www.AFarmhouseFull.com

Wow, it's been awhile since I actually TYPED a post.... LOL!  Are you missing reading things? Are you enjoying the videos more? Less? 

I thought I would do a quick post about a what I use for a natural eye makeup remover.  First off, eye makeup remover is RIDICOULSLY overpriced.  Baby oil is a cheap alternative.....BUT some people are sensitive to all the extra junk they put into baby oil.  Baby oil is essentially just mineral oil (petrolium based) that has been perfumed to smell good.  So there are some that seek a more natural recipe.  I also tend to find PURE oil a bit too heavy for makeup remover. 

Enter: Natural Eye Makeup Remover!

What you will need:

• 4 oz. travel bottle
• Liquid tear free soap (I used baby soap)
• Olive oil

I then liberally apply it to a cotton round and wipe off all my eye make up before I cleanse my face for the evening. 

Let me know what you thing of it. 

If you are on Pinterest you have probably stumbled across a recipe for No Bake Energy Bites.  They are amazingly simple, oh so yummy and made with super filling, whole-food ingredients. You could use them as a quick snack or for breakfast with a side of fruit or yogurt.

I changed the recipe a bit and replaced the chocolate chips for raisins and took out the wheat germ completely.  I also changed the quantity a little as we are a larger than normal family. 

Here are my ingredients:

• 2-1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup peanut butter (homemade or store bought)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup raisins

Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix.  Roll a tablespoon sized amount of "dough" into a firm ball and refrigerate.  I suppose you could leave them at room temperature, but they firm up a bit in the fridge so I would suggest doing it. Yields about 40 bites.

BUT BE CAREFUL!  WHILE THESE ARE HEALTHY AND FILLING; THEY ARE 100 CALORIES EACH!!!!!

Italian beef is OH so yummy, oh so easy and (almost) every one of my kids will eat it!  Hey, it is hard to please EVERYONE with EVERY meal....there is always somebody who is not horribly excited about the meal being served..... oh well...can't win 'em all, can we?  I have used the recipe my grandmother gave me for years now with stellar results every time.  This is one of my go-to recipes if I need something for a night I want to do ZILCH at dinner time.  Serve it up with some already made potato salad and dinner is DONE!

Here is what you need:

• 1 bottle of beer
• 2 packets of Italian Dressing mix (I buy a 4 pack box)
• 1 packet of onion soup mix (not in the photo)
• Worcester sauce (about 1/4 cup?)
• Beef Chuck Roast (size depends on how many your cooking for...2-5 pounds? I used 3-1/2 and I should have used 4-5! I will make a note about that for next time!)

Throw everything in the crockpot in the morning (8-AM-ish) and set it on high until lunch (noon-ish).  It will fall apart when you poke at at it by dinner.  I usually eat mine on a kaiser bun with a slice of baby Swiss.  YUMMY!

Happy Birthday to me!  Yep, I am thirty!  No longer can I claim to be in my twenties….but with almost 6 kids…..I am far from pretending to be younger than I am!  The day was beautiful and I took the monkeys to the park to play, eat a picnic lunch and take a long stroll.  My husband and father in law even met me at the park for lunch. 

 

We had dinner here at the farmhouse and Mike was kind enough to cook (okay, we ordered my favorite pizza – but really, lets be honest, the pizza was way better!).  I had spent the day before preparing a black tie mousse cake for my birthday cake.

I really wanted one and they are about $40 to purchase one….BLAH….I am cheap remember?  So I found a recipe online and it turned out AMAZING!!!! I am linking to the recipe only because it is silly to re-write it.  I followed it exactly and it was so good I really wouldn’t change anything.  The only slight variation I made was on the final layer (chocolate ganache frosting).  I ended up doing the icing in two steps.  I first poured on a thick layer of chocolate ganache and swirled in the white chocolate, leaving the spring pan form in place. 

Then I put it in the freezer to set and when it was good and cooled I removed the spring form side and finished the side icing (with a much cooler, firmer leftover ganache) and crusted it with mini chocolate chips. AMAZING, simply amazing!  It was 5 layers of goodness….devils food cake, chocolate mousse, vanilla custard, dark chocolate ganache and finally a chocolate chip crust……mmmmmmm….

RECIPE HERE

We had our “big” sono last Friday and we were able to find out what we are going to be expecting late this summer. It’s a……..BOY! Yes, sir, it seems as if we are going to be evening things out yet again in this family. Three little darlings and three little men as well! I was super shocked when they told us, because, frankly I just KNEW we were having a girl. The only two pregnancies that I have ever had a feeling were this one and Georgia’s. I just KNEW Georgia was a girl and it turned out I was right so I thought my instinct would be correct on this one too. NOPE! It was….um….VERY obviously a boy so I am glad that I didn’t want to be surprised at birth. He made HIMself very well known to the world! Hehehehe, I guess he isn’t the modest kind!

