Stash Bashing Longies

I have not been around for a while but I think that is over now.  Why, because I have so much to share that I just didnt even know where to start and that snowballed into a feeling of not being able to write anything at all including my Thursdays Stash Bash.  Honestly, I didn't even think anyone missed it...until I happened to visit a blog of a momma which I really enjoy today and there it was, she was Stash Bashing and continuing on even though I hadn't been.

So today, I had written another blog post about us building our patio last month but instead I put it in the saved file and am sharing one of my stash bashing projects with you.  Thank you Samantha.

I woke up the other day thinking that I only have 4 more months to go and I have not made one thing for my baby bean.  I wanted and need to make some longies, shorties and a diaper cover or too as well as make lots and lots of wipes and I have no prefolds for newborns.  I plan on sewing some unless I find them at a really good price since I have yards and yards of organic hemp fleece and french terry but at the moment my sewing room is not usable and I cannot even get to my sewing machine.  Since Poppa has gone back to work he really has no time to get in there with me so little by little somehow I need to move everything in there up to the attic and reorganize my space.

What I can do is crochet and knit.  So I decided to start with some longies from my pattern that I made back when I was pregnant with Livie.  I got so much use out of that pattern but never finalized the newborn size so this kills two birds with one stone and will soon have a pattern to offer after almost 4 years of coming up with it.

I bought this yarn last year at Halloween time and though Patons is not my absolute favorite, it works and I got each one for...check out the price!!  I definitely couldn't leave all this yarn at the store, could I?  Thank goodness that was before my Stash Bashing days but at least now I can use it up and get closer to my goal of using all my supplies up.

These colors remind me of the 70's when I was little and for some reason the word stereophonic comes to mind so these are my Stereophonic longies.

I hope to show you the finished (with legs) longies next week.

Come back next Thursday for the Stash Bash blog link up and join me if you want to...I would love it.  And if you want to visit a fun blog, go on over and spend some time at Woodland Woolens  whom I hope will be stash bashing with me again next week.


If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

The B word

It finally happened.  After 5 years of raising chickens one of our hens (Buffy because she is a Buff Orpington) is broody. I would use another B word for her but I don't use curse words so we'll just have to do with broody.  Not kidding but she growls at us among other things, is hogging up the hens favorite nesting box, hissing and puffing up her feathers.   I decided to let her sit on some eggs so I told the girls to mark a days worth of eggs with crayons and let her do her thing.  Every day the girls will remove the eggs that are not marked and we let Buffy continue on her mission.

Not sure why but most of my hens like the one box she has taken up residence in so they will lose their patience waiting for her to move and will just squat on top of her and lay their eggs right on top of her which roll down and end up under her.

You see that look on her face, this is the don't mess with me right now look.  She is usually the happiest, go luckiest girl in the coop but right now she could use an iced chai latte and a nice dirt bath.  She has now been sitting in her spot for 20 days and no sign of her moving anytime soon.  Since our chickens eggs are fertile because they have a demanding rooster in the coop, we are just waiting to see.

I think I am over my bloggers slump now so I hope to be back tomorrow with chick news or to share the tons of projects we have gotten done around here.


If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

As good as Rice to Riches Rice Pudding

I have done it!!  After months and months of mixing ingredients and tweaking recipes, I have done it.  What have I done?  Well, you already read the header to this post so you know it has something to do with rice pudding.  Not just any rice pudding...a wonderful, creamy, delectable replica of the most amazing rice pudding I have ever had.

If you have been reading my blog that far back, you might remember my trip to New York back in November. One afternoon in SOHO, I was starving but having dinner reservations in an hour I did not want to ruin my appetite, I just wanted a snack.  My cousin told me he wanted to take me to a pudding restaurant.  Um, pudding?  I was game since I've never been to a restaurant just about rice pudding.

I was not ready to be blown away by such a simple desert, but that is exactly what happened at Rice to Riches.  Have you ever been there?  If you are ever in the SOHO neighborhood of New York, do yourself the favor.  I had the plain rice pudding because I didn't expect much. At the first spoonful, I just sat there thinking "how can it be this good?"  and good it was.

 Good enough to keep me thinking about it and causing a really bad pregnancy craving which I could not fill...until now.

The best part is this is so simple and easy and my goodness is it good.  In the past few months I have scoured the internet and recipe books and tried so many that were good but they weren't as good as Rice to Riches pudding, not even close.  They were all missing one thing, warmth and creaminess.  I decided to use my custard base for making ice cream and then it happened and I stood there eating hot rice pudding right out of the pot because I couldn't wait for it to cool.

