Grain-Free birthday cookies

Several people asked me if I was going to eat Birthday Cake on Friday. I thought about it, but really, I'm more of an ice cream girl so I decided not to hurl myself off the gluten-free wagon in the name of tradition or birthday candles.

But I did want something sweet to share around the office, so I turned to my trusty G-Free board on Pinterest for an idea.

I decided to go with Coconut Lemon Meltaways from the Addicted to Veggies blog. I had all the ingredients on hand and I LOVE coconut and lemon. And who doesn't want to try something called a "meltaway"?

These cookies could be labeled and hashtagged with all kinds of non-delicious sounding things like #vegan, #grainfree, #raw, #refinedsugarfree.

But let me tell you, the more descriptive options would be #tasteslikesummer, #whoababythosearegood, and #notexactlyhealthybutslightlymorevirtuousthanaboxofthinmints.

Did I mention that they are embarrassingly easy to make?

Please check out the original post on Addicted to Veggies for the recipe and steps - I don't want to take any credit for her brilliance.

But it basically goes like this:
Mix the dry ingredients (I used Almond Meal rather than Almond Flour because it is cheaper and I had some  on hand. It does change the texture slightly, but probably not the taste).

Bust out your Stand Mixer (hooray!) or any hand mixer and blend the wet ingredients into the dry.

Roll the cookies into balls and set them out on a parchment lined sheet. These little babies are not going to be cooked, so they won't spread or rise. You can put them pretty close together.

The cookies are technically raw (not cooked). Don't worry though, they're also vegan so no angst about eating raw eggs or dairy. Bonus: you can eat as much "dough" as you want!

The original recipe says that you can leave them in a warm oven with the door cracked slightly (I had mine set at 180 for about an hour and a half) or stick em in a food dehydrator. I don't have one of those - yet - so I went with the warm oven option. All this really does is dry out the exterior slightly, which gives the cookies that divine "melt in your mouth" slight crunch on the outside, soft awesomeness on the inside.

My co-workers gobbled these up. I may have had 4 or so myself. The only people who didn't oooh and aaaahh were the handful of non-coconut eaters. I contend that the lemon has a stronger flavor than the coconut, but I guess there's no convincing you if you are anti-coconut.

Bonus #2 - These make your kitchen smell like lemon and coconut. Excellent reason to make them in February.

All-Natural Lotion Bars

Sometimes I fret that my skin is noticeably drier these days than it was when I was younger. I know, I know... losing moisture and elasticity and all that jazz. Awesome. Well, now that winter is upon us and the heaters are toasting 'round the clock, I'm a hot mess of itchy, crunchy skin.

I've been happy with my Coconut Oil moisturizing regimen. Out of the shower, and slather on some coconut oil right out of the jar. Good stuff. But I would be totally lying to your face if I claimed that coconut oil works as well or lasts as long as the chemically commercial stuff.

I needed something a bit more portable than a jar of coconut oil. I do some weird things at work (like pack salads in mason jars, sport a gloriously sticky jar of honey on my desk for tea, etc), and I keep some weird things in my purse (reusable bamboo utensils, anyone?), but there's no way I'm going to start scooping coconut oil out of my purse/desk drawer.

Pinterest, for the win!

The instructions below are snagged directly from The Coconut Mama, with my own small variations.

First, you need equal parts beeswax and coconut oil.

You can buy little chunks of beeswax online, or at Whole Foods.  I took the suggestion from The Coconut Mama's comment section and grated the beeswax with a box grater for even melting.

Here's a snap of a half-grated chunk of beeswax:

Grating it up. 

Throw the grated beeswax into a small saucepan with an equal amount of coconut oil:

For this first go, I used roughly 4 tablespoons of grated wax and 4 tablespoons of coconut oil. The original instructions say you can use a few drops of essential oils. I wanted my lotion bars to smell vanilla-y, but Holy Buckets! Vanilla Essential Oil is $22 for a tiny bottle. Scrap that. I tried adding a few drops of vanilla extract.

I DO NOT recommend swapping vanilla for vanilla essential oil, sadly. It didn't really incorporate into the oils, and basically just separated out to he bottom of the pan. 

But when it was all nice and melty, it poured elegantly into these little mini muffin pans:

I got a little impatient and decided to scoop one of the little bars out before it had fully set. Also a bad idea, but it did give me a preview of the lotiony awesomeness I had just made. Soft, but not too soft, with a pleasant coconutty-and-vaguely-honey scent. I rubbed it all over my arms and elbows. Soft, chemical-free skin!

