The Green Caterpillar

In the Kitchen | Testing for a Daisy Wedding Cake

2011-08-10T22:56:00.002-04:00

In a few short weeks my brother will be getting married. I made my own wedding cake, and have made some fun cakes for the kid's birthdays since then so I offered to make my brother's cake as well. They have picked daisies as their flower, so I figured a daisy cake was in order.

Being the procrastinator that I am, I've only just recently started working on the practice cake. Piping flowers is new to me, so this has been an adventure so far. I need to make the flowers in advance so I can put the cake together really quickly the day before the wedding. So, I went to my Wilton cake decorating book (inherited from my mother-in-law) to get a recipe for Royal Icing.

Royal Icing
3 egg whites (at room temperature)
1 pound (about 4 cups) confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Combine ingredients and beat at high speed for 7 to 10 minutes.

Yield: 4 cups

Pretty simple recipe! The catch is that this icing dries very quickly so you need to keep your bowl covered with a damp cloth. Also, you need to use this icing right away since you cannot rebeat it.

I piped my daisies on a flower nail, gave them yellow centers, then laid them to dry on my flower molds. These are curved to give flowers a nice curve, rather than being flat. My daisies were dry in about a day and ready to put on a cake.

The bride (who is actually a friend of mine) does not like anything too sweet so she requested something other than a buttercream frosting for the cake. Specifically, she wondered if a Whipped Cream frosting would work. Since I've never made a whipped cream frosting it was back to the Wilton book.

Well...I tried their recipe but was not really happy with the results. I'm sure part of the reason was my inexperience with this type of frosting. But it was edible, though a little hard to work with, so I frosted my test cake anyway.

Now to decide on a look for the daisy cake. I'm thinking of two different approaches.

1. Wrap a ribbon around the base (represented by a piece of yellow paper in my picture) of the cake that matches the ribbon used in the flowers. Place daisies around the upper edge of the cake and a little pile of daisies on top.

Same option, close-up:

2. Begin with a pile of daisies on top of the cake, then arrange them so they cascade around and down the cake. This one was a little tricky to show because my test cake was a little small.

What do you think is the better option? More orderly daisies in a row with ribbon, or a casual cascading pile of daisies?

Disclaimer: You'll have to excuse the messy frosting job, the recipe I used was very difficult to smooth. The recipe also had gelatin in to stabilize, which turned into little chunks when added to the cream. I need to experiment a little more with the frosting. Chunky and hard to spread and smooth just won't do :)

This post will be linked at:

Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts
Wow Me Wednesday at Polka Dots on Parade

In the Garden | A New Gardening Tool...

2011-08-10T08:00:00.002-04:00

... a Chainsaw! Strange as it may seem, this chainsaw is actually going to help my garden. Here's how:

Our house is situated in an older neighborhood with lots of mature trees, particularly oak and maple. While this is great for keeping cool in the summer, it is not so great for growing vegetables. In our yard alone we had about 22 trees when we first moved in! Now just think of all the leaves that means we have to rake every fall!

I love our mature trees, but we simply have too many trees and not enough open yard space. Slowly we have been regaining some space and removing some trees. We've removed a dead birch from the front yard, a smaller oak tree from the backyard, and three sassafras trees where the kids' playset now sits. That still left 17 trees and no really good sunny place to put a garden.

My garden sits in the back of this picture and is shaded by this row of trees for much of the afternoon. On top of that, the retaining wall that is next to the trees is falling apart and becoming a hazard. The trees and the wall must go!

So, this past weekend my husband and I loaded up the kids and took them out to buy a chainsaw. The very next day my husband had the chainsaw fired up and dropped the two smallest trees. Next up, four larger trees - pictures to come. I'm envisioning a great before and after shot.

I'll leave you with a picture of my garden that is growing in spite of all the shade it gets. The beans are even starting to grow tiny beans and the cucumbers are climbing the trellis. So far the tomatoes are not looking as good, so time will tell if we get any tomatoes.

In the Kitchen | Black Bean Quesadillas with Corn Salsa

2011-08-02T08:00:00.005-04:00

Last week I borrowed Cooking Light Weeknight from the library and have been experimenting with recipes all week. This particular cookbook has a picture for every recipe and all the recipes that I've looked at are under 500 calories for a meal. I love black beans, so the picture of this recipe really drew me in and I had to try it.

