Cows, Kale Soup and Llama Spit!

My 2 year old daughter chowing down on her favourite soup at lunch time.
We leave out a tray of fruits and veggies for the kids to much on as they please and it's always gone by end of the day!

Kale, Leek & Mushroom Soup:
-Bunch of Kale
-3 large Leeks
-1 Shitake
-2 cups of Button and Cremini Mushrooms
-8 cups of strong Chicken Stock (MSG & Gluten free) we make our own.
-2 Tbsp Olive oil
-Salt & Pepper
-dash Cayenne Pepper
Pre sear in the Olive Oil the Kale, Leeks, and Mushrooms each separately with salt and pepper before adding to the stock and cayenne.
Let simmer for about an hour and your all set!!

Food Facts:
Kale: Not only is anti-inflammatory but antioxidant as well! It is very high is vit A & C and provides iron and calcium. An amazing veg! Check out it's stats!
• Vitamin K (Very high %DV over a 1000%)
• High in carotenoids (antioxidant)
• Vitamin A (190 %DV)
• Vitamin E & C (antioxidants) (Vitamin C 80% DV)
• Vitamin B-1, B-2, B-3,and Folate
• Manganese, copper, calcium. potassium, iron, magnesium and phosphorus
• Omega 3 fatty acids
• Protein ( 7% of DV)
• Tryptophan
Leeks: Anti-inflammatory and antiseptic high in
Mushrooms: Great source of vitmain B's, iron, anti-inflammatory, antioxidantm antibacterial pretty much anti anything!!

Fifi our Galloway Cow and Rosie our Tamworth Pig behind her.

I was talking to the man who we are getting our 2 meat cows from today on the phone and telling him about our place, he is a bird expert and well known in the farming community. I continued to tell him about my favorite chicken Moe, and how she sits and has coffee w my mom every morning. He said he was surprised we drank coffee because it sure didnt sound like I needed anymore energy and that because we were "back to the land" people that we would make our own tea etc... Caught me off guard but got me thinkin.. Could we make our own Tea??


Farm Facts: Did you know that some cows are neither male nor female! Yup, the farm term is Free Martin which just means hemaphrodite. My sister was trying to figure that one out with our little cow Fiona. We plan to make her a momma this fall so we kinda need to know whats shes made of;)
More cool cow facts:
-90% of wild Bison have cow blood from cross breedings done by the pioneers, aka Beefallo;)
-Bull semen is SO potent that it is diluted to 1/200 for insemination purposes! When you puirchase the semen to get your cow preggers you get them in "straws"...It's just that simple!
-The Holstein dairy cow is the most inbred of all agricultural animals, the second of all domestic animals, the first is research rodents.....


Poop: Llama spit smells worse then poop! I know because I was at a petting farm with my hilarious aunt one time and she was, what seemed to be , getting along really well with the Llama! Until she ran up to me yelling he spit on her and her face smelt like poop!
Lesson learnt, no Llamas for the farm...

Spring is Here! Easter Eggs & Dinner

Spring is Here!

Easter Eggs:

This one was named Bob

The chicks hatched over the easter weekend. It was amazing to watch the kids get so excited to watch the process from the time they "pipped"(once the chick picks it's first little hole) to the full hatch and fluff up. They pip around in a circle on the inside of the egg through the membrane then a little hole through the shell and pop, literally some of them popped right through while we were watching! My 2 year old daughter was jumping and clapping her hands. 9 chicks hatched and each grandkid was able to name one and see it grow from the time we started the incubator to the cuteness in the picture below:)

Farm Facts:
While the kids were in music class I was talking to the owner about our farm. I love our conversations and he is a valued customer of ours too! He had a question about chickens and said he thought it might sound dumb and apologized for his ignorance (which I think is hilarious because I have had this question before and when I corrected them the person said I didnt know what i was talking about..)


He thought that in order to have a chicken lay eggs you needed a rooster. You do not need a rooster to have a chicken lay eggs, you only need a rooster if you want fertilized eggs. Just like in Humans! When I put it that way almost always I get an "aha!" Again, I've had this one come up many times in my life!


