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~

Friday, July 10, 2015

Backyard Campers ~ Recipe Review


Now that we have our back porch furniture out (although it's all covered up today again), and we are enjoying it every now and then.  We all noticed something - birds in my camper bird house.


They are camping out a bit tilted, but don't seem to mind it.  You can hear the babies chirping from the back porch too.




Lucky for me, they are happily singing wrens.  They are so tiny, but sing a mighty beautiful song.  They make me happy.  They make me smile.


And that's not all who is camping in the backyard.  

Our 16 year-old turned sixteen last month, and is having her "Sweet sixteen" party - a backyard camp-out with her friends this weekend.  Tents will be pitched, games played, a scavenger hunt, fun food, and cake and ice cream.  Maybe a campfire and some roasted mallows and s'mores.  I agreed to water balloons, as long as the balloons get picked up afterwards too.  If it rains, or is too wet, we'll just have to go to "Plan B."




The most recent new recipe we tried, was Sesame Noodles with Spinach and Zucchini Saute.  I used shell peas, but had to buy the spinach.  I actually had organic ginger on hand and used it, although it says optional in the recipe.  The only thing I changed, was the type of noodle.  No big deal.  I even had organic green tea on hand and was intrigued it went in this recipe (love, love, love my tea infuser).  I had zero noodles on hand that the recipe suggested, including homemade.  I only had spaghetti, so I used that, and I mixed everything together in the end.  Note:  Spectrum makes a non-gmo, organic sesame oil, sold in most organic sections of stores (maybe health stores too).

Taste tester results?  A few felt the taste was a bit bland.  A few felt it needed more soy sauce.  I thought it was a bit bland at first too, but after eating it, the flavors all went together.  For me I wouldn't change a thing.  I really liked it.  Next time I make it, I'll use homemade linguine noodles.

Although I don't have a photo to share, Hubby and I spent time on the porch watching Mama deer and her babe again.   Ah, the good things in life....

8 comments:

Mama Pea said...

That's gotta be the cutest birdhouse ever!

I so admire you, Kristina, for keeping your upbeat attitude and appreciation for the small things in life when I know you're battling one heckuva lot of unpleasantness right now. We all can (and do!) learn a lot from you.

I fall so short on trying new recipes this time of year. (How do you do it??) I rely heavily on eggs for breakfast, smoothies for lunch (but they are super-good with homemade yogurt and/or kefir and the fresh fruits from our garden and all the other nutritional stuff I throw in!) and either a big salad or homemade burgers and buns for dinner. Where's that gourmet cook I hired for the summer months?

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mama Pea, I've had that bird house up for many years and no birds took home to it. This is the first year, so we are very excited it is housing wrens. You smoothies sound delicious. I wish I had more time to make more homemade breads, and now I will (oddly).

Susan said...

Oh, how wonderful to have a family of wrens! They are my favorite birds. I keep saying that at least we don't have to suffer through a drought. But. Well. Let's hope it dries out for your daughter's party. Love that camper bird house!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Susan. we were thrilled to see it was wrens. It's been a few years since they took up a house near the back porch. I'm hoping it dries out too. I really need to start pulling the dead pea plants, in hopes to do the fall planting.

RB said...

Awww, neat that there are actually birds in your camper bird house. All we get in the 30-40 we have around our yard are wasps, so I started putting 1" pieces of flea collars in each of them last year to keep the wasps away, and that works. We have several styles of brightly decorated birdhouses, generally resin or ceramic since wooden ones didn't last long. We spread them on the ground throughout the landscaped garden like little villages. We even have a church and a haunted house, and have even made a little campground out of resin camper birdhouses and a VW bus camper birdhouse. It's cute.
Hot and dry here. Clouds are building. But we probably won't get rain in this location today because it looks like it's all going east of us.
Have a great weekend.
God bless.
RB
<><

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

RB, I only have a few birdhouses, but I'm so glad the wrens showed up this year. I have only see our hummingbird a few times, and I haven't seen our yellow/black finch at all this year.

Patricia @ 9th and Denver said...

I love it when the birds come and take up residence in the humble little homes I've hung around for them. Wrens are a favorite of mine too!
That camper is so cute!
Read about the party...and the plan B action/ and the FB issues. Not a fan of that site, myself.
The pasta looks good with the veggies... I'm trying the ww pasta again, I might have told you this already. But I do like it and if it's not over cooked, it's a very good change for me.
We're not sitting out too much lately...mosquitos and heat. I don't like either. ;)

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Patricia, the mosquitoes are terrible this year. I can't sit anywhere without fly protection on too.