Summer Break

Taking one!

 Enjoying life one day at a time. See you on the flipside.



Peace and Love--

 

Oh Monday,

why'd you do me like that? What did I ever do to you? Sunday was tough enough with my bees swarming AGAIN. Stuck 50 or so feet in the air on a cottonwood tree limb BETWEEN my chicken coops. Um yes I have dueling chicken pens, somewhere along the way I went from nice hobby famer gal to crazy chicken lady with 65 birds. Mmmhhmmm that's me, with a crazy pissed off swarm o' bees stuck in the tree above them all. Yeah me. I have no hope of getting them back, I lie, I have hope it is slim and I can't rely on it. It's cold, it's raining and for the most part I have to write them off. So Sunday was kind of lame but I held on to the hope that Monday would be better. I am such a sucker for tomorrow.

Did I mention rain? Torrential down pours of rain, as in a bucket being poured on your head, rain? Yes, well it did that all evening on Sunday. We thundered out to pull things in out of the rain, covered one chicken pen and roared back in completely soaked but all important things were covered or pulled in. Hahhhahaha when I got in my truck this morning, guess what I found. YES both windows facing away from the house were rolled down. Water literally trickled out when I opened the door. I was so spitting mad at the last driver of my truck that I couldn't see straight. I was headed to Radio Free Palmer to record some "5 minutes for dinner" pieces, I could hardly see straight the whole drive. Yeah yeah its 5 minutes but boy was I cranky.

We wheeled up in front of the studio and I took a deep cleansing breath, attempting to collect myself. Hollered to the boys to come along and promptly ripped the door handle right off the door. Sitting in the parking lot holding the small piece of metal that should open my door, in my hand at eye level completely shattered my composure. I freaked, I couldn't open the door with the stub that was left and I was stuck in my truck. Panic set in and I yelled to the boys to run and let me out. For once they obeyed and shot out the passenger side and got my door open. We strode into the building at full tilt, just getting away from it all. Rain sprinkled down on us.

I recorded some great bits, putting all that energy to good use, and my kids happily folded origami in the office while I was doing it. I came out of the studio and stared balefully at my truck from above. My truck, who had been left to soak up the rain the night before, had paid me back when she loosed her handle at me. Then I noticed something, NO, the passenger side door was wide open and letting in more rain. In the middle of town, in a busy section even, door wide open, steal me or my contents please, caution driver door does not open from the inside. Needless to say I came straight home and parked before she noticed another transgression.


**whistling**



Peace and Love--




 

Wisdom from the Past

My grandmother was an astounding woman. She moved, sight unseen, to the Alaskan wilderness in 1946 to join her husband who worked on the Alaska Highway Commission. They lived in a highway commission camp and she was the only woman in the camp for a full year. She arrived with their two children and a third was soon on the way. Her third child was born with a club foot and required weekly trips to Fairbanks 100 miles away, on a gravel road, in the middle of winter. But she made that trip every week and in the end his foot turned out fine because of her diligence.


Just a few of the things she taught me were: never give up, do what's right no matter how hard it is and lend a helping hand wherever/whenever you can. I think my incredible work ethic and dedicated volunteerism came directly from her, who else could inspire a small child to beg to stay at her house to do chores with her? Did I mention she now owned a dairy farm in Alaska and chores were scrubbing the milking barn and cleaning calf pens morning and night, summer and winter. I wanted to help because I loved to work, especially with her.


When I need strength I look to her memory and draw from her wisdom and her actions. I'm so lucky to have her with me always and I never stop learning from grandma. It's not always easy to do the right thing, is it? I know in my own life I have struggled mightily doing the "right" thing, usually for my children, when there were many easy alternatives. In the end I look back and think "wow that was tough but it was best for my sons at the time." 


Protecting my children is important to me, as it is to every parent, I'm sure. We are so lucky here in the United States to have, for the most part, easy access to health care, immunizations, food banks and help in many other ways. When I look at life around the world I often wish every human on this earth had it as easy as we do. One thing I love is that more children than ever have the chance to be immunized against things like pneumococcal disease. Pneumococcal disease is a bacterial disease that can cause meningitis and pneumonia. While this disease is easily preventable, it is a leading killer of children around the world. Preventing the disease through a vaccine will save millions of lives. Other vaccines being providing to children around the world will prevent measles (which STILL kills 450 people a day)and polio, now reemerging after being mostly eradicated. We should never give up trying to rid the world of dangerous diseases that rob families of their young. I'm thankful we've not given up the fight to protect the most vulnerable children.

