Succotash

I can't believe I haven't told you about the easiest meal to make yet.  Bad, Heather, bad.

Anyway....I first made this as part of our Pilgrim celebration.  Everyone loved it and said we should add it into our meal rotation.  It's been over a year and everyone still loves it.  It takes about 15 minutes to make and truly is one of the easiest things ever.

1 lb. beef, cut into bite-size pieces (stew, stir-fry, steak, whatever)
corn - either 1 16oz. pkg frozen (does not need to be thawed) or 2 cans, drained
1 can lima beans, drained
butter
salt
cinnamon

Brown the beef in some butter.  Add the corn and the lima beans.  Sprinkle with salt and cinnamon.  I use about 1/2 to 1 tsp. cinnamon.  I just lightly sprinkle it over the whole dish until it looks dusted, but not covered.  Stir and let cook until corn and beans are heated through (you can add a little more butter here and there if things start looking dry).  Serve.

My kids will CHEER when they see this on the table.  They cheer for LIMA BEANS.  How fun is that!!!

Two of my smartest organizing ideas...ever

I'm not a natural organizer, but I find much peace in being organized.  So I organize.  Some times my attempts work beautifully and other times they leave much to be desired.

Here are two that have worked so marvelously well over the years that I'm surprised they came from my personal brain.

1.  We were constantly losing cards or game pieces and when it was time to play, we couldn't.  In our play room I placed a small basket (plastic box, whatever) on top of the shorter bookcase.  Whenever we're cleaning or digging things out from under the couch and we find a game piece or card or something we set it in the basket.  If we want to play a game with a missing piece we check the basket first.  About once a month I'll go through and put all the lost parts in their proper home.

2.  We're a reading family.  And we never had enough bookmarks so my kids would use dirty socks, toys, the dog leash, whatever they could find to mark their places and many books were damaged in the process.  I put together a stack of bookmarks and put them in the corner of a shelf on one of the bookcases.  They now know that whenever they need a bookmark, they can go there and find one.  When they're done with one they return it to the same place.

I'm a broken record

About two years ago we decided that we weren't going to "do snacks" anymore.  I didn't feel good about feeding them crackers and cookies and other processed snack foods.  And the cost added up quickly with four boys who would eat an entire box of crackers in one sitting and STILL be hungry.

So we made a "fruit" rule.  If they are hungry they can always have fruit. Any time of the day.  Fruit is the answer.  You wake up early in the morning, and you're hungry before breakfast, have some fruit.  You want a snack before lunch?  Have some fruit.  Feeling hungry around 3pm?  Have some fruit.  Going to bed and want to top off the tank?  Have some fruit.  I figured if they ate fruit and were too full to eat a good lunch, oh well.  They got full on fruit. 

For TWO YEARS when they say they're hungry I tell them to eat fruit.  AND THEY STILL KEEP ASKING. 

It's like they're hoping I'll have a fit of insanity and say,

"Oh, you're hungry?  Eat this bag of Doritos then have a gallon of ice cream."

You can tell which of my kids were little when this started.  The 10-yr-olds fight me the most on fruit and one will just walk away and eat nothing (which I think means he wasn't really hungry in the first place, just looking for a sugar fix).  The 7-yr-old eats fruit fairly well.  The 4-y-old eats mainly fruit (and all varieties) and we have to work really hard to get him to eat anything else.

This is how I handle The Stocking of the Fruit -

fruit bowl filled with apples and pears - always

clementines or mandarin oranges - if they don't cost a fortune

bananas - always - usually 3 bunches a week

grapes - whichever color has a good price that week

baby carrots - it's not a fruit, but the same principle applies

persimmons - depends on price

pineapple - cut into chunks, once or twice a month

watermelon (or other melons) - once or twice a month

berries - whenever I can get a good price

lettuce & spinach - they know how to make their own salads and they do (don't fight me on the "it's a vegetable thing" - it still counts in the Have Some Fruit campaign)

I have been providing unsweetened applesauce, but have decided to stop that.  I'm going to teach them how to make applesauce in the blender instead.  How could they possibly resist the power of the Blendtec?

