New Developments . . .

My first baby tomato on its way! Can you spot it? My little garden/pots are doing well with the tomatoes, and I am very excited. But I have learned an important lesson: the varieties of lettuce and spinach I have been trying to grow are not suited to hot Utah summers. Back home in Oregon we would feast on fresh greens all summer long. Here . . . I am going to have to buy mine I'm afraid. No matter how carefully I have tended them, they withered and scorched underneath the hot sun. Very sad. Anyone have advice for me? I miss my lettuce!!!
So instead of a beautiful pot of salad greens, I allowed my spring volunteer spinach plant to go to seed. Who knew that spinach plants had such lovely purple-blue flowers? I didn't. Sometimes failure can be darn right pretty!

Natural Home Cleaners

Recently I have been interested in using more natural cleaning solutions around my home. I hate germs, but I also hate the idea of Wesley coming into contact with harsh chemicals. So I have been making some small changes as I can afford them. I replaced the lysol and 409 in my kitchen and bathroom with spray bottles of vinegar, and lemon juice in place of bleach in the laundry. When I run out of laundry detergent, I am going to make some of my own. And speaking of natural laundry alternatives, Passionate Homemaking has a giveaway you should check out. She is giving away samples of Soap Nuts, which sound amazing.

In other blogger news, you should also head on over to my dear friend Leith's blog and check out her brand new Etsy shop she has opened with her friend and sister-in-law. They are selling these absolutely gorgeous hand-painted tablecloths, and believe me--if we weren't such broke college students, I would be first in line. But they are definitely on my wish list!

Apartment Gardening

Last year as an Easter gift (if I remember properly) my mom gave me a gift card for a couple of large pots, some soil, seeds and garden tools so that I could have my own little "garden," even though we live in an apartment. I was so excited for my lettuce, tomatoes and herbs--until little Wesley decided that it was time to make me REALLY morning sick . . . and then nature kind of took over. As in, nothing got consistently watered, and the lettuce went to seed.

But this year--I'm not pregnant! So I'm having fun watching little seeds come up in my garden-pots-o'-fun . . .

My cute baby lettuce sprouts popping up amongst the "volunteer" salad mix from last years crop . . .

My cherry tomato seedlings, along with a roma plant my neighbor so generously gave me.

Now this is the best bit. Today I finished off the rest of my volunteer greens with hominy, baby spinach, red beans and vinaigrette. Yum.

Growing like the cutest little weed ever . . . He loves to stand on my lap, and bounce in his exersaucer, and roll. He pretty much has us wrapped around his adorable little finger with his huge grins, funny coos, and those funny little feet (that are always moving!).

Could I be any more cute?

Worm Farm Composting

I was reading some articles online around Earth Day (yeah, I'm a nerd from the Northwest I know, I know) and I came across this article created by New York to encourage inner-city composting, and I thought it was too cool! I have always liked the idea of composting, but thought I would have to wait until I got a house with a yard and all that. But this method allows you to inexpensively set up a compost that you can do either indoors (I'm a little squeamish about that personally) or what I want to do--on our front porch.

One fact that interested me as well: a great number of greenhouse gases contributing to global warming come from discarded food that ends up in the landfill, where it decomposes anaerobically into methane. Who knew? I knew that Americans were notoriously wasteful of our foodstuffs, but I wasn't aware of the eco harm it was causing.

I think that soil produced from a little worm farm would make fantastic potting soil for my little garden-in-a-pot I have going on my front stoop (pictures to come). I can't grow much produce because of living in an apartment, but I am growing indoor herbs and some lettuce and tomatoes outdoors in pots. Organic produce is expensive, unless you grow it yourself!

My Adventures in Yogurt Making

When I decided to go vegan, I gave up most dairy. I will cheat on little things here and there (a slice of pizza with a bit of cheese now and again) but for the most part I try to avoid the milk products. So I haven't had yogurt in over a year. I liked yogurt--my parents had a yogurt maker when I was growing up, and I have wanted one of my own for awhile. I put yogurt-making out of my head until recently, when I saw this blog entry on how to make yogurt without a yogurt maker, in your crock pot.

Which got me to thinking . . .

