Fried Green Tomatoes

 While I am trying to avoid wheat and other carbohydrates I have to find creative ways to made dinner.  The other day I saw a post about making salsa and decided to use the abundance of tomatoes we have to made some salsa.  The Zesty Salsa turned out pretty well, I didn't have enough jalepenos so it wasn't quite as zesty as we would have liked.  I ended up with ten jars of salsa, nine of which I canned so we can enjoy it for many more months.  While I was making the salsa I had a moment of panic when I thought I wouldn't have enough tomatoes so I went running down the three flights of stairs to my first floor neighbor's door to ask for more tomatoes.  He had told me that he was tired of tomatoes and would be throwing the plants out once I took all the tomatoes I wanted.  So I grabbed every tomato that was even remotely reddish and then quite a few green ones in case I needed more.  Turns out that I was a little overzealous and had way more tomatoes than room in my pot. So I was left with quite a few green tomatoes.

When my parents came to help us move in my mom wanted to make fried green tomatoes for us with some farmer's market tomatoes.  The tomatoes she had were a green variety and were too ripe to really make a fried tomato.  I decided to try again last night with the left over salsa tomatoes.  The no carb thing posed a little bit of a challenge and so I went looking in my pantry.  I found almonds and ground flax seed.  Both of which are very healthy and will coat the outside of a tomato.  They turned out pretty good and this meal was so filling that I could not eat much more than half of what is on my plate.  I had used this recipe for Sesame Crusted Salmon and coated our albacore since I didn't have any salmon. 

Wheat Free Fried Green Tomatoes
Several Green Tomatoes
Egg Whites
1/2 cup sliced almonds crunched up into fine crumbs
1/3 cup ground flax seed
Seasings- I used oregano, basil and a small pinch of salt

Slice the tomatoes, put the egg white in a bowl and the almond/flax mixture onto a plate.  Dip the tomatoes in the egg white and then coat in crumb mixture.  Place into hot skillet with a small amount of olive oil and cook until golden brown on each side, flipping as needed.

New Home: Kitchen

The kitchen is really important to have unpacked so that you can start to feed your family at your own home.  I was so ready to have fresh, homecooked food that I really wanted to get my kitchen functioning.  Munchkie's Daddy said that once we had a functioning house I could start decorating and crafting out the projects I wanted to do.  With the help of my mother-in-law and sister-in-law we got my kitchen to working order in no time!  Here it is.  I actually am going to include before and after shots.

Before

 These are when the landlord was still working on the place.

 

After

 I love that I have this big open space and large counter.  I am going to try to keep it cleared off so that it is available for work space.  I do really like this part of my kitchen.

 This is the cluttered space, the kennel will hopefully be replaced soon with a mobile dishwasher.

 The sink area, had to put the plates on the counter because there just wasn't any good place to put them.  The silverware drawer is just below them.  My refrigerator may not look that small, but trust me, it's SMALL.

 These are my coffee and tea drawers.  My mother-in-law says to me, "maybe you should avoid buying any more tea until you drink what you already have."  If only she could see my own mother's tea cabinet- yes a full cabinet of tea.

 The cabinet is one big long cabinet, had to stuff as much stuff in there as I could.

 Another cabinet full of stuff.

 We had to put our glasses, mugs, travel mugs and water bottles in the bottom drawer, then above that are storage containers and Munchkie's plates, bowls and cups.

A peak inside my refrigerator just to show you how small it is.  I'm not even sure that a gallon of milk will fit.  I have to be organized with it as well.  I am trying out the green bags for my farmer's market produce and have fridge binz from Habitat for Humanity Restore warehouse for more organization. 

Where Oh Where Do My Spices Go?

We are in the process of moving.  It seems to be a forever long process of eliminating boxes and finding places for things.  We did narrow down a lot of our belongings, but it still doesn't quite seem to fit.  Get ready to gasp, Munchkie's Daddy and I are sharing a closet.  I'm not talking a walk in closet either.  We are learning that we need to change quite a few things in our lives.  I thought we had done a good job of weeding out our belongings, but when they wouldn't all fit on a 17 foot truck I realized that I am going to have to become a master of organization and weed out even further.

