Healthy Dog Food...

We love feeding our dog real food.....

 but let me tell you a story

Our dog has hip dyspepsia....
she was so bad a month ago we were wondering if she would recover she could hardly get up off the ground

We gave her the homeopathy remedy for three days  she is so much better it is hard to believe it is the same dog..

 we started again cooking her dog food a few years ago.  Rice, Eggs olive oil, and a small bit of really good dog food...


Here is a summary of  Rick Woodford top 10 foods you should be adding to your Dog's bowl.
I think they are great ideas...thanks Rick.

  1. Scrambled Eggs. one of the best sources of protein.  One egg replaces 1/5 of a cup of dry dog food but adds in high quality protein.  Got eggs high in Omega-3s?  Even better.

 2.  Fish.  little tuna fish or better yet sardines will add a powerful amount of Omega-3s to your dog's diet and also a good source of protein.

3. Chicken hearts gizzards.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes and you get the benefits of a nice meaty addition to a dog's bowl and a potent broth that will make tails wag.
Substitute an equal measure of dry food up to 1/4 of your dog's meal.

4. Yogurt. Just plain thank you.  Drizzle 1/2 teaspoon per 10 pounds of body weight in your dog's bowl for a nice topping with probiotic booster.

5. Green Stuff. A sprinkling of parsley mixed into dry food provides cancer fighting phytochemicals that are missing from commercial food.  Adding chopped spinach may help dogs refrain from poop eating.  Kale is a surprising favorite of many dogs, but it helps if you chop it up rather than feeding them a whole leaf. 

6. Pumpkin  Squash. When you're roasting these for your own dinner, set aside a little of the finished product before adding salt and pepper and you provide a nice dose of beta-carotene, fiber, potassium and selenium.  (Pumpkin seeds without all the salt and pepper added are also a source of Omega-3 fatty acids.) Pumpkin  Squashes are low in calories and help to keep a dog on a diet full. One tablespoon per 10 pounds of body weight is a nice amount to serve per day.

7. Blueberries. Antioxidant powerhouses that will turn your dog's tongue purple.  Sometimes dogs don't like the resistant skin, so cut them in half and add a couple per 10 pounds of body weight to your dog's bowl.

8. Roasted Beets. these are great on your salad or next to a roasted chicken on the dinner table. In the dog's bowl they also add a source of betalains, phytochemicals that have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and detoxifying properties. One teaspoon per 10 pounds of body weight will liven up the food bowl.

9. Carrots ; Green Beans. I hear more and more people that give their dogs baby carrots - which is great. But don't get stuck in the carrot rut.  Try fresh or frozen green beans, but avoid sodium packed canned green beans.

10. Cheerios as a training treat. They aren't greasy, they're low in calories and just as effective as cheese. Just use the plain kind, not the sugary laden variety.

Finnish Pancakes in cast iron skillet

We call this Kropsa but do not think that is the right Finnish

This one was cooked in cast iron pan...  10 inch.

This is so much better looking than this picture

Yummy

takes about 45 min in cast iron pan

35 min in 9x13 glass pan

so easy and so good.

Start by turning oven on 375

than take  butter  1/2 stick real butter and put in your pan 

and put in oven to melt while

you mix the rest of ingredients  in a bowl

3 eggs slightly beaten (farm fresh if available)

than add  3 cups of whole milk

mix in

1 1/2 cups flour ( I use unbleached white flour)

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

mix together with whisk...than

Pour on top of  melted butter

this rises real high but when you take it out of oven it falls

but it tastes so yummy with

real maple syrup on top...

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Drying Spinach for Smoothies and soup

Drying Spinach:

We buy spinach almost every time we go to town.  Love that baby spinach.
One week  we forgot it in the bottom of my frig and had to throw most of it out. What a waste....... not only a waste of money but a waste of nutrition.

Yesterday a thought popped into my head of pulling out the food dryer and putting the rest of this weeks in the food dryer for our smoothies and soup. We dry our own in the fall.......and also Swiss Chard.

This work wonderful.......
Wash you spinach.....
Put on tray
Plug it in
and in about 12 hours or less.....you have dried spinach.  Which may keep for many many
This is kind of a dark picture.  But 20 years or so we bought this food drier at a tag sale.
It has been one of the most  used things we have every bought.

We dry herbs, leeks, (which dry wonderful) blueberries. strawberries, apples,
squash, most things can be powdered after.  We use a coffee

My store bought spinach.  Not throwing it away now.

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Yesterday's Smoothie

(which was really one of the best ones yet)

Dried Blueberries hand ful 

a bit honey

Filli or Yogurt about a cup

2 bananas 

handful of fresh spinach

about 20 frozen strawberries

some milk...either coconut or real milk. 

mmmmmmgood...

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God is good.............all the time

All the time God is good.............

