, and I could have gone down to a 2 and probably will next time.