First, take a warm corn tortilla…

 Then cover it with a thin layer of refried beans…

 Then wrap it around your warm, crunchy taco shell like an old, worn glove…

 It’s really easy to do…

 Then fill with all your favorite Taco fillings.  We like to use veggie beef crumbles in the hard taco (though on this day, we just put in more refried beans), lettuce, tomato, olives, cheese, sour cream…whatever you like to put in a taco…
 And enjoy!!! The beauty of wrapping the hard shell in a soft shell is that when you take that crunchy bite, nothing falls apart!  The hard taco crunches and may actually break, but the soft shell holds it all together!!   These are fun to make and fun to eat!!  
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My kitchen is hibernating.  Nothing has been happening in it besides my trying to get my children to do their chores and get the dishes done.  Meals have been haphazard…grab some cereal, toast some bread, grab some cheese and crackers, eat a few cherries, thank goodness for Taco Bell, “there’s nothing to eat”, “what can we eat?”, and so on…

I think by tomorrow, we’ll have it clean again, and I need to tackle the tiny, apartment size fridge that we have in our tiny, apartment size kitchen.  We have lettuce in the garden.  The least I could do is make a salad like the Wood Man did (hubby’s new blog name).  It would be pretty, taste earthy and fresh, and be full of nutrients.  That will be my goal for tomorrow!  See you then!

The weather is great and I’m sitting here watching Kaelyn’s 4-H practice. She is really excited about being in the fair this year with Shinanigan. Today she is working with Blade the mustang.

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Threw together Haystacks for lunch and everyone fended for themselves for the rest of the day, including breakfast.  Kitchen is a disaster, table is a disaster, sprouts are rotton and need to be thrown out.  Food from grocery shopping still not put away and cluttering up the living room.  Tomorrow will be a new day.

My days have been heavy emotionally.  My life is overwhelmed with duties that I cannot keep up with.  The home schooling is suffering, and it has spurred me to make a decision.  I already put the oldest in school this past January.  It has been a good experience.  Some of his grades were barely passing, so my fingers are crossed that he can maintain well enough to stay there at the boarding school and not have to come home to special education in the public school.

And now I’m going to put the other two in the local Christian School that is affiliated with our church.  In some way, I’m feeling like a failure to make this decision.  I’m feeling lost, as my identity has been a home school mom for 10 years.  But our life cannot keep spiraling out of control like it is and we need the discipline of an imposed schedule.  I should be able to have my own schedule.  I should be able to keep them on task.  I should…

But I can’t keep beating myself over the head about what “should” be, and I have to face reality.  I run a full time dog kennel and breeding business.  I am in charge of all the marketing, photos, shots, worming schedules, email communication, FB page updates, website updates, etc…and we still need this income to live.  I can’t let up on this responsibility, not to mention the daily tasks of being a wife and mother, plus living FAR in the country with wood heat, huge garden, etc.  I just can’t keep feeling like I’m failing my kids in the homeschooling realm, so I have decided to enroll them in school.

I am a credentialed teacher.  I get excited about the opportunities they’ll have in the tiny, one room school.  I want to help in there.  I think I can make the school a better place.  I think I can invest in the school and be an asset, even if I’m just a volunteer mom that listens to kids read, or helps kids with their multiplication tables.  I am a great teacher, but not so much when my time is divided with so many responsibilities.

I feel settled in my decision, but I can’t help feel like I don’t belong in some of the home school groups that I frequent online anymore.  That makes me sad.  I hope the online friends I’ve made will still like me even if I don’t home school, and fit into that mold.  It will be a different life, there will be pros and cons.  But I can’t keep doing what I’m doing.  I’m not doing anything well, and just barely keeping my head above water in all areas.  This is not the model I want for my children.  This is not the chaos I want them living in.

Darien is HOME now, but this was his home away from home since January.  It was a little more cozy looking when all his stuff was in it.  Here he is, after we’ve cleaned his room, right before he checked out of the dorm for the summer.

UCA was a great experience for him and he’s happy to go back next year.  He won’t be in this same room, but one very similar.  His only request….a comfy, big chair to study in.  I think we can accommodate that!!

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Sabbath, the day I usually don’t have to do much in the kitchen.  This morning I skipped breakfast (only Daryl ate a quick bowl of cereal).  We had potluck at church, and then a picnic supper with the Pathfinder group.  I didn’t spend any time in my kitchen, which is a welcome relief, but it also means that I didn’t see my sprouters, and therefore, forgot to water my sprouts. 

Oops.

One batch smelled rotton, and the newer batch smelled ok.  I went ahead and watered it tonight, so hopefully, missing one watering won’t hurt it too badly.  I am noticing that the sprouts are not doing as well as it’s getting warmer in the house overall.  I may have to set aside my sprouting during the summer and pick it back up as September rolls around. 

Carob.  It is definitely NOT chocolate.  Not even close.  It has a flavor all it’s own, and most of the time, it’s not really my favorite.  But there is one way that our whole family loves to eat it, and that’s in a Carob Smoothie.

The recipe is simple.  Take a bunch of frozen bananas and fill your Vita Mix 3/4 full.  Then add 3-4 cups of milk (soy or rice milk is what we usually add), and 2 T of Carob Powder.  Put the lid on tight, and turn Vita Mix on high!!  This makes a nice, very thick, carob shake, and while it’s not a chocolate shake, it’s almost just as good!!

I talked about my raspberry syrup in a previous post.  The juice from the home canned raspberries is EXACTLY enough to fill my “Denny’s” syrup dispenser.  It feels so professional to serve syrup out of this cute little jar and I’m so excited that this non-kitchen savvy girl figured this little gem out on her own!!

When food preparation has been neglected, it’s only natural that the Pantry organization would also be neglected.  Today I tackled the Pantry.  Well, actually, I had tackled it a few days ago, but all these bits and pieces were still in ziplock bags, waiting for their permanent homes.

There was all kinds of stuff, some of it, to be honest, I didn’t want to keep, but Daryl said he’d eat it, so I durifully put it in a jar.  I found rice crackers, rye crackers, dried onions, dried zucchini…

…dried beets, dried peaches, and some hard black beans that we grew in the garden last year.  I decided to put them all in jars, so I could easily SEE what was inside, and to be doubly sure, I added some labels.  Now, I just have to figure out how I can use these bits and pieces, and turn them into yummy food.  I don’t know about those beets.  Where in the world did they come from anyway??? 🙂

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