What I've Been Up To...

Only about 10 more pounds to get through. 80 pounds of apples makes a lot of applesauce, spiced apples, apple butter, apple chips, an apple cake, apple pie, apple tart and just apples to eat.

In between apples I've played with these guys.

I cooked more than apples. I had my Bunco group over the other night for dinner. I made Janna's Curry Chicken. Dinner for 12 (plus my family) is a lot to pull together.

The apple desserts were for that. The cake was a dismal failure. It was delicious, but fell completely apart when I tried to get it out of the pan. Glad I made it the night before Bunco. That way I had time to make the tart and the pie.

Somebody started walking on his own.


We made what will be one of the last trips to the farm today.

Pumpkin played in the straw bale maze.

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Look closely in the bucket.

Last weekend we went on a family adventure.

Daddy had fun, too.

Pumpkin loves throwing rocks in water.

Here's me and my little guy.

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I've started probably 10 different posts in this week off.

Hopefully, I'll get them finished and polished up to post soon.

Figured I'd better post something now though, or everyone might give up on me and never return.

Unplugging

I'm going off-line for awhile.

Thank you for visiting and commenting.
You are the sweetest ladies I know.
Give me about a week and I should return.
I will be checking e-mail once a day, so feel free to write.

*sigh*

I really want a new look for the blog. I keep fiddleling with it all. I'm not liking much. Suggestions?

40 Pounds of Apples Later...

This handy gadget is sooo wonderful. Sweetheart bought it for me when I was about 1/3 of the way through the apples. It sure made the rest go faster!

I made spiced apple slices, spiced apple butter, spiced and plain applesauce, dried apples, and an apple crisp. Today I ordered two more boxes of apples from the farm for later this week. Even though the canning is a lot of work, I sure do like the results!

Bagels!

Get your helpers ready!

Bagels

8 cups of bread flour, or flour with ¼ cup wheat gluten
2 Tbl sugar
1 Tbl salt
2 Tbl oil
4 tsp yeast
2 ½ -3 ¼ cups warm water (depends on gluten)

*Mix and knead until dough is uniform and smooth.

*Divide into 16 equal balls and let rise for 15 minutes.

I made half the batch plain.

In the other half I mixed a few tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice for cinnamony bagels.

*Shape bagels.

You may either roll the dough into a log and wrap it into a circles like Pumpkin does,

or you can just take a puff of dough, stick your thumbs into the middles and widen the hole, smoothing it into the bagel shape.

*Let rise for about 20 minutes.

*Meanwhile, set large pan of water to boil and preheat the oven to 425*


*Boil bagels for one minute on each side.

* Dip bagels when wet into toppings if desired, or let them dry for one minute if plain.



This is a mix of sesame seeds, poppy seeds and freeze-dried chives.

This is a mix of pumpkin pie spice and sugar. It's like cinnamon sugar, but with more flavor.

*Place on greased cookie sheet. Repeat as needed.

*Bake bagels for 10 minutes, flip, and bake for ten minutes more.

*Let cool a few minutes and serve.

I found the original Bagel Recipe here. I doubled and simplified the directions for my own use.

Why make only eight bagels at a time? I make sixteen at a go now. Once they're cool, I slice them most of the way through and then toss them into the freezer. When I need a few I just pull them out of the freezer and toss them into the toaster quick as a wink!

Works great and it's a lot cheaper and easier than running to Einstein's.

A Day in My Life

Morning came early, in fact too early. Cries from a little boy's room awakened this Mommy. After changing diaper, bedding and pajamas, he drifts back to sleep. Eventually, I do as well.

When it is time to rise, we do. It's a cloudy, cool morning. Just perfect for oatmeal!

Littlest boy is still sleeping, so just Pumpkin and I eat our breakfast together. It is also time to read devotions and journal a bit.

While I'm doing that, the seeds from yesterday's squash are roasting and the parsley cut from the garden set out to dry and will go into the warm oven to dry faster.

Dumpling awakens and joins us for his oatmeal. It's quite a hit, even if you have to wait for it.

We have no plans to leave for the day, so I continue with yesterday's baking.

After the squash had baked and cooled yesterday, I ran in through the food processor with some water to puree it. A nine and a half pound squash made eight cups of puree. I used three cups to make pumpkin bread, just substituting the squash puree for canned pumpkin. That made three WONDERFUL loaves!

