The Freezer is my Friend. (and should be yours too!)

My freezer cooking story isn't that extraordinary but i'm learning! I have been freezing fresh vegi's and fruits for a couple of years now. Slowly but surely I am adding more variety into my repitoire.

Recently I stumbled upon the amazing blog "A Turtle's Life For Me"
(because I do not yet know how to tag my words to a link here is the actual link!)

http://aturtleslifeforme.blogspot.com/2011/06/freezer-meals-on-cheap.html

Natalie is an awesome blogger and I have literally read every post she has ever made! Her blog is literally addicting lol.

This particular post on freezer cooking has been quite popular lately! So far I have made the "Twice Baked Potatoes", "Shredded Chicken", and the "Taco Meat". I also purchased the book she raved about called "Don't panic Dinner's in the Freezer". This book will help you get started with freezer cooking, or inspire you to get back into freezer cooking. I also highly reccomend it. There is a link on her post to purchase the book.

Here are my "Twice Baked Potatoes" ready for the freezer and boy are they yummo!

The "Taco Meat" recipe was a lot yummier than my usual venison with just a taco seasoning packet!

Next I tried a Baked Oatmeal recipe. I used tin pie plates (which get washed and reused) then cover with tin foil. Disclaimer: Do not stack right on top of eachother until they are fully frozenor you will have major spillage! ;) (hence the plates inbetween the pie plates I remove these once hey are frozen)

And my ultimate favorite things to freeze are fresh fruits and vegetables.

Not only is it awesome to enjoy these in the winter, but it is a great way to save money! I stock up on fresh produce in season when it is cheapest and freeze the excess.

We also have a garden and always have more than we can consume before it goes to waste so it works perfectly to freeze, blanch, or can the leftovers.

The best way I have found to freeze berries is to rinse them and then lay out in a single layer on a cookie sheet for freezeing. Once they are frozen you can place them into your freezer bag or container. This way you can take out a handful and they won't be a solid block!

**** On my to-do list yet is a homemade baking mix recipe, and some Corn bread muffins.

????? Do you have a favorite freezer cooking method or recipe? Please feel free to share it in the comments section!

Protection from the sun (first guest post!)

Sunscreen is a very important but misunderstood part of sun protection for children (and adults!). It should be remembered that sunscreen is just one component in preventing overexposure, skin damage/aging, skin cancer, or sunburn. Along with an application of sunscreen one should:

• Stay out of the sun, particularly between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. when the sun’s rays are most damaging
• Seek shade
• Dress in protective/reflective clothing (available at many retail stores)
• Put on hats
• Wear sunglasses (avoid discount sunglasses that are merely tinted and do not offer UV protection)

The most effective, and safer, sunscreens are mineral based (zinc and titanium) rather than chemical based sunscreens. Mineral based sunscreens work by protecting the skin from the sun by actually deflecting or blocking the sun's rays. Nonetheless, some people find mineral sunscreens to be thick and hard to apply evenly. Some mineral sunscreens don’t offer full UVA protection either so be sure to look for broad spectrum (UVA/UVB) protection.
Conversely, chemical based sunscreens work by absorbing the sun's rays. However, chemical based sunscreens have less stability, leach into the skin, and may disrupt the body’s hormone system. Additionally, these chemical sunscreens may be less effective and cause allergic reactions, while some people find them to be irritating to skin.

But back to some basic tips on how to properly use sunscreen.
Regardless of which type of sunscreen you use, be sure and apply evenly to all exposed skin. Pay careful attention to the back of hands, top of ears and feet, and the hairline. Sunscreen should be applied 15-30 minutes BEFORE going out into the sun and then approximately every 2 hours thereafter (more often if sweating or swimming).

Year round usage is key! The sun’s rays don’t become less damaging just because the weather is cold. Remember to apply sunscreen even when there is snow on the ground. In fact, the snow reflects the rays and they can be MORE damaging in the winter than at the beach in the summer.

Finally, the FDA states that sunscreens that advertise a sun protection factor (SPF) of more than 50+ are misleading (for practical purposes 50 is the maximum SPF) and may cause people to have a false sense of security and tempt them stay in the sun longer.

