A Working Mom Trying to Go Green.

I'm not abandoning my blog.

2010-09-14T00:05:00.003-04:00

Well, I have just had a lot on my plate. And the focus of my blog keeps changing. My son is 3.5 years old now, and my last post was about potty training. Well, he's finally starting to come around. And he actually pooped for the first time last week. I am using a lot of treats to get him started, but until this point he was coming up to me and telling me he pooped in his diaper, so I figured it was time to really commit to it.

I just gave birth at the end of July to my new son. He's now 6 weeks old and just a little cutie pie! He's a much fussier baby than Zach was. Well, I should say, in retrospect that the sensory problems really made Zach a laid back baby. He could care less if he was in a dirty diaper, and temperature changes never bothered him. My new guy can't stand the heat, as it's been so humid here. It actually was the worst summer to be pregnant in my area.

I've been attending support group meetings for the Sensory Processing Disorder. It's been SO USEFUL. I encourage any of you, if you are in the same boat to find one. This week there will be a speaker from the Development center to talk about whether you should have your child evaluated. I'm still on the fence. Our therapists have suggested that he may have a little ADHD going on, and that we should have a professional evaluate him. I do notice that when we are out in public, his behavior is much more hyper than a lot of kids that look his age. So, we'll see. It's a constant learning experience. He started gymnastics last week, and it was a challenge to get him to sit and wait for directions and to follow them, even though he really liked what they were doing and actually repeated the guy. I wonder how difficult school will be for him.

So, with that said, since this summer has been so crazy... My garden didn't do well at all!! It was disappointing, but truthfully, I probably didn't water it as well as I should. I didn't make it to the farmer's market either, which I'm bummed out about, and I seemed to have lost my passion for cooking. So, I'm trying to get that back.

So, hopefully I'll be able to come up with some posts sooner than I have been. I'm back in the cloth diaper market, so perhaps I will write about them again too!

Potty training

2009-09-28T17:05:00.002-04:00

My son is 31 months old. He has recently shown an interest in potty training. In the past week he's peed in the potty several times. I even purchased him some dinosaur underwear, which he was very psyched about. It seems as though he is very inconsistent about this. He does much better to notice that he has to go when he's naked or wearing the underwear, otherwise the diaper is on and he goes about his business. I have an M&M jar, (which he calls M's) that he gets some if he uses the potty. I think he is still figuring out that there is a difference between pee and poop. He calls it all 'poopy'. And, he's yet to go to the bathroom sitting on the potty, he straddles it and pees standing up.. which is hysterical.

So, to all you mom's.. I assume the inconsistency is normal? But how do you get them to go more regularly? Or do you just wait until they're ready?

Child Safety Week

2009-09-10T11:20:00.003-04:00

Next week is Child Safety Week. Saturday Sept 12th is National Seat Check Saturday.
Statistics say that 3 out of 4 child safety seats are installed incorrectly.

For more information, view:

Sensory Processing Disorder

2009-08-19T11:54:00.002-04:00

My son is currently 2 1/2 years old. When he 18 months, I started to get concerned that he wasn't really talking. He grunted alot and was able to communicate well with you, but just never used any words. My doctor said, "He's a boy, He's the first born... we'll revisit this at his 2 year checkup." Well, his 2 year check up comes along and still no words. My doctor finally decided we would get his hearing checked to start. Like I suspected, his hearing was fine. But this was the first step to getting some speech therapy. We went through the Early Intervention Program and they hooked us up with a multidisciplinary evaluation. There was our case coordinator, a med student, a speech therapist and a teacher. They would just have him do some basic activities, etc. Well, he clearly qualified for speech therapy. They also recommended an occupational therapy evaluation because they noticed a few things with his fine motor skills, etc.

He qualified for occupational therapy too, just borderline scores. So, as it turns out, some of his peculiar behaviors are making more sense. He got some Sensory Processing difficulties. He's a little more busy, active than most kids. He rarely sits down to do anything, wants nothing to do with watching TV. He likes to roughhouse and wrestle, crash, jump. This was explained to me that it takes a lot for him to be stimulated. He also has a very high pain threshold, which could give anyone watching him a heart attack. He has some low muscle tone in his mouth, which explains the trouble with his speech... and he drools a lot when he's concentrating on something.

This disorder manifests in different ways with different kids. There are various combinations of difficulties a kid could face. We've been doing therapy for 3-4 months and it has worked wonders. He's speaking much better. Everything isn't clear and he still needs to work on expanding his vocabulary, but we actually have conversations. He has been able to settle down to participate in some fine motor activites more and more. Overall, he's going to do well. He was born 1 month premature and it's possible he didnt' have enough time to cook. We didn't notice much because he's so good at his gross motor skills and those are the milestones that children meet typically in the first 12-18 months of life. We're lucky that we caught it relatively early. I asked the OT, if he didn't have the speech problems, how would we have noticed the other things. (I just figured he was a boy that liked to roughhouse... with the drooling, I just thought he was teething.) She said it probably would have gone unnoticed until school, where he needed to sit still for length of time.

I write this because if you have little ones and notice some different behaviors, you might want to get them evaluated. There's not a whole lot of resources yet on the internet, but I've found some books that I'm gonna check out.

My garden!

2009-07-31T20:12:00.008-04:00

Okay, it's finally seemed to hit a streak of 80 degree weather here in the northeast and my garden is finally starting to do good things.

This is my lone zucchini. My squash plants were starting to die. And I managed to bring them back to life.

These are my tomatoes just waiting to turn red. I have a couple of heirloom tomato plants mixed in there too.

I have lots of hot peppers. I have hungarian wax peppers and you run of the mill green hot peppers!

This is my biggest success. Cucumbers! This is about half of my total bounty so far, I figure I have about 13 or so of them that will be ready to pick soon.

My beans are just starting to come in to. For some reason I couldn't get my carrots or beets to grow this year. I had a great crop of snap peas. It made it all worthwhile to grow a garden when my son finally started to eat some of the peas.

Cute story segments

2009-07-27T16:00:00.002-04:00

I think I've decided that I'm going to post cute things that my son does in an attempt to remember them. I've told myself that I'm going to write them down and it never happens so....

My son is getting speech therapy. He was born 1 month premature and there are signs that the muscles in his mouth are a little weak. He's been doing well, getting speech therapy for about 2 months now. It's worked wonders.

So, this weekend I've been trying to get him to nap when he's been miserable. The summer humidity is kicking in and he's been very emotional. So, I tell him he needs to close his eyes and go to sleep. If he opens them, I'll say "Close your eyes". So last night, I'm telling him that it's bedtime and he needs to close his eyes. He says to me...."Mommy.......eyes." It took me a minutes to figure out that he was telling me to close his eyes. I just laughed.... I think he might just be smart enough to know that if I close my eyes, I won't be able to see that he hasn't closed his.....

Oh, and a recipe to come later.

Please bear with me.

2009-07-13T11:14:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone. I have a lot of pictures to post.... however my computer has no more memory. I recently purchased a new one, I just have to get it up and running. Then I will have CSA, Farmer's Market and Garden pictures to post. This should happen this week.

Also, please check out the following site for some important information on Mesothelioma.
www.maacenter.org

Remind your father.....

2009-06-18T15:46:00.002-04:00

How important regular check ups are.

Send your dad (and any dads that you know) an email Father's Day Card.
This card will remind him of the important preventative checkups that he should be getting.
Include your own personal message about how important his health is to you.

Back in Action

2009-06-16T11:19:00.002-04:00

I am going to start posting more regularly. My garden is up and running. I just need to start taking some pictures. My computer at home has no memory, so it's such a hassle to post anything.... but I'm looking around for a new one. I've doubled the size of my garden this year.

I'm also hoping to get to the Farmer's Market.. I've had to work some Saturday mornings lately.

AND... this week starts my CSA deliveries. I think this first week is just going to be leafy greens but I will take pictures to show you what I've gotten. It's Wyllie Fox Farm and they do organic farming, although I don't think they're technically certified organic. But they do picking events during the summer as well. I'm anxious to get there and look around. It's about 1/2 hour from my house.

Started my garden

2009-05-13T14:51:00.001-04:00

I've started my garden officially. Because I'm in the NorthEast, I need to wait until after Memorial Day typically to plant some things.
But the cooler weather vegetables are starting to grow.

Snap peas, Lettuce, Spinach, Radishes, Golden Beets and Onions.

I'll be snapping a picture soon.
And, farmer's market season is here. I'll be bringing back my weekly posts of the great bargains I've found.

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T08:26:00.000-04:00

Take a little time today to do something good for our beautiful planet. Even, if you stop to admire mother nature.

Spring is getting here!!!

2009-04-08T14:11:00.001-04:00

Okay... so I've been a slacker with this blog most of the winter... but spring is here and last weekend I was able to get my garden bed ready. I'm going to plant some different things this year... but this weekend I am going to plant my snap peas, spinach, lettuce, radishes, onions and beets. I also learned about staggering... I don't know why I didn't think of this last year so that I could spread out the harvest a little more. The other things I am going to plant will be beans, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, cucumbers...

Last October I canned tomatoes, peaches and applesauce and they turned out to be real useful. So I am going to plant tomatoes this year. In fact, I picked up a package of seeds for tangerine mama.. they are orange tomatoes that have less seeds and aren't as gooey... I planted them in a little planter to get them started. I also planted some Basil to get that started.

So I picked up the pot to water the basil and out of the corner of my eye I see my son take the pot with tomato seeds and pour it into this big pot that I had sitting nearby. The soil I used had little white specs in it as well so there was no getting the seeds back. I think I did cry for a second. I put all the soil back in the pot and I'm going to hope for the best.

I'm also going to join a CSA that will deliver weekly to my husband's workplace. It's $255 for a 1/2 share for the season and it breaks down to about $15/week. Plus it will be neat to have a surprise of the items that we'll receive.

All right, well I should be posting more often now. I even took the winter off from the Farmer's Market. But I'm gonna get back to posting my weekly finds.

My life as a Registered Dietitian

2009-03-10T21:19:00.007-04:00

Note: This post is participating in an "RD Blogfest" in honor of National Registered Dietitian Day (March 11)

I was asked to write a post about how my work life and being a dietitian coincide.

I should clarify to readers. A Registered Dietitian is someone who has 4 years of school in dietetics, 900 experience hours, and passed the registration exam. These are the folks that you should see for advice. Because we aren't a licensed profession (yet).... anyone is able to call themselves a nutritionist and dole out advice, sometimes correctly, sometimes not.

There are many places where you'll find Registered Dietitians. It just so happens that I work in a dialysis center. Dialysis is a life sustaining treatment that keeps people alive whose kidneys aren't working. Diet plays a huge role since the kidneys function in keeping your electrolytes in balance, getting rid of excess sodium and fluid, converting Vitamin D to a usable form for your body, and helps produce red blood cells that helps oxygen travel around the body.

The thing I really like about my job is the relationships I've formed with my patients. Because I see them 3 times a week and they're there for about 4 hours, I have plenty of time to speak with them. I find something in common with just about any of them. One patient has taught me so much about gardening (something that I'm just getting in to). He spent many years landscaping. He's from Puerto Rico and his brother sent him some seeds for a sweet pepper plant. He even brought me in some. I had a huge batch of flat, pole beans that I brought to him. He opened my eyes to sofrito as well.

There are others that I talk sports with. Even some fellow Mets fans. One of them just received a transplant from his daughter last week and he is recovering well. I will miss my chats with him. He even was a basketball player for a short time with the Detroit Pistons and would tell me stories about his playing days.

Some others politics, family, childraising. I've gotten great tips for helping me with my son. They always like to see my pictures and listen to my stories.

So you see, for as much as I've given them... I received it back twofold. I pride myself in being a dietitian that they don't dread seeing as I come by with their lab reports. Occasionally, I get a couple that pretend to be sleeping... but I'm on to them!

Check out some other fabulous Registered Dietitians and the work they do. Wish them a Happy Registered Dietitian's Day! March 11th.

