I remember the first time my mom made pineapple upside-down cake. Actually, I'm sure she'd made it before - she seemed to know what she was doing - but it must have been before my time. Anyway, I was quite thoroughly impressed with the results, being a pineapple lover and a cake lover (and an anything-gooey-dessert lover), but for some reason it maintained its status as a rarity in our home.

Well, we've had a can of pineapple rings taking up space in our pantry for a couple years now, so I decided to try resurrecting the recipe gluten-free style.

A problem I've had with many gluten-free cake and quick bread recipes is a tendency to sink in the middle and/or crumble when they're cooked in larger pans, so, having seen pineapple upside-down cupcakes on Pinterest numerous times, I decided it might be better to try that than an actual cake.

The results were successful, and quite a hit with hubby and Garrett (who refers to anything muffin-shaped merely as “cake!”)

The only drawback was having to cut down the pineapple slices to fit the muffin cups - not that Garrett and I weren't more than happy to, ah, dispose of them. we ended up with about 3/4 of a slice squished into each cup.

Pineapple Up-side Down Cupcakes

Topping:

1 can sliced pineapple
2T. Melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar

Stir butter and brown sugar together.
Grease a muffin tin and divide brown sugar mixture evenly between the 12 cups.  Place one pinneapple ring in Bolton of each cup. You'll probably need to cut the ring to make it fit. Add half a marachino cherry to center of each ring if desired.

Cake:
1/3 cup butter
1 1/4 cup flour mix
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 t. Baking powder
1/2 t. Salt
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1 egg
1 t. Vanilla

Mix first 5 ingredients together. Add juice, egg and vanilla. Beat well. Pour into muffin tin (as prepared above).

Bake at 350. For 15-20 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes. Loosen edges of each cake with a butter knife and turn into a wire rack. The tips should be flat, which may not look the prettiest when you take them out of the oven, but since they're going to be served “up-side down” that's a good thing!

Enjoy!

Linked with: A Southerm Fairytale, Skip To My Lou, MIYMM, Tip Me Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Hearth And Soul, Blessed With Grace, Tuesdays At The Table, WFMW, Crystal And Co., Allergy Free Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Frugally sustainable, Full Plate Thursday, GNOWFGLINS, Thrifty Thursday, Frugal Friday, Weekend Potluck, Favorite Things Friday, Feed Your soul, Sugar Me Up, Show And Tell, Sweet As Sugar Cookies, Food Adventure Friday Cast Party

I've got this crazy little thing I do that keeps me from over spending.  It's something I've always done (depending on the circumstances), but until recently, haven't really been conscious of it. What made me think of it was an article I read which stated that touching an item makes it much more difficult to resist buying. It that true? Probably so. Once it's in your hand, it naturally goes from there into your cart... And then on to the cash register.

I'm sure most of us have bought things on impulse a time or two, only to ask ourselves a few days later, “why did I do that?” For me, this mostly happens with clothing.

I've been able to avoid a lot of that regret though, by putting the item I want in my cart to “think about it” and continuing on with my shopping, hitting the grocery section last to give myself plenty of time to make up my mind if I happen to be at a big box store such as Target.

Most of the time, I end up walking all the way back across the store (hey, it's good exercise!) and putting that cute dress  back on the rack from whence it came.

This happens a lot at goodwill with kitchen gadgetry that I want, but don't need or have space for in the kitchen. Although in this instance, it usually doesn't even end up out of the aisle before it gets put back on the shelf.

So yeah, touching it may make it hard to resist putting in the cart, but if you make yourself walk around with it for a while before checking out, you may just find the willpower to put it back after all.

So, it's quirky... maybe even weird, but it sure has saved my hide on a lot of impulse purchases.
 

Truth be told, I hope the time keeps flying like this. Not that I'm not enjoying this pregnancy to the extent that I can, and not that I don't realize how difficult it may be to have both a toddler and a newborn, but nine weeks sure does seem like a long time to wait to finally get to meet our baby, and find out whether “it” is a he or she, and to hold him or her in our arms. And to chuckle at Garrett's interactions with his new sibling. If they're anything like being around his newest cousin, it could be amusing.

On to workouts. In a way, they were pretty wimpy last week. There's only two workouts, and I only managed 3 sets of squats on the second one. I'm thinking seriously of switching from 5x5 to 3x5 because the former is really wearing me out! I did hit a new personal record of 120 pounds on the first set though.

Friday, on a whim, I decided to do some cleaning/reorganizing in our cabin preparatory to turning it into a farm-store kind of thingy. It ended up being a massive project in which I couldn't leave well enough alone and moved a lot of furniture and feed/seed bags around (hooray for strength training!).

So, no workout Friday. Not a formal workout anyway.

Monday:
Squat - 115lbs 5x5
Bench press - 70lbs 5x5

Wednesday:
Squat - 120lbs 1x5 100lbs 2x5
Overhead press - 50lbs 5x5

I had a visit from my midwife late last week - how awesome is it that she makes house calls?!

First, she asked me if I was eating enough. Uh... Yeah. Gabriel commented that the only way I could pack in more calories was to start eating (more) junk food. Yes folks, I eat as much as my husband.

My weight gain is fine at 17 pounds up, but with Garrett, I'd gained at least 30 pounds at this point, so I guess that caused some concern. What can I say? I'm lifting weights yes, which is building muscle, which is burning calories, yadda, yadda, but it's also keeping me in good enough shape that I'm also able to be a lot more active with this pregnancy - though I am noticing that pushing Garrett in his stroller up and down hills is really leaving me winded these days! Those things combined I guess, with eating mostly whole foods is keeping the weight down a bit. I still expect to balloon at any moment though!

She (the midwife) took measurements and listened to the heartbeat and was satisfied that everything was going well. She said at this rate, that she expects an average-sized baby. That's good to know! No ten pounders for me please.

