$7.00 Gourmet Pizza, Blueberry Bars, Coop Cleaning & Re-Do, Train Station

         Boise Depot

$7.00 Gourmet Pizza-

For dinner last night I decided to buy some fresh, local pizza dough from Flying Pie down the street. They have really nice dough you can buy. I had lots of the other ingredients at home already. Here's a break down of the whole thing, a nice BIG pizza. More than enough for 2 with leftovers! Next time I might make my own spelt crust, nutty and yummy.

1/2 jar roasted red bell peppers- .79

1 bag shredded moz- $1.50

1/2 can black olives- .50

1/2 jar homemade pesto- .25?

1 small can tomato paste- .50

handful green olives (Costco)- .75

1/3 cup home shredded Tillamook cheddar cheese- .50

1 lb. local pizza dough- $2.00

total- $6.79

Pizza covered with tomato paste and homemade pesto

It's what's for dinner

Blueberry Bars-
I was going thru my freezer and found some nice blueberries I had stashed from a friend last summer. I found a recipe on Allrecipes and modified it to make it a bit healthier. Next time I would add some almond extract, rolled oats and more lemon. Here's my version today-

Nancy's Blueberry Crumb Bars

Yield: Cut these into 36 smallish rectangles or bigger

1 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups flour- 1 ½ cup ww pastry flour, 1 ½ unbleached flour

1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)

1 egg

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

Zest and juice of one lemon

4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1/2 cup white sugar

4 teaspoons cornstarch

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

2. In a bowl, combine 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt, cinnamon and lemon zest. Use a pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. The dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

3. In another bowl, mix the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 55 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares. We had company and we all loved them!

  

Nice & Clean Coop

Coop Cleaning & Re-Do-
When I first read about the Deep Litter Method it sounded to good to be true. Then I tried it. Talk about easy, clean, healthy and simple! So today we cleaned out the upper condo and nesting boxes, and top dressed the sun room and lower coop. On spring break we'll do the lower area. The girls love the fresh bedding, and the old goes to the garden where it breaks down easily and quickly. Really helps the soil quality in this hot, dry climate in the summer. We're probably going to raise the roof of the coop soon, add a full size door and move the windows. It's too hard to clean and service without being on your hands and knees.

before shot, dirty litter removed

Dirty litter spread in garden

Rosie Approves

Girls enjoying the warm afternoon outside, while the coop was cleaned

Rosie

Molly

Meal worm treats! From left- Little Blackie, Ellie, Rosie & Molly

Little Blackie

Boise Depot Train Station-

I went on a field trip with my new camera yesterday, to get some shots at the old Boise Union Station Depot. It was nice and warm and breezy. It's a gorgeous Spanish mission-style depot, sadly no trains come here anymore. It's used for weddings and tours. I would love to take a train to Portland. I keep hoping they'll come back, sigh. I love riding on trains! Go up on the upper deck and watch the terrain go by. Someday I'd like to go all the way across Canada, to Nova Scotia. First class, with a sleeper. Relax and take lots of photos.

Big Mike

Mallard ducks resting on the top edge of a pond drop

Looking north to downtown Boise

Anya is ready for Spring

Anya says, can you see me?