Coconut Curry Rice with Butternut Squash

1 quart bone broth (chicken or rabbit, preferably)
2 cups rice
1/2 cup butternut squash puree
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 t curry powder

Bring stock to a boil. Add rice, curry powder, puree & coconut milk, lower heat & cover. Cook 45 minutes (20 minutes if you're using white rice), stirring occasionally.

Toothpaste

Toothpaste

2 T coconut oil
3T baking soda (sifted)
1 T xylitol (birch based, sifted)
2 capfuls of peppermint oil (or about 1/2 t)

Blend all ingredients well using a fork. Store in an airtight container, dipping your toothbrush in to use.

Each ingredient serves a purpose as follows:

• Coconut oil not only gives the toothpaste a paste quality, it is also a natural anti-bacterial.
• Baking soda is a mild abrasive & also combats odors naturally.
• Xylitol gives the paste a sweeter taste, as the baking soda is extremely salty tasting. It has a cooling taste to it, making your mouth feel cool & fresh. The xylitol is also excellent for dental health.
  
• Peppermint oil (you can use other oils if desired) gives your mouth a clean minty feel & taste.

Homemade cat urine smell remover

I'd been looking for this for several weeks. It never dawned on me to check my old blog.

Homemade cat urine smell remover:

1/4c hydrogen peroxide
1/4 c baking soda
1/4 c white vinegar
1 T. dish liquid

Here's what I did:
mix well & put on area to be cleaned. Rub in well (I just used my hands). I sucked it up with our carpet cleaner, then used vinegar & water in the cleaner to go over it again. The vinegar reeks, but once it's dry, the smell of the vinegar is gone, along with the odors.

Tuesday Twister

I am finally getting around to posting a Tuesday Twister, hosted by Wardeh at GNOWFGLINS.

After a rough year & a very rough summer, I jumped in the kitchen, after the whole family came down with a stomach bug & decided I HAD to get back on the wagon. And.stay.there.

On Thursday I got my act together & did water kefir, dairy kefir & kombucha.

We've also fallen in love with the egg drink. It's made the table regularly in an effort to cram as many nutrients in as possible. I've also added trace minerals, powdered vitamins & powdered greens to it, to pack more of a punch.

Yesterday was stuffed jalapenos for the freezer (after we snacked on a few).

A few other things we've worked on the past few days:

I cut up 2 heads of red cabbage. I pulled out 8 cups to make a double batch of coleslaw. Coleslaw is a semi-rare treat around here. This was SO pretty going together!!




The rest was layered in a 9x13 pan with salt & whey for kraut.



I also decided to try escabeche after seeing this recipe. It went into cold storage yesterday. It smells absolutely YUMMY! I'm looking forward to trying it! Again, this was so colourful & pretty!




Dinners started out bland after being sick. Chicken & rice; beef short ribs, mashed potatoes & watermelon (we've had a LOT of watermelon this past week to help combat dehydration); and yesterday we were able to eat spaghetti. I still have some cheats in my kitchen until my energy returns, but as it does, those cheats slowly will be weaned away again. Thankfully those cheats are organic, HFCS-free, natural, etc.

And totally off topic & not in the kitchen, I couldn't resist showing you this picture. We are loving this little critter.

Stuffed Jalapenos 2

1 pound jalapenos, cut long in half, seeds & membranes removed
1 1/2 blocks cream cheese (12 oz)
1 12oz pkg bacon, fried to a crisp & cut into tiny pieces, cooled
1 cup shredded cheddar
1 t each onion powder, garlic powder

Mix together everything except the peppers. Stuff each pepper half with the mixture & line up on a baking sheet (with sides) close together. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until cheeses are melted & they are toasty brown.

Addictive!!! There, you've been warned.

Egg drink

I have to share a recipe I saw on the web (I actually just got the ingredient list & had to come up with my own measurements, as well as some tweaks). I'll also let you know some additions we've tried & liked :D

3 pastured eggs
1/2 t ground cinnamon
2 T honey
2 T coconut oil or butter, or mix & match
1 cup boiling water (also, see notes following)

Bring to a whirl in blender all but boiling water. After all ingredients are well incorporated & frothy, slowly add boiling water while blender is running. Serve warm.

To serve cold, add about 1/2 cup boiling water instead of the full cup. After blending the water in, add 8 large ice cubes, & continue blending until mix is chilled & ice cubes are blended.

We liked this with 2 bananas added with the first 4 ingredients.

I have many more plans for this recipe as well!!!

A couple pics from around here lately

We got a new kitty!!! This occurred on Sunday, August 15th.

My poor babies, in the midst of being sick were actually getting along!!!

And wonderful things to those that are patient. My wee bub lost his first tooth on Tuesday, the 17. But not just a tooth..... TWO teeth!!!


Seriously, how lucky can a first-time-tooth-losing-kid get???

Yesterday I rocked the kitchen along....

As well as recuperation would allow!!

