what we're eating: then and now

The last few years, since moving to the country and starting to grow our own stuff, and especially since we now live right up the road from the Mennonite farm market, our food choices have been changing. It's not some big political thing, or even necessarily a conscious effort, just the byproduct of living in an area where we are surrounded by fresh, real food. Last night I made one of our favoritest of favorite meals  - Jerk Chicken, and it struck me how much that meal has evolved lately. As recently as a few months ago, Jerk Chicken for us looked like this:
Boneless/skinless chicken breasts
McCormick Caribbean Jerk Seasoning (4 tbsp or so)
olive oil
soy sauce
vinegar
canned corn
stovetop stuffing

This was THE meal. Every time. Our favoritest meal.

Here's what it looked like last night:
boneless/skinless chicken breasts
homemade jerk paste (peppers, spices, and a dash of vinegar)
fresh pineapple
soy sauce
honey
olive oil
saute'd squash, cabbage and onions
red beans
rice seasoned with a pinch of allspice

Nowadays, this is the meal that I crave fortnightly. Especially the cabbage. I'm on a real cabbage kick. But look at the difference in the ingredients. The Old Way always left me feeling bloated and yucky, but the flavor was just so good. Don't get me wrong, it still is. But the New Way. Oh, the New Way! It's heavenly. The change in sides came about because of my aforementioned love of cabbage, and our small town's very, very short-lived Caribbean restaurant - which served basically the same sides that I do now. The allspice rice was an epiphany I had a few weeks ago. The pineapple happened when we added it to chicken skewers and grilled them (by far, the BEST), and now I just throw the pineapple and chicken in the oven with the paste, soy sauce, honey and oil for a pretty easy, and also pretty healthy evening meal. And no fake food or processed junk!

Click here to see the jerk paste recipe I use. I substitute whatever hot peppers I have a bunch of for the habaneros and it's still amazing.

family heirlooms

I told myself I wouldn't apologize for not having posted anything in, what, 6 months? So I'm not sorry. So there. But, dang, it's been a while.
Truly I haven't written anything because I haven't wanted to. Because I'm a big, blubbering baby and the last six months have been really emotionally trying. My gramps had a stroke-like illness last August, and the whole family has had to adjust to the changes. The task of cleaning out and packing up his old home fell to me and my mom, and it has been one of the most heartbreaking experiences of my life. But I've also gotten the opportunity to really get to know my gramps in a way I hadn't before. I'd much rather he still be the crazy old guy determined to climb up and fix his own roof (I seriously believed until last fall that he would kick the bucket at 90-something by falling off a roof), but this time spent with him has been really precious.
Now, anybody who knows me knows that I'm either the best or worst person for the sentimental task of cleaning out someone's house. The best because I won't get rid of anything that could have the least bit of family history or emotional attachment. The worst because I won't get rid of anything that could have the least bit of family history or emotional attachment. For several weeks this spring my house looked like a storage locker. I've since been able to let go of some things I couldn't find family homes for (not everyone in my family shares my over-sentimentality) but I find myself holding on to the strangest things. Things like hankerchiefs. All my life my Gramps has had a hankerchief in his pocket. So when I found a stack of badly stained hankies, I kept them. And now I can think of my Gramps every time I use them to clean around the house. It might not be everyone's idea of a quality keepsake, but it works for me.

bacon

Some days are just good days. Not because of anything particularly special, but just a collection of little things. Like a Starbucks coffee on a grey fall day (and no, not a pumpkin something or other.. I may be the only person in the world who doesn't like them, but the fact remains that I do NOT. I much prefer my grande non-fat, no whip peppermint mocha, thanks), and a successful grocery shopping trip where I actually felt like I spent a hundred bucks and got my money's worth. And stopping here:

which is on my way home, and is apparently THE place to go for country hams. Foodie tourists make detours to get their hands on some Benton's ham and bacon. I've driven by it for years, and always thought I should stop, but never quite actually managed to make it happen. I picked up a pound of bacon, soaked up the delicious smoky pork smells, and drooled over the hams and shoulders and jowls and who-knows-what else hanging on racks all around. It was ham heaven, and I left there kicking myself for never having stopped sooner, and for not buying the bulk package of bacon ends and pieces. I also left there thinking about how blessed we are to live in an area where we have access to such amazing food. "Local" food isn't the rage here, it's just here. It's been here for years. Generations. We could actually get about 80% of our groceries from local farmers.. maybe more, but I don't know of anyone selling flour or other grains. Wish I did... that would be great. Either way.. it's great to live in such an agriculturally-minded area. And living down the road from the world's best country hams and bacon isn't too bad either.

just checking in...

