Tasty Corn - A - Poppin'

Sometimes I just really want some popcorn. But the past few years I had given up on it. I felt like it was too expensive at the movie theater both in calories/general health costs and pocket money {... does anyone say pocket money anymore?} And microwave bagged popcorn is super bad for you. Popcorn isn't my husband's favorite thing and since my cravings for it are so rare I just let it go.


But then... I wanted popcorn so badly. I talked about it for about two weeks. Finally I decided to try the "popcorn trick".


I wanted to use quality {local, if possible} popcorn kernels, coconut oil, and my stove top.

After some research {+ trials} I can honestly say that this is my favorite way to pop popcorn at home {on the stove}:

A Real Food Lover's Coconut Oil Popcorn



Oh and if you are into popping in the microwave instead of on the stove:

100 Days of Real Food Popcorn Trick


Happy poppin'!

Frugal Living & Eliminating Debt {Final Update for 2013}

With yesterday starting off the final month of 2013 my husband and I had a "budget + finances" talk over coffee. We typically drink something warm when discussing finances in order to pretend like we're enjoying the conversation. 

We were so excited to find that we paid off many more debts than we expected to this year... and saved quite a bit of money too {paying off over ten thousand dollars of debt that was not already part of our monthly payments and saving over ten thousand dollars for a rainy day!} 

I suppose there are better ways to do it, but our simple plan of paying off our highest interest rate bills first seemed to work for us. Which means that I'm calling this goal completed... and a total success!

As for the savings, one thing we did about half way through the year was make a savings goal and act on it. We thought about what we could realistically save each month... taking into account what we might spend on monthly bills, but also what we'd have to work hard {or spend less} in order to save. Then we put away that money before we could even spend it. In fact we treated it as a bill that we had to pay to our savings account.

This worked really well for us and we will most likely keep this same plan for next year too. 

around these parts {as of late}...

Things have been quiet around this space lately. 

All is well. I think life is just moving a little faster than I'd like. 

As I've written before, I'm back to teaching full time. I'm trying to find the ways to balance all parts of my day between keeping the home, staying healthy, living a fulfilling school day with children, sharing time with family and friends, as well as save a little time for my crafts/cooking/personal interests. These things happen most weeks. 


What may not happen though is writing about any of it on the blog. But I'll keep working on that. 

Hope your November days have been lovely!

Slowly Growing a Green Thumb: Reflections of My First Summer Garden

I've brought up before about how I've always longed for a garden. There's something so lovely to me about the idea of growing your own food, spending a little time in the dirt, enjoying the sweet spring and summer air. I daydreamed about it and pictured all the canning I would do from our own garden growing on this tiny lot of land. Well, summer is over... and I'm not totally disappointed, but growing more vegetables wasn't as easy as I was hoping it would be. 

This past summer was the first time we were able to have a raised bed garden at our home. And you know what, it got a little out of control. And it didn't produce as much as my dreams predicted. What did happen? Well, our plants got tall and leafy. Our tomatoes were later than I expected and I'm just now getting the peppers I was hoping for. 

I think that our road trip timing could have been better - we came back and I never caught up with the work that needed to be done in the beds. I think it is time for me to accept that our lot is a bit too shady for the large raised beds we made. And something needs to be done about it. I also can't "love that the deer walk right into our yard" and not expect them to eat all but three of my blueberries. 

I've had some more experienced gardeners tell me that with all the good compost we put in our beds that it might take a year for everything to really be ready to grow - that things are still decomposing and the nutrients weren't quite ready for the plants. 

The good thing is, now this first year of only "some growing" is on the books. I've learned a lot about preparing the raised beds and how to keep the critters out. I might know when to plan our next vacation as to not miss out on the crucial weeks of tomato plant growth. We also built and filled the beds, so now we can clean up this fall with preparing for the spring. This will give the garden all through the winter to sit and rest and hopefully be ready for planting and growing next season! 

Until then I believe I will just daydream of more blueberry bushes... which will most likely feed next year's local deer population. 

A Simply Lovely Sunday Thought {Back Behind the Lens}

This morning I got out the camera for one of those more "posed" types of photo sessions. And you know what, it felt incredibly nice.

Today I was especially excited, because these portraits were in celebration of our friends' baby boy turning one year old!

Which would of course also feature his proud big sister!

I loved spending today with those two little blondes and their very kind parents. {And my husband, the man with all the tricks to keep a three year old girl busy during brother's portion of the photo session... thank you J!} Thanks guys for the little push to put my camera to use :)

Saving Summer Produce: Tips for Freezer Meals

One task I've been taking on this summer is making meals ahead of time before heading back to work. Lucky for me I'm a teacher and I put in my year's worth of work and hours during about 10 months of the year. Between finishing a year of school, living an academic year, and preparing for a new school year about 10 months of my time is spent working and planning and thinking about some of my favorite people.


