Pioneer Woman at Heart

We hit a high of 53° yesterday, and the chickens were loving it, as well as the full day of sunshine.   The paint brushes/rollers took a break for a few days. February is starting out with some hiccups.   However, I have finished washing  down the rest of the hallway walls (all but a small section).  I can now proceed to spackle any holes, allow them to dry.   Laundry got caught up.  I had some to fold and some to put away.  I also caught up on some paperwork.  Bathrooms are getting cleaned. Healthy breakfasts were prepared.  We decided that the next time I make this sweet potato hash, we prefer two eggs per serving. Meals got made and meal prep (lentils cooking for a dinner recipe). I got another rug washed.  I love the ones we bought at the flea market in Amish country.  They are the "washable" ones, and more expensive, but boy do they wash up nicely.  I have had cheaper ones from the box stores, that did not hold u...

The fundraiser folks have asked for donations to auction off.  Hubby wants to make something from barn wood, and of course my donation will be crocheted.  We are strapped for cash, so we can't spend money to create either. Like a crazy fool, I took on this project, and have been crocheting like a mad woman (putting all other  projects on hold).   This is how much of it I've been able to do in 4 days.  It's wider than the photo shows, but get the idea of how many rows it will take.  And colors.

I can't say things are back to completely "normal" yet, but getting there. I've tried my absolute best to maintain my good diet and exercise, and continue to do something I enjoy each night, while sending prayers up for just about everyone.  Hubby reminded me to get back to my blog, as it too is part of what I enjoy.  So here I am. In the process of keeping things normal, I think I converted our vegetarian daughter back to a meat eater.  While baking meals for the extended family, and the aroma and wonderful taste of casseroles from years ago, she's eating meat again (18 year-old).  Big shock to all of us, but we also giggled when she slobbered over that recent meatloaf I made.  And in the process of so much talk about meat, Hubby is about 98% agreeing we raise meat birds this spring.  It'll be a matter of if we can whip up housing for them.  We used to raise them in a part of the old big barn.

As promised, here is the recipe for the curried lentils.  However, I don't have a photo of it.  I do have one of what I made with leftovers.   Curried Lentils with Spinach

The sunrise was beautiful for the kid's first day back to school.  Gorgeous pinks and blues everywhere.   Yesterday was an easy dinner.  I simply cooked up pinto beans with onions, then mashed them.  We enjoyed bean burritos with all the toppings.  Some ate it in a bowl, taco salad style.  I do try to serve some sort of bean once a week, and now I am on the hunt for salmon recipes that my kids will eat.  We need more fish in our diet. 

(the photo in the magazine article makes this appear more red than mine turned out) I found this recipe ( our snack) in the December 20 12 issue of Health Mag azine .  However, they also have it on-line , so I don't have to type out the recipe:  Red-Lentil Hummus. Hubby and I love hummus made from chickpeas and wanted to try this one.  I finally made it.  I could n ot find red lentils in our stores h ere, so it was another item we picked up on one of our weekend trips ( it was sold bulk in a Nature store). I am sure you can buy them on -line as well, but it sure helps when you can buy your ingredients locally. Aside from that, this recipe is very good.  Give it a try if you like hummus, and i f you want to add more lentils to your die t.   Note: After chilling this, t he color was a teensy bit more red. My fam ily (those that enjoy hummus) raved over this recipe.  They enjoy ed it more than my regular hummus recipe that uses chickp...

I' ll be honest w hen I tell you that I had my doubts trying this recipe.  Once again, I found it in a library book. It's a win- win re cipe.  My kids devo ured this and wanted more.  I'm not exaggerating either .  It's inexpens ive, healthy, and deli cious.  They were even asking for it the next day.  No ki dding.