Oh, what a beautiful day. Oh, what a beautiful morning. Everything is going... okay.
Yes, I know that's not the proper words to the song but the proper words do not fit. But at least I'm feeling better today.
If you've been following my tweets, you know that I was down much of yesterday with a really bad migraine. DH had been up overnight because he couldn't sleep. He had gone out to the computer to check on the status of an auction on eBay. We were bidding on a new headstall for Quintas, because the pretty one that supposed to be hers I've been using on Ria because it has the bosal on. But that bosal and headstall match each other. The bosal is red and headstall has red details. They should, after all, both were bought for the same horse. What we didn't realize was that Ria would need one because she has stallion teeth.
To get back to the point, DH came back to bed after winning the auction. He woke me up because apparently I was whining, moaning, screaming, something like that in my sleep. So he asked me what was wrong, which was a migraine. Sweetheart that he is, he brought me a headache pill.
He brought me another one along with my regular painkiller before he left for work in the morning. When I first got up, my head wasn't too bad, but my hands were killing me. Sometime in the afternoon, my headache came back with a vengeance.
I took a pill and went to bed a little before three. Around quarter after, I had to run to the bathroom. I was sick. After a little while I went back to bed with my favorite bucket.
The noise was also bothering me of the traffic on the road. That I could fix with earplugs. I couldn't do anything about the blinking lights in my eyes because they were there when my eyes were closed and covered.
I guess I finally fell asleep because I don't remember anything else until DH got home. Even that I didn't hear at first because of earplugs.
When I told him about the squash situation he was mad. The first half of the squash situation is good. I put out 4 squash in the morning and by mid day two of those have been replaced by 10 kroner. When I went out to check later in the afternoon, the third was missing, but no money. I am still little bit optimistic that the person just didn't have change, so after making sure I had one in the garden for dinner tonight, I put the last one back out this morning.
Ria eats too much. She is the horse of our herd that needs the least to eat. Unfortunately, Daisy is still on the thin side. Because of an extreme lack of grass, we had to give the horses a big bale of hay. Since she's a bit of a pig, Ria stands there eating all day. Last time we were in a horse supply place, we bought her a grazing muzzle. So when DH got home last night I helped her put that on her. She handled it quite well.
So, getting back to the point of this morning, I woke up pretty much okay. My head's not too bad, but it's not great. I let the girls out right away and got a load of laundry started. After I had my glass of juice, I put my steel-toed boots on to go outside. I needed to put grazing muzzle back on Ria.
I did that without problem. However, Tracy was rubbing her head quite insistently on my rear end. I decided her fly mask was bothering her. I pulled off to find that there was a lot of hay under it and it was pretty dirty. The flies didn't seem bad, because there's a nice breeze outside. So I decided to take all the fly masks off to wash them. I took hers and Ria's and both seem relieved. Not long after I took Daisy's, she asked for it back. So Daisy is back in her fly mask.
Then I went to the garden to check on the squash. We had a new zucchini, which I need for making an omelet for dinner tonight. Oddly enough, I can't find the yellow roundish one that I had taken a picture of before. I hope it's just hiding in the leaves somewhere. The pumpkin on the giant pumpkin plant is now larger than a cantaloupe. There are also pumpkins on the other giant pumpkin plant. I'm very happy about that.
Since I have squash I need for dinner, I put the basket back out the road side. But if another one gets stolen I may have to give up this idea. I'm still hoping the person will come and leave money. Maybe they just didn't have change on them. If I knew it was someone that was starving and couldn't afford vegetables I be quite happy to give them my squash. DH thinks it's just the way people are -- that they suck.
So after that I came in with the fly masks, I got out the old dishpan and got them soak in the sink. Then I put Molly to work getting my boots off. I tried clicking and treating more often in the hopes that she would be quieter. It did seem to help a little bit, but it also annoyed her that I kept interrupting her work. However, she did her move my socks almost silently, and I clicked three times in the process.
I'm not sure how many times now change the water on the fly masks, but it seems to be getting cleaned out.
And while writing this my tea steeped (keemun with ginger). So now I'm going to have breakfast.
12 August 2009
07 August 2009
Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Tongiht we are having stuffed zucchini boats, bex-style. So this is more a recipe than my actual process of doing it. When I do it, there are tons of extended breaks.
Stuffed Zucchini Boats--Bex-Style
Stuffed Zucchini Boats--Bex-Style
- Large zucchini or a couple mediums
- Ground meat (beef, pork, a mix, whatever you have or is cheapest)
- Loose rice
- Some salsa
- Salt and pepper
- An onion and optionally a chopped pepper
- Grated cheese
- Wash the outside of the zucchini.
