Some household updates on this Spring Friday afternoon.

Garden: I now have over 60 spinach sprouts and 9 kale sprouts. I'm still kind of in shock. The next task will be to thin the spinach once I can see which sprouts are the best.

Toddler Talk: Quinn has some new words. My favorite one to hear is "salsa", it's heart-melting. She also says suit, skirt, slide, poop, big blue boat (a song), vroom, boy, bus, and Miles (the neighbor boy). And she consistently makes the animal sounds for dog, lion, bird, cow, duck, and horse. 

Bacteria: Okay, that probably sounds nasty. But there are updates! I successfully made some yogurt in the crockpot the other day. We go through it so fast around here and it's such a simple way to save some moolah. Also, I've been making water kefir for almost a year now and the grains multiplied enough to share with my mother-in-law and neighbors. It's nice to have such a frugal probiotic around to add to smoothies or just drink plain. Also, now that the weather is warmer, I'm going to get some sourdough going again. My sourdough starter didn't survive the move back in 2011 and I've been missing it ever since. 

Happy Weekend!

These two rascals love watching for buses and waiting for daddy.

Nothing makes your house smell good quite like homemade applesauce. I have many memories making it with my mom growing up. The stuff from the jar doesn't even come close. 

I picked up some local organic and no-spray apples from a produce shop close by. Little Grabbie McGrabberson always wants to hold something from her perch in the Ergo when we are out running errands. This day she wanted to hold an apple of course. When I loaded her into the car she was still having fun playing with the apple so I let her keep it. As I was driving I heard some interesting sounds from the back seat and discovered when I arrived home that Quinn had eaten a quarter of the apple already! I found her juicy and grinning. It was hilarious. Those eight teeth can really do some munching. (Her dentist appointment went great by the way. She wanted to hold her new toothbrush all day.)

I decided to use the crockpot to make applesauce this time. And now I'm hooked. I peeled and cored the apples and cut them into pretty big chunks, probably about 10 chunks per apple. It took probably 15 minutes total. They really don't have to be pretty. 

These are the ingredients I threw into the crockpot:
- 3 golden delicious apples, 4 granny smith apples, 4 braeburn apples
- a scant 1/4 cup of brown sugar
- a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1/4 cup of water

You can always add more water later, but you can't easily remove it. No one has ever complained about applesauce being too flavorful. Stir it up and set the crockpot on high. At two hours I stirred it with a fork and mashed it a little too see how firm the apples were. At a little less than four hours it looked like the texture I wanted it to be. I mashed it with a potato masher until it was mostly smooth with some small chunks. It really didn't take much mashing, it was so soft and velvety. Then I put it into glass jars to eat, freeze, and gift. I'll definitely be making more batches, it was so easy!

We went to the pumpkin patch this weekend with the two other families on our street with kids Quinn's age. It rained off and on, but was otherwise pretty fun. Afterward, we had some pizza and pumpkin pie. Our neighbor is very scientific and well-researched about his pumpkin pie baking and it turned out amazing. We also had some nice family hangout time and friend hangout time this weekend.

I made pumpkin mac and cheese for Quinn and me last week and it was delicious! And some pumpkin muffins too of course, 'tis the season!

Now I'm off to take Quinn to her first dentist appointment. I figured with eight teeth, it would be good to start taking her. Hopefully she's nice to the dentist!

Picks of the Week 9.16.11

Pleasure is the Measure of Your Treasure - Desiring God

I didn't have much of an attention span for the computer this week. I did have energy for fun projects though!

This week I got together with Stacey and her mum for some sewing fun. I made a tummy time blanket out of Jonathan and my old t-shirts that have fun memories associated with them. It turned out great and is very soft. All credit goes to Stacey's mum, the sewing queen. Shinobi is modeling it for you.

