The Homemades Post (plus the pie Linda wanted)

So, back before "Bay Greta" was born I mentioned I was going to start trying to make some homemade around the house products. Here is the follow up on the good, the bad, and the "my husband said we can't use that anymore" of it.

Laundry Detergent - WINNER

1 cup Sals Suds

2 cup hot water

1/3 cup salt

1 cup baking soda

Mix until dissolved. Pour in 1 gallon container and top off with water. 1/4 to 1/2 cup per load.

Test: It gets our nasty dinner napkins clean and Joseph's underwear doesn't smell like pee.

Dishwasher Soap - MY HUSBAND SAID WE CAN'T USE THIS ANYMORE

Actually I think his exact words were, "We have too many people over for meals to serve them on dirty dishes." He was right. Even the Seventh Generation stuff doesn't really do the job. Some things you just need chemicals for. I actually us the SG and then every 3rd time or so I buy Cascade to get things good and clean for a while (and open up the kitchen window and close the doors to the kitchen...because once you have taken a break from using that stuff, you really smell how horribly strong it is.

Dish soap - WINNER

This is what the dishwasher soap became and it works great as a kitchen sink hand and dish soap.

1/2 cup Sals Suds

1/c cup water

1 tsp lemon juice

3 drops tea tree oil

1/2 cup white vinegar

Mix all and then dilute about 1/4 cup with water and save the rest for refill. I've also been adding some drops of grapefruit seed extract to it since I read what a great anti-bacterial it was - for kitchen counters, raw meat, etc. (And you know if I read it, it had to be true.)

Diaper wipe spray - WINNER

Baby mild castille soap (Dr. Bronners)

water

few drops each of tea tree oil and lavender oil

I spray this on a cotton ball because let's face it, unless she poops, using a wipe EVERY time I change a diaper is totally a waste. I still use wipes for the big jobs and in my purse. I've cut up some old flannel baby blankets (thank you Northside Hospital) to use as wipes in the future...we'll see how that goes.

Once our kids soap is out, I will start using this in the bath tub on them as well.

Shampoo - LOSER

I just can't do it. My hair felt too nasty. However, my scalp (which has itched since I hit puberty I think) quit itching. So I don't know what to do. Plus, my hair is so stinkin' thick...I couldn't get a brush or my fingers or anything through it. I might revisit this...

Hand soap - WINNER

Castille soap (baby mild)

few drops of tea tree oil (it is an anti-bacterial...I read that)

few drops of lavender

dilute with water (so it is about 1/3 mixture, 2/3 water)

NEXT:

This week I am going to make my own chapstick...or lip lips as we call it.

And, diaper cream that will also double as a hand lotion...because if you can't put it on your bum why not rub it into your hands?!

Now for the pie. Linda, I am almost embarrassed at how easy this is.

Make or buy your crust.

Mix: 3 cups copped apples (green or red, I used both and threw in a pear when I ran short)

2 cups cranberries (I just threw in the whole bag because I really like them.)

1 cup sugar (I use less if not using green apples.)

2 T flour

3/4 t ground cloves

Throw it in your crust and back at 400 for 40 to 45.

CSA - yah!

