Strawberrries 2017

Today we kept up the tradition of picking berries to make jam. It was fun. The girls were very helpful today and picked quite a bit themselves. We bought subs on the way home and had a picnic under a tree. I cleaned my berries and they played on the zipline. This evening Emily and I made a batch of jam. She helped measure and pour and crush berries and stir. She was really good help. The jam turned out good. We tried pilsbury crossants stuffed with strawberries for dessert. They were good with a little fresh jam on top.

Garden 2017

Today I started putting my garden in. May 31st. It's very wet and not very warm. I'm waiting for my pepper plants to get a little bigger before I transplant them. Gary made me a new raised garden. It is 8x8. My dad made a wire cover for my side garden with Ashley's help. This year I have planted, cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, lemon cherry tomatoes, cucamelon, marigolds, radishes, leaf lettuce, red onions. A few annuals as well.

Easy supper (butter chicken)

Tonight is hot. Gary is working late. He is combining corn. He doesn't like butter chicken but I got him out a couple of porkchops I can BBQ when the sun goes down. The girls and I like butter chicken. I cook basmati rice in the rice cooker. I cut up chicken breast and browned it with onions and celery. Sometimes I add broccoli or peppers. Then I open the sauce and pour it in. I add 1/4 of milk to make it go farther. Easy and quick. Gary can have rice with his porkchops.

This year our garden was the pits. We got almost no rain this summer so our produce was almost nothing. My mom gave me some tomatoes to make my salsa. For some reason her red peppers were growing great. This year I made 1 batch of red pepper jelly. I used this recipe but I added one jalapeño pepper. It turned out awesome. http://www.canadianfamily.ca/recipe/red-pepper-jelly/

School lunches

The kids went back to school today. Grade 1 and Grade 2. Packing lunches has become easier for me since I have a few years under my belt. I have gotten asked this past weekend what I put in their lunches so I thought I would share. My kids school has a no nuts policy and no eggs (which includes mayo and salad dressings) no fish and no sunflower oil in Emily's class. I give each each kid a piece of fruit and 2 cut up veggies. They each get a cheese and crackers bag and a yogurt. I always pack a mini muffin that is homemade with fruit or veggie in it. They also get a juice box and granola bar or 2 cookies. I also put in raisins or another dried fruit. All these items are made and packed in containers early in the week so I just make a sandwich in the morning. I split the sandwich between the two girls. When they get tired of a plain butter, meat and cheese sandwich,I make 1/2 a bagel and cream cheese or bagel bites. I have even packed chicken nuggets with a ketchup package or cold pizza. Tortillas wraps with cream cheese and ham or cheese quesadilla with a little sour cream is a nice change. I pack all the food groups. The fruit changes but my kids like apples and strawberries a lot. They have their favorite veggies. Top choices are carrots, cucumber, red peppers. I have packed herb cream cheese with thier veggies so they can have a dip. When I am out of groceries I pack jam sandwiches. The girls like to use cookie cutters to make shapes and eat the crusts at breakfast. When the munchkins get home from school if they didn't finish their lunch they eat the veggies and fruit before they get supper. Any dried fruit or granola bars go in the cupboard for their lunches the next day. The container I used for the girls lunches is lunch cube by sistema. It works well they are 5$ at bed, bath and beyond.

Fridge cleaning and mexican

Today I cleaned out the fridge. I found lots of cheese, sour cream and salsa. So I made cheese enchiladas. I had not made them before but I froze these for another day. I did not have green chiles sauce so I used a taco sauce from the old elpaso taco kit mixed with crushed tomatoes. I also made 2 sour cream bake casserole from the pioneer woman's blog. We are having one for supper tonight and I froze one. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/sour-cream-noodle-bake/ I would also make the dump and run taco soup since I have those ingredients. Have a look in your fridge. You might have some meals you can make ahead and freeze.

Apples Apples everywhere

I am in the midst of an apple extravaganza! I have 3 apple trees that were full of apples. My husband picked them lots and lots. I have donated apples to my school. I have given apples to everyone I see. My kids eat 2 apples everyday. I have made dried apples, lots of apple muffins, 3 batches apple sauce, 7 apple pies, 5 apple crisps, many bags of frozen sliced apples, and canned apple pie filling. The recipe I used is http://www.instructables.com/id/Apple-Pie-Filling-canning-recipie/?ALLSTEPS