Adventures in Pop Tart Baking

That's right, I made my own poptarts. The real things, the ones from Kellogg's, are my Achilles heal. I lived on diet coke and chocolate poptarts when I was in college. The were my breakfast most days. I love them, I can't help it. Even now, when I know how terrible they are, they are my go-to breakfast when I'm running late. I can get one strawberry tart at the gas station for $0.69. And then I feel like crap the rest of the day. Hubby loves them too.

So, I set out to make my own and try and make them at least a little healthier. I found the recipe at Smitten Kitchen. I followed her recipe almost exactly, except I did the half whole wheat, half white flour version. And they were pretty good.

Homemade Nutella tarts

 I made two different kinds. One with raspberry jam and one with my homemade nutella. But, my nutella is very crumbly because I store it in the fridge and I made it with coconut oil, so they don't look as  pretty as hers do! I also made one that was half and half because I had just a little jam left from the first four. That one was amazing!

Raspberry tarts

 Apparently my fork pricks didn't make it all the way through the top layer, because they all puffed up quite a bit. And the tarts with the jam in them are a little soft still, they didn't bake up hard like the others did. I'm thinking they could've gone in for a little bit longer.

Baked and cooled the next morning. Not bad really.

The verdict: These are good, but they aren't the same. Which is okay I guess. They're good on their own. And if I keep some around, I won't succumb to the 8am frenzy that is the gas station!

This post is part of the Simple Lives Thursday and Pennywise Platter!

Garden Update: Green Tomatoes

This weekend is really chilly in this neck of the woods. This morning it's 44°F at 9:30 in the morning. I haven't turned the heat on yet, but I am definitely baking today!

Last night we were in danger of frost. I don't think we actually got any, but I wasn't taking any chances. It was cold and raining most of the day, and I knew that covering my tomatoes wasn't going to do me any good if they were already dripping wet. So, I made the decision to harvest all of the tomatoes, no matter how green they were. It hurt! There were even new flowers on some of our plants. I felt so sad...it seems like such a waste. But seasons change and there's nothing we can do to stop it, no matter how small our baby tomatoes are.

Green tomatoes, as well as a few peppers
and a weird melon that I'm not sure of...

I got almost a bushel of tomatoes, some were red, but most were still green. It was a cold, wet harvest and I couldn't feel my fingers when I was done. But I do love smelling like the tomatoes :)

Ripened tomatoes, destined for pizza sauce and salsa!

Now I have over half a bushel of green tomatoes. I've pulled out the ones that I think will ripen over the next few weeks, but I'm left with quite a few that are still very green and underdeveloped. Now what do I do with them? I can't waste the food, I just can't. So much food is sitting here, I'm just not sure how to eat it!

I need help friends! I'm thinking about maybe making a ketchup or relish, or even a jam to give as gifts. But if any of you have no-fail recipes or other ideas, please share. Thanks!

And I never heard from our winner, so I will be drawing a new winner later today. Good Luck everyone :)

Adventures with Summer Squash: Recipe

I don't have any pictures for this one, but it was very delicious! Hubby didn't care for it so much. He said he was tired of chicken stirfry. Whatever. I loved it. I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago.

1 c quinoa, soaked and rinsed
1 lb chicken, cut to strips
1 3/4 c chicken stock
1 c peas (I used my snow peas)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 T olive oil
1 T white wine
2 T tomato paste
1/2 c finely grated Romano cheese
salt and pepper to taste

I found this recipe (or the recipe this was loosely based on) because I had things on hand that needed to be used: chicken, a summer squash, tomato paste and mozzarella cheese. So I added some mozz and only put a little bit of the romano in. I also cut up the squash and added it, along with some fresh basil and oregano. It made it a little more Italian tasting!

The original recipe said to marinate the chicken in the oil, salt, pepper and garlic for about 20 minutes. I didn't really have the time, so I just sauted the garlic with the onion and cooked the chicken after that with the salt and pepper added to it. Deglaze the pan with the white wine (I think I used more like 1/4-1/2 cup, because I had just a little left in the bottle), then add the tomato paste and mix. Add the quinoa, veggies and stock. Simmer about 15 minutes. Mix in cheese and any additional spices. Serve.

It warmed up pretty well for lunch the next two days too.

