Pizza, in 100 words or less

Regular white whole wheat bread dough:

Isaiah adding snippets of fresh organic rosemary (clearance, 39 cents!):

Sauce, not organic,not homemade and local, grassfed beef:

Daddy doesn't care for the cheese replacement.

Topped with our homemade parmesan "cheez."
Quite a treat for kids who rarely get eat


"Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead."
~Scottish Proverb

Play Kitchen?

$20

Dollhouse?

$10

Aching wrists and wonky cuts?

Priceless.

I promised some friends plans for BOTH a wooden play kitchen and a wooden dollhouse for (approximately) $30, TOTAL.

I wanted to wait and post these plans AFTER we had completed them, but since many of you want these done in time for Christmas, here they are.

OK, here goes! These toys are SIMPLE in design, to maximize your wood. You can decorate to your heart’s content after construction, and I will give some suggestions at the end.

Materials
- 1 sheet 4’x8’ ¼” pine plywood
- 1 sheet 4’x8’ ½” OR ¾” pine plywood- obviously the ¾” will make stronger toys, but if you have ½” lying around, or you need to save an extra few bucks, well, ½” is fine
- Screws and drill, circular saw, radial saw for trimming if necessary
- 4 hinges of your choice
- Optional: 1 plastic or st st bowl for sink
- Optional: 1 tension rod and 1 ‘curtain’ for under sink area
- Optional: jig saw if you want to set-in your sink
- Optional: faucet for sink
- Optional: 12’ of furring strips (these are cheaper 1x2s, or use regular 1x2s) these will greatly stabilize the kitchen, but you can skip these if you want, or add them later if you decide you need them- I highly recommend using them
- Optional: countersink drill bit, pine buttons, wood glue, veneer edging, iron

I assume the builder has some knowledge. This isn’t a beginner project; if you’ve never built anything, do some reading on the net and make some practice projects to get the idea before jumping in. Read ALL directions b4 beginning. These plans are my intellectual property and if you want to use them to build goods for selling, please contact me FIRST, diegopress@yahoo.com, thanks!!!

NOTE THAT THE SPACE BETWEEN SHELVES ON THE BASE AND HUTCH ARE NOT DETERMINED IN THESE PLANS- SPACE THEM AS YOU WISH. Don’t freak out if your cuts are off. Just make sure the thing overall is symmetrical. That’s why I don’t give finished dimensions, either. Your plywood thickness will determine them.

Main Construction Diagram for kitchen:

Main Construction Diagram for dollhouse:

Cutting diagram 1, for thicker plywood:
Wherever you buy your plywood, Home Depot, Lowe's, and many smaller hardware stores, they will cut your sheet for you into these first strips, then they will cut the strips into the lengths in diagram 2.

1st strip 11”
2nd strip 12”
3rd strip 12”
Remaining wood will be a 12 5/8” strip
***Each cut is a 1/8” loss, remember!!! That is why your remaining strip, after the first 3 cuts, is only 12 5/8” wide, not 13” wide.


Cutting diagram 2:

For the 11” strip-# 1, 11x34 #2, 11x34 #6, 11x21
For the 12” strip- 5 pieces (a,b,c,d,e) each 18” long, your scrap will be used to cut #12, later
Next 12” strip- 2 pieces (f,g) 18” long, #8&9 1 piece 18” long, oven door 18” long (that’s 4 pieces total each 18” long), #10 11”, #11 11” (these 2 will need to be trimmed by you later), remaining scrap will be for microwave door
Last strip- #3 12x36, #4&5 12x34”, #7 11x21
***************SAVE ALL SCRAPS***********************
• Note that your last strip is 12 5/8” wide. MOST but not ALL big stores will trim these pieces down for you to the needed width, but not ALL will do it, so be prepared to trim some of the pieces down to the proper width with your circular saw!

Cutting diagram 3:

• Make these cuts with a circular saw or a table saw if, lucky you, you have one; most stores will NOT cut these smaller pieces for you.
• Piece #12, microwave partition, should be cut to size AFTER construction of the hutch area, so you can fit it precisely

Start screwing the pieces together according to the construction diagrams. NOTE CAREFULLY THE PLACEMENT OF THE 1x2s IN THE FOLLOWING PHOTO, they are highlighted in green. You can sit the shelves on top of the 1x2s (bottom shelf of Kitchen, bottom shelf of hutch, bottom shelf of dollhouse, OR you can trim these shelves 1” in width so shelf and top of 1x2 are even, resulting in a more professional appearance:

1x2 under kitchen “counter” is set in, level with sides.

