Plum Clafouti

This summer, more than any before, we've picked lots of fruit. It's so incredibly good when straight from the tree or bush. We picked cherries in June, blackberries in July, plums, apples, grapes, and peaches in August. Several friends were over blessed in their home gardens and have let us "help them out" with their abundance of fruit. We've also gone to local U-picks. The fruit has all been so yummy and I like to preserve it by freezing or canning when we get more than we are able to consume fresh.

These awesome plums from a friend's tree were begging to be made into something so I tried a new recipe. I was really pleased with how it turned out. And I learned something too. A clafouti is a French dish traditionally made with cherries. In fact cherry is actually indicated in the name clafouti so "plum clafouti" is really inaccurate. But whatever! You make a simple eggy batter and pour it over halved and pitted sweetened plums and bake. It got a big thumbs up from everyone at our place because it is absolutely incredible! I will likely convert it to a sourdough recipe next time I try it and I'll let you know how it works out. Here's a link to the recipe I used. But I didn't use the lemon zest because I didn't have any.

See? Yum, right? Maybe it's not too photogenic, but just thinking about the juicy warm plums makes me really want to make it again now. I think next year I'll try it with the cherries and leave the pits in like the French do. It's supposed to infuse a nice almond flavor. At the moment I'm looking for what to do with my peaches! Any ideas?

A Box

There is one toy that I maintain is THE best toy a child can have. A cardboard box. It doesn't have to be huge, though it certainly doesn't hurt. My kids love to sit in smaller boxes and make cars or trains out of them or simply pull each other around in them.

This particular box, though, has been around for about 3 years and has seen better days. For a long time it was folded flat in our garage, but I broke it out the other day and sure enough, it hasn't lost its touch. When Drew was about 4, we inherited this box and went at it with markers and crayons and I cut out windows, a door, a mailbox, and a peephole. It is a most collapsible and completely free awesome little playhouse. The kids absolutely love pulling little furniture or play kitchens into it and peeking out the windows. It is hours of creative play at its best. Just goes to show you that they don't need anything too fancy to have fun.

I like to pass this cardboard box tip on to new parents because inevitably we all think our kids must have every educational expensive toy to play with and sure, they likely play with them for a while. In my experience, children somehow always find out that playing with cardboard boxes and laundry baskets and sticks and dirt and water and leaves are just awesome.

A Story Jar

Not much thrills me more than to hear the imaginative wanderings of a little mind. My boy is very creative and is at a fun stage right now. He LOVES his stories and the funny ideas he comes up with. Adventures are big at our house too. While we read every day, we don't often make up stories to tell each other so to add some more inspiration and encourage him in this, I made him a story jar. We're including it in our home schooling pre-school time but he enjoyed it so much that it became a family time activity. Drew even wants to use it as creative writing inspiration. I think that creative story telling may be the motivation she needs to love writing more so I'm excited about this.

Here's what I did to make it. We had tons of little stickers that had detailed pictures many kinds of animals, foods, numbers, letters, toys, and random objects. They are 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch and I don't remember where we got these from but they've been around in the kids' sticker container for a long time and always got passed over for the colorful stickers. I couldn't find any for sale, but if you don't have stickers of your own, another option would be to search online for icons you could print out. These could also be laminated. I stuck the stickers on construction paper and cut out around them with my paper cutter leaving a small border. The finished ones were about 3/4 inch by 3/4 inch. Then I put them in a baby food jar and used some more stickers to decorate the jar.

There are many games you can play with a story jar! Here's just a few ideas.

1. Take turns drawing a couple pictures and weave them into a story. We're pretty flexible on rules. If you want to look before you pick you can. If you want to, you can pick more than 2.

2. Sit in a circle. The first player draws one picture and starts a story using the picture. The next person draws one picture and uses it to continue the same story. Continue around the circle maybe once or twice like this until the story is done.

3. Have each person draw one picture for the first player and give them all to him/her. Then the first player tells a story using all the pictures. Then everyone draws one picture for the next player. Continue on like this for each turn.

You can use a letter or number to add challenge or for older children. Some fun ideas are to use a lot of words in your story that start with a letter, or to make a character's name start with the letter. Maybe if they draw a number 2 you could challenge them to use as many 2 syllable words in their story as possible. Or they could use a certain word that many times in their story.

