Kiwi was excited for Corn on the Cob!

So much so that she decided to use he piece of corn as a perch while I was trying to prepare dinner the other day.  She's never done this before but she was excited I guess since its been a long winter without corn on the cob.  I was surprised to say the least, I had to grab a picture!  Then she got off the corn cob and decided to jump in the garbage can full of corn husk and silks like it was the greatest thing ever.  Enrichment  straight from the farm...via the grocery store.  

Spaghetti Squash...Monday

So I'm really excited by the fact that I'm growing two kinds of spaghetti squash this year a container variety and a winter variety.  I've really enjoyed experimenting with sauces and toppings to eat with the squash or just salted and peppered.   I posted pictures before but this time I made sure to capture a step by step account.

One Spaghetti Squash Approximately 2lbs

Cut the ends off then, Cut the Squash in half

Then all the seeds and stringy guts have to be removed

Once its nice and clean, Oil and Salt and Pepper the inside of each squash

Place Flesh side down on baking sheet, 

Cook 45-60 minutes until inside is tender and shreds with a fork

Ready to Eat!

Baby Back Ribs...

So its finally warm which means out comes the charcoal grill....so I set out to make some baby back ribs last Saturday.  The whole process started in the slow cooker with ice.  My half rack was frozen so it was thawed overnight in the refrigerator.  

So first I lined the slow cooker with a slow cooker liner (these things are life savers in clean-up)

Then I added ice for a little steam action so the meat would melt of the bones!

Seasoning the ribs nice and well prior to their steam bath

Into the Rib Sauna

After 4.5 hours in the Rib Sauna they are basically steam cooked 

Finished Sauced Masterpiece

They ribs turned out well but I did not steam them as long as I normally do. 

I would of preferred to let them go at least 6 hours. Or just put them in frozen the night before since they could steam low and slow all night and be ready to just pop on the grill to get some nice grill flavor.

Guard Kitty....

Bailey keeping a watchful eye on the neighborhood from his cat tree.   Or at least he was until Kiwi and I came in to take his picture!  LOL

My partner in crime....

So Kiwi was supervising part of the time while I was planting my seedlings, she is about as fascinated with the organic seedling potting mix as Bailey is and decided to jump in the bag of dirt! Its coconut fiber based but its still dirt, crazy bird! Bailey just thinks its so light and fluffy and likes to dig in it.  He even figured out that I put a planter I had filled with seedling mixture and garden soil on my storage cabinet so he would not dig in it, and jumped up there!  Naughty little Fids!

My Seedling Garden...In Progress...

Well with the never ending winter that dumped 115.3 inches of snow(As of April 17th as measured on this site) on Kalamazoo my vegetable garden is basically some starter seedlings that are not yet sturdy enough to go outside since the temperatures at night are still quite low.  I have also started other batches of seedlings and replanted where they did not germinate.  Besides my blueberry plant I got which is able to handle the variance in temperature that is the lingering winter of 2013-2014.

Now if the weather will cooperate maybe I can actually purchase some other vegetables to supplement the seedlings that would be nice.  I'm looking forward to a long summer and warm fall since are winter has made crept all the way into the end of April practically.

Kiwi's Towel Acrobatics

First the shower mission, now towel acrobatics.  Kiwi has now decided that while I get ready for bed to go between the backs of the towels (because I think she's ready for bed), although I'm not sure why she wants to that when she has a warm bed to go to that she doesn't have to hang from.  Sometimes she's just a mystery.  Although she never fails to entertain and amaze me with her antics.  

Kiwi's Shower Mission

Kiwi likes to sit on the towel rack in my bathroom while I shower in the mornings.   Kiwi's newest interests is that she likes to wait till I'm out of the shower and she swings her way like Jane of the Jungle to get to my towel hanging over the shower rod, climbs up and then climbs around my over the shower organizer.  I'm always constantly amazed by the things that I think she'll be afraid of then she is not.

Like she also likes to have the blow-dryer dry dry her feathers or even if she's not wet she'll still try and get my attention while I'm drying my hair.

Crazy Kiwi

So I haven't been drinking coffee lately....for various reasons....so I cleaned my coffee pot out and figured it be clean until someone visited that would like some coffee.  Well I never would of thought Kiwi would find this an entertaining spot to play, LOL....needless to say the coffeepot will need to be cleaned again.  Although I can see anyone that's not an animal person just cringing in horror looking at these pictures like I would never drink coffee at her house.  Needless to say she didn't leave any presents in my coffeemaker so it was unharmed but now she thinks its her coffeemaker!  Spoiled Fids.

Spaghetti Squash...

If anyone is looking for a no carb pasta or just avoiding gluten and want to get their servings of vegetables I recommend Spaghetti Squash.  Granted I was not sure I would quite like it but I was pleasantly surprised.  It does not taste like pasta...so don't expect it to be noodle like.  It ends up shredded almost like noodles or cheese shreds with a crunchy texture.  I made my own  homemade spaghetti sauce and melted mozzarella on top and it was perfect.  

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2.  To prepare the Spaghetti squash cut off the ends

3.  Cut Squash in half

3.  Clean out seeds and slimey material

4.  Season inside of the squash with salt and pepper liberally and spray or drizzle with olive oil or similar oil ( I used Grapeseed Oil)

5. Place Squash face down and cook 1 hour or until the inside of the squash shreds easily with a fork. (It just depends on how big the squash is)  Mine was just around 2lbs so it took maybe 45 minutes at most but it just depends on the size of the squash and your oven.  

Now I'm not sure how many people I will convert to try spaghetti squash, but of course Kiwi was not very impressed with but she loves pasta and this was not pasta.  LOL Can't fool that bird.