Woke up to mornings in the upper 30's. Brr. Rain flooded our asparagus patch. I am hoping I will have some more asparagus to harvest today. The continuation of cold nights, has my green onions looking drab.
Food is the topic today, as I have very little to share.
I've been thinking how much fun it was last year to try new Christmas holiday recipes. We loved the sunflower seed brittle recipe we tried last year. You may get a "Christmas" post out of me this year.
New recipe we tried and absolutely love it. I have made many, many breakfast casseroles/quiches and frittatas, and this one is a keeper. I do believe it is a "first" mushroom type quiche to make as well. I'm officially saying it's a "first time" event this year.
I takes an entire box of frozen spinach, but once you squeeze all that water out, you don't have much left.
I used organic baby bella mushrooms, but otherwise did not change any of the recipe. It is from The Stay at Home Chef (recipe is online), called Easy Crustless Spinach Quiche.
The quiche contains two types of cheese, and one is feta. We added a side of chicken sausages to this breakfast, and boy it was good. Next plan, when I make it again, is to bake two of them. I plan on freezing one (freezing individual slices) and enjoying one. We often times are running here or there, or have other commitments, and Monday morning we sometimes need a healthy breakfast, but have no time Sunday to prepare one.
One of our recent dinners:
Homemade meatballs - from the freezer (recipe is on my blog, and uses ground organic oats instead of bread crumbs.
Home canned hot pepper mustard sauce - from the pantry
Wild rice prepared with beef stock - pantry
Veggie side - from the store (recipe is from "Fix it and Forget it" crock pot cookbook) - carrots/turnips/parsnips.
I keep reading how freshly popped popcorn, is better after it's been in the freezer, so we tried it. Honestly, it was not for taste, but for us, it was about traveling with home popped popcorn.
We do not like microwave popcorn, and while it's portable, we prefer home popped popcorn, with real butter and real seasonings.
First, a metal bowl is not the way to mix in your butter and seasonings. The popcorn just slides around. A large Tupperware bowl worked a lot better. I added butter and seasoning, and put the popcorn in a freezer bag. It tasted great after taking it out at another time to enjoy and "test" the freshness.
Next test will be to see if it travels well (camping, hiking, weekend getaway etc) after taking it out of the freezer.
Sharing a few more crocheted book blanket granny squares. . . .not in any particular order, as I'm working on "catching up" with this project.
The Leslie Meier book was easy to match, but the other book was a bit of a challenge. It all depends on the light too, as the green yarn matched the green on the book in daylight here. The side binder is the burgundy as well as some of the text on the front of the book, but I was not about to buy yarn to do a "perfect" match either.
The Leslie Meier books are one of my favorite authors to read, and I completely forgot I had them. They were somehow (gulp) packed into our bedroom closet, so the clean out produced more clean out, ha ha! There are many more to read in that series too.
The rain returns again later today. It will be visiting us more often than not the rest of the week too.
Whelp. The rain and cold is still with us. Early morning temperature was 33°F. My rosemary looks fine however. We may actually see a day with zero rain today. Crossing fingers.
Not sure if you can really see the below recipe, which came from the cookbook I shared in my last post (scroll back to see).
I guess, because I have never made garlic aioli, I did not realize it is basically fresh mayonnaise with a bit of spice to it.
I'm still looking through several cookbooks, but we remain on the hunt for a good burger sauce for grilling season. I have obtained one from a restaurant, but I need to figure out how to downsize the recipe for two people.
There is a funny story regarding looking for this recipe, and one of these days will share it.
I'm also looking for my copy of the fruit cake recipe that was asked for so many months ago.
Update on finding San Marzano tomato plants this spring. We found them, and the flats range from $40 up to $63.00. I really need a greenhouse built here. I really do. It's still on my wish list. I just do not have the space in my house, or outlets for that many plant grow lights.
I unfolded each piece of gauze to prepare and make the poultices for my toe area.
(looks like ants are chewing holes in the leaves)
I harvested some comfrey from our "weed" garden, to make poultices. I only had 2 x 2 gauze, but it worked for my toe. I used my new smaller food processor this time, and it worked great (comfrey leaves, a bit of water, and flour {can use arrowroot, or whatever for a thickener}).
