The Left-over Cranberry Sauce of your Dreams December 1, 2009

Must share this yummy recipe – I made it up myself last night! 

Peach-Cranberry Pie

1 home made pie crust (made with butter is the best!)
8 cups sliced fresh peaches (or frozen, unsweetened peaches, defrosted and undrained)
1 cup left-over orange-rosemary cranberry sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 – 3/4 cup rolled oats (I used a big handful)
2 Tbs butter

Preheat oven to 375.  Put pie crust in a deep dish pie plate.  Stir together peaches, cranberry sauce, sugar, flour and oats.  Put in pie plate.  Dot with butter.  Bake for 40-45 minutes.  Cover edges of pie crust with foil if they are browning too quickly.  Let cool for about 15 minutes before serving with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

If you wanted to, this would be good with a lattace pie crust on top.  But I am in way too much of a hurry for my desserts to go to all that work.

Where I’ve Been and Independence Update! November 25, 2009

Wowza!  I’ve been off the blog for over a week – it’s been a mad house around here!  What with the teething and growing and friends over for dinner and getting all set for the holidays, plus prepping to do my student teaching!  Yikes! 

So a quick update…. I think I owe a few weeks of Independence days.  We’d be on week 28, but I really don’t feel like I have all that much to report for the last three weeks or so (see the mad house comment, above).  The chickens are just hanging out (or hanging in) in the snow, and we are still getting two or three eggs a day from them.  The two older hens are not laying, and I’m guessing they won’t lay through the winter.  The three little girls are busy, but they can’t keep up with Henry, the egg eating machine, so we did buy a couple dozen this week.  Yes, they are both local and humane.   

So there’s nothing in the Plant Something, and only eggs in the Harvest Something category.  Does any one know if it is too late to put garlic in the ground?  We’ve wanted to do this, but have kept putting it off and now it might be too late?? 

We did pick up our hog (well, only half a hog this fall) last week.  We split it with Dave the Dentist, and so maybe that counts as Want Not/Prep & Storage or Build Community Food Systems??  Since we didn’t harvest anything new, there was nothing to Preserve.  Wait, no, I take that back.  We did boil a turkey carcass to death, so we preserved some turkey stock (which is delicious!). 

Waste Not – well, compost and recycling, of course, and we are still mucking about with the pallets Rick brought  home for the new bins we want to make.  Rick brought home a piece of drywall that was to be cast off at work (they’re remodeling his office), to replace a damaged piece in our basement junk room.  Also, found a couple of cute uses for scrap fabric that have been transformed into Christmas gifts. 

Eat the Food - ah, food.  The one category that never fails me.  I always eat!  So this week, we are making green bean casserole from beans we froze, and chardonnay glazed carrots from the sweet carrots of the late summer/early fall.  And mashed potatoes from the spuds stored down in the basement.  Yum.  Yes, we are hosting Thanksgiving dinner.  I plan to break out the home-made dill pickles and watermelon rind pickles for snacks while the turkey roasts. 

And I made my cranberry sauce ahead of time.  I adapted an Everyday Food recipe.  I was standing there cooking it, when suddenly the urge to add rosemary overcame me.  I put it in and I think it turned out pretty tasty.  So here’s that one for you:

2 packages fresh cranberries (24oz each)
1.5 cups sugar
4 large strips of orange peel
1/2 cup water
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, plus more for garnish

Rinse and drain cranberries.  In a large sauce pan, add cranberries, sugar, orange peel and water.  Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and let simmer 15 minutes.  Add rosemary sprigs and simmer 5-10 minutes more.  Remove from heat, and stir in orange juice.  Let cool, cover and refrigerate for up to a week.  To serve, bring to room temperature and remove rosemary, garnish with a fresh rosemary sprig.

So that catches up the Independence Days.  But what else?  Well, Emmett is rolling over both ways now, and quite the wiggle worm.  I know he’s just getting all set to crawl off, and we are so not ready for it.  He’ll be five months old this week, and I can’t believe how fast the time is flying. 