Just as good as Rice to Riches Rice Pudding

7 c whole milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 cup regular long grain rice
2 eggs
1 c sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup of raisins

Heat to boiling the milk, rice, salt and bay leaf.  Stay nearby and stir it often until it boils or it can stick to the bottom of the pan.  Reduce to low and cook for about 20 minutes or until rice softens.

In a bowl whisk together the sugar and eggs.  Add some of the rice mixture (about a half a cup) to the sugar egg mixture and whisk quickly for about 30 seconds then add the whole bowl into the rice pudding pot, mix thoroughly.  Add the vanilla extract and the raisins and cook until it thickens up.

Enjoy!!


If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

I am still alive.  I can't believe so much time has passed since I have blogged and I feel as though I have fallen off the wagon and can't get back up.  At first I just thought I would take a week off and just be and live but then a week turned into two and here we are 20 days later.  There has been so much going on here and I have no pictures to show for it.  I visited my parents back home and left my memory card in my moms computer.  She mailed it to me but the post office sent it back and so I am still waiting for my pictures to share with all of you everything that has been going on here in the past 20 days.

I want to thank everyone who sent me emails checking to see if everything is OK.  I didn't mean to worry anyone but it does kinda make me feel all warm inside to know that some of you were thinking of me : )

I am fine, belly growing and trying to keep up with all my projects with much less energy than usual.  We have done alot housewise (new patio finally!!  remodeled the girls room) and I hope to share pictures of the garden because it is unrecognizeable from a few weeks back.  Spring is in full force and so is the work load but I am seeing the benefits and so that is where I have been...in the garden or working on the farm.

I have not picked up a ball of yarn (um except to tie up some tomatoes hee hee) or touched my sewing machine which is still buried behind 100 boxes of stuff.  There are so many projects I need to get back to but right now my heart is outside and that is where I feel the best.  I will try to sneak Alex's camera to get some pics of the garden to post and share some broody news.


If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

Happy Easter...One year later

I love putting up this post every year.  For the past few years I have posted our Easter picture along with the past few years in order to see the change in my family.  Changes I do not see because I am always in the present.  I didn't mean to make this a yearly thing but now that it has come a tradition, I am happy to share it with you.

I am not thrilled with this years picture.  I honestly snapped about 60 and now that I am looking at them, I couldn't find the "perfect one" but if you have ever tried taking pictures of more than 4 or 5 kids, maybe you know how hard it is to get a perfect shot.  Actually after looking at the past few years Easter shot I remembered not getting the perfect shot then either hee hee.

Our Easter picture is always taken in front of the same tree in our front yard.  A few years back when we thought we were going to have to move, one of the things I thought of was our yearly picture in front of that tree.  Silly right?

Easter 2012

Easter 2011

Easter 2010

Easter 2009

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter day.  I will be sharing some of the meals we had and more of our day in the next few days.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

Off for Holy Week

I should have posted this in the beginning of the week.  I hope you all have a wonderful Holy week and I will be back on Easter Sunday with this weeks farm update and Easter pictures.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

Weekly farm update

This week went by so fast and I have a list so long to get ready for Easter but I am thinking that with the condition of my sewing room (its pretty unusable right now) and with the amount of chores on our little farm, I will be lucky just to get the girls dresses done by Sunday and possibly a few treats for Easter baskets and I am OK with that.  I am pretty tired all the time so this year... I am giving myself a break and the kids will understand.

I have decided that by making all my notes as far as planting and projects on this blog every week I will have a better record that is harder to lose than all my notebooks and at the same time you get to come along with me so from now on I will be including a bunch of boring notes (if you will all humour me : )  so that next year I have a better idea of what worked and didn't.

lots and lots of strawberries, small but very sweet.  Tomorrow I will be making strawberry smoothie popsicle for the kids

new celery growing from cut bottoms of celery we already ate (you did know you could do this right?)

zukes

finally seeing flowers on the cocozelle squash

you can see the progession of pea shoots, the front container is the first one we ate, (we got quite alot of shoots from this one container), the next two are the one we are eating this week

Poppa's jalapenos

okinawa spinach, a perenial plant which will keep producing through the summer and is very good eating and good for you.  I was so happy to find this one at the Sustainable Living Conference last weekend.  Plant it once and it will keep feeding us.

lots of little bell peppers

Red leaf purslane.  I had completely given up on this seed, it took 3 weeks to pop up and since it was 2 year old seed I had given up hope.  I am so excited to see it, this is another plant that will keep feeding us year round and I am glad I procrastinated on buying that new seed

A row of mesclun salad in one of our salad beds

yummy and I can't wait

I have two new thornless blackberry bushes to add to our blackberry beds.  I have enough plants but these are new cultivars that I have not seen before and I think I remember reading that having different cultivars will lead to more berries

I found baby grapes!!  I was just about to prune the vines back to a central trunk and then I found fruit on them so training them will again have to wait until the fruit is harvested

new growth on old blackberry bushes

newly planted perennial peanut.  this is a ground cover which I planted around the base of the mulberry and fig trees which will hold in moisture, keep out weeds and the best part is the flowers are edible and taste like peanuts.  They are small and look so pretty in salad.

This weeks accomplishments:

Dug more trenches and planted more of the jerusalem artichokes

Planted spiderworts from a generous friends garden into a bed on the side of the house.  We also ate a few stir fried that same night and they were delicious.  Hope to have pictures of them when they recooperate from the transplant.  They have a lovely blue purple flower which is also yummy in salad.

Transplanted an allium canadense (wild garlic) and allium fistulosum (bunching onion) from my gardening friend John.

Planted two beds of spanish onion

Transplanted a new basil called greek column or Les Bos Basil that I bought from a friend (thanks John), it does not set seed and will last all summer long unlike regular basil will you have to keep dead heading so it does not set seed and die.  I beleive the column basil is more of a perennial than an annual 

Transplanted  8 nasturtiums which were finally big enough to put in a flower bed.  This is one of my favorite plants (the greens are peppery and nice in salad and the flowers are delicious and beautiful in salad.

Moved and transplanted 6 daylillies from the side flower bed to the porch garden.  In a few weeks we will start getting flowers and then I will stuff them with herbed cheese, batter and fry them. Yummy

Planted about 20 garlic bulbs to see if I can use the greens

Transplanted watercress into the herb bed until I can find a place for it.  Hopefully it will spread and is so good for you.  We eat it in salad.

I am still waiting to see if the lettuce leaf basil, cilantro and scallions I planted two weeks ago will germinate.  Fingers crossed.

I spread rabbit manure in some of the beds and need to continue with the rest.

Goals for next week:

Move the blackberries to the front of the garden where they will get more sun.  Also need to dig up all the blackberry volunteers from all over our farm and plant them all together.

Continue spreading rabbit poop in veggie beds

Transplant the dianthus, marigolds and violas to a different edible flowers bed

Plant blue pea vine seeds (this is a beautiful vine that produces a cobalt blue flower (lots and lots of them) which is edible and makes a beautiful blue tea (have I said beautiful too many times?)

Move the papaya trees I over wintered in the front porch garden somewhere on our land.

Finish digging the trench and planting the rest of the jerusalem artichoke bulbs

spread lots of mulch
Cut potatoes and let them cure overnight
Plant potato pieces in hay

Plant the Grey Stree Grape vine I bought at the conference

and

lots and lots more weeding.

Sorry if this was too boring but it really helps me to write it all out and see what I have done and what I still need to do.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

Meatless Friday Meal Recipe Linkup: Eggs in purgatory

Every week during lent on Friday I will be sharing a meatless meal with you all and I am inviting everyone to link up to a meatless recipe on their own blog.

The only rules are:

1. You must post a link to the actual recipe on your blog and not to your front page.
2. Please place a link in your blog post back here so everyone can find all of our recipes.


3. Only post one recipe per week.

Thats it!

Here is my recipe for this week.

I have mentioned in the past few weeks that we are drowning in eggs (not such a bad problem to have) and received so many emails telling me that many of you are in the same predicament.  


I came up with this recipe after having it at a restaurant. I cannot remember what it was called, but I later found many versions of this the most famous being Shakshuka, a middle Eastern recipe which is very curryish and totally delicious.  I guess mine has more of a mediteranean flavor.  It is so simple and takes very little time to make.  My kids love to eat the sauce that is left over with bread.

Eggs in Purgatory


3 tbsp olive oil
1 large shallot
2 garlic cloves minced
6 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 can of tomato sauce (or use your own canned)
3 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
1 cup packed fresh arugula leaves, chopped (you can also use spinach in a pinch but the arugula is really good)
6-7 eggs

Sautee the shallots and garlic in the oil in a large skillet.  Add the tomatoes, tarragon and tomato sauce and let it cook for about 10 minutes.  Carefully crack the eggs into the pan and cook on low for another 10 minutes with a pot lid on.  Add the arugula and let it wilt into the sauce.  Serve and enjoy.

At my house this is a real egg user upper since I have to double this recipe, we go through 14 eggs at a time.

If you have a meatless meal that you would like to share, just include the link at the bottom.  

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

Stash Bash

I've never met a crafter without a stash of some kind. This year my goal is to use up all the craft supplies I have spent money on that are taking up mental and physical space in my life.  Join me here every Thursday for a Stash Bash.   

All of my projects this week are secret which makes it hard to get pictures sometimes.  These are all for Easter baskets this year.  Last year all my kids wanted these but I was so busy with orders to make them for others that I never got around to making them any.  I think they will be surprised since they have no clue they will be receiving these.  Thankfully my felt stash is holding out.  I have about half more to make and then I need to finish the chick (er robbin) baskets.

wool felt "Heart of Mary" scapulars for the girls

Saint Bernadette walking through the woods

Saint James

I have so much to do right now, I want to get these ideas done too.  I honestly have no idea where they came from, I saved the pics last year to my computer so have no source but maybe it will serve as inspiration.

aren't these darling?  Look pretty easy to make from felted sweater scraps

this yoyo chicky has stolen my heart!

I need to speed it up if I am going to finish since I need to get started on Easter dresses for this year but my sewing room is under seige and pretty much unuseable right now.... wish me luck. Now I need to get back to farm chores.


Oh, please come by tomorrow for the Friday Meatless Meal Linkup.  I will be making the easiest and so yummy recipe to use up all those eggs that some of us may be drowning in.  

So what did you get done this week, I can't wait to see!   I love every one of your projects and hopefully you will join me this week.  Thanks for stopping by this weeks Stash Bash. Below is the linky list for you to add your project. 

Here's what to do. There are no rules. 
Just use what you have and try to not buy new supplies, unless you need it to complete a project that you are making from stuff you already have in your stash. 
Take a picture of your project or progress and blog about it or post a picture to flickr.
Then come back here on Thursdays and post a link to your post.
Don't forget to link back to the Stash Bash so others can find us and get encouraged too.
Fair enough?     

P.S.  Its so nice to hear from other stash bashers so if you visit some of the links don't forget to leave them a quick little comment.


If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

Weekly farm update

Oh boy this was a busy week!  We ate the first fruits of our labor this week.  Pea shoots, two weeks from seed to plate.  If you have never tried growing pea shoots, they take only two weeks to grow to edible size, you cut the top portion (about 5 to 6 inches long) once they are about 12 inches tall and then the top grows back.  You can take a second cutting and then I transplant them to rows where they will have the space to grow peas for us.

This is such a great crop, in a salad the shoots are slightly nutty and crispy with a little taste of cucumber.  It is almost instant gratification and great to have in the garden as you wait for everything else to grow.

If you saw my update last week, I posted the peas when they were a week old.   It is super easy to plant these and I do them in a container.  Put some good garden soil (I use compost) in a container, sprinkle dried peas (the kind for sprounting) all over the surface then cover with a thin layer of soil and pat it all down. (I added much more seeds than are shown in the picture)

at one week.  I was not able to take a picture at two weeks but at this point alot of the peas had not popped up through the dirt.  When they did, it was a carpet of peas.

This week I got more salad planted, bell peppers, jalapeno, two beds of onions and a bed of garlic just to eat the tops because garlic does not grow well here.  What I am most excited about is the jerusalem artichokes, also called sunchokes, that I received from a swap with an online gardening friend and I have been busy digging trenches to plant them.  I hope to be done by next week...long before then.

Today I am at a Sustainable Living Conference with Erica (who loves to do this one event with her momma every year)  She is one of my children who actually loves to grow things and the farm is her environment.  It is  our bonding time.  I will post pics as soon as I can.  I hope to learn lots and share lots.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

Meatless Friday Meal Recipe Linkup: Baba Ganoush

Every week during lent on Friday I will be sharing a meatless meal with you all and I am inviting everyone to link up to a meatless recipe on their own blog.

The only rules are:

1. You must post a link to the actual recipe on your blog and not to your front page.
2. Please place a link in your blog post back here so everyone can find all of our recipes.
3. Only post one recipe per week.

Thats it!

Here is my recipe for this week.

There are two things I would not eat until I was into my 30's, okra (I like it raw and fried) and eggplant!  In my house eggplant was slimy and yucky and no way was I going to eat it!  As an adult, I would not even consider it even though Poppa loves it.  Then one day I saw a humus recipe that looked amazing.  After reading it I realized that this hummus, baba ganoush, was made from eggplant.  I love hummus, it is something I can eat all the time so I decided to be a big girl and try it.

