When Marc and I got married 16 years ago we got the bright idea to move from Alaska to Phoenix.  We figured the best way to travel was in my 2-seat car with the cat and to camp out along the way.

Combine this with us not knowing each other very long and me coming off a cigarette addiction, it's a miracle we survived the trip, let alone 16 years.... we even have the same cat.

The point is that since that time, I haven't camped.  I have actually refused to camp.  I have wonderful memories of so much of western North America from this trip, but the camping part was not something I wanted to revisit....

But I was feeling that I was missing out on something.  My kids had only slept out in the tent in the backyard, but they had never had a real camping experience.

The weather has been unseasonably cool here so we decided to surprise them with a trip to Cloudland Canyon.  We had done day trips here, and thought it would be great for an overnighter.

It was wonderful and beautiful, and the kids had a great time....

I just don't remember the ground being quite so hard....

I have to admit that I've never been one of those people who cook meals in advance... you know, the cook everything for the next month in one day.  I really am much too fickle and enjoy deciding a meal based upon where we are for the day.

Until Saturday...  that was when I had something happen that I had only heard and read about from others.

My freezer door had been left open... just slightly, but enough to thaw out quite a bit of food.  This is the one where the beef goes, along with a couple of packs of chicken.

So now I am excited that I have no plans to cook this week as I did enough on Saturday to take care of us for quite a while.

What ended up happening was multiple steaks cooked on the grill for Marc's dinners at work this week...   A couple of pack of steaks went on an overnight campout (tune in tomorrow).

Hamburger was browned and I made a bunch of spaghetti sauce that went into a massive lasagne or frozen for later.

The chicken was boiled with the broth cooked down and frozen.  I pulled the chicken to add to fajitas.... What isn't used is frozen or put into casseroles to be frozen.

Flank steak was cut up and used for stir fry.  I went ahead and cooked it, and then it can be frozen as needed.

There may have been more, but I've mostly blocked it out at this time.  It's just fun to go to the fridge and see what's already and waiting for me.

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A wonderful friend had us over for lunch last week and she made fajitas for us that were wonderful.  I don't think mine turned out quite as well, but maybe that's just because things have gotten to where they taste better to me when I'm not cooking.  Anyway... they are simple and quick to make, and very tasty!

Fajitas:

I sauteed cut up red onion, and yellow, green and red bell peppers in a couple tablespoons of butter.

I then added some minced garlic and some salt/pepper and cumin.

Add some pulled chicken and warm thru to mix flavors.

Serve in a tortilla with some sour cream and salsa.

Sorry no pictures of the finished product, but we were hungry and these were good.

I usually make my own dishwashing soap.  Primarily because I'm cheap, but also because what I make is real soap joined with the beauty of essential oils to clean my dishes.  I use the Dr Bronners soap diluted with some water and usually add some tea tree oil, rosemary oil, and whatever strikes my fancy for the day.  It works well, and smells nice.

Then I made the mistake of watching  TV other day.  This is what I saw:

I was suddenly taken back to the 1970s when Walter Cronkite would interupt my Saturday morning shows to tell me a kid's version of what was happening in the world.  I suddenly wanted my glass of TANG like the astronauts drank, to save the whales, and to help the poor sea creatures whose habitats had been damaged by oil spills.

Needless to say, I went right out and bought a bottle of Dawn, and I even put my verification code in online so that the little ducks and otters would benefit.  It was weird that this commercial had such a pull, but I guess that's what they pay the marketing department for.....

I'm really sorry that I'm having to resort to so much music, but that's the way life is right now.

Actually we've been listening to alot of books on cd right now, and it seems that most of them are sad so the music seems appropriate somewhat.

Anyway...I first heard of jennie lewis after being struck by her voice in the BOLT soundtrack.  This song has been haunting me all week....

Life's been much too busy lately...

No time to eat or sleep...

The house is a mess, I must confess,

....sorry, I won't make anyone surffer thru this any longer.....

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Things have been of overwhelming proportions lately, but  I recently read a post by a pretty cool woman who is a wife and mother that helped me take a stand on putting things to where I can better function.

