Greens Gratin with eggs and bacon

Today I discovered a new French dish called Gratin.

New you say? Well, to me, yes. I am somewhat hanging my head in shame not knowing about this sooner. I do remember having Potatoes Au Gratin as a kid, but I remember not being impressed. I was a kid, potatoes should be mashed.

Why I should like gratin? Well, basically it's the French version of a casserole. And I love the ease and simplicity of casseroles!

So today I was actually looking for a good frittata recipe when I came across this Spinach Gratin with Hard Boiled Eggs recipe and it struck my fancy. Then below that recipe I saw the Zucchini and Spinach Gratin recipe and saw that it had BACON in it and I had to try it.

I ended up with: Turnip & Beet Greens with Spinach, Zucchini, Bacon Gratin with Hard Boiled Eggs recipe.

It went something like this:

Begin hard boiling 6 eggs, let them cool.
Thaw a large amount of greens from your freezer, any combo will do. I think I ended up using about 3 lbs of frozen greens total (this was a lot even for us). Let them drain. Use fresh if you got it.

1 lb bacon chopped into about 1" sections then fried. Keep bacon grease. Add to that:
2 diced onions
 -cook to caramel perfection-
3 cloves of garlic
Generous sprinkling of dry parsley
 -cook a bit longer-
 -Move bacon out of the way around edges and to the grease add:
2T flour, fry it up then gradually add:
2c milk
 -cook slowly and let it thicken-
 -let cool a bit then add to the pan or mix in a separate bowl:
Thawed greens, mix well with the bacon sauce and add:
3 raw eggs and
1 tsp or so of pepper or to taste. I didn't add extra salt as the bacon is salty.

Spread mixture into your gratin or casserole or as I used your cast iron skillet I used to cook the bacon in.

Peel and split your eggs in half and mush them into the top of your greens. I would have used hard goat cheese beneath the eggs if I had it, but I didn't.

Over the top I sprinkled a generous layer of Parmesan cheese. You could use bread crumbs or something else that will turn golden brown while baking.

Bake @ 350 for 45 minutes or so. Then if more brown is needed put under the broiler for 2 more minutes with an extra coating of Parmesan cheese if needed.

I'll only post this recipe until after I have tasted it to be sure it's not horrid...............




When it went into the oven.





After 2 min under the broiler, it's a mess of bubbly goodness.

 So the only criticism I would give myself is that a tsp of kosher or sea salt would have made a nice addition. I added a bit to my serving and more Parmesan cheese.

But, wow, turnip and beet greens never tasted so good!

Amazement

I know I'm not the only person out there who is constantly amazed by their children. I don't know why every time I'm amazed I'm also surprised. But I suppose that's part of the meaning of the word amazed.

My 12-year-old son is a boy through and through. But he has a tender spirit, he always has. He's not witty like his brother, he's quiet and contemplative. It takes a lot of explaining for him to get jokes but when he does he has the best laugh. He is a rule follower and does what he's asked. He has a talent for teaching himself how to do things and especially has a fondness for the arts: music, poetry, drawing, science fiction stories, computer programming, video making and more.

Last week I asked the kids to do a "free write" day where they can write what they want. I found this in my inbox all typed up:

Sun

Skies are blue sometimes,
Other times they're grey.
But when the sun shines through,
We all run outside and play.

We pretend that we are soldiers,
Conquering the world.
We sail on ships and fly in planes
And we're always tossed and hurled.

We pretend that we are spies,
On super-secret missions.
And when we come across a villain,
We'll put him right in prison.

We pretend that we traveled,
In to the future.
And when we come back home,
We will have had an adventure.

I love their poetry. I love it for the imperfections and the thoughtful descriptions they include. I have never taught them how to properly write a poem or the different kinds of poems that are out there, they have simply read poems and run with it. I have always loved poetry if I ever take the time to read it. I also like to write it, again, if I take the time. I don't know if it's because he's my child or because I know he won't play this way forever or because he seems to appreciate the fun he has being a child and exploring the skills he has as a writer. Perhaps it's all of it. I feel a sense of peace and perfection at this moment. I want to savor this feeling. I don't want to hold onto it forever, just take the time to be thankful for my life, my children and the amazement they continually give me.

Canning bean & bacon soup with Tattler lids

My son helped me film my first ever howto video on Tuesday.


My girlfriend wants to come over so I can teach her how to can, but between our 11 kids and our crazy homeschool schedules I realized it would not happen any time soon.

This video is for her or anyone else looking for a canning tutorial. I used Tattler lids to demonstrate how to use them and I used a yummy soup recipe and included that as well. It ended up being 27 minutes long, we still have to figure out all the editing tools, but when you consider canning is an all day (or at least 1/2 day) process, I don't think 27 minutes is too bad.

