Vacation preparations, Autumn Millet Bake

I’m so excited! We leave on Friday for my dad’s in New Mexico, where Ada will meet her uncle, grandparents, great grandpa, and my uncle, aunt, and cousin (I’m too lazy to figure out what that makes them in relation to her – I know there are greats and seconds involved). It’s been a while since we’ve introduced her to anyone new and close to us, and we’re very much looking forward to showing her off.

Since there’s still quite a bit of packing to do, and we’ll likely be quite busy while on vacation, I expect this is the last you’ll see of me until after Thanksgiving.

As for today’s activities, we spent most of the day running around and picking up travel necessities, doing laundry, and of course, crawling all over the house. Littlebee discovered the bookshelves today, but was happy enough to just caress the spines of all those lovely books rather than pull them all down. I know next time I won’t be so lucky.

I realized that now would be a perfect time to make that nursing cover I’ve had on my to-do list (lest I flash someone on the plane), so I whipped one up.

Seen here as modeled by my duct tape dress form/body double

I just can’t get over this fabric. It’s gorgeous, and I couldn’t love the color more! I bought it to make a shirt for Ada, and will have to get more to do that on our return.

Deep mustard and charcoal.

Aaaaaand, in celebration of all of the delicious flavors of fall, I made Mark Bittman’s Autumn Millet Bake (via 101cookbooks, an amazing food blog) with a few adjustments:

-instead of 3/4 c. millet, I used 1/4 c. millet and 1/2 c. quinoa (because I didn’t have the full 3/4 c. millet and I didn’t want to add grocery shopping to my list of errands today). Highly recommended move. This made the dish so light and fluffy!

-instead of water or vegetable stock or cream, I used beef broth. There was some left in the fridge that needed to get used. It would have been just as good with veggie stock, but the beef broth was fine.

-I was rather generous with the “1 cup” of cranberries. I love cranberries.

D wasn’t as impressed as I was, but I’d eat this again in a heartbeat. Mark Bittman is one of my favorite food writers, and Heidi Swanson’s 101cookbooks blog has never failed me yet, so when Heidi recommends a Bittman recipe, you know it’s going to knock your socks off. Well, if you like that sort of thing. Sorry, D.

I toasted the millet a bit longer than the quinoa.

This is how I measure a cup of cranberries.

Things I’m thankful for today:

Running water. When the Bee gets crazy at snacktime, I’m so grateful that I can just jump in the shower with her and be done with it.

The heater. I am a huge wuss, I know, to be turning the heater on in Southern California, but man, was that nice.

Sharp kitchen knives. Ever tried skinning a butternut squash with a dull knife? I’m so glad I’ve been keeping up with the knife sharpening thing.

That’s all for now! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!