Gifts given

Food dryer

spinach

electric

farmers.

So thankful ,

Coconut Milk (Make your Own) But do not be like me........read thedirections

Now this is the most simple recipe ever.....did I do it right?  Nope

But it is great......Frugal and you know what is in it..
 Make you own

Coconut Milk

• 2 cups coconut shreds  bought at the organic Health store.  No sulfites... :)
• 3 cups water if you’re using the blender method which I did

Method:

1. Place shreds in a medium mixing boil
2. Bring water to a near boil, then pour over the shreds and mix. Allow mixture to return to lukewarm/room temp.....  (which I did not do but should have.)
3.  place in a blender for 60 seconds.
4. Scoop mixture into a mesh bag and squeeze the milk into a medium bowl. Don’t waste those shreds! Repeat the process one more time  with the same coconut and then dry them to make your own coconut flour. Which is great if you are gluten free...

OK now what not to do.....
When I made this coconut Milk this morning the part I didnt do cause I read it somewhere on line and thought I could remember it......it was so simple see.
I did not....  let the mixture return to lukewarm or room temp...   I my hurry 

I put it in the blender and turned it on high and whooaaaaaaa   boiling water came flying out down my arm...ouch....

SO Lesson learned....  read the directions good..........  :) 

Number two I did not do.......only used One heaping cup of Coconut....oops...
So have to do it again today.  
Made a smoothie with what I did make....(the weak Milk ) and must say it was very very good---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you Lord for the internet where we can find almost anything in the world in a split second.
It is like having the world's library at your fingertips...You know I could spend days at the library and spend way to much time on the internet.  Help me Lord....Help Me.

My great friend Sept send me the very funny video... have to share it for a good laugh.
This was truly a wedding everyone will remember.... Waffly wedded wife
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Gifts for today
laughter
Sabbath
Spinach seeds..........fish......lettuce
blender........and the promise of Spring.....  

God is good.............all the time

All the time God is good.................

Making dog food.... OUR: Springer Spaniel lab meet Nyla

Making Dog Food
1/3rds is what I am doing

1/3  of Qunioa or rice
1/3 lbs of ground blended Vegtable frozen green beans, carrots, NO ONIONS
1/3 pound ground turkey or eggs for a cheaper protein.

http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/12/how_to_make_homemade_dog_food.html
is where I took my portions.

I have made it for years and always used different portions.  I put a small amount of flax in ours and some cheap olive oil for her coat.

If we do not blend the vegetables our dog gets sick..

not a pretty site.
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Gifts given
our animals
snow
warm blankets

God is good all the time................
    all the time God is good.

Peace makes the final decision...Even if I don't understand why...
Follow Peace.......
Let God have His way in your life............my prayer ...

Finnish Yogurt, Viili or Filia From Finland

Our neighbor Aunnie Juntinen and her family is from Finland. She is 100% Fin.  She is a wonderful neighbor.  

  She has always had Filia which is a like a yogurt brought from Finland by her friends and relative.   it is also called viili. 

 She gets a fresh start when they come here almost every year. She drinks it everyday and she is an amazing older women who is as sharp as a tack.  Talking with her is like taking a travel back in time.  

OK here is the very hard recipe. (Aunnie told me yesterday In a bowl it is called Filia and if it is in a jar they call it pina )

1 filia start  (1 cup of filia from finland)

When you get down to about a cup left.  Put it in a clean canning jar. Fill it with WHOLE milk. Than put the lid on and shake it up....

 Why this has not caught on in America is beyond me.  It is the easiest thing in the world to make.......and no Yogurt maker needed.

I like this in a smoothie,  LJ likes it in a bowl with fruit.So much better and cheaper than buying yogurt from the store.  









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God is good all the time



Though out our years living in the UP we have  ask her for a start to make this which she so generously shares with us. We got a fresh start last week... This time I am not going to let it spoil.  Or at least try not too.



Filia:It has a very thick velvety texture.  The best thing about this is you just put it in a quart jar and let it set overnight on the counter or the warmest part of your kitchen and in the morning you have fresh Filia.  


put it in clean quart jar...........I use a canning jar
add to the top of jar whole milk.(.Aunnie says it has to be red cap milk..which is whole milk up here.)
Put lid on shake it up and let set warm spot overnight.

They like to fill the older jar with the milk first shake it up and than transfer it to the clean new jar.one cup of start leftNow that was hard right?  :)   
Always keep the last cup. This is your start for the new batch.  


The texture is hard for me to eat..but it is great to drink makes a wonderful smoothie and this is sooooooooooooooooo good for you.

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The finished product.

Thankful for the gift of 
Cows
Milk
Canning Jars...

All the time God is good..............  

Mush for breakfast. Very Frugal Breakfast.

