Prepping for Back to School

The holiday break is coming to an end. I'm ignoring the calendar, but in the back of my mind I know Monday will come quickly. To ensure we keep up with our whole food monthly challenge I've started to prep lunchbox items. I had some extra Herman (my sourdough starter from a friend, will post ALL about this new man in my life sooner or later) and knew I needed to have some ready to go muffins for out the door breakfasts next week. Found a recipe and adapted it a little--turned out great!
Here is the link to the recipe that I used: http://www.food.com/recipe/sourdough-banana-bread-6670

Made these into muffins with 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 unbleached. Used 1/2 cup of honey instead of sugar and butter instead of shortening. I thought they were plenty sweet, but my bananas were very ripe! I baked them for about 30 minutes at 340 degrees in a convection oven and kept checking them to make sure my toothpick came out clean. Family loved them and I got to use my cute new muffin cups that Santa gave me.

One is missing...husband and child quality control!

The ham that never ends...

Each year for Thanksgiving my family comes down from Virginia with a ham. It's their main contribution besides great company. My husband and I plan, prep, and cook our favorites each year. It is something we love to do and look forward to. We take time to plan our menu and this year we knew we needed to cut back. There are always so many leftovers . Guilt set in when we looked at our slated menu and heard that some of our usual guests wouldn't come this year. We knew what that meant. Our REALLY long list of casseroles, sides, accoutrements, appetizer plans (add random yummy things here) had to be skimmed down.
With grimacing faces and lots of "Are you sure?" We drew lines threw some of our favorites old and new. Grandma's Macaroni and Cheese casserole, out. Salmon plater, moved to Black Friday snack. Cranberry and orange relish, safe. We even tried to get a smaller heritage breed turkey. BUT the ham made the cut. 1) It is something my parents bring, so it required no work form us and 2) the leftovers go on forever. Hence...this post!
So far with the leftover Thanksgiving ham we have had...

• Ham sandwiches
• Fried ham with eggs
• Western omlettes
• 15 bean soup (using the bone) which we then froze half of
• Nachos (kind of random, I know)
• Macaroni and Cheese w/ ham roll ups

AND today I am using 2 cups of the ham diced in a Split Pea Soup.
I based my Split Pea Soup off this recipe:
Crock Pot Split Pea Soup

I only did a few things different like: omitted the potatoes (didn't have any), sautéed mirepoix before putting it in the crockpot, and used turkey stock instead of chicken.

It smells great. Now I just have to think of some more ham recipes because believe it or not, there is still more in the freezer. Ideas?

Potty Training: To MnM or Not to MnM

V goes to the potty at home, just not consistently. We've tried lots of little tricks and have had success for short burst with almost everything we tried; however, nothing works all of the time, everyday except going without (and we all know that just isn't practical or appropriate all the time). So I started reading and asking around and some of friends used mini M-n-M's as a special treat. Do you remember those? They are TINY.  Most of the time V goes and she forgets to even ask for one, but every now and again she says, "I want a blue one." It reinforces colors right?!?!  Can you tell I feel guilty? Should I continue this with a natural treat sans food coloring etc?

I don't mention it often or pressure her because sometimes she shocks me and will go all day long, and other days she always says, "I'm okay" when I ask her.

Big girl panties have helped, we use some cloth pull up trainers but she can't wear those to school and they are kind of hard for her to pull up and down herself. I can tell she knows when she has gone potty in them because she ASKS for a fresh. This totally reinforces that she is ready for toilet training. So we have explored some disposable training pants to send to school and use when she can't run around au-natural.

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Eat.Shop.Sleep.Repeat.

Okay, so maybe the title is a slight exaggeration considering we are really trying to avoid the excess that often occurs during the holiday time BUT let me tell you about some for real deals we have gotten that hasn't busted our budget and will help us get through the holiday season with ease and bring the new year in with STOCKED pantry! Let's just say I have a stash of O.N.E. Coconut Water that would make a prepper envious.

Honest Company has a sale so I stocked up on Vivi's training pants that she needs for school. She prefers the stars pattern and can pull them up herself! 25% off with code THANKSGIVING good till 12/1/2014.

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Of course, I got the Black Friday deal at PlantoEat.com. Half off for a whole year of meal planning...Love this site. I've been waiting for this sale for MONTHS!!



I grabbed a few actual gifts for family/teachers/friends, but for the most part we are giving some love from the kitchen this year!

Ryan's working on a trifecta rub and I grabbed some adorable favor tins to pack the seasonings in and some sparkly ribbon. We tried this on some toasted pumpkin seeds as a snack while cooking Thanksgiving supper; they were so tasty! Who knew that Ry's rub tweaked a smidge would be good on EVERYTHING. Well, he did.

