April 29, 2009

Pink Cloud Salad

1 pkg. strawberry Jell-O mix
1 c. boiling water
1 c. cold Coca-Cola
1 c. crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 c. miniature marshmallows
1/4 c. chopped pecans

Dissolve Jell-O mix in boiling water. Stir in cold Coke. Chill until slightly thickened. Beat mixture over bowl of ice water until gelatin is light and foamy. Fold in crushed pineapple, marshmallows and pecans. Pour into 8-inch square dish. Chill until firm. Cut gelatin in squares and serve on lettuce leaf.

April 28, 2009

Gardening Update

I haven't updated the gardening section lately but I have been gardening! I have also added a few plants to the back deck and hanging pots for the front porch.

Things Planted

Vegetable Garden:
  • Row of zinnias and wildflowers
  • Potatoes
  • Onions
  • Cabbage
  • Radishes
  • Bell Peppers
Potted plants on back deck and front porch:
  • Petunias
  • Rose Moss
  • Asparagus Fern
  • Elephant Ears
  • Lilies
  • Grape Hyacinths
  • Ferns
Need to plant:
  • Tomatoes
  • Morning Glories
  • Beans
  • Squash
  • Zucchini
  • Cucumbers
  • Jalapeno Peppers
  • Cayenne Peppers
Always a work in progress! I need to get landscape timbers, soil, fertilizer, and more plants! I also need to decide where I want to put a pond!

April 27, 2009

Butterfinger Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
1 can Eagle Brand milk
1 jar butterscotch ice cream topping
1 lg. tub Cool Whip
3-4 Butterfinger candy bars, crushed

Bake cake as directed on the box. While cake is hot, punch holes in top. In a small bowl, mix Eagle Brand milk and butterscotch topping. Pour over cake. Let cool. Top with Cool Whip and sprinkle with crushed Butterfinger bars.

Meet Bootsie and Stud



Bootsie and Stud are a pair of small Cochin chickens. They are a cute little couple who live in a large cage because the other larger chickens try to kill them when they are out. Bootsie went broody on me a few days ago so I set her on 8 guinea eggs. She's so little that she can only sit on 4 regular hen eggs or 8 small eggs like the ones she lays or guinea eggs. She's the red colored one. She got her name from her fuzzy legs and feet. She looks like she's wearing little boots.

A little history on Bootsie. I got her from a cousin and she was an instant pet. She loves to follow me around the yard like a little dog and if the boys scare her she will run to my feet and jump up and down wanting me to pick her up. She was the surrogate mother for my 6 baby guineas last year. She had raised 2 regular chicks who were larger than her at 2 months so I moved them to another area and gave her the new babies. She looked each baby over and then tucked them under her wings and took care of all of them until they were also bigger than she was.

And now Stud......hmmm, how do I describe Stud?......He thinks he's a stud! He struts around everywhere and before I got my bigger rooster, he "took care of" all the regular hens (or at least tried too - he was a lot smaller than the ladies).

I wanted you to meet Bootsie and Stud so we can wait on their babies together (shhhhhh, she does not care that they are guinea eggs, just as long as they are eggs, they are in her nest, and you don't bother them!)

Since we're talking critters, poor Dirt Cat came home hurt this afternoon. Something is wrong with his back leg (or legs). He tried to bite me when I touched his back half and that's not like him at all. We have a vet appointment at 8:00 in the morning. He's not happy about being caged up tonight but I'm afraid he'll bite or scratch the boys if they try to pick him up or that something outside will get to him while he's hurt.

April 26, 2009

Spicy Cheese Dip

1 large box Velveeta Cheese
1 can RO*TEL Tomatoes and Green Chilies
1 lb. roll sausage

Brown and drain sausage. Chop Velveeta into 1 inch cubes. Mix Rotel, cheese and 1 can of Rotel in microwave safe bowl. Microwave (stirring occasionally) until cheese is bubbly and completely melted. Serve with tortilla chips.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Lazy Blogger

I've been a lazy blogger the last couple of days. I've been getting the new babies situated in their brooder, planting garden, mowing the yard and enjoying this beautiful weather we are having. I have also been working on making printable links for all the recipes here. Those links will be showing up on my recipe/what's cooking posts as I get them added.

I start work tomorrow! I have my new employee orientation. Then, I will have 8 hours of training both Thursday and Friday. What will I do with my first paycheck in over 3 years?? Hmmm, I'm sure I can think of something.

