So the Williams-Sonoma in Temecula offers free cooking classes on Sunday mornings. Say what???!! Yes, FREE! And yes I am a total heathen for not being at church instead. Whatevs, I worship God in other ways. Like by paying homage to HIS bountiful harvest. So get off my back. …please Anyway…. Willams-Sonoma. Totally NOT my kind of place because it totally IS my kind of place that is TOTALLY out of my price range. It is a dangerous place where my dream kitchen lives. Where I can touch it, imagine it as mine, and then look at the price tag … Continue reading

Hello. Camden here. I turned 11 months on the 17th but mommy has been too busy chasing me to write about it so I thought I would share all the ‘fings I have done this month. Hope it’s okay that I’m using her ‘puter…   I play with big boy toys. I pick berries. I  big farmer. I eat ice pops. I let Mommy help. I help mommy help firefighters. I big helper. I eat kale chips. I big eater. I make big messes. I eat sticks with fuzzy white stuff. They not very good but mommy seem happy that … Continue reading

Last week dinner was easy. We bought an 8 pound pastured pork “butt” {which, as it turns out, is not the butt at all but the shoulder blade area} at the Farmers’ Market and ate the thing all week. Pulled pork sammies, pork street tacos, orange chipotle pork pasta… wash, rinse, repeat. It took 8 hours to cook on Monday for a whole week of eating on easy street. No such luck this week. I didn’t even go to the Farmers’ Market on Saturday on account of being so damn broke the heat. So I had to work with what … Continue reading

A horrible thing happened at the Farmers’ Market on Wednesday. I knew it was coming. I had been warned. Every good thing must come to an end.   My favorite blueberry vendor didn’t have blueberries.   gasp   sob   Quelle horreur!   What am I going to do??? All of the other vendors at both Farmers’ Markets I frequent sell inferior blueberries and I refuse to buy them anymore. I only liked hers and she just informed me that there would be no more blueberries for the year. Worst. day. ever well…in a few days at least. Well, more like … Continue reading

I cannot believe it is only June 11! We have had such an event filled week and a half if I wait until July to share it all, it will be the world’s longest post {and I’ll probably crash my  Wordpress app trying to upload all of the pictures}. So without further ado, here is a mid-month pictorial review of our crazy lives. June 1: 3rd Grade Field Trip to the Western Science Center Camden and I accompanied Tyler and his class to the Western Science Center. While digging up Diamond Lake in Hemet, CA., they found a ton of … Continue reading

Spanish rice is probably the most ubiquitous Latin food yet the hardest to master. I have never personally been able to make it right. Until now. And now that I know how to make it, it’s very clear that I have been doing it completely wrong all along. I blame my mother {she still can’t make it right…I should’ve asked my dad.}. Now this may not seem surprising to some, I have been nothing but a complete dork in the kitchen in this blog, but for those who have known me since high school {I think there are 2 of you}, I have … Continue reading

Some nights I have a hard time devising a starchy side dish. Veggies and meat are easy but you can only eat plain brown rice or potatoes so often. One night when hubby was grilling and thus taking care of both the veggies and the meat, I had one of those uninspired nights. And I’m pretty sure not feeling like cooking had a lot to do with it. Yes, I do get burned out on the Betty Crocker thing. So I decided to slice and toast some of my whole wheat bread. Easy peasy. Except I didn’t soften the butter. Crap. … Continue reading

Why is it so hard to find decent hamburger buns? The commercially prepared ones just don’t taste right to me anymore {with the exception of King’s Hawaiian which are so yummy} and if you are looking specifically for whole wheat your choices are especially dismal. Then a certain evil food blogger posts burgers like this one and this one. Man I really want buns like those but alas I have no clue where to find them. Dang you food blogger, where did you get them buns???!! So I guess if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. So … Continue reading

Well I guess I am a little late with this post. We returned from our first family road trip last Wednesday and I simply wasn’t up to posting. And then I got sick. And now Camden is sick. So before he turns 10 months, I better do this thing. So 8 months has come and gone but it was a crazy month. It is fitting that we ended 8 months with an epic-last-minute-5-and-a-half-hour-each-way-in-24-hours-go-Kings-go {wait, how did that sneak in?} road trip, Camden’s first ever. He did amazing, I should add. Never mind that we listened to Raffi and Laurie Berkner … Continue reading

So total mea culpa on the meat thing. Especially after tonight when I made Orange Chipotle leg quarters and ate 1.5 pieces. Yup. That’s totally me though. I’m a trier. As in I’ll give darn near anything a whirl if it’s compelling enough. It won’t always work {or last}. But I’ll give it my all…. for awhile. Until I find even more compelling reasons to not do it. Like, gas and weight gain for instance. Three days of that and I become a confirmed carnivore, well, omnivore at least. Still, I absolutely L-O-V-E shopping at the farmers market. I love trying … Continue reading