My dear friend Vea invited me (and the other Prairie Hens) over for a Tea Party this week. It was so much fun. That should really happen a lot more often! Big girls need parties too. I am on the quest now for grown up girl parties now.



The party really was quite simple but made us have so much fun. She fixed us lunch with sandwiches, veggies and dip, cookies and Lemon Aid. It was delicious.

The best part of the party was that she and her daughter Natalie had also planned a water party for the kids. They had pools, sprinklers, and food too. They thought the party was all about them. hee hee. I loved it. We had our grown up fun in total peace.

THANK YOU VEA!

Prairie Hen Promise

Whew! Christmas is over, again. I love Christmas but usually feel like I am crashing the day after. After weeks of living on adrenaline and no sleep and being hopped up on all kinds of Christmas candy, I am ready for some sleep and nothingness.
It usually motivates me with thoughts of "this won't happen next year!" and the like.
I do look forward to the new year. It is fresh with no mistakes in it. I love the chance we get of making our lives over once more and the hope to get it together better this year.
On that note I wanted to tell you about the Prairie Hen Promise. The Hens and I got together here at my house yesterday. We talked about what worked this year and what didn't. We found that when we are called upon to do something we usually are able to pull it off, even at the last minute because we are pretty smart and talented. However, when we promise ourselves that we will do something, we rarely do it. There is no accountability and we find ourselves shoved to the back burner for other's more pressing needs.
This year we are making the Prairie Hen Promise to stick to our goals. Since each of us in the group are house keepingly Challenged, we have set some specific goals to help us conquer the chaos and give ourselves a peaceful Christmas next year. This year I am going to work on a Christmas project each month so that I am finished by Dec 1st and can enjoy my family the way Christmas was intended.
I have broken my promises up into some categories. Each month I will set new promises on my Hen Day and will return and report my progress.
Here goes for my January 2008 Prairie Hen Promises

1. The Home - I promise to shine my sink every night before I go to bed.

2. Organization - I will start at my front door and organize one closet, cupboard, drawer, or shelf at a time. You can't clean clutter. I will Give away what I don't need, Throw away what is beyond help, put away what is out of place, and store what I want or need in proper storage areas.

3. Food - I will fill out and stick to a monthly menu plan for dinners. another meal planner

4. Finances - I will not impulse spend in January. If I really want something, I will add it to my list and save for it.

5. Physical - I will return to my South Beach Diet for the whole month of January. I will also work out at least 5 days per week.

6. Spiritual - I will read 5 pages of the Book of Mormon every day.

7. Preparedness - I will purchase 800 pounds of wheat.

I am so excited to have someone to be accountable to for the goals I want to accomplish.
I have some goals I want to accomplish on my blog here as well but you will find out about them soon enough. hee hee ... It's gonna be great in 2008!

Hen Day - Crepes

Ok I am really slipping behind on posting hen day. I forgot to bring my camera to hen day so I can't show you the things we did. We were working on drafting our own wrap pattern. We learned a lot about patterns and drafting. I will be using the info in the forthcoming November Apron.

We had a wrap theme and ate wrapped food. I made tortilla pinwheels that were tasty.
Vea and Jill worked on Chocolate filled crepes. They were to die for.
I made them today for my family. They are too good.



Here are the recipes:

Crepes:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Sift together flour, sugar and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs and milk together with an electric mixer. Beat in flour mixture until smooth; stir in melted butter.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 2 tablespoons for each crepe. Tip and rotate pan to spread batter as thinly as possible. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Chocolate Filling
Mix together and set aside:
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 cup milk
In another bowl mix together:
1 pkg chocolate pudding mix (instant)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
Mix both together.
Whip 1 cup of whipping cream.
Add it to the pudding mixture and fold in.
Refrigerate to set.

Chocolate Ganache
1 cup cream
1 cup or so of dark chocolate chips

Bring the cream just to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate. Stir until melted.

To serve the crepes, lay a crepe out flat. Add a scoop of the filling. Roll it up, folding in the sides as you go (looks like a burrito).
Put strawberries on top. Top with ganache.

Now try not to give in and eat the whole bowl.
The original recipe has you use a whole can of sweetened condensed milk mixed with 1/4 cup water. I found that was too much sugar for me. Even this way was rather sweet. I think I might leave the condensed milk out next time and just use low fat milk. It was plenty sweet.

