The Joy of S....ewing

Feels so good to be outside in the sunshine!

I confess that I haven’t really been in the mood to cook creatively lately, what with so much to do in the way of schoolwork, workwork, kids’ activities, personal crap, wanting to get outside in the warmer weather, etc. However, I've had several lucky free clothing finds in the past few weeks and that's what’s inspiring me to do a sewing post today. Anyone who is looking for recipes, please stop by again next month! At least by then there should be some spring veggies to excite me once more.

Free Find #1: My new Easter dress (wrap style, so no altering necessary, yay!)

To begin with, I should state the obvious fact as a middle-class 21st century American, I already have all that I actually need in the way of clothes; which is good because there isn’t any room in my budget for shopping anyway. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting new clothes; I have always been a clothes freak and one of my happiest times is when I get to look at interesting patterns and styles, and actually feel material in my hand. If I had more patience and any sort of artistic inclination I would have loved to become a clothing designer when I grew up. Well, there is still time yet. But for now, it’s all about altering.

About five years ago I did something I’ll always be glad for: I bought an inexpensive sewing machine and a how-to book and taught myself to sew. This hobby quickly became an enormous source of satisfaction, since it allowed me to continue making use of clothes I wore before, during, and after my pregnancies. I made cute little baby accessories and plenty of gifts for my friends' and siblings' babies and children, too. Sewing has also been great for keeping my oldest daughter’s hard-wearing pants in circulation with any number of patches, and I cannot even begin to estimate how many socks I’ve saved from the trash bin with just a few zigzag stitches (see this post for a simple technique).

Didn't think these pants would make it down to Ava!

I doubt that guys will get much out of the rest of today's blogpost since their clothes are generally worn much looser and ironically, are more accurately sized with neck, arm, waist, and inseam measurements. But ladies, I know you’ll get what I mean when I say that it can be challenging to find clothes that flatter in their design, and even more challenging when the only size options are often S, M, L – never mind the issues that crop up when we have a pear-shaped body, or boyish hips, a long torso, short arms, or anything else that’s not exactly what the fashion world would have us be! By adolescence, most of us have figured out what our “figure issue” is going to be for the rest of our lives. For me, it’s a small waist proportionate to my hips. There are worse problems to have, I'm sure, but it can be difficult to hide the two to four inch gap in the back of every pair of pants I have ever tried on. Trying to cinch them in with a belt is a joke (gap forms beneath the belt). However, now that I know what I can do with my trusty sewing machine, I don’t worry so much about this problem anymore.

Before I get to the sewing machine part, I should point out that there is a no-machine solution which I discovered by studying my daughters’ pants: inside the waistband, they all have a hidden elastic strip that hooks onto buttons on each side and makes the waist easily adjustable. It turned out to be very simple for me to seam rip a little slit into my own pants on the inside, insert a ribbed length of elastic with a series of slits cut into each end, sew a couple buttons onto the inside of the waistband, and voila! Instant smaller waistband, albeit with some gathering all the way around the back.

This was the first pair I ever tried this technique on.
Later I learned that extending the elastic all the way around the sides lessens "baggy butt syndrome."

For pants where I don’t want the elastic waistband look, I use the sewing machine to take in the sides, beginning just above the hip and gradually curving inward towards the top of the waistband. If I make the curve gentle enough, it turns out perfectly and you can’t even tell anything was altered. This is what I do with my work slacks and straight skirts where the waistband might show. I do the same thing for bottoms that are too large in general, only I start taking in the sides much lower down, often beginning from the hem and coming straight up all the way to the top. This is good for, say, turning a pair of size 10 wool slacks in to a size 6 – an inch or so off each side and you’re good to go. The only problem is sometimes you lose functional pockets, but it’s a small price to pay for being able to continue wearing your $100 work pants for many more years. And if you don’t cut away the excess fabric like I did below, you can let them out again if the weight comes back on. Remember to press the seams and they'll look just great.

Goodbye pockets, but hello pants, I can wear you to work again! As you can see, these I actually took in twice - the year after baby #2 was born and a few years later when I finally started exercising regularly.

