busy, busy, busy

This summer has been crazy busy for us but it has been a good kind of busy.  I doubt that any of you really want a play-by-play of our summer, but this is also my journal (of sorts) so please indulge me a little.

To get the summer started, Ronnie and I took a trip (sans kids!) for our 15th wedding anniversary.  One of these days I really should post about that, but today is not that day.

Last week, our church was in Vacation Bible School and it was a great week.  I don't think I will voluntarily repeat teaching preschool, but it was a good experience and I think I can now say that I have taught every age group in the church (not all in VBS, but including Sunday School as well) except Senior Adults.  According to my kids, the only problem with VBS was that it isn't long enough. I did enjoy the week, but I must say that I am truly glad that it is only one week!

Ronnie and I have also undertaken a major overhaul of our bedroom this summer.  Our room is the "junk/storage room" of the house and quite frankly, I am tired of it!  So, Ronnie took off Thursday and Friday after July 4th and we went to work.  We haven't finished all that we want to do, but we did get rid of more junk than I care to admit, not to mention several bags of kids' clothes and even a bag of my own clothes that are (thankfully) too big for me now!  We still need to rearrange the room, but  I am loving all the space we have since we got rid of the piles of junk!

The thing that has kept me the busiest this summer is the garden.  My Daddy planted more than 100 tomato plants and somewhere around 30 squash plants.  So far, we have put up more than 60 quarts of squash - most of it canned - and I have two drawers full waiting for me to can tomorrow.  The tomatoes have been a bit scraggly ... it was hot early, with no rain, but we'll take what we can get.  Normally we would can the tomatoes in a concoction that we lovingly call tomato relish, though, in reality it is what most people would call soup stock.  The tomatoes are peeled and diced and then we add bell pepper, celery, and onion and simmer the mixture before packing it in jars and then pressure canning the final product.  This stuff is wonderful ... I use it for spaghetti, chili, soups, and in most any other recipe where I would use canned tomatoes.  I absolutely love not having to buy store bought tomatoes with all of their questionable ingredients.  Our unusually busy summer has kept us from being able to actually can any tomatoes yet.  So far, we have just been peeling and cutting up the tomatoes and then freezing them in gallon bags until we have time to do the whole process of canning our relish.  At last count, we had somewhere around 30 gallon bags waiting for us to get our act together ... hopefully sometime in the next couple of weeks.  Oh, and I also have three cucumber plants that are late getting going (the first ones died and we had to re-plant) so hopefully I will be putting up pickles very, very soon!

Our busy summer has kept us from getting as much school work done as I would have liked, but I am just going to call it home-ec and let it go.  LB has learned the process for canning both squash and tomatoes and the boys have both spent a fair amount of time in the garden with my Daddy.  We have done a little math along with the older kids and I've worked with D on his reading, but we haven't had much organized book-work.  I am enjoying the break though, and soon, I'll begin working on our schedule for the new year ... it will be here before we know it!

the salsa recipe that isn't really mine

This week in my daybook I shared a picture of veggies roasting in the oven for salsa and a couple of people asked about the recipe so I thought I'd share it with you today.

First, in the interest of full disclosure, this is not "my" recipe.  My sister-in-law brought this wonderful salsa to our family's new year's gathering at my parents' house.  I could have skipped all the other food and just eaten the salsa ... I'm telling you, this stuff is addictive, so be prepared.  It is a little time consuming to make, but very much worth the effort.

I just knew that Rebecca had spent hours testing and coming up with the perfect recipe since she always has great ideas for new things.  So, she surprised me this time by just giving me the website where I could find the recipe.  I have made the salsa a couple of times, as has another one of my sisters-in-law.  We have each made adjustments to meet the tastes of our family, but the basic recipe is still the same.

I have to tell you that the first time I made the recipe I was too cheap frugal to buy the roma tomatoes that it called for, which was a mistake.  The results were still quite tasty, but just not the same.  I am looking forward to this summer when I can try out the recipe with different types of fresh tomatoes - hopefully some from my own garden.  Until then, if I am going to take the time to make the recipe, I will splurge on the good romas ... which I actually found for a decent price at Sam's Club.