Also, I'm measuring a week behind. I asked her if she'd ever noticed that moms who measure behind schedule, tend to deliver late. She said no. There are a number of factors that could be causing a difference of one centimeter (which is the case with me), the baby’s position being the most likely culprit. If the mom is consistently more than one cm behind, it's usually due to a miscalculated due date. I'd be shocked and lose all faith in fertility awareness methods if my due date is off.

Anyway, I was browsing a blog linky one day and ran across this recipe for using kombucha to make gummy snacks. Don't they look beautiful?

Photo From Homemade Mommy

We aren't brewing kombucha right now, but we did recently start making water kefir, so after reading the recipe, and comments from various people who'd tried it, I decided to give it a shot with my own modifications. You could use fruit juice instead of keifr or kombucha, and eliminate the honey, but using a fermented, probiotic drink makes these extra awesome - and cuts down on the volume of sugary juice being consumed.

Mine aren't nearly as photogenic - or maybe I just need to use a better camera.

I used unsweetened cranberry juice in mine (you know that's sour!), but with only three Tablespoons of honey, and the kefir which isn't sweet, Garrett loved them!

Kefir Gummy Snacks

1 1/14 cup water kefir
1 cup fruit juice or puree
2-3 T. raw honey
6 T. plain gelatin (I use beef gelatin)

Heat fruit juice/puree in a sauce pan with the gelatin until the gelatin is dissolved. Let cool until still warm, but no longer hot. If it's hot, it kills the good stuff in the kefir, if it's room temp. it solidifies.

Stir in the honey and kefir. Pour into molds or an 8x8 pan. Don't worry about greasing or lining the pan, they'll come out when they're cold.

I had some molds from my wedding and baby shower mint-making days, so I decided to make "cute" gummies.

Turns out, Garrett can eat them faster than I can pop them out, and I can't actually "pop" them out because the molds are too small and detailed. From here on out, we're using a plain old square pan.

Refrigerate for half an hour or so, cut, and dump out of mold. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

I'm looking forward to trying these with peach and/or strawberry puree, lemon juice, and maybe even with no juice at all!

Linked with: A Southerm Fairytale, Skip To My Lou, MIYMM, Tip Me Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Hearth And Soul, Blessed With Grace, Tuesdays At The Table, WFMW, Crystal And Co., Allergy Free Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Frugally sustainable, Full Plate Thursday, GNOWFGLINS, Thrifty Thursday, Frugal Friday, Weekend Potluck, Favorite Things Friday, Feed Your soul, Sugar Me Up, Show And Tell, Sweet As Sugar Cookies, Food Adventure Friday Cast Party

This year is just not our year for gardening. In fact, for us, putting more of our (limitted) energy into gardening this year might be what Gabriel calls "penny-wise, pound-foolish". On the face of it, it seems to be the best way to conserve resources, But in the grand scheme of things this year, with all that's going on, I'm not so sure.

A dream come true? Maybe so!

Our beef and dairy goat businesses are finally taking off. We've been working toward this for a long time, and part of me thinks that the reason it's been so slow going is because we've been stretching ourselves too thin. I think it's high time we slowed down (in a manner of speaking) to focus on just a few things, and really make them work.

This year, for the first time, we have enough product to commit to farmer’s markets, We're able to participate in our county’s local food tour this month, and it looks like we might be able to set up a sort of farm store for customers to come buy directly from the farm while taking the opportunity to visit the animals and enjoy the country side.

These are really exciting developments for us. A dream come true!

I find myself getting excited at the possibility of the farm actually generating a livable income. Up to now, we're stretching every single dollar to the best of our ability, hoping that we can make this happen before it becomes necessary to look for a job away from the farm. And now, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.

These last few weeks have been so incredibly busy. I cross one thing off of my to-do list, only to add three more. (It's good to be busy).

Tomorrow is our first farmer’s market day, and a meeting for the farm tour participants, our community choir performance (I had no idea we would be this busy when I joined back in January). We've spent almost the entire week gearing up for those three things.

A scrumptious section of our tiny garden

As busy as we've been, I can't imagine the strain that trying to keep up with a large garden would be. We do have a few of the basics that we’re enjoying the fruit of, such as lettuce and onions, but here it is, the second week of May, and we never did get around to planting potatoes, and only a few tomatoes.

This summer, with the new baby in tow, I think I'll be really glad of that.

This spring has been so cold, it's hard to believe that it's already time for the summer markets to open, but it is!

Maybe we won't be enjoying home-canned marinara sauce this winter, but I bet there'll be other fruits of our Labors evident.

How was your week? Mine was mostly good, with a somewhat significant downer in that I put my upper back out Friday, which is why you only see two workouts this week - loading a weighted barbell on top of a misaligned spine isn't such a great idea. Fortunately, I'm married to a massage therapist, and with his help, everything is now back where it's supposed to be (I think).

Other than that, I felt like we had a pretty productive week. We got a beef back from The slaughter house, I made several batches if soap, and made a lot of progress with our fledgling dairy herd-share side business. That's been fun.

So, the rundown for last week’s workouts was:

Tuesday:
Squat -  105 lbs (5x5)
Bench press - 65 lbs (5x5)

Thursday:
Squat: 110 lbs (5x5)
Overhead press: 55 lbs (5x5)

Whew! I tell ya, that overhead press is tough! I'm not really sure what is considered “good” on that, so this may be laughable, but I think 55 pounds is about all I can do for 5 sets of 5. I guess we'll find out later this week. Gulp (j/k)

So, last week I said I was going to add in some other exercises to replace the deadlifts and rows. Well, that didn’t happen (obviously). Mostly I guess because I'm lazy, but also partly because I'm not sure what to add. I want compound exercises rather than isolation moves (such as curls). Gabriel suggested shrugs to replace the rows.

This is going to sound hypocritical after all I've said about bulk not happening that easily, and not worrying about looks, but focusing on strength and health but... The last thing I want to do is build big traps, so I'm hesitant to try shrugs. On the other hand, strengthening the traps might do a world of good for when I'm holding the baby all the time. I still remember all the shoulder and neck tension that came with constantly holding Garrett. >shudder<

Yeah, maybe I should incorporate shrugs. Starting with 2 sets of five perhaps?