Hen Day - Book Group

I totally biffed it and didn't take any pictures at hen day. I just wasn't thinking. I had to beat it back home to get my Hannah Baby when she got off the bus all by her 5 year-old self. (I just made it before the bus turned down our dirt road.)
All is not lost thought! Jill Blogged Hen Day. We made diapers for Jill and had yummy home made Pizza. Rebecca Made the Pizza and should post the recipe on her blog!

Today I went to Book Group. I have wanted to do this for months but never got the time off to go. I don't work of Fridays now so (if I can remember to) I can go.
For today's meeting we were to read The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy.

(I cannot recomend this version of the Scarlet Pimpernel. It doesn't follow the book and was so dissapointing. The old 1935 version was much better.)

I have to make one of those real life confessions here. I happen to have a learning disability.
I don't read very well. I am really slow at it and have to kinda fight my way through books. I was very fortunate to have a mother that picked up on this at a very early age. She too had the problem. She read to me as often as possible. She also purchased books on tape for me. At age 9, I could barely read Dick and Jane, however, my interest was much higher than that. My favorite books to listen to in 3rd grade were Robinson Crusoe, The Three Musketeers, The Sea Wolf, and such. Thanks to the books on tape, I was able to enjoy the literature I craved.
Anyway, my point is that I didn't have time to read the book so I looked for it in an audio form. I also didn't find out what the book was till Sunday and didn't have time to go out and buy a copy. I got lucky and stumbled on Libri Vox. It is wonderful. People all over the globe are working together to get free audio books out there. I am so thankful. I found the Scarlet Pimpernel here. I was able to down load it chapter by chapter and listen to it as I had time. My kids were so excited. Some of them have inherited forms of the reading problem and all love literature.
Today I also have the DVD arriving from Netflix. I can't wait to indulge in the romance of it all.
Next moth, the book group is coming to my house. Since it is November, I chose the Scarlet Letter. Something good and Puritanish in time for Thanks Giving.
I found a public domain recording here. You can download it chapter by chapter.

Hen Day - Facials

I can't believe I didn't post this on Wed. I have been to apron possessed or obsessed to post anything I guess.
For hen day we went to Rebecca's for Mary Kay Facials.
Rebecca taught us several things.
Lesson #1 Prepare your face.
She told us that if we properly wash and moisturize our faces, that our foundation will sit better on our face.

As you can see here, JEB didn't pre-wash his face and his foundation is very obvious!
(I really did notice that the foundation didn't feel like a mask this time. I can't wear foundation because it makes me feel suffocated but this time it didn't feel that way.)

Lesson #2 Blend, Blend and Blend

Rebecca told us to blend away so we had a more natural look. JEB blended to the very best of his ability but it is hard to blend in purple on white skin.
Jill did a much better job.

Lesson #3 Play with your liner to get used to it and more comfortable in wearing it.

Well JEB took this lesson to heart and he played with the liner. He was most pleased with the results too and didn't want to put the mirrors away.

Lesson #4 Good skin requires proper nutrition.

We knew that. You can't have a Hen Day without good eats.

This is a Hawaiian Haystack.
Here is the recipe.

1. On your plate put some rice (brown is better for you)
2. On that put some chicken gravy (we made this from scratch using chicken fat, flour and broth and plenty of cooked chicken) you could also use 2 cans of cream of chicken soup and some broth and plenty of cooked chicken.
3. On this you pile your toppings which can include the following:

• Diced tomatoes
• green onions
• green peppers
• coconut
• pineapple
• Mandarin oranges
• chow mien noodles
• slivered almonds
• grated cheese
• (basically any chopped vegetables you like in salad)

I like to sprinkle soy sauce on top for added flavor (OK for added salt).

It was super delicious and really good for you.

Hen Day - Weeding and Henna Dye Tutorial

Today was a very eventful Prairie Hen Day. We went to Vea's house. She worked really hard sewing up some great shirts for her daughter's shop.
We came over to help her clean out her flower beds.

We weeded for a couple of hours and things were greatly improved.


My kids had a short day at school so they came over and helped weed too.
Joe made a pretty great find.

