Rambling me

So, my kids are both asleep. I had a chance to check my email and my blog, and I want to write something here...but I also want to go out to my garden and weed a bit. The planted plants and the weeds are all QUITE big enough to pull weeds without hurting the planted plants or my fingers. (Pulling baby weeds hurts my cuticles, call me a wimp, I don't really care.)
So, my onions are really begging to weeded.
We ate our first fruits (vegetables) of our labors for supper yesterday- Lettuce and baby beet greens. What a salad. My mom and dad were visiting (yes, my mom is well enough to travel, the oxygen lets her do more than she was before, and that is a praise report right there. And the swelling in her arm due to a tumor she has went down while she was here, Amen!) and I cooked up one mean meal for them and Joe. It was in honor of Father's Day. Here's the menu:
Green salad from the garden, pickled beets from last year's garden, yummy steaks from a grass fed cow I never met, but have enjoyed eating, creamed potatoes (which I made and were really really good), and scalloped onions (which my mom made and were out of this world). It was fun to do a bit of cooking with my mom (read as: I spied on her and found out how to make scalloped onions) Everything was delicious and I had seconds on everything except the salad, of which I really took two helpings the first time.
No dessert- my mom had requested cookies, so we had already eaten those before supper. Because we eat dessert first if we want to. The cookies were quite yummy, too- oatmeal three ways. Oatmeal with semi-sweet chocolate chunks (Pamela I need more bulk chocolate), oatmeal with walnuts, and oatmeal with big glops of chunky Pamela-made peanut butter (Pamela, I need more peanut butter too. And so does my dad, so my order is for 1 quart creamy, amd 2 quarts crunchy. My dad said, with a look of mild elation, "It comes in quarts?" And that is funny to any LOTR fans who can picture a certain hobbit saying, "It comes in pints?" But that is not about peanut butter, it's about beer.)

Okay, if that isn't enough rambling for you, you'll never get enough, so I might as well go weed my onions. And my peppers, because I am looking forward to kabobs.
XOXO
Joce

Easy community service

Okay, so this is easy.
Go to twitter, create an account, and then follow @Mom_17.
I have two very strong reasons.
1. Pamela (the classy gal you would be following) is funny beyond reason. Go read her for proof.
2. She is in a contest, that has really cool baby-related prizes. And, if she wins, Pamela will donate everything but the camera (which she will give to her mom, because I guess she really needs it) to Teen MOPS of Batavia. Which is a great ministry that helps teen moms gain skills for parenting and stuff.
So, go ahead and do that. Go to twitter. And follow.
XOXO
Joce

Strawberries

I had a little outfit when I was about 8 years old- a pair of shorts and a tank top with three strawberries across the chest. I called it- My Strawberry Outfit. And, I had big plans for this outfit. On my first day of summer vacation, I was going to wear it strawberry picking. Ah...poor ALP Farms had no idea that my 40 pound self could eat so many strawberries. Honestly, they should have weighed me coming in and going out and charged my mother accordingly.

Anyway, I took my own dear children strawberry picking last Saturday, over to Duysson's in LeRoy. I must recommend it. The farm, not the taking of children. However, I now appreciate that mom took me strawberry picking. It is not as joyous for the mommy as it is for the little strawberry party animals. I take it that Cade enjoys strawberries as much as his mommy, because, as Hanna put it, "He looks like a crazed little strawberry murderer." His red mouth and hands, and the red juices dripping from his chin and finger tips really were a little disturbing.
Since then, I can't recall how many times I have had to say, "No more strawberries!" I feel like a mom in a bedtime story for pre-readers, the amount of times I have repeated myself word for word. He's a naughty little pilferer of strawberries. He's sneaky. He's persistant. Everytime I prepare a strawberry recipe, he's there. Lurking.

Anyway.
Here are the recipes.

Number one, Strawberry Jam, go here: http://cincinnatilocavore.blogspot.com/2008/06/strawberry-preserves-no-pectin-recipe.html
I pretty much followed those directions.

Number two, Strawberry Rhubarb Pie:

INGREDIENTS
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon corn starch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 pound fresh rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
12 oz. fresh strawberries, halved
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell

TOPPING:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup quick-cooking or rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¾ stick cold butter

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg. Add the sugar, flour, corn starch and vanilla; mix well. Gently fold in rhubarb and strawberries. Pour into pastry shell.
2. For topping, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and oats in a small bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over fruit. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Cool on a wire rack.

Yum.

XOXO
Joce

Oh, yeah, you probably want my pie crust recipe, too. Fine. Here it is.
2 cups flour
2 teaspooons sugar
pinch salt
2/3 cup oil
3 Tablespoons milk
Mix it up in the pie plate and shape into crust. No rolling. Easy Squeezy.

And, some updated photos of the fam:

A recipe, a request, and a moment of silence

Recipe:

Asparagus thingys

1 package cresent rolls

cheese

asparagus

In the little triangles that the cresent roll people make, place some cheese (I used sliced mozz, shredded cheddar, and shredded swiss- that's what was in my fridge) and about four 4-inch spears of asparagus. Roll it up like the cresent roll people say on the package, and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. Wow. That's all I'll say. (I do apologize for posting this now that asparagus is done for the year.) (And, sorry that the picture is blurry. I did my best, but my camera just wasn't feeling cooperative.)

Request:

Please identify this plant-

And this one, too-

And a moment of silence: (for my baby's hair)

Due to a very unfortunate miscommunication (on my husband's part, I won't mince words there)my dear sweet baby accidently received a Big Boy Hair Cut while I was Out of Town.

Sweet Baby-

Big Boy-

That's all for now, my little people are in need of food.

XOXO

Joce