Isabel Baked a What?!

Something about fall screams, 'Bake!" We love to bake any time of year, but it seems essential to do so in the fall. We bake the usual things you'd associate with autumn, such as pumpkin bread and apple pie, but earlier this month Isabel had a chance to bake something a little more unusual for us. 

It all started out when we were cleaning up the garden. We ended up with a couple of buckets full of green tomatoes. We tried fried green tomatoes, which were good, but not so good that we wanted to eat them everyday! Or fry them everyday. Not fond of that smell. A quick internet search brought up all kinds of ideas for using green tomatoes. The recipe that caught Isabel's eye was ... drum roll ... Green Tomato Pie!

Those who commented on the recipe all said it tasted just like apple pie. So we decided to take the plunge. 

 First, Isabel washed the green tomatoes very well.

 Then she cut the tomatoes into small slices.

Next, she mixed up a pie crust, divided it half, and rolled it out.
We use this recipe for pie crust. It hasn't failed us yet. 

 She's pretty good at crust. 

 After mixing the tomatoes with sugar, cinnamon, and apple cider vinegar, Isabel poured the mixture into the pie pan.

 We worked together to make a lattice top. Isabel used the leftover crust to cut out pretty leaf shapes with a cookie cutter. She always decorates her pies beautifully. 

 Here is the finished product, fresh from the oven. It looked and smelled delicious, but knowing it was made out of green tomatoes made us a little nervous about taste-testing it. 

 After dinner, Isabel did the honors of cutting and serving her pie. 

 We were thrilled to discover that the pie was delicious! It really did taste like apple pie! 
Isabel says, "It sounded really weird, but I was glad to find out that it tasted good! I am very proud of how my hard work turned out."

Even our pickiest eater loved Green Tomato Pie!

 Here is a link to the recipe we used. We highly recommend making your own!

Fall Veggie Soup

   It's officially fall! My favorite time of year! The time of year in which I am inspired to pick up old, neglected hobbies in order to avoid deep cleaning my house for winter. It's also the time for long nature walks, jumping in leaf piles, baking, hot drinks, and... soup!

   We were blessed this weekend with many, many eggplants and tomatoes. I do not know how to can, and that will have to be a project for another year. Instead, I searched Pinterest for "eggplant and tomato" recipe ideas. No one of them seemed just right, but I was able to glean tips off of several to come up with what my family named, "The Best Vegetable Soup Ever." They want to have it every night until we run out of eggplant. I think if we did that, they'd stop calling it the best ever and start calling it, ".....Again?!?!"  All good things in moderation, right? So, here's my recipe, which I served with homemade pumpkin bread. Yum!                                                                                                                                                                                                  
10 cups beef broth (or as I did, water and beef bouillon)

3 small eggplant, chopped into pieces *

4 or 5 small tomoatoes, chopped

1 onion, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

2 or 3 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp curry powder **

1/2 tsp ginger

couple handfuls of lentils

Combine everything except the tomatoes. Simmer for 45 minutes. *** Add chopped tomatoes. Simmer for another 15 minutes or so. Enjoy.

* I don't really measure veggies, I just add them until it looks like the right amount.

** Same with spices- I don't measure- just add to taste. Didn't really taste any curry or ginger. May have to try a little more next time.

*** You guessed it- no precise timing. I just let it simmer until it seemed done.

September Picnic

We were feeling a little housebound today and decided that a picnic dinner at the park would be just the thing to cheer everyone up. It did!

Toga Party!!!

This summer the kids have been learning Latin. We've met weekly with our friends the Larsons to watch the video and work on the exercises in the Prima Latina workbook. Since the dads of both families had the day off today, we decided to celebrate what we've learned so far with a toga party! As with all proper Ancient Roman parties, we made sure there was plenty of food for all. Since it was important to the Ancients Romans that everything look impressive we made sure to have a nice setup.

We made sure everything we ate was something the Ancient Romans would have eaten. On the menu were artichokes, a delicious bean salad, fruit salad made of apples, pears, dates (replacing figs which I couldn't find!), prunes and walnuts, and garlic bread made with olive oil. Corrine and I made an excellent dip for the bread out of olive oil, chopped Spanish olives, feta cheese and minced garlic. MMMM, I could eat it everyday!

Instead of songbirds, we ate grilled turkey breasts. For dessert we ate honey flavored yogurt topped with walnuts and cinnamon rolls. The adults drank wine, but the kiddos were content with grape juice. Since we had no slaves to send to the mountains for snow, we had to forgo the slushies.
We forgot to bring our own forks, as is only proper when one is a guest at another Ancient Roman's feast, but our hosts kindly overlooked our faux pas and let us use some of theirs. Everyone enjoyed the meal!

After a dip in the Romans baths,

everyone put their togas on and prepared for a game of Latin Pictionary!

The competition was hot as everyone guessed, "Regina?" "Laudo?" "Nauto?" "Stella?" "Caelum?"

So yes, we are doing a bit of school in the summer, but I think everyone agrees: Latin is fun! Valete! Goodbye!

Enjoying Lunch

We all enjoyed our lunch at the pumpkin patch yesterday, but no one more than Isabel!

Emanuel's Quote of the Day

There is NOT delicious food inside this burrito.