Myrtle The Bird & What’s Cooking 4/14/16?

Did I ever tell you the story about our bird, Myrtle?

Several years back the Z Man and I went on vacation at Myrtle Beach. When we arrived to our campsite Z Man noticed something across the way in the grass. It was this beautiful blue and white parakeet. I was on the phone with my Mom when I see the Z Man walking across the way with a shirt tied onto his fishing pole.

Yep, he caught the bird and probably saved it’s life.

So off we go to the store in search of a cage and food for the bird. We got the bird set up in a comfortable little cage and then we let the campground owners know that we had caught someones bird and that the bird was ok and hopefully the owner could come get it and keep the cage and food too.

We kept the bird with us all week. We would sit her cage out on the picnic table with us and people going by would say, awww they brought their bird to the beach with them, we brought our dogs and they brought their bird….. It was pretty funny, I mean it’s not like a bird needs to be walked and fed daily, she can pretty much take care of herself for a few days.

So, by the end of our trip, no one had come to claim the bird and now we have a bird named Myrtle.

What’s Cooking 4/14/16?

Breakfast: yogurt with granola
Lunch: salad in a jar
Dinner: bar-b-q pulled pork and ditalini salad – you can find the ditalini salad recipe here

I usually make a big bowl of ditalini salad as soon as the weather warms up and asparagus starts showing up plentiful in the grocery store. It’s a nice light side dish that goes with anything and reminds me that warmer weather is on the way.

Y’all Have A Great Day!

Till Next Time,

Lori

Honey Wheat Bread

I made bread this past weekend…

There is a lot of waiting in bread making…. hence the corona with the second rise.

I used a honey wheat bread recipe from the kitchn website.

Several years ago I tried my hand at baking bread, but I never really got very good at it so I just stopped. I’ve been wanting to start baking bread, which I’m sure comes as no surprise to you since I’ve been ranting about the fake crap in the grocery stores…. But the thought of hand kneading bread for the 8 to 9 minutes like this recipe called for did not appeal to me.

For a long time I’ve been debating on purchasing a stand mixer, but I just kept hesitating spending the money for one because they are expensive, and I didn’t know how much use I would give it. Then about six weeks ago a wonderful thing happened. I was given the opportunity at work to pick out a bonus prize from a vendor points award catalog. Guess what I picked?

Well that sealed the deal and I couldn’t wait to try my hand again at making bread. So, I started researching sour dough starter recipes and all kinds of other bread recipes.

I have to admit that while the stand mixer was kneading the honey wheat dough for 8 to 9 minutes, I took great pleasure in popping the top on a Corona and just watching it work.

I couldn’t be happier with my honey wheat bread, both loaves turned out almost perfect. It was moist with a great texture, a perfect sandwich bread. I probably could’ve baked it for another minute or so, but I’m not complaining and the Z Man loved it too. My first wheat bread bake turned out great, which gave me the inspiration to keep going….

In the third picture you can see that I have two bowls covered. One is the wheat bread and in the other bowl I had a sour dough bread rising.

I’ve been working on my sour dough starter for about 2 weeks now, and again for the starter and the bread recipe I referenced the kitchn website. (really that is how it’s spelled) 😉

I baked two loaves of sourdough bread after the wheat breads. While the sourdough bread had a great flavor to it, I have to say that the bread was too tough, which was completely my fault because I tried to rush it. You can’t rush baking!

But all in all I’m very pleased with my baking day. I turned out two really good loaves of honey wheat bread, and two tasty sour dough bricks. Next I want to try the frugal girls homemade hamburger bun recipe.

Again, sometimes I post the recipes I use and sometimes I don’t. But, if you would like a recipe you see on Z Life Blog just let me know and I’ll be more than happy to share it.

What’s Cooking 4/13/16?

Breakfast: a properly sweetened jar of overnight oats with walnuts, a sprinkle of cinnamon, diced apple, and a tablespoon of maple syrup
Lunch: salad in a jar (the same as yesterday)
Dinner: meatloaf, steamed broccoli and corn on the cob

Y’all Have A Great Day!

Till Next Time,

Lori

What’s Cooking 4/12/16?

This morning before I left for work I filled the crock pot with everything to make drip beef or Mississippi pot roast (they are both about basically the same recipe). But, instead of using beef I used venison and added a couple heaping teaspoons of bacon fat in it. Fat is good people, fat is good 🙂

I grabbed my breakfast and lunch and left the house without taking my omeprazole, L-Glutamine, coconut oil, or turmeric. We’ll see what happens. This could inadvertently speed up the weaning off omeprazole process. Yesterday I started taking an even lower dosage that calculates to 20mg which is half of my prescribed amount.

I was in a hurry to get the dinner dishes done, kitchen cleaned, and breakfast and lunches made last night so I could settle in and start on a few library books I picked up yesterday. Joel Salatin is an American farmer whose is the owner and operator of Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia. He is the author of many books regarding alternative farming, often calling himself a grass farmer, letting the animals do all the work of tending to the farming processes without industrial pesticides or fertilizers. He is doing it the right way y’all.

Anyway… apparently I was in too much of a hurry because as I was making my overnight oats, I forgot to put the tablespoon of maple syrup in them. I didn’t realize it of course till this morning….

Here is a picture of my breakfast and lunch for today (and my love for wide mouth mason jars, of all sizes) 🙂

But after my first bite of unsweetened overnight oats, I decided to save that till tomorrow when I can properly sweeten it and instead I went with this….

Honey wheat bread with peanut butter and jelly.

Breakfast: honey wheat bread with peanut butter and jelly and a apple
Lunch: salad in a jar with a creamy avocado dressing that I experimented with last night and turned out lovely.
Dinner: Z’s venison with mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus

Sometimes I include recipes sometimes I don’t… if you ever want one of my recipes just let me know and I’ll gladly share it. 🙂

Y’all have a great day!

Till Next Time,

Lori

Getting Organized In The Kitchen

I’ve been needing to do something about how I store my pots and pans for a long time. Stacking them on top of each other just adds unnecessary wear and tear on them. Unfortunately it’s a little late for this set of cookware but in the continued search for my “last” set of cookware I decided now was the time to get organized.

I have to say that the Z Man did an amazing job installing my pot rack and it makes this little section of the kitchen look so warm and cozy, it kind of feels like someone lives here that knows how to cook 😉 Honestly, every time I look at it the little want to be chef comes out in me.

The pictures don’t do it justice, mainly because I stink at taking pictures.

The best thing about it is that I don’t have to clang and bang around in the cabinet to find the pot I need. It’s right there at my fingertips thanks to the Z Man. Having an organized kitchen always make cooking more pleasurable.

Now, I just need to find the stainless steel “chef” pans I want, uh, I mean need 😉

Till Next Time,

Lori