Garden goodness: Preserving it all

My apologies for the delay in getting a new post up, friends.  It has just been busy around here.  Mark and I were able to get away for a few days last week, just the two of us, which I am so thankful for. We stayed at a bed & breakfast, took long walks together, watched the Olymics, watched a movie, read our books, prayed together, ate great food, and rested well.  It was delightful.

Prior to that I did a lot of dehydrating.  Lots of apples.  And then I made some applesauce:

Have I ever shown you one of my favorite things?  THIS is my making-applesauce friend:

You just slice the apples (removing the core, but leaving the peel on), boil the apples in a bit of water for a few minutes until they're soft, and then dump them into this sieve thing, and use that wooden mallet to shove them down and to the sides, add cinnamon and sugar to taste and you get applesauce. 

I also made some jam and did some canning:

 

Our garden is growing lots of green beans right now.  I wasn't up to canning beans, so I used this method again to pickle some vegetables to keep in the fridge. This year I did carrots, green beans, onions, cucumbers and peppers (the carrots and green beans were the only thing from our garden.)  

We're also getting tons of these delicious Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes, which I've dried and frozen whole and eaten fresh.  But my VERY FAVORITE way to eat them this summer is to roast them.  Slice them (or any other tomato from your garden) in half and put them on a cookie sheet (on parchment paper or silpat).  Peel some garlic cloves, slice them, and throw those in there, too.  Then add some fresh herbs.  Basil or thyme is what I have, so that's what I've done.  Then drizzle a bit of olive oil on the top of it all, sprinkle some salt, and roast in the oven for about an hour (at 250 or 300 degrees).  This makes them all mushy and yummy, like a paste.

If you have a baguette or some crusty bread or crackers or anything like that?  Grab that, spread on some goat cheese, and then dollop some of your yummy roasted tomatoes on the top of that and you will be SO HAPPY.  Yum.

Later this week I will get back to my Evaluating our School Year homeschool series.  Which feels weird since I'm actually beyond that, now, and am in full-on planning mode already for next year, but I will press on.  ;)

Oh!  You may notice some changes here on the blog- with design and layout.  I'm working on changing it but it will be wonky until it's all settled.  Bear with me. 

Love to you all,
~Stacy

Strawberries!

On Saturday morning four of my kids and I headed out to pick strawberries. I didn't have any goals for how many berries to bring home, I just knew I'd like some for jam, and some to freeze for smoothies.  I told them, "Let's all try to fill our buckets about half-full!"  So they did, with some help from Ella and I, and apparently that totals up to 36 lbs.  It hadn't seemed like very much at the time, but when I got home and saw all those strawberries in my kitchen, I was just a touch overwhelmed.

The thing about strawberries is that you have to do something about them fairly quickly, because they don't keep well in or out of the fridge.  The first thing I did was pour them, in batches, into a sink full of cold water, and washed them.  Then I laid them out on trays (lined with paper towels) to dry and sit until I could do something with them.  But they get mushy fairly fast, so you have to GO.

I started in on freezer jam, and made two batches.  (In the photo below you can see them against the wall, there, on my counter, with the white lids.)

While I was doing that, I was also arranging whole berries on cookie sheets for the freezer- just freezing them for an hour or two and then transferring them into freezer bags. 

Then I readied the space for canning and processed a canner full of pint-sized jars.

This photo was taken when the end was finally in sight.  This was the last of the berries to do something about.  (It seems only fitting that my photo is blurry, since by this point I was feeling a little woozy from processing all those strawberries!)

 

Then I sliced up a full bowl to keep in the fridge for us to eat for the next day or two, and I kept a tray of whole berries in the fridge, too.

And I still had berries to deal with.  So I decided to get out the food dehydrator and fill all the trays with sliced berries.  By the following evening (day 2) whatever we hadn't eaten from the fridge, which was becoming a bit mushy and unappealing, I blended up for fruit leather. 

So, all in all, 36 lbs of strawberries yielded:
10 small jars of freezer jam (2 batches)
7 pints of canned jam (1 canner full)
7 gallon-sized freezer bags of frozen whole strawberries, for smoothies
8 trays of dried strawberries (1+ quart jar full)
1 bowl sliced for the fridge for eating (primarily with yogurt and granola for breakfast....yum!)
1 bowl whole for eating (we took these to a friends' house and gobbled them up)
1 dessert: strawberry shortcake* (my favorite, with freshly whipped cream)
6 fruit leathers

And that was that.  The kids were in and out helping here and there, and that was nice, but for the most part they played outside --it was a beautiful sunny day-- while I worked.  Isaias helped with the trays of frozen berries, Audra helped me slice berries for the dehydrator, and Audra also helped me do the freezer jam.

*Strawberry Shortcake
2 cups flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 T sugar
1 stick of butter, chilled (8 T)
lemon zest
2/3 cup milk

Combine the dry ingredients.  Cut in the butter in with a pastry blender until it is pea-sized.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk, combining with a fork until just combined.  Add more milk if necessary, one tablespoon at a time.  Turn the dough out onto a surface for rolling (I use parchment paper, sprinkling flour on it first.)  Pat it down and lightly roll it out and then cut out with biscuit cutter (or the end of a glass or jar).

Bake at 425 degrees for 9-10 minutes, until just slightly browning at the top. 
Serve with sliced strawberries and whipped cream.

* * *

Today is our final day of school, and within the next few days I plan to have those evaluating-the-year conversations with my kids, and I'm very much in analyzing mode as I consider our school year. 

My next blog post will be about choosing good books for your teenage daughter.  Then I will likely move on to a series of homeschooling posts about what worked and what didn't work for us this school year, as I process my own thoughts.  (I hope that's okay!)

Blessings to you and yours today!
~Stacy 

Five snippets from my ordinary life

1. The other night I was asleep by 9:30 and slept till 5:30.  I was awake briefly and then went back to sleep until 8:15.
(This NEVER happens.)
(It is entirely possible that it's been since ELEMENTARY SCHOOL since I've gotten this much sleep.)
(I am not exaggerating.)
(I am still in shock.)

