Rain and re-fashioning

We got rain!!-Last week! We actually had rain a couple days in row. On the first day my kids went running out side and acting like they have never seen rain before! Poor kids! They had a blast getting all wet!

Re-fashioning is the new craze right now, and there are so many cute things to do with your old clothes. And we had just gone through every ones clothes, so I saved the stuff I thought I could make something else with. I made some pants for Madden J with Justin's old pants, should have made them a bit longer! They are so cool! Justin was making fun of the knee pads and asking why I was putting them on all of his pants lately, and well yesterday at church he found out why! I fell on his knees like 20 times there, something with his shoes and and the carpet they have there just didn't mix! So needless to say they came in quite handy! I also order me some labels for my clothes that I make, it says "Horton Original" on them , so cool! Now I just need to work on getting a Serger!!! I need to finish Annalyse's clothes and I will post pictures. Should have done before and after pictures, but hey, I don't have all the time in the world, got to get it done quick before the little guy comes and messes with my machine while I am sewing!
Click on the picture to enlarge.

French Toast Donuts

I was starting to get a bunch of eggs so I decided to have french toast for dinner last night. I found this recipe in Nigellas cook book, she's so not Martha its wonderful, and I love the way she talks about food like its the most beautiful thing in the world(which it is :) so back to the french toast, you just make it like normal, add a little extra vanilla, then when there done cooking put it in some sugar, both sides. It was so good, I told my mom and she suggested cinnamon sugar, which would be even better. So go head and try it the next time you make french toast! It will taste like you are having a sugar donut!

Our 4H project

The chickens, I have to say I love having chickens. Every book I read they said "Oh you will just love your chickens, watching them and taking care of them." And I was thinking yea right, I just want them so I can have eggs, but they were right, they are so fun to watch and easy to take care of, and of course they leave you little edible gifts that are so good for you. Mary is our alpha hen, she keeps the others in line and they all follow her, and she follows me! On my bad day I went out to check them and I found 4 eggs, what a surprise, if only I hadn't just bought 2 dozen from the store! Don't worry though we use lots of eggs. I used all 6 for french toast(new way to try it in the next post!)

I'm not very creative when it comes to naming our pets, like our Jack Russel I named Jack, same thing with the chickens, except for Dora, the kids did that one! Anyways I love having chickens and we will probably add to the herd Just in case we lose some. But hey, I kept these alive!

If you are wondering about the weird looking Turkin one, they were bread to be like turkeys with no feathers on there neck. Everyone says she looks ugly but I think she is cool, and they are supposed to be prolific egg layers so that's why I got her.

My horrible no good very bad day!

It started with no where to go, to hot to go out side, found out that we have a hole in the pool liner and it is going down quick. We stayed inside all day, I cleaned and cleaned and then did some more, but when I look behind me it doesn't even look like I did anything. I tried to make some more yogurt, having fun making yogurt, but at the end of the day it was a flop, didn't set up properly, I guess I will use it to make ice cream or more smoothies. I thought I was being a good mom by making dinner that night, boy was I wrong! I had made pork chops and noodles before and everyone eat it (so I thought). Well when I went to put it in the oven I was only using one hand, I was keeping Madden back with the other, and well I spilled quite a bit all inside the oven, minutes later our smells of burnt food, I then serve the kids there meal and they all turn there noses up at it, except for my sweet MJ he ate the noodles, Annalyse said she was hopping for something better and Zander just wouldn't touch it, I told them this is what we were having and this only! So they ate a few bite and called it quits, fine I told my self as I ate all of my food. So then Justin gets home and gets bent out of shape cause I used ketchup in it and he doesn't eat ketchup, fine I told him! Throw it out or give it to the dog I don't care anymore, everyone is impossible to please! I'm going to go watch TV. He then makes everyone chicken nuggets. Sometimes I wish I could move to Australia! So today I proceed to tell my mom of the day that I had and she just laughs! She laughs because she thinks its funny happening to me and not to her anymore! Been there done that she says! I know some day I will look back and probably laugh when Annalyse calls and tells me she had a bad day, and then I will tell her, remember that book Alexander and the horribly no good very bad day? Yea, well some days are like that! Even in Australia!
So after all that I made my self some chocolate no bake cookies and watched TV, went to bed and slept for 3hrs. Got up in the morning to no milk, eggs or bread and decided I HAD to go to the store, even though I have my niece and nephew today, so I packed everyone up and headed to the big city, 4 hours later I'm home putting everything away washed the dishes and now blogging!