Oh, can I claim goat milking as an exercise? Grip strengthening, ya know?

I found a book at goodwill the other day called The Complete Book of Running for Women. Running seems simple enough, but so does everything at first brush, and since I've done a fair amount of running in the past - okay, a little bit of running, and hope to complete a half marathon in the future, I decided to buy it and get studied up. Should be interesting. Hey, if I can't run right now, I can at least read about it, right?

I've argued against running in the past, and still do. Just so you know, nothing about that has changed. I think that if you're going to choose an activity for the sole purpose of fitness, weight training is the way to go. There's a bazilion reasons, some of which I've covered in the past, but there's also just plain old determination to reach a long held goal. For me, that's a half marathon.

Will it ever really happen with two kids in tow? Who knows. There's no doubt that a set of weights out under the carport is more convenient than having to find someone who can watch the kids while I spend an hour or two running. Not to mention heavy lifting has much more practical application.

Wow, sounds like I'm working hard to talk myself out of it.

Check it out! Our baby is fully developed (albeit skinny )
Lets hope he/she is also up-side-down

In other news, I feel like the baby has taken over my entire abdomen. Seriously, if I bend over, I get what I think is the baby’s posterior stuck up under my ribs, meanwhile his/her head (I think) is poking into the opposite hip bone, and arms and legs are pretty much everywhere. Oh, and when the kiddo starts moving around, everyone in the room can see it. I'm sure it's a little disconcerting to see someone's stomach jump around like that. Now there's an amusing thought.

Wow, this page filled up with rambling fast! Time for me to be off cutting and labeling soap.

TTFN!

It's funny how having a toddler around, eating everything in the house makes you think twice about what you have around for him to eat. take pancakes for instance. Sure, I've always known that all that sugar and flour and stuff wasn't really good for us, but then Garrett comes along and suddenly I'm thinking, I don't want Garrett eating that junk. 

Then a few weeks ago, I was perusing a blog linky, and found a recipe for three ingredient, grain-free banana pancakes. I honestly thought there was no way it could work, but I could always doctor the batter up with some extra flour and baking powder if the first pancake failed. 

Oh, but it didn't fail. It's great to be able to feel good about feeding Garrett one of his favorite foods (second only to waffles - and trust me, you don't want to put these things in the waffle iron). I didn't have any coconut flour, so I used almond flour the first time, the second time, I just used a little rice flour, we've added a little extra flavor with cinnmon and/or vanilla depending on the cook's mood, and next up on my experimental list is peanut butter, because we all know that banana anything is better with peanut butter, right? I haven't tried it without any kind of flour (yet) but I've seen numerous versions of this recipe using only banana and egg. 

From The Tasty Alternative. One day, I'll learn to take photographs like that.
(Don't laugh)

Adding more flour does make these pancakes easier to handle - especially if you like to make big pancakes, but if you ad a lot of flour, you'll want to add some sugar or honey to sweeten the batter, and since this is supposed to be a healthy pancake, that kind of defeats the purpose. 

Healthy Banana Pancakes

2 Ripe Bananas
2 Eggs
3 T. flour
1/2 t. Baking Powder

Thouroughly mash or blend bananas. Add eggs and beat (or blend) well. Mix flour and baking powder together and add to banana/egg mix. Blend well.

Heat a skillet over medium heat with a little oil. Pour our pancakes in 1/4 cup rounds and fry on either side until golden. Butter and drizzle with honey or maple syrup.

Enjoy guilt-free!

Daddy's little helper

This new month has definitely brought a lot of busyness to the farm. The grass is finally growing well, so setting up daily cattle paddocks has been added to the daily chore list. Not that we mind, it's nice to have the cows back on fresh grass every day.

So, this is basically our front yard

We're also milking goats again which is a huge blessing. In fact, cinnamon's buckling kid is almost ready to wean completely which will mean plenty of milk, and possibly the opportunity to dabble in adding herd share sales to our repertoire, meaning that we would sell a portion of a goat to an individual, and they would pay a monthly boarding fee thereafter entitling them to a certain amount of the goat's milk. (selling raw milk outright is illegal in the state of TN)

Yesterday day was "one of those days". You know what I'm talking about, right? It started off relatively relaxed, with me planning to make a couple batches of soap, do some laundry and cleaning, and maybe make some cheese, while Gabriel set up some fence and got ready to plant some garden stuff.

And then, wham!

The tractor's broken, the well pump looks like it burned out, we have a sick calf, and oh! I forgot we had to pick up the beef from the butcher today.

So Gabriel spent the day trying to fix things, moving cows to within range of the other well, and doctoring the sick calf, while Garrett and I jumped in the truck and drove off to pick up beef.

Ah, it's nice to have ground beef again! we've been out for a while, and trying to use up all the various steaks and roast which, lets face it, just aren't as convenient.

One tray of ground beef, packaged up in tidy little one pound packages.

Anyway, the only USDA inspected butcher is about two hours from us, so it was quite a drive. Garrett's a real pro at traveling though, for which I'm incredibly thankful, and Yoder Bros. is definitely the nicest butcher shop I've ever been in, so I don't mind the drive.

When we got home, Garrett helped me load it all into the freezer, and a cuter helper you never did see!

After we got the beef taken care of, Gabriel and I headed out to give the sick calf a shot, and then I headed off to choir practice. After the day we'd been having, I really wanted to skip choir, but it's the second-to-last practice, so I felt compelled to go.

By the way, it pays to keep a couple of boiled eggs in the fridge for dinners on the go.

I'm in love with salad right now. That happens pretty much every Spring and Fall when the lettuce is growing well, but as you can see, there's almost more eggs and cheese than lettuce. What can I say? I was hungry.

Everything turned out alright though. The well pump mysteriously started working again, and the sick calf seems to be getting better.

I guess that just goes to show that we shouldn't stress about things beyond our control.

