Life With The Crew

Thankful Tuesday, being held on Monday 12.23.13

Keeping it short today and focused on family.  Today I am thankful for...

-A nice pre-holiday dinner with my family.  Homemade pizza, local beer, and a good salad (greens from the CSA, dried cranberries, caramelized onions, and oranges).  Warm gingerbread bars with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of maple syrup.  Yum!

-A relaxing, but productive weekend with my little babe and husband.  Some gift making (all done now!), some gift wrapping (all re-used paper-yeah!), and a lot of cooking.  My super husband turned out mushroom cheesy eggs for breakfast (with that yummy chocolate bread I was raving about in my last post), made bagels (not bad for a first attempt), followed the yogurt recipe from Taproot (waiting to see the results), and baked a delicious loaf of rosemary bread.

-I am thankful for my little babe who is getting to be a big girl and can now do the following:  have her teeth brushed and not cry about it, open the latch on the half door all by herself, climb up the stairs at lighting speed, army crawl her way down two stairs, and make complete strangers smile.  What more could a momma want?  (Maybe to be able to have a nice dinner out with just her husband, but that will come with time.)

In the midst of all the eating, drinking, and merry making this holiday season, take a few moments to appreciate all that you have to be thankful for.  I think you will find that you have a lot more than what comes in packages covered with shiny paper and curly bows.

 

Recipe for the Weekend - Chocolate Quick Bread...

with beets!  I know, I know.  You are saying, jeez Katie, this is recipe number three with chocolate and beets.  Cake, cookies, and now this.  But folks, what is the line of thinking - you have to see or hear something seven times for it to sink in?  So if this is only post number three on beets and chocolate, I bet you haven't even tried the cake and cookies yet and boy are you missing out.  The interesting thing about all of this beet love is that before a year ago, I had never even tried a beet!  Hard, rooty looking things, that turned into slimy looking pickled purply-red "eggs" in the fridge - gross!  But organic beets, roasted in the oven, pureed and blended into a rich chocolate batter - yum!  Beets are sweet, who knew?  I will even eat some slices plain when I am cutting them for the blender.

So try this quick bread.  Once you have the beets roasted and pureed it is quick to whip up and it is healthy for you because it has beets!  Beets give you iron, which is a really good thing.  Plus, you should feel so proud that your kids (and husbands) are eating beets and not complaining about it! 

Sweet Beet Chocolate Quick Bread, adapted from this recipe

1.  This recipe used 2-3 beets.  I scrub them, pierce them with a fork,  put them in a glass pan with some olive oil on the bottom of it, cover with foil, and bake at 400 for about 30-45 minutes, until soft.  When they are cool, I puree them with a little water in the Vitamix.

2.  Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a 9x5" loaf pan.

3.  Mix 1 1/2 cups flour (I used whole wheat), 1/2 cup cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark), 1/2 t. salt, 1/2 t. baking powder, 1/2 t. baking soda, and 1 t. cinnamon.

4.  Cream together 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup maple syrup*.  Add 2 eggs, one at a time.

5.  Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with 1 cup of buttermilk.  I never have buttermilk, so I used 1 cup of raw milk with 2 T. of vinegar added, left to sit for several minutes.  Blend until well combined.

6.  Blend in the beets.  I used about 3/4-1 cup of beet puree.  If you're afraid of all that healthy goodness, use less.  All the beets really do is make it more moist.

7.  Pour into loaf pan and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle on top 1/2 cup of chopped pecans and 1/4 cup of chocolate chips or real chocolate.  Return to oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.  It might take a little bit longer because of the beets.  If the top is getting browned, but the center is not done, lightly cover with a piece of aluminum foil and bake until done.

*If you don't have maple syrup, you can still make this bread.  Just use 1 full cup of white sugar.  

If you missed my other beet recipes, here are the cake and cookie recipes.  You are probably on sugar cookie overload by now, so this bread is just what you need.  Your sweet tooth will be happy because you are eating chocolate for breakfast, but your body will be thanking you for the dose of healthy goodness you are eating.  Keeping you strong for another day of holiday merry making!

