Change 3 Challenge

Okay, here goes...asking for accountability is one of the hardest things I ever do. Because it means that someone may actually remind me of the things I want to change when I'm doing the things that won't help me get there.
Although, I know I don't have a lot of readers yet since beginning this blog in August, so how much accountability I'll get is questionable... ;)

I recently made it to a workshop at our church for leaders (my husband and I are the youth pastors, he even recently got hired full time so we've got that transition happening in our lives- so cool to have your passion be your job!) about helping people on your team release core passions and activate Kingdom dreams. There was a wheel with different categories such as Spiritual Life, Marriage, Family & Children, Financial Stewardship, and Physical Stewardship, among others. There were tons of questions to get you to identify and focus on your core personal values. It got me thinking how I value and place time around certain core values on the wheel but completely ignore others. To simplify it, sometimes I think of my life in realms: my spiritual, my mental, & my physical realm. I tend to focus on my mental realm by reading a lot, etc. I go through spurts of focusing on my spiritual realm. God and I are on a really awesome journey right now, He's showing me all sorts of greatness and in turn, I'm working in a lot of my journey with the kiddos during our homeschool bible time then they get to go have their own quiet time to see what God's got for them specifically. Well, the area I tend to neglect is my physical realm. In this workshop it is called "Physical Stewardship" and asks questions like...

• What is my personal definition of health?
• What words come to my mind when I think about describing the particular body God gave me?
• What do I tend to do to take care of myself physically?
• Looking back at my behavior patterns, how would I describe my way of dealing with:
• Rest
• Pain
• Medical attention
• Physical limitations
• Nutrition
• Physical appearance
• Stress

Can I just be honest here? I hate those questions! My way of dealing with those areas? What areas? What are you talking about? Take medication? Rest? Pay attention to my body? I don't know what you're talking about... I bury my head in the sand. My way of acknowledging is not acknowledging at all. It takes my husband hours to convince me to take Motrin for a headache. I really don't care about clothes and makeup as much as most of my female friends. I do however, try to eat fairly healthy (it's my serving sizes that are probably my major issue for my weight). I like to cook with whole foods, grains, and veggies. I try not to buy food with high fructose corn syrup, I drink good water and use non fluorinated toothpaste and deodorant with no antiperspirants. I guess I care a little bit about the inside of my body... Anyway, these questions got me thinking about my physical stewardship and how I take care of what God gave me.
Well, long story short (you're thinking, "This is short?! What would be long?!" If you only knew how I could ramble...) I'm gonna make some changes and I'd like your help to hold me accountable!
I've found this really cool momma with a cool blog who I'm going to attempt this 'linking up thing' with- Amber at Adventures in Mindful Cooking- and her Change 3 Challenge. It's simple: Change 3 things. I'm going to focus on the physical since that's the area I'm needing help in.
Here's my three:

1. Drink 100 ounces of water (I definitely don't drink nearly enough water!)
2. Write down everything I eat! (I always do better about not eating so much when I have to mark it down.)
3. Only eat fruits and veggies for any snacking I do during the day! (My hubby and I always have snack at night after we put the kiddos to bed, I'm going to keep that one!)

So here goes! To find out more about this challenge or join me, either on your blog, facebook, or twitter, click this link~Adventures In Mindful Cooking "Change 3 Challenge"
Check back with me next week to see how I did!
~Jenny

What Kind of Crazy Person Would Deny Gifts?!

by Jenny

As parents, do we ever want to see our kids deny things we want to give them? I'm not talking "being humble" but more like on Christmas morning... We've shopped, maybe even gotten up at 3am to wait in line for hours, for gifts our children have mentioned, hinted, begged, circled, made several drafts of lists for these gifts they've wanted. We've given up things that we hoped for or would've loved to have to give these gifts to our children. All because we love them so much. Christmas morning comes and we're so excited to see their faces light up while opening the gifts we lovingly picked out for them, and then imagine them saying, "No thank you. I don't deserve it. I wasn't good enough for these. I know I asked for them but the more I think about it, I don't think I should take them. I really shouldn't have any gifts." As a parent, that would break my heart! (I'm not sure my kids would ever turn down a gift so maybe this analogy is flawed! wink wink) How much more sad and disheartened our Dad must feel when He has all these awesome gifts for me and I say, "I don't think you meant to give me all these. Some of these must be for your other "special good" kids. I'm really not good enough for any of these gifts..." It sounds ridiculous when I put it that way, but I know that's how I must sound to God...

This thought came to me in my journaling/devotional time, and later I searched for a verse to go with it. I can recall parts of scripture but have never been very good at remembering where they're located in his Word...I found James 1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above..." But I felt like I still needed more...Then I found Matt 7:7-11 (my paraphrasing) If you ask, you receive, if you seek, you find. If your son asked for a fish, would you give a snake instead? Even though you are evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children...How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! And then in Luke 11:10-13, he reiterates that point but specifies "How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"  I am amazed each and every time the Holy Spirit brings me right to where I need to be and confirms the thoughts that come to me in my quiet time.

Foodie Friday Out

We thought this week might be a great opportunity for a Successful Foodie Friday out. Just about every Friday our family enjoys cooking meals together from different countries. This weekend we decided to make a trip to Kansas City so we thought we'd find a restaurant on Food Network that was on Diners, Drive ins, & Dives or something. We settled on a place called Johnny's BBQ. The car trip had a lovely moment of a diaper explosion- I don't think I want to relive that moment by telling any more than that... We arrived at the restaurant at noon after riding in the car for several hours. I thought the kids would be so happy to get out the van.  It was quite busy so we had a bit of a wait in line. Juliet, our 18 month old, chose this moment to begin a defiant, loud, & embarrassing fit. She didn't want to be held. She wouldn't stay in line with us. Gregg had the kids get a table and try to take her to sit down there. She screamed and made a break for it. I walked with her and tried to sit while Gregg ordered. He comes with the food and we thought it would get better because she would be eating. Nope. People are staring. Gregg walks outside with her. I do the mom 'whisper yell' in her ear, probably using too many words for her to even understand. I have her sit with me. I try the high chair. I walk her to the bathroom. Nothing's working. Again, people are still looking. It's not that I care what other people think, but I want them to enjoy their meal out too. 

