Some Really Cool Bloggys

Recently, I came across this really cool blog (365 days of crock potting) when my friend, T, posted it on her blog after hearing of it from a friend. After looking around there, I also stumbled across The Grocery Cart Challenge and $5 Dinners.

If there are three things that are true about me they are that 1. I love to cook good food, 2. I love to eat good food, and 3. I love to save money on the good food that I am going to cook and eat.

These blogs have some very creative ideas about to save money and still cook good food. I used to think I used my crock pot a lot, shopped quite frugally and wisely until I "met" Stephanie, Gayle and the $5 dinner mom. It is important to me to be wise when it comes to managing what we've been given. It is my responsibility to be a good steward of what the Lord has blessed us with. I don't even have kids yet, I just have one hungry husband to feed, and I find it difficult to stay on budget while still eating well-balanced meals. I am amazed to see these women who are feeding a family (some even feeding teenagers!) and doing it so frugally.

If you are someone who likes to cook, eat and be frugal, you should take a minute to check out these blogs for some great ideas.

The Mother Loaf

This weekend, I went on a bread making frenzy. On Friday night, I made two batches of dough which eventually became a loaf of white bread, a pan of cinnamon buns and four loaves of french bread. I baked the first loaf of white bread right away on Friday night, while I let the cinnamon buns rest over night to be fresh on Saturday morning. I also left the french bread dough overnight, so that I could bake it on Saturday evening. I wanted it to be as fresh as possible for Sunday's lunch. Also, I had a feeling if I baked it all on Friday night, it wouldn't be around anymore by Sunday. I think this was a good choice considering the first loaf of white bread was GONE within five minutes of coming out of the oven. Evan's sister, B, and her family were visiting this weekend along with Evan's cousin, M, so we all enjoyed that yummy treat before bed.

We ate the cinnamon buns with cream cheese frosting (see frosting tip below) on Saturday morning as an accompaniment to the bacon, eggs and hashbrowns that the guys made. The french bread was baked on Saturday night and enjoyed with delicious curried chicken made by M & L on Sunday after church.

Last night, I decided to go ahead and make another two batches of dough so I could put some of the bread in the freezer. I wasn't sure what to do with the white bread recipe because it makes enough dough for two loaves. The problem is, I only have one loaf pan. This works okay when I split the dough in two to make one loaf of bread and use the rest of the dough for something else (like I did with the cinnamon buns on Friday), or when I have time to bake the first loaf, let it cool, put the second loaf in the pan, let it rise and then bake it. But, this process takes a LONG time, and last night I didn't have the time or patience to wait to do that and I also didn't want to make anything else with the dough. So, I got creative. I decided that although the recipe yields two loaves, I could probably just make one because my loaf pan is quite a bit bigger than the average pan. When I divide the dough to make one loaf, it only fills the pan about halfway, with lots of room to spare. That being so, I figured that using all the dough would just fill the pan completely and I'd have one larger loaf.

So, how did that work out? Meet the mother loaf.




This loaf of bread turned out to look like a smurf on a bad hair day. I couldn't even let it sit to cool on the cooling rack because it kept toppling over, I think it was a BIT top heavy! I guess I will just have to invest in a second loaf pan.

I also wanted to share this picture of Evan and our niece, O, "baking bread" together while Auntie was busy making hers. So cute!


Frosting Tip: If you are using store bought icing (which I was) you can have less calories per serving and also make the frosting go farther. Just empty the contents of the container into a bowl and beat it with an electric mixer for about 5-10 minutes. This makes the icing very fluffy and doubles the size. After frosting the entire pan of cinnamon buns, I put the leftover "fluffed" icing back in the container and it was almost full still.

Farewell, Charlotte

Over the past month, I made a new friend. There was a magnificent spider in a web just outside the door of our garage. Don't get me wrong, I don't particularly care for spiders (they kind of give me the heeby-jeebys), but this one was fascinating. Coming from an area of the world where the majority of spiders we see are no bigger than the tip of my baby finger, she was one of the biggest spiders I had ever seen out of captivity in this area. I wanted to get a picture of her but when I tried, I couldn't get a very clear image.

Charlotte stayed in exactly the same place over the course of the weeks that I watched her. I got in the habit of checking up on her to make sure she was okay every time I left the house and came back into the house. Charlotte was preparing to have herself some babies.

I am not sure the details of how a spider reproduces. I just know that they can have a lot of babies and that sometimes, the mama spider dies after wards. I was kind of hoping to get to see all of Charlotte's little babies spinning from the web and venturing out into the world of Spiderhood. (Picture Charlotte's Web - thousands of tiny spiders spinning on a strand of silky web going out to face adventures unknown). I'm sure that's not how it happens in real life, but I couldn't help but wonder.

