Summer Squash Gratin

If your garden is like ours right now, chances are you have zucchini and yellow squash coming out your ears. This recipe is a great use of squash in the summer because it has such a light flavor and goes with anything. You can substitute thinly sliced potatoes or onions for the leeks, and you can also add tomatoes if you choose.

Summer Squash Gratin
2 large leeks (ends discarded) washed and thinly sliced
1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
1 medium yellow squash, thinly sliced
3 tbs. EV olive oil, plus more for coating dish
S and P to taste
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

Heat oven to 425. Brush a gratin dish (or 9" glass pie plate) with olive oil. Place sliced leeks, zucchini and yellow sqaush in a bowl and gently toss with 2 tbs. olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Arrange vegetables in dish in a circular pattern, slightly overlapping them. In another bowl, mix remaining ingredients and sprinkle topping over vegetables. Bake until veggies are tender and topping is golden, about 20-25 minutes.

My brave little boy

Today was a scary day around our house; my first big mommy scare. Child o'mine was playing "dinosaur hunter" with our Lab Lily and chasing her when he lost his balance and fell head first onto our coffee table. The minute I saw his head I knew we needed to get to the ER. It was a deep, wide cut just above his left eyebrow (barely missing his eye, and we're thanking God it did). I tried not to panic or cry, but that's pretty hard when your child has a bloody, gaping wound. I quickly realized I had to get it together, that he needed me to be brave so he could be.

To add to the drama, this happened minutes before we were to leave to take my sister and 4-month old niece to the airport. I called for my sister to come quickly and told her I had to take my baby to the ER. She cradled him, holding a cloth to his head while I frantically made phone calls trying to find her a ride to the airport. Once we got that handled (thank you Kim, you are a true blue friend), my sister suggested we put a bandage or something on his head for the ride to the ER. She raced to her bathroom and came out with a panty liner and some Diego band aids. We thankfully snapped to our senses and grabbed some gauze and first aid tape instead.

I had to rush out and leave her behind to wait for her ride, which is not the way I would have liked to end our visit, but it is what it is. Another true blue friend rode with me to the ER to keep me calm and avoid a speeding ticket or worse, an accident.

My sweet bean was so very brave at the ER. Watching him wrapped like a burrito, his face covered in a blue cloth while the doctors/nurses were stitching him up seemed to scare me more than him. He never cried but instead put on his best big boy front and got through it all with flying colors.

We're home now, and he's resting. I've said many prayers of thanksgiving that four stitches was all he got and more prayers that we keep trips to the ER few. All the mommy/child struggles and challenges we've had this summer have faded from my mind, and all I want to do now is hold him and love him and keep him safe. I love you, my brave little boy.

Tie Dye Day

Today we made the cutest tie dye baby clothes! Found the how-to's in the current issue of Parent's Magazine and it looked simple enough. It was easy, but beware it is super messy. We did these outside--my sweet boy really wanted to help and got a little carried away being the "pot stirrer." At the end of our project we had created a tank top for my child, three cute baby onsies/tees and a hat for my niece and a oh my gosh it's totally ruined beautiful new patio chase lounge cushion covered with blue dye (aaarrrggghhh!)

p.s. if anyone has a tip for getting dye out of upholstery fabric, I will be your new BFF!

Where's the beef?

Great White Hunter has not been thrilled with this week's dinner menu to say the least. As I mentioned, I bought the cookbook Deceptively Delicious in my attempt to handle the current eating challenges presented by child o'mine, and this was it's debut week. Problem for the hubby is most things I chose to make are sans meat. Like the super yummy mac-n-cheese, which had white bean and cauliflower purees, or the butternut squash pasta dinner, which was also really good, however, no meat. Last night we had black bean burgers - oh so good - but Great White Hunter almost had a breakdown. "Where's the beef?" he protested. "Every night this week you've been feeding me plants. I want meat!" I tried to fib and tell him that there was beef in the burgers, but he didn't just fall off the meat-mobile yesterday, you know.

It's hard sometimes when you are trying so desperately to find things both your kids and your significant other will eat. I love to cook, but seriously, the people in this house need to cut me some slack and just eat whatever I serve them or I may stop serving them all together. I refuse to make two different meals - you know, how some people serve their kids different meals than they serve themselves - I'm just not going there. I am pretty close to going on strike; have my picket sign ready and I'm not afraid to use it. What ever happened to the love? What about, "Thanks Mommy for a yummy dinner." or, "That was good, honey, thank you for always cooking for us."

I'm going to take a vacation by myself and let Great White Hunter handle the mealtime for a week. Maybe then I'll get some respect.

p.s., for dinner tonight he's getting steak, pork chops, hamburgers, chicken, ribs, lamb, venison, sausage....you get the picture. Maybe then he'll be happy.

The sweet days of summer

It was a great trip to our new beach "house" and the weather was divine. We spent our days lounging in the sand and frolicking in the waves, doing everything but really nothing at all. This trip a discovery was made by my sweet bean, and I got one sweet memory to boot. We were all sitting in our beach chairs one afternoon, enjoying our surroundings when I heard it: the jingly, slightly static but funky little melody from my past. Could it be? Was it really THE ICE CREAM TRUCK? (I can't help but think back to that Eddie Murphy comedy bit about the ice cream truck - 'member that one? "I got my ice cream, and you can't have none.")

I jumped out of my chair and turned to see the truck approaching. Until this moment, my soon to be five-year old son didn't even know ice cream trucks existed. Yet somehow, by that jangled-up tune, he knew exactly what was headed his way. His face lit up and he looked at me with the biggest of eyes. I barely got the words "ice cream" out of my mouth and he was off, joining the hoards of other kids dashing toward the truck. Great White Hunter and I gave each other a quick look, then he dashed to the car for some $$ and I started throwing things out of my beach bag in search of something to take pictures with.


I emerged with our video camera, which thankfully takes still pictures, just in time to see child o'mine hand his money over to the ice cream man and receive his treat. He chose a seriously gross alien looking lovely green/blue turtle-shaped concoction, returned to his beach chair and savored this moment. As did I, sweet boy, as did I.

A humble beach abode

We are leaving for the beach again today, but this time it's different. We recently purchased a small beach condo and this will be our first time staying in our own place, so we're pretty excited. During our last trip, we stumbled upon a good deal and just couldn't pass it up, seeing as we make so many trips to the beach each summer and rentals are getting quite pricey. It's a huge deal for us, buying this condo and a little scary, too; we now have a second "house payment" each month. We plan on fixing it up and renting it out, which thrills me because I love fixing anything up (you should have seen Great White Hunter before I married him).

It's time to head out, now, down to our humble beach abode. I can't wait.

I thought boys were supposed to be easy?

Whoever said "boys are easy" never met my soon to be 5-year old son. Maybe it's the age, or maybe because it's summer and we're together 24/7, but lately he fights me on everything, which I'm sure my Mother loves because I was a terrible slightly difficult child. I'm starting to realize I've given birth to myself (stop laughing, Mom). Here's an example of a typical day:
me: "The sky is blue."
child: "The sky is gray."
me: "2+2 is four."
child: "2+2 is 184."
me: "It's time for swim lessons, you love swim lessons!"
child (who really loves swim lessons): "I hate swim lessons, I'm not going!"
me: "Why am I even talking anymore?"

Our latest battles revolve around clothes and food. I do love to shop, and when I was pregnant I remember thinking, "Oh having a boy is going to be great. I can shop for him and he'll wear all the cute things I pick out, no problem!" Ha! Not the case. Anything I pick out for him he'll turn his nose up at and tell me "It doesn't match, Mommy." or "I don't like that fabric." (What?? Now you're picky about fabric??)

What's really taking a toll on me right now is the food battles. Child o'mine has always been a fabulous eater; not so much in quantity but in quality. I made all his baby food, convinced that it would help his future eating habits, which it has, until now. (BTW, I highly recommend the book Annabel Karmel's First Meals - it's a great baby food cookbook.) He gripes no matter what I put on his plate other than chocolate - yes, he is my son. Last night I gave him roast chicken, which he usually devours, and he said, "I don't like chicken, I like meat!" Mind you, he'll say the reverse when I give him meat. I truly believe this behavior is more control driven, because I'll see him grab a broccoli spear when I'm not looking.

The sad part about the food battles is this: instead of having quality meal time, eating together and talking about our day, I now dread it and find myself leaving the room so he can eat alone (bad Mommy, very bad Mommy!) I'm sure this too shall pass, but in the meantime I've purchased Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious cookbook and will start hiding things in his food. Who's in control now?