my boys

I haven't really blogged recently about the boys. They are changing so much every day and some days they turn my world upside down!

Peytonn just started preschool and is loving it! He asks everyday if he can go to school. That makes me feel so good that we chose the right school for him.  He loves to play outside in the sand box, water my plants and flowers for me, and help his daddy around the yard. He is growing so fast and wants so badly to be independent. He is mommy's little helper and loves to help with laundry and cleaning. (He'll make a great husband one day!)

And then there is Bennett. My sweet little boy is getting so big and very independent these days. He is saying new words everyday and asks for things by name. He calls us "mommy" and "daddy" now instead of "mama" and "dada."  He wants to do everything that his older brother does and mommy has to remind Peytonn that his little brother is watching him. He also loves to play outside in the sand box and find little pebbles and stick them in his mouth.

Both boys love to go to the Farmer's Market with me every Saturday. Recently, we got some good old Indiana sweet corn from the market and the boys just loved it. They have really taken to corn on the cob this summer and I am just loving watching them devour it. Bennett has even stole an ear and eaten it raw.

These boys sure do love their corn!

A slight obsession....

I may have a slight obsession with spicy things right now. And by slight, I mean, out of the 10 or so jars of jalapenos that I canned this summer, I am on my last jar.  GASP! I know, I cried a little too when I discovered this. But the good news is, I just picked a bunch of peppers from our garden tonight and I am going to get more at the Farmer's Market on Saturday and I will just pickle myself some more.

I have to say, the recipe I used was absolutely wonderful!! They had really good flavor and the peppers had just enough spice to satisfy me. I hope I can find the recipe I used to make them. I think it may be stored on my work computer.

ETA: After looking in the most obvious place EVER (my blog!) I found the recipe for the jalapenos. You can find it here. I highly recommend it!!!

This really makes me want to dig into the jars of pickles and green beans. Oh the torture!! Should I wait longer, or should I just do it? You know, I canned all of these things to eat in the dead of winter and it's not even fall yet and I can't keep my hands off them. I'm doomed!


In other news, Bennett is cutting what seems like a million teeth all at once and has been a holy terror lately. He is sleeping pretty decent (thank goodness!!) but when he is awake, he is like a monster! Pretty much my day consists of Bennett constantly repeating the same phrase...."Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" And then when I look at my precious little child and say, "yes Bennett, what do you need?"  He just stares at me as if to say "oh nothing mommy, just wanted to make sure you were still listening."  He has been extremely clingy and follows me everywhere. I hope this is a short stage!

Peytonn started preschool this week. He absolutely loves it and I am so happy! He goes 5 days a week for 3 hours. We are also having a hard time getting him to stay in his own bed. This seems like a never ending battle with him, we go through this roller coaster every few months. Maybe when he's like 15 it will no longer be cool to sleep with mom and dad. But, that is all for now. :)

Good deals

Over Labor Day Weekend we are heading down to the lake in Kentucky for a family gathering. I have a swimsuit but not really one that I would like to wear boating (or should I say, that I think would stay on during tubing or water skiing).  I knew there had to be some sales going on right now for swim wear, so I started searching.  I found a one piece at Old Navy on sale for $16.99:

Old Navy also has 25% off right now with coupon code ONFALL for any order. I think total I paid just over $11 for this swim suit. Such a deal!!

I also need to find a life vest for Bennett. Peytonn already has one, but I need one for the little guy. Hopefully I can find one in his size for a decent price.

I've also become a member of Groupon. So far, they have had some great deals. You should check it out!

And one last good deal. As you know, we cloth diaper. However, for long trips or just needing a break, we do use disposable diapers.  Amazon has THE best deals on diapers. Right now, if you subscribe, you get an extra 30% off the box of diapers.  I just bought a box of Luvs diapers (180 count) for $24.88. That's not a bad deal! They also have Pampers and Huggies.

A new, stronger ME

The title says it all. I want a new, stronger, healthier ME. Not only for me, but for my children and my husband. I want to run and play with my kids and take them hiking and all the things that active people do....without dieing! After much research and consideration, I decided to start the P90X program. I chose it because it's a start to completely changing your lifestyle. It teaches you how to eat a healthy diet to feed your body what it needs and it also tones you up. Yes, I hope I lose weight on this program, however, toning my body and getting it healthy again is what I look forward to most. The number is not so much my concern, it's feeling good in my skin.

I started changing my diet at the beginning of the week before the P90X program came in the mail. I have lost 4lbs already. (Yay!)  I received my program in the mail on Wednesday. I took a few days to read through the whole program and the nutrition guide. Tonight I started the first video. I am doing the P90X Lean program.  I really enjoyed the first video, I sweated my butt off, but I felt really good at the end.  This is not the workout to do on your lunch break from work. Trust me, you will want to shower afterwards (and probably collapse!).

I am excited to see how the rest of the first 30 days pans out. I've heard that if you can make it through the first 30 days, you really start to see the change. I am hoping I can keep my commitment to myself and my family to make this change!

Coconut bread

I haven't made any homemade bread in a couple of months and I have to say that I miss it. I miss the house smelling of rising yeast and then the aroma of fresh baked bread. Oh, and then there is the taste, the warm fluffy taste of fresh baked bread. *sigh* Of course I immediately went searching for a bread recipe to make today. I stumbled across this website/blog called The Knead For Bread and discovered this wonderful gem. It has many bread recipes of all sorts, not just your basic white/wheat bread recipes.

I have some tomatoes that I need to use up and found a recipe for roasted tomato bread on the website. I thought for sure I would be making that recipe today. But I kept scrolling through and found a recipe for coconut bread. I have never heard of such a thing, but man do I adore coconut, and who doesn't love coconut and bread? I had all of the ingredients for the recipe and decided to give it a whirl.

Coconut Bread

Dough:

• 2/3 cup coconut milk
• 2/3 cup lukewarm water
• 2 tablespoons shortening ( melted )
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoon milk powder
• 4 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg ( beaten )
• 2 tablespoon coconut (finely chopped)
• 4 cups bread flour

Topping:

• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon water
• 3 tablespoon flour
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoon butter, soft
• 2 tablespoon coconut(finely chopped)

My substitutions:
--I used coconut oil instead of the shortening
--I left out the powder milk because I didn't have any


This bread was AWESOME! The topping is amazing and the loaf is fluffy and soft. I love how you roll the dough into balls and let it rise and then bake it. You are then able to just pull pieces of the bread off without having to slice it. Love it!! I think next time, I will add more coconut though to the actual dough. Did I mention how much I adore coconut?

Homesteading

We have always been a family that is conscious of the environment and learning how we can be more natural. This year we have really entered more into that adventure. As most of you know, I have been canning a lot this year. We have our own small vegetable garden in our backyard and we are also member of a CSA.  Plus, we attend the farmers market on a weekly basis. (We just really love our veggies!)  I have been trying to provide our family with fresh veggies now, and then preserving the rest for later. So far, we have quite the stock of canned items.

We have quite a few jars of salsa, dilly green beans, a variety of pickles, pickled jalapenos, blueberry preserves, pickled beets, and most of the small jars in the box are jalapeno jelly.  We have already given away some jars of the blueberry preserves and of the salsa. We got great reviews on both! I have also opened up both quart jars of salsa that I canned around the 4th of July. (The salsa was that good!)  I hope to preserve some more jars before the end of the growing season. I would like to can some jars of tomato sauce for sure (our tomatoes are super sweet and yummy!) and maybe more pickles.  Our jalapeno plants are starting to explode with peppers and our beans continue to grow as I harvest them.


My friend Melissa over at What.Today.Looks.Like told me about this great homesteading book by Jenna Woginrich. The title of the book is Made from Scratch. Jenna talks about a lot of great topics in this book and one of them is learning how to use old things for what we might need. For example, Jenna explains how she could go to the local store and spend $30+ on a new plastic coffee maker. Or, she could go to an antique or resale store and find a metal percolator in working condition for a lot less. After reading that, I got to think about the point she was trying to make. Why do we always have to buy new when there are plenty or good quality used items still around in working order. So, one day on my lunch break, I stopped in to one of our local antique shops downtown.  I wasn't even 10 feet in the door when I spotted 3 percolators! Score!! I asked the store owner to get them down for me and inquired how much they were. They all were marked at $24.  I asked if they worked and if they had the cords to them. His answer was yes to both questions. He also stated that he would give me any of them for $15! (You can't buy a brand new coffee machine for that!)  I picked one out and took one home with me. (Mind you, at this point I still had no idea how to make coffee in this neat new contraption!) So, what was the first thing that I did? Well, call my mom of course! :)  She of course made fun of me for getting so excited over a percolator and then explained to me how to make coffee in it.

I took my shiny percolator home and washed it out really good. Then in the middle of the day, I made my first pot of coffee. It was fabulous!! I love how you can watch the water and coffee spout at the top and the boys also enjoy the free entertainment of this function. It's also nice to know that you can still find cords and other parts online or in antique shops.

I am really enjoying Jenna's book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in homesteading. I think my next antique adventure might be a nice metal cheese grater. I know, I'm wild...right!? :)

More delicious recipes!

Everyone loves a great recipe and it's always nice to find new meals that you can enjoy with your family and/or friends. I have gotten more great recipes from The Pioneer Woman lately and I thought that I would share them with you. The first is a recipe for rolls. These are some of the most delicious rolls I have ever tasted and I made them right in my own kitchen with little, to no effort! (I mean, who doesn't like a recipe like that?!)

Buttery Rosemary Rolls

These were simply AMAZING! I made them in my cast iron skillet and the bottoms almost get buttery crunchy! Yummo! You have to try these, trust me!! Plus, they are uber easy. Just place your yeast rolls in the pan in the morning and let rise all day. They are ready to bake for dinner. Easy peasy!

The next recipe is what we had for dinner tonight: Mushroom-and-Swiss Sliders with Spicy Fry Sauce

These looked so good that while at work, I had to text my hubby and tell him to take some hamburger out for dinner! I even made a trip to the store for buns and mushrooms.  I used the Hawaiian rolls as our buns and used fat free half and half in place of the cream.  I also seasoned my meat with TS seasoned salt (also amazing!!) and some Worchestershire sauce. I served ours with sweet potato fries.

These sliders were gobbled up and Peytonn even asked for a second one. The fry sauce was pretty good. I kind of did my own thing and added some mayo, ketchup, TS fiesta dip mix, and TS Bayou Bourbon Glaze in a bowl. It was kind of spicy/sweet...loved it!

I hope you and your family/friends enjoy these recipes! I know that we did and will definitely be making them again soon.