Menu Plan Monday 9/20/2010

Where, O' where did my summertime go,

O' where, O' where could it be?

Somehow, when I wasn't looking, summer left. It has been replaced with the liquid sunshine that us Pacific Northwesterners recognize. I've also noted that it is a few weeks early, so my depression will start setting in sometime during mid-November instead of the normal January 2nd.

This is not good news for my family. They are already planning their escape.

With the rain comes "back to school" time on the homestead. There are no more lawns to mow, no weeds to pull, and the kitchen is finished (mostly), so no more excuses. Jabez Academy is officially back in session.

Can you hear my kids crying with glee?

Hey, this is my delusion and I'm going to call it glee.

Except for the wailing. I don't know what to call that.

Here's what's on the menu this week...

~Breakfasts~

Oatmeal Buttermilk Pancakes (recipe later this week)

Simple Soaked Oatmeal

Blueberry Blast Smoothies, Ezekiel toast w/peanut butter

Quinoa w/ raisins, soaked almonds, and raw cream

Pennsylvania Dutch Baked Oatmeal

French toast w/ sprouted bread, applesauce

Speltcakes w/ blueberry syrup

~Lunches~

Lentil soup (x2) (Bob's Redmill mix)

Egg salad sandwiches, apple slices

Homemade Tomato Soup (recipe to follow), sourdough bread

Leftover Lentil burritos, apple slices

Leftover meatloaf sandwiches on sourdough, apples

Leftovers

~Dinners~

Elk steak, steamed broccoli, baked sweet potato fries

Pesto-crusted salmon (new), Sauteed mushrooms w/ wilted spinach, sourdough bread

Crockpot Salsa Chicken, soaked brown rice

Lentil burritos on sprouted grain tortillas, salad

Zucchini Tomato Casserole (new), Meatloaf

Spicy Split Pea Soup, Cornbread

Simple Supper Sunday

~Desserts~

Raspberry/Peach Pie

Key Lime Pie

Come back tomorrow for a tour of the new kitchen!

For more meal ideas, visit Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

Mountain Man Breakfast

I am always on the lookout for good recipes for dutch oven cooking. When we go camping, there are not a lot of options on how I cook our meals. I mean, seriously, have you seen the size of a camper oven? I think it's meant to be so small so that the mom, or cook of the family, will actually get to enjoy their vacation time.

Ha! Little do they know, campfire cooking is half the fun!

Well, unless it's raining.

Then I go to plan B.

Beans.

This recipe can be cooked over an open fire, on a cookstove, or even in an oven at home. It only has 5 ingredients and cooks in about 20 minutes.

Once it's on the plates, it doesn't last 20 seconds.

The Players

2 lbs. bulk breakfast sausage (I used elk sausage)

2 lb. bag of Potatoes O'brien (hashbrowns with peppers & onions)

8 eggs

1/2 cup water

2 cups grated cheese

Brown the sausage in the dutch oven. Do NOT drain the fat.

Remove cooked sausage from pan and lay on paper towels. In the sausage grease, brown the bag of hashbrowns. There was not a lot of grease from our elk sausage, so I added a Tb. of beef tallow. Remember that cast iron cooks a little hotter than other pans, so the heat will use up the fat pretty quickly.

Brown the potatoes. If you have the inclination to bring your own spuds from the garden and dice them up, that will work too, but you will also want to bring some peppers and onions with them.

I'm disinclined to create more work than I need to when on vacation.

The fish could be biting!

After the potatoes are browned, dump the sausage over the top of the spuds.


Whisk together the eggs and water. Pour egg mixture over the top of the sausage.

Add the cheese.


Put the lid on the dutch oven. If using a cookstove, turn down the heat to a medium low. If using the fire, set the dutch oven off to the side of the flames. If using an oven, preheat to 325F.

Pour yourself another cup of coffee and relax for about 20 minutes.


Check on the family to make sure they are catching dinner. You know, everybody doing their part and all! Clap and tell them what a good job they are doing, while quietly reminding yourself that you like trout and fish cleaning time should be a nice bonding moment between Daddy and children.


When the eggs are set, breakfast is on!


Enjoy!

Of Mountains and Mice

A couple of years ago, some friends of ours introduced us to Mt. Adams. If you live in the Pacific Northwest, this is a mountain you've heard of.

