Gardening

All my life I have been accused of having a black thumb. The miniature rose I received as a high school graduation gift only survived through the first month of college. After my first child was born my father gave me a pot of cacti. They died too. Thus, the "You are less nourishing than a desert" speech.

Despite this, I have once again found myself puttering around the yard. So far so good. Would you believe that I have spent over 8 hours between Saturday and today weeding my flower beds? Eight hours. And I'm not done yet. Just mostly done. =) My entire body aches from the effort of pulling and squatting for so long. Which means it's really good for me. The sunshine isn't bad either. ;-) Especially since I picked up my new glasses (transitions!!!).

I am attempting to start a vegetable garden from seeds. Scary...I've never done that before... It's been a fun experiment for me and the girls. Every morning we run out to see which seeds are doing what. So far the green beans are the biggest, with the peas in second place. Aside from an incident with a chipmunk and a tiny tomato sprout and Tempe needing to "see" the sunflower there have been no casualties in this process. But the year is still young. Ha.

See? My little seedlings. Green beans, peas, two varieties of tomatoes, corn, and sunflowers. Not all pictured

Another fun thing about gardening is that I can be productive, completely ignoring the growing pile of dishes. Who needs to vacuum when there is weeding to be done?

Also, you find fun surprises in the yard. We moved in to this house almost one year ago so we missed most of the spring flowers...imagine my surprise when these showed their gorgeous faces!

My second favorite flower. Aren't they gorgeous?

We even have an apricot!

This tree hasn't even been here a year, and look!

So maybe my thumb isn't so black after all??? Maybe there is hope for me yet? We'll see...don't want to get my hopes up too much. If you have an handy tips for gardening, vegetable or otherwise please share! I need all the help I can get!

Stay tuned for more adventures in gardening...

My Newest Food Obsession with Recipe

 

OK, so here's the deal. My friend bought 9 lbs of these sausages a while ago. When she went to eat one, she found out they gave her terrible heartburn. So I inherited 8lbs of these delicious sausages. I'm sorry she felt bad after eating them, but I am thankful!!! Never would have bought these on my own. Now I will!

In a word: YUM.

Low calorie (for a sausage, that is) and low fat, full of flavour...sausage perfection.

An example of how much we like them: as I said, I was given 8lbs of sausage. We've already eaten half of them. SINCE THANKSGIVING. =) They're good.

They are excellent last minute meal ideas. The recipe below was dinner last night. Delicious! I just threw it together and the family enjoyed it. Cheap and easy is my dinner motto this week!

No, there are no pictures. We ate it too fast.

Chicken Sausage and Veggie Pasta

serves 4

Sauce:
1TBS olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 TBS minced garlic
3 links Casual Gourmet Roasted Red Pepper & Spinach Chicken Sausage, sliced into rounds
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
2 TBS tomato paste
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup wine
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 TBS sugar

In a dutch oven over medium heat, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until the onions are translucent. Add the sausage and cook for 3 minutes. Carefully pour in the next 8 ingredients (crushed tomatoes through bay leaf) and stir until combined. Stirring occasionally, allow the contents to come to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sausage from scorching. Add the salt, pepper and sugar. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

Veggies:
2 medium zucchini, cut in half length wise and cut into bite sized half moons
2 medium yellow squash, cut in half length wise and cut into bite sized half moons
8oz Baby Bella mushrooms, washed and halved
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. While the sauce is cooking, thoroughly wash and cut veggies according to the above directions. Spray a large baking sheet (with sides!) with cooking spray. Arrange veggies on the sheets so that all vegetables are touching the bottom and are in a single layer. Spray again with cooking spray. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Bake for 30 minutes, or until vegetables are soft and the undersides are lightly brown. Do not stir while cooking.

1 lb box of your favourite pasta, cooked according to package directions.

When all is done, toss everything together and serve. It's yummy. The sauce tastes sausagey with a hint of wine and the vegetables are lovely.

Try it and let me know what you think!

Don't cook this while starving though...the wine fumes will go straight to your head!

Lovely Afternoon and Pattern Woes

I've spent the afternoon reading a new book (Spying in High Heels, by Gemma Halliday. Funny) and listening to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey soundtrack online. It's free. And legal. I promise.

So aside from breaking up several little girl fights, this has been a pretty awesome day.

Oh yeah, and the Vogue skirt pattern I bought a year ago and couldn't make because my measurements weren't as small as Vogue said they should be is still too small. Darn Vintage Vogue. I wanted to sew it this weekend. But why bother if I can't wear it anyway? *Sigh* The pattern instructions sure do a number on your self esteem...according to the measurements, my waist is a size 20, and my hips a more reasonable 16. Trying to remember I'm half that size. AND LOOK GOOD, DARN IT ALL!

There you go, my size rant for the year. I am beautiful just the way God made me. Although a few more hours of cardio each week wouldn't go amiss...purely for health reasons!

I may someday be able to fit this...I like the mid-length best. Far right.

I have a love/hate relationship with sewing.

Currently

I'm doing it...a Currently post. Sorry if you are sick of reading this same format from other bloggers. Skip and come back another day. ;-)

Currently:

Listening to: Christmas music! Michael Buble is my favourite at the moment, but that can always change. Tony Bennett is going in next...

