Here she is... Francine.

Tamara Nugteren

I was finally able to get Francine's picture, through our window.  Her mate has been visiting and helping her out today - that was fun to see.  I actually saw him bringing her food!  That is a GREAT dad-to-be.  I'll try to get his picture later.  And I have to find a name for him...

Spying on a finch family.

Tamara Nugteren


We have been very lucky to have a lot of nature within our reach.  Nature - in the city.

Our house is situated on a pond.  Because of that, I currently have the radio and tv off and the windows open so I can listen to a loud, but soothing chorus of frogs.  I can waste quite a bit of time watching chipmunks, ducks and turtles.  But my recent attention has been drawn to the birds.  Now don't get me wrong - I'm not out hiking with binoculars or watching with binoculars.  I'm just enjoying what God has literally put on my doorstep once again (see my 2011 posts about our ducks).    

Last year, we watched a house finch build a nest in one of my hanging plants.  We had a great view to watch them hatch and later learn to fly, since they were right outside our sun room window.  

This year, a mama finch made a nest in a small planter right beside our front door.  I discovered it when I moved decorative sign to plant some little succulents.  I had to abandon that idea - the planter had a new purpose.   For the next - who knows how long - I'm going to update you with pictures and videos (if I can) of our little growing finch family.  Show your kids - mine are watching closely!  

But first, let me get you up to date. Last week Monday (May 13th) is the day I noticed the nest - it had one egg in it.  Francine (that's what I plan to call her...) had busily built her nest unnoticed.   

The little House Finch nest
outside our front door.

May 13, 2013 

Now that we know there is a nest right outside our door - we check it everyday.  That day is when it started to get interesting.  Day two we peeked in the nest to see two finch eggs and one slightly larger brown egg.  And, to our dismay, one shattered egg on the ground below the nest.  What in the world?

Two finch eggs and one Brown-Headed Cowbird egg.

One finch egg overboard.

Some Googling taught us about the Brown-Headed Cowbird.  A lazy scoundrel that lays her eggs in another birds nest so she can pursue other interests*.  To make room for her egg, she tossed one of Francine's out.   

Brown-Headed Cowbird.
Image from: www.AllAboutBirds.org

*Ok, that is a little mean.  Here is some "real" information from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:
"The Brown-headed Cowbird is a stocky blackbird with a fascinating approach to raising its young. Females forgo building nests and instead put all their energy into producing eggs, sometimes more than three dozen a summer. These they lay in the nests of other birds, abandoning their young to foster parents, usually at the expense of at least some of the host’s own chicks. Once confined to the open grasslands of middle North America, cowbirds have surged in numbers and range as humans built towns and cleared woods." 
 In addition, the Cowbird gets it's name because it originally fed on the insects stirred up by the movement of range cattle.  The bird had to stay with the roaming herds of cattle, thus needing a permanent "birdysitter". 

Normally, humans should not intervene with the wild ways of nature.  However, after I read this next bit of information, I had to.  This nest is right outside my door! 
From the Smithsonian National Zooilogical Park:
"Cowbirds tend to parasitize birds smaller in size than themselves. For example, by the time they are ready to leave (fledge) the nest, most warbler or vireo (the most common cowbird hosts) nestlings weigh less than half as much as cowbird nestlings. In fact, a fledgling cowbird is larger than the adult warblers and vireos! The monstrous cowbird nestling not only can cause host young to starve by monopolizing the food supply brought by parent birds but also literally may crowd host young right out of the nest."
So, I very carefully removed the cowbird egg and donated it - as food - to some other thankful hungry critter living in my yard.  Recipient unknown.  I could not bear to watch that sad soap opera unfold! I'm sure Francine was glad.

By day three, Francine the Finch had replaced the egg and her nest was back up to three.

Sometime between then and now (May 20 - day 8) she has bulked up the nest to five eggs.
She dutifully sits on them, keeping them safe - but startles easily when we come and go from the house.  Today I added on a "wall" to her nest nearest the door of our house to give her more privacy and us a little protection.  A cute flowery wall of the "Puffs Plus" variety.

