Progress!!!

The sad, sad state of my garden...

My gardens, or lack-there-of, are quite a disappointment this year. I just didn't have the energy to get outside this spring, and haven't had an opportunity to get out there since the little man's been born (who shall henceforth be known as DJ ;) 

 My dad came and did some weed-whacking a few weeks ago and pulled the weeds from in and around these two beds, but that's about all that had been done. We had nothing but rain for the entire month of May, I'm talking rain for all but like 4 days in the month. And then no rain for June. July has had a little, but I think we're still down about 3 inches from average. Everything in pots died.

Joe's work schedule and the crazy hot heat and high humidity have made it difficult to mow even. I think we've mowed three times. Or I should say he has. I haven't done anything. Our yard looks awful!

dead herbs...

more dead herbs...

overgrown beds...

all the strawberries went to waste...

no weeding done. no flowers planted...

out for a walk, assessing the sadness...

herbs I bought at the farmers market to replace the ones I killed. 

What I've been up to...

Daniel Joseph

He's here! I know I didn't get back while pregnant, but he's here now, so I hope to a little more. At least as often as I have two hands!

Daniel was born two days before his due ate at 7:54 in the morning, 30 hours after my water broke. He was 7 lbs. 6 oz. and 21.25 inches long. He is beautiful and we love him more than could have ever imagined.

As for my birth story, absolutely nothing went according to plan, but I'm okay with that. My water broke in the middle of the night. Contractions started shortly after, but only about 10 minutes apart. So we cleaned up and went back to bed. After about 4 hours of contractions every 10 minutes, I fell asleep for about an hour. Then woke up and they had stopped completely. I spent a couple hours washing my sheets and trying to get them started again, but with no luck. We called the midwives and they asked us to come in that afternoon.

By the time we got to their office, the contractions still hadn't started back up, no matter how many times I climbed the stairs. The midwife checked me and I was dilated to a big fat ZERO, 0% effaced and all the way to the back. Not good. At this point, my water had been broken for 13 hours.

 Since there we no signs the contractions were starting again on their own, we concluded my water had broken early (stupid full moon) and decided to go get induced. I was a little upset at this point, but we really had not choice.

10 hours into labor, I was only a 2-3, but finally 100% effaced. I was devastated. I had spent time in the tub, even tried some nubain at half-dose. But nothing was helping. i had thought for sure I was in transition: I was shaking terribly, I kept throwing up and on the monitor, my contractions were plateauing. I broke down when she said I was barely at 3cm. We decided to get the epidural. I didn't think I had any energy left, especially not enough to push. At this point it was VERY early Thursday morning and I had had about 5 hours of sleep since Monday night when I went to bed.

 The epidural let me get some on and off sleep for a few hours, after which I was dilated to 10, finally! I was checked in the middle and we all gave a little sigh of relief when I finally from 3 to 5, my mom especially. I could start to feel my right leg a little, and just a hint of a contraction when they came, so I started to push.

I pushed for nearly 3 hours. I tried to get three good pushes with every contraction, and towards the end I was vomiting with about every other one. I think they still weren't very regular, thanks to the pitocin, and my energy was fading quickly! At the 2:45 mark into pushing, the midwife called the doc and we all decided to use the vacuum. A few good pushes assisted, and he was out! My beautiful little boy! He was very alert, looking around, and nursed great right away.

8 days old!

He's been doing great ever since. We're loving parenthood, and I'm dreading my return to work. He's putting on weight like a champ.He was down about four ounces when we left, and at his 1 week check, was already up to 7 lbs. 11 oz.! And now, at 5.5 weeks, he's 11 lbs. 3 oz.! He's focusing, tracking and holding his head up great. Breastfeeding is awesome, and we're loving his cloth diapers.

Same outfit at 5.5 weeks. He's so big!

There is now a link to Kelly's Closet in the right-hand tool bar. It's where we've gotten nearly all his diapers. We love them. They have some great coupons and deals all the time, and great customer service.  It is an affiliate link, so buying from them through me will help me out just a little! If you're interested in cloth diapering, please check them out. Enough of the cuteness for now. Hopefully we'll be back to some regular programming soon. I need some good recipes and meal plans in my arsenal before I head back to work next month!

Wow, it's been a while!

Six months is a long time to stay silent, and I'm truly sorry. Apparently this momma likes to avoid the net as much as possible while making a baby!

Today I am one week from my due date and ready for this little guy to be out of me and in the world!

