Homemade Zesty Italian Dreassing

This dressing has a great, intense flavor. The lemon and the mustard give it a great zesty flavor that I like instead of the strong vinegar flavor of some Italian dressings. I used this dressing recently for a cold pasta salad and it was a hit!

1 garlic clove made into a paste with 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar

1/4 cup water

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

1/4-1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

Put all ingredients in a container with a tight lid. Shake container really well until all ingredients are well mixed and the oil is no longer separate from the other ingredients. Shake again right before serving since the Italian seasoning floats to the top. Refrigerate extra. The olive oil will solidify after refrigerating so let it come to room temperature before using and shake well before serving.

First Day Of 1st Grade

Today is Charlotte's first day of 1st grade. Though she wasn't ready for summer to end, she was excited to go to school this morning after she heard that her teacher reads stories in funny voices.
Oops, didn't get that other sock folded down before the picture this morning.

Jon walked her to her classroom this morning. She brought her teachers flowers from our garden as per family tradition. I can't wait to go pick her up from the bus stop and hear all about her first day.

I've missed her like crazy today. She's been such a helper this past week as I've started back with daycare (I do daycare only during the school year).

I'm excited to see what this year holds for her.

Why I Love Freecycle

I joined Freecycle about 6 months ago and since then I have given away countless number of things that we no longer needed. It makes me feel good to know that something we can't use anymore isn't going to sit in a closet forever but instead will go to someone who will put it to good use. Every once in a while I find something being offered on Freecycle that I could use. We now have a wooden rocking chair in our living room because someone didn't want it anymore.

A few weeks ago I saw that some shelving units were listed. I've really needed more shelving for our playroom but sturdy shelves are expensive. I picked up the free shelves in hopes of making them work.
There were 3 vertical shelves (I have them on their sides) and one vertical cabinet. I needed to repair the backs of a few of them but otherwise they were in good shape.

I took out the shelf pegs and stacked them horizontally. I used construction adhesive to glue them together.

Now the free shelves are being put to good use in the playroom. I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out. I haven't figured out where to use the cabinet yet but I'm thinking it'll be used for yarn storage.

Yesterday I gave away 2 big bags of Jon's clothes that he cleaned out of the closet this weekend. The woman who picked them up for her husband was so grateful for them. It feels really good to know that you've given something to someone who needs it.

"Hon, The Water Won't Turn Off!"

This is what Jon said to me last week. He got a some water from the kitchen faucet and when he went to lower the handle to turn it off, it wouldn't turn off. Of course this is at 8:00 at night and we were both tired from a long day. Time for problem solving mode....

First I turned off the water shut-offs under the kitchen sink... one of which started leaking.
Great.
Thank goodness Lowes stays open until 9:00. I dash off to Lowes to get a new faucet confident that Jon and I can figure this out.


After I get home with the new faucet, Jon and I watch a youtube video on how to replace a faucet. Okay, we can do this.


I look under the sink and realize that our connections don't look like the ones in the video. Great. I try to figure out how the faucet is connected to the sink. I send a picture to Mark and Mom hoping they are familiar with this strange connection.

Mark must have heard the frustration and desperation in my voice because he put on his super hero cape and drove the 30 minutes to come help us out... at 9pm. Did you know superheroes travel with their Super Tool Bucket? It's true. Mark was able to figure out how to get the old faucet off after some work.

Old faucet off. Oh no. The new faucet I bought is the wrong kind. Walmart is the only store open so I drive to Walmart really quick and pick out a functioning but not pretty faucet. Rush home. Mark tries to install it but because it was a different style, the water hoses wouldn't reach. Great.

I assure Mark that I can handle putting in the new faucet the next morning when I can go to Lowes and get the right faucet. I send the super hero home.

The next morning, the kids and I return two faucets and buy the right faucet that is a big improvement over the cheapo Walmart one I had picked out the night before. We picked out the correct water hoses and came home to tackle the job. Great! (no sarcasm this time)

Charlotte was my assistant and held the faucet and sprayer still while I tightened them from below.

I feel really sorry for plumbers. It's really uncomfortable working under a sink.

For all the trouble it was getting to that point, installing the new faucet was really simple and only took about 20 minutes.

Nothing fancy but it works beautifully and only cost us $58 including the new water hoses!

Thanks Mark for the help!

So, now I know how to repair a toilet and replace a faucet. I think I might be on my way to earning a tool belt... or at least a scout badge of some sort. Do they give badges to 32 year old women? They should.

Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread

A few months ago I bought a 50 pound bag of rolled oats. Yes, that's right, 50 pounds .... of oats. Since then, I've been making an effort to use those oats. Oatmeal cookies, hot oatmeal for breakfast, granola... This bread is one of my favorite new uses for some of those oats. The bread is very slightly sweet and makes perfect cinnamon scented toast.

