1 cup sugar, 1 cup roughly chopped mint, 1 cup water. Bring to boil, simmer 10 min. Remove from heat. Let cool to room temperature. Use 1 cup syrup to make 1/2 gal. tea.
Mint Syrup
This has been a busy week for us. On Friday, the girls and I cut some mint to try a new recipe.
We wanted to make mint syrup. One cup water, one cup mint and one cup sugar. Bring it to a boil, reduce heat slightly, let simmer for 10 min. Turn off heat and let it cool to room temperature.
For a half gal of tea, we used 1 cup mint syrup and then filled up the half gallon with water. It is absolutely delicious!! I have been making mint tea for years and I definitely think this is the best.
After making the mint syrup, we all worked in the garden. We had to take down the old fence we had put up last year to keep the chickens out, pulled up the stakes and the tomato fence. Then we got the tiller out and started getting it tilled. We had high hopes of getting the plants in the ground but the rain was faster than we were. Oh well, hopefully tomorrow (or the next day). We have had rain all weekend.
Yesterday, we went to the Greensboro Science Center with Dave, Jess and kids. We had a great time!
So much to see and do!
Well, that’s about it for now. We will be starting revival at church tonight so I guess I better be getting my crew ready to leave. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.
Wedding
Hello everyone! Whew, what a busy weekend we have had. Fun, but busy. Our son, Chuck, was married yesterday. I couldn’t wait to get home today and check out this picture. I have wanted a picture of all of us together for a long time. I guess it took a wedding to make it happen. And just look, we’re all dressed up too!
After the reception, we played in the hotel pool for a while before bed. We had to do something to let the kids wind down after being still for so long. Sam amazed us all by sitting still and quiet beside his Grace the whole time the ceremony was going on.
We stopped on the way home and enjoyed a picnic. The weather was cool but it was still nice.
Most things are green here now.
We have definitely been cool though. We have freeze warnings for tonight and tomorrow night. Hopefully, though, when this little cool spell is over things will warm up for a while.
Little boys wishing it was warm enough that they could get in that water. Well, I better get busy. I have lots to get done. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.
Crock Pot Lasagna
I got this recipe from facebook
1 pound Ground Beef
Lasagna noodles
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
Brown ground beef and drain. Spoon 1 C. spaghetti sauce in bottom of 4 quart crock pot. Mix remaining sauce with beef. Place 2 uncooked lasagna noodles on sauce in crock pot. Spread 1/3 meat mixture on top of noodles. Spread 3/4 C. cottage cheese over meat. Sprinkle 1/2 C. mozzarella cheese over cottage cheese. Add another layer of uncooked noodles, 1/3 meat mixture, the remaining cottage cheese and 1/2 C. mozzarella cheese. Place another layer of uncooked noodles, meat mixture, and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top. Cook on low for 4 hours.
If cooked much longer, it gets a bit well done.
Busy
Hello everyone! We have finally moved out of the rain and cold and into sun and warmth. I am glad. I am definitely ready for warmer weather and sunshine. I have clothes on the line, windows open and enjoying the day. I just finished baking chocolate chip banana muffins. I have rolls rising for supper tonight so all this added together makes my home smell wonderful.
Well, just a short post to let everyone know what has been going on here. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.
Rhubarb Upside Down Cake
I got this recipe from http://homejoys.blogspot.com/2013/05/rhubarb-upside-down-cake.html
2 cups fresh rhubarb (approx. 3/4 lb.)
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoon butter
Batter:
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Choose fresh, crisp rhubarb. Chop rhubarb into 1/4-1/2″ pieces. Melt butter in a medium-size skillet over low heat. Add brown sugar and diced rhubarb. Continue to fry for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. If you are not using a cast iron skillet remove the rhubarb from the pan to a small baking pan.