When coming to the apartment a few days before we moved my sister-in-law noticed that there were no above counter cabinets in my new kitchen.  Something you think isn't that big of a deal, but it's actually quite a pain.  Do you want to crouch down on the ground to get a glass for a drink of water?  I bet you'll think twice if you have to get on your hands and knees to grab a snack.  I have a lot of spices and we like to throw a little bit of this and a little of that in when we cook.  It would not be practical at all to crouch down to figure out what I would want to throw into a dish.  My thought was to use a shoe organizer on the door to organize my spices.  The shoe organizer was $5 with 24 clear pockets and an over the door spice rack that would have held somewhere around 16 spices was $17.74.  Tough decision.

We have this little area where the furnace is that I am going to use as a pantry and it has a door on it.  It's next to the stove, next to the counter that I will use to prep and it's by all the other food.  Perfect.  I literally just threw the spices in for right now just to get a box off the floor.  I have to go through and organize them, but for now they are put away and not taking any of my precious cabinet space.  I'm pretty happy with my creation.

Hopefully soon when I can sit for a couple minutes without jumping up to do something else or thinking that I should be doing something else I can write more. 

First of the Goodbyes

Yesterday we went to our favorite store, Whole Foods, to get some fruit for a daycare goodbye party.  Today was the "party" and with all of the regulations at the daycare fresh fruit seems to be the best option.  While there and walking by the body section it completely hit me that I forgot about teacher's gifts.  How could I forget such a thing growing up in a family of teachers? 

The body scrub that caught our eye reminded me of a body scrub I had made a while back and so I decided that I could do better than the asking $14.99 a pound.  Salt is under $2 a pound so with a couple essential oils I decided to make my own.  I tried to recreate the scent we all liked the best, but it didn't quite turn out the way I had hoped.  While I was doing that I also started working on some candles.

These aren't just any candles.  These were candles that I was going to make for Mother's Day.  We bought all of the ingredients in April and a box of ingredients has been sitting on the floor of our kitchen since about then.  I had literally everything ready to go and just never got around to doing it.  I told Munchkie's Daddy that it was because I was supposed to wait until now for teacher's gifts.  So with some sand from the beach just down the street, wax, ocean mist scent and Goodwill glasses, I made some candles.

I have to say that I was so proud of the finished product.  I hope they enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed making it.

I took them in this morning and just walking into the room I started crying.  The daycare has done so much for us in the last 8 months.  They taught Munchkie how to play with other kids and share. How to "use her words," and to "focus."  She learned to wait her turn and be patient.  She learned colors, and potty trained.  She made friends and looked forward to every day there.  They helped me be able to sleep and work without worry.  I also was able to spend a few days completely by myself, which is something a working mother is never able to do.  While most people look down on daycare, I am eternally grateful for all this daycare has been to us.  The first of our goodbyes was an emotional one.

Body Scrub
2 cups salt
1/4 cup safflower oil
several drops essential oil(s) of your choice
-Mix together until thoroughly mixed, but still powdery.  Rub over body and wash off. 

Creamer for Your Coffee

We are getting ready to make the 17 hour drive to the upper peninsula of Michigan to visit my family's lake house.  I have inherited from my mother a love and desire to bake and prepare so I wish that I had time to bake up all kinds of goodies.  But working every night but tonight leading up to our trip does not really give me a chance to do all kinds of baking.  So instead I'm trying to do a little bit here and there.  Tonight I put together the crumb topping for Overnight Challah Bread French Toast to fix for my family for breakfast.  It's so easy and all I have to do is throw it together the night before and then toss it in the oven the next day. 