For blouses and even knit shirts, I sometimes make a similar alteration where I begin taking in the sides somewhere just below the bust, making the smallest point where my natural waist hits, then gently curving back out again toward the hem. This has allowed me to keep wearing shirts I bought during those nursing days when DD was no longer a fantasy (ha!), taking them in to fit my normal dimensions after my youngest was weaned. I have also taken in the sides of a cheaply-made shirt for a more custom-made look. It’s amazing how much better clothing looks when it actually fits our bodies. And for me at least, knowing that my clothes look good on me is a big self-confidence booster that can help carry me through challenging or uncertain situations – perhaps it's the equivalent of a power suit for men?

Hey, guys: how come you get sleeve and trouser length suit alterations for free?

But that’s all just functional stuff – doing what it takes to better wear the clothes we already have. I’ve found it even more interesting to alter thrift, hand-me-down and give-away clothes to make new additions to my wardrobe. For example, a while back I wrote a blogpost about taking a 1960s muumuu and transforming it into matching mother and daughter dresses, which to my huge excitement, was featured on one of my favorite blogs earlier this year. I’ve re-done other muumuus, too, but they can be a lot of work because essentially you are taking what amounts to a tablecloth with a fun pattern and designing a new item from scratch. Like this gorgeous silk one below, which started out with buttons up the back of the neck and a cut-out triangle of front cleavage. I cut all that away and made a new neckline and shoulder straps, then removed about half the rest of the dress to make it into a simple above-the-knee shift. I enjoyed figuring out how to make this little flower around one of the original self-covered buttons, which became a new focal point to the neckline.

p.s. this pretty hanger is simply wrapped with fabric scraps - no more clothes slipping off!

Overall, I think it’s the simplest projects that are often the most rewarding – beginning with ordinary clothes that maybe look okay the way they are, and with one or two slight alterations can be made to look really great. If you’re roughly a size medium, it can be hard to work with an item that’s a size small, but if you have a size large you can alter, the world is your oyster. This dress was on the give-away table at our community center. I wasn't a huge fan of the wide, black collar, but I loved the colors and pattern, so I brought it home to try on. Unfortunately, it looked rather like a sack on me and the collar really did seem awfully 1970s. But five minutes, a few inches off and a favorite necklace later, and I had something I could maybe wear out to dinner in the summer.

It's really that easy...try on the garment, take a pinch of fabric here, a pinch of fabric there, pin it all together, take a big breath and sew, try it on again, modify if necessary, accessorize and then check out your genius! There’s nothing to lose if you got the item for free or just a few bucks. And I'm not going to post pictures of this, but you can even alter...drumroll, please...swimsuits. Really helpful if you're one size on top and another size on the bottom. And you can use whatever extra fabric is left over from your clothing alterations to cover a hanger or headband, make fabric beads or doll clothes, or whatever else your creative kids come up with.

t-shirt scraps = doll tube dress + booties. she could probably use some undies, though.

Speaking of getting creative, I'll end this long post with an example of how to make ordinary clothes that come your way into something truly special. I loved the coziness and nice quality of this thrifted Banana Republic wool sweater, but found it just a tad boring. Then the idea of elbow patches came to me, and why not in the shape of hearts?

What's not to love?

I hope I've inspired you to dust off the old sewing machine. And if you don’t sew already, I hope it made you think about why it could be useful to learn how. It's certainly saved me a lot of money over these past few years. I haven’t yet gotten up the courage to teach my oldest daughter to sew, but am thinking this might be the summer to begin. Given all the ways she has already “modified” her clothes with scotch tape, tied fringe into creative knots, made "thumb holes" in her sweater sleeves, used scarves as belts, cut off the bottom of dresses to make shirts (oh yes), I have a feeling this is a skill she’ll be glad to have over the course of her lifetime.

For all my Orthodox brethren out there, the time is finally here: Kalo Pascha! Christos Anesthi!

This is what happens when you leave your camera lying around
for little hands to pick up and experiment with... not that I really mind. :)

The Care and Feeding of Vegetarians

Happy Spring!!!

I confess to having been a vegetarian for so much of my life (since long before I learned to cook, in fact) that whenever I get asked what is perhaps a natural question - "What does your family eat, anyway?" - I never have a quick or tidy answer. "We eat everything," is usually my first reply. Then I see the look of confusion on the other person's face and realize that my "everything" is not their "everything." I also often forget that vegetarians are supposed to eat mostly weird/exotic foods and meat substitutes (in fact, the only soy product I ever tried during my first 15 years as a vegetarian was soy sauce). So the conversation usually ends in a bit of mutual smiling confusion.

