Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes

After being up most of the night for the past three nights with a teething baby and not even getting a hint of a nap due to a very energetic five year old, we'll see how this post turns out. A couple of days ago I stopped by the local produce stand. I have to pause a minute here. Our local produce stand here in Shelton sells a lot of locally grown and chemical free produce. This is a definite plus because most of the other ones around do not do this. Anyway, I stopped by the produce stand and picked up two boxes full of various veggies (for the next couple of weeks), two large boxes of tomatoes and one large box of pears for $50. I am ecstatic! Needless to say, however, that I have been busy in the kitchen the past couple of days.
Last night, I peeled the pears and put them on the stove to cook with a bit of water. My Dearest Husband pureed them for me and put them in jars ready to freeze as I was too tired to get up. (see note on not sleeping for the past three nights above) Today, I peeled the two large boxes of tomatoes. Now probably everyone in the world knows how to peel tomatoes, but I thought I'd do a brief post on it anyhow seeing as not too long ago this was a most daunting and unknown skill to me.
First things first. I cleaned out the sink by actually doing the dinner dishes that I was too tired to do last night. I finally figured out that it's so much more pleasant to clean up my previous mess before making another one. It's funny. I try to teach my kidlings this principle every day. You would think that I would have had it down before this.
Next, I put a pot of water half-full on the stove on high to bring it to a boil. I used my six quart stock pot, but any pan would do. While the water was heating, I filled one side of the sink about half-way full of cold tap water, as cold as I could get it. I am blessed with a sink very near to my stove. If you do not happen to share this blessing, a large bowl with cold water would work fine. You would just need to change out the water mor often as it would heat up faster. I also picked a spoon for transferring the tomatoes from the pan to the sink and some large bowls for putting the skinned tomatoes in.
By now the water is boiling so I plop a few of the tomatoes in the boiling water. When the skins start to split, they are definitely ready. I actually try to pull them out before the skins split. They are ready if you poke the skin at the top and it feels loose. It really is just fine if you wait until the skin splits though. When the tomatoes are ready, scoop them out of the boiling water and into the sink filled with cold water. You can then slip the skins off quite easily.
I usually get a little system going where I scoop out the tomatoes that are ready. Then I put more tomatoes into the pot. Then I head over to the sink and finish peeling the tomatoes and plopping them in the bowls that I set out. All done (well besides the clean up). It's seriously that easy!
From here, there are so many options: seed and chop them to use in spaghetti sauce, squeeze the juice out and pack them in jars to can (you can even season them before you can them), Chop them and use them to make salsa, freeze them, etc... I will probably be posting some recipes here in the future as I use up some of the ones that I did today. As always, I hope that this helps you!

Breakfast Bake

I have always had a hard time following directions, so when I picked up my first cook book after our wedding and sat down to cook it was no wonder when I simply couldn't. I have such a difficult time following recipes. I finally decided that it would be much better to learn the principles of cooking rather than just following a recipe. This would allow me to cook freely and creatively.
Since those first days after the honeymoon, I have come around a little bit. I still make changes almost every time I do cook with a recipe, but I also enjoy what my darling husband calls, "Experimental Cooking." It is amazing to me when I change things up or try something that doesn't seem like it'd work so well and it comes out delish!
This morning I went to cook breakfast and decided that I was tired of eggs scrambled with vegetables, omelettes and yogurt. I haven't yet bought the stuff I need to make gluten free baked goods, and I simply had no clue what to make for breakfast that would be nourishing and tasty. Nothing came to mind so I started pulling things out of the fridge and pantry. Onions, potatoes, garlic, tomatoes, eggs, milk, hmmm.....I could make something out of this. It turned out amazing! Here's what I made.

Dani's Breakfast Bake
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 medium onion diced
2 to 3 medium tomatoes diced
5 sm potatoes (I used red potatoes. If you use russets you may want to peel them.)
6 lrg. eggs scrambled with a little milk, salt and pepper
handful of shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Add olive oil to a skillet and heat on medium high until oil begins to spread. Add chopped garlic and sautee while stirring approx. 1 minute. Add onion and continue to saute until onion looks clear. Add potatoes and tomatoes to the skillet and saute for about 5 minutes more. (Add some water to the bottom of the pan if the potatoes start sticking.) Add about 1/2 cup water to bottom of pan, cover and steam about 10 minutes or until potatoes begin to get soft. Season potato mixture with salt and pepper to your taste. When potatoes are starting to get soft, add the scrambled egg mixture to the top of the pan. Place the skillet in the preheated oven and cook for about 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and eggs are set. Remove from oven and serve!


