Sprouts

About 2 days in

About 3 days in

Laying out to dry

We have sprouts!

I have wanted to try growing sprouts for a long time, in fact I received 3 bags of sprouts to start for Christmas LAST year.  Then life got in the way and they got put in the back corner and just here recently I discovered them again.  I looked online how to grow sprouts (you know? youtubed it!)  and I have to say I was a bit intimidated.  Everyone seemed to have their own way of doing it, some say you have to soak them this long or this long, some say you have to rinse them this amount of times per day or not...
I felt overwhelmed, not really sure where to start really.  I knew it was easy, I just had to get past that first step.
So I shut off the internet and walked away.  I knew I needed a jar and I needed a screen of some sort to keep in the top of the jar for easy rinsing and draining.  I have seen jars and kits for sale at the local Health Food's Store (for upwards of $20) and knew what I needed and also knew I could make it for less at home if I could just find the right stuff.  I looked around at Lowe's, thought maybe I could get a screen patch and use that but didn't want to spend that much money.  I came home and thought about it for a few days.  I looked one more time on the internet looking for benefits of eating sprouts, how to eat them and recipes and things.  I remembered I had cheese cloth from making yogurt cheese awhile ago and thought that would work perfectly!  I was right.  I have the jars, I have the round part of the lid and so I just cut a square big enough to cover the top of the jar and put the lid on!  I looked at the front of the bag the sprouts came in and there were directions right there telling me how long to soak them for, how many times to rinse them in a day, and how long until they are ready.
I did all three of the ones got: Adzuki Beans, Broccoli, and a Spice Mix from Territorial Seeds.
This one just happens to be the ones that sprouted the fastest.  This one is the Spicy Mix.
They are pretty cool, they start as this little tiny bit in the bottom of the jar and over the course of a soaking, a few days of rinsing and draining and letting them sit they start to FILL the jar.
I am currently waiting for the other 2 to be ready to eat, they are coming along but need a couple more days.

Adzuki Beans

Broccoli 

Can't wait to try these too!

Sunday Morning Breakfast

BUTTER DIPS 

(with Cowboy French Coffee)

        Ingredients:

1 1/4 C flour

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt (optional)

2/3 C milk

1/4 C butter

Preheat oven the 450* F 

• Mix dry ingredients
• Add milk
• Stir until dough forms (about 30 strokes)
• Roll out onto well floured counter and knead gently a few times until dough is smooth
• Pat out into the shape of your pan (a 9" X 9" is recommended but I never have that size so tend to use a slightly smaller size, this works just fine)
• Cut flattened dough length wise into strips and then cut strips again (I cut each strip into 3 pieces)
• Put butter in pan and melt in the oven (watch this closely, it burns quickly)
• Once butter is melted take pan out and dip each piece of dough in the butter, flip (so the buttery goodness gets on both sides) and line them all up in the pan

Bake butter dips for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown

These butter dips are something I grew up eating.  The kids love them and it makes it even better that they can get in there and help me make them!

The best way to describe them is they are kind of like biscuits that have been rolled in butter and then baked. 

Super easy, super good, and kid friendly! How could you go wrong with this kind of combination?

Over-Night Stuffed French Toast and Crème Fraiche

The other day my mother was reading Mennonite Girls Can Cook when she found this recipe for Crème Fraiche.  She thought it seemed intriguing so wanted to give it a try.  Why not? I thought, I've never had it, who knows it may just be good.  
We did a little research to see just what it might be here ya go:

Crème fraîche (French pronunciation: [kʁɛm fʁɛʃ], from French crème fraîche^[1]) is a soured cream containing about 28% butterfat and with a pH of around 4.5. It is soured with bacterial culture, but is less sour than sour cream. It has a comparatively high viscosity and a higher fat content.

Originally a French product, it is available in many countries. It is traditional to France, Romania, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Scandinavia. With availability increasing since the 1990s, it has become popular in the United Kingdom, where cream has traditionally been of high quality and in widespread use but where the soured variety remained a niche product.  (taken from wikipedia)

Sounds a bit like yogurt to me!

We needed something to put it on, eating by itself was of course an option, but we thought all that cream might make us sick.  

She just happened to have a recipe for Over-Night Stuffed French Toast (or baked French Toast) that she had gotten from a B&B in Cheyenne, WY.  

Boy-Oh-Boy!  What a great choice for this choice topping!!  Just look at these pictures and wait for your mouth to start watering!

And this ladies is a video of the Creme Fraiche right after we opened the lid!

I gotta tell ya, these two together?!  Rich but OH so good!

Want the recipe for the French Toast?  Here ya go!