Here are some quick updates in pictures. I hope to have more to share soon, of an actual baby!

38 weeks and looking quite puffy! I haven't been able to wear
my wedding rings or my watch for a couple months now :(

The crib all put together and pictures hung on the wall.

Changing table with shelf on a perpendicular wall.

The material on the floor is what I'm making curtains out of :)

The wall opposite the crib, though I promise it looks a little better now, lol!
This was during the messy phase of the room!

My mom (middle), sisters and I at one of my showers.
Ok, only 6 of us are actually related. The lovely girl on the far
left is a pseudo-sister ;) But loved just the same!

Happy New Year's Eve!

Just because I had to do it before the New Year, last night I sent the last payment in for Hubby's truck. That's one less payment and one less debt to start of 2011!! I'm so excited :) I can't wait to tell him when he wakes up (he went to bed at 7am this morning after working nights again).

To add to the great day, it's going to be nearly 50 degrees here in NW Ohio today. And I am looking outside right now and the sky has cleared. I can see blue skies and white fluffy clouds. The sun is even peaking out a bit.

Now, if I can just get rid of the annoying headache, the day will be great. A day for me to finally get to some of those outside things I neglected in the fall. Here's to hoping my carrots are still good!

Have a Happy New Year everyone!

At a loss for words...

...and I just don't know what to write about! I'm just doing my best to try and keep up with everything and nothing exciting is going on.

I was going to take a picture of the disaster area that is my kitchen. There are dirty dishes everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE!! I was going to show you that I am not perfect, no where near it! HA! But, my camera batteries are dead and I don't have any charged to put in it, so I can't even do that.

I am getting things done now, just slowly. Very slowly. I spent the last two days doing laundry (over 2 weeks worth!), hemming pants, mending things and going through a very large pile of unread magazines. If you'll notice, that was mostly done from the couch :) I have two more days off and I'm hoping to get the kitchen caught up and the office cleaned up. Those are my not-so-lofty goals.

Though I do have much more energy now than I did in the first trimester, I'm still dragging. I'm not falling asleep at 8:30 to sleep for 11 hours, but I don't have the energy to be up on my feet all day quite yet. Needless to say, this is not how I thought pregnancy would be for me. But, I love it nonetheless!

Food and meal planning has definitely been an area of slippage for me. Big time. Most mornings I'm eating cereal. Eggs just still aren't sitting right with me first thing. And cereal is quick, easy and delicious. I craved it big time for a while in the beginning. I know it's not the best nutritionally, but the way I see it, it's better than not eating, and right now those are pretty much my choices! We've been eating out quite a bit more than I would like to. And it's mostly just because I don't have the energy to think about dinner, and that I'm hungry, now! I'm hoping these few days off work will allow me to catch up a bit more with the house so that I feel like I can use the kitchen and think clearly in there. A cluttered kitchen makes for a cluttered mind in this house. I'm not going so far as to make a meal plan this week, but I at least know what's in the freezer now :)

Adding to the difficulty is that Hubby is working nights. He leaves before I get home most days when I'm working, usually by 5pm and gets home when I'm getting up for work. Which means the only cooking I'm doing for him is occasionally packing his lunch (he's actually been doing it himself, which amazes me!) or leaving leftovers for him. Coming home in the dark to an empty house and cooking is just not appealing, especially when I know it's just going to make more dishes to wash!

As you may have noticed, dear readers, I'm in a bit of a funk. I'm working my out of it, I hope. Tuesday is my next appointment. They should be doing an ultrasound. I'm hoping that seeing our little one will motivate me to get off my butt and do something!

Oh, and Merry Christmas :)

Oh my! It's been a while.

And I do apologize for that. But believe me, I've had my reasons :)

Hubby and I are expecting our first little one in June of next year! We've been keeping it a secret until just about a week ago. And I've been sooo tired. I'd come home, take a nap for a while before I make dinner and then, if I'm lucky, maybe clean up a bit before I head to bed...at 8:30! That hasn't left a lot of time for much of anything.

My house is a mess and I'm entirely unprepared for Christmas! I have finally started to get my energy back the last few days and I'm hoping to be able to catch up a bunch this weekend. Hubby' just got called in to work tonight, but he's off tomorrow and Sunday. So hopefully I'll have some help from him too!

He's really been working quite a bit lately. Anything over 36 hours is overtime for him, since we works 12 hour shifts. And he's had at least 12 hours over every week since he started on shift work. And the 12 hour shifts means he comes home, showers, eats and basically goes to bed to start over again in the morning. It's been a bit of an adjustment for us.

