Capturing Life in Plaster

I first tried this in salt dough after seeing it on pinterest, but was very disappointed by the results. The salt dough needs to be put in the oven at 200 degrees F for upwards of 4 -5 hours. If you are trying to do an older childs foot it may take longer. The results were not detailed and didn't cover well with paint. There is also no consensus on how long salt dough anything lasts. I wanted to capture the kids youth for ages, or at least until my older years. All in all...i don't recommend using salt dough for footprints.

I read numerous websites and took a bit of good information from each. After a bit of trial and error, found that plaster of paris was the best medium for capturing life like and detailed foot and handprints. The best technique I have found is as follows:

**Playdough ---I used generic, in fact I tried both name brand and the cheaper generic from the craft aisles at Walmart and the generic was not only cheaper it worked better, The generic playdough peeled away from the plaster much better after the plaster dried and any that remained rinsed away easily in warm water.

**Plaster of Paris - I bought a 25 lb bag for 11$ at the local hardware store.

**2 foot long length of 1 inch wide cardstock covered in packing tape to "laminate" it

**Paint

1.)I used 3 standard size playdough containers and rolled it out so that it was at least 3/4 of an inch thick and dimensions large enough to house the foot or hand with plenty of space around it.

You can have the print have a slight irregular edge of plaster (skip to step 5) or it can be made so the entire piece has a circular shape with the print protruding from the center (Follow steps 2 to 4)

2.)Place the cardstock strip in a circle around the impression. Use a paper clip to hold the paper at the proper length.

3.)When you have the paper centered around the print the way that you like it then press it into the playdough enough to so it stays in place.

4.) If you want a hole in the final product to hang it up, then take a straw or a plastic standard pen and stick the end of it into the playdough where you want the hole to be.

4.) Mix the plaster. I use about 1 cup of plaster to 1/2 cup of cold water per small size impression. Stir the plaster to remove the lumps and as many air bubbles as possible.

5.) Pour the plaster into the paper mold so it is around 1/2 inch thick.

6.) Remove the pen in about 40 mins.

7.) Remove the paper mold in about 60 minutes. Touch the back of the plaster, if it doesn't leave a mark then pick u the plaster and pull the playdough off. It can be reused.

8.) Allow the plaster to dry an additional 20 minutes then wash the surface of the print in warm water to remove the playdough residue. Be gentle.

9.) Allow the print to dry for several hours.

10.) Paint as desired. I love bronze spray paint.

Prepare Ahead :Fish and Fresh Veggies

Prepare Ahead and Toss it in the Oven: Fish and Fresh Veggies

I am so blessed to have a dad with a serious fishing addiction. We basically have an unlimited supply of walleye, blue-gills, and crappies. In fact, I just bought fish for the first time in a long while and was amazed at how much the fish my dad so willingly gives us would cost at the store. Regardless, just about any fish will work for this but my favorites for store bought fish would be either tiliapia or salmon, although each has a completely different flavor.
The recipe is easy. I don't tend to make sides with this dinner because the point is it is supposed to be a super easy, healthy meal so go big when you are considering the size pan. The fish and vegetables tend to "cook down" a lot. I will generally use a 9X 13 pan which equates into 2-3 lbs of fish for our family.

Fresh Tomato, sliced 1/4 inch
Red Onion, sliced
Green or Colored Sweet Peppers, sliced
1/2 Lemon or 1 Lime, sliced
Sliced Mushroom
Optional depending on season
**Zucchini, sliced
**Asparagus
5 Butter Pads
Lemon Pepper to taste
Garlic Salt to taste

Remove the filets from the package and briefly rinse under cold water. Pat them dry and lay all along the bottom of a 9 X 13 pan. I don't grease the pan. Cover with your vegetables slices. I don't tend to do this in a particular order. Sprinkle with lemon pepper and garlic salt to taste. You can store it for several days in the refrigerator before cooking. I usually make it on Sunday and we have it on tuesday nights. Turn oven to 350 F and put the glass container in. I let them warm up to together to prevent cracking the glass dish. I will also cover with tinfoil if i have asparagus in it or a really thick layer of vegetables to help everything get done. In our stove, the fish is done in about 25 -30 minutes. Just check to make sure the fish is no longer translucent if a white fish and flakes apart.

Healthy Low Carb Prepare Ahead Meals - Chicken Mediterranean

We have been actively trying to eat better...specifically more fresh vegetables and a bigger selection of vegetables. The more journals I read the more saddened I am by the amount of disease in this country that is the direct result of our poor nutrition.
The biggest problem is availability and cost. We are spoiled in the summer by simply eating out of the garden, but winter in Iowa doesn't allow for shopping local for fresh produce. So unfortunately the best looking and best priced produce comes from...Sam's club. I feel horrible just saying typing that. Regardless...buying fresh in bulk has it's advantages...it's cheaper?? Yikes, however the locally owned grocery store can be very hit or miss on how the fresh produce and with 3 kids I can't brave a million stores. Coming up with convenient, healthy, prepare ahead recipes that actually use up the bulk produce with little waste is possible. If you can find about an hour on Sunday, you can make several dinners that keep several days in the refrigerator.
Sorry, I hate following the directions for recipes, use it as a guideline, but alter to your families taste.

