Free Locally Grown Plums!!

Look what dh brought home from the office today!! One of his co-workers is a hobby farmer and he brought us PLUMS!! When I first saw the bag, I thought I'd make plum jam with some of them, but I don't think that will happen because over half of them are already gone. They were so delicious we couldn't stop eating. You will never find flavor like that in a grocery store plum. Our youngest commented that he'd like to have many plum trees so that he could sell some at the farmer's market and help other people have good food. I hope one day he gets his wish.

WFMW: The "Mom, I'm Bored" edition

I don't like it when my kids want to watch television or play video games all day long. And I find that I hear "Mom, I'm bored" a great deal when I limit their television or video game time to a few hours a week. Something we enjoy when the kids are bored is read aloud time. While the kids draw or play quietly in the room, I will read a few chapters to them from our current read aloud book (right now we're reading "A Cricket in Times Square").

Sometimes, though, its just not possible for me to sit and read to them for half an hour to an hour. In those instances, I like to have on hand some audio books. We own several audio books, but since they are often more expensive than buying the book, we don't buy them very often. To get new audio books to listen to, we visit our local library. Most libraries have a nice selection of audio books to choose from, and since you don't have to invest lots of money in these, you can try out different things that you might not otherwise choose.

I love to see the concentration on my kids' faces while they listen to audio books (or me reading to them). You can almost see their mind drawing pictures of the scenes they are hearing described. I love that audio books not only entertain, but help stretch their imaginations in ways that television, movies and video games can't. And I love that I get to enjoy the story as well, even if I'm in the kitchen preparing lunch.

Here is a short list of some of the audio books we've enjoyed:

Charlotte's Web (read by the author E.B. White!!)
Trumpet of the Swan (also read by E.B. White!!)
Where the Red Fern Grows
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (performed by Michael York)
The Indian in the Cupboard (read by the author, Lynn Reid Banks)

What books or audio books have your children enjoyed?

Find more boredom busters at We are That Family and Works for Me Wednesday.

Kitchen Tip: Freezer Cookies

This is a re-run of a post from a few years ago that is on of my favorite kitchen tips. I love having cookies in the freezer, ready to bake when surprise guests visit.

Maybe I'm just lazy, but I cannot stand to cook every day. And since we can't afford to eat out several times a week,( nor would I want to) and convenience foods are so filled with trans fats and other yuckies, I do a lot of freezer cooking. The typical way that I fill my freezer is by doubling-up on a recipe when I do cook. Today, we wanted sugar cookies, so I used the kitchenaid mixer (on loan - love it!!) to make 4 batches of sugar cookies - one for today and 3 for later. My intention was to put them in containers in the freezer to defrost later. While the cookies were mixing, I was thinking about those break apart cookies you can find in the refrigerated dough section and wishing they didn't have trans fats. Then I realized I could make them. I used a chop stick to make the "perforations". Now I can't wait to try them out!!

Edited to add: We tried them out today and they worked beautifully! Be sure to break them apart while they are still frozen, as the dough does get softer and sticky once they thaw. It was so fun to have fresh baked cookies in 10 minutes and to be able to pronounce all of the ingredients in them! Have fun!

Visit Tammy's Recipes for lots of wonderful kitchen tips.

Menu Plan Monday 6/1/09 - Make it Myself Edition

This week, I'm feeling quite ambitious so we are "making it ourselves" on a lot of things we usually buy. It had been a while since we made yogurt, and I think that might be what started the whole "make it myself" week idea. Homemade yogurt has a taste that is far superior to store-bought and you can flavor it any way your family likes. Our current yogurt flavor obsession is Maple Syrup.

Here is our soon to be yogurt, warming up on the stove. I put the container it will "reside in" into a pot of water which helps to heat the milk quickly without scorching.

Since the last time I posted about making yogurt, I've changed a few things about the way I make it. I used to use organic whole milk, but I don't any more. We still use whole milk because whole milk is less likely to contain oxidized cholesterol, (read "Real Food" by Nina Planck) but now we use a brand of milk that, while not organic, does indicate on the label that they use farmers who do not use rBGH in their cows. The reason we switched from organic to non-organic is because the organic milk is Ultra-pasteurized which denatures the proteins to an extent that it is harder to get the milk to curdle properly. I am comfortable with the milk we are currently using and have been pleased with the results. I am hoping that we can find a local source of fresh milk. I'd love to experiment with fresh milk yogurt and maybe even some easy cheeses.

This is the finished yogurt straining in a tea towel placed in a strainer over a bowl to catch the whey as it drains. We like really thick, Greek style yogurt.

