hey what's for dinner mom?

The Penny Worthy Project

2012-02-25T11:15:00.001-09:00

Don't forget to check out my huge Full Circle Farms giveaway, 4 weeks of organic vegetable delivery.
It's been a bookish week for me thrifting and that's about it. Seriously the things I liked were over priced and I just couldn't bring myself to buy one more thing I might not be able to sell. Or that I might not really want. Left myself with very little treasures and I'm fine with that. I don't need to thrift, necessarily!!, to live a thrifty life, I still find plenty of ways to save and be happy. If I had to give up thrifting entirely I would not be a happy camper, some weeks are better than ever. To me that's part of the thrill.
We have a leprechaun in our house. he lives here torturing us and being tortured by us from about mid February through equinox when the Queen of Spring banishes him to live outdoors and ride squirrels all summer. Most years it's been an all out war with him but this year sympathy has almost won out. He was first spotted attempting to steal tooth fairy money but since then he's been given a home in a small cabinet. An acorn bowl, a blanket, two pizza box tables(the little triangle from the middle of pizzas) and a little wine have been doled out too. I think boys might be trying to win him over and avoid the mayhem he creates trying to steal their money. I feel so blessed to be part of the magic ,my boys live in.
So here is the leprechaun

and this is the cup I found for him this week.

Poor thing needs a little TLC, until he tries to make off with my wedding ring, then once again it will be war.
The books I found were pretty solid for selling. I mean that I believe each of them will sell and I will make money on them.
#1 Tacos on the Tundra, which I may not sell I might just pass it on, is about Pepe's Restaurant in Barrow-looking though it I immediately started reading and became engrossed and forgot I was writing....ahem

#2 is Mrs. Bridges Upstairs Downstairs Cookery Book--the only one listed on eBay is listed for 999.00 HA!! but I will list mine for a much more reasonable price probably with a start price of .99¢

#3 is The Easy Bake Oven Gourmet lots of great recipes to whip up in an easy bake oven with out having to buy those horridly expensive mixes

Peace and Love--

Fester

2012-02-24T21:33:00.003-09:00

If you came to my house right now the jars on my counter might scare the bejesus out of you.

Bubble. Fester. Ferment.

Left to right they are sourdough starter, home made apple cider vinegar, kefir.

Peace and Love---

Menu Planning, Winner {and Another Giveaway?}

2012-02-23T20:52:00.000-09:00

Wow this week sure went FAST. Are we ready for the winner of the 2 week Full Circle trial? The winner is Amber who said " so awesome! I would love to win this giveaway....I'd have so much fun coming up with new ways to use fresh produce!"February 19, 2012 8:18:00 PM AKST Congratulations Amber!

Are you bummed you didn't win? Don't be you could win this week! Yes it's true I have another giveaway from Full Circle, this time it's for 4 weeks of produce boxes. Yes, you're right that is awesome. Details to follow my menu plan

Hello gorgeous produce!

The beets are gong to be used in a brownie beet experiment, have you made chocolate beet ANYTHING? I'm curious, curious enough to plan on making something. I have no interest in hiding vegetables in my kids food, shoot they wrestled for the last piece of roasted kale tonight, I'm simply looking for a unique way to use beets.

Speaking of kale...this lovely bunch is already gone

and by was it delicious. I used my fail proof Kale for Kids recipe, you should try roasted kale it is the best!

The broccoli is bound for another experiment, I love to make Roasted Cabbage and Cheese Sauce, I want to try roasted broccoli and cheese sauce. YUM.

Zucchini I love you it's been too long since I had you at my disposal. I'm thinking some zucchini fritters and maybe a zucchini brownies? Or you know raw is always great!

Lettuce and tomato will be made into a HUGE Taco Salad, we love taco salad don't you?

Lunches and snacks:
raw fresh carrots
cucumber slices
snow peas
apples
tangerines
pears

Would you like to win a 4 week trial of FRESH ORGANIC PRODUCE from Full Circle? Full Circle has provided me with a four week trial for one LUCKY winner! To win you must live in a Full Circle delivery area to redeem.Visit Full Circle to check availability in your area.

Ways to enter:

leave a comment on THIS post stating why you'd like to have fresh organic produced delivered to you from Full Circle--mandatory entry
follow this blog for an extra entry--leave a comment
Like Full Circle Farms on Facebook for an extra entry--leave a comment
Like Hey What's for Dinner Mom on Facebook for an extra entry--leave a comment
Follow fullcirclefarms on Twitter for an extra entry--leave a comment
Follow whats4dinnermom on Twitter for an extra entry--leave a comment

6 ways to enter!
Winner must use a have a credit card to set up their account with Full Circle. It will not be charged it is mandatory for accounts. Once your free winnings run out you must cancel your account in order for your card not to be charged. Remember this!!

I was given no compensation for this giveaway. In the interest of FULL disclosure I was given a promo code to try out Full Circle for myself way back in December and I loved it so much I now subscribe to their deliveries.

What are you waiting for?? Get to entering!!

This giveaway will run for one week with the winner being announced NEXT Friday!

Peace and Love--

The Rules of Inheritance {book review}

2012-02-22T19:11:00.002-09:00

The Rules of Inheritance by Claire Bidwell Smith may well be the saddest book I have ever read. It is heartbreaking and poignant often to the point of ugly crying. Don't let that discourage you though! The story, a memoir actually, but you feel as if it is fiction, centers on the author's late childhood discovery of finding out both of her parents have cancer. Both, yes I said BOTH parents had cancer. And how she moves on through grief after they pass away.

The tragic feelings of the normal loneliness most of us feel as we move from high school to college and adult life are mixed with the pain of losing her mother. Add that to the fear that her father is still suffering from cancer and may go soon make a monstrous grief load for Claire. The emotional release of reading this book and the tears that will flow made it one the most enjoyable reads I've had in a long time. If you need an emotional release too The Rules of Inheritance is a book you should pick up.

I am participating in the BlogHer Book Club and was compensated for the review. They provided the book and I told you what I think.

Peace and love--

Monday Night Mending

2012-02-20T19:39:00.000-09:00

Monday night mending

made better by Downton Abbey.

Did you watch Downton Abbey? We watched last year and I'm so excited to watch this year's episodes. Damn that BBC for making such a great miniseries that I actually miss cable tv. We live in an area that if you don't have cable you don't have tv, I don't miss it normally but Downton Abbey almost makes me want to go join up again. ALMOST.

Shhhhh it's starting!!

Peace and Love--

Just Another Meatless Monday

2012-02-19T20:18:00.000-09:00

Yesterday I talked about a little cook book I found that had some interesting ideas and recipes in it. This one:

Published in 1980 by Current.
The one recipe I really liked was for Crispy Oat Thins, I had some time before lunch today so I made them. I had to change a few things around because I didn't have all the ingredients. They needed more salt and next time I will definitely have the sesame seeds to add in. The whole family loved them and by the time lunch rolled around it was pretty obvious they WERE lunch, along with some raw swiss cheese and some blueberries from our Full Circle produce box.
I think if you used rice flour instead of the wheat flour and wheat germ it called for these would be a pretty tasty gluten free cracker too. I'll definitely pass this along to a few of my gluten free friends.

Here's the original recipe

and below is how I made them. Feel free to change them to suit what you have on hand or to suit your allergy needs.

Crispy Oat Thins--Laura's Version

1 1/4 cups oatmeal1/3 cup whole wheat flour2/3 cup white flour2 teaspoons brown sugar1/2 teaspoon salt1/4 butter1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon water
preheat the oven to 375˚ whirl the oatmeal in a food processor until they are finely groundadd the rest of the dry ingredients and whirl againcut the butter into chunks and pulse in the food processor until its resembles coarse crumbsadd the water and mix until combineddrop by teaspoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet, I used a large baking stonegrease the bottom of a glass, dip in flour and flatten each ball to 1/8 inch thicknessbake at 375˚ for 12-15 minutes until crispy, they will continue to crisp up as they cool

Fresh baked crackers are magnificent much better than anything from the store, now if I could only find the time to make them every week...

Peace and Love--

The Penny Worthy Project

2012-02-17T22:48:00.000-09:00

Two birthdays, Valentines Day, a festival and a 3 day school week made my thrifting week very short. I did however get in some thrifty living in other ways. I made blueberry jam with Pomonoa Pectin, the super affordable pectin I'm aways raving about.

I used about 1 1/2 cups of honey and 1/4 cup of sucanat to sweeten a DOUBLE batch of jam. That sure makes fresh jam cheap to make. I also waded into the world of Tattler lids, the no BPA canning lids, 100% REUSEABLE and Made In The USA, they are more expensive at first but the pay off in the long run is great. I won't have to buy any lids for a long long time, I've always hated no being able to reuse the metal lids.

Union, the middle boy, worked hard washing jars, and prepping things, he also moved up to the very important job of putting the jars in the boiling water bath.

Mr. SirPrize sat around and did this. (hint he lost something in there somewhere)

I got homemade valentines cards from my card swap this week too!

LOVE!

And of course we hit up the thrift store today. I bought this little mug for our I've been caught being good box, click the link if you want details on how we encourage and reward good behavior.

Um, I love office supplies??

This cook book has some cracker recipes that look interesting, can't wait to try them out.

We love Tomie dePoala illustrations, don't you?

I found these crusty old salt and pepper shakers, aren't they great?

Anybody recognize the makers mark?

There has to be someone somewhere who can use this book. I couldn't pass up 50¢ for such a great book and I'm looking for someone to gift it to.

And for the ultimate in Thrifty Living why NOT enter to win two weeks worth of FREE ORGANIC VEGETABLES?

Peace and Love--

Menu Planning {giveaway post}

2012-02-16T22:20:00.000-09:00

Here's my weekly post about my gorgeous produce box and the meals it inspires. Here's a shot of the produce I got!

Aren't they lovely?

The spinach is bound for a 4 Cheese and Spinach Manicotti dish, a perfect late winter dish and a long weekend meal.

I'm going to make another batch of the Grated Raw Beet Salad with the beets, YUM!

I ordered a DOUBLE helping of the Cara Cara oranges, I'm planning on a batch of marmalade for the pantry. I love to put away things from the box for later use.

Avocados, while I'd eat them plain with a spoon and some salt, the kids are asking for guacamole and chips, we can do that! Although I may just make a batch of Gazpacho for some serious summer dreaming!

The apples will be gracing a lovely Caramel Apple n' Onions Pork Chop skillet, we haven't had that in so long it's making my mouth water.

Blanched snow peas are so good sprinkled with salt, we are looking forward to munching them down.

Fresh blueberries how I love thee! We'll be eating these raw in lunches and for snacks.

Snacks and lunches: we use a lot of fresh raw veggies and fruit in our school lunch boxes. This week we'll be adding:
kiwis-whole sent with a spoon to scoop and eat
apples-whole for crunching on
blueberries-listed above
radishes-cleaned and sprinkled with salt
pears- fresh and raw
snow peas-fresh and raw
fresh lettuce to sandwiches

Would you like to win a 2 week trial of FRESH ORGANIC PRODUCE from Full Circle? Full Circle has provided me with a two week trial for one LUCKY winner! To win you must live in a Full Circle delivery area to redeem.Visit Full Circle to check availability in your area.

Ways to enter:

leave a comment on THIS post stating why you'd like to have fresh organic produced delivered to you from Full Circle--mandatory entry
follow this blog for an extra entry--leave a comment
Like Full Circle Farms on Facebook for an extra entry--leave a comment
Like Hey What's for Dinner Mom on Facebook for an extra entry--leave a comment
Follow fullcirclefarms on Twitter for an extra entry--leave a comment
Follow whats4dinnermom on Twitter for an extra entry--leave a comment

What are you waiting for?? Get to entering!!

This giveaway will run for one week with the winner being announced NEXT Friday!

Peace and Love

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Pie

2012-02-13T21:26:00.001-09:00

This is one of those once a year kind of recipes, as in I would only trot this out once a year for a special treat because I'm pretty you shouldn't eat a lot of instant pudding and nutter butters. This year I made it for my husband, his birthday is the day before my son's birthday, which is two days before Valentines Day, which means I'm always crunched for time and this pie is super easy. Especially with getting presents shopped for, presents wrapped, parties planned, all applicable valentines made and signed and yeah by the time the birthdays hit I'm exhausted.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Pie

1 1/2 cups of Nutter Butter cookie crumbs
1/4 cup of melted butter
1 box of Instant Chocolate Pudding, six serving size
1 pint of whipping cream
1/2 cup of milk
36 small Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

preheat the oven to 350˚
mix the cookie crumbs with the melted butter and press firmly into a pie pan
bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and cool completely
while the crust is cooling open the peanut butter cups, break them slightly and set aside
when the crust is cooled pour the the pudding mix, the whipping cream and the milk into a bowl
whip on high until well combined, about 3-4 minutes
for the last minute of whipping add about 2/3 of the peanut butter crumbles
scoop the whipped pie filling into the cooled crust and top with the last of the crumbled peanut butter cups
chill at least 2 hours, if leaving it longer consider covering it with some plastic wrap to keep errant things from being knocked into it

Yep totally overly processed but also super easy, a time saver and a mind blower.

