T bone Ranch

A couple weeks ago everyone went to the T Bone Ranch to see the exotic animals, here are some pics of the trip.
I did not go so I can't name all the different kinds of animals.
Annie

Cute Pictures

Here are some cute pictures that I have been meaning to put on the blog.



Stella being cute



Patty all pinned up ( can you tell who Daddy is voting for)



Our Totally Home Grown Meal

Bannana Bread(Sunday Lunch)

In a bowl combine:
1 3/4 C. Flour
3/4 t. Baking Soda
1 1/4 t. Cream of Tartar
1/2 t. Salt

Put in the Vita-Mix container:
2 eggs
1/2 C. Oil(I used Coco-palm)
2 Ripe banana's
1/2 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Chopped nuts(optional)

1. Turn the machine on to Variable Speed #1 quickly increase to #10. Blend until smooth. Reduce speed to #7. Slowly add flour mixture through the hole in the lid. Blend until smooth.
2. Pour into a wax paper lined loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Citrus Freeze(Saturday Supper)

This one is REALLY easy

1 Lemon peeled and halved
1 Grapefruit peeled and quartered
2 Oranges peeled and halved
1 1/2 Water
Ice to the top
1/3 C. Rapidura
3 T. or so of Frozen Orange juice concentrate

1. Throw it all in, in the order listed. Turn it onto Variable speed #1 quickly increase to #10 then HIGH. Run till smooth. You may need more or less sweetener depending on the sweetness of your fruit.
Yum Yum!!
Jenny

Blueberry Syrup(Saturday Brunch)

3 C. Frozen or Fresh Blueberries
1/2 or less Rapidura
1 t. Lemon Juice

1. Put it all in the Vita-Mix. Turn it onto Variable speed #1 then quickly increase to #10 then HIGH. Run for 3 minutes. Warm in a pot and serve over pancakes or waffles.

This was really good!! The kids loved it

Pizza(Friday Night)

Pizza in the Vita-Mix????





????






YES!!!!!!








Well..........






Not really.......






Pizza sauce in the Vita-Mix????





Yes!!!!





Pizza Sauce(From the Vita-Mix recipie revised by the Pizza Master{That would be my dad})
1 T. and ½ C. Olive oil divided
5 Cloves Garlic
½ C. Chopped Onion
1 t. Dried Oregano
1 ½ t. Dried Basil
3 T. Italian Seasoning(Yes Tablespoons)
1 t. Mrs. Dash “Table Blend”
1 t. Mrs Dash “Southwestern Chipotle”
10 Shakes or so of Tabasco
1 t. Pepper
2 14 oz cans diced tomatoes
2 T. Tomato Paste

1.Saute in 1 Tablespoon of the olive oil, garlic Onion and dried spices for 5 minutes or so.
2.Place remaining ingredients in Vita-Mix. Add sauted ingredients.
3.Turn onto Variable speed #1 and quickly increast to #5 or #6. Run for 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth.
THIS IS YUMMY!!!!!!

Wierd Grape Thingy(Friday Lunch)

Okay so our produce order came in today and we had some grapes leftover from our last produce order that needed to be used. We had some cottage cheese that would go bad soon also. It was too wierd to enjoy very much but I will post a recipe anyway.
Grape Thing:
Some grapes(Probably about 1 1/2 Cups or so)
About 1 C. Water
A handful of ice
1 C. cottage cheese

1 Put water in the Vita-Mix and turn it on to Variable #5. Put lid on and put grapes in through the hole. Turn it on to #10 and add the ice. Turn it onto HIGH for about a minute. Put in a bowl with the cottage cheese and eat/drink/slurp it up.LOL its REALLY WIERD!!
Jenny

Choclota Milk/Hot Chocolate(Friday Morning)

Chocolate Milk/Hot Chocolate
Ingredients:
Milk
2-4 T. Cocoa pwd.
¼ to ½ C. Honey or Agave