People who have, should help people who do not have, it's how it should be and it's just one the important life lessons my grandmother taught me.


Peace and Love--



 

Just Another Meatless Monday Cilantro Pesto

One hot week and my cilantro went from lovely to raging out of control and bolting. Good news though even if it starts to bolt or even flowers you can still use it. A good wash in a bowl of salty water to get rid of the aphids and a spin in a salad spinner and it's almost ready to go. Make sure you pick out the biggest tough stems too, then it really IS ready to go. My cilantro nearly always tries to bolt and I just keep pulling off and using the flowers and all. It makes the plant grow more AND I still get to use it, so I really don't care too much.

Cilantro Pesto

1/2 cup packed cilantro

1 garlic clove

1 teaspoon salt--more if you like it

4 TBSP pinenuts-toasted over dry heat

1/4 cup good olive oil

put the cilantro, garlic, salt and pine nuts in a food processor

pulse to chop 

scrape down the sides of the bowl 

keep pulsing and scraping 

when very finely chopped drizzle in the olive oil

and whirl until well blended

use as desired 

or freeze in blots on a cookie sheet covered in waxed paper, when frozen cut apart and wrap individually to save a little summer flavor for a dreary winter meal

Peace and Love--

 

The Penny Worthy Project

Summer I love you, we hadn't had a sunny day in 3 weeks. I mean full on sunny day that feels like it will never end and finally we got 5 in a row. My house is a wreck but our days outside and running feral made it all worthwhile. 3 nights of campfire and cooking out, 2 days of extreme water play, mowing, weeding and reading in the hammock make this just about the best week of summer so far.

And the thrifting was short but sweet. I asked on my local buy/sell Facebook group if anyone had a dresser for sale, preferably under 25 dollars. Low and behold someone had one for 20 bucks! I picked it up and it is great! I already primed it now and I'm ready to paint. See that gallon of primer on top of the dresser?? 

HANDY PAINTING TIP do not move a tall dresser with a can of paint on top, it will fly off, land upside down, spill in your shoes and make a complete mess. 

I found an old battleship game from which to steal the pegs. 

Ours have mysteriously been left out and sucked up in the vacuum cleaner (who would do that?) and these will make tracking when playing so much easier. If you can't keep track of your moves how can you stomp a 6 year old into the ground?? 

I have been lusting after the old style bikes rolling through town of late and almost asked for one for my birthday. I didn't but I wanted to. Then my husband rolled this old beauty out of the garage 

it's mine from when I was 12. It needs a tire and tube and then I will be rolling serenely though town too. YEAH! True reality will be me trying to keep up with my kids whilst sweating and swearing but hey we can all dream.

And what about you? What are you doing to to make yourself happy in this world? Why not link up and let us read up on what makes you crazy ridiculously happy. Maybe you resell, craft, upcycle or create delish food on a dime. WE WANT TO BE INSPIRED by you and your wonderfulness. 

Peace and Love--

 

A little bit of summer

FINALLY

and I am NOT complaining but we had a long stretch of rain gray weather and I am so so glad we have had sun for a day or two. It's supposed to cloud back up next week so we are in "live summer while summer is here" mode. We played at a creek half of the day, stopped bought local veggies, came home, had a fire, roasted meat on sticks and gooey marshmallows too. Almost perfect day. Husband says I am burned, but that can't be true I never burn, boy am I itchy. HA!

 These are the days of summer, I am loathe for them to end, yet I am so exhausted, I need to sleep. The sun is behaving a bit more normally and going down at 10:30 instead of 11:45 which is nice. It means I can finish off the day, hit bed and not feel like a slacker because the damn sun is STILL shining. I'm more rested and so the days are more pleasant.

 I took my camera out wandering around tonight at sunset and it was so warm and nice out. I wanted to grab up the glowing orange sunset and share it. I'm afraid these pictures do it no justice at all.

