Homemaker

One more step completed in my quest in being an adequate homemaker! I can now sew things using a machine a friend of mine gave me a year ago. I dont sew very well, but that will come with practice.

Loose string ends, uneven fabric, crooked sewing line, I forgot to iron and turn the fabric inside out. I love it.

Somebody's enjoying his wifey's first creation :)

I had a date with two of my girl friends, and it was just such an enjoyable day. I leanrned how to use my machine, Serena got more tips for hers, and Kahontiiosta beaded her moccassins, and we just talked and laughed and commiserated, and had a grand old estrogen filled time. After working so hard, we enjoyed a meal together, joined by Kahon's son, Jeff, his brother and his girlfriend, and my sister. It was just such a homey day filled with loved ones and good food, my soul felt filled with goodness.

Back to Basics - and other ftw things

Things I want to live by and stop being such a lazy wuss AND GET TO IT

1. Growing my own food - What is wrong with us that we would prefer to grown absolutely useless and ugly LAWNS made out of INEDIBLE GRASS rather than use all that space (and most likely optimal sunshine quota) for food??? My future house neighbors better get ready because I am not going to have any pink flamingoes on my front lawn, no sir.


2. Canning - MORE canning!! Canning the essentials rather buying stupid chemicals that make us SICK.

3. Buying local food when in season - the two are mutually exclusive. Know your farmer, know your food, have a relationship with your meal rather than shove McD shit in your mouth and swallow it down.

4. Sewing - REPAIR rather than SPENDING. We have a real fucked up mind system when a small hole in a sock/pant/shirt/blanket/jacket isnt worthy of repair but rather the garbage. Totally given, some people dont have the sewing bug in them. BUT Im not saying that people should all say screw you to Walmart and start making their own clothes. But EVERYBODY can pick up a needle, thread it, and sew a patch or a rip. SELF-TAUGHT!

4. Meeting up for coffee rather than meeting up on FB - chatting/posting epically fails compared to being together FO'REAL.

5. Self-expression through artisitic means - I will never quit poetry, painting, drawing, scrapbooking, decorating, sculpting, fabricating, etc. You should try it. Guaranteed better than yelling at the closest loved one for xyz.

I am done using shouty capitals. Welcome back.

Of wooden spoons

I havent posted in awhile, and thats because my life has been absolutely full. Full of the good and not so good (but luckily for me right now, the good far outweights the bad). Full of friends and true bonding, rather than technological sharing. Full of dirty wooden spoons because of all the food thats been made on my stove, full of plants poking their green heads out the earth, full of sunshine and life giving rain too. Full of painting on the walls rather than on canvas, and filling jars with goodies to enjoy later. Ive just been too full of life to slow down and write about it, and thats just the way it should be.

Cream of (insert vegetable here) soup

So you guys know Ive been on a crusade to learn how to make as many things at home as possible rather than spending money to buy it in stores (cut costs, cut sodium, cut un-pronouncable and undesirable ingredients) and soup seems to be a huge one.

Not for myself, that is, but for many people. There are millions of types of soups on those shelves, and every single one of them can be made at home into cheaper and much healthier versions. I was very lucky that I grew up with a mother that knew how to pinch pennies, and knew how to make soup. Thus, without even knowing it, my mom taught me that homemade soup is the way to go.

I call this recipe the cream of (insert vegetable here) soup. This is how I picture cream of vegetable soup, not like what you get on shelves or in restaurant. My fresh, light, and low-calorie version has nothing to do with the mucusy thick, barely-any-vegetables-there soups that places like Tim Hortons carry. This is so easy to make, so cheap to make, and so healthy to make. And I didnt even mention the tasty aspect. This cost MAYBE 3$ for at least 8 portions of 1 cup to make. So there is NO reason not to try this (and automatically fall in love with it) at home.

Ingredients

• 1 head of cauliflower (or broccoli, asparagus, medley of veggies, whatever you have) 
• 1 onion
• 2-4 potatoes (depending on size)
• 2 liters of chicken broth (you can use water and add powdered broth as well afterwards)
• desired spices (I used pepper, a bit of cayenne pepper, and parsley this time)

Instructions

1. Roughly cut up your cauliflower, slice your onions, and dice your potatoes. Put into large pot.
2. Add chicken broth and top with water until pot is full and veggies are submerged.
3. Boil away until everything is tender (took me about 20 mns)

bubbly wubbly

4.  Strain about two cups of the veggies and put into seperate container. Mash with fork. Reserve. We will later add this to have texture.

mash it real good

5.  Puree with hand mixer or food processor the contents of your pot until it is smooth and without lumps. Add reserved veggies and stir.

6.  Taste and add spices to your liking.

 





                

                                               should look something like this



Voila, c'est fini! Easy, no?

Wordless Wednesday - Preserved Rainbow

Sunday GJE

1. Hearts in crisp tomatoes
2. The smell and fresh beauty of a cut lemon
3. 8.5 months of baby bump in a close friend
4. puppy playful whine
5. the crsh-crsh sound of grinding peppercorns
6. sprouts, sprouts, SPROUTS!
7. flowers still fresh two weeks later
8. bursts of laughter at a really silly mistake (DOH!)
9. a friendly gift of really useful purpose
10. old/new pantry that will facilitate jam storage





Wordless Wednesday - Explosion (of creativity)