One of my issues is that if I wake up during the night for any reason (a child with nightmares, a husband who might possibly snore sometimes a very tiny bit, (Doesn't that make it sound so nice?)), my mind flips on and then I cannot go back to sleep.

So, a normal night's sleep for me is that I go to sleep very very late (say, 12:00), and then I wake up in the 3 or 4 o'clock hour and cannot go back to sleep for the life of me.  Sometimes I will doze back off to sleep after tossing and turning and trying for hours, so I may tag on another hour or so, but...  I average about 4-5 hours of sleep a night.  It's crazy, I know.  (Am I the only one with this problem?)  Sometimes I just get up and just embrace the fact that I'm awake. (Mark found me in the kitchen baking bread at 4:30 in the morning a couple of weeks ago.)  Most of the time I'll journal or read until I feel sleepy again.

That was a LOT of sleep, and I consider it a huge gift. 

2.  I am halfway through the book Oliver Twist.  I've always wanted to read it and have owned it for years but have just never delved into it.  (The only other thing I'd ever read by Dickens was A Christmas Carol, which, honestly- I do not love, and which, most likely, is what made me hesitate on reading anything else of his.)  Until now.   And--- I love it.   The language and the characters are so rich, and it makes me love Dickens and want to read more.  Dickens delights me with the longest, most detailed sentences, and I am now ever so fond of him.

3.  Ella and I have been so blessed to go to a couple of concerts together lately.  Recently we saw Sara Groves and also Rend Collective!  Loved them BOTH.

4.  Have I told you about this recipe for French Bread Rolls?  If I haven't, it's only because I've been too busy baking them.  If you want an easy roll recipe, use this one.  They turn out beautifully and your family will thank you.  I promise.  And then beg you to make them again.

5.  Springtime is showing itself all around our house-- our camellia is blooming, our flowering trees are blooming, tulips are coming up in the gardens and some of our other annuals, the grass is growing and green, the birds are happily singing, and I am thoroughly excited about it.  I am longing for warmth and sunshine, and more outside time as a result of those two things.  As much as I love our cozy little home with our crackling fire, I cannot WAIT for warmer weather. 

Rotisserie Chicken and Homemade Bone Broth (in the crock pot)

Yesterday morning I put a whole chicken in the crockpot.  This is my favorite way to cook chicken.  If you've never cooked a whole chicken before, try this!  It's so easy, your house will smell delicious all day long and you will likely have meat for more than one meal.  

Rotisserie Chicken for the Crockpot
Rinse the chicken, remove the innards and pat it dry. 

Combine the following together in a bowl:
2 tsp salt
1 tsp smoked paprika (or any paprika you might have)
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp black pepper 

Rub this mixture all over the bird, inside and out.
(At this point I usually quarter an onion and peel some garlic cloves and stick them inside the bird.) Put the bird breast-side down into the crockpot.  Do NOT add any water.
Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours, or on low for 8. 

After about six hours (on low), I scooped out half of the chicken to use for that night's meal (Chicken-broccoli casserole).  Here it is, cooling:

When it had cooled, I pulled the meat off the bones (Do NOT toss those bones!) and broke it apart with my fingers to make smaller pieces, then added it to our casserole and finished making dinner.  

When the casserole was in the oven, I turned off the crockpot and removed the other half of the chicken and did the same thing (usually I would do this in one fell swoop but I had to get the casserole in the oven).  Put that chicken in the fridge to use for a meal later on in the week.

Now.  For the stock: you can pull out the onions and garlic when you see them, or leave them in, and then dump all the bones back into the crockpot, add water to nearly fill the crockpot, and cook the bones for several hours (I usually cook them on low throughout that entire night and the following full day).  Then you've just made yourself some good bone broth which you can use anytime a recipe calls for chicken stock (or any other stock for that matter.)  I pour it through this fine strainer I have and into containers to stick in the freezer.

Reviving a Sourdough Starter (from the freezer)

A couple of weeks ago I made the decision to take my sourdough starter out of the freezer.

What I didn't fully realize was that in doing so, I was basically adding a part-time job onto my already quite busy schedule.  (It actually takes a bit of work to revive a starter!)  I followed the directions from this post from King Arthur Flour: Putting Your Sourdough Starter on Hold (which also covers "Bringing Your Sourdough Back to Life"  :))

It sat in my oven with the light on for days looking like this:

As I watched it carefully for signs of life (read: bubbles), like this:

So that I could get to do this,

(Helpful resource: this video called How to Make Sourdough Bread, and using the recipe found within the video.)

I've been paying pretty close attention to my starter, trying to study it and figure out the best feeding/rising/baking schedule and system for our lifestyle.  I've baked sourdough three times (6 loaves total) within the past two weeks.  We all LOVE it. 

However, now my starter is in the fridge on an I'll-feed-it-weekly (and maybe bake once a week or once every-other week) schedule, because I don't really have time to babysit it each day.  ;)

I am still bummed that while the sourdough tastes delicious and I think it looks right, it doesn't have the same rise as the other breads I've baked.  I keep tweaking it trying to change my feeding/rise times in order to get a nice rounded loaf top, but... all to no avail.  I intend to perfect it, though.  And I'm open to any tips for those of you who have any!  :)


Other posts on bread and bread-making:
Adventures in Sourdough Bread-Baking (from two years ago)
Fall Deliciousness

Pork, two ways, in the crock-pot

When it comes to meat, I know what I like.  I like moist meat.  The kind that breaks open easily with a fork.  Full of flavor.  With sauce or drippings.  Yes. YUM. 

I've established two go-to recipes for pork that we love.  I can't imagine you won't love them, too:

First and favorite way:
Take a thawed pork shoulder (or any other big hunk of pork) and sear it in butter or olive oil in a cast-iron pan (or other frying pan).  Brown it on as many sides as you can get to by flopping it around in the pan, on medium heat.

Drop it into the crock-pot.  

Then, in a bowl, mix together with a fork:

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 T chili powder
2 T smoked paprika
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
4 tsp salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1-2 shakes of cayenne pepper

Pour about half of that seasoning mix on top of the roast and rub it in.  Then flip the roast and season the other side with the rest of the mix.  Rub in all over the roast, (top, bottom and sides), stick the lid on your crock-pot, set to low and leave it until dinner.  (Cook for at least 5 hours on low.)  