I'll get a recipe posted later today. I need to get everyone's clothes ready for morning. It's been a long time since everyone in the house has had to get ready and be out the door by 8:00!

Oh, and after my first experience of incubating eggs and getting 7 healthy babies, I decided I learned enough to try for a better hatching. I sat 16 guinea eggs yesterday and also put 8 guinea eggs under my little Cochin hen who decided to go broody on Thursday. I'll be adding some more hen eggs to the incubator on day 7 so they will hatch at the same time. Guineas take a week longer to hatch than hen eggs.

April 25, 2009

Chess Pie

3 eggs
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter or margarine
1 T. vinegar
1 T. vanilla
1 T. flour
1 unbaked pie crust

Cream butter and sugar together, add flour, vinegar and vanilla. Blend well. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix well. Pour into unbaked pie crust. Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes or until mixture comes clean with a knife blade.

April 24, 2009

Here A Chick, There a Chick....

Everywhere a chick, chick.....

Here's the 3 new babies. We're still waiting on some more trying to break their way out of the shell. I would break out just to enjoy this 83 degree weather we're having today!

The one in the middle hatched out at 1:44 this morning. I heard a very loud cheeping and hurried upstairs to check, and there he/she was, flopping all over the place, letting the world know of his/her arrival. I just took these 3 from the incubator so they could start drying.

Aren't they cute??
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Then they did this and I almost had a heart attack before I remembered that babies need their sleep!!!
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Then they were back up doing this again and the oldest one has started pecking at the food. I'm such a proud Momma and I love them already! Now if the rest of them would just hurry up!!
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They are in my kitchen. Why you ask are they not in their big fancy brooder outside?? Because they are babies, and I just can't bear to stick them out there yet, at least not until all their siblings are here to join them. Plus, the boys get to see them while they are inside. They both got to peek in the incubator before they left for preschool this morning.

Onion Casserole

3 lg. Vidalia onions
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 c. grated cheddar cheese
1 bag regular potato chips
Pepper to taste

Peel onions, cut in half and then slice. Mix with soup and cheddar cheese. Crush potato chips and mix them in. Add pepper to taste. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees, stir 2 or 3 times then cover and bake an additional 15 minutes.

April 23, 2009

I have a pip!!! I have a pip!!!

I made a trip upstairs to check my hen eggs again. A trip I have made so many times over the last 3 days. In despair, I peeked in the little glass window to see if anything was different. As I leaned forward, I heard a tiny cheeping sound. I checked to make sure it wasn't the Styrofoam on the incubator squeaking....and then I saw it....one tiny little whole in an egg!!!! I am so excited! I'm going to make myself go outside and plant a row of beans, a few hills of squash, a row of zinnias and finish unloading the mulch out of the truck so I won't be tempted to walk up the steps every 5 secs to see if I have a baby out of the shell yet. Will post an update and pics later!

Thank you Glendee and Mom for giving me hope in my dark hour of chickenlessness!!! I love you both!

Cheese Biscuits

2 c. self-rising flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. shortening
3/4 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 c. buttermilk
1/2 stick butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, sugar and salt together using a fork; cut in shortening until it resembles cornmeal. Add cheese. Stir in buttermilk all at one time just until blended. Do not over stir. Drop by tablespoonfuls, or use an ice cream scoop, onto a well-greased baking sheet. Brush dough with melted butter. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

April 22, 2009

Honey Mustard Sauce

While we're waiting for baby chicks to hatch, I'll post another recipe. This is for my SIL's honey mustard sauce and it is so good! My boys love it with chicken nuggets (the theme seems to be chicken today!) This makes a big batch of mustard!

HONEY MUSTARD SAUCE
1 qt. mayonnaise
1/4 c. spicy mustard
1/4 c. mustard
1/2 c. honey
1 T. vinegar
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. cayenne pepper

Mix all ingredients together. Adjust the cayenne to your liking.

New Hope!

I came home from my son's dentist appointment, rushed to the incubator in hopes of hearing little cheeps, but still nothing. I watched the eggs, and I know I'm not imagining that they are rocking from side to side a bit. I called my mom. and she said, "Leave them alone for a couple more days. Maybe "the wind" was wrong when you set them." She says never to set eggs when the wind is blowing out of the North. Apparently this makes it harder for the chicks to pip the shells. My mother is a big Ramon's Brownie Calender follower. All her planting, fishing, egg setting, etc. are based on this calendar. I now have one hanging on my wall.

