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Monday, January 30, 2012

Beans 101

The other day I made a big pot of delicious sausage and white bean chowder.  It was so yummy and satisfying.  I think most people have a love/hate relationship with beans.  They know they are good for them, they know that they are a powerhouse of protein, they probably know they contain both soluble and insoluble fiber which is beneficial for lowering cholesterol and keeping one's digestive tract in order.  I think it's the last part with which they struggle.
Let me share the little known secret and you will no longer have a love/hate relationship, but a love/love relationship with beans!
You MUST rinse your beans thoroughly.  Whether you use canned beans or dried beans that you have soaked, you MUST rinse your beans thoroughly.  Did you catch the secret?  RINSE YOUR BEANS THOROUGHLY!

Let me show you what I mean...


Start with a clean collander
 Pour your can of beans into the collander.  Can you see all the bubbles all around the edges of the collander? 
That is what you want to rinse away!  When you begin rinsing, the bubbles seem to multiply!  { Now - think beans mixing with liquid in your tummy.  What do you get?  Yep, bubbles which can only escape upwards by burping, or downwards by - well, you know.}


Rinse, Rinse, Rinse until there are NO LONGER ANY BUBBLES.

Look here, no bubbles in the collander = no bubbles in your tummy!  These are ready to use in whatever recipe you like and you will not have them talking back to you!! 

If you use dried beans, rinse them well after your soaking period.  Use fresh water to then cook them.  After cooking, drain the beans, rinse them again and use fresh water or stock for a soup.  

My three favorite kinds of beans are kidney beans, black beans and great northern beans.  All beans are loaded with B vitamins.  Did you know that kidney beans are loaded with vitamin C too?

Sausage and White Bean Chowder
1 lb. ground sausage ( I used ground pork and added Penzy's Breakfast Sausage spice to it.)
1/2 - 1 onion, chopped
3-4 carrots, sliced
3-4 stalks celery, sliced
2 potatoes, cut into chunks
 6-8 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. basil, or oregano, or tarragon (or all, if you like)
2 cans white beans...(you got it - rinsed thorougly)

Brown the sausage with the onion.  Drain the fat.  In a soup pot, combine the sausage/onion, carrots, celery, potatoes, chicken broth, and seasonings.  Bring to a boil and simmer until veggies are just tender.  Add beans and simmer about 5 minutes more.
Makes about 6-8 servings.


Friday, January 27, 2012

DIY Vintage ~ Farm Charm

I saw this darling idea here

I found a frame at Goodwill. It had ugly art in it (art, well that is a relative term!), but it didn't matter since I really only wanted it for the frame.  It measures 17" x 17". I had the other 5" x 7" blue frame.  Cost: $4.

First step is to spray paint the frame the color you want it.  I thought about cranberry red or shabby chic green, but Hannah wanted white. White is always a good choice. I already had a can of that.  Cost: 0

I didn't have chicken wire so I bought a roll of it.  Even though I probably could have found some for free, I really didn't want to risk working with rusty, dirty chicken wire.  The smallest roll was 2' x 25', but I love this idea and I plan to make more of them.  Cost: $9.

All you do is cut a piece of the chicken wire the size of your frame.

 

and then staple it to the back of your frame.  Trim off the extra.


use clothespins to hold your treasures and voila


 a super cute place to put reminders, notes, pictures and Scriptures!

I plan to make more as time allows.  I think I'll put them in my Etsy shop.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Gotta love it!

I love a good deal! Don't you?  I think thrift stores are a treasure trove of good deals! Today this is what I found.



Yep, an April Cornell dress for a buck!  One dollar for a $50 dress.
YIPPEE YAHOO!  Love. Love. Love!

Whenever I'm headed to the local Goodwill, my children want to go along too.  Of course, it's hit or miss, but when you find that proverbial needle in the haystack - it's so cool.

Last time I went I found these


Aren't they so cute!  Mary needed a pair of pink Converse sneakers especially when they were only $2!

I'm working on a fun little thing for Hannah for her room - which I'll blog about next time, but suffice it to say for now, that I found what I needed at - you guessed it-  Goodwill. 

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Winter 2012

Dan helping Abbie stomp in the snow

These three have a blast together!


Catchin' snowflakes

Snowboardin'...on our own property
(people pay good money for this!)