I usually peek at it about half-hour before dinner and roughly shred the meat with two forks and stir it a bit. You can eat it as is or take the juices from the bottom and make yourself a gravy with them.  (1-2 T of butter, add 1-2 T flour, add juices into a saucepan until it thickens, voila!)  DELISH.  Serve with mashed potatoes or rice.  Mmmm!

 * * *

Second and also scrumptious way:

(But made less often because I have to pre-plan and have these ingredients on hand)

Take a thawed pork shoulder and sear it as described above, put it into the crock-pot and pour these (mixed) ingredients over top of it: 

3/4 cup of beer  (I don't know beer. At ALL. I generally buy a bottle of some sort of ale.  I'm sure anything would work).

1/2 cup dijon mustard

6 T honey

1/4 cup olive oil (less)

1 T dried rosemary

3-4 cloves garlic, crushed 

Set crock-pot to low and leave it until dinner.  (At least 5 hours.)  Check and shred meat about half-hour before you want to eat, and then add 1/2 cup cream.  

This sauce is amazing.  Truly.  It's so good you'll want to drink it.  I always serve this with mashed potatoes so we can just pour this sauce on over the potatoes for gravy. Or with some bread so we can lap up the sauce on our plates with the bread.  Yum.  

Enjoy!  

Weekly Meal Plan and Traditions

It's a beautiful fall day--- blue skies but brisk.  I've been wearing slippers around the house every day.  I can hear the heat kick on occasionally.  I had a conversation with some friends recently about heat-- and one of them said that she (and her now-grown children) try to see how long they can go into the fall without turning on the heat.  It's like a contest for them.  Not so, here.  I like a warm, cozy house and so our heat sits somewhere between 68-70.

Mark got paid yesterday-- hooray and thank you, God!-- so I did some meal planning and grocery shopping last night, and this is what we're eating this week:

Monday | Chicken in a Creamy Parmesan and Sundried Tomato Sauce (or, as the sheet on my fridge says: "Chicken & Yummy Sauce".  Because just click over to that picture and tell me if you can resist adding that to your meal plan sometime in the near future.  YUM.  I've actually never made it before but I'm thinking one cannot go wrong with those ingredients.  I think we'll do spaghetti squash with it, because I have one and need to use it.  Oh, and maybe some crusty bread so that we can sop up all that yummy sauce with it.  Mmm.

Tuesday | Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef (Pioneer Woman) because, slow cooker.  My favorite.  Because it's just there, cooking our food all day and smelling up the house so wonderfully.  With basmati rice.  Maybe salad if I have some greens handy.

Wednesday | Macaroni and Cheese* I use Heather's recipe (thank you, Heather!) because it's so forgiving-- whatever cheese and sour cream/cream cheese mixture we have on hand, toss it in and it always tastes great.  I have no idea what we'll have for sides.  I rarely think of sides (unless it's rice or potatoes) until the day of.  Something green.  Salad, asparagus.
*I just realized that I should note, here, that I triple the sauce from the recipe listed, and boil 7 cups of macaroni noodles for our family.  It makes a big dish.  ;)

This photo has nothing to do with this post, but seemed fitting for the season.  (These apple pies were actually Isaac's  birthday dessert request at the end of October).

 
Thursday | Thanksgiving!  (Hooray!)  For our big Thanksgiving meal hosted by my parents, I am bringing a green salad and making scrumptious sweet potatoes (which I don't personally love) but are oft-requested and generally well-loved by everyone in sight.  ;)  Mark and Ella, especially, oh! -- and my mom- DREAM of these sweet potatoes.  It's just a bunch of sliced sweet potatoes (from the produce department, the white ones) baked in a brown sugar/butter mixture and topped with marshmallows a few minutes before the timer goes off.  Mom will do the turkey, potatoes, gravy and stuffing and many desserts (bless her) and my siblings are bringing other sides.  I'm just now remembering that I may have volunteered to make some sort of apple dessert, too, so I'll have to double-check on that.

We'll have the big meal Thursday afternoon and then Thursday evening we just eat leftovers: turkey sandwiches, usually, on white dinner rolls, and chex mix and desserts.  My sister and her family will be here through the weekend, so the kids are thrilled to see their cousins that they rarely get to see.  My brother, his wife and their two kids will be there, too, and my other brother, and all of us packed into my parents' house.  We play games, sit around and talk and laugh and eat and generally have a wonderful time. I love it and so look forward to it.

Friday | White Chicken Chili and cornbread.  Quick and easy.  I have pre-cooked chicken and chicken broth in the freezer and I'll use cans of white beans instead of cooking up dry beans.  We'll (Mark included!  He has the whole weekend off this year!) all likely be at my moms most of the day but try to exit before dinner so that she doesn't have to feed us all... again.  

Saturday |  THIS IS THE DAY WE GO GET OUR CHRISTMAS TREE AND DECORATE OUR HOME FOR CHRISTMAS and I love everything about this day.  A couple of years ago we started a new tradition with my brother and his family (who live nearby) and my parents (who also live nearby).... we all go out and get our tree together (that's not new, we've been doing that for years, stopping to get peppermint mochas or eggnog lattes on the way out) and then we all go home to decorate our individual houses.  Then later that night, when all is decorated and alight, we do a neighborhood walk and tour everyone's decorated homes, then end up back here at our house for pigs-in-a-blankets, spinach and artichoke dip and bread, cider and eggnog and desserts.  Love it.

Sunday | Nachos. Another super easy recipe.  On purpose.  I think we'll all be exhausted.  Hopefully this will be a restful day after all the hubbub of the weekend.  I envision lots of lovely, cozy nights in front of our cheerily lit tree and a crackling fire. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! 

Fall Deliciousness

One the of the grand things Mark and I decided for this school year is that when he gets a day off, he's going to sub in for me, following our normal school routine, and I get the day off.  As in, off.  While the kids are still getting school done.

I can't even describe to you how delightful this is.

This morning--- wait, let's go ahead and begin with last night, because I think you should all know that I single handedly ate an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream.  But that's not all.  I also ate approximately half a bag of Kettle Honey-Dijon chips.  You may think I'm exaggerating but I'm not.  Also a lime+coconut+rum blended drink Mark made me.

