White Blanket

When we went to bed last night it was snowing. When we woke up this morning we were greeted with a small layer of snow on the ground. It's just enough snow to make things messy while driving, delay school, make snowballs for the dog to chase, and build a few snowmen. Its pretty much the best way to start the morning. 

Today Jason took the day off to process the broilers and the layers. The broilers have reached their full size and so today he will process all twenty-two of them. It has been a short nine weeks with these chickens. At times it's been a little rough raising them in the cold of the fall. A few times when we've gone down to tend them they've been a little chilly and we've needed to add more warming lights for them. 

We are culling over half our laying flock today too. They aren't keeping up their end of the bargain, by laying enough eggs to pay for their grain. We will keep the seven hens we bought this year in addition to Charcoal the Rooster, and Twig the Broody Hen. In the spring we will purchase more laying hens. 

We are keeping Twig in hopes that she will raise the new chicks for us. We have a neighbor who let their hen sit on a bunch of eggs for the appropriate amount of weeks, and then slipped day old chicks under her. She then raised the chicks herself. If that works than we can do the same thing with her and broilers too and raise meat birds any time of the year.

The ducks don't mind the snow. This is their second year with snow. They waddle around the barnyard looking for scraps and morsels. There isn't much for them to eat under the snow, but they persist. It's quite entertaining to watch them dig in the snow with their bills.

In addition to all the chicken processing Jason's Dad hit a small deer with his truck on Friday. The deer is hanging in our garage waiting to be made into ground venison. Looks like the freezer is going to be full this winter. God certainly provides!

What Happened on Saturday

I have been in eleven weddings and been everything from flower girl to bride, but never have I almost cried.

Until Saturday.

My little brother got married!

He married the most wonderful woman and he is so happy. Just one look at his face while he stood there saying his vows was proof of that. But that was not what made me cry.

Do you remember when I introduced you to my niece Elle? Elle is not my brothers blood related daughter, though he loves her as if she was, and during the wedding ceremony he and his bride honored her will a small token.

Her Mom, while putting a heart shaped pendant around her neck said (something along the lines of): "This necklace is our promise to you, to be your family. We love you." My little brother worked the clasp and all three of them were crying!

It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen in a wedding. It was a great ceremony and a great day.

We are so happy to officially welcome Rachelle and Elle into our family, although they've been there in our hearts for a long time!

P.S.

Little Sister and her favorite cousin made the cake, isn't it amazing! Little Sister also took all the photos!

Camp Pancakes

When I planned the meals for our camping trip I took into account that the grill had a cook-top burner. One single cook-top burner. I know that I am capable of cooking with one burner, it's not easy, but camping isn't about ease it's about doing with out and being together.

I planned on having pancakes for breakfast. I filled a gallon sized bag with enough Krusteaz mix to feed us (too much as it turned out). We like Krusteaz because it has the right balance of fluffiness and sturdiness. We never measure the water, just add enough water to make it look like thin yogurt. Plus, since all you have to do is add water, Jason can make perfect tasting pancakes while I sleep in.

The first morning when Jason went to cook eggs he looked at me and said: "How were you planning on cooking these?"

"In a fry pan on the burner."

"The burner is broken."

"Oh."

Undaunted he fired up the grill and put the cast iron pan directly on the grill and cooked the eggs. Pancakes though take a little more finesse.

When it was my turn to cook breakfast I pondered how to get the pan to the right temp with out burning the pancakes or leaving them raw. It didn't take long for me to figure out a few tricks and I was able to produce fluffly pancakes just the way we like them.

Pancakes Without a Burner
Ingredients:

• Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix
• Water
• Cast Iron Pan
• Butter
• Maple Syrup (we of course like to use our own)
• 1/4 Cup measuring cup to scoop out batter, or ice cream scoop
• Grill with three or more elements/burners

1. Turn all burns on your grill on to high, place cast iron pan in the middle, and close lid.
2. Mix pancake batter according to directions. We like ours a little on the runny side. You can always add mix or water if your pancakes are too thin or thick.
3. Put a tablespoon (or so) of butter in the cast iron pan and coat pan.
4. Pour about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Adjust heat by turning third burner up, down, or off. Keep the two burners on the right (or left) on high. Straddle pan between two burners You want the grill to be about medium heat (my grill's gauge has three options low, medium, and hot yours may have actual temps. Somewhere in the middle should be about right). Close the lid while the pancakes are cooking (I peeked at mine every minute or so to see how they were cooking).
5. When the pancake has "holes" in most of it (if the middle doesn't have any don't fret) and the edges are becoming firm, flip them over. The second side only takes a few moments.
6. Put pancake on plate and close grill lid. Repeat step 1, 4-6, and stop 3 as needed (if the pancakes start to stick) until everyone is full!

Grilled Romaine

Mom has been trying to eat better and loose weight. I have been trying to support her by making healthier meals and incorporating more vegetables and salads into our diet.