My Google research tells me that the eggs should hatch in 13-14 days.  So, hopefully I'll have an update for you sometime between the 26th - 29th of the month.  
Check back often! 

Additional information about the House Finch:
(Francine is skittish - I cannot get her to sit still for a photo. Here are some pictures from the web.)

Female House Finch.
www.AllAboutBirds.org

Male House Finch.
www.AllAboutBirds.org

Here is a really interesting tidbit.  I had no idea.  From www.AllAboutBirds.org:

- The House Finch was originally a bird of the western United States and Mexico.  IN 1940 a small number of finches were turned loose on Long Island, New York, after failed attempts to sell them as cage birds ("Hollywood Finches").  They quickly started breeding and spread across almost all of the eastern United States and southern Canada within the next 50 years.

- The total House Finch population across North America is staggering.  Scientists estimate between 267 million and 1.4 billion individuals. 

That website is a treasure trove of information.  You can hear the House Finch song  here.  

While you wait, check out the fun we had raising ducks in a while back.  You can find that by searching my 2011 blog posts.  Enjoy! 

My favorite Bell Pepper recipes.

Tamara Nugteren

Now, what to do with all those frozen and roasted bell peppers?

(I'm short a few pictures for these recipes, but I really wanted to go ahead and post this.  Please bear with me, I'm making more hummus this weekend!)

I've no doubt you could find oodles of fantastic recipes on Pinterest.  But, to save you the effort of searching, here are my favorites.  These recipes are all good for you, too!

Below you will find:
-Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
-Veggie Packed Savory Meatloaf
-Veggie Packed Savory Mini Meatloaves
-Soup starter

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Notes: This recipe is so delicious, that there are some weeks where my husband & I eat it every day. 
It is great as a sandwich spread (I like it on toast with thin sliced turkey, lettuce, cheese, bacon and sometimes avocado.), but best served with the flat pretzel chips.  
I always double this recipe and freeze half for later - but it is listed below as a single batch.

Ingredients:
- 15 oz. can garbanzo beans (aka. chickpeas), drained and rinsed.
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced OR 1 1/2 tsp. jarred pre-minced garlic.
- 1/3 cup Tahini*
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 cup roasted red or orange bell peppers (if from a jar, then drained)

Directions:
With a stick blender, food processor or blender of your choice (don't try to do this by hand!) blend all the ingredients together until smooth.  The hummus is better if it has been refrigerated for an hour or so before serving, but it isn't necessary.  That's it.  Really.

* Tahini is a sesame seed butter.  Sometimes found in the ethnic food section, sometimes near the other nut butters.  Ask your grocer.

Veggie Packed Savory Meatloaf 

Notes: This recipe is also easy to double and freeze half for later. 

Ingredients:
- 1 medium carrot, Sliced into strips.
- 1/3 onion, red or white - sliced and diced.
- 1/2 - 3/4 bell pepper, cut into strips (I used some of my pre-sliced and frozen bell peppers).
- Optional add in - 1/2 cup of some type of leafy green.  Spinach or Kale are great in this dish.
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 egg
- 1/2-3/4 cup bread crumbs (homemade or store bought preseasoned - doesn't matter)
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- Canola or other vegetable oil
- pepper to taste
- ketchup

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat up a hot skillet with enough oil to cover the bottom.  I love my large cast iron skillet for this!
When it is hot (a drop of water will sizzle), turn it down to medium heat and start sautéing your vegetables.  Start with the carrots first as they take the longest.  Stir and cover in 2-3 minute intervals.  You want the carrots to cook, not burn and stay hard.  Once the carrots have a pretty good start, add in the onion and the bell peppers.  They cook quickly. Keep stirring at this point so the vegetables all cook evenly and don't burn.  Once they are done, turn off the burner and remove the pan from the heat.  Stir in the spinach or kale, if you are using it.  Cover and let it steam until the greens are soft. Uncover and let the sautéed vegetables cool a bit.

