I'm bringin' home a baby bumble bee

In our city we can't keep bee hives.  I think that it is fear of swarming that keeps that in the laws.  We live in a subdivision with a smallish yard so it probably wouldn't work anyway.  What we can own is Mason Bees.  They are a native bee to North America and they don't live in colonies they live by themselves.  In town we have an amazing store called J.J. Cardinal's that carries all sorts of bird houses locally sourced bird foods and all things nature.  You walk in and it just has a wonderful feeling to it.  The owner collects the bees she sells from her own yard every year.  We purchased a starter set for about $20 and it has three females and three males.  We also bought cardboard tubes for the bees to set up for their offspring and of course a book.  I can never have too many books.  It looks like we will finally have enough warmth to set these babies out so they can warm up (right now they are napping in my refrigerator).    So what are you guys up to?

Spring Break

 

We had an awesome Spring Break last week.  The kids I baby sit for spent it with their dad so I just had Molly and Jack.   I don't think we've ever had such a fight free week.  Mostly we did nothing but playing around, the TV was only on probably a handful of hours the whole week. 

 

The one event we had been planning for weeks was checking out the new babies at Wolcott Mill Metropark.   It is a little bit of a drive for us and that was okay the kids didn't even bring their video games in the car we spent the whole time talking!  

Molly got to hold a baby goat for the first time (and I got to pet it) we very much wanted to take her home with us she was just so sweet.  

They also had candle dipping set up and the kids enjoyed that too.  I was surprised at Jack's patience with the process.  He loved how you could dip the wick in different colors and make rainbows.  

It was just the break from school we needed.

Grocery Shopping

I think it is funny when I talk about my system for grocery shopping and mostly cooking from scratch; people are amazed by it.  For me there is no other way to do it and it just seems like common sense.  Well I was pretty lucky (although it didn't seem like it at the time) I had no choice but to go grocery shopping with my parents and along the way I learned a few things.  I did not grow up in a house with a set menu like every Monday we had meatloaf or anything, we ate a varied menu that included Polish food, American food and Asian foods.  This week a mom at school asked me to make a copy of what I do and to please share it with her so she could also learn how to shop efficiently.

We started with the ad papers for the local grocery stores what is the least expensive protein this week?  Eggs are unless you want to buy a whole ham (which I don't).  I also felt good about the assumption we would be bringing home left over ham from Easter dinner on Sunday.  So this is our menu this week:  Thursday-Baked Pasta, Friday-Fish and Chips, Saturday-BBQ Chicken, Sunday-we are bringing a veggie and appetizer to Easter dinner, Monday-Quiche, Tuesday-English Muffin Pizzas, Wednesday-Ham Strata

I made her a grocery list of the ingredients for every dinner and showed her how I doubled up on a lot of stuff, like the Ham Strata has English Muffins and we are already buying some for the Pizzas etc.  I told her to cross off some of the stuff she already had like onions or noodles and to add breakfast items and lunch stuff.  The next thing I included was a quick list of how to make each dish.  It was surprising how much interest this got while waiting to pick up the kids.  I would love to hear how you guys shop and if there are any favorite dishes that everyone just raves about I'm always looking for something new to add to the repertoire.

  

Aren't these jars just the most beautiful thing ever?!!!!!   My dear sweet wonderful husband bought them for me as soon as I told him they were available.  I had no idea he had done it until he walked in with them (he had them sent to his mom's house).  They are a much deeper blue than the real vintage jars and there isn't any green to them.  They are an absolutely gorgeous Robin's egg blue I think I'm going to buy my self some daffodils to put in them until canning season starts.

Pi Day

This week I was in charge of the teacher's luncheon something our school parent group does during every conference week.  We figure that since they are at the school all day and well into the evening we can at least make sure they have things to eat.  Some people brought in pasta salads, veggie/fruit trays, macaroni and cheese, cookies and other assorted nibbles.  In honor of National Pi Day I made an apple pie for the teachers to enjoy.  I adapted the recipe from Taste and See.

Apple PIe

Single Pie Crust (I love the one from Pioneer Woman's cookbook)

4 large granny smith apples (about 2 pounds)

1/2 C. honey

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. cardamom
dash of salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. cornstarch

topping:  1C. flour

1/2C. brown sugar

3 TBSP. butter

1/4C. rolled oats

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Peel and dice your apples, place them into a large sauce pan with the honey and spices.  Simmer so the apples are slightly soft add the cornstarch to help thicken up the sauce.  Roll out your pie crust and add the apples.  In a bowl cut the butter into the flour and brown sugar until it is well incorporated mix in the oats.  Top the apples with the crumble.  Bake for 40 minutes  Enjoy!!!