The French (toast)

My Mom grew up calling this amazing creation Egg Toast and often they ate it with tomato slices (which is also amazingly good). It wasn't until she was in high school at a the bus stop one morning eating a slice and a friend asked her about the syrup. My Mom was clueless about "Egg Toast" having another name and that "normal" families ate it with syrup.

Anyways, French Toast is with out a doubt my favorite breakfast (served with syrup or with tomato). The other day I made some up for breakfast with the leftover homemade bread we had from the day before. With Monty Python on the brain this week for some reason I thought it was high time to teach the boys a "French" accent. I'm not sure who mastered it better: Sam or Ray. You be the judge.

"Of course I'm French! Why do you think I have this outrageous accent?!" - MP and The Holy Grail

If I had a large basil patch...

If I had a large basil patch (like someone I know) I might eat this everyday.

I present to you a grilled pesto, mozzarella, tomato sandwich on homemade honey oat bread. The bread recipe is from the Kitchen Aid cookbook that came with my mixer; it's one of my favorite to make. The rest was store bought. Our basil died in the garden and the tomatoes aren't looking so hot either; we need a little rain and a gnome to pull some weeds.

Mike and I had this for dinner last night along with some fresh berries. I managed to save half of one of the sandwiches for lunch today (pictured here)! It was good even reheated.

Black Bean Burger Blog - BOP!

I just wanted one more "B" word so, that's why you get the BOP!

Here's a quick, easy, super cheap, delicious dinner idea for you. I found a recipe online and then altered it to our liking. I can't find the original recipe but here is my alteration.

Black Bean Burger Recipe

2 cans black beans (drained and rinsed well)
1/2 C whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur)
1/4 C yellow Corn Meal
1/2 C Salsa of your choice (we tried Giant Eagles organic)
2 tsp of Cumin
1 tsp of Garlic Powder

Put half of the beans and the rest of the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Meanwhile, mash the rest of the beans slightly with a fork. Combine the two and form in to patties. Put on a plate. Spray a piece of Saran Wrap with baking-spray and cover plate. Let sit in the over for at least an hour (I'm sure you could make these the night before if you wanted or even freeze them). Pan fry patties in a little bit of Olive Oil and enjoy. Makes about 6 patties.

Tonight we topped them with avocado, tomato and red onion. The picture is from the first time we had them and topped them with Munster cheese, onion, tomato, mustard, and ketchup.
The boys love these too!

Let me know what you think if you try them.

The Future of the Mara's Food

After reading Matthew's review of "The Future of Food" Mike and I decided it sounded like a documentary we would enjoy or at least one that would piss us off. I looked at the library and Westerville doesn't have it (just a thought but it might be because there are too many Monsanto loving Republicans in da'ville). I had never ventured into the world of Hulu and was actually on there to see if they had episodes of "Flight of the Concords" (an HBO series) and happened upon the documentary section. Bingo! We watched our first ever show off of Hulu. (Mike was annoyed at the pauses while it streamed but I can live with that. I also noticed they have some food network shows!)

Let me just say that "The Future of Food" reinforced Mike and I's desire to buy ALL organic. We have been eating mostly organic meat, definetly organic milk and about half and half on produce. The film really pissed me off (in a good stick it to the man kind of way).

Seriously, why aren't genetically modified foods labeled? They are in other parts of the world. That really makes me angry - I had just never thought about it before. Here is a lively discussion about it or just google, "why aren't gmo's labeled?"

The quote that is sticking with me the most from the movie is something to this effect: "Japan is going to study our children over the next ten years to see the harmful effects of GMO's."

This film also prompted me to look into CSA (Community Sustained Agriculture) again. Here is a website if you would like to find a CSA provider in your area or just learn more.

So, where do you purchase your food from? Do you think GMO's are safe for consumption or leading to serious medical problems? Do you think "Life" can/should be patented? Lets have a lively discussion of our own. Hurry! Before Mansanto takes over my blog!

EDIT: I found this link to petition for the labeling of GM food. Do it!

P to the 5th Power (Picnic, Pizza, Pudding, Pj's, Parties!)

We kicked off the weekend early by having our friends, Mandy and Kayden, over for lunch. Sam and Kayden has fun eating lunch together and then played in the pool and "Sambox" (sandbox). Sam also scored enough clothes to last him until he is about 6 - Thanks Mandy! He hasn't wanted to take a off a winter vest that he is calling "my present from Kayden!"

We did some running around Friday afternoon and went to Mimi's cafe for dinner. The boys loved the Oreo dirt pudding that came with their meals.

Saturday I went to a baby shower and left the boys to do their thing all afternoon. There is no photo evidence of what took place :) However, my competitive family of gamers will be happy to know that I won 2 out of the 3 games (identifying nursery rhymes and how many words can you make out of the baby's name) at the shower. Feeling generous, I passed on the second prize and let it go to the runner up. I lost the baby trivia game to my friend B. She also has two kids each of them are just a few months younger than my kids. I think she cheated with her cell phone. :)

Saturday night we celebrated Christmas in July. Well, at least that's what Ray's pajamas suggested.

Sunday, we had garden fresh pizza. By that I mean that we had peppers (green and banana) on our pizza fresh from the garden. As always homemade crust too. (Side note about the garden: Tonight when we went out to water we noticed that all of our growing tomatoes are missing! No trace of them. Something or someone got it... The peppers were not harmed and we have 1 cantaloupe growing like crazy!)

After lunch on Sunday we went to our friend L's third birthday party. The party theme was a Trike a thon for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. My friend, J (L's Mom) is insanely creative when it comes to party planning. Each kid had a super hero cape to wear and their lute bag had a St. Jude's coloring book and stickers, gold medal necklace, and a license plate for their Trikes. We personalized Sam's to say, "Samalam".

The birthday boy, L, is in the middle. B (on the right) has his birthday next week. And Sam of course is sneaking in on the left.