Oh nuts, we're out of milk!

 I actually made this last week Monday, but it took me this long to post about it!  

ALMOND MILK (made by me!)

Soak 8 hours and blend, 1 cup almonds to 4 cups water

Sweeten with some real honey if you like

We finally made almond milk!  We have been drinking it (me especially) like nobody's business but I started to get annoyed by the tetra pak cartons I couldn't recycle, the sugar/calorie content and the cost!!  So w/a little help from a friend, I got a big box of almonds.  I found it hard to believe that there wasn't much to it besides soaking/blending the nuts and then straining the milk.  BUT!  It's true!  It's so super easy!

YUMMMY

Please excuse the messy counter!

The kids thought the BEST part by far was straining it.  I found a linen produce bag, but you could probably use cheesecloth, I think.  We just blended the daylights out of it and then poured it over that bag, which was hanging over on or the jars.  You could walk away and let it strain on it's own, I think, but we chose to wash our hands and get squeezing!  Moses thought it was like milking a cow, and then he laughed about how this was not cow's milk - I introduced the word irony.  We'll see if he picks that up as fast as he did sarcasm =)  

I'm trying to be IN more pictures!

What's left of the almonds...

The same friends that hooked us up w/the almonds make raw cookies w/the by-product that gets left in the strainer - would you call it almond meal??  Or almond flakes??  I tried to remember their recipe and looked online too - enh.  I didn't find any that suited me so they are sending me theirs.  It seems that 4 cups of almonds/16 cups of milk gets us through the week.  More would be nice!  So now I have my work cut out for me each week!  I should actually get some soaking right now...

La madre de todas las noticias

Loosely translated - the mother of all updates!

First and foremost, Fabi had surgery yesterday. They put in a G tube, or PEG (percutaneous endoscopic gastrointestinal) tube. Did I get that right, medical people?! It's a long story of how it all came to this, but basically, she is making such small progress that this is where we are at. It's a little nerve-wracking since she had heart surgery at 4 months and the whole anesthesia thing made me nervous, but overall it is so nice to get rid of that nG tube in her face! Now hopefully we can focus on eating even more and there will be no tears over having to replace the tape or the tube a bunch. This poor girl has been making so much progress otherwise and we can't wait to see what happens next!

In other news...I keep meaning to post things for Make It Mondays and I forget!! There have been 2 food things we made lately that I wanted to share. We hauled home a load of apples from up north and are enjoying home made applesauce alot! I love experimenting with throwing it in the crock pot. The first time I used a recipe that called for juice and sugar. I have since tinkered w/it and haven't ruined a batch yet! The next thing I wanted to share was how I roasted some veggies the other night. This is not something no-cook-Mel has ever done before people!

You see this lovely squash? I wanted to use it in a recipe and found one online. They recommended cutting it along the ribs! It was all new for me so I just went for it. They said peeling it would be difficult, but once I cut the ribs, it wasn't.

After cubing the squash, I tossed it in a ziploc w/some peppers, onions and oil. TASTY! We cooked up some bowtie noodles and I stirred the veggies. I can't even begin to tell you how good it was! There was supposed to be gouda cheese melted in it, but we didn't have any. It didn't matter, but maybe we'll try that next time? The other fun thing we made were squid-dogs! We had some special kids w/us for the weekend and I wanted to do something different. I saw this online somewhere and even Dave laughed! He thought it was pretty cool =) It was funny to see the kids' reactions!

The theme of the past month has been GET OUTSIDE! The weather is unbelievable! Just this past weekend, November 22nd, we were out w/no jackets on. We've been to our back yard, Parnell Tower and Kohler Andrae State Park. I took so many photos that at one point Dave said we'd have photographic evidence of each step! Yeah, I slugged him for that one! Anyway, I managed to choose a few of my favorites and put them into a rather medium-length slideshow. ENJOY!

I have many more things to write about, but I think I'll save them for some other posts! I have started and saved this one so many times...I just want to hit publish and come back...

BeaNut Butter

A quick Make It Monday post...just finished some hummus! We call it BeaNut Butter at our house b/c I don't think anyone gets what it is. Since it resembles PeaNut Butter, why not call it BeaNut butter? I have a lot of errands to do today so I don't know if I will get anything else made...besides a mess of course!

Monday is now renamed ZucchinDay (Zoo Kin Day)!

I have been so busy in the kitchen! I made zuke/choco chip muffins, zuke brownies and broccoli cheese soup (w/zuke!). Here's a pic of the soup - I hadn't added the cheese yet.

