Diaper Duty

I think that, in spite of my sewing apparatus (see left) the diapers are coming along nicely. Although I am still having difficulties with the elastic, I am getting better at them overall. The ones with velcro are convenient enough that my six year old likes to change them (!!). Each one seems to work a little better than the last, and they do the job. R seems much more comfortable in them too, than the disposables.







Here's a couple more recent samples of my work:







One of my other moms saw an earlier blog regarding bread and bagels and decided I needed a breadmaker.....

And lo and behold, this beauty arrived the other day, courtesy of my best friend's mom and Wolfgang Puck.

I love it/hate it already! It cuts the time way way down. It makes perfect bread. It makes my handmade bread look pitiful.

But I made a loaf of sourdough (in 3 hours no less) this morning that turned out like this:




So thanks MamaLou!

Diapers in a Hurry!

Yesterday I spent the day with M and her friend at Six Flags so there was no creativity for breakfast or dinner. As a matter of fact, after being there from 10:45am until 7:15pm, none of us ate dinner-- we all crashed too soon. But as a part of our Six Flags excursion, hand sanitizer leaked into my digital camera, and voila .. it is broken.

This whole week I have 3 kids. Which is actually pretty fun. Makes me want another. But at any rate, I have had to up my pace at diaper making as I am committed to not buying anymore after we run out. And I think we have about 4 in the house in diaper bags and such.

So on Monday I made this:
So today I managed to churn out two more diapers. One is really really cute, the other my bobbin wound badly and the whole thing looks nuts! But I am happy. I am getting quicker and neater and the whole process is getting easier. And I am managing to recycle otherwise useless material from around the house.


Tomorrow I am taking the girls out for half the day and then we're doing some crafts, perhaps I can at least get a shot with the webcam or camera phone and upload.

'Night ya'll!

Breakfast bars and Hot Tamales!

I've been focusing hard on trying to get M and my husband away from cereal in the mornings, and have been cooking up batches of breakfasts that they can have just as easily. We have homemade frozen waffles, apple-cinnamon pancakes, and French toast already in the freezer. And yes, honestly, all of those are much healthier than cereal, particularly if I can get them to eat them with maple syrup.

Here's why: I made them with farm-fresh eggs from free-range chickens, which have higher levels of omega-3s than factory farmed ones, and higher levels of vitamins A & E, and less cholesterol and saturated fat. I also used real whole milk from the farm, which is more easily digestible than store-bought, and has natural vitamins included rather than artificially added back in. (For more information about real milk, check out www.realmilk.com). Not only that, but even with syrup, these things have less sugar than cereal. And if they use maple syrup, it is chock-full of minerals like zinc and manganese that are good for you. Plus, if they are taking the time to sit down and eat (which is better for your digestion than gulping and running) I can normally get some additional eggs or turkey bacon in them so that they have protein to start the day. Sometimes I can work some fruit in there too.

Store-bought cereals have over processed grains, typically GMO high fructose corn syrup, sugar, sugar, sugar, and lots and lots of chemicals. Even the so-called healthy ones. M and S are not convinced, but they like hot breakfast, so enough with my tirade.

Yesterday I made homemade breakfast bars. Which look nothing like Kellogg's, but I think are delicious. We'll see how they feel this morning.
To make:
Soak 3-4 cups of whole rolled oats overnight (NOT instant oatmeal)
The next day, mix together 4 eggs, 3/4 cups brown sugar, 2 cups of milk, 1 Tbsp. cinnamon, 1 Tbsp. baking powder, 1 cup of raisins, 1 cup of diced fresh strawberries. Once that was all mixed together, I added the oatmeal. You can cook in one pan, but I divided into three smaller ones so as to cook in the convection oven and not heat up the house. I baked at 350 for 25 minutes. I let them sit out to cool, and then cut up and refrigerated. It made a total of about 20 small but filling breakfast bars.

**Update to that-- although I had two for breakfast, neither one of them tried them.)

For dinner I decided to make tamales, using leftover cornhusks from the previous day's cookout. I never had made tamales before, so I looked at several different recipes before working it out. My recipe makes about 15 tamales.