Win!

If I had had some of those silicone bendy muffin pans, that would be a better choice for getting the bars out and keep them looking cute. But I'm thinking I might actually smash these little babies into Altoids tins or something similar to make them more purse-safe. 

Even in a tin, though, I would recommend you consider giving them one extra layer of protection from your stuff. I love love love homemade skin care, but it can be unpredictable in terms of melting and separating. If I put mine into a tin, I think I'll make the tin a little oilcloth zipper case. I once left my bag on top of a heating vent on the floor (didn't see it!) and all my lip balm melted into a gooey mess all over my bag! Fun times.

Dehydration - Not So Bad When You're a Tomato, by guest blogger Tammia

Tammia brings us Food Preservation Part 2 - Dehydrating!

I'll admit it. I've got a problem, a food preservation problem. In one day I canned 5 quarts of tomatoes, made 16 jars of blackberry jam, 1 quart of sauce, pickled 2 quarts of onions, and dehydrated a quart of cherry tomatoes. Since that's a lot to cover in one post, let's break it down into bite sized pieces. "Sun-dried" bite sized pieces.

 

First, you'll need a huge load of tomatoes, salt and pepper, a bunch of basil, and a dehydrator.

I borrowed my dehydrator from a friend of mine that has TWO. She's a food preserving bad ass.

 

If you don't own one, you can buy one for about $40 (the dehydrator, not the badass friend - she's priceless).

One Huge Load of Tomatoes

Step 1:  Clean and halve all the tomatoes.

 

Tomato bath.

Step 2: Clean out all the seeds. A spoon could be used, but it's so much easier to just use your fingers. 

 

Scoop out the seedy guts.

Step 3: rinse, dry and chop basil. toss the cleaned out tomato halves with kosher salt, pepper and basil.  

 

Step 4: Place the tomatoes skin side down on the dehydrator trays.

 

 

ooooh pretty!

 

Step 5: allow to dehydrate completely - about 8 hours/overnight.

 

 

Dried Up Tomatoes!

Step 6: Place in a clean dry jar and use in salads, soups, pasta sauce, pizza...the uses are endless. I tend to just eat them straight out of the jar, they're so delicious!

 

Dessicated tomato-y goodness

 Thanks for this great post, Tammia! I LOVE dried tomatos, and I put them in everything, especially egg sandwhiches and omelets!

Guest Blogger Tammia: Pickling!

Guest Blogger Tammia is a fountain of food preservation knowledge. Actually, a fountain of all kinds of knowledge! I'm pleased and excited to bring you her first Guest Blogger post about pickling onions.

 

There are a lot of ways to preserve food. It can be canned, dehydrated, frozen, vacuum sealed, and pickling. Pickled onions are pretty simple to make. They're kind of a big deal in my family, and I remember countless visits to my gran's where she was making pickled onions. Here's how you do it.

 

• 2¼ lbs pickling onions, peeled
• 4 tsp pickling spices or
• ½tsp coriander seeds, ½tsp mustard seed, ½tsp black peppercorns, ½tsp dried chili flakes
• 1 oz  salt
• 35 fl oz malt vinegar
• 6 oz  sugar

1) Peel all the onions, then toss them all in salt and put into the fridge for 24 hours.

2) Rinse and dry the onions. pack tightly into glass jars.

 

 

3) Pour the vinegar, sugar and spices into a non-reactive pan and heat until barely boiling. remove from heat.

 

 

 

4) Pour hot vinegar over onions, leaving an inch of headroom in each jar.

 

 

5) Can the jars for 15 minutes in boiling water. remove from water, and allow to cool untouched for 8 hours. Pickled onions are best eaten 2 weeks or more after pickling.

Fighting Oil With Oil

Several months ago, I posted this post about finding a new face soap, and my friend B suggested that I try something called "The Oil Method". I laughed to myself. "I'm pretty sure I can't use OIL to wash my greasy, acne-prone, stressed out skin". I filed it under "Things I Swear I Will Never Do". I should have known right then that I would eventually embrace it, since many of my current raves are things I originally scoffed.

I was running out of my bar face soap, and while probably greener than my fancy bottles of Olay, my face was still dry and flaky and oily and zitty all at the same time.

