Life at a "Swell's" pace

Cooking with tomato

Tomatoes may not be in season right now, but if you played your cards right with your garden, I do hope you canned a few jars of them. If not, there are many varieties or organic, natural, or good brands out there from companies that sell whole, chopped, or diced tomatoes in a can or jar.

Tomatoes always give an added touch that some dishes are just missing. A lot of dishes require some sort of tomato in the form of whole, paste or even cooked or diced and, tomatoes are one of the easiest foods to grow on your own. From growing them in a small apartment to a large garden layout in your backyard, tomatoes are really a great fruit to have on hand, and the added joy is if you grew them yourself

Here are two very easy and quick recipes to try now with tomatoes that you grew or ones that you have purchased locally.

• Fish and Spinach Bake with Tomatoes

Makes 4 Servings

1 package frozen spinach , thawed (10 ounces)

1 Pound fish fillets, thawed (Talapia or similar. Chicken may even be used in place of the fish.)

1 tsp. Cajun Seasoning (To taste)

1 LARGE TOMATO, SLICED (Or use canned tomatoes)

4 green onions, sliced

Squeeze out spinach and remove excess liquid from leaves. Spread spinach in the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste.

Arrange fish fillets over the spinach laid and sprinkle with Cajun seasoning, to taste.

Cover with foil with a small slit in the top to allow for steam to escape and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 20 minutes until fish flakes with a fork.

• Easy Chili

Makes 8 cups

1 pound ground meat (your choice)

1 onion, chopped

2 tsp. chili powder

1 CAN CHOPPED TOMATOES WITH LIQUID (14.5 OUNCES)

2 cans beans, 15 ounce cans (Pinto, black and kidney beans will work)

1 can tomato soup (10 ounces)

1 cup water

Brown the meat and onion in a skillet together and drain off excess fat. Add chili powder and cook an additional 5 minutes, stirring in powder as you cook.

Add tomatoes, drained beans and soup. Stir in water and simmer for about 30 -45 minutes on low heat.

Chili is ready to eat!

Enjoy!

Eco-Tip: If you get magazine subscriptions to your home, consider recycling them once you have read them. Or consider donating them to a local library, clinic, or hospital For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.

Spark of Loves this Week: Jewelry, Beer, Leaves, Butterfly, Barber, and Message

These Jewelry Pieces.

Because not a lot of people know that I sell jewelry online under the name of BeeSpa.

This Oregon Trail Brewery Truck.

Because it's totally awesome and is actually a real company here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

This Picture of Skylar.

Because he is a superstar and I love him greatly!

This Butterfly.

Because it landed on my leg when I was having bad day. My bad day didn't seem so bad after all.

This Barber Shop.

Because it isn't like any other place I have ever been. I love the chatter that goes on in there and it reminds me of when times were a lot simpler. With not a care in the world.

Random Photo of the Week:

Awesome snowy message to see on my car when leaving for the day.

Eco-Tip: Try boiling water on the stove for your coffee, tea, or cooking needs, instead of letting the water run till it's cold. Water waste is one thing on this planet that can be prevented with just a few small changes in your habits. For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.

What's the deal with grain?

Most of us are not unfamiliar with brown rice and grains as a whole, but did you know there are different forms of grains that are just as good for you as brown rice? If you are stuck in the brown rice blahs there are many other forms of grains that can give you that boost back to where you enjoy grains once more and guess what, they are not only healthy for you, but also very easy to find.

Wild Rice

1. Kasha: You may be familiar with this name through the Kashi brand of foods, but Kasha is one of the most amazing grains out there. You can either eat them cooking into your food or cook them alone. Bring water to a boil and add your desired amount of Kasha to the boiling water.

2. Quinoa: This grain may be familiar to you, but have you tried it yet? Quinoa is a grain that is very tender and very enjoyable if prepared the right way. Rinse under cool water and cook the same way you would Kasha, but cover and simmer 15 minutes in order to enjoy this grain in a hearty way.

3. Bulgur: This is a form of wheat kernels and can be boiled just the same as the other two above. Boil 1 cup Bulgur with 1 cup water and remove from hear and stand for 10 minutes before enjoying. This can be added to a pasta salad or eaten alone alongside your main meal.

4. Wheat Berries: Boil 3 cups of water to 1 cup of wheat berries in a large pot. Then turn the heat down and simmer for about an hour to bring out the complex flavor of this grain. It can be enjoyed straight.

Fields of Barley

5. Barley: Boil Barley about the same as you would the other grains, but Barley can also be made into breads, pastas and even muffins or rolls. And this grain is so popular that even Sting made a song about it. Add it to your diet and make it just as popular in your own home.

Whole grains are one of the most common foods our bodies need more than anything else, not only for the fiber, but also for the other supplements they add to our diets. Here is a list of what whole grains can add to your body.

Natural, soluble fiber
Vitamin E
Vitamin B-6
Zinc
Potassium
Folate
Protein
Iron
Thiamine
Riboflavin

Pick up these grains the next time you are at the grocery store, Farmers' Market or even the local grower. Try one or the two at the same time and find your favorite grain and start adding it into your own cooking.

Enjoy!

Eco-Tip: When gone from your house during the long hours of the day, turn your thermostat down a little. There isn't an estimate of how much you will save due to the different variations of houses, heating systems, climate and weather changes, as well as energy cost in your own home. But one thing to keep in mind, each degree of Fahrenheit you set the thermostat back in either direction you save about an 1 percent savings within an eight hour period. For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.