The sunscreens I recommend and use on my children are: California Baby, Badger, Thinkbaby, and Alba Botanical. A makeup sponge makes application of the thicker cream easier and more even.
For more information: Environmental Working group
http://breakingnews.ewg.org/2011sunscreen/

Environmental Working Group's 2011 Sunscreen Report EWG's Skin Deep
breakingnews.ewg.org
EWG’s fifth annual Sunscreen Guide is our biggest and most fact-packed database of U.S. sun protection products ever –

The Berry Sweet Life: Guest post from *Megan Krecsmar*

************Back to the Berry Wife*************Sorry I was unable to get the link to the site to work on here (still have a lot to learn about blogging! Just copy and paste the link into your browser)

On another note: I just had the realization that we have been cloth diapering for over a year now! (our Boo is 17months) We didn't start until he was about 5 months old.

Have you seen the adds for Pampers and Huggies lately?

It seems pampers is trying to make a faux cloth diaper, are they jealous?

Don't get me started on the Huggies commercial that attempts to portray a little guy as a sex symbol in his "jeans" diaper.

These dipes are far from cute, do you know what goes into one disposable diaper?

disposables contain chemicals such as sodium polyacrylate(a chemical banned from tampons due to its link to toxic shock), and dioxin (a carcinogen). *** Info from www.ecobuns.com

Not to mention the petroleum that goes into making these babies! Do you really want to have all that on that cute little bum of yours 24/7???

Not using Cloth you will contribute over 7000 diapers to the landfill throughout your child's diapering years which will take over 200 years to decompose!

Did you know even with disposables you are supposed to dump the solids in the toilet so that they don't end up in the landfill and therefore in our water supply?

I think the biggest perk to cloth as far as the enviroment goes is that you can use the same diapers all of your children!

Talk about cute

prints and colors, here is only some of our cloth collection!! Granted I try to go the gender neutral route incase we have a girl someday, if we do though I WILL have to get some pink ones for her of course! hehe

Love my diaper caddy? It's Thirty-One Gifts and I sell it! :) you can contact me at berrysweetboutique@ hotmail.com to order one for yourself!

I purchased 90% of my diapers from www.ecobuns.com Please check out the webpage and show her facebook page some love. They are so helpful and encouraging over there. If it weren't for their help I don't know if I could have stuck through this in the beggining!

Summer Goals Update: Sun protection

I have crossed off the first item on my "Summer Goals" list!

My first project was to protect my boo from the sun while playing outside.

The Problem: We have recently cut down all our pine trees as they were diseased and we were building a barn. Now we have virtually no shade. Our deck especially gets HOT and we spend a lot of our time outside there as we have his pool on the deck. ( this "lattice" as I call it was already on our deck but was pretty much just for looks!) You can also see some of the fabric already hanging I forgot to get a real before pic!

The Solution: roughly $70 in outdoor fabric and about 1 hour of cutting and sewing! Note: I did not use the blue fabric on the deck, this will hopefully be used as a shade for our hand-me-down swingset we just recieved!

The finished product: YAY!!! but of course the sun as not been out since we got the shades put up, so we haven't really gotten a chance to see how well they work! They sure look cute though don't they? haha

Summer Goals

It's time to make myself accountable for those things I keep saying I want to do!!!

Introducing my "Summer 2011 Goals" :)

1) Protect my little man from the sun while he plays outside. (hint this is a big sewing project, more to come!)

2) Hold a freezer cooking day!!!!

3) Sew something for myself to wear. Haven't done this since highschool when I made p.j pants.

Thinking I want to try a sundress of sorts but it may be to cold to wear it by the time I finish.

4) Do a "trash-to-treasure" project. I always see people do these but don't think I have the "eye" to find the "trash" part. Might take a few trips to Goodwill and some garage sales that sparks my creative interests! ;)

5)Of course it's my goal to keep up with my blog so I can be held accountable for my list :)

Hopefully I will find some more things to add to my list, but this should keep me busy in the meantime! Any more suggestions?

Swimmi!

I purchased a Bummi's Swimmi today. It's obviously reusable!!! :) And not to mention the cutest thing you ever saw. I got the Clown Fish print it's a light blue with those adorable clown fish all over it. Think about those swim diapers you buy in the store, they are outrageously priced in my opinion and all they do is hold the poo in. The swimmi does just that, for the price of a small pack of disposables you can purchase one supercute reusable. It's especially great if you are traveling or even just going to the beach, it takes up a lot less space than the disposables not to mention you would have to bring more than one of those! All you do is if there is poo flush it down the toilet and wash it with the rest of your diapers. If you do not currently cloth diaper then you can just wash the swimmi with your other laundry.
Check out the adorable prints available at www.ecobuns.com.