EIGHT NEW BABIES!!!!

Boy, that title got your attention didn't it! No, not baby babies...baby chickens.

Last week, Doug called from the feed store to tell me that they had some extra chicks and asked me if I wanted them. Well, yeah!! I LOVE baby chicks. Our hens' egg production has slowed down so we really need to get some fresh layers going if we're going to continue to eat the VERY large amount of eggs that we are accustomed to.

Tommy and I scurried around trying to find a temporary home for them. They need to be in the kitchen for several weeks where it's warm. Anyone who's ever been in my kitchen knows that "warm" is relative. We'll be using a heat lamp and a portable heater for a while too, don't worry.


Awww. How cute.

Tommy's our official namer, so these chicks were christened, Penny, Polly, Lucy, and Lola.

It's not easy to tell them apart right now, but Tommy always seems to know who's who.

Hello!
Yes, I did say 8 new babies.

The next day, Doug called me from one of his customer's farms to say that her hen had just hatched out 17 chicks and could we possibly help her out. Well, sure, why not. The more the merrier!

How could anyone say no to these little guys?

Names: Mary, Marcy, Pablo, and Susie. The feminine names are really wishful thinking. We won't be sure for a while if we have hens or roosters.

New boarders in our barn gave us a gorgeous basket of flowers. I just couldn't resist setting the chicks in the basket for an awesome photo opportunity.

How cute is that!!

A DEATH

Our beloved rooster, Ace, was killed by a fox on Friday. He was an awesome rooster!!

He took such good care of his ladies. He always knew where they all were. If one was missing he started calling to her and rounded her up when he caught sight of her. He would peck at the ground until he found a tasty bug or worm. He would never eat it though. He'd stand over it and call to the hens to come and get it. When I called them over to the porch for some table scraps, he made sure all of the hens had their fill before he would take his first bite.

He was NEVER aggressive with his hens or with his human family and friends. He was so handsome and regal looking. I have no doubt that he died protecting his hens. I'm so sad that I let them out of the coop that day!

It is definitely open season for foxes around here!!!!

The mornings are so quiet without his beautiful crowing to bring in the day. I imagine we'll get another rooster, but I think it will be really hard to ever find a rooster as beautiful, gentle, brave and cool as Ace.

SPRING FEVER

I've been looking forward to a quiet day at home today all week. We didn't have to leave the house until the afternoon for a lacrosse game. I pictured a quiet day getting tons of school work completed, doing all my long neglected housework, hanging the laundry out to dry in the beautiful spring breezes, baking bread, weeding the flower beds.

I still had the idea of this quiet day in my head for maybe the first hour of my morning. Then, the reality of the amazingly beautiful day that was unfolding sunk in.

I told the boys to put away their math books, packed some water and food, grabbed the dog and a blanket, called my friend Jennifer, and headed to the park for a hike and a picnic lunch.

Happily, Jennifer and her kids were game to set aside their plans for the day and join us.

We had an awesome hike and a delicious lunch. The dogs even got along. They may become friends after all.

After being sick all week, Billy was pretty tired out after our 1 1/2 hour hike. I think he was very grateful for the comfy blanket, soft grass, and warm sun. After a little rest he was revived enough to go play in his lacrosse game. He's the goalie and had a great game.

CRACKERS

In my quest to make, from scratch, as much of our food as I can, I have been searching and searching for a recipe for crackers that was not too complicated and actually tasted like crackers, not thin bread.

I think I found it!!

I found it here . I used the 2nd recipe on the page. It was really easy. Took less than 1/2 hour to put together. I did make a change to the recipe. I used half white and half wheat flour. I may try all wheat next time and see how it works. I also cooked them a little longer. I just kept checking them until they looked crispy, but not too brown.


I didn't need to use the roller. The dough was very soft and spread just fine with my hands. I think I would keep spreading and make them just a touch thinner next time.

