Damage!

Remember how I said nature was attacking?

Shit just got real.

A storm blew through last night and took out our fence, a portion of our deck and came through the window where I was laying with Little. 

I probably don't need to say it but it was effing terrifying. 

We're in the process of figuring out our next step, unfortunately it's not pretty.

As you can see in the bottom picture, one particularly spiteful branch fell to the side and knocked out my beautiful plants. I think the cucumber plant is going to make it, I don't know about the others.

As the tree was on town property, we called them to let them know and see what they would do. Unfortunately, they came by unannounced and saw our illegal chickens.They didn't say anything so we're just waiting to see what happens.

I'm the type of person that finds humor and joy in everything. Otherwise, I'd rip my hair out and scream at people and my head would explode and that wouldn't be fun for anyone.
It's kind of hard to do right now.

Murray Must Die

I thought Murray and I could peacefully coexist.

Don't drive angry!

I was wrong.

Every last stinking bean plant has been decimated by that damn groundhog. 

Every. Single. One.

I also have squirrels that have worked their way into my screened in porch to go after the chicken feed. We reinforced the open areas of the screen and they found their way around it. 

Nature is attacking yall. 

This is some bull crap. 

To keep Murray out, I plan to run out this week and get some more chicken wire fencing to line the bottom of the fence where the little fart is sneaking in. Thus far he has only gone for my bean plants but I don't want him moving on to the next thing!

If that doesn't work, well, anyone know any good groundhog recipes?

Something's Been Eating Me...

Or really, something's been eating my garden!

I've been blaming the chickens. I let them out of their run in the evenings to free range in the back yard and figured they saw something tasty in there and went for it. My romaine plant is but a stalk and my bean plants have been nibbled down to the stems. Luckily, those are the only two things that it's been going for. I was able to deduce through incredible detective work and sleuthery (you know, like being a sleuth) that is was NOT the chickens that was in my garden. 

There was a bag of sunflower seeds that I'd left out and when I came back something had torn it open - but the chickens hadn't been out! So I'm brainstorming ways to catch whatever it is, or shield my yummy stuff from him/her and mention this to Mr. Brown. He cuts me off, "There's a groundhog". 

He's seen this thing for months and never told me! He smokes and I do not so he spends a bit more time outside quietly than I do. When I'm outside there's usually a show tune or two along with a running dialogue between myself, Georgia, and the chickens.
It seems this fella was here last summer too but we had a dog then. The dog would run the groundhog off when he got too close. The dog then ate everything in my garden. Dog's gone now!

So now the question is - how do I keep this rascal from ruining my harvest??

Menu Plan - Week of June 17

Just when you think you know what you're doing, everything gets thrown off, right?

This weeks menu is totally different than what I've been doing.

 No big meat meal to last all week. No International Tuesday.

But we roll with the punches around here, right?

This weekend didn't go as planned - we wound up going to a cookout Saturday and ate lots of crabs (yum!) and went to another cookout today for Father's Day so neither of those meals were done, they'll be thrown in here this week.

Monday - Fish Sticks, French Fries, Slaw

Tuesday - Girl Scout Pool Party!

Wednesday - Falafel Salad

Thursday - Burgers, fries, beans

Friday - Pizza (any suggestions for toppings?)

Saturday - Orzo Pasta Salad with Shrimp, Spinach and Tomatoes

Sunday- Roast Chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits

I'm working on a document to keep on the refrigerator for Big to stop the inevitable

"I'm hungry and there isn't anything to eat!"

Quick stuff that she can make herself or are already made and waiting in the fridge. Any suggestions for a pretty open minded, constantly starving, active 10 year old?

Have a great week!

Potato and Chicken Frittata with Carmelized Onions.

Let me start this out by saying I am not The Pioneer Woman. I try to channel my girl, Ree, while I'm cooking but I can't take pictures like her. Her food looks amazing. My food looks amazing in real life but not so much in pictures. One day when I have lots of money I'll buy a fancy butt camera and take nice pictures but for now, well, just know it looks good in person.

So, now that that's out of the way, what do you do when your egg basket looks like this?

 

You make a delicious frittata for dinner!

It starts right here, with a beautiful, well seasoned cast iron pan. 

To this beautiful piece of culinary equipment we'll add 2-3 T of butter (NOT margarine, butter.)

Once the butter has melted, add one onion, chopped. You're going to cook the onion until it changes from the Before to the After pic. This should take about 10-15 minutes over medium heat.

Before

After

 

 

 

Meanwhile, peel and dice three potatoes. Three smallish potatoes are good. If you have larger ones, just one may be enough. These are the ones I used. 

They chopped up into this

 The onions should still be working at this point. 

Since those take a little bit, I like to get everything else ready. Once they're done the train gets moving and it's best if everything else is ready to go in the pan so you don't burn the garlic. Burnt garlic is gross.

Make sure whatever chicken you're using is shredded and ready for adding. I recommend about 2 cups.

Crack and beat your eggs. If you don't have a weirdo cheese hating husband put in 1 cup of mild cheddar.

Mince 2-3 cloves of garlic.

