This isn't a new idea.
I don't even have a new take on it or anything extraordinary to add to it.
But, it is a good idea that I wanted to share.
We like to keep lunch simple around here, I'd rather use my brain powder (and effort) on dinner. Steven takes care of most of the left overs from dinner because he takes his lunch to work. So, what are John and I do to do?
Most days we just eat whatever random stuff I have in the fridge/pantry that doesn't take that long to heat up... like popcorn and yogurt. But I remembered that a friend of mine hid carrots in her son's mac & cheese. And who doesn't love mac & cheese. Total comfort food. I'm not even too fussy, I think the stuff out of the box is great! And super cheap... 55 cents a box (for HEB brand). However, John's a good veggie eater (Praise the Lord) so I did a few things differently.
"Healthy" Boxed Mac & Cheese Makeover
1 box mac & cheese ($0.55)
1.5 cups frozen broccoli ($0.50)
1/4 cup butter ($0.30)
1/2 cup pureed carrots ($0.20) or squash or whatever.
1/4 cup milk ($0.10)
I boiled water (with salt added in) and then tossed in my macaroni & the frozen broccoli. Boiled for 5 minutes (or whatever your package says), then drain. I added the butter to the hot noodles & broccoli and mixed until it melted. Then I add the carrots, powdered cheese & a splash of milk (I didn't measure the milk but I'm guessing it was about 1/4 cup). Add the milk slowly to check for the right constancy.
It made two lunches for me and 2-3 for him (depending on how hungry he will be tomorrow) for $1.65, or 40 cents per person per meal. I don't think you can beat that for simple healthy lunch. You could make your own mac & cheese instead of using the box... but I think as far as cost goes the box may win (I haven't looked into it, though). You could even beef it up with some meat, or bacon bits, or beans (if you want a cheep protein).
Okay... now I've wasted too much time blogging about lunch... Back to work!
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Monday, June 6, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Baking Torment
Confession: I'm addicted to an expensive habit...
meet parchment paper!
"Modern parchment paper is made by running sheets of paper pulp through a bath of sulfuric acid... a process which is reversed by washing the chemicals off followed by drying. This treatment forms a sulfurized cross-linked material with high density, stability, and heat resistance, and low surface energy – thereby imparting good non-stick or release properties." -Wikipedia
HEAT RESISTANT & LOW SURFACE (energy but I think they mean) TENSION.
Those words excite the engineering part of my brain that tangos with the housewife part of my brain. Nothing sticks to this stuff AND I can cook at very high temperatures... like for pizza or pitas. I think I fell in love with parchment paper around the time that I found artisan bread... but recently I discovered that I use this stuff at an alarming rate!
I joked that I don't turn my oven unless I have this in the house... and then I noticed it was on my grocery list a lot... then I figured that I was spending around $10 a month! On Paper I throw away each month! Ouch!!! What makes it worse is that I could just flour/oil a surface to keep it from sticking... or invest in one of these.
Ahhh.
So, I'm warning you not to get addicted as I have. For now I'm entering into a self inflicted weaning program.
meet parchment paper!
"Modern parchment paper is made by running sheets of paper pulp through a bath of sulfuric acid... a process which is reversed by washing the chemicals off followed by drying. This treatment forms a sulfurized cross-linked material with high density, stability, and heat resistance, and low surface energy – thereby imparting good non-stick or release properties." -Wikipedia
HEAT RESISTANT & LOW SURFACE (energy but I think they mean) TENSION.
Those words excite the engineering part of my brain that tangos with the housewife part of my brain. Nothing sticks to this stuff AND I can cook at very high temperatures... like for pizza or pitas. I think I fell in love with parchment paper around the time that I found artisan bread... but recently I discovered that I use this stuff at an alarming rate!
I joked that I don't turn my oven unless I have this in the house... and then I noticed it was on my grocery list a lot... then I figured that I was spending around $10 a month! On Paper I throw away each month! Ouch!!! What makes it worse is that I could just flour/oil a surface to keep it from sticking... or invest in one of these.
Ahhh.
So, I'm warning you not to get addicted as I have. For now I'm entering into a self inflicted weaning program.
Monday, May 23, 2011
I can can!
I'm making my Granny so proud right now.
I've been kinda interested in canning mainly as a way to preserve things we grow. We've never had enough tomatoes to warrant the investment, but I'm still interested. Once I found Mary Ostyn's blog I stumbled upon her canning videos. It seemed simple and I had most everything to try it... so.... I decided to try it today!
I thought jelly would be a great thing to start with (especially since our tomatoes are being stubborn about ripening this year). She has a great grape jelly video, but we aren't crazy about grape jelly. However, we do LOVE strawberry... especially the HEB more fruit kind. So I thought it would a be a fun project to compare the cost and see how hard it was.
I used my HUGE stock pot we got as a wedding present... I love that thing. And for the cans I had four 1/2 pint kind left over from Aunt Becky's friend's Thia Peanut Sauce... I miss that stuff... and one 1 pint jar left over from some local honey we bought a while back. For a jar lifter I use our kitchen tongs... but I went slow making sure not drop a slippery hot jar. It will be nice to get an actual can lifter, but I'll have to start producing more veggies so that it warrants the cost ($10 at HEB).
I ran to HEB to get the missing ingredients that I did need to make the jam. I thought about going to Sam's to ensure that I got a great deal on strawberries, but I'm often tempted to buy extra things when I go to Sam's because the prices are so good. So, I went to HEB and got strawberries ($1.5/lbs... not the greatest deal, but a good one nonetheless), fruit pectin and lids. I used the recipe that came with the fruit pectin. It was simple to follow and came with great directions.
Here are my humble jars processing. Canning makes me feel homey... and I like it!
And here is the final product! They were still hot in this picture and the pectin hadn't set up, but everything went like the website/recipe said so I'm sure they will turn out. They are so cute!
Okay. So how does the cost break down. The HEB fruit spread cost $2.50 for just under 1.5 cups. I made a little over 5 cups and the cost for 1.5 cups was $1.50.
So, it's not the hugest of savings, but it did work out cheaper. I think if I would have gotten a better deal on strawberries (like say grew them or picked my own) then I would see more savings. However, that being said it did save me a little over $3.00 and I made it the most expensive way. I know if I make grape jelly the way Mrs. Ostyn makes hers (she buy frozen fruit juice concentrate) I'm sure I'll save on that and I may try that once we run out of strawberry.
I'm planning on keeping it pretty simple. Canning can get scary if you venture too far outside of fruits, tomatoes & pickles. Anything other than that requires a pressure canner and you have to be extra careful not give your family food posioning. I would love to be able to make my own stews (& maybe cream-o-soups) and can them and to be able to can green beans or the purple hulled peas I grow. But for now I'll just make fresh soup and freeze my green beans and dry out my purple hulled peas. We don't have a huge back yard and it's best to start small anyway. I can just focus on growing berries, tomatoes & cucumbers to make jellies, jams, salsas, tomato sauce, barbeque sauce, pickles, relish, etc. Really I think I'll have enough variety to keep me busy. Just be warned family, you may receive can goods from us for Christmas :)
Now I'm super excited about our tomatoes... if they will ever ripen!
I've been kinda interested in canning mainly as a way to preserve things we grow. We've never had enough tomatoes to warrant the investment, but I'm still interested. Once I found Mary Ostyn's blog I stumbled upon her canning videos. It seemed simple and I had most everything to try it... so.... I decided to try it today!
I thought jelly would be a great thing to start with (especially since our tomatoes are being stubborn about ripening this year). She has a great grape jelly video, but we aren't crazy about grape jelly. However, we do LOVE strawberry... especially the HEB more fruit kind. So I thought it would a be a fun project to compare the cost and see how hard it was.
I used my HUGE stock pot we got as a wedding present... I love that thing. And for the cans I had four 1/2 pint kind left over from Aunt Becky's friend's Thia Peanut Sauce... I miss that stuff... and one 1 pint jar left over from some local honey we bought a while back. For a jar lifter I use our kitchen tongs... but I went slow making sure not drop a slippery hot jar. It will be nice to get an actual can lifter, but I'll have to start producing more veggies so that it warrants the cost ($10 at HEB).
I ran to HEB to get the missing ingredients that I did need to make the jam. I thought about going to Sam's to ensure that I got a great deal on strawberries, but I'm often tempted to buy extra things when I go to Sam's because the prices are so good. So, I went to HEB and got strawberries ($1.5/lbs... not the greatest deal, but a good one nonetheless), fruit pectin and lids. I used the recipe that came with the fruit pectin. It was simple to follow and came with great directions.
Here are my humble jars processing. Canning makes me feel homey... and I like it!
And here is the final product! They were still hot in this picture and the pectin hadn't set up, but everything went like the website/recipe said so I'm sure they will turn out. They are so cute!
Okay. So how does the cost break down. The HEB fruit spread cost $2.50 for just under 1.5 cups. I made a little over 5 cups and the cost for 1.5 cups was $1.50.