I've been attempting to plan a menu that includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.  This would be fine if I were solely a full-time homemaker, but I'm not.   Even if I were, between a couple of kids, homeschool, appointments and stuff, sometimes too much, is too much!

I've taken alot of the stress of daily living off me by cutting back to preparing 1 meal a  day.  The kids were initially not happy, but quite frankly, I didn't really ask their opinions.  I did ask for their favorite meals so that those would be the ones that we had for dinners.

Breakfasts are now toast with jam and milk.  It's not like we don't have a ton of jams/jellies already stored, and I've gotten to the point with homemade, whole wheat bread that it really is a no brainer to pump out a couple of loaves.

Lunches are now sandwiches with veggies/fruits and possibly some chips, if I'm feeling generous, with milk or herb tea to drink.  Sandwiches are also simple... PB&J, as this is #1 cheap, #2 healthy, and #3 easy.

Dinner is the one cooked meal of the day.  This week the plan is:

Sunday: homemade whole wheat waffles.

Monday: clam chowder with salad and cheese muffins.

Tuesday: redbeans and rice with salad.

Wednesday: Spaghetti with salad

Thursday:  Eggs and bacon

Friday:  Beef teriyaki and rice

Saturday: steaks and pototoes

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I do encourage a daily snack if they are hungry, but so far it hasn't been needed.  They also get a small bowl of ice cream after dinner as a treat on most nights.

I'm just relieved that at least this one thing has become less stressful, but still healthy.

I must admit that I have an issue with wanting to buy books, especially books on herbs and health.  Lately I've cut back significantly,  and frequently revisit those I've already aquired. 

This is more of a practical list..... the skeleton of my collection.  I would like to think that I have a favorite out of all of these books, but I really don't.  All of these are different in what they have to say or address, or to whom they are wanting to speak.  Most can be found at amazon, but I would encourage you to support smaller stores such as the Bulk Herb Store when you purchase.  BHS offers media mail shipping for books only purchases.

 Practical Herbalism by Fritchey.  Concise and complete info on herbal actions (the medical part) with a specific breakdown on 47 common herbs.  Offers formula suggestions on specific ailments.  Very detailed info in this book.

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Staying Healthy with Nutrition by Elson Haas, MD.  Incredibly complete volume on everything you could ever want to know on nutrition.  All aspects of foods, including carbs, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals and accessory nutrients are discussed.  Steps to building a healthy diet along with specific food analyses are also present.

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The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook by Green doesn't give specifics on herbs, but goes into the actual methods of preparing them for use in detail.  Though I'm much more of a visual and need examples kind of learner, this book does a good job at making tinctures, salves and teas less daunting that first time.

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For beginning herbalists I would recommend  The How-To Herbal by Keith.  The How-To Herbal is more of a general guide with individual herbs discussed and formulas given, as well as how to use your formulas. 

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I also love using field guides so that I am positive in my identification when collecting.  The two I use the most are Peterson's field guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs and The New Age Herbalist by Mahey and McIntyre.

I don't often buy herb books anymore as it seems I own more than I should, and most info can be either repetitive among books or found online.  I did finally decide, after previewing it from the library, to invest in Herbal Antibiotics by Stephen Harrod Buhner. 

There has been so much talk, too much IMO, on health care lately.  I honestly think that alot of it is fake... just like wresting, and is an attempt to take emphasis off the real issues we should be facing.  I don't usually go there, but today I will briefly....

I think that Americans in generally are too easily led and deceived.  I don't think the issue is government/socialized medicine (because even though so many people are against this, we are already there).  We take issue with government care, but for some reason, the insurance companies seem to be our friends? 

I don't believe that insurance is necessarily a bad thing, but then again, I don't think that it is necessarily the good thing that it has all of a sudden become.  Instead of the government, we are selling out our health to corporations, and I don't believe that this is any better.  (I'm off the soapbox now).

My choice is to take charge of the health of our family.  Please notice I said health, not illness.  Our family chooses to invest time and energy in learning about how to maintain health thru nutrition and natural remedies.  We do get the occasional cough or cold, but usually not for long. 

