What I'm reading...

I know I should be spending this Lent reading spiritual works of the Saints, but I can't seem to get away from these gardening books.

Preserving Food Without Canning or Freezing

Four Season Harvest

In the last couple of weeks I have shifted the goal of my vegetable garden from just sustaining us over the summer to having a year round garden that will allow us to preserve about half our harvest. With these difficult economic times and the tyranical nature of our president, I really fear for our future. Having a self sustaining garden is one small thing I can do to provide some security for my family. Well, that and LOTS of prayer!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Taco salad. Gotta use up salad greens from our garden this week!

Tuesday: Quick gnocchi. Will mix chopped spinach and parm cheese into the dough and serve with homemade tomato sauce and salad.

Wednesday: Chicken club wraps on homemade sprouted wheat tortillas served with fresh fruit.

Thursday: Burgers on the grill served with a cucumber salad.

Friday: Pancakes with real maple syrup and fresh fruit.

Saturday: Vegetable-egg fritatta and homemade biscuits.

Sunday: Pasta with butter and fresh grated parm cheese. Served with salad.

It's that time of year again...

It's Little League baseball season here in south Texas.
I love the smell of brand new cleats and batting gloves,
musty old baseball bags-not so much!

Watching my boys play catch during a beautiful spring evening.

The concession stand popcorn, nachos, and John Paul's favorite: RING POPS!

Cheering on my favorite player even if he rolls his eyes and mouths the words,
"Stop, mom, you're embarrassing me!"

Each season Kyle grows more and more into a young man~
learning so much...and not just about baseball.

I'm not green...I'm just cheap!

An old bookcase (with the back and shelving removed) makes an awesome and cheap raised gardening bed. This bed holds 20 Texas Sweet yellow onions.

I spy with my little eye...

...something GREEN!

The most beautiful, green potato plant has sprouted smack dab in the middle of my compost bin. Not sure what I should do about it.
Any suggestions?

Biscuits that are the BOMB!

I have searched and searched for an easy biscuit recipe and have FINALLY found it!
These babies are light and fluffy and so simple to make with ingredients we always have on hand and I can have them ready in fifteen minutes!

The Best Homemade Biscuit Recipe EVER!

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powder (aluminum free if you can get it)
4 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick of butter cut into half inch pats - make sure butter is COLD!

Place all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse 2-3 times. You want the butter cut into the flour, but not into microscopic pieces. The big chunks of butter is what makes these biscuits so light and fluffy.

Pour your mixture into a bowl and mix in:
One egg
2/3 cup of cold whole milk

Mix until mixture comes together, turn out onto floured surface, and knead gently 3-4 times. Kneading too much makes the biscuits tough and the heat of your hands melts the butter. Roll out to 1 to 1 1/2 inch thickness and cut out rounds using a biscuit cutter or glass rim. I can get 12 biscuits out of this recipe.

Bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

I know many of you may be scoffing at the butter, whole milk and white flour in this recipe but seriously, it's better for you than all the preservatives and hydrogenated oils in canned biscuits!
Plus, I love the look on the kid's faces when I pull these guys out of the oven!

Edited to add:

This morning the boys were hollering for biscuits so I decided to experiment with a healthier version.
~Instead of 2C. of white flour, I used 1C. white and 1C. whole wheat.
~I used 4 tsp. of raw honey instead of sugar.
~Added 1 heaping tbs. of ground flax.

Verdict:
They turned out just as good! Not quite as high and fluffy as the all white version but still light and flaky. I think tonight before bed I will soak the 1C. of whole wheat flour in the 2/3 cup of milk with 1tsp. of whey (to break down the phytic acid and make it more digestible, blah..blah...blah...) and see how that works in the morning.

Honey wheat flaxseed biscuits
yum.

Nesting

It's nesting time for birds!
Today we made a sachet of fodder for our little yard birds.

Take any mesh bag (like the ones potatoes and onions come in), and fill with straw, twigs, grasses, bits of yarn and torn fabric, even hair from your hairbrush!

Place it near a feeder so it will be seen by the birdies. Then as summer comes, have the kids keep an eye out for some colorful nests built from from these materials.

