Happy Arbor Day!

Making Toddler Shorts out of Men's Shorts

This *should* have been easy but I had to pick a pair of shorts with odd pocket placement which meant I misjudged the amount of space needed for the elastic and well... you can see for yourself

I started with these, some of J's old shorts he has shrunk out of:

3 hours later I present to you: P's new shorts. Well, hopefully, we'll see how they look on LOL
FRONT:

BACK - see the odd pockets? yeah, I thought they'd be a cool addition, not so much LOL If I had had just a *little* more room for the elastic I think we would have been good. Should have done a straight stitch instead of zig zag when I sewed the pockets closed a bit.

These two tutorials were my inspiration:
Knee Pad Pants
Re-purposed: Boy's Pants

Oh well, you learn from these things don't you? Hopefully I have inspired someone else to give this sort of thing a try too! (choose pants/shorts without crazy pockets!). And now I know what to do and what not to do next time, since I happen to have a bunch of denim waiting for me.

Meal Planning?

 Do you meal plan? If so, how far in advance do you do it for? What do you think the benefits are for you?

I meal plan! And I LUUURVE it. Seriously. Saves me so much stress and hassle when 5pm comes and I have no idea what we're going to have for dinner. And then I'm always missing an ingredient!

I currently plan for the next week or so. I am about to plan our meals for the entire month of May though. I am nervous and oddly excited LOL well, actually, that won't work so well... we will be getting all our meat on the 15th so maybe I will plan until then and THEN plan for the next month before placing our meat order? That sounds a bit better. OK, so I am planning for the next 2 weeks then. Sorry for getting you all excited!

I am also going to be trying a bit more freezer based meals, I was inspired by this website  Freeze Happy!

Do you have any good websites you refer to when planning?

GF Pancake Recipe

Here is the whole wheat pancake recipe J and I use for our pancakes:

Ingredients

• 1 cup white whole wheat flour 
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk, plus more if necessary
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Beat together the egg, milk, and salt. Sift in flour and baking powder and mix. (I also add wheatgerm and ground flaxseed here) We usually end up adding a bunch more milk to get it to a pourable consistency
2. Preheat a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat, and oil with coconut oil. Pour approximately 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan for each pancake. Cook until bubbly, about 1 1/2 minutes. Turn, and continue cooking until golden brown. 

And here's how I make them gluten free; first, be warned though, *I* don't think these are very tasty at all. At. All. Luckily Parker loves his hemp milk and doesn't mind buckwheat flour so he eats them up like he does our normal pancakes

Gluten Free Pancake Ingredients

• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/4 cup brown rice flour
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder (GF)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup hemp milk, plus more if necessary
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Serve with your favorite Maple Syrup - THIS is the brand we are loving right now - I buy it through subscribe & save to save an extra 15% and get free shipping -- you can cancel anytime, you're not obligated to go through with future orders

My Thrifty Green Challenge

In an effort to help reduce our virtual water consumption and just help the world in general, and save a bit of money on the way we're going to start a Thrifty Green Challenge!


As of today these are our new house rules when it comes to buying things:
1. If I think I (we) need something I need to think about whether it is a want or a need. I think we personally have all we REALLY need so most anything is a want. If it's a want - is there a cheaper or greener alternative? Can we go without? If not:
2. Can we build it? Or sew it? Or make it? If so, let's get started! I still have not decided where the materials come into this, isn't that still technically buying STUFF?? I'll think on it. If we can't make it:
3. Buy it used. I'll check local thrift stores and consignment stores, eBay, diaperswappers, craigslist... and see if we can't help another family out, help our wallet, and help the planet by buying used. This will exclude things like underwear, socks, body care items (toothbrushes etc lol), sheets (bed bugs anyone??), mattresses, cribs and carseats. It might also exclude certain home appliances that we would want a warranty on. We'll be all Duggars about it and buy used, and 'save the difference'. If I can't find it, or a suitable alternative used:
4. Buy US made. To support the US economy, American families and cut down on carbon and fuels used to transport the item. If I can't do that:
5. We will have to go without.

