container garden, learning about giving, and homemade fruit snacks

i've been dying to have a garden since i got married. in south carolina, it was mostly laziness that prevented me from planting one. since we moved to denver though, we've been living in a garden level apartment - our windows are at ground level, so we don't really have anywhere that we could plant things have them grow well. this year i said, "enough!" i wanted a garden, so i planted one! granted, it's a container garden on the windowsill in my bedroom, but hey, it's better than nothing. i got a small strawberry plant and some sweet mint from home depot. them we planted basil, oregano, cilantro, green onions, and bibb lettuce. the mint LOVES the window and is growing like crazy! i've already had to cut off a bunch of leaves from it, and i'll have to do it again soon. my poor little strawberry plant is struggling b/c it just isn't getting the sunlight it needs to produce fruit. :( the other herbs are doing well, though growing slowly. the lettuce is frustrating me. it's supposed to be easy to grow, and yet, 3 of the 5 that i planted didn't even sprout! the 2 that sprouted are growing pretty well, i guess, but it's gonna be a while before we'll be able to eat any of it. i know things like this grow better outside in real dirt, but this is the best i can do - plastic containers w/ potting mix in my bedroom window. hopefully i'll get SOMETHING from all of them this summer, but only time will tell.

as part of a lesson in giving, sharing, and compassion, the kids helped me gather up all the food we had that we didn't need and likely wouldn't eat before it went bad to take to the jeffco action center. our stake has teamed up w/ them for the last couple years to help out where we can - making food and clothing donations, blankets in the winter, etc. several of the young men in the stake have focused their eagle scout projects on helping the action center as well, so i figured, why not contribute the things we have a surplus of as well? so we loaded up 2 rubbermaid totes full of non-perishables and made our way over to donate them to those less fortunate than us.

we talked about how even though we don't have a lot of money, we're very lucky b/c we have the food we need and a house to live in. i explained to the kids that not everyone has a house to live in or clean clothes to wear, so if we are able to help them, that's what heavenly father wants us to do. by taking our extra food to the action center, we were following jesus' example and helping those in need. it might seem small to us, but to someone who really needs it, it could change everything. the kids were very happy to help others and loved the idea of taking the things we don't need to those who do need them. they even asked to go back the next day to give more things! i'm so glad to have 2 such wonderful, compassionate children who can see things beyond themselves at such a young age. they are truly a blessing!

a little project i've been wanting to try for awhile and just never got around to was a recipe for homemade fruit snacks i found on pinterest. for the life of me, i CANNOT find the recipe online again, otherwise i'd post the link here for you, but it was pretty simple. they looked good, but were pretty flavorless.

here's the recipe i used: pour 1/3 c 100% fruit juice into small saucepan. sprinkle w/ 3 packages unflavored gelatin. let stand 5 minutes. heat over medium and stir till gelatin is completely dissolved (i also added about 3 drops of food coloring b/c it was a weird yellowish color and i wanted them to be purple). pour into molds (a measuring cup w/ a spout is great for minimizing messes) and let stand about 20 minutes to cool and set. for me, this recipe made 12 one inch fruit snacks w/ just a TINY bit left over.

i'll definitely try this again, but instead of using 100% fruit juice, i'll use juice concentrate. another option would be to use flavored jello instead of unflavored. these just didn't taste like ANYTHING. i used berry flavored juice, which was recommended by the person who'd posted the recipe, but i was very disappointed w/ the results. we ate them, but the kids didn't like them much. i figure, what's the point in making a treat that's healthy if no one LIKES it? so we'll try again, but i'm gonna tweak the recipe and let you know how it turns out next time.