Tiffy's Top Ten...Things to do this Summer...May 2012

Good Morning!  I got up at 4:39am (hit my 9-minute snooze once), checked my emails, sorted 7 loads of laundry and got a load started, read my Bible with my morning Chai...now it's 6am and I'm sitting down to write a post. I knew a few months ago that my May Top Ten post would be about summer.  I am totally ready for summer!  On Monday, Sweetie and I (and the kids) spent about 5 hours putting this trampoline together.  The kids liked the 3 "boat" boxes almost as much as they liked the trampoline...isn't that how it goes?  You could just run to the grocery store and get the kids a box.  But, seriously...hours upon hours spent on this trampoline.  Plus, it provides a wonderful shady spot underneath for picnics!

 Here's my Top Ten!

Tiffy's Top Ten Things to do this Summer:

1.  Go on picnics...with a picnic basket.

2.  4:30am...I would still like to get up at 4:30...if I can be good about making a little "to do" list the night before, getting up isn't a problem.

3.  8-10am...Kids work time.  I am going to have the kids continue to work on math and piano all summer...as well as reading time.  They will also have a little household project to do each morning.  I like them to get their stuff done right away in the morning, because once they're off and running, it's tough to reign them back in!  And, though they won't admit it, they really do better with some structure.

4.  Garden with the kids!  The kids each got their own 4' x 4' garden box this summer.  They are so proud of their gardens!  They check them every day and watch for sprouts.  They each got a couple of plants...but then the rest of their garden is seeds.  This week their beans started shooting through!

5.  Farmer's Markets!  I would like to take the kids to several Farmers Markets this summer.  So many to choose from...I'd like to try several and pick a couple of favorites.  Top on my list are:  the Buffalo Farmers Market, the Mpls farmers market, and the Mill City (mpls) farmer's market.  I would also like to take the kids to the Nicollet Mall (mpls) farmers market on a Thursday afternoon.  I used to love that one when I worked downtown!

6.  Continue to eat "real" food.  We're doing well with this, but the kids have their moments.  The other day Daisy said, "Oh, why can't we have Goldfish anymore?!?!  MJ said, "Because they're processed".  Ha!  They know the reasons, but it can still be tough sometimes.  I wish I had known what I know now when they were babies.  But, overall, I think they are enjoying the way we are eating.  I know I am!

7.  Go strawberry picking...make jam.

8.  Enjoy entertaining in our backyard this summer.  In 5 days we are getting a big 'ole above ground pool installed.  Can't wait!

9.  Nature walks every week.  I'm hoping to continue our Nature Walks...as I've said before...these are some of my favorite moments spent with my kids.

10.  Thankful Journals.  Last night I gave the kids each a Thankful Journal before bed.  I couldn't believe how well they received them!  They were like kids on Christmas morning!  I gave them their journals with a new sharpened pencil and explained to them what I hoped for these journals.  My sister-in-law gave me "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp for Christmas last year, and as I read it, I thought, the kids and I need to be thankful!  For everything.  For clouds.  For buttered toast.  For sunsets.  For clean laundry.  Ha.  And, for all the obvious things like friends, and family, and God, and our house.  They could hardly wait to get started.  I told them I would like them to write down 5 things they are thankful for each day, and they couldn't repeat any.  They immediately filled their books with 10 things that they were thankful for. 

 I love how Ann Voskamp says, "as long as Thanks is possible, then Joy is possible".  If we can be thankful for what we have, right where we're at (there's always someone with more!), then we can have joy.  And, if we have joy, then we can give.  Of course, we can "give" without being thankful and having joy...but I think it will be more fun, and maybe we can give more abundantly.

 I snapped this shot of my kids through my front door window this week.  I didn't want them to know I was watching them, and I didn't want to disturb their time.  They were on a picnic blanket, in the shade, having a little snack and playing with their "water babies".  While at a friends house recently, they filled big balloons with water and drew faces on them.  They carry them around in blankets and name them and love them.  Strange, but fun.  3 have popped in the house...they are now banned to the garage and outside.

I'm looking forward to a fun Memorial Day Weekend.  We are attending 3 birthday parties!  We'll also head to the lake with friends.  Should be fun!  I am planning on combining work with play this weekend.  I have 3 projects that I would like to get done...I finally got a mirror for above my fireplace, so I would like to get that hung.  I have a curtain rod that needs to be hung outside my sewing studio.  And, I would like to paint the archway that leads from my kitchen to my family room.  I'm hoping to get most of it done today!

