Seafood (Shrimp/Clam) Orzo Skillet Recipe

Seafood Orzo Skillet Recipe:

This is what we had for dinner tonight. Even the kids loved it. Yum!

Ingredients:

8 oz large shrimp (cooked or uncooked)

1 tsp oil (I used coconut oil)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp sucanat (could substitute with brown sugar)

2 cups whole wheat orzo pasta

3 minced garlic cloves

2 cups chicken broth

1 10 oz can baby clams in water

2 tsp lemon juice

1 Tbl fresh parsley or 1 tsp dried

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 Tbl butter

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)

Directions:

1. In large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Meanwhile, mix together salt, pepper, sucanat in glass bowl with lid. Add shrimp, shake covered bowl to coat.

2. Add shrimp to skillet, cook until opaque or warmed, but not tough.

3. Remove shrimp from skillet with slotted spoon. Set aside. In same skillet, add orzo, garlic, mushrooms, broth, clam juice (reserve clams), lemon juice, parsley and Italian seasoning. Mix well. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until pasta is tender. Approximately 20 minutes.

4. Add butter, frozen peas, shrimp and clams and heat slowly until all are warm, but not tough. Dinner is served! How's that for easy?

Homemade Raw Yogurt Recipe

This one is for you, Anna! I mixed this in with Hailey's baby food when she was over a year old and she loved it.

How To Make Raw Yogurt:

Ingredients:

4 cups raw milk
1/2 cup plain pre-made yogurt (if you want to use a powder starter, follow directions on the package or you can get a start off a friend)

1. In saucepan, heat milk to just below boiling point. You have to do this or it will not set up right. Remove milk from heat and cool to somewhere between 100 and 110 degrees F. Can place saucepan in refrigerator for approximately 20 minutes if you want it to cool faster.

2. In the meantime, preheat yogurt maker (you can look up other methods on the net if you don't have a yogurt maker).

3. Add plain yogurt to warm milk, stirring gently to blend. Pour mixture into yogurt container, secure lid and place in warming basket. Cover yogurt maker and process 4 to 10 hours depending on how tart you like your yogurt. Set a timer! Yogurt should be partially set after processing but will thicken after refrigeration. If it isn't set, then try another hour.

4. Place container in refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours. Don't forget to remover 1/2 cup plain homemade yogurt and store in fridge for use as a starter later! Add fruit, vanilla, honey, etc... to taste. Enjoy!

First Soccer Game and First Goal

Yesterday was Josiah's first soccer game. I was a little worried about how he would do because he can be a poor sport sometimes when we are playing games. I gave him the sportsmanship lecture and he must have listened because he did great. His first soccer game they got creamed. I think it was something like 1 to 13. I was really pleased because he kept a good attitude the whole game.

I don't know why this picture is flipped, but I hope you can see Josiah standing over the boy he just knocked over. He's shouting, " I'm really sorry, it was an accident!". The crowd was hysterical. The kid was OK. This was the second game. He did a lot better. Sorry the picture is out of order!

In the first game, Josiah was really aggressive, but he was all elbows. He'd push himself into the pack, elbowing all the way. We had a talk about that later. He did much better about it in the second game.

Josiah was typically looking everywhere except the ball. Again, he did a lot better in the second game. He's really learning a lot and quickly it seems.

Here is a picture of Josiah right after he made his very first goal. He was so excited, he even gave the coach "five". This was the second game. His team won that game. He definitely has an encourager's heart. Some of the parents were ready to give him some pom poms! He kept track of the score and cheered every time one of his teammates got a goal.

During his last round of playing, apparently he couldn't wait to go to the bathroom. There was a port-a-potty right on the edge of the field and he just ran out of the game to go. I was grateful that he went in the outhouse instead of on the field. I did make him apologize to his coach for leaving the game without permission. Again, you could hear the crowd laughing. He is just so precocious! All in all, even though the last two days have been exhausting trying to keep Hailey off the field and getting dinner ready in time before we have to go to a game (they are all evening games), it has been worth it. I see my son learning teamwork and how to be a good sport.

