Breakfast Treats (we have no school this week :)

Homemade Doughnuts
For the past few years, we've made mom's homemade doughnut recipe on General Conference Weekend. Not health food, but definitely a rare breakfast treat the kids enjoy tremendously! Mom always rolled out the dough and cut little doughnut holes and rings, but I just pinch off pieces and go for the more rustic (quick!) approach. They are very simple and oh so good!




















4 ½ c. flour
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. allspice
1 ½ tsp. soda
1 ½ tsp. cream of tartar
1 ½ tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 c. sugar
3 Tbs. shortening, melted (can use coconut oil or earth balance shortening)
1 cup buttermilk

Oil for deep frying

Sift together the flour, nutmeg, allspice, soda, cream of tartar and salt. Beat the eggs until thick and lemon-colored and gradually beat in the sugar. Add the melted shortening and buttermilk, then add the flour mixture. Mix well, chill and turn out of a well-floured board or pastry cloth. Roll to ¼ inch thick; cut with a floured cutter. Fry a few at a time in deep hot fat (375 degrees) for 3 minutes or until brown, first on one side and then on the other.


Pan Apple Pancakes

Erin spotted this pancake recipe on Mothering and we gave it a whirl. Another very fast breakfast perfect for a weekday. I will add more spices like cinnamon and nutmeg next time and sprinkle with chopped pecans or walnuts. Substituting spelt flour or another whole grain flour would be good too. But the recipe is very good as is.



















Ingredients:

3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons butter
3 medium apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/4 cup brown sugar
Powdered sugar for dusting
Maple syrup

Directions:

Combine the eggs, milk, flour, granulated sugar, and vanilla in a blender. Blend until smooth, and set aside. Melt the butter in a nonstick skillet that can later be placed in the oven. Then add the sliced apples and the brown sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about ten minutes or until the apples begin to turn a golden brown. Remove pan from heat. Pour the blended mixture over the apples in the pan, and move the pan to the oven. Immediately reduce the oven temperature to 425°F. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes or until the batter is browned and slightly raised. Once you remove the pan from the oven, dust with powdered sugar. Cut into wedges and serve with maple syrup.

Organic Weed Control!

When you don't use weed killer or other chemicals on the lawn (we want to keep all those frogs alive and chickens healthy!), you have to get creative. The blow torch works wonders on the garden beds and walkways. Of course, you don't need one quite this big, but this is Zig we're talking about!

I caught a glimpse, and it was good....

We've had four sunny days in a row and it's been so rejuvenating. We're on Spring Break this week so with no school and warm weather, it felt like summertime around here. The kids played outside from dusk till dawn, ran back and forth playing with the neighbors, came home dirty from head to toe, set up lemonade and cookie stand, ran around in bathing suits, and got along like best buddies all day long. We ate our meals outside and opened all the windows. Ahh, we so needed this.

Kona, who is also suffering from seasonal depression because the kids and I aren't big fans of "wet dog", perked up tremendously.





















We had our little Easter party on Monday, and it's hard to believe I'm saying this, but I was actually hot! We invited all the neighbor kids and a few other friends we don't get to see as often as we like. We set up the egg dying operation in the greenhouse and everything else out in the yard. The kids decorated Easter cookies and Sela made a new version of her game "Pin the Easter Egg in the Bunny's Basket." Ketsy and I hid 300 eggs and my body ached from all the bending over! We had a great time but I was pretty exhausted at the day's end. Well, at least my body was. My mind says "GO" but my body is not keeping up the pace. Fortunately, the girls had a sleepover with our next door neighbors and Rollin fell asleep for the night at 4:30 in the afternoon. I was so busy at the party, I only have a few photos of Rollin and one of Nina with a bloody nose. Poor little thing ran into a tree branch when reaching for an egg!

Today we had no plans, and boy does that feel great! Rollin and I had lots of time to play and just hang out while the girls were still at Sophia's house. We kicked the ball back and forth, went back for a second Easter egg hunt to see if there were any missed (Rollin found 8 more!), and rested in the hammock. Zig even came home early to work in the yard. I was completely and utterly unproductive and sluggish all day, but it was still a lovely day.