It's been that kind of week.  PMS hits hard and fast these days and on Sunday night I was bawling and feeling like this life of mine was impossibly overwhelming, was suddenly exasperated and irritated about all the mess everywhere, all the noise, everything that had to be done, anything on our calendar, any and all questions and all the interruptions.

So last night was absolutely necessary.

Oh.  And yes, I'm still counting calories.  I think I'd saved about 800 calories for last night's snacking, but we all know I went over by about 4000.  I figure that's just fine to do once a month.

Anyway, all that to say that today is a much-needed day off.  I woke up at 7:30 (that's sleeping in for me!).  Mark was already up with Adelia, reading books on the couch.  I went for a jog, came home, showered, got ready-- all while Mark was busy with the kids in their getting-ready-for-the-day, chores, and breakfasting routines, and now I'm at Starbucks with an iced latte and my Bible, journal, colored pencils and the laptop.  George Winston's December CD is playing happily in my ears.  It's my favorite soothing music.  I chose a sunny table by the window where I have a view of the fireplace but also get to sprawl out all my stuff.

This post is titled Fall Deliciousness because this may be my favorite time of year for cooking, baking and perusing cookbooks.  I've tried out some new recipes lately and wanted to share them with you.  Sorry for the long and winding intro.

First up: bread.  Is there anything better than freshly baked bread this time of year?  NO there is not.  So I've been baking bread.  Lots of it.  Our favorites are my grandma's white bread recipe, because it makes four loaves and because it's pure comfort to me to read her instructions in the recipe and to think of her baking it.  And the smell of it and-- it's the perfect bread for sandwiches.

I also have another whole-wheat bread recipe that I alternate with for sandwiches.  And this recipe for Honey-Oat bread that I bake to use for dinnertime.

New to me but equally satisfying is this recipe for crusty bread.  (Thank you, Sarah E!) I have ALWAYS wanted to make this type of bread but don't have a dutch oven so I figured it was out of the question.  But a couple of weeks ago I decided to try to use an old Corningware dish I have that has a glass lid, and I'm so thrilled because it totally worked!  I made two loaves and they were perfect:

Secondly: soup.  Please do yourself a favor and make this recipe for Slow Cooker Butternut Squash soup.  (Another thank you to my friend Sarah).  I've made butternut squash soup before but this recipe is by far the best.  I think it's the coconut milk you add at the end.  Plus, you chop everything up and throw it in the crock pot and then your house smells like pure fall goodness all day long.  I think those are the best kind of meals.  [Just a couple of my notes on this recipe: I used sweet potatoes instead of the carrots and will do it again.  Because we just love sweet potatoes at our house.  Also, I peeled my apples.  I don't own an immersion blender so I just poured it into my food processor and pureed it in small batches.]  We all loved this soup!

A terrible picture, but here it is--ready to cook all day!

Serve the soup with some of that crusty bread and it's a perfect fall meal.  Or make up some quick Yogurt Biscuits but add something savory like parmesan and sage or whatever you have on hand.

Last but not least, please make this recipe for Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies from Ashley Rodriguez.  Just... yum.  It's the variety of sugars and the salt on the top.  I keep making them.  Double the recipe, for sure.  And I know she says to refrigerate the dough but who wants to wait for that?  Plus, then you have hard dough that's tough to work with so just ignore that part.  And use whatever chocolate you have and like.  I use milk and semi-sweet. 

(Recent) favorite cookbooks to pore over: Date Night In (which is where the cookie recipe comes from) and The Forest Feast (which is just pretty and inspiring.  I love her dressings and salads and her photos and illustrations throughout.)




Please share any of your favorite fall recipes in the comments.  We love to try new recipes at our house!


*This post contains affiliate links

Garden notes and drying tomatoes

I knew when we planted our garden this spring that I didn't want to do a lot of canning.  It's just a lot of work, and I was tired and wanted rest. 

Ahem.  I did NO canning.  Oh, wait.  That's not true.  I think I did up two batches of freezer jam: one strawberry and one peach.  But still.  That's not a lot.  I imagine I'll regret that come fall and winter.  But when it's 80-something degrees in the kitchen, I just cannot get motivated to can.  No way.

I froze a lot of berries- strawberries and raspberries from our yard.  We made several batches of fruit leather.  We ate beans fresh and roasted them up for a few dinners.  We made a lot of tomato-and-cucumber-and-garlic-and-basil-and-feta salads.  YUM.  

 

I still have tomatoes and basil coming out my ears.  So this morning I was up early in the garden and picked a huge bowl of Sun Gold tomatoes (my favorite), and decided to try drying them.  I just sliced them in half (quartering the larger ones), and then in a food processor, blended about 10 leaves of basil and a couple of garlic cloves and olive oil, and drizzled it all over the top of them.  Sprinkled salt and pepper over the top and we'll see how it goes.  But I cannot WAIT to try them.  They look and smell delicious.  :) 

I'm contemplating doing this with my rhubarb.  Has anyone ever tried this?  And I'm definitely making some more rhubarb syrup just as soon as I can get ahold of some cheesecloth. 

Yogurt Biscuits

Really, I should do a whole series on the food we eat around here because I feel like that's ALL I DO. My life revolves around these three meals every day for all these people and it's just a lot.  :) Must everyone eat so much?!?!  ;)

This is one of my go-to recipes because they are quick and easy to make and they are versatile.  I'll give you the recipe and then talk more about them.

Yogurt Biscuits ~makes 15 biscuits

2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup applesauce* (organic, no sugar added~ this replaces the oil the recipe originally called for)
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup plain yogurt*

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients. The dough will be somewhat sticky.  Drop by spoonfuls onto greased baking sheet. (I use a Silpat).  Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until just starting to brown.

* Some notes on versatility:

The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of oil.  I substitute applesauce nearly every time a recipe calls for oil.  Because you can.  And it's better for you.  This is what I use, because you can purchase it in a 4-pack at Costco:

But if you don't have applesauce go ahead and use oil.  Or melted butter.  Or whatever you have on hand.  :)  The other thing I often switch out is the yogurt.  Sometimes I don't have yogurt.  But I have sour cream!  Or cottage cheese!  As long as you get a cup of something creamy in there, you're good, whether it be a cup of yogurt or a half cup of yogurt and a half cup of sour cream.  Or milk.  Whatever you've got in the fridge.

