20 Chore Tuesdays, The Thankful Edition

Last year Vermont was hit with the full wrath of Irene. In the aftermath, we heard lots of commentary about how the storm was "hyped" and jokes about hurrication days off from school and work. Meanwhile in Vermont towns went weeks without power and the citizens banded together to help each other. (And some cute babies were made- including ours. Read here.)

So today... today I am thankful. Thankful that we didn't need our bathtubs full of water or the food or flashlights or our full tanks of gas. Thankful that Vermonters took the storm seriously and got ready. I am also thinking about our friends and family in other areas. I was glued to the laptop until late into the night last night hoping that everyone was okay, thinking about the NICU babies being evacuated (my son was a NICU baby 8 years ago), and wishing that some folks treating this like a joke didn't have to learn such hard lessons to realize that preparedness is important!

Meanwhile, in Vermont... this is what my house looks like...

Hurricane Prep was a priority and loads of laundry where done in a mad rush in case the power went out.  

Link up to 20 Chore Tuesday: 

Today I Need To:

* Send out emails to potential Twitter Party Panelists.

* Send out full document to those who confirm.

* Send holiday images in for use on our Pinterest/Facebook for Traveling Mom Party Promotion.

* Type up a client invoice & deduct hours from check paid.

* Fold laundry. (times about 5)

* Put away laundry.

* Put sheets on bed. My husband already did this.

* Wash dishes.

* Put away dishes in strainer.

* Put away clean dishes in dishwasher.

* Turn fridge and freezer temps back up.

* Make a casserole with the cooked hamburger meat. Ended up making Cheeseburger Risotto per special request. "Chee-bur sotto peez?" Husband actually finished cooking it while I ran to get the kids.

* Wash and sanitize pump parts.

* Empty out pantry so my husband can put up shelves this week. His back is all funky so we decided to save this for another day.

* Make sauerkraut. 

* Empty off canning table so I can put pantry contents on it.

* Bring out recycling.

* Can the delicata squash.

* Generally neaten the living room. 

* Put legos upstairs in Yasmina & Sohayla's room and bring down something else.

* Work on front hallway area- I need to put out hats/mittens etc and neaten. 

* Load dishwasher. 

* Say hi and comment to all other 20 Chore Tuesday folks.

UPDATE: I ended up scrapping a lot of this when I realized Yasmina needed a Halloween costume. A little time later and some late night sewing machine time and yay! Costume accomplished.

Good luck to all and I hope you are staying safe and warm!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars AKA Party In Your Mouth

Pinterest viewing can be fattening to your health. I saw a picture on Pinterest of a Chocolate Peanut Bar (they called it a Reese's bar but I really don't want to be sued by Reese's since it contains no actual Reese's) and it reminded me of my Starbucks days. I worked at Starbucks for six years. It was a great job in college and I have fond memories of sitting down after a shift with a hot cocoa and a chocolate peanut butter bar to study. Plus the recipe called for graham cracker crumbs, which leads me to the question- Why the heck are crumbs sold in such big boxers? I was more than happy to use up the rest of the box I had on these. I think it was originally from a cheesecake a few years ago.

The original recipe can be found on Let's Dish Recipes. 

I adapted it slightly to use up some extra Hershey bars from s'more season and after doing the first batch realized I would halve the amounts of the peanut butter layer to make a more balanced bar. Also, I make it in a square Pyrex not the 9*13 that was originally recommended. This recipe is by no means a healthy recipe so it's best made when you know it will be shared. Otherwise (if you're like me) you'll just grab a piece every time you open the fridge. 

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup peanut butter (I spray the measuring cup with cooking spray so the pb slides out.)

1 cup confectioner's sugar

4 Hershey bars (1.55 oz bars) broken up into the squares

1 more large spoonful of peanut butter (roughly 2 TBS)

1. Melt the butter in a microwave or pan. In a bowl mix the melted butter, 1/2 cup of peanut butter, confectioner's sugar and graham cracker crumbs and stir until well mixed into a paste. Spray a square glass pan (9*9) with cooking spray then line the bottom with the paste. Even out the top so it is as smooth as possible. 

