What's in the Box Wednesday?

Ever wonder how much water you use in the mornings?  Well, it's a lot.  We woke up to no water.  Apparently there's a sinkhole in front of one of my neighbor's driveway and a water line busted.  Yay.  Thank goodness I had some bottled water left over from soccer season.  So far, I've gone through around 5 bottles.  And that's just getting the lunches ready, washing the fruits and veggies, getting the animals and kids water, washing hands, etc.  I hope it's fixed soon, but from the looks of things outside, I'm not holding my breath.  The things we take for granted!  Today Addie's lunch, pictured above, has a hard-boiled egg in the shape of a bear face, edamame, kiwi berries, raspberries, pepper jack almond Nut-Thins, and chocolate covered pomegranate arils.  I used a mold for the egg, which you can find here at Amazon.  It's so easy to do and the girls think they are cute.  Just peel the egg while it's still hot, place it directly in the mold, and keep in the frig overnight.  The kiwi berries are something new for us.  Addie loves kiwi, and Mike found these at Sam's.  They taste just like kiwi, but they're bite-size and don't require any peeling.  I found the pomegranate arils in the bulk bin at ONF.  Addie says they are delicious!

Caroline's lunch has a bunny hard-boiled egg, shelled edamame, raspberries, Annie's organic cheddar bunnies, and a Bequet cinnamon swirl caramel also from the bulk bins at ONF. These are so good!  They are handmade in Montana and come in yummy flavors like butterscotch, celtic sea salt, chocolate, soft caramel, and several other flavors.  I even tried the Chipotle.  Well, have a great day!  I'm going to see how long it takes until I try to turn the faucet on again. 

Harvest Stew

It's October, and that always puts me in the mood for stew, soup, and chili.  I've been using this recipe for 15 years, and I still get an "Mmm, I love this stuff!" when Mike comes home and finds it on the stove.  The recipe is adapted from of all places, a cookbook called Jenny Craig's No Diet Required.  And it definitely does not taste like "Diet".  It tastes like Fall.  Enjoy!

Harvest Stew

1 1/2 pounds top round steak, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
Cooking Spray
2 (13.75 oz) cans low sodium beef broth
2 bay leaves
1 (14.5 oz) can no salt added whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1 1/2 cups peeled cubed sweet potato
1 cup peeled, cubed butternut squash
1 cup peeled, cubed red potato
2 tsp beef flavored bouillon granules
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/4 cup water
3 tbls all-purpose flour

1.  Cook first 4 ingredients in a Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium heat until steak is browned, stirring often.  Drain.

2.  Return steak mixture to Dutch oven.  Add broth, bay leaves, and tomato.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour or until meat is tender.  Stir in sweet potato and next 6 ingredients.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer 55 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove and discard bay leaves.

3.  Combine water and flour, stirring well.  Add to beef mixture, cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened.  Yields 6 (1 1/2 cup) servings.

Moms on the Farm

Yesterday I was so excited to participate in Moms on the Farm.  Thanks for the heads up nwamotherlode.com!  The Animal Science Department at the University of Arkansas invited local Moms on a "field trip" to visit a local dairy farm, beef farm, and back to campus for a cooking demo with the Arkansas Cattlewomen.  The goal was to educate us non-ag Moms on where our food comes from and how it's produced.  Cooking and serving healthy and delicious foods to my family is important to me, so this was right up my alley.  The first stop was the Triple A Dairy Farm in Centerton.  Susan Anglin and her husband Ryan, a 3rd generation dairy farmer, run this farm.  A lot of planning and hard work go into keeping a dairy going!  They are generally milking around 240 cows twice a day as well as caring for baby calves and "dry cows", those expecting babies.  Susan takes care of the babies, feeding them and monitoring them for illness.  She said her nursing background has come in handy during her 28 years on the farm!  They monitor all of their animals closely and do use antibiotics if needed, but sometimes they are able to solve health issues other ways, by using electrolytes, for example.  However, she wanted us to be very clear that antibiotics are not in the US milk supply!  It's illegal.  The milk is tested numerous times, both on the farm and at the processing dairy, in this case Hiland in Fayetteville.  If it has traces of antibiotics, it's not used.  Susan told us that milk is the most highly regulated and safe food you can buy.  The main thing Susan wanted us to take away is that they love their farm and the animals and they want to provide the healthiest, quality product they can.  And I believe it!  She was very passionate as she spoke about her everyday life on the farm.  To read more about her adventures in farming, go here. Take a look at these photos.