Beyond Prenatals - Food vs. Supplements and Real Advice vs. Fake Advice
Annette Colby - No More Diets! A Registered Dietitian Shares 9 Secrets to Real and Lasting Weight Loss
Ashley Colpaart - Dietitians working in food policy, a new frontier
Diana Dyer - There and Back Again: Celebration of National Dietitian Day 2009
Marjorie Geiser - RD Showcase for National Registered Dietitian Day - What we do
Cheryl Harris - Me, a Gluten Free RD!
Marilyn Jess - National Registered Dietitian Day--RD Blogfest
Julie Lanford - Antioxidants for Cancer Prevention
Renata Mangrum - What I'm doing as I grow up...
Liz Marr - Fruits and Veggies for Registered Dietian Day: Two Poems
Meal Makeover Moms' Kitchen - Family Nutrition ... It's our "Beat"
Jill Nussinow - The Registered Dietitian Lens I Look Through
Wendy Jo Petersen - March 11 is our day to shine!
Diane Preves - Registered Dietitians and the White House Forum on Health Reform
Andy Sarjahani - Dr. Seuss Tribute continued: Green Eggs and Ham and a Sustainable Food System
Rebecca Scritchfield - Big Tips from a "Big Loser"
Anthony Sepe - RD Showcase: Registered Dietitian Day, March 11, 2009
Kathy Shattler - RD Showcase for Nutri-Care Consultation
UNL-Extension, Douglas/Sarpy County - Nutrition Know How - Making Your Life Easier
Monika Woolsey - Dietitians--Can't Do PCOS Without Them
Monika Woolsey - In Honor of National Registered Dietitian Day

What's more green than the library?

2009-02-11T08:41:00.002-05:00

I finally got myself to library tonight. I'll admit.. I probably haven't stepped foot in one since college. I don't even know where to find my library card, in fact they probably shut down my acct.

So, I've been checking out my favorite food blogs and there are so many good cookbooks recommended that I want to check out. So, I went to the library and found 4 good books. 3 cookbooks, plus "On Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee to refresh my memory about food science concepts.

This was so exciting. I can't believe how good it felt to go into the library again! Also picked up a flyer for storytimes for children... but sadly they are only offered M-Th during the day. I have Fridays off and thought it would be fun to take my little guy for something to do.

If it's been a long time for you, check it out... think of the $$ and paper you'll save.

Beauty products

2009-02-05T10:58:00.002-05:00

This is a great website:

cosmeticdatabase.com

You can go there and type in the beauty products you use and find out how dangerous they are. I know, that sounds so discouraging... but it's best to know. It gives a number scale from 1-10 and grades it on different areas like whether the ingredients are known to be carcinogens or if they test on animals. It was an eye opener for me and I don't even use a lot of lotions and whatnot.

Dryer Sheets?... Nah, Dryer Balls!

2009-01-25T21:12:00.003-05:00

I found these while grocery shopping last week. I rarely even go down the cleaning supply aisle at the grocery store, because it's more expensive than going to Target. But, these were $7.99 and it seemed like a good deal, rather than buying dryer sheets. These balls go into the dryer with the clothes and allows air to pass through them. I've done 3 loads of laundry with them and so far, so good. I would recommend them!

An easy dinner! and Frugal Friday.

2009-01-23T12:53:00.004-05:00

I made this dinner on Monday. Took about 1/2 hour and was very tasty.

It's Chicken Pineapple Rolls, rice, and broccoli. The recipe comes with an easy sauce that you put inside the rolls. I used 1/2 long grain brown rice and 1/2 basmati rice. I had purchased a bottle of Caribbean Sauce at my supermarket that was on sale for 99 cents. I mixed just a small amount of it in with the rice for some flavor. Basmati rice is something new to me. I love it! I mix it with the brown rice, because I like the amount of fiber that provides. I steamed some fresh broccoli in the microwave. Out of the whole entire dinner, my son liked the broccoli best! (go figure).

Chicken Pineapple Rolls

1# skinless, chicken breast (cubed)

2 (8oz) pkgs Crescent rolls

1 (8oz) can pineapple chunks (drain and reserve)

3 tbsp honey

1 tbsp ginger

1. Place chicken in skillet with 1-2 tbsp oil. Cook over medium. Drain and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350F

3. Separate crescent roll dough. Place triange on single layer on baking sheet.

4. In bowl, mix 3 tsp pineapple juice, honey and ginger.

5. Brush each roll triange with juice mix. Place 1 pineapple chunk and 1 tbsp chicken on each triangle. Roll and seal. Bake in oven for 15 mins.

Watch this space.

2009-01-19T16:58:00.000-05:00

I know I've been neglecting this area. I'm dying for winter to be over so I can start my gardening for this year.

But, I'm working on a couple of things. I have a new thing that I've purchased to help with the laundry. I'm gonna take a picture and give a review!! It's very ecofriendly.

A nice blog and a giveaway

2009-01-19T16:57:00.001-05:00

A great gal who frequents my blog is having a wonderful giveaway.

Stop by to check it out.

http://cynthialovespictures.blogspot.com/

Her posts are so funny and touching and real.

Happy New Years!!! Yay 2009!

2009-01-01T17:04:00.005-05:00

Hope everyone enjoyed themselves last night! We had a blast at my father-in-law's house, eating yummy foods and waiting for the ball to drop.

Today I decided that I would start putting away Xmas decorations. Well, that turned into some spring cleaning. I have 5 different things going at this very minute. But I was cleaning through some drawers and found all the cards I've saved in the past year. Got a lot of them with the baby shower, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and First Birthday.

I wanted to share my recycling project with you.

Here are all of my envelopes. I put them through my new shredder to make confetti. I figure I can use this to stuff gift bags. (Did you ever see how much that stuff costs?) Here's the after picture:

Well, I hope we all have a better year! It's so nice to start fresh.

Christmas Cookies

2009-01-01T16:43:00.012-05:00

I know this post is late, but just wanted to show off some of my creations.

The Gingerbread men were used with a recipe from Stephanie -"Fun Foods on a Budget". I've never been a big fan of gingerbread, but I loved these.

The following are various sugar cookies that I did.

Sorry about the glare, I should have photographed before I wrapped them.

Here is my Cut out cookie recipe. It's from my mother-in-law. It makes a large batch (it's already doubled).

Cut Out Cookies

Sift together : 6 c Flour, 3 tsp Baking Powder, 1 tsp Salt

Cream Together: 2 c (4 sticks) Margarine or Butter, 2c Sugar

Add: 2 slightly beaten eggs, 2 tsp Vanilla, 6-7 Tbsp Evaporated Milk

Divide dough into 4 Balls and Regrigerate 3-4 hours or overnight. Bake at 400 degrees for 5-8 minutes.

Thin Mints

2008-12-26T23:49:00.002-05:00

Hope everyone had a great Christmas, or whichever holiday you choose to celebrate.

Are you familiar with the Thin Mint cookies you purchase from the Girl Scouts?

My SIL has an easy recipe she makes every year for Xmas.

All you need is Ritz Crackers and Andes Candy. You just melt the Candy and dip the Ritz Cracker into it. It tastes just like the cookie. I've not actually made them myself but it's just so easy, I'm going to give it a try.

Sugar Cookies and a wonderful blog!

2008-12-16T07:09:00.003-05:00

I recently stumbled upon a blog called "Bake at 350". I have always dreamed of making fun sugar cookies but never had any idea how people made the frosting work so well. Bridget makes the most creative cookies. She also gives the basics so that you can try them on your own. I made these cookies (pictured above) for Thanksgiving and it was my first attempt. I used my MIL's sugar cookie recipe (which I'll post later). I rolled the dough out so that they were a little thicker, sturdier. I printed some picture off the internet and just used them as a guide for my pictures. I was really pleased with them. I'm going to do some Christmas ones also. You must check out this blog. So much fun.

It's the Holiday Season.

2008-12-09T09:35:00.003-05:00

I have so many things to post.
I made some fun cookies and cake balls for Thanksgiving. I have a Frugal Friday waiting to be posted. ... But my gosh, I am so busy right now with work and home and Xmas. I ran out of time to do the Daring Baker's Challenge last month, but am hopeful that with my time off for the holidays I can get back on track.

Just a reminder!! Recycle your wrapping paper, gift bags, bows from your gifts this year... We don't need all that piling up in a landfill and just think of the $$ you'll save in this tough economy.

Fruit flies

2008-11-26T08:29:00.002-05:00

I have a fruit fly problem. Fruit flies are commonly used to do research on autism and other types of diseases. Scientists really should come to my kitchen and set up shop.

So, I went online to see the safest way of tackling the problem. Of course you want to keep any fruits away. I have bananas in my fruit bowl, but there's no where else to put them... and the flies tend to leave them alone anyhow.

One site said to take a bowl and put a small piece of fruit in it with some balsamic vinegar.... cover it with saran wrap, punch a few holes in it. The flies will get in and then they can't get back out. Well, I've done that over the several days and it's worked well, but my gosh they just keep coming out of the woodwork.

Then my husband says he's done some internet research and they are also known as "drain flies" and "vinegar flies" because those are things that attract them.

Well... all of a sudden a light bulb goes off in my head. In an attempt to be green, I've been using a cleaning solution of water and vinegar as suggested by a book I read. All this time, I've been contributing to the problem. So... I've given up that cleaning practice and just waiting for these things to become extinct.

If anyone has any ideas.... I'd love to hear them.

Mmmmm... Rice pudding

2008-11-19T16:43:00.003-05:00

So, I have some extra Basmati rice and I looked up some recipes to use it. I came across this nice rice pudding recipe. I didn't take a picture... well because... it just doesn't photograph well. :D I got the recipe from "The Daily Green" but I made a few changes to it.

Basmati Rice Pudding

3/4 c Basmati rice
1 tsp salt
4 c milk
1/2 c sugar
1 slightly slightly heaping tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cardamom (I didn't have cardamom, so I used cinnamon and allspice)

Directions:

1. Combine 1.5c water, the rice, and the salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over very low heat ~ 8-9mins, until most of the water is absorbed. Check frequently and stir to make sure it doesn't stick.
2. Add 3 c of milk and the sugar. Continue simmering on very low heat for an additional 20-25 minutes, until the rice is soft and most of the milk is absorbed. You want a spongy texture. Remove the rice from the heat.
3. Pour 1/4 c of the of the remaining milk into a bowl and whisk in the cornstarch to dissolve. Add the vanilla extract and cardamom (I used cinnamon and allspice). Pour the cornstarch-milk mixture along with the remaining 3/4c milk into the hot pudding and stir to combine.

Frugal Friday!

2008-11-14T20:44:00.006-05:00

Here is my entry for this week.

I made a Black Bean soup with mini Corn bread muffins. This time of year is great to throw a pot of soup on. The recipe for the soup is from Pampered Chef. I have enjoyed many of their recipes. I went through a phase where I kept getting invited to parties, then coerced to throw a party, then people would buy stuff from you and book a party... and of course I felt obligated to go there and buy something. So anyway, I have plenty of their gear and recipes. The Corn Bread recipe, I got right off the can of cornmeal. I've tried several and this was the best one by far. And very quick to make also.

Quick Black Bean Chili

1 c chopped onion

1 c coarsely chopped red bell pepper

1 tbsp finely chopped jalapeno

2 tbsp snipped cilantro

1 tsp vegetable oil

2 garlic cloves, pressed

2 cans (15.5 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (16oz) fat-free refried beans

1 can (14-14.5 oz) vegetable broth

1 tbsp lime juice

1 tsp ground cumin

1. Chop onion, bell pepper and jalapeno pepper.

2. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, ell pepper, jalapeno pepper and pressed garlic; cook & stir 3 minutes. Add black beans, refried beans, broth, lime juice, and cumin; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes.

3. Remove from heat; stir cilantro into chili. Sprinkle with cheese, if desired.

Easy Corn Bread

1 - 1/4 c all purpose flour

3/4 c Corn Meal

1/4 c sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 c skim milk

1/4 c vegetable oil

2 egg whites, or 1 egg, beaten

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Grease your pan.

3. Combine all dry ingredients. Stir in milk, oil and egg, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened.

4. Pour batter into prepared pan.

5. Bake 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown and wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. (For the mini muffins, I cooked them 18-20 minutes.)

A great cookbook!

2008-11-13T21:46:00.005-05:00

I got this cookbook last Christmas from my brother. It was my first Christmas as a mom and he thought this would be helpful. Well, I've not made too many recipes from it. I pulled it out the other day and picked out a couple. I made chicken breasts with some honey mustard sauce and decided upon 2 side dishes: Dijon Cauliflower and Rice with Dried fruit and nuts.

