Brown Table

Kylee: (As we drove through our old neighborhood) I loved our old house. It was so much fun.

Me: Yeah? What was fun about it?

Kylee: I loved that brown table.

Me: The brown coffee table in the family room?

Kylee: Yeah. I miss that table.

Haha, love her.

My New Love

Over the last few months I have fallen in love... with canning! I don't know what it is, but there is something so rewarding about seeing beautifully filled canning jars. I think it's a combination of seeing the fruits of my labor and knowing that my family will have good, home canned food to eat throughout the winter.

My mom canned when I was growing up, but it was never really something that interested me. It wasn't until several years ago when I walked into my friend Sunny's pantry and saw all of her shelves filled with jars of food she had canned that I really became interested. But even then, not only did I not have the proper equipment, I just didn't have the time. I was either working or working out or playing... something was always going on. Well, last year my parents gave me a water bath canner and some jars for my birthday, and this year, finally, I was able to start canning. Let me tell you, it can be a LOT of work, but for me it is so worth it.

Here's a little recap of my canning journeys over the last couple months!

• Plum jam! I already blogged about making plum jam, but what I didn't say is that we went back and picked a second round of plums, and my mom came over on a Saturday morning where we worked together to make a TON more plum jam. I think it is quite delicious. Spoiler: I have my friend/family/neighbor Christmas gifts all ready to go!

• Pears. Again, my mom knew someone with a pear tree. The lady who owns the tree is elderly and the missionaries picked all the pears for her. There were more than she could use, so I was the lucky beneficiary. My mom had talked about what a pain canning pears can be because unlike peaches, you have to actually peel the pears (vs blanching them and having the skins fall off). Well, I did a little research and found that you can actually blanch them and rub the skins right off. I followed these instructions from the Utah State University Extension Office and it worked great! Also, the tip they gave to use a 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon to remove the core was perfect. I ended up with beautiful jars of white pears. Yes, I pretty much think all my canning is beautiful!

• Salsa. We love salsa in my house, and I especially love home canned salsa. I really like my mom's salsa recipe. It is sweet and thick and super tasty... but it doesn't have any kick to it. That's probably because my mom and sister can't handle any spice. Well, Matt and I happen to LOVE spice, so I experimented with a few different salsa recipes. I ended up making two smaller batches and one larger batch of salsa. My last and largest batch was definitely my favorite. I tweaked a recipe I got from a friend and wanted to record it here so I can refer back to it! This recipe makes a ton of salsa, so can be adjusted down to make less! Also, the best part is that I used all tomatoes from my garden, my parents' garden and my bountiful basket. I also used jalepenos from my garden and onions and peppers from my bountiful basket :-) PS - you'll notice the two pans in the picture below... I put a stock pot on my Christmas wish list!

2 29 oz. tomato sauce

2 12 oz. tomato paste

3 cups vinegar

2 1/2 Tbsp crushed garlic

5 cups sugar

5 Tbsp cumin

4 Tbsp pepper

2 Tbsp Accent (optional)

3/4 cup salt

2 1/2 Tbsp oregano

Mix above ingredients in pan, then add fresh ingredients.

Bushel of tomatoes (40 cups) - tomatoes should be peeled and chopped

15 onions

18 bell peppers (10 green, 4 red, 4 yellow)

16 jalepenos (leave seeds in 4)

6 anaheim peppers

4 serrano peppers

8 banana peppers

1/2 bunch fresh parsley

3/4 cup cilantro

Bring to a boil, simmer 1-3 hours, stirring occasionally. Hot water bath 15-20 minutes. Should get 18-20 quarts.

Note - The original recipe also called for the following ingredients, but I my local Fred Meyer didn't have them, so I made the recipe as shown above. I would definitely add the other peppers next time if I had them: 2 Tbsp DeVorks seasoning, 3 Thai peppers, 4 Caribbean peppers, 2 cayenne peppers.

• Sweet and Sour Sauce.  I had leftover tomatoes and peppers after making my salsa, so I decided to try making sweet and sour sauce. I used this recipe and ordered ClearJel online through Amazon. I tried the sauce with some chicken a couple weeks ago and it is amazing.
• Blackberries. I already blogged about canning blackberries. I used this website for instructions on how to can them. It's funny that in all of my canning, the blackberries were the only thing I actually paid for!

