December 23, 2012

had a wonderful morning at church.....take a listen

to pastor Bob's message... www.h-hcc.org

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stopped by after church to see our sons new house in town,

needs a bunch of work, but he is the right man for the job.

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took some friends out for Birthday Dinner....had

a wonderful time.... lots of laughter and great conversation!!!

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Ross has been wanting to make this sweet potato recipe for quite

awhile....very simple to make...

Maple/Pecan Sweet Potato dish :

8 cups of peeled diced sweet potatoes

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp lemon juice

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice)

mix everything together in a bowl and spread into a cookie sheet...cook at 350 degrees for approx 45 minutes....turning every 15 minutes to recoat the chunks in the juice....chunks will be soft when done.

we didn't have any marshmellows... but we will sprinkle some of

those on top next time.....YUMMY!!!

Christmas present from my brother Tim.....very cool!!!!

2 more sleeps until Christmas!!!

Pleasant Dreams!!!

December 22, 2012

a beautiful SUNNY day today....high only in the 30's...everything

seems to be better when the sun is shining though....got a bunch accomplished

around the farm.....feels like we haven't been home on a

Saturday for a long time.

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found a jar of Mincemeat in the cupboard.....I bought it for Ross

earlier this year and never made the pie....on the wrapper it had a recipe

for Mincemeat Bars....decided to make those instead...

Mincemeat Bars :

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

mix these items together....then add in....

1/2 cup veggie oil

1/4 cup milk

mix these together...should end up with a crumbly type dough....

take a cup of dough out and set aside......pour the rest into an ungreased 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish....press firmly to make the bottom of the bars....pour 1 jar of None Such Mincemeat on top and

spread evenly....

take the 1 cup of dough crumbles and sprinkle them evenly over the top....and 1 cup of your choice of nuts....we used walnuts....heat oven to 400 degrees and bake for 30 minutes....

they tasted GREAT!!!!

Lions are playing on Saturday Night....so we had Football food

for dinner.....gotta love it!!!

Pleasant Dreams!!!

December 21, 2012

today is the first day of Winter...and the shortest day of the year...

found this really cool chart of hours of daylight in major cities

around the globe....

had our first snow .....not much accumulation....

made everything look pretty though....

Ross and I did ALL of our Christmas shopping tonight....finally!!!

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wanted to make some Spritz cookies tonight.....here is my

moms recipe....hope your open house went great tonight MOM!!!

SPRITZ Cookies : family recipe

1 1/2 cups softened butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

3 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

mix the butter and sugar together....add egg , milk, vanilla and extract.....mix well.....in another bowl....mix the flour and baking powder together.....gradually add the flour mixture into the wet and mix well.

my Mom makes Spritz cookies every year for her Christmas Open House...

so I have either been a part of making them or seen them made every year....

a few years ago....I bought a cookie press with the expectation that I would be able

to duplicate the cookies that I have had all of my life.....well...as you can see from the

top tray...I started with Christmas trees....they did not come out well at all...so as I

am yelling for Ross to come into the kitchen, he reminds me that I tried this

a couple years ago and it didn't work then either.....needless to say...I wasn't going

to waste the dough so I just rolled them into balls and pressed a fork into them (like a

peanut butter cookie) sprinkled the goodies on top and put them in the oven....

now...if any of you have ever had Spritz cookies before, you know that they are

dry to begin with and not much sugar is added....so they are not really sweet...so

I have several dozen heavy, not sweet cookies....I would mark this cookie night

as not a huge success, but Ross loves this kind of cookie...so all is well I guess!!!



while the cookies were baking...I went in search of a Vintage Cookie Press,

found one on Amazon and promptly ordered it.....now this is the one I am

used to using......not the plastic piece of junk I have.

I will try again once it arrives......

Pleasant Dreams!!!

December 20, 2012

the last day of fall....the temperature was in the upper 40's

and raining all day.....while a good portion of the USA mid section is

getting hammered with snow, we are not forcasted for much tomorrow...

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Our Son-In-Law Nick celebrated his birthday today,

hope it was wonderful!!!

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Ross and i both had a busy day at work,

I took an hour off this afternoon to make pretzel rolls...

we have not had any bread in the house for a couple of weeks,

so i made Ross' favorite.....recipe on April 28th...

here there are after being cut into pieces....

then you roll them into balls and let them rise for 30 minutes...

then 2 at a time into the boiling water, drain and cut the slits in top

and sprinkle with salt....

finished product....

off to choir practice and prayer meeting...Love coming

home to a warm fire and the smell of fresh bread in the house.

Pleasant Dreams!!!



December 19, 2012

haven't been in the office for an 8 hour day in a week....

got a bunch accomplished today!!!!

still no crazy cold weather or snow for being the middle

of December in Michigan...hoping for a white Christmas!!

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Ross made a great dinner this evening.... a family recipe

 for Broccoli-Potato Cheese Soup...very easy to make....

and he used the potatoes from our garden this year.

Broccoli-Potato Cheese Soup :

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup diced carrots

1/3 cup chopped celery

2 1/2 cups chopped broccoli

Steam these items for a few minutes....

4 cups peeled diced potatoes

Steam these items for a few minutes, as well....set these both aside...

in a stock pot add....

1/4 cup flour

3 cups chicken broth (we used the water from the steamed veggies and mixed a 1 Tbsp of chicken base paste into it) 

2 cups milk

1/4 tsp pepper

bring this to a simmer....add in...

4 oz cream cheese

2 diced cloves of garlic

and the steamed potatoes

continue to simmer.....add in...

2 1/2 cups cheddar cheese

1/4 cup fresh bacon bits

and the steamed veggies

stir together...once cheese is melted, it is ready to serve.....this made 6 nice size bowls of soup.

Pleasant Dreams!!!

December 18, 2012

Ross and I worked in Detroit all day today, Love it

when we have a super productive day together!!!

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As we come to the end of 2012 and finish my

Living off the Land blog, I will be doing some yearly

totals and recaps......tonight it is the.....

Garden

the seeds were planted in the greenhouse on April 6th

the plants were placed in the garden on May 26th...the garden is

50 feet long and 25 feet wide....with a fence running through the

middle for the beans to grow up on.

we planted.....canteloupe, watermelon, honeydew, cucumbers,

tomatoes (4 types), bell peppers (2 types), hot peppers (5 types),

onions (3 types), potatoes (3 types), lettuce (4 types) and cabbage.

the garden produced 1,400 lbs of food...AMAZING!!!

we ate a bunch, canned a bunch and gave a bunch away.....

this year the weather was very hot and dry...so we watered just about

everyday...this total does not include any fruit from the trees, as the crazy

temperatures in the spring killed off ALL the fruit.

the best part of it.....we are still eating the lettuce and potatoes!!!

we ate the last of the tomatoes last night!!!

Pleasant Dreams!!!



December 17, 2012

had a wonderful visit with my family in Missouri....

family picture after dinner Saturday night....

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back to the farm ...safe and sound Monday afternoon....

walking the chickens that escaped back to the coop,

with help from 2 of the dogs of course....

dinner tonight was salads.....I used a head of lettuce that i am

growing in the greenhouse and the last tomatoes from the

garden this summer....

I picked the first tomato out of the garden on August 16, 2012

and today December 17, 2012, 4 months later....

 I ate the last one....Gotta Love it!!!!

Pleasant Dreams!!!