Our gardeing attempts/a mouse in the house

 It has been about a month since I took these pictures so I could write this post.  What took so long?  In that time we had to little field mice get into our house.  I have spent a lot of time cleaning floors, toys, and really everything that a mouse could have touched.  This week I tackled the kitchen, which initially had no evidence of mice, and found a bit in those cupboards that don't hold food.  Then I went to my baking stuff, which I haven't used lately and threw away more powdered sugar and other items that I want to think about.  It has been a tiring and stress filled few weeks.  So blogging has been on the back burner of my mind, while I tried to keep completely OCD Marissa from coming out  again. 

However, this was my relaxing break during the mess.  Pictured above is my tomato plant, next week I will show you how much it has grown.  Pretty amazing.  You may also notice the drip line running by.  We put in a complete drip system the beginning of April, which is fairly awesome and allowed us to be gone for a weekend without worrying about the garden. 

 I have four strawberry plants right now and they are starting to put on berries.  Yum! 

I had to add a little flowering color to the yard too, otherwise it just wouldn't be me. 

This rosemary plant had outgrown its pot and looked a bit pitiful, it still looks a little pitiful.....

Tarragon, one of my favorite herbs.

Lemon thyme

This one and the next picture are lemon balm and bee balm, can't remember which is which.

Apples, Apples, and more Apples.  Our tree can't support the number of apples it put on, so I have had to pick off quite a bit and may have to come up with some supports for the remaining apples.  They look yummy though!

Black beans and I think the kids threw in a sunflower on the side.....

The grapevines we planted last year are growing and this bigger one has soooooo many bunches starting on it. 

this is a smaller one that I did not expect to come back, but it did.

This is my biggest grapevine, it has doubled in size since this picture. 

This one has also doubled since the picture. 

Don't forget about my peaches, they are beginning to ripen. 

I have purchased two new petunias that I put in pots on the other side of the yard.  This little guy popping up between the tile and raised bed is a self-starter.  It is from the plant I have that is at least two years old.  I have snapdragons and petunias popping up in lots of strange places because of all the flowers I had everywhere. 

My roses are also doing well this year.  

Overall, I am happy so far this year  The only issue we are having is with the cucumber and lettuce.  Every time I have some growing up past a half inch it gets eaten by something unknown as of right now.  More next week, I hope!

Improved Yogurt Making

I love my own homemade yogurt.  I find it is not as bitter as the plain Greek yogurt you buy at the stores.  It is also super easy.  You warm up your milk, let it cool, add your old yogurt or starter, put it in the Yogotherm, wait and viola!  YOGURT!  I then strain it so that it is Greek yogurt and eat away!

This is my new yogurt maker.  It is called a Yogotherm and it is basically an insulated bucket, that holds a smaller bucket with the yogurt.  I can make 1/2 gallon of milk in to yogurt at one time, so it makes more than a few days worth of Greek yogurt.  Pictured is my finished yogurt after it is strained.  I am usually able to get 3-4 cups of whey off the yogurt.  Yummy!  I just need a new strainer, because my old one has too many holes in it.

No more strawberry jam

Last week marked a sad moment in our home.  We finished off the last of our homemade strawberry jam.  It was a sad day, followed by a trip to Costco to get some organic strawberry spread, because we really need our strawberry jam!

Next year I think I will need to make four to five batches to have enough for a year.  It sounds exhausting, but I think it will be TOTALLY worth it!

My sad empty strawberry jam jar

eggless meatballs

I have always wanted to make a meatball, but never have because I didn't know if it would work without egg.

Well, I decided to try anyway and VIOLA!!  It works.  I did go ahead and add some applesauce and baking powder to imitate the egg and provide some moisture.  These were VERY yummy.

 Big L in true picky fashion liked the meatballs, but didn't like the sauce on them.  She liked the sauce separate, but not together.  OY!  Next time I will leave her meatballs out of the sauce.  To me it added some flavor and I liked it.  Now you know a meat ball will still remain a ball even without an egg!  YEAH!!

