She likes it...she likes it not?

As promised, I got a photo of Emma eating the oatmeal bars. A direct quote, "Mmmm!" Yay!

I did watch her eat the rest of it and the only part she apparently DIDN'T like was the dried apricots. It was hilarious watching her feel them on her tongue, roll them around in her mouth and then watch her pull them out as she said "yech." Silly me...I thought she like dried apricots, but now that I think about it, I don't think she ever ate them plain when I gave them to her as a snack or part of lunch.

I found some dried apples in our food storage yesterday and the light bulb went on over my head. I'm going to make the oatmeal bar recipe again, and this time add a little DRIED apple and see how it works.

Also, I was watching The Rachael Ray show a couple days ago and saw a segment about Crock Pot Cooking. Rachael had this lady on that challenged herself to cook 365 homecooked meals for dinner, one every night. But, she did ALL the cooking in the CROCK POT! I was amazed. She also documented her journey on a BLOG, that is now linked on mine! I'm so excited to have access to more (kid-tested, I might add) Crock Pot recipes. Matt's excited too. Now I "don't have an excuse to not use the Crock Pot."

Time to start cooking...!

My first steps into going Organic...

Well, I've done it. I've jumped on the wagon and started using organic products. It all started with Shaklee cleaning products that my mom gave me and last night I ventured into cooking/baking with organic ingredients. All in all it wasn't a bad venture. My kitchen is still standing and I still have all my hair.

Okay, I know that sounds dramatic, but those who know me know that I'm not at my most comfortable in the kitchen. And yesterday I think I spent more time in the kitchen than I had the entire previous week. Not only did I make dinner but I made three different breakfast/dessert items for today. Anyway, back to the organic, and how I really got kicked in the rear for going organic.

I'm an avid fan of "Jon & Kate Plus 8." And I recently saw an episode where Sara Snow (Discovery Health - www.SaraSnow.com) came to visit Kate -- who is totally all organic -- and to help her and her family "go green." She and Kate made a dessert/breakfast bar together with Kate two oldest girls and Sara said that it was her version of an oatmeal cookie. I'm not a huge fan of oatmeal cookies, but I thought it looked really good.

I didn't think much of the recipe until last night when I realized that I still needed to make a dessert for our monthly dinner with Matt's brother's family. We (matt and I) are responsible for dessert. I could have very easliy pulled out the good ol' staple cake mix and made cupcakes. but Matt's brother's wife recently cut as much sugar as she could (if not all) out of her diet and the diest of her kids and I didn't want to mess that up so I tried to help out with that by not bringing extra sugars into their house for dessert. So I found the recipe for these oatmeal bars and gave it a whirl.

The ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup ground flax seed
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
½ t nutmeg
½ t cardamom (i didn't have any of this so i used allspice...just a little bit though)

½ cup (1 stick) organic butter – room temperature ( i had to use regular butter)
½ cup natural cane sugar
2 organic eggs (i had to use regular eggs)
½ cup honey
1 t vanilla extract

1 small apple, peeled and chopped
½ cup goji berries or raisins
½ cup chopped dates or apricots
1 cup chopped walnuts or almonds (optional)
1 ½ cups coconut (i don't like coconut, so i didn't use it)
3 cups old fashioned organic oats (i had to use regular oats)
1⁄4 cup applesauce

Instructions
Stir together all of the first group -- the dry ingredients (flour, flax seed, salt, baking soda and spices).
In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars. Add in honey, eggs and vanilla. Slowly add in dry mixture and beat together. Stir in oats, applesauce, coconut, fruit and nuts.

Drop spoonfuls onto baking sheet. Bake 12-14 minutes at 350. Makes 2 dozen.

I put it all in a rectangle baking pan and made bars, baked at 350 degress for 45 minutes

I''m snacking on a piece as I write this, and it's not bad. It's actually really good! I'm one of those types of people that doesn't like nuts or fruit of any kind in my cookies or breads...but this stuff is really amazing. I'm already dreaming of savoring my next piece for breakfast (yeah i said breakfast...i'm also not a fan of breakfast...) tomorrow morning on my way to the Y for work.

Matt thinks I should have put it in a bigger pan so it didn't come out so thick, but I like it. He also said it would be really good with milk on it ... that's right ON it ... not with it. I think it would be a good idea for the crunchier (stale) pieces, if it lasts that long! I want more, but I've got to save some for breakfast. And I"ll try to get a picture of Emma eating it too, since she's the harshest food critic in the house. Look for those pictures soon.