1.Pour milk until it is about ¾ of the way full. Putt in cocoa pwd. To taste. Pour in honey to taste.
2.Turn on to Variable #1 quickly increase to #10. Run for about 15 seconds.
3.Pour into cups and enjoy.
4.For hot chocolate pour in a pot and warm. Pour into cups and enjoy.
Note: It will be kinda foamy on top you can scrape the foam off if you want our kids love to eat the foam so we skim it off into a cup and let them eat it.
Jenny

Macaroni and Cheese(Thursday Night)

Thursday afternoon we were in town so we ate in town.
Macaroni and Cheese:
2 C. Elbow noodles
1/4 C. Flour
1/4 C. Butter
1/4 t. Salt
1 1/3 C. Milk
2 C. Cheddar Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook macaroni.
3. Put flour, butter, salt, and milk, in the Vita-Mix. Turn it onto variable speed #1 quickly increase to #10 then HIGH. Run for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove lid plug and add cheese while its running. Run for 1 more minute.
4. Spray a 8x8 in. baking dish. Spread macaroni across the bottom. Pour cheese sauce over the top. Mix well. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Jenny

Peach Smoothie(Thursday Morning)

On Wednesday we went on a field trip to the T-Bone Ranch in Valera, TX. They have lots of exotic animals. More about that later. So we were gone during lunch and had House of Faith that night so we didn't have anything in the Vita-Mix for lunch or supper.
Peach Smoothie:
2 C. Frozen Peaches
Yogurt about 3/4 of the way up the container
Some Flax seed
Some Sesame seed

1. Throw it all in. Turn it onto variable speed #1 quickly increase to #10 then HIGH. Blend till smooth.

Crepes(Wednesday Morning)

On Wednesday morning I made crepes with breakfast. They didn't turn out real well mostly because we don't have a crepe pan. To make crepes you need the fire pretty high for a short amount of time. Which means it is hot enough to melt plastic spatulas. But I couldn't really use a metal spatula because I needed it to be pliable to get up under the crepe and flip it. A true crepe pan has a very little lip on the side which allows you to flip it with much more ease. So they tasted really good but unless you have a crepe pan I wouldn't suggest making them.
Crepes:
1 C Milk
4 eggs
1 T. Rapidura
1 C. Flour

1. Put everything but the flour in the Vita-Mix. Turn it on to variable speed #1 quickly increase speed to #4 or #5. Run for 5 seconds.
2. Remove lid plug. Add flour through lid opening. Replace lid plug. Run for 5 to 10 seconds, until mixed.

Pour about 1/4 C. batter into a lightly buttered crepe pan. Spread batter all over the pan by tilting. Flip when it is rubbery to the touch on the top and golden brown on the bottom. Cook for another 10 to 30 seconds. Enjoy with butter and honey or jam or ANYTHING YOU WANT!! Be creative.
Jenny

Blueberry Kiss(Tues. Supper)

Tuesday I was in town all day so my original plan for supper didn't get done. Oh well, big deal... So instead Patty made this:
Blueberry Kiss(From the Vita-mix recipe book)
1 C. Frozen of Fresh Blueberries
1 C. Yogurt
3/4 C. Milk
1 C. Ice cubes

1. Throw it all in the Vita-Mix. Turn it onto Variable #1 then quickly increase to #10 then HIGH run for 1 minute or until smooth. Serve immediately.

Verdict:
It was REALLY good!! But of course its Blueberries and milk and yogurt how could it not be good! LOL!!

Tortilla Soup(Tuesday Lunch)

This soup tasted ok. Yes just ok... It wasn't really bad but definately not good. The kids didn't eat it. The rest of us ate it but....not because it tasted so good. lol.