Black Bean Quesadillas with Corn Salsa
Source: Cooking Light Weeknight
Quesadillas:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 cups chopped plum tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
4 (8 inch) flour tortillas
Cooking spray
3/4 cup (3 oz) preshredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese (Instead, I used a mixture of cheddar and pepper jack. The pepper jack added a nice spice to the quesadillas.)

Preheat broiler. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, saute 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, cilantro and beans; cook 5 minutes or until liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally.

Place tortillas on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Top each tortilla with 1/2 cup bean mixture and 3 tablespoons cheese; fold in half. Lightly coat tops with cooking spray. Broil 3 minutes or until cheese melts and tortillas begin to brown. Cut each tortilla into 3 wedges.

Salsa:
1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 red bell pepper, chopped

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

Yield: 4 servings
1 serving is 3 quesadilla wedges and about 1/3 cup salsa)
Calories: 420

If you chop all the veggies the night before and keep in the refrigerator, this recipe comes together very quickly. It was really tasty and made a great leftovers for lunch the next day!

Shared at:

In the Garden | Trellis Structure

2011-08-01T19:19:00.000-04:00

My husband just checked the garden tonight and the beans have blossoms! The picture is from a couple of days ago, showing the mass of bean plants. Hopefully we'll be eating fresh beans from the garden soon.

At the back of my garden you'll notice an addition, the trellis structure that my husband put up for me. Here's a closer look:

It was actually really simple, two metal fence posts that he drove into the ground. Then he took some mesh wire that we had on hand and stretched it across and around the fence posts. In case you're wondering, the big black box behind the garden is our compost bin.

The cucumbers have already begun to climb the trellis, I helped guide them through the holes and already they are wrapping little tendrils around the wire.

I'm not sure how the tomatoes will work yet, time will tell with them. I carefully pushed the largest vines through the holes to get the plants up and off my onions. I did harvest a little from my garden already - a few onions! When I was checking to see how they were doing, I just couldn't resist plucking a few out. I chopped them up and we ate them as a garnish on our Tamale Casserole last week.

Though its still early, I think the trellis will be a success. It seems much sturdier than tomato cages and will hopefully last for many years.

In the Garden | Deck Planters

2011-07-28T08:00:00.002-04:00

This week my ever helpful husband put up a trellis for my cucumber and tomato plants that I wanted to share with you. Unfortunately it was pouring when I wanted to take pictures, so that will have to wait. On the positive side, my garden is getting a much needed drink after a lot of sweltering hot weather.

Instead I thought I would share another area of my garden - on my deck. Last summer my father and husband built a railing for the deck to keep our little ones safe. After the job was finished, my husband built some planters for me also. Since the deck is right off the kitchen I thought that planters would be the perfect way to have fresh herbs close by. I have three planters in total and the one above is completely decorative. This particular planter is mostly shaded by the house so it is not a good choice for growing herbs. The Fuschia that I planted there is doing great! I'm really happy with how the plant cascades over the edges.

The remaining planters house a combination of decorative and edible plants. The next one has basil and rosemary. I have a pesto on the menu this week to use some of that great basil.

The final planter has chives and parsley. The plants on either end are Wedding Veil (little white flowers) and some blue thing that has gotten rather straggly (I don't remember the name of it).

The last edible plant on my deck is in a large plastic planter to keep it contained and out of the rest of my garden - mint! I LOVE mint jelly, but to buy mint at the grocery store is really expensive. And the mint that you can buy is usually not very fresh. Another thing great to make with fresh mint are Moijtos! I'll have to post the recipe the next time we make those.

As you can see the mint seems to like its home where it gets lots of late afternoon sun. It started out as two small little pots of mint, now its practically a bush!

There you have a peek into what is growing on my deck. Later this week when its sunny out I'll get some pictures of my new trellis in my square foot garden and show how my garden is growing.

In the Kitchen | Blueberry Pops

2011-07-27T08:00:00.010-04:00

Here in Michigan we're in the first weeks of blueberry season so last Friday we loaded up the kids and headed off to pick some blueberries. With rain threatening and two squirrelly toddlers, we did not stay too long - just long enough to pick about eight pounds. Some we ate fresh, some went into the freezer, some went into muffins, and some went into blueberry pops. I've had this recipe sitting in my "to try" pile for ages and finally decided to give it a go.

Blueberry Pops

5 cups blueberries

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

In a blender, puree all ingredients. Place a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and pour the contents of the blender into the strainer.

Using a rubber spatula, press the mixture through the sieve. You want to get as much liquid into the bowl as possible, while leaving the pulp behind.

When you have mostly just pulp left in the sieve, discard the pulp.

If necessary, add additional water to yield 3 cups of liquid (I did not have to do this).

For easier pouring, I transferred the liquid into my pyrex mixer. Carefully pour mixture into popsicle molds, place caps (or sticks) and freeze for about 3 hours or until popsicles are solid.

You can also use cups and wooden popsicle sticks if you do not have popsicle molds.

Note: This recipe yields approximately ten 2 1/2 ounce servings. If your popsicle molds are larger than this, you will get fewer popsicles.

To remove popsicles, run them under warm water until they loosen.

Enjoy!

Yield: 10 servings
Per serving: 58 calories

Another alternative is to freeze some of the mixture until it is somewhat slushy, but not solid. Insert and straw and you have a smoothie! Since I only had one clean set of molds available when I made these, I made slushies for the kids for dessert - they highly approved!

Friday Fun | Watercolor Painting

2011-07-22T08:00:00.001-04:00

One of the things I enjoy most about being a mom are the fun little activities that you can do with little ones. And the great thing with preschoolers is, everything is new and exciting. In this case, watercolors.

It's only mid July, but already I've seen back to school sales around here. I love seeing all the new markers, paper, pencils, backpacks, and so on. At my local grocery store this week they had Crayola watercolors on sale for $1.00. I've been keeping an eye open for some since Crayola seems to have the best. I've tried off brands before but have always been disappointed with the quality. So on my regular shopping trip I picked up two sets.

Jaden was so excited to try painting. I sat down with him and showed how to get them wet, then showed how to drag the brush across the paper. What fun watching him in deep concentration as he created his masterpiece!

He even managed to stay reasonably clean - though he did try to lick the paintbrush a couple of times, eww! Jaden just couldn't wait to show Daddy how he could paint and his pictures are now hanging on the fridge for all to enjoy.

Have a fun Friday!

Tutorial | Child Sized Oven Mitts

2011-07-21T08:00:00.001-04:00

My kids both love to play with the pretend food that they got for Christmas last year. So to go along with their food I decided to make them a pair of oven mitts. I could not find a good pattern online anywhere so I decided to make my own. After a few failed attempts (sorry no pictures of those), I came up with one that works for all ages. I would rate this project as easy, it took me about 3 hours to complete the two mittens. Keep reading if you want to make a pair of your own!

Warning: These oven mitts are for play only. They are NOT oven safe.

Materials Needed:
Free child sized oven mitt pattern
2 fat quarters (one in a print, one in a solid)
4 pieces of quilt batting (each about 8" by 11")
2 pieces of double fold bias tape (each about 11 1/2" inches long)

For the bias tape I chose the same color as the solid fat quarter.

Begin with the solid fat quarter. Fold in half and lay the pattern on top. Pin your pattern down and cut out. Repeat. You need a total of 4 mitts from the solid fabric.

You should be able to get 4 pieces from one fat quarter.

Repeat with the print fat quarter. Fold in half, position and pin your pattern and cut out 4 mitts.

You should now have 4 solid mitt pieces and 4 print mitt pieces.

Lay one of the solid pieces on the table WRONG side up. Take one piece of quilt batting and lay over the top so the solid fabric is completely covered. Lay a print piece over the top RIGHT side up. Adjust so the print and solid pieces match up perfectly. Pin the 3 layers in place.

Repeat with the other solid and print pieces. The picture show 2 pieces ready for sewing, in total you should have 4.

Now comes the slightly time consuming part. Using your sewing machine, quilt the three layers together as follows.

Lay the first piece at a diagonal to the foot. Sew straight across (at a diagonal) until you reach the other side. This line of stitching will be your guide for the rest of the quilting.

Using the foot as a guide for width, sew parallel diagonal lines across the entire piece until it looks like the picture.

Next, turn the piece so your sewing machine foot is perpendicular to your diagonal lines. You are going to repeat the process above, but in the opposite direction to create a grid of little squares over the entire surface of the piece.

Repeat this process until all your pieces are quilted.

Trim the excess quilt batting and any loose threads.

Take 2 pieces and align them with the print sides facing each other. Pin around the edge.

Repeat with the other 2 pieces.

Sew the pieces together with a 1/4" seam allowance.

Serge or zig-zag stitch the edge so they won't fray. I do not have a serger so I use a zig-zag stitch - it is quite sufficient for this project.

Repeat with the other mitt.

Turn both mitts right side out.

If you haven't already, cut 2 pieces of bias tape, each 11 1/2 inches long.

Take one piece of bias tape and unfold each end. Pin the ends, right sides facing and sew with a 1/4" seam allowance.

Repeat with other piece of bias tape.

Turn and refold the bias tape so it forms a ring.

Sandwich the raw edge of the mitten in the center of the bias tape and pin in place. Sew around the edge about an 1/8" in from the open edge of the bias tape.

Repeat with other mitt and voila! Two oven mitts that any child is sure to love.

I can get my hands inside the oven mitts so they should be big enough for any child. My two-year-old has no troubles getting them on either.

Enjoy! I'd love to see your projects - feel free to comment and leave a link to your own project.

In the Kitchen | Chocolate Haystacks (No-Bake Cookies)

2011-07-20T08:00:00.001-04:00

It is hot, hot this week so I really do not like to use the oven to bake cookies. This recipe is from my childhood and is great for weeks like these.

Chocolate Haystacks

2 cups white sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups shredded coconut
2 cups quick oats

Combine the sugar, cocoa, butter and milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil stirring frequently. The key to these cookies is to really let this mixture come to a full boil.

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, coconut and oats.

Lay waxed paper on your counter or on cookie sheets. Drop cookie mixture by teaspoonful onto waxed paper. Allow to cool. As the cookies cool they will harden. Remove cookies from wax paper and store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Cherry Picking

2011-07-19T08:00:00.002-04:00

Around here we're in the middle of cherry season. Our family did not make it out to cherry picking last year, but we had to go this year since our frozen cherry stash was completely gone. I love having sour cherries in the freezer for making pies and cherry cheesecake. Yum!

We've never taken the kids cherry picking so it was a new experience for them. They both got the hang of it really quickly. We gave them each a pail and picked a smaller tree so they could reach. Jaden and Hannah both started picking right away.

I was really impressed with how many cherries Jaden picked. Of course, I should mention that we started with picking the sour cherries which are not very good for eating. Jaden tried one and said, "I don't like it."

Look at that face! "I don't like it Mommy!"

My cherry picker, hard at work.

He proceeded to spit it out, picked another and then asked, "Is this a good one?" I think he thought maybe he picked a bad one. After several similar attempts, I had to tell Jaden to stop eating them. I assured him that we would find some good ones to eat later. The sweet cherries were a whole different story. Jaden was a terrible sweet cherry picker - he was too busy eating them!

By the time we were finished getting our sweet cherries, Jaden was sticky from head to toe. His shirt was a mess and he had cherry juice dripping from his elbows. But they sure were good!

Hannah was quite intrigued with cherry picking also, but wasn't so keen on eating them. Instead she just studied them, put them in her bucket, then one by one dumped them out again. She had fun though.

Makeover Monday | Striped Chair

2011-07-18T08:00:00.002-04:00

A few years ago I found this chair at a local thrift store. It wasn't much to look at - the faded orange upholstery was less than appealing. But I liked the clean lines of the chair and the $6.00 price tag so I bought it.

I don't have any pictures of the "in-process tearing apart phase", but the foam and inside of the upholstery was nearly as bad as the outside. The foam padding was disintegrating and discolored. For this project I completely redid the upholstery, new padding, webbing and fabric. The fabric I chose was a more modern striped pattern featuring red with a little green.