The nice thing about this cookbook is that the recipes are fairly easy and can be done in a reasonable amount of time. It is a hard covered, spiral book.

Here are the recipes for you to try!

Dijon Cauliflower

2 (10oz) packages frozen cauliflower, defrosted
-- I used some fresh cauliflower instead.
3/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 c mayonnaise
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp Dijon-style mustard
1 tbsp dried parsley

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cook caulifower according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
3. Coat a 2 qt baking dish with cooking spray. Add cauliflower.
4. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, stirring well to mix. Spread the mixture evenly over the cauliflower.
5. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Rice with Dried Fruit and Nuts

1/2 stick butter or margarine
1 c frozen chopped onion (I used fresh)
1 (32 oz) container chicken broth
2 c basmati rice
1/2 c dried fruit of your choice.
1 tsp salt
1/2 c sliced almonds.

** I have to say this. I almost substituted regular brown rice. It would have been a huge mistake.... the Basmati rice really makes this dish!

1. In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter or magarine. Add the onions and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the chicken broth, rice, dried fruit, and salt. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed.
3. Add almonds, stirring well to mix.

A baby shower!

2008-11-12T21:06:00.002-05:00

We had a baby shower for a gal at work. She is expecting a little girl in January. It was a potluck dessert theme. I have been having fun experimenting with the white chocolate (as evidenced by my cupcakes). I thought it would be fun to do a little girly cookie. So these are some sugar cookies that I made. I used a buttercreme frosting recipe and tinted the icing green. Then I used the white chocolate to make butterflies. I should have done little snails too... but I thought of that later. The cookies were a hit. People at work always get a kick out a dietitian bringing in sweets. But hey! Moderation is the key.

My Election Night Cupcakes!

2008-11-07T12:33:00.003-05:00

Every big election night, we get together at my mom's house. We had sandwiches, chips, dip and I brought the cupcakes. If you have read past posts, I did cupcakes with donkeys on top for the First Debate. This time I tackled the Obama Logo. I also did little stars to top the other cupcakes. I got the technique from "Gourmet Mom on the Go". I learned last time, that you can't use red coloring, because it turned out pink, so this time I picked up red candy wafers.

Here's another picture! I had some donkeys left over that I added to the bunch.

A thrifty Halloween afterthought.

2008-11-07T10:28:00.003-05:00

While I was trick or treating with my little guy, we came across a house that was all decorated. What they did was take empty milk gallons and cut a whole in the bottom for lights. Then they drew a face on it with a black marker and it was a ghost that was lit up. They strung about 5 of them together and they lit the pathway to their house. That was so creative and inexpensive.

What a great night for us. Zach picked up trick or treating very quickly. He was more excited to see everyone's Jack-o-lanterns. He tried to enter people's homes too which was kind of funny.

He was a porcupine... here are a couple of pictures!

A funny story.

2008-11-06T10:52:00.002-05:00

I was making lunches the other night for Zach. He loves fruit. So I was cutting some strawberries and I put some in his container and gave him one to eat. I set it on the counter because I was cutting up some kiwi and wanted to add it in. As I turned around, I couldn't find the container... I thought I was going crazy. I looked around for Zach and heard him going down the stairs. He was making a getaway! He was sliding down the stairs on his butt, with the container in had. I just had to laugh at how smart he is getting.

The Daring Baker's Challenge

2008-10-30T15:31:00.002-04:00

This was my first month participating in this fun event.
The challenge was pizza crust from scratch, flipping it an everything!
I was very excited because the recipe allowed you to put whatever topping on it that you wanted. I was having people over for football, so I was going to do a basic pepperoni pizza and a garlic pizza with colored bell peppers.

I don't have too much to report because I failed. I hate to admit that, b/c I generally have good luck with everything that I try... but I made it up to the point where I was trying to stretch it out and it just kept getting holes in it. I am sort of "yeast challenged". That's why I was so happy when I got my breadmaker. Plus when I preheated my stonewear in the oven, my house filled up with smoke. haha!

aww well... I'm anxious to see what the next challenge that awaits is... hopefully I'll have better luck.

Beaver lake Halloween fun

2008-10-26T19:24:00.003-04:00

On friday night, we took Zach to a local nature center. Every year they light up the path way with Lit, carved pumpkins. This was the first year I went. We went with my brother's family. It was so neat. They had paper bags lit with candles when you first enter the park to direct you the right way. They also had a string of orange lights. Zach thought this was amazing. He loves lights. But even more, he loves pumpkins and he was in heaven when he saw they all lit up. There were some pumpkins that were amazingly carved. I brought my camera, but to stop and take a picture meant holding everyone up behind me, so I thought better of it. They had 3 pumpkins in a row. The middle one had the World Series logo and to each side they had The Rays logo and the Phillies logo. I took Zach to a pumpkin patch earlier and he just squeals in delight at the sight of any pumpkin. I have to say, that I have always enjoyed Halloween, but it so much more fun when you have children. They had other activities going on that we skipped because it was past bedtime, if you know what I mean. They had donuts and cider, T-shirt making, face painting, magician and other things. Hopefully we'll get to do them next year.

The Rice Krispie Treat

2008-10-22T22:19:00.006-04:00

It's fun having a child because you are able to recall all the fun, simple things you did when you were a kid. For instance... I remember making Rice Krispie Treats with my mom. I am actually surprised it took Kellogg's so long to actually sell the treats already made.

But anyhow.. I thought it would be a fun thing to make for Zach. I was at a restaurant over the weekend and they had Rice Krispie treats on a popsicle stick, covered with chocolate, M&M, marshmallows and icing drizzled over it. They were for Halloween. Orange, purple colors.

So without popsicle sticks, I embarked on my own creation.

I couldn't really get a good picture for some reason. I used melted chocolate chips, mini M&Ms and orange non_pareils. They were very rich tasting. I brought one for lunch yesterday and everyone at the table was drooling over them... so I brought in extras today.

Super easy to make!

6 cups Rice Krispies
1 - 10 oz bag marshmallows
2 Tbsp butter or margarine.

Melt the butter in a pan. Add the marshmallows and melt until smooth. Put Rice Krispies in a bowl. One marshmallows are completely melted, pour over the Rice Krispies and mix.

I sprayed a baking pan with nonstick spray and spread out the mixtures into bars.

I then melted chocolate chips with a little milk in them over the stove and spread on top. Sprinkle M&M's and non_pareils. Cut and Serve.

I think I'm going to experiment with different toppings. Already thinking of a Xmas version.

Time

2008-10-21T14:01:00.002-04:00

One downfall to being a working mom is the time factor. I struggle with time management. Now, I must say that I am MUCH more organized than before I was a mother, which has helped some... but by the time I get home from work, I get dinner ready, clean up, get my son ready for bed and put him to bed, then I get stuff ready for the next day (lunches & diaper bag). My whole night is gone. I don't really even get to play with my son during the week because by the time I get home, he's tired and cranky.

Sunday nights are the worst, because for some reason, I feel like I should have everything ready for the week and I never do. I am trying to really commit to weekly menus so that I can go shopping and get everything I need.

If anyone has any good tips that I might benefit from, please let me know. I'm interested in hearing how you stay organized, etc.

My first entry to Frugal Friday.

2008-10-17T13:46:00.005-04:00

Frugal Friday was established to showcase meals for a family that cost less than $10.00. My meal is very simple. Perhaps with more experience I can get more creative.

I had some Cauliflower leftover from my trip to the Farmer's Market Last week. (I need to start posting my visits again.). I also had broke down and bought a head of Orange Cauliflower at the grocery store because I thought my son would be more inclined to eat it, if it was a neat color.

I made some Cauliflower Soup. It was super easy and tasted wonderful!! I can't remember where I got the recipe from because I searched so many places for one. My husband likes to sprinkle cheese on his soups, but I had mine plain. I think this meal was so inexpensive that the cheese still keeps me under $10.

I also made some bread sticks to go with it. I got this recipe from Gourmet Mom on the Go. They were fantastic. My husband had great compliments for them. It took a small amount of time to do them, but they were made from scratch and tasted perfect. We both had an apple for desert that I got when I went apple picking with Zach a couple of weeks ago.

Simple Cauliflower Soup

1 lb Cauliflower, separated into florets
1 small white onion, thinly sliced
2 tsp of salt (I used 1)
3 cups hot water
2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1. In a heavy pan that has a lid, melt butter over low heat.
2. Add onion and cook gently until softened, not brown, 15 minutes.
3. Add Cauliflower, salt and 1/2 c of water.
4. Raise the heat to medium-low, cover tightly with a lid and cook for 20 minutes.
5. Remove lid, add remaining water and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes more.
6. Leave to cool slightly before blending until super-smooth.
7. Return to the pan to heat before serving, thinning with a little more water if the soup is too tick for your taste.

Ruth's Family Favorite Bread sticks

1.5 c hot water
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c non fat dry milk
1 Tbsp yeast
~3 c flour
1/3 c melted butter

1. Dissolve sugar, salt and dry milk in hot water. Add enough flour ~1c to make a soupy mixture. When the mixture is no longer hot but still warm, add the yeast and stir well.
2. Then add the rest of the flour, enough to form a moderately stiff dough. Knead the dough until smooth.
3. Roll dough into a rectangular shape the size of your baking pan. Spread half of the butter onto the baking pan, then place your dough into the pan and spread the remaining butter on top of the dough.
4. Top the bread sticks with garlic salt, Parmesan cheese, cinnamon sugar, or whatever you want.
5. Cut the dough into bread sticks with a pizza cutter and let raise for 10-15 mins.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 mins. Yum!

Mexican Style Lasagna.

2008-10-15T06:25:00.006-04:00

I had decided that I was going to make a lasagna last week. But I wanted to do something different. I wanted to use more of the things that I had on hand so it wouldn't go to waste. I used whole wheat lasagna noodles. First thing, I put a layer of the Mexican Mole Sauce that I made. Then I put some noodles down. I took some ricotta cheese and mixed it with cumin and chili powder and spread a layer of that. The next step was sprinkling black beans, corn, broccoli, & red and green peppers. That's what you see in the picture below.

I alternated layers until everything was used up. Over the top I spread shredded Monterey Jack cheese, sliced black olives, and chopped tomato. (seen below.)

I was really pleased with how this turned out given that it was an experiment born in my head. It lasted us for dinner, lunches the next day and I was able to freeze some for a future lunch.

Mexican Style Lasagna

1 pkg lasagna noodles, cooked
Mexican Mole Sauce, see recipe.(I doubled the recipe and it made the perfect amount) - or use a several cans of storebought Enchilada sauce.
1 16oz container of Ricotta Cheese - I used nonfat.
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Chili Powder

1 Red pepper chopped
1 Green Pepper chopped
1 can corn, rinsed
1 can black beans, rinsed
2 cups cooked Broccoli florets. ---> I had fresh I needed to use, but frozen would work well too.
1.5 cups Shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
1/2 cup sliced black olives
1/2 tomato, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

1. Spread a layer of Mexican Mole Sauce, or Enchilada Sauce
2. Place approx 3 noodles over the sauce.
3. Mix the Cumin, Chili Powder and Ricotta cheese together. Spread layer over the noodles.
4. Layer 1/3 of red peppers, green peppers, corn, beans, and broccoli.
5. Repeat steps 1-3 until you use all of the ingredients, ending with noodles on top.
6. Spread Monterrey Jack cheese, black olives, and tomatoes over the top.
7. Bake in preheated oven for approximately 45 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Homemade Mexican Mole Sauce

2008-10-15T06:23:00.005-04:00

Last week I made some Mexican Style Lasagna. But I didn't have any Enchilada Sauce. So I scanned the internet for a recipe that would use things I already had at home. I came across this recipe for Mexican Mole Sauce from allrecipes.com. It was very easy and uses simple ingredients, which everyone has. It tasted very good. You might look and say "Cocoa Powder?" -- I was very skeptical at first, but it really worked.