Gregg decided to take her to the car and asked me to bring his food out in a 'to go' box. He said when they got to the car, she said, "Ni-night" and happily got buckled. I guess that was her deal. You'd think she wouldn't have wanted to get back in the car...

Needless to say, I don't really remember our meal. It was probably good but I was so stressed I don't remember. 

What we thought might be a Successful Foodie Friday out, turned out to be a flop. Sometimes that happens. Especially at her stage right now. Oh well, tomorrow's another day and we're gonna have fun! Renaissance Festival, here we come!

Homeschooling Different Ages: Mistakes & Tips

Homeschooling different aged kids at the same time...with an 18 month old in the mix...
I wish I had a post that would magically fix any stress for any momma that is schooling more than one at a time.
I don't.
 I can share my mistakes and what I'm doing now...which is working the best but I'm sure will be improved upon later.

Mistake One: doing separate curriculum for each child and every subject. 

Mistake Two: doing too many different subjects. 

Mistake Three: doing too many different subjects that require my assistance. 

My mistakes may not be anyone else's. I've learned over time that each family is different, each mom schools differently, each one of our precious children are unique. That's why we love homeschooling- because we can tailor it.
So why do we stress about all that we're doing when we can tailor to each of our children? I don't know about you but my answer is 1) I fall into the trap of comparing myself to other homeschooling mommas and the lie from Satan that I'm not good enough. And 2) I've tried too hard to tailor each and every moment for each and every child.
 

So I'll explain my mistakes a little bit... When we first came home full time (we had attended a part-time private school/homeschool that I had also taught art at in order to pay my three children's tuition- great fit for a time but long story short, we decided {best decision ever} to make life easier and full on homeschool.) I just recreated the school "experience" and did the subjects, at the same level, as what they had there. Minus the couple of subjects I was more then happy to ditch...ahem...Wordly Wise being one. My oldest wanted to burn his book. That could be an entire post on its own. We usually fall under the Classical Homeschooling style...although I hate categorizing myself, it's my rebellious nature. We do a lot of "Unit Study" learning, some might consider some of my subjects taught the "Unschooling" method...don't put me in a box, ok?! But we do history in chronological order and when we came home- I kept each kid in their "time period" -Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece & Rome, Modern 1850-Present. That was frustrating and impossible. I was also attempting to teach any and all subjects: we did three separate Latin levels, Music History, Art History, along with Art class, separate vocab.... I could go on... "attempted" is the key word. I was pulling my hair out. Plus, I was "lesson planning" and "prepping" ahead of time. Onto the third mistake- each one of those subjects was very teacher led. Regarding this particular topic, curriculum can be categorized in two ways 1) Parent led or 2) Student led. What I mean by that is, can the student take the book and go work and learn on their own? Or, do you as the parent have to teach the concept or take the child step by step through the lesson? 

Well, almost all of my subjects/curriculum were teacher led. There was not enough of me to go around three times through 15 subjects for each one! I crazily attempted it that first year. Well, first semester really, I ditched some things and simplified by Christmas break. And each year after, I've simplified even more. 

So that brings me to what has worked for me.
 

Tip One: Do as many subjects TOGETHER as you can. Be logical here though, people! You can't teach an 11, 9, and 6 year old the same math. You can, however, teach the same history, bible, music, art, science, foreign language...you get my point. Whatever you can combine, do it! This will be different for each family on what you can combine- based on ages, levels of learning, and the curriculum you choose. Some are totally set up for multi-level learning. Now we do history together (ages 13, 11, and 8) using History Revealed: Romans, Reformers, Revolutionaries. So far, it's working great! I love it! We also do our bible together, then they have quiet time to reflect and journal by themselves. We do art together. Or on their own. Whatever we feel like...if I want to teach them a specific art concept and we've got time, we do it all together. The last two years, we combined science together by doing Apologia's Astronomy and Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, and *some Botany. This year though, my 13 year old is doing Apologia's General Science so I have the 11 & 8 year old doing something different. 

Tip Two: Do only the subjects you REALLY want/need to accomplish and your child is PASSIONATE about. Ok, math isn't really my passion, nor any of my children's, but it's gotta be done. Art is something I'm passionate about, so are my kids, so we fit it in. I can spend all day on History and never get to Science- but I know it's important and my kids love science. So we fit it in. This is where the beauty of homeschooling comes in- tailor it! It can also be where the frustration comes in- because it won't look like anyone else's, it's hard to follow other's advice and 'to dos' with homeschooling. We ended up ditching Music History, Latin, Vocab... Really evaluate each subject and ask yourself and your kids- Is this necessary/required? Can this concept/subject be incorporated into subjects we're already doing? (Like, instead of a separate vocab curriculum, does your grammar book have it in there {Shurley English has 8 vocab words each week.} or can you get new vocab words to look up and write down in a vocab journal they make with words from their reading, or Science, or History, etc). My son is passionate about writing and Photoshop/art. We allow a lot of time for those things. My 8 year old loves to read now and has really excelled in learning how to read this past year so we allow a lot of time for that. My 11 year old loves to do a lot independently- typing, art, anything related to horses, baking- so we allow a lot of time for that. Do things you are passionate about and create a passion for the things you have to do. 

Tip Three: Balance subjects that require YOU with subjects that THEY can do with minimal teaching. Maybe think of it as a ratio thing: 3 kids=1/3 of each of their subjects (or daily hours) teacher led. For example, my kids can "log" about 6 hours daily but I'm only sitting with each individual child for 2 of those hours. AND as they get older, the ratio of parent led=student led goes down. (Remember the flip side though, when they're young, the ratio is higher.) Here's another example for this tip: I was originally using Spelling Power for each one of kids. Which is very parent led. I was pretesting, helping with learning activities, then testing again. Out of my three olders, I have one very poor speller. I mean bad. No natural ability to spell, sound it out, remember how it looks, nothing. I've tried everything. It's just not happening. We've had tears over it. Both of us.  My only hope is spellcheck. But my other two are naturals. They could do any book, just about any list, look at it and remember it, hear it and sound it out. So it didn't matter what curriculum I did. I started using Spelling Workout books and let the go at their pace. And they can test each other. I'm barely involved in their Spelling whatsoever. It's great! That was a subject I could change from parent led to student led.
 