I can see so many variations for this breakfast bake. Almost any kind of veggie would be divine in this as well as any kind of cheese. What about giving it an Indian flavor by adding curry and cumin? or even a mexican one with ground beef and taco seasoning. The possibilities are endless! Now this is a recipe that I can follow because it has so much room for creativity! I hope you all enjoy!

Keep Going

For years now I have been living an unhealthy life with unhealthy habits. I have succored myself with being able to say, "every one around me is living this way and they aren't sick." The problem with that is that now I am sick. My body has had a very rough three years. It has been so bad that every time I would get a small virus, I would have it for six weeks or more and would end up with bronchitis and pneumonia. Every day I simply hurt from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. I was tired, discouraged, and somewhat depressed.
During this last pregnancy I was determined to be more healthy. Never did I realize where that determination would take me. It started with eating smaller meals every couple of hours. Then, it transformed into eating a lot of vegetarian meals. Next, whole grains only, Baby! On and on it went as I began to explore what health really meant to me.
At the end of my pregnancy, I began to have some strange symptoms that were closely related to having almost constant anaphylactic shock. What was I allergic to? Who knows, but out went the chemical scents, chemical based cleaners, and anything else toxic that could be picked up and moved. That helped. Organic food came next and that also helped somewhat. I was to a point that my body would not handle anything with any toxins in it whatsoever!!!
After several months of eating organic foods and eliminating chemicals from our life, I was finally able to make it through the day without taking antihistamines, but I didn't feel better. Next it was on to eliminating things to see what made me feel bad. Dairy, Legumes, Wheat, etc... were eliminated one at a time.
Each time I made a change, I felt a little better, but there has been no break through. There has not been one single time where I've been able to say, "That was it! That is what's causing me to feel poorly." Instead, with every step, there's only been a small, little change. It's been, "One step forward and two (or more) steps back," as my wonderful midwife has so often reminded me.
There are days when I look on this journey of healing as a very encouraging and strengthening journey. There are times when I simply see it with discouragement and weakness. I see that I have done so much work for so little change. Sometimes, I just want this journey to be over so that I can move on to other things. Is it really even working? Is anything happening?
For the past two weeks, I have awaken Monday morning with a sudden bout of sickness. The next day, I was feeling much better! No more six week common colds! Something is happening and slowly but surely I am healing. It has taken me years to get my body to the unhealthy state that it is in right now. I believe that it will be at least a couple of years before I can feel all the way better, but the work is so worth it!
As I was writing this post, I started to think about the people all around me who are healing, some from emotional pain, others from health related issues. I hope that this blog post is encouraging to you to keep on. It will be hard. It will get discouraging. You will want to quit, but it is so worth it. Keep going! There won't always be a break through, but one day you'll be able to look back and see how far you've come!

Why I Do What I Do.... Wait, Why Do I Do What I Do?

This week has been one of those weeks that I like to call: Foundational. In Proverbs 14:1 the Bible says, "Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands." Well, I have an imagination and I like to think about my "daily grind" as a building project. Some days I may be watching kids play pleasantly and giving some positive affirmation here and there. These are painting days (because I like painting). Some times, my days are consumed with breaking up fights, scolding and correcting. This is like putting up walls to me! Anyway, you get my point.
Some times, I have these really tedious weeks of learning and implementing new things. You know, the weeks you sit at the computer for 30 hours doing research while your kids are tearing the place up. The kind of week where your hand is stuck in a permanent writing position because you used it so much to record information. These are the weeks I call- Foundational. Maybe I'm laying down the foundation for a new laundry room........... (Okay, I know that was corny!)
Back to the point, I have been working on our first, official year of school's lesson plans (Try to say that 3 times fast!). Boy, if you had told me when I was in first grade that my teachers worked harder than I did I would have never believed you! This week alone, I have spent over 20 hours just researching for this year. It's a big job, just like everything else about being a mother is a big job.
Why do I do it then? My answer may vary from day to day, but one thing is for sure. I do it because I love my little Munchigans! I love them dirt, snot, poop and all!!! I do not expect to get anything back for what I do. I do not expect to get praised. I don't expect recognition or any reward (although it is rewarding). My motivation is that Gideon, Gabriel and Nathaniel Rylander grow to be God fearing, independent, strong and hard working men each with their own unique personality that has been nurtured and cared for.
I guess tonight as I was going on hour five of trying to get the school and play rooms back in order, I realized that these kids are not "MY" kids. They do not owe me anything. I simply get to borrow them for a little while and do my best to instill in them what they need to start out on the right foot as adults. I was surprised that this thought didn't sadden me; instead it made me realize how much I really love them! I love being a mom!