I also made some Cinnamon Strudel Coffee Creamer to add to our coffee in the mornings.   Right now our house smells so delicious from the cinnamon, almond and vanilla that it's making my mouth water.  Because I am trying to follow a diet that does not include dairy, fruit or carbs, I used almond milk and heavy cream to make it thick and creamy.  I also left out the syrup with plans to use stevia to sweeten each cup to taste.  Right now it is sitting on the stove while the flavors all meld together.  I am planning on straining the mixture through a mesh sieve and storing in the refrigerator once it cools.  This creamer just takes your coffee to the next level.  I have tried several of the coffee creamers from the above link and this remains my favorite.  Several times I have tried to eliminate coffee from my diet and it just never works.  Coffee is just so good that I can't live without it.  The caffeine headaches are something I can get past, but the desire for coffee, is something I can't.  Munchkie's Daddy has been both emotionally and physically addicted to coffee since he was in high school, but he's too good for even any creamer that I can create.  He is a "purist" and only drinks it black (I think he's just a coffee elitist).

If you're not a coffee drinker but think this creamer sounds good, it also tastes great in a cup of tea or hot chocolate.  For obvious reasons, these are enjoyed more in the winter time.  However, on the upper peninsula of Michigan,  the mornings are cold and crisp, the perfect morning to enjoy a steaming cup of coffee with a delicious breakfast casserole.

For my coffee creamer I used-

1 pint (~2 cups) heavy cream
1 1/2 cups almond milk
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract

The Pasta of Summer

Last fall this Tomato Basil Pasta Salad was my favorite pasta dish to make because I love tomatoes, basil and garlic. After a recent walk we looked through our cabinets and fridge to find something to fix for dinner.  We worked together in the kitchen to quickly made some food before we all had breakdowns.  While the water was boiling, Munchkie's Daddy chopped basil from our herbs and walnuts mixing them with olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  While he was doing that I chopped tomatoes.  Once the cheese tortellini was finished boiling he drained it and I added shredded mozzarella mixing to let it melt on the hot pasta.  Then we mixed in the basil mixture and tomatoes.  It was so delicious that Munchkie asked for seconds and probably would have eaten thirds if it wasn't already past her bedtime.

Do You Cook in Cast Iron?

Do you own a cast iron skillet?  If so, do you use it?  Like good newlyweds we registered for a Lodge Logic cast iron skillet and didn't know what to do with it.  I made cornbread occasionally and that was the extent of my cast iron usage.  On the way back from my aunt's in North Carolina a few times we stopped at the Lodge Logic outlet and picked up a few more things, including a small skillet that needed to be seasoned.  Now, five years later, we don't even put the skillets away because they are used the most.

Farmer's Market sugar snap peas with a drizzle of olive oil, scoop of sesame tahini, salt, pepper, teriyaki and sesame seeds.

Lately, I've been reading about the health benefits of cast iron, especially for women.  Women are especially prone to anemia, as well as not taking care of ourselves.  If there's something we can do for ourselves that's simple, we should do it.  Everything that we cook from scrambled eggs to vegetables to chicken breast is cooked in the cast iron skillet and the extra iron gives us a little boost.  It also makes a mean corn bread in the oven.  The clean up is ridiculously easy, we just take pour a little drizzle of olive oil in the pan and wipe out.  No water, no soap and no scrubbing.  No matter what we cook in it, all we have to do is wipe it out, the seasoning makes it almost no stick.

Here are several links to articles about cast iron skillets that I found in a two second Google search. 

Anemia and Nutrition: The Importance of Iron
Anemia- Dietary Factors
Anemia and Pregnancy
Ever So Humble, Cast Iron Outshines the Fancy Pans
The Benefits of Cast Iron Cooking

If you have a cast iron skillet you should use it. Not only does it cook your food quickly and evenly, it gives you a little extra iron that you may not be getting from your diet.

Happy Birfday A-mare-ca!

 Memorial Day always signaled the beginning of summer to me growing up, we were always days away from summer vacation and it was just starting to get warm enough out to be allowed to leave the house in shorts.  Now that I've lived in the Northeast for a little while, my thinking has changed.  I think it's partly because the kids around here don't get out of school until late June and partly because once you're all grown up and working there just isn't a "summer break" anymore.  This may be the reason why I love a summer get together.  It makes me feel like there is a break, even if it's just for a day.  It also gives me a reason to spend time being creative in the kitchen.

