Actually it's been an ongoing project for the last few weeks. We are trying to put up fresh produce for the winter. We've done a little canning, freezing and a little drying. I feel like it's preparation for next year because I'm not organized at all. Having fun with my fil dehydrator and my new vacuum sealer. Caution, anything that is sharp ( dried green beans for example) will puncture through. UGH
I am also trying to plan for christmas, my goal is to make homemade gifts for my love ones, inexpensively but with the individual touches that you cannot put a price tag on. We will see lol...
Naomi and Phoebe have finally decided what they want to be for halloween : Naomi is going to be Piglet and Phoebe wants to be lumpy ( from winnie the pooh) I should be able to make both costumes for under $5 total because I will be using clothing from their closet. ( pink leggings, purple snowsuit etc) I will try to post pics of the final product.
The girls have started taking dance class and are really enjoying themselves. If I can get Phoebe to participate it will be even better.
more later
Dianna
Friday, October 9, 2009
wow it's been forever
So I've been putting off writing because all broke loose shortly after my last post and I had a lot to catch up on. To sum it up our 4th interstate move in 5 years and 10th actual move in 8 years! I might give details of the last few months some day but I figured If I tried right now I'd never get current 'history' in print.
more to come I hope !
more to come I hope !
Friday, July 17, 2009
the crockpot experiment continues
So I have been faithfully cooking away in the crock pot. The beef was tasty but I think the ribs would have been better. Nothing special,shredded bbq beef .. The next day I put these turkey, basil sausages I got bogo on for lunch because Nathan was going to have lunch at home. He wasn't able to which was fine because I wasn't confident that they where done all the way through and didn't want to microwave them. So I turned them on low instead and around 3 topped them with a sliced red pepper and 1/2 onion. They were really yummy, I served them on bread with cheese,( for me and Nate). I really enjoyed them, the girls wouldn't touch them, they are so fickle. I even had one for lunch the next day, I was thrilled.
Next came fajitas, the beef was froze in a mixture of tomato's and taco seasoning. I had thawed it in the fridge over night. Cooked it for about 4 hr on high stirring twice. Then I added my garden fresh mild peppers with a store orange pepper and the other half of the onion from the night before. The meat was really tender and very flavorful.
Tonight we did the sweet and sour chicken breast. The sauce was good, the chicken moist and not dry but I wouldn't call it a home run. More of a pineapple teriyaki but not sweet and sour. Maybe I will try another recipie some time. Tomorrow will probably be simple chicken. Chicken thighs, over russet and sweet potatoes seasoned with Italian dressing.
The culinary highlight of the week was my ice cream. Chocolate soy ice cream, the girls even got a bit of vegetables in it ;) I added a jar of squash for texture. Nathan said it had a fudgesicle flavor ..
If I'm up to it we might take a field trip to the asian market to pick up coconut milk. Coconut ice cream anyone?
Next came fajitas, the beef was froze in a mixture of tomato's and taco seasoning. I had thawed it in the fridge over night. Cooked it for about 4 hr on high stirring twice. Then I added my garden fresh mild peppers with a store orange pepper and the other half of the onion from the night before. The meat was really tender and very flavorful.
Tonight we did the sweet and sour chicken breast. The sauce was good, the chicken moist and not dry but I wouldn't call it a home run. More of a pineapple teriyaki but not sweet and sour. Maybe I will try another recipie some time. Tomorrow will probably be simple chicken. Chicken thighs, over russet and sweet potatoes seasoned with Italian dressing.
The culinary highlight of the week was my ice cream. Chocolate soy ice cream, the girls even got a bit of vegetables in it ;) I added a jar of squash for texture. Nathan said it had a fudgesicle flavor ..
If I'm up to it we might take a field trip to the asian market to pick up coconut milk. Coconut ice cream anyone?
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The crockpot experiment day 2
So I ended up having to go to the pharmacy and then the store after the dr. Thinking that noodles would take to much time I picked up a package of Gnocchi . Yum!
I pulled the chicken out of the pot and turned it up to high. added the Gnocchi and stirred . They were ready in 20 min. In the mean time I boned the chicken trying not to shred it to much and then added it back to the soup.
Nathan said it was really good, Naomi and Phoebe both ate a good amount of chicken . That is a home run for us!
Tonight I wanted to make BBQ short ribs, but at 4.00 lb and to get enough meat for all that would be at least 4 lbs. (they are mostly bone) , YIKES! I am not willing to pay that price for something that has to cook in a crock pot to be eatable, then there is only a bite or 2 on each piece.