This post is a part of the Simple Lives Thursday blog hop, The Pennywise Platter, and, because I got it up late, the Friendly Friday blog hop!

Adventures in Veggie Growing

I had a very productive weekend. I got very, very dirty...and sweaty. Saturday, Hubby and I went to breakfast and finished the crossword. Woohoo! Then I got home and got to work. 

I cleaned up the garden beds, harvested and replanted. I harvested and pulled up the rest of the lettuces, pulled up the spinach and harvested the rest of the pak choi. I was going to pull it up, but it hasn't bolted yet and it looks like it's still growing some, so I left it in. I replanted pac choi, lettuce and spinach for a second harvest.

The amaranth, long beans and spaghetti squash I got from Baker Creek this winter was FINALLY found. (Where? Oh yeah, in with the rest of the seeds...) I planted the amaranth and squash, hoping it will still have time to grow. They're both about 90 days, so I hope to just squeak by. If I don't get grain from the amaranth, I can at least eat the leaves for a very colorful salad!

The finding of these seeds can be attributed to my need for organization. Kroger had plastic shoe boxes 10 for $10, and I needed more clothespins (more on that later), so I hopped on my bike and went a got a few to organize my overflowing seeds. During the organization, I found these awesome seeds that I had been searching for the last couple months. Awesome!!

The tomatoes and peppers are actually doing well this year. I already have some fruit! Despite my best efforts, the seedlings got all mixed up though, so I have no idea what varieties are what yet.

baby peppers!

baby tomatoes! I'm guessing these are the amish paste.

I also have some seedlings from the random squash plantings that happened last weekend.

squash seedlings!

The first green beans have now been harvested as well. I got about a pound and they're just in the fridge, waiting to be eaten. I'm finding that I like a lot more vegetables when they come out of my own garden!

green beans!

The peas have been producing like crazy. Every morning while I let Tex out I pick a good handful. They're keeping AMAZINGLY well in the fridge. I keep all my produce in Debbie Meyer Green Bags. (You can usually find them for a few dollars. I get them at Big Lots or Menards for about $1.99. They're reusable and awesome. I also love her bread bags.) I've been picking peas for about a month now and we just ate our first ones last week. They were delicious. I was thinking about freezing some of them though. We have a few pounds and with all the other stuff, I don't think we'll get to them. And how awesome will the be in January!?

snow peas. These are the ones 

I'm letting go to save for next years' seed.

Swiss chard was also up on the chopping block. I pick some HUGE leaves. Literally bigger than my head! This I decided to just blanch for 2 minutes and freeze in smaller quantities for soup. I'm sure I'll have an opportunity to each some fresh. There's plenty more out there. I'm still just a little scared!

swiss chard, pre-harvest

Our farmer's market in our little home town finally had some veggies this week! They've been having it every morning since the beginning of June. And from the beginning there's been the same 4-5 vendors (it's a tiny town, we're still trying folks!). There's a local meat market with pork rinds and landjaggers, baked goods from the kitchen at the senior housing place in town, a jewelry lady and a few other crafters intermittently. Veggies are exciting! I got a zucchini, and yellow summer squash and a couple patty-pans.

This weekends beautiful weather paired with my own eco-guilt and my mothers prompted me to try and figure out how to line dry clothes. I managed to rig a couple of short lines on our upstairs landing outside. That, paired with the drying rack outside and our already-existing inside lines let me dry 4 loads of laundry outside. I did dry Hubbies thermals for work in the dryer. Mostly because I know they'd take a while and my husband is under the impression that anything dried outside is dirty and germ-laden. But he didn't seem to notice with the bath towels or his boxers! Yes, I'm sneaky. But it's only because he doesn't notice.

new clothes line. I later added a second line behind this one.

The adding of more lines meant I needed more clothespins. I was very excited to find, at our local grocery, bamboo clothespins in plastic-free packaging. The poor box was dusty, so I'm sure they've haven't been moving much, but I did buy one of two boxes. It made me smile!

