I need some cauliflower recipes that do not include meat.
Logan and I just harvested 7 lbs of the stuff off of 2 plants in my garden. There is more where that came from, but these needed to be taken cus they were starting to flower.
Curried cauliflower, cauliflower stir fry... anything? I need to do something with these babies and I can't wait until my tummy is up to it. Something that will freeze well would be great too. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance!
I spent four days this week in utter misery. The kind that makes you think horrible thoughts, and consider doing horrible things. Today, I kind of 'woke up' from that horribleness, and my husband started saying he didn't feel too good. Then a friend came over and said they had had a yucky, but mild flu over the past week.
Having the flu while 7 wks pregnant should be against the law. It really should. I should be bullet proof right now... but alas, I was not. And it seems that I had the flu.
I feel much better today. This afternoon I put together our new couch, pulled weeds in the garden, took a nap, took a bath, and actually ate some of my dinner AND dessert. I still don't feel great, but I am starting to think that it won't be that bad for long. And Thank God... because that was really, honestly no good.
My belly's ban on fresh foods has been an inconvenience lately though... that didn't go away with the nasty stomach issues. Which stinks... cuz my garden is booming with fresh veggies that only I in the house know how to prepare. I have been training my son with the fresh fruits though... he made some of the best strawberry shortcake for dessert tonight. And I was well enough to try a bit... Bliss in a bowl. In more ways than one.
Currently, all the baby animals (and some that are here from a friend while on vacation) have been turned over to the loving and capable hands of my children. I can't stand the smell. Not even the rabbits.
Yesterday I woke up from nap to find a 'playpen' of chickens just outside my bedroom window. :)
The kids took turns bringing the chicks bugs from upturned rocks in the garden. The chickens would do chicken things with them, running around, stealing them from each other and squawking. They would also give them the weeds and bolted lettuce leaves, and the chickens loved digging in that for treasures.
I am glad my children are such good animal caretakers. It makes this season much easier to bare knowing that I can leave that to them and have them do such a wonderful job.
As always, my boy is mostly interested in the aquarium part of our zoo. He really loved being with the sharks this time. The Lemon Sharks and Black Tipped Sharks were really active, and there was a nurse shark right down next to the glass (you can just see it's tail in this picture on the bottom right). 
He was pretty excited that the horse shoe crabs were moving around as well. "Mama! It look like you and me!" 
What a ridiculous name.
I am sick all the time.
The last week has made me realise why we were 'done' having babies with Logan. I keep wondering if my kids can live on freezer meals and take out and exactly how bad my house can get before I get off the couch. My sense of smell is overwhelming all the time. The lady smoking two houses down can get me gagging. The dinner from the night before, tucked away in it's airtight glass container in the fridge can turn my stomach. I smell EVERYTHING. It seems that there are just no 'safe' foods this time. Coffee makes me sick, mint and lemon both smell horrible to me, and even fresh fruit and veggies I can't do right now.
That's all... this is nothing but a pathetic whine.
The first day of a heat wave (77* Whohooo!)
Hundreds of snow pea flowers, all in a row. 
After three days of being on walkabout, our kitty is home! Thank goodness.....
Thank you all for your prayers (here and on Facebook) for his safe return. I am sure they helped him find his way home.
My son's cat, Samson, has been missing for the last two days. Some prayers and love sent this direction for our fuzzy little friend would be appreciated... I am really hoping he is just hanging out, locked in someones garage and when he gets out, he will head strait home.
It seems strange to say, but I think this is my first cauliflower crop. I have never had success with this brassica... but this year has been SO wet, and SO cold (we still haven't seen over 75* and our first day of summer started out with about 2 inches of rain). Bad for tomatoes and roses (I have little hope of home grown tomatoes at this point) but for the peas, broccoli, cabbage, beets, and lettuce... well they couldn't be happier!
Ad's for expensive toys and plastic play structures aboundeth... sometimes it is hard to find things that are both entertaining, and inexpensive for the littlest people in our lives. So I put together this list. And just to make sure it is still valid, I will be doing one of these things each week with my resident toddler, and reporting on it's success (or not) back to you.
This week was the pet store.
The first stop was the kittens that were up for adoption. The lady that was at the store that day let us wash our hands and get in the cage and play with them. Logan thought that was just about the best thing ever! You can't see it well in this picture, but he is giggling as this kitten is licking and then nibbling on his hand.
Next stop was the birds. He was fascinated with the budgies....
And he really liked 'blue bird' too:
The fish section is always a hit.
Here he is growling at the fish in the tank, because I told him he couldn't knock on it. ;)
Ratings for this toddler trip:
Cost: Nothing
Fun factor: 9/10 (we had to leave the kittens and fish at the store)
If you don't want your plants where the runners can reach, you can also place a small pot and staple the runner into dirt in that... when it roots, just cut it off the mother plant and transplant the pot wherever you want new strawberry plants!
In the last two days I have harvested two baskets of beautiful salad greens, handfuls of herbs and edible flowers, and heads of fresh, amazing, organic broccoli. Organic broccoli is about $3/lb. A bag of salad greens (which these two meals of dinner salad for 5 would have been about four bags) would be about $2.99 each, 2/$5 on sale. Edible flowers and herbs would be about $2 each tiny box. That would be about 2 of those.
Just in the last two days I have made $19 because I turned to my garden instead of the grocery store.
What a beautiful thing! :)
I was somber this morning... thinking if I should even own 'prey' animals at all with my hunter cats around.... but I knew if I didn't act fast, a replacement chick would be impossible.
I knew I couldn't get a tiny baby chick again because the older chickens would peck her to death attempting to get the pecking order established again. So I ran to Dell's with Logan and asked if they had chicks still that were from the same batch as our 3 wk old hens.
They had exactly two 3 wk old Buff Orphington's left... And I got them both. We are naming them Bessy 2 and Betty. They seem to be settling in just fine with the other chicks.
I also bought a 1x1inch hog fence metal top for the brooder box. No chickens out, no cats in.
Lets just hope that they can last another 5 wks until they can be outside. Then I think they will be fine... but until they are too big for the cats to prey on, we will be watching closely.
Bessy, Logan's hen chick, got out of her box this morning. Didn't stand a chance with the hunter cats around.
And then there were three.
We are all very sad around here this morning.
