Snow Day 2011!

We got a little bit of the white stuff today,

and had more fun!

Hoosiers

"Use the talents you possess - 

for the woods would be a very silent place 

if no birds sang except for the best."  

~Henry Van Dyke

Sour Dough Update

Well it's been a week since I began my 

sour dough bread experiment.

The flour and water was making lots of "hootch" each day,

but not much else.  

I was starting to get a little frustrated,

when finally today I saw some bubbling!

I see a few bubbles on the side of the jar.

The starter is supposed to be full of bubbles throughout

and start to foam up on the top when it's ready.

I am hoping within the next day or so

I will be able to put the starter in the fridge,

make my first "sponge",

and then my first loaf of sour dough bread.

Stay tuned. :-)

Bible Quiz Day 62

Answer to question 61 - Jerusalem, Pentecost (Acts 2)

Question 62 - Jesus said to Nicodemus: "Except a man be born of __________ and of the __________ he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

The Pioneer Woman Does It Again!

No more jar salsas for this family!

This stuff is so very, very good.

It's what I have been trying to find in a jar at the grocery.

Just a few simple steps and you will have salsa that rivals your favorite restaurant's.  

Promise.

The Pioneer Woman's Restaurant Style Salsa

Menu Plan Monday

Supper Menus
January 31st - February 5th

Monday
baked lemon chicken with new potatoes and vegetables
Tuesday
mexican lasagna, guacamole, homemade salsa, tortilla chips
Wednesday
venison texas chili, jalapeno cornbread
Thursday
spaghetti, rosemary bread
Friday
homemade pizza
Saturday
kung pao chicken

Opal Gold

Found a new variety of apple today at the grocery.

"Opal Gold"

You really can't tell from the picture,

but it was as yellow as a yellow bell pepper!

And so tasty.

Barnyard Progress

Over the past few days much progress has been made on the barnyard.

Mr. H. took down some lattice work that has been such an eyesore. 

Yay!  NOT sorry to see that go. :-)

And has completed the fencing around the yard.

 

All that's left is to put in a gate and clip the chicken's wings.

After that they'll have lots more room to roam!

Then it will be time to paint the shed and the storage building barn red!  Can't wait!

Light Lunches

I've recently found (thank you Kristi!) a wonderful resource for light recipes -

Gina's Skinny Recipes

It's full of lots of recipes I'd like to try.

For lunch today, Mr. H. and I had

Wilted Baby Arugula, Spinach and Pasta

Not only was it good, but Mr. H. ate whole wheat pasta without a complaint, and...after splitting an apple for an afternoon snack, neither one of us got hungry before supper!

Bible Quiz Day 61

Answer to question 60 - Paul (I Corinthians 15:8-9)

Question 61 - The Lord's church was established in the city of __________ on the day of __________.

Sour Dough Bread Starter

Sour Dough Bread Starter Experiment 

Day #1

After spending the better part of the past several days trying to find on-line instructions for sour dough bread starter, 
I finally stumbled upon these 

Sour Dough Baking, The Basics

There is A LOT of information out there about sour dough bread and most of it confused me.  At one point, I even googled "sour dough bread for dummies"!  ;-)

So here I go!  Hoping this works and we have our first loaf of sour dough bread sometime next week! 

The chickens are 6 months old!

Patsy Cline

the Rhode Island Red

Loretta 

the Barred Plymouth Rock

Tammy

the White Plymouth Rock

Emmy Lou

the New Hampshire Red

Dolly

the Buff Orpington 

And who is responsible for all these eggs??

Miss Patsy Cline has laid an egg a day for the past week!  

We know for sure that she is laying and she lays in the nesting boxes.  

We also have another layer, but I haven't figured out who it is yet.

She is laying in the yard in the same spot.  

It has been such a fun six months!

Bible Quiz Day 60

Answer to 59 - Stephen (Acts 7:54-60)

Question 60 - __________ is called the apostle "born out of due time."

It's coming along...

I already love the changes Mr. H. is making.

Doesn't this look so much better,

than before? :-)

Now that the fence is down,

you can see the previous color of the shed.

MY part of the barnyard project is to paint it!

The plan is to cutesy it up with barn red paint and white trim. :-)

Banana Muffins

Banana Muffins
12 servings

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 bananas, mashed
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs and beat well.  Add bananas and mix well.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add to banana mixture.  Pour into a greased or paper lined muffin tin.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  Serve warm with butter and enjoy!

Out of the blue my daughter requested "banana muffins, no nuts" for breakfast.  This is the recipe I used.  She loved them.  I think my son did as well after hearing him proclaim them "as good as chocolate chip muffins!" ;-)

Bible Quiz Day 59

Answer to question 58 - Nichodemus

Question 59 -  __________ is called the first Christian martyr.

The start of the barnyard!

Mr. H. has started to build a barnyard.

He is using some existing structures, but changing things up a bit.

He's taking down some fences to reuse in other ways.

And making room for animal pens.

 He'll also be extending the chicken yard.

The girls will be so pleased.

(Though they aren't too fond of the power tools being used right now!)

I'm not really sure what the finished result will look like.

It's all in Mr. H.'s head right now!

But, as always, I love to watch the process! 

Bible Quiz Day 58

Answer to question 57 - Judas; Peter (Matthew 10:4; Matthew 26:69-75)

Question 58 - __________ a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus by night.

I very rarely fry anything around here.

Fried okra is about the extent of it.

But, I took a deep breath,

made the

Pioneer Woman's Apple Fritters

and didn't burn the house down. ;-)