For the wooden frame I sanded and refinished with tung oil (with lots of help from my ever helpful husband ;). The wood had a nice reddish hue, so no stain was necessary. I am quite happy with the results and the chair now sits in our living room.

Here's another side-by-side view, before and after:

The colors in the chair are bolder than I normally like in upholstered furniture, but I see this chair as more of an accent piece. It also brings some nice color into our living room.

Menu Plan Monday | July 18, 2011

2011-07-17T21:04:00.004-04:00

On Saturday my husband and I took the kids cherry picking so among other things, we have lots and lots of sweet cherries to eat this week. Jaden absolutely loves them though, so that shouldn't be a problem :)

The sweet cherry trees were just loaded!

Monday
Sliced Ham
Loaded Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans

Tuesday
Breakfast for Dinner - Ham, sausage, green peppers, onions, potatoes, egg scramble
Sweet Cherries

Wednesday
Spaghetti with Meatballs
Garlic Parmesan Breadsticks

Thursday
Burgers
Meaty Nachos
Green Salad

Friday
Chicken French Bread Pizza

Saturday
Steaks
Grilled Zucchini and Summer Squash

Sunday
Slow-Cooked Tamale Casserole

For more great Menu Plan Monday menu planning ideas visit orgjunkie.com

Friday Fun | Wading Pool

2011-07-15T08:00:00.001-04:00

One of the kids' favorite activities during the summer is playing in the water. When Jaden was little I used to fill a bucket of water and put it on the deck for him to play with his bath toys. Now that both Jaden and Hannah are toddlers, we can use the wading pool more.

Hannah absolutely loves the water. She is definitely more bold than Jaden was at her age. Jaden was (and still is) cautious and refused to sit down. Hannah dives right in and enjoys every minute.

Jaden prefers to stand in the pool even now and play with his watering can. He still doesn't like to sit down - it's cold!

On this particular day Asia was wandering around the yard - she had two little people watching through the railing :)

After some swimming the kids needed a snack so I got them pudding popsicles. They sat up on the picnic table to enjoy their treat.

Hannah really, really, really enjoyed hers!

Thrifty Thursday | Pink Dress and Rocking Chair

2011-07-14T08:00:00.002-04:00

One of the fun things about having a little girl are all the cute clothes that are available for them. But buying lots of girly dresses can get expensive so I'm always on the lookout when I'm out thrifting. I was so excited to find this pink dress for Hannah on a recent trip to the local thrift store - only $4.00 for a pretty high quality dress! And of course Hannah looks so cute in it.

Hannah was totally loving my little photo shoot and was totally cheesing it up for me. She was also really enjoying sitting in the rocking chair that I recently picked up for her. The rocker was a freecycle find (free!) that is destined for a future before/after post. One of the runners is broken off and the other is ready to crack. I also envision painting it white to put in Hannah's room. In the meantime it sits in the master bedroom awaiting its new life.

Hannah already loves her new rocker and is trying to figure out how to get back in and rock some more.

Beach Robe Project

2011-07-13T08:00:00.009-04:00

One great thing about reading sewing blogs are all the great ideas that I get for projects of my own. Recently Dana from MADE published a new pattern that she had developed for a beach robe. Her pictures are always great and I instantly fell in love with this pattern.

The pattern is for 9 months to about 4 toddler and all you need is a large towel and 3 packages of bias tape. I already had a towel in mind for the project and I made my own bias tape with some fabric that I already had. When the robe was finished I had Jaden model it for me.

The towel is kind of girly so I figure that this robe will be for Hannah. I'll have to make another one for Jaden so I'll be on the lookout for cute towels for a boy.

The robe came out really nice. The yellow bias tape really finished it off nicely and the lined hood adds a nice touch. I've always liked this particular towel - so bright and cheerful - but it was starting to show some wear. This project gave it some new life!

Jaden was so wonderfully cooperative during my little photo shoot - quite unusual for this 2 year old. I think he got a kick out of being outside in his barefeet, and wearing the new robe. I think he also liked how warm and cozy the robe was. I can't wait to try this project with a different towel, it was so easy!

In the Garden | Our seeds have germinated!