*** You can also skip piece #3 (kitchen counter) and use a piece of real countertop, or a solid board, if you wish.
***Screw faucet to countertop and cut out hole for sink bowl before beginning, if you want one. If you have no jig saw, a stainless steel brownie pan (8x8 or 9x9) can be glued or velcroed onto the countertop.

Dollhouse- if you have a jig saw, you cut doors and windows into the pieces before you begin. Use scraps to make room dividers, if desired. Construct house bottom and 1st floor, and walls, then decide how you will do the roof peak:

Obviously, if you don't have the tools to make a nice mitered roof peak, use a belt sander to get the angle you want and then butt the pieces.

You can make the roof as steep or un-steep as you wish; you may trim roof if overhang is to long.

Next, sit roof on house and sand the wall pieces to the proper angle. NOW screw top floor on below this angle, and then screw roof to house:

MAKE SURE YOUR TOP FLOOR SCREWS AND ROOF SCREWS AREN’T GOING TO RUN INTO EACH OTHER!!!

After the house and kitchen are COMPLETE, TRACE ONTO ¼” PLYWOOD. Cut. Use screws or finish nails to secure well to backs.

Use directions for your type of hinges to secure oven and microwave doors. Use scraps for handles, or grab a couple from the store. Use paint, wood scraps, or yogurt container lids sprayed black, for burners. Paint windows on oven and microwave doors, or use a jigsaw to cut. Add plexiglass if desired, but this adds a lot to the cost; plexiglass is weirdly expensive.

Finish raw plywood edges with iron-on edging, if desired. It’s not necessary at all, just looks spiffy.

Paint or stain, then oil or seal.

I recommend milk paint or an oil sealer, like the one from www.willowtoys.com. I am going to paint mine white with milk paint, then decorate with Pennsylvania Dutch designs (just google that), because that’s how my grandparents used to decorate the doll furniture they made my cousins and me when we were little! See examples of this in the book Prayer for a Child. SO CUTE! “Bless my little painted chair…”

PLEASE send me pictures if you make these. Good luck!!!! And enjoy.

Of course, if you find any errors in these plans, please leave a comment.

Red White and Blue Update:3 months later

For my newer readers, on Independence Day this year I challenged myself to 6 months of *trying* to buy USA-made goods. It has been an education, to say the least! I think the term 'global economy' is a euphemism for 'you cannot survive without China'!!!

In any case, my children and husband and I have enjoyed learning about the economy and about companies and where their 'stuff' gets manufactured. And we've found some good news along the way.

I've compiled a short list of companies and items that you CAN buy domestically made- without going broke!!! Which seems to be the clincher for trying to find USA made goods.

Corelle dishes- cheap, beautiful, and still made in New York (some items
such as their mugs are made in China
Pyrex- the very best cooking/ baking ware, still made in the USA
Rubbermaid- most of it is still made the USA!
Cutco- not cheap, but it's what I use
Anchor Hocking- I love thier glassware, too
Libbey- more beautiful glassware
BlendTec
Vitamix
KitchenAid- but not all products
RugDoctor
ShopVac- no garage should be without one

IKEA- I was surprised to find how many of their things are made in
the USA. I've been needing to redo my toy storage, and to my
delight, many of their Trofast system boxes are made here

Kroger and Walgreens stores sell MANY varieties of USA manufactured toothbrushes

Little Tykes- most of their toys
Step 2- most of their toys
Green Toys- cute stuff!
Legos- some made here, most made in Europe or South America, with only a
few components made in China
Playmobil- ditto
Maple Schoolhouse- a bit pricier, but absolute hightest quality toys
Hoohobbers- specialty brand of toys, furniture etc. I love their gopher
tabler for toddlers
Wikki Stix- WE LOVE THESE! Bendarooz are a knock-off of them, and are
in made China
Lauri Toys- also some of our favorites! They make awesome non-toxic crepe
rubber puzzles. I highly recommend ANYTHING made by Lauri.
Big Wheel- the original, back in production, here in the states

Japanese Weekend- maternity and nursing clothes, mostly made in the USA...
like I needed 1 more excuse to feed my JW addiction!
JCrew- again, if I needed 1 more reson to wear JCrew jeans, most of them
are USA made. Of course, mine come off of ebay, but still....
Wigwam- still makes some of their socks here
New Balance- still has several plants in the USA

And don't forget etsy and HyenaCart, where you can find clothes, toys, and household goods made by artisans all over the USA.