I rinsed & fed my cold storage water kefir grains....... After severely neglecting them.....


I finally rebatched my water kefir....... after severely neglecting it


I f.i.n.a.l.l.y got around to making a new batch of k-tea.....


.....after SEVERELY neglecting my last batch. I'm so ashamed. No, wait. Nevermind, I'm not ashamed. I think this one is funny!!!


I revamped my dairy kefir grains & hope for dairy kefir later today or tomorrow. These ones weren't TOO severely neglected, thank you very much!

Leaving a little bit of history....

We finished the flooring downstairs recently (pics to come), and since we had an existing concrete floor, I decided we'd let the boys do a little something special before we put down the laminate.

LOVE IT!!!

Saddling up..... AGAIN!!!

We've just battled the stomach flu. All.5.of.us.got.it.this.time. We have NEVER ALL 5 gotten the same thing at the same time. Usually it's 1-3 of us, or it's at least a week or 3 apart. It was BAD. BADBADBAD!!!! We're, thankfully, on the mend now. This year has sent us through so many loops & obstacles, that every time I get back up, dust my butt off & get our healthy lifestyle going again, something backhands me back to the ground again.

I'd just gotten through telling Hubba just a few days ago that this year we just haven't been able to get healthy & STAY healthy. I figured it out, just a day or 2 before the first of us got sick. It just wasn't enough time to fix it.....

I have so much to catch you up on, but first..... first I must get my home back in order. I must get my KITCHEN back in order.

For the umpteenth time this year...

*le sigh*

Life these days

Still haven't found my camera cord, but I'm hoping that will change soon :D I've got the primer coat done on the downstairs, and that means I'm ready for the top coat. Once I get that done, we'll begin setting up one end of the big room as our homeschool area. The other end will likely still be empty. We're hoping to get flooring in the next 1-2 months max. We'll floor the empty end of the room, then move the HS stuff to that end & finish in the other end.Tomorrow, I start my new again job. Last year I worked for the same company as Hubba. It was just a couple of hours a night, a few nights a week. It was more or less on my own schedule. I basically just stocked shelves, faced & fronted the store & did the merchandising. I enjoyed that it was in the evenings, and I didn't have to leave my kids home all day. I was presented with the same opportunity again a couple of weeks ago, but this time in a different dept. I'll have the same "hours," the same boss, the same job. I decided that when the girls started school, I'd no longer be watching children. It's going to be less than time & cost effective.

Now, don't get me wrong. If a daycare charge fell into my lap that was under school age, I'd likely care for them. I don't see that happening. One of my stipulations, and the one everyone seems to have a problem with, is that I no longer wait until the end of the week, pay period or month. I've been ripped off 3 times by 3 different families, and I'm out over $100. I figure if they're not willing to pay me up front, they're not willing o pay me at all. I say this because it's not like they have to have $200 up front for a full week or 2. I am ok with them paying up front on a DAILY basis. That typically only runs $20-25 at the most.So, anyway, it will be nice to work for this lady again. I did the math. I can earn more after taxes in less then 1/4th of the time that I do with one daycare charge.

Seb & Hubba have spent this past week in hunter safety classes. They were going from 6-9 M-F & then they did the shooting range Sat. morning 8:30-11:30. They are both now certified to "hunt safely." I'm so proud of both of them. Hubba got 100% on his final test. The instructor said that he's only the 2nd *man* that has scored 100%. Women apparently breeze through the test & scoree 100, but men don't typically score 100. Seb on the other hand got a 96%. PHENOM for a boy his age (even if that's only MY mom opinion, LOL). Next year, we want to sign Tris up for the classes & Kee the following year.

I asked Hubba to get a couple pics at the range. These are taken under a cover with a cell, so the picture quality isn't great (ok, it downright sucks). Here are a couple of Seb:



A friend of ours will be taking Seb hunting this year, even if Hubba can't always go. We're all pretty excited about this new chapter in our life.

I'm also praying for a HARD freeze in our bodies of water here. This past winter, we were supposed to go ice fishing (myself & aforementioned friend), but the water didn't freeze hard enough. If we get a hard freeze, we're aiming to do it this year!

Otherwise, life is good. The animals are doing well, the garden is ding well, all things considered.

God is a wonderful God!!

A little update

Still can't find the camera cord, but lately we have been so busy. We've been gardening, raising chickens & rabbits and doing all sorts of other things around the mini-stead. Since May 23rd, our downstairs still hasn't been the same. Most of our things from down there are still in the garage. Instead of bringing it in, we decided this would be a good opportunity to finish it. It's been drywall since we moved in almost 2 years ago. We've had a friend over showing us how to properly drywall & tomorrow we are hoping to get the bulk of it done. Today was spent moving things from the big room, hanging plastic & removing hardware from the walls.

Anyhoo, I'm hoping my cord shows up soon, so I can show you all the neat things we've been doing.

Be blessed!