Rachael Eliker's Blog, page 36

Milkmaid

My little milkmaid.If any of the kids wake me up before dawn, telling me they're hungry, they get a quick breakfast and some one-on-one time. The price of that precious loss of sleep on my part is they're obliged to come outside to help milk Dolly.
If I didn't know any better, I'd say Claire likes being the milkmaid.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

I love a hearty bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, especially over winter. This yummy recipe goes together in less than ten minutes and comes out of the pot, ready to eat with a splash of milk or a scoop of ice cream.

Ingredients:

2 cups milk or water
2 Tablespoons honey
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup peeled, chopped apples

In a large pot, combine all ingredients except the oats on medium-high heat. When close to boi...

Redneck Weeding

Weeds + Flame Thrower = Redneck Weeding
(And of course, where there's fire, there's Henry) 
Thanks for weeding the pond, Jack!

Homemade Hummus

The first time I ever had hummus was when I was living in Montreal as a missionary (I took advantage of all the different cultural foods, believe me!). I've noticed it sold more frequently in stores but I think homemade is just as delicious on pita bread, bread, chips, pretzels...you name it!

Ingredients:
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas or 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas1/4 cup lemon juice1/4 cup well-stirred tahini1 garlic clove, minced2 Tablespoons olive oil, plus more for garnish1/2 teaspoon cuminSalt t...

Creative Release

As with horses, I've come to the resignation that as a mother of small children, if I want to get anything done, I'm going to have to bring the kids along for the ride. It's no different when I'm cooking, painting the house, nailing up trim, putting on makeup, eating ice cream...they're always with me.
Got started on a portrait of Dolly at a church youth activity a few weeks ago that spurred my desire to paint more often.When I got the urge to do some watercolors, I pulled out the brushes, pai...

The Best Dog

Raven is pretty awesome though...

Hidden Gem

The old sitting room.One of the things we (and everyone else) noticed about our New Harmony home when we moved in was how outdated it was. So, we did a bit of renovating.
What do you think? Thankfully, that "unpacking the house" look didn't last terribly long and we got everything in order. That meant that it was time to start tackling the parts of the house we didn't like, namely the carpet. I love a good carpet in a bedroom or a living room, where you want to sit on the floor and play or...

The Most Important Work

Chocolate M&M Cookies

Chocolate? M&M's? Cookies? Oh, yeah. We went there.
Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup M&M's
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat or spritz with cooking spray. Beat together butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar and brown sugar. When well combined, add in eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine...

A Little More Snow

 Our winter has gone something like this: cool, slightly chilly, FREEZING, FREEZING, SNOW, FREEZING, springlike, ice storm, warm, snow, snow, practically summer...
Thus, a good portion of our time has been stuck inside, making sure our toes and fingers don't fall off from frostbite. But every once in a while, we had a couple of those magical days where it was warm enough to enjoy sledding or one of our favorite pastimes: building snowmen.
Evelyn bit off more than she co...