I also finished two skirts last night...I'll list them today!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

XOXO Tiffany

"To find the lovely in the ordinary sometimes takes a bit of work, but the more I look for it, the more quickly it shows up".  Grace for the Good Girl by Emily P Freeman

Sewing Wednesday...Skirts (trying to find the time)

 My calendar had looked so promising a few days ago...I thought, "Oh, for sure I'll have time to sew four skirts and list them on Etsy before Wednesday".  Just didn't happen.  Last week I cut out about 16-18 skirts...I just can't wait to see them all done!

 I will still be selling some $20 skirts...but I will also have some fully-lined skirts that will be $27.  Some of the fabric is just too sheer, and will need to be lined.  When lining a skirt, it is almost like making two skirts.

Maybe I'll try to sew a bit this morning before the kids get up...we have such a busy day!  The kids will have some school work (piano, math, reading, read-a-loud), then we're going on our nature walk at 10:30am (always something interesting out in nature...pair of mating toads anyone?  Oh, the conversations we've had about those toads...), we'll come home and do our nature journals, have some lunch (the last of the enchilada soup), Daisy and Lucy are having two friends over after school, I am bringing dinner to a friend (who is going through a divorce), we'll have dinner, friends go home, Daisy has soccer from 6-7:30pm, MJ has swim team from 6:45-7:30, showers and bed.  Maybe while the kids play I can get a little sewing done....I love having my sewing room on the main level just off the kitchen.  What a dream! 

Try to do something creative today!

XOXO Tiffany

"To accept the lovely, the messy, and the unexpected things in our days, knowing that God sees them and has an eternal perspective, is to say with confidence 'I receive your timing.  I accept that you know so I don't have to.  Even when it all goes wrong'".  Grace for the Good Girl by Emily P Freeman

Homemade Bagels...

 I just put my Amish Oatmeal into the oven and I thought I would share this recipe for Homemade Bagels.  I mean, really, there is not much better than a warm, chewy, homemade bagel.  These are not difficult at all.  Especially if you have a breadmaker.  The dough takes an hour and a half in the breadmaker...then you divide the dough into 8 sections...make little bagel shapes...let them sit for 10 minutes...boil the bagels in sugared water for 3 minutes...

 Place them on a greased pan...egg wash them and sprinkle with toppings...

 Bake for about 15-20 minutes...

 Get out the cream cheese...

 And, enjoy!!!

Homemade Bagels (using a breadmaker):

Layer the following ingredients into your breadmaker:

1 cup of water (warmed for 30 seconds in microwave)

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

3 cups bread flour

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Set your machine to 1 1/2 lb, Dough Course and start it up! (Mine was setting number 11 and it took 1 hour and 27 minutes.)

Take your dough out and place it on a lightly floured surface.  Stretch and roll it out into a snake shape.  Divide it into 8 sections.  Pick up a section and mold it into a biscuit shape and then just pull the dough apart making a hole in the center.  Place each bagel onto a greased baking sheet.  Place plastic wrap over the bagels and let them sit in a warm place for 10 minutes.

While they are sitting...boil a pot of water (about 2 qts) with 2 tbsp of sugar in it.  After the 10 minutes, place about 3 bagels into the pot and let them boil for 3 minutes (flip them over after 1 1/2 minutes).  I set my microwave timer each time...it's amazing how long 3 minutes is when you are waiting to flip a bagel!  Take the bagels out with a slotted spoon and place back onto the greased pan.  Place the next round of bagels into the pot.  When all the bagels are boiled, beat 1 egg in a little bowl and lightly brush each bagel with egg.  Then sprinkle with desired toppings (poppyseeds, dried minced onions, sesame seeds) or none at all.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes...turning the pan after about 10 minutes.  (the first time I made these, I forgot to turn the pan as you can see in the photos).  Cool on a wire rack.

I don't buy commercial bread anymore...the only bread I would would buy would be Great Harvest Bread Company...but we don't have one close to us.  After reading the ingredients on the label...I was cured.  My favorite Costco Bread (the whole wheat Bed and Breakfast Bread) had an ingredient called "Mold Inhibitor".  I decided that my family and I probably shouldn't be consuming something called "mold inhibitor".  Not to mention the 10 other ingredients that we couldn't pronounce.  Now I make homemade bread of some sort about 3 times a week.