I also cranked out a dozen of these nursing pads with the leftover flannel. Maybe some of you don't want to know that, but I was glad to cross it off my list. I also made granola bars and chocolate peanut butter "Larabars" from this cookbook to take to the hospital and snack on after baby is born. Actually, they were so good we ate the first batch so I had to make more. And I had to make zucchini bread too since it's zucchini season. 

I spent Tuesday with a college friend and her sweet 5 month old baby girl. She moved to San Francisco with her husband a couple weeks ago, it was great to reconnect. I had my 38 week check-up and all is well, and we met with our fabulous doula again. And can I just say, grocery shopping on week days is so much better than weekends! I also made sure to rest, have phone dates with great people, and enjoy some walks with my little doggie buddy. He's a nice companion to have around.

We have some fun social plans for the weekend ahead. I'm still feeling pretty comfortable and well, so it's been good to have distractions. I can't believe she could show up any day now!

I found a great way to save some money on produce that also happens to be handy for a soon-to-be-mom. Right now, so many veggies are fresh and in-season which means they can be bought for a low price. Simple Bites just posted about how to create stir-fry vegetable freezer packages in detail, so I had to include it in my to-do list for the day.

When I went grocery shopping yesterday, I loaded up on our favorite stir-fry veggies: bell peppers, zucchini, broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. Then today I chopped and blanched them according to the times listed on Simple Bites, let them cool, and packed them into freezer bags. I even "vacuum-packed" them by sucking out the air with a straw. I think we'll be set for a handful of stir-fry dinners now!

I've been enjoying my days at home so far, I have a nice little schedule I've set up for myself. My first day at home I overdid it a bit, so the schedule encourages me to relax and paces out the things I want to get done before the little lady arrives. I'm getting all the crucial things done first, but leaving some activities to keep me entertained if she goes past her due date. Today my big task was packing the hospital bag, fun stuff!

And, here are a few photos someone took at the baby shower Jonathan's co-workers threw for him. Please forgive the iPhone quality :).

The freezer mayhem has begun! I'm stockpiling food so that I won't have to think about cooking once our little one arrives. I made double batches of a couple dinners so that I could freeze half and I've been freezing half of everything I bake. So, we currently have homemade chili, lasagna, four can-sized portions of refried beans, ice cube-sized portions of chicken stock, oatmeal blueberry muffins, zucchini bread, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.


I'm going to make even more dinners when I am done with work. Oh yeah, and I have exactly five days left! My last day was pushed forward by two weeks for reasons that I won't mention so I will have four weeks of nesting time if the little lady is born on her due date. I plan to sleep, swim, hang out with stay-at-home-mom friends, cook, read, and sleep some more. 


Does anyone out there have recipes they would like to share that freeze well? I would love some inspiration.

I'm 32 weeks pregnant today! That means six more weeks of work and eight more weeks to the due date. We finished our set of three birth classes last weekend so all we have left is breastfeeding and baby care classes. I'm feeling good despite the occasional achy back or rear end. I think my "weightless time" in the pool and Summer Sanders Prenatal Workout video has helped a lot.


It feels good to be crossing things off of my To Do List. I feel like I have ten different lists going at all times, my memory isn't what it used to be. I ordered a bunch of ingredients from Mountain Rose Herbs to make pregnancy tea and postpartum pads. I've found some resources that recommend adding nettle leaves and fennel seeds to the red raspberry leaves. So, my recipe is one part fennel, two parts nettle, and four parts raspberry leaf. I throw it all into a big glass jar and shake it up, then scoop out the amount I need for brewing each day. The tea is really yummy as an iced tea, especially since I sneak in a bit of vanilla rooibos. The ingredient ratios can be changed up to make mother's milk tea after birth too. I've also washed all the baby clothes that have been gifted or handed down to us. I figured it's easier to add it to our regular laundry as we get it instead of saving it for all at once. Plus, it's adorable to see tiny pink clothes mixed in with our clothes. I've also finished (as much as I can) the baby book inspired by this post.