My absolute favorite lunch....

Artisan bread, goat cheese, fresh herbs, tomatoes, olive oil, and garlic. Broiled till bread is crispy and cheese is gooey. Ahhhh, heaven. I think I had this three times this week.

Reptiles are FUN!

The reptile man came to Hollywood Hill tonight. I was happy to take the kids, though I would have been just as happy to stay home and read a book as well. But it turned out to be so much fun!

We took our neighbor Sydney with us and the little kids just had a blast. The reptile man has kind of the opposite personality of the Crocodile Hunter. He is mellow but intriguing in his own way, and he has a dry wit. He brought an impressive amount of reptiles...snakes, tortoises, alligators, etc. His presentation was very interesting and he kept things moving quickly. The kids were glued.

After his presentation, I was surprised that he just let the kids practically stampede he and his reptiles. Because it was a little chaotic at first with all the bigger kids trying to get to the reptiles, Nina, Sydney, Rollin and a throng of other little siblings ran wild around the gym while the crowd died down. Then we moved in and enjoyed holding or touching everything we could. I was shocked that the kids weren't more afraid. I mean, that albino snake is HUGE. We were almost the last people there and I decided to be brave and hold the snake myself, at the urging of Sela. It didn't stay around my neck for long, trust me! The alligator was a no-go!

Weekend Fun

Well, if the weather is decent, there is always a project in the works around here. This weekend, Zig and Rollin put up a bee house. Eric made the little house and Zig and Rollin dug a big hole and put it in the ground. We've got the bees in the fridge and the trees are starting to have buds so we're getting ready. There are two bee houses but this is the big one going right next to the fruit trees. Maybe our pear tree will produce more than four gorgeous pears this year!
































































We (well, Eric) also put a fountain in in the front of the property. It is a very gentle sounding fountain and I love the sound of the water. It's so peaceful.









































All our starts are coming along...the kids have been playing a lot in the greenhouse. It has become sort of an all-weather outdoor playhouse for them which is fantastic! We have some furniture in there and lots of big tables and they swing like monkeys from the bars overhead. Sela and Nina will disappear in there for hours.


























































And finally, Zig tried to re-create this potted tree he saw in a hotel last week while he was in New York. Apparently it cost like $8,000...that's NYC for you. But anyway, he loved the look and made one for our front porch. He searched far and wide for this certain pot. The tree is beautiful (more-so in person) even without leaves because the branches are crimson red. Zig worked until about midnight on this one evening, carefully placing the moss on the bottom and gently misting it when it was all finished. I think it looks great...this picture is hard to tell because because everything around it is still wet and I haven't figured out this little camera I have yet. Add it to the list!

It must be done....

It's April. And it snowed today. I figured there was no better time than a cold, soggy day to hunker down and face a few of the unpleasant household tasks I have been avoiding. There are boxes/piles of clothes all over it seems. Pregnancy, baby, summer stuff, too small, too big, too stiff, too this or that! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! And the kids closets all needed major attention. I worked all day long sorting, packing, donating, handing down, tossing, setting up a space for the baby clothes, and washing, washing, washing. Anything the kids won't wear...gone. Sela now has about 2 pairs of pants she will wear, that picky girl! I think am going to make her sign a contract that she will wear the clothes before I buy anything else for her. She has lots of almost new clothes I ordered for her that she will not put on. She has taken a bit too much to the Seattle look of comfort at all costs and looks like me right now in my pregnancy uniform of black yoga pants. Speaking of my black uniform, I am ready to burn it!

I packed up the winter clothes. I'm done with winter. But it was a little strange to be putting the short sleeved shirts in the kids drawers while snowflakes were falling. What strange weather. I'm so over it and if I weren't 8 months pregnant, you can be sure I would be hopping on the next plane out of here to a sunny spot!