Here is the recipe:

Mexican Mole Sauce

2 tsp vegetable oil

1/4 c finely chopped onion

1 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Dried Cilantro

1/8 Tbsp Dried Minced Garlic

1 (10.75 oz) can Condensed Tomato Soup

1 (4oz) can Diced Green Pepper ----> I used some fresh hot pepper I have left from my garden

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and cook the onion until tender. Mix in cocoa powder, cumin, cilantro, and garlic. Stir in the tomato soup and green Chile peppers. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 10 minutes. Transfer to a gravy boat or pour directly over food to serve.

A place for giveaways! Kaboost...

2008-10-13T14:43:00.004-04:00

This is brilliant. http://www.kaboost.com/

It a contraption that you put on the bottom of your dining chair to lift it up for your child to sit at the table. Zach is at the age where he likes to be a big boy with us, but hates the booster seat. We do end up keeping him in his highchair to contain him and his mess, but one of these would work out perfectly.

Natalie's Sentiments is a new website that I found. She is having a giveaway for them! You must check it out. http://shane-natalie.blogspot.com/
She also has all kind of other giveaways also.

What a weekend! A tick lesson.

2008-10-13T14:19:00.005-04:00

I live in Upstate NY. We luck out because we don't get alot of the nasty critters that are often seen down south. But, lately we've had increasing amounts of ticks in the area. I've never seen one before and my mom grew up in Pennsylvania. She tells me about how they were commonplace on kids and dogs.

Last month I found one on me. It was after I went to the sunflower maze, so I was sure that's where I picked it up. I got up on Saturday and went to do my hair and noticed a small thing in my underarm area. I thought it was fuzz, but it wouldn't brush off. Then I pulled at it a little and it came off. With closer inspection, I noticed little moving legs. Freaked me out!! Luckily, I googled it quickly and found that you should save it. I put it in a plastic baggie and froze it. On Monday I went to the doctor. They sent it out to get tested, gave me a tetanus shot, and some antibiotics. It turns out that it was a member of the deer tick family that in known for Lyme disease. All turned out well.

Well, this Saturday, my husband found one on the back of Zach's neck. He rushed home from his nephew's football game to tell me all about it. They picked it off, but never saved it. I think he had temporary amnesia about my experience. Also, part of it was left behind in my son's neck. We spent 3.5 hours in Urgent Care where the doctor tried to get as much of it out as possible but had to leave some behind. He started Zach on antibiotics and we had to follow up with our doc today. She said that the body will get rid of what's left on it's own. It still makes me nervous. These are the times that being a parent is tough. You never know if you make the right decisions.

I thought I would include for you... a tick guideline in case any of you find yourself in this situation for the first time.

1. Use tweezers. Put the tweezers firmly on the tick's body close to the skin. Just place the smallest amount of pressure on the tick and it will loosen up a little and you should be able to pull it out. Be sure not to squish the tick, because you will spread it's bacteria around.
2. Always save the tick. Put it in a baggie and freeze. Your doc will likely send it to a lab for analysis.
3. Wash the area.
4. Make an appt with doctor. They will give you preventative antibiotics in case the tick is carrying lime disease.
5. Do tick inspections daily with a magnifying glass. It's like a self breast exam. You never know when you will have needed it. They are so small. The engorged one that I found on me, was a little bigger than the size of a sesame seed.

If you get the tick within the first 24 hours, it's likely not going to have injected it's bacteria back into your body.
Oh, and my son has been enjoying the creamsicle flavored antibiotics so much, that he gets upset when he can't have more. :D

I have a Bread Machine!!

2008-10-08T21:53:00.008-04:00

I love fresh bread. But for some reason when I make it from scratch, it never really turns out like I want it to. I don't think that I fully understand the kneading and rising. I even took cooking classes in college and learned how. So, I was asking some of my email dietitian friends if anyone had a machine and what they thought of them. One of my friends, Jacqui told me that she prefers making bread and that she had a machine that she was willing to part with if I wanted it. She mailed the machine to me and it took me awhile to try and actually figure it out. But.. now I am in love.

The first loaves that I made were a simple wheat and a simple white. They turned out decent, so I figured I'd try something fancier so, I hit google for some ideas.

The first I tried was this Hearty Oat & Walnut Bread. I got the recipe from fp.enter.net . It was fabulous. It's Thursday and the bread is still moist. I've been bringing it to work to have for breakfast.

Hearty Oat & Walnut Bread

1 1/2 tsp of yeast
3 1/4 c bread flour
1/2 c Quick Oats
1/4 c Brown sugar
1 Tbsp salt
3/4 c walnuts
1 Tbsp margarine
1 1/4 c water ~ 100 degrees

1. Follow the manufacturer's directions.

My machine's order is like this: Wet items, Dry items, and Yeast last.

I figured I should try a nice breakfast loaf for the week. So, the first thing that came into my mind was a Cinnamon Raisin Bread. The beauty of most of these recipes are that they are made with things I have in my pantry already. I found this recipe at the Betty Crocker site. This was the first loaf I actually had to use the "Add in" feature. Thankfully they tell you when this occurs (23 minutes after starting) so that you know when to be ready for it.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

1 c water

2 Tbsp butter or margarine, softened

3 Tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 1/2 tsp yeast

3/4 c raisins

1. Follow the manufacturer's directions.

These breads are fantastic! I have an idea I'm going to try. I'll have to post the results from my experiment here. One more trick I learned from another blog was to add 1/2 c of potato flakes for bread that is moist.

Carrot Cupcakes from my garden

2008-10-06T22:43:00.007-04:00

Hi there. I've been doing a lot of cooking over the past week, and should have about 5 posts here soon. The first thing was to figure out what to do with some of the carrots from my garden.I haven't had carrot cake in so long. I thought it would be nice to do cupcakes because then I could share them with family and I wouldn't have to be stuck eating them all.

I went on a search for a recipe and came across a nice one from "Taste and Tell". Here are what my cooked cakes looked like.

The recipe was so easy and it tasted phenomenal. It was sweet enough, but not too sweet. Here is my end product. I think my picture taking skills are improving some, I actually messed around with some of my settings...

And here is the recipe:

Carrot Cupcakes

Cake:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
1 cup unsifted flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup ground coconut
1/4 cup nuts (optional - I left this out for my little guy)
1/4 cup raisin

Preheat oven to 400F. Combine sugar and oil in large mixing bowl. Add eggs; mix well. Add grated carrots. Slowly stir in sifted dry ingredients. Add coconut, nuts, and raisins and mix well. Pour batter into cupcake pan filling almost until the top. Bake for about 20 mins until inserted toothpick comes out clean. When cool decorate with frosting.

Frosting:

1 - 8oz package of cream cheese, softened
1/4 c butter or margarine
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Hot water, as needed

Cream together cream cheese, butter and sugar in mixing bowl. Add a little hot water, one tsp at a time, until you reach desired consistency.

-- I only used 1 tsp. I like frosting thick, but I was still able to put it in my Pampered Chef thingy.

Enjoy.. let me know what you think!

From my debate party...

2008-09-29T23:19:00.005-04:00

Okay... I am going to tip my hand here. I love to talk politics and could go on and on and on, however this is not the blog to do it. BUT... I made these cupcakes for the debate party that I threw. It was a small party ~ just me, my mom and stepdad, SIL and BIL, and my hubby. Any cupcake recipe will work however I used the recipe from "Gourmet Mom on the Go" (which is a fabulous blog) and the candy technique. I found a picture on the internet and used it for a guide. Red is a tough color to do, because it always comes out pinkish looking.

Here is the link to get the instructions.
http://gourmetmomonthego.blogspot.com/2008/07/magnolia-bakery-cupcakes.html

I taped my donkey picture from the internet to my counter and put wax paper down over it. Then I melted some white chocolate to do the outline. After that was solid, I add my colored chocolate and then put in the freezer to solidify.

Here is the chocolate donkey!

Here is my donkey cupcake!

Here is a whole herd of donkeys!

You can do so many things using the same principle! It's opened up a fun new world for me.

Oatmeal Coconut bars with Raisins

2008-09-21T23:22:00.003-04:00

This is a nice and easy recipe to make. I picked it up from somewhere online and tinkered around with it. I have added ground flaxseeds to give it some Omega 3, but will not include that in the recipe. Zach loves this for breakfast and they are pretty healthful. I had some raspberries from a recent trip to the u pick so after I cooked the bars for 10 minutes I opened the oven and just stuck some raspberries in the top. That's totally optional for you though.

If you like, you can substitute margarine or Smart Balance or something instead of butter if you like. I've been trying to reduce hydrogenated oils, therefore I used butter.

Salt is optional, I left it out.

You cook this in a 13x9 inch pan, however the first time I made it, the pan was so big, that the bars came out very thin. So you can either double the recipe, or use an 8x8 inch pan to make them nice and thick.

Oatmeal Coconut Bars with Raisins

Ingredients:

4 tbsp butter, softened
3/4 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
3/4 c applesauce or apple butter
2 egg whites
2 tbsp skim milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 1.5c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt (optional)
2 cups rolled oats uncooked
1 cup shredded coconut (If you don't want this, just add one more cup of oats instead)
1 cup raisins

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Beat together sugars and butter until blended. Add applesauce(or butter), egg whites, milk and vanilla; beat well.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; mix well. Add into wet ingredients.
4. Stir in oats, coconut and raisins; mix well (Optional - add 2 tsp ground flax seeds)
5. Spread dough in greased 8x8 pan for thick bars, or 13x9 pan for thin bars (or doubled recipe)
6. Bake for 35-35 minutes or until light golden brown. (3o mins has worked for me.)
7. Cool before cutting.

More U picks!

2008-09-21T23:07:00.007-04:00

During the week I saw an ad for Hafner Upick. The ad said tomatoes and peppers. This was different from the normal berry and apple picking you see in this area. I've noticed some people have peach u pick and I have been so jealous of that! So we go to this place, having no idea what to expect and it's not fancy by any means. Just a house, with huge fields behind it. They have the general vicinity labeled for the food. They had eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, hot peppers.

It was amazing the amounts of plants they had. I mainly loaded up on tomatoes and red peppers. I can't believe it took me so long to find out about this place. Zach was funny. He hates walking in taller plants so I would have to find an area for him to stand it. He kept wanting to throw them like he does with his baseballs. We saw a grasshopper. It's been ages since I've seen one... I could have taken a picture and zoomed in on it but I didn't think of it until after because I wanted to grab Zach so he could be sure to see it.

I actually had no idea how much this was going to cost me. When I drove back to the house, they had a scale and calculator set up. They were holding copies of the receipts down with rocks. (told you it wasn't fancy). They were generous about estimating how much your container weighs, (as they ask you to bring your own). I ended up with 6 pounds of tomatoes and 7 pounds of peppers. The price almost floored me. 60 cents/lb for tomatoes, and .75 cents/lb for peppers. I can't understand how the stores get away with charging $2.99/lb for red pepper! My grand total was $15.00! I'm going to can the tomatoes and I've cut up some red peppers and are freezing them for pasta dishes during the winter. They said they let people keep coming until the first significant frost, so I think I'm going to go back on Friday!

My next canning adventure

2008-09-18T21:56:00.003-04:00

So, there have been some incredible deals at the supermarket. A big bin of tomatoes for $5-6.00. Now I'm not a HUGE tomato fan. I don't eat tomato and mayo sandwiches, but I do love chili and use tomatoes in soups and salsa. So in this picture you see the 3 large jars of diced tomatoes, and the small jar of diced tomatoes as well. The 2 smaller jars on the outside are some salsa that I made. I am officially addicted to canning I think. At work, some patients brought in peppers and tomatoes for us. There was about 20 tomatoes left and no one wanted them, so I took them. I'm waiting for them to ripen a little bit more. I also found a U pick tomato and pepper place that I'm going to take my little guy tomorrow. There is a chance of a frost tonight, so we'll see if that derails our plans. I used very simple instructions found on www.pickyourown.org.

No... it's not a farmer's market trip....

2008-09-16T06:32:00.009-04:00

It's from my garden! Last week we were threatened with a very

cold evening, so I wanted to pick most of what I had just in case.

I had a large bowl of purple and green beans. On the right are

some carrots, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, hot red peppers, onions

and 1 sweet red pepper. It didn't actually get too cold out so

hopefullyI can get a little more out of it. I will probably freeze some

of the beans because my poor husband is tired of them.

