Other News: Homemade Fun

I wrote this post before we had internet, and then forgot to post it. Oops... Also of note, though we have internet (YAY) it is VERY slow and spotty, so I doubt we'll be putting up pictures any time soon. :( Maybe I can try to upload some to Picasa overnight and put a link to them here.

So, I haven’t blogged lately. Basically, my internet time has been twice a week, with only a short amount of time to be online and a long list of things to do/look-up. As a result, I haven’t posted much. It’s not worth the time it would take to post pictures, and I haven’t pre-written any blogs to send until now (so I don’t use internet time writing blogs).

I have been taking advantage of the extra time I have from not being online (the extreme frustration and angst at losing internet in the house has been replaced by mild frustration and some refreshment of not having the internet to tempt me to waste time by looking up useful, but not crucial, information). Besides spending time with my little boys, I’ve been spending more time experimenting in the kitchen and working on Christmas presents.

Here are some of the things new things I’ve explored lately:

-homemade mayo

-Making beef jerky in the oven (from ground beef; super cheap and yummy)

-soaking my whole grains before cooking or baking with them (makes them easier to digest and increases the amount of nutrition you receive from them)

-homemade crackers (new recipe)

-protein bars

-veggie broth using the veggie scraps I’d otherwise throw away

-more breakfast dishes: hot cereals (pumpkin, rice, cornmeal, cracked wheat), pancakes using leftover cooked grains or pumpkin, etc.

-new granola bar recipe

I would like to explore homemade sauerkraut, as well as whole wheat pasta. Some other things I want to explore will need to wait until we move back to the States, due to availability.

And, of course, I enjoy baking and cooking the most when I receive help from my big helper(s)!

Christmas Presents:

We’ve decided to do a “Homemade Christmas” theme at our house this year. Since we’re moving this summer, we want to save money and don’t want to give big items that we can’t take back to the States. Our presents for our boys are as follows:

-A sweater and hat for Timmy (it gets cold on the mountain!) I have a confession to make about this gift. I actually started it for Jeremiah and never finished it. So it’s now for Timmy.

-Wooden blocks for Timmy (Daniel’s doing that one)

-A felt car mat for Jeremiah to use with his cars. He loves playing with cars!

-A wooden money box to keep some pesos in (Daniel’s making this too)

-If I have time, I also want to crochet some small ornaments for both of them as well.

So far I’ve started on the sweater (well, continued) and the felt mat. I won’t list other family member’s gifts on the blog however, as they would see it and it would give away the surprise. J