So this is what I did to get the same flavor
1/2 lb of Beef back ribs at 1.29 lb
2 lb beef bottom round at $2.29 lb
1 onion chopped
1/2 c wondra flour
2 c BBQ sauce
1/2 c honey
2 T mustard
1/2 c water
dust meat side of ribs with some of the flour place meat side down in crock pot
dust top, dust the roast with flour and place in the curve of ribs.
add onions,
mix rest of ingredients and pour over top.
cook on high 1 hr. turn to low for 6 or so hrs.
Serve over rice.
I'll let you know how it turns out tomorrow.
Future prep:
I bought a 3 lb roast (cheep) yesterday and needed to get it in the freezer so I sliced the whole thing like fajitas strips.
1 bag meat for saucy pepper steak later
other bag I added first 3T taco seasoning, ( like packet I just made it my self)
1 can petite tomatoes and mixed, then added meat and mixed. That is going in the freezer for crock pot fajitas later this week.
Now to find a Gnocchi recipie :)
I pulled the chicken out of the pot and turned it up to high. added the Gnocchi and stirred . They were ready in 20 min. In the mean time I boned the chicken trying not to shred it to much and then added it back to the soup.
Nathan said it was really good, Naomi and Phoebe both ate a good amount of chicken . That is a home run for us!
Tonight I wanted to make BBQ short ribs, but at 4.00 lb and to get enough meat for all that would be at least 4 lbs. (they are mostly bone) , YIKES! I am not willing to pay that price for something that has to cook in a crock pot to be eatable, then there is only a bite or 2 on each piece.
So this is what I did to get the same flavor
1/2 lb of Beef back ribs at 1.29 lb
2 lb beef bottom round at $2.29 lb
1 onion chopped
1/2 c wondra flour
2 c BBQ sauce
1/2 c honey
2 T mustard
1/2 c water
dust meat side of ribs with some of the flour place meat side down in crock pot
dust top, dust the roast with flour and place in the curve of ribs.
add onions,
mix rest of ingredients and pour over top.
cook on high 1 hr. turn to low for 6 or so hrs.
Serve over rice.
I'll let you know how it turns out tomorrow.
Future prep:
I bought a 3 lb roast (cheep) yesterday and needed to get it in the freezer so I sliced the whole thing like fajitas strips.
1 bag meat for saucy pepper steak later
other bag I added first 3T taco seasoning, ( like packet I just made it my self)
1 can petite tomatoes and mixed, then added meat and mixed. That is going in the freezer for crock pot fajitas later this week.
Now to find a Gnocchi recipie :)
Monday, July 13, 2009
the great crockpot experiment
I have noticed that my last few posts are kinda' like notes. No beginning no end just a little bit in the middle. It seems like when I sit to write I always get interrupted. So Instead of never posting I just hit publish. Please forgive me, I do have a better understand of our written language, but it seems when I blog I write more like I would speak vs an actual letter or paper.
So here goes...
Today starts the great crock pot experiment. Last week I had trouble cooking because of the heat ( plus the who root canel thing) . The previous week I used either the stove or oven every night and it is really hard to cool the apartment down afterwards.
It doesn't cool down enough at night to actually open everything up for a cool brese so we are relighing strickly AC. Something has to be done. No way to BBQ everynight so the alternative is the crockpot and microwave.
One of my recipies for later this week calls for tabasco, which we don't have so I took all my peppers that are drying ( from my garden) chopped them up and added tequila and vinigar, alittle garlic, onion and a dash of red pepper to help because I only had 9 little peppers. Plenty of heat though. Through it all in a jar and microwaved it for 3 min and it is cooling, I hope it will sub fine.
Today is crockpot chicken noodle soup.
6 chicken thighs
onion
celery
zuccini
(forgot to buy carrots)
water and seasoning
when I get home I will throw some noodles in and hopefully they will cook.
It's been 4 hours and it smells delish, I turned it down to warm until dinner.
tomorrow night will either be pinapple meatballs or BBQ shortribs...
I'll keep ya'll posted.
So here goes...
Today starts the great crock pot experiment. Last week I had trouble cooking because of the heat ( plus the who root canel thing) . The previous week I used either the stove or oven every night and it is really hard to cool the apartment down afterwards.
It doesn't cool down enough at night to actually open everything up for a cool brese so we are relighing strickly AC. Something has to be done. No way to BBQ everynight so the alternative is the crockpot and microwave.