The project that is looming over my head is painting the dresser. We have a dresser that was given to me years ago by a sweet family I worked for. I've been the main user, but I'm now sharing it with the little lady and it will eventually be hers when she has her own room. It used to be dark blue and red (it belonged to the family's son) but was painted white before it was given to me. The colors are starting to show through and it just looks shabby. I'm hoping to sand it, prime it, and paint it a soft gray. We'll see if I get to it...


Some lovely ladies from home group are throwing me a Pretty in Pink baby shower this weekend. I'm really looking forward to it, we know such sweet people here. Also, my Mom is flying down tomorrow night and staying through Sunday, so she gets to come to the shower too! It will be so great to have her here for a visit.

It's June! This means that warm Summer weather is on the way. My daily uniform is a dress, leggings, flats, and a cardigan to combat the office air conditioning. I can already tell that I am going to spend the next three months floating in the pool and eating popsicles. Luckily, last Summer I got some popsicle molds so I can make some delicious, healthy popsicles of my own. 


My latest concoction is so easy to make, I thought I ought to share it.


1 part jam (I like raspberry)
1 part milk
2 parts plain yogurt
small squeeze of honey


Mix it all together, pour into molds, and freeze. 


A tip for avoiding ice block popsicles is to use milk and yogurt with lower water content. We have 2% milk and cream top yogurt at our casa.


I'm already excited to eat another tonight! It's a great dessert or snack.

I was in Oregon Wednesday through Sunday. I got a chance to hang out one-on-one with my dear friends Mary and Amber. But the main purpose of my trip was to throw my sister a bridal shower! 

Some of her bridesmaids came over Friday night and we surprised her with a mini-shower. They are sweet girls, it was fun getting to know them better over ice cream sundaes.

Saturday morning we had a nice brunch with homemade mini quiches, pancake stacks, a variety of pancake toppings, homemade biscotti, fruit salad, and a variety of drinks. I have to share some recipes that turned out well.

For pancake toppings, we had warmed nutella, sliced bananas, raspberries, blueberries, maple syrup, and honey orange syrup. The honey orange syrup was quite popular and the recipe can be found here. We had coffee and tea, but the sparkling lemonade and cucumber water were popular too. For sparkling lemonade, I filled a pitcher 2/3 of the way up with lemonade and added about a half cup of raspberries. I let that soak in the fridge for about an hour, then minutes before the guests arrived I filled the pitcher the rest of the way with sparkling water. For cucumber water, I thinly sliced about a quarter of a cucumber and added it to a pitcher of water (with room for ice) about an hour before guests arrived, then added some ice cubes at the last second. 

All the guests were so sweet and there was much laughing and storytelling.

It was so great to spend some time with the bride-to-be and check out the venue and other fun details. The wedding is just around the corner, I can't believe it!

The weather was gorgeous and temperatures were in the 70's this weekend. Not your typical February day in most parts of the country. But Jonathan has been sick with a cold since Friday, so I made chicken noodle soup on Saturday.

I bought a pound and a half of happy, cage free chicken legs. I put them in my nice big strainer that fits in my nice big pot and covered them with cold water and a tablespoon-ish of white vinegar so all the great nutrients would come out of the bones. I let that sit for 30 minutes while I cut up four carrots, three celery, four cloves of garlic, and two onions. I put the ends and other bits, a whole onion quartered, and a bay leaf into the pot and added more water until they were just covered. I brought it to a boil and then reduced it to a simmer and partially covered it, letting it simmer for about three hours. I continued dicing the veggies and stored them in a container in the fridge for later. After two hours passed, I removed the chicken legs and placed them on a cutting board. I used a fork to pull all the meat off the bone (it pretty much fell off) and returned the bones to the pot. I diced the chicken and put it in a container in the fridge for later. After three hours had passed, I turned off the heat and let the pot sit for a few minutes. Then I took the pot over to the sink, removed the strainer and placed it in the sink to cool and later discard. My delicious broth was ready, I returned the pot to the stove and turned the heat on to medium. In a pan, I sauteed the veggies I had diced in 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil until they were tender, then I put them in the pot. I added about 8 ounces of wide egg noodles to the pot, stirring occasionally until they were soft. Then I added the chicken, and sea salt, pepper, cumin, and parsley to taste. 