Four-Wheelin' in God's Country

Over the long weekend we went camping with my Dad, step-mom and my sister and her clan at a beautiful ranch tucked in on the edge of the forest outside of Heppner. I was in heaven! We got to tent camp, ride horses and Four Wheelers, play in a beautiful creek and pond and just have fun with our family and kids. We are a big, loud clan, but we have so much fun together. Being a dirt bike rider, I always though Four Wheelin' was kind of boring, but I must admit, I had a lot of fun. We brought our dirt bike that Michael refurbished, but it decided to die on us as soon as we got there and Michael didn't have the tools to fix it. Bummer! Luckily, we had borrowed my boss' ATV. I had a ball riding it. The roads around the ranch were perfect for ATVs. Stacie and I got to go just the two of us a couple of times and we had a so much fun. The scenery was absolutely amazing. The camera just doesn't do it justice!

Hailey and Josiah took turns riding with me on the easy stuff.

Stacie's in the red helmet, I'm in the black one.

Riding Horses with Dad

Dad and I got to go for a nice long ride one afternoon. I haven't been on a horse for awhile, so I was pretty sore by the end of the ride. Who am I kidding? I'm still sore! It was the first time I've ridden Dad's newiest filly he's training. Her name is Lightening and I love her! She reminded me so much of the horse I grew up riding, Wildfire.

We had some wonderful father/daughter time while we enjoyed the breath-taking view of the valley.

Dad rode Nellie that day. She is one of the most beautiful buckskins I've ever seen, but man does she have an attitude. Amazing horse, though. Dad ropes off both these horses at traditional brandings.

One more picture of our gorgeous view.

"Lords of the Camp" Talent Show

The kids decided to do a talent show for us. They had a great cement flat area to do all kinds of stuff. We listened to songs, stand-up comedy and even got to see some pretty fancy dancing. The boys did a version of "Lords of the Camp" for us. It was so cute! They were all dancing their jigs and immitating Michael Flatley. Even Hailey joined in the action.

Swimming in the Pond

There was a pond above the cabin. It was a little scary because the little ones wanted to go play around it like the bigger kids were. We had to watch them like hawks. Stacie's family left a couple days early so the older boys had a chance to swim. They had an absolute blast! They hollered and yelled like the wild boys they are. The older boys could just touch the mud on the bottom, but Josiah is still learning to swim, so we made him stay in the shallow end. Next time, I'll bring him a life jacket so he can go play with the older boys or maybe by then, he'll know how to swim better.

Dad on lifeguard duty.

They found these flat pieces of wood and used them as boogie boards.

Another couple days and the water lilies would have been blooming. That would have been a beautiful sight.

Last Day in God's Country

Poor Hailey she wasn't feeling good at all on the last day. She had thrown up all over our sleeping bags, the tents, pillows, blanket and even poor Michael, in the middle of the night. I felt so bad for her. She had to lovely rounds and let me tell you we were ready for "the dawn's early light" (no pun intended). By the late afternoon of the next day, she was feeling way better and back to her cute self. She's been fine ever since, PTL.

She loves her Nana and Papa. Nana brought all kinds of yummy 4th of July treats (we made ice cream in a bag and ate red/white and blue jello. Hailey had never had Jello before, so it was funny seeing her play with texture of it as she was eating.

Here she is with Papa.

Michael learned to play Wash Shoes. This is a family tradition. We always play it when we go camping. After all these years, I still stink at it. Michael did really well though.

Hailey is helping her daddy roll up the tent. We had the lovely flat deck to pitch out the tent on. It was nice because the bees and mosquitoes were at a minimum this year. We love tent camping. We can't wait to go back. Horses and off-road vehicles with nobody but our family around -This was our kind of camping!

