Tricky Tip Thursday – Baby Powder

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Samantha

The older boys are visiting grandma and they are having an awesome time eating junk, being spoiled, and going to places like Legoland and the beach. The turkey misses them lots and in addition to asking when they’ll come home and sneaking into bed with me each night he has been looking at the pictures of his brothers’ adventures. This means I hear a lot of “I wanna go too!”

He has been asking to go to the beach this week and being in south east Nebraska you’d think I’d be hard pressed to find him a beach and yet I did. A beach with a lighthouse even!

Today we loaded up and headed to Linoma. The lighthouse has been recently added to the historical society’s list and they are planning restoration, but the kids don’t care they just went to splash in the water and build castles.

It wasn’t the ocean, but it was his first real beachy adventure and he was in heaven. The down fall to beaches is all the sand it sticks to you everywhere and then you end up with a car full of it when you trek home at the end of the day. That is unless you use this little trick. Pack baby powder in your beach bag and before loading up rub the powder all over you. It dries up the sand and makes it easy to brush off. I didn’t take pictures of the actual powdering, but trust me, it works.

Happy beach going!
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Ice Coffee ala Pioneer Woman

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Samantha
I never used to be a coffee drinker and then I opened my cloth diapering store and then girls downstairs offered it up in every way imaginable. And before I knew it I not only had a two cup a day problem, but I only drank good fancy coffee. They created a monster! And then I moved to the Midwest and I’m convinced that they do not know what good coffee is. No, Starbucks does not count! It may largely be the person making it, but whoever is teaching the coffee making course around here is dropping the ball. There are times when I just want to push my way behind the counter and do it myself. But I was kindly gifted and espresso machine for Christmas and it’s saved me a lot of headache and money, though I still feel the need to order my beans from out of state. It just makes me happy. No if only I could get Kalidi flavored syrup too, then I’d be in heaven.
Now that summer has hit with a vengeance it’s hot and miserable making, so ice coffee is a far more appealing idea, but even knowing the tricks of making it with minimize ice meltage you still melt some cubes. And then I was introduced to the Pioneer Woman’s iced coffee recipe. I tell ya she’s a genius! I only did a partial batch, but it was every bit as satisfying as I imagine a full batch will be. Of course I will be making it sooner than if I had done the uber batch.
1 1/2 cups of coffee grounds, this was the last of my cache

8 cups of water, this was the capacity of my pitcher
Highly scientific, huh? Look at the sludge:
I used my Pampered Chef mixing pitcher and it worked great because while it was chilling in the fridge I could pump it a few times when I opened the fridge for something else and mix up the lovely coffee. The turkey kept asking for juice and taking it out. He’d be sorely disappointed and I’d eat him with how crazy he’d be with a little caffeine. I’m sure the pitcher will always have a coffee taste to it, so I’m making it my coffee pitcher and the boys will rue the day they broke my other two. No juice for you!
I let it set overnight it came to about 17 hours, but who’s counting? I used a flour sack towel and put it in a strainer over a bowl and drained out the grounds. I made sure to twist the towel and squeeze out every last bit of that precious coffee.
And now the grounds are ready for the compost heap.
Don’t you just want to dive in to the little reflective pool of caffeinated goodness?
Pioneer Woman mentions using sweetened condensed milk and this is where she had me. I LOVE sweetened condensed milk. I’m quite sure than when someone says something is better than sex then they must be talking about sweetened condensed milk. It’s thick milky sugary goodness in a can. So I made sure to add not one, but two heaping spoonfuls on top of my coffee. After all, this is my treat to me. Then we fill the cup up with milk. I like whole milk and one of these days my rear is going to regret it, but oh well.
I love these reusable cold cups. Not as much as the double walled ones we have, but I need replacement straws since my child decided to chew the straws to bits. We use the for smoothies almost everyday and now for ice coffee.
We had a crazy week full of appointments and running around and this was just the pick me up I needed. Even had enough energy for an extra round of air karate fighting with the little boy.
Cheers,
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Mom, it’s the New Dad

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Samantha

You may remember that a couple months ago I was having a bit of a personal crisis over whether or not I was “man” enough to turn my little boys into Godly men. And in that time I’ve worked out my doubts and in recent weeks have never felt more confident in my parenting abilities. Living in a world that is in the shape ours is in more and more women are rearing children with absent fathers. Even married couples have men who are lacking in the leading father department.

With the boys out of school for the summer the quality time we’ve spent together has taught me a bit about myself. I have what it takes. I’m not afraid to get dirty, I know how to blow things up, and explore the mechanics of why things happen. I can cuddle on the couch, but I can tumble on the floor too. Showing the boys how to do handstands and flipping them through the air I realized that we’re lucky. Maybe it was my having a father who wanted boys and treated us the same as one. Or maybe it was the years with the man I married, learning from him what makes boys tick. Or maybe just the affirmation from this Sunday’s service telling me that it’s not only ok, but it’s my duty to pick up where dad has left off.

