Christmas Dress count down…Week 1…

Week one is under my belt and though I wasn’t perfect I’d have to say the week was a success. My weight is down 1.2 lbs (makes me at 184.0). Not quite the 2 full pounds I was looking for but also the ending of my TOM so next week I should be able to have the full 2 lbs. My eating has been great minus one bit size 3 Musketeer bar and a handful of wheat thins. Water is excellent at a gallon plus a day. Exercise was 5 times this week and all of them I gave my all. I’ve been working on the running with Pam's daughters help. Pam’s daughter is an athletic trainer and has been giving me tips this week. I am also still working on Brad’s 5K in 100 days. I do every other day with these two things plus the elliptical and weights and last night for the first time, free weights. Oh and my planks I’ve changed from just doing one or two for a minute I’m doing 5 for 30 seconds with just a few second break. So all in all a good week. A new week will begin with all new challenges. I’m up for them, how about you? How’d you do this week? I bet you were a rock star. I bet you blew this challenge right out of the water and am rocking on. I sure do hope so but you know, if you didn’t, if you screwed up, fell off the horse, missed a day here and there, well week two is coming and you can just climb back on and rock on. You can do this, we all can do this. I know it, I have faith in every single one of you and myself to boot.
Take care now and have a blessed and awesome weekend.

Grape syrup…

Well yesterdays batch of grape jam didn’t set. So I came up with an idea, for Christmas gifts I’ll be giving grape syrup, homemade pancake mix and homemade butter. Now I did redo the batch in the plastic and today that’s setting up good. According to mama I just didn’t let it cook long enough. So I have both jam and syrup. I’m happy. It’ll work out.

I finished another 5 gallon bucket of tomatoes. Another 7 quarts and also a meal. I’m in the process of making a hot dish with our corn, beans, tomatoes, peppers, onions, beef and brown noodles. It’ll be this weekends dinner. And for mama and daddy.I don’t cook on Sundays. It’s my day off. I cook 3 meals a day 6 days a week plus snacks so Sunday if I haven’t made something ahead the guys are on their own. Jim and I go out for our breakfast time together on Sunday and then go shopping and then spend the afternoon together as a family but cooking isn’t what I do. Sometimes Jim makes BLT’s or omelets and sometimes Mike makes spaghetti or mac and cheese. It works for me and it teaches the guys they can take care of themselves if I want to be off and running in the evenings.

Joss and I are about ready to head out the door to do our Friday visiting with great grandma. We are also going to pick some more apples for eating and baking. No more sauces, I think 25 quarts and a few frozen bags is enough. I made apple crisp for the store yesterday (I cook for my husband’s employee’s once or twice a week) and a small pan for Mike. They love it, I hate it so it’s a safe thing to make.

So I hope that all is well with you all. It was 20* when I got up at 5 this morning and it’s now 32* so it’s climbing. This weekend is suppose to be wonderful so it’ll be time to mow the lawn and drain the pump we use for watering. We have a pond that is free flowing so it’s the perfect source for watering the gardens and filling the kids pool and so much more. But it’s that time of year we don’t need to water anymore and we know that soon it’ll stay in the frozen temps so time to just drain and put the hoses away. I know we have tons of warm weather still coming but with the plants dead it’s much nicer doing the winterizing in the warmth then waiting for the cold which you all know I’m not impressed with.

Take care my friends and have a blessed day.

Pt 2…

It’s 10:30 and the jam is setting, I hope…this is one reason I don’t make jams often because sometimes it ends up being syrup, which isn’t bad but would rather have the jam. I didn’t have enough jars so ended up putting them in plastic so will just make them freezer jams. Plus I’ll have some to give away too. Want to see?

The beginning of the cooking. Then the milling. Cooking and Joss wanting some. I save some (in the yellow bowl) for PBJ sandwiches later on, (if it sets) It’s still very soft.

Now to the tomatoes. That is after we go outside and visit with grandma. I have a fall flag for her to hang and Joss needs to get outside and play. It’s 43* now and sunny so we’ll go and do for a bit.

Hope you’re day is going good. Nope, I didn’t over eat or eat the horse. So far had an apple, shortly it’s lunch time. YEAH!!! Take care my friends, Blessings.

I am soooooooooo hungry and ….

I could eat a horse. From the front to the tail I could I am so hungry. So what am I doing about it, trying my best to ignore it. If I eat now, then lunch is so far away I’d be starving them too. If I can hold out for another couple of hours it is so much better. My day starts so early and since I’m exercising tonight instead of this morning I’d rather wait until later to get my insides full but my mind is tired, my body is running on empty and I know that I am surely going to die. Just ask me, right now I am.

