DIYNDEX.

Today Haddie decided she wasn't going to take a nap. Which means the rest of the day is going to be challenging. So I might as well make the best of it and do a little cleaning during house quite time. I think I'll do the windows! Aw man, out of Windex. Running to the store with three littles is anything but quick and has to be worth my while. Clean windows are not high on the priority list.

Then I remembered my friend once told me a recipe for home made window cleaner. As much as I love the scent of Windex, I decided to give it a try. I am very much smitten with it and am therefore sharing it with all of you. I'm sure there are others out there, and I honestly haven't looked. So if you know of a good one you're welcome to share in the comments below.


2 Tbsp dish soap*
1 Tbsp rubbing alcohol**
Water
2 drops food coloring of your choice (optional)

*My friend insisted Joy was the only one to use, but I used Meyers Basil because that's what I had. It worked fine and I LOVE the smell!
**I added this on my own after trying out the recipe with Meyers to see if it would be quicker to dry and thus less streak producing. Twas.

Not the best picture. It was hard to capture the sapphire color of my new cleaning product. 

As you can see I decided to change the name since I changed the contents. 

It seemed fitting.

GREEK YOGURT TUTORIAL.

This is for my mom, who introduced me to Greek Yogurt. And for my dad, who taught me to be frugal. <3 

We love our yogurt around here. It is a daily staple. We eat it for breakfast, snacks, and as an ingredient in rice, oatmeal, or salad, you name it! And we like it plain. I could go on about the many health benefits, but if you're reading this, you probably know them already. Several years ago my mom got me into eating Greek yogurt with honey and figs. So good! We grew up with some Greek immigrant neighbors who had a restaurant in town and we ate there regularly when I was young (and then they retired). When I was a teenager I had some aversions to food which gave me ulcers and other digestive problems and as a result became a vegetarian. So I ate Greek food a LOT. It's a mystery to me now though, that I'm just recently discovering Greek YOGURT!

Well if you've had it before and know how it's creamy goodness is packed with protein and easily digested, you will also know the price tag. Ouch! For a growing family like ours who also have a teenage boy living with them, this item is unfortunately not on the priorities list. But one day I was remembering how I once packed a yogurt in that now teenager's lunch when he was a young lad. At the end of the day I asked him how it was and much to my disappointment he replied that he'd thrown it away because it had gone bad! How? I asked. It had water on top. Well, my friends this was a good teaching opportunity for the science of cooking and how yogurt is made. Long story short, if you allow yogurt to continue to strain, you get a thicker creamier yogurt. That in essence is what Greek yogurt is. Strained. So we just started straining our own. I'm going to show you how I did it, without to many instructions, because I am not a fan of very wordy tutorials. That being said, if you're an auditory learner, you may want to talk out loud to yourself about what is going on in the photos. If you or anyone has any further questions, please ask away in the comments section.

 The towel is clean I assure you, despite the many stains evident from much use. 

Our water is hard and it is impossible to get whites really white and bright. 

If you have a solution, I'm willing to hear! 

 3 hours.

 6 hours.

 We keep the whey and use it for fermenting foods, to cook pasta, or to put in stocks or soups. 

Enjoy!

P.S. When I told Darryl I was doing a tutorial on this for the blog he included the helpful advice to simply put some Greece in it. Hope that makes someone laugh. It's a non-stop comedy routine around here.

Soft Boiled Eggs + easy peeling tip

Eggs! Well, not just eggs. But it has steadily become a staple around here especially in the wake of three back to back pregnancies. "Take two eggs and call me in the morning," my midwife would say. I got so used to eating two every day, that we all have come to start our day off with the wonderful little self packaged food. It used to be a weekend ritual to have Pancake Saturday and Big Breakfast Sunday. I'll talk about those another day. But since living in the deep south with my very southern husband, I've been learning to cook some of his favorite foods. Southern. I didn't eat a typical southern meal much when I was growing up (i.e. fried chicken, biscuits, grits, etc.) so a lot of this is new to me, even having worked at a southern diner. One of the things that has replaced pancakes lately is biscuits. And what do you put on biscuits? We put eggs!

There are so many things you can do with and egg. I was frying and scrambling them on the regular for a while until I had so many littles and decided boiling them was much easier and much less clean up. One day Darryl mentioned liking soft boiled eggs better than hard boiled. He said it was like getting the fried egg taste with the boiled egg convenience. Well that's something worth trying! After a few hits and misses I've determined the right size pan, water level, temperature, and duration to cook a half dozen of the perfect soft boiled egg (yes it all matters, but it's easier than it sounds). Something I'm doing almost daily now. Eight minutes seems to be the perfect number. Oh and if that pesky shell is keeping you from eating many boiled eggs, try this trick: put a teaspoon of baking soda in the water while you cook the eggs. The shells come off ridiculously easy. Even the littles can help me shell eggs, which they love to do!

Aside from eggs we have a few other things regularly and I'll share those in the future. Until then, try a soft boiled egg and tell me what you think!

Luke 11:11-13
New International Version (NIV)
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[a] a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

No AC = Better living?

