Sunny Saturday

I don't know what happened but somewhere a few days ago I put up my 200th post.  I  was going to say something about it but forgot.  Kind of like I forgot to mention my 1st year anniversary in the the blogosphere last month.  Oh well, maybe next year right?

Things are moving right along at the Pioneer Living Homestead.  The onions are starting to come up and the potato's are peaking out of the dirt as well.  No signs yet of the carrots but I bet it won't be long.  Yesterday 3 different types of lettuce were planted.  Along with broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, spinach and pinto beans. There are 30 tomato plants set out and more to go in if I understand correctly.  I will have to take some pictures.  This garden is MASSIVE. I have never been involved with one this big and so its truly going to be an adventure.  Much more to plant in the next few days and weeks.
Mars made chicken and dumplings last night for dinner.  Well he got them started anyway.  Then he asked me "What about the dumplings"?  Since I was sitting at the computer chatting with a friend on IM, I went to my favorite recipe site looking for a easy and quick dumpling recipe.  Then it hit me.  Why in the world was I searching on a recipe site when I had a surefire answer just a few keystrokes away??  So I hit up my friend with the question and sure enough she had just the information I needed!  Easy and quick and bound to go into my food rotation now!  It took all of five minutes!

                          Egg Dumplings


1 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
Seasonings to taste. Salt pepper, herbs of your choice.

Drop them in the boiling liquid with a butter knife and cook till done, stirring occasionally so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan.
Excellent Chicken and dumplings for dinner last night.  Thanks Mars n MMpaints ( Self Sustained Living)Life is better when good food is added to the mix!

I need to get some bread started today. While I am at it I think some tortillas would be good.  Breakfast  tacos sound like a good Sunday morning start!  I'm finally back to not buying bread from the store now that we are settling in.  As a matter of fact I haven't been to town in about 10 days.  Wow!  Guess you can say I don't get out much these days.  To be honest, I am loving it.

The one thing I miss though is the old smoker pit Mars had in Texas.  It was just about worn out and so it didn't make the trip with us.  We are both huge fans of outdoor cooking.  Especially in the summer!  The only pit we have now is the little one Mars made a few years ago.  It's a cool pit and works wonderfully.  I suppose you could call it a two person pit.  Its just big enough for a  couple of steaks or a few burgers or whatnot.  It's also portable and has been on many trips with us!  With that being said, we don't have anything large enough to do things like ribs or whole chicken, etc...  Mars has an idea he wants to try and is planning to  build a smoker.  I can't wait to  see how that will turn out.

On another note, I will be contributing to the Oklahoma Preppers Network.  John (Pioneer Living) said that as I am now living in the state I should at least help out!  I told him its hard to get the Texas out of a Texan.  That's when I was reminded that we only live about 35 miles to the border!  So be sure to stop over and check it out if you get a chance.