Our lives have become a blur as we race between school, work, real estate, volunteer work at too many places to mention, Cody's track, here comes the little one's swim lessons...and on and on. But who isn't busy these days? I guess that I was so insulated from this feeling due to the partnership Kim and I had - it didn't quite feel this wacky - we always shared the duties/activities, so neither of us felt the strain.
Today, things 'slowed down' for about an hour as Cody hit the skatepark with his buddy Alex leaving Autumn and Tonio to help me...in the kitchen.
It's in the kitchen that we find comfort. Recreating Kim's wonderful recipes. You can fool your subconscious for awhile and find peace. I also find it is a great time to teach the bambini 'life lessons' as we talk about cooking technique (heat up your olive oil before you put in the minced garlic), friendship (do not dwell on those who have let you down, rather rejoice in those who continue to hold you up), school, gardening, etc. Cody's pretty proficient around the kitchen and the little ones are eager to learn, soaking it up like the sponge we use to clean the counters when we are done cooking!
We were blessed to have Andrea's zucchini to work with today. I had Autumn break out the 'nice pot' and get the rice started while Tonio and I sliced zucchini. We diced some of the banana peppers and Roma tomatoes Andrea had brought us. Autumn placed a little olive oil in our 'big pan' and minced the garlic into it once it was hot. We added the sliced banana peppers to the oil and then the diced tomatoes, stirring to coat them all.
Once the tomatoes began to break down, we added the zucchini and a little water. I put some sea salt and ground pepper over them and stirred. Let them simmer on a low heat for about 15 minutes or until zuc begins to soften. Right before it was done, I chopped up two fresh basil leaves and stirred them in.
Rafa Marquez, of the NY Red Bulls and Mexico's captain...can't believe it's been a year already since we last saw MLS in Tucson...but it's back!
Today, things 'slowed down' for about an hour as Cody hit the skatepark with his buddy Alex leaving Autumn and Tonio to help me...in the kitchen.
It's in the kitchen that we find comfort. Recreating Kim's wonderful recipes. You can fool your subconscious for awhile and find peace. I also find it is a great time to teach the bambini 'life lessons' as we talk about cooking technique (heat up your olive oil before you put in the minced garlic), friendship (do not dwell on those who have let you down, rather rejoice in those who continue to hold you up), school, gardening, etc. Cody's pretty proficient around the kitchen and the little ones are eager to learn, soaking it up like the sponge we use to clean the counters when we are done cooking!
We were blessed to have Andrea's zucchini to work with today. I had Autumn break out the 'nice pot' and get the rice started while Tonio and I sliced zucchini. We diced some of the banana peppers and Roma tomatoes Andrea had brought us. Autumn placed a little olive oil in our 'big pan' and minced the garlic into it once it was hot. We added the sliced banana peppers to the oil and then the diced tomatoes, stirring to coat them all.
Once the tomatoes began to break down, we added the zucchini and a little water. I put some sea salt and ground pepper over them and stirred. Let them simmer on a low heat for about 15 minutes or until zuc begins to soften. Right before it was done, I chopped up two fresh basil leaves and stirred them in.
THEN, we began to make Kimmy's famous zucchini bread!
Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp of salt
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 cups of sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup of water
2 cups of grated zucchini (about 2 medium sized ones)
1 tsp of lemon juice
Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour or until a tester comes out clean.
The bambini and Andrea's girls loved it! We've had a lot of fun with all of the produce she has brought us over the last few weeks!!
I think that's about it right now - the bambini are good - we've come through the 'haze' and have seemingly settled into what is our new journey...surely making some mistakes along the way and bumps and bruises withstanding, it's all working out (a favorite phrase my Dad used to tell me over the years 'it'll all work out').
'Kimmy's Kitchen' is kicking butt, thank you all so much! We've sold 300 copies so far! They are still available at Unique Identity Salon (Janene's place!), Viro's Italian Bakery, Cottonwood Elementary School, Desert Willow Elementary School and Desert Sky Middle School. Last week, St. Joseph's Hospital and St. Mary's Hospital added them to their gift shops and soon they will be available on Barnes & Noble's website. The money raised (all $15.00 of the purchase price!) goes towards helping build the new chapel at St Joseph's Hospital. Ground breaking will be on March 21st.
"Klimb 4 Kimmy 2" has more than doubled since last year!! Again, thank you so much! We are looking forward to walking this coming Saturday - it's been 80 the last two days - hopefully we have another spectacular day to walk like last year. Jack's t-shirt design is amazing (we sold 52 shirts!) and he has graciously donated his time, considerable talent and the materials so that all $15 can go directly to the foundation (deadline was 2/24 to order)!!!
Thank you all again!
