Pinterest Moms

After working on Darrow and Ione's Halloween costumes and Trunk or Treat decorations, Cameron told me "You know, you can't post that online. Your Pinstrosity people will hate you. You can't be one of the Pinterest Moms" And I got a little offended by his comment. But I knew it wasn't meant harshly, and it wasn't worth getting worked up, so I brushed it off. Then last night after laughing over the results of Darrow's birthday cake (he requested a black cake) he said, "You can show this one!" I wasn't offended this time, but it did make me stop short. 

Can we talk about "that Pinterest Mom" for just a minute? 

You know her. The woman who just blew up your feed with the pictures of her perfectly executed themed birthday party fit for a rock star. Or she's the woman who is always posting pictures of the cute and educational things she is doing with her children. Or she's the woman who is posting about her kids quietly playing in their room while she does her hour of yoga and meditation. Or she's the woman who always looks on point and gorgeous. Or she's the woman who always has the cutest date night pictures of her and her "bae" (really...where did that come from?!) and their cute and perfect relationship. See, you do know her. 

We all know her. Or a few "hers". And for some reason so many of us feel threatened by her. Enough so that "Pinterest Mom" is becoming a derogatory term.

Now I know that there are some exceptions, but really for the most part, I don't think these "Pinterest Moms" are out there doing their thing to make any of us feel bad. That's not their point at all.

And you know what...none of them have it all 100% together. I know I don't. I know that none of the amazing women that I know have it all together. Some have it more together than others, but none of us are spotless and we all are hot messes in various aspects in our lives. But we compare our hot messes with our other's shining successes all too often. Of course there is going to be a disparity in that comparison! 

We have to stop it. Stop the comparison. Stop the "Pinterest Mom" shaming. Her success is not my failure. Say it with me. Her success is not my failure. We each have strengths. Every single one of us. We also all have thing we're not so good at. 

I make a mean cardboard Mater, but can't make a pretty cake. I take my family out on day trips, but I really dislike sitting and reading stories to my kids. I love making bouquets and wall hangings, but I can't keep my house clean ever.  Would I like my weak points to be stronger? Of course! But just because I am a crappy housewife, doesn't mean that now I can't buoy up and cheer on those that are fabulous at that. 

"Real" is such a buzzword right now. I love the movement of showing real life and not putting up a fake front, but don't get so enamored with real that you forget that talents are real too. It's okay to be a Pinterest Mom. It's okay to not be a Pinterest Mom. We all have our differing abilities!

So here's your Pinstrosity homework: 

If you find yourself putting anyone down for something they did well...stop. Stop immediately, and find a sincere compliment you can give. Even if you were just putting them down in your head, stop, and tell your Facebook friend that you love how happy her kid looks at her party, or how beautiful the quilling was on the card she just made, or how fun the sign is that she holding at her child's game, or that you are so glad they get to go on date nights. Be sincere. And soon you'll find that your outlook will change, your mindset will morph, and you will be happier! 

We can do this! We can lift each other up instead of tearing each other (and ourselves) down! 

Pinstrosity for Dinner

Last night was a double Pinstrosity night at our house. Let me set the scene for you. 

After a week on the road I'd collected quite the excess of water weight and car munchy flub. So I was determined that this week I'd get back on track and eat right, starting with a few days off of carbs to get my carb addiction curbed a little. 

The kids and I went to the grocery store, stuck to the grocery list, and I didn't even take a "Mommy tax" bite of Darrow's maple glazed donut. I was going to rock this. 

All day I was good. No sneaking treats, keeping up on my water, eating small meals every 3 hours. I had it down. Even when my salad for lunch was just ho hum, I stayed strong because I had a plan for dinner that was going to rock. Eggplant Parmesan and Curried Carrot Soup. Two of our favorites, both from Pinterest! 

Everything went great until I pulled out the ingredients to start making dinner and realized I'd have to improvise a little. There was only 1/3 c. of parmesan cheese left. But I'd already sliced the Eggplant and had the eggs beaten, so I was committed. Running to get more from the store would be a 20 minute venture and we were hungry now...so I decided to just run with it and make it work. 

I only coated one side of the eggplant in parmesan, but still only got 2/3 of the way through before I ran out. So I just seasoned the rest with garlic powder, onion powder, and Caribbean Jerk seasoning and popped them in the oven. 

It was then time to get the soup going. I sauteed the onions without burning them and knew this was going to shape up to be something tasty and filling. I'd been looking forward to this all day. Just as it was time to add the final ingredients for the soup, the timer dinged that the eggplant was done. All I had left to add to the soup was the cayenne pepper, so I figured I'd throw that in really quick and then grab the eggplant. 

And that was my mistake. 

In my hurry to just get the cayenne in I figured I'd eyeball it rather than pull out a measuring spoon. So I opened the cap and went to add a few shakes of cayenne and realized that unlike most of my spice canisters, this one didn't have the handy little shaker/filter top. It was just open. So in dumped about 1/3 of my cayenne pepper container...which was about 20 times the amount the recipe called for. 

