Rural Roots Ranch

November Meal Plan

For those of you who like to meal plan, here is what my November meals will look like.

My family likes big breakfasts and don’t like to experiment much on new recipes. So you will find eventually that a lot of our meals are similar. But, for now, I’m going to try a bunch of new recipes which I have pinned on Pinterest.

Also, when my husband is away for work, we tend to make simpler meals and the kids’ favorites.

A shopping list and links to the recipes are below. I usually try to plan my meals a couple months out, so when I head to the big city, I can stock up on all the ingredients I need.

Here is a PDF version if you wish to download and print: november-2016-meal-plan

If you find your leftovers are piling up in the fridge, don’t be afraid to cross off a day here or there to eat those leftovers. My family tends to eat them up mostly for lunch, so we have very few. Plus, I don’t like leftovers, so I don’t make much extra.

Shopping List:
Week Nov 1-5:	Week Nov 6-12:
40 eggs	50 eggs
8 cups Milk	13 cups Milk
8 Hot Dogs	19 cups flour
2 bxs Mac & Cheese	3 cups sugar
8 Hot Dog Buns	~ 16 cups oil
1 head Lettuce	3 TBsp baking powder
2 bags Chocolate Chips	5 tsp salt
13 cups Flour	12 slices bread
3/4 cups Oil	3 cups butter
~ 2 TBsp Baking powder	syrup
~ 2 cups Sugar	3 cups brown sugar
6 Yogurts	2 cups Powdered sugar
1 loaf Bread	1 lb sausage
1/2 lb Bacon	1 lb bacon
1 lb Sausage	cereal
Canned/Fresh Pears	Oatmeal
1pkg Spaghetti Noodles	6 yogurt
2 cups Rice	pears/fruit
2 cups Peas	2 lbs Ground beef
3 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese	2 1/2 to 3 1/2 lbs Chicken pieces
1 cup Parmesan Cheese	Chips/corn tortillas
~ 2 1/2 cups Butter	Tortillas
1 TBsp Garlic Salt	3 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 TBsp Onion Powder	1 head lettuce
Pizza Fixings	2 tomatoes
Cereal	olives
Oatmeal	Salsa
Syrup	3- 4 lb Pork Roast
1 TBsp Himalayan Pink Salt	2 cups Rice
1 TBsp Liquid Smoke	2 cups Broccoli
3-4 lb Pork Roast	Noodles
1 lb ground beef	4 1/2 lbs Halibut
3 tsp Salt	2 cups Panko
1 TBsp Yeast	3 TBsp Garlic Salt
2 tsp Vanilla	3 TBsp Onion Powder
1 pkg or 1/4 cup Spaghetti Seasoning	Salt
1 6oz can tomato paste	36 Tator Tots
1 Chocolate Cake Mix	1/2 cup Diced Ham
1 tsp Baking Soda	1/2 cup Diced Peppers
	1 1/2 cups carrots
	1 1/2 cups corn
	2 cloves garlic
	8 green onions
	2 cans Cream of Mushroom
	4 cans Cream of Potato Soup
	1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper
	3-8 oz Cream Cheese
	Salt
	4 pkgs or 4 TBsp Yeast
	3 TBsp Cinnamon
	1/2 cup Cornmeal
	1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
	1/4 cup Sour Cream
	1 cup cottage Cheese
	16 oz wide egg noodles
	Pepper
	1 pkg or 1/4 cup Taco Seasoning
	2 tsp Vanilla
	Applesauce
	1 Onion
	2- 8 oz Tomato Sauce
	Paprika
	Celery Salt
	Ground Ginger
	Dried Thyme
	Oregano
	2 Cups Apple Pie Filling
	Cream of Tarter
	2 cups Green Beans
	6 Yukon Gold or Russet Potatoes
	1/2 cup Sweet Relish
	2 TBsp Mustard
	1 Cucumber
	2 cups Miracle Whip

Recipes:

Pizza & Cheesy Bread Sticks

Kuala Pork

Halibut Chowder

Dutch Pancakes

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Waffles

Pancakes

French Toast

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Brownie Cookies

Omelet Breakfast Bites

Halibut Chowder

Rolls

Fried Chicken

Cinnamon Rolls

Beefy Noodle Casserole

Halibut Strips

Snickerdoodles

Apple Pie Bars

Gram’s Potato Salad

For the Wee Ones!