Peace and Love--



 

JB Chocolatier

One of the best parts of being a food blogger is being sent goodies to try out. A week or so ago I had one of these moments when luscious box of chocolate was dropped off at my door. Now chocolates are great but when they are hand delivered by the chocolatier's husband, and they are made right down the road from you, and there is collective gasp from all in attendance when the box is opened you know these chocolates are going to go beyond great. They did not disappoint.

JB Chocolatier chocolates are made, literally, right down the road from my house. I could throw a rock about that far, oh except I never want to make them mad! One stay at home mama making our small town just a little bit sweeter is how I think of JB Chocolatier. Add in 6 revolving flavors per month AND the custom orders she can make for any special occasion and we are talking highway to success here. And I can say all this before I even expound on the chocolates.

So then lets get down to chocolates, shall we?

Here is the box as it was delivered

 and opened

Our first taste had to be this gorgeousness

Lemon Caramel--caramelized white chocolate infused with lemon and enrobed in white chocolate
light-decadent-beautiful



 Next up

 
Key Lime--white chocolate ganache infused with lime in dark chocolate
If you are looking for something different in the way of chocolates this is it! Refreshing and a perfect summer treat.



and then

Peanut Butter--organic peanut butter with a crunchy crouquant in milk chocolate
The presentation of this peanut butter chocolate was fantastic, it was swirled and gorgeous to look at, that made this a top pick for all of us visually--lovely to look at and pretty damn tasty too


Oh hello beautiful

Creme Brûlée--vanilla ganache mixed with caramelized sugar
My husband's favorite chocolate--I know who's getting a big box of these for his birthday next year--YUM

Milk Chocolate--milk chocolate ganache sweetened with fireweed and raspberry honey rolled in almonds
FANTASTIC-perfect for giving to out of state friends visiting this summer--so deceptively simple looking and yet...not simple at all


Finally my personal favorite a Fleur de Sel Caramel--best caramel I have ever eaten and I don't have a picture of it?? DANG but in the above photo of the whole box of chocolates you can see it, it has a few salt crystals sprinkled on it. This one made every person groan with delight, except my caramel hating husband who passed on tasting it.

As a blogger I like to make sure I am balanced and fair, so it's important to me to look carefully at the foods I share with you. I can't find one bad thing to say about any of the lovely assortment I sampled. Perhaps one sad unfortunate thing is that JB Chocolatier can't ship chocolates at this time, state law prohibits it. As for nasty disgusting chocolates? There were none to be found, believe me we looked. Not everyone in our group loved every flavor but not one person refused to finish their piece or refused a second taste.

I was given a box of chocolates to do with as I please, I could have eaten it and said nothing. I could have given it away. I could have run off to a corner and eaten them all by myself. BUT they are worthy of sharing with my local readers and everything I have said is my own opinion.

If you need a unique local made product check out JB Chocolatier. If you need to special order for a wedding favor, bridal shower favor, baby shower favor or maybe as a fundraiser? Why not give Jenny at JB Chocolatier a holler? Let her know what you need and see what she can come up with. I am thinking of Teacher Appreciation gifts myself and a box for me(LAURA APPRECIATION!!) and definitely the Creme Brûlée for my husband too. Christmas is not too far off and I am definitely adding chocolates to my local presents for local people list(coming soon) too.


Peace and Love--

 

Just Another Meatless Monday Raspberry Vinaigrette

Anybody tired of salad yet? Not me, well now that I've found a great way to perk it up that is. I was heading to a party and wanted to make something I could happily eat on the big diet, scanning the fridge I quickly realized it would be a salad. Oh. Yeah. Salad. Because I haven't eaten enough of those lately.

I knew it would need perking up so my second decision had to be dressing. Ugh store bought was out because I hate they way they taste and homemade ranch (BEST DRESSING EVER) is heavy on fat so I turned to something fruity. And seasonal. BAM raspberry vinaigrette made with homemade jam was the perfect idea. I played with a regular vinaigrette recipe by adding a bit more vinegar and a dollop fresh homemade raspberry jam. Lucky for you I took notes on amounts so I could pass them on to you. But listen up, if you like it sweeter add more jam OR a pinch of sugar. If you like it tangier, add more vinegar. Add herbs like crushed basil or fresh oregano or a minced garlic clove.

