Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D.

I'm getting ready for next week and realized that you probably wanted to, too, especially since next weekend is doing double duty with Valentine's Day and Presidents Day Celebration.

Start the fun off with Valentine Mice, a bouncing story filled with internal rhyme.

Moving onto Presidents' Day: Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers is based on a true story.

The Lives of Presidents by Kathleen Krull and illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt.

Let this week's recipe, Not-too-spicy Sweet Potato Hummus, be your inspiration. Does garlic make you think of vampires? Do sweet potatoes remind you of pies and Thanksgiving? Another name for garbanzo beans are chick peas. Chick peas make me think of chickens. So maybe I'll write about hens? I could go on and on with free associations but you have your own so play around.

In the
sycamore tree
a solitary leaf,
flecked with snow, tenaciously clings
to life.

This is a cinquain which is poem with a specific number of syllables in each of its five lines. 2-4-6-8-2 I wrote this for a class many long years ago.

As I look at it now, I think it might be better without the last line.

In the
sycamore tree
a solitary leaf,
flecked with snow, tenaciously clings.

What do you think?

Mary Ann Dames, ©2010

In the United States, yams and sweet potatoes are usually used the same way. For the Not-too-Spicy Sweet Potato Hummus, canned yams are used but you could use fresh, boiled sweet potatoes. To learn more about them click here.

What other orange vegetable can you think of that you might be able to use into instead? I'm thinking of the one Bugs Bunny likes. Do you know which one that is? I like to use them because I can buy them fresh, frozen or canned, making the recipe very easy to make.

I could also use leftover cooked butternut squash or banana squash. In fact, I started with cooked banana squash but decided to use sweet potatoes because of the extra vitamin A.

While watching "Iron Chef America" several weeks ago, I learned that President Obama likes sweet potatoes. I wonder if he'd like this version of hummus I came up with?

Ingredients
1 cup (1/2 of a 16-ounce can) yams in light syrup, drained and rinsed *
1 can (8-ounces) garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons tahini
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
3 tablespoons chopped parsley

Combine everything in a food processor. Pulse until desired consistency, adding water a tablespoon at a time if needed. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Don't have a food processor? Wash your hands very well. Smash and squeeze the yams and garbanzo beans into a chunky paste. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well with a wooden spoon or electric mixer.

My daughter likes her hummus with a few bits and pieces of garbanzo beans whereas I like my hummus smooth. Either way it is tasty served with pita bread or carrot sticks.

*Substitute fresh, peeled and chopped yams which have been steamed until soft.

Mary Ann Dames, ©2010

February is loaded with holidays. Want some books to read about during the six more months of winter Punxsutawney Pil predicted. Read all about him at Books for Kids. Want the facts? Then check out Wendie Old's The Groundhog Day Book of Facts and Fun.

Not only is February Black History Month, it is also Library Lover's Month. Visit your local library to check out an old favorite and to find a new one. Have you read one of my favorites, Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen?

I was fortunate enough to be in a two day workshop lead by Joyce Carol Thomas. Not only is she a classy, caring lady, she is a great teacher and poet. I am please to offer up her book The Blacker the Berry for Black History Month. In 20009, it was both a Corette Scott King Illustrator's Award and Author Honor Book.

Head over to Pam Calvert's blog, Woven with Pixie Dust, to see the steps in updated Princess Peepers Party Glasses. She's so cleaver, using pink taffy so she doesn't have to worry about coloring the caramels. Anything that lets kids have fun without the mess is a plus.

See the original recipe here.

Looking out the window above my desk, I see trees and more trees. The hills in the distance are a soft gray-green blush except in the canyon folds where dark green scrubby trees are tucked. Across the street, the multiple trunks of my neighbor’s 27 year old olive tree are gnarled like an old crone. At the corner of my garage the lime tree's green leaves camouflage its fruit, making it a treasure hunt when I need one to cook with.

I would find it difficult to say what kind of tree I like best…one that shades me, one that feeds me, one that carries my mind to a memory. If you had to choose today, what would your favorite tree be? What would you say to it or about it? Why not write about it?

Read the much honored Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems by Kristine O'Connell George.