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Bee Ready

The two new colony starts will be here Sunday, so today we set up their new hives. We are choosing to go with the more shallow Western boxes as they hold about 55 pounds compared to 80 which is just too heavy. As soon as they are happy in their new home, we will add more boxes, one at a time, depending on how the flowers, weather and all go.

Then off to extract honey from the hives whose colonies did not make it through the winter. There wasn’t much extra honey. It appears one colony starved to death and I’m not sure what happened to the other. Maybe the same thing. No bees in either and very little honey stores.

Here is how we get the honey out.

This is the extractor.

Looking down inside, we put 4 frames in at once (to balance)

We go round and round and round with the handle and using centrifugal force, the honey appears out the bottom of the canister.

After the round and round part, we take a break. Tomorrow, we will finish it up and clean it all up for end of summer again. Hopefully we will have the motor on for next time.

Now the relaxing part was to do this month’s block for the Aurofil BOM. These are the blocks so far.

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Menus for April 6-12

This is something new I’m trying. I will need your comments to know if it interests you. If not, that’s okay, we’ll just move on to something that does.

Let me begin by saying we nearly always have a smoothie in which I vary the greens and sometimes the fruits. In the summer I freeze a lot of blueberries, strawberries and when on sale bananas. In Dec, I freeze persimmons. When I can buy organic frozen mangos, I add those to my freezer and smoothies.

Lunch is our big meal and for dinner we often just have leftovers or popcorn with applesauce, or even just fruit.

This is the way we eat, which means you would need to modify this menu for your own needs. We also eat nearly all organic and plant based. I can’t really say vegan because we do use the honey from the bees that live here. Recipes that I use follow the chart.

(1) Pancakes: in blender put 1 cup of WW pastry flour, l cup milk, 1 T honey, 1/2 t salt, 3/4 T baking powder Blend and let sit for a couple minutes. You may need to thin it a bit.

(2) http://www.girlmakesfood.com/roasted-tomato-and-broccolini-rigatoni note that this serves 4. My plan for the two of us will be to only make 1/2 the recipe and I am substituting Penne for the rigatoni.

(3) http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe/cocoa-almond-baked-breakfast-quinoa I make this once and use it twice the first week and freeze the extra.

(4) http://withfoodandlove.com/entrees-main-events/tacos-my-favorite-summer-time-food/

(5) http://3abn.org/recipe/slow-cooker-lemon-blueberry-oatmeal/ I will use 1/2 this recipe and use nut milk instead of coconut

(6) 1 delicate squash, 1/2 pkg tofu, 1 cup of mushrooms, 1 cup cooked rice, kale, almonds. Cut delicate squash into half the long way to make boats. (another item I freeze) put a touch of oil and salt on them and roast until golden brown on edges 20-25 minutes. You can do the same with 1/2 package of tofu, cubed at the same time on another pan if you wish Make a med thick gravy. Cook mushrooms and at add the kale until it wilts. Put rice, mushrooms, tofu and kale in boats, add gravy and top with almonds. Enjoy. (modified from this recipe) http://www.loveandlemons.com/2012/11/14/roasted-delicata-squash-ginger-miso-gravy

(7) http://www.forksoverknives.com/wp-content/uploads/BreakfastPotatoesFinalPDF.pdf

(8) http://www.forksoverknives.com/wp-content/uploads/Kidney-Bean-Bites.pdf This serves 8, so I will cut it in half and use for one meal this week and one in freezer.

(9)http://www.forksoverknives.com/wp-content/uploads/Rainbow-Burgers-PDF1.pdf extra burgers will be put in freezer.

(10) Pizza Potatoes. I bake potatoes, cut in half or slices depending on size, put pizza sauce and toppings on them and warm again in oven. DH loves these as leftovers as well.

(11) http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2012/10/mary-mcdougalls-pumpkin-walnut-muffins.html?

(12) Quinoa casserole – which is my company “go to” recipe. 1 1/2 cups quinoa cooked in 3 cups of chicken flavored broth – I use McKays. 1 large onion chopped and water sautéed, add 2 large crowns of broccoli cut into bite sized pieces until just tender. cover and steam about 5 minutes. (you may need to add a bit more water to steam). MIx this with the quinoa cooked earlier and half a package of Daiya cheese. Put in baking dish and cover with the rest of the cheese. Bake until golden – about 20 minutes. This serves 6. However, since I ususally use it when we have company, we rarely have any left over.

There are a lot of good recipes on the sites to which I have directed you. My one caution would be to check to see how many they say it serves. I try to cut a recipe to serve 2 or 4 the first time I make it, just in case I’m not as thrilled as the author.

We use a lot of salads here. Most often they are some greens and lots of various veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, cukes, carrots, whatever you happen to find in your refrigerator. Often our salads are so substantial, they could stand on their own.

