Return of the Baker

Brandon loved the idea of me posting something about him so much that he wanted to try out a new recipe just so I could share it with everyone. He really loves to make pancakes. This is a fun and healthy one that got two thumbs up from all of us today.



Notes from Brandon:
It's not enough to make pancakes for four people so you have to double the recipe.
It got very thick and not easy to pour so I added more apple juice, probably 1/4cup.
Bryson thinks it taste like pumpkin pancakes.

Honey-Apple Pancakes

1 1/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. apple pie spice
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 Tbs. water
1 1/2 Tbs. oil
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 c. apple juice
2 Tbs. honey
1 Tbs. oil
1 apple, finely chopped (Brandon used dried apples that he soaked)

In medium bowl stir together flour, salt, 2 tsp. baking powder, apple pie spice, soda, and cinnamon. Mix water, 1 1/2 Tbs. oil, and 1 tsp. baking powder together. In a small bowl, add the other wet ingredients and chopped apple; add all at once to flour, stirring until blended, but still slightly lumpy, Let batter rest 2-3 minutes. Fry on griddle.

10 Life Lessons I Learned While Canning with My Kids

This was a one of a kind day the kids and I shared. Boy how I wish we had pictures to prove it! By the end of the day I decided that posterity ( and the rest of the world ) needed to have these life lessons recorded or it would be a disservice to mankind (and mommykind). So here goes:

1. Brandon can work by himself cutting, coring, and pureeing pears for 5 straight hours.
2. Children can be surrounded by food and still be starving because there is nothing to eat - which means that mom can't stop to fix something.
3. You can make brown sugar by adding molasses to white sugar, but if you ask Makaila to stir it and Logan to supervise you WILL be walking on sugar for the rest of the day - even after mopping the flour four times.
4. It will take Logan and Makaila 9 hours to mix 8 batches of cookie dough - not because they don't want to do it, but rather because cheap hand blenders do not like to mix more than one batch at a time.
5. Things you think you will never run out of, like baking soda, brown sugar, and lemon juice, will all run out on the same day, just not at the same time, and of course, after you've already gone to the store twice.
6. Every store in a 50 mile radius who should, could, or might carry the ONE thing you desperately need TODAY, will be out of it - add to that, every person who might have one that you could borrow is not home or does not answer their phone.
7. The reality of math and the reality of math in canning are two totally different realities because 5 apples per quart jar x 6 jars in one batch x 5 batches = 150 apples but does not equal 30 quarts of apple pie filling.
8. It takes Jessica and I almost 9 hours to peel, core, and cut 150 apples.
9. After 12 hours of working on apple pie filling, 18 quarts just doesn't seem like a fair trade.
10. But what makes it all worth while is GRATITUDE wrapped up in little Bryson as he tastes what we have done, his eyes getting as big a saucers and he gives you two thumbs up as he says, "Mmmmm! Mommy, this is deeeeeelicious! Thaaaaaaank you!"

Home made Garden Stakes

Garden stakes doubled in price from last year making it necessary for me to come up with an alternative. This is Daniel's idea, but the kids and I are the ones who get to make them. Bryson wanted to be my picture model to show how simply easy these garden stakes are to make.

All you need is wire hangers and wire cutters. These wire cutters are too small for these hangers so make sure you have the right size or it will be very hard work. We end up with lots of wire hangers and can always get more when we need. So this is a project that cost us nothing except time and energy.

First, cut the top off of the hanger and straighten the rest of the hanger.
Next, cut the straight piece into four equal pieces (or as equal as you can get without stressing too much about it)
Finally, bend each piece into a stake. Then your done. How simple was that! Now its time to put them in the ground.
This is the finished product. These do not take a lot of time to make. Just hand muscles. Good luck! And have fun!

My Garden Variety 2011

So I am done with the planting of this summer's garden. Now it's just time to tend and harvest. YIPEE!!! I will plant a fall garden as well and I've been gathering hints on how to have a successful fall garden and how to harvest earlier in the spring. That will be another post. Right now, I feel the need to list everything that I planted at this time. In my garden right now is:

1. Kale - the rabbits love it
2. Cabbage - green and purple - another rabbit favorite
3. Lettuce
4. Onions
5. Broccoli
   
6. Brussels Sprouts
7. Potatoes
8. Bell Peppers - red and green
9. Egg Plant
10. Okra
11. Cucumber - Straight 8 and National Pickling
12. Snow Peas
13. Beans - Yellow Wax Bush Bean, Stringless Green Bean, Tendergreen Improved, and Harvester
    
14. Pumpkin - Fairytale, Amish Pie, Mega Pumpkin
    
15. Squash - Zucchini, Butternut, Acorn, Crookneck
16. Watermelon - Sugar Baby
17. Cantaloupe
18. Strawberries - Junebearing, Everbearing
19. Spinach
20. Tomatoes - Big Boy, Early Girl, Big Cherry, Slicing, Lemon Boy, Yellow Pear
    

Spinach

Okra

Lettuce

Brussels Sprouts

Broccoli

These pictures are from last week so everything is a little bigger. We've been in a drought so keeping up with water is hard. I've been trying to figure out a better way to water to no avail. This weekend we got a good rain. I am so happy. I sure hope Everything yields well. I am very excited about it all. We need this food. I can't wait to can what we don't eat fresh.

Pioneer Trek Time

It is that time finally for our little band of Pioneers to go on Trek. We've been preparing for months now. Don't they look good! I finished all the shirts last night. My camera did not want to work well for me at 5am this morning so the pictures aren't the best. I did not get the vests done because my wash house burnt down with the pattern and material for in it. That's ok. They still look good.

