Food and Some Other Things

Monday

The yogurt came out awesome! The initial activation batch was only 1 cup, which I then strained overnight to make it greek-style-thick. In the end, I was left with about 1/4 cup thick yogurt and 1/4 cup whey. I mixed my meager helping of yogurt with the granola from last week and it was pretty good. {I saved the whey to use later.}

I already have a second batch of yogurt going. This time with more milk.

Making your own yogurt sure is a commitment. To ensure the culture stays healthy and active, you have to feed it at least once a week. {read: make another batch of yogurt}  

Sheesh. 

It's just like a kid...wanting to eat all the time.

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As usual, Monday was a major work/shipping day. I was able to get these orders sent out:

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For dinner I turned to Pinterest.

And it did not fail me!

I found this beautiful photo of Sauteed Garlic Lemon Pork Chops with Mushrooms and Onions from Savoring the Thyme.

But I don't much care for lemon with meat. 

{except the lemon chicken my step-mom makes...I love her cooking}

While I did have a lemon, I omitted it. 

Same goes for the chopped garlic. I was too lazy to mess with that stinkiness.

What I ended up using was a mismatch of leftovers.

It went-a-somethin-like-this:

splash of olive oil

dollop of homemade butter

4 boneless thin pork chops

liberal sprinklings of salt

less liberal sprinklings of pepper

1 dump of flour

liberal sprinkling of garlic powder

all the shriveled mushrooms from the fridge

leftover onion that was half fine chopped and half rough chopped

whey from the yogurt

&

cream cheese with chopped jalapenos from when we had hamburgers, which was extremely leftover and kind of dried out  {I snub my nose at ketchup and mustard nowadays and only want this on my hamburgers. ...that is, I outwardly snub at home....inwardly snub in public. I don't want to be rude.}

I followed the directions from the original recipe.

Verdict: Seth said it was good and I should make it again, but not make it a lot of the time.

Sounds like a winner to me! 

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Tuesday

Rowan and I made that kefir soda I talked about last week.

It didn't really work, but I had read that it can take a few batches before the carbonation occurs.

So we'll keep trying.

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Wednesday

Mon/Wed/Fri is Rowan's school schedule.

These are the days I tend to run errands and make orders for my shop.

So, I made a 'quick' trip to the grocery store (HEB). Since I was alone....gloriously alone to shop....I took my time and found some sales and read labels and sampled organic deli meat {yum!} and realized that I stupidly bought a 25lb bag of wheat berries when I could have just bought what I need from this store. 

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Although I was able to get a handful of orders shipped out on Monday, by Wednesday night I had that many more to do already! This is a very good thing. God is pretty awesome and He truly deserves the credit for my success. And He knows me so well....I've noticed that when I'm feeling a little burnt out on making flowers, that's when the orders ease back to the point that I have time to breath and catch up. And the times I'm all "Bring it ON!" He obliges and piles on the workload. 

With that said, today was another major workday. 

I finished these, plus some not shown:

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Thursday

The morning brought about an insane amount of toy purging. It felt sooooo good! And no, the kids know nothing about it. Nor do I think they will even notice the absence of those toys. 

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I spent some time outside painting stuff for an order and noticed this sunflower with the start of a bloom on it...later in the afternoon it had been knocked over.

I loath squirrels.

I also noticed that one of the amaryllis our neighbors gave us bloomed.

I need to plant them, but think I'll put one in a pot so we can enjoy it inside.

~~~

Thursday evening I finally got around to some things...like this basil and olive oil butter...which was in no way spreadable when cold like I thought it would be.

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After dinner Breck 'taught' us all how to play four-square in the driveway....with his own made up rules.

Then we came in for our evening snack!

{And Seth went right back to working...he has soooo much going on right now. Poor guy.}

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Friday & The Weekend

{sorry, no pictures}

Forget TGIF....I'm ready for TGISummer.

...just a little over a month to go...

Anywho.

I roasted a whole chicken on Friday night and it was one of my better meals.

{I say this not to be braggy....I'm usually an awful cook, so when I get it right, I like to share that information.}

I shoved all of that basil and olive oil butter under the skin....YUM!

Then I took all the leftover parts {including the gizzards!} as well as juices after roasting, stuck them in the crockpot overnight and the next day I had 6 wonderful pints of chicken stock.

I gave the kefir soda another go with some organic apple juice and much to my delight it worked!

There was carbonation! Hooray!!

The kids hated it.

It smelled like cider beer but tasted like fizzy apple juice.

Maybe I'll try again with grape juice. 

I also sprouted some wheat berries, dehydrated them, and ran them through my blender to make wonderful whole wheat flour.

The kids and I made brownies with it. 

...they were the worst brownies. Ever.

This was not a good weekend for healthy foods.

~~~

On Saturday we went to a birthday party for our neighbor's son who's Breck's age. There was cake and ice cream and fun and delicious brisket. 

And watermelon vodka drinks.

The kids slept great after a few of those!

{I kid, I kid...no minors consumed alcohol.}