Cats Earn Their Keep

I was tickled to look out my window and see Cheddar carrying a mouse in his mouth.  Next thing I know, he's out there playing with it, along with Tim.  I'm glad to see they both are good mousers.  We need the extra help on the rodent patrol.

Homemade Ricotta ~ We're Loving It!

Making cheese this year was one of my goals.  I am so thrilled I did.  We have been using our goat's milk ricotta cheese for many dishes lately - Lasagna, Chickpea Stuffed Shells.


Yesterday I baked us a Ricotta Frittata with spinach, onion, garlic, oregano, kohlrabi, farm fresh eggs and ricotta cheese.  Yum! Oh, and I threw in some organic Swiss chard (red stems removed).

Here is how I made this Frittata:
 
Saute one small onion with 2 cloves of garlic and one (trimmed, peeled and chopped) kohlrabi in olive oil.  Cook until the kohlrabi is softened. 


Next, scramble about 8-9 farm fresh eggs and set aside.


When the kohlrabi mix is ready, toss in any amount of spinach you prefer in your frittata.  Cook until it wilts.  You can also used frozen spinach - thaw, squeeze dry and use the amount you prefer.  


Place your kohlrabi mix into an oiled quiche pan.  Pour eggs over it.  With a teaspoon, drop spoonfuls of ricotta cheese into it.  I used about 2/3 cup.


Bake at 375°F until eggs are firm.  


You can use any herbs to spice this up too.  I used some dried oregano from my garden and salt and pepper. 

And of course, we couldn't resist baking up some Ricotta Italian cookies.  These were chowed down before frosting could ever be made.  There are very similar to a sour cream cookie we make at Christmas time. Yum!


So what's next on my list, besides trying new cheese recipe?  Getting a cow of course. Or two.

Excerpts from a Journal Junkie

from the homesteading journal. . .

The garden is producing kohlrabi, lettuce, sugar snap peas, beets, organic red stem Swiss chard, collards, mustard greens, and radishes. The green beans, peppers, tomatoes and broccoli are just now coming in too.


The joke's on us.  The flat of cauliflower that we bought just down the road at the produce stand, was marked incorrectly.  It was not cauliflower.  It was kohlrabi.  Big bummer. 

The company hubby works for, dropped us off our insurance plan, and put us with their basic plan.  All because hubby forgot to fill out an online survey.  We are sunk.  We lost our co-pay, and don't have prescription coverage and have a huge deductible per person.  He's sending in an appeal, but it takes 45 days.  Basically, we'd have to spend out thousands before our insurance would pay anything.  We are paying a large amount to not have anything covered that was covered before.  The ridiculous part, is that these surveys ask you questions like "would you recommend this to someone?" We are very concerned, not only for our own sake, but for the falsehoods of this company.  Hubby put out e-mails and found out there are other employees that were dropped and not notified.

We are still seeking a buyer for our buckling.  We named him "weather man bleu."  If the weather is going to be very hot, we don't see him out.  If we see him out, it should be a decent day. He's having a very difficult time with the heat.

Queen Anne's Lace is in bloom, so I canned 5 -1/2 pints for the Farmer's Market.  I'll need more for stocking up. 

Here is the recipe: Queen Anne's Lace Jelly Recipe


Note: The key to this jelly setting is to stir constantly.



Temperatures have gotten up to 105° F here and today it will be around 97°F.  We are really hurting for rain.  Watering all of the gardens (vegetable, herb, and flower) is very tedious.

It was time to mix up another 5 gallon bucket of homemade laundry detergent.  This time I was grateful to have goat's milk soap to make it with.

We made another batch of homemade ricotta goat's milk cheese.  I plan to make cookies and a spinach frittata with the leftovers.  We already made vegetable lasagna. 
 

from the crafting journal . . .

I finally finished my knitted shawl. My 10 year-old is modeling it.  I did make mistakes and was about to rip it out and start over, but she wanted it.  I'm starting another one, and will add fringe to it.  I need the practice anyway.  I love this style.  It reminds of the one Caroline wears on the Little House on the Prairie television shows.

 
from the gratitude journal . . .

Today I am thankful for:

~the water hose that hubby hooked up a few years ago
~a bypass on our water softener to make watering better
~the water hose to cool off the dogs and goats
~the water hose to make watering the chickens easier
~God's protection and promises
 


from the family journal . . .

My son is now signed up for classes at a local college this fall.  He's working towards a degree in Art.

My 18 year-old daughter was accepted to another college, but if she cannot figure out a way to pay for it without loans, she is looking into the Marines.  She intends to work towards a degree with Equine.

Mom took the younger two girls for the weekend.  We gifted her with a dozen farm fresh eggs, a jar of wild black raspberry/honey syrup and a jar of strawberry-honey jam.
 

Kohlrabi Patties with Onion

With several home grown (organic) kohlrabi ready to harvest, I decided to make patties with them.  These were delicious!  They required no salt either.  This reminds of meals the pioneers could make - straight from the garden (aside from the flour, but they could grind their own flour too).

Yarn Needles, Chickens and Health

Use an over-sized safety pin to hold yarn needles.  I can pin this to just about anything when I am working on a project.

We lost one of our Araucana pullets yesterday.  Such a sad loss.  My 15 year-old daughter has been working with them and they are very friendly with us.   She started to feed another hen with a dropper, in hopes to solve the issues.  We believe they have worms and we are treating them with apple cider vinegar.  They enjoyed being outside yesterday.


