Plants, gardening, spring and exhaustion

Well I hope everyone had a good earth day on Sunday! I for one spent my day looking for plants, fixing the fridge and starting our planting. We had a few of our herbs that winter over like my washtub of peppermint, some sage and some oregano. I am really hoping that this year is better for growing than last year. We definatly missed the canned veggies and salsa as well as the fresh stuff due to the draught and heat.

I am a huge fan of the old wash tubs as planters. This square one came from an elderly neighbors yard. It got raised on bricks for stability and drainage and then my rosemary that had taken over my kitchen window got transplanted out here. So far it just has the regular rosemary, the creeping rosemary and spicey globe basil in it. I need to  add thyme and sage or maybe some thai basil as well. For anyone who doesnt know it the white pellets are moth balls. We have a huge issue with cats wanting to use our planters as litter boxes(our cats stubs being the worst) they cant stand the moth balls smell so problem solved! They work on a multitude of critters so its so worth the time to do.

We have also found in recent years they seem to give us higher yeild on the tomatoes so its a win/win.

Rhiannon and the neighbourhood kids cleared my garden spot for me. So tonight the rest of the stuff for out there like my squash and watermelons will go in the ground....now to find motivation...lol. I am just tired today period.

AT, chaos, snakes and life(oh yeah and new recipes)

I am waiting on the new incubator(Yay amazon prime, it will be here Monday). Poor Ruby, she looks like she could drop anytime. Kali has little pea sized folicals so I am hoping we are well on our way to some good clutches this year. Rhiannon is planning to set up a web cam and run a live feed when they start hatching so everyone can see. We have high hopes to get multiple spidars this year.(an albino is probably to much to hope for but it is possible) I will probably keep any female morphs we get with an eye to future projects.(I want to work on spinners and some bumble bee's). Tomorrow is feed day again for the juvies. I cant wait til Maya, my little orange dream is breed ready.

I am looking at building a set of racks for our bedroom to reduce the amount of tanks we have in use. I'm not overly fond of them but as the collection expands it becomes a needed item. I plan to print off the instructions and talk with the gentleman down the street about making it. He is one of those ubber crafty types and does awesome work. Then I just have to get 12 inch flex watt and new tubs.

This has been one of THOSE weeks. I am so glad we had decided this would be our slow week with school! With Donovan getting around for annual training the house has been in other chaos. Getting him around for 2 weeks in the field is always such an uproar that no matter how much I miss him, the 2week break is nice so I can CLEAN. Its driving me nuts that at present Gareths room is in better shape than ours. I am totally planning to pull everything out of our room and re-organizing. We also have plans to go geocaching, Rhiannon has joined the youth center on base and is going to art club starting this week and has state testing.

I have been in susie 50's housewife mode. Today I  baked most of the day. I made cookies for the home school group meeting tomorrow and to freeze, a double batch of Irish soda bread so that Gareth could take a loaf to some of the neighbors, I can take a loaf tomorrow possibly and some to freeze for later.

This week I have been experimenting with casseroles again due to being bored. The first was a recipe they were sampling at walmart before easter, I modified it to make a meal instead of a side dish, went with fresh ingredient where I could and added meat and veg


Ham and hashbrown casserole

5 cups grated potatoes
4 chopped spring onions
2cups sour cream
1 can cream of celery soup
1 cup or more chopped steamed asperagus or 3/4 cup frozen peas
3/4 cup chopped ham
2cups shredded cheese

Mix the first 6 ingredients together and spread in a buttered casserole dish, cover in cheese and bake at 350 for 30 min

The second was one of those I didnt have the things I thought I did so I improvised


Enchilada suprise

1 carton of philly cooking cream
2 cups sour cream
2 cups chopped chicken of turkey meat
3 cups grated cheese divided
1 can grands biscuits
1 can corn drained
1/2 cup green salsa or more to taste

Mix meat, corn, and two cups cheese in a bowl. Roll each biscuit out flat and place a small amount of the filling inside, rolling it up burrito style. Line up in a 13x9  sprayed pan and par bake at 350 for 10 min. Mean while mix the remaining filling with the cooking cream, the sour cream, and salsa. Spread over the hot biscuit burritos and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Return to the oven for 30 min and enjoy

more stuff I cook

Bacon Cake

Yes its true, it is sinful, it is great and it is really really easy

1 box chocolate fudge cake mix(super moist is what I usually go for)

Milk

eggs

1 lb bacon

1 tub chocolate fudge frosting or make your own


(A good rule of thumb is if the recipe calls for a pound of bacon you should cook 2, especially if the family is home!)

Cook your bacon extra crispy. Cool and crumble, reserve drippings

Mix the cake mix, 3 eggs, 1 and 1/4 cup milk and 2/3 cup bacon grease. Beat until smooth.

add 1/3 of the crumbled bacon to the batter. Spray a 13x9 pan with cooking spray and bake at 350.

One the cake is cooled frost and top with crumbled bacon and enjoy.

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CHICKEN PASTA BAKE



 1 pound penne pasta

 2 pounds ricotta cheese

 ¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese

 1 (12-ounce) can fat-free evaporated milk

 1 egg

 1 tablespoon garlic powder

 1 teaspoon salt

 ½ teaspoon black pepper

 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and well drained

 1 (10-ounce) package or 2 cups cooked chunked chicken breast

 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare penne pasta according to package directions; drain. Coat a 9" x 13" baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, evaporated milk, egg, garlic powder, salt, and pepper; mix until well combined.

3. Stir in broccoli and cooked chicken; mix well. Add penne and toss gently until well mixed; pour into baking dish and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

4. Cover with foil and bake 45 minutes then remove foil and bake 5 more minutes.
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DEEP DISH PIZZA CASSEROLE

 1 pound ground round

 1 (15-ounce) can chunky Italian-style tomato sauce

 1 (10-ounce) can refrigerated pizza dough

 6 (1-ounce) slices mozzarella cheese, divided

 ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF. Cook meat in a nonstick medium skillet over medium-high heat, stirring until meat crumbles and is no longer pink. Drain, if necessary, and return to skillet. Add tomato sauce, and cook until heated.

2. Meanwhile, unroll pizza dough, and press into bottom and halfway up sides of a lightly greased 9 "x 13" baking dish (see Notes). Line bottom of pizza crust with 3 slices mozzarella cheese. Top with meat mixture.

3. Bake, uncovered, for 12 minutes. Top with remaining 3 cheese slices, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake 5 more minutes, or until crust is browned and cheese melts. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

Spring has sprung, the snakes are coming out of the winter slump and of course this means the two big bimbos cant help but be annoying as possible. This started with Kali dumping their water tub tonight. She and Ruby are now playing on my desk while i try to type. Its time to get the incubator prepped for sure, Ruby is looking lumpy...lol.

   Its big trash pick up here in Lawton right now so our day was consumed with clean up. The city deciding not to do this for a full year has lots of people, like us needing to clear garages and such. Our back yard is finally cleaned up the way I want it. Now to get plants in the ground. My Oregano, Sage, peppermint and Lavender all wintered over nicely. We are hoping to get dect tomatoes and peppers at the very least, maybe some squash too.