Figure out your spices.

I like some tarragon in it, along with salt, pepper and a little Old Bay.

Onions nice and caramelized? Add your garlic and your seasonings. 2 teaspoons Tarragon, generous salt, few cranks fresh pepper, 1 teaspoon Old Bay. Stir until you can start to smell the garlic. Then you're going to add your potatoes and chicken. Stir that around to combine. Make sure that everything is pretty evenly distributed. Imagine the horror of a chickenless bite!

Once you're set and happy with your chicken and potato distribution, pour your beaten eggs over the top.

Let this set up for a minute. This isn't going to cook on the stove top but you want the bottom to set up a little before you put it into the oven. You can tell when it's ready to go in the oven by the little steamy geyser holes that start to appear on the surface.

Once the holes appear, pop it in the oven and let it bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until it doesn't jiggle when you move the handle. 

Then slice it up!

This is a hit with my usually picky husband and daughter too!

 I always top mine with shredded cheddar. If you don't have a weirdo cheese hating husband your cheese will be inside already where it belongs. 

Frittata is pretty forgiving. I had a delicious one at my Blessingway for Little that had summer squash, tomato and spinach in it. 

Have you had or made frittata before? What's your favorite combination?

Drunk Drip Waterer Upcycle

This is so easy.

Too easy to do a post about it but it has been such a life saver for the absentminded mini farmer.

Have you seen those nifty glass globes that you fill with water and they drip water/feed your plants? Of course you have. I started to buy a few, but then remembered that I'm cheap and crafty.

Have a few of these laying around your house?

We have LOTS! Never a shortage.

That's what it's a Drunk Dripper.

Just fill it up and dunk it over in your plant, near the roots. Feel free to add some Epsom Salts every so often to your tomato waterer. 

It'll last for a few days to a week or so, depending on the weather and your plant.

They're especially helpful for containers and raised beds which dry out faster. 

Now go get a six pack and make some Drunk Drippers!

Menu Plan 6/10-6/16

For information on how I menu plan, check out How I Menu Plan.

This is the last week of school! For now, I only plan for dinner, we'll see how that goes with summer upon us. Father's Day is Sunday so that's kind of up in the air. If we're home, we'll have what's planned. If not, it'll get bumped to next week.

Monday - Crockpot Beef BBQ Sandwiches, broccoli cakes, homemade french fries

Tuesday - Beef Enchiladas

Wednesday - Red Beans and Rice

Thursday- Chicken and Potato Frittata with Carmelized Onions

Friday - Chicken Pesto Pizza (this dough from Weed 'em and Reap is delish!)

Saturday - Homemade Fish Sticks, French Fries, Corn

Sunday - Burgers, Coleslaw, Baked Beans

I'll post some recipes soon! A few of these are my own, others need verification and tasting. I love tasting.

How I Menu Plan

A few months ago I started menu planning and it has made such a huge difference around here. I started when I was searching for something to make these people for dinner and pulled out a few heads of rotten broccoli and a bag of rotten green beans from the refrigerator. It was late, I had no idea what we were eating, and we were wasting food. That night, after we ate Top Ramen for dinner, I sat down and worked out the rest of the week and haven’t looked back since.

I know a lot of people plan breakfast, lunch and dinner. Around here, as it’s just Little and I during the day (and she’s still mostly on a liquid diet) I only plan dinner. As big is getting out of school next week that may change. I’ll update this if and when we do.

First thing I do is check the fridge. Did you know if you have stainless steel appliances you can write on them with dry erase markers? The front of the fridge is where I write our calendar. If there’s girl scouts, an activity at school, a night out or whatever, I need to plan around that. No big, labor intensive meals when we have to be somewhere at 6:30. After that, I open the door. Did something not get eaten from last week’s menu? Any produce hanging around that needs to be eaten? Plan your meals accordingly.

We have certain nights that we have certain things. I would die of taste bud boredom if we had, for example, spaghetti every Monday. What we do instead is a flexible day. Tuesday is something from another culture. Think Taco Tuesday, but with more options. Wednesday is beans. From Red Beans and Rice to Falafel. Friday is homemade pizza day (try this dough recipe, it’s perfect!) but that could be BBQ chicken pizza or Margherita pizza or Chicken Ceasar Salad pizza.

I try to do a big something on Sunday or Monday that we can use to make other meals. Extra points if it goes in the crock pot.

This is this week:

Monday – Crockpot chicken, asparagus, sweet potatoes

Tuesday – Taco Bowl

Wednesday - Egg Roll in a Bowl – Made from leftover chicken.

Thursday – ‘Brats and Sauerkraut (and broccoli)

Friday – Margherita Pizza

Saturday – Birthday Celebration!

Sunday – Sloppy lentils, broccoli cakes from leftover broccoli, homemade fries

I was too lazy forgot to go to the store so Monday and Tuesday got switched. No biggie. Be flexible. Life happens. Sometimes your crying baby lets you know that the grocery store is NOT happening that day. Sometimes your couch is super comfortable. Whatevs.

Do you menu plan? Any great recipes to share?