Ham & Cheese Omelet Roll

I have occasionally listed omelet roll in my breakfast menu. I thought you might enjoy some step by step photos to see how I do that with ease.

Here's the recipe I use-

12 large eggs

3/4 cup whole milk

4 oz cream cheese 

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp salt 

Yellow mustard

2 cups shredded cheese

2 cups diced ham

Preheat the oven to 350° and line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper.

Put the first five ingredients in the blender pitcher and blend smooth. Pour into the pan

I use the butt end of a table knife to get the corners to square up in the pan. Put it in the oven and bake 20 minutes. Check to see if it's puffed and done. If so, remove it. If not, bake a little longer- not longer than ten more minutes.

I use any cut of ham. Sometimes I can find cubed or julienne cuts of ham at our thrift food store. Or I'll dice up leftover ham. Here's what I used this time. (You could use sausage or another meat if you wish.)

Cut the ham and shred the cheese while the eggs bake (if necessary.)

There! It's baked.

Squirt the desired amount of mustard over the top.

Sprinkle the ham over the top.

Then the cheese.

Starting on the short end, roll it up using the paper to help you.

There it is. Bake it a few minutes longer, then slice and enjoy.

One nice thing about this roll is that it can be made ahead and reheated in the morning.

Milk Products

A gift from one of my Sunday school students. The perfect dish for butter!

Have you ever wished for a family cow? It's wonderful! And then sometimes... the load (or overload) of milk is exhausting.

Our cow gives seven or eight gallons of milk per day. We are doing a cow share with another family of eight so that takes care of the between days. But we need to do something with the other twenty-eight gallons that are produced in a week.

Today I am making or have made...

...butter.

Butter draining in a sieve.

...yogurt.

Milk cooling after being heated to make yogurt

...tapioca pudding (baby pearl).

Cooling in a sink of water

And here is a gallon of milk that I am contemplating what must be done with it.

Condensation on the jar

Often we set it out in a bucket to sour/clabber and then we feed it to the chickens. But as much as I'm able I like to keep it edible for humans. I also make hard cheese and cottage cheese.

What would you do with gallons and gallons of milk?

Counting Blessings

There is a challenge going on at Frugal Family Food. It's "low spend month" where we are challenged to use from pantry, fridge and freezer instead of getting as much from the grocery store. (Subscribe to their newsletter here.)

When the challenge was announced I thought there would be no way for me to participate. This is the time of year when my canned and frozen food is nearly depleted. Out with the old, time for some new.

But then I began to realize how much I had. One day I took pictures of things I was given and that came from our own farm. It has happened more than once that I decide to not buy as much and then God begins to shower me with food from sources I never thought of.

Peas and strawberries from the garden.

 20 lb bag of potatoes for $4.

 Milk from the cow.

Free cheese from my bro-in-law, who drives a food truck.

 Green things from our garden.

 Shucked peas (from our garden).

 Carrots from our friends' garden.

 Honey from our friends' bees.

 Eggs from our chickens.

 Blueberries from friends.

 Black raspberries from our orchard.

 Blueberries from our orchard.

Homemade butter.

Basil from the garden.

It is good to count one's blessings!

For a bonus here's a video of our youngest son mowing the yard. He has been bugging us for awhile to be allowed to do it. Our oldest was mowing with this same machine at 8 yrs of age. Why are we reluctant to allow the nearly 13 yr old youngest one to do it?

June 18

Outside my window...

...it is very warm. Amazing. It has been a mostly cool and rainy spring with unusual flooding. There have been occasional warm days though.

I am thinking…

...about relationships. About unhealthy attachments to earthly possessions. About how to educate our children. About how we judge people. Too many thoughts...

I am thankful for…

...fresh garden things. Lots of milk. A cool house. A washing machine.

From the learning rooms…

The whole household is learning, learning. Learning on the construction site. Learning in the garden. Learning from books. Learning from people. Learning from mistakes.

From the kitchen…

I am trying to be more saving. To buy what is on sale. To use what I have on hand and not try to "keep up with the Joneses" by making fancy meals or worrying about what people think of simple food.

I am wearing…

...normal, everyday clothes. Here's what I look like today. (Would you know? I took a selfie!)

I am creating…

...meals. Blog posts. 

I am going…

...to a family reunion, Lord willing. Yippee!

I am reading…

...the Bible. somehow I haven't been able to get into another book lately.

I am hoping…

...the garden will be productive after a late start.

I am hearing…

...the washing machine. The AC unit. The dryer. My keyboard.

Around the house…

We are working on cleaning, repairs, repainting, and etc. We have so many ideas and so little time. Christopher is into redoing furniture. That's his latest inspiration.

He decided to redo a twin bed frame we had setting around here to use in his room. There were four layers of paint and some stain to take off. I remember when my brothers painted it blue for their use and then we girls painted it pink for ourselves. Underneath those layers were black and white. (It had a twin that we gave away years ago.)

The head board had flowers and leaves. He opted to chisel those off and he'll probably do a picture with wood burning in that space.

Sample of the layers of paint

 

Christopher is using dark stain and white paint.

One of my favorite things…

Chocolate pie.

A few plans for the rest of the week…

The peas, strawberries and blueberries need to be picked. Picking means doing something with them after the picking.

There is a constant supply of milk that needs to be made into yogurt, butter, cheese and puddings, or eaten with cobbler, muffins or pie. 

The pantry needs to be restocked, which means a trip to town. 

I want to clean a few areas and do some mending.  

Here is picture thought I am sharing….

Homemade yogurt with local honey, fresh blueberries and strawberries from our garden/orchard.

Fried Cheese

Recently we had an overabundance of milk and no cheese. So I made some! 

We made cheese at home when I was a girl. My father made a "cheese box" where a thermostat and a light bulb kept the cheese at a certain temperature for a designated amount of time. He also made a cheese press.

After I left home, I didn't know how to make cheese without these things. Some years later I learned from a friend who grew up in Costa Rica how to make a simple cheese, skipping the "cheese box" stage. And she showed me how to fry it. (I figured out how to press it with simple kitchen and rec room articles.)

We all really enjoy fried cheese. It is so simple. Just cut a slice of homemade cheese, lay it in a lightly greased skillet over medium heat and fry until it is browned on one side. Flip it over and do the same on the other side. (I don't know of a store bought equivalent. Sorry.)

This got a little extra brown. But it is still delicious.

Words to enjoy-
Pattens
Myrmidons
Excrescence

Cheesy Chicken Chowder Recipe (Gluten Free)

Ingredients:
4 cups cooked chicken
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups milk
2 cups peeled potatoes, cubed
2 cups peeled carrots, cubed
2 cups diced celery
2 cups cheese (I use American)
1/3 cup cornstarch
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Cook vegetables in chicken broth until tender. Add 3 cups of milk. Heat to nearly boiling while you dissolve cornstarch in the remaining cup of milk. Add cornstarch mixture to vegetables and stir until it returns to a gentle boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese until it melts. Add salt, pepper and chicken. Serve.

Did you notice how many ingredients begin with the letter C?

Chicken soups are so nourishing, especially if you make your own broth from bone-in chicken.