If people are clever enough to make regular yogurt in their slow cookers, what if I could do the same with soy? So I went investigating. And I found this recipe, which uses commercial soy milk ( I haven't come to the point where I want to make my own yet--I like that the stuff I buy is organic and already vitamin fortified . . . I'll have to re-evaluate later on . . . )

So after much searching (my regular grocery store didn't have either the Agar or the tapioca starch) I acquired the necessary ingredients, and one night I gave it a go. With mixed results. I think that I need to break down and just buy a candy thermometer so that I can follow the directions precisely, because my yogurt came out the proper consistency, but without the tartness. So I don't know if my yogurt was too hot and it killed the cultures, or what. But it was pretty simple other than that--and I was able to use my slow cooker to let my yogurt warm overnight--so I think that after a few times through I should have the hang of it. Even though it was milder than I would have liked, it still tasted yummy, and should make some wonderful frozen yogurt! The recipe can be found on the same site as the soy yogurt recipe, but I will reprint it here for anyone interested. You can probably just use regular yogurt if you aren't vegan . . .

To Make Fruit-Flavored Frozen Soy Yogurt: in a blender mix 2 1/2 cups soy yogurt with 3/4 cup organic sugar, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, lemon, almond or orange extract. Optional is 2 TB vodka or appropriately fruit flavored liqueur (alcohol keeps frozen desserts from freezing rock-solid). Blend well. Add 1/2 cups berries or chopped fruit (fresh or frozen). Blend until mixed. Freeze according to directions for your ice cream making machine.

As I didn't have any vodka on hand :o) I simply increased the vanilla extract from the half teaspoon to two TB since I wanted vanilla yogurt anyway and there is a little alcohol in the extract--it helped it not freeze so solid. I used the commercial soy yogurt the first time I tried this recipe, and it was DELICIOUS! So simple, fun and good for you. Well, as desserts go anyway!

Recipe: Baked Oatmeal

I have been laying low the last couple of days. I succumbed to the cold that has been going around our house. Wes got it first and thankfully got the mildest case, the sweet guy wasn't even cranky, just a few more boogies than normal. Then Randy got it and I thought that maybe I actually escaped without getting sick this time . . . too bad it didn't last.

So I haven't had a lot of energy to put into fancy meals (we ate a lot of easy to assemble Mexican food this week and some delicious smoothies) but I saw this recipe on the Money Saving Mom blog, and decided to try it out. Randy loves his cold cereal and even though I always buy it on sale, it still is one of the more expensive menu items on my shopping list. So this is my provident living attempt for the week--as well as a new recipe. It turned out delicious, is really easy, and makes a ton. Since there are only two of us to plan meals for I am freezing the leftovers in smaller portions so we can just pop them in the microwave in the morning. This is way better than instant oatmeal, better for you (if you use the applesauce substitution), is very inexpensive to make, and is a great way to use your food storage oats.

Baked Oatmeal

1 cup oil (can substitute butter or applesauce)
1 ½ cups sugar (can reduce)
4 eggs (I used an egg substitute--worked fine)
6 cups oats
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups milk(I used soy)

Combine all ingredients in order listed. Pour into greased 9x13-inch pan. Bake at 375° for 30-40 minutes until lightly browned. Can refrigerate overnight before baking. Serve topped with butter, brown sugar, and milk.

Yields: Approximately 8-10 servings

I just topped mine with a little soy milk (Randy used rice milk) without the extra butter and sugar, and it was delicious. I tried it both ways, and I couldn't tell enough of a difference to justify the extra calories :o)

A side note about egg substitute: even if you aren't of the Vegan persuasion, I recommend keeping a box of this on hand for food storage emergencies. It is very versatile, inexpensive, and works great for most recipes. It stores for a long time and I am a big fan. Even before I was vegan there were always times when I would run out of eggs or the eggs would go bad before I would use them all . . . Plus if there is some kind of emergency it is nice to know you can still bake things that need eggs.