Our favorite way to eat these is obviously with butter and jam.  Because YUM.  Or butter and honey.  We often have them for breakfast with fruit or eggs.  It's like a healthy scone.  ;)  I've even added lemon or orange zest.  Mmm.

Or we'll have them for dinner as a side with soup or whatever meal we have that I feel needs something extra.

But once I was craving hamburgers and had no hamburger buns and guess what I used in a pinch? This recipe for yogurt biscuits.  I formed smaller hamburger patties and we had mini hamburgers on yogurt biscuits and they were an instant favorite.  Seriously delicious.  I've made them as hamburger buns several times since.  YUM.

And when I decided to make breakfast sandwiches the other morning and didn't have english muffins?  Yogurt biscuits to the rescue.

You see why you need to have this recipe, right?  Yes.

And name me a child who doesn't like bread.  So this is a handy recipe to have.

Open House | Monday, May 18

Hello, dear friends-

Here is what's going on today:

Outside my window | is our garden, just waiting to be planted.  Tomorrow is the day.  (More details on that to follow, I'm sure.)  So excited.  Also outside are my tomato plants, waiting to be potted.  And some white petunias I just potted in some terra cotta pots for my front porch.

our garden spot after rototilling, with happy chickens pecking around in it

Homeschooling | today it's in the 70's, so we did as much as we could outside.  Nature study, picture study and read-aloud all happened outdoors in the sunshine (me & Ella) or shade (everyone else). ;)

In the kitchen | does making lattes count?  ;)  This morning I made breakfast sandwiches- by making up a double-batch of some quick yogurt biscuits (have I shared that recipe here?), slapped a fried egg on each of them, sprinkled some cheese and a piece of bacon.  They were a hit.  We even delivered some to daddy at work. :)

Reading aloud | I am in the process of reading three books to the kids.  The first one is The Tarantula in My Purse (funny true stories of a family who adopts several interesting pets, including a crow and apparently that other one mentioned in the title that I may have to skip.  Yipes.)  I'm also making my way through Little House in the Big Woods (because earlier this year I decided we needed to read through the whole series again, with the little girls in mind) and Copper-Toed Boots (a recent find at a thrift store- 99 cents!)  Mark is reading The Green Ember in the evenings to the kids.

Looking forward to | my next date night with Mark, our anniversary get-away in June, getting our garden planted, having friends over Thursday morning, heading outside very soon to sit in my cozy orange chair in the sunshine and journal, Friday-night game night planned with my brother and sister-in-law, Mark's day off.... all sorts of things!  :)

Thankful | for a little goal I made back in March.... "20 lbs by 40".  I'm turning 40 in July ( which is utterly crazy ) and I decided in mid-March that my birthday gift to myself would be to lose 20 lbs.  And... I'm nearly there!  (16 lbs down), so I'm super thankful for the dedication God has gifted me during this season.  [I've just been counting calories through My Fitness Pal, and committing to exercise at least 20 minutes 6x/week.] 

Here is a peek at the back pages of my journal- my own little calendar where I'm keeping track of (by coloring in the little daily box) each day I come in under or at my calorie count).

Thinking | about possibly starting to read books again in July.  That will have been a six-month sabbatical from books.  And I miss reading so very much.  :(  We'll see.

Enjoying | these Bible studies from Stone Soup for Five, which are inductive-based but also very creative-minded.  I love this combination.  I'm journaling my way through Philippians right now using one of her studies, and Ella and I are slooooowly working through a Matthew study together. 

Best posts I've read online lately |
Sally Clarkson's post called If You Want to Win Your Child's Heart, Don't Go By the Rules, and Aimee's post called Bedtimes, Hot Cocoa Packets, and Listening to the Spirit.
Go there, read those.  You will be encouraged in your mothering.  :)

I truly hope you are all doing well and enjoying our lovely Spring!  

Blessings to you and yours,
~Stacy


*this post contains affiliate links

Two housekeeping tips!

castile soap, fractionated coconut oil and essential oil

I recently discovered two new-to-me housekeeping tips that I thought I'd share with you!

Tip #1: Foaming Hand Soap

I may be the last person to know this, but recently I discovered that I can be making my own foaming hand soap.  (!)  And since we go through about a bottle every week or two, I'm super thrilled about this latest little housekeeping development.  Did you all already know this and not tell me?  A friend of mine passed along this recipe to me recently and I've been itching to make it ever since. Last night I finally did!

Here's the recipe:

Fill a foaming soap dispenser with warm water, leaving 1-2 inches of room at the top.

Add:
2 T Castile soap
1 tsp fractionated coconut oil
essential oil drops (I used about 5 drops)

Shake.

How easy is that?  I found the castile soap at Target (there were several varieties but I was thrilled to spot the citrus-orange because that's the very scent of soap I was hoping for!!!) It was a little pricey.  They just had the big bottles so I think it was about $17, but just think of how much soap I'll be able to make from it!  I'd never in my life heard of fractionated coconut oil, but found it at our local co-op.  And the essential oil- I bought sweet orange- I purchased at the co-op, too, for a few dollars. 

It's the little things that make me happy.  It smells so good.  The kids love it.  (After trying it, my girls declared that I should "go into business".  They're so funny:  when I bake something yummy they tell me I should start a bakery, or if I make something especially good for dinner they tell me I should open a restaurant.  I keep telling them that I already have a restaurant, with six very regular customers.  ;))

Tip #2: Hydrogen Peroxide as stain remover

Little story to go with this one: A couple of weeks ago I bought a cute stripey tunic-y tank at the consignment store.  It was so warm the other day that I wore it under a cardigan.  And then promptly stained it when I made smoothies for the kids for breakfast.  Blueberry stains.  :(.   I was super sad.  I tried right away to put cold water on the spots and one sort of faded to look like a blue pen mark, but it was still visible.  But I kept wearing it because after all, I did have a cardi over it. 

