Recipe Post: Secret Ingredient Mini Mushroom Tarragon Frittatas

  Well, finally I'm getting time to post something. It's been....how long??? since I wrote anything other than Keila's monthly updates. And yet, I'm still not going to post anything about Istanbul or Greece just yet. For once, there hasn't been time to sort through all of our photos yet. And two, I REALLY loved what I concocted for dinner tonight and don't want to forget how to make it. Hopefully more posts about our travels will follow shortly. Seeing as how Keila has suddenly dropped her naps though, don't hold me to that!
 For now....some amazing mini frittatas that I baked in muffin tins tonight. I got the inspriation from some Pinterest recipes (particularly this one: http://www.dailygarnish.com/2012/09/mini-mushroom-onion-frittata-muffins.html), plus the fact that we only had 4 eggs when I wanted 8. That, and I'm on a really big bean kick lately, but my husband actually begged me last week for a few less bean dishes. I figure he won't even know they're in this recipe, unless he happens to read my blog (Sorry, honey!).  So...here you go! Added fiber, with all the goodness and taste of a fritatta. I wonder if I can somehow make these things vegan for next time, though....

 Secret Ingredient Mini Mushroom Tarragon Frittatas
Makes 12-14 mini frittatas in muffin cups
   Ingredients:

  1 large onion, diced
  1 8 oz package of mushrooms, cleaned and diced
  EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
  dried tarragon, about 1 Tablespoon
  garlic powder (about 1-2 teaspoons)
  salt (maybe a half teaspoon)

  4 eggs
  about 3/4-1 cup chickpeas, drained
  3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
  2 TB nutritional yeast
 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

Preheat your oven to 180C/375F if using the oven. If using silicone muffin tins, you may also just microwave these little buggers.
First, heat the onion and mushrooms in EVOO in a frying pan over medium heat for a few minutes, then throw in the dried tarragon and garlic powder, plus a pinch of salt. Continue cooking until everything is soft and golden/brown, adding a bit of water if necessary to prevent sticking. Set aside and let cool a bit.

 In a food processor or blender, combine the rest of the ingredients (from eggs to sea salt), blending well. Then take maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the mushroom mixture and puree that in with the egg mixture, too. (You probably don't have to puree any of the mushroom mixture if you don't want to, but it increased the overall consistency of flavor, plus Keila never knew she was enjoying mushrooms, the one food she seriously dislikes).
Finally, stir in the remaining mushroom mixture and spoon into muffin tins greased with EVOO. (If using silicone tins, you won't need to grease them, of course). Fill maybe 3/4 to almost full, but not quite. Bake for about 20 minutes, until set and slightly browned. Allow to cool a bit before eating. Or if you're impatient like me, pop a few out with a spoon right away and burn your tongue scarfing them down. May also be eaten cold. In fact, I may go chomp on another one right now....

    Delicious and healthy!!!

Keila's 34 Month Update

 Well, Keila is 2 months away from turning 3. Where has the time gone?? I've started to think about planning her birthday party....and FYI, in case you're hoping to book a party venue in the UK, try to reserve it at least 6 months in advance. Who knew that children's party sites would fill up so quickly?? Luckily I've found one and am going to reserve it tomorrow. Keila is VERY excited for the big day!
  As for what we've been up to since I last posted....