The plant is springing up pretty well, and was large enough to get enough leaves cut for the poultices. I used a freshly made poultice right away, and froze two more. The frozen ones work to also reduce the swelling.
I also used my homemade comfrey salve, and the bruising is very quickly healing, and pain was gone after day one of poultices. Thankfully, it was a sprain and not a break.
A strong thunderstorm, with rain and wind, moved into our area last night. Only about half the mowing was completed before the rain arrived. I have yet to harvest more dandelions due to the abundance of rain. The last dandelions all went to seed very quickly.
I'm hoping we will get more chickweed, as I have yet to weed three more flower beds (actually four, but we have a plan to work on that one this year). Anyway, I typically pull the chickweed to save, as I weed the flower beds this time of year.
Our cold weather apparently does not want to leave yet. We will be dipping to the 30's for three or four nights. I'm just hoping it's not a hard freeze.
The abundance of rain is a problem for our vegetable gardens. One, it's too wet to even walk in, which means zero tilling or weed pulling to prepare the beds, and two, we've not been able to even obtain tomato plants this spring (yet). I do not start my own tomato plants, because we plant so many (and indoor space is limited to start every single plant).
Rain is in the forecast yet this morning, and more tomorrow.
Do you ever notice how it's hard to be around people who are negative about "Monday" and the start of the week?
Monday gets a bad name all around. I used to tackle so much around the house, but I have since then created a cleaning/housework schedule, and it's been working out fantastically. Monday's are not bombarded with overwhelming to-do lists any longer.
My husband had a recent conversation about how his co-workers complain on and on about "Monday" and how terrible it is. Is it?
Every year I look forward to learn something new. A new trail to walk, new herbal remedy to make, new handiwork to learn, or just about anything. It's not only rewarding in most cases, but fun.
My "firsts" this month:
-dehydrating wild violets, and leaves
-dehydrating dandelion flowers
-read a new author, picked up another at the library (yet to read - gulp!)
-reading a new devotional
-learned the words to a song, and inadvertently learned words (memorized) to two other songs.
-went to our first Bingo "purse" raffle (had fishing poles for the men) and fundraiser benefit.
-saw Moe Bandy in concert (now 82 years old).
-walked one out of 15 new walking trails (new to us).
(possible new salves using the above dehydrated items later).
Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom (will link up when she posts).
Hard to believe I was picking dandelions, wild violets and even chickweed a few days ago.
We've been seeing a lot of lily of the valley, wild geraniums, and mayapples on our trail walks.
Planted rosemary and spearmint. Weeded another smaller rose bed, and asparagus patch. Planted 9 more Mary Washington asparagus starts, and dug a tree out of the berry bush area. Trimmed two rose bushes, and weeded half the herb garden.
The Weather . . .
Last week started with hard freeze warnings. 31°F with a windchill of 27°F. We will get thunderstorms again tonight and possible 50 mph winds.
Right now I am . . .
Sipping coffee and writing this post fairly quickly.
How I am feeling . . .
Tired of the weather fluctuation, but otherwise revived over the weekend. We found another trail walk and loved it. (In our new personal challenge) One walking trail visited, and 14 more to go on our list. Despite a sprained toe, walking was fine (more on that in another post).
On the breakfast plate . . .
Eggs, and real Canadian bacon.
On the menu . . .
-crock pot Four Beans and Sausage
-leftovers, Kidney bean salad (new recipe
- not sure on the rest just yet
On my reading pile . . .
I'll have to get back my current/finished books. Forgot to take photos. However......
Finished this one. First time to read this author. I laughed to my husband, as I only had this book, and realized it is part of a series. Sigh. I had no intentions of buying more books. I liked this book.
On my TV . . .
Elvis movies - King Creole, Blue Hawaii
Doc - Netflix
Sarah's Oil, Netflix
Looking around the house . . .
-Good! Took a trunk full of clothing to donate. Clothes that were too big, not worn, etc. Decluttered more areas and re-organized.
To-do list . . .
-make breakfast -laundry
-make tick repellant oil
-dehydrate all of the volunteer herbs I yanked (anything growing in areas where it spread)
-Weed the rest of the herb garden, and flower beds (maybe)
-I'll be honest, I have yet to figure out the to-do's for the week. The weather may change my list.
What I am creating . . .