Homemade Vanilla

As I was looking through the pinterest pages the other day I found a homemade gift pin that included homemade vanilla extract.  I was intrigued.  Can't find the pin, even though I swear I pinned it, but hey I did see it.  Since the holiday season is among us, and handmade gifts need to start being made I am on it.

Since I lost the pin I had to find a recipe, but it turns out vanilla extract is super simple to make.  Why have I been paying so much over the years for this stuff?

I found long vanilla beans and bottles on amazon, then went to the store and bought vodka.  Funny story, I don't know when I have ever purchased hard liquor before and our store has a roving liquor/wine lady who helps you.  Well I must have looked confused as all get out because she zipped right over.  Since we were not looking a beer I didn't really have a CLUE what the better deal was, and that was really all I was looking for; a good deal.  I knew I had a coupon on my app thingy, but she wasn't in the mood to give me time to compare and such.  She tried to sell me kettle one, which I am sure is a great vodka, but truly, couldn't tell you, until I told her what I was doing.  Then it was to the Smirnoff and I was out of there.

So I cleaned out my bottles, sliced my vanilla beans and added the vodka and beans to the bottles.  From what I read online this is one of those it gets better with time, so I had to get it started now for giving in December.

I must say this is a relatively inexpensive and EASY homemade gift.

Here is what I have so far:

 This was the first day.  No color, just sitting in the vodka extracting....

Now it is starting to look like vanilla extract!  I can't wait to try it!

What are you making for the holidays?

Gluten Free Graham Crackers

Little l is still having tummy issues.  Mostly I can tell by looking at her skin.  All of her tests were normal though, so that leaves me without a definitive answer as to what is causing her loose stool.  It has at least gotten to where there are normal stools most of the time.  The problem being that she really doesn't have variety in her daily food intake, she just eats everything!

I have decided to try getting rid of gluten for a couple of weeks, but couldn't find a good cracker substitute that didn't have nut flour or soy.  What do people with gluten and nut issues do?

So I modified a recipe and came up with this for a "Graham Cracker".  Graham being a simple place holder of a word since there is no real graham flour in these.

Homemade "Graham" Crackers

2 1/2 Cups of Pamela's Products Gluten Free Bread Mix and Flour Blend
1/2 cup of qunioa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 Cup of butter (softened)
3/4 Cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey

Preheat over to 350 degrees.  Whisk the flour mix, quinoa, salt, baking soda and cinnamon together; set aside.

Put butter, brown sugar and butter into bowl of electric mixer.  Mix on medium until pale and fluffy.  Scrape sides as needed.  Add the flour mixture and mix until combined.

Turn dough out onto wax paper.  Roll out to about 1/8-1/4 inch thickness.  Cut into rectangles, poke with fork if desired.  Bake for 10-13 minutes, until brown at edges.

Leave on cookie sheet for about five to ten minutes before transferring to cooling rack.  If desired, immediately after coming out of oven sprinkle a cinnamon sugar mix and gently press into the cracker.

I got a little lazy on the last batch, so its edges aren't square.  They turned out very good which was a great surprise after the last batch of graham crackers we made!  Little l really likes them.  Since I used real butter big L can't eat them, but this was a use what I have weekend.  Hence the quinoa and butter.  Normally I would have used the earth balance, but I am running low.

Happy baking!

Is Summer over?

I hate to say things like last swim of the year, because the minute I do the temperature spikes.  However, I think this weekend may have been our last swim until we can install a pool heater.  The water was too cold for little l to be in very long, though big L toughed it out for a good half hour or so.  I made it fifteen minutes before I decided I had had enough. 