Over the last couple of years, my extended family has exploded: in a good way! Many of my cousins are now starting their families. It’s been my goal to gift to them a knitted sweater and small quilt with each new arrival. So far, I’ve been pretty good about getting it done!

My current work in progress is a sweater I found on Ravelry. It is one of my favorite websites to go to for free knitting and crocheting patterns. The other is Lion Brand Yarn.

The pattern is called Wee Peanut. It has a simple 4 stitch cable pattern down the front. Hopefully, I’ll have enough extra yarn to make a matching hat.

20161017_144350

I love the color I chose! But red is also one of my favorite colors! The body of the sweater is almost done, then I will move to the sleeves.

I think I need to spend some time creating my own knitting patterns. There are a lot of beautiful stitches to use to make baby sweaters. My sister-in-law just had her baby which is a preemie and I’ve had a hard time finding patterns that are sized for preemies. I would make sure my patterns cover a wide range of sizes.

Rabbits Love Additions too!

When we got the kids their rabbits back in June, my sister-in-law and I built their hutch/house inside the chicken house. I thought it would be better protected for them against predators and the weather.

However, I’ve felt sorry for them that they could not enjoy the outdoors unless my children brought them out. We prop the door open and crack the window, so they could get fresh air and sunshine, but it didn’t seem like enough. So yesterday, I took it upon myself to build them an addition or porch if you will. Our middle son, who practically lives with the animals, was a big help!

Their interior pen is 2 ft by 4 ft and 18 inches tall. I choose to make the exterior pen 2 ft by 4 ft and 16 inches tall. I used all scrap wood from demoing the sun porch off our house.

Since the rabbits are light weight little guys and gals, I took the 2×6’s and ripped them down with the table saw into 2×2’s. We then built the bases by cutting the 2×2’s into 24 in lengths and 45 in lengths. These we screwed together to make a frame. I added another 45 in board down the center to support the wire. With their indoor pens, I place a board across the center at 24 in and it did not seem like enough support.

I built one frame for the top. Because I only had enough pieces to make two short pieces, I cut two at 20 1/2 in and placed them at 16 ” on center instead of one 45 in down the length.

After we got the three bases built, we stapled the 1/2 in by 1/2 grid wire onto them. The wire is 24 inches wide, so we cut it to fit our 48 in length. Make sure you cut off all the little pointy ends, so your rabbit does not injury itself.

Next, I cut 14 in spacer boards for the four corners of the bases and attached them by screwing up from the bottom of the bases.

Then, I stacked the frames with their spacer boards one at a time on top of each other. As I did so, I screwed down from the base frames at a slight angle next to the spacer board, so it would attach into the bottom spacer board.

Once completed, I had a nice stack!

Now, we headed out the rabbit/chicken house and cut the doors for the rabbits to go in and out of their interior house to their porch. Please remove your rabbits from your pens before you do this if you have not.

Cutting these little doors was probably the hardest part of building the whole addition. I measured to make sure the pens would line up with their interior pens. Then I marked 6×6 in square holes and cut them with a skill saw. I used a saws-all to cut through to the corners. So my holes would line up, I took a drill from the outside and drilled a hole through the interior layer of OSB at the 6×6 corners. I then took the skill saw to the interior side of the house and cut these out. Again using the saws-all to finish up the corners.

Finally, we can attach the pens to the side of the building. I used my handy dandy lifts (AKA my kids) to help me align and hold the pens to the side of the building. I then attached them to the side of the building by screwing through the 45 in base boards and 14 in spacer boards that came in contact with the building. I tried to place a screw whenever possible where there was a stud. The kids helped me level these so they were plum using a 4 ft level and then I tacked a support board on the outer-side that rested on the ground.

For the sides of the cage, I decided I wanted to use chicken wire. And we happen to have some left over from the chicken run. It is 6 ft tall, so I cut it to length, which ended up being 8 ft. Because my pen is only 4 ft tall, I was able to fold over two feet for the top. We pulled this snug and stapled it using small wire staples.

With the wire in place, I secured the corner supports by screwing them into the bases of each pen.

This took us about 5 hours to build. And it’s well worth it! The rabbits seem to have perked up a bit and really enjoy it. My youngest gets a kick out of the rabbits popping out of their holes to come outside. It makes him giggle! I tried to take a picture of it and of course they would not cooperate when you want them to.

