Freezing limes and ginger root

Who knew? you can freeze citrus fruits! I did not know this until I bought a bunch of limes. I got such a great deal, I got a little carried away. We used a bunch but there are still some left.

There are two different methods for freezing citrus fruits. Freeze them whole, or freeze the juice and rind.

The rind can be taken from the fruit and frozen in an a freezer bag.
The juice can be squeezed and poured into ice cube trays, frozen, then placed in freezer bags. It is recommended to measure the juice into 1 Tablespoon cubes for ease of use later on.

I chose to freeze the limes whole. Just pop them into a  ziptop style freezer bag and into the freezer they go. When you are ready to use them thaw a bit under running water, or thaw in the microwave for a few seconds on high.

As a side note:  The freezer changes the texture of the fruit, once frozen, it is only good for juicing or grating the rind. You can freeze lemons, limes, and oranges; then you will  have the juice or rind for your favorite dishes.

Ginger root, It is fabulous. Great in the winter for making tea when you are sick. When you are cooking asian dishes, it tastes so much better than the dried stuff. There is no comparison. I keep ginger in the freezer for just such uses.

Peel the root, the place in a resealable freezer bag. Keep in the freezer for up to a year.
When I need some grated ginger root, I pull it out of the freezer and grate off what I need. I make sure to put it right back in the freezer. Now you will always have "fresh" ginger when needed.





this post shared with penny pinching party

simple pleasures

Sometimes it is the simplest things that make us happy. Griddle toast is one of those things.  What is griddle toast? It is simply toast cooked the old fashioned way, before the advent of the toaster.

Griddle toast  also known as skillet toast  with fruit. It is one of my favorite breakfasts that we have while camping.
Griddle toast is sooooo easy and yummy.


To make griddle toast you will need

Bread
Butter
a griddle or a skillet

1. Heat the skillet or griddle over a medium high heat
2. Butter the bread on both sides
3. Place the bread  on the griddle
4. Cook about 2 minutes a side, until golden brown and toasty
watch the toast  closely so it does not burn.

It does take a bit more work than popping bread in the toaster, but the results are wonderful.  The butter is cooked into the bread, so you get a different flavor than just dry toast. Crisp and buttery yum. Try it as a weekend breakfast, or as an afternoon snack.

confessions of an emotional eater

I am an emotional eater!  It runs in the family. It is ingrained in me, and it is not an easy thing to overcome.  I overcame it for a while when I was single. I had lost 90 pounds in a year and a half. I was looking good and feeling good too. Over the last seven and a half years I have put back on 80 of those 90 pounds.  At the time, I used music as my medium for feeling and experiencing emotions. I had learned to use music instead of food. Instead of eating sweet stuff when feeling happy, I would listen to happy music. Instead of eating high fat, salty food when depressed, I listened to music that reflected that emotion. When I was feeling bored, sometimes cruchy food  was the answer, Sometimes it was creamy foods. When I felt those urges to eat those foods not because I was hungry; but feeling emotions, I used music. I found that I could divert my emotions with music and the cravings for food would pass. It was working for me.I was happy and healthy. I was eating good foods, I was loving myself. Life was at a good place. I did well with this for a year and a half, until I found the love of my life, my husband.

I found that spending time cultivating a relationship with my husband became more important that developing a relationship with myself. I loved taking care of him. I enjoyed making  those comfort foods that I knew he would like. I was enjoying the love that I felt from him. It was a good relationship. I was feeding my spirit well, yet forgot to feed my body. I forgot my mantra which was I EAT TO FUEL MY BODY, NOT TO FEED MY EMOTIONS! We were only married a short while when we found out we were pregnant.

Being pregnant is not easy on a body. I experienced alot of  sickness. It got to a point that I would eat "whatever I could tolerate". After coming out of pregnancy and food tasted good again, I found myself eating everything and anything. About a year later, I found out I was pregnant with another. We ended up having two more children.  Having three babies in the first 4 years of marriage became emotionally and physically draining.