I finished the purple/white shell stitch blanket. Delivered four crocheted baby blankets to an area pregnancy center.
Sharing . . .
Salve with wild violets, comfrey and plantain.
Watching videos like these to possibly start learning to quilt (small things right now ha ha!)
March was, not what I call "busy" for us, but adventurous, and filled with more of "living life" than doing all the "doing" stuff we do all day every day. Warning: Post is long today (gulp!). Grab a cup of java or tea.
"Busy" is sort of synonymous with negative vibes. I mean, we still had medical appointments (some regular, some needed), hair appointments, husband's full time job, but only a few commitments. However, we spent much of the month "enjoying" life (maintaining balance).
I have not harvested much other than fresh grown green onions. I do have some oil on order to restock homemade hand/body lotion. Not sure if I will re-stock our homemade lip balm just yet. We have a plan to build one more item for the chicken castle (more on that later), and we plan to better landscape one flower bed.
There was a birth and a death in our families this month. Home repairs continue, but slow going. We are slowly chipping away it the list, but checking it off (vs. letting it roll over into next year).
The weather has been crazy. At one point, very high winds that took out power all over the state. It ripped roofs off, knocked trees down, power lines down and the like. The temperatures are going up and down, and the spring flower bulbs are confused. We've had rain, thunderstorms, high's in the 70's and sunny, and even snow and cold this month. We actually woke up to 9°F one morning about mid-month (with rain the very next day, our weather has been that crazy).
I've upped my culinary experience with new breakfast meals for us. I, personally, felt like we were in a rut.
I've made breakfast stuffed peppers before, but these contained homemade chicken sausage, and were delicious. Yes, that's green onion on top, from the herb garden.
Sheet pan breakfast - mushrooms, bell peppers, red onion, sausage, seasonings, and eggs. Super easy way to prepare it, and have no idea why I never thought to do it this way. I used fresh mushrooms. However, this produced liquid at the bottom of the container after being in the refrigerator overnight. I'm guessing from the fresh bell peppers.
We have many more new recipes to try, including a few with sweet potatoes in them.
Side note: Did you know that the Anchor 2 cup measuring cup does not have a 1/4 cup measure mark? I probably knew that, but my Pyrex markings rub off so often, I replace them way too often, so I bought Anchor. Sigh. I am told the 1 cup measuring cups have the 1/4th on them.
We hiked a new waterfall trail (loved it!), and lots of other adventures we crossed off my new spring list of our "we are doing this" list.
We are rediscovering areas we already walked, but taking other new-to-us trails and loving it.
I already (sigh) broke my personal vow to not buy new books this year. Actually, it was my husband's idea to go inside the bookstore, and he made the picks and purchases (including a shirt and sticky notes {very cute sticky notes}) other than one book I picked put. I better get busy reading now.
We accomplished more organizing, purging, etc. This type of "busy" was good, refreshing and fun. The kitchen drywall repair (where we removed an old light fixture) job was completed, and ceiling painted. Drywall repair has been started in the stair way as well. Over the years, the kids cut gouges into the walls moving stuff up and down, and holes created where they kept the dog gates.
We have much more work to do on the stairs, stairway and upstairs. You would not believe how much scotch tape (and other tape), poster putty and other sticky residue the kids left on the walls up there. Think big bucket of drywall mud vs. spackle to fix all of the holes and gouges.
I finished one entire photo/photo album project, with leaves us with only one lengthier "album" project (both side projects from a closet clean out). I spruced up the kitchen with spring colored dish towels (old ones get recycled or repurposed), and a spring (found on clearance) rug for one bathroom. It's amazing how a few splashes of color or moving things around can change your overall daily views.
Lastly, my current books:
A gift.
We end this month with our weather in the 70's, and a lot of rain arriving later today. The rain will stay with us for a few days.
We went from sub zero straight to a week of up to 64°F, and a sloppy, slushy, muddy mess. I was very tempted, and almost twice, used the clothesline.
However, with the warmest weather days brought us rain and thunder storms (yes thunder storms in February). Add that rain to the already mushy mess, and you have slosh yards.
The house was refreshed with several days of open windows, and we are very thankful for that. Nothing better than fresh air circulating indoors.