As for the garden, well, I didn't quite get it put to bed as well as I'd hoped. I was just too tired. No fall or winter garden for me this year. The hoses are still out and connected, despite it being constantly below freezing now and about 4 inches of snow that isn't going anywhere. The trees didn't get trimmed, and I still only have one apple tree planted. I'm hoping I will have enough energy to make up for it in the spring. And I may just have to buy new hoses, but such is life! I will be asking for my rain barrels to be set up for my birthday in April, so I'm hoping to not have to need the hoses on the spigots much next year!




I guess that's it for now. I'm hoping to be able to have the energy in the next coming months to keep updating. Wish me luck!

Adventures in Harvesting

This carrot was twisted all the way to the tip!

This past week I've been on vacation and so has my Hubby. We've gotten quite a few things done, especially outside. Not all that I had hoped, but still quite a bit. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of just about all of it! Most of it wasn't exciting anyway.

We ripped out a bed that had been neglected long before we took possession of the house. It was overrun with lily-of-the-valley and three large lilac bushes. As much as it pained me to do it, I cut down all three of the bushes and ripped up the lily mat that lay on top of the actual dirt over there. In it's place, we've planted an apple tree. I want to get two more dwarf varieties for over there, and find something that does well in semi shade until they get bigger.

I also dug my potatoes. I got quite a few and some much larger than I anticipated. I filled up my potato basket and kept a handful of green ones for seed potatoes for next year.

Last of the kohlrabi and some carrots.

Most of the green plant material got pulled up in the other beds. Spent squash vines and tomato plants and bean plants were pulled up. I even harvested about half of the carrots. And I'm glad I did. This variety got huge! A couple broke off in the ground and I couldn't pull them out. I'll leave those for the squirrels.

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!

The Best Homemade Ice Cream Ever

And I'm not kidding, at least that's what my husband says :)

This is a recipe based on an Alton Brown recipe, but entirely different.

Ingredients:
3 cups heavy whipping cream
3 cups 2% milk
1 1/2 cups rapadura or sucanat*
2 vanilla beans

Heat milk and sugar in a saucepan on medium heat. Scrape seeds from vanilla beans and place beans and pods in pan with liquid. Heat to 170°F or until the very first bubble appears. Do not let it boil!

Mixture heating on the stove.

Turn heat off and let cool on the stove. Once cooled down, strain and place in fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight. Then process according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

Straining to cool. Yes, it was mostly cool at this point,
but my kitchen was VERY cold. I refuse to turn the heat on yet :)

After processing, it will still be quite soft. Place in freezer until hardened. This is where I add cocoa powder to some of it to make it chocolate. I mix about 1/2 a cup of cocoa with about 1/3 of the ice cream before hardening.

Then eat, both are delicious :) My hubby says the vanilla is so good that it's not worth making anything else! It has a little bit of a carmel-like flavor. It also isn't too sweet and, as my husband said, has a nice, refreshing taste. It doesn't leave you thirsty like some ice creams can. And, I feel good eating it. I know that there's only good things in it (for the most part anyway) and it's delicious. Enjoy!

*It is VERY important to use rapadura or sucanat, not regular white sugar. This isn't just for health reasons, but because it's what imparts the unique flavor to the ice cream and makes it oh-so-delicious!

This post is being shared as part of the Pennywise Platter.

New Tattler Winner

Congratulations to Sara, our new winner of the Tattler Reusable Lids. Our first winner never contacted me, so we are on to the next. Random.org picked comment #7:

Congrats to Sara. Please contact me with your info and I'll get them out to you!

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 :)

Last Chance!

Heyaheather. You won the giveaway, but I have no way to contact you! I know I said 48 hours, but I've given you a little while longer. Please email me at angelajiniel at gmail dot com with your contact info so I can have them send you your prize. Thanks.

I really, really will pick another winner after Noon (EST) Friday.

Stay tuned, readers, for the best icecream recipe I've ever eaten in my entire life!

We Have A Winner!

As I guessed, I was gone all day yesterday and didn't get a chance to post the winner. But, I scored a lot of great whole food ingredients for very little and had a great time with friends. I love visiting the Amish stores in Ohio!

Anyway, on to the real reason you all are here, the giveaway winner.

And according to random.org, the winner is comment #22, heyaheather.

