Backyard Farmgals

Everyday this little munchkin and I have the same conversation, it goes like this: Me: What do you want for lunch? Munchkin: Noodles. Me: You had noodles yesterday, what else can I make you? Munchkin: Noodles. Me: How about a sandwich? Munchkin: Noodles (long pause of thoughtful silence)... with butter. On and on it goes until I can change his mind or I give in and do the mom walk of shame to find noodles.  With so much demand for noodles over the years, I have learned to up the ante so to speak.  I have been spiking his noodle bowl with whole grains, seeds, and oodles of veggies, so much that I don't mind joining in the noodle mania every now and then. There really is no recipe that I follow.  Into the skillet goes a little dab of butter along with whatever veggies happen to be residing in the fridge that day.  I love green zucchini and broccoli, and mushrooms are always good.  A few cherry tomatoes and some herbs go a long way.  Ther...

You all know by now that I have a seriously (un)healthy addiction to succulents.  I love their fat little leaves and stems.  I love how they hold onto water and find a way to thrive where it would seem impossible.  I especially love their texture... it is scrumptious!  They make me happy.  I recently re-potted my succulent pot in my kitchen and thought I would give you all a little eye candy to drool at. I approached this planting with a go big or go home attitude.  I used 4-inch plants instead of the usual 2-inch ones that I love.  I was going for big texture and big effect, and it worked, even in my skinny succulent pot that I love so much.  This planting was more about gracefully crowding the pot.  Succulents don't grow quickly, so crowding isn't really a huge problem.  I got into some height with the planting as well, which was fun and unexpected. But enough words... you get the idea!  

I [heart] Valentine's Day.  It's one extra chance to tell everyone that I love exactly how much I love them.  I have been busy getting my Valentine's ready for my little farmhands, my cute hubby, and my mama (because I love my mama too) and I thought I would share them with you.  They are the best combination of dirt and love... This year I thought I would get a little crafty.  I haven't been working nearly as much as I usually do, and it has given me some time to get my creative juices flowing again.  When I am busy or stressed, my creativity seems to be the first thing to go.  I recently read that when you are healthy, your creativity flows in what ever form of creativity you have.  Mine is with paper, fabric, and soil.  I love texture, things that my fingers get sensation from.  I have been feeling really creative since Christmas, so I must be bursting with health, right?!? I searched the internet for drawings and woodblo...

I love rice.  We eat a lot of it at our house and my boys love it.  Since they were very small, they have been brown and wild rice eaters.  One challenge with rice is to not let it get boring.  Having rice the same way often can make it become bland and too familiar.  I mix different rices together to make new flavors.  I love long red rice mixed in with a short grain brown rice.  The red rice makes it nutty and yummy.  We sample all types, jasmine rice, sticky rice, forbidden rice, jade rice, and all kinds of wild rices.  I especially love heirloom rices, they have such interesting flavors. The other way to keep things interesting is to mix up seasonings and flavors.  I love rice that has been cooked and then mixed with freshly grated ginger, garlic, and Bragg's Amino Acids (or you could use soy sauce).  I use a lot of different herbs like dill and fennel when I serve rice cold with chopped vegetables.  Let's not forg...

I made these last fall, when we had way too many apples and not enough time to eat them all, but you can easily make them now. I love having these in the pantry and freezer, they are a pretty healthy go-to snack that really cost almost nothing to make. My farmhands gobble them up after school or on hikes or while snowshoeing. They fill you up too. These are sprinkled with very little cinnamon-sugar and then dehydrated. They are really easy to make; they need a little prep and then a whole lotta ignore time on the dehydrator. If you don't have a dehydrator, you can do this in the oven on cookie sheets covered with parchment. Just pop them in the oven at 200ºF and turn them every so often until they are as crispy as you like. I like mine really crispy, but my kiddos like them a little soft, so I do a little of each. Ingredients: Apples, whatever type you like Large bowl full of water Lemon juice from 1 lemon Cinnamon sugar Slice and core the apples. You can use a m...

I lived in Taiwan as a little girl, I don't remember everything about the place, but some things never have left my memory.  The smell of the place, the Buddhist monks chanting and walking up the street the night we got there, my friends, Chinese New Year, and the flavors.  Taiwan is where my taste buds became adventurous.  I tasted everything.  I had my first sip of wine, tasted my first caviar (which I loved and still do), and developed a palate that was traveled and a bit sophisticated for a child my age. One thing I can't shake is the smell of beef noodle soup at The American Club.  My parents used to gobble the stuff, bowl after bowl.  There was a very distinctive smell and flavor to it.  My mother recently came to me begging for me to find a way to make it.  She had lived without it for thirty years and she literally couldn't go one more day without it.  Funny what we will do for a flavor that is attached to memory. So I s...

I had this crazy idea.  For a minute, while looking at my little farmhands this morning, I thought that maybe I should be writing down all of the things I love about them.  I write in a journal about once a week, but I forget all of the little things they do each day that melt my heart.  So, I grabbed a couple of empty notebooks, some craft paper, sticky glue dots, ribbon and a marker and got to work. In about a half hour I had two cute little notebooks that I can fill with all of those little things that I love about both of them everyday.  Between sips of morning tea, I wrote a little note to each of them in the front of the journal explaining why I felt like I needed to do this for them.  One day I hope they will get a good belly laugh or, even better, they will know how much I love them.  What better gift to give your children than love? I jotted down something that I loved about them.  It doesn't have to be long, just a quick little sen...