Today the Wall Street Journal tackles this controversial issue. In Saturday’s Review section they address the questionable research that led to decades of experts advising the public not to eat the fats and foods that have long been part of traditional diets. Read their article. Well done WSJ!
If you want to read more on this topic, I recommend Nina Planck’s Real Food: What to Eat and Why
Sugary goodnessDo you all know how to make brown sugar? I didn’t know how simple it was until I caught a snippet of a Martha Stewart episode a few years ago. I’ve been making it ever since. It’s nice to be able to make up a new batch when you are a 1/2 cup short on a recipe. All you need is two ingredients – some white sugar and molasses. Take a couple of cups of white sugar and drizzle in a couple of tablespoons of blackstrap molasses
Just two ingredients. Can’t get much simpler than that.
Stirring the molasses in.
So, I have a quick meal theme going on lately. I often make these for lunch. Here’s what you need….
Ingredient List:
flour tortillas
pasta sauce
motzarella cheese
other toppings (optional)
Directions:
Prepare your tortillas by spreading a bit of pasta sauce on and sprinkling some cheese. Add other toppings of your choice. Heat some olive oil or butter in a skillet and add each tortilla and cook just until the bottom is browned and crispy. If the cheese isn’t fully melted I usually transfer it to the toaster over for a minute or two. Slice and enjoy.
With bacon added. Mmm.
Easter Baskets 2011
I made these for my kids a few Easters ago. Now that the baby is old enough to hunt eggs I need to whip her one up too. The thing I love about these: I’m not throwing away broken straw or plastic Easter baskets every year only to buy new ones. You can use them year after year. They will get use at times other than Easter too. As I type my kids are roaming around the house packing “things” in their baskets pretending to go on a trip. I don’t have a pattern to for these to share with you since I just eyed it and made them up as I went along using yarn scraps that I had. I used bulky cotton yarn for mine so that they would be durable, sturdy and long-lasting. If you want a pattern to follow, look over the ones from Lion Brand. You’ll need to register to view their patterns, but they have a lot of simple patterns that I like. The first one in the list if you search for Easter basket on their website is the one that I patterned mine after looking around for ideas. Happy crocheting and have a blessed Easter!
It’s almost Easter. We barely got our Easter decorations up in time. It was still cold until this last week so it didn’t seem quite right to be decorating for Easter/spring when it was still 30 degrees outside. But, it warmed up last week so the decorations are up now. And the nice thing about Easter decor is that it easily transitions in to spring. Here’s what we have up this year:
A white gauze babywearing wrap used as a garland for colored Christmas lights with a white cord.
Easter eggs dangle from the lights. I used colored Christmas ribbon and poked it through the holes in the tops of the eggs to make loops to hang them from.
Lilies that I had from some time in the past clipped on to a ribbon graces the entertainment center.
Easter egg window clings from the .99 cent store.
The Valentine wreath (a wire frame wrapped with a scarf) becomes the Easter wreath with clip of a flower. I’ll switch it to a spring wreath later by adding a yellow ribbon twisted around the frame.
Our scarecrow Rosie, gets a new hat and flower.
Rosie’s Easter basket with a few flowers and Easter eggs mixed in.
An Easter tree – the hall plant decorated with the rest of the hanging Easter eggs.
Happy Easter Everyone!
Everything in the pan before water is added.
I had about 10 minutes to throw this together last night. It’s a quick and easy oven dish. You need a little lead time as it took about 1.5 hours to cook. But it is a super simple and quick dish. But, best of all is that you basically need only three ingredients – 1 can of salmon, frozen broccoli, and brown rice.
Here’s what you do….
Drizzle a some olive oil in the bottom of a large casserole dish. Pour in 3 cups of uncooked brown rice and add some salt and pepper. Add a few handfuls of frozen broccoli (or whatever other veggie you have in the freezer). Open a can of salmon, drain and reserve the juice, remove the bones and crumble the salmon meat over the rice and broccoli. Drizzle the reserved juice over the mix and add 7 cups of water. Cover with alluminum foil and cook on 375 degrees for 1.5 hours or until most of the liquid is absorbed.
So, see my post below to read about the virtues of these wonderful dish washing gloves. Just wanted to let you know that 3 months later I’m still using the same pair of gloves! I’m shocked and amazed at the quality of these gloves. I’ve never had a pair of rubber gloves last so long and I’ve never liked a pair as well as I like these. Usually after a month at the most mine have holes and I’m throwing them out. And these get heavy use. On most days I use them 2-3
Original Post:
I usually don’t post about products but have any of you used these? Casabella Premium Water Stop Latex Gloves (affiliate link – see my Disclosures page). I just discovered them and they are working wonders for the eczema on my hands that flares up periodically with the use of irritants like dish soap and hot water. But, what’s a city girl to do? The dishes have to be done. NYC apartment = no dishwasher. I can’t make the kids do the dishes yet. And the regular latex gloves from the store irritate my hands just as bad as dish soap with all those powdery linings. Well, guess what? These are wonderful! They have a “cotton flocking” which means that tiny cotton fibers have been adhered to the interior of the glove. Now, I will warn you that when I first got these and opened them up my first thought was, “These aren’t lined with cotton.” You see, I was expecting a cotton fabric lining and that is not what it is. It feels like a soft, less rubbery glove on the inside. I wasn’t sure that it was what I wanted but decided to try them out. I have been using them for around 3 weeks now and let me tell you the are well worth the $7 price tag. The lining (though not what I expected) doesn’t irritate my hands, they fit well and don’t slip and they have yet to crack or get a hole which is something that I can’t say for the gloves I used to buy at the grocery store. I’m sure they will wear out eventually but right now I am very happy and will definitely order more. They have definitely made dish washing a much happier chore at my house.