Yum yum! I think it healed him up! We had it again for lunch today too. And I have managed to not get sick, though that could be in part due to making more elderberry syrup and taking cod liver oil every other day.

Even though he was sick, we still went to a salsa dancing class, went for a hike, took the dog to the park, and went to a Super Bowl party. A pretty good weekend all in all.

I also forgot to report that Sid the sourdough is doing well. A week ago I decided to switch him to the "dormant lifestyle" where he lives in the fridge instead of being fed twice a day. Once a week I just take him out 24 hours before I want to cook with him, feed him twice (once every twelve hours) and then make something delicious. Totally do-able!

Hope everyone is safe and warm this weekend!

Alright, this is the post that's going to make everyone think I've lost my mind. 


I first read this post about finding safe products a year ago. It was reposted today and I was going to share it during my Picks of the Week, but realized I have a lot more to say about it. Back when I first read it, I entered a bunch of the products I used into it. I was appalled to discover that a lot of them had ingredients that were known endocrine disruptors, linked to cancer or immunotoxicity, and more. At the time, I was also learning about making my own home cleaning products. Information like this really inspired me to simplify.


I switched to Dr. Bronner's castile soap for my face, body, hand soap by sinks, and even for scrubbing the floors and shower. No more being trapped in the shower with toxic fumes! I used to have red bumps on my hands during the week that would fade over the weekend. This made me wonder if I was allergic to something at work. I started bringing a mini bottle of Dr. Bronner's to work to wash my hands and I no longer have a rash. Creepy, right?


I switched to a lotion that is pretty much 100% shea butter for my face and body and feel like my skin is better for it. And it comes in a giant bottle at Whole Foods so it lasts a really long time. For particularly dry spots, lip balm, and more I use coconut oil. I keep it in a separate little jar from the main jar in the kitchen. I also use a small scoop of baking soda to exfoliate my face about twice a week, it's very gentle. 


I clean the apartment with castile soap, a spray bottle of vinegar and water, sprinkles of baking soda, and the occasional lemon + baking soda combo to really get things sparkling. The great thing is that all of these are safe to consume (though not all of them taste real great) so I don't have to worry if Shinobi gets into it or if it sits on my skin a long time. 


It's so nice to only have a few items in our bathroom cupboard! It's very easy for me to pack for a trip too.


So maybe you don't think any of that is very crazy. Well, here is the biggest change I have made: I haven't used shampoo since May. And I'm thrilled about it. 


I used to dye my hair, have it cut frequently, buy all sorts of special shampoos and conditioners and products, and I just got tired of it. There was a buzz going on in the Spring of 2010 on some of the blogs I follow about going No 'Poo: quitting the shampoo and conditioner routine. I think the best explanation can be found on this blog. I was open to an adventure at the time all this was happening. Getting spousal buy-in can be tricky, but Jonathan was all for it. So I started making my baking soda + water shampoo and apple cider vinegar + water conditioner and never looked back. There were about three weeks of transitional oddness, but I think part of that was caused by me not using enough baking soda since I have fairly thick hair. My hair now has a natural wave to it, doesn't go flat as quickly, and feels healthier and stronger. (And I only need to wash it every third or fourth day, shhh.) Best of all, Jonathan made the switch in November and is loving it. He doesn't even need to use hair gel any more.


So, there, I've said it. I don't mean for this post to make anyone feel like they need to do what I do. This is just the place where I share the random stuff I'm trying out. But I'm loving the simplicity, frugality, and lack of mystery chemicals. Me and NaHCO3 are pretty much BFFs now. 

