Great Grey Owl

We had the privilege of seeing a great grey owl in our backyard today. He flew one way and then another. I was only able to capture this picture of him through our window.

Great Grey Owl

Looks like he’s looking right at me.

Since these owls don’t build their own nests, I wonder if he is using the nest of the falcon that was on our property before.

This owl mainly  feeds  on rodents. Yuck! When we bought our house, there were rodent traps already here. Our pest control company has come over twice and told us that the rodent food is being eaten. Well, now the owl can eat them also.

In Minnesota owls may not be shot, captured, transported, or owned without a permit. I don’t know who would want to do that to such a pretty creature.

In spite of all the bugs, I’m glad we live on a treed property where we have so much wildlife that visit us.

 

 

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Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

A friend of mine gave me this recipe a long time ago. I’m not sure where she got it from but it is delicious!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/4 cup oil
  • 1 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon soda
  • 3 cups of flour
  • 1 1/2 cup oatmeal
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup nuts (I usually make them without the nuts)
Directions
  1. In a mixer (or by hand) add one ingredient at a time into a large bowl and mix until thoroughly mixed through.
  2. Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.
  3. Bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit for approximately 10-12 minutes until light brown on the top.
Hope you enjoy them as my family surely does.
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The Stone Not Thrown

He admitted to committing a crime. Depression, embarrassment and fear all set in. “Will I lose everything and everyone around me”, he wondered. The thought made him cringe and he wanted to be alone.

But when love poured out from the people around him, he understood. How can I be so loved in spite of my weaknesses?

That question is one we all grapple with because we all have weaknesses. From murder to lying to stealing to selfishness – we all fall at one time in our lives. No wait. We all fall multiple times in our lives.

How do we treat all of fallen humanity? Will I extend my hand and lift a person up or will I cast the stone that sends them into a spiral of death?

The easy way would be to cast the stone. After all, we could reason, that they are deserving of death not life. And yet by throwing the stone, anger and hate build up in the soul.

Easy on the outside — devastating on the inside. That’s why society is so angry all the time. We seek revenge — an eye-for-an-eye.

Not casting the stone means we have to deal with the internal conflict that might arise — no, that does arise. Pain, resentment, questions that go unanswered, embarrassment, shame, betrayal — all rise inside of us and we slowly try to push them down.

The saying “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger” is not an easy one to swallow.

Seeing beauty in humanity makes my heart proud.

He admitted to committing a crime. And the response from the people around him was to lift him up out of his despair — unafraid to say “I love you in spite of what you may have done.”

Now — that’s love!

When they kept on questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” John 8:7 

(Jesus speaking as a crowd gathers to stone a woman caught in adultery)

 

 

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Cauliflower Curry

I found this recipe while reading a blog that I follow and thought I’d try it with a red lentil soup that he also posted. I’ve made a few changes (like less onion since I have a guest who doesn’t like onions).

Cauliflower Curry

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil*
  • 1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
  • 1/2 medium onion, minced*
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
  • 8 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger*
  • 1 tablespoon turmeric powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more, to taste)
  • pinch asafoetida powder
  • 1 large cauliflower cut into bite sized florets
  • 1/4 teaspoon garam masala*
  • 1/2 cup of water*
The * items are ones that I adjusted.
Directions
  1. Put the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the black mustard seeds. Cook, until they change color which is less than a minute. Then add the onion and salt and lower the heat to medium.
  2. Cook the onion for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until clear. Add the garlic and ginger then cook for another couple of minutes. Meanwhile, gather the turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne and asafoetida in a small bowl. Put the mixture of spices into the pot, stir, and immediately add the cauliflower.
  3. Toss the cauliflower with the spices, add 1/2 cup of water, and cover the pot loosely. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower is completely tender but not falling apart, 15 minutes or so. I added more than the original 1/4 cup of water so that we could have more sauce.
  4. Stir in the garam masala and taste. I tasted the dry garam masala and found it to be quite spicy for my taste so I put less in than the original recipe called for. Click here for the Wiki article on garam masala.
What I learned:
  • It’s okay to adjust the spices to one’s taste
  • The garam masala has similar ingredients as some of the other spices so if I had used the amount in the original recipe, it would have been too spicy for me
  • The spices lose some of their spiciness when cooked but don’t depend on that to happen. Add a little at a time if you’re not sure
Enjoy! You only live once.
Click here for original recipe
[amazon_link id=”B001VNOG5U” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Frontier Garam Masala Certified Organic, Salt Free Blend, 2-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 3)[/amazon_link]
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Indian Lentil Soup with Fenugreek