Generally speaking.....

The subjects in my house which are parent led: Grammar, Math. 

The subjects which are almost totally student led: Geography, Spelling, Handwriting, Typing, Science. 

The subjects I start and they run with: History, Art, Bible. 

The subjects I take the lead from our study group of a few families: Writing, Logic. 

So that sums up my mistakes and what I've tried instead. Throwing in the 18 month old in the mix spices it up big time. We're muddling our way through that one. She's a busy little girl. We're trying 'busy boxes' out so once I get that fine tuned, I'm sure I'll create a post. What works best with her now though? We call it "Juju Duty"...her nickname for Juliet being 'Juju' and 'duty' meaning they're rotating playing with her. One is on independent work, one on mom-subjects, one on Juju Duty. It's working so far. Makes for a long day so praying she becomes more independent (or naps get longer) so I can have two on independent work at the same time. But it is what it is and we make the best of it. Because we're all together and wouldn't have it any other way.
So if you're homeschooling different age kids and my tips don't help because your kids are different, at different ages, or different learners, don't lose heart-  just remember why you homeschool in the first place. Keep that in the forefront of your mind and heart. Whatever the reason may be. Maybe even write it someplace as a daily reminder of your end goal and motivation. 

For Gregg and I, it's these:

We want to be our children's teacher. 

We want to teach them of Christ's love and to show that love to others. 

We want to teach them as we sit at the home, walk along the road, get up, and lie down. 

What's your motivation?

 

Why is Exercising So Hard?!

By Jamie

Here's what I want to say about exercise: everybody wants to be fit, but nobody wants to work for it...including me! Why does exercise have to be so hard?! Well, I can't say I've figured out the magic formula for getting fit the easy way, but I have learned some things that seem to work well for me. First, join a gym. Second, find a class that works for you. Third, wear your gym clothes all day, and lastly, most importantly, make yourself accountable.

I have found that evenings work well for me so that I can school during the day. I tried some morning classes for a while, but I found that the times just weren't working for me. With the evening classes, I can go with my husband and we can encourage each other. We love the Lift and Load class because we can work on our muscles, and who doesn't love muscles? We have gotten to know our instructor, Robyn, and some of the other people there, thus making us more accountable to the class. Whenever we miss, I can count on a Facebook post from Robyn saying she missed us!

Anyway, just do it! Pick a class and make a priority to go! Put your gym clothes on in the morning so you are mentally prepared for the class! And get to know someone there who will hold you accountable! Thanks, Robyn!!

Favorite Foods Foodie Friday~ Anniversary Edition

By Jenny

Or, as my 8 year old called it all day, "Foodie Friday Love Style" ...she cracks me up.

We did things a little different this week because it's our 16th anniversary. Sixteen years....man, just saying that makes me feel old. I shouldn't be old enough to have been married 16 years. I wouldn't have it any other way though, I've spent more time in life with my best friend than anybody else....anyway...
 So instead of picking a country this week, we decided to enjoy one of our favorite meals that we only have once a year and our sentimental anniversary dessert.
Every Christmas Eve, we have Crab Cheese Fondue. I've had it every Christmas Eve since I was about 10 and brought the tradition into our family. It's my mom's recipe and it is amazing. Rich, good flavor, great fondue texture for dipping. Fondue is one of those special meals that really brings everyone together. You're dipping in the same dish, laughing as others drop their thing in the cheese and have to dig for it, wait your turn and talk together. You couldn't have fondue with someone you didn't at least like. Imagine how awkward it would be being that close and not talking and dipping in the same dish...

The past couple of times we've had it, we branched out in the "dippers" we enjoy with our Crab Cheese Fondue. We have always had cubed French bread, but this time added Kielbasa sausage, sautéed mushrooms, and blanched broccoli. Super yummy additions! When I've shared this recipe with friends before, they've always had a hard time finding the cheese or even knowing what it is, so I included a picture of the ingredients...the Old English is *usually found near the Velveeta and mac 'n cheese.

Crab Cheese Fondue

 

2- 5oz jars of Kraft English Cheddar Sharp Cheese

2- 8oz packages of cream cheese

1- 7oz can Alaska King crab meat

1/2cup half & half

1t Worcestershire sauce

1/2t garlic salt

1/2t cayenne pepper

Heat all together except for crab meat. When it's all smooth, add crab meat. Serve and enjoy!

 

 

Now, about our dessert, to really get why this is special for us, you have to hear the story...

Gregg and I were 19 when we were married. We were more excited to start life together than to plan or save any money for a honeymoon. We were living in Colorado at that point, married in my hometown of Ridgway, and spent our first night in Gunnison, and spent the next day at Royal Gorge. When we arrived in Gunnison, checked into the hotel, Gregg disappeared for a bit. He came back with a grape soda and M&Ms...he said, "Wine and chocolates are romantic, right? This will have to be our version..." Thus, began our yearly tradition of grape soda and M&Ms...even when I forgot, he always remembered.

We decided to make monster cookies with the kids to use the M&Ms instead of just a handful of candies. Our 13 year old, Gabe did the majority of the measuring and mixing of this recipe. He followed the recipe on the bag of M&Ms but substituted some of the candies with just chocolate chips. He must have "messed" something else up because when I snuck a bit of the dough, I thought it was a tad salty. I began to worry they weren't going to taste good. He has sometimes mixed up teaspoons with tablespoons which has resulted in a super spicy chili once with a tablespoon of hot chili powder. He's still not sure if he got the salt wrong or the baking soda. But they turned out great! They do have a 'more salty than usual' taste but it balanced really well with the sweetness of the chocolate and Gregg and I really liked the salty taste. Kind of like a salted caramel sweet, it was good! Too bad he can't quite remember what he did...he did say though, "Well, I think I may have used too much baking soda. I was real careful with the salt." So maybe someday we'll have to experiment and see if we can get that salty sweet cookie again!