Okay, this was way too easy and delicious, I have to share. We're running low on peanut butter so I decided to try making my own. I put 3 parts peanuts, 2 parts almonds, and 1 part walnuts (because I'm not very fond of their flavor, but they're so dang good for you) in the food processor. I let it spin for 45 seconds until it looked like coarse sand. Then I added a sprinkle of cinnamon, two sprinkles of sea salt, and a small squeeze of honey and let it spin for 90 seconds until it was smooth and creamy. Voila! So cheap and delicious and nutritious!

I would like to introduce you to the newest lifeform in our household. He is 24 hours old and is already strong and energetic, I can tell he will be a big help to me in the kitchen. He is a nice little 8 ounce blob of flour, water, wild yeast, and lactobacilli. We call him S.D. (pronounced "Sid"). Here's his first baby picture:

Okay, enough with the nerdiness. I started a sourdough starter last night and so far it is working great. I have learned so many interesting facts and I've only just begun. I am astonished by God's provision for us in creating happy little wild yeast and lactobicilli that float through the air available for anyone to catch them in a jar and feed them and later use them to make delicious bread items. It's such a thrill to see the little bubbles form! 

My first roast chicken just came out of the oven and it looks delish. I'm going to try my hand at chicken stock tomorrow. My 2011 To Do List is off to a good start!

Oops! It's almost been two weeks since I last wrote. Not sure where the time has gone...

Since I was last on here, we met the Woodwards for bagels, went on a runhike (or two?), watched some college football, I got sick, Jonathan went to a 49ers game, we went to The Weepies concert, and shared dinner with the Littaus.

The Weepies were so fun to see live! Deb is so tiny with a little bird chirp voice and Steve looks like a muppet. I'm pretty sure I was grinning from ear to ear the entire time. For some reason we call them Los Weeps. We're special like that. 

Here are some photos from the concert and a recipe for pumpkin dark chocolate cookies that I brought to the Littaus. I made a half batch which turned out to be about three dozen. It's easy to gobble up that many though.

Ingredients:

2 c butter

1.5 c sugar

16 oz can of pumpkin

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

4c fine whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp nutmeg

0.5 tsp allspice

1 tsp salt (0.5 tsp if you use salted butter)

2 c chopped dark chocolate

1 c chopped nuts (I used pecans and walnuts)

Cream butter and sugar. Add pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla; beat well. Stir in dry ingredients. Finally, add chocolate and nuts.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls an inch apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

With the colder weather lately (it's been upper 60's here, brrr ;) ) I've begun craving soup. I made a huge batch of butternut squash soup with coconut milk over a week ago. But I want to share another soup I made the other day. I call it hurry-and-use-all-the-vegetables-before-we-get-another-CSA-bag soup. I guess it's technically minestrone though...


I started by soaking some "7 Bean Mix" from the bulk section, it's just seven different beans all mixed together, you could use any beans. I put a cup of the beans in two cups of water with about a tablespoon of vinegar in a bowl in the morning. There are many benefits to soaking your legumes and grains. I could go off on a long-winded tangent about it, but I am in the middle of a recipe. So instead I will just share this nice explanation with you. 


With about an hour before dinner, I began heating a large pot on medium. I added a nice heaping tablespoon of butter and about a pound of grass-fed ground beef and let it brown. While it was browning, I started roughly chopping garlic, carrots, bell peppers, and zucchini. When the beef was finished cooking, I added the garlic and let it heat up for about a minute. Then, I added some chicken stock to deglaze the pot and made sure there was enough to cover all my ingredients, you can add as much as you want depending on your preferences. Next, I drained my beans, gave them a rinse, and added them to the pot. I reduced the temperature to medium-low and let the soup simmer for about ten minutes. While tidying up the kitchen, I found an almost empty bag of pasta in the cupboard and decided to throw that into the pot. I added the carrots at this point because they take longer to get soft than the other vegetables, and let it simmer some more. About five minutes before I thought the soup was done, I added the bell peppers and zucchini. I added salt, pepper, cumin, and a little chili powder. 


