Monthly Archives: June 2009

Why Crocs Don’t Belong on a Farm

June 9, 2009

800px-pink_crocs_1001349I may be the only one in the world who doesn’t like crocs.

I’ve watched this fad from a distance for awhile now and I am still not impressed.   Do I really want to wear clunky plastic shoes in bright neon colors?

I think not.

Or … at least I thought not.

Until…I found a pair for a quarter at a garage sale a few weeks ago. They were even my size.

So I bought them.

Now I know why I don’t like crocs.

The next day I wore them out in the garden and ended up with filthy feet because of  all the dirt that fell through the holes in the shoes.

I wore them out to the mailbox in the rain and ended up with soaked and slimy feet as the water poured right in those same holes.

But the final straw was this afternoon. I slipped them on to run out to the hen house for an egg. All was fine until I headed back to the house.

I suddenly noticed that something was gooey in my left shoe.

It was not only gooey – but it smelled quite nasty.

A nice sized chuck of chicken manure had slipped right in one of those holes as I gathered eggs and was now smashed all over the bottom of my foot.

I don’t like crocs.

By Country Gal | Posted in Rural Realities | Tagged , | Comments (4)

Confederate Army Soup

June 6, 2009

800px-quinze_jours_de_campagne_-_041

This recipe is taken from a very old cookbook and was supposedly made at general Pickett’s headquarters by a Lieutenant Colonel S.G. Leitch.

Confederate Army Soup

1 ham bone
1 beef bone
1 pod pepper
1 pint black-eyed peas

Boil in a mess kettle in 2 gallons salted water. Splendid soup for a wet day.

Makes my appreciate my kitchen appliances and nice home!

By Country Gal | Posted in Cooking and Food | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

The Great Bunny Wars

June 4, 2009

Let me start here by saying that I like bunnies.

I think that bunnies are cute. They’re soft and very lovable. I have nothing against bunnies in general.

Except when they are in my garden!

They destroyed 2 rows of baby green bean plants and 2 rows of tiny peas before we discovered that they could get inside.

Now I’m not naive – we have the garden well fenced. We actually have TWO fences around it – but still – we watched those cute little varmints wriggle right through.

This means war.

My husband and sons added yet another fence around the already heavily fortressed garden. This time a bright orange snow fence with very small holes.

Now this is not exactly the landscape decor I was going for – but desperate times call for desperate measures!

All we need now is barbed wire across the top and machine guns at every corner…

Or maybe a moat around it filled with crocodiles…

Or armed sentries patrolling the ground…

By Country Gal | Posted in Critters, Gardening | Tagged , , | Comment (1)

Nestle Chocolatier

June 3, 2009

Nestle Chocolatier I’ve discovered a new favorite! Nestle Chocolatier Dark Chocolate baking bar.

As I’ve gotten older, my tastes have turned to darker and darker chocolate,  so I grabbed  a bar of this Nestle dark chocolate to experiment with.

I loved it! To be honest, I could have eaten the whole thing like a candy bar!

So I went back and got more.

We used some in cookies, melted some for brownies and added some to banana muffins, and all worked very well.

And yes – we have eaten it like candy!

The Nestle Chocolatier Dark Chocolate baking bar has definitely earned the Chocolate Lady Official Seal of Approval!

Enjoy!

By Country Gal | Posted in Chocolate, Cooking and Food | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Waste Not, Want Not – Spaghetti

June 2, 2009

spaghettiMy youngest sister and her 6 kiddos- aged 13 to 3 – were here for some very fun-filled days recently.

Having that many extra bodies around made for a full house and a full table at meal times!

Every meal became an adventure as we tried to figure out how much food we needed to make to fill those hungry bellies.

Some meals we nailed – others meals we didn’t!

One meal we overshot was spaghetti. We ended up with an entire ice cream bucket full of left-over noodles!

I determined it would not go to waste. So as soon as our guests left, I started to plan.

Meal #1 Ham Alfredo (with spaghetti noodles)

I made a simple Alfredo sauce, added diced ham (left-over from another meal) and tossed in left-over spaghetti noodles just before serving. Delicious.

Meal #2 Spaghetti Pie

I took some of the left-over spaghetti and mixed it with a beaten egg, some melted butter (at east 1/4 cup but could have added more) and at least 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese.

I layered this in the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 pan.

A nice layer of cottage cheese was put over the noodles, followed by a thick layer of spaghetti sauce.

Then I added browned meat – I used sausage but could have used hamburger, venison, ham, or even pepperoni. The finally layer was cheese – a nice coating of mozzarella and a generous sprinkle of Parmesan.

This could be baked right away at 350 degrees for about 35-40 minutes, or refrigerated for use within 24 hours, or frozen to be used within a week or two.

I actually froze this one and served it to more company a week later. It got rave reviews!

Meal #3 Hot Buttered Noodles and Grilled Hamburgers

I put the rest of the spaghetti in boiling water for just a few seconds to reheat it, then drained it, added melted butter, Parmesan cheese and a touch of garlic and served it as a side dish with grilled burgers and a green salad.

So with a little creative the mistake became the backbone for 3 more meals.

And nothing went ot waste -whew!

By Country Gal | Posted in Cooking and Food, Main Dishes, Thrifty Ideas | Tagged , , , | Comment (1)