This is a girl appropriately name after her great great granny Olive. We picked up our CSA box last week and she shouted, "Yah, tomaaaatoes! Now we can make tomato samriches (sandwiches)." I used to love walking in my granny's garden when I was Olivia's age. Smelling the garlic, looking for bugs, picking tomatoes and beans. She taught me how to string beans and I think my mom still has the tin pot we used to string them in. I have the pale pink colander that we rinsed them in. Maybe one day we will have a garden that our kids and trapse out to in the morning and get dewy grass all stuck to their feet like I did. But until then we will support our local CSA farm. Tomato, basil, cucumber and mayo samrich - with a little salt and pepper. Actually, I think I used Kefir cheese instead of mayo. It is the consistency of cream cheese, but tastes a little more like yogurt - kind of tart. Good substitute...not for mayonnaise. There is no substitute for mayonnaise. We may be eating healthier these days, but I would still eat a spoonful of mayo if I had the opportunity. We just use the kefir cheese for variety.
So., this was part of our first box. I had thought about taking a picture of every box - we get one bi-weekly...but then I added that idea to the list of things I have decided not to do (nor feel guilty about not doing) while pregnant with a third child or parenting three children. I can share more of that list later.
More from the same box. We have definitely been exposed to some things we don't recognize. Just this week I put what I think was a kind of squash in a potato squash soup. The herbs a lot of fun to mess around with and the sprouts have been a great addition to salads.
This was actually my first attempt at a vegetable broth. With all these veggies around I have tons of ends and skins...and we don't compost (though the skunk that lives in our backyard might wish that we did), so I have been saving them in the frig and then making broth. Seemed to taste fine to me.
Beet bonanza. I have to admit that some of those are still in my fridge. I have used all the small red ones in smoothies...that's right beet smoothies...and I put spinach in them too! My kids are so suckered. With enough OJ and banana and cherries they don't know the difference. Although one morning Olivia did say, "This one tastes a little beety." She was right. I'm not sure what to do with the black beets. I think I will roast them and use them in salad.
Shelling beans with Olivia.
I'm not a big casserole maker. But Mike isn't a big squash fan. I could eat a whole bucket of sauteed squash and onions with evoo, garlic, and salt and pepper. But I have to get a little creative for him because he thinks they just taste like dirty water. This is a squash, mushroom, parm. bake. Not too bad.
When I told Mike I could stick my face in this dish he said I was weird. The picture isn't great and the recipe is just one I adapted from the back of the red quinoa box from Trader Joe's. It has avocado, tomato, black beans, corn, bean sprouts, red onion, evoo, s/p, cilantro, maybe I put balsamic vinegar in it. It is so good. You could add chicken and make it your main dish. We have put salmon on it.
This is equal to cleaning out the refrigerator. If things are about to go bad - put them on a pizza and lots of cheese. So far it has all been edible.
Our purple carrot - still orange on the inside.

So the CSA journey begins...

More than cooking III

"Helping" in the kitchen.

I have finally finished My Life in France by Julia Child. Probably the last complete book I will read for a while. There were times during the book that I thought, though I was enjoying it, that I would just got ahead and return it. I had to renew it twice just to finish. It wasn't riveting reading after all. Even to someone who loves cooking like me, it was a bit slow. But because I am a (haphazard) perfectionist I had to finish. And I am glad I did.

Julia Child is still an intrigue to me. Her stewardship of life, appreciation of beauty, devotion to friendship, service and honor of her husband. For someone who "wasn't spiritual," she sure fleshed out a lot of biblical principles. In the Epilogue she even recounts the last of her days in France, selling the little home they had built on the land of some dear friends. Most of her peers are dying, even Paul is in a nursing home. Her niece questions why she isn't sad to let everything go. And while Julie dismisses the question with the answer that she has "just never been very sentimental," I don't believe her. I think she understands something about what is important in life. What lasts and what doesn't. Just a few chapters earlier she writes:

"In the fall, we were scheduled to take a break from TV work, and had planned to visit Simca and Jean...but as November hove into view, we began to regret it. The quicksand of my cookery-work, Paul's painting and photography projects, and all the many bits of upkeep and improvement...were sucking at our feet.

"I just don't know if we have the time for a trip to France right now," I sighed. Paul nodded.

But then we looked at each other and repeated a favorite phrase from our diplomatic days: "Remember, 'No one's more important than people'!" In other words, friendship is the most important thing - not career or housework, or one's fatigue - and it needs to be tended and nurtured. So we packed up our bags and off we went. And thank heaven we did."

Cheers, Julia. Thanks for teaching me some new things about cooking and reminding me of some of the more important things about life..