XOXO Tiffany

"Years of hauling water, wringing out clothes, scrubbing floors, emptying out chamberpots, with no chance of beauty or color or light in my life, stretched before me like a landscape of flat land where, a long way off, the sea is visible but can never be reached".  Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

Menu Planning...Week of May 21 2012

Oh my goodness...I almost forgot to share this weeks menu plan!  The above photo is of my Breakfast Tacos from Friday.  I just scrambled some eggs with a little bit of minced onion.  Warmed a tortilla with some cheese in the microwave.  Layered on the eggs, some Jones sausages (Costco freezer section), and sour cream and salsa.  Mmmm.  Here's the plan for this week!

Monday:

B-Berry Smoothie and Buttermilk Blueberry Bread

L-clean out the fridge

D-Bean and Cheese Enchiladas

Tuesday:

B-Amish Oatmeal

L-leftovers

D-Creamy Baked Chicken and Baked Potato

Wednesday:

B-Homemade bread/Apple Butter

L-Chicken Salad

D-Egg Rolls/Pineapple/sweet and sour sauce

Thursday:

B-Buttermilk Pancakes

L-Leftovers

D-Chicken Tacos

Friday:

B-Scrambled eggs/Sausage/Homemade Whole Wheat Bread

L-Leftovers

D-Italian Dunkers/bread/salad

Saturday:

B-Almond Zucchini Bread

L-out to a birthday party

D-another birthday party...I better find out what I need to bring...

Sunday:

B-Almond Zucchini Bread

L-Day Trip with friends....

D-Lasagna Soup

BTW...if you ever see something repeated from last week...it's most likely b/c I never got around to making it.  I'll continue to post recipes when I can.  The kids have started getting up...I'd better get moving.

XOXO Tiffany

"I'm becoming an intentional noticer and it is leading me into thankfulness for things beyond the obvious".  Grace for the Good Girl by Emily P Freeman

Enchilada Soup

 I was so proud of myself for prepping this soup on Saturday...Sunday got out of control!  We had church in the morning...9-10:30, small group 11-2, then I left for a bridal shower (for my cousin!) from 2-4:30, Matt left and dropped the girls off at a friends house, I picked the girls up after the shower (a beautiful bridal tea...loved it!)...of course I got to chatting..., rushed home to make dinner and get Daisy fed because she had soccer from 6-7pm.  Incidentally, she didn't have time to eat her soup, so we sent her out the door with a banana and she would have to eat her soup after practice.  Which she did...and then we made homemade vanilla ice cream.   

 This is the second time I have made this soup.  It is from the Farm Chicks in the Kitchen cookbook.  I love that cookbook.  I only changed one little thing at the end of the recipe...they temper the sour cream before adding it to the soup...I prefer to skip this step and let people add their own sour cream.  I doubled the batch this time because I am bringing a meal to a friend on Wednesday.  Here is the recipe:

Enchilada Soup:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups chicken broth

3 cups chicken, shredded or chopped

1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels

7 oz salsa verde

1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and minced

1 tbsp chili powder

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

Juice from half a lime

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

sour cream and tortilla chips, for serving

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat.  Stir in the onion and garlic; saute for about 5 minutes.  Stir in broth, chicken, black beans, tomatoes, corn, salsa, jalepeno, and chili powder; heat to simmering.

(On Saturday...I prepped the soup and stopped after adding the chili powder.  I put the soup in the fridge and then on Sunday I heated it to simmering and continued...)

To thicken the soup...add the water to the cornstarch in a small bowl; stir until smooth.  Stir this into the soup and simmer for 10 minutes.  Stir the lime juice and cilantro into the soup and serve with sour cream and tortilla chips.

My kids have always eaten spicy food.  Sometimes they say, "mom, this is really spicy".  I say, "I know, but it's so good for you and it makes you want to drink a lot of water, which is also so good for you".  Ha.  I want my kids to leave the house knowing what real food should taste like.  If one of them is ever struggling (Lucy did not want to eat her soup last night)...we just say, "Oh, that's fine, dad will eat your homemade ice cream for you".  Lucy ate all her soup.

Have a fabulous Monday!

XOXO Tiffany

"Whatever she saw or understood, she decided to stir the pot once more".  Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

Almond Granola Bars (no bake!)

Happy Saturday!  We had a busy morning at a swim meet for Lucy and MJ...but now the rest of the day is mine!  The house is clean (Thursday), the laundry is all done (Friday), and the only thing on my list for today is to work on my "pile".  After this post, I think I will sit down and tackle it.  And, maybe prep Sunday's Soup, since we'll be gone all day.  I got a lovely email requesting some specific recipes...this was one of them, so I thought I would quick share it.  I got this recipe from a favorite cooking blog:  Iowa Girl Eats.  I LOVE these granola bars...and I really love them because you don't need to bake them.  Oh, and almond extract is my favorite.