Occasionally, one of the people I follow on blogs will put a recipe on their site that I think sounds interesting. This one I liked because it has lentils in it.

Indian Lentil Soup

Finding red lentils in the Woodbury, MN area was not easy. I finally found them at a store called Kowalski’s. However, they were over $6. These are lentils that I won’t be wasting.

Hope you enjoy making the recipe. I took the liberty of doubling and spicing down the recipe so it will not match the original one.

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoon canola oil*
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1/2 jalapeno sliced, seeds out*
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 4 tablespoons garlic/ginger paste (or you can do 2 of each and mince your own)
  • 2 cups red lentils
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric
  • 4 tablespoons dried fenugreek (original recipe calls for fresh or spinach)*
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • Salt
Items * are ones that I adjusted (although I doubled the recipe also)
Directions
  1. Heat oil in a large pot. Add cumin and jalapeno. When cumin sizzles, add the onion and sauté on medium heat until the onion is soft. Add the ginger/garlic paste and cook 2 more minutes.
  2. Add the lentils and turmeric. Stir.
  3. Pour 6 cups of water into the pot and bring all to a boil.
  4. Reduce the heat and simmer until the lentils are cooked, about 15 minutes.
  5. Add the dried fenugreek and stir.
  6. When the soup is almost cooked through, add the lemon juice and salt to your taste. Stir again.
I served this on white rice with Gobi Masala aka Cauliflower Curry
What I learned:
  • If you cook the lentils too long, they become mushy, they don’t taste bad but are just mushy
  • This recipe really tastes good served over rice
  • Don’t be afraid to adjust the spices. Play, play and play
Enjoy!
Click here to view the original recipe.
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Coconut Oatmeal

A day for coconut oatmeal. This recipe is pretty simple as you add or subtract what you don’t want/like.

I started out with some Mom’s Best Quick Oats.

Mom's Beat Oats

My next ingredient? Coconut Dream Coconut Milk. Yum!

Coconut Dream Coconut Milk

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup oatmeal
  • 1 cup (enough to cover the oats) coconut milk
  • Dash of salt
  • Cinnamon (more or less depending on what you like)
  • Golden raisins
Directions
  1. In a small saucepan, add the oatmeal and coconut milk. Stir.
  2. Heat on medium low stirring occasionally.
  3. Add the salt and cinnamon. Stir.
  4. In a small bowl, add your raisins. Add hot water to the raisins to plump them.
  5. Continue stirring the oatmeal mixture until it starts to boil. Add more milk if the consistency is too thick for you. Once you have reached the right consistency, remove the oatmeal from the heat and pour it onto a plate.
  6. Drain the plumped raisins and add them to the oatmeal.
What I learned:
  • Experimenting with different kinds of liquid, ie soy, coconut, almond etc. is good — one never knows what they might like
  • Sweetened coconut flakes could be added if you wanted sweeter oatmeal
  • Adding raisins eliminated the need for adding sugar
  • One could add the raisins to the oatmeal while cooking instead of plumping them and adding them at the end — but then your raisins would taste “cooked” —  all a matter of preference.
Enjoy!
[amazon_link id=”B0058DW7OG” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Bangalla 85057 Imagine Foods Original, Unsweetened Cocounut Milk- 12-32 OZ[/amazon_link]
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Apricot Chicken Curry

I didn’t think I would like this recipe because of the “curry” in it but I changed the recipe a little bit to make sure it wasn’t too “curryish.” It was delicious!

