Here’s a couple of pictures of things the girls and I discovered in our yard.
We picked some roses and random wildflowers growing
Our cucumber plants are pretty much exploding with fruit, so I finally had to find a decent refrigerator pickle recipe in order to use them up, and found one on Cooks.com that I tweaked a little. I knew my husband and I both loved bread and butter pickles, so I finally found one that sounded good. And I got to use up some green peppers from our garden as well. Jake’s the only who eats them in our family, and we’ve got tons growing. So here’s what I did:
These keep for a long time in the fridge, but I don't think they'll last that long.
12 cukes
2 onions, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced into strips
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. turmeric
3 c. vinegar
1 tsp. mustard seed
2 tbsp. salt
1 tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. salt
Put 2 tablespoons of salt over sliced pickles. Let stand 1 hour, drain. Combine vinegar, sugar, celery seed, mustard seed, salt and turmeric. Bring to boil. Cool and pour over cucumbers, onions, and peppers that have been layered in jars. Refrigerate. Let stand 1 week before serving.
Oh my, these are superb, especially if you like a little kick in your pickles. Next time I might add just a little more sugar, but I don’t know. I don’t really like sweet pickles, but these could you just a little more…maybe. Oh, but they’re awesome! However, Naomi says they’re too sweet for her; she likes dill pickles instead. So, maybe they don’t need more sugar. And maybe I need to make bunch of dill pickles. How I wish I had lots of jars so my fridge isn’t overloaded.
Man, the past week or so has been a reminder about how I felt during the first trimester while pregnant with my three girls. It’s the strangest thing; whenever I nurse Illiana, I get all queasy and feel like barfing. I looked it up and it appears that it is not such a strange thing after all, as I read about many moms experiencing this b/f nausea. I’ve noticed it more lately since it’s been hotter out and my body’s been feeling a little more dehydrated, so I’ve started chugging water constantly. Apparently, when you nurse, your body gets flooded with hormones, and if your blood sugar gets low (which mine is known to do) or you are dehydrated a little, then the effects can amplify. So, I get to drink more agua and eat more food. Unfortunately, that does not necessarily help my efforts of trying to lose the remaining 7 or 8 pounds of pregnancy weight I’ve got left on me…mainly hanging out there in my belly and legs.
I think all this nursing and queasiness has been tiring me out lately, so I finally decided to order these vitamins I’ve been eyeing for a long time, called Supermom vitamins. They are chocked full of all those great vitamins that give you energy, like B complex vitamins, and they’ve got some spirulina and other yummy algea
Mmm...spirulina
creatures packed in there. Mmm (see image to the right). Supposedly spirulina is loaded with antioxidants and B vitamins and other great things that help your body get more energy from the food you eat. A three month supply was only $43 with shipping, so I went for it. I’ll update you on how they work out.
Meanwhile, this little, tired mama needs her sleep.
A couple of years ago I stumbled upon this great website called Hillbilly Housewife…great name, I know. While I haven’t explored the whole site, I have found a number of useful recipes from their vast collection of quick, easy, and inexpensive meals and treats. There are some really cool things like how to make your own “convenience foods,” like hot cocoa mix, rice blends, baking mixes, etc. As outrageous as it sounds, there are also two separate one-week menus, complete with recipes for a family of 4; one is for $45 for the whole week for everything, and the other is $70, I think. I don’t know; I’ve never tried them, but I know grocery prices are high, so I’m not sure how old those plans are. For those of you who don’t feel the need to serve meat at every dinner, there are some great vegetarian recipes on the site as well.
OK, anyway…on to the muffins. I made these amazing muffins last night for breakfast, since we were low on milk for cereal and didn’t want to go buy any. They are raspberry muffins on the website, but I used a frozen mixed berry blend. I don’t have any pictures for these babies, because they got scarfed way too fast.
Here’s the link to the recipe. Below are the alterations I made:
I used half whole wheat and half white flour in place of all white flour.
I used applesauce in place of oil.
I used reconstituted nonfat dry milk in place of skim milk.
The first time I made these, I added white chocolate chips to the mix. And I think I used rolled oats in place of chopped pecans for the topping.
These are fast, quick, and easy. They’re relatively healthy if you want to use whole wheat flour and applesauce, too.
Though Ms. Betty Crocker just calls these babies Soft Molasses Cookies, I think I’m going to dub them “Better-Than-Coffeeshop Molasses Cookies.” Even my husband, who’s not as crazy about molasses cookies as I am called them amazing. Here’s how they go:
Mix together:
1 c sugar
1/2 c butter or marg., softened
1/2 c shortening
3/4 c sour cream
1/2 c molasses
1 egg
Stir in:
3 c flour (I used half white, half whole wheat…it makes me feel healthier)
1 1/2 teas. baking soda
1 teas. ginger
1 teas. cinnamon (*I didn’t have ginger, so I just did 2 teas. of pumpkin pie spice instead of the ginger & cinnamon)
1/2 teas. salt
Heat to 375. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 9-11 minutes (I had to go a little longer w/my over) or until almost no indentation remains when touched. Cool 1-2 minutes, then remove from sheet. You can sprinkle them w/sugar or do what I did to make heaven in your mouth: frost them with this:
3 c powdered sugar
1/3 c butter or marg., softened
1 1/2 teas. vanilla
2-3 teas. milk
Mix until smooth & spreadable.
Wow, these are great with coffee, or, I can imagine, chai tea! I love getting those giant molasses cookies from Starbucks or wherever, but these are just as good. A couple of things: they don’t spread very much, so I flattened my second batch a tiny bit before baking. Also, I made mine bigger than one tablespoonful. Maybe more like 2-3 tablespoonfuls to get that big molasses cookie fun!
One of my favorite cookies to make is the easiest; I use cake mix, oil, and eggs and then experiment with additional flavorful things. Today, I made lemon poppyseed cookies with this method. Here’s what’s in them:
1 box yellow cake mix
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1-2 Tablespoons poppyseeds
Mix all together. Roll into 1 inch balls and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Yummy!
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