Off to the market......

This week has been very busy. The girls and I are going to the farmers market tomorrow with all of our baked goodies. We are all very excited to say the least. I will have to update more on Sunday or Monday to let you know how it went. For now enjoy the beautiful summer weather. Thank You Mom, Aunt Pat, and Mrs. Dillard for all of your help.

Soft Butter Spread

SOFT BUTTER SPREAD:

make your dollar go further.....

Description:
A fluffy butter mixture that's easily spreadable
Yield: 2 cups
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup water, at room temperature
Instructions:
1. Using an electric mixer, blend butter on HI until fluffy.
2. Continue mixing, and slowly add oil. Continue mixing and slowly add water. Mixture will turn white and be very light and fluffy!
3. Chill until set. (See additional notes.)

Thank you Tammy @ http://www.tammysrecipes.com/ I have been using this to stretch our family's dollar for about a month now and we still get to enjoy the taste of butter, it just goes a bit further.

From the mouth of babes.....

This was my conversation with my 4 yr old son today:

I was laying on the floor in our family room reading a book and entertaining my 10 week old darling daughter, when Brody came wandering down stairs. All of my children were having "quiet time" and so I was a bit surprised to see Brody, but figured he needed water or something like that.

Me: "Hey Brody whats up?"

Brody: "Mommy did you know that Jesus is here."

Me: " He is?"

Brody: " Yes he is upstairs."

Me: "Where upstairs?"

Brody: "In Grans room."

My mom stayed here while I was having my baby to help me with the kids, so now the extra bedroom upstairs is "Grans" room.

The hair on my arm stood up, because he did not think about what he was about to say, he just blurted it out as if we always have Jesus upstairs in Grans room. Anyway...

Brody: "I asked him to color with me."

Me: "did he color with you?"

Brody: "yes, I colored a cat and he colored

an apple and a snake."

I told him that was really special, then there was a moment of silence, and I was going to go back to reading my book, when....Brody said

"Mommy, did you know that Jesus is still here."

Me: " No I didn't. where is he now?"

Mind you, my heart is racing a bit now, as all of my doors and windows are open, and I am beginning to think that maybe there is a "Man" in my house.

Brody: "I'll go find him"

then he ran out of the family room for a moment. The next thing I knew he came squealing back into the family room...."MOMMY HE'S COMING!!!!!!!."Then he jumped on the love seat and stared at me.

Me: "Where is Jesus now Brody?"

Brody: "Can't you see him mommy, he is standing right in front of you!"

I really had chills going up and down my spine. First of all, if Jesus was in my house, I was in big trouble because it was a big mess, and I was just laying around reading. :0) What an amazing conversation I had today with my little man. He really is special. And I am amazed at what our children see and hear.....

Lets take a walk.....

Dad and Brody in La Jolla California

get inspired....Take a walk....

We all have learned to walk by about age one, and most of us have since forgotten how. Walking is probably the greatest exercise of all. Did you know that a mile of walking burns just as many calories as a mile of running? And the walking is easier on your knees and ankles.

New York Bagel Bread.... Yummmmmm

This is the bread recipe I followed for the New York bagel bread....I mixed the bread ingredients together first, then followed the New york Bagel recipe that follows...We had this bread with dinner, and It was FABULOUS, not only did it taste good, but it was nice to look at when it first came out of the oven. It also made the house smell amazing. It was easy and made the cook look really talented.....

an easy, basic homemade bread

Yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F)

1/3 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons oil

3 cups flour

*1 tablespoon dry yeast

New York Bagel Bread:

recipe from http://www.preparedpantry.com/

Directions:
Mix the dough according to recipe directions *but use only two tablespoons of oil*--either olive or vegetable oil. If the dough is too wet to handle, add another tablespoon or two of flour. Grease a large bowl. Remove the dough to the bowl and turn once to coat both sides. Cover and let rise until doubled, usually over an hour.
Prepare a large cookie or baking sheet by greasing and sprinkling with cornmeal. The sheet should be at least 20 inches long.
Turn the risen dough out onto a countertop. Divide the dough with a sharp knife into two parts, one piece twice as large as the other. Divide both the larger and smaller piece into three equals pieces so that you have six pieces of dough. Roll the pieces on the counter under your palms to form ropes about an inch in diameter. The larger ropes should be 18 to 20 inches long; the smaller ropes about 16 inches.
Braid the longer ropes together and the smaller ropes together in three strand braids as shown. Pinch the ends together to keep the braids from unraveling as the dough rises. Place the larger braid on the sheet and center the smaller braid on top of the larger. Cover with plastic and let rise until well doubled and very puffy, about another hour.
Place two tablespoons water and two tablespoons of oil in a bowl. Chop one medium onion and add it to the oil and water mixture. Add 2 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder to the mixture. Stir and let sit while the dough rises.
In a cup, create an egg wash by mixing one egg yolk with one tablespoon water and stirring with a fork or whisk until well mixed.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Once the dough has risen, brush the loaf with the egg wash to coat. Spoon the topping on the loaf as shown. Sprinkle the loaf with course salt and place the bread in the oven.
Bake the loaf for 30 minutes at 375 degrees. Turn the temperature down to 350 degrees and loosely cover the top of the loaf with aluminum foil to keep from burning the topping. Bake for another 15 minutes. Remove the loaf from the oven and check for doneness. If you have a thermometer, the center of the loaf should test 200 degrees. Turn the oven off and place the loaf back in the oven for five minutes without the aluminum foil cover. The last five minutes in the oven will develop a thicker crust. Cool on a wire rack before slicing.