Tasty Rooster Pot Pie

My friend gave me a recipe for Casserole Queen Pot Pie (look out for pop ups on that site) last year and it really is a great recipe. But in my usual fashion I have to fiddle with things and make them more accommodating for our silly family to make and eat. Yesterday, my silly sister was here and gave me some of her pointers on how she has changed this dish. The recipe format that I printed a year ago drives me crazy so instead of rewriting on a note card I'll type it here so I can come back and easily find it when I want to make it again in the new "mama-lost-her-brain-so-has-a-hard-time-following-the-recipe" format.

As usual I'll triple the recipe from the original and when I make it. Should make 3-4 pie plates full. Great to make extra to stick into the freezer and a great way to use up that canned chicken or stewing hens you didn't know what to do with.

Tasty Rooster Pot Pie

Thaw 3-4 sheets of rolled up pie crust (I keep this on hand from the store, can find in the fridge section near the quick biscuits, etc. I also keep them in the fridge but if they are frozen, thaw now.

Be sure you have roasted or boiled 2-3 chickens/stewing hens/roosters to have the meat from them. If you don't have enough chicken, be sure to use potatoes or more veggies.

Cut up:
2-3 lg onions
3-4 cups carrots
1c red or green peppers or broccoli (or both, I've used cabbage in this before too)
Chickens, cut 2-3 chickens into bite sized pieces.

Melt 1/2 cup butter in a heavy bottom pot or dutch oven. Add cut veggies, let them cook 5-10 min, stir frequently. Add chicken.

Get a jar of milk out and if you have chicken stock handy, that too.

Add:
2 tsp salt
2 tsp thyme (or tarragon but we prefer thyme)
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 c. white flour
stir these in and be careful the flour doesn't burn

Start adding slowly:
2 cups of cream (optional, I always just use goats milk)
4 cups of milk (or more, really you have to do this by look, just add a little at a time, stir, let thicken, add more)
2-4 cups of chicken broth (optional, adds great flavor just use more milk if you don't have this)

Cook & stir until you have it thick and bubbly.

Add:
3-4 cups fresh or frozen peas
1/2-1 cup of dry white wine (also optional, good with or without)
4 potatoes, diced and steamed (I have taken to not making potatoes separately for this, it's more time consuming and they aren't needed. However, potatoes are always a good cheap filler so if you have leftover baked potatoes, mashed or roasted potatoes, use them in here. Also potatoes freeze well after they have been cooked, I have a couple bags of chopped up taters in the freezer just for this occasion.)

Make an egg wash:
1 egg mixed with
1T milk

Divide your hot, bubbly goodness into how ever many pie plates, casserole dishes, dutch ovens, etc you like. The more you divide it out the more crust each portion gets. Add the puff pastry or phyllo or pie crust to the top, brush with egg wash, then cut slits in the top.

Bake in a 425 degree (F) oven for 30-45 min, or until you can't stand the wait any longer.

Beautiful roosters aka future pot pie fillers.

Sweetest Nuns, my story

I have a friend, her name is Ella. I used to call her Liz, when we were young.

She is beautiful, always has been. I met her when I was 15 and she had come to Alaska to "fix" her life. She had lived in California before that and needed a do-over, Alaska is good for that.

I have a husband, his name is John. I used to call him Ron, when we were young.

He was in love with Liz.

He did prayers with Liz every morning. They were young, zealous Orthodox Christians. He was tortured by his love for this girl.

He discovered a saint, named St. Xenia. She is renowned for helping drunkards and also for finding a spouse. He began to pray to her, to ask her to help him figure out if this was the girl for him to be his wife. St. Xenia answered his prayers and took away his love and replaced it with a different love, the friendship kind and he knew he should not marry her.

Liz traveled to Jerusalem. Ron worked 2 jobs. I flirted with Ron.

Liz found a monastery full of wonderful nuns and wanted to stay. Her priest said, "no! You have to come home with us and at least say goodbye to family, you can't just stay." She obeyed him and came home.

She said goodbye to her family and found a closer monastery with 3 sweet Greek nuns in the States. They allowed her to stay. She was so happy.

A month after she left, it was the feast of St. Xenia. We sang an akathist to her. Ron fell in love with me. He wanted to marry me.

I married him.

We are *usually* happy.

I got to see my friend this weekend here in Alaska. I don't miss her until I see her, but that's just how I am. The States are so far away. I adore her. My daughter, Xenia, adores her too. I'm sad that she leaves tomorrow.

Liz and her troubled past is no more. Ella is a wonderful, beautiful woman. Full of kindness, wisdom, struggles, and laughter. She even has goats. She loves my children and they love her.

What a lucky girl I am to have the sweetest nun for a friend.

Some of the names were changed for privacy reasons.

Wal-Mart

For a few years now I have had a strange aversion to Wal-Mart.