It was very filling. I served it with a nice thick slice of bread and there was plenty left over to freeze for later. I look forward to defrosting it when these veggies' seasons are long past and remembering this bountiful time of year. 


If you decide to cook something like this, I encourage you to use whatever you have around and taste it many times throughout. Trust your taste buds and instincts!

I have been eating steel cut oats for breakfast almost every day for nearly a year. Something about a chilly Autumn morning demands oatmeal. I stumbled upon a way to make batches of steel cut oats the night before instead of having to stand over the stove stirring for half an hour in the morning. Back when this committed relationship began, I was adding brown sugar, cinnamon, chopped walnuts, a sprinkle of flax seeds, a splash of whole milk, and diced apples to the prepared oats. When Winter appeared, I substituted dried cranberries for the apples and omitted the cinnamon. During that time, I discovered how beneficial raw coconut oil is and added a tablespoon or so of that each time to my recipe for some light sweetness and added boost of energy. I was more than ready for the delightful berries and stone fruits that Spring and Summer bring. It started with blueberries, then nectarines and peaches, and I am still enjoying a bounty of strawberries and raspberries as my fresh, in-season fruit of choice. 


When I first purchased steel cut oats, I bought the cute old fashioned tin of McCann's. With how much I liked them, I knew that would get expensive fast. So now I buy them in bulk from Whole Foods at a great price and store them in the cute tin. 


I adore my oat ritual! I have had enough people ask me about my recipe, that I decided I should share it here. 


About an hour or more before going to bed, I prepare the oats. Pre-made oatmeal can last in your fridge for up to a week, but I make enough each time to last me three breakfasts. You need a 4:1 water to oat ratio. For three breakfasts, I boil two cups of water and add a half cup of oats. I add a tablespoon of raw coconut oil while it is boiling. I let it boil for 90 seconds while stirring occasionally. Then I turn off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. I stir it a couple times while it's cooling. Once it's cool, I put a third into my little glass bowl with a lid that I take to work and put the rest in a larger storage container. When I'm ready to eat it in the morning, I microwave it for 30 seconds, give it a stir, and microwave it another 30 seconds. Then I add my toppings (I love watching the brown sugar melt into the oatmeal and swirl with the milk) and enjoy!

We had a lot of fun in Niagara Falls. The family reunion events included two dinners and a lunch and there were over 120 relatives who attended. It is always touching to see the "Originals" (the Maves siblings) interacting, telling jokes, singing songs, and laughing together. There are some amazing old stories about Charlie and Clara, the patriarch and matriarch, and life in the Maves household. Jonathan asked my Grandma why they had 16 children and she said,"They just took what God gave them."

We got a chance to visit the beautiful town of Niagara on the Lake. You can see where the Niagara River becomes Lake Ontario there, and at the Brock Memorial you can see over the river and lake all the way to Toronto. We also rode on the Maid of the Mist and were majorly misted by the American Falls and Canadian Falls.

We ate a lot of great food (my Grandma's honey cookies are always my favorite) but Jonathan adored the Buffalo wings. He consumed eight of them in one sitting! So tonight I decided to recreate them using chicken tenders. I dipped the chicken in buttermilk (whole milk with a splash of white vinegar) and then into flour. I baked them at 350 on a parchment paper lined sheet for 15 minutes and then flipped them over and baked them for 15 minutes more. While they baked, I melted two parts butter to one part Tapatio hot sauce in a sauce pan over low heat. When the chicken was done, I used tongs to dunk it in the buttery hot sauce and served them all up on a plate. We ate it with dipping sauce, homemade potato salad, and canteloupe. A perfect summer supper. And judging by the number Jonathan ate, I think he liked this version too.

Do you like Denver omelettes? Do you like pizza crust? Then you might like this little recipe I invented tonight. 


