To Catch Up

It's been a while hasn't it? Time has slipped away from me and wow are we busy around here! Cooking has been a  challenge as I constantly fight comfort food cravings as opposed to salads and lighter dishes. We're just going to put the cooking aside for a bit and talk about jam. Earlier this year I made 4 small batches of a peach raspberry jam that became my pride and joy. BUT, I couldn't get it to set the way I would have hoped. I didn't really care at first because the jam was so good, and had low sugar content. My husband became very possessive over "his" jam. That alone gave me a great sense of satisfaction. 

I've only been making jam for a few years, and was still learning the science of it all. So while at the Food Co-Op, I found Pomona's Universal Pectin. A pectin that doesn't have calcium mixed in, and it better suited for low sugar jams and jellies. A little light went off, and I bought a few boxes. One box will make 4 batches. So I get home and start reading all about this pectin. I learned I had to make my own calcium water with this little packet that came in the box, cool it, and add it to fruit before the heat kicks in. I had my jars, I had my fruits, and I was ready to stand over a hot hot stove for part of the day. 

What some people might like about this is that the measurements are flexible. You can add a little more, or a little less of both the pectin powder (that really looks more like whole wheat flour) and the calcium water that hangs out in your fridge in a glass jar that you MUST swirl around every so often. I decided that I do not like this and will never use what I have left. I made 4 batches of jam that day - the first too "jelly". The second a little less, but still too "jelly", the third was the same, and the forth seemed too "jelly".  I modified the tablespoon amounts with each batch and couldn't find common ground. Now I'm left with 4 batches of jam that are much darker in color than they should be, that are too jelly for me to be happy with, and a husband secretly wondering why the hell would his wife mess with a good thing?

What do I plan to do? I've been thinking about it for a while. I have decided to go back to the original pectin that I used the first time. I don't care if it's not the thick consistency of jams, I need jam that I can proudly gift away, knowing that the person receiving it will hide it from their kids and savor it themselves. So, I'm going to dump it all out, and start over. I won't do this until I get my fruit again so it could be a few weeks. Until then we will suffice and I will only cringe slightly when I open the fridge to pick a jar to use.

On a side note about pectin - I looked into making my own. PASS! It's a kitchen nightmare in the waiting and I'll stick to my 21st century style. 

Let's talk about fish. I know this isn't the greatest picture of a fresh caught Sockeye Salmon, but here you go! For the first time ever, the Skagit river has opened up for 1 month to allow for Sockeye salmon fishing. The fishing crowds are wild and competitive. It was completely uncharted territory for us, but my husband has managed to bring some home! The meat is so red and rich and needs little additional flavoring. We've been grilling it with a good olive oil and light sprinkles of seasoning salt. Add a good bottle of wine and dinner is served. I saw some in Costco for $10/lb and it wasn't near the color fresh out of the water. I'm very thankful to be able to experience this!

I've recently learned to make a good shrimp scampi, chicken curry in the crockpot, and edible play dough - that we still have and is soft as ever! I've finished some projects and haven't added anymore. My hutch is finally finished and in the dining room where it belongs.


I went to Snohomish with my mom and we went to a few garage/rummage sales. I found large amounts of fabrics that will be perfect for the curtains I've been planning on making for Isabel's room, a large stainless steel scoop for my large storage of flour, and a 1940's sewing table that is in amazingly good condition. So much so that I'm not sure I want to do a single thing to it. It doesn't have the sewing machine which is more than fine with me. I haven't tried to put my machine in the slot yet, but if it doesn't fit, it will be easy to cut some good wood to fill in the spot, making it nice and flush so I can just simply set my machine on top. Either way, I couldn't be more happy. Folded up and in it's spot it looks pretty darn good. I have to say I am one happy girl! 


Now off to make bread!

Can't Curb The Carbs, Always.

 Spice art. This is what the chicken "soaked" in. Oven baked flautas.

I spent a good portion of the afternoon making tortillas. Ever so slowly do I get them bigger, more round. I followed a recipe I got off Pinterest, it wasn't out of this world, but definitely far from bad. I cooked the chicken in beer, had a swig of what was left. Then tossed the chicken well in the spice blend. Then I quickly cooked spinach in the beer, just to the point of wilting. Added cheese, and rolled them up. They baked for 20 minutes, and after blushing them with a tiny bit of oil, the were nice and crispy. I had two salsas to go with it, a red salsa I made, and a chili verde salsa. I preferred the verde. I had avocados, but they weren't ripe enough yet, and I think that's what it needed, either guacamole or fresh sliced avocado. I love making tortillas, but man it's time consuming!

