Fresh living

Thursday I picked up baby rainbow chard, collards, butter lettuce and the best avocados ever- grown with love by my friend in her Little Beach Homestead. Saturday my family and I lovingly prepared rosemary skewers and I delivered them to the Garden Angels Cooperative, where a team of volunteers sorted out the produce 9 others had brought and we came back a few hours later to a bag with a couple grapefruit, a tangerine, a baggie of sage, some muffins (notice the empty bag), a bunch of kale, lots of green onions (ideas on what to do with those, anyone- I use them in scrambled eggs and on rice and that's about the extent of my experience...) and a generous bag of kumquats. I don't even know how to eat those.

For the past week we have had bone broth in the crock-pot constantly going - I added a sprig of rosemary to one batch. Yum.

Now I have 9 jars, 3 trays of frozen cubes- plus I made

• egg drop soup one morning, 
• sauteed chard & avocado in bone broth another, 
• tortilla soup for lunch one day, 
• just a mug of broth with apple/avocado/almond salad, 
• and then... classic vegetable soup last night (so easy- few handfuls out of the huge bag of frozen, organic mixed veggies from Costco, a jar of tomato sauce, 2 cloves garlic and a can of potatoes that someone gave me for some reason- just 'cause I wanted to use it up; threw it all in the last of the strained bone broth and let it simmer in the crockpot for an hour, sooooo good!) 

And all this from the bones of the 2 Rotisserie Chickens we served at May's 1st birthday last week (oh and of course, some Apple Cider Vinegar, carrots, celery and onion).

My middles are excited and involved and practicing cutting and G is learning about proper food storage and safety as Shawn and I discuss it, she has chimed in with questions and gone and looked stuff up, even!!

We also made 4 batches of orange oil cleaner from the peels the kids have carefully saved each time they eat a cutie- and that is frequent. And we have been saving other scraps for the worm bin and compost pile.

It feels so good to be connected to the foods we eat, to be using as much as possible from each source to be sharing with others, and supporting small local growers.

However- lest you think I am some sort of paleo, hippie, homeschool mama- I will quickly end this post as I share that my husband is pulling in the driveway with Carl's Jr...

Fresh Frozen Crockpot Family Food

It took me all weekend to clean and rearrange the cupboards in my kitchen. Monday I shopped.

Today is Taco Tuesday. I will have all the 3 littles home with me all day, while Sugar Daddy teaches make-up Science & Drawing classes at Learning Barefoot.

So I searched for a crockpot taco recipe- let's see how it goes, simmering all day while I chop and sort and store for the coming busy weeks. Found these great fresh to freezer to crockpot to table recipes on Pinterest... where it looks like this mama got a lotta love for this brilliant idea and has recently written a cookbook.

It is now 11:07 am. The middles are playing Dr with their stuffed lovies. The littlest is sleeping- here we go on the tacos... and then it is time to start chopping!!

Posting to Tumblr throughout the day... http://barefootocmama.tumblr.com/

Mason Jar Midnight Snacks

Thanksgiving leftovers layered in a mini-mason jar. Microwave for 45 seconds- yum. Pack a few as you are clearing the table on Thanksgiving Day... midnight munchies satisfied!!!

Doing Pinterest

Yesterday we made the DIY Bracelets that we had discovered on Pinterest. G-pie had noticed we had a lot of projects pinned and none done. So after doing the menu board, I created my "completed projects" board and have been inspired to do more (so I can fill that board on Pinterest, LOL!)... so many creative and crafty ideas.

G-pie made the bottom one for her Grandma's 60th birthday gift, while J-cakes and I made the top one, also for Grandma. Then we decided to make this tasty Kiss Gloss as a party favor for the fun celebration we shared with the family.

We made cinnamon flavor. It has a bit of a zing. But the candy melts and paraffin wax give it a nice consistency- it is super easy to make...


We used red candy melts, household paraffin wax, petroleum jelly and cinnamon candy flavoring. Along with the coconut oil, a baggie, a bowl of hot water and 9 sterilized bead containers from the craft store. We doubled the recipe given on Brooke's blog, http://www.cheekykitchen.com/, and next time I would probably cut down the cinnamon flavor. We have plenty left to try out the cherry and peppermint flavors that came with the set of oil based candy flavorings. I would love to try and make this a more natural gloss- replace the paraffin & vaseline with cocoa butter perhaps, and the artificial flavors with natural essential oils.

For this project I did finally get around to opening the new coconut oil that Tropical Traditions sent- and I also used it to make eggs yesterday morning (and to to rub down the potatoes and yams for baking for last night's dinner party). I am only comparing it to the other one I have tried, which we ordered from www.azurestandard.com, from Wilderness Family Naturals.

Both are certified organic- I really need to do some research on the differences in extraction methods- the Tropical Traditions sounds better

"...the pure coconut water from inside the coconut is used to extract the coconut milk using traditional methods. Small scale family businesses [in the Phillipines] produce this oil in small batches, taking great care and pride in their work."

The Wilderness Family Naturals on the other hand is "mechanically expressed without the use of solvents or chemicals and 'super cleaned' using hot water and steam."

For dinner we grilled Tri-tip, fully loaded the baked potatoes, which turned out perfect- the skins were softer than when I have baked potatoes rubbed with other types of oil or fat. The coconut oil worked splendidly. It was also a good choice for the yams- which were terrific with a tiny bit of butter. We also had sour dough bread and a Spring Berry Herb & Feta Salad with TJ's Rosemary Pecans and TJ's Champagne Vinaigrette- wish I had taken a picture of it.

The family enjoyed the evening and my MIL seemed to appreciate the celebration. and look at the dessert my equally creative SIL brought... Sprinkles Cupcakes and cake pops, brownie bites, chocolate dipped marshmallows, Champagne- oh and ice cream from a place in Santa Barbara where the boys and their mom used to stop on road trips.

An abundance of delight and decadence!

Family Meal Times

My sweet family loves to gather around the family table- but as I have mentioned before I often end up remaining in the kitchen, manning the short order cook's counter. Me & C-dough are going gluten-free, G-pie has always had a slight appetite, to match her slim figure and J-cakes and Sugar Daddy would just as soon eat candy and soda all day- so the witching hour becomes quite hectic to say the least- especially now that my little Sugar Cube is causing all this heartburn, and seems to desire nothing but Tex Mex and milk.

So I am trying something new (I know- not like me at all!) which I think I have posted about before here at barefootOCmama- the OAMC tactic, (once a month cooking) something I tried to do all by my onesies and vowed to never consider again. But what happens if you add friends? www.dinnerthismonth.com (We are going to give it a gluten-free trial)

Will this be the thing that saves Family Meal Time in our household? I love when we actually sit down together and can share our highs, lows and little silly things that strengthen our family's special-ness.

Read all about it on my first ever blog hop linky party thingy- click on the badge at left or go to my foodie blog at http://eatingbarefoot.blogspot.com

 Is it wrong to follow myself, or does that mean I will just go in circles?

OH! And speaking of "circles"...

Check out my new Google + Page, yes I said Page not Profile. Do any of you bloggers out there use Google + Pages yet? What do you think? If you are local to OC and you are interested in learning more about Social Media, I am hosting a Mixer at The Yoga Stone in Anaheim- check it out here.


Or hop along to another Friday blog hop...