Under Construction

This has been quite the summer for us, and things are still happening.

I thought I would take a moment to talk a little about why Engineering Homemaking was founded.

Engineering Homemaking was this idea floating around for awhile, and has morphed a couple of times. It started as a why for me to just post my crafty things, then to a blog about everything that I hate, to a blog about food, to this. Kind of a mix of it all. I was looking for an outlet to deal with some personal issues.

Wonderful Man and I have been married a little over 3 years, and were told about a year and a half ago were told we have a never low chance of conceiving our own children, unexplained infertility. After taking some time to understand what unexplained infertility is, I learned that I had some friends who were going through  similar, if not the same thing.

Talking to them, learning with them, crying with them, teaching them, really helped me to grow and accept this challenge. I started to stare this challenge down, knowing that one day I could beat it.

I slowly started to change little things around our house, switching to natural cleaners, limiting plastics, limiting chemicals I put into my body, and using more whole foods (not eating a bunch of pre-prepare stuff). I was actively working out, a lot, and had finally started to lose some weight that I had been trying to lose for years.

I decided I wanted to share all of this with the world, maybe some out there was interested in green cleaning. It turns out there is 11 of you! I know there is more, I just don't know how to grab them.

So I started Engineering Homemaking in November, nothing fancy, just some posts about things I was trying of pinterst. Then I did an experiment on yeast in February, and it hit me just want I wanted to do with this blog. Of course it is still under construction, but there is something bigger going on behind the scenes.

This summer started out fairly normal for us, Wonderful started taking summer classes, I was doing my same old same old, and then we got a very unexpected, yet very welcome surprise.

Then our summer went down hill; two deaths in the family, and as always with my family, drama attacked.

School has started back up again, and we are mostly back to normal. We are very excited to welcome our long awaited little one in February (or early March). We are trying to enjoy all the craziness that come with pregnancy.

This isn't going to turn into a look at me and my bump/everything I have gotten for baby blog, that is what my family blog is for. Engineering Homemaking's focus is going to stay the same, so don't you worry!

The Farmer's Market

This post, is one I have been meaning to write for about a month now. Which means, even though I went to the Farmer's Market last Saturday, these pictures are a month old...

I love my local Farmer's Market. The city of Pullman, has one, but it is no where as good as the one 8 miles away in Moscow, Id.

Donut Peaches

Donut Nectarines

One thing about shopping farmer markets it that you need to be open to try new things. I had never heard of donut nectarines (yes that is spelled right, I checked!) I got some to try and other than being smaller than normal nectarines, they had a smaller pit. This made them easier to eat.

APPLES!

 This are a Moscow treat! The family that grows them is one of the few grower of this type of apple! I look forward to a few every year, they have a very short growing season.

Don't forget veggies! Green beans on top and lemon cucumber beneath.

Nectarines, apricots, peaches

There is always a street performer or two. We always give them some cash!

Berries

You can always find interesting things at these markets, like this hanging plant.

There is always food vendors, our favorites, Mini Doughnuts, and  Patty's Kitchen

Patty's Kitchen's booth

Homemade jams

Homemade soaps

Shopping Farmer Markets involves fluidity. Some vendor might not always have what you want. Due to growing conditions, some things might have very short seasons. 

My number one tip for shopping markets like these, DO NOT TAKE A LIST! I go, get what vegetables and fruits I want and then make my menu and grocery list for the week.

Young musicians

 

It doesn't matter the bass is twice my height!

 There are even a few 'main stage' performers, this was a local blue grass group composed of young musicians and their instructor. It was great to listen to such talented young people.

From Brown and Boring to...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

During:

 

 

Fabulous!

Recipe: Confetti Beans

I know this has been a long time coming, but I finally got the chance to make dinner the other night. (Well, start making... I forgot about a meeting I had. Wonderful Man finished for us!)

This recipe, Confetti Beans, is the perfection of another recipe that I had and like, but knew it needed more. The best part of this recipe is that it is naturally gluten and milk protein free! Which is a plus for any recipe. If you aren't a meat eater, no worries, just don't use bacon and use a TBSP of olive oil.