I've been in a food rut lately. I've been working hard at getting myself back into the groove of things, and I just can't catch the beat. The kitchen runs faster than I do these days. What's it's problem?! I also made my first loaf of whole wheat honey bread. About a month ago, I freaked when I was out of flour and went and bought a 25lb. bag of Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat Flour. I thought, why not venture into the world of wheat for a while. I thought not having regular flour in the house would be ok between my self rise, and bread flour, and the wheat I should be ok, right? No. I need and want it all. It gives me a reason to go to Dick's and buy a large food storage bucket  to store it in.

I also made avocado pesto tonight, another recipe that I pulled off Pinterest. I'm gonna need to go on there, and comment on these "pins". I spent $ on these pine nuts which kills me for reasons I'll talk about in a minute. Then again, I followed the recipe and added what I thought was way to much olive oil. I was correct.  Half a cup of my expensive oil is too much. Do a 1/4 cup. More than a half cup of pine nuts, lemon juice, basil, sea salt, pepper, and what I was worried would be way too much garlic, was. Toss with pasta. Wheat honey bread went well with it, because hopefully the bread soaked up some of the oil. I would make it again, with some obvious modifications.

Pine nuts. $24lb - really? I grew up collecting cones with my dad for the pine nuts. For free too. He would roast them up and oh man they were so good, roasted and raw. I ate the left over nuts and just escaped back to a blissfully unawareness called childhood.

With all this rain, I worried about what I had planted outside. My snap peas are doing really good. Not a slug or snail anywhere near, they've all committed suicide somewhere dark and cold. My red onions are coming up and just a few spinach. Mia and Isabel's carrots are still coming up, in random clumps. It's cute. My pumpkins and other squash have showed no sign of life. They're all in the raised boxes. Along with the garlic I can't seem to rid myself of. It's doing fantastic...of course. The rhubarb is bursting with life and will need to run some to my neighbor tomorrow. My grapes have awoken and and my clematis is in full bloom.

We bought 5 evergreen tree's a few days ago, and found a really good tree farm with cool chickens that the girls enjoyed playing with and petting...yes they got to pet the turkey. "She" was nice, and stupid. Reminded me of the turkey's we always had growing up. Big, mean, dumb, and clucky. We finally pulled the rose bush that was just too big. It was really one of those rose tree's with the mini roses all over it. I'm sure it was nice in it's early days, but it was bending the fence, so it had to go. Just as we finally got the rose mess cleared, it started raining hard, and has barely stopped for days. We haven't been able to get the roots out. Hopefully when it dries out this weekend, we'll be able to get roots out, run the tiller a few times. Plant. Give em a few years, and we will have way more privacy that we have.  Next to no maintenance in that spot sounds good. Our Japanese Maple that we planted last year, is doing pretty good so far, showing some new branches and the color is vibrant. We worried about it this winter. No worries! Skagit Valley Farmers Market starts tomorrow! I need good honey..STAT!

Greens

Greens. I found this quick, simple recipe online that's right up my alley. A blend with 2 handfuls of baby spinach, 1 cup yogurt, 1 cup water, 1 cup of pineapple, and 2 banana's. Blend, enjoy. It was actually kinda good, looking forward to having it again. It would be good with some ice sometimes, or strawberries. Any fruit I think would only make it better. For now, I'll stick with the recipe and do my best to get in the habit of drinking this everyday. Mia wanted nothing to do with it, and Isabel drank it up and wanted more.

I've noticed, and so had my husband, that I haven't been so good the past couple weeks with juicing, and making healthy smoothies. It had been eating away at me trying to figure out what my problem was. Where did my motivation go? So finally I recognized that what's happening is I'm having the worst cravings for all the yummy stuff I'm trying to give up, like withdrawals. I also noticed I'm right at that crossroads where I'm either going to fall back into old habits, or stick to my new plan. I'm working hard at the new plan, I really am.

I do miss cooking. I look at my old recipes sometimes and think about how yummy something sounds for dinner, and then remember that we are on a no meat day, or it's salad day, or sometimes it hits me just how fattening that dish is, and how we used to eat this stuff like it was nothing. I cooked red meat for the first time since I don't even remember the other day, and although it was good, I was glad that I was no longer eating like that everyday. It's bitter sweet I guess.

I do like that I haven't completely cut anything from my diet, so I can enjoy every juicy, succulent, fattening, and tasty dish at our monthly dinner party. These parties are not for the weak of stomach. There are no dieters allowed, no sugar free anything. This Saturday, we are having one and it's all about Southern Seafood. No red meat, just seafood. My gosh, now I'm starving just thinking about it. I'm doing the main course and it's a shrimp shrimp shrimp dish. Lots of large shrimp, spicy and creamy all rolled into one dish. Shrimp étouffée!

Forced Out Of Hibernation

I was happily forced out of hibernation today and it felt great! The morning rush went smoothly. No tantrum's. I did run around in circles, literally. So I went to The Country Store which has a nice variety of seeds. Having a few spare minutes, I stopped at this huge garage sale that had all sorts of furniture. It's kind of my weakness I guess. I found this little toy chest, obviously for children. It was in rough shape and would take a bit of elbow grease to get it pretty again. I talked the guy down and got a good price.

