I really want to start raising some chickens.  I would love to have about 15, 12 hens and 3 cocks.  If anyone reading my blog has any experience raising chickens in their back yard feel free to share your words of wisdom and helpful links.

I am looking into making my own chicken tractors but it looks like I'll need to make 3 separate ones to hold all 15 chickens.  Is that correct?  Boy do I have a lot to learn, yet.   I grew up on a farm but my parents didn't raise chickens.  Well they did when I was real little but they had a chicken house and didn't use them for eggs just selling them and butchering them.  Then when a tornado took the house, they never rebuilt it.  So I know next to nothing about raising chickens.  I am reading several books on it so I am slowly learning.

© Copyright 2008 Peaceful Meadows

Only JT and I liked the squash casserole and the coleslaw.    Here are the recipes in case your families like it better than mine did.  JT did say, "Mommy, please make the squash casserole again."

Squash Casserole

4-5 C squash, diced
1/2 C water
1 onion chopped
1 lb hamburger (we used turkey burger, browned)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup longhorn cheese

Cook squash and onion in water until tender.  Add soup to hamburger and add both to squash mixture.  Mix and place inlightly greased casserole dish.  Bakd at 350 degrees for 35 mins.  The last 5 minutes sprinkle the top with cheese.

Coleslaw with Poppy Seed Dressing

1 med. head cabbage  (Chill and shred finely.)

Mix together well:
1/3 cup vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. poppy seeds
1 tsp. onion salt
2/3 cup sugar

1 cup vegetable oil
Slowly add, beating until stiff. Pour over cabbage just before serving.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

1 3/4 whole wheat flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/3 c apple sauce
1/2 c honey

2 eggs, beaten
1 C mashed bananas (3 medium)
1/2 c hot water
1/2 c chopped pecans or other nuts

Sift dry ingredients together.  Cream apple sauce and honey in large bowl.  Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  Stir in bananas.  Add dry ingredients alternately with hot water, mixing well after each addition.  Fold in pecans.  Pout into greased 5x9-inch loaf pan.  Bake at 325 for 55 to 60 minutes.  Invert onto wire rack to cool completely before slicing.  Freezes well.  Yield: 12 servings.

© Copyright 2008 Peaceful Meadows

I had a bag of chocolate chips from Christmas that I hadn't used yet.  I wanted to use them up but don't do a whole lot of baking of sweets.  Well, today I modified my Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.  I was a bit nervous about how the boys would react to the taste of whole wheat cookies and how it would work to replace crisco with applesauce.  They loved them!  Dh isn't home yet so I'll have to wait for his review.  The recipe I used is below. 

SueQ's Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup applesauce (I used my home canned apple sauce)
2 cup unrefined sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
12 oz chocolate chips

Cream sugars and applesauce together until light.  Add vanilla and mix.  Add well beaten eggs and blend.  Shift together dry ingredients and add to first mixture.  Add chocolate chips.  Drop from spoon onto a slightly greased gaking sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

I'll have to try using carob in the place of chocolate chips the next time, that I make them.

© Copyright 2008 Peaceful Meadows

I changed my other blog, The Tea Room , to be a place where I share my recipes, menus, and write about my journey  to a more natural, healthy diet.  I'll be posting over there regularly so check there frequently if it's something that interests you. :-)

© Copyright 2008 Peaceful Meadows

Here is the Whole Wheat Bread Recipe that I like to use.  I tweaked my regular bread recipe that I used to use before we went to using all whole wheat and this makes a fairly moist Whole Wheat bread that my family enjoys.

SueQ's Whole Wheat Bread

4 cups water
1/2 cup olive oil
4 tsp salt
1/3 cup dry yeast
1/2 cup honey
2 T black strap molasses
12 cups whole wheat flour

Combine 3 cups water with honey, salt, and molasses.  Beat in oil, 4 cups of flour.  In a separate bowl, dissolve 1/3 cup dry yeat in 1 cup warm water.  Add the yeast mixture to dough and beat until smooth.  Add remaining flour until dough leaves sides of the bowl.  Work dough really well.  (I found that working it really well helps break it down and rise better.  I have the children each mess with it for awhile. LOL)  Let rise until double.  Place into greased bread pans.  Let rise and bake at 350 degrees until done.

Enjoy!

© Copyright 2008 Peaceful Meadows

We had Salmon Pizza and a tossed spinach salad tonight for dinner.  It was a hit with the boys.

Pizza Crust Recipe  (This is my Italian bread recipe that I modified for my Pizza crust)

4 cup bread flour (I used 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 occident flour.  next time I am trying all WW)
2 tsp salt
3 tsp sugar
1T yeast
2 T olive oil
11/2 cup warm water

Mix 2 cups of the flour with the salt and sugar.  Dissolve yeast in warm water and add to flourmixture along with oil.  Mix with wire wisk until smooth.  Add remaining flour.  Mix with hands woking until smooth but still sticky dough is formed.  Put in greased bowl and let rise until double.  Form into pizza crusts and let rise a bit.  Bake a 350 until it just begins to brown.  Take out and top with Pizza toppings and then put back into the oven to finish.