Peace and Love--

Just Another Meatless Monday

2012-02-12T20:33:00.002-09:00

Valentines Day Brie en Croute!
Just about the perfect vegetarian delight for any Valentine on your list. It simply means brie cheese in crust. And it's super easy. I made this today for my oldest son's birthday party. We all inhaled it, you will too!Here's my son, being a cheese ball, no crust though, ha!! 19 and all grown up

Valentines Day Brie en Croute
1 sheet of puff pastrytwo triangle wedges of brie1/4 cup raspberry jam

thaw the puff pastry over night in the fridgeunfold the puff pastry sheetsprinkle a wee bit of flour on the counter and lay the puff pastry on itroll it out to about double it's sizeremove the brie from it's wrappers and cut to resemble a heartlay the pieces on the rolled out puff pastry spread the jam on top of the briefold the pastry up and over the brie making sure to slightly exaggerate the heart shapemove to a baking sheet covered with foil or parchment paperbake for 25-35 minutes or until the puff pastry is baked throughserve with bread or crackers

heart shaped brie

before baking

after baking

Peace and Love--

The Penny Worthy Project

2012-02-10T22:12:00.000-09:00

Look at the lovely goat milk soap I go this week! I adore the Fireweed scent, it's luscious but the hands down winner for us is the Oatmeal, Milk and Honey. Made in Alaska a ways up the highway I think I have found our source for local soap. Judy the owner makes all the soap herself, drop her an email if you want some. We love to support local, don't you?

I listed a few things on ebay this week, not near the goal I was shooting for though. I sold the wooden train tracks for 27 dollars, quite a shock to me that it closed so high.

I am still listing and selling. I have a goal, I'd like to earn enough to go to Disneyland with the family in November of this year.
I bought some new (to me!) jeans for myself this week. Suddenly all my jeans are kaput at once! Does that happen to you?

Found a pair for the 6 year old too, he's growing so fast these days!

I found this

which looks a LOT like a shortbread mold to me. You? Here is the back, do you read German?

I also drug home this adorable little jewelry box by Lefton. I thought I would use it somewhere somehow for February.

Here is where I put it, front and center on the counter. Uhhh, ignore the dirty window but do admire the SUNSHINE!!

Why would I put a jewelry box on my counter? To hold our candle for mealtimes in, and the matches too.

Feel free to link up thrifty recipes, ebay stores or auctions, etsy stores, thrift finds or anything else that makes your heart happy!

Peace and Love--

Menu Planning

2012-02-09T22:09:00.000-09:00

Er, dreaming?

It's time to look at the most recent Full Circle Box and make a menu plan, yeah! I love a plan, makes me feel grounded and totally prepared for the next week.

Caldio-Mexican Beef Stew with the gorgeous Yukon Gold Potatoes

Tortellini Toss made with some Swiss Chard and some of the Green Beans

Butter Braised Greens with Garlic using the rest of the Swiss Chard and the Bok Choy, served with rice and Vietnamese Pork Chops

I have a WHOLE bag of lovely Tomatoes to play with, I'm going to make a HUGE Taco Salad

Roasted Cauliflower Soup for soup day!

There are some Golden Beets in a bag there you can hardly see, I plan to use a few beets I have from last week and make a roasted beet salad. It should be beautiful, I'll let you know how it comes out.

Lunches and Snacks: fresh apples, fresh pears, fresh oranges
mangos will be smoothed OR eaten raw and of course right away!
cucumber will be sliced with some carrots from last week and sent in lunches
leftover cauliflower soup will go with a boy one day
and I will use several of the tomatoes to make salsa and send chips and fresh salsa too

If I have leftover salsa I will make some Migas, man they are so good!

I think I'll try my hand at making a curd, the oranges are Cara Cara, which I think are a red orange? Anyway I think a lovely curd would be a great thing to make and eat.

What would you make?

Peace and Love--

Thrifted DIY--Make a Lego Bag/Mat

2012-02-08T21:40:00.000-09:00

Remember these?

I bought a few of them last month on our thrift crawl and I have been itching to give them away. I wanted to make a little bag/lego mat to go with them. I've seen it around on the net for a while now and finally got down to making one last week.

I love the way it turned out!

play mat

pull the ribbon

up it goes

twist it around, slip it under itself and voila!

DIRECTIONS

I made the directions up myself and, well I'm not good at drawing with google docs, this is a very humble attempt to show you how I did it.

I had problems getting the directions to show up here, after messing with google documents for longer that I needed to I realized I can link directly to the directions.

Here is part one: Treasure Bag/Mat I
and here is part two: Treasure Bag/Mat II

If I ever end up taking pictures of the process I will post them here.

clear like mud, no??

Peace and Love--

Salt River Bars

2012-02-06T22:59:00.001-09:00

Girls get your girdles out, there's another ultimate evil on the block Salt River Bars. I found these dreamy little gems of calories on Pinterest, if you're not on Pinterest check out the button on the right side. And tell your family I'm sorry I sent you down the road that is time suck.

On to the need for girdles. Like other ultimate evil delicacies I bring you, do not under any circumstances make these while you plan to be alone in your house. Or while you may be slightly depressed. Or right after a fight with someone. Because every one of those reasons, along with a million other reasons will cause you to inhale the pan of Salt River bars. Alone. And hiding in a closet if need be. I made them to take to a friends house, we fed the kids gluten free muffins and sent them out to play, and then had a moment with coffee and Salt River Bars. I brought some home and grudgingly shared with my small boys. My husband loved them and finished them off. The end. I miss them.

Salt River Bars

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar, dark if you have it
1 box of club crackers
1 cup peanut butter chips
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, I used milk, I prefer them (please don't hurt me)

course sea salt

in a medium sauce pan melt together the butter and sugar
once it boils let it boil for 4 minutes
meanwhile line a 8X8 pan with foil and butter it
lay down one layer of club crackers
when the sugar and butter is good and cooked pour 1/3 of it over the crackers
sprinkle on a third of the peanut butter chips and top with another row of crackers
pour on half the remaining syrup and half the remaining peanut butter chips
top that with another layer of crackers, the last of the syrup and the last of the peanut butter chips
cover the whole mess with one last layer of crackers
melt the chocolate chips and pour them over the top of the crackers
sprinkle on some course sea salt or good grey salt, I used some Himalayan pink
let it rest at room temperature
to serve lift the foil right out of the pan and slice with a knife
we refrigerated this batch and they got too hard

Peace and Love--

Just Another Meatless Monday

2012-02-05T20:26:00.001-09:00

Here is the vegetarian version of the wildly popular Bubble Up Pizza Bites. We love pepperoni and all things cheesy but sometime we need to go vegetarian and these fit the bill. From the crunchy crispy cheese melted on the top to the veggies poked down inside these babies are sure to knock your veggie lovin' socks off.

Bubble Up Pizza Bites-Vegetarian Style

12 slices of zucchini

4 mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

dash of olive oil

1 loaf of bread dough-use your own, mine or frozen bread dough

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup pizza sauce

heat a small skillet over medium heatadd a dash of olive oil

sauté the zucchini and mushrooms until cooked through

remove from heat

preheat oven to 350˚grease a muffin tindivide dough into 12 pieces

place each piece in a muffin cup

place a slice of zucchini, a few mushrooms and a pinch of cheese on the top of each piece of dough

use you fingers to shove it right down into the dough

then add a little dollop of, about a teaspoon of pizza sauce

sprinkle the top of each bite with cheese, about 2 teaspoons

then press down on the cheese well into the dough

the dough will bubble up around the filling, you want it to do this

bake about 15-18 minutes until the bites are cooked though and beginning to brown lightly

keeps 2-3 days

Peace and Love--

The Penny Worthy Project

2012-02-03T23:26:00.000-09:00

In keeping on with my "goals" my list of things I want to accomplish this year I bought these.

Have you used them before? If you remember one of my goals for the year was to move farther into the realm of organic living, this is step for us. Our trash output is so little that I felt like the bag we make a week could go one more step and

support a small business
use a bag that will break down
reduce polyethylene use

Now on to some fun finds! I found these tall jars with clasping lids. I love decorative storage and I promptly pour acorn caps into them.

I also found this brand new train track and promptly listed it.

Our home life has been pretty normal for mid winter, we're all ready for a change but it's not coming, yet.
Midge finally found a foot rest, in the kitten, have no fear she's asleep on Midge's bed. All is fair in dogs, cats and cabin fever.

And in other news the gnomes and chess men finally came together over a bonfire. Mid winter you have to create your own fun.

What's keeping you sane this winter? Feel free to link up ebay auctions, easy listing, craft ideas, recipes and anything see that makes your heart soar.

I have started a Penny Worthy Project board on Pinterest, if you're on, look it up and look for your goodies pinned!

Peace and Love

Weekly Meal Planning

2012-02-02T23:21:00.000-09:00

Just picked up my box of GOODNESS from Full Circle today, what a great gift for our family in the dead of winter. My box contents always lead me to wild menu planning and big dreams. Looking at this produce can you blame me?

I am going to make our family happy with a big pot of potato leek cheddar chowder, such a great soup for winter evenings.

The mushrooms are destined to be made into Vegetarian Pot Stickers and maybe some Pizza Stuffed Mushrooms.

The jewel yams will be made into Indian Inspired Sheppard's Pie HAPPY CURRY TUMMY.

The peanut potatoes I wan to roast or fry with a homemade bacon ranch dip, if this is successful I'll share the recipe. But really how can it be bad?

The peppers I think I will make into Spicy Pepper Jam, we're out of it and that way we can savor the deliciousness for a while longer.

Beets are begging for Borscht, do you have a good recipe? Mine is only so so, feel free to please pipe up and leave me a link or recipe for Borscht. The best I ever had was in a Russian Old Believers town way back in the hills, so good and the hostess/cook was completely entertaining too. Ohhh Nina I wish I had your recipe! Picture is horrid, beets are lovely.

These are destined for leftover pickle juice, I love to make quick over night carrot pickles like that. No real recipe, just peel, slice or chop and drop in pickle juice.

School lunch munchies and snack foods

kiwis, we have this cool spoon knife combo, lets kids cut in half then scoop it out, makes eating them fun
pickled carrots
fresh carrots
snow peas
mango smoothies made with kefir

What would you make??

Peace and Love--

Easy Ebay Listing

2012-01-31T22:15:00.000-09:00

A friend of mine was listing some things on ebay and she complained it took her forever. I feel her pain. I used to struggle through listing auctions only to find out I didn't know what I was talking about. Or I forgot to upload my pictures. Or edit them. Or any other myriad of reasons it was painful to list anything.

But then it got easier for me to list things and I didn't even realize it. I was pondering what to say to my friend, how to help her and it made me see my own process very clearly. I thought I would share with you all, in case you are struggling or want to get started on ebay.

I work in three distinct phases

#1 research--I can't say it enough, know what you are selling, usually the first thing I do is see what things are worth--through current auction prices on ebay and past/closed auctions these are a wealth of information-I also read lots of thrifting and selling blogs, these posts share tons of information on things that sell and the blogger's research too Late Night Coffee, Parsimonia and Apron Thrift Girl to name a few
#2 clean up and photos--I clean things that need cleaning and take a slew of pictures, in good clean daylight if possible, I wipe down the table or lay out a cloth and snap away, I pack the items in a "To Be Listed" box, then load the pictures and edit as necessary
#3 then I list items when I can take about an hour, if I have done steps 1 and 2 then step three is a breeze, I get the "To Be Listed" box and cup of coffee, I work through the box and list as much as possible in one sitting,
#4 I know I said only 3 but I have a step 4 that is to be avoided, do not hover over your auctions, don't check them every ten minutes, watched auctions never get started, I try to check twice a day and occasionally I will tweet or link to an auction to drive traffic that way, ebay is no fun if you haunt it

Happy selling!

Peace and Love--

Just Another Meatless Monday

2012-01-29T21:32:00.000-09:00

Speaking of singing livers, oh wait were we talking about singing livers? No? Dang, such a good opening line too!

Speaking of using up a 1 1/2 pound beet, no listen up I was talking about that, I know it, I finally figured it out. Ohhh yummy we juiced it. Along with a pear that needed to go and banana that was too ripe. I found a juicer last weekend on our thrift crawl and bought it up so fast it made my head spin. But hey 3 dollars for a Jack LaLanne Juice Tiger is a great price and since I killed the last one I was very happy to find this. I am saving pennies for a VitaMix but that day is very far away.

Basically Beet Juice is just that, the juice of a beet root. MMmmm I love beets and so do my boys. I love them for their taste, they love them for other pink reasons...

Now that I've made and drank the beet juice I read that you should definitely juice another vegetable with it, to combat the possible negative side affects which the article I was reading didn't go into detail on. The side affects listed were: pink urine...which is a plus for some of us around here, kidney stones, vocal chord trouble(??) and fevers chills and rashes. Hmmm Seeing as how they don't tell you how mixing in another veggie helps out I tend to think this might be bogus, but that's up to you to decide for yourself. Thoughts?

The positives far outweigh the negatives: lowers blood pressure, cancer fighting powerhouse and it's packed with vitamins and minerals. Check out WHFoods for a great article on beets.

SO if life ever hands you a huge beet, make beet juice with it.

Beet Juice
1 1/2 pounds of beets
1 very ripe pear
2 ripe bananas

Steam the beets until cooked through, you want to cook them but not over cook, you can cut any large beets into quarters and steam time will be considerably less
let the beet come to room temperature
feed the beet, pear and bananas into the juicer
cut the collected juice with water to make it thinner and easier to drink
you won't need any honey or sweetener with this juice, it is fabulous

Just out of range here are my two smallest boys having a silent deadly battle for this cup of juice, me I'm waving my arms windmill style to get them to stop.