I think that is what sets Herbal Antibiotic apart from some of the other herb books that I have seen.  It looks specifically at maintaining health and treating illness with herbs, giving formulas and how to's as well.  This book isn't necessarily a beginner's herb book, but it does give an interesting lesson on antibiotic use and drug resistance.

Some of the herbs recommended are fairly new to me, as my focus has generally been on children's health with milder herbs, or on specific issues we have dealt with.  My scope is usually to use a few herbs and get to know them well.  As I learn about those, I start to add others to my list. 

I guess my point is to encourage everyone to take charge of their own health, and not rely on what you are being sold.  This all really seems to come down to money, and that's not what life or health should be about. 

I have to admit that I didn't grow up eating cherries, unless you count the one that was in the can of fruit cocktail or the canned mass that is sickeningly oversweetened to use as pie filling. 

As I got older I thought of buying some fresh, but they were always expensive and then there was the whole pit issue as well.  So I never really tried them.

This year, since discovering Pomona's pectin, I've been anxiously looking for time to experiment with different jams, jelly and various spreads.  So when I saw cherries on sale I figured now was as good as any time to figure them out.

I probably could have pitted mine with the food mill, but instead I invested with a handy gadget that the kids can use to pit them while I assemble other things, and yes, it worked really well....

I decided to make some cherry butter.  I found an online recipe, but as always, I changed it around alot, and this is what I came up with.  To pulp the cherries I ran them thru the food mill on the largest setting after taking out the pits... if this is wrong or un-necessary, please remember I am a cherry novice and pretty much made the whole thing up as I went along....   This also goes very quickly, so have all your stuff handy.

Cherry Butter....

4 cups cherries, pitted and pulped Mine were labelled and tasted sweet

2-3/4 cups sugar, yes, I used the white stuff....

4 tsp of Pomona's calcium water

2 TBS butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp almond extract

3 tsp Pomona's pectin

1/2 cup lemon juice

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1. Mix the cherry pulp and sugar and calcium water together.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat.  Stir constantly while cooking to dissolve the sugar and keep from scorching. 

2. Add the butter to settle the foam.

3. Add cinnamon and almond extract when all sugar is dissolved and stir well.

4. Combine the pectin with the lemon juice,  (use quickly as it will solidify) and add it to the cherry mixture.  Return to a boil stirring with a whisk vigorously for 3 minutes.  Reduce heat.

5. Can as desired.  This made about 5 cups of cherry butter that I processed for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Tenth Avenue North will be performing at The House of Rock...

I've been busy lately cleaning out my grandparent's house as we prepare to sell it later this week.  While many things have been thrown out, due to their pack rat tendancies, a few treasures have been found.

One of these things were some old gingham aprons embroidered with chicken scratch.  I've done a bit of this simple embellishing, and it is fairly simple, but still lovely...

This is really almost a rhetorical question, but what do you do when some people just don't like you?

I would like to think that I'm pretty easy-going, but I know that I have some very bad habits and personality quirks that become more pronounced as you know me.

But what about if it is someone you don't really know?  Someone who doesn't know all the bad, but gets the sanitized, Sunday morning version of you?

There is a specific person in my thoughts who I really don't know because everytime I see her I feel like she is looking at me down her nose and sneering at  me.... and I mean really sneering and thinking of how she can wipe me off the face of the earth.

This is someone I've known for a couple of years and I really just don't get it. 

I guess that is because I can usually find at least one redeeming quality in a person and can find something to bond with in most people.  Please realize that I work with the general public, prisoners, and the homeless in the hospital... I've know alot of people who would be considered 'bad'.

I even like this person; I just don't usually enjoy being around her as I  feel the daggers shooting from her eyes.

I've actually even prayed over this, and still, I just don't get it.....

Who knows... maybe she's got that disease that makes it impossible for you to smile....

Sometimes you need a something a little sweet, but something kind of healthy so that all of the goodness negates the bad.

One of our favorites is fruit pizza.

It's one of those things that I can justify is better than poptarts or cold cereals when I'm too busy to get things together.

Plus it's easy enough for the kids to make, and they enjoy putting it all together as well. 

You can get fancy and do a glaze, but I tend to leave mine au natural.

Start with a sugar cookie base.  You can use your own recipe, but I won't tell anyone if you use a prepared one from the grocery if you get too busy.

Press it into your desired shape.  Cook for 10-12 minutes in a 350 degree oven. 

I've found that you don't have to cook it as long as you think you do.  You want it set, not brown.

Let the cookie cool.

Mix a package (8oz) of cream cheese with a 1/3 cup of sugar or honey.  Sugar tastes better than the honey, but I seldom can find the sugar so I use honey generally.

Spread this over the coolled cookie.

Add and arrange whatever fruits you want however you want on the top.  Generally the more fruit on the pizza and larger variety lead to having a better dish, in my opinion.

You are now ready to eat....

I did initially have a glaze that went over the top consisting of orange juice cooked with more sugar, but it usually came out gummy and seemed to throw off the carbs in my opinion....

Though it is sparse, this is my kiwi-grape fruit pizza, keeping with my purple and green theme for the week.

Life is once again moving a hyperspeed, and I as a mere mortal who is growing older by the minute is having trouble keeping up.

All I've got for the 4 people who still read this today is purple...

Beautiful purple, though. 

My carrots are doing better than I expected, especially since they should be more of a cool crop.  They are so pretty, I just want to look at them.

I kind of exaggerated on the tomatoes, but these are a mixture of my heirloom, non-GMO, organic tomatoes started from seeds (just as the carrots were).  The redder ones are Creoles, and the largish, purple (kind of) one is a Cherokee Purple....

All are good eating....

I would like to think that if I have enough drive and determination, I should be able to achieve everything in a day that I want to achieve.  I don't know if it is the perfectionist in me, or if I'm really just that vain, but I'm finding it hard to do it all despite lists and vitamins, even.

The truth is that when I do finally wind down late into the evening, the last thing I want to do is sit and blog.  I've actually started reading voraciously again (see, voraciously is the word of someone who is reading alot), and I'm just physically, mentally and emotionally worn-out when it comes to alone time.

I won't go into all the gory details, but I imagine that most other people are living the same life... they probably just have different 'stuff' than I do.... if nothing else it seems my hands might be eternally prune-y from putting up an never-ending supply of tomatoes this year.

But, I would like to think that I don't break my promises, even though that really isn't true either, so I wanted to post about jam.

I've been pretty busy so to make a 2+ hour trip simply to get peaches, when there are some available pretty much everywhere in GA in the summer, is a big deal.  I especially wanted organic peaches.  Peaches tend to be consistently rated highest in pesticide residuals, and while I'm not 100% certified organic, with something like this I want to make an extra effort.

This batch was destined to become jam.  There are few things I love in life more than peach jam. 

I've also recently discovered Pomona's Pectin.  This wonderful product is an alternative to using traditional pectins.  Traditional pectins, like Sure-Jel, use high sugar concentrations to activate the gelling process.  You actually can make jam and jelly without pectin at all, you just have to boil your fruit, again with a high level of sugar, for what seems like an eternity to reach the gel point.  I don't have time for all this, plus it is way too hot. 

I invested in a case of the Pomona's and have been really impressed with using it so far.

Pomona's instructions are easy to use and explain how to do what you want.  You are not limited by using a set amount of fruit and sugar... you ratio out how much you need and go from there.  You are also not limited to using white sugar.  You can use white sugar, if you want, but you can also use honey, agave nectar, and artificial sweetners.  You also have the choice in the amount of your sweetner, and depending upon the tartness or sweetness of the fruit, you can adjust.

The price per box of Pomona's is about twice of what you buy a single box of store brand, but generally you can do several batches with one box.  So far I've done 2 batches of peach jam and one of blackberry jam all from one box.

Otherwise the specifics are the same.... cut up or pit your fruit.  Squish it a bit, and add in the calcium water that you make per the directions.

Put it on the stove and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, figure out how much and what kind of sweetner you want.  I generally go with honey on the low end of the recommendations.  Add your pectin powder to this and blend.

When the fruit boils add the pectin-sweetner blend and return it to a boil.

You are now ready to can, or you can just cool and use.

If you act quickly you can take advantage of a free audio download of Francis Chan's book, Crazy Love, (that you can listen to thru you computer or mp3) from Christianaudio.

