I'm finally free!!!!!!!

After 6 lllllloooooonnnnnnngggggg weeks, I am finally cast free!  I would be doing a happy dance (a la Snoopy) but my hand is so sore that yesterday I actually wished it was back on!  In the 39 years of my existence, this was the first cast I've ever had.  TGIM has had 2 on his leg since we've been married but he had a completely different experience.  He went from a cast to a walking boot and 6 weeks of physical therapy while wearing the boot, so he never had that stiffness from lack of use.  Plus, he scored a really cool Gor-Tex lining so he could get his cast wet..... no nasty, scaly skin for him!  You can be glad that I didn't take pictures of what my thumb looked like immediately after it came off.  GROSS!!!!!!

I thought I'd share my different casts with you.

 Here's what I woke up from the surgery with.  As you can see, my thumb was well protected and my fingers were pretty much useless.  It was ok though because whenever I tried to use my hand, moving my fingers pulled on the incision and really made it hurt.  Heck, my thumb just plain hurt.  It hurt like they sawed the 2 ends of the bones and wired them together.  Wait!  That is what they did.  LOL!

 After 2 weeks, I got the big bulky cast off and got this little, "cute" one, which I wore for 34 days (not that I counted every single one of them).  I kid you not, people everywhere told me that it was the cutest little cast they had ever seen.  At least with this one, I had the use of my fingers.  You should have seen me chopping and trying to cook.  It was funny and didn't happen often.  I'm so very glad I did all that precooking.  It was needed!  And while I thought I did great, I made one major mistake.  I made a bunch of things that needed bread items, tortillas, buns etc.  I didn't think to make those and freeze them.  So, we had to eat store bought baked goods.  Next time I'll know.  Not that there should be a next time!

And finally, here is my brand new thumb!  It's extremely stiff and sore (but not swollen, that's how it's going to look forever now) but the surgery was a complete success!  The bones have fused nicely and there is no pain in the actual joint.  There still is a little dead skin but it's 1000000 times better than when the cast came off. 

Very soon, I'll share with you some new goodies and recipes.  I had googled "skin care after cast removal" and it said to soak and gently exfoliate and then use fragrance free lotion.  Conveniently, I had just ordered (and it arrived 2 days before) some supplies to make my own hand cream.  It's super easy and cheap!  So maybe next week, when my hand is stronger I'll show you how to do it.  Silly me, I thought that my cast would come off and I'd be ready to go.  Shows you how much I didn't know!

My Essential Kitchen Tools

Another topic of discussion is my essential kitchen tools list.  Of course I have the standard measuring cups and spoons, whisk, spatula, wooden spoon, ladle, graters etc there are a few things I can't live without and use almost daily.  Here they are in no random order....

 My mixer.  I love this mixer.  TGIM LOVES this mixer.  In fact, he told me last week (after the Rosemary bread) that of all the things he's bought me for the kitchen, this was by far his best investment.  While many of you might not need one this big, it was on sale and worth every extra penny.  It's got a 6 quart mixing bowl for my large batches of dough making.  It's awsome.  So awsome I'm tempted to get another one to have in reserve.

 My cast iron skillet.  This skillet was my beloved poppa's skillet.  This thing is almost as old as my mom and well when I was in kindergarten (200 years ago) she was 106 years old.  You get the picture.  Seriously this thing is something like 50+ years old and I use it all the time. 

 My 4 quart All-Clad Saute pan.  Oh how I love my All-Clad pots and pans.  I love them all but this one hands down is my favorite.  I can put a whole cut up chicken in this thing, brown it on the stove and then stick it in the oven to finish.  Remember the other day when I said everyone needs a pan that can go in the stove?????  Also, I only have a few pots and pans.  You really don't need a lot of them.  I have this All-Clad set and it's pretty much all I need.  I still have a few (3) random pots from before I got my All-Clad.  I know it's pricey but is worth every penny.  This stuff is so sturdy, distributes heat perfectly and most of all is made in the USA.  I want to be buried with my All-Clad but somehow I think one of the boys will pry them out of my cold dead hands.