2011-07-12T08:00:00.004-04:00

To be perfectly honest I was a little concerned about the viability of our seeds when I planted them in the garden. The seeds were in a cardboard box in our basement which can be rather humid and damp. Definitely not the ideal place to be storing seeds. Much to my relief nearly all of them have germinated and poked up above the surface.

We have cucumbers:

Onions (these were grown from sets):

Kale:

The beans were really fun since they seemed to appear nearly overnight. One night I looked at the garden and did not see any bean sprouts. The following afternoon the garden was filled with sprouts, many nearly 2 inches tall already!

It was great to see so many seeds come up, and only a week after planting. So far one of the benefits of this type of gardening that I've noticed is how easy it is to keep everything watered. My husband has been taking the time to water the beds whenever they are dry to give our seeds the water necessary for germination. The smaller area has also been much easier to keep weed-free. I know its premature but I'm already looking forward to some home-grown beans for dinner!

Menu Plan Monday | July 11, 2011

2011-07-11T20:41:00.000-04:00

On Sunday afternoon I was making a grocery list when my husband asked if I had a menu plan for the week yet. At first I responded that I had not made one yet when I realized that I had actually created two menu plans the week before in the interest of thinking ahead. So I had an already made menu plan and the beginnings of a shopping list already in my binder - fabulous!

Beef Stroganoff and Salad

Monday
Beef stroganoff with egg noodles
Green salad

Tuesday
Sausage Quiche
Watermelon

Wednesday
Ham and Potato Pockets
Green salad

Thursday
Beef stir fry with fried rice

Friday
Ham and Pineapple Pizza
Meaty Nachos

Saturday
Hamburgers
Baked Beans

Sunday
Lasagna Rolls
Garlic Bread

For more great Menu Plan Monday menu planning ideas visit orgjunkie.com

Makeover Monday | Child's Desk

2011-07-11T08:00:00.002-04:00

One thing that I love to do is to take old things and make them new again. For example, when I was a kid my parents bought a little wooden desk for me (at an auction sale I believe). I remember playing with that little desk many, many times while growing up. It suffered abuse from myself and my siblings as well as many cousins. When my mom was cleaning out our childhood home I took the little desk back to my apartment and put it in the garage with the intention of refinishing it for my future (though I wasn't even married at the time) children to play with. The desk was in pretty tough shape, but to me the effort would be worth it.

Before - Look at all the writing!

You can see that the desk top was covered with crayon and really scratched up. The rest of the desk was also very worn and much of the finish was gone (the arm shows my beginning attempt to sand the desk).

Before - Side shot.

I worked on the desk when I had the chance and ended up taking it completely apart to sand in all the nooks and crannies better. The desk got moved in pieces to a new garage before I finally finished it - with the help of my fiance and now husband Jason. It was Jason who actually helped me with the final finish of the desk.

After - It almost looks new!

The finish on the desk came out great and all the writing is now gone.

After - No more writing, only a beautiful grain pattern.

The finish on the top really brought out the grain pattern in the wood. I couldn't be happier with the results. Jaden has already enjoyed many hours of play with the desk. He loves to sit in the desk and play with his pretend food.

A new generation enjoying the desk.

For a final look at the dramatic changes in the desk top, before and after:

It's amazing what a little sandpaper and a new oil finish can achieve.

In the Garden | Beginning a Square Foot Garden

2011-07-09T08:00:00.026-04:00

On a recent trip to visit my inlaws, my husband borrowed a book that my mother-in-law had recently purchased at a garage sale: Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. I was curious about this new gardening technique, so on the 45 minute ride home I read the first few chapters. The introduction where Bartholomew described his experiences with community gardening had me hooked. It reminded me so much of myself!

"The average gardener starts out each year with high hopes, great ambition and energy, and a desire for a really big, well-kept garden. But other warm weather activities seem to get in the way of the garden work, and soon it becomes neglected, overrun with weeds and pests. By the end of the season, there might be enough tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers to make the whole effort seem worthwhile, but all the other crops that couldn't survive the neglect will have been overrun by the weeds, or bolted to seed before they could be harvested."

My own gardening experience sounded remarkably similar - I started with great intentions only to become busy with summer activities. The garden would sit untended and temporarily forgotten as the weeds started to take over. The plants would all dry out in the heat and I just would not get the harvest I was hoping for.