One bonus is that there are two months that I do not report daily to work. I can use this time to garden, vacation, and prepare our home for the year ahead. This summer I am attempting to pre-make many {freezer} meals for while school is in session. This will cut out the need of convenience foods to be purchased by our family. I'm sure we'll still buy bags of tortilla chips or the occasional frozen pizza. But I already know that one night a week I will dedicate my evening to meetings at work... this makes me want to try and save us some cooking/prep time and have a few meals ready to go.



Here are some tips I have concerning "freezer meals":

Consider what your family will eat - Often I want to have loads of variety for my family to choose from, but then I end up with prepared dinners that never just "sound good" in the moment to heat up. So if you know that pizza, chicken noodle soup, and lasagna will get eaten then maybe those are good meals to start with when you begin to make a dinner stash.

Consider who will be making these partially prepared meals - I make sure to have some meals that are simple for me to throw in a crock pot on my way out the door in the morning... this will be perfect for those nights that both I and my husband will be coming home just in time for dinner. I also am preparing a few things that will be finished in a way that is easy for my husband to get our dinner ready - such as 30 minutes in the oven or grilling chicken when he gets home from work.

Labeling - Be certain that you have properly labeled all meals. If any food in the freezer seems mysterious it may never be chosen for dinner.

In-depth Labeling - I'm serious about the labeling. I even write the cooking directions directly on my frozen meal packaging. This way if I'm not home my husband will still know what to do with the food he has selected for dinner. In fact this year I've added suggested thaw times and name items that we prefer to serve with those specific meals in case we need to check for  Parmesan cheese or tortillas prior to pulling out a certain dinner from the freezer.

Proper Storage -  Be sure to seal all containers and decrease any risk of freezer burn. Because no one will want to eat that...

Bulk Prepared Main Items - One idea I had was to pre-cook chicken to freeze. I have no other plan for this chicken currently, but knowing that I can pull out one or two chicken breasts from the freezer and have them thaw and be ready to add to any recipe I want will save lots of time when we're scrambling for a late dinner. We don't eat much beef at home but I'm sure if your family prefers a different type of meat you could make it work for you. I also chopped a few bags of peppers, tomatoes, and prepared corn for the freezer that will be easy to just throw in any type of dinner I select.

Consider your ingredients - I love using fresh summer produce in these meals that will be eaten in the fall and winter. There is just something special about taking a bite and enjoying that little taste of summer when it is cool and breezy outside. It also allows me to "use up" produce that we might not eat quickly enough if I didn't make it and save it for a different day.

Do you have any tips on making meals ahead of time?

How I Started to Simplify My Life

Are you feeling overwhelmed with your day to day life? Do you think you need to simplify your life? Simplifying your life is something that can happen. You just have to believe it and try to find something you are more comfortable with.

Sometimes the scariest step is the first one. The step that begins the roller-coaster of commitment. That first step is what made me take a few years of just thinking of ways I needed and wanted to change my life for the better. Maybe the speed of your life is perfect for you. And that is wonderful. I applaud you for already finding where you want to be. I hope we all can take steps to find health and happiness in our day to day.

I've thought lots about how to simplify my life to make it better (for me). It wasn't just about making the holidays more simple. It wasn't just about organizing my linen closet. Of course those things help... but they weren't the root of what I needed to change. I felt scattered and I felt everywhere all at once and not always in a good way. This is where I began to slow down, strip away the extras so that they would no longer complicate my lifestyle.

A Few Things I did to Simplify my Everyday Life...

Purging the Stuff
-I began by cleaning out boxes, drawers, shelves. I'm still cleaning out drawers, shelves, rooms and spaces. But it is important to me to know what I had and decide if I needed it. Of course then I donated (and am still donating) items that we do not need. I'm finding that the less I have the more I use the items I love.

Setting the Home
-I am slowly creating spaces we want to spend time in. Spaces that are more productive because there is less distraction. There is more room for thoughts, creativity, and the belongings that are important to us. I set spaces with specific feelings in mind. I consider how I want to spend time in those spaces and it is easy to know where to start.

Figuring Out the Finances
- I begun to make sound choices which simplified my spending and streamlined paying off our debt. Our family is aware of the money coming in and going out and how to pay off our current debt while trying not to make loads of new debt.

Losing the Drive
- I was in the car a lot. Now I work in walking distance of my home. I can bike to the library. We garden and our CSA program delivers to our home. We also find local places to fulfill our needs of services and where to buy our goods.

Learning to Say No
- I feel less overwhelmed when I identify only a few important tasks to do each day or evening. I say "no" or "wait" to everything else on my to-do list. And then I don't feel badly that I didn't accomplish more each day. I have found that this also provides me with some time to get to other tasks that I just simply enjoy.