Ooh, and on another shopping note, the meat guy from the farmer's market keeps promising us that they're opening a fresh market in town! The old Super-Value that has been vacant since, from what I can gather, a few years before we moved to town, will now house a fresh market. They will be selling they're meat, custom cuts from their own cattle and swine. He also says they're grass-fred. But around here, that usually still means grain-finished. We'll see. They're also going to have fresh, local produce when available. And not-so-local during the winter months. The opening date keeps getting pushed out, but for the last few weeks he's saying August 1. I'm very excited and will report back soon. :)

Since this is already WAY too long, I'll update on Sunday a little later. Oh, and I have a yummy recipe! For more garden pics, become my friend on facebook!

Adventures With Food Preservation

So this weekend Kira and I were worker bees. Saturday would blanched and froze 5 dozen ears of corn, made 3 gallons of chicken stock and made jam out of 6 quarts of strawberries and 2 pints of blueberries.

5 dozen ears of corn, fresh from the farm stand Saturday morning.

shucking away!

corn mountain!

Cutting it off the cob to freeze.

The weatherman told us it was going to be in the low 90's with 95% humidity and above. Luckily it was rainy and overcast all day and maybe hit 85 later on, maybe. We definitely struck gold that day!

6 quarts of strawberries destined to be jam!

Lots of freezer jam cooling in the fridge!

Chicken Stock!!

And, we finally found a source for some inexpensive 55-gallon food-grade barrels. Rain barrels, here we come! If they would've been set up Saturday, I'm sure I'd have all three of mine full already :)

The pumpkin plants still seem to be alive for the moment, and it appears as if my efforts have done some damage to the powdery mildew. I think it's gone now, I think. After hacking away, I sprayed with a baking soda, water and dish soap solution that is supposed to kill it and keep it away. So far so good.

On a very positive note, I would like to report that Hubby is now back to work! Today is his second day on the job with Molten Metal Products, working as a contractor in a local steel mill. And it's only 13 minutes away!

Adventures with Ginger Beer!

Just a quick post today, didn't get any pictures yet, but I am making a lacto-fermented ginger beer (not really alcoholic though). I am following the recipe from a series of YouTube videos from Herb Mentor.

I just started yesterday. When it looks like something other than a jar of water with ginger in it, I'll update. If this works well I will definitely be making other flavors. Maybe this will help me kick my Dr. Pepper habit (though the cravings are dwindling)!

I am on the prowl for a place to buy bottles locally. I'm looking for the EZ cap kind that can be reused. I know IKEA sells some...but they're an hour away!

Adventures in Drying Clothing

Last night, finally, I got the clothes line hung in the upstairs bathroom. A while ago I took out the shower doors from our upstairs bathroom. It's a teeny, tiny little room and the shower mechanism doesn't work. It hasn't since we moved it. It's on our grand list of things to do, but it needs a serious remodel (ugly pink everywhere, and did I mention it's tiny!), which will be far off in the future. For now, it's useful as a toilet upstairs and we occasionally brush our teeth or wash our faces up there. And, until I removed the doors, I would hang clothes on hangers from the cross bar to dry.

With the door gone, however, I had nothing. I made things a little difficult :) So after having the hooks and the line, I finally mounted it all last night. Woohoo! It's not exactly what I had envisioned, but it will work for now. Total project cost was about $5 and about 20 minutes.


Something about it being light outside, and not frigid cold, seems to make it a lot easier to be really productive after I get home from work!

Adventures in Sanitizing

Until recently, I relied on very hot water and the occasional bleach treatment to disinfect things in my house. I'm a true believer in the saying "God made dirt, so dirt don't hurt", but when it comes to things like raw meat, I don't like to mess around. And my husband isn't quite as strong a believer as I am, so I've looked for more green and more frugal ways to sanitize.


This dark and ominous photo is of my bloody cutting board. No, I didn't just slip in some Queen's English slang, it really is bloody. This is from my beef stew the other night. I love this cutting board, but it's textured and has score marks from my knife as well. How do I make sure it's clean?

As I said earlier, I used to rely on really hot water and a little bleach. But not any more, especially since I've turned the water heater down a few clicks. Now, I use a combination of vinegar, peroxide and a good brush. The brush was $0.99 at Ikea, yes it's plastic, but I'm okay with that. The vinegar and peroxide were purchased in bulk at Sams Club and for two huge bottles of each, I think I spent maybe $10, maybe.


