Just Around The Corner..

Call me superstitious, but I heavily dislike the idea of thinking that summer is here, Washington and I have trust issues. That said, I can almost hear her coming around the corner. Lilies bloomed well this year, but they didn't get very tall so I couldn't cut any of the flowers. We have potatoes sprouting well, corn is right on schedule and my sunflowers get stronger each day. My zucchini is just exploding with blooms and I can't wait to get my hands on it this summer, I have plans to really see what I can do with shredded zucchini now that I'm seeing food from a whole different perspective. It's no longer just for bread. 

I have recently learned that I was never really shown how to trim lettuce from the garden. Luckily I only killed one red leaf lettuce, the other i growing back at supersonic speed. My husband schooled me, I say lucky for me.

This is what many dinners look like for us. One big baker, topped with fresh grated cheese, herbs spices, butter, a fried egg and one slice of bacon. In exploring our options and suggested meals, my husband has perfected the ultimate baked potato! Who knew being gluten free, and eating only local produce meats could be so darn fun? 

Purging is going really good - and keeping me so busy. I cannot get over what we have accumulated in just the last three years. So ready to see it all gone! Just around the corner..

Slugs And Butterballs

Slugs. Their numbers deplete a bit each year, but they are still ever present. I would like to give a shot out to Espresso Connection and the amazing baristas there that happily fill my small bucket of coffee grounds for me. I think a morning has started out good when I get free coffee, and free coffee grounds. 

As long as I stay on top of the grounds, but be careful with the placement of, I won't change the ph of the dirt, and slugs and snails alike will stay away. I found this comic I thought was funny, so I thought I would share. 

Mark planted a good row of these potatoes, German Butterballs. I hope they're as good as they look in this picture! Lots of shoveling going on this week, at least the sun is shining! 

Crimson King, Is Queen

Although the day started earlier than preferred, it's been an amazing start to our summer break. The sun is back, veggies are happy, and things are coming out. Like these four tree's below:

This little corner has heard much conversation about how it's utilized. It provides so much privacy, homes for little critters, and hunting cabins for the beast of the house. In keeping with the current theme of finally starting fresh all around, we decided it was time. Mixed in between these four small trees, were different sages, roses, blackberries and vines straight out of the bowels of hell. 

Bye-bye privacy! Lucky the other side of the fence is the corner of our neighbors lot and the dead end of an alley so as far as sudden lack of the privacy we were used to goes, it's really not too bad. I got rays of sun in the living room from the back yard for the first time since living here. What a difference!

So then we planted this beauty. It's a Crimson King Purple Norway Maple. This little tree has been after my heart for about 2 years now. It seeded in the front yard, in a spot it would never be able to stay in. I kept cutting it down, and pulling what I thought were all the roots, but it just kept coming back. It refused to go away, or die, instead it just thrived and constantly tried to get my attention. So after another round of discussions, we decided it deserved to be planted somewhere where it could really take off. We plan to turn all that area into grass, and plant along the fence line evergreens that will grow to be about 15 feet tall (in many years to come). Still in the early stages of getting all the stumps out of the ground plus the vines, it might be a while before we get grass seed down and more trees in the ground, but I think it's already an improvement. 

Here's what the leaves look like. This tree should grow between 20 and 35 feet tall, and can be anywhere from 15-25 feet wide. Wish our little tree the best of luck!

And In The End..

And in the end, I find my heart still beating and my gardens growing. It was nice to have a break from the desk for a few weeks. I had time to ponder, experiment, plan, ruin, and just plain old cheat along the way, (cheating consists of coffee stand lattes, and tiny bites of things I know I shouldn't be eating anymore). Now that I have a good grip on what it means to be gluten free, I think I'm ready to jump into phase two of the entire ideology. A much easier step to accomplish, but still a phase that will take time, a little planning, and a lot more reading along the way. 

So what does it mean to be gluten free? Two months ago, I would have said it was just a special diet. It's not a diet, it's not something only one member of a household can do, it's a lifestyle change. It forces you to take a hard, unveiled look at your food, where it really comes from, how it's really treated before you see it, and what the hell are all those ingredients that nobody can pronounce. Rule #1: if you can't pronounce it, toss it. Rule #2: GO LOCAL! I am nothing but blessed in my food situation because I have an entire valley filled with organic farmers eager to fill my plate, so eager that I'll be able to buy directly from them twice a week thru October. 

In between, I have battled with the old need for places like Costco - where us happily fat Americans can go and buy even more crap food and in the masses so we can go home, stuff our faces and still have leftovers for the next two weeks. I have battled simple replacements for things like Cheerios (once thought impossible), syrups, and learned what a healthy staple filled cupboard really looks like. What does it look like? It would take less than five minutes for me to clear out every single piece of food in my kitchen. Two months ago, it would have been a job on my to-do list. I occasionally stroll into a Fred Meyer or Haggen's, but the more I do that the more I feel like it would be so easy to undo the pathway that I worked hard on building - so I find myself avoiding it as much as possible. Shortly after we started this lifestyle change, I was so determined to not go to Costco ever again, it forced me to get Isabel potty trained so I didn't have to go there for anything. Three days later - success!