I cut them with a pizza cutter in roughly wheat thin sized squares.
These are sesame, but I am imagining all kinds of variations to try in the future: poppy seed, garlic, parmesan, cracked pepper, dill...

MMMMMMMMMM!!

3 DOWN 1 TO GO

Today was the big day. The day Billy has been eagerly anticipating for the last 6 months. Maybe even for the last 16 years!!



It was the day of his driving test to get his driver's licence. We've spent the last 6 months totaling up over 50 hours of driving experience. It was REALLY scary at first. Little by little though, I stopped fearing for my life as Billy gained confidence and ability. He's a great driver now.



He listened willingly and attentively to all of my lectures. He didn't roll his eyes too much as I told him story after story of accidents that other teenagers have gotten into. We talked about there being a good reason that teenage boys have such expensive car insurance. I've begged, pleaded, and prayed that he will be a cautious, relaxed, slow driver.



Now it's up to him.



This is him waiting for his test. I think there were definitely some nerves. Both his sister and his older brother passed their driving tests on the first try. The pressure was on!






No worries!!! HE PASSED! Billy is now an officially licenced driver.

Congratulations Billy! PLEASE DRIVE SAFELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT'S COOKIN' AND GRAPE JELLY

PICTURE FROM www.allposters.com

I haven't shared our menu in a while, so here it is:

Monday - tacos, fruit salad

Tuesday - chicken corn soup (in the freezer from my mom) homemade wheat rolls I'll be going out for pizza with my book group!

Wednesday - lacrosse team dinner for Doug, Andrew, and Billy. Tommy and I will be doing our own thing

Thursday - sloppy joes on homemade wheat rolls, butter/parm noodles, sauteed zucchini

Friday - homemade pizzas

Saturday - baked chicken, rice, corn, steamed cauliflower

Sunday - beef and noodles, tossed salad

Monday - broccoli/chicken casserole, cheese muffins

Tuesday - chicken spaghetti, caesar salad. This is an amazingly delicious casserole recipe from an awesome blog. Here's the link if you'd like to try it yourself http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/chicken_spaghet/

Wednesday - Lacrosse team dinner - this week Tommy and I will be helping to serve the teams and coaches - we'll all eat there

Thursday - bbq beef sandwiches, roasted potatoes, steamed broccoli

Friday - homemade pizzas

Saturday - grilled hamburgers, baked potatoes, green beans

Okay, now for the grape jelly. I've been making our grape jelly for years. I know, it's not very expensive to buy, but I just love to make it myself. I figure I'm doing my little part for the environment too, not continuing to buy new jars of jelly. I just reuse whatever empty jars I have in the cabinet. It really is a very easy thing to make. I use the recipe from Hillbilly Housewife. http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/grapejelly.htm

It doesn't take much time or many ingredients. Grape juice, sugar, powdered pectin.

Gather the ingredients and then it's just a matter of cooking it together and boiling for 1 minute. Definitely not rocket science!
The results are so yummy, and pretty too! Absolutely divine on a piece of toasted homemade wheat bread for breakfast. In fact, that's where I'm going now. Breakfast time.

HELLO AGAIN!

No, I didn't leave town. I haven't been on vacation. My computer's not broken. No one is ill. I haven't even been particularly busier than usual. I just took an extended, unannounced break from blogging. I'm actually quite surprised at how missed my blogging seems to have been. I've gotten so many calls, e-mails, and personal requests to hurry up and start blogging again. I'm really touched! Here I was feeling all boring and uninspired. I guess boring works for a lot of people.

I've been kind of agonizing over how to start again. Should I recap all that's happened in the last 3 months? Should I pretend I never took a break? Should I just jump back in? This last option was Doug's advice, so here I am.

I may end up sharing a couple of pics of the highlights of the past couple of months, but not today. Today, we're talking about TROUT.



Today was opening day of trout season in a neighboring state. Doug and the boys met my brother, Jimmy, and his son Nathan at the stream at 6:30 this morning. The weather was perfect (I think. I was still in bed.) At least it was perfect when they came home at 9:30 after each of them caught their limit of 6 fish.

