Recipe Day

Awhile back, Bunnygirl posted about making home-made crackers. The Bag Lady filed that idea away for later. Then yesterday, Sagan, over at "Living Healthy in the Real World", posted her recipe for home-made crackers. The Bag Lady decided it was definitely time to jump on the bandwagon!

She used the same basic recipe that Bunnygirl had posted, but tweaked it a little in order to use what she had available.
Here is the recipe for the crackers she made:

1 C Nutri-blend flour
1/4 C rye flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
5 Tbsp water
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1 tsp chopped fresh basil

Preheat oven to 400F.
Mix flour, sea salt, pepper and basil together well in food processor (reserve a little flour for dusting). Add oil, mix well. Add enough water, 1 Tbsp at a time, until dough holds together in a compact ball.
Dust parchment paper and rolling pin with reserved flour. Roll dough into rectangle the approximate size of cookie sheet. Transfer paper and dough to cookie sheet. Lightly score dough in squares. Sprinkle lightly with coarse salt, if desired.
Bake 10 - 15 minutes until lightly browned.
Cool, break along score lines into squares.



Here is a photo of the Bag Lady's crackers:


The Bag Lady is quite pleased with the results, and is planning on doing more experimenting. She has a large quantity of dill in her garden, just begging to be used in something like this! There are all sorts of variations one could use to change the basic recipe to suit your own personal tastes.
(She tried hers with a little of The Laughing Cow Cheese, and it was delightful!)

Tutorial

The Rancher has been working long and hard, and the Bag Lady presents the evidence:





(she apologizes for the quality of the video....as always!)

Beautiful Bounty

Betcha can't guess what the Bag Lady is making for supper!!!



This is all out of her garden: peas, spinach, purple bunching onions, garlic, red potatoes and rutabagas. Along with a nice home-grown beef roast.....

Doesn't that sound good?


Update:

Doesn't it look good, too? (even though it's a little blurry...sigh)

Sizzlin'

The Bag Lady has a few photos of her pepper plants to share with you today. Although these are a little difficult to see (try clicking on the photo to enlarge it), these super-chili plants are loaded with peppers:
Here is a close-up of some cayenne peppers:


And the banana peppers are doing really well:


The Bag Lady is really looking forward to making some salsa or chili. Soon.

Monday, Monday.....

The Bag Lady regrets that she is taking a brief HiAYtus (get it?) from blogging today. She's been really busy this weekend with haying and visiting and real life stuff that she didn't have time to prepare an actual post for today. She promises that she'll be back soon. Honest. As soon as they finish getting the last bit of hay put up.

Here's a little something to tide you over 'til then.

Ummm......

Did she show you this already?......

She totally stole this idea from the Cowman's cousin....

And next year she's going to put even more flowers on that old ladder!!

Have a good day!

Progress and Sharing

Progress:

Sharing:

Special Friday "Review" Round-up

REDNECK PRODUCT REVIEW

The Bag Lady reads a lot of health and fitness blogs (she's not sure why, because she got rid of her health a long time ago!) and thoroughly enjoys the product reviews that several bloggers have been doing lately. The Bag Lady thought that perhaps it was time to do a few comparisons for you.

REDNECK STEP AEROBICS

The Bag Lady uses her front-end loader or her tractor for her step aerobics work-outs. She gets in and out several times every morning when feeding her cows in the winter. In the summer, she is up and down the steps into her house what feels like a million times a day!

REDNECK TREADMILL

The Bag Lady has read a lot of comparisons about different treadmills, and has determined that hers is the best. She actually goes somewhere when she works out on her treadmill! The only downside is having to sidestep the occasional cow pie, but that becomes easier with practice.


REDNECK WEIGHT LIFTING

There has been some discussion on several of the fitness blogs about whether working out with weights should be done every day, and whether it will cause women to develop huge muscles. The Bag Lady is here to tell you that lifting weights on a regular basis will not cause women to develop "manly" muscles. She lifts heavy things all the time and still looks like a bleeping marshmallow! (this photo shows the metal roller that the Bag Lady has been talking about.)


REDNECK BOSU BALL

The bosu ball is gaining in popularity, and the Bag Lady can think of nothing better than exercising while trying to maintain your balance. She combines balancing with lifting weights. She manages this when helping to install rollers in the baler, which entails standing on the bouncy rubber baler belts while lifting a 5-foot long, 50-lb metal roller over her head into a space where it doesn't want to go! An additional incentive to keeping your balance are the sharp metal prongs that protrude between each belt upon which you could impale yourself quite easily if you fell!


REDNECK YOGA

The Bag Lady practices redneck yoga in her garden on a daily basis. She generally only practices the "downward dog" pose, but feels the stretching is good for the back of her legs, and she certainly manages to get rid of lots of weeds at the same time!



REDNECK KETTLEBELL

The newest craze that seems to be rippling through the fitness community is the kettlebell. The Bag Lady doesn't have a kettlebell, but she does have a big ol' cast iron dutch oven that gives you much the same kind of a workout when you use it to cook over an open fire. Sling this puppy around to make all your meals, and you'll have terrifically toned arms in no time. There's also the added benefit of the heat from the fire, if slinging the dutch oven doesn't make you sweat! If done properly, you will also tone your abs and the muscles in your legs. Unfortunately, it only comes in two colours - black or rusty black.


REDNECK ROOT PICKING

She does have several other exercises that don't have an equivalent in the gym, unless perhaps you compare picking roots and rocks to doing squats and lunges. There is also grain-shoveling, manure shoveling, carrying pails of oats to feed to cows, and wrangling calves when it comes time to do any of the essentials like ear-tagging them. Of course, compared to previous generations, the Bag Lady has it pretty soft. She has only stacked square bales once in her life, which was terrifying because she's afraid of heights. She has never had to pitch bundles or stook bales or do any of the really hard physical labour that used to be done. Yup, she might have to start going to the gym in order to get a real work-out!


The Bag Lady hopes you have enjoyed her redneck product review, and encourages you to try some of these products at home.