3 chicken breast quarters
1 tbsp. cumin, divided
1 tbsp. paprika, divided
1 tsp. ancho chile powder
1 tbsp. black pepper, divided
1 tbsp. salt
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 can green chiles
1 jalapeno, chopped finely
1 onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
4-5 cups of water
2 tbsp. olive oil
husks from 5 ears of corn
3 cups masa flour or cornmeal
1/3 cup butter

Soak the cornhusks in a bowl of water. Bring the chicken breasts to a boil with black pepper, 1 tsp. cumin, 1 tsp. paprika, and 1/2 tsp. of ancho chile powder. Once the water is boiling, reduce to a simmer. Simmer until the chicken is falling off of the bones. Take the chicken and shred it either with your fingers or with two forks. Remove the bones and discard. Reserve broth, allow both chicken and broth to cool. In a saucepan, saute the onions until almost clear, approximately 2 minutes, then add the garlic and saute for an additional minute. Add remaining seasonings, jalapeno, and green chiles. Cook for an additional minute and add shredded chicken. Mix well, and cook until chicken is warmed. In a separate bowl, mix masa flour, salt, and baking powder with the butter. Mix with your hands to get butter thoroughly blended. Carefully, a bit at a time, add the broth until your mixture is somewhat of a peanut butter consistency. Take the corn husks out of the water, and shake off excess water. In each, place 2 tsbp. of the dough mixture, then add 1 tbsp. of the chicken mixture. Carefully roll the husks up, and tie off with a strip of corn husks. (Note: Most recipes will tell you to use kitchen twice. I just felt like it would be silly to buy string when you could use what is already there.) It will be helpful if you can tuck the ends up as you roll. Next place the tamales upright in your steamer basket and steam, with the lid on, for about 90 minutes. Check often to be sure that the water does not run dry under the steamer, you don't want to dry the tamales out or have them have a burnt taste. Once you believe they are done, remove 1 and allow to cool for a moment. Check to be sure the dough is cooked well. Enjoy!













I left some meat reserved and refrigerated, and made into a breakfast omelet this morning:

Bison Burgers, Truffles, and Sangria Oh my!

On today's trek down the yellow brick road, we had a cookout for my dad. Sounds relatively easy, but I overcomplicate everything. It was also the first time my dad had come over to eat since I got married, so I wanted it to be extra special.

The menu was pretty basic: hamburgers, hotdogs, fries, corn. Except i made bison burgers, chicken dogs, baked fries, fresh corn on the cob. And the condiments! Homemade ketchup (look at previous blogs), kimchee, saurkraut, cole slaw, three kinds of mustard, tomatoes from the little old man up the street, lettuce, two cuts of onions, pickles, etc. And I made Sangria as both my dad and my husband both recently discovered a love for it.

Hmm.. recipes to include. I made the sangria by:

Soaking: 2 oranges, halved and sliced thinly
2 limes, sliced thinly
2 lemons, sliced thinly
2 plums, diced
7 strawberries

in about half a bottle of spiced rum for 24 hours. I then added about 3 cups of orange juice to it. I put a bottle of (Trader Joe's) Merlot in the freezer for about 45 minutes and then combined it all in a punch bowl. The result-- fabulous!


The truffles turned out pretty decent, despite my concerns to the contrary. If you read yesterday's post, you'll know I left them in the fridge overnight. Today I pulled the pan out and scooped them using M's melon baller (yes she has one, I do not.) I then formed them into (kinda) balls and rolled them in cocoa powder, arranging them in my fabulous cheese & cracker tray I received as a wedding gift (thanks, mom!). Ok, ok, so they are kinda ugly, but they taste like the real thing, so presentation will be the next step.

All in all, I had a pretty good day. My husband ended up doing much more around the house than any dad oughta have to do on Father's Day, but I promised a fishing day real soon.

Gardening and Truffle Making Aha!

So in this Father's Day weekend, I am making progress on my to-do list. A bit anyway. M and I were supposed to make truffles together, but after the birthday party she attended yesterday at the aquatics center, she passed out in her room for several hours. So it was up to me, which considering I was using a double boiler, may have been for the best. It seems like a
fairly simple process, but as I am in the middle currently, can't be sure yet. Using a double boiler you melt:
9 oz chocolate chips
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream

And then you refrigerate until firm, roll into little balls and coat with cocoa powder. I did taste test the refrigerated product last night and it tasted fantastic!

