Coconut Chicken Curry

This chicken curry dish has been added into our dinner rotation.

My hubby could eat Chinese every night and I could eat Indian every night. (Okay, for like three nights.)

Here's the link to the recipe that our whole family loves, gobbles up and asks for more.

I heart curry. 

This recipe could be converted into a slow cooker recipe, buuuuuuttt

not if you're in a hurry...

...for curry.  :)

processing wild game - tutorial

Moose!  It's what's for dinner...

So if you have wild game meat to process, here is one way to preserve it.

Bottle it!

homemade pickled beets

Gardening in Swan Valley is turning out to be more challenging than either me or the hubs thought. BUT, the beets are doing GREAT!

magnetic storm

Ok, so in our new place, double wide haven--yes, I'm queen of my double wide trailer, we have a small kitchen. When I say small, I mean small. Really small.

So I've been all over the internet trying to come up with ideas to make it all work. I mean, we're kitchen people! Have you seen my blog?! I have canning equipment up the wazoo, Dutch Ovens and cast iron pans galore. Two slow cookers, an electric griddle and frying pan. Mixers and blenders and choppers oh my!  I have three boxes of spices people. And I'm talking full size boxes. Full size. Did I tell you that I have five (5) different kinds of choppers? Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head! I might have more somewhere. In a box that hasn't been unpacked yet--BECAUSE THERE IS NO ROOM TO PUT THEM IN MY KITCHEN.

So. In my realization that I have five different kinds of choppers, I thought to myself, "ya know, all I really need is a knife and a cutting board." "I don't have the room for five different kinds of choppers." "Well, at least not four." "Downsizing is GOOD."

Enter, fridge knife magnet. Excellent idea! Free up counter space from my knife crock AND cupboard space from my three choppers!

Where does my mind go always? DIY. Do-it-yourself. Always.

*sigh*

Pretty good idea in theory, but in my naivete, this is what happened...

And then this happened...

dining room before and after

So the home on our property is a 1976 Mobile Home.  In the spirit of "Come what may and LOVE it", we are putting up our plastic pink flamingos and flying our trailer park flag high! Loud and proud baby! Loud. And. Proud.

Strawberry Crisp

For the two of you who wanted the recipe to this delicious Strawberry Crisp, I give you--- 

Fruit Crisp:

Wheat Grinder Life Hack

Taking a break from the Cedar Chest Makeover because, well, I have to.  I don't have the hardware to press on so I'm baking bread today.

Because I'm a good 30 minutes--in good driving conditions--away from a grocery store and 45 minutes away from a decently priced grocery store, I decided to make bread.  Not a foreign thing for me to do, I mean, I've posted it on here how many times?  But this time I am grinding my own wheat.  Have wheat, don't have whole wheat (WW) flour.  Have white, not WW.  Also what I don't have is a room that I want covered in a fine dusting of flour.

So I had an idea.  I don't know if this qualifies as a "life hack", but it sure made my life easier.

I put a XL Space Bag over my grinder and let it roar.  I left the zip lock open partially because it needs air to work, but it worked like a charm.  A clean-kitchen-after-grinding-wheat charm.

Now you must know that I LOVE my wheat grinder and it is quiet for a grinder and it is clean for a grinder, but it still spews some fine flour dust in a two feet radius and today I just didn't want to deal with it.  My creative side of my brain has been working on ideas how to create a "space" where I can grind and not leave a Mt. St. Helen's kinda mess* because my lazy side of my brain didn't want to deal with the mess anymore...


Voila!

homemade chocolate chip cookies

The term "chocolate chip" cookie doesn't quite do this cookie justice.

They're more like "everything but the kitchen sink" cookies.

But that's just the way we like 'em!

Now if you're the kind of person who likes to throw everything into a mixer then this is not the cookie for you. But if you're the kind of person who loves a delicious cookie then you'll need to get your hands dirty.

 But BONUS you can lick them. But don't tell the kids.  I won't let them "because of the eggs..."

I didn't believe the hubby when he said you need to mix the dough with your hands and I tried a batch in my mixer a while back. I don't know the science behind it, but they did not turn out. "SO Yeah", I mix them "by hand" now.

If you're "jones'n" for a "kitchen sink" kinda cookie, then roll up your sleeves.

Brian's Cookies

2 1/4 Cups (all purpose) flour
2 Sticks (1 cup) butter (softened)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup Brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup chopped nuts
1/2 bag (11.5 oz bag) butterscotch chips
1/2 bag (11.5 oz bag) chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
2 cups oatmeal

candlestick cake plate

It's crystal clear that I have a problem.

I'm addicted to treasure hunting...

Addicted, Collector, Treasure Hunter. The titles all apply.

I may or may not have like a half dozen candlesticks waiting for tops to be glued to them...

I can feel my Hubby rolling his eyes right now...

homemade liquid hand soap and homemade soap dispenser

I have wanted to try a "discover-ment" as my 6 year old calls it.  I've been wanting to make my own shampoo.  But since we are out of liquid hand soap, (and not out of shampoo) I settled for 'trying my hand' at hand soap.

And BONUS, I tried my hand at videography too. 

Lucky you. :)

So like the many recipes out there, I used 8 cups of water, one Kirk's Castile Soap Bar, grated, 1-2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil and one Upcycled Oversized Pickle Jar. (and some spray paint)

Tea Time

It's cold and flu season here.

We've been trying to cut out sugar and eat more healthy to combat all the yummy treats that were had over the Christmas season.

We've also been downing the Yogi tea.

We love it at this house.  Well, the littlest will only take a few obligatory sips, but the rest of us really enjoy it.  We've tried other brands of Echinacea tea and they don't even compare.

I love the uplifting notes on the tea bag tag and the yoga hints on the side of the box.