Pioneer Woman at Heart

We went from this on Jan uary 2 6 th , to .... ...this a few days ago - warm and muddy mess .  I had to wea r mucking boots out to put my l aundry on the line.   Today it's snowing again.  All in a days work. We now have t hree of us down with the crud.  I may have to make homemade cough syrup yet.  Looks like on e of the kids will be cooking dinner again.   My oldest daughter , alt hough started getting sick la ter last night, stepped up to mak e dinner.  She was creative and scrambled eggs with my home canned salsa, and made egg sandwiches on English muffins .  For the side she cut up potatoes and fried them with cumin.  I reg ret not getting a photo.

B aking continu es - Iris h Soda Bread (Be f ore )   Coo ling.... Isn't it beautiful? Yum!  I used  a recipe I found on the internet, but used ricotta cheese in place of sour cream, and cu t the 3 cups of raisins down to 2 cups.   I also baked it in a 12 inch cast iron pan vs. a 9 inch (didn't have one).  I just reduced the heat by 25 degre es about half way through the baking process.   The ricotta worked as well as the sour cream.  What can I say, part of our motto is "use it up." Last night I woke coughed and coughed.  This morning I woke to a sore throat.  I am very low on honey so I cannot try the cough syrup Candy mentioned.  I hope to restock this weekend.   Two more girls are feeling ill now.  Y esterday, while I was ch ecking the soup on t he crock pot, I looked o ut the win dow to see Blondie (my daughter 's horse) with her head completely over the fen ce, eating the grass on t h e outside....

 . . . I am up to about 52 feet on my braid of r ags for my rag rug.  This was kind of forgotten about over summer and the holidays.  This project continues. . . . still p lugging away at knitting ba s k et weave blo cks for a b lanket.    . . . my 11 year-old daughter knitted her first bean bag.  She still needs practic e, but she continues to learn.  You may also like to read this post:  Crocheted Rag Rug  

... t hree things I love in a good book.  However, since I haven't been feeling well, I have spent the weekend readin g this book.  My weekend in cluded hot tea, ibuprofen, k leenex, vapo-rub, and lots and lots of s ea water nas al spray . Joanne Fluke 's books mus t s end out a subliminal message - B ake!  Bake!  Bake!

Mee t another journal I have - the dream journal.  I war ned you all.  I'm definitely a j ournal junkie.  It's not the most written in either.  Most of the time I can't remember the dream very long after waking up.  It's looking rather boring too,  don't ya' think?  I really do need to ma ke a cover for it.  I woke up the other day, from another odd dream.  I must be delirious , so I check ed my forehead for any signs of a fever. Nope.  No fever.  Hubby was still home and getting for work. "Uh, I just had a dream we got a co w ," I said clear ing my parched thro at and dealing with congestion. So....that dream w ent right into the jour na l be fore I forgot.  It was so strange too.  A farmer nearby had a cow, but wasn't taking care of it, according to one of my daughter's. "Mom!  W e have to do something !  she screamed at me.  " He can't be feeding it !  Have you he ard it m oo lately?...

Don't these lo ok like green eggs?  This would be fun to make on St. Patrick's Day too. This recipe calls for 6 o z. of fresh spinach, chopped up in the food proc essor.  I trip led the re cipe, but did not triple the spin a ch.  I used organic baby spin ach for mine.  The only thing for me making th ese in winter, wa s using up all the eggs we had.  With the colder weather, we are not getting as many.  I did not triple the salt either. By the way, these re-heat ni cely too.  On ly one of the kids didn't like th ese - must have been the spi nach.  I n fact, one daughter ate them for her after school snack. I'm betting that these could be cooked and frozen indivi dually also.  I did that one school year , but with mini f rittatas.  The kids just t ook one out the night before, and heated it quickly for brea k fast, before school. Next summer I plan to make these again usi ng homemade goat's milk ricotta . A nd of course ho me g...

" You' ll all need to go get a j ug of sink water in the other bathroom to brush your t eeth," I told the kids since the pipes were froze (again). "Be careful for what you wish fo r, " said my 11 year-old daughter.  "Yesterday I was just saying that I wanted to go camping.  I fee l like we're camping." B lon die finally got a nicely w arm turn out blanket, to cover her.  Golly, I'm so thankful for that.  She' s looking better and b etter every day, and even the hair a round her neck app ears heal thier and thicker.  Her foot seems to b e getting better also. I'm pr aying that th e water pipes do not have any damage during this cold spell.  They seem to warm up later in the evening, but I s till wor ry when t he water start s to flow again.  Say a little prayer we don't have damage.    While my oldest da ughter was shoveling frozen horse poo, her dog Sadie was having a blast playing with the ice that was knocke...

I woke up yes terday feeling worse than the day before, and just wanted to rest on t he couch, drink hot tea , and warm up with homemade chicken noodle sou p.  I'm not sure if it's a cold or possi b ly trouble with s inuses . I di dn't h ave the energy to cook chicken, and had leftover turkey.  I made a crock pot of homemade t urkey-noodle soup, with home made nood les.  I think it was the la st of the noodles I had in t he freezer too.  With temperatures anywhere from below zero, to the teens, it warmed me up, and will hopefully help my body fight off this sickness that creeped in on me.  Today, there is another 2 hour school delay.  Again, bone chilling temperatures.  Again, we have frozen pipes.  I hope we have enough in j ugs to water the horse, chickens , goats, dogs and cats. 

I'm sharing another healthy recipe .  Once again, from a library book.  I think the fa ct that this recipe includes sunflower seeds, which we do not eat enough of, is what interested me.  We didn't get to grow them last year, but did the previous year. As you know, I cook many recipes using lentils and bea ns.  I did use pre -cooked p into beans for this re cipe, and they are a softer than canned beans.  I did add an egg to this recipe to "bind" the burgers a bit better.   Either way, you could also add more organic brown rice too.  (Just as they went into the pan) These had excellent flavor, and the family once ag ain, devoured them.  Th ese would be perfect with anothe r vegetable side su ch as swee t potato frie s .  Yum!  Ho wever, I kin d of think the recipe title is funny - they really don't have a lot of "veg etables" in them.  Ma ybe they s houl d be called Bean Patties? These are crispy on the outside, ...