2016 Gardening Recap

As the last few raspberries on our plants are ripening this week (yes, it's November and we are still getting berries from our plants!), I reflect back on what a fun time I had gardening this year. It was so enjoyable and rewarding and I just loved it. One of my favorite things was going out to the garden each morning to check on it - see what was growing, what was ripening, and on the days we were lucky, what was going to be our morning snack. The kids loved it, too. I think Tyler ate 90% of our snap peas, and Bradley couldn't shove the raspberries in his mouth fast enough. Kylee's favorite was the sweet, juicy cantaloupe.

I am thrilled with how well our garden did overall, but I definitely have things I will change next year... like our tomato and pepper plants didn't do that great this year. When it seems like everyone else had these big beautiful plants, mine were wimpy. Needless to say, I am going to spend some time this winter researching to see how to get the best production out of my garden next year. I will be making my garden plan early! I've also decided that I think I'd like to be a Master Gardener. Gardening truly brought me joy this year, and I'd love to have more knowledge and continue to "grow and cultivate" this new passion of mine. I am thinking of starting the program next fall!

On a related note, I was also able to get some canning in this year! I seriously love walking into my pantry and seeing the shelves lined with beautiful home-canned jars. I canned peaches, pears, applesauce, apple butter, apple pie filling, two different kinds of grape juice, tomatoes, and salsa. Hopefully my jars will hold me over until we have fresh produce from our garden once again :-)

Garden Update

I am LOVING our garden this year. I have always loved having a garden, but it just seems to get better and better. This year we added two new garden beds (taking our total to 5), plus we added a row of raspberries and a half whiskey barrel up by the house (I hope to add a couple more of these next year). I just love love love looking out and seeing all our beautiful produce. And what's even better is when we get to eat what we have grown! So far this year we have enjoyed strawberries, peas, lettuce, cilantro, tomatoes, raspberries, basil, and jalepeno peppers. We also got a few peaches off our peach tree that were delicious!

Here's to hoping for a bounteous harvest as we continue through the summer and move into fall!

Freezer Meal Group

For months I have been wanting to start a freezer meal group, and I am beyond excited that I finally bit the bullet and put one together! There are four of us in the group (me, Jen, Jaclyn, and Sally) and we all have small families (3-4 people). Each month (starting in November) we quadruple two different recipes, and then on a designated day each month, we swap meals. That means each month I end up with 8 different freezer meals. I know it sounds silly, but I get almost giddy looking in my freezer and seeing all those beautifully prepared meals :-) And it's fun to try different recipes! Here are some of the meals we've had so far:

• Chili
• Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole
• Saucy Pork Chops
• Minestrone Soup
• Beef Stroganoff
• Chicken Tacos
• Pot Roast
• Baked Rigatoni
• Funeral Potatoes and Ham
• Chicken Soup
• White Chicken Chili
• Cilantro Lime Chicken
• Loaded Baked Potato Soup
• Chicken Alfredo

Hooray for easy dinners!

A Law Abiding Halloween!

Halloween this year was pretty awesome. Especially when compared to last year. Last year I was pregnant and not feeling well, Matt worked, and we didn't have Kylee. And we ran out of candy super early. This year, we made up for it and celebrated Halloween the entire month of October!

I already blogged about the Zoo Boise Spooktacular which was the first Halloween event of the season. Next on the agenda was a "grandkids" Halloween party put on by my parents. There was a pinata and Halloween bingo and lots of deliciously themed food. Nice work mom (and dad)! I'm hoping this becomes an annual tradition (wink, wink).

The week of Halloween also happened to be Red Ribbon Week at Kylee's school. There was a fun theme each day of the week, including Crazy Hair Day that Monday before Halloween. Kylee's hair-do for the day might not really be "crazy" but we sure had fun transforming her hair into a spider!

I also got to make treats for Kylee's class Halloween party... zombie eyeballs!

We had gorgeous weather the entire month of October, so we waited until just a few days before Halloween to carve our pumpkins so they wouldn't get moldy before the big day. I love that Kylee designed and carved her pumpkin all by herself! Crazy that she's big enough to do that!

We also roasted some pumpkin seeds, which were a big hit in our house. Kylee requested that we make pumpkin seeds every year! We followed the directions on this site and boiled our pumpkin seeds in salt water. We let them dry overnight on a cookie sheet and then used recipes from this site and made ranch and cinnamon sugar pumpkin seeds. Kylee's favorite were the cinnamon sugar.

We had a lot of fun trick-or-treating on Halloween night. Mandi and her kiddos joined us as we walked around the neighborhood. Kylee was a cop and Tyler was a jailbird.

This is Kylee's "I'm going to put you in jail" look.

