Another Great Egg Recipe - Farmhouse Casserole

If you have very many chickens, sooner or later you are going to find yourself overrun with eggs.

 

One of our favorite recipes for dealing with an overabundance of eggs is the traditional Farmhouse Casserole.  There seems to be a thousand different ways to make it, but here's our personal favorite:

 

Ingredients:

• 8-10 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 3 cups potatoes, shredded or chopped, frozen or fresh
• 1/2 cup onion
• 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
• 1 cup cooked meat of choice (crumbled sausage, chopped ham, crumbled bacon)
• 2 cups cheddar cheese (or other cheese of choice)
• 1 tablespoon of Mrs. Dash's Garlic Herb seasoning

Directions:

1. Lightly grease a 13x9 baking dish.
2. In a bowl, combine potatoes, onion, bell pepper, and meat.
3. In a separate bowl, scramble together the eggs, milk and seasoning.
4. Add the egg mixture to the meat mixture bowl, add in cheese and mix all together.
5. Dump the entire mixture into the baking dish .
6. This casserole can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours at this point, or baked immediately in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until eggs are completely set.

This is a great casserole because it does well microwaved and that means a couple days of breakfasts for the hubby and I with no additional work on my part.  Just serve with couple pieces of toast and you are all set!

Feeding Your Dogs and Cats More Naturally

I'm sure by now that you've figured out that we work hard around here to do everything as simply, naturally, and on our own as possible.

One night, feeding the big dog himself, I got to thinking about those little chunks of dog "food".  While we feed what the vet considers to be a very healthy diet of Iams and Dog Chow (our dog doesn't seem to like either all that much on it's own but LOVES it together), any dog lover has to admit that those dried chunks are nothing like the diet our beloved pets were eating up until the creation of processed dog foods around 1860.

Naturally, I've delved into researching the best, most natural way to feed our pets.  There are many opinions and from what I've seen, and just as much research to back each of those opinions up.

Of course, there are proponents of the commercially manufactured foods, arguing that they are the most nutritionally balanced.  This seems to be the method most backed by veterinarians as well, though in my mind that might be because they: 1. sell manufactured pet foods, and 2. realized that very few people can manage to feed them selves properly, so how can they be relied on to feed a pet properly!  As I said though, I'm not convinced that this is really the best idea, as it doesn't not mimic the original diet of our animals.

Next there are the proponents of raw foods.  However, unless you can raise the meat yourselves, I'm not a fan of this.  Honestly, we question the quality of meats available at the store as well as their safety.  Too many recalls for our tastes.  Additionally, there is some belief that raw diets are undesirable for livestock guardian dogs as it *may* increase the chance of them killing and consuming their charges.  Also, I feel that this method is lacking mostly due to the fact that dogs in particular are not true carnivores and are more of an omnivore.

The third popular option is for a homemade type of feeding.  In this, you mix meats, vegetables, rices and grains for a more complete meal.  There are several good books available with recipes and tips, as well as lists of what can and cannot be fed to our furry friends.

For our purposes, we are starting out slowly.  Since we raise poultry and tend to have a near endless supply of eggs (duck, chicken and by times, turkey), we've added scrambled eggs to the dog and cat diets three times per week. I also plan to add in leftover unseasoned rice, meats and veggies whenever possible.  Until I have more time to devote to making my own homemade feeds we are going to go with this and the commercial dog food, though I hope to be transitioning in the months to come.