After 6 hours of weeding and tilling  and harvesting the garden, I spent the night in bed with my foot up.  Yep, I did it again.  It hurts so bad I can't walk on it.  Between that muscle (I can't remember what the doctor called it) and my sciatic nerves, I won't be able to do much this week.  This is not a good thing.


I did start another batch of goat's milk ricotta cheese. It will need to be rinsed today and put in the refrigerator.  I hope to make (or have a daughter make) lasagna with it.

Mom I'm Bored!

There's a cure for bored kids in my house. He he he!  It's called cleaning and organizing.

 (Top cupboards, no hardware)

(Bottom, with hardware)

It's actually working for my 15 year-old daughter.  She's taking kitchen cupboards apart one by one and priming them for a new coat of paint.  These mix and match cupboards have really darkened the kitchen, with the bottom dark brown and the top an off-white.  The top cupboards will need hardware, because we are painting everything antique or country white.  

The cubbies you see in the top cupboards had tiny baskets that I could not use.  I took the baskets out and placed tea cups in them.  I have them in the lower cupboards (have no idea what they would have used them for) and may try to saw out the shelves to store my cookie sheets etc. in.  I guess we'll see.  These are the before photos.

While I took the time to "rest" I decided to pick up a few things in my room, where the leaning tower of Pisa really resides.

Literally.  The pile up of crafting projects, yarn, supplies, patterns, my reading books and journals, are about to topple over.   Peace comes with an organized room, so I opened the bedroom closet door.  

I was able to dig out a large cut piece of fleece, that had a beautiful rose pattern on it.  It's moved with me 2 times.  Sad I know.  So, I cut the sides, and gave it to my 10 year-old to tie knots and make herself a fleece blanket.  

I dug out the bag of knitting needles that I snatched up at a thrift store a while back.  I cleaned them all up, and split them up between me and two of the girls.  I even found a double ended crochet hook in it, which is just what I've been looking for.

Cha-ching - two things put away and out of my room.

Then I took some scraps, odds and ends and put them in the kids "rainy day" box.

Cha-ching - more out of my room.

.....and the cleaning will continue throughout the summer.  Happy days await. 


Tonight, there will 3 screaming 12/13 year-old's staying the night, to celebrate my 12 year-old daughter turning 13 today.

How I am Doing It - Getting in shape and Exercise

I've had a few people ask me what I am doing to lose weight and get in shape. My goal is to completely shed 50 pounds(or more).  I am down 14.  At our ages, it doesn't come off as fast, and if it took me 6 years to put it all on, I would rather it came slow to ensure it stays off (vs. fast).  I do not do weight watcher's or any program that requires buying frozen meals. 

Here is what I am doing:

~Eating as many real foods (homegrown without chemicals or organic) vs. processed foods (even Subway is very high in sodium so don't let them fool you).  We cut out shortening, eat less bread, and now can jam with honey vs. sugar.  Last year we planted a boat load of green pepper plants, I am just now finishing up the last in the freezer.  It lasted all winter long. Peppers, along with apples, are high in pesticides in stores.  Even at some orchards.  We are trying to eliminate all foods that would have chemicals.


*For example: eating fresh farm eggs with veggies, or oatmeal with garden pumpkin, or steel cut oats vs. store boxed cereal.  We utilize our goat's milk in everything we can also.

~Exercise, on top of our regular physical outdoor and indoor work.  We regularly go to the gym for a good hour or more.  We lift weights followed by cardio (treadmill or elliptical etc.).  Some times we ride our bikes there or bike ride instead.  Hubby and I love to box also.  He entered a boxing contest back in the day.  Years ago we bought a heavy bag and a speed bag.  They are both in the garage.    The gym we go to, is set up in our old high school, and out in the country.  The fees for families with children in the school system there are $25.00/month per family - affordable and in a good location.  I bench press just like hubby etc.

~Rest.  To be fit mentally, I am really working on taking "rest" days.  They help us stay emotionally fit.  With a blended family of 8, there can be a lot of stress in this house.  

~Eliminate or Limit Alcohol.  This is a huge must if you want to stay in shape and be healthy.  Hubby still enjoys a beer after a long day at work and having mowed the grass, but it's limited.   I plan to order us some organic wine for special occasions (dates alone, Christmas, etc.).

~Insurance Reasons:  Our health insurance requires not just my hubby, but myself also, to participate in an on-line exercise/health program.  We participate in various things and earn points.  By a certain date we must have 1000 points in order to keep our insurance as it is, and at the same price.  If not, we lose benefits, and pay a higher price.  Some programs are logging exercise hours, losing extra weight, learning to cook (which I already do anyway), calling a nurse, watching on-line movies about health and taking a quiz etc.  It's a pain in the rear and time consuming, but we can't afford to have bad health or pay higher prices. 


Misc:  I am also buying local honey and drinking a mix of 1 tsp. honey/1 tsp. Bragg's apple cider vinegar and 8 oz. of water each day (many benefits).

I'm not selling any product, nor am I a doctor.  I'm just sharing what we are doing.  Hubby had lowered all of his numbers for cholesterol and I'll be getting mine checked soon. 

More Misc:  Limit computer and TV.  This is more important to me than the kids.  They could care less, but I am mentally fit when I spend less time on the Internet and computer.  If I spend too much time, I am groggy and not in a pleasant mood.  It zaps my energy.