The Slow Cooker

What are some of your favorite slow cooker recipes? I've been wanting to use mine more, and now is as good a time as any. I haven't used it nearly enough in the last three or so years despite the fact that I love to come home from work and have dinner prep so well progressed already. I thankfully have the option to come home at lunch or any time in the afternoon to start a recipe that doesn't require all day cooking. I really should use it more. Help me!

Now the Lightswitches Work!

At five pm on Thursday, our electricity came back on. We were sooooo happy to have it back (and still are).

Here are some pretty amazing pictures of Hurricane Ike damage.

I still flip the switch anyway

Wind on Sunday night. No power until Friday. That is our story.

The longer version is our area was hit by high winds from Hurricane Ike on Sunday night. As we drove home from the RP Home where Ryan preached, there were branches around and areas without power. Minutes after arriving home, we lost our power. It's been off ever since and the power company says "late Friday" for our area. Around noon on Monday, we moved the food in our fridge and freezer to the church, and it's still there, nice and cold. Some good friends invited us to shower at their place, which we took them up on the last two nights since we don't have hot water. They also invited us to dinner last night and for Thursday. Tonight, there is a meeting and pizza at church.

I've enjoyed going to bed earlier but it would be nice to have light to clean the kitchen and be able to cook or have cold food. I have food at work in my mini fridge, but Ryan has had to scrounge for breakfast. I'm thankful that we haven't lost anything and that it's been cool enough to sleep comfortably at night.

What's funny is I sometimes still turn on light switches or lamps out of habit. Obviously, nothing happens. Who knows how many lights will be on in our apartment when the power comes back.

What's the longest you have ever gone without power?

35 Ways to Save on Groceries

Money Saving Mom linked to this helpful post on MotherLoad which lists 35 ways to save on your grocery budget. It's worth a read -I bet there is something you can implement from the list. Check it out.

I've done many of the things on the list. A few months ago, Ryan and I started using cloth napkins for the two of us instead of paper. We have a good stock of paper napkins, and they will last a long time! The cloth napkins last us a while since we aren't messy eaters - we see no reason to wash them after one or two light uses.

I've been making my own cheese biscuits using whole wheat pastry flour and sometimes half all purpose flour. I use palm oil shortening, and they are so much better than using Bisquick! Earlier this summer, I stopped using canola oil in my own cooking in an effort to reduce our consumption of damaged oils. I haven't made tortilla strips for tortilla soup yet though since doing so, and will need to find a good, flavorless substitute.

There are also many other things I prefer to make myself instead of buying the product or a mix to make the product: salad dressing, pancakes, waffles, bread, guacamole, salsa, spaghetti sauce, cookies, and cakes.

I have yet to cook a whole chicken...I don't know why they scare me!

Talk to me. Are there things on this list you do or other ideas you have?

When to Buy Organic

I've known of some foods that one should try to buy organic, because of how heavily they receive pesticides (raspberries, peanuts/peanut butter). I've known of other foods where it isn't as much of a concern, because there is an outer skin (oranges, bananas). I read a helpful post on Whole Food nation summarizing what types of you should try to buy organic and which are ok being non organic. I summarized the info below but there is additional helpful info in the original post, including why certain foods should be bought organic and how many pesticides are sprayed on the foods (most are 25 or more).

Non organic is ok:
Asparagus
Avocados
Bananas
Broccoli
Cabbage
Eggplant
Kiwi
Mangoes
Onions
Pineapples
Sweet corn
Sweet peas

Organic is safer:
Beef, Pork and Poultry
Milk, Cheese and Butter
Strawberries, Raspberries and Cherries
Apples and Pears
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Spinach and Other Greens
Coffee
Peaches and Nectarines
Grapes
Celery
Red and Green Bell Peppers

I would like to add that I believe buying local produce when you know how it is grown (like from a CSA) can provide a happy middle ground to the expense of organic and the lack of quality and nutrients of the non organic, conventionally grown items above. Cost is unfortunately prohibitive of our buying more organic.