Raspberry Vinaigrette 

2 TBSP apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup good olive oil

1 teaspoon prepared mustard

pinch of salt

dash of pepper

3 TBSP of homemade raspberry jam--use good store bought if need be

add all the ingredients to a jar with a lid

shake well 

taste and add more sweet or sour as you prefer

refrigerate until ready to use

let come to room temperature before use if possible

shake well before use

You know what? Vinaigrette is a tricky word to spell!

Peace and Love--

 

The Penny Worthy Project

Eating from the garden is gearing up this week I munched radishes while working in the garden and the kale is coming in strong. It is so much sweeter than store bought kale! 

I did get in some thrifting this week, YEAH! I found a brand new life vest for my 8 year old, he weighs 90 pounds and his old vest was only good to 80. 

What a boy, so tall and not at all of chubby. I can hardly believe he is getting so big. Anyway got him a new life vest to wear when we head out dip netting in a few weeks. We are really excited to be heading out for a bit more of this.

I also found a pair of cowboy boots for the littlest boy. So broke in, so ready to wear, so perfect. Yes?

I bought a pair of jeans for myself and they were too big, proof that the diet is working. So I listed them on eBay and they already have a bid. Woot and also damn, uploaded it on my phone and have no picture handy.

And for some reason I never posted this "crazy lady status" load of Garfield pencils. We will never be out of pencils again. 

How about you? Are you buying or selling cool great stuff? Did you find the best thrifty recipe ever? Upcycle some amazing thing? Why not share it all here? Ebay auctions, etsy stores, thrift scores, recipes, recycling are all perfect for linking up.









Peace and Love--

 

DIY {thrifted} Bench Remake

Old bench, new look. I've had this old bench for 17 years! First it lived in our mudroom holding hats and gloves in the seat, it lived there for 10 years. When we remodeled it just didn't fit the room anymore, it wasn't too big simply the wrong style. We popped into the basement because you never know when you'll need a bench.

That's really the danger of basements isn't it? No one ever will ever see your mess, unless they do because you have bedrooms down there. Anyhoodle this bench hung out there and then on the back porch last summer and it spent the winter in the old greenhouse. I still didn't want to get rid of it, I just felt weirdly attached to it. So I hauled it out in the driveway and proceeded to prime it up. HA! then I put it away for about forever and a day. I finally decided what color to paint it, it came in a flash BRIGHT ORANGE just popped into my head.

So I did and it is and we love it.

Peace and Love--

Lilacs Glorious Lilacs

From Summer Solstice to mid July our yard is filled with the scent of Lilacs. A very vintage smell, like rose water, old fashioned and proper. Mmm the whole yard is reminiscent of a faraway time. Don't you love the smell of lilacs? Wherever I go, whatever I do the smell of lilacs brings me home and I am 6 years old digging holes in the front yard like I was told not to.


This year I decided that when they were blooming I would keep lilacs by my bedside. They don't keep well and I've refreshed the bouquet many times but that soft lingering scent is worth it.

Peace and Love--




 

Just Another Meatless Monday Spicy Pickled Carrots

I wrote about our canning endeavors the other day in my Penny Worthy Post and in response got a few emails requesting the recipe we were making. I believe this is the final draft of the recipe. There was some confusion in the final making of these as to whether the first batch had onions in it, it was finally decided that yes it did have onions in it. If you don't like onions simply leave them out, I would however NOT leave out the garlic or the pepper, these add the spice and kick you want. 

Spicy Pickled Carrots

makes roughly 2 cups

10 medium carrots

slice of a hot pepper OR pinch of pepper flakes

1 garlic clove

1 bay leaf

teaspoon peppercorns

1 small slice of onion-refer to the picture to see what I mean-it's not much but it is there

3/4 cup of good apple cider vinegar

3/4 cup of water

1 teaspoon pickling salt

peel the carrots and cut into carrot sticks-not too think or thin

cut them to fit lengthwise in your jar

drop the pepper, garlic, bay leaf  and peppercorns in the jar 

slide the carrot sticks in the jar

lay the onion slice on top

bring the vinegar, water and pickling salt to a boil

pour over the carrots in the jar 

put the lid on and place in the refrigerator for one month to pickle the carrots

If you plan to make 30 pounds of pickled carrots like my friend Steph and I did then be sure to fire up the big kettle and give the jars a 10 minute hot water bath. Don't know what that means? Well fill a canning kettle with enough water to cover your jars, don't put the jars in yet. Cover and bring the kettle to a high rolling boil. Carefully using canning tongs set the jars in the boiling water making sure the jars are covered with water. Cover with the lid and bring the kettle to a rolling boil again and begin timing. When the time is up carefully remove the hot jars to a folded over towel. Let cool there undisturbed for 24 hours, then pack away in the pantry. If any jars are NOT sealed and the lid is bulged up put immediately in the refrigerator and use first. 