Note: These are latex, so if you have a latex allergy I would avoid them since I don’t know that the cotton flocked lining would protect your skin sufficiently.
So, at 3:30 this afternoon we got home from being out all day and I realized that I had forgotten to thaw out the meat I had planned for dinner. Oops.
Thankfully, we were just returning from Costco so I had some bulk Italian sausage in my cart. Enter my rescue meal plan.
So, I carried all the groceries up 2 flights of steps, quickly put them away, sent the big kids off to “quiet time,” got the baby to sleep and threw dinner together while I could. It turned out quite good and was very easy and quick. 10 minutes of prep, and 40 minutes simmering on the stove and dinner was done. A great one pot meal.
Here’s what I did….
In a large saucepan (I used my 5 quart cast iron Dutch Oven – affiliate link – Disclosures here) add about 2 tbls. of fat (use whatever you have on hand – I use some bacon grease) and measure in 3 cups of brown rice. Saute the rice for about 3-4 minutes until it’s starting to get toasty and all the kernels are coated with oil. Add 7-8 homemade chicken bullion cubes (3-4 if using store bought bullion cubes). Next, use your kitchen shears and remove the casings on 1 pound of sweet Italian sausage cut the sausage up into 1-inch chunks with the shears directly into the pan. Throw in about 2-3 cups of frozen veggies (I used mixed vegetables). Toss in some salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and cajun seasoning if you have it. Pour 8 cups of water over the mix. Stir. Cover the pot with the lid and 40 minutes later you’ll have dinner.
Note: Be sure to turn the heat off while there is still a little liquid left in the pan. Let it sit covered for 10 or 15 minutes and the rice will absorb the rest of the water. This will keep the rice on the bottom of the pan from burning.
Everything in the pot.
Pour 8 cups of water and simmer for 40 minutes.
All done and delicious.
It was good. We ate it up.
And this could easily be modified to be a crock pot meal by reducing the amount of water by one cup and cooking on low about 6 hours. Happy eating!
Sorry for the blog silence of late. I’m working on a new project that has a time sensitive deadline. Watch for it to appear in the near future. For a sneak peak, refer to my Essential Oil Quick Reference Chart. Want a hint on what’s in store? Imagine a more comprehensive version of this chart (linked above) that includes more herbs too. I hope it will be available soon. For now, refer to the page linked above if you need to know what oil to use for a particular use or application.
See my Disclosures and Disclaimers here.
Not actually cast iron waffles, but my new favorite waffle maker
At first I didn’t like it, but as my friend said the other day – “It’s cast iron. You just have to get to know it.” And she’s absolutely right. Now, that I know this lovely little cast iron waffle maker
If you decide to try this little gem of a waffle maker
How to get great waffles with a cast iron waffle maker:
1. Heat the waffle iron till hot on both sides before using.
2. Just before pouring the first batch of batter in (turn the burner off if gas) and spray on the top and bottom plates with a bit of cooking oil. Note: this is only needed for the first waffle of the batch. You do not need to spray oil before cooking the next waffle.
3. Cook for a couple of minutes on one side (time will vary depending on your burner heat and batter thickness – you’ll get a feel for it), then using a hot pad flip the waffle iron over to cook on the other side. The second side is usually done a little faster than the first side.
4. Remove by lifting up one plate of the waffle iron and gently pulling the waffle out with a fork along the edges if it doesn’t fall out on it’s own.
5. Don’t wash when you are done. Simply let it cool completely, brush off any stray crumbs and store in your cabinet until next time. If you scrub with soap or water you will loose your seasoning. If some waffles get stuck on at any point, scrub off with a dry brush and spray with cooking oil as directed above before pouring more batter in.
Ahhh. They are so good! But one of the best parts is that I’ll never have to buy another waffle iron again. 🙂 With proper care this one will last forever.
I grew up enjoying this dish. My dad’s mom used to make it for us. The recipe she handed down was made with Velveeta cheese, so I endeavored to invent a real food version. Scroll down through our Family Favorites to find the ingredients and directions on how to make it. It’s tastes the same as her recipe, plus with this new version you will get all the nutritional benefits of the real food ingredients. Eat up!
And just for fun, here’s some photos of some silly kids enjoying their Sunday dinner. 🙂
If you are in to babywearing you may have heard chatter amongst your babywearing friends about turning 120-inch Mahogany Cotton Tablecloths
So, if you have some sewing skills, getting a nice, quality, woven wrap doesn’t have to be expensive. Any sturdy, woven, cotton tablecloth will do. Shop your local stores for clearance items (Target often has good linens on clearance). Look for tablecloths that are all cotton (cotton/linen blends will do, but avoid all synthetic fabrics). You do not want a “printed” tablecloth. You want one that does not have a wrong side. Jacquard and damask weaves are good. You should be able to see the weave and the reverse weave on the other side. The ideal length for a shorty is a 60×120″ tablecloth. Then you have an 30″ width for each wrap once you cut the tablecloth in half length-wise and you can do several shorty carries with this length. A 90″ tablecloth will allow you to make a ring sling or do rebozo carries If you want to explore DIY baby carriers further look up DIY Babywearing Advice and Support on Facebook.
Short wraps are nice for summer or for older toddlers who sometimes want to walk. You don’t have to carry yards and yards of fabric with you but you still have the convenience and comfort of a wrap. If you want to know what carries you can do with a short wrap, check out Wrap Your Baby’s “Carrying Guide for Woven Wraps.”
Peacock, red/orange
Rucksack, with reinforced rear, tied at shoulder. (Ruck, RR, TAS)
Remembering Maggie Lane 