• 1 loaf of white cheap bread (we are thinking texas toast the next time)
• 1 8ox package of cream cheese
• 10 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 c syrup

Use a 9 X 13 pan and lay out the slices of bread with the crust cut off

Cover with the cream cheese

Cover with more bread slices, crust off

Mix the eggs, melted butter and syrup and pour over the bread

Press down until all the bread is soaked

Cover and put in the fridge overnight

Next morning - bake in a 350* oven for about 20 minutes

     (also warms up nicely in the microwave actually!)

Enjoy!!

Windex and it's many Wonders

One of the things about moving into a house that has previously been moved in to is the cleaning that needs to be done before the house really starts to feel like "your" home.  It can be things like wiping the shelves in the cupboards off before putting your dishes in them (heaven only knows what was on that shelf before) or cleaning the toilets before you let your daughter who has had to go potty for 20 minutes while we were waiting to sign all the paperwork go potty on it.  There are obvious things that I have to have done before we even start pulling things out of boxes and start putting things away.  And then there are things that can wait just a little longer before they need to be done.  In my case this would be the floors.  I of course have to keep them swept up so I am not walking on dirt (I tend to walk around without any shoes on in the house and I can not stand walking on dirt) but other than that I don't mop until I know all the boxes are in and all of the in and out involved with moving is over and I can then mop knowing that I won't be fighting against all of that. 
This house was no different.  I have been keeping the kitchen floor swept and loose dirt free for some time now.  I noticed when I first swept that the broom kind of drug on the floor and didn't move quite as smoothly as it needs to to really pick up the dirt on the floor.  After about the second or third time I just nixed the whole broom idea and started vacuuming it with the rest of the house.  Luckily we have a great vacuum and it does hard floors just as well as carpets and since I was vacuuming every night anyway I just continued around the circle and vacuumed on into the kitchen as well.  This of course meant that I could not do my middle of the afternoon sweeping in front of the sink/stove area (since after all, let's face it, that is where I do most of the work in that room) or I would have to get the vacuum out twice in a day and some things just are not worth it, and since the movers somehow managed to not move my kitchen rug that I so loved and really really want back, I have suffered through for the past few weeks (has it really been a little over a month since I moved into this house?). 
Then last week I decided it was time!  Every time I walk into this house that dang kitchen floor just irritates me, and then to top it off I walked into one of my neighbor's house who happens to have the same kitchen floor as me (military housing you know) and her floor fairly sparkled as I stood in her doorway and looked across it.  I came to the realization something had to be done. 
Now, if any of you have ever moved in to a house where the previous tenant had used mop and glow on the floor and nothing you do seems to make the floor look clean you will know what I am talking about here.  Whoever lived here before me apparently wanted shiny floors, unfortunately they went about it the wrong way.  For future reference do NOT use mop and glow on a floor to make it shiny, all it does it attract all the dirt in the house and then it pulls it in and won't let it go, much like glue that is still kind of tacky. 
I set out to scrubbing the floors like I normally do (with some ammonia water and a scrub brush and a rag and my hands and knees), about half way across the floor I noticed the floor looked just as dirty as where I had not cleaned yet.  I decided a bolder approach was needed.  This is where I poured straight ammonia on the floor and then wiped it up... still nothing.  Then I went over to the neighbor who had the sparkling floor and asked what she used, she was nice enough to had over the bottle so I could try that... nothing, didn't do a thing.  At this point my knees and my back and my arms ached so I opted to get a cup of coffee and sit down at the computer to do a little research. 
As it happens, getting mop and glow off of the floor is a pretty common problem, and there are people out there who are willing to give you the information and yes it is guaranteed to work just pay ...  ya right, I am not about the pay someone good money for a book that I will have to wait for in the mail and then will have to read to only find out they tell you to use ammonia, ha!  I had already tried that technique.  Ok, so I didn't order the book I am just guessing as to what they had to say.  Instead I put this computer to work and found a blog where she had actually used mop and glow herself (poor fool) and now she needed to strip it off of her hard wood floors.  Her advice?  Use a mixture of ammonia and water, I kid you not! 
So here is what I actually did, after a bit more research I found a blog that actually recommended something else, and this something else you ask?  Windex!!!  That's right ladies and gentlemen, Windex!!!  She mixed her's with water to dilute it but I don't have hard wood floors, I have linoleum and so I went for the gusto!  I bought to bottles of the original formula Windex and went to work.  I sprayed about half of my kitchen floor and put a nice thick coat on it.  Then I walked to the bus stop to get the kids.  When I got back I used one of the scrub brushes you clean a shop floor with (at this point my arms were pretty tired and I just didn't want to get down on my hands and knees anymore) and scrubbed that floor.  Lo-and-behold!!!  My floor was clean and shiny again! 
I even have proof!