Almond Granola Bars:

1 cup whole almonds (raw preferred)

1 cup pecans (or walnuts)

1 cup old fashioned oats

1 cup dried cherries, chopped if large (or craisens)

2 tbsp sesame seeds

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp honey (raw if you can)

3 tbsp coconut oil (virgin and organic if you can)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

dash of cinnamon

Add 1/2 cup each of almonds, pecans, and oats into a food processor.  Process until fine then pour into a large bowl.  Roughly chop remaining almonds and pecans, then add to the bowl.  Add remaining oats, cherries, and sesame seeds...mix well.

Combine honey, coconut oil, salt, extracts, and cinnamon in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Stir until the mixture melts, then foams, then count to 15 and remove from heat.  Pour over nut mixture and mix to coat all ingredients.

Spray an 8 x 8 inch pan with non-stick spray.  Pour in granola.  Press firmly.  Cover with saran wrap and chill for about 4 hours.  Cut into bars and enjoy!

I'll be honest...I scoop out a little serving of the warm chewy goodness and eat it with a spoon.  There is no way I can wait 4 hours.  I'm warning you...this recipe is dangerous...you'll need to practice some restraint.  But, what a fun and healthy little snack!

I'm hoping to share a soup recipe on Monday!  Also...if anybody would ever like to "comment" on my blog...at the end of each post there is a little link that says "0 Comments".  If you click that, a little comment box will pop up.  Or, click on the title of my post and then it will be at the bottom.  It should be slick and easy...let me know if you have troubles...but, I welcome comments if you have any!

XOXO Tiffany

"Martha, Martha.  You are worried and bothered about so many things, but only one thing is necessary".  Luke 10:41-42  (I fear I totally would have been Martha in the house that day...)

Cleaning Day...and a Mango Smoothie

 Ahhh...relaxing on a log down by the Crow River.  Our weekly nature walks have officially become a habit.  We sure do love them!  Oh, the things we find and observe!  It's probably our most anticipated event of the week.

Last week, I was in the mood to clean.  Matt was out of town and I wanted him to come home to a clean house.  So on Thursday, I told the kids we were going to clean the house from top to bottom.  I made myself a list, and I made the kids a list.  Here is what we accomplished (in under 3 hours!).

Tiffany's List:

dust main level

sweep main level

vacuum main level

clean main bathroom

clean kids bathroom

clean master bathroom

dust master bedroom

vacuum stairs

vacuum upstairs

Kids List:

pick up kids bathroom

clean bedrooms

dust bedrooms

wipe down 4 kitchen chairs (each)

clean porch

get all laundry downstairs

shake out 3 kitchen rugs

The kids were done in about an hour and then they got busy playing.  But, we felt so accomplished!  I think I would rather spend one full day cleaning than have to do a project or two every single day.  And, this week, I finished my list in 2 hours!  It takes a lot less time to clean a clean house.  Hmmm.  I'm hoping we can continue this!  It's so nice to enjoy a clean house!  And, when the kids participate, they're much more picky about keeping it clean. 

I made this Mango Smoothie last week and the kids really loved it.  Here's what I did:

Mango Yogurt Smoothie:

1 mango (peeled, chopped, frozen)

2 bananas, frozen

2 cups of plain yogurt

1 cup whole milk

1/4 cup sugar

Blend until smooth and enjoy!  Makes 4 (large) smoothies.

Oh...I added a little update to my Buttery Chocolate Chip Cookies...I made them healthier!  Instead of 4 cups of white flour, I did 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 2 cups of white flour.  And then, I cut out 1/4 cup of white sugar and 1/4 cup of brown sugar.  I actually think they taste even better!  I posted this change to the cookie page.

This afternoon my parents are having all 4 grandkids over to play...I'm going to run errands (and maybe sew?).  Then, they are having Matt and I and my brother and sister-in-law over for Thai food.  Should be a fun day!

Have a wonderful weekend!  BTW...I've been reading through a lot of Emilie Barnes books on organizing...I've been getting a lot of great tips...you should check some out from your library!

XOXO Tiffany

"I leaned against the warm brick wall and gazed up.  It was a bright, cloudless day, the sky a mocking blue".  Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier