Green Eggs and A Plan

Saturday, June 5, 2010

West Texas Road Trip

We're on the road. We'll be posting pictures as we have internet access over the next few days. These pictures are from the Caves of Sonora.

{this moment} From Soulemama- A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. Wishing you a lovely weekend!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

We're Eating: Hoppin' John

From the Farmer's Market on 5/28/10

Pretty purple okra

Sweet yellow and red onions, garlic, eggs, tomatoes, crookneck squash, and mushrooms.

From Our Garden:

A tiny green bell pepper

A few tomatoes that are almost ripe

And so with the bounty of the garden and the Farmer's Market, we made Hoppin' John. I originally started making Hoppin' John from a recipe adapted from The Gift of Southern Cooking. The Gift of Southern Cooking was co-authored by Edna Lewis, the grand dame of Southern Cooking, and Scott Peacock. I love the story of the two unlikely friends and the care and compassion they each showed for the other. However, they both cook with LOTS of pork. Since we don't eat pork and I don't eat any meat, most of the recipes in the book are more interesting reading the really something I would make. However, Hoppin' John is in heavy rotation at our house since Chuck loves Black Eyed Peas and I love rice and beans in any form.

1 T olive oil

1-2 small yellow onions

3 cloves garlic

1 green bell pepper

1ish pound okra

4 cups cooked black eyed peas

1-2 large tomatoes

1/2 C veggie broth

Optional: 2 C green beans

1/2 t crushed red pepper

1 T ground thyme

salt to taste

3 C cooked brown rice

Crystal Hot Sauce or Tabasco

Chopped green onion tops for garnish

Cook brown rice before you start the rest of the meal.

Dice onion. Wash and chop okra. Heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the onion and okra. The key to cooking okra without it getting gooey is to sear the heck out of it. Cook until the okra starts to brown on one side or the other. Add in the diced bell pepper and chopped garlic. When the bell pepper is soft, add in the diced tomato, spices, and veggie broth. Turn down to a low simmer and add in black eyed peas. Cook until everything looks well combined ~20 minutes.

Serve over hot brown rice and garnish with hot sauce and chopped green onion.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Tales from the Coop: Hen Pecked

Sometimes when I look at the hens, I can't help but see dinosaurs. Once the whole dinosaur-bird thing is pointed out, it's hard not see the connection. Strip off the feathers and you have one tough looking little animal.

Eliza is still the most photographed bird. The poor thing can't really see around her top hat so she waits until she can hear us to move. The other hens are much faster and run away before I can get a decent shot.

New things we've learned about chickens:

1)They love old brown rice. Love it. They actually chuckle with joy when we put it in the coop.

2)The chickens love pecking at the camera lens.

3)The chickens need a larger coop. We had hoped to let them run around the yard more, but the dogs are not warming to the chickens and we will need to keep them apart. Luckily, we have an old structure from my Grandpa in the yard that can easily be converted into a large run for the chickens.

Hopefully, they will start laying eggs in the next month. It should be fun!

Monday, May 31, 2010

We Made: Play Dough

Mr. J has entered into a deep obsession with play dough. For the Christmas present for his class, I made three colors of play dough and sent them in containers with three cookie cutters. The holiday colored play dough lasted a good long while, BUT our crazy carb obsessed dog ate the last of it and barfed it on the rug. Fun times.

Anyway, homemade play dough is very easy to make. I usually add a few drops of an essential oil to the dough while I'm kneading in the color to make it smell better. I've also read that you can add in hand lotion to keep it from drying your hands out. Since the main ingredient is salt, it can be a little drying. All in all, it takes about 15 minutes to make and is much cheaper that buying it.

Playdough

From: While She Naps

Ingredients:

3 cups flour, sifted

1 1/2 cup salt

6 teaspoons cream of tartar

3 1/4 cup water

3 tablespoons oil

food coloring

Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a large pot until no lumps remain. Whisk in the wet ingredients (except for the food coloring) and stir until no lumps remain. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes until a dough forms. Separate into several portions and add food coloring, kneading until uniform in color. Store in airtight containers.

Please excuse the interruption...

Turns out that May was a silly busy month. In between keeping the 10 mouths fed, tending the garden, and closing out our respective school years, we've been a wee bit too busy to write up activities. However, we did take lots and lots of pictures. We'll be posting daily over the summer since we both have more time AND it looks like we just started harvesting veggies from our garden. The new plan is:

Monday - We Made It (Crafts, things from scratch, etc.)
Tuesday – Tales from The Coop (Chicken and egg report.)
Wednesday – We’re Eating (CSA, Garden, Farmers Market report)
Thursday – We’re Reading (Books and articles)
Friday – From Soulemama {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. Wishing you a lovely weekend!
Sunday – Cake for Sharing (Cake recipe to take to work or school)

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Mother's Day Crafts

In an effort to cut down on our consumerism this year, I decided to make most of the Mother's Day gifts. I usually make gifts for each holiday, so this wasn't that different, but I made the cards too.

It was really very simple. I took several pictures of Mr. J from the side. He wasn't into standing still for me so I took more tries than I had imagined. Then I printed out the best picture, cut out his profile, colored in the profile with a big black marker, and scanned in the silhouette. I also scanned in a handprint of Mr. J's that I made with a

large ink pad on white paper.

I played around with the images in Photoshop until I got a nice looking design. I printed them out at Kinkos and framed several versions for the Grandmothers and Great Grandmothers. I also made one for the wall near my desk!

I also always think about the original reason for Mother's Day: peace activism. Women's groups have often been the loudest

voices calling for peace in the name of mother's and children everywhere. I think we will think hard about how to incorporate a greater message of peace into our Mother's Day celebrations in the future. This year, I put the following text inside the cards I made:

Original Mothers' Day Proclamation

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be of water or of tears! Say firmly: "We will not have questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy, and patience. We women of one country will be too tender to those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own. It says "Disarm! Disarm!" The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.

As men have forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after his time the sacred impress not of Caesar, but of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

Julia Ward Howe

Writer of the Battle Hymn of the Republic

Boston 1870

Happy Mother’s Day 2010

In Peace and Love,

Jenny, Chuck, and Mr. J

White House Garden

Last week, I was visiting Washington DC with the 8th Grade class from my school. It is an annual trip that bring excitement, experience, exhaustion, and tears for parents, teachers, and students. For the past few years we have been lucky enough to experience The White House tour. This year, I had to sprint around the grounds to take a quick picture of the White House Garden. It is the first garden on the grounds since the victory gardens of World War II & FDR.

I enjoyed seeing the garden and loved that my students got a chance to glimpse it, too. It gave me a wonderful opportunity to explain why someone who could afford to buy groceries from the store would choose to grow their own food. I love having a presidential family that understands conservation and leading by example.