Homemaking - Clean?

I hear about "clean eating" but I don't really know what it means.  The other day I made a smoothie with homemade Greek yogurt and strawberries and spinach freshly picked from the garden.  I don't know if that qualified as clean, but it was fresh and oh, so good. 

Sometimes I get arthritis in my mouth.  It hurts.  Badly.  Lesions line my tongue, and my jaws get tight and ache.  It shuts me up.  Homemade yogurt helps to clean up the sores so they heal faster, and the cool smoothie brings temporary relief.  Sounds clean to me.

Last night Calvin and I picked all of the cilantro and lavender.  

We pureed the cilantro with a little bit of grape seed oil and put it into ice cube trays to freeze.  It will nice to have.  

We laid the lavender out on newsprint in the garage to dry. It was a good lavender year.  I'll replace all the bundles in the house displayed in baskets and buckets with the fresh blooms and still have plenty lavender to share.  

While I'm not a fan of the smell of lavender, I do love it's colors and calming properties.  It's a clean, non-weedy, non-bugs plant, too, so the smell is growing on me the longer we grow it.    

Homemaking - Keeping a Record

I'm doing two new family history projects this year.

One project is a-picture-a-day on Instagram.  I write a family letter most every Sunday evening with the news, thoughts, and events of our week.  This year, as I print and file the letters in a journal, I'll add the Instagram photos. Here are a few examples from this month:

Ande used to do all of our ironing when she was in high school
and I was busy.  Today I returned the favor.
#ioweher   #day5  1-5-15  

Melanie (who now lives 70 miles away) called and left a message saying,
"I'm passing your house and called to say, 'hello.'  I know you're busy so I'll
call next time I'm in town."  Even though I never answer the phone in the
WalMart line (I can only handle so much confusion and
Walmart + tabloid aisle + candy bar shelf + phone = pandemonium) I
called her back and said, "Help! I need a haircut badly and I have
sewing scissors or kitchen shears you can use.  Please turn around."  She did
and met me at home and cut my hair and laughed and visited and ate cake with me.
Everyone needs a friend like Melanie.  
#day9  1-9-15

Chores.
#day17  1-17-15

W'ere going to have neighbors 256 steps from our kitchen door.
#wonthavetogofartoborrowsugar   #day19   1-19-15

This is not a throwback picture. No sir, that is me sporting my 1990's
coat AND the price of gas in the reflection is 1990's gas prices --
a full gas tank for less than $24.  
#day20   1-20-15

The pictures cover the routine that isn't necessarily recorded in the weekly letter and yet is a very real part of life.  It's the easiest record-keeping I've ever done.

I'll share the other idea next week . . .

Homemaking Tip - Sweet & Easy Ground Cover

Strawberry plants make a pretty and inexpensive ground cover. They are easy to grow, spread to fill in the gaps (unless you have a little boy named Levin that likes to dig, or a dog named Dan that likes to bury bones and soak in the sun), and they produce something too.  This little patch yielded a gallon this afternoon.

Homemaking Tip - Put a Crust on It

You are going to have to pretend with me.  You will need to pretend I can take appetizing pictures of food.  (But even if I were a good food photographer, there would still be that problem of Calvin being frustrated that the food was cold once the picture staging was finally over and the food hit the table.  [Sometimes our blessings on the food are said much too quickly just for the sake of keeping the food hot.  I tell Calvin it is sacrilegious, but he is convinced God is on his side in the matter.])

Now that we are successfully pretending these pictures make the food look appetizing, here they are:

blackberry pie a la mode

This summer I've made a lot of berry pies that look like this.  Calvin loves them and requests them often.  These are much easier to make than a 9 or 10 inch pie and they bake much faster.

The pie filling is made by mixing four cups of berries with 1 cup of sugar, a dash of salt, and 3-4 tablespoons of instant tapioca.  Pour the berry mixture into the ramekin and follow the directions for making a meat pie listed below.

They are great.

meat pie 

Sunday we had roast, potatoes, and carrots like we often do.  I put them in an aluminum dutch oven it bakes at 325 degrees for the 3.5 hours we're at church.  We come home to a hot and waiting dinner.  

There are always leftovers when we have roast, potatoes, and carrots.  Sometimes we reheat them and sometimes I put the leftovers in a stew.  Neither are our favorites.  This week I put the leftovers into the little berry pie ramekins and put a crust on them.  It was good.  Really good.  I think we'll look forward to the leftovers more than the Sunday dinner now.

