Little Stone Cottage Sneak Peek

Cabinets are painted!  Floors are in! Hardware is on the cabinets!  Walls have vanished!

I keep gazing around in wonder at my new house.

I can't wait to do a house tour and show y'all the before and after when everything is ready.

Miss Priss is ready to return to her happy little red crib.

I can't wait to get everything dusted and sparkly, furniture arranged, and pictures hung.  I was OBSESSED with my dollhouse as a child, spending hours making new furniture and accessories out of matchboxes and fimo clay.  My little stone cottage is my adult version.  Although I will never be done tweaking- I joked with my contractor that after this latest project it will be time to move. The arranging and changing is the fun part!

Mama and I were talking about spoiling kids the other day.  I mentioned that it will be hard for me to not buy Dell Harper everything dollhouse related if she is interested (I have to restrain myself from buying dollhouse furniture already for her- the tiny pots and pans get me every time!).  Mama said that i will enjoy watching her and helping Dell Harper use her creativity building her own things far more than buying them.  This is probably true, because as much as I would like to be decorating with an unlimited budget (or even a loose one!), I love re-purposing old things, working on a tight budget, and finding good deals even more.  It probably stems from all that time painstaking fashioning rugs out of potholders and bunk beds out of giant boxes of matches for that dollhouse, instead of having a massive amount of tiny little perfect furniture.

I much confess however, I still am perusing lots of dollhouse furniture on Ebay. . . maybe the repainting and fixing will someday make Miss Priss a flea market aficionado?

Picky, Picky, Picky!

The other night we were having an old fashioned super of salmon patties, pole beans and my grandmother's famous flat biscuits at my parents' house.  Mama and I were laughing about how, with the addition of fried okra, this was one of my favorite meals as a child.  Hubs was rather bemused, because it is a rather strange meal for a little kid to consider their favorite.  I just love me a salmon patty though.  That shit is good.

Anyway, I was always an adventurous eater, as was my brother to a lesser degree.  Raw oysters, alligator tail, frog legs, escargot- I ate anything.  Except peas.  Still not a fan of those.  I'm more picky now, for waistline reasons, frankly.  If something is not worth the calories to me, I won't eat it.  However, if someone serves me something, I consume it with gusto and enjoyment.

This is an extremely long introduction to my subject, which is my disdain of picky eaters.  Especially children who consume food solely found on a kid's menu, with the removal of any condiments or seasoning.  Once Dell Harper gets old enough to eat food, I am going to have a difficult time solely frequenting restaurants which feature chicken fingers.  Now, I realize we will go to kid-friendly places when she is a toddler.  However, if she is ordering pasta with butter or a plain cheeseburger at 10 (or even 7), I am going to struggle.

Picky eaters drive Hubs crazy too.  Does this mean karma is going to bite us on the tail?  Are we going to be sentenced to drive-thru runs before or after family affairs to grab something "not gross"?  I will lose it.

 When Kate introduced me to "Baby Led Weaning" I was immediately intrigued.  It makes sense to me, and I appreciate the fact that my baby is not eating a separate meal from the rest of the family.  Instead she is enjoying a (slightly modified) version of what we are eating.  Seems like a good way to start.  You start the process at 6 months, so we have a little over a month to go, but I am so excited.  I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen, and a mess won't bother me a bit.  Actually, I don't know who is more excited- Buddy or myself.  Or Dell Harper- she grabbed her rice cereal bowl and started gnawing on it yesterday.

So multiple questions here
1) Are/were you a picky eater? 
2) If you were a picky eater, did your parents make separate meals for you?  How did they handle your pickiness?
3) If you are a parent, are your kids picky?  What do you do in that situation?
And, finally
4) Have you heard/done baby led weaning?

Okay, my quiz is over.  If I was a sociologist/scientist, I would perform a study on pickiness in children and it's cultural aspects, because it just intrigues me so much.

Y'all are all going to be laughing at me in two years when my culinary experiences consist solely on Wendys and Fudruckers.  Shudder.

You're My Tomato Pie

I know that if it was summer all year round I wouldn't find it special, etc. etc. Maybe I just wish for summertime tomatoes all year round.  A watery, pale wintertime tomato is just plain depressing.  Summertime tomatoes are a completely different animal.  I like having a plate of sliced tomatoes with every meal through September.  Or, if I am feeling ambitious, this simple tomato pie.

Ingredients

• 4 tomatoes
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 10 large basil leaves, chopped
• 1 pre-baked pie shell
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1 cup extra sharp cheddar (please do not buy pre-grated nonsense please)
• 1 cup mozzarella, grated (GRATE YOURSELF)
• salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Bake your pie crust as you would to prep for a quiche (normally about 400 for 15 minutes)

Peel and slice 4 tomatoes (did you know that if you stick your tomatoes in boiling water for about 30 seconds, the skins will pop right off?)

Lay the tomato slices in a colander, salt and let drain for 20-30 minutes.  If you have some particularly juicy tomatoes, pat down on them with a paper towel.  Making a non-watery tomato pie takes vigilance.

Mix the cheeses together with your mayo.

In your pie crust, layer the tomatoes (make sure all the moisture you can get out is removed),  Top with green onions and basil.  Top with the cheese mixture.

Bake for 30 minutes, then let rest for about ten.  This will help prevent the watery issue!  Yum!

My other tomato pie is getting into this rice cereal thing- I can't way to start her on some finger food in a month and a half!

My other kiddo got a prompt bath as well.  He loves staying out in the country at my parents house.  Despite numerous and strenuous efforts to keep him restrained, Buddy cannot be contained.  The lure of deer and wild turkeys was too much and he escaped through a barricaded screen door to return covered in deer droppings.   A cold hose did not dampen his enthusiasm.

So messy, simple pleasures seem to be the thing around these parts lately.  That sums up my summer philosophy quite nicely I think- tomato pie, muddy fur, and dirty mouths!  And of course, grocery store feet!