- Cut the ends off and cut it in half lengthwise.
- Scoop out the seeds and get rid of them.
- Scrape out the inside of the zucchini (putting your scrapings into a bowl) until you leave a shell about .5cm thick in smaller zucchinis up to about 1.5 cm thick in baseball bat sized ones. Leave a little extra towards the ends, where there isn't peel to reinforce it.
- Put the halves cut-side down on a dishcloth or papertowels to drain while you do everything else (and probably take a few breaks).
- Use a staff blender to turn the zucchini scrapings into mush.
- Peel the onion and cut it into large chunks. Add them to the zucchini mush and again process with the staff blender.
- Add salt, pepper, salsa (probably at least a tablespoon per person you are feeding, but vary according to your preferences and the strength of the salsa), rice (I use about a cup [2.5dl] for a giant zucchini), and meat.
- Mix it all together with your hands, a spoon, or an electric mixer. I think hands are easiest.
- Turn the zucchini shells over and salt the insides. Put them on an oven-safe dish or cookie sheet. Use something with a little depth, because they will ooze a lot of liquid in the oven.
- Spoon in the stuffing.
- If you have too much stuffing, you can bake the extra in hollow peppers, onions, or just in a dish. But it may need some water added, because normally the rice sucks up the juices from the zucchini.
- Cover with foil.
- Bake at around 350 (175C) for an hour probably. If you aren't sure when you want to eat, you can always put it in at a much lower temperature to get it started. The time varies depending on the size. You can tell it is done by the color of the meat and by the shininess and softness of the zucchini boats.
- Remove the foil and cover with grated cheese.
- Turn the temperature up to grill, or broiler, or high or whatever works for you and bake until the cheese browns and bubbles.
- Serve.
- Since the boats include meat, vegetables, and rice, you really don't need a side dish.
- This goes well with a nice glass of red wine!
Photographic Garden Update
I took a lot of pictures earlier this week to update my viewers on the status of our garden. Because of the quantity I ended up with, I am not going to include them all here. Instead, check them out on my flickr, which includes descriptive blurbs.
You should be able to find 27 of them!
01 August 2009
Zucchini Galore!
In case you haven't figured it out by now from tweets and other comments, we planted a lot of zucchini this year. I like it, DH has gotten used to my creative uses of it and loves zucchini bread, and we give some to friends. This year I am even selling some of our overstock at the roadside. (5 DKK each. sold 2 so far.)
Friday I prepared a few zucchini for freezing. I use the grater attachment to my mixer to grate it. Then I put a plastic bag in my pyrex measuring cup to measure 2C portions for freezing. 2C is the right amount for a single batch of zucchini bread (which makes 2 loaves unless I use a really big loaf pan). The portion is also great for other purposes. DH has to get the machine out and put it away, but without it I wouldn't be able to process near as much.
What do I do with all this zucchini? For one thing, I make a lot of zucchini bread. This is the recipe I use, which I got from my mother.
Zucchini Bread (Cake)
I've done some experimenting with this recipe. For one thing, it is too sweet for danes. If using sweetened applesauce, I use HALF the called for sugar. Because we got a good deal on brown sugar and have lots of it (it is cheaper than white the way we got it), I use brown sugar.
Applesauce is preferred to oil for two reasons: it is healthier and the resulting bread is moister and tastes better. If you do use oil, be sure to use one that is a neutral taste. Neither olive oil or grapeseed oil is a good choice for this. Rapeseed (canola) and corn oil work fine.
Another healthiness improvement I often make is replacing part of the flour with oatmeal. This eliminates some of the wheat (I have an allergy but it isn't severe) and increases the fiber content of the cake. Replacing 1/3 of it is pretty much unnoticeable to the eater. Half works pretty well, if I remember right, but is more noticeable. I've also swapped portions out with whole wheat flour at times.
I have also baked these as cupcakes or muffins instead of loaves on several occasions. They take about 15-18 minutes in the oven that way. This is great for single portion servings, whether for visitors, a road trip, or freezing. It also eliminates the need to grease and flour, although my silicon loaf pan does that as well.
Speaking of freezing, these freeze really well. When I baked it Saturday, we kept a slightly larger loaf out for eating and froze the second smaller one. I wrapped the one to freeze in two layers of foil, labeled it with the contents and date, and put that into a plastic bag in the freezer.
Other Uses
At some point, I will be making stuffed zucchini boats for dinner. We usually use giant zucchini for this one. I will post the recipe for that at that time, because I have to make it up. I did this from memory in Danish the other day for my mother-in-law but I'd rather be making it at the time.
