Trying to Find Time

This summer is a blur. At least three days a week I leave the house at 9am, and come back the next day at 1am. I work the lab shift for free then go straight to work in Bellevue, so my "break" between the two jobs is the 45 minute commute I make around 2:45pm. Tuckered does not begin to describe it. I'm learning new appreciation for caffeinated tea, redefining the number of showers I have time to take in a week (thank goodness I have naturally dry hair, and my lack of showers does not show in stringy, limp locks), and I've discovered that sometimes at the end of a 15hr work day I will spontaneously throw up. Frankly, I want to go back to school so I can have more free time again. Words can not describe how happy I'm going to be when I finish this degree- really hoping it will be the end of 70hr work weeks for me.

So in light of my lack of time, I hope you will accept some rather weak excuses for posts. Today's post is delicious though, so I feel like that should buy me some slack. I was gifted with rhubarb from the community garden at work, and I tried to put it to good use (I still have more if anyone wants to suggest some yummy things for me to try). I decided to make strawberry-rhubarb muffins. My search for my muffin tin resulted in the tragic discovery that my muffin pan is missing. Why God?! I feel so betrayed. I made muffin loaf instead--put the muffin batter into a cake pan, making the equivalent of 16 good sized muffins.

Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins (Cake?)
1 cup wheat flour
2 cups white flour
1 tbsp and 1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1 cup diced strawberries
1 cup diced rhubarb

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix dried ingredients, then add wet one ingredient at a time. Bake approximately 30 minutes- top will turn golden brown. Enjoy :)


I cut mine in half and froze one part so I could have muffins next week. In my photo you can see that I could not wait to take a photo before trying the result- yum!

In other news...

My garden is mostly thriving (cukes are struggling, might just buy some starts :( ). Almost time to start replanting some things like swiss chard for fall harvest- insane to think about right now. I thought you might appreciate a photo of it now that summer might actually start. This is a shot of the sunniest part of my garden (taken at night, I promise it does get some sun), as you can see I've crowded it in pretty tightly. My beets, carrots, tomatoes, herbs, peas, potatoes (not in the photo), and beans seem to be thriving. I'm hoping I can get a decent harvest. Right now I'm still just eating herbs and greens from the garden- not that I'm complaining!

Other than that, I'm just trying to make certain I go ride three days a week, and get to yoga at least once. I'd like to go more. I'm so jealous of all my friends who are out of school- seems like everyone is taking up running, joining the gym, and losing all those college pounds. Twelve more months, then I'm joining their ranks. I'm not going to neglect Starla in the meantime- riding needs to be top priority (not that I'm complaining, it is the best!), so I can't choose to do more athletic ventures in my limited free time. Heck, if you just took away my lab "volunteer" work and transportation to the lab, I'd have 18 more hours to work out!

I'm experimenting with making my own essential oils. Not super fancy ones (I'm not dropping a few hundred on a distiller), but I want to use my garden herbs to see if I can't make homemade liniment for sore muscles. I'd like to use it on Starla after we ride, but I'd rather not pay $30 to have it made and shipped to my place when I own or can make all the ingredients myself. Since I will probably be trying this on my own sore muscles I will post a recipe later on. Right now I'm drying out the mint and other herbs I will be using. I'm also going to dry some lemon balm to make tea for myself while I'm at everything. Yum.

Well, I better wrap this up- need to be at work by 7:30am tomorrow! Looking forward to this week so much, because I have mostly AM shifts at Bellevue means I will only work 5hrs in the lab, meaning only one day that goes from leaving the house at 9am to returning at 1am. Woot! VERY pleased. I am hoping to clean, get to yoga, and see pony. Plus getting together with my mom and other family on Tues for fondue at the Melting Pot :)

Until we meet again, happy travels!

A post without a common thread-

First, homemade crackers. I love crackers, but they aren't at all sustainable or healthy. You can't call these healthy, but they are definitely much more sustainable.

Gouda Parmesan crackers:
1/3 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c grated Gouda/Parmesan (or whatever hard cheese you have)
1/6 c flax seeds
2 tbsp butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
A pinch of garlic powder
A pinch of paprika
1-2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 375F. Combine dry ingredients in a food processer, mix. Add butter and pulse until evenly distributed. Add milk and mix, then put mixture in the fridge to cool down for a bit. When the dough is harder, take teaspoons of it and smush it flat on to your greased baking sheet with a greased glass bottom. Bake 10-12 minutes, flipping 2/3 of the way through. Should be crispy, if not, put back in oven. Yummy, like fancy crackers from the store.

I only had two crackers left when it came time to photograph. Mmm.

Now, on an unrelated note, my back has been killing me with all the work I've been doing. I bought a pound of epsom salts at Fred Meyer, and I wanted them to have a little fragrance (without buying the chemically enhanced ones in the beauty section that are bad for the environment, and for you), so I took 15 lemon balm leaves, and 4 mint leaves, and crushed them up with a pint of the salt. Now I have a pleasantly minty bath salt that I can scoop from, and I left the mint in big pieces, so I won't have to include it in my baths (less clean up). You can make your own herbal bath salts by using epsom salts or sea salt, adding herbs, and essential oils if you have them. Better for you, the environment, and your pocket book. I may buy a small lavender plant so I can use that to scent my salts as well.

Minty and relaxing.

Well this was short and sweet. Next time I'm going to do a long list of easy household cleaners, that for the most part are all three ingredients or so. Tonight I don't really have time, but keep your eyes out, because I'm hoping to post them this week. I'm also hoping to post some updated garden photos, as it is really starting to thrive. I hope everyone is having a good week, and I'll post more when I'm able.