My First Quiche!

A couple of days ago I made my first quiche. It was truly amaaaaazing! Would make a good breakfast quiche, great for company! My husband even liked it. (THAT says something, as he will eat almost anything, but is picky about what he "likes" if that makes sense)

To start off, I will post the recipe exactly how it is from my cookbook. (I changed it and will make note of it at the bottom)

Ingredients:

3 eggs, beaten

1 c. whipping cream (I didn't know there are different types of whipping cream so I went all out and bought heavy whipping cream)

1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

1 c. ground beef, browned

9 inch pie crust (homemade or premade)

Directions:

Mix eggs, cream, cheese, and beef together; spread into pie crust. bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, lower oven temp to 350 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes.

How I changed it:

Instead of using ground beef, I did beef sausage and cooked it like ground beef. (The sausage added more flavor and spices). Also, I added a little more meat and cheese than it called for. You can't go wrong with that! When it was all mixed in the pie pan I sprinkled cheese on top for esthetics.

I did take it out of the oven 3-4 minutes early as it looked done and the crust was getting dark. (I'm glad I did do this, as it was done, very done)

I am not a perfect mom and I did use a pre-made pie crust. I read the ingredients in the crust (after making it) and well, yeah, I'd suggest a homemade one. I do have a killer recipe for a homemade crust (it just takes awhile) so that might be something to try. The ready to go ones though cut out a lot of time. =)

I think Quiche is something that we will eat more often. Maybe experimenting with meat and veggies....and substituting whole milk instead of whipping cream? That cream is soooo fattening.

Food for thought. (no pun intended)

I did take pictures, but my husband isn't here and I have a terrible time uploading them to blogger, getting them into the right spots on my post, not on the top, and shrinking the pictures so they upload faster. I have a mac, so any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I hope everyone has a safe Memorial Day weekend.

Recycle, Reuse: Trampoline Frames

In May of 2009, I was stuck in the basement of our county's Health Department. I had gone to get proof of pregnancy for insurance. We were all rushed to the basement due to tornados and strong straight line winds (80 mph!). There was quite some damage around our area. My creative husband searched Craig's List for months for free / cheap trampolines that were damaged in the storm. We actually scored a trampoline that wasn't that damaged and is fully functional. It is in our backyard and safe to jump on =)

His intent was to use the frames (minus the mat) to build a green house. Life happens and he didn't get around to it (yet). A couple of months ago we started purchasing chickens to raise for fresh farm eggs. The first coop he built was a recycled box thingy he used for puppies, then made a rabbit hutch out of it, and now a chicken coop. This is where our current adult ladies live / lay eggs.

They free range during the day, go in there to lay eggs and they go in their coop on their own in the evenings. We bought some chicks a month or two ago. (We lose track of time). They have now become adolescents and live in their own pen. This chicken "coop" is a trampoline frame turned upside down. It is temporary until they can be out with the big ladies.

Did I mention we have even more baby chicks? When my husband gets an idea in his head (actually I've been begging for chickens for at least a year), he goes a little overboard. This week he bought even more baby chicks (like 2 day olds). And when I say "chickens" we actually have 3 turkeys mixed in there. Anyways, when these adolescents get bigger, along with the little chicks, and the already grown hens, they will need an even LARGER coop. The king coop (err queen coop?) is structured with trampoline frames as well. See below, the metal is being supported by trampoline frames. This coop is still in the making.

Kris and Natalie checking out the chickens.

Today's findings:

Now you will never look at a trampoline the same =)

As a side note, I apologize for the funky lay out of the post. I'm trying to learn blogger. Either blogger doesn't like me, or blogger doesn't like a Mac.

Can you hear me?

Testing...testing...anybody out there?

How does one start off their first blog post? Man does it feel weird to be writing. I used to blog daily, about the stupidest things. After reading and learning from so many other like minded people I have come across (across on the internet from their blogs), I thought people might get a kick out of our little adventures. Maybe it's a midlife crisis in my mid 20's, or maybe it's a true genuine lifestyle change.

None the less, My little family of 3 moved out to our little homestead almost a year ago. We were graciously given 10 acres to plot ourselves. After developing the raw land, dragging out a modest used mobile home, gutting the home and remodeling, hours of hard work, many hours of work from our family, 9 ish months of remodeling, we finally moved to our little piece of Earth in July of 2010. After paying off some debt, we plan on building our house. (Can you tell we are Dave Ramsey Fans?)

Currently we are raising a garden, chickens, turkeys, ducks, Great Danes, and a toddler. We don't have goats (will in the future) but we named our little area Goat Creek due to the creek in our yard and our daughter drinking Goat's milk. <--- Save that for another post!

Follow along and laugh with us as we try to learn about garden raising, animal raising, kid raising, and a God driven self-sustainable lifestyle.