{Project 365} Day 32: Birthday

Because when it's your birthday, whether you're young or old (according to your six year old...36 is old) you have the priviledge of choosing whatever piece of cake you want, especially the coveted middle piece.  Grin!

 

 

{Project365}: capturing this life - one photo (or so) every day for one year

 

 

Big thanks to Mike and Sadie for baking my cake.  Big thanks to Elijah and Sadie for frosting it.  Big thanks to my family for celebrating me on this most ordinary of special days. 

 

Ordinary and super blessed, that is...

{Project 365} Day 26: Fire-Roasted Chipotle

Mmm...so delicious!  At first crunch, you almost think you're eating a Dorito, but then you realize these chips don't have a fakey cheese flavor or coating and your fingers don't turn orange while snacking.  And, well, they just taste better than Doritos.  In fact, you realize that they actually don't taste like Doritos after all except for that first bite.

 

Imagine my distress when I went to my Wegmans and there were none on the shelf where I found them in the first place.  Oh, they had other flavors, but not this flavor. 

 

NONE. 

 

Crushed.

 

   Crumbled.   

 

 

Just like this...

 

 

{Project365}: capturing this life - one photo (or so) every day for one year

{Project365} Day 24: Sunday Afternoon Relaxing

:: A warm cup of coffee.  Decaf, please.  Lots of French Vanilla Creamer.  In a large, lovely green mug.

 

:: Soft thrifted flannel.  I'm not normally a red clothing person, but my hubby has a flannel in a fairly identical red plaid and I thought we could wear matching shirts.  Let's face it, I'm a dork.  Or I'm madly in love.  Likely both. 

 

:: A rather hefty slice of cinnamon crumb cake.  I ate it before taking this picture.  Besides, I didn't want to make you drool.

 

 

{Project365}: capturing this life - one photo (or so) every day for one year

{Project365} Day 8: Stocking the Pantry

I'm thankful it's easy to stock our pantry when, for so many, it is not... 

 

Humbling.

 

 

{Project365}: capturing this life - one photo (or so) every day for one year

{Project365} Day 3: The Lunch Crowd at Sadie's Cafe

 

{Project365}: capturing this life - one photo every day for one year

Sweetest Little Helper

I have the sweetest little helper who gravitates to the kitchen at the slightest activity.  I love having her by my side.  Today we got to break in my KitchenAid Mixer with a batch of chocolate chip cookies...

 

Pigtail braids...a daily request.





The following sequence of pictures was Sadie, in her usual story telling state, this time all about how much she loves to eat cookies and lick the chocolate and wipe her hands and smile when she's all done eating...  Love her tales!

 

Just one more cookie, please?! 

 

How could I say no to that sweet face?!

Labor of Love

I was joking with Linda on Saturday that while I wasn't laboring to deliver our little man, I was still performing a labor of love...

 

We're still waiting for our little man to make his appearance - some days with grace, many days without.  Please help me, Lord, to choose the right attitude while I wait!  We're 40 weeks, 3 days today...that impossible time when we suddenly have no date to fall back on...  Oh, well, one way or another, he should be in our arms by the end of this week... 

 

Anyhow, I spent some time laboring in the kitchen and prepping food to provide for meals for our family.  A labor of love because it can be tiring and time consuming and because I love to provide my family with healthy, nutritious food...

 

 

 

18 cups of butternut and acorn squash baked, scooped, mushed, bagged, and frozen... (Veggies are from our church garden.)  All ready looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner!  

4 dozen banana muffins - three kinds: plain, chocolate chip, and walnut - to suit the varied preferences of my gang.  I don't typically bake or cook to individual tastes.  But for me, the only walnut lover, it's totally worth it at times!  My usual mantra at meal times goes as follows, "This is what I made for dinner, so please eat, and don't complain.  Maybe tomorrow we'll have something you like better..."

Roasting tomatoes, onion, and garlic for homemade tomato soup.  I've decided this is one of my new favorite soup recipes...fresh tomato flavor, slightly chunky, mmm...garlic - more than the recipe calls for!  The recipe doesn't instruct you to roast the onion and garlic, however, that's what I did this time...oh, the lovely smell wafting from my kitchen.  Drooling.  I'll do it this way again!  The down side...my kids still prefer Campbell's canned soup...but I'll convert them before too long...at least that's the plan!  For now, it just means more soup for Mike and I to enjoy!  He, he!

 

I'm headed in for an ultrasound tomorrow to check baby - be sure he's head down (he's still floating around pretty high), get a guesstimate of his weight (in my experience, those estimates are never accurate and have always given me higher weights than reality), and check fluid levels.  Looking forward to seeing his cute little smushed face...

Working Girls

 

I have been working hard this summer preserving foods harvested from our church garden.  Sadie has been my constant kitchen helper.  She always wants to be in the midst of what I'm doing - even with everyday kitchen prep.  I enjoy her sweet conversations about everything and nothing in particular...

Sadie insists on wearing fleecy winter pj's even in the summer...crazy girl!!!

 



We've canned 32 qts of tomatoes (with my mom's help).  Yummy!!!

