Menu Plan Monday 6/30/14

I've been trying something new for my summer menu planning, and I like the concept, but would like to find a better app for it.  This is in google keep, which works well enough for now.

Rather than planning out a strict menu, I've started making a list of recipes that I have the ingredients for here at the house.  I'm concentrating a lot on Zucchini Recipes right now, since there is more ready in the garden every day.

I put the list, and a few photos, in a note in google keep, with links to the recipes if needed, and then each morning I try to figure out a head count (Seriously - I cook for 8, and it's just Dh & I.  I cook for Dh & I, and 6 extras show up... this season of life with teenagers is more chaotic than when we had toddlers!) and decide which meal to make.

The List Currently:

• Chicken Soulvaki Gyro Style - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Souvlaki-Gyro-Style/Detail.aspx?evt19=1
• Hot sausage sandwiches, Grilled Zucchini Nachos http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/grilled-zucchini-nachos/
• Chile Lime Steak Tacos
• Rosemary Ranch Chicken http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/bacon-pineapple-chicken-kabobs/41c5cee7-e258-4605-923d-959de6370d92?src=SH&sf3322335=1
• Chicken marsala w/ garlic smashed potatoes http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/8887/chicken-marsala
• Zucchini noodles with chicken & tangy peanut sauce http://kitchenconfidante.com/guest-post-cilantropist-zucchini-noodles-with-chicken-and-tangy-peanut-sauce-recipe
• Grilled Chicken, Garlic Rubbed Cabbage steaks - Garlic rubbed cabbage steaks = http://www.everydaymaven.com/2012/garlic-rubbed-roasted-cabbage-steaks/
• Zucchini Crust pizza topped with Bruchetta & Mozarella http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2012/08/zucchini-crust-pizza-margherita.html
• Hamburgs
• Calzones

This is the menu/Shopping homescreen on my phone

KeyChain for all those loyalty cards

Out of Milk for My Shopping List

And Google Keep for my Menu List

And this is the post where I'm working my way through a list of Zucchini Recipes:

http://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2014/06/tried-true-zucchini-recipes.html

Tried & True Zucchini Recipes

The other day I tossed some extra zucchinis into the pig pen, and the pigs looked at me as if to say "No thank you, we've had enough zucchini for one year."  They did eat it later, but I could relate to their initial response!  I only planted two zucchini plants this year.  Two.  And we could eat zucchini every night for dinner and still have extra for the pigs.

Thankfully, I have a few recipes that I really love!  I will also shred and freeze some for in vegetable soups this fall, and some to make zucchini bread too.

 Zucchini Nachos

This is definitely one of my favorite new recipes!  It's so simple.  Slice the zucchini.  Grill. Add some cheese at the end, just like you would on a cheeseburger.

(This year I am tossing the zucchini into the air fryer rather than grilling it)

Bring them in off the grill and top with nacho toppings - avacado, black beans, olives, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream.. whatever you like. The Zucchini acts as the "chips".  YUM!!

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Zucchini "Noodles"

This is soooooo  easy!  Next time I'm going to add some carrots too.  You use a julienne peeler just like a regular peeler.  It's quick and easy.  I blanched them - placing them in boiling water for just a few minutes, then draining.  

I use a Julienne peeler made by OXO - it works great for me!

https://amzn.to/31faYWu

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Peanut Chicken on Zucchini Noodles

I found this recipe here, where I first learned about using zucchini in place of pasta :

Chicken and Tangy Peanut Sauce

I adapted her peanut sauce recipe just a little:

Peanut Sauce:
1/2 c peanut butter
4 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp rice vinegar [or apple cider vinegar in a tsp of sugar]
a drizzle of sesame oil
1 tsp minced garlic 

a sprinkle of sugar
At least 1/4 cup water, add 1-2 more tablespoons depending on texture

The main difference is I used a lot more soy sauce than the original recipe  The peanut butter was just too strong for me until I added a lot more, then I really liked it.

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Zesty Zucchini Fries

Original Recipe Found here - http://shrinkingkitchen.com/baked-not-fried-zucchini-fries/

My favorite thing about this recipe is adding hot sauce to the egg before dipping in the breading.  That is genius! One Zucchini made enough fries for my husband and myself.  It's a little time consuming to make - but it was REALLY good.  

