Hello Out There....

Hello, friends, it's been awhile. So where in the world have I been? Well, pregnant. Is that enough of an explanation? I didn't think so. I'm coming up on 6 months pregnant, and have been just exhausted for the last few months. Don't get me wrong, there have been many a blog post I have begun composing in my head as I go about my day, but when it comes time to actually get on the computer - during Molly's naptime or after she goes to bed - I've been choosing rest instead. In fact, I'm behind on all things computer, not just blogging about all the things I love to do!

That said, I'm still doing many of the things I normally talk about, I'm just not writing about them. I've been making bread and muffins (including fabulous chocolate chunk muffins) from my make-ahead mixes quite a bit, as well as gearing up for a wonderful season of fresh, organic produce. I've still been getting my bi-weekly produce delivery (which I have been getting mainly fruit) from this great company, and just received my third weekly box from the CSA I joined for the first time this year, which will provide mainly vegetables. And, in my own vegetable garden, I've planted broccoli, greens, sugar snap peas, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, cucumbers and more.

What do I plan on doing with all of this produce? Good question. Normally I do lots of canning and freezing. This year, who knows. My whole life feels off-kilter when I'm pregnant, and I can already tell I'm just not on my game right now. Last year, I did a ton of canning, though I often made it happen after Molly went to bed, into the wee hours of the morning. This year... I don't think I'll be doing that. So we'll see what happens. Generally, when something inspires me to can, I do it. I'm not counting on much inspiration this year!

One exciting thing going on at our house is that it is strawberry and asparagus season in Southeast Michigan!! After a long, cold winter, it is always so wonderful to see the sun come out and the asparagus poke out of the ground. Then, a few weeks later, flowers start to appear on the strawberry plants and soon beautiful red strawberries are popping out everywhere you look. This year, the warm weather has given us strawberries about two weeks earlier than normal. Before Memorial Day, I picked a small handful of berries that didn't make it into the house. On Memorial Day, I picked just under 5 pounds of strawberries. A few days later, I picked just under 10 pounds!!!  I could hardly believe it. 

What ever will I do with all of those berries? Well, normally I would make plenty of jam and experiment with other recipes, but this year I might just eat them, share with friends and freeze what is left. I did borrow my mom's food dehydrator, and had dreams of experimenting with strawberry fruit leather, but lately I think it might take all the strength I can muster just to get the strawberries cleaned and into a freezer bag. So we'll see. They sure are delicious.

So, there you have it.  I have major respect for all those mamas out there having babies and taking care of their families and blogging all about it.  I plan to keep sharing my escapades with you... if you'll keep reading.

Refrigerator Clean-Out: The Update

Earlier this morning, I decided it was time to clean out the refrigerator.  I had a couple other goals too, including making bread and some broccoli salad.  Well, as usual, I bit off a little more than I could chew.  I was able to almost finish cleaning out the refrigerator, and I did get the loaf of bread made.

Here it is... can you smell it through your computer?  I wish you could.

I ran out of time to get the refrigerator door cleaned out and organized, but the largest part of that beastly project is done.  I took everything out, cleaned the shelves, cleaned the inside of the refrigerator and the fruit and vegetable drawers.  There were some scary messes in there.  But it's done, hooray!  I do love a clean refrigerator.

Plans for Mom's Morning Off

Mondays are one of my favorite days of the week.  The day where I get to have my cake and eat it too.  You see, I work two days a week as a dietitian, and stay home with 20-month-old Molly the rest of the time.  On Mondays, I work at 1pm, and I still send Molly to daycare in the morning.  So... I get to have a morning to myself a few times per month! 

Those of you who stay home with your kids totally get it.  We have no free daycare options (ie family) nearby, so any time we need childcare, we have to pay for it.  Thus, not a lot of breaks for mom and dad.  Molly is a very active young lady, and I am not always great at getting things done that I need/want to at home.  Monday mornings are one of those times I get to do "extra projects" that don't always get covered during naptime.