Susan tells us about caring for baby calves

They just wanted to lick you!

Ladies in waiting.  These cows will have babies soon.

Can it get any cuter?

Farm dogs

The maternity barn where they take cows if they need a little help giving birth.

The commodity barn where they store feed.

The milk tank

This cow is getting some relief. :)

We had lunch while riding on the tour bus to the next stop, Hedge Farms in Lincoln.  This beef farm is owned by Marsha Hedge.  I left there so inspired!  Martha's husband was killed in an accident 13 years ago.  She loved the lifestyle, so she continued on with the farm along with her two young daughters.  She did what she had to do to keep the farm going, learning to bale hay, fix tractors, and still be at the house when her girls got home from school.  Like Susan, Marsha was very passionate as she talked about her life on the farm.  She loves the land and the cattle and wants to ensure they are happy and healthy and produce a good product.  Here are some scenes from her farm.

Marsha talking about what it takes to run a beef farm.

Isn't it beautiful?

Patiently waiting in a pen for our safety

Both women talked about how the economy and recent drought conditions have severely affected US farmers.  Many small farmers are being forced out of business and the rest are struggling.  Something Susan said really hit me.  She wanted us to remember that decisions made at home and behind desks really affect farmers.  Think about it.  Like the first picture says, NO FARMS-NO FOOD!

Our tour ended back on campus in the Home Ec lab.  The Arkansas Cattlewomen setup several stations with recipes and ingredients for us to cook.  I didn't get to stay and finish my dish because I had to be home for the girls after school.  But, I decided to make it for dinner!  It got a thumbs up from the family.  I can't wait to try some of the beef recipes we received as well.

Cooking in the Home Ec Lab

Some of our ingredients

My finished dish at home

This was such a great experience!  It was wonderful to learn we have local farmers committed to their way of life while looking out for us by producing safe and healthy products.  Thank a farmer today!

Apple Chicken Stir Fry

1 lb cubed boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/2 cup onion, vertically sliced
1 3/4 cups carrots, thinly sliced
1 1/2 tsps vegetable oil
1 tsp dried basil
1 cup fresh or frozen sugar snap peas
1 tbl water
1 medium baking apple, cored and thinly sliced
1 tbl oil
2 cups cooked brown rice

Stir fry cubed chicken in 1 tbl vegetable oil in nonstick skillet until lightly browned and cooked.  Remove from skillet.

Stir fry onion, carrots, and basil in oil in same skillet until carrots are tender.  Stir in pea pods and water.  Stir fry 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in apple.  Add to chicken.

Serve hot over cooked rice.

Thanks so much to these sponsors for making this trip happen!

Scenes from the Weekend

The colder temps put us in the mood for Halloween I guess.  The girls and I made this cute ghost garland for the mantle.  Find the instructions here.  I like browsing Wendolonia for lunchbox ideas also.  I bought 3 yards of 36 inch wide muslin and we made 12 ghosts.

 We also found these cute batty window clings while shopping for the muslin at JoAnn's.

And here's my silly girl and her silly glasses.

That's all for today.  I'm off on a Moms on the Farm field trip sponsored by the University of Arkansas ending with a cooking demo by Arkansas Cattlewomen!  More on that later...

Chicken Soup for the Soul and the Sick

There wasn't a What's in the Box Wednesday this week because I've been sick. :(  The kiddos ate school food yesterday, which they like to do occasionally anyway.  Especially Addie, since there are so many more choices at Middle school with the salad bar and extra food line.  I'd felt something coming on for several days.  I don't suffer from allergies usually, so I'm not sure what's going on.  I'm thinking maybe the Flu Mist got me??  I usually get the shot, but my Dr. talked me into the mist a couple of weeks ago at my well check.  Yesterday was the worst.  Today I'm feeling a little better.  On Tuesday, I ran out of Puffs, and I had to drag myself to the store anyway, so I picked up a Rotisserie chicken to make some semi-scratch chicken soup.  I kinda just threw a bunch of stuff together on this one (you'll be proud Mom), and I thought it turned out pretty good.  I had some homemade chicken stock in the freezer that I used for part of the liquid.  It was a very rich, dark stock, so making the rest up with water worked just fine.  If you use store-bought stock or broth, you might use more.  The seasoning amounts are a guideline.  You can season to taste.