1. Keila is becoming more and more interested in Japanese the past few weeks. She has fully grasped the idea of one object having more than one word attached to it, and she will often ask me what is the word for various objects. For example 'What does 'book' mean?' is her way of asking me 'How do you say 'book' in Japanese?' I'm not sure how many of the words she's retaining so far, but she does seem to take everything in very quickly.
 2. SLEEP! I feel like I could write post after post about how this kid won't sleep through the night. Except that nobody cares to read it. But....hopefully a modern miracle has arrived today in the mail! We got something called a 'gro-clock' that shows a star on a lit-up blue background for sleep times...and it will change to a yellow sun for morning. I've told her over and over that blue means go back to bed, while the yellow sun means she can get up. I'm sure the clock will do its job, now we just have to wait and see whether Keila listens to it!
 3. Keila has been up to a LOT lately. I forgot to mention last time that she has an imaginary friend! His name is Pho-Phen (Foe-Fin??) and he's just a year older than her. Sometimes he goes and lives at his house in Japan by Grandpa, and sometimes he goes to live in his house in the US by Grandma. Most of the time he hangs out in our living room and plays with Keila's toys, though. Last week, we had to buy Pho-Phen some ice cream at the story. Only when we got home, he no longer wanted it and said Keila could have it instead. Funny how that works.
 Keila also has her first morning of nursery school yesterday! She will only be going 2 mornings a week at first, just to get adjusted. She did great on the first day and didn't really seem to notice I was gone (nor was she excited to see me when I came back, hah!).
 Keila has also been really interested in numbers and counting lately. She will count anything and everything she can. I'm trying to work on the concept of addition with her, but so far she is pretty satisfied with just counting things.
 4. Story of the month, just a quick one but pretty funny. I smacked my leg on the handle of the refrigerator the other morning while Keila was having breakfast. I yelled something like 'OW! That stinking handle!' and Keila didn't seem to notice much....until I turned around and saw her sniffing the handle. Yuki laughingly asked her if it smelled, but she said 'No, it's cold!'.
 5. Keila is at least 95 cm and almost 15 kg now, depending on whether we weigh her before/after a meal.
 Until October.....


                New backpack for school!

Keila's Belated 33 Month Update

  Apologies for this update being late....we were on holiday and it's been a busy week playing catch-up now that we're finally home. Hopefully I can remember all the progress Keila has made in the past month!

1. Keila continues to ask more and more complex questions. 'Where does God live?' 'Why can't I see him?' 'Why does Daddy have to go to work?' She's also using full sentences most of the time, too. 'Mom, I don't WANT to go home! I want to stay on holiday!!!' Her vocabulary is rapidly expanding, too. Yesterday she asked me what 'disappear' meant, and then after I told her said 'So what does 'appear' mean?' Smart girl!
2. Oh sleep. Will this child ever sleep? Of course entirely our fault for dragging her everywhere, but lately Keila has been waking around 2:30 or 3:30 in the morning and asking to come to our bed. Hopefully that will calm down soon.
 3. Keila's favorite activites lately have been: playing Mommy, playing doctor, 'reading' stories, trying to use her kiddy scissors to cut anything and everything (we had a HUGE fit when I wouldn't let her cut her hair), and also picking Wasabi up every chance she gets.
4. Story for the month: Keila, usually a really sweet little girl, especially when we are out, growled at another child during a play group session. When I put her in time out she got very upset of course. Later, when I tried to explain that she couldn't growl at people, she said 'Why not? Bears growl!!'.
 And a bonus story: While out driving, I told Keila 'Look, cows!!' to which a little voice from the back seat replied 'Actually Mommy, they're bulls'. Hah!
5. Last time we measured Keila, she was 94 cm. Not sure if that's accurate since everyone keeps saying she's tall for her age? We haven't weighed her recently, but she's definitely heavier to pick up than she was last month!

 Until September....


                Drinking water from a big girl glass

Clives Fruit Farm in Upton-Upon-Severn

   It's been quite a while since I've posted anything other than Keila's monthly updates. I can't actually remember what topic I was covering last, actually. Was it Palma? In any case, I give up. We have been too busy this summer, what with traveling back to the US, trying to maintain a normal schedule while dealing with a (still) bum leg, you name it. So....I'm going to just skip over whatever topic I was on last and move ahead to....berry picking!!!
 This past Sunday, we overslept thanks to jet lag and didn't make it to church. So, instead we headed to Clives Berry Farm for some pick-your-own (PYO) berries. We were a few days too early for the cherries, but the strawberries were nearly over-ripe, and the raspberries were perfect. Keila had a great time stuffing her face full of strawberries. She apparently doesn't like raspberries quite as much, or else she was full by that point, since she did a better job of putting those into the basket.
 In addition to the PYO plots, Clives also has a really cute farm shop with free range eggs, a butcher's counter (no thanks), and an assortment of home-made/hand-made/local products. There is a small cafe in the shop too. Service at the cafe was rather slow since Clives was crowded (there are signs stating that there will be a wait during peak times, but this was slow even with the warning), and we felt that the cafe staff could've been a bit more polite. One woman was nice; the younger girls...not so much. The rest of the farm shop staff were very friendly and helpful, however.
 Clives is a working farm (I'm not sure what all they do, but there were signs to beware of the tractors), complete with hens, pigs, geese, ducks, and even a peacock. They also have a children's nursery there, which would be great if they weren't a half hour drive from our house.
 I did a quick search online, and apparently Clives is best-known for their apples. I guess we'll be heading back in the fall to see how they are. If they're anywhere near as good as the berries, I will be buying a lot!


