How to Freeze Blueberries

Penelope and I went blueberry picking last weekend and came home with 5 pounds of blueberries. We used 2 pints for a blueberry pie (recipe and tutorial to coming soon!) and froze the rest.

First I picked off all the stems and picked out any red and not fully ripe berries. I also looked for berries that had been crushed or cracked. Then I spread them out on to cookie sheets and put them in the freezer. DO NOT wash them before you lay them on the cookie sheets.

I put some in the deep freezer and some in our side door freezer connected to our fridge. I let them freeze for about two days and then I took them out and put them in gallon freezer bags and laid them flat, like bricks. By freezing them on the cookie sheets first, the berries do not stick together in the bag and you can scoop out a cup at time as needed. The owner of the blueberry farm that we visited said that she keeps them in her deep freezer for up to a year, in a side door freezer they would last six months.

We found the organic blueberry u-pick farm by searching LocalHarvest.org. Its a great site to help you find organic, local and farm fresh foods.

This is a blog post I found with a yummy blueberry recipe and she also had some Aruvedic information about blueberries.

Starting Solids: Blackberries are a Hit!

I intended for this to be a post about eating local, farm-fresh foods, but today is turning out to be pretty insane for me. So instead, its just a show and tell of a cutie patootie picture of Penelope eating her new favorite: blackberries!

Semi-Homemade Blackberry Cobbler

Last week I picked a gallon of blackberries from a neighbor's yard! They are crazy yummy, very sweet and not tart. I made a blackberry cobbler with the majority of them, but still had plenty of leftover to put in my oatmeal (it's good for your milk supply) I eat for breakfast all week.
























I have never made blackberry cobbler before and to find a recipe, I did a quick google search and picked the first one I saw. I was in a rush to get to the grocery store during my small window of time that I didn't need to be feeding Penelope or pumping, or putting her to sleep, or changing her diaper, etc.

This is the recipe I used. I did not make my pie crust from scratch. Come on people, it was almost an act of God just to get the cobbler made, even with a ready made crust!

The finished product! I had some extra berries and pie crust so I made two extra thingys ( I know there is a proper name for those dishes, but I am too tired and I can't think of it.) I thought it came out really tasty. Especially, when it was still warm, right from the oven. Peter, not so much, after eating a slice he says "um,I don't really like blackberries." Whatever. It's not like I am not capable of eating the whole pie myself.

Eco-Friendly Kids Sneaker

These are so cute! Too bad they don't come in smaller sizes.

Does anyone have any great shoe recommendations for new walkers (Penelope is not even crawling yet, but a girl can dream), that are similar to these, made out recycled, organic and hemp materials, etc?

Our Edible Backyard

Well, it would be an edible back yard if we could figure out how to keep the birds from eating our strawberries, blueberries and plums. This is a picture of one of our 8 blueberry bushes. Almost ready!




















One of our plum trees. This was the first year we really had a good amount of plums, but we still haven't eaten one yet. The birds always get to them first.




















First of the ripe tomatoes! I remember the first home grown tomato I ever ate, a couple of years ago when I first started gardening, I called my Dad and said "It tastes NOTHING like the ones at the grocery store!" I couldn't believe how delicious they were.

These guys are coming along. Big thanks to Peter for actually getting these guys in the ground. He has pretty much taken over the Cornais Family Farm and these are now "his" tomatoes. I love him for that!

Oil Reaches Louisana Shores

Here's the article and pictures.

This makes my heart hurt. I have been putting my head in the sand all month regarding the oil spill. For some reason, now that I am mother, the wrongs of the world seem even more painful. Maybe I am just still hormonal and emotional. So to compensate, I have tried to create a little happy bubble for myself and not think of anything but the blessings in my life. But I forced myself to look at these pictures. Tallahassee has been my home for 10 years now and the Gulf has become a part of my roots. Penelope was born here and the Panhandle and Gulf are certainly a part of her story. I have to look. If I am not a part of the solution, I am a part of the problem.

To be honest, I am not even sure what to do about it. I firmly believe that the BP executives need to be held accountable with real prison time. In my opinion, they committed murder and need to be tried and convicted as if it were a street crime murder. But how does one go about making sure that happens?

The other thing that needs to be done, is reduce our consumption of oil. I already do a lot, much more than the average American, but there has got to be more that I can do. The first thing that comes to mind, maybe insignificant, but I want to stop using ziploc bags. I use them like they are going out of style, like candy. I use them for EVERYTHING. I told Peter the other day that I wanted to stop using them (and paper towels for that matter) and he said "Good God, woman, don't we do enough already??" No, we don't. Now that I can sew a bit better, I think am going to try and make these. And also start taking 5 extra seconds to use a glass container for food storage in the fridge.

Recycle, Reuse...Refashion!

This is cute top that I bought while I was living in Spain, my sophomore year of college. Its been a long time since it fit, but I can't bare to give it away. With my new post-partum mommy boobs, there is NO way it's ever going to fit again, so I decided to cut it up and give it a new life through Penelope. Peter said to me the other day, "man, you really like cutting stuff up now, huh?" Yup, I do. I am not sure what has come over me, but every spare second I have I am in the dinning room sewing or getting ready to sew!




















First I cut off the sleeves. Then I turned it inside out and took in the sides a bit to make it more of an A-line dress shape.



















Then I sewed on hot pink bias tape to finish the armholes and make the straps. Here is a good tutorial on how to use bias tape. And Ta Da! Super cute toddler sized dress. I was so proud of myself for this one, I came up with the idea all on my own. In fact, I thought I was kind of a genius for turning a woman's shirt into a toddler dress, but when I searched online I found numerous other women who have been doing this for a long time! Oh well, great minds think alike.

And then I made her a little bow to match! I used a fabric button cover kit from JoAnn Fabrics. Here is the tutorial for that.

Sugar Snap Peas Baby Food

These are some super DELICIOUS sugar snap peas, from Turkey Hill Farm, that I got at the Lake Ella Farmer's Market the other week.

They were picked at the peak of their sweetness and they are oh so yummy. I got enough for me to munch on and to make some for Penelope. I once read about a New York chef, who introduced her babies to solid foods by offering only what was in season.

She figured that by doing it that way, she would always offer a food at their best possible taste and have a better chance of her child liking what she offered. It's a theory I would like to try as well, especially after I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle last year.

















First, I de-vained the peas, and then I steamed them for just a couple of minutes, not very long at all. You could do this with raw peas too, you get more nutrition out the peas that way.  Next, I put them in my mini food processor and grinded them up good. I left lots of texture though.


















Then I added the secret ingredient...Breast Milk!! Mmm...look at all that yummy fat at the top! If you wondered why Penelope weighs 20 pounds at 5 months, this is why.

The finished product. I put one tablespoon into each ice cube section. My plan is to give these to her frozen in one of those mesh thingys. I thought it might be a soothing teething tool and great way for her to taste the food without choking. I am skipping the whole spoon-feed-pureed-baby-food and going straight to seeing what she can get in her mouth herself.

Mostly out of pure laziness, I do not want to spend lots of time making baby food and dealing with spoon feeding her. It's called Baby Led Weaning, because technically the moment you introduce solids you have begun the weaning process.