Oh, I was also going to mention that on the interior pens we used oil drip pans for the collection of their droppings and such. It seems to work okay. They are a little flimsy. The older kids handle them well, but they are a bit large for my daughter.

Wheelbarrow to Sleigh

One of my creative outlets is designing book covers for eBook and print books. It also helps to bring in a little spending money. Several years ago, I took a photography course by Amy Earle. In the class, she also gave us an intro to Photoshop Elements. Thus, began my playing with family pictures. A family member asked me to try a hand at creating covers for her books and I did. And so it began!

Probably the most difficult and time consuming aspect of designing covers is finding images similar to what you are looking for to manipulate. When this happens and when possible, I recruit family or friends to pose. 🙂

This week, the cover I’m designing is for a mystery where they find a dead man in a sleigh pulled by a dog. Try finding a dead man in a sleigh on a stock images website. Ha! I had no luck. So! I dressed my eldest son up in the required clothing for the scene, and had him lay in a wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow was the closet shape I could find similar to the sleigh the author was wanting on their cover.

sleigh-canstockphoto2389034 — Sleigh image courtesy of Canstockphoto.com

Above is the sleigh, I had to put him in.

yuletide-slaying

What do you think?

Yuletide Slaying will be out this coming holiday season. You can check out more of Paty’s books at her website.

If you’re interested in looking at my portfolio, check it out! I’d love your feedback!

Full Bath: Part II

First, make sure you fill all those little waffle squares with mortar. Then, add another layer on top with your trowel grooves. Set your tile. It’s recommended when you lay your tile out you start from the center of the room, so it appears that the tiles run under the walls. Mr. Roots and I have done this a few times and find on most projects it wastes a lot of tiles and you really don’t notice a difference. So in this room I started along the long wall and at the entrance of the bathroom. I worked a few rows down the wall, then moved over to the tub and toilet, and then out the door. This way I didn’t find myself trapped on the other end of the bathroom when I was done.

I wait about 6 hours for the tiles to get set. Then I go through and pull out all the spacers and use a screw driver to remove all the extra mortar from the joints. I vacuum out the crumbs of mortar with a shop vac. I find this a lot easier than trying to do it 24 hours later when it is all set-up.

After 24 hours, you can now grout your joints. The thickness of your grout should resemble peanut butter, but again, please follow the directions on your bag. It could vary depending on brand. When filling the joints, I first press it in at an angle and then drag the tool along the joint to remove any excess.

The key here is don’t grout any more space than what it takes you 15-20 minutes to do. Once you’ve grouted for 15-20 minutes, you need to then go back and whip down with a wet sponge what you have grouted to remove the excess before it adheres to the tiles. I got carried away on this bathroom and grouted more than I should have and now I have grout remaining on my slate that will not come off. Also, it is recommended to seal slate tiles before you grout them. You can also seal them before you mortar them in place. We did not do this in our cottage and had wonderful results (we didn’t know any better). But these tiles must have been more absorbent, because they soaked it all up! Thus, when we did our arctic entry a week later, we sealed the slate tiles first. MUCH better results!!

Once you’ve finished the room. Let the tiles sit for 2-3 hours. Then go it and clean up all your joints well and wash down the tiles. It’s best to avoid walking on the tiles for 24 hours. Yes, I know….you have to wash on them to clean them, but keep the extra feet off if you can so it does not affect your joints.

20160927_143642_resized — Tile and Grout Sealant

Now you can seal your tiles and grout. The seal we used is kind of like a wax. You put it all on the floor and it dries in 2 hours. The jug recommends 2 to 3 coats. Put the trim back in place and tah-dah!! It’s complete! Well…sorta…LOL. I want to add some pictures on the wall and shelves above the toilet, but the floor is done anywho.

Arctic Entry which we sealed the tiles so no grout on tiles.

20160912_181325 — Bathroom floor with grout on tiles.

Soon I’ll post about our utility closet transformation into a master bath with a tiled walk in shower!

Happiness and Life in a Box

Happiness and life arrived at our house this morning with a phone call at 6:55 am! Cute little fuzzy chicks from McMurray Hatchery. These little gals and a couple guys will start our laying flock next spring.

Unfortunately, we had several pass away due to cold weather arriving a little earlier than anticipated. But those that are alive are peppy and eating and drinking well. We’ve always had a good outcome with McMurray. We’ve tried some closer/smaller hatchery’s with not very good success. McMurray usually replaces the chicks or will credit/refund us for the lost chicks, as they are in this case.