It's a good thing Miyuki couldn't make it this time. Hee Hee
We also had some Good Food.

It was my turn to fix the food and I chose a South Beach Friendly recipe.
This was originally a Flank Steak recipe. I didn't have any Flank Steak so I used chicken.
Here is the Marinade.

Marinated Flank Steak Salad (only it's chicken today)
3 garlic cloves crushed
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1-2 tsp. hot sauce
1 tsp thyme
Mix and put it in a bag with your meat (chicken, beef or pork).

Cook it up in a frying pan with all the sauce. Let it cool just a bit and slice it up and serve it on salad with a little ranch dressing.
It is sooooo good.

NEXT we had quite an adventure! I dyed my hair!
My fellow Hen, Jill, is a proficient Henna hair dyer.
I mixed up the dye last night and let it set to get the henna to work.

It has the consistency of a fresh cow pie. (smells like one too)
Here it the recipe I used.

Emma's Henna Hair Dye Recipe
250 g henna powder
10 black tea bags
2-3 Tbsp ground cloves
2 Tbsp paprika
1 2/3 Cup lemon juice
Olive oil (some)
Mix all the ingredients together until it is the consistency of yogurt. (that is where I add the oil till it gets that way). Leave this to sit and work for 12-24 hours. The henna needs time to activate and has to have an acid to do that.

You can get more detailed and better information at Henna for Hair.

This morning, before we started weeding, Jill put this stuff on my head. It was a bit thick so she added some water to thin it out.

Really work it in all over.

(yes it felt as nasty as it looks)
TIP You can put a thick layer of petroleum jelly around your head to keep from having an orange ring of skin around your face. I don't have any as I detest the stuff and refuse to buy it. You could also maybe use those strips of cotton that they use when you get a perm.

Next we bagged it up to let it set.

Then we had to wait. Weeding took up most of that time but we finally quit waiting after about 3 hours. (they recommend at least 4)
Then we had the chore of washing the gunk out. That was a chore! The recommended way is to use about 1/2 a bottle of cheap conditioner to help you get it out.
Well, I left that home so we had to improvise. Shampoo helped a little.
Then I had the brilliant idea to use Vea's marvelous hand-made Lye Soap. It did the charm. It really lathered up and got all the gunk out. The I rinsed my hair with about 1-2Tbsp of vinegar in about 2 quarts of water. I rinsed it with water again after that. All the gunk came out. I was very impressed.
It took an eternity to dry as I have hair that is thick enough for about 3 people.
Her is the finished result.

Inside, it just looks auburn. Outside in the sun, it is very red.
I like it. (jumping and giggling) Bryan likes it too. :o)
It has the wonderful aftereffect of making my hair smell like gingerbread.

Hen Day - Laundry Closet

This weeks Prairie Hen Day was held at my house. After a lot of thought I decided to tackle my laundry closet. Jill was the only hen able to come so the two of us, and our trusty helpers, set out to tackle the closet.

I need storage!
Soooo..... We decided to build shelf for my closet. We learned some very important lessons along the way.

Lesson #1. Make a plan and assemble your tools.

We drew our plan; you need a top, bottom, sides, and shelves. Easy enough. With two brains there we made less mistakes with the math.
Can you see our "woman tool" we used ...... the rotary cutting ruler??!! Hee Hee. We couldn't find the proper tool and knew that one would work too. (we also learned that a table saw would have been a better tool for us to use than the circular saw, our cuts weren't exactly strait.)

Lesson #2. Make sure you have Good Help.

Jeddie was a big help. He used up all the battery power in the cordless drill so we were able to use our muscles and drive the screws in my hand. He did a good job of distressing the wood for us.

Lesson #3. Make sure you Good Help doesn't Bail on you.

Jeddie found some water and a bucket and "worked" very hard at "bailing out" his dad's wagon.

Lesson #4. Done is better than perfect!

The corners aren't square, the shelves might need a little support, but it is done, and most likely won't fall down.
Biggest Bonus, I didn't have to wait for someone to have the time to do it for me. We also had a lot of fun and nearly died laughing.

Lesson #5. Make sure everyone has a good time.

What could be more fun than power tools and fresh mud puddles?

I still need to add some casters to the shelf so I can roll it in and out of my closet. When I am done, I will post the finished project.