Are there particular foods you regularly buy organic? There are some for Ryan and I, though I don't think there are any foods we always buy organic. I prefer organic raspberries, for the lack of chemicals and because I have found them to taste immensely better. We have never bought organic meat. By the way, don't be fooled by "all natural" or "100% natural" labels on chicken - there are no established guidelines for what constitutes natural.

Perhaps you should try it

The most common search that sends people to my blog is "Ancho and Coffee Rubbed Filet Mignon with Ancho Mushroom Sauce". It comes up at least weekly (which is pretty common for my low traffic blog).

Have you seen the recipe? It's the first Bobby Flay recipe I ever made, and it is delicious. A special occasion dish. Spicy. Flavorful. The method of cooking the steaks is perfect and superior over the grill, and there are components of the recipe that you can make ahead.

Check it out. Ancho-And-Coffee-Rubbed Filet Mignon with Ancho-Mushroom Sauce

Frisbee

Micah and Asher could go all day with playing frisbee! Throw, fetch, tug, rinse and repeat.




My parents also do agility with each of them, and they can hardly wait to get out on the course to practice! They whine and whine when it's not their turn and see each other getting to do agility.




Practice at dusk in the backyard

Oregon!

We went and are back already. Man, did it go fast. We looked forward to this trip for about seven months and can't believe it's already over! We had a great time with my family. Thankfully, we did not have any flight delays! Here are some photos. Check out the rest here, if you'd like.





My husband, the rock thrower.

My younger brother Adam, being goofy in the surf. The water wasn't as cold as it normally is.


We picked peaches again this year.

The Chocolate Pudding That Wasn't

It was last time though. It was very good. This time? Something went wrong. I took pictures, chronicling my pudding-making extravaganza, expecting to end with a lush, thick display of rich, dark chocolate. Not this time. Not like last time. Fear not, for you can make this successfully, as Catherine did, as I did before, and as Smitten Kitchen originally posted. But because I'm humble and want to capitalize on a teaching situation, I'll show you what happened. The end result was a less-than-thick pudding that tasted wonderfully chocolaty. The consistency was the problem.

Starting out, I make my own double broiler. The clothes pin, or something like it, is essential to let the steam out. It's smart to put it at the back of the pan to allow the steam to escape out the back and not up on your wrist.


I made a double recipe to use some milk that wasn't going to last much longer, and I used agave nectar in place of the sugar. Not being a pudding expert, I wonder if this did me in right from the beginning. I haven't baked with agave but we like it as a sweetener for coffee, smoothies and yogurt. It gives pure sweetness (as opposed to honey) and is raw and unrefined and doesn't cause your blood sugar to spike. So I tried it with this recipe. Since the cornstarch seems to "make" the pudding, I thought this would be ok. I used up most of the agave I had. I now wish I had saved it for coffee and such. I've since ordered more though, so it's ok.

Since I used agave, I added another tablespoon of cornstarch.


After an hour (AN HOUR) it had only thickened slightly. The recipe calls for 15-20 minutes. I realized it just wasn't getting hot enough to cook. I finally decided to add the chopped chocolate to see what would happen:




The first time I made this pudding, it quickly melted and became smooth and shiny. I finally resorted to straight heat and it started thickening, though a little lumpy. I think during all this I added even more cornstarch (whisked into a little water first to be lump-free; don't dump it straight in). I was so ready to be done with it that I stopped there and put it in dishes.

When I tried it after it chilled, it tasted GREAT and with a full chocolate flavor. The only problem was it was set very firm.

My mom didn't think the double broiler was actually necessary since there wasn't anything to curdle. Maybe the double broiler cuts down on the lumps though.

Me

Dreams At My House

This week, for three mornings in a row, I had dreams that took place at my old house. Is it because we're going to Oregon tomorrow that it's on my brain? Who knows, especially since this is my old house in Pittsburgh, not the house where my family now lives.