I decided that it was time to try a new strategy. On a trip to the hardware store my husband and I purchased the lumber to make 3 four foot square beds to give square foot gardening a test run. Last weekend Jason built the boxes for me and I arranged them staggered in our backyard.

Three newly planted garden beds.

Then on the 4th of July we filled them with a special mix of soil and planted out seeds. For the soil mix I did some research online and found a simplified mix (compared to the one in the book that I have) that Bartholomew recommends, referred to as "Mel's Mix." The mix consisted of:

1/3 peat moss
1/3 compost
1/3 vermiculite

In the interest of saving some money we filled each box with half soil, and half Mel's mix - the compost was also "home-grown" so that helped with cost as well. We mixed and leveled out the soil in each box. then using basic kitchen twine and a staple gun we made the grid (each section is 1 foot square) on the top of each box.

I planted seeds that I already had at home from previous gardening attempts:

green beans
yellow wax beans
onions
lettuce
swiss chard
kale
cucumbers
pickle cucumbers

Since we did not have any tomato seeds (or plants) I stopped at the local garden center to see if they had tomato plants left (being the beginning of July). I was in luck! I purchased four tomato plants for 50% off - currently the only life in the garden.

My four little tomato plants.

Actually, that is not entirely true. Last night my husband checked the garden and told me that the onions were starting to come up - yea!

And so begins a new adventure in gardening, hopefully this little garden will be both more successful, and easier to manage. I will continue to provide updates on my gardening experiment with square foot gardening.

Next task: Build some kind of trellis system for the tomatoes and cucumbers so they do not overrun the onions and greens that are also planted in that bed.

Friday Fun | Strawberry Picking

2011-07-08T09:06:00.000-04:00

Jaden LOVES strawberries. Given the opportunity he would probably eat himself sick. Last weekend we finally went strawberry picking - we almost missed the season completely! These pictures are from last year's excursion since it was threatening to rain and I didn't want to chance taking a bunch of pictures when I could be picking.

The picking was difficult this year since there were so many rotten strawberries on the bushes. We've had a particularly wet and cool spring which is not good for the strawberry harvest.

My little strawberry picker was too busy trying to steal berries from Daddy's basket to do much picking this year. It was also rather difficult for a two-year-old anyways because Mommy had to check each berry that went into the basket to make sure it wasn't rotten.

In the end we picked one carrier of strawberries to take home. Dessert for the weekend was strawberry shortcake! Nothing says spring quite like fresh strawberries, whipped cream, and soft white cake - yum!

Thrifty Thursday | Wall Decorations

2011-07-07T08:10:00.001-04:00

For Hannah's room I've been wanting to make some wall letters to hang above her changing table. I was recently at Hobby Lobby and found these letters and ribbon for a great deal. The six letters were $1.78 and the ribbon was $0.99. Since I already had the paint and brushes from painting her wall mural and other wall designs, the project only cost me $2.77 - can't beat that!

The painting process was pretty simple. I gave each letter two coats of paint - choosing bright primary colors. When they were dry I cut lengths of ribbon, tied each in a bow and hot glued the ends to the back of each letter. Then I hung the letters over Hannah's changing table with some small finishing nails.

A perfect accompaniment to the other painting on the wall in Hannah's room. Using the cover of the book by Dr. Seuss and a projector I drew and painted "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish" in bright primary colors.

On the wall behind the crib I painted a scene from "Oh the Places You'll Go!" I still want to paint a quote from one of Dr. Seuss' books on the wall above the large balloon, but haven't quite found the time yet.

These painting projects were basically free since I borrowed the projector from my mother-in-law, already had the paint and brushes, and already owned the Dr. Seuss books. Two fun, frugal projects for my daughter's room!

In the Kitchen | Feeling Domestic

2011-07-06T11:00:00.000-04:00

So far this summer has been a hot one and in hot weather I don't like to turn the oven on. Who wants the extra heat in the house? Despite that fact, sometimes its still fun to do some fresh baking. In my mind nothing quite says home sweet home than the small of fresh bread and cookies. As I was measuring and stirring I thought about the smells of Christmas in the kitchen and the coziness of having family close. Recently, I borrowed a copy of the book Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys by Lucinda Scala Quinn from the library. Its a cookbook about cooking good food for the men and boys in your life and filling the kitchen with smells that remind them of home and keep them coming back. I really liked how Scala Quinn describes cooking for her family as an act of love.