Now, what fruits or easy-to-serve vegetables am I missing??????

The End of Raw

I officially lasted almost two weeks on raw. I had a series of minor breakdowns, followed by a biggie that had my husband wondering if he needed to lock me in a padded room.  It was ugly.  I apologize for not telling you sooner, but it’s taken me quite a while to get back to feeling like me again.

I spent quite a while feeling like a total loser because I couldn’t even go 30 days.  

30 days is nothing.  

Or so I glibly thought.

I kept telling myself that those darn people on Simply Raw went 30 days.  And they had detox like I did.  They wanted to give up.  They had breakdowns.  And THEY KEPT GOING.  

Why couldn’t I????

As my husband pointed out…

1.     They were at a retreat where their food was made for them.  And most likely it was delicious.

2.     They were at a retreat where they did not have to take care of laundry and dishes and kids and homeschool and church service and many other things.

I was in no such place.

I will openly admit that the detox was bad.  Really bad.  The first week or so I was feeling great…and then I started crying…and getting angry…and crying…and getting impatient…and edgy….and crying…and raising my voice (which I NEVER do)….and crying….Most of my detox was emotional and my kids were noticing.  I didn’t like the mom I was becoming and felt very little control over myself at that point. That made me cry even more. 

By the end of the almost two weeks I was a quivering mass of depressed mucous-covered raw nerves.  My husband called an end to the insanity and I started eating “normal” food.  And wouldn’t you know it, within a few days I was happier, calmer, and in control of my emotions again.  And fatter.  I regained the 7 pounds I lost. 

I’m currently working on a semi-raw diet.  So far I’m doing well emotionally and physically.  I eat raw for breakfast in the form of a large smoothie (usually a green one).  Lunch is either salad or vegetable soup/chowder with another massive smoothie.   Dinner is a small portion of whatever I cooked for dinner with veggies and fruit on the side.  I’ve been making a lot of vegetarian meals lately and tons of soup.  I feel so calm, so healthy after a big bowl of veggie soup with homemade broth.  It is very grounding.  I’m also trying to avoid sugar and bread.  

But they are NOT trying to avoid me.

My husband still thinks that raw is a great idea, in moderation.  He also suggested that I try various recipes out while eating “normal” thus building a collection of meals that I enjoy…after a while I should have a supply of “go to” raw recipes that I like, instead of ones I throw in the garbage. 

So, our current goal is to maintain the status quo albeit a modified status quo including many, many more smoothies….and work on building a repertoire of raw and/or vegetarian meals.  Are we giving up meat and dairy?  Not for now.  But we do want to decrease the amount we eat…and increase the quality. 

I found that I don’t really care for “gourmet raw”.  I don’t like the fake sour creams and fake noodles and fake whatevers.  They taste fake.  The things I enjoyed the most were raw foods acting like themselves – a salad acting like a salad, veggies tasting like veggies instead of like some nasty sauce, fruit that still looked and tasted like the actual fruit.   Gourmet raw relies on a lot of nuts and seeds, which I found somewhat irritating (to my gut).  And expensive.  Some recipes used hardly any veggies at all – it was all nuts and seeds.  That didn’t feel “raw” to me.  Just fake.  (The repeated use of the word fake in this post has now ended.)

I have learned a few things from this experience:

     For my mental health and well-being, I need to make gradual changes to my diet.  Some people may not have this problem.  I do.

     I was surprised at how strong a hold food has over me.  How emotional eating is.  I want to work at freeing myself from this dependence.  Food is my drug…and I want to break the chains.  Any suggestions?

     Food tastes best when it is in its most natural state.  Covering it with a sauce, even a raw sauce, usually doesn’t enhance the food.

