WIAW- After 8 Week Sugar Detox

I'm back for WIAW! Don't forget to link up!

Please excuse my absence for the last 2 weeks. Our family took a much needed vacation last week! Technically it was a hunting trip. I will fill you in on all that fun in another post! For now, I should update you on weeks 7 and 8 of the sugar detox.

I ended up cutting the detox a week short. I knew there was no way I could go on a week long camping/hunting trip and adhere to all the rules of the detox! How can you go camping without smores? That's right, you can't! Week seven was to consist of cutting out all bread and starchy foods, and week 8 was to completely cut all sugars. I cut week eight and just eliminated both breads and starches, and sugars for week 7.  Here are some of my eats for that last week.

Clockwise from left: Slow cooker pork roast with roasted carrots and steamed broccoli; scrambled eggs with veggies and cheese with bacon and grapefruit; salad with broccoli, bell peppers, black beans, and peanuts with balsamic and olive oil and an all beef hot dog (sulfite/sulfate free) on the side; another salad with broccoli, bell peppers, black beans, left over bacon, and a banana on the side; 2 eggs fried in olive oil with bacon and grapefruit; roasted chicken breast with green beans and salad.

How did it go? Well I wouldn't say I ended the last week strong. Because I was trying to load everything up in our trailer for the hunting trip, I didn't have a whole lot of food to work with. I didn't want to have anything left over in the fridge while we were gone for a week, and I only have so much room in the trailer for food. Hence the black beans. Are black beans a starch? Or legume? Either way, they needed to be eaten before we left town!

So, what did we eat on our camping trip? Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of that. I'm not sure I want photo evidence of that anyhow! A lot of prepackaged stuff. At least a lot more than my family has been used to lately. I was able to make a few meals ahead of time and freeze them to eat while camping. I made spaghetti with my homemade canned spaghetti sauce and whole grain noodles, then I froze it in two ziploc bags for dinner for 2 different nights. It turned out okay, but the noodles were definitely too mushy. I also pre-made two pepperoni pizzas on this whole wheat pizza dough. I pre-baked the doughs for just a couple minutes, added toppings and froze. They turned out great! Another dinner we had was fajitas. Very easy! I purchased  pre-cut beef for stir fry, put it in a baggy with olive oil and my homemade taco seasoning and froze it. I then bought a bag of frozen sliced bell peppers. When I wanted to make dinner, I thawed the pre-seasoned meat and threw it in a pan with the frozen bell peppers. Cook through and place in tortillas with your favorite toppings. Yum!

I was very surprised at how much food I was able to fit in the trailer with a little preparation. Next year I will definitely do something similar by pre-making some of the meals ahead of time and freezing them flat in Ziploc bags to stack in the freezer.

I will definitely say that during the vacation week, I started feeling very bloated and actually was nauseous a few nights. I am sure it had to do with the food I was eating. Not enough whole foods and too much prepackaged snacks. It had absolutely nothing to do with the beer I treated myself to. Wink! Now that I'm home, though, I am feeling better! Yes I may have some sweets here and there, but I haven't been craving anything per say.

Will I ever do it again? I think I would like to do this once a year. I really did feel better, and I think it may help get my cravings back in check.

Have you ever thought about taking a sugar detox of any kind?

WIAW- Week 6 Sugar Detox

Happy WIAW folks!

Leftover taco salad, peanut butter toast with half a grapefruit, plain greek yogurt with granola, Texas Hash

This week's challenge is to not consume more than 2 teaspoons of natural sugars a day. (Plus all of the previous weeks' challenges) It hasn't been that much more difficult. I end up using just a teaspoon of honey on my yogurt sometimes. I haven't been needing anything in my coffee. I have found, though, that a drop of peppermint essential oil in the pot makes for a very refreshing cup of coffee in the morning! One drop goes a long way. I know from experience! One drop per POT of coffee. A little coconut milk is nice, too.

For snacks, I've been enjoying lots of peanuts, fruit, celery, and Sargento pepper jack cheese sticks.

I have decided I will have to cut my challenge a week short. I most likely will be camping and it will be too hard to adhere to the challenge. So, instead I will be cutting two things next week, all grains and starches and all sugars. Well, I will try to cut them all. I haven't made my meal plan yet for next week, but I will let you know when I do!