I am also started a personal challenge, diet wise. My generally unhappy pancreas has been voicing some concerns lately about my rather fatty, sugary diet so I'm going to clean up my act and hope that results in a happier middle. If not I guess I'm off to the doctor again for more imaging :S

Milk Alternatives - An Interesting Piece of Useful (or useless) Information

P is currently gluten and cow's milk free. He's been cow's milk free (just milk, he can have cheese and yoghurt) for over a year; when I went in for my surgery my husband was giving him milk since I had to pump and dump and the poor thing ended up COVERED in eczema. The same thing happened when we went on vacation last year actually and it was harder to watch his diet, and who wants to say no to icecream on the beach!?!

ANYWAY, we have discovered that pancakes made with hemp milk do not stick to the pan AT ALL (we use cast iron greased with coconut oil, no non-stick in this house) compared to ones made with coconut milk that end up getting destroyed by J in a fit of frustration as is he trying to flip them over.

So there you go, that is all.

Lucky Bear!

Every now and then P comes out of his room with a fitted diaper and a stuffed animal. The diaper always has snaps and he can't open and close it to change his baby's diaper which just frustrates him. This morning he bought his bear out and asked me to diaper him. We ran upstairs, dug around in my sewing room for a bit and found this old, leaky bumGenius pocket. I had removed the velcro from it to replace it so I quickly put new velcro on while P watched.

And now P has his very own cloth diaper for his babies that he can do up all on his own!

Foodie Friday - Rice Pudding!

I have a bunch of rice that I got free with coupons and I thought this would make a great gluten free dessert for tonight!

Ingredients

2 cups cooked rice

16oz half and half - though I used 1% tonight and it was great

3 eggs

3/4 C raisins

2/3 C sugar

2 tsp vanilla

cinnamon and nutmeg - I just poured it in so eyeball it lol

Cook the rice

Once the rice is cooked mix all the ingredients except the raisins in a bowl (I should have just mixed them in the crockpot -- would have saved on dishes) with a hand blender

Once mixed add the raisins and put in the crockpot with 2 cups of cooked rice

Cook on high for 30 minutes and then on low for 2-3 hours. Eat with icecream! YUM!

Foodie Friday - Traditional Roast Chicken Dinner

For any readers that are vegetarian or vegan, if you don't want to see meat, don't scroll down!







I'm just a little bit 'English' and love a good roast chicken. I don't do mine on Sundays though.

Meet my chicken. She's a good size and was marked down for quick sale. $10 is pretty good for an organic chicken of this size and she'll feed the three of us for at LEAST two meals, probably three. She is my second to last frozen chicken, we are switching to all local meat next month so I am using up the freezer stash. She may or may not include all his giblets. I guess we will se

I remove the packaging and clean him off in the sink -- makes things much easier to clean up. Turns out his giblets were all together in a nice little packet. Which was nice of them. I like to use rosemary, thyme and oregano on my chickens. I usually add some garlic salt too but I forgot today. Oh well.

I put it in at 375 for a couple hours -- I usually put them in at 4pm, we eat at 6pm

When there is about an hour and a half left until dinner time I put the potatoes in. They are pealed and sliced up first of course. I don't use any oil or anything because I have found they don't crisp up quite as nicely when I do

90 minutes later it's dinner time! I also made peas and gravy to go with our chicken and potatoes. We ONLY use Central Market Organics brand frozen peas because they are the best peas we have ever tried in the US!

No photos of it all because everyone was HUNGRY and it was all gone in a flash. We ate 1/2 the chicken tonight and the other 1/2 has gone into the fridge to make Alfredo with tomorrow night

Virtual Water

Virtual Water is water used to create a product; it is our freshwater consumption that we don't directly see.

The latest National Geographic was all about Water. I found a link to an interactive version of the poster I am going to talk about so feel free to take a look!

The amount of virtual water that one person uses in their everyday is crazy.

It takes approximately 1857 gallons of virtual water to produce one pound of beef and 469 to produce a whole chicken. That is, the water they drink and the water used to grow their feed and clean their waste.

Don't eat meat? Good for you! I could never do it! (though I am looking for more local sustainably raised meat, that does not rely on corn for feed for example) It takes 185 gallons to produce a pound of cherries and 33 gallons for a pound of strawberries. The water counted is both rainwater and irrigation water used to water and wash the produce.

