- - - - - - - - - - - -
Answering Questions
Posted on Jun. 1, 2007 at 10:38 AM
I am finally answering some questions that have been asked ... I am sorry it has taken me sooo long.
~ Rachelle
GASP -- cool!!!
So -- what do you do with them? How do you eat them?
Do you ever mail any to Iowa? LOL
(Just kidding!)
I wonder if any will grow in Iowa. Do they need anything special to grow?
THANKS for sharing!
~ I love artichokes! After we wash them (or soak them in salt water to rid them of any bugs), we cut off most of the stem and then boil them until the leaves come off easily. The bottom 8-10 leaves are usually rather empty and not edible. We then dip the end of each leaf in mayonnaise (some people prefer melted butter) and scrap the tender stuff off the bottom inside of the leaf with our bottom teeth. Then when you get to the middle of the artichoke you need to cut out the "choke", the part that would become a flower, which will leave the heart to eat. Yum!
I am not sure what they need to grow. We just plant them in the garden and they do well here, all except for the roly polies. They love the root and have already killed one of our plants. We have thousands of roly polies in our garden … nasty mean little things! I used to think they were kind of cute but not any more!! lol
You don't happen to know what would be a good grain to grind for making my own baby cereal like the ones you can buy in the supermarkets do you?
Blessings,
Rosina
~ I don’t. I am sorry.
Rachelle,
You take the most beautiful photos! I was reminded of that today while trying to get a shot at a little hummer and remembered your beautiful picture - I didn't get the shot. Wow, losing plants due to heat - it was 39 degrees here this a.m. - a little cooler and I'd have lost a lot due to frost.
Oh how I wish we could go on the Jamestown trip. How fun. You guys have fun for me too, okay?
~ We aren’t going. My sweet husband said that if we made it into the last 100 we would try to find a way but since we did not, we are not going. It sounds like sooo much fun though!
Hi Rachelle,
How did you do in the hunt? I finished 40 minutes too late. It was a grueling last two days.
BTW, Your mother's day roses were beautiful!!
Elisabeth
~ On the last night when they announced the backlog and the 2 hour delay we decided to stop. It was already late and we were so behind that we knew we could not make it. My sweet husband was so tired and needed to go to bed as he had to get up early the next morning for work. I was sad but also relieved that the whole thing was over. It was a really fun experience but also a very time consuming one.
What kind of bird is the one you posted? Is it a finch? We have chickadees nesting in our birdhouse on our porch and it seems to be taking soooo long, I wonder if the Lord is waiting for them to hatch on Mother's Day... a precious gift for me to enjoy? I've been able to watch the baby chickadees fledge the last 4 years. They are so precious!
Happy Mother's Day and Happy Birdwatching! : )
Julie D.
~ They are Say’s Phoebes. I just love them! Did your chickadees hatch on Mother’s Day?
SO what's your secret?
I have feeders out and the birds just fly right on by! Granted, I live on the beach - but birds DO live here. They just cruise on by!
~ I think the birds come to our yard for the fruit trees, garden and grass! We live in the desert and so many people have desert landscaping … not us! We have lots of green going on at our house. I think the birds think it is a bug haven. Eating at our feeders is secondary. We have our hummingbird feeder right by, kind of in, a big lemon tree and the hummingbirds love the lemon blossoms (they bloom on and off all year with a bunch of blooms in the Spring).
- 1 Notes - Link
Roses for Mother's Day
Posted on May. 16, 2007 at 3:16 PM
My sweet husband and daughters gave me a dozen of these lovely roses for Mother's Day. I love roses. :)
~ Rachelle
in Holidays and Celebrations - 5 Notes - Link
First Artichoke of the Season
Posted on May. 15, 2007 at 3:08 PM
~ Rachelle
in In My Garden - 0 Notes - Link
Rambling Thoughts On A Tuesday
Posted on May. 15, 2007 at 11:27 AM
~ Have you heard about Vision Forum’s Jamestown 400 treasure Hunt? My family and I have been working on it since last November. Today is finally the last day! I am soooo relieved!! It has been fun but has truly taken over our life many a day. I am soooo ready for order and faithful adherence to a simple schedule.
~ We really need to make a meal menu for this week and a grocery list. And then I guess going to buy groceries would be in order. It seems the older I get the more organized, scheduled and planned I like my life to be. I am not a hyper scheduler by any means but a little order sure makes for more pleasant days. : )
~ I had a wonderful and not so wonderful weekend. On Saturday I was violently ill … it was awful. I felt much better on Sunday but spent much of the day sleeping and regaining my strength. My sweet husband was off on Monday and we had a nice, slow, relaxing day lazing about for the most part. My older girls did not have such a stressless day … working on those clues for the treasure hunt is not exactly relaxing though it is fun.