(For Italian bread, I brush a little olive oil on top before it 1st begins to rise.  After it's finished rising, I make into 2 long spindleshaped loaves on cookie sheet.  I oil surface and sprinkle on some sesame seeds.  Let rise again until double.  Bake at 400-425 F. for 2o min. spraying with water several times.  (This is what make it crusty!)  Reduce overn temp to 350 F and bake 10 more min.  (If you wish to freeze it - after at least partial thawing, reheat in oven heated to 350 F until bread crust is hard and crunchy (aprox. 10 min) on open rack.  It will be like fresh if eaten whil warm.  It can also be made into sub buns)

I just topped the Pizza with my homemade Pizza sauce (I can my own) and added Salmon out of the can, mushrooms, black olives, fresh onion and fresh crushed garlic and cheese.  (I was out of Mozzerella so I used finely grated chedder) I baked it until golden brown. YUMMY!!!

© Copyright 2008 Peaceful Meadows

These are the menus that I made up for the next 4 weeks.  You will notice that pork is listed for a meal.  We don't usually eat pork but dh likes sausage once in a while and bought some when I sent him to the stock up on meat when our grocery store had a meat sale.  For his sake, I occasionally include it on the menu as a treat for him.

July 6-12		Breakfast			Lunch			Dinner			Notes
Sunday		Cereal, Milk						Salad, popcorn, grapes,
					Leftovers			cheese, bologna
Monday		Scrambled Eggs, Peaches,			Sandwiches, Veggies			Sausage, Sour Kraut
		Toast			Apples			Mashed potatoes, Tossed Salad
Tuesday		Cereal, Milk			Leftovers			Veggie Stirfry, Brown rice
		peaches						Grapes, Whole Wheat bread
Wednesday		Pancakes, Peaches			Leftovers			Grilled Chicken, Potatoes
								Green beans
Thursday		Baked Oatmeal with apples			Leftovers			Yellow Split Pea Dhal
		Raisins, milk						Rice, tossed salad, fruit
Friday		Fried Eggs, fruit,			Leftovers			Grilled Fish, Green beans
		Toast						Salad, Fruit
Saturday		Waffles, Peaches			Leftovers			Veggie Pizza, Salad,
								fruit
July 13-19
Sunday		Cereal, Milk			Leftovers			Grilled Chicken, Potatoes
								grean beans
Monday		Baked Oatmeal with apples			Leftovers			Italian Chili, tossed salad
		Raisins, milk						fruit
Tuesday		Scrambled Eggs, Peaches,			Leftovers			Salmon, potatoes
		Toast						salad, peas
Wednesday		Pancakes, Peaches			Leftovers			Mujadara with blackend onions
Thursday					Leftovers			Grilled Shrimp, salad
		Cereal, Milk						Macaroni, green beans
Friday		Fried Eggs, fruit,			Leftovers			Lebanese Salata
		Toast						Curried Lentels with Chicken
Saturday		Waffles, Peaches			Leftovers			Bean Burritos
								Tossed salad, fruit
Notes:

July 20 - 26		Breakfast			Lunch			Dinner			Notes
Sunday		Cereal, Milk			Leftovers			Popcorn, Sandwiches,
								veg. tray, fruit
Monday		Scrambled Eggs, Peaches,			Leftovers			Veggie Stir fry, brown rice
		Toast						fruit
Tuesday		Cereal, Milk			Leftovers			Chicken Fajitas, tossed salad			Ann. Dinner, have
		peaches						guacamole,			Kev's fav. Cake
Wednesday		Pancakes, Peaches			Leftovers			Broiled fish, macaroni
								garden veggies, salad
Thursday		Baked Oatmeal with apples			Leftovers			Squash Casserole, Salad
		Raisins, milk						fruit
Friday		Fried Eggs, fruit,			Leftovers			Enchalada Casserole, Salad
		Toast
Saturday		Waffles, Peaches			Leftovers			Tuna Casserole, peas
								salad
July 27- August 2
Sunday		Cereal, Milk			Leftovers			Vietnamese Chicken, brown rice
								salad
Monday		Baked Oatmeal with apples			Leftovers			Veggie Pizza, salad
		Raisins, milk
Tuesday		Scrambled Eggs, Peaches,			Leftovers			Grilled Fish, veggies, rice
		Toast
Wednesday		Pancakes, Peaches			Leftovers			Carribean Beans and rice
								salad, veggies
Thursday					Leftovers			Taco Salad, fresh fruit
		Cereal, Milk
Friday		Fried Eggs, fruit,			Leftovers			Salmon, potatoes, peas
		Toast

I have not done a lot of writing so I decided to change the purpose of this blog.  I am in the process of changing our family's eating habits and am trying to go to a more natural eating style.  My goal is for my family to eat foods as close to their natural state as possible so I am trying to purge out processed foods and eat mostly fish and poutry.

During the week I prepare 2 fish meals and 2 poultry meals then the rest of the meals are vegetarian.  Lunch is left overs and breakfast I try to serve cereal that I make, eggs, or waffles/pancakes made from whole grains.

My plan for this blog is to keep track of the recipes that I have used and journal about what I am learning as well as if the meal was a success or not. LOL

© Copyright 2008 Peaceful Meadows