I have been envisioning doing something Pintrest-worthy for telling the family (including Mike and my five monkeys). I originally wanted to do a big bouquet of (pink or blue) helium balloons in a large box that would float up when opened. Ya know....beautiful and picture perfect like this:

So, I went simple! I bought a small self-use helium tank and a small box (big enough for one balloon)and some decorations for it and sort of stuck to the first idea. The balloon popped out and everyone knew that it was a boy because the balloon was blue. While it wasn’t as elaborate (or beauiful or well photographed) as the Pintrest idea in my head, (lets be real now!….does anything ever turn out as great as the Pinterest inspiration?) it did the trick.

While at the cabin we trekked over to a local state park and did one of the short meduim/rugged trails that overlooked a waterfall and a siltstone bluff (most of us in flip flops, of course!...did I mention THIS idea was also sort of a last-minute-no-planning thing too!?).

We also ate amazing ribs while at the cabin (thank you Evil Dr. Pork Chops!)!!! I will DEFINATELY post this recipe for them because they are out of this world! Even I can make them with ease (and I am NOT the griller in the family!) YUMMY!

Summer and strawberries go hand in hand.  This year we have already pulled off 10 pounds of strawberries from our miniscule patch in the back yard.  We have put up 4 pints of jam, made a strawberry crisp, dried a couple quarts of berries and have watched the kids devour a gallon or two of ripe berries straight from the patch.  We have also been making lots of lots of strawberry lemonade!  Strawberry lemonade makes great use of strawberries that are small or overly ripe.  You could also use any leftover strawberry purée from making jam.  Here is my “recipe” for yummy strawberry lemonade.

First you will need: Sugar, lemon juice (squeezed or bottled), a handful of strawberries that have had their tops removed, ice, water and a blender.

Measure out 1 cup of lemon juice, 1 cup of sugar and about a handful of strawberries and place it all in your blender (or food processor).  Blend on high (liquefy) for a minute or two.  

That is it, your done!  Your concentrate mix is done.  You can freeze it for later (a double batch will fit into a 1 quart yogurt container perfectly.  Or you can use it right away.  Place your concentrate mix in a 2 quart pitcher and add enough ice water to make 2 quarts.  Stir thoroughly and enjoy!

If you have kids – they will dig it!

If you want to give it as a gift you can pour it into a pint sized jar toped with a 2 pieces of tin foil. Trim the tin foil just under the jar’s threads like below.

Then cover the tin foil with a piece of fabric and a jar ring – it is ready to be given as a gift to someone!  Make sure that your tag states instructions for making it and also that the mix needs to be refrigerated until used and used within a few days (or frozen in a plastic container).  

It is no news to you if you have ever read this blog more than once that I am the queen of typos!  Yeah, shocking, I know! (if you were even able to read the last post before I fixed it, God bless you!) LOL!  In the busyness of babies, toddlers, homeschooling, discipline, cooking and a myriad of other things,  writing this blog is something I squeeze in when I have a few minutes.  I rarely ever proof read (BAD TEACHER, BAD!), but I guess you will just have to deal with it until I have a nice quiet house and more than a few uninterrupted minutes to post.  You may be waiting a decade or better for that to happen.

While I try to be as typo free as an ADHD, mother of 5 can be, a friend of mine brought it to my attention that I left out the final rise step on my bread recipe! AHHHHH! Recipes are one thing that I try NOT to have ANY typos in.  And that is an IMPORTANT step! Not letting bread rise is NOT a good idea!  My bread tutorial included the final rise, but the recipe itself didn't mention it.  SORRY!!!!

So to all of you who baked a brick instead of fluffy wheat bread, I wholeheartedly apologize! I fixed it, please try again.

Thanks for bearing with me!

If you don’t like oatmeal because of it’s sticky, goey texure, you will LOVE this. Baked oatmeal has a more cake-like, drier, crumblier texture and it is AMAZING!  This makes a big 9x13 batch.  If you have a small family you could cut this recipe in half and make it in a 8x8 pan instead.

Baked Oatmeal

• 4-1/2 cups quick oats
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1 T. cinnamon
• 1 t. salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 T. vanilla
• 1-1/2 cups milk

First mix together your dry ingredients: oats, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and brown sugar.  

Then mix together your wet: melted butter, vanilla, eggs and milk.  