That evening I went to visit my sister-in-law and my cutest new nephew, and she said she liked my tank top, so I had to tell her about how it was new and I'd already stained it.  She told me I should try hydrogen peroxide. 

?!

She said she's seen it work to get blood out of clothes, so I ought to try it.  I asked her how -- soak it?  get a q-tip and dab some on?  She said just to pour it over the spot.  I was skeptical, truly.  And I didn't want to have it bleach my tank top or anything.  But my other option was spray-n-wash and soak it overnight, which doesn't always entirely get berry stains out.  So I was curious enough to try it.  I got a q-tip and put some hydrogen peroxide on it and then dabbed at the spots when I got home, and nothing happened.  Those stains were as plain as day.  So I sort of shrugged it off and thought, "Guess that only works to get blood out." And went to tuck the girls into bed...  Ten minutes later I was telling Ella about how it hadn't worked on my spots, and went to find my spots, and there WERE NO SPOTS. (!!!!)  No more stains.  Super excited about this.  I have tossed shirts before because I couldn't get stains out.  Hydrogen peroxide is my new friend.  I am so pleased to know this.  :) 

Saturday happenings

Thank you, sweet friends, for your kind comments on my last post.  I felt so encouraged.

I was thinking this morning about the way that I write here on the blog; how I always sort of imagine that I'm talking to you as if you were actually *here* in my home, sitting on the couch with me,  chatting, kids running through and interrupting every four seconds.  ;)   The things I write here are the types of things I would talk about.  Things like: "I made this really yummy recipe for dinner last night!"  Or "We've been doing this new thing in homeschooling, and it's really working."  Or, "We totally revamped our chore system...(and then I'd show you)"   Or we'd talk about Jesus and what we're reading in the Bible and I'd tell you what I'm learning.  Or we'd share prayer requests and I'd tell you my struggles in parenting and ask yours.  Or I'd tell you what we're planting in the garden this spring.  You know.... as if we were having a conversation.  Because that's what I'd really prefer, honestly.  I think that's what's tricky about blogging for me-- that it's a "conversation" that feels so one-sided at times. 

(By the way, Hannah Joy- my friend texted me this morning and said she thought that after your sweet comment I should keep blogging if only for just YOU.  ;))

Today has been a good day.  On Saturdays we get to "sleep in".  So this morning I got to sleep until 8:26, when Audra (6) came in to snuggle under the covers with me, followed by Adelia (7) a few minutes later.  These girls just recently had their birthdays and I'm still sort of stunned that our youngest is now six.  I love them so much and I am grateful every single day to get to be their mommy.  Even the days where I get the "Mommy!  Mooooommeeeeeee!" so constantly that I am weary of it, or have a tendency to reply with a sharp or exasperated "WHAT?!"  I try to remind myself that I love being called mommy; that someday their voices won't be echoing throughout the house and oh, will I miss that.  I will miss them so much.

After a bit we got ourselves up and out of bed (by that time Ella (13) had also joined us), and they all went to make their own breakfasts- which is a welcome part of our Saturday morning routine, and then they all headed to clean their rooms- another thing we do on Saturdays, and a habit I'm glad we started because now they just know, and they do it.  While they were all eating, I hopped on the stationary bike for 20 min (my foot is mostly better, but I'm still using it), and then showered.  Then while they were all occupied in their rooms, cleaning, I made myself breakfast and rested for a few minutes with my Bible.

(My current favorite spot in the house, and there was even a patch of sunlight streaming in through the window onto the couch!)

Recently I read this post by Carmella.  Her blog Assortment is one that I like to read because her family lives simply, in a small house, with a few things.  Her words and photos inspire me.  I dream of living more simply, always, but the act of doing the things that that kind of living requires, such as: getting rid of stuff, making decisions about what we actually need (not just what we'd like to keep in case we need it someday...), not bringing in new things, and having a home or a place for everything we own?  Those things are the challenge for me.

Anyway, one of the things she encouraged in this article was to envision your essentials by packing for a two-week trip.  Just last month I had the opportunity to fly to Indiana and visit my friend Michelle.  I packed for nearly a week away, and had the thought as I looked at all my clothes tucked into my suitcase: I really hope the airline doesn't lose my luggage.  Because these were all my favorite clothes, and the things that I wear most often: my cozy pair of jeans that fit perfectly, my gray boots that I love and go with everything, my favorite yoga pants, etc.  My luggage did happen come home with me, but when I read her words I realized that dwindling my clothes should be easy if I look at it that way-- what would I bring?  What do I wear most often?  So today I decided to start with my closet.

3 bins: DONATE, CONSIGN, KEEP

I grabbed some empty laundry hampers and labelled them and went through my closet and drawers and the bins beneath my bed (I keep off-season stuff under my bed in bins), and finished with 3 huge garbage bags of clothes to get rid of.  HOORAY!  It feels so good.  :)

I hope I can attack other areas of my home, too, but this was a good beginning.

Happy Saturday to you!

~Stacy

Home

Last night Mark helped me rearrange the living room.  We pulled all the furniture in around the fireplace, in anticipation of upcoming cold nights with a crackling fire.  It was only last autumn that we got our chimney fixed, so we were able to light fires for the first time in the fifteen years we've lived here.  I am getting so anxious for the temperatures to drop so that we can have the warmth and coziness of a fire again!

(my apologies for the dim photos.  our living room doesn't get much light due to the trees in our neighborhood)

Tucked behind the couches is a table we've set up just for puzzles.  (There's also a puzzle board beneath one of our couches with another working puzzle on it, that we'll pull up and out onto the ottoman when Mark reads aloud at nights.)  It's one of our traditions during the fall/winter seasons.  

I love our home.  I am so thankful for it. 

This Week for Dinner

{breakfast one day last week: buttermilk pancakes with mini chocolate chips}

 Hello~

This is kind of a cheater blog post because it's 10:30 on Tuesday night and the post I intended to write today (Books and Podcasts: What We're Reading and Listening To) will take too long to write, so I'm going with meal plans instead.  Mark had the day off today, and I had grocery shopping to do, and we hosted a huge small group at our home this evening.  It's been a busy day!

