Wishes Can Come True

  My youngest son has expressed his love for chocolate since he could communicate. Yummy choc was his first expression and the first words out of his mouth most days since he could talk. To celebrate his fourth birthday his …

Tis’ the Season, to get away with Making Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls, quick before New Years Resolutions are here!

Oh yes those three words that make magic when combined, Chocolate and Peanut Butter, my first true food love. I got this recipe from my grandmother, it was the first recipe I ever asked for, I was ten and it …

Thanksgiving Leftovers-In a Pie! Yummy

Do you find yourself staring at all those leftovers and wish you could think of something creative to do with them? Well maybe you don’t feel like cooking any more after all the work you just put into getting just …

To the market we must go

    This weekend start the beginning the winters Putney Farmers Market. The ovens of HomeMadeinVT are heating up to make our wonderfully delicious hand pies and yummy desserts. We will be adding a few new items this weekend, Turkey, Squash and …

Welcome Home Maggie

I can’t remember a time when I did not want a cute little white dog. I used to love to read Tintin and Where’s Waldo?, just to be envious of their little white dogs. But we never did not have …

Feel the Warmth of Nana’s Love

As the cold has set in over the last week it has brought with it the first of the seasons flu’s with endless days of fevering little ones that are up all night coughing and suffering from a terrible sore …

Fun with Fen

This week end my son and I got to spend some time together having fun! I know that does not sound like much but for us it felt like a whole lot. My son Fen is my middle child, he is between his big sister Sadie 13 and his little brother Avery almost 4. Fen was born almost six weeks early barley weighing five pounds. He like all my children stayed very small until age 4 but along the way he was slow to meet all those mile stones you look forward to watching your little ones achieve.  Eating was a real challenge, many things just made him throw up. His speech was unrecognizable to those who did not know him well. It was clear that nothing came easily to him and yet no one could but their finger on just what was going on with him. As a mom I felt very frustrated and concerned. I found myself talking with his pediatrician about the unbelievable noise his feet made when they hit the floor oh so early every morning and the large circle of mess around his plate when he is done eating, by this time he was six, and there is no cure for messing eater as his pediatrician is not Miss Piggly Wiggly and can’t cure everything.

The day I read the neurologist report that finally gave me some answers was both one of the best days and the hardest days I can remember. Having a diagnosis that I could study and learn how to help my son overcome the challenges he faces daily has been a gift that I am thankful for daily. Learning one little word and I can seek out information, find answers to questions and become part of a community dedicated to bring awareness to the common hidden disability that affects so many families including my own, Dyspraxia USA.

So any way my son and I do get to spend some time together with just each other and without his brother and sister but usually it is to see one therapist or another. So this weekend when we got to go to a Big Brother’s Big Sister’s Halloween party we were very excited to be having some fun together it felt like forever since we had felt the anticipation of having a good time together. We got to carve pumpkins, watch a pie eating contest and set off a potato gun, the highlight for sure! It was so nice to have a good time with my son Fen. Thanks for the good time bud I can’t wait to do it again!

Just Another Enchanted Weekend In New England

If ever you and your family are lucky enough to be in New England in the middle of October head to southern Vermont and loss yourselves in the long gone times of spells, joist fights, flying dragon and Royalty.

Nooks, Books and Little Cooks

Passing On The Magic of Reading! Now that we are settled into fall and the rain has settled in the family is spending more time inside. Helping my little ones shift that outside energy into inside energy can be a …

Vermont’s Bountiful Harvest

On this perfect New England fall weekend I spent my time creating my pasties and scones, using as many Vermont products as I could gather.  This time of year not only brings that crisp to the air that is so refreshingly New England it gives us the opportunity to truly live off of the land. I was able to use fruits, veggies, meats, cheeses, milk, cream, butter and flour all produced within 50 miles from my home. The recipes I chose for this weeks market were based on all the beautiful local food I had available to work with. I made three kinds of scones, apple pecan, peach and pumpkin chocolate chip. For my pasties this week I was able to make a local veggie rosemary pastie full of corn, beans, potatoes, beets, two kinds of onions, garlic and fresh rosemary, always very popular with my vegetarian customers. For my meat lovers I made my pork and pear pastie which I keep simple with local pork, pears, shallots, leaks and potatoes, this week I added thyme instead of rosemary, just to give it a try as it is such a fall flavor to me.

This week at The Putney Farmers’ Market we were fairly busy. We had visitors from parents weekend at Landmark College and there was a regatta down at the river too.    Visitors loved my pasties and I really enjoyed seeing the different combinations people put together, my favorite was the pork pie and the apple pecan scone for dessert.

What are you making for dinner tonight? Do you know where it came from have you meet the farmer that grew the food you are about to eat? This weekend seek out your local farmers market and get inspired to make your own local meal. What appeals to you and what can you make with it? If you are having a hard time deciding what to make head to the Internet and see what others are making. The people at King Arthur Flour give excellent directions with their recipes and I have yet to not love every recipe of their I try. The other site I find myself on often is Simply Recipes as their recipes are just that simply delicious. This weeks applesauce recipe came from them. I could not help but replace the white sugar for maple syrup and it came out so deliciously sweet.  So go on give it a try eat local, live well and build your community.