In other news, I have had a loss in the garden. Yes, the squash bugs won the pumpkin battle and I had to pull them all out. I am NOT happy about this. I just bought some diatomaceaous earth today. I am planning on using this to get rid of the rest of the bugs who are moving over to my winter squash.

The squash plant on the right is doing well but the bugs are all over the left plant. I'm seriously over these dang bugs!

On a better note, the lettuce, carrots, chard, and onions are sprouting and the radishes seem to be growing well.

One of the dogs got out one night last week and decided to walk through my garden. AHHHHH! I was so angry! She trampled half the radishes! So if you notice in the above picture, some sprouts are larger than others. I ended up having to plant some more over the weekend.

I still haven't planted the broccoli and cauliflower. I know, I need to get on that. I will make it a point this weekend. I think I am going to start indoors. Hopefully they don't bring a bunch of gnats inside.

Do you have a fall garden? What garden pests do you have problems with?

Week 5 Sugar Detox Challenge

I am a few days late on this post, and it has to do with the fact that, well, I needed some ME time! I'm assuming my recent emotions have been because I'm going through sugar withdrawals! I have been pretty mean. I have been on edge, and all I really feel like I want is some space! I'm trying not to let my temper get the best of me. Well, I'm assuming it's because of sugar withdrawals. I am hoping it's not my old "friend" Mother Nature coming to call. We haven't seen each other in about a year and a half and I'm not very excited for our reunion any time soon!

So, I can say that I am over half way through the 8 Week Sugar Detox Challenge! Have I been adhering to all the rules 100% of the time? No. I can tell you, though, this is the least amount of sugar my body has ever had! EVER! So I see it as a step in the right direction. I am going to continue to try to follow the rules of the challenge as strictly as I can for the these last couple weeks. Please pray for my family's safety!

This week we had to cut out all quick breads. This includes tortillas, muffins, pancakes, basically any bread that does not use yeast as an ingredient. I unfortunately made a huge batch of pancakes over the weekend and froze them. Now, I REALLY hate wasting food. So, yes, my children have had pancakes almost everyday this week! They don't seem to be protesting. 

I've decided I am not going to list every meal I've eaten any more. It's boring right? Most of them are pretty much the same things. So instead here's a quick view of some of my eats:

I didn't realize until I made this collage, that I had a lot of salad this week. Hmmm. 

I also have been on a pumpkin kick. I made my gluten free hot breakfast cereal the other morning and added some pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, and topped it with  a pat of butter and a little maple syrup. HOLY COW! Pumpkin pie on the taste buds! Well, pretty close, anyway. And since I needed to use up that can of pumpkin I opened, I made a pumpkin spice mousse using equal parts pumpkin and plain greek yogurt, a little pumpkin pie spice, a little honey, and topped it with unsweetened shredded coconut. Yum!

Next week I will be trying to cut my natural sugars down to 2 teaspoons a day. I can still have my whole wheat bread though! 

WIAW- Week 4 Sugar Detox Challenge

First of all let me say Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband! Three years and two children later, I can say my life is so full of love and I wouldn't change a thing! Just to reminisce, I had to read my WIAW post from last year- WIA On My Second Anniversary. Now I want a Pumpkin Spice Frappacino! Jeez! My eats this anniversary will be a lot less sugary!

Week 4- Cut Out All Refined Sugars

This week we cut out all refined sugars. I haven't been using very many recently so it hasn't been too difficult. I did have a pretty bad cheat day on Saturday though. The kids and I made a trip out to Pahrump (about an hour and a half away) to visit my sister in law who took some photos for me. They ordered Pizza while I was up there. Then because we didn't get back until late the hubby suggested we just go get Sonic(which we haven't had in years!). I had a cheeseburger and chili cheese fries. Hey, I figured I might as well just go with it since I had already ruined my eats that day! Right? Well I've been much better since then. I can say that the couple days afterward I had some pretty bad cravings. Ugh. It wasn't worth it. Here are my eats so far this week.

Monday:

Breakfast- gluten free hot cereal topped with bananas, maple syrup, and coconut milk, with a piece of whole wheat toast (This week I left out the 1Tbs of sugar called for in the recipe)

Lunch- Leftover beef stew

Dinner- Leftover turkey (that I roasted on Sunday) sandwich with Delallo pepperoncinis (It has to be that brand! They are so good!) 