Dip cut up zucchini in an egg, beaten, with some hot sauce added to the egg.

Then dip in a mixture of panko bread crumbs and italian seasoning

Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, flip gently, bake for another 10 minutes.

I have some lemon pepper panko crumbs that I think would be excellent on this as well.  And I used some regular italian bread crumbs for a few for my husband - that worked well too.

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Zucchini Bread

When we bought the farm from my mother in law, it came with a recipe drawer.  Her recipes, recipes from aunts, friends, sister in laws, mostly in family members handwriting.  My daughter and I have been working our way through all of them, but it is taking us awhile to try them all.  This one we have used many times..  but we substitute butter for the oil.

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs

1 cup cooking oil 

2 cups sugar (I use half brown sugar)

3 cups grated zucchini

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups flower

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

Bake for 1 hour at 325

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More Recipes To Try:

Zucchini Boats
Parmesan Garlic Zucchini Chips
Basalmic Grilled Zucchini
Zucchini Fritters
Zucchini Tots
Zucchini Noodles
      With Pesto
Beer Battered Zucchini Rings
Zucchini Pizza bites
Zucchini Crust Pizza
Stacked Summer Salad

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https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/p/recipes.html

On The Farm 6/5/14

So, my plan to update this weekly isn't going so well..  but considering the whirlwind May was, that's not really a surprise.

The big news on the farm has nothing to do at all with the actual farm (other than his intent to take it over from us in 20 years, after he retires from the Military).  Our oldest son is officially engaged!  He flew home from WA and proposed to his girlfriend earlier this month.  We've been BUSY planning and getting ready for their September wedding. :-)

Along with his visit home, a trip to Philadelphia, a skeet shoot here on the farm, the younger kids were in a school play, wrapping up the school year, football...  I keep reminding myself that in two years all the kids will be grown, this chaos is so temporary, and I'm going to enjoy it as much as possible!

Some of the Misc projects we got done before the skeet shoot:

The fire pit - we dug it deeper and made the stones look neater.

Took the bushes out in front of the house, moved the picnic table up

I made a chalkboard paint sign to hang off the fence

cleaned up & painted the date stone (I hate the red, & will repaint it again)

Put in the bean pole teepee

built the dog pen beside the house - all fenced in (we use this only when visitors are afraid of the big dogs - or most recently, we used it as a temporary goat pen for the goat that just gave birth...)

Cows:

We moved Bubba to a friends house, where he will finish growing.  They raise deer, and want him to eat the grass the deer will not eat, in the deer pen.  When he is fully grown this fall, they will pay to have him processed, and we will split the beef.  I struggle so much with this yet... 

We're working on selling Betsy - she's two years old now, and sterile.  I so wish she could have babies here on the farm, but since that won't happen, she'll be sold for beef.  Preferably soon, while the prices are high.

That leaves us with the three herfords in the lower pasture, who will hopefully have babies here next year, and 3 young steers.  We'll add more steers when they are more affordable, the prices have been insanely high this spring.

Goats:

We had two new babies born, twins.  One of the nannies didn't give birth early this year with all the others, which is nice, I like having babies here all the time.  One is a boy, one is a girl.  We're looking for an unelated billy to add to the herd, then I'll split the goat pen in half, and keep the girls born this year with the new billy, so they aren't bread back to their dad.

Hay:

I could cry when I look at our "timothy" field.  It's more of a dandelion field.  Last year we had such beautiful timothy..  but this year that is a corn field.    It's a late year, the temperatures have been cold much longer than in recent years.  Usually we are baling this week, but it will probably be another week or so this year.  We'll have plenty of good hay, just not good timothy.

Bacon Wrapped Baby Vidalias & Bruschetta Topped Mushrooms

I tried two new sides on the grill last night, and both were a success!

Both are also VERY simple.

