"Happy National Poultry Day!"
March 19th
March 19th
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Spring Break!
Ahh! It's feeling like spring time around these parts.
The chickens are happily clucking.
The bradford pears are blooming.
The bees are buzzing.
The onions are growing.
And, I always think Miss Daisy
looks like a little spring lamb
when she comes back fresh from the groomers.
Happy Spring Break! :-)
Carrie
Carrie (Underwood ;-), my Ameraucana,
is one year old this week!
I'm so glad she transitioned into the flock last spring
as well as she did. She was on her own instead of
being transitioned with another pullet as planned.
She lays a blue/green egg everyday and
stays close to home when she free ranges.
She's a sweetie.
Blueberries :-)
Similar to a
or a
this blueberry crostata from
was so yummy and
a perfect, blueberry, Spring Break treat.
Spring Cleaning
I've been a fan of
cleaning products for along time.
They are such a treat.
I was so excited to find the
products at my grocery store
and couldn't wait to do some
spring cleaning with them.
I bought them as a special treat,
came home and used the counter spray
ONE TIME
and my family nixed the fragrance right away. :-(
ALL three of them didn't like it.
So, back went the sweet honeysuckle to the store
and I'll be spring cleaning with my trusty
scent that we all love.
I'm hoping to try out the new
scent on the family soon.
We'll see how that goes.
My daughter said, "WHY would we want the house to smell like radishes??"
They just don't understand... ;-)
Something else that I've tried recently
are the ever popular
"magic erasers".
I was very skeptical,
but look what one little swipe
did to my yucky back door!
And I couldn't believe what the bath scrubber
did for my kid's vinyl bath tub. A-mazing!
Ever tried them?
Drying Herbs
Mr. H. and I are changing up our gardening areas this spring
and we've moved my herb garden.
My oregano really weathered the winter well
and was thriving
but I was worried it wouldn't survive a transplant,
so I decided to dry what I had.
Instead of bundling stems with strings and then tying the bundles
to another string,
Mr. H. thought of this quick and easy way to hang them up.
It took no time to clip them with clothes pins and
then we strung the clothes pins onto a string.
It has taken a little longer than I thought it would for them to dry completely.
Today is two weeks in and I think they are almost done.
They should be really "crunchy"
when I strip them off the stem for long term storage.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Spicy Romano Chicken
Ever been to Johnny Carino's Italian Restaurant?
Ever ordered Spicy Romano Chicken?
It's my favorite!
Guess what?
You can make it at home. :-)
Spicy Romano Chicken
8-10 servings
16 ounces bow tie pasta
1 stick butter, divided
2 tablespoons oil
1 pound fresh, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
16 ounces heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup shredded romano cheese
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 3.5 ounce package sun dried tomatoes, julienne cut
1 14.65 ounce can quartered artichoke hearts
1 small can sliced mushrooms
Boil pasta according to package directions.
Meanwhile, heat 4 tablespoons butter and oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Add chicken breasts and brown throughly on both sides. Turn heat down to medium low, cover, and continue to cook until chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan, slice thinly and set aside.
Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in a large saucepan. Add cream and bring to a boil. Lower heat and stir in cheese, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Stir until cheese has melted.
Add tomatoes, artichoke hearts, mushrooms and cooked chicken to sauce. Stir until mixed thoroughly and heated through.
Drain pasta. Add pasta to sauce and toss to coat.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Potatoes and Onions
At the last minute Mr. H. and I decided to
relocate our gardens this year.
We needed to get our onions and potatoes
in the ground quickly though,
so we planted them in my
We didn't plant as many of either as we had planned,
but at least we'll have some.
Stay tuned for more updates on our gardening adventures. :-)
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthday :-)
In honor of today being Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthday,
I thought I'd share some pictures from when
I got to visit Rocky Ridge Farm. :-)
Way back in April of 2006,
Mr. H. had a business trip to Missouri.
We were homeschooling at the time,
so the kids and I went along with him
as we often did.
On the way, we got to stop in Mansfield
at Rocky Ridge Farm.
The farm was the home for many years of
Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of my beloved
"Little House" books. :-)
Here I am sitting on the stump of a tree that
Almanzo and Laura planted.
It blew down during a storm and
I actually got a piece of it from the gift shop
while we were there.
We were able to tour inside the farm house
and I loved every minute of it.
It was so neat to walk through the home
where Laura had written the "Little House" books.
No pictures were allowed to be taken inside though.
Here we are on the front porch,
and on the back steps.
We also toured
Rose Wilder Lane's
Rock House
and stopped by the cemetery in Mansfield
where the Wilder's were laid to rest.
It was a wonderful visit!
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Growing Piggies
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Look what came in the mail today! :-)
My original recipe for
is on page 197. :-)
My post has been repinned 93 THOUSAND times on
pinterest!!!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Homemade Dishwasher Detergent
I've been using my
for almost two years now
and couldn't be happier with it.
Love it.
I decided to take the plunge and mix up some
homemade dishwasher detergent.
The only thing I needed to buy was a bottle of
Lemi Shine. I had everything else on hand at home.
The results weren't quite what I hoped.
I used it for about a week, with vinegar as a rinse aide,
and my dishes seemed clean, but they had a film and just
didn't look sparkly to me.
I'm planning to do some more research
and tweaking this summer.
and tweaking this summer.
If anyone has had great success
with homemade dishwasher detergent
with homemade dishwasher detergent
please feel free to leave me a comment with suggestions!
Laying Again
Around Thanksgiving each year my hens begin to molt and kind of "go on strike" for awhile.
Eggs are hard to come by for a few months.
But usually sometime around mid January,
egg production starts up again,
egg production starts up again,
and we can have scrambled eggs for breakfast
whenever we'd like
whenever we'd like
and I don't have to ration my eggs for baking.
As a side note, I have been raising chickens for almost three years now.
My original flock started laying in January of 2011,
and in two years of egg production I have needed to buy only three dozen eggs
to supplement my supply.
And I had free coupons for 2 cartons of them!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Desserts
Blueberry Cobbler
Blueberry Crostata
Caramel Apple Crisp
Chocolate Peanut Butter Parfaits
Chocolate Strawberry Parfaits
Fresh Peach Gallette
Laura Ingalls Wilder's Gingerbread
Light Lemon Mousse
Old Fashioned Apple Dumplings
Oreo Trifle
Patriotic Berry Trifle
Peach Cobbler
Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings
Pumpkin Roll
Rustic Berry Tart
Strawberry Delight
Strawberry Pizza
Summer Dessert Pizza
Tiramisu Parfaits
Blueberry Crostata
Caramel Apple Crisp
Chocolate Peanut Butter Parfaits
Chocolate Strawberry Parfaits
Fresh Peach Gallette
Laura Ingalls Wilder's Gingerbread
Light Lemon Mousse
Old Fashioned Apple Dumplings
Oreo Trifle
Patriotic Berry Trifle
Peach Cobbler
Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings
Pumpkin Roll
Rustic Berry Tart
Strawberry Delight
Strawberry Pizza
Summer Dessert Pizza
Tiramisu Parfaits
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