First dream, Saturday:
I was told someone in a purple Camaro was going to be coming after me. I'm on my front porch, locking the door, and there the car is, backed up onto the grass of the neighbors across the street. I go to my car, but there is no time to get in and drive away, so I instead run down the street some, across and back behind a house, down the hill and over the road to another house. I'm being chased. I ask for help and the lady takes me in and shows me a secret area in her house, and I go there. I find a bathroom with a high window behind the door. I hear the person coming in the house. Covering the window are curtains sewn together, and the fabric is the kind used in pro basketball shorts. I had to rip open about four colorful layers of "curtains" to get out the window. I get out (jumping up with no problem whatsoever), and see a hidden cubby area on the roof, despite the fact that this lady took me to her basement. Dreams don't care about details, and there I sat. And woke up.

Second dream, Sunday:
Ryan and I were sitting on my front porch. Two of his sisters were staggered on the stairs in front of us, and there were many people out in the cauldisac, "the circle", playing a game with paddles and a bouncy ball. They were hitting it all over the street, trying to keep the ball up. It came up to us a couple times, and each time, Ryan hit the ball over to his sisters. Becoming annoyed, I complained that I didn't like the game and he couldn't understand why. WHY? Because I never get the ball! I woke up annoyed, looked at my husband with chicken pox scabs on his face and remembered that he's more understanding in real life.

Third dream, Monday:
I remember less of this one even though it was most recent. I was hanging out on the porch, and a kid from church was there, eating dirt from a planter. He was just shoving it in his mouth and loving it. His mom and sister came out of the house. Something was going on in the driveway. Sorry, that's all I have there.

Old Navy $12 Jeans Sale Saturday Only

A friend alerted me to a sale tomorrow at Old Navy! For one day only, in stores and online, select Old Navy Jeans are $12 for men and women. Kids are $7. Click the picture to go to the sale.

Bean Around

What is your experience with cooking dried beans? Have you done it? Do you dread it? Do you like beans? A friend of mine told me the method she uses to cook black beans on Saturdays for her family of 10. Just today, I came across an informative site showing how to cook dried beans, and it's similar to my friend's method: Cooked Beans Primer

I'd like to give it a try, southwestern style, and need to get some beans from the East End Coop (read: great prices and organic). Dried beans are cheaper than canned beans. Please tell me your experience with beans and give any favorite add-ins to them.

Food Allergies?

I stumbled on a blog that has a lot of helpful information for those who have babies with food allergies or intolerances. Take a look if you can relate: My Food Allergic Babe

Get them as a kid, I say!

Note about the poll: Please let me know if you aren't able to view the results. Mine does nothing when I click "view results".

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Ryan's ordeal with chicken pox continues. There are 300-400 spots/blisters on his body, and they are not comfortable. Many have told us that getting them as an adult is pretty bad. They're right - getting it as a child is much less in comparison, though it's still a major event for a kid. In honor of this, I have included a new poll at the bottom of this post.

Some things we've done that we believe have been helpful:
- mega doses of Vitamin C (we're talking 20,000+ mg a day)
- recommended increased temporary doses of Vitamin A for tissue repair and reduced chance of scaring
- increased doses of Vitamin D for immune support
- topical ointments, including Aloe Vera gel, Vitamin E, and coconut oil. All have served to relieve the itching and promote healing in various ways.
- Epsom salt baths and Aveeno oatmeal baths. The Epsom salt bath has helped to progress the blisters to scabs (sorry) and the Aveeno has relieved itching, as it claims.
- once we knew the fever was down on its own, ibuprofen was a help for head pain, and he also started taking Benedryl today for itching. It has helped a little.

I've been glad to have the weekend at home and have the worst days fall on the weekend (at least we hope those were the worst days). We've also been grateful to be able to consult with a doctor at church, which has allowed Ryan to be able to stay in the comfort of our home. Ryan has slept poorly at night since Friday and is desirous of a good night's rest. Last night was a lot of discomfort, especially on his back and on his forehead and scalp. Despite all that, he is a great sport and is willing to swallow a lot of pills and rarely complains. I usually have to ask specific questions to find out how he is feeling :).

We see progress though: fever and sore throat have gone for the most part, breakouts have significantly slowed, some have scabbed over and the baths are a relief. We're on Day 5 and hopefully the worst is behind us. I've talked to a couple people in the last couple days about their experience with adult chicken pox, and it has never been fun or easy.