***

Meanwhile, it makes me very happy to have a bunch of people eating together around the table, so on a regular basis I indulge myself by organizing a dinner party. No one ever seems to notice that no meat is served, or at least they are too polite to mention it. However, it is fairly rare that we are invited to eat at other people's houses. For years I have had different theories about this, ranging from "the dinner party is dead", to "nobody wants to cook anymore but because I cook, they are embarrassed to feed us take-out", to "people don't want to have children at their house, at least not our children", and even wondered whether it's because "we are terrible conversationalists but no one's ever told us", etc.

Recently I put two and two together and now I have a new theory about why the favor isn't returned: it's because we're vegetarian. Perhaps it's that people literally don't know what to offer us, so rather than admit that or attempt an awkward conversation, they abandon the idea before it ever gets off the ground. For those people, and anyone else reading this who knows a vegetarian individual or family (we are everywhere, you know...and yes, we will try to convert your meat-eating children, bwahahaha), below are a few practical tips and meal-planning ideas. Oh and this is where I definitely want to give props to our lovely non-vegetarian friends who have made the extra effort to feed us in the past, including our current neighbors on both sides - and E, I still need to get that orzo salad recipe - yum!

What we eat, circa 2006: 1 year-old Sophia with baked ziti all over her face and teenage Tour recently arrived from mostly meat-eating Botswana, adjusting to life in a vegetarian household. In the background you can see my jars of pulses, legumes, grains and flours.

Tips for Feeding Vegetarians

Tip #1: Vegetarians eat dairy products and eggs. Vegans do not. Some vegans also do not eat honey, and both usually avoid gelatin. People who say they are vegetarian or vegan but eat fish are actually pescatarians, though they may not know the term, and they need to get a clue because they're confusing everyone who thinks that us vegetarians eat fish, too! Also, most vegetarians who eat dairy and eggs either love them too much to give up, or their doctor won't let them due to health reasons. So be sure to feed them to us if you like dairy and eggs also. Which brings me to my next tip:

Tip #2: Feed us protein. Vegetarians usually get the protein shaft everywhere they go: restaurants, buffets, fundraising suppers, you name it. No matter how big the dessert may be, a green salad and unlimited slices of bread simply will not satisfy our caloric or nutritional needs until the next meal. Vegetarian sources of protein are nuts, beans/legumes, cheese, eggs, yogurt, and yes, soy products like tofu and tempeh. But only make a recipe with those last two if you really know what you're doing. Otherwise we'll be calling out for pizza before the evening's end.

Tip #3: Make a lot of food. Yes, there are a  few super-skinny vegetarians who seem to exist on nothing but a small bowl of millet porridge and kale at each meal, but the majority of us who try to eat mainly whole foods and lead active lives are only able to get in enough calories by eating large portions or by grazing all day (and who has time for that?). At our family table, third helpings are not unusual, so please keep that possibility in mind if you are deciding whether to double or triple your recipe when vegetarian guests are coming over.

Tip #4: Just like you, vegetarians are likely to be big fans of comfort food, especially when eating at somebody else's house. I adore baked pasta dishes like lasagna and macaroni and cheese with breadcrumbs on top; I swoon for shepherd's pie with a thick gravy or tamale pie with cheesy cornmeal topping - but I almost never make these dishes because of the time involved and because of they just don't include enough power vegetables to meet my personal nutrition standards. However, it's my opinion that comfort food is exactly what dinner party food should be about, especially in cold weather; yummy favorites that require a little extra effort and show you care about the people you've invited. (Though the lack of time or ability to make these kinds of dishes should by no means discourage the cook. The main thing is to enjoy each other's company for an evening and in the end, who cares what you eat as long as you have good beer and/or wine to offer!)