We also ate good food! Jill brought the fixings for some delicious chicken wraps, very tasty, and very carb friendly.

I will post the recipe as soon as I get it from her.

Hen Day - Recovered Couch Cushions

Today for Prairie Hen Day, we went to Jill's house. As usual she did a great job of coming up with a project and it was pretty cool. She has a very deep sofa and love seat. She also has 4 little kids and her cushions were in need of recovering. So we too to fabulous upholstery fabrics and made 2 sided pillows for her. I think they look fabulous. I might have to make a tutorial for them some time soon but didn't want to sandwich that into this post. They were so easy to make and look so fantastic. They gave me some really great idea for my living room.

We also ate good food (of course). Rebecca made us her famous Chiles Reyenos. They were to die for. Here is the recipe.

Rebecca’s Chiles Rellenos
8 Poblano Chiles
8 eggs
2 Tbsp water
¼ cup flour
½ tsp salt
8 thick slices of cheese (pepper jack is good but so is mozzarella)
Roast the peppers under the broiler for about 15 minutes. Make use you turn them often so they get nice and blistered. Place them right into a plastic bag and let them sweat for 10 minutes. Then peel and seed them.
Separate the eggs.
Mix the yolks, water, flour and salt. Beat them for 6 minutes until they are lemon colored and smooth.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold them into the yolk mixture.
Fry 1/3 cup batter in an oiled frying pan. As it begins to set, add a chile and some cheese (wrap the chile around the stick of cheese). Top this with another 1/3 cup of the batter. Turn after it is browned and cook through.
Keep them warm in a 300 deg. F oven.
Serve plain or with sauce.
Sauce
1 can of cream of chicken soup.
Some sour cream
Heat the soup up in a pan. Thin with some sour cream. (I don’t know how much just some, till it tastes good).
You can also serve these with some fresh salsa.

We also got to work with the Sexy Apron Day funness.

Rebecca tried one on for me to see how they look on a skinny body.

I think she looks pretty hot.

Hen Day - Sexy Apron Day

Today's Prairie Hen day was help at Rebecca's house. We were going to make Roman Shades for her great room. However, she wasn't able to get the fabric for that sooooo. We had a Sexy Apron Day instead.
What? You don't know what a Sexy Apron Day is? That is a day when you basically feel like crap and have a mount of things you still have to do. Soooooo...... you put on your Sexy Apron and you start to feel better. You still have to do the dishes, laundry, diapers, what ever, but you are doing it all with style. Every time you look down and see that Smoking Hot, frilly apron, you smile and know that you ARE having a Sexy Apron Day, hee hee, and pretty soon you realize you don't really feel like crap anymore. This apron is all for you!
Well for us to have a Sexy Apron Day, Rebecca and I had to make ourselves one. I was a total idiot and didn't think to help Rebecca finish hers and made my own instead and had to run. She called me later and said she was finishing up. I can't wait to see it! We really missed the other hens who were unavoidibly detained with other things today.
For mine, I took an antique. home job, apron and re-worked it into my own pattern. I rather love it!
What do you think?

Since it was an experiment, I made it out of inexpensive, yet sassy fabric. I decided to line the apron and figured if I am going to go to all that work, then both sides had better be worth seeing.
I love it. I have worn it all day and boy did I have a Sexy Apron Day. My fridge died this past weekend. Today we got a substitute fridge and I had to clean both of them out. (my fingers and still wrinkled) I had fun anyway because I had my sexy little apron on and it made me smile every time I looked at it. It is short and sweet and sassy.

*****Update ******

Here is Rebecca's Sexy Apron Day creation.

Very Cute and Sassy.

Hen Day - Pesto

It is Prairie Hen Day again!!! I love Wednesdays.
Today we went to Vea's house to visit, eat good food, and make fresh pesto.
I have an obscene amount of purple basil in my garden. Enough to send every one home with a pint or two of pesto. We just kept licking our fingers. It was SOOOO GOOD!

