My friend was gifted with these apples last week.  She in turn gifted me with some.

Isn’t it a different experience, working with fresh-picked/wild  vs. force-ripened, store-bought fruit?  There are many more imperfections in “real” fruit, yet generally a better, sweeter taste.  The analogies which could come from this comparison are many.  I’ll refrain.

Pat’s heart beats for anything cobbler.  And since he did come in the door last night with a beautiful letter for me, jotted on a Zaxby’s napkin with a Sharpie- I couldn’t help but return the sentiment.

We have sunk to new lows, with Sharpie-notes.  But it’s nice to be thought of by a husband on a commute.  And I applaud his recycling. 

America’s Test Kitchen produces an amazing cook-book with recipes, tools and ingredients tested for quality.  It’s a Consumer-Report of cooking tips- very helpful- and I refer to it often for help with basic kitchen-type questions.  I love to cook, and recently when I was with my Mom, poring over a magazine of recipes, she found it very mystifying that we share DNA.

(She is the one who regularly cuts her finger while cooking, and has been seen on more than one occasion with a bandage on her index finger.  She cooks more to eat, less for the experience).

I received a letter from the kids’ school yesterday.  Apparently, our county is one of three state-wide which is now partnering with local farmers to bring fresh food to the cafeterias.  How cool is that? I was told that fruits and veggies are going to be increasingly locally-grown: such a blessing for community growers, and better for our kids.  I love this, and when I shared news with the kids, they were duly impressed.  Though not as much as I.

On a different note: Anna has been enjoying Will’s blocks.  This is Paris, complete with the Arc de Triomphe. She has a right-accurate French accent- so cute.  We have a French recording that she likes to practice to: Je suis Teddy.  Quel heure et il?  She may head north yet, joining her cousins in a bi-lingual culture.  My niece and nephew are enrolled at a public school- an immersion school- in which students learn and speak half the day in English/half in French.  So even now, they are virtually able to work with both languages.

We are heading smack-dab into school-zone, as our first assignment came home yesterday.  The projects the kids receive are so interesting: generally based on books they are reading at school.  This one gives 4 options to illustrate reading-comprehension: this week’s story based on early settlers building up a small town.

Option 1: Draw a Venn Diagram comparing character qualities of children in the story.  Find a minimum of 3 qualities.

Option 2: Create an ad poster for a business.  Draw a poster which will persuade consumers to come in and buy certain products.  Create a brand-name.

Option 3: Research jobs in your community.  Create a poster referencing one of these jobs, and write down a numbered list of facts about it.

Option 4: Think about a business you would like to start and write a business plan for it: list materials you will need, people you will hire, etc.  Write a conclusion sentence, telling why you think your business will succeed.

I am consistently impressed with the creativity of the projects my kids are assigned.  I thank God so much for their school.  The teachers are committed, hard-working and regularly find ways to diversify learning, so that students are excited and impassioned.  I applaud them- as they are very gifted.   Even though budget-cuts and a county in debt have changed some of our footing this year, parental involvement and teacher-commitment is high enough that we seem to be progressing well.  And I continue to be thankful for and encouraged by our experience as we public-school.

This week promises to be extraordinarily busy.  My calendar is scratched through with dates and needs and deadlines.  The school-year winding down is the best of times, and the worst of times.  It is fun, because there are concerts and Field Day and less homework and more spontaneous events for the kids.  The teachers unwind a touch.  Rewards are given out for a job well done, after months of working toward goals.  So, it’s fun from that angle.

But it is also labor-intensive.  There are little projects and teacher-gifts to buy.  There are events to attend and kids to cheer on and support.

My van resembles a garbage-dump on wheels.  It is full of days of travel.  It is littered with snacks.  It is filmy with finger-prints. 

Unforunately, it will have to wait another two weeks before it has a bath.

I spent Sunday evening and Monday morning assembling our meals for the week.  I love Target’s Up and Up line.  I love that 2 containers of baby food cost 82 cents.

And I love that when Will has eaten his fill, I can re-use the containers as fruit cups for the kids’ lunches.  I am not much of an advocate for environmental causes, so this is about as far as my recycling goes, but it IS something:).

We had left-over carrots Sunday night.  And mashed potatoes.  I threw them into the blender with a little milk and salt.

I sterilized our previously-used jars (I am definitely earning points with enviros now) and filled them up with carrot/potato.

Then, proceeded to fill Will up with nourishment.  He looked at me like I was Evil Incarnate.   He then began to make ugly faces and retch.  And retch and retch.  And the final straw: he turned his face away.  No way was Will having anything to do with home-made Mom-food.  Up and Up, consider this a marketing victory for you.

A victory for me is this: 2 lasagnas.  2 beef stroganoffs.  1 spaghetti.  1 spinach & chicken roll-ups.  1 fajita filling.  1 quiche.