On today's to-do list:

- bake bread (it's rising in the bread machine)

- make broccoli salad (my pregnant self can't stand cooked vegetables right now)

- CLEAN OUT THE REFRIGERATOR!

You saw the picture.  It's pretty bad.  That's my plan for this morning, and I have until about 11am to get it done. 

What projects do you have hanging over your shoulders?  Is your pantry out of control?  Is your closet full of clothes a mess?  Perhaps this is the week to tackle something.  You'd be amazed at how much you can get done in an hour or two when you decide to get it done. 

Off I go, time is of the essence.  I'll post a picture when it is finished!

Maple Syrup: As Local as it Gets

As you may have noticed, I like to experiment with all things food.  I also feel such a sense of pride when I can duplicate or recreate or improve upon foods I like that are already readily available.  My husband and I are also big fans of domestic adventures, focusing on botanical and other... experimentation, shall we say.  Since we've known each other for the last almost 7 years, we've dabbled in organic gardening, canning, freezing, beer-making, wine-making, vineyard and orchard growing, beekeeping, cheese-making and I'm sure other projects I'm forgetting.

Well, add maple syrup making to our list. 

I actually don't know why it took us 7 years to come up with this idea, but this year we decided to learn how to tap the maple trees in our yard.  The quick description of maple syrup "making" is this:  you tap your trees, collect the sap, and boil it down until most of the water is gone, and you are left with sweet, gooey maple syrup.  It takes 40 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of maple syrup.  So far, after 2 days of collecting sap from one tap, we have... drumroll please.... 1 oz of syrup!  Here it is!

I know, I know, less than impressive.  I'm pretty excited though.  This shows me that it is possible.  I share more details on the maple syrup process below.

First, you find the south-facing side of your tree and drill a 1/2" hole 2 inches deep (eek, I felt like I was killing our lovely maple tree, but I know this is done all the time for maple syrup making, and their trees don't die!).  I only did one tree the first day just to make sure it worked before drilling another tree.  Once your hole is drilled, you push in the spile - that's the little spout that guides the sap out of your drilled hole into your collection bucket.  The spile has a hook on it so you can hang your bucket.

I covered the whole contraption with foil to keep the sap as clean as possible.

Then you let it sit and the sap drips into your bucket.  After 2 days, here's what we collected:

We couldn't believe it!  You don't want to have the sap sit outside too long, as I'm guessing the sugars may start to ferment, so today I brought in the weekend's sap and started boiling.  I poured it into a 4 cup measuring cup, and it was basically overflowing.  I guesstimated it to be around 5 cups, or 40 oz sap.  I poured it through some cheesecloth and then boiled it down for an hour or two until it got darker in color, thickened up slightly, and since there wasn't much there, I stopped boiling before it burned to the bottom of the pan.

And once again, here is my finished product, all 1 oz of it!

                       

I tasted it a couple times, and it is definitely sweet and kind of mapley.  Here's the thing:  I knew we had at least one sugar maple, but I wasn't sure if I picked the sugar maple or the "other" maple tree to tap!  Sugar maples have brilliant red fall color, and our other maples have yellow leaves in the fall.  Since there are currently no leaves on any of the trees and I couldn't remember which was which, I just picked one.  I don't think I picked the sugar maple.

A couple things to consider when trying to make maple syrup:

::  Sugar maples produce sap with the highest sugar content, but other types of maple trees produce sweet sap also that can be made into syrup.  You just might have to boil it down longer to get more water out.

::  The time of year that you can collect this sap is in the spring when outdoor temperatures are below freezing overnight and above 40 degrees in the daytime.

So today, I tapped the other tree that I suspect to be the sugar maple.  I used the other two spiles we bought, and put them both in the same tree since it is a bigger tree and apparently you can tap a few places on one tree.

               

I'll have to let you know how it all turns out!  I'm hoping for another couple ounces at least, and then next year... we'll get started a little earlier.