So.... I did some more reading about the Oil Method and started to come around. Then Whole Living did an article about it, and I was sold. See, sometimes all it really takes to convince me are some pretty pictures.

The article and the online info suggested a 75% olive oil, 25% castor oil blend for oily and acne-prone skin. I ordered a bottle of Castor Oil online, and I tried it for the first time tonight!

EVOO and Castor Oil blend

Clean white wash cloth

I got a 1/4 tsp from the kitchen and filled it up "most of the way" with olive oil, then topped it off with the castor oil. Very precise... Yeah, that's why I stick to cooking rather than baking. Anyway. I poured the 1/4 tsp into my hand and then used my palms and fingers to rub the oils into my face (bonus! mini face massage!) while I counted to 90. It felt surprisingly pleasant, and not at all like I was rubbing salad dressing into my pores.

After you rub in the oil, you drape a HOT damp washcloth over your face to steam the now-grimey oil back out of your pores. Let the washcloth cool off, then use the washcloth to gently wipe away the oil and gunk. It was hard to just stand there with a washcloth on my face while it cooled, but it did feel pretty great. After wiping the oil away, my formerly pristine cloth looked like this:

Makeup and city grossness

All that came off with just a 1/4 tsp of oils! Joy! My skin feels soft and clean. You are only supposed to wash this way once per day, and then just splash your face with cold water in the morning. Even LESS product being used. Love that.

From what I read, this works because the olive oil is a natural skin softener that binds with the castor oil, which is a natural cleanser. The olive oil acts as a vehicle to get the cleansing castor oil down into your pores, and then the steam from the washcloth yanks them both back out of your skin again. Soft, clean, and 100% natural.

So, thanks B for planting the seed of the idea all those months ago! I'm really happy with this new plan. I'm also hopeful that the Oil Method will help rebalance my skin, and maybe even make it less oily over time.

I know. It blew my mind too.

Go get some more oil on your face!

Urban Homesteading - We Canned Tomatoes!

When Co-conspirator Jess called me last week to ask if I wanted to come over and help her can the 800 tons of vegetables she had gathered up from her garden, I was:

1. Relieved - "Canning Vegetables" is pretty much the "Selling Cookies" of Urban Homesteading Merit Badges. Basic, assumed, and passed down from generation to generation with handfuls of anxiety and expectation. I was relieved, because if Jess showed me how to preserve fresh fruits and veg, I could take myself seriously as a Homesteader. I could then move on to all kinds of other old-timey things like making my own cheese and dehydrating tomatoes in the sun...
2. Anxious - Even though I have fond memories of my mom and her sisters and friends steaming up the house with their canning adventures in the summer when I was a kid and none of us ever died, the word BOTULISM kept rolling around in my ears.
3. Nostalgic - for the memories of my mom's huge canning pot, the weird looking canning sieve, and the beautiful Ball jars that held mom's favorite bread-and-butter pickles, stewed tomatoes, and raspberry jams (and later decorated my wedding).
4. Thankful - That Jess knows how to do this stuff, and that she is willing to teach! And also thankful that her neighbor gave her two big buckets of free tomatoes that I got to use, since my garden consists of a big basil plant in the window sill.

So anyway, I said YES, and last night I headed out to Western Springs to can it up with Jess and her friend Jessica. Jessica's mom was kind enough to let us invade her beautiful kitchen for the night (thank God for kitchen islands and counter space!).

We just made very simple crushed tomatoes. Just the 'maters, and a 1/4 tsp of citric acid powder in the bottom of each jar (to maintain consistent acidity. Or something. An extra precaution.) just before you add the hot tomatoes.

This isn't exactly a how-to. I'm definitely not confident enough in my knowledge to instruct anyone yet (remember botulism?) but think of this as an overview of the process. It's not as intimidating as it seems.

First, you have to prep your tomatoes.

Yay for free tomatoes!

Cut off the tough or questionable bits and give em' a quick pulse.

Then simmer them up in a pot.

While your tomatoes are prepping, heat up a CAULDRON canning pot of water:

Big Pot of tomatoes on the left, canning pot of water on the right.

Then take a nap while everything gets good and hot. (Just kidding, don't leave stuff boiling while you nap).

Sterilize your jars! (and your lids) Canning tongs are a must.

Jars taking a hot bath in the canning pot with the support of the jar frame.