Our group is Marvin Blue, Bradley Blue, Logan Enfield, Jessica Enfield, and Deiah Curtis. They meet up with the other groups in Salina at 6:30am and then headed for Oklahoma. They will be there three days. We will see how they fared when they get back.

This is my son Logan, 15. He is growing up so fast. Isn't he handsome!

My precious Jessica, 14. She looks just like my sister, and acts like her too. But her expressions are all mine. She makes me laugh. She is a lot like me. That makes me so Happy!

My Organized Cupboards

A couple of my friends asked me to take pictures of my cupboards and pantry because they liked the way I organized it and wanted to show others. So I did. I get teased for being a little OCD, but it's what works for me. Most everything is in see-through containers and are all labeled. Unfortunately, when I took these pictures I was feeling a little like Old Mother Hubbard because my cupboards were looking kind of bear.

This cupboard has my dry fruit, nuts, and seeds.


This cabinet has my sugars, grains, and specialty flowers.

This is one wall in my pantry. The top drawers have beans, the tall containers have pastas and rice, and the bottom containers have more beans, brown rice, dry milk, and TVP.

I find that it's much easier to make good meals, especially at the last minute, when I can see exactly what I have. Also,I know how low I am on something right away. When my containers are full I am so happy and I feel like the luckiest lady on earth. I can make anything! Then, we all know the contrast. When food is low so are our spirits. That's when I wish my containers weren't so clear. Thank goodness they are more often full then empty.

One day maybe I'll share some recipes with all these crazy good things I have in my kitchen. Their combinations sure do make for some wonderful food.

A New Baker's in Town

This is my son Brandon, who is 11. He is holding the first loaf of bread he made (mostly) by himself. Isn't it beautiful!! We had lots of fun with it. He is such a natural cook. He has also pretty well mastered the art of making pancakes. I am excited to see his skills develop as he grows. He's such a wonderful boy.

This is the very simple recipe he used:

White Bread

6 cups All Purpose Flour (We used half wheat flour)
2 pkgs. Fast Rising Yeast
3 Tbs. sugar
2 tsp. salt
2 cups water
1/2 cup milk
3 Tbs. margarine

Set aside 1 cup of flour from total amount. Mix remaining flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Heat water, milk, and margarine until hot to touch, 125-130 degrees. Stir hot liquids into dry mixture. Mix in reserved flour, enough to make a soft dough that does not stick to the bowl. Turn out onto floured board and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes. Cover dough and let rest 10 minutes. Cut dough in half and shape into loaves. Place in 2, greased 9x5 loaf pans. Cover and let rise in warm place until double in size, about 40-50 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. Makes 2 loaves.

This is a very good bread!

A little Garden News

So much is going on and I desperately want to write about it every day, but I want to include the pictures I've been taking and in that lies the problem. Oh my my! All this technology is overwhelming at times. I planted the last of what I can for this summer and I'm very disappointed in how things are turning out so far. Everything has been planted multiple times and some things just haven't made it at all. The succession planting is not the problem since I will be getting the produce spread out a little more. Some things are looking very good.

This is the onions. They have already gone to seed. They look good, but unfortunately they will not be getting any bigger. Bummer! In the background you can see another part of the garden. It looks all green but really there are more weeds than food. Bummer again.

This one was taken last week. The cabbage is one thing that is looking really good. Except the fact that the rabbits keep eating them. We have a field full of them and can't seem to find a way to keep them out. I'm still working on it though.


The Snow Peas finally are looking like something is going to happen. I have gotten two little pickings so far, just enough to make stir fry and eat a handful. Boy are they good!!!

My Turkey of the day

Isn't it wonderful! I love blessings like these. I am always grateful when Ian thinks to bring us some food. Since I don't have a lot of time today I just cut it into cubes and froze it in 2lb portions. Then I cut up the rest and am making broth and turkey noodle soup. I will freeze that too. I would rather can it, but like I said, lots to do and little time. This makes me so happy!!!


This is one pretty bird!

So I was told the other day that a blog spot is really a ME spot and so I needed to spend more time really letting people know who I am. I just wanted my blog spot to be about all the cool things I DO not the not so cool person I am. But, by the lack of cool things posted I am left with either giving up on the blog or just blogging about my real day to day life that seems long and boring to read about and would have a lot of ME, ME, ME in it. I'm not so sure I'm even comfortable with that idea, but since I don't want to give up I guess I'll have to try it. So forgive me from the start and know that I am who I am for better or worse. Thanks for letting me be me.

So to get started I guess I can say that I just finished my final exam for my Wildlife Management class. It was amazing! I loved this class so much. It reminded me every day why I have always wanted to be a wildlife manager. I'm pretty sure I aced the test and the class, but I will have to let you know.

The roads are supper slick so I'm just killing time waiting for them to thaw a little. It took me almost 40 minutes to get to school this morning. A trip that usually takes 15 minutes. I left the kids at home so they have a free day. The weather is supposed to turn bad again and I just don't want to have to deal with it over and over again. I almost had to take the ditch yesterday because a semi was slowing down and his back end was sliding into my lane. I just don't feel the need to relive that again -- or anything close to it.

I started my tomato plants already -72 of them; 12 slicing, 12 cherry, 12 duel purpose, and 36 for canning. They are doing good. I am so excited. I hope this year I have a bumper crop. That's the plan anyway. I will have an upper hand this year though, because I have an internship this year with an organic farmer. Every bit of things I learn from him I will apply right back to my own farm. I am soooooooo happy. It will be A LOT of work and a lot of double duty but it will be totally worth it.

Well, I guess that's it for right now. Till next time.