Someone beat the hell out of this thing. It took 3 different grains of sandpaper to get most of these dings out, leaving just enough to give it the look I wanted. It was missing a handle from the side so I tossed the other one, and will look out for the perfect handles to replace them.
It had a giant sports sticker on the top, so I slabbed a bit of mayo on it and let it sit for about 30 minutes while I worked on the rest of the chest.
In the nude. I could paint this, I could stain it. Haven't made up my mind yet. It sure is nice wood though. I want to keep the original hardware if possible, although I wouldn't mind putting on new ones. I bought this for Isabel, now they each have old toy chests.
Cat in box. He says hello.

So the rest of the day was spent pulling the girls in the wagon, trimming my grapes, cleaning our rain water barrel out, and other little yard tasks. All four of us had fun, it was so carefree. A long warm bath and warm jammies and I'm gonna call it a day.

Authentic

Well, I haven't written in a while. Sitting down to do it now, I realize I just haven't really been eating much. This whole diet change thing that we implemented over night is paying off in different ways. I wanted to make Zoppa Toscana soup for my husband because he really likes it, so I made it. I used a sweet sausage instead of spicy so the girls, who are probably still traumatized from the pad thai, would be able to eat it. I was content with it, but would like to make it spicier next time. I made some bread, and called it good.

Ten years ago, I bought these cook books. I spent $60 on them. I know, I must have been childless or something. The kicker is I've never even used them. They're very authentic, and half of the listed ingredients I wouldn't even know where to find. I would have to venture into either Bellingham or Everett for some of the stuff. Maybe that's what's stopped me all these years.

So anyways, I was sitting and looking at my cookbooks the other day and realized how many of them have not been used to their full potential and I suddenly started to feel bad. Like the gigantic one from Spain. It was the #1 cookbook in Spain in 2007, I think I used it once. The artwork in it is pretty cool, it's fun to look at. The format is different than what I'm used to though. I see I'm babbling...it's been lovely but I'm gonna scream now!

I Did What?

Something I always complain about, is people changing other people's recipes. Just the ones that have been in the family. Never would I be able to change the enchilada sauce recipe, or the potato salad even. I never minded big change, but small changes freak me out and I truly hate them. Small stupid things, I know.

I surprised myself tonight when I made banana bread, and sprinkled cinnamon on top of just one of the loaves. Once I did it, I wasn't sure what to think or even what gave me the desire to try such a silly thing. I justified that the second loaf was completely original and untainted, so I hadn't really altered anything. How silly.

Tonight, when I told Mia to go pick out what PJ's she wanted to wear to bed, so hated the thought of bedtime soo much, she got upset and walked to her bedroom door, and turned around and said "not fair!" Slam. I suddenly felt much better about sending her to bed early. Sigh..

A Tuesday

It was a quite Tuesday. The girls behaved well and enjoyed some quite time. Meanwhile, I managed to make my last batch of jam, and without a single interruption. Made some cheese omelets for me and the girls, toasted some english muffins, slathered them with butter and fresh made jam, and had one large cup of coffee. Cleaned my messy kitchen, scrubbed the playroom floor, did some laundry. Wondered what the hell was going on with the insane weather outside. I saw dark gray clouds, blue skies with lots of sun, hail, heavy rain, bigger hail, and then finally it was dark.

So my husband is on a very strict diet for the next 3-4 days so he's limited with meals. I went down my checklist of "yes" items, he needed a creamy sloppy mess of a dinner. So I made him tuna casserole. Poor guy can't eat anything very healthy right now, no salads, uncooked fruits and vegetables etc; It was fun to make it, it had been a long time.

That reminds me that I need to replace my mustard powder, I think it's done.

I also enjoy making bread crumbs. I like making pockets of butter covered with them so I get that nice crisp. I thought I'd pile it on and I doubled the amount so I used 2 end pieces of bread that I keep for crumbs when I need them. It was totally fattening.

Raspberry Peach Jam

I woke up this morning, at 5:30, and couldn't go back to sleep. Thanks Bel. It was a day where I didn't have any appointments of any kind, nowhere I needed to be, nothing I needed to do. Just relax, fold some laundry, and hang with my girls. It was the type of day I always look forward to.

I have known for some time, that I would be running out of homemade jam. Since I didn't get grapes that were edible this year, I found myself in a bit of a fruit bind. I did make some blueberry jam, and that was good. I just didn't get the quantity I prefer to have, which is enough to eat for a year, share, and gift away. Not even close. I never thought I would really depend on those grapes to turn out good. No thanks to all the extra rain last year.