We bagged up fish from each of their stringers for dinner tonight and froze the rest. We figured on inviting Nanny and Poppop to dinner. Hannah was here as well as Billy's friend Richie. We ended up grilling 15 fish. Aren't they pretty?

My mom and Nana always made homemade french fries with fresh caught trout, so I set about peeling, slicing, pre-frying, frying and salting 5 pounds of potatoes. They were so good. Totally worth the 2 hours that they took me to make!

I steamed up some delicious green beans and made 2 pans of corn bread. My mom stopped by the farmer's market and bought some delicious cole slaw from an Amish stand there. She also made homemade peanut butter tandy cakes and a pineapple rice pudding that my grandfather used to make.

It really was the most delicious dinner we've had in quite some time. This food brings back such wonderful memories for me. It wasn't just the food though. The company was wonderful too! I'm so happy that Doug and our boys have continued our family's tradition of trout fishing.

OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS

Billy, Tommy, and I are taking a trip to Nana's house tomorrow morning. We haven't been to visit for several months so we're really looking forward to going.

I have such wonderful memories of time spent at my grandparent's house when I was younger. It seemed like we spent the weekend there at least once a month. I would go with my parents, sister, and brother. Our cousins would go at the same time with my aunt and uncle. So, with my Nana and Poppop, that made 13 of us staying in a 4 bedroom, 1 bathroom home. I never really knew where everyone was sleeping. I just knew that the girls (5 of us) all slept in the third floor front bedroom. It's a gorgeous room with huge windows looking out on the main street of the town. I slept in a crib with my cousin, Chrissy, long enough that I actually have memories of it! She slept with her head at one end and I had my head at the other. We had such awesome times on these weekends.

I am so blessed to be able to share my Nana and her town and beautiful house with my children. I still sleep in the front bedroom on the third floor. My boys will sleep in the "magic room". So called because it has a door that leads out onto the roof of the neighboring homes.

Sleeping above a main street with the trucks, sirens, street lights, people out at all hours, trash trucks rumbling past in the wee hours of the morning is so different than sleeping here in the silence of our farm!! It's much warmer too!!!!

Nana shares my joy in eating. She doesn't do much cooking these days though, so I love to take her a bunch of goodies for here freezer.

Today I made her some pancakes, which she just loves. I package them in in threes for her breakfast. I put them in her freezer, but that's probably unnecessary because I think she goes through them pretty fast!


I also made her some oven fried chicken. This chicken is SO good!!! I make it for my family all of the time. You can make it in nuggets or tenders, but I made it in patties this time. I took 4 large boneless chicken breasts, cut them in half horizontally and then in half again vertically. So out of just 4 chicken breasts, I got 16 patties.

I set up a little assembly line to make the process easy. The chicken first gets a quick dredge in flour, then it takes a dip in an egg wash, and then in it goes into a mixture of bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, and seasonings. When I make this for my family, I put garlic, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper in the crumbs. Nana doesn't like things highly seasoned, so I just use salt and pepper for hers.

I put the chicken on foil lined sheet pans and drizzle them with olive oil. I bake them at 450* for 12 minutes, turn them and bake for 10 more minutes.

These are absolutely amazing dipped in homemade ranch dressing!

Tonight I made raisin bread. I made Nana 2 loaves and I'll leave a loaf home for Doug to enjoy while we're away.

Tomorrow, before I leave, I'm going to make jam crescents. I'll share the recipe another time.

Right now, I'm going to go watch the rest of American Idol!

PRETTY FOOD

Don't you think that food from the bulk food store is so much prettier than food from a regular grocery store!!

A delicious trail mix I made from some of the above goodies:
banana chips, dried apricots (chopped), peanuts, cashews, dried cranberries, and mini chocolate chips.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must show you this purchase as well:

Not quite the most healthy snack option, but they sure are yummy for a special treat (like Tommy's upcoming birthday party)