2. In a microwave safe bowl heat the pieces of Hershey bar and the large spoonful of peanut butter until the bars are melt-y. Stir and put back in for a few more seconds if you feel like it's not smooth enough. Just be careful, burnt chocolate does not taste good! Spread the chocolate peanut butter mixture on top of the peanut butter layer and smooth out the top.

3. Put the pan in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Cut into squares and eat with friends! Beware they are addictive! I have found that storage in the fridge is best but taking them out and setting them on the counter for 5 minutes makes them easiest to cut. 

And yes I keep a fork & knife in the pan for ease of eating :) The fact that this many remain 4 days after I made them is a testament to my willpower.

I always have lots of help eating them.... 

20 Chore Tuesday- Paperwork & Not Enough Time

I feel like I've already wasted hours of the day. The baby was up at 6am but the toddler slept late so I'm just now getting back from bringing them to daycare. Time to get rolling.

Paperwork

1. Send in timesheets.

2. Answer emails & messages about meetings this week.

3. Send Twitter party management email.

4. Update family calendar.

5. Find baby's social security card. (When it came in the mail my toddler saw it and colored on it. So I hid it in a "safe" place. Now I can't find it.) Still looking for this!!! AAARRGHHH!

6. Finish paperwork that needs said social security info. Filled out except for the stupid social. 

7. Apply for insurance. This no health insurance thing is getting really old and my husband's work has still not sent any info on COBRA. This was a hugely long ridiculously stupid ordeal. Grr.

8. Prepare bill payments to send for internet & plow. 

Class

9. Read this week's reading. 

10. Print last week's presentation and put in binder with the notes I took.

Errands

11. Buy shelving for pantry.

12. Buy potty treats. 

13. Costco (Thursday)

14. Post office. 

15. Soda Stream Cartridge Replacements (Thursday)

16. Changing Table to Kids Resale Store (Plans changed on this one since we need a friend to help my husband get it downstairs. It's too heavy for just me and him.)

Kitchen

17. Load dishwasher with canning jars & run right before using them.

18. Puree roasted butternut squash & put in freezer pints. 

19. Make list for Costco.

20. Hang onions to dry.

21. Compost out to heap.

22. Start some soups.

Normally I would say- time to drink coffee. However, the dog tipped over my mug so now I get to say 23. Clean stain out of carpet.

A Trip For Mom- Getting the Family Ready

Business travel. It was a part of my vocabulary for so long that it was just called "work". It was my version of Up In The Air. I had miles and stayed one night in each city. Some days I wake up to my life now and have truly realize how different they are. Next month this mama will go on a business trip to Dallas for the Family Travel Conference and where my travel used to be the norm there are more kids involved now and we're out of practice so I've already thought about what I need to do to get ready.

Plan meals and snacks. My husband is capable of food preparation so I don't want to insinuate that I think that all men left to their own devices need meals left so the kids eat something other than Cocoa Puffs. However, as any parent of a baby and a toddler can attest to when they outnumber you it's best to have a plan in place. For breakfasts I fill little microwave safe tupperware containers with 1/4 cup of oatmeal (from bulk) each, add 1/2 cup water, microwave, stir in a spoon full of Nutella & boom the toddler has breakfast. Another favorite is pancakes so whenever I make a batch I take a few extra, freeze them, and then bag them up. A minute in the microwave and they're ready to go. Snacks are portioned out into plastic containers in the pantry so they can be handed immediately to cranky toddlers, especially handy when you're simultaneously feeding a baby. For dinners, I'll be stocking my freezer with Homemade Freezer Burritos & Kale Chicken Burritos for my husband and frozen gnocchi for the toddler.  Round this all out with freezer biscuits and a couple loaves of homemade bread and they'll make it out fed and sane.

