"When the Bees Come Down!"

No.

It's NOT the Tin Man! To ad to our chickens,

we have also aquired BEEs!
3 QUEENS

3 Hives

Lots of Honey to come.

Bok Bok Ba-Gok!

Isn't my husbands handy work SO adorable!! The boys helped paint. Move-in day! They are stoked to be outside!

New Addition (s)

We are on our way! The Dad took the boys over to pick out chickens yesterday, 6 to be exact! The kids have 2 each and they have named them:

Mar's are Dallas and Denver

ManZ's are Mack and Justy

J's are Jump and Jackson

Oh, and wait till you see the coop!

My husband is amazing . . .I think I've said THAT before!

Teacher Appreciation

I know the clearance price tag

SAYS

that these were

$1.25 and $2.50 BUT Oh!!

NO!!!

They were in fact only $.15 each. I snatched them up and the only thing I can think to do with it is make a padded bulletin/message board for the teachers. I would use the thumb tacks to secure the ribbons at each crossing and then mount the binder clips around the edges and randomly about? Do you have any greater ideas for these MANY thumb tacks and binder clips?

Exploring a Hobbie

I have no hobbies.

I know, it's hard to believe, but really. It's true.

Well, I guess it isn't true - Food is a hobbie of mine; cooking, eating, creating, spending way too much time there, just like a hobbie, right?

AND I do write. No I don't go to writing classes and seminars on becoming a writer, but I have always been a good writer.

So other than FOOD and writing, I have no hobbie.

HMMMM. What's the difference between a hobbie and a talent?

Anyway; Some people read, some sew, some quilt, some garden.

I can do all of those things and many more things but I don't LOVE doing it nor look forward to accomplishing projects in the name of "relaxing time away productively" in other words - Hobbie.

I blame my mother.

haha!

I blame my upbringing.

I was not taught to do things. We were not encouraged to try things. We couldn't afford to try things. We just had to deal with what we had and do what we could without structure or teaching or tools.

I didn't do little league, we didn't take classes, we didn't do things in our spare time. I did do piano for less than a year.

I never thought it would matter, that I didn't have hobbies.

It never does matter until I am a stay at home mom.

My life has been busy with work. If I had spare time, it was spent sitting, thinking, watching tv, sleeping, EATING, chatting,etc (as if there were more to it, but there really isn't.). And if I was bored I got a job, because, ahgmgm [clearing my throat] money solves ALL dilemmas.

In fact, I can also blame my hobbilessness on money as well.

Hobbies are very costly.

I can't really think of a free hobbie . . . okay, weeding a garden is free, but who enjoys just weeding the garden beds? The joy of that hobbie comes in the planting flowers and beautifying . . .plants and seeds cost money.

When I decide I would like to try something, you can bet the one thing that discourages me and changes my mind first is THE COST.

Now that I am a SAHM I want to be home with my children and for my children but there is at times, time to be filled.

So thus it is, the sneak peek at my trial hobbie

So far I have spent $15 on the beginning, and yet . . .I have only just after 3 days of working on it, figured out how to make it work. I haven't even started purchasing the supplies - and it will far exceed $15.00.

I have no books, I have no patterns, and not a whole lot of money to spend on it (but my family may starve for a while, I'll deal with it when that time comes). Just my creative mind, Minimal tools, My Husbands creative mind (which many times exceeds my own), and my husbands mathematical, practical, and artistic GENIUS ingenuity. he really is brilliant.

Tune in next time!

Canning Ground Beef

A few years back I came home to find the freezer door had been left open for several hours after my children had helped themselves to ice cream sandwiches. It forced me to can meat, just in case my children ever left the door open again! I learned that I could always be just a little more prepared. So every General Conference Saturday, Kent's Market has a big sale. They mark down their 93/7 ground beef and chicken breasts to unreasonable prices.

When I had first heard of it years ago, you could get the burger $.99/lb!

SO, now on the Fall General Conference, I buy 50 lbs to freeze.

At Spring General Conference, I can a few pounds for the shelf!

I've read various Do's and Don'ts of home canning meats, there are varying opinions that I respect.

This is just how I do it based on my own research.

You may have other techniques that work for you. To can meat, it really should be the best quality meat, with low fat content.

When I can chicken and pork, I raw pack.

For ground beef, I cook it until the pink is gone.

Pack it into jars. Fill it full, then press it down. Fill it to the top and pack it in as firm as you can. Each jar holds barely under 1 lb of browned ground beef. Some jars end up with more "juices"

Just top off with broth OR I just use water. Leave your head room.