"Old-Fashioned" at heart

I don't know where I got it from, but I am really just an old-fashioned, back to land, make it from scratch type gal. I wasn't always able to be like this, but I think that it's always been right at the center of my heart. Why am I drawn to the "old-fashioned" lifestyle? I'm not entirely sure. It could be that I lived on a sub-tropical island for a good portion of my adolescent life, or maybe it's the satisfaction that comes after a good day of old-fashioned gardening, slaving over the stove and scrubbing the floors. Then there's the realization that just because something is "advancing" it doesn't necessarily mean that it's better.

I'm not exactly sure why, but a lot of my journey as a wife and mother has been filled with finding ways to do things from scratch! It has been a long hard road, and I am just starting to get to the point where I can look back and actually see some meaningful accomplishment in this area. I'm really enjoying what I'm seeing! Gone are the days when dinner comes from a can and is heated up in the microwave! Now we eat dinners made with whole foods that are cooked from scratch. Recycling containers for using in unique ways, making homemade clesning products, gardening, making lots of homemade food items (bread, broths, tortillas, seasoning mixes, sausage, etc...)are some of my favorite hobbies!

I'm definitely still continuing to learn and grow in this lifestyle and loving every minute of it! Hopefully I'll be able to take the time over the next few weeks to share with you some of the hings that I've learned along the way, but until then... God bless!

Sage's Birthday Dinner

My husband is one of the most steady, sensible and frugal men you would ever meet. Needless to say, birthday presents and celebrations are always a hard one for me on Sage's birthday! This year, I really wanted to do something that would show him how much we loved and appreciated him without overdoing it (he does not like things too over the top!). What could I do?
Finally, I decided to make him a home-cooked meal of his choice (I do this every night so this didn't seem special to me, but it was to him), get him a barbecue (he enjoys bbq'ing, but hasn't wanted to shell out for one since we moved here), and get him tickets to see Steve Martin and his bluegrass band play. I was really apprehensive about all of it because it's so hard to tell what he wants or if he'll be more stressed about me spending the money. I decided to chance it. I invited a few friends over and went for it.
In preparation, the boys and I worked very hard to get the house company-ready and cook Sage's birthday meal. His choice: home made Mexican! Monday evening we prepared fresh, home made salsa and soaked the beans for refried beans. Yesterday morning we got up and started cleaning: first the mountain of dirty dishes left over from the weekend. Next, taking all of my sewing projects back down to my sewing closet, shopping for lunch and presents, sweep/mopping, vacuuming, and a TON of laundry. We also cooked the beans, prepped the guacamole, cut watermelon, and made tortillas.
I couldn't believe it! We actually pulled it off! All of the food was prepared, the house pretty clean and the presents prepared on time! Yahoo! Everyone loved the fresh, homemade food and asked for recipes. Sage was really pleased with his presents and had a great time fellowshipping with friends. Dare I say it??? SUCCESS!!!!
I figured that I'd share some of the recipes here just in case anyone was interested. I am consistently amazed with how easy it is to cook things from scratch. All it takes is the right ingredients and a little planning!

Fresh, Homemade Salsa
8-10 fresh roma tomatoes, diced (can used canned, diced tomatoes as substitute)
1/2 jalapeno seeded, chopped finely (or to your taste)
1 whole globe of garlic peeled and chopped finely
1 med onion, chopped
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped to size of your preference
1 Tbsp. Sea salt

Mix all of the above ingredients together in a container with a lid. Stir. Place in refrigerator overnight for maximum flavor.
BTW, this recipe has a lot of room for manipulation. This is a very basic, mild salsa. There is no heat whatsoever. Add herbs or spices as desired for different flavor. fresh corn, black beans or fruit can be added for a variety. Etc... Play with it!


Homemade Refried Beans

1lb beans (pinto or black beans usually)
2 quarts water

Rinse and sort beans. Place in a large stock pot and cover with 2 quarts of water. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes. Turn stove off, cover and let set at least 4 hours or overnight. When you're ready to cook the beans pour off fluid, rinse and cover beans with water by abt. 2 inches. Simmer beans covered about 90 minutes adding water as necessary. Cook until beans are soft.