For my first story I drew out a space rocket and a beach ball. I told him a story about a little boy's father that was an astronaut. The little boy gave his beach ball to his father when he had to go into outer space because he wanted his father to have something of his for the trip and he thought it would be a fun thing to have where there was no gravity. The father deflated the ball and folded it up in his suitcase for the trip. The rocket blasted off and went up to a space station. From so far away the planet earth looked about the size of a beach ball! And the father thought of his son so far away when he looked at the beach ball. When the father's time in space was over, he returned to earth. And when he walked out of the space ship, he was holding the beach ball. His son was so excited to see him and they gave each other big hugs.

Israel was very excited to see what he would get for his turn! He drew a bald eagle and a gift. His story was that the bald eagle was flying when suddenly a present dropped from the sky. The eagle knew it was Christmas so he thought the present was for him and when he opened it, out came a... bird! At this point Israel laughed and laughed.

For my second turn I got a dog and a pencil. I told them the story of a dog that loved to write and draw and made many books to share with his friends. He loved to share them with his dog friends but was sad that he couldn't share them with his human friends because they didn't understand dog language. One day the dog found a translator pencil that could translate for him and after that he was able to share his books for everyone to enjoy.

If you want some ideas for what to put in a story jar, here's what mine had:

Vehicles
ship, car, airplane, hot air balloon, train, race car, space shuttle

Misc.
toaster, bed, eye, question mark, music note, soccer ball, football, baseball, basketball, alarm clock, umbrella, wall clock, globe, lock, lightbulb, barn, robot, smile, gift, pencil, book, award ribbon, shoe, television, scissors, balloons, cowboy boot, farmer

Animals
cow, mouse, manatee, gorilla, sheep, crab, bunny, duck, flower, spider, frog, pig, mosquito, fly, squirrel, butterfly, cat, rooster, turkey, wolf, lizard, eagle, elephant, turtle, fish, dinosaur, donkey, dog, seal, koala, moose, monkey, bear, panda, swan, camel, raccoon, rhinoceros, lion, whale, flying pig

Food
strawberry, pear, orange, cheese, ice cream, pretzel, apple, pizza, bread, watermelon

Nature
tree, apple tree, maple leaf, sun, clover, cloud, mountains, egg, shell, cacti, planet

Shapes
cube, circle, star, crescent, arrow, heart,

Letters and Numbers

Cukes, Zukes, and Squash

It's summer time and your garden may be overflowing with cucumbers and zucchini and squash and tomatoes! If not, you likely know someone who is over blessed by these prolific heat lovers. We were given a box full of them after picking fruit at a local u pick farm.

I am going to be honest and admit that I'd never eaten summer squash before (except grilled at someone else's house). After my experimenting I was so pleased that it will have a place in my garden next year.

Squash soup is one of my favorite new recipes. I added nutmeg and curry to give a little something extra and even the kids liked it. I've made it again since doubling the recipe and froze the extra batch. Yay for new freezer foods! Even though it was my first time trying it, after reading many recipes I came up with my own because I wanted to do it my own way. Sorry for no pictures, but it got eaten too fast. I'll try to take some when we take advantage of the frozen soup. Here's the recipe I made:

Squash Soup- Serves 6

¼ cup minced onion
1 clove garlic
2 summer squash, peeled and chopped
2 T butter
2 ½ cups chicken broth
salt and pepper
½ tsp curry powder (opt)
pinch of nutmeg (opt.)
1. Saute onion, garlic, and squash in butter until tender.
2. Add broth and spices and simmer about 10 minutes or until squash is very soft.
3. Carefully blend soup until pureed. Make sure not to fill your blender more than 1/2 filled at a time.
4. Serve with dollop of sour cream.

Another new recipe I tried and loved is this lovely summer vegetable bake. Follow this link to the recipe. I layered thin slices of zuchini, squash, tomatoes, and potato over sauteed onion and garlic then baked it. The trick to making it look pretty was to layer them randomly overlapping in a round baking dish. When I got to the center I folded a few in half and slipped them together just like flower petals are. After baking they are topped with some cheese. Yum! My husband said he could live off this if he had to. A high complement coming from someone who's really more of a meat eater.

That left all the cucumbers. Of course we eat them just plain, sliced. I like to put them in sandwiches and lettuce salads too. But we still had more and I tend to avoid fatty dips. This salad was a lovely fresh summer treat. I layered sliced cucumbers around the sides for looks then finely chopped up cucumbers, strawberries, and bananas. These three flavors complement each other nicely. Next time I may add some nuts. And a light dressing could be used if you like. But it was gobbled up as is and disappeared before the homemade pizza and popcorn that was served with it!

Then I made cucumber boat sandwiches for lunch one day. I cut cucumbers in half width-wise then length-wise then layered ham, provolone cheese, fresh spinach leaves, and halved grape tomatoes. The kids were less than thrilled with this general idea and one was clambering for bread for his sandwich. But in the end it was all eaten and I don't think they'd protest it again. They're usually pretty good at being stretched with new foods but we all have those days.

I was proud of everyone for being brave and eating so many new foods lately. We've also been trying a few new fish dishes and have loved every one so far.

Have you been inspired to try new foods lately? And... what's your favorite things to do with this season's garden overflow?

A Mouse

What can I say? I told my husband yesterday after making this that it was an odd talent I thought: to be able to make really adorable little creatures out of yarn. It doesn't seem to be particularly useful and I tend to be a pretty practical person. But you know what? It is fun and I do seem to have a knack for it. My gift recipients never complain either so I'll be sure to keep it up.

My kitties needed some new toys and I wanted to make a catnip mouse. Suddenly yesterday it came to me what he should look like. So this is a very itty bitty little mouse that my cats have loved batting, attacking, and carrying around. And if you'd like to try to make one yourself the free pattern is below.  If you'd like to buy one they are on my store here.

The cat loved his new toy so much that he interrupted my picture taking attempt.

I think he likes it. And he's watching me to make sure I don't take it for pictures again...

Mouse

Size G crochet hook
Caron simply soft yarn Grey Heather
Finished size: about 3 inches by 2 3/4 inches

Head
Row 1: 5sc in a loop, tighten loop
Row 2: 2sc around (10 total)
Row 3: sc, 2sc, sc, 2sc, sc, sc, sc, 2sc, sc, 2sc (14 total)
Row 4: sc, sc, 2sc, sc, sc, 2sc, sc, sc, sc, sc, 2sc, sc, sc, 2sc (18 total)
Row 5: sc in each x8, 3 sc, sc in each x9 (20 total)
Row 6: sc in each x8, sc3tog, sc in each x 9 (18 total)
Row 7: *sc, sc, sc2tog* repeat between *s around (13 total)
Row 8: *sc, 2sc* repeat between *s around, end with a sc (9 total)
stuff with stuffing, or catnip if making it for a feline friend...
Row 9: sc2tog x5
Embroider eyes and nose on. I embroidered the nose right on top of the sc3tog (which makes a convenient triangle shape) on row 6.

Ears- 2
Row 1: 6sc in a loop, tighten loop
Row 2: 2sc in each around (12 total)
Row 3: sc even (12 total)
Row 4: sc2tog around (6 total)
Flatten, sew up. Sew a couple times through the ears to make them stay flat.

Body
Row 1: 6 sc in a loop, tighten loop
Row 2: 2sc around (12 total)
Row 3: sc even around
Row 4: *sc, sc, sc2tog* repeat around (9 total)
Row 5: *sc, sc2tog* repeat around (6 total) sl st to round off
stuff

Arms- 2
join yarn with a sl st to body where you want the arm to be, ch 4, in the 2nd loop from the hook 2sc, sl st in next, sl st in next, sew in loose ends

Legs- 2
Row 1: 6sc in a loop, tighten loop
Row 2: sc blo even around (6 total)
Row 3: sc, sc2tog, sc, sc, sc (5 total)
Row 4: sc even around (5 total) sl st to round off

Sew the pieces together and I hope you enjoy your new mouse. As always, please don't sell my pattern or the finished product. Please do use the pattern for personal use or charity and feel free to link back to me. Thanks!