So, it's not the hugest of savings, but it did work out cheaper. I think if I would have gotten a better deal on strawberries (like say grew them or picked my own) then I would see more savings. However, that being said it did save me a little over $3.00 and I made it the most expensive way. I know if I make grape jelly the way Mrs. Ostyn makes hers (she buy frozen fruit juice concentrate) I'm sure I'll save on that and I may try that once we run out of strawberry.
I'm planning on keeping it pretty simple. Canning can get scary if you venture too far outside of fruits, tomatoes & pickles. Anything other than that requires a pressure canner and you have to be extra careful not give your family food posioning. I would love to be able to make my own stews (& maybe cream-o-soups) and can them and to be able to can green beans or the purple hulled peas I grow. But for now I'll just make fresh soup and freeze my green beans and dry out my purple hulled peas. We don't have a huge back yard and it's best to start small anyway. I can just focus on growing berries, tomatoes & cucumbers to make jellies, jams, salsas, tomato sauce, barbeque sauce, pickles, relish, etc. Really I think I'll have enough variety to keep me busy. Just be warned family, you may receive can goods from us for Christmas :)
Now I'm super excited about our tomatoes... if they will ever ripen!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Pizza Rolls... how to with pictures :)
Yum!
A local pizza place has these wonderful things call peperoni rolls. They even have a special night when they are only 50 cents each. Sounds like a great deal, huh? Well, it is... for eating out. But not for penny-pinchin-I-can-make-that-(almost)-from-scratch-for-less people like me! The cost per roll for mine are about 22 cents.
And honestly, I had the idea of making pizza pocket type contraptions to stash away in our freezer for quick lunches for Steven or for dinner-on-the-go-kind-of-nights. However, I've found that these are easier for me to make and a lot less messy to eat than pizza pockets (you don't really need a plate with these). I'm thinking we are for sure going to fill our freezer with these when we have our next baby.
I looked and looked online for a tutorial on how to wrap these suckers up... but the best one I found was this video (don't ask me how I found it). I did a couple of things differently than he did but in general (aside from the weirdness that is a vegan zombie) I think it's a pretty good tutorial.
Here is what you'll need...
Dough (I use artisan bread dough)
Extra flour for dusting
Some kind of sauce
A touch of water
Olive Oil
Cheese
Toppings (pepperoni, spinach, onion, chicken, etc)
Here's how to put them together...
Get you're dough out on a well floured surface.
And Roll it out like you are making a pizza.
I learned a little bit since I took these pictures and you don't want to roll the dough out too thin or the cheese will leak out. I've made them (several times) since this picture and have rolled the dough out a little thicker (roughly 3/8"... that's somewhere between 1/4" & 1/2") and it works much better. Sometimes cheese escapes, but most of the time it holds it all in.
Next Cut the pizza dough into slices
I was experimenting in these pictures. The optimum number of slices is 8! If you do 12 (like I did on the right) they come out too small. 8 is great. One pizza feeds our entire family for one meal... 4.5 pizza rolls for Steven, 2.5 for me, 1 for John. But make a second pizza so you will have left overs for the next day.
And then put on the toppings. Keep all the toppings in the wide section of the pizza slice. And keep all messy ingredients far away from little helpers... he kept bugging me for pepperoni slices.
Next, the tricky part. The roll!
So if you look at the bottom of the picture and work your way up you can see the stages.
The arrows are my attempts at making these pictures better. I've found that it's best to take the two flaps, in the very bottom slice, and bring them ALL the way over the toppings. Then press them down firmly (sealing it and preventing cheese escapes). Then start to roll. As I roll I like to seal the edges whenever I feel like there might be a spot where cheese will escape. It's not really as hard as I'm making it out to be... and if your cheese escapes you can just peel if off the cookie sheet and feed it to your cheese loving husband.
Then take some marinara and water it down a bit. Add some oil and whisk till it's all combined. Then paint over the pizza rolls on the baking sheet. I set mine on parchment because I put everything on parchment... I don't think I turn on the oven if I don't have parchment in the house.
The next batch I made was spinach. You can brush the top with olive oil and put a spinach leaf on it (or an our case a spinach leaf and a piece of cheese because I had to keep the plain spinach separate for John because he couldn't have dairy yet)... really just some way of identifying it so that you don't have to cut it open to figure out what is inside.
Like I said, they were a big hit and we have pretty much made them once a week since I took these pictures. You just can't beat feeding a small family of 3 for under $2!
A local pizza place has these wonderful things call peperoni rolls. They even have a special night when they are only 50 cents each. Sounds like a great deal, huh? Well, it is... for eating out. But not for penny-pinchin-I-can-make-that-(almost)-from-scratch-for-less people like me! The cost per roll for mine are about 22 cents.
And honestly, I had the idea of making pizza pocket type contraptions to stash away in our freezer for quick lunches for Steven or for dinner-on-the-go-kind-of-nights. However, I've found that these are easier for me to make and a lot less messy to eat than pizza pockets (you don't really need a plate with these). I'm thinking we are for sure going to fill our freezer with these when we have our next baby.
I looked and looked online for a tutorial on how to wrap these suckers up... but the best one I found was this video (don't ask me how I found it). I did a couple of things differently than he did but in general (aside from the weirdness that is a vegan zombie) I think it's a pretty good tutorial.
Here is what you'll need...
Dough (I use artisan bread dough)
Extra flour for dusting
Some kind of sauce
A touch of water
Olive Oil
Cheese
Toppings (pepperoni, spinach, onion, chicken, etc)
Here's how to put them together...
Get you're dough out on a well floured surface.
And Roll it out like you are making a pizza.
I learned a little bit since I took these pictures and you don't want to roll the dough out too thin or the cheese will leak out. I've made them (several times) since this picture and have rolled the dough out a little thicker (roughly 3/8"... that's somewhere between 1/4" & 1/2") and it works much better. Sometimes cheese escapes, but most of the time it holds it all in.
Next Cut the pizza dough into slices
I was experimenting in these pictures. The optimum number of slices is 8! If you do 12 (like I did on the right) they come out too small. 8 is great. One pizza feeds our entire family for one meal... 4.5 pizza rolls for Steven, 2.5 for me, 1 for John. But make a second pizza so you will have left overs for the next day.
And then put on the toppings. Keep all the toppings in the wide section of the pizza slice. And keep all messy ingredients far away from little helpers... he kept bugging me for pepperoni slices.
Next, the tricky part. The roll!
So if you look at the bottom of the picture and work your way up you can see the stages.
The arrows are my attempts at making these pictures better. I've found that it's best to take the two flaps, in the very bottom slice, and bring them ALL the way over the toppings. Then press them down firmly (sealing it and preventing cheese escapes). Then start to roll. As I roll I like to seal the edges whenever I feel like there might be a spot where cheese will escape. It's not really as hard as I'm making it out to be... and if your cheese escapes you can just peel if off the cookie sheet and feed it to your cheese loving husband.
Then take some marinara and water it down a bit. Add some oil and whisk till it's all combined. Then paint over the pizza rolls on the baking sheet. I set mine on parchment because I put everything on parchment... I don't think I turn on the oven if I don't have parchment in the house.
The next batch I made was spinach. You can brush the top with olive oil and put a spinach leaf on it (or an our case a spinach leaf and a piece of cheese because I had to keep the plain spinach separate for John because he couldn't have dairy yet)... really just some way of identifying it so that you don't have to cut it open to figure out what is inside.
Like I said, they were a big hit and we have pretty much made them once a week since I took these pictures. You just can't beat feeding a small family of 3 for under $2!
Friday, May 6, 2011
Blue Bell
I've been a bad blogger... I didn't make a special post for my son's birthday.
Shame on me.
We have visitors in and lots of fun activities for John's birthday.... some fun for him and some fun for me (like date night with Steven & getting compost for our gardens).
However, I HAD to share this immediately because it makes me laugh so hard (as you will see in the video).
We went to Blue Bell today because I wanted John's first ice cream to be there ... and well, I wanted to go! Anyway, here is an AWESOME video of the experience!
Shame on me.
We have visitors in and lots of fun activities for John's birthday.... some fun for him and some fun for me (like date night with Steven & getting compost for our gardens).
However, I HAD to share this immediately because it makes me laugh so hard (as you will see in the video).
We went to Blue Bell today because I wanted John's first ice cream to be there ... and well, I wanted to go! Anyway, here is an AWESOME video of the experience!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Wedding Shower Cake
I made a cake for a wedding shower today. The sweet couple go to my church and they are a lot of fun! I had so much fun thinking about them and praying for their marriage as I made the cake. Their wedding colors are teal & pink/red... and they also like vintage bikes. This is what I came up with!
Greatly inspired by i am baker's rose cake & this other cake she did. The only thing I'm not crazy about is how the pink/red came out (I went a little crazy with the spray stuff). I used the spray that she suggest, but she's right it looks best in white (see pictures below). I should have done pink & red icing roses but I though the spray would give a more textured look... I was wrong, now I know.
I love the way the teal cake came out. Both methods us A LOT of icing... especially the rose cake. On the teal cake I didn't quite make enough so it you look really closely you can see slight holes... I still really like it.