The loaves should be a bit higher but I let it rise too long and they deflated a bit in the oven

Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread (adapted from King Arthur's Vermont Whole Wheat Oatmeal Honey Bread)(Makes 2 loaves but I often double it to make 4 loaves. The bread freezes well.)

2 1/4 cups boiling water
1 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup brown sugar (I used coarse evaporated cane juice)
1 Tbsp. honey
1/4 cup butter (I use Earth Balance)
1 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. yeast
5 1/2 cups flour* (I use a combo of white whole wheat and whole wheat but use whatever flour you like)
*2Tbsp. vital wheat gluten if using whole wheat flour (aids in rising)


In a large mixing bowl, combine water, oats, sugar, honey, butter, salt, and cinnamon. Let cool until lukewarm.


Add the yeast and flour (and wheat gluten if using), stirring to form a rough dough. Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth. Transfer the dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl with a damp towel or greased plastic wrap. Allow dough to rise for 60-90 minutes.


Divide dough in half, and shape each half into a loaf. Place the loaves in two greased standard loaf pans. Cover the pans with lightly greased plastic wrap or a damp towel and let the loaves rise until they've crowned about 1 inch over the rim of the pan, about 1 hour.


Bake the loaves in a preheated 360* oven for 33 minutes (or at 350* for 35-40 minutes). Remove them from the oven when they're golden brown and the interior registers 190* on an instant read thermometer.

Food Inc. On PBS Tomorrow, Aug. 9th!!!

Food Inc. changed the way I think about food. It's an amazing documentary on the food system in the United States. I've changed a lot about how my family eats because of it. I think it's important for everyone to watch it. The more people who watch this film and become aware of the current food system, the more power we have to change it. If we continue to keep our heads in the sand, nothing will change. We deserve healthy foods, foods that are treated with care, and food policy that looks out for more then big business.

I encourage everyone to check their local PBS listing to see what time Food Inc. will be shown August 9th and watch. I'd love to hear your thoughts after you watch it.

**Edited to add... Looks like some local PBS stations are showing Food Inc. on other dates. If you watch PBS on UNC-TV (my local station), Food Inc. will be shown August 12th at 2:00am. I hope you have TIVO if you're not a night owl. ***

Adele

Such a voice. Such an amazing, rich voice that I can't seem to hear enough of. I have very varied musical taste but one thing that they usually have in common is a very strong voice (Pink and Wynonna are two of my other favorites). In my next life, I'd love to come back with a smoky, powerful voice. Until then, I'll just crank up the car stereo and sing along with Adele and pretend I can belt them out like she does.

Someone Like You

Rolling In The Deep

Chasing Pavements

Turning Tables

What A Difference A New Camera Makes!

This picture was taken with my old camera. A fine camera that I thought took great pictures until I got my new camera.



Since my old camera died while hiking in the Smoky Mountains. I finally decided on the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC WX9. I got it on Amazon.com for $189. It got great reviews and had features that I wanted like a setting just for food pictures!

Here are some pictures I took with my new camera this morning. I can't believe the difference in picture quality. Of course, I had better lighting in this mornings pictures but it's the other details that I noticed too. The close up focusing is amazing with this new camera.

King Arthur's "Our Favorite Blueberry Muffins"

I love that it focuses well in the foreground and lets the background get blurry. That's a trick I've always loved on food blogs and thought I'd have to wait to get a serious camera to be able to do it. Apparently not. I love the way this camera captures the light without making things look washed out.

The camera even has a neat setting that automatically takes a picture when it detects a smile! How cool is that? It also takes great low light pictures without being blurry. I tested the action setting to see if I could finally take a lower light picture of Evan without being blurry because homeboy doesn't ever stand still. It worked! Not a bit blurry even though he was dancing!

I'm having the best time with my new toy! Let's see... what else can I take a picture of? Where's the cat? Hey! Kids! Come back here so Momma can take another picture of you!

Wordless Wednesday Part II - Garden Blooms With A New Camera!

I'll blog tomorrow about my new camera!

Wordless Wednesday - Garden Blooms

Baking Bread

Before we left for vacation, a few weeks ago, I spent much of a day baking bread. I had a few friends over the day before to bake bread but we were too busy talking to get much baking done. I was left with the need to bake so the next day the kids and I baked, and baked, and baked. Each time a batch of bread dough was ready to knead, I broke off pieces for Evan and Charlotte to knead.

Charlotte knows how to knead pretty well at this point but Evan's still learning so I took his hands to teach him the push, fold, and push again motion.

And here was our end results. We baked a total of 8 loaves of bread that day. Most of them went into the freezer and we've been enjoying them over the past few weeks. I think it's almost time for the next baking day. I hate to run out of homemade bread or "Yummy Bread" as the kids call it.