Noodles, birds and pizza…

According to the calendar, summer officially still has over six weeks until the first day of fall. However, in some areas, school, at least for teachers will begin this coming Thursday. Gone are the days when school officially started the day after Labor Day. The weather has been slightly different this summer; we’re having many days of temperatures in the high 80s and 90s rather than the usual (for July) 100s and higher. We’ve been having rain off and on since last Wednesday, including Sunday morning, when I managed to get drenched yet again. It seems that my umbrella is in the car and I’m in a building trying to get to the car.
Our church picnic is the 4th of August this year, and each year we make noodles, it’s a day of lots of work and visiting as we work. Saturday, a group of us met at the church hall and had a busy day. The lady that was usually in charge passed recently and a different person was in charge. She did a great job. We began working at 7:30 a.m. and when we finished it was after 2:00 p.m.! The dough is flattened with machines, placed on sheet covered tables and allowed to dry to the correct consistency and then they are run through the machines that cut them into noodles, which again are allowed to dry. (We had about eight sets of four tables each). These are a great seller and we probably made around 100 pounds. On Monday morning, a group of us will assemble to place them in plastic bags weighing a pound and they will be ready to sell at the “country store” portion of the picnic. 


Our land here in Yoakum is leased out for cattle and hay, and several weeks ago, the young man who leases it mowed the hay. The next morning as I looked out my kitchen window, there was several crows and several caracaras.
Years ago, the first time I noticed a caracara, it was alongside the road with some buzzards and Sam told me it was a Mexican Eagle. Years down the line, my son told me that the actual name was caracara bird.
In going on-line and looking information up about this strange looking bird, I found that they are a member of the falcon family and other interesting little things, such as that in Arizona they build their nests in Saguaro cactus and actually prefer it to be one standing alone rather than in a place where there is a multitude of the cacti. They are also a protected species of bird.
The common name “cara cara” is what South Americans called the bird and most probably imitates the sound the bird makes. It has also been called: Mexican Eagle, Caracara Eagle, King Buzzard, Audubon’s Caracara and Mexican Buzzard.
The original scientific name for this bird comes from poly, the Greek word for many or varied; boros, meaning gluttonous and remarks on the birds’ voracious appetite, and from the Latin word plances, which is a word Aristotle used for an eagle.
The Crested cara cara has a body length of 19 to 23 inched and a wingspan of about four feet. They weigh about one and three-fourths to three and one-half pounds.
The preferred habitat of the Crested Caracara is open lowland countryside, such as pastures, savannas, river edges and the desert. They reside in the southwestern United States and Florida as well as Central and South America.
You frequently see them feeding on carrion alone or in company of buzzards along the sides of roads. I have seen them between Devine and Hondo as well as between Devine and Jourdanton and various places between Devine and Yoakum. They will, however, take advantage of any food opportunity, by eating such things as small mammals, reptiles, turtles, fish, crab, eggs, insects, worms and nesting birds. They hunt for food themselves or take food from other birds. They also spend a great deal of time on the ground.
Crested caracaras build a massive nest from small sticks. The nest is built in a palm tree, cactus, in a tree or on the ground. There are usually two or three eggs laid, that incubate for about a month. The fledglings can take as long as three months before they fly as independent birds.
Now, the next time you see that strange looking bird with the black and off-white plumage eating alongside the road, you will know what it is!
Enough about wild scavengers, let’s turn our attention to some of the human variety. Just exactly how much can a horde of hungry children eat during the day during summer vacation? A lot from what I have noticed.  
All kids seem to love pizza, and you can make it as healthy as you like by using various ingredients. A pizza can be topped with vegetables as well as, or instead of, lean ground meat, sausage or Canadian bacon or ham, along with low-fat cheese. The following recipe is from my daughter; she tried various recipes and finally came up with this one to make in the bread machine. Mushrooms, either fresh or canned are great as are onions, peppers or anything you think you can get the family to eat as a topping. Do you still have and use your bread making machine? This pizza crust uses one, or you can go to the store and just buy the ready-to-use pizza crusts and add your toppings!
Pizza Dough
(Makes 2 large pizzas)
1 1/3 cups warm water
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1½ cups whole wheat flour
2 to 3 cups white flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 package dry yeast
(OPTIONAL)
2 teaspoons oregano or mixed Italian seasoning
¼ cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon garlic powder
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon red pepper
TOPPINGS
4 to 6 oz spaghetti sauce or more if you like (roasted garlic) (or top it with pesto instead of a tomato based topping)
½ lb. sausage or hamburger, cooked and well drained
Cheese – 8 to 12 oz, shredded mozzarella, shredded mixed 4 cheese for pizza, grated or shredded parmesan or mixture to your desire
8-oz can of mushrooms, well drained
4-oz can black sliced olives
Put dough ingredients and optional ingredients you choose into bread maker and set bread maker to dough cycle. After machine has been blending dough for several minutes, add additional flour as needed until dough forms a smooth ball and moves around freely within the container. (If you are unfamiliar with the dough cycle on your bread maker, it is best to add only two tablespoons of flour at a time and let it blend in well before adding more – some machines take longer to mix the dough.) When the dough cycle is complete, usually 1½ to 1¾ hours, divide dough between two 12-inch to 15-inch pizza pans which you have sprayed with cooking spray. Spray your hands with cooking spray before you begin pressing dough onto pans to within ½-inch of pan edges. Let dough rise 30 to 40 minutes or until doubled in bulk (about 1½-inches thick). Preheat oven to 375ºF and cook pizza dough until very lightly browned (7 to 12 minutes). This prevents the pizza from being “doughy” in the middle. Top with your favorite pizza sauce, cheese and toppings, and cook an additional 10 minutes at 400ºF. (You may wish to put pizza under broiler during the last few minutes of cooking to melt the cheese more completely.) My daughter topped this pizza with sausage, black olives and mushrooms. You could use anything you wanted for topping including cheese only or sautéed onions and bell peppers.
The sausage or hamburger meat needs to be thoroughly cooked and well drained before putting on the pizza. Also, she used turkey sausage, but bulk pork sausage is fine also. This is one of those times you get to use your imagination!