Vaccinations are such a touchy subject. Doctors are adamant about the necessity and safety of all those childhood vaccinations, but I've heard far too many stories like the ones here. Like I said earlier, nothing is without side effects. Why can't we just be told the whole story and be allowed to make the decisions we think are best for ourselves and our families? There are times when the risk of the side effects might well be worth it, but shouldn't that be our choice to make? Shouldn't we be allowed to make choices knowing ALL the facts and possibilities? We aren't ignorant children and I resent being treated like one! When I found out how many people in the medical field don't get certain vaccinations (flu shots and that kind of thing), I was shocked.
Ahhh, food. One of the great loves of my life, and I look like it. I love everything about food -- growing it, reading about it, making menus, shopping for it (well, half the time I don't really love doing that!), making it and serving it. Experimenting with my herbs and changing recipes to see what else I can do with them. It makes me sad that I only cook actual meals a few times a week. I just don't cook for myself and DH is at work 3 days a week. I don't like freezer meals because I have a hard time remembering they're there, so I forget to use them. If it's something that doesn't have to be defrosted before using, I have a much better chance of actually using it. In winter I don't worry about it, but in the summer I try to stockpile a number of things in the freezer. When the mowing is crazy, the last thing I want to do when I come home is stand around in the kitchen cooking and then cleaning up. It's often already 6:30 or 7 by the time we're home. The Martha Stewart website has a way to search for things that are easily freezable. This year I stockpiled some Jamaican meat pies, Irish hand pies and a creamy pasta bake with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes. I also try to make some soups and keep them handy in the fridge to be reheated quickly. Later in the summer, when it's so hot and dry that nothing is growing, the mowing slows way down. Then I like salad meals a lot. Now that we're getting enough eggs that we don't have to hoard them for our weekly brunch, we also have omelets and scrambled eggs with all kinds of things mixed in.
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Originally Posted by
medawinks 
But, in any case, I love to use the whole foods freezer meals and bought a book recently on making most pantry staples from scratch, versus the chemical filled ones. I really want to try the home made mozzarella. I can't find the rennet or citric acid locally though. I may have to break down and order it and pay shipping.
We just discovered a freezer meal recipe our whole family loves, and since we all loved Trish's blueberry pie recipe I thought it might be with sharing with you folks :-) I made up several batches and froze it in various size containers, since like Danz, I also cook for my elderly dad. He hasn't been eating so well this summer with the heat, but he loves this too. Pleased kids and adults :-)
Cheesy Kielbasa Bake
12 oz uncooked macaroni or bow tie pasta
2 lbs polish sausage thinly sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium onions chopped
2 medium zucchini quartered and sliced
2 medium carrots, grated
I can chopped black olives
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 egg lightly beaten
1 carton cottage cheese
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella
2 green onions chopped
Cook pasta according to package directions
Brown sausage in olive oil and drain.
Add onions, zucchini, carrots, olives and stir until tender
Add spaghetti sauce
Drain macaroni
Layer macaroni in each of 2 13x9 pans
Add 1/2 meat and sauce mixture
Mix egg and cottage cheese and layer over sauce mixture. Repeat layer of sauce mixture and top with shredded cheeses and chopped green onions.
Cover with foil and freeze one casserole
Bake remaining casserole at 350 for 30 minutes
To use frozen casserole, remove from freezer 24 hours in advance and place in refrigerator. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.
I am trying to find recipes to use our eggs with and discovered my kids live scrambled eggs with all kinds of veggies and cheeses baked in muffin tins and frozen for use in breakfast sandwiches or even as a lunch item in a bento box.
Do any of you have some whole food ideas you like to use when time to cook is in limited supply? Especially ideas for the eggs I hope to be getting soon! :-) my group of oldest pullets are 21 weeks. We are watching for eggs like crazy!!!
That recipe sounds delicious. What's the name of the book with recipes for pantry staples?