It also may be the last week we have yummy fruit salad with dinner.  I finally found some good peaches and nectarines at Whole Foods this weekend.  They were sweet, firm, just right.  I decided to try something a bit different for dinner last night.  I was going to stuff peppers with quinoa, but I just wasn't in a pepper roasting mood yesterday.  So instead I cut up some celery, carrots, cucumbers, added lettuce, quinoa and then instead of dressing I used some hummus.  It was delicious.  Big L even at the quinoa, which SHOCKED me, especially because she had SECONDS!

It was a nice weekend, and Sunday was the best.  I asked big L to read a book and she curled up and finished her library book without being asked.  One hour of reading without whining in between.  I was a very happy mother let me tell you. 

There were other things this weekend, but that is all I am going to share today, more tomorrow. 

Strawberry Jam part 2

If you follow my blog you know I made strawberry jam earlier this summer.  Here is the link with the recipe, in case you are inspired to try it out.  Well, we already ran out, so I was back in the kitchen the other day making more.  I have noticed that our strawberries at the store have been sweeter lately, and organic strawberries were on sale so I took three of the four pounds we bought and went to making jam. 

 Don't they look yummy?  This time I had a different child helping me.  Little l helped by....well....she ate strawberries, kept her fingers off the cutting board, and watched off and on until I was done, other than that she was not much help!

 If anyone has a quick way for dicing strawberries I am all ears.  3 pounds of strawberries took me an hour to dice, of course I was interrupted frequently by my helper, but still that was a long time!

 My favorite part when making strawberry jam is the smell that permeates through my home.  I wish it always smelled so scrumptious.  Next time when it comes time to boil down the syrup I may just keep the syrup separate and make strawberry syrup for pancakes, or at least keep some of it separate. 

This time I didn't mess around.  I filled our one liter jar and only had enough left for a little mold jar.  We went through ours so fast last time I think I will be lucky if this lasts more than a month!  I am not complaining, it is nice to make something for your family that they just eat up!  I may need to make another batch soon though before strawberries are out of season.

Homemade Yogurt

I have been experimenting with the homemade yogurt.  First, I only like it Greek.  Get rid of that whey please, it does not like me!  Then there is the type of milk used.  At first I only used whole milk, because that is what my milk drinkers drink.  I, however, do NOT need the extra fat in my diet, so I recently switched to non-fat.  It takes longer in the incubator (my term for the yogurt maker), but it tastes fine to me.  The sad thing is to make full 8 oz servings (that is a full serving to me) I only end up with about 5 servings from eight cups, sometimes four.  Once all of the whey is drained away you are left with less, so I am trying to stay on top of how frequently I should be making this stuff!  I am still trying to adjust my planning so I am not asleep when the yogurt is ready to be strained!  This is not something you just decide to make, you have to know what you are going to be doing in 12 hours, a little planning is necessary.

I am still playing around with my additions.  I know you see my white chocolate chips up there.  Even using those as my sweetener and adding some dried fruit I am under in sugar count compared with most store bought yogurts.  That is just crazy!  I am still working my sugar count lower, so we will see how it goes.  I have also been adding some flax seed for good fats and fiber.  I think it is a yummy lunch, and my calorie count for lunch if I only eat this is under 300.  Not too shabby!

Now if I could just become better at anticipating when my husband and I will finish off the yogurt so that I can not run out..... Then I have to figure out how to do this with rice milk, because Big L wants some yogurt.....argh.

Summer Fruit is almost gone....

One of my favorite parts about summer is all of the fruits you have to choose from.  During the summer we have a nightly fruit salad.  Usually it has peaches, nectarines, strawberries and blueberries.  Sometimes I throw in some grapes, raspberries or blackberries.  Rarely do I have any leftover at the end of the meal. 

This is my favorite part of summer, and I am a little sad this year as the fruit starts to come to an end.  I wish I had canned more and done more to extend the tastes of the season.  Maybe next year.  What is your favorite part of summer? 

Doughnut Muffins-My latest attempt at feeding a picky eater

If you follow my blog you know that my daughter is a PICKY eater.  Understandably so, due to her allergies she likes to stick with foods she knows and loves.  Unfortunately, she gets tired of these foods at times and I have to find something new.

Blueberry muffins were a hit with the adults in the house, but NOT the kids.  Big L actually said she liked the muffins, just not the blueberries.  WHAT?!?!?!?  I could not understand.  BLEW MY MIND!

So, I dove into my piles of recipes that I have saved and clipped to see if I could find a plain muffin recipe that everyone could live with.  Thankfully King Arthur Flour sent me a recipe for Doughnut Muffins with my last flour order.  For the record, I have no sponsors and receive no money from companies I mention.  I just like KAF flour.  Of course, to make this recipe I had to change it up a bit.

Doughnut Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

1/4 cup Soy Free Earth Balance
1/4 cup Safflower Oil
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
6 Tablespoons unsweetened natural applesauce
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Organic King Arthur Whole White Wheat Flour
2 scoops NOW unflavored Pea Protein powder
1 cup rice milk

TOPPING
3 Tablespoons of soy free earth balance
3 Tablespoons of cinnamon sugar (I used 2 tablespoons cinnamon and 1 tablespoon sugar, but I LOVE cinnamon)

Beat the butter, oil and sugars until smooth.  Add the applesauce and baking powder.  Add in the baking soda, nutmeg, salt and vanilla.

Stir the flour and pea protein in alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour.  Mix until well combined.  Spoon the batter into the muffins cups, filling almost to the top.  Bake at 425 for at least 17 minutes.  You can tell they are done when a cake tester comes out of the middle of the muffin clean.

Let them cool for a bit and prepare the topping.  Brush the top of the muffins with butter then sprinkle cinnamon sugar mix.  Or do like I did mix it all together and paint it on top.  I left some muffins with the topping because Big L still refuses to like cinnamon.

They taste better to me warm, but Big L will eat them right out of the fridge.  They lasted through the school week in the fridge for me.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins

I love a good blueberry muffin, but I don't like it to be cake like.  I want a muffin, not a cupcake.  I had a recipe in college that I loved but I have lost it.  So I searched around, and of course had to modify a recipe.  This is what I came up with:

Makes 15 Muffins

1/4 Cup Soy Free Earth Balance
1/2 Cup applesauce (unsweetened)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Cup organic cane sugar
1 1/2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
3 scoops NOW Protein Powder (unflavored)
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Cup Rice Milk
2 Cups Fresh Blueberries

I mixed the earth balance, applesauce salt and sugar together first, then added the remaining ingredients.  I always use muffin liners when baking muffins/cupcakes.  Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. 

Please note that because of the pea protein this is a thick batter, just like my banana muffins.  They are VERY allergy friendly, unless you have a wheat allergy and we don't so I have not tackled that issue yet!  They did receive a seal of approval from big L who is my pickiest eater! I liked them as well, and based on my calculations they come in at about 171 calories, which is not too bad for a muffin. 

Enjoy!

Graham Crackers-Attempt 1

 I have been wanting and slowly trying to make the things we buy a lot.  One thing is cinnamon graham crackers.  Little l and I could eat a box every few days if I let us.  As it is, we are lucky to make a box last a week. 

So I tried Alton Brown's recipe.  It was gross.  Of course that is my opinion, and I had a certain taste expectation going in, but that is how I felt.  Too much molasses. 

I need to practice my rolling skills, but now that I know how easy it is, I may be more willing to try again.  We will see how quickly I try though, because that box of 365 organic cinnamon graham crackers is calling to me. 

Vegetable Risotto

Some of the things I have managed to keep alive are my herbs.  While my oregano was decimated by bugs, and my cilantro went crazy the others are thriving, even the basil.  So the other night when making vegetable risotto I gathered some yumminess.  Thyme, parsley, and mint, and it was delightful, light and gone quickly!