I turned to food again. I was feeling stress. Stress was not one of those emotions that I felt on a regular basis when single. Life was easy when single. Once marriage and kids set in I was feeling stress quite often. I did not have the skills to deal with that emotion. It was so natural to go back to emotional eating. Life was busy, Finding time to take a shower was about the only time I had for me. Figuring out what you are feeling and finding music to match is not a high priority when there are three little ones needing all your time and attention. Life became a blur, and my eating became out of control again.

THE TURNING POINT

A few months ago, I heard a term "Carb Coma" I thought what are they talking about? Then I looked back in my life. I realized that I  have spent most of my life in a carb coma.  I used to describe is as a "Fat full feeling". Feeling full and totally satisfied, and content in your tummy. Whole grains and vegetables do not evoke that feeling. They leave you with a different feeling. They do not put you in that place. Sometimes I feel like I need to have that high fat, high sugar treat, I want to be in that place that it puts me; that carb coma.  I learned to live outside that place. I had to be content in other areas of my life not just in my stomach. I did it for a year and a half. What happened?

Old habits die hard! I have spent all of my life except that year and a half in a carb coma. It is a comfortable place to be. I can hide my emotions under the pillow of white foods, white bread, pasta, rice, cookies, cakes, french fries chips, etc. It is so much easier to bury the emotions than to feel them and deal with them. I still struggle with wanting to live in that carb coma place. I sill crave that "fat full" comfortable feeling. It is where I have lived most of my life. I am learning to be content and not just in my tummy. I am wanting to teach my children to do the same. I see my son, I hear him saying "I am still hungy" when there is food on his plate. It is telling me that he does not feel that carb coma. He will say "I am not hungry for that food" He wants the high fat, high carb foods. I do not want him to follow along these same patterns. Changing my patterns will change him. I will be the example for him. I will break the family cycle!

 I am on a journey to deal with emotions. I am on a quest to conquer the emotional eater inside. It is alot easier now that I have growing children instead of babies. The kids are big enough that they do not have to have constant supervision. Although my three year old still needs alot. I have found that blogging replaced the music that used help bring my emotions into focus. It is working for me at the moment. I am begining to be content and full in all areas of my life. I am able to let it come from life experiences rather than from my tummy. I am feeling fulfilled from the outside in. I am feeling real nourishment, and real fulfilment.

I am learning to live a real full life. My weight still prevents me physically from doing alot that I want. but that is changing. My husband is glad to see the "old me" (the one that he married) back. The kids love having a present parent. I am not as depressed as I was a few months ago. Life is getting better. I am not walking about in the "carb coma fog". It is a process and a journey. Come along with me. Get out of the fog of a carb coma! Start living and loving!

on butter and other real food

YES I EAT REAL BUTTER AND EGGS!  I couldn't belive it when my sister told me she is going to start eating real butter. She has been  anti-fat, anti-sugar etc. She went to a class on cooking with whole foods, and decided that real food is where it is at!  I was overjoyed! She is really trying to make a difference in her family. We can start sharing recipes and enjoying life together. I am glad she has seen the light. I am getting back to it. In the last few months I have really made some great strides with my own family. I am glad that those I love are getting it also.

I read a blog post a bit back where the author said something like this; take what they are telling you and do totally opposite. If they promote it as healthy, do not eat it. If they say it is bad for you, eat it anyways. About 90% of the time it will come back that it was not the total truth.  Nearly all of it is a marketing game. Most of what you hear out there comes from marketers who's main objective is to make the competition's product seem bad, so that their product will sound great!

I can't take it anymore. The product claims out there are so overwhelming. Everyone is screaming so loud to be heard over the other guys. From the grocery store, to the health food store, the Tv to the internet, there are so many voices out there. START LISTENING TO YOUR OWN BODY AND INNER VOICE. for me, I did really well when I was doing that. When I got married and had kids. I neglected me. I started eating whatever was closest, and quickest. Convinience and easiness got in my way and I lost focus. My health is telling me about it. NO MORE. My body tells me what I need. Real food, Naked food.  Whole grains, as themselves; not overprocessed cold cereal  made with whole grains plus alot of extra stuff. Real fruits and vegetables as themselves. Kale chips made with kale, oil and salt; not dried up, ground up, mashed up with a bunch of other ingredients fried into vegetable chips stuff.


