Pasta Dinner...

...fresh pasta and home made sauce, no short- cut on the sauce today :) - No salad today - again! - and the girls are their pasta as usual which is plain with Olive Oil.

Mia Rose stayed home from school today. Out of nowhere she got sick last night so she still was not back to her regular self, and only ate a couple of pieces. I sure hope that she will be back to her usual self by morning....

Thursday Night Dinner is...

...warming, delicious, satisfying soup. I call this the "eat your veggies soup" and make it with dried 12(?) beans - soaked the Night before - seasonal vegetables, a can of go tomatoes and vegetable or chicken broth. Today I also added barley. The veggies today were leaks, carrots, garlic, potato, and a bunch of lacinato kale. I also had some bulk, italian sausage left. I rolled the sausage into small meatballs, fried them until browned, and added them to the soup.

A dinner success - both girls love "Wurst" in any form, Alena loves all beans, and Mia Rose loves all veggies...

Wednesday Night Dinner to warm us up..

was Chili.  Plain, and simple chili with - to Alena's delight - lot's and lot's of beans.  Here it is - nothing special - but so good...

along side I served.  No, let me stop you right there! I know exactly what you are thinking, mixed green salad - the usual boring side.  Oh no, we did not have mixed greens tonight but...

can you tell what it is?  Are you curious?  Maybe just a little bit? - It is a roasted root vegetable salad with reduced balsamic vinegar. It turned out fantastic.  The entire family liked it - however Mia Rosie loved it.  In case you are curious as to how I made it -

1 parsnip
1 sweet Walla Walla onion
1 golden beet
1 yam
several brussel sprouts
Olive Oil, salt, pepper, reduced Balsamic vinegar - or regular balsamic vinegar

- Preheat oven to 350 F -
- Peel, and clean vegetable.  Cut the parsnip, beet, and yam in fairly thin, long slices.  Break the onion up into chunks
- Toss the vegetables with olive oil and spread them in one layer into a baking sheet, or pan (I use Pyrex dish)
- Bake for at least 30 minutes until vegetables are soft, slightly browned, and sweet
- When done take vegetables out of the oven and let them cool down
- Arrange them in a larger shallow dish.  Add salt, pepper, and balsamico to taste
- Serve at room temperature

Nice and sweet plus a nice change of pace at long last :)

Tuesday Night Dinner - leftover

Linsen & Spaetzle a.k.a. lentils & spaetzle.

Another great thing about this meal is, that it is even better on the second day - and makes for a super, super easy dinner night. Nice :) So tonight it was Linsen, Spaetzle, sausages, and mixed greens.  Everyone was was happy...

I just bribed the kids...

...what?!  Yup! We overslept this morning  and woke up at 7:40. The first bell at school rings at 8:35 and the tardy bell at 8:45;I had to be downtown for a meeting by 9:30.  Let me tell you, it was not the most pleasant morning.  Ron and I made breakfast for the ladies and then it was a race against time.  Could we make it to school before the tardy bell rings?  I retreated to a new trick,  I promised the ladies cupcakes if we made it to school on time...yes, I bribed them :)

And guess what?! - Wow! Everybody got their shoes, coats, and backpacks on. The trip to school was a race against time, but I kept reminding them "cupcakes if we get to the classrooms before the tardy bell..." It was a very, very close call.  Mia Rose was in her room on time, and yes, Alena also got to her room just right before the tardy bell rang.  Whoo-hoo - the promise of cupcakes worked...and I also made it downtown in time.

On the way home, I stopped at Saint Cupcake to pick up two delicious Vegan - Galactosemia safe - Cupcakes for our girlies. Chocolate-chocolate, and carrot - I let the pictures tell you the rest

Monday Night after Thanksgiving weekend dinner...

...have you already given up on me?  I am still here - and still up.  So for all practical purposes to me it is still Monday night, even so technically the clock already changed a little while ago.  -  Thanksgiving weekend was all fine and dandy, even so I ended up being under the weather a little.  Oh well, it happens to all of us. - All else is well here in our little house in Portland and the girls were excited to go to school today as they did miss their friends.  I have to say so, that we did have a lot of fun and all of us enjoyed the week off.  As they say, all good things come to an end, so it was back to school for the ladies and work for me today. Then again, we all enjoy what we do...

So dinner tonight - the first meal I made since Thanksgiving - was Linsen, Spaetzle, Wurst (sausages), and green salad.  A favorite of all of us, and cool, dreary weather calls for a nice warm, filling meal like it.

Lentils, spaetzle, and mixed trees for dinner

Oh, and in case you are wondering about the picture.  The centerpiece in the middle is an advents wreath - and we lit the first candle yesterday.  It's a German tradition :)

Have a great day, all!

Friday - the day after Thanksgiving a.k.a. Black Friday

Well,  we did not spend any time in a mall, nor even a second in our car.  Instead we walked - and the girls biked - down to Hawthorne to spend a beautiful sunny late November day.  Lunch at Porque No - and plenty of time at the playground in the sun.

And for dinner we ate the rest of the delicious Vegan Cranberry Apply Pie, and yummy Soy Vanilla Ice Cream....

So many things to be thankful for...

...I know Thanksgiving is over and #Thankful is probably no longer trending on Twitter.  This morning for me is however the perfect time to reflect on what I am thankful for.

There are endless persons and things to be thankful for.  You know, the usual things - all of my family, love, wellness, our health, our home, having plenty of food on the table, being able to travel, the things everyone is thankful for.  So I will not reflect on the know about....So here it goes.

I am thankful - beyond words - for Newborn Screening and all the people that put so much hard work in to have the tests implemented in each State.  It is - as I am sure all of you know - that without Newborn Screening we most likely would not have our wonderful family.  It is only because of the test, because of the lab technicians that worked over the Thanksgiving weekend eight years ago, the physician that tracked us down, the pediatrician who had a gut feeling and not afraid to go by it, and the infectious disease physician that we celebrated Alena's eight Bday this week. Just think about, what could have happened.  Think about what could happen if the test would not be mandatory/opt in for every baby.  The results could be devastating.  I would not have known about the Newborn Screen. - I am thankful for the individuals at www.screenbabies.org who work tirelessly to educate about Newborn Screening. Through Save Babies through Screening organization we learned about additional private newborn screens.  By the way - the positive diagnosis for Classic Galactosemia for Mia Rose was received from the private lab.  I am however heartbroken, when I remember that the organization was started because a baby died of complications from Classic Galactosemia before the Newborn Screen results were processed.  Just heartbreaking....

There is so much more to be thankful for...

Happy Thanksgiving from

our table to yours. - Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and gravy. For dessert vegan cranberry apple streusel pie with vanilla soy ice cream...now rest and then we will be watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving...I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Eve Dinner...

...no, it cannot be true! Yes, it is :) I made Fish-sticks for dinner. Yup!!! The girls have been begging for it. Really, I do not make this up. How could I?! In any case, fish-sticks, Jasmine rice, mixed green salad with pomegranate.

It has been rainy all day and I admit to enjoying it. Everything quiets down, and we stayed at home the entire day. A walk around the block - but that was it. Alena and I made her new big puzzle while Mia Rose drew, we finished some presents, the girls had piano lessons and yes, there was also tv time for the girls. Mia Rose assisted in cleaning out the pomegranate while Alena played some more piano. Oh, total bliss...Happy Thanksgiving to all!