Meat Pie

1.   Cut the potatoes, carrots, and roast into little cubes and place in ramekin
2.   Pour a couple tablespoons of gravy over the potatoes and roast
3.   Put a pat of butter on top of gravy, potatoes, carrots, and roast
4.   Make a pie crust

3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup shortening
9-10 tablespoons ice water

Sift flour and salt together.  Cut in shortening with fork until the size of peas.  Add water.  Mix until incorporated and dough is easy to handle.  Roll out on floured board.  Yields 12 ramekin-sized single crusts

5.   Cut pie crust in circles (add vent holes)
6.   Put crust on top of meat pie
7.   Crimp edges
8.   Baste crust with egg wash (if making a berry crust, sprinkle egg wash with sugar)
9.   Bake in 425 degree oven for 15 minutes
10. Reduce heat to 350 degrees for an additional 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Put-a-crust-on-it is going to be my future go-to solution when I don't know what to do with leftovers.


Thank you.  We can quite pretending the food in those pictures looked good and go back to reality now.

Homemaking Tips - Frugal Living

 1.  Packed Snacks.

We packed kettle corn, carrot and celery sticks, almonds, dried coconut, dried apricots, and a jug of water for our drive to Idaho last week-end.

Kettle Corn

3 Tbsp oil
4 Tbsp sugar
shakes of salt
1 cup popcorn kernels

Put oil in stir-crazy popper until it gets very hot.  Add popcorn kernels and sprinkle sugar and salt over all.  Pop until it's done.

2.  File boxes.

Organizing sans Ikea

For the past ten years, I've been keeping my teaching files in two large Rubbermaid containers,  They are bulky and heavy to move around.  I was constantly needing something out of the bottom tub no matter which one I put on top.  One day I saw an empty egg box at the grocery store and brought it home.  It was the perfect size for files, it had handles, and it was deep.  (The first time I saw a box I asked the shelf-restocker for it.  He was glad I took the box and said it helped him out.  Now I check the egg section every now and then and if a box is almost empty, move the eggs to another box and bring it home.)

Each box holds one year's curriculum.  I briefly considered covering them in contact paper, but quickly vetoed the idea and just put a piece of cardstock over the label on the side placing out.  They look orderly stacked in the top of the closet.

Easily accessible is the best part of them, but FREE runs a close second.

3.  Chicks. 

Calvin hatched this year's chicks from eggs our hens laid.  FREE is the best part of them, but cute runs a close second.

First one (by Calvin's hand) is out and you can see several others with cracks.
It never ceases to amaze me a chick can peck its way out.

A few hours later we have a little flock.  Amazing they all hatch within a few hours of each other.  (You save up eggs
for a few days and then put them in the incubator together.)  Calves need their mother to lick them dry, but chicks fluff up on their own in no time.  

A few hours later, and off they grow . . . 

4.  Stayed with family.

I mentioned what great hosts my niece and nephew were this last week when we went to Idaho.  They were better than any motel Calvin and I've ever stayed in.  While it wasn't frugal on their end, it was on ours.

My niece asked me to help her make hamburger buns, so I put an empty baked-beans can (aka bun cutter) and a package of yeast in a cellophane bag and tied it up with baker's twine as a small thank you gift for staying with them.



What is something frugal you did this week?  I'd love to hear about it.

Homemaking Tip - Shhh, Be Still

A couple of weeks ago while Cali and Levin were visiting, Cali gave Levin a haircut.  When she pulled out the little chair and sat him in front of a cartoon with a sucker to keep him still while she cut, it brought back many memories of cutting our kids' hair.  

Ande's head was very tender when she was small.  She had a lot of natural curl too, so her hair was full of tangles every morning.  To keep her still and from crying while I brushed her hair, I told her stories about Mr. and Mrs. Rat and Mr. and Mrs. Snarl and their adventures in her hair while she slept.     

What tricks did/do you use while you cut/comb kids' hair?

  

Homemaking Tip—Company’s Coming

Ray and Cali showing us the boats at the Chittenden locks

Today’s tip actually comes from Cali. One day she asked me how to keep from stressing when company comes. I told her the secret is to not mop your floors or knock yourself out cleaning before they get there because you're the only one who knows the difference between extra-clean and clean in your home. Clean is clean enough because people come to see people; otherwise they stay in a motel. I reminded her that when company leaves they will take all the messes with them so not to try and pick up around them while they’re there because everything magically disappears with them. I encouraged her to just relax and enjoy the people and not worry about the stuff.   

Now mind you, this tip works well for Cali because she is tidy, tidy, tidy. They don’t wear shoes inside and she likes things really clean (she hovered over her own toilet and wore flip flops in her own shower for several months until they could gut and remodel their bathroom).

A few weeks ago an extra nine of us went to stay with Ray and Cali. They always have a comfortable bed for everyone, nice blankets, clean sheets, and a pantry full of cheese, crackers, salamis, trail mix, ice cream, etc.  They have good ideas of things to do and are willing to play lots of games.  In short, they are hosts extraordinaire. Cali called a few hours after we left and said, “You’re so right! I didn’t stress once. I didn’t mop the floors or clean extra and no one even noticed. (quick pause) Did you notice? (continuing without missing a beat) And when you guys left so did all the stuff. Having company is so easy now!”