Recycling Crayons

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Today brought an impromptu lesson with my eldest that I will explain more about in another post. When my youngest got done with her bath she asked to do lessons as well and I asked her what she wanted to do. Her answer was “lassens!”. Alrighty I see this is going to go real far. So I picked a topic to Google for her. Crayons! She’s been so into coloring lately that I figured it was right up her alley. Low and behold the YouTube videos happened to have the old Sesame Street clip on crayon making (it was played when *I* was a kid). So we watched that, and then one about markers being made.

Here’s where I admit that I tend to hoard things sometimes. Things like broken crayons, because they’re still totally usable just not as nice as unbroken crayons. So I have a ziplock bag I keep on the bookcase of crayons I find that have met their match with one of my kids. Today I decided it was time to use them!

Not exactly like normal crayons .. but much cooler!

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Honey Wheat Bread

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I was going to bake bread in the middle of the day just for pictures, which frankly is downright insane due to the fact that it’s been over 90 every single day (this past Friday my car was reading 104 on the way home). So mid-day bread never happened. So I suppose I will make do with my night time pictures that somewhat annoy me because of poor lighting. The recipe needs to be shared.

For people who own a grain mill and are looking for an awesome bread recipe look no further. My wonderful friend Stephanie who gave me the South West Chicken recipe also gave me the honey wheat bread recipe!

Stephanie.. without you I’d be lost. I’d never have cloth diapered, purchased a grain mill, found Azure Standard, or have a 2 fresh loaves of bread sitting on my stove right now. :D

Mmmm .. delicious.

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Red Wine Pasta Sauce

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I don’t claim to be proficient in the kitchen. Since that is the case I have no issues admitting that I use google rather a lot to form general ideas on how to accomplish things. Things like making a pasta sauce that aren’t from a recipe calling for WAY too much oregano. Don’t ask how I know.

Many recipes I saw called for white wine. After some more googling, and consulting with Stacy about red wine versus white wine, I decided to go ahead with red wine as it’s what I had on hand. I’m pretty glad I did too.

Nothing better than sticking your head right over a simmering pot of pasta sauce!

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Upside Down Potato and Onion Tart

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Whew! Finally getting around to posting after the network issues and then David deciding to upgrade our computers to OS X Lion. Then there was the adventure to Lake Tahoe with the girls which landed me with what I think qualifies as the worst sunburn of my life. Despite the fact that my laptop causes me severe pain I’m editing photos and posting anyhow! ;)

Now for the real reason for this post…

Cheesy potatoes and onion? YES PLEASE! :D

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Upcoming Posts…

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I was planning on posting today only to wake up and find that one of our computers was taking a dump… the computer that handles our wireless systems. So David spent a few hours tonight fixing the problem. Tomorrow I plan on posting a delicious, but not the best for you, potato and onion tart. The next few days is also going to bring some homemade bread and bracelet making attempts. My baby is about to turn 4 so I figured a cute little bracelet for each of my girly-girls would be something they would love. <3

Herbs and Spices

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I love fresh herbs and spices, and really who doesn’t? I’ve been in the process of making something more than once to find that I don’t have what I need. Once I had sage on hand, but not ground. Uhhh … crap. I of course happen to be a gadget freak, and while that causes issues with cabinet space it comes in handy for random instances such as the above mentioned sage issue. How?

A coffee grinder!

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Thrift and SouthWest Chicken

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Money is tight. Story of just about anyone’s life right about now, right? We’re a bit deeper into the “tight” than ever before. David makes less money at his new job, and his new job is also about 50 miles away – one way. Despite the fact that he drives the Prius and maintains a 48 MPG average it still takes a chunk out. Insurance for the family is also taking more from his paycheck than before as he works for a small company with only about 60 people on site.

Oh and if all that wasn’t enough David is going to be going back to school in the fall taking a nearly full course load. I have someone lined up if I ever find a job that pays well enough to validate working. Bringing home $400-$500 a month does NOT qualify thus eliminating most of the jobs around here. Bouncing the girls between a baby sitter, school (for the eldest), and whichever parent isn’t working and is at home is not worth $500 to us.

So all this means that being thrifty is a top priority. Of course I also want to maintain healthy eating habits while being able to have meals simple enough to make that I’m not tempted to say “screw it, I’m getting Papa Murphy’s tonight!”. Enter the fabulous crock pot!

My friend Stephanie is a stay at home mom to three kids, and has a husband (who I’ve known since I was 15) in the Coast Guard and gone fairly often. She’s the person who talked me into begging David for a grain mill and got me into cloth diapering. So to say the least she’s pretty good at being thrifty yet still healthy. I pick her brain for ideas with regularity. A few days ago she gave me a super simple crock pot meal idea … SouthWest Chicken.

Crock pot goodness!

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I *heart* Cheesecake

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I’m not going to lie. I love dessert. I especially love cheesecake.

Oh yeah. I love love love cheesecake. *drools*

I found a highly rated cheese cake recipe on Allrecipes and decided that 4th of July needed cheesecake! My cheesecake split in the middle a bit (as can be seen in picture under the cut) so next time I think I need to add a pan of water to the oven to help and perhaps try beat the mixture a little less. Cherries on top hid the split and in no way altered the total deliciousness of the cheesecake.

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Homemade BBQ Sauce

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Awhile back I made pulled pork, sandwich rolls, and BBQ sauce. I posted the recipes for the rolls and BBQ sauce but since I was making some the other day for pork loin roast – which by the way, is WAY better for pulled pork when you loathe fatty meat – and since I have a beautiful new DSLR I thought I should photograph the occasion. ;)

Deliciousness in a bottle.

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