4 of my Top Hearty Meals

Ham and Split Pea Soup

We started with the ham bone leftover from Christmas dinner at my mom's house.

Boiled for a few hours with spices (oregano, thyme, bay leaf, s n p)
and vegetables (onions, celery, carrots).

Removed the bone and added the remaining contents to a blender,
then returned to pot.

Added chopped leftover ham and simmered a few minutes more.

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Turkey and Dumplings

Saved leftover turkey from Thanksgiving and froze it.

Thawed the meat in the fridge and placed it in a casserole dish.

Added frozen veggies from the garden (peas and beans)

Prepare a can of cream of whatever soup (I used cream of broccoli).

I also used a whole can of milk and a 1/3 of a can of water...

evaporation almost destroyed my first attempt at this dish.

(sauce was waaaay too thick)

Added veggies thawed or frozen...doesn't really matter.

Pour soup over all of that mess!

Cook covered in oven at 350 for approx 30 mins...or until bubbly.

NOW...mix up the dumplings and roll into 8 or so 2" balls.

Uncover casserole dish and place dumplings evenly over the top of the soup mixture.

Cook uncovered for another 15 or so minutes until the dumplings are firm.

Topped with 7 pepper spice...for a kick!

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Pumpkin Soup

Roasted a pumpkin stored from the garden 

(a cheyenne bush pumpkin from Wendy Moreton of Hamilton!)

Scooped out the flesh and ran it through the food processor.

Simmered onions in a pot.

Added pumpkin mash, 6 cups of water, s n p and a hint of thyme.

In the last few minutes, add cream or milk (we added milk)

Topped with the last of the roasted pumpkin seeds 

(for added fibre...ok who am I kidding...it was for the crunch!)

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Giant Hashbrown with Chipotle Mayo

This is my NEW FAVORITE BREAKFAST!

Shred a whole potato into a bowl.
Squeeze out any moisture you can.
Add 1/2 a chopped onion and 1 egg.
Heat up a frying pan and grease it with oil or spray.
Once hot, spread the shredded potato mixture evenly around the pan.
Use a cutting board to help flip evenly.

Top with Chipotle mayo for a spicy way to start your day!

What you plant and why it matters...

So this year I broke down and bought a bag of pea seeds.

I normally just plant what we saved from last year.

This year the packaging seduced me.

The Heritage Seeds Co.

Brown paper bag shouting

"LINCOLN HOMESTEADER"

I couldn't help myself.

I note that normally I don't care what kind of stuff I plant.

But thanks to my new job growing organic vegetables at The Kitchen Garden...

I know it matters what you grow.

I'll show you the proof.

Above you'll see the pea on the left...is one grown from seed we saved.

The one on right is the Lincoln Homesteader.

I will forever use capitals and call them by their right name...

they are an amazing specimen of shelling pea.

The one on the left (ours) produced poorly and with only about 3-4 peas per pod.

The one on the right (Righteous Lincoln Homesteader) kept pumping out the peas for 5 weeks and produced a whopping 12-14 peas per pod!!!

NOTE:  They then produced a very healthy second blush of perfectly sweet peas in the middle of AUGUST!?!!

That means...

We have 2 large freezer bags stuffed full of peas for the winter.

Dang!

That's the most peas we've ever been able to store!!!

Thank you Heritage Seed Co.

Thank you Lincoln Homesteader.

PS.  We planted another beds of peas two weeks ago...I'll give you 3 guesses what kind...

Strawberries...quickest season ever...

Well that was fast!

hot dry May + hot wet June = Crappy Strawberry season 2015

We are fortunate that my husband gets the first two weeks of July off.

If we didn't have that opportunity...we wouldn't have gotten any strawberries this year.

Husband and son went to Fruition Berry Farm on hwy 15, north of Kingston.

They came home with a bunch of baskets.

(They even came home with new baskets!

Our old plastic white ones have lasted almost 10 years!)

They even came home with 5 pints of pre-picked raspberries.

The same equation up above applies to raspberries with one exception.

hot dry May + hot wet June = no picking after noon in July

The boys just missed it.

Thank goodness for pre-picked berries!!!

(and the staff that go in the hot field to pick them!)

We froze 4 large freezer bags of whole, cleaned strawberries

and one large freezer bag of whole, cleaned raspberries.

Perfect for smoothies!

We also jarred 8 jars of strawberry jam,

4 jars of raspberry jam and

1 jar of rasp-strawberry jam!

