Fun on the Farm!

Well, we arrived safely yesterday. Last night we "helped" (more like getting in the way!) the milking. My newlywed cousins have 7 adult and 2 new-born Jersey's. I bottle fed the week old baby!!!

Today we drove to Columbus to German Village. We went through a craft shop that sells items made by senior citizens. Then we went to an amazing book store (http://www.bookloft.com/) and ate lunch at a German restaurant. On the way back to the farm we ate stopped at Costco and pigged out on the samples.

Last night we did some beading and tonight we made crinkle cards. Lots of laughter and conversation with family - what a blessing!

Off to the Farm!

Little Man's grandmother (aka Mom) and I are off to visit some family this weekend in Ohio. If you stuck your finger dead-center in the middle of a map of Ohio, that's where it is. A young cousin and his new wife are living there now, and starting a herd of dairy cattle. His parents, sister, and nephew (in the picture with the calf) are visiting from California. We are picking up another cousin on the way, so it will be a wonderful time of reunion, with lots of laughter and playing Canasta.

Cammie wants equal time!

Here she is - Cammie - sweet with more than a little sass.

The Baby - sadly missed

Here are some pictures of The Baby - one of the sweetest cats I've ever known. He had extra toes on his front feet which looked like baseball mitts at the end of his long thin legs. Cammie and Little Man both loved him. He was often held down and licked - apparently his grooming wasn't up to their standards! The older he got the cuddlier he got. We all still miss him.

Who is Little Man?

This is Little Man, now in his senior years, but still King of all he surveys.

Sometimes I even amaze myself!

Tonight was the final class of Wilton Course 2, and here is a picture of the result. I'm thrilled with it! Featured are royal icing flowers, basket weave pattern on the side, rope boarder on the top and bottom edge, and buttercream leaves to accent. I have to give credit to my Wilton teacher and to the Wilton method, which can make even this novice look good.

Happy Easter!!!!!

Hallelujah - Jesus Lives! Today is a day to celebrate and praise God!

Soup!!!

We were supposed to have our monthly fellowship dinner at church last week, but ended up not going because of the weather. It was going to be soup and salad, so I did make a batch of soup Saturday, which has since been eaten, frozen, and shared. The original recipe appeared in "Cooking with Paula Deen" magazine, the January/February 2008 edition, on page 54.

Jane's Potato Soup (6-8 servings)

30 oz bag of frozen hash brown potatoes
3 each 42 oz cans of chicken broth
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
8 oz package of cream cheese
garnish: minced green onion

In a 6 qt. slow cooker, combine potatoes, broth, soup, onions, and pepper. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours. Stir in cream cheese: cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until combined. Garnish with green onions if desired.

Mom cooked the above version and it was very good.

My "souped up" version: (using ingredients I had on hand)

bag (28 oz?) frozen Ore-Ida potatoes O'Brien (already has chopped onions & peppers)
42 oz boiling water with a tbsp or so of chicken soup base
1 can cream of celery soup
chopped cooked turkey (2-4 handfuls)
1 bag frozen soup vegetables
cream cheese

Same cooking method as above.

This version was pronounced delicious by Little Man's Father and his aunt & uncle.

My lower carb version: (made last night to use up the rest of the turkey)

Cauli-rice*
42 oz boiling water with a tbsp or so of chicken soup base
chopped cooked turkey
1 bag frozen soup vegetables
cream cheese

Same slow cooker cooking method.

*I had a 1 qt container of uncooked cauli-rice in my freezer. You make cauli-rice by putting fresh, raw cauliflower through the grating blade of a food processor. It's great to do when your kitchen needs cleaning because it shoots cauliflower everywhere, and by the time you've cleaned up the mess, your kitchen has been totally wiped down! If I'm going to bother making it, I do a whole head and freeze some of the results for future use.

I looked around for a low carb, gluten free substitute for canned cream soup, but they all looked way too labor intensive, so I just left it out. The end result was still creamy and tasty. The frozen vegetables included corn and carrots, so for an even lower carb version, I think I'll try broccoli or green beans next time. When the soup is cooking you can smell the cauliflower, but you really can't taste it in the end result. It just adds body to the soup.

Spooky by name, spooky by nature

Lest we be accused of favoritism, here are some pictures of Spooky the barn cat. She arrived about 4 years ago in a blizzard. It took about 2 years before she would let me touch her, and she's still very skittish. As Little Man's father says, "a barn cat can't be too careful". However, now she'll allow a little ear scratching before she tucks in. She's a "talker", and sometimes in mid-winter, I'll hear her before I see her. Right now she's a glossy black against the white snow. In the summer the sun turns her fur to a deep reddish brown color.

Gotta Start Somewhere

I suppose we could call these "Early" efforts in my cake decorating career. The good news is that they tasted better than they looked. I made the chocolate cake last weekend so I could practice the various techniques learned in Course I. The cake with orange roses was decorated on the final night of Course I and featured shell borders, sweet peas (orange around bottom edge), dots, leaves, ribbons, writing (stems) and of course, roses. The reason the orange roses look like a bouquet and the chocolate roses look like they'd been plunked is because I learned at the last class to make a frosting mound to park the roses on to give them dimension. Who knew? Anyhow, on to Course II, which started Tuesday night. We are learning how to make flowers out of royal icing. (aka edible concrete!) Our first one was a yellow mum. Mine looked vaguely like a dandelion that didn't get out of the mower's way. We'll see if some practice tomorrow improve things.