A week of doing...

No-Knead Artisan Loaves

from Jenny Can Cook

I made one white and one with wheat & flax seed. 

Both were delicious and easy!

 Here's another easy recipe from Jenny Can Cook.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

I've made lots cinnamon rolls in my day, but these are the BEST.

I like that this is a small recipe and only makes a 

9" round pan of eight rolls.

Today I spent the morning making

"Grammy's Lotions and Potions" as my kids call them.

This is my toothpaste.

 It's got dirt in it (bentonite clay).

I like dirt. 

I like cinnamon, cloves, and peppermint in my toothpaste.

 Homemade Toothpaste  from Wellness Mama.

I also made

Magnesium Body Butter

and my favorite...

Bee Butter

(or Non-Petroleum Jelly)

2 ounces extra-virgin olive oil (4 T.)

1/2 ounce beeswax pastilles (1 T.)

1-2 t. raw honey (opt.)

Essential oils -- 12 drops (opt.)

In double boiler over simmering water, combine the olive oil and beeswax and slowly heat until wax has melted.  Remove mixture from heat and cool about 10 minutes, then add honey and/or essential oils of choice.  Beat with small whisk until creamy.If it separates a little, just stir it up.

Makes: 1/4 cup of bee butter.  Store in glass jar with screw top lid.  Keeps up to one year.

Uses:  Face cream, hand cream, body cream, chapped lips, dry feet, eczema.  The beeswax gives the skin a protective barrier from the elements:  weather, dry air, wind, sun, and pollutants. 

These are the pumpkins I decorated.

 I know... who spends time painting flowers on pumpkins

or making a patchwork pumpkin?

I do.

I like to create. 

 I just do. 

 So I do.

Inspiration from Alisa Burke! 

Do you see my rolled up hose on the porch?

I still haven't put it away because it's been warm here.

But it is supposed to get cold again.

 Oh, and speaking of the porch,

I finally oiled it!  

Another project ticked off the list!

We sold our steer calves this week at the local sale barn.
 

What fall projects are you doing?

Fresh from God....

She has arrived!

Claire Jo

born on

January 27th

7 lb. 4 oz

 

She's our 7th granddaughter

and our 9th grandchild!

She's home now with her big brother, Chief, and Mommy & Daddy.

We are all excited about her arrival! 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Three Little Girls are still with us and they were very entertaining for Chief since he stayed with us while his sister was born.  It's been a busy household these past few days!  Today grandgirls, Peach and Toodles came over to join Bee and Rootie Tootie while the rest of the cousins took naps.  We baked My Mom's Sugar Cookies and decorated them with icing and sprinkles.  My favorites have the red hots!  Yummy!  We will be sharing with the nappers soon!  

National Pie Day! Yay!

It's National Pie Day so....

I made pie.

Lemon Cloud Pie.

Did you have pie today?

Burger buns 'n' pie...

 Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie and Bing Cherry Pie

 

 Light Broiche Buns

 

We branded today!  We are running 100 cows on shares for a neighbor (20 miles away) and today was the day to brand their calves.  Two brothers and their hired man came to help so I didn't need to go to the barn.  Instead, I cooked the noon meal.  It was simple, but I spent the time to make fresh brioche hamburger buns for our grilled hamburgers and homemade pies for dessert.  I mean really, who doesn't like to eat homemade bread and pies no matter what else there is on the menu?

I guess I had made the brioche buns before because I wrote "excellent" on the recipe (although I don't remember doing it) so I decided to make them today.  They were excellent.  The dough was incredibly sticky so I didn't handle the it much at all except at the end when I formed it into rolls, and even then, I used a scraper to portion out the dough for each bun.  The recipe recommended using the scraper and that was a great tip.  I used flour as a help for forming the buns so I could lightly touch them and get them into the pans.  The thing I learned is that the stickier the dough, the lighter the bun, and these were pretty light and tender.  I'll be making them again.  If you want the recipe click here.

