Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to any mom reading this today.

My son took his wife and me and papa out to eat at a local restaurant with the grandbabies.

Tina, Xavier, Me, Kingston, Paul

It is hard to believe that my honeybunnies (grandkids) will be one year old on the 25th of this month.

Xavier

Kingston

I will be baking their birthday cakes so you can be sure I will be blogging on that one.

And I got red roses from hubby today. He is so sweet.

Like I said “Happy Mothers Day”.

How I Am Living Simply

I have taken to reading a lot of stories on the internet about how people are simplifying their lives and working toward independence from the establishment.

Like Sharon said in her “divorce” from a toxic situation. You Can Find The Link Here The term “divorce” meaning ( in my understanding) no contact..nadda..none.

It greatly inspires me, yet on the down side I feel it is extreme.

I too am working toward a simple life. Not by cutting off my electricity and building a solar oven. Not by selling my car and bicycling everywhere I go.

I simply am using less. I drive less, I consume less, I grow what I can to offset food prices and buy less, I don’t take long vacations or fly anymore.

I am not saying that someday I might not find myself building a solar oven, that I might not find myself living without electricity or gas.

I am just saying that the extreme of cutting myself off from everyday life would only happen if the rug was pulled out from under me. That as long as the bridge has not crumbled on it’s own I will continue to use it as needed.

People might view that as sitting on the fence and they would be right. But there is a difference in sitting on a fence with no expectation of it falling, and sitting there watching every sway and planning the best way to fall if and when it does.

You have to view the down side of purposely cutting off, all the people it could effect if everyone did the same. People would be out of work that they had relied on their whole lives as factories shut down for lack of business and profit. Many don’t have the stamina to make it like our ancestors did when they pioneered this land.

People like myself living in the country with an hours drive to purchase certain things can’t be bicycling everywhere they go even as they age. If we had to do it I am sure we would find a way, but as long as my situation is as it is I will continue to drive. I will just drive less.

I do have idealistic dreams of owning chickens and milk cows and living self sufficient. They are beautified in my mind however and I know the reality of it wouldn’t be as pretty.

I know we could make it, I am planning and accessing. I simply won’t make the jump without the wall crumbling first.

I personally don’t feel a need to “divorce” a way of life that has kept me very well for the biggest part of my life simply because the going gets tough. You can’t place all the blame on the establishment, as I am sure they do the best they can in light of all things. I will prepare for the cut if it falls on its own.

And that is how I am living simply and will continue….For the time being. Planning and partially living for the worst, but looking for the best in the situation.

Independence Days To You!

Sharon is running a Independence Days Challenge Independence Day Challenge
which is very inspiring to me. It entails to each day try to do one of the following

1. Plant something.
2. Harvest something.
3. Preserve something.
4. Prep something.
5. Cook something.
6. Manage your reserves.
7. Work on local food systems.

While I have not officially joined the challenge I feel I may participate as my time allows, since I have been trying to evolve as such anyway.
Her declaration follows -

quote -
United Food Sovereign People of the World. It is so desperately needed that we do declare our independence from the globalizing, totalitarian, destructive, toxic, dangerous agriculture that destroys our future and our power and pays to destroy democracy. And so, when in the course of human events it becomes necessary for people to divorce themselves from a system that has become destructive, and thus:

We the people, in order to form a more perfect union of human and nature, establish justice and ensure food sovreignty, provide for the common nutrition, promote the general welfare and ensure the blessings of liberty, for ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this constitution for the United Food Sovereign People of the World.

So for last week we planted rhubarb and lavender, a few Big Boy tomato and hot banana pepper. ( I don’t want to plant too many tomato or pepper yet because I have a hard time covering in frost events)

I lovingly looked at our smaller salad garden taking off.

That is black seeded simpson lettuce, jersy wakefield cabbage, english breakfast radish, some sort of shorter carrot and some yellow and white onion sets growing. I have some mesclun mix growing in the end of the herb garden because the smaller garden didn’t have the room now. Isn’t it funny that “mesclun ” means mixture? So we are basically saying “mixture mix” when speaking of mesclun mix. Sort of redundant huh?

I also have head lettuce seed but that will have to wait until fall because I am running out of space.

We planted summer squash seed and transplanted some winter squash plants to the larger garden.

To ensure local food systems hubby bought 6 zucchini plants! I thought, my gosh we will have zucchini to feed the town! What was he thinking?

I cook and prep all the time, but I did dry some oregano to preserve. I also harvested green onion and some dandelion greens for salad on Monday and have been using them all week.

To manage my reserves I took a long hike in our woods. I figure I need to manage and reserve my stress levels too.

I ran upon this beautiful wild azalea.

Look at the stark difference between the wild lone azalea in the woods and the tame ones lining my garage.


I also ran upon these tiny yellow daisy looking weed although I have no idea what it is.

Maybe wild daisy?

I feel my Independence Days abounding and look forward to making further updates.
And Independence Days to you too, my child.

Food in My Hair , As Opposed to Hair in My Food

As a teen, I loved the look of frosted hair. You know the light streaks against a darker hair shade.

As time is no longer my friend and I look at the years and naturally frosting hair, graying, I decided I might like to do something about it.