Semi-Scratch Chicken Soup

1 rotisserie chicken
2 cups chicken stock
14 cups water
4 small red potatoes, peeled and diced
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
8 oz whole wheat macaroni, or whatever rice or pasta you like, this is what I had in the pantry
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp Emeril's Original Essence
2 tsp Kosher Salt
1 tsp black pepper

Skin the chicken, set aside the wings and legs.  Dice up the rest of the meat. The girls wanted to eat the legs separately.  Put the stock, water, wings, and skin in a large stockpot and bring to a boil.  Add  the vegetables, meat,  bay leaves, thyme, and Emeril's seasoning.  Simmer at least 30 minutes.  I started mine around 2:45 and just left it simmering on the stove until dinnertime.  About 20 minutes before you're ready to eat, remove the wings, skin, and bay leaves.  Add the macaroni and cook until done.  Then season to taste with the salt and pepper.  We enjoyed it with crusty bread and butter.

And here's just a random picture I'm throwing in because I thought Addie looked so cute. She's standing just inside my office door.  She gets home from school earlier than Caroline and she usually comes straight to my office to give me a run-down of the days events.  Good and bad.  Sometimes barely taking a breath! I have to really pay attention.  I'm glad she likes to tell me what's going on. :)

Fun Target Finds

Caroline and I did a little shopping at Target while Addie was at Dance class yesterday.  They had these Leopard flats on sale for $12.  The lady in front of me at check-out was wearing red skinnies, a chambray shirt, and leopard flats.  I may be stealing that outfit idea!  One strange thing about these shoes is they run extremely small.  I wear a 7 or 7 1/2 and I had to get a 9.

Caroline wanted to look around in the Halloween section and I was very happy to find these Organic Clif Kid bars.  I buy these sometimes anyway and these are party sized so they make great after school or lunchbox snacks.  I tried one and they are yummy.  They came in a brownie flavor as well.  Also in the Halloween section was a big box of individual serving sizes of Pirate's Booty and Annie's bunny grahams.  I didn't get them yesterday, but I think I will go back and pick some up.

And obviously, this was not from Target, but the backpack.  She taped it to the coffee table. It made me laugh. :)

Bye Bye Biggest Loser

 

 

I'm in mourning.  As of today, The Biggest Loser is no longer on Netflix.  I started watching it from Season 1 several months ago, and I love it!  It is so inspiring, but it's gone now.  I noticed last week that they added "Available until October 1" and I freaked out.  I was only on Season 8!  I was trying to catch up and be ready for January when the new season premieres.  Oh well.  We don't have cable, satellite, or DVR anymore, so we generally watch only Netflix.  I also enjoyed watching it while on the treadmill at the gym.  But no more....okay, I'm done whining.  How was your weekend?  We got an unexpected free Saturday because Caroline's soccer game was "rained out".  Yeah....there was no rain....not sure what was up with that Parks and Rec.  So we went shopping at the mall for awhile.  It was also Chippers last regular season games at Turner field, so I watched a little of that with Mike (he buys the MLB subscription each year and we watch on Boxee).  I'm so glad they've made it to the playoffs! Chipper's retirement is making us feel really old.  He's been playing about the same amount of time as we've been married, and he's around the same age.  Time flies.  Sunday, we went to church, and then on a walk on the new Meadow Valley Trail.  Caroline still had on her church clothes. :)

I was pretty burned out on cooking, yep it happens, so Mike made these yummy burgers for dinner.  Addie thought they were so funny because they were so tall.

Then we settled in and watched The Season 8 finale of The Biggest Loser.  I thought it was quite amusing that while everyone else out in TV land was watching all the new Fall premieres, we were watching a 2 year old season finale.  Ha.  I took this cute picture of the pets relaxing together while we watched TV.  See, dogs and cats do get along!