Hodge Podge

It has been so nice outside this past week. Granted it did rain on Sunday, but it has still been in the 50-60's and most days have been sunny. I was home this afternoon and decided to walk around the house and check out the garden's to see if anything was starting to turn green yet. I discovered that my tulips in our front flower garden are starting to sprout up through the ground. I was so excited, this is a sure sign of spring!!It was so nice to see that little bit of green amongst all the brown! I also noticed that my veggies are starting to sprout as well. I love the pretty deep purple/pink that the beets are.

I also made some lasagna on Monday night, it was FABULOUS! I mean, even the kids ate everything on their plate (even though I added in some spinach!). Pretty much the only difference from a basic lasagna recipe was the cream layer. Instead of using ricotta or cottage cheese, the recipe called for 1 cup of chicken stock heated up on the stove. Then you add 8oz of cream cheese and wisk until creamy. Pour this on top of the noodle layer. Did I mention how amazing this was?!We ate it two nights in a row and only finished half, so I boxed up the other half of the 9x13 pan and put it in the freezer for another night. Tonight we are having marinated pork chops and veggies on the grill with whole wheat couscous and fresh rolls. This is the second time I am using the bread dough that I made earlier in the week. First time I made a loaf and this time I am making rolls. The loaf tasted really good, so I hope the rolls are just as good.

For the Love of Bread!

So, its no secret that I LOVE to make homemade bread. I mean, who can really resist the overwhelming scent of fresh baked bread in your home?! I certainly can't! I have tried many different recipes for fresh baked bread and I have some favorites, but today I decided to try something new. I usually make my bread on the weekends when I have more time, so I came across this recipe on 'Zaar for bread that I can make the dough and use it all week long. Essentially, you make the dough, let it proof for 2 hours and then you can refrigerate the dough and pull from it all week long. GASP! This sounds too good to be true!! So I thought I definitely have to try this one out!

I am currently in the "proofing" stage. I made it in my KitchenAid Stand mixer and I am letting it proof in that bowl. That way I can just put the lid on it and stick it in my refrigerator. I am super excited about it and I hope that it works and tastes great. It got a lot of great reviews, so I am hopeful for success.

Here is the recipe:

• 24 fluid ounces hand warm water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried fast rising yeast (Or, 1 oz fresh yeast, added to a little warm water with 1 teaspoon sugar.)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 3/4 lbs unbleached white bread flour (6 1/2 US Cups)

Directions

1. Pour the warm water into a large mixing bowl - the water should be tepid or hand warm - NOT too hot, as it will kill the yeast.

2. Add the yeast to the water and then the salt, mix well.

3. Add ALL the flour and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon or a dough hook until all the ingredients are amalgamated - NO need to over knead.

4. Leave the bread dough in the mixing bowl and cover loosely - I use a shower cap to cover my dough! (That is NOT used as a shower cap anymore, I hasten to add!).

5. Allow to prove for 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

6. The dough can now be stored in the fridge or you can use the dough to make a loaf of bread immediately.

7. If baking a loaf of bread now, pre-heat the oven and place a baking sheet or pizza tray in there. Tear off a large ball, about the size of a small melon, and knead it for about 1 minute with floured hands and on a floured board, Shape it as desired (Rolls, Boule, Baguette or Bannette) or place it in a greased and floured loaf tin. Allow to prove and rise for a further 20 to 30 minutes. Slash the surface with a sharp serrated knife if you wish, see photos. You can add a glaze or special finish at this point.

8. Bake at 225C/450F for 30 minutes or until well risen, brown and the loaf sounds hollow when it is tapped on the underside. (If you wish, you can add a bowl of boiling water as soon as you put the bread into the oven – this steams and bakes the loaf to give a good chewy texture and keeps the inside moist.).

9. Remove the bread when baked and cool on a cooling rack. Serve warm with butter, cheese, jam, hams and cold cuts, or slice when cool for sandwiches. Also wonderful when toasted the next day.

10. Store the excess dough in the mixing bowl, loosely covered, in the fridge or somewhere cool until needed – this will keep for 2 weeks, but I find it has all gone by 7 to 10 days! This amount of dough will make between 4 and 5 loaves of bread, depending on the shape and amount of dough you use.

Menu for this week

I am trying to get back into menu planning. It used to make my life so easy and less stressful when it came to dinner time. Here is our menu for this week:

--Lasagna w/ sourdough french bread and salad
--Creamy sour Cream chicken casserole
--Grilled Pork Chops with grilled marinated veggies (peppers, onions, and eggplant)
--Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice casserole

These are in no particular order and I only did 4 b/c most of those dishes I will make the full version of and we can eat the leftovers on another night of the week. We are also participating in another Co-op this year for our fresh fruits and veggies. We will get them from a local farm and they will be organic, not to mention what we get from our own veggie garden. In the future, I am going to try to plan my meals around what veggies we get that week from the Co-op to help maximize the usage of all the veggies. Our Co-op will be starting this month and usually in the beginning we get lots of salad mix and asparagus (yum!!). I absolutely love asparagus and love to grill it and roast it in the oven. Even just steamed with some lemon juice and salt is delish!!