It will be fun to see what these little gals grow into. We ordered White, Brown, and Silver Leghorns; Blue Andalusians; Black Stars and Araucanas.

Enjoy the cuteness!

Full Bath: It’s not perfect, but it’ll do!

Our full bath needed a little updating. It’s been a slow but steady process.

First, I painted the walls. What do you think of my Mossy Gold (the green accent wall)? To 60’s/70’s? I know, odd, but I like it! The main color we use throughout our house is called Dessert Floor. They’ve got some creative people coming up with the names of all these paint colors. I love color! But you sure have to be imaginative with some of the names I’ve seen.

Next, we decided the vinyl flooring had to go. We bought slate 12×12″ tiles from Lowes. We used it in our cottage we built a couple years ago and loved it! I like the rustic feeling it gives.

To start, I pulled up the vinyl. That glue is no fun! I ended up using a drywall blade to scrap along the floor to get all the glue and vinyl up. A few times, I enlisted the kids to help by pulling on the vinyl while I scrapped and shoved the blade under it. I’m glad it was only a small space.

Now you can either put down concrete board or we like to use the Schluter-DITRA Mat. It’s suppose to be stronger and keep a better bond with the tiles because of all the little columns of mortar to hold it together. It looks like an orange waffle. We think it feels softer when you walk on it than the concrete board.

I dry fit the pieces in place using a utility knife to cut the mat. Make sure to cut out for your toilet drain! 🙂

Follow the instructions on your bag of mortar to get the right consistency for the job. The mortar should be thick enough when you trowel it on it leaves the groves, but wet enough it will adhere to the mat. I tend to make mine a little on the thinner/wetter side and Mr. Roots on the thicker/dryer side. I think it also depends on what you like to work with. We’ve done quite a bit of tiling, but it always seems like we learn something new every time. Most projects seem to be that way! There is always room for improvement.

Onto laying the mat. Press the mat into the mortar. They recommended using a weighted roller. I just grabbed a box of the slate tiles and slide it around on the mat. Nothing like 50lbs of slate to squish everything in place. Seemed to work well.

You don’t have to wait for the mat to dry before you start laying your tiles. So either dive right in and start laying mortar for the tiles or take a break and start again tomorrow.

I choose to get started right away on the tiling since I already had the mortar mixed up. Keep an Eye out for Full Bath: Part II to see how I lay the tiles.

Bringing Home Blueberries Instead of a Moose

We spent the first two weeks of August off the Elliot Highway near Fairbanks, Alaska trying to hunt down a moose. Both boys were fortunate enough to draw tags for a Youth Hunt. But due to usually wet weather, the moose were not down low in the valleys. The extra rain made it impossible to cross the rivers safely to get to the high country.

So, we spent the rest of our time hanging out with our wonderful friends who are like extended family and picking blueberries. And let me tell you….there were blueberries. Everywhere!!! I should have took a picture of the tundra covered with low bush blueberries, but was to engrossed in my picking. Not only were there blueberries, but beautiful bright red low bush cranberries and black crow berries. I brought home 37 cups of blueberries and our friends froze 8 gallons. These were picked in a little over 3 hours.

I decided to make Jam from ours and didn’t want to use commercial pectin. I headed to my Little House Cookbook for a recipe. As you can tell is well loved and used.

First, I washed the berries and put them in my 12 quart pan. You can see the few low bush cranberries I picked. They were so pretty it was hard to leave them on the bush till they are ripe. Their bitterness will add pectin to my jam and help it to set up. The book recommends that you pick 50% ripe fruit and 50% green to have plenty of pectin. My berries were all very ripe.

Because I have 16 lbs of berries, I added 12 lbs of sugar. This worked out to be around 24 cups. The cookbook states a pound per pound ratio is best, but after doing a little research online, I thought I’d try a 3:4 ration of sugar to berries.

For a few years, I was a Tupperware consultant and purchased the pan and many others that you see. It was an investment, but one I never regret. I LOVE my pans!

