We’ve Moved!

I JUST realized that I had never posted that we had actually made the switch to our new domain. So, if you’ve been checking back here and wondering why we’re not posting – I’m sorry!

Please head on over to The Little Green Homemaker and follow us there instead! Thanks for reading!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

I really wanted to like these. Because honestly, what could be a better combination for fall flavors than pumpkin and chocolate?

But, I didn’t.

C likes them and they’re fine, but they’re not at all what I wanted them to be. I’m a HUGE texture person. (Just ask my poor mom who had to deal with making separate sides of cakes/brownies/etc. without nuts. I think she loves me. A lot.). And, I like the texture of my granola bars to be slightly crunchy/chewy: not completely crunchy or completely chewy. These fell on the chewy side of the spectrum. While the taste of these is pretty good (though I’d like more pumpkin flavor), the texture to me was that of soggy oats, which is basically what this bar is. Baked, soggy oats.

I got the recipe here, from Two Peas and Their Pod. I don’t want to be too harsh about this recipe because I love this blog for the wealth of unique recipes (did you know you can make your own Wheat Thins?!). So don’t give up on that blog, take a look around while you’re there because I really do love it .

So what am I going to do about these? Experiment! I’ll probably tweak the recipe for the apple granola bars and make them pumpkin or take this recipe and add crunchy stuff.

I’ll make sure to report back! (Though we have to get through all of our current granola bars before I can add more!)

I just had the Best Salad. Of. My. Life.

Seriously.

This salad is our first ever completely-from-our-garden masterpiece.

And it was T.A.S.T.Y!

I took a million pictures. I’ll spare you some hours and post just a few for your enjoyment.

We’re pretty proud

[We made our own salad dressing too!]

[and a carrot made its debut]

 

Hope you enjoyed our salad – we sure did!

The first of our Bounty! (sort of)

We’ve actually been mowing down on lettuce for weeks now (and can’t seem to eat it as fast as we grow it! – we’ll definitely be planting less lettuce next year and more of something else).

Apple Spice Granola Bars

I love fall. I love it so much that I usually try to start pretending it’s fall at the end of July. And what reminds me of fall? Apples and apple pie.

The other day I realized that I hadn’t made granola bars in way too long. So I decided to make some, but I didn’t want to make the same flavors I had before (Chocolate chip and cranberry & chocolate chip and peanut butter chip). And being in my fall-ish mood, I decided that I should adapt the recipe to make apple spice granola bars.

And what a good idea that was.

These granola bars basically are a hybrid of a granola bar and apple pie.

So do you want to know how it’s done? Okey dokey, here we go!

Apple Spice Granola Bars**

makes about 18 bars, depending on how you cut it.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup peanut butter
5 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup applesauce
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
+/- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon*
+/- 1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg*
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup broken up apple chips
1/2 cup toasted oat cereal rings
2/3 cup wheat germ

*since this was an experimental recipe these measurements are approximate. This is about what I did, to taste.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. In a medium bowl mix together peanut butter, honey, applesauce, vanilla and spices. Mix until smooth.

3. In a large bowl stir together oats, apple chips, oat cereal rings and wheat germ.

4. Pour dry ingredients into wet and mix until well combined.

5. Pour and pat into a greased 9″x13″ pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes in preheated oven until golden brown.

6. Remove to wire rack and let cool. Cut into bars.

**this recipe was adapted from this recipe.

 
These turned out delicious! They are a bit more crumbly than your store-bought granola bars, but they still travel well. C and I usually put the cut bars directly into snack-sized zip top bags and throw them in the freezer (mainly because the two of us can’t go through that many too quickly. If you have a family, no need to freeze). Once they’re in the bags it’s easy to grab and go or throw them in Jr.’s lunch box!

[coming soon: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip granola bars!]

Strawberry Season!

…which has all but ended now…

I’m finally updating you on our strawberry season fun! (Thanks to the fact that I was about to dive into make supremely wonderful Molasses Crinkles and realized I don’t have enough molasses…)

Have you ever eaten an Oregon strawberry?