Tuesday:

Breakfast- Peanut butter whole wheat toast and coffee with a little local honey

Lunch- Another turkey sandwich, with pepperoncinis of course

Dinner- Chili made in the pressure cooker. It turned out pretty good. I added both cayenne and red pepper flakes so it was a bit spicier than usual but it didn't bother the kids! Yum!

Wednesday:

Breakfast- Peanut butter whole wheat toast (I told you cutting the grains will be the toughest part for me!), half a grapefruit, and coffee with a little local honey

Lunch- ANOTHER turkey sandwich. I may need to make some turkey chowder or something with all these leftovers!

Dinner- We are planning to have dinner at BJ's tonight. I'm not sure what I will have, and of course it's always hard to tell what ingredients are used when you eat out. Their menu is pretty large, though, so I am pretty sure I will be able to find something that is for the most part within the guidelines of the challenge.

Snacks:

lightly salted peanuts

Greek yogurt with honey (it HAS to be Fah-yay!) 

toddler photo bomb!

I may have to have a glass of wine with my dinner tonight. It's kind of a ritual. I may also break open a piece of our wedding cake if I can find it in our freezer! We vacuum sealed it but who knows if its still good!

Did you save your wedding cake to eat on your anniversary?

WIAW- Week 3 Sugar Detox Challenge

No Desserts

This week I have to cut out all desserts. No cookies, candy, ice cream, chocolate(AHHHH!), etc. Even if it is made with all natural sweeteners it's out! I'm missing my chocolate already. (This doesn't include the sweeteners in yeast breads or added to things like tea or coffee.) Before I cut out all dairy because of my son's allergy, I used to have a bowl of ice cream after dinner almost every night! I did have some coconut ice cream while I was dairy free. That somewhat helped with the craving. I actually had some frozen yogurt for the first time in 9 months, right before I started the sugar free challenge. It was delicious! Since I haven't been eating dessert every night, though, it really hasn't been too difficult cutting it all out. I do crave chocolate every so often. Actually, I crave carob chips. I was using those instead of chocolate chips and I would grab a few once a day or so just for a small treat. It seems my cravings for sweets are becoming less often and less severe. I think once I switched to only whole grains, it has helped tremendously. Cutting all grains out completely may be the really difficult part for me. I have never been grain free for any amount of time. I'm curious to see how my body reacts to that!

So here's my eats so far this week:

Monday:

Breakfast- whole wheat pancakes with real maple syrup, 1/2 grapefruit (I may have over done it slightly with the syrup)

Lunch- grilled cheeseburger on whole wheat bun, with french fries- my husband wanted to grill burgers so I told him to make sure to grab whole wheat buns. Unfortunately they had high fructose corn syrup in them. Did I eat them? Yes, I cheated.

Dinner- Carne and polo asada, guacamole, beans- some friends of ours got together for Labor Day and they made carne and polo asada on the grill. It was delicious! Yes I ended up having 2 corn tortillas with my food. Yes, second cheat of the day. Although, I still think I did fairly well considering it was Labor Day. Could I have passed on the refined grains? Probably. 

Tuesday:

Breakfast- peanut butter whole wheat toast, 1/2 grapefruit

Lunch- Quinoa with veggies (green onion, mushrooms, red bell pepper) and balsamic vinegar.

Dinner- grilled flat iron steak, steamed broccoli, and 1/2 baked sweet potato. (Sweet potatoes are another weakness of mine.)

Wednesday:

Breakfast- 1/2 grapefruit, peanut butter whole wheat toast, coffee with some honey.

Lunch- will most likely be another quinoa veggie bowl

Dinner- I have planned suasage and sauerkraut with potatoes in the slow cooker. This is one of my husbands favorite meals. Unfortunately the sausage has corn syrup as an ingredient. I'm not sure how the body reacts to this as opposed to high fructose corn syrup(I will be researching this), but I imagine it isn't too different. I still shouldn't have it. 

Next week is no more refined sugars at all! I think I have for the most part already cut most of them out. I will have to read labels more carefully just to make sure!

Don't forget to link up with your eats, too!

WIAW- Sugar Detox Update

I recently may have gained some new readers, so just to clarify, WIAW stands for What I Ate Wednesday. It is a link up I do most Wednesdays over at Peas and Crayons. It's fun to link up with my weekly eats and check out other bloggers eats as well! Check it out and join in on the weekly fun if you feel so inclined.