It takes 2900 gallons of virtual water to produce ONE pair of blue jeans -- something I am sure everyone of us owns. 2800 gallons go into one cotton bedsheet, 766 into a cotton t-shirt and 20 into one glass of beer.

Some countries export more virtual water than they import while others do the opposite. I am not nearly intellectual enough to figure out what all this means, which way is better, which is more sustainable, which country should re-evaluate their priorities, population growth and what not. Or maybe I am too afraid to say it outloud? LOL (The US and NZ by the way export more virtual water than they import, so does Africa. While Asia imports more than they export)

Either way, experts say that water-use efficiency will need to double in the next 20 years to support the world's growing. If we don't figure out a way to make food and product production more sustainable we simply won't have any freshwater for either!

So what do we do? Well, for now I am going to start by making more of an effort to buy used. I am the first to admit that I have a major shopping addiction. But, when I think that that one Gymboree shirt for P takes 766 gallons of Africa's freshwater to produce, that could otherwise go to the millions dying of thirst and dehydration all across the continent .... well, it makes me think again before clicking 'submit order'.

From now on I will take a bit more time to check out Goodwill and other local thrift stores as well as the FSOT on Diaperswappers, Craigslist and Freecycle before making a purchase for something new. If I can find P, or myself, a pair of like new jeans, used, and save 2900 gallons of water, why not?

Just a Quick Post - How To Train Your Dragon

We took P to see this last Saturday and he loved it. He tells me all about the big boy dragon movie he saw and the snuggles he got (we took his blankey and he sat on our laps most of the time). ANYWAY, he is OBSESSED with the movie now so I did a quick google to find some coloring pages so he could carry dragons around with him all day if he likes lol Thought I'd share what I found in case anyone else has a dragon obsessed little one:

This is the best collection of How To Train Your Dragon coloring pages that I could find. We have already printed, colored and 'named' two of the pages. We wrote their names 'Toothless' and 'Hiccup' on the pages and it let us practice letters a bit as well as our colors!

Enjoy!

Where Can I Buy Some Motivation?

I was filling out immigration forms last night and J pointed out that we moved into this house last July/August. That means we have lived here for almost a year. Crap is still in boxes and only 3 rooms have curtains. Out of 4200 square feet. I am a shocker. I have the fabric sitting upstairs in my sewing room. I obviously have no problem shopping, so where can I buy some motivation? Anyone know?

Make it Monday - One Ingredient Icecream

OK, this IS the coolest thing ever. Everyone will be amazed. J kept asking me what else was in it to make it so smooth and creamy... nothing! The boys loved it! I did too! What I loved best about it though was that I could let P have a big bowl of this 'monkey icecream' and not have to worry about the huge sugar rush to come or what was in it. And it's really easy to make:

- Cut your bananas into one inch slices and lay on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. I used 3 ripe bananas for the three of us.
- Put the tray in the freezer for 3-4 hours
- When it's dessert time take the banana slices and put them in the food processor, turn it on. It took me a minute or so to get the bananas to the right consistency
- Eat!

It really did taste good. It is a little waxy though, J found that adding a little milk to it, and maybe some salt really enhances the flavor even more. Next time I am going to try adding some strawberries! Or, I might make some chocolate syrup to go on top... and some crepes. So much for being fat free... ha!

One-Ingredient Icecream

Sorry, I've been a bit busy with a Just Tomatoes co-op I am running the past couple days, here's my make up Foodie Friday.

Have you heard of this before? And if you have, how and why did you keep such amazingness from me? You put a frozen banana (sliced) in a food processor until it is smooth and creamy and it's like ice cream! How have I lived so long not knowing about this? I am trying it tomorrow and am super excited. I'll let you know how I get on!

Make It Monday - Reusable Bags

It is Monday, right?
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Earthbound Farms estimates that if everyone in the United States used one reusable bag instead of a plastic bag, just ONCE a week for a year we would keep more than 16 BILLION disposable bags out of landfills.
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That is a huge number. Even if you cut that number in HALF that is still a HUGE number. So let's do our part!