Tortilla Soup(From the Vita-Mix book revised cuz I didn't have everything)
Soup Base:
3 C. Chicken Broth
1 tomato
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
1 thin slice of onion
1 garlic clove peeled
salt and pepper to taste
1 t Taco seasoning
Dash cumin

1. Place all ingredients in Vita-Mix. Turn it on to VARIABLE speed #1 quickly increase speed to #10 then HIGH. Run for 4-5 minutes until steam escapes through lid opening.
2. Reduce speed to VARIABLE #2 and add:
1/4 C. corn
3 T. Hot sauce
1/2 C. cooked chicken breast

3. Run for an additional 10 seconds serve immediately with tortilla chips.


Jenny

Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins(Tuesday Breakfast)

This is a recipie we have used for a long time but it was really easy to mix the batter in the Vita-Mix.

Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins

2 1/2 C. Flour

½ tsp. Salt

1 T. Pumpkin Pie Spice

1tsp. Baking Soda

1/3 C. Oil

1 C. Rapidura or honey

2 egg

1 Can Pumpkin

1 1/4 c. Applesauce

In a Large bowl combine Flour, Sugar, Pumpkin pie Spice, Salt and Soda. In Med, bowl combine eggs, pumpkin, and oil, add Pumpkin mixture to flour mixture and stir well, add applesauce and mix until smooth Don't over mix. Fill greased muffin cups in pan cook @ 350 for 30-40 min.

Makes 16 small muffins

I mixed the wet ingredients in the wet container. Then I ground the flour in the dry container then added the rest of the dry ingredients. I poured them both into a bowl and mixed it then put it in the muffin tins. It worked well and they are all gone!!

Jenny

Peach Ice Cream and Vanilla Ice Cream(Monday Supper)

Last night our dish made in the Vita-Mix was ice cream!! Everyone liked the flavor of the peach ice cream best.
Peach Ice Cream(From the Vita-Mix book)
1 C. milk
1 pound frozen peaches
1/2 C. Sugar(I used rapidura and we decided that it only needs about 1/4 C.)
1/2 t. Vanilla Extract
1/2 t. Almond Extract (I would suggest only 1/4t.)

1 Place all ingredients in the Vita-Mix.
2. Turn it on to Variable Speed #1 increase speed quickly to #10 then HIGH. Use Tanper to press ingredients through the blades while processing.
3. In about 30 to 60 seconds, the sound of the motor will change and four mounds should form in the mixture. Stop machine. Do not overmix or melting will occur.
Yes this bowl is a little melted. It was nice and firm but the little boy that this bowl belonged to took awhile to finish his food in order to be able to eat his ice cream.

Vanilla Ice Cream(From the Vita-Mix book)
1 C. Milk
1/2 C. Sugar(I used rapidura and would suggest using about 3/4C)
1/4 dry milk(we didn't have any so I just skipped it)
1 t. Vanilla Extract
4 C. Ice cubes

1 Place all ingredients in the Vita-Mix.
2. Turn it on to Variable Speed #1 increase speed quickly to #10 then HIGH. Use Tanper to press ingredients through the blades while processing.
3. In about 30 to 60 seconds, the sound of the motor will change and four mounds should form in the mixture. Stop machine. Do not overmix or melting will occur.

I didn't get a picture of the Vanilla. It got eaten too fast!!
Jenny

Chicken Alfredo Fettucine(Monday Lunch)

I made this for lunch today the kids LOVED IT! They ate it ALL!!
Alfredo Sauce(From Vita-Mix book revised)
1 1/3 C. Milk
1 Small Clove garlic
1 T Flour
1/2 of an 8 oz. block Cream Cheese
1/2 C. Grated Parmesan or Romano
3 T Butter

1. Throw all the ingredients in the Vita-Mix. Turn on to Variable speed #1.
2. Quickly increase speed to #10 then to HIGH. Run for 4 minutes.

We ate this over some Garlic Parsley egg noodles tossed with some cooked, diced turkey breast. You could do all sorts of things with it!!
Jenny

Brown Rice Grits and Apple Pie Smoothie(Monday Breakfast)

This morning for breakfast I made Brown Rice Grits and an Apple Pie Smoothie! The kids loved IT!!! The only thing they didn't like was too much nutmeg and allspice. We didn't have any Apple Pie spice so I just used cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice but I got a little too much allspice and nutmeg. But they drank it all so I guess it was ok.