Clothespins

2008-09-15T12:35:00.004-04:00

As I was packing my lunch this morning, I realized something simple that I do that saves $$ and resources. It's twofold actually. First of all, I hang as many clothes to dry as I can. I have some clothesline in my basement and usually hang my work clothes so that they don't shrink. I also hang dry cloth diapers.

I also use clothespins as bag clips in my kitchen. This way I can save money (and less to go to a landfill) on the cheapo plastic ones that always seem to break. It will start with one piece of plastic chipping, and then the spring gets all out of whack. But the trusty wood clothespins work just as well, if not better and it's an endless supply at my house.

Does anyone else think this is crazy?

2008-09-13T08:53:00.002-04:00

I'm kind of a news junkie. So, I've been seeing a lot about Hurricane Ike. And I just don't understand these weathermen. They stand out there in a middle of a hurricane to report about it. They will talk about how the residents were asked to evacuate or else they would face "certain death"... meanwhile, they're out there being blown around by the wind.

I would be happy to find out about the damage and whatnot later. I can be patient enough to see what's going on after the fact, rather than them risk their lives for a story.

Broccoli Ricotta Pockets

2008-09-11T06:47:00.003-04:00

I used a recipe from "Fun Foods on a Budget" for the Biscuit Dough. It's very easy to make and works wonderfully. This is the second time I've used it. You should check out this blog, it's very good. And then I just mixed some ricotta cheese and mozzarella together with some broccoli. The big pouches were for me and hubby and the little ones were for my baby to take to lunch. He hasn't given them the time of day yet... I was hoping this would be a big hit since they're easy to make, but I guess I just have to keep trying. I heated some up the next day for lunch at work and it was delicious.

Biscuit Dough

Ingredients:

2 c all-purpose flour
1 T sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 c shortening
3/4 c milk (used skim)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Cut in shortening using pastry blender or criss-crossing 2 knives until mixture looks like fine crumbs. Stir in milk until dough leaves sid eof bowl (dough will be soft and sticky.)
3. Place dough on lightly floured survace. Knead lightly 10 times. Separate into 8 sections. Roll each out into 4-5 inch disks.

Filling

1.5 c Broccoli,chopped and cooked
1.5 c Ricotta cheese
1/4 c Mozzarella cheese

Place about 2 T ricotta mixture onto the dough and fold over. Place onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.

For the small ones, I just put a rolled out piece of dough on the top of another with some of the ricotta mixture on it. Then I used my little cookie cutter to cut them out. I cooked those separately for 10 minutes.

I served them with a little marinara sauce.

Scratch Cooking - Animal Crackers

2008-09-09T22:58:00.003-04:00

With my new quest to try to make things from scratch, I embarked on animal crackers. I found basically the same recipe everywhere which I'll post below. I actually printed it from allrecipes.com, however if you do a search they are all the same recipe. I had bought some Noah's Ark cookie cutter several weeks ago and was able to bust them out for a christening with this recipe. Now... they were much easier than I thought. The dough was easy to manage and they don't take long to cook, however they were very bland. They need a little something, so I think the next time I make them I will add vanilla extract or a tiny bit of sugar. My little guy seemed to like them just fine, which was the final goal.

Animal Crackers

Ingredients:

1/2 c rolled oats
3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c butter
2 tsp honey
1/4 c buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grind oats until fine using a blender of food processor.
2. In medium bowl, stir together the oats, flour, baking soda and salt. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or your fingers until the butter lumps are smaller than peas. Stir in the buttermilk and honey to form a stiff dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart onto cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 5-7 minutes in the preheated oven, until edges are tightly browned. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

Been busy... learning to can.

2008-09-06T22:40:00.004-04:00

Well, this weekend is wrapping up my vacation. Last weekend we went to my dad's camp. We had a cookout on Labor Day at my SIL's. So, with some of my free time, I thought I would give canning a try since I got all my canning goodies for my birthday. The first thing I made was applesauce with the apples we picked a week ago. This website was extremely helpful. http://www.pickyourown.org/.

Not only do they give you canning instructions for just about everything, they also have a list of the Upick places in your area.

For the applesauce, I just put a little cinnamon, applesauce and brown sugar. This was the first thing that I ever canned and I wasn't sure if I was even doing it right... but the next day my lids were sealed so I figured it was fine.

Unfortunately there aren't any Upick peaches places around here. So, I bought a big box of peaches from the farmer's market on Thursday and I canned most of them. I forgot to take pictures of my purchases. I bought orange sweet peppers, potatoes, mini pears, and romaine lettuce.

I went to the Farmer's Market briefly today. I also forgot to take pictures. I don't know what is wrong with me. But, I got a big pack of tomatoes, some green peppers, and cilantro to make salsa to can. I also got some broccoli, pears, eggs and taco seasoning (this is for the taco dip we're making for the kickoff of football season tomorrow.)

I would love to hear your stories of different things you've canned. Or even your first canning experience. I think this might be a new addiction. (Like I need anymore)

Omnivore's hundred

2008-09-03T14:09:00.003-04:00

Okay... so I am not a good Omnivore... and I have no intentions of trying many of these foods. haha.. but at least I did it.

Here’s what you do:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/uncategorised/the-omnivores-hundred/ linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. ~~Venison~~
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. ~~Steak tartare~~
5. ~~Crocodile~~
6. Black pudding --------->What is this?
7. Cheese fondue
8. ~~Carp~~
9. Borscht -----> Not sure what this is.... is it beet soup?
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. ~~Steamed pork buns~~
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. ~~Foie gras~~
24. Rice and beans
25. ~~Brawn, or head cheese~~
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas32
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. ~~Oxtail~~
41. ~~Curried goat~~
42. ~~Whole insects~~
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. ~~Fugu~~
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. ~~Eel~~
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. ~~Sea urchin~~
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. ~~Abalone~~
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. ~~Sweetbreads~~
63. Kaolin -------> Not really clear what this is
64. ~~Currywurst~~
65. Durian
66. ~~Frogs’ legs~~
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. ~~Haggis~~
69. Fried plantain
70. ~~Chitterlings, or andouillette~~
71. Gazpacho
72. ~~Caviar and blini~~
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. ~~Roadkill~~
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. ~~Snail~~
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. ~~Tom yum~~
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. ~~Kobe beef~~
86. ~~Hare~~
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. ~~Horse~~
90. Criollo chocolate
91. ~~Spam~~
92. ~~Soft shell crab~~
93. Rose harissa
94. ~~Catfish~~
95. Mole poblano
96. ~~Bagel and lox~~
97. ~~Lobster Thermidor~~
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. ~~Snake~~

Holiday Sweet Potato Salad

2008-08-28T07:43:00.003-04:00

I am actually going to post a recipe here. For a long time, I've had a vision of a sweet potato salad recipe that has the typically things that you'd find in holiday sweet potato casseroles. I had a very nice picture of it... but I totally deleted it on my camera before I could transfer it over. THAT was bound to happen sometime... at least it was a picture of food vs. my son.

So the challenge was what I would use in place of the mayo you typically find in a potato salad. I perused a lot of recipes of what people use in their holiday potatoes and oranges kept coming up, so I thought of an orange vinegraitte.

It turned out really good. The best thing is that really you can put whatever you want in it. I found that this recipe was really 4-5 servings... so if you were going to make it for a BBQ, you may want to double it. Silly me didn't measure out anything when I created it.. so I am going to do my best to put amounts on the ingredients.

Holiday Sweet Potato Salad

Ingredients:

2-3 large sweet potatoes: peeled, diced and steamed or boiled.
1 cup mini marshmallows (I used the colored ones and it looked very nice)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice or nutmeg

For the dressing:

1 small can mandarin oranges, juice saved
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/4 cup oil
2 tsp honey
1/8 tsp black pepper

1/2 c whipped topping (optional)

Directions:

1. After cooking sweet potatoes, put in refrigerator to cool completely ~ 1 hour... or you can set them in a bowl of cold water to cool quicker.
2. Put cooked sweet potatoes, marshmallows, brown sugar, pecans, cinnamon and allspice in a large bowl.
3. Make the dressing: Pour the mandarin orange juice into a blender or food processor. Add 1/4 c (or more if you like) of the oranges also. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until completely combined.
4. Pour the dressing over the sweet potato mix. (You may not need all of the dressing depending upon how "wet" you want it.)
5. Stir in whipped topping if desired.

Enjoy! If you make this.. I'd love to hear your comments, opinions.

Farmer's Market Trip 8/23/08!

2008-08-26T06:48:00.004-04:00

So.. this week was a small trip. Still all total I spent about $20. I actually dragged my husband and little one with me. In the picture is Romaine lettuce, broccoli, beets, radishes, peaches, kiwi, green peppers and canteloupe. I also got some fun cookie decorations and a dozen eggs.

The canteloupe was only $1.00, but I found out why when I cut it open. It was borderline overripe, but my little man gobbled it up.

Farmer's Market Trip 8/16/08

2008-08-26T06:40:00.006-04:00

This was from last week's market trip. I bought apples in hopes of making applesauce. This past week has been busy and now with the apples from the day we went picking, I've definately got to do it! I bought a huge bag of potatoes for $4.00 and I've since made french fries 2x, and still have some left. Also there are pears, peaches, lemons, peppers, blueberries. I bought 2 things of spices.

I got some fancy pasta! Orange and chocolate fusilli!!! I've not done anything with it yet, still trying to figure out what my creation will be.

And then this was the unique item. Yellow watermelon! Have any of you seen it? It tastes maybe just a little sweeter than regular watermelon, but very crisp. I even saved some of the seeds so that I could try to plant some next year. I got a small melon for $4.00, but it made several snacks for Zach.

Another Friday Adventure!

2008-08-23T14:25:00.006-04:00

It's been a busy week.

It seems that most of the summer, my sister and niece have participated in a Friday adventure with me and Zach. As school is starting, this is one of our last opportunities for it... but gives us something to look forward to next year.

Because the fall berries needed time to ripen before picking, we chose to do apples instead. We were able to get gingergolds and paula reds. I'm going to attempt to do applesauce as my first canning project ever!

Zach has never eaten an apple. He's had pieces I've cut up for him. He's 18 months now, and you get all nervous about choking hazards. But... my sister took a bite of an apple to get it started and Zach worked a long time at it. I think he ate right through the core at one time. I was actually surprised how much time he devoted to it, I thought for sure he would have given up on it.

It's been warm here after a sort of cool spell. So we decided to get ice cream cones. Another first for Zach. He's had ice cream. He's bitten from my cone, but this time I gave him his own cone.

AHHH, Heaven! I'm so pleased with this farm. This is the place we've been doing our fruit picking. Abbott's Farm. It's a family farm and they have the neatest little shop too where you can buy homemade products like jams and sauces, pies and pastries. They sell hormone-free, antibiotic-free, free range beef as well. It's so nice to have this opportunity for Zach to grow up with.

Well, I've got posting to catch up on. I have 2 Farmer's Market posts to update you on.

The verdict is in!

2008-08-20T15:24:00.001-04:00

about the Veggie burgers. I had made some and froze them. They were defrosted and grilled this week and they still tasted fabulous. That recipe is a winner!

Scratch cooking

2008-08-20T14:43:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I've been making a conscious effort to make things from scratch rather than purchase convenience products. It is very time consuming, but very fulfilling too. So, I got to thinking about pancake batter and came across this blog post.

http://www.fakeplasticfish.com/2008/03/batter-blaster-whats-wrong-with-this.html

I didn't even know this product existed. I can't imagine the taste of it. Sprayable pancake batter like nonstick pan spray? But, also at this blog they give a pancake batter recipe. I tried it. It was easy and yummy. Tasted much better than the normal Bisquick I make. I doubled the recipe b/c it clearly was not going to make enough for me, hubby and Zach. When I doubled it, I only used the 1 tbsp of sugar instead of doubling it and they tasted fine. I also did some with blueberries mixed in.

Mark's No Big Deal Pancake Recipe

1. Mix together 1 cup flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp sugar or natural sweetener.
2. Add 1 c milk, 1 egg, and 1/4 c oil and mix everything together. Leaving it lumpy is okay.
3. Fry up your pancakes.

Enjoy!

Sunflower Maze!