We already use cloth shopping bags for our groceries and have been for at least a year so that's not new to us. And I only use plastic bags for produce that is wet, like the brocolli; apples, bananas etc just float free in the cart. What is new to us though is the bulk section at our grocery store.

We used to buy everything pre-packaged, well, before P we did. Now that we are eating mostly organic it is WAY too expensive to buy things pre-packaged. Organic black beans for example are $5.99 for less than a one pound bag if you buy them pre-packaged. They are $1.99lb in the bulk section of our grocery store. That is a heck of a savings! So we now buy our organic pinto beans, black beans, couscous, brown rice, flaxseed, raisins... nuts and a lot of other things in the bulk section. It saves us A LOT of money but uses a lot of little plastic baggies. I am not fond of them for two reasons; I don't like using plastic for things that come into contact with our food, and I HATE throwing them out. I have been reusing them a couple times before throwing them out but even that isn't optimal; they'll still sit in the landfill for hundreds of years completely unchanged, or, they'll end up in the ocean killing already endangered animals.

So, what's a girl to do? Like I said, I was reusing the bags but since I bring them home and transfer the contents to jars they don't get much use anyway. I tried taking a jar to the store to fill but there is no way to zero the scales so I would end up paying for the weight of the jar too. I was stuck!

Well, I was stuck until we watched No Impact Man the other night. They had the best invention ever for their bulk bin purchases. Reusable bags with drawstrings!! Um, duh? LOL I can NOT believe I didn't think of it sooner. I am such a doofus.

So I made some! I had some unbleached muslin left over from another project and some wool from various projects. With the help of some pinking shears and my sewing machine I created these in just a few hours. I used pinking shears so I wouldn't have to finish the edges and made them two layers thick, simply sewn inside out and then turned the right way. I didn't measure or iron and they're not all the same size (though that is helpful since I buy less flaxseed than beans at a time), nor do they all have the same color thread (my white bobbin ran out and I couldn't be bothered refilling it) They're not pretty, nothing fancy, but they'll get the job done without adding too much weight to the purchase.

I used to get at least 2 plastic baggies of bulk food per shopping trip each week. If I multiply that by 52 I have just saved at LEAST 104 plastic baggies from the landfills and who knows how much crude oil. Now, who's going to save the other fifteen billion nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, eight hundred and ninety-six?

Do You Recycle?

We were at Target today getting cat litter and saw that they had some recycling bins up the front, they were marked as follows; plastic bags, plastic/glass/aluminum, cellphones/batteries/ink cartridges etc. I think there was a paper one too.

So first of all, who gets the sort through those bins that take multiple things? And do they actually do it? Or does it all end up in the landfill anyway. I dunno, I just don't trust it for some reason? It would be great if it is legit as the closest real recycling facility is an hour drive from our house but I'd hate for it to all end up in the trash anyway? Maybe I will ask next time where it goes, who sorts it etc?

Would you use them?

Next... we already recycle our paper products. I take them to the local elementary school that has those fundraising recyle bin things, it is close by and easy. Like I said, the only real recycling facility I know about is an hour away so we don't currently recycle anything but paper. We are about to start though. So, what do I do? We obviously need some kind of sorting method. I think these are pretty cool. But why buy something new to recycle, right? That seems a bit wasteful to me. How about large cardboard boxes in the garage with pictures on the front? I could teach P how to sort them out and we would make a special trip once a month or so to the plant an hour away.

How do you do it? If you have curb-side pick-up I don't want to hear about it LOL

Bird Feeders

One of our Earth Month goals was to keep our local birds happy! We were able to use this project as an opportunity to talk about birds and what they like to eat.

I had P search the yard yesterday and collect all the pine cones he could find. He destroyed one with a couple well aimed stomps, lost another today somewhere but we managed to still have four left for our project today.

We started with our ingredients; the cereal was stale (though that didn't stop P from eating it off the ground) and I didn't want to throw it out, I figured this would be perfect

First we crushed the cereal. I'm glad we did all this outside because it really did make a mess, I'm not sure how we would have crushed it inside and P sure did like using the rock!