• Peaches. My friend Jen invited us to pick peaches with them. Her in-laws have peach trees on their property in Adrian, Oregon, so my family enjoyed a Sunday afternoon in Adrian picking fruit. Unfortunately for me, the skin would NOT come off the peaches! I tried blanching them three different times... anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. No luck. Not only that, but it turned out the peaches weren't freestone peaches, meaning the pit was stuck in the middle of the peach and didn't come out easily. I wasn't sure what to do. My mom and Matt both suggested giving peaches to neighbors. I couldn't part with those peaches, though, so I buckled down and, using a paring knife, peeled all those peaches and cut the pit out. It was SO MUCH WORK, but it was worth it to me! Look at my pretty peach "pieces"!

• Applesauce. Jen's family also had apples that we picked, and BJ and my grandma were nice enough to join me for a morning of making applesauce. I thought we were going to be wearing our hands out peeling those apples, but turns out my mom let me borrow her victorio strainer and we didn't need to peel OR core the apples! All we did was wash them, quarter them, cook them down on the stove, and then run them through the strainer. Easy peasy. Especially since I had so much help! I used this website for reference. A few days later I tried making this vanilla bean applesauce in a crockpot. It was pretty good but was so sweet and rich, and vanilla beans are expensive! I think I'll just stick to plain old applesauce going forward.

• Apple pie filling.  I only used about 2/3 of the apples we picked for the applesauce because I wanted to try my hand at making apple pie filling. I was excited to try this recipe because not only does Matt love apple pie, but I would be able to use some of the ClearJel that I bought to make my sweet and sour sauce. I spent all afternoon yesterday peeling those apples, but oh my... this pie filling is delicious! I can't wait to make apple treats all winter long!

• Apple syrup. Did you know that apples have a natural pectin in them? I learned that when I was researching canning apple jelly. I found it fascinating that you can use just the scraps (peels and cores) of the apples to make jelly - just add sugar and water! Anyway, I tried it out last night with the scraps from my apple pie filling. I couldn't get the jelly to gel... maybe I used too much water? Not sure. Or maybe I should have followed a different recipe and added some boxed pectin? Think I might try this next time. Anyway, after boiling the darn stuff for a couple hours, I decided I was content with apple syrup. Not sure what I'll do with it yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something!

• Pear sauce. Jen's family in Adrian had some friends with a pear tree... so we picked pears! Since I had already canned pears, and since we had such good luck with using the victorio strainer for the applesauce, I decided to try my luck at pear sauce. I think the pears we used were the d'anjou pears, so the skin was quite brown... which meant I ended up with brown pear sauce! I think next time I'll take that extra step to peel the pears. The other thing is I accidentally cooked the pear sauce a little too long (I let it sit on the stove while I was in a meeting), so the bottom of the pan got a little burned. The good thing is the burned flavor isn't too strong, and Kylee loves it, so I guess that's what matters! Anyway, next time I will definitely change things up a bit.
• Grape juice. My grandma has been canning grape juice for 30 years now, so I know just how tasty fresh grape juice can be. I have memories of spending Sunday evenings at Grandma and Grandpa's house, eating popcorn, drinking grape juice, and building forts out or couch cushions. Anyway, once again, Jen knew someone who had extra grapes, so Kylee and I joined them a couple weeks ago to pick grapes! I borrowed my grandma's steamer and made 7 quarts of delicious juice. It was super easy - just clean the grapes (no need to remove the stems or seeds), put them in the steamer with water, and heat! I'm excited because Jen's friends said we could go pick more grapes. I'm hoping we can make that happen so I don't have to ration my juice as much :-)

And that's it! For now at least :-) Who knows, maybe I'll try out pressure canning this winter. Or maybe I'll try out cranberry sauce. Guess we'll see!

Dear Tyler - [11 Months]

Dear Tyler,

Can I just tell you how much I love you? Your little personality has really started to show through more this last month. You are cuddly and curious and sweet and stubborn all at the same time.