What we eat, circa 2013: 4 year-old Ava enjoying Moroccan lentils and couscous, with crispy browned onions 

Vegetarian Meal-Planning Suggestions:

1. Make a hearty soup and serve it over a grain or alongside a heavy bread
• Split pea soup (minus the ham hock and with veggie boullion) with a dollop of plain yogurt, served with cheesy-garlic toast made from seed-studded whole-grain bread. Add a salad if you want (maybe spinach, roasted beets, goat cheese, walnuts, cranberries with a balsalmic viniagrette) and be sure to serve a substantial dessert (apple pie or crumble, or carrot cake with ice cream?)
• 3-bean chili with peppers, zucchini, corn and carrots, served over brown rice or with corn bread and butter. Don't forget the diced avocado, salsa, plain yogurt/sour cream, shredded cheese, green onions and crumbled tortilla chips to put on top of the chili! This is a heavier meal, so fruit salad, maybe served with cookies, is a nice way to finish.
• Minestrone (minus the beef broth and bacon) with plenty of zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, cannelini beans and macaroni pasta. With parmesan cheese grated on top and maybe a simple salad and/or bread, this is a substantial meal. Still, it's nice to have a piece of simple cake, like lemon semolina or angel food, for dessert.
2. Make something you love, but find a vegetarian version
• Cabbage rolls stuffed with lentils and bulghur wheat
• Stuffed peppers filled with rice and beans and topped with cheese
• Lasagna with chopped, sauteed kale instead of beef (and here's where you can substitute crumbled firm tofu for a tub of ricotta and no one will be the wiser)
• Quiche with vegetables and cheese
3. Think ethnic: Low-income people the world over have developed an infinite menu of dishes that don't revolve around meat. For me, the chance to try out new techniques and spices is what makes cooking so fun.
• Pad Thai noodles
• Ethiopian wat
• Indian dahl
• W. African peanut stew
• Moroccan vegetable tagine
• Japanese miso noodle soup
• S. American quinoa salad or vegetable soup
• Spanish torta
• Mexican rice and beans

And in the end, just relax and remember that the idea is to share a meal, not deliver a performance. If you aren't sure what to feed a vegetarian, just ask them what they like, and go from there. Most of us will just be glad for the invitation, and will do what we can to make things easy on you. :)

Happy, healthy, well-fed little girls!

Somethin' For Nothin' + Ready In No Time Pizza

Well, we survived Winter Break. I had intended it to be a pretty low-key week at home for the kids and I, and purposely didn't plan any extra activities or trips so that we could avoid spending extra money. My visions were of knitting and reading aloud in front of a cozy fire, hot chocolate and baking cookies... But life (or LIFE, as it sometimes seems) ended up botching the whole relax at home plan. Between family visiting and personal commitments, plus piles of academic work and "real" work, we didn't have much time to just hang out. Not that I'm complaining - this is part of being a grownup, after all. But I really wanted the kids to enjoy their time away from school this week. So on the couple days that I could find a few free hours, we got a little creative with no-cost activities... and then we revolutionized our pizza routine (recipe at the bottom of the page).

Given how little snow there was last year, we made sure to spend as much time outdoors as we could.

New snow friend!

We also took advantage of a sunny 50 degree day to have a picnic at a local landmark - a defunct fairground site. It's really cool because many furnishings are still there from when it was last used over 20 years ago, so it's almost like a ghost town. Each time I've walked around I've asked myself if I'm trespassing, but there isn't a sign or fence to keep people out, so I'll just keep going until somebody comes along and stops me, I guess.

A visiting Mama-san added to the adventure

I love this bleak landscape - makes me think of all the untold stories this place must hold...

Behind the bleachers at the racetrack - old concession tables and
vinyl tablecloths just waiting to be dusted off and used for our  picnic

We picked up a free museum pass from the library and went to check out some ancient mummies and sculptures. The museum also has an aquarium with fish, frogs, turtles and snakes. Plus a super-cool bat exhibit and a resident chameleon, too.

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful

We looooove marble, it's so cold and smooth...
and we promise we won't touch anything...

During school vacation week, the museum turned one of its galleries into a shantytown...no, just kidding. But they did put out a whole bunch of recycled materials, duct tape and markers, and let the kids go crazy building things. As I remarked to one parent we met there - better here than my living room!

I love this fort - it says, No Boys alowd. I meen it!

Wonder who's gonna clean all this up??

We also visited a library we'd never been to before in another town and picked up some goodies to bring home. Libraries are such wonderful places.

Any day now, I'm gonna learn to read!

Must have more books...more books!