NO farm question is dumb, lemme tell ya!


Dinner:
For Easter dinner we had 35 people for a sit down dinner.

This is the Buffet

All gluten free except the yorkshire pudding top left.

The only items I did not eat were the mash potatoes, processed meat and pepper salad due to the fact that they are inflammatory foods.

This is my plate

Clockwise starting at top:

Home made Ceasar Salad (no croutons), Broccolli/Cauliflower salad, Brown Sugar Sweet Potatoes, Peas, Brussel Sprouts, Carrots, Our own Pork, Beef with gravy and horseradish, Garlic Shrimp

Yes, ALL Gluten Free and anti-inflammatory!

I stuck to the 80-20 rule when it came to the meat, I eat very little because of the saturated fats and inflammatory properties but only eat our own home raised or organic practice/free range meats.  

Food Facts:

Broccoli, Romaine Lettuce, Green Peas are anti-inflammatory

Cauliflower is anti-inflammatory and high in vit K

Carrots, Sweet Potatoes are anti-inflammatory and high in Beta Carotene and Vit A

Brussel Sprouts are anti-inflammatory and HIGH in Vit K, C Omega 3

Shrimp are anti-inflammatory and high in Vit D and Omega 3

Organic practice free range meat has more Omega 3 and less Saturated fats then feed lot and grain fed meats.

(Great site for anti-inflammatory foods to avoid http://theconsciouslife.com/top-10-inflammatory-foods-to-avoid.htm)

Poop:

We had a discussion at dinner that I just can't share with you all online this week, along the lines of how a man surgically becomes a woman, and yes, it was my 67 year old father that went into detail about the medical procedure of the whole process while we were chewing on our meat...you'll just have to come for dinner for the details!!

Sweet and Sour Stirfry on Mixed Rice

This is one of my favourite dishes.

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons honey

1/4 cup gluten free Tamarisoy sauce

2 teaspoons ginger spice

2 cloves chopped garlic

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

salt and pepper to taste

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1/2 inch strips

boiled shrimp

1 tablespoon olive oil

Thicken sauce with Corn Starch or Gluten Free Flour

Cook chicken in oil salt and pepper until cooked through, add mixed vegetables (We add what we have around, today it was asparagus, broccoli, mixed mushrooms and snap peas), shrimp and sauce (all the ingredients mixed together) for approx 10 minutes or until desired tenderness.

Thicken if you want, I love a nice thick sauce on my rice personally.

For the rice I buy the Delrose mixed rice at Costco, it's white, brown, basmati, wild and red rice and I add extra jasmine to the mix. 

POOP:

12 people today for dinner and there was no poop talk at the table! There was gas talk along the lines of "don't get behind a 67 year old man in a furnace room... closest to death I've ever felt" according to my sister.  

The First Blog!

The general idea:I originally decided to write a blog because I had so many people asking me to tell them stories of life in the "big house".... The "big house" meaning my families farm home that my husband (it was mostly his idea) and I moved back into in early 2010 along with our 3 young children.
When he first came to me about the idea I thought he was nuts! We have been together since we were 15 years old, a total of 19 years! He knows my crazy family well! Now he wants to move in with them?

The name "Dinner and Poop" came from two things. "Dinner" because we have dinner everyday as a family and any given day we can have anywhere from 9 to 30 people for dinner, "Poop" comes from the conversations had at those dinners whether its from one of the 8 kidlets or just farm talk, one way or another poop is brought up, at the table no less, at least once!

Another reason to start my blog is because I have been Gluten Free for over a year now. I have had alot of people, yet again (not the same people!), asking about my Gluten Free journey over the past year so it gives me another great passion to share with others.

 SO... Each blog I plan to post a picture of the dinner w recipes and a funny story, usually involving poop, advice, ideas, something learned etc..

Hope you all enjoy!!

Sincerely,
Nat:)