Apricot Chicken Curry

Ingredients

  • 6 chicken drumsticks (the recipe called for 8 but I used 6)
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 cloves of minced garlic
  • 4 cups of Apricot Nectar
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder
  • 1 cup dried apricots
  • 1 large onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 large green bell pepper, roughly chopped
  • 4 carrots thinly sliced
  • 1 fresh poblano chile (original recipe asked for chile pepper)
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. After cleaning, season the chicken drumsticks with salt and pepper to your taste then set aside.
  3. Heat olive oil in a large oven-safe skillet over medium heat.
  4. Stir in the garlic and red pepper flakes and heat through until the garlic is soft, approximately 3 minutes. Place the seasoned drumsticks in the skillet and brown the chicken on all sides. About 5 minutes each side (turn occasionally so they don’t burn).
  5. Once the chicken is browned, put the skillet with everything in it in the oven.
  6. Bake the chicken until it is no longer pink – about 10-13 minutes.
  7. While the chicken is baking, bring the apricot nectar to a boil in a large pot over medium high heat. Reduce heat after boiling to medium low.
  8. Mix the cornstarch and water to make a paste.
  9. Add the cornstarch mixture and the curry powder into the apricot nectar.
  10. Add the dry apricots.
  11. Once the drumsticks are ready, remove them from the oven and add them to the apricot nectar mixture.
  12. Heat the skillet that the drumsticks were in over medium heat. (It should still have the pieces of garlic in it.)
  13. Add the onion, pepper, carrots and 1/4 of the diced poblano pepper to the skillet and stir until the onion softens.
  14. Add the vegetable mixture to the apricot mixture and stir.
  15. Cover the pot and simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
The original recipe calls for water chestnuts but I decided not to use them.

What I learned:

Even though the poblano pepper is considered a mild pepper, it is still hot! If you decide to cut the pepper and remove the seeds with your hands, please make sure you clean your hands thoroughly. After removing the seeds, I “tasted” the cut pepper and it had the flavor of the seed (hot!). Be careful when working with peppers.

Enjoy!

(The original recipe that I changed a bit is from allrecipes.com and can be found by clicking here.)

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Working In A Treed Lot

I bought my first pair of knee boots to work in the yard. I felt much more at ease working on our property as the tics couldn’t bite my toes. I still sprayed the rest of my body with repellant as we have many deer that have been frolicking around.

Boots

The Gorilla Cart that we bought worked really well as we moved the chopped wood that the previous owner of the house left us to a new woodpile that we made. I’m not sure we’ll have to chop any wood this year as we have so much throughout the property.

Gorilla Cart

We have a woodpile with lots of wood further back on our property where the deer like to sit. Our new woodpile is closer to the entry to our garage. Convenient to get to when the Minnesota weather turns cold. Not too close though! There is a driveway in between.

Woodpile

Covered with a brown tarp, one can hardly notice it’s there.

Now — when will I use that chain saw we bought?

[amazon_link id=”B004QAYWCC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Tricam GOR200B-T Gorilla 600 lb Capacity Dumping Cart, Black[/amazon_link]

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Garden Landscaping

I’m getting the itch to do more landscaping. I started in the front yard removing half of the grass. I have the other half of the front to do. Then, I will head to the backyard. So much clean-up to do there.

The deer like our property. Yesterday they were seen frolicking and a doe was having a dispute with a buck. One of the fawns got left behind. She spooked when we headed out to check on her and took off for the woods.

I signed up for a Minnesota library card. How exciting! The library is small but they have lots of computers. I’ll take pictures and post them at a later time.

I checked out my first Minnesota book — Landscaping for Dummies.

[amazon_link id=”0764551280″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Landscaping for Dummies[/amazon_link]

Unfortunately, as I read through some of it, it’s not specific enough for Minnesota so I’ll have to weed through what is relevant.

I fully expect it will take 4-5 years for our property to look the way I would like it to look.

 

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