The effects on my children have been amazing! I thought they were getting little added sugar before, but again, once you go this route your forced to look into things you never would have otherwise. I now have kids that wake up and want carrot sticks, apples, and bananas for breakfast. I did find a replacement for cereal, and they each have only 2-5 ingredients and they're all natural things that actually grow in dirt somewhere. I learned through this process, what a REAL sugar high looks like. The look on my dad's face as we experienced that episode together, was priceless. 

I only have a coffee once a week (twice if I'm having a rough week) and I really just prefer to get it elsewhere. I put my espresso machine away and enjoy having the extra counter space for my new "tea station". Yes, I now have a hot water and tea station, and I love every bit of having tea in the mornings. 

 Rule #3: If you can grow it, just do it! Mark and I have always had some sort of a garden, but this whole change has prompted us to clear more space for vegetables. So far we have tomatoes, tomatillos, zucchini, cucumber, lots of cabbage, arugula, peas, red leaf lettuce, carrots, corn, and radishes. All this is in my south facing garden that we finally got a grip on. Pictured above is just a small area. Still a lot more to come! My master plan is to continue to grow things that have multiple uses. Fruits for jams, veggies for eating and storing, and I would love to start making my own hot sauces and pickles. I planted another blueberry bush, but it's the Pink Lemonade variety. It will taste the same but the berries are hot pink, it will add flare to my garden. We also plan on getting some raspberry bushes so I can use my own berries for my raspberry jam, it would take at least a year before I would get any fruit off it it, but I think it would be worth the wait. Until then, I'll continue to buy them out of Duvall. 

These changes also prompted me to start making my own chicken broth. I buy a roasted chicken from the Co-Op, we eat most of it, and the rest goes into the pot. I get enough broth to last me a couple weeks. I feel it's efficient and nothing goes to waste, although I do need a good fat skimmer now. So after all this blah blah blah, maybe your curious as to what phase 2 of this lifestyle change means. I have already started, but it will take more time. I plan to rid this house of any kind of chemical. From soaps to cleaners, to the now empty medicine baskets. If it wasn't compiled from ingredients found on this earth in natural form somewhere, it goes. Does this mean that one day I'll stop using my expensive shampoo and conditioner? Hell yes, I have plans to wash my hair with baking soda, and condition it with apple cider vinegar. As soon as I get through all my dishwashing tablets, I will then be forced to make my own. I'm so glad the world didn't end last year, because this year so far has been stellar!

Time Is Flying

Time is flying past me at speeds I can't keep up with. With so much going on, it's a wonder I manage to shower some days at all. Gross, I know. It's nice to finally have some time with the Mac. We recently cleaned our garage - it was such a task that both our cars sat outside overnight for a week, it was awful! I feel like my car is mad at me.  

 Anyways, I pulled out my favorite tool in the process, my badass hand sander. I know when I get this out, I have fun things planned in my near future. Right now I'm using it for small projects around the house that I'm painting and getting ready for renters, next it will hopefully finish some projects around my house.  

I cleared around my rhubarb and it looks so happy! It's so healthy and just exploding with life! Being on a gluten free diet, rhubarb is something that I may finally have a use for. It's a cousin to buckwheat, something that we've been eating lately. Maybe I'll learn how to make a gluten free rhubarb pie one day. The thought of not using my personal crust recipe doesn't sit well with me, so I'm not sure I'm looking forward to that. I think I might have to hide the eyes of a betrayed recipe box. 

Cooking has been...a bit backwards. I haven't gone to Costco in a month, and instead go out every couple of days and get what  I need because everything I put together now, involves fresh organic uncooked fruits and/or vegetables. I'm starting to think that my 3 hour shopping trips might have seen their last day of chaos. Could I be so lucky? Mark has also been wanting to do the cooking as he likes to understand his food better, and feel it out as he goes. I'm not entirely sure I'm ok with this, I'm a stay at home wife and mother, shouldn't I be doing the cooking? Well, perhaps it's time to let that go and find a way to fill in the void. I purged my cupboards of food, and went through every single thing that I had. I filled 2 Costco bags with food that I need to distribute elsewhere. It was sad, and refreshing all in one. Now when Mark opens the cupboards, he doesn't see a bunch of food he can't eat. I have one small corner for some things for the girls like cheerios, crackers and peanut butter. P.S., I'll finish what I have, but one day I will need to find a way to make my own peanut butter. I'll go into further detail sometime about peanut butter. 

This was a soup that I made that was super yummy! It was bean based and I got to add some bacon to it. It came from the gluten free cook book that has endless amounts of information in it. It has an awesome and easy recipe for making my own flour so I can finally start making some bread. I have to say that even my girls are enjoying whats been coming to the table. 

I still have terrible cravings for bad things. Chocolate, fast food, Taco Time. It's awful but I'm happy to report that the only things I've cheated with are chocolate and crackers, maybe a piece of gluten loaded bread here and there. Twice I found myself driving towards fast food, and both times I turned myself around and once I got over the mouth watering thought of greasy meaty food, I felt better about my decision to NOT eat what my heart desires. Sometimes I think I could just indulge and binge eat a bunch of stuff, but I can barely finish a half sandwich - which I've been getting at the Co-Op. They have amazing gluten free sandwiches there and it's become our new "fast food".  I am off to paint so have a wonderful day!