Perfect for the classic...PB & J.

Which is one of Owen's favorite breakfasts...

Since he can't eat them at school.

I heard mixed reviews about picking from other folks at other patches in our area.

Some had it good....others, not so much.

Did you get to go berry picking?

Where and how was it?

Cookbook Testing: Slow Cooker: 100 Tried and True Recipes

Following up on the post I did about slow cooker recipes.

A feature on one cookbook in particular.

Let me take you through a few of the recipes I've made so far...

Sausage and Bean Casserole pg 110

Substituted chick peas for white beans.

Hearty and savory.  A perfect weeknight meal.

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Spicy Chicken and Cheese Dip pg 44

Omitted the chicken.

I had to take something to a potluck dinner for the local Scout troop.

Add a bag of tostitos chips and you've got a party.

(Note:  this did not reheat well.)

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Beef Ragu with Tagliatelle pg 81

Omitted the red wine (it was Valentine's day. we drank it instead)

Substituted creamy tomato soup for the tomato paste.

A totally drool worthy meal for a couple or a crowd.

The leftovers reheat beautifully.

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Spicy Pulled Pork pg 73

Made the rolls myself.

Not so spicy...as the title claimed.

Add red pepper flakes when we reheated the meat and it was perfect!

I can see me making a ton of pulled pork this summer time.

The slow cooker plugged in on the deck.

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REVIEW:

A perfect addition to your shelf.

If you want slow cooker meals (both budget-friendly and easy to make),

this is the book for you.

If you want to expand your knowledge of what you think a slow cooker can do, 

this is the book for you.

If you just want some fun recipes for entertaining,

this is so the book for you.

Definitely a keeper!

PS.  Thanks to my awesome step mom Mary Elaine for gifting this cookbook!

Black Bean Recipe Roundup

I have talked before about Meat Free Mondays

and about substituting vegetarian meals into your weekly diet.

Not only are beans a healthy choice but they are packed with proteins and vitamins.

Did I also mention, canned or dried, beans are SUPER CHEAP!!!

(PS.  They even sell the Mr Goudas brand at  the Dollartree now...WIN!)

Just to help you out...

I have a black bean roundup for you!

I usually make a fried black bean dish that totally reminds Ches and I of being in Costa Rica.

Original black bean recipe,

Burritos and Southwest Soup:

Here

My newest recipe was adding the black bean recipe and serving it quesadilla-style.

Plain Greek yoghurt for the sour cream.

Chopped fresh tomatoes, grated local cheese, our home made salsa and some of last year's pickled jalapenos between two flour tortillas.  Place on side down in a frying pan with a bit of oil.

Fry one side and then flip to grill the other side.

Slice and serve while piping hot.

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Below is the roundup of more recipes I've already posted on the blog:

Burritos and Vegetarian Nachos

Here

A Creamy Black Bean Dip:

Here

Other Bean Recipes:

Here

A couple of Mean Bean Soup Recipes:

Here

Decorating on the Cheap...LAMP EDITION

It seems that spring time is the time for cleaning and decorating.

Every spring I seem to rearrange the house and make a few things.

Last year I made a few decorative pillows and they are my most pinned pin on Pinterest!

All I did was crochet some covers on top of some kid pillows...easy!

This year's project happened because I noticed a pile of lamps in my house.

Not just one or two...a PILE of LAMPS!?!?!

Who on earth has a pile of lamps?

Seriously...I had no idea.

They weren't just lamps here or there.

There was literally a pile of lamps in the basement.

I decided to spruce them up a bit!

 

I also had some fabric laying around.

A close family friend gave it to us when a relative of theirs passed away.

I had stock piled the fabric for curtains in the chicken coop.

The lamp I chose to start with was small and stained.

It used to live in my son's room...until he required a brighter light for reading.

All it took was a glue gun!

I glued the fabric to the shade and trimmed the excess fabric off.

It turned out so lovely!

Owen was so impressed he had to plug it in and try it out.

Not too shabby!

Actually I was so impressed with how it turned out...

I did it on another wayward lamp!

PERFECT!

What have you upcycled lately?

Slow Cooker Recipe Roundup

Slow cooker means convenient, set-it-and-forget-it meals.

Hot comfort food for the dead of winter.

Stick to your ribs...and coat your stomach.
Easy on the wallet when it comes to the ingredients.

But the slow cooker can be so much more...
so let me share with you some of my most recent slow cooker meals.

MEAT

A bunch of fridge and pantry staples can come together with meat in a slow cooker.