~ I really missed getting to go to church on Sunday and we had to reschedule celebrating Mother’s Day with my mom. It is strange how quickly plans can be abandoned for sickness!
~ We have lost a few of the lovely flowers we planted a few weeks ago to the heat. I can hardly believe how hot it is already. It seems, which is amazing to me, that I forget each year how hot 100* is. How can that be? : )
~ I think my rambling is about rambled out! Have a wonderful blessed day everyone!!
~ Rachelle
in Rambling Thoughts - 1 Notes - Link
Out of the Nest
Posted on May. 1, 2007 at 3:34 PM
My front yard has become a baby bird flight training school. They especially like to sit on the hose!
~ Rachelle
in In My Garden - 5 Notes - Link
Flowers for the Garden
Posted on Apr. 30, 2007 at 11:40 AM
We made a needed trip to Wal-mart yesterday for cat litter and I just could not pass up buying some flowers to fill in the bare spots in our garden. I had a big wonderful garden planned but time got away from me and now it is too late to plant many of the things on my list. We bought petunias, cosmos (destined for a pot out front on the sidewalk that leads to our front door), verbena, vinca (there four different colors hiding in there!) and this was my sweet husband’s pick …
~ Rachelle
in In My Garden - 1 Notes - Link
Mint
Posted on Apr. 27, 2007 at 2:54 PM
~ Rachelle
in In My Garden - 0 Notes - Link
On My Front Porch
Posted on Apr. 25, 2007 at 12:49 PM
Picture taken about 15 minutes ago ... :)
~ Rachelle
in Things That Make Me Smile - 0 Notes - Link
Roses
Posted on Apr. 24, 2007 at 3:47 PM
From my sweet husband.
ETA - Beth asked if it is my anniversary. No. So, why the roses? My sweet husband just wanted to bless me. :) I got these roses at the beginning of April and they now hanging upside down in my closet drying!
~ Rachelle
in Things That Make Me Smile - 2 Notes - Link
Technology
Posted on Apr. 23, 2007 at 3:56 PM
Technology is really a marvelous thing! Every now and then it hits me, just how much I enjoy technology and today’s wonderful creations. I have decided to make a new category on my blog to write about these things …
I just spent 25 minutes walking … on my treadmill, in my nice air-conditioned house, listening to wonderful Christian music on my ipod while watching, through the bay window, hummingbirds enjoy the sweet sugar water at our feeder and chase each other away! Amazing when you think about it. :)
~ Rachelle
in Technology - 2 Notes - Link
Monday Kitchen To Do List:
Posted on Apr. 23, 2007 at 3:53 PM
√ - Soak beans for chili and refried beans
√ - Soak almonds for crispy almonds
√ - Soak oatmeal
√ - Prepare cashews to soak for crispy cashews
√ - Set out chicken pieces to thaw - oven
√ - Set out whole chicken to thaw - crockpot
√ - Strain kefir
√ - Make whey/cream cheese
- Make pickled garlic
√ - Make menu for the week
√ - Make grocery list
√ - Clean out refrigerator
- Make produce inventory
~ Rachelle
in In My Kitchen - 1 Notes - Link
Arizona Sunset
Posted on Apr. 23, 2007 at 10:54 AM
October 29, 2006
~ Rachelle
in Arizona Sunsets - 0 Notes - Link
Our California Vacation
Posted on Apr. 5, 2007 at 5:17 PM
During my little blog vacation my family and I were taking a Real Vacation. We spent 8 days is beautiful southern California.
Over a year and a half ago my husband received a vacation package as a gift for his 20th anniversary from the company he works for … we finally got to use it.
We stayed with my sister and brother in law for four nights. They pampered and spoiled us! We had such a wonderful time visiting and spending time with them. The other nights were spent at the Bahia Resort which was nice but not near as homey as my sister’s house.
We were very busy our entire vacation. We visited: The Birch Aquarium, The San Diego Automotive Museum, The IMAX theater at the Rueben H. Fleet Science Center, Museum of Creation and Earth History, Sea World, The San Diego Museum of Man, The San Diego Natural History Museum, The San Diego Zoo and my favorite … the Ocean!
We had a great time and I am amazed that I was able to go so many places and still able to stand by the time we got home. For those of you who do not know, I have a chronic illness that makes life a little difficult at times. I have seen a turn around in my heath recently that this trip proved true. I am so thankful to the Lord and those who have been praying for me.
