Fall Musings...

Although the temperatures have been saying otherwise...fall is just around the corner.

When my kitchen starts smelling of bean & bacon, taco & chili soup...big pots of pasta sauce simmering on the stove...I know we're getting close.

This young lady has been completely in her element, chopping peppers for soups & sauces, cutting up apples to cook for sauce & so much more. She is happiest, puttering around in the kitchen, helping with whatever I'm cooking or canning.

This week I picked up a bushel & a half of Ginger Gold apples.

I juiced up a bunch of apples, let the juice simmer for a few minutes, put it in jars & cold packed it for 15 min...It's delicious!

I found a recipe for Apple Cider & want to try that too!

Next on the to-do list is Apple Pie Filling. One of the handiest things to have in my pantry over the winter months. I can have apple pie, tarts, or crisp ready in no time.

Many of our winter,"Sunday Suppers" consist of popcorn & homemade apple or grape juice.

And Apple crisp with ice-cream.

My canning season is coming to an end, the yard & garden work has slowed down, & it's that time of year where I start lighting the coffee scented candles, snuggle in with a good book & enjoy the cooler evenings with a cup of hazelnut coffee :)

I look forward to this time of the year, all year long...

1st Day of School 2016/2017

As I'm typing this, we have another 1st day of school under wraps.

Our school day begins at 8:30 and we finish up at noon, aside from an hour of reading in the afternoon, when the smallest Hilty is napping.

This year presented a new challenge, I have a kindergartner.

I've never taught a child how to read, & I'm still not too confident that I have what it takes :) but I'm giving it my best shot!

My 1st year of homeschooling, the children were way past the stages of learning to read & homeschooling them was/is no hardship at all. Aside from a little guidance here & there, they are able to do it on their own. This year, I'm very hands-on & sit with my Kindergartner the entire morning.

1st Day of Kindergarten for this one!

1st day of 4th grade!

1st day of 6th grade!

1st day of 7th grade!

This one wants in on all the action! He sits right next to me & has approximately 100 questions for the duration of the school day. Something tells me I need to pick up a few preschool work books & let him in on the action.

I am so grateful that each one of the children enjoys being home-schooled. I love the fact that they aren't sitting behind a school desk for 6+ hours every day...the next few weeks/months of fall, are the best months of the entire year(in my humble opinion) :) 

The stifling, can't-breathe-when-outside,  heat of summer-time is behind us & the children are spending so many hours of play, outside. 

I feel as if we're prolonging summer break, by being able to enjoy these gorgeous afternoons, outside.

Lifting my cup of jo-Here's to another successful school year. Stretching & growing young minds, building good character & embracing the moment!

Dog days of summer

The "dog days of summer" Some of the hottest days of the year, is when my garden goes a little crazy & everything ripens all at once.

Earlier this week, I canned 19 pint salsa. Yesterday there was 10 dozen ears of corn to clean & freeze, & today I'm in the kitchen, elbow deep in sauce.

       

My house smells like a little Italian Granny's kitchen :)

The smell of tomatoes, peppers & onions simmering on the stove top has to be one of my favorite things about canning season.

There is something so fulfilling about filling the cellar shelves with home-canned goodies from my garden...& when the snow flies & there are sub-zero temperatures outside, I don't need to venture outside. I just need to head to the basement to do my grocery shopping, Husband can pick up the basics on the way home from work :)

Here are the recipes I used if you're interested...

Salsa

14 cup tomatoes, peeled & diced

3 cup onion, chopped

2 cup green bell peppers, diced

1/2 tomato sauce

3 T sea salt

1 T chili powder

1 T garlic powder

1 1/2 t cumin

2 T organic cane sugar

5 T clear jell

1/2 cup vinegar

-Mix clear jel & vinegar. In a large mixing bowl, mix all other ingredients then add the vinegar/clear jel mixture. put in pint jars & cold pack for 15 minutes.

Pasta/Pizza Sauce

1/2 bushel tomatoes(9 quarts juice)

4 large onions

4 large green peppers 

2 sweet banana(or hot peppers)

2 1/2 cup organic cane sugar

5 T oregano

5 T sea salt

1 T + 1 t black pepper

2 T basil leaves

4-12oz cans tomato paste

6 T flour

1 1/2 cup olive oil

-cut up tomatoes, peppers & onions & place in a large stock pot. Simmer for one hour, then blend in a blender. return to the stock pot. Mix the oil & flour & add to the pot. add remaining ingredients & simmer for 1 hour. pour into jars & cold pack for 1/2 hour.

-If you're gluten intolerant, eliminate the flour & simmer the sauce till it reaches the desired thickness.

Celebrating Gracie's 11th Birthday

Little miss ended up celebrating her Birthday the entire week of her special day. Not a bad way to celebrate...

We have a once-monthly family dinner with my extended family & it just happened to fall on Gracie's Birthday this year, so we had to have cake & presents :)

Grandma Raber has a special gift for knowing & remembering the special interests of her grandchildren & buys gifts accordingly. 

Grace loves puttering around in the kitchen, helping me bake pastries & helping to cook the family meals. Ever since she watched the American Girl movie "Grace" (who also loves to bake) I haven't been able to keep her out of the kitchen :)

She is now the proud owner of  2 cookbooks of her very own. Grandma also made the sweet little apron shes wearing.

...more goodies

Earlier in the week, she had 2 of her cousins over for a Tea Party Luncheon, complete with dainty tea cups & Mama's wedding china.