My dad was from a family of seven kids.  I always thought that was a lot........till we moved up here.  Lots of familys up here come from 10-12 brothers and sisters.
Now thats alot...... but big familys are wonderful.  My dad said they were raised on cornmeal for breakfast.  My grandma fixed it for the kids and what was left they put in pan and let it set up for fried mush the next morning.
My Uncle Stanley loved this with ketchup........ We love it with Maple Syrup...

We also broil ours and do not fry it..(It seems a tad healther this way....but it is better tasting fried in butter.  YUM YUM

Corn meal mush.
3 cups water
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tesp salt

Very frugal breakfast
In a medium saucepan, heat water to boiling. Reduce heat to medium; stir in salt and cornmeal. Cook, stirring regularly, until mixture is thick.2.Spoon cornmeal mixture into a lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight.3.In the morning, melt butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Slice cornmeal mush into 1/2 inch to 1 inch wide slices. Cook in melted butter until brown.  I like mine crisp.

This is my breakfast this morning.

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Three Gifts

Maple syrup

corn 

Bacon

thankful

God is good all the time

All the time God is good

This is a Cheesey story......Making justo. Finnish squeaky Cheese

Corrected directions below.:

 Grandson Craig and Andrea came over to make Finnish Juusto yesterday
 squeaky cheese we also call it.

We had "Whey" to much fun...
Our history of Juusto.....
Now about this Cheese thirty some years ago we made it all the time.

Pouring curds in strainer

Finnish Cheese

When we  moved to the farm in the 70's we wanted a cow for milk. Lj wanted a Guernsey but we could not find one.
So we bought this Holstein cow. Have you ever heard of a Holstein for a family cow????  NOT
We were getting somewhere between 6-7 gallons or more of milk a day......Now that is a lot of milk for a family of five.

We made butter, made Yogurt....made ice cream, cottage chesse, and Juusto...
We moved into Finnish land  We had wonderful Finnish people all around us who were eager to share their Heritage

So since we have not had the cow for years.....(many years)  we have not made this for a long long long time.   Well really I did not think you could make it with store milk.

Talking with our neighbor next door.  Aunie shared with me that she made it all the time with her son for years with RED cap milk from the store.
RED CAP meaning whole milk.

I had a recipe yet we made on the farm but she told me how she made it and it was some what different.  So we made it her version.

Now on to Cheese.....

Fri night after a trip to town LJ and I thought we would do a run of it.  Now LJ loves loves loves this cheese.  He was beaming at the thought of making it.

It turned out great but it seems after making it once on Fri and twice on Sat it just keeps getting better.   We are getting this right.
Ok now on to the the Cheese

After it set for 45 min.  (my neighbor just keeps stirring hers at this point)

We put two gallons of milk in a stainless steel pan and let it get warm. Just lukewarm.  We are thinking 90 degrees was the best temp.  Put it on a plate warmer when you warm it on stove.    You must keep stirring.  You can not scorch the milk
 well you can.......
                       but then it is not any good for cheese.  Or anything else...

The last batch we put the cheese into a clean old white pillowcase...It worked "whey" better than the other two times . We squeezed it which was wrong.....   Once with strainer and once with Cheese cloth.   we did end up and put it from the pillowcase into cheesecloth.  It had lots and lots of "whey" over a gallon and 1/2.

Craig and Andrea scooping curds into strainer

Craig gently squeezing pillow case with cheese over a strainer and bowl which

caught the whey.  This is the step we did wrong  do not squeeze......... 

mmmmmmmmmmmm good...  Craig cutting some Cheese....  :)

OK now recipe we used

2 gal milk lukewarm...

In bowl put

4 Tabspoons salt

1 Tabspoon sugar

1 Tablespoon corn starch

 add 1 cup of Milk and stir in bowl till mixed very well. slowly add

to big pan of lukewarm milk. Stir very well

than take rennet tablet and crush it and add a little less than 1 tablespoon of water

In 45 min take a large knife and cut cheese curds in pan.

Like tic tac toe but many more.

Let sit a hour more.

Pour cheese in strainer, or cheesecloth and let the whey drain out. We put strainer in a big stainless steel bowl...take by handful and put in 10 inch pie pan...

We used a 10 inch cast iron pan  We used turkey basters, ladles to take out more whey.

We than put it in oven on broil  top shelf and watch it like a hawk. 

 Put broiler pan below cause the whey may run over into pan below.

Than we flipped it over buttered and salted the top and popped it back into the oven and browned it.......... it came out wonderful. You can sit down and eat a whey............:)

We love eating this hot......Our neighbor Arvo Hakkola used to put it in his coffee.

LJ likes it warmed up in Micro wave......Yummy

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Three gifts:

family

cheese

milk 

Making You own Laundry Soap

Today is Soap making day........

This soap is amazing and is very frugal to use and make

It really does clean the clothes.