Clean out the car & preload it with "going out" stuff. The brave man that he is my husband brings the kids out into public. He and I have both realized that behaviors tend to be better when our kids are out and about. The car will be cleaned out and I'll be leaving a tote of water, snacks, extra hats & mittens, a change of clothes for everyone (including him), and the handy dandy child entertainment center that I created out of one of those "as seen on tv" wonderfiles. Add a baby carrier and our Maclaren Traveler stroller base to that and he is ready to go anywhere.

Make a list for myself and keep updating it. Start packing my suitcase. True confession, I am a last minute packer. I may have lists and ideas but I start chucking things in a suitcase the day I leave. I know that I can't do this anymore. It used to be fine for me to run around like a maniac last second but now it stresses the kids out. So, if I want an easy exit I need to stay on target and start putting things in the suitcase as I think of them. If it's something I'll need before the trip I need to add it to my list so I remember to pack it later.

Let folks know I'll be out of town. Call it some kind of crazy gender stereotype but when I head out of town and folks know it my husband is inundated with offers of assistance. Mysteriously when my husband heads off for multiple days this does not happen for me.... extensive research must be done on this anomaly.

Set up the "battle station". This one is definitely specific to our family but our home is three small floors. The bottom one is one large room with a bathroom that we use as a guest area/play area. The dog and rabbit cages are down there as is a couch and bed. When one person goes out of town a lot of times we use this space to "hunker down" with the kids. It's like a mini vacation. We put outfits in the drawers down there, diapers and potty accessories are set up down there, the pack and play is opened up and toys are set out. Then everyone can sleep in the same room and eyes are on both kids at all times.

What do you do when you travel without your family?

20 Chore Tuesday- CANSTRAVAGANZA!

It's an October Miracle folks. The whole household stayed in bed until 830a this morning. This NEVER happens. EVER. (Happy dance.) This was aided by the fact that I don't need to go into the roasters like I usually do on Tuesday's. Now as I bring myself back down to reality I remember that I have two giant bins of apples on my front porch that need to be addressed. Last weekend we did a truckload apple sale and since most of the apples are drops they need to be used up very quickly before they go mushy. These are not pretty pie apples. These are serious canned for winter applesauce and apple butter apples. On Sunday my husband and I processed 42 pounds of apples. We need to do about twice that today. (Click the button below to link up!)



Kitchen (it's got to be clean to can)

1. Run dishwasher and put dishes away.
2. Take the 800 million jars of stuff that I've canned and put it on the kitchen table so the counters are clear.
3. On a related note- have husband measure pantry for shelves. (Yes, I am aware that this was on my list about 3 Tuesdays ago but it never got done.)
4. Wash pots and pans in sink. Thank you to my husband for doing this :)

Apple-related

5. Send a few flats of jars through the dishwasher to prep them.
6. Have husband start peeling a large quantity of apples. (As a general rule 1/3 of the apple is "waste weight". We peeled 42 pounds of apples the other day- this yielded 28 lbs of recipe ready apple matter.) 71.5 lbs done total!
7. Can the apple butter out of the crockpot so that I can start more applesauce in there.
8.Wishful thinking- get 21 lbs of apples through the crockpot in 3 batches today for applesauce. 7 lbs processed & done, 7 lbs in, last 7 lbs is in!
9. Wishful thinking- 31 1/2 lbs of apples into apple butter today. (3 big batches, 3 half batches) 7 lbs processed and done (The large batch came out more like applesauce so I transferred it into my applesauce count!)
10. Post Maple Spiced Apple Butter blog.
11. Post Pumpkin Pie Spice Blog.
12. Inventory spices. I know I'm low on some & need to do a bulk run soon.

More Canning (That's why I call it Canstravaganza!) This will probably all happen Wednesday am as Canstravaganza continues....