Batter: In a small mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla, mix until incorporated. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder. Add flour mixture and milk to batter and mix until combined. Pour batter over the rhubarb. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove from oven, and run a knife along the edges to loosen cake. Turn upside down onto a plate. Serve hot or cold with milk or cream if desired.
Making Ugly Dolls
Yesterday was a fun day at church. All year, we had been doing something at church called “secret sister”. We each drawed a womans name and for the year that lady was our “secret sister”. We gave her small gifts, cards etc. Then yesterday we all got together and revealed who our sister sister was. We also had lots of food.
Then we did a craft. We made ugly dolls. I’m not sure why they are called that. I thought they turned out very pretty.
We are cold here. Our temperature is 42 degrees with wind chills in the 30’s. We have been cold, rainy and foggy all week. We have had to build a fire several days. Oh well,it won’t be long until we will be complaining about it being too hot.
I hope you all have a great Sunday and God bless.
Wednesday
I thought I would share this picture of Katie that Dave posted on facebook. She certainly is growing. Thanks Grace for helping me do this.
Things have been moving along rapidly here. Friday we went down to Jessica’s to fix a railing on her porch. Saturday, Jess and the kids came up to us for a visit. Dave is down to the wire on finishing his book. She thought he might get more done on it if they were out of the house. It was a really nice visit. It had been a while since they had been up.
Jess and I went in halves on a 50 lb bag of soft white wheat. This is totally different from what I am used to using. I have always used Prairie Gold wheat. Supposedly, soft white wheat is for things that use baking powder not yeast. I have had a hard time learning how to bake with it. I made chocolate chip cookies Saturday that were FLAT and I do mean flat. Anyway Daniel said they were delicious! Gotta love that boy!! So I think I have finally cured the problem. Because I freshly grind the wheat kernels, they are “fluffy”. I need to add 1/4 cup more flour for every 1 cup the recipe calls for. I did that this morning with some more cookies and they turned out fine. Next trial-pie crusts. Our rhubarb is up and I think there is enough to make a pie. I want to try this recipe http://theblessedhearth.blogspot.com/2013/04/theres-nothing-so-sweet-as.html
We are moving right along with school. I think we will be finished by the end of May if all goes as planned. We are looking forward to summer break this year. Lots of fun stuff going on.
Well, I guess that’s about all that’s going on here. Enjoy your day and God bless.
Mongolian Beef
This recipe from thefamilyhomestead.com Crystal Miller
2 lbs round steak, cut into small pieces
2 T soy sauce
2 T cornstarch
4 carrots, peeled and sliced very think
1 bunch green onions, cut into 2 lengths
6 large mushrooms, sliced very thin
¼ cup olive oil, divided
Sauce
¼ c soy sauce
1 T cornstarch
1 t cane juice crystals
2 t red pepper flakes (this makes this dish quite spicy.. so reduce if you dont like your food real spicy)
1 t salt
pepper, a few shakes
1 ½ cups water
In a medium size bowl combine meat, 2 T soy sauce and 2 T cornstarch and let sit for a few minutes. In a small bowl combine sauce ingredients.
Heat a large frying pan and add half the olive oil. Add meat and cook until meat is no longer pink. Remove from pan and put in a bowl. Add rest of oil to frying pan and add carrots. Cook until the carrots are just tender and add onions and mushrooms. Stir fry these until the veggies are soft. Add the meat and heat. When everything is hot add sauce ingredients and cook and stir until sauce is thick and bubbly.
Serve over brown rice..
¼ c soy sauce
Rosemary Marinade for Meat
I have had this recipe for a long time. I am not sure where I got it from. It is Dave’s favorite marinade for pork on the grill.
1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 tbsp. olive oil, 2 tsp. minced garlic, 2 tbsp. minced fresh rosemary. Combine all ingredients and pour over meat. Let sit overnight or at least a few hours. As in all marinades, overnight is better but not always possible. I have made this plenty using dried rosemary and even not using any rosemary at all. It is still delicious either way.
Merry Heart Crafts 