Zucchini and onion, seasoned with salt and pepper and optionally garlic, sauteed on a pan with olive oil is a GREAT side dish. We had that the other night with pork chops, oven-baked potato boat fries, and bernaise sauce. It is also good when you add mushrooms.
Pasta! Zucchini and other vegetables are great on pasta. I usually prefer fresh for this and will cut it into small pieces.
I add grated zucchini to all sorts of meat and one-dish meals. It is a great stretcher for the meat and a good way of getting more veggies into the diet. My burrito recipe recommends it. The thing with zucchini is that it takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with. So it is easily disguised. Want more substance in that meat and tomato sauce for spaghetti? Throw in a bag of grated zucchini! It will mix in with the meat and your man, even if he is grumpy about veggies, is unlikely to notice!
I also use zucchini (either sliced fresh or grated frozen) in my pork chop-rice-tomato casserole. I think that was the use of the first one out of the garden this year.
Cut into sticks, zucchini goes great with carrot and celery sticks for dipping into salad dressing. I make a homemade salad dressing sometimes with sour cream, chives, parsley, and other stuff. It is great for that. You can also use it in salads either sliced or cut into half-moons or chunks.
That's all I think of for now. Feel free to contribute your own zucchini favorites in the comments!
Friday I prepared a few zucchini for freezing. I use the grater attachment to my mixer to grate it. Then I put a plastic bag in my pyrex measuring cup to measure 2C portions for freezing. 2C is the right amount for a single batch of zucchini bread (which makes 2 loaves unless I use a really big loaf pan). The portion is also great for other purposes. DH has to get the machine out and put it away, but without it I wouldn't be able to process near as much.
What do I do with all this zucchini? For one thing, I make a lot of zucchini bread. This is the recipe I use, which I got from my mother.
Zucchini Bread (Cake)
- 3 beaten eggs
- 1 C vegetable oil or apple sauce
- 2 C sugar
- 3 t vanilla
- 2 C grated zucchini
- 3 C flour
- 1/2 t cinnamon
- 1/4 t baking powder
- 1 t baking soda
- 1 C soaked raisins, nuts, or coconut (optional)
I've done some experimenting with this recipe. For one thing, it is too sweet for danes. If using sweetened applesauce, I use HALF the called for sugar. Because we got a good deal on brown sugar and have lots of it (it is cheaper than white the way we got it), I use brown sugar.
Applesauce is preferred to oil for two reasons: it is healthier and the resulting bread is moister and tastes better. If you do use oil, be sure to use one that is a neutral taste. Neither olive oil or grapeseed oil is a good choice for this. Rapeseed (canola) and corn oil work fine.
Another healthiness improvement I often make is replacing part of the flour with oatmeal. This eliminates some of the wheat (I have an allergy but it isn't severe) and increases the fiber content of the cake. Replacing 1/3 of it is pretty much unnoticeable to the eater. Half works pretty well, if I remember right, but is more noticeable. I've also swapped portions out with whole wheat flour at times.
I have also baked these as cupcakes or muffins instead of loaves on several occasions. They take about 15-18 minutes in the oven that way. This is great for single portion servings, whether for visitors, a road trip, or freezing. It also eliminates the need to grease and flour, although my silicon loaf pan does that as well.
Speaking of freezing, these freeze really well. When I baked it Saturday, we kept a slightly larger loaf out for eating and froze the second smaller one. I wrapped the one to freeze in two layers of foil, labeled it with the contents and date, and put that into a plastic bag in the freezer.
Other Uses
At some point, I will be making stuffed zucchini boats for dinner. We usually use giant zucchini for this one. I will post the recipe for that at that time, because I have to make it up. I did this from memory in Danish the other day for my mother-in-law but I'd rather be making it at the time.
Zucchini and onion, seasoned with salt and pepper and optionally garlic, sauteed on a pan with olive oil is a GREAT side dish. We had that the other night with pork chops, oven-baked potato boat fries, and bernaise sauce. It is also good when you add mushrooms.
Pasta! Zucchini and other vegetables are great on pasta. I usually prefer fresh for this and will cut it into small pieces.
I add grated zucchini to all sorts of meat and one-dish meals. It is a great stretcher for the meat and a good way of getting more veggies into the diet. My burrito recipe recommends it. The thing with zucchini is that it takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with. So it is easily disguised. Want more substance in that meat and tomato sauce for spaghetti? Throw in a bag of grated zucchini! It will mix in with the meat and your man, even if he is grumpy about veggies, is unlikely to notice!
I also use zucchini (either sliced fresh or grated frozen) in my pork chop-rice-tomato casserole. I think that was the use of the first one out of the garden this year.