What comes out is an amazing meal!

The best part of slow cooking with meat is that the cuts that really benefit low and slow style cooking are generally on sale or are very resonablly priced.

Chicken thighs or legs.

Pork shoulders or ribs.

I have really broaded my tastes this year with slow cooked meat.

Check it out!

Honey Garlic Chicken and Rice

Sweetened with local wildflower honey, this dish was a hit with everyone...even Owen!

Super simple...like 4 ingredients...everybody wins.

Plus, you'll be immune to colds...and vampires.

Cashew Chicken and Rice

This dish rocks...with or without the cashews (you add them in at the end anyway).

We made this dish once and were so hungry, we forgot to add them!

Totally tasty both ways.

Hawaiian Chicken

Not just for thick winter meals!

Try plugging your slow cooker outside (not in direct sun).

I cooked this delicious meal on our deck!

It was a bright, tropical flavoured chicken dish...perfect!

Not only that, but it didn't heat up our kitchen.

BONUS!

Sticky Ribs  (from The Joy Of Cooking Cookbook)

Wash and pat down the ribs. 

Cut them up into manageable pieces. 

Toss into the slow cooker along with the following ingredients: 

10 oz beef broth, 

1/2 cup water, 

2 tbsp maple syrup (we used out own), 

2 tbsp local honey, 

3 tbsp soy sauce, 

2 tbsp bbq sauce or ketchup, 

1/2 tsp dry mustard. 

Cook on high for 6-8 hrs. 

I'm not even joking...the meat will fall off the bones!!! 

Served with yellow potato wedges, baked and a green salad with cubed Wilton Mozzarella cheese.

Pulled Pork Sliders

Made from the Slow Cooker cookbook I got at Christmas!

Wait for my post all about the other recipes I've made from this book.

Truly a keeper for the cookbook shelf!

Spicy Pork Carnitas

Not a real flavourful meat dish...but adding sweet chili sauce and avocados helped.

We also didn't have any flatbread...so I just whipped some up in the breadmaker.

Just as tasty!

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SOUPS

The slow cooker is still my go-to for soups...
So here are this years soup concoctions!

Green Lentil Bacon Soup

As seen in Shape Magazine's slow cooker roundup.

I used regular bacon from a local butcher rather than Canadian (peameal) bacon.

Harvest Veggie Chili with Quinoa

I made the veggie chili before and froze it.

Quick Veggie Chili

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 onion from the garden, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, pressed

1 green pepper, diced

1 cup corn from the garden

1 can red kidney beans, rinsed

cayenne pepper and chili powder to taste.

add ingredients to slow cooker and cook on low or 6-8 hrs.

When I reheated the chili, I added buttercup squash, cumin and turmeric.

Adding leftover pre-cooked quinoa added a hint of smokey or nutty flavour.

It also upped the protein of this vegetarian delight.

The spices are so warming...the veggies are totally fall.

Red Lentil and Veggie Soup

Another great vegetarian soup.

I made this soup so much that I memorized it.

It originated from a cookbook of recipes from developing countries.

From this cookbook, I got a hilarious story about "zom".

(if you ever get the chance, ask my mom or sister about it)

The other thing I got from the cookbook was this amazingly simple soup.

Red Lentil and Veggie Soup

1 cup red lentils, rinsed

4 cups vegetable broth

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 celery stalk, diced

1 onion from the garden, diced

1-2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp cumin

I adapted this recipe from pot to slow cooker.

Add ingredients to slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hrs.

Great on a cold winter night!

Chicken Tomato Soup

A slow cooker marvel! 

Adapted from this recipe here.

2 cans of diced tomatoes (or we used our frozen ones from the garden)

1 tsp Italian seasoning (homemade mixture)

1/2 tsp dried basil

1 cup home made chicken stock

2 chicken breasts

 Set on low for 6-8 hrs

Just before serving, take 2 forks and shred the chicken breasts. 

AMAZINGLY EASY! 

Served with mozzarella grilled cheese sammies

I just couldn't resist...

What are your favorite slow cooker recipes?

Seed Saving...Round 2

We have saved seeds before...

Last year we did tomatoes as well as white corn and broccoli seeds.

Tomato seeds, in my opinion, is only for the advanced seed saver!

(psst....its really gross)

We saved tomato seeds this year too.

Mainly because I really enjoyed the heritage Black Kris tomatoes we nabbed for free.

We also saved cantaloupe and honeydew melon seeds...as shown above.