Now onto the pies.  I made the family favorite -- Rhubarb Custard Pie as a gift for CarpenterSon & JJo's anniversary on Wednesday, and so I figured I'd make another pie for OnlyDaughter & OnlySIL's anniversary gift.  Their anniversary isn't until the last day of May, but I'm going in to babysit grandmother for their girls as they keep a golf date they have planned.  Anyway, I made one Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie for them and a Bing Cherry Pie for my branding crew today.  I had frozen several quarts of Bings last summer and I figured I might as well use them up since it will soon be cherry season again.  The Bing Cherry Pie was a huge hit!  The men raved about it.  It was really quite simple:  just cherries (about 4 cups),  3/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 c. cornstarch, and two capfuls of almond extract.  Toss it all together and put in a crust, dot the top with butter and add the other crust and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mix.  Bake about an hour at 375*. 

The Strawberry-Rhubarb pie recipe was very similar.  I found the recipe here , and although I cannot give you an actual quality-control taste recommendation, the look of the pie is amazing.  I really thought I should take a little nibble out of it for testing purposes, but I didn't think it would be nice to sample an anniversary pie before the couple got a taste.  (I do hope they let me have a bite though!!)

It was really fun for me to spend the entire morning in the kitchen.  It's always enjoyable to try out new-to-me recipes and to whip up old standby recipes.  I have an old standby pie crust recipe that makes seven single crusts.  You know it's an old recipe when you read "lard" as one of the ingredients.  I have since changed it up a little by making the crusts with half lard and half butter.  I think it's superior to the old recipe, but honestly, an all-lard crust is heavenly too. 

How do you like your pie crusts?  Do you have a favorite pie recipe or favorite pie you like Best Of All?  I just love all pies.  My step-dad used to say he liked only two kinds of pie.  Hot and Cold.  I wholeheartedly agree!

Bits and pieces...

 

It snowed again.  

Just a little.

It's melted now and the earth is GREEN.

Since it snowed, I dubbed yesterday a donut day.

I fed donuts to all the ranchers here

and they were glad.

I'm sewing little circle skirts.

It's so easy.

And so fun.

The girls like them.

Sidewalk flower petal art from a few days ago.

These are tulip petal and dandelion butterflies.

We are hoping for a little patch of sunshine today

 so the calvies will dry off and we can brand a small bunch.

  But so far, the clouds keep dripping.

We are thankful for it. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every particular in nature,

a leaf, a drop, a crystal,

a moment of time

is related the the whole,

and partakes of the perfection of the whole.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Rustic crackers and cheese...

 

Yesterday Hubs ended up on the couch feeling terrible.

Body aches, head ache, just plain yuk!

So for supper, I thought we'd have beef stock and cheese and crackers.

Simple food.

I had the bone broth in the freezer so all I did was warm that up.

I had no yummy crackers so I made this standby recipe that

is very versatile and good. 

We had Dubliner cheese and Tillamook cheddar with our crackers.

Why are crackers so expensive anyway?

Just a little flour, oil, water, seasoning.  Bake!

Homemade are better too.

Here's the recipe.

Rustic Crackers

1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 t. cream of tartar
3/4 t. salt
3/4 t. baking soda
1/4 c. oil (I used olive oil)
1/2 c. water
1 medium egg
2 t. sugar
1 t. balsamic vinegar
1/4 c. sesame seeds
course salt for sprinkling

Any seasonings can go into the dough or on top of the crackers.

I like cracked pepper, garlic powder, and rosemary or oregano.

Preheat oven to 350* and lightly spray or wipe cookie sheet with oil.

Or bake on parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine first four ingredients and mix well. Add oil and stir until mixture resembles course meal. Add water next and stir until dough forms and sticks together.

In a small bowl, whisk together egg, sugar, and vinegar. Set aside.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out thin. (think pie crust) Brush generously with egg mixture and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Sprinkle lightly with course salt. Cut, tear into strips, or use cookie cutters to make any cracker shape you want. (I bake it whole and then break after it's baked.)  Transfer to a baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350*. Bake time will vary with thickness/thinness of the crackers. Transfer to racks for cooling. Store crackers in an airtight container. If they ever pick up moisture and lose their crispness, just pop them into a 250* oven for a few minutes.

