Rachael Eliker's Blog, page 4

Whole Motherhood: Moms Learning with Moms

Interview with Whole Motherhood: Moms Learning with Moms
I had a blast catching up with a dear friend, who has started a YouTube channel interviewing fellow mothers. It's a collective learning effort, and it gave me a lot to think about--primarily how much we can learn together. We might implement things differently, but there are a lot of core experiences that are universal.
If you'd like to listen to me ramble about kids, homesteading, and writing (😅) click here to head over to YouTube for Shayl...

Cream Cheese Chicken Soup

Come cooler weather, and our meal schedule often shifts to soups. We love this one for it's simplicity, yet complex taste, thanks to the tang from the cream cheese. It's packed with veggies (we used our purple and sweet potatoes from our garden to add a punch of color), and is a meal all on its own.
Cream Cheese Chicken Soup1 small onion, chopped1 tablespoon butter3 cups chicken broth3 medium carrots, cut into ¼ -inch slices2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed2 cups cubed cooked chicken2 tablespoo...

Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken

I was short on time for dinner, and had no idea what to make--nothing sounded good. After a little research on my part, I discovered this recipe. Not only was it simple (five ingredients!), and QUICK (ready in less than 30 mins), EVERYBODY loved it. There were a few initial skeptics, but once they tried it, they were converted.
Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts4 garlic cloves, minced4 Tablespoons of brown sugar3 teaspoons olive oilSalt and pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 500F. Spray a casserole di...

Ready, Set, Race!

While preparing for the upcoming school year, I asked the oldest girls if they wanted to be in any activities. With a sister in the same school, it offers built-in moral support, and when Claire said she wanted to be on the cross country team, Evelyn reluctantly agreed that she would run, too. While Claire is naturally inclined to run, Evelyn...isn't. She's identified as a swimmer since she was a baby, and prefers to get her exercise in an aquatic setting. But, when Jack and I mentioned running ...

The Free Phenomenon

We've been at our home on New Harmony for five years now, and a lot has happened, and a lot has changed. When we moved in, the land had primarily been used to (over)graze cattle, but little else had been done to utilize the property. One of our goals with every place we've lived, is that we hope to leave it etter than what we found it. Generally speaking, that means we help establish places where food will flourish, where we can live in balance with the nature around us, and that it'll be more b...

Queen of Our Hive

Since Jack's been recovering from his bum foot, it often means that I'm asked to be his right hand (or...foot?). He's getting close to being back to 100%, but there are some things that he still can't do. Checking on the bees are one of the items on our to-do list that's been being put off until he was well enough, the weather was good, and we had enough time. With bees, it takes that trifecta of perfect circumstances to get the job done. Since the bees are primarily Jack's domain, I don't have n...

Applesauce Bread

We had a jar of applesauce in the fridge that was on the verge of going bad, so I used it up making applesauce bread for dinner that night. We modified the original recipe to include more whole wheat, and found a delightful cinnamon cream cheese frosting (though it's YUMMY even without it) that's not too sweet, but added the right amount of tang and somethin' extra to the quick bread. Tastes like autumn!
Ingredients: For the Bread 2 cups flour (I used 1 cup all-purpose, and 1 cup whole wheat)1 Tabl...

Summer Fun Chart

The last few summers, I've been posting charts for the kids, reminding them to read, practice their instruments, spend some time keep up on their math skills, and challenging them to find ways to serve and/or volunteer. It isn't that having a progress chart is a bad thing, but I thought we could do something better. For me, work comes as easily as breathing, and while I can appreciate that not everyone thinks the same as me, I find it fun. News flash: it generally isn't fun, in the sense that it...

Snacking on the Tomatoes

Nice try, but I see you! 🐛In college and for a few months after, until my full-time job started, I worked in a few entomology departments. From that wild experience, where I cared for cockroaches, raised houseflies from maggots (fun fact: they smell like blueberry oatmeal the first day they hatch. After that...not so much 🤢), and collected samples of soybean aphids, I gained an appreciation and fascination for the insect world. That has crossed over seamlessly as a homesteader. Ugh. So. Annoying....

Mutton Busting

This summer, instead of doing a chart reminding us to exercise, read, keep up on our math facts, and all the other boring stuff moms are supposed to make their kids do, we decided to create a list of fun things for us to do. One on the list was to attend a rodeo, after I tried to explain in vain to the kids what a rodeo even was. Why did people get onto angry bulls? Why do they race their horses around barrels? What was the purpose of roping a calf? Why is there a cowboy dressed as a creepy clow...