Munchkie's Daddy tells me that I go overboard every single time we go somewhere.  I think for him it's work to put together several dishes to take somewhere, but I on the other hand, truly enjoy it.  It's something that makes me happy and I get to do something for others as well.  Double win!

I was asking my coworkers the other night at work what I should make for a July 4th party and one of them suggested a cake she had seen somewhere.  I'm all about creative cakes, so I decided to go look for this cake idea.  Thanks Make it and Love it for this wonderful cake idea!  It was a huge hit!  If you want to know how to do it, click on the previous link.  Ashley of Make it and Love it has great, easy to understand instructions, and a super cute Tshirt idea for next year!

Light and Refreshing

In the winter I'm all about hot chocolates, hot teas and coffees to snuggle under the blankets with.  In the summer I'm drawn to cold refreshing drinks, such as my obvious obsession with ice tea.  With my new mint plants I've been experimenting to see what I can use them in.  Some drinks have been bad.  Very bad.  Tonight I decided to try out a few things after I found some coconut flavored sparkling water.  This one is pretty good.

2 sprigs of pineapple mint, crushed up
1/2 a lime's juice
small squirt agave nectar
ice cubes
coconut flavored sparkling water

Now I just need to figure out something with the chocolate mint that actually tastes good.

I Actually Won Something!

I am so excited!  I went to check my email before I hopped in the shower for work and there in my inbox was the subject "you won the snack bags from Homemade Mothering!"  Yay!  I had almost forgot that I had entered Homemade Mothering's Contest.  I have seen many reviews on reusable snack bags, but couldn't convince Munchkie's Daddy that they were worth the price.  I think that FREE Itzy Ritzy bags might help.  I am getting two free bags, and I get to choose my three favorite patterns. 
 I can't wait for them to come and although my comment that helped me win the bags was  

My daughter’s favorite thing to say now is “take it us” and she will hold whatever it is up to her cheek. This would be perfect for me to say, if it can fit in the bag, it can come with us. Whether it’s her sunglasses, a random Melissa and Doug pretend food, small book, crayon or anything else she decides to love at that moment.

 I think it will also be used frequently in Munchkie's lunches to daycare.  We tend to use a lot of ziploc bags to daycare because the foods I send are mostly finger foods.  These will be great to replace ziploc bags.

I am so excited and so thankful to Homemade Mothering for a contest that I actually won!

I Heart Canning

Last week I went to Whole Foods for a one day sale on blueberries.  Organic blueberries were just $1.99 a pint!  Then since I had bought the limit, I figured I needed to find something to do with those blueberries so that they wouldn't go bad.  Another blogging mom also saw the sale and posted an amazing sounding jam, Blueberry Lime Jam and I just had to make it!  I'm not a big jam person, and there was no way that we would eat enough jam in a couple days time to make it worth while.  So the only other solution was to can the jam.  Then I thought, well if I'm going to make the kitchen a mess, I might as well go all out and spend the day canning.  So I talked to my mom, a seasoned canner, and figured out a few things to can.  Then I went to a local orchard to get a few more items of fresh produce and to the grocery store for the last remaining items.

I decided that going into this I had to be flexible.  If things didn't work out the way I wanted, I had to figure out something different.  I also knew that you have to be super organized and figure everything out ahead of time because timing is everything.  I went to Walmart earlier in the week and got the Ball Blue Book guide to preserving for under $6 as well as the utensil set for under $10.  I read up on canning ahead of time and plotted out a basic schedule along with all of my ingredients.  I sterilized everything in the dishwasher the night before and set out everything that I would need.

Once I got going there were a few things that I had to figure out as I went along.  I had to figure out what the best set up for me was so that I could be the most productive.  We have extremely limited counter space, so I had to take advantage of every square inch.  I hate to cut and chop things, I don't know why, but it drives me crazy!  I had read a tip online where someone said that they didn't like chunks in their jam, so they used a juicer to get the flavor without the chunks.  I thought, that seems like a way to make my life easier.  I put all of the fruits through the juicer before I cooked them, but I scooped all of the discarded pulp and added it back into the juice.  This way all I had to do was coarsely chop the big items, cut the tops off the strawberries, shove the fruit through the hole and press the button.  I even did this with the apples for the applesauce.