• Just happen to mention in front of your extended family that you'd like a new pair of shoes. Especially if it's getting close to your birthday.*
• Spend a lot of time at your parents, especially if you have kids. Grandparents love feeding their grandkids, and it saves a lot on your grocery bill.**
• Dress your kids in kind of ratty clothes that are at least a couple years out of style. Make sure you take them to church like this, who knows, it may inspire some sympathy and free clothes.***
• Make sure you tell people repeatedly how much money you don't have. Say things like, "oh sure, that sounds good, but I can't afford ingredients like that". Who knows, it may actually inspire enough sympathy that you'll end up with some free stuff. +
• Create a Pinterest board and call it "someday when I'm rich"
• Complain on facebook about how there's never enough money to pay the bills.++
• Invite people over for dinner, serve nothing but unseasoned beans and rice. Especially if you don't want them to come back.
• Tell people you'd love to eat more healthily, but you just can't afford it. Everybody knows the healthy stuff costs more than junk food.
• Okay, obviously I couldn't get myself in a serious mood this morning, and I wanted to brag on my siblings' generosity in getting the converse. I never thought I'd wear converse, and get a laugh every time I see them in the closet beside my Ariats and Justins. But they're fun, and I may just have to get some skinny jeans so I can wear them in public.

*Funny story, my brother and I were talking about shoes not long ago. I told him I was eventually going to get a pair of Converse or Minimus for lifting if I could find a good enough deal. I promise, there was no ulterior motive on my part, but in retrospect, I should have known he'd make sure I got a pair of converse.

**We've been spending a lot of time over at my dad's, especially over the last month. Garrett and Grandpa have a ritual of sorts that usually involves grape juice and fried eggs.

***Or more likely, they'll just assume you have a really poor sense of style.

+Okay, don't do this. Unless you want to irritate all your friends.

++Be careful not to post this from your iphone!

Week 29, woohoo! At this point, I think I'm excited about every week that goes by. It feels like the home stretch - even though birth-day is still about 3 months away.

I must confess that last week, I cut my workouts down to two exercises instead of three. It seemed that no matter how few, or what kind of deadlifts I performed, I always ended up with a sore back. Not surprising really. My back is a little touchy under normal circumstances, add loose ligaments and a distended abdomen to that, and it gets downright finicky.

The other exercise was bet over rows. I just wasn't “feeling” them. I kept trying to get my form right, but it just never felt right, so last week I just decided to drop them in favor of something else... not sure what though!

Anyway, here's last week’s workout breakdown:

Monday
Squats: 115lbs 1x5, 95lbs 4x5
Overhead press: 50 lbs 5x5

Wednesday:
Squats: 100lbs 5x5
Bench press 60lbs 5x5

Friday:
Squats: 105lbs 5x5
Overhead press 50lbs 5x5

As I mentioned last week, I peaked on the squat at 115 pounds, and then dropped back down. That sure made 95 pounds seems easy . Now I'm working my way back up, but I imagine that from here on, my progress will look something like a seesaw. Up and down, up and down.

Why I choose lifting over cardio

• I know from previous experience that cardio and I don't get along very well during pregnancy. As I mentioned, my back is pretty finicky. Walking, as much as I hate to admit it, hurts. It's not that I don't walk ever, but long walks, especially the kind where you walk fast enough to get your heart rate up, don't happen.
•  I can lift. As Long as the weight is centered evenly on both feet. No walking with the weight - ouch! So no lunges, or single-leg deadlifts, or anything like that.
• Weights build muscle. Not that cardio doesn't build any muscle, but it doesn't build much muscle. The number one way to ward off fat is to build muscle.
• Lifting weights burns a massive amount of calories to build and sustain that muscle. I eat like a horse y'all! It's kind of embarrassing. Not that eating a mountain of food is the goal, or being skinny, but for so many, it's really hard to to gain "too much" weight while pregnant, and even harder to get rid of it post-pregnancy. With that in mind...
• By this time in my last pregnancy, I'd gained a lot more weight than I have with this pregnancy - almost twice as much. The only difference is that I'm lifting weights. I don't diet. Ever.
• Lifting has enabled me to be more active since I'm in better shape (Believe it or not, lifting correctly helps with the aches and pains rather than exacerbating them), and so I'm sure that has helped keep the weight from packing on, but I credit most of my non-weight gain to lifting itself.
• No, lifting won't turn you into Arnold Schwartzenegger. Maybe some day, I'll look in the mirror and not like where this is going, and then I'll back off. But I've been lifting for the better part of a year, and don't see it happening any time soon.

The bottom line? This morning, I went out to do some chores on the farm that included lifting a goat-travel cage over a fence. I had no help, only Garrett to cheer me on, and I'm six months pregnant.

So yeah, I'm pretty happy with lifting.

*Disclaimer: I am not a fitness or healthcare expert. Please seek the advice of your healthcare provider before beginning any new form of exercise or following the advise of someone such as myself.

Linked with: My Joy Filled Life

Corn dogs. You have no idea what a special treat that can be to a person with food allergies who can't eat them just whenever they want to the way those of us without take for granted that we can. If I'd known, I would have made them a year or more ago. That package of hotdoge was in the freezer for at least that long.

You'd be surprised how easy it actually is to make gluten-free corn dogs. I sure was. Mix up some batter, dip the hot dogs, fry until golden. That's it. No need to worry about getting them done on the inside since hot dogs are already fully cooked.

I found this recipe at Barefeet In The Kitchen and only made a few adjustments such as substituting cornstarch for tapioca flour, and using actual hot dogs instead of mini sausages. Also, I didn't have any skewers handy... but that doesn't affect the flavor, right?

Oh, and by the way, if your deep frying oil is too shallow, your corn dogs won't be round. See?

Oops.

Lesson learned, it doesn't always pay to skimp.

I must warn you that this is a pretty big batch of batter. Fortunately, it will keep in the refrigerator for several days with no ill effects, and, as it turns out, is great for making onion rings. Yummy, yummy, onion rings.

One thing worth noting about recipes like this, is that there's very little difference between the traditional (wheat), and the gluten-free version. No xanthan/guar gum or anything like that, and it's nice to leave those ingredients out when you can as they're pretty much the most expensive part of gluten-free food.