2008-08-15T21:52:00.006-04:00

We did the coolest thing today. A local politician bought a bunch of land in the rural area and planted a bunch of sunflowers that he'll harvest and sell. For a couple of weeks each year, he carves a maze into the sunflowers for people to visit. We took my sister, my niece, my mom, my nephew, Zach and me. I wasn't sure of the exact area, but once we turned on the street, all you could see was yellow.

The kids had a blast following the maze. Somebody put smiley faces and hearts in some of the sunflowers, so the kids had determined that if there was a smiley face, it meant danger was ahead and they needed to be careful.

After we completed the maze, we went up to a different place where we could pick some sunflowers for $1.00/each. Each of the kids got 2 of them.

Here is a picture of me and my little guy.

My very first cucumber

2008-08-13T23:12:00.002-04:00

Okay, here it is! My first cucumber. It was perfect, just like the beauties in the grocery store.

Veggie Burgers

2008-08-13T11:08:00.002-04:00

I love Veggie burgers. I don't eat red meat, so it's nice to have this alternative. Zach even has started to enjoy them. I give one to him cut up with some ketchup for dipping. I should say.. he has some veggie burger to go along with his ketchup. Well, I had bought some Morningstar burgers and that's what I've been giving them... but they do contain soy... and the jury is still out on if too much soy is a good or bad thing. And then there's the whole issue of whether it is genetically modified or not.

So, I've been on a mission to find a Veggie Burger recipe that can be cooked on the grill. Most of them are not sturdy enough to survive grilling on a BBQ. Then I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. The beauty of this is that you can really add other things that you like in terms of vegetable and spices. I made this recipe with some mushrooms diced up as well b/c I had to use the ones I bought at the Farmer's Market. They tasted wonderful. I actually made about 4 larger size burgers rather than the 8 small ones the recipe called for. I froze a couple to see how they are after defrosting. If they are still sturdy, I'm going to make quite a few with the vegetables in season for the winter.

Veggie Burgers

Ingredients:
2tsp olive oil (or whatever you have)
1 small onion, grated.
2 cloves garlic, crushed.
2 carrots, shredded
1 small summer squash, shredded
1 small zucchini, shredded
1 1/2 c rolled oats
1/4 c shredded Cheddar Cheese (I used organic, mont jack. It's what I had available)
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour)

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in the skillet over low heat, and cook the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes until tender. Mix in the carrots, squash and zucchini. Continue to cook and stir for 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat, and mix in oats, cheese, and egg. Stir in soy sauce, transfer the mixture to a bowl and refigerate for 1 hour.

2. Preheat the grill for high heat.

3. Place flour on a large plate. Form the vegetable mixture into 8 - 3inch round patties. Drop eatch patty into the flour, lightly coating both sides.

4. Oil the grill grate and drill patties 5 minutes on each side or until heated through and nicely browned.

Farmer's Market Trip - 8/9/08

2008-08-11T07:14:00.004-04:00

Another week at the Farmer's Market. I am going to miss this so much during the winter. I'll still go, but I'll miss the vast variety that I've been accustomed to. I was hesistant about purchasing cucumbers as I have a couple that are about to be done in my garden, but I figured for $1.00, I couldn't go wrong. I'll just have to bring them every day in my lunch. The broccoli was a tad expensive, but I will say that I steamed it and I have never seen such a beautiful green. Much different thant he store bought stuff. I made a batch of veggie burgers and fries from scratch. I'll be posting the recipe. The veggie burger was fantastic. It was actually sturdy enough to go on the grill and tasted fabulous. I didn't buy fresh berries.... but these were cheaper and since my blueberry picking place was out of them at this moment.. I just went the easy route... although they were picked in NJ and that's kind of local.

Zucchini (3 very large)----------------$1.00

Broccoli (3 small heads)---------------$3.00

Strawberries (1 quart)----------------$1.50

Blueberries (1 pint)-------------------$1.50

Potatoes (14)-------------------------$3.00

Apples (3 - I ate one)-----------------$1.00

Donut peaches (9)--------------------$3.00

Mango (1)----------------------------$1.00

Green peppers (5)--------------------$2.00

Limes (4)-----------------------------$1.00

Lemons (2)---------------------------$1.00

Cucumbers (4)------------------------$1.00

Total = $20.00

I have also decided that I am going to pick up at least one new spice per week at "The Spice Rack". He buys them in bulk and sells reasonable amounts for a good price. This week I purchased celery seeds (crushed), whole allspice, some orange nonpareils and football/helmet sprinkles that I plan to use during football season. My total for all this was $4.70.

The Patty Pan Squash Story

2008-08-11T07:12:00.003-04:00

So, I talked in my last Farmer's Market Post about buying Patty pan squash. Now, I have no idea what to do with it...

I bought it because every time my husband and I go grocery shopping, he sees the little picture of it with all of the other baby vegetables and remarks how cute it is. He thinks it would just be so cute to give to our son. (not sure what then he would do with it.) But, it's never available in the store and my husband always wonders why there isn't any. So, when I saw this at the Farmers' Market, I just had to pick it up and bring it home. Now I just have to figure out what to do with it.

Farmer's Market Trip - 8/2/08

2008-08-06T00:49:00.007-04:00

I went to the Farmer's Market and met my mom and step dad there. We had so much fun. I found such a nice variety of things. They have a littlle spice stand where they sell spices, mixes, and pretty decorations for cookies. I bought some colored sugar for cookies and some Lavender. My nephew is starting kindergarten this year, so I had bought some little ABC's to put on the cookies I'm going to make for him. Spices total $4.70

I found this mortar and pestle. It was $3.00 from the little flea market stand.

I've started buying my eggs at the Farmer's Market as well. They are cage free, free range, no hormones or antibiotics. I had buying Eggland's Best at the store for approx ~$2.29. This dozen of large costs $2.50 but well worth it. Supports a local farmer and the eggs are fresh.

A couple weeks ago, I bought a similar looking pepper plant, only they were hot peppers (and they ARE hot). This is a sweet pepper plant. I haven't actually tried any yet, but the price was $2.00, so I figured I can't go wrong. I'm still trying to decide whether or not I want to leave it in a pot, or plant it in the ground.

These are some rolls. My step dad bought a dozen and the guy gave him some extras, so they generously gave me some. So this by far was the best bargain of the day. $0.00. They were good. They are very thick, we made chicken sausage sandwiches and used these. We grilled peppers and onions and served it with a pesto potato salad.

And, the rest of my treasure.

Mushrooms ( a bunch) .............$2.00

Sweet potato (1)........................$ .50

Zucchini (1)...............................$ .35

Plums (~10)...............................free (split them with mom)
Limes (4)...................................$1.00

Peaches (6).............................. $3.00

Cucumbers (3)..........................$1.00

Pattypan squash (5)..................$1.35

Red peppers (5).........................$2.00

Total - $23.40

I rarely buy mushrooms, but I've been wanting to make homemade veggie burgers. I have a sweet potato salad idea in my head that I'm going to try to figure out and post. The red peppers were disappointing because when I got them home, parts of them were rotting.

Other people's gardens....

2008-08-05T06:54:00.004-04:00

Is a great way to obtain local, probably organic produce. A patient of mine who is trying to teach me how to cook Puerto Rican foods, brought me some goodies from his garden. We have tomatoes, hot peppers and the small, green ones are sweet peppers. I gave him in return, some green and purple beans. I think I'm gonna turn all of this into a nice, hot, yummy Salsa.

Happy Birthday to me!

2008-08-04T22:14:00.004-04:00

I normally wouldn't be broadcasting this. I would just allow the day to come and go. But my parents gave me such a thoughtful, green gift that I figured I would share. I don't know how clearly you can see it in the picture, but it's a huge canning container. And inside they put a package of pectin, some jars, a funnel, and the tong things to grab the jars with. (and a case of more jars). Now I just have to figure out how to can. My stepfather is very good at it and my gift does come with a lesson. He took some of the blueberries last week that my sister picked and turned it into jam. Tastes wonderful!!

And we have peppers....

2008-08-04T19:53:00.002-04:00

They are very small, you can't tell from the picture! But it's some success!! and.. I've got some actual cucumbers too!! I've not picked them yet, but I'll be sure to post pics as soon as I do.

And I've got more purple beans than I know what to do with! haha

Win free cloth diapers! Enter by midnight on July 31st.

2008-07-31T16:47:00.000-04:00

Win a Bum Genius 3.0 Starter Kit from Nature's Child - Wholesome Goods for Mothers and Babies

Blueberry Cucumber Salad

2008-07-30T23:58:00.004-04:00

Okay.. This was a total experiment but it was rather good.

The hot peppers gave it a real kick. It was nice to have the combination of hot and then the cool cucumber and berries. The blueberries were from our picking adventure. The cucumber was from the Farmer's Market. The garlic from my mom's garden. The dill was organic that I bought at our local co op.

Blueberry Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

2 Cucumbers, chopped into bite size pieces

1/2 - 1 cup of blueberries

1 hot pepper, minced finely

3 cloves of garlic, minced finely

1 carrot - grated

1 tsp dill

1 tsp black pepper

1/4 c olive oil (or more as needed)

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (or more as needed)

juice of 1 lime.

Directions:

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl. It is best to wait to add the oil, vinegar, and lime juice just shortly before serving. Enjoy.

Garden Update! Harvesting Purple Beans.

2008-07-29T06:22:00.003-04:00

I was poking around looking in my bean pole and I could see the beginnings of some purple beans. Then as I looked closer I found these huge ones. They blended right in with the stems of the plants so I hadn't seen them before. As you can see, a few of them measured up to 8 inches long. I steamed some last night for dinner and they taste wonderful, however the longer you cook them the more green they turn. I made a wheat pasta dish with leftover pesto and steamed yellow squash from the Farmer's Market and my beans.

Farmer's Market Trip 7/26/08!

2008-07-29T06:20:00.005-04:00

This week was a small trip. I had to take Zach with me and it's crazy there if you have to maneuver a stroller. Plus I got there late, so they were out of alot of stuff. I did get a cherry tomato hanging plant for $5.00 on the right.

In the other picture, I got some:

Romaine lettus, radishes, peaches, green peppers, cucumbers, yellow squash and 6 ears of corn on the cob. All total, with the tomato plant, I spent ~$20.00.

Blueberry picking.

2008-07-29T06:19:00.002-04:00

We went blueberry picking on Sunday. Same crew as before: me, Zach, my sister and my niece. We had a great time. The blueberry patch was set back from the road, up on a hill and all around you could see farmland. It was a beautiful sunny day, with blue skies and white, fluffy clouds. You could sit right down near the bush and pick the berries. Zach would sit on my lap with me. I cannot even tell you how many blueberries that little guy ate. I didn't have my camera with me, which is a shame because I missed the cutest picture of him with his hat on, carrying his little pint container with some berries. They were only $2.50/lb and all the blueberries in the pictures only cost me $7.50. I think I want to make a blueberry sauce, some muffins and a cucumber/blueberry salad. I'll post all the recipes once I do. I also have some raspberry recipes to post.

Organic dairy! The first step.

2008-07-26T23:04:00.004-04:00

So much to say on this subject. First of all, most all cows these days are injected with growth hormones. The main purpose for this is to make the cows produce more milk. Some will argue that this is more sustainable, which is bunk. What tends to happen, is that the cows will get mastitis (Inflammation of the nipples), and various other sicknesses requiring antibiotics. So, then they are administered antibiotics. All of this is passed on through the meat and dairy that we eat. With antibiotic resistance at an all time high, do we really want to set our kids up this early to being exposed to all of these antibiotics? With kids hitting puberty at earlier ages, do we want to expose them early to all these hormones?

Sure, we use hormones and antibiotics. There are downfalls to that to, despite the good things. Take a look at the ever popular HRT (hormone replacement therapy) for postmenapausal women... It's been shown to cause cancer at alarming rates.

I just ask that you all educate yourselves on this. If you make one organic change in your diet, make it meat and dairy. I made the commitment to give my son organic milk and soon as he turned 1 year and we stopped formula. The cost wasn't that much different. I figured I was spending about @25/week on formula. A gallon of organic milk runs me $6.00 and he goes through 1 /week right now. I'm even still getting ahead.

Pesto!