If you want to make MORE than one jar simply scale up the recipe. For 10 jars multiply everything by 10 and so on and so forth. Make sure to have PLENTY of minion help on hand and more than one carrot peeler available. 

Peace and Love--

 

The Penny Worthy Project

Usually I post lots of thrifting finds for the Penny Worthy project but since this is all about making yourself happy on a budget this week I'm changing it up. I did hit up a few thrift stores but with Independence Day smack dab in the middle of the week my rhythm was off all week. Whenever I thought about thrifting it never seemed like I had time to really shop but just a quick peruse.

I did however start something really amazing and useful, canning for the year. Now I usually work through the year and put things away bit by bit when it becomes available or I have time. There is still that one day where I look around and think this is it a new year of canning. I clean out the pantry and the fridge and wash all my jars up and make an endless list of things I want to try. I have joined forces with my very good friend Stephanie to make canning even more fun and productive. She sent me her list of things she wants to make it looks like this:

Bacon jam

Caramelized onions- a small batch to start but if they are as good as I think they will be, I bet I'm going to want 3 dz pints for the winter. Imagine being able to just throw some in beef stock for French onion soup or in a pie crust with some game and swiss for a quick quiche!

Pickled watermelon rind( just to try it! )

Pickled spicy carrots

Plum lavender jam

Mixed berry jam

Raspberry jam

Apricot jam

Strawberry jam

Spiced pickled peach jam

Pepper jelly

Blackberry jelly

Blueberry pie filling

Apple pie filling

Apricot orange preserves

Fig preserves

Orange marmalade

Peach almond conserve

Dill pickles

Bread and butter pickles

Dilly beans

Cornichons

Sweet pickle relish

Salsa

Plain canned tomatoes

Plain canned corn

Plain canned carrots

Ketchup

Ajvar knock-off

Corn relish

Stone fruit chutney

Apple onion chutney

BBQ sauce

Peach BBQ sauce

Tomato sauce

 That's not even including everything I want to make, but then again many of things I want to do are on that list. SO add to her list

green tomato relish

canned salmon

canned smoked salmon

beet relish

pickled beets

canned beans--dried beans with ham in jars processed in the pressure cooker--low salt ready to use beans--also garbanzos, black beans and plain white beans

blueberry jelly

chili sauce

apple pie filling

spicy pickled green beans

Uh wow we better get started NOW! And so we did, we spent the day making  VATS of Whiskey Bacon Jam, 

Caramelized Onions--almost caramelized anyway!

 and Spicy Carrots. We also worked on a soffritto but didn't get it canned so it's in the freezer. What a great way to kick off canning season, we made 14 jars of Whiskey Bacon Jam, 28 jars of pickled carrots, 4 jars of caramelized onions, 8 jars of soffritto. The spicy carrots alone took 30 pounds of organic carrots...that's a LOT of peeling people! 

In the middle of all this going on we started talking how many jars of jam we might want to end up with. I talk in terms of how many we need for each week and figure things that way, and the mental math came up to about 3 per week, ahem 150 jars or so per year. I was embarrassed by that high number but knowing we use it in yogurt, oatmeal and sandwiches I threw the number out to Steph. She didn't bat an eye but instead said "ok then we are NOT freaks because we need about that much" No hon you are freaks it's just that we are too.

We had a great long day of canning, bs-ing, kids running through the house, dogs thundering around(our mastiff, their pyrenees) and in the end hamburgers grilled by the husband and fresh beer from Arkose brewery. To top it all off we had a little chocolate tasting session with some chocolates by a local chocolatier. I'll be writing up a full drool worthy post on her chocolates later on but for now rest assured that they were delicious.

Peace and Love--