So I battled with having to buy fruit, which is expensive when you buy large quantities to make a lot of jam or jelly. But it had to be done. So I found a recipe that I felt pretty good about, and it had half the amount of sugar than your average recipe, which I always end up doing on my own. So hopefully, I wouldn't have to make any changes and could just cook and can away without a care.

So here are the peaches. I couldn't find fresh peaches anywhere, so I went with canned which scares me but, it's better than buying jam at the store. So here I am mashing them.

Here are the raspberries that I had in the freezer. Rinsing and thawing out.
I combined that raspberries, peaches, unsweetened apple juice, and the juice from half a lime. Bring that to a boil, while stirring regularly.

But wait! Don't forget your pectin and coffee!

It's just impossible for me to do the rest and get pictures so we'll skip ahead a bit. I boiled it, added the pectin while stirring constantly, brought to a rolling boil that could not be stirred down, added the sugar, continued to stir, brought back to a rolling boil, timed 3 minutes of constant stirring while boiling and melting the skin off my hand, and this is what I get; 8 half pint jars of raspberry peach jam. All jarred and going into the boiling pot.

One recipe was only suppose to make 5-6 half pint jars. Well, I know better than that and was glad that I prepped 10 jars ready for use. I was pretty heavy handed on the fruits, using almost 2 cups (whole) more than called for. Less sugar and more fruit will always make for better jam. I put some on a plate and threw it in the fridge to harden faster, which is how you taste test. I am pleasantly surprised how well it turned out. Must be in the genes. I plan on making at least 3 more batches of this.

Last night I made miso soup, shrimp pad thai, and white rice. Something I'd made before and it all went well until we finished grace, and dug in. Oops! Before we knew it we had 2 screaming kids at the table. I used cayenne pepper instead of chili powder and it was pretty spicy! Delish, but hot. So there I was making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as fast as possible while my husband tried to calm the girls down. They ate their miso, and a little bit of rice but I have this huge container of leftovers that I have every intention of devouring here soon for lunch.

One last bit, I finally did the paint touch ups in the play room. I bought a sample can of the color, which is really all I needed. It went on funny, and knowing well that it always dries differently, gave it a bit of time. Once dried, I was kinda mad. It's a very light beige, not the pale sage it should be. I'll give them one more chance to get the color right, and if they can't do that, then I'm just gonna re-paint the whole room. Which I don't mind because I LOVE to paint walls.

Will Trade Cooking For Art Supplies

True story. I miss art. I miss the peace I got from sketching, or drawing, or painting, or being covered in charcoal. I was thinking, the last time I even picked up a medium, was in high school when I took an Advanced Fine Arts class. I did my best in that class and I still have my portfolio, hiding. In the closet. All by itself. They've traveled. They've been in storage. They've been moved. I think they need new friends. Ha ha ha.

The girls got to play in the snow today, and they had a lot of fun. They came in wet, and dirty from all the mud. Then we enjoyed a nice big pot of black forrest ham and potato soup and continued out Sonic Generations day. Mia kicked ass and took names, it's amazing to watch her! I haven't been juicing too much lately, I'm not sure why. Just haven't been in the mood, but we've had a lot of salads, some with chicken and some without.

Isabel has really taken another step towards growing up. She's learning faster than Mia I think because she has that child like influence. She's already this amazing little problem solver who climbs, explores, imitates and talks. I melt every time I see the girls together, smiling, giggling, and loving each other. They always run into our room, shut the door, climb in our bed, and snuggle together. They're so quite about it, so when we investigate their whereabouts, I find them being the sweetest of sisters, I just can't get over it sometimes. Although stressful, having 2 little girls is amazing.

Chugging Along

I still feel stupid. I'm still trying to figure out the Mac. I knew it would be different, but geez, am I that behind? I guess so. The playroom is slowly coming along, my 2 day challenge I found was just not going to happen. Getting rid of the desk proved to be a much bigger challenge than I originally thought. All the papers, all the piles, all the shredding. It's a good thing I just bought a new shredder, because I'm pretty sure that if my old one was still kicking, it would have kicked the bucket.

I did get all the books moved into the sitting area, that wasn't such a challenge and I really can't wait to see that space finished. There's still a huge pile of toys in the corner, due only to the fact that the desk is a monster. So when I started in on the papers, I was excited to realize I have a large file cabinet in the garage that I can finally utilize. Then I opened it up. My honest first thought? Is it too early for wine? It's full of more papers. Ugh.

Then I ran into another problem along the way. What do I do with all the little things that have piled up, that aren't trash or junk, but not really needed, but if you get rid of it, you'll find yourself in need. I literally have shoe boxes full of stuff with labels that read "Just another box full of shit that is neither garbage or really needed." I must have been in a bad mood that day. But hey, guess what? I now have a laundry folding table! Yay!