1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 onion, finely chopped
cumin
chili powder
garlic powder
sea salt

Run beans through your blender or food processor adding a little water (either cooking water or fresh water) to give them the right consistency. Meanwhile, saute garlic and onion in a pan with a little bit of olive oil until cooked through. Add beans and spices to pan with onions and garlic and gently "refry" until mix and heated through. Add more spices as desired to taste.

Homemade Whole Wheat Tortillas
(all measurements are approximate)
3 cups organic whole wheat flour (white flour works too)
1/4-1/2 cup oil (I use olive oil)
water
pinch of salt

Add flour and saltbto a medium mixing bowl. Add 1/4 c. oil and stir to moisten flour. Add water slowly until dough is workable, but not sticky. (Should be halfway between the consistency of pie dough and biscuit dough) Add more oil, flour or water as needed to adjust until dough reaches desired consistency. Turn out onto floured surface and knead a few times. Pinch off balls of dough and roll out VERY thin or use a tortilla press. (I do not worry about my tortillas being round!) Cook tortillas one at a time in a non-oiled skillet over medium heat on one side until you see bubbles in the top. Turn and cook on other side until cooked through.

None of these recipes actually take a ton of effort or time if you just plan ahead! Hope you use them and enjoy! I would love some feedback on what you liked/didn't like as well as any changes you made!

Mother's Day

In light of Mother's Day...



I am so thankful to be a Mother. Being a Mother is not all that I ever thought it would be. It is not all cuddling beautiful smiling babies and bathing perfectly behaved toddlers. It's not being a mommy duck with all of my little ducklings following my every move while I guide them perfectly down the path of life. In fact, it is the complete opposite. Now when I think of that wonderful word, "Mommyhood," one word comes to mind right away-- Adventure.

Adventure is something that I have always loved. When I was a child, anything out of the ordinary was a great adventure! From exploring the woods next door, to taking long drives to nowhere with the family, I lived for adventure. I used to struggle so much with resentment towards motherhood not fulfilling my dreams, but now... I see it as a wonderful adventure. Sometimes the adventure is exciting like when I would make discoveries. Sometimes it's tough like climbing that hiking trail to get to the top of a steep hill.

I am just so thankful to be on this path and to be able to enjoy the Adventure of being a mommy!

A New, Fresh Morning

As I woke this morning and began trying to plan for the day, a thought came to me: "Goals are great, but I really have no clue what the day will hold today." My list of things to get done today is so long that I wouldn't be able to accomplish it in a week even if I didn't have a 1 month old who is exclusively breastfed and doesn't like me to be out of his sight as well as a 2 and 4 year old who are currently in "destructo" mode. The house is a mess, groceries are calling to be put away, food needs prepared, gardens weeded, laundry piling up, and children need attention, love and direction. All of this calls to me every moment of the day and screams for my constant attention. Where should I start and which path should I pick to walk down today? I am feeling overwhelmed!
This week I've been hearing a lot about how stressful life seems to be. As a homemaker, wife and mother I feel like I have more than my share of stress to get me through each day. Trying to keep up with housework, boys and having some semblance of a relationship with my husband often takes every ounce of energy out of me... and that's before breakfast! (smiling) How do we make it?
As I started my day today, the familiar voices of uncertainty and self-criticism began to flood my thoughts. "You'll never get it under control, why even try!" "Why is life so overwhelming for me? What's wrong with me?" "Why don't I get help?" "Why can't I keep up with my kids," ETC... What is it about doing the best job in the world... the thing I love doing the most that is so hard every day? Why does every day seem to be a battle that I'm tired of fighting?
There are so many remedies out there for "streamlining" things and making our homes "effective." There are so many rules, objectives and expectations that sometimes we feel like we're drowning! It's time for it to stop! It's time for us to realize that running and organizing our homes is nothing like a project deadline. It is not something that we accomplish or fail at. It is a way that we live. It is something we DO every day! It is a process and a joy like no other. If I can not relax or enjoy life in my home at least some each day, where else can I enjoy life?
There is no secret or special answer to this seeming dilema, but for me it seems to lie in the area of attitudes and habits. This is what this blog is all about! I would like to share my journey, no, my adventure as a mother complete with the good days and the bad. I'd like to share my efforts to seek the Lord and get His wisdom for each day and His insight into which pursuits I need to make to keep my "workplace" running at an even keel. I would like to share my joys about being a mother as well as my miserable failures. I know that this blog is not the answer to YOUR dilema, or even inspiration for your adventure, but I hope that by reading it, you'll gain insight, perspective and maybe an occasional recipe or two (wink)!
I sure hope you all enjoy!