If not, you're missing out.

Mt. Adams is not for the faint of heart though. It is for the strong. It is for the brave. It is for the back-to-nature people who detest shaving. And soap.

Trust me.

There is no electricity. Or plumbing.

But it is my favorite place on earth.

The lake that we camped at is stocked full of beautiful, high-mountain, rainbow trout.

They don't know what pollution is.

News of our arrival travelled fast.

Somebody forgot to tell this 3.5-pounder.

Lucky for my Mister.

And that's what it was.

See, I caught the first fish, on the best fly. Then the kids got hungry. Because that's what they do. So I went to shore to create a meal from twigs and berries, because that's what I do. My Mister decided to "borrow" my new fishing pole and my best fly, just to see how well it worked.

It worked.

But I'm not bitter.

One of my favorite moments of our little trip was this moment.

See the kids on the shore?

I was in the boat.

All by myself.

*sigh*

After our long fishing adventure, (we caught 27 trout on the first day, 25 the second), we were beat. With the kids safely tucked in their tents, my Mister and I headed for the camper. (Because we're old and require mattresses.)

Seconds after crawling into bed, we heard funny little clicking sounds. After making the flashlight dance around the campsite, we determined that there was no bear or mountain lion waiting to consume our children, so back to bed we went.

Then it happened again.

This time, we knew that it was coming from inside our camper.

I should probably tell you now that I am not a brave person. In fact, my idea of bravery is hiding under the covers and humming "What a Wonderful World" until my Mister comes home.

But I married a brave man. He peeked out from under the covers long enough to see a mouse staring back at him from on top of our stove.

I think it was rabid.

Okay, maybe not rabid, but it was suffering from something rodent-like. Which is just as good as rabid.

Being 34 miles away from civilization and a paved road, does not allow for a quick jaunt into town to pick up mousetraps. So my Mister had to get creative.

This is the "Dine & Drown" method that has been scientifically proven to be 99.9% effective.

Don't worry, I thought he was nuts too.

In order for this to work, you'll need a small garbage can and a bag of over-priced salted peanuts. You will also need a piece of bark and about 2 quarts of water in the can.

Set the bark in the water and top with peanuts. Three or 4 is a good number. Place the can anywhere you see mouse "droppings". Then wait.

And you should probably start humming "What a Wonderful World".

I felt a little guilty when we heard the first scamper and splash. How could we (I mean, he) murder a tiny little mouse?

By the third scamper and splash, the guilt was gone.

What do you think? Should we patent the "Dine & Drown"?

Personally, I think it needs more scientific testing.

Maybe I should head back up to the mountain...

...all in the name of science.

A Moment to Reflect & Relax

After spending a couple of days on the Washington coast, we've decided that we're not ready for summer to be over.

So, for the next few days, I will be MIA.

Well, not really.

I know where I'll be.

I'll be the chubby chicka floatin' in the lone boat, fishing pole in hand, whistling the theme music to "The Andy Griffith Show", and enjoying the lovely mountain sunset from Mt. Adams.

And I may even be barefoot.

See you on Wednesday!

And We Shall Call Them...

Over the last couple of days, we have been a house divided.

I had no idea that naming goats would be so difficult. It seems that everyone has an opinion, but nobody wants to share in mine. So I made a corporate decision.

"I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my Squishy. C'mon, Squishy come on little Squishy."

Okay, maybe that was extreme thinking. After all, there are 3 "little Squishy's" to name and it wouldn't be fair to call them all Squishy.

And...they are not fish.

Really, they aren't very squishy either.

I guess we could've called them Thing 1 and Thing 2. But again, there are 3 and that would leave 1 out.

"Could you get on with the names please? The kids are starting to get out of control here."

How about other famous trios?

Larry, Curly and Moe, perhaps?

Crosby, Stills and Nash?

Kukla, Fran and Ollie?

Then it hit me.

I would like to officially introduce to you, Wynken, Blynken and Nod.

"Wynken, Blynken and Nod"

Wynken, Blynken and Nod one night
sailed off in a wooden shoe,
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.

Where are you going,
and what do you wish,
The old man asked the three.
We've come to fish,
for the herring fish,
That swim in the beautiful sea,
Nets of silver and gold have we,
Said Wynken, Blynken and Nod.