My company just came out with 30% PCR content bottles and all plastic triggers, so I got a bunch of those and made my own cleaners. Left is vinegar, right is peroxide and in the middle is a wonderful concoction of cleaning agents from my mom. I'm not sure what's in it (b/c I don't remember), but it's an all-purpose cleaner with things like tea-tree oil and grapeseed crush in it. It smells wonderful and does a really great job!

For my cutting boards and other contaminated items, I just spray vinegar then spray peroxide, let it sit for about a minute, scrub with the brush and then wash off as usual. The comination of the two is a wonderful disinfectant. Mixing them together in the same bottle doesn't have the same affect and can produce some harmful fumes, so keep them seperate until the last minute!

I got this from a site on this wonderful world wide web, but I can't remember where. I'm sure if you do a quick google search you can learn much more about this though!

A great day!

Since I rambled here about how much I despise Sallie Mae, I feel the need to share my experience yesterday with CitiBank.

I have a credit card with Citi and, if you look back to see, I have a balance of over $7,000 on that card. It is one we are working to pay off. And the current interest rate was at 28.99%.

Well, yesterday I got two phone calls from them. I missed the first because I was in the shower, but got the second on my way home from work. The most pleasant person in the world answered the phone the make sure I was aware that I overlooked an extra $13 on my payment and to inform me that I was currently past due. I apologized and said I didn't realize my payment had gone up. We make an automatic payment of $250, so I didn't notice that the amount due had changed to $263. I inquired as to why it changed. He said something about "changes to the agreement" to which I replied, "oh, they upped the interest rate again, great."

He then informed me I could opt out if I wanted to, but I would have to cancel the card at the end of it's current cycle. I didn't have to pay it off, but I could no longer use it. This is a card I got myself and have had for a few years. It has a nice rewards plan and I'd like to keep it after I pay it off for emergencies and things like hotels and online payments, which I told him. I also said it would be nice to keep it without an interest rate of 30%.

To which he promptly said well, if you make your payment today to bring the account current I can give you an APR of 8.49%. WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Of course! And I made a beeline for the computer as soon as I got home and paid another $50. Plus, today at work we got a $100 safety bonus (before taxes) for going three years without a lost-time injury, so it's paid for too!

I couldn't believe it. I barely even asked to lower it and he did, just like that. Just because I whined a little. There's a lesson here folks, just ask. I was especially surprised when I heard on the news this morning that Citi is being helped out by the government. They're in bad shape and they still slashed my interest rate. Thank you Citi for a very different customer service experience than what I am used to. I thanked the gentleman and explained that I was impressed and really appreciated his helpfulness. What a day.

We also installed a new toilet in our upstairs bathroom. No more pink toilet, now it's just the tub, sink and walls. We went from a 5 gallon ancient beast to a new 1.6 gal Cadet3 from American Standard. With and elongated bowl and 16.5" height, just for Hubby!

The evening wasn't all rosy though. I managed to drop one of the flange bolts down the drain and had to make an emergency run to get a new bolt and a water supply line (we knew that would have to happen but were prepared to wait until today). I can't believe I'm going to say this, but thank God for Walmart. The only place to get plumbing supplies at 10pm. I didn't get a picture, but I will soon. It makes the whole room look better.

Recipe holder

The other day I came across a very nice looking recipe book holder that sits on the counter and immediately thought, "Oh, I need that!" But I don't. I know I don't. I very rarely use a cookbook and when I do, I usually put it on my kitchen table because I don't have a lot of counter space. I also have this ingenious little device that I utilize almost every day. (The paper clip and paper, not the soup cooling on the counter, sorry).


I have paired the trusty clothespin with a box of paper I saved from the garbage heap. About two years ago, we had some things printed at work to be used in the warehouse. They were supposed to be printed on bright yellow paper, but the printing company got mixed up and did it on white. Two big boxes filled with half sheets of printed paper were going to be thrown out. My boss knew I wouldn't like it and asked me if I wanted them to recycle. And of course I did.

First, I paired the pages with a bunch of cereal boxes I had saved up and made some cut notebooks for Christmas gifts. Then I gave one whole box to my mom. She homeschools my sisters (3 at that time I think) and I knew she could use the scrap paper for a lot of different things. I have kept the other box and still have about 3/4 of it.