We kept it simple this week, enjoyed our day together and enjoyed our time laughing over the fondue pot. Find someone you love and go make some fondue. :)

 

 



How I Ghetto Mend a Blanket

by Jenny

(UPDATE: this blog has changed from itsahodgepodgelifeforus to jennybrook journeys...still same info but if you notice some conflicting labels, that's why. Thanks for stopping by!)

Blankies. Lovies. Soffies.

Whatever you call them, if you have a child attached to one and something horrible happens to it, it's devastating. Well, that devastating moment happened in our home the other night. As Anne of Green Gables would say, my daughter was "in the depths of despair."
Let me just preface the story with the fact that the nameless daughter is a tad old for a blanket, I know. Regardless, she loves it and holds onto it when we all cuddle on the couch at night before bed, then carries it into bed. I can't seem to really get onto her about it, for the fact that I had a special little pillow I had from birth until I sadly left it in a hotel room at the age of 21. I was in the depths of despair. Not because I couldn't sleep without it but because I was sentimental and had all sorts of crazy thoughts about wanting to have it forever, to show my future kids, a keepsake, a memento...Anyway, back to the story.
It was bedtime. Often when the kids are being put to bed, they take this opportunity to play a game of "Last Hit"- partially to stall bedtime, and partially for an excuse to hit each other, I'm sure. This little violent game started, the aforementioned special blanket got caught up in the scuffle, I yelled, "Stop it, right now! Or "Flower's" gonna get ripped!" (My daughter named all of her blankets, Flower, Yellow, Dino...). The scuffle continued and the mother who really should be regarded as knowing just about everything had called it. "Ripppp" was the following sound. Shrieks followed. Everyone got quiet as daughter held up Flower. Right in the middle was a large "L" shaped rip about 8 inches by 6 inches. Tears ensued. I had flashbacks of my special pillow and my all too sentimental personality started the all too horrible guilt trip in on the son who was the culprit. "You ruined forever her special memory of childhood!" Maybe I had attached my own sadness of forever losing my pillow. "Ok," I thought, "enough of the guilt trips." I promised daughter I'd fix it. We settled them all in bed.
Thus began my google search of "how to mend flannel blankets" because I am definitely not a seamstress. I saw a whole buncha nothing. I ended doing what I usually do once I've clicked on and read a billion ways to do something. I do want I want. I make it up as I go. I  mess up or I totally figure it out and my head swells with pride. So I'm calling this post "How I Ghetto Mend a Blanket" because by no means do I really know what I'm doing and if a real sewer happens upon this someday, I don't want them to think, "She SO should not be posting a tutorial on 'How To Mend'...what was she thinking?!" Plus, it turned out a little ghetto...it's wrinkled, has mistakes, and way too much thread in some spots. But was my daughter satisfied? Yes! So, so am I!

The technical name of the knob is the Stitch Width Knob that you turn all the way to 5 to get the zigzag. The knob on the right on my machine is the Stitch Length Knob and I had it set around a 4 to zigzag stitch the "L" rip together. I adjusted it to a 1 to get a more embroidered effect when I was sewing the heart patch on the blanket.

So now the blanket is mended, my daughter actually loves the heart on it better, my son apologized and did her dinner dishes for a week, except for nights she's on counter (he thought up that consequence all by himself...and he knows she loves to wipe the counter). And I remembered to take pictures of the process so I could eventually make a blog post about it...

 

An Excuse to Craft With Melty Beads

by Jenny

(UPDATE: this blog has changed from itsahodgepodgelifeforus to jennybrook journeys...still same info but if you notice some conflicting labels, that's why. Thanks for stopping by!)

My girls and I love to craft. Sometimes we "invent" uses for the things we want to craft. This was one of those times.
We decided that our new J12 room at church (see post about string art) needed some decorations for each table. We had already made duct tape pencil holders but really wanted an excuse to make something with melty beads (they are really called Perler beads, but I will forever call them' melty beads'. Just like I call our "handheld mixer" a shuzsher.) I had seen a picture of a small bowl made with melty beads and thought it looked so cool how they melded together and held a nice shape. So off to look for oven safe bowls.
Which I had none.

 I had bowls that were the perfect shape but not oven safe.

I had oven safe custard dishes that weren't the right shape.

We tried making a bowl in an aluminum mini pie tin- it was definitely our "practice" bowl (you can see our practice bowl in one of the pictures). It was hard to get out, had the impression, number, and symbol on the bottom, and I thought it looked like an ashtray. It just didn't have the shape I was looking for.
Finally, after keeping my eye out on multiple shopping trips to different stores, I spied the perfect bowls at Target. They were only $1. They only problem was that I knew the beads needed to be heated at 400 degrees and these bowls were only heat safe to 350 degrees but since they were just a buck, I decided to chance it. Now that we had everything (bowl, beads, vegetable oil spray) we were ready!
My 11 year old, Evie, had a friend over so we decided to make them all together since we wanted to use them in their J12 youth room at church.
1. We sprayed the bowls with vegetable oil spray to make the bowls easier to pop out after they were melted.
2. We put in a handful of beads in each bowl and pushed them down to create a single layer of beads that went up the side of the bowl.
3. I turned the oven on at this point to 375 degrees.
4. I put the dishes on a cookie sheet to make it easier to get them out afterwards and put them in the oven while it was preheating so the bowls could heat up along side with the oven.
5. I checked them every 5 minutes because I had changed the temperature from 400 and put them in during preheating. It took about 12-15 minutes after the oven had reached temperature.

Once they were all melty I took the cookie sheet out and let them cool for a bit. Then I popped them out- some edges needed some prying with a butter knife. We were very impressed with our melty bowls. It was easy and fun and actually turned out- which are all bonuses when crafting with tweens!

                     

Jamaican Cuisine...Every Little Thing Gonna Be All Right

~Jamaican Foodie Friday~

Oh...How I wish we were really in the Caribbean this week. I've never been there but I can dream when I look at beautiful photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our menu for our Foodie Friday in Jamaica:

Jamaican Jerk Pork Tenderloin

This marinade seemed different then what I thought of Jamaican jerk seasoning because it had 2 cups of green onions that you puree with tons of spices. We marinated the pork for 24 hours and cooked it for 8 minutes on each side. It was absolutely delicious! Tender, juicy, and a good spice to it! Here's the recipe we followed. 