Ready In No Time Pizza
When all the adventuring was over, we were very hungry. Thankfully we had a big batch of homemade dough in the refrigerator and pizza was on the table in under 30 minutes. I forgot to take a picture this time, but the pizza itself isn't the headline here, anyway. It's this wonderful way of making dough - all you need is 5 minutes to make a large batch that can sit in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Each time you want to bake a pie, you just pull out a ball of dough and stretch it to fit your pan, sprinkle on some toppings, and you're all set to go. The recipe comes from the book Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in 5 Minutes a Day. There are tons of variations, including gluten-free, all kinds of whole-grain crusts, etc. We really like the basic recipe, which takes on a nice sourdough flavor as it continues to ferment.

In a large plastic container with a lid, stir together:

• 3-1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 1 T granulated yeast
• 1-1/2 T kosher salt
• 7-1/2 cups unbleached flour (they use a scoop and sweep method to measure the flour consistently)

Mix it all together with a wooden spoon, then place the lid on top without sealing it and let the dough sit on the counter for two hours. After that, it's ready to use. Just put a little flour on your hands and scoop out a grapefruit-sized ball for each pizza round. Whatever you don't use can go in the fridge for 2 weeks and you don't want to stir it when you get more out, just scoop what you need. The flavor gets better as time goes by.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees and bake the pizza for about 12 minutes on the bottom rack. If you're using a sheet pan, remember to dust it with cornmeal or grease it with oil before you lay down the dough. Also, stretching it thin in the middle and leaving it thicker around the edges will help make sure the middle gets cooked all the way through. A light touch on the sauce helps with that, too. Buon Appetito!!!

Hurrah for Winter Break!
(Btw, this pose came waaaay too naturally for them.
I'm starting to worry we might have future cheerleaders on our hands...)

Winter Comfort Food + Cabin Fever

It is freakin' cold out there. Blame the Arctic wind (thanks for sharing, Canada), blame the cold front coming in off the Great Lakes, blame the bloody groundhog. It doesn't matter who you blame for the frigid temps, there's no avoiding the fact that meals this time of year need to be hot and they need to be substantial.

We're talking about hearty soups and stews, yes. Things that will warm you up and you can double/freeze for another week. But eating this kind of spoon-food day after day can become tiresome for a vegetarian. This is where roasted root vegetables come to the rescue. Their salty-sweet crunchy-tenderness make for a lovely break from all that mush. Even when it doesn't seem like there is time, it's still worth it to squeeze in a few extra minutes to preheat the oven, peel and quarter a couple sweet potatoes, a handful of parsnips, or a bunch of beets. While they cook, you can get the rest of the meal going, then relax and enjoy your glass of wine while the oven and stove do the rest.

The other night I put together a quick red lentil curry over brown rice (pictured above), but before I even got that going, I threw some sweet potatoes and beets into a 450-degree oven after being tossed in olive oil and kosher salt. The curry recipe was nearly as basic: saute a chopped onion, a couple smashed garlic cloves, and a grated thumb of ginger together, then stir in a teaspoon of cumin, a half teaspoon of coriander, and a teaspoon of curry. Stir in 3 cups water, bring to boil, then add 1 cup rinsed red lentils and simmer 30-40 minutes and salt to taste at the end. Served over rice (put the water on to boil before chopping onions for the curry) with a large dollop of plain yogurt on top, and we had some nice sweet and sour flavors going, but not much texture. Pairing it with roasted veggies played up the sweetness of the ginger, but it also gave us something to chew. A sprinkling of fresh cilantro leaves would have been great, too, but my freezer bag of herbs needs replenishing.

So don't forget about root veggies. Other good choices are celery root, rutabaga, turnips, carrots, potatoes (okay, technically not a root vegetable, but play along with me). Of course there are many more but these are likely to be at your local market. And when you are done cooking and everybody is going stir crazy from too many craft projects and too much quality together time in the house, get the heck outta there! 

Here are a few pics of what we've been up to lately...

Some old fabric, foam core and batting came together for a pelmet box window treatment
thanks to a great tutorial on a friend's lovely interior design blog

Enthusiastic skater - 1st time out on the ice!

What a trooper - never cries when she falls (often!)

A visit to the remarkable Phoenix sculptures at MassMOCA - made from all recycled parts. Can't imagine what they'll look like at their next installation inside the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan!

The girls love Sol LeWitt's mesmerizing wall art

Imagining herself covered in tattoos -
help me Lord!

Time to get back outside and enjoy Winter while it's here!