Hippie food

Yogurt and granola!
So most of you FB people know I made homemade yogurt the other day. But for you blogger's, I made homemade yogurt! It came out well, a little on the tangy side, but it takes some batches and tweaking to get the right time down. If it goes to long it starts to get tangy, but if it doesn't go long enough it doesn't set up, so practice makes perfect here! It also depends on the milk and starter you use. But I found using the yogurt maker helps, a lot! Keeps it at the right temperature for the whole process, and it doesn't take up much space and the little jars are cute! I have a batch of goat milk, honey and vanilla going right now, so tomorrow we will see how it taste. The first batch we have been using for smoothies or the kids are puttin lots of honey on it.

Granola!

I love granola! I have a hard time finding a recipe I like though. Well I found a pretty dang good one from a bread book! Its so delish! I made it this morning and had some with milk. I have to make another batch though cause I am giving some away as a thank you gift to my friend. Zander had a bowl and Madden eat some of mine. Yummy Yummy Yummy! I want to try it on my yogurt tomorrow! Oh and do you see that bead book the granola is sitting one? It is fantastic! A must ready if you love homemade bread as much as I do. I want to try all the recipes! The whole thing behind there book is to make a big batch a dough, put it in the fridge and every day you can take a chunk, shape it into whatever you want, let it rise for about 40 min and bake it off, so you can have fresh homemade bread everyday! Or when people come over! And they will think you are the best, making them homemade bread! I'm just in love with the idea, I read the whole book in about an hour and then went to go make the Brioche dough. There is also a chocolate bread recipe I must try, and the cheese, and an oatmeal bread that makes a great sandwich bread(so they say, we shall see!). So be warned there will be lots of breads to come!!! Oh how I love to bake bread!! Just wish it would cool down outside! Then I can pair it with some soups Mmmm.

For the yogurt recipe I would follow the manufactures recipes the first couple times, or you can go here for a good tutorial.

Granola Recipe

from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup canola oil(I used olive, better for you)

2 tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla(I used a whole teaspoon)

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 cups rolled oats

1/4 teaspoons sesame seeds

3/4 cup chopped pecans or the nut of your choice

3/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup dried cherries, or cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a high-sided cookie sheet with parchment paper,oil, or butter, or a large silicone mat.

Mix the honey, maple syrup,oil,water,vanilla,cinnamon, and the salt in a large measuring cup.

In a large bowl, combine the liquid mixture with the dry ingredients, except for the dried fruit, mix everything until evenly coated with the honey mixture. Spread the mixture evenly over the prepared baking sheet. Bake for about 30 minutes, stirring every ten minutes, until the granola is golden brown. Baking time will vary, depending on the depth of granola in the cookie sheet or pan.

After the baking is complete, add the dried fruit.

Allow to cool, store in jars.

They use this recipe in a granola bread, how good does that sound?

Pants, eggs, crepes

Well lets start at the top of the photos and work our way down shall we?! First is Madden in his little pants that I made him with some knee pads, so cute, and I even lined them with knit, the fabric was a bit thin. He is the cutest little thing and gets his cheese face on for the camera every time! I have a bunch more things I am working on, and trying to find the time to sew is kinda hard with the baby wanting to get in my lap every time I sit down to sew!

Then I don't think I was telling everyone but I did get some more chickens back in May. They were a bit older and are just now laying some eggs. I feel so proud that I kept them alive long enough to give me some eggs. I had to get rid of Jill, gave her to a family with boys and another big dog so shes good. I got my very fist egg Sunday morning, I was like a little kid running into the house to show the kids and then Justin Saying the whole time"I did it! I did it! I got an egg!" I know I'm a dork! But its been a long road to get to this point! I got another one Monday morning so I think I have two that have started to lay, and I think its my Americans which lay blue green eggs which are so pretty. There little right now while they start out and should get a little bigger, you can tell in the picture with the brown egg(not mine) that mine are a little small! Still its so cool to go out and find little eggs in the nesting boxes, like little edible gifts they left you! And so with those little guys (I didn't want to eat them! Just keep them and look at them) I made crepes this morning for breakfast, filled with homemade blackberry jam and whipped cream. I was feeling inspired after watching the Movie Jule and Julia last night! Great movie by the way, if your a foodie and a blogger like me :) I had never made crepes actually, always wanted to, like them , think about them, so I went for it and tried it out! It takes a couple mess ups before you get a good one, but once you get the flipping down it wasn't that bad. I loved them, they kids thought they were ok, I would love to make some savory ones next. I don't think Justin will eat them though. Well ta ta for now! I have 4 loads of laundry to fold, 4 to wash, and 5 kids running around to day!