new blog.

I started a new blog!  You can find me at amerryotter.blogspot.com 

Come on a new journey with me!!

Healthy recipe #1

I just came up with a challenge for myself.  I am going to cook lots of new healthy recipes right here!!!  I kinda suck at keeping up with this blog, so I am not going to make my challenge too lofty!  One recipe a week.   Hang on to your hats...Here we go!

Stewed Lentils with Yogurt and Cucumbers

This recipe is a from this book on page 114

I love this book!  Martha never disappoints.  

Here is the deal with my "style" of cooking.  I never ever never follow recipes.  I like to think of them as suggestions.  

I will type the correct recipe and in parenthesis I will put what I really did!!

How does that sound!!  

Lets go:
1.Make the Lentils:Heat a medium saucepan over medium. Add 1 tsp cumin seeds and toast (I used ground cumin), swirling pan, until fragrant, about 1 minute; transfer to a plate.  Add 2 Tbs olive oil; once hot, add 1 cup diced onion, 4 cloves of garlic (I used 2), and 2 Tbs of fresh ginger(I used crystallized ginger).  Cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add 1tsp turmeric and toasted cumin seeds (ground cumin).  Cook, stirring, 1 minute.

Here is a picture of the spices I used:


2. Add 5 cups water and lentils. Bring to boil; reduce to a simmer and partially cover.  Cook until lentils are tender and mixture thickins, about 15 minutes.  Season with salt to taste.

From:                                                        To:

I ate it with rice, avacado, and greek yogurt...so stinking good.

 I decided to have a tastetester with every new recipe!!  Here they are!

My neighbors and friends: L said it could use less pepper (I added salt and pepper)and "I like it, and I would eat it."    A ate a lot of it and she liked it, too!

They are good sports!

Carrots

So, the boys and neighbor girls spent 30 minutes cleaning and preparing carrots and herbs!  G planted them in the spring and was excited to share them today.  What a good job little gardener.

The final product...tic tacs included!

Homemade deodorant

I have been wanting to make deodorant for a long time.  I have no idea why I waited.  It is super easy.

I took a recipe from ohderdrea.com and a recipe from a book I am reading called Little House in the Suburbs and concocted some deodorant!!

This what I did:  

Ingredients-

I mixed two Tablespoons of baking powder and two Tablespoons of cornstarch (you can also use arrowroot)

Then I added two Tablespoons of coconut oil and 10 drops of lavender oil (you can use any essential oil you feel like)  and stirred until it was a paste.  Mine was soupy so I added another Tablespoon of cornstarch.  This what it looked like-

Then I crammed it into an old deodorant tube.  I am gonna keep mine in the fridge to keep it nice and hard.  If it is warm out the coconut oil will melt and make it softer.  I am gonna have to let you know how it works!  Is that too much info?  

Enjoy the dog days!

Summer...so far

We have had a great summer!  It has rained every other day, which makes for good plants and flowers.  I feel like my thumb is turning green...finally.

The boys are 6 and 4.  They love each other and me!!  The fighting and shannanagins (spelling??) happen.  In fact, my oldest is spending time in his room as I type!  In spite of there crazy, messy, and often rambunctious behavior my boys are delightful!

Kansas City is a great place to get out and do things!  We have Deanna Rose petting zoo, the Zoo, arboretum, and my parents pool at our disposal every day!  Just choose!!  This sounds like an advertisement for KC!  

Anyway, I hope you are enjoying your summer!  

I might start cooking.

Please don't hold me to that...

Here is a recipe I tried yesterday.  It was so good that I had to share it!
Smitten Kitchen is a blog I read, and I like it!  I have made a couple of things from here, but I really like this soup!
Here it is: French onion soup!
I used half beef broth and half vegatable broth.  I also ate it without the bread and cheese!
Enjoy

christmas gifts

Here is a Gift Idea!!

This is a free printable owl calendar.  I made is for christmas gifts last year and I love it!
Enjoy
http://www.myowlbarn.com/p/owl-lover-2013-calendar.html

fall photo shoot

Here are some pics of my sweet neighbors!

I will start with my favorite...

Not bad for a five minute photoshoot!

pre-freeze harvest

It is going to freeze tonight.  That makes me sad for many reasons...

1. It is the beginning of a cold and gloomy five months.
2. I have to bundle two boys and shove them into car seats whenever we leave the house.
3. My plants outside all die or go dormant.

Today I picked the rest of my flowers and harvested some brussel sprouts.

In case you don't know how brussel sprouts grow, here are pics.

















The flowers weren't too shabby either.

Yes!  That is a George Washington vase!  We are very patriotic!

 

 herbs and mums.                                                              I hope these Canna Lillies bloom.

We ate these sprouts and they were good.  Here is a really simple roasted brussel sprout recipe:

cut sprouts in half

drizzle with olive oil until coated

sprinkle with salt and pepper (you can also add other herbs-I added rosemary)

 toss and spread out on a baking sheet

bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until desired crispness

Enjoy!

                           
In the spirit of Thankfulness, I am going to list three good things about the cold weather:
1. It includes holidays, vacation, family, one kids birthday, and lots of indoor snuggling.
2. I like the shift in wardrobe and cuisine.  More sweaters and soup.
3. I don't have to water my yard everyday.  :)

There it is.  Winter/Cold weather isn't too bad!

Operation Christmas Child is my favorite charity.  Even before I had kids, I was a box filler.  After I had kids my heart opened up to all children in a different way.  All kids need love and Operation Christmas Child gives them a tiny bit of that.
Parents of these children need love as well.  The thought of not being able to give my kids something for Christmas makes me so sad.  I not only want to fill boxes for the sweet kids who open them, but also for their moms and dads of these kids who get to see their kid smile!

This morning my MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) group filled boxes for this charity.  I thought I would share the process with you just in case you felt like participating!

First step:
Get a Box- any shoe box will work

Decide if you want to fill it for a boy or girl and what age.  Then fill it with goodies! (there is more information on what to put into the boxes on the website)

Take it to a drop off location with $7 for shipping-

Here is the link if you want/need more information
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!

Whatevs

Today this happened while I was putting in a load of laundry...2 minutes people.

There were three options of how to handle it:
1.  Yell and freak out
2.  fall into the fetal position and cry
3.  sigh, discipline, and laugh about it

In this case I made a good choice and put my little paper elf in time out-far away from me.
He was sorta sorry and helped me clean it up.











 Parenting isn't for sissy's

summer zoo trip!

So, this summer we went to the zoo in Omaha.  It is amah-zing.  I loved it all.  The aquarium and butterfly house were my favorite.
We stayed at a lake house outside of the city.  It was peaceful and quiet.  Here is the view from the deck. 

This Macaw was so beautiful.  He/She was in the open air and I could have pet it...but I didn't Omaha Zoo officials.

Did I mention the butterfly house?

Or the aquarium?  One of my favorite animals is the Puffin.

I had never seen one until this fine day!! The puffins were so playful and adorable.  I didn't get a very good shot of them, because someone wanted to be held...which is fine with his momma.

One thing that is so depressing about zoos is the animal cages.  I loved that all of these birds had this huge area to live.  They were nesting and carrying on as if they weren't captives. 

 (to the best of my knowledge)

Just want to give a shout out to Sarah...what a good friend!!

The moral of this post is, "Go the the Omaha Zoo"