It does take time and planning, but is well worth the efforts put into it.
keep a watch out for more  updates from the feild as we journal our way to health here at life less hurried.


FYI
I wrote an earlier post about making your own butter, and another couple post about real food and what it means in our world.  the links to those posts are below

butter making

get real food into everyday life

can we afford to eat healthy?

fun in the kitchen

     
          MAKE YOUR OWN WATER COLOR PAINT
         WITH STUFF YOU ALREADY HAVE ON HAND

Making your own water color paints from your kitchen is Super easy


you will need

3 Tablespoons Baking soda
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
3 Tablespoons white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons corn syrup

food coloring

In a bowl mix all but the food coloring
divide the mix among little pots, soda pop lids, ice cube trays  whatever little thing you have to put it in.
We used an ice cube tray that makes sticks for water bottles.

Once divided, mix a few drops of food coloring in each portion of color

Can be used right away, but it is better to let the paints dry overnight.

This is alot cheaper than buying paints already made. 

why I wash dishes by hand

 Doing dishes is so much more than a chore. For me it is a time to get to know my children, or in yesterday's case; my husband. There is something almost "magical" that happens when you are working together with someone. Kids, especially teens; start to open up and share what they are feeling. This is part of the reason why I choose to wash dishes by hand.



I do not wash all of the dishes by hand. I usually put the cups, plates, and silverware in the dishwasher. I love that it sanitizes them. The pots, pans, bowls, knives, stirring spoons, spatulas etc. I hand wash. I hate that these big items take up so much room, and I hate using so much energy and water, not to mention the cost of soap to run the dishwasher.
This system works for us, I started letting my little boy help me when he was just over a year and a half. He would stand on a chair and watch. It began as a way to keep tabs on him. If he was helping me, I knew he was not sitting on top of his new baby sister. He got to where he could help more and more. Now he is nearly seven and he can do most of it by himself. Yes, it takes extra time to wash the dishes rather than throw them all in the dishwasher and hit run. The time involved is an investment in us. It is teaching the kids the value of work. It is teaching them the value of family. It is teaching them to be independent. The list could go on and on. For us we will continue in the tradition because I know how important it is to our family.


 Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.



I have written several other posts about loving and teaching the children. Some of my favorite are linked below. Thanks for coming by, and come back soon.


5 love languages love them in a way they understand

blessing other lives with the kids in tow

unplug

when values are challenged

what is simple living

peach dessert

It is peach season around these parts. My Grandmother would always bottle peaches. Then while the peaches were at the peak she would make her peach dessert. It was a creamy, peachy, grahm cracker delight.  She would only make it once a year when the peaches were on. It was a real treat worth waiting for. I miss her so much. I am grateful for her patience to teach me the art of canning and preserving. I hope that I can pass that on to my own children. Below is the link to an older post I have written about learning to cook with her.

Cooking with Grandma


Now on to the recipe

Peach Dessert

2 cups water
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup sugar
1 small package peach  flavored Jello
4 cups sliced ripe peaches
2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 Tablespoons powdered sugar
1 cube (4oz) margarine melted
1 8 ounce package cream cheese softened
1 8 ounce tub whipped topping thawed
1/2 cup powdered sugar

step 1. Bing the water, constarch and sugar to a boil
step 2. Stir the jello powder into the hot mix
step 3. Let this mix sit about an hour until cool
step 4. Stir in sliced peaches and chill well in the fridge
step 5 Mix the grahm cracker crumbs, melted margarine, and 6 Tablespoons powdered sugar
step 6. Press about half of the cracker mix in the bottom of a 9x13 pan
step 7. Blend the softened cream cheese, whip topping, and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy
step 8. Spread the chilled fruit mix over the grahm crust
step 9. Spread the cream cheese mix over the fruit
step 10. top with the remaining crumb mix

Chill for an additional 30 minutes or so before serving
 use within 24 hours  When left longer the peaches and crumbs get too soggy.

This is a great dish to bring to a late summer potluck meal