How much fun are holidays?

As Matt, Emma and I were coming back from Lowe's this morning (more on that in a minute...) I realized something. Holidays are not near as much fun as an adult. Well, let me clarify. They are only as fun as we make them. Hear me out for a minute.

As Kids:

Some federal and religious holiday gives you a day (or even weeks) off from school. There are parties, barbecues, chances to stay up late, gifts to look forward to and not much heavy duty work/planning involved.

As Adults:

We're the ones that do all the planning of parties, driving to and from parties, barbecuing (and other cooking), setting off of the fireworks, etc. In other words, all the work!

Maybe my problem is that I don't enjoy the work and planning that's associated with hosting a party because I'm not very good about organizing, cleaning and staying destressed when it comes to them. I don't like the cleaning and the prep and the cleaning and the hostessing -- did I mention cleaning? -- that accompanies get togethers, whether formal or informal.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't want to downplay -- by any means -- the reasons for holidays like the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas. The reason for those holidays, to me, is to reflect, to remember and to give thanks for our country, our freedoms and whatever else our religious holidays mean to us. I just don't see the reason to plan extravagant parties and barbecues and not remember the true meaning of the holiday itself.

For example, today, being the Fourth of July, I know that this is the anniversary of our country's declaration of independence. And I'm thankful for a country where I am free to vote, drive, gain an education, work and practice whatever religion I choose. But whats the point of having a barbecue or figuring out how to schedule a nap later in the day for my child so we can all go to watch fireworks at 10 p.m.?

Anyway...enough ranting. Back to Lowe's. Our back porch is finally done! After five weeks of one row here...another there, we are FINALLY done. We even assembled our brand new barbecue grill this evening. We didn't use it (no propane -- yet. That stuff is NOT cheap!) but we can at least sit on our back porch and not have to worry about falling through it!

For those of you who don't remember what it looked like, or never even saw it, let's just say that the previous owners did a very poor job. To me, it looked like they got a couple of 36-packs of beer and made a day of it. I'm not very good when it comes to construction, but words can't describe just how unstructurally sound that this back porch was. It took a couple of weekends, a pair of missionaries, and a friend of Matt's to tear the porch down (yes, I did help! Great thearapy demolition is! -- did that just sound like a Yoda-ism?) and the hot tub out (it broke again; we didn't want to mess with fixing it again and we also didn't want to drop another $600 to fix it).

There is still a little bit of stuff -- mostly finishing touches -- to do yet on the porch and in the backyard in general, but all in all, the biggest project is done. The next thing to do is actually get all the demo junk hauled off; presently its on the side of the house. Then the next project is sectioning off an area just to the left of the door (when you look at it) for a garden, and getting some BIG flower pots to set at the corners of the porch, along with getting a patio set and some tiki torches and we might be entertaining barbecue guests by the end of the summer! If we do, I'll let you know how I handle myself and the stress. Maybe it won't be so bad.

First day of school

I seem to be reliving the first-day-of-school jitters tonight.

I'm embarking on a small business venture as a Mary Kay consultant, and I have my first facial "party" tomorrow. I'm freaking out! I feel very unprepared and nervous. I have my new "backpack" filled with all my "school supplies" (all my Mary Kay stuff - ie. cleasners, color cards, foundations, etc. complete with carrying bags that, by the way are pink and black...a favorite color combo of mine!). But I still don't know what to expect.

I remember my first day of high school. I had just moved to the area and was not only new to high school, but to the actual school. I was in the tenth grade and had a fairly (surprisingly) easy first day...until after lunch. I was still learning my schedule, and mapping out in my head the quickest way to my classes from my locker. The bell rang and I thought I was doing all right until I realized that I was actually late to my third period class. No big deal. It was the first day of school...surely they give a little wiggle room on the first day.

I started to quickly make my way down the stairs and halfway down, I went down. (Ouch!) A few straggling staff members saw me and asked if I was okay. I was, with just a bruised tooshie and not to mention a little thing called an ego. I got up, brushed myself off and rushed off to my class. Huffing and puffing, I slipped into my classroom, was promptly pointed out to the entire class and marked late.

This is what makes me nervous on the first day of any new job. I'm a greenie and don't know what I'm doing and I'm afraid of falling on the toosh. I guess the "fake it 'til you make it" mantra is in order here.

Wish me luck!