Then we covered the pinecone with sunflower seed butter as P is allergic to peanuts, but didn't like this alternative and I once again, didn't want it to go to waste

We then rolled the pinecones in the cereal, sprinkled some on and then tied the wool around the top. The wool sinks into the gaps and is actually pretty secure

And we were done! Time to put them up in the tree!

Can't wait to see if the birds like them or not!

April 14th...

I know it's the 8th but I will likely forget later.

On April 14th of last year I had some pretty major surgery. In fact, I have a thick scar from my ribs to my belly button and a few smaller drain hole scars too to show for it. The 6 months or so before that day were hellish. I woke up early one morning to the pain I had been dealing with for a few months already being MUCH worse. So bad I gave in and let J take me to the emergency room. I could barely breathe and thought I was going to be sick it hurt so bad. They gave me a CAT scan, they were looking for kidney stones or something but instead found a very large growth on my pancreas...

To say I was scared to death would be an understatement. I was convinced that I had cancer and was going to die. I looked at my baby sleeping soundly in his stroller from my bed and saw his entire life flash before my eyes, and I was not in it. Well, it's not like I was imagining it, there was a HUGE growth on my pancreas and nobody knew what it was. J was scared too. I could see it in his eyes though he was staying strong and telling me I was fine.

A second CAT scan, with contrast this time, showed it to be a fluid filled cyst, not a solid mass. Things were looking better. They took me that morning to mini-surgery and inserted a drain into my abdomen. My drain and I were released after a few days; I got to carry that bulb around with me for a week before they removed it. Which was one of the creepiest feelings in the world by the way.

Everything was fine for a couple weeks but the pain in my side started to come back, I was starting to get full easier again and it was harder to breathe. The cyst was after all pressing on and squashing my stomach and lungs. Another CAT scan confirmed that it, now affectionately named Humphrey, was back and would have to be removed.

I was sent to a pancreatic cancer doctor in downtown Houston. One of the best in the state and the director of surgery at a prominent med school. I was still nervous though. We didn't know why it kept coming back, or what exactly it was and wouldn't until the pathology results were back following the surgery, prior tests had been fairly inconclusive or incomplete.

I wasn't allowed to eat anything solid for a couple days prior to the 14th. I also had to do a bowl cleanse which was wonderful, as I am sure you can imagine. My surgery was set for fairly in the morning, but there was of course a hold up with the insurance (isn't there always!?!). I was so scared that that was a sign not to go through with this right then. This was major surgery, 6+ hours long and I was pretty much convinced I was going to die while anesthetized. I had an allergic reaction to the antibiotic they gave me in the prep room and my head was SO itchy, my body was on fire. I thought that was another sign and was silently FREAKING out.

I remember going into the operating room and being moved onto the heated table. I thought that was a nice touch lol 6 or so hours later I woke up in recovery in the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. The morphine and whatever else they had me on did NOT even come close to touching the pain. And they wouldn't let J stay with me which made me freak out even more and start hyperventilating because I couldn't breathe, it felt like someone had punched me in the ribs, a couple hundred times... with a brick.

I was sent to the ICU so they could keep a close eye on me. It was there that I saw what they had done. Oh. My.... wow. That honestly was something I wasn't prepared for. I mean, they did a good job putting me back together but I didn't expect such a big... hole. Turns out the initial incision they had made wasn't big enough to get Humphrey out of so they had to extend it. No wonder my ribs felt broken.

They ended up removing Humphrey, the end of my pancreas as well as my spleen. The good news was though that it had come back and was not cancerous though it was the kind that could become cancerous given the opportunity so we had done the right thing by removing it rather than draining it again.

That night I couldn't breathe. They kept trying to move me and wouldn't listen to me when I tried to talk. I couldn't breathe because I couldn't expand my ribs! But they insisted on a chest x-ray which required me to sit up in bed and bend at the middle after just being cut open. I almost lost it on those nurses. What didn't they understand about my being in some serious pain??... the morphine still wasn't working.

