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 official.  We have ended out 2017 supply of home grown sweet potatoes, and I am thrilled the held up so nicely.  I made an egg/veggie scramble and thawed some frozen garden  zucchini for this too.  Frozen zucchini is not a real crisp veggies, so it works out well for breakfast meals and for casseroles/soups. Not much going on in our next of the woods right now.  The snow is back, but it's gone as fast as it comes down. It's a bit cold, but that just gives me more opportunity to tackle deep cleaning projects (washing woodwork, cleaning out junk in the utility room, sorting things that can go to the thrift, organizing things back to their less chaotic stage, cleaning off dressers, nightstands, and what not). I'm going through old magazines, picking books to donate to the thrift, making a list of books I want to buy (ha ha!), and so forth.

Here is the recipe I promised to share.  The original recipe is linked, and below I will explain what I added. I found the "protein packed" breakfast recipe online at Lentils.org  (click Lentils.org to the left to go directly to the recipe), and changed it up a bit to try. Lentils for breakfast?  I mean why not, I add black beans them too.  Lentils are high in protein and low in fat, and provide many nutrients as well as fiber. First I made my lentils the day before, and that way I had that job done.  You need cooked lentils to make this frittata. I still have homegrown sweet potatoes (they lasted much better than all the other potatoes too).

I have found several ways to store up my sweet potatoes this winter.  Aside from the potato bin indoors, and the burlap bags in another cool/dark room, I am stocking them up in other recipes. Ginger-Brown Sugar Sweet Potato Butter. This is a Better Homes and Gardens canning recipe, but it is not boil canned. It goes in the freezer.  Recipe is not online, but is in their magazine (Canning, preserving, freezing and drying) and book I believe. Frozen Mashed Sweet Potatoes.  I had been told by so many people "you can't freeze potatoes."  I beg to differ.  You can, but you bake and mash them first.  I add nothing to them. I have been very successful with this process (this works well with white potatoes as well).  I bake the sweet potatoes, mash them, and freeze them on a baking sheet in 1/2 cup servings.  I take them out, and place them in container or freezer bags and simply heat in the oven when needed for meals.  I used...

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...

As soon as daylight hit, I noticed these ladies were out wandering.  And later a 4th.  Hm.  Daughter didn't do a head count, but they are all there.  Whew! The new handicraft adventure I wrote about (several months ago) is still on the list, but delayed.  It may be a winter project.     Puffed pear pancake was enjoyed for an after school snack vs. breakfast.   Again, I used 2 pears. Apples would be delicious in this too.  Although I only have one kiddo in school, it's the perfect time of day to make a sweet treat, and double it as a dinner dessert.  And utilize our homegrown pears.  Right now, organic apples are $5.99/bag (3 lb.), so I am patiently waiting on a sale.  I am hoping our apple trees produce next year.  The herbs are getting full attention this week.  Sage was dehydrated. Rosemary was also dehydrated.  More to do this week yet. I spent yesterday digging up pota...

(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 dug up a few potatoes for more meals, and dug up one sweet potato slip to check on it.  They are not really big just yet.  We'll let them sit in the ground for another 3-4 weeks (or more) before digging up more.  These delicious two, will be going into a breakfast I think. Deep clean continues in the kitchen.   I have even started to wash all my flour/sugar/coffee etc containers.  Sugar has now been washed and sanitized for the winter. And while I am deep cleaning the kitchen, the flower beds are being reclaimed as well.  I'm using a timer, so I can do a bit of both and feel good at the end of the day.

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 brought in another 21.11# of tomatoes on Thursday.  Our whopping tomato tally reached 304.33# (so far this season). I didn't have enough to can a 1/2 batch of tomato sauce, so I decided to use a portion of them to try that new BBQ sauce I wanted to try. The recipe is from Better Homes and Garden's and th ey have the recipe online.   The trick I have been using to check the reduction amount, is to first mea sure with the handle of a wooden spoon.  I tie on a twist tie, and wipe it clean.  Each time I mea sure I can quickly see where I am in the process.  By the way, this recipe tastes so much better than Ball's recip e I canned two years ago.  We l ove it.  Next batch will be a doubl e batch.   In between all that, I got greens in the freezer, but I'm falling behind.  The yellow straight neck squash is piling up.  The cauliflower is just now producing as well.  The swiss chard is going bananas, and I cannot sque...

I started out Monday with Hubby waking me up, "Hun, did you thaw tortillas?" "Oh poo, I forgot." I got up anyway, and charged slowly scooted my feet to the kitchen.  I weighed out tomatoes for delicious taco sauce.  I've been canning this for a few years and we love the taste of it.  One year we canned BBQ sauce (Ball recipe) and did not like the taste.  I still have one jar of it left. Anyway, it was a maddening Monday for sure.  While the taco sauce reduced, I had to get pork chops in the crock pot for dinner.  In between those two jobs, I did my usual exercise (reluctantly). (before the chili powder, dandelions and eggs were added) Then it was breakfast time - Sweet Potato Breakfast Burritos.  I had to run out to pick bell peppers to make it, so I went ahead and grabbed my tomato baskets and went to the garden.  The recipe is online with Clean Eating - absolutely delicious !  I ate it wi thout cheese and loved it.  I us...

Last Sunday, I decided to make us a healthier version of a frittata.  Hubby was complaining about "too many white potatoes" in his frittata, so I went in search of a recipe that used sweet potatoes - Sweet Potato Black Bean Frittata. I found several online, and this was amazing - sweet potatoes, a red bell pepper, onion, garlic, a jalapeno pepper, spices, fresh cilantro, and black beans.  You bake it right in the skillet you cook your vegetables in, and only need one bowl to whisk eggs.    Although packed with f lavor, I could n ot even get my 17 year-old vegetarian to even taste it.  Her loss.  I put a piece a way for me and two for Hubby's breakfast. Here's where I go t the recipe:  Sweet Potato Black Bean F rittata

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 temperature here dropped to the 20's last night, so I made soup to warm us all up.  I admit, I had my doubts that the kids would eat this soup, and I was pretty sure a few would refuse to even taste it. I've been experimenting this week with sweet potatoes.  They were on sale, so I stocked up on some.  This recipe comes from Allrecipes , and contains sweet potatoes, carrots, an onion and an apple.  It also contains freshly grated ginger and red lentils too.

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

I had some sweet potatoes that needed cooked, so I made