Of course, as it is still our winter season, the weather cooled right back down to the 30's and brought a small but of snow. We got outside anyway, and did our very first "snow" walking trail.
It's been a mish-mash of a February. Lots of re-organizing, purging, and home repairs. It seems like the hardware store shopping list is maintaining it's weekly to-do list.
We have not cleaned out clothing in more than two years, so it's been this month's focus, and boy it takes some time. I'm trying to squeeze in a few minutes in between everything else.
Most days this month have been ending exhausted, but productive.
It has been very satisfying to cross off long over due home repairs/updates. However, in the meantime, there are those repairs that get thrown at us, like the tile soap dish falling off the tile shower wall, after 20 years or more. Replacing the tub drain that just stopped working after 20 years or more. You know, the wear and tear projects that sneak up on you. You know, you can't get these jobs completed with one trip to the hardware store. It takes numerous, because the clerk gives you the wrong tools, so you have to return and get the right ones.
New recipe tried. It was a result of "use it up" in the pantry. I had some green lentils that needed used soon, so we tried Lentil Salad and loved it. Recipe is online from Cooking Classy, and we did not "roast" the red bell pepper. It contains cooked and cooled green lentils, cucumber, red bell pepper, red onion, feta, fresh parsley, fresh cilantro, and a homemade dressing with freshly squeezed lemon juice, olive oil, minced garden grown garlic and mustard.
Finally, a observation by my husband and I both - many people (friends, family, acquaintances) we know have detached themselves from us. Not sure if it's a result of 2020, where everyone was nervous to be around anyone, or if people are choosing to be so busy they would rather keep their "circle" small or what. Relationships are a thing of the past for so many people we know. The best advice from an acquaintance for this concern/unsettled thinking? Count your blessings and build from that. Thankful for the few who want to stay connected. Life is something to celebrate, not bury ourselves in being so busy we forget to really live our lives.
Please pray for a friend of mine. Marilyn. It may be nothing, but it could be serious. It is a heart concern, but testing is not for a week or so.
Experienced my very first professional pedicure (a gift to me). What a treat!
Current Crochet Charity Updates: Baby blankets
I have been crocheting this pattern for using some of the 27 skeins of Aran colorway yarn I was gifted. I am using scrap balls to edge them, to add color, and offer options with donated baby blankets. It's been a very easy pattern to take "on-the-road" for any traveling. I've used this pattern before, but for headbands for winter.
I think the baby blankets are turning out very nice for the Mom-to-Be resource facility. I have more yarn stashed, so I am considering adding more "baby" items to this cause. It all depends on free time. It has been my on-the-go project, and works very well with the very easy, one-color pattern.
What is left from the two skeins of yarn it took to crochet the center part of the blanket. It's the closest I have come to using up project yarn for one "project" and it thrills me. I do not need more scrap balls of yarn, ha ha! (amount above is leftover per each skein {2} of yarn in Aran colorway)
A friend who works at the pregnancy facility, and is in charge of assisting those in need, reached out to me, so it's on the hook for now, but I will resume lap afghans for senior centers/assisted facilities/single elderly living alone, after that.
I'm still looking for my pattern for one last committed crochet project in the mean time.
February has been a very cold month, with a splash of a summer teaser. I think we are all ready to see the weather warm up for good.
I don't watch the news often, but we do try and listen to the weather report if we can.
We are dipping into another very cold, cold spell here. The news is warning us that the temperatures could dip as low as -25°F with the windchill (the forecast changes hourly). Not only that, but they are predicting snowfall in abundance. The snow expected could be 10 inches and up in areas here. The weather predicted, is said to last another week. They are calling the weather "Mother Nature's Fury."
The snow does not concern us, as much as the sub-zero temperatures do.
We have been to town to re-stock a few items, but typically we avoid town when people are panic shopping (thank you news people). We were low on chicken feed and a few other necessary items.
Now...about books. First, I have had very little reading time if you can believe it. When your house is 6 weeks behind in cleaning and what not, there is no problem with staying "busy" around here. Talk about Better Crocker meets Mr. Clean, ha ha!
Not very often do I really have the motivation/interest in reading a memoir. Back in February of 2025, we went to a concert by the Righteous Brothers. It was a farewell type tour, with Bill Medley and a new singer with him (as Bobby passed away). I purchased the memoir book, written by Bill Medley and Mike Marino. I had put it on the shelf, and literally just forgot I bought it (happens to those who buy too many books, ha ha!).
