It’s soup season.
For me there are only two things that make winter tolerable.
The first is that I don’t have a long list of outdoor chores every day – no hoeing and mowing and trimming and all that sort of stuff.
The second is the soup.
I love soup.
Mon mari accepts soup….
As long as there are biscuits to go with it.
Because we are only two, and don’t want leftover bread / biscuits (too tempting), I have adapted my recipes to serve two. Double or triple as needed.
Quinoa Drop Biscuits
Total time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup white all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/8 cup cooked red quinoa
- 1/8 cup cooked black quinoa
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbs butter
- 1 egg
- 1 tbs honey
- 1/3 cup milk
Instructions:
- Combine flours, cooked quinoa, baking powder and salt in a bowl and stir well to combine.
- Add the butter and cut in with a pastry cutter, fork or 2 knives until well blended.
- In another bowl whisk egg lightly.
- Add milk, honey and whisk lightly.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined.
- Dividing the dough into 6ths, spoon onto nonstick or lightly greased baking sheet, 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 10 – 12 minutes at 400F (200C) oven or until lightly browned.
- Remove and serve immediately.
One thing that is going to make winter intolerable is the mice.
They’re irritating when they wake me up in the middle of the night chewing in the ceiling above the bed.
They’re annoying when they scamper around the kitchen cabinets, chewing the potholders, leaving little dropping in the drawers and little holes in the bags of dog treats or boxes of cereal.
Last night they graduated to insufferable.
While I was cooking dinner one dashed across the kitchen floor and hid under the wood stove.
The dogs went crazy.
They tried crawling under the stove which scared the mouse who ran under the butcher block.
They tried crawling under the butcher block which scared the mouse again who then ran under the refrigerator.
Then back under the wood stove.
Then a mad dash into the den and into the fireplace.
And so on…..
For hours.
The dogs finally exhausted themselves and the mouse happily enjoyed the peanut butter sandwich mon mari had used to bait the trap…. Without setting off the trap.
Mon mari went in search of a different trap
Today we add arrogance and an abundance of confidence.
I was sitting at my desk.
I interrupt this post to announce that Bonnie just chased one of the mice into the waiting trap.
There was a rather loud snap followed by silence.
One down, a gazillion to go.
Back to the report.
I was sitting at my desk when I saw something scurry past.
I assumed it was a lizard, as one had fallen on my head a half hour earlier when I opened the window to let flies out….. (Life in the country… sigh….)
I went to open the balcony door so the lizard could get out and saw the mouse on the drapery. It climbed to the top and sat on the rod, taunting me.
Half an hour later, mon mari sat at his desk and there was a mouse hiding behind his clock, watching him.
When I came in from walking the dogs this afternoon there was a mouse sitting on the the dog food.
The dogs have been running from room to room, chasing, cornering and losing the mouse / mice for the last three hours.
I think there may be more than one mouse.
I think it may be a long winter.
Just heard another snap – I think that trap is working.
f you want nutrition information for the recipe, try this site: Calorie Count
What a plague you have – it would be unbearable for me. Your tolerance impresses me.
My sister, who lives in the country, uses metal containers for most storage, including dog food and flour. And she has two cats. Unfortunately, cats are either mousers or they are not, but their presence seems to intimidate. (Though I would think two large galumphing dogs would also be a deterrent.)
Just been reading about an electronic mouse deterrent on the DVN. It was bought on ebay and has been used very successfully against dormice. That might be an option. It doesn’t kill them but emits high frequency sound they can hear but humans and pets can’t and forces them to move out.
We had mice when I lived in NY, and my then-husband set traps. He set 14 before all the snaps were no longer heard. All in the same day!
Karen is right. You also need a couple of cats. 😀 They would work on the lizards, too.
Kate, I sometimes amaze myself at what I put up with that would have sent me screaming 10 years ago….
Karen, I use glass or heavy plastic. The only thing they really get in to is the dog treats if I leave them in the bags
Gill, our neighbors have something like that that they say works for mice and spiders. We bought one…. Nope! Maybe there has to be one in every room. Then we have the barn
Zoomie, our main problem is finding traps that work more than a few times… They seem to break easily, then the store is out, and so on… The girls would love pet kitties.