Seems it is the time of year when all my friends and I are on a diet. All the long winter we have steadily packed on a little pudge and now in the time of recently forgotten New Years resolutions we are faced with the truth. Our clothes are too tight, we have low energy and maybe even a bit of a grumpy attitude. Who can blame us, all we accomplished this cold winter was to catch up on all the movies we couldn't afford to go to at the theatre and a caffeine addiction that I might need to get treatment for. I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy all those tasty pots of bean coffee or the romantic movies like Eat, Pray, Love but now it is time to awake again and the first step is going to be losing a bit of weight. It always makes you feel better and maybe if you re lucky you will look better too.
I want to tell you about this really wonderful website that I found and just can not say enough about. http://www.loseit.com this website will help you get on a caloric regimen and stick to it. I will also help you track your exercise and the calories you are burning along the way. It is totally free to use and you can get some friends to help you and in turn you can encourage each other along the way. The site will award you for good dieting behavior and it just makes dieting more hands on by providing you with the information you really need to make good nutritional choices. No matter the food, no matter the exercise they will have you covered. So don't wait go check them out today and get yourself ready for spring.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The Devine Secrets of Moose Tips and Rice
Moose is a wonderful tasting meat. If you're lucky enough to get to hunt one or have a friend who did you are in for a special treat. One must approach moose with an open mind, the idea is to come out with a tender and delicious meal. We start with a moose roast or large moose steak, place it in a large pot and cover with water at least 2 inches above the meat. Boil this with 1 large tbsp of beef base for about 1 hour. Just a gentle boil. You can add spices here to the broth like pepper, bay leaf, cumin or whatever your favorite spices are, resist adding salt until the end . While the meat is boiling you need to start mincing green or red peppers and red or white onions and mushrooms. You will need about 1 cup of each minced.
When the meat has cooked for an hour about 1/2 of the water will have evaporated. The rest you will use for the gravy. So dont throw it out.
Next remove the meat from the water and let cool a bit then cut it up to small pieces about 1/2 inch thick square. Set aside.
Now bring the water to a boil. In a bowl mix 1 cup of flour and 2 cups of milk until smooth. Add mixture to boiling water stirring this will thicken the water into a gravy. You can add 1 tsp of base more if you desire a browner gravy. Keep stirring this for a few minutes add meat and vegetables to the boiling hot gravy and reduce to low heat stirring often until served.
RICE
2 cups of rice in a fry pan with 2 tbs of butter melted. On medium high. Brown up the rice a little till it looks all glossy. Add 4 cups of water. Bring to boil then reduce heat to med and cover for 10 min, remove lid cook til done(water gone and small holes appear) DO NOT STIR RICE while cooking. For best results wash rice with cold water prior to frying.
Serve rice with moose tips and gravy on top.
When the meat has cooked for an hour about 1/2 of the water will have evaporated. The rest you will use for the gravy. So dont throw it out.
Next remove the meat from the water and let cool a bit then cut it up to small pieces about 1/2 inch thick square. Set aside.
Now bring the water to a boil. In a bowl mix 1 cup of flour and 2 cups of milk until smooth. Add mixture to boiling water stirring this will thicken the water into a gravy. You can add 1 tsp of base more if you desire a browner gravy. Keep stirring this for a few minutes add meat and vegetables to the boiling hot gravy and reduce to low heat stirring often until served.
RICE
2 cups of rice in a fry pan with 2 tbs of butter melted. On medium high. Brown up the rice a little till it looks all glossy. Add 4 cups of water. Bring to boil then reduce heat to med and cover for 10 min, remove lid cook til done(water gone and small holes appear) DO NOT STIR RICE while cooking. For best results wash rice with cold water prior to frying.
Serve rice with moose tips and gravy on top.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Son of a Septic!
The septic is full, again. This is one of those subjects homeowners almost never talk about in friendly conversation but when you live in the frozen North it is a very important subject indeed. One unfortunate decision made wrong brought us a ton of septic worry!
When you put in your septic drain field, you must make sure to cover it with at least 4 foot of soil. This will keep your drain field from freezing! THIS CAN NOT BE PUT OFF! Don't try to wait till next year here, you will pay out the keyster if you do.
What happens if you screw this important step up is your drain field will freeze and then your septic does not leach off, then it backs up..smell the problem? The only solution is to wait for summer, then when everything thaws out cover it well! If you have it pumped out its only gonna get full usually within a couple of days to a week, then the problems back with your frozen drain field. I wouldn't wish septic problems on anyone, especially me. LOL.
I will give you this piece of advise, dig yourself an outhouse! That way your covered no matter what happens.
It certainly is true that the grass grows greener over the septic tank, and the sunflowers go crazy!!!
When you put in your septic drain field, you must make sure to cover it with at least 4 foot of soil. This will keep your drain field from freezing! THIS CAN NOT BE PUT OFF! Don't try to wait till next year here, you will pay out the keyster if you do.
What happens if you screw this important step up is your drain field will freeze and then your septic does not leach off, then it backs up..smell the problem? The only solution is to wait for summer, then when everything thaws out cover it well! If you have it pumped out its only gonna get full usually within a couple of days to a week, then the problems back with your frozen drain field. I wouldn't wish septic problems on anyone, especially me. LOL.