How was your week??

Peace and Love--

The Penny Worthy Project

2012-01-27T22:45:00.000-09:00

It's been a busy thrifting week around here, the resell bug bit and I was off and running. Lots of sales on ebay, I also worked on budgeting my time so I can work, keep the house clean AND not get sucked into the internet. It's working well I'd say.

I have a secret project I'm working on, I can't show you yet but it's cool and it's upcycling. I hope to be done SOON, I'm getting kind of tired of it.

Last chance to sign up for the Homemade Valentine Swap, send me an email to jinxyjune(at) gmail(dot) com. If you signed up be on the look out for an email from me with your valentine exchange address list, it's time to get working on them.

Here are a few of my thrifting finds from the first Thrift Crawl last week. Good grief that was fun!

A friend found these

but didn't snatch them up, I did. I have a great idea for wrapping them in a little wrap bag mat thing for presents for kids. I saw the idea here and I have a feeling they'll be a real hit at birthdays. Stephanie don't look, Gabe's getting one next week.

Micro crock--small California Pottery was a dollar. These can hold anything you can think of, this one is currently holding acorns.

I bought this and sold it the same day, apparently Boynton is a big seller. Good to know.

I have this one listed on ebay, if you're interested make me an offer!

Spanish books sell well! These sold in less than a day. I have another lot I'm posting this weekend and I'm hoping it sells as well.

This is probably my favorite find of the week. I walked by it twice and debated it for a while before finally picking it. I don't need more stuff,(HOARDER) but I love it.

What is making your heart sing? Your etsy store? Your ebay auctions? Your decorating style? Your thrift finds? Couponing? Leave a link and share your inspiration.

Peace and love--

Staying Focused

2012-01-26T10:13:00.000-09:00

I'm a stay at home mom, not a SAHM that "word" makes me want to gag, I'm a mom and I don't have a paying job outside of my house. I get, yes GET, to stay home and keep everyone centered. This means I need to stay focused because no one is watching me during my time when the kids are in school. That time can so easily slip away from me that I really REALLY need to have a list(and we all know how much I love a good list) and a schedule.

Yes a schedule, or even better, more hippie, is a rhythm, my morning, my day, my jobs, my week and so on. I have to know what's coming up, what needs doing now, what can be shoved back a day or indefinitely and how to make sure everyone has food, clean clothes, coats that fit, matching mittens and the like. To do this I make a pretty concerted effort to create and stick to a food rhythm, a weekly rhythm of chores and the same basic routine for each day and night. I've been jamming on this for a while and it was working really well.

But then interenet alone time came along, kids are school, I can veg on the couch and do nothing, while pretending to work. Time just started slipping for me, I wasn't spending horrible amounts of time online, it was certainly more than I need. The guilt caused by this shoddy mothering scheme was immense and crushing I could look around and see so many things undone and feel crappy about it, so crappy I went straight back to the internet to feel better. Tough cycle.

The other day I was inspired by late night coffee and my friend Luna to set a schedule for myself during my time at home. I come home and set the buzzer and cleaned up the house for 30 minutes. I was all a hustle and bustle and got so much done. Then I set the timer and packed ebay sales for shipping. Whew! done before the time was up. I worked in my studio for a bit setting up my ebay 'office' and felt great. I worked online in 15 minute intervals to make sure I did the 'work' I needed to do.

And I've kept it up, third day so far and I've got my 30 minutes of housework done and this included getting the vacuum into the drawers in the kitchen to suck out crumbs, not a BIG job but a little guilt inducing thing. Dinner is planned. I have an art project lined up for myself. I have some thrifting planned and I'm almost ready to leave.

I feel on a really even keel. I've not cut out internet altogether, just made a time slot for it. I don't need to check in on facebook 20 times a day. I don't have to tweet that the dog is snoring and it made me laugh. I can be me, here in my home and be really simply happy with it. All those little niggling things I need to get done, are getting done and that feels really great.

Oh Hey THE DOG IS SNORING #mastiff #lol #puppy

Peace and Love--

Out My Window

2012-01-25T20:54:00.002-09:00

To the east.

To the west.

To the south.

To the north.

Peace and Love--

The Failing Septic: A Geek Tragedy

2012-01-24T21:59:00.000-09:00

The last 10 days have been spent in heart attack mode. I went to work in my studio and stepped off the bottom step into a puddle. Now the puddle was only water from the washing machine, nothing nasty or gross, just bubbles. I've lived in this old house long enough to know that occasionally the washing machine will do this to you, especially when you least expect it or need it. It serves as a reminder and cleanser in one--don't leave things you love on the floor and if you do you'll be getting rid of them soon.

Now usually the the water just sucks right down and we're fine or we need a pump out because I never remember to get it done until it's. time. right. now. But NOOOO the water just stood there, mocking me, refusing to go away so I could do things I wanted to do, like anything else at this point. It eventually trickled away.

I called my husband and let him know, I was met with silence, which means nasty words I shouldn't repeat. You see we'd just had the septic pumped so the only other alternative to the water in the basement problem, snake. ARRRGHGHGH. Just the way NO ONE EVER WANTS TO SPEND THEIR WEEKEND, what a perfect Friday night.

So the snake was rented and it didn't fix it.

So we called the drain cleaner and for 140 bucks they "took care of it"

Which was a lie because within 72 hours we had water in the basement AGAIN. I tried to play it off like a fluke, but no it kept happening. DAMN.

And in the midst of all the chaos our furnace went out, all four zone valve brains fried out. It had been 25 below, luckily it warmed up and we didn't freeze. The furnace is fixed and will be fixed better soon.

But we still had water in the basement, which still sucked and seemed like an eternity of not washing every dish so we don't flood the basement. No taking a long shower, it was get in with cold water, get out as the hot water hits because godforbid you don't want to be the jerk who floods the basement.

Now along about now I decide our septic is failing because we pumped and it flooded. We snaked and it flooded. We professionally snaked and it flooded. THE ONLY POSSIBLE THING LEFT IS WE HAVE A FAILING SEPTIC. To be sure I had to know if the line could still possibly be blocked?

I called the drain cleaners back and asked them, nay told them, to "please come back I don't think you fixed it and I need to be sure you fixed it." To which their receptionist said "sure for 140 bucks..."At which point I relayed some vile mutterings and said "seriously? No I'll call someone who'll stand behind their work." 20 minutes later the owner called me and said his boys would be right out. When they got here the kid who came last time told my husband they never snaked to the tank but this time they did.(yeah I'm all over this on Angies List!!) Long story short, they did it properly this time and we don't have a failing septic just a house with very old, cruddy pipes.

Cheer! Rejoice! The angels of cleanliness are singing in my house! For the first time in 10 days we have clean laundry, clean dishes, clean children and no soapy water in the basement.

So what does anybody know about greywater recycling? During my "the septic is failing" mode I started thinking seriously about reusing the washing machine water for toilet water or lawn water. It can cut water consumption up to 20,000 gallons per year. Oh! I really need to do more research and find out all I can.

Some of the things I need to do find out:

is it legal in Alaska? can I use my wash water on the lawn? does anyone even care?

is it feasible in Alaska?

are there any plumbers (MY SON??) who work on or install greywater recycling units?

what will the best soaps for our family to use?

So much to think about, you know, now that the septic ISN'T failing and my brain can function, mostly.

Peace and Love--

Just Another Meatless Monday

2012-01-22T22:24:00.001-09:00

First things first, I have 5 winners for the Paper Window Star giveaway! Coleen, Jods, Domestic Diva, Steph and Christina! Send me your address and I'll send you a star. Also tell me what color you'd like.

We started working on the house today, the never ending remodel will not kill us only make us stronger, and I needed a power lunch for us. Something to fuel us up and keep us going all afternoon. I made the wise decision to reach for lentils and make a vegetarian stew for us. I served it with a dollop of yogurt some garlic flatbread. Kept us powdered until snack time, which was a glass of beet, apple, and banana juice. Guess I finally figured out what to make with the 1 1/2 pound beet, that post is coming soon.

Vegetarian Lentil Stew
2 TBSP good oil
1 whole onion, chopped
4 ribs of organic celery, chopped
2 cups red lentils
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon garlic granules
1 teaspoon cumin
pinch of cinnamon
6 cups of water
2 cups frozen organic corn
2 cups frozen organic peas
3/4 cup plain yogurt-more for topping if desired
salt and pepper to taste

heat a dutch oven over medium heat, when hot add the oil, onions and celery
cook for five minutes then add your spices and cook for another 30 seconds
add the water, deglaze the pan and bring to a boil
reduce heat and cook for ten minutes
you may need to add an extra cup of water here if the lentils get too dry
add the vegetables and cook for another 5-10 until the lentils are done
stir in the yogurt
taste for salt and pepper, adjust as needed
warm through
serve hot with a dollop of plain yogurt on top if desired

A note on spices; this was perfect for us but definitely feel free to spice it up for you. Extra curry powder or fresh garlic would be excellent or even more yogurt would have been wonderful.

Peace and Love--

The Penny Worthy Project

2012-01-20T23:50:00.000-09:00

It's that time of year when I invite bloggers and non bloggers to participate in my Handmade Valentine Swap. It's very simple: make one, get one. You can send me an email to jinxyjune (at) gmail dot com and let me know how many valentines you would like to make. I'll send you a list of folks to send a Valentine to. I will try my best to make sure we all get to make roughly how many we signed up for. Though do be ready I may send you and extra name to send one to. They don't have to be huge, or fancy just heartfelt. The best part is playing with all the glue, tape, glitter, feathers and paper...oh and that moment you open your mailbox and it's got a card made just for you in it. Anyway I have two folks signed up already and we need more because I have a great idea for my valentines this year.

oh and grab the button for your blog!

<center><a href="http://heywhatsfordinnermom.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt10/laura70inak/valentineswap2-1.jpg" /></a></center>

OH! also I will be drawing for the winner of the Paper Window Star, leave a comment on that post to enter! I'll announce the winner on Sunday, well probably Just Another Meatless Monday.

Last week I showed you all my goodies for Murder at the Juice Joint, make sure you check out my photos. I'm wearing a dress, that's near as good as a Sasquatch sighting.

Woohoo Saturday I'm off on my first thrift crawl with some of my best friends. I love these ladies and we are going to have the best day! I'm sure you'll see the results of my thrifting day soon enough.

This week I jumped back into reselling big time. I read a post by Mom's Paycheck, she linked up last week, and I just got inspired. So with my eyes open I hit the thrift stores. I picked up some Le Creuset

sold already

sold already!

Some Dansk

listed not sold

I also hit up my closet that has lots of things left to resell too.

Like three pairs of crib shoes, the very last of a100 pair I bought a few years ago

Some Figgjo plates I never quite got around to listing

listed unsold

And a Royal China Blue Heaven Bowl

I also picked up some things for us
Like this cool stamp from 1976

gold green yarn

and two shirts for mr 8 year growth spurt

Why don't you join the fun and link up to the Penny Worthy Project? You can link up etsy stores, ebay auctions, thrift find, giveaways and art projects. Anything that makes your heart sing and your soul happy.

Peace and Love--

Menu Planning

2012-01-19T21:26:00.003-09:00

Our box was full to brimming with lovely fresh beautiful produce from Full Circle this week. What a beautiful picture this is, it certainly brightened up my day.

--I'm seeing BLTs with that gorgeous lettuce and I still have home smoked bacon leftover from our pig last fall or I might make a wilted lettuce salad, akin to this Wilted Swiss Chard Salad

--Mmm roll your own sushi with fresh frozen red salmon and avocado or maybe a winter Gazpacho? yum
--The nice big bag of Bok Choy made me think of Singapore Stew, which I haven't made in years.

--Lamb kabobs with peppers and onions, no real recipe; olive oil, garlic salt and pepper marinade and saute quickly. We butchered a lamb last year but you can find pretty decent lamb at Costco.

--Lots of fruits for lunches and I do believe I'll be making some Orange Cranberry Upside Down Cake. I subbed in some mandarins for something else, I can't remember what, but now we are flush with orange goodness.

--I think I'll make a carrot and millet loaf, we got a bag of carrots and it's a recipe I want to try out. Er make up as I go along?

--Dry Fried Green Beans are on the list yet again, I can't get enough of their garlicky ginger kick.

What am I going to do with one giant beet, this thing weighs one and a half pounds. Well maybe the Grated Raw Beet Salad or I might just pickle it. What would you do with the worlds largest beet?

Are you getting a Full Circle box yet? What are you waiting for?

Peace and Love--

Murder at the Juice Joint

2012-01-18T20:55:00.001-09:00

WOW! Never thought I'd like to wear a costume and go to a party but I did. Here are some photos to prove it.

My {real} husband even shaved his beard for the party. That's ALMOST as big a deal as me wearing a dress.
Everything I wore was thrifted, borrowed, made or already owned except the flower and feathers in my hair. Oh, and the tights because all I owned were leggings tights and those didn't work with my outfit.

I hope they do another murder mystery party next year, this one was too much fun. And I never even figured out who did it.

Peace and Love--

No Post, I'm on Strike

2012-01-17T22:30:00.000-09:00

SOPA and PIPA need to be stopped. Here's what the EFF have to say about it.

And the internet engineers too.

Read it.

Think about how we use the internet. No wikipedia. No etsy. No facebook. No twitter. No craigslist. No youtube. NO PINTEREST!!!

