Meat balls & fudge-pops.. yeah..

yeah,  two things that do not and should not go together - these are just the recipes i need to get down before i forget what I did.. 

 Sorry, no pictures today.. 

(Gluten, Dairy and egg free) Meatballs

3lbs of ground beef (grass fed, if possible)
Italian seasoning & garlic salt to taste
1/4 cup gluten free flour
1 8oz can tomato sauce
2-3 tbs ground flax
1-2 tsp chia seeds 

Combine ingredients (with your hands, meatloaf style) and then roll into balls about an inch across - put on parchment paper on a baking pan (something with sides, so the grease doesn't drip off the pan) - bake at 375 for about 20 mins or until they are cooked, and browned :)  - These freeze well, I put them on a cooling rack (after blotting off the grease) and freeze them and then put them in a gallon ziplock bag 

Fudgepops

I've tried a banana based fudge-pop type recipe  - my kids LOVE it, but I HATE bananas .. 

So, for me, I made these

1 cup full fat coconut milk
1/2 box of silken tofu
2 tbs pnut butter
2-3 tablespoons cocoa powder (or to taste)
1 tsp vanilla 
pinch of salt 
1/4 cup sugar (or to taste)

Pour into ice pop molds and freeze :)

Garden - its May but it's June!

The garden is getting exciting! It's strange how it is both normal and ahead of schedule due to this strange summer-like spring weather - We've got nearly all our plants in - tomatoes, squash, zucchini, radishes, carrots, lettuce, spinach, peas, green beans, okra, and straw berries! I think all we have left to add is basil and a few sunflowers. I've had to weed the carrots near constantly because of crab grass and Bermuda grass coming back from the roots from last year and from seed - i need to keep up with it or our carrots will get stuck in the roots (happened last year) - I've never grown a lot of this stuff, and we usually grow peppers - this year we decided to grow more things we actually eat! (the newbies are okra, peas, beans & radishes - though I'll admit I have no intention of eating radishes I'm growing those because I read that they help to keep some bugs away) tomorrow we're going to have to get out the hose instead of they trusty 2 gal watering can..(I'm up to 6-7 trips to carry water) I just hope we can stay ahead of the bugs this year - last year we were doing alright but the july heat wave and drought got us - this year with the mild winter in afraid the bugs may be more than we can handle - so far those factors combined ruined our strawberry patch and something was really feasting on the radish leaves when they were young- our lettuce has done fine and the carrots looks great at this point so maybe it will be ok..

Homeschool classroom, disovery bottles, spring planting and more

I like to call this furniture the reuse/recycle look.

 I've been trying less new recipes lately, and just keeping up with the old favorites - in the past week I made 2 loafs of bread and 2 batches of muffins.. and chicken nuggets.  I'm sure there was more than that..  just nothing new to talk about!  So, that is not to say that i didn't have some major projects this weekend! I spent a lot of time reorganizing the home school 'classroom' ... honestly, we haven't used the room for much more than storage in months because it just wasn't toddler-proofed ..  I'm not sure how the reorganization is going to help, but everything on the lower shelves is at least toddler-approved.  If she dumps it all, it will still be a huge mess... we'll see i guess.  Plan B involves a baby gate and putting Annie on the playroom side of the gate - and since many of the dump-able toys from the playroom have been moved to the 'classroom' she won't be able to make as big of a mess..  i hope.  We also cleaned and organized the master bedroom, we removed a recliner and added a twin bed in its place and WOW it looks so much bigger! and now Annie has her own sleeping space to start out the night.  I'm hoping once she does well on the twin bed to move her to her toddler bed in Mollie's room.  baby steps! 

Last week I made these discovery bottles .. so far, the kids loooove them.  I made something like 15 of them i think. The usual, glitter water, oil and water, and some more exotic like marbles in hair gel - they are hypnotic! (pictured to the right, and also above, under the fish tank)  Annie loves to sit in the basket WITH all the bottles and play with them. 

 

 

We went out today to get some supplies for a minor project and ended up finding these shrubs on clearance!  We got 4 forsythia and 2 lilacs - all but 2 of them got planted today.  They looked great for 60-75% off! Usually clearance plants require some babying but these look like they'll do great.  oh and on this topic, we're still battling the weeds in the garden, they are HORRIBLE this year.  And i thinned the radishes today.  Something is eating my strawberry plants BAD. I don't know what it is or how to fight it, so i'm kind of just giving up for now, my lettuce is untouched and about ready to start cutting - it looks spectacular.  Carrots started sprouting in the past few days, they need to hurry up and grow so i can weed around them better.. the weeds are bad.. and Mollie and I must have done a horrible job of spacing out the carrot seeds, they are so close together.  Though i saved some seeds this year, if there are big gaps in our rows i'm just going to fill them in!   

there, now I feel like i've accomplished something.

Daydreaming about normal life..

We are still on vacation.. which is great .. but i miss all the fun baking and experimenting i was doing.. 

so i just looked up how to make coconut yogurt and i am SO EXCITED to try it when we get home!! check this out!    

I've also been looking into recipes to make almond milk which maybe i could turn into some other nut milk.. maybe even a blend.. oooo... Disney World is GREAT but this is exciting stuff people!

I am not looking forward to coming home to cold weather, laundry, dishes, etc.....  but kitchen experiments and the beginning of spring gardening? yes please!

once upon a time...

I like lists.  I like to check things off and see that I've accomplished something.  It just isn't the same to write the list and check the boxes at the end of the day, it is ok, but it really doesn't count.  I just can't seem to write a list that I'll stick to ahead of time.. Plus, the every day over and over type stuff like laundry and sweeping the floor, it just isn't that exciting to check that stuff off anymore - yet it takes up so. much. time.

So. what do i need?  another time sucking thing to do - and that is why I'm writing here.  But lets just think of it like a list.. a list of things, because at the end of the year, it'd be really nice to be able to look up that recipe i made up, or feel like i did make at least one thing every now and then.  then somehow sweeping the floor won't be the only thing i did all day.