"I want COW"

Let's see...where did I leave off with the last post.

DH had his nasal passages roto-ruttered due to polyp formations. Poor guy has the worst allergies. Several people mentioned to him that this was a painful and uncomfortable surgery.  DH was pleasantly surprised that the pain level was less than what he had anticipated. The uncomfortable level  was high due to the yards and yards of gauze rope they stuff up into the nasal passages. Fortunately, the gauze was removed after 5 days.  That made breathing and eating easier. Sneezing and blowing the nose were NOT pleasant and all attempts to avoid such activities were taken with various levels of success. Stints remained in his nose for an additional week and a half.  The stints have removed now and DH reports that it is easier for him to breath.

On Monday we had a family garden date of sorts.  We all were in the garden prepping it for this spring's planting.  We going to see about getting clear plastic to go over the canopies that we have in an attempt to mimic a greenhouse environment.  I'm still waiting for prices from the maker. When we bought the canopies we got the green shade cloth.  Our thought was to block some of the intense sun (gets up to 112 degrees in the summer.) The shade cloth helped but we still have difficulty retaining moisture in the soil.  Automated drip systems are plant life savers in a desert climate.  However, I think if the growing areas were enclosed we'd get better results.  The weather was absolutely beautiful for this outdoor activity.  It must have been in the high 50s or even in the 60s and the sun was shining bright.  DH rented a rototiller. He and T rototilled the entire garden area.  

T and the Big Red Machine

DH turning over the compost pile.

K in the garden with the "I got this" stick mentioned in an earlier post.

 A few (or more) of the drip water lines got cut in the process.  Several years of kitchen scraps, and chicken,

White Brahma hen...brown egg layer.

Miss ChikChik...Barred rock hen...brown egg layer.  She's about 10 years old.

goat and horse manure have turned the desert's sand into developing garden soil.  I do not add horse manure any longer due to the amount of grass seeds in it.  When we first started the garden the soil needed a LOT of help and we didn't have the $$ to invest in store bought additives.  So, what we had was what we used.

I found a recipe on  Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen blog for Red Quinoa and Black Bean Salad  that is sooo good that I've made it twice in one week.  I didn't have the red quinoa so I used the white.  Guess I'll have to get some of the red stuff to find out if there is any taste difference.  The second time I added diced cucumbers and sweet onions instead of green onions. T is vegetarian and I have had fun trying vegetarian dishes that the whole family enjoys.  Well DH, bless his heart, is a die hard carnivore. He can eat a huge salad and is hungry in an hour.  I'd love to have his metabolism.  Umm...back to this great quinoa (pronounced keen wah) recipe.  The salad is very colorful and the white quinoa kind of sparkles. 

Yummy quinoa and black bean salad

DH quietly asks what was in the bowl and after hearing, "That's dinner" jokingly tells me, "I want COW!"  Fortunately, we had leftover  "COW"  that I made into stir fry strips and everyone was happy with dinner that night. BTW, DH did say that the salad was very good after he had tasted it.

"COW"

Mushrooms and two kinds of kale

Whenever I'm in the kitchen Abby looks like this:

Slobber drewl...eew