Zucchini Casserole

 

  
   Once again we have zucchini growing in our garden. This afternoon I picked a couple then came in and started preparing them for supper. Recently I found the best zucchini casserole recipe in a magazine that I read. I'm sorry, I can't post a picture because it's baking in the oven at the moment while a roast is simmering on the stove. Soon I'll be making mashed potatoes to go along with it. Fresh baked bread will finish off the meal. Yum, can't wait. The house smells sooo good right now.... OK, back to the casserole...this recipe is super simple and very good. I hope you give it a try.

Zucchini Casserole

3 c shredded zucchini
2 TBs flour
1/2 c shredded cheese
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 c quick oats
1/2 c oil
1 or 2 shredded onions

Mix ingredients and pour into a greased casserole. Top with shredded cheese if desired. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Enjoy!

The Prairie Primer - First 2 Weeks

   I know I said that I was planning to post at the end of each week but I just didn't have time at the end of week one. So, I decided to wait until the end of our second week. We have enjoyed our first two weeks of our "Big Woods" study. We have done many fun things. We've studied bears, owls, maple sugaring, trees, lungs, skin.... MANY things. We've also studied the history of music from Laura's day. Like Yankee Doodle, Buffalo Gals and Pop Goes the Weasel.

This was our first morning. The kids were so excited they ate and did their chores in a snap. They were ready for school before 7:30. And yes....they just had to have school by lamp light. Here they are coloring Little House pictures to put on the front of their binders.

Laura Ingalls had only a corn cob doll named Susan to play with as a little girl in the Big Woods. The kids made corn cob dolls (and a corn cob boat) and were encouraged to play only with this for the day.

We studied owls and learned that owls swallow their prey whole. Afterwards they regurgitate a pellet that contains the hair and bones of their prey which can't be digested by the owl. We dissected owl pellets and found many little bones.

The girls weren't so sure about this experiment but once they got into it the found it pretty interesting. Joseph loved the idea from the start. Typical boy!



This is a skeleton from Heaven's pellet. We are pretty sure it was a mouse. Each pellet had 2 or 3 skeletons. They must have been hungry owls!

The kids learned about the importance and purpose of our skin.

We studied how our lungs take in air and provide oxygen for our bodies. These are lung models we made to show how our diaphragm helps us to breath.

 

 

When our diaphragm contracts it moves down, drawing air into our lungs.

 

 

When our diaphragm relaxes it moves up, pushing air out of our lungs. This was a neat experiment.

We read that Laura's Pa liked to whittle. He whittled Ma a pretty shelf. Joseph has been looking forward to learning the traditional art of whittling. He has started whittling designs on a stick. Thank goodness we have Aflac. :)

 

 

I could have posted many more pictures. We did so much.  These past couple of weeks have been a great start to a new year and we are looking forward to the rest of the year.

 

 

 

"Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. "

Proverbs 9:9

 

 

The Prairie Primer

  

   Today we started our new school year using The Prairie Primer.  The Prairie Primer is a literature based unit study based on the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We will be learning  about the 1800s world of the homesteader on the American frontier. It will be interesting to compare the life of the homesteader then to our lives now. Along with literature and history, The Prairie Primer covers social studies, geography, writing, science, health and nutrition, bible study, character building, and life application. We are rounding out this curriculum with grammar and math using resources by Rod and Staff. We are also using a reading program called Drawn Into the Heart of Reading. We look forward to incorporating crafts that the children already plan to learn into our school studies this year. Things like spinning, whittling, sewing, butchering and preserving meat, canning and drying produce and herbs from our garden, animal husbandry, and so many more things.

I plan to post pictures showing what we have studied and made while using The Primer at the end of each week. I hope you enjoy following along on our Little House adventure.

"And all your children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of your children."

Isaiah 54:13

Corn bread

   Corn bread....we eat it with most suppers. My husband thinks he's the best corn bread maker ever. And I have to say that he does makes some good corn bread. We like to cook it in a cast iron skillet. Cast iron cooks nice and even and puts on a nice crust. I thought I'd share my husband's corn bread recipe with you. Give it a try. You won't be disappointed.

1 cup all-purpose flour (we use freshly ground flour)
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 olive oil
coconut oil for skillet

Mix together dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients together in a separate bowl then mix all ingredients together well. Heavily coat your cast iron skillet with coconut oil. Set the skillet on the stove top burner and heat. Pour batter into hot skillet and let it cook undisturbed for a few minutes. You'll know it's ready when the edge of the batter starts to separate somewhat from the side of the skillet and rise up a bit. When this happens place into a 425 degree preheated oven and bake for approx. 20 minutes or until golden brown. When it's finished slice it and cover it with butter. It's also great drizzled with honey. Enjoy!

Children

   Sugar and spice and everything nice, that's what little girls are made of. Snips, snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of. Well, yes and no. Mine are made of a little of this, that and a few other things. hehe... But I can say that my children are what my world is made of. I thought I would post a picture of my little country bumpkins. I love my family. I am one blessed woman.

 

"Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them..."     Psalm 127:3-5 NASB

 

 

 

Click here to listen to "That's Important To Me." Great song, great message.

 

 

 

Green Beans

 

   I can remember loving to eat "Green beans from Grandpa's garden." Actually, those were the only green beans I would eat. Or so I thought. Later I found out that when green beans from Grandpa's garden were no longer available my mother would open a can of store bought green beans and tell me they were Grandpa's so I would eat them. Oh the trickery....can you believe that!

 

Unfortunately, we had no green beans from our garden this spring. We planted 200 beans which grew to be beautiful plants....with almost no beans. What few we had were not very good. Kentucky Wonder proved to be less than wonderful this go-round. 

 

Thankfully, we had someone from church share their bounty with us which was such a blessing. My daughter, Heaven,  and I spent the day snapping and canning green beans. We put up 15 quarts which will happily hold us over while our next batch of green beans grow.  I pray these will produce well for us so we'll have more than enough green beans in the garden this fall to put up for the year.
 

 

 

The wise store up choice food and olive oil,

but fools gulp theirs down. 

 Proverbs 21:20 NIV

 



 

Click this link to hear one of our girls' favorite songs....
Green beans in the Garden.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ3CPlD9YD8

 

 

 

Herbs

    I have always wanted a little herb garden. For the last few years  I have tried to grow herbs and have failed miserably. This year my herbs are doing great! I started my seeds in the greenhouse and transplanted them into a raised bed near my kitchen. I'm growing mint, dill, basil, caraway, sage, oregano, thyme, pineapple sage, rosemary, stevia, parsley, catnip, and cilantro. I so enjoy drinking fresh herb water throughout the day or drinking a cup of mint tea in the evenings. And you can't beat cooking with fresh herbs! I plan to grow more herb varieties such as medicinal herbs in the future.
 

We have started drying some of our herbs to put up for future use when fresh herbs aren't available. I've been hanging them to dry from our doorframe in our dining area.

My daughter and I put some dried herbs in 1/2 pint jars and labeled them for future cooking and tea.