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Greenhouse Springtime planting

LOOK! The banana trees I feared were frozen are returning! See the little shoots. I have 4 pots that I replanted last year from the tree I had and they all are sending up new shoots. Of course without heat in the greenhouse, I’ll not have bananas, but it’s fun anyway. And yesterday and today I took my knitting out to the greenhouse and sat and knitted a bit. The weather in there is humid and warm like Hawaii. So pleasant.

Today was another beautiful day. We had a lovely walk in the park and worked on planting a few seeds. A bit difficult to see, but those are seedling trays I planted lettuce, several varieties of tomatoes, cabbage and will plant more in the next couple days. I need to plant lots of seeds, because I’m not great at getting seedlings started.

And just look at all the Swiss chard I picked that is still growing from last year. I will pick kale tomorrow.

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After church dinner

This is the photo I promised of a Jerusalem artichoke (sunchoke). It is very knobby and this one still has lots of dirt attached. Sometimes a knob has to be cut off to wash all the dirt. I used them in the salad sliced thinly as “water chestnuts” however, next week I plan to cook some as potatoes.

Today we invited 5 guests for dinner to get to know them better. We enjoyed Broccoli Quinoa, roasted cauliflower, roasted squash, corn, tossed salad, zucchini bread, and regular whole wheat bread with hummus. We didn’t have dessert as we rarely have room left after eating a good meal.

(DH was concerned that I not show the people as recognizable since I hadn’t asked for permission. What is the rule on this? Do you know?)

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Scalloped potatoes

This is the easy way that has evolved at our house. I use a layer of very thinly sliced potatoes,

followed by a layer of thinly sliced hot dogs – as you can see the vegan type usually end up a bit crumbly, which makes them easier to spread around.

Then layer with cheese. This is a vegan cheese and I use either mozzarella or cheddar flavor, depending on what I have on hand. Salt to taste with each layer. Repeat for a second layer, ending with cheese on top. This photo is a big skimpy on the cheese because I ran out. I then pour milk (soy or any type) to cover the potatoes and most of the cheese. Bake at 350 for about 75 minutes. Ovens vary, so yours may be a bit faster or slower.

This is the end product, ready to serve. I do hope you enjoy the ease as well as the taste.

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Friday Variety: Quilt, food, & dog

The quilt has been bound and is ready for a child who might be cold. It has a heavy batting and will be quite warm.

I tried a new flour in the pancakes this morning. I was told to use it straight across for wheat and it is gluten-free. This is not an inexpensive flour. but there are times when one needs to have something for someone who is gluten intolerant and it is good to know what to use. The pancakes were a bit thicker than I usually get from this recipe, but they were extremely delicious.

A casserole is ready for tonight and one for tomorrow. Bill says he’s never seen a potato he didn’t like and can’t ever get tired of them, which is good for me.

Lacey is digging a cave. It is on the hillside under the side deck. So far, she has it deep enough, that when she is in it, you do not see her. I think she is planning to have puppies there. We have other plans. As dirty as those feet look, as soon as they are dry, the “Teflon” dog will shed the dirt and get up looking as though she had never seen dirt. I love that their whole coat does this.

I went to the doctor to have the stitches removed from my finger and he was very pleased with how it looked.

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Feb company and food

Remember one of my goals was to invite some people from church over once a month for a meal to get acquainted. This was the week! Of the 8 invited, 4 accepted and we had a delightful visit.

The meal was Quinoa Broccoli casserole, roasted cauliflower, roasted squash (from our garden), corn, tossed salad, and a bean veg salad one of the women wanted to bring. Then a fruit salad for dessert. This made it very easy for me to prepare. I had the squash and the cauliflower all cut and in Ziploc baggies to just season and put in oven for 20 minutes. The salad and casserole were pre-made. So it was just a matter of heating the oven, setting the table, etc. while waiting for the oven.

The casserole was from Vegkitchen, I have made this casserole a couple times and both times it was a hit. I omitted the tomatoes as suggested the first time I served it. I will continue to use this as a fast and easy casserole. By the way, check out this site. She has lots of great recipes.

Category Archive: Foods

Bee Ready

Then off to extract honey from the hives whose colonies did not make it through the winter. There wasn’t much extra honey. It appears one colony starved to death and I’m not sure what happened to the other. Maybe the same thing. No bees in either and very little honey stores.

Here is how we get the honey out.

This is the extractor.

Looking down inside, we put 4 frames in at once (to balance)

We go round and round and round with the handle and using centrifugal force, the honey appears out the bottom of the canister.

After the round and round part, we take a break. Tomorrow, we will finish it up and clean it all up for end of summer again. Hopefully we will have the motor on for next time.

Now the relaxing part was to do this month’s block for the Aurofil BOM. These are the blocks so far.

Menus for April 6-12

This is something new I’m trying. I will need your comments to know if it interests you. If not, that’s okay, we’ll just move on to something that does.

Lunch is our big meal and for dinner we often just have leftovers or popcorn with applesauce, or even just fruit.