And what did I do with the extra icing?... teach my baby bad habits, of coarse!
Note to self: babies will scream when you stop the flow of icing... however, you can distract them with gold fishes :) ... they have a short memory.
So this was my morning. I had to take a picture because it made all parts of me happy. Icing a cake while my cute baby stared back at me. Lovely!
And here's a picture of the cake before I sprayed it. Also, lovely!
Greatly inspired by i am baker's rose cake & this other cake she did. The only thing I'm not crazy about is how the pink/red came out (I went a little crazy with the spray stuff). I used the spray that she suggest, but she's right it looks best in white (see pictures below). I should have done pink & red icing roses but I though the spray would give a more textured look... I was wrong, now I know.
I love the way the teal cake came out. Both methods us A LOT of icing... especially the rose cake. On the teal cake I didn't quite make enough so it you look really closely you can see slight holes... I still really like it.
And what did I do with the extra icing?... teach my baby bad habits, of coarse!
Note to self: babies will scream when you stop the flow of icing... however, you can distract them with gold fishes :) ... they have a short memory.
So this was my morning. I had to take a picture because it made all parts of me happy. Icing a cake while my cute baby stared back at me. Lovely!
And here's a picture of the cake before I sprayed it. Also, lovely!
Friday, April 29, 2011
Fishing
We went fishing out at Lake Somerville on Good Friday with Manly & Christine. Since it was Good Friday I guess everyone had the same idea that we had... the dock was PACKED! We were fishing for Crappie because it's that time of year, but we really would take whatever we could get.... we just want practice catching & cleaning fish... oh yeah, and eating :)
We headed out around 7am (we meant to head out earlier but Steven and I were dragging everyone behind) and got to actual fishing around 7:45am. We first tried the dock (with John in the stroller with a life jacket), but since it was packed (and windy) we decided to move to a little cove. This was a much better idea for multiple reasons. 1) The wind was being blocked by tall grass & small trees. & 2) The baby could get out of the stroller and explore (which really means eat) rocks and sand and even the shallow water.
John did excellent the entire time and we were out there about 4 hours. He did take a little nap while in my homemade ergo thingy... but when Manly caught the second (huge) fish, I got too excited and woke him up. I was also equipped with mad amounts of cheerios. I think next time to make it even better I might bring more snacks, some toys and a blanket to put over the pack & play. I think he would have taken an even better nap if I put him down in a pack & play.
So back to actual fishing. Not long after we first got set up, Manly caught a bass. It wasn't big enough to keep, but if was fun to watch him reel it in. Then I think Manly got the next hit... he had found a sweet spot that only his rod could reach really well. This fish was more of a fighter and it took him a while to get him in. Once we could see it we understood why. It was a big catfish! About 21 inches. I got the next bite... a smaller catfish, 14 inches. And then Christine got the next one... 16 inches. Christine's fish was fun. We were sitting together (probably talking about wedding stuff) when all of the sudden we saw a fish jump out of water and watched her bobber sink down! I was quite exciting. I was kinda surprised it was a catfish when we pulled him out because I've never seen them do that... but I guess he really wanted her minnow.
Around lunch time we cleaned them up and headed home. Christine & Manly had other plans, but that night at dinner I cooked all our fish. It made quite a bit. Enough to feed Steven and I three meals. The smaller fish were harder to clean, but Steven said they tasted better. I have never really tasted the dirty water taste that people talk about when it comes to catfish, but Steven said some parts of the bigger fish tasted that way. So I guess around 15 inches is ideal eating size. I also soaked them in milk to try to get the taste out (I've heard that can make them taste better).
It was a great morning! Here is a slide show of all our pictures.
We headed out around 7am (we meant to head out earlier but Steven and I were dragging everyone behind) and got to actual fishing around 7:45am. We first tried the dock (with John in the stroller with a life jacket), but since it was packed (and windy) we decided to move to a little cove. This was a much better idea for multiple reasons. 1) The wind was being blocked by tall grass & small trees. & 2) The baby could get out of the stroller and explore (which really means eat) rocks and sand and even the shallow water.
John did excellent the entire time and we were out there about 4 hours. He did take a little nap while in my homemade ergo thingy... but when Manly caught the second (huge) fish, I got too excited and woke him up. I was also equipped with mad amounts of cheerios. I think next time to make it even better I might bring more snacks, some toys and a blanket to put over the pack & play. I think he would have taken an even better nap if I put him down in a pack & play.
So back to actual fishing. Not long after we first got set up, Manly caught a bass. It wasn't big enough to keep, but if was fun to watch him reel it in. Then I think Manly got the next hit... he had found a sweet spot that only his rod could reach really well. This fish was more of a fighter and it took him a while to get him in. Once we could see it we understood why. It was a big catfish! About 21 inches. I got the next bite... a smaller catfish, 14 inches. And then Christine got the next one... 16 inches. Christine's fish was fun. We were sitting together (probably talking about wedding stuff) when all of the sudden we saw a fish jump out of water and watched her bobber sink down! I was quite exciting. I was kinda surprised it was a catfish when we pulled him out because I've never seen them do that... but I guess he really wanted her minnow.
Around lunch time we cleaned them up and headed home. Christine & Manly had other plans, but that night at dinner I cooked all our fish. It made quite a bit. Enough to feed Steven and I three meals. The smaller fish were harder to clean, but Steven said they tasted better. I have never really tasted the dirty water taste that people talk about when it comes to catfish, but Steven said some parts of the bigger fish tasted that way. So I guess around 15 inches is ideal eating size. I also soaked them in milk to try to get the taste out (I've heard that can make them taste better).
It was a great morning! Here is a slide show of all our pictures.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Edible Arrangement
I made this for Steven's family for Easter!
I wanted to see how hard it was to do an edible arrangements, and it turns out it wasn't very difficult. I, of coarse, watch a few videos on youtube first (this one was most helpful)... but it didn't take long to do and I had a lot of fun being creative while making it.
I added in some cake balls in the shape of eggs... some were like peeps popping out (I got the idea from i am baker), some were just plain eggs and some were just plain peeps. I like the way it turned out, but next time I will make a nest (out of pretzels & almond bark) for the peeps (& eggs) to sit in while I do the edible flowers around the nest. I wanted to give a healthy treat, but I had to include something not so healthy as well :)
Here are some more pictures!
Here is another easter idea that I want to do next year... also from i am baker... are you guys starting to see a trend here?... cuz I love that lady!
I wanted to see how hard it was to do an edible arrangements, and it turns out it wasn't very difficult. I, of coarse, watch a few videos on youtube first (this one was most helpful)... but it didn't take long to do and I had a lot of fun being creative while making it.
I added in some cake balls in the shape of eggs... some were like peeps popping out (I got the idea from i am baker), some were just plain eggs and some were just plain peeps. I like the way it turned out, but next time I will make a nest (out of pretzels & almond bark) for the peeps (& eggs) to sit in while I do the edible flowers around the nest. I wanted to give a healthy treat, but I had to include something not so healthy as well :)
Here are some more pictures!
Here is another easter idea that I want to do next year... also from i am baker... are you guys starting to see a trend here?... cuz I love that lady!
Monday, April 18, 2011
Spring Harvesting
I like harvesting things from our backyard. It makes me happy.
Our faithful spinach was showing signs of the end of it's life so I pulled it up last week. Now remember I planted something like nine spinach plants... and my advice to anyone harvesting large amounts of spinach is, "only harvest and deal with one plant at a time!" I love growing greens, but it is work getting them from grown to plate. I was up late at night dealing with this pile of spinach...
But I'm not complaining. I am grateful for the spinach God gave us... pretty much for free. But I need to document the ridiculousness that is this pile of spinach so that I can remember next year to pull up one plant at a time. I started washing the spinach in the sink, but it ended up in the bath tub because I had so much... it was a mess. I wanted to just go to bed, but I also wanted to get it put up in the freezer before it wilted. Lesson learned! And now we have spinach for pizzas & casseroles for the next two or three months.
We also harvested the carrots and some radishes this weekend. The radishes are pretty straight forward for me. I've grown them before, they don't take long to grow, and they are very satisfying... just not to eat. I did try one after I harvested it and, yes, I still don't like radishes. I gave them to friend at church. We have a few more that aren't big enough to pull up yet and Steven wants those, so I'll leave them for him.
The carrots were a first for me. And while I don't think it's necessarily cost effective to grow your own carrots, they were fun and I think I will continue to do a few each year for fun and practice. It was kinda interesting because the carrot tops I thought were for sure done produced crazy looking carrots. The tops I thought weren't even close were some of the best looking carrots. I need to do some more reading on it, but I think getting right there in the dirt is really the best way to learn.
Here's our harvest. I cooked the carrots for John and he's eating them today. There was only about 1/2 a sandwich bag full of carrots after I got them cleaned, but that's just the perfect amount for a growing toddler.
