Tidbits ~ Herbed Omelets or Scrambled Eggs

Hubby and I were up at 5am this morning.  Had coffee on the porch before he left for work and I made him a sweet potato (more like an egg hash) burrito.  Both of us were up since about 3am.

I had to laugh this morning.  He asked me to open the door so he could carry his lunch, mug of coffee and half eaten burrito out to the car (truck is still down).  I looked down and he had socks and slippers on, ha ha ha ha!  I had to tell him, "um, hun? You don't have your shoes on."  We laughed and laughed.

It's operation homestead clean up again today.  I was abandoned by all kiddos, so I didn't have any help, but today I will.  More spider traps are going in place again too.

I don't see that it even rained last night, so we'll dig out more porch furniture.  I put a few pieces out yesterday, but golly, there is more to tidy up than I thought.

Breakfast Quesadillas

I'm thinking of warmer days ahead this morning.

I'm taking these for a camping breakfast this year - Breakfast Quesadillas.

You can make the eggs before you go - scrambled.  You can cook the onions and green bell peppers (with "fire it up" herb/spice mix).  You can cook you bacon ahead and crumble it.  You can make the tortillas ahead and take them.  Just assemble with some shredded cheese and heat in a skillet.  Yum.  Hubby liked his with sour cream and salsa.  

You can make these with just about any ingredient.  I love this idea, and I have no idea why I haven't made them for breakfast.  Easy, quick, and easy to transport for camping too.

Next time, I will make my tortillas larger, so I can fold them over to make our quesadillas.

Sunrise ~ Pumpkin Farm ~ The Harley Rides Alone

The sunrise was just plain gorgeous yesterday morning.  Hubby was called into work, although we planned a family day with the girls.

Grab your coffee - this post is a "rambler." There's not much on homesteading packed into this post either (strangely).   Sort of a "play" day for us that ended on a not-so-good note.

 With my treadmill out of commission, and Hubby off to work (yeah, I could have done squats, push-ups etc), I went to the porch and watched the sunrise in peace.  Although a teensy chilly, it may be the last good weather weekend we have.

 Good morning sunshine!  

By that time it was still too early to head to the garden.  The dew was pretty thick.

So I debated.

And waited.

And made breakfast to kill some time.

A totally self-sufficient breakfast - garden potatoes, onion, jalapeno, one dinky bell pepper, a bit of kale and eggs. 

Then Hubby announced he'd make it home in time for the "family" day out. The problem was, the girls were still in bed and had no desire to get up, ha ha!  Our birthday girl daughter, who showed up for a surprise night over, had to leave for various reasons (birthday dinner will be delayed - she turned 21 today).

We visited a pumpkin farm - hay rides, field mazes, tons of pumpkins and squash for sale, good food (homemade donuts), cider etc.  You could feed goats and chickens for $.25.  This farm gave me a lot of ideas for easy profit making (but looks like a lot of work too). The only problem?  It was packed with people.  Too many.  The bees were horrible too, and one landed right in one of the cups of cider.  Otherwise, on a good day, this place would be fun.  It was super busy because it was another "work" sponsored event.  We were given free donuts and cider, and a $10.00 gift certificate to buy a pumpkin.

Back home, the girls had more plans, and we were invited to ride.  So we did.  With 4 other bikers.  We were to be back home by 5pm, so we could bake and take our fixin's to a Halloween/double birthday party with family and friends.

But then on the way home, at the last 30 minute stretch of our 1 hour ride, this happened. . .

 Just before the sun completely went down, one of our biker friends rode on home, and came back with a truck and trailer.  Another biker we rode with, took the car keys I accidentally had in my purse (and Daughter needed them to get to work), and dropped them off to her on his way home.

First, let me say that we broke down at a stop sign in a small town.  It could not have been a better place.  We had so many people stop and offer tools, a jump start (which failed), and one store owner offered the back room for us to hang out.  Very nice people.  Second, it's a huge bonus to belong to a group of bikers.  All who watch out for each other.  Not one of us "freaked out" during this all.  Every one of us remained calm, relaxed, and once in a while cracked a joke.

Hubby couldn't let his bike out of his sight, so we walked to the nearest store, got a bottle of water, and went back to sit on a street bench by the bike.  It was sort of relaxing to hang out there on Sweetest Day (of all days to break down).

We'll try and see if it's just the battery (no part stores in that town), and pray it's just that.  Hubby woke up awfully stressed about it.  Maybe a good hard working morning in the garden will take his mind off of it?  Nope.  He's heading to the parts store as soon as the open.

Me?  Heading straight to the garden.  I have to work double time for taking yesterday (too gorgeous of an October day not to ride) off.

Overnight Breakfast Recipe

Sharing the recipe as promised.  I'll get the sweet potato pie recipe up soon too.   You are getting two blogposts today, due to this. . .

