FORGET - ME - NOT

Women's Conference was amazing and President Uchtdorf always knows the perfect thing to say. He just happened to mention one of my favorite flowers, and I found it odd because I was just thinking about them this week and how with being so busy with school and work, I didn't see them this year. And then President Uchtdorf said what he did about these petite lovely flowers that I love to draw. If you look closely, they have a star in the center of each flower..Remember, you too have been touched by our Lord and he knows you by  name.. Below I have what each of the five petals are to help us remember.

Forget Not: {5 Petals}

...to be patient with yourself....the difference between good sacrifice and foolish sacrifice....to be happy now....the why of the Gospel....and....Forget Not that the Lord loves you.



I love these sweet flowers, and I love ladybugs. Now these flowers remind me even more of how much the Lord loves me. And the ladybug reminds me that even though I am only one of many, I can do all things through Christ.

What have you done this month?

Wow it is mid-September, what have you done for preparedness this month? Personally with working over 40 hours a week this month I haven't done as much as I would like, but I have done some.

I canned pears, got wood for fires, froze blueberries, planted peas and checked to see how much wheat I have in storage. I also would like to do a complete inventory; plant onions, garlic, beets, lettuce and spinach; get some quilts done; and spray for spiders. Of those three I am not sure what will get done.

The weather has changed dramatically these last two weeks. Sunny and hot to sunny and warm to suddenly cloudy and very cool (almost cold). With that coldness things start coming inside: spiders, ants, yellow jackets and rodents!!!  Yuck! Are you ready?

A heads up, Foley's has some deals on produce, I am not sure how much longer he will be providing for us as this has been a weak season. Sorry I didn't have any deals through my co-op, but the prices weren't very good, and I haven't had time to drive outside of Monroe to I think Sumner or Gold Bar to pick up stuff. I hope we have a warehouse sale again soon.

I am hoping to do a crock pot challenge in October.. I will post more on that later.

Love you all! Have a safe weekend!

Blackberry (or any fruit) Cobbler

Ok, first let me say this is yum! I got this from a friend a long time ago, and it is a cherished recipe. I miss her dearly.

Filling:
6 cups blackberries, rinsed or frozen  (or any berry or fruit)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup flour
Mix berries, sugar and flour and place in 15-inch dish.

Batter:
2 cups flour
1 cup plus 1 TBS sugar
1 TBS baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
8 TBS (or one stick) butter, melted
1/4 tsp nutmeg (or cinnamon depending on fruit)

Combine flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Add milk and butter; beat until smooth. Spoon batter over berries, make sure you spread it out and don't have any fruit showing. Combine 1 TBS sugar and nutmeg. Sprinkle over batter. Bake in center of oven for 1 hour until bubbly and cake is cooked through.

Hello?? Hello? Yes, I'm here!!

I'm done!! I am done with school !!!  YeeHaw!  I am now working, love my job, just wish it paid a bit more. But I love it. What I don't love is being gone all day every day. I thought a part time job was 20 - 25 hours a week, NOT anything under 38 hours a week. Ridiculous! I am not sure how long this will last, but for now, I am having to do it.
Not many deals on food going on right now. With the droughts in some areas, flooding in others, it makes for a bad year for harvest. That said, I hope you all babied your gardens, even if it was only a pot of mint or basil. Be greatful for what you can grow yourself!  My beets bolted this year, so were hard as rocks and we did not can any. I am hoping to plant some more this week or labor day weekend. My lettuce in the front yard did not survive the chickens or wild rabbits. The peas were prolific!!!  I froze as many as I could keep the kids from eating. My spinach bolted, we fed that to the chickens. The lettuce on the back deck however did very well. It did get a little neglected from water so it is a bit tough, but the kids don't seem to notice so don't tell them. I will also be planting more green onions, beets, lettuce, spinach, peas and maybe chives... we'll see.

Hey, are you having a problem with an herb or flower taking over your garden??? Trying banding it. Take a #10 can and cut both ends off, put it into the ground around the plant trying to expand, this way it won't. I will be doing this labor day weekend with a few of my plants.

I did manage to get some chicken canned in August!  I hope to can more stuff as I find good prices on it. But that has been extremely rare!!

This will be the first week of school for the kids. I am not looking forward to that. We had a fabulous vacation this last week with the family in Leavenworth, and it was so relaxing and fun, none of us wanted it to end. I hope we are able to focus more on family this year.

Ok, I will be posting a few recipes in separate posts, you know, to try to use some of your food storage. But I am working full time (unreal!!!) so I will post as I can. Remember family first! 

Zucchini Cake

I got this from my sister in law, and we LOVE this cake!!!  I make bigger cakes for our family, but this is the original recipe.

