My River Otter Update Video

If the video doesn't work, here is a link.

http://youtu.be/bRtpKFXWAOs

Anyone who has read my blog in the past few weeks knows that we have River Otters performing in our marsh.  They may be taking up residence in an old beaver lodge less than 50 feet from our dining room window or at least they are resting here before they move on.  They are so entertaining.  This morning when I got up they were racing up and down the stream connecting to our pond.  It was amazing to see how fast they are.  When they finally decided to take a break and gather more dried grass, I took a video.  I don't know if they are using the grass to line the nest area or what they are doing with it.  All I know is I hope they stay for a while.

Elementary School Spring Concert

Yesterday afternoon we went to our 2nd youngest grandchild's Spring singing concert.  They divide the concerts by grades so a person doesn't have to sit forever listening to every age group plus there is enough room for all the spectators.  In this case it was the kindergarten and the third graders singing.  Our grandson Jack is in kindergarten.  I find it interesting how things have changed.  When I started school a long long time ago and when my children started school, you had to turn five by December 1st to start school.  Now the cut off is September 1st, but a lot of parents are holding their children back a year.  Jack was born at the end of June, and he is one of the youngest kids in his class.   Jack is the boy in the blue shirt.

The concert was called "A Season of Song"

The kids sang songs from all the seasons.  Little five and six year olds are so cute and love to sing.  I am so grateful that the schools in this area still have music programs.  Some schools in the nation have eliminated the arts and that is a shame.

 

Middle grandchild Sam was part of the school audience.  He spotted us in the crowd.

Pressure Cooker Porcupine Meatballs

It's Tuesday already and time for a new recipe.  I have written many times about my love for my digital pressure cooker.  It is not your mother or grandmothers pressure cooker.  It is perfectly safe and will not explode.  It's electric so you don't have to adjust the heat on a stove.  Mine also browns, slow cooks, pressure cooks and keeps things warm. 

Although my recipe for today can be made in a pan on the stove, this recipe takes eight minutes to cook in the pressure cooker.  If you don't want to use a pressure cooker, just brown the meatballs in a fry pan, pour on the spaghetti sauce, beef broth and a little sugar and simmer until done.  It won't take very long that way either.

Porcupine Meatballs

Pressure Cooker Porcupine Meatballs

1/2 cup long grain white rice (uncooked)
1/4 cup diced yellow onion
1/4 cup beef broth
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 t. garlic powder
1 1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
2 T. oil
1 (16 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
2/3 cup beef broth
3 t. sugar

In a mixing bowl, combine uncooked rice, onion, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Add the ground beef or turkey to the bowl and mix well.

Form the meat mixture into balls.  I got about twenty meatballs with one pound of meat.

With the cooker lid off, heat the oil and brown the meatballs in the cooker.  When brown, pour spaghetti sauce, more beef broth and sugar over the meatballs.  Lock on the lid and pressure for eight minutes on high.

Let the pressure release naturally and keep on warm until ready to serve.

Electric Digital Pressure Cooker

http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/01/my-favorite-small-appliance.html

Making An Adult Sized Bib

Many years ago when my daughters were small, I made t-shirts for them.  My friend Wendy taught me how to sew on the neck ribbing.  During that time my mom asked me to make a bib for dad.  He came home everyday for lunch, and she didn't want him to spill on his dress clothes.  At that time, I took a towel, cut a hole in it and used the tshirt neck rib technique.  He used it for years.

Now thirty five or more years later, dad asked me to make him another bib.  He usually tucks a dish towel in his shirt when he eats to protect his clothes.  He figures it saves me when I do the laundry.  I dug out an old hand towel and a piece of ribbing I had stashed.  I didn't realize how bad the wrinkles look in the pictures, but here they are anyway.

Here is Dad sporting his new bib. 

Bib Pattern

Supplies:

1 hand towel

Ribbing material

Thread

Measuring tape

Something to trace around to get the size circle you want

Lay a hand towel flat and draw a circle on the fabric.

Cut a circle about 3 or 4 inches down from the top and centered.

I used a cereal bowl which was about 6.25 inches in diameter.  That fits over an adult head just fine.  I traced around the bowl and cut out the circle.  Then you figure the circumference of the circle you made by doing simple math.  In this case the diameter or the distance across the circle is 6.25 inches.  The formula for circumference (distance around the circle) is 3.14 (pi) x diameter.  So 3.14 times 6.25 equals 19.63.  I use this number to figure the length of the ribbing.  The length of the ribbing needs to be 15% less than the circumference.  This would make the ribbing about 16.69 inches.  I made it 16.75 inches to allow for a seam.  It sounds more complicated than it actually is.  This bib can be made for kids using the same technique.  I have used the smaller tea towel with a smaller hole for a child's bib.