If you happened upon this post while searching for adult chicken pox treatment, feel free to email me if you have any questions. Not that I'm a pro by anymeans, but I've read a good deal this weekend about adult chicken pox (and chicken pox in general) and have been grateful for the info. So far, Ryan's case, though severe according to the doctor, is not out of line with what I've read or learned about this illness in adulthood.

This is a rare post, that fortunately for you and my husband, does NOT contain any photographs.

POLL: (closes at 5pm EST Tuesday)

Of all the things to get....

Guess who's husband never had chicken pox? Guess also whose husband was around someone with shingles in the last couple of weeks?

If you guessed MY husband, then you are right! We were meant to get on a plane tonight to Kansas for a quick weekend trip for Ryan preach in Topeka and us to celebrate Ryan's parents' 40th anniversary. Well, instead of being on a plane right now, I'm at home, having tucked my dear husband, covered in about 70 chicken pox blisters with a fever of 102, into bed. The fever has hovered around 101-102 and indicates an active, contagious case of chicken pox. We're not sure how many more spots will appear but expect more over the next few days. He is taking quite a lot of vitamin C, some vitamin A and has been resting. He "feels" ok. He's not achy or cold like he was yesterday, and his spots don't itch (yet?). We're applying vitamin E for topical soothing and believe the vitamin A capsules will also help with tissue repair.

We trust in God's providence for this. Sometimes we don't clearly see why God's will includes things like this, but we trust Him, not our circumstances or understanding. We anticipate that we can reschedule the trip sometime in the next several weeks. Also, Midwest Airlines will waive the $100 change fee for each ticket if they can call the Dr.'s office next week to verify his diagnosis. That means we need to have him seen for a checkup and hope that will work out.

Ryan's sisters all had their bout of chicken pox as children but Ryan never caught it. We know that it's not shingles because shingles deals with the nerve endings, and Ryan doesn't have pain related to inflammation of the nerves. We know that someone who hasn't had chicken pox can contract it from someone who has shingles. We are thankful he has it now instead of during the seminary year or when we have small babies down the road, or when he is full time in the pastorate. His schedule is pretty low key right now besides missing Kansas this weekend. We hope and pray he'll be non-contagious when we travel to Oregon in two weeks.

Time to clean up some then head to bed myself.

Canoing

I was hoping to lose 4 inches from my waist on the canoe trip and have more toned arms, but hey, that takes time, right? My arms are stronger though. I ought to canoe 35 miles every weekend. That would sure do it, wouldn't it?

The trip. First of all, God was so gracious and good to give us gorgeous, sunny clear weather. Forget the hazy, heavy air of a many summer days in PA. We had crisp skies, fluffy clouds and a nice breeze. That was a wonderful gift. The sun was blazing though and I missed a few spots with sunscreen! We are also so thankful that no one was injured. There were a few bumps of course, but we were all safe. The Allegheny River was pretty lazy, and we had pockets of faster currents which added momentary thrill and rocking. Fellow Pittsburghers will all be happy to know that it wasn't until we were halfway through the first day's journey that I realized that this was indeed the same Allegheny river that flows through Pittsburgh. The dots just hadn't connected until then. I really am smart though other times.

Sadly, I have no pictures. I wasn't comfortable taking my camera on the canoe or leaving it unattended all day at the vans, and we forgot to take our small point and shoot digital camera that could have been transported more safely in a ziploc bag. So instead, I have included other wildlife pictures, such as a beaver.

We canoed for about three and a half hours the first day and put out for the night around 5:30. We got back in around 1o am Saturday and finished the trip around 3:30. Ryan and I actually got home around 7:30. We had about 9 hours total of canoing, which was a little more than initially expected, and the youth were troopers to keep on paddling without knowledge of how long it would be until they'd have rest. While we wanted them to learn and grow and be stretched, we also wanted them to have a good time.

On Friday evening, setting up camp took a little while, and we barely got the tents up before it was dark because of a couple delays, one of which is way too confusing to explain, but it had to do with car keys. We also had to walk about a mile to [and from] the vehicles holding our equipment. We had some time to kill before we could set up camp, and there was a trail which is part of Rails to Trails running through the area, and we explored a long, old train tunnel. What used to be tracks is now a trail, and we walked this trial to the cars near the face of the tunnel. While exploring the tunnel, it was a very eerie to walk toward complete blackness and have light behind you. Step by step, the darkness slowly increased so much you could almost feel and hear it. It was strange.

