One Down…

Melissa and the kids finished up the tiles on the first of three mosaics adorning the outside of the cabinets on our outdoor kitchen. Still needs grout and sealer, but the puzzle work on the roughly 3′ high by 5′ wide mosaic is done!

This one is “Sunrise,” and it’s taken from an amalgamation of several of the beautiful sunrises we’ve experienced here on the property. “Sunrise” features the sun creeping over the misty, dew-covered ground, casting deep and light tones across the sky as the crescent moon is setting. Look closely, and you’ll see some stars in the sky…and Chocolate the donkey taking a stroll in the morning dew.

Dynamic Addition and Subtraction

Last week I showed you Static Addition and Subtraction using the bead frames. This week, the kids are demonstrating using exchanges for Dynamic addition and subtraction. Dynamic addition involves carrying, and dynamic subtraction uses the borrowing method. What you’ll see the boys doing is using the exchange method, since one bead on the 10 bar equals 10 beads on the units bar, for example, they can be exchanged for each other, like 10 one dollar bills for one 10 dollar bill. Here is Iain showing his dynamic addition problem that he’s working on:

Pretty straightforward. But Eryk had a slightly trickier subtraction problem, where he had to make an exchange with tens and hundreds, but didn’t have any hundreds to make the exchange with. That forced him to make two exchanges before he could proceed. Check it out:

And he got it! I let my kids check their answers with a calculator when I don’t have time to sit with them and check their work. I figure that they will be using the calculators for quick math sooner rather than later,

Two Math weeks in a row! I promise something different next week.

Eryk’s Fried Chicken Sammich

Eryk has enjoyed cooking ever since he was two or three years old. One morning, Melissa heard the microwave (which at the time was an over-the-range microwave) “ding,” and little Eryk’s voice saying, “Sready,” a two-year-old conjunction of “it’s ready.” As she rushed to see what was going on, Melissa saw Iain clinging to a bar-stool-height chair that Eryk had pushed over to the range. Eryk was atop the chair, opening the microwave. Turns out they were hungry, and rather than bother mom, who was busy with a flooring project, they found leftovers and decided to heat them up themselves.

Here we are, about seven years later, and Eryk has progressed from heating things up in the microwave to experimenting with his own recipes. Below is his latest recipe for fried chicken sandwiches…and I’ve got to tell you…toss them on a buttered and toasted bun with a little mayo and pickle, and these things rival Chick-Fil-A.

View the recipe on PepperPlate.com

Eryk Style Fried Chicken!

This is Eryk’s recipe, in (mostly) his own words.

INGREDIENTS

chicken breasts
hamburger buns
butter for toasting buns
pickles and mayo

for fry
1 c flour or flour substitute
3 eggs
1 t paprika
1 t salt

INSTRUCTIONS

whisk the eggs separate from the flour
mix all the dry ingredients
pound each chicken breast flat
cut flattened breast into a good size for a bun
dredge in egg, then flour, then egg
fry in deep fryer at 350 degrees until done
larger pieces (adult palm-sized pieces) take 4-6 minutes
smaller pieces (for breakfast sandwiches on Hawaiian rolls) take 2-3 minutes
while frying chicken, butter and toast buns
enjoy!!!!

Meyer Lemon Tree

When is the best time to plant a tree? 10 years ago. When is the second best time to plant a tree? Right now.

We consume a lot of lemons – at least 2 a day! So naturally, one of the first plantings we had was a Lemon Frost lemon tree. It was a beautiful fruiting tree, we were able to harvest a couple of delicious lemons off it before it snapped off about 6 inches above the ground. It was a sad day, but I learned that the Frost citrus family of trees is sprouted from seed, not grafted, so provided the tree heals and regrows, we should have some more fruit from it in a couple of years. I also saved the seeds from the lemons that we used, and will be attempting to sprout them, too. In 10 years, I’m sure I’ll be glad I did it.

But in the mean time, in order to help defray the cost of our lemon consumption, I got another tree in the ground this Spring. I looked for another Frost, but they are hard to come by (thank God I saved my seeds!). The Meyer Lemon, however, is gaining popularity, and is sold in abundance. I like these sweeter lemons, but I was unfamiliar with the beauty of the tree. The tiny purple clusters remind me of the flowering Mountain Laurel, but slowly, each tiny purple bulb is blooming, and the flowers are intoxicatingly fragrant. The tree is attracting butterflies and bees, and all other manner of pollinators. Yay! I may have to pick up another 2 or 3 and get a grove going.

One Man’s Craiglist…

The old saying goes something like this: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Every now and then, you find a like-minded, generous soul on Craigslist, and you feel like you’ve stumbled into a treasure trove…at rock bottom prices.

This week was such a week for us. First, we found a very-well used, but very well mechanically maintained, early 1990’s model 8-hp Echo Chipper Shredder SH-8000…for $250. I don’t know much about chipper shredders, but I do know that’s a fantastic deal.

Later that day, we came across a guy who was selling some used T-posts. When we arrived to pick them up, he was impressed with Eryk, Iain, and Macy’s work ethic, helping us load the T-posts. He asked where we lived, and we told him our story. When he heard what we were doing, he offered several other useful items at a very good price.

As we were leaving, he showed us a bunch of used 3/4″ Schedule 40 PVC that he used for sprinkler systems around his garden. We hadn’t thought about all the possible uses for it, so we passed on it. Then, on the way home, we called back and said we’d take it. When Melissa and the kids went back a couple of days later, they once again loaded us up with sawhorses, planter boxes, fencing, hardware cloth, and several odds-and-ends.