I decided to read it, and make a change in my typical genre, and give it a whirl. It was definitely a "palate cleanser" as far as a change in genre. I really liked this book. It was very interesting.
Fun facts I learned? The Righteous Brothers were not actually brothers, and how they got their name was....well, you'll have to read the book to find out. Very, very interesting book, and I'm keeping this one. My kids would never understand, nor be interested in it anyway, but boy I enjoyed this book from the very first page.
(I have not yet crocheted my granny square for this book)
I added these two to my homesteading bookshelf. The first one states it is for beginners, but it has recipes that I want to try, that I have not seen in other herb garden growing books. the second, is packed with recipes, and I cannot wait to dig into it.
Side note: I have two tea stores on my visit list. One store is newer, but both will be new-to-me. They will require travel, so hence waiting for better weather.
I'm still a coffee gal, but tea is still interesting and has never ending knowledge to learn.
Not to leave our little tiny, local library out of the loop of business....
I think I have about 6 or 7 books out of the library right now. Most are on recipes with different mushrooms, and a few on more herbal tea recipes. I am reading recipes that use a variety of mushrooms, that we have yet to try. We have a resource for locally grown mushrooms now, and learning to cook with more mushroom options is one of my "learn something new" subjects this year.
Do you cook with Lion's Mane mushrooms? Shiitake? Oyster? I'm told shitake will freeze well in homemade mushroom soup, but I have yet to try them. Have you grown your own mushrooms?
A bit boring of a post for most, I am guessing, but when it's polar bear weather the "what's going on" slows way down. The chickens, however, are still laying eggs for us.
Meanwhile, we'll be bundling up, hunkering down, and getting ready to clear all that predicted snow.
Nothing like putting on 15 layers to leave the house. One year, it was so cold, I had to wear snowmobile goggles to go outside to water/feed the goats and the chickens. The cold hurt my eyes that badly.
Beautiful sunrise, and the weather has been in the 60's, with yesterday almost 70 degrees. A nice break in the weather.
I'm already writing up a list of new herbs to plant next year. It may be the weather break inspiring me.
Winter home repairs are on hold for now, but I'm taking notes, making lists, and so forth.
Crazy me, as about 4 crochet blankets on the hooks, but for different occasions (I love a single yarn pattern for "on-the-go" etc.). No hurry on any of them, other than one for a Christmas present. I've had more "sit" time than I'd normally prefer, so I'm taking advantage of it.
Do any of my blog followers have a knitted hat pattern (easy) for beginners (or links to free online patterns)? I have knit dishcloths, but would like to expand my ability to knit hats (before I attempt socks).
Maybe a pattern you shared on your blog perhaps? One of my grandmothers used to knit, but of course I was too young to even think to learn it before she passed (to be honest was never introduced to knitting by anyone). Would love to expand my handicraft knowledge and experiences.
I'm thinking a baby hat, child hat and adult hat. I was told that hats were more needed for donations than scarves (our school stated kids don't wear scarves anymore, but will wear hats). Not that I will stop making scarves, but thought I would ask here, as so many of you are talented. I would love to pair up baby blankets with hats, as an area pregnancy center has asked for donations.
We finally got rain! So thankful for it. There was a field fire near us the night before the rain arrived. It's been so dry, and the field dust was causing upper respiratory issues for so many people (wind didn't help with that).
Spicy Barbeque Sauce was canned. It takes a lot of ingredients, so it's not my favorite to can, but it is real ingredients. Yes, it has brown sugar. It's a canning recipe from Better Homes and Gardens, that we have been using for several years now.
I have not been around in blogland much, due to being under the weather after I pushed myself way to far one day. I have to remember we cannot do it all in one day. Thank goodness for teas and tinctures, and healing foods (and rest). We are feeling better.
As for our blogs being used for advertising on many websites, and so forth (I can't see any other reason for the source of views: howstuffworks, dominospizza, mayoclinic {not the blog readers interested in my actual blog}) the numbers continue to climb. I have not found a way to "opt" out either. If any of you find a new way to avoid this, blog elsewhere, find a new platform etc, please be sure to share.