The giant zucchini I had from the garden followed the squash and went into the grater, making eight cups of grated zucchini. That became four loaves of zucchini bread, with four more waiting to be made. I am however, out of bread pans and time.

See my helpers? This is the view from the top while I'm working on the breads. The gray blur is Dumpling. It's not always easy to work in my kitchen, but I wouldn't change a thing. Except...I am considering strapping some sponges to Dumpling and letting him wash the floor, since he's down there and all. :)

This is the treasure I found this weekend during our family day. I've always wanted one of these plates, but found them too expensive. This one wasn't! Aren't the colors wonderfully autumnish?

He has so richly blessed us! Beyond our daily bread--even to seven loaves of sweet breads for the days to come. This on top of the regular bread baked yesterday and the bagels. Blessings upon blessings!

Lunch arrives amidst baking. Sandwiches on yesterday's bread with cheese and fruit. No pictures as I was doing too much to try and take them.

After lunch, the boys take their naps. Theoretically. They are put to bed, what happens from there seems to depend on the day. Luckily, this is a quiet day and all rest. Even me.

After nap time we have a snack--bread and milk. I cut and wrap the breads for the freezer, except the snack loaf. It is time for me to wash the mountain of pans and dishes from all the baking. No pictures of that!

While I'm cleaning up the boys eat their snack and then go off to play together in the family room. As our home has a very open floor plan, there are no walls between rooms on the first floor so I am able to see everything from the kitchen. I took pictures of them playing, but they all turned out a blur as they aren't still enough for pictures.

Dinner goes in the oven to bake and I join the boys in the family room. We build with blocks, race cars, and read books together until Daddy comes home. We eat when Sweetheart arrives home. Dinner is baked fish, baked squash and steamed brown rice.

After dinner the boys play for a few minutes with Daddy until bath time. Dumpling loves to take baths and enjoys seeing how much water he can relocate. He also plays with the rubber duckies and quacks and laughs. We have bath time and then it's off to get ready for bed. Songs and prayers fill our hearts. Tickles and kisses are important, too. Sweet dreams, little ones.

I then head out for a bit to run some errands that are easier to manage alone. Nothing too exciting- Target, World Market and Barnes & Noble. As I wander through the aisles at B&N I am struck by the contrasts presented by the books at hand. Some wonderful, some dreadful. A thought, often at the back of my mind~what could I do?

As I pass the teen section all I see is book on the supernatural, vampires, and well--trashy books like Gossip Girls and the like. Poor girls. I remember those years. I read a lot of junk I regret.

I think that's why I'd like to someday write for these kids. But I want to write something worth reading. I want to write in a way that is real. Not like an adult writing down to kids, writing things they would never say. I don't know. There are great children's books and great books for adults. There used to be at least decent books for the teens and tweens. Even the award winning books of the last few years seem to be...lacking. Just my thoughts. Suggestions welcome.

I left the store, glad to be heading home. Admiring the lovely full moon as it plays peek-a-boo in the clouds. At home, Sweetheart and I visit for a bit, sharing our hearts and days. Then it is time to sleep.

A day in my life, not exciting, but wonderful in its own way.

Thanks Little Jenny Wren for putting this together. Sorry I'm late on this. Sweetheart had the camera with all my pictures and now is the first chance I've had to post.

BTW-Tomorrow I'll post about our bagel making adventures. It's easy and fun. Pumpkin loves to help!

Today

Gobs of Gourds & So Much Squash

This is what I harvested yesterday.

Hungry?

I saved a bunch of the stems after I read Joanne's tutorial for Fabric Pumpkins.

I'm going to have to try to make a few of these! They are so cute.

Go take a look, but come back and share your squash recipes with me!

I'll need them...

Living Life

I feel like we've been so busy living life that blogging about it has been set aside.
We've been to Berry Patch Farms more times than I can count. It's closer than any grocery store so it is easy to run up the road for eggs and fresh produce as needed. (We live on the far east side of Denver.)
Since I only head to the regular grocery store once a month to stock up on bulk foods and meat it's so great to have something close for the fresh things. Don't know what I'll do when they close for winter! They'll be open until Thanksgiving, but then closed until late spring/early summer.
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We'll try to head to the zoo a few more times before it gets too cold. The Denver Zoo really is nice. We fed the Lorikeets on our last trip there. My Mom played hooky from work and went with us. It was a great day.