I’m working on grapes this morning. I was just going to de-stem them, wash them and freeze until later on but my freezer is so full of the harvest this year I can’t have room for them so am making grape jelly. I had to do some research on that this morning because I didn’t have cheese cloth and every recipe I read said strain in a cheese cloth. I hated the thought of leaving all that pulp behind so I did some more looking and found a recipe for making Oregon grape jam. It’s perfect and exactly what I wanted. I can use my food mill and have a full bodied jelly instead of a jam. YEAH!!!  I’ll share pictures in a bit.

I hope you’re day is off to a great start. I’ll be back later to bug you all. Take care and God Bless!!

A bit chilly and …

 

So it froze and the frost is on the garage roof and it’s chilly this morning. At least outside it was. Tonight colder yet. So the garden will surely be toasted by then.

Today was library day. Joss 1st time to go and be part of things. She loved every single minute of it, until it was time to go that way. Take a peek…

 

I love this last picture. It’s a full blown “I don’t want to go” fit. They don’t work here but it’s still funny to watch.

After the library Kim and I went and cut grapes and picked apples. My bucket fell over on the trip home and though I have a mess I love the colors of these two together.

There are lots more grapes to be had but with the frost last night and the hard freeze coming tonight we wanted to get what we could even though some aren’t quite ready to be picked.

Before I left this morning I made apple sauce from the last bucket of apples. Got 5+ a little quarts.

And I roasted up two big batches of red potatoes to be frozen. All I have to do is either reheat them in a skillet or the oven. Yum!!

 

                         

Now it’s onwards and upwards to the tomatoes and russet potatoes and grapes and more apples. You won’t hear a complaint from me though because it is so wonderful to go to the laundry room and find all these goodies in the freezer or on the shelf. It’s a lot of work but so well worth it and when a person is watching their life style eating you know exactly what you’ve put into these things and can figure out your intakes much easier and it is so much better for you. Still need to find a good deal on some meat though. I’m waiting.

The final yeah for today, after visiting at Kim’s and taking the little girl home that Kim watches on Wednesday the mama of the little girl gave me these. It was in a huge batch but since I didn’t have a vase that big and wanted them in two different places in the house I split them up. See what I got….I so love flowers and it doesn’t happen, well almost never, that I get flowers. They sure are beautiful!!!

So now it’s nap time and either I can just relax a little bit or start picking grapes off their vines. Or possible both for just a little bit. We’ll see.

I hope that you’re having an excellent day. It is chilly out there but the sun is shining and I had a blast with Kim and I so love being here with Joss and the bestest part, Mike is home. Really he finished up the job that was away for 3 weeks and now is here until Monday where he’ll be off to a different job doing…well I’m not sure but he’s enjoying the different jobs and experiences. Take care my friends and have a blessed afternoon.

Want to see something?

That’s 32 years ago and "the dress”. Jim hated and still hates his picture taken. Just thought I’d share this with you today.

Hope you’re having a great day. I’m working hard at canning, kids and the normal stuff. Heading out for my first practice run on the trails at 5:30. Wish me luck or at least patience with myself.

Take care everyone and have a blessed evening. If you’re anywhere nears me, cover those plants, two evenings of 20* weather heading our way.

Green Tomato bar and green tomato bread recipe

I’ve been asked a few times for these recipes so here they are. ENJOY!!

The Green Tomato Bars were a huge hit and I almost lost taking any pictures to share with you. I have just one picture, the last bite in the pan but it does give you an idea what it looks like and you can guess how it tasted.

The recipe is:

4 cups green tomatoes chopped finely and then set in a strainer to drain for a while

2 cups brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar this time and it had just a little molasses taste)

2 TLB Lemon Juice

1 tsp lemon extract (I didn’t have this so used real vanilla)

3/4 cup soft butter (again I didn’t have just butter so used 1/2 cup butter, the rest cheap-o tub-o-butter)

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups oatmeal

Combine the tomatoes, 1 cup brown sugar and lemon juice in sauce pan and simmer 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in extract.

Cream butter, rest of sugar. Add rest of ingredients and mix into a crumble.

Layer crumble on bottom, press down, add tomato mixture then top with last of crumble.

This makes a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350* for 35 minutes. I used a dark pan so of course the sides got a  bit darker but not burnt flavor just dark.

ENJOY!!! The kids loved it, my uncle said it tastes like apple crisp, my daddy loved it and said a bit like date bars. Jim said apple crisp but missing the whip cream (diet means no whip cream in this house), Mike wasn’t sure but said he liked it and yes I can make it again so that’s that.

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I decided not to rewrite this recipe. I love having it in my grandma’s handwriting so I took a picture of it for you. You can click on it, get it bigger and just print it out if you’d like. I did change it just a bit and the second picture shows my changes. I tried to make it a bit healthier.

My changes….

