Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Lemon White Chocolate ~ Spinach and Cheese Tortilla Pizza ~ Vulture Visit



Our homemade lemon extract is ready to use.  


We melted white chocolate, added our lemon extract, and made Lemon White Chocolate.  I used 2 tsp. to 1 pound of white chocolate.  Later, we tasted it and I will add 3 tsp. next time.

....this is another long post.  Grab a cup of steaming coffee or herbal tea and sit for a while.  You are graced with my gabbiness, because I woke up at 5:30am.  I found that Hubby was not home, and most likely called in during the night (to work).  He's been working 12 hour days all week, and was looking forward to having today off.  





This can be broken into bits.  It helps to have an extra hand when doing this part.  Once I added the extract, the chocolate started to harden quickly. I scooped and one daughter spread it out on parchment paper to harden.  If you want curls of chocolate, then you will want the chocolate poured into a container for thickness.

I can't wait to taste it in our recipes now.  Delicious!




 Spinach and Cheese Tortilla Pizza

2 large (10 inch) flour tortillas
2 Tbsp. nonfat plain yogurt
1 10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat Monterery Jack Cheese
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

Preheat oven to 450°F.  Place tortillas on baking sheet with non-stick spray.  Bake for three minutes, or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and reduce heat to 350°F.  Spread yogurt, top with spinach, tomato and cheese.  Bake for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Sprinkle with green onions.  Cut and serve immediately.

Note:  With my large family, I do not mess with the oven temperature.  I keep it at 350°F, but I do heat the tortillas prior to topping them. I have to bake them longer, and the edges do get crispy.  I made 10 of these last night.  The family devoured them.

I use a low-sodium, whole wheat tortilla, but you could use homemade, or other.  I cannot find reduced-fat Monterey Jack, so I use regular.  Same with the yogurt (sometimes using lowfat).

This recipe came from a free health magazine I picked up at a health store years ago.

Tips for using leftover plain yogurt:
~use it for baking recipes (muffins etc.)
~mix it with mayo and ground ginger to top Lamb Gyros
~ use it in place of mayo in tuna salad
(I love to mix a bit of plain yogurt with tuna, add some home canned sweet pickle relish, and a small amount of shredded mozzarella cheese. I spread it on whole wheat bread, and make a grilled sandwich.  Delicious!)
 ~use it to make dressings for fruit or salads

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Yesterday morning, we had a good laugh before breakfast. I had slept in and did not even get up until 7:45am.  That's late for me.  Anyway, a few girls were up.  We were sipping coffee, chatting and just being lazy, when I looked out the window.

"Uh, did we forget to put a chicken away last night?"

I could see black, but not the entire figure, and thought I saw a barred rock or our black auracana.  After it moved a bit more, I could see the red head on it, and it was furiously picking away at a large black feathery dead animal.


How the story became funny, was my 14 year-old daughter.  She went out there, with a large red umbrella and my mucking boots.  We were concerned that what the vulture was eating, was leftovers of a dead chicken, so she went to investigate.  We could have simply gone out and taken a head count of the chickens, but this was far more fun.

My only regret was not taking a video.  We were laughing so hard, as we watched her (and heard her clear in the house), run off the vulture. 

"You want a piece of me?" she'd scream at it.

"Aaaaarrrccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!"

Off flew the vulture.  As she took a look at the dead remnants, the vulture was not giving up.  We watched from the house, as it continued to come in for a low sweep over her.  Oh, we laughed, and laughed. Then another swoop.  It was not giving up.

"It's just a bird," she said proudly walking back into the house, as if she had just won a battle.


2 comments:

Liz said...

We have turkey vultures around us. The ugliest looking buzzards ever! That pizza looks delish!!!

RB said...

I've had some, uhmmm...interesting run-ins with vultures through the years.
One time, Nephew Seth and I were walking through some woods, just nice little leisurely nature walk. I got tired and sat down on a stump for a while to rest. Suddenly, we saw vultures flying overhead. I looked at Seth and said, "Maybe I need to move a little faster." We laughed and laughed.
Then one day I was sitting in my office on the sixth floor of an office building. I saw something HUGE coming towards my window and looked up to see a vulture fly up and sit on my windowsill. Again I thought, to myself this time, "Maybe I need to move a little faster." ROFLOL LOL LOL

God bless.

RB
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