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 ...

Nothing more creepier than hearing something crunch through the tree line, while hanging laundry out at 8:30am. Meal ideas come to me and the oddest times.  While washing the morning dishes yesterday I decided dinner would be Sloppy Charlies (organic ground beef and homemade condensed cream of mushroom soup), corn and zucchini saute and roasted brussel sprouts. Speaking of the weekly menu, here's what else I came up with so far: Breakfast (or dinner):  Homemade biscuits and sausage gravy, fried potatoes and scrambled eggs Dinners: -Creamy mac n' cheese, sweet potato hash browns, BBQ green beans with bacon, Chicken with home canned hot pepper mustard sauce, quinoa, broccoli, a spinach/parsley pesto pasta....still working on it.... Even though I wrote out a list for Sunday errands, I realized I forgot to buy borax and washing soda.  Urgh.  So cleaning the bathroom was put on halt until today. Breakfast today is a sweet potato (thank you Garden Gods),...

It's been a long few weeks of tearing out the garden.  For me it's been a tough haul.  Due to unfortunate circumstances, I could not keep up with maintaining it this summer, so the aftermath was this:  There are green pepper plants in that mess. (Before) Same area (in progress)   My sad looking pea fence (before). Done!  Still moving on through the garden. The front of that area is where my potatoes were planted (before).  Done!  Again...still moving on through the garden.  The very last of the potatoes were dug up. Larger Tomato patch all done and ready for winter.  I just have to get my pie pan and metal pole put away for next year. Rough, tough, and difficult to totally remove before winter.  I'd like to post some pristine looking photos, but this is reality.  I can't do everything, nor can my family.  However, I am sticking to it. "Biker Sally" is a bit slumped ov...

(pie while cooling, top will drop down a bit) Sweet Potato Pie (organic ingredients)  Boil 1 lb of sweet potatoes (I use a kitchen scale to weigh the sweet potatoes) for 45-50 minutes or until cooked, then place sweet potatoes into an ice bath (safe bowl to add ice and water) to cool.  Peel and place in a bowl with: 1/2 cup softened butter.  Mix well - hand or electric mixer works well. Add:

The "bug" to try new recipes, for the up coming holidays, has hit me again.  I needed to rotate out some pie crust crumbles anyway. Thursday:  I had time to do something , and scrubbing the master bath toilet was not looking like the time filler for me. Although it does need done.  Dinner prep was already done (salmon patties) and homemade sausage was already mixed and in the fridge. It was too hot to go outside to work.  It was too hot and humid to sit on the porch with my feet up too.

I got up yesterday morning and fell in love with the giant snowflakes.  I was inspired to cook dinner for once.  I love cooking, so this is a huge step forward in recovery.  The girls cooked the last two nights. This is not your regular chili.  To get this pot of awesome delicious-ness going, I went into my "pretend root cellar" and got a few sweet potatoes (so thankful we still have some, and in edible condition).  The garage is too cold to store my potatoes.  I put a card table up in my utility room (which has a doorway directly across from the side door we go out of most often).  The heat is never on in that room, so it stays cool (unless we hit below zero and then I turn on the heat to prevent frozen pipes).  Sadly, it was not the best way to store my red potatoes.  When I got home from the hospital, I saw they all had long "eyes" on them.  Back in November, the temperature was not cold enough in that room.

I spent yesterday afternoon driving the 30 mile round trip to the "big city."  I delivered meals, to not only Dad, but Mom too.  I had s pent a few days in the kitchen with all four burn ers going and one crock pot.  I always deliver a "breakfast" meal to Dad too.  Meals included a new recipe ~ Creamy Sweet Potato Salad.  Have you ever made a potato salad with sweet potatoes?  This was a first for me.  Easy and delicious.  I t went very fast too. I know everyone but the one "vege t arian" daughter (who won't eat sweet pota toes) loved it.  I'm still p ushing her to at lea st tast e it.  If there is any left over today. I can't say I followed it exactly, bu t pretty close. You bake the diced sweet potatoes f irst.

The pattern is real ly for a place-mat, but I call it a mug/snack rug for a foot ball fa n.  I just finished one for a Christmas present for hu bby.  These look pretty nice when they are finished. The pattern can be found at