I cut a piece of ribbing 2.5 inches by 16.75 inches.  I then sewed a seam on the short side to form a circle. 

Fold the width in half and divide into quarters.  Put in pins to mark it.

Put a pin at the ends and in the middle.

Then divide the hole in the towel into quarters and mark that with pins.  Next put right sides together and line up the pins and pin the ribbing band to the opening.  Begin sewing around, stretching the rib to fit.  Turn to the right side and you're finished.

The finished neckband

After I made this sewn version, I decided to knit a ribbed band around the neck hole.  I just cut the hole the same as above.  Then I crocheted around the raw edge.  In my case it was 88 stitches.  When I got all around, I changed to a size 6 circular knitting needle, picked up a stitch in each crochet stitch and knit a ribbing for an inch or so.  Then I bound off.  For a quick bib, it worked out great.

Believe It or Not Spring Is Here

Tomorrow morning, March 20, 2014 at 11:57 am, it will officially be Spring.  The temperatures are still below normal, but there are little teases to make me a believer.  Two years ago it was 80 degrees.  That is what living in Wisconsin is all about.  You never know what the next day will bring as far as the weather is concerned.

The Sandhill Cranes are back.  We heard them before we saw them.  I heard a group of Sandhills were seen in Rock County Wisconsin traveling with two Whooping Cranes.  I'm hoping I will see some Whooping Cranes this spring.  Hopefully the eight that were raised nearby will return to the area.

I wrote about the River Otter and the Eagle a few days ago.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/03/the-river-otter-and-eagle.html  I was worried that the Eagle had eaten an otter for dinner, but I was wrong.  The otters are hale and hearty.  We had at least four of them out on our pond last weekend.  The otters always look so happy.  They play and splash around.  They can hold their breath for eight minutes so they dive down in one area and come up a long ways away.   They can even choose when to have their young.  They have something called delayed implantation.  After they mate, the female can have fertilized eggs in her uterus for up to nine months but once it is implanted, the baby otters are ready to be born in 60 days.  I'm not sure what factor triggers the implantation.  Maybe it's even the weather.

The mail lady stopped today with a package.  She asked me if we had seen any new animals out on the marsh.  I told her about the otters.  She said "did you shoot them"?  I was shocked and said that the only shooting I do is with a camera.  She said "but they eat all the fish".  I told her they could have all they want.  I wonder how many others think the way she does.  I hope not many but I'm afraid in this area she is the majority.

The red winged blackbirds have also returned. 

Hopefully in a couple weeks I will be able to report the return of many more of our favorite wildlife.

Turkey Vulture.

Colcannon Irish Potatoes

Top of the morning to you.

Yesterday was St. Paddy's Day.  I hope you didn't drink too much green beer or this sunrise will be blinding.  A lot of Americans, whether they are of Irish heritage or not, celebrate St. Patrick's Day by eating Corned Beef and Cabbage.  If you don't make it yourself, it is readily available at many restaurants.

We had our corned beef and cabbage celebration a week early, so yesterday we had a more traditional Irish meal.  Corned beef and cabbage is something Americans made up but it's not really Irish.  The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place in New York City and not Ireland.  The Irish usually used pork because it was less expensive.  Little did I know that the Boiled Dinner my mom made with ham, potatoes, carrots and cabbage was probably more traditionally Irish than that made with corned beef.

This Tuesday's recipe is for a more traditional Irish meal with ham.  It is very inexpensive to make.  If you have some leftover corned beef, it could be mixed with these potatoes.   It's also good with crumbled bacon. 

Irish potatoes with ham

Colcannon Potatoes
 
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 pound green cabbage, shredded
6 tablespoons butter, divided plus more to top the potatoes
Salt and pepper
8 to 10 scallions or onions, chopped
1/3 to 1 cup warm heavy cream or half and half or milk

Put the potato chunks in a large pan.  Cover with water and add 1 teaspoon of salt.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
Meanwhile melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large frying pan and sauté the cabbage, keeping it on the move until it’s tender and slightly golden at the edges.  Season it with salt.
Then add the scallions and continue to cook for another minute or so.
Next drain the potatoes and return them to the pan. Add the remaining butter and 1/3 cup cream.  Heat the cream or milk a little.  It keeps the potatoes from cooling off too much and makes them less starchy.  Mash the potatoes until light fluffy, adding more cream or milk if needed. Season them with salt and pepper.
Then stir in the cabbage.

The Irish like butter so make a well in the potatoes and put some extra butter in the well.