This is the way we eat, which means you would need to modify this menu for your own needs. We also eat nearly all organic and plant based. I can’t really say vegan because we do use the honey from the bees that live here. Recipes that I use follow the chart.

Breakfast

Lunch

Sun

Pancakes (1)

1 banana, 1 persimmon, kale , swiss chard /drink greens to taste

Roasted tom and Broccolini penne (2)

Lettuce w Avocado

Mon

Cocoa Almond baked quinoa (3)Smoothie:ban, kale, blueberries

Black beans/guacamole tacos (4) tomatoes, lettuce, olives

Tue

Lemon, blueberry crockpot oats (5)Smoothie: Swiss chard, banana, strawberries

Delicata squast veg boats (6)

Green salad

Wed

Breakfast potatoes (7)

Smoothie: romaine, bananas, bl berries

Kidney Bean bites (8)

Roasted potatoes

cabbage salad

Thur

Cocoa almond baked quinoa

Smoothie: Kale, banana,strawberries

Rainbow burgers (9)

roasted vegetables

lettuce w tomato

Fri

Granola

Smoothie: your choice

Pizza potatoes,(10) green beans

Roasted squash

Sat

Pumpkin walnut muffins (11)

Smoothie: ban, swiss chard, blueberries

Quinoa casserole (12), zucchini bread

Large tossed salad, frozen corn

(1) Pancakes: in blender put 1 cup of WW pastry flour, l cup milk, 1 T honey, 1/2 t salt, 3/4 T baking powder Blend and let sit for a couple minutes. You may need to thin it a bit.

(2) http://www.girlmakesfood.com/roasted-tomato-and-broccolini-rigatoni note that this serves 4. My plan for the two of us will be to only make 1/2 the recipe and I am substituting Penne for the rigatoni.

(3) http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe/cocoa-almond-baked-breakfast-quinoa I make this once and use it twice the first week and freeze the extra.

(4) http://withfoodandlove.com/entrees-main-events/tacos-my-favorite-summer-time-food/

(5) http://3abn.org/recipe/slow-cooker-lemon-blueberry-oatmeal/ I will use 1/2 this recipe and use nut milk instead of coconut

(7) http://www.forksoverknives.com/wp-content/uploads/BreakfastPotatoesFinalPDF.pdf

(8) http://www.forksoverknives.com/wp-content/uploads/Kidney-Bean-Bites.pdf This serves 8, so I will cut it in half and use for one meal this week and one in freezer.

(9)http://www.forksoverknives.com/wp-content/uploads/Rainbow-Burgers-PDF1.pdf extra burgers will be put in freezer.

(10) Pizza Potatoes. I bake potatoes, cut in half or slices depending on size, put pizza sauce and toppings on them and warm again in oven. DH loves these as leftovers as well.

(11) http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2012/10/mary-mcdougalls-pumpkin-walnut-muffins.html?

There are a lot of good recipes on the sites to which I have directed you. My one caution would be to check to see how many they say it serves. I try to cut a recipe to serve 2 or 4 the first time I make it, just in case I’m not as thrilled as the author.

We use a lot of salads here. Most often they are some greens and lots of various veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, cukes, carrots, whatever you happen to find in your refrigerator. Often our salads are so substantial, they could stand on their own.

Greenhouse Springtime planting

And just look at all the Swiss chard I picked that is still growing from last year. I will pick kale tomorrow.

After church dinner

Today we invited 5 guests for dinner to get to know them better. We enjoyed Broccoli Quinoa, roasted cauliflower, roasted squash, corn, tossed salad, zucchini bread, and regular whole wheat bread with hummus. We didn’t have dessert as we rarely have room left after eating a good meal.

(DH was concerned that I not show the people as recognizable since I hadn’t asked for permission. What is the rule on this? Do you know?)

Scalloped potatoes

This is the easy way that has evolved at our house. I use a layer of very thinly sliced potatoes,

followed by a layer of thinly sliced hot dogs – as you can see the vegan type usually end up a bit crumbly, which makes them easier to spread around.

This is the end product, ready to serve. I do hope you enjoy the ease as well as the taste.

Friday Variety: Quilt, food, & dog

The quilt has been bound and is ready for a child who might be cold. It has a heavy batting and will be quite warm.

A casserole is ready for tonight and one for tomorrow. Bill says he’s never seen a potato he didn’t like and can’t ever get tired of them, which is good for me.

I went to the doctor to have the stitches removed from my finger and he was very pleased with how it looked.

Feb company and food

Remember one of my goals was to invite some people from church over once a month for a meal to get acquainted. This was the week! Of the 8 invited, 4 accepted and we had a delightful visit.

The casserole was from Vegkitchen, I have made this casserole a couple times and both times it was a hit. I omitted the tomatoes as suggested the first time I served it. I will continue to use this as a fast and easy casserole. By the way, check out this site. She has lots of great recipes.