2 1/2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup oil
4 eggs
4 cups shredded zucchini

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl. In large bowl combine oil, eggs and zucchini. Add dry ingredients. Pour into greased 9 X 13 pan. Bake 35 - 40 minutes or until done. Cool. Frost.

Cream Cheese Frosting
3 or 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 TBS milk, optional
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

Beat all except powdered sugar until smooth. Add sugar. Beat until smooth. Spread on cooled cake.

RICE MILK OR NUT MILKS

(WARNING: Recipes towards the bottom of this post)
Who knew you could make rice milk at home? Nut milks? I didn't until I saw a demonstration for a vitamix at Costco!  I have wanted a vitamix for about 10  years now, so what did I do? I got one. Why? Well the price of a case of rice dream at costco is about $16 per case which is only 12 quarts. If you buy an individual quart at Safeway or and grocery store, you are looking at $3.79 per quart or MORE!!! Super crazy! Why pay that much when you can make it at home for pennies per quart?
First thing I made when I got home with my new toy was make a smoothie, spinach, blueberries, bananas, carrots, apples, oranges and ice. The kids LOVED it.. of course we always loves smoothies, but this blender, er vitamix thing makes them really smooth.
Next I made a batch of cashew, almond rice milk. DD#2 was in heaven! Thick like cow milk, yummy and good for her too! She begged me to never buy rice dream again! That sealed it, this vitamix thing was not going to go back to the store!!  I use my vitamix atleast once a day now! Crazy, but so easy to use, and clean!  .... oh woops off track, I am supposed to be posting the recipe.. ha ha.. I just had to explain why I have the vitamix (justification?).. Love it, I hope the power doesn't go out so that I can still have my daily spinach smoothie :) or spinach sorbet (kids love it with cottage cream!!!)

Our FAVORITE Milk Mix
3 cups cold water
1/4 cup (50 g) cooked rice
1/4 cup (35 g) raw cashews
1/4 cup (35 g) raw almonds
2 TBS to 1/4 cup (17 g to 35g) coconut, sweetened or unsweetened
dash of salt
2 pinches of sugar to 1/4 tsp.
splash of vanilla extract up to 1/2 tsp.

Place all in vitamix in order, secure lid
Select variable 1.
Turn machine on and quickly increase speed to variable 10, then HIGH.
Blend for 3 to 4 minutes or until desired consistency is reached. Store in refrigerator. SHAKE well before using.

Rice Milk:
1/2 cup (100 g) cooked rice (whatever kind floats your boat)
2 cups (480 ml) cold water
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp sugar (brown or white)

Place ingredients into the Vitamix in order listed and secure lid.
Select Variable 1.
Turn machine on and quickly increase speed to variable 10, then HIGH.
Blend for 2-3 minutes or until desired consistency is reached.
Store in refrigerator.
Shake well before using.


Almond or Cashew Milk
If you desire to strain away sediment, place a fine mesh sieve over a large bowl. Pour almond milk slowly into sieve and allow to filter through, or stir the milk in the sieve with a spatual to encourage it to pass through more rapidly. Do not strain if using cashews.

3 cups (720 ml) water
1 cup (140 g) raw almonds or cashews
pinch of salt, optional
sugar or sweetener to taste, optional

Place all in Vitamix containter in order listed, secure lid.
Select Variable 1.
Turn machine on and quickly increase speed to Variable 10, then to HIGH.
Blend for 2 minutes or until desired consistency is reached.

Coconut milk
Strain through a fine mesh sieve for a smoother drink.

2 cups (480 ml) water
1 cup (75 g) shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened

Place ingredients in Vitamix, secure lid.
Select variable 1. Turn machine on and quickly increase speed to 10, then high.
Blend for 3 minutes or until desired consistency is reached. Chill.

Hillbilly Housewife Award Winning Chili

This recipe is amazing. And because the Hillbilly Housewife is so bogged down with hundreds of emails daily, I am simply going to put a link here for you to go to her site for the recipe instead of waiting weeks for permission to put it here on my blog. This is the one I used for activity days daddy daughter western dinner, and the one I took to the RS meeting where crock pot recipes were brought..

My changes to HH's recipe:

I used HOT Italian sausage (instead of Jimmy Dean)
NO celery 
6 cloves garlic (you can never have enough)
1 TBS cayenne (PLENTY)
1 TBS chili powder (WHOA!!!)
1 can stewed italian and 1 can stewed mexican tomatoes, drained into crock pot and I chopped the tomatoes up more.
1 can pinto beans and 1 can canellini or black beans 2 HOURS before serving (so the pintos burst and make the chili thicker)
I also added water!!