Being the evolving organic nauralist that I am slowly but surely becoming, I felt there must be some way to color hair without all the store bought chemicals.

I have even taken to house cleaning with baking soda or vinegar solutions of late.

Something food or herbal related to hair dye should be out there. Foodstuff and hair..they match, especially when finding hair in foodstuff.

Like the doggie waterbowl I saw that said.
“A dog rules this kitchen and all recipes taste better with a pinch of dog hair.”

Can you imagine? Pinch of dog hair… uggg!

I thought of beet juice hair dying but figured hubby might not take to coming home and finding my head pickled one day, with a combination of beet juice and cheap red wine.

I did an online search.

I could find henna for dark hair.

For info about henna go to… Link.
This is a tattoo artists henna page, but it does tell about henna and how the products labled henna will have other chemicals and how henna does not come in a slew of color.

Then I found Indian gooseberry and coconut oil.
Link

I needed something dark.

I did find some other interesting “facts”..oh gosh from the internet.
I should say I found a barrage of maybe true, maybe mindless, information.

Then a natural dye for lighter hair
Link
which I might try to see if it helps the gray a bit.

Quote from above link

” 1 tsp ground ginger, i tsp dry mustard, 1 tsp curry powder and a pinch of tumeric. (be careful with tumeric, hair can turn clown yellow if you use too much. all of these ingredients are spices that can be bought in any grocery store. i put the spices in a bowl, pour one cup of boiling water over them, cover tightly and let cool. next strain saving the liquid. pour over washed and dried hair about 5-6 times. i use a basin in the sink or tub to catch the mixture then pour back into the cup and repeat 5-6 times. don’t rinse,squeeze out excess water cover with shower cap and leave on about 30 minutes. rinse with cool water lastly i add a dash of vinegar to cup of cool water and pour over and leave in. acts like a conditioner and keeps the color in better. the mixture doesn’t stain my skin,sink or hands. there is some dripping under the shower cap so have a towel handy. this gives me a natural light golden blonde hair color, and my darker hair blends in nicely.it washes out with each shampoo so has to be done each time. the gray is comletely covered using this method, even better than hair dye which often won’t cover the temples or the sides. the spices and the vinegar condition it and idon’t have to use a conditioner.it’s recommended to a patch test with herbs and spices first.”

On going without shampoo - not sure I could handle that one.
Link

Some natural shampoo recipes where we are also told to use eggwhite as a facial.
Link

Food in my hair …….and on my face!

Just Open a Can of Pimentos

Have you ever gotten a can that would not completely open with a can opener?

What do you do with the thing?

You have a can that the opener only put a dent in the top. Sort of like a crease along the edge with maybe an opening of an inch.

What to do?

1 - Take your expensive chefs knife and pry that baby open! Risk loosing a finger.
2 - Try to wedge a spoon into the inch and spoon out what you can. Throw away the rest.
3 - Just toss it all and open another can.
4 - Complain to the manufacturer of the opener.
5 - Complain to the manufacturer of the can.
6 - Complain to your blog.
7- Figure you didn’t need the stuff anyway and do without.
8- Substitute another can of stuff. Like the recipe calls for tomato sauce….Just open a can of pimentos because they are red too, (A food processor works wonders, sort of like magical).

Shrimp with Feta and Orzo

I have featured this before but it is so good I must again.

It was a Cooking Light recipe but I added the oregano. I have too much oregano on hand not to add it. The addition made it even better in my opinion.

Shrimp with Feta and Orzo - 4 servings 363 calories each

1 cup orzo — uncooked
1 each tomato — diced
2 each green onion — sliced thin
4 ounces feta cheese — crumbled
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper — to taste
1 pound shrimp — cleaned and deveined
1/4 cup fresh basil — chopped
1/4 cup fresh oregano — chopped
olive oil spray

4 servings 363 calories each.

Preheat oven to 450.

Spray a 9×11 pan with olive oil cooking spray.

Boil the orzo for 5 minutes and drain well. Mix the orzo with the tomato, onion, feta, lemon juice and zest. Salt and pepper to taste and then spread the mixture in the baking pan.

Spread the shrimp on top of the orzo mixture and then sperad the fresh herbs on top of the shrimp.

Spray the top of the mixture with olive oil cooking spray and cover tightly with aluminum foil.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the shrimp are done.

Per serving: 363 Calories (kcal); 9g Total Fat; (22% calories from fat); 33g Protein; 36g Carbohydrate; 198mg Cholesterol; 492mg Sodium
Food Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 4 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates

Leftovers and Pat a Cake

I love leftover mashed potatoes made into potato cakes. Usually they are fried crisp in tons of oil.

Oil is my enemy at this time and will continue to be until I shed unwanted pounds, so I took my leftover Blue Cheese Mashers and played pat a cake with my oven.

Just take your cold refrigerated potatoes and dredge in flour after forming cakes. Season well and place them on a sprayed baking sheet. Spray the tops of the cakes well with your spray. I used olive oil spray, and then baked in a 400 degree oven about 15 minutes. Turn each cake over and bake until browned ( about another 15).

Top with fresh chopped herbs before serving.

Oregano Season!

I want my readers to see what a beautiful hill of oregano I harvested from my herb garden just this morning.

Big lovely leaves with that earthy oregano scent.

I do love oregano.

I read that the month of March was the warmest on record, and I feel it must have been true for me to harvest such quality oregano this early in our season. Our high mountains season is normally two weeks behind areas only an hour drive from us.

I decided I had to make a spaghetti sauce with my fresh oregano and some frozen slow roasted tomatoes from last year.

I must have used about a 3/4 cup of chopped oregano along with frozen basil from my freezer.

I added some garlic and parsley I had purchased that needed to be used pronto, and a bit of ground fennel seed. I rarely think ahead when grocery shopping but just try to stock up on items I know I use a lot because I don’t shop as often as most people.

I also used ground beef and when I use meat like that I always drain well then rinse the meat under warm water.

It might sound like a rinsed beef would water things a bit ,but I have found it doesn’t do any harm to sauces and gives me an even leaner ground beef.

It turned out wonderful, although thrown together without thought of a recipe. When I make my spaghetti this evening I plan to top it with parmesan cheese.

Yummy!

Barbeque Chicken Quesadillas

Leftover roasted chicken has graced our table for three meals. I love to get 3 to 4 meals from a roasted chicken.

This meal is so quick. I have drastically cut the oil in the tortillas to lighten them up a bit.

Since I always buy chunk cheeses I just throw all veggies along with the chunk cheese and cilantro in a food processor and pulse to get this.

This food processed mess, (it looks like a mess), makes it easier for me to divide the cheese and veggies between the tortillas along with the separate chicken.

Using a stovetop grill lets me get 2 tortillas to begin with, and then 4 quesadillas at a time.

The most involved part is rolling the tortillas before cooking to turn into quesadillas. I usually do have a big mess at that stage, but often I just make the tortillas separate and keep them stored in the fridge. You never know when you will need a tortilla. Especially when dieting for chips and wraps or whatever.

To complement the quesadillas I came up with a very quick and almost fat free spanish rice. Add a green salad and there you have lunch in a flash!

Barbeque Chicken Quesadillas- 7 servings 255 calories each.

– FOR TORTILLAS
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
– FOR FILLING
1/4 cup red onion — chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
7 black olives — sliced
1/2 cup Velveeta Light
1/4 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
7 ounces chicken — roasted and pulled
from bone
1/3 cup barbecue sauce
–TO SERVE
1/2 cup salsa
cilantro

Mix all tortilla ingredients. ( Many people tell you to rest your dough about 10 - 15 minutes at this point, but I am usually to impatient to do that and they still turn out well) . Roll into 7 equal size balls and roll each ball into a disk on a floured surface the size of a flour tortilla. Place each one on hot preheated stovetop grill and cook flipping until lightly browned.

Spray grill lightly and heat a stovetop grill. Mix the barbeque sauce together with the chicken pieces. Divide all filling ingredients into 7 and place on top of each tortilla. Fold and place on the stovetop grill, ( or you can use a frying pan , you just won’t be able to do as many at one time ),and grill flipping until crisp and cheese melts. Cut in half and serve with more cilantro and the salsa.

7 servings 255 calories each.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per serving: 255 Calories (kcal); 11g Total Fat; (37% calories from fat); 13g Protein; 27g Carbohydrate; 33mg Cholesterol; 860mg Sodium
Food Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates

Quick Spanish Rice - 4 serving at 177 calories each

2 cups water
1/4 cup salsa
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked
1 teaspoon lime juice

Bring your water, salsa, chili powder, cumin and garlic salt to a boil. Add the rice and stir. Cover tightly and simmer for about 15 minutes until rice is tender. Flake with a fork adding the lime juice. Serve warm.

4 serving at 176 calories each

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per serving: 177 Calories (kcal); trace Total Fat; (2% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 39g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 339mg Sodium
Food Exchanges: 2 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates

In Praise of All Things

This may seem like an odd post, but I keep thinking on this and I must blog my thoughts.

They focus our good outcome in the court case.

If this guy had not started cutting trees on that little 1.1899 acres and crossed over the property lines to damage our trees, I would never had investigated and ended up owning the 1.1899 acres.

It is like the Lord tells us in His Word.

All things work together toward good for those that love God, for those that are called for His purpose.

When I read this I know that is a promise that whatever happens in life, no matter how bad it might seem or even trivial it may be, the end outcome will be for your good.

Even someone cutting down $ 8450.00 worth of your trees.

This goes for all things, He tells us, in His Word.

Loosing someone loved or admired. Being defrauded or misused.

Even getting snubbed by another blogger, which is just a trivial matter but on my mind because of things I have read recently. Often we want to blow off at the mouth. I know I have before.

But if we stand back and reflect for a moment. We can look at such things and know it is for good!

Sometimes we don’t see the good of matters in this life, but many times we do.

I can not even begin to tell of some of the good I have seen right here and now! Some things that the Lord opened up to me and certainly not of my own knowledge.

We can know that whatever we don’t see in this life, we will see in the hereafter.

Thank you Lord!