Woke up to this again.  Rain.  I can't do garden work, work on the barn siding, barn rubble, nor weed the last of the flower bed either.  The rain has been playing havoc on getting outdoor work completed.  And because I'm out of bacon fat, I don't want to roast the last 8 pumpkins either.  No way am I roasting them without roasting the seeds.  My whiskey-bacon pumpkin seeds went super duper fast.  Lick-ity split fast.  I'm out of bacon and whiskey.  Oh, don't worry.  I'll be tearing apart my vacuum sweeper and tackling some cleaning, getting another article written, and possibly some porch time and handiwork in the mean time.

Back to the recipe.

Picking Peas In Pajamas

Saturday we picked peas in our pajamas, had a leisurely breakfast on the porch (fresh eggs, homemade bread with home canned jam and coffee), and then by 10am took off on a motorcycle ride. 

We ran some errands, and rode to a campground where extended family and friends were camping for the weekend.  Good food, lots of laughs and they were all talking us into changing our plans.

We had a wedding to attend in Michigan.  Hubby's sister had been taken to the hospital (trouble breathing).  We was admitted over night for tests.

Sort of a funny tale about the weeding.  My biggest challenge?  Finding a nice outfit for an outdoor wedding, that didn't make me look like I left the garden or got off the Harley, ha ha!  I succeeded.  Even though I lost 38 lbs. last year, I found a skirt and top and some dressy sort of flip flops to wear.  And, believe it or not, a matching purse.

Sunday was a repeat.  Picking peas in our pajamas, and a leisurely breakfast on the front porch. 

Only there was no homemade bread to be had.  Zero.  Not even a tortilla.  However, I had a few pieces of homemade flatbread in the freezer, one last package of bacon in the freezer, and a few measely potatoes.  Wa-la!  Omelets were made.  Flatbread was saved for later.

We later drove up to visit Hubby's sister in the hospital.  Tests continue.  She has pancreatitis.  She's had it before I guess, but she is doing well now.


Garden work continued, but today it looks like rain.  I've been up since 3am, and my catnip tincture failed for insomnia.  It's gonna be a long week.

Random Tidbits

What's been on the breakfast plate lately?

Eggs over easy with chives, ancient organic grain bread topped with rhubarb-ginger jam.

Reflections of 2016 (that didn't happen)

Ha!  This draft never even made it to the blog.  The first year ever to not post a "reflections" post on December 31st. I gave it a title and that was as far as I got.

That's okay.  I think we all need a break from my long posts.  I can get a bit "windy."
  

Mama Pea had me hankering for a wild rice/chicken soup, so the first thing I did was pull out my crock pot.  I put in lots of garlic.  Thanks for that idea by the way.

It's freezing cold here again.  Brr!  I wanted it to stay cold, and we got more than cold.  Everything is frozen stiff. It took me several minutes to don Hubby's old full body carhartt, muck boots, thick gloves, hat, scarf and sunglasses.  It was very bright out, but oh so cold.  I managed to do all the outdoor stuff at once, including get the mail, and take the dogs out.  Funny thing about the dogs.  Jesse, the oldest one, loves to eat snow, so getting him back inside was a chore.  Even with the temperature so cold.  

Today, the wind will be less wicket and hopefully we'll see the temperature rise a bit. 

Healthy Breakfast Sides

I'm cutting breakfast costs down, by eliminating organic/natural boxed breakfast cereals.  That cuts down on buying organic milk as well.  

That leaves breakfast to some type of egg dish, because our faithful chickens are supplying us an abundance right now.  So, in search for a veggie side (that was not a bread or meat, or a vegetable mixed into the eggs) that I can add to scrambled eggs, I found several.

It's tough to find time to roast vegetables, so I roasted them for dinner, making extra for leftovers.  Then I simply re-heat them as a side for breakfast.

What did we try?

Spinach Cups

Don't these look like green eggs?  This would be fun to make on St. Patrick's Day too.

This recipe calls for 6 oz. of fresh spinach, chopped up in the food processor.  I tripled the recipe, but did not triple the spinach.  I used organic baby spinach for mine.  The only thing for me making these in winter, was 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 nicely too.  Only one of the kids didn't like these - must have been the spinach.  In fact, one daughter ate them for her after school snack.

I'm betting that these could be cooked and frozen individually also.  I did that one school year, but with mini frittatas.  The kids just took one out the night before, and heated it quickly for breakfast, before school. Next summer I plan to make these again using homemade goat's milk ricotta. And of course home grown garlic and spinach.  Yum!

Spinach Cups
(from Tired and Wired? by Marcelle Pick)

6 oz. fresh spinach
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 large eggs, beaten
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Unsalted butter, for greasing muffin cups *

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Finely chop spinach, using a food processor if preferred (this is what I did).  Then in a large bowl, mix ingredients together well.

Lightly grease 4 muffin cups.  Divide mixture among the 4 cups.  Bake 17 to 20 minutes, or until the spinach cups are set.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then loosen cups by running a butter knife along edges.  Serve.

Serving:  2 (2 spinach cups for serving)  

*Tip:  We save butter wrappers and keep them in a container or ziploc bag in the refrigerator.  They are then a quick way to grease pans (or to butter corn on the cob).   

Also, you could probably leave the salt out of this recipe.  I think the ricotta is salty enough for this recipe.