From the kitchen

I have been completely encouraged in the kitchen these days. I feel like I am finally hitting a grove with cooking the way I want to cook - healthy, tasty, interesting, simple. For the most part I think we all feel really good, enjoy our meals together, and I'm learning to do it as a good steward of our money and our bodies. I've tried a bunch of coffee cakes in the past and, honestly, when you try to make them healthy they taste like cardboard with a crunchy dirt topping. This one was great and we ate it with PLAIN yogurt (it was sweet enough) and fruit. I'm not good a linking to things and I am too lazy (actually, I just want to go to bed and read my Julia Child book) to type out the recipe. But I got it from passionatehomemaking.com. Actually, I have found a lot of pretty good resources from her lately. I made her protein bars - yum! Perfect since we are an almond butter family because of allergies.

While I am recommending things - I found her family food budget the most helpful of any I have read on line. Most of you know my math skills are...well, anyway I try really hard to be frugal and can figure things out, but then I can't remember what the best deals were or where they were. I write them down, but...well, let's just say Mike walked through the dining room the other day and asked, "Are you starting another journal?" I have one for school research, cooking, health food research, etc. I have notebook/journal issues. But her way of making a budget, where she shops, how they like to eat, etc fits with us - so if you are interested it is a link on the right side of her blog.

Also, I will just confess here that I am about to embark upon project MAKE IT MYSELF. Here is what I am going for: laundry soap, dishwasher soap, shampoo (already doing this - my scalp which has itched sine I hit puberty has not itched at all), hand soap, and baby wipes. Some things will be money saving (some of it we bought cheaply anyway). Some of it will just get some of the chemical junk out of our house. I'm not a fanatic here, but honestly have you ever tried to cook while the dishwasher was running? That stuff reeks! Well maybe I am becoming a fanatic. But I am really trying to stay balanced about this whole thing. I am trying to trim down our budget and simplify our life. On the outset it won't be so simply - figuring out how to do it all. But in the long run I love the idea of fewer products and smell good or not at all.

I'll keep you posted. I have two months to make it and give it a trial run. If it doesn't happen by baby time, it will probably be another year.

Asian Night

Not to move on from Thanksgiving too quickly...but I've been experimenting with some stir frys (fries?) and Thai dishes lately. The kids are always such sports with the chopsticks. It ain't pretty or clean, but they'll eat their whole meal with them.

Thank you, Mama

for being a granola maker. It is so fulfilling to see that jar full and to know I don't have to worry about what to have for breakfast tomorrow. Plus the house smells like toasted almonds and coconut (better than the time I burned the stuff).

Supper tonight

I am afraid I will forget to take a picture of the actual meal, so here is the magazine page. For those of you who have peanut allergies in your family! We love Thai food, but I never cook it because of the peanut sauce. Here is a recipe using almond butter and it is really tasty.

Cook your pork tenderloin with s/p however you like - the recipe says to cook it at 425 for 10 minutes on each side. Cook fettuccine. Mix a tablespoon of the pasta water with almond butter, soy sauce, chili sauce, rice vinegar. Shred pork and mix it all together and top with chopped green onions.

New favorite lunch

Sorry I don't have a picture of this - it disappears too quickly. But, honestly it isn't that hard to imagine. Apple, bacon, mushroom pizza. I made it up by accident this week when we invited a friend over for pizza and I realized I didn't have any pizza sauce.

You shred white cheddar on a pizza crust - we use the Trader Joe's dough. If you actually follow the directions it is a cinch. Problem is I thought I was too smart for the directions and goofed it up the first 2 times I used it.

Slice up granny smith apples, then layer on cooked bacon and sliced mushrooms. Top with shredded parm. (I abbreviate because I can never remember how to spell that.)

We've had it twice this week.

Homemade chocolate pudding

You kind of have to bathe in it for full enjoyment.