The efficiency of bulk cooking appeals to me.  The cutting and chopping each night does not make time-sense to me.  It’s too much repetition of the same task.  Doing multiple cutting of multiple things takes virtually the same amount of time, and ultimately, saves hours of prep-work.  And definitely saves money.  Efficiency always saves money. And I am glad to not have cooking to complete until end-of-the-week. 

*This post sounds like Little House on the Prairie, doesn’t it?*  Those ARE my favorite kids books hands-down, and I always did think highly of Ma:).

Kroger has these adorable hair-ties priced at $1.  I like them as ties, but I prefer them as clippies.

I scissored off the elastic and pulled out my alligator clips.  Hot-glued them on and now they are ready for Anna and Emma this summer.

A poor casualty of Spring Break: my little basil plant.

No matter.  I raced out to Kroger as soon as we returned, and replaced dear Basil.  I love to cook with fresh herbs.  I plan to keep this one alive and hope to grow some more on my back deck this summer.  Corrin says I can do it.  We’ll see!

So far, so good.

The kids enjoy helping me cook.  Many times there simply is not….time.  I generally cook dinner in the mornings when the kids are at school.  Or while Emma coats the floor in flour or scribbles art on the walls.  But, sometimes Sundays mornings are excellent opportunities to let them “help”.  We eat dinner at lunch on Sundays, and so Sunday morning before church is prep-time.  They enjoy inputting.  And my pace is a little slower to allow them to.

 This is what we made.  Shish-ke-bobs.  Eew.  Raw chicken.  I was glad they handled it.  I chopped the veggies and chicken up, and they skewered. And yes, we washed the salmonella off after.

I emerged from our trip renewed at so many levels, ready to pursue many of my goals better.  With more energy, with more focus.  With more drive and passion.

I enjoyed my little family sooo much this past week.  Being away from home was an objective measure of where we are at.  I saw many encouraging dynamics amongst all of us.  Whereas before we left, I was seeing more the “dark” side of the six of us, we got along splendidly together and bonded.  We had just shy of two disciplinary issues in one week.  We had moments of correction and steering attitudes straight and in the right direction of course, but express discipline was minimal.  Which showed me the reality of burnout.  When I feel burned out, more often than not they are feeling burned out too.  And time to relax and laugh and be together is refreshing for all of us.  And does as much toward renewing behavior as spankings do at times- just from the opposite angle.

So thankful for a moment to escape our Atlanta-life.  And now back to the grind: but with greater zeal and a steadier heart:).

When I got Corrin off the plane, she had a book about herbs in her purse.  This is her People magazine -  learning Latin forms for basil.  She is really into gardening, and grows all sorts of things in containers on her porch.

INSPIRED.

We wandered around this beautiful market one afternoon, and admired the baby lettuces and herbs.

I was thinking all about this garden idea while we were away.  We sat at a coffee shop, she reading about plants and I reading about adoption.

And I was half-thinking about children overseas, and then switching gears to dwell on happy thoughts about tomatoes.  An odd merging.

God has a sense of humor.

We were whizzing down the road yakking away and laughing and there they were: 2 tomato stakes by the side of the road.  Screech.  I hopped out and we loaded them up.

And then my magazine today has this article that I quickly flipped to: growing vegetables in small spaces on a small budget.

My kind of gardening.  Now, can I do this?  Can I yield 1 tomato?

That is my goal: 1 tomato.

There is a saying that “pride goes before a fall”.

Today my pride lies in the edible.  So either I am about to trip and wipe-out.  Or my kids will publicly embarass me tomorrow.  But this is too good to keep on the inside.

A favorite website of mine is Tammy’s Recipes.  Healthy.  Kid-friendly.  And simple.  I increasingly like that combination in my life.

This is the best recipe I have found for bread so far.

Homemade Wheat Bread

1 cup warm water

1 tbsp milk

2 tbsp vegetable oil

4 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup whole-wheat flour

2 cups all purpose flour (I use self-rising)

2 tsp dry yeast

1 tbsp ground flax (my addition)

Put all ingredients in bread machine and set on dough cycle.  Or if really brave, knead all by hand and let rise.  Generally, I let dough rise twice in my bread machine.  Tonight I was bored of loaf-bread and pulled the dough into 12 sections, and let them rise a third time.

Twelve rolls became zero in less than a half-hour.

Even my most cruel critic- Emma-who regularly has show-downs with me over the quality and perceived success of my dinners, ate.  Although she made sure to tell me that the “chicken is yucky and I hate potatoes”.

My children are rather picky about vitamins.  Generally, if a vitamin could be consumed through corn chips or chocolate, they would consider the world a place of safety and good-will.

But being that vitamins and minerals must come through unlikely places such as rutabagas, they are a little miffed.  I try to speak in excitement about food. 

“Look, we are eating the rainbow!”