I quickly grabbed a spoon and went to scoop out the cayenne to see if I could salvage it. Cayenne dissolves FAST! I couldn't get it out. So I stirred it all in and then drained off 3/4 of the liquid and added the last of my chicken broth in, adding a little water to make it stretch some. 

And then I realized I hadn't pulled the eggplant out! Eek! Last time I left it in too long it was gross and burned bad. But this time...with the lack of Parmesan, they were just kinda slimy and meh. But I flipped them and added sauce anyway. Maybe they'd still crisp up. Maybe. 

I finished making everything, got it served up and we went to dig in. I'd been waiting for this all day. 

And then nearly burned my throat off. I muscled down a few spoonfuls of soup before I stopped. I like spicy food, but the only thing I could taste was the cayenne and the heat. Pushed that aside. The eggplant parmesan was edible, but just meh. Without the Parmesan to soak up the excess moisture and crisp up, they were just kinda mushy and weird. 

I downed the rest of my water for the day, cleaned up dinner, and then Cameron and I sat and ate Peanut Butter M&M's while playing board games because so far I haven't found a way to mess up the system of opening the bag and getting that orb of peanut butter goodness in me. 

Wait...yes I have. That one time I was opening a bag in the movie theater trying to be quiet and the bag ripped down the sides and M&M's went flying everywhere and you could hear them rolling down the slanted floor and hitting the wall/screen in front. 

Yeah, you can Pinstrositize anything. Or at least I can, bahahaha! 

The Autumnal Equinox Tradition

Traditions are some of my favorite things to learn about. I love knowing what people do, and why. I love seeing the bits of heart put into things, and how these traditions bring people together. 

When we were first married traditions seemed hard. We hadn't been married long enough to have any traditions together. We borrowed traditions from growing up and from what we saw people doing, and tried them out. Some we loved. Some didn't work. 

But one tradition that has stuck around, and that may be one of our favorite traditions now, is our annual Autumnal Equinox Dinner. This dinner tradition started as a spin-off of a tradition Cameron's family had. 

On the Winter Solstice, the Mowers would all get dressed up in their Sunday best and come together for a traditional Christmas meal, as Christmas day they had the traditional New Mexican feast. For the solstice they'd have ham, potatoes, and the whole works. We wanted to carry this on, but as students we weren't likely to be home for the Solstice each year and we wanted this to be a tradition we could do at our house. So we chose the Autumnal Equinox, because it's smack in the middle of the semester and we knew we'd be home the new couple of years and could do this as something special for us. 

A few weeks ago we had our 6th Annual Autumnal Equinox Dinner. 

Last year it fell on Day 2 of the Keeping Up Appearances challenge and I definitely bit off more than I could chew. So this year we tried to keep it a little more simple with the food prep. No crazy melted cake this year! We ended up with some super yummy parts of the meal, some meh parts, but somehow thankfully no Pinstrosities other than me not starting food prep early enough and us starting about 40 minutes later than planned. But that's doable.

Instead of getting the whole meal from Pinterest this year, I decided to mix and match. I turned to our favorite cookbook for the chicken, because every single recipe we try out of the America's Test Kitchen cookbook (with every recipe they've tried from 2001-2014) turns out phenomenal. We've never had anything not turn out. Well, except the time I forgot to make the sauce. That time the meal was meh...but that was my fault. I trust that book over anything I find on Pinterest.

But, I can't throw a party without Pinterest being involved somehow of course! 

Pinterest successes #1 & #2: The Pumpkin Shaped Buffalo Ranch Cheeseball

This one is a double win! While looking for cheese ball ideas (because that in and of itself is becoming an Autumnal Equinox Dinner tradition), I came across a pin for a pumpkin shaped cheese ball. I was sold.

I made the cheese ball from this recipe and tasted it. Super salty and intense! So I added another block of cream cheese, and then threw in more grated cheese to get a better consistency. After that it was just right. I rolled it in finely grated cheddar cheese to get the orange color on the outside and because there were nut allergies in our guests.

Then it came time to shape it. I didn't have rubber bands on hand, but I did have yarn. So I cut three lengths of yarn, and then used each one to tie around the plastic wrapped cheese ball, tying it tight enough that it cut into the cheese to create the divot. When it came time to put the platter together I cut the yarn, took the cheese ball out of the plastic wrap, added in the stem from a bell pepper, and it was ready!

This one was fun because it looks fancy, but is super easy. Our friends thought at first that I'd molded it or spent a long time getting the shape right. So A+ for this pin!!

Pinterest success #3: Curried Carrot Soup

This was one we'd actually made before from a pin we'd found on Pinterest. It's simple to make, but so so so yummy! No pictures from that night, but here's a picture from when we made it before:

Pinterest Success #4: Prickly Pear Lemonade

And by the time this got put together and out to serve, the party was in full swing and my camera was safely stowed away from the kids. But, it looked just like the pictures in the original link. And we "dirtied" it up redneck style with Almond Joy creamer (our grocery store here didn't have plain coconut cream creamer, so we went with the Almond Joy, and that touch of chocolate flavor was yummy)!