You still love being outside, but now that you can crawl, you have some new favorite outdoor activities. You really enjoy playing with the rocks. You can spend forever picking them up and throwing them back down. Every once in a while you try to sneak a rock in your mouth. I keep telling you that's "yucky" but you don't seem to believe me.

You also think playing at the park is pretty cool, particularly crawling around on the play equipment and going down slides!

Bath time has changed pretty significantly this past month. You've always loved taking baths, but think baths are even cooler now that you can splash, crawl around, and play with bath toys. You kick and splash so much that I've decided I should start wearing a swimming suit when I bathe you! You get me soaked!

You are already quite good at making messes and will "empty" any kind of basket, bin, etc. that you can get your hands on. Uh oh. I think I'll have my hands full with you in the coming years. I think I'll just have to teach you how to clean up really early on!

You think that a bib is an unnecessary accessory and pull it off after only a few bites of lunch or dinner. This month you tried some new foods, including yogurt and custard, both of which you love. You've also started eating the cereal puffs, but only sometimes. We tried a couple other foods this month that had some "chunks" in them, and that just makes you gag. We'll keep trying, though, because you'll need to start eating more than smooth food soon enough! Speaking of which, you got your first tooth this last week! And let me tell you, it is sharp. But I think you already know that as you like to rub your tongue across it :-)

You think the word "no" is hilarious. You either don't know what "no" means yet, or you choose to ignore me, I'm not sure which! That reminds me, I need to find the outlet protectors, because you are getting quite curious about them. I think I'll make that my afternoon project!

One more month until you are one year old. I can hardly believe it!

Love,
Mom

Broken System

I try to refrain from doing too much complaining on this blog, but I am really frustrated with something in particular. Child support. Now I know that some people really need and rely on child support, and I'm not knocking that. I also think child support is necessary and more fair when one biological parent has majority custody. I just think that the system is broken. Here's a little back story:

When Matt and Kylee's mom were divorced, their pay was quite similar, and since there is a 50/50 custody split, there was no child support owed. Fast forward several years - Kylee's mom decided to open a case with Health and Welfare to have child support recalculated (I keep trying to tell myself that this has nothing to do with the fact that we won the educational custody case earlier this year, but I am positive that was a contributing factor... especially since she told us she would delay opening the case if we let Kylee attend kindergarten at the school near her house).

Needless to say, we were less than thrilled when she told us she was requesting the recalculation. If she truly needed the money to support Kylee, that would be one thing. But the truth is that Kylee's mom and stepdad make more than double our household income. What's the problem, you might ask? Well, child support is only calculated on the biological parent's income. That means that Kylee's stepdad's income doesn't count in the calculation, even though he is the primary breadwinner in their household (Kylee's mom is a school teacher). So here we are, basically a one income household, and we are being ordered to pay Kylee's mom monthly child support. $250 a month in child support to be exact. We are fighting the dollar amount because we don't believe the salary for Kylee's mom included in the calculation was correct, but we will still owe a substantial amount of money each month (I'm thinking it will end up being between $175-$200 per month). At least that is substantial for our family... We already make sacrifices so I can stay home, so trying to find that extra couple hundred dollars a month won't be easy (although we'll make it work!).

What's even more frustrating, though, is hearing how often Kylee's mom and dad go out, hearing about how almost every week Kylee's mom takes the entire family to the movies or the aquarium or Big Al's or somewhere else that isn't cheap, hearing about how their nanny does all the laundry and helps with the cleaning and cooking, hearing about how Kylee's mom is taking the entire family (plus the nanny) to Florida over Christmas and how the plane tickets alone are over $6,000, etc.... Meanwhile, I'm cloth diapering, canning as much free fruit as I can, buying birthday and Christmas presents at garage sales, etc. But we are being ordered to pay child support. I'd say that's one broken system.

Harvest Time!

Matt's grandparents in Inkom have a large garden and an orchard with probably about 40 trees. There are all different kinds of trees, but most of them are apple trees. This last weekend we joined up with Matt's extended family to pick apples and make apple cider. The cider is sweet and oh so delicious. We got to take some home and I'm trying to figure out the best way to make it last as long as possible. I'm considering either freezing some or water bath canning some so we can enjoy it longer than this week!

Of course we had to eat some of the apples we picked! Tyler's first tooth popped through this weekend, and he loved gumming on his apple. We also had an apple tasting with 14 of the varieties of apples found in the orchard. The favorite apple was Honeygold (different from Honeycrisp). Matt and I are planning on planting fruit trees in the spring, and will plant a Honeygold if we decide to plant an apple tree! Apple pie bites and a caramel apple bar were also part of the weekend festivities :-)

One of Kylee's favorite activities was playing with the leaves. I took the first picture of her below, then she requested I take another and did this silly pose. What a silly girl!

Tractor rides were another favorite. I think Matt makes a handsome farmer :-)

Overall it was a busy, fun, yummy weekend and it went by too quickly. Matt is already planning a trip back next week to try his hand at hunting. Fingers crossed he gets a deer!

Zoo Boise Spooktacular

My friend and co-worker Ashlee sent me an invitation last week for a free entrance to the "preview night" of the Zoo Boise Spooktacular - a non-spooky, interactive fall/Halloween adventure at the zoo. Matt was working and Kylee was at her mom's, so I invited Mandi and her family to join me and Tyler.

The zoo had some great decorations.

The activities were well planned and well executed. The kiddos made paper bag jellyfish ghosts, got to touch a snake and hold a cockroach, and got their faces painted. We saw monkeys and bats and the zebras, had a glow dance party, and watched a professional pumpkin carver. It was such a fun evening! 

Gallery Wall

We have officially lived in our home for a year and a half and I am finally getting stuff on the walls! It has taken me a while to decide what I wanted to do, because I decided early on that I wanted my decor to be meaningful. After looking at tons of pictures to get ideas, I decided I wanted to do a gallery wall in my dining room. I identified some key pieces that I wanted to use and drew out layout ideas on graph paper (to scale). Once I had figured out what I wanted for the most part, I traced each object on butcher paper and taped it to the wall so I could see how the finished wall would look before I started hanging everything. After a little tweaking, I decided I was satisfied and went to work! I LOVE the finished product. I couldn't be happier with how it all turned out. Here's a little detail of the objects on my wall (in addition to family pictures!).

1.  Idaho Pallet Map. I love Idaho. It is where I grew up, where Matt and I met, and where we have chosen to raise our family. BJ picked up a free pallet for me, Matt pulled the boards off the pallet, then BJ trimmed them down for me. After a light sanding, I stained the pallets with some stain I had on hand and mod podged on a map of Idaho that Matt's dad printed for me. I am in love with this.

2.  Hudson Street Sign. My friend and former boss Kris sent me this picture. I thought it was a perfect addition :-) 

3. Family Theme. I had read online of people having an annual family theme - something for the family to focus on for the year. I loved the idea, and as decided our theme for the year would be "Let us oft speak kind words to each other." We thought this theme was especially appropriate with Kylee starting school and knowing how kids can say unkind things sometimes. The plan is to incorporate the theme into Family Home Evening each week and work into conversations at other times throughout the week. 

4. The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Because family is so important. 

 5.  Wooden decor from Honduras.  Matt served his mission in Honduras and brought this home.

6.  Artwork Display. I wanted somewhere to display Kylee's artwork/schoolwork. I knew I wanted something that would be easy to swap out the pictures, so I came up with this idea - I bought a cute frame from Hobby Lobby, added some vinyl lettering to the bottom, and hot glued a clip to the top of the frame. Voila!

 7.  Ship Wheel from the Bahamas. A little momento from our honeymoon cruise to the Bahamas.

8. Monogram Picture Collage. I knew I wanted an "H" on the wall for our last name, but wasn't exactly sure how I planned to decorate it. I showed Kylee several ideas from the internet, and this is the one she picked! My mom's friend cut the H out of MDF for me, and then I just printed out pictures on the computer and mod podged them on. Another thing that I am in love with!

9. Landscape Canvas. Matt and his dad go on a backpacking trip every year. They love it, and it is a fun way for them to spend quality time together. Matt snapped this picture on his backpacking trip this summer, and we both loved it. I just mod podged it on to an extra canvas I had sitting around.