Apple Pie Smoothie (From the Vita-Mix recipie book revised)
1 1/2 apples cored and quartered
1 C. Plain homemade yogurt
1 T. Rapidura
1/2 t. apple pie spice
1 1/2 C. Ice cubes

1. Throw all the ingredients in the Vita-Mix.
2. Turn it on to VARIABLE. Speed #1.
3. Quickly increase speed to #10 and then HIGH run for 1 minute or until smooth. Serve Immediately.

Everyone liked the brown rice grits too!!

Brown Rice Grits(From the Vita-Mix recipie book, revised):
1 Cup Brown Rice
3 1/2 C. Water
1/2 t. salt
1/4 C. Raw agave nectar
1/2 stick butter.
3 T. Coco-Palm oil
2 T Rapidura

1. Put rice in Vita-mix. Turn it on to VARIABLE speed #1. Quickly increase speed to #10 then HIGH. Grind to desired fineness. About 20 to 25 seconds. For a finer cereal grind longer.
2. In a saucepan heat salted water to a boil. Slowly add er rice to boiling water, stirring constantly with a wire whisk. Reduce temperature to low, cover and simmer for 18-20 minutes stirring frequently. Add Butter, Agave, Rapidura, and Oil. Stir well and serve.

Vita-Mix

On Sunday we were blessed with a brand new VITA-MIX!!!!! Some friends of ours said that they had felt they needed to give us one!!!! WOW!!! Its AWESOME!!!
Here is a picture of our NEW Vita-Mix compared to our old one.
Old:


New:

Old #:


New #:


I have challenged myself to make something in the Vita-Mix to go with every meal every day this week!! I got the idea from the crockpot lady. Thanks for the idea!!

Jenny

Gettin Caught Up!

Okay we really need to get caught up on our bog posts! Right now we have about 6 things to post! So we will post them all within the next few days but it may not neccesarily be in the order it happened Sorry!!
Jenny

The Racoon

Yesterday morning we had a lot of excitement around the house. Patty, Joshua, Joy and any number of little kids went to get Nickers to wash him. Patty was planning on washing him by the pool and when she brought him over there he you could tell that he really did not want to go over there. Rowdy was also over there and barking Patty and Joshua looked around and finally looked up in the tree and saw 2 racoons. Patty went to get the gun, Joshua took the horse a little ways away and Joy came in the house to get the camera and me. We all went out there and Patty stood around and stalled for a little bit and finally when she was going to shoot .......The Woodley's came driving up for LTG. So while Regina unloaded kids Patty finally got up the nerve to shoot. She shot, and shot and shot, Patty probably shot at the racoons like 20 time and hit them like 2, in the process she wounded one and it climbed out of the tree and ran away. So we switched to Joshua with out much luck and finally Mommy said that it was enough and she took over and finally killed it. Then of course we had to knock it out of the tree and have a science lesson. So here are some pictures of the day.

The racoon in the tree.

Close up of the Racoon after it was killed. Annie

Jenny's Birthday

Tuesday was Jenny's Sweet 16 birthday, since she was getting her drivers license we did have a very big celebration at home because Jenny wanted to leave as early as possible to go get her license. We let her go she passed and is now officially driving. Mommy planned a surprise birthday party for her at Pizza Hut with Granny, Chama, Sierra, Aspen , and Dakota coming to help celebrate. Here are some pics of her Party. All the cousins except for Patty Blowing out the candles I think that Jenny had a wonderful birthday, and really enjoyed seeing all the cousins.
Maybe Jenny will post something about it later but right now she is at a volleyball .
Annie

I am home

Just in case anybody was wondering I am home, I have been very busy ever since I got home and hadn't really had anything to blog about, still don't but will pull something together.
Let's see just so everyone knows the cotton picker is really not my boyfriend, it is a and she is really my baby more than anything.
Jenny had a Volleyball g a m e on Saturday and won. Yeah Jenny !!!!!!
Patty is still not home, she is still picking cotton and taking care of my baby, the cotton picker.
Buddy, our baby deer has not come up for about a week and we think that he just weaned himself and doesn't need us anymore. AAHHH.
I will write more when something happens.
Annie

I'm Home !!!