     Blended soups need my attention.  I must figure out how to make more blended soups…but make them  chunkier  …and warmer.

    Smoothies are my friend.

     There is really no replacement for a great salad.  All the gourmet raw in the world doesn’t beat a salad with a fantastic dressing.

     Foods eaten in their natural state are faster than making fancy recipes.  That’s a big duh, but I need to learn it.  A nectarine is much faster, much tastier, much easier than putting together a frilly little doo-dah to snack on.

For now, raw is done.  It was not fun.  Hey, that rhymed! I’m still learning though, and still experimenting with raw recipes.  Just at a slower pace. 

I’m taking one day at a time and doing the best I can that day to be healthy.

My lovely long skirts

Sadly, I do not sew.  Let me amend that.  I do know how to sew but I do NOT know how to cut out a pattern.  My grandmother always did that part, then she'd pin it together and I'd sew it on the machine.

I have set a goal to learn how to sew, really sew, but haven't found anyone in my local area that can teach me.

So, I bought some skirts.  To tide me over until I learn....whenever that is.....

Some of you asked for pictures.  My camera is broken, or it hates me, I'm not sure which.  But I got them at New Creation Apparel.

Aline Seams Heather Gray 98% cotton, 2% Spandex       Brick Red Flax 53.9% flax  46.1% cotton

Black Diamond Comfort a combination of cotton, spandex and polyester

This last one is my absolute favorite and it's the one I went walking in!!!!  It has a zipper on the bottom allowing it to "open up" for walking.  It is 98% cotton, 2% spandex.  The one to the left of it is also a blend of cotton/spandex (70%/30%). 

The customer service is absolutely incredible.  They were out of stock on a few items and they immediately contacted me via email, then phone.  They worked very hard to make sure I was happy.  Shipping was fast and quality is excellent.

If you know of any other companies/persons that sell modest skirts, please let me know.  I'm always on the hunt for good quality, attractive, feminine clothes.

I walked a mile in a long skirt

I did.  And it felt great.  And a little weird.  I went swish, swish, swish the entire time.

So, you should know two things.  First, I've been wearing more skirts lately (don’t laugh, mom).  Like several times a week.  I thought I'd hate it but I actually love it.  Wearing a skirt makes me feel pretty and  homemakey  .  The big kicker for me is NOT to wear pantyhose with them.  I reserve pantyhose for special occasions like weddings and church.  For daily kicking it with my kiddos, it's just a long skirt and bare feet.  Ah, the freedom!

Second, I'm walking every day.  Winter has settled upon us here in West Texas.  Today it is in the high 50s/low 60s - we wore t-shirts to the park.  About halfway through our school day I send all my kids to the park to play and I walk around the neighborhood so I can still see them.  I walk around and around and around.  Then around some more.

The neighbors probably think I'm crazy, but at least I'm doing something healthy!  I've been doing a little over a mile each day, for the last 5 days.  Dragging my little mutt behind me.  Seriously, he’s so out of shape….worse than me!

And today I was wearing an ankle-length denim skirt with black tennis shoes.  Perhaps not my most lovely fashion statement, but I've proved to myself that I can exercise anywhere, anytime.  It doesn't matter if I don't have the right clothes or "enough time".  Excuses are no longer valid.  Well, at least for now.

My boys love being able to play outside for long hours everyday without frying to a crisp.  I love the fresh air and bright blue skies.  We all feel happier, calmer and sleep better at night.

I love Texas in the winter!

My latest venture

I want to introduce you to a fun project I'm working on.  It started over at my beloved Simply Charlotte Mason forum when someone asked how to stretch your money at the grocery store.  Seven pages of comments later we decided to start a blog to create a one-stop place for all our frugal tips, from scratch recipes, and information about repurposing clothes, gardening, canning and such.

You can find us at Penny-wise Women. We welcome any and all submissions relating to thriftiness, self-reliance, being a good steward and all that jazz.  I hope you enjoy!!