Just a thought. While our AC was down and out and it was hot I was reading about how to cope. I've had no AC before, but being pregnant put a whole new spin on it at night time! My favorite coping skill turned out to be taking a cold shower and going to bed soaking wet. I didn't learn anything new in my research, but I did find out there is a whole movement of people who are choosing to have no AC because of the benefits of being acclimated to the environment you live in. Even our AC repairman doesn't use his! Interesting! Apparently before we had widespread AC, the government took the Summer off. I remember going home from school early because our schools didn't have AC. It all made sense and we've gone without AC for years in the Summer but night times are especially difficult with two little ones and a prego mama! But one thing I did employ during that time was cooking without cooking: making dinners without using the stove or oven. I've done this a little before when I was young(er) and on a macrobiotic diet before going strictly vegetarian (for 12 years!) to try and ease some digestive issues. It's a lovely concept. But I'm not strictly on any kind of diet these days. I have to have my artificial flavor and coloring popsicle in the evening! We did a lot on the grill, which was fun, and tried to find recipes that didn't require heat and included produce from our yard. I've continued the practice a bit since the AC has come back on (hooray! *see left side of photo above). So I've included my favorite recipe for a chilled dish at the end of the post. It was adapted from a recipe in the Nourishing Traditions book. Tip: make extra and freeze to enjoy the yummy freshness all year round!

In other news, Jordan is at 4-H camp this week. It's a camp where they learn about hunting, fishing, canoeing, and more outdoor stuff. And it's so hot! Poor thing. We miss him and wish there was a webcam where we could see what he was up to! But we pick him up Friday and will hear all the stories through the weekend I'm sure. In the mean time, Darryl has been working on finishing the basement, along with a small crew. Har har! They love love love helping Daddy do stuff. And I enjoy watching from the stairs near the draft of AC.

So since we DO have AC now, we've been indoors a lot more than normal. I tell Zeke, it's too hot for mama! I'm sad I can't take him outside as often as they both would like, but it's hard enough staying hydrated and keeping my blood sugar up without all the heat. So we've been finding lots of fun things to do inside like dance to Putumayo Playground music, blowing the best bubbles ever, and lots and lots of playing, reading, and crafts. And..... I cracked open the dress up chest I've kept for years. I've collected vintage dress up items for years (since I was a teenager) hoping one day to watch my little ones have fun with them. Today was the beginning of that fun! The photo above has Haddie dressed in a dickie and Zeke has on white gloves. The photo below is of super fun cat eye glasses frames. I have about a half dozen of those and should really sell them, but I had to keep this one pair for times like these.

We're enjoying the Summer and hope you are. Stay cool, with or without AC! <3 The Russell Bunch

Pink Gazpacho
6 ripe tomatoes, peeled, quartered
1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
2 green peppers, seeded and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 cup whole grain bread crumbs (I used oatmeal as a sub)
5 Tbsp red wine vinegar
5 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp tomato paste (I just used sauce as a sub)
sea salt and pepper
croutons, for garnish
green onion, finely chopped, for garnish
cucumber, peeled and finely chopped, for garnish

Mix ingredients to salt and pepper and blend adding water as needed to make a puree. Chill well before serving. Serve with croutons, finely chopped green onion and cucumber.

I like to also serve with steamed shrimp and cocktail sauce and a nice summery beverage. Enjoy!

Eating Our Yard

Yum! It's that time of year! Garden fresh veggies. We've lived in this house almost seven years and the garden has grown and grown, although I'll have to get the dimensions from Darryl. We're far from Dervaes status yet, but working on it! Truth be told, the past three years living on this property has been up in the air with the new county jail being built. Now that it's started we've thrown caution to the wind and let our back yard be mainly garden. We spend the majority of the time there - but that is another blog for another day. Currently we have (still!) kale, cucumbers, squash, beets, carrots, tomatoes*, potatoes, green peppers, cabbage, jalapenos, onions, and a variety of herbs in season! Soon we'll have blueberries, figs, and even later apples, grapes, sweet potatoes and blue pumpkins! We compacted the garden to have such a full variety and it's been working out quite nicely. We hope to have more room for more in the future so we can store and share and have more crops like corn and peaches. It's so nice to just go out in the back yard and pick wonderfully organic produce and bring it in to prepare for lunch or dinner! I'd like to have a goat and a couple chickens (as pets while we live in town *wink wink*) so we can have eggs and dairy. Eventually....


The kids love helping Daddy and Mama in the garden. Jordan enjoys the conversation more so than the labor, Zeke enjoys the manly labor, and Haddie enjoys the dirt. We all enjoy the end result. We're currently eating a lot of squash casserole and cucumber salad. I've included the simple recipes below for your cooking pleasure. 


On a side note: if you live near by and you have an abundance of produce from your own garden that you don't want to go to waste - donate it to BOLO! We have plenty of families who would love to have fresh garden produce. 


*The tomatoes are just beginning to ripen.


Squash Casserole
8 yellow squash, sliced
1 onion, sliced
8oz sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
Pepperidge Farm stuffing
butter
salt and pepper to taste


Boil the squash and onion until tender. Drain and squeeze out excess moisture. Mix with sour cream and cream of chicken soup with salt and pepper to taste. Put in casserole dish and cover with stuffing. Cut butter on top of stuffing. Bake on 350 until stuffing is golden brown. 


Cucumber Salad
cucumbers, peeled and sliced
tomatoes, sliced
onion, sliced
white vinegar
water
sour cream
dill
salt and pepper


Note: This recipe you got to wing a bit because I don't really measure it. I used to work at a bagel bakery as the prep cook and so I know how to eyeball this recipe but have scaled it down so don't have exact measurements. I base it on how many cucumbers I use. Also I like to peel the cucumbers with a little peel still on for color. 
Add cucumbers, tomatoes and onion to bowl. Pour 1:3 water. Add a big dollop of sour cream, salt and pepper and some fresh (or dried) dill. Mix and chill before serving. Great for cookouts!


XOXOX