“Look at the beautiful colors God has created in food!”.

And they just look at me and gag, and hold their throats.  “Mom, I’m gonna throw up“, as they stare down the broccoli and look in hatred at the green beans.  Some day I just want to venture beyond mandarin oranges and bananas.  It is like Stage 2 Baby Food at our home.  We have graduated from pureed pears, but we are stuck on 4 or less fruits and veggies.  I am itching to branch out into the brave new world of produce.  What does a rutabaga taste like, anyway?  I want to know.

While the cat’s away, the mice will play- right?

And what they don’t know will not hurt them.  So, I configured my instruments of health and wellness and set to work.  Chop, chop and saute.

And then my food processor got working and whirring. 

“Take that, Anna and Josh.  Spinach and tomatoes and garlic and onion”.  And they came together in excellent harmony, if the smell was any indication.  A spaghetti sauce full of dirty little secrets.

Will paid careful attention to each and every detail.

He is such a mature and helpful boy.  Patient too.  I would hate my life of constant interference if I was him, but so far he seems to weather his place in the family with grace and no shortage of smiles.  And some concern, I suppose.

Pat the Vulture happened to be working from home, and swooped in for a kiss.  But really his heart was in the food, and so he nudged me aside and helped himself.

He declared it “Good!”.  But of course, my harshest critics- the ones who make retching noises at my meals- are not home yet.

Pat took these pictures a couple of weeks ago.  He was down-town with a friend, and they found a beautiful gourmet food store.  The owner has someone make these canned and jarred fruits and vegetables.

I wish I had been there.  Pat said there was a fabric store on the same strip that I would have enjoyed.  He mentioned that he would like to take me back there- fingers crossed?

This is the same shop from which Pat procured the best chocolate I have ever eaten.  And the best chocolate Emma has ever eaten too, as she came to me with a dark streak on her cheek and said: “I just had a little bit Mama”.

Mine child, all mine.  

I spent a little more at the grocery store last night.  In part, due to lack of organization.  But also in a concerted effort to veer completely away from processed and high-sodium anything.  More into the area of simple, fresh food.  (My Mom raised us on the healthiest diet you could imagine.  Flax seeds or bust).  But not organic, as my passion is economic side of things and not over-priced and under-sized packaging.  We have an AMEX Costco card.  So most purchases we make with this card earn us 2% back.   Each year in March our rebate arrives.  This year it was a little heftier, since Pat had purchased flooring and a camera through Costco.  I finally had an opportunity to head up to the store, and bought a couple of things.   But the secret in the rebate is this: buy one or two staples, then apply check, receive cash-back, and pay for piano lessons with it.

I was so tempted by Costco.  Everything in that beautiful store is fresh and colorful.  It is incredibly high-quality food.  But, I am spoiled on Kroger and I find it very rare that Costco can compete with my local grocery store.  So I wander around with my big check, but come home unconvinced that it is worth the money for most things.  Many items are easily more costly in “bulk“.  And if I DO buy 4 romaine hearts, they will spoil and so my money is truly wasted then.  I think in another couple of years, my boys will make Costco a winning proposition for me.

Piano lessos are pricey!  And so we bought our Stacey’s Pita Chips and Veggie Crisps and the rest goes into music.  So far, it seems a good trade as Anna is enjoying herself and progressing well.

And Josh will start guitar next year I hope.  And so 2011 will see us selling used items by the side of the road.

It is my goal each night, to serve dinner to our family for $5 or less, a la Erin (www.5dollardinners.com).  Although initially,  in the process of becoming acquired to all things domestic it likely cost Pat and I a total of $10 to eat together per meal, it is now easy for us six to eat on half of that.   (Not that Will really counts yet:))  And healthfully too.

Experience has taught that shopping the 6-week sale cycle- combined with coupons- combined with thinking outside the bounds of strict recipes, allows for good eating.  And inexpensive eating.

Experience has also taught that through reining in our food expenses, we have more money to enjoy, to spend and to give.  (Think about all the restaurant/fast-food/last-minute grocery trips and how they add up?  It’s always more money than you think).

Chicken: On sale for 99 cents/pound.  One meal baked with olive oil and herbs.  Left-overs diced up for chicken-barbeque pizza.

Pot roast: On sale for $1.99/pound.  One meal roasted with potatoes and mushrooms.  Leftovers shredded up for beef fajitas.

I can remember our newly-wed days.  I would sift through the refrigerator each Monday, tossing out pounds of produce that had died that week, due to neglect and inactivity.  While Pat and I kept local restaurants in business, this lifestyle did nothing for our maturity or responsibility.  It was a blessing in more ways than one when Anna came into our lives, and forced growth and order upon us.  We could no longer do as we please.

But as in all things, those restrictions forced a greater good: and in this case, my recipe repertoire has only flourished.