In a big mixing bowl, add your lean ground beef (raw), the egg, bread crumbs salt and pepper.
Without mixing it, set the beef mixture aside.

Put your somewhat cooled sautéed vegetables in a food processor, magic bullet, blender or whatever you can puree with.  Puree the vegetable to your liking.  If you have picky eater children like I do - make it as 'chunkless' as possible.  Pour the vegetables into your beef mixture.  Important:  You may not need ALL of the pureed vegetables.  You want to use as much as you can, but you don't want the beef mixture to end up runny.  See the Soup Starter recipe below for what to do with your extra puree.  Take off your rings, wash your hands and roll up your sleeves.  Have the hand soap ready.  Mix the whole beefy bowlful with your hands.  Its kind of disgusting, but it is by far the best way to mix it all up.  At this point, you can bake it or freeze it for later.*  If you are going to bake it, form it into a ball and pop it into a baking dish of your choice.  You can put it back into the cast iron skillet, use a loaf pan or any quart sized baking dish.  Top the meatloaf with ketchup - this step is mostly for appearance.  I try to do a nice spiral.

Cover it with a baking lid or foil.  Pop it into your pre-heated oven.  Bake for 30 minutes covered and another 15 uncovered at the end.  This bake time is approximate and will vary based on your oven and the type of dish you are baking it in.  I highly recommend a meat thermometer to be sure of doneness.  The recommended internal temperature for ground beef is 160 degrees.

Enjoy - savory, delicious and  PACKED with vegetables.

*If you are going to bake a meatloaf that you had previously frozen, be sure to give it time to completely thaw in the refrigerator first.  Expect at least a day for thawing.


Veggie Packed Savory Mini- Meatloaves
Notes: Mini meatloaves are great for single serve or nights when no one eats at the same time.

Follow the directions above, except portion your beef mixture out into single serve sizes in a standard or large-sized muffin pan.  You can go ahead and bake at this time, OR you can put the whole muffin pan into the freezer.  Once the unbaked mini meatloaves are frozen, you can pop them out and put them into a freezer bag.  When you are ready to eat, put the frozen mini meatloaves back into the muffin pan and bake one or many at a time.  Make sure to label the bag with baking instructions! 350 degrees, but they bake much faster.  Use your meat thermometer - they'll be done in approximately 30 minutes.

Soup Starter

Notes: This makes a delicious soup base for many many different soup recipes.  You can make a whole batch by following the vegetable sauté instructions above (in the meatloaf recipe) or you can make a single serve soup with any leftover you had (also from the meatloaf recipe).  

If you have leftover from above:

You likely have just enough for one serving. Pour it into a small sauce pan.  Add in 1 - 1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock.  Stir and heat to simmering.  Taste and add additional salt and pepper as needed.  You can stop here or add in milk or cream as well.  Want more servings?  Add in fresh (1 medium sized) or canned (1 can, pureed) tomatoes.  Simmer for several minutes.  If you add the tomato, consider a few leaves of well sliced basil at the last minute.  

If you are making a new batch of soup:

Follow the vegetable sauté instructions above (in the meatloaf recipe).  After pureeing, add the vegetables to a medium-sized sauce pan.  Add two cups chicken or vegetable broth.  Stir well and bring to a simmer.  Taste and add additional salt and pepper as needed.  You can stop here or add in 1 cup milk or cream as well. Bring back to a simmer.   Want more servings?  Add in fresh (2 medium sized) or canned (1 can, pureed) tomatoes.  Simmer for several minutes.  If you add the tomato, consider a few leaves of well sliced basil at the last minute.  

This Soup Starter recipe has endless variations.  You can add and subtract forever. The key is the sautéed vegetables.  Add chicken.  And noodles.  Or chicken and rice and diced tomatoes - no cream and a bit of taco seasoning.  Leave out the tomatoes and add cooked pumpkin (you should know - I haven't tried that - but it sounds good).  

Enjoy!