Enjoy!

................................................

Stump cake...

 

 sliced with layers!

For Christmas Day, I had in mind first to make a Yule Log like this.

But when I realized it would only serve eight, I thought I needed a bigger cake.

So I decided against the branch and went to the larger stump cake
or Stump de Noël inspired by this.

This cake was such fun to make!

(and a challenge, which I enjoyed.) 

I started with this 

Chocolate Crème Fraîche Cake (a.k.a. the BEST chocolate cake EVER)

which ended up being just like my mother's chocolate cake except that this one included hot, strong coffee and Mom's recipe only used hot water.  

I used the filling recipe from the Yule log cake (above)

and frosted the exterior with the icing from 

the Chocolate Crème Fraîche Cake

The meringue mushrooms were made from this recipe.

Hubs helped me so it was a fun joint effort.

The guests loved it,

and it tasted scrummy!

I learned a lot along the way.

I hope you had a Very Merry Christmas!
We did!

XXXOOO

Carrot-Orange Cookies...

 

From the 1980 Betty Crocker Cookbook

which was given to me for a wedding gift in 1981, 

this recipe is one of those yummy frosted cookies

that hardly anyone makes anymore. 

Carrot-Orange Cookies

(Originally called Carrot-Coconut Cookies - revised)

1 cup mashed cooked carrots (about 4 medium)

3/4 c. sugar

1 cup shortening (half butter)

2 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 c. shredded or flaked coconut (opt.)

2 tsp. orange zest

2 T. orange juice

 

Heat oven to 400* F.

I grate some carrots and cook them a little in the microwave.

Mix carrots, sugar, shortening/butter and eggs.

Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add orange juice and zest and optional coconut.

Drop by teaspoonfuls about 2 " apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake until almost no indentation remains when touched, about 8 minutes.  

Do not brown. Remove from pans immediately. 

Frost cookies when cool.

Makes about 2-3 dozen.

Orange Butter Frosting

2 Tbsp. butter

1 1/2 to 2 c. powdered sugar

dash of salt

2-3 T. orange juice

2 tsp. orange zest

Mix well to spreadable consistency. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was inspired to bake the Carrot-Orange cookies after reading Thimbleanna's recipe for Frosted Orange Cranberry Cookies, which I intend to try very soon.  Her cookies reminded me of this recipe and I had the ingredients on hand -- including a garden full of carrots --  so I baked.  And I'm glad I did!  It's been years since I've baked these little cakey cookies.

Speaking of baking, this past Sunday I found the TV tuned to the PBS channel and the program was in progress was The Great British Baking Show.  I just love things that are obviously named like a black kitten named Blacky or a late night show called The Tonight Show, and The Great British Baking Show is exactly what it is.  The fine bakers who are competing for the title of Best British Baker are so much fun to watch and listen to, and the judges are so brilliant and use the best adjectives to describe the baked goods.  When one of them used the word "scrummy" my heart leaped!  If you enjoy baking or eating delicious pastries and buns, you will love watching this show.  Check out the preview here and find the airing time where you live.  Don't miss it this Sunday!  Oh, and after the baking show is Masterpiece Theatre!  I like the one right after.

In this house carrot cake and carrot cookies count as vegetables.
~Anonymous

Happy Birthday...

It was Honey Hubby's 53rd birthday today.  Some of our kids and grandkids came for a pancake supper with bacon and side pork.  It's a family tradition to request your favorite meal for birthday supper.  It was sure good.  The big Ta-da was the Pineapple Upside-down Cake.  I didn't have the proper pineapple rings called for in the recipe, but I did have pineapple tidbits and marchino cherries.  It worked just fine.

The lambing has been in a slump these past three days, but I know it won't last for long.  We're expecting a change in the weather, and that usually means the babies come in a wave when that happens.  I don't know why.  Maybe it's a coincidence, or maybe it is the weather.  Today we had a good number of babies born, and we have one bum lamb.  She was a twin.  The mama ewe loved one, but not the other, so I'm her mama now.  She's a good lamb and took to the bottle right away.  There's a chance we might find her a new mama yet.  We'll see.