One of my recipies for later this week calls for tabasco, which we don't have so I took all my peppers that are drying ( from my garden) chopped them up and added tequila and vinigar, alittle garlic, onion and a dash of red pepper to help because I only had 9 little peppers. Plenty of heat though. Through it all in a jar and microwaved it for 3 min and it is cooling, I hope it will sub fine.
Today is crockpot chicken noodle soup.
6 chicken thighs
onion
celery
zuccini
(forgot to buy carrots)
water and seasoning
when I get home I will throw some noodles in and hopefully they will cook.
It's been 4 hours and it smells delish, I turned it down to warm until dinner.
tomorrow night will either be pinapple meatballs or BBQ shortribs...
I'll keep ya'll posted.
life
Well we are settling back in for the time being no huge changes in our future. Disappointed but a little releaved too I am soo tired of being unsettled. For now we are settled.
Well we went to the zoo the Thursday before the 4th. What a cute zoo. I will post pics later from my other computer. It's not like other zoos in main cities. This is 10 min out of town in the middle of what feels like desert. Then you go through the main building to picnic tables. All the paths are dirt, or tiny rocks. Most of there animals are rescues or over flow from other zoos. I noticed that there are not any animals that require major habitat maintenance. No penguins, etc. The had lions, and tigers, and bears. Also we saw a lemur, panther, several different parrots, goats, and two different types of exotic deer ( Nates fav). The tiny dear was Phoebes favorite. They allow you to feed the deer, goats, sheep, big pop belly pigs and llamas . They have a cute little petting zoo but we just fed those guys from the outside. After a little less than 2 hours we where ready to go, we didn't see everything but it was getting really hot. Good thing I brought the umbrella so that Naomi could duck under it. Saying good by to the half doz peacocks that where actually reproducing ( we got to see little pea chicks following there mom around the grounds) and the huge rooster the size of a small turkey. We headed home, stopping by a little trailer that sold amazing shaved ice. It reminded me of the coffee cart I worked in during high school.
Just asked Naomi what her favorite animal was when went to the zoo, she said pig. lol
I don't know if that was truly her favorite or she just wanted to give me a quick answer...
Well we went to the zoo the Thursday before the 4th. What a cute zoo. I will post pics later from my other computer. It's not like other zoos in main cities. This is 10 min out of town in the middle of what feels like desert. Then you go through the main building to picnic tables. All the paths are dirt, or tiny rocks. Most of there animals are rescues or over flow from other zoos. I noticed that there are not any animals that require major habitat maintenance. No penguins, etc. The had lions, and tigers, and bears. Also we saw a lemur, panther, several different parrots, goats, and two different types of exotic deer ( Nates fav). The tiny dear was Phoebes favorite. They allow you to feed the deer, goats, sheep, big pop belly pigs and llamas . They have a cute little petting zoo but we just fed those guys from the outside. After a little less than 2 hours we where ready to go, we didn't see everything but it was getting really hot. Good thing I brought the umbrella so that Naomi could duck under it. Saying good by to the half doz peacocks that where actually reproducing ( we got to see little pea chicks following there mom around the grounds) and the huge rooster the size of a small turkey. We headed home, stopping by a little trailer that sold amazing shaved ice. It reminded me of the coffee cart I worked in during high school.
Just asked Naomi what her favorite animal was when went to the zoo, she said pig. lol
I don't know if that was truly her favorite or she just wanted to give me a quick answer...
Friday, July 3, 2009
mold and more
It's been over a week since an update I believe. Our lives still feel in turmoil. The direction we feel God leading us has run into construction. Not that His plan has changed nor was inaccurate merely He is not ready for us to see the final road. I cannot wait to drive on it. Like when Lightning McQueen finally finished the road through radiator springs. That kinda low riding smoothness to stability.
The Girls have been full of cute quips like today Naomi said " my hands hungry" I asked, your hand is hungry? She replied " yes, this hand hungry too'.. I don't know where she gets it so funny, and the other day, she was saying "Thomas no swiping" ( any Diego fans?) because our cat Thomas was scratching the couch.
The Girls have been full of cute quips like today Naomi said " my hands hungry" I asked, your hand is hungry? She replied " yes, this hand hungry too'.. I don't know where she gets it so funny, and the other day, she was saying "Thomas no swiping" ( any Diego fans?) because our cat Thomas was scratching the couch.
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