So I turn the slide into a water slide by setting the sprinkler next to it and we add popcorn Friday to the calendar. We “shoot” each other with sticks and we have sword fights and at the end of the day we pile into a tent in the backyard and watch lightening bugs and listen to crickets and feel at ease with where we are and how we’re doing it.

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Keep a Toddler Busy – WIP Wednesday

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Samantha

I generally prefer to be ahead of trends rather than follow them, but there is a quilt pattern (The Beekeeper’s Quilt) making the rounds on Ravelry. It’s adorable and it’s like the knitted counterpart to the pinwheel quilt my grandmother used to have. After much resistance I’ve finally started knitting these addictive little puffs. Once knitted and stuffed you sew them all together.

Aren’t they cute and squishy looking?
I’ve got a pile of diapers that need finishing and 4 other knitting projects on the needles. It’s always something in progress, but with toddlers underfoot it’s not always easy to get time to work on things unless they’re sleeping. So if I can’t include them in a project it sometimes takes creative distractions.
Luckily toddlers are pretty happy with the simple things. A package of pipe cleaners and a couple colanders make for cheap entertainment.
It develops fine motor skills and makes a cool hat.
Plus, it’s much quieter than the pan drum activity.

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Jerky Gun

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Samantha

Before you get all excited thinking this is a post about poor hand control I’m going to head you off. This is a post about a fun gadget every kitchen should have; a Jerky Shooter. A guy I worked with for many years used to bring the best jerky to work, usually made from moose, but it wasn’t traditional jerky. It was more like a Slim Jim, soft and easy to eat. And then he shared his secret and now several years later I’m sharing it with you all.

With father’s day on the way I needed to put together packaged for the fathers in my life. I just love care packages! And I don’t think a care package is complete without a little homemade jerky so we busted out the jerky gun. See:

One of the things that makes this awesome is that you use ground meat. You don’t have to slice a hunk of meat and worry about making sure it’s all an even thickness and then wait for it to set. Oh no! Dump meat in bowl add cure and seasoning mix and shoot. The jerky gun comes with a variety of packets, but once you run out even our tiny grocery store carries jerky mixes that work well.

After you fill the cylinder you squeeze strips on to your dehydrator racks. Don’t have a dehydrator? Then you can even make it in your oven. Isn’t this cool?! I do have a pretty awesome Excalibur dehydrator that the man I married got for me years ago and it’s one of the best presents ever.

We loaded it up and in a couple hours had yummy jerky. I do long strips and then break them into smaller bits when it’s done doing it’s thing.

Oh look you can see a little peak of my happy purple Kitchenaid!
The kids keep trying to pilfer the jerky, but I’m making sure we properly pack our father’s day packages first. If you’re a father getting a package pretend you didn’t read this. Well, there’s more than just jerky, so you can still be surprised. 🙂
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New Cloth Diapers

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Samantha

Several years ago I decided to work on making my own cloth diapers. Now after a lot of mishaps and turning my children into guinea pigs I finally have a pattern I’m happy with and happy little diapers that I’m not afraid to send out into the world. I spent yesterday sewing and wanted to share some of my goodies.

Owlie Newborn
Our side snapping sized fitteds have an absorbent bamboo fleece core, cute cotton outer, and coordinating inner with a 6 layer petal style snap in soaker.
Medium Hand dyed OBV
Robots with red cotton velour awaiting snaps
I’m excited to start stocking in my esty shop and on the Pins & Needles congo. Be on the lookout!
Now back to tending to sick kiddos and playing peacemaker. A mother’s work is never done.


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Pita Pockets at Home

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Samantha

There is one tiny grocery store in the little town we live in and it is far from fancy. I often feel like my shopping list is more like a list of demands for a potential negotiation or wishful thinking. There’s a whole section for dozens of instant oat meals and not a single cylinder of steel cut oats. Another shopper once laughed at me while looking for coconut oil. So I’ve taken to ordering the “frilly” things on line or stocking up when I make it into “town”.

Another item missing from the shelves of our local market is pita pockets, little fluffy discs with a pocket for stuffing full of numminess. Luckily I make most bread items myself, so why should pitas be any different? When I decided I had to have curry chicken salad I also decided I needed pitas to put it in and it wasn’t enough to find a recipe, but I had to spin it my way.

 1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons honey
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast

-Combine water, oil, salt, and honey, then add yeast.
-Slowly add flours, I always start with the whole wheat and then add my white flours. This way if I don’t need the full amount I get all the whole wheat and less of the white. Once combined knead for a few minutes till soft and elastic.
-Place in a lightly oiled bowl , cover, and rise until doubled, about 60 minutes
– Punch down and divide into 8 pieces, roll each piece into circles about 7″ in diameter.
-Leave discs on the counter and cover to rise about 25 minutes.
-Pre-heat oven to 500°, I have a wire rack I place in the oven, but you could place them directly on the oven rack. Cook for about 4 minutes. You have to watch them closely because it doesn’t take long and if they get too brown they are too hard to fill.
-After removing from the oven place them in a damp towel to cool.