The pesto on the left is made with bright green lemon basil.
The pesto on the right is made with dark purple basil.
Both are very tasty.
Here is the recipe
Walnut Pesto
1/2 tsp salt
2 Cups fresh Basil leaves (2 oz)
1/3 cup Olive Oil
1/2 cup walnuts
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Put everything in the food processor and blend well.
Makes just more than a cup when you are done.
To use: add 2-3 Tbsp to a pot of pasta with a little of the pasta liquid.
For our wonderful meal (sorry, no pictures, we ate it too fast!) we fixed sautéed chicken and zucchini with pesto sauce.
So good and so good for you!
I am making a blogging request here. Please post comments with your favorite uses for pesto sauce.

Why Prairie Hens???

I have been asked why we chose the name Prairie Hens. We we had to call ourselves something. We realized that we had become organized and we needed a name. We are bent on a purpose and like the Order of the Phoenix we are united in a cause to fight evil (OK the mess in our homes). I love chickens and their many references in literature and Scripture. Well we couldn't call ourselves the chickens though.
We remembered a story we had heard about prairie hens. I think they are one of the bravest creatures I know. When they are faced with with a prairie fire the mother hens will hunker down call their chicks in and not move. The fires will come and pass over them. The mother will die but by doing so she saves the lives of her children.
We are all mothers in our group and our aim is to serve and protect our families as best we can.
On our little farm we have several chickens and I have loved watching the mamas with their children. It is amazing how in a few short days that mother hen and teach those flighty little chicks to come when she calls. When danger nears her family she will puff herself up and stand between them and the danger. She will call her babies to come and they all do. It is quite remarkable.
So with these wonderful examples in nature, proudly call ourselves the Prairie Hens.
We also all happen to live in an area of Missouri that was originally called Oliver's Prairie and knew we had to have that name.

Hen Day

Every Wednesday, the Prairie Hens meet. We gather and one Hen's home and help her accomplish a project that helps her with her home and family. The group is made up of 5 intelligent, creative and very busy women. Collectively we have 28 children ranging in age from 2 month to about 30 yrs. old.
At each weekly meeting of the Hens we work on a project chosen by the hostess. The hostess also provides the entertainment for any children that come along for the day. The visiting Hens bring a delicious lunch for all.
This week the Hens came to my house. This was an odd week so we had a special project planned. We worked on making diapers for baby shower gifts for some of our friends.

All the hens have donated supplies to make them.

I also squeezed in a few for Jeddie too.

He wanted to demonstrate how to open them.
Here he is sporting one for you to see how well they fit.

He loves to run around in just his diaper. The new ones are so stinkin' cute, I let him.

I fixed the food today since it was an extra work day. I promised the Hens I would post the recipes here.
I am on a very strict low carb diet right now so I fixed a recipe that would work for all of us.
I made Ham and lettuce wraps for me and Ham and no kneed bread for the Hens. Both were served with Basil mayonnaise. I think you could spread that stuff on card board and it would be to die for!

This is a leaf of Romaine lettuce, 1 tsp basil mayo, 1 slice of lean ham, some asiago cheese, and some sliced bell pepper.

I also served African peanut chicken soup. Sounded weird but tasted too good and was in my carb ok list (I had to pull all potatoes out of mine and only at a small serving of it.)

Here are the recipes.

Basil Mayonnaise
1 cup mayonnaise (use the canola oil kind)
10-15 basil leaves
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic

Place above ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

(this recipe wasn't used but I promised Miyuki that I would share it)

Cilantro Mayonnaise
¾ cup mayonnaise
¾ cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp soy sauce
1 clove garlic
Place everything in the food processor . Blend till smooth.

African Peanut Chicken Soup
INGREDIENTS
8 cups chicken broth
2 cups diced chicken meat
1 cup peeled and cubed potatoes
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced zucchini
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup tomatoes, chopped (canned or fresh)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
In a large stock pot, cook the chicken in a little olive oil. When it is done add the onion, celery, peppers, and carrots. Saute for a few minutes. Add the broth (8 cups water and 8 tsp Knorr chicken bouillon) and potatoes. Bring the soup to a boil, and then reduce heat to medium. Cook for about 10 minutes, till vegetables are tender.
Add zucchini, broccoli, tomatoes, celery, onion, green pepper, and garlic. Simmer for about 8 minutes.
Add peanut butter, parsley, salt, and pepper; stir until peanut butter is fully blended. Simmer for 3 minutes longer.