Our faithful spinach was showing signs of the end of it's life so I pulled it up last week. Now remember I planted something like nine spinach plants... and my advice to anyone harvesting large amounts of spinach is, "only harvest and deal with one plant at a time!" I love growing greens, but it is work getting them from grown to plate. I was up late at night dealing with this pile of spinach...
But I'm not complaining. I am grateful for the spinach God gave us... pretty much for free. But I need to document the ridiculousness that is this pile of spinach so that I can remember next year to pull up one plant at a time. I started washing the spinach in the sink, but it ended up in the bath tub because I had so much... it was a mess. I wanted to just go to bed, but I also wanted to get it put up in the freezer before it wilted. Lesson learned! And now we have spinach for pizzas & casseroles for the next two or three months.
We also harvested the carrots and some radishes this weekend. The radishes are pretty straight forward for me. I've grown them before, they don't take long to grow, and they are very satisfying... just not to eat. I did try one after I harvested it and, yes, I still don't like radishes. I gave them to friend at church. We have a few more that aren't big enough to pull up yet and Steven wants those, so I'll leave them for him.
The carrots were a first for me. And while I don't think it's necessarily cost effective to grow your own carrots, they were fun and I think I will continue to do a few each year for fun and practice. It was kinda interesting because the carrot tops I thought were for sure done produced crazy looking carrots. The tops I thought weren't even close were some of the best looking carrots. I need to do some more reading on it, but I think getting right there in the dirt is really the best way to learn.
Here's our harvest. I cooked the carrots for John and he's eating them today. There was only about 1/2 a sandwich bag full of carrots after I got them cleaned, but that's just the perfect amount for a growing toddler.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Faith Cake
My lovely sister-in-law sent me a fun tutorial of a cake. I decided to make it for a friend's birthday. It didn't turn out quite as nice looking as the tutorial (of coarse)... the vertical part of my cross was really fat, so if you make this cake make the center hole smaller than you think it needs to be. It tasted great, though! And it turned out to be some of my best cake writing, ever!
You can read the tutorial over at i am baker.
I love this last picture because of Caleb shoving cake in his mouth. I hope he wasn't up all night!
You can read the tutorial over at i am baker.
I love this last picture because of Caleb shoving cake in his mouth. I hope he wasn't up all night!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Baby/Toddler Food
With John’s birthday coming up I find myself in amazement of how fast it has gone by. We were giving him some food last night and I thought to myself, “I can’t believe he’s eating table food already. Wasn’t I just pureeing and freezing ice cubes of squash & green beans yesterday?”
Five months ago isn’t yesterday, but it isn’t that long either. I didn’t realize how quickly they go from Momma-waiting-for-an-open-mouth-to-put-plain-puree-in-so-they-can-spit-it-out to self-feeding-finger-food-loving-happy-almost-toddler-with-a-very-messy-high-chair.
Honestly, I’m kinda glad it went by quickly because I really like where we are now. Purees are a lot of work and feeding John now is simple & a lot quicker. With our next baby I may lean more toward the Baby Led Weaning method mentioned by Mackenzie. I’m not sure yet, but I like the idea of semi-skipping the puree stage.
So where are we now?
Steamed Vegetables, Some Fruits, Rice Patties, Pasta Creations, Pancakes/Breads and lightly sweetened cookies.
Seems like a lot of work, but I promise it’s not...
Steamed Veggies:
John is a great veggie eater… and I’m thankful! As long as the pieces are big enough he will try it (He has a hard time picking up peas & black beans and ends up smearing them all over his tray). I’m not sure if the good-veggie-eating-trend will continue as he grows into toddler-hood, but I’m planning on continuing to offer a wide variety of food. As of last month I started adding seasoning to his steamed veggies… simple stuff like dried herbs, garlic powder and cinnamon and a little olive oil to help it stick on and give him some healthy fat. I like to take the help from the frozen food aisle here and I pick up frozen broccoli & green beans for John all the time. However, raw cubed squash, sweet potatoes and carrots freeze nicely so I stock up when they go on sale in the produce aisle.
Some Fruit:
Fruit is actually a little bit of a struggle for us. I’m not too worried about it because I don’t know many people that hate fruit. From the beginning John hasn’t been that big on bananas, but he does love apple/pear type things. I used to feed him applesauce as a treat, but he doesn’t let me feed it to him anymore so now he eats really ripe pears. He loves pears! I tried strawberries & watermelon recently but I don’t think he understood that it was food… I was even showing him that I was eating it too. Honestly, I think fruit is too slippery for him. He very independent when it comes to solids and I think if he has to fight it, he just doesn’t. Maybe when he figures out how to use a spoon he will discover a world of fruit.
Rice Patties:
These are fun. Two of my friends make these for their toddlers and I had to try it. I tweaked the recipe a bit (no cheese or meat) because John can’t have dairy till he is one and he really doesn’t need meat… he’s growing at a great rate (although we do give him cubed chicken occasionally). I substituted cooked black beans in for a protein source. I was a little nervous about the egg, but we are so close to being a year old and John hasn’t shown any signs of any allergies so I decided it was okay. Mine turn out pretty green because of the spinach/broccoli puree, but John loves them. They freeze well too. I always taste them as a rule of thumb… I don’t want to feed him something super disgusting. This is a little extra work and not something I normally cook for us, but making a large batch that last us a couple of weeks isn’t that hard.
Pasta Creation:
This kid is his Dad’s son. He loves it when pasta hits his tray. I like to use the whole wheat rigatoni. It’s easy for him to grab and the little swirls hold extra sauce. For sauce I started using tomato, but with John’s yeast problems he couldn’t handle much of that. Recently I tried carrot puree… I just seasoned it like it was tomato puree (Italian herbs, garlic powder, onion powder, etc) and John liked it. I need to add in some veggies (like zucchini or broccoli), but I forgot to that this last time. He gets extra messy when eating this, but if we are at home and don’t have much on the agenda I don’t mind.
Pancakes/Breads:
I first started John with pancakes for breakfast but I haven’t made those in a while… however, they are still a hit (all around… we like those too). And when we have bread at dinner, John loves to sample. And he gets really excited if he sees a tortilla. I gave him some for dinner once with a rice patty and he ate the tortilla and absolutely rejected the rice patty… now we give him his veggie first and then his carbs.
Lightly Sweetened Cookies:
When I was running low on baby friendly options at the house I gave John some of his Dad’s Animals Crackers. Of course he loved them like every other baby out there, so they became a semi-staple in his diet. Animal Crackers, Buddy Grahams, Cheerios, Puffs, etc. They are great if we are out and John is having a particularly crabby day… but I try not to rely on them for that. And they are also wonderful if I need a quick meal for John that doesn’t require the much clean up.
I’m not the strictest parent when it comes to sugar/salt, but I did want a better option for all the animal-cracker-type things he eats. I found this recipe on Wholesomebabyfood.com and decided to try it. It made like 3 dozen teething cookie size sticks…. but I think John at five of them in one sitting. I also used carrot puree because I didn’t have any bananas on hand. They are softer than teething cookies but a good alternate to cookies/cracker type things. They are a bit messy so I may still use cheerios/animal crackers when we are out… but there are a lot of recipes on the wholesome baby food website so I’m sure with more experimenting I’ll find a cleaner alternative.
Here is our (wheat, dairy & egg free) cookie recipe.
Ingredients
1 c quick oats
1 c ground oats (grind oats and make a coarse oat flour)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t cinnamon or ginger or cardamom
1/4 t nutmeg
1 t baking powder
1 c (~2) overripe bananas, mashed
1 t vanilla extract
3 T oil of choice
Directions:
Mix all ingredients and put into a pastry bag (I used a large zip lock bag). Cut opening and pipe mixture onto parchment paper or a greased cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 min at 350.
I really wish I would have tried this sooner. I was hesitant to try it because I thought it would be a choking hazard, but they turned out quite soft and I would be comfortable giving this to a 6 or 7 month old… and it’s great because it doesn’t have wheat, dairy or egg in it.
Anyway, that is a pretty good summary of where we are when it comes to baby food now. I hope I gave you some good ideas. And hopefully I can find this post again when our next baby is 6 months old! :)
Five months ago isn’t yesterday, but it isn’t that long either. I didn’t realize how quickly they go from Momma-waiting-for-an-open-mouth-to-put-plain-puree-in-so-they-can-spit-it-out to self-feeding-finger-food-loving-happy-almost-toddler-with-a-very-messy-high-chair.
Honestly, I’m kinda glad it went by quickly because I really like where we are now. Purees are a lot of work and feeding John now is simple & a lot quicker. With our next baby I may lean more toward the Baby Led Weaning method mentioned by Mackenzie. I’m not sure yet, but I like the idea of semi-skipping the puree stage.
So where are we now?
Steamed Vegetables, Some Fruits, Rice Patties, Pasta Creations, Pancakes/Breads and lightly sweetened cookies.
Seems like a lot of work, but I promise it’s not...