And the "I gotcha" picture. Tyler wasn't too happy about this!

While we were out trick-or-treating, Kylee kept asking when we could go home. She really wanted to pass out candy with dad and scare the kids that came up to our door with a giant spider (much like they did the night before at the ward Trunk or Treat!). I thought it was great that she would rather pass out candy than get candy. Both she and Matt had a blast - like father like daughter! Matt is already planning what he might do differently/better next year!

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!

Plums Four Ways

A lady in my mom's ward passed away earlier this year, but her family still owns her house. She has a big plum tree and they told my mom people could go pick whatever plums they wanted. Beki, Kylee, and I went over and picked a bunch of plums.

We had way too many plums to eat, so I decided to get adventurous. I borrowed a dehydrator and dehydrated some plums. I also made some plum baby food (which Tyler loves mixed with some pears!) and I tried my luck at homemade jam! I had never canned before, so I was a bit nervous, but I jumped right in and did it. I was a little frazzled, because I didn't know what I was doing and there seemed to be a lot of steps to do at once. On top of cooking down the jam and prepping the jars, I was hanging out with Tyler, who did really well but started getting upset right toward the end - right when it was time for me to fill the jars! I decided next time I would have to make the jam when he was down for a nap, or at least when Matt was home. I also got a little sad when, after filling the jars, I started to hear the lids popping. I was thinking that was them unsealing instead of sealing. Silly me. I forgot that the "popping" sound was actually the jars sealing! Every one of them ended up sealing properly, and I couldn't have been happier with how the jam turned out. It was quite tasty if I do say so myself. Think I might make another trip out to the plum tree and make a second batch!

The Snack Basket

I love when someone's tips or ideas work so well for my family. Shortly after Matt and I got married, I blogged about an idea I copied from my friend Sunny about bed time, where Kylee got some "lamp time" followed by "hall light time" to help make bed time easier. 

I decided to copy another idea from Sunny. I thought it was so interesting when I would visit her how her kids had "free reign" of the snacks. Sunny had a section in her storage room with snacks that the kids could access at any time. It worked for her family. I remember thinking how if it were me I would probably just eat tons of snacks all day, but Sunny just said she made sure the snacks were fairly healthy and her kids only got snacks when they really needed a snack.

So, with a daughter who always needs at least two snacks a day (mid-morning and mid-afternoon), I decided to institute the "snack basket".

Our snack basket sits on a low shelf in our pantry and Kylee can get herself a snack when she is hungry. I try to keep it stocked with a variety of snacks. Right now we have applesauce, fruit cups, fruit snacks, different kinds of granola bars, and small ziplock bags of almonds, cheese crackers, and trail mix. Thanks for another great idea Sunny!

Sweet Deliciousness

Warning: Do not try this at home. You may not be able to stop before the entire package has been eaten.

Really, I probably shouldn't ever buy this again. It is one of the tastiest treats ever and I don't want to think about how many calories I consumed from just chocolate today. Thanks a lot to Sally for introducing me (she gave me a bag of Ghirardelli when Tyler came home from the hospital so we could celebrate...)!

Update: The dark chocolate version of this is even more divine!

Do I Smell Brownies?

I was rushing out the door this morning to try and get Tyler to his doctor's appointment on time. I didn't get a chance to eat breakfast, so I just grabbed something off the counter to eat in the car on the way to the appointment. Before we even got out of our subdivision, Kylee asked from the back seat, "What are you eating?" I responded that I was eating my breakfast. She followed up a second later with, "Do I smell brownies??" Busted.

Happy Birthday "Grandpa" Matt!

Happy birthday Matt!  Today we celebrated his 30th birthday.  I had told Kylee a couple weeks ago how old her dad was going to be and she said, "That's kind of like a grandpa!"  Haha, she is such a cutie.  Anyway, Matt was able to take the day off work so we were able to attend stake conference together (great talks!) and we had our family over for homemade sushi dinner.  Matt loves sushi... good thing because we have about 75 pieces left in the fridge!  We had no idea just how many rolls we would be able to make with the fish I bought.  We had eel, eel sauce, salmon, tuna, crab, spicy crab, cream cheese, avocado, spicy mayo, carrots, cucumber, wasabi, etc.  Everyone seemed to have a good time making the rolls - we'll definitely have to do this again.

One of Matt's birthday gifts was the new Ice Age movie in 3D (I decided we needed to add to our 3D movie collection, and got him a movie he could watch with Kylee!)... I gave Matt a reprieve from helping with the dishes so he and Kylee could go watch the movie.  I went upstairs to see how things were going and found our sweet little one looking so cute I had to snap a picture.  I sure love my little family.

Oh, and just for fun, here's a pic of Matt and me last week watching the Avengers in 3D.