So all night long,
Their nets they threw,
To the stars in the twinklin' foam,
Then down from the sky,
Came the wooden shoe,
Bringing the fishermen home.

'Twas oh so pretty,
A sail it seemed,
As if it could not be,
And some folks thought,
'Twas a dream they'd dreamed,
Of sailing the beautiful sea,
But I shall name you,
The fishermen three,
Wynken, Blynken and Nod.

Wynken and Blynken,
Are two little eyes,
And Nod is a weary head,
And the wooden shoe,
That sailed the skies,
Is a wee one's trundle bed.
So shut your eyes,
while Mommy sings,
Of the wonderul sights that be,
And you shall see,
All the beautiful things,
As you rock in that misty sea,
Just like the fishermen three,
Wynken, Blynken and Nod.

Just like the fishermen three,
Wynken, Blynken and Nod.


And now that Gertie knows what to call them, they have finally started to settle down.

At least, for tonight.

Triplets!!!

After weeks and weeks of guessing, we now know when Gertie the Goat is due.

September 6, 2010.

Labor Day.

I guess she took that literally.

I'll spare you the really disgusting pictures of bubbles, fluid, and blood, and just share with you the "Awwww..." moments instead.

You'll thank me for it.

This is baby #1. She's a girl. And very independent.

She's also the largest and needed a little help finding her way out.

Heather now knows what she wants to be when she grows up.

I'll give you a clue. It is NOT a librarian.

We are trying to come up with names.

I suggested Latte. Mandie suggested Gizelle. My sister, Erin, suggested Duckie.

What do you think?

Then out popped baby #2.

She's a girl too.

I was thinking about calling her Java. Mandie thought she looked more like a Celeste.

Erin thought maybe we should call her Birdie.

I should probably mention that my sister lives in town.

I love her anyway.

Then I threw out the names Dandelion and Clover.

Just when we thought that maybe we were on to something, baby #3 made his appearance.

He's a boy.

And in case you were wonderin', there are no weeds that sound masculine.

I think I'll call him Roy.


My only request was that "kidding time" would happen during the daylight hours.

Which Gertie ignored.


In hindsight I should've requested a dry evening with temperatures in the mid-60's.


I'll have to remember that for the next time.

Oh yeah. There will definitely be a next time.

If we can agree on names, that is.

A Tired MPM 9/6/10

I love Labor Day. It's the day we celebrate and show our appreciation to workers by giving them the day off.

I'd like some of that please.

As I type this out, I'm being mindful of the fact that my fingers have no skin on the tips. I'm wrapped in a blanket, trying to keep my exhausted muscles from cramping up, and the only progress I've made on my breakfast plans is to say, "Yes, I'da likey me some breakfast."

My brain is numb, my fingers hurt and my butt muscles (who knew?) are twitching.

Why? Because I had the grand idea to grout my new kitchen floor~ BY MYSELF.

Have I mentioned that the kitchen gained some square footage? It's not the tiny, little room that it once was. In fact, it took 12 boxes of 16x16" tiles to cover our floor.

I am feeling every second of my 43 years right now and am half tempted to just throw dirt over it all, just so I will never have to look at it again.

Just in case it's not perfect.

Thankfully, there is a small portion of my brain that is still functioning. So, I'll suck it up for now, and put some effort into the meal plan for the week.

Maybe I'll even get to move back into the new space this week!

Here's what's cookin'...

~Monday~

Soaked oatmeal

Beef Stew, cornbread

~Tuesday~

Fruit Smoothies, peanut butter toast

Grilled Mahi Mahi, Broccoli Salad (I'll post my version later this week)

~Wednesday~

Soaked Oatmeal

Sea Scallops, Linguini Alfredo (using brown rice noodles), green salad

~Thursday~

Fried eggs, toast

Zucchini Patties, baked chicken

~Friday~

Soaked Oatmeal

I didn't plan out the rest of the weekend because we may be at the coast for a couple of days. My adult children, who have to work, because they are adults, (hehe) will have to fend for themselves. Because they are adults. (That's just not getting old.) The rest of us, who are fortunate enough to either have the weekend off, or are too young to have social lives or jobs, get to play at the ocean and feast on seafood.

I'll be calling that my Labor Day holiday!

For more menu ideas, visit I'm an Organizing Junkie.