Steamed Veggies:
John is a great veggie eater… and I’m thankful! As long as the pieces are big enough he will try it (He has a hard time picking up peas & black beans and ends up smearing them all over his tray). I’m not sure if the good-veggie-eating-trend will continue as he grows into toddler-hood, but I’m planning on continuing to offer a wide variety of food. As of last month I started adding seasoning to his steamed veggies… simple stuff like dried herbs, garlic powder and cinnamon and a little olive oil to help it stick on and give him some healthy fat. I like to take the help from the frozen food aisle here and I pick up frozen broccoli & green beans for John all the time. However, raw cubed squash, sweet potatoes and carrots freeze nicely so I stock up when they go on sale in the produce aisle.
Some Fruit:
Fruit is actually a little bit of a struggle for us. I’m not too worried about it because I don’t know many people that hate fruit. From the beginning John hasn’t been that big on bananas, but he does love apple/pear type things. I used to feed him applesauce as a treat, but he doesn’t let me feed it to him anymore so now he eats really ripe pears. He loves pears! I tried strawberries & watermelon recently but I don’t think he understood that it was food… I was even showing him that I was eating it too. Honestly, I think fruit is too slippery for him. He very independent when it comes to solids and I think if he has to fight it, he just doesn’t. Maybe when he figures out how to use a spoon he will discover a world of fruit.
Rice Patties:
These are fun. Two of my friends make these for their toddlers and I had to try it. I tweaked the recipe a bit (no cheese or meat) because John can’t have dairy till he is one and he really doesn’t need meat… he’s growing at a great rate (although we do give him cubed chicken occasionally). I substituted cooked black beans in for a protein source. I was a little nervous about the egg, but we are so close to being a year old and John hasn’t shown any signs of any allergies so I decided it was okay. Mine turn out pretty green because of the spinach/broccoli puree, but John loves them. They freeze well too. I always taste them as a rule of thumb… I don’t want to feed him something super disgusting. This is a little extra work and not something I normally cook for us, but making a large batch that last us a couple of weeks isn’t that hard.
Pasta Creation:
This kid is his Dad’s son. He loves it when pasta hits his tray. I like to use the whole wheat rigatoni. It’s easy for him to grab and the little swirls hold extra sauce. For sauce I started using tomato, but with John’s yeast problems he couldn’t handle much of that. Recently I tried carrot puree… I just seasoned it like it was tomato puree (Italian herbs, garlic powder, onion powder, etc) and John liked it. I need to add in some veggies (like zucchini or broccoli), but I forgot to that this last time. He gets extra messy when eating this, but if we are at home and don’t have much on the agenda I don’t mind.
Pancakes/Breads:
I first started John with pancakes for breakfast but I haven’t made those in a while… however, they are still a hit (all around… we like those too). And when we have bread at dinner, John loves to sample. And he gets really excited if he sees a tortilla. I gave him some for dinner once with a rice patty and he ate the tortilla and absolutely rejected the rice patty… now we give him his veggie first and then his carbs.
Lightly Sweetened Cookies:
When I was running low on baby friendly options at the house I gave John some of his Dad’s Animals Crackers. Of course he loved them like every other baby out there, so they became a semi-staple in his diet. Animal Crackers, Buddy Grahams, Cheerios, Puffs, etc. They are great if we are out and John is having a particularly crabby day… but I try not to rely on them for that. And they are also wonderful if I need a quick meal for John that doesn’t require the much clean up.
I’m not the strictest parent when it comes to sugar/salt, but I did want a better option for all the animal-cracker-type things he eats. I found this recipe on Wholesomebabyfood.com and decided to try it. It made like 3 dozen teething cookie size sticks…. but I think John at five of them in one sitting. I also used carrot puree because I didn’t have any bananas on hand. They are softer than teething cookies but a good alternate to cookies/cracker type things. They are a bit messy so I may still use cheerios/animal crackers when we are out… but there are a lot of recipes on the wholesome baby food website so I’m sure with more experimenting I’ll find a cleaner alternative.
Here is our (wheat, dairy & egg free) cookie recipe.
Ingredients
1 c quick oats
1 c ground oats (grind oats and make a coarse oat flour)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t cinnamon or ginger or cardamom
1/4 t nutmeg
1 t baking powder
1 c (~2) overripe bananas, mashed
1 t vanilla extract
3 T oil of choice
Directions:
Mix all ingredients and put into a pastry bag (I used a large zip lock bag). Cut opening and pipe mixture onto parchment paper or a greased cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 min at 350.
I really wish I would have tried this sooner. I was hesitant to try it because I thought it would be a choking hazard, but they turned out quite soft and I would be comfortable giving this to a 6 or 7 month old… and it’s great because it doesn’t have wheat, dairy or egg in it.
Anyway, that is a pretty good summary of where we are when it comes to baby food now. I hope I gave you some good ideas. And hopefully I can find this post again when our next baby is 6 months old! :)
Monday, March 21, 2011
Getting The Gardens Going
I'm so excited about our yard/gardens this year. I think I'm most excited because I'm not going to be pregnant or have a newborn this year so I will be able to do more in it. And of course we have big plans!
I use our Producers Co-op schedule for planting, and just browsing it you can pretty much be growing something year round down here. March is pretty active on the schedule so we jumped into gear and grabbed a few plants from the Co-op. Then with a little 'trading/exchanging' with some friends we ended up we a good garden this year.
Here is a video I took the weekend we planted everything. I've decided that videos are a great way to document our yard... I'll have another update later on this summer with the progress.
Since the video I've done a bit more planting. AND this weekend we were blessed with FREE t-post to stake our tomatoes. I prefer cages, but since I'm at home more I'll have the time to tie up our tomatoes. I've read that if you keep the sucker shoots trimmed on your tomatoes the plant will grow bigger tomatoes... I will test that theory this year.
Here's a picture (that I drew in five minutes) of our yard and a list of what we've got (or hope to get) growing this year.
Front of House
-pansies (soon to be done)
-day lilies (just emerging)
-perennial grass
-dwarf dahlias?
The Pansies and Perennial grass was purchased with fun money (gift card from Christmas). However the Day Lilies were planted last year. They didn't establish as well as I would like so I might fill in with Dwarf Dahlias.
Deck Area
-obedient plant (invasive)
-gerber daisies
-dwarf dahlias?
-honey suckle
The goal for the deck is shade & pretty color. Steven found honey suckle on sale last year and we have been training them to grow up to cover the deck. They are native to this area so they are doing great. Along the path from the gate to the back yard are some transplants I planted last year. I planted just a few (6-7) and watered semi-regularly and they TOOK off. If you are looking for a good tall invasive plant, Obedient Plant is the one for you! And finally I have some very faithful Gerber Daisies that I think I got three years ago. They continue to come back and I continue to welcome them. I've had trouble with other plants in this area so I'll probably throw in some dwarf dahlias to fill in around the Gerber Daisies.
'Pepper Garden'
-peppers
-easter lilies
-zinnias
We call this area our pepper garden because it's where our peppers have lived the last few years. I need to rotate something else there, but was lazy this year. The Easter Lilies are established next to the AC... courtesy of Steven's family and their church! Like I said in the video it's a deep bed so it's hard to weed in the back. I planted zinnias this weekend to fill in. Zinnias are annuals (have to be planted every year) but like the Gerber Daisies if you crush the spent flowers and leave them in the bed they will come back year after year. I hope to get Zinnias going really well in the Pepper Garden.
Free Rangin' Yard Plants
-sunflowers
-purple hauled peas
-bush beans
-squash
-watermelon/pumpkin
Some things I can grow right in the grass; sunflowers, squash & pumpkins for sure. And some things I'm not sure if I can grow in the grass, but I have seed (which are inexpensive) and I don't mind experimenting. I think the real key with "free rangin' yard plants" is lots of water... and no needy plants (like say corn that needs lots of nitrogen & tomatoes which can be high maintenance). I haven't done watermelon in the grass and have a feeling it won't do well, but I'm still going to try because I simply don't have room to do it any where else. Hopefully my water theory will come through for me on this. The Peas & Beans are legumes (take nitrogen from the air) so it should work out well... provided I keep up with watering. Watering is HUGE for Texas.
Box Garden
-spinach (almost done)
-tomatoes
-carrots
-radishes
-eggplant
-cucumber
And my beloved box garden. If you don't have at least one raised bed you should... unless you have enough land to till up the soil in mounds... I can't wait till we can do that! I love to grow spinach. I think I counted like 9 plants for this year and we still can eat it as fast as it grows! Sadly I had to pull out two plants this past weekend due to flowers forming... sad sad day... but September will be here soon and we can plant more spinach! The tomatoes & eggplant are doing well. Last year I had the eggplant over with the pepper and kinda forgot about it till the fall... we had a great fall eggplant harvest, though. The tomatoes are slightly rotated... but only slightly because we just don't have that much room. The carrots are just for fun, so I'm not really upset that Miss M & Zuzu went through them while in the back yard. :) The radishes are also for fun. I don't like radishes, but they grow quickly and are fun... they are like the instant gratification of gardening. And cucumbers are kinda an experiment. I think two years ago I tired cucumbers and failed. I got close, but failed in the end. I'm growing them from seed so the failure won't hurt as much.