Go HERE and follow the directions.  This link is only good in July, so if you want it please act quickly.

Today was a pretty normal day.  I got alot done, but it was mostly busy for busy-sake.

Day 2 of my cleanse has gone well, and while I started off feeling bad, after going to the gym, I felt great.  Last week was rough, and I really couldn't get myself going.  I did the minimum I felt comfortable with, and hurt the whole week.

Today I started off running and ended up holding back as I felt so good, I didn't want to quit.  I really want to get in an extra day this week, so I didn't want to overdo it.

School is great, but then spending everyday with Shawn and Jett is always wonderful (remind me that I said that). 

Shawn went with Granny and got a pedicure, while Jett and I hung out and had our own adventures.  Shawn's toes:

We made gumbo with some lamb sausage and shrimp from the market trip yesterday. 

As I have posted before, I use Alton Brown's recipe for gumbo and it is wonderful.  The only thing I have done different is that I didn't have head-on shrimp so I had to make adjustments.  I found some shrimp with their heads, among other things, at the market and thought it would be easy to do.

Let me say that the resultant broth and gumbo were wonderful.  Let me say that it was also easy to do.  My only warning is that it is nasty... Alton doesn't mention this.

I made Jett pull of the heads while I held the shrimp...  I hope I haven't scarred him for life....

Shrimp heads and other various parts....

You might think that one of my favorite places was some beautiful, rustic place full of scenery or the people I loved.

It might be, but today I went to another of the places I love....  The Dekalb Farmers Market....

This isn't really a true farmers market, but is more of a ginourmous (Jett's new word) international market that just dares you to not find what you are looking for.

I'm talking every running, creeping, swimming or hopping thing you can think of... any fruit or veggie, any grain.... They've got it, and usually in it's natural, organic form on top of it all.  My advice is to always go with a list, and allow yourself only 1 or 2 things outside of that list... otherwise you get way too much!

Another reason I love this place is because I walk in and realize that I am only a very small part of this world.  It reminds me that there are lost people not only around the world who have never heard of Jesus, but many also, within a one hour drive.   It just puts alot of them together in one place....

So why did I haul 1 hour down the road today?  For peaches, of course.  I've had the sudden desire to make peach jam using my new pectin...  I've made a couple of jars already, and am hopelessly addicted at this point.  One of my best childhood memories is of peach jam... it's my favorite!

I've also started a cleanse today as things aren't the way they should be at this time....

More on both the cleanse and pectin to follow....

We started some small raised beds in our backyard where I have a couple of plants growing and doing well...  Among these are some basil plants. 

They were getting a bit 'leggy' so I cut them back a bit to encourage a bit fuller growth and to prevent early flowering, and was trying to figure out what to do with the basil I had.

I looked online to find out how to make a basil oil, but most of the things I found were for more of a basil puree', with the basil blended with the oil.  This would last a couple of days at best.

I decided to try something different.  I wasn't looking for a garnish, but more of an ingredient.  I ended up making a basil infused oil, that so far seems to be pretty good.

To do this I used a cold process with the oil over a 2 week period.  I decided to use a cold process and not hot as basil, in my opinion, seems to be very aromatic, and I felt that a hot processing of the oil might diminish some of the volatility of this substance.

I put the fresh, washed basil into a quart glass jar after cutting it into smaller pieces with my ulu, and covered it with extra virgin olive oil.  After covering it tightly with the lid, I shook the jar.  I continued to shake it several times a day for the next 2 weeks, allowing it to sit in a warm, semi-sunny place.

After 2 weeks I strained out the basil leaves and was left with an oil that I returned to a bottle to use as needed that smells deliciously of basil.

For decorative purposes you could probably add some more basil leaves into the jar.  I didn't do this, but it shouldn't be a big deal either way.  My thinking is that if the oil is strained and free of the herb it will increase the length of time that it will last as I haven't added any preservatives to it.  The herbs being left in it have the potential to make it go bad sooner...  By going bad I'm thinking rancid or cloudy.

The first recipe I used it in was to saute' some onions for a tomato basil soup....  If nothing else, the smell was amazing, and the taste was subtle, but nice...