This is not my recipe, I got it from Saveur.com but I can tell you that it is easy and paired with some flat bread of naan, it is really good.

I also found this awesome youtube from Grow. Cook. Eat that shows you step by step.

so there you have it.  I hope you try it.

Baba Ganoush

SERVES 4

8 cloves garlic, unpeeled

2 medium eggplants

⅓ cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup plus 2 tbsp. Tahini

2 tbsp. mayonnaise

1 tbsp. finely chopped parsley

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. paprika

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Place garlic and eggplants on a foil-lined baking sheet, and broil until tender and charred all over, about 10 minutes for garlic, and about 40 minutes for eggplant. Peel and seed eggplants, and mash flesh with peeled garlic, juice, tahini, mayonnaise, 2 tsp. parsley, the cumin, paprika, and salt and pepper in a bowl; sprinkle with remaining parsley.

If you have a meatless meal that you would like to share, just include the link at the bottom.  

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

Stash Bash

I've never met a crafter without a stash of some kind. This year my goal is to use up all the craft supplies I have spent money on that are taking up mental and physical space in my life.  Join me here every Thursday for a Stash Bash.   


I had to take in our car to the mechanic this morning so I will be back this afternoon to post my stash bash projects for this week.  This week has been so busy, I have had no time to be on the computer.  So much planting being done and we are starting to eat a little of our labor.  We are preparing for a new shipment of baby catfish and tilapia fish to restock our pond (more on that in a few weeks) and lots of farm and house projects going on.  Yesterday I baked four loaves of bread, made mango jam and planted a few beds of onions...I hope my energy keeps up.

So what did you get done this week, I can't wait to see when I return this afternoon with my pictures!   I love every one of your projects and hopefully you will join me this week.  Thanks for stopping by this weeks Stash Bash. Below is the linky list for you to add your project. 

Here's what to do. There are no rules. 
Just use what you have and try to not buy new supplies, unless you need it to complete a project that you are making from stuff you already have in your stash. 
Take a picture of your project or progress and blog about it or post a picture to flickr.
Then come back here on Thursdays and post a link to your post.
Don't forget to link back to the Stash Bash so others can find us and get encouraged too.
Fair enough?     

P.S.  Its so nice to hear from other stash bashers so if you visit some of the links don't forget to leave them a quick little comment.



If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

Weekly farm update

I am happy with my progress in the garden this week.  Almost all the beds are planted now with the exception of the two big ones and I hope to get those done on Monday.  I am dreaming up some wire towers to grow potatoes this year without having to take up lots of room so I need to keep working on that.

do you remember last weeks shot of these just planted pea shoots, they finally popped up out of the ground so I planted two more pots full.  These should be a salad in another week and a half.

first tomato of the season and on the smallest bush

Veronica's squash finally popped through the ground

we will hopefully have a good blueberry harvest this year, every bush is loaded down with flowers and now berries.  The bees were buzzing everywhere.  There are so many more bees this year than last and usually in the blueberry orchard I only get the big fat bumble bees but yesterday I saw lots of different kinds everywhere.  To a farming girl, this is good news.

What I planted this week:  

mache corn salad

mild mesclun mix

spicy mesclun mix

russian kale

joi choi greens

red purslane

french breakfast radishes

pink beauty radishes

green onions

cilantro

lettuce leaf basil

yellow squash

The last of the grape vines, which I was sure was dead has come back to life.  I planted about 7 grapevines last year and put the pruning off till this year.  For some reason this really scares me, but they have to be trained to the trellis so I am busy reading up on it and watching youtubes.

I found lots of little mulberries growing on our tree down by the pond (the one that never gets watered and somehow still lives)

The feathered girls close to bed time, they come back to the coop right about an hour before sunset, from wherever their adventures took them during the day.  The boss (rooster) starts sounding the call and everyone nicely goes inside the coop.  I love the sound of roosters and this one is very good with taking care of his girls but I don't trust him so I always have my walking stick next to me.  I don't know why, he just has that kind of face.

Did I mention that we are once again totally drowning in eggs.  I have a handful of people who want to buy eggs from us weekly but I have just been too busy to have anyone come by here...I think I probably need to let go of my perfectionism and have some customers come by even though my garden isn't perfect yet.

I will be making some good old fashioned egg custard though to use some up but seriously I have 90 eggs right now and we have been putting them in everything we can think of.

I am joining Ginny in her Saturday Garden Journal, check out how her garden grows.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)