I also cut some fabric squares for another project I've been working on...soft flannel =) Don't get too excited, it's not for you, it's for me! Let's see, what else? I have so many plans of things to make on Mondays! There will be more to come!

Make something!

I have decided that since today is the first day of school, I would make an attempt to get back into the routine of writing certain things on certain days. If you recall, I used to post about something I made on Monday and then what kind of workout we did on Wednesday. Fridays were activity days. Hopefully I can use the Mondays to make new recipes or sewing projects or something. I would really like to start using the gym at the local high school soon so I might talk about that on Wednesdays. Fridays this year will be different since Mo will be in school! But Fabi and I can go places...she could use some mommy and me time =)

For my first Make It Monday post - QUICHE!!! I know I've posted about this before, but we always marvel at how much we love it. This time I used my new food proces

sor to chop up onions, garlic, tomatoes and green peppers. I threw in some ham and cheese. TASTIER THAN EVER was the result!

I am finding that the cook time of 35-40 minutes is not enough. Which really stinks, b/c I always start it saying we'll eat in less than an hour, but we don't. And one of these days I promise I will try a homemade crust! I have been really trying to keep at least 2 meals a week super cheap and this one was it. The crust was $2, there were 4 eggs and the veggies (except the garlic) were free (DW disagrees, we paid for the dirt and the seed, but BAH!) from the garden! I guess the cheese was at least $2 worth or something, but I think the whole thing would be less than $10, right? Cheap. Good. Better than good taste-wise! The other day we had cheap noodles, expensive sauce, cheap beef and beans. Everyone devoured it! Again, there was a huge pot and it was easily less than $10!! One bonus to making stuff like this is that Mo loves to help. He gets all excited to use the food processor (manly motor!) and is the official stirrer and pourer. I think it's good for him to see what goes into the food and how it's done. We forgot our aprons last night though! We'll have to work on that...

MMMMmmmmonday

I need to get to bed, but I really want to throw this up here...not all of these things took place today, but it's easier to put them in the same entry...Steel cut oats, made overnight in a crock pot bath. SO TASTY! It was an adventure...have you tried anything like this? I'm looking for breakfast ideas for the teenager in the house (read: lazy mom desires hot breakfast ideas...) and this worked for us!

My boy needed a cape! I made it up...so yeah, the string should have been a little longer, but he still loves it! He flies!!

Easter Sunday required a tie. My boy looks so grown up!! Daddy didn't even wear a tie...

Finally, I got to visit my grandpa. It was a sunny day and we talked. My grandpa suffers from dementia...I hate it. I hate that he can't remember us. But you know what I've been realizing? He may not remember us or even things about himself, but God never forgets. My grandpa's name is in the Book of Life and God will not forget my grandpa. I am so grateful for that!

Makin' it on Monday

We've been getting back into the swing of things around here...maybe the nice weather has helped? Anyway - yesterday was Monday and I made stuff!
It's not quite done but I quickly sewed up a strap for Mo's ukelele...
The best part was the triangle =) I felt like I was actually moving up in the world since I did this w/o a pattern or anything!


I also made this huge roast...I threw in the carrots and sweet potatoes from our veggie box...this may seem simple to you all but I needed a lot of coaching on this! It was good! Took a long time to cook, but it was good! Mo actually ate a bunch of it w/o much prodding. Again, we're moving up in the world since the kid eats more 'adult' things!
So there ya go...back on track w/the Make it Mondays...

Catch up!

I don't know if I ever will...But there are so many things to talk about!!
DW got his cast off. So now he wears a black boot. He says it's way better than the cast! He's walking more especially since we returned the wheel chair! He's still working on finding the balance of how much is too much though. It's still swollen and it will be for a while I'm sure. But overall he's much happier that he can take the boot off at night and stuff.
Before we left for the family reunion, I made fruit leather in the dehydrator. I had lots of blueberries and raspberries, some strawberries and well, I threw in some eggplant! As soon as I offered it to Mo, he started eating it like it was going out of style!! He loved it. I had to cut him off after a while b/c I wasn't sure if it was going to be too excessive in the fiber dept. Anyway - I think I'll make it again.
Let's see, what else is new? DW's classroom is finally looking manageable. Not done, but it looks like we have some order. I was limping along to help him today - I got a huge thorn thing in my foot during the family reunion! Not fun. So we are a sight, limping, trying to use office chairs to move stuff around...yeah...
We're all looking forward to the last few days of summer. We'll be doing a few local things over Labor Day, like going to the county fair and camping in the backyard =) More thoughtful posts coming soon...

Don't open that!!