Baking Christmas cookies "with" the kids

Maybe I should say baking Christmas cookies near the kids. It doesn't help that one of us is six months pregnant and doesn't even really enjoy baking/cooking all that much anyway(clearly that is not me...I love to cook). Plus the fact that we didn't really make it a kid friendly event - we used all new recipes (including some gluten-free ones for a friend who will be at our cookie shin-dig tonight) and didn't really know what we were doing. They begged and begged to watch "the sheep movie" (it is a Christmas cartoon about a sheep who was at Christ's birth...I think), but then they only watched it for about 10 minutes. I can't say that really bothers me all that much.














So this was the older girls' contribution - supervising the oven...and taste testing the results of course.

As you can see from the previous post, Mike made it back safely from Israel. I think he is still in the process of going through pictures and should put some more on his blog. I told him you can't title a post "Day 1" and then leave out days 2-4.

We have been a bit busy working on various Christmas projects and just getting back into a family routine. Mike should be done with all of his school projects as of today and his parents get here tomorrow for the beginning of our two weeks worth of Christmas. I love it!

It is overcast, a bit snowy, and about 20 degrees outside. It is perfect for snuggling up for a warm nap...but by the current sounds of it, Joseph is not convinced so I better go.

Warm it up Cris!

Well, our second Spring in the middle of Fall has ended and it looks like Winter is coming fast. I am a bit of a wimp with the cold and have been looking for any reason to turn the oven on. There is something about winter that makes me want to bake and make soup. Poor Mike. We had a run of about 5 days straight with soup a couple of weeks ago. He kindly asks, "So, you in the mood for soup lately?" Another way of saying, "Could I get some carbs and meat here - my metablolism is WAY to fast for this." This morning Olivia and I made granola. She really loves to help and I am really a control freak. She is learning to ask before she just grabs stuff and I am learning not to be so immature. We were in our pajamas baking until nearly noon - it was great. Then we went for a walk at the Garden with some friends and now I am drinking coffee, brrrr.

Lasagna

Maybe one day I will take more pictures of food and cooking - like after I have taken a cooking class and a photography class. I love reading cooking blogs. I love watching the creation of a great dish unfold in the pictures. Pioneer Woman does a great job with this - you can google her. I always forget how to put links in. I know our blog is supposed to be mostly about the kids for the grandparents, but because I know there is at least one person reading this (Veerman) whose mouth will water over bad pictures of good food I wanted to post these. It is a lasagna recipe I got from Gluten Free Girl (another great food blog - though we aren't gluten free).














I don't know if I have ever made lasagna from scratch - sauce and everything. I always thought it was too much work - and it is too much work, but this was so worth it. It called for ground pork or veal and ground beef. TJ's didn't have the first so I had to get ground turkey. Turkey is a bird
that is not meant to be ground - it is gross. I think next time I will use sausage - that will be great!














Obviously, these pictures are the making of the sauce. You do use one can of crushed tomatoes, but the rest is all fresh - onion, garlic, herbs from our garden, tomatoes. It isn't even really that complicated, but I think it is how you layer all the ingredients as you cook that makes the flavors so rich and smell so great!














When you layer it you use fresh mozzerella and fresh grated parmesean. I splurged for those knowing we would get several meals out of this and feed some company too. It was done at 4:00 in the afternoon and I nearly sat down and ate it right then. Sorry I didn't take a picture of the finished product - I was really distracted by how hungry I was and how good it looked and smelled.

I am somewhat annoyed to say that Ridley liked it too. After Mike and Joseph ate lunch yesterday, Mike went to put Joe down and came back to a large lasagna noodle on the kitchen floor and a very subsurvient dog. That was the only evidence that she was actually in the dish - she must have used her claws and gingerly picked the noodle out. Mike said he will still eat the last piece of lasagna today for lunch. I said, "You're darn right! That was a lot of work and we (the humans) are eating every bite of it!"