Homemade Laundry Soap

1 bar Fels Naptha

1 cup washing soda

½ cup borax powder

You will also need a 5 gallon bucket

Grate the soap (can use grater or I used a potato peeler) and add slowly to 6 cups of boiling water in a sauce pan. heat it until the soap melts. add 1 cup of the washing soda(not baking soda) and 1/2 cup of borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Add three gallons of very hot water to mixture and stir. Let sit 24 hours. I am going to bottle mine up in empty gallon jugs. Write on the jug Laundry soap so no one tries to drink it... Keep in laundry room.

This is the Fels Naptha boiling in the pot................

God is good ..................................all the time...

BLT Pizza yes thats Bacon Lettuce and Tomato Pizza

This is sinfully good
bake pizza crust
cook bacon
put 1/2 cup Miracle Whip
cut up lettcue
cut up tomatoes we threw on a bit of spinach.
yum yum

Donna's Dip...............These Texan's love it..

Tonight for movie time I am going to make my DIL ,s  great dip............................. again.

  It has always been a personal favorite of LJ"S.

 Dil spoils him and makes it often when we go to their home.

Everyone really likes it here. 

We have been blessed with great DIL's. 


ok now

 Yummy great dip.

In the bottom of a 9x13 pan spred
1 big block of soft cream cheese.  (8 oz)
1 Can of Hormel Chili
A can of small diced Chili's
top with 2 cups of Mexician Cheese
Put in 300 degree oven till cheese melts.
Serve with Resturant Chips... or chip of choice...

Taco Soup

Taco Soup

I am writing this here so I don't lose it....  :)

but feel free to try it..........NOT YOU ANNA you don't like Beans

TACO SOUP

1   1/2 pds hamburger brown
1 can hominy (yellow )
2 cans of pinto  (1 can Jalapeno, 1 can reg)
1 can Ranch style beans
2 cans of diced tomatoes  (1 of them Rotel tomatoes)
3/4# of Velveeta cheese
little water.


I want to thank you who have written comments I didn't think to respond there after the comment but now I do...:)
so sorry....
Yes Dennis and Carol are next to us...we may be parting ways soon in Feb
We are not sure where we are going  maybe an Army Corp park.  but not sure
We have thought about going down to the Valley to Bibleville
or maybe going and finding a place by my cousins  in San Antonio we are uncertain.  To cold to go home -4 this am.... 

Please say a prayer for George Reimer and his family, his daughter died yesterday.  May she rest in peace.  She loved the Lord and was a great lady.   George and his wife have  lost two daughters now.  Losing a child is one of the hardest painful things one can go through.  We are thinking of you George and here is a virtual hug....  love ya...

Hot Pepper Crackers......and they are really good

One box of good Saltine crackers (not generic)
place on edge in airtight container
mix in a container
1 1/3 cups of Canola oil.. ( has to be canola this can be generic if you so chose)
1 pack of dry ranch dressing  (not dip)
2 Tablespoons of crushed dried red pepper
mix well pour over crackers , cover, turnover every 20 or 30 min.
they are best next day...
mmmmmmmmmmm I forgot to ask him if you have to stay up all night and flip them....(smile)
I think we flipped them when ever anyone thought of it... :) then  ate  almost all of them...




God is good...................all the time

Frugal Meals and Yummy

A favorite frugal dinner is Beef Shepherd's Pie.
it quick and easy to fix, very filling and absolutely DELICIOUS!
It's a very simple recipe, that is adjustable to not only what you have on hand for veggies and spices, but also to your family size.

Here's how I make it for us, and it lasts a few meals for us.

Beef Shepherd's Pie.
Brown and season your ground beef,
. Peel and cook potatoes, for mashed potatoes. do between 6 and 9 decent sized potatoes.spread your ground beef on the bottom.
Then put in a bag of any frozen vegetable mix or 2 cans of whatever veggies you have on hand, (we like corn... )
Mix the meat and the veggies together so that it's all evenly spread out.
Once your potatoes are done, you're going to mash them ....
spread it evenly over the top of the meat and veggie mixture
. in the oven at 350 degrees until the potatoes are slightly golden, 20 minutes or so. I like putting this in a pie pan. Or round casserole dish...
Another frugal meal my grandma made...

One Man's Dish

1 pound of browned hamburger

2 cloves of garlic
Onions sliced thin

6 - 8 peeled and sliced carrots

4 - 5 peeled and sliced potatoes

Salt and pepper

1 can stewed tomatoes

6 oz of water

Turn on high and leave for 3-4 hours.
It's great with Baker Boys homemade bread.

Cleaner Frugal

This is a cleaner we have used. I do not want to lose the recipe I just found it after five years . so I am writing it here so I do not lose it again. Everything in one spot..(simple?) (smile)
Oxygen cleaner
1/2 cup soda
1/2 cup peroxide
1 cup hot water.