I did it. I made a cake from scratch. I used real cocoa. DARK cocoa. I buttered and floured the pan. I used a knife when measuring ingredients. The recipe sounded so good I doubled it b/c when it's called Death-by-Chocolate-anything, there MUST be twice as much!! So now I wait. And sweat. And fret. Did it matter that I missed an ingredient and tossed it in towards the end? Did I flour the pan too much? Too little? Did I fold the zucchini in properly? It's not like paper after all. Did my substitutions ( sugar honey, oil applesauce) affect the way it would turn out? Since I doubled it, I half expect to open the oven and have this huge cake come creeping out like in that episode** of I Love Lucy (best show ever, btw!). ACK!!! This is why I avoid cooking at all costs! Too many variables, most of which are my fault!! All I can say is there had better be enough chocolate in there to cover all my mistakes!
(I know, it's Friday and I'm calling this a Make It Monday post, but I haven't made anything in a while and we'll be gone Monday, so...consider me early =)!)
**PS - it was season 1 episode 25 in case you were wondering!

Updates

Many, many updates! I haven't been writing much lately. Life has been a slow blur lately.
1) Yesterday was Monday and we made a HUGE batch of burritos again. Rice, corn, beef, 2 kinds of beans, peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, etc. Yummy! We freeze them individually for lunches. I think there were about 20. Today we made peanut butter oatmeal cookies! In the process I discovered we are out of honey, brown sugar and peanut butter. We're almost out of whole wheat flour. I can't remember the last time I ran out of baking supplies! No that doesn't mean I buy in bulk. It means I rarely bake! But that's been beginning to change. The last store bought cookies we had were from a certain group of girls who are famous for cookies. Before that, I don't even remember. So I think that's a good sign =)
2) The interviews w/the county social worker went well. Pretty basic. Checking to see if we are normal...which we are I guess. The SW was nice, young, like us. She explained things well and seemed to want to help us speed things along. We got fingerprinted and set a date for the home visit. FINALLY! That will be an exciting day...May 9. Please pray. I'm sure I'll be a nervous wreck that whole week...slightly distracted and anxious! I'll be scrubbing everything down and hiding junk! No hopefully I can try to relax and be myself a little. I'll still clean, don't worry, Mom, but she'll be making surprise visits in the future so she might as well see a little of how we are...
3) Once again a situation has come up where we know someone who might not want her baby. Again, I'm asking for your prayers. Every fiber of my being says "Yes! Yes, we'll take the baby! We'll figure out all that legal stuff later..." But common sense says to pray and seek God's will again. The circumstances are not the best. We don't know how to legally do this or if it will be worth the effort. Most likely we will continue gathering information, but at this point it seems the only one able to answer our questions would be an adoption lawyer. I'll keep you updated. Mostly I don't want to talk or think about it until it is for real. But then I get all control-freak again and I know I'd be so-o-o mad hurt if the baby went to someone else just b/c I wouldn't talk about it.
4) Dave visited his new job sites. He seems a little more upbeat about it. The one that worried him the most actually seems better than the other. People have been more friendly and helpful. I'm hoping that he will get a big surprise from the fact that he finds himself enjoying it =)
PHEW - what else...?
5) We're both teaching summer school. Dave will only be teaching half the summer b/c he is staying home the first 2 weeks to watch our friends' son and daughter. They're foster kids, but they hope to have successfully adopted them by that time. Anyway, Dave will be home w/3 kids under the age of 3! I teased and told him I expected the laundry and dishes done when I get home. That and lunch already on the table! Think he can do it? I do!
Well, that's all I can think of. Sorry I've been slacking on the posts. Now there's plenty to read!

No diapers were harmed in the making of this waste product!

WOW!! I think we're really getting the hang of this potty training thing. We've had fewer and fewer code browns and Mo is really agreeable to do business in the bathroom! Our sucker supply is diminishing...man, I can't wait to be officially off the diaper wagon! Does that cliche work for stuff like this? I think off the wagon is actually a bad thing. Whatever! You know what I mean. I have pics to add, but need to make dinner first - lasagna! We already made more WWF pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, this time w/honey instead of sugar. A friend said you can't tell the difference...unfortunately our comparison is a little off. First of all, my honey was crystalized. I put in in warm water but after 30 minutes got impatient and used it anyway. Second of all, we had less pumpkin, so the muffins were a little more WWflour-ey. But I guess I didn't notice much of a diff in the sweet flavor =) (Sorry for the rambling post...I need to stick to the topic! I just remembered it was Monday and I needed to post about something I made. So now I did...and you should go make something and leave a comment!)