 

 

Sunday Morning Silliness and a Little Loveliness

This is something that I guess isn't all that silly, it seems to be a thriving business for this farm - nativity scene rentals!  However, I would feel pretty silly typing "camel rental" into Google.  I bet it is NOT a heading in the Yellow Pages!

(photo from lazyjvranch.com)

And now for some lovely, lazy window shopping in bed on a rainy Sunday.  I just discovered folksy.com.  For those of you who don't know what it is, it is basically the British version of Etsy.  I saw it on a blog, thought I'd check it out because I tend to love all things British (except probably the weather), and came up with this list of things I would love to get.  I don't need any of them, but they all made me smile.

-Sheep Design Knitted Hot Water Bottle Cover.  Hot water bottles are SO not an American thing, but I might consider buying one so that I can cover it with this.

-This watercolor print - it is just so sweet.

-Handmade felt finger puppets - pretty darn cute!

-This wooden puzzle is part toy, part art.

-I would not force my child to wear such a silly thing, but it will make you laugh!

-I am a blanket fiend.  I would love this horse print one for my little babe.

 

Enjoying My Time in Blog Land

I want to let my fellow bloggers know how happy I am to be a part of such a fun and supportive community.  In just the couple of months that I have been blogging, I have received many positive comments about my blog posts and photography.  I enjoy the connections that I have made with people that I will most likely never meet in person, but who I communicate with more than I do some of my own relatives!  I am inspired by all of the art and crafts that I see on a daily basis on blogs and I am amazed that these busy moms have time to make such beautiful things!  I have especially enjoyed this holiday season, reading about different traditions, crafts, and what makes Christmas "Christmas" for bloggers all over the world.

I'd like to send some blog love out to two bloggers.  Aurora at Pippiluna sent me a set of her sweet handmade cards in a handmade product exchange.  Its not every day I receive something from The Netherlands!

 

I also want to thank 1000 Hours Outside because I was the lucky winner of their give-a-way contest last Friday.  It totally made my Saturday when I found out that I had won!  My prize arrived today - 4 big, round, soft, wool dryer balls.  The prize was for 3, but they sent me a bonus one because I do so much laundry - never thought that would be a good thing!

So for all you awesome bloggers out there, have a happy holiday season with your families.  Eat those cookies you've been baking for others, enjoy watching your kids play with the toys you have made for them, and stay warm in that hat/scarf/blanket/gloves that you have knitted for yourself - you earned it!

And I'll leave you with some crafting that I've been doing.  I shared here the story about finding the big birch branch - well this is what I've done with it.  My brother is working his own craftiness on the other half of the branch.  I had some felt left over from the Advent calendar I made and so cut out these simple shapes to glue on the birch branch slices that my husband nicely cut for me.  Simple, cute, and natural.  The felt is actually made from recycled plastic, so it is a very eco-friendly ornament (we'll ignore the toxic super glue - only glue I had in the house).  My husband drilled a hole in the top and I used some green raffia and white ribbon that I had left over from last year to hang them.  I love the way they look hanging in my windows.

 

Enjoy the season!

Donations Needed to Fill 70 Christmas Stockings...

with dog food!  Actually, there isn't enough money for stockings.  Help is really needed to fill 70 dog food bowls.

Since my other post today was about feeding my pack of six dogs, I thought I would follow it up with an appeal to help someone who has many more doggie mouths to feed than I do.  

Irina Neblea lives in Romania with her mother and over 70 dogs.  Yes, that isn't a typo - I really mean 70!  All of these dogs were homeless, either born on the street or discarded  by their owners who didn't want to care for them anymore.  Most of them would be dead long before now, because the odds of a newborn puppy surviving on its own is very slim, especially during the harsh Romanian winters.  (In case  you are wondering where Romania is, it is in Eastern Europe and gets a lot of snow!)

Irina has recently moved all of the dogs to a new location, on property that she owns.  She has been busy for weeks building dog houses for them.  She is doing this by herself, mostly with scrap material.  Irina works her butt off so that these dogs are given the basics - shelter, food, and lots of love, which is what a lot of the dogs want most of all.  

If you are interested in finding out more, you can follow Irina on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/irina.neblea

https://www.facebook.com/groups/535950286460893/

You can donate securely by PayPal using the email address:  i.neblea@yahoo.com

Irina is a brave, kind, super strong woman who has dedicated her life to helping these souls that no one else will.  Irina's cold, dark corner of Romania could use some help this holiday season.  Please donate to help spread some light and save a life.

Feeding Six Dogs

At the moment I have six dogs.  I have had up to eight dogs in the house at one time, seven of my own and one foster.  Nobody would like to live on bread alone and dogs are happier if they get something other than dry dog food.  Our dogs eat a salmon based dry dog food and then I make a beef and rice mixture as a supplement.  People always seem surprised that I make my own "dog food" and ask how I make it, so I thought I would share.  It is super simple.  This post isn't going to win any awards for photography, but I thought some photos would make it a little more interesting.  This is the only time that you will see a picture of meat on my blog!  The recipe is very simple, just ground beef and rice, cooked like you would for yourself, but without any salt or spices.  

Start by cooking your ground beef in some veggie oil on medium heat until brown all the way through.  Because meat grosses me out, I make sure it is well done. 

We buy the cheap Club Pack of ground beef at our local grocery store, about 5 lbs.  I don't worry about what the fat content is, 80% lean or 90% lean - the dogs don't care.  I get which one is cheaper.  I cook half of the meat at one time and freeze the other half.

At the same time that the meat is cooking, I cook the rice.  Our dogs seem to digest white rice better than brown, so that is what I use.  I normally do 2 cups of rice and 4 cups of water.  Cook the rice just like you would for yourself - bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer until the water is absorbed and the rice is soft.  You can of course change the amounts to suit the number of dogs that you have.  These amounts last our pack of dogs about 5 days, fed twice a day in addition to the dry food.

Once the rice and meat are cooked, I combine them in a large bowl.  I normally add a couple cups of water just to stretch it out a little more.  

When I serve it, each of our dogs gets a large spoonful of it on top of their dry food.  For some of the dogs I add a little warm water to it - we have some picky eaters!  If we have any leftoever veggie stock in the fridge, I'll add a splash of that too.  There are lots of dog food cookbooks available with recipes that involve multiple ingredients.  We have this one.  The beef and rice mixture is the most economical for us, is easy to make, and fills up their bellies.

*This recipe is not approved by a veterinarian, endorsed by a celebrity, or promoted as a special diet.  It is simply a way for us to feed our large pack of dogs food that we feel relatively good about giving them.  And they love it!  I am not happy that I buy grain fed beef from factory farmed cows.  I would love to be able to buy organic ground beef for them, or better yet, local organic chicken, but we cannot afford that.  In the past we have had several of our laying hens processed and used that for dog meat.  We had grand plans for raising meat rabbits, but if you have seen my posts about Maizie, you will see how that turned out.  (here and here)

Joining in with livingwellspendingless.com for Thrifty Thursday.

 

 

Hump Day Give-A-Way 12.18.13

Today's give-a-way is for a set of three notecards from my Society6 shop.  The notecards are 5"x7", blank on the inside, and come with a white envelope.  I am waiting for the order to arrive, so I do not have a photo of the actual cards.  These are three of my favorite images from my November trip to the arboretum.  The colors were just beautiful and so unexpected when everything else was looking brown and drab.  For more information about the cards, please click on the images below.

For a chance to win, please leave a comment below.  The contest will end on Thursday morning at 7am.  I will assign a number to each comment and randomly draw a winner which will be announced before noon on Thursday.  Thanks for stopping by and participating!  Its much more fun around here when I'm not just talking to myself!

*I cannot promise that the winner will receive the cards by Christmas, so if you win, please do not plan on giving them as a gift on Christmas day.  I can get them in the mail on Friday, but don't know how long they will take to ship, especially if the winner is located outside the US.

CONTEST CLOSED

Thankful Tuesday - 12.17.13

Today I am thankful for...

The wonderful weekend that I had with my husband and my little babe.  We watched a couple of movies, had a nice breakfast at a local coffee shop, did a little Christmas shopping at a pottery show, and I did some Christmas crafting.  We listened to Christmas music and my husband and I actually played a game of Bananagrams, something we haven't done for months.  We made good food including pizza, hummus, bread, and blueberry coffee cake.   The little babe tried on her snow boots for the first time.  The dogs enjoyed playing in the snow and it was great to just watch the snow fall and know that we did not have to run out anywhere.  I am not grown-up enough yet to grumble about the snow - it just makes the world so pretty.  The snow also makes the holiday season so much more festive.  Some years we don't have any snow at Christmas time, so this early snow is great!

(above - pumpkins on Saturday morning, below - pumpkins on Sunday morning)

 

 I thought this Thankful Tuesday post would be a good time to introduce the group that I have joined - Mom Bloggers for Social Good.  It is a group of bloggers who use their blogs and other social media outlets to educate people about global issues including world hunger, poverty, teen pregnancy, and sex trafficking.  They help to spread the word about campaigns and fundraisers being run by organizations like mothers2mothers, Malaria No More, and water.org.  

I like the idea of using my blog to provide some education about issues that the mainstream media does not spend much time reporting on.  I am lucky that I was born into a good family, grew up in a safe environment, and never needed to worry about lack of food or water.  So many people in this world are not lucky and the least I can do is to help spread the word about programs and organizations that are trying to help them.  Once a week I will share one of their blog posts or articles.  

If you are interested in finding out more, I thought this article titled "10 Global Development Stories to be Thankful For" was a fitting article to feature in my Thankful Tuesday post.

Christmas Crafting Snapshots (and a recipe)

 

 Old fashioned scissor cut snow flakes - I felt like I was in elementary school again!

Orange peel garland.

 Hand sewn potholders - who doesn't need one?!  I just love the bright fabrics!

Home made hot chocolate mix.  Recipe below! 

 A cup for myself - I earned it!

This recipe was inspired by this Chai Spiced Cocoa.  I made two types of hot chocolate, a "Mexican" hot chocolate with chile powder and this one with spices typically found in chai tea.  We did a hot chocolate taste test (so tough on a cold snowy day) and my husband liked this one better.  I call it "spicy", but it really has a nice mild and warm flavor to it.  Hopefully the people receiving it as a gift agree!

Spicy Chai Hot Chocolate Mix

Mix all of the following ingredients together.  To make hot chocolate, heat up desired amount of milk and add 1 or 2 tablespoons of the mix, depending on the chocolate rush that you need!

1/3 c. turbinado sugar (or brown sugar)

1/4 c. 10x sugar (confectioner's sugar)

2 T. Hershey's Natural Cocoa

1 T. Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa

1 t. masa harina (could probably use corn meal or corn startch or omit it; I used it as a thickener)

1/2 t. cinnamon 

1/2 t. nutmeg (I used freshly grated - its my new addiction)

1/4 t. cardamon

1/8 t. cloves

1/8 t. allspice

pinch of sea salt

pinch of black pepper

 

We Like To Read - 12.16.13

I apologize that this post is coming on the heels of the last "We Like To Read" post, but I am trying to find my rhythm with the posts.  Besides, one can never have too many books, right?  At least, that is my husband's motto.  The holiday book that my babe has been loving for the past couple of weeks is luckily one that I enjoy reading.  It has beautiful illustrations and I like to read in the different animal's voices.  Keeps it interesting!  

Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson

 The book starts with Bear hibernating in his cave.  But it is Christmas time and his friends want him to get up - and STAY UP!

 

Bear's friends try their best to keep him busy so that he stays awake.

His friends end up falling asleep while Bear stays up and makes Christmas goodies.

After having a wonderful Christmas with his friends, Bear can finally fall asleep, under his beautiful new quilt.

 

I just love the ending - it is so sweet!  

(Thanks Mom, you picked a good one!)