Sunday, September 27, 2009

Book Festival

This weekend we went to the PBS book festival here in town. Ladybug got to pick out SEVERAL books for free and so did GreenEyes. Everything about this event was free and came packed with snacks and entertainment. Ladybug had an awesome time watching Rosa, a PBS TV celebrity, tell a "reading" adventure.

Ms. Rosa

After that, all the children were invited to meet and greet Ms. Ros, but of course Ladybug would not wait for this and she ran right up to her and hugged her. Ladybug is anything but shy. Later, there was a line to take pictures and meet Elmo. But of course she refused to wait her turn and ran up right to Elmo and gave him a hug too even though he was with another child. Dad snatched her back and she waited impatiently to have her turn so we could take these pics.


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Friday, September 18, 2009

Ladybug is an Ape

It's never dull in this house. Though I might be spending a good hour scrubbing this off her tonight, it gives me some great ideas for Halloween.

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Seed Saving Time


It time for seed saving for next year. I guess I should have labeled them, but hey, what's a garden without a few surprises?

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Monday, September 14, 2009

Tomatoes and Apple Pies

Check out this pic of our grape tomato plant taken today. When we first planted it, we caged it. It over grew that. So, we staked it too. It overgrew that. Eventually, Nick was forced to tie it to some trees to keep it stable.

I have harvested at least 10 pounds of grape tomatoes from this plant. Pint after pint after pint AND I have several pints to go! I wish I could say we have had the same success with the heirloom, but we have not. Harvest has been good but modest there.

I made this delicious soup today with tomatoes from the garden and some additional ones from the local market.

Ingredients

    3 lbs. Red Ripe Tomatoes Olive Oil Cooking Spray 1 1/2 tsp. ground pepper 2 tsp. kosher salt 2 tb. olive oil 1 cup onion 6 garlic cloves (minced) 1- 28 oz. can of tomatoes 2-3 cups FRESH basil (I find it is OK if you only have 1 or 2 cups, the more the better though) 1 quart (4 cups) chicken stock
Directions Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray a large cooking sheet pan with olive oil spray. Cut tomatoes into wedges Add salt and pepper and roast for 45 minutes.

In 8 quart stock pot on medium, saute 2 tb. olive oil, onion and garlic until brown. Then, add canned tomatoes, basil and stock. When roasted tomatoes are done, add them, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce temp and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes.

Pulse in food processor in batches. Add salt and sugar substitute (like splenda or purvia) to taste. I usually don't need salt but I do need to add 1-2 heaping tablespoons of splenda. How much you need depends on how sweet your tomatoes are.

Number of Servings: 8 cups (or 4 large bowls).

I made a couple apple pies from local orchard apples we picked this weekend. I made one like a traditional pie and another french style in anticipation of the holidays. I like to plan ahead. It makes the holidays less stressful and more enjoyable when you aren't fretting about making a homemade apple pie when you have 20 other things to do.
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I guess you could say I should have done my research. I made the pie intending to freeze it but I can't freeze the pie like I planned because apparently you should freeze them unbaked. I had already baked the thing when I realized this doing a search on the internet. It didn't stop hubby from enjoying a slice, now it's headed for the trash. For health reasons, these are reserved for only the most occasional celebrations.


I'm going to go ahead and freeze the french version. I think it'll be fine because their is only a bottom crust and I don't think it will suffer texture issues from freezing like the traditional pies. We aren't too sad about the pie, really, there were enough apples leftover that we made a much healthier version of apple crisp in the fridge for us to treat ourselves to this week.

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Sunday, September 6, 2009

Crazy Bath Hair

Enjoy some cutie kid photos of my adorable children with bath hair. :)

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Green Eyes needs his first cut...

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Friday, September 4, 2009

Everyone has an oppinion.

You can sign the petition at: http://go.sojo.net/campaign/health_care

As one of God's children, I believe that protecting the health of each human being is a profoundly important personal and communal responsibility for people of faith.

I believe God created each person in the divine image to be spiritually and physically healthy. I feel the pain of sickness and disease in our broken world (Genesis 1:27, Romans 8:22).

I believe life and healing are core tenets of the Christian life. Christ's ministry included physical healing, and we are called to participate in God's new creation as instruments of healing and redemption (Matthew 4:23, Luke 9:1-6; Mark 7:32-35, Acts 10:38). Our nation should strive to ensure all people have access to life-giving treatments and care.

I believe, as taught by the Hebrew prophets and Jesus, that the measure of a society is seen in how it treats the most vulnerable. The current discussion about health-care reform is important for the United States to move toward a more just system of providing care to all people (Isaiah 1:16-17, Jeremiah 7:5-7, Matthew 25:31-45).

I believe that all people have a moral obligation to tell the truth. To serve the common good of our entire nation, all parties debating reform should tell the truth and refrain from distorting facts or using fear-based messaging (Leviticus 19:11; Ephesians 4:14-15, 25; Proverbs 6:16-19).

I believe that Christians should seek to bring health and well-being (shalom) to the society into which God has placed us, for a healthy society benefits all members (Jeremiah 29:7).

I believe in a time when all will live long and healthy lives, from infancy to old age (Isaiah 65:20), and "mourning and crying and pain will be no more" (Revelation 21:4). My heart breaks for my brothers and sisters who watch their loved ones suffer, or who suffer themselves, because they cannot afford a trip to the doctor. I stand with them in their suffering.

I believe health-care reform must rest on a foundation of values that affirm each and every life as a sacred gift from the Creator (Genesis 2:7).

Amen.