The next thing that I had to improvise on was the boiling water bath.  I used my lobster pot, which has a steaming rack, and I was able to fit five pint jars or six half pint jars.  The problem came once the water started boiling.  The lightweight lid was flopping all over, allowing the steam to escape.  So I looked around and found my heavy glass blender to stack on top of the lid.  That still wasn't enough, so I grabbed our Jillian Michaels 10lb kettle bell.  Yep, that's right, this is what my canning pot looked like each time I put something in a boiling water bath. 

The actual canning process ended up being surprisingly easy.  I think that I had to just try it out once to get over my fear and anxiety because now I realize that it's not so bad.  You basically make your item, spread, fruit, vegetable, sauce, whatever you want.  While the food is cooking, have your canning pot full of water heating on the stove.  Then I had our electric kettle boiling water at the same time.  As the food item was just finishing, I poured the boiling water from the kettle into the jars I was going to use and then over the lids in another cup.  Once the food finished I poured the hot water back into the kettle, ladled the food into the jars, measured to make sure there was the right amount of space on top, wiped the rims down and put the lids on.  I used the special jar grip to put the hot jars into the hot water in the large pot.  Then I brought the pot of water to boiling, put the lid on and let it boil for the amount of time in the book, 10-20+ minutes depending on what it was.  Once I took the lid off and turned the stove off I waited five minutes and then pulled the jars out and placed them on a towel to cool.  While the fruits were in the boiling water bath I would start on my next item.  Not bad as it seems huh?  Very doable!

When it was all finished I had (in order of the above picture) Blueberry Lime Jam, Spiced Honey Peach spread (was supposed to be canned peach halves but couldn't get the skins off or peaches halved, oh well!), Strawberry Butter, Blueberry Applesauce, Applesauce, No Sugar Strawberry Blueberry Jam, and Cinnamon Apple Rings in Apple Juice.

The best part about the day was that I tried to clean as I went along.  If I spilled something, I wiped it then.  I rinsed off spoons and put them in the dishwasher.  While something was simmering or in the boiling water bath I washed what I could.  So at the end of the night, my kitchen was CLEAN!  Not a dirty dish or surface in sight!

So I was able to sit on the couch with Munchkie's Daddy and watch a movie while we enjoyed some ice cream with Blueberry Applesauce on mine and No Sugar Strawberry Blueberry Jam on his instead of spending all night in the kitchen cleaning.

This morning for breakfast I had three different spreads on a piece of No Knead Bread that I mixed up to rise overnight.  I can't deny that I fell into bed stating that I was never getting back out, only to jump back out seconds later and run downstairs to throw together a half batch of bread.  I was back upstairs in less than 7 minutes and then we were able to enjoy my hard day's work for breakfast.  I also scrambled some of the farm fresh eggs I got at the farmer's market.  Mmmmmmm DELICIOUS!

 Spiced Honey Peach Spread

1 cup honey

1/2 cup unsweetened 100% apple juice

3 cinnamon sticks

4 whole cloves

6 whole allspice

4-5 pounds peaches

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 packet powdered pectin

6 cups sugar

• Bring to a boil the honey, apple juice, cinnamon sticks, cloves and allspice.
• Simmer while you prepare everything else.
• Boil a pot of water.
• Once boiling, drop the peaches in the water for 30-60 seconds.
• Drain the hot water and fill with cold water.
• Remove the pits from the peaches and then puree.
• In a large pot add together the peaches, lemon juice and pectin and bring to a boil.
• Strain the honey mixture to remove spices and add to peaches.
• Add sugar and stir to dissolve.  
• Bring to a rolling boil and boil for at least a minute.
• Pour hot peaches into hot jars.
• Process jars in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Farm Fresh

Growing up we had a farmer's market downtown on the square several times a week.  I remember when I was younger it being so fun and there were so many stands to check out and buy fresh produce from.  As I got older and accompanied my mother I remember there being disappointingly less produce and even less farmers.  The same was true when I went to the farmer's market at our first house in Illinois.  When the grocery stores carry "local" produce, why do you need to venture to a farmer's market?  I was shocked when that market mostly sold jewelry, soaps and other crafty items and no fresh produce to be found.

