Scheduling the Daily Cooking
August 28, 2008
Just recently, we changed our cooking schedule to a much more efficient one. This schedule was inspired by the Brown family. At the UC&F conference a couple weeks ago, Momma and I were talking to Mrs. Mary Brown. The subject of cooking came up, and she told us that each lady in the house has an assigned day to cook.
To spread the work around amongst us ladies, we decided to assign a day to cook for each of us. So far this has worked quite nicely, the schedule is below.
Sundays – Crockpot meal, soup, or something prepared beforehand on Saturday – often we have company
Mondays – Me
Tuesdays – Go to Granny’s
Wednesdays – Momma
Thursdays – Breezy
Fridays – Pizza (we usually trade making the pizza off and on each week)
Saturdays – Brunch (all pitch in) and Leftovers
Just this week, I experienced firsthand the not-well-timed-dinner. The meal was Beef Enchiladas and Mexican Rice – one of my favorite meals. I started and ended up finishing the rice before the Enchiladas even entered the preheated oven. It was a bit stressful because I like things to be perfect, and done at just the right time. Yet again, I had to realize that I’m not perfect, not everything is going to perfect, and that’s all right. Everything turned out fine because all I had to do was reheat the rice, and there was really nothing to be stressed out about.
I’m not sure how many times I’ll have to learn this over and over again.
Thankfully, with this schedule, I will be cooking a couple meals per week, and by doing this I’ll get more experience in scheduling each part of the meal at the right time.
For others’ Homemaker in Training Thursday posts, please visit Eyebright’s blog.
Please pray for . . .
August 27, 2008
. . . the Drews family in Texas, their little 3yo son drowned last night. You can read more about their sweet little boy, by clicking here.
The Herb Garden
August 22, 2008
This year, we decided to make our herb garden a bit smaller. When we moved to this home (a little over 6 years ago) we planted the garden it in our backyard in a circle to cover up a large dirt patch where the previous owner’s pool used to sit.
The patch has worked wonderfully, though in past years it as been a bit much to keep up on. This year it was decided to make the garden smaller. In the extra part that was going to turn into yard, flowers started to grow; so we didn’t mow over them, and the finches have enjoyed playing on the stems.
Our herb garden consists of herbs, sunflowers, Black-Eyed Susans, and a variety of other flowers. Earlier this year the garden also contained zucchini, tomatoes, onions, and garlic.
This is one of our homegrown onions. They’re cute, and though smaller than the ones you can buy at the store, it is so rewarding to know that it was grown here at home. I don’t like the texture of onions, but the flavor enhances any fried dish!
These are my chickens and hens. I have adults, young adults, teenagers, children, toddlers, and infants. Quite a wide variety, they just keep growing. About two years ago, my aunt gave me several children chickens and hens. They were spread out nicely in a patch probably about one and a half feet square.
Since I first planted them, they have about quadrupled in size. I hadn’t transplanted any of the young ones until this summer, and was quite surprised to see how many were packed in such a little area. There were around 120, and I ended up transplanting about 2/3s of them.
They looked much more roomy. I spread them out 2-3 inches apart (the younger ones, I left the mature adults where they were, it was the young ones that were crowding them), over a nice sized area. After I’d taken all the young ones out of the small patch, I realized how ugly they all had been before. Before, the leaves (or petals) had been sticking straight up, but after many of the others were removed, they were able to relax, almost saying, “Ah, we can breathe.”
These are just a few of the babies that I transplanted. I have since found that the weeds grow up very quickly in this area. Hopefully I’ll keep up on it all so the weeds do not take over the chickens.
The Black-Eyed Susans have had a beautiful year. We only had a few plants last year, but this year they’ve taken over about a fifth of the garden.
On a cool afternoon, the garden is a peaceful place to sit and pull weeds, thinking and praying. It is a small place of refuge for the birds, where they find delicious grubs, play on the sunflower stalks and bathe themselves in the coolness of the water. It is a place where the wild bunnies find fresh plants to munch on when they are hungry, or just need a snack.
In just a few months the flowers will wither away, and no longer will there be the bright colors to gaze at. But the Lord is faithful and next spring the plants will be seen, growing inch by inch, with the freshness of a new life.
Little Portrait Book
August 15, 2008
With this project you can make your own personal portrait book or scrapbook.
Supplies:
• Cheap notebook – one of the back-to-school 5¢ deals
• Scrapbook paper or Material – for accents
• Photos – for memories
• Scissors – for cutting notebook back
• Double-Sided Tape or Glue – for attaching paper and pictures
• Ribbon (optional) – to keep book closed with a bow
• Stapler (optional) – for stapling ribbon onto book
Directions:
1. Cut out the backside of the notebook (it looks like thin cardboard) off the notebook. This is a type of chipboard, and will be used as the binding of the little book.