Gluten-Free Corn Dogs

2-4 cups oil for frying, I use a refined coconut oil (there is no coconut flavor or aroma)
1 14 ounce package of hot dogs
1 cup Instant Corn Masa, or regular cornmeal
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 1/2 cups milk, buttermilk, or yogurt

Dipping sauces of your choice: mustard, ketchup, spicy barbecue sauce, onion sauce

Pour the oil into a saucepan to a depth of about 2 inches. Heat the oil to 350 degrees. I use a fairly small pan, so that it requires less oil.

Oh, look at me getting all scientific with my oil temperature.
I finally gave that up after a few batches.

Skewer your hotdogs if desired and set aside.

Whisk together the dry ingredients. Whisk the egg into the milk and pour into the dry ingredients. Whisk to combine. If the batter is too thick for dipping, add more milk, a tablespoon or so at a time.

Dip the hotdogs, 2-3 at a time, into the batter. Swirl them around and then tap off the excess coating. Drop the coated 'dogs into the hot oil, stick and all. Fry a few at a time, turning or stirring to ensure even browning. It should only take a minute or two for the hot dogs to brown.

As they finish cooking, set them on a cooling rack over a metal tray (to catch any drips), or a paper towel lined plate. Serve with the dipping sauces of your choice (ketchup, obviously).

toddlers, what can you do?

Enjoy!

Linked with: A Southerm Fairytale, Skip To My Lou, MIYMM, Tip Me Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Hearth And Soul, Blessed With Grace, Tuesdays At The Table, WFMW, Crystal And Co., Allergy Free Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Frugally sustainable, Full Plate Thursday, GNOWFGLINS, Thrifty Thursday, Frugal Friday, Weekend Potluck, Sorta Crunchy, Favorite Things Friday, Feed Your soul, Sugar Me Up, Show And Tell, Sweet As Sugar Cookies, Food Adventure Friday Cast Party

For the kid, well, he thinks it’s the end of the world at first. After all, he's never been more than a few feet away from his mother during his short lifetime. A fact which is very handy for me. If he wasn't in the habit of following Cinnamon around like he was stuck to her with Velcro, I'd probably never be able to catch him.

Buckling on a leash

Weaning isn’t pleasant for me either. Mostly because I feel so bad for the kid. In fact, halfway through the first day, I almost broke down and put him back out with the herd.

But Cinnamon? The mama goat? You're probably sitting there, feeling all sorry for her having her baby taken away, but remember, she's goat. Goats aren't exactly well known for being generous, or thoughtful, or caring (it may sound silly to connect any of those attributes to an animal, but let me assure you, goats are completely devoid of these things).

The first morning I took her buckling away, she followed us about 15 feet. After that, she watched us go and bleated a few times. Once we were out of sight though, well, out of sight, out of mind.

The second day, she didn't bother following us at all. Just stood there and watched for a few minutes.

The third morning? She didn't even seem to notice. In fact, that little buckling is a bit obnoxious about his nursing, so I suspect she's kind of glad to see him go.

No, the reason I say it's unpleasant for her is because she's not used to having twelve hours worth of milk build up in her bag (although truthfully, we have yet to go a full 12 hours). That can’t be comfortable.

This particular goat has the world’s tiniest bag (okay, so maybe that's an exaggeration, but you get the idea), and she's producing enough milk to feed a rather large, seven week old buckling. Needless to say, by milking time she's not only full, but leaking - thus, the reason we haven't gone a full 12 hours between taking the kid off and milking time.

Cinnamon and her buckling earning their keep clearing weeds out of an old fenceline

Good thing she's not feeding twins I guess. Or maybe twins just wouldn't get to pig out as much as this singleton does.

Either way, I'll be glad when her production adjusts to this decrease in demand. I must admit though, that I'm sad that it has to decrease, I'd love to be getting all that milk! I suppose that we can hope for her bag to “grow” a bit in the future.

Now, before you think that we’re terribly and needlessly cruel, taking baby goats away from their mothers, think about this;

Sure, it upsets him at first, but think about Cinnamon (his mother) for a minute. I mentioned that he was obnoxious about nursing. Picture this; the buckling runs up to his mama every time he gets the urge for a snack, and butts her bag - upward - with his nose so hard, that Both of Cinnamon’s back legs leave the ground.

He's so rough that she tries to avoid letting him nurse. Every time I see him do it, I worry that if he gets much bigger and stronger, he'll start causing bruises.

I think it's in Cinnamon’s best interest to give her a break. Better still will be when he weans completely - but he's still a little too young for that.

And with that, I’n off to take my new pet - the buckling - some fresh water. I have a feeling he's knocked his water bucket over by now and might be getting thirsty.

And who knows, I might let Garrett into the pen to play with him for a while.

Gotta love farm life.
 

But after browsing for a while, I finally come to the conclusion that, almost without exception, they're impractical. Sure that dress looks nice on the model, but it'll make me look like a whale. That blouse is cute, but I won't get much use out of it post pregnancy.

Oh, and then there's the pricing issue. If you essentially build an entire secondary wardrobe for pregnancy, yikes! Your bank account might start crying.

Of course we all know that we an shop second hand store such as goodwill, and look for bargains on eBay to help with that problem, but there's also another solution.

Choose items that can be worn both during pregnancy and after - or before.

Like what? Glad you asked!

Non-maternity blouses

I'm currently making use of several skirts and shirts that aren't designed for pregnancy and yet, work very well. The key is, for blouses, to select items that are long enough (unless you want your baby bump poking out the bottom), and made of stretch - usually knit - fabric.

Like this:

this was several weeks ago, when I was smaller, but it still fits.

Here, I'm wearing a Worthington blouse that I picked up at Goodwill a few weeks ago.

This outfit came about because I was bored with my usual clothes.

How do you like my "bathroom mirror" pictures?

