That's My Boy!

Dumpling Slides Too!

Happy Boy-Answer to Prayer

We went out the other day to enjoy the amazing Autumn weather. (I am sure glad we did as we are staring at about 18 inches of snow in the lowest parts and it is still coming down.)
Pumpkin has been trying to overcome his fear of going down slides. He's been praying for Jesus to help him go down the slide every meal for a few weeks now. He went down by himself and that feeling of falling was too much for him. He would go down with me, but did not want to go solo. Dumpling has no fear at all, of anything. Go figure.
The other day was the day. We parked by a lake and the boys wanted to go play on the playground part. It had a double straight slide, not too high. Up he went! About 100 times. Thank you, Jesus.
Isn't that look of pure joy priceless?

Homemade Vapor Rub- All Natural and Easy

 ** Don't want to make your own?  Our Vapor Rub is now available in our Etsy Store!!!!

I remember having Vicks Vaporub smeared all over when I was sick as a child. I loved the stuff! It always smelled good and fresh to me. Now, though, I prefer not to use petroleum products on my skin. Also, Vicks Vaporub is NOT recommended for kids under two. The reasons for that make me think it probably isn't much better for my guys who aren't much older.

I looked up a few other homemade vapor rub recipes and decided to come up with my own to use what I have on hand. Some of the recipes were vague, others had you pouring essential oils into a tub of Vaseline. If I wanted that, I'd just buy the Vicks!  I want something NATURAL.

The 1/4 cup beeswax to 1 cup oil ratio works so well for my Healing Balms that I thought it would make a nice consistency for a homemade vapor rub as well. We all love the balm and use it all the time. It has been a big hit around here and with my friends as well. It goes on smooth, but not greasy or sticky.

I whipped a batch up of this today and it smells great. We are all well here, but I thought it would be nice to have something on hand because it seems like the rest of the city is sick. I have a jar I use for my beeswax concoctions so I just put the oil and beeswax in that and melted it in the microwave for about three minutes, until the beeswax had melted. The entire process has taken longer to type up than to actually make.

It was overwhelming when I first poured all the oils in and reminded me of the Mint Room on the Celestial Seasonings Tea Tour. However, now that it is in the jars and cooled it smells fine. I rubbed a bit on me to test it out and it is nice. I'm glad to have one more thing we can use that is a bit more natural.

All Natural Homemade Vapor Rub Recipe:
Melt 1/4 cup Beeswax in 1 cup Olive Oil. Add in 15 drops Peppermint Essential Oil & 10 drops of Eucalyptus Essential Oil. Stir and pour into containers. Let cool and rub on as needed. Breathe easy!

*****************Edited: I ended up going back, remelting the rub and adding in about twice the amounts of Peppermint & Eucalyptus EO. When I first was mixing it the amount seemed strong, but when I actually used it, it wasn't really. NOW it will really work. I'd suggested experimenting yourself to see what works best for you. Let me know how it works.

****************** UPDATE: Nov 29th 2010== Welcome new readers!!! Thanks for stopping by! Hope you find something new and helpful for you. BTW- It's been just over a year since I did this post and I still have most of the last jar of the Homemade Vapor Rub. Dumpling woke up with a stuffy nose yesterday and so I remelted what was left and added more Peppermint & Eucalyptus EO to the jar. It's working well and soothes his upper lip and nose where I've rubbed it in. It is helping to drain his sinuses and keeps his skin from getting sore from wiping. I've also equipped him with some cloth handkerchiefs to use instead of just Kleenex. I've also rubbed it onto his chest and back before naps and sleeping last night. He likes it, too. :)

******Looking for more natural products we all use that you can make yourself?    Read the Simple Living Posts Page.  There are lots of ideas and links to all the things I have learned to just make myself.   From alternatives to shampooing, homemade deodorant, lotions, lipbalms, cleaning products, laundry detergent and more are all there!

Kitchen Notes

I am still processing apples & tomatoes.
I am planning on making some homemade Vicks Vaporub stuff today. Hopefully, I get some Body Butters done today as well.
Then, there's bread & apple strudel for tomorrow--unless we get snowed under completely. It's looking pretty white out there.
There is a Puffy Pancake with Apples baking in the oven and it is time to make a pot of tea or coffee. Maybe both.
What are you hoping to do today?
****
Links: Puffy Pancake Recipe & Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte Recipe

Autumn Day at the Farm

Between a new machine with new software and breaking my favorite lens on the camera, I've been having a hard time posting pictures. That should change now.
Sweetheart downloaded Picasa for me last night. I love it, plus I can make these fun collages. I stayed up way too late last night playing with it all. I also had over 530 pictures from the last month to deal with.

