Delicious Dutch-Oven Dishes (Dish #1)

Well, just mosey on over to our campfire to enjoy some fresh grub! To start out the season we made Byron’s Dutch Oven Potatoes. Thanks to Mr. Byron Bills for his expertise and generosity in sharing tips and recipes. These “taters” come drenched in a sauce of sour cream, two kinds of soup and fried up onions, mushrooms and bacon (plus a couple of other ingredients-check the link for more info.) We’re mighty pleased that people are willing to share their delicious recipes so that we can all enjoy some good old-fashioned outdoor cookin’.

Another plus to our new found joy in cooking in a dutch oven is that once your oven has been properly seasoned it’s a breeze to clean. See those baked on bits of dutch oven potato in the picture? Do you need some heavy duty detergent and steel wool to clean that mess? No sireee! No Soap Needed! I just filled that oven with hot water for about 5 minutes & then wiped it out in less than a minute using a gentle scrubber. Look for more Delicious Dutch-oven Dishes in future posts.

April Co-op

Half-Share $13
2 pkgs. Cornish Game Hens
1 pkg. (1 lb.) lean ground beef
3 tomatoes
2 ruby red grapefruits
4 kiwis
4 pears
1 bunch of red leaf lettuce
1 avocado
1 bag of potatoes (5 lb)
1 bag of rice (1 lb)
1 loaf of Stone Ground's Wheat Bread

For more info go to the food co-op site.

Pies, Pies, Pies

Although there is dispute about the origin of pie (some say the Egyptians started pie while the Greeks started pie pastry), these flaky delights can be filled with either savory or sweet fillings (sometimes both-as with mincemeat!) We engaged in some pie making of our own and made two Caramel Pecan Pies and a Cherry White Chocolate Mousse Pie. Thanks to the Taste of Home magazines for the recipes. Thanks also to Linda Stradley from the What’s Cooking America website for the historical information.

Carmel Pecan Pie:

37 caramels (used Kraft caramels)
¼ cup water
¼ cup butter, cut into small chunks

Melt above ingredients in a small pan over low heat, stirring constantly and watch closely so mixture doesn’t burn. Remove from heat and let cool a bit while doing the next step.

3 eggs
¾ c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

Beat above ingredients until smooth then add to the caramel mixture.

1 1/3 cups toasted chopped pecans

Add to the mixture and stir well. Pour mixture into:
1 unbaked deep-dish pastry shell (9 inches) Top the filling with pecan halves if desires and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees or until filling is set. Cool on a wire rack and refrigerate leftovers.

The pies were both good and we finished off the pecan pies the next day. (The one on the left had a gluten free crust and the one in the center was a frozen pie crust. The Cherry White Chocolate Mousse Pie had an oreo cookie crust.)

Rolls from Pampered Chef

I'm use to making rolls from scratch but we made rolls from a mix tonight.

We received a box of Pizza Crust & Roll Mix from Pampered Chef when we bought a small basket of goodies from the school fundraiser.

The rolls on the left were topped with melted butter, Salad Supreme Seasoning, and Parmesan cheese before the final rise.

For a mix they were quite palatable but my family doesn't want me to stop making homemade rolls & they didn't wolf these down like homemade.

Another advantage to the McCormick site is that you can check the freshness of your spices.

Bubba's Back!

Sarah again got to bring home the classroom gerbil, Bubba. He’s a little, black, friendly, and very active gerbil who’s been with the class since November of 2007. (by the way, the dates on our pictures are not accurate-we keep meaning to update the date and usually forget.) He’s quite tame and Sarah got him out often just to hold him and let him run around a little.

He really uses his exercise ball and rolls all around the house.

Sarah willingly (if not excitedly) cleaned out his cage. Plus we got him a new piece of fresh pear wood for a chew toy.

It’s a fun diversion to have a classroom pet for the weekend. Just a little bit of responsibility without the long term commitment to actually owning the pet. It’s a bit of a sad commentary that most of the classroom pets have come from homes where they were not wanted anymore. I think more research and caution would have resulted in fewer unwanted pets.

We’ve still got our 11 ½ year old and 8 year old dogs, 11 ½ year old cat, 5 year old guinea pig, 2 ½ year old white cloud fish and ~ 6 month old Hissing Madagascar Cockroaches. I was taught that when you get a pet you have that animal (or fish or insect or whatever genus) for its natural lifespan and that’s what I believe and follow. It has resulted in a geriatric pet household for us. Even though some of our pets have exceeded a typical lifespan for their kind that’s okay because we’re willing to have pets and enjoy them at this stage of life for as long as they are here with us. [ I have drawn the line at hermit crabs, rats, rabbits and a few other pets even though the kids have suggested such creatures-one can only do so much. The cockroaches only passed muster because they only live 1-2 years (supposedly.)]

Reading Something Recommendable

So here’s a few reviews from books I’ve recently read:

Saving Erasmus by Steven Cleaver

An engaging quirky little book with a mere 182 pages. This rapid read contains good character development with tongue in cheek references to Eva Peron, little Jackie Paper and Puff the Magic Dragon, big business vs. the small guy and many more humorous characters. The book gently chides about morals without being preachy and demonstrates the do’s and don’ts of treating others as we would like to be treated. I would recommend this novel as a fun read for those who want a feel good book that doesn’t require a lot of thinking about an intricate plot or discourse although the book could sustain a brief discussion about how we interact with others.