3 weeks goes by so fast. This happens to me every fall... I get all excited, because yay! Fall is here! and then I get all wrapped up in.. whatever.. and bam! it's gone. And I'm sad.

But I'm trying really hard not to do that this year.

I'm trying to be present, to not miss things going on around me. So instead I miss things like checking in on my blog. Or doing the laundry. And then I resolve not to miss those things either, which in turn means I miss something else. Being me is exhausting.

Seriously, though. I really am trying much harder .. to pay attention, which is oh, so hard for me to do. To make things a little more manageable, I gave myself a schedule. Or rather, I started making myself pay attention to the schedule I made for myself about a year ago. It's a simple schedule - Mondays I do this, Tuesdays I do this, and so on, and so forth, but it helps, A LOT, in those moments where I'm really struggling to keep my head above water, wandering aimlessly around my destroyed-by-toddlers home and wondering what the heck I was doing, or supposed to be doing. That usually ended with me overwhelmed and seeking the soothing mindlessness of Pinterest, where I'd see some awesome something or other I wanted to do, and then jump up, start another mess, only to promptly forget about it because someone is screaming about something. Nope. Not any more. Now, I just think to myself, "This is Thursday. Today I clean the girls' rooms. That's what I was doing." And then I plop down in front of the computer and lose myself in Pinterest. Sure, it's not perfect. But it's helping. Our house looks a little less desperate these days, and I feel a little less manic. I'll take it.

So, all that to say that I'm really trying to enjoy fall this year. I actually got (most of) our Halloween decorations up in a timely manner. I've made soup 3 times already. I got to wear my fuzzy boots in the morning. This weekend, I have big plans for a bonfire, and hot cider, something, anything pumpkin related (most likely muffins. Who doesn't love muffins?) and all of this is much easier to do because I know what is (for the most part) expected of each day. Sure, some days I get thrown for a loop because the car dies, or the girls choose to have supreme-o meltdowns at exactly the same time (every time!), but that's life. My new (old) schedule is my rock, my fortress of solitude in the midst of the swirling chaos of life with toddlers.

What I'm saying is, I love my schedule. and I love fall. The end.

weekly goals

So this is a day late, due to our camping trip over the weekend, but it's time to lay out some goals for this first week of fall (hooray for fall, by the way!), and at least try to get them done.

For starters, I need to clean up the camping aftermath, but that's kind of a given.

I'm STILL trying to get some homemade mozzerella done. This really needs to happen.

I also need to make yogurt. Homemade yogurt is so good.

I've got a pile of peppers (all kinds of peppers!) to do something with. Need to do something with the last of the tomatoes as well.

I really, REALLY need to shear Cirrus, before the weather gets too cold. Don't worry, I've got an old wool sweater to put on her if she needs it.

And lastly, it's time to do some serious fall housecleaning.. there's only one  more week til October, and Halloween decorating time!!!!

Speaking of... we stopped at a pumpkin stand on the way home from our camping trip and let Punkin pick out the one she liked best. After much serious deliberation, she picked this one:

Not exactly the traditional choice, but the kid knows what she likes. 

camping with toddlers...

...is like .. uhhh.. nevermind.

Yes. We are crazy. Thanks for asking.

Also - I'd like to apologize to all the other campers who heard me say "Maezie, NO!" or "Maezie, get out of the road!" at least fifteen HUNDRED times. The child is nothing if not persistent.

and cute.

Seriously, though. We took our girls on their very first camping trip this weekend. After a whole lot of thinking and rethinking and wishing we could go to Florida, we decided on Cades Cove. This is usually one of my favorite spots - it's so peaceful, restful, tranquil. Other than the excessive traffic and "bear jams" every 500 yards or so. Still. I've always loved to get out into the woods and walk by a quiet stream, and imagine what it must've been like to actually live there a hundred years ago. I was excited to share this with my girls.

What a perfect place to spend the first day of Autumn!

All things considered, it could have been much worse. While it was definitely not tranquil, or peaceful, or restful, it was good to take the girls out and let them get some camping experience. I firmly believe that they will get better at it with practice (and age). Punkin did great - which wasn't surprising because that kid LOVES to be outside. Maezie learned a lot about boundaries this weekend, and delighted in pushing them. I learned that a firmer parenting hand with my youngest is probably long overdue.

There were a lot of special moments.

There was very little sleep.



Hello, gorgeous.



Bottom line?

I can't wait to go again.

yes, please