13. Leek & Potato Soup
14. Persian Onion Soup
15. Start draft of onion soup blog post.
16. Skim purple cabbage sauerkraut. Can it if it's ready. Not quite ready yet!
17. Start green cabbage sauerkraut.

The Household

18. Run laundry.
19. Wash toddler's sheets. Remake her bed immediately.
20. Fold laundry.
21. Put away laundry.
22. Money stuff- check bank accounts. Gather bills. Pay bills.
23. Pick up farm share.

Yup. It's canning madness up in here. No need to build a fire. It will be roughly the same temperature as a tropical island shortly.

Butternut Squash Maple Herb Soup

Vermont is crazy about maple. I am crazy about both maple and Vermont. I love cooking with maple. At the roasters we are lucky to be the only purveyors of Brannagan's Maple Syrup. This wood-fired goodness is super rich and bottled in glass the same day it is made. Just looking at the bottle makes me itch to cook with it. After I roasted three whole butternut squash I decided to can some soup for winter. I made an Apple Squash Curry soup and then I decided to make another variety.

This one is also vegan but relies more on traditional squash flavorings like sage and thyme. I can't wait to pop one of these open in January when my house looks like this:

It may be hard to see but the bottom glow is our door, the top one is our skylight. And yes those snowbanks are halfway up the trees in front of our house.

You will need:

2 lbs roasted butternut squash (about 2 cups)

6 cups vegetarian stock (I use a Vegetarian "Chicken" Broth powder, 1 tsp per cup of water)

a few sage leaves crumbled up (or 1/2 TBS ground sage)

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 TBS dried thyme

3 TBS maple syrup

This soup could not be easier to make. I promise. 

Puree the squash so that it's smooth. 

Put the squash into a stockpot. Add the maple syrup.

Crumble up some sage leaves and add them along with the thyme, salt, and pepper.

Add the 6 cups of broth. Stir the squash and broth together until mixed. Simmer for 20-30 minutes. 

Serve or can for later. 

If you're canning it make sure to use clean, hot sterilized jars. Fill the jars leaving about 3/4" of headspace. Wipe the rim and threads and top with clean sterilized NEW lids and a clean ring tightened (but don't be the Hulk). The soup will need to be pressure canned at 11 lbs of pressure (I do 15 since I have a weighted canner) for 55 minutes. Be sure that after they are done you leave them undisturbed for 24 hours on the counter so that you can double check that they sealed. After this point you can remove the rings and store them for up to a year. 

Apple Curry Squash Soup

Autumn is here in Vermont. Actually, technically it's practically over. Peak foliage has passed. Leaves are on the ground and snow has already hit the mountain tops. Which means it is prime soup weather. I love soup. A bowl of it with slices of homemade bread is one of my very favorite lunches.

I also love to can. There is something about hoarding mason jars that makes me really happy. As I follow USDA regulations I don't can anything with dairy so the two soups I made this week are all vegan and very healthy as I also didn't use any oil.

You will need:

2 lbs (about 2 cups) roasted butternut squash (Check out my post on easily roasting a squash whole.)
1 lb of apples, sectioned but not peeled (Macintosh or another squishy saucing apple works best)
1/2 cup sliced red onions
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 TBS curry powder
6 cups vegetarian stock (I use a Vegetarian "Chicken" Flavored powder, 1 tsp per cup)

Chop apples leaving the skins on. Slice onions and mince garlic. Put it all into a stockpot and saute using the cider vinegar. (If you wanted to you could substitute in a little oil here.) The apples will start getting a little squishy. This means you are ready to puree.

Puree the apples, onions, and garlic. Add 1 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp pepper to the puree and mix. 

Return the puree to the pan and heat.

Add the 6 cups of stock into the apple puree. 

Puree 2 cups of squash until smooth and add to the pan. Stir in well.  

Add curry into pan and mix in. 

Simmer the soup over low until slightly reduced for about 20 minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary (curry usually has salt in it so I always undersalt then taste it to avoid a salt-tastrophe!). 