Then to increase my hope even more, I checked my email and got this from my friend Glendee.

"Just read your blog.
If your power was off and on - and on the off chance your thermometer was a tiny bit low give them a couple more days than today. Make sure the humidity is up too. If that is low they might have been fully developed (which is why you would have seen the eggs moving ) and will have a hard time pipping. Of course, after spending all of 24 hours in Kentucky I can't imagine how humidity would be a problem... lol ! Of course, that was summer so I'm thinkin' it CAN'T be that sticky all year round... hehehe. Humidity becomes an issue in the dry north.
Back when I used the hovabators I once had eggs hatch on day 24.
Love ya bunches
XOXO"

So, I now have the opinion of what I believe to be the 2 greatest "chicken women" in the world. I will wait! Come on baby chickies! Come on baby chickies!

Disappointment

I am horribly disappointed that I still do not have any baby chicks. During the course of the last 21 days I had 2 small mishaps that I failed to mention because I was trying to pretend they didn't happen. No. 1- the automatic egg turner stopped working, I replaced it with a new one as soon as I realized it had stopped (I had an extra one just in case). No. 2 - We came home from church one night and the electricity had been off. We we're gone for 2 hours and I don't know how long it was off during that time. I decided not to discard the eggs and take a chance on them after both of these incidents. Looks like I might not have any survivors. I did see a couple of eggs rocking a tiny bit yesterday (or was it wishful thinking?) I am going to give them one more day (that will be a total of 23) and then start a new batch. I've been saving guinea fowl eggs to use in the next hatching. I am also going to look into buying a battery backup in case of power outages. Surely they make those?!

Sorry for a disappointing morning to everyone waiting for the chicks. I'm still hoping to hear tiny peeps and see little cracks in the eggs but my hope is quickly dwindling.

April 21, 2009

Taco Soup

It's cold and windy here again today. I don't think Spring will ever officially get here!! I thought this taco soup recipe sounded good for a chilly Spring evening.

TACO SOUP
1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 pkg. ranch dressing mix
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
1 c. water
2/3 can Rotel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies
2 (15 oz.) cans pinto beans
1 (15-oz.) can black beans
1 (15-oz.) can cream-style corn
Sour cream
Shredded cheese
Frito's chips

Brown beef with onions in medium-sized soup pot. Drain excess grease. Add dressing mix, water, taco seasoning, Rotel, beans and corn. Simmer 1 hour before serving with sour cream, cheese and Frito's.

April 20, 2009

A Pic of Me

Hi Carmen, this is for you!

One of my online friends from The Mommy Playbook put in a complaint about there being no pics of me so I thought I would post one!
This was taken at my mom and dad's on Christmas Day.
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So there you go! That's me and my little family!

Gooey Butter Cake

This is a Paula Deen recipe that my cousin always makes for family get-togethers. It is so good and so bad for you, but everyone needs to try Gooey Butter Cake at least once in their lifetime!
GOOEY BUTTER CAKE
Cake
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 T. butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the cake mix, egg and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Prepare filling.

Filling
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
8 T. butter, melted
1 (16 oz.) box powdered sugar

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla and butter and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar and mix well. Spread over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.

April 19, 2009

Sunday Evening Farm Update

This afternoon has been busy trying to get the brooder all ready for the new arrivals on Tuesday. That's the day the chicks are due to hatch. The brooder is like the nursery. A nice warm, dry, cozy place to spend your first few weeks as little chicks. It's the closest thing to momma hens warm, feathered underbelly/breast as I can get. Here's a pic of the brooder all set up and waiting for the new babies.

There's a little glass window to look through. Inside there are small heaters across the top and a 100 watt light bulb. There is a thermometer to help keep it at just the right temperature for the little guys. I have their water and feed containers ready. I'll take some pics when they get here.

Billy went back home yesterday. He did his job while he was here, so we should have baby goats around the second week of August. Hopefully, it will be during the time that a group of my closest friend are supposed to be here for a 4 day visit.

It rained all night and most of the morning. Then the sun came out, and it turned into a beautiful day with big white fluffy clouds.


That means we all went outside and....

