The Harvest - September and October 2012

During the month of September and October we were very busy picking, harvesting, foraging, gathering and wildcrafting. We picked apples and pears off our trees and grapes off our vines. We picked plums from the neighbors trees that they wanted us to help ourselves to and I gathered up fallen walnuts from both our many Black Walnut and English Walnut trees. I have also been trying to educate myself about the flora and fauna in and around Portland and Rainier Oregon, where I live. I am learning a lot about canning and dehydrating too.

We made Golden Plum fruit leather in my dehydrator and it turned out a to have a gorgeous stain glass look to it. All I did was wash them, peal the skins off, pit them and mush up the plum fruit in a bowl or if they were really ripe I just mushed them with my fingers and spread the mush out on the fruit leather tray somewhat. It is fine if it has juice in the tray with it because that will get dried also. So yummy and without any additives or extras.

We canned pear sauce and dehydrated pears too. I don't have a proper water bath canner or a good canning rack, but we used what we had and got the job done. The dried pears turned out really chewy, but still really good.

I have a handy dandy Pampered Chef apple peeler that gets the job done quickly if I want apples peeled and cored. My Nesco American Harvest Food Dehydrator is perfect for making yummy apple chips! The kids helped load them onto the trays and then they were dried. We like to bag them up and freeze them. They stay crispier this way.

We have different varieties of grapes that grow on our grape arbor. The grapes are really good straight off the vine too. We made both white and red grape juice. After we plucked a bucketful of each variety off of our grape vines we washed, sorted and de-stemmed them. I used my Vitamix to blend it a little in batches then we placed it all in a big pot on the stove to boil while stirring. Then we strained it all through our strainer (we don't yet have a food mill) and bottled it.

We gathered and foraged loads of walnuts from our trees that had fallen to the ground too. I don't have pictures of the walnuts yet, but I will get some.

We also love to visit local orchards, farms and "u-pick your own" places to get things we haven't yet grown at our place. Since I am still learning I love to take photographs of plants and identify them to see if they are edible or medicinal or useful in another way. This is a fun hobby of mine that I want to soon get really good at.

What have you picked, harvested, foraged, gathered and/or wildcrafted this year? Have you made anything special out of the things you got? How have you preserved your harvest?

Nutella Hazelnut Spread Review with MommyParties

If you have never tasted Nutella you are missing out tremendously! The delicious Nutella spread is made from the combination of roasted hazelnuts, skim milk and a hint of cocoa.

This luscious and heavenly nut butter can be spread onto and mixed with all sorts of things, but eaten by the spoonful is my favorite way of eating it :) My kids love it on whole wheat toast, English muffins, waffles and bagels. It a great way to get your kids to eat whole grains. We also love to bake and cook with it! It is wonderful on banana splits, ice cream sundaes, and in healthy smoothies! Just enjoy this yummy confection in moderation because it is loaded with fat and sugar!

Nutella hazelnut spread is a terrific option for individuals with peanut allergies. The spread does not contain peanuts or peanut ingredients, nor does the product come in contact with peanuts during manufacturing. It also doesn't contain any artificial colors or preservatives.

In conjunction with MommyParties and Nutella we received a free party kit that included:
26.5oz Jar of Nutella hazelnut spread for use during my party
(10) Nutella spread sample packs and coupons for guests bags
(10) Nutella spread guest bags
(10) Nutella spread tumbler mugs
(10) Nutella spread spreaders
(10) Nutella spread tip cards for guests
Recipe ideas
Party activities - Everyday Breakfast Tips and Trivia

I threw a MommyParty and everyone had a great time! We had banana splits with Nutella on them and played a game of Bananagrams. We also had fun with the trivia and thinking up other imaginative ways that we could use Nutella. The Eco-Wave tumbler mugs we found even cooler than others we have seen because it is a Gordon Sinclair BIODEGRADABLE Tumbler! When disposed of into a microbial environment this tumbler breaks down in only 1-5 years and all of it is nontoxic to the environment.

Tweet @ #Nutellaparty

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Thanks to MomSelect, BSM Media and Nutella for providing me the Nutella Hazelnut Spread MommyParties Kit to test and review for free. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.

Bear Naked Review

ABOUT THE PRODUCTS:
Their 100% Pure & Natural Grain-ola Bars:
* Made with 15-17g whole grains per serving
* All-Natural, Bearly Processed and Utterly Naked Ingredients... that you can actually pronounce!
* NO Artificial Flavors, NO Cholesterol, NO Hydrogenated Oils, NO High Fructose Corn Syrup, NO Preservatives, 0g Trans Fat
* Vegetarian friendly
* Kosher certified

Their 100% Pure & Natural Cereal:
* Made with hearty whole grain flakes
* All-Natural, Bearly Processed and Utterly Naked Ingredients... that you can actually pronounce!
* NO Artificial Flavors, NO Cholesterol, NO Hydrogenated Oils, NO High Fructose Corn Syrup, NO Artificial Preservatives, 0g Trans Fat
* Vegetarian friendly
* Kosher certified

MY THOUGHTS:
I received a free sample from Bear Naked the other day in the mail. It was so scrumptious I had to tell you all about it! I chose the tropical fruit grain-ola bar and I am sure glad I did! It has yummy pieces of mango, papaya, coconut and pineapple mixed in with the delicious granola. I can say this was one of the best granola bars I have ever tasted!

They have their new 100% pure & natural cereals and grain-ola bars and you can also choose one to try free (check back I hear they will have more in stock soon): fruit & nut grain-ola bar, chocolaty cherry grain-ola bar, tropical fruit grain-ola bar, cranberry raisin cereal, and banana nut cereal.

Update...
They unfortunately don't have any free samples in stock right now, but make sure to check back often on their website as they have said they will replenish their supply and then you can try them out on your own. Or alternatively you can go buy some at your local store or online!

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