I had some ham leftover in the freezer from last Christmas.  We had that with the Irish potatoes instead of bacon or corned beef.

If you like the taste of cabbage and potatoes, here is another blog I wrote using similar ingredients.

http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/04/cabbage-ring-bologna-and-potatoes.html

The River Otter and The Eagle

It's days like today that I wish I had a better zoom lens for my camera.  I'm not a professional photographer so I can't justify spending thousands of dollars on a longer zoom.  A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about the otters that we see in the spring.  I was hoping they would return, and I saw them again today. 

http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/02/river-otters-return.html

The snow is melting fast, and the ice is very thin.  That is when the river otters come out to play.  I noticed that one otter had poked a hole in the ice and came out for a while.  These next photos are as close as I could get.

I watched the otter for a while and then I had to run to the store for some bananas.  My dad has a banana every night as part of his bedtime snack.  I was completely out.  When I returned I saw an eagle eating something out on the ice.  I couldn't tell what it was, but I hope it wasn't an otter.  I tried to go outside to take a closer photo but the eagle flew away when I barely got out the door.  I'm thinking it is probably a fish.  In the past I have seen the eagles eat fish from holes in the ice.  I sure hope that is the case.

Soap Nuts For Your Laundry

Several months ago I wrote a blog about how I make and use homemade laundry soap.  It worked very well, and it is very economical to make.  This detergent costs only a few cents per load.  For a long time I made the liquid version, but it was messy and it was a large amount to store.  Then I switched to the dry powder which I blogged about.

http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/01/what-on-earth-is-zote.html

Recently I learned of something else to use for laundry soap.  This is what it is!

Soap Nuts

These are called Soap Nuts. Soap nuts are the dried shells (or husks) from the soapberry tree.  These shells contain a substance called saponin that produces a soaping effect. Saponin is a low sudsing natural soap that can be used in top loading and front loading high efficiency machines.  It doesn't contain any of the harsh chemicals that are found in many laundry detergents, and they are antibacterial and biodegradable.  I ordered a half a pound of nuts.  Apparently I will be able to wash about 80-100 loads of laundry with this amount.

All you do is put 3-5 of the nuts in a little muslin bag (I also use little knitted soap bags) which comes with the order, tie it shut and toss the bag into the washer.  You can use the same bag of nuts 5 times before putting in new ones.  If the bag wears out, an old sock works just as well.  There is also a way to make liquid detergent with them.  You just boil them according to directions and strain the liquid into a jar.  A little goes a long way.  I ordered mine from a company called Pucketa Creek Trading (http://www.naturallaundrysoap.net).  They offer free shipping on an order or a free sample to try.  Amazon.com and others also sell them.  I admit I haven't used them for very long and haven't made the liquid, but they seem to clean well.  I'm sure heavy stains would have to be pre-treated just like you would with any detergent.  It was even suggested that you freeze the liquid in ice cube trays and toss one or two into the washer.

I also found a website that gives recipes for using these Soap Nuts to make dishwasher detergent, window cleaner, general cleaner, bathroom cleaner, face, hand or body wash and insect repellent in your garden.  http://www.crunchybetty.com/the-mother-of-all-soap-nuts-recipe-resources

I know it doesn't seem possible that these would work, but nature provides us a lot of things we aren't familiar with.  I read a blog from a person who has used them for two years and loves them.  http://www.stacymakescents.com/?s=soap+nuts

I will report back in a few weeks to report whether I continue to like using these Soap Nuts.  So far, I love them.  

Update:  I have used the soap nuts for several months now.  I like them because our clothes don't get that dirty and they are so easy to use.  I noticed the whites need a little boost now and then and spots need to be pretreated.   Overall, they are great and I will continue to use them.

This Week's Action On The Trail Camera

It has been a while since I shared some of the photos I have captured on the trail camera.  Most days are pretty much the same, but I still go out everyday.  I pull out the photo SD card and put in a new one.  I have updated my look from my previous trail camera posts.  Instead of the old red plaid flannel nightgown with floral sweatpants, I now wear a pale blue t-shirt knit nightgown with a matching pair of pants.  My husband's big boots remain the same.  Aren't I a fashion forward person?  It's a balmy 18 degrees so I didn't need a winter coat.  A lightweight fleece was enough warmth.  It's probably because I'm so HOT!

Each 24 hour period we usually have around 100 pictures of squirrels, raccoon, birds, deer, possum and anything else that wanders past the camera day and night.

A raccoon and a deer deciding who gets the last bite.

Pretty soon the Bucks will have shed their antlers.  Then I won't be able to tell the deer apart except for the little doe who limps.  She either injured her leg and it healed crooked or she was born with a defect.  I am always happy to see her because I was afraid she couldn't keep up during this brutal winter.