The recipe is from Fresh Meals.  I modified a bit to make it non-dairy

8 Cups of Vegetable Broth
1 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons soy free Earth Balance
Onion to taste (I don't use as much as the recipe)
Garlic to taste
2 cups of arborio rice
1 cup of frozen peas
1 small bunch of asparagus, sliced into small pieces
1 cup of sugar snap peas, sliced into small pieces
1 medium red bell pepper
1 bunch of spinach sliced into ribbons
1 Tablespoon fresh Thyme (mine is lemon thyme)
1 Tablespoon fresh Mint, thinly sliced
2 Tablespoons chopped Italian Parsley

warm your broth in another pan and have it on low until used up.
In a large skillet heat the oil and butter.  Add onion and garlic, cook until onion is transparent.  Add the rice stirring until it is coated with oil and butter, cook for five minutes.  Beginning adding the broth one cup at a time, stirring until it is absorbed, then adding more.  Add the peas, asparagus, snap peas, and red pepper.  Continue adding broth and stirring.  Once all broth is absorbed add the herbs, remove from heat and stir.  Eat and enjoy! 

Big L did not like this, little l was less than impressed, but my loving husband and I were quite content! 

Weight Loss-Becoming Me Again-Before and After Pics

I freely admit that when I was younger I did not eat in the most healthy manner.  I have a sweet tooth and an iron stomach, oh and a great pancreas that allowed INSANE amounts of sugar consumption.  Don't get me wrong, I also loved carbohydrates, breads, pastries, cereal, etc.  Get the picture?  I would eat lots of fruit, but not as many vegetables, and certainly not enough protein.

When I was 18 and out of my parents house I made the full switch to being a vegetarian, but I did not do it right.  All this despite knowing how to do it right.  I was more interested in buying things than food.  Quite the opposite of now, where I spend a lot to feed my family in a healthy way.  However, I was contradictory, I would also have moments when I was obsessed with eating healthy, and making those right choices.  It would never last, the freedom to buy and eat all of the junk food/junk cereal I wanted was too much.  I do not have an off button, remember, iron stomach.  I could eat a whole box of Lucky Charms; you know, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Bodies change as we get older though, and that, along with the birth control pill are what changed my body for the worst, or was it for the better?  I gained weight quickly, it was compounded when I had children.  My body does not like pregnancy, in fact, I think that my auto-immune disorders cause my body to freak out.  Gain 70-80 pounds, hormones out of control.  It takes about two years for everything to level out and weight loss, serious weight loss to be possible.  I know that is considered normal, but I am around women who seem to recover a lot faster!

I lost 75.6 pounds and almost 10 inches off my waist.  I should still be trying to lose 15-20 more, but I just can't be on that diet anymore.  I needed more than a three week break.  My doctor says that even with a reduced calorie diet it is unlikely I will lose weight without being on her diet.  I am sure she knows what she is talking about, but I hope to prove her wrong, at least a little bit!  The big problem for me on that diet was all the meat.  I just couldn't eat meat every day anymore.  It was grossing me out.  Plus it is EXPENSIVE!

 These are my before diet pictures.  To be honest I did not really see myself as this fat.  I was pretty good at not analyzing myself in the mirror and just kind of ignoring how I felt.  I learned to ignore how hard it was to do things I used to do easily; you know, like washing my back, painting my toe nails, etc. 

And these are my after pictures.

I am not a fan of having my picture taken

Before I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia I used to work out a lot.  I love that feeling after working out.  The surge of energy coupled with the sheer muscle exhaustion.  I like to exercise, it is just really hard to find the time!!  However, to lose weight or maintain what I am at, I will have to keep up with some sort of exercise regimen.  I also used to love to hike or ride my bike.  Over time I lost the ability to do this.  It was so much work to get my body to move in that way.  I don't know if diet was making it worse, but I am hoping that the medication I am on, and my healthier diet will make it easier for me to keep up with the activities I want to do.  More on that in another post though, this one is getting long.