Bell Peppers! A quick "how to".

Tamara Nugteren


I love bell peppers.
But I didn't always.  Not until college, actually.  This gives me hope because my children won't go near them (they sometimes even recoil in fear).  Maybe someday they'll share my love for those beautiful sweet peppers.

In the meantime, it's just the adults.  Oh well, more for me.

I'm sure you know from the vibrant colors, that bell peppers are pretty nutritious.
Here is a quick synopsis, borrowed from the Whole Foods website, to convince you to add more to your diet.

"Bell pepper is not only an excellent source of carotenoids, but also a source of over 30 different members of the carotenoid nutrient family. A recent study from Spain took a close look vitamin C, vitamin E, and six of these carotenoids (alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, cryptoxanthin and zeaxanthin) in all commonly eaten foods and found that only two vegetables contained at least two-thirds of all the listed nutrients. One of these foods was tomato, and the other was sweet bell pepper! Bell pepper alone provided 12% of the total zeaxanthin found in the participants' diets. (Bell pepper also provided 7% of the participants' total vitamin C intake.)"

This wonderful chart is also from the Whole Foods website: 

Nutrients in
Bell Peppers
1.00 cup raw (92.00 grams)

Nutrient%Daily Value

vitamin C195.8%

vitamin A57.6%

vitamin B613.5%

folate10.5%

fiber7.4%

vitamin E7.2%

molybdenum6.1%

vitamin K5.6%

potassium5.5%

manganese5%

vitamin B24.7%

vitamin B34.5%

vitamin B13.3%

tryptophan3.1%

vitamin B52.8%

magnesium2.7%

Calories (28)1%

Source: 

http://whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=50


Why am I telling you all of this?  Because there was a BIG SALE on bell peppers at one of our local grocery stores yesterday and I bought fifteen peppers.  That is WAY too many to reasonably eat before they go bad, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to give some insight in how to handle an excess of this great vegetable.  Useful information in the summer as well when you may have a garden bounty on your hands.

Note:  I normally grow these peppers in the summer, but my stash has been long gone.  When possible, I buy them organic, but up here in the frozen tundra - they are expensive.  The sale peppers I bought weren't organic, but in my book, the health benefits outweigh any risk.  The sale was just too good! 
(Cub has them for $1 each right now. Even the red, orange and yellow ones!)

Roasting and Freezing

Roasting 

Roasted bell peppers are a versatile ingredient in many recipes, as a pizza topping or even just on a sandwich.

You can buy roasted bell peppers (jarred in oil), but they are expensive.  But, if you have a bunch on hand, its really easy to do on your own.

Step one: Place your peppers on a baking stone, cookie sheet or sheet of foil. This is important because the peppers will leave a sticky residue behind.  It is not necessary to wash them, as the skin will be removed.  Heat under your oven's broiler for around 5 minutes or until the skin begins to blacken.  Using tongs, turn all the peppers and repeat.  Continue until all sides have become mostly blackened.

Step two:  Remove peppers and place them inside a paper bag.  Fold over the top and clip it shut. Wait.

Step three:  This third step is messy, so have paper towels, a trash bowl and a clean work surface available.  Once the peppers have cooled (30 minutes, give or take), remove them from the bag.  Peel the loose skins off and discard.

Step four: Using a sharp knife and cutting board (duh) slice open the pepper and remove the stem and seeds.  The pepper is likely filled with moisture, so you may need to dump it out to prevent a bigger mess.  Slice the pepper into 3-5 equal pieces.  Pat them dry with a paper towel.

Step five: Decision time!
- If you can eat these in the next couple of weeks, place them inside a clean jar and top off with a good olive oil.  Refrigerate.  The flavor should stay strong and delicious.

- If you want to keep the peppers for a longer period of time, you will want to IQF the peppers.  Individually Quick Freeze.  Line a cookie sheet with wax or parchment paper (for easy removal).  Place the pepper pieces on the tray - fill it up, just don't let them overlap.  Freeze.  After they have fully frozen, remove the slices and put them in a freezer bag.  Don't forget to remove as much air as you can. Freeze.  Now you can pull out just a few whenever you need them.  This method is particularly great for recipes where the peppers will be baked or sautéed.