My husband wished for me to help with the transplantation of several plants yesterday. I have no clue at all about plants really, I'm good with something like a cactus. But as we eventually want to have a farm (!) it's time for me to learn. We transplanted two grape vines, 6 tomato plants, 4 cucumber plants, and 3 or 4 peppers. And a nectarine tree. He had already tilled the area and staked it out, so it was really just a matter of transplanting and then fencing the area off. He showed me how to do it, and we alternated breaking up the soil, digging, and transplanting. I criticized the sharpness of the shovel when I encountered roots, asking when he last sharpened it. Ah, the archaeologist in me always wants gardening tools sharpened to the finest precision! After transplanting the goods, we built a make-shift fence to keep the dogs out. He then sprinkled chili powder and cayenne pepper around the edges to help deter pests. I expected to hate it but actually enjoyed it, despite the work with a sunburn creeping about my shoulders (thanks to the aforementioned birthday party.)

So far this year we have growing: grapes, heirloom tomatoes, another variety of tomatoes, cucumbers, scotch bonnet peppers, chili peppers, onions, rosemary, lavender, basil, some other kind of peppers, a nectarine tree, oregano and I think that's it for the time being. We had some wheatgrass going but it died, as did my garlic.

I'm hoping to add lettuce to the bunch, although we will probably grow it indoors as it can be sensitive to heat/sunlight, both of which are prevalent to Georgia. And S is supposed to start work on a chicken coop soon so we can have our own chickens! I want to totally free-range them but with the pit bulls who are free-range in our neighborhood it's not really possible. So we will hopefully have a design where they have more ability to roam within the coop area. And also maybe we'll be able to allow them to roam while monitoring. I love fresh free-range eggs, I can't wait!

So I'm sitting and working whilst the family sleeps, drinking my coffee with raw whole milk in it (yum, yum, doesn't even need sugar.) I'll get into the health benefits of THAT another day.

Food, Friendship, Fellowship and CHAOS!

Let me start out by saying I miss my friends, I really do. Two years ago, when I married my wonderful husband I moved across Atlanta and away from many of my friends. Others moved away as well, the end result is we are all scattered like so many grains of dust on the wind. And as I am not currently gainfully employed outside the home, my get together of choice is a "Why don't ya'll come over for dinner?"

I love to cook, I love to have people over, I love to feed people and have them enjoy the food I make.

But I stress myself out to infinity, worrying over minuscule details such as whether or not my charmingly overly populated house is clean (guess what? it's not), whether or not the attending guests have some really random food allergy I've not been informed of, whether or not my children will behave (again, NOT!), and whether or not there will be enough food (I cook for an army.)

So enter my day yesterday. I started off with my bit of work that I do from home at 5:10. Yep, that's right folks, I awakened at 4:45 AM and began working whilst the rest of the house slept. And that was after getting up twice to nurse R and going to bed at approximately 11:15pm. Whilst I worked, I also balanced the checkbook, looked for a job, ate my breakfast, etc. In a break, I cooked turkey bacon, eggs, cinnamon toast (for M), and laid out canteloupe for the family's breakfast. I pulled out ground chicken, eggroll wrappers, and boneless chicken thighs to thaw, and put some brown rice on to soak.


I then dressed in a suit and got ready to head out the door to a job interview. I happened to glance in the mirror and realize my post-pregnancy form is NOT quite the same as my pre-pregnancy form and panic and change. I then headed out with the kids in tow, dropped them off at my dear mother-in-law's house, and proceeded to go do my interview. Since it was a phone interview, I went to a parking lot and parked, thinking it would save me time later on. I parked downwind of a dumpster who Advanced Disposal thankfully decided to empty whilst I was on my phone interview (Thanks guys, that sounded professional!). Post interview I went to Northside Hospital to see my friend's new beautiful baby girl. Then after spending WAY longer than I should have at the hospital, I hurried back to grab the kids. It took an hour to get them away from grandma, mostly due to M dancing on and off of grandma's aerobic step.
Fast forward to home. Immediately R wanted to nurse, M wanted computer help, and I wanted to prep dinner so the evening would be easy. Can anyone spell conflict of interest?

My plan for dinner was Chinese. I know it may not be too American-traditional, but it was mostly healthy and well balanced, and most of it wasn't pre-packaged nonsense except the eggroll wrappers. And I'm not to the level of making those myself YET.

