Homemade Italian Dressing

*This is an update to my Pasta Salad with Homemade Italian Dressing.  I’ve noticed that it’s been showing up on Pinterest quite a bit and have been wondering if anyone has made – and liked! – it.  Care to comment?

Since the weather has been getting warmer and I’ve been trying a slightly more Paleo approach to my diet (more on that at a later date), we’ve been eating a lot more salads.   I have a couple other homemade dressing favorites – one for a basic vinaigrette, which I mix up depending on the type of vinegar and spices I use, and another for a Japanese ginger dressing.  Almost every time I make a batch, I think, This is my favorite!

Well, the other day I broke out this Italian dressing recipe and decided to give it another go.  This, my friends, is by far my favorite!  I suppose variety is the spice of life, but why mess with a good thing?  And if I can pare down my recipe collection, all the better!  This dressing is yummy on all types of salads and oh-so-versatile, since you can play around with the spices.

I looked at the original recipe again and went from there, staying pretty true to the basic ingredients, with a few minor changes.  I have loads of fresh oregano in my garden, so I opted for a small handful of leaves instead of the dried.  In addition to the black pepper I added a dash of red pepper flakes and since I don’t have any celery seed on hand I used celery salt.  Since I’ve been trying to nix sugar – even natural sweeteners *sniff sniff* – I decided to forego the sugar (or honey, which I prefer) and add a pinch of stevia, which added just the right amount of sweetness.  For the liquid I went with apple cider vinegar and rice vinegar in place of the water.  And please note that you should blend this to get everything nicely incorporated, rather than just mixing it together in a jar.  In fact, whenever you mix oil and vinegar or water, using a blender will better emulsify the mixture.  Just so it’s written out for you…

1T garlic salt
1T onion powder
2T ground oregano (or a small handful fresh)
1T parsley flakes
pinch stevia
1t sea salt
1/2t ground black pepper
dash red pepper flakes
1t dried basil leaves
¼t dried thyme flakes
dash celery salt
1/2c olive oil
1/4c cider vinegar
2T rice vinegar (or water)

For some reason, the dressing got really thick the second time I made this – maybe because I blended it longer?  In any case, I added a bit of water then.  But OMG, this is so good!  I could just eat it right out of the jar!

The other day we paired the dressing with one of our favorite salads, inspired by the side salad they serve at one of my hubby’s favorite steakhouse restaurants.  It’s so easy and so good!

Just dump half a bag of mixed greens into a 13×9″ pan (I find this works better than a bowl for getting a good ratio of ingredients).  Top with sliced cucumber and chopped tomato; sometimes I add alfalfa sprouts if I have them on hand and you could add carrots, onion, whatever.  Slice some hardboiled egg, crumble some cooked bacon, and toss that on top (I typically use four of each – four eggs and four slices of bacon – but you could add more if you want).  If you want to get really crazy, grate some cheddar cheese on top.  Voila!  A nice salad fit for a meal since you’ve got the protein and veggies all together.  If you keep some hardboiled eggs on hand it’s even easier and cooking the bacon in the toaster oven on some aluminum foil makes for hardly any clean up.

GwendyLicious Branches Out!

I’m so excited – I’m selling my handmade goodies at another store!  I couldn’t believe it when Andrea of Whimsies in Warren contacted me a few months back, telling me she’d love to stock my items after seeing some of them at Small Circle.  At the time I was still pregnant and I knew it would take a while to sew up a batch of items, but I slowly got working on some inventory and finally dropped them off last week.

It was so nice to meet Andrea.  She has a cute little shop just off Main Street and sells an eclectic array of handmade items.  I love that she paints and restores many of the pieces, working on furniture as customers browse.

I always get a bit nervous about what kind of impression my things will make on people – they are, after all, an extension of me!  And I do realize that people have different tastes.  But I needn’t have worried – Andrea loved everything, and I already have some other ideas in the wings.

cedar sachets, aprons, cup cozies, therapy bags

Her favorite items seemed to be the mancala boards and orange spice wheat therapy bags.  Ironically, she sold one of each the next day!

I also made a drop-off at Small Circle – some wishing wands and dancing ribbons, which seem to be a hit.  Yay!

If you’re in the area stop by and check out the goodies and the wonderful people that own the stores.

*If you don’t live in the area and would love to purchase some of my items, browse my handmade posts and take a gander at GwendyLicious, where I have pictures of many of the things I make.  Then drop me a line!