I recently discovered that these pages were a perfect size for recipes! If I find something I like that isn't in book I own, I write it on one of these pages and when I need it, I just clip it up to the cupboard, easy peasy. When not in use, these bad boys are stored via binder clip in the back of my calendar. This makes them easy to sort through for when I'm planning meals. I also keep blank pages there because you never know when you'll run across something yummy. I have been slowly converting all of my random sheets of paper over to this method and it has been making my life just a little bit easier! I used to use magnets on my fridge to hold the loose pages, but that's on the opposite side of the kitchen from my stove and my spice cupboard.

So, to sum up what ended up a long post. I have found a cheap and easy way to keep my recipes at eye level while also keeping paper out of the landfill! Now I just need to find a use for the rest of it!

A battle rages

For all my frugality and loving of the planet, I do have some major downfalls. As a designer, I naturally love color and texture and design. I like it when things match and coordinate, and things that don't bother me greatly.

Before I was in the real world, I was known to have changed my underwear to coordinate with my workout clothes if what I wore the rest of the day was different. I have since moved on from that part of my life and I'm now lucky if what I wear to workout in is even clean, that is if I get to workout at all.

The reason I bring this up is that I have a dilemma: my coffee pot



My coffee pot was not used much until recently. As a move to be more natural and more frugal, my husband and I decided he would stop drinking a Monster (or two) a day and switch to homemade coffee in his wonderful stainless steel thermos. This has saved us about $35/month and I'm sure it is much better for him as well.

Consequently, the coffee pot that used to hide in the cupboard most of the time until weekends or sometimes when we had guests, now practically lives on the counter. This poses two problems. One: I don't really have room for it to live there permanently, I just don't. And two: IT'S WHITE!! I have all stainless steel and black appliances with stone and wood floor and cabinets and a black marble-looking laminate countertop. With a white coffee pot. Even my coffee grinder is stainless. The only other white appliances I have are the electric can opener (which I never use, only Hubby and only occasionally) and my KitchenAid (which at least has a stainless bowl).

Stainless frig, grinder, blender, etc. with the
coffee pot that sticks out like a sore thumb!

We even have a stainless microwave!

My stainless steel stove and range hood.

This bothers me to no end. I hate looking at it. Problem is it works just fine. It's no thrills: put coffee and water in, plug in and turn on, pour coffee, unplug and turn off. Simple, easy. No clock, no timer, nothing. I love it for it's functionality. But I hate that it's white.

The frugal and eco part of me is preventing me from replacing it with something that will match my decor. But the designer part of me is dying slowly inside. I try and clean it up and put it away every night, just to pull it out the next morning, but seriously folks, that's hard to do. I don't need a new one, it works fine. I shouldn't buy something made on the other side of the world with non-recycleable plastic parts and get rid of the same. I shouldn't and I won't, but it hurts.

For now, I'm getting by with treating it not so nicely - secretly hoping it will die on us soon. Oh the struggles of my life :)

PS, for anyone who feels pity, my birthday is early April and I promise to freecycle any still-working appliance I replace :)

Making use of my "kid-free" time

To those who are now wondering, no, I am not pregnant. I just came across an interesting post from Shannon at Nourishing Days that touched on the time before kids. She talked about wishing she would have used the time more wisely. Her list included:

Here is a list of things to learn and do that I wish I had done myself:

• knitting
• sewing
• gardening
• preparing nourishing food
• nourishing our marriage
• reading
• praying
• composting
• learning about homemade cleaners including laundry detergent
• learn to make your own bread, yogurt, butter and anything else that you would buy from the grocery store
• learn to make homemade soap
• learn to make homemade candles
• learn to use herbs and natural remedies for healing

I think this is a very useful list. I may be using this as a stepping off point for my own list of things I want to do before we enter into that portion of our lives. Some items, like bread and laundry soap, I've got covered and others I am working on. For now, I am enjoying my alone time and time with my husband and hope to learn many new skills while doing it!

I am not my hair

I have long hair. I have had long hair for most of my life. I don't use much product in it at all, and only use a hair dryer when it's below 20F and I need to keep it from freezing in the morning. Then I only use it to dry a little, as it takes a full 20-30 minutes to get my hair even remotely close to "dry". My thick, healthy, long hair has always been part of my identity.