So, if you ever run across a floor that still needs that touch of something to help make it feel like home!  My suggestion is to spray a generous helping of Windex on it and scrub it around a bit and then wipe it up!  Oh, and if you ever feel like you need to add a little shine to your floor I would suggest not using mop and glow!
One more picture for the road?!  Happy to oblige!

Moving Day

Finally, I finally have a home again; a home where I can unpack all of my things and settle in ... at least for the next three years.  It has been a long haul but my life is finally finally getting back to somewhat of a routine, it's a good thing too!
We spent six whole weeks at Happy Acres (AKA the Crayon Box) and we finally got our own home, but more on that later!
For today I would like to show you what I started with at the beginning of last week...

 This truck pulled up in front of our house with five pallets full of stuff! FIVE!!!  I couldn't believe we had that much stuff.  But sure enough all five pallets were full, and not only that but about an hour after this truck got here another truck pulled up behind it.  I had to ask if that was our stuff too or if they just happened to be in the area and they had come to help.  There was more stuff in that truck too!  It happened to only be my couches and my cupboard but still...

 I told them to just put all the boxes in this area thinking 35 boxes, eh, they would fit!  HA!  That was a laugh, they FILLED this area and then a little spilled over into a little hallway off the living room.

The first thing I unpacked of course was my kitchen, or rather I started on my kitchen and every time I thought I was done there would be another box or I would realize I was missing something else.  I came to realize there were as many boxes for the kitchen as there were boxes of tools from the shed.  Amazing I tell you!  But this little cupboard with all of my dishes was the first thing I actually got done with and I could stand back and say "aha! I am accomplishing something!"  Now for the rest of the house.
It is slowly coming together, I got my cupboard filled with my material and craft things today.  That was a pretty big accomplishment, the kids have as much crafting stuff as I do and that's saying something!  I find myself gravitating back toward Lowe's on a pretty regular basis, first for this, and then for this, and today it was for a shelf for my bathroom since I have absolutely no vanity space to put anything like my jar with a hair brush in it on.  I also needed the items to put the kids art projects up on their wall from school, I have a pile and they of course want to keep them and admire them for awhile.
So it is happening, I am getting my house put together and we will eventually settle in and make it feel like a home.  I will have to say this house is one of those that felt like home even before we had any of our stuff in it, maybe because it has been so long since I have had a home, or maybe it is just one of those that is special and can just make you feel at home.
So tomorrow the goal is shelves and art on the walls!  Here's to lots of pounding and screwing and leveling and rearranging and, oh ya!  I am going to coffee with one of my neighbors!

Pork Chops and Mashed Potatoes

I have been on a mission to clean out my freezer.  We are getting close to moving and I know from experience that frozen food does not move very well.
So on my exploration of the freezer the other day I found at the bottom of the pile a package of two pork chops that had been forgotten back in the depths.  I saw them and knew what we were having for supper!  Fried Pork chops and mashed potatoes with pork gravy!  If I had thought about supper earlier than 45 minutes before supper I could have made fresh bread to go with all of it but it takes at a minimum of 2 hours so that was out of the question unfortunately.  This meal also would have had broccoli with it but my kids are notorious for getting into the fridge and finding the things that are going to be used in a meal and eating them for snacks.  Oh well, it was pretty tasty all the same; especially the gravy!

First Picnic of the Year

Guess what we did the other day!!!  We had our first picnic in the park.  The weather wasn't perfect but it was perfect enough to take the new bike and head across town to the City Park and take our lunch and lounge in the sun and read my book and watch the kids play.  I think we could have stayed all afternoon if we had not had things to do at home!

Who else loves picnic?!

In the Kitchen

One of the things I love about visiting Diana is that she knows how to cook good food, I always know I will eat well when I am there.  Plus there is one advantage, she is German and so she always introduces me to new and exciting, and very often very delicious, food.  For example, she introduced me to Rouladen (pronounced roolawdan) which is a delicious dish of thinly cut beef steaks smeared with stone ground mustard and sprinkled with salt and pepper and wrapped around a pickle that was first wrapped with bacon.  I know, it sounds odd right?  But trust me when I tell you it is absolutely delicious. 
So I knew going in that we would be fed good food and most likely introduced to something fun and new (I am always on the hunt to find new and exciting foods to make in my kitchen to try and stray away from the same 5 things we all tend to make our weekly meals).  This time though she not only showed us one new food but three!  That's right, we tried three different German meals.  She didn't cook them herself this time but rather she took us to a little German deli she has found near Ft Campbell that has some delicious food.