Fresh Freezing

Step one: Wash the peppers thoroughly.  

Step two: Slice like a pro.  

- Using a sharp knife and cutting board (again, duh), slice around the step to remove it.  Think pumpkin carving.  Pop the stem out and remove most of the seeds at the same time.  

- Give the inside a quick rinse to pull out a few more of the remaining seeds.  

- Slice the pepper in half and with your fingers, remove any of the remaining white pith. 

- Turn one of the halves on it's back - inside up.  Slice top to bottom into even sticks (Aim for about 1/4 to 1/2" wide).  Repeat with the other half.  

- You can stop here, or continue on to diced peppers.  Just depends on what you want to use them for.  Diced for recipes? Sliced for fajitas?  I do some of both.

Step three: Follow the directions above for Individually Quick Freezing. 

Enjoy! Delicious, super nutritious bell peppers at your finger tips!

I'll post some of my favorite bell pepper recipes soon. 

Easier, healthier, quicker baking from scratch.

Tamara Nugteren


I love to bake.
Muffins, breads, cookies - basically anything that goes into the oven.

When you bake from scratch, you control the ingredients that go into your families
and yourselves.
No dyes or artificial anything.  No things you cannot pronounce.  You can tweak the recipe to your family's tastes or dietary needs.
Basically, love and care - straight from you.  (Not that anyone appreciates it, right?)
I always try to get a really great result with less sugar and fat and more of the healthy ingredients - whatever the recipe.  You'll find me adding flax or chia seeds and using whole wheat pastry flour* in my muffins.  I add extra vegetables to my meatloaf and I often cut out the dairy in recipes when I can (for my daughter).

But scratch baking takes time.  Worth it of course, because it is SO much better tasting - but still, you need the time.

Simple tip of the day:
Whenever you find time to bake something - make extra.  You have all the ingredients out anyway, and that is half the battle.

Ready to go Popover Mix

For muffins, breads, cakes, etc. - put all the dry ingredients into a baggie.  Label it well, with the needed remaining wet ingredients and the baking instructions.  Just like Betty Crocker.  Store away for later.


For cookies, go ahead and make up the extra dough.  Place all your extra dough cookies onto a baking sheet and freeze solid.  Then just pop the frozen, unbaked cookies off the pan and into a freezer bag.  Mark the outside of the bag with the oven temperature and baking time.  Bake at your leisure.  Do a whole batch of cookies or just two next time you are ready.  (A great time saver for when you suddenly have extra children at your house who all want a snack).

Oatmeal chocolate chip macadamia nut cookie dough.

For savory, entree-type items, make up a complete extra dish and freeze in the container that you will later bake it in.  For example, I freeze unbaked "mini meatloaves" in the muffin pan.  Once they are solid, I pop them out and into a baggie.  Later, when I need them, I can put the frozen mini meatloaves back into the muffin pan and bake them.  For homemade meatballs, do as you would the cookie dough. You can also use the aluminum recyclable pans that they sell in the grocery store for items like lasagnas or other types of one dish meals. Use your imagination.  I try not to use any of my good glassware or bakeware for freezing because I need it too often.

Frozen, unbaked mini meatloaves
(Make sure to get the air out of the bag,
though - this picture doesn't show that)

I'll post some recipes to get you started separately - so please check back.  My dog needs a walk.


* Whole wheat pastry flour (WWPF) is whole wheat flour that has been ground extra fine.  I use this in a half/half mix with regular unbleached All Purpose (AP) flour for most things.  Muffins, cakes, cookies.  Extra health benefits from the whole wheat flour, but light enough to bake well.  The extra fine grind makes it unnoticeable to those with picky pallets.  The half AP flour assures that the end product will not be too heavy.  Unfortunately, I haven't had good luck using WWPF for breads.  I think I could make it work with the right amount of added gluten, but I haven't given it a good try yet.  I'm still using Bread Flour for bread. If you haven't yet tried the whole wheat pastry flour - try it.  It is sold in many places, but not everywhere.  For example, SuperTarget only has it sometimes.  Cub has it in the organic section (even though it isn't organic).  Bob's Red Mill sells it, among others. 

