Sunny with a chance of meatballs.

Bridging summer to fall. (Christine Salans)

 



Sometimes it is hard to let go of summer. (Katama General Store and Saira Doom)

But today is the best day.....

As Sharon Gannon said in Yogi Times (thanks, Braxton Rose for posting), "You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state."

Sometimes you need a few quiet deep breaths, sometimes you need a 2 hour yoga session and sometimes you need a 10 mile run (well not me personally for the 10 mile run but you get the point). Finding my natural state where I am truly in the present, if even for a moment - that's a goal.

I went walking yesterday at this pretty place where the Augusta Canal is on your right and the Savannah River is on your left. Many mornings a layer of fog lies across the water adding mystery and depth to the setting. It was a crisp and blue morning. A simple moment to just be.

Sosie and Sage's school had their mini fall break this past Friday, Monday and Tuesday. I took some kids and we went to Tire City Potters where the girls designed, carved and painted ceramic pumpkins that had already been thrown for them. The kids were very focused and worked hard for 2 solid hours. They were in the moment, flexing the limits of their creativity and having fun.  The cookies at Two Moms afterwards was only the icing on top, no pun intended. A simple moment.

Time to put on Waves by Mr. Probz and get cooking.

My sister in law told me about this awesome cookbook. It is the first time in a long time when I have opened a book, and a paperback at that!, and wanted to cook many, many recipes from it. It is by Jenny Rosenstrach who writes the Dinner, A Love Story blog as well wrote her first cookbook. This one is called Dinner, the Playbook and it is appeals because it is for real life cooks. The first recipe I made were Chicken Parm Meatballs. Kelley and I loved them. The kids didn't like them as much as I thought they would but my nieces really loved them.

I cooked them with sliced, steamed carrots with seasoning as well as a nice salad. Yum. Take the time to use the real carrots and peel them. There is so much more flavor than the mini carrots.

Chicken Parm Meatballs, Dinner, the Playbook
1 1/4 lb ground chicken
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
3T finely chopped onion
2T chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (or Pecorino) (could've used a little more)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp fennel seeds (makes it taste like sausage)
1 egg, whisked
grated zest of 1/2 lemon (I used 1 lemon)
salt and pepper to taste
1 14-oz can store-bought pizza sauce or her homemade marinara sauce
about 4 oz fresh mozzarella (in thin slices)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, use your hands to gently mix together the chicken, bread crumbs, onions, parsley, Parmesan, garlic, fennel seeds, egg, lemon zest, and salt and pepper. Shape into golf ball-size balls and place a few inches from each other on a lightly greased foil-lined rimmed baking sheet.  In a small bowl, mix one spoonful of your pizza sauce with the olive oil.  Brush this mixture on top of each meatball.  Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove the meatballs from the oven and turn on the broiler. Spoon some sauce on top of each meatball, and cover each with a slice of cheese.  Broil for 3 to 5 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and golden.  Warm the remaining sauce in a small saucepan. Serve the meatballs with a dollop of sauce.

 Enjoy and have a very happy day, everyone!!!