Basically it boils down to if a fellow blogger quotes another blog with proper links to the appropriate blog they could be shut down. Without review. One complaint could shut ALL of blogger down, not just the blog but the ENTIRE domain. This is insane and it needs to stop, contact your senator or congressman to let them know we don't need censorship in America.

These companies support SOPA and PIPPA--TimeWarner, Walmart, Nike, Tiffany, Chanel, Rolex, Sony, Juicy Couture, Ralph Lauren, VISA, Mastercard, Comcast, ABC, Dow Chemical, Monster Cable, Teamsters--BOOOO

In fact Go Daddy called my husband to re-up a few domains and he told them nope, we don't want to do business with a company that supports censorship. The customer service rep quickly explained how the ABSOLUTE UPRISING of their customers changed the company's stance on the issue. They supported it and when folks like you and me let them know how WE felt they changed their minds.

WE HAVE THE POWER. WE ARE THE POWER. WE CAN DO ANYTHING WE SET OUR MINDS TO DO. We just have to set our minds to it.

Call you senators.
Call your congressmen.
Call freaking Juicy Couture and tell them to STOP THIS INSANITY.

Look if people in Libya can overthrow Mohimar Qaddafi then, we the people of the United States can get off our asses and stop our government, they don't even have guns pointed at us.

How to Make {another} Paper Window Star {giveaway post}

2012-01-16T22:59:00.001-09:00

My friend Nadja over at Willing Thinking Feeling sent me the directions to make this star. I love the way it turned out and asked if I could expand her directions and make a post about them. Lucky for you she said yes. You really should hop on over and see all the lovely stars she has made.

I will not kid you, the first time I made one it took 2 hours. Now I think I have it down and it's easy. But I cried a bit, cursed and kept at it until I made it, I expect you to do the same.

You will need 5 sheets of kite paper to make this star. I bought mine off of ebay for a pretty good price and the shipping was quick.

I chose to use all purple but you can use any color you want.

fold in half diagonally

open and then fold in half again

open and lay flat in front of you like so

fold one half over to the center line like this

then unfold

then fold that piece in half over to the crease you just made

and fold again on the crease

repeat on the other side

then it's time to work on the other end-you'll be folding it the same way just smaller on this end-fold it over to the center

then open, fold it to the crease and then again

repeat on the other side

it will look like this

then fold the left point up to the center fold line

fold the right point to the center

then to make the points on each side-take the flat ends and fold each side to the center line

on each side

admire with the sunset coming through it

I glue down the tips and fold to keep them nice and tight-this one needs it's tips glued

now that you've cried, cursed me and come back for more, just make four more of these and glue them with a glue stick and you'll have this

leave me a comment to win your own paper star-- I'll pick a winner on Saturday!

Peace and Love--

A Morning Well Spent

2012-01-16T15:42:00.003-09:00

Worked some this morning banishing the ugly orange carpet from our house.
Behold one of two remaining pieces.

That's not a feral cat on my son's head, he's wearing a coon skin cap for some unknown reason.

The total time spent tearing out disgusting carpet was about 2 hours, with ample time for water breaks and listening to stories.

The results are almost bare nekkid stairs and a starting point for creating a tree you climb through to reach the upper floor.

Next on the demolition list that UGLY suspended ceiling hanging over the stairs. Gee maybe I should have ripped that out BEFORE tearing off all the padding and carpet on the stairs...GULP

Peace and Love--

Just Another Meatless Monday

2012-01-15T22:56:00.000-09:00

Keeping and caring for Kefir.

We've gone there, to that place in our lives where we have festering fermenting jars of 'stuff' on our counter and people ask us "what IS that?" They routinely look so disgusted I'm pretty sure they don't want to know the answer. Kefir does not look pretty, in fact it looks a lot like rotting milk. It's lumpy, bumpy, bubbly and separated. You think I'd have to be crazy to want to drink it after it's has set out for 3 days in a row but I did. And we all know I'm not crazy, right?

RIGHT??

Kefir is in fact not disgusting to drink at all. It has a unique taste all it's own, similar but still different from yogurt and it's also a little bubbly. It's a powerful probiotic, "Kefir's active yeast and bacteria provide more nutritive value than yogurt by helping digest the foods that you eat and by keeping the colon environment clean and healthy. Because the curd size of kefir is smaller than yogurt, it is also easier to digest, which makes it a particularly excellent, nutritious food for babies, the elderly and people experiencing chronic fatigue and digestive disorders."[source probiotic.org] WOW. I want that oh wait I have that!!

Here's the cool thing about kefir, it reproduces itself and in time you'll have enough to share with friends.

Here's how it works--you get some grains of kefir from a friend and put them in milk. Let it sit for up to 3 days stirring daily, I actually just shake the jar to mix it up.

--beginning to strain--

Then I strain it, setting the strained kefir aside for making smoothies. What's left after straining are called grains, they look like this.

--strained grains--

--strained kefir--

--washed grains--

I measure back about most of the grains into the fermenting jar and set some of the grains aside in a jar covered with water to share with friends when I have enough saved up.

--back to the jar, all it needs is milk--

Making smoothies is of course easy, simply replace the yogurt you would usually use with strained kefir. I had to add a bit more sweetener to the smoothies for my kids. I loved it with just fruit and kefir, refreshing and delicious and good for me too.

Peace and Love--

The Penny Worthy Project

2012-01-14T17:04:00.001-09:00

This week has been a lot of crazy weather watching, filing and making things. We've had, I heard and have not verified because I trust the source, 90 inches of snowfall this winter. To look at the amount of snow we have on the gorund you wouldn't think so either. I assure you that with every snowfall we've had an accompanying wind storm to blow it all away. That was part of our crazy weather this week tons of gorgeous snow, big wind storm and now as I write this it's 15 below. That's farenheit below zero, if you were wondering.

crystal clear sunrise at 5 minutes after noon...just noticed the orb in the picture, wonder who that is?

wind storm

snow storm rolling in

In an effort to start the new year right I've been cleaning out files, organizing the desk upstairs and coordinating it with our big filing cabinet downstairs. Not a project I enjoy BUT I will be happy to have a working updated system. Plus we have a medical savings account this year and those people are STICKLERS for bills and doctor's office paperwork. It does not pay to be a slacker in that area. Do you have a medical savings account? I like it if I keep up on the paperwork to start with.

To make the filing job go down a little easier I decided to cut my time with some sewing projects. I have crayon rolls to sew for the second grade class, I need to get them done this week. I also designed an apron. Wow, that was harder than it should have been, I tore every seam out several times to make it fit right. Although now that I have a pattern that works and is made just for me I think I can make an apron in under an hour. Woohhoo, I WILL like that feature.

the fabric and paper for aprons

Have you ever designed and sewn something? My husband does it all the time. I didn't think anything of it, but DAMN it was hard. New appreciation for his dedication there.

Of course I hit the thrift store a few times. I've been collecting things for a party tonight.

Can you guess the theme??

I'm more excited than I thought I would be. It's a murder mystery party, Murder at the Juice Joint. Gangsters, murder, dinner, drinks and fun at the speakeasy.

I even bought a curling iron to tame my hippie hair down.

My biggest struggle has been what to do with my hair I have a LOT of it and it certainly doesn't fit the style of the day. I settled on pulled back and to the side, curled and with a big gaudy flower and some peacock feathers stuck in there. And my glasses. I may try to go with out them but I could miss an important clue. My husband is playing Mugsy Malone, I'm his bored wife turned newspaper reporter. I am ridiculously excited.

I bought these awesome tags for tagging my dried herbs. I kind of have a thing for tags and brads, I'm a sick one I know.

And these! how adorable are these?? I think Mrs. Cison is going get these as a surprise present, they seem right up her alley for the guest room and all her little visitors.

Now is the time to start planning for the Handmade Valentine Swap. Leave a comment if you want to participate. Also let me know how many you'd like to make and receive. I'll match up folks based on how many you're willing to make and send out address' soon!

Peace and Love--

Menu Planning

2012-01-12T21:44:00.000-09:00

I am seriously loving the this whole menu planning thing and adding it to our food rhythm
is making my life in the kitchen so much easier. I rolled out the food rhythm idea back in May and I have been tweaking it to fit our lives better than ever.

Our food rhythm now looks like this:

Sunday--big traditional family dinner--brings us all together and gives us plenty of leftovers for the week to come
Monday--meatless and usually grain based
Tuesday--pasta-could be soup, bake or quick to make dish
Wednesday-beans-slow cooked, burritos or chili
Thursday--soup and bread
Friday--cheese--usually pizza night
Saturday-leftovers or crock pot meal

When I looked at the big pile of produce this week I immediately saw so many things to make! Now all I have to do is plug in the corresponding meal idea and I'm off and running. You'll notice that several meal ideas will work on several days. For example the Toasted Walnut Quinoa has cheese in it and will work for Friday, cheese day, or Monday, meatless grain day.

Lentil Cauliflower Stew
Taco Salad-vegetarian or with ground beef
Pizza with Fresh Tomatoes
Roasted Kale
Mango Kefir Smoothies
Mushroom Strudel
Bacon Green Bean Bundles
Honey Vanilla Poached Pears
fresh kiwis, tangerines for lunches
fresh chopped turnips for snacks
maybe some fresh beet relish or just plain roasted beets, we all love roasted beets!
Toasted Walnut Quinoa with fresh chopped Romas and pesto from last years garden
Roasted Organic Chickens
Chicken Noodle Soup-stock made from the roasted chickens, and any leftover veggies from the week

Now I know basically what we'll be eating for the week. Some things will happen, some will not, but I have a plan and our food rhythm to live by. I made a small list of things I need at the store this week, added a few more staples to my Azure order and we are set. I love that my time doing the dreaded grocery shopping trip is cut very short, I'm in, I'm out.

Best of all. I. Have. A. Plan.

Peace and Love--

Bacon Green Bean Bundles

2012-01-11T20:39:00.000-09:00

Sometimes you just need to change things up, or you just need bacon, or both. That's what happened last week. I had some green beans left from my Full Circle box and wanted to make something special for dinner. I don't even remember WHAT we were having for dinner but I do remember the bacon wrapped green beans, man they were good!

Bacon Green Bean Bundles would make excellent party food. Made ahead, precooked with minimal reheat time they would make plenty of people happy, and they can be picked up and eaten easily. I will say this though, make sure you don't use thick cut bacon. I used homemade bacon that I cut without a meat slicer, it didn't bend very well. And also use toothpicks to hold the bundles together, just laying them seam side down did not work too well.

Bacon Green Bean Bundles
oven 350˚

1 pound fresh green beans
12 slices of bacon
wooden tooth picks
salt and pepper

bring a pot of water big enough to blanch in of water to a boil
meanwhile clean the green beans and remove the stem end
when the water boils reduce heat slightly and and cook the beans for 90 seconds
scoop out and set to drain
now drop the bacon slices in the water and par boil for 2 minutes
scoop them out and turn off the boiling water
let the bacon cool enough to work with
line a baking sheet with foil and a cooking rack
begin wrapping the bacon around small bundles of green beans
it helps to kind of divide out the beans in before wrapping so you can make sure the bundles are the same size secure the bacon with the toothpicks and place on the baking rack
sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper
bake for 20 minutes or until the bacon is crispy
serve while still hot

Peace and Love--

Apple Upside Down Cake II

2012-01-10T21:10:00.001-09:00

I guess I like upside down cakes or maybe I just like the hot caramel mess they make while baking. Whatever it is I seem to make just about EVERY kind of upside down cake I can think of. Blueberry, Apple, Orange, Orange Cranberry and Sunshine Upside Down, to name a few!

I was pondering what to make for our teacher luncheon tomorrow and wouldn't you know it, surprise surprise, I came up with an upside down cake. Hunh, maybe it's because once it's done baking it's done, period? Well that doesn't make too much sense because I do love frosting too! Anyway, I made a different version of an apple upside down cake, so it's numbered accordingly.

Apple Upside Down Cake II
--oven 350˚

3 TBSP butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large apples, whatever you happen to have, preferably firm

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cup sugar--I used Sucanat
2 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups flour--I used whole wheat
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 TBSP vanilla extract
1/3 cup of milk

in a 9 inch cake pan melt the butter and brown sugar together
peel the apples and cut the fruit off the core, cut the apples into bite sized pieces
lay the apples over the top of the butter/sugar mix in an even layer, set aside
beat sugar and butter until well creamed
add the egg yolks 1 at a time and beat well after each yolk
in a small bowl sift the flour, baking powder and salt together
whisk the egg whites until frothy, set aside
add the flour and the liquid alternately to the sugar mixturemixing quickly after each addition
add the whisked egg whitesmix well and pour over the apples in the cake pan
bake for 40-45 minutes until a toothpick comes out cleaninvert on a cake plate immediately
cool and serve

Do you like upside down cake? I'm thinking my answer to that question is yes, yes I do.

Peace and Love--

Seen in the Last Week

2012-01-09T21:36:00.000-09:00

one twirling boy

one snowy dog

trees heavy with snow

wind sculpted snow on the garage

first tint of pink on the mountain

gaudy outrageous sunset

Peace and Love--

Just Another Meatless Monday Carrot Apple Salad

2012-01-08T21:39:00.003-09:00

What to pack in lunches has been a hot topic on a friend's facebook group. What you're making, what they're making, who is packing what. What do your kids eat? Not eat? And why the hell do we really care anyway. We have been in soup mode the last week keeping the one thermos the boys share in constant action, warm soup before sledding in 10 below zero weather keeps you warm.