We signed him up to participate in a study on infant feeding.  He is exclusively breastfed, and the study is looking at first foods for babies, and how they absorb iron and zinc.  There are three groups: a meat group, and iron fortified organic cereal group, and an iron and zinc fortified cereal group.  We were randomly assigned to the organic iron fortified cereal group.  So yay, we got my second choice, although I would have preferred the meat group, since that means for the duration (until he is 10 month old) we are not allowed to feed Emmett red meat – including venison and elk.  But it’s not a big deal really.  We didn’t feed Henry ANYTHING until he was nearly ten months old.  So starting cereal and waiting for red meat is fine.  Emmett will begin next month when he is six months old.

Ah – times up.  I do have more to write, but now, not only is Henry awake and playing in his room, Emmett is paging me.  So with this post, something is better than nothing.  I will try to get more up this weekend.  maybe a few pictures too.   

Happy Thanksgiving Day to you!

Early and Pearly! November 15, 2009

Emmett has TEETH!  Not just a tooth, but two teeth!  I had thought he might be teething over the last week or so, but dismissed it as growing, since I reasoned that he was just too young.  But then, on Friday night, I actually saw one little baby tooth poking through those little gums.  What what WHAT?? 

He’s only four months old, so it’s on the early side of normal.  But then yesterday I saw tooth number two!  Crazy, huh!  I tried to get a picture, but you really can’t see them past those (no longer toothless) grins.  I thought Henry was early too at about five and a half months, but somehow, Emmett’s first four months have flown by faster to me then Henry’s.  Here’s the post I wrote when Henry cut his first chomper… I had to look it up to confirm the date!  Breakthrough.

We are proud of our little chomper.  He’s lovin’ the cold teething toys at the moment.  But I don’t think Rick and I are going to be able to blink with this one! Yay for Emmett!

I’ll post pictures ASAP – not sure yet how to connect the camera and upload with the new computer….. 

A Weekend of Birth November 15, 2009

So last weekend was the training for my CAPPA childbirth educator’s certification.  I learned so much and met some great women.  The training was held Friday and Saturday at the Alliance Breastfeeding Center in Colorado Springs.  Our instructor, Desirre Andrews, was amazing and a wealth of information.  She was so supportive, honest and helpful.  And she has an amazing amount of experience, both professionally (she’s the president of ICAN) and personally as a teacher, doula and a 2VBA2C  (two vaginal births after two cesareans).

Friday was full of so much information.  The students in our class (me and five others) bonded quickly, and it helped the leaning process immensely to be comfortable with the other women.  One woman was a L&D nurse from Sidney, NB; another woman from Fort Collins who worked in an OB office; two women from the Springs area (one already a doula), and myself and another mother (and doula) from the Denver area.  We had a great pool of information and experience, and had some great moments during the workshop.  More than one person cried over the two days (and about 21 hours of training), including myself.  So cool. 

I went to the workshop Friday feeling confident in my knowledge about birth, and left the ten-hour training feeling a bit overwhelmed and like I still had a lot to learn.  My brain felt completely full and I got home feeling exhausted.  I did my homework for the night, hit the sack, and hit the road again first thing in the morning, excited for day two. 

The second day was just as jam-packed full of information, but I realized that I do know my stuff, and while I still have learning to do, I’m part of an organization that really supports its educators, and that we educators would leave supporting each other as well.  The training was so helpful, and I feel fully prepared to write my curriculum, take my test and start teaching. 

Then, as I sat in my pjs in my living room processing first thing Sunday morning, I got a call to come to a birth.  This was a second time VBAC, at home.  The mom did amazing, and it was so cool to witness her strength as she had a beautiful HBAC (that’s home birth after cesarean) with her midwives supporting her all the way.  I was able to help the midwives a little bit, and mainly took pictures for the family.  Beautiful.

I feel so blessed to be able to have women who  have let me be a part of their births and who have helped me earn my certification my observing classes, births, and giving me referrals.   

So I am very close now.  I still need to observe a new parent class, and do two hours of teaching under observation.  Then I submit my test (it’s a big test) and forms and curriculum, and I will be certified and able to teach.  Yay!

I’ve been trying not to jump the gun too much.  I am working on a business name so I can buy a URL and business cards (they really help with networking and marketing), and then, after I’m certified, I will launch my website, birth blog, and start scheduling classes.  I can’t wait! 

I’ll keep you up to date.  Be on the lookout for a new business website announcement by the first of the year. 

Emmett has Feet and Other Amazing Events November 11, 2009

Wordless Wednesday, hang on for the ride – there’s a lot to post today, and as always, click for the best view!