Pervasive Potlucks and the Perfect Pilaf

First I just have to say that there is something wonderful and wacky about having a blog and being able to see the "stats" behind the scenes. As I was writing this post just now, apparently someone in Canada typed into their search engine "myers briggs slow cooker recipes" and stumbled upon my blog. Bizarro, right? G, if it was you, I hope you found the recipe you were looking for!

Now onto today's long-overdue post, which is sadly lacking in a photo of the dish described below, but this is where imaginations come in handy. I do have several gratuitous pictures of the girls, though! :)

Potlucks and Pilaf

Sometimes I wonder whether I’ll ever truly leave the potluck phase of life. It was a no-brainer right after college, when we held potlucks in our first apartments because we were broke – I’m convinced that potlucks and happy hour buffets accounted for the majority of calories we consumed during that period (nachos bar at the Irish Times, anyone?). We showed off our newly acquired cooking skills (I’m still nostalgic about a mozzarella, basil, caramelized onion and sundried tomato-stuffed bread I used to make) and ate off mismatched plates. Later, coming home from the Peace Corps, we were broke again and eternally hungry from never getting quite enough food in our villages (actually it was often too much food, just not the foods we craved!). Stateside potlucks became a regular event where we commiserated about re-entry culture shock and saved our pennies for grad school.

After that, I seem to remember a few brief years of living the high life – eating in nice restaurants or getting takeout (even, gasp, several times a week!) and ordering expensive, complicated drinks at chic bars. Somehow over the last five years or so, potlucks have snuck up on me once again. I think it started with the economic downturn – fully catered holiday parties at work morphed into “dessert competitions” where everyone had to bring something from home. Then it was vegan holiday celebrations (not a fun crowd to hang with), classroom get-togethers (no nuts, please!), church coffee hours, community meetings and the like. We are definitely back in potluck land once again.

It’s not that I mind potlucks so much. Aside from the guarantee that I’ll eat more than I need to - buffet syndrome - I enjoy the low-key atmosphere, the nice variety of food, the overabundance of dessert options, the chance to converse about random topics with people I don’t know very well and won’t remember the name of the next time I run into them. The problem is that I never decide what to make until the last minute, and it usually turns out badly. Something I’ve never made before (like the brownie “bites” last week that I overcooked and couldn’t pry out of the mini-muffin pan). Something I’ve never transported before (tamales on a platter with no raised edge – car seat disaster). Something that looks a little weird and gets completely ignored (hibiscus iced tea with the blossoms still floating in it; chilequile casserole made with blue corn tortilla chips).  Something that takes way longer to make than I think it will and ensures that the hour just before the potluck will be very unpleasant for everyone in the house (handmade spring rolls).

Only the other day, when I literally had two potlucks back to back (bringing the week’s total to three, not counting the one I begged out of), did I finally happen upon the perfect potluck dish: Moroccan-Spiced Quinoa Pilaf. It’s easy and inexpensive to make with ordinary pantry ingredients, tastes good whether warm, room temp or chilled, and is both vegan and gluten free. My kids even like it enough to take a few bites just before dashing over to the dessert table. I doubt this is something that would go over very well if we lived in, say, the Midwest, but around here it holds its own among the rest of the potluck offerings. The recipe is based on one from the Fall section of the Clean Foods cookbook, with a few significant changes. Give it a try, and happy potlucking!

Moroccan-Spiced Quinoa Pilaf

• 1-1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed in a fine-mesh colander
• 2-1/4 cups water
• pinch salt

Bring the water to boil in a medium sauce pan and add the rinsed quinoa and salt. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes.

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• 1/8 tsp turmeric
• 3/4 tsp cumin

Heat the olive oil in a large medium skillet and saute the onion for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Stir in the spices and let cook one minute, adding a little bit of water when the spices stick. Turn off the heat.

• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup toasted, sliced almonds
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or cilantro
• salt and pepper to taste

When the quinoa is finished cooking, gently fold it into the onion and spice mixture. Stir in the remaining ingredients and serve hot, warm or cold.

Last of all...these pictures were all taken at Sophia's recent "7 & 1/2 Birthday Party" - a fun way to make up for her lack of birthday parties thus far (poor summer birthday kids). Before letting them loose at the cupcake decorating station, I challenged the kids to create silly vegetable creatures... and spotted more than a few of them nibbling in the process - who says you can't get kids to eat vegetables at a birthday party, ha!