Here are some pictures from our trip …
~ Rachelle
in Holidays and Celebrations - 5 Notes - Link
A Walk In My Garden - Citrus Blossoms
Posted on Mar. 22, 2007 at 7:02 AM
Orange
Tangerine
Lemon
~ Rachelle
in In My Garden - 4 Notes - Link
Citrus Blossoms
Posted on Mar. 20, 2007 at 6:18 PM
Ooh! Citrus blossoms! What a wonderful smell!! We have three citrus trees in our backyard – lemon, orange and tangerine. They are all in bloom. Every time someone opens the backdoor their wonderful scent comes wafting into the kitchen/dining room. If only I could bottle that smell up! Imitation smells give me terrible headaches but the real thing is refreshing and relaxing. I hope to post pictures tomorrow. :)
~ Rachelle
in In My Garden - 3 Notes - Link
A Walk In My Garden 3-17-07
Posted on Mar. 17, 2007 at 11:00 AM
~ Rachelle
in In My Garden - 5 Notes - Link
Our Plum Tree
Posted on Mar. 12, 2007 at 7:55 AM
We planted our plum tree just about 8 years ago. It has been the slowest fruiting tree of our six fruit trees. The most blossoms that it has ever had … about, maybe, possibly 30. Fruit … about 10 the year I hand pollinated. Until this year! It is absolutely covered in blossoms. The tree has either matured and come unto it’s own or our really cold, long winter (for Arizona) was what it needed. It is beautiful!
See the happy bee?
~ Rachelle
Photo taken by my oldest daughter. :)
in In My Garden - 4 Notes - Link
Kefir
Posted on Mar. 9, 2007 at 4:34 PM
Maybe you have heard about Kefir? Read about it or maybe Kefir grains are on your wish list? You may be interested but you really do not know what it is or what it looks like. The smaller measuring cup, in the above picture, contains Kefir grains. It does not look like much but that cup holds 2 cups … there are 1 ¼ cups of grains in there. The large 8 cup measuring cup contains our just strained Kefir. It reaches just under the 8 cup line. This is the thickest Kefir we have made yet. It is sooo creamy. Still tart but nice and creamy!
~ Rachelle
in In My Kitchen - 2 Notes - Link
Yard Visitor 3-8-07
Posted on Mar. 8, 2007 at 11:50 AM
Northern Flicker
This lady was found today feasting on bugs in our front lawn. I had to sneak out onto the front porch, after my oldest daughter slowly opened our squeaky gate, to get a good picture.
~ Rachelle
in In My Garden - 3 Notes - Link
Questions and Comments about Kamut, Kefir and Oatmeal
Posted on Mar. 7, 2007 at 8:40 AM
All of these questions or comments were from my 2-27-07 “In the Kitchen” entry. I am sorry it has taken me so long to answer.
---------------------
Kamut - Posted by Danaover40 -- I've never bought this grain, nor used it. Where did you buy yours? I'll have to look at Urban Homemaker and my local natural foods market to see if I can find it. I love Nourishing Traditions and their crispy nuts are a family favorite. They go great with chocolate, BTW. !!!!
I really like Kamut! For those that do not know Kamut is an ancient type of wheat. It has not been hybridized to change it’s natural content. It is more expensive than the more popular hybridized wheats but I like that it is not messed with and I think it tastes really good. I buy mine through a buying groups (co-op) for a decent price. I can also buy it at a kitchen specialty about 3-4 miles from my house for two to three times as much! Once I was desperate while waiting for my order to come in from the buying group and my sweet husband stopped and bought me some. A small bag, I think about three pounds, for over $7.00! I pay $21.75 for 25 pounds through the group.
We love crispy nuts too. We have made almonds, cashews and sunflower seeds. We use a dehydrator instead of the oven, do you?
---------------------
Posted by Jocelyndixon -- Sounds like a very nice day you all are having. And kefir is from goat's right? I want to make soap and cheese and other things from my goat's milk - have you ever done anything like that?
You can make kefir from goat’s milk but ours is made from cow’s milk since that is the only type of raw milk we have available to us right now.
Kefir is made from special grains. They look kind of like small pieces of cauliflower and are squishy. They are alive with healthy bacteria and when left in milk they turn it into Kefir. They grow and have babies so you end up with way more grains than you need … eventually. The actual grains taste tart and kind of sweet, they remind us of candy. They have been around for a very long time and are a traditional food in several other countries.
This website … Dom’s Kefir in-site … is considered the place to go for information about kefir.
This reminds me I reaaallllly need to strain our kefir and start a new batch. :)
I have not made soap or real cheese. I have made yogurt/kefir cheese. I would love to someday have goats and be able to try all those fun things. You are very blessed to have goats!!
---------------------
Posted by daffodilmama -- I just love nourishing traditions! I can't wait until I am able to implement it in my family! I love hearing how other families use it. I've been longing to try the oatmeal recipe in the book...
My girls and sweet husband all really like the oatmeal recipe. They have made it with kefir, yogurt, lemon juice and buttermilk. Their favorites are buttermilk and kefir. Yogurt was okay and lemon juice was not very good at all.
Me, I am not fond of oatmeal. :)
~ Rachelle
in In My Kitchen - 0 Notes - Link
« Last Page :: Next Page »