If you're serving it right away then dish it out and enjoy with some bread!

If you're canning it make sure to use clean, hot sterilized jars. Fill the jars leaving about 3/4" of headspace. Wipe the rim and threads and top with clean sterilized NEW lids and a clean ring tightened (but not cranked on too tight). The soup will need to be pressure canned at 11 lbs of pressure (I do 15 since I have a weighted canner) for 55 minutes. Store for up to a year to enjoy on cold winter days.

                                       

Butternut Squash Casserole with Candied Bacon & Almonds

Butternut Squash Casserole with Candied Bacon & Almonds AKA Pie for Dinner

I love Thanksgiving. First, I like to cook so it's like my version of the Superbowl. Second, I love pumpkin and squash pies. This is a "pie" casserole. Basically this could be made as a breakfast, dinner, or dessert. I put bacon on it and serve it for dinner. The way I figure it there are two pounds of squash in here so it counts as healthy right? (Ok, I know it's not "healthy" but it is awesome.) This casserole style is really common in the South but I've cut out large amounts of butter and sugar that are normally used. You can make this vegetarian by eliminating the bacon topping.

You will need:

2 lbs (roughly 2 cups) of butternut squash, roasted (look at my post on roasting a whole squash)
3 eggs
2 TBS maple syrup
1/3 cup packed brown sugar plus an additional 4 TBS (2 for sprinkling the casserole, 2 for bacon)
4 TBS butter
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp ground clove
1 tsp kosher salt
4 slices bacon (optional)
1/3 cup almonds, chopped

Puree 2 cups of butternut squash.

Add 3 eggs and 2 TBS of maple syrup (I use Grade B) and blend.

Add 4 TBS (1/2 stick of butter) and puree. You could melt it first but my squash was still warm and I was lazy. 

Add 1/3 cup brown sugar and blend (not pictured). Add spices and blend.

Pour batter into a casserole dish that's been buttered or sprayed with cooking spray.

Sprinkle the top with 2 TBS of brown sugar. It helps to form a nice crackly crust and put in a 350 degree oven for 45-60 minutes. 45 minutes will yield a softer more pudding like texture. 60 minutes will be a little fluffier and drier. 

Cover a cookie sheet in tinfoil (trust me- the sugar carmelizes and you do not want to clean that pan!). Sprinkle the 4 slices of bacon with the remaining 2 TBS of brown sugar. 

Use the back of a spoon to squish the sugar onto the bacon. Put it in the oven with the casserole for 8-10 minutes keeping an eye on it so it doesn't burn.  

As soon as it comes out of the oven start peeling it off the tinfoil or it will stick  in a major way! Break it into little pieces.

Chop up your almonds. 

Pull your beautiful finished casserole out of the oven. It should have a nice crust on top. 

Dish out into bowls and top with bacon and almonds. Enjoy! 

How to Roast a Whole Butternut Squash

Ah, butternut squash. I appreciate it's flavor but it has a skin like a coat of armor. Have you ever tried to cut into a butternut squash? Let alone peel it? It's hard! There is a lot of swearing involved, sometimes blood, and then it never ends up on my menu. Is there a good way to peel butternut squash? The answer is yes! Peel it after you roast it whole, it will be the easiest butternut squash prep you've ever done. This discovery changed my life, I love to can and it opened up entire avenues to easy squash soups.

Excuse the absence of a before picture of the squash. I got carried away and forgot, then a discussion on Facebook over creative commons ensued and my friend Tiffany graciously posed some squash and texted me the picture. Sadly, I am not clever enough to figure out how to get the picture off the phone and onto this post so if you don't know what an uncooked butternut squash looks like visualize a large tan bowling pin looking object with a fat base. Or google it.

Turn your oven to 450. Wash the squash off really well. Plan to cook a couple at a time. There is no reason to run the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes for one squash. I did three that were about 2 1/2 pounds each.