After a day or two I was moved to a general ward and that was even worse. At least in the ICU I had nurses always there. I pretty much had to fend for myself in the normal ward. I would call them to help me to the bathroom and no one would come. And I couldn't do it on my own. I had to have blood tests numerous times a day, and they were awful at getting the needle in properly, they eventually just started sending the IV techs in instead of normal nurses. I had 2 IVs in my wrist that hurt like a ... one of my wrists swelled up and that one was removed, only to have another one crappily put in. They were checking my blood sugar levels almost hourly because my pancreas was all in a tizzy and that sucked too. I have a whole new respect for diabetics who have to do that every day of their lives. At the end of the first day in that ward I just couldn't take it anymore, I had called and called for someone to help me to the bathroom and to bring me medication and nobody came. I called J in tears. He arranged for his sister to watch P overnight and drove the almost 2 hour drive to stay the night with me so he could help me to the bathroom overnight. I couldn't have done it without him. It was nice to have the company too and I missed my baby terribly! I was even trying to pump through all of this to keep my supply up. Only to have him reject the breast when I finally got home almost a week later. I think that hurt more than the surgery!

So, like I said, a week later I was home and all set up in our big squishy bed. J and his mum even bought me a TV for the bedroom so I wouldn't be bored to tears. We would sit and watch Gilmore Girls episodes for hours. And I had my baby back. I was on pain medication, pancreatic enzymes to help me digest my food as my pancreas was essentially in shock and shut down for a bit and aspirin to keep my blood levels under control; the spleen plays a role in blood clotting so it was important that my blood was thinned so as to avoid a dangerous clot.

At 6 weeks post surgery I was doing really well. I was still having some digestive issues but I no longer needed the aspirin, the rest of my body had kicked in to take over the job of the missing pieces and was doing well. And I was alive. And able to enjoy life again, for the first time in months. Well, almost. The whole ordeal left me so anxious and paranoid about my health that I had to take anxiety medication for a while... being depressed and convinced you are going to die for months can really do a number on your mental health. It is hard to just get out of a funk like that, know what I mean? I am still getting there in that respect but I am off the medication now.

What a rollercoaster ride. We still don't know why a 20 year old pancreas would do this but I am trying to keep the pancreas I have left as healthy as possible, which partially explains our un-processed, chemical free lifestyle and diet. My pancreas obviously doesn't need a reason to misbehave so I am not going to give it one!

So, what's my point? I dunno! To celebrate the first year anniversary of Humphrey's removal and a year of being pain free and ALIVE!?! To thank my husband for his love and support? And for helping me pee when no one else would? LOL ... or maybe I just wanted the attention ;) I just wish I didn't have this giant scar down my middle but I guess it is a small price to pay :)

Now, how should we mark the occasion on  Wednesday?

April is Earth Month

Do you have any plans?

Our little city has an Earth Day Festival on Saturday that I hope to drag J along to, P will of course tag along. I always miss these things by days. Next year I will be more organized so I can have a booth there with my cloth diapers! I didn't get to go to the one last year as I was in hospital...

We also have some crafts planned. Earth Day is April 22nd so why not do something to celebrate this beautiful planet we call home!?!

The Secret to Organic Peanut Butter

or any other all natural peanut butter that separates and requires stirring --- store it upside down! The oil goes to the 'top' (the bottom) and there is just pure peanut buttery goodness at the real top, no stirring required! Which is good because I always make a MESS! I bet it saves you a bit on fat content too!

Make It Monday - Whole Wheat Tortillas

I refuse to eat store bought tortillas. The brand name ones are filled with all sorts of nasty things and the organic ones cost $4 for 6! So we have just gone without for a while while I worked up the courage to make them myself. I found said courage tonight. Well, I had to use the ground beef in the fridge so I just did it!

I googled 'lard free whole wheat tortilla recipe' and found an awesome recipe! Here is the link, and here is the recipe:

Ingredients
2 cups of all-purpose flour - I used 1c all purpose and 1c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of vegetable oil - I used olive oil
3/4 cups of warm milk - I used 1%

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and oil

Slowly add warm milk

Stir until a loose, sticky ball forms. Knead for two minutes on a floured surface. Dough should be firm and soft. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for 20 minutes.

After the dough has rested, break off eight sections and roll them into balls in your hands, place on a plate (make sure they aren’t touching) and then cover balls with damp cloth or plastic wrap for 10 minutes. (It’s very important to let the dough rest, otherwise it will be like elastic and won’t roll out to a proper thickness and shape.)