Here's what we're eating this week.  And next:

Week 1
Monday | Slow Cooker Mexican Pulled Pork (w/ tortillas, avocados, sour cream, salsa)
                     *I've used this recipe several times and we love it!
Tuesday | Chicken Caesar Salad and bread
Wednesday | Green Enchiladas
Thursday | Pulled Pork Sandwiches w/ coleslaw
Friday | Cauliflower Soup   
                *This is one of our very favorite fall soups and I'm so excited to be eating it again!
Saturday | Potato dish with sausage
Sunday | Nachos

Week 2
Monday | Mozzarella Meatballs, rice (because it was in the loop last time but we had a rough day so we picked up pizza instead!)
Tuesday | Man-Pleasing Chicken (if you haven't made this yet you are SO missing out)
Wednesday | White Chicken Chili
Thursday | Beef and Bean Burritos (These were on the rotation last time, too, and were such a hit (and so easy for me) that we're doing a repeat on these again.)
Friday | Chicken Mirabella
Saturday | Meatloaf, potatoes
Sunday | Goulash

:)

Our two-week meal plan

Meal plan (week 1 of 2)

I made a two-week meal plan and did all the grocery shopping a couple of days before we started school.  Do not underestimate the value of simply having a plan.  It's a huge thing for me to know what we're eating each day; to already have those decisions "checked off" in my mind.  I am so lazy with meals during the summer, and have been totally out of the routine of this helpful habit, but we're back at it!  We'll all be happier and healthier for it.  :)

On Monday (Mark's day off) I wasn't sure what we were eating for dinner; I just had a bunch of things I wanted to prep:
-make a huge pot of marinara sauce to use for 3 different meals (as pizza sauce one night, with the ziti recipe a few nights later, and I froze some for sauce to go along with mozzarella meatballs for next week).
-bake some bread (4 loaves)
-prep some ground beef for two meals
-make a breakfast casserole for the first day of school

I didn't prep the ground beef but I did everything else.  I'll list what we're having, here, with links to the recipes if applicable.

{ dinners }

Week 1
Monday | we ended up having Salmon, corn on the cob, and applesauce
Tuesday | French-bread pizzas (The kids thought these individualized pizzas were fun!)
Wednesday | Bacon-wrapped chicken, green beans
Thursday | Taco Salad, with amazing creamy-lime dressing that I love so much I could drink it
Friday | Sausages & vegetables, roasted
Saturday | Tara's Ziti
Sunday | Beef & Bean Burritos

Week 2
Monday | Crockpot Honey-Sesame Chicken, rice
Tuesday | date night!  (WOO HOO)!)
Wednesday | Refried beans & cornbread
Thursday | Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
Friday | Mozzarella Meatballs, rice
Saturday | Slow Cooker Mexican Pulled Pork, tortillas, avocados
Sunday | no plan- maybe some leftovers???

Oh!  Also noted on that plan-- in pencil, so you may not see it- is our breakfast rotation: 

Mondays | oatmeal
Tuesdays | eggs & meat
Wednesdays | smoothies & muffins (this week I made these)
Thurdsays | oatmeal
Fridays | pancakes
Saturdays | make-your-own
Sundays | cereal

I have assigned Ella (12) and Isaias (9) to be in charge of lunch.  I.love.this.plan.  Ella is full of ideas and loves being in charge of this, with an assistant.  And I love not being in charge of one more meal. (Though I do make myself available to help, if needed, for now.)  This is just one of the many great things about having older kids.
If you've tried any great recipes lately, DO SHARE in the comments.  I love meal inspiration!

~Stacy

Garden, planted.

We planted our garden one week ago:

Our garden right after planting.  What was green then: Isaac's volunteer pickling cucumbers (upper left), our happy rhubarb plant (upper right), and our spinach starts.

One of the things that delights me these days is an early-morning walk through the garden.  Just so I can peek to see if any tiny plants have poked their heads up through the soil into the light of day.

I seriously love this.

Just two days ago we saw the first sign of green.  Our rows of romaine and butterhead lettuce were taking shape.  Nothing new the next day, but last night we spotted some cucumbers, and by today the sunflowers were also coming up.  This evening I walked through the garden and snapped some pictures:

a row of butterhead lettuce

cucumber

sunflowers.  (how much do you love that little seed right there, tucked over the green plant coming up?)

And so our garden grows.

I'm still on the lookout for our beans, carrots, and the dill.

Adventures in sourdough bread-baking

When I was in the eighth grade, we traveled through Europe as a family.  My dad had been invited by some missionary friends to speak about Jesus to the university students there.  In addition to his speaking engagements, we got a Eurail pass and visited every possible museum, church and castle my dad could get us to.  (In the eighth grade, I was not particularly excited about all of that.  I was looking forward to Paris and was hunting for a new pair of shoes.  Truly.)  But in college I did end up studying art, and art history classes were my absolute favorite.  Perhaps all those museum trips ignited a love of art in me after all.

One of the other things I remember about Europe is the bread.  My fondest memory is a trip we took along with two missionary families up to a little guest house in the Austrian Alps.  Each morning during our stay there, our hosts hung a drawstring bag full of fresh rolls on the outside of our door.  Maybe it was the luxury of freshly baked bread- still warm- delivered right to our door, or maybe it was simply the result of sleeping atop a downy feather bed, but it was my favorite place in all of Europe- that little inn in the mountains with the homemade rolls. 

In December I read Stones for Bread, and in the book the main character is an artisan baker.  The book was full of recipes and a narrative of the history of bread.  I finished the book and wanted to bake.  So I checked out several books at the library and started perusing them, to learn how.  I was contemplating beginning my own wild yeast starter.  The more I read, the more I realized just how MUCH there is to learn, and what a science the art of bread-making is, and it just all seemed a little overwhelming to add to my already-full plate.  So I announced to Mark that someday, maybe when the kids are older, maybe when we're old, I will learn to bake bread.  I think I'd really love it.

When I miscarried last month, a friend of mine brought us a meal, and with it a loaf of homemade sourdough bread.  It was so delicious, that bread- and so generous of her to share it.  I asked her for the recipe and when she emailed it to me she said she'd drop off some starter the next time she was in town.  And she did.  So then I had this unfamiliar liquid in a jar and no idea what to do with it, except for her recipe and instructions. 