Perhaps it was when they moved into their now “SUPER WALMART” gigantor store, I really dis-like having to re-find all of my favorite things.

Perhaps it is the realization that every shirt I bought there would shrink from top to bottom but widen from side to side.

Perhaps it was the fact I finally learned that when I go there to save $5 on diapers I still come out spending at least $100 on “great deals” AKA a bunch of crap to unload from the car and then find a place for at my house.

Perhaps I simply don’t like walking 5 miles to overfill my cart and then when my little ones start screaming I get in line for check out, THEN wait in line for another 30 minutes before I get to actually leave the store.

Perhaps it was the time my husband went to buy cigars for a hunting trip and the checker (behind the cigarette counter) almost wouldn't sell him any, claiming they were bad for him and he really shouldn't smoke them. Good thing she was there to educate him, I don't think he'd ever heard that before. 

Suffice to say, It’s not the, “Let’s-boycott-the-big-box-stores-to-make-ourselves-feel-better.” reason that regular people like to toss around. I have my own special list of reasons.

My husband likes Wal-Mart. Well, let’s say, my husband has a pretty good grip on our spending and doesn’t mind walking 5 miles for chicken feed when he will save $5 per bag, that is $20 when you buy 4 at a time. He's also smart enough to not take the little kids with him. My husband is a man, after all, and has a practical mind. A gift I would love to have.

For our “date night” on Sunday we left our younger kids in our older kids most capable hands and ventured out for a night on the town. We stopped by Silly Sister’s house to drop off some whey left over from Husband’s cheese making that day. Our pigs (that dear Sister is caring for) love that stuff and it’s nice to see it put to good use. We then ventured over to Town where we decided to grab a bite at Red Robin. They have delicious onion rings and “mama” drinks there.

We then did what we had gone to town to do, and that was a Wal-Mart run. I only go there with Husband as he is strong enough to push the cart loaded with 200 (sometimes more) pounds of grain from the WAY back of the VERY big store up to the registers. While he got the chicken feed I got our typical bananas, apples and Cheerios, then stopped off at the kids clothes section to get my son 2 new t-shirts and my DD a tank top that she had specifically requested for these few hot days we have had.

Up at the check out line, we only waited about 7 minutes that evening as it was about 10pm and was greeted by a young man checker, maybe 19 or so. When he rang up the first bag of chicken feed he exclaimed, “Wow, that’s so expensive!” It was funny in my mind because when I was trained at Safeway we were taught not to tell customers that we thought our store prices on things were expensive as we don’t want to discourage them from spending their money with us. While the young man was ringing up our groceries he noticed my husband’s work jacket and asked him if he worked for "that company", to witch he replied, “yes.” The young man says, “I hate "that company" they ripped me off!” and proceed to tell us the story of how my husband’s employer he has worked for for 20 years, has provided very good health benefits, has paid him faithfully so that we can pay our mortgage and buy expensive chicken food; completely ripped him off. I feel bad for the fellow that he felt this way, I also know that if you talk to someone there about these sorts of problems they typically can reconcile it with you. And, wait, aren’t we his customer tonight??

I paid for the groceries with cash and he gave me back the one dollar bill and then proceeded to count out the change into my hand. I’m very un-familiar with this method of giving change, and then he dropped a bunch of it on the ground and hopefully found it all.

After Husband went to the car to load the chicken food; I bought the kids clothes. The fellow was placing the clothes into the grocery bag and asks, “So are these for your grandkids…………….(long silence where I had no idea what to say)………..or your kids?” Wow, this is a totally shocker for me. I am only 35. My oldest is 14. I felt so sorry for the guy and so indigent all at the same time… I said, “Soon enough, soon enough. It goes by so fast you don’t even know.”

What a dumbass.

As we drove home that night we enjoyed the chuckle we got out that memorable experience. An even better horror story to add to the other Wal-Mart stories under our belt.

Thanks, Wal-Mart, you make memories that last a lifetime.

A Barley's Journey

A grain of barley is eaten by a bird. The barley goes through the esophagus into the crop, which softens and stores the food until it can be digested. The food then goes into the stomach, where it mixes with juices. The barley then passes into the gizzard where it is ground up with small stones the bird ate to help digest. Out of the gizzard and into the one intestine the bits of barley travel, and inside of the intestine the nutrients are taken from the food and is given to the blood vessels running along the sides. It's job now done, the food is passed out through the vent as solid waste.

This paper was written today for my 13-yr-olds Science/English lesson. I was impressed by how I expected the barley to grow and be produced for humans but instead I was brought into a story about birds digestion. I was pleased. It was funny because early today we discussed her love of birds and my lack of caring for the creatures. This captured my interest in a very fun way. Also there was no spelling errors...she gets that from her grandmother and her father. :)

What did you think?