Sweet Dumpling Boy

Autumn Luncheon

Yesterday I had my Mom and two ladies over for lunch. One of the ladies owns Berry Patch Farms, our home away from home. Her sister has just moved here and so we wanted to get to know them both better.
It was a cold, snowy, drizzly day. But we stayed snug with visiting and soups and hot teas and coffee. They stayed for several hours and we all just got to take a break and relax. This has been such a busy season for them at the farm so I really appreciated that they would take a few hours out of their busy schedule to just be with us.

Our Menu:

Squash-Apple Soup with Nutmeg Cream and Spiced Pecans
Carrot Ginger Soup
Whole Wheat Herb French Bread
Salad with Pickled Squash & Beets, Cranberries, Garden Carrots & Tomatoes, Bacon & Parmesan Cheese served with Homemade Vinaigrette Salad Dressings
Cinnamon Cranberry Scones with Clotted Cream, Peach Butter & Raspberry Jam
Zucchini Bread & Pumpkin Bread

I had made the soups in advance and just warmed them up. That just left the bread, scones & salad to put together that morning. Other than forgetting the scones in the oven and over baking them, everything turned out just fine. We enjoyed our leisurely lunch and then moved to the family room for our desserts & drinks. As the snow fell, we enjoyed our peaceful time warmed with the joy of new friendships.

What a wonderful day it was!

Alive & Cookin'

I've been so busy in the kitchen I haven't had time for writing. When I'm not cooking, I'm trying to spend as much time as I can out with the boys and friends. Our weather had been rather up and down here in Denver with a storm currently rolling in.

The cooler temperature is welcome today as I've been canning Tomato Sauce, Apple Cakes in Jars, & Apple Butter. I've also got a giant pot of Squash-Apple Soup simmering on the stove and a pork roast roasting along with the rest of the twelve pound Hubbard Squash in the oven. I've got the windows open so we don't roast as well!

Yesterday we enjoyed a lovely day at the Denver Zoo. I figured we had better go then while the weather was fine. We had a nice time visiting with all the animals.
This weekend Sweetheart & I disappeared to Berthoud, Colorado for our anniversary get away a few months late. We had a lovely room at the Berthoud Inn and the best dinner ever at the Retro Bistro. It is totally worth the drive for just the dinner! (Thanks Grandma! And stop by tomorrow for some soup and your milk, if you want.)

I used up a bunch of tomatoes on Sunday mixing them up with onions, roasted red peppers, carrots and a bunch of spices for a yummy soup. More tomatoes are ripening everyday. I think we'll end up using all 80 pounds up. I even have some tomatoes in the dehydrator right now. We'll see how those work out.

In fact, I was in the garden yesterday and found more tomatoes, carrots and another zucchini that had been hiding. I hope clean up the garden and prep in all for winter this week and weekend. I've got a list of chores to do outside both front & back.

I am not a big magazine person, but I do love "Victoria", and "MaryJane's Farm" magazines. I recently discovered "Hobby Farm Home" and hope to subscribe soon. We don't farm, but the ideas inside it are practical for us with the way we live and our gardening.

The current issue contains the recipe for Apple Cake in a Jar and a comprehensive list of ideas for shutting down the garden for winter while prepping for spring. It also has some fun homemade Christmas gift ideas and a tutorial for pie crusts. All sorts of things I love!

Well, enjoy your day! Time to go stir the soup.

Honey Love

We love honey! We've been enjoying an abundance of honey this year from friends and the farm up the road. I had mentioned in a prior post about some Pumpkin Spice Honey. A few people have asked about it so I thought I'd share this info. This is something I didn't actually make, but bought.

We bought this earlier this summer when we were in Durango, Colorado. Honeyville is a lovely little company just outside of town that sells all sorts of yummy honey treats. They have so many different products that include honey and all of the ones I've had are delicious. The Bumble Berry Syrup and the Chocolate Sauce both contain honey as the sweetener and are products we also picked up and have been enjoying. The Amaretto Whipped Honey with Pecans is a unique treat as well.

They have all sorts of fun things on their website and it appears that they ship all over. Enjoy!

Mmm...Coffee!