My friend Steph who writes at Up North, Over Yonder and Out of My Mind mentioned a carrot apple salad the other day and posted a recipe. I really wanted to make so I made sure to make it happen this weekend. I wasn't going anywhere anyway, it's been snowing for days and we had at least a foot of new snow over night.

So it seemed a good time to see if indeed boys would eat an apple salad for lunch. And they did! I served it in the jars I would be sending it to school in so I could see if they would eat at least that much and they practically licked them clean. If you're looking to change up lunch and keep your kids happy this is a great side dish. I can see it used in wraps as a kind of waldorf salad wrap or topping lettuce with a dash of feta too, it's pretty delicious. I, of course, varied from her recipe because she used balsamic vinegar which I happened to be out of.

Carrot Apple Salad
3-4 large carrots, peeled, unless garden fresh the skins can be bitter
3 apples cored, if they are organic leave the skins on
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
2 TBSP honey
2 TBSP almond oil

attach the shredding blade to your food processor and shred the carrots and the apples
toss them with the lemon juice in a mixing bowl
add the vinegar, honey and oil to the food processor add a mixing blade and give it a whirl
toss with the shredded carrots and apples
serve right away or divide up for lunches

Peace and Love--

The Penny Worthy Project

2012-01-07T21:39:00.000-09:00

This week we drove our oldest son to Seward to start his plumbing and heating training, yes my 18 year old son, this one

wants to be a plumber. I couldn't be happier or more proud, my dad was a plumber too and we even managed to dig up some of his old tools for my son to use in school. Of course this meant driving through Anchorage on the way to Seward and a stop at my favorite thrift store. WOOT!

I found this big, old(?) french canning jar. Perfect for all kinds of pantry storage or pickle making even. LOVE!

and another piece of McCoy pottery.

I couldn't believe it when I saw it on the half price table, which meant it had been there for more than a month without selling. It's in pristine condition but I don't need it, so I'll probably sell it, at some point, after I enjoy it, I guess.

Earlier this week I made a jar of homemade air freshener, I'll be making more soon. I really like the way it absorbs odors AND gently smells good. Easy to find household ingredients make it a simple project to make.

Plus I'm still enjoying my decision to get a produce box from Full Circle. For the price of regular vegetables and fruit at the grocery store I get a fresh box full of organic fruit and veggies. This week laying it out to take a picture inspired me to make my meal plan, it's here if you want to see it. I like the fact that every week I can customize my box, we were due for more celery this week and I think I exchanged that for green peppers. It's nice if you're not eating all of something they sent you, you can pick something different.

I also like that we're eating 100% organic for all our fruits and veggies, meat too. We get our organic pantry staples for great prices through Azure Standard. I highly recommend them for excellent prices on natural and organic products.

What about you? What's making you tick this week?

Peace and Love--

Menu Planning

2012-01-06T19:04:00.000-09:00

I just realized as I laid out my produce from Full Circle the other day that looking at it en masse was a great way to meal plan. I saw so many MORE options that just unpacking it and putting it away.

I thought I'd share what I came up with for our week of eats. Wait did you catch that? A WEEK of meals from our big box of ORGANIC produce, for Alaska that's a really good deal. Supplemented with the meat we have put away and pantry essentials we are good to go

So here is my list in no particular order:

Ratatouille served over organic polenta

Dry Fried Green Beans with Spicy Pork

Stuffed Peppers and Tamale Pie--2 in one dinner, my kids don't like stuffed peppers, bonus? we only got 2 peppers!

Spicy Beef Wraps and and Roasted Beets

Hamburgers and Hot Potato Salad

Mushroom Barley Soup Fresh Bread

lunches will have: leftovers of soup, tamale pie and hamburgers, fresh carrots, carrot apple salad,
kiwis, oranges, apples and pears

I might make more Baked Apples too.

Peace and Love--

Quick and Easy Baked Apples

2012-01-05T19:35:00.000-09:00

Alternate working title, what to do with ugly apples.

We still buy lots of organic fruit in 20 pound boxes from Azure Standard, even while getting a big box of produce from Full Circle weekly. What can I say, we like our fruit, a lot. Occasionally we get to the bottom of 20 pounds of apples and some of the apples are looking pretty sad. Nothing rotten or furry just wrinkled and soft, not pretty but definitely edible.

We came across a few of those a couple days ago and my kids were grossed out. They wanted to take them right out to the chickens and be done with it. I wanted them to understand that even when things look gross on the outside it's what's inside that matters. I handed my 8 year old the apple corer and showed him how to use it and put him to work cleaning out the apples. When he cut into the first apple he discovered it was perfectly fine, the flesh though soft was not rotten as he thought it would be.

I hope the lesson sunk in, I didn't push it or over talk it or make it a learning lesson, I just let it ride. The baked apples made the house smell fantastic, they tasted great and I had to fight the urge to over teach the lesson. Biting. My. Tongue. Not easy for me.

Why not over teach the moment?

Not everything needs to be overdone, some things can just be simple and still effective. The world today is all about ramming information into kids so they can pass the next test or meet some other highly ineffective goal. Sometimes you can just be.

Quick and Easy Baked Apples
oven 350˚
2 apples, whatever kind you happen to have
2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP chopped pecans-or whatever nuts you have on hand
2 TBSP brown sugar or whatever sweetener you have or like
dash of salt

preheat the oven to 350˚
core the apples
mix the rest of the ingredients together
stuff the apples with butter mix and lay then on their sides in a baking dish
bake 30-45 minutes until the apples are fork tender

eat while warm for best flavor

My six year old said "oh! they're full of applesauce"

Peace and Love--

DIY Air Freshener

2012-01-04T22:15:00.002-09:00

Thrifty not necessarily thrifted.

I saw this make it yourself air freshener pinned on pinterest this morning, followed the link and realized I had all the stuff to make it, so I did. And it was easy. I'm pretty sure our grandmothers will be getting some delicious smelling room fresheners for Valentines Day this year, this is right up our alley. What with mixing smelly oil, using the pestle to crush it together, punching holes in the lid and the relative short amount of time spent, this is almost a perfect project. A project that can be industriously worked on, is useful in the end and can be finished in one sitting is what we're shooting for. While we do engage in long term projects we need plenty of shorter ones to make and feel triumphant about, this fits the bill.

gather together:
baking soda
essential oil-lavender or any scent you happen to A) have or B) like
vanilla bean-if using
scoop or measuring cup
pestle--bat shaped part of mortar and pestle
jar
lid and ring-old is fine, great way to recycle used lids
nail
hammer
old cutting board-to hammer on, use what you have

scoop about a 1/3 of a cup of baking soda into the jar
split the vanilla bean, cut it in half and add it to the jar, or add 4-5 drops of essential oils or both
give it a grind with the pestle to really mix it up

then make the vented lid for the top by punching through the lid with the hammer and nail, this isn't hard, one to two good taps and you're through, just make sure you are hammering on a safe surface, we have a crafting cutting board, we abuse it a LOT

when hammering the lid go from the top down so all the sharp points are facing down into the jar

make any design you want or none at all
you COULD with eager children paint the lids and rings but I like the plain metal look, its suits us

and this is the jar all done and ready to work--just give it a shake to release it's scent, the baking soda will also absorb odor too--double the work from such a small thing--I like it!

Peace and Love--

Potato Leek Cheddar Chowder

2012-01-03T21:10:00.002-09:00

I'm pretty sure I've never seen a leek as big as the one that came in our Full Circle box a few weeks ago. I have to say my 6 year old was completely impressed when we pulled it out of the box. He loved it instantly so it was a no brainer to get a picture of him with it.

SirPrize and his pet leek.

I love you, but I'll eat you anyway

When it came time to use the leek, Mr. SirPrize was very interested in helping create the soup his leek was going to be used in. He washed potatoes, chopped leeks, stirred the soup and was generally a huge help in the kitchen. And that night at dinner he proudly talked about his leek and his soup.

This is such and excellent way to get kids inspired and interested in healthier eating. I love to open the CSA box and have my kids help me put the veggies away. We ohhh and ahhh over each one, eat a few samples and make plans for dinners, sometimes they even claim a veggie for their very own.

We discovered the allure of a CSA box a few years ago when we had a local summer box, our kids would devour the carrots before we ever got home. And heaven help us if there were peas in the box. We grow a lot of our own fresh veggies in the summer and don't necessarily need a CSA box for summer. But for winter I sure do love to have a fresh box of veggies and fruit. I also love to have my kids help open the box in wonder and delight, it makes my heart happy.

Potato Leek Cheddar Chowder
3 TBSP good oil
1 leek, white part chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
2-3 pounds of potatoes, washed and chopped, bite sized
pinch of dill weed
pinch of dry thyme
dash of hot sauce
4 cups chicken broth or veggie broth
3 cups water
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup flour
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

in a big pot heat the oil and add the leek, onion and celery, cook and stir for 5 minutes
add the potatoes, dill, thyme, hot sauce, broth and water
bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer
cook until the potatoes are tender 10-15 minutes
meanwhile mix the flour and milk until the lumps are gone
slowly stir in the flour mixture, cook and stir for 10 minutes more
remove from the heat and sprinkle the cheese over the top and stir to incorporate
taste for salt and pepper, add as needed
serve immediately, with extra grated cheese if desired for garnish

It's 15 below zero out there, this is a good soup to warm your bones with before bed. And lucky me I doubled it so I have extra for kids lunches and even a bowl for myself tomorrow. Tomorrow looks to be just as cold out so I'll be happy to have a piping hot bowl mid-day before venturing out to pick up kids from school. Ahh winter in Alaska, you never fail to amaze me, or freeze me, or both.

Peace and Love--

Just Another Meatless Monday Jalapeño Popper Dip

2012-01-01T22:00:00.002-09:00

I made this fabulous dip for our New Years Eve party the other night. It's really good and I can see it being a super bowl hit too, all the flavor of a jalapeño popper and none of the deep fat frying! I was perusing Sweet and Savory the other day and I came across this and thought "hmmmm yes party food!" and immediately added it to my list. I wish I had a picture but once the party started I put my camera away. That's probably a good thing because I don't think I could have held a camera steady anyway. Um, yes, good party!

Jalapeño Popper Dip
2 8 ounce blocks of cream cheese
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
4 ounce can of diced jalapeños
4 ounce can of diced green peppers
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup of butter
1/2 cup of bread crumbs

pre-heat the oven to 350˚
in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a mixing bowl mix the cream cheese and mayonnaise until smooth
open and drain the peppers and mix them in
add the shredded cheese and mix well
pour into a buttered casserole dish
melt the butter in a small sauce pan and mix in the bread crumbs
spread over the top of the dip
bake in a 350˚ oven for 20-25 minutes
serve hot with bread, crackers or fresh carrot chips or celery sticks
also good cold eaten with a spoon

Peace and Love--

The Penny Worthy Project

2012-01-01T11:44:00.000-09:00

Thought I'd share some of non box store presents we gave and received for Christmas. My husband, the trickster was done shopping by August, he had all the goodies bought and hid. I figure he was putting off shopping when he had it all figured out ahead of time.

He got me this 1935 chandelier for our 1935 Colony House.

It needs repair but I love it and won't it look lovely hanging up there?
He also took pity on my cold feet and bought me old fashioned bed warmers, woot!

Fill with boiling water, slip in the bed and in no time warm bed and feet.

And a train case! I love that color!

I made the kids knitted and felted lunch boxes, birch tree stumps with mushrooms needle felted on them.

Peace and Love--

2012 Goals

2011-12-29T21:25:00.001-09:00

I don't do resolutions. Every year since as far back as I can remember I've had New Years resolutions and I've failed miserably at keeping them. or working towards them. Or for that matter even remembering what they were. They were always along the lines of lose 50 pounds. Stop smoking. Never eat chocolate again. So I decided not to do resolutions.

I don't do bucket lists. This implies I will be dying soon and I'd rather not. And I'd rather not think about it. (evenafter2weeksofwinterbreakwithtattletalechildren HA!) Plus I kinda get the feeling that bucket list only came about or got popular after the movie bucket list and that right there is a no go.

I will set a list of goals for myself. Lists, oh how I love thee. I can make lists and accomplish things AND CROSS THEM OFF and feel so good about myself. It's how I make it through the day happily accomplishing things. So I made my self a list of goals for 2012.

Here is said list:

Some are specific goals like learn to knit socks, I can start this right now. Seeking sponsorship is a goal I will work on long term over the next few months as well as getting the house in order. I can plan on putting up foods from our land, I can buy seeds, onion set and locate a weaner pig and cull calf to raise for meat. Once I can get a shovel in the ground we're ready to go and another goal is met.

I have a LIST!! It's all about word choice, resolution? meh. Bucket list? bleck. List of Goals? YES YES YES. What works for you?
Goals? Bucket List? Resolution?

Peace and Love--

Stuffed Cabbage

2011-12-28T21:55:00.001-09:00

This recipe is like cabbage roll's cousin, same ingredients, less work, more or less the same results. A few weeks ago I received a napa cabbage in my CSA box from Full Circle, I pondered it for a week or so trying to decide what to make, the produce is so good I just don't want to waste it. I finally settled on cabbage rolls but as the day drew nearer to dinner time I realized cabbage rolls were too much work for how little time I had left. This is what I came up with, it was good, really good and I might never make cabbage rolls again, except I like those little packets of savory deliciousness too much to write them off entirely.