The melons were purchased for a family event...so naturally we snagged the seeds. 

We are also trying our hand at radish seeds...which was really the result of forgetting to harvest them.

I think we have enough radish seeds now...each wee pod you see has at least 3-8 tiny seeds...

It is time consuming, but easily done while watching a movie on the couch.

Not too hard at all.

We chopped the heads off our Gigantius sunflowers...

not sure if these beauties will become winter feed for the chickens?

Or snacking for us...or for re planting next year?

Only time will tell....again, I think we have enough...

Butter crunch lettuce seeds?  Sure, why not?

One of the kinds of lettuce that came from our mesclun mix...

Yup...it's all good.

Added bonus of seed saving?

You can take them to a seed exchange and its like money!

You can exchange for any other seed you want!

AMAZING!

So if you are lax one week and some of your veg goes bolting on you (sends out flowers), don't fret!  

Get excited about what you can do with all of those seeds...

It is our goal to never buy seeds or plants again...sorry Burt's Greenhouses...

I'll always refer people to your business and your advice has been invaluable.

But we are DONE with seed buying!

(insert evil laugh here)

What were you able to save for next year?

Living on a Budget: Summertime fun!

Trying to keep kids active and engaged all summer long can be challenging.

Being unemployed makes it that much MORE challenging.

Thankfully, I am up to the challenge!!!

#20 Swim in a Lake

At first, our day went like this:

Breakfast, chores, lunch, beach.

Every day.  In that order.  Each and every day.

I'm not complaining about living in cottage country or 

complaining about living steps from a lake...

But it was time to spice things up a little!!!

We visited family.

True the gas still costs money...but the time spent with family will create memories that will last a lifetime.

Like trying to kid a bike without training wheels!

Thanks for the push Grampa!

#29 - Go to a Musuem

We also sought out free or nearly free things to do.

Like visiting the Railway museum in Brighton!

It was chock full of history about trains, the apple industry and the history of the area.

(I would highly recommend this stop...it was way better than I could have imagined)

#68 Get a Pet Rock turned into a pet rock village!

Then I did something that changed the course of our summer vacation...

I went to Pinterest and found a list of 101 Almost Free Things to do with your Kids this Summer!

Game changer indeed!

#82 Visit a National Park - and go #79 birdwatching while you are there!

We started checking off each activity on the list...with gusto!

#57 Magnify an ant

The magic list became our guide...not that we couldn't have come up with these activities on our own.

It was better to have a ridiculously huge list that we could consult each day

We didn't always follow the list word for word...more to gain inspiration.

#11 Fly a kite

We started to discover piles of lost stuff in our house!

We had 7 kites....just waiting to be used...turns out only 2 worked!

Clean up house AND having fun outside?  WIN WIN!

#31 Blow Bubbles

Even blowing bubbles was still hours of fun for a 7 yr old.

#18 Go on a Scavenger Hunt

Another Pinterest win was the blogger 4tunate.net

Here is a mom of quadruplet boys...so I figured she had this boy entertainment thing down.

I will probably redo the scavenger hunt list with pictures and 

stuff from around our area, but this list was a great start.

#1 Go for a Hike

And because sometimes you just need to get off the road of life and go for a ramble in the woods!

Boys do love their backpacks...

Using up old experiments...making crystals!

Another thing we started up was day of the week activities.

Monday:  Nature day

Tuesday:  Craft day

Wednesday:  Cooking day

Thursday:  Adventure day

Friday:  Experiment day

Experiment day came out of all of those experiments for kids kits just sitting in Owen's closet.

Get those puzzles, board games or science projects out, dust em off and have fun!

(Additional win:  if your child has truly outgrown these things...you can get rid of them guilt free)

BONUS:  Owen learned about stuff and didn't even realize it.

#23 Go on a Picnic

Then there are the simple things in life...like a picnic under a tree.

We didn't even have to go far (you can see our house in behind Owen).

We munched our lunch, listened to birds, then had a tickle fight on the picnic blanket.

Ahhh...these dog days of summer could last forever...

Additional things that didn't get photos:

#12 have a slumber party - Owen's friend got homesick and had to go home at 9pm

#14 make cookies - eaten too fast to get photos...

#8 water gun fight - because water and cellphones/cameras don't mix

#25 have a pillow fight - because pillow projectiles and cellphones/cameras also don't mix

#53 start a garden - not included here - see all previous posts...

What are some of your crafty ideas for having fun with kids on the cheap???