Busy Day

Boys had a day off and I decided to join them today.  Some time was spent playing with dehydrator recipes, more time spent as a taxi and finally some time spent on stitching.

Food

Yesterday I spent time dehydrating pears we got at Costco Sat.  Good thing I didn’t wait as they were ripe and perfect for slicing.  They don’t have much of a taste dried though.  Not like a Granny Smith or Braeburn apple.  I also dried Pink Lady apples Sat.  They are ok but I prefer the other two apples.  I want to try a Honey Crisp – I hope they are yummy dried.

Today I made kale chips using the dorito popcorn topping I found last year.  I may have cooked them a bit too long but they are nice and crunchy and very tasty.  Much rather spend under $4 for kale and have enough for 3-4 store bought bags than spend the $$ on the store bought.

Its been fun dehydrating foods.  Im waiting to see what my electric bill is at the end of the month to see just how much is being spent running the dehydrator.

Stitching

I still have a floating sheep head.

oh and most of the boarder completed on Wisdom.

On DL’s blanket there needs to be more adjustment to the stripes.  I think instead of having double reds mixed in, all red stripes need to be single.

 

See if the purple will come out and play more that way.  It’s a good time to pause as I can keep what has been hooked so far and work it into the pattern.

Thinking Spring

Forgive me but I must get up and do a little jig.  Boys and I had the semi-annual visit to the Dentist and everyone came out with gold stars.  As a mom I couldnt be happier and as a person who had a few cavities/fillings when I was as old as my kids are now I am so proud and very grateful they havent gone down that road.  Im sure it will happen someday but Im hoping its many years away.

Garden

And the season has started! The greenhouse and seeds have been ordered and I will be working out the planting schedule and how best to get seeds started.  Brain plan is to get most of the early spring crops started as soon as possible (peas, chard, spinach and whatever else we have) so we can have an early crop and then get the tomatoes, tomatillo, sweet peppers, bell peppers and all the rest started and the garden ready for planting.

Im on the lookout for organic or non-treated straw bales to use as a border (raised bed) that we will have planting soil in the middle.  The thought is this will be much cheaper than a bunch of lumber normally used for raised beds.  I also want a few strictly for growing squash, no dirt between, just prep the bale, plant the seeds, water and watch them grow.  Ive read in a few places that bales are a great growing medium for squash and as we had issues last year Im up for trying something different.

Food

More noms in the dehydrator!  Yesterday it was pineapple.  1 pineapple took 7 trays but I could have easily processed 2.  Took 12 hrs (I chopped up rather small-ish bites) and they are very yummy. 

Tonight is for bananas.  Boys and I tackled 10 bananas and filled 7.5 drawers and the house smells like bananas.  Its not as holiday-ish like the apples and oranges or the pineapple but we will have dried bananas in the morning.  Taste testing how different and hopefully better than the fried ones Ive been getting at the store. 

The bananas, like everything Ive done, have no additives, dips or sweeteners.  Ive read that lemon or even pineapple dip is good to help keep the bananas from browning but a lemon banana?  nope.  Pineapple banana has its possibilities.  I wanted to at least try a plain dried banana and see how it goes before adding extras.

Cat

I shall leave this post with a pic of the resident goof-ball.

Loki is a very whiney cat.  Will start when walking down the hall and straight into the room anyone may be in.  A new thing to help shut him up is to grab him and drop him behind my back on my office chair.

He will stay there as long as I don’t ‘squish’ him too much.  And he stays quiet!

Im trying the ‘box on the desk’ trick now but not sure how well it will work.  He is busy marking the box (face rubs) and being very vocal about the whole process.

*Update*  the box lost and he climbed behind me on the chair.  Strange feline.