The point of this post is I finally look like I felt inside.  Make sense?  I always pictured and felt like I should be that fit person who is not skinny, but thin enough and able to workout.  It wasn't true for many years, and for many reasons, but I am hoping that I will be able to keep my body the way my mind sees me.  The exciting thing is that (once it is not hot enough to melt me) I am looking forward to riding bikes with my family, getting Big L to let go of training wheels, and sticking little l on my bike so we can ride together.  There are so many things I can do now that were just too painful to do before.  There are also emotional aspects to my weight gain, and loss that I will talk about in another post.  For now though I am content to be improving myself.  Life is good. 

Apricot Vanilla Bean Jam

After my strawberry jam success I though I would try apricot, which is one of my favorite jams for English Muffins.  Sometimes, I am not the best cook though, as you will see by a later picture, so this is going to be a bit more like a fruit spread than a jam. 

 I only made a third of a batch because the apricots were not on sale, and I could only find so many that were fresh.  It smelled lovely though!  This was my first time working with vanilla bean pods.  The smell was grand.  I am going to have to see if I can grow vanilla beans though because they are expensive in the store!  At this point in the recipe we were doing great, we had to use lemon juice instead of white wine because our house is just not really a great place to find wine. 

 It was when I removed the fruit to boil down the syrup that things went a little crazy!  I got distracted and didn't make it back into the kitchen fast enough......it did NOT smell good.  So I ditched that pan and let it start soaking, put the apricots and the little bit of syrup I had left back in the pan and cooked it a bit more.  Then spooned it into the jars, and water bathed them.  I was expecting twice as much but these two little jars are a good start.  I will have to keep an eye out for fresh apricots and try again! 

Recipe was from Canning for a New Generation again.

I used my Weck jars again as well, and was quite happy with how easy it is!  I also love that the lids are glass as well!

Strawberry Jam! YUM!

 It is strawberry season, which is a happy time in our household.  We all love fresh strawberries.  They are a staple to our evening meals.  This year I decided to try my hand at making strawberry jam, which is a favorite among the sandwich eaters among us.  While cleaning out my cupboard the other day I found this book, Canning for a New Generation.  I had completely forgotten about it.  When I first tried canning a few years ago I purchased it.  Unfortunately, I was pregnant at the time and NOTHING in it sounded good.  CRAZY!!!!!  Fortunately, I have recovered from whatever madness that was and I am now trying out some recipes.  Also, while researching safe BPA free jars, I discovered WECK.  These jars are beautiful, and I was anxious to try them out and see how they worked. 

 I bought 6 pounds of strawberries and tripled the Strawberry Jam recipe in the book.  Did I mention we LOVE strawberries?  I only bought so many because the price was right and they were organic.  Dicing them was a bit tiring, but I finally got it done.  I cooked my berries with sugar and lemon juice.  I left out the zest.  I have yet to really truly like zest in anything I make. 

 These are my cooked berries with the syrup drained off. 

 This is the syrup as I cook it down a bit.  Can I just say that the smell from my kitchen this day was glorious?  I was in a good mood, despite being tired of standing in the kitchen just because of the smell. 

 Everything was added back together and cooked a bit more.  I then put the jam in my new jars, added the seal, lid and clamp and put them in the water bath.  These jars sealed so easily and so well, and I didn't have to keep checking on the center.  After one hour, you try to lift off the lid.  It didn't budge, so I knew I had a seal. 

 I let them sit overnight and then labeled.  My only problem that day was depth perception.  I did not fill my jars as much as I should have.  I also had the jars the recipe said I needed, or at least thought I did and had to add another big one in the end.  That big one will be the first opened, because Big L, who has never been a fan of the store bought strawberry jam really loved this stuff, she wants to just eat it out of the jar.  Maybe I will finally get her to eat a sun butter and jam sandwich!