Slow-Cooked Garlic Chicken Recipe

This is what I'm having for dinner tonight. We usually cook one whole chicken a month because we buy the good stuff and as you know, the good stuff is more expensive. We get a lot of mileage out of our chicken though as I make broth out of the carcass. This is a super easy and wonderfully flavorful recipe.

Slow-Cooked Garlic Chicken Recipe:
2 stalks of celery, coarsely chopped
1 (4 lb) fryer chicken

3 Tbl olive oil (optional)

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried sage

1 tsp Celtic Sea Salt

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 cup water

1 Tbl healthy chicken bouillon (or you can substitute the water and the bouillon for 1/2 cup prepared chicken broth.

1/3 cups white wine

Cloves of 1 head of garlic (peeled)

Place celery across bottom of slow cooker. Rinse and pat dry whole chicken (can put lemon wedges in cavity if so desired). Rub olive oil on chicken skin (optional).

In small bowl, combine spices and sprinkle over chicken. Pour broth and wine around chicken. Scatter garlic cloves around chicken.

To make this a one meal dish, I like to add two cups of pre-cooked wild rice/brown rice mixture
around the chicken about an hour before I'm ready to serve dinner. It soaks up all the flavors and is wonderful. If you have leftovers, freeze to put in a soup for later.

Homemade, Healthy Granola Recipe

I got this basic granola recipe from a fellow homeschooler. It was her grandmothers. I've tweaked it to our families tastes. Feel free to do the same.

Homemade, Healthy Granola Recipe:

Combine:

6 cups rolled oats

1/2 to 1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 chopped pecans

1/2 cup cup cashews or other nuts (sliced almonds work well)

Then combine in separate bowl:

3/4 sucanat (If you don't have any you can substitute with more honey or brown sugar)

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup melted coconut oil (expeller pressed)

1/3 cup water

1/2 to 1 tsp Celtic sea salt

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix both sets of ingredients. Place in 2 greased 9 x 13 pans (I use my stoneware because it cooks a lot more evenly and you don't have to grease the pans. Bake at 350 for approx. 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes once you get past the 10 minute mark. You want it lightly toasted throughout. Cool thoroughly. Add raisins or any other dried fruit and mix. Store in an air tight container or I use a gallon glass jar. We use this as our cereal when we are in a hurry. We just add fresh berries, bananas and milk. Our kids love it and it is way healthier than the granola you buy at the store.

Fun, Productive Scrapbook Weekend/My Day

Well, since many of you read my twin sis' blog, I'm not going to post a bunch of the same pictures of our weekend. If you want to see pictures of the weekend go to Stacie's blog at www.afirefighterswife.blogspot.com. She has wonderful pictures of our tea, pages and just fun sister time.

I got 86 pages pretty much scrapbooked, just need to get some titles and pull some journaling off my blog to put on them. Stacie got 70 plus pages completely done and she had a handicap since Lily was our nursing baby for this camp. So I'll unofficially declare her the winner.

A really fun place we went to for lunch (twice because we liked it so much) is a wonderful little Hawaiian BBQ joint. It was so yummy and the atmosphere was great!

Now, I'm catching up from being gone for 5 days. I was so exhausted, I put all the kids down for a rest and I took a 1 1/2 hour nap this afternoon. Those who know me well, know that that is a rare occurrence indeed. I've always had a hard time taking naps. It was wonderful.

We brought our niece, Jessica, home with us and she and Josiah (4 months apart) have been having a blast! When we got home last night, the kids (minus Hailey) convinced me to put up the tent and they slept outside. They did really well and actually went to sleep! I checked on them 3 times and didn't hear a peep. Very weird, but trust me, I'm not complaining! We went to a playground this morning to play with the homeschool group then home again to catch up on dishes, laundry, etc. The kids have been playing with water balloons, the sprinkler and now dress up. We've got a few fireworks to light tonight, so I've had that leverage for good behavior all day, which has been great. Instead of getting mad when Josiah misbehaves, I'm taking fun things away. It seems to be much more effective. I'm going to have the kids help me fold laundry tonight while we listen to a kid's book on tape. Again, another thing I've learned is not to have the kids fold laundry while watching a movie because they get to distracted. Put in a book on tape and they have no problem staying focused while getting to do something special as they fold laundry.