Congratulations! Please contact me within 48 hours with your shipping address so we can get the lids to you in time to use them this season! If I don't hear from our winner by Wednesday, I'll pick a new winner. I don't want to let these babies go to waste this season!

In other news, I canned three more jars of sauce which I made in the crockpot while we were away yesterday. Two of the three sealed...I've still got work to do to make them function properly. I think the problem this time was the ring I used. Looking at it, I don't think it sealed it down properly.

Last Day to Enter: Tattler Giveaway

Just a reminder that today is the last day to enter the Tattler Reusable Canning Lid giveaway.

From their site:

TATTLER Canning Lid's proven success, as a reusable product, has earned them the distinction of widespread customer satisfaction and acceptance since their origination in 1976.  The years of development of this product have brought to the home canner a jar lid that is truly reusable.  In fact, the longevity of TATTLER Canning Lids presents the likelihood they will be handed down to the next generation of food preservation enthusiasts!

Properly used, with any standard Mason jar and metal screw band, these reusable lids will last a lifetime. If you ever wear this lid out, we will replace it free! Follow standard directions and procedures, for two piece canning jar lids, with any normal home canning process, and obtain excellent results.

Tattler lids from their site.

Their lids are:

• Infinitely reusable (thought the rubber rings may need to be replaced after a while)
• Dishwasher safe
• BPA free
• Made of FDA approved materials 
• And can be used with Pressure canner or water bath (boiling water) methods.

After I get some more canning done with them, I will post more about them and exactly how to use them, so you DON'T do what I did and lose half a quart of applesauce to the canning water!

Good Luck everyone!

Tattler Reusable Lid Update

After cooling, three of the four jars sealed without a problem. The fourth jar is the one who's lid popped off during the canning process and 1/2 the applesauce left the jar. I didn't that that one would work!

I also know what I did wrong. Even after reading other reviews and seeing them make this same mistake, I've made it. Before canning, you need to loosen the ring a 1/4 INCH, not a 1/4 TURN. INCH!! I even reread the box to make sure I was doing it right and I did it the wrong way. Ugh. Lesson learned.

The best part? I don't have to throw a lid away and waste it because it didn't seal, just use it again!

Remember, the giveaway for your own Tattler Lids is open through Midnight on Friday. So if you haven't entered yet, do so soon!

Indian Summer

This weekend I picked all of the green tomatoes from the volunteer plant that came up by the compost. Since there was no support out there for then, they were all laying on the ground. And, consequently, every one that ripened was eaten by all of the lovely bugs that live back there. So they are now slowly ripening in my laundry room. It's been fairly cool for the last couple of weeks, hovering in the 70's and occasionally breaking the 80 mark. So they were ripening very slowly back there under all of the greenery anyway.

Today's high is supposed to be 88. Almost 90! And the rest of the week is hopping from 80 to almost 90. Isn't today the Autumnal Equinox, the first day of fall?

So the large box of tomatoes I have will most likely ripen quickly this week. And that's not to mention all of the tomatoes that are still out there on the vine ready to be picked. I've got some work to do! I'm thinking a few more batches of salsa made during the week and some sauce over the weekend. I hope I have time. We are going to Amish Country with friends on Saturday and celebrating a family birthday on Sunday. I need to make sure I come home and get things done on Sunday! Or maybe I'll dehydrate some while we're gone on Saturday and put the rest in the crockpot...hmm...

Either way, I'm still planning on canning more sauce this weekend. Hopefully I'll get the chance to perfect my use of the Tattler Reusable Lids. (If you didn't know, I'm giving away a box of each size! Tell your friends and family, share! Drawing will be held Saturday!)

I'm also hoping to take advantage of the warm and get some fall/winter seeds to germinate this week, if only I can get them planted tonight! And, I need to get the potatoes harvested. This warm, dry weather would be great to get them cured for storage.

What are you doing in your gardens this fall?

Tattler Reusable Canning Lids (& a Giveaway!)

I recently decided to try some Tattler Reusable Canning Lids rather than continue to spend money on disposable metal lids the have (though very small levels) BPA on them. Every time I went to buy new lids, I just couldn't let myself spend the money, even when I had a coupon!

So I set out to search for a solution. And thanks to the power of google, I found these. I also found quite a few other bloggers who have talked about them recently and a while ago. They've apparently been around since the 70's (they're older than I am!), but I haven't heard about them until now.

I order three sets of each size and they arrived yesterday.

Lids in their shipping box. I've already pulled out one set of regular sized lids.

