Not Quite Subsistance Farming

Joseph and I went down to the garden to clean it out some, and check out the carrots we planted in September. There were only a few survivors, and mostly they were just tops and roots - no carrot. We did get one, though!

Needless to say, I'm thankful for farmers markets and grocery stores.

We do have a TON of arugula, though!

Beef Stew

If you're looking for a yummy fall meal, look no further! I made beef stew (based on my dad's "recipe" for venison stew) and it turned out AWESOME

Jen's Beef Stew-pendous!

1 lb stew meat
1/2c flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2c canola oil
1/2c dry red wine (cabernet sauvignon)
32 oz beef broth
3 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/2 lb mushrooms
5 russet potatoes
2 roma tomatoes, peeled and diced
2 bay leaves

Heat oil in a big heavy pot over med/high heat. Combine flour, salt, pepper, and thyme in shallow dish. Dredge meat and put in hot oil. Sprinkle any additional flour in on top of the meat when you are finished dredging (helps build the rue). Brown meat on all sides, remove with a slotted spoon.

Deglaze the pot with the wine. Cook for about 30 seconds and add the beef broth. Add all the veggies, the bay leaves, and the beef into the pot, and bring to a simmer for 1 hour. If you are rushed for time, just cook till your potatoes are done. But it'll be better if you simmer longer.

Serve with some Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day!

Have I mentioned how dang CUTE Joseph is?

Probably not, as everyone is now referring to him as the toddler terror. Ha!

Here are some adorable things he's been doing:

1) When he's nervous around other people, he'll squeeze his eyes shut so he can't see them (and presumably, they can't see him!)

2) He laughs when he burps (or farts) and has been trying to make himself burp

3) He's sitting in his crib right now having a conversation with his Seahorse. NOT crying. OMG.

4) He can touch his head, shoulders, knees, and toes (though not fast enough to go along with the song)

5) He loves giving his bears and babies hugs and kisses

6) Whenever he sees something exciting he says "Ooooh Wow!" That's about 10,468 times per day.

7) Helped pick up toys at storytime yesterday without making a new mess

8) Helps me do dishes (or at least, squish bubbles)

9) Helped clean up his [purposefully] spilled milk

10) Gives me kisses on request - always followed by an unsolicited hug!

High-Cal Food Chronicles: Doctored Milk

One of my friends mentioned doctoring milk with a little bit of heavy cream. I've put cream in other things (like eggs), but this is super easy!

2T added to 8oz of milk adds 100 calories and 11 grams of fat! Of course, 3.5 of those are saturated. Hopefully I'm not setting Joseph up for early heart disease.

You never can win, can you?

When I Grow Up

I want to be just like my Daddy!

Wearing Daddy's golf hat

Filling Daddy's shoes is a big job!

You can see how tired he was from the time change! We're still up at 5:30am, but much improved after spending most of the week at 4:30am!

FO: Christmas Stocking #3

::cue music singing from the heavens::

Here are the details: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/DomerJen/cascade-christmas-stocking-w104-3

Stocking #3!!! This one will be Joseph's

Closeup of the bird motif... I wish the beaks were darker. I'm gonna see how I like them this year. I can always redo them with a darker yellow or orange later.

All three together! Now they "just" need to be blocked, lined, and names stitched on.

2,158

2,158 is the number of calories in the organic vanilla ice cream I made today. And 158 grams of fat.

It supposedly makes 5 cups, and serves 8.

We'll see. Ha!

Here's the recipe I used (modified from this Williams Sonoma recipe:

3c heavy cream
3/4c sugar
6 egg yolks
1.5 tsp vanilla

Heat cream until just before a simmer. Meanwhile, mix egg yolks and sugar until lightened. When cream is hot, temper by slowly pouring cream into sugar and yolk mixture while beating quickly. When about 1/2 is in there, pour the whole thing back into the pot. Reheat while constantly stirring until it coats the back of a spoon - about 5 minutes. Chill 3 hours. Pour into running ice cream machine and churn for 30 minutes. Try not to eat too much while you are putting it into a freezer safe container. Wait one hour. Consume.

All he needs is a tin cup.

Not crying, just waiting for parole.

Nobody knows the trouble I've seen....

Nobody knows my sorrows.

Little Apartment in the City

The other day, I channeled my inner pioneer. In the morning, I hosted a bread making playdate, and taught 9 of my mom friends how to make bread the easy way (google "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes per Day" if you are interested). I made the equivalent of 9 batches of dough the night before (which took 25 minutes to make - I said it was easy!) and spent the morning before they arrived baking. We had 2 loaves of wheat, 2 boules of white, a coronne of white, a loaf of french bread, and 2 focaccia. I sent the last piece of dough home with a friend to make a pizza.

Nom nom nom

Cole was stoked that he got to take the pizza dough home!

That evening, I started peeling apples. Peel, peel, peel. Chop, chop, chop. I ended up with my 8 quart stock pot completely full of apples! Cook, cook, cooked it down, and blended it with my stick blender. Then I used my new hot water bath to can them! I ended up with a little over 4 quarts of applesauce. It was a little time consuming because of all of the steps, but the actual prep time wasn't much - maybe 25 minutes of peeling and chopping. The whole process took me a couple of hours. Next time I won't use an entire tablespoon of cinnamon, though - apparently 1T for a gallon of applesauce is a bit much. Still tasty, though! T.J. and Joseph are already digging in!

First 4 jars - all of them sealed!

I finished out the evening by continuing work on my knitting - Joseph's stocking... Gotta get that done so we can decorate the new house! Closing is 2 weeks and a day away!

click-click-click

It was a fun mix of old world turned new world activities. Joseph had a great time playing with his buddies, too!

Joseph was doing laps babbling and laughing - it was uber cute.

More Words!

Joseph had been "taking a break" from words and sounds the last couple of months, but he's been making some strides the last couple of days. I guess he was just busy learning to run and misbehave. Ha!

He's been making a lot more different (unintelligible) sounds lately, and today he said "more" for the first time!

He also used his "all done" sign at the playground today when he was done swinging - the first time I've seen him use it in a non-highchair situation.

Very proud of my little bear!