View from the front porch.....and some shared wisdom

The famous quote about frugality "Use it up, Wear it Out, Make it do, or Do Without" applies very well to reducing one's emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. Everything we buy has an embodied energy cost - that is, the energy to make it contributes to global warming. It also has personal energy costs - more of our hard earned dollars means more time spent at work, or more stress over our credit card bills. Frugality and environmentalism don't have a 100 percent overlap, but often, doing the frugal thing is also doing the environmentally sound thing. Everytime we buy new, we say to that manufacturer "Make one more." One more is often too many.So how do we do this? First, we use things up - we extract every single last drop out of something. That means we scrape the pan thoroughly, so that we don't end up throwing away food. It means we use our thumbs to get the last bit of egg out of the shell - do that with six eggs and you've got the equivalent of another. Take those scraps of ratty old tshirts and make a quilt, or handkerchiefs to substitute for tissues, or cloth tp to substitute for paper, or whatever. Take the time to really get all the use we can out of things. That includes pleasure, time and love - that is, if we get all the pleasure we can from our simple lives, we won't always need more. If we make good use of all our time - rest and work - we won't be running all the time. If we make full use of the love and support of others, we might look up one day and have a community to rely on.Wear it out. That means making things last as long as possible. That means darning our socks, mending our jeans, reheeling our shoes instead of just chucking them and getting a new pair. The longer we can extend the lifespan of our things, the less we'll need to buy. And with that in mind, it is often wisest to buy things that really last, and also things that have potential for long term reuse or repair. That means wood furniture, not plastic, metal tools, good quality clothing. It isn't always frugal just because it is cheap - we need to start thinking about the whole lifespan of a object from where and how it was made to what we will do when it breaks or is worn out. A wooden bowl that your grandchildren will use is a better investment than 10 plastic bowls that won't last a decade. A wool sweater that can be felted down to fill a quilt at the end of its life as a sweater is a better investment than an acrylic one. Remember the story about the man who had an overcoat - when it wore out, he made a jacket. When the jacket wore out he made a vest. When the vest wore out he made a scarf. When the scarf wore out he made a handkerchief. When the handkercheif wore out, he made a button. And when the button was finally lost, he told the story. There's almost always a little more wear in things.Make it do. This requires imagination - what substitutes can we find? How can we use something we have, instead of something new? What can I make? What can I do? It requires living life artfully and imaginatively - much more so than saying "oh, I need a new dish drainer - off to the store." We ask children to make do all the time, or at least we used to. Don't have a train set? Use your imagination. Carve one? Make one out of a cardboard box? Pretend? We need to take the same advice we used to give children, and start finding ways to make do with what we have. Most of us have houses full of stuff. Our sense that we need just one more object to make it complete is probably wrong. Oh, there are exceptions - particularly if you've been living a fossil fueled life, and now need to power down. But most of the time, if we just imagined, we could make do with what we have. Do without. I live in a 3500+ square foot farmhouse filled with books, tools, kids, toys, etc... I've met people who live in 200 square foot huts filled with themselves and a few tools and pots. Many of those people considered themselves happy, fortunate and blessed - so if you can be blessed with 200 square feet, what is the rest doing for me? If you and I can't do without, who can? Before you buy something, ask yourself - can everyone have one? That is, if everyone had one, would it be good for the world? Did my grandmother or grandfather have one? Did they need one? If not, why do I need one? Sometimes you will need it. But surprisingly often you don't.We all need food, water, shelter, love, education, joy, clothing, some simple tools, good work to do, comfort, support, peace, security, art, imagination. More than half of these you can't buy at any price, in fact having too much can prevent you from enjoying them fully. The rest can be met 90% of the time in our present society with something used, or with less than you thought. They can be met by making things or finding things or reusing things. Doing without isn't impoverishment - it is life as art.

I can't remember where I saw this, but I believe it is important to be concious of how we are living and thought I would share.......