Jamaican Rice and Peas

This dish has an interesting combination including rice, coconut milk, habanero peppers, and kidney beans. Beans, you say? I thought you said "Peas"... Apparently in Jamaica, beans are called peas. This rice had a nice kick but a sweet element to it as well....It was probably the most flavorful rice we've ever made. SO good! Our 17 month old, Juliet, was shoveling this rice in so fast with her eyes watering from the habanero- she absolutely loved it!

Plantains- Jamaican Style

We rolled plantain slices in brown sugar and fried 'em up. There's not more to say, other then the fact, that they could be dessert by themselves. Yummy!

Jamaican Gizzada

Ok...this was the dish that caused me the most stress this week but how stressed can you be when you're listening to Bob Marley singing, 'Every Little Thing Gonna Be All Right...' The dough wasn't turning out how the recipe described, the filling should've been able to boil for twenty minutes during one of the phases of cooking but it was a solid and you can't boil a solid so something went wrong there...the dough should've been able to be shaped and precooked like a shell but we couldn't get it to stay in any type of shape so we had to bust out the tart pan...Funny though, Gregg said it was probably one of his favorite tasting desserts we've made!

It is a tart with a shredded coconut, brown sugar, water, vanilla mixture that crystalizes. They are sweet but not overly sweet. Even Evie, who is not a coconut fan, loved them!

Passion fruit & Pineapple

We wanted to have some fresh fruit and realized we've never actually had fresh passion fruit. The only problem was that we didn't know how to even cut it- thank goodness for YouTube tutorials! You cut in half and use a spoon to scoop out the very tart inside which was SO good! Gabe wasn't super thrilled with the texture, but Evie loved it!

(You can find the recipes we attempted here on my Successful Foodie Friday Pinterest board)

 

We put on some reggae, Bob and Ziggy Marley and were jammin' all day. Even though some of the recipes didn't turn out how I thought, we had a fun time making everything! We laughed and danced and made huge messes! We started the meal praying for the people of Jamaica and had a wonderful family dinner, and ended the night with a game. Overall, making memories, even if it's not beautiful, is what this adventure is all about!

 

 

 

My Love of Books, Jane Austen, and my Dad

by Jenny

 

Let me just say, I love books.

In case you don't know me well, I really love books.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved books.

 

I believe it's a love that my dad instilled in me. From the beginning of my memory, I can picture my dad laying on the couch with a book. Everything from bible commentaries to history of cowboys to How to...anything electrical. He had a ginormous stack of National Geographic's, I remember the tall tower of yellow bound magazines sitting everywhere. If we went to a used bookstore, a new bookstore, a garage sale, we always found a book we needed.

I remember a trip to Denver when I was in high school where we found ourselves at the base of a bookstore called Tattered Covered. It was huge. I think it was ten stories tall. (It may not have been quite that big but to me, a girl from a small mountain town with a school library in a modular building, it was amazingly huge.)

I believe we spent the whole day there, just him and me. We found separate corners, cozy couches, and plunked down with book after book. We didn't really have to speak, just look up at each other with a mutual fondness, love, of books. It is one of my fondest and most treasures moments with my now departed daddy.

I like to read just about anything. Just like my dad. I especially enjoy the "classics." A couple of summers ago, I decided I wanted to reread some of Jane Austen's books. I loved the ones I read in school and it had been a while, quite a while... So I decided to read all the books she authored in order of the years she wrote them in. I found after a long time of reading what I call "fluff books" I had to get used to the language she wrote in. I realized I was out of the habit of hearing intelligently written sentences with resplendent vocabulary. Jane Austen was one of the most amazing authors ever. She was adept at conveying a point very subtlety, where she had convinced you of her viewpoint and you weren't even aware the thought came from her. Other times, she was not so subtle, especially on her opinions regarding the intelligence (and often times, stupidity) of women... or gentlemen. When I came across this particular quote, it made me smile. I thought I would share a

not-so subtle statement from one of my all time favorite authors.

A statement I agree with wholeheartedly. And I think my dad would too.

                           

Spaghetti Squash...It's What's For Dinner!

By Jamie

Looking for a new recipe for a healthy dinner? Try this! My hubby liked it, and that's saying a lot considering all the veggies in it!

Ingredients
2 medium zucchini
1 pkg sliced mushrooms
2 tomatoes
3 chopped green onions
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow/orange bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 tbs Italian seasoning
1 Spaghetti Squash
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (I use any low-sodium sauce I can find)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2.Chop zucchini, tomatoes, and bell peppers into 1/3" pieces and put into large baking dish. Add mushrooms, chopped green onions, and minced garlic.
3. Toss vegetable mix with olive oil and Italian seasoning.
4. Bake @425 for 20 mins.
5. In a separate pot, heat spaghetti sauce on medium heat.

(If you are ahead of the game, you can make the mixed veggie dish earlier in the day or week, and store it in an air tight container in the refrigerator for this recipe. I made my veggie mix during our lunch period for use in dinner that night.)

For the squash:
While the veggies bake, microwave the whole spaghetti squash for 5 minutes. Turn and microwave it again for another 2 minutes. Using a towel, remove squash from microwave. Be careful! It's extremely hot! Now your squash is tender enough to cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds in both halves. Place halves flesh side down in a large microwave safe dish with 1 inch of water. Microwave for 5 more minutes. Remove carefully. It's hot! Let cool until safe to handle. With a fork, scrape the flesh of the squash into strands. Place 1 cup of strands on a plate for each serving. You should get 3-4 servings depending on the size of the squash.

Finishing Touches:
Top squash with hot veggie mix, and heated sauce as desired. Add parmesan cheese and red pepper for a kick! That's how my hubby likes it. Serve hot!

Craftin' Some String Art With Tweens!

by Jenny

 

(UPDATE: this blog has changed from itsahodgepodgelifeforus to jennybrook journeys...still same info but if you notice some conflicting labels, that's why. Thanks for stopping by!)

 

Coming up with a fun craft for a group of kids to do and that still looks okay hanging on the wall can prove to be harder than you think... 