Load the pressure canner!

Meat HAS TO be pressure canned!

Process according to your altitude.

Pressure canning takes a bit of time

(60 minutes to heat up, 90 minutes to process, 60 minutes to depressurize)

so It's a great thing to do while I listen to General Conference on Saturday.

As you can see, in the end, some end up with more fat than others. What I like about canning meat is that you can have nearly fat-less meat. Much of the fat seeps out of the jars and is left in the processing pan, and what is left in the jar coagulates enough so that if I want to, I can scoop off the fat before using it!

Recipes for canned meat to come!

Signs of Spring

The first signs of greenery! Yesterday was such a beautiful day! 66 degrees!

The Proof is in The Pudding -er, Icecream!

This is evidence.

I actually fed my children ice cream for dinner tonight!

Rotating Food Storage Wheat

My Aunt is from Mexico and she makes the most delicious things! This is not her recipe, it's one her daughter made, but she just got it out of a food storage cook book. BUT this salad tastes just as much like my aunt made it as anything I have ever had! Bonus: it's a good way to rotate your wheat storage!

Basic Cooked Wheat Berries

(This basic recipe is good too, if you just ad some sugar and milk to make it 'oatmeal-ish" too!)

4 cups raw whole wheat

10 cups water

1 Tbs salt Oil

In a large Crock Pot (4 quart or larger) and fill with wheat, water, and salt. Cover and cook on low all night, 8-10 hours. Cooked wheat may be bagged and stored in the freezer for months

Fiesta Wheat and Bean Salad

1 green pepper, diced (Small/bean size)

1 orange or red pepper, diced (Small/bear size)

1 bunch of fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

1 small jalapeno pepper cored and diced(if you like it hot, don't seed or core)

Juice of one lime

3 cups cooked wheat berries

1 can corn, drained (16 oz/ or frozen corn)

1 can black beans, drained (15 oz/or Black eyed peas)

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp cumin powder

1/4 cup cider vinegar (I like to use red wine vinegar)

1 Tbs sugar 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 tsp salt Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Toss well.

Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

If you like it with more spice,

(and breath to boot!)

Add some chopped white onion or crushed garlic cloves!

You could also ad chopped tomato and diced avocado!

Dinosaur Cake

Sugar Free Me - 6 months now!

Here's what I have learned about being "sugar free" for the past 6 months:

1. Some days are easier than others.

2. Most days are still VERY difficult.

3. Most days are very difficult even though the sugar should technically be processed out of my system (according to what articles say).

4. I am a hard-core addict to sugar and chocolate - I knew this before I gave it up.

5. By giving up precessed sugars and chocolate I gave up around 1,500 calories PER DAY.

6. I thought I would lose weight by giving up so much sugar - but I have only lost about 10 pounds.

7. I reached the 10 pound mark by Christmas and have not lost weight in the past 2 months.

8. In all those tips you read about giving up sugar, they say that you should start small, by giving up a small designated goal then work up to the next level.

9. I quit COLD TURKEY.

10. For me, cold turkey is the ONLY way to go.

11. I have minimal self control and by allowing myself just one piece per day (as suggested) end up in complete failure.

12. When it comes to sugar and chocolate, there is no satisfaction in eating and having some.

13. When it comes to me and sugar/chocolate the satisfaction comes in FINISHING the pan.

14. Honestly, it takes nothing out of me to eat an entire pan of brownies, or an entire carton of ice cream BY MY SELF. I did it all.the.time.

15. By giving up sugars, I also have increased my FRESH vegetable and fruit intake.

16. I have also increased me sleep- I go to bed earlier and wake up earlier, instead staying up till 1+ in the morning.

17. I also, on the same day I gave up sugar, started going to bed earlier and started taking a multivitamin.

18. With all of these changes I thought I would be less tired/groggy.

19. I feel just as tired and groggy 2/3 of the days.

20. I am a little less grumpy .

21. But really, just a little less grumpy!

22. I gave up ice cream too.

23. Ice cream has less sugar than yogurt. 2

4. Really, Ice cream has less sugar than yogurt (and jello)!

25. But yogurt has less fat than ice cream. 26. In giving up sugars I did not pay much attention t

o giving up FATS.

27. But I still didn't eat ice cream.

28. At times I would eat a treat if it was SUGAR FREE.

29. I usually only did this on extremely desperate days.

30. The calories in sugar free treats are really only about 1/4-1/3 less than a regular sugar treat.

31. I didn't lean toward sugar free things as a substitute because it isn't just giving up the sugar habit that I needed.