After dough has rested, one at a time place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center until it’s thin and about 8 inches in diameter. (If you roll out pie crusts you’ll have no problem with this.) Don’t overwork the dough, or it’ll be stiff. Keep rolled-out tortillas covered until ready to cook.

In a dry iron skillet on high, cook the tortilla about thirty seconds on each side (I think that was too long, will try 20 sec next time). It should start to puff a bit when it’s done. Keep cooked tortillas covered wrapped in a napkin until ready to eat.

These were a HIT. I made 8. I ate 2. And the other 6 disappeared in mere minutes thanks to my two boys. I guess I need to make more so we can eat the taco leftovers tomorrow! We are going to try freezing them too.

Dying Easter Eggs, Naturally

I'm not a fan of chemical food coloring. In this case it's not that we wanted to eat the eggs afterward, it's that I didn't want P having green fingers for the next week!

There is a lot of information floating around on how to do this, and I didn't use a single source so I can't really link to anything but here's what we did and how they turned out.

We had blue, red, green, yellow and brown 'dye' made up:

• Blue - frozen blueberries + boiling water + a fork + a strainer = a pretty good, though somewhat 'murky' darker blue color
• Red - frozen raspberries + boiling water + a fork + a strainer = um, blue? I don't know WHAT is up with that!
• Green - spinach + brocolli + boiling water = nothing really. Next time I will use just spinach since it is darker in color
• Yellow - turmeric + boiling water = the best color out of the bunch; a fairly bright orangey yellow
• Brown - leftover coffee from J's breakfast that morning = a good brown, not exactly pretty, but a colored egg none the less

We did have to leave them for a couple hours to get a good color. Next year I will try either all spices since the turmeric did so well or I will order a natural coloring kit from eco-kids

Here's P with one of his turmeric yellow egg

And the coffee brown egg...

Foodie Friday - Coconut Milk?

One of our goals for this year is to eliminate as many chemicals from our home as possible. We already use homemade cleaning products, buy all natural/organic body products and try to stick to wooden toys. This year I am focusing even more on what we are EATING.

This means buying as much organic food as possible. We were doing well with this last year as well but have taken it to a new level this year by:
- baking our own bread using organic ingredients and adding extra goodies in like flaxseed and wheatgerm
- buying about 97% organic produce (besides things like onions which are lowest on the pesticide load list - I like THIS one, thanks Amy!). Our milk and butter is also all organic. I am working on cheese.
- buying only organic meat. I just started this this week actually since we have exhausted our freezer stash. $7.49 for free range, organic chicken breasts?!?! OUCH! Good thing organic beans are only $1.69-1.99 per pound!
- completely eliminating canned goods from our home. Everything is fresh or frozen. Or jarred, like the Organic Tomato Paste and sauce we use

And there is the problem. I attempted to make a chicken curry tonight without canned coconut milk. Instead I used the coconut milk that P drinks, it is available in the refrigerated milk section with other milks in most stores. We found that the coconut milk from a carton is not NEARLY as rich, creamy and coconutty as the canned stuff. It also separates when it is heated. Now, it didn't taste BAD, it just didn't taste as good. Such a shame since canned goods are banned from this house. So, what do we do next? Try a real, fresh coconut? Or search for bottled coconut milk similar to that that comes in cans? Does that even exist?

ETA: a quick google search found the answer for me! Native Forest brand Coconut Milk
 comes in BPA-free cans, I wonder if they have it at my Kroger!?! I THINK I HAVE seen it there. Some of their other products such as canned mango and fruit salad are also said to be BPA free, and they are working on their pineapple products. Wonderful!

Foodie Friday - Pizza!

Homemade pizza is quickly becoming a favorite in our house. I can't believe I didn't start making it sooner!

We found another great use for the mess trays; they keep all the pizza toppings seperate but together and save on dishes because I would usually use a glass bowl for each!

See! They kept everything seperate so I could create J's half, P's 1/3 and my 'whatever bit was left'. I'm the pineapple lover ;)

I've never had zucchini on pizza before but I'll DEFINITELY be doing it again. It was super yummy!