 My Pampered Chef pizza stone.  I really love the Pampered Chef stoneware.  In fact, I have almost every piece they have but pretty much use this one almost every day.  I bake most of my breads (boules, batards, couronnes) on it since there are no sides and I can just slide the loaf on it.

 The other 3 pieces of stoneware I use all the time is the loaf pan (again I don't buy bread from a store so I bake a lot of bread, almost a loaf a day), rectangle baker and deep dish covered baker.  The deep dish baker can hold a whole chicken and it comes out superb.

 My Wusthof Chef knife.  I have a set of knifes and pretty much only use 3 of them, my chef's knife, a small knife for boning and paring, and a bread knife.  I also love this cutting board.  It's large and has a groove on the edge to catch all the juice from whatever I'm cutting up.  The other side has a well for carving meats.  The well catches all the juice from the meat.

 My blender and food processor.  You "really" don't need both but there are times when it's nice.  My rolling pin, or should I say TGIM's rolling pin.  There's a story behind it that I won't get into now, but I love this rolling pin.  And that pink thing on top is a tortilla press.  I don't use it a lot but it's handy when I make tortillas.

 Stainless Steel mixing bowls.  I have a lot of bowls as you will see below, but a good set of metal ones are a necessity.  They don't have to be as fancy as these Pampered Chef ones.  Yes I have a lot of Pampered Chef stuff, at one point I had 4 friends that were consultants so I spent lots of money being a good friend.  These have an ergonomic thumb grip so you really get a good hold while you're mixing.  They also have a slip resistant bottom.

 Here's what in my small island cabinet.  Mainly my bowls (the plastic ones are for holding all the stuff I'm canning) and stoneware.

Here are all my pots and pans.  My large stockpot is being used right now.  That empty space on the top right shelf is where it goes.

This also is by no means everything I have in my kitchen, just the things I can't live without.  Here's a list of essentials from Cooks Illustrated I found on line. 

Save money, save time - Meal Plan!

Oh my gosh!  TGIM is going to be home in 10 minutes, he's going to be starving and I have no idea what we're having for dinner!  I used to say that a lot.

Oh crap!  The green beans (or whatever vegetable) are moldy.  I used to say that a lot too.

How the heck did our grocery bill get this high?  You guessed it, I said that a lot too.

How did I stop saying all the above?  Meal planning!  Not only does meal planning save time, and money it helps you plan/build a well balanced meal.  There are many ways to go about meal planning and what works for me may not (and probably won't) work for you, but I thought I'd share some tips with you.

Most people plan anywhere from 1 week to 1 month.  I do 1 week.  This is because we subscribe to a weekly produce co-op that we pick up on Saturdays.  They usually post the contents 3 or 4 days in advance so we know what we're getting.  Usually on Wednesdays I sit down and plan for the following week.  During the school year, Thurs are my shopping days but right now TGIM generally picks up the few things I need because he meets his vanpool in the grocery store parking lot.

Some people have high tech spreadsheets and meal planner sites they use.  Not me.  I have a lovely composition book that a good friend of mine altered (decorated) and gave me.  I use that to plan my meals.  It's easy and works well for me.

Although I'm fairly organized in life (I did NOT clean up the cabinets for the pictures in past posts, that's how the always look) I'm not so strict with my meals.  Just because it says on Monday we're having grilled chicken and Wednesday we're having Chile Verde, sometimes I switch it around, as long as I still make the things on the list.