Scarves, hats and shoes

Tamara Nugteren



Not just for shoes -
The humble, collapsable, hanging shoe organizer.  Available just about anywhere.

We actually don't use ours for shoes at all.
I use mine to hold and keep my scarves and wraps.  My daughter uses hers for hats, purses and - at the moment - flashlights.

My scarves and wraps - easy to find,
with room for more!

Lily's hats, wraps, purses
& flashlights.

It's really a versatile organizational tool in your bedroom closet.  You may even already own one.  Are you making the most of it?

A happy home for little girl's earrings

There are many, many things that could be easier in life, if only there was the time to "do something about it".  I mean really.  Just look around where you are right now.  You probably see dozens of things that could be better "if only". Right?  But we must pick our battles.

This project certainly isn't anyone's biggest area of concern - but it was very fun and looks great.  It was born of a "clean your room" assignment that went off course.  That said, this project ended up being a great three-for-one deal for both of us.  It was a craft (which she loves), it was time spent with Mom (important) and it solved the dilemma of what to do with all those little earrings.

The inspiration for this fix was actually my 9 year old's original idea.  She was keeping her earrings on a sheet of paper, hung on her closet door.  So organized, right?  I like to think the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but you should see the rest of her room! Ugh! But I digress and support the positive here.

Her original earring holder.  Cute, huh?
She even used the label maker at the top...

I liked her idea but knew it needed improvement (it was paper, after all).

Here is the project:

Step one - purchase an unpainted canvas from craft supply store (we went to Michaels)*.  Anything smaller than an 8x10 will be too small.  There are many choices in the painters area - the most inexpensive one will do.

Step two - allow your daughter to draw (with pencil) a picture on the canvas.

Step three - the fun part! Let your daughter paint it.  You'll want her to use acrylic craft paint.  It is inexpensive and comes in a million colors including metallics and glitter. Buy several - keep them for other projects.   Don't forget to paint the sides of the canvas!  It won't be going in a frame and you want it to look nice on the edges!

"Sunset" - a Lily original. 

Step four - the adult job.  Flip the DRY painting over.  Using a pencil or marker, make evenly spaced dots in rows all over the back of the frame.  You'll want them spaced about 1- 1 1/2 centimeters apart.  You can "eyeball" this.  Perfection is over rated.

Use all the available space.  Then it will be ready to
go as your daughter collects more earrings as she grows.

Step five - again, for the adult.  Take a hand sewing needle (the biggest one you have) and pop a hole through the canvas at each mark.  It should pop through pretty easily. If it doesn't, try another needle -  yours may be dull.

Finished! The first time you put earrings through, you may notice that they require a little effort to push through.  I'm sure the earring posts are a little thicker than your needle.  The earrings will stretch out the hole and it will be easier next time.

For ease of use, you'll want a small easel to hold your earring masterpiece**.  These are sold many places, including office supply stores.  They are inexpensive - I actually already had one on hand.

When finished, you will have a customized piece of functional art and your daughter will think you are SO FUN and pretty smart, too!

The finished product.
There are many more available holes than
she is using right now - room to add on!

Notes: 

* If you find yourself at Michaels Crafts regularly, then you probably already know that they ALWAYS have a 40% off coupon available - usually in the mail or the Sunday newspaper.  If you are like me, you normally forget it at home or it has expired.  Michaels Crafts has an App for your smartphone that has the current coupon on it - scanable at the register.  Yes, there is an app for everything now - but this one is one I'll use and save good money with.  

** These inexpensive easels are also great for holding an iPad.  You don't need something expensive! I use one in the kitchen with mine.