Fall Pumpkin Harvest

Today I gathered the last of the pumpkins from the garden.

I hope to can one more batch of them before feeding the rest to the chickens.

Cooking with Pumpkin

Last year I purchased several cans of pumpkin for 20-cents a can; which I have used throughout the year for pumpkin bread and pies.

I have been wanting to use up my canned pumpkin before using my homegrown pumpkin so today I decided to try a new recipe I have been reading about lately on various blogs; pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.

The muffins turned out alright but nothing to get excited about; this surprised me because every person who has written about these muffins just raves about them.

Homemade Hash Browns

Recently I was reading the blog Life as Mom where there is a section called The Ultimated Recipe Swap. What makes this swap fun and different are themes; each swap pertains to one type of cooking and this week the theme is "Breakfast".

My contribution to the swap is Homemade Hash browns.

Begin by peeling the skin on your potato;

And grating it.

Add small amount of oil to your skillet;

And the potatoes; sprinkling with salt and pepper at this time.

Cover and cook until brown on one side;

Flip to brown the other side.

This morning I served the hash browns with eggs, bacon and homemade bread.

Homemade hash browns are a perfect addition to breakfast.

A Fun Hair Style

Lately I have been wanting to do something different with Elizabeth's hair; So this is what I came up with.

Double buns.

I love how the buns look; they remind me of ears on a stuffed bear.

I Love My Chickens, But....

The chickens had pretty much grazed all there was in the orchard so we decided to let them out into the yard and into my garden area.I was willing to let them have the last of our tomatoes;

And I was willing to let them have some of the pumpkins.

But when I discovered they had feasted on the leaves to my broccoli;

And the leaves to my carrots...I had to say "no more"!

Now they will have to stay locked-up in their own yard until the fall garden has been harvested. It's a good thing we have all those cotton burrs to keep them entertained.

A Mighty Load

On Saturday this truck paid us a visit. Once in position the truck deposited its load;

Of cotton burrs.

5-tons of cotton burrs.

To be used in the garden and for the chickens.

What fun the chickens and I will be having with all of it.

Fabulous Field Trip

On Friday Elizabeth and I went on a fabulous field trip to a dairy farm with our home school co-op.
I love how the cows looked all lined up in a row.

We saw the milking up close which was pretty neat; the milk comes out very quickly.

When we went outside several of the cows came to check us out as we were checking them out.

The newborn calves were so cute; the kids had a great time petting them.

This was one of the best field trips I have ever participated in.

Early Morning Bargain

This morning I purchased what I thought was a slab of pork ribs...

That turned out to be a slab of pork brisket ribs...

For 90-cents a pound. So worth the 30-seconds it took me to walk to the meat section! These will be on our next Bar-B-Que menu.

Boots

Boots came to live with us a couple of months ago.
She and Elizabeth and best buddies!

Macaroni and Cheese

In the March 2007 issue of the Texas Co-op Power magazine was a very interesting write-up about the history of Luby's Cafeteria.

Included in the article were recipes for popular dishes the cafeteria served; macaroni and cheese was one of the recipes.

Today, 2 1/2 years after the article came out, I finally got around to making the macaroni and cheese....it was so good!

Here is the recipe.

2 cups dry elbow macaroni

4 tablespoons nonfat dry milk

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted

1 1/4 cups boiling water

3 cups shredded American cheese

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook macaroni 1 to 2 minutes longer than package directions so pasta is soft but not mushy. Drain. In a large mixing bowl, combine dry milk, flour and butter. Whisking constantly, gradually add in boiling water. Add 1 cup of cheese and continue whisking until smooth and creamy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Fold in macaroni, 1 more cup of cheese, and salt. transfer to a lightly greased 11x17 casserole dish and cover with foil. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until sauce in center of casserole is thick and creamy. Remove foil and sprinkle remaining 1 cup of cheese evenly on top. Return to oven until cheese melts. Serves 6.

Another Baking Dish

On Thursday Elizabeth and I stopped at an estate sale where I found another glass baking dish for 3-dollars.

The pan is similar to a 9x13 baking dish only wider with short sides.

It's perfect for brownies.

Bunuelos

Bunuelos is a fried pastry that is coated with a glaze. I thought this pastry would be fun to make, while studying Mexico, because in Mexico it is made at Christmas time and sold on the streets by Food Vendors. The pastry is served on broken or defective dishes and when you finish your pastry you are to smash the dish on the ground.
I was disappointed in the pastry; it turned out lightly sweet and very sticky instead of crispy as I had expected it to be. I found the recipe in a cookbook I purchased used years ago. Until yesterday the only recipe I had tried from the book was red sauce, which turned out fine.

Since I am not sure the kids in the geography co-op will like the Bunuelos I decided to make a second pastry, sopapillas. A friend told me how to make these using a flour tortilla recipe.I think the kids are going to really love today's snack!

Meet Brizia

Brizia is from Mexico where she lives on a farm with her family; she is modeled after a young girl from a video we saw about "Families in Mexico".Elizabeth did the embroidery on Brizia's face;

And stitched the skirt by hand.

We made Brizia as a craft project while studying Mexico in our geography co-op group.

Fall Carrots

The carrot tops are getting so tall and bushy! Today I decided to pull one up to see how big the carrot would be. It was very small and very cute; splitting it 4-ways only gave us a tiny taste of what we will have in the near future.

And that tiny taste was so good!

Hamburger Heaven

For the longest time I have wanted to make homemade hamburger buns;And since yesterday's weather was perfect for baking;

I gave it a try.

I used my favorite bread recipe and was pleasantly surprised at how good the buns turned out.

The buns were slightly chewy but held together very well. I will definitely be making these again; especially since our local supermarket just raised the prices again on buns; they are now $1.25 a package for the store brand.

Big Lots

A couple of weeks ago I was reading the archives of a "new to me" blog. During my reading I came across a write up about Big Lots and the good deal this person had found on canned organic tomatoes.My first thought was "wow"; I had been to Big Lots in the past but was never impressed. However, after reading the write-up I decided to check out my local store once again and see what I could find.

Well, my first visit was pretty much as expected; prices were OK but not anything special. Then, today I decided to check out the store again and guess what I found?

That's right, a great deal on small cans of peaches and mixed fruit. These are just the right size for Jonathan to carry in his backpack to go with his lunch.

My local United Supermarket sells the same fruit for $1.29 per can.