Only Whole Grains- week 2 sugar detox

So far this week's eats look like this:

Monday:
Breakfast- vanilla greek yogurt, coffee with local honey
Lunch- leftover pulled pork on a piece of homemade whole wheat bread. (I forgot the salt in the bread recipe so it turned out a little bland. They rose perfectly but then deflated in the oven. I'm guessing it maybe had something to do with the salt? Also, for the sweetener I used half molasses, half maple syrup instead of the honey.)
Dinner- Mongolian "beef" and Broccoli with brown rice (I used a venison roast instead of beef.) It turned out great with the venison and I will definitely make it again if my hubby gets another deer this year! The only thing I have to say is the sauce was WAY too sweet! (maybe because I have been doing the sugar detox?) I will use less brown sugar next time.

Tuesday:
Breakfast- Peanut butter whole wheat toast, coffee-black
Lunch- Tuna sandwhich on whole wheat bread with half an orange

Dinner- Guacamole Bacon Burger on whole wheat bun, sweet potato fries, steamed broccoli. I took my dad out to dinner for his birthday. We went to Red Robin. I should say that I am pretty sure the whole wheat bun was not 100% whole wheat. So I may have cheated a little... That burger was so incredible,though!

Wednesday:
Breakfast- Bob's Red Mill gluten free hot cereal topped with coconut milk, blueberries, and maple syrup.

Lunch- will probably left over hot cereal, maybe topped with some chopped veggies and balsamic vinegar... I'm not quite sure yet.
Dinner- will be "Taco Slop"  oh my gosh I love this recipe! I have some leftover brown rice that I cooked on Monday that I will serve with it.

Snacks I've been eating:
fruit
celery with peanut butter
sargento cheddar cheese sticks
and this vegan protein shake

It has only vegetable proteins and no soy. It is sweetened with sugar and stevia so I will only be able to have this for another week or so. For now, though, it's great when I'm needing a snack or some extra energy. Better than a soda, right? I found it at Albertson's if you were interested. It was only $18.99 if I remember correctly.
Next week is No Desserts! I might die. Okay probably not, but the only natural sweeteners I can have will be a little added to food or coffee/tea, or in yeast bread. I have been having cravings quite a bit lately. I am pretty sure it's because of the dang cookies I made last week. I am feeling it.
I have been recently taking a round of antibiotics for a persistent UTI. I tried curing it without them (took d-mannose supplement) but it just wasn't going away. It's a good thing I am doing this sugar detox, though, because the antibiotics are killing the good bacteria as well as the bad. Eating more sugar will only feed the bad bacteria and could cause me to get even more sick. I know I will feel 100 times better at the end of this 8 week challenge!

Have you ever done a sugar detox diet? What was the hardest part for you?

Sugar Detox Challenge Week 1

So I am writing my WIAW post a day late. On Tuesday I came down with a horrible stomach bug which landed me in the E.R.. I was severely dehydrated. Needless to say, I was trying to rest yesterday and get back up to par. My daughter also caught the bug so I was taking care of her yesterday as well. Although it put a slight hindrance on my sugar detox challenge, I still was able to avoid high fructose corn syrup.

Monday:
Breakfast: Peanut butter on wheat toast and coffee with 2tsp of local honey

Lunch: Romaine salad with broccoli, onions, carrots, red bell pepper, and bacon. Dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Snack: "Thunder Cake" A storm was rolling in and my daughter is afraid of thunder so we read the book Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco and made a makeshift thunder cake. It wasn't the recipe from the book. Instead I sort of used this recipe. I omitted the brown sugar and only used 1/4 cup white sugar. Then I used 3/4 cup sugar free applesauce and added a little bit more flour.

Dinner: Spaghetti (my husband made it since I had an ICAN meeting) using my homemade canned spaghetti sauce.

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Loaded veggie scrambled eggs- with broccoli, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, spinach, and cheese. Coffee- black

Lunch: Left over spaghetti

At this point I started getting sick and couldn't hold anything down.

Wednesday: 
Breakfast: plain cereal (no milk) and Power Aid

Lunch: Campbell's chicken noodle soup, crackers, and more Power Aid and water

Dinner: Southwest Chicken Salad with Cilantro Lime dressing (I forgot to take a picture) - I needed some real food but didn't want anything too heavy, and this was great. Oh, I added grilled chicken to that recipe.