I have a few lovely crockpot meals I make that I like to serve guests. These meals make my life easier, dinner generally gets done on time, and I can devote time to the kids. I planned for Orange Chicken, Chicken Springrolls, and fried rice.

The orange chicken is fairly easy. You take boneless chicken (I used thighs this time) and put in a crockpot with concentrated orange juice (frozen), soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, cayenne pepper and some water. That's it. You cook on low for 5 to 6 hours. Depending on the audience, I may make it spicier/sweeter etc.

Fried rice is like the easiest thing ever. So I soaked the rice a couple of hours, which makes it easier to digest and reduces cooking time. Once cooked, I left in the pan and scrambled two eggs with soy sauce and ginger. I removed them from the pan and heated up some frozen peas and carrots. (Yes I use frozen. I'm not shelling peas for fried rice). I left all of it on the stove so we could stir fry it when ready to eat and it would be hot and fresh. My darling husband did the frying. :-)

But those springrolls! Oy! So the spring rolls themselves are not that difficult, but I forgot that they call for Thai peanut sauce and I had none on hand and couldn't remember how to make it. So before I could start the spring rolls I had to make the peanut sauce while (again) nursing R and quizzing M in French. Ack! I started the ground chicken at the same time, hoping to speed up the process. I felt the end result was that the chicken lacked the flavor it normally has when you cook it together, but c'est la vie.

My rough Thai peanut sauce:
1/4 c peanut butter
1/2 tsp or so of cayenne pepper
3 tbsp of sesame oil
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 splash apple cider vinegar
couple splashes of soy sauce
minced onion
minced garlic
minced ginger

Put in all in blender until liquified, cook on low about 15 minutes.

So to make the chicken springrolls, you mix in slaw mix or your choice of chopped fresh veggies (we like teeny matchsticks of carrots and brocolli), the peanut sauce, and the ground chicken. Cook together for 3 or 4 minutes, then roll up in the spring roll wrappers which is much, much easier than it sounds. Place in a greased oven-safe pan and bake on 400 for about 15-20 minutes, or until the tops start looking nice and brown. Like this:I generally serve them with a choice of dipping sauces. I saved peanut sauce for this purpose, and then whipped up some "plum" sauce. I cooked on low in a saucepan: peach jelly, rice wine, apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper, and a little ginger. I just cooked it stirring with a whisk until the jelly lost its clumps.

Did I mention in the middle of the spring roll debacle I had another phone interview I didn't know I was going to have, R was crying, M got him to take a nap, and I couldn't find my husband?


Then M decideds we need place cards. So she makes placecards for everyone and I realize I had been saving wine corks for a year or so to make placecard holders... so I went running for the hot glue gun and whipped some up. M loved them because we were recycling!












Then I realized we needed a drink for the meal. And of course it need to be themed... so, I found the Green Tokyo on About.com: green tea, white rum, springs of mint, simple syrup. Simple, except, I didn't want to serve it hot in 90 degree weather, so I had to make it and then chill, and I had to make my simple syrup from brown sugar instead of white because we were out of white sugar. That may be permanent, being out of white sugar is not necessarily a bad thing.

I really put too much pressure on myself, the reason the day was chaotic is because I insist on doing TOO much and perfection. C'est la vie though. It's always worth it to work hard for your friends and do things for them in whatever way you can. Particularly when it's a friend you love so much!


So the plan for Father's Day weekend includes:

• make breakfast bars to have for next week
• make truffles
• make my husband breakfast burritos on Sunday (his favorite breakfast)
• work in the garden per my husband's request
• have a cookout for my dad
• take a nap
• take M to a birthday party
• make at least one diaper.

Ha ha, we'll see how much of that actually gets done. My guess is the nap is the first to go!

Organ Meats

So I made my second attempt last night to feed organ meats to my family, this time cooked with some mineral-rich bone broth. (Last time I made cajun dirty rice-- a hit.)

I keep thinking chicken livers will be a good way to go, despite the fact that I hate liver!

So, last night I made this, which my husband deemed "Awesome!" and M said, "It's all really good except for the meat. Something's wrong with the meat, I think it's rotten."

So much for cleverly disguising liver!

A Journey to Cloth Diapering

I've always wanted to cloth diaper. No, really! With my first child, my mom kept her while I worked and she said pampers or the highway, so.... But this time around, since I'm home (currently anyway) with my second I am trying to progress to cloth diapering.

