Garden Check-in

I'm still here, folks (Hi Katie; thanks for checking in on me!)

I got the call from my employer telling me that I can have a job back. A job, that is, not my job. It's a job that entails lots more work plus working throughout the summer for pretty much the same pay. Boo Hiss. I was really looking forward to being a stay at home mom, or at least to have six months with my son. Instead now I have an infant and even less time than before to spend with him. Don't get me wrong; I am glad to be working. I know there are lots of people who want jobs and can't find one. I understand that and am sensitive to that. I just had dreams of being a stay-at-home mommy and now my dream has crumbled.

I started back to work the day they called (last Tuesday). So that's where I've been. My school year has started already. My husband will be quitting his job to take care of our son because we really don't want to put him in daycare. Daycare would be half of his salary anyway.

So do you want to know what's ironic? I dragged my feet for years when it came to planting a garden. I finally broke down and planted a garden this year, and this summer, as it turns out, I have to work. Go figure. But anyway, here's some photos of my plant babies. Some people have "fur babies" ... I have plant babies :) I have two little peppers, a baby eggplant, and several little tomatoes.

Meal Planning Monday

I went a little nutso at the grocery with the yellow and honey mustard. I had coupons, and my hubby loves mustard, so I bought several bottles. Now I have to come up with some recipes for it. Hence I bring to you….

Honey Mustard Lime Chicken!

Some of you may remember I opened up a package of smoked sausage on Friday to put in my macaroni and cheese. I only used one and saved the other for this week. With it, I’ll be making Cheesy Sausage Stew.

And last but not least, a Paula Deen recipe. Last night a commercial for some ham came on, and Paula was their spokesperson. After the commercial, hubby asked, “What was up with that lady?!” I had to tell him, “That’s Paula Deen, dear. She’s only the most famous cook in all of the south! Remember when we were down in Savannah and I wanted to go to that one special restaurant? That was her restaurant.” But apparently you can’t just walk into her restaurant, so we didn’t go. My grandma went, and she said you have to get there in the morning to get tickets. That sounds to me more like the filming of the show than the restaurant, so maybe she got confused. Anyone out there been to Paula’s restaurant that could give me a definitive answer?

Anyway, Paula’s Meatball Casserole is on the Menu for the week.

Until next time, I wish you "best dishes" from my kitchen to yours! (I heart Paula Deen, don't you?)

Recycled Patio and Garage Sale Finds

Check this out, my peeps! This is the ultimate in reusing and repurposing. Katie has created a patio out of stones from an old barn foundation. She had to carry them barefoot, uphill both ways, and through the snow! Great job Katie ;)

She also make a planter out of an old treestump (how creative!) and furnished her beautiful patio with lots of garage sale finds.

Speaking of garage sales... boy did I ever hit the mother lode. I went out garage saling on Friday morning. I had mapped out all the garage sales I wanted to hit and when you add in the others I just happened upon, I hit about twelve to fifteen. Most of my luck was at the first few though. Then on Saturday, we went to my mother-in-law's fiftieth birthday party, but stopped at a couple garage sales near their house.

When we were a few blocks from the party, that's when I saw it. It was surrounded by a golden glow and angels were sounding their trumpets, beckoning me to come in closer for a look. It was a church flea market. I dropped off hubby and baby and headed straight back to the flea market. (And then I saw another garage sale so I had to stop there afterwards). Pfew. I made quite the haul this weekend.

At the flea market, they had clothes for ten cents apiece. Yes, for a mere fifty cents, I got five things for Joel. None of them will fit him now, however, how could I pass up ten-cent clothes? And they weren't nasty either; they were completely hole and stain free!

Other things I got include

• a kiddie construction hat for a dime
  
• four children's books for a dollar
  
• a baby carrier, new in the box for five dollars (the Sears $35 price tag still attached)
  
• two wool sweaters for felting for 50c each
  
• some red and black fabric like T-3 has been coveting lately (yes, girl, I found some too!)
  
• a chrome over-the-door rack in it's original box for five dollars (I actually just bought one of these online for Joel's room, and was excited to see this one for our bedroom door)
  
• a small enamelware pan just like I got last week, but this one only cost 50c. I am so addicted to enamelware. I wonder if Enamelware Anonymous exists for people like me who hoard the stuff.
  
• one of those red and blue toys with the yellow shapes that push down through the matching hole. I had one when I was little, so I had to get it for Joel. Who can pass up such an educational toy for 50c?
  
• a short sleeved polo for 25c
  
• a baby girl's binky set and receiving blanket, still brand new and unopened for 50c each
  
• several toys, all still brand new in the package which I'm hoarding for gifts over the next few years, including a jumprope, sidewalk chalk, action figures, rattle/teether set, wateringcan and sand scoop, and bathtub boats, for a total of $3.60. I hope Joel never stumbles upon my stash of gifts in the laundry room. Meh. He probably won't. Why would he ever go in the laundry room? That's a room kids avoid like the plague... the perfect place to store gifts!
  
• unopened birthday napkins, 25c
  
• an OSU longsleeved onesie, 12 months, for a dollar

One dollar. Geesh. I'm feeling guilty about that. I had previously set my limit at fifty cents for any article of clothing for Joel (except coats). I'm thinking of lowering my limit to a quarter. If I do that, though, thrift store shopping is pretty much out of the question. It's hard enough to find stuff at thrift stores for fifty cents. It's nearly impossible to find stuff for a quarter, at least around here. Prices at thrift stores are getting outrageous. Even at some garage sales, prices are getting outrageous.

For example, yesterday someone wanted twenty dollars for a beat-up plastic riding firetruck. If it was metal and an antique, twenty dollars, sure. But plastic? Um, no thanks. Five dollars, maybe. Three dollars, sure. But twenty? She must have been on crack.

What is your limit? Where do you draw the line? Talk to me, people!

Party in Your Mouth with Barefoot Contessa

Yum. She made macaroni and cheese! I of course did not follow her recipe (at all) but mac and cheese sounded so good. I do not have fancy schmancy mushrooms and butter like she has… (apparently the key to her mac and cheese is this expensive flavored butter…)

I do have some shredded cheddar cheese, milk, elbow macaroni, and Blue Bonnet margarine! Mine won’t be as elegant as hers. So what?! (*puts on my flannel shirt, tattered jeans, and sits on a bale of hay*) Elegance isn’t my strong suit anyway.

I decided to throw in some extras I had on hand. Barefoot Contessa did not do this, but I was just winging it. I had some smoked sausage thawed in the fridge, so I sliced it very thin and placed it into my BFF, my trusty 9x13. I also had some frozen broccoli and cauliflower (what’s not to love about cheesy broccoli and cauliflower?!) so I thawed it and tossed that in too. Meanwhile of course, make sure your macaroni is boiling in some salted water. The next part I just eyeballed so I can’t give you definite measurements. I put two globs of butter in my pan, followed by about 2 cups shredded cheese and enough milk to make it the right consistency. I also dumped in some onion powder for taste. I stirred until it looked like a good cheese sauce, then I stirred it in with the elbows. I then dumped it all in my 9x13 and cooked it for about thirty minutes in a medium oven. I cooked it at 325 because the other thing I made was supposed to be baked at 325. It’s just a casserole, and everything was already fully cooked, so the temperature really doesn’t matter, does it? I wouldn’t go cooking it at 450 or anything though.


Please disregard the spoon. I got hungry. So sue me.

Do you subscribe to the philosophy that you should never wash a half load of dishes or laundry? Me too. What about cooking? Do you believe that you should never just use the one rack in your oven? If the oven’s on, you might as well stuff it full of food so as not to waste all that heat, right?

So I also made some A to Z bread. Basically, it’s a use-whatever-you-have-on-hand-to-make-some-kick-@ss-bread recipe. You can use anything from apples to zucchini. Hence the name. How clever.

My babies


Today, I used four past-their-prime bananas with enough raspberry jam to make 2 cups. (You need two cups of A to Z ingredients for this recipe). It says to bake for an hour at 325, however I ended up baking it about ten or fifteen extra minutes. I think maybe upping the temp a little bit would have worked better. I’ll be taking one of the loaves to my mother-in-law’s fiftieth birthday party today. I’ll be hiding the other loaf from my husband so I can eat the whole thing myself. Funny thing is, you think I’m joking.



That reminds me. I went over and paid my in-laws a visit a couple days ago (I usually hang out with them a few times a week while hubby works). My father-in-law came home and saw me sitting on the couch, and he said to my MIL, “I thought you said you were cooking dinner? Not that you invited a cook over for dinner!” Well thank you, thank you very much. I’m known as the cook of the family. I feel so special!

Sweatshops in the US

Just a quick post to let you know that I am pretty angry right now. My friend who graduated with a degree in fashion is now on the job hunt. She's looking for a job that would enable her to sew costumes for a theatre company or something similar. The problem is, many of the jobs out there don't pay. And when I say, "don't pay," I don't mean that they don't pay well. I mean that you sew for them, and you don't get a single cent. Can you say sweatshop?
If the theatre company charges admission, I don't see how they can get away with that. I can understand if it's a free show like the free Shakespeare shows in Schiller Park here in Columbus. Why would they pay the employees because they're not taking in any money? But if the company takes in money, don't you think those profits should be shared with the costume sewers? Sewing takes time, people!

Yeah, me too. I just had to get that off my chest.

Foodie Friday: Baby Food Edition

I forget who turned me on to this book, but I read about it somewhere. I had to run out and get it from my local library right away! Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel gives you all sorts of recipes and food combos from your little one’s first foods all the way up through one year. Annabel’s philosophy is that babies become picky eaters because they aren’t exposed to flavorful and interesting foods. Babies don’t want bland, nasty food from a jar; they want to eat food chock full of flavor like adults do! Annabel points out that your baby’s taste buds are starting to develop, and this is a crucial time for your baby to experience an array of appetizing flavors!

I thought I’d share some things from this book so you can see what kinds of flavor combinations Annabel recommends. She says to combine pureed parsnip, carrots, and either sweet potato, pumpkin or rutabaga for six month olds. Avocado and banana with a tad bit of formula or breast milk is an easy no-cook option for six month olds. At around seven months, she includes recipes such as Fillet of fish with cheese sauce and vegetables and Easy One-Pot Chicken. She also says that combos such as peach, pear, and blueberry or apricot, apple, pear, and vanilla are suitable for seven month olds. (I read some of these to my sister-in-law who has a six month old, and she told him no way was he getting any of these homemade gourmet meals!)

When a baby is 7-9 months old, he can eat Tomato, Cauliflower and Carrot with Basil or Pasta with Butternut Squash, Tomato, and Cheese. Or perhaps Fillet of Fish in an Orange Sauce will tickle his fancy! No? How about Salmon Surprise or Chicken with Leek, Carrot, and Peas? Desserts and fruits for 7-9 months old include Apple, Pear, and Prune with Oats and Strawberry, Peach, and Pear Crumble. (Is your mouth watering yet? Yeah, mine too).

And finally, for 9-12 month olds, try Tuna Pasta with Creamy Tomato Sauce and Fillet of Cod with Spinach in a Cheese Sauce. He might also like Tasty Chicken Bolognese and Tender Casserole of Lamb. Sweet tooth? Try Nectarine and Strawberry with Vanilla. (Damn, these babies are eating better than me. I plan on making my own baby food but I think Lamb might be taking it a little too far).

I’m going to cut this posting short. I have a date with some nectarines, strawberries, and vanilla!


Visit Ann's website for more Food on Fridays! Make sure to leave all participants lots of bloggy love!

Gardening with the Aliens Among Us

Tomatoes are red
Zucchinis are green
Whether my garden will be successful
Has yet to be seen.

Bell Peppers are Green
And can be yellow or red.
Stay tuned for adventures
In my vegetable bed.

I finally broke down and did it. I bought some vegetable plants and got some dirt under my fingernails. You may remember how much I hate gardening. Really what I hate is the sunshine and the heat, so I figure I can take care of all things garden-related either early before it gets hot, or later after the heat of the day has passed.

Once it gets hot, all I am going to do is sit inside, sip some lemonade, and write about gardening. For example…

My Bucket List

• Create a topsy-turvy upside down tomato planter from a five gallon bucket (Get it? Bucket list? Sorry, I couldn’t help myself)
  
• Buy some vegetable plants
  
• Weed the flower bed so I can plant the veges there
  
• Get down and dirty with my plants (That didn’t come out right. What I meant was plant them in the ground
  
• Water my babies regularly

So far, I have accomplished the first four things on my Bucket List. Hopefully I can do the fifth and final one as well. I’m not holding my breath though.



So you are jealous of my attractive upside-down tomato planter and want to make one for yourself? Well let me start off by saying that Becky over at Crafting a Green World somehow managed to tap into my brain power and blogged about how to make an upside-down tomato planter before I got a chance to.

My husband the conspiracy theorist is always telling me I should wear a little tinfoil hat. That way Becky and the aliens won’t be able to read my thoughts anymore. See what I get for not listening to my husband? Note to self: add “make tinfoil hat” to my bucket list.

There’s really no point in me explaining how I made my tomato planter because Becky did a nice job (Of course she did. She stole my brain waves, after all). I will say however that some people say to use burlap to keep the dirt in, others use coffee filters, but I used some stiff tulle fabric from my bridesmaid dress. That dress is like the Energizer Bunny, isn’t it? It keeps going and going and going…

I’ll leave you with some photos. If you look very closely, I’m pretty sure there’s a flying saucer in that first photograph. I sure hope they're here to do some weeding.


PS. A forum my husband frequents called Above Top Secret says that France is about to come clean about their knowledge of extra-terrestrials. Other European countries will then follow suit. Maybe we should start crafting ourselves some tinfoil hats. Remember, you heard it here first, folks.