Today was my first time being able to make it to the big city farmer's market.  I have been to the smaller one in the town we live in and bought some amazing things.  Things got off to a rocky start this morning when Munchkie's Daddy woke me and said "it's 9:30!" we both immediately looked at each other and knew that meant trouble.  While Munchkie's Daddy gave Munchkie a bath, I scrubbed the contents of her diaper off of the walls, crib and carpet.  Then two hours later than we intended we headed to breakfast and then the farmer's market.

When we first moved here, we really wanted to live in the "Little Italy" neighborhood.  When we found out that we couldn't really couldn't afford it, it was so sad, and we've had a feeling of regret ever since.  This morning as we walked through the park to this quaint coffee shop under large flowering trees we felt the regret even more.  We turned to each other as we walked in and couldn't even believe that The Weakerthans were playing.  How cute are these hand stamped cups?  And Munchkie's "hmm, maybe carrot, you know, all that good stuff in it" muffin was amazing!  From what I could tell there was carrot, zucchini and a hint of citrus with a cinnamon crumble on top.  My apple cinnamon scone with just a taste of salt and Munchkie's Daddy's chocolate croissant were also excellent.

Then the farmer's market.  It was a good thing that my cash was limited and they were all cash only vendors.  I also, had just the night before gone to both an area orchard and the grocery store to buy ingredients for my day of canning, so I knew what was a good deal or what wasn't a good deal.  The flowers were absolutely beautiful!  I wish that I could justify buying bunches of them.  I already had my eye on these sugar snap peas, but the guy behind the stand popped out and brought one for Munchkie to try.  She loved it and begged for more.  Two pounds seemed like a good number.  Guess what we'll be eating this week!  Apparently his cow likes them too, he was showing this "too cute picture" of his cow eating the snap peas.

Then I spotted a vender that had all kinds of fresh potted herbs.  The rosemary initially caught my eye, but then as the farmer kept showing me the different herbs I was drawn in.  I ended up with rosemary, stevia, chocolate mint and pineapple mint.  The man said that if you dry the leaves in a paper bag you can add them to teas and coffees to add flavor.  I can't wait to figure out what to do with them.  Then, just as we were walking out, I saw them.  The farm fresh eggs.  I just had to get them.  I absolutely can not even wait to make some scrambled eggs in the morning for breakfast.

Overall, it was a wonderful time.  I am super excited about my purchases and can't wait to use them all!  I will be frequenting the farmer's market this summer in it's various locations.  If you are in my area, check out CitySeed to see the locations and hours of all of the farmer's markets.  I am partially devastated that I didn't think ahead of time to get a CSA and enjoy fresh produce each week.  The one at the orchard near me equals out to $30 a week for 20 weeks of produce!  I seriously wouldn't be able to get fresh produce like that anywhere for a price like that!  Let me tell you, I will definitely be finding a CSA for next summer!

Sunday Afternoon Baking

Since it's Father's Day and Munchkie's Daddy was taking a nap, when I heard "Daaaaaaaaddddddddyyyyyy I waaaaaaaaaake uuuuuuuup!" I decided that I would go ahead and wake up (I was sleeping all day after working that night) and get Munchkie.  Ever since our oven was fixed I have been itching to bake something besides bread or chicken.  I have been searching through our Food Network magazines and decided that we actually had the ingredients for this recipe.  However, I didn't pay attention to how long the cook time was, I was almost late for work waiting to pull it from the oven and had to completely forgo the "cooling time."

Mix-and-Match Quick Bread

How fun is that?  Each issue they have a mix and match recipe for all kinds of things from chocolate bark to ice tea to quick bread.  You choose your mix-ins and then follow the standard recipe, anything that I can alter is fun for me.  I made the banana chocolate bread with Munchkie's help.  That girl loves bananas, but she loves chocolate more, I had to keep her from digging the chocolate chips out of the batter.  While I think it will be a complete mess, she will love the bread.

