New breakfast....photo to arrive later?

Healthy eating recipe #1:

Two poached sous vide eggs
handful spinach leaves
1/4 cup sauteed mushrooms
2 slices thick baguette, toasted to crunchiness

Since I meal prep ahead of time, the eggs were cold. Warm them with the spinach and mushrooms in a 375F oven or toaster oven for about 10-12 minutes. To my surprise, the baguette also toasted nicely in that time. Add some sea salt and mix with a fork and knife, then spread on bread. LUSCIOUS!

Berry bushes

After last summer's heat wave + drought, I was worried my new berry bushes didn't get enough manual watering. But last week I found new growth on the blueberry bush and yesterday, a little tendril peeking out from the old canes on one of the raspberrys! Yay!

Wet

A drizzly, joyous day last week! We have been having drought for months...so finally, this rain is a serious blessing, especially for the wildfires raging out of control in the region. Also, most of Gatlinburg burnt to the ground (except for the main street, which is ironic because that was the ugliest part). A sad night for thousands.

People may have been happy about the rain, but the donkeys weren't:

They do have a barn to go in, and in fact today (more rain) I fed them the ration balancer left over from Angel's stint with her poor baby before she died and then I tossed a bale of hay down into the stall where they can freely come and go. They munched for a while and enjoyed dry hay, as opposed to the now wet round hay bale in the field. I guess I need to build something to keep the round bales out of the elements in the future. Right now they are just covered with a tarp, to the left on this picture: 

So glad to see everything drinking up the water. I hope we don't lose the berry bushes, strawberry plants, garlic, rubarb, and any trees....I'm pretty sure the Jerusalem Artichokes didn't make it, but I'm leaving the tubers (whatever might be left) in the ground, hoping they will grow next year. Same with the berry bushes. You never know!

Egg hunt

Finally! A huge pile of eggs from under the kiddie swimming pool propped up against the wall of the barn....

With daily checking, the piles are much smaller. And more edible. 

Some are even being deposited IN the coop:  

No, not the top left...that's a fake egg. You mean you can't see the ones I talking about? let's get closer, then: 

Still don't see them? Let me lie down on the straw and streeeeeeetch: 

Sometimes there are 3 or 4 in this hard to reach nest! Stinkers! ;)

Cool lentil salad

Lentils are cheap and healthy, but I don't always want to eat them. Then after I found a recipe for toasted lentils, I threw this together in the kitchen. YUM!

Cook 1 cup of lentils with 3 cups of water (about 10-20 minutes, depending on the type and your preference for firmness). Let the cooked lentils sit in the fridge overnight if they are too mushy even after draining out any remaining liquid. The fridge will help dry them out a little bit so that this process works better. Or you can used canned, drained lentils. Which I didn't because I'm not sure I've ever even SEEN plain canned lentils in the store, But apparently somebody sells them, because the toasted lentil recipe used that!

Once you have somewhat dry, cooked lentils, put some olive oil in a pan (I used a nonstick pan for this, although I don't for much else other than scrambled eggs) on medium to medium to low heat, and add a small portion of the lentils. 

Let them toast slowly, breaking up the clumps until you have somewhat dry, toasted, small clumps of lentils. I am wondering if making a large, thin patty and frying that up would be easier or more effective? I might try that next time....

Don't forget to add a little seasoning! I put salt, garlic powder, and white pepper into mine ;)

Once parts of the lentils have browned, put them in a bowl. Add diced cucumber, halved cherry tomatoes (although mine are more pea-sized since the cherry tomato plant in the front yard is on its last legs), chopped rocket, and feta cheese. 

I also added a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and then a couple turns of the salt grinder with sea salt in it. I love it! *But (required disclaimer) for someone unaccustomed to more healthful eating, it might be a drastic taste difference from burgers and potato salad!