Aloha Friday

Aloha Friday is a fun way to make new bloggy friends.  Ask a simple question on your blog then go to An Island Life to leave your link, then make sure to visit other participants and answer their questions.

My question:

Were you in any clubs as a kid?

I was in Girl Scouts and 4-H.  I was also in the Children's Choir at church. 

Tomorrow we are going up to the forest to meet with a local Cub Scout Troop who asked my husband to teach a lesson about soils so they can earn their merit badge.  Afterwards we are going to grab lunch at one of the resorts up there.

Prayer request

I start the day with such a heavy and sad heart as the first update on my Facebook was that little baby Lane passed away yesterday.  He made it to about 7 weeks, but his poor little body just wasn't developed enough and he returned back to heaven.  I am asking for prayers for him and for his family.  They have a lot of family who will be traveling to Colorado for a memorial so they need prayers for that too.  Thank you to anyone who can help out!

Food Preservation 101

Ahh, it's that time of year when the garden is brimming with fresh produce and time to plan out how to preserve the most of my bounty for those long winter months. 

Wednesday morning I roasted a big batch of Anaheim chiles and seeded and chopped them and put the pieces into an ice cube tray, filled it with water and froze them.  When I want to cook up chili with it this winter I can pop a cube or two right into the recipe.  I may get one more batch before the frost, but it of course depends on when the frost happens.

I ordered my new food dehydrator and it got here today.  I had an old one that I picked up at a yard sale a few years back and last summer I worked really hard at prepping garden tomatoes and had it totally full.  Overnight it wasn't hot enough and half the tomatoes molded.  I took the whole dehrator out and threw it away with the rotten tomatoes still in it.  Now I have a nice new one so I can dry a bunch of the tomatoes that are ready to go.

Tomorrow I will also pick up my latest bountiful basket.  Bountiful baskets is a food co-op in AZ, UT, WY, CO, ID, NV, OR, TX, and WA where you pay $15 for a basket that is 50% fruits and 50% veggies, 6 different types of each.  I have participated for about 4 baskets now and have enjoyed feeding my family all that fresh produce at such a great price.  The first basket I did I tried to comparison shop at the grocery store, and using very conservative estimates figured that at the least the basket would have been $26 pre tax at the store.  Bountiful baskets also has special "extras" for each pick up.  Tomorrow I will be getting a 20lb case of peaches for $10 so I will be preserving a lot of peaches this weekend.  I plan to can peach slices and peach jam.  Since I have the dehydrator I may also make some fruit leather, and my husband would like a peach pie!

Adventures in babysitting

So it was a big deal for me, but I'm sure many of you would laugh that I was nervous today because I babysat a second little boy for the first time since having Austin.  I have babysat multiple kids before, but they were siblings, so with bigger age gaps, or my older nieces and nephews.  The boy is about 4-5 months younger than Austin, so I was afraid that it would be really challenging since they are virtually the same age, especially because Austin can be rambunctious.  It went really well though and the boys played together nicely.  I am trading babysitting favors so his Mom will watch Austin on October 2 so Dustin and I can go out to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary.

Garden Update

Don't mind the crab grass, I have not been able to keep up with it this summer.  Other than pulling it I don't know how to get rid of it without using herbicide, and I'm not going there.  We have now harvested tomatoes, chiles, jalepenos, swiss chard, cilantro, coriander, dill, green beans, yellow squash, cucumbers, green peppers, banana peppers, yellow onions, green onions, radishes, carrots, and beets. 

I can't wait to eat the watermelon!

Pretty Swiss chard

Yellow cherry tomatoes, they are so good and pretty on a salad!

Yolo wonder green peppers

Latest cake

Amidst the craziness last weekend I decorated this 3-D cake.  It was my first 3-D cake and the first time I used rice crispy treats for the base.  The whole cab of the truck are crispy treats covered in frosting as well as the blue sprinkle slab under the trailer.  The trailer was vanilla cake.