Rain = mud puddles. Mud puddles = messy little boys!

Roasted Red Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese

1/2 c. Ranch dressing
1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 c. real bacon bits
2 lbs. small red potatoes, quartered
1 T. parsley

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dressing, cheese and bacon bits in large bowl. Add potatoes, toss lightly. Spoon into lightly greased 13 x 9-inch baking dish, cover with foil. Bake 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake and additional 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Sprinkle with parsley.


April 18, 2009

Rose's Coconut Cake

This recipe came from a friend of mine's mom. I always made a stop at her house on Thanksgiving and Christmas just to steal a piece of this cake. She passed away from cancer several years ago, but she gave me this recipe before she died. She jokingly told me that she knew I could live without her but not without her coconut cake. Of course, I cried like crazy when she told me that because we knew she didn't have long to live. She knew I would think of her each time I baked this cake.

ROSE'S COCONUT CAKE
1 box of yellow or white cake mix
1 1/2 tsp. coconut flavoring
1 box Cool Whip
8 oz. sour cream
1 c. sugar
1 bag coconut, divided

Follow directions on the box for two 9-inch round cake pans, adding 1 1\2 tsp. of coconut flavoring to the cake mix before baking. Mix Cool Whip, sour cream, sugar and 1/2 bag of coconut together. Spread between the 2 layers and on the cake. Sprinkle with remaining coconut. Cover and freeze. Better if frozen for at least 48 hours. Sit out of freezer with time to thaw on the day that it is being served.

April 17, 2009

Bleeding Heart

Spring is my favorite time of year and I anxiously await each bloom so I can start snapping photos. Today, in the corner of my flower bed in front of the house, I found this little beauty.

I have been playing with my ISO settings trying to reduce the amount of noise in my photos. I knew that if there was sufficient light, I could set my ISO as low as possible and get much better shots. I did a tiny bit of editing in Photoshop and came away with the end product. I want to capture each and every bloom around our farm as they open and eventually make a photo book of them. The dogwoods have really opened up today and I will try to get some shots of them this weekend.

I also took this while playing with my settings. The low ISO seemed to also give me much better bokeh. I love photos with this blurriness in the background and this leaf just happened to be calling for me to take its picture


Hope you enjoy my little bit of color and Spring. It was absolutely gorgeous here today. Of course, we only get one day of it. We are supposed to get rain and thunderstorms for the next week!

Old-Fashioned Fudge

OLD-FASHIONED FUDGE

2 c. sugar
1 T. flour
4 T. cocoa
1 T. corn syrup
1 c. milk
1 T. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. chopped nuts

Cook sugar, flour, cocoa, syrup and milk over low heat until soft ball forms in cold water. Beat by hand, adding butter and vanilla. Add nuts, beat until it loses its gloss. Immediately pour into buttered 8 x 8-inch dish, cut into squares.

April 16, 2009

Tucker

Tucker is big. Tucker weighs 90 pounds. Tucker is one of my babies. Tucker will be 2 next month. Tucker is black. Tucker is a Lab. Tucker is a sweetheart. Tucker has ADHD in a really bad way and I love him. Meet my "Tucker-pie" (my version of sweetie pie for Tucker.)

I finally talked him into sitting still for one second while I snapped this pic. The other 45 were either blurred, half of his head, his entire body flinging into the air as he jumped for joy or his big wet tongue trying to lick the lens.

Corn Pudding

CORN PUDDING
1 stick butter
1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
1 c. sour cream
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 can cream-style corn

Soften butter. Mix butter, cornbread mix, sour cream, and corn together. Pour into baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

This is so good! Just ask my friend Mazda! :)

Firefox Bookmarks Disappearing

Since I installed the last Firefox update back in January, my bookmarks have been playing hide and seek with me. I put them where I want them, close my browser, and when I come back they are gone! I have to go find each and every one that I added and arranged on my tool bar and do it all over again. I got tired of doing it all over again, so I thought I would search for a solution. Apparently, there is a corrupt file (or 2 or 3). No one seems to know. I found these files list on a couple of sites and deleted them, replaced them, and so on and nothing worked. I decided to fix the issue myself, and I'm going to share it with you just in case you're out there searching!