You can search Local Harvest to see if there is a Co-op in your area if you are interested. Or visit your local farmer's market as much as possible to help support the local farmers in your area.

Spring is here?

I think Spring and Fall are my most favorite times of the year, each for different reasons. I adore Spring time because its like that glimmer of hope for warm sunshine and beautiful flowers. After a long winter, I love the excitement that I get over a nice sunny 50 degree day. It makes me want to start my garden and work in the current flower beds that I have. Things are going to start getting greener and signs of life are going to start emerging from the brown that surrounds us.

I ordered my seeds about 2 weeks ago for my vegetable garden this year. They came in the mail about a week ago and today I finally got them started in my indoor planter. I am trying out the planter from Burpee.com, which is also where I bought my seeds from this year. The seeds I got were beets, green beans, green onions, radish, heirloom tomato, and cherry tomato. I got the 72 cell tray, so that means 2 short rows of each seed.

Since yesterday was a nice day, I was able to get out and clean out the old veggie plants from my garden and get the soiled tilled up. I plan to add some more compost to the bed before I transplant my veggies into it.

We also decided to finally put up a fence in our backyard. We have been wanting to put up a fence since we moved in over 2 years ago, but with time and money, we are just now getting around to it. The fencing company came this morning and put up the posts for the fence. They will allow the cement to harden for a few days and then should be back on Monday to board it up. We got a wood privacy fence with a scalloped top. We plan to stain it a dark cherry and seal the wood this summer sometime when hubby gets home. This is what they started today:

P.S. That's the "nature area" behind our house. Besides being a big weed pit and collecting people's trash that has blown away, its not much of a nature preserve. Hence why I don't mind putting up a fence to block our view of it. You'll notice the nice Huggies box in the first picture. Very classy!

Cool Find

I found this blog through Diaperswappers, its called BabyHalfoff. It has a lot of natural/cloth diaper baby products, as well as, lots of baby stuff in general. All of the products featured on the blog are half off, which is great savings!!! Check it out!

BabyHalfOff

15 months old

Bennett had his 15 month check up today at the doctor's office. Here is what we got:

Weight: 21lbs 10.4oz (10%th)
Height: 30 inches (25th%)
Head Circumference: 46 1/4 cm (50%th)

So pretty much he's going to be short and stocky, but smart! :) (kidding!)

The doc said that he looked really good and was impressed by his words and motor skills. She said his percentage in weight went down a little from 12 months, but she said that was normal when kids start walking. I seriously thought he would weight more than that. At the urgent care the other week he was 23lbs 5oz, but I guess that was fully clothed and right after dinner while his appointment today was first thing in the morning. He just seems so heavy to me right now when I carry him and he has a gut that hangs over his diaper! Oh well, such is life. I still love him to pieces and love his little gut. :)

my *must haves*

I know that sometimes when you describe yourself as "crunchy" people don't always know what that means. Frankly, there can be different kinds of "crunchy" and it all depends on how you view yourself and your lifestyle. Personally, I think I am kind of in the middle somewhere. I'm too weird to be "mainstream" and not hardcore enough to be "super crunchy." Here are some of the weird "crunchy" things that we do in our lives: cloth diaper, use unpaper towels, use natural cleaners as much as possible, extended breastfeeding, extended rearfacing, babywearing, buy organic or all natural as much as possible, and drink raw milk. We try to reuse or not use at all for a lot of things, such a unpaper towels. We don't buy paper towels because to me it is a waste of money (I'm just going to throw it in the trash anyways) and it helps preserve the environment. I use cloths to clean with and then just wash them and reuse them. For this same reason, we also use cloth diapers and cloth wipes. I make my own wipe solution and just wet each wipe as I need it, then I wash with my diapers.

Some of my favorite "crunchy" products are as follows:

Babyganics Stain Remover
I love this stuff! I use it on my carpet, on clothes, just about anywhere that you have a stain that you need out. It won't harm your carpet, clothes, children, or pets! P.S. They have it on sale at TRU!

Babyganics Floors to Adore in Lavender scentAgain, will clean your floors and wont harm your children or pets.

Small Wonders Wipes
This is what we use for our wipes and I also use them for wash clothes, wiping noses and hands. We have the velour/velour wipes in a rainbow of colors. They are super soft and scrumptious! We also have some that are velour/sherpa and I love those for the poo diapers. Its gets all the gross stuff off the bum. Love them!

Sweet Slings hanging wetbag
This is called a wetbag. It has a cute print outer and a waterproof inner. This hanging one is what we use for our diapers, wipes, and unpaper towels. It keeps all the yucky stuff contained and is smell free. When I wash, I just unzip and dump into the washing machine, bag and all. We also have 3 smaller ones for the diaper bag to send to the babysitters, etc.

So those are just a few things that we use around the house to help save money and the environment. What are some of the things that you use around your house?