The down side? Salad can get boring. 

Mom has a subscription to Better Homes and Gardens and I found a recipie for Grilled Romaine Salad with Tomato and Corn Tumble. Odd? Yes. Good? Yes.

We didn't have any corn on the cob, fresh garlic and/or garlic chive so I used cooked frozen corn, garlic powder, and dill weed. Everyone loved it (the adults anyway) and we will be making it all summer long.

You can find the recipe at Better Homes and Gardens.

The moral of the story .. try something new it may surprise you!

Rainbow Surprise :: Twilight Sparkle

Have I introduced you to my niece, Lilac Lynn? She is my brother's, finace's daughter. She is such a sweetie! We are smitten with her! Recently she turned seven. As Little Sister and I are the cake makers in the family it was put to us to make the cake. Since Little Sister is off visiting the Cousins the task fell on to my shoulders. I asked Lilac Lynn what she wanted for her cake and she said: Twilight Sparkle. (Don't you just love the gap in her smile .. she lost her front teeth!)

I don't have a daughter. Any chance I get to purchase, make, knit, or cook something for a girl I go a little crazy. All right, a lot crazy. It's a good thing that we've added a little girl to the family or I might go even crazier every time I get to do something girly.

I went to pintrest, my source of inspiration, and I found this cake, it was a gender reveal cake. Then I researched Twilight Sparkle and My Little Pony Cakes. In my researching I noticed a theme with My Little Pony; rainbows.

Hmm, rainbows. Rainbows are fun and the cake needed to be deep to hide Twilight Sparkle in it. Couldn't I? .. Oh yes I could!

This is what I made ..

To make your own Rainbow Cake you will need ::

• Three (3) boxes of classic white cake mix :: made with egg whites to keep the color of the cake white.
• Gel food coloring (because the color is more vibrant) in the six colors of the rainbow (in case you didn't know the rainbow order is this: red-orange-yellow-green-blue-purple :: I didn't know the order until I started a daycare and a kid informed me). You could mix the colors yourself with food coloring. The purple I mixed myself, it's not bright enough for my liking.
• Big bag of M&M's and a smaller one of Skittles
• A bit of crazy. I pulled all the brown M&M's out of the bag and added in purple skittles so that it was a true rainbow that poured out of the cake.
• Evil Cake Frosting (You can find the recipe here) it uses crisco so it is not the most healthiest .. but it's a kids birthday, they are supposed to be crazy with sugar!! I make mine with either milk or almond milk and it's a big hit! I tinted some green for the edges of the cake.
• Bamboo Dowels At my WalMart there is a whole Wilton baking section and that is where we found our dowels. Previously we found them in the workshop. I probably could have gotten away with out using them but I traveled with my cake to a park and I was nervous it would fall apart. 
• Surprise Toy and Other Decorating Bits At WalMart (and I'm sure it's true in other places) you can purchase the cake toppers. We bought two of the ponies and the barn background at WalMart. We also purchased one pony in the toy aisle.

TO MAKE::

• Cut circles out of the middles of four cakes: I cut out of blue, green, yellow, and orange. To make my circle I traced around a small cereal bowl. The size doesn't matter, just make sure that you leave an inch or two around the edges. Set cut out circles aside then frost and layer your cakes, all but the top.
• Hide your Surprise this cake would work for any gender, so whatever the small coveted toy is, put it inside.
• Stuff the Hole this is a very important part that my SIL pointed out to me. You must fill the cavity. If you do not, it will fall in. I filled mine with my rainbow candies (M&M's and Skittles) but you could pack other candies inside, as long as it is packed in firmly.
• Cover the Hole place your final layer of cake on the top. Push dowels slowly through all layers of the cake.
• Frost and Decorate 

If I've left something out let me know! 

Want to see some more cakes?

Diaper Cake --non edible

Barbie

Chocolate Cherry Cake

Boat and Fish Themed Cake(s)

Not What We Were Expecting

ex·pect  (k-spkt)

    v. ex·pect·ed, ex·pect·ing, ex·pects

1.

a. To look forward to the probable occurrence or appearance of: expecting a telephone call; expects rain on Sunday.

b. To consider likely or certain: expect to see them soon

 

We are firm believers that God will supply all our needs. This winter we realized that the family on a whole needed a break from daycare. We all needed a chance  to recharge and reconnect with each other. Financially it seemed impossible. Taking six weeks off from daycare meant six weeks of no income from that source. Dad and Jason would work their jobs, of course, but the income from the daycare pays for a lot of necessities.

On faith Mom agreed to shut the daycare down for the summer. We know that God supplies our needs, but still it is hard to trust.

We are a family if six carnivores. Granted we eat other things, but we love our meat. When I plan the weeks menu I first think about the meat and then what to eat with it. In case you haven't notice from your most recent trip to the grocery store, meat is expensive, especially the red kind. We buy all our ground beef from BJ's Food Club, we know it's not the best meat, but for the money it keeps us well fed. I figure that we eat about twenty pounds of ground beef every three weeks. Some of the meat is eaten by daycare kiddos, but most is by us.

