I did do something this weekend

Because it felt like I hadn't done anything this week   I made a list....in  two days, I have managed to:

• sew two toddler skirts, without a pattern mind you....thank heaves for the internet!

•  make a toddler jumper...without even a measurement...that didn't fit dang it

• clean up dog doodoo...too many times to count, luckily most of it was outside

• make four fabulous and totally edible meals...and two more that will pass for something to fill a belly

• put away the ironing board and iron.....that usually sits out with a pile on top..and no I did not finish the ironing...I just made my husband happy by putting it out of sight.
• do the potty dance and all that that entails
• mop/wipe/blot/scrub up when we (and I mean the twins) couldn't wait for the potty dance
• load the dishwasher
• holler at a kid to unload the dishwasher
• read facebook and a  few blogs
• run to the local furniture store and dream of a new bed bed and then laugh with the hubs hysterically at the $4000 price tag.....but oh.....goodness.....would I sleep well at night
• stop by mcpunk #1's work...to make sure he was where he said he would be
• drive and pick up mcpunk #2 from basketball practice and work
•  14 billion loads of laundry (that my be an exaggeration)
• Laugh at my solid little two year old sauntering away walk after she took a swipe at her littler twin.....that totally earned it...but always seems surprised when the first said twin isn't so mellow
• yell stop it and no, and don't pinch or hit or bite..be nice and go in time out
• Share an evening with  Chinese exchange students far from home that were a little sad...but wouldn't admit to homesickness.....and wondered if I was ready to send my fledgling bird out of the nest in the next couple months...the answer is no...not even close... 
•  watch my fav college football team kick some booty....
• watch the news replay over and over all the weekend game highlights
• get called to be a den mother.....more on that later
• feed my 'ittle barnacle and deal with her gumming...OUCH!
• panic, calm, panic, calm.......i need some space
• walk the dogs, or holler at one of the kids to do it...but it is usually easier for me to just go do it.....you know the feeling....
• ruin a chocolate cake..not the first time
• make a trifle out of said ruined cake and hear how fabulous it was and share the recipe with these cute girls from China
• watch Mel Gibson's Apocalypse.....it was pretty good.....I'm only a few years late
• type and expect my laptop to auto correct
• read Llama llama Red Pajama or as the mctwinners call it lalalalamala

although my house now looks like I didn't do anything over the weekend.....I have a record that I did...a blog record counts right? And my list is to remind us all....yes, me included, that even when we feel like we have done little, and feel like we haven't crossed anything off our list...that often we are shortchanging ourselves.  We are busy all the time....and as I read over the list, I am sad to say that there was no scripture reading, or journal writing, no temple attendance...there was a quick peak in at a spankin new baby girl..that made me baby hungry, there was laughing with my girls and hand holding with my love and probably a lot more little things that I take for granted.  So this week I will remember that I am always busy...even if it is sitting on the couch reading a story (the hubs says that I have been using that line for awhile now)...and that it is much funner to make a list of all we have accomplished then a list of all that still needs to be done....because most likely that list will still be there the day after...and the day after that...and the day......

because sometimes we are human and it takes us days, weeks and sometimes even months to cross something off our list! Be good to yourselves and take a minute to read what one of my favorite church leaders has to say on the subject of Forget Me Nots.

So with that I am going to leave you with a little treat recipe, that is fabulous and tastes like you went out to eat...but you didn't and you know that no one spit into our food! AND it was so easy! Even when I didn't have some of the items and just substituted....good thing they turned out...it was already 8:30 when we finally ate!