2. Cut a piece 10″ x 2″ from the chipboard notebook back.
3. Fold it back and forth 2″ at each fold, that way there are ten 2″ square pages (front and back).
4. Scrapbook on each little page. If you wish, you can leave one of the outer-facing ends for the book’s title.
Optional:
5. Cut a piece of ribbon that is long enough to wrap once around the book, and then tied in a pretty bow.
6. Staple ribbon down, on to one of the middle outer-folds. This will keep the ribbon in it’s place, but is still adjustable.
For this little portrait book, I left off the ribbon, and only finished one side. My reason for this is that it will sit open on my dresser.
These are my parents when they were young. My daddy is sitting on a bookshelf, legs crossed, smiling for the camera. The picture on the right is Momma, posing sweetly for her kindergarten school photo.
In the next fold of my book are two photos. On the left is of my daddy’s mother, and the other is of my momma’s mother, my granny.
I plan on making another one that will reside next to this one on my dresser. It will have both of my parents when they were young (with different photos), but the second fold will be of their fathers.
Corn Season
August 13, 2008
In the past, we have grown our own corn, and it was wonderful to have fresh-tasting corn all-year-round, having been preserved by the freezer.
This year we are just buying a dozen or two now and then from the local farmers, and so far it seems like this is a good corn year here in Indiana.
Sometimes while shucking corn, there is an unexpected guest eating the kernels, but we can’t blame them, the corn tastes so good!
An interesting fact about corn: When the corn stalks are in need of rain, their leaves stiffen up, and point up to the sky instead of hanging at the sides. God designed them this way so that the stalks can gather more raindrops that will then roll down the leaves and down to the base of the plant. In this way the plant is nourished with as much water as possible, making its produce more delicious.
Has anyone else been enjoying fresh corn on the cob lately?
new school year
August 9, 2008
On July 28, we started the new school year. I knew I missed it, but didn’t realize how much until we started. The schedule is working pretty well. Here are the subjects that I’m studying this year:
• Polished Cornerstones
Right now we’re studying A Self-Disciplined Woman (Pro. 31:17; 1 Cor. 9:25-27; James 1:19-20).
• Geometry (Math-U-See)
This curriculum explains each lesson to where it is easily understood and enjoyed.
• Essay Intensive (Institute for Excellence in Writing)
Learning how to write an impressive essay from Andrew Pudewa.
• Biology (Apologia)
I’m hoping to get this finished by the end of the school year.
• History (Tapestry of Grace)
We are finishing up Year 4 of Tapestry and then we are going to study Year 1. It is a very thorough curriculum that covers world history, church history, literature, geography, and several other subjects.
• Health
Leftover from last year, and I should be able to finish it in a few weeks.
• HTML
Right now working on our church’s website in Dreamweaver.
• Graphic Design
Using Adobe programs: Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, and InDesign.
• Violin
I’m hoping to get a new teacher this year.
• Literature
We use the list from Tapestry of Grace, the books are usually written by someone living at the time or are about the time we’re studying.
“I will meditate on Your precepts
And regard Your ways.
I shall delight in Your statutes;
I shall not forget Your word.” – Psalm 119:15-16
We have now been homeschooling for 11 years. I am so very thankful to God for calling us to homeschool, it was never in our plan, but the Lord has seen fit to teach us through it and bring us closer as a family.
Dutch Baby
August 2, 2008
This recipe is simple to make, and easy to remember. It’s great for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner. As it bakes it doubles (sometimes triples) in size, but as it cools it shrinks back to normal. The taste makes me think of French toast, just in a big pan, and a bit more egg-y. We’ve had these before, but with a slightly different recipe and it was called a Dutch Puff. Here is the Dutch Baby recipe that Momma found at simplemom.net.
Dutch Baby
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
Preheat oven to 450°F. Pour melted butter in the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Whisk the rest of the ingredients (I found that mixing the wet and dry ingredients separately and then whisking them together helped to lower the amount of flower balls). Pour batter into pan (the one with the melted butter). Do not mix the butter with the batter. Bake in oven at 450°F for 25-30 minutes.
Serve with powdered sugar, syrup, fruit, cinnamon, pie filling, etc.
I’ve made this a couple times in the last few days, and it is quick and delicious!
While living the life my Lord has blessed me with, I am at home with my family enjoying being a daughter, homemaker and artist. My highest goal is to give glory to God and enjoy Him forever. It is He that has saved me with His amazing grace and is continually molding me; to Him I owe everything. Read more . . .