The button-down top, which I've tied up is something I picked up at the thrift store years ago, and doesn't have tags. The tank is Merona. Since neither of these things are maternity tops, I definitely get a lot of use out of them when I'm not pregnant.

Empire waists are great for dual purpose wearing.

I picked this one up - you guessed it - at a thrift shop forever ago.

Maternity blouses

One day, while perusing the thrift shop racks, I came across a maternity top that I liked, so even though I wasn't pregnant, I bought it. Later, when I got it home and tried it on, I thought hey, why couldn't I wear this now? The tag is on the inside, nobody will know its maternity! So I did. Even though at the time I was the slimmest I had ever been.

This photo was taken about a year ago

It's a Liz Lange top, and it too has served me well during this pregnancy.

This style is really great for both maternity and non. Basically, I it has gathers up the sides, it fits my definition of awesome. Interestingly, I felt that the gathers helped to hide whatever tummy pooch I may have had before I was pregnant, but as soon as I started to truly grow a baby bump, this style seemed to magnify it x10! But maybe I'm just a little more self conscious about it. My unmarried, and very style-conscious sisters also have a few of this style of shirt that they wear routinely.

One of my sisters also wears this shirt from motherhood maternity. I wish I had a picture of it on her to show that it doesn't look “maternity” at all.

Skirts and pants

Elastic waist bands. What more needs to be said?

Granted, it's a little more difficult to find dual purpose skirts and pants - especially pants.

I do have maternity-specific skirts, but most of them are still too large, so I'm wearing the “regular” variety.

 You can also wear skirts and pants that sit below the belly (I have a few that this works with - not very many),or make good use of a rubber band.

That's what I'm wearing right now, in fact, I just now stopped, tucked in my tank, and snapped this pic.

It works surprisingly well.

Many of my friends also speak very highly of the Belly Band. I haven't tried it (yet) myself, so I can't say for personal experience, but it looks like a good idea.

Now I must confess that I am the owner of several pairs of maternity pants, and wear them frequently. Most maternity are ill fitting, or so I've found, so when I *do* come across a nice pair, I tend to snatch them up.

Underclothes

I struggled with finding nursing bras that were both functional and comfortable for a while. Nursing tanks, while nice for belly coverage, don't offer much support, nursing bras... Blah.

I stayed aways from motherhood bras for a while after reading a lot of bad reviews on them, but finally got so sick of everything else I tried that I went to Macy's one day and got a couple. The Wireless Full Coverage Nursing Bra is wonderful! Better than most of my pre-preg bras, and so, I've been wearing it even though I'm no longer nursing.

The cups are padded, which to me is a plus, even though it takes a little getting used to if you've been using soft, thin bras, with no body in the cup. They're not quite as quick and easy to pull down, and for that reason, I'll probably wear a nursing tank until the new little one learns the art of latching on, but after that initial period, the extra (and minimal) difficulty is well worth the good fit and support.

I hope this post had given you some ideas on how to save money by creating a dual purpose wardrobe.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas on the subject!

So, from everything I've read and been told, pregnancy is all downhill from here. Heartburn, leg cramps, breathlessness, .... I can't remember all the maladies, but there's a lot of them.

Honestly, it's hard to find positive talk on pregnancy - especially the thrid trimester. So you know what? I won't be doing much reading on the subject.

I know there will be discomforts, and that the discomforts I already have will most likely become more uncomfortable. But guess what? It doesn't do any good dwell on it, and these three months are going to fly by. I'd much rather spend my time doing what I can to be healthy, thereby minimizing all these temporary problems that crop up.

For instance, we've probably all heard over and over again, that it's much more healthy to stop eating in the early evening a few hours before going to bed. Doing so allows your body to fully digest what's already in it before having more added to it the next morning. And you know what? It's been my experience that it can virtually eleminate heartburn!

So, on to exercise...

It was just one of "those" weeks. Meaning that I only ended up working out twice, instead of three times. I I bumped my Wednesday workout out to Thursday to allow for more recovery time from Monday's workout. Saturday would have been my next workout day, but... (Yeah, excuses, excuses) we had this little incident where the goats were out creating havoc (walking through the garden, climbing on the porch... you know, being goats), and in the process of taking them back to their pasture, I ended up walking quite a long way with Garrett riding on my shoulders. I don't know why I thought it would be a good idea to let Little Short Legs tag along on the goat herding expedition - well, other than he loves the goats and would have been heartbroken if I hadn't - but it wasn't.

You have no idea how much this girl loves to munch decorative bushes

To be clear, the goats didn't escape as such, they were let out - not by me. Just wanted to point that out since goats have such a bad reputation as escape artists.

I had planned to workout later that day, but oh my, that little weighted walk put my back out of commission in a big way. By the time we hit the sack that night, I could barely walk. Fortunately, as so often happens with pregnancy ailments (at least for me - so far... this pregnancy anyway), it was nothing a good night's sleep couldn't fix. It's amazing how tight things get during the day and then, ah! Sleep lets everything relax and get back to the way it should be.

My whopping two workouts from last week:

Monday:
Squat - 5x5 108lbs
Overhead press - 5x5 50lbs
sumo deadlift - 1x5 115 lbs

Thursday:
Squat - 5x5 110lbs
Bench press - 5x5 55lbs
Rows - 5x5 55lbs

My goal earlier during this pregnancy was to be able to squat my pre-preg body weight by the time I hit the third trimester. Unfortunately, my workout routine met with a few set-backs here and there, and a few weeks ago, I decided to settle for 115lbs. Well, I made it yesterday! With no photo proof of course. And I only lifted one set that heavy before deciding to back off and work on form instead. I finished the session with 95lbs, but I was still pretty happy that I could at least parallel squat that 115. It gives me hope for future squatting ability. In the meantime, I don't plan to set any "heavy" goals for the rest of the pregnancy. I'm very, very happy that I've been able to lift this long, and hope to continue, but I don't think there's any point in pushing too hard right now. I don't want everyone blaming my lifting if something goes wrong.