Staying home with my children is something I've always wanted to do. I love the smell of bread, freshly baked and cooling on the counter. I enjoy making fresh cookies to greet my husband when he comes home from work. I want my kitchen to be filled with the aromas of good food created with love for the people I love. I like feeling domestic.

Friday Fun | Homemade Playdough

2011-07-01T11:00:00.000-04:00

I can remember my mom making playdough for myself and my brother and sister when we were small. As I got older I can remember her giving me a bowl of playdough still warm from the pan and instructing me to knead in the color.

Jaden is still too young to get involved in the making of the playdough, but he getting to the age where he is old enough to play with it and not just eat it. So I recruited Asia to make some playdough for the two of them to play with. She measured and stirred until we had a nice dough, then I split the dough up, added color and we kneaded it in.

Initially Jaden just looked at the playdough and poked at it tentatively. Then with some encouragement he got involved in poking it and pulling it apart. He's still a bit too young to do much molding and shaping with the dough, but he still had lots of fun with it.

Homemade Playdough

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup water

2 teaspoons cream of tarter

food coloring

Mix all ingredients except food coloring into a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until the mixture sticks together in a ball. Remove pan from heat and allow the dough to cool. Squeeze and knead dough.

At this point the dough is a bland tan color. To make it more fun I split the large ball of dough into four pieces and added food coloring to each piece, red, yellow, green, and blue. A few drops of color should be enough. To add the coloring, make a depression in the center of the dough. Add a few drops of color, then knead dough to distribute the color evenly into the ball of dough.

Playdough can be stored in an airtight bag or container in the fridge for future use. Have fun!

Thrifty Thursday | Chocolate Pudding Pops!

2011-06-30T11:00:00.000-04:00

The fruity yogurt popsicles were such a hit that I decided to try a chocolate fudge type popsicle. I wanted to do this as inexpensively as possible so I searched around for a good chocolate pudding recipe. Since this recipe has no eggs I decided to give it a try and it turned out great!

Chocolate Cornstarch Pudding

1/2 cup white sugar

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 3/4 cups milk

2 tablespoons margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a saucepan, stir together sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt. Place over medium heat, and stir in milk. Bring to a boil, and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in margarine and vanilla.

Recipe from allRecipes.com

Once the pudding had cooled slightly I carefully spooned it into the popsicle molds. Jaden was my big helper - he watched from a kitchen chair and played with the popsicle handles. "Ready?" was his perpetual question as he waited for the chance to put the lids on the popsicles. When I was finally ready Jaden happily put all the lids on the popsicles, after which I put them in the freezer.

The best part about making pudding pops? Licking the spoon!

During the whole pudding/popsicle making process Hannah was busy playing, but as soon as the camera came out she was underfoot. Literally, she nearly got stepped on!

Not one to be left out of the action, Hannah had to check out the camera. What a cheeser!

In the Kitchen | Fruity Yogurt Popsicles

2011-06-29T11:00:00.000-04:00

For years now I've had a set of popsicle molds sitting idle in the cabinet over the refrigerator. I had great intentions to make popsicles for the kiddos but it never seemed to happen.

One evening, inspired by some strawberries in the freezer that were getting old I made fruit smoothies. They were pretty simple, yogurt, strawberries, and bananas. Jaden loved his smoothie, and the opportunity to drink from a straw. One blender-full of smoothie made more than enough for all of us with some leftover. Looking at the leftover mix I thought of the popsicle molds and dug them out of the cupboard. I poured the extra smoothies into the popsicle molds and popped them into the freezer.

Jaden and Hannah enjoying their popsicles on the deck.

The result? Tasty popsicles that both Hannah and Jaden enjoyed, and healthy too. Hannah is at the stage where she wants whatever her brother is having and this was a great treat for both of them. The two of them sitting side-by-side (totally unposed) on the deck enjoying their popsicles was so cute that I just had to snap a picture.

Next up on my list? Chocolate pudding pops - not so healthy, but tasty and fun!