 My version of the Chocolate Banana Bread

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 cup mashed banana (2)

Changes I will make for next time - read through and pull ingredients out before I start, add 1/4 cup more flour, and skip the zest.  My bread looked absolutely nothing like the one in the magazine, so in addition to this I think that I need new baking soda and baking powder.  I'm definitely going to try it again.

One Hour of Sun

Yesterday I took advantage of the one hour of sunlight that was usable for making tea.  I used the blackberry tea for the first time and just opening the bag it smelled delicious.  Munchkie saw me smelling it and wanted to smell it too.  She said "mmmm nummy!" I did let her have a few sips of the finished product, even though it is loaded with caffeine, which she really liked.

Blackberry Black Tea
6 Black tea bags
9 teaspoons of loose blackberry tea, divided into three tea filters
~ 1 gallon cold water
1/3 cup honey

To make, add the water and tea in a glass jug (about one tea bag per cup of water) and set out in the sun for about an hour.  If you leave it too long, it could become bitter, but I should have left mine out longer, it probably wasn't quite as sunny or warm as it should have been.  Once it is brewed, pull the tea bags out of the water and add the honey.  Mix well and refrigerate.  Serve over ice.  Delicious!

Stick IN Your Stomach Not ON Your Stomach

I have always loved oatmeal.  There are several foods that I could eat everyday of my life and never grow tired of, such as yogurt, french toast, oatmeal, ice cream, chocolate, berries, brie and an iced caramel macchiato.  At least oatmeal and berries are good for me!  I have been eating this now that it has warmed up out outside.  The thought of putting something hot into my already sticky from the humidity body, does not appeal to me, but I do love oatmeal.  So my options are to sit eating it with the A/C window unit blasting on me (great use of my resources) or try it another way.  This is what I have come up with.

1 cup water
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 packets Stevia (honey, sugar, brown sugar, agave, whatever you prefer)
1/8 cup milk
1/2 cup frozen mixed berries (or whatever frozen fruit you prefer)

1. Bring the water to boiling- I use an electric kettle so if I forget about it, no big deal, it shuts off automatically.
2. While the water is boiling, mix oats, cinnamon and Stevia (or your choice of sweetener) in the bowl you will be using to eat.
3. Add the boiling water to the oat mixture and stir.
4. Let this stand for a couple minutes until the mixture is thick and the oatmeal is cooked.
5. Add the milk and stir until completely combined, this is just enough to make the oatmeal a little creamy.  
6. Add the frozen berries and stir again, the berries will significantly bring the temperature of the oatmeal down.
7. Once the berries are mixed in, enjoy.  The oatmeal is chilled, but not old gross oatmeal cold, and you get cold little bursts of berries while you're eating it.  It's perfect for a summer morning where the temperature is already too hot to handle.

I usually don't get to eat the entire bowl because there is a little face that instantly appears next to me and says "mmmm yummy oatmeal, I try it Mama?"

Back to the Aquarium and a Colorful Meal

Today I decided that our aquarium hiatus had come to an end and we were ready to return to the love of Munchkie's life.  I made the huge mistake of saying something this morning about going to the aquarium and that is all we heard about until she and I got our hands stamped with a green frog and walked in.  Her love for that place is ridiculous!  Even though she fell asleep in the car just 2 1/2 miles from the exit, as soon as she opened her eyes and knew where she was, she almost fell out of the car in excitement.  We had a fun time running around and seeing everything we could in a couple hours time.

After we got home and Munchkie was completely crashed I started working on dinner.  I had mixed together a half batch of no knead bread and left it out to rise while we were gone.  I got home and separated the dough into eight lumps to attempt making rolls, which turned out ok for rolls, but not great for hamburger buns (the crust is just too crunchy).  I think that my least favorite thing about healthy eating is the chopping.  Everything needs to be cleaned and chopped.  It takes much longer than you think (at least it does for me!).  Even though it took a little while, it was well worth it.  Eating turkey burgers on homemade rolls with a delightfully colorful and tasty salad complimented by ice tea while sitting outside was the perfect ending to a fun day.