         Heading to the strawberry plots at Clives Fruit Farm

Raspberries at Clives Fruit Farm

Peacock!

We were too late for the PYO eggs

Clives Fruit Farm....inside the farm shop

  

Keila is 32 Months Today!

   First off, I just realized that I cannot count. For some reason, the past 2 months, I've posted that Keila has turned 37 and 38 months, respectively. Where did I get that from?
 Anyway, today Keila is 32 months! Really. We've been back in the US visiting Grandma for the past month, and here's what we've been doing.

1. Keila is using complete sentences most of the time now. She also loves to ask WHY? thanks to listening to her cousin say it all the time. I was hoping we'd hold off on the 'whys' for a bit, but no such luck. And yes, responding to one 'why' invariably just leads to another one!

2. Nap time isn't really happening while at Grandma's. I'm hoping we get back on track when we return home in about a week, as Keila still desperately needs them and has been pretty worn out lately.

 3. Keila has been having a blast playing in the sprinkler and the kiddy pool outside on sunny days. She also has a favorite construction hat and binoculars, which she sometimes wears when playing doctor.
 Keila was pretty excited to go see the fireworks for the 4th of July, although in the end she much preferred rolling down a hill at the park where the fireworks were instead of seeing the actual fireworks, declaring them 'too scary'.
 We're also having a bit of a daily battle with her little cousin: he throws things at her and pulls her hair or pinches; Keila retaliates by knocking him over or smacking him. Toddler wars!

 4. Story of the month.....not really a story this month, but Keila did see her first movie in the cinema! We went to see Monsters University a few days ago. Keila easily sat through the entire movie, although a few points did scare her onto my lap. Poor girl had a nightmare that night, too, so perhaps we will hold off on any  more Disney movies for a while.

 5. I haven't weighed Keila or measured her height recently. I'd say that she's at least average still, but maybe we'll stick her on the scale when we are weighing our over-stuffed suitcases later in the week.

  Until August.....

Keila is 38 Months Today!!!

   Yet another month has flown by. What's happened since last time? Mommy's got a broken leg, we've visited Barcelona, and now we're prepping for a trip back to the US. Keila is a busy girl!

1. Keila talks. And talks. AND TALKS. She's outgrowing some of her shyness and will tell random people all about what's going on in her life. The stewardesses on our Monarch airlines flight back from Barcelona all got to hear about how Keila's little friend Sammy was coming to her house in a few days. Take the kid to Barcelona, and all she talks about is a playdate at home. =)
 Keila is also repeating a lot of what we say, word for word. She's showing more interest in what Japanese words mean too, and she will ask me what I'm saying if she doesn't understand some of her Japanese books.
 2. We've gotten our naps back on schedule, and sleep is going much better at night, too! I'm of course waiting for jet lag to kill any and all progress that we've made, however.
 3. What has Keila been interested in this past month....well, anything on the iPad still, but she's also been liking to play doctor and also dress up as a princess or in a 'wedding gown'. The blanket on our couch is cream-colored, so it is therefore a wedding gown. And she's started doing my hair too, since the new unicorn we got her came with various hair clips and brushes.
 4. Story of the month. Just a quick one....but when I asked Keila what she wanted for dessert, she yelled 'Daddy's beer!' Needless to say, she did NOT get any of that dessert! I think she was quite happy with some chocolate pudding instead, after we had a talk about how Daddy's beer is special just for him.
 Yesterday was Keila's (belated) 2.5 year check. She scored well above average on everything except for the section where she's supposed to be able to climb stairs with alternating feet. Honestly, what 2.5 year-old climbs stairs like an adult already? I'm more than fine with her taking them one at a time; better safe than sorry.
 5. No idea how tall Keila is still. People keep commenting that she's tall for her age, but she seems just about average to me?
  It's late, so that's it for Keila's June update. Until July....