Next week is only whole grains. I am probably going to be baking some whole grain bread today. I haven't actually made any before with just whole wheat. Hopefully it comes out okay. I need my peanut butter toast! I know the hardest week for me will be no bread, or starches. I am already not looking forward to it! I need to stay positive though.

Do you have any favorite recipes for whole/ sprouted grain breads?

Old Photos

I have come to really appreciate the time I set aside to write a new blog post. It really makes me stop and think about what I did yesterday or what is really going on in my life. I do this in the evenings when I pray before bed, but doing it again the next day really makes everything sink in again. It brings me back to center and makes me realize, again, everything I am so very thankful for.

Yesterday, the kids and I had breakfast,

2 eggs and 1 egg white scrambled (I have slowly been adding egg yolk back in my diet, and it doesn't seem to bother the baby!) with broccoli, spinach, onions, bell peppers, and sriracha, and whole wheat toast.

then we headed over to my dad's house. He lives right around the corner from me, literally I could walk there. Which I was going to, but I needed to pick up 2 more bags of peaches and I didn't think I would be able to carry them home with me and the kids. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

When we got there, my dad and step mom were going through my dad's old pictures. I've seen most of them before but it has been awhile and it's always so nice looking at things from my family's past. Here are a couple I brought home with me to keep:

My mom and dad, not sure if I was born yet, but they were taking a helicopter ride back from Catalina Island.  I thought it was such a good picture of them together.

My grandma and grandpa, my mom's mom and step dad, also in the helicopter.

Yesterday was also my uncles's birthday (my dad's youngest brother). So in light of that I had to share this picture of his awesome mullet. It was another birthday that we shared with him. My sister is on the left and I am on the right.

So cute! After letting the kids play a while, we finally went back home for lunch. Lyric hadn't napped yet so he passed out and Melody and I had left overs.

Mexican Pot Roast Soup and tortillas

Around 2:30pm we headed out for Lyric's 8 month check up. We even made it a couple minutes early!... Except I guess I wasn't just a couple minutes early... I was a WHOLE WEEK early! His appointment is next Tuesday! Oh my gosh! I couldn't believe I did that. I'm going to blame it on the "mom brain". Wow, and I thought I had all my ducks in a row! At least I got a laugh out of it.

This did give me more time to prepare my 3 giant bags of peaches. I couldn't can them yet, because I am out of canning jars. The horror! So I peeled, pitted and sliced half of the peaches and put them into large ziplocs in 4 cup increments. That would be the Ball jam recipe times 3. The other half I washed, dried, and placed on a couple cookie sheets to put in the freezer whole. I haven't frozen them whole before but I read that they are just as easy to peel and pit when you take them out to use. We will see.

While preparing the peaches, I also made dinner. (multitasking for the day, check!)

Chicken and rice in the pressure cooker. I'm  really getting the hang of this pressure cooking thing! I made this without a recipe. I will post it for you soon, don't worry! It was so yummy and full of comforting goodness!

Don't forget to link up for WIAW!

Have you gone through your old photos recently? How do you store them? I'm accumulating quite a few and I'm not sure what to do with them!

WIAW- Yesterday's Eats and my favorite snacks

As I write this post, I am enjoying my back yard and the warm summer air before it gets scorching here in a couple hours. It has been so hot, and the rain has made it humid to boot. I know it's much more humid back east but for Vegas, 90's and humid is just a little much.

Yesterday's eats looked something like this:

Peanut butter toast and coffee while deciding what to buy from my Pampered Chef party I had on Sunday. I have my eye on the double burner griddle pan!

Melody and Lyric wanted cereal.... Breakfast was super exciting, I know!

Around 11 we went to take my sister to a doctor's appointment, which just so happens to be close to Whole Foods. We stopped in there and grabbed some salad, chips and drinks and headed over to the park to wait.

I forgot to take a picture of it at the park so here it is when we got home... Pita chips, water, salad with mixed greens, quinoa, baby corn, peas, red onion, bell peppers, olives, and chicken breast, with a balsamic vinaigrette (soy and dairy free!)

I forgot to take a picture of dinner, I know, slacker! I was actually going to post a recipe for it, but it wasn't that great. It was another pressure cooker recipe, for Tex Mex Chili. It was ok, but I like my regular chili better. 

