Rachael Eliker's Blog, page 67

Coconut Curry Noodle Soup

I love this soup because it's really quick to put together but still incredibly flavorful. It can be the main dish or a side--yummy either way!
Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons oil
3 teaspoons minced garlic
1 Tablespoon ginger, grated
3 Tablespoons Thai red curry paste
8 ounces boneless chicken, sliced
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
2/3 cup coconut milk
6 ounces (or more) thin rice noodles
1/4 cup lime juice (optional)
Sliced red onion, red chilis, cilantro, diced green onions, etc for garnish (optional)
Salt...

Oatmeal Buttermilk Bread

We made some homemade butter a few days ago (we're practicing for getting a cow, haha...someday) and decided to use up the buttermilk too. Delicious homemade bread seemed like a good idea! This makes two loaves that are delicious with butter and jam or for putting together sandwiches.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup boiling water
2 teaspoons yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups flour
1 Tablespoon salt...

When Mother Goes Home

There's a song the girls learned through church, entitled, Daddy's Homecoming  and the first line is: I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home!. The song is self-explanatory and they sing it often, sometimes after Jack comes home from a long week away, sometimes just because he came home after work. While I love the song, I also think there should be an adult version: I'm So Sad When Mother Goes Home.
Passing off a newborn for my mother-in-law to hold so I can eat? Soooo helpful.Y...

Hay Ring

A win-win situation for Stoney and Kate.It's the time of year that the pastures stop producing enough for the horses to be sustained so we've had to roll in a round bale. After watching the horses demolish round bales in a matter of days by crawling all over them, laying on them and using them as personal restrooms, we decided to invest in a hay ring.
Stoney enjoyed the personalized attention and the girls enjoyed giving it.The horses aren't able to tear apart the hay as quickly and it's kept...

Homemade Butter

I remember making butter in elementary school when we were doing a unit on pioneers. It was fun shaking the jar for all of five seconds until my arm got tired. Honestly, I don't remember if my cream ever way agitated enough to make butter. Anyway, purchasing a milk cow is on our list of animals to add to the farm and if we've got gallons of fresh milk coming in, I decided I'd better figure out what to do with all of it. So, learning how to make butter was on my 2015 list of goals. It took les...

Happy Henry

That plastic elephant is his best friend.I can't help but alliterate with Henry's name. He's an easygoing, happy baby. Happy Henry. See?
Henry enjoys his bouncy seat!
It's the little things in life...

Morning Person

Stoney coming to say hi while grazing down the backyard for us.If I am anything, I am a morning person. My whole life, I've probably stayed up all night a total of six times and four of those were not necessarily by choice because I was giving birth (why can't they come at a more reasonable hour??) I love waking up refreshed, before the sun rises and planning what the day will bring.
The cats at their breakfast buffet.Sometimes I get up early to write in my books or to read. Sometimes I just l...

Self-defense

A room full of women learning to defend themselves.A goal I added to my 2015 list was to take a self-defense class. While I've been fortunate to never have been in a situation where I'd need to defend myself and though I'm pretty confident I'd put up a good fight, I thought it would be a good skill to have.
Reviewing some of the skills to employ in self-defense.Through church, a brief self-defense class was offered and I jumped at the chance. Some of the stories of why self-defense was so...

Trick or Treat

We had a fun few weeks leading up to Halloween and the weekend itself was fantastic. Jack returned from a business trip to Boston just in time to join us for our church's annual chili cook off and trunk or treat activity where the girls got to dress up yet again in their costumes. Beautiful location for a race!We stayed up a bit late, watching some fun, spooky shows, then headed to bed to get some rest before my first 5k post-baby, on Halloween, no less!
Soooo many HILLS.It was a chilly Ha...

Missionary Service

Amy and me.Nine years ago today, I returned home after spending a year and a half away from home serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Cindy and me at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.It was exciting returning home to see family and friends (one of whom was Jack!) after 18 months in Montreal, Quebec and to wonder what direction the Lord would take my life once I'd completed my mission.
Eunji.I've had so many new and exciting adventures since my retu...