If your blog has ads, you are are not going to complain, ha ha! You are probably making a bucko-bucks with all these visitors to your blog.
I have yet to remedy the websites using my blog for whatever they are using it for. The views cut down by about 200, but considering I posted a very, very short post yesterday, it's still getting 300 views from advertiser businesses and other businesses. All to read about how they are using my blog too.
It is very annoying to be honest. I have not had a lot of time to work on putting a stop to it, but I did look into a few of the sites to "opt" out and there were no options to remove my blog. Not sure what to do next. If I do remedy the situation, I will remove the page breaks on my posts.
The majority of viewers are from Hong Kong and Singapore (huh?). Like it's been suggested, AI may be the reason, and one we cannot avoid, as Blogger has very little privacy options.
I have had one run-in with a baby deer this garden season. I'm not sure who was more surprised, me or him/her. Off it ran and no damage to the garden. I do think we may have another ground hog, but have not seen it for a while. A bug of some sort is having a feast on my garden kale, so once we catch up on the weeds and such, I'll sprinkle some flour with pepper mixed into it (husband's trick).
It's a bit disconcerting to not have much to harvest yet, and hear the sound of locusts announcing fall is around the corner. The rain is coming down almost every other day or every day, so the weeds are winning I think. The bonus win is not having to drag 200+feet of garden hose out to water stuff.
Our first Anaheim peppers from the garden. They are huge as they should be. However, it's not enough to process, so they are in the crisper drawer to use for current meals. Or I have plan B too.
The cherry type (heirloom) tomatoes are finally on and turning. Other tomatoes are on, but nothing not even close to harvesting yet. We now have some hot peppers on the plants. There are a few hot banana peppers about ready to pick too (the need is to have them all ready at the same time).
I harvested some Swiss Chard for one dinner too. The garden is providing.
Garlic was finally dug up, but we had to wait for a dry day to get into the garden. The garden was actually still pretty wet the day I dug it all up.
I had some chives that spread into my thyme plants, in the herb garden. I dug those out, but later spotted one more smaller start. I will get that dug out and into a small pot for now. Most likely I'll give them to friends or donate to a local person who gives plants away (we have a few people who have bring one, take one plant tables).
It's not really a good week (ha, there never is) to pick up 10# of blueberries (from a nearby state), but I did. I am pretty sure we'll use them all too. I love to use frozen blueberries for summer lunch time smoothies, and especially after a long hot day of garden work.
I've been challenging myself to continue to meal prep from the freezer first, then add pantry and garden goodies.
It's sort of been fun, by picking random items and looking up recipes. Rotation underway . . . preparing any room for garden additions to the freezer.
Good vibes from the herb garden. Green onion, parsley and basil to add to a cold salad.
Edamame salad - corn and edamame from the freezer (new recipe tried as a result of random freezer rotation). It utilized the freezer and garden, but it did not give us the "wow" response. Good, but not great either. Healthy? Yes. I thought the flavor overall was much better after it sat in the fridge overnight too.
A sweet potato breakfast casserole - sausage and bell peppers from the freezer. Delicious. I would prep more breakfast meats for this, for easier and quicker baking. I will also be trying this with garden kale.
Stuffed garden bell peppers from the freezer for dinner.
What's was next? I randomly pulled some sweet Italian sausage links. I am sure I had a plan for them, but cannot remember what for. I did a very simple crock pot meal with potatoes on the bottom, layered the sausage links, topped it with frozen garden green beans from last year, and whipped up my own homemade Italian dressing and poured it over. The sausages fell apart, and it was fantastic. Two more freezer items used. Dinner al fresco - weather was fantastic.
It should be fun putting something together for the next dinner.
Other news . . .
We (by "we" I mean my husband) are starting to clean the gutters out. I have been after him for weeks, and almost got the ladder out to do some myself (but got scolded).
We have come up with a plan for the rose bed, but it's on the back burner until we get caught up with the vegetable garden weeds. It's back on the "list" but so is the chicken coop (story of my life).
The weather was an absolute gorgeous 70's (wish I was camping, but sometimes we have to shuffle life's responsibilities) and cool day early in the week, but the heat is said to return. Early mornings have been slightly under 60°F, and foggy. It has helped me get more done in the garden.
Lastly, some good advice from a book I recently finished.