One piece of advice if you are going to make this salsa ... read the comments below the recipe on the website.  I found lots of good information about customizing the salsa to individual tastes.  For me, I don't really like the tomato skins, so I removed some of them before blending.  Another great tip is to cut and core the tomatoes before roasting, this seemed to simplify the process of handling the hot veggies.  I also really like the flavor of cilantro and cumin, so I upped the amounts of these two ingredients slightly.

I happened to be watching one of my favorite chefs on tv last night - Rick Bayless.  (I am sure you were expecting some food network personality, but this show actually comes on Create  ~ a PBS station.)  He was actually talking about salsas and how in Mexico they aren't so much for chips and dip as they are condiments for various dishes or even used as an ingredient in the dishes.  His daughter, who is often on his show, make a mac-and-cheese dish with salsa that actually looked pretty good.  He made another salsa that he used as a topping for grilled fish ... all these ideas make me wish my kids liked actually liked salsa.  I am planning to use some in a baked chicken and rice dish ... I guess the boys will just have to eat PB&J that night.

You can find the recipe for my salsa on the allrecipes.com website. 

Thanks, Rebecca!

my first food post

I had never really thought about doing a post about food or cooking mainly because I am not a gourmet cook and I never really imagined that anyone would be interested in our simple fare, BUT after a conversation at a home school meeting last week, I decided to share a little. So, for my friend, who shall remain nameless, hang on, the lentils are coming!

First up is the pizza I made Monday night. You will notice that there are no vegetables on it. It is just hamburger and cheese. My personal favorite is sort of a fajita chicken pizza ... grilled chicken with bell pepper and onion. But, the kids like the hamburger and it was what I had on hand, so we went with it. I do use my bread machine to make my own crust and since I use whole wheat flour, I feel a little better about feeding the kids pizza.

For my friend at the home school meeting, here's the scoop on the lentils.

I was sharing with some of the ladies that I felt somewhat guilty for enjoying an array of snacks at the meeting while I had left my family at home to eat only lentils and rice. My friend confessed that she wasn't even sure what they were. So, just in case there is anyone else out there wondering the same thing, I'll tell you what I know ... which isn't much.

Lentils are a type of dry bean. They are the closest thing you can eat to a perfect protein without eating meat. They are also perfect for a late planner, like me. They cook in about 1/2 hour, unlike other dry beans that have to be soaked and then still take several hours to cook. I have to admit that I was a hold out on cooking lentils for a long time. My brother, who was single at the time, kept telling me that they were easy to cook and tasted good, but they seemed a little too "health food nut" for me. But, I finally gave in and cooked some and have been surprised to find that they have become my favorite of the dry beans we eat.

I cook mine with lots of water because my family likes the juice ... it is what my Daddy Tom (my Daddy's grandfather) would have called pot liquor. I season the beans with a little olive oil, salt, liquid smoke and Spike (a seasoning blend that can be found in the health food section of some stores ... I like it because it only has one ingredient that I can't identify so I have to assume that it is healthier than other seasonings). I also like to add a little ground red pepper, but my kids don't like it much. One word of caution, if you are planning to cook these little bity beans, don't overcook them, they get mushy very quickly.

Last night, I served them with sausage and corn fritters ~ which are quick, but I really prefer corn bread.

These are D's beans with his sausage and fritters mixed in ... not my favorite way to eat them, but I don't mind as long as he eats them.

And finally, I'll share my healthy version of the kids favorite chocolate chip muffins. They really like the ones that come from a mix. I have to admit, that they are easy and taste good, but we are trying to eliminate ingredients that we can't identify from our diet, so I decided to see if I could find a better way to satisfy the kids. I tried making blueberry muffins, which I love, but they didn't like the real blueberries. (They prefer the "blueberry" pellets in the mix muffins!)

So, as I was looking for another idea, I found a recipe for oatmeal muffins. I figured that since oatmeal cookies are good with chocolate chips that the muffins would be good, too. And, I was right.

They even passed the test of my extremely picky eater. Amazingly all three kids liked them.
Just for the sake of honesty, I must confess that I didn't tell the kids that these were oatmeal muffins and that the chocolate chips were just an extra ingredient. I just called them chocolate chip muffins. I did tell LB about the oatmeal after they finished eating, but we agreed to keep that little tidbit of information to ourselves.