While I drink tea a lot (understatement) I do enjoy coffee as well, especially this time of year. Though I usually drink my tea hot and black, I love sweet coffee with lots of flavor.
I stopped buying the fancy creamers when I decided to stop eating and drinking things that contain ingredients I cannot pronounce. Amazing how much "food stuff" that eliminates! Seriously, what are we eating? /soapbox.
What is a girl to do when she even starts to question her Pumpkin Spice Lattes and wonder what that weird film they leave on the roof of one's mouth is all about? One hopes it is just the fat from the whipped cream, but still.
There are a few recipes out there like this one I'll try when I bake squashes this weekend for purees. Until then, I'm using my Pumpkin Spice Brown Sugar.
I had poured a little brown sugar in a jar and stirred in some cinnamon and cloves a few weeks ago. Mixing it all together added great flavor and kept the floating spices to a minimum. It is also amazing in oatmeal. This morning I noticed I needed to make more. Someone had commented and asked how I had mixed it up before, but I didn't pay attention so I wasn't sure.
Today I paid attention. I had read about how easy it was to make brown sugar so I decided to kill to birds with one stone. I poured one cup of regular sugar into a jar and added one tablespoon of molasses. That's it: instant brown sugar. It is soft and flavorful, but not at all overwhelming. I then stirred in a tablespoon of cinnamon, and a teaspoon of both cloves and nutmeg.
It turned out great! I love molasses so I may add more in the future. Did you know that the only real difference between light and dark brown sugar? It' just more or less molasses. Super easy and know I can just make up what I'll need and not have bags of brown sugar going rock hard in the pantry. It is cheaper, too.
It will be great the next time I make these and use my homemade vanilla extract. Hmm...that gets me thinking. Maybe I should pour some of the vanilla in the spice sugar for coffee. See? This is how I get myself in trouble: one thing just leads to another.
I am now imagining how good this cup of coffee would be with a batch of Ginger Bears. So soft and autumny and filled with molasses and spices. They'd make a good dinner, right?
I just remembered this post I read recently. She had some links for homemade creamers. I think I might need to add a pint of half and half to the milk order for tonight's delivery. Any fun ideas to share yourself?

High Protein Granola Bars

I made these today. So delicious! The whole house smelled so good and with 19 grams of protein per bar, I'll probably never buy another protein bar again. These are amazing and don't have any weird taste like so many of the bars out there have.
I did use butter because that is all I had. I also spread them out on my big 1/2 sheet cookie sheet. Since they were thinner I only baked them for 45 minutes. I put a handful of raisins and pecans on one side of the pan and a handful of chocolate chips and pecans on the other, then just pressed the oat mix on top evenly. They are both great. I think next time I will soak the raisins a bit before hand as the raisins on the edges were pretty dry.
I had never used Texturized Vegetable/Soy Protein before. I found it in the bulk bins at the grocery store. I'll definitely be looking for more recipes that use it though as I thought these were so good. I love molasses and cinnamon. Yum!

Apple Recipes

Curried Apple Chutney

2 qts (about 16 medium) apples- peeled, cored and chopped

2 lbs seedless raisin

4 cups brown sugar

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped sweet red pepper

3 Tbl mustard seed

2 Tbl ginger

2 tsp allspice

2 tsp curry powder

2 tsp salt

2 hot red peppers, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

4 cups vinegar

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Simmer until thick, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Ladle hot chutney into hot jars, leaving ¼ inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Adjust time for altitude.

Applesauce

2 1/2-31/2 pounds of apples per quart

water

sugar, if desired

Wash apple, core, peel and slice or quarter apples. Cook apples until soft in a large covered saucepan with just enough water to prevent sticking. Puree using a food processor or food mill. Return apple pulp to saucepan. Add sugar to taste, if desired. Feel free to add spices as desired such as cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg or cloves. Bring applesauce to a boil (212 F) stirring to prevent sticking. Maintain temperature at a boil while filling jars. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving ½ inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust caps. Process pints and quarts for 20 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Adjust time for altitude. (Denver add 10 minutes.)

I bought another 80 pounds of apples for about 120 lbs total. I'm working away and thought I'd share a few recipes for you all. I did run all the cores through the cider press and made a pint of cider. Not a lot of yield for so much stuff. Be back in a few days!
Recipes from the Ball Blue Book of Canning. Can't recommend this book enough! It has everything you need to learning canning. Remember-last year was the first time I had ever canned anything. I never learned and no one I knew canned. So if I can, can, you can.

'Maters

We were forecast for a freeze last night so I picked and picked and picked. I pulled tomatoes (obviously), cantaloupes, cucumbers, watermelons, onions, beets, corn, peppers and my geraniums. I pulled all the potted plants in and covered all the beans. The kitchen is piled with produce. And-no freeze. Super.


(By the way, this is what about 80 pounds of tomatoes looks like. This isn't including all the tomatoes we have already enjoyed. Wow! The only other time I grew tomatoes I got two cherry-sized tomatoes total from two plants. This year I planted seven plants. In spite of the late start we are thrilled with the results.)