The Problem With Change

Changes. Some are good, some are bad, some are just darn hard! I watch my husband go through these changes, although healthy and so rewarding, it's still hard to change how you think about food, and drinks. So with these changes, I've decided that I too need to make some personal changes. I thought it might be easier to do this on my own terms instead of waiting for someone to tell me to do it. Yes friends, we are talking about that morning cup of joe. Coffee, latte, caps, whatever you want to call it - it too, will have an end but will be given visitation rights. I plan to kick my morning coffee, and replace it with good tea and lemon. Human's are suppose to drink warm water (preferably with lemon or lime) in the mornings to wake your warm sleeping belly. Warm water wakes all the acids that sit in your intestines over night and restores your body's PH back to neutral. 

So this morning, I sipped on Chamomile tea with lemon and ate a hard boiled egg with the slightest hint of sea salt. I'm sure I'll get a caffeine headache sometime today, and probably tomorrow, and hopefully not the next day. 

So in short, the plan is to cut my coffee out. I hope to be able to enjoy a good latte maybe once a month. But I know that once I get to that point, I probably won't want coffee at all. 

The second part of the plan? Is to not freak out about it. Baby talk will happen, sneaking trips to my favorite barista which whom I have free coffee available to me, will happen. I expect this to take time and, I'm no stranger to afternoon coffee - it's going to happen. I've always gone through coffee phases, and during an off phase I would buy a mocha, savor it, look forward to it and then could be done with it. Let's pull these big girl panties everyone talks about on and get this snowball rolling. 

P.S., the eggs we get from our friends farm, make the best and most creamy hard boiled eggs ever. Yumm!  

I challenged myself last night. I told myself to make a dinner, without going to the store (a huge challenge in these early weeks). As bland and boring as this plate looks, it was really good and satisfying! I made my first batch of buckwheat, cooked only one chicken breast, shredded it, added black beans and the slightest amount of pepper, and then of course some lightly steamed greens. It was so simple, but as I watched myself "get away" with using only one piece of chicken, and only one pepper, and one head of broccoli, I couldn't believe how much I was stuffing my family. Mark and I cleaned out plates, and the girls did pretty darn good at eating and we were all satisfied for the rest of the night. Mark and I topped ours with the ever so slightest amount of bleu cheese and it gave it an awesome little kick here and there. I felt 18 all over again as I was trying so hard to come up with something edible. 

I'm starting to see past the costs of being gluten free, because by not buying nearly as many meats and expensive dairy products, I could see myself lowering my grocery bill. It's going to take a lot of time, and I will make a lot of mistakes. We did become members of the Skagit Valley Food Co-Op, with kickbacks! It's a start!

Breathing Goes A Long Way...

Breathing CAN go a long way, if you remember to do it! I often forget and instead get overwhelmed, overworked, and stressed out. Trying really hard to get a grip over here, and it's not going so well. We are working hard on becoming a gluten free/dairy free household. Hardest. Thing. Ever. 

This was a simple simple crock pot gluten free meal. Chicken in broth, add some onion and whole celery sticks. Put it on high for 4 hours, take out, shred, add lots of hot sauce (make sure it's gluten free Val) and then you make lettuce wraps topped with fresh shredded carrots - thanks only to Pampered Chef for that amazingly awesome tool! Sprinkle some bleu cheese and fresh celery, wrap, slowly consume and be happy. A bit on the spicy side, but all around good and satisfying.

 Remember the experimental tulip bulbs I rescued? Well they were planted, struggled a bit, and then thrived. This picture is not them thriving, I had just planted them. The yellow one bloomed, the red one thats all bent over had a hard time, but then reached back up into the sunlight and started to bloom. I stepped out to take a picture of my happy tulips only to find the flowers dismantled and thrown out of my dirt...I'm pretty confident that I have Isabel to thank for that one. Looks like she played "loves me, loves me not"...I'll try to replant them but this might have been too much for them. The garden in the back of this picture will hopefully one day be all grass.

 A girlfriend gave me this book - sorry for the blur - and it's amazing! It gives me the baby talk that I need to be able to execute this change without the stress of just not knowing how to make anything. I've been looking at my pantry, and I'm thinking that I might have to go through and get rid of everything I have and just start over. The more we learn about this diet, and they way that humans are suppose to be eating, I cringe every time I open a cupboard. I have pounds of flour that I will never be able to use again, so why keep them around. "The more you cook, the more you rot!" - A very smart man! Well shit, maybe I won't be doing as much "cooking" anymore.

My trillium is blooming. I wish these got taller. They're so low to the ground they're hard to see. But I have lots and they love where they are. This bunch is nestled between two different types of ferns, a very dainty Japanese fern, and the good ol' Washington found ones. (I don't know it's book name)

Remember the dandelions? Well, we got most of it cleared. We stopped just past the last blueberry bush, and then had a major discussion. It involves the removal of ANOTHER 3 trees, and I...don't want to talk about that yet.