Starting in college, however, I started chopping it off about once every sixteen months to donate it. When I say chop it off, I mean 10-12 inches, leaving my hair about shoulder length. The first time I cried. The last time I convinced a friend to do it with me!


This picture is after the last time, June '07. After this cut I also discovered that my hair can be curly if it isn't weighed down by many inches of hair.

Doing the math, it's now been 19 months since my last cut, and I'm feeling the itch. It's long, it's full of static and since it hasn't been over 30 degrees since like before Christmas, it's getting a little damaged. It NEEDS to be cut!

I usually donate to Wigs for Kids or Locks of Love, but this year my friend and I will be donating to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths. I stopped using Pantene regularly a couple of years ago, but I think they'll still take my hair. So if you want to join in, let us know! It takes 6 ponytails to make a wig, and you only have to donate 8" of hair to this one (others are 12" or 10").

Short hair is definitely greener and more frugal. It takes less water and shampoo/conditioner to take care of your hair when it's short. It also takes less time to dry. And, we'll be helping women who need it. This comes from Pantene's Beautiful Lengths website:

Hair loss can strike an especially crippling blow to women fighting cancer. In fact, a recent study revealed that nearly 60 percent of women consider hair loss the most dreaded side effect they face when undergoing chemotherapy. Eight percent of these women are at risk of avoiding potentially life-saving treatment. Real-hair wigs can cost as much as $1200 and are often only partially covered by health insurance.

Donating your hair is a heartfelt and life-changing act of women's cancer and breast cancer support.

Our plan is to get our hair cut mid-April this year. Almost 2 full years from the last time, but I will survive :) Probably by the time I get it cut, I will have to be running with my hair down like a horse because it's too heavy for a ponytail, but it won't be the first time. Who's with me?

Making My Own Veggie Stock

Yesterday I decided it would be a good day to make some veggie stock. I ran out of what I had in the cupboard (store bought) and decided to do it myself. Why? Two reasons really. 1) It's much cheaper. 2) I know what's in it, and as of yesterday Hubby has to watch his sodium intake*.

Cost Comparison:
Store bought: 2.00 (best sale I could get, on sale with a coupon) for a 1 quart carton.
Home made: 1.39 celery + 0.75 carrots + .01 onion = 2.16 for 6 quarts. Add in the cost of the water, olive oil, salt and pepper and gas to heat it all and we're looking at 2.50 at THE MOST. Awesome.

So how did I get an onion for a penny? I don't know. I went to the Asian grocery store last night to pic up veggies for this and some Panko since it's on my way home. The only veg that had for this was the onion, and they were out of Panko, but I did get some noodles my Hubby has been requesting. The noodles were marked 2.99. I handed they guy my noodles and the onion and my total was $3.01. He told me not to worry about the penny. I'm sure the noodles were discounted somehow, but since I didn't get a receipt and paid in cash, I'm assuming the onion was one penny :)

The recipe below calls for white wine, which I used only because I had an open bottle, but it isn't necessary. It adds to the cost, but it's still less than store bought (on sale and with a coupon).

However you look at it, it's much more cost effective and I know exactly what went into it. Also, the packages stock comes in from the store are very difficult to recycle, and most places, including my village, won't take them. So now I get to use my own containers, freeze whatever I want, and it's super cheap! Plus I have some wonderful veggies to add to my compost pile. I can't wait for spring to start working on it and make it into beautiful nutrients for my garden!

Recipe:
1 lb carrots
1 lb celery
1 lb onion
2 T olive oil
1 T salt
1 T black pepper
1 c white wine
6 quarts water

Directions:

• Chop veggies into about 1" pieces.
• Toss in a large bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper. Make sure all pieces are coated.
• Place in a single layer on a baking sheet and heat oven to 400F
• Roast veggies for about 1 hour.
• Remove from onion and move from baking sheet to stock pot at medium heat.
• When veggies start to sizzle, add white wine and let it soak in/reduce.
• When it's fully reduced, add 6 quarts water and let simmer for 1-1.5 hours. Veggies should no longer have much of a taste when they're done. All of the goodness goes into the stock!

Chopping veggies.

Make sure oil, salt and pepper is coating everything.

Place in one layer on cookie sheet.

If you don't have a huge one like this, you can use two.

Yummy roasted veggies ready for the stock pot!