Garlic, Lemon Balm, and a Toad

What a combination to write about too.  First, I decided to add more fresh garlic in my diet and found this delicious salad.  I had a few of the kids try it, as the rest of them had no interest in trying it.

Southwestern Quinoa and Chickpea Salad

(From The Doctors Book of Food Remedies, By Selene Yeager and the Editors of Prevention Health Books)

1 cup quinoa

1 3/4 cups water

4 tsp. olive oil

1 cup rinsed and drained canned chickpeas

1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped

3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

2 Tbsp. minced fresh cilantro

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1 clove garlic, minced

1/8 tsp. salt

Place the quinoa in a fine sieve and rinse well with cold water.  Drain and transfer to a medium saucepan.

Add the water and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the quinoa is tender but still slightly crunchy.  If all the water has not been absorbed, drain it through a fine sieve.

Place the quinoa in a medium bowl.  Drizzle with the oil and toss to mix.  Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, lime juice, cilantro, cumin, garlic, and salt.  Toss thoroughly to mix.

Makes 4 servings.  Tip:  Try baking dry chickpeas ahead of time.

I planted cumin for the first time ever this year.  I see only a few came up, but we had a very strange start to our summer.  The abundance of rain, followed by no rain, caused some odd growing in the plants.

I cut some lemon balm yesterday.  I will dry it to add to a tea for my sore throat.  I am also considering finely chopping some fresh lemon balm, and adding it to our Lemon Wild Black Raspberry Muffins.  

Oh....and for the "toad" part of today's post . . .

Check this out.  A toad has made his home in my redbud tree pot.  We removed him, and later in the day, he was right back in the pot.

Look just above the word "Pioneer" on the photo.  You can see his head barely sticking out of the dirt.  You may have to click on the photo to enlarge it to really see it. 

Working With Hands

Despite not feeling myself yet, and still having laryngitis, I made Wild Black Raspberry Jam - 7 pints.  I could have simply told them to freeze the berries, but I was destined to have more jam this summer than last.  Last year I made jelly with the berries, but it requires a lot more berries.

If you have never picked wild berries, you have no idea how much work it is.  My son went out there, with a sweat jacket on (to fight off prickers  and mosquitoes) in 80 degree weather, and picked a quart by himself.  I didn't take a photo of them, but they are smaller than what you buy in the store. Much smaller.  After he came in, my husband went back out with two of the girls and brought more in.

I had 8 cups of wild black raspberries, and there are more out there yet.  I lost my jelly recipe, so I still need to make grape, candy apple and other jellies, to re-stock our supply.

I cannot wait to have a root cellar.  We do not have a basement in this old farm house either.  Storage is a problem for this sort of thing.  Then there is the septic and the buried propane tank.  If we keep this place, it will be interesting as to where we dig for the root cellar.   The couple that originally built this old farm house did not have kids.  It was simply the two of them, thus no root cellar.

After canning the jam, I retreated to my bed to sleep off the allergy medications - blech!  Then I somehow managed to finish off my very first Granny Square hand towel.  This was meant to be placed in my "store" for sale, but I loved it so much it went right into my bathroom.  I plan to add some to the kitchen too.

And speaking of "hands" and work, my daughter came in form the chicken coop.  She has been introducing the barred rocks and Lola (tetratint) to the red hens.  

With two roosters for each group of hens, they don't get along in the coop.  We talked about letting our other rooster roam free, but the kids all squawked about his safety at night.  So, they volunteered to place a red hen in with the others ever night and watch them.  

The other day, while they were all outside free ranging, we kept hearing the roosters crow.  They were having a "crow off" and crowing back and forth.  Wish we got it on video.

To our surprise, on June 27, 2011, the barred rocks/Lola started laying eggs.  We got our first two from them, and they are smaller of course. 

I'm glad we got the different chickens, even though it's a tedious task to get them to get along.  It's nice to look out and see them roam.  One day, we actually had a driver stop on the 2-lane country highway, and watch them peck the ground.  They were intrigued at Mazda, and his brilliant colors.

You can't really see the gorgeous green in his tail feathers, but he's a pretty handsome rooster.