I love gardening! Can you tell? But seriously, as soon as you get used to fresh home grown tomatoes it is too hard to eat over priced bad tomatoes from the grocery store. I also love gardening because it just helps me feel closer to God. We have such great bonding moments in the yard. It's quite and a great time for me to think/meditate. And of all the times I've heard God speak directly to me it happens most while I'm working in the gardens. And with all the agricultural references in the Bible I have a lot to think & meditate on.
Happy Gardening!
I use our Producers Co-op schedule for planting, and just browsing it you can pretty much be growing something year round down here. March is pretty active on the schedule so we jumped into gear and grabbed a few plants from the Co-op. Then with a little 'trading/exchanging' with some friends we ended up we a good garden this year.
Here is a video I took the weekend we planted everything. I've decided that videos are a great way to document our yard... I'll have another update later on this summer with the progress.
Since the video I've done a bit more planting. AND this weekend we were blessed with FREE t-post to stake our tomatoes. I prefer cages, but since I'm at home more I'll have the time to tie up our tomatoes. I've read that if you keep the sucker shoots trimmed on your tomatoes the plant will grow bigger tomatoes... I will test that theory this year.
Here's a picture (that I drew in five minutes) of our yard and a list of what we've got (or hope to get) growing this year.
Front of House
-pansies (soon to be done)
-day lilies (just emerging)
-perennial grass
-dwarf dahlias?
The Pansies and Perennial grass was purchased with fun money (gift card from Christmas). However the Day Lilies were planted last year. They didn't establish as well as I would like so I might fill in with Dwarf Dahlias.
Deck Area
-obedient plant (invasive)
-gerber daisies
-dwarf dahlias?
-honey suckle
The goal for the deck is shade & pretty color. Steven found honey suckle on sale last year and we have been training them to grow up to cover the deck. They are native to this area so they are doing great. Along the path from the gate to the back yard are some transplants I planted last year. I planted just a few (6-7) and watered semi-regularly and they TOOK off. If you are looking for a good tall invasive plant, Obedient Plant is the one for you! And finally I have some very faithful Gerber Daisies that I think I got three years ago. They continue to come back and I continue to welcome them. I've had trouble with other plants in this area so I'll probably throw in some dwarf dahlias to fill in around the Gerber Daisies.
'Pepper Garden'
-peppers
-easter lilies
-zinnias
We call this area our pepper garden because it's where our peppers have lived the last few years. I need to rotate something else there, but was lazy this year. The Easter Lilies are established next to the AC... courtesy of Steven's family and their church! Like I said in the video it's a deep bed so it's hard to weed in the back. I planted zinnias this weekend to fill in. Zinnias are annuals (have to be planted every year) but like the Gerber Daisies if you crush the spent flowers and leave them in the bed they will come back year after year. I hope to get Zinnias going really well in the Pepper Garden.
Free Rangin' Yard Plants
-sunflowers
-purple hauled peas
-bush beans
-squash
-watermelon/pumpkin
Some things I can grow right in the grass; sunflowers, squash & pumpkins for sure. And some things I'm not sure if I can grow in the grass, but I have seed (which are inexpensive) and I don't mind experimenting. I think the real key with "free rangin' yard plants" is lots of water... and no needy plants (like say corn that needs lots of nitrogen & tomatoes which can be high maintenance). I haven't done watermelon in the grass and have a feeling it won't do well, but I'm still going to try because I simply don't have room to do it any where else. Hopefully my water theory will come through for me on this. The Peas & Beans are legumes (take nitrogen from the air) so it should work out well... provided I keep up with watering. Watering is HUGE for Texas.
Box Garden
-spinach (almost done)
-tomatoes
-carrots
-radishes
-eggplant
-cucumber
And my beloved box garden. If you don't have at least one raised bed you should... unless you have enough land to till up the soil in mounds... I can't wait till we can do that! I love to grow spinach. I think I counted like 9 plants for this year and we still can eat it as fast as it grows! Sadly I had to pull out two plants this past weekend due to flowers forming... sad sad day... but September will be here soon and we can plant more spinach! The tomatoes & eggplant are doing well. Last year I had the eggplant over with the pepper and kinda forgot about it till the fall... we had a great fall eggplant harvest, though. The tomatoes are slightly rotated... but only slightly because we just don't have that much room. The carrots are just for fun, so I'm not really upset that Miss M & Zuzu went through them while in the back yard. :) The radishes are also for fun. I don't like radishes, but they grow quickly and are fun... they are like the instant gratification of gardening. And cucumbers are kinda an experiment. I think two years ago I tired cucumbers and failed. I got close, but failed in the end. I'm growing them from seed so the failure won't hurt as much.
I love gardening! Can you tell? But seriously, as soon as you get used to fresh home grown tomatoes it is too hard to eat over priced bad tomatoes from the grocery store. I also love gardening because it just helps me feel closer to God. We have such great bonding moments in the yard. It's quite and a great time for me to think/meditate. And of all the times I've heard God speak directly to me it happens most while I'm working in the gardens. And with all the agricultural references in the Bible I have a lot to think & meditate on.
Happy Gardening!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Baked Oatmeal
I follow this blog called "eat real." I started following it about a year ago when I was dabbling in making everything from scratch. And while I do still enjoy making most things from the basics, I have come to realize that it's more important to get dinner on the table... so every once and a while I grab that can of cream 'o' fill-in-the-blank soup and get dinner done.
I have still found my 'from the basics' blog useful. I find that she has creative ways to get a wider variety of food in your family's diet... even if they are strange at times. Last week she posted a recipe for Baked Oatmeal. I was intrigued. So I mixed up some for breakfast for Saturday morning.
It was DELICIOUS!!! I loved the texture! 'Soft not gloppy' just like she says on her blog! I'm an oatmeal fan, but a bowl of the mushy porridge doesn't always make my appetite do a back flip. However the baked version was like happiness in my mouth. The top is kinda like a soft granola and the inside is warm, soft and moist like an oatmeal cinnamon brownie. Delightful!
We put 'cream' (well, half & half because it's what we had) on top of it like the website called for, but it didn't really add much to the dish.
The recipe made about four servings... really 3 if you have a large husband... but needless to say we had left overs. So I thought it would be a good experiment to see how well it re-heated.
The next day (today) I reheated the oatmeal (~1.5 minutes in the microwave)... and 'Oh My!' still happiness in my mouth! I was SHOCKED that it reheated as well as she said it would. Even better we spotted some yogurt in the back of the fridge and dolloped some onto our spilt left over serving of baked oatmeal. AMAZINGNESS!!!!
YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS RECIPE!!!
I'm planning on making some to store for the weekdays. This will give us another option instead of the whole wheat apple muffins... which get old after a while. So excited!
Eat Real is the website where I found honey-butter popcorn. Really similar to kettle corn. I made this for homegroup once and we decided that honey and butter were made for each other. God created honey and said, “It is not good for honey to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (p.s. God didn't really say that)
However, eat real is also where I discovered Kale Chip. I've tried and tried to like Kale to a no avail. I've since given up on kale and decided that spinach is good enough.
Happy Experimenting in the Kitchen!
I have still found my 'from the basics' blog useful. I find that she has creative ways to get a wider variety of food in your family's diet... even if they are strange at times. Last week she posted a recipe for Baked Oatmeal. I was intrigued. So I mixed up some for breakfast for Saturday morning.
It was DELICIOUS!!! I loved the texture! 'Soft not gloppy' just like she says on her blog! I'm an oatmeal fan, but a bowl of the mushy porridge doesn't always make my appetite do a back flip. However the baked version was like happiness in my mouth. The top is kinda like a soft granola and the inside is warm, soft and moist like an oatmeal cinnamon brownie. Delightful!
We put 'cream' (well, half & half because it's what we had) on top of it like the website called for, but it didn't really add much to the dish.
The recipe made about four servings... really 3 if you have a large husband... but needless to say we had left overs. So I thought it would be a good experiment to see how well it re-heated.
The next day (today) I reheated the oatmeal (~1.5 minutes in the microwave)... and 'Oh My!' still happiness in my mouth! I was SHOCKED that it reheated as well as she said it would. Even better we spotted some yogurt in the back of the fridge and dolloped some onto our spilt left over serving of baked oatmeal. AMAZINGNESS!!!!
YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS RECIPE!!!
I'm planning on making some to store for the weekdays. This will give us another option instead of the whole wheat apple muffins... which get old after a while. So excited!
Eat Real is the website where I found honey-butter popcorn. Really similar to kettle corn. I made this for homegroup once and we decided that honey and butter were made for each other. God created honey and said, “It is not good for honey to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (p.s. God didn't really say that)
However, eat real is also where I discovered Kale Chip. I've tried and tried to like Kale to a no avail. I've since given up on kale and decided that spinach is good enough.
Happy Experimenting in the Kitchen!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Valentine's Day
We had a wonderful Valentine's Day! We stayed in this year (we didn't even camp!) and I really enjoyed it.