 My husband Gregg, and I wanted some art to hang on the wall in the room that we were working on for our new tween group at church called J12. Our tweens at church needed a group specially for them, not youth group, not children's church but something just for them. For their unique stage of life. Gosh, I could probably write a book on all the information I've learned recently about tweens, their influence and their struggles...

We were so happy to help design a group for them, find some awesome passionate people to also work with them, and make a special room they'd love too! I decided to give the string art that I'd seen all over Pinterest a try. We wanted three pieces of art to hang along side corkboard squares on a wood background Gregg was going to install. We decided on a "J", a "12", and a cross. I read a lot of the tutorials and tried to learn from their mistakes. I still bought the wrong nails. You definitely need ones that are long so that they come up about an inch or so above the board after being nailed in. They also need a flat head so that the string doesn't slide off. I got caught up in a nail with a large flat head that when I attempted to nail it in, it was probably almost three inches too tall! After we got the right size nails, picked a font I was happy with (that took forever because I have a font addiction...) and prepped the boards we were ready to start.

 

Supplies:

 

1 1x12x36 board that we cut into 3 12x12s

box of 8d 2-1/2" finishing nails

an enlarged letter of your choice printed

stain (optional)

embroidery thread

 1. Tape the letter in place on the board. Start your first nail in one of the corners and be careful to space them evenly. Plan for about 30-45 minutes per board. There a number of ways you could get the letter on the board- you could cut the letter out, then tape it on. That would eliminate some of the small remnants of paper. You could use a dull pencil to trace the letter over the paper then follow the dent to nail (except I didn't want to see the line). But I chose to do the quickest and leave the paper whole.

2. Remove the paper and use tweezers to remove any small pieces of paper. Great job for the kids!

 

3. Tie one color of embroidery thread on a corner of the letter and start winding around. Being careful the keep it within the shape.I learned that some of the kids went winding happy while I turned my head and the cross turned into a diamond but no fear, it was easy to undo and fix. They layered on multiple colors and had a blast!

4. Tie off the embroidery thread when you're satisfied with the piece and that's it!

 

 

I really want to make some for myself at home now! They were fun and easy!

 

 

This is Gregg installing the boards onto the 1x1s that he screwed into the walls. He used wood paneling that came in a 10 pack of 8 foot boards. He cut them down into various lengths and stained them different colors.

Hypertension and Meatball Soup!

By Jamie

Recently I was diagnosed as a "hypertension patient." I don't like that label and am still trying to come to terms with it. You see, over the past few years, I have learned (and am still learning) about health and nutrition, and I know I have come a long way so far. I have managed to change a lot of my eating habits and have incorporated exercise into my lifestyle much more than I used to. I have lost weight and have kept most of it off, although I am definitely not at my goal weight...yet. So with all that said, I don't really think it's fair that I have to deal with high blood pressure now!

I never had a problem with hypertension when I was forty pounds heavier and eating whatever I wanted. But now I have to exercise more, cut out as much sodium as possible, and "make better choices," as my doctor directed. Not only that, but I'm taking prescription hypertension medicine twice a day. It's frustrating because I feel, actually I KNOW, like I said before, that I have made several positive changes recently to better my health, but apparently not enough.

I have found, however, a silver lining. Since I have always, and probably will always, struggle with maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and am one of those people who can so easily slip back into the "forget-the-diet-and-eat-whatever-I-want" mode, having hypertension gives me a real reason to stay on track, and that's a good thing! (Not to mention my high risk factors of getting Type 2 diabetes.) I don't know if my health issue will ever go away, but I do know that a healthy lifestyle is more important than ever. So in an effort to keep my blood pressure down and lose more weight, I have been learning to cook with a lot more vegetables and a LOT LESS salt.

So I'm sharing with you my recipe for "Grandma's Meatball Soup, Revamped!".
Living "low sodium" isn't all that bad!

Ingredients

• 8 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 lb lean ground turkey
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbls Italian seasoning
• 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped carrots
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 6 oz rotini (or any pasta on hand)
• 4 tbls roughly chopped parsley
• 4 cups roughly chopped spinach

1. In a large pot, heat vegetable broth over medium heat.
2. Meanwhile, using your hands, mix turkey, parmesan cheese, pepper and Italian seasoning together in a large mixing bowl and form mixture into small meatballs. Approx. 2" diameter.
3. While raw meatballs wait their turn, coat a large saucepan with olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add the celery, onion, and carrot and cook until tender. Stir in garlic.
3. Remove vegetable mixture from saucepan and add to broth, leaving the pan hot for the meatballs.
4. Add meatballs to hot saucepan. Let brown on all sides, making a yummy, brown outer layer, enclosing meatball goodness. Once browned on all sides, add to soup pot. Bring soup to a boil. Add pasta and cook until tender.
5. Turn heat off soup, stir in parsley and spinach. Serve hot and top with red pepper and parmesan cheese, if desired.

"Buon Appetito" from Italy...and We Did!

by Jenny

Foodie Friday's country this week by chosen by our 8 year old, Gwyn. She picked Italy. Honestly, we have stayed away from this country's food because of our how much we already eat "Italian" food. Of course, through our research, we find out, we have been mistaken on our version of Italy, most of the time. We learned "The 10 most common errors in Italian Tradition which people around the world think are the true Italian style."
While we did learn a lot of differences between "Italian" and "Italian-American" the recipes choices are still up the eight year old. So no cod, octopus, lamb, or anything else that makes her say, "ewww" while we read through an enormous list of recipes. She picked recipes solely by their picture. (So, way to go, Pinterest, you have figured out how we all work!)
Here's Gwyn's menu for the night:

Appetizer~ Antipasto platter

First Course~ Spaghetti alla Gricia

Second Course~ Turkey Breast with Prosciutto and Fontina

all served with Herb & Garlic Focaccia

Dessert~ Jamie's Biscotti and coffee
 

 

We started with the biscotti. Gwyn chose Jamie's biscotti because, honestly, I gently "pushed" her that way. We had looked at a million different recipes and sites to find things she loved. We could've made cheesecake, tiramisu (although, we made a lovely version last week), or any number of Italian desserts but she couldn't make up her mind and it's been Christmas since I have had Jamie's biscotti so I "suggested" it. She loved it so there we go. I have always LOVED Jamie's biscotti. I think she may have hesitated a little to actually give it to me but like the awesome best friend she is, she passed it on. And because it is my dear friend's recipe, I will let her decide if she ever wants to share the love...I still think she could open a breakfast place with bagels & biscotti some day... Hey, there's her name, "Bagels & Biscotti"- love it.

