Caring for God's Tiniest Creatures

Hummingbirds are some of God's smallest creatures.

I'm absolutely fascinated by these little guys. As a little girl, I remember my grandmother having a hummingbird feeder outside her front window, and every once in a while we'd see a bird or two stop to get a drink.

Fast forward a few decades. When we were living in the city, we tried to come to ranch as often as we could. And three-day-weekends were always a given. Including Labor Day. I'll never forget the first time I walked into my mother-in-law's kitchen one early September day and saw dozens of hummingbirds flocking around her feeders just outside the door. I'd never seen anything like it. 

Well, now we live in that house. And once again, as the great hummingbird migration hits its stride, we are inundated with these tiny birds.

Feeding these little guys is so simple. All you need is a hummingbird feeder, sugar and water. You can find hummingbird feeders at Walmart, hardware stores... And they're pretty inexpensive. 

Then, to make their nectar, mix 4 parts water to 1 part sugar. That would be 1 cup of sugar mixed with 4 cups of water. I've had to double my batches lately and am usually making them twice a day as I try to keep three feeders going. 

Simply put the mixture in a pot on the stove over medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool before pouring into feeder.

I promise, they will love it.

In case you haven't realized it yet, today is September 11th. A day that lives vividly in minds of many Americans. Like Pearl Harbor, we were sucker-punched. Almost 3,000 people lost theirs lives and countless others were impacted. Yet out of tragedy, Americans united. Churches were filled as people looked for answers. And as we look back on that fateful day, may we never forget. 

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Three-time Carol Award finalist, Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com 

September Smoothies

While the rest of the world has gone MAD over pumpkin spice EVERYTHING, I'm sitting in my little corner of the city feasting on smoothies that include kale, blueberries and beets. It was 95+ here today and nothing about a hot latte appeals to me, but these drinks? Oh they are good!

When I mentioned these last week, some people were interested (although I'm sure a lot of you were not!) so I thought I'd share.

There's really not much to it - but I do have three variations:

The first was the very basic -
coconut water
kale (blanched and frozen)
frozen blueberries
a beet (that had been pre-roasted and chilled)

I put them all in my Vitamix and pushed it up to high. The result was a sweet, super healthy, refreshing drink.

I really thought I took photos of the process, but I couldn't find them. This is the final product.

2nd variation was all of the above with a good-sized handful of lightly salted almonds tossed in.
3rd variation had a scoop of hemp seeds instead of the almonds.


On Monday, when the temps were soaring, I tried a different one -
coconut water
salted almonds
an orange
kale

I was reusing a cup from my iced cappucino.

That was really good too!

I have to admit, this ice cream loving gal is totally hooked on these instead.

So confess - which appeals to you more - a September smoothie or a pumpkin spice latte (or anything else pumpkin spice - which appears to be limitless at the moment.)?

September's Here and Bacon Makes It Better

Oh, September how I love thee!  I ignore the fact that it is up in the 90s, even though last week we had a taste of cooler weather.  It's after Labor Day therefore it is FALL, AUTUMN, whatever you want to call it. I ignore the whole equinox thing and go by what the calendar says, September!

I have my September rituals, you see.

I get a new haircut:

I buy sunflowers, the last peaches and, shock, first pie pumpkin:

I look for the surprise morning glory, hiding at the end of the driveway in a day lily patch. It only blooms at the end of summer. Stubborn thing. Have you ever noticed the heart shape of a morning glory leaf?

 


And I start using my oven more.

I may have talked about easy ways to do bacon in the microwave, which is great for summer but not so great for saving the drippings. And you have to have drippings to make my spinach salad with hot bacon dressing.

Oven bacon: Into the oven, my bacon goes at 425.  Over a rack in a foil lined pan.

In 20-25 minutes, the bacon looks like this:

 


After draining it on paper towels, it is perfect for crumbling up into homemade bacon bits. That's because it doesn't sit in it's own fat while it's cooking. Store your crumbles in the fridge until ready to use.

Don't forget to drain the bacon grease out of the pan for the dressing and store in a small jar for later use!

Now in order to get this:

You need to make the following:

Hot Bacon Dressing: In a small sauce pan, combine 3 tablespoons bacon grease, 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, 1 heaping teaspoon sugar, and one teaspoon Dijon mustard. Cook on low and whisk until sugar is dissolved, mixture is combined and dressing starts to thicken. Set aside.  Increase ingredients proportionally for a larger crowd or if you like to drown your salad. This amount of ingredients makes enough for two servings. Note: I always make it fresh.

Julie's Rift on Spinach Salad:

Baby Spinach leaves to use as your salad bed
One hard boiled egg per person, sliced
One half small Yukon gold potato per person, microwaved until tender (served hot or cold)
Bacon crumbles
Optional: sliced onions, Gruyere cheese

Put together your salad and drizzle warm dressing over top. Serve immediately.   


So, how do you transition from late summer to early fall? Is there a place you always go? A crop you always look forward to? Are you sad summer is waning or ecstatic September is here?