Freezing Me Some Summer

When I was a child, I did not like tomatoes at all. Until I tasted one grown in our own backyard. The love started when I tasted one grown in our own backyard and it continues today. My own plants are spitting out yummy little cherry tomatoes so far this year but this guy that sets up a good old back of his pick-up truck fruit stand near my house has huge glorious ones. You can tell they're home grown and he's friendly. Gotta be good tomatoes then, right? I like to keep as much of that fresh homemade tomato flavor as possible so I've developed my own creative way of using excess tomatoes with as little processing as possible. It's pretty simple.

All I usually do is cut off the tops and hack them into fourths and throw them in my chopper. I love this chopper! (Not affiliated, promise!) My favorite thing about it is that it runs on man power. Or kid power most often at this house. Since it's almost completely quiet, I can use it when my littlest ones are asleep. It's pretty quick and effective and not labor intensive. Anyway, the kids love to turn the crank!

After the tomatoes are chopped, I find that I have more juice than tomato! They are way too juicy to be used straight in any kind of sauce. Rather than cooking them down though and loosing a lot of the fresh flavor and vitamins and all, I just strain it to separate the juice and use the juice for other purposes. Fresh tomato juice is very yummy to drink straight. And this comes from a whole family of people that really isn't into suffering while eating healthy food. I gag at the thought of V-8 and it has obscene amounts of salt anyway. But even the 1 1/2 year old baby drank some fresh tomato juice today. Another use for the fresh tomato juice in this house is tomato soup. I got more than a quart of juice from just these tomatoes. Plus about three-ish cups of chopped tomato that I used for the pizza sauce.

I used my strainer with fairly small holes and we stirred the tomatoes a little and let them sit awhile to let the juice drain. You can use an even smaller wire strainer or cheesecloth in a strainer with large holes to keep all the seeds from getting into the juice but we're not too picky there. The seeds are definitely ok in the pizza sauce! I mean, you're going to be covering the sauce with cheese! CHEESE I said! Cheese covers a multitude of sins and tomato seeds really aren't a sin at all. There's no way you'll notice them under melted awesome cheese.

Today, I wanted to try peeling tomatoes for the first time. So before chopping, we put the tomatoes into boiling water one to two at a time for 30 seconds then put them straight into ice water. In a couple seconds they were cool and I was amazed at how easily the skins came off. Drew loved peeling them. I think she would have done it for me all day. But, if you're really not in the mood to boil, ice, and peel the tomatoes, I've made pizza sauce with the skins in many many times. As long as the tomatoes are chopped up well there's no large piece of skin and no one will notice. Cheese! Remember cheese? Yes, all covered with glorious melted goodness. And that means that you don't have to waste nutritious tomato skins and seeds.

Next I grabbed some garlic from where it's been drying (grew my own this year, yay!) and basil from the garden and I was ready to make pizza sauce. I used the chopper again to mince the garlic, then added in the basil leaves and chopped them up.

Even the compost container looks pretty after working with garlic, basil, and tomatoes! And the smell! I just love the fragrance. Would it be awkward if I admitted to sniffing my hands a few times after peeling the garlic and prepping the basil? Well, just forget that I said that if yes...

I added some of the garlic and basil to my chopped, drained tomatoes.

And stirred. And added salt to taste.You can see it's still plenty moist and looks so bright colored and yummy! In fact though I call it pizza sauce because that's what I use it for, it would be just incredible over some pasta or in a sandwich. Even after being frozen, it just tastes like summer to me!

To freeze in convenient amounts I pour it into my muffin containers. Each overflowing muffin spot holds about 1/2 cup of sauce and that's how much I use on each pizza I make.

When they are frozen I set them on the counter for a few minutes then pop them out of the muffin tin and put them in a freezer bag.

Notice all the "abouts" in the official recipe below. I've made this so many times and never really measured that I'm pretty sure it can't be messed up easily. Just start with lots of tomatoes, add basil and garlic till it looks pretty, then salt till it tastes awesome.

Homegrown Pizza Sauce
about 2 1/2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes after juices drained
about 1 cup fresh Basil leaves
about 2 cloves Garlic
about 1 tsp Salt (to taste)

Mince garlic. Finely chop basil. Stir tomatoes, basil, and garlic together. Salt to taste.

What's your favorite thing to do with an overabundance of tomatoes?