Homemade Cough Syrup & Decongestant

As I get older my seasonal allergies seem to get worse.  I don’t remember ever having them as a child, and then a few years back - BAM! – they hit me.  It settles in my sinuses, giving me a sore throat, stuffy nose, headache, making it nearly impossible to fall asleep at night.

I don’t like to take medicine – unless perhaps I have a really bad headache – so I didn’t even think of buying allergy medication.  I did, however, look around for some home remedies.  I found a promising homemade decongestant but didn’t have all the ingredients on hand (I don’t usually stock radishes and red onion), but then I found a really simple recipe that actually looked like it might taste good, too.

Maggie’s Cough Remedy consists of cayenne, ginger, cider vinegar, honey and water.  How easy is that?  I didn’t have the cayenne but settled for chili powder, which I think acts in the same way.  As you can imagine, with the pepper and ginger, it’s spicy – but a sweet spicy.  As the original recipe notes, it’s quite watery and the spices don’t completely dissolve, so you just shake it up each time you use it.  I made a small batch in a jelly jar and store it in the fridge.

It’s not a miracle elixir or anything, but I feel like it really helped, and the combination of ingredients seems to both tackle decongestion and soothe a sore throat.   Safe for the whole family – except for babies, who shouldn’t have honey -  and I don’t think you can overdose on pepper and ginger!

Maggie’s Cough Remedy
¼ teaspoon cayenne
¼ teaspoon ginger
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon honey

Dissolve the spices in the vinegar and water, then add the honey.  Take one tablespoon as needed.

Moms are Mighty

As a mother, I often get bogged down in the day-to-day stuff.  Most days I feel very alone – wondering how can I wash the same clothes over and over, how can I clean up the same messes that I’ve told my children not to make, how will I survive the day when it’s only ten o’clock in the morning and my patience is already worn thin, when will I have time to do anything else.

Oh, and try to do everything without scarring my children for life.  So often I question myself.  Am I talking too much, not enough?  Should I explain myself or just say “no.”  Do I try and plan an activity for my children or let them amuse themselves?  Am I feeding them right?  Am I being frugal?  Am I making them feel loved even though I feel like I’m YELLING all the time?  Will they grow confident in their abilities?  Will they learn enough since I’m homeschooling?  Tell me again why I’m homeschooling!?  Will they become good people?  Will other people like them?  Will I ever get any sleep?  Can I stand wiping another runny nose today?  Am I worrying too much?!

The list goes on and on…

Just today I was telling Phil that there are times – like when you’re looking out at the vast ocean, seeing a beautiful sunset, even witnessing something tragic like the Boston bombings – when you’re able to put everything into perspective.  Sometimes it really hits me – my life is just a little blip on a timeline and I want it to count; in the grand scheme of things these little every day challenges aren’t a big deal.  Even more so, I should be grateful for them!  But when you’re in the midst of them – when you’re trying to sleep at two o’clock in the morning and your 3-month old is awake all you care about is getting sleep!  - it’s hard to keep your head in the game.  When your kids have been playing tag team all day, taking turns fighting and complaining, it certainly doesn’t feel like a good place to be.

I saw this video on New Nostalgia, one of the blogs I frequent.  It reminded me that being a mom is one of the best jobs there is; it may not be the easiest, but it’s the most rewarding.

Lisa-Jo Baker also has some free printable bookmarks to go along with this video.

And being a mom has made me appreciate my own mom – and mothers everywhere – so much more.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas out there!

Time Out

I’m giving myself a time out, taking an indefinite break from posting.  I love writing here, recapping our homeschool moments and sharing tidbits of my life.  But I’m finding that it takes away from being present with my children; I’m constantly worried about when I’ll have time to update, when I’ll get a chance to work on pictures and make collages and write up everything we’ve been doing during the week.  Sometimes I get caught up with documenting the moments that I’m not fully enjoying the moment.  And since welcoming Adeline into our family I’m even more aware of needing to cherish those fleeting moments.

We will be continuing with our Five in a Row curriculum and hopefully the nicer weather will get us learning and exploring outdoors.  And we eagerly await the start of our camping season!  I have my six-week postpartum check-up this week and I’m scared to step on the scale; I really need to get down to the business of getting back into shape. *major sigh*  Wish me luck!

I leave you with some pictures of our wonderful Easter yesterday…

Can you believe it’s already April?  I keep telling Phil that Christmas is just around the corner.  Time’s a-flyin’.