I hope you had a restful holiday and you start the season with a smile. Onward to the Christmas Tree farm!

Incredibly productive, but COLD weekend

V and I are hanging sans hubby today. It's still somehow crazy busy in the house. We've managed to play outside, harvest basil, do laundry, go shopping, and make chicken salad and chicken stock out of roasted chicken leftovers. I could've titled this post the miraculous journey of one batch of chicken stock, but it's not all gone so the future is unknown for the remains.  The pot was like a Mary Poppin's carpet bag. The chicken stock then made went its separate ways some into the freezer, some into a batch of Butternut Soup (relish, but not as good as the hubs version), and some into a pot of collards. I "put away" several ears of corn after being inspired by Vivian on A Chef's Life. Now with a batch of Southern Style Lima Beans in the crock pot and cornbread on the to do list, we are basically turning into a Kountry Kitchen around here!
Feels good to use things up. Really good.
Alls that's left to do now is daydream about a compost pile.

Check out this plan:
http://thewannabehomesteader.com/how-to-build-an-easy-compost-bin-with-no-power-tools/


Southern Limas in Crock Pot:

-Lima Beans (1 bag, I buy in bulk from Whole Foods and like the REALLY large ones) soak them for about 6-8 hours before hand
- water/stock
- 1 tsp cajun seasoning
- 1/2 tsp. onion powder
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp. other random seasoning you need to use (this time is was thyme, last time it was italian flakes)
- few dashes of red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 smoked turkey neck (ham hock works too)

Soak limas. Add them to the crock pot and add water/stock to cover them. Add smoked turkey neck. Add seasoning and stir.  Cook on low overnight, checking to make sure water is in the crock pot every now and again.

YUM!
*Gotta give credit to a fellow teacher for my own adaptation of these. She brought them to a pot luck and I've been hooked ever since!*

Cloth Diapering Reasons...

In my efforts to convince others to join in on my cloth diapering obsession I wanted to post some of my routines and just a bit about why we love cloth diapering in our house.We also use cloth wipes in order to reinforce all our reasons for cloth diapering in the first place.

As a reminder, everyone is different. These are the reasons why we chose to cloth diaper.

1) It's better for our baby. Vivi has very sensitive skin and we want to avoid any harsh chemicals. Ryan has eczema and so we are aware of the dilemmas she could potentially face. We wanted to avoid that at all costs. People argue about this one, but here is some research on the matter:http://toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Diapers

2) It's better for the environment. (This one people like to argue because they say that you have to use power and water to wash said cloth diapers, BUT we use eco-friendly detergent, wash with small amounts of water, and line dry.)

3) To save money. We have not purchased any disposable diapers. We were gifted some Seventh Generation which are the disposables that also would match up with our #1 and #2 reasons for cloth diapering. These disposable diapers are a really great option;however, they are SO ridiculously overpriced. Even generic brand disposables and wipes get expensive. Here's some info on cost effectiveness:
http://www.babyworks.com/cost-comparisons

4) I hate taking out the trash. Seriously, it's scary back there. I'd rather wash a load of dipes any day instead of venturing where the spiders and snakes could potentially be lurking.

5) They are so CUTE!!! Who needs pants when your diaper is adorable.

Hanging is the wet bag where we put soiled diapers. The bookshelf has all the clean diapers.

Here is our changing table set up. We have all our cloth diapers at hand and the cloth wipes are in the warmer with a wipe solution I mix up.

Spring Break, emphasis on the SPRING

Spring is here, so what now? Spring feels more like a new year to me than any day in January. It is now, more than ever, that I want to change things, start fresh, begin again. I have intense desires to use my steam mop, drink nettle tea, and play in the dirt. And here I am sitting on the porch on yet another dreary day during my Spring Break filling my time being OCD and making lists of all the things I'll do when the sun comes out. There is one thing I do every spring, it's become a tradition of sorts. Heres to the tradition being started in Beaufort. Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Plant An Herb Garden Too!

1. In the long run it's way cheaper. Herbs are expensive, and it seems that whenever you need one for a recipe the store is always sold out and its not Farmer's Market hours.


2. You want your porch to look nice anway. Herbs are visually appealing. They come in all shapes and sizes, and if you forget to trim them all they will do is flower, how awful is that.


3. They smell good. I planted lavender because I've recently become addicted to the smell, and I can't sit around smelling my laundry detergent all day.


4. Herbs make beautiful garnishes. Even if you aren't drinking mojitos or bloody mary's adding a sprig to your iced tea makes reading a magazine on a Sunday a more enjoyable experience.


5. (And for all my lady friends who wouldn't accept the number 5 reason being that my favorite color is green.) The cute guy working in the garden department at Lowes. Make sure you buy organic choice, he'll have to do a price check.