I had already taken one out here, but I put them fat end to short end & over the cookie sheet.

Place a baking sheet on the lower rack under where the squash will go. Place the squash directly on the rack above. Do not poke them or halve them or anything. I promise they won't explode in your oven. They will naturally split to release steam and any juices will drip onto the tray. I just gave my rack a little wipe after and it was good as new.

Roast them for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Shut the oven off and crack open the oven door. Let them sit for another hour-ish. This is important. Otherwise you will be cursing me while you try to handle hot squash. Just trust me- don't bust open a steaming hot squash.

Get together one large bowl and two smaller ones. After the hour of rest take one out gently. They are roasted so you want to handle them gently to avoid unintentional breakage. If you cannot comfortably pick up the squash with your hands, it didn't cool off enough. Give it a few more minutes. Picture time!

Stand up the squash in a bowl.

The skin will flake off super easily. I just threw it in our compost bin. The top stem part will also break right off.

After you've peeled it, whack the whole neck part off down to the fat base. There are no seeds in this part.

Gather your cooked squash in a large mixing bowl.

Now you're down to the seed part. They'll be really easy to spot because they'll be surrounded in fluorescent orange stringy matter. Scoop it all out carefully. 

Put that in a different bowl. You can rinse these in a strainer later and roast the seeds if you wish. Because they have already  been cooked they just need a quick broil for crunch.

Now just peel of the rest of the skin from the bottom part and put the flesh in the mixing bowl. Repeat with the rest of your squash. You lose the least amount of water weight from the squash this way. The 3 squash I roasted yielded about 7 1/2 pounds of cooked squash. You can mash it with a spoon or puree it and store it for later use in the fridge.

Feeling motivated? Check out my other squash recipes that I made out of this puree for Apple Curry Squash Soup, Squash Maple Herb Soup or Butternut Squash Casserole with Candied Bacon and Almonds (this one is just an excuse to eat pumpkin pie-ish goodness for dinner).

#Give500 Things Challenge

We are (hopefully) living in our forever house. Since 1999 I did not live in the same place for longer than 18 months. Then in November 2010 we closed on our house. I plan on being buried in the back yard, because I AM NEVER MOVING AGAIN. I hate it, the packing, the unpacking... just kidding I basically never unpacked. And even though we've been in this house for nearly two years there are still a few boxes that need to be unpacked and things that need to be gone through.

I am what I refer to as a "well-intentioned hoarder". It's the artistic side in me. I see an old sweater and think- "I could totally felt that and make something with it". Old kids clothes are potential quilt squares, toilet paper tubes are art projects and of course you should save twist ties and rubber bands? I mean you might need them! I need this challenge in a bad way.

Basically the idea is to commit yourself to getting rid of 500 things. I've been starting slowly but now that the post is up and public I'm going to pick up steam. I will get rid of 500 things by Thanksgiving. And on Thanksgiving I will sit with my family and be thankful that I have less possessions cluttering my house.

Come back and visit me here as I build my list of items I've gotten rid of.... local to VT and looking for something? Maybe I have it.... drop me a comment.

Feel free to join the challenge and link up:

Join in the challenge to #Give500 things away!

* Baby Einstein Sign Language DVD
* Playtex breast pump that I never ended up using

* 2 maternity sweaters
* 16 books
* dog Halloween hippo costume :)

20 Chore Tuesday, Playing Catch Up!

I feel a little guilty posting today since I haven't posted anything else all week. It was a busy one. I've been picking up more work at the roasters with my husband out of work and still juggling other clients and my hours at the recovery center. Usually the weekend is a time to catch up a bit but this weekend was full of festivals. Saturday I was at Jay selling coffee and Sunday I went into the shop to help during a massive influx of tourists. Monday morning I accomplished more before I went to work than I did all weekend!

