Saturday Supper: Updated with Method

Inspired by this post, I made beans for Saturday supper.  Before we went to a fancy event that morning, I put beans in the crockpot on low with a few garlic cloves, a bit of sage, and some olive oil.  I was betting that we wouldn't be very hungry or energetic at suppertime, but still need something.

I was totally surprised at the success of the supper!  I think it's going to be our standard Saturday supper! Cheap, easy, customizable, delicious.

We had the beans in soup plates with more olive oil and salt.  Then there was good sourdough bread (from the market), thin slices of Parmesan, and sliced tomato.  It was so perfectly, elementally balanced.

On other Saturdays, I could swap out the fresh tomato for a home-canned tomato in the soup plate, or a wedge of fresh crunchy cabbage or even a dish of dried figs.  Something pickled would be delicious here, or even a bit of prosciutto or salami.

The fancy lady even put down her Bible and joined us.

More Details on How I Cooked the Beans:

I do not buy commercially canned beans.  I put 2 cups dry beans in my slow cooker, add 5-6 cups water, and turn it on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours (this varies depending on the time I have and the age of the beans - I don't know how old the dry beans are, but I've read that older ones take longer).  Then I let the whole cooker cool until I have time to portion the beans/liquid into jars and freeze them. This is a habitual task in my kitchen, but I see that I have barely blogged about it!  I will try to remedy that.  (Here are simple black beans, starting with dry beans also).

These supper beans were a variation on the basic method I just described.  I started with the 2 cups dry pinto beans and water, but also added 3 whole garlic cloves, 1/2 tsp. dried sage, and 2-3 Tbsp. olive oil.  A few hours later, I stirred the beans and added some salt.  At the table, we added more salt, pepper, and more olive oil.  The simplicity of the beans meant that they were a great base for whatever accompaniments I had on hand.  It's lovely to mop up the salty bean juices and olive oil with bread.

Old Cell Phones for Kids

My children are digital natives.  They speak the language of computers and accept their presence as unquestioningly as I accepted telephones and record players when I was a child.  I have deep worries about the way screens seem to absorb us and distract us while real life unspools in front of us.  I want to shield my children from screens for a while as I teach them (hopefully by example!) how to use computers and technology for good purposes in disciplined ways.

One of the teaching things that my husband and I stumbled into began when he cleaned out a drawer of stuff.  Ben asked if he could have the old cell phone.  There was no sim card in it, so my husband handed it over with the charger.  It still plays a few ring tones, takes pictures, and has a few simple games.  Ben adores this little dose of adult screen time.  Then Genevieve got the next old cell phone, which can also make short videos. She adores making little films of her life, filled with kid jokes, inappropriate noises, and strange blurry angles.

Any time they use the phones inappropriately (usually when specifically told to put the phone away, bringing it to the table, or playing on it instead of doing chores), my husband and I confiscate the phones.  One child had a phone removed for three weeks.  That child is a much better listener after that loss of privilege!

No need to buy DS systems or other electronics for kids like their friends and cousins have!  The children love controlling their own little cell phones.  It's a very thrifty way to let kids interact with screens!

What access do your children have to screens and their own personal electronics?  I'm sure this only gets complicated as they get older. Thoughts and advice, please.

Spiced Grape Butter from the Leftovers

I picked up my half-bushel of Concord grapes at market last week, piling the rest of my produce on top for a big heavy load.  I mentioned my grapes in a chatty way to a market farmer.  We both marveled at the modern juice steamer and agreed we would not make grape juice without it (I borrow one from Rebecca). Then she told me that her daughter takes the leftover grape skins and pips and puts them through a food mill.  She mixes one part sugar with two parts resulting puree, and there's grape butter.

I thought that was something pretty thrifty I could try.  I usually put that stuff left from making juice in the compost.

To my grape butter, I added little pinches of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.  These are flavors from a hot spiced grape cider I made last fall which we loved.  And now we love the grape butter, too.

bonus photo of our purple coleus in a clear green vase

So, from that half-bushel of grapes, I got 11 quarts of juice and 3 pints of grape butter.  Not bad for $18 and some time.

Uncle John David's Dessert

Aunt Maggie came up from the South bearing beautiful produce from her and Uncle John David's farm.  Ben was in heaven with a huge watermelon and a midget cantaloupe.  That boy loves melons.  Aunt Maggie rolled her eyes:  they had meant to plant full-size cantaloupes, but then, Uncle JD would split the midgets in half, scoop out the seeds, and fill the bowl with vanilla ice cream.

Then Ben's face just lit up.  So, yes, I put cream on my shopping list and made vanilla ice cream, and yes, the boy and his daddy had their cantaloupe bowls filled with vanilla ice cream.

Building Things and Selling Flowers

Ben keeps building boats.  He sometimes goes directly from his morning bed to the yard, where I'm sure the neighbors hear the hammering and think a contractor has begun work at the usual hour of 7am.

First the boats were flat, and they did not float well in our friends' pond.  Now they "have sides."  I tried to tell him about how Noah coated the Ark with pitch, but I'm not sure he heard me; what's the modern-day, average- family equivalent of pitch, anyway?

The children also work on their Calico Critter houses. I save lids (which can't be reycled) for the creative reuse store, but more often than not, Ben raids the stash to make things for his Critters.  I also flatten cardboard and chipboard to be recycled, and that stash is constantly raided and the scissors constantly dulled for the Critter houses.

These houses are ugly by Pinterest standards, but I know the ingenuity and care that went into them, so I enjoy looking at them.  I get tired, sometimes, of the prettified images of life on Pinterest (and some blogs).  It's so easy to think my life is ugly when, in fact, I am living my life with all its attendant dirt, disorder, and unsightliness that doesn't photograph well.  Maybe I need a break from my Pinterest feed. . . 

Genevieve loves to set up shop, whether it's selling things she's gathered or made.  We are frequently invited to a store and commanded to buy something with real money.  Oh, that girl!  

I bought this sweet bouquet for a dollar.  (A real dollar that she lost in a broken vending machine at the pool with a shrug, until her daddy marched her up to the counter and made her ask for it back because "this is not a game!  This is money!")

I've been feeding these interests with targeted library books and some tools.  I've bought them nails and a hand drill.  I wonder what they will get into next. . . 

(linking up with Leila and Rosie's pretty/happy/funny/real)