   

   

  

           

Happy 40th November 10, 2009

The Google tribute to Sesame Street turning 40 has been fun to watch.  In honor of our favorite muppets’ birthday I wanted to post this clip of Oscar the Grouch (when he was orange!!!) singing with Gordon (who had a ‘fro!) back in 1969.

Additionally, Aerosmith turns 40 this year.  Over the last couple of days there have been rumors of Steven Tyler leaving the band.  I truly hope not, but whether or not he still wants to rock with Joe Perry and the LI3, we do know this, the Demon of Screamin’ loves trash too:

So happy birthday to both Aerosmith and the gang a Sesame Street…. Rock on. 

Independence Days – Weeks 23, 24 & 25 November 2, 2009

Three weeks on one post… sheesh!  Things have been crazy for me the last three weeks.  Rick has, of course, been hunting which has left me with my hands full with the boys and not a lot of time for sane blog writing.  I’ve also been working on my childbirth educator’s certification, and am very close… this weekend is my workshop, and then I should hopefully be able to take my test and be certified.  Trying not to stress about this, but I am getting down to the wire a bit. 

We did take a trip to the pumpkin patch, which I posted about, but I wanted to make sure you saw the great photos Rach got of my boys… particularly the one of Emmett!  *Swoon!  Is he not the cutest!??!  Her awesome patch pics start about half-way down the post.  Isn’t she just the craftiest!

Of course this past weekend was jam-packed, what with Halloween and Henry’s big 3rd birthday party at the Colorado Railroad Museum.  We took about 200 photos of the weekend festivities, and Rach was there and caught her own 500 or so!  Check out her latest post… that last pic of Henry is so great!

Then, this morning I woke up to one dead chicken and one chicken missing.  I thought Lavender, our grey chicken, had flown the coop… I saw what I thought was her jump over the back fence.  When I went out to investigate, she was nowhere to be seen and still (as of 7:00pm) has not come home.  Unfortunately, we don’t expect her back, as one of her Rhode Island Red comrades was lying dead (and partially dismembered) in the yard. 

Josie was trying to help herself to chicken for breakfast, but we don’t think it was her that did the killing.  There are fox tracks all over the place and I had only just let Josie (who has never tried to attack the chickens before) outside.  I didn’t hear a ruckus of any kind, and she didn’t have any blood on her.  But you’ll not catch her saying no to a free chicken either.  

We’re a bit bummed on that front, as it means we’re back down to only five.  And oddly (or maybe not so oddly) I’m not too sad about the dead red-head, but I have a bit of heartache about Lavender… this is why you don’t name food.  She was one of the originals, and though she was meanest and leanest, she laid a white egg everyday and was fun to watch. 

So anyway, here’s the dirt on Independence Days.  All in all, not the most successful three weeks since we’ve started this.  Stay tuned for b-day and Halloween pics to come later…

Plant Something –  um, none.

Harvest Something–  Rick successfully harvested a doe!  Eggs from just the young chickens, as the older hens are molting and looking quite pitiful.  A very large bunch of kale (and gave the Spicy Kale and Potato Soup a second – and much more successful- go ’round). 

Preserve Something – venison and elk in the fridge, potatoes to the basement, carrots to the freezer.

Waste Not – I really think we had a big FAIL in this category.  The upright freezer door got left open a crack and we lost a bunch of food in the door.  The stuff in the body of the freezer stayed frozen, since it was full, but we had a mad rush to eat some pork chops and beef remnants.  The rest had to be tossed. 

Want Not/Prep & Storage - nothing new

Build Community Food Systems –  we were able to share a few veggies this past week, but I didn’t get to the last of the farmers markets to get those apples I wanted. 

Eat the Food – mmm I.O.U. some recipes.  Not in the mood to type recipes right now, but I will say that we’ve been eating venison, practically finished the pork completely, enjoyed some tomatoes and chiles for a pot of home made green chile, eating potatoes, and peaches.  We did share a few of our preserves as well… mostly as gifts to my awesome bro-in-law, Dan. 

Thrifty Thursday: Warranties and Repairs October 29, 2009

This tip came to me from Genny, former TTT girl and blogger, and oddly at  a time when my other friend, Jenny, was sharing similar events with me. 

Taking advantage of warranties.  Genny recently had an immersion blender stop working.  But instead of throwing it out and buying a new one, she called the company.  For a small fee they shipped her a new part, and the blender was able to be repaired. 

