Pioneer Woman at Heart

Today I am sharing how I made these delicious breakfast "bowls" by starting with sweet potatoes. The first time I made these, I used organic hannah sweet potatoes, and this second time I used locally grown sweet potatoes (which both were very good). Prepare fresh spinach, by cleaning it, and then slicing it.  Set aside.  I used two bundles of fresh spinach.  Set aside Prepare homemade cilantro-lime sauce. In a food processer, mix 2 full cups of cleaned organic (or home grown) cilantro and: -1/2 cup organic plain Greek yogurt (I have yet to use homemade for this), plus more to thicken to your taste -juice from one lime (not the bottled kind) -1 small can of organic salsa verde (or homemade), or about 14 Tbsp.  (cut the recipe in half to reduce the amount, but we really like the sauce on this breakfast dish) -2 cloves of garlic, minced -about 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper Process until smooth, and like I mentioned above, add extra yogurt to make your sauce as thick ...

Monday was not about the garden, it was about dropping another $200 for Youngest - school uniforms, photos etc.  It will still save us in the long run, but man.  School is not cheap.  That doesn't include her shoes, supplies and other necessary clothing.  They told us we'd spend only 1 hour there, but ended up spending 2 hours, and it was a 30 minute drive there and back.  We didn't get home until almost 2 pm. Rain was in the forecast again, but the weather man has been wrong this year.  So wrong.  We need more, so I was hoping they were right for a change.  We didn't get any, and it's in today's forecast too (slight chance). I had food to freeze, and a lot of it.  Despite rain and dry/hot weather, the cucumbers, zucchini and other stuff needed dealt with. Three bags (slightly short of 3 bushels) brought home.  We'll need a tractor to plant this much sweet corn in the future. The fun started.   Younge...

Saturday was a big shopping day.  We hit four stores to restock dog food, salt for the softener tank, organic meats, and so forth.  We had to make one stop for a new printer too.  We had the trunk filled, our stomachs were empty and screaming for dinner. Thankfully, before we left, I filled the crock pot.  It's my healthier version of Pasta e Fagoli.  I make this with whatever I have, and it always tastes good.  Some years I use tomato sauce and paste, with extra broth, but this time I used some tomato basil soup and paste.  The combination was delicious.  I just had to boil the penne noodles and add them when I got home.

Weather was nasty. School was canceled.  It's was a perfect excuse to bake a cake for dinner.  We woke up to ice, sleet, slu sh, then pouring down rain on a layer of half melted ice....then in the evening 55 mph winds.  We may have lost a pi llow to the back porch swing (should have run out and collected them, but forgot abou t them).  It's too dark and early to tell.  When t he sun is up, I'll go tak e a look see.   I dug out my old, hand-me-down cake pan, and baked a maple-rum pound cake with maple-rum glaze.  It was a new recipe that had been floating around the kitchen.  I believe I tore it out of a King Flour magazine. The results?

Thank you all for your happy thoughts and prayers for rain to arrive.  It arrived yesterday afternoon.   It poured for a very short time, but it came down hard. I was so relieved.  I think the downpour lasted onl y 15 minutes, but it was better than nothing at a ll.  Today, I will be checking for any new squash, and broc coli to pick.  And tomatoes.    While it rained, I baked some homemade grahams.

Here is what I've been doing.  Freezing corn. 

We shucked all of the sweet corn, so that once-a-year job is done.   Tiger was standing by for the first bag (right in the photo).  He loves to chew on the husks.

I did not go looking for this recipe.  I found it in a library book - Pearls of Wisdom, Tops, Shortcuts, and Recipes from a Country Home , by Deborah S. Tukua, who adapted their recipe from Countryside Magazine.  The actual color is more of a amber brown than the color it shows in the photo.

Hubby promised to do one job yesterday, so I opted for canning something quicker than tomato sauce related.  I used most of the leftover corn (off the cob) and picked some green and red peppers - corn relish. I've never canned corn relish before, but I think it will be versatile - omelets, fish, chicken, sausage, burgers.  

Okay, so I played around all day in my home, decluttering, creating new piles to file at my computer, and just getting some overdue cleaning done, when I realized I forgot to pick the tomatoes. With rain in the forecast (which as of this morning we still have not gotten), and well overdue, I decided to seek help from a kiddo.  My 15 year-old and I gathered tomatoes. 

I've been busy here at the homestead.  Laundry was put out again yesterday and today.  The weather is still very nice. Yesterday I took a quick road trip to buy sweet corn (we only planted black popcorn this year).  When I arrived, the nice gentleman tells me, "if you buy two burlap bag fulls, you get one free." Well, of course I was okay with that.   A burlap bag is not quite, but close enough, to a bushel.

Welcome to our farm. . .sharing a bit of it's beauty today. Fall, leaves, fall Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away; Lengthen night and shorten day; Every leaf speaks bliss to me Fluttering from the autumn tree. I shall smile when wreaths of snow Blossom where the rose should grow; I shall sing when night's decay Ushers in a drearier day. Emily Jane Brontë