Stuffed Cabbage

1 head Napa Cabbage
1 pound lean ground beef
2 stalks of celery, chopped
half a medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 whole tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped or 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon smoked paprika, worth the effort to find it!
1 teaspoon garlics granule or a minced clove of garlic--add as much as you prefer
salt to taste

boil water in a large pot big enough to hold half a head of cabbage easily
cut the cabbage in half and remove outer leaves
when the water comes to a boil reduce heat and add a half of the cabbage, cook for 3-4 minutes then remove and drain on a dish towel, be careful the water coming out will be hot
repeat with the second half of the cabbage
meanwhile in a large skillet cook the ground beef, celery, onions and carrots until the beef is cooked through
add the tomatoes and crush if using whole
add the seasonings and taste for salt
when the two halves of the cabbage are done being precooked and are drained arrange in a baking dish large enough to hold them both side by side
start scooping the beef filling into the cabbage halves and stuffing it between each leaf as far as it will go
when the cabbage halves are stuffed simply mound any remaining filling on top of the cabbage and it will cook into them
cover with a lid or foil and bake for 35-40 minutes until the cabbage is fork tender
slice each half in half and serve a quarter of the cabbage to each person with any extra meat filling on top

These were so good I'm pretty sure my family would have eaten two whole cabbages for dinner. Note to self, make two next time, any leftovers would be great covered in cheese and reheated. I love stuffed cabbage, you will too, unless of course you don't like cabbage and then, well I guess you're out of luck.

Peace and Love--

Post Christmas Post

2011-12-26T21:15:00.000-09:00

From this

to this in 36 short hours.

Hahaha not really, they were playing with the puppy and thought she would never find them in her kennel. Which was true, she didn't look there at first but eventually their giggling gave them away. The best part was her confused look when they tried to lure her in with them, she doesn't like to be in her kennel so having her two favorite people calling her in was hard to ignore. This game continued for at least an hour and I'm sure we'll see more of it until school starts again. You'd think they'd have new and better things to play with than each other, their puppy and a dog kennel but even the new and shiny isn't as good as the old and much loved. Hunh wonder where they get that from?

Hope your holiday was as enjoyable as ours was and no one had to get kenneled.

Peace and Love--

The Holiday that Thrift Decorated

2011-12-22T14:24:00.002-09:00

Almost each and every Christmas decoration I own and use is thrifted.

I keep my tree decorations in thrifted vintage train cases. Ohh how I love these and I'm really glad I found a use for them. Plus if the kids drop one while carrying it upstairs 99% of the time things are unbroken.

This one they don't get to carry, too many vintage ornaments, I don't even hang them on the tree with kids, a puppy and a kitten in the house.

on the tree

Thrifted wreath

Bathroom full of vintage goodness

Peace and Love--

How to Make a Paper Window Star

2011-12-19T22:25:00.002-09:00

These are the very basic directions to make a paper window star. You'll need to have some kite paper, about 7.50 for one hundred sheets, but you could use tissue paper until you get some. My eight year old boy was able to make the folds quite easily but my six year old was struggling with them a bit.
Truly easy to make and lovely to look at.

Start with 8 sheets of square paper in your choice of colors.

Take one sheet and fold it in half

and then in half again.

Open and lay flat

now fold each corner to the center, crease carefully.

the fold two sides like so and set it aside.

Repeat 7 more times.

The glue them overlapping like this, glue sticks work really well here,

tuck the last one in under the first one so the pattern repeats.

The window stars can be hung on the window with a dot of glue from a glue stick. The glue will hold the star perfectly and will easily wash off later.

This one is hanging on my window and the one in this tutorial is going to my mom's house.

Peace and Love--

Just Another Meatless Monday

2011-12-18T21:52:00.001-09:00

My first veggie box from Full Circle had a gorgeous winter squash tucked in it, it was so beautiful I didn't want to eat only look at it.

But then on the other hand, the practical hand, I knew we needed to get on with it and eat it before it got knocked to the floor or ruined in some other horrid way. So today was the big day and my oh my was it delicious! I made this for lunch and we all enjoyed it.

My photos are going to be kinda sad for the next few weeks because of the severe lack of natural light, even at noon our skies are dim.

Vegetarian Stuffed Winter Squash
1 medium 4 pound winter squash-I think the one I had was a buttercup from Full Circle
1 teaspoon oil
salt and pepper
3 cups water
1 cup quinoa
2 cups chopped kale-from Full Circle
1 Tablespoon pesto
1 chopped tomato-optional

preheat oven to 350˚
wash the squash outside and then cut the top off, scoop the seeds out and save for toasting later
clean the squash out getting all the strings and such out
spread the inside of the squash with the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper and set on a lined baking sheet, pop the squash in the oven to pre-bake until the quinoa is done
put the quinoa in a medium size pan and rinse under running water, rubbing between your hands to remove the bitter coating on the quinoa
rinse well and add the 3 cups of water
bring to a boil and reduce heat and cook until the water is mostly cooked off
then add the kale and the pesto
stir in the tomatoes if using
pull the squash out of the oven and fill with the quinoa mixture
continue baking for another 45 minutes or until a knife slips easily through the thickest part of the squash
to serve scoop the quinoa and the squash out together

Now if you happen to have a squash with a big cavity you can double the quiona OR add more veggies or both. Feta would have been and excellent addition, alas I'm out!

Peace and Love--

The Penny Worthy Project

2011-12-18T09:37:00.001-09:00

I found some really cool things this week in the thrift stores, plus I've got pictures of the things I made for the kid's teachers.

I hope you like this as much as I do,

a wooden scotch tape dispenser. I think it's homemade AND I think we will be making these as present for our kid's teachers sometime soon.

My kids, who love office supplies as much as their mother, were thrilled to see this show up in our house. Plus now I can buy the big refill packs of tape and not worry about disposable parts, buying bulk is TOTALLY thrifty!

When I was little my mom had the full set of these angels, I found a few more for the choir. What is it about the random things we had when I was a child that makes me want to bring them into my life again?

And I thought the carousel horses were really nice too.

I made this winter arrangement for my bathroom this week. I really like the way it turned out, kind of cool and calming. Since it isn't REALLY a Christmas decoration, I'll probably keep it up for January too.

I made a couple gnome hats for teacher's kids.

Also a hand dyed silk

and the Winter King.

I worked on getting a butter churn for the kindergarten teacher.

Isn't it OLD and lovely?

Peace and Love--

Thrifted DIY Style

2011-12-14T21:48:00.000-09:00

I have this very long bathroom counter that needs something on it or it collects junk, spare change, socks, you name it, it shows up. I have found that if I put something pretty or decorative there it keeps 'them' from putting random stuff there. And it looks nice. Win/Win

First start with a GIANT empty space

then locate some thrifted picks, I picked these up for 25¢ a piece--you can find these in any thrift store they are everywhere---pick colors you like or want to work with

Then I roamed around the yard and grabbed a BUNCH of birch branches that blew out of the trees--we just had a huge windstorm last week so we had a lot.

I took them downstairs and dug out some white spray paint and gave them a quick once over. Now they do have some brown bits left but overall they are white.

I dug up a huge old vase and poured in some marbles to hold it down, my cats like to eat arrangements, there is a reason the kitten is called Thunder. Use any vase or vessel you want to use, get creative!

Then I got down to the fun part, making it look good, which actually turned out to be hard because the picks were being a pain and I didn't want to break them apart. Eventually we came to the understanding that they would do what I want and I would put them where they go nicely.

Add your painted branches.

A few minor tweaks and a bluebird ornament from the tree and voila!

A beautiful arrangement to fill that huge space. I really love the way this looks.

Total cost for me was 50¢, everything else I already had. If you had to buy everything from a thrift store I'd bet it would cost around 5 dollars total, but the real fun is spending less than that and using things you already own, creatively.

Peace and love--

KitchenAid Stand Mixer Winner

2011-12-13T21:23:00.003-09:00

Oh the end of a contest is so hard to bear! I love watching the comments pile up, seeing what folks have to say and checking out all my new readers. And especially at this time of year, the camaraderie is really great. So fun!

I guess you all want to know WHO the lucky winner is eh?

Well here's what Random Number Generator had to say:

I've never seen a Random Number Generator pick such a low number! The very lucky winner is also a very good friend of mine, fellow blogger and knitting enthusiast....

HeatherinSF said...
Just tweeted for you! Also I'd love the copper color one. I have my Mom's first kitchenaid but it has a glass bowl and limited muscle but for being 48 years old it's doing okay. I would bake a lot more bread with a new one that has a dough hook. Fingers crossed!

December 4, 2011 9:56:00 PM AKST

So my dear you have 24 hours to contact me and give me a mailing address or I'll have to pick another winner.

Thanks to everyone who came, read, commented and played along! I've enjoyed reading each and everyone of your kind words.

And now that I'm making some money writing who says I have to wait until my next blog anniversary.....

Peace and Love--

Santa Lucia Buns

2011-12-12T21:06:00.000-09:00

Just to be absolutely clear I don't know where this recipe came from, if you know please let me know so I can properly attribute it. It was passed to me with a bag of ingredients, barely legible, a bad xerox copy written over in red pencil. It wasn't hard to make, once I figured out it was just a sweet bread dough. I have to say thank goodness I had the KitchenAid, that made it really easy. Oh the winner of the KitchenAid? Ohhh well as I'm writing this there is still 3ish hours left to enter, I'll be posting the winner in the morning. Come back then, in the meantime Santa Lucia Buns.

In our school it's customary for one or two grades to make Santa Lucia Buns for the rest of the school. This year was our turn, second grade parents made dough for the kids to shape. While the third grade students, who are studying cooking and baking, made their dough, rolled them and baked them. Next year it will be our third graders doing all the work while a new crop of second graders starts the process. On Santa Lucia Day the children will serve buns and spiced tea to the rest of the school. That's a LOT of buns, we made 160 buns today, which means the third grade will be making about 140, also a lot of buns. And fun. It was fun, the kids were in a festive mood, happy and ruddy faced from playing in the fresh snow. They spent time shaping the gorgeous saffron tinted dough into ornate S shapes, egg washed them and left them to rise. Then they moved as needed or desired off to finish their present surprises, ornaments, felted wool or knitting projects, depending on what they had left to do. I then spent a very quiet hour in a silent kindergarten kitchen knitting and baking the buns off. The sunset was glorious and while I was there I reflected on the pleasure this school brings me. Yes it has growing pains, it's a brand new school and all new things evolve and grow, it's still a great school and I'm so glad we're here.

Santa Lucia Buns
recipe makes about 50-60ish 3 inch rolls, depends on size really

1 1/3 cup of milk
1/2 cup of butter
2/3 cup of sugar
pinch of saffron
3 Tablespoons of yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs-1 for dough, 1 for egg wash
4-4 1/2 cups of flour
raisins or dried currants

scald the milk and set to cooling
drop the butter in and let it melt
add the pinch of saffron to the melting butter and warm milk
stir to dissolve
when the milk mixture has reached lukewarm add the yeast and salt and let it set about 5 minutes
add two cups flour to a mixing bowl or bowl of stand mixer
add the warm milk and yeast mixture and pulse to incorporate
then begin mixing when the flour is mixed in add 2 more cups in 1/2 cup increments
if the dough seems really soft add the last 1/2 cup and then machine knead or need by hand until a soft smooth dough has formed
grease a large bowl, add the dough turn to coat, cover and let rise until doubled
punch down, divide dough and make into S shapes, brush with egg was and place 2 raisins or currents at each end
let rise again for about 45 minutes
preheat the oven to 375˚
bake for 15 minutes or until cooked through

Obviously the length of time to bake depends entirely on how big you make the buns. You can make them all the ornate S with curved ends or you can make some ornate X and decorate the same way. They are usually made buy the oldest girl in the household early on December 13th to honor the Saint Lucy who brought hope and light to all in the darkest hours of winter. Enjoy!

Peace and Love--

Just Another Meatless Monday

2011-12-11T21:20:00.001-09:00

Now I remember why I love a good veggie box, it pushes me out of my comfort zone and makes me use what's in the box. So far this week we've had raw beet salad, hot potato salad, fresh lettuce with everything, carrots and cucumbers sliced and raw, and I'm planning to make my famous vegetarian cabbage rolls soon. So many vegetables to choose from and use before they go bad, it's almost like a game "what will I make to use that up?"

Luckily the produce from Full Circle is fresh and lovely and going bad quickly doesn't seem to be a problem. The last two boxes we sampled were a Garden size box, for our next two boxes we're going to try out the Harvest size and see how that suits us. Looking at the comparison chart I think we'll use up the Harvest size just fine, of course you'll be the first to know if we have trouble. For the record I received a credit to try out the new size boxes of organic produce from Full Circle themselves, you know if ANYBODY was wondering.