For the mushrooms:

1. Remove the stems

2.  Toss mushrooms in a little olive oil and garlic.  I left them marinate all day - but you can completely skip this step if you are short on time.
3.Top with Bruschetta

4. Top with cheese
5.Grill.

I LOVE this grill pan.  I don't remember where I got mine, but you can find a similar one on Amazon here:

Weber 6481 Small Stainless Steel Vegetable Basket

Bacon Wrapped Vidalia Onions
I originally found this recipe here & "adapted"it.
By "Adapted" I mean "vaguely remembered the ingredients and winged it rather than look up the specifics when I was ready to make them."

1. Peel onions
2. Add balsamic vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper & olive oil to a zip log bag.
3. Toss in the onions and coat them. Leave them in there to marinate
4. When ready to grill, wrap each onion in a strip of bacon. I secured the bacon with toothpicks
5. Grill on low 30-40 minutes.

Next time, I will put these right on the grill for the first 10 minutes, then move either to the vegetable pan I had the mushrooms in, or to the top little rack of our grill where things keep warm/cooking without being right on the flame.  The bacon overcooked just a little bit for us, but
they do need to cook awhile for the onions to be sweet and soft.

On the Farm, May 5th 2014

We've made so much progress over the past two weeks!  Still so much to do, but we're crossing big things off the lists now.  :-)  The peacocks are loving that big new run, there on the right.  The bunnies are outside in the new hutch, on the left.  I love the new herb bed, with the Inuksuk in the middle, and the raised bed gardens are all doing well.

 

We pulled out the clothesline poles, and moved them.  Then I painted them blue.  And added little rock beds around them, planting french lavendar around each pole.

We hauled in a load of river rock for around the chairs and pond.

 

 We put in an herb bed, then I decided it looked unbalanced, and put in a butterfly bed as well.

This will be the butterfly garden

Our oldest built this Inuksuk a couple of years ago.  It was in an odd location, where you never saw it, in another yard..  we moved it back here where I can see it all the time. 

The horse pasture was looking sparse - Dan had oats planted into it this week.

 Bubba is moved to the front pasture with the other cows, and we moved Mickey down here now too - so there are 6 cows out front.  Milo is still in the back yard (he still gets milk once a day) and Wendell is in the center island pen.

 Still too young for his pretty tail - but next year when it grows in, he'll have plenty of room to display it, here in his new pen.

Betsy, Enjoying the impromptu pond in the pasture, after a heavy rainstorm.

Still lots to do here - but the pond is officially running!  I found all of this pond, including the filters and everything, alongside the road with a free sign on it.  I can't believe it all works!  The pump is the old well pump from here on the farm.

The new bunny hutch isn't pretty - but the bunnies love it, and I love not having to carry a dog kennel in and out of the house every morning and evening!  Olaf runs up and down that ramp nonstop - he loves it.  PB prefers to sit up in the boxes with the hay.

If you Like The Stephanie Plum Novels, Try:

If you like the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich,  try these series:

The Lexi Carmichael Series By Julie Moffet

Slash & Ranger just might be related, they are so similar...  but the books have a slightly more serious story line/tone overall.  

The Spellman Files By Lisa Lutz

Where the Lexi Carmichael series has all the love life problems of the Plum series, it has none of the family eccentricities.  The Spellman Files is the opposite - there is no real love life story line at all, but it has plenty of family characters, and co-owners of Spellman Investigations, that will keep you in stitches.

Agatha Raisin Series By M. C. Beaton

I think of Agatha as an older, classier, British, Stephanie Plum.  After retiring from her own advertising agency, she retires to an English village and eventually becomes a PI.  Her love life is just as disastrous, although not as vividly described, as Stephanie's as well.

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https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/p/reading.html

This Week On The Farm 4/28

One of our spring projects is to enlarge the chicken coop run.  We haven't started yet.  Soon.

 

Bubba (cow) is almost recovered and ready to move back to the front pasture with the other cows.  We need to start introducing Kase to the other horses here on the farm.  Kase (rescue horse) has some rainrot yet, but mostly you wouldn't realize he was half starved to death just a few months ago - he is doing great.

The barn cats - we only have 2 cats here.  (And that's enough!)

Mickey is getting big - it's about time to move him down to the front pasture with the big cows.

 

The "ring" of pasture right outside the upper shed.  What a mess.

Todays eggs

The peacocks, still waiting for their new shelter to be built...