This weekend on the farm, recipes for Stuffed Pretzels and Frittata

The chickens got some time in the sun.  We, and by "we" I mean my DH, shoveled out an area in front of the chicken coop and put down some straw so the girls and Chuck could enjoy the lovely weather we are having.  Chuck could be heard crowing his excitement throughout the neighborhood. 

 The rest of their yard has a long way to go...

 Keeping with his outdoor snow theme, DH snow blowed some of the 1 foot of snow pack off the back deck.  The deck sits right up against the house and the snow melt comes down the hill from above, we try to get it cleaned off so we don’t end up with water against, and possibly in the house.  

 I have continued my endeavor to save my over watered tomatoes.  They were still fairly wet, I removed some of the soil, and then repotted them, layering dry potting soil with the wet stuff the tomatoes were in.  The jury is still out.  I think definitely some will make it, the Manitoba heirloom plants are doing the best.

I moved the thyme, oregano and mint into bigger pots, and the basil has grown tall enough I could snip some off the top to fill the plant out more and to add to our dinner tonight.

The eggs are 1 week into their incubation

I ground some flour.  I own an Ultramill, it’s loud and fairly messy, but it gets the job done.  I try to keep some ground flour on hand, because I’m  more likely to bake if it's already ready. Fresh ground is so much better than the store bought whole wheat, which is dry and old.  I ground some soft white pastry berries and Prarie gold wheat.  I keep the whole berries in buckets in the arctic entry coat closet with my spelt and organic cane sugar I buy at a local co-op.  I then bag the flour in labeled freezer bags, the flour keeps well in the freezer, it will become rancid if left out.  

Here is the wonderful stuffed pretzel recipe I promised you.  Ok, so I can’t take credit for the recipe, I got it from Farmama’s blog follow link to recipe Llink to pretzel recipe. The pretzels can be stuffed with anything, these I made with parmesan, pesto and caramelized onion.  I made it almost exactly like her recipe except I made it with all whole wheat flour instead of white.  I used the 5 cups of flour, and it was quite dry, so I added more water, it took about 2/3 of a cup more to make it the right consistency.  My daughter complained about the pesto and onion, she doesn’t like them, but after gobbling down her pretzel, she didn’t mind them at all.  I consider any recipe that gets my picky kid to eat vegetables, a success!  

Whats for dinner?  We had the pretzels with a Frittata. I actually never made frittata’s until recently, when I was looking for dinner recipes using eggs.  The kids feel like the are having "breakfast" for dinner, and I get to feed them healthy food and keep the eggs from piling up in the kitchen.  Again, not a favorite, yep because of the vegetables, but it was eaten, so again a success.

Frittata recipe:

8 eggs

2 tbsp milk

1 red pepper chopped

1 bunch of spinach, cleaned and chopped

½ red onion diced

shredded cheddar cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 350.  I use a cast iron skillet that can go into the oven, or you could cook the vegetables, and then move them to an oven safe greased, casserole.  Chop and saute red pepper and onion in a little olive oil, when nearly done, add fresh spinach and cook until soft, beat eggs with  milk, salt and pepper, sprinkle cheddar cheese over vegetables (I just eyeball it), pour egg over the top, top with a little more cheese and place uncovered in oven.  Bake approx 15 minutes, until set in center.  Serves 6-8.