This week's menu:

Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs
French Toast
Banana Nut Bread
Yogurt
Smoothies

Lunch:
PB & honey
Broccoli Cheese Soup
Leftovers from dinner

Snack:
Hummus and pita or cut up veggies
Banana Nut Bread
Cherries
Strawberries
Blueberries
Blackberries
Cheese cubes (yummy fontina cheese - my current cheese obsession)
Popsicles (aka - frozen smoothies)

Dinner: (I will post pics of these "homemade" experiments as they happen, so check back)
Monday - Beef or Cheese enchiladas made with homemade tortillas, side salad

Tuesday - Shrimp and Corn Chowder, tomato and cucumber salad

Wednesday - Calzones (shrimp and artichoke for Mom & Dad; sausage and olive for the boys) made with homemade dough, and a side salad

Thursday - Italian Meatball Subs with homemade bread and steamed broccoli

Friday - Sushi (we have never made this before, though we love sushi). I will put out lots of ingredients like avacado, thinly sliced cucumber, grated carrot, sprouts (hoping to sprout them ourselves), cooked shrimp, and anything else that sounds good. This will give everyone a chance to choose a few ingredients and make their own. We have one family member who will not touch anything sushi, so he will be able to make his own "sushi" with a tortilla and the fillings of his choice. We will have this with edemame, which we all love.

Saturday - Either Veggie Burgers or Tuna Burgers. Haven't decided yet, but either way, we will make them ourselves along with the whole wheat buns to go with them.

Sunday - leftovers

Is there anything you make that most people purchase? I'd love to read about it. Leave a comment with a link to your blog post.

Check out lots of menus at I'm An Organizing Junkie and Menu Plan Monday.

GIVEAWAY: The Laptop Lunches Users Guide book - WINNERS!!

Here are the randomly chosen winners. They are the authors of the comments 4, 6 &7:

 4 - Casserlys
6 - Sherri
7 - Melanie (My little Patch of Sunshine)

Timestamp: 2009-05-28 20:46:29 UTC

If you were chosen, please email your shipping address to me at motheringwithgrace at yahoo dot com . I plan to ship on Monday. Congratulations!!

Check back often as I will be holding another giveaway (another book) very soon!!

ETA: I finally got to the post office today. Winners, your Users Guides are on the way :o)

Garden Update 5-28-09

Its been an exciting week for our little container garden. Things are growing - yay! We picked our first cherry tomato and will use it tonight in a salad with other tomatoes. Also, last week, while straightening up the dining area of our home, I picked up the box that contained all of the heirloom seeds I ordered last fall. Because I was planting a container garden this year, I didn't use my seeds. I guess I was afraid they would not grow in containers. Anyway, I realized how silly that idea was. I mean, even if they don't grow, its okay. I can always buy more seeds, right. So, I planted my only 5 Black Krim tomato seeds last Thursday, and by Monday, they were up!! You can barely see them in the above photo. As soon as they are strong enough, 4 of them will be replanted into their own containers. If you've never had a Black Krim tomato, they are the tastiest tomatoes I've ever eaten - yummy! They make a purple/ burgandy tomato with green "shoulders" so they are interesting, as well as tasty. I'm trying not to count my tomatoes before they ripen, but its really hard.

I also planted 3 varieties of heirloom carrots in a container. I know that typically, in our climate, carrots are a fall or spring crop, but last year, I had great success planting them in summer, so I figured I might as well try again.

In addition, 3 more garlic cloves in our pantry were beginning to sprout, so I stuck those into the dirt. As you can see in the above picture ( in the background - you can see it sharing a container with the last of the baby romain), the garlic is growing very well.

We are still harvesting parsley, oregano and basil. In fact, we could really use another parsley plant or two. Since parsley winters well in our area, I think I'll add another plant or two to our garden.

The lemons are growing nicely. In fact, I had to tie supports to one of the branches as it was getting too heavy for the poor tree. And it looks like we may have fresh figs in 4-6 weeks based on their growth.

A High and Noble Calling is hosting How Does Your Garden Grow today. If you have a garden, snap a few pictures and consider participating, too.

WFMW: Packing Lunch for Work or School

As I mentioned in my giveaway post, and many other recent posts, we are huge fans of Laptop Lunches. I was talking with a friend about Laptop Lunches and she was saying that she wondered if she would be able to pack lunches for her whole family and still get everyone out the door on time. In the Laptop Lunches User's Guide, on thing the authors suggest, and something that will work even if your Laptop Lunches System has not come in yet, is packing the lunch the night before. When you are clearing the table, putting away the leftovers from supper and washing the dishes, if you pull out your Laptop Lunches and place them on the counter, you can quickly and easily pack them with leftovers from supper and then just add a few "side dishes" or snacks to the box and then put the whole thing in the refrigerator, ready for morning. Again, this can work even if you don't yet have a Laptop Lunches system.

Click here if you'd like to enter my Laptop Lunches User's Guide giveaway.

With things so uncertain these days, more and more people are starting to pack their lunches instead of dining out every day. Packing a waste-free lunch (where everything is reusable) is easy (and usually much healthier) with just a little planning and advanced preparation.

Go to We Are THAT Family to see more Works For Me Wednesday posts.