On Saturday we're getting - watermelon, green beans, jalapenos, lettuce, sweet peppers, potatoes, sorrel, tomatoes, cucumbers, and summer squash.  Recently we purchased 1/4 side of beef so I've got plenty of beef in the freezer and I pretty much always have some chicken in there.  One of Grimway Farms organic farm sites is literally a mile away from my house and during the summer they have an organic produce stand where we can get fresh, local, organic produce for really reasonable prices

Here's what my meal plan for next week looks like

• Sat 8/13 - green chile hamburgers, grilled sweet peppers and summer squash (the day before we're having chile verde stew so I'm saving some of the chile verde for my burger.
• Sun 8/14 - spaghetti and meatballs.  It's Robin's (my older son) birthday and his current favorite meal
• Mon 8/15 - Steak Salad (using the lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes)
• Tues 8/16 - Grilled chicken with quinoa risotto (using carrots and spinach from the Stand)
• Wed 8/17 - Roast chicken with sorrel and onions and potatoes (the onions are leftover from last week)
• Thurs 8/18 - potstickers, sesame green beans and ramen noodles
• Fri 8/19 - quinoa cakes, cucumber salad and tomato zucchini gratin (cucumbers and tomatoes from the basket and zucchini from the garden

Lots of times I'll "cook once, eat twice" but I didn't do so well with that this week, except for cooking extra quinoa on Tuesday for the quinoa cakes on Friday.  I'm hoping we'll have some leftover roast chicken and I can make soup or enchiladas from the leftovers.  It used to be that I could get 3 meals off 1 chicken but the boys have discovered chicken and love it.  I will make stock out of the carcass though.  And TGIM will get lunch the next day.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell.  If you have any meal planning tips, I'd love to hear them. 

How to have a well stocked pantry

I've had numerous requests about the contents of my pantry. Ok, actually only one person has inquired about the contents of my pantry, but she's done it several times! So I thought I'd take a few pictures and tell you about them.   You might not need or want the things that I do and that's fine, it's all about what you like and want.  A well stocked pantry is essential.  With the right essentials you can whip up a meal in no time at all.  Plus, having the essentials in your cabinet will save you money.  How many times have you run to the store for 1 thing and come out with 10?  TGIM does it every time I send him.  LOL!

For me, I always have pasta/noodles and several different varieties i.e  Penne, Rigatoni, Spaghetti, Soba, Rice Sticks.   I also always have Mac and Cheese for my boys.  What can I say, they are 4 and 6.  I also have tomato sauce and paste because that's just more convenient than making my own.  The one thing you will notice is there are no commercially canned foods in my pantry.  We don't eat canned foods (except the last few cans of olives, then I'll get them in glass jars) because there is bpa in the linings.  I'm not going to preach to you about the evils of bpa.  You can google it yourself. 

I always have different typs of beans (pinto, black, garbanzo, kidney etc.) rice (wild, brown, white) and lentils and whole grains (quinoa, barley)

The bottom shelf in the picture (the real bottom shelf currently has some empty canning jars) has various bbq sauces, hot sauces, jams and jellys, green chile peppers and things like that.

 This is my "spice" cabinet.  It has my various herbs, spices, oils and vinegars

 And my baking cabinet with flours, extracts, nuts etc.  It also has my coffee because my coffee maker is underneath this cabinet and it's just easier this way.

My kitchen doesn't have a lot of space for the stockpile of foods I had after I started canning so TGIM went to Ikea and got me this cabinet.  In here are my canned tomatoes, salsas, pickles and stock (chicken, beef and turkey)

Some things I use a lot of like flour (whole wheat and all-purpose), rice, quinoa, sugar.  Those I have on this little shelf in the cabinet TGIM got me. 

For a printable list of what I use most often click here.  Remember that you don't have to go out and purchase everything on the list at once, or ever.  These are what I use most and generally always have on hand.  It's by no means comprehensive of what other things may randomly be in my pantry, just what normally is. 

I didn't even go into what's in my fridge and freezer.  I'll save that for another time.

Can You Can It?

The Garden of Eating.I just stumbled upon this blog, The Garden of Eating.

She's having a canning contest on her blog and I just entered my Salsa Verde. 
Last year I started canning and although it can be a lot of work, my family reaps the rewards during the winter.  Of course, it doesn't have to be the all consuming task I make it out to be, but I do a crazy amount of canning. 