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Then we got started on the Herb & Garlic Focaccia because it needed time to rise. It turned out amazing. Here's the recipe we followed...Herb Garlic Focaccia.  Ingredients: 1 cup warm milk
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp active dry yeast
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp mixed dry herbs (I used thyme & oregano)
1/2 tsp coarse pepper powder
1 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic
2 1/2 - 3 cups all purpose flour
For the topping:
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp rosemary
1 tsp sea salt

When you follow her recipe, just remember to
brush it with olive oil at least once during the baking time because that is what prevents the cracks on the top. Gwyn had a good 'ol time punching it down and later poking dents in it. She did a good job on this beautiful bread! We served it with olive oil with seasonings sprinkled on top.

 

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Our son, Gabe, started the Turkey Breast with Prosciutto and Fontina. He got to use a meat tenderizer. 'Nough said. 

 


Ingredients: 

• 1 lb turkey breast
• 3 ½ oz Fontina cheese
• 2 ½ oz Prosciutto
• 1 ½ oz butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 egg
• 4 tablespoons breadcrumbs
• salt

With a meat tenderizer, make the slices of turkey thinner. Beat the egg, dip the turkey into it one at a time and then coat in bread crumbs. In a pan already over medium high heat, fry the slices of turkey in the oil and butter, until nicely golden. Remove and put in oven safe dish for next step. Lay on top of each of the turkey breasts a slice of cooked prosciutto (we fried them up in the skillet right after the turkey breast, they take just a second on each side). and one slice of the Fontina cheese. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees and serve as soon as the cheese has melted.
 

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Next, we prepped the Antipasto Platter. We used salami, black olives, Sicilian olives, mushrooms marinated with pesto sauce, cherry tomatoes, asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, and mozzarella done three ways. One with pesto sauce, the other with olive oil and oregano, rosemary, & thyme dried seasonings, and one with olive oil and garlic salt and red pepper flakes. They kids were not fond of the "fancy" olives but Gregg and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

 

 

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Last, we worked on the Spaghetti alla Gricia. It was easy to put together and quick.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound spaghetti
• 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
• 10 ounces bacon, chopped
• red pepper flakes to taste
• 4-5 ounces grated Pecorino cheese
• (optional) a little pesto sauce to toss through

In a skillet, over medium heat, add olive oil. Once heated, add bacon and red pepper flakes. Cook until bacon is crisp, approximately 7-10 minutes. While cooking bacon, follow directions on package of spaghetti. Drain pasta when done, toss with bacon olive oil mixture and if using the pesto, add 4-5 tablespoons. Serve with grated Pecorino cheese.

 

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When we were researching, we read quite a bit of different information on their large dinners with multiple courses. We did not follow that tradition because the kids wanted to eat everything at once. And frankly, we didn't want to separately prepare each one between enjoying the others and wanted them all warm. Overall, we very much enjoyed our Italian adventure chosen by our 8 year old. They all tried new things. Some they loved, some they'll have to try again when they are older. This is homeschool at its finest; researching, geography, first hand experiences, and fun.
Now, for another cup of coffee and a delish biscotti, and maybe a good book.

 





Oh So Yummy Argentine Tiramisu

Our Argentine Tiramisu

Last week, we "traveled" to Argentina on Foodie Friday. In case you missed it, here's our Argentina adventure! My husband was helping my daughter, whose turn it was to pick the country for the week, find recipes. They found a yummy looking tiramisu but follow the link, I did, only to discover a recipe that didn't sound anything like the picture. The giveaway was the 6x6 pan the recipe called for but the picture showed a small round individual dessert....umm, I don't think so. From what we could tell, this tiramisu was "Argentine" because it used dulce de leche and sponge cake, instead of lady fingers and chocolate.
Argentina has had a huge Italian influence but they have given it their unique touch. This recipe has rich and sweet dulce de leche caramel sauce mixed in with mascarpone. Absolutely delish!

Ingredients:

*1 large cup of strong coffee sweetened to taste

*1 package vanilla sponge cake (we ended up using a premade angel food cake because our stores don't carry a sponge cake and because of the rest of the involved meal, we took a short cut here.)

*14 ounces dulce de leche (for the tiramisu in the picture we just used the premade can of dulce de leche but also made our own dulce de leche {4 hours} for the medialunas...see Argentina Foodie Friday post for the process)

*14 ounces mascarpone

*Cocoa to sprinkle on top

*Chocolate shavings for garnish

 

Mix the mascarpone and dulce de leche. Here's where we got creative....we wanted to have individual round desserts but didn't have the right supplies. Gregg first used butter to grease the inside of a straight sided mug. Then he cut wax paper to fit in the mug and the butter held the paper in place. Then we sliced the angel food cake into rectangle slices and used a biscuit cutter to cut the angel food cake into small round circles that were close to the size of the mug. Next began the layering process. On the bottom went one round piece of cake, and then we used a dropper to add two dropper fulls of coffee. Then a small amount of the dulce de leche and mascarpone mixture, next another round cake, two droppers of coffee, more filling, and last a third round of cake with two droppers of coffee. These sat in the refrigerator for the afternoon and right before we were ready to serve them, Gregg used the edge of the wax paper to ease the tiramisu out onto the dish. Dust with cocoa and add chocolate shavings. Voila! I think they came out beautifully and they tasted even more devine! I would hesitate to admit this to any Italian but I really enjoyed this dessert more than any other tiramisu I've had! Well done, Argentina, well done.

 

(after thought...we thought of another way to achieve the small round desserts without purchasing the pans...cans with the bottom and top removed! If I make a dessert using this method, I definitely let you know!)

