Rachael Eliker's Blog, page 17

Sally Lunn Bread

I don't know who Sally Lunn is but she makes a delicious bread.I remember my mom making this bread whenever we'd have soup in the winter and it was a treat. It's soft, crunchy, and is delicious with a little butter and jam. It also is a great substitute for French bread when making French toast if it's allowed to dry out a bit so it's not mushy. Any way it's served, it's guaranteed to be delicious!

Ingredients:

4 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 cup lukewarm milk
2 Tablespoons sugar
1...

Fire Building

Jack lecturing about fire safety.Every time we have family night, someone is in charge of choosing an activity that we all participate. This week, Jack convinced Claire--this week's chooser of the activity--that it'd be fun to learn how to build and start fires. Despite the chilly winter day, we bundled up and went out for a fire building lesson.
It might seem ridiculous to teach kids how to start a fire but by taking away the mystery of it, it squelches their curiosity, teaches them a...

Every Part of Me

I'm a big proponent of volunteering and donating. Having been on both ends of the giving and receiving spectrum, I've seen how being selfless and thinking of others brings out the best in people and especially reminds the giver how abundantly they've been blessed. I also think everyone has something to give: time, talents, money, clothes, hair, blood, placenta, cord blood, milk...let's just say, I've given about every part of me that I can.
One of the first accomplished goals of the year...

Lucky 13

We're on Lucky #13!Another year has come and gone and we've reached our thirteen year anniversary. If that wasn't amazing enough, the thirteenth of January is our special day...thirteen years on the thirteenth. The only thing that could have been more awesome about that is if it were on Friday (you know...Friday, the thirteenth? ). Can't win them all, I guess. We had to celebrate on a regular ol' Monday this time.
Lunch with some of my favorite people. When we got married, I was excited about...

Herc

Such a pretty kitty.Way back when Jack and I were newlyweds, I worked parttime between finishing up my bachelor's degree at a small animal vet clinic. Most were housepets but we'd get the occasional farm animals that would come in. During an evening shift, a regular client brought in a box of three tiny kittens who'd lost their farm cat mother to an unknown fate. They barely had their eyes and ears open and would have to be bottle-fed to survive. Since they were going out of town for a trip,...

Crock Pot Sausage and Potato Soup

In 2019, I had a goal of making at least one new dish a month...and failed pretty horribly. It's not that I'm not adventurous, but I have to balance finding something nutritious, that the kids will like, that Jack will like, all while making sure I have all the ingredients on hand. I've renewed my 2020 commitment to expanding our dinner repertoire and this sausage and potato soup was the first on the menu. The kids resisted. Then they tried it. Then they came back for second (and...

Sunny Florida

Made it to sunny Florida!Who thought it would be a good idea to pack up six kids in a Suburban with just over 260k miles and drive thirty hours round trip into Florida and back at the beginning of December? We did!
Road trip breakfast.Jack has so many work trips about this time of year that we start to miss him terribly. To solve that problem, we occasionally go with him and at the beginning of December, we got lucky. He happened to be going to Orlando. How could we resist sunshine, warm...

The Rehomesteaders 2020 Goals

Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.
~ Carl BardSee goals from 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012!

If I have a penchant for one thing, it'd be lists (and goals to go along with said lists). There's great satisfaction in putting in the work and being rewarded by checking the task off, then moving on to the next. So, every year around this time, I like to look back at...

Crashing Disney World

We made it to Disney World!If anyone knows me at all, they know that I have a thing for lists and calendars. I love to keep track of things I need and want to do to make sure I'm not forgetting anything and I'm now to the point where crossing something off is as satisfying as doing the task. Sometimes I think of my yearly goals as a sort of bucket list because the things on there are a bit outrageous and might be a once in a lifetime opportunity if and when there ever is an opportunity to do...

Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor

First place in the vault!Claire's been in gymnastics for about a year and a half and has been expressing interest in being able to compete. She's extremely competitive by nature, and when she's good at something, she's confident about her abilities without being boastful or proud. It's just a matter of fact. So, when her gym offered a mini meet for students who weren't at competitive levels yet, Claire very subtly begged (yes, that's possible) to be able to enter. As a competitive person in...