Our 6lbs. strawberries getting a bath.

Well, if you’re not from Oregon, then probably not. But they’re like candy. Seriously, the sweetest, little red-all-the-way-through berries you’ll ever sink your teeth into. But, I might be biased.

This last year I’ve been really missing Oregon strawberries. Growing up we always had strawberry freezer jam and frozen strawberries in our freezer, so this first (near) year of marriage has been sad with out my sweet little red berries. I even went as far as buying strawberry jam in the grocery store (YUCK!).

Side note – if you’ve always had grocery store jar jam, you are missing out on some amazing jams. They don’t compare AT ALL. Poor C will probably be the one finishing the store jam because he doesn’t mind it – unless we can find it a suitable home. Anyone? Anyone?

But, back to the main story….since I was missing them so desperately this last year, I knew I had to pick some this year. So my mom and I made an excursion to the farms to pick. Unfortunately, thanks to this lovely cold, wet Oregon summer (which actually I do like), we ended up very damp and muddy – hence the lack of field pictures…

I did end up with a couple of baskets full of wonderful, red berries – six pounds in total, which I realized was still not quite enough for everything I wanted to do with them. I’ll have to pick more next year!

So what did we do with them?

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Seriously, if you have not had homemade freezer jam made from fresh, local berries, you are missing out. The beauty of freezer jam is that it’s not cooked, so you get all the lovely fresh strawberry taste preserved all year long!

I used a packet of Sur-Jell for this. My mom made a batch with a different brand, and we decided that the Sur-Jell was better (it had fewer ingredients and required no corn syrup). We haven’t done a taste test, but I figure that the less ingredients, the better. I want to taste STRAWBERRIES and nothing else (well, the sugar is good too). I’m not posting the recipe here as you need to follow the recipe in the packet of pectin you get – it varies from brand to brand.

I definitely finger-licked this bowl clean...is that bad?

I made one batch, but smushed up enough strawberries and froze them to make a whole other batch of the jam. Our freezer doesn’t quite have enough space for 6 jars of jam, so I’ll make the rest later this year when we finish up a current jar or two

Fresh and Frozen Berries

Now we couldn’t go and pick a whole bunch of berries and not eat some of them fresh. This is when I realized that I hadn’t picked enough berries. Strawberries don’t last super long once picked (unless, I guess, they’re mutant grocery store berries), but we still could have had a lot more to munch on.

There’s also about 3 quarts of frozen strawberries in our freezer right now for smoothies and freezer pies later in the year. I flash froze these first, but I was a little impatient with the process, so there might be a few strawberry casualties.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

This might be my favorite reasons that strawberries exist. Really, what’s better than ooey-gooey strawberry-rhubarb goodness?

Not.much.else.

One thing I love about making pies is impressing people sharing them with others.

[by the way...one of my all time favorite kitchen gadgets is the pastry mat in the back of this picture]

It’s just so much fun to have a pretty AND tasty treat.

This would be the OTHER reason I should have picked more strawberries. But I froze enough strawberries and almost froze enough rhubarb to make another pie out of season.

You can try this yummy recipe out for yourself. Find it here. I did tone down the spices a bit. The amount of allspice in this recipe was a little too much for me.

Did you pick strawberries or another berry this year?

And maybe soon I can get C to update you all on our garden – he’s the one with the photos. It looks like we’re going to have an awesome tomato crop this year. And we’ve already got lettuce coming out of our ears!

Parents Magazine – $4 for a whole year!

Thanks to Purex, you can get a whole year’s subscription to Parents Magazine! How awesome is that?!

Just head over here and enter this code: PX1620

P.S. And I PROMISE to get up pictures and details of the recent Strawberry-Palooza over here. Freezer jam and strawberry-rhubarb pie!

Purex with Zout Giveaway Winners!

Drum roll please!

(Really, this is a very big moment for our blog)

Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun! (Trumpet sounding, you get the picture)

Heather who said “i would love to cut out the step of pre-treating (i get chocolate on everything…) so Purex with Zout would cut out that extra step.”