One of the best things about snow days

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Al and Dirk

Since the last post we have received another 10" of snow.  The forecast is saying for us to expect another 6-10".  CrAzY!...but not as crazy as my two teenage sons who wanted a picture of the two of them in their swim trunks in the snow. 


Have you seen the movie Sahara?  Dirk and Al are the main characters and they would so do something like that.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

And more is falling...

Dan with his snowman that he named "Bob".

Our winter wonderland

7" of snow!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

The musings of a milk maid

The children handle the farm chores during the week.  That is a great blessing to me.  It allows me to help the littles with their inside chores, prepare breakfast and order our homeschooling day.
 
On the weekend, Eric and I handle the chores.  That is a great blessing to me also ~ and to them. ;-)
Some times I must will myself out of my soft, warm bed, but once I get started, I really enjoy that time I have with the animals.  Have you ever daydreamed of what farm life is like?  Live vicariously through me for a moment.  I'll take you along on this very chilly, winter morning.
  
The first thing I do is slip on my lined, Carhartt overalls over my pajama pants.  My jammie pants are warm and the nylon in the overalls is NOT - so this makes it not so shocking!  I put on my wool sweater, and a hat too.  Gloves would be nice, but not very practical.

I grab the milking crate of supplies from the garage: the bucket for hot water with grapefruit seed extract (GSE) added. This becomes my udder wash, a large canning jar with a lid, the milk pail and strainer and a strip cup.

Through the garage we go, putting on our rubber boots.I head to the milk room; Eric heads to the barn.  Our milk room is an 8x8 cedar shed.  We found it on Craig's List - still in the cartons, ready to be built. What a deal that was!  NOT milking in the barn is one of the keys to fabulous tasting goat milk.

As we walk down our dirt path, I am struck with the beautiful dawn.  If it's a clear morning, I can still see a sky full of stars.  If there are clouds in the sky, they are often a soft pink.  Sometimes I think God does that just for me! It's quiet.  Really quiet! 

Once we plug in the barn lights, the goats often give a low greeting, but they are not noisy.  They know they are safe. 

The mama in milk is anxious to see me.  She knows she gets to eat grain while she supplies us with sweet, creamy milk.

I have a darling storage bench that doubles as a work surface for me.  So I set up my things.  I label the jar with a Sharpie with today's date and unscrew the lid and place the strainer on top.  I fill her grain pail and attach it to the milk stand. 

Eric sends the goat out of the barn to me.  Here she comes, this time it is Zuma.  She is one of our three original goats that began our herd.  She is grey with the signature Kinder floppy dog-like ears.  She's a sweet girl.  She jumps up onto the milk stand and squeezes her head throught the stanchion posts.  I secure her and she happily eats. 

The hot water feels good on my frozen hands. Cleaning the udder thoroughly is essential ~for health, safety and really good tasting milk.  Once she is clean, the milking begins.  Her teats are warm.  I feel bad to shock her with my very cold hands, but she doesn't even seem to flinch!

You can hear the streams of milk hit the pail at first. As the milk fills the pail, it begins to foam too.  In less than five minutes, the pail is full.  I strain the milk into the jar and cap it up right away.

A quick clean up job of Zuma and the milkroom and I head back up to the house. 

It's light now. The view of the snowy mountains is really spectacular. It is still so very quiet up here on the mountain.

Even though it's a "chore", I enjoy this time of being in God's creation with God's creation.  I can't help but marvel at it!

So - that's it. Eric's part is much more involved - cleaning stalls, moving them to other pastures, filling water buckets, but come inside the warm house with me and I'll make a hot goat milk latte for you with the freshest, creamiest, sweetest milk ever!

For you...Enjoy!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Fairy Tale Friends

 
This is what little girls' days are made of!  They love to dress up in their fancy dresses and pretend to be a princess.   

 They dream of their "prancom hince" and going to a "bancy fall".  (This from the story of "Rindacella" - a very comical retelling of Cinderella by Eshte Green, with all the words mixed up.  If only I had a video clip for you!)

When brother Dan joins in the play, one of them is sad when Daniel won't marry them. It's pretty funny to hear, "Mooooommy, Dan won't marry me."  That's my perfect opportunity  to explain that brothers don't marry sisters, they protect them!  :-)

Monday, January 9, 2012

This is my Uncle Bob and Aunt Barbara with their sons (my cousins) Bob Jr. and Jim.
My Uncle Bob just lost his battle with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma which is a type of cancer of the immune system.  They live in New Jersey, but the distance has not prevented us from having a very special relationship across the miles.  It was our hope that our oldest boys would be able to spend a couple of weeks of their summer vacation with them touring all the battles sites and museums as they share a love of history with their great aunt and uncle, but God's plan was different. 

