Yogurt Tester

With official pronouncement from the yogurt tester, we can now call it good.

I made the recipe from A Year of Crockpotting. But I did change a few things. Since we can't get organic plain yogurt in town. I used vanilla pro-biotic Keifer. And since we can't get organic pasteurized/non-homogenized milk in town either. We bought milk from The Burbach's Countryside Dairy and it is lightly pasteurized not ultra like your bulk-jug milk.

I followed all the directions and in the morning we had a half gallon of our own homemade yogurt. That was an awesome feeling! Now I can use this yogurt as a starter for my next batch.

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Do you love mail??

I do this is what I got in the mail today:

TOAST and our seeds for our garden from Seed Savers!

After the kids went to be I alternated between TOAST, reading The Hummingbird's Daughter and knitting a baby blanket for a friend.

What a nice evening!


Here's some more Truman painting pictures:

Snowy Day

Outside, originally uploaded by TheYellowDoorPaperie.

On this day, where it was hailing and freezing rain on the way to work, let's remember what the branches looked like on a beautiful ice free day.

Stay warm!

*Ooo I made yogurt last night, a recipe from A Year of Crockpotting. Tonight I'm making granola so when that all gets done. I'll post about how happy my tummy is!

Popcorn

You all know that I’m about simple, affordable (read: cheap) and chemical-free. When my lovely friend Jayne told me about the thing that revolutionized my life, I knew I had to share it with all of you. Then... I forgot! So last Friday, while having a pizza and movie get together with some of my favorite friends this tip came back to me.

POPCORN. No popcorn lung involved. No butter, salt or sugar (Though you can add them if you want to)! I’ve made caramel corn out of this recipe and it works perfectly!

Ok here we go:

Naked Popcorn
1 Brown Paper Lunch Bag
1/4 Cup of Popcorn Kernels (we use the kind you can buy in the dry goods section of your store. It is usually one shelf up from the floor by the microwave popcorn)

Pour popcorn into the brown bag and fold over the top. Cook on your ‘popcorn’ cycle in your microwave or for about 2.5 minutes. All mircrowaves are different, so you’ll have to do a little investigating.

I then used Amy Karol’s caramel corn directions and made some for Christmas gifts. The kids loved it too.

Let me know if you do make this and if you have any hints!

Irresistible Joy

Bath Time, originally uploaded by TheYellowDoorPaperie.

Here is an irresistible photo, that my friend Wendy took. The kids play at her house during the week when I’m at work. And the kids love it. They’ve only been going a week, but they clap and sing on the way to her house. It makes my mommy-heart happy.

If you knew our kids, you’d know that they LOVE to take baths together. The tradition started over a year ago, play dates, usually in the evening ran over into bath time/bedtime. So they’d get bathed together, before going back home for bedtime. Then summer rolled around so pool trips, backyard water play and such ended in the bathtub as well.

This picture just captures the sheer joy they feel when they’re together.

And the joy I feel when looking about their sweet faces. It just cracks me up.

Hope you have a joy-filled start to your week!

Please and French Fry

Please and French Fry, originally uploaded by TheYellowDoorPaperie.

We have two new, very soft and quite small yellow burst of joy at our house. These wonderful ‘chickies’ came just after a whole 2 hours spent with Dad errand running and grocery shopping. While at the post office they heard the cheep-cheeping sound that only means one thing... Spring is on it’s way!

The crate had been sent to the post office, but not yet delivered to the hardware store in town. After work, the three came and picked me up and we went straight to visit the chicks. Just to see if they had made it out of the post office.

Isabel peered over the water trough filled with bedding, food water and a crop of little chickies, she whispered to them in a her sing-songy voice, “We’re going to take one of you home today...”

Truman just kept saying “Please!” and pointing at the chicks.

Their new names are Please and French Fry.

So give a warm welcome to the two newest member of the backyard farm (which for them is corner of the basement farm).

Painting with Truman

P1012739, originally uploaded by TheYellowDoorPaperie.

Earlier this week Truman and I were together, just the two of us and it wasn’t nap time.

