Home of the Petersonclan · I am the wife of Eric, an EMS pilot in rural Kentucky. I am the Mama of the 9 wonders of the world who keep me busy and laughing.

Mercy's Progress with Propranalol

March 13, 2009 in Uncategorized by Carri Peterson | 3 comments

Head over to www.petersonclan.com to see our battles with the plague and other things… but yesterday we had a moment to breathe and noticed that MERCY’S HEMANGIOMA LOOKS GREAT! This is amazing since she only had 9 doses (3 days) then we needed to stop them due to her getting rotovirus at the hospital. BUT THE HEMANGIOMA CONTINUES TO CHANGE FOR THE BETTER!!! Here are photos from March 3 – the day before we started the propranalol.

And this was last night:

Can you just imagine how excited we are?!?! This morning it even looks flatter than these photos… wow. I’ll keep everyone posted.

Garden Notes 2/ 27/ 09

February 27, 2009 in Uncategorized by Carri Peterson | Permalink

Don’t forget to head over to www.petersonclan.com for daily posting on the PetersonClan’s happenings! I will also be creating a garden list where we can all post about our garden’s progress! So head on over there!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We finished our seed starting little greenhouse this week. And by WE I am not including myself… I mean my wonderful husband. Here is as best a photo as I can get, since it is a relatively small laundry room. You can see that the lights for the bottom shelf hang from the underside of the top shelf.

You can sort of see that the bottom shelf holds my trays that were started two weeks ago.

On the top shelf I had to put the peas I started two weeks ago because that shelf is taller. And I put the trays I started today. The lights for this row are hanging off the ceiling.

Mental note for next year: You may be able to start peas inside, but if you do it too early it is hard to prop them up.

My seedlings are doing great. Most of the plants are getting their second set of leaves. Here is broccoli:

Cauliflower:

Cabbage:

Lettuce:

Mint:

Basil: (I think these are the most adorable leaves…)

Today I planted tomatoes, peppers, marigolds, oregano, parsley, more lettuce, and a few more peas. I may regret the pea ones, but I figured what the heck, live a little.

Garden Notes: 2/ 19/ 09

February 19, 2009 in Uncategorized by Carri Peterson | Permalink

Don’t forget to head over to www.petersonclan.com for daily postings… or at least almost daily postings… I only use this blog when I am putting in photos as it is easier to work with for pictures…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This has been a big week for my plants… Eric finished the two shelves above my washer and dryer. They both measure 5 ‘ x 3 ‘ , and are big enough for at least 6 seed starting trays. We put flourescent lights to help add growing light… three fixtures (4 ‘ each ) hung on the ceiling for the top shelf, and three on the bottom, hung from the shelf above them.

We are excited about this because this is sustainable, and helps us to eventually be less dependent on others for our food. I am also excited to claim previously dead space above the washer and dryer. Since a bigger house is out of the question right now, we are looking to wisely use every corner possible. Eventually I may even put a plastic "door" over the front and hooks on the ceiling for holding it out of the way so it can be like a true greenhouse.

Last Thursday night I planted broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, mint, basil, lettuce, and a few of the sugar snap peas. I had never heard of peas being started inside, but I read about it in the "New Victory Garden" book I got off Paperback Swap. I figured it would be worth a try.

(This is a picture of the bottom shelf. I am saving milk jugs to punch holes in the bottom and let them slow drip into my outside boxes.)

Each tray in the back has 98 spaces, and I probably got a 95% germination rate. We have the lights plugged into a power strip so I can turn them on in the morning and off at night.

This is my lettuce… there is now no longer any reason I cannot grow my own lettuce all year long. I’ll need to thin some of it out… those seeds are really small. Mostly I tried to use only one seed in each thing so I don’t waste too many.

Basil- it just sprouted yesterday.

Cauliflower…

Broccoli

Peas in the front, and cabbage in the back.

There is only one small area of trouble in paradise. Remember when I said that we are bringing the hay (pecked over first by the chickens so we are not planting weed seeds into my garden…) and manure and filling my garden boxes? Well, the compost process produces heat. The dogs have discovered this, and taken to sleeping INSIDE MY BOXES at night… this is eventually going to cause a problem. Just like that, Eric has another job… building a FENCE around the garden spot… hehe. As if the poor guy needed another project to do for me.

It is getting warmer (and our heater is FINALLY working right…), so we are looking forward to spring. And after a couple months of eating anemic tomatoes bought at Wal*Mart… I cannot wait until my sink looks like this:

Some Seriously Good Eating

February 14, 2009 in Uncategorized by Carri Peterson | 1 comment

[Don't forget to head over to our primary blog at www.petersonclan.com for daily postings!]

Wow- folks.. have we been eating well on the Peterson Front. Those of you on a diet maybe should just keep on blog hopping. (Oh yeah- I’m on a diet. Well, it’s on hold, I guess!)

Yesterday was Eric’s birthday. He loves cheesecake, so I purposed to make him a cheesecake from scratch. It was delicious! Here is a picture of the pie…

And here is what it looked like on our plates, after adding some home made blueberry jam on the top…

Phew was it incredible. Here’s the recipe:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Owen’s Cheesecake

4 egg whites – whipped
1 c. sugar, added slowly.

Whip these two into a merangue.

Soften 24 oz. cream cheese to room temperature.
1t. vanilla

While wearing a rubber glove (Owen is a graduate of the New York Culinary Institute… he does things like this), mash with hands. Or use a mixer. (I used the mixer.)

Add to the merangue and mix for 30 seconds.

Bake in 300* oven for at least 30 minutes. Make sure the middle doesn’t jiggle. If the middle cracks, it’s done.

Top with:
1 lb. sour cream
1/4 c. sugar

Mix these and spread on top of the cheesecake. Put back in oven for 5 minutes to melt the topping.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I also have been reading a lot about a new book out called "Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day". It seemed interesting, and I just love good fancy bread, if I don’t have to take too much time to do it. This was so easy, and received rave reviews, so I just had to post about it.

In a mixer put:

6 c. warm water (Hint: make the water just warmer than you would have a baby’s bath…)
3 T. Yeast
3 T. Salt
13 c. flour. (I used white flour this time, although I will try it with my fresh ground wheat next.)

Mix this just until wet.
Divide into several containers… I used three ice cream containers… you can figure out what you need.

Let rise for 2 hours.

Put in fridge until you want to use it. Best if overnight or so. The dough is easier to work with when it is cold.

When you want to make the bread, put cornmeal on a pizza peel. Pull off about a pound (cantaloupe size) ball of dough. Roll the edges under, and sprinkle with flour. Let sit for 40 minutes.

20 minutes into the sitting period, put a baking sheet (I use a stone) in the oven, and an empty broiler pan. Turn oven on to 450*.

After it is hot, cut slices on the top of the bread (it won’t have risen… that’s OK). Slide onto hot pan in oven, and add a couple cups of water to the boiler pan.

Bake for 30 minutes.

It is wonderful. This would make great rolls too. Try it! It’s easy!

If you don’t have an industrial size mixer, you can half all the ingredients and make a smaller batch. My big batch made 7 loaves. Oh it’s so yummy. Try it!