Down w/the plastic bags part 2

(Read part 1 here.) So I took my homemade produce bags to the store today...

In this pic of veggie booty you can see a plastic store bag. I had only finished 2 at that point! I finished a 3rd last night and hope to polish off a 4th. All the netting for those bags came to less than a dollar and I already had the yarn. I plan on cruising the mega fabric store's clearance bin for some more netting tomorrow. I hope to make at least 2 more bags b/c sometimes I get a bunch of stuff and I know the checkout people hate it when you mix things. I personally like the green better than the pink. One says, foo-foo tu-tu while the other says I'm fresh and green!

Down w/the plastic produce bags!

I don't have a photo yet b/c my creation is a little embarrassing! I've tested it however and I've deemed it successful. The newest addition to my cloth bag entourage that I take to the grocery store is a re-usable produce bag made of netting! I was talking w/my cousin about how to sew up the edges...I found the netting at a crafts store in the clearance bin! I got 5 diff. pieces for less than $2!! Anyway, they were all the ends, so they were long strips. I didn't think sewing would work. I was originally wondering if I could fold a strip of fabric over the edge and hope the netting would 'stick'. But my cousin suggested threading some yarn or something through the edges - brilliant! My first attempt was using the pink netting and lavender yarn...um, yeah, it looks like something...um...a little too froo-froo-ey and girly!! So I think I will try using the green netting next time. I also wonder about using some fabric strips instead of yarn...might hold up better if I need to wash it. I'll post some pics next time. I laughed out loud after I put my apples in the pink sack! You'll see...

Finally catching up...

Monday - Mo and I made cookies! Not too elaborate but we learned 2 lessons. 1) Do not assume you have the correct measuring cup. If you don't, you will find yourself re-measuring! 2) After eating warm cookies, it's not a great idea to cover you face and begin counting for a game of hide-n-go-seek. Or maybe it is, if you want a chocolate flavored facial scrub!

How can we make it?

We wanted to make Simpsons T-shirts for Mo and Daddy today, but we couldn't find the shirts. So Mo did an art project and I made Tamale Pie and guacamole - yum, yum! Even out-of-season avocadoes could not ruin that! We've also been getting into the 'exercise lady' who is on before Sesame Street! Mo kept repeating, "Lengthen...lengthen...now the into the jack knife...lengthen..." He's more in shape than I am!!

Cookie recipe and other food talk

A fellow blogging mom suggested I post the cookie recipe I mentioned. First of all, I will say that I based the recipe I used loosely on one I found in the Sneaky Chef cookbook by Missy Chase Lapine. And I know that there are some people out there who don't agree w/sneaking vegetables in your kids' food when you really should just get them used to eating them from the start and you won't have to sneak them in! But Mo eats a fair amount of veggies on his own, like this pile of red and yellow peppers we were supposed to share at lunch today! I checked the cookbook out from the library more for me and Dave! We are trying to eat healthier. The way I see it, why not have a veggie on your plate as well as something like cauliflower snuck into your mac and cheese? Which by the way, I have decided must have been my high school cafeteria's secret ingredient too. I remember the mac and cheese being really stiff and glue-ey, not that I'm complaining - I ate double portions most times they served it, but that's what this turned out like. Mo really gobbled it up and Dave was hesitant, but he couldn't turn down hot mac and cheese. Anyway, back to the cookies!
1/3 C whole wheat flour, 1/3 C white flour, 1/3 C wheat germ
1/2 tsp baking SODA (sorry, I always get them confused!)
1/4 C rolled oats, finely ground in a food processor
8 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 C sugar, 1/4 C brown sugar
1 lg egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 C white bean puree
1/2 C mint choco chips
(the book said you could also grind up 2 Tbsp blanched almonds or add chopped walnuts, berries, raisins, etc. but I didn't.)
Preheat oven to 375*. Remove butter from fridge to soften. Whisk together flours, wheat germ, baking soda, salt, oats and almonds if using. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars until creamy. Beat in egg, vanilla and white bean puree. Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed. Stir in choco chips, berries, walnuts, whatever you're using. The book suggested using a rounded half-teaspoon to make bite size cookies. I tried that for the first batch and they were so small they almost got burned. Anyway, bake for 12-14 minutes. I never really got up to the 14 minutes, but keep an eye on them. Hope you like them! I know Mo enjoyed helping me dump stuff in and pushing the buttons on the food processor. We had a serious discussion about that mixer. "That could hurt me," he kept repeating. At least he got it, right? And he never tried to touch it. We had a lot of fun and the best part was that they were getting done just as Dave was walking in. "We made cookies!" That's the best way to welcome your man home =)

Co-o-o-kies!