We're on a grocery "diet" this month. I have $100 set aside "just in case" but we are eating our farm share veggies and items from the pantry and freezers this month. I am trying not to go grocery shopping. A lot of my chores today need to involve inventorying items and making new sheets for the freezer doors. (We have one upright freezer in our utility room). Link up below at Joyful Abode!



1. Bake the bread that proofed overnight.
2. Fold laundry in dryer.
3. Run new load of laundry.
4. Fold load of laundry.
5. Run sheets.
6. Put sheets back on bed!
7. Pack daycare bag.
8. Wash diapers tonight after school.
9. Hours at roasters.
10. Send in timesheet.
11. List of pantry closet items.
12. Inventory jars and cans ahead of this Saturday's truckload apple sale.
13. Pull together all apple recipes. Make list of any spices I need.
14. Take NY Sour Deli Pickles I've been making out of tub and can them. Done Wednesday am, we may have eaten some for breakfast :)
15. Pick up farm share.
16. Peel carrots.
17. Make hot cocoa mix. (I was craving this last night- it's an Alton Brown recipe with powdered milk and it's delicious!) Darn it all- no powdered sugar in the pantry so this will have to wait. FOUND IT! DONE!
18. Bring some wood in. (We had our first hard frost last night and I think tonight might be our first fire.)
19. Family calendar time. We used to have a set schedule but now with me working more, my husband home more, EMR classes & composting classes we need to keep things organized. Husband and I sat down this morning and got this banged out. 
20. Figure out something to leave out for dinner since I'll be at class. Jokes on me, class doesn't start until next week. 

Forgot I had a conference call this afternoon! Luckily my calendar reminded me....

Coffee time!

20 Chore Tuesday- A New Family Rhythm

It's Tuesday again and my husband is still home and out of work. He's been diligently looking and goes in for a meeting with HR at one place today so we'll keep our fingers crossed. I've been sending him to help out as free labor at our CSA so that he gets to be active and he's been bringing me home giant boxes of extra produce they've been giving him. This weekend was completely dedicated to onion relish and pickle making but I had some girlfriends come over and in exchange for the reveal on my top secret recipe they helped out and it was fun.

We're in full fall foliage swing up here so I've been picking up more hours at the roasters. Staying open on Mondays is a new twist and I run over for a few hours some Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays since we have 30-40 person tours coming through those days.

I've found that there is a very specific pattern to Tuesdays- farm share pickup happens so I always try to clean out the fridge, I go to work, I do sheets, and make bread.



Emily at Joyful Abode hosts this little Tuesday gathering. LINK UP YOUR LISTS HERE!

A little peeved that washing Bear Grylls is on the list for today.

1. Write recipe blog post.
2. Pack daycare bag for the baby.
3. Run laundry.
4. Fold laundry.
5. Pick up farm share.
6. Clean out fridge.
7. Bake 2 loaves of bread.
8. Crockpot applesauce with the giant bag of apples I was gifted yesterday.
9. Make and can turkey chili. (If this doesn't happen today the turkey needs to go in the freezer.)
10. Label the pickles I canned and store them in pantry.
11. Measure the closet for the pantry shelving my husband said he'd put in for me.
12. Buy potty treats and some more training pants.
13. Wash the kiddos crib bedding and changing table pad, put it back on before bedtime!
14. Wash our sheets. (did the comforter last night)
15. Send in work hours.
16. Call AAA- why hasn't insurance packet come yet? Good thing I called, apparently the underwriters didn't reinstate our policy after getting pics of the woodstoves. So I did it today.
17. Put away laundry (because if it isn't a separate list item it would never happen).
18. Pick up breastfeeding sling I bought on Kid Swap.
19. Pack breast pump to go with me today.
20. Bring out compost to bin.
21. Cash checks.
22. Car payment.

Enjoying some coffee that I custom flavored yesterday- Chocolate Hazelnut, tastes like a cup of melted Nutella! (Note to self: On 3rd cup- stop drinking coffee!)