OnlyDaughter is waiting on her baby which is due March 5th.  She's feeling very heavy-with-child just now.  We're waiting for the phone call that tells us it's time to pick up the children when Mama goes into labor.  There's a family contest, guessing what sex the baby will be and on what day he/she will be born.  I guessed February 28th, boy.  Hubby thought it would be ok if the baby was born on his birthday, but we're running out of time for that at 10:00 pm just now.  It would have to come fast!

Hoping all is well with you.  Thank you for stopping by.

Buns and bums...

Look at these Boston Brown Bread Muffins.  My bloggy friend, Anna from Thimbleanna shared the recipe, and let me tell you, these babies are scrumptious!  I could eat a whole panful by myself.  If you like a good bran muffin, you will love these.  The sweet, whole grain buns pair nicely with a savory meal or can be eaten as a breakfast muffin or snack.  I reduced the sugar and molasses to 1/4 cup each and they were still plenty sweet enough.  I didn't have rye flour, but just used more whole wheat flour instead.  I'm going to be making this recipe quite often.  They are easy, quick, and nutritious.  

Boston Brown Bread Muffins

1/2 cup (2 0z/60 g) rye flour
1/2 cup (3 oz/90 g) yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup (2 oz/60 g) whole-wheat (wholemeal) flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (8 fl oz/250 ml) buttermilk
1/3 cup (2 oz/60 g) firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup (3 fl oz/80 ml) vegetable oil
1/3 cup (4 oz/125g) molasses
1 egg
1 cup (5 0z/155 g) raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Butter standard muffin tins.
In a medium bowl stir and toss together the rye flour, cornmeal, whole-wheat flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl whisk together the buttermilk, sugar, oil, molasses and egg until smooth. Add to the combined dry ingredients and stir just until blended. Stir in the raisins, if desired.
Spoon into the prepared muffin tins, filling each cup about two-thirds full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Cool in the tins for a moment, then remove.  Makes about 12 standard muffins.

I calculated the nutrition info as follows:
176 calories, 8.2 g fat, 8.9 g sugar, 3.4 g protein, 23.8 g carb. 
Weight Watchers points:  2

 

OnlyDaughter and her two girls came for a few days while their Daddy was out of town.  We had a good time together and the girls loved going to the lambing barn and fiddling with the newly acquired bum lamb.  This one lived in our mudroom for a few days before getting a goat mama in town.  It's been very cold and the weatherman says there are even colder days and snow yet to come.  We're almost done lambing (30 head left) but these next days might be challenging with the deep cold we're going to experience.  Poor babies in the cold barns.  We're doing our best to keep the barns well-strawed and warm.  It sounds like many of us in the USA are going to get another cold blast.  I hope you'll all be cozily tucked in your warm homes.  Take care!

Tea and frocks...

 It was a Grammy Day today with the girls spending the day at our house.  After naps we had tea.  The little girls dressed up in their frocks and I baked the Chocolate Chip-Orange Scones and boiled water for our tea.  It really was a nice treat.

 Peach wore a Thumbelina frock.

Toodles wore a Snow White gown.

Thank you, Maggs and Pom Pom for the tea-spiration.  We had a nice afternoon talking about bugs and books while we sipped and snacked.  The scones were a new-to-me recipe and will be made many times again.  Here is my revised version:

Chocolate Chip-Orange Scones

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup white sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt

7  tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cubed 1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips 11 tablespoons fresh orange juice Zest of the orange crystal sugar

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2.	In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. With a pastry blender or a large fork, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips. Mix in the orange juice to form a dough.
3.	Turn out the dough on a floured surface. Pat or roll into a 9 inch circle about 1/2 inch thick. Cut scones as you like.  Transfer the scones to the baking sheet.  Brush with milk or cream and sprinkle with crystal sugar.
4.	Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Move to wire racks to cool.  Eat.