Ever since I've known Gabriel, he's made it well known that his favorite pie is key-lime. It took me forever to finally get around to making the traditional key-lime pie for him, probably partly because of this pie recipe. It's just so easy. And tasty. You don't even have to bake it. Frozen, it's one of the most refreshing hot weather treats I can think of. And did I mention it's easy?

No-Bake Key Lime Cheescake Pie

Recipe from the Cane Creek Cookbook

1 can sweetened condensed milk
8oz. cream cheese
1/3 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 carton cool whip or 1 cup whipping cream
1 8 inch graham cracker pie shell (see here for a gluten-free version)

Bring cream cheese to room temperature and whip together with milk, lime or lemon juice, and vanilla. pour into pie shell, top with cool whip or whipped cream and chill.

Alternatively, fold the cool whip into the pie filling and then spoon into shell and chill.

We usually leave the cool whip/cream out entirely and freeze the pie.

Also, you can make your own sweetened condensed milk. I used turbinado sugar to make mine, which made me feel better about serving this to my pie-loving toddler.

Enjoy!

Linked with: A Southerm Fairytale, Skip To My Lou, MIYMM, Tip Me Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Hearth And Soul, Blessed With Grace, Tuesdays At The Table, WFMW, Crystal And Co., Allergy Free Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Frugally sustainable, Full Plate Thursday, GNOWFGLINS, Thrifty Thursday, Frugal Friday, Weekend Potluck, Sorta Crunchy, Favorite Things Friday, Feed Your soul, Sugar Me Up, Show And Tell, Sweet As Sugar Cookies, Food Adventure Friday Cast Party

Several months ago, my mother-in-law sent us a package of Mercer Mayer books for Garrett. Garrett had just recently discovered the joy of being read to at the time, so when I opened the books, I was disappointed to find that there was no story, only pictures.

Silly me, I didn't even show them to Garret to see if he liked them.

Several weeks later, Garrett found them on my bedroom bookshelf (naughty boy! ) and was completely absorbed.

As I looked more closely, I found that inside each book was a story, told in pictures, of a little boy going on adventures with his dog, frog, and turtle. He wears hip-waders, carries a toy sword, and often wears a newspaper-hat. No wonder Garrett loves them so much! You can't get much more "boy" than that! And that's why I too have fallen in love with these stories.

I had been so disappointed with little boy-targeted books up until we got these. Most of the stories were all about getting along, being quiet in the library, and how to sit still in class. All good things of course, but nothing that captured the heart of a little boy. Nothing that affirmed his little boy-ness, and said, this is not only alright, not only normal, but a good thing. Because boys were made for adventure, exploration, and discovery, not sitting still for hours at a time! why would we try to make them otherwise?

Gabriel also loves "reading" these books to Garrett because he can make the story slightly different each time, he also likes having garrett play "I spy" and asks him to point out various things in the picture.

I'm happy to say that, in our quest for wholesome children's books, these measure up.

With a new baby on the way, I recently came to the conclusion that it was time to expand the diaper stash.

With Garrett in the process of potty training (and doing quite well, I might add), I hope we won't need too many more, but when Garrett was a little(r) guy, he went through the two dozen we had quickly enough to make it hard to keep up with the laundry, so we want to be on the safe side.

Now that I'm a little bit more established in cloth diapering, I feel much more comfortable branching out, away from pocket diapers. Part of the reason I want to do this is because I'd like to start using wool as the waterproof cover, rather than PUL.

The advantages of wool, other than its being a natural fiber, are that it's both breathable, and antibacterial... But I'll get to the covers later, for now I want to talk about the moisture wicking layer.

Most modern cloth diapers contain a “wicking” fabric which is next to the baby's skin in order to suck the moisture into the “doubler” and keep the baby dry. The two most common fabrics for this are micro-suede (used in diapers such as smartipants and Bum Genius), and micro-fleece ( used in Fuzzibunz).

I decided to go with fleece since my research has led me to believe that micro-suede can cause a rash in some kids.

Did I mention that new cloth diapers aren't in the budget right now? Yeah, and those things are expensive too, let me tell you.

I'm no seamstress, so it took me a while to finally come around to the idea, but I finally concluded that the only way to get new diapers was to make them.

I knew it would be cheaper, but I didn't realize how much!

Out of a total cost of $13.08, which covered fabric from the remnant bin, elastic, and Velcro, I made four diapers, and had elastic and Velcro left over. It could have been five if I'd made the first diaper differently. Live and learn. But the point is, these four diapers cost less than a dollar more than one -one! - Smartipants diaper.

As it turns out, they weren't that difficult to make either.

The first thing we did was to stretch a smartipants diaper (because that's our favorite diaper design) out on top of the fabric and trace it. Gabriel did the stretching, I did the tracing.

Then I proceeded to cut as many diapers out of the fabric as I could. It ended up being five.

I took the first two and stitched them together with the elastic at the back and around the legs (again, copying the Smartipants as best I could), turned it inside-out, and top stitched it, sewed on a couple pieces of Velcro and, voila! Done.

my first diaper, double stuffed for night use - thus the extreme bulkiness.

That was the easiest way, but after that one, I started feeling guilty about the waste of fabric, so I cut out 6x16 inch “pockets”, sewed them onto the remaining  diapers, and hemmed them instead of turning them inside out. It wasn't as quick and easy, but I got more diapers out of the fabric, and they'll be cooler in he summer.

It kills me that the two-dozen diapers we had for Garrett cost $250, while I could have made the same number for only $80 plus another $20 for the woolen covers.

Ah yes, the covers. When I first started looking into wool covers, I was really put off by the prices. $35 for one cover? Yikes!

I talked to my sister-in-law, and she lent me a few of her hand knitted covers for the experimental stage.

Knitted wool cover. Looking at it, and feelling how soft and thin it is,
you'd never believe that it holds the moisture in.

Next time I get a chance to go to Goodwill, I plan to scour the racks for woolen sweaters and make my own as per this tutorial, or this one. Who knows, maybe both.