Chicken Mediterranean

Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast ( I figure 1 per person, since we don't have a starch with this meal
Roma Tomatoes, diced
Mushrooms, cleaned sliced (8oz)
Green Onions , diced ( I use about 6)
Black Olives, sliced
Red, Orange, or Yellow Sweet Peppers (1 large, or 4-5 small)
Fresh Kale, chopped finely (2-3 leaves)
Optional : fresh asparagus pieces
Fresh minced garlic (2 tablespoons)
shredded mozzarella
Butter/ or Olive Oil - (4 tablespoons)


Preheat oven to 350 F.
Butterfly chicken breasts if thick, I aim for a thickness of about 1/2 inch. Place them along the bottom of a glass baking pan. Sprinkle mozzarella on top of chicken breasts. Spread the veggies on top of cheese layer, no particular order. Place the pads of butter evenly around the pan. Sprinkle with garlic, salt, and pepper to taste. Cover with tin foil. Bake for about 20 minutes or until chicken juices are no longer pink and vegetables tender.

Things for the farm

So after over 4 years since leaving Ames, we finally sold the Nevada house...Thank the heavens!!

Selling the house allowed us to purchase some badly needed items for the farm like a nice snowblower, drill, and saw and a few things to just make life easier!!! Like our super awesome pull behind tiller purchased at Sears. Tilled 6 of our garden beds in less then 30 minutes and most of that was devoted to the learning curve. Can't wait to really test it out next year!!!

So I got a little busy....

I had great ambitions to keep this blog up to date....alas....busy.... but we did have a lot on our plates including the addition of Mason Owen into our family in July. His birth was a bit dramatic and involved being sent home from the hospital only to deliver him myself in the front seat of our minivan with my husband driving us to the hospital. Yikes..oh well...we all did well and he is a sweet, happy, healthy baby.

What happened on the farm??

The Carmine Jewel Cherries have done phenomenal, despite our hard pack clay dirt. They literally went from twigs to about 2 foot tall!! So excited. The other interesting thing we noticed is they were unphased by the japanese beetles. Unfortunately, the nanking cherries didn't fair as well and were completely defoliated by the beetles. Prior to the beetles they also went from a twig to nice bushy little 1.5 foot high plants. Honeyberries are in and living, but not thriving like the cherries. Goumi has also out done the honeyberry plants. Will likely do some more soil amendments with manure next year.

Other news from this summer include the addition of a cow and selling a horse. After much debate over the years, I finally gave into the fact that I don't have time for a young horse...and it only took me six years to figure that out. Kayla found a wonderful home with a young girl who just graduated from college and is planning to do dressage and eventing with her. I will say having only the 2 horses has changed they dynamic of the barn completely, much calmer and quieter and much less competition. Also much less poo to clean up!!. So I sold a horse but added a cow. My reasoning is I don't have to feel quilty about not riding the cow and at the end of the day I could always eat the cow. After looking and looking, I finally found a miniature Hereford heifer we could afford. We decided our future herd would be named based on gemstones and jewels and so our first little cow is Ruby. The plan is to breed her in about a year to something small...maybe a miniature jersey...if we got a heifer it could be a good little milk cow. Although, there is nothing to stop me from milking the hereford for table milk.

Spring weather brings sore backs.

It is finally starting to warm up here, which means there is an enormous amount of work to do.
Todd has been working on getting the gravel out of the lawn and we have both been working on the winter mountain of manure as it thaws. It is a pain but once composted grows the most amazing vegetables and fruit. If only we had a tractor the work would be done in one half hour.
We also removed the weed stalks and tilled the beds we made last year on top of the hill. They are nice raised beds that are 4 ft wide and 24 foot long. We filled one with 16 Jersey King Asparagus plants and then made another bed with some plants I bought a few years ago but never officially planted down around the electrical transformer pole. I don't remember what kind they were. Can't wait for all the fruit plants to start arriving although being 6 months pregnant sometimes all I want to do is nothing.

Making Root Beer - the old fashioned way!!

We are soda addicts. Yes, we admit. But since the goal is to make everything we can at home..or at least have the knowledge to do so I thought we would give root beer making a try. My brother, Josh, has made it several times and we have always enjoyed the flavor in frosty mugs.

I got some root beer extract ( and cola and lemon-lime ) from the Brew Haus. I also thought it would be a good chance to use the glass bottles that have been out in the barn for a year, so i also got a package of caps and a capper. Josh later informed me that he suggested we use plastic bottles so that the glass bottles didn't turn into grenades. So instead we "recycled" some 2-liter plasic bottles.

We made just 2 gallons to practice. Recipe per gallon.

1/4 tsp of yeast dissolved in warm water.

tbsp (15mls) of root beer extract

2 cups of sugar

and quantity sufficient warm water to one gallon.

This made 3 2-liters and 1 about 3/4 full. I don't know if the 3/4 full one will work but we shall try, will probably let it sit out longer.

It needs to sit on the counter for 3-5 days until the plastic containers are bulging with pressure. Then goes to the refrigerator. I think a nice batch of homemade ice cream to go with it will be a nice treat.