  1. Open Firefox.
  2. Bookmark everything you want to and arrange your toolbar the way you want it. (You may also want to take a screen shot of your toolbars so you can make sure you put it back like it was before.)
  3. Click on Bookmarks/Organize Bookmarks/Import and Backup (at the top)/Backup
  4. Save the file (mine defaulted to the Desktop, just remember where it is).
  5. Close Firefox completely.
  6. Click Start/Run/copy and paste this in the run box "firefox.exe -ProfileManager" without the quotes and click Run. This will open your profile manager.
  7. Follow the steps to create a new Profile. I left mine as Default User.
  8. When finished go back and open Firefox.
  9. Everything is wiped clean. It looks like it did when you first downloaded and opened the Firefox browser.
  10. Now go to Bookmarks/Organize Bookmarks/Restore/Find your bookmark backup file that you saved earlier and import it. Make sure everything is arrange the way you want it, close Firefox and open again. Your bookmarks should all be there. The problem should be fixed. You should be a happy person! I hope so!

Let me know if this worked for you. It might help others to fix this annoying problem.

April 15, 2009

Banana Bread

BANANA BREAD
2 c. sugar
2 1/2 c. cake flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. butter, softened
6 ripe bananas, mashed
4 eggs, beaten
1 c. chopped walnuts
1 c. chocolate chips

Mix sugar, flour, soda. Set aside. Cream butter and salt until light and fluffy. Add bananas and eggs. Mix well. Stir in flour mixture until just moistened. Add nuts and chocolate chips. Spoon into 2 greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes or until loaf tests done.

April 14, 2009

Grungy Blossom

Leaving you with a couple of photos tonight.

Another apple blossom using one of Joy St. Clare's free textures. It has that grungy feel yet I think it turned out pretty.


and J wanted his picture taken. J always wants his picture taken!

Broccoli Casserole

BROCCOLI CASSEROLE
2 pkg. frozen broccoli, prepared
1 sm. jar Cheez-Whiz
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 c. Minute Rice
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 stick margarine

Cook broccoli and drain. Add remaining ingredients while broccoli is still hot and mix well. Pour in a 9 x 13-inch dish and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Do not add salt. Cheez Whiz is already salty.

April 13, 2009

Playing With Textures

I posted a tutorial a couple of weeks ago on using textures in Photoshop CS2. After downloading and using other peoples textures I decided to make a few of my own. I've been playing with them today and wanted to share an example and some "how I did it's".

Here is a link to the original tutorial.

Here is the link to my textures. I have added a few more since the tutorial. They are free for you to download, but please, do not claim them as your own or add them to any other groups of textures for download.

Here is the original.


After following the tutorial above, these are three of the finished products.

This is using the Sandstone texture/overlay blending mode/adding a little Gaussian blur to sandstone layer/flatten image.


This one is Weathered Wood/Overlay blend mode/adjust opacity/flatten image.



and this one is one of my favorites. I love the look of shadows it gives to the apple blossom.

On this one I used the Sage Grass texture/soft light blending mode/a little Gaussian blur/reduced the opacity just a tiny bit/flattened image.


And here they are for a comparison.


Hope you enjoy these. Please post comments and questions if you have them. Thanks!

Crockpot Potatoes

CROCKPOT POTATOES
5 lbs. potatoes
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 c. chopped green onions and chives
16 oz. Velveeta cheese, melted
1 (16 oz.) ctn. sour cream
3 cans cream of mushroom soup

Peel and cube potatoes. Boil until slightly softened, drain. Melt butter and mix with potatoes. Layer potatoes, green onion/chives and cheese in crock pot. Cook until thoroughly heated.

April 12, 2009

Apple Blossom


Thought I would share a tiny bit of Spring with you as Easter closes. I snapped this shot this evening on my way to the chicken coop to shut the chickens up for the night. It's a blossom on our apple tree. As you can tell from the background, it is on the verge of bursting with these beautiful blooms. Hope you enjoy my tiny bit of Spring.

Deviled Eggs

1 doz. eggs
1/2 c. Miracle Whip salad dressing
2 T. mustard
Dill pickle juice
Paprika

Boil and peel eggs. Cut in half, remove yolks and set whites aside. Combine yolks, Miracle Whip and mustard. Mash with a fork until pieces are small. Pour a small amount of dill pickle juice into mixture and blend on low speed. Continue adding pickle juice a little at a time while blending until desired consistency is reached. Fill egg white halves with mixture and sprinkle with paprika.