• 1 lb fresh mushrooms
• 1/4 cup celery, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons onions, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons red bell peppers, finely chopped
• 1/2 lb crabmeat(and I used a can of salmon because I didn't have crab meat! Mcpunk #2 would say it all tastes the same anyway.)
• 2 cups oyster crackers, crushed (used 2 hamburger buns..because I didn't even have a loaf of bread!)
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning (mine was homemade by a friend so that it didn't have msg in it!)
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, ground
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup water
• 6 slices white cheddar cheese
• I used shredded monterey jack cheese...so much better 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400deg F.
2. Wash mushrooms and remove stems.
3. Set caps aside, and chop half of the stems.
4. Saute chopped mushroom stems,celery, onion and pepper in butter for 2 minutes.
5. Transfer to a plate and cool in refrigerator..(I didn't cool at all)
6. Combine sauteed vegetables and all other ingredients (except cheese slices) and mix well.
7. Place mushroom caps in a sprayed or buttered baking pan stem side up.
8. Spoon 1 tsp stuffing into each mushroom cap.
9. Cover with a piece of sliced cheese.
10. Bake for 12-15 minutes until cheese is lightly brown.

What you dont want to know about food

After reading this...what you don't want to know  and this.....

I become panicked and add a more urgent prayer for my little farm or somewhere to garden and grow.........

and just so you know...I very rarely buy organic with the exception of our local farmers because there is probably not a lot of difference since the big food companies are now claiming and using the "organic" label...

What to do what to do..... if you haven't started researching what is in your food.....I would.....

Raw Milk....got some?

I think I have mentioned that I have a cow on order...yes...a cow...a miniature jersey dairy cow. 2013 is the lucky year, think Fiddler on the Roof, daughter walking the cow...size, that should be the size of our milk cows, not gargantuan mamas. But that is another story...one I hope to be sharing sooner then later.

Tonight I wanted to talk about about this story "Utah Creamery Hurt by incorrect journalism", all because of this story, Utans Sickened.  Along with this story, there were several local tv stations that followed the story. The story stating that almost a hundred people since 2009 had been sickened by salmonella from raw milk that a man made queso fresco (a mexican cheese) from, one station even stated that the milk was obtained from the Local Heber Valley Dairy......

Not true, not true, not true......

First, only 2 people have been definitely confirmed to have been sickened by the cheese from this man, and NONE of the milk, I repeat none of the milk from a Utah dairy selling raw milk has tested positive for salmonella, yet the Salt Lake Health Department implied that the salmonella, along with the tv stations, came from the raw milk..not the process in which the man was making the cheese.  They jumped to conclusions, on the band wagon or whatever you want to call it and went for the jugular on this small farm that has been in the same family for over a 100 years. The Heber Valley Milk has never tested positive for the food borne illness as the health department claimed...instead they clientele has been considerably hurt during the airing of these accusations.

The Health Department nor the tv station have bothered to retract what they said, instead saying that they never said that they were responsible....but they did say it, and now a small home grown farmer has been hurt.  A farmer that has put his blood, sweat and tears into this heard, a farmer that has carved out his place in he world.

This doesn't only happen here in Utah it also happening here and here. It seems to me that big government doesn't like independent farmers or that more people are realizing that the FDA and the Department of Agriculture have been and are selling them a bunch of...well you know....it comes from  cow too. Now you may say that I am a bit of a conspiracist, and you might be right, or....

I might just be an independent thinking person that does not need the government telling me how or when or what to eat.... and I totally do not agree with or condone the government acting as the thugs for big dairy as is such the case in man instances.  I believe the facts speak for themselves....raw milk, when safely and cleanly handled does not sicken or kill people as the government would have you believe and that raiding a amish farm only further convinces me that we must not simply swallow what the government tells us (about anything) without truly questioning their motives and those standing behind them.

I wish I had my cow now...I wish I had enough money to drive up every week and fill my suburban with raw milk to drink, make yogurt with, cheese and fresh cream.....but I can tell you that I will be visiting as often as I can to try The Heber Valley Farms fresh cheeses and milk.....to not only support a local farmer but because I also believe in the health promoting value of raw milk itself.

My cousins drank it, as did I when I was visiting.  I still remember going with my grandma t a local farm in Idaho, filling up the glass gallon jar and watching the cream rise to the top...and then hand whipping the cream to heavily dollop on our pancakes topped with applesauce.  UMMMMM....this is my favorite way to eat pancakes, though my husband hate it....he may not have even tried it yet.....baby.

The bottom line is raw milk is healthy for you.....now if I could just get to my farm earlier.

See ya at the Heber Valley Dairy

picture credit goes to TinstarHeritageFarm.com