The campsite? Rustic. A hole had to be dug for the bathroom.

As far as canoing was concerned, we were generally not far off schedule over the two days, but looking back, I can see how there was nearly constant work all weekend outside of canoing. Between walking to the vans, waiting for keys, taking two trips back with equipment, digging the bathroom hole, preparing dinner, setting up camp and more, it was a lot to do by bedtime. Again, the youth were great sports and helped out with no complaints. I think I would personally prefer a more established campground area with bathrooms and near by parking for the vehicles holding equipment. We had an awesome, loud thunderstorm around 2 am and thankfully, only one tent leaked water (not ours, hehe). Ryan and I each slept better than we anticipated though we were quite achy.

As far as adventuresome situations, Ryan and I had a little rescue mission when two 14 year olds tipped their canoe and couldn't get back in. We'll call them E and T. The canoe was nicely filled with water, and I had the smart idea to have T get back in and try to row. "Just try it" and sure enough, it started sinking when he got in. We quickly tipped it back over as dreadful images of a sunken canoe filled my head, and we ended up rowing them the riverbank. E held on to both canoes and felt quite "stretched" at times to stay connected to bring the water-laden canoe along to the bank.

At the very end of the trip, T was on the other side of the river as he approached the canoe center where we were getting out, and the current was decent enough nearly drag him downstream and keep him from crossing the river. He hurriedly stroked upstream to at least remain somewhat stationary while Ryan and two chaperones canoed out to him to catch and bring him in. They had no choice but to go downstream some, and they hiked their canoes back up through mud and sludge. Ryan and another chaperone ended up doing an army crawl in order to make progress! Needless to say, they were tired.

All in all, the trip was worthwhile. We appreciated having experienced adults along, and I know the youth had fun. I wouldn't really call it "fun" for us, but Ryan and I learned quite a bit about canoing and camping, and we really enjoyed doing that together.

Don't Get Mashed

My parents sent me this story:

A Girl Potato and Boy Potato had eyes for each other, and finally they got married and had a little sweet potato, which they called 'Yam.'

Of course, they wanted the best for Yam. When it was time, they told her about the facts of life. They warned her about going out and getting half-baked, so she wouldn't get accidentally mashed and get a bad name for herself like 'Hot Potato' and end up with a bunch of Tater Tots.

Yam said not to worry, no Spud would get her into the sack and make a rotten potato out of her! But on the other hand she wouldn't stay home and become a Couch Potato either. She would get plenty of exercise so as not to be skinny like her Shoestring cousins.

When she went off to Europe, Mr. and Mrs. Potato told Yam to watch out for the hard-boiled guys from Ireland. And the greasy guys from France called the French Fries. And when she went out west, to watch out for the Indians so she wouldn't get scalloped. Yam said she would stay on the straight and narrow and wouldn't associate with those high class Yukon Golds or the ones from the other side of the tracks who advertise their trade on all the trucks that say, 'Frito Lay.'

Mr. and Mrs Potato sent Yam to Idaho P.U. (that's Potato University) so that when she graduated she'd really be in the Chips. But in spite of all they did for her, one-day Yam came home and announced she was going to marry Tom Brokaw.

Tom Brokaw!

Mr. and Mrs. Potato were very upset. They told Yam she couldn't possibly marry Tom Brokaw because he's just......

Are you ready for this?


Are you sure?
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OK! Here it is!
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A COMMONTATER

Fruit Quiz Answer

The fruit pictured in the quiz post is a plum! Erin got it right. Nice job, my friend!

Maureen, I've never heard of a pluot but I looked it up, and you were pretty much right too. I wonder if this fruit is really a pluot and not a true plum? From what I read, a pluot is a cross between an apricot and a plum. If so, I wonder how you can really tell the difference.


I promise to post about the canoe trip sometime this week. It was difficult, fun and hard, and Ryan and I learned a lot.

New Poll!