They are giving each other kisses in the picture above. Something they do all the time that just melts this Mommy's heart.

Pumpkin loves to see all the animals and Dumpling likes to be pushed along in the stroller eating snacks. I'm not sure he much cares about the animals yet, but he sure likes going along for the ride. When he finishes what's on his tray he starts finishing up whatever Pumpkin has left behind.



We went up to Estes Park two weekends ago just to enjoy an Autumn drive. I wasn't able to get any really good pictures of the color in the mountains, but we had a lovely day. The barn picture at the top of the page was from that drive.

We stopped along the way at the Miller Farms where Pumpkin was able to see a few of his friends. They had painted a bunch of old cars and a truck to look like the characters from "Cars". (In case you hadn't noticed the reoccurring toy in almost every picture of Pumpkin--this boy loves Lightning Mc Queen. He goes everywhere with us from Target to picking up wheat at Nadine's today. If he's not in Pumpkin's hands, he close by!)

They've also got a bunch of old tractors and even a small plane out on display and for the kids to climb all over. Apparently, they have a bunch of other rides and things for the kids, but we didn't actually go inside. We were quite entertained for free just in their parking lot!

When we got to Estes we walked along by the river and found a place to have our picnic lunch. Pumpkin and Sweetheart threw tons of rocks in the river, a favorite pastime of theirs.

After lunch, we headed back down the road until we found some National Forest access signs and drove along the back roads.

Sweet Dreams, Little One.

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Our garden has been actually growing things (besides weeds) this year. Here are some pictures of what we'll be harvesting soon. We're trying to let everything go as long as possible, but it is likely that we'll have a hard frost this weekend.

We've got quite a few Hubbard Squashes which I'm planning to substitute for pumpkin in a bunch of recipes. I think I'll need to do up some Spice "Pumpkin" Butter and more "Pumpkin" Bread and maybe some pies. These things are huge! We've also got more Birdhouse Gourds than there are birds around here.

A few things, I can't even identify. That thing that looks kind of like a peach pumpkin is another type of Hubbard Squash, I think, and I have no idea where the striped thing came from. I only planted the seeds from a squash I bought a few years ago for Pumpkin's baby food. Who knows what happened? I was hoping for pumpkins, but only ended up with one dark green one. Maybe next year's garden will go better!

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I've been reading along quite a few things. I'm doing the Northanger Abbey read-a-long and finished up Pride & Prejudice. I read Persuasion just before that and must say I like it more and more with each reading. It may soon be my favorite Austen book.

I also checked out a bunch of books the other day from the library. I printed out everyone's suggestions and got as many as I could find. If I couldn't find the specific book someone suggested, but found another book by the same other I checked it out. I'm now in the middle of three or four of them. It's good. I'll also take the time to track down some of the titles from other libraries and try to read as many as I can. I really appreciate your ideas and suggestions! Maybe I can get my act together and do some reviews on them. Maybe.

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I made Janna's Curry Chicken recipe yesterday. Oh, yum!! It was a cloudy, cool day here in Denver, just perfect to have something cooking in the crockpot. Do try it yourself! It is soooo good. I meant to set aside one piece of chicken for lunch today with a friend, but forgot to take it out yesterday and it ended up in the Curry Chicken as well. I felt odd serving a guest leftovers, but she didn't seem to mind. Good thing, as it was really all I had! We fed the two older boys noodles and cheese, which made them happy. Dumpling plowed through another good serving of the Curry Chicken. He has good taste!

I had planned to make the Curry Chicken yesterday so that we could enjoy the leftovers tonight before I was to go to the Homecoming football game with Janna and CL. Now, I'm not sure Janna is going and it is awfully cold out. Plus, Sweetheart is likely to be working late so I don't think it will all work out. Besides it is Friday and in our house Friday night is Movie Night and I'd hate to miss that. Last week I asked Pumpkin what, besides "Cars", he'd like to watch. He very matter of factly replied, Cranford." Of course! What two year old isn't fond of Elizabeth Gaskell and BBC movies? We watched "Cranford" and both boys watched with great attention and enjoyment.