Her gifts from Mama & Daddy...she was thrilled :)

Every day, I thank God for giving me a little pink in my life. Someone to do all the girly things with. Your adventurous spirit inspires me. Your willingness to help, in all areas, blesses me.

Your sensitivity to other's needs, challenges me to be more sensitive...

I'm so proud of the young lady you are becoming.

I love you, sweet girl <3

Summer-time Happenings

Hello there!

It's been pretty quiet here lately. It's summer-time & most of our time has been spent outside. Swimming, camping, sleepovers & wading in the creek with cousins & the neighborhood children...

This will also go down as the summer that I took little to no photos :(

3 weeks till school starts & there are no digital memories of summer 2016...

I need to change that very soon!

Today, the children & I spent most of our morning in the garden, & all afternoon in the kitchen.

We picked the 1st of the tomatoes...adding these tiny tomatoes to your sauces, creates a thick, rich sauce base...I washed these, put them in a freezer bag & threw them in the freezer till I have more ripe tomatoes to add to them.

Then we washed & peeled the cucumbers, put them in jars & pickled them. This is the children's favorite recipe for pickles. They eat them like they're candy.

Banana Pickles

Peel & slice in quarters, length-wise.

Pack tightly into quart or pint jars.

In a large saucepan, combine:

6 cup organic cane sugar

2 cup water

2 cup vinegar

2 T. turmeric

2 T. salt

2 T. mustard seed...

Bring to a boil then pour pickling juice over cucumbers & cold pack in a water bath for 10 minutes after it comes to a boiling point....

Then there were sweet banana peppers to clean, slice & preserve...

Sweet Banana Peppers

Slice peppers into thin rings & put into jars...

In a medium sauce pan, bring remaining ingredients to a boil & pour pickling juice over the pepper rings in the jar.

3 cup white vinegar

2 cup water

2 T. sea salt

2 T. organic cane sugar

1 garlic clove (per jar)

Cold pack in a water bath for 10 minutes after it comes to a boil.

These sweet banana peppers stay crisp, unlike some other recipes I've tried.

We love using them on tacos, sloppy nachos, chili, pizza & so much more!

Thats all for today :) ...Happy Monday!

Fairy Garden dreams

We can't hardly keep our hands out of the dirt lately! The days keep getting warmer & we can't wait to fill our pots with colorful flowers.

Gracie & I have been making 2 trips a week, to the greenhouse the last few weeks. Sometimes it's just to look at all the flowers & see how they've grown...Other times we come home with a trunk full of flowers :)

 Gracie has been asking to make a Fairy Garden for the past few years, so we've been watching for tiny Garden trinkets at Garage sales & local Thrift stores.

This past week we found the final piece we'd been looking for, A Fairy house!

We were shopping a local Thrift store & found one for only a 1.00!

We headed to the greenhouse again today, in search of  tiny plants....

We found 3 that worked perfectly. Gracie picked the one with tiny blue flowers...

...We kept it small this year, simply cause it was our first year making one. 

As we find more trinkets to add, we'll expand the garden as well.

There are multitudes of stores that carry a vast variety of Fairy Garden trinkets, but they tend to be pricey, & with 4 curious boys in my life, I decided it's probably better to find used items at a fraction of the cost. If they get broken, it's no big loss :) 

Gracie finally has her own tiny Fairy Garden. Shes been unbelievably patient as we've searched for  treasures to add to it!

Happy Gardening!

St. Patrick's Day Fun & Facts

 We incorporated some St.Patrick's Day fun  into our school day, today...

While the children worked on their morning studies, I was in the kitchen, baking up some of the greenest cupcakes ever!

All the kiddos with their green cupcakes, wearing their green shirts...or skivvies ;)

The 5 year old remembered a certain incident awhile back, when Mama made Pink velvet cupcakes & exclaimed,"We're gonna poop GREEN this week!...I know... Leprechaun poop!"

While they enjoyed their cupcakes, I read a few, fun tidbits of  why we celebrate St. Patrick's Day....Some of which was new to me as well.

feb

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2013

-St. Patrick’s Day is the feast day of the patron saint of Ireland, named St. Patrick. Patrick wasn’t born Irish. He was brought to Ireland as a slave after he was kidnapped.  He escaped back to Britain to be with his family. While there, a voice told him to go back to Ireland.  He was ordained as a priest and spent the rest of his life working to bring Christianity to Ireland.
-St. Patrick’s Day is the national holiday of Ireland and we celebrate it each year on March 17 because this is the day he is rumored to have died.
-People search for four leaf clovers which are very rare.  Finding one is supposed to be very lucky. A shamrock is actually a three leaf, clover like plant.
-Legend has it that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit).
-The color of St. Patrick’s Day is green.  Ireland is known for it’s green shades of grass and the shamrock is green as well.
-Traditionally people eat corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day.
-Some people claim that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. However, science has proven that there never were any snakes in Ireland because of the cold climate. It is thought that the word snakes in this legend actually represent driving out the pagan ways when he introduced Christianity.
-Irish legend says that there is a small Irish fairy called the leprechaun.  He wears pointed shoes, a hat, and a leather apron.  According to the legend, he’s very unfriendly and lives alone in the forest guarding his pots of gold.  The story says that if you find a leprechaun, he will have to tell you where is gold is hidden. If you look away for even one second, the leprechaun will disappear along with all his gold.

      

...& there you have your Thursday, St. Patrick's Day, History lesson...

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!