Category — Food

No more white flour. Lots of good bread to come.

I haven’t posted about my garden in a while, so I thought I’d give a little update. The poor thing has been seriously neglected this year. It’s been under-fertilized, so the soil quality has been pretty bad. And I failed to mulch, so there are a lot more weeds. I did try to weed it one evening, but then I could barely walk the rest of the day! (My joints have been really goofy this pregnancy, so I’ve been prone to back and hip problems.) But what a great excuse to not weed my garden! Plus, we’ve had a really wet summer, so I haven’t had to water it either.

Despite all the neglect, it’s still been growing a few things! Here are a few highlights:

We’ve had a good number of zucchini, which I’ve made into bread and casseroles, and I’m in the process of freezing the rest. Some I’m slicing for soups, and some I’m grating and storing in portions that make two loaves of zucchini bread each.

Some very pale lettuce still hanging around (I’m guessing it’s missing some soil nutrients). I’ve been pinching off leaves when the boys want salad, but it has gotten a little bitter as the summer progressed. I’m going to try planting more when the weather cools a little to see if it’s just been sitting in the sun too long. It was pretty easy to grow, though, so I’ll definitely try again next year.

I love having basil plants! I’ve been growing it in my window, but this year I decided to try moving some outside. They’ve really grown out there! I keep cutting from them to make pesto, and they keep filling out again. I would definitely try herbs if you’re a novice gardener like me.

My biggest tomato so far. I did fertilize these, but with all the rain, they’ve probably needed more. Last year I added more compost when I planted, and my tomatoes grew much better. I’m not too disappointed, since we can’t have tomatoes in family meals anyways, due to Jackson’s diet.

So, there you have it…the pregnant woman’s garden (I told you it would look pretty pitiful). How are your gardens going? If they look as bad as mine, I’d love to hear about it! If they look wonderful, you’re welcome to share your veggies with us.

H and P are not here today, so it really feels like a vacation! I spent the morning in my jammies researching baby slings while the boys watched a video. We took a leisurely walk to the park (a feat I rarely try with four…though I think I should more often). It was so nice to get out. Then the boys wanted to eat lunch in the front yard, so we spread a blanket and enjoyed the wonderful cool weather while eating pasta with pesto.

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I can’t believe it’s been a week since I’ve posted! I needed to take a little break to catch up on a few things, like piles of laundry! Here are a few pictures from our week…

…A yummy breakfast of homemade yogurt and toast with apricot jelly from our CSA. Yes, I’ve found one that will work for our family this season…and among the fresh organic veggies and meat it has things like jelly that Jackson can eat!

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We added tomatoes back into Jackson’s diet last week. We couldn’t simply start serving canned tomato sauce or ketchup because those products still have additives like corn syrup or soybean oil. But I found a couple simple ways to add tomatoes by themselves:

Pizza Margherita

This is just a simple cheese and tomato pizza with basil, drizzled with olive oil. Instead of a canned sauce you simply use plain crushed tomatoes. So yummy! I’ve also made this by slicing ripe tomatoes thin and laying them on the crust before adding the cheese and a little basil from the kitchen window.

I use the dough recipe from my Kitchen Aide cookbook, minus the hour-long rising time (I recently learned that you don’t have to wait for flat breads to rise). There’s another recipe here, or if you’ve been using the dough recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, you can just grab a hunk of dough from the fridge and roll it out! Any way you do it, it’s a wonderfully quick recipe that can be ready in under an hour. Perfect for us!

Homemade Ketchup

A simple way to make ketchup to your own liking without all the additives: Start with a small can of tomato paste. Add a splash of red wine vinegar and thin it with water, half a cup at a time, until it reaches the consistency you like. Add spices like salt, onion, garlic, and cumin to taste. I also found some recipes online that called for cinnamon and cloves, but I personally didn’t care for them. Experiment until you have your own unique ketchup recipe!

I love tomatoes, but it seems that Jackson’s little body does not. He had an asthma attack a couple nights after we re-introduced them to his diet, so we’re back to no tomatoes, corn, or soy for another two weeks until he clears back up. We’re not sure if it was the tomatoes or the high pollen count. Part of me wants it to be the pollen, since we’re about to put several tomato plants into the ground this week…but still, it would be nice if one of the triggers was something we could control, like his diet. We’ll see…

What yummy foods are you making this week?

image by val'sphotos

The last few days have been full of thoughts of veggies. I’ve decided to take the next baby step toward natural living and try to buy as much organic food as possible, starting with vegetables. But of course I couldn’t just do it gradually…I soon found myself spending hours researching local CSAs.

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Jackson was diagnosed with asthma three months ago, and since then we’ve been on a whirlwind of different medications and lots of appointments to try to get it under control. Meanwhile, I’ve been reading like crazy, trying to learn as much as possible so I can make informed decisions about my baby’s health. Mostly I’ve been reading about more natural remedies, as well as preventative measures, in order to keep the medications to a minimum. Thankfully, his doctor seems to be on the same page.

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We had a little mishap this morning with what was supposed to be our lunch and dinner tonight…so we had to improvise a little. I had been wanting to try homemade pasta for a while, and I had all the ingredients, so the boys and I rolled up our sleeves and made pasta! You can find the recipe here. I chose to substitute whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour.

Corban and Jackson cutting out pasta shapes

It was not very difficult, and the boys were able to help. We decided to roll it out and cut shapes with some little cookie cutters we had. They had a lot of fun, though we only did a few shapes, and then mama cut the rest.

Corban showing off one of his shapes during lunch.

So what started out as a disaster actually turned in to a fun morning project. And I was reminded again how much more enjoyable it is to prep a meal when you let your little ones help.

What recipes do you make with your kids?

My husband and I love food. Though this blog is mostly about creativity in the home, I’ll be doing a lot of posts on food. After all, creativity and cooking often go hand in hand, especially if you’re on a tight budget. In fact, I believe that creativity is essential to planning delicious and healthy meals on limited means. In this post, and in posts to follow, I’ll be sharing different ways that we create frugal meals without sacrificing quality.

photo by Vincent Ma

One major way I save money is to not follow the recipe. At least, not exactly. I love to read cook books and to watch cooking shows, but when I’m shopping sales and working to stay within a budget, I can’t always follow a specific recipe. So I don’t. Recipes are a great starting point in learning what flavors go together, as well as tasty ways to cook certain ingredients. I’ll often use one or two recipes as a starting point, but then I will substitute ingredients and spices based on what I have and what is on sale that week. We’ve had a couple “flops”, but the more I cook, the easier this gets.

When I look for recipes, I try to stick to the same standards:

It has to be simple. It can’t take too long to prepare or have too many ingredients.

It needs to be healthy. Using quality ingredients like fresh vegetables and whole grains is very important to me. It also makes the meal taste better…which is my last point.

It needs to taste good. Like I said before, we love to eat.