Something about growing my own produce and then jarring and pickling them makes me feel so happy! It’s like the epitome of summer! I often times romanticize these events in my head. Like… almost always. I forget about the humidity and the mosquitoes and the kitchen clean up and the squad of “helpers” than slow the process down…Anyways- I recently made candied jalapeños for the 1st time. Oh. My. God. I can definitely say there will never be a time in my future that I don’t have a home made jar of them in the fridge. We’ve been putting them on veggie burgers, tacos, crackers with cream cheese, charcuterie boards, home made pizzas, salads etc.

Last week I had another big harvest of jalapeños. So I made another jar. The recipe is pretty simple. For about 15 jalapeños I cook 1 cup of apple cider vinegar and 2 cups of sugar on the stove.

Then I add a teaspoon of turmeric and a pinch of salt. When it boils I add the sliced jalapeños. Boil for about 5 mins or so and then scoop out the cooked jalapeños into a clean mason jar. Continue boiling the liquid for another 5-10 mins until it thickens up a bit.

When the sauce has thickened you just pour it over the jarred jalapeños! They need to sit in the fridge for a few weeks to get all squishy and delicious. I’m sure you could do a proper canning technique and make a bunch for the winter. But I don’t have time for that business. Maybe some day….

Ok. So here’s where it went south. I make recipes up in my head as I’m going. And I’d say 98% of the time they are fairly successful. I had an idea to add some Trader Joe’s pineapple fruit spread and ginger to my sauce and make a different “summer” variety! So good right??

I think if it was properly executed and I wasn’t juggling a small softball team while doing so it probably would have been a home run. (Like what I did there? 😆) I added about 3 tablespoons plus a Tj’s frozen ginger cube to my sauce and cooked it down a bit longer. My plan was to pour some over my jalapeños. And pour the rest in a jar alone to use as a tofu marinade or something along those lines.

So it turns out that adding the pineapple and cooking it down basically made candy. I essentially made a spicy pineapple caramel… And then poured it over my jalapeños and into glass jars. I didn’t taste it because it was boiling hot and then…kids. I let it cool a while and stuck it in the fridge. The next day my best friend came over to visit and bring me flowers. I gave him a sampling of all the things from my garden is recently pickled. There was a veggie relish, pickled rainbow radishes, 1/2 sour pickles… and my new sauce and pineapple candied jalapeños. I tried to open it and scoop some out and it was like cold taffy! Oh man!! What an enormous disappointment that was. He kindly tasted and gave me honest feedback. We both agreed it would be good if it wasn’t an enormous failure!!! lol

I’ll absolutely try this again but next time cut back the initial sugar and add the pineapple in the beginning!!

Oh, look! Another rainy Cape Cod day! It’s been a particularly wet summer here. And now that hurricane Henri is flirting with the area it’s been pretty gross here. Unfortunately the entire ladybug crew has had a summer cold. Baby Lavender is only 11 months so she’s feeling like this is the worst week of her life (it basically is!). She’s clingy and snotty and cries all day. Juniper and Pearl the twins are 3 and full of energy and mischief (and boogers). Big sisters Skyler and Lorelei are fine being cool kids in the basement. But Sunday’s are busy here. Sick or not. Hurricane or not. I make my husband’s breakfast and lunch for the week. And usually I’ll make a big tray of something for me and the ladybugs.

Also- laundry. It never ends. Like, ever. My kids go through clothes like they go through snacks. Today I think I washed, dried and put away at least 6 loads. I had to wear Lavender in my Tula so she could be close to me and upright and also out of trouble!

Meal prep this week was 5 grilled Buffalo chicken salads, 5 breakfast burritos with sautéed mushrooms (I loathe mushrooms more than anything so cooking them is true love!!!), veggies, eggs and Turkey linguisa. For the girls and I – I had 1/2 dozen fresh peaches needing to be eaten. So the twins and I made baked oatmeal with them for breakfast. (I’ll drop my recipe at the bottom of this post in case you too have peaches kicking around!

The cooking is the easy part. It’s keeping the twins: busy, out of trouble and separate so they don’t hurt each other that’s the hard part. Those two are BRUTAL towards each other. I let Juniper help mix the dry ingredients today. And Pearl mixed the wet ingredients. Once our tray went in the oven I had to start rolling burritos. So I set the girls up with DIY cloud dough in a bowl. Basically I gave them a cup of flour + a TBS or two of coconut oil and a drop of almond extract to make it smell nice. Then they used various spoons and their hands to mix and play. We even gave Lavender a scoop to play with. She of course ate it. But it’s ok because it’s all taste safe! That kept them busy long enough for me to make 4 burritos. By the 5th one I had a crying baby on my hip. Then the floor clean up. Omg. Nuclear explosion. Then the girl clean up!! Straight to the tub they went! We bathe our kids “as needed” which essentially means 1-2 times a day for the twins.

Bedtime is nearing and I’m EXHAUSTED. I’ve been fighting this darn cold for days now. Ron and I were supposed to have date night at home tonight. We sometimes make appetizers for dinner and play games or watch a movie. But honestly we’re so spent after another long week we may just call it a day!! Mama also wants to freshen up this hair color! So I may have a hair night.

Another week ends and tomorrow another begins! Bring it on world. Just bring less cooties this week please!!!!

👇🏼BAKED OATMEAL WITH PEACHES👇🏼

4 cups of old fashioned oats

1/3 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of chopped pecans

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

3 cups of almond milk/milk

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon of almond extract

1/4 cup of hemp seeds

4 cups of chopped peaches

Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

Mix dry ingredients, add whisked wet ingredients, stir in peaches, nuts and seeds. Pour in a 13×9 dish. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon sugar and bake 375° for about 40 mins.

I assume it’s best eaten warm the day you make it! But we’ll be eating however we can get it all week! ✌🏻