He lost one of his antlers.  I imagine by now he has lost the other one.
See the possum.  Neither pay any attention to the other.

The fox come by once in a while to see what new goodies have been put out.  This was the night after our early St. Patrick's Day meal.  The possum that came to dinner must have put the word out.

Orange Gluten Free Bundt Cake and An Easy Pineapple Cake Topping

I can't believe it's recipe Tuesday already.  I wrote about the early St. Patrick's Day dinner we had two days ago on March 9th, so I thought I would post the recipes for two of the deserts we had.

My daughter made a gluten free Orange Bundt Cake.  It was very good and moist.  This recipe would also work with a regular cake mix.

Orange Bundt Cake

 
Orange Gluten Free Bundt Cake

1 (18.25 ounce) package gluten free yellow cake mix or regular yellow cake mix
1 (3 ounce) package instant lemon pudding mix
3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon extract

Glaze:
1/3 cup orange juice
2/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter

Grease a 10 inch Bundt pan.  Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

In your mixer bowl stir together the cake mix and pudding mix.  Make a well in the center and pour in the orange juice, oil, eggs and lemon extract.  Beat on low until blended.  Scape the bowl and beat 4 minutes on medium speed.  Pour the batter into a prepared bundt pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes.  Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn it out onto a wire rack and let it cool completely.

For the glaze:

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook 1/3 cup of orange juice, 2/3 cup sugar and 1/4 cup butter for two minutes.  Drizzle it over the cake.  You may not need all of it.  Determine how much glaze you prefer.

The next recipe is a super easy way to come up with a tasty desert.   My mother made this often when she had unexpected company.  I used Pistachio pudding to give it a greenish color for St. Patrick's Day.  Sometimes I also use a pistachio cake with this topping.

Yellow Cake with Pineapple Topping

Pineapple Cake Topping

Just bake or buy a plain yellow sheet cake.   A white cake or pistachio cake would also work.

Mix together:

1 (20 oz ) can of Crushed Pineapple including the juice
1 package Instant vanilla pudding (I used pistachio pudding)
1 8-12 oz. Cool Whip

Cover the cake with this topping and refrigerate.  It keeps for several days in the refrigerator. 

Our Grandson's A Junior Black Belt

Last weekend was a busy one.  Yesterday I wrote about our annual St. Patrick's Day dinner http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/03/happy-st-patricks-day.html, but the day before was also very special.  On Saturday evening our grandson got his Junior Black Belt in karate.  I wrote about Sam getting his brown-black belt in May of 2013.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/05/sam-got-his-brown-black-belt.html

 

Through a lot of hard work and perseverance he got his black belt.  It was big celebration.  They had about 30 candidates at different levels. In order to achieve this, he had to write a paper on why he wanted to be a black belt.  He read it at the ceremony, and it was wonderful.  Sam is like me and public speaking is not something we do easily.  We all were very proud.  In addition to the paper, they had two long days of extensive testing.  There are several degrees of black belt.  The next 18 months he will be working on the next level to become a 1st degree Black Belt.

Sam with two of his instructors.

Doing this is a big commitment for the whole family.  It requires weekly instruction.  

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Every year it is tradition to make Corned Beef and Cabbage for St. Patrick's Day.  This year we had the meal early because of the family's busy schedules.  Instead of the 17th of March, we had it today March 9th.  I had never had it or made it until I married someone with a very Irish name.  Now 45 years later, I'm still making Corned Beef.

I made three corned beefs, plus the usual carrots, red potatoes, rutabaga, onions and cabbage.  If you like corned beef, buy the flat cut and put it in the slow cooker.  It turns out great every time.

 Corned Beef cooked and ready to be sliced.

The grandkids aren't a big fan of corned beef so I also made three racks of ribs with mashed potatoes and cauliflower.  We had green jello, coleslaw,  rolls and a bowl of strawberries.  We had a lot of food.  Plus we had several deserts. 

I cut the ribs in smaller sections for easier eating.

We even had an uninvited guest come to the door.

What takes a couple days to prepare can be eaten in short order.  All that's left are dirty dishes.  There were some leftovers but not as much as you might think. Growing kids have big appetites.   Each family took home a doggy bag, and we will have one meal leftover for tomorrow.

Lots of dirty dishes but it was worth it.

After dinner was time for a little relaxation.  Every one was tired because the clocks got pushed ahead last night for daylight saving time.

A little nap.

Three generations of Steffen boys watching Batman.

 

The party's over, but this guy doesn't know it.  

Happy St. Patrick's Day