Steven (& John, I guess) made this card for me...
soooo sweet!
And Steven made a yummy dinner. Coq au vin. It sounds more complicated than it actually was. It's a French dish that means chicken cooked in wine! The great thing was that he came home and cooked, while I sat on the couch and knit! It was truly perfection because John took a nap until dinner was ready.
While photographing the table, John crawled over with a sock in his mouth. I don't know who gave him the idea, but he realized that the mouth is a great storage place when darting across the room. What was he darting for, you ask? The table cloth, of coarse!
I love that kid!
Steven (& John, I guess) made this card for me...
soooo sweet!
And Steven made a yummy dinner. Coq au vin. It sounds more complicated than it actually was. It's a French dish that means chicken cooked in wine! The great thing was that he came home and cooked, while I sat on the couch and knit! It was truly perfection because John took a nap until dinner was ready.
While photographing the table, John crawled over with a sock in his mouth. I don't know who gave him the idea, but he realized that the mouth is a great storage place when darting across the room. What was he darting for, you ask? The table cloth, of coarse!
I love that kid!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
Meet Breakfast. Swindell style.
(I'm such a Pioneer Woman wanna be)
Steven loves a quick breakfast. And I love anything other than cereal (or spaghetti) for breakfast... cereal can quite expensive. I started making granola bars & muffins & other baked goods to keep on hand. Our current favorite is Apple Muffins.
The recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen. The only thing I modified was making all the flour whole wheat. Muffins can really hold up to the extra weight. I also usually use the ol' milk & vinegar trick for the buttermilk as we rarely keep buttermilk on hand. I've tried to decrease the sugar, but the hubsters strongly protested it.
Anyway. I hope you're enjoying your breakfast!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes
I made this as "baby food" but I must tell you, I've eaten my fair share and they are quite hard to resist nibbling on when I give them to John. I wanted to make a whole wheat and/or oatmeal pancake to feed John for breakfast so I went recipe hunting on the Internet. I modified this recipe, but Steven insist that I make up the original for us sometime.
Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats (cooks in 5 minutes type)
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups skim milk
2 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons olive oil
Directions
1. Combine oats, flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Set bowl aside.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the skim milk, eggs, and olive oil.
3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, being careful not to over mix the batter.
4. Let batter stand for 10-20 minutes (very important step as it softens the oats).
5. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray.
6. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet (you may have to spread the batter around a bit as the batter is kinda thick), and cook until bubbles appear on the surface.
7. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side, about 2 minutes per side.
They were a hit all around. Steven thought they needed some syrup, but John scarfed them down. I was kinda surprised because they don't have much sugar in them, but sure enough he was putting them in his mouth faster than I preferred. I was trying to get a good photo, but of coarse I took like 20. Here are some of them...
"I don't know, Mom..."
"Yah, I like them!"
"See I put them in my mouth like this."
"I can put them in my hair too!"
"Sometimes they are hard to grab. I'm new at this so I have to concentrate."
"I know it's only one piece, but I have to use both hands."
"And leave one hand in your mouth while you chew. It's a must!"
"Even while smiling, keep your hand in your mouth."
"Okay. All done!"
Friday, December 17, 2010
Cuteness on a Toothpick
I saw this on allrecipes.com & I had to make it for my MOPS' Christmas party. I'm not going to lie, the penguins took a while... but I did it while watching Rachel Ray so it went by quickly... but it still took an hour. The cheese ball igloo only took about five seconds, so I guess it made up for it. All that to say they were a big hit! If you like olives you will love devouring these cute little guys!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Finger Foods
I've been trying to encourage John to feed himself. I'd gave up on it a couple of weeks ago, then I saw him put something in his mouth while playing on the ground... so I figured it was time to try again.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Homemade Baby Food... or at least my version
I'm actually having a lot fun making John's food. I do still buy a few jars & cereal for emergencies, but I've made most of it. It's so easy and I like making up little names for the creations I feed him... peaches & cream oatmeal, not-so-spiced apples, orange melody (stole that from a friend), cream of green soup, etc.
I've made oatmeal, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, avocado and banana. I like the puree-and-freeze-in-ice-cube-trays method. When it's time for him to eat I take out a cube, microwave it, mix in a little milk if it needs it & serve! You can also take out a few cubes the night before and put them in the fridge to thaw, but I can never remember to do that.
I even freeze some jarred baby food into cubes. The jars say to use within two days... well, John can't eat a whole jar at one or even two sittings yet. I like freezing them because then I can give him a variety of food without worrying about using up containers before they grow bacteria. He eats four times a day and I give him some solids at each feeding except the last. He has oatmeal & fruit for breakfast, usually something orange for lunch and someone green for dinner. That is what works best for John and I but it's definitely not the only method out there for feeding your baby.
Here is a picture of our cubes. The bags are of things I've mostly made myself. The tray is full of jarred fruits (peaches, pears, prunes & a mixed fruit) to go with John's breakfasts. I haven't done the cost comparison on fruit yet so I just bought some jars the last time I was at the store. I'm sure I'm saving money making his veggies, but it may be pretty close when it comes to fruit and I was being lazy.
For oatmeal I would suggest just buying the dehydrated stuff at the store. We had some steel cut oats that I wanted to use, but it's a lot of work to turn them into powder and cook them. I want to use them up, but it's taking FOREVER!!! He eat like one cube of oatmeal a day. If you are really interested in how to make your own oatmeal you can check out wholesome baby food. For the little amount that John eats I don't mind spending a little extra. Plus homemade oatmeal has to be re-heated with formula to return it to it's original form. It can be done, it's just not the most convenient thing in the world.
For Squash & Sweet Potatoes, I roast and mash (not even puree) them into the cubes. They are so soft from roasting and John can handle well mashed things.
For Green Beans & Peas I buy the frozen package and boil them until they are soft. Then I put them in our blender and puree till they are very smooth. I put in all the cooking liquid (it's where the vitamins go while boiling) and sometimes even add more water. Our blender does a better job of it than our food processor. John wouldn't eat the green beans if I made them in the food processor, but once I figured out how to make them smoother, he got on board.
For Apples, I get the unsweetened BIG jar of apple sauce. A friend told me about it and it is DEFINITELY cheaper!!! Just make sure you grab the one that's ingredients say only apples & water. I freeze apple sauce too! John actually really likes to eat frozen apples in his little feeder thingy. After only one time with green beans he lost interest in the feeder... then I put in apples and he was a lot happier to use it. Apples are better anyways, they don't stain like green beans do... I think all of our bibs have green bean stains on them.
And for avocado & bananas I slice them and put them in ice cube trays to freeze individually before I toss them into a bag. I don't have a picture of it above because I needed to get some more avocado & bananas when I took this picture. John wasn't actually a fan avocado or banana at first. I was persistent with the avocado and I think he like it's now... or at least tolerates it. Bananas stop him up pretty bad so he doesn't actually eat much of those.
Next up is finger foods! I'm really excited about finger foods! We still have about a month before John is suppose to be able to do finger foods, but I'm willing to give them to him whenever he wants to try. He tries to uses his hands to feed himself anyway, so why not use it to my advantage?
I actually tried a few days ago with small pieces of avocado... he manged to get them in his hands but got distracted by his thumb when his hand got close to his mouth... the result... a hand full of avocado while sucking on his thumb.
I'm sure he'll have it figured out soon but right now he doesn't quite get it. Really we need high chair with a tray before we can do finger foods anyway. For some reason his boppy tray has become a toy so I can't use it when I feed him... it's too distracting.
In addition to feeding himself the food gets a lot easier when he can do finger foods. I'll have to do more chopping and less pureeing, but for some reason that seems easier to me. And I really like the idea of feeding him when I feed myself... it just makes sense in my brain.
Happy Baby Feeding!
I've made oatmeal, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, avocado and banana. I like the puree-and-freeze-in-ice-cube-trays method. When it's time for him to eat I take out a cube, microwave it, mix in a little milk if it needs it & serve! You can also take out a few cubes the night before and put them in the fridge to thaw, but I can never remember to do that.
I even freeze some jarred baby food into cubes. The jars say to use within two days... well, John can't eat a whole jar at one or even two sittings yet. I like freezing them because then I can give him a variety of food without worrying about using up containers before they grow bacteria. He eats four times a day and I give him some solids at each feeding except the last. He has oatmeal & fruit for breakfast, usually something orange for lunch and someone green for dinner. That is what works best for John and I but it's definitely not the only method out there for feeding your baby.
Here is a picture of our cubes. The bags are of things I've mostly made myself. The tray is full of jarred fruits (peaches, pears, prunes & a mixed fruit) to go with John's breakfasts. I haven't done the cost comparison on fruit yet so I just bought some jars the last time I was at the store. I'm sure I'm saving money making his veggies, but it may be pretty close when it comes to fruit and I was being lazy.
