Seeds! Seeds! Glorious Seeds!

Look what came in the mail today!

I am an amature gardener, heavy on the amature.  Each year that we have owned our home I have had a kitchen garden and each year I have learned a lot about gardening, our food supply and patience!  I love gardening, my husband is thankfully amused by my not so green thumb and continues to encourage and support me.  This year (like every other) I anticipate learning lots more and hopefully producing more food than last year.

I read a really informative and inspirational book this winter called The Vegetable Gardner's Bible.  I was particularly excited by the idea of moving away from row planting as I do not have a lot of garden space.  I had looked into Square Foot Gardening before but was turned off by the seemingly high costs associated with this method (building boxes and making Mel's Mix in particular.)  I am therefore attempting a happy medium of the two this year which I hope will yield lots of tasty veggies for my family to eat :)

I found a really great website with lots of helpful information on gardening called My Square Foot Garden.  The author emphasizes planning as being key to a successful garden and with her fabulous tutorial I was able to create my garden plan for 2011!

I let the Bug choose which veggies we will grow in our garden this year with only a little gentle guidance from mom.  She was so excited to help plant, weed and water the garden last year it was wonderful!  My mother-in-law has graciously offered to help plan and install a drip irrigation system for us but I think that would ruin some of the fun for the Bug and I like the necessity of visiting the garden to water as it gives me lots of opportunities to poke around and admire my plants :)

Chewy Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal, and Raisin Cookies

Do you ever long for summer in the dead of winter?  I sure do!  We had my parents over for a little barbeque in winter this evening; hamburgers on the grill, a big green salad, and these tasty cookies for desert.  I love that these cookies have the perfect blend of crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside.

I try to use whole wheat flour as much as possible in the foods I prepare for my family.  This cookie recipe is no exception, try it! I promise you wont taste the difference :)

Chewy Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal, and Raisin Cookies

1 cup Butter softened
1 cup Light Brown Sugar packed
1/2 cup White Sugar
2 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 3/4 cups Whole Wheat Flour
2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
3 cups Oats
1 cup Raisins
2 cups Chocolate Chips

1. In a large mixing bowl cream together Butter and Sugars until smooth.  Don't rush this step, blend well!
2. Beat in Eggs then stir in Vanilla.
3. Combine Flour, Baking Soda, and Salt in a separate bowl then add to creamed mixture.  Mix until just blended.
4. Mix in Oats, Raisins, and Chocolate Chips.
5. Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.  Do not skip this step or your cookies will spread and you will loose the chewy inside!
6. Drop small balls onto greased cookie sheet and gently press to flatten top.
7. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Delicious hot from the oven with a big glass of milk!

I made just one cookie sheet worth for our dinner this evening and will bake up the rest tomorrow.  Of the nine cookies that came out of the oven the one pictured above was all that remained. Maybe I'll go finish it off now...Yum!

Twirly Christmas Dress

I whipped this dress together during two episodes of Battlestar Galactica.

My mom bought the white onesie at a thrift store for $1.00 in October for my son.  It was comically huge on him and as the bug is potty trained crotch snaps are a no-no.  I put it away thinking I could cut off the snaps and use it to make into a dress.  I hadn't fallen in love with any fabric yet when my mom brought 4 yards of Christmas pattern over in December.  And thus the Twirly Christmas Dress idea was born.

Pretty cute huh?  I think next time I would add a sash and bow to gather it closer to her hips.

Naughty or Nice, you get cookies

Neighbor gifts are something my mother insists are a must.  Not for everyone mind you just for the nice neighbors.  I could never figure out which neighbors would make my mother's nice list each year so at our house we operate a little differently.  If I can see your house from mine you are a neighbor and you get cookies whether your dog poopies on our front lawn all summer or you are sweet enough to snow blow our sidewalk before we roll out of bed on the morning a big blizzard hits.  This year I decided to do Forgotten Cookies and Ginger Bread Men.  The bug and I had a wonderful time making and decorating our Ginger Bread Men and oh my were they tasty!

The Forgotten Cookies are a family recipe I got from my mother-in-law and they are super easy.  Try some!

Forgotten Cookies


2 Egg Whites
Pinch of Salt
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
3/4 cup Sugar
1/2tsp Vanilla
2 1/2 cups Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or grease well.
2. Froth Egg Whites.
3. Add Salt and Cream of Tartar, beat until stiff.
4. Add Sugar slowly while continuing to beat.  Continue beating until mixture turns glossy.
5. Mix in Vanilla well.  Then fold in Chocolate Chips.
6. Drop cookies onto cookie sheet.  They wont expand so pack them in!
7. Put cookie sheet into preheated oven and immediately turn oven off.  Do not open for at least 5 hours!

We made our cookies in the evening and left them over night in the oven.  I had totally forgotten about them by morning.  My hubby reminded me they were there when he asked if I had tried one yet :)

A Christmas Disconnect

So we are decorating the Christmas tree last week and the bug starts talking about the Berenstain Bears Meet Santa Bear book (I love reading her stories about the upcoming holidays!) The bug wants to know what Sister Bear is getting for her birthday this year.
Me: huh?
The bug explains that Sister Bear wants a pony in the story and she gets one for Christmas so it must mean that Sister Bear's birthday is Christmas.
Me: ah!
So I explain to the bug that Christmas is a celebration of baby Jesus' birthday and that we exchange gifts with loved ones to celebrate His birth.  Knowing, as she does, that Jesus lived and died a long time ago she could not quite wrap her head around the idea that we exchange gifts without the birthday boy.  We abandoned tree trimming for a moment to locate the Nativity Scene grandma gave the bug last year.

I am a HUGE believer in hands on learning for kids and this Nativity Scene is perfect for teaching little ones about Jesus' birth and subsequently the first Christmas presents given by the Three Kings.  Grandma did make one change she used plastic (you can buy at craft stores by the sheet) for the bases in anticipation that it would get wet at some point whether from washing or baby drool, I think the directions say cardboard :)