Reading: Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul, by John and Stasi Eldridge. About halfway through and I love it. Highly recommend!!! It has given me many great things to think about and pray over after reading each chapter.

Feeling: TIRED! And a little cranky. The whole family has been sick for a while now, with Tempe being the sickest. I think we're averaging about 4 hours of sleep a night. And she's stopped napping. Very ready for health to reign supreme!

Working on: Two projects! One is my cook book (great progress this week!) and the other is a large Christmas ornament for a friend. It is going to be lovely. Black and white satin flowers covering a large Styrofoam ball topped with a large silver bow. Can you picture it? After I finish I'll try to remember to post a pic of it. Found my camera!!!

Looking forward to: My birthday! And the school Christmas play to be over. I love that my husband has the opportunity of co-directing the play and he's enjoying it! But...the family misses him. Tempe especially as she is sick and only wants Daddy snuggles.

Making me happy: Moroccan food! Seriously, I found a recipe for a vegetarian chickpea dish that I am obsessed with. Don't believe me? Made it Monday and making it again tonight. My hubby and I fought over the leftovers so I'm making a double recipe tonight.

Loving: This picture. It's not the best in the world, but I was happy. He was happy. And we actually have a pic of the two of us! If you know either one of us, you'd understand how difficult this actually is...we hate being photographed! It was taken at the craft fair...obviously, we are in costume! He was Dr. Jekyll AND Mr. Hyde, and I was Mary Poppins. I think we're cute! ;-)

Birthday Girl

Favourite quote of the day: Tempe reading a flap book about striped animals, "If I had purple stripes, and was a bug, I'd be a [open flap] CATERPICKLE!"

Haha. I love my girl. She makes me laugh.

Her birthday was Halloween. She's now THREE! My baby is no longer a baby. So sad...

In belated honour of her birthday a few pictures of her! Hard to believe how much she's changed! I am thankful for the blessing she is in our lives. She is an easy-going kid (until you rub her wrong, then watch out!), who is fun and goofy and completely adorable.

7 months. At the beach for the first time. Loved eating sand.



16 ish months. Loved bouncing on everything (even her sister!).

18 months. Silly girl.

2 years, 6 months. Loved music, dancing, fish.

2 years, 10 months. Loves hats, dresses, and dancing to Train.

I can't find my camera at the moment or I'd share a more recent photo of her. But it isn't surprising I can't find it. Last week I tried opening my house with the car key remote, I lost my glasses then later found them on my face, lost my cellphone to find it in the fridge, and forgot to eat most days. Slowly we are recovering from Mommy's crazy spell.

Anyone else have weeks like that they care to share?

The Power of a Hug

Rough start to the day. Long hours of wakefulness last night. One tea bag (of the good stuff anyway) left in the house this morning. One man running late. One daughter losing her school things every morning for the last two weeks. And the other daughter crying about the cold and having the leave the house.

(If you are cold, wear shoes. Don't go outside on a 37 degree morning barefoot and expect to be warm. Three year olds...just had to point that out)

Saying I was a little grumpy is an understatement.

But I came home. Made myself that last tea bag (it was lonely by itself!) and sat. Thinking. Pondering. Praying. Confessing. Too many mornings I am tired and stressed out getting people ready and out the door. I shout the words "HURRY UP!" too much. I get grumpy when no one follows my schedule.

I sat and drank tea and felt badly for how I respond to situations. And then I hear the pitter-patter of Tempe feet running through the house. A sweet little voice asks, "Mommy, I want to give you a hug." And she does. A beautiful demonstration of God providing me with exactly what I needed when I needed it.

Hugs are important. Everyone should be hugged more.

In fact, there is a recent birthday girl who needs one right now.

Good-bye. Hug someone special today. You don't always know when someone could use the love and encouragement.

Pinterest

Pinterest is both the greatest invention ever and the worst torture imaginable.

Especially for someone who suffers food allergies.

I find great allergy friendly recipes, household hints, crafts, kid friendly activities, and pictures of gorgeous overpriced fashion. But then there will always be links to things like this:

 

Or this:

 

 

Or this:

 

Do you see my problem? After an afternoon on Pinterest, I started craving all sorts of cheesy things. But it was good for something. I learned how to best clean a stainless steel sink and then did it. Then the boys filled the sink with dirty dishes and no one can tell it was ever clean. Oh well. If you are a Pinterest addict like myself, look me up! You can find me here.

Also inspired by Pinterest, and the 6 pounds of apples sitting in my kitchen, I made homemade chunky applesauce. It was my own recipe, not one I found online, but the photos of Fall cuisine inspired me. The smell of fresh applesauce inspired a craving for waffles. Which I didn't get as I'm out of gluten free flour. My fault, I know.

Just wanted to say before I sign off that obviously, I did not take those gorgeous photos, however, if you go to my Pinterest Food! page you will find both the links and the recipes for them! Someone should enjoy them since I can't.

If you do make one, do me a favour? Tell me how good it was? (Or bad) "And remember this is for posterity, so be honest..." I have to live a dairy and gluten filled life through you now.

Bonus points to those who know where the quote is from. Not hard, I know.