32. Beside a sugar habit, I need to give up my binging, eating empty calories, and pure 100% GLUTTON.

33. By giving up sugars I thought it would change me - but I didn't fully realize the life change that was necessary.

34. I find myself BORED a lot now.

35. I used to fill my time with baking and eating junk.

36. If I was bored, I would bake and eat it, if I was waiting I would eat, etc.

37. Now, since I don't eat it I don't even want to make it.

38. I used to LIVE in the kitchen. I filled my time baking and cooking.

39. By staying out of the kitchen, I find that I don't have many hobbies!!

40. By eating more fruits and vegetables I found that I use food storage much less than before.

41. My hobbies used to be cooking, baking, food storage, and bargain shopping for food.

42. Just by giving up eating sugar, the hobbies in #41 are now a distraction, a temptation, and obsolete most times.

43. Some days are more difficult than others.

44. I have given myself a break once in a while.

45. One day over Christmas break I allowed myself to eat anything I wanted. On Thanksgiving I had 2 pieces of pie.

46. I ate a lot that day on Christmas break.

47. When I do allow myself a break, I find that after tasting the goodie, it ends up being a sort of disappointment.

48. My tastes have definitely changed. The things I used to eat are not as good as they used to be.

49. I have a geographical tongue.

50. My tongues used to act up A LOT and be cankery painful very often.

51. When I was eating sugar, I never ate fruit.

52. Fruit has always been VERY sour on my tongue and I don't enjoy it.

53. Giving up sugar has changed my tongue reactions.

54. I can eat fruit now. It actually tastes good, isn't sour, and doesn't bother my tongue (as much).

55. Fruit isn't sour and it isn't even summer when fruits are sweet! This has all happened over mostly winter months where fruit is not at it's most desirable state!

56. I have not focused on lowering my FAT intake, but I certainly haven't over compensated by eating foods higher in fat, Or more fatty foods.

57. Now that I am sugar free I am amazed at how much sugar is in EVERYTHING we eat and buy!

58. After giving it up and seeing such minimal changes within myself, I struggle to believe that excessive sugar can be bad for everyone.

59. Yes, I have seen people with big problems due to sugar but it seems to NOT be a problem with majorities of people IN MY CIRCLE OF ACQUAINTANCES.

60. Some days I give in and eat something like a cookie or a chocolate.

61. I don't beat my self up over it. I just pick myself up and start from that moment to do my best.

62. I used to get heart burn at nights.

63. I haven't had heart burn for a while.

64. I used to eat my ice cream at night once the kids were in bed.

65. No sugar=no eating at nights.

66. No eating at night=no heart burn, being hungry in the morning, and having an appetite.

67. Since I gave up sugar I have not had much of an appetite.

68. I've struggled to feed my family and can't think of dinner ideas.

69. The last week of January I started getting an appetite again and can cook for my family.

70. Not sure why #69, but hopefully I don't loose my appetite again.

71. Sugar free chocolate is a waste of time and nearly insulting!!!!

72. Sugar free chocolate is not rich and delicious, it has a cooling flavor, like menthol - but very mild, and really does not even taste like chocolate.

73. I don't do artificial sweeteners.

74. I have always hated the taste of artificial sweeteners, it's like ear wax on my tongue or dandelions.

75. When I eat something with sugar substitutes I only taste the sugar substitute. A mouth full of saccharine - nothing else.

76. I have made a few things sweetened with Honey (Honey is not precessed).

77. When I sweeten with honey . . . it tastes like honey! So I don't do it very often!

78. Eating more FRESH fruits and veggies has steered us away from our food storage.

79. Eating this way has put a serious cramp in our grocery budget. SPEN-SIVE!

Less Sugar Tarts

Less Sugar Valentines Day Fruit Tarts Sugar Cookie Dough

(Press out a VERY thin amount in the bottom of cupcake papers)

Bake as per cookie directions.

An even less sugar option would be graham cracker crumbs.

Cream Together:

8 oz Cream Cheese (room Temp)

and

8 oz Whipped Topping

Pipe or spoon cream cheese mixture on to baked cookie tarts.

Top with desired Fruits

Breakfast of Champions

This is why I was so excited to get my Christmas present.

I like having fruit smoothies for breakfast, but our old blender was very cheap and not very durable.