I haven't been really cooking a lot lately. Mark has been sleeping pretty late so we haven't been on our "normal" schedule. A lot of salads, healthy sandwiches, a pot of spaghetti. I am making a Co-Op trip tomorrow so I will pick up some super yummy apples n' things.

Miss Bel has been really challenging lately. She has thrown the worst tantrums, it's awful! She's changed her daytime sleeping habits, so she's missed out on some adventures. Will this child give me the dreaded "terrible two's" stage? Mia did not, so this will be different and I'm not looking forward to it. Another parent challenge - I took Mia for her first ever hair cut the other day. It was hard to get her to hold still, and she wasn't too sure about this strange lady washing her hair in a weird sink. But it has layers and is very cute, and full of body. I kept some clippings for her baby book. I must have heard at least 50 comments on her hair color by the time we stepped out of there. The lady doing her hair spent like 10 minutes just looking at all the reds in amazement that I wasn't secretly dying her hair at home. Really? She's 4!

Things added to my to do list: 1. Find a chalk board I can put low on the wall for the girls to draw randomly all over in the playroom. 2. Find a nice comfy, one person chair that can be lounged around in. 3. Figure out why the "magical" mighty mouse doesn't want to copy and paste.

Projects About To Be Checked Off!

Well, this is going to sound so silly, and honestly I'm embarrassed. I can't figure out how to open another page on this thing to download you a picture to look at. I'm sure my husband will laugh at me later for this.

Anyways, we did it! We finally bought ourselves a MacBook and will be getting rid of the desk top and turning what would be considered an office, into a playroom. It's very exciting for me. No more desk to get messy, and no more dumb office chair. The kids have always gravitated towards that room anyways. Of course it will still be my laundry room, but thankfully the room is big enough for 3 of us, so I'm excited to go down this little path and get some order in my life.

I love that I can now lay in bed and play online without killing the battery on my phone. I love the "mighty mouse", so futuristic, I love my coffee, I love the thought of having a room open up to possibilities. Mark has this bookshelf that was custom made for him as a child, but it's so tall we haven't been able to bring it in the house. So he's going to fix it so I can bring it in, and get rid of all these cheap and ugly bookcases I've been forced to stare at. I think I'll put that in the soon to be open space and maybe down the road add a comfy chair that I can sit at. I guess I'm visualizing a sitting room. Oh the possibilities.

The past month besides all the recent excitement, has been rough. I got violently ill with a viral infection of some sort, and was down and out for a while. I didn't eat, and only drank water and gatorade, and layed in bed for days. So if I'm not cooking, my husband is getting by from outside sources. It was awful! What's worse? When I was finally started feeling good enough to try and have some coffee, it tasted awful! My taste buds did a lot of changing and I'm still eating things that I used to love, and dealing with the harsh reality that I don't really like them anymore. The coffee thing did tame itself, and am now back to my close relationship with the bean.

On a lighter note, my rings are getting bigger. My right hand ring is too big for my finger that I wear it on, and now I wear it on my middle finger so I won't lose it. I think that's promising. All those salads for dinner just might be doing something.

Being Sick With Spices

We've been sick the past week. All 4 of us. We slept the days away, toughed it out through a couple of things we couldn't get out of, and even bought another humidifier to help us through it all. Through all the fever's and tissues, I did manage to make us a big pot of spice filled tortilla soup. Making the chips is always so tedious, but worth it in the end.


Then at the tail end of all the sickness, I got some much needed paperwork done, and Mark put our newly acquired "toy" in it's final resting spot. So late at night while the kids slept, we finally had dinner. I made a bagel sandwhich with cream cheese, baby swiss cheese, avocado, clover sprouts, tomato, and yummy fresh deli turkey. I saw it on Pinterest. I just had to have. I did. I liked. Staple?

Today I'm excited that I get to run to the fabric store, and make granola bars. I never thought to make these at home, but once I found a good and easy recipe, I had no excuse not to. I've also had eggplant on my mind, so I'll be researching how to prepare that, it should be interesting.

As far as kid's craft's go, the glow stick lanters didn't turn out as expected. It was a toxic mess, so I ended up just putting the glow sticks whole and uncut into the water. Mia still had a lot of fun with it, but it was nothing like the pictures that were posted. According to the comments, I was not the only who couldn't get it to work. I still have paint to make, but keep forgetting to buy more food coloring to make vibrant colors. Today I also plan to buy glitter. Lot's of glitter. I see a disastrous but fun mess in my near future.

Tomatoes, And A Side Of Pinapple

I've been getting lots of pinapple lately. It juices well, it's good to eat, and makes for good smoothies. It's a pain to cut up though, and the juice makes my hands itch.

One night for dinner, I made simple BLT's and a huge salad with avocado's. It was the first time we had had bacon in almost 2 months it seems. It was nice to have it but blended with all the other flavor's so it wasn't too overwhelming. I was disciplined enough to not throw cheese on this, and instead of mayo I used dijon mustard.