We will start with West's meal:
What you see before him is wiener-schnitzel.  According to Diana this is a small piece of pork that has been tenderized, breaded, and then fried.  There are different kinds of wiener-schnitzel such as the kind Diana had that had a mushroom gravy over the top which was also very delicious. 

Then we have Ruby's plate of goodness:
This is spaetzle, this was basically small dumplings (that looks a lot like little noodles) that was covered in a brown gravy.  Also very delicious.  The ketchup is not normally part of the dish but if there is something to dip in to then Ruby will inevitably find it and start dipping (what can I say, she is a dipper).

Then we come to the dish I ordered:
Now I will admit this was not a typical German dish but it was on the menu and it looked mighty tasty and basically everything else had been ordered by others at the table so I thought I would go for it. 
I had Hungarian goulash.  I actually make goulash in my kitchen quite often but this was a different type of goulash but this goulash was might tasty all the same!

And yes, I did try a bite of everyone's food at the table!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Can we say yummy?!  Hope all of you out there have a great Valentines Day!

In the Kitchen

Oh my! My sister was here this past week with her beautiful daughter and of course when we get together the main thing that happens is drinking coffee!  It always amazes me that I can go through a certain amount of coffee in a week, you add one of my sisters to the mix and we drink about three times the amount of coffee that normally goes through this house.  Don't even get me started on if all four of us sisters are in the same house!  And of course my mother drinks her fair share as well. 
We decided we needed a bit of something to thicken up all the coffee in our stomachs so what did we decide on?!

 

Why, biscotti of course!  The perfect cookie to go with the perfect cup of coffee to go with the perfect company!  What could be better for coffee drinkers than a cookie you are actually supposed to dip in your coffee?

What's in your wallet?! ... er Oven?!

In the Kitchen

What is this you ask? It is a fried egg sandwich! This is what we had for supper last night. 5:30 rolled around and for some reason this mama hen had lost total track of time.  West rolls in here and leans on me and says "Mama, I'm hungry."  So we think of something quick.  West is big on sandwiches, he loves just about any kind; loaded with meat, no meat, lots of lettuce, spicy mustard, cilantro (yes, cilantro), toasted, not toasted, mama's bread, store bought bread.  So, of course his idea is a sandwich of some kind.  He knows we have left-over biscuits from last night and so he thinks maybe that with some mustard and mayo and turkey and lettuce.  I think an egg would be pretty good on top of that biscuit.  So then he wants both, a fried egg and a sandwich made on that biscuit.
So, by the time things are all said and done and we are sitting down to our meal Ruby, who isn't a big fan of sandwiches herself, has a piece of toast with a fried egg, West has a fried egg sandwich with a biscuit on the side, and I have this - a fried egg sandwich on toast.  I love fried egg sandwiches.  They are so good for you and so tasty.  I am making mine and I am wishing for a little fresh lettuce from the garden and a nice ripe warm tomato from the garden, but alas, it is not that time of year so I simply put mayo and some spicy mustard on the toast, add a little mozzarella cheese on top of the egg so it will melt a little bit, a small amount of chili to add a little spice and voila, there you have it!
Hope you enjoy your eggs as much as we do ours!

In the Kitchen

Pork Chili Tacos

About two years ago I learned how to make these tasty treats and today I will be sharing them with you.  Aren't you excited?!

TACOS

• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbl Baking Powder
• 3 Tbl Crisco
• 1 1/4 cup hot water

1. Mix together dry ingredients
2. Add Crisco and mix until will dispersed
3. Stir in the hot water gently.  Once lightly mixed put out onto the counter and finish kneading in all the loose flour.
4. Let rest for about 15 to 20 minutes (this makes them easier to press out)
5. Pinch out or cut into small balls, you should get about 12 to 15 balls of dough.
6. I use a tortilla press similar to this one.  This allows me to press and bake them all in one.  Growing up we did roll them out with a rolling pin and cook them on a cast iron skillet similar to this one so either can be done, but the press is so much easier and faster.
7. I keep them warm by wrapping them up in a clean light hand towel.

 

PORK CHILI (the filling)

1. You start with the package of pork stew meat.  I like to cut it up so there are bite size pieces of pork in your taco.  Brown the pork with a little bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
2. When the pork is cooked through I add a 16 oz jar of El Pinto Mild Salso and simmer until you are done cooking the tortillas.  By this time it will have kind of reduced the liquid so you don't have lots of liquid in your taco.

A NOTE
For this particular set of tacos I used El Pinto's green chili sauce.  I usually use the red and tonight I was reminded as to why!  The green is way hotter than the red and I do not like to be assaulted by my food.

I also like to put sour cream on my taco.  A few fresh tomatoes when in season thrown on top and some good lettuce on occasion.