For our weekly brunch, we most often saute a variety of small-chopped vegetables, including some type of onion. Sometimes we chop bacon and saute it with the vegetables and sometimes we have it on the side. Then we add the eggs and either scramble them with the veggies or cook it like a Spanish tortilla. If we're scrambling, some kind of cheese goes on at the end. If we're doing a tortilla, we cook it until the whole thing is nearly set, add cheese, then either put it under the broiler to finish the top or put a lid on the pan and let it kind of steam with the burner on a fairly low heat. A really nice and simple omelet we haven't done in a long time is filled with chopped roasted tomatoes, a bit of cream cheese and dill.
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Originally Posted by
HEChicken Thanks for that recipe Medawinks!
One of my favorite recipes when I'm pushed for time is something we have come to call "Kibble" which is an inside joke because I don't care that much for food. Obviously I need it for sustenance and do get hunger pangs but I quite often am in the situation where I'm hungry but literally nothing sounds good and I've said I wished there were a kibble for humans so we didn't have to make decisions about what to eat. When we're hungry, we just pour a bowl of kibble like we would for the dogs. So when I discovered this recipe, and realized this is something I could eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, DH said "Well there you go then, there's your kibble" and the name sort of stuck.
What I like about it is it has just 4 ingredients:
1 cup brown rice
1 cup lentils
1 can diced tomatoes
14oz chicken stock
I usually mix up a double batch so just double all of that. A vegetarian can substitute water for the chicken stock. The only chicken stock I use is what I make from any birds I process myself so if I don't have any on hand I just use water.
Put all ingredients in a pan and simmer for 50 minutes. Serve and eat.
It sounds plain and simple but is actually very delicious. We usually squirt a little sauce of ANY kind from the fridge on top and mix it in. That gives it a little different flavor every time. I also prefer to use the diced tomatoes that come with the basil and oregano, rather than plain.
I also have some favorite dishes with eggs but will have to go look through them before I post....
It sounds easy and delicious. We both love lentils.
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Originally Posted by
Trish44
Here is a close-up of it:
So we're going to see how it does in the coop for litter & I may eventually try it in my pens too. I had been using straw in them, but I have to buy that & if this will work just as well I may switch to it, it's free, even better. It remains to be seen as to how well it absorbs moisture, whether it dries out like the pine shavings or just soaks it up & stays wet, the jury is out on that.
Danz, here is a pic of my young Salmon Faverolle Roo, he's about 3 months old now, tell me what you think of him, he's right in the middle of the photo next to the feeder, you can kind of see his feathered feet. I plan to use him for breeding. He has two pullets that are growing out in that pen too, but I didn't take pics of them this time.
Here is another view of him from the side:
Here is a pic of the chicks just hanging out in the dog house I gave them. They immediately started going in there as soon as I put it in the pen. They just hang out in there & sleep, it's funny to see a whole dog house full of chickens.
And here is a pic of my big Black Copper Marans roo Rusty, he is getting really big now. I love all the colors on him!
He has big old feathered feet that you can't see very well in this pic. The chickens are all picking at the cat food I had given the kittens this morning & they left a little bit. I have to shut the baby kittens in the crate to feed them or all of the chickens, bigger cats, & dogs will eat their food before they have a chance.
Pretty, pretty roos!
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Originally Posted by
karenS Hi all. Have been a bit under the weather and trying to survive all the manic activity that accompanies packing as much fun in the little time left before school starts.
I hope you're feeling better.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
prairie Hi all,
It's been a while since I have been on here -- about 900 messages I have missed. Hope all are doing well in spite of the heat and drought. We had a bull go missing and then a neighbors CRP pasture catch on fire (which caught our pasture on fire too!) a couple of days before we headed to Guatemala for 2 weeks. I was beginning to believe we were not going to make it to the airport without another disaster. But we finally got out of here and the grands took care of my flock while we were gone and all was well when we finally got back home. Nice to have a little better temps now!
I wanted to let you all know I am selling my Ancona ducks -- have 2 pairs. Also selling a black Cornish banty, 3-4 easter eggers, and a Light Brahma rooster. All my guineas are doing well and that is what I really wanted to start with so reducing my others. I will have them at the Premier Farm swap the end of the month unless I sell them before hand.
Wow, I'm sorry for the run of bad luck there. I'm glad it's over!