Fill your feeders and join in the GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Roasted chicken and vegetables. Will roast everything early in the day so we can eat as soon as ball practice is over.

Tuesday: Classic meatloaf. Made with grass fed beef with pureed vegetables snuck in so JP won't notice! I'll assemble this in the morning so it will be ready to pop in the oven right before meal time.

Wednesday: Kale and white bean soup. Will use the bones from Monday's meal to make the stock for this soup. Easily adapted to the crock pot - put in kale 15 minutes before serving.

Thursday: Baked potato bar.

Friday: Baked mac & cheese. Will make this earlier in the week and freeze it. Will pull it out to defrost before going to work and Doug can just pop it in the oven.

Saturday: Fish tacos with homemade sprouted wheat tortillas and pico de gallo.

Sunday: Herb baked eggs and homemade biscuts.

For hundreds of other great meal plans, check out www.orgjunkie.com

So pretty!

I used up the last of our cabbage today to make more sauerkraut. I used one large green head and two small red, the colors were just incredible! We'll see how it turns out as the brine turned the deepest shade of purple (even deeper than purple easter egg dye!)
It will look mighty pretty in canning jars that's for sure!

Spring cleaning

Yesterday we cleared out our winter garden to prep the soil for spring.

Thank God for healthy and strong teen aged boys because my back just can't take it anymore!

I'd love to say they worked so hard from the goodness of their heart and the betterment of the family, but honestly, cold hard cash was the only motivator here.

That, and the fun of spraying your brother with ant pile dirt!

Too big!

On our way home from my sister's house last weekend we stopped by the mall. While we were window shopping, John Paul spied the Build-A-Bear-Workshop and begged to go in. Ryan and Kyle were mortified that they had to "cruise" the mall with their mom and baby brothers, so I let them have some respite while me and the little guys built a bear.
JP and Danny selected their bears and took them to the station to be filled. The very nice lady filled their bears full of fluff and then asked Danny to go get a stuffed heart to place inside his bear before she sewed him up. He picked the heart he wanted out of the bunch and the lady told him, "Close your eyes, make a wish, then kiss your heart and put it inside your bear!"
Danny just stood there so she repeated her instructions.
Finally Danny rolled his eyes and said in a very exasperated voice,

"Ummmmmm...I'm too BIG for that!"

The clerk and I looked at each other and simultaneously burst out into laughter!

Too big indeed!

And Lent Begins...

"From dust you came, and to dust you shall return."

Wishing all of our Catholic friends and family a blessed and fruitful Lent.

And for non-Catholics, curious why we put ourselves through all this penance and fasting? READ HERE.

Kraut is done!

My cabbage has been fermenting in the mud room for two weeks now (mmmmm...doesn't that sound appetizing?) and I bottled it up this morning!

The color is still nice and green and most of the cabbage is still crisp. It has a lovely sweet, tangy taste which is much milder than the pungent pucker you get with bagged or canned kraut.

I really packed it down into three quart jars and covered them in brine. It's not enough to get out my big steam canner, so I think I'll just store these babies in the fridge (they'll keep for months and months!)

I may have to alter my menu plan for today! I forgot that the kraut would be done when I did my planning and shopping. I think we'll be having grilled brats with a generous helping of kraut instead!

It's not exactly a traditional fat Tuesday meal...

...anyone know how to say, "Let the good times roll!" in German?

Happy Birthday Aunt Bonnie!

This weekend we all gathered at my sister Sonya's house for a birthday celebration for our Aunt Bonnie. My Aunt Sandy flew down from Dallas to join the party as well! Sonya made a delicious lunch and we had the most wonderful afternoon talking, laughing and playing Farkle (Google it!)

Let's not wait so long for the next get together, girls!
I love you all and was so happy to spend such a wonderful day with you!

Happy Birthday Aunt Bonnie!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Chicken and shredded cabbage salad served with food processor french bread.

Tuesday: Hot muffaletta sandwiches in celebration of Fat Tueday.

Wednesday: Split pea soup with homemade bread.

Thursday: Grilled chicken and roasted swiss chard.

Friday: Quinoa fried rice.

Saturday: Smoky bean and bacon soup

Sunday: Baked ziti and salad.

Check out hundreds of other meal plans on www.orgjunkie.com