Taco Sauce

Today I made taco sauce, we are going to have tacos for dinner. I will let you know how the piggies like the sauce.

Here is the recipe for my taco sauce.

Taco Sauce

15 oz. can tomato sauce

½ cup water

2 tablespoon vinegar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

½ teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon chili powder

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mix all of the ingredients in a canning jar and shake. Let it sit in the fridge over night to let the flavors meld.

The Piggies Rating:

Boomer: not present

Moose: "No thank you."

Rainbow: "Can I have ketchup?"

Lil Bit: "No thanks."


To be fair to the recipe the piggies don't normally eat taco sauce but I do. It was definitely not hot. But not bad either. I think if you increased the cayenne pepper to 1 teaspoon that would give it a little more kick.

Brownies

Brownies

1 stick of butter

1 - 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips

1 1/3 c. flour

1 ½ c. sugar

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter and chocolate chips in a sauce pan on medium-high heat. While melting the butter and chocolate chips measure the dry ingredients into a bowl and stir. Add the vanilla and eggs to the dry ingredients then the melted butter and chocolate. Mix thoroughly. Bake in a greased 9x11 baking dish for 25 minutes.

The Piggies Rating:

Boomer: not present

Moose: “Delicious!”

Rainbow: “Good.”

Lil Bit: “Better than anything!”

Fried Squash and Fried Green Beans

Today I made "the piggies" fried squash and fried green beans. I have made them fried squash before but today was a first for the green beans.

Here is my recipe:

Fried Green Beans

Unbleached all-purpose flour

Egg

Milk

Fresh green beans

Coconut oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Put a jar of coconut oil in a dutchoven on the stove on medium-medium high heat (be sure the Dutch oven is deep). Heat the oil to about 350 degrees.

Wash then blanch the green beans (put them in water boil then drain) while the oil is heating.

Use three bowls. Put about a cup of all-purpose flour in the first bowl, beat 1 egg and about ½ cup of milk in the second bowl, and then put a cup of all-purpose flour, salt, and pepper in the third bowl.

Dip the green beans one at a time in the first bowl, then the second, and then roll it in the third bowl. After you have done this to every green bean.

Put about 12 of the coated green beans in the coconut oil in the Dutch oven fry them for 4-5 minutes or until the coating is crispy. Drain on a paper towel. Continue until you have fried all of them.

(You can make the squash the same way just cut it into thin slices first.)

The Piggies Rating:

Boomer: not present

Moose: “Yum! Can you make more?”

Rainbow: “Not bad.”

Lil Bit: “Yuck!”

Camping

Rainbow and I are camping tonight & tomorrow and it's raining. We are going to pick up Lil Bit on Saturday and she will camp for a night with us too. Some friends will be joining us tomorrow.

Here are a few pictures from our camping trip.

Our campsite.

Fire during the drizzling rain.

It was so beautiful!

Laundry Detergent

We make our own laundry detergent. This is the recipe we use. The piggies and I have sensitive skin and this is such an awesome detergent for us. No more breaking out from a change in the detergent.

Laundry Detergent

Ingredients:
1 - 4 lb 12 oz box Borax
4 - 1 lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
1  box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
3 bars of Fels-Naptha soap
2 small containers of Oxy Clean  (I use the store brand, try to get about 3.5 lbs total)

Directions:
This detergent is fairly mild smelling, it is not over powering. Great for sensitive skin.

Start out by grating your Fels-Naptha soap just like cheese. (Rainbow grates the Fels-Naptha soap for us, she usually sits out on the porch to do this. She uses the best grater that we found at IKEA.)

Toss all of the ingredients in a 5 gallon bucket with a lid. We use a wooden paddle to stir the ingredients together.

Use 1/8 cup of detergent per load. You'll love it!

Graduation Dinner

Moose, Rainbow and I helped with a Graduate Dinner at church. It was quite wonderful.

The four graduates and their families were very appreciative. They enjoyed themselves. And were treated to a delightful evening.

There was an appetizer table with, mini-6 layer dip, veggie shooters, fruit kabobs, caprese kabobs, sushi, homemade crackers with pimento cheese, chicken salad filled bite-size tomatoes, and few others I don't remember.

Then dinner was served by the youth. Dinner was a tossed salad, pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, with pork gravy, and green beans broiled with bacon. Everything was so good.

And the dessert table had a variety of different desserts for everyone to choose from. I can't wait to see what they do next year.

Surgery for Rainbow

Rainbow had surgery today! She had her adenoids removed. She did great! She read, "Anne's House of Dreams" while she was waiting  for surgery. Rainbow was not afraid until they removed her IV. It scared her to have the tape removed, not the IV but the tape. She is doing well and I'm sure she will recover fast.