Half-way Point

It's actually a little past the half-way point but it has taken a few days to actually sit down to do this post. The suffering has begun and I knew it when I came in one morning to find my son frying zucchini in butter for breakfast. Several of our children won't eat the only kind of cold cereal that I buy (a Cheerio look alike called Trader Joe's O's). But zucchini was a new alternative :)

There is little stuff like cinnamon running out that is not a big deal but we're out of milk, fruits, vegetables, and any store bought bread items. Two more eggs to go. That's a major drag because now we won't be able to make any cake type items. It will all be homemade bread with baking powder (we don't normally use yeast, although I have some and may for variety) and pizza dough. We have plums for a few more days and that's it.

Our chickens arrived on Sunday and they are quite popular with the kids and Richard. They will be more popular for me when they are laying eggs! If my mother were to read this (and I know she won't because she doesn't do the internet :) she would be amazed to know that I have been letting the chickens out of the coop pre-dawn and waking up the chickens! Her nickname for me as a teenager was "Rooster" because I did NOT get up and greet the dawn under any circumstances, an ironic nickname so to speak.

I promised to post a recipe to a friend for the plum bars I mentioned. This recipe is a modification of a Layered Date Bar recipe from Good Housekeeping Magazine. I take the plums, wash, de-pit and cut them in half and then just simmer them for a couple of hours until it's all cooked into a uniform sauce. You don't have to skin them, that's the amazing thing to me. And with our plums we don't add any sugar and it tastes fabulous. Not sure if every variety would be the same. For the original recipe you do the following with dates: in a saucepan combine 2 cups dates, coarsely chopped, with 1 1/4 cup water and 1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped. Boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes. So you can do this recipe with either the date mixture or the plum sauce. I double the recipe and put it in a 14 x 16 or whatever size that bigger casserole pan is.

Preheat oven to 350. Combine 1 1/2 c flour (I use whole wheat), 1 t baking soda, 1 1/2 c oats, and 1 c honey. Then knead in 3/4 c butter. It is very stiff and I do it with my own two hands, yessiree... Press half the dough in a 13 x 9 pan. Bake it for 15 minutes. Spread plum sauce (I'm guessing I use about 3 cups?) over the crust and sprinkle the remaining dough over the top. Sprinkle is not an accurate word though, it is really more like plopping. Bake 25 minutes more or until golden brown. They cut better when they are cool but they never actually look nice :) They taste fabulous though.

Jonathon is grinding wheat right now. We do about (this is a total guess but the two containers are about the size of a file box) 100 cups at a time and normally have to grind every three to four weeks. Because he didn't get it done this morning he has to make bread tonight. How they are abused!

Tina said, "I'm dying! Save me!" and "This is so embarassing, why do you tell people about our suffering simulation?" and I answer "Because I think it's cool!"