You want to cook the berries over medium to high heat, but be careful not to burn or scorch them. The key is to get it to a boil quickly to evaporate off the moisture and not kill the pectin. The longer you have to cook the jam the less natural pectin you will have. I made the mistake of slowly bringing my jam to a boil. It tastes wonderfully, but is just a little thinner than I would like. It took me about three hours to boil down my jam. You want to cook the jam until it reaches 222*F or passes the sheeting test. I watched a few videos online about testing for sheeting and did not have much success at it. I would really like to perfect this method for the future. In the days of Laura Ingalls, they did not have handy candy thermometers to make sure there jam was at the right stage for setting up.

While the jam was boiling down, I put the lids and bands in a saucepan and boiled them.

I also put the jars in the oven on the keep warm setting which happens to be 180*F on my oven. This brought them up to temperature for adding the jam and also sterilized them. I had wash the jars in the dishwasher the day prior as well.

Don’t forget your cup of hot chocolate! Making jam made it seem like fall, so I had me a cup. Not a coffee drinker, but received this cup for a Christmas gift and it’s one of my favorites.

Once the jam has boiled down and is ready, either by checking with the sheeting technique or 222*F, you can put it into put in the jars. I noticed on my jam that on the edges of the pan it created a thin layer which was hardening when it was ready.

Fill the jars to about 1/4 inch of the rim. I prefer to fill it just below the bands. Using a cup measure to scoop into the jars and a funnel seemed to work pretty well.

Place the jars in the canner which has been brought to a boil and simmering. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Whala! Your jam is done. You can hear the gasses expanding in the jars at the beginning of the canning process and once you pull off the lid of the canner and place them on a towel or rack to cool again, the jars will click as they seal. Be sure to label your jars.

I now have 18 beautiful pints of jam sitting on my pantry shelf!

The Moose are BACK!!

As you’ve probably guessed from the title of my blog today, I’m a little excited the moose are back! Last summer, we had the pleasure of watching them up until October and then hadn’t seen any on our place since. Well, last week they started moseying through our place again!

They are some of the most interesting animals to watch. And BIG! They have odd shaped heads with really long legs and barrels for bodies. Our Alaska moose are some of the biggest and a bull moose can reach upwards of 1,300 lbs and stand 6 1/2 ft tall at the shoulder. We got to watch some of last years calves go down on their knees to get a tasty morsel because their legs are so long and next short they could not reach it otherwise.

Moose are browsers, they do not graze on grass, but rather prefer eat birch trees, shrubs, and brush. They grab hold of a branch and strip the tree of it leaves. Moose also like to fish for tender aquatic plants.

Moose are great swimmers! They have been know to dive underwater to reach plants on lake bottoms. Their unique nose is equipped with fatty pads and muscles that close the nostrils when exposed to the pressure of the water which prevents water entering. I once read that a moose dove 15 ft down in order to fish aquatic plants from the bottom of a lake.

A cow moose typically only has one calf in May or June. But if food is plentiful, she may have twins. Cow moose can be very protective and dangerous when they have little ones around. We give them a wide birth. But the rest of the year they are fairly relaxed and non aggressive unless provoked or feel threatened. Over the weekend, I was working on my raised garden beds that I hope to share with you and a lone cow moose decide to wander up and see what I was doing. She got with in 30 ft of me. Sure made me nervous, but it was amazing! With all animals, we need to make sure we give them their space and it will keep us both safe!

Last summer we had two cows, one with twins and one with a single calf, and a young bull and cow pair that frequented our property. This summer, I am anxious to see the Mama’s come back with their new little babies in tow and last years calves!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are the best EVER chocolate chip cookies! At least in my opinion. I have yet to find a cookie recipe to rival it! Whenever I go visit family this is one of the items they insist I bake up while I am there. Today, I am sharing it with you. 🙂

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

Makes approx. 3 dozen

1 1/3 cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups flour
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375*F.
Cream together butter and sugars in an electric mixer on medium speed.
Add eggs and vanilla till well mixed.
Next add baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix slowly to begin with, then increase speed until mixed well.
Add chocolate chips. Mmmmmm!!! Don’t forget to taste a few that jump out of the bowl.
Mix until blended.
Using a Medium cookie scoop, place cookies on ungreased baking sheet.
Bake for 8-12minutes depending on your oven. Cookies should be just slightly brown on top.
Let sit for a couple minutes then place on a cooling rack.
Store in an airtight container if you have any left. 🙂 My children grab them as I take them off the sheets to cool and usually only end up with a few by the time I’m done baking them.
ENJOY!! Don’t forget your glass of milk.