Fresh as