To Have a Dishwasher Or Not To....

Not quite 2 weeks ago, my dishwasher went kaput. Then a very strange thing happened. I realized that I really didn't miss it. Yes, I now wash dishes several times a day but it doesn't really bother me. Each morning while I make breakfast, I fill the sink with hot soapy water. As I cook, dirty stuff goes into the sink. When we finish eating, I wash everything and leave it in the strainer to dry. I HATE drying dishes! At lunch and dinner, I do the same thing. If it happens to be a major cooking day, I will do an extra sinkful of dishes between lunch and dinner. Since the twins are responsible for nightly dish duty, this hasn't really bothered them. They always had to wash the pots and pans before so now there are just some plates, cups and forks added to it. They haven't complained a bit. Want to know who is in a real hurry to get a new one? Hubby! And he doesn't even do dishes! He says that we need one because we may have to run a sanitized load if someone gets sick. Hmmmm. Whatever did people do before there were dishwashers to sanitize their dishes?????

Anyway, just to humor him, I went to Home Depot and looked at the dishwashers. Who is it that decided that a kitchen machine that has just ONE function should cost approximately both arms and a leg??? No kidding, $600 for the cheaper ones and $800 and up for the better ones! WHY?? It is not like manufacturers are building them to last because a new one will konk out after 4-6 years. You know, that kind of money will keep me in sponges and dish detergent (the organic ones at that!) FOREVER!!!

Now, if I can just get hubby to agree....

So, what do you prefer. Good ole hand washing or the easy no mess dishwasher?

Designed Healthy Living

While I was browsing over at Growing Home, Jacinda did a post on Designed Healthy Living. I checked them out and was amazed at what I found. So amazed that I ended up ordering a cookbook and nutrition manual. The whole purpose is to show people how to eat and live in a healthy, biblical way. Honestly, is there any other way that we Christians should be living????? Ok, I know I should be living and eating that way but I get lazy. We all do. That's why God gives us His grace so freely. Pretty cool, right? So hop on over and check them out. Let me know what you think!
I will do a review of the books I ordered as soon as I get them.

Fan-dang-tastic Pancakes

Lately, it has been hard to impress me in the recipe department. I tend to pick apart recipes and "improve" them. This recipe needs no improvement...unless I could get someone to actually cook them for me. Now THAT would be an improvement!

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 C. Flour (I used Soft White Wheat)
2 Tbsp. Sugar (I used Sucanat)
2 Tbsp. Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1 1/4- 1 1/2 C. Milk
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp. Vanilla
2 Tbsp. Coconut Oil

Whisk up all ingredients until combined and cook as you normally do pancakes. You will notice that the baking powder goes to work right away. These pancakes are light and airy and delish! So delish that we ate them before I got any pictures of them. I wish I could remember where I saw this recipe because this person needs the recognition but, alas, I cannot for the life of me remember. If you see this and it is your recipe, thank you, thank you, thank you.....

Being shared at Frugally Sustainable

Spring-y Apron

I have never really been an apron kind of girl until I started all my cooking from scratch. Now I can appreciate the importance of using an apron to protect my wardrobe. I can be a messy cook sometimes!
Here is a cute little apron that I sewed up in just a few hours. I am NOT an experienced seamstress so these things take me much longer than someone who actually knows what they are doing. This project was pretty easy for the novice like me.
Instuctions can be found here.

This is my finished piece modeled by my lovely daughter in her Aristocats PJ's!

This was seriously easy to do and you can change it up for different occasions by using different hand towels and fabric. The only change I would make to the apron is that I would make the fabric skirt part wider so that when it is gathered up and sown to the towel it is a bit more ruched. I am sure that is a word but not sure I spelled it right!
I plan on taking this apron to our UMW planning meeting for ideas for our Breakfast With Santa gift shop. This will be the first time I actually made something to sell in our gift shop. Yay me!

Being shared at Frugally Sustainable

Spiced Peach Jam

I went to the farmers market Saturday and wouldn't you know, the peach guy was there. I have been enjoying this guy's peaches since we moved to Georgia. They are DIVINE!!! I bought 2 ginormous baskets of them and have been in peach heaven all weekend! Last night I made Spiced Peach Jam. I got the recipe from The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest by Carol W. Costenbader. It is chock full of wonderful recipes.
 It took me about 4 hours, start to finish, only because I was texting my cousin the whole time getting all the juicy family gossip. Now my phone is sticky from my peachy fingers all over it :)
So here is what I did....
This recipe calls for the following amounts but I doubled it because I have A LOT of peaches to use up.

 4lbs. Peaches, peeled, pitted and chopped
5 Cups Sugar
2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
1/2 Tsp. Ground Nutmeg
1/8 Tsp. Ground Cinnamon

Put all ingredients in a large heavy stockpot and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly to dissolve sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and boil until it reaches 220 degrees. Be careful, because this stuff will foam.

 Ladle into hot, sterile jars (you already prepared these right???) leaving 1/4" headspace.
Wipe, cap and seal. Process for 15 minutes in a water bath canner. Take out jars and let sit on a towel on the counter until cool. Check that all jars sealed. Voila!

I can't wait to dig into these!!!!  Some upcoming recipes (hopefully) will be peach chutney, canned peaches and peach pie filling...Seriously, I am DROOLING thinking about all this peachy goodness!

Being shared at The Prairie Homestead Blog Hop and Growing Home and Frugally Sustainable

Goodbye Precious...

Farm living has its ups and downs and yesterday was definitely a downer. Awhile back I introduced you to Blind Chicken aka Precious.

She was of the breed Cherry Egger. She was a very sweet lil chicken, she just couldn't see. Over the last week, I noticed that she was having trouble finding her way down the ramp of the coop so each morning I would pick her up out of the coop and put her on the ground so she could join her sisters and have breakfast. Then, a few days later, I noticed that she wasn't eating or drinking so, thinking that she was having trouble finding the food and water, I tried to feed her by hand. She wasn't having any of it so I took her to the waterer and she refused to drink. I also noticed how her comb had shriveled up and was almost nonexistant. She looked nothing like she did in the picture above. I was hoping that if I just left her alone for the day, she would perk up, but I knew it was a matter of time. My son was out cleaning the chicken coop that afternoon and he said he thought she was dead. I went out and she was lying right where she had been all morning. Her head was on the ground and her feet out behind her so I was quite surprised when I picked her up and she lifted her head up. However, it was one of her last movements. I couldn't bear her fading anymore slowly so hubby came out and "took care of it". I absolutely HATE this aspect of farm life. It would have been different if we had raised her to be butchered and eaten. At least I would have known that she had a spectacular life right up until the end. The thought that she may have been suffering for up to a week just kills me. Needless to say, I will NOT be buying anymore of this particular breed. Of the 5 we bought, 3 have died. The first one died after 3 days, the second a few months later and now Precious a year later. There were no wounds on any of them and the deaths were unexplainable. Live and learn I guess. I am quite happy with the hardiness of the Buff Orpingtons and Americaunas. Very healthy, happy chickens. They are "quite robust" if you know what I mean!

Anyhow, we are still having some internet connectivity issues. Narrowed it down to the wireless router. We will be replacing it soon so the posts may or may not get done in a timely fashion. Thanks for sticking with me!

We are having all kinds of internet issues. Darn satellite internet!!! I will be back to posting as soon as they are resolved. Thanks for sticking with me!