                      Golfing with crutches....

Forn de Sant Joan in Palma, Mallorca

  Finally getting around to our Easter holiday in Mallorca! Or Majorca, if you like.
After getting settled into our hotel, first stop was of course, lunch. We chose Forn de Sant Joan based on the fact that we stumbled across it while out for a walk, and I remembered it had high ratings online. Plus the 21 euro set lunch seemed like a great deal.
 Food was great, and the service was exceptional. Even though Forn de Sant Joan is obviously a rather classy and upscale restaurant, they provided a high chair for Keila along with some crayons and paper for coloring. Our waiter and the manager both made quite a fuss over her, so it was obvious that children are welcome (at least for lunch...we did eat there again for an early dinner, but I'd feel bad taking a child in to eat during later evening hours).
 Appetizers in the set lunch included a choice of creamy tomato soup with avocado mousse and herb oil; Alaskan salmon tartar with capers, coriander, lime, and mustard ice cream; or grilled vegetables with pesto and Parmesan shavings. We opted for the soup and the salmon. The soup was superb; the salmon was also quite good but the mustard ice cream was an acquired taste (I liked it, hubby didn't).
 Main course options were: Grilled sea bass with a Saracen wheat risotto and zucchini with chive aioli; duck Magret with red berries and vanilla potatoes; or giant macaroni with carmelized onion, mozzarella, and truffle cream. Seeing as the last one seemed like glorified mac n' cheese, we chose the first two. I still feel bad about eating the duck, however (sea bass was out thanks to the gluten-containing wheat). Both dishes were good, but I'm not just really a fan of fowl other than chicken.
 Finally, dessert! 2 choices here, so we got 1 of each: creme brulee and 'Banana connection'. I can't remember what the banana dish was, but it had gluten in it so I didn't taste any. The creme brulee was ok but again wouldn't have been my first choice since creme brulee in general is a bit boring.
 Forn de Sant Joan does serve gluten-free bread if you ask, but I the service charge for it (and for any other bread they bring to your table) is 2.50 euros a person. So be sure to tell the waiter if you don't want bread before he puts it the basket down.
 All in all, it was a really good lunch at a reasonable price. I'd give the restaurant 5 stars based on our lunch experience, but our return visit at dinner brought it down to a low 4.
 We arrived for dinner exactly at opening time, and only then realized that the set menu was for lunch only. Our mistake, not the restaurant's, but I doubt we would have returned if we'd known, seeing as how expensive the regular options on the menu are. For starters, we had grilled octopus (14.50 euros), some kind of pork that I did not partake of (15.50 euros), grilled eel (14.50 euros), a pumpkin soup (8.50 euros for a regular-sized bowl). We shared one main of seared tuna (24.50 euros) and one dessert (7 euros), along with an order of fries for Keila (4 euros). We (and by 'we' I don't mean me) also had some beer and a glass or two of wine, along with one bottle of water for the table to share.. Bill came to 115.90 euros, and I left still hungry! We ended up eating a second dinner at our hotel because I was starving when we got back. What we ordered sounded like a lot, but the portions were miniscule.
 I could handle the menu being over-priced, but our service wasn't nearly as good as it was at lunch, either. Perhaps because the restaurant was getting full, it took quite a while for a few of our dishes to arrive, and I was beginning to wonder if they'd forgotten our order. Also, when I told the waiter that I couldn't eat the bread, she didn't bother to even offer a gluten-free option that time. In her defense, maybe she was new?
  In summary: go to Forn de Sant Joan for lunch. Dinner was just too little for too much money.

Forn de Sant Joan
C\Sant Joan 4
Palma de Mallorca


            From the lunch menu: creamy tomato soup with avocado mousse

   Alaskan salmon tartar

       Quack quack!

 Banana Connection for dessert

From the dinner menu. Grilled eel priced at 14 euros. Wouldn't have been a bad price except for the portion size: tiny! (Compare it to the wasabi on the plate).

  Grilled octopus was delicious.

Tiny portion of seared tuna. Again, about the same portion size as the eel, for 24.50 euros.

 Rather small (but tasty) scoop of chocolate ice cream for 7 euros.