Yep, Munchkie is eating peppers, tomatoes and shredded cheese, I tried to get her to eat the bread by slathering butter on it, she just licked the butter off and told me she was "all done".

Search For the Perfect Ice Tea Jug

As soon as the weather starts to warm up we immediately start making some ice tea.  It's our staple in the summer.  We don't usually buy drinks like juices, etc so our fridge usually only has the option of water or milk in it.  We can also offer you coffee or tea if you decide to come visit.  The summer however brings choices.  We constantly have ice tea because it is the perfect compliment to any meal.  There are also so many options for variation. You can go straight black, green, herbal, fruity, spiced, or combinations. Then there's unsweetened, slightly sweet, sweet or even southern style sweet.

 I started making ice tea after we got back from our anniversary trip and was fired up for summer to come.  Our trusty ice tea maker had served it's purpose for many years and so I started a hunt for something else to use.  I found a smaller jug and although it was plastic (something I try to eliminate) I read it thoroughly and it had all of the positives I look for, BPA free, dishwasher safe, etc.  I made the first batch of tea, let it sit on the counter cooling for a while mixed in the honey and then poured it into the tea jug.  I walked into another room  and when I came back into the kitchen, the jug had melted and collapsed on itself.  I freaked out and started the much-more-difficult-than-I-thought search for glass storage.  Nine (yes nine) stores and a couple weeks later I finally found something.  I actually found two different options in two different stores on the same day. This first one I liked because it looks vintage.  It makes me think of days sipping ice tea while dripping in sweat on a wrap-around porch slowly swaying in solid wood rocking chairs.  The other option I have reminds me of my childhood, playing outside until dark and every house on the block had a jug of sun tea sitting out on a rock or tree stump brewing in the hottest hours of the day.  I intend on doing the same with my newly found $5 treasure.  Tonight I made a batch of strawberry black tea which is chilling in the fridge overnight and I can't wait to have a glass tomorrow.

We have a cabinet that is pretty much only for drinks, containing teas, coffees, travel mugs, straws for Munchkie, and other little random things.  We have all kinds of options for teas.  We tend to lean towards the combination slightly sweet ice tea blends.  I usually make a french press of plain, very strong black tea and a pot of flavored tea.  I then mix with 1/4-1/2 cup of pure honey, stir and then pour over ice and top off with water to fill the ice tea jug.  We recently visited a mind boggling tea store and have been enjoying the strawberry black tea I brought back with me.  If you are someone who even remotely likes tea, you have to check out Adagio Teas and see all of the options they have.  You can even order customized blends with flavors of Caramel Cinnamon Cream, A 'Chocolate Cupcake' Tea or Coconut Cream Paradise.  These sound amazing!

Do you have a favorite go-to drink?  What do you turn to when you need something cool and refreshing?

Simplifying the No-Knead Bread Recipe

After 6 weeks of no working oven, and a semi working oven for who knows how long before that, today has been a great day!  We have a working oven!  Of course, it had to be just when the weather started getting warmer.  I didn't realize how much I relied on baking for stress relief until there was no oven to bake in.  This recipe showed up in my blog feed a few days ago and I could not wait for the repair guy to come today with replacement parts to fix my oven.  

Munchkie's Daddy grew up overseas where fresh bread doesn't even compare to the bread here. He has made it his quest to make the perfect loaf of bread. Tonight, he said "this is just like the bread we used to get in Albania in the market" and I almost cried in relief and happiness.  I think this super easy and super delicious bread recipe will be gracing our table frequently.  It has an amazing crust, an incredible soft inside and only four ingredients.  I did use whole wheat flour, so it was 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 3 1/2 cups bread flour.


Simplifying the No-Knead Bread Recipe

Besides the bread I threw together a quick salad, cooked some fish on the stove top and made a pitcher of fresh ice tea from some tea we picked up at a great little tea store, Adagio, while traveling last week. It was such a delicious meal!  The perfect ending to a long day of work for Munchkie's Daddy, and a good time together as a family.