Cut into sticks, zucchini goes great with carrot and celery sticks for dipping into salad dressing. I make a homemade salad dressing sometimes with sour cream, chives, parsley, and other stuff. It is great for that. You can also use it in salads either sliced or cut into half-moons or chunks.
That's all I think of for now. Feel free to contribute your own zucchini favorites in the comments!
29 July 2009
Clicker Training with Horses
I've been thinking my doing some clicker training with the horses for a long time, but I finally had enough reasons that I had to start. With Ria, I am mostly worried about how she reacts around treats. She gets very mouthy and I don't like that. With Quintas, my goal is to work with her and how she stands while DH is doing her feet. She tends to pull and push a lot while he's working on her and I can see clicker training could do a good job in cleaning that up.
The first lesson I want to teach them is zen. Zen is all about self-control. In any kind of animal, it's dealing with the art of getting what you want by acting like you don't want it.
I was a little nervous training this because it could be quite dangerous. The dogs when I start them as puppies are pretty limited in how much damage they can actually do to my hands. Also, both of them have learned that "OW" means back off that you're hurting me. But the horses haven't learned that. Most of the time that you working with horses your goal is to never let them find out that there actually bigger than you. It also means making an effort yourself to avoid things that will cause them to bite.
Holding out a treat in a closed hand in front of a horse's nose is very likely to cause it to bite. This is why you always feed horses with an open flat hand.
So I did some asking on my dog clicker training list because I know some people there have worked with other animals. I got some great advice as well as a pointer to a llama training book made by the author of my preferred dog training method. They also recommended a voice clicker training book, but I've kind of blown my book budget on other things at the moment.
So anyway, I started last night with my first Zen session. I took two apples and used the corer-divider on them (they got the cores too, just made pieces easier) and went over to the fence. They came right up, so I worked outside the fence. First Ria, then Quintas, etc. They already do half decent respecting each other's spaces, which made it easier to work them in turns. A step to one side or the other for a particular horse.
I held out the treats where they could barely reach them with necks stretched out as far into my space as they could. As soon as they pulled back into their own space, I clicked and treated. Using a verbal cue for eating, which I am sure they will pick up pretty fast. Both figured it out pretty quickly. They didn't quit reaching after the treat, but they got faster and faster at pulling their heads back and waiting for the click.
Not sure what I will do to continue right now. Our grass shortage got too intense, so last night we put all 4 together onto their summer pasture. We split that up for strip grazing, which means that right now they can't get near the road side of the fence. Going the other way around to them is extremely challenge for me. It is rough terrain in woods and a hay field and a lot longer walk than I am up to. So I guess sessions will be limited to when one horse is home for something, That does have the advantage of working one-on-one, but the disadvantage of rarity.
The first lesson I want to teach them is zen. Zen is all about self-control. In any kind of animal, it's dealing with the art of getting what you want by acting like you don't want it.
I was a little nervous training this because it could be quite dangerous. The dogs when I start them as puppies are pretty limited in how much damage they can actually do to my hands. Also, both of them have learned that "OW" means back off that you're hurting me. But the horses haven't learned that. Most of the time that you working with horses your goal is to never let them find out that there actually bigger than you. It also means making an effort yourself to avoid things that will cause them to bite.
Holding out a treat in a closed hand in front of a horse's nose is very likely to cause it to bite. This is why you always feed horses with an open flat hand.
So I did some asking on my dog clicker training list because I know some people there have worked with other animals. I got some great advice as well as a pointer to a llama training book made by the author of my preferred dog training method. They also recommended a voice clicker training book, but I've kind of blown my book budget on other things at the moment.
So anyway, I started last night with my first Zen session. I took two apples and used the corer-divider on them (they got the cores too, just made pieces easier) and went over to the fence. They came right up, so I worked outside the fence. First Ria, then Quintas, etc. They already do half decent respecting each other's spaces, which made it easier to work them in turns. A step to one side or the other for a particular horse.
I held out the treats where they could barely reach them with necks stretched out as far into my space as they could. As soon as they pulled back into their own space, I clicked and treated. Using a verbal cue for eating, which I am sure they will pick up pretty fast. Both figured it out pretty quickly. They didn't quit reaching after the treat, but they got faster and faster at pulling their heads back and waiting for the click.
Not sure what I will do to continue right now. Our grass shortage got too intense, so last night we put all 4 together onto their summer pasture. We split that up for strip grazing, which means that right now they can't get near the road side of the fence. Going the other way around to them is extremely challenge for me. It is rough terrain in woods and a hay field and a lot longer walk than I am up to. So I guess sessions will be limited to when one horse is home for something, That does have the advantage of working one-on-one, but the disadvantage of rarity.
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