And the Pinterest Meh: The Snickerdoodle Pie. 

I was pretty excited about this one. Super excited. Which maybe is why it ended up meh, because I had it built up so much in my head. I even did a series of pigs running around the outside for the crust (because naturally I have a pig cookie cutter, but nothing remotely fall-ish likes leaves or anything). 

First thing that went weird was the amount of filling. It didn't even fill the crust half way. I made a deep dish pie (as always), but normally even regular pie recipes come up higher than that on my deep dishes. I reread the recipe and the comments and it didn't say anything about it puffing up or anything, so I decided to make another batch of the filling to get it to the top of the pie. 

And in the oven it went. But of course because there was double the filling, it took much longer to bake. But the crust didn't burn (wrapped it in foil), and it smelled and looked delicious. Anticipation was high! 

Dinner got over and it was time to cut into the pie (and just now as I am sitting here typing this I realize that I completely spaced getting the whipped cream out for it!). I cut the first slice, pulled it out and it was a pake! For anyone who's not a Drop Dead Diva fan, that's a pie and a cake combined. The filling was cake basically. It didn't taste bad, but it was just kinda meh, and a bit of an odd consistency. I think I was expecting more of a baked custard pie for some reason. No one disliked it, but it looked yummier than it ended up being sadly. 

So I might try tweaking it a little and seeing if I can't come up with my own snickerdoodle pie that's more what we were expecting. We'll see.

But altogether it was a fabulous meal!

Menu:

• Peruvian Garlic Lime Chicken (for a subscription fee you can find the recipe here, or in the cook book, which is totally worth buying!)
• Buffalo Ranch Cheeseball shaped like a pumpkin, served with Smoked Gouda Triscuits, Ritz crackers, and blue corn tortilla chips
• Curried Carrot Soup, served with blue corn tortilla chips to crush over the top
• Oatmeal Rolls (these are Cameron's favorite rolls! I burned the bottoms slightly on accident, but they still weren't bad)
• Fresh corn on the cob from the neighbors fields (a kind neighbor with a field full of corn opened up his fields to all of us, and our friends brought down a basket of steaming fresh corn! It was super yummy!)
• Red Cabbage Slaw (I need to get the recipe for this one from our friends who brought it! It was super yummy!)
• Prickly Pear Lemonade
• Snickerdoodle Pie

The "rule" (or tradition might be a less harsh way to put it), is that the fall decor doesn't come out until the day of the Equinox dinner. It was fun to pull out my wreath, garlands, and table runner again! But then I got an idea and before everyone came Cameron and I ran around the yard and the empty lot across the wash from us and gathered bits of nature for a tablescape. We cut down some of the sunflower stalks to make a table garland for the center. Cameron also found an Osage Orange tree (also known as a hedge apple) and we picked a few to go into the decor (because I think they look so funky and cool! Topping it all off was the gorgeous autumn bouquet my friend Wendy brought. The colors were perfect! It's still on my kitchen table and other than a few flowers we've had to pull out, it's doing beautifully! 

Overall, each portion of the meal and the evening was simple, but when combined all together it was such a nice evening and a yummy meal! We loved the time we had to visit with our friends and celebrate the goodness of life. I can't wait for next year's dinner already!

What is your favorite tradition? How'd it come about?

Prickly Pear Barbecue Sauce

Some of you may have noticed that Prickly Pear Week came to an abrupt stop with no explanation. 

Well, it turned into a Pinstrosity of it's own. Without going into details (because you don't want them)...I forgot one important thing about Prickly Pear fruit. They are very high in fiber. And I totally didn't think of that when I was putting the prickly pear juice in everything we ate that week (morning smoothies, lemonade, cupcakes, waffles, marinades, etc). So for the sake of our internal systems, it had to stop immediately. 

But I did want to share one recipe with you that we came up with that we LOVE! Prickly Pear Barbecue Sauce! 

That's not all it makes...that's just what's left and only because I had to save some to take a picture of. 

This sauce is tangy, slightly sweet, and has an amazing flavor and color! After reading a number of barbecue sauce recipes, we combined tactics on some, used a regular barbecue recipe as our base, and then jumped in! 

Ingredients: 

• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
• 1 TBS flour
• 3 TBS brown sugar
• 3 TBS sugar
• 1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp ground mustard
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 cups prickly pear juice

Directions: 

1. Mix all ingredients together in a medium saucepan until combined. 
2. Bring the mixture to a simmer, whisking until smooth. 
3. Simmer the mixture for 50 minutes, or until the sauce reaches your desired thickness
4. Store in a sealed, glass jar in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks. 

Keeping Up Appearances, a Year Later

It's been one year since we relaunched the blog. One year since the rebrand. One year since our "Keeping Up Appearances" Project. One year with the new Pinstrosity!

Last week, which was supposed to be my week for posting on the blog and Instagram, I took a "sabbatical". It was the opposite of the Keeping Up Appearances project. I wasn't trying to show how ridiculous it is to try to live up to social media standards (the point of the KUA project), instead I was forcing myself to take a step back from it all because in the months following the KUA project I got sucked back into the "I can do it! I can live an Instagram/Pinterest/Facebook perfect life! And if not, I obviously don't have anything worth sharing."vortex. 

It wasn't consciously. It definitely wasn't on purpose. But when I realized what was going on it felt like I'd been sucker punched. I wasn't even living up to our own "preaching". I'd meandered away from "Life isn't Pinterest Perfect, and neither are we!" mantra. 

This collage of photos pretty much sums up a large portion of my life. If I had a picture of one of them crying to put in the collage, it might have made it more real life. I love these people and I truly do love the life we are building. But it isn't all pretty days and happy trails. And often when things are smack in the middle of diapers, grocery runs, bills, keeping the kids fed, getting people to sleep, and building a business, it is hard to look at it all and feel like there's anything to share (because as cute as I think my kids are, I'm pretty sure you all don't need or want daily doses of my children and their pretty normal antics ). It gets easy to see all the very non-glamorous parts of life and feel like that's all there is. So then hopping on social media and you see everyone else's best 5% of life that gets posted, it's hard to remember that they are sloughing through the mundane parts of life too. It gets hard to feel like what you're doing is going anywhere. 

So I took a week off. Well, sorta. It ended up being a crazy week, but I didn't blog. I didn't post on Instagram. I didn't post on Facebook (well, beyond a few groups I'm in when I needed to ask a question). I didn't plan posts or blogs. I just lived. And it was great. 

The week took me all over the state, and gave me a lot to think about. Directions I want to go with my online posts. Messages I want to rally behind. Things I want to incorporate into my life. Stories I want to share with you all. 

I follow a great account on Instagram called A Home Made for Hosting. This account follows the home building dream and story of a photographer husband and wife team I follow. She just did a blog post about fear of showing their house online because they are afraid that people will judge their house. This home is beautiful, and will end up being a huge blessing to so many people (they are incredibly giving and have serving hearts, and have designed their house so that they can use it to bless others). But without knowing the heart and the why, some people may send nasty-grams their way about it (which really is ridiculous that people do that). I feel much the same way, only on the opposite side of the spectrum. 

I feel fear about posting about my life because too often I tell myself that I don't have the experience I need to have a voice. I fear that people will look at my life and dismiss this "redneck" girl from the sticks. I fear that I don't really have anything to share, and that everyone feels that way too. 

But, as this same photographer stated, fear is the opposite of faith. Fear holds back. Fear restrains. And in this case, I'm using fear as a pity party. I'm using fear to tell myself that I don't have anything worth sharing. 

We did the Keeping Up Appearances project to show just how ridiculous it is to try to live a "perfect" life. We didn't realize the opposite end of the spectrum though. The Keeping Up Appearances project wasn't just to say "We can't do it all, and that's okay!" but it also was to say, "Our lives have worth and meaning, even when they are not 'perfect' or dazzling!" 

This past week wasn't "beautiful" as far as imagery goes. But it was exactly what I needed. It gave me perspective. It gave me time. And it gave me motivation. I didn't get ahead on blog posts in the least bit. I didn't plan out social media posts. I didn't keep a perfect house, make amazing meals, or try new make up. But I did spend more time with my kids. We just got done with an at home game night date night. I finished an audio book. Skeins of yarn were actually used. And the neighbors got to witness the crazy lady running around the yard in her pajamas at 6:30 in the morning because there was fog outside and it had to be documented accordingly (fog in AZ is not a common thing).

And sitting here typing all of this I'm realizing that even with all the craziness that was last week (16+ hours in the car for eye appointments, hair appointments, grocery runs, etc), I wouldn't trade it for a week full of "social media worthy" activities or life. I lived life not worrying about how to blog what I was doing, or how I could show it on Instagram in a way that would fit into my feed aesthetics, or worrying about what people would think if I showed my life. I lived. I put myself back into my life, and it was glorious. 

This past week reminded me about life, about family, and really about the heart of this blog and the heart of the new direction we took with it last year. Life isn't Pinterest Perfect, and it doesn't have to be Pinterest Perfect to be worth sharing about. Our lives won't resonate with everyone. It's just not possible. But through sharing our lives, our fears, our goals, our failures, our triumphs, our quirks, and our love, maybe we can find a tribe of people, our sweet Pinstrosipeeps, who might need our voice (and who's voices we'll need in return, because you guys blow us away with your love and support and we are so grateful for you! You buoy us up!). 

So welcome to Year 2 of the "new" Pinstrosity, in which we relearn old lessons, grow in ways we didn't expect, try new things, fail a few times, laugh a lot, cry a little (because we're girls and that's just what we do), and adjust our tail feathers. We're so glad you're here on this ride with us! Buckle up, keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times, and hold on tight, because we're not exactly sure what this ride is going to bring, but we know it's going to be worth it! 

Prickly Pear Cupcakes

In my plan for the week, I actually didn't intend to make Prickly Pear cupcakes, or much by way of desserts. But things change. 

For a few weeks I'd casually mention to Darrow that if he'd use the toilet I'd make him any treat he wanted. He'd say "Nope!" or "No, thank you." and we'd leave it at that. Well yesterday it happened and he promptly remembered the promise of treats and cupcakes were the prize of choice. So I got to looking for Prickly Pear cupcakes (because he doesn't have a preference yet). 

I almost just did a substitute in a cake mix like I did for the waffles, but wanted to find something that might have a stronger Prickly Pear flavor. Through Pinterest I found a great recipe by Cupcake Project. It looked like it'd have good flavor and would be very doable. And it was! It was easy to put together and baked up beautifully. I got 23 cupcakes out of my batch. Weird. But oh well. 

But then it came time for the frosting. I didn't wan to make the prickly pear lemon bars to blend into the frosting that she had, and it sounded like there wouldn't be much prickly pear flavor, so I went on the hunt for a frosting that would do the flavor justice. 

In my searching, I remembered reading about a flour frosting, so I searched it and found an easy recipe quickly. It involved combining flour and milk, and cooking until you get a thick batter before adding vanilla, butter, and sugar. With the recipe calling for 2 cups of milk, I got curious if I could substitute the prickly pear juice for the milk in the recipe. I wanted to use as much juice as possible in the recipe, and this one fit that bill. I figured it was worth a try!

And it worked!! That was the best frosting I've ever had. Light, but so totally yummy! The substitution worked perfectly! I only did a half batch because a full batch covered 3 dozen cupcakes and I didn't need that much frosting.

Now, I'm not an expert frosting applicator. So my frosting looks meh...but we weren't going for pretty, we were going for yummy! Taste before beauty!

So they baked fine, and the frosting held together. But if it doesn't taste good, what's the point?

Luckily these taste great! There is a subtle fruity flavor without being truly fruity. Great description there, huh? The frosting was light, fluffy, and had the perfect flavor without tasting like sugar! It was sweet, but not overwhelmingly so like many frostings. The cupcake was moist and yummy while being fluffy and cohesive. These are definitely some new favorites!!

So there it is! Prickly Pear recipe test #2 done! And it was a success! 

Prickly Pear Waffles

The first food I decided to try out for Prickly Pear week was Prickly Pear Waffles! I did a quick search online for a recipe and didn't see one come up, so I decided to just go for it and see how it came out! 

I thought about going completely from scratch, but then I decided with the lazy and easy route. Krusteaz mix for the win!! We actually really like the Krusteaz mix pretty good. It's yummy on its own and easy to tweak if you want something more. 

So I did the basic recipe, just substituting Prickly Pear juice for the water. 

It mixed up nicely and looked like normal batter, only prettier because of the natural color of the prickly pear!

But we all know that something can look good and taste bad. And we still had the cooking to do. I was worried that somehow the juice would change the consistency and that it'd crumble or stick to the waffle iron bad.

It was a slightly thicker batter than normal but not by much so I left it thicker, scooped some onto the waffled iron, and crossed my fingers.

This is where I left you all off on the Instagram Story. What's your guess...fail or yummy goodness?

Did you guess? 

Okay...here were the results:

Beautiful pink waffles that held together perfectly (better than normal waffles in fact)! They were a little more dense than a normal waffle, but I like that. I served Darrow's to him with regular maple syrup and that tasted good. The waffles sucked up all the syrup faster than normal. If you've had a whole wheat pancake or waffle, think of that syrup suction action! It was the same.

The flavor of the waffle wasn't as strong as I'd hoped, but it was definitely different from a normal waffle. It had a slightly sweet after flavor, and an almost watermelony taste to it. That's the closest I can describe it. But it was good! After that bite of Darrow's I knew I needed to get me a plate made up!

But then I got to thinking. This needed a different flavor of syrup to complement it better. Something less sweet and more subtle. So I found a vanilla pudding sauce by This Grandma is Fun on Pinterest (where else!) and whipped that up. I discovered I didn't have any corn starch though, so took a risk and substituted flour. It worked! And it was the PERFECT flavor combination with the prickly pear waffle. Yummy yummy!!

Prickly Pear Recipe #1: Success!! We will be having these again! P

How to Juice Prickly Pear Cactus Fruit

If you saw our Instagram story today, you know that this week is devoted to Prickly Pears! All across the Southwest the Prickly Pear cactus fruit are either ripe or very rapidly getting there and it's time to harvest and enjoy!

I have quite a few jars of prickly pear juice that I am going to use to make meals with this week. I have sweet recipes, savory recipes, and experiments I want to try out. Prickly Pear is one of my very favorite flavors and my favorite cactus. We've read different processes to getting prickly pear juice from the fruit, worked at it and combined ideas, and have come up with our process that we feel yields the best juice. What makes this the best juice? The intense color and the AMAZING flavor!

Too often we get prickly pear products from restaurants or stores that leave us feeling a little disappointed. It's basically just the prickly pear coloring with a smidgen of flavor. But nothing true to the fruit really. If we're going to eat Prickly Pear, we want it to taste like prickly pear! Because the flavor is like nothing else!

Our process is more labor intensive, but we like the end results much better and find it well worth the effort. So here is what we do!

This is a post I wrote up last year with our process when I went to visit my parents and to restock our Prickly Pear supply.

Bountiful Baskets in their area was offering a 12lb box of red prickly pear fruit that week. I put in an order, but I wasn't really sure that 12lbs would be enough. So my parents went up to the family ranch in the mountains and picked me a bucketful the week before I came down. Now, when I saw a bucketful I really should saw a Bucket Full. This was a 5 gallon bucket packed to the gills, along with a 1/2 gallon bag that wouldn't fit. They called and asked if one bucket was enough. We thought it might be, but if not we could go pick more. I didn't realize how packed they got that bucket though. We definitely didn't need more! 

They put the whole bucket in their freezer to keep these perfectly ripe fruit all ready for me. It took forever to thaw those out, but they sure were pretty!

But then it came time to juice these babies. We've used electric and commercial juicers before, but they gave a watered down juice, and we like ours to be nice and concentrated. Cameron read different techniques and ideas online and we've come up with our own method to get the juice as concentrated as we like it without having to spend hours boiling off water and ending up with minimal juice.

Once I finally got the prickly pears thawed enough, I put some in the big pot and added about 2-3 inches of water. I figured out later in the day that smaller batches worked better than big batches, but by then I was on a roll and didn't take more pictures...so these are pictures of the first big batch. I steamed these until they were completely soft and mash-able.

Next comes the straining, mashing, and more straining. We tried using cheesecloth at first but it let through more fibers than we wanted in our juice, so we use a clean pillowcase (of course I had to use an orange one). After washing and sanitizing a five gallon bucket, we put the pillow case in and slip the edge over the lip of the bucket to hold it on. Well, that's what I did. When there are two of us at home I can help hold the bag while Cameron pours or vice-versa but I was all alone this day and this is the method I came up with to do this flying solo.

Once the pillow case is in place I pour off the juice in the bottom of the pot, trying to not pour off any of the fruit or pulp. Once the juice is out of the way it is really easy to mash the fruit. We just use a potato masher.

You want these as mashed as you can get them. The skins won't mash down too much, but the insides should be pretty much pulp. 

From there carefully (this is very hot prickly pear pulp!!) pour the prickly pear pulp into the pillow cased bucket.

Mmmm, doesn't that look appetizing. 

Now it's time to squeeze. Again, I realized I couldn't do this like we normally do. With two of us one can hold the bag while the other twists and squeezes. With only two hands, I couldn't really do that, and you do need both hands to squeeze the juice out.

So if you're flying solo on this, here's how I figured this out. I went and found a good sturdy broom and tied the bag to the top. This was a little tricky to do without splattering all over the place, but I finally got it. I put the bucket up on a little chair (regular dining room chairs were too tall, but I found a little kids chair and that was the perfect height for the bucket. With the bucket on the floor there were too many splatters going on; having the bucket higher caught more juice and made less of a mess (but you will still get some splatters). I propped the broom up on the corner of the cupboards so that the bag hung into the bucket on it's own.

The prickly pear juice doesn't stain cloth (at least not easy at all...I used a white washcloth to wipe the counter and there's not a speck of color on it after rinsing it out), but I didn't know if it would stain wood and didn't want to find out, so I was careful to quickly wipe up splashes on Mom's nice hickory cupboard doors and protected the chair with an old towel.

From there I needed all hands on deck and the pictures had to stop, but it's pretty easy to explain from here. You will want some gloves on (I just used regular cleaning gloves, but you can go thicker if you want). The spines and glochids get soft in the steaming process and most of them don't make it through the bag, but a few will. The gloves will help protect your fingers from stickers (not 100%, but much better than bare hands). The gloves will also help protect your hands a little from the heat. I wore a pair of gloves and then used another pair out loose as "hot pads".

Once your gloves are on start twisting the bag slowly and squeeze out the air until you get the bag tight around the pulp. From there then just keep the pillowcase twisted up tight and squeeze that pulp as much as you can. You may have to loosen the pillowcase a little and move the pulp around some here and there. You want to get as much of this pulp juice out as you can as it's the concentrated good stuff.

And that's the juicing process! Once I had every single prickly pear juiced I ended up with nearly 5 gallons of juice!! We definitely didn't need to go pick more fruit.

Having two different varieties of prickly pear fruit was fun to try out. The one has a much deeper and more vivid color, and has a stronger flavor, but the other is more naturally sweet and has a mild flavor. I personally prefer the wild prickly pear (the stronger flavor and color), but the cultivated prickly pear was yummy too.

I spent the rest of the evening making 28 half-pint jars of jelly (recipe at the end of this post) before I decided to call it quits for the night and put everything away for the next day. I had one batch set up really good, one batch set up okay, and one batch stayed syrup. Prickly pear jelly seems super temperamental, but luckily if it doesn't set up the syrup is super yummy anyway!

Prickly Pear Jelly Recipe: 

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 c. cactus juice
• 1/2 c. lemon juice
• 1 pkg pectin (we like Surejell)
• 4 c. sugar

Directions:

1. Dissolve the pectin in the lemon juice. 
2. After the pectin is dissolved in lemon juice, stir in the cactus juice. 
3. Bring to a rolling boil. 
4. Add sugar. 
5. When it comes to a rolling boil (stirring occasionally), cook for exactly 3 minutes. 
6. Pour into jars and seal. (You can get sealing instructions here). 

This will fill 5 half pint jars. A single batch sets up really well usually. A double batch is iffy. The chemistry gets off when you double this. I need to work on tweaking this and figuring out the correct proportions for a double batch so that this doesn't have to be made in single batch quantities.

I'm so excited to try out all these new Prickly Pear recipes this week! Stay tuned for fun new recipes!

Kett Files: Mowers Make a Home

In case you didn't know...I have a deep love of Pinterest. ;) I use it as a search engine, a vision board, an organizational tool, a planning space, and on collaboration projects. It's one of my online BFF's. 

After moving into our current house at the beginning of June, I wasn't too worried about decorating as we'd be gone most of the summer. I knew though that when I got back that I wanted to hit it hard and really get the place put together. This time though, I told myself that I didn't have to put things up on the wall just because we have them. I want to choose what will look best, what represents us the most, and what fits the style we like. 

And then I froze. 

What style do I like? What do I put up? What do I make? How do I do this without spending a fortune?! 

I just wasn't sure how to go forward. The place felt meh. Not bad, but not anything special or truly us. 

And then the other night I was scrolling through kitchens on Pinterest and found this picture: 

And suddenly the heavens parted and ideas started coming!


My kitchen won't look like this (being in a rental I'm thinking maybe we shouldn't go in and repaint everything they just remodeled, nor do we need to as it's all well done), but I can take aspects of it and integrate it in. Did you see our big crazy bed that got us through our one bedroom wonder this past year? We designed it so that we could take all the components apart and use it as regular furniture some day. Well, that day is just around the corner. We're getting a bed frame again, leaving the dresser in the room, and then moving the other pieces into the dining area as a hutch and the mudroom as shelves. And I get to paint them!! Guess what color?! No, not orange. I still can't figure out how to make it not so garish in decor. I'm going sage green with touches of copper and orange. It's perfect!

I've never painted furniture before, but I'm excited to give it a try! As I jump more into this adventure of decorating intentionally, I'll share more of the journey. I know there will be successes and Pinstrosities with it all. But that's part of it!

I was a little hesitant at first at the idea of sharing this part of my life. While I love our little single wide trailer rental, it's not glamorous. It's not something most people would aspire to live in. But, we are happy here. We are thankful for it. And really it's not about curb appeal or being fancy for guests. Building a home is all about building a haven for my family, a place where we can be together and feel safe, loved, and comfortable. And that is what I'm setting out to do! I hope you'll join in along the way as I try to figure this all out!

What College Taught Me About the Peril of Forgetting Keys with a Communal Bathroom

It's been a while since I pulled something out of my "What College Taught Me" book! Let's get back to one of those. And today's "episode" happened this time of year. Just enough into the school year to feel like I was really getting the hang of things. Just enough time to let down my guard. 

My first year I lived in the dorms on campus. This particular dorm had a wing on the south for the girls and a wing on the north for the guys. Each wing had two floors, with one long hallway housing the community bathroom and the individual dorm rooms. 

(via)

Those communal bathrooms were interesting. It was great to not have to clean my own bathroom, but it was also awkward to share the bathroom with so many other girls on a daily basis. But at least it was just girls (well, usually...unless someone broke the rules and sneaked their boyfriend in and then it was really awkward). 

One morning I got up to shower. My roommate was already up early and gone for the day. I usually just took my clothes in with me and changed in the shower, but no matter how careful I was I always ended up with a big wet spot on my pants or shirt or something. So I decided since the bathroom was just across the hall, I'd just wrap up in my towel to across and back. It was early, most the other girls weren't up yet (I've always been quite private). 

Everything was fine until I got back to my dorm room and realized that my normal ritual was to put my keys in my pants pocket when I walked over to the showers. Since I deviated from the norm and didn't have my pants, I also didn't have my keys. I was locked out, and all I had wrapped around me was a towel. 

Now this was before most college kids had cell phones. I didn't. My roommate didn't. I had no way to get a hold of her. The only choice was to go downstairs and get the RA to come open the door.Luckily when I got down the stairs it was empty. I went to the female RA's door and knocked and knocked, but she never answered. I was there, dripping wet and cold, with nothing on but a towel down in the common area. 

(via)

So I then went to the male RA's door, who was also one of the Football coaches and knocked on his door. I'm sure I was beet red. He answered quickly and was grumpy at first, but as I explained my predicament, he chuckled and went back to get his keys. 

It all seemed like it would only be minimally awkward until right then. That exact moment was when the door from the guys side opened and out came half of the male residents on their way up to practice (this dorm housed a lot of the student athletes). I froze. There was no where to hide. No where to go. Total mortification. 

After what felt like eons (which I'm sure was just a few seconds), the RA came back out, the guys all thankfully were pretty polite and didn't raz me while I stood there, and I got back to my room with only my pride hurt. The RA even said that he wouldn't put that unlocking on my chart, "I figure this has been traumatic enough that you won't do it again." he laughed.

And I never did. After that my keys went with me everywhere. 

A few morals from this story:
1. Take your keys with you everywhere. 

2. Wet spots on your clothes are infinitely better than having to run around a dorm with just a towel. 

3. Getting up early to shower isn't worth it. Just sleep in. 

The thing I realized my toddler craved: Control

Facebook showed me a memory from 2 years ago yesterday. It went like this: "Darrow may look like Cameron, but I'm pretty sure that just now when I pulled him off the bookshelf for the 10th time in a row in a series of 2 minutes and yelled, turned his back to me, banged his head on the floor, and then gave me a dirty look as he crawled back to the bookshelf, that it was 110% me. Neat."

And that statement has been proven true time and time again over the last 2 years. But, I realized something about a month ago that is making a huge difference. And I feel like a dork that it took me nearly 2 years of butting heads with a toddler to realize. 

It's all about the control, ('bout control, 'bout control -just channeling my inner Meghan Trainor there).

See, I like when I have everything under control in my sphere and with things relating to me. I like to plan my own day, have my space the way I want it, and things going the way I planned. It took me 2 years, but I realized that if Darrow is like me (and he's proven that over and over again), then it only makes sense that he's feeling the same way! He wants control. He doesn't want to be directed. He needs to feel like he's in charge of his sphere.

That light bulb was huge for me. I don't know why, but it was. You'd think that'd be an easy one, but it wasn't.

So I've been working to make some changes around here, and guys...it is hard! Giving him some control means me giving up some control. But isn't that what Motherhood is about, giving up what we want because what your child needs is more important?

Now, we're not just giving him carte blanche around here. There are things that are non-negotiable, such as staying in the yard, not playing with the oven, no throwing toys at Ione, not running away when we call him, etc. But I've found areas where if I give up some of my control over the situation, he can then exert his control. And it has made a world of difference! This is a much happier boy lately.

The first big one was bedtime and naps. Darrow is a night owl through and through (also a trait he got from me). Bedtime was often a huge fight. We'd put him to bed, he'd get out. We put him back in bed, he'd get out. We tried all different methods over the 2 years from various articles. Silently putting him to bed with no eye contact, calmly explaining why he needed to stay in bed, spanking, lying by him and wrapping our arms around him so he couldn't get off the bed until he cried himself to sleep, sitting down the hall and getting after him every time he got off the bed, and the list goes on. Nothing worked. Naptime was the same. He needed a nap, but it was a huge fight. 

So no instead of bedtime and naptime he has afternoon quiet time and bedtime quiet time. The rules are he stays in his room (in the afternoon it's a designated 2 hours-which is how long he usually naps). That's it. At night we get him in his jammies and do his nighttime routine (brush teeth, read a book, sing a song, prayers, kisses, milk, water, you know covering the excuse bases), and then he goes in his room for nighttime quiet time. During quiet time he gets to choose what he does and it's fine as long as he's in his room. The first 2-3 days he didn't nap, he just played in the afternoon, and at night he stayed up playing until 10 or midnight. But then the novelty wore off. 

Now for afternoon quiet time he plays for a little bit and then probably 4 times out of the week he'll climb in his bed and take a nap. At night he goes in and plays and probably 4 nights a week he is asleep by 8:30 or 9, with the others being up playing until 10-11. And then he sleeps later! Hallelujah! We moved Ione out of the room (she's an early riser and would wake him up before he's ready), and that's made it all even better. 

Everything we read said that kids needed a firm bedtime and a firm routine and having that nighttime schedule was important. So we tried to get that in place for 2 years and it just never worked. Darrow needed to feel that control. That one change has made the biggest difference out of everything lately. 

Beyond that I try to remember to let him choose things as much as possible. Are we playing in the front yard or backyard. What he eats for breakfast (I decide dinner and half the time lunch, but he gets to choose what he eats for breakfast). Which way we go when we take walks. Stuff like that. And it is enough that he feels more in control of his surroundings. 

On my end it means a lot of biting my tongue to keep from getting after him for things that are minor or trivial. Like smashing his sandwich flat before eating it (wiping up the bit of mess is easy, I can do that), or dumping all his toys out in his room just after we put them away, or flipping the curtains around, or carrying our shoes all over the house. I'd rather he didn't do those, but he's not being bad, he's not being destructive, and it's something I can just relax on and not be so uptight. 

So that's it, that's been the magic trick to a much happier, more well behaved, and much more rested Darrow: me giving up complete control so that he could have some control of his own!