April 11, 2009

Breaded Tomatoes

BREADED TOMATOES
1 lg. can tomatoes
1 stick margarine
1/2 c. sugar
Salt
Pepper
8 slices bread
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Toast slices of bread, tear into pieces and put in baking dish. In a saucepan, heat tomatoes, margarine, sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Add cheese and stir. Pour over bread pieces and bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

A Sunny Saturday

The sun is shining, and I want to be outside so bad, but my boys are sick. They both have this nasty Spring cold that everyone has had, has, or is getting. It comes along with a nasty cough, runny nose, high fever and sinus pressure.

This week was supposed to be full of Easter egg hunts and birthday parties, but all we did was stay at home. L's birthday party had to be postponed until next week, but he still got his birthday presents yesterday. No complaints from him. He's a happy, tough little guy who just goes along with the flow. I took a little extra time to cuddle and love on him yesterday. Three years ago he was born and rushed away to a hospital 2 and a half hours away, and the most I got to do was touch his tiny hand and kiss his little toes through the ports on his incubator. I say tiny, he wasn't tiny...he was a whopping 10 pounds 1 ounce, almost as big as my first son at 10 pounds 6 ounces. He had a lot of fluid in his lungs, and the more he fought to breathe the weaker he became. He was taken to another hospital with a level 3 NICU where he was put on a ventilator, feeding tube, PICC line, and all kinds of other lines, tubes and wires coming from his little body. My husband was with him, I was laid up in the hospital close to home with a C-section (until Wednesday morning when wild horses couldn't have kept me away) and my 2 year-old was with friends. All I could think of was that my baby had to be okay, and I had to get my little family back home, together, where we belonged. Eight days later, that finally happened when I brought my big, healthy, baby home. He's 3 now and he's still a big guy, almost as big as my 5 year old.

I love you "little bug" and I am so glad you are in my life.

April 10, 2009

Recipes and How To's

This list contains links to all my recipe posts on my blog. Each post will contain a link to a printable version. These are recipes that I have gathered from lots of places (family, friends, church members, the internet, etc.) I do not claim them as my own, only wish to share the many delicious recipes I have collected over the years. I hope you enjoy them!

Recipes: Appetizers/Sandwiches/Beverages


Recipes: Breads and Rolls


Recipes: Soups and Salads


Recipes: Main Dishes


Recipes: Side Dishes


Recipes: Desserts


Recipes: This and That

Canning and Freezing:

Other How To's:

Body Essentials:

Fruit Dip

FRUIT DIP
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. powdered sugar
2/3 c. marshmallow cream
3 drops red food coloring

Mix cream cheese, sour cream, powdered sugar and marshmallow cream. Blend until smooth. I like to mix in food coloring to prevent people from getting it mixed up with the veggie dip plus it looks pretty! Serve with fruit.

April 9, 2009

PhotoShop Tip of the Day

When resizing a photo down...change the Resample Image box to: Bicubic Sharper.
This keeps the sharpness of your image instead of giving it that slight blurry look.

French Coconut Pie

FRENCH COCONUT PIE
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 T. flour
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 stick butter
2 eggs
1 c. coconut
1 pie shell

Mix sugar and flour. Add melted margarine. Add vanilla, eggs, milk and coconut. Mix all ingredients and pour into unbaked pie shell (can use deep dish - makes a little more than regular can hold). Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 40 minutes.

My Moon In My Sky

I went to the barn at dusk last night to check on the goats and close the chicken coop door. On my way back, I looked up and saw the moon, the big beautiful moon! I ran to the house as fast as I could, through the door, into the den, both boys and DH said,"What's wrong?" I said, "Nothing, moon, camera!" They said, "Oh." and went back to what they were doing.

I ran past the barn and into the back pasture where I took lots and lots of pics because the moon is a tricky thing. Hard to get that perfect clear focus plus I was using my teleconverter lens and no tripod.

I downloaded them this morning and picked out this one as one of my favorites.

As I walked back to the house, I saw this view, but quickly realized that with my teleconverter lens in place, the lens housing was going to show, but I decided to shoot anyway, and I got this. This is the SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera Shot) and I love it. I love the darkness around the edges making my home, with my family inside, below my moon, in my sky, seem so cozy and inviting.