Well, that's it. Better go get dinner started. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Our Lil' Biker Chicklet

When I came back from a ride last week, Hailey wanted to sit on the bike so bad. She wasn't happy with just sitting on the bike, she insisted she wear my helmet and my gloves. I just thought she looked so stinkin' cute. Michael was so proud he took some pictures (a rare happening indeed). We call her our lil' biker chicklet.

Don't worry, we don't ride with the kids (except in parades). These are just photo ops.

The gloves on her totally crack me up!

She looks so tiny on the back of the Harley.

Homemade, Non-Toxic, Kid-Safe, Mosquito Spray/Repellent

A friend of mine from church gave me this recipe for a non-toxic mosquito repellent. I've tried it and it so far it has worked great on all of us. Mosquitoes love me, so if this works on me, it should work on anyone. Being red-heads, my kids have sensitive skin so I have to be careful on how much citronella oil I use in their formulas. This is so absolutely easy (and cheap) that anyone can make it, I promise!

Ready? Here it goes:

Homemade, Non-toxic, Kid-Safe Mosquito Repellent:

-2 oz plastic spray bottle (I picked a couple up at Wal-mart in the travel section for less than a dollar a piece)

-10 drops drops of citronella oil (can get at local health food store)

-add water to fill

How easy is that? My friend also told me that if it isn't working, add more citronella oil. He told me that for extra sensitive skin, you can add a few drops of geranium oil or back off on the citronella oil. Hope it works as well for you as it does for us!

***BTW, if you do get bit or stung by a bee, rub some apple cider vinegar on it. It'll take the sting/inch out. Also, ACV works great on minor burns.

Feelin' A Little Blue

I wish you could see Josiah's beautiful blue eyes in this picture, but it just doesn't show up well . Josiah looks so handsome and he's sweet with Hailey (most of the time). When she gets hurt, he's learning how to comfort her. I drive home the point that his job is to protect Hailey. Of course, she adores her big brother and tries to keep up with him.

I just love this shirt that Aunt Abby sent Hailey. She just looks so sassy in this picture! Trust me, she is, too. We just blame it on the red hair.

Father's Day - 200 Mile Ride

On Saturday we hired a babysitter and went on an all day ride through the Blue Mountains. Larry (my step dad) rode behind Mom and I rode behind Michael. It was absolutely gorgeous scenery. The weather was cold at first but praise God it wasn't raining. Once we got to Granite it started to warm up a little. It was sunny and the perfect temperature once we got to Sumpter. In this picture we were stopping for lunch at a little cafe "downtown".

We're just about ready to take off in this picture.

As you can see, we were bundled up pretty good. I look like a southwestern biker chick. Kinda weird, I know.

I wanted to ride so bad, but Michael wouldn't ride behind, so I had to settle for getting on when he wasn't looking. Riding is just too much fun! In fact, he was pointing to something while we were going around a corner and I told him to watch the road. He said, "Do you want to drive?" I said "Yes!". He didn't ask me that again. LOL!

I guess I'm a 3rd generation biker chick. I'd love to get my grandma in some leathers for a picture! Here's Mom and I at the Sumpter Valley Dredge. It mined the valley for gold a long time ago. It is really neat because you can go look inside now. We also took the time to visit the Sumpter Pioneer Cemetery. Mom and Larry were gifted plots there by one of their friends (weird gift). So we went and saw where they would be buried. It was a little strange but it was nice to see it was in such a beautiful place. Of course, my mom had to lay down with Larry next to her where they would be buried and try it out. I got pictures with her camera but forgot to get one with mine. I know, our family has a weird sense of humor! Anyway, we had a great time. Rode 200 miles in one day. I can't wait to do it again! That's the great thing about Oregon, there is never a shortage of beautiful places to ride.