Since I forgot a dinner picture here are some pictures of the snacks I have been eating lately! Yum!

Fresh, sweet, cantaloupe from Gilcrease Farm

My new addiction, thanks to my husband! They have to be this brand!

And no summer is complete without Ranier Cherries! Oh my, the deliciousness! I wont tell you how much I paid for these, though. It was waaaaay too much!

 What have you been eating this summer? Don't forget to link up for WIAW!

Canning Tomatoes and WIAW

On Saturday morning I decided to get up early and get to the farm by 7 to pick a bunch of tomatoes for canning. It has been over 105 degrees here lately so I had to get there right when they opened. Nathan was awesome and kept the kids with him at home. It's much easier and faster to pick tomatoes without an extra 20lb baby on your back and a toddler running around! Maybe by next year I will be able to pick tomatoes from my own garden! (I say this every year)

At the farm I bring my reusable bags to fill up with tomatoes and walk through the orchard. I pass by the wheel barrows thinking "I can just carry them, it wont be that heavy".... 1st mistake. I fill both my bags with tomatoes... 2nd mistake... the tomatoes on the bottom are now being squished and the juices are getting all over my clothes. Now I must walk the 1/2 a mile back to the check out stand carrying about 35lbs of tomatoes (see 1st mistake). I pay, and walk to the truck.

Finally home, I relax for a few minutes (haha, not really, the kids haven't had breakfast). I make them breakfast, then clean the kitchen ( I have to have a clean workplace). I rinse off one full bag of tomatoes and set them to dry.

As you can see I also prepared all of the items needed for peeling, cooking, and canning my tomatoes. This day I was only able to get through one bag (about half of the tomatoes). I decided I would just do canned stewed tomatoes with this batch. I put my canning jars in the dishwasher and turned it on. When they were almost done I turned the heat on the large canning pot. (It takes about 45 minutes for this thing to come up to a boil so I start it early without my jars) While that is happening I turn the heat on another large pot of water for blanching the tomatoes for peeling. Since this post will be long enough, I wont go into detail on how to do this, I'll just give you this link to a great tutorial on how to peel and deseed your tomatoes.

After peeling and deseeding the tomatoes, I put them in a pot, add the reserved juice, and add water (if needed) to cover them. Then I put them on the stove to simmer for about 10 minutes.( Now I have almost all my burners going on my stove and it is the middle of the afternoon. 3rd mistake. It's 82 degrees in my house with the ac running non-stop) Then they are ready to can. I put a small pot on to boil, and drop a few canning lids in for 5 minutes. I take my hot jars out of the dishwasher, fill them to 1/2 full with the tomatoes, then put a lid and ring on and tighten. I set it aside and do another,... until I am out of tomatoes. By now my canning water is about to start boiling, so I put my full jars in the basket and lower them. I bring them to boil and put my lid on the pot. I boil for about 35-40 minutes for my altitude. Now I can take them out with my jar lifter and set them on a towel. At this point I wait impatiently to hear all the jars "pop" or seal... SUCCESS!

The other half of the tomatoes I waited until Tuesday to do. Because by then, I had to make dinner. Why did it take all day you might ask? Well because every 5 minutes of this process I had to stop and help a toddler or nurse a baby. Fun right? Yes, and yet there was still one more mistake I made... I was barefoot on the tile floor all day. Needless to say, the next morning I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a bus. A word of advice, if you are not accustom to working out everyday, do not do what I have just told you I did in one day.

At least dinner was fairly easy, as I made my Super Easy Chicken Fajitas! And I will include a picture, for WIAW!... do you like how I threw that in there? I know. Graceful.

If you are wondering what I did with the other half of the tomatoes, I used them for spaghetti sauce that I also canned. I did the same process of peeling and deseeding, and then added sauteed veggies, seasonings, and a couple cans of tomato paste. I somewhat followed this Tangy Spaghetti Sauce recipe, but I did change it up a bit.(If you are really interested in my recipe, just let me know and I will write another post for it.) I let that cook down for a couple hours and canned as I did the tomatoes.

So what did I learn? Don't be prideful and take the dang wheel barrow! Get some good house shoes! And don't try to can in the middle of the afternoon on one of the hottest days of the year in Las Vegas! Oh yes, and if I do decide to still do all of those things, do not do them all in the same day!

Do you have any tips to make your canning experience any easier?