And back to the grindstone

After having a wonderful two weeks off from work, and still not having time to do the random things like clean house and post here, I’m back at work. It was a hard morning!

Even though I didn’t get to clean the house much, the littlest man and I did make a ton of cookies. We made some No-Bake cookies that actually turned out well for the first time in a couple of years (I don’t know what I did differently!) and some Triple Chocolate Chip cookies that apparently everyone else but the three of us liked. We also made Ginger cookies, mmmmm, that were still moist after a few weeks in the cookie jar. And Sugar cookies that were pretty ’effing good.

The sugar cookies lasted just half a day when we took them to the family down in Houston. These were last minute because, apparently, Santa can’t eat ANY of the other cookies we’d made. Thus, I wanted a fast cookie for which I had all the ingredients, that I didn’t have to put in the fridge to rest, and that I didn’t have to roll out. I found the answer on Hillbilly Housewife. I made changes, including using real butter, unrefined sugar, and more vanilla. I also changed to lemon flavor because, well, I love lemon and I had it.

Drop Sugar Cookies

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup organic sugar
• 1 medium egg
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 –2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon organic lemon flavoring
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1-1/2 cups flour

In a medium sized bowl (I used my stand mixer) cream together the butter and sugar, until it is smooth and fluffy. Add the egg, milk, vanilla and lemon flavor, mixing well. Add in the salt, baking powder and flour. Mix it all until the dough is smooth. Drop the mixture by small spoonfuls onto a wax paper-lined cookie sheet (I also used my Silpat mat). Bake at 375° for about 8 to 10 minutes.

I don’t know that I’ll be baking cookies for a while, I need to lose weight!

I hope everyone one had a wonderful holiday season

Pumpkins Galore

Please note: I wrote this and then for some reason didn't publish it?

My kitchen table has been taken over by pumpkins. It annoys Shinerman, but all I see is the yummy goodness I'm going to make. Can you say BPA-free Pumpkin Pie?

We've been going to the Coppell Farmer's Market for a while. They have a couple of organic produce vendors and it's all local. Except for the Wild Alaskan Salmon people, which they said is fished by a local family, but I think is a little out of place. The fish was fished by locals not Salmon People. sigh...I'm tired.

We've gotten most of our produce from there since we stopped getting the organic co-op. Oh, I didn't tell you about that? After our friends with whom we were splitting a share decided to stop, the delivery spot we went to dwindled and it was no longer cost-effective. Then we couldn't get a delivery close by on the weekend, yada, yada.

We also have been getting our meat and eggs there, it really has been great. This last weekend was bring the weekly email and get a free pumpkin promotion. So of course I did! And here is how we came to have a table-full o'pumpkins:

Me:Hey, I brought my email for my free pumpkin, can I just pick one out?

Market Man: Sure(he waves towards them) you want more? Take more.

Me: looking as if I don't believe him

Market Man: You want 3 take 3. You can have 10 if you want, we gotta get rid of 'em.

Say the above in an old Jewish Man's cadence; I don't know if he was or not, but that's how it sounds when I replay it in my head.

I took 3 'cause that's all I could carry and went and enlisted Shinerman and the Man. We got 9 total; I felt 10 would be too selfish. Add that to the two we already had and we had a table full!

We've now pureed several and started pumpkin wine out of a few, as well.

Easter, naturally

Every year for Easter we go to Houston to visit Shinerman's family. It's a weekend of fun and eating way too much. Usually it means we bring a ton of 'stuff' back, too. But I guess my and my sister-in-laws frustration with the overflowing Easter baskets got through. There were no Easter baskets, just some crafts. Which is even better, because then they are creating something themselves. I think we actually came back with less than we took. This was because we took some naturally dyed Easter eggs that we, obviously, didn't bring back.

This was our first year to dye the eggs using natural dyes, and I think our last using conventional eggs. In the past it just hadn't made sense to me to pay so much for eggs we weren't going to eat. But this year, I felt really guilty buying the conventional ones. I don't just buy the farm raised eggs because they are better for you, but also because they are better for the chicken. I'm really just so done with factory food. Of course this means that we'll be eating the eggs next year, deviled eggs anyone?

I was really impressed with the outcome of the natural dyes. I didn't take pictures, sorry. Just a few days before I made some black beans from scratch and used the left over water from their soaking. This made an absolutely beautiful purple-blue color. I also saved the brown skins from a dinner's onion. This made the eggs orange-yellow. They also ended up splotchy from air bubbles - not sure why that happened. I also used some turmeric that made the eggs a really bright yellow - those were great and I wish we did more of those. The only disappointment was the chili powder; I had some leftover from a chili packet. But it just left the eggs a light, light beige - unimpressive. The littlest man was full of wonder at figuring out what color things would turn out. So much more fun than the chemical dye pellets!!

So, how did we do it? Just bring the items you are using to create the dye to a boil. Boil until you get the color you think you want. I did these all for about 15 minutes, except the bean soaking water since that was already really deep purple. Drain any solids from the liquid, unless you want to see what sort of patterns they'll give. Stir in a teaspoon or so of vinegar. Put in your hard-boiled eggs. Leave in the liquid until they reach the color you like. We left ours in overnight, mostly for simplicity sake. If you're eating these, be sure you do any overnight soaking in the fridge. I liked the matte look of the eggs, but you can shine 'em up with some vegetable oil if you wish. You can also boil the eggs in the liquid themselves, but I always have a hard time boiling eggs so I decided to do it separately. Yes, I can cook really well but can't boil an egg - crazy, I know.

We also replaced the plastic green grass this year. I have always hated that stuff! It seems like you're still finding it on the floor and in crevises in July. I had some leftover green felt from the littlest man's strawberry Halloween costume. So we just cut that up into strips - perfect!!

We did have to do plastic eggs for the daycare party, though. I made sure that instead of going into his playthings, they went went into a baggie with the felt grass to be used again next year. I may have to find another option for his basket next year, though. He used his 'baby' one again this year and I don't know if a hippopotamus basket will fly for a four-almost-five year old.

How was your Easter? Do anything fun and/or eco-friendly?