goofin' off

Uncle Nate taught the kids this neat trick.......scraggly green teeth. 

Now when ever J.T. eats green beans he has to do it just like Unkie.

Green Eggs and Bacon

 We're celebrating Dr. Seuss's Birthday with some 

green eggs and........bacon. (close enough to ham, right?)

yum! they ate it all up. We'll have to have some more on St. Patrick's Day.  

4 eggs, a handful of spinach, a cup of broccoli and cauliflower florets and a splash of milk were blended until smooth and then scrambled in a bit of bacon grease.  

Happy Birthday J.T.

The absolute best place for a birthday party is at a campground in Yellowstone National Park in the rain, surrounded by family! 

Make A Wish.

"Thanks for the gift Aunt Kelly."

 Rain can't slow this party down, we had to move the gift opening under the 5th wheel. 

Dethroning Burger King

A recent visit to the Cheesecake Factory inspired me to make this meal. While leaving the restaurant my b.f.f. Jamie and I saw a waiter walk by with what looked like a super sized, gourmet, "Italian Chicken Sandwich." You know, just like we used to get at Burger King. Mmmmm, those were our favorite. Every now and again I still crave that breaded patty of processed chicken parts with an undersized slice of what I hoped was real mozzarella, toped with not quite a dollop of marinara sauce and a warm wilted piece of iceberg lettuce, slapped on a stale bun. They really were scrumptious, I swear! We were tempted to turn around and sit back down for a second meal. Time, money and full bellies did not allow. So I came home determined to make my very own Non-Burger King, and non-Cheesecake Factory, Gourmet Italian Chicken Sandwich. Peyton was thrilled to help make faux fast food. The whole family was thrilled to eat it (even though there was no side of fries and soda.) We used local and/or organic ingredients.

There you have it. We dethroned the King. 

Chicken and Noodles

Tom is teaching Peyton to make his favorite family recipe, Chicken and Noodles. 

It's a big hit in this house! Peyton and J.T. love it, just as Tom did when he was growing up. 

C - is for Cookie and Cookie is for ME!

I Think I CAN.

I think we can do something with all this??

But what exactly does one do with a kazillion cucumbers, 

tons of tomatoes, plenty of peppers, and an abundance of apples. 

Chop it all up, put it in a pot.......

and out comes chutney!

Tomato Apple Chutney

This recipe was adapted from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving. Here it is:

2 1/2 quarts chopped, peeled, cored homegrown tomatoes (about 12 large)
1 quart chopped, peeled, cored homegrown apples (about 5 medium-i grow fuji and granny smith so that's what I used in this recipe)
3 cups organic brown sugar
2 cups chopped homegrown cucumbers
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
1 1/2 cups chopped homegrown sweet red peppers
1 cup organic raisins
1 hot homegrown jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 clove organic garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ginger (I used a bit of fresh and a bit of candied ginger)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups Braggs apple cider vinegar 

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepot. Simmer until thick. Stir frequently to prevent sticking. Ladle hot chutney into hot jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

This mixture is very strong smelling and tasting and I've read that it is best if left on the shelf for at least 3 months (six might be better) for flavors to develop. 

Chutney can be used for many different recipes. Pair it with a yummy pork tenderloin. Pour it over cream cheese and serve with crackers. Serve with turkey the way you use cranberry sauce. Mix it with rice. Stir it into sour cream to make a dip. Use it like a relish on a sandwich or turkey burger. Mix in a meatloaf. There's so many wonderful uses for Chutney if they flavor settles (like it's supposed to) and it tastes good I'll definitely do it again. 

If Life Deals You Tomatoes,

Make Tomato Sauce. 

This year I grew Black Krim, Brandywine, Sungold, Tigerella, Isis Candy, Black Cherry, Cherokee Purple, Violet Jasper, Super Sweet 100, Green Zebra, and Costaluto Genovese. With all those plants you can imagine how much extra I had. These varieties aren't generally used for canning or sauces but we couldn't let them go to waste.

So I conned a few friends into coming over for a "canning party." Little did they know, I had over 30 lbs of my home grown tomatoes to pick, clean, cut, sauce, cook and can. All while keeping half and eye on a pack of kids. We made 22 jars of tomato sauce. It took 3 of us about 5 hours from start to finish. Hmmm, I wonder if they'll come to my house for a "party" ever again.

Little Chef

This evening Peyton surprised me by making dinner. 

She set the table complete with a lavender and potato vine flower center piece, 

tropical place mats (scrap-booking paper), a freshly picked rose at each seat, 

and served this delicious, home grown, hand made- completely by her - gourmet salad. 

Before we began to eat she explained how she picked the lettuce, purple podded pole beans, peas, 

Lemon Cucumber and Violet Jasper tomatoes from our  garden. 

She peeled and slice the tomato and cucumber and shelled the peas all by her self. 

She added some store bought artichoke hearts, carrots and dressing. 

The final touch was the poppy seeds (little black specks not to be mistaken for pepper), 

which she got from the Pepper Box poppy seed pods also growing in our back yard. 

I had to sneak away quickly and google to make sure Pepper Box poppy seeds were edible. 

Good news is, they are. :-)

What a lovely and delicious surprise. 

Casini Ranch

Our camping trip was a good time filled with lots of friends, river play, wagon rides a scavenger hunt, yummy food, games, campfire time and.........

the best of all, J.T. learned to ride without training wheels thanks to his friends Stella and Noah who let him borrow their bikes. 

Breakfast Is Ready!

Kale, Chard and Tree Collards for breakfast? Sounds like a meal from Mars to me.........

Bananna, orange, pineapple, mango and strawberries too.

It looks like a meal from Mars!
Just add a little whipped cream to make the green more appealing.

Straw Bale Garden

The bale (or in my case, 4 bales) is the garden bed.

Before:

My reason for using straw bales in this area of my yard was because when I began digging the area for the garden bed I was not able to dig down more than an inch before I hit gravel. I wasn't about to take on another labor intensive task. (Hauling dirt and building a chicken coop was enough hard work for me I wasn't about to dig through gravel and I'm sure Tom would have been less than thrilled if I recruited him for another project.) But the lawn was such a waste of potential edible space so I started checking into building more raised beds. That was getting pricey. Then I remembered learning about an easy, inexpensive alternative to dirt garden beds during a edible gardening class I took through Edible Yard Works. So began my Straw Bale Garden.

First, I started my seeds pumpkins, squash, zucchini and melons -and much more- indoors. Then I bought some bales, set them in place, covered them with chicken poop straight from the coop, and watered the bales every day for about a week. Then when my veggie starts were hardened off and ready to plant out side, I dug out some of the straw a couple inches deep and threw a hand full of compost and planted my start right in the hole and filled it in with another hand full of compost.

The straw bales need to be watered more frequently because they are very porous so they seem to dry out more quickly than the rest of the garden. I think that probably also means that they aren't holding the nutrients as well as soil so I've fertilized once already with E.B. Stone's Fish Emulsion which seems to have given them a good boost and I already got, zucchini, squash and tons of pumpkins well on their way.

One Month Ago

Today

Note: You must use straw bales -NOT hay.