HONESTLY - I don't really enjoy eating fruit . . . I have a geographical tongue that makes thinks overly sour at times. I love vegetables, especially cooked with butter and salt but I struggle to get my 5 a day and It is very tricky to get 24g of fiber per day.

But not any more!

(she said in her infomercial tone of voice!) Here's what I put in my smoothie for breakfast about 5 days of the week:

Ingred ----------------------------Calories -------------g's of Fiber

8 oz Milk------------------------------130 -------------------0

8 oz water or 2 c ice--------------- 0--------------------- 0

1 Banana---------------------------- 100 ------------------- 3

2tsp Metemucil -------------------- 40-------------------- 6

1/2c Spinach leaves------------------0--------------------1

8 peach slices (frzn) --------------- 35 ----------------- 2.5

4 Strawberries (frzn) ----------------8--------------------- 1

1tsp frozen OJ concentr-----------50---------------------0

4 small prunes------------------------50------------------1.5

2T flax Meal --------------------------60---------------------3

3 Baby Carrots -----------------------7 ---------------------1

19 Grams of Fiber!!!

4 of my 5-a-day!!!

480 calories

That's why I love my blendtec.

It puree's anything and everything!

Yes the fruit smoothie is high in calories, but that's because it makes 32oz ! I wonder how many weight watcher points this would be? Probably a lot!

Halloween 2010

Captain Hook, Wendy, Peter Pan, John, and Michael.

yes. I did make those costumes . . . except for the pink michael jammies and Hubby MADE HIS OWN HAT.

And now you know what I would look like if I were to put on 100 pounds!

My Story

I am what I eat.

You’ve heard that before, but never before has it been so real to me. On the first day of school in 2010 I decided to change my life in a very dramatic way.

I was raised with food being the center of all. I think I realized it when I was first married. I was at work and having a bad day, my dad happened to come in to say “hi.” He and my mom were on their way to their Friday night dinner date, that week being across the street from my work. After they had eaten, they returned with food for me, “to help me with my bad day!” Food had nothing to do with my frustrations of the day, but it had everything to do with healing my frustrations.

On stressful days, I put the kids down to bed and I bust out the ice cream. On good days, I put the kids to bed and bust out the ice cream! When I am bored, I bake something. When I am feeling creative, I bake something! TO reach out and tell someone I love them, or was thinking of them, I make food for them! My greatest accomplishment of the day: the magical, creation of dinner.

Some people sew for a hobby, I can sew, but it’s not my greatest passion. Some people run, I don’t! Some people are crafty, I can do crafty things but once again, it’s not something I thrive for. I consider FOOD as my hobby. I shop for good deals, I create meals from scratch, and I bake amazing things and conjure up delicious flavors for dinner – just for the sake of tasting. I love food storage and creating from the shelf! Food is my hobby and my all!

When I am feeling anything, food is the comfort and the celebration of all things: I am what I eat.
I took my husband to Chicago, where I had lived for a couple of years; he wanted to see the sights of Chicago. Me? I wanted to eat and show him the foods of Chicago! It’s what my memories were based on. When we go places, it’s about the food! We go to the state fair and I top off the occasion with some certain “fair food” as a token memento. My husband says he wants to do something “different” or “special” for an occasion, to me that means RESTARAUNT! It’s all about the food.

It all changed in a way I never expected on the first day of school 2010. I decided that with my daily intake of sugar-based foods being near 2000 calories, I was addicted to sugar. I have no problem finishing a pan of brownies, cinnamon rolls, or a cake in only a few hours. I walk into the kitchen for lunch, and can’t decide what to eat so I “just have a brownie while I decide.” I can’t think of anything to eat for lunch, so I return in a half hour, perhaps then I something will sound good. I return in 30 minutes and while I think of something to make for lunch, I eat yet another brownie . . .or two. And then as the hours go on, I have eaten all of the brownies and have not decided what to eat for lunch, so I force myself to eat something “healthier” raising my calorie intake up and up for the reason of “balancing all of that sugar!”

SO, I recognized my addiction and I set out to overcome it. I thought it was simple, “just don’t eat sugar,” right? But I realized that by giving up sugar I have created an empty chasm in my life. I gave up my ONLY hobby: food.

With this void to fill, I find myself frustrated daily, bored daily, and struggling to fill the void with something of worth.

It may sound ridiculous to you, but to me, it is a true problem. I am as much of a recovering addict as anyone was an alcoholic or anorexic. This is my journey, this is my story.

Construction Birthday

"Tractor" cake. You can't tell very well from the photos but there is a gaping hole in the cake. It was fun!