I will give you this piece of advise, dig yourself an outhouse! That way your covered no matter what happens.
It certainly is true that the grass grows greener over the septic tank, and the sunflowers go crazy!!!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Space Invaders
Yikes, I'm looking around this cabin and I just don't see where I am going to put all these flats of seeds I want to start early. I have a very big list and quite a few things that need to start a bit early. So I'm going to have to either a. figure out where to stack stuff inside and then figure out how to get light to them which I just can;t see happening. or b. Build the greenhouse a little early and get a heat source for it and use that space....yep that sounds like the answer to me. In our zone which is F for freaking cold we are advised not to put a start in the garden until after June 1st and by the end of August its freezing at night so that gives me 75 days of growing time outside. If I add a greenhouse to this equation that adds another 40 days so it will make up for the loss in time. Not to mention we have those long Alaskan summers with 22 hours of daylight at the apex. This means I am going to be one busy little mother trucker getting the garden in, tended and finally harvested and in the freezer or canned. I'm going to be doing a whole lot of work and I figure I am going to need a hired hand or two at least in the beginning and ending stages.
Along about the time we are done harvesting and putting away the goodness of the garden it will be hunting season and also butchering time for the steers and pigs. The fowl will be harvested by the end of September.
By October I hope to be relaxing with a freezer full that will last most of the winter. As you can see gardening in Alaska offers one a few challenges but in the end if you perservere you will reap great rewards.
Along about the time we are done harvesting and putting away the goodness of the garden it will be hunting season and also butchering time for the steers and pigs. The fowl will be harvested by the end of September.
By October I hope to be relaxing with a freezer full that will last most of the winter. As you can see gardening in Alaska offers one a few challenges but in the end if you perservere you will reap great rewards.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Of Goats and Bees
My friend there is a wealth of information available to us on the Internet. No matter the subject it would seem, I for one am always looking up this or that and to be able to have information at your fingertips is a wonderful thing. The grand kids are visiting this week and I had time to sit at the computer and do some research on goats and beekeeping.
Bee Keeping
Dad and I decided that honey was liquid gold the last time we purchased it from the store! I always wanted to keep bees but one of our daughters was terribly allergic to them so we didn't attempt it in earlier days, but since this is going to be a farmstead it might be a good idea to have some honey on the shelf as well. We decided to start off with one hive and 6 supers (what they make their honey and keep the little ones in). We have decided to get most of our beekeeping supplies, IE smoker and tools off eBay to avoid high prices. As the honey becomes a money maker we can replace old tools then.
Goats
Wow these guys are easy keepers, certain varieties make wonderful milk. They are great at helping you battle back weeds and small brush and wherever you pin them will be fertile in the future. What a wonderful animal to have on the farm. They are delicious meat animals as well if you start to have a population problem.
I find them as domesticated as a dog. The kiddies love to feed them and pet them and many have very good dispositions, of course it depends how you treat them.
With goat milk I have made, cottage cheese, provolone,American white,milk for drinking, cream cheese and sour cream. Children who cannot drink cows milk often have no trouble at all drinking goats milk.
We will replenish the goats this summer just after the barn is completed and we look forward to all the benefits of raising goats and to the wonderful sweet honey.
Bee Keeping
Dad and I decided that honey was liquid gold the last time we purchased it from the store! I always wanted to keep bees but one of our daughters was terribly allergic to them so we didn't attempt it in earlier days, but since this is going to be a farmstead it might be a good idea to have some honey on the shelf as well. We decided to start off with one hive and 6 supers (what they make their honey and keep the little ones in). We have decided to get most of our beekeeping supplies, IE smoker and tools off eBay to avoid high prices. As the honey becomes a money maker we can replace old tools then.
Goats
Wow these guys are easy keepers, certain varieties make wonderful milk. They are great at helping you battle back weeds and small brush and wherever you pin them will be fertile in the future. What a wonderful animal to have on the farm. They are delicious meat animals as well if you start to have a population problem.
I find them as domesticated as a dog. The kiddies love to feed them and pet them and many have very good dispositions, of course it depends how you treat them.
With goat milk I have made, cottage cheese, provolone,American white,milk for drinking, cream cheese and sour cream. Children who cannot drink cows milk often have no trouble at all drinking goats milk.
We will replenish the goats this summer just after the barn is completed and we look forward to all the benefits of raising goats and to the wonderful sweet honey.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Let's Break Bread
I recommend a bread machine for the mixing steps. I just through my recipe in the machine and let it do all that mixing and kneading for me. When the dough rises I punch it down and take it out and shape it how I want and let it rise again and bake. The hour and a half that the machine is laboring away I am doing something else to save a little time.
The perfect bread recipe
12 oz of water
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soft butter
5 cups flour for bread (make sure its not out dated!)
1 tbsp yeast
Set it on the dough setting and start. Come back later at the beep and punch down on floured or buttered surface with flour or butter on your hands. Flatten and roll into french bread shape make sure to pinch the dough together where it meets. Place it on buttered cookie sheet and using scissors cut slits about 1/3 the depth of the loaf to allow room for rising and get that nice french bread look. Bake in 350 degree oven for 40 min. Remove and smother with butter. Let stand 30 minutes( if you can) before cutting. Enjoy!
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