It's Election Day! DID YOU VOTE? (Update)

The Presidential Election is on Tuesday, November 6, 2012.

I put my ballot in, did you? Here in Oregon we vote by mail, so when the blue envelope comes, I cast my vote and mail it back. It's that easy here in Oregon, but in other states, you don't have that ease and must head to a poll location and cast your vote. Just remember, even if the line is long, the crowd is loud, or the ballot seems long, your vote counts and is well worth your time.

Vote as you please, but please vote.

You have till 8: 00 PM your local time to get your ballot in.

So GO! VOTE!

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Political signs EVERYWHERE!

A hand made sign on the front of this house on how they support Obama.

Our house is ready for the elections!

Signing my mail-in ballot for Oregon!

Even Google is in on the Election!

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To find a poll location in your own area visit Ballot Pedia

Quick Tips 103: Things you can't go without knowing

Quick Tips: Things you can't go without knowing.

Use a baby food jar or other small jar to hold paint from a recent paint project. These extra, little bit of paint can then be used for quick paint touch ups and even to take to the paint store to match the color perfectly.

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Fold and store your sheet sets inside one of the pillowcases. This method cuts down on excess bulky storage in your linen closet, and keeps everything in one place, so all you have to do is grab it and go.

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Use funnels for twine, yarn, and baker's twine dispensers in your garden shed, kitchen, or craft room. These funnels help keep the string coming out at just the right angle and will help prevent knotting and tangling.

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Use a tension rod under your sink to hang your cleaning solution bottles on. Keeping them off the bottom of the floor under your sink helps free up space for other items, like a small basket of potatoes, for instance.

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Use toilet paper rolls to keep wrapping paper on the roll. The empty toilet paper roll can be cut down one side and fit over the roll instead of tape or a rubber band around the roll.

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Use a rubber band to help grip a stripped screw. A large, fat rubber band will help hold the screwdriver and will allow the teeth to grab the sides and give some traction.

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Use a plastic bread clip to hold onto the end piece of a roll of tape. When you want to use the tape, simply remove the clip, when done, place back on the tape end once more.

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Use large-wide rubber bands on hangers to hang delicate shirts and blouses. Slip the rubber bands over the ends of the hanger in 1/2-inch distance apart and hang your shirt, skirt, or delicate blouse to prevent slippage.

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Keep low-cut v-neck shirts from slipping down too far with Command Adhesive Strips. They come is a variety of different lengths and sizes and they hold for long periods of time too.

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Use unbleached coffee filter at the bottom of planters to prevent soil from falling through the drain hole. Using unbleached or eco-friendly coffee filters prevents your plants from being exposed to any chemicals.

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Eco-Tip: Use reusable coffee filters when making coffee to reduce the amount of paper waste within your own home or office. For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.

Spooky night makes for great fright!

Skylar went as Max from Where the Wild Things are this year. And I am pleased to say that I made the entire costume by hand. My sewing skills are getting a bit better, and I had a blast making this costume. For Halloween day we hit some of the area merchants during the cities Merchant Trick-or-Treating. Thank goodness the rain let up long enough for us to stop by a few stores. After the downtown trick-or-treating, we went by to see a few cousins on Jeff's side of the family. They were all costumed out and ready to hit the streets.

We ran into Jeff handing out glow sticks for the Lebanon Fire District.

Some merchants gave out donuts and apple juice, others like Herschel's Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlour handed out Pumpkin Spice Ice cream in a mini waffle cone!

The business owners throughout the city were more than excited to see costume-wearing kids come into their shops, stores, and restaurants.

The cousins were all ready to go trick-or-treating and Skylar couldn't wait to dig into his stash of candy already.

I think he scored pretty good.

After the downtown walk of trick-or-treating, we headed over to the park to be a "Wild Thing."

Click here for a step-by-step how-to on making this costume

Once we got back from all the Halloween fun, we prepared our own house with some more spooky additions. Like our spiders!

To make spooky eyeballs click here.

How to make one Spooky Spider you will need:

8 glow necklaces

2 short glow sticks

1 large foam ball

1 small foam ball

Fishing line

*Similar to the ones below*

How to make spooky spider:

Snap the chemicals inside both short glow sticks and shove them into one side of the large ball. Hold the glow sticks together and stick into the large ball then into the small foam ball. These will allow the balls to stay together when the spider is hung. The glow sticks I bought came with a small rubber band attached to one of them so it made it easier to hang, but you can also just tie the fishing line around both of the glow sticks, between the two foam balls, as well.

Once the two short glow sticks are in place, stick the large ball with 4 of the necklace glow sticks on each side for the legs. Be sure and snap the sticks before pushing them into the ball. This way the glow sticks will already be glowing with you hang them.

Tie fishing line around the middle of your spider and hang. Be sure to snap the sticks before you place them into the foam balls, and make sure you make the spiders 30 minutes before you plan on using them. Glow sticks do get dimmer as the night goes on, so keep a few extras to replace them throughout the night.

SPOOKY SPIDERS!

Our house Halloween night!

Halloween Moon!

Hope your Halloween was just as fun and spooky as ours!

Eco-Tip: Replace one snack a day with an all-organic fruit or vegetable. Just one simple change could make all the difference in your diet. For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.