Happy Christmas shopping!


"You've got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you're not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice." ~Steven D. Woodhull (U.S. geologist, 1976-)

And Happy Feast Day of St. Francis!

Healthy Food Hacking, 101

The basic concept here is, take your 'crutch' foods- mac 'n cheese? Tyson chicken nuggets? Totino's pizza rolls? and figure out a way to clean it up.

Mac 'n cheese is actually the easiest! I don't have a picture, because we don't eat even a healthy version of it here. It takes no longer to boil 100% whole wheat pasta and toss it with butter and shredded cheddar. If your kids, or you, are addicted to that cheezey saucey stuff, you can buy it, plain and without added chemical junk, from many health food stores and bulk food websites. It'll take an investment of time, yes, but once you figure it out, you've got a cheap, super-easy meal, and you'll have cut out a very unhealthy food from your family's diet.

Chicken nuggets? A touch more involved. But once a month you can chop up a family pack of chicken breast, toss in a plastic bag with oil or melted butter, then in a bag with flour or breadcrumbs seasoned with salt, paprika, and garlic powder. Bake till crisp in a 350 oven. Cool and freeze in bags or plastic ware. An hour of work in exchange for many quick snacks or meals, and, again, a very chemical-laden food out of your freezer.

Pizza rolls? Pats of bread dough, rolled flat, add your toppings, roll up, brush with butter or oil, bake till golden. You can make a hundred of these at a time to freeze. Do it while you are stuck at home working on other projects.

Once you get in the habit of cooking like this once every week or 2, it becomes second nature.

Good luck, and leave a comment if you have a healthy food hack you'd like to share!


"Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine."
~Robert C. Gallagher

They Languish....

Aren't they beautiful? We're getting closer, dear readers, to giving some of them away!

Have you enjoyed some of the recipes here? If so, I invite you to become a follower and leave a comment somewhere to be entered in a drawing for a sampling of the wonderful straws from www.glassstraws.com.


"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."
~G.K. Chesterton

A is for Autumn and Apple Pie

In America we say, "As American as apple pie."

Guess what they say in Russia? "As Russian as apple pie." And I didn't get that off Google; a real, live Russian told me.

I prefer apple crisp, much easier to make and more delicious. But I. & R. begged for this today, and so we made it.

This is 2 organic apples,
1c applesauce,
1/4c water,
a bit of stevia extract,
and 2 t corn starch,
bubbling till thick.

Crust:
1.5c walnuts whirled in the blender
2c whole wheat flour
1/2c oil or butter
1/4c cold water
Mix with fork or pulse in blender. You may sub an extra cup of flour for the nuts. Add extra water if it won't hold together.

Make sure this dough is nice and cold. Pop it in the frezzer for a few minutes if necessary. Roll out 2 circles between wax paper.

Plop one on your pie dish

and smoosh it around. I'm not a pastry perfectionist.

Dump on your filling. Top with other crust.

Cut with a knife around the upper egde of your plate, letting the excess crust fall inward, creating a thick edge.

I just press my thumb into this thick edge all the way around for my crust decoration.

Bake at 350 until crust is golden. I didn't time mine, sorry.

Nutritious enough to eat for lunch by itself!


"Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first."
~Ernestine Ulmer

Cheaters Guide to the Universe

Title of a book I hope to write someday.

But for today, we are going to make a Cheaters Green Smoothie.

Start with your red water. Or use juice. Then you'll need a greens powder like this one from Trader Joe's:

This bottle cost $9. It is just dehydrated and powdered green veggies.

Word to the wise: kale powder is gross. Just gross. Don't bother with it if you intend children to drink it.

So, for the embarrassingly obvious directions,

Add the 2 elements together, maybe in a water bottle, and shake.

This is a great way to have your daily dose of greens on vacation when you don't have access to a blender. It's probably the only acceptable use for that nasty sugar-water 60-Second-Maid juice you'll find in hotels. And if you're camping, you can carry dye-free Kool-Aid packets and liquid or powdered stevia. And it's good for kids because the taste is mild, you have lots of control over the concentration of sweetness to greenness, and it's not thick like a smoothie (kids sometimes don't like that).


"A good garden may have some weeds."
~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

Water, Water, Everywhere...