There are SO many choices! I had no idea! I knew about pre-folds, but there are all-in-ones (know as AIOs), and other random things too. So the more I read about it, the more I found out the benefits of cloth diapering. They include: the baby doesn't learn to live with waste next to their skin, so they should be easy to potty train, they are not wearing toxin releasing disposables next to their skin, they are not filling the landfill, and they SAVE MONEY!! I also read a bit about making your own.

Now anybody that knows me knows that I.CANNOT.SEW. Yes, in all caps, it's really that bad. I've been know to replace a button on a blouse only to realize later in the day that said blouse is gaping open at work. (Which I've typically resolved by taping it shut!). But in the spirit of recycling, self-sufficiency, and wanting to learn something new, I borrowed my mom's sewing machine. A sewing machine, which is, at least as old as I am. But the darn thing works. I determined both for financial reasons and environmental reasons to recycle old clothes to make these cloth diapers.

My first foray into diaper making was to make a woolen diaper cover. I used a very simple pattern I found online, and sewed one from a wool sweater of mine that I've ahem, outgrown. The bonus with this sweater is that I bought it at a thrift store to begin with, so now it's double recycled. And I was able to get two diaper covers out of it, even after felting it.

I won't say they are beautiful, but they fit him and hold and work beautifully! The other night, I was extremely tired and forgot to change R before bed. Now if that happens in a disposable diaper, something is getting drowned in the night, usually me when I nurse him at about 4 am. However, in a pre-fold diaper and one of my woolen covers, he slept all night, only waking and leaking at about 7am. So I got three more hours of peace, and a new respect for the water retaining properties of wool.


Next, I decided to make an AIO. My husband, Mr. Former-Art-School student drew out a pattern for me on a Trader Joe's bag and I set to work, with an old pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. I made a beautiful red diaper, but since I insisted on turning the seams in to make my diaper pretty and so M ended up with a cloth diaper for a Build-a-Bear because there was NO way R was fitting into that. It was super absorbant too, with 6 layers in the front (for boys ha, ha) and 2 in the back. Too bad M's Build-A-Bears don't make that kind of mess!

So for my next attempt, I made an AIO with moisture resistence, I had read on a message board about people using a shower curtain to line it. So I made one this way. Interestingly enough, purple on the inside, red on the outside, reversable. Yeah, so that shower curtain idea? Not so great. It leaked within 1 minute of putting it on. We'll be sticking with all-in-ones with absorbancy or pre-folds from now on.

It's cute, though, says SHAZAM! across his little bum.













Ah, yes, and some of the leftover purple material made the world's ugliest Barbie skirt. But M loved it, felt like I was sewing something for her too and therefore she was not left out.

BAGELS!!!

You never know what's going to strike our fancy, and for some reason this week I got it in my head to make bagels. From scratch. Maybe because my family loves them, maybe to see if I could, who knows?

So I decided to go plain for starters, and used the recipe from this website: http://www.bagelrecipes.net/new-york-bagels.html because it is a recipe that includes the steps for boiling and baking, which makes a soft bagel on the inside and a tougher, chewier exterior.

It turns out making bagels is a rather all-day process. Of course, we could have shortened it, but I'm stubborn. Amongst the steps includes boiling a potato in two quarts of water. I decided to use the largest dutch oven I have, a rather heavy number. It took an hour for the water to boil... (I really could've switched pans, but I was determined!)

But after all the boiling, mixing, rising, etc. I shaped the bagels, because by this time M had completely given up on me. And the bagels. She told me to call her when the bagels were done so she could "taste test." She wanted a bagel for lunch and didn't want to have anything until they were done. This being her way of both being stubborn (don't know where she gets THAT from) and also having complete faith that I can cook ANYTHING. But above you can see a picture of my raw, shaped bagels before they had done the final rise.

After boiling, which brought me back to the two weeks or so in college that I was a doughnut maker at the Winn Dixie in Statesboro, I settled the bagels onto a cookie sheet to bake. M brushed each one carefully with egg whites, and....

They turned out a little on the small side, like mini-bagels, but they taste fantastic-- we taste tested several immediately! Guess we'll be making bagels again.....


On another note, each week this summer M and I are studying a different topic. Some she has chosen, some I've chosen. She is also beginning to learn French. But this week's theme is rocks. So she and S are growing Rock candy....
So I'll have to do updates on how that is turning out.