Salsa! The easiest salsa in the world. I put some ingredients into my food processor, I pushed a button, and out poured salsa! It was spicy but good enough for my box. I think I wrote it down that day.

It made the perfect amount for a few days of spicy goodness.

It's been so busy lately. Appointments, preschool, meetings, dinners. When I look at my calendar, it's full and very few days have nothing on them. Today is Mia's first Valentines Day party at school. So I had the pleasure of putting together Valentines for all her classmates last night - she picked them all out herself too.

So I made cupcakes, and I feel totally guilty about it. I bought a box, and spend about 10 minutes on them. I even bought frosting and just added red coloring. I wasn't sure I wanted to spend 2 hours making cupcakes for kids that are going to devour them within' seconds. Cake kharma bit me in the ass, my left hand is stained red and it dosen't come off easily. Oh well. I took the time to decorate them at least so they're very "loving".

Spring? Yes, I'll Take Some Sherbert

Today's lunch. Rice milk, raspberry sherbert, fresh strawberries, banana's, peanuts, kiwi, and protein powder.

While outside exploring these past 2 days, I've found lots of things. Good and bad. I found this bulb, not in any dirt at all, but it's sprouting. It was near the daffodils, but not real sure what it is. So I am going to plant it in a small pot and watch it grow and see what comes of it. The bad? No matter what I seem to do, I can't seem to rid myself of all this garlic - elephant garlic - that is just not that good. I've pulled it twice now and yet I still have healthy sprouts. Ugh, if only they were good.

Tonight for dinner I made pasta with vodka cream sauce, and a large salad filled with avocado's. Mark bought this vodka a while ago, it's a potato vodka or something different, and holy crappola...just the smell of it makes me feel drunk for a second. I was a bit worried using it to cook with, but it came out great! While reducing it, the aroma was almost knock out strong, I'm almost scared to drink it.

I ventured into the Food Co-Op today in search of Mark's cereal ingredients. I will be learning how to roast and grind golden flax seeds. I guess I shouldn't really say "learn", it seems like a no brainer. I have a spice grinder so that's as easy as pushing a button for 15 seconds. The roasting, I guess I just throw in a hot pan and constantly stir? No oil, butter or anything. I even found some cool containers for all this stuff so it will all be well organized and even labeled. Hulled hemp seeds - expensive!

My to-do list on my fridge - the one for short term - is longer than normal. I am so behind on house duties. It dosen't matter that I put a huge bin of toys in storage, toys are still everywhere. It's endless. Always everywhere. It's been lovely but I have to scream now!

I'm dreaming a lot these days of a toy room. Mark and I have been talking about buying a laptop and getting rid of the desktop all together and just eliminate the whole office thing. That way we could turn the laundry room/office into a laundry room/toy room. Every single toy would either be in their rooms, or in the toy room. They seem to gravitate towards this room anyways. Well, actually we would stick the desktop in a hidden corner somewhere for the girls to play with. Isabel was introduced to the computer a few days ago, so I see 2 Kidzui accounts in the near future. I am sick to death of toys in the living room.

Everyday I think of my ever growing spring to-do list. Make laundry soap, finish dresser, finish hutch, paint ugly wall, paint hallway, paint the girls' toy cabinet, get the garden's started, get rid of cheap ugly bookcases and finally bring in the custome one sitting in my garage that Mark had as a child, utilize Aikido training and gain more patience, replant bamboo's, this, that, then another thing..kdlfasodfhoiwehfoiawneflkasdnflksadjf aotwor9w3ej p[d.

As long as a house renovation dosen't pop up somewhere, I'm golden.

Nuts, Grains, And Lost Marbles

This is Mark's new breakfast. It's probably the healthiest cereal in the world, and has already worked wonders for him. He sprinkles some cinammon on top, and calls it good. Not sure that I'm ready to jump on this bandwagon, but I'll let you know it if I ever decide to. These small packets are just to start out with to see if it helps him at all. I've already been scouting out bulk prices and have found most of this at either Haggen's or the Food Co-Op. Still working on hunting down the hemp seed.

Juice art. The green -or kiwi's- would only show up without the flash. I thought it looked cool enough to take a dark picture of. I believe this was oranges, mango, kiwi's, and carrot's. It was tart, but we drank it and the girls actually enjoyed it. They had fun drinking it together at their little table.

So I hadn't made bread in a while, and was a bit scared to at first. We've been eating so light, I was worried that bread would do me in. I snuck into Mark's cereal box and stole some raisens and roasted flax seeds. It gave the bread a nice flavor and tasted good with the vegetable soup and rice.

Veggie soup...yes, again. This time I added some fresh broccoli and garlic. I had more beef broth than chicken broth so I used both of them together and it came out well, had nice blending flavor. This pot is so big, sometimes I wish I had one smaller than this, but larger than my largest sauce pan. Spoiled.