Mix wet and dry together and pour into a greased 9x13 pan and bake for 30 minutes at 375.  

Now top anyway you please! I like mine with a little milk and raisins.  Andrews favorite it maple syrup and a few chocolate chips.  Michael likes a little drizzle of honey on his.  The girls like just about anything on theirs.  It is up to you, make it your way!

To make this a “quick fix” in the morning I usually mix together my dry ingredients in a large bowl the night before and set it aside.  Then I mix together the wet ingredients (except the butter) and place in the fridge.  Then in the morning I just melt the butter and add everything in the bowl with the dry ingredients.

Here is a little trick to use up stale bread or bread heels (if you family doesn’t eat them).  The heel is the last thing to be eaten on the bread so, naturally the last heel tends to be the driest part of the bread once the loaf is consumed.  I bake all of our bread here at the farmhouse and homemade bread only lasts a day or two before it goes stale.  An easy way to utilize the stale bread is to make toast for breakfast.  But if you aren’t in the mood for toast, this is another thrifty thing you can do with it:

Homemade Seasoned Bread Crumbs:

You can use this just like those packaged dry bread crumbs at the store.  You can bread chicken to bake it in (like shake and bake), or use in meatloaves or meatballs as well.

First tear or cut the bread into small pieces. Then toast them for 10-25 minutes at 350, until they are nice and toasty all the way through.

Throw them into a food processor on high until they resembles, well….bread crumbs.

Toss in some favorite season.  I used Garlic and Herb premix from Sams (super cheap!) or you can mix your own concoction.  Lemon pepper.  Italian.  Anything you can think of.  I also add a little bit of salt if theseasoning I am using is salt free.

Then just bag and tag it and throw it in the freezer for later.  It should keep for a while, at least 6 months or so.  

Make sure you label it so you know what you are eating.

Friday night in our home is pizza night.  Not the delivery kind, although, sometimes it would be nice if we lived close enough to the light of civilization to have a pizza delivered here!  Nope, the homemade kind – the much better tasting kind. Some in our home prefer thin, some thick, but they all LOVE pizza.  

Whole Wheat Pizza from scratch:

Ingredients:

Crust

• 1-1/2 c. warm water
• 2-1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 T. yeast
• 1 t. salt
• 3 T. olive oil
• 3 T. sugar
• 2 (more or less) c. AP flour

Sauce

• 6 oz. of tomato paste
• 1/3 c. olive oil
• 3/4 c. water
• ½ t. each of oregano, crushed rosemary, thyme, basil and sugar
  
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Other

• Mozzarella cheese, italian seasoning and toppings (Italian sausage, green peppers, pepperoni, onion, etc)
• Cheese sticks if you want stuffed crust
  

Grease your pans.  For Thick crust – one 12x17” jelly roll pan.  For thin crust – two 14” pizza trays.  

For Sauce: Mix together all of the ingredients for sauce and let stand for an hour or so (I have used this straight away with no problem, but the longer it stands the more flavor the sauce develops)

For crust: in a large bowl, mix together warm water, whole wheat flour, yeast, salt, olive oil and sugar.  Mix well.  Add most of the AP flour and beginning kneading, adding more flour if necessary.  Knead until smooth and elastic (6-10 minutes) or in your KitchenAid for 5 minutes.  If you are using regular yeast, let rise for about 45 minutes in a lightly oiled bowl.  If you are using commercial yeast (like the stuff in 2 lb. blocks at Sams), let rest for 10-15 minutes. (if doing thin crust stop here and follow thin crust directions at the end of the blog) After that time, punch down and roll out to the shape of a 12x17 jelly roll pan. 

Place in pan and work dough up the sides. 

{half of us like stuffed crust and half don't so we only stuff half of the pizza dough edge with cheese}

Place cheese sticks (like the snack kind) and roll dough around if you want stuffed crust. 

Spread sauce over dough, reserving any extra (we usually have about a ½ cup left over) for dipping the crust into. 

Add toppings. (Winter months it is usually boring - just meat, but in summer everything from the garden gets put to GOOD use!)

I always cook up 1 lb. of italian sausage whether I need that much or not and freeze the remaining for our pizza the next week.

Sprinkle evenly with mozzarella cheese (and a little italian seasoning).  Cover with towel and place in a warm spot to let rise about 20-30 minutes.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Yummy!!!!

See how nice and thick that crust is?

Everybody LOVES pizza night!

For Thin Crust: Punch dough down and divide in half.  Roll out into two 14 inch circles.  Bake right away at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and top with sauce, topping and cheese.  Return to oven at 425 and bake for another 15 minutes.