April 8, 2009

A Trip the Amish Community



I have been going to Yoder's Feed Mill for the past 2 years since we moved here and started our farm. The man who owns the mill is frequently described as "a pretty good ole boy" by my Dad. In this part of the country, and from my Dad, that is high praise.

As we made our trip there today, I was a bit saddened by the fact that the equipment and contents of the feed mill are listed for auction in the local newspaper this week. I have talked to this man, Ray, on a monthly basis for 2 years. Listened to him talk about his wife, her pregnancy and their new baby girl, as well as, their 3 other children. We have discussed caring for goats, guineas, chickens, dogs and rabbits over the course of my visits. The first thing I asked him today was if he was really selling out. It is true. He and his family are moving to Illinois, about 150 miles away. Ray Yoder and his wife, Kathryn, are Amish, a society with a different background and what some consider strange beliefs and customs, but they are people whom I consider friends. They will be missed. The feed mill will remain open under new ownership, and I will continue to call out, "Two hundred pounds of layer chicken feed, please!" as I step through the loading dock door, but it won't be the same as before without Ray and his border collie, Sissy, there to greet me and the boys.

We took a little ride through some of the back roads and I snapped a few photos today.

This guy was grazing until we disturbed him.


(Used my burlapped action on this one.)

He decided he didn't want his picture taken anymore so he strolled off to go make these. Hi Baby!


Then there was this guy. He was just too pretty to pass up.


Mexican Spaghetti

MEXICAN SPAGHETTI

3 c. cooked, chopped chicken
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 lb. Velveeta cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 sm. onion, finely chopped
1 (4 oz.) package spaghetti

Cook spaghetti. Add to other ingredients. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

April 7, 2009

Sweet Tart Candy Balls

L, who will be 3 on Friday, was sitting on the couch watching TV, picking his nose.

I said, "Honey, do you need a Kleenex?"

He never takes his eyes from the TV and says, "No, I just put this wittle ball in my nose."

I came to the realization that I have finally reached that place in motherhood where I do not panic when my child sticks something up his nose which I may, or may not, be able to get out on my own.

I walked to the couch, tilted his head back, and there it was...a green sweet tart candy ball way up in his left nostril. I continued to not panic. My other son would have blown it out as soon as it went in because he can not tolerate anything in his nose, but not this child. This is the child who will not blow his nose when he has a cold no matter how much I beg and plead. After several times of asking him to please blow and only getting a big smile, I said, "I want you to blow that ball out of there just like Grave Digger does!" We went to see the monster trucks over the summer, and believe me, this child has no problem imitating Grave Digger. So he takes a huge breath, I hold the right nostril, and he blows like crazy! It moved to the bottom of the nostril!, I then hooked a fingernail around it, pressed on the side of his nose and popped it out like birthing a baby!

He looked at me and said, "Can I eat it now?" Ewwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!

I said, "No!"

Our "ball up the nose" dilemma was over, until next time!

Now, for some history....When I was 3, I pulled a bead off my grandmother's decorative match box and stuck it up my nose....WAY up my nose. The problem with bead vs. candy is that beads do not eventually melt like the yellow M&M that my brother stuck up his nose when he was little. My mom was called home from work, and I was taken to the ER where I refused to let the doctor touch my nose. My mom said if I would behave and let the doctor take the bead out, I could have the monkey I had been wanting in the Western Auto window in town. I got my monkey! :)

Potato Salad

POTATO SALAD
10 to 12 potatoes
3 hard-boiled eggs
1 lg. jar diced pimentos
2 to 3 T. sweet pickle relish
1 lg. onion, chopped
1 lg. green pepper, chopped
Salt
Miracle Whip

Peel and cube potatoes. Put potatoes in a large pot with a little salt and boil until slightly tender when pierced with a fork. Do not overcook. Drain and let cool. While cooling, boil 3 eggs, peel and chop eggs. When potatoes are completely cool, add eggs, pimentos, sweet pickle relish, onion and green pepper. Mix just enough to blend ingredients. Add several large spoons of Miracle Whip salad dressing and mix. Continue adding Miracle Whip until ingredients are well-coated. Salt to taste. Refrigerate.

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All images and graphics on this page were made by me with the exception of that little rooster! He came from Beth Logan's Checkered Chickens at pccrafter.com. Photos were taken by me and graphics were created using Photoshop CS2.
If you see something you like please ask for permission before using it!
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