Earlier this week, as I was returning to the house, I noticed that Charlotte was gone. I began to wonder whether or not she and her babies were okay or if something got them. I actually felt myself hoping that her babies were okay. Although I probably won't be saying the same thing when they seek refuge by invading my house in the cold winter months.

Witnessing Charlotte in her web brought me to think about the intricate design of God's creation and how each and every creature and species was created with a unique way of reproducing and caring for its young. I am amazed by the creativity, intricacy and complexity of our world. Could that possible come into being by chance? I think not.

"God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good". - Genesis 1:25.

Family Photos

Last weekend, Evan and Laura were visiting. On Sunday afternoon, we spent the afternoon at Balls Falls and Evan took some "family" photos of our wee family. Here is a slideshow with some of my favourite shots.



To see some more of my brother's photography, take a minute to venture over to his blog. There you will be able to see some of his best shots as well as a link to his Flickr account.

My Terribbit Sister Frogi

My sister-in-law, Frogi, is awesome. She is just so TERRIBBIT! She makes me so HOPPY every single day. I am green with envy when I think of her beauty.

Thanksgiving

This past weekend, we celebrated Thanksgiving by traveling up north to Manitoulin Island to visit my sister, her husband and our sweet nephew. My brother-in-law's sister and her daughter were also there with us. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, we couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

I started off the weekend on Saturday morning by enjoying the deliciousness of a cantaloupe that came from my garden with Dave & Kristin's niece, K.

On Saturday evening, we had an amazing Thanksgiving feast which included a 20 lb turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, twice baked sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, corn, green bean casserole, pickled beats, apple pie and peanut butter pie. Were we ever stuffed. When we finished up our meal (around 8:30 p.m.) I looked around the table and Kristin and A and said, "Thanksgiving is a lot better when there are Moms and Aunts around to make all the food and then do all the cleanup This is exhausting". Evan replied to this by saying, "I hate to break it to you, but you are now the Moms and Aunts".... I guess we really are grown up, aren't we? It certainly makes me appreciate everything that my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles have done from me as I was growing up. Thankfully, the guys volunteered to clean up most of the dishes and give us ladies a break.

We spent the rest of the weekend going for walks, visiting, relaxing and enjoying the beauty of God's creation.



My friend, T, made Kris this sling and it looks like Hunter is going to love being carried this way.
I was lucky enough to sneak in some cuddle time with him as well. He's growing so fast.

On Sunday night, we headed out to the front yard and roasted some hot dogs at the campfire.


All in all, it was an absolutely wonderful weekend. God has truly blessed us with such a wonderful family, an abundance of food and beautiful nature to enjoy.

Fire in the Hole!!

I am sitting here on the couch at the end of a long day breathing in the warm, delicious smell of wood burning in the fireplace. Yup, that's right. The first fire of the season. I love the warmth that the fireplace adds to our home on chilly fall evenings. This morning when I woke up and realized the furnace had kicked in, I knew it was time to bring in the wood and start up the fire place. As I am typing, Evan has carried in some wood from the shed, lit the fire, caused the smoke detector to go off and now, at last, it's burning brightly. Ahh, have I mentioned how much I love fall?

Tonight I also swapped our summer clothes for our fall/winter clothes. Goodbye flip flops, capris and tank tops. Hello sweaters, scarves and boots! I was so excited to wear boots for the first time yesterday (For any who don't know, I have an unhealthy obsession with boots ... tall boots, short boots, lined boots, unlined boots, pointy toes, pointy heels, flats .. you name it, I got it). I basically don't own shoes aside from my runners and a pair of flats. I go from flip flops to boots and that's it.

On another note, two of my toenails fell off last night and another one is just about ready to go. I think I permanently damaged my feet on the walk. It was well worth it though. I don't think that this particular detail has anything to do with my love for autumn, I just wanted to gross everyone out. I thought about adding the picture of my nail-less toe that my brother made me take and e-mail to him but I will let you use your imagination.

This weekend I am looking forward to attending the Apple Harvest Festival in Meaford. Since Evan and I have been together, I have never been able to go and I CANNOT wait to go to the craft show for the first time this year. I am hopeful that I will not be disappointed. I can't wait to see the beautiful changing leaves and smell the beautiful, rich autumn smells.

I just absolutely love everything about autumn. Well, ALMOST everything. The only bad thing about autumn is what comes after it!