Take some pizza dough out of the fridge and let it sit while you dice so it gets nice and stretchy (I had some from Trader Joe's). Dice some ham, green and red bell peppers, onion, cheese, and kale (why not?) until you have a pile that is probably equal to one cup and put it in a bowl with two heaping tablespoons of ricotta. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on it and mix it up. Split your dough in half and begin lightly pulling the edge of one chunk around in a circle while the majority of it hangs down and rotate it, letting gravity do the work of creating a nice big circle, like you are making a pizza crust. Plop it onto a baking sheet and spoon half of your filling mixture onto one half of the circle of dough. Pull the half without any filling over the top and pinch/fold the edges until it is sealed. Repeat with the other half of the dough and filling. Then, I like to pat grated parmesan all over the top so when it bakes it gets crispy. Follow the baking directions that came with your dough, mine was 8 minutes in a 450 degree oven.


This got all sorts of oohs and ahhs from the hubby. He dipped his in homemade marinara, I liked mine plain. Buon appetito!

So much going on! We really enjoyed our time in Oregon. The wedding was gorgeous and everyone involved was so sweet. As matron of honor, I had the privilege of being Amber's shadow the whole time through pedicures, happy hour, arts and crafts, and all the other fun things a wedding entails.

We both flew back on Sunday and since then we have been busting our hineys to get caught up in our classes. Since we are both taking software classes, we both need to use the desktop PC so one of us is on there at all times. And after both being on computers all day at work, it's not exactly a thrill. But only a few more weeks to go!

Our friends Chris and Kristi stayed with us Thursday night on their way South for a wedding. It was so great to see them and share dinner and breakfast.

We are caught up enough now that we are taking today off (kinda). I woke up early and baked some bread, then we went to Furry Friends, then we exercised, and tonight we'll take Shinobi to the park and hang out with the Shulls for dinner.

I have been reading about the financial and nutritional benefits of baking your own bread in the blogosphere for a while now, but have always written it off as something I can't squeeze into my schedule because I work full time. I try to take all sorts of frugality and health information in without letting myself feel bad if I don't adopt it. But when through one of my frequent rabbit trails of a link that led to a link that led to a link I spotted a recipe for Five Minute Whole Wheat Artisan Bread, I had to give it a try. I made a half batch (in case it was a major flop) last night and let it rise for eight hours while we slept. Then I baked it this morning and it turned out great! Flaky crust and not too dense inside. I used coconut oil for the oil in the recipe which added a little sweetness. We used it to make sandwiches for lunch today and it held up pretty well. I think I may be adding this to my weekly routine. You can keep the dough in the fridge for up to a week and just pull a chunk out when you want to make a loaf. I might try to make some cinnamon rolls with the dough at some point. Here's a photo of the beauty (with some iced coffee in the background), mmm.

And we're back to studying. Jonathan started a new Advertising class on Monday. Since it is Summer semester, the class progresses at double the pace of a normal semester. So, instead of fifteen weeks, he will complete the class in seven weeks. Tomorrow, I will start a new Accounting class that is a double pace class that takes five weeks to complete. These next weeks will take a lot of discipline, but by doing a class each in the summer we will stay on track to both be done with this phase of school by the end of 2010. 


We still managed to squeeze in a lot of friend-time and pool-time this weekend though. And I read the book "The Call of the Wild" while Jonathan studied. I am trying to read books for fun in a series format. "The Call of the Wild" completes my Jack London series, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm hoping to take a trip out to Jack London Square in Oakland as a finale of sorts to my series.


For the fun-in-the-kitchen report, I got a set of popsicle molds as a fun summer treat to myself. I made two with coffee, shaved dark chocolate, a dash of coconut milk, and vanilla yogurt; and four with strawberries, nectarines, orange juice, and coconut milk blended in the blender. We taste-tested them today because it was boiling hot out and they were sooo good! I'm so excited to invent some new varieties this summer.