Braised Winter Greens
1/2 cup pecans
1 pound of mixed winter greens, mostly kale and chard
1 Tablespoon good oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic or garlic granules
1/4 cup water
pinch of salt

in a large skillet toast the pecans over medium high heat, just to brown
while the pecans are toasting wash the greens, remove any thick stems and pat dry
when the pecans are toasted pour into a bowl to cool
heat the oil in the same large skillet
add the garlic and quickly pan fry it then add the greens and cook for 1-2 minutes
then add the water and cover with a lid for 2 more minutes
then stir and cook until the water is gone, if need be, and the greens are cooked but not slimy
remove to a plate add a pinch of salt and top with the toasted pecans
serve immediately

Anyone linking up a Meatless Monday recipe via the link party below has just earned themselves an extra entry to WIN THE KITCHENAID MIXER! So head on over to that post and leave a comment. To enter you MUST follow this blog, that's the only requirement and of course there are multiple ways to enter. The contest ends Monday December 12th at midnight my time. Have fun and good luck!

Peace and Love--

The Penny Worthy Project

2011-12-10T23:05:00.001-09:00

Anyone linking up today is welcome to go my KitchenAid Stand Mixer Giveaway Post and leave an extra entry comment. Thanks for coming by and sharing what inspires your and the extra entry is my way of saying thank you. It can be thrift store finds, crafts, money saving recipes, meal plans...whatever YOU consider important to your life, you can even link up an etsy store OR ebay auctions.

Our winter morning started off early and in the dark, of course the sun doesn't even come up from behind the mountain until noon, the kids wrote letters to Santa while we enjoyed coffee. Today was our town's Christmas celebration called Colony Christmas, we planned to go see Santa, play in the ice garden and look at gingerbread houses. We looked for the snow machine rides but they weren't running. You know what was running? The wind, it was a brisk 24˚ outside and the wind was about 20-30 miles an hour. Wooh.

Knowing I wouldn't be home until after dark, 4 pm, I jumped into high gear to get my photos taken during real daylight hours. Our 6 year old took the opportunity to make a glider for his gnome priest. Damn thing really flew.

I got a shot of these

which cost a quarter

which are destined for the bathroom counter.

My son, the 6 year old again, fell in love with this shirt, for a 1.50 it came home with us. Who am I to argue about a 6 year old in a dress shirt?

I picked up two Christmas books I didn't have yet.

I can't wait to read this one, I love Tomie DePaola's illustrations.

I found three more Santa mugs who will soon join their brethren

on the bathroom window sill

And I found this rainbow shape candle holder thing, I have plans for it, pretty sure there's a post in there some where.

Yesterdays post featured a DIY Thrifted Forest Wreath, if you don't have a wreath yet, this may inspire you to pass on the spendy wreath and go thrifted.

Don't forget any links on The Penny Worthy Project earn you an EXTRA entry to win the KitchenAId Stand Mixer.

Peace and Love--

DIY Forest Wreath

2011-12-09T22:47:00.001-09:00

Decorating your own wreath is so easy and completely affordable when you dig through your thrifted treasures to find just the right touch.

Start with a good size wreath, they are out there I saw at least 20 of them at the thrift store JUST today. This is a wreath I've had for several years and I like it a lot, it's big and full and takes up a fair amount of room on the door. We don't want no stinkin' puny wreath!

Now go hit up your craft box, closet, room or thrift store for some cool forest stuff. You could use some birds, flowers, mini mushrooms, assorted berries, foliage or even vintage ornaments. While your at it grab some twist ties to fasten everything on. A glue gun works fine too but is more permanent than I want to get, but it may work for you.

So you have your big wreath and you have some baublesand you have a way to connect them all together. Put on some Christmas music and get to work.

Lay out the wreath and start adding goodies. I add the mushrooms first and I took off the ribbon because it just looked wrong.

I realized I should add the red berry wreath too but the berries were kinda chipped up.

So I grabbed a red permanent marker and colored in the chipped spots. Looks better hunh?

before

after

I love the way it fills in the center of the wreath and makes it pop right out.

Then I lost a pine cone to the mastiff who deemed it good eats, no worries I used a smaller one in it's place and it looks fine.

To attach my forest goodies I just twisted a twist tie around, up and under the pieces and onto the wreath.

I opted for no bow because I don't tie them well and I like the way it looks with out just fine.

Here it is hanging on the door, seeing it now I can see a few places that need adjusting, an easy fix.

Ack look out the chickens are trying to get in!

My total cost for this project, out of pocket was zero dollars. I owned everything already, I simply put them all together. The wreath was 2 dollars 3-4 years ago, the mushrooms were 50¢ and the red berries were 1 dollar a few years ago, the twist ties were in my bread drawer.

Merry DIY THRIFTED Christmas and beware my chickens!

Peace and Love--

Grated Raw Beet Salad with Citrus Dressing

2011-12-08T21:43:00.001-09:00

What to do with two beets, yes TWO. They came in my vegetable box last week, I was determined to use them creatively. I combed my bookmarked recipes but none of them were new and exciting to me I had a borscht I needed to try and roasted beets are always good but with only two it's hard to feed the family. So I turned to the internet to peruse beet recipes. I soon came across a grated raw beet salad that sounded promising. I tweaked it to use what I had on hand, and I fully expect you to do the same.

It turned out to be wonderfully delicious and a real change to the normal winter dishes we were eating. Full of vibrant color and packing a real nutritional wallop this salad, as a friend of mine who owns The Red Beet says, "will make your liver sing". It made my mouth sing and my boys liked it for other reasons like the biological properties it has....

Grated Raw Beet Salad with Citrus Dressing
*a food processor with a grating blade makes this salad so easy to prepare*

1 pound raw organic beets
4 stalks organic celery
1/4 teaspoon grated ginger root
juice of one orange
1 TBSP lemon juice
1TBSP of good live oil
pinch of sugar
1 teaspoon salt
dash of pepper
sour cream for garnish if desired

wash and peel the beets with vegetable peeler, this wasn't as messy as I first thought it would be just don't wear white and you should be fine
put the grate blade on your food processor and grate the beets, empty the beets into a bowl
wash the celery, trim off any spots and grate the celery too, mix into the beets
in a jar with a tight fitting lid mix the remaining ingredients except for the sour cream
pour over the beet and celery mix, turn to coat and then refrigerate for at least 1/2 an hour but overnight really makes it fantastic, it doesn't lose it's crunch either

From this:

To this:

Peace and Love--

Full Circle Farm

2011-12-06T21:55:00.001-09:00

Trying out a produce box from Full Circle, courtesy of Full Circle. Thought I'd just share the photos this week. They do truly speak for themselves. Good food, good for you, good for the earth, Full Circle.

And don't forget to enter the giveaway for the KitchenAid Stand Mixer, going on until next Monday night!

Peace and Love--

FTC disclosure: I was given a credit by Full Circle to try out their new veggie boxes and green grocers.

Just Another {KitchenAid Stand Mixer Giveaway} Meatless Monday

2011-12-04T20:35:00.001-09:00

CLOSED!!

3 years ago I decided to start writing this blog. I wanted to document my journey from processed standard food back to a more healthy holistic lifestyle. Not only have our eating habits changed but out whole lives have too. In that time I've had ankle surgery to repair a bad break, worked day and night start a Waldorf school, moved to a more subsistence lifestyle, discovered I don't need a lot of stuff to be happy, started the youngest two boys in the Waldorf school and graduated the oldest boy from high school. I've jumped back in to reselling as a hobby and to make some money, I've also picked up my knitting again, I've realized that my thrifting tendencies are appreciated by a lot more people than just me myself and I. Writing has always been a fascination of mine and now I write almost daily about our life and times here in Alaska and it suits me perfectly.

I'd like to say thank you to all the folks who read, comment, share and otherwise enjoy my blog, Thank You. But of course I want to give you something too and I wanted it to be something that I use almost everyday in my kitchen. I love my KitchenAid Stand Mixer and I want to share the joy it brings to me, with you. It makes baking a joy, whipping cream is a dream, kneading bread is simple, frosting comes together like magic. So that's what I'm doing, I'm giving away a KitchenAid 5 QT Tilt Head Stand Mixer, your choice of color.....

The link above actually has more colors than listed here, these are only a few of the colors available.

So what does a person have to do around here to be entered in the contest you ask?

Well there are several ways to get an entry, but no matter what you MUST be a follower of this blog --->>>>>>> right over there

you can leave a comment telling me if you would keep or gift the KitchenAid
leave a comment telling me what color you would pick if you won
you can become a follower on facebook---->>>>> right over there, leave another comment
blog roll "Hey What's for Dinner Mom?" and leave a comment
tweet or post on facebook " @whats4dinnermom Check out Hey What's for Dinner Mom she's giving away a KitchenAid Stand Mixer " leave a comment
write up a blog post about the giveaway, leave a comment

ok and the technical details--giveaway runs through the end of next Monday the 12 and is open to US residents only!

So there you go. Happy Blogiversary to me!

Peace and Love--

FTC disclosure: none, this was bought and paid for by me.

The Penny Worthy Project

2011-12-03T23:47:00.001-09:00

NOW THROUGH NEXT MONDAY THE 12 OF DECEMBER MAKE SURE YOU ENTER THE KITCHENAID STAND MIXER GIVEAWAY!

Good thrifting week up north here, how about you? No particular good finds, just good trips, fun digging and a happy week.

Bought us a set of cloth napkins. I love the print. These make a nice change from the wash clothes we've been using since we went paperless over here.

Vintage Christmas balls NEEDED to come home with me, yes?

And this adorable vintage stocking.

I've been doing lots of knitting this week too. Finished this voygeur hat for my husband, I love it, don't you?

Of course in case you missed it I made a few gnome hats for my boys too. And I started this gnome hat a couple days ago, I love the way it stripes up.

So who wants to win a KitchenAid Mixer? Come back tomorrow for details!

Peace and Love--

Orange Kissed Brownie Bites

2011-12-01T21:51:00.001-09:00

Don't forget to enter to win a BRAND NEW KitchenAid Stand Mixer Courtesy of ME!

Back to our regularly scheduled program:

You know those little chocolate oranges that you WHACK! and then eat? Well that was my first introduction to chocolate and orange together. I always avoided them because the very thought of chocolate and orange was disturbing, but then I relented. I'm so glad I did, because I discovered I love the combination of chocolate and orange.

This recipe is all that flavor, that smooth chocolate melt, that tangy orange kick all wrapped in a brownie you can make and inhale in the privacy of your home. If you're looking for a new delicious addition to your holiday baking regime, might I recommend Orange Kissed Brownie Bites? Ultimate Evil Club people, ULTIMATE EVIL CLUB, you must make these.

Orange Kissed Brownie Bites

1/2 cup and two TBSP of butter, divided, plus some for the pan
2 square unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
zest of one orange
juice of 1/2 of orange
2 eggs
3/4 cup of flour
pinch of salt
2 cups milk chocolate chips

preheat oven to 350˚
lightly butter and 8X8 baking pan
melt 1/2 cup of butter and unsweetened chocolate in the top of a double boiler
remove from the heat and add the sugar
zest the orange directly into the chocolate mixture
mix in the orange juice
beat in the eggs one at a time
stir in the flour and the pinch of salt
pour into the prepared pan
bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes
remove from the oven and cool completely
cut into 1 inch squares and freeze for at least 45 minutes
when ready to coat the brownies melt the chocolate chips and the remaining 2 TBSP in the top of a double boiler
gently dip each brownie bite in the melted chocolate and then set on a wax paper lined baking sheet
sprinkle with a bit of salt if desired...(makes them really good!)
cool completely before serving
keep either in the refrigerator or the freezer until ready to serve

Best part of the photo shoot right here folks!

Peace and Love--

Gnome Hats

2011-11-30T21:46:00.001-09:00

I've been busy knitting up a storm the last few weeks. I finished two gnome hats for boys

and I finished a voygeur hat for my husband. It just came off the needles so I don't even have pictures yet.

Happy knitty winter!

Peace and Love--

Hats, Gloves and Scarves-OH MY!

2011-11-28T21:24:00.001-09:00

Whew, it's tough to keep your entry way or mudroom at least minimally controlled in the winter. There's so much stuff to keep track of. Here's how I do it, thrifted style of course!

First of all the book shelf is on it's 14th reincarnation--it was a book shelf, then toys, then books and on and on...it's well traveled in our home, to say the least. Right now it's here occupying a spot in our mudroom, a place holder for things to come. Because we own a big old dusty rusty farm house things are always in a state of remodel, that's why some of our walls are drywall and some are sweet 1970 wallpaper and why book shelves are place holders for several years.

The top holds an egg basket for gathering eggs.

Each shelf holds a thrifted wire basket with the appropriate gear in it. Top is for hats, then progressing down the body to gloves and the bottom shelf is for scarves, goggles and miscellaneous. It works so well, it's easy to sort it out when it gets off kilter and I love old wire baskets. WIN!

I also store my egg cartons here and the birch bark off to the right there is covering our fire extinguisher, you know for the next time I cook a ham on the grill...

Peace and Love--

Just Another Meatless Monday Ain't Yo Mama's Pimento Cheese

2011-11-27T20:29:00.001-09:00

Pimento Cheese, is it a dip or a spread?

Do we care? NO! because we only want to eat Pimento Cheese not ponder it's very existence.

I love a good Pimento Cheese. That junk you buy in the store is a very pale imitation of the original which can be found in abundance all over the internet. This one of Paula's is classic and damn fine if you're looking for a jumping off point in the world of Pimento Cheese, you can't go wrong with Paula's easy delsih recipe. Except I like mine with a wee bit of spice and crunch so I added hot wing sauce and some pecans. Whoooo yum, it was like Pimento Cheese the 3d version, an Ain't Yo Mama's Pimento Cheese if you will. I think you'll agree that the basic premise of creamy cheesy is only enhanced with the addition of spicy and crunchy. Seriously.