AND

Heather M who said “I have 4 kids…’nuff said! “

I hope you all enjoyed our very first give away! We’ll be sending emails to the winners!

And thank you Purex for providing us with the detergent!

Purex Complete with Zout Road Test and Giveaway!

If you haven’t already heard, I’m a Purex Insider. It’s pretty neat. I get samples of their products and get to tell all you wonderful people about them.

This time around I got a sample of Purex Complete with Zout Free and Clear:

It’s a good concept, who doesn’t want to skip the step of pre-treating stains and just throw you laundry – stains and all – straight into the machine? How do they do it? By using “three powerful stain-fighting enzymes”*

• “Protease: works against protein based stains such as grass and blood.
• “Amylase: works against starchy stains such as chocolate and tomato sauce.
• “Mannanase: works against guar, which is used as a thickener in many foods, such as ice cream, barbecue sauce, and salad dressing because it’s super sticky.”*

They’ve got their bases covered, I think!

So what did I think? Well, first, I was a little wary of using liquid laundry soap again and of using it on a load that had relatively no stains. Would it be too harsh on my not-so-soiled clothes?

To give a completely honest review, I tried this on my highly coveted whitest-whites. I knew if this detergent would have an adverse affect on any load it would be this one (since I had worked so hard to rid them of liquid laundry detergent-induced yellow tinge). So, I held my breath, threw in the whites, added the detergent and pushed go. And waited.

Happily my whites came out still bright white and fresh smelling. And no harm done! I’d say if you’re looking for a good budget-friendly, good cleaning detergent I’d go with Purex with Zout (Retailing from $3.49 – $7.99). You can choose Free and Clear (like I did for a more “eco friendly” approach) or the traditional scented, which I love too (remember, Purex was always my go to prior to switching to all natural. It’s still my favorite scented detergent). Also, these detergents are compatable with HE machines.

Now how about what you’re all really here for:

The giveaway! (Hooray! Our first official giveaway on our blog!)

Here’s what you could win:

I have TWO coupons for a Free full sized Detergent for two lucky readers, compliments of Purex.

Here’s how to enter (only #1 required, #2-#4 are optional):

1. Tell us how Purex with Zout could make your life a little easier
2. Subscribe to The Little Green Homemaker
3. “Like” Purex on facebook.
4. Like The Little Green Homemaker on facebook.

Leave a separate comment for each entry. Enjoy!

Contest closes April 30th at 11 pm PST. Winners will be selected using Random.org and will be announced on the blog and emailed.

Good luck!

And while you’re waiting, why not request a free sample?

*All areas in quotations are taken from a Purex-supplied fact sheet to help you all understand their product.

Spring! (and a giveaway too!)

Spring is my absolute favorite time of the year (though, I often will say that for autumn come the end of summer ). But there’s something unique about spring, the smell of earth and plants growing and fresh air after being cooped up in doors and bundled in thick clothing.

Spring is freeing and happy. And, it has my favorite holiday: Easter. I think I always liked Easter growing up because I really liked bunnies and the color pink. So Easter encompassed my girly-hood. Plus, it was the one time of year guaranteeing a brand new, pastel colored dress.

The years have changed me somewhat (I no longer tote around a dress-wearing bunny doll), but I do love Easter and the renewal and celebration of the Resurrection that it brings. One of my favorite things is that flowers always signify the regrowth and renewal of this time of year. Which is why I want to tell you about an AWESOME giveaway I came across today. Girl Gone Mom is hosting a giveaway for ProFlowers! ProFlowers is, in my opinion, one of the best flower delivery companies out there. C sent me some roses for Valentines day when we were still separated 3,000 miles in college. They were GORGEOUS! (And the envy of all my floormates )

So, to enter this giveaway, all you have to do is head over to Girl Gone Mom and tell her which ProFlowers item you would want. It’s that simple, and it could mean a $50 gift certificate!

This is what I chose: