Why Everyone Always Has Room For Dessert

Ive been a stay-at-home mom now for about two and a half years.  When I worked, I never really thought of myself as a cook but more of an assembler.  I bought pre-packaged meals, processed food and lots and lots of frozen food.  We also had carry-out several times a week as well.  With me being home and not working, that way of life just wasnt sustainable anymore.  We spent almost three times the amount on food each month that were spending now and I cook all of our meals at home now.  I went from dreading cooking to actually enjoying it.  I love it that I can help us save money, and at the same time, provide my family with healthier food.  I get great satisfaction from cooking now, and to be honest, its shocking to me that I cook almost every single one of our meals from scratch.  If my friends and family are surprised, I would have to agree with them.  It really surprises the heck out of me, too, that Im cooking as much as I am now.

With all that said, my dear children finally solved a great mystery for me.  Ive always wondered why, even though they are completely stuffed full with dinner (yeah right), they ALWAYS have room for dessert.  My girls explained to me that their stomachs have a "dinner side" and a "dessert side".  Can you believe it?  All these years Ive been starving their poor dessert sides.  Because it took all I had just to put dinner on the table for the past couple years, I rarely made them anything for dessert.  Their "poor" little tummies.  Although not the most accurate explanation, it got me thinking.  And I decided it was finally time to start including a dessert into my dinner plans. 

And not just once in awhile, I wanted dessert to be required just like their vegetables. 

You see, everybody LOVES dessert.  Its special.  It is always the highlight on those rare occasions when we get to eat out.  Dessert tastes GOOD.  I want my girls to remember how special it is when we all sit down for dinner together.  I want them to know how special they are to us.  I want to create memories and traditions they will want to share with their own families someday. 

About three weeks ago, I told everyone we were going to have dessert after every dinner.  I cannot tell you just what that small change has done to our dinnertime.  Everyone, including me, looks forward to that special treat afterwards.  And its a great motivator to get everyone in the "clean plate club", especially our three year-old.  It has also given me the opportunity to venture out and try new recipes Ive never tried before. 

Some of our favorites that are super easy to make:

Ice Cream
Apple Crisp
Cinnamon Rolls
Cookies
Frozen Organic Blueberries and Milk
Greek Yogurt with Granola

After only three weeks, I think this tradition is a keeper.  And desserts can be healthier if you try to keep them organic and made from scratch.  To make it easier, I also try to make enough to feed us for a few days.  No one ever complains when we have dessert leftovers!

This post has been shared at:  HomeAcre Hop, Homestead Blog Hop, Country Fair Blog Hop

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Why You Should and Can Start an Orchard Today!

Want to produce some of your own fruit? Landscaping projects coming up? Check out this video to see how we have been able to get the absolute best prices on fruit and other trees for our small homestead.

One of the most satisfying things that we do around our little piece of the world is planting trees, gardens, and just about anything that grows. But, as most of you already know, this can get to be an expensive habit! Trees take time to grow and so do garden vegetables so many times it is tempting to run out and get bigger trees and plants that already have a growing head start. While there is nothing wrong with this approach it can take a bit more of an initial investment which means it take you longer to recoup your money from your home grown food. So what is the answer?

When we first moved into this home we discovered that spring and fall time sales are one of the best places to get discounted trees. Normally at the far end of the growing season and at the very early beginning. Our local big box stores generally start 20% off sales in early April and late October. If you keep checking and time it just right you can get what they have left for 50% or more off. While this leaves less of a selection if you just get a couple each year you can grow your orchards bit by bit over time and end up with all of the varieties that you need.

One of the more recent discoveries we made for cheap trees was our local conservation offices. Here in Michigan each county has a local conservation district office which is responsible for conservation activities in a local area. One of the programs that they have is an outreach to encourage planting trees which also serves as a fund raiser for the program. Each year in January-March you can go online and fill out a form to purchase all kinds of different trees, bushes, flowers, and other types of horticultural surprises. Each district will have different prices and different products so check around your local communities for what you need and the best price. The fruit trees we purchased were about 4-5 tall and cost $19 each. We also purchased 5 Norway spruce for $5 each. These were about 18" tall and all trees came bare root and ready to plant. Comparable to regular prices at the big box stores this was about 50% off.

Another fun and free way we have tried to get our orchards started was simply by planting seeds. We have saved some apple seed from locally grown apples and planted them indoors during Winter. By the time spring comes around you have a 12" or larger tree ready to plant. While this does take longer to get your orchard started this way it doesnt cost you a thing. Think back 5 years, what if you started the? You would already be harvesting fruit each year and the longer they are in your backyard the better it gets, year over year!

Growing your own food, especially fruiting trees, is one of the most satisfying things we have found. We love to plant and tend to the trees together as a family and love the delicious fruit we get each year. I hope this has given you some ideas or inspiration to get out and start planting some trees! The best time to plant a tree might have been last year but the next best time is right now!

Michigan Conservation offices - http://macd.org/local-districts.html

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Music - "Water in the Creek" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/song/WaterintheCreek

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How to Rotate Your Tires and Why

Can you rotate your own tires? How often should you rotate your tires? These are some of the common questions out there surrounding this very simple process. You should be rotating your own tires unless your tire shop does it for free with the purchase of your new tires. This is a very easy process that should be done along with oil changes or at least every 5,000 miles or so.


Step 1: Using an impact wrench, 4-way, or tire iron loosen all of the lug nuts on all four tires. Do not take them all the way off yet!


Step2: Safely jack up the front or rear of your vehicle and use jack stands to support both wheel off the ground. remember to use jack and jack stands only on solid frame on the underside of the vehicle. 


Also place wheel blocks under one of the tires and make sure you are on a flat surface and the vehicle is in park. Move your jack around to one of the opposite wheels from where you placed your jack stands and then lift the wheel off the ground. you should only be lifting the wheels off the ground just enough to slide your hand underneath the wheel. You should now have 3 wheels off the ground and one wheel on the ground with blocks in front and rear of the tire.


Step 3: Remove the 3 wheels that are off the ground and place them in the position that they will go next. More on that in the next step.

 

 

 

Step 4: Tire rotation for front wheel drive vehicles - the two front tires will go directly to the same side in the back. The back tire on the right will go to the front left and the back tire on the left will go to the front right.


Rear wheel drive vehicles - Both rear tires will go to the front on the same side. front left will go to rear right and front right will go to rear left.


Step 5: Rotate the tires according to the pattern in step 4 for the three wheel that you have off. Then lower the jack and move it to the other side, lift the vehicle and switch the remaining tire.


Step 6: With all tires securely in place, lower the vehicle to the ground fully. Next, tighten all of the lug nuts fully now that the tires are on the ground and will not spin.


Step 7: Take your vehicle for a test drive. You may hear some mild humming or it might "fell" a little different for a couple of weeks especially if you have waited too long between rotations.

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