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
-The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

One problem many mothers face is children who want to drink their calories. Little taste buds get spoiled quickly on milk and juices, and it can seem a lost cause when a mom tries to make changes in the beverage arena.

A major problem with drinking your calories- and smoothies and shakes can actually be overdone in this regard, too- is that your brain never receives signals of satiation. Only chewing will provide the brain with the chemical, physiological signals that make you feel 'full.'

OK, so I mentioned Kool-Aid.

Here's a way, maybe not the greatest way but a step in the right direction, to kick the juice-and-milk addiction.

I would ONLY do this with dye-free Kool-Aid for my kids, but if yours need the color to make it attractive, well, it's up to you! My podunk Kroger store doesn't even carry the dye-free packets, so my sample is colored.

Well, it's not rocket science, folks. Take your packet, empty it into your pitcher, add 1/2 gallon water and ice, then sweeten with liquid stevia to taste.

Mmmm. Smells like childhood.

Really, Maureen, you spent a whole post on stevia-Kool-Aid?

Yep. Is that any better for my kids than fruit juice? Yes, actually, if they drink the pasteurized grocery-store variety. It keeps their tummies open for real foodand won't produce a sugar crash. You can start watering this down a little more every time, till you've got them drinking plain 'ole water.

And tomorrow we're going to turn that red stuff into a cheaters green smoothie.


The human story does not always unfold like a mathematical calculation on the principle that two and two make four. Sometimes in life they make five or minus three; and sometimes the blackboard topples down in the middle of the sum and leaves the class in disorder and the pedagogue with a black eye. ~Winston Churchill

In the Land of Perfect

In the land of Perfect,
I never run out of produce;
I never resort to screen time;
I always have a nutritious snack, with green in it somewhere, when someone whines, "I'm hungry!"

But of course, children don't whine in the land of Perfect.

In the land of Perfect,
I sleep until I'm not tired anymore;
I'm patient and sweet all day;
Everyone in my household eats ten servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

In the land of Perfect.

I don't live in the land of Perfect,
And neither do you.

I live in the Real World,
As I imagine you do, too,
Where groceries are %$*#! expensive ($1.25 for an avocado? Seriously?),
Where nerves wear thin,
Where children go on carboholic kicks,
Where mothers sometimes get... snappy.

It's ok.

Everyone looks better on paper, or perhaps I should say on screen.

While I wait for my herb order from Mountain Rose to arrive, I'm going to share with you some 'food hacks.' For everyone who feels as if they'll never get from here to there.

Come back tomorrow for a 'recipe' featuring Kool-Aid. Ya, Kool-Aid.


"Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without." ~Confucius, Analects

Confessions of a Tired Purist

Sometimes I write to remind myself as much as anything else. I'm actually not much of a purist, on any subject. Nope not even when it comes to food.

I will firmly maintain that white sugar and (even more so) high fructose corn syrup are bad for your body and shouldn't have a home in your kitchen. Chocolate, despite media blitz to the contrary, isn't good for you. You crave chocolate when your body us low on magnesium, but the sugar accompanying the good stuff renders it null and void. Go get yourself a bottle of magnesium tablets!

Raw, unprocessed cacao is definitely better for you, but it still contains
enough caffeine to mess you up.

Yet if caffeinate yourself you must, there is a certain order of evils, if you will. Soda pop definitely tops the evil caffeine scale- no, I don't care if it' sdiet, it's just as bad.

Next comes coffee and chocolate. You know my beef with coffee and chocolate.

Next comes teas of all sorts. I recently had a conversation with a 'tea expert.' He mostly explained the physiological difference between the way the body uptakes the caffeine in coffee vs. the way the body absorbs caffeine from different teas.

Well, it was during a sleepless toddler phase- which is still going on- so by golly, I let him convince me. I've been drinking a cup of Yerba Mate, a South American herbal, but caffeinated, tea, on the mornings when I've been up an ungodly number of hours in the dark with John Paul.

An experiment, if you will.

And I must agree, I get no jitters with it, I don't feel super-energized like I do with coffee, even weak coffee. I just feel... normal. As opposed to totally fuzzy and groggy, overwhelmed by my desire to lay down for the rest of the day.

Like I said, I'm not a purist. I'm a survivalist when I have to be. A little compromise to keep a household running and a toddler nurtured.

Works for me.


"Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything,
That's how the light gets in."
~Leonard Cohen