I also have my own eggs and I loved that the egg was a double yoke.

And the bread……….

Can you smell it? I wish we had smell-o-blogs. I think you’d just have to bake some today.

So there you have it. What to do with green tomatoes….YUMMMYYY!!! No wasting here at the Riley household.

Take care and have a blessed evening.

Badge holder, apple sauce and tomatoes…

Well the tomatoes are picked. Severe weather is on it’s way tonight, they say…hail and 70mph winds. Hopefully not but at least my garden is ready, minus the sunflowers that are 18’ tall and sure couldn’t handle that wind. After this storm it’s suppose to freeze Wednesday night, 25*, burr. Here’s the tomatoes…now I picked these 4 buckets and 4 more, 2 for great grandma and 1 for mama and 1 for Brenda. I picked all colors because no matter if they are ripe or not there is tons of stuff to make with all of the tomatoes. We love the green tomato bread and there’s green salsa and green enchilada's and more.

Last Friday the girls came and stayed the evening so we made apples sauce. We made 12 quarts. Here’s my helpers…

 

During my last craft show we had a returning customer drive up from the cities to make sure she found us. She had lost our business card and knew that we always do the Crosby Heritage days show and she came to order 2 more badge holders from us. We gave her extra cards and I have her number and e-mail so now if she’s in the need she doesn’t have to drive up. Here are the two badge holders I made for her and then while telling Sally about them she wanted me to make her some magnetic bracelets so I made her two and one for her granddaughter. Remember I don’t take great jewelry pictures but it does give you an idea.

 

Joss and I have had a busy day today. We went and visited great grandma and Mark. We got to see the goats and had a good visit. Because Joss can’t walk over to grandma’s we took my trusty golf cart and when we got back I did the tomatoes while she sat and watched me. Well she didn’t exactly sit and watch but she did play and watch. Wilbur loves the cart and going for rides so as soon as that thing is out he’s in there ready to go.

This past weekend was a quiet weekend. On Sunday Jim and I took the blanket down to the pond and just sat there and chattered and enjoyed the wonderful day. It’s been a long time since we just didn’t do anything and I loved it. This is what we need to reconnect as a couple instead of a family. Mike was busy out and about visiting his friends since he’s gone all week and enjoying himself. Here’s the views we saw…

 

Things are not quite as green as they use to be. Fall is on it’s way and then there will be the beautiful colors. After that I don’t want to talk about because winter is not my favorite time of year though I’m still out playing in it since I am not an indoor kind of gal.

So there’s my day. Tonight is scouts so my day won’t end for a while yet. Tomorrow another busy one. Eating was okay today, not spot on but not terrible either. Just a few extra blueberries and a few melba toast. Still under 1200 calories for the day. I can handle that.

Take care my friends and have a blessed and awesome evening. Chatter tomorrow.

Work out done…

I went at 5 am this morning and just walked and did some weights. I’m going to take Pam’s daughters advice and tomorrow run my full 5K and see how it is. Not on the treadmill either, on the trail. Just go and do and not worry. That’s what I want to do anyways, now that I have my mind in the right spot. On the way home this is what I saw…Now isn’t that the perfect morning sunrise? I love it. It’s suppose to be our last hot day today and then freeze Wednesday evening. So that means today and tomorrow I better go pick all the tomatoes, ready or not, so that they don’t die. I’m ready to be done in the garden, it’s been a great haul this year. I still have plenty of apples to do and also I need to go and pick crab apples from Brenda’s tree and make some jam. I’ll get there.

So today is Mike’s 3rd week of working away. I’m not getting use to it yet. It makes me a bit sad (well this morning lots sad), that he’s gone but it also makes me very happy that he’s happy doing something he wants to be doing. So mom will adjust.

It’s a good day to be alive and kicking. Hope you’re all doing well and that today is a blessed one. Take care my friends.

Thank you…

For all your words of advice on my running. Mostly thank you to Pam for calling her daughter, a athletic trainer, to give me advice on what to do. The main thing is quit focusing on my time and just run and run the best I can. So that is what I’m going to do. I will run and learn to love it, not just like it and not to fret and cry because I am feeling disappointed.

Today is a sad  joyous day, I am watching all the 9/11 events. It was such a terrible day. But in the days to come, the years to come we as a nation, as people, as individuals have pulled together to remember. Tonight I’m watching the construction of the memorial. In 30 minutes I’ll get to see it (via TV but still see it). It is amazing the love that has gone into all of this. I am so proud to be an America. I am truly blessed to live in this great country.

So a new week is about to begin. There is tons on my agenda and I’ll get done what I can each day and will rest well knowing I did my best.

I hope that you have a great week my friends. Thank you for all your support, your thoughts, your love and your ideas. Take care and God Bless!!