Sterilized jars with citric acid powder in the bottom, patiently awaiting some action.

Using a canning funnel to get the tomatoes into the jar with surprisingly little mess.

Ta-da!

Go team!

There are a handful of other steps involved, like poking air bubbles out of the tomato-filled jars, reboiling the filled jars, and clapping with glee when your newly-canned tomatoes start to "PLINK!" as their vacuum seals officially clamp tight.

Note: Jess says that it is very important that newly canned jars REMAIN MOTIONLESS for 24 hours after they are tucked in (covered with a towel). No one she consulted could tell her why this is (our best guess is to give the vacuum seal a full 24 hours to convince itself that it is totally sealed), but in any case, I didn't get to bring my beautiful jars of red goodness home with me last night. Next time I see Jess, I'll get to carry home 11 jars of awesome.

We got started around 7pm and were tucking in the last few jars around 10:20ish. Simple, efficient, and yielded 23 jars. We just couldn't quite eek out the 24th jarful. Oh well. my share of 11 should keep our household in pasta sauce for most of the winter at least (for the cost of $8 worth of jars!).


Go forth and can!

I turned my couch into a shoulder bag

Les and I got a new slip cover for our glorious hand-me-down IKEA couch last December and I could not bring myself to throw away yards and yards of lovely white canvas. I'm not sure what I thought I was going to make with it. A boat sail?
Anyway, after many MANY canvas-inspired ideas but little follow-through, I decided I would make a bag. An easy, cool-looking bag that I could use to stow my unattractive Fancy Camera bag and still have room for all my other essential stuff. It had to be a project that would not require me to spend a lot of money on additional supplies, and it had to be something I could complete in one weekend. I searched for online freebie instructions until last week, when I saw THIS tutorial on How About Orange.

After a quick trip to JoAnn for some 60% Off faux leather for the straps (PS - faux leather NEVER goes on sale, so I was elated to get 1/2 a yard for $7), some heavy duty thread ($3), and a box of gray fabric dye ($3 each), I turned this:

Into this:

While not as chic as the tutorial version, it did use a substantial amount of canvas. And after 2 dye attempts, I finally got it the shade of gunmetal I had been aiming for. As long as you don't count the vaguely pink splotches that I assume are the result of couch stain removal attempts that perma-bleached the fabric. I think it just adds a certain "hand dyed" marbling mystique. Right? Um, yeah.

Anyway, the best part about making your own stuff is that you can customize it.
Like the handy elastic Sock Bottle holder I added to the lower side edge:

Spill Proof!

If I were to make this again, I'd go for a different/darker dye color and I'd probably make it a liiiiitttle less tall. It's great for holding all my gear, but it feels a little more shopping bag than a fashion piece. Could be the fact that I had trouble converting centimeters to inches and just eye-balled it. I do have a huge sheet of pretty dark denim that I could use if I want to totally copy-cat the tutorial piece, but it was very gratifying to finally use a hunk of couch to make something practical.

Not the most flattering shot, but you get the idea.

I spent about $19 and have thread and lots of faux leather left over, so I'd say that the only real expense of this experiment was the 2 boxes of gray dye for $6. Plus, I now have a prototype and some trial-and-error insight for my next attempt (which will probably be with the dark denim, since I do LOVE the look of the tutorial version).

So there you have it. My repurposed couch fabric got a new life as a MegaTote. Not bad for an afternoon's worth of work.

Home Made Laundry Detergent - Jess's Notes!

Last week I wrote a quick summary of Jess and my experience making our own Laundry Detergent from a recipe Jess found on Bonzai Aphrodite. We had a few questions from readers about some of the ingredients, and whether home-made detergent saves money.

Jess has far more experience with the ingredients and the cost analysis than I do, so here's what she had to say:

Washing soda is a product of baking soda - but different and needed! It can be found at hardware stores (usually) or at like independent grocery stores. Our local produce/international foods store carries that as well as Borax. I've seen Borax at Target. I think Wal-mart carries both as well, but I'm not sure since I don't shop there.

Does making detergent yourself save you money, since you have to buy all those ingredients?

I think the savings come into play if you use your ingredients to pull double duty for other cleaning products, then the versatility really stretches the dollar much further. I think the amount of detergent you can make for the price is cheaper than store-bought, but you are also spending your time (minimal) making this stuff and you have to decided if that's worth it. I'm not even sure what Tide cost these days because I've been using 7th generation for so long now and I know the homemade is way cheaper than that!