So I followed her instructions and fed my starter daily and tried my first loaves.  They over-rose, if there is such a term, and went flat.  I baked them anyway and the bread was delicious.  And I learned that the next time I would use three pans, not the two.

The photo below is from my second batch of bread.  This time I mixed in a bit of wheat flour with the white, and folded parmesan cheese into the round loaf.

 

Take three: (photos taken pre-baking)

Isaac and I added feta, garlic and dill to this loaf.  It has been our favorite loaf so far.

We made two loaves with chocolate chunks and peanut butter swirls.

I still don't know what I'm doing.  (I want to figure out how to make my bread more porous, for instance, and I have no idea what I'd need to do to make that happen.)  Someday maybe I'll have time to figure that out, or maybe I'll accidentally happen upon that as I experiment.  But for now, I am doing what I know to do, and changing things up a bit as I go, and happily surprised every time my bread turns out!  (Oh, and we're all probably getting chubby, too.)  ;)

This morning's loaves.

This and that

A couple of changes on the sidebar of the blog:

>There is now a section on the right with links to every book lists I've posted.  I think that will make it easier for all of us to access them now.  The lists for girls start at age six and go right on up through eleven.  And there's a list for boys up there, too.  (I will keep adding lists as long as my kids continue to read, so keep checking back.)

>Every single year I read a passel of books but never keep track of them.  This year I am attempting to keep track of what I read through Goodreads.  In order to do so, I've joined their 2014 Reading Challenge.  There's a widget on my sidebar for that.  I really have no idea how many books I generally read in a year, so I picked a random number of 75 as my goal for the year and we'll see how I do.  If you click "view books" at the bottom of that widget, it will take you to a list of the books I have read.  (I'm also trying to review them as I go.)

***

Audra and Ella play so well together.  They rotate between playing dollhouse and playing babies together.  Lately, it's babies.  So I have two little mommies toting their babies around and acting out all these little story lines.  It's very sweet.  Usually one or both of them are pregnant, too- with pillows or blankets stuffed into their shirts and a dolly on their hip.

A few times over the past week, I found them bickering over the one doll quilt that we have- one I made for Ella years ago.  Audra wanted it for her baby but it belongs to Ella, so while Ella was very generous to share it, she wanted it sometimes, too.  So I offered to make a quilt for Audra's baby.  She looked through all my fabric and chose these two and told me she wanted "little squares" and this is what we ended up with:

***

A friend gave me a sourdough starter, and I am tentatively excited.  Tentative because I don't know what I'm doing and I don't want to screw it up.  Excited because I love bread- especially sourdough, and I think it would be amazing to have the ability to make some. 

So I have this little jar that I'm "feeding" daily and then I don't really know what to do after it's fully fed, but I'm researching it.  I'll let you know how it goes.  It's sort of my own little experiment.  

 ***

We finally started school again today.  After TWO full months off.  (The first month was planned, the second was not.)  We had influenza at the start of this month, then the miscarriage, and then we ended the month with a round of the stomach flu.  Serious.  I.cannot.wait.for.spring.  Even though we're smack in the middle of winter, we do see tulips poking their heads up in our flower garden and little buds on my hydrangea bushes.  So it's coming.  Really.

***

I'm memorizing some Psalms for the year.  I love the Psalms.  I casually decided I'd pick 3-5 of my favorites and memorize them, so I pulled out my Bible one evening to find my favorites, and I ended up with a list of seven.  So we'll see.  Maybe I'll end the year with only three memorized, and that will be fine.  Or maybe I'll be able to take on all seven and that would be great, too.  I've already memorized Psalm 1 (but then again it's only six verses, so it was an easy start.)  The ones I'm working on are: Psalm 1, 19, 27, 34, 71, 103, and 145.

***

The women's Bible study at my church just recently started studying the book of Colossians, so I've joined that and am working my way through each word of Colossians, and loving it.  If you've never done a Precept study, I recommend it.

***

Recently we watched North & South on Netflix, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  And now we're watching Season 4 of Downton Abbey.   I always look forward to Parenthood, too.

It's quiet time at our house and I have already eaten some chocolate, but I have some reading to do in Ruth, some Colossians homework, and I'd love to journal if there's still time.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Catching up...

Things are so much quieter on the blog than they used to be, aren't they?  Some days I sit down to write, load up a photo or two and begin a post, and then get interrupted and set it aside only to forget about it.  Then by the time I do remember, it's old news.  Other days I think about writing and then think: are many people even reading here anymore? 

If you do read here, thank you.  I appreciate your patience when there are days and days and sometimes even weeks between posts.

Things have quieted down here on the school front (the whole month of December off!  YAY!) and I should have more time to write this month, and when the new year hits, I hope to carve out regular time in my schedule to write more faithfully here. 

I forget when we began this tradition of taking this whole month off, but I love it.  It's such a crazy time of year, and this affords us some quiet in the midst of a busy month.  There are gifts to make and our home to decorate and things to bake and- also, this is the perfect time of year to curl up on the couch with a good book-- when it's so chilly outside and the fire is cozy.

Before all that decorating took place, we made a Thanksgiving tree.  I cut out leaves of varying fall colors (from some scrap paper I have on hand) and sketched out a tree on a big piece of poster board and we all wrote things we were thankful for, then we colored in the tree and hung it up.

I don't think I've fully settled on the best way to document the things we're thankful for (here's a post on what we've done in the past), but I guess the important thing is that we're doing something to give thanks.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my mom's this year with my brothers and sister and their families.  It was so nice, and my kids always revel in all that time with their cousins.

My sweet Ella had a birthday.  She's now twelve.  I love her so much, not just because she's my daughter, but because I really like her, and I love the young woman she's becoming. What a sweet blessing she is to all of us.

 

These days I'm trying to sneak in some time on the couch myself to finish knitting Ella's sweater.  I'm using this pattern and so far I love it.  There are a couple of things on this pattern that will be new to me: knitting the sleeves on dpns and adding button bands to the front-- but I hope to figure those out when I come to them. 

Blessings to all of you for a wonderful day!
~Stacy