This year, my goal is 60 quarts of tomatoes.  Currently I have 18.  Every week I'm getting 20 - 40 pounds (20 pounds is approximately 1 canner load of 7 quarts) of organic tomatoes.  Why in the world would I want to can that many?  Well, it's got to last me all winter long.  With all the canning I do in the Summer/Autumn, our grocery list in the Winter/Spring is tiny.  Pretty much dairy stuff and a few misc produce items.  And flour, always need flour!

Anyway, when she opens up the contest for voting, hop on over there and vote for me!  And start canning, you won't regret it.  he he he

Just a quick note

The grandma's got their albums the other day and absolutely loved them. But we all knew they would.

Project 365

A few of my CTMH friends and I are going to try this, Project 365, inspired by Becky Higgins and Creating Keepsakes Magazine. The concept is that you are going to take a picture every day in 2009 and put it in an album and do a little journaling about the picture. Don't freak out thinking that you have 365 MORE pictures to scrapbook, you're not going to do that. My plan is to get the CTMH photo pages that hold 6 pictures on each page and use 1 for the "title" 7 for the actual photos and 4 for the journaling.

Here's a link to Becky's blog where she explains the concept a bit more. Creating Keepsakes has a kit you can buy, but of course, I plan to use CTMH products. My plan also is to give it to my husband for Christmas in 2009, so I've got to keep it a secret from him. I want him to have a special reminder of our everyday life.

Now, to my club members. Here's a challenge for you! Anyone who brings a completed week to the club meeting will get a ticket, so a chance at 4 tickets per month. Once a month I will hold a drawing of those tickets to win a small prize. Anyone that completes the entire year will get 25% off a CTMH album to put your pages in. I plan on posting my completed week every Friday (I plan to actually start on Thurs Jan 1 so that's how my weeks are going to fall.) I hope you play along too.

More, more, more

These two wall hanging are for one of my best friend's kids. I'm really into these things for kids. I think they're going to have a lot of fun putting pictures on them. I made sure that the chipboard embellishments aren't adhered to the photo mats, so the pictures can slide right on under there.

This is Brooke's. She's going to be 3 in Jan and it just about the cutest little 3 year old out there. (I have to preface with her age because tomorrow I'll be posting the Christmas gift for my other one of my best friend's daughter who's almost 18 months) Brooke's wall hanging is made pretty much all with Basic Grey's Sugared Collection. I think the photo mats are CTMH Amethyst Textured Cardstock. Oh and the sparkly stuff on both are Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist.
This one is for Bryce who just turned 5. He is one of my 3 year old son's best friends. It's kind of cool to have 2 generations of best friends. Bryce's is made with a cornacopia of items the only of which I really remember is the chipboard stars are from Rusty Pickle.

The first of many Christmas gifts

I made a resolution to make everyone's Christmas gifts this year. Some people are much easier than others to make stuff for. The Grandmas???? No problem. But, what do you make for a 6 year old boy???? I wound up making my nephew Cain (and since my sister doesn't look at my blog, I'm safe posting a picture) a wall hanging with his name and some spots for him to put pictures on. He's way into dirtbikes and I'm sure would love to put some photos of him and his dirtbike on it. I really hope he likes it.

Whooeee! What a great husband!

My lovely husband decided that I needed a cabinet to keep all my scrap- crap in. So he went out to Home Depot and got me this cabinet. AND, he actually came home and put it together in the same day! Amazing, I know! Thankfully, it had rained all day and was still a bit nasty outside. That's probably a bigger reason my cabinet got put together, but at the end of the day, all that matters is he did. It's 48" across and still doesn't hold all my stuff. But it's a start! Like the Aaron proofing ribbon on the doors? I actually put the wall around my little niche so he can't get in at all. And of course, it's not that neat anymore. :) Well, the inside is, not the table though