Speaking of blending. This was my "lunch". Dry roasted peanuts (no salt), banana's, chocolate frozen yogurt, milk, a heavy scoop of protein powder, and of course ice. A full blender makes enough smoothie or shake for all 4 of us to have an appropriate serving. Again, I think the girls are liking these little juice and smoothie surprises. They giggle and laugh, and make a mess or two, then giggle some more. Then they pitter patter over to me and look up with the messiest little smiles asking for more. Makes me want to bake them a cupcake.

Today was my day at the preschool. Dealing with other peoples kids can be a challenge. Some are just brats, and some are so sweet. I've been toying around with some fundraising idea's lately, and feel I have come up with some good ideas, but haven't completly crossed the line toward's obligating myself. Baking a bunch of my most complicated cakes would require me to spend no less than 3 days in the kitchen - without a babysitter - to pull it off.

I've also been thinking about making a ton of chocolates. Liquor laced chocolates, butterscotch chocolates, hazelnut chocolates, peanut butter chocolates. It's far less time consuming, I can make ahead and freeze no problem since they have to be cool anyways. I could take my time to really perfect them all, and the stress - would be eliminated. I kinda don't like this fundraising thing.

Today's Take

While out today with my girls, I stocked up on a few extra fruit items for the juicer and blender (for smoothies). We fly through banana's already and have been using them for smoothies so I bought some more, just to ensure I didn't run out. Also found some good pears, a mango, and grapefruits.

I also came to the realization that I would have to change my grocery shopping schedule to accomadate for the constant flow of very fresh fruits and veggies. That will also take some adjusting as I spent a long time perfectly timing when I run out of staple items - so I only had to endure the sometimes 4 hour shopping trip just once every 2 weeks. It will be worth it in the end but will take some getting used to. I think I have a strong love-hate relationship with grocery shopping.

Being a mom has been difficult lately. Learning to let go, but wanting to hold on, is harder than I ever thought it could be. I've let go of Mia being a baby, and then a toddler, and accepted that she's now in preschool. I see her forming friendships at school and I know what's around the corner. Sleepover's, school 5 days a week, sports, teachers, a coach or two, friends parents - and then as I was browsing Pinterest, I found that perfect saying to match how I felt. "It's been lovely but I have to scream now!" Perfect.

I have this urge to re-arrange the house, mainly just the girls stuff. I still would like to update Mia's room. I came to the harsh reality just today in fact, that I would soon not be able to change Isabel on her changing table. She's just getting too big for it. I suppose I should figure out how to utilize it into a bookshelf or something. Before I know it, she's going to be in a big girl bed. It's been lovely but I have to scream now!

I'm excited to be moving forward in this direction, but it scares me at the same time. My parents will never fully understand how much I appreciated the freedom I was given as a child. I wonder if I'll be that strong as a mother as time goes on. I only see myself as the overprotective, ready to pounce, eyeballing every strangers every move, type of mother that desperatly needs to learn how to give my girls the freedom I had, but still be myself, as well as a protective, loving parent. Is there really a middle ground? I need to find it.

The Juicer

Today I started juicing. I don't plan on getting obsessive over it, but would like to do it at least once a day. My husband was up with me this morning (not normal) so I thought it would be a good time to start. I started with basics and juiced apples, oranges, and carrots.

Here we go! It takes a lot to make a little. I remember that from the last time we juiced.

Breakfast. It really wasn't bad, the apples definitly helped with the flavor. I will say it didn't go well with my morning coffee, but luckily I was in a hurry to get Mia to preschool and head down to the Food Co-Op. Today was 4% Friday, so our preschool recieved 4% of the Skagit Valley Food Co-Op's total sales for the day. So I went down and contributed some bucks, talked to customers and promoted. It was fun, different, and should be pretty successful! Yay!

Dinner. Chicken, avocado, tomato, cucumber, spinach, arugula, seasonings and a bit of Italian dressing. Did good for my 60% uncooked! I did make a pot of Miso, since I stocked up on fresh Miso from the co-op, and I made some sweet potato mash.

Oh and I almost forgot! For lunch I made a protein smoothie. Bananas, chocolate syrup, chocolate frozen yogurt, ice, and a scoop of protein powder. It was yummy! Sort of craving a burger, but I'm good. Tomorrow I shall experiement with kiwi's. Goodnight!

The Last 2 Weeks

For those that don't know, the past 2 weeks have been crazy, scary, and full of anxiety. My husband was admitted into the hospital after going to the walk-in clinic with sharp stomach pains. He was there for 3 days. After running a bunch of tests including a CT scan, he was diagnosed with a severe case of diverticulitis, and a few things on the side.

As a result, he has been on more meds than we can keep track of, it's terrible, and terrible on him. I now have to change my whole thinking of food. He has been on a special bland, soft food diet and it's been hard to come up with things. Last night I did make a good vegetable soup with some jasmin rice that was actually really good, easily digestable, and something I would make again just because it was good.

We were never food junkies, but we weren't health nuts either. We were in the middle. We always stayed away from processed foods and made things from scratch, so I'd say 90% of the time, we knew exactly where our food came from. No packets, no premade, crap.

Now I have to step this up a notch. I have been thinking about how I could go about this without freaking out or starving myself. So here it is:

60% uncooked fruits and veggies.

30% breads, pastas, and any cooked deliciousness that we would enjoy.

10% proteins - preferably chicken and fish before red meat, and an occasional sweet treat and any fats.

Part of me is excited, part of me is dreading, and part of me wants to see how many vegetables I can put in my shopping cart next week. Instead of the regular 2 bags worth, I expect to see 5-6 bags of fresh fruits and veggies. Now, I also have a juicer, but that's a whole other post.

Good Lunch

Our lunch went well! I didn't get a picture of everything, but did get some. I infused garlic and fresh sprigs of rosemary in some good oil the night before. The flavor of it the next day was amazing! I finally got to use this cute little jar.

I made ciabatta strata bread to go with the oil for dipping, and it also went with the baked tomato and feta that was drizzled in the flavorful oil and littered with fresh chiffonade basil. Bread came out good, here it is rising for the 3rd time.

The night before instead of doing something like cleaning - Mia and I baked a batch of good ol' oatmeal cookies. Just for fun.


The fish. This is the Steelhead that I made, I kept it simple by bathing it in lemon juice, sprinkled with sea salt and pepper, a descent amount of dill and a couple chunks of cold butter. Stick in oven of 400 for 15 minutes and this practically melts in your mouth.

I have no proof of dessert. But really, I made Banana mousse with butterscotch sauce drizzled on the dish and on top and then I grated semi-sweet chocolate for a garnish. It was a great lunch and we all had a good time. My husband laughed when I asked him what he wanted for dinner.

Use The Avocado

My breakfast. BLTA with cheese. Now I'm craving another one.

Dinner. This heap is a lot bigger than it looks. I had these wrap size tortillas that are just huge so I filled them well. There's a huge pile of greens, topped with fresh vegetables, lime juice, cilantro, chicken and then we later drizzled salsa verde sauce all over the top. We rolled it the best we could and dug in. I'm getting better at serving 50% uncooked vegetables for dinner.

So tomorrow I get to make this nice big lunch, and I'm excited to put some of my dinner party recipes to work. I plan on making baked tomato and feta cheese, 2 loaves of ciabatta strata bread to go with it, jasmin rice with butter and pepper, baked Steelhead, a green salad, and banana mouse with butterscotch ripple for dessert. I will be infusing oil for dipping the bread in, although I'm not sure with what, it's too easy to not experiment with.

I will be starting all my preperations today including cleaning, thawing my fish, infusing oil, making bread, and making the dessert - which can be refridgerated until needed, and setting the table. When I wake up tomorrow, I will have just a few things to do - the fish, rice, salad, and doing my best to keep the girls from tearing up any clean rooms and staying presentable. Need coffee!

Heartfelt And Hearty

I've always felt that the best kitchen utinsel you could ever have, would be the wooden spoon. They don't melt, but do occasionally burn - only adding character. They also never fail to properly mix your bread dough before digging in with your bare hands.


With pie dough, I use the pastry blender. With bread dough - always use a wooden spoon to cut your butter.

I let this dough rise about 30 minutes too long. When you have to play with tu-tu's and playdough, you have to play with tu-tu's and playdough. It still came out good.

Vension and sweet potato stew. I was a bit nervous making this with sweet potatoes, but it came out really good. I didn't get a before picture of it nicely dished up, and nearly forgot to get this picture before packing up the last serving. I ended up just doing it on the stove, taking only 2 hours. This house definitly had some smells going on - fresh baking bread and sweet potatoes - definitly something to remember. I think the sweet pots went better with a stew over the usual red's that I use. This was a success!

So I still have like 3 huge sweet potatoes, the 2 I used went pretty far. I might make a simple mash and still wonder what they would taste like paired with Steelhead. I managed to finish all the laundry except a few quick loads, and today plan on packing the 2 large boxes I filled just from Isabels closet and dresser of clothes she's outgrown and baby stuff no longer needed, and placing them in the shed. Very small tear over here!

I have also reignited the desire to completly re-do Mia's room. I had big plans last spring and never got around to it and we ended up renovating a house instead. She needs a big girl bedroom and cool things hanging from the ceiling. Spring is fast approaching and with this mild winter weather, I fully expect it to be a warm one. Can't wait, this winter is already a waste of time.