Cool. But does home-made detergent really work?

I just did a load of rugs that soaked up water from our flooded basement and they came out nice and clean, so I think the detergent is doing its job! Hope that helps and you are able to take your own adventure!

Thanks for your extra info, Jess!

More homesteading adventures to come...

Home Made Laundry Detergent (Brick)!

Co-Conspirator Jess and I finally got to have our first Homesteading Date this weekend. We successfully completed two DIY greeny projects, and we're excited to share them with you.

We'll start with Home Made Laundry Detergent!

So convinced were we of this fool-proof recipe that we made a triple batch.  Here's the recipe, via everyone's favorite vegan super-crunchy blogger, Bonzai Aphrodite.

Single Batch (we tripled these amounts)
1 1/4 cups vinegar
1 cup baking soda
1 cup washing soda
1 cup borax
1/4 cup liquid castile soap

Vinegar + sodas and borax

You have to start with the vinegar, then add the baking soda, washing soda, and borax. The mixture will fizz and foam (yay!). We found it valuable to have one person continually stirring (Jess), while one person measured and poured (me).

Once you have that mixture fizzing and spitting away, add the castile soap. We used Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap, peppermint scent. Not because we like our clothes to smell like Certs, but because we both had a bottle in this scent. Probably because that's the one they have most often at Trader Joe's. We added about 20 drops of lavender essential oil to the mixture to cut the very sharp scent of the castile soap. The mint scent wasn't unpleasant, just strong. The lavender had a nice mellowing effect.

This stuff really is magical.

AugDog came by to supervise the science experiment. He got bored quickly when he realized we didn't have anything that he could eat.

Once you've stirred in all your ingredients, you have completed about 1/3 of the necessary elbow grease. This recipe requires A LOT of stirring. Stop stirring, Bonsai warned, and you'll end up with a rock-hard brick of soap. So we stirred. And then stirred some more.
As you stir, the mixture will start to take on a sort of cakey appearance and texture. KEEP STIRRING!  We kept stirring until the soap easily formed a nice little cohesive clump of detergent in my hand when I scooped it out.

It looked like this when we stopped.

We split up our glorious home-made all-natural laundry soap and I took my portion home in a plastic storage container. I was sooooo excited to try it out.

And then I tried to scoop some out to do a load of laundry last night. And discovered that I had not a jaunty container of DIY laundry soap goodness, but a laundry soap brick.

Chisel or scoop?

I think it is still usable, I'll just have to break it up before use. Not ideal. I emailed Jess about the brick situation, and she said that her soap was still soft and cakey!  So maybe my soap just ended up baking in our hothothot apartment? Who knows. I'll try it out with some actual laundry and let you know how what happens.
Jess, any words of wisdom to share with the blogosphere?

Stay tuned for our escapades in home-made natural deodorant!

We Tried It: Natural Easter Egg Dying

Guest Post from Co-Conspirator Jess!

A friend of mine in Wisconsin who is part of a 4H group was telling me her experience of natural Easter egg dying, I was more than intrigued.  It sounded romantic to this greeny wannabe - to use things in my own pantry, no additional purchase which means less packaging, knowing the source of color and that in most cases it would be provided by organic/sustainable/fair trade items.  What a great lesson for my 3-year-old son on being resourceful.  So with eagerness and excitement I dove head first into a homemade dying adventure.

Most of us when we dyed Easter Eggs are familiar with the $0.99 Paaz dying kit.  But what are those little tablets we are so eager to dip our eggs in? It’s concentrated food coloring, the familiar ingredients you probably see on candy, yogurt or a whole host of packaged foods such as the FD&C Red 40, Yellow 5, or Blue 1.  So what’s the big deal?  Why not dip the eggs in those gorgeous color baths.  Well in some cases it is believed that these artificial colors can produce hives, thyroid cancer and/or tumors in rats, and can exasperate ADHD like symptoms.  Not to mention a lot of these synthetic colors are made from acetone, coal tar, and petroleum based products.  Mmmm – yummy!  I will say however, that when I was doing the research it was very difficult to find clear, “hard” scientific data to back up the symptom claims.  What was very obvious and factual was how they are made, and the fact Norway banned almost all these substances, and European Union has much more stringent controls on them than here in the US.   