For oatmeal I would suggest just buying the dehydrated stuff at the store. We had some steel cut oats that I wanted to use, but it's a lot of work to turn them into powder and cook them. I want to use them up, but it's taking FOREVER!!! He eat like one cube of oatmeal a day. If you are really interested in how to make your own oatmeal you can check out wholesome baby food. For the little amount that John eats I don't mind spending a little extra. Plus homemade oatmeal has to be re-heated with formula to return it to it's original form. It can be done, it's just not the most convenient thing in the world.
For Squash & Sweet Potatoes, I roast and mash (not even puree) them into the cubes. They are so soft from roasting and John can handle well mashed things.
For Green Beans & Peas I buy the frozen package and boil them until they are soft. Then I put them in our blender and puree till they are very smooth. I put in all the cooking liquid (it's where the vitamins go while boiling) and sometimes even add more water. Our blender does a better job of it than our food processor. John wouldn't eat the green beans if I made them in the food processor, but once I figured out how to make them smoother, he got on board.
For Apples, I get the unsweetened BIG jar of apple sauce. A friend told me about it and it is DEFINITELY cheaper!!! Just make sure you grab the one that's ingredients say only apples & water. I freeze apple sauce too! John actually really likes to eat frozen apples in his little feeder thingy. After only one time with green beans he lost interest in the feeder... then I put in apples and he was a lot happier to use it. Apples are better anyways, they don't stain like green beans do... I think all of our bibs have green bean stains on them.
And for avocado & bananas I slice them and put them in ice cube trays to freeze individually before I toss them into a bag. I don't have a picture of it above because I needed to get some more avocado & bananas when I took this picture. John wasn't actually a fan avocado or banana at first. I was persistent with the avocado and I think he like it's now... or at least tolerates it. Bananas stop him up pretty bad so he doesn't actually eat much of those.
Next up is finger foods! I'm really excited about finger foods! We still have about a month before John is suppose to be able to do finger foods, but I'm willing to give them to him whenever he wants to try. He tries to uses his hands to feed himself anyway, so why not use it to my advantage?
I actually tried a few days ago with small pieces of avocado... he manged to get them in his hands but got distracted by his thumb when his hand got close to his mouth... the result... a hand full of avocado while sucking on his thumb.
I'm sure he'll have it figured out soon but right now he doesn't quite get it. Really we need high chair with a tray before we can do finger foods anyway. For some reason his boppy tray has become a toy so I can't use it when I feed him... it's too distracting.
In addition to feeding himself the food gets a lot easier when he can do finger foods. I'll have to do more chopping and less pureeing, but for some reason that seems easier to me. And I really like the idea of feeding him when I feed myself... it just makes sense in my brain.
Happy Baby Feeding!
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Grocery Store... and List!
When John was still an infant I use to DREAD going to the grocery store. One time he started screaming in the middle of the trip, and it just traumatized me! I was kinda surprised how quickly I grabbed the rest of the groceries on my list and got me and my screaming baby out of there!
At about 5 months John out grew his infant carrier, but couldn't sit up unsupported. This was a problem because I couldn't carry in his new car seat for him to sit it. For a while I would take in the Bobby and put that behind him.
He is getting the hang of it and, in addition to being a bigger much happier baby, our trips to the grocery store are a lot of fun! He still can't balance well in the seat, but I'm right there to prop him back up.... it's funny how he can basically crawl, but doesn't want to sit up on his own.... silly kid.
During John's nap I make my list. Then I get him up, feed him and off we go! I know most Moms think their kids are the cutest kids in the universe but... mine really is the cutest kid in the universe! And I LOVE all the compliments I get when we are cruising around the store.
I also love to tell John all about groceries (I know I look like such a nut talking to my 6 month old like he's five... but it's our little game and I like it!). Sometime I even let John explore grocery items. My favorite memory of him was when he was trying to pick up an acorn squash. He leaned over and grunted and grunted and grunted... then he gave up and lunged at it like he does everything else. He is so cute!
One not so cute (and kinda scary) moment happened with my grocery list. John was looking at it and trying to grab it the entire time. So when I got close to the end I let him play with it. After grabbing a few more things I looked down at him and notice my list was gone... but he was chewing on something. In a matter of 2 seconds he had waded up and almost swallowed the entire list! I have that kid that puts everything in his mouth!
BUT! My adorable little boy isn't the point of this post.
I wanted to share a tip that has really helped me stay within my grocery budget while I'm at the store shopping. It's so tempting to just go into the store and grab what I think I need... but if I do that at the end of the month I've spent twice the amount I budgeted for. Especially since we don't eat out anymore. I often think to myself, "Well, if I get it at the store it will be cheaper." While that is true, you can still go quite a bit over budget if you let that thought run too wild.
First and foremost I try to ALWAYS make a list! And (the important part) if it's not on the list it doesn't go into the basket. It takes some discipline but you will be grateful at the end of the month (or whenever you sit down to review your budget).
Secondly, I came up with a system for making my grocery list that NEVER fails to keep me in budget. I think I created it, but it could very well be an idea that has already been done.
When I make my list I guess the price of each item. I guess even if I don't know what the price will be.... I just force myself to put a number down. I try to keep the numbers simple and usually whole numbers... they just add up a lot easier that way. Then I sum all the things on my list and see if I have enough money to get what I want. It only adds a few seconds to making my list and it has great benefits!
So my list look something like this...
Milk (3) <<--- a little ridiculous that milk is that high!
Eggs (2)
Flour (3)
Limes (1)
Tomatoes (3)
Cilantro (1)
Jalapenos (1)
Fish (4)
Beef (4)
Stir Fry Veggies (2)
Pasta (1)
Red Sauce (2)
Oatmeal (3)
-------------
Total $30
The great part is that if something is on sale I come in under. I usually break my rule and get something that isn't on my list... usually feta, because it's not a necessity, but it's so nice to have around. But if a few items are a little higher than my guess then I know not to grab something extra. I used to drag in a calculator with me to help me stay on budget, but now if I stay within the price that I wrote down I don't have to worry about going over... or calculating up my total before I check out.
Hopefully this is a useful tip for you!
At about 5 months John out grew his infant carrier, but couldn't sit up unsupported. This was a problem because I couldn't carry in his new car seat for him to sit it. For a while I would take in the Bobby and put that behind him.
He is getting the hang of it and, in addition to being a bigger much happier baby, our trips to the grocery store are a lot of fun! He still can't balance well in the seat, but I'm right there to prop him back up.... it's funny how he can basically crawl, but doesn't want to sit up on his own.... silly kid.
During John's nap I make my list. Then I get him up, feed him and off we go! I know most Moms think their kids are the cutest kids in the universe but... mine really is the cutest kid in the universe! And I LOVE all the compliments I get when we are cruising around the store.
I also love to tell John all about groceries (I know I look like such a nut talking to my 6 month old like he's five... but it's our little game and I like it!). Sometime I even let John explore grocery items. My favorite memory of him was when he was trying to pick up an acorn squash. He leaned over and grunted and grunted and grunted... then he gave up and lunged at it like he does everything else. He is so cute!
One not so cute (and kinda scary) moment happened with my grocery list. John was looking at it and trying to grab it the entire time. So when I got close to the end I let him play with it. After grabbing a few more things I looked down at him and notice my list was gone... but he was chewing on something. In a matter of 2 seconds he had waded up and almost swallowed the entire list! I have that kid that puts everything in his mouth!
BUT! My adorable little boy isn't the point of this post.
I wanted to share a tip that has really helped me stay within my grocery budget while I'm at the store shopping. It's so tempting to just go into the store and grab what I think I need... but if I do that at the end of the month I've spent twice the amount I budgeted for. Especially since we don't eat out anymore. I often think to myself, "Well, if I get it at the store it will be cheaper." While that is true, you can still go quite a bit over budget if you let that thought run too wild.
First and foremost I try to ALWAYS make a list! And (the important part) if it's not on the list it doesn't go into the basket. It takes some discipline but you will be grateful at the end of the month (or whenever you sit down to review your budget).
Secondly, I came up with a system for making my grocery list that NEVER fails to keep me in budget. I think I created it, but it could very well be an idea that has already been done.
When I make my list I guess the price of each item. I guess even if I don't know what the price will be.... I just force myself to put a number down. I try to keep the numbers simple and usually whole numbers... they just add up a lot easier that way. Then I sum all the things on my list and see if I have enough money to get what I want. It only adds a few seconds to making my list and it has great benefits!
So my list look something like this...
Milk (3) <<--- a little ridiculous that milk is that high!
Eggs (2)
Flour (3)
Limes (1)
Tomatoes (3)
Cilantro (1)
Jalapenos (1)
Fish (4)
Beef (4)
Stir Fry Veggies (2)
Pasta (1)
Red Sauce (2)
Oatmeal (3)
-------------
Total $30
The great part is that if something is on sale I come in under. I usually break my rule and get something that isn't on my list... usually feta, because it's not a necessity, but it's so nice to have around. But if a few items are a little higher than my guess then I know not to grab something extra. I used to drag in a calculator with me to help me stay on budget, but now if I stay within the price that I wrote down I don't have to worry about going over... or calculating up my total before I check out.
Hopefully this is a useful tip for you!
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