Parsley outside my backdoor!

El Niño, La Niña,  whatever, I forget how it goes, but I think that due to the oppressive heat we had this Summer, we are having a very wet Winter.  Or maybe the wet Winter is a harbinger of a mild Summer to come?  I don’t know, but we have had rain near ’bout every four days ’round these parts all Winter long!  I’ll try not to complain because I know we have it very easy in the Winter.  This is our time to shine!   We seldom get snow, and when we do, it’s hardly anything to worry about.  Also, the rain we’ve gotten lately is sorely needed.  So, I’ll try to not sound too whiney.  OK?  I’ll try.

Never buy plastic fencing, even though it’s cheaper than the wire fences.

BUT!

I’m really sick of the mud, and the kids being in the house so much.  See, one of the trade offs that Texans are so proud of is that even though we huddle indoors listening to the humm of the a/c for most of the Summer, which, by the way, lasts about eight months here, the pay off comes in the Winter when we can enjoy the truly mild (yesterday the high was 79°) field trip weather.  Perfect for going to the Zoo, or bird watching, or cleaning up a long neglected backyard!

I’ve had it with the rain and the resultant mud, and we have mud!  After our record breaking heat and drought this past Summer, there is no lawn, just mud Mud MUD!

Rabbit cages, clothes lines, and dirt lawn – it’s the Redneck Tri-fecta!

Today is a great day.  It’s sunny, dry and 50°, so there is work going on out back.  If I had focused on laundry instead of rabbit breeding this morning I might have even hung some laundry on the line.  That’s ok, first things first.

Tomorrow the forcast calls for more mud in the form of rain AND snow.  I have my doubts about the white stuff.  My kids have still never even seen it, and likely some of them doubt if it’s a really and truly real thing.  At least we’ll enter into this weeks wetness with a cleaned up yard!

Right this minute it’s 70° out and I actually feel warm from all the work I’ve been doin’.    Even so, it’s a bit cool in the night, so I have decided it’s time for soups and stews.

Lentil Stew is on the stove bubblin’ away.  Chicken Stock is in the big crockpot crankin’ up for an overnighter.

I didn’t really plan on doin’ the stock today, but while I was in the kitchen makin’ the lentils I happened on lots of stock components just lurking about in my fridge and freezer.

I’ve been diligently saving up stuff like chicken bones and veggie ends in ziplock bags in the freezer, and it just so happens that Hubs has a sore throat.  All that added together caused stock to be started in my crockpot.  It’s kind of a kitchen sink affair.  Mostly it’s whatever looked good while I was searching.

Soups and stews are so easy, and so ever-lovin’ good for us.  It’s pretty cheap eats and goes so well with a nice loaf of homemade bread.

The highlight of my day happened while I was going out back to see if the laundry was dry yet.  I happened to glance at the (long neglected) herb garden that is next to my back door.  The one I gave up on a couple of months ago when the garden hose couldn’t combat the 105° afternoons for 3 months on end.  Well now, since it’s been raining so often, like every other day, some of my old dead herbs have resurrected themselves.

I’m so happy!  I love to cook with herbs.  I love to cook soups and stews with herbs.  But the best thing is cooking soups and stews with fresh, home-grown, organic herbs!

Oregano!

Parsley!

Linked to:

• Tasty Tuesday
• Tuesdays at the Table
• Crockpot Wednesday
• Works for me Wednesday
• Slow Cooking Thursday

And, boy, are my kids characters!

Between the 100° afternoons that just won’t go away, and the looming stage 3 water restrictions (which, of course, means a rate hike) we are taking out the garden.

And since we’ve decided not to plant a Fall garden, this is it for this house.  No more gardening here at this location.

Pulling the plants was the easy part.

We plan on taking the cinder blocks with us when we move, so they need to be neatly stacked out of the way where it won’t be so tempting to climb on them and break them.  Apparently, cinder blocks are heavy.

As I understand it, soil is also heavy.  Dusty is hauling some of the wonderful garden soil out front to spread around on the “lawn.”

Dusty, Tex and Tex’s friend are working very hard, tryin’ to get it all done in one day.

It kinda feels odd to see this going on.  Feels kinda wrong.  But, at the same time, it feels like progress!

Now, it’s time for me to go make these hard workin’ characters some quesadillas!

Slim is so happy that I was able to adapt the squash muffin recipe to fit within the new, healthy, sugarless, whole wheat parameters of our new diet.

Preheat your oven to 350° and spray oil in 24 muffin cups.

You’ll need:

• 2½ cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup oats
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 t sea salt

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• 1 cup honey
• 4 eggs
• ¾ cup butter
• 2 t vanilla

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• 2-3 cups squash, grated

Mix the first 4 ingredients in your large bowl and set it aside.

In a medium – large bowl cream butter and honey, add eggs one at a time, keep beating, add vanilla.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix together.  Now fold in the squash.  Judge how much squash to use by the moisture of the batter.  It should be the consistency of any other muffin batter.  Sometimes squash is very moist and you’ll use less.  Sometimes the squash is more dry and you can use more.  Just use your own judgement on that part.

Spoon the batter into oiled muffin tins and bake at 350° for about 20 minutes.

This recipe is Slim’s favorite way to eat squash.

Here’sw your link back to Real Food Wednesday!