FIAR – Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

We eased back into a more relaxed homeschool routine – for the time being, anyway – with Robert Frost’s famous poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”

credit: Amazon.com

Geography/History/Social Studies
Obviously, the story takes place in winter so we discussed the seasons, especially New England winters, and located the New England states on a map.  I had the kiddos look through the book and tell me all the animals they could find, hiding in the forest.

Language Arts
Since this book is basically an illustrated poem, we took the chance to create some of our own poetry.  I gave the kiddos a simple definition of poetry and let them work on a few easy poems – a list poem, a “winter” acrostic poem and an animal-shaped poem.  Gwen was a bit more enthusiastic about the idea but she still got weary trying to make the words fit.

Talking about all those animals must have inspired them, because Josiah got out their Little People Zoo Playset, which they haven’t played with in a while.  I helped him find all the animals and match them up with the correct letters.

Fine Arts
We made simple snowmen pointillisms using black construction paper, white paint and q-tips.  We read Snip, Snip, Snow and made paper snowflakes; Gwen was so excited to unfold her paper and see the design!  I wanted to make edible snowflakes using wheat tortillas, but someone packed them for his lunch that morning – oh well! Instead I got creative with ingredients, making a snow-white snack with yogurt, coconut, white chocolate chips and snowflake sprinkles.

Science
We read a couple books – including Crinkleroot’s Book of Animal Tracking – and discussed animal tracks and how to spot them.  The kiddos played a couple matching games, trying to match up animals with their footprints.  I didn’t know that all cats – both wild and domestic – retract their claws when they walk, so you can’t see the claw marks.  I learn right along with them!  I had planned on making homemade play dough for footprints in the snow to go along with animal tracking but didn’t get around to it.

We attempted borax crystals a while back and I was so disappointed that they didn’t work. I was determined to try it again, and after letting the mix sit overnight, I was delighted to see that it worked this time!

Go-along books
Forest Child
Into the woods : John James Audubon lives his dream
The Snowman (and DVD)
The Snowy Day
Snip, Snip… Snow!
Falling Down the Page: a book of list poems
Sing a Song of Popcorn: every child’s book of poems
Crinkleroot’s Book of Animal Tracking
Tracks in the Snow

Resources
Activity Village’s winter acrostic
Let’s Explore’s list poems
Teacher Vision’s animal shape poems
Montessori for Everyone’s animal tracks cards
Enchanted Learning’s borax crystals

*See my FIAR Pinterest board for more ideas & inspiration.

Scrambling to Get Ready for Easter

I like to plan ahead, but these days I’m lucky if I remember to write out my to-do list, nevermind start crossing things off.  I feel like I just conquered Valentine’s Day and… oh crap, Easter is just around the corner!  It is my second favorite holiday after Christmas and I want to impart the meaning to my children, making it both fun and memorable for them.  We’ll definitely be doing our Benjamin’s Box activities in the week leading up to Easter Sunday.

With all the holidays and special occasions one after another –  many of them belabored as we celebrate them at different times and with different people – I really want to get away from all the candy. Yes, I know there are Peeps and Cadbury eggs and all those traditional sweets, but just because they line the shelves – and we see yummy things to create with them – doesn’t mean we have to buy them!

Anyhoo, here are some ideas I’m hoping to put together this year:

credit: probablyactually.wordpress.com

Last year I made these bunny treat bags for the kiddos so I’m going to re-use them.  They’re pretty small, so we’ll see what I’ll be able to fit inside.

credit: ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com

During school last year we had these butterfly snack bags.  I still have the clothespins and will use them again, filling the bags with trail mix.

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The kiddos love Goldfish crackers and the carrot-shaped packaging is cute.

credit: thecraftsdept.marthastewart.com

Along the same lines, these crepe paper carrots are so cute!  The Easter version of a surprise ball.

credit: onecharmingparty.com

For warm-weather play or bathtime fun, these sponge balls would be a hit.

credit: yummyearth.com

And since Easter wouldn’t be Easter without jelly beans, Yum Earth Naturals makes a healthier alternative.

credit: katherinemaries.com

It was fun putting together an Easter egg hunt lunch for the kiddos last year and I’ll probably do it again… if only to re-use our plastic eggs!

credit: thecookingphotographer.com

credit: foodjimoto.com

Almost every year we do some sort of deviled eggs and birds’ nest cookies, so I’d like to make them again this time around.  We’ll probably be having Easter at my sister’s house and we’re not sure yet on the menu, but we’re thinking something brunch-y.  Perhaps I’ll make hash brown cups, French toast casserole, baked oatmeal or NY style crumb cake.

What will you be making and doing for Easter this year?

*See my Easter Pinterest board for more inspiration.