You will have perfect little pitas you can use to make chips, sandwiches or gyros.

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Simply Brown Sugar

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Samantha

Do you ever have a “why didn’t I realize that sooner?!” moment. I have them often, but I learn as I go and I love that my brain is a plethora of what I refer to as useless information. I get a kick out of the character Ducky from NCIS and how he is always rambling from one topic to the next and everything inspires another train of thought, yet, he can’t finish where he’s at. That’s what it’s like in my head half the time. But I digress.

A couple years ago during one of my research quest I discovered that brown sugar is nothing more than molasses and white sugar. That’s it! Who knew?! This left mo wondering why for all these years I was buying that separate bag of sticky sweetness when it’s two components were already happily nestled in my pantry.

The equation comes out to about 1 tsp molasses to 1 cup of sugar. You can adjust the amounts depending on your preference of lighter or darker sugar. If I’m doing a larger batch I mix it all together in my Kitchenaid, but a smaller batch can be easily mixed by hand using a fork. The plus for me is that we use Blackstrap molasses and it’s a decent source of iron, calcium, and potassium and I’m of the opinion that every bit helps, especially if I’m making a treat that’s going to go right to my rear anyway.

See, even my little terracotta ginger friend is happier in homemade brown sugar. If you don’t have one of these I highly recommend it. Keeps my brown sugar from getting hard and lumpy.
Happy Baking-
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WIP Wednesday – My First Socks

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Samantha

There were two things I wanted to be able to make when I taught myself to knit. The first was longies for the little to wear over their cloth diapers and the second was socks. I just love fun socks and other than to work out I rarely wear plain white socks. I’ve collected sock yarn in every color of the rainbow and queued up dozens of patterns I’ll make some day. In the short time I’ve been knitting I’ve mastered a lot of things, but I had yet to cast on a pair of socks. From what I heard it seemed so daunting and I just wasn’t sure I had what it takes.

This past week has been a rough one for a myriad of reasons and my oldest son often leaves me bible verses. I’m quite sure God speaks directly to him because he always knows just what to post on the bulletin board for me. This weekend it was:

 “Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies.” Lamentations 3:30 NLV

Seeing it there in his boyish scribble reminded me of another of my favorite verses.

“If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.” Proverbs 25:21-22 KJV

These verses speak volumes of how I try to live my life. It’s not always easy, but it makes us feel better when we treat people with love, even those who don’t deserve it and I hope I have been able to teach my children that as well.

Father of the man I married was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and is undergoing chemo therapy. This makes me very sad as I think he’s a good man. Despite their opinions towards us I still consider them family and I want the kids to send him drawings and well wishes. In times of crisis I craft. So I pulled out my needles and began to pray as I knit; for healing and peace and love. And my first pair of socks is going to him. I hope they keep him warm when he gets the chills, wick away the sweats, and more importantly make him feel loved.

I learned some new techniques and I’m excited to make socks for everyone now.

I have a shawl in progress. I had been saving this yarn for my someday daughter, but since I’ve only been blessed with boys I decided to use it for myself. I love Carina Spencer’s patterns and Faraway so Close is no exception. Isn’t it nummy?

This week has been a pretty productive one though. I finished a baby dress I had left sitting for far too long and now it will be going to it’s new home. I also finished some custom blanket orders. I even made a potty mat for the turkey. Protecting the floors from him is tricky business sometimes.

  
                               Happy Crafting-

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Homemade Cheesey Crackers

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Samantha

Ages ago I found the Smitten Kitchen recipe for making Goldfish crackers at home and it was an instant hit. The kids love goldfish and I love easy and I’ve been hard pressed to improve upon her recipe in any way. I do make mine with only whole wheat flour, but it’s hard to want to make a change from , “throw it all in a food processor and turn it on”. Even with the help of a toddler or two the whole adventure happens quickly. He enjoys pushing the pulse button and even with the safety measures I find I immediately unplug it once I’m done with it. He’s so crafty I just know if ever a child could circumvent the Cuisinart it would be my 3 year old. He keeps me on my toes and I find myself walking into rooms and taking inventory on every way he might possibly wreck havoc. He’s destined for great things!

We made these crackers again several weeks ago and the turkey decided he needed farm animals instead of fish. I love that I have the time and patience to just let him do his thing. The more I come to terms with having a child who is most likey ADHD and on the Autism spectrum the more I learn about my son and just living. We have our routine, but we don’t have to live by the rules of the time clock and I don’t have to match my life to pictures in magazines. So what if you cut out half the cow with the bunny and have flour up to your armpits. By being home and slowing down I’ve learned to enjoy every moment, each smile, each laugh, each tear, and just let it be. I mourn the moments I lost being caught up in things that seemed important then and now are trivial. But I’m making up for lost time these days. This life; it’s simple, but it’s mine. And anyone who thinks I’m a bad mother obviously doesn’t read the blog.

Speaking of cheese here’s a silly kid joke from midkid:

What goes ha ha plop?
– someone laughing their head off 

*groan*

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