2008-07-25T22:29:00.001-04:00

Okay... I'm way behind in my posts. We are currently putting a deck on our house. I've been waiting for this since 4 years ago when we moved in. So, Mike's time has been spent on that, which gives me custody of Zach all weekend. It's exhausting but more than that, I don't get very much time to have a single thought, let alone get on the computer.

So, I finally made the pesto using the basil from last week's farmer's market purchases. It was very tasty. I made some organic wheat pasta and mixed the pesto in it. I sprinkled a little bit of low fat cheese on it too, and served it with a salad.

It was very simple to make, although you really need a food processor, or a blender might work.

Here is the recipe:

Classic Pesto: (from homecooking.about.com)

2 tbsp coarsely chopped walnuts or pine nuts. (I used half and half)
2 garlic cloves, peeled
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 cups basil leaves (about 4 ozs)
1/2c (2 ozs) grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 tsp salt

1. With the motor running, drop the pine/walnuts and garlic into the food processor. Process until finely minced.
2. Add the olive oil and pulse 3 times.
3. Add basil, parmesan cheese and salt.
4. Process until finely minced, scraping down sides.

You can also put in ice cube tray and freeze cubes for later use.

Here are the raspberries.

2008-07-23T22:43:00.001-04:00

Raspberry picking.

2008-07-23T06:57:00.005-04:00

Last week my sister texted me and asked if I had plans late Friday morning, Early afternoon. She had wanted to get together before she headed out to work. I had decided that I was going to take Zach raspberry picking. I was so glad when she accepted my invitation to come along because it would be hard to pick raspberries and keep my eye on him. He definately ate my money's worth in raspberries. They had 3 different colors and many different varieties. Purple, Red, and black. It was so much fun to pick them ourselves. Zach was a huge red mess when we left. It was a good deal too. $3.50/lb. 2 pints cost me $4.50. This is much less than if I had bought them at the Farmer's Market or the store. And they tasted so good. It was the first time I'd ever had purple or black raspberries. After we were done, we took the kids over to the petting zoo. My niece started doing some cartwheels that made Zach belly laugh. I get such a kick out of the things that amuse him.

The first picture is of my sister and Zach walking through the patch.This is Zach and my niece.

The big helper! Could only get that pacifier away when he was shoving raspberries in his face.

I have some pictures of the raspberries themselves, but the picture is at home and I am work, so I will post it later. They were pretty good size berries too. They grow until the fall, so I am hopeful to make many more trips. Blueberries are officially available for Upick now, so I can't wait to get some of those too. I have a recipe idea floating around in my head for the raspberries. I'm going to try it out and if it's any good, I'll pass it along.

My first batch of beans.

2008-07-22T23:32:00.002-04:00

Just a quick note to say that my beans are growing fast and furious.

Below is a picture of them next to a medium size banana to give perspective.

I am so excited because my peppers are taking off!! I've got quite a few of them that are medium sized already. It's so exciting because we take for granted where our food comes from and the miracle of it growing from a seed.

Look at what I found!!...

2008-07-20T20:18:00.002-04:00

in my garden. I pushed aside the plants and to my surprise...

It's actually pretty big! Some of my vegetables are growing so quickly. Every day I go out there are so many green beans! I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that my cucumbers turn out.

Farmer's Market Trip 7/19/08.

2008-07-20T20:08:00.004-04:00

I got a lot of goodies this week:

Green peppers (6)..........$2.00
Tomatoes (6)...................$2.00
Scallions (2 bunch)..........$1.00
Basil (2 bunches).............$2.50
Peas (1 pint)....................$2.00
Cucumbers (4).................$1.00
Baby plums (14)..............$2.00
Cherries (1 pint)................$2.50
Baby peaches (10)............ $2.00
Lemons (3)...................... $1.00
Zucchini (4)......................$1.00

Total = $19.00

I'm going to make some pesto with the basil!! I'm real excited to do my own.

And then there was this beauty!!! It's a little plant with hot peppers all over. They are very small, like 2-3 inches long. They start out green which is mild, then they turn purple which is medium and if you keep them going they turn red which is hot. I used a couple of the red in my salsa and OOooh boy are they hot. This plant cost me $5.00 and the pepper will keep growing!!

An update to my garden.

2008-07-16T22:31:00.006-04:00

So, I have harvested all of my radishes. I'm not sure what is going to be completely done next but I've gotta couple of things going on.

This is a hot pepper. I've got a couple of these guys already. They're probably about 3 inches long or so.

This is the beginning of a head of cauliflower.

This is a green bean. It is very small right now... but I have a ton of the white flowers.
This is probably even harder to make out. If you look in the center it's the start of a cucumber. I was starting to get worried because I have all of those yellow flowers but couldn't see any cucs yet.It is so exciting. You forget how amazing it is to grow fruits and vegetables from just a seed!! I can't wait to start picking some of this stuff.

Recipes inspired by the Farmer's Market!

2008-07-13T14:14:00.004-04:00

This post is tardy. I made this last weekend. It's Zucchini Fritters (with a cucumber dip) and Apple Nut Couscous. The Zucchini Fritter recipes I got from Simply Recipes. The only change I made was that I added some chopped fresh basil. The cucumber dip and couscous recipe I came up with on my own. I apologize for the picture quality. We have a new camera and I'm still trying to figure out how it works. I used the Zucchini, scallions and basil from the Farmer's market in the fritters. Last week I bought a huge amount of apples, which inspired the couscous. It basically has apples, strawberries from the market and some walnut and almonds chopped into it.

Zucchini Fritters - From Simply Recipes

1 lb Zucchini (about 2 medium), coarsely grated

Kosher salt

Ground black pepper

1 large egg

2 scallions, finely chopped

1/2 c all-purpose flour (I used organic whole wheat flour)

1/2 grape seed oil or olive oil (I used canola)

1. Salt the Zucchini with about 1 tsp salt. Try to remove excess moisture. I patted it down with paper towels.

2. Whisk egg in a large bowl; add zucchini, flour, scallions and 1/4 tsp of pepper. Mix to combine.

3. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Cook fritters into 2 batches. Drop six mounds of batter (2tbsp each) into the skillet. Flatten slightly. Cook, turning once, until browned 4-6 minutes on each side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat with remaining batter.

Serve immediately.

Cucumber dipping sauce

1/2 c plain yogurt (I used organic)

1/2 c lite sour cream

1/2 cucumber, sliced

1/2 c basil and cilantro

1 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix all of the ingredients in food processor. Chill several hours before using to allow flavors to blend. You can add or delete any of the seasoning to make it your preference.

Apple/Nut Couscous

1 box of instant couscous (7 oz) ( I used Near East, whole grain)
2 apples, diced
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2c strawberries, finely chopped
1/2c almonds, finely chopped
1/2c walnuts, finely chopped.
1/4c olive oil
2 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Cook couscous per directions on box. Drain and add 1/4c olive oil. Set aside.
2. After chopping apples, place in a bowl of water combined with lemon juice. Soak for 5 minutes.
3. Combine couscous, apples, strawberries, almonds, walnuts and cinnamon together. If it seems dry, add more olive oil. Serve warm or cold.

Farmers Market Trip 7/12/08

2008-07-13T13:59:00.004-04:00

I made a quick trip out before heading to our Aunt/Uncle's home. I forgot to put the snap peas into the picture. Here's how it breaks down.

Cherries (1 quart)....$4.00
Blueberries(pint)......$2.50
Raspberries(pint).....$3.00
Kiwi (5)......................$1.75
Limes(5)....................$1.75
Cucumbers (2)..........$1.00
Zucchini (2)...............$.50
Yellow squash...........$.50
Bananas(6).................$1.75
Snap peas (pint).........$2.00

Total cost $18.50
I had to hurry, so I didn't get to really buy all I wanted.. I knew there were a few things I had to get like the berries. You might wonder why I bought bananas. I was out of them at home and they are a staple in Zach's diet.. and being that were gonna be gone overnight, I wanted to take some with us.

My special purchase!

I did however, have enough time to stumble across this beauty. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's a round red heart, with orange swirled through it. A young man was selling them for $3.00, marked down from $10.00. Even though it cut into the cash on hand for vegetables, it was definately worth it. Just so unique!

Just some fun pictures!

2008-07-13T13:39:00.011-04:00

We went to our Aunt/Uncle's home to spend a day by the pool. Zach is just getting used to water. Here are a couple of cute pictures. The first 2 are with his cousin.

This picture is Zach riding in the boat, pushed by Daddy.

Recipe for Fresh Salsa

2008-07-10T13:46:00.005-04:00

Using my goodies from the Farmer's Market, I made some fresh salsa.
I got the basic recipe from simply recipes.com and tinkered with it a little.
Here is the recipe.

Fresh Salsa:
Ingredients:

4-5 medium tomatoes, finely diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1-2 hot peppers (ie jalapeno) stems, ribs, seeds removed
2-3 garlic cloves, diced
1 tsp each of salt and pepper (or to taste)
1 tsp each of oregano and cumin (or to taste)
juice from 1 lime
1/4 c fresh cilantro (and basil if desired)

Save the seeds from the jalapenos. These can be used to adjust the "hotness" of your salsa. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl. Allow to sit for several hours to let the flavors blend. The best thing is you can omit any of the ingredients or add others as you like. I fried some corn tortillas in some canola oil and sprinkled with seasoned salt to flavor.

Move over Ziploc baggies....

2008-07-09T22:25:00.004-04:00

Ziploc bags are my weakness in the fight to reduce waste. It's the one area I've had troubles with. I mean, face it.. they're so handy.. you can store anything in them.. and then you don't have to clean it.
On another blog that I read, these handy things were suggested. The Wrap -n- Mat.

The inside is lined with a clear plastic, I'm not sure you can tell on the picture. So you wrap your sandwich, chips, vegetables, whatever and it seals with velcro. You open it up and it's a placemat!! The clear plastic is easy to wipe down. Voila!! I bought 3 of them.. and they're great for packed lunches. I still have Ziplocs. Old habits die hard, but at least I'm using them sparingly now.

Foogo - Is it worth the $$$

2008-07-06T23:58:00.002-04:00

This is the Foogo insulated sippy cup by Thermos. The cost of this beauty is $14.99. It is stainless steel, so there are no worries about polycarbonate plastic leaching. While that was in the back of my mind... I had a new reason why I wanted to purchase.

Let me tell you a story. I was home with my little guy last Wednesday. I was sitting on the couch taking a little break, when all of a sudden... I got a whiff of something that smelled like vomit. I flew into action, looking all over when Zach was standing there, shaking a sippy cup. The valve was clearly not in place because you could hear it being shaken inside the cup and milk was flying all over the front of him. He thought this was hysterical. I realized he had the sippy cup that came home from daycare with him the night before. Immediately I panicked, wondering if he had drinken any of the tainted beverage.

So, the added benefit of this cup is that it keeps beverages insulated warm or cold for up to 6 hours. While that wouldn't even have helped me in that scenario, it was worth checking out. You would think this cup is too heavy for them, but he handles it just fine... carries it around under his arm, just like all of his other precious cups.

Was it worth the money??... Time will tell I guess. It is very easy to clean which is a bonus for me, along with a little piece of mind.

Farmer's Market Trip - 7/5/08

2008-07-06T23:56:00.013-04:00

My farmer's market trip this week was another good one.

My picture is kind of odd, but we'll dissect it.

Tomatoes (8)...........$4.00

Cilantro...................$1.25

Limes (5)..................$1.75

Basil........................$1.50

Snap peas (pint).......$2.00

Strawberries (9).......$1.75

Cherries (quart)........$4.00

Kiwi (5)....................$1.75
Red peppers (2)........$2.00

Blueberries (quart).$2.00

I had a picture, but it's vanished of the following:

Eggs (large, cage free, organically fed)........$2.50

Sesame seeds.............................................$2.00

Paprika......................................................$2.00

ABC's sprinkle things for cookies..................$1.50

Grand total: $30.00 even.

If you haven't ever cooked with fresh herbs, you really need to. It's amazing how much better the flavor is. Basil and oregano can pretty much go in anything!

My plan with the tomatoes is to make salsa. There's nothing like a fresh salsa.

If you've heard it once.....

2008-07-04T09:09:00.006-04:00

.. you've heard it a million times.

Paper or Plastic? Neither?