 



 

I used a pressure canner for the first time to can these green beans.  A friend helped me with the first batch and I did two more batches on my own...15 qts of green beans.  Mmm...just like green beans tasted when I was a kid, canned by my mom and Grandma Givens.

 



 

"It's okay, Cinderelly...we're almost done!"



Thankfulness in Abundance

We took a family trip to our church garden again this morning and brought back quite a bit of goodness!  And while I am so thankful for the abundance, lying on the couch, resting my baby belly and back sounds so much more appealing right now.  Especially after bending, squatting, kneeling, and sitting in the dirt picking beans...

The pickled beets are done.  The carrots are peeled, blanched, and ready to be bagged for the freezer.  However, the green beans are still calling my name...and so, I'm hunkering down at the kitchen table with the radio blaring...

...thankful that my hubby and Luke are bringing home something for dinner after running errands...(for Mike's week long trip starting Monday...would you pray for us?)

...thankful that Elijah is keeping Sadie busy reading "The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe" to her while munching on snack mix...

...thankful that Isaac appears to only have the sniffles at this point...

...thankful that I'm not doing all this on my own - so blessed by my Lord, my hubby, my children...

First Freezer Meals

The realization that our little man will make his appearance in just a short time is beginning to kick me into high gear in a lot of ways!  That fact, in combination with tons of fresh and free produce from our church garden, has me thinking a lot of preserving, freezing, and meal planning! 

I cringe at the thought of letting all this wonderful goodness from the garden go to waste especially knowing how much time and effort a few put into making the garden a reality for so many.  Namely my husband, but that's because he's my favorite gardener!  This season, I've grated massive amounts of zucchini for use in breads, sauces, ground meats, diced bags of green peppers for similar use, and we've consumed lots of the same as well as yellow squash, corn, beets, lettuce, green and yellow beans, raspberries, and did I mention zucchini?!  Yes, lots of zucchini!  I am hopeful to can lots of tomatoes when they are ripe, too! 

Today finds my Cuisinart Mini Chopper hard at work once again chopping onions, green peppers, one lone red pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, and one quart of tomatoes from last year. 

Cooking chopped veggies... 

Add cooked veggies to a batch of ground beef and sausage for assembly into lasagna freezer meals! 

Mmmm...smells good!  Can't wait to eat one meal for dinner tonight!

I'm so Blue-who-who, Blue-who-who, Blue-who-who, WHO...

One of my favorite summer activities?  Blueberry picking.

And yes, we've watched, Veggies Tales: Madame Blueberry, quite a few times recently...

There is a great little farm about 15 minutes from our house where they just tell what section to pick in and you are free to roam that area and pick until your heart's content. 

Kinda perfect for my kids.  No strict rules about staying in rows all vying for the same "biggest" piece of fruit.

In 30-40 minutes, we picked 5lbs or about four quart boxes.  The boys were really good pickers this year!  So thankful for my big boy helpers!

Sadie, on the other hand, sat patiently waiting for us to drop a few in her box from time to time.  Not that I mind...she showed no discretion when picking and ate a nice batch of green ones picked all by her own sweet self. 

Isaac was totally into picking this year...must be that he's almost six years old.  So grown up! 

I think today's outing calls for reading time...Blueberries for Sal and Jamberry...two of our favorite books!

When Life Gives You Lemons...

...make lemonade ice pops.

The sad story is that Mike and I finally planned our anniversary date...that 12 yr. anniversary that happened in June the same week the house buying & selling blitz occurred...

But, one of the kiddos has a fever this morning. No date. Stuck at home. Needing popsicles. Down pour outside.

Ah ha! The fun solution...Country Time Lemonade poured into an ice cube tray, covered in plastic wrap with toothpicks stuck in each cube.

Freeze.

Give those lemons a lickin' and enjoy the sweetness of the day after all.

Corn...Yum!

Happy 4th of July

It's a red, white, and blue celebration today!!!

Make Your Food Look Cute

A recent trip to the thrift store yielded me these rubber sealed, lidded, "quilted" glass jars. They are apparently old Planters peanut containers (and one Smuckers jar) with a picture of the peanut man on the tops of all the lids. One jar still had a label on it written, no doubt, by an older woman that told it's former contents..."oat bran opened Nov. 1994." There were still crumbs in the jar...eewwww!

I often use mason jars, rings, and lids to store food - things like chocolate chips, raisins, almonds, etc. in my cupboards. When I saw these jars for 99 cents each I had two thoughts...

1. I could use them for my food storage

2. I could use them for my sewing notions & craft supplies - buttons, ribbons, safety pins, pom-poms, etc.

Mike, clearly not as enamoured with the jars as I am, made sure that I knew they were just old junk jars and not "antique" jars. Okay...thanks, honey...I'm keeping them anyway because they're so cute!!! He, he! (He often doesn't "get" my love for thrifted things and yet there's been very little he's ever insisted is truly junk! He loves me THAT much!!!)

In the end, I used them for my food storage...but don't be surprised if they turn up in my sewing room in the future!