Every time I delve into environmental research it is hard for me to wade through the boogieman scary news stories of how all companies are out to give us cancer and what seems to be rational discourse on the matter.  So do I believe food coloring is going to produce ADHD in my kid? Probably not. But I also don’t think for a second the green or purple ketchup is good for him.  I’ve become a better label reader and do try to avoid as many synthetic dyes as possible in foods.  The easiest way to do it is by cooking whole foods, such as fruits and vegetables for our meals, trying to make homemade alternatives for snack/packaged items, and if that isn’t possible limit what packaged goods the kids can have for a snack.  However, I find for my life to be sane and balanced (and not get be the weird hippie people in the neighborhood) that I have made peace with my kid having a Capri Sun from a neighbor kid or perhaps an Oreo (gasp!) every once in awhile.   So with these ideas in mind, lies the justification for me to attempt natural egg dying.

The principles in home made dying are pretty simple - use fruit, vegetables, spices, and even teas, to create different colors.  It most cases you need to boil the dye agent (for example turmeric) along with the eggs, water, and vinegar (to help the dye take to the egg shell).  So you can really let your creativity and inner mad scientist go wild by experimenting with all sorts of food substances.

I decided to try three different dyes: spinach, turmeric, and cranberries.  I really love blue and green eggs but had no idea on how to get those colors.  I figured whenever I steamed spinach the water always ends up green so why not try with the left over wilting leaves in my frigid to produce a dye.  With extreme confidence I put in spinach, 2 eggs, 1-quart water, 2tbsp vinegar and boiled for 15 minutes.

After the eggs were boiled I pulled them out with anticipation and… spinach turned out to be a complete bust.  Except for some slimy limey coloring around a few cracks on the eggs the shell didn’t give any appearance of changing color.  So a no go for green. And as an added bonus I had a kitchen stinking of vinegar boiled spinach.  Not to be deterred I got out the turmeric that I had purchased in bulk at Whole Foods, not a typical spice I have in my house but was a recommended as a dye by the Master Gardner who provided the information.  I have no idea as to the proper quantity of spice that is actually needed, so I threw in all $0.30 worth into the pot with gusto.

Now these eggs – were beautiful.  There rich warm yellow, the natural speckling, these are the visions I had when I first heard about this project.  The only hang up was that one of the eggs exploded.

Now my house did smell of an Indian restaurant for the rest of the day, but nothing that a little fresh air and a soy candle couldn’t take care of.   Onto the cranberries.  The berries (blueberries are also a great possibility but we need to eat them in this house) were suggested as a natural paint for little ones to do.  I think you mash them up, strain through a coffee filter (as is suggested with other dyes to reduce the speckling if that’s not your style), and then voila!  Natural paint.  Umm, did I mention I also have an 11month old that was crawling underneath my feet the whole time this was going on?

An extra step like straining cranberries wasn’t gonna happen this year.  So I threw in the unused holiday frozen cranberries in to the pot and began to boil.  It wasn’t quite the color I expected but I thought it was still really pretty.  My friend told me all the colors come out very natural & muted.  Other suggestions for reds and pink dyes are ingredients like red cabbage, red onion skins, letting hard boiled eggs sit in pickled beet juice, etc.  If you want to get deeper colors strain your dye and hard boiled eggs and place the eggs back into the dye bath and can let them sit in your fridge for hours more or overnight to get bolder colors.  An extra step that again, just was not possible for me this year but will want to try in future years.

I was pleased with the turn out (minus the spinach debacle)

I thought they looked very pretty and would be an egg-cellent decoration for a centerpiece on the table.  My only other concern was I could see a few hair line cracks on the eggs and I didn’t want to eat vinegar flavored eggs, luckily no other taste was imparted to the hard boiled eggs so they weren’t wasted.

While I was so happy to have gained this knowledge and try more at home projects, the process was not something that I could do with my 3 year old.  We have other ways to decorate, crayons, markers, Parent’s magazine just had an article with decopouging with tissue or using buttons, or even gluing on felt to make egg-creatures.  And we will continue to experiment with all these possibilities, because the thing with a kid is what doesn’t work this year just might work next year.  And in the mean time, I might go ahead and relax a little bit and allow for the $0.99 kit, after all we aren’t eating the shells right?  And how can I pass up a moment like this?

Thanks, Jess, for trying this great project and all your fun photos!