A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander

As with her opening line: “There are several things one can depend upon during the London Season…” Tasha Alexander sets the stage for a sumptuous and scintillating soiree through not just the evening but also many tantalizing days as she sets the stage for a murder mystery set in the background of the Victorian aristocracy. Lady Emily Ashton speaks her mind and longs for the freedom to express herself and her interests without regard for the sentiments of society but instead must acquiesce in small part and control her natural nature to investigate intrigues. How she bows subtly for the Queen but with a smile on her lips makes for just one mischievous and memorable moment in this well written extravaganza of humor and intrigue combining scheming parents and loyal friends. Beautiful descriptions abound as well as clever twists and turns to the mystery of the heir to the French crown and as an added bonus there’s a clever love story for the heroine combined in the plot.

From Baghdad, With Love by Lieutenant Colonel Jay Kopelman with Melinda Roth

Wow! And again, Wow! I was riding my parents recumbent bike while reading this doggy/man autobiography and clocked in more miles because I ended up cycling faster and longer due to the intensity of the story. At first I was debating putting this book under the maybe for a reader’s choice but now that I’ve finished it I’m going to have to go with the door marked “strongly recommend”. Why? Because this book has it all-drama, intrigue, suspense, love, warmth, humor. With that being said, this book is not sugar-coated. What do I mean? Well, they’re rescuing a dog from a war zone. So some pretty gruesome things get recounted like body counts, wild dogs eating human remains and a whole lot of swearing (some of it anatomically correct so to speak about the dog, well, doing doggy business.) However, none of it gets out of hand to the point where I wanted to put down the book at all. The book is written as a first person narrative in small concise sections of 2-4 pages each.

Popcorn Balls and Yahtzee

For Family Home Evening we had popcorn balls for our treat and played yahtzee for our game with a lesson , song and prayers included. The kids obviously need to get a little more practice in before our games of yahtzee will move along quickly. I grew up playing at my grandparents and some of the games got rather exciting. But our kids were a little bored since they haven't mastered the different scoring possibilities like if you should go for a full house or a large straight or try to get the 63 points necessary to get the bonus 35 points on the upper section. Sigh. Well on to the treat which was chewy and yummy-but watch out for dental damage. This site is not responsible for any health issues which may arise due to following any recipe or suggestion on this site.

Here's the recipe for the popcorn balls:

Popcorn Balls
1c. corn syrup
3 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. butter
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp. vanilla
6 quarts popped corn

Combine syrup, sugar and butter and bring to a boil. Add condensed milk and boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour hot syrup over popcorn and mix well with spoon. Allow mixture to cool somewhat and then grease hands and make balls out of mixture and place on parchment or waxed paper to cool. Reshape into balls if they start falling apart. Store in a covered container once they are cool and set.

Strawberry Boxes in the Garden

Now that I've decided where I want the boxes (Dave did have a little bit of say but he wanted me to choose the spots for the strawberries) we put down weed shield since we have a pretty bad morning glory week problem and I wanted no chance of the morning glory coming up through the new garden boxes.

We started out filling the box about a third full of compost.


And here's the main ingredient: compost (available by the truck load from our local landfill for a mere $30 per load (approximately 3 cubic feet) and it's pretty good compost for the price.


After we put down the weed blocker we moved on to compiling the various components of fill. We used mostly equal amounts of peat moss, perlite and compost with some small additions of steer manure and sand.

After the first layer of compost we added in other "ingredients" until the box was almost full.

Here's a picture of the 3 back boxes in various stages of development-weed shield to the back, partially filled in the middle and completed box in the foreground. Using these boxes we've planted numerous strawberry plants-some June bearing and some everbearing.

March 2008 Co-op Share

For the month of March we ordered the standard share for $21 and received the following:
1 pkg (2 lb) sirloin pork roast
4 (4 oz) pork chops (boneless, center cut)
1 lb lean ground beef
2 lbs. split chicken breast
4 tangerines
1 bag of mini carrots (1 lb)
4 plums
1 bag of potatoes (5 lb)
4 white nectarines
1 cucumber
1 bag of Cole slaw mix (1 lb)
1 bunch of red leaf lettuce
1 loaf of Stone Ground's Wheat Bread
1 ziploc bag of pinto beans (1 lb)


We also purchase some add-ons: 2 pkgs of bacon (1 lb each) and a pkg of sliced ham (1 lb) for $2.25 each, a pkg of super nutty granola for $2.25 and a Nutty Guys sampler for $11.50 consisting of 1 lb. Deglet Noor Dates (pitted), 1 lb cashews (roasted and salted), 1 lb sunflower seeds (roasted and salted), and 1 lb butter toffee peanuts plus a box of Fair Trade organic and caffeine free herbal Rooibos Tea for $4 with 25 bags.


For volunteering I worked in their office for a couple of hours. I answered phones and helped with some orders. I'm so glad that my family is starting to catch on and even Dave seems a little more enthusiastic about the program. The kids are intrigued by what produce we'll receive every month and Sarah was especially happy to see the tangerines.