Taking cloth bags to the store seems like an exhausting prospect. I started when my local grocer was selling them for 99 cents at the checkout. So I started by buying 2 of them. Well, you can imagine what happened from there. I would go to the store and forget the bags. That was the biggest obstacle to overcome. So, then I would buy a couple of more when I got there. After a while, if I left from the house to go to the store, it got easier to remember.

When they pack these bags, they seem to put more stuff in them. When they pack the plastic bags, they put 3-4 items in and then start a new bag. How obnoxious is that? So, because my groceries were neatly packed in the cloth bags, that motivated me to bring them to the store. If I stop unexpectedly on my way home from work... that is where I struggle, because I don't always have bags in the car with me. I'm trying to make sure I leave 2 in the car for the surprise trips.

It got me to thinking as I was shopping, how wasteful putting the produce in the plastic baggies is. But I wouldn't dare just put my naked produce on the checkout for any old germs to crawl all over it. I did some looking around online and was surprised that they make cloth bags exactly for this reason.

I got some nice ones from www.reusablebags.com -- http://tinyurl.com/2k8sml

They are decently priced too and made from organic cotton!! And I put them right in my cloth grocery bags. I've gotten pretty good at making sure I bring everything to the store. I've even gotten some nice comments inquiring about my produce bags.

Where is my Farmer's Market??

2008-07-03T09:12:00.002-04:00

Check here: www.localharvest.org --> You can find out where a local farmer's market is and also any CSA's offered.

CSA is Community Supported Agriculture. It's offered by a farm and you pay a subscription fee. Then you get a box of produce weekly throughout the growing season. They will give you whatever is in season. It's kind of fun to figure out what to do with things that you are not normally used to. Most of these average out to cost ~$25.00/week to feed 4 people.

Farmer's Market visit on 6/28/08

2008-07-02T00:22:00.003-04:00

The produce this week was amazing!! Everything looked so wonderful! Cherries and Sugar Snap peas were local and fresh. Here's my breakdown:

Apples (16) .......................... $3.00
Scallions (2 bunches) ................ $1.00
Cherries (pint)....................... $2.50
Zucchini (1).......................... $.50
Yellow squash (1)......................$.50
Tomatoes (4)...........................$2.00
Sugar snap peas (pint).................$2.50
Red seedless grapes (pint).............$2.00
Green peppers (4)......................$2.00
Red peppers (2)........................$2.00
Blueberries (pint).....................$2.00
Chocolate mint (herb)..................$1.00
Thyme (herb)...........................$1.00

Grand total: $22.00 --- What a bargain!

and....I bought a cilantro plant for my garden ($2.00)

I took my peppers, tomatoes, scallions and made salsa. Added lime juice, cilantro, salt & pepper, hot peppers. It was my first attempt at my own Salsa and I was very pleased!!
Tomorrow I am going to try Zucchini cakes w/cucumber dip.

Start simple, Use cloth napkins

2008-06-29T14:56:00.004-04:00

I was setting the table for our Sunday ritual. This consists of my husband cooking eggs and toast. Sometimes we have sausage and/or hash browns too. I pulled out my cloth napkins. Mike usually uses a dish towel, I guess it's more manly than my cloth napkins, but at any rate, it's less paper napkins getting thrown away. This is something that someone starting out could do very easily. You can always buy them at the store. Even the Dollar store has them. Or if you are graced with any kind of sewing ability, you could make your own. Think of all the crazy fabrics out there and how much your kids might like a napkin of their favorite cartoon character.

Composting.

2008-06-27T13:39:00.008-04:00

This goes hand in hand with my garden idea. I did a lot of reading about composting. I always felt so guilty throwing away food scraps. My mom composted.

I discussed the idea with my husband. He always needs just a little convincing about my crazy schemes. He was okay with it... but really wanted a tumbler for the compost bin, which is what we got.

It is rather large. But you just put all of your compostable items in the top. The lid screws on and off and you spin it and least daily. I was so overwhelmed at first with the percentage of "nitrogen items vs. carbon items." There's a certain %age that they recommend, but my instructions said just to try estimating at 50% of each. So, all the food scraps are the Carbon (or Green) items. I was worried that I would be able to come up with enough of the nitrogen (or Brown) items.

But to my surprise, you can throw newspaper in there, cardboard boxes that your food comes in i.e. cereal, pasta, etc. Coffee grounds and filters. Egg shells. Corn cobs. It's so nice to have a place to put all of these in rather than the trash. It's literally cut the amount of trash that I put out each week by half.

My husband was also worried about the prospect of the compost smelling badly. Even when you open up the top on a hot, humid day... it simply smells like soil.

I took a picture of what the inside of my bin looks like. I've been collecting things for about 4 weeks or so. At some point, I'm going to have to stop adding things so that this can completely turn to soil. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my compostable items then, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Here's a link to the place that I bought my bin. It was on the more expensive side. You can find cheaper bins, but this was one of the most inexpensive tumblers that I could find. It was a gift to myself with my tax refund money. haha

http://www.beamingsun.com/market/homegarden/uct9.php

My garden!! My first crop.

2008-06-25T23:13:00.013-04:00

My mom is an avid gardener. My step dad and she have had a vegetable garden since I was a kid. I used to love the carrots. I did not inherit her greenthumb. When I moved into my house, I tinkered around with flowers. Some good results, some bad.

Well, I've decided that I would start a vegetable garden this year. Just a small, raised bed to see how it goes.

This picture is from a week or so ago. It gives you an idea of the size, my plants are just taller now. I tried to take a picture today, but the sun caused an awful glare.

In my garden I have (from left to right):

Cucumbers, green flat beans, purple pole beans, red onions, radishes, carrots, cauliflower, green peppers, red hot peppers.

Today I harvested a few of my radishes. I am so excited to have actually produced something. They taste wonderful!!! Radishes only take 29 days.... every thing else will be awhile.

Picture 1: you can see them just bulging out of the ground.

Picture 2: Freshly picked.

Picture 3: All nicely cleaned up.

Now let me tell you. It didn't cost much to get this off the ground. (no pun intended).

The bean pole was a gift from mom, but they run about $25.00.

The wood for the bed cost around $25.00.

2 bags of dirt @ $7.99 each: $16.00

Rototiller: Borrowed mom's. Not sure how much $$ to rent.

Seeds& plants: ~$25.00

So, that's a total of ~$90.00 give or take. I think I may do another two of these next year, depending on how the rest turns out. I post pictures of my crops as I pick them. I am anxiously awaiting my husband to put a fence around it. My house is in front of a park and the bunnies like to invade and eat my flowers. I can't imagine what they'll do with all my carrots.

I should give some credit to my valuable assistant!!

Farmer's Market

2008-06-24T23:54:00.008-04:00

So, I've decided that I am going to go to the Farmer's Market more often. Usually the best day to go is on Saturday (It' s huge, more farmers). I went last Saturday. I got some fruits and vegetables and Cage free, antibiotic free eggs. They were $2.50/dozen, which is a really good price and you can tell the difference between these eggs and the others. I love all the other things you can get there also.

They have this pasta company that comes. It's called Pappardelle's Pasta (http://www.pappardellesonline.com/servlet/StoreFront).
I overheard the lady say that the pasta is made in Colorado and then shipped to her, which isn't really supporting a local company... but this is the craziest pasta you will ever see. The flavors and shapes are so unique. Over the winter I got Chocolate Fettucini... I made a strawberry sauce to put over it.

This week I got the Fanciful Fruit mix.
(http://www.pappardellesonline.com/servlet/Detail?no=2)

The pasta is flavored: Lemon, Lime, Tangerine and Raspberry.

You can actually taste the flavors in the cooked pasta.

So, I cooked it tonight. The creation I made was a fruit salad.

It has Canteloupe, Pineapple, Watermelon, Green Grapes, and of course, Strawberries. I took some Cool Whip and mixed it with organic lemon yogurt for the "sauce". It turned out really well, I must say. So refreshing. My husband hates canteloupe, but he ate every bit of it. I served it with stuffed chicken breast (mozzarella cheese, carrots, peppers and onions) and some broccoli on the side. I managed to get all the main food groups in our dinner tonight.

I will have a post after each of my Farmer's Market adventures. We have the main one on Saturdays, but there are other ones in the area that I am going to try to get too. Find out where one is in your area. Nothing beats the taste of fresh, local fruits and vegetables.

Picking Strawberries

2008-06-23T21:04:00.010-04:00

If you can't go organic, go local.

I figured I would drag my husband and son to go strawberry picking with me. It was a good thing because I wouldn't have been able to handle Zach all by myself. He would pick strawberries and eat them. He also tried to steal them out of my container. And if I had wanted to take pictures, forget it!

We managed to get 3 quarts out of the deal.

x 3

At this nice fruit stand that we went to, I was prepared to pay $4.00/qt because that is what the sign said out front. Imagine my surprise when they only charged me $6.70 for all 3. Makes sense, I mean I did give them free labor after all.

Now, although these strawberries are typically smaller than the California ones in the store, they are the sweetest, juiciest berries around. I have no idea how to make strawberry jam, but it's something I can plan for next year.

Having a baby changes.....

2008-06-23T00:03:00.003-04:00

... Everything, just like they say. It makes you really think about the impact that you are making to the environment that eventually your child will inherit. It makes you think about how what you are fueling their bodies with and what you are putting on their bodies can impact their health! This is what got me thinking about more "green" choices.

Don't you just want the best for a little face like this?

How did I get started?.... with cloth diapers.

2008-06-22T23:02:00.001-04:00

I hadn't given it much thought. My little man was born prematurely in Feb 2007 at 36 weeks. When we brought him home, he weighed a little under 5 lbs. He was so tiny, it was hard to get anything to fit him. Diapers were an issue. He was using Pampers Swaddlers Preemie size in the hospital so we stuck with that. Then he moved onto size Newborn. and eventually size 1/2. Well after that size Pampers stops making the Swaddlers. I didn't care much for any of the other diapers out there.

It occured to me that some of my online buddies had been using cloth diapers. I thought it was ridiculous when I first heard them planning. Who could fold, snap/pin, soak, wash etc. Esp as a working mother, it seemed impossible. First I should say, I met these remarkable women at http://www.babyfit.com/ - I highly recommend any prenatal women to get over there and sign up.

So, I started a thread asking them to tell me about cloth diapers. I got so much information that it was overwhelming. All these names getting thrown about of types of diapers. So I bought a sampler package. I will say that it took awhile, and buying many different diapers to figure out what I liked. My little guy was 5 months old at the time. So I figured it would be financially better to go with the ones that are "one-size".

I'm going to tell you what I settled on.. so I can save many of you considering it a lot of money. The best types were the Bumgenius One-size diaper and Fuzzibunz. Now these are pocket diapers. There is the diaper, with an insert that you put into it. Both get washed after use.

Bumgenius - They are one size diapers with snaps on them to adjust the rise (or size.. S, M, L). They have velcro tabs, so they really resemble your basic disposable diaper.

http://www.bumgenius.com/ - for more info

I should apologize for this picture. Obviously the diaper is turned on it's side. And above the diaper is the insert.

Fuzzibunz - These diapers come in different sizes. Small, Med, Large (I think XS, and XL too). They too, have the insert that you put in them. These only snap. One advantage to these are that the color selections are incredible.

http://www.fuzzibunz.com/ - for more info.

Cloth diapers don't really require more work. You just wash them all together in one load. I store my dirties right in my regular diaper pail and you don't need to soak them. I have about 15 or so and I do a load every 2 days.

For traveling, or when I send him to daycare (my mom's), I send a "wetbag". This is just a bag, with a liner in it to put the dirties in. The bag stays dry and there is a tag you can add scented oil to cover the smell. (Although I stopped doing that, it just doesn't bother me much.)

Here's a picture...

http://www.wahmies.com/

The polka dotted one is a "regular size" and the purple one with turtles is an "all day".
They open and shut with a zipper.

I loved cloth diapering the moment I started. It became an addiction sort of, buying fun diapers and accessories. The price is well worth it and I can save them and use them if there is a future baby. My small contribution to the environment makes me feel good. I think about all the disposables I've kept out of landfills. I'd be happy to answer more questions about them, or if I can take a different picture, just let me know.

In Progress

2008-06-22T12:41:00.000-04:00

Still learning how the blog works. Will have something coming shortly.