Weekend Adventures and read aloud books

This weekend was fairly laid back. We went to a pool party for one of friends birthday's and to church other than that it was low key for once. I went to the farmers market Friday to get our normal eggs and such. I REALLY hope our chickens start laying soon. Since we got them we have started to consume a crazy amount of eggs. We usually egg at least two dozen a week. A lot of that does come from cooking from scratch all the time now. While I was at the market I picked up a few pounds of jalapenos. I LOVE spicy food. With winter bringing a lot of chili and stew I can easily eat a jar a week. It seems silly to can them to most. I mean you can buy a jar for less than two dollars. It's really not the cost it is just another way to avoid refined sugar and food dye. Most contain at the very least yellow dye. I bought roughly five pounds. I planted a few plants this year in the garden and they did not yield enough to can. Next year we will plant a bunch more. They were super easy to can. I was done in less than a hour.

I started doing half pints. I was afraid if I opened a jar i might not use them fast enough. I have no idea what I was thinking. The half pints would be two servings with something like chili. I ended up doing three pints. If I have time I may do another batch. It was a simple brine two cups of vinegar and two cups water. I added a half teaspoon canning salt and a clove of garlic to each jar and processed ten minutes in boiling water. 

Read a loud's

I am trying to be better about reading to Cohlie. She loves to read and so while at Target I saw this book. Anne of Green Gables. It was in the dollar section with Wizard of Oz and Little Women. We have already read a few chapters. She really like a longer story to keep up with. 

She decided to draw "Anne". Long red hair and freckles.

This weekend I also decided to dive into soaking grains. I have been doing a lot of reading about the benefits of soaking any grains you use. This is a great read on soaking, sprouting and souring grains.

Last night I sat my mixture of oats ( I used organic rolled oats form the bulk section of Whole Foods) milk and vinegar to soak. I used this recipe a friend recommended. 

This morning I added the rest of the stuff and made waffles.

 I had been using a recipe from the Blog 100 days of real Food. These were much better. 

This little man got his belly full and snuck back in bed. I love his little smile.