I'm Home
in case some of you don't know I am Annie the oldest Zesch child, here is a picture of me.

I have been gone a lot lately, first I went to Colorado on trek with these people.

Then I went to South Texas to harvest cotton.


I just got back from Nevada babysitting these wonderful kids


I now have a special someone in my life,


It is.............................................................




It is.............................................................



It is...........................................................


















my 9986 John Deere cotton picker. We spent many happy hours together.

I am back in full force and ready to change gears and hit the books so I can graduate.
Annie

Nickers

Today I (Jenny) went outside to look for Nickers so we could wash his cut and doctor it. When I looked outside I saw Amigo (Bobby's sorrel horse) grazing all by himself. "Thats funny" I thought "where's Ace?(Patty's horse)" Because they are ALWAYS together. So I looked a little closer and noticed that although the color looked like Amigo the conformation of the horse looked more like an Arabian. So I walked out there and sure enough it was Nickers covered in red from rolling in our sand volleyball pit. So we got some shampoo and a water hose and got to work it probably took 15 or 20 minutes to wash all the red off and get him looking nice again, then of course we had to doctor his cut. So anywho here are before and after pics of our messy horse. lol. Oh and pics of how his cut is improving so much!!
Jenny
(By the way for you city people sorrel is pretty much red sometimes called chestnut.)

For Patty

Patty has requested that I post pictures of Ace(her horse) and Buddy( the pet deer). So here are pics for Patty.

I thought this picture was funny. We had a bowl of watermelon and told the kids to go get bowls so Dad went and got a bowl too. Bad lighting I know but if you can't tell its a big serving bowl that he has. LOL

Turkey Day #2

Today we butchered 2 more turkeys. These were white turkeys. They did not have names unlike our last turkey. We butchered one of the gobblers yesterday. Here are some pics. First we chop the heads off. Sorry no pic of that. Then we skin and butcher them.
Mom butchering Hen #1

Dad butchering Gobbler #2

Mom and Dad butchering.

Good picture of Mable our mountain cur dog.

Rowdy protecting his turkey leg.

The meat.

The unsuspecting next victims. Lol

A Reason To Post

I know, I know we haven't posted in over a month. The thing is Annie, Patty and I (Jenny) are the only ones who post things on here. Annie and Patty are in Tynan harvesting cotton and I have started volleyball so busyness has kept us from posting. I knew that to actually post I would have to have a really good reason. And I finally have one!!

WE GOT A NEW HORSE!!!!

We got him from a lady in Johnson City she was moving and had no land for him at her new house and she didn't want to sell him because she wanted him to go to a good home. So she decided this would be a good home for him and gave him to us! His name is Nickers he is a 12 year old Arabian gelding. He is very well trained and is great around kids. He did however have a sad thing happen to him right after we got him.
We think that Ace (Patty's horse) and Amigo (Bobby's horse) we bullying him and he ran into a fence post because he has a huge cut on his left flank. It was about 6 inches wide and 4 inches tall! The skin was just pulled back. So we had to take him to the vet and get him stiched up. Hopefully we can take the stiches out in 3 weeks.
Every day we have to rinse the cut off. Spray hydrogen peroxide on it and rinse it for 15 minutes. Then we have to spray an anitbiotic on it and fly spray. We also have to put antibiotics and pain killers in his food every day. We will see if he makes friends with Ace and Amigo over the fence of his pen.
Isn't he beautiful!!
Jenny