Library!

     The Library is our new best friend this summer.

Clara loves the grab the Camera and snap pictures ;) It's funny seeing the world from her eyes and what she decides to take a picture of. It's really weird seeing pictures of ME!

And that is all for now..

xoxo, Jen

Beans, Bingo and Bugs

We played a serious game of Bingo during a cool break in the hot weather.

Hello Kitty Bingo..And we got visited by lots of bugs which lead to great conversation about butterflies.. cocoons..and the cycle of life.

Later...Sorted my Tepary beans from Ramona Farms, a Pima Indian farm.

Awaiting another brutal summer..Going to try to be more proactive this summer and trying to enjoy it and make trips out of town as needed to get relief from the heat!

xoxo Jen

First Loaf!

To follow up my previous post, I wanted to let you all know how my loaf came out. My setup was pretty simple. I used my trusty ol' cast iron skillet (think rapunzel!) in the middle of the oven. Then I put an empty roasting pan below it for the hot water. I don't have a pizza peel or anything fancy so I just used what I had.


It turned out AMAZING! Perfectly crunchy crust with an gooey bready doughy center perfect for a nice big pat of salty butter! I was shocked at how good it turned out.

Recipe & Instructions Here!

I ate one too many pieces so I told myself I wouldn't make it for awhile. A week later....

I used up the rest of the dough for a larger loaf to pair it with last night's dinner, organic creamy tomato soup! Hubby and I enjoyed a hot bowl of soup with fresh from the oven bread. It doesn't get any better.. good company, good food.. life is good to me! 

Geez it's been forever :-)

Hello! I haven't blogged in quite awhile but better late than never, right? Today is a beautiful Arizona fall day. It's sunny but not too hot! We started our day meeting Daddy for breakfast and then went to the park. Clara ran outside as soon as we got home to do some painting on the patio. I have her art easel setup with acrylic paints, watercolors, crayons and markers. I thought today would be a great day to try my first "loaf" using the basic recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day. We have been using the basic recipe for dough but have yet to make actual bread.

If anyone hasn't tried this recipe before, you must! It's so EASY and simple. You basically mix water, flour, salt, yeast in a big plastic container and let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours. Then you can store the mixture in the fridge for 2 weeks. Whenever you need dough for pizza or bread, you can simply grab a handful and there is NO kneading required. It's ready to be used! I can't say enough great things about it. You can google for the basic recipe. I'll let you know how my loaf turns out today!

While I had the dough out I made Clara a quick home-made mini pizza. She got to put the toppings on all by herself. It's definitely a much healthier pizza than frozen ones! We get to see everything that goes into it, from scratch, and we know whose hands have touched it.

Okay, I guess I didn't intend for this post to be about pizza but there ya have it :-)

Beautiful, Beautiful rainy day!

Wow, us Phoenicians are getting spoiled rotten today with the rain! We've had several brief showers here with lots of thunder and lightening. I just opened up my windows and turned the air conditioning off. It's 73 degrees and humid outside! I better not get use to it because I know it'll be hot and dry in the 90s again before I know it. Wish it was like this everyday!

Neighborhood Litter Box

Sorry local cats, I've finally gotten around to cleaning and removing the sand from our sandbox and starting fresh! We accidentally left the lid off Clara's turtle sandbox last summer for about a week and of course, stray cats used it as a potty. I scooped out the old sand and scrubbed the whole thing well with vinegar. I bought 2 new bags of play sand at Walmart for $2.97 a piece.

Now we just have to wait for the sand to dry and I'll let Clara test it out! This ol' turtle has been good to us. We actually got it off craigslist for $10 with sand included! I think it's $35 brand new at Walmart. We are ready for Spring!

Trampoline and Things

I am restarting my blog today that I started last year. I wish I had started and kept one sooner so I have a place to write about all the little things that go on with my family. Hopefully I can keep this up so I have memories for later..


Today we visited a friends house out in Maricopa and lucky for Clara they have a big trampoline for all the kids to play on. She actually figured out how to jump on it today! Hopefully soon when we buy a home that has a private backyard we can buy her one, too. Our town home is basically a patio home so we don't have any private outdoor space. Speaking of which we have been keeping our eyes peeled for homes but have not found one yet. We will probably seriously start looking in the next few months.

It would be nice to start a vegetable garden and also finally get my worm compost going ;-)