Jenny’s story: someone had bought her daughter a toy for her birthday.  Jenny didn’t get around to putting batteries in it to properly try it out for a couple of months, when she did, she discovered that it didn’t work.    She tried to take it back to the store with the gift receipt she had, but too much time had passed and the store would not take it, and it was no longer stocked there.  They told her to contact the manufacturer.  When she did, the manufacturer (Hasbro) agreed to send her a new toy.  She expressed her that it was a defect in the toy (since the store no longer carried it), and Hasbro agreed to send a similarly valued toy for the appropriate age of her daughter.  At no charge.  She did not have to send anything to them, or pay any shipping. 

And as I write this I realize that I’ve had similar experiences myself.  Once with a part for my pressure cooker, and once I broke one of the crystals on my chandelier in my bedroom.  Both times the makers sent me the pieces I needed for little or no charge. 

So a great way to save money – contact your manufacturers, save those warranties, and make those repairs.  Much less expensive than buying new!

Handmade Christmas October 24, 2009

Can I just say that I am so over Christmas.  Not the holiday itself, but I’m over the tons of money spent and agonizing over gifts and superfluous presents that are really simply filler because of the ridiculous pressure of I- have-to-because-they-got-me-something. 

Last year was by far the worst Christmas for me in this department.  I am quite happy with what Rick and I and Santa got for Henry, but aside from that…. it kinda stunk.  Henry got so many presents that I could not remember who gave him what, mainly from Rick’s family. 

We actually went into debt to buy gifts, and Rick and I did not give each other anything.   Thankfully, my family runs much more low-key. They are older and tend to value the time together -and the food- more than the presents.  But it just isn’t enough.  We will never go into debt for Christmas again.  And we’ll never skip giving our spouse a gift again either. 

This year we are proposing drawing names to Rick’s side of the family, for the extended relatives (as it stands, we buy gifts for all the aunts and great aunts, uncles and cousins, grandparents and great grandparents, and it’s really too much).  But whether or not the idea gets vetoed, we will be giving hand-made gifts this year.

This summer we made a few things here and there, but now that we’re deep into October, it’s time to get serious.  I went to the fabric store twice this week to get pieces I needed for gifts.  We’re not being strict about hand-made Christmas… we can give store-bought items too, but it’s a goal.  We are going to try to make, sew, cook, bake or otherwise hand make the majority of the presents we give this year. 

I’m quite excited about it.  It’s inspiring some of that long-lost creativity I used to have, and I’m actually excited about the gifts we’re giving this year (as opposed to last year when I felt like Ebenezer Scrooge).  I’ll try to keep you updated on the gift making progress as much as I can (some of my readers are receiving the gifts though, so I might have to be vague).  But expect a full report at the end of the year after the gifts have been received. 

Here’s a blog I ran across (actually my friend Annie linked up), and it was quite inspiring too.  What about you?  Do you make anything for Christmas gifts?

Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting… October 18, 2009

I love fall and all that comes with it, but why does it all have to come at once?  Henry, Emmett and I joined some friends at the Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield pumpkin patch and festival today.  Rick was hunting in Kremmling.  He always seems to miss the trip to the pumpkin patch.  Thankfully, both of these major fall events were successful so far:  Rick got a doe today and Henry picked just the pumpkin he was after, one about two and a half inches in diameter! 

   

 

    

Here are the pictures I gathered today, which weren’t many.  I was sort of lamenting not sending the camera with Rick, but I think I’ll have him take it up next weekend with him.  He still has two elk tags to fill, and we will *only* be pumpkin carving. I love the fall.

Otherwise this weekend, I’ve caught up on some reading, and Henry and I have been trying to do some fun things, like pizza and root beer and a movie on Friday, and a new board game tonight.  Tomorrow I plan on making a big pot of green chile and then I will have to head up the mountain to bring the mighty hunter and his meat home.  Henry will love this, since he loves driving in the mountains. 

Henry’s also missing Rick terribly (so am I, and it’s only a weekend… I’m such a wimp!).  I was so thankful for Rich at the pumpkin patch, who took him all around to find that perfect pumpkin.   Today he also was playing with one of his stacking cups, tooting into it, making a perfect imitation of Rick’s duck call.  Rick will be so proud of his mini-hunter son.