Reusable Sandwich Wraps

I have been reading around on the internet, trying to find a good pattern for reusable sandwich bags. So my provident living project for today was to try out one of the patterns, and see how I liked it. Now, I am not a seamstress. I would like to be, but I am intimidated by the whole process . . . so we are taking baby steps. Anyway, I used this pattern, and here is the result:
The next time I do this, I would use lighter-weight fabric, and enlarge the pattern. I used ribbon instead of the velcro tab--which meant that I sewed the ribbons in the seam before turning and top stitching. Then I added a buttonhole on the top, like so . . .
The thing that is cute about this pattern is that you have a little place-mat when it is open to eat your lunch on.
The thing that I don't like about this pattern is that you can't use it really for anything other than sandwiches, maybe bagels. It can't replace ziplock baggies for snacks . . . although I have a green idea in the works for that . . . stay tuned. Some people have suggested using vinyl placemats for the material, and then it could be just wiped down. I didn't like that idea, so I made mine completely machine washable, so I can just throw it in the wash afterwards. If any of you have a more clever pattern for this, let me know! I would love to try it.

Provident Living: "Fast" Food

I have noticed that one of the big money-wasters in our house is food. Not that we shouldn't eat--but when the meals haven't been planned ahead of time or the baby needed fed about sixteen times when I should have been preparing dinner, or I worked an eleven hour day with a baby at work with me and didn't have the ability to cook . . . the list goes on. In times like this, the options come down to: eating out (very, very expensive--and generally not an option for us. Plus McDonalds isn't big on vegan) or generally what we do: wander around Smiths and pick up a bunch of things that look good because we are STARVING! . . . but don't go very far towards meals during the week. One solution I have come up with to avoid such moments: creating my own "prepackaged" meals when I cook for the two of us during the week--things that are easily frozen, easily reheat-able, and filling. Our favorite is probably homemade frozen burritos.

How I do it? Well, when I make burritos for dinner one night I'll cook up some black or "refried" beans, some chipotle rice, and chop up some fresh veggies to add in. Then when we are done eating, I'll pull out the George Foreman grill--still useful even for a Veg--and start rolling up bean and rice burritos. A few minutes on the grill seals them shut, plus adds a nice crispy flavor to the tortilla, and then I let them cool for about ten minutes. All I have to do is wrap them in a sandwich bag, toss them in the freezer, and we have little meals ready to go. They work great for lunches too . . . One will fill up Randy pretty well. If you aren't vegan you could easily enough add chicken or cheese. If you are vegan, a nice variation is to smish (yes, the technical term) a couple of veggie burgers, add some taco seasoning, let it simmer . . . and voila. Some meatless taco meat.

The great part about this is that since I already cooked the ingredients for dinner, this really doesn't take that much more time. Plus I don't have to worry about wasting the leftovers. :o)

Provident Living: Cloth Diapers

Cloth diapers have come a long way since the bulky folds and pins and plastic covers our moms used on us. I had heard tell that this was so, but didn't have much reason to take interest until I was about ready to have my baby . . . and I started counting up the cost that this little munchkin was going to put us back. Totally worth it mind you, but when there is a huge addition to your finances, you start to rethink things a bit. So I did some investigating. Lucky for me I was on bed rest, so I had LOTS of time on my hands. I spent about a week reading blogs and websites and user reviews for different products, pricing each one, and comparing it to the disposable alternatives. I looked at Costco diapers and Walmart's prices . . . and gulped. Especially when I read how many diapers a baby went through per day. Yowza!!

I also didn't want to kill myself. This was my first baby, and if I was going to be in tears over folding a million diapers and pinning and washing etc, it just plain wasn't worth it. But I read a lot of good reviews on the BumGenius 3.0, and the price was right, so I decided to give it a shot.

It has gone really well for us. The diapers are really gentle on Wes' sensitive skin, and he doesn't have any problems with rash like he did with the disposables I tried (I was given a lot as gifts). Plus, they are so easy! They look pretty much like disposables, so Randy hasn't had any problems with them. They are easy to wash, and they are saving us by my estimate close to $600 this year alone. Next year, it will be close to $1000. The great feature to these is that they adjust for different sizes, from newborn to 25lbs, so you don't have to keep buying different sizes. You just snap or unsnap depending on the size. Great also if you have 2 kids in diapers at once.

I also switched over to cloth wipes, which is saving me tons as well. You can buy fancy flannel wipes online, but I just got out my rotary cutter and some extra flannel I had lying around, zigzagged the edges, and voila! Cloth wipes. There are a million recipes on the internet for wipe solution, but here is the one I use:

1 1/2 cups water
2TB baby oil
2TB baby wash

It does mean a little more laundry, but the trade off for me is well worth it. So far, we are really happy with our setup!

Here are the three sizes: