Holidays and Cookbooks

I did have a post last week, but Blogger ate it and I didn't have the energy to write it again. In fact, I've learned my lesson: write all posts in Word first, then copy into the blog. Anything to reduce stress!

Whatever that entry was about is long gone from my mind, so I'll start with something new. I got a new cookbook for Mother's Day!

It's nearly impossible to give me a cookbook as a gift and not make me happy. This one is Food to Live By and it's put out by Myra Goodman of Earthbound Farms.

First of all, the pictures are fantastic. Not just the food - there are wonderful pictures of the farm in Carmel, including cute little kids on field trips discovering that food grows in the dirt! The cookbook was very popular with everyone gathered at my house yesterday. My daughters had to look through it page by page. In fact, I just got of glimpse of it - I didn't get to sit down with it until everyone went home!

Obviously, I haven't tried any recipes yet. But they all look wonderful - lots of salads of course, but also a chapter on meats and one on pasta and another on vegetables, and dessert, too! There's also an entire chapter on raspberries, which made me want to run right out and plant a few bushes. I may do that, anyway!

So what did we do for Mother's Day? I like to cook - you knew that - but it's often a problem for my daughters, who like to cook, too. Since, as Mom, I'm not supposed to do anything, I was told they'd bring the ingredients and we could all cook things together! I thought that was a great solution, because I love sharing the kitchen with my kids and grandkids.

It was hectic and crowded. Lots of "excuse me, I need to get in that drawer" kind of thing, but we all had fun.

I made the Cheeseboard Collective's wonderful oat scones and had them ready early, so people could munch while they worked. While Lydia made a gorgeous fruit salad (we put the grandkids to work washing and slicing strawberries), Gloria and I made the Cheeseboard's Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. Gloria zested and juiced the lemon and mixed it with the sugar, yogurt, and cream, while I mixed the dry ingredients.

When all that was done, Lydia made Strawberry Bellini's. This took a lot of attention from everyone, since my ancient blender decided to go on the blink, and we tried to figure out what was wrong. We ended up using the immersion blender. I love those things, but they aren't great for large batches.

But it all worked and they got the strawberries pureed and strained and mixed with cold prosecco and poured into wine glasses. Oh, they were good!

Cahlil, the almost-12-year-old, whipped up some cream for the salad and then made scrambled eggs - he's got the food bug, too! I fried up some bacon and brunch was ready.

A great time. I sent the leftovers home with the kids, saving two oat scones for Rick and I. I forgot to send the leftover whipped cream with the kids, so I'm going to make little "nests" on a baking sheet and freeze them. They'll be great for future desserts!