Chessy Broccoli Chicken Bread Bowls

Ingredients:

*2 Two or 3 Large Tuscan Boule Bread

(or) 5 Smaller Roles (harder roles work best)

* 2 Cans of Cheesy Broccoli Condensed Soup (any brand)

* 1/2 Bag of Frozen Broccoli 

* 1 and 1/2 Cups of Precooked Chicken (shredded works best)

* 1/4 cup Sharp Cheddar  Cheese 

* 1/4 cup Mozzarella Cheese

* 2 Cans Full of Milk

Optional:

*Extra Herbs to Season to Taste (use your family's favorite)

Tools:

* Large Cookie Sheet

* Parchment Paper

* Knife (To Cut Lid off Bread Bowl)
* 2 Pots

* Spoon to Stir/Dish Soup

* Measuring Cup

Cut parchment paper to fit cookie sheet. Pre-heat Oven to 350 F.  Cut lid off bowls and scrape out inside leaving enough to toast in oven.  Place on cookie sheet.  Place in oven for 8 to 10 minutes or till golden brown and toasty.

While bowls are cooking, steam 1/2 a package of broccoli in 1 pot to package instructions.
In second pot, combine 2 cans of Cheesy Broccoli Soup, Milk, Precooked Chicken, Cheddar Cheese, Mozzarella Cheese, and, if wish, the optional herbs.  Cook until well blended, then add Broccoli to Soup.  Turn down to simmer to keep warm.

When Bowls get out oven, dish soup into bowls.   Eat and Enjoy!

Serves 3-5 (typically with some leftover soup, for another time). 

~ Morria

March Homesteading Skills to Learn:

Instead of some long to do list, I am starting to make smaller lists each month, so new skills get learned and goals are attained, and retained!

1: Making Bread Bowls and Broccoli Stew - DONE!

2: Learn to Make Oven Jerky - instructions found, now to gather supplies -

3: Plant Herbs on Balcony Walk Way - DONE! (but want to see about getting a few more!)

4: Learn a New Crochet Knot -

5: Begin re-learning Guitar -

As I finish each, I will mark Done, and if it is food will write a recipe out and post it... ^_^   If it doesn't get done, it will be added to the next month's list.  Hope this encourages all urban, apartment, and beginner homesteaders to join me in taking those first baby steps!

~ Morria

February - Making Plans and Simplifying!

After alot of years traveling, thinking, planning, I have ended up with alot of junk... some of it important, the rest of it just stuff that weighs down the journey.  Yet for the life of me, I cant seem to unload it... so it sits in unused piles, waiting for me to go through, hidden in boxes and behind closed doors.  This is not how I want life to be...
Yet, as the days go by, I am learning ways to curb the clutter. Simple tricks, easy decoration changes , and printing art from the internet. Simple changes that can change the feeling of a place in just a moment...

All the while I keep thinking... What is it going to take to get us apartment homesteading better?  I just saw that herbs are coming in at our stores, and I need to be thinking about getting them planted.  Fresh herbs, yummy! I know I can get rid of the lilies that died, and replace them with herbs on the balcony/walkway. What else clutter wise can I cut, and free up space to apartment homestead better?  I am not sure, but it is work looking into...

~ Morria

My Homesteading Goals for 2015!

Here are my Homesteading Goals for 2015:

1. Learn to Crochet Better (currently know 1 stitch)

2. Learn New Food Recipes.

3. Learn Ways to Preserve Food

4. Re-learn to Play Guitar (took classes over 10 years ago)

5. Begin Primitive Jewelry Making

6. Plant and Mantine Balcony/Walkway Herb Garden

7. Get A Sewing Machine and Learn to Sew on it! (know how to on a Treadle, but horrid with electric)

Here are Rob's Homesteading Goals for 2015:

1. Finnish Chef's Training

2. Begin Learning Mountain Man Skills

3. Get in Shape.

~ Morria

Late December in Phoenix Valley...

Ok, so maybe I have gotten too use to Phoenix Valley warmth, but blast it all it has gotten cold down here!  Besides that it is rainy not letting us warm up with the sun!  They say it wont get out of the 40s today... and I believe it.  I am glad spring is not long away and we bought the little electric fireplace heater not sure being sure if we would need it or not...sure enough, it has already paid for its self!  It's a poor substitute to our wood burner we had in Thoreau, NM, but sure better than the nothing we had before....

Note to self: Cinder block walls once they get cold stay cold for a LONG time!!!

~ Morria

Thanksgiving and New Job

Things have been on hold a bit here at the Nightstar Apartment Harvest, or more like they have been totally swamped.  My husband started college at Le Cordon Blue, two months earlier than originally planned, I got a new job working overnights (love the shift!), and we had Thanksgiving to get through.  Now that things have leveled out, and with first payday just around the corner, I shall be getting back to normal blogging.

I did get a good book which I have started reading, that I highly recommend to all my fellow apartment homesteaders: Apartment Gardening by Amy Pennington.  Haven't read it all the way through yet, but well worth getting!

~ Morria

Greenhouse

It came today! All 5 foot 3 inches, by 2 ft, by 1 ft of growing wonder!  My very own apartment sized greenhouse, which I bought for all of  $31.48  from Amazon.Com.  It paired with my sunny picture window and a plant light, and we should be growing food in no time.  Now I must be about gathering pots, seeds, and get to planning on what we will be growing.

The first greenhouses built in Roman times, were very similar to cold frames today.  It was simply a frame covered with the oiled cloth known as specularia or sheets of selenite. Cucumbers, the main food grown this way, were wheeled into the sun by day, and under the covers by night.  Technology continued to change and grow until the 1500's when a Dutchman invented the first practical greenhouse, which continues to advance change to this day!  Who knows what will come next?

Greenhouses are such a blessing, especially being an apartment dweller.  And believe it or not, greenhouses, or "conservatories" have long been apart of homesteading.  Remember Morticia Addams beautiful conservatory with all her meat eating and deadly plants?   In house greenhouses are not a new thing (especially in Victorian Gothic homes in the 1800s), I just have to get creative to make this work in an apartment!  ^_^

~ Morria