It was actually kind of strange, I didn’t know what activity he would enjoy other than “Buh-knee” (Barney.... Um... No). He likes cooking with me, but it wasn’t meal time or anywhere close. I also didn’t want to have a huge mess to clean up. We sing, play block and drive around his Tonka truck for about 90% of our at home time.

“Truman, do you want to look in the craft closet.” This closet is usually semi-forbidden, due to the green marker stain from when he tried to make ‘grass’ with Isabel’s carpet.

His respose is an enthusiastic “YEAH.”

It used to be an affirmative uh-huh. But we’ve moved to bigger, better words. ‘Yeah’ is not one of my particular favorites, so I ask “You mean, ‘yes’?”
Truman’s Response: “YEAH”

He made a bee-line for the smaller wooden door in the hallway and flung the door open. He found the very well used and loved Hello Kitty coloring book-- the staples are no longer holding the pages together, and it has coloring on every page. He’s not a picky man, so he just opened up to the ‘bunny page’ and went to town with the crayons and water colors we’d gathered on the way back to the kitchen.

In expected Truman fashion, he got himself so dirty that he needed a bath and a clothes change.

Bath time did give us some more constructive playtime!

First Day at the park!

First Day at the park!, originally uploaded by TheYellowDoorPaperie.

It felt like the first day of spring yesterday, for one logical reason, we got to play at the park. For the first time all season, the snow had melted, the playground had dried and the weather was above freezing (41 to be exact)! O and the chickens? They've come out of their hibernation as well. They are all healthy and ready for spring too. Too bad a snow storm is on its way. Spring will have to wait.









A few days ago it was warm enough to play outside in just sweatshirts!



Wishing you a warm and sun-shiny day.

What are you doing outside today?

Valentines Day

Valentines Day, originally uploaded by TheYellowDoorPaperie.

We spent Valentines morning with our best little friends, the sun shining, the birds were singing and the pancakes and coffee flowing. Miss Mary Pancakes, with a little tint of pink for the special day. Valentines traded. Yes, there were smiles all around.

Truman a ‘cheese’ and scene stealer, giggling at the girls and their new hair-do’s and the impromptu photo shoot that followed.



















Truman ate everyone else's leftover pancakes and then wanted Wendy's palm to be his plate. Lucky Wendy.

Here are some sweet smiles....

Her self picked-out outfit. So very Isabel....



Truman's new love, pianos:



Truman's forever love, food:

One, one and one....

One, one and one cookies, originally uploaded by TheYellowDoorPaperie.

These are those recipes that you need in your back pocket for guests or gifts that need to have been made... um... yesterday.

We call them:

One, One, One cookies.
1 cup peanut butter (homemade, crunchy, natural, smooth... whatever).
1 cup sugar (raw, brown, white... again... whatever)
1 egg (don't forget this ingredient... see story below)

There are three main ingredients and a bunch of add-in potential.

I added about a 1/4 cup of milled flax seed and about a 3/4 cup of chocolate chips... yum!


I made these for a dear friend, and proudly pregnant-about-to-pop Mama, and forgot to add the egg. The result was tasty but, more like um, moonsand. Though... Sandier. Did you know egg was a binder? Ahem.

So a pan of rice krispy treats saved the day. Another 3 ingredient wonder!

Valentines day and the Plain White T's

I just couldn't wait to share this video with all of you! My friend Taylor and his girlfriend, Hyun-Ee are in the Plain White T's Video! They took a trip to Chicago in December and though we missed them on New Years Eve, they got to be in this video!

Isabel and I have been talking about Valentines day and what it means. I said it was a day all about love. So we do things for people we love. I started knitting a skirt for our favorite doggie friend Lupe, because I love her. We make Valentines for people because we love them. We sing songs about love... I got stuck after three and two of the three are songs Grandma used to sing to us. Do you have any good suggestions for valentines songs or kids songs about love? We’re not super into top 40 around this house.

Dinner and a Movie.

That’s what we have planned for this valentines day.

At home.

It is the most romantic/familiar place in the world, right? And like the rest of the country, we’re broke. I was thinking about ideal movies to ensure a charming date.


Want to spend Valentines day on the top of the Empire state building? Watch this Carey Grant and Deborah Kerr classic, An Affair to Remember. Make a fancy meal, like this “No Nightmare” Beef Wellington from epicurious.com.