These jars even make my food look cute!!! (white chocolate chips, pecans, whole flax seed, coconut, mini chocolate chips - all potential granola bar ingredients)

Meal Planning

Planning for meals around these parts has been scarce to none in recent months...err...year...years. Preparation, feeding, and cleaning up is never-ending especially with five of us being home for all three meals every day. I've been in a major funk. But NO MORE!!!

I planned out meals for two weeks, made the grocery list, and went shopping. Let me pause here and give a shout out to my local Wegmans for their 1 hour childcare service. Life-saver!!! One little helper with me, three boys happily playing video games with the lovely lady who is there all the time. Anywho...

I know "they" say shoppers spend less money with a plan and a list...it's so true! I was a little shocked when I checked out with two weeks worth of groceries that my bill was only slightly higher than my more frequent, weekly, and random shopping trips without a plan. I even had diapers, wipes, and two club packs of meat that will be shared with weeks 3 & 4 meals. I tried to account for every meal (that's 42 meals!) and snacks. We'll see how well I did at the end of this two weeks. Of course, I'll have to make a mid-week stop for more milk (because we LOVE it and drink at least 3 gallons every 5 days) and fresh fruit - most likely apples & bananas. I prefer to rely on made from scratch goods more often than boxed goods...like Banana Chocolate Chip muffins (thanks, Jana!!!). This was Monday morning breakfast...tried to make it pretty for our morning sit down. Canned peaches from this summer (thanks, Mom, for the help with canning!!!). Super yummy!

On a side note, I've decided to end the self-imposed moratorium on eating the canned foods I put up from the summer. Do you do that??? I spend a lot of time canning and don't want to eat it all up right away, so we don't eat any of it. Then I realize summer is coming round again and I've got shelves full of delicious canned goods that we should have been enjoying all winter long :o) !!! Silly me! Here's my little tricky trick (though I'm sure all you smarty pants out there already do this!)...all that delicious juice from canned peaches is too good to be dumped out, don't you think?! I add water to each jar to cut the sweetness a little and...voila...we have juice for the day!!! My kids love it and I feel good about giving it to them - peach juice, water, and sugar.

I'm debating about sharing my menu plan...you all might think I'm a fruit loop or be afraid to tell me how fattening my meals are or I don't know...he, he! I guess I'm weird like that...

I made Sour Cream Noodle Bake on Tuesday and we ate the leftovers tonight. I'm ahead of the game already! Tonight's planned meal (Chicken Noodle Soup) can be used later since I always have the basic ingredients on hand...one of my go-to meals! The casserole went over okay...no pint-sized lovers, but no haters either. It will stay in my rotation. Mike and I really liked it. Next time, though, I think I'll make it in two meals...one for eating on prep night and one for freezing.

Tomorrow's dinner plan...Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork. I have high hopes for this one! But I just remembered I forgot the rolls...sigh...

Do YOU have any tricks for planning and prepping meals?

Blue

(first time playing around with photo editing...kinda fun! want to learn basic picture taking techniques but focus more on feeling/emotion/what feels right rather than the nitty gritty of technique, use a DSLR - saving doll money to purchase!!! - rather than my point & shoot (or is it point & click?), and hang pictures I've taken on my walls purely for my own pleasure because seriously who could resist this face hanging on the wall???!!!)

Scrambly Egg Maker in Training

She loves helping me! I love to have her help! I've found that including Sadie in breakfast making is a good substitute for her need to be held for a LONG time every morning! I've also found that eggs are a great breakfast food for my always hungry boys...cheap, filling, full of protein. 36 eggs about every two weeks. Imagine when they're teenagers...phew!

Love Letters

I need to write two love letters this season...

The first love letter will go to Ashley from Hairzoo. I think this is my favorite haircut ever! LOVE IT! It's a bob without the dog ears and poof. Of course, this love story wouldn't be complete without also writing one to my sister-in-law, Margo, who introduced me to the straightening iron. Which then probably means I need to write another love letter to Revlon as well... Goofy picture, I know...I took it :o) !!!

The next love letter will be written to the inventor of the Jam Thumbprint Cookie. I don't know who invented these cookies, so the obvious person to write the letter to is my friend, Carole, who shared this recipe on her blog last Christmas season. (Atleast I am fairly certain it was her...if not, then let me know who you are so I can write YOU a love letter!) Oh, buttery, walnuty, strawberry goodness!!! Be still my heart!

Jam Thumbprint Cookies

2/3 c. butter

1/2 c. sugar

2 egg yolks (save the whites)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 & 1/2 c. flour

2 slightly beaten egg whites (saved from above)

1 c. finely chopped walnuts

1/3 - 1/2 c. jam, your choice of flavor

1. Grease cookie sheet. (I used a well-seasoned stone, so I didn't need to grease...)

2. Beat egg yolk, sugar, butter, and vanilla.

3. Add flour. Mix well.

4. Cover and chill for 1 hour.

5. Shape into 1 inch balls. (I used my smallest Pampered Chef cookie scoop...so easy!) Roll balls in egg whites, then in walnuts.

6. Place on cookie sheet. Press thumb into center of each ball to make room for jam.

7. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

8. Cool and fill with jam before serving.