After my 5k this morning (my first! 36 minutes and I didn't die, woohoo!), I went and picked about a 1/2 bushel of apples from my mom and dad's house and came home and made applesauce. It was my first opportunity to test out the new lids.

Four jars of applesauce. The not-quite-so-full jar is one that didn't go so perfectly...

They're a little different than regular metal lids, as they come in two pieces. The rubber rings can be reused, but do need to eventually be replaced. The white lid part can be reused indefinitely unless it becomes damaged. Also, you have to tighten them and then turn back a 1/4" during processing. Then, once you take them out of the water, tighten them down while they cool. That part's a little tricky and my first run wasn't exactly, um, perfect. We'll see once they cool how it went!

And the good news is that Tattler has allowed me to give one of you a set! One winner will receive a box of a dozen of each size, rings and lids. I'm so excited for my first giveaway! (And, to clarify, I bought my lids so any review I do is just for information, I've not been compensated.)

How do you enter? Just comment here and tell me what kind of food preservation you've been working on lately. And, for an extra entries, share about this giveaway on your own blog or on facebook or twitter. Please put a separate comment for each entry (max. 4 per person). The contest will be open all this week, closing at 12pm EST on Friday night. I will announce the winner on Saturday (or maybe Sunday if I'm in Amish country all day Saturday :) Good Luck everyone!

For those of you interested in my applesauce recipe, it's painfully simple:

Apples, a bunch. I think I had about 1/2 a bushel.
1 cup (or so) of your favorite sweetener. I used rapadura


Wash and cut up apples in pieces and cut out bad spots. (Since I was using my mom's apples that have quite a few spots and bugs, I just cored them all, but you don't have to if you have a food mill.) Put a large pot on the stove on medium heat and cut your apples into the pot, peels on. Add a little water to get started. Every so often, put in a little sugar. Stir occasionally.


Once all the apples are cut, let it cook with a lid on for about 20 minutes until cooked down and softened, stirring occasionally. Then run through a food mill. I use a Foley food mill that I got at garage sale (or my mom got for me at a garage sale :)


I also put a few cloves in while it's cooking. Most people would put some cinnamon in, but my husband believes that cinnamon is the devil, so we don't put it in at this stage. I put on when I eat it :)

For more information, or if you don't have a mill, visit PickYourOwn.org for more info.

Reusable bags and dehydrator, I'm a winner!

My new dehydrator in it's home in the laundry room!

Recently I won a giveaway from the Green Bag Lady. A $60 giftcard to the CSN stores, with which I bought a dehydrator. I was so excited! I've already dehydrated a bunch of onions and made onion powder, dehydrated my first batch of home grown tomatoes, made jerky, dried a bunch of herbs and made chili pepper flakes. I love it!

Finished jerky. It was really good!!

They also sent me an awesome reusable bag, because it's what she does. Thanks so much!

My Green Bag Lady bag!

What I've been up to...

As I type this, I am taking a short break from making and canning a bunch of tomato sauce. I got a bushel from the farm stand (didn't pick myself this year since it's raining today) and then a few more quarts of my own when I got home. I know you're not supposed to mess with wet plants...but I couldn't let all of the beautiful red tomatoes go knowing I was making sauce!

My sauce recipe is really simple. I usually just clean and quarter the tomatoes (or maybe more pieces, if the tomatoes are huge like some of these) and then heat them for a bout 20 minutes. Then I process them through the foley food mill and simmer them for a while to thicken the sauce. I usually add a little salt then process in my water bath canner, according to the ball blue book. This way I can turn the sauce into whatever I need it to be when I need it.

Tomatoes from my garden! Finally, I am growing beautiful red tomatoes.
The pepper on top is one of my Sweet Chocolates.

I also got a dehydrator. I'm so excited.
It has helped so much with processing the harvest this year.

I've already made two batches of lacto-fermented salsa from Nourishing Traditions. I haven't had whey, so I doubled the salt. Makes the salsa a little salty for my taste, but Hubby loves it. And so does my boss. She bought a quart from me and added black beans and corn and said it was really good.

Swiss Chard all dried out for winter soups. I'm still a little scared to eat it fresh...

Zucchini shredded for some yummy bread. (Recipe coming soon!)
This entire food processor cup is filled, probably way too much, with zucchini
from one fruit. I got it from someone at work. Literally the size of a t-ball bat!

Meat marinating for jerky. I bought a large roast from the local butcher and sliced it up.

The rest of the roast was ground up and browned. This will be chili on Monday!