"The Chronicles of Laundry: A Jenny Relaford Story"

Dedication

First, I would like to thank my washing machine for without it, this story would not be possible. Most importantly though, I am thankful for the children and hubby that create the living breathing monster that is made of up their clothes and to which they add to, by changing multiple times a day. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I am truly grateful. Really, I am.

Introduction by Jamie Williamson

 

For those of you who don't know Jenny, she is multi-faceted person with a many gifts and talents, and a lot on her plate. She is a wife, a mother, a home-maker, a teacher, a youth leader in her church, a friend, and much more. She has four beautiful children and a husband whom she cooks and cleans for everyday among the other responsibilities, including homeschooling, she is committed to. With all that said, her busy lifestyle begs the question, "Why on earth would you use cloth diapers and make your own laundry soap?!" No, she is not a hippy. No, she is not a conservationist or 'granola'. Ok, she may be a little bit of each of those things, but still...cloth diapers and homemade laundry soap?! Really?! Although I do understand the cost-efficiency of living this way, and the all-natural approach, I just know how time-consuming it can be. And after reading this story, you may be thinking, "If only she used chemical laundry soap and non-biodegradable diapers like the rest of us, she may not have had to go through all that trouble..." But, I have to commend her. I don't think I could do everything she does as well as she does. So way-to-go, my friend! Saving the world one cloth diaper and soapy dinner at time!

This account takes place in a time, a week, not too distant past.... It all began on a particularly busy and weird week. I had to prepare for the beginning of a new homeschool year, plan a not so small event for our new ministry at church, we had to finish painting and decorating a room at church for this new tween ministry group and not to mention, my husband's car had died so he was using our van (which translates into me being stuck at home). Plus, all of my other "wifely duties." (In case, you don't know me well, please note that last phrase was said in a Nacho Libre voice.)

Amidst my busy day, I began to fold a load of laundry that had been sitting by the couch for a little too long. "Hmm, this laundry does not smell too pleasant. I thought I had switched this load over quick enough." So back into the washing machine it went. 

After washing and rewashing several loads over the course of the next two days, I had decided I had had enough. Something must be done. I recalled a recent "pin" that I pinned onto my board of "things I'll rarely ever get to but hope to someday" board, oh wait, that's all my boards. The pin was on how to wash your washing machine. Sounds silly, you say? I thought that too. Before I went so far to wash my washing machine, I ran through some other "potential culprits" to my dilemma. 

(I suppose I should include in this account that I use and therefore, wash, cloth diapers and make my own laundry soap.)

My soap. I had recently changed up my "base soap" in my recipe. I usually use Fels Naptha, washing soda, and borax. I had read that Zote, a soft pink soap, was good to use and good on sensitive skin. So the week before, I had made a batch with Zote, washing soda, and borax. I did not like it from the beginning. It was too hard to grate because it was super soft. It also didn't smell as clean. It was too large of grated pieces that also didn't mix well with my other ingredients. But heaven forbid I waste $.96 cents, so on I went with the Zote. (Looking back, I may have blamed too much on the Zote...but what can I say? I'm passionate about weird things.) So off to the store to buy Fels Naptha and make a new batch. Oh wait, I don't have a car. So I added to the other five texts of random "to dos" to my husband. Pick up milk. Get our library books on hold. Don't forget to call your mother. Buy Fels Naptha. 

And my stinky laundry pile grew larger. 

Once I had my soap, I tried to grate the soap and make dinner at the same time. Our tacos may have had a slight soapy taste instead of cheese but I'll never tell. Okay, new soap made, a load of laundry done. It still smells. 

Then the other "potential culprit" toddled by...cute as can be but with a faint "ammonia" smell. If you don't use cloth diapers, this next part will sound wildly inappropriate, but I knew it was time to strip. Desperate times call for desperate measures, stripping is a hard job but somebody has to do it. And I knew my husband would never strip. No matter how much I begged.

I knew stripping all of the diapers would help her and needed to be done, but it wasn't my fix for the rest of the laundry. The laundry pile was growing into a living breathing creature at this point in the week. I guess it was time to try to wash the washing machine. I wasn't sure when to fit that in...between cleaning the school closet? Settling on which curriculum to use this next year- I mean, next week?! Painting the fourth coat of primer in the room at the church? Cutting and staining wood? Preparing something to share with the parents of our new group? Trying to figure out what's wrong with Gregg's car? 

So I squeezed in washing the washing machine. And we had some amazing people help Gregg paint. 

I got on Pinterest and looked up the pin. I realized I didn't have the required ingredient of bleach and no car to get it. And this time, I couldn't wait for Gregg to pick it up on his way home.
My laundry was bad. My daughter smelled like ammonia. This had to be fixed.
So in I dumped vinegar.
And sprayed KaBoom.
And an all natural all purpose cleaner.
 I'm sure it wasn't great to mix those things but I was desperate. After three cycles of that combo and some scrubbing, then a cycle or two of just rinsing, it looked and smelled better. I decided to do a test load. I was weary but hopeful. Ahh, it smelled like my normally clean laundry. 

Now, on to arduous job of stripping. ALL the cloth diapers (which is an abnormal amount for the one child I have in diapers but that's due to my cloth diaper obsession, which could be another volume). Sometimes cloth diapers get soap build up and you can usually tell because of the ammonia odor. You have to add dish soap the first time with hot water, then rinse like crazy until the water has no more suds in it. Blue Dawn and six cycles later, ahh, clean and fresh diapers. Now to sneak to the back yard to "watch" them dry and claim a few minutes of peace with my cup of coffee. As I enjoy my coffee and peace, I realize...

My saga is over.
My laundry smells better.
My washing machine is clean. 

Then, my 8 year old comes to me and says proudly, "Mom, I started my laundry." Then her expression changes, "There's something wrong with the washer though. There's small, weird little things like smooshy snow on the top of my clothes. Should I just put it in the dryer or do you want to see it?" I walk to the laundry room and lift the lid. "What IS that stuff?!" I start sifting through her clothes and discover a disposable diaper that I had given her to use for her baby dolls has made it into her load. Defeated, I walk slowly way. 

I believe this saga will unfortunately have a sequel. 

Oh well.