My, Oh, My

This is why I'm no longer reading environmental conspiracy / health food books (at least for awhile ;)) :

Duck Bread Saga Continues...

In our sacrament meeting today (we use white sandwich bread, torn into pieces), Chayce said,
"Oh. Do we use duck bread for the sacrament, too? Or, is it people bread?"

Duck Bread & Compost

On Friday, despite the cold weather, I decided we really needed some fruits and vegetables. Stephen had a lot of work to get done, so I bundled up the kids and we headed off the to store (mistake #1, taking three children to the grocery store after a whole month of them not having to suffer through a shopping trip).

We get to the store, and within minutes of being in the cart, Payge starts to scream. I have one thing in the cart. Ug. I try most of my happy baby tricks, but to no avail. Finally, I rush over to the bread section, grab a bag of cheap bread, open it and give her a piece, and throw the rest in the cart to pay for later. Chayce is dismayed...not because I opened bread in the store, she has no qualms about this, it's that I'm feeding the baby DUCK BREAD.

See, I usually make the bread at the house that we eat, but I keep a loaf of cheap bread in the freezer, and we take a few slices with us when we are going on an outing. Usually, one or two slices thaws pretty quickly, and by the time we make it to the park with the duck pond, the bread is ready to feed the ducks, hence, Chayce calls it duck bread.

Anyhow, Chayce is really upset with me, and keeps saying, "Is it really OK to eat duck bread mom? Why are you giving her duck bread? Are you going to start feeding us duck bread?"

I ended that conversation by telling her that I'd actually grabbed a bag of people bread. I thought the story was over, until I got home, decided to make some soup and serve bread and butter with that bread, and Chayce pipes up, "Hey Dad! We're eating people bread!" Insert odd look on husband's face here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Conversation
Me: Zachary! Why are you peeling your orange over my rosemary plant?
Zach: Mom, I'm composting!

Still not sure who put the "flower" lego in the pot, I suppose it's only logical that you have to plant flowers in a pot.

Mozzarella

OK. I was asked if I'd post about making mozzarella. The answer is--not today. I have made it, but I'm currently out of the quantities of whole milk needed to do so (and it's very cold out. We'll make due drinking the 1% in the fridge, thanks). BUT, a good recipe from the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle can be found here.

Best of luck to you!

Zach's Latest Creation

I was brought this cute little sculpture today, with the challenge of guessing what it is. There is no way, in a million years, I would have guessed with the accuracy Zach was looking for. Stephen guessed a teddy bear, I guessed a playdoh cookie--so that I'd have the option of saying (after I was told what it was), "Oh, yes, that's what I meant, a playdoh cookie in the shape of...." * Anyhow, here's what it is, in Zach's words:

This is a snowman. But he forgot to use enough sunscreen. See how black he is? The red spots are the places he is REALLY burnt, because there wasn't any sunscreen there at all. Poor guy.

I wanted to say--"Wouldn't he have melted?" But I held my tongue.

*This technique of keeping your creative toddler happy, while finding out what you need to know is copyrighted. If you need to use it, please send $50 in the mail. Address available upon request.

Caption contest

If this were a photo for a caption contest, I would put "You know, you make a really valid point..."


What do you think?

Resolution #2, or Food--Glorious Food!

Today, I decided that we needed a lasagna, yet, the only ingredients I had on hand were 8 oz of mozzarella and some lasagna noodles. I was not in the mood to go to the store with three kids in heavy coats, but I wanted lasagna. My friend Cheryl stopped by and warned me of the lovely winter storm that is to come and stay til Thursday, and let me know that if my shopping wasn't done, I'd better do it. After she left, I looked at the kitchen, decided I had enough food if I got creative, and opted to be a hermit. So, onto making lasagna from more scratch than usual.

First, I needed ricotta cheese. Just to let you know, making ricotta is ridiculously easy. In fact, it pains me to see it at such high prices in the store--for two reasons: #1 Ricotta is a left-over. It literally means "cooked again", you get it from the whey after making mozzerella. #2 It takes 15 minutes of effort. Tops.

I did not make mozzerella first, I just wanted ricotta, so I followed a shortcut:

Dump 2 quarts of whole milk in a pot. Heat to 200 degrees (just about boiling), add an acid (about 1/3 Cup--lemon juice, vinegar, or I use 1/2 tsp powdered citric acid in 1/3 C water). Reheat to 200 degrees (takes seconds). Take off heat. Let sit 15 minutes while you do something else--like play with the kids, eat lunch, read, you get the picture. Then, line a colander with a thin cloth (clean pillow case works if you don't have fine cheesecloth lying around). Dump it in, let sit for a few minutes. DONE!

Here it is in the colander.

I gave it a good squeeze to get the rest of the whey out.

Then, I mixed it with egg, the mozzarella and some sea salt. Set aside to layer in lasagna.

Time to make sauce!!

2 quarts frozen tomato chunks (saved from the garden, when you weren't in the mood to can)


2 carrots, shredded


1/2 onion, diced


2 stalks celery, shredded (an electric shredder makes fast work of all of this!)


some garlic, basil and oregano.


simmer.

Layer noodles, cheese mixture, sauce, and fresh spinach. Yum.

Bake @350 f. Covered with foil. Mine stayed in for two hours, but less would have been OK. You just want to make sure the egg is cooked. You'll notice there is no meat in this lasagna--see the post about our fridge to discover WHY.

Then, to complete the meal, use the whey to make bread and rolls!

I had four cups of whey left when I was done, so I made two loaves of bread and one rack of rolls. This should last us the week, and if that storm makes it so I can't shop, we'll be eating some amazing PB&J (with a blueberry, strawberry, raspberry jam that I made this summer. Mmmmmm).

Dinner is served!

Really, it didn't take that long. Wonder what else I'll come up with in this snowy weather. They do say that necessity is the mother of invention!!!