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This post was even longer as I had added a bunch of pictures of Sweetheart and I as we finally got to go away for our tenth anniversary celebration last weekend. However, I messed up on the html for the pictures and gave up. Our anniversary itself was the week I miscarried in July. Not a good time to celebrate. We had already planned time away in August, but had to reschedule after my Mom fell. Everything came together though, finally, and we had a delightful time away. Maybe another post will work, besides, I think this one has enough pictures!

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I hope you are having a delightful day, wherever you happen to be. I'm off to make a pot of tea and wash up the dishes from lunch before the boys get up from their naps. I'm going to leave the page to The Button Willow Chronicles open to enjoy her music as I head off to putter around the kitchen. If you've never stopped by TBWC, you're in for a real treat. It's full of wondrous stories and quotes and pictures of all my favorite things. Go on, take a look, just be sure to come back here again to visit soon!

Guess Where We Went Today?

Ok, not a tough thing to guess if you've been reading here at all lately. We met up with some new friends today at Berry Patch Farms. Katie and I connected on-line a long time ago through Sandy's Tea Society. Since then, she's commented here now and again, but today was the first time we've met in person.

She, and her kids, were such a delight to hang out with! We spent some time out in the fields picking raspberries then enjoyed our lunch a the picnic tables under the giant cottonwood trees. The chickens and turkeys and Bacon Bits were all out and about enjoying their picnic lunches as well from all the food the kiddos seem to drop on the ground.

I thought this post would be longer, I've got so much more to share! However, someone has just awakened from his nap, so I must go. Hope you're enjoying this incredible Autumn day!

Autumn Adventures

The boys and I loaded up the van a headed up the road to Berry Patch Farms today. Yes, we were there on Tuesday. What can I say? We like it! It's such a great place to hang out. Pumpkin can run all around and learn so much just by experiencing it all. Even Dumpling is trying to pick berries these days! Plus, there is no admission cost (except for special events) so we only have to pay for what we want to buy.

Today in addition to our lunch I packed up a pot of hot tea, cups, and Pumpkin Pie Spice Scones with Devon cream as well as a jar of the Spice Peach Butter I made in August. The Farm has a wonderful area of picnic tables under giant cottonwood trees so you are able to enjoy a picnic in the shade. There is also a long, covered porch they have filled with rockers where we love to sit and relax.

We were meeting up today with Janna and her friend, C.L., whom I met at Janna's Fall Fest a few weekends ago, and their children. Janna took the lovely picture of the scones above. In fact, she took all three of these pictures. Doesn't she do a lovely job?

We had so much fun talking and picking raspberries! They are simply dripping off the branches in bunches. The kids picked some berries and ate a lot of berries along the way. (It's allowed.) We picked a lot of the red raspberries, then headed out into the fields for the golden raspberry bushes which are a lot shorter. Here is Dumpling along for the ride. Isn't he cute? He calls out, "Berwies, berwies!" whenever he's wanting a snack.

All was well and good for me until I spotted a web in the bushes. Delicately perched on the web was this. It was hauntingly beautiful. I wish you could have seen this in color as the light parts were an amazing yellow and the dark parts black. I felt better about the whole thing after Janna named her Charlotte. Ugh.

Its (her?!) body was at least an inch in diameter. All that yellow and black in the midst of the yellow raspberries has made me decide to look a little closer before I pick from now on. I've never seen a spider like this, or any other kind, out there before. Now, I hope Gramma will still go out there with us and not stress out about the kids picking berries.

On a brighter note, I've been enjoying reading Northanger Abbey for the Go Gothic read-a-long at Austenprose. Let me know if you join in! I read so far ahead that I need to take a break and go back to Pride & Prejudice, which I was already reading before I found out about the Northanger Abbey events. (I have a collection of all of Jane Austen's novels in one book.)

Also, I've printed out a list of all the books you WONDERFUL ladies suggested a few posts down. I'm planning on checking out as many as I can these next few weeks with a trip to the library coming soon. I saw several books listed that I have read before and do think are definitely worth an additional read. Please, feel free to continue to add to the list! Thank you for taking the time to give suggestions! I do so appreciate each one of you dear ladies for stopping by and for taking the time to comment as you can. It means so much to me.

Too Much Fun to Miss!

Do join in the fun!
Go visit Austenprose for all the wonderful details.
It will be so diverting!

I'll bring the tea...


By the way--I so appreciate all your book suggestions for me. Please, keep them coming!