Sauerkraut

While I'm on the subject of fermentation, we also started a crock of sauerkraut yesterday. With my family, sauerkraut is NOT just for hot dogs. My daughter took it for lunch one day to school.

Sauerkraut is pretty easy, really. You take a head of cabbage, and shred it finely (we used the food processor.)

















Then you put it in a large crock or something of the like (NOT metal, it can be reactive.) You mash the cabbage down with some Sea Salt until there is enough liquid to cover all the cabbage. (We used a pestle.) You then weight it down, cover it loosely, and let it sit. And sit. and sit. You check it every couple of days to make sure there is enough liquid. Refrigerate it once it reaches the taste you prefer.

Making Ketchup

Yesterday we made homemade ketchup. I did a smaller version once before, but once I determined how much we like it, made the full recipe yesterday. It's a lacto-fermented version, which means it's great for you, plus it has none of the junk in commercial ketchup. About lacto- fermentation:


“The proliferation of lactobacilli in fermented vegetables enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels. These beneficial organisms produce numerous helpful enzymes as well as antibiotic and anticarcinogenic substances. Their main by-product, lactic acid, not only keeps vegetables and fruits in a state of perfect preservation but also promotes the growth of healthy flora throughout the intestine.”
Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions, pg 89
For more info on lacto-fermentation and it's health benefits, check out this link:
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/lactofermented-foods-another-powerful-tool-to-increase-the-strength-of-your-immune-system-377387.html


Anyways, the recipe is from the book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon (quoted above) and is very easy. The ketchup should be ready just in time for Sunday's Father's Day cookout with my dad!

Pizza

Last week, we made our own pizza (mostly) from scratch. And the result? We decided it was better than ordering delivery!! We did use store-bought sauce (although we'll be making our own to can or freeze this week) but my six year old made the crust for the 1st one, and I made the crust for the second. The picture above is the pizza she made.

Crust recipe:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. olive oil
couple of pinches sea salt
1 1/2 cups sourdough starter

Mix well. Form into a ball and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees. Roll out dough on floured surface until correct size. Crust can also be hand stretched at the edges to form to shape.

Brush pizza crust with olive oil, which will help keep it from soaking in sauce. Top with marinara sauce, and your choice of toppings. For this one we used onions, pineapple, broccoli, turkey bacon (and she put okra on her slices), and cheese. We pre-sauteed the onions, frozen broccoli and turkey bacon until ALMOST done before putting on pizza. Bake pizza for about 12-15 minutes or until cheese is completely melted.

This made a slightly thin, very sourdoughy tasting crust.

For the pizza I made, I used the same recipe as above, but added 1 1/2 cups of water in addition. This made flour soup! So I added more flour gradually until the dough was the right consistency. This made a much thicker crust. It had less sourdough flavor, but it was nice and filling and held up to the toppings better. We topped this one with leftover barbeque chicken, red onions, and banana peppers. Yum!



*Cost savings tip-- we bought a huge bag of shredded mozzarella at Sam's. We keep it in the freezer and just grab out what we need per pizza. If you use leftovers for toppings (like the barbeque chicken pizza) and make your own crust, this is a huge money saving meal vs. takeout. Oh, and added plus-- kids will eat a variety of veggies on pizza if you sneak them in!


The theme for this week is Juliette Low. For the uninformed, Juliette Gordon Low was the founder of Girl Scouts in the United States. On Friday, we had a tea party with my mom, just like Juliette had with her friends back in her time. Just to share some of our goodies we had,
we had zucchini with greek yogurt and dill, fruit, strawberry sandwiches, pineapple cream cheese sandwiches, and smoked salmon open-faced sandwiches. We finished it all off with miniature chocolate cakes. But here's a few pics:

A Beginning

Both as a followup to losing my job earlier in the year and as a result of researching healthy practices for my family, I am approaching a more traditional household. I also am always aiming for a greener lifestyle, one little step at a time. Making many of my own cleaning agents, learning to sew, learning to can, making as much as possible from scratch, hopefully converting to full-time cloth diapering are amongst the steps I am working on. There are so many things to do, I find myself running around helter-skelter, getting excited about everything at once!

Follow along with me, if you like, as I learn my way, make mistakes, and triumph over our chemical-ridden and capitalist ways.