Of course, we can't know what God's plans for us are until they unfold...or can we?  The Bible is God's Word and tells us that those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior will have eternal life.  (John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.")

A Savior?  What is Jesus saving you from?  Well, from your sin and consequently eternal punishment.  Because of our sin nature and God's perfect standard, we need a perfect blood sacrifice which will cover our sin.  Jesus is that perfect sacrifice and accomplished our covering with his death and resurrection.  (Hebrews 9:22 says, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission {forgiveness} of sin.") 

Sin? Maybe you think you are a good person.  After all, you have kept the 10 Commandments or least most of them and you haven't gone to jail or anything.  But sin isn't limited to our actions, but our thoughts as well.  God knows our thoughts, we can't hide from Him. (Psalm 139:4 "Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, Thou dost know it all.")  Romans 3:23 says, "For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."   Like it or not, we are sinners.  We just need to face the facts and admit it.  We blow it. 

Now what?  What's the remedy?  It's really very simple.  Acts 16:31 "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved."   Because He is perfect and sinless in every way, He is the only one that can take away our sin.  There is nothing I can do. "Not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us." (Titus 3:5)

Picture a court of law.  The judge (God) decides the verdict for the offender (us).  He pronouces us guilty.  Our punishment?  Hell.  Eternal separation from God.  But because Jesus loves us so very much.  He doesn't want to see us endure that punishment so He offers up himself as a substitute to take our place.  He is willing to take the punishment we deserve.  That's exactly what the cross accomplished for us.   So "if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." (Romans 10:9)

Ok - so this post might seem preachy, but really I just want to offer hope.  If Jesus is your Savior, you have nothing to fear - not even death.

One last thing I wanted to share because I thought it was really so sweet of the Lord.
My aunt really orchestrated all of his care.  It was decided to bring him home for his last days.  Hospice was there in the evenings and my aunt cared for Uncle Bob during the day.  She had gone in to check on him, knelt down and kissed him and told him she loved him.  He smiled back at her.  About an hour later she went in to check on him and he had passed.  Is that not so sweet - the very last words he heard was that his wife of over 50 years loved him. 

Monday, January 2, 2012

WOW!

I love our new Electrolux refrigerator freezer!  Our white Maytag that was only seven years old died the week before Christmas.  (Nice timing, eh?) This new one was another awesome deal from Appliance Recycling Center in Snohomish.  I love the French doors and the freezer on the bottom.  Now three out of the four appliances in the kitchen are stainless steel.  All that is left to replace is the microwave (but it is still working).  Sometimes I wonder if I wouldn't rather just have a good looking hood instead of a microwave, but I do use it to defrost meat, soften butter, and heat up my lavender/flax wraps.  When some friends of ours remodeled their kitchen, they put their microwave inside a cabinet instead of over the oven.  Hmm, that's an idea!  We'll have to think about that when the time comes.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying our new addition.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

A New Year's Day Walk

Happy New Year! 


It was a super windy day here today! 
The little bit of snow that we got Friday night has all melted, but it's still cold. 




After church the older kids wanted to go for a walk.  They love the wind.

 


I tagged along.
It's always fun to hang out with them. 

I can hardly believe we are here again...the start of a new year. I'm a goal setter.  Are you?  I'm not one for New Year's resolutions so much as just setting some goals.  I figure I can't get to where I want to go if I don't have any plan on how to do it.

Here are some of the things I want to accomplish in 2012.

Read the Bible from cover to cover again.  This year I am doing a chronological reading plan.  Visit here if you want to check it out or other Bible reading plans.

Lose the last bit of "baby weight".  I have that last (hardest) 10 lbs. left.  My plan is to cut some calories and walk on the dreadmill treadmill several days each week.

Take Ellie to the library once each week. (This will encourage her reading skills and give us some special one on one time together.)

Know (I mean really know) my children's hearts, their desires, their dreams.

Learn and become proficient in the 2 stage process of soaking grains.

Improve my photography skills.


Make KILLER French bread.

L.O.V.E. my husband and children.

Live passionately.

These are just a few things on my list to learn and do and be in 2012.