Our Birmingham Trip

Last weekend we took a family trip with my parents and sister to Birmingham Alabama. We stayed at the Best Western Plus Carlton Suites, went to the zoo, the Vulcan, and the McWane Center. We ate at Taco Casa, the Birmingham Zoo, The Cheesecake Factory and the McWane Center.

The Birmingham Zoo is a nice half day activity. There are several animals to look at, it is clean and well layed out. Wesley and Bekka had fun feeding the Blue Faced Honey Eaters. The food at the Birmingham zoo is not worth the time or money. We ate at the Safari Cafe. We had to wait about 20 minuets to get our food. They left off one order, got one sandwich totally wrong (It was supposed to be a BBQ but they gave us a Steak and Cheese) and when placing an order they did not tell us they were out of something. After they gave us our order then they tell us that they were out of that kind of food. We were not the only one having problems several familes were complaining about the quality, or thier order was wrong.

 We went to Vulcan park. This is a great place if you like high places. There is a museum on the ground and you can see the statue from the ground. If you are brave there is an observation deck. There is an elevator and stairs. The observation deck is a grating that you can see thru. The view is great from up that high. Hubby, Bekka and Wesley decided not to stay very long.


That night we went to the Cheesecake Factory. We had a 40 minuet wait for 7 people at around 5:30 pm. It was well worth the wait. There is alot of food on the regular plates. I ordered fish tacos and I got 4 tacos,rice and beans. But the best part was of course the Cheesecakes. We ordered several different types and took them back to the room and shared them with coffee later. Lets just say Hubby loved them and he doesn't even like regular cheese cake.

On Sunday we went to the Mc Wane Center. This is well worth your time. It is a hands on science museum. It has 4 levels of hands on activities. Wesley really enjoyed the hands on exhibits. He also enjoyed the Dinosaurs. You can see an Imax film too. The had three of them but we did not go there. We ate at the food court. They have a Pizza Hut, Subway, A noodle place, A grill, and a frozen Yogurt place.


We stayed at the Best Western Carlton Suites. It was super nice. It had an inside pool, free breakfast, and really nice rooms. The people at the front desk were really helpful. When we asked for directions they would not only give us directions they would print out the directions and a map. There are a lot of different restaurants within walking distance from this hotel too.

On Friday night the kids and I walked to Taco Casa. They have decent food for a fast food place. They make more authentic tacos. They have no other type of meat but hamburger.

There are several different things to do while you are in Birmingham Alabama. It is well worth the visit and the time to check it out.

Rendering Lard

This weekend  was  cool  here. So we decided to go to the freezer take out one of the boxes of pork fat we got back from having two hogs processed. (Yes ask for your fat back.) It took us a while but we finally cut all this fat into little bitty pieces. It is easier when it is partialy frozen. You need to cut it up into the same size pieces. Then you take about a cup of water and put it in your pan. Cast Iron works best.  Place your fat pieces into the pan and turn on the heat. (Not on High) We did this in our cast iron dutch oven over a fire. It takes a while and you need to stir it. When the fat pieces turn light brown and shrink in size remove them from the lard and add more. Do this until you get the pot 3/4 full. Then remove about half the lard. (Do not throw those cracklings away.)

When you take the Cracklings out  place them on a sheet pan and crisp them up in the oven. When you take them out, cool them, and place them in a freezer bag and freeze them. We use them in corn bread, for snacks (yes I eat them occasionally warmed up on a sheet pan and then a little salt.) and some times I put them in a stir fry.

When you are done with your lard you need to store it in an air tight container. We have a large metal bucket with a lid called a lard stand. It should set up kind of firm and be white in color.  Now you have a wonderful fat to cook with, fry stuff, and use for any other thing you can think of. 

It has been proven that lard is better for you than butter and margarine. I am not saying just start using it at every meal. I use it sparingly. It is even better when you make it your self. It has no preservatives in it at all.

If you are not like us and do not raise pigs for your own meat you can ask your butcher for some fat. Our butcher always has it. They make sausage and ground pork. When we got ours from the butcher they threw in extra fat for us. I keep it around also for making deer sausage in the winter. You can never have to much pork fat in your freezer.

Another thing to do with pork fat is make lardo. I have never tried to make any so this will be my first time. I have it in the fridge right now. I got a recipe off of line. Now I have to wait 4 weeks to try it.  Hubby has already turned up his nose at it. Wesley, Rebekka and I are patiently waiting. We are looking for recipes that use it. We have never tried any and no one carries it around here.  I will keep every one posted on the progress.

Dulce De Leche Cake

I had some extra milk I wanted to use up this week. And since we are studying Spanish and my family loves cakes. ( Yes Bekka and I are diabetic) I decided to make a Dulce De Leche cake.

I went on the hunt for a cake from scratch. Here is the link I used.   http://www.yumsugar.com/Glorious-Dulce-De-Leche-Cake-774890

I did not use the icing on it as that would have been way to much sugar for us. I also made mine in a rectangular pan since I am not in any way a cake artist. I can not decorate, or make a layer cake with out it falling into pieces. Yes I can cook and bake bread. I can not in any way make a decent looking cake. I wouldn't bother any way if I could. My hubby and Wes eat the cake faster than any one should. In fact this cake is already half gone and before breakfast in the morning it will be all gone.

I did poke holes with a fork into my cake before I poured the dulce de leche on it.

If you look closely you can see the vanilla bean specks in the top of the cake.

The other funny thing about this cake. I found out I have a Dulce De Leche Monster. I went thru the dining room a couple hours after dinner and there was a large lack of  Dulce De Leche and spoon marks in what was left. Even thought he took an icing spatula  and tried to hide it.   Alton Brown suggests you keep it in the fridge. I would have to make it every day in order to do that. This stuff is addicting.



Here is the spaghetti sauce I made for dinner in my dutch oven. I love the fact it is easy to clean since this made a huge mess around the sides.

I browned the hamburger meat, onion and green peppers. I added a Jar of Ragu and a can of diced tomatoes. I also added about half a jar of water. I covered it and placed it in the oven at 350 for about 2 hours. If I left it longer it would have been a little thicker but I had no complaints. Wesley said I needed to make this and put it on pizza dough and cover it with cheese.

Corn Salad

This is a salad that I came up with to use left over corn at one point in time. It has evolved to what it is today by little tweaks here and there. The latest one make it over the top.

4 cans of corn drained and rinsed
1 pint of cherry tomatoes - cut in halves or 1/4ths
one medium onion- diced
Sartori Bella Vitano Balsamic Cheese- From Publix-- see note below
4 or 5 tablespoons Dukes Mayo
salt and pepper to taste
apple cider vinegar- to taste


Mix all the ingredients together. Let sit over night in the fridge before serving.

The cheese is one I got for my Birthday from my mother. It made this salad perfect. Any kind of crumbly cheese would work. This one has a sweet kind of flavor. It taste like Parmesan with balsamic added to it.

I also got a Members Mark Dutch Oven. The enamel cast iron type for my Birthday. I decided last night to cook a roasted chicken in it. I put carrots, cherry tomatoes, and onions in the bottom of the dutch oven with about a cup of water. I put the chicken on top and baked it at 400 until done. After we removed the chicken and vegetables I thickened the juices up to make a pan gravy.

Camping Green

This weekend we went to the Trail of Tears Bike Rally at Water Loo Alabama. We go camping at Water Loo alot. The Camp site we used is  called Brush Creek.  

There are several ways to go camping that are greener than normal ways. Here are just a few of them we use.

1. Buy really good camping equipment. It may cost more at first but it will last in the long run. We bought chairs, a tent, cast iron cook wear and good air mattress. We do not have to replace them near as often.

2. Prepare ahead of time. Make sure you have what you need. It cost less when you bring  it from home than the camping destination. It also saves gas and the frustration.

3. Plan your food. You do not have to cook a 4 star meal on the camp fire. We are going to take the K.I.S.S. approach. Keep It Simple Stupid.  We take dried beans, taters, can goods, sandwich stuff, snack foods, and very little that takes refrigeration. We also take our own wood that we have from trees that have blown down.  We also take koolaid and tea mixes and a 2 gallon water  cooler. This way we use less plastic bottles or aluminum cans.

4. Use cooking utensils and stuff to eat out of that are recycled, reusable or compostable. We like the Dixie Paper products since they hold up to heavy meals and we can burn them in our camp fire with out letting bad chemicals out in the fire. We use thick plastic cups from home and real silverware.

5. We do not take any thing that needs to be plugged up or takes batteries. We have lanterns for light.  We also try to camp near the bathrooms and showers. That way we have a light to use at night when we walk.

6. When you cook food either cook just enough for who is there or get to know your neighbors and share. This weekend alot of that went on. Every one would cook something and then bring it to the pavilion and share it.

7. Use shampoos and soap that are biodegradable. We had the use of cold water showers or the river to take a bath in. We used the cold water showers.


8. Leave the place cleaner than you found it. We take time while packing up to make sure there is no trash in our spot or around where we camped. You can also make sure all the aluminum cans and glass bottles people use are picked up to recycled.

This is a fun family activity and it is made even better when you make it greener.

Ham and what to do with the left overs.

So today I made Wesley's day. I cooked a ham I got on sale. I normally do not do that except at the holidays because I hate eating on it all week.

This week we are going to try some new things with the ham.
The first night we had ham and biscuits. We are all a little under the weather so we did not want a huge meal. The second night we are going to try  http://svcooks.blogspot.com/2009/08/washday-supper-new-england-boiled.html  From a Facebook Friend.   She also suggested a bean soup so that is on the menu this weekend. I am planning on using the bone and some of the left over ham and beans in the crock pot. Spilt pea soup was suggested also but since hubby would not eat it and I can not explain to Wesley that it does not have pee in it. (Yes he wont eat it because he thinks I put pee in it.)

The other things I have come up with is a ham and onions in a  cream sauce to go over noodles, omelets, boiled ham and taters (This one cane from a twitter friend) , sandwiches, and ham salad.

Handme has already claimed anything that is not edible. He is waiting by the back door as we speak. Yes I told him he was waiting awhile because I am planning on making this ham last.

The Christian Homestead Forum

http://christianhomesteader.forumotion.net/   I would like to invite yall to the Christian Homestead Forum. We have several forums in here about homesteading, Bible study, Preparedness, Alternative Energy, Homeschooling, and many more.
 This is a great place to learn what ever you would like to know about homesteading and being self sufficient. You do not have to have a large place to live. Alot of things can be done in a minimal amount of space. We only have two acers. We raise a garden, chickens, goats, pigs, and want to get a cow.

You can do alot of different things for homesteading and becoming prepared. Learn how to make your own soaps, herbal medicine, forage, and preserve the harvest.  We even have a Weight a Min section for support when losing weight.

I encourage you to stop by, join, and come chat with us. We are online in the chat room at the bottom from 8 to 9 Eastern Mon thru Friday. There is also someone online most of the time to message if you have any questions. Hope to see you there.