Ain't Yo Mama's Pimento Cheese
4 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature
2 TBSP mayonnaise
1 TBSP plain yogurt
2 TBSP Franks Hot Wing Sauce--more if you like it hotter--this amount made it tasty not fiery
1/4 finely chopped pimentos or roasted red peppers
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 blue cheese crumbles
3 TBSP chopped pecans

beat the cream cheese, mayonnaise, yogurt and hot sauce with a mixer until well blended
add the rest of the ingredients and mix well
serve with crackers or bread
can be used as a sandwich filling
~~can also be eaten furtively in the kitchen with a spoon when no one is looking~~

Peace and Love--

The Penny Worthy Project

2011-11-26T17:29:00.001-09:00

So, did you go Black Friday shopping? or did you pull a Black Friday Black Out like we did? Good grief I heard people were being pepper sprayed over video games, sure glad we stayed home!

We had a mellow and snowy Thanksgiving Day

our thrifted table for Thanksgiving

followed by a more than mellow Black Friday Black Out--we played games, ate leftovers, some of stayed in our pajamas some didn't, watched some Star Wars movies and generally had a great day at home. The only exception was taking my macbook to the mac store and then to my husbands office to see if it would plug in and charge. Argghh hard to be a blogger if your computer will not charge. But the upside is A) the MacHaus is locally owned and B) it's not dead just would not charge--they ran free diagnostics and couldn't find anything wrong. Curious.

In the end we were mostly stay at home and when we did need to go out it was to a local business. We're calling it successful.

Today I went shopping to for Buy Local Saturday and took my camera along for the fun. I started at my favorite thrift store where boxes filled like this

make my heart beat faster.

Then I made my way over to our local bookstore Fireside Books and spent a good long time perusing books. They are soon celebrating their 10th anniversary in Palmer, they make a great addition to our down town district, I love to shop there.

one of my favorite sections...

and another favorite section

and I popped in next door to Non-Essentials and browsed and shopped some more. This store has all kinds of goodies from Fiesta Ware to Le Creuset to locally produced honey and bulk teas. I'd love to share all my goodies here BUT someone might see their present online and have their surprise ruined.

I did find some cool things while thrifting this week--

listing on ebay soon

Taylor Smith Taylor soup bowls--I'm assembling a set of beautiful vintage florals for spring and summer dishes--I have some 200 year old plates these will be fabulous with--and yes we will be using them daily

more gift tags and stickers and such--the candy cane pen is going in a stocking

book ends for our library so our books can all live an upright life...

I've wanted to read this for a long time, when I'm done I'll pass it on to anyone who wants to read it

Peace and Love--

Black Friday Black Out

2011-11-22T13:03:00.001-09:00

We're joining with folks all around the United States for a "black Friday black out". This is a direct quote from their website "Corporations offer lower prices on Black Friday because they depend on us buying their products. Large corporations use the holiday season to sell more products. Every year we hear about fights over toys, video games, and clothes. We will no longer let the corporations divide with the cheap trash they sell. We don't want "deals". We want real change. We will not work to sell the corporations garbage. We will not buy their corporate trash." Our family is standing in solidarity with people all across the world who are standing up to oppression, standing up for their beliefs and I invite you to join us in the "Black Friday Black Out" and for the equally impressive "Buy Local Saturday" event.
If you need any inspiration for skipping the box store crap, you should really watch the 20 minute or so movie called "The Story of Stuff". It will positively change your views on the way we live and why we need to change the course we are on, it certainly solidified my views on where I want to spend my money. Did you know that 99% of stuff bought in big box stores doesn't last past 6 months? It's designed to be consumed and replaced.

Things to do instead of spend money at box mart on Friday:

sleep in--seriously, if you rush off to work everyday why leap out of bed early another day
eat leftovers, and more leftovers,
have another cup of cheap, homemade coffee, that'll save you 5 bucks right there
engage in a massive all family game of risk or candyland, depends on the age of family members
have a craft-a-thon invite friends to come over, bring their leftovers and craft the day away
take a nap
watch all three Lord of the Rings Movies or Star Wars
have a snow ball fight
make cookies with your kids
start reading a classic out loud to your kids
put you feet up and be thankful for all the things you have
cut snowflakes with your kids
dig around in the cupboards and make something totally unusual
or better yet let the kids cook
stay in pajamas all day
find a place to go sledding
look up local bazaars for Buy Local Saturday
learn to knit
dust off your sewing machine and make something
eat another turkey sandwich
build a fort in your living room
take a long bath
create your advent wreath, if that fits with your beliefs
boil the turkey bones for stock, strain and freeze for good soup all winter
learn to make bread, why not? you got plenty of sandwich makings on hand!

See? There are plenty of things to do besides spend a bunch of many on crap that won't last.

Peace and Love--

Thrifted DIY Decorating

2011-11-21T21:48:00.001-09:00

I needed to fill a rather large spot with some sort of a fall decorations for the upcoming Thanksgiving dinner at my house. I was home for the day, not going anaywhere, so I dug around and got down to work.

Here's how it went down:

first clean off the work table--ha easily said, not so easily done--this poor table gets more than it's fair share of stuff dumped on it--usually just a place to rest before moving to it's proper location (hint hint family!)

so I rallied the troops and handed out the stuff to be hauled of--leaving only the necessities, mostly

I moved some dry flower oasis the green foam from one second hand container to another, this stuff is highly reusable

Then I started picking through my collection of second hand fake flowers and grasses--

and began adding bits and pieces here and there, I stepped back several times to check for height and width--the space I wanted to fill was pretty big so I was going for big and my pumpkin bowl was big but truly I don't think it's bigger than the recommended "container should be 1/3 of the height" so 1/3 is the container and 2/3 are the flowers or in this case, grasses

and here it is residing in my bathroom, on the counter, the fall foliage in the window and the candle sticks are all thrifted as well--the total cost for this project was around 2 dollars--not bad, not bad

Peace and Love--

Just Another Meatless Monday Maple Roasted Pears with Pecans

2011-11-20T20:27:00.001-09:00

If you're looking for a delicious Vegan Dessert to to dazzle guests with, this one might be for you. Yes, we are still working our way through a case of pears, thankfully they're good eating and the work isn't too hard. This simple recipe is quick to make, easy to pop in the oven at the last minute and will delight even young guests.

Maple Roasted Pears with Pecans

6-8 firm ripe pears, I used D'Anjou
1TBSP lemon juice
3 TBSP maple syrup
1/2 cup pecan halves
1 teaspoon celtic sea salt or kosher salt

preheat oven to 350˚
wash and dry the pears
slice them into 4 pieces, I sliced off two whole sides and then the remaining pieces
put them in a bowl and drizzle on the lemon juice
then toss with the maple syrup
add the pecans and set aside
lightly grease a baking pan and pour in the pears
roast in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so
remove from the oven, sprinkle with salt and serve hot

The pears can be prepared ahead up to the point of tossing with lemon juice, then refrigerated until you are ready to roast them. This would make preparation even easier.

Peace and Love--

The Penny Worthy Project

2011-11-19T21:01:00.001-09:00

I've spent a lot of this week working on a deep clean of my house, the main floor anyway. While I've been scrubbing cupboards and enjoying the meditative work of cleaning I've been thinking a LOT about the disposable life that's so prevalent in our country. I wrote Does Thrift Store Shopping Lead to a Disposable Life? the other day and I had so many thoughtful comments, they really gave me food for thought. What do you think, I'd love to know.
Does pondering the disposable life make me stop thrifting? NO! It was certainly not my intent to stop thrifting, but perhaps thrift with purpose. Looking for goods I need or will gift to others rather than goods I want. I also do a bit of reselling, so between those things I have my goal: I either NEED it, will GIVE it or RESELL it. Now I have a goal, lets see how I did.

Ahahaha looking at my purchases this week I see this mug, an exact replica of one I bought for myself in Disneyland 8 years ago--now we have a matched set of cups bigger than my head--YEAH!!

And a vintage tin--hunh I guess I didn't NEED this one, guess I better put it to work

Oh I DID need these, fold-able Christmas boxes. Collapse when not in use, pop up for wrapping and then poof flat for storage. I like these because we'll be able to use them again and again.

last weekend was particularly crafty--here is one of the hats I made--ignore the goggles, it was super windy and cold outside

And we made some Martinmas lanterns last week too, this is mine with the sun shining though it

Don't forget to check out Hey Who's a Winner Mom? to see if you won the Seventh Generation/Le Creuset giveaway--I need the winner to contact me pretty quick or I'll have to draw a new a winner.

Peace and Love--

Vanilla Honey Poached Pears

2011-11-17T20:48:00.001-09:00

Whether you order 20 pounds of organic pears at one time or buy a bag from the local grocery store, now certainly seems the time to indulge in pears. In the last month I've seen D'anjou, Bartletts, Red Bartletts and Comice pears for sale, yes it is the time for pears. I personally happen to have a 20 pound box of organic pears from Azure in my pantry, we are chugging through them, they may be the last for the season, we'll see. And since they may be the last for the season, I don't want to let them go to waste, I also have to balance that with not burning my kids out on pears. Poaching the pears took them from a fruit to snack on to a dessert that will leave them begging for more. Heh, score one for mom.

Vanilla Honey Poached Pears

4 cups water
1/2 cup of honey, more if you need them sweeter
1 vanilla bean
4 firm ripe pears, I used D'Anjou

in a small deep sauce pan bring the water and honey to a very low boilreduce heat and let simmersplit the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the liquid, toss in the bean too
wash and dry the pears
scoop out the blossom end with a spoon
add the pears to the pan
simmer 10 minutes or until the pears are soft but not mushy
remove from syrup and set aside
serve warm or chilled
the syrup can then be boiled until reduced by about half and drizzled over the pears before serving

I felt like throwing away the luscious leftover vanilla honey flavored syrup was wrong and a total waste. So we decided that ours would be poured into some vodka for a vanilla honey cordial. It should ready just in time for Christmas. Waste not, want not, right?

Peace and Love--

Wild Winter Storm

2011-11-16T20:41:00.001-09:00

We are currently smack dab in the middle of our first big, cold, nasty, windy storm. I love it. Yes I am one of those people, I love inclement weather.

I love a good storm and this one is off to a pretty good start. It's the kind of day where the kids aren't allowed to go outside for recess, the wind chill factor is too low or the kids will blow away, one or the other.

My kids are offended at the adult sensibilities of not letting children blow away and demanded to play outside as soon as they got home from school. Now lets recap the storm, 15˚ outside, the wind is gusting to 75 mph and steady at 50 mph and it's November 23rd, I voted to stay in and make cocoa. So I bundled them up and sent them off. Snow pants, gloves, coats, bogs, scarves, hats and goggles.

Yes goggles. Because the snow was making his eyes water.

There's only one way to warm up on a day like this, a nice hot cup of something, be it broth, tea or cocoa.

And a sit in the setting sun, at 4 pm. I was restless with the kids being outside,

I was wandering around with my camera. I caught the sunset through my Martinmas Lantern.

And marveled at the fantastic copper chain my husband made for it.

I found the dog, who was completely unimpressed with the wind staring morosely out the window.

I caught the yard scoured almost clear of snow.

The boys didn't come in until about 5 pm, a full hour and a half of playing outside in the crazy wild wind. The best part is they fell sound asleep by 7:45 tonight, kind of hard not to after that much fresh oxygen is inhaled. Blow on winter storm, blow on.

Peace and Love--

Does Thrift Store Shopping Lead to Disposable Lifestyle

2011-11-15T20:49:00.001-09:00

This thought has been jumping around in my head for a while, along witha few others and I thought I'd try to make sense of them here. Because my confusion should be your confusion. Bear with me as I throw ideas out there and attempt to make sense of some crazy thoughts.

If we can buy everything we need so cheaply, we feel we can give 'it' away if we don't like 'it', how will our culture ever change from consumerism to just being normal buy-what-you-need. (or better yet in Laura's Utopia make-what-you-need)

Thrift stores exist for the sole purpose of getting rid of things you no longer need and re-selling them to make money. They make it ok to over buy in the box store to make yourself feel better because you an just make room for that new stuff by getting rid of the old. Hurray.

If we had respect for the things we buy would we be so quick to donate? But what if you have a shirt that isn't worn out yet, is it a rag because you don't like the color? What should you do with it? Well if you had say grown the sheep, sheared it, cleaned it, combed it, spun it, wove it, cut it, sewed it and ironed it you'd probably make it into something you'd wear. It's so easy to ditch something that cost next to nothing.

I am a making it ok for folks to over buy because I buy up their mistakes, their clutter, their crap. And I love it. Am I the ultimate consumerist?

And yes I am always talking about getting rid of crap in my house because the 'clutter' makes me crazy--yes clutter I willing drag home. I am actively doing it right now.

I asked my husband the other day what we(as a people) did before paper towels were invented. He looked at me like I was crazy, thought for a minute and said I suppose they used rags. Same thing for toilet paper but we. are. not. going. there. So I asked what do we do with all of our now unemployed rags? Donate them. SO we can afford to give clothes away and yet we BUY paper towels, isn't there something wrong with that equation?

Raise you hand if you chop up your old clothes for rags, I do. We don't actually use paper towels, we switched to wash clothes and rags made from well used clothes a few years ago, I love it I will never go back.

Do you think thrift store shopping makes consumerism tick?

Peace and Love--