Bring out the white table cloth, candles, the silver. Set the mood for your evening with some pink Champagne and some yummy appetizers.

What to make for dessert? How ‘bout cream puff dessert like grandma used to make? A little chocolate and raspberry sauce and you’ll be toasting your way into a perfect valentines day.

If this doesn’t work for you, do what we usually do for valentines day. Grill a steak or two. Pay an arm and a leg to get asparagus in the winter, make a really great salad like a butter leaf with raspberry vinaigrette and candied walnuts (See below for the real recipe). Pop whatever bottle of wine or bubbly that’s in the cupboard (or whatever vodka plus varied juicy-juice is hanging around) and watch a movie that will make us both laugh or forgo the movie for um.... Well you know. (:

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Walnut and Strawberry Salad:

So you have all the stuff you need:

• 3/4 cup walnuts or almonds
• 1 head of butter lettuce (our market has this locally grown kind... I like it!)
• 6 large strawberries (save the others for your desert)
• 1 diced tomato
• 1 shredded carrot (yummy crunch)
• 1/4 cup sliced red onion
• 1/4 cup olive oil (extra for the walnuts)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2-4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• A squirt or spoonful of Horseradish Sauce
• A few good shakes of garlic salt
• Ground black pepper

What to do next:

1. Place the nuts in a skillet over medium heat. After well coated sprinkle with brown sugar. Cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until lightly browned. Too long and you'll ruin the pan and your tasty topping.
2. Let the nuts dry and cool down on a plate.
3. In a large bowl, toss the toasted walnuts or almonds, lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, carrots, and red onion.
4. In a large jar with a lid, mix the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, Horseraddish, and pepper. Seal jar, and shake to mix.
5. To serve, drizzle with the dressing... OOOooo so good. 

You’ve heard me rave about spring pad right? The place where my brain resides on the internet?

They have a bunch of new tools that make planning your holiday season, weather you go with Beef Wellington and Delicious Carey Grant, or you snuggle up to a regular evening at home to watch whatever is on PBS. You can organize it there. They have this new planner for your date nights, it'll take any clipping from any webpage can be filed so easy!!

Recipes and restaurants, movie lists. Whatever you want to remember you can find a home for it at springpad. If you use it, tell me what you think! I got a few friends at work hooked too and we all use it totally different.

Stress Relivers.... I NEED THEM!

I was just taking a stroll through the land of my brain and I think I need to relieve stress in my life. So, I found this article very interesting. 52 Stress Relievers.

These are the ones I should focus on:

1. Get up fifteen minutes earlier in the morning. The inevitable morning mishaps will be less stressful.
2. Prepare for the morning the evening before. Set the breakfast table, make lunches, put out the clothes you plan to wear, etc.
3. Don't rely on your memory. Write down appointment times, when to pick up the laundry, when library books are due, etc.

12. Eliminate (or restrict) the amount of caffeine in your diet.

17. Say "No!" Saying "no" to extra projects, social activities, and invitations you know you don't have the time or energy for takes practice, self-respect, and a belief that everyone, everyday, needs quiet time to relax and be alone.

18. Unplug your phone. Want to take a long bath, meditate, sleep, or read without interruption? Drum up the courage to temporarily disconnect.

20. Simplify, simplify, simplify. . .

22. Get up and stretch periodically if your job requires that you sit for extended periods.

24. Get enough sleep. If necessary, use an alarm clock to remind you to go to bed.
25. Create order out of chaos. Organize your home and workspace so that you always know exactly where things are. Put things away where they belong and you won't have to go through the stress of losing things.

28. Try the following yoga technique whenever you feel the need to relax. Inhale deeply through your nose to the count of eight. Then, with lips puckered, exhale very slowly through your mouth to the count of 16, or for as long as you can. Concentrate on the long sighing sound and feel the tension dissolve. Repeat 10 times.

33. Learn to live one day at a time.

43. Use your weekend time for a change of pace.

45. Do one thing at a time. When you are with someone, be with that person and with no one or nothing else.

46. Allow yourself time - everyday - for privacy, quiet, and introspection.

49. Don't forget to take a lunch break.