Our big meat expenditure is one of the reasons that we are growing our own food; including our meat. Our broilers will be ready soon for eating, but that doesn't cover the burger we eat. Trusting God is hard, but we trusted that He knows we love burgers on the grill, meatloaf, and tacos so he would provide.

Do you remember the deer? The day after we processed the deer (Wednesday) Jason called the dispatch center for the sheriff department and told them he'd like to be on the roadkill list. The next day he got a call. "Hey Jason, do you want a moose?"

Yes! A moose! A seven hundred pound cow had been hit and her spine broken. Jason and a buddy went to the scene and collected the moose.

The freezer is full! Not only with ground moose, but steaks too. God has fully supplied our red meat for the next six months! We are so grateful for God's provision. We've been passing out moose meat like candy at a parade, and still our freezer overflows!

I saw recently on either facebook or pinterest a little saying: "God promised to supply all our needs, but it may not look like we were expecting."

Thank you God for being greater than my expectations!

Deer Meat

Ten years ago I was a nanny in Boston trying to become more "civilized". My boss, a "civilized" person liked to eat "strange meats" like organic ostrich and buffalo burger that she bought at Trader Joe's. Not to be outdone by a "flat lander" I would regale her with tales of eating moose, bear, and deer that friends and family had shot. What could get more organic than wild life I thought. I told her about the year my Dad had hit a deer with his car one year. That fall we ate like kings. The freezer was full even if the car was smashed. 

We were watching North Woods Law awhile ago and someone from Massachusetts had hit a deer. The warden comes up the car and says: "If we find it do you want the deer?" the lady laughed it off like it was a joke. To clarify he added, "I have to ask, because most locals would take it." She chuckled and I'm sure she was thinking that us "Mainers" are crazy to eat road kill.

Well, if it destroys your car, its fair payback to eat it.

Jason happened to be in the right place at the right time and was able to get a deer that had been hit by a car. Both legs had been broken and it was really young, but free meat is tasty meat. He brought it home and we processed it. A very small portion we cut into small steaks, but the rest we ran through our grinder. Of course Stomper felt he needed to help. We are looking forward to the day when he really can take a turn at the crank.

Now the freezer is full, we are going to eat like kings.

Lemon Poppy Muffins

When I have a craving for a particular food my go-to for searching is always pinterest. Last week I had a deep need for Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins.

One morning, with the help of the daycare kiddos and Stomper we made a dozen of these delightful muffins. They came out a little dense, I am blaming that on the fact I didn't closely monitor the measuring of the flour. The muffins were lightly lemony, not too tart, and the poppy seeds (or rocks as Stomper called them) didn't over power. I didn't make the glaze as called for in the recipe, the muffins were sweet enough with out it. 

You can find the recipe HERE, or on my pinterest board.

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

I hate baking. I have for a long time. However, I enjoy eating baked goods and not paying store prices. So, I bake.

My Chocolate Chip Cookies never come out great. They are edible and yummy, but not perfect. They are either too crunchy or out right hard.

That is until The Girls Guide to Guns and Butter, a friend, and pinterest saved my cookies.

The Girls Guide to Guns and Butter told me to not pack my brown sugar. I gave it a try and the cookies were better, but something more needed to be done. I knew, from a friend, that crisco makes the best shaped cookies, but not everyone likes the taste. Then while strolling through pinterest I found this: The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie.

I used the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip package but, I didn't pack the brown sugar and I used 1/2 cup Crisco and 1/2 cup butter, then baked them to perfection!

Of course, the best way to make cookies is with help.

For lumpy cookie spoon on to the cookie sheet.

 

For perfectly round cookies roll into a ball.

How about you? Do you have any cookie tricks?

Chocolate and Cherry Cake

My soon to be sister-in-law had a birthday recently and Little Sister was commissioned to make the cake. She has made a lot of cakes. Some have not looked so pretty. There was one cake that had to have a spatula shoved under one side to keep it from falling apart and just this November the one she made for me looked a little oozy. This time she got smart, she used dowels to keep it together. It is the best looking cake she has ever made (and it tasted great too).

How She Made It:

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 batch of your favorite chocolate frosting
1 can of cherry pie filling
2 dowels
1 Pampered Chef Food Chopper
Maraschino Cherries

Make cake and frosting according to instructions  Cut 2 dowels to fit inside cake (to help hold it together). Take half of the pie filling and chop fine with food chopper. Set remaining cherry filling to one side.

Frost top of bottom layer spread chopped up cherries on top. Frost bottom of top layer and place on top of cherries. Shove dowels down through both layers to keep it from sliding off. Frost the cake. Spread remaining cherry filling on top. Edge with Maraschino Cherries, keep in place with dollops of frosting.