Cedar House Recipe Rehab...

We have been making over some of our favorite family recipe's to be more on the healthy side. One of the favorite's here at the Cedar House is Pizza.

Whole Wheat & Turkaroni Pizza

We replaced the white flour with whole wheat pastry flour in the homemade crust.

Seasoned up a can of diced tomatoes for the sauce.

replaced the pepperoni with a lower fat turkey pepperoni

and piled on the goodies....

cooked on the cast iron griddle

divided into thirds, each of the boys got a personalized pizza made to their own liking.

I utilized a whole wheat flat bun and loaded on the goodies...

Yummy!

Little Sprouts

This week....Little sprouts are popping up here,

there,

and.....everywhere!

So much so, that we ran out of room under the grow lights. The onion sprouts got booted into the cold frames.

We have been taking extra precautions and covering the tender babies with a sheet at night, for added protection against the hard frosts we have been having...

So far, so good!



Fragrance Testing

We are always looking for fun new scents to add to our all star soap line up. Today we put 10 of the 20 new trial fragrances to the test.

First things first...Math!

Our typical soap batch weighs 12 lbs. and for the test batches, our house recipe needed to be adjusted down to 4oz. sampler sizes.

It is necessary to test fragrances for overall soap making performance, scent retention, overheating, morphing or discoloration.  

Nothing is more disappointing than a fuddy dud or misbehaved fragrance oil.

For the most part, these testers were on their best behavior.. 2 of the 10 fragrances did speed up trace just a little and could possibly be difficult to work with if made in larger batches.

These soaps will hit the drying rack tomorrow, waiting to see how they hold up to the curing process. Stay tuned for results on which scents will make the cut.

  

Who says you can't garden in the snow?

Sunday was absolutely beautiful....what a difference sunshine makes! It feels like forever, since I've seen the sun shine that brightly across my snowed in garden. 

I decided it was high time to tromp my way across the back yard and see what has been sleeping beneath the snow. 

diggin' in a blanket of snow.

A buried treasure would be found!

Jerusalem artichokes, also called Sun Roots, Sun Chokes, and earth apples.

  a modest, 2 lb. harvest that is a welcomed treat!



Cast Iron cooking

I have collected a couple of pieces of cast iron cookware over the years.

One of my favorite pieces has to be the cast iron griddle I found last summer at a garage sale.

We have used it to bake in the oven for Homemade Pizza and Biscuits...

 and  as it's intended use as a griddle on the burners to make Sunday Morning French Toast.

I may just use it as a cookie sheet too ;-)

Daily C

Well, it's officially here...cold and flu season, that is!

I would like to think that we were going to start the year off right and then out of nowhere POW...BAM.... The whole family got sick!!! This was a first for us, as typically one or two of us gets sick....but, not all of us at once.

This was a whopper of a flu and we dropped like flies!

Corbin went to the ER Sunday with a severe earache.

Monday his eardrum ruptured and headed back into the Dr. on Tuesday.

By Thursday...Troy finally threw in the towel and  let me take him to the Dr. only to find out that he has Pneumonia and has Dr.'s  orders not to go back to work until the middle of next week.

In the meantime we are boosting up our intake of Vitamin C, drinking lots of water and getting rest.

Next year...we will be considering the flu shot!

Saying goodbye

Two years ago a special boy came into our lives and changed it for the better. He came with the name Diego but was known to us as Geekos. From the moment we set eyes on him, we knew he was going home with us.... No questions about it!!!

From the beginning, it was quite clear that Geekos was different than other dogs....We loved him just the same!

After a visit to the vet, we were informed that Geekos was born with Hydrocephalus, which in layman's terms is the buildup of fluid in the cavities within the brain. His skull plates never fully fused and had a large soft spot on the top of his head.This is most likely why Geeko was able to survive as along as he had. 

 

Although Geeko was special, he was full of surprises... He would howl to his favorite songs, and dance and stand on his hind legs for his favorite treats (pooch wraps). He had super sonic hearing and knew if we said the words "pooch wrap".

This posed a particular problem if we were fresh out of his favorite treat...we learned to spell those words to each other instead of saying them, if he was in the room.

He made us laugh every day, taught us to slow down and  be more compassionate and understanding.

He was meant to find us and we were meant to LOVE him!!!

So on this day, we say goodbye to a special little boy who brought our whole family a little more Joy!
Rest In Peace...little one!



Gardening in January-Meyer Lemons

As I sit amidst the piles of gardening magazines this time of year, reality bites as the bitter cold weather blatantly laughs and taunts me. We have had a pretty long run at a cold snap here in the Northwest... and you can bet my cold booty that I am oh so ready for warmer weather.

On a sunny note... I ordered a Meyer Lemon Tree this Summer to grow indoors.Trying to appease my gardening heart even when the garden has long been hidden beneath a cold blanket of snow.

The Lemon tree arrived as a bare root this Summer, and bloomed within a month of it's arrival.

It transplanted very well and has been happily living in the dining room under the "happy light", as our house receives very little natural light this time of year.

The little Lemon tree smiles with new growth, and miniature marble size lemons that will take on average, 8 months to ripen.

Our little tree has 5 baby lemons growing along and is currently putting on a whole new set of blossoms.



Christmas 2012

Another Christmas has come and gone...

Christmas morning starts early at the Cedar House

The boys wake early, so they have enough time to open their presents.

And then...we are off to breakfast at Grandpa Bakers House....Grandpa sure had a houseful this year! It was great getting to see relatives from Southern Idaho & Nevada

After breakfast, we headed back home to prepare and host a Prime Rib dinner at our house.

The Prime Rib turned out perfect...This was the only picture, so you will just have to take my word for it.

On a sad note: Our special needs Chihuahua ended up having some sort of seizure Christmas night. We didn't think he would make it thru the night and it has been touch and go every since. The seizure has left him unable to walk, but after 3 days he is able to eat and drink for himself. Time will tell what God has in store for this sweet little boy. In the meantime, we will continue to Love him.