We're Jamin'

We recently had a jam making party with our neighbor Steven.  It took all afternoon, well, all of a Sunday pretty much, to make the jam, but it was so fun!  There has been amazing strawberries and blueberries at the farmer's market lately, so we went Sunday morning and stocked up on tons of organic berries.

The Awesome Preserve Book!

I have to admit, I'm not very good at following recipes.  I always look up recipes and keep them nearby, but as we realized just how much fruit we had purchased, the less inclined we were to follow the outlined steps.  I have a great book on canning and preserving that my mom sent me (the Sunset Canning and Preserving Book).  After flipping through a bunch of the jam recipes, I realized they are all roughly the same: fruit, sugar, and maybe pectin.  Some recipes call for more sugar, less pectin, but it's all roughly the same.  So we figured, why not wing it.

Stirring the brew.

With that, we just started mashing combinations of berries and sugar in bowls.  We ended up with 5 variations total.  Once we had our mash ready, we put it on the stove to boil and added pectin.  I think we left them all for about 20 to 30 minutes at a slow boil, and when the mix seemed to be thickening up we did the cold plate gel test.  Steven put a few small plates in the freezer, and every so often, we would put a spoonful of jam on the plate.  Then it went back in the freezer for a minute or so, and if it didn't run back together when we put our finger in it then it was done.

All that was left was to fill the jars and seal them.  We filled quite a few jars with Strawberry Cinnamon, Old Fashioned Strawberry, Strawberry Blackberry, Strawberry Cherry, and Blueberry Cinnamon.  So yummy!

Steven with his Strawberry Cinnamon jars!

Sifl's Big Adventure

What a lucky little boy we have! He loves his trips to Griffith Park so much that we thought, why not take him on vacation as well. Traveling with a cat can be quite an ordeal, but lucky for us, Sifl doesn't seem to mind it too much.He's a lot like a dog in the car. He likes to look around for a while, but after a bit he is content to curl up on the back seat for wee naps.

When we arrived, he immediately wanted to romp around in all the leaves. Derick and I were hungry though, so after a few minutes in the leaves, we made him come with us to find some lunch. He really wanted to hang out in the leaves though, so we plopped him in Derick's bag. He loved it! We weren't sure how he would react to being carried in a pouch, but I have been wanting to try this for a long time. It was great; he loved being carried in it. He could look around from a higher spot than usual, and he felt safe being so close to his dad. He occasionally got spooked by a big truck driving by and he would quickly pull his head down into the bag, but as soon as he heard it pass, his little head would pop back out. It was sooo cute!!!

After saying hi to our friend Angela and getting lunch spot recommendations, we grabbed a bite and went back to the cabin to eat and nap. There was a little bit of an adjustment period with Sifl and the cabin. He had too many new things to check out, so he was constantly roaming.That night we left him to guard the cabin while we went to see the English Beat at Lake Arrowhead. It was so much fun! Freezing, but fun!

Me and Melissa

The English Beat!

Tiny Santa Hat or chewed piece of gum with a feather stuck to it?

The next day Sifl seemed to be a little more adjusted to the new space, but the weather was cold and rainy. That meant no exploring outside for Sifl. So while he napped and watched the birdy show through the window, Derick and I went adventuring with Angela and Dave. We went to breakfast and Dave ordered the biggest plate of food I have ever seen. After breakfast we drove around a bit to see if anyone was still having a yard sale despite the wet weather. There were a few, but nothing too interesting, so we went to Angela's to hang out and play scrabble.

In the late afternoon, the sun started to come out, so we went for a walk with dogs. It was beautiful!

Momma and Baby Skunk that Derick decided to run at with a stick.

When we got back to Sifl after the walk, he was so happy to see us. He showed us his new spot and how much he like his new cardboard scratcher. That night, he actually got in the bed and snuggled with us, he was finally comfortable in the place.

"This is my bed!"

Monday brought beautiful weather, so we spent a lot of time walking around Lake Gregory with Sifl, and had a great Memorial Day Bbq with friends before we headed back to LA.

All tuckered out!

Morning Smoothie Success

Derick and I make a smoothie for breakfast every morning. They are usually all good, but todays was especially good.
Frozen strawberries and blueberries
Fresh blackberries
Beet greens
Blueberry tea
Macro greens powder
Hemp powder
Flax seed
Probiotics
Yummy! And really pretty too!

Reading List

I just finished reading "The Bond" by Wayne Pacelle. It was listed as the book for May's VegNews Book Club, but wasn't sure if I was going to read it or not. When I found it at the library, I decided to give it a shot.



I was pleasantly surprised. It is the kind of animal advocacy book that is well suited to a meat eating crowd because it touches on all aspects of animal cruelty. It doesn't ever feel like an attack on meat eaters like some animal advocacy and vegan literature can, but makes the reader aware of how things really are. It's also great because in addition to the sad truths, there are good stories as well as positive changes for the future. If you get a chance, I definitely recommend it.

This weekend we stopped at Skylight Books, where Derick bought me this. . .



I've been wanting to check this book out for quite a while. I started thumbing through it over the weekend, and I can't wait to try out some of the recipes.

Last Night's Deliciousness

It's mostly raw too!

Strawberry Milkshake of Awesome!

Frozen Strawberries
Fresh Strawberries
Homemade Almond Milk
Agave Syrup

Blend, blend, blend.  Yummy!

I love these boys!

Aren't they cute?

Weekends are the best!

I'm really looking forward to this weekend, and hoping the weather will be sunny. Last weekend was filled with fun projects, and I hope to get more gardening done this weekend.

These little dudes are much bigger now and are begging to be put into the ground soon.


The window herb garden is coming along nicely as well. . .


We also started some more seeds in our mini greenhouse last weekend too. A few tiny pots each of celery, watermelon, chamomile, onion, carrots, and anise.


I had seen a number of small greenhouse/seed starter kits in various stores, and figured I could do the same thing at home. We saved the big plastic box from the spinach and put all our little pots in it. I peeked in this morning, and the chamomile pots had lots of little green dots in them. So excited!!



This yummy stuff will be ready this weekend as well. . .


For instructions on how to make seed pots, see here.
For more info making sauerkraut, see here or here.

Almond milk of Awesome.

I made it myself! It was really easy too. We just soaked our nuts (teehee).

Then we put them in the food processor, which we soon found out was not the ideal tool for the job.

(This was just before the water went everywhere!!!)

Instead, we put the water and almonds in a tall container and hit it with the immersion blender. It worked beautifully.

Then we poured it all into the pitcher lined with a mesh bag. Like so. . .


Then lift the bag out and squeeze all the milk out of the pulp. It's pretty awesome as is, but we decided to add a small amount of vanilla extract for extra awesome.

Delish!


For more tips and nut milk suggestions, see this awesome lady's post.

This Kid Is My Hero.

Easter Bunnies

There have been a lot of Easter bunnies hopping about lately. It started with a package from Derick's folks filled with all kinds of yummy chocolate goodies.
I also made Derick a basket with goodies for his road trip with Alan.

I didn't take a photo, but my mom also send us a bunch of Endangered Species chocolate bars!!

Saturday morning, Tara, Charlie, and I made invitations to the hunt.

Then the egg decorating began. . .


When Charlie went to work, Tara and I started making Birds Nest Cookies. We were inspired by Katie's cookies, and so we made the vegan version. Some eggs were made of Jordan Almonds and some had jelly beans!


Early this morning, Tara called to wake me up and offered to help make the rest of the snacks for today. We finished the Mini Tofu Quiches and made a great big fruit salad.


Then it was time for the egg hunt!


It was a lot of fun, and there were only a few casualties. . .