Cooking Up Collards

We grew collard greens, along with other greens, for the first time last summer.  However, the collards were fed to the chickens for additional nutrition and calcium, so it never ended up on the table.

I've cooked Kale in several different ways - Kale chips, as a side, etc.  Collards have a different flavor and I decided to search out recipes that incorparate collards into the recipe vs. as a side.  I thought the kids would like it better.  We tried a recipe from Eating Well, and it was a hit.  I did however, add garden tomatoes, and organic tomato sauce.  Without the sauce, it wasn't very thick nor did it make enough to cover the whole wheat pasta.

Seeds Arriving ~ Heirloom

 

These are the first of our seed orders to arrive.  One contains heirloom redbud seeds, and the other a runner bean that will have beautiful blossoms.  I can't wait to receive the remainder of this years heirloom vegetable seeds.

Zapping Germs

This week my target cleaning area was my master bedroom.  I didn't do too much in there, but managed to clean the master bathroom.  With all of us sick, with different illnesses these last 2-3 weeks, I wanted to kill the bad germs.

We now keep disinfectant (mostly vinegar/water mixture) to spritz areas that are handled often.  For example, the refrigerator door handles are probably touched the most, next to the keyboard, remotes, and door knobs.  I usually wipe down the not-so-obvious areas too, such as the vacuum sweeper handle, washing machine buttons and door, and desk stapler.  There is one other area I started spritzing clean - my crochet hooks.

It never came to my mind to clean my crochet hooks until now.  If you think about it, we clean our kids toys often, by soaking them in bleach water or other solution to kill germs.  So why not our hobby tools?  I can't believe I didn't think to do it before.

After I cleaned, and was crocheting this afternoon, I could hear the kids watching YouTube music.  I busted out laughing when they shared The Duck Song.  Ha ha ha!  I think you'll like it too:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtN1YnoL46Q

Another Winter Blast

The wind left areas without any snow piled up, and other areas like our driveway, piled with huge drifts.  You can just about hear all the groans.  Shoveling all this driveway by hand is hard work.

Strawberry - Blueberry Muffins

 

The muffins were a hit.  I, of course, had to double the recipe.  We still have leftovers today, even after the kids snacked on them, and packed them in their school lunches.  I even think a few of the kids had one for breakfast.

Strawberry - Blueberry Muffins

3 Tbsp. canola oil

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs, organic

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 cup chopped fresh strawberries

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup fat-free milk, organic

*fresh grated nutmeg to taste (optional)

*Canola oil/ or other organic non-stick spray, or cupcake liners

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray 12-cup muffin tin with non-stick spray, or line with paper liners.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together oil, applesauce, sugar, and eggs.  Add vanilla, blueberries and strawberries.  In a separate bowl, blend flours, baking powder, and salt.  

Alternate mixing the flour mixture and milk, into the oil mixture.

Pour batter into muffin tins. 

Bake 23-30 minutes until golden brown.  Don't forget, these need to cool longer because the fruit inside them will be very hot.  Allow them to cool about 20 minutes before you remove them from the pan.

Preparing

While hanging my sheets on the clothesline, several things came to mind.  The peace and quiet out there some how triggers my thoughts into over drive.

I'm already starting to save the waxed liners from boxed cereal.  Those are washed and dried, and cut into squares to line between zucchini pancakes that are frozen.  The arrival of planting season makes me think of all that zucchini we grow, and what I need to be doing with it to save us money on food and cook healthy.

Each year we have learned what we can do better than the last, and prepare for canning, freezing, growing, and saving seeds.  Each year we prepare better than the last, gain knowledge, and eat healthier.

Even though we spent about 4 hours shoveling snow, I was able to get in 2 loads of laundry, make homemade chili, and write a rough draft for a book review. I will share the book review later today or in the next few days, depending on my chores.  I need to write in several journals, updating the amount of wood we used this year, what to prepare for next year and so forth.

Our homemade chili was blessed by a quart bag of frozen garden tomatoes, hormone free ground beef, a few frozen garden cayenne peppers (the only hot pepper I had in the freezer), and lots of the kidney and black beans I cooked up the day before.  I need to make notes in my garden journal to grow more onions and green peppers also.  We tend to cook with those more than last year.  And potatoes also.

Today, the crock pot is filled with onions, sweet potatoes, broth, garlic, spices, and a pork loin roast.  Yum.  The after school and lunch packing snacks will probably be banana bread, strawberry and blueberry muffins and maybe homemade bread.

Another Winter Blast ~ Two Shovels and Hard Work

The winds were horrible yesterday, and the slick layer of freezing rain underneath the snow didn't help.  We got our snow.  However, if you live in the country, you get more than 3-5 inches.  This photo from last night doesn't even show the horrible blowing of the snow.

This morning, I started shoveling out this 2 foot drift, that spread out across the middle or our horse shoe shaped drive.  It was probably 12 feet by 8-9 feet by 2 feet deep.  After an hour, I came in to sip some hot coffee and turned the shovels over to two kids for their 1 hour shift.  Rotating the kids, with the 2 shovels we have, I hope to have us dug out.

I started shoveling in the dark, and shoveled right through watching the sunrise this morning.  Although we were not happy to see more snow, and have to shovel more, the dogs were pretty happy to see it.

It's time to go back out and shovel more.  We have a car to dig out too.