Confetti Beans

3 strips of Bacon

1 Onion, chopped

3 ribs, chopped Celery

3 cloves Garlic, crushed and rough chopped

1 Red Pepper, small, Chopped

1 Green Pepper, small, chopped

1 Yellow Pepper,small, chopped

1 tsp thyme, crushed

1 ½ cup cooked Red Kidney beans, rinsed and drained (or 1 can)

1 ½ cup diced Tomatoes

2 cups cooked Brown Rice

salt and pepper to taste

Don't judge the cans, my crock pot lid broke...

I like my veggies chopped coarsely. 

Cook bacon until crispy, set aside to cool, reserving 1-2 TBSP of the fat.

Saute the onions and celery in the fat until soft, and starting to turn golden. Add the Garlic, peppers, and Thyme. Cook stirring for two minutes, add the kidney beans and tomatoes. Cover and simmer until most of the liquid is reduced.

Serve over warm brown rice.

Serves 6

As always, a link to a printable page.

Homemaking Tuesday: Service Auction

My church has a monthly activity for the women, and this months is a get to know you service auction. They have done this in the past, and honestly I thought it was lame. That and put a bunch of women in the same room, all wanting the same 'service' (most people 'auctioned' free babysitting) and no matter how religious those women might be feelings are going to get hurt. My experience was, that even though I 'bought' X-service the ladies I bought it from never fulfilled their commitment. It still bothers me.

So this year, I decided that I really don't need anyone's service but I am a nice person so I am going to auction off something to advertise this blog! Which is why I came up with those labels last week, I need to label the all-purpose spray I am putting in the basket.

It has taken me a couple weeks to figure out what I want in the basket. I want it to be 'cheap', I only want to spend $5 tops putting it together. I also want it to be about cleaning supplies you can make with only basic items at home. Lastly, I of course want it to be green!

Here is what I have decided for the basket:

1) All-purpose cleaning spray. Easy to make, and you only need water and vinegar.
2) A handmade washcloth.
3) A handmade scrubbie, safe for use on stainless steal. (Can be used on most surfaces, but NOT recommended for use on painted surfaces)
4) Baking Soda scrub. I love just using baking soda as a scouring scrub, and it works great!
5) Baking Soda and Vinegar. New bottles for making more spray and for refilling the baking soda scrub container.
6) Recipes! I have a few cleaner recipes, that I haven't had the chance to tell you about here, and plan on doing that soon. I am going to include those in the basket.

I have been meaning to put together this basket all week, but I hadn't the chance to go to the dollar store until this morning. So here is the finished basket, ready for Thursday!

*I had to get a couple of things from the store for this; gloves, spray bottle, vinegar, shaker, and baking soda. It came to a grand total of $5.97. A dollar over, but still not bad!*

Life...

Life sometimes happens. This summer has been a roller coaster for us. I know it is almost over, summer that is.

Anyway, I wrote out the recipe for yesterday, and planned on taking pictures while I made it for dinner... Two things happened, 1) I can't find my camera... and 2) I HAD to leave for Spokane right after work to get something inspected for it's warranty, because our local store CLOSED!! And of course I am one of those people who do important things last minute... (It had to be inspected by FRIDAY!)

So now that is out of the way, my mission today, is to find my camera, make the dish for yesterday to get some pictures, and post about the finished chair redo.

Homemaking Tuesday: Bottle Labels

I was reading on another blog about something... And they said something about needing to label their reused bottles. I thought that is great, I just use a marker, but it is kind of tacky. So since I read that I have been working on a label design.

It is super simple, but now I have a fun label! You can print some too! Here is a link.

Also, because of how they are saved, the easiest way to print will be either on a 8.5x11 sheet of solid sticker paper, and cut them or to print them on what ever paper you would like and then tape or glue them to the cleaner you made!

No more smelling bottles to figure out what is in them!