So far, the homemade fleece diapers, with woolen covers are working well. I stuff the pocket with either a doubler from a smartipants diaper, or a folded pre-fold. One day, I'd like to try some hemp doublers, as I like the idea of using natural fibers, and that hemp is both super absorbent, and antibacterial.

So there you have it, my latest weird and wacky way to save some money. Hey, just think, $150 saved on your diaper stash leaves you with a nice chunk for your car seat fund.

Yesterday, I walked by the weight set and saw that Gabriel was all set up for deadlifts. The bar was loaded with more weight than I had ever lifted, but I couldn't resist giving it a pull to see what happened. I remember trying to get 135lbs off the ground a few months after I started lifting and not being able to budge it, they day I finally picked it up was a happy day indeed (I get ridiculously happy about weight lifting progress). Anyway, with that memory in mind, and not having realy worked on my deadlift since mid Febuary, I didn't have a whole lot of hope that the 155lb weight in front of me would come off the ground. It did though, quite handily. I didn't try doing it for reps, but I definitely felt like I could do it.

So, 155 pounds is now my new deadlifting personal record. I guess the heavy(ish) squatting is paying off. Lots of women talk about how the squat is their favorite exercise. Well, mine's the deadlift. Specifically, the sumo deadlift. I'm looking forward to going back to more of a deadlift focused workout in the future - but probably not until after the baby's born.

Is this kid awesome, or what? Credit

I was pretty happy with my workouts this week. The weather has been beautfiul, so we've been doing a lot more walking. When the weather's nasty, we tend to use the ATV or truck to get from one end of the farm to the other during our daily chores - especially considering that walking in cold weather is too hard on Garrett. Pushing that stroller up and down hills is quite a workout.

My first workout of the week was a duplicate of the one before it since I had to take an entire week off between the two. I felt like I barely made it through Wednesday's workout and thought my squat-weight progression was about to come to an end. I even skipped deadlifts altogether because I was so worn out, but ironically, I felt pretty much unstoppable on Friday - even though the weights were heavier. Hurray for progress!

So here's the breakdown:

Monday:
Squats - 100lbs, 5x5*
Bench Press - 45 lbs, 5x5*
Bent over row - 45lbs, 5x5*

Wednesday:
Squats - 102.5 lbs, 5x5
Over Head Press - 45 lbs, 5x5

Friday:
squats - 105 lbs, 5x5
Bench press - 50lbs, 5x5
Rows - 50lbs, 5x5

*First number designates the number of setsm secind number designate repititions per set.

I've been doing better on my liquid intake this week, and eating better... well, a little bit anyway. I had a block of cream cheese that needed to be used, so I made Gabriel's favorite key-lime frozen cheesecake pie thingy (recipe coming next week - I promise), and ate my fair share. We did have liver for supper last night though, so it's all good, right?

In other news, I've been hit with the want-to-have-a-baby-now thing (or whatever you call it). I was riding my bicycle home from Dad's Saturday afternoon just kind of day-dreaming about weather "it" would be a boy or a girl, wheterh he/she would be/look like Garrett, or be wildly different, and thinking about how I couldn't wait to hold him or her. Right now all the hard work of having a newborn around doesn't sound all that bad.

We've still got three months to go though, so I guess this is an excellent opportunity to cultivate patience.

TTFN!

First, I must apologize for not having an "after" shot of this dish. What can I say? We were hungry.

Anyway, this dish came about out of a need to for an easy, no fuss, yummy, gluten-free side dish. As with many other food-allergy families, we can't just open up a package of convenience food when we're hungry. Besides, you'll notice at the top of the page there, it says "frugal". Convenience food isn't usually frugal, so it's a no go anyway.

I'm a potato lover and am not sure it gets any better than this dish. Gabriel loves potatoes if they're well seasoned. He says this dish is well seasoned, so we're good.

It's very simple really. Potatoes tossed with melted butter, parmesan cheese, flour mix, a few spices, topped with onions and baked. I often coat some chicken or pork with the same seasonings and put it in the bottom of the pan to be covered with the potatoes for a one dish meal.

Parmesan Potatoes

3 medium potatoes
2 T. butter
3 T. parmesan Cheese
2T. flour
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/4t. salt
1/4t. pepper
1/2 and onion, sliced

Scrub or peel potatoes and cut into 1 inch or smaller pieces. Melt butter and pour over potatoes. Mix together remaining ingredients and toss with potatoes. Pour into a casserole dish, cover and bake at 450 for approximately 30 minutes.

As I mentioned above, I often add chicken to the mix. If you do this, you may want to pre-cook your meat a bit to make sure it gets cooked adequately, or cut the meat into very small pieces.

Enjoy!

Linked with: A Southerm Fairytale, Skip To My Lou, MIYMM, Tip Me Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Hearth And Soul, Blessed With Grace, Tuesdays At The Table, WFMW, Crystal And Co., Allergy Free Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Frugally sustainable, Full Plate Thursday, GNOWFGLINS, Thrifty Thursday, Frugal Friday, Weekend Potluck, Sorta Crunchy, Favorite Things Friday, Feed Your soul, Sugar Me Up, Show And Tell, Sweet As Sugar Cookies, Food Adventure Friday Cast Party

On one of the coldest, nastiest nights imaginable (high winds, sleet...) one of our dairy goats, Cinnamon, had her first kid.

He's a cute little thing, and has managed to survive despite his rough entry into the world. Who knows, maybe it just made him tougher.

As I mentioned on facebook, our dexter cows began calving in mid-late March. They're cute little buggers. And scarcely as big as my brother's bulldog.

We also had our first red angus baby a few days ago. He looks monstrously huge up next to the dexter babies.

The herd...

Gabriel has a group of calves/stockers separated from the mamma cow group. We of course, being good farmers and all that, put their hay in a feeder ring to keep them from trampling it.

You can see how well that works.

Last, but not least, and totally unrelated to animals, I found these little gems beside the driveway as I was out walking with Garrett.

Aside from being pretty, wild violets, which are beyond plentiful in our area, are also edible. They add a really pretty pop of color to salads, although your guests might pick them out if they don't know.