For Make It Monday, Mo helped me make (sneaky chef) mint chocolate chip cookies. Ummmmmm....so yummy! There was oatmeal, wheat germ, whole wheat flour and white bean puree in there. They turned out crispy, crunchy and GOOD! The 3 of us went for a walk when Dave got home, too, so we're trying to work out before Wednesday. This past weekend we went walking at the mall and we both 'felt the burn' afterwards. Don't get excited - we're so out of shape, that only took about 20 minutes of speedwalking! Hope you're on track w/all your goals and resolutions so far this year...

Swiff no more!

It's a belated Make-It Monday post...I made my own swiffer duster covers. I was almost out and looking at the price of new ones. Not very cost effective! I was already using both sides of them...being the college educated, internet addicted person that I am, I went online to see if there was a way to make them. Despite being college educated, I don't always think of easy solutions right away! I found lots of ideas out there from knitting/crocheting to putting a sock over it. The idea I 'stole' was to cut some fleece the same size as the swiffer cloth. You know how it seems like your fleece sweatshirts collect all the hair and lint everywhere you go? Yeah, it just never occurred to me to put it on a swiffer! Well, I did it and Mo helped me make a pass under his crib. Eeew, I guess it worked! Actually I think it worked better. It seems to pick up bigger chunks that the swiffer cloths just pushed around. I'm sold - plus I can toss these in w/the laundry and re-use 'em. Nice!

Now for the Tues portion of this post...Mo and I did our civic duty today. He was a flag-waving American! He liked the marker in the ballot booth. He wanted to vote! He said to me at lunch, "Thanks for voting w/me!" Aww...

Chemical Dependence

Ok, no, I'm not going to write about drug addiction today. I am almost out of hair gel and I have been thinking a lot lately about the chemicals in that stuff. Ugh! I hate it. So I'm torn about not buying any more hair gel vs. having this big 'fro. I already have big hair...and it's really dry too. Wait, that was dumb, who has great moisturized hair in this weather?? Anyway, I have looked into homemade recipes, but they all involve gelatin. Ugh! I hate it. Are you seeing a theme here? I think my hair may soon be going after-shower-product-free. So please don't be scared if the next time you see me, you actually see my hair enter the room first! In other news...I know it wasn't Monday, but yesterday I made some homemade granola bars. I think I'm going to try one of the other recipes I've got next time. This one used a lot of oats...not that it tasted bad, just very oat-y. Know any other recipes for homemade snacks like that? I'm trying not to buy those type of things b/c I know we have the ingredients in the cupboard! (Already paid for, I might add.) The other thing is all the preservatives and hydrogenated oils and really not-good-for you stuff. So yeah, I guess after reading this post you're thinking I'm a little weird or whatever. So far, no dreadlocks or June Cleaver-esque changes. Just some little changes I have been trying to make. I believe we are to be good stewards of what God has given us (even if it's big hair, money or the Earth!). I don't think of it as 'saving the Earth for generations and generations' or 'millions of years to come'. In the Bible it says the Earth will some day be destroyed...we don't know the date! For me, I am trying to take care of what we have been given at this time. If you're interested in learning more, read 2 Peter 3:10-13, Genesis 2:15 or Romans 8:18-23. There's a lot of good stuff in the Bible and this is of course only a sample of the verses that have sparked me on this topic. Ok, now that I've taken this post all the way from chemical dependency to the Bible, I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing! Thanks for sticking w/me on this wild ride!

Weekly review

Phew! Sorry it's been so long...with these foster care meetings and the holidays I sometimes feel like we are just keeping our heads above water. Anyway - we're excited that our last class is next Tues! So this Monday we were making a family album. We plan to make copies of the pages for our own family, so if you ask us some time we'd love to share it! Wednesday we didn't work out. Too tired. Still trying to get our rooms in order upstairs. Progress is being made! We have the one bed taken apart so we could move it. The small room needs a few things removed and the twin bed set up. We'll get there - this weekend both rooms must be photo ready. Tomorrow I'm meeting some other parents at the mall's new indoor play place. Mo loves going there!! It's really not that big, but it's just a great indoor place to burn off some energy. Most of the time we go and we're the only ones there...I guess he might be the only kid who is up that early and I'm the only momma who gets us out the door!! Oh well. No complaints. Well, I was planning to eat a banana split, but the Packers are not doing too well. It's hard to eat when you're nervous or agitated! But banana splits (minus the cherry!) are on my list of favorite treats. What are some of your favorite treats?