Introducing...

http://clementinerebecca.blogspot.com/

Bum Bananas

How could I be so bad at updating this blog? So sorry people. 

So we've had some banana drama and I wanted to ask you all if you've ever experienced this.....I bought a bunch of very green bananas two weeks ago.  Usually they ripen in a few days and occasionally they stay green but get brown spots and they're still ripe but just look green.  This time, however, the bananas never ripened.  I had them for almost two weeks and before I threw what was left of them into the garbage, I tried to open it and it was just like the first day, hard as a rock and unpeelable.  Henry was crying for bananas for two weeks and every day I assured him that they would be ripe soon and they NEVER matured one bit.  I wish I had the patience to just let them sit to see if they would ripen over a month or two, but with the impending baby I couldn't waste the time.  Has this ever happened to any of you?

So, then I went to the store for more bananas and what do you know, they're all over ripe.  I finally found a decent bunch of bananas that had a tiny bit of green left on the stem and would have to be eaten in two days or less but I thought we would all devour them quickly since we'd been depriving ourselves.  While I was at ALDI (our favorite discount grocery store that makes you pay for a cart and bags, or bring your own) Henry had to go poop, Bea had a meltdown and Henry was picking hot peppers off the plants for sale and trying to feed them to Bea.  During the fiasco I forgot to buy bags and I didn't have any in the car.I decided that I could get home without bags so I loaded everything, loose, in the back of my car and drove home, hearing the watermelons rolling around and back and forth with every turn.  I guess I wasn't careful with where I put the bananas because the two watermelons found their way to where the bananas were and slightly squished them, but not enough for me to notice until yesterday when I went to finally eat a nice ripe banana and it was like a banana peel filled with baby food.  Not one of them was acceptable to eat.  Justin later told me that he tried to peel one and it just fell over limp.

So we went from the most rock solid bananas to complete mush.  How could it be so hard to get a decent banana and how else do I eat all my nutella? Please, let me find good bananas tomorrow at Costco.

Cherry Pie with leaves crust

Henry and I had a blast making this real sour cherry pie.  I just realized that I only have two frozen packs of cherries left to make pies out of:(  Good thing cherry season is right around the corner!  This cherry pie is my usual recipe from Bon Appetit with a full Meyer lemon zest in it along with Meyer lemon juice.  The flavor was incredible and this pie turned out better than usual with no super runny middle.  My crust did get a little drowned in overflow from the sides but the good thing about a pie is that it never has to look good to taste good! I used some stamps that Justin got for me at William's Sonoma to make all the leaves.  I just love the effect.  I think I'll make one for this weekend for my friend Christi when she comes up to visit. 

Georgie's Day

Today is three years from the day my baby boy, Georgie, died and in honor of him I planted my tomato seeds for this year's vegetable garden.  Spring gardening always reminds me of him and everything in my garden keeps his memory alive in my heart.  I am still amazed that the tiniest tomato seed can make such a giant plant but at the same time I see the seeds that come up with no leaves at all and soon wither and die and I am reminded of the fragility of life and that it is such a miracle that I even have two healthy children and another one wiggling around inside me.  There were no tears today, no calls, no hugs, no cards but I really don't feel like I need them anymore. I wore his birthstone baby ring on my heart locket necklace so it would be close to my heart and I am happy and find joy in my life every day.   He is such an important part of my faith and hope in the plan of salvation and I receive strength from his perfect example.  I will always strive to do what is right so that I may someday be reunited with him because I know he walks with Christ and is working to bring us all home.  I love you angel boy. 

Culinary Adventures of the Holidays

I spent so much time cooking over the holidays I hardly had time for anything else (like blog about it!).  Here is a glimpse of what I was up to...

I wish I made this gingerbread house

 

 This was the one we made.  This one alone cost me about $20 of candy which we never end up eating.  It's a total waste of money but it's tradition, right? The best thing about this one is that the candy was so stuck on it that Henry wasn't able to pry of many pieces so that means less candy consumption!

 

 These are some of the quick and easy cookies I made.  These took almost no time compared to...