Well used, but still very useful!

These pots and makeshift stakes will come in handy for starting the spring garden.

Beau the BEAUtiful horse

This Beau, our horse. One of Melissa’s friends from the homeschooling co-op had him and was looking for a new home for him, so we (we being the kids) said – with much glee – “We’ll take him!”

Beau is pretty tall. His shoulders are about 5′ tall, which horse people tell me is somewhere around 17 hands high. (I’m still learning all of this stuff. After all, I’ve only been a horse person for about 18 hours now.)

I have no idea about his heritage or breed, but we know he loves to go for rides. And, since he came with a bridle, lead, and saddle, we’re nearly set. We’ll be sure to post pictures of the kids roaming around the property on Beau.

Mosaic

When we remodeled the kitchen at our last house, we took out the tiny excuse for a pantry, and instead turned it into an alcove for the refrigerator. Except that the refrigerator was about an inch too wide to fit. So we took out the wall, turned the studs sideways, and slapped a sheet of plywood over it. Then, to cover the plywood, Melissa added a beautiful sunflower mosaic, made from leftover tiles and broken plates from Dollar Tree.

When we started the outdoor kitchen here at Livin’ The 10, we knew we wanted something unique. We also needed something weather-resistant on the back of the cabinets. We talked about several options, but quickly settled on doing a set of mosaics. Today, we started in on the first one.

Below, Melissa is buttering the outline for Chocolate the Donkey, who will be appearing in our Sunrise mosaic.

Eryk and Macy helped break up the tiles for Chocolate’s body from some scraps we had leftover from the top. Below, they’re showing off their handiwork.

Once Chocolate was set, we were off to the sunrise. If you’ve seen any of the sunrise photos from the blog, you know we have the most beautiful sunrises here at Livin’ The 10. Here’s Eryk setting some of the turquoise band…

And Iain helping out, too.

Iain looks just like me, but he acts just like Melissa. This photo makes me think of that television scene in Forest Gump….

Macy did her share as well.

It’s neat to watch your kids put together what amounts to a jigsaw puzzle without being able to see the final picture, and having to literally make up the pieces as you go along. They did a great job!

Mexican Pizza

These are reminiscent of my fast food days, and lunches at Taco Bell. That food was so bad for me, but these are not!

View the recipe on PepperPlate.com

This recipe is based on a copy cat Taco Bell Pizza recipe that I found. I made quite a few modifications in order to fit our dietary needs, so I have no problem claiming it as my own. If you are following THM, this would be an S.

YIELD 4 Pizzas
ACTIVE TIME 25 minutes
TOTAL TIME 35 minutes
CATEGORIES s, dinner, mexican, beef, beans

INGREDIENTS

1 lb ground beef (I use one pint jar of my canned ground beef, speeds things up)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon diced minced onion
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
2 tablespoons water
2 Lavash breads (Joseph’s Lavash Bread – cheaper in the store, but here’s a link)
1 can refried beans
1/3 cup diced tomato
2/3 cup salsa or enchilada sauce (my favorite is the THM recipe book enchilada sauce)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
1/4 cup sliced black olives

INSTRUCTIONS

Cook the ground beef over medium heat until brown, then drain.
Return meat to pan and add the salt, onions, paprika, chili powder and water.
Let mixture simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring often.
Preheat deep fryer. Cut Lavash sheets in fourths.
When oil is hot, fry each Lavash for about 30-45 seconds and drain on paper towels.
Heat refried beans.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Stack each pizza by first spreading 1/3 C beans on one Lavash.
Next add 1/3 C meat, then another Lavash.
Top the second tortilla with 2 T of salsa.
Divide the tomato, cheese, onions and olives evenly and top in that order.
Bake for 8-12 minutes.

Herb Spiral

We have been working to try to build an herb spiral for several weeks, but it took us quite a while for us to actually get it finished. The concept inspired me, herbs where you are more likely to use them than if they are situated in a garden that requires shoes to get to. (Because let’s face it, sometimes I’d rather just leave the basil out than have to stop cooking and put my shoes on to retrieve it. Nothing beats the flavor of fresh herbs, except sometimes my laziness.) The elevation of the spiral makes harvesting easier, and utilizes a smaller footprint in the garden for more plants. For us, another bonus is that it is off the level of the land, which makes it more dog proof. Charlie loves to dig to find cool dirt to lay in in the summer time. I can’t tell you how many times he dug up my mint after I watered last year, and then lay on top of the poor upturned plants. I tried everything to keep him out of the gardens, but no luck. So I am anxious to see if he leaves this alone. So far, so good!

We seeded the spiral with basil, dill, and cilantro. We’ll post some pictures once it gets going so you can see the end results. If it works well, I may put several of them around the front porch, where we aren’t growing a lot of grass.

Donkey Hôte

As I’ve mentioned before, we have the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets here at Livin’ The 10.

The other morning, I went for a short walk around one of the front paddocks, and along came Mocha and Chip, sauntering down the path from their barn over to the water. I snapped a quick picture of them in the frosty grass – right before they started harassing me for something to eat. They are nothing if not persistent!

All of the pictures in this post are sunrises.

Don’t have much commentary.

Just enjoy the sunrise photos.