 

 These ones.  These are my ornaments covered in royal icing.  I just love how they turned out

 

 Bea kept pulling the letters off but they were so hard that she couldn't even break off even one single piece! lol! A few sprinkles would make their way into her mouth but no bites of cookies

 

 And here I am...the Stepford wife.  Well, not really.  Next year I will make one who hasn't showered in a few days, has hairy legs and pigtails.  That's more like me. lol!

 

 This candycane is spearmint

 

 This one was peppermint

 

 Mmmmm, butterscotch. 

 

 Can you see the candycane in her hair? That one was rootbeer.  I actually really liked her hairstyle in this photo.  It's so modern.  That's my fashionable baby!

 

 This is my chocolate nativity I make every year. I had to wait until I got more chocolate to make the manger though and when I finished it I found it like this...

 

 (See the missing heads?)  I ended up only eating the manger since it seemed wrong to eat anyone else, especially the baby Jesus(even though there was already a bubble hole where his face should have been.  I'll be more careful next time.)

 

This is what Bea looked like after giving her just a couple pieces of chocolate.  How does she make such a mess? Only Henry knows.

It's still refreshing to know that my kids would rather eat fresh raspberries from the garden...

 

And here's Bea eating raw Brussels sprouts which package she ravagingly ripped open to get a bite.  That's my girl. 

Christmas Craziness

So if you've wondered if I'd fallen off the face of the earth, you're wrong.  I have been devoting all my evenings to Christmas crafts, which I should actually be doing right now, and I've been cooking up a storm.  So far Henry and I have made a huge gingerbread house, which I let him eat pretty much all day long.  Funny thing is that the candies are so stuck on it that he can hardly chip anything off and it takes him FOREVER to get his favorite candies off.  We then made gingerbread ornaments and cookies for eating which we pretty much gave all away.  Yesterday I got together with some friends and made candy canes and chocolate dipped pretzels rolled in toasted coconut and other goodies, which we already gave away, and in-between that I've been making ABC quiet books for both Henry and Bea.   We've accomplished all this in just about one week.  

Can I just tell you about my day yesterday? Well I got up, got ready, did laundry, cleaned the house and made bread by about 10am, then my friend Trixie came over to make candy canes.  We both burned our hands and bodies while working with the hot sugar but it was worth it.  They are so beautiful and really tasty. Then we had a couple other friends come over and made chocolate covered pretzels and another couple batches of candy canes.  During this whole fiasco we had three boys running around screaming and Bea basically just wandered around the house looking for food all day.  I don't think Henry had anything but candy canes to eat all day long.  So bad.  At 5:30 I hopped in the car, picked up one of my Young Women for our activity and we made Christmas baskets for non-members and went around singing Christmas carols, delivering them to neighbors and friends.  Each girl made something to put in the basket along with Books of Mormon with testimonies in them and the Joy to the World DVD.  They were really beautiful and we had a blast delivering them.  After the activity I went to a friend's house to pick up some more canning jars she was getting rid of along with some camping equipment and then I finally arrived home, spend a little time with Justin, cleaned my kitchen, worked on my ABC books until I heard Bea crying around midnight(I think she was starving) so I fed her something and put her to bed.  I finally crawled into bed around 1am.

Basically I'm starting to get exhausted....but there's still so much to do! Is it totally wacko that I really love living like this? I felt so fulfilled when I went to bed. 

Winter Squash Wonderland

Here's what I've been up to.  As you see we have a lot of eating to do.  Hurray for Beta Carotene and tons of vitamins and minerals! Actually what I really want is the Vitamixer,  I saw the demonstration again this week at Costco and the guy even remembered me from last May! Am I that easy to spot?(Crazy screaming children, pigtails, high heels) Yup.

Anyone have any favorite recipes you'd like to share that have winter squash in them? Can't wait to use my new cookbook Justin got me for my Birthday(can't find it on goodreads).  These squash were also totally dirty when we got them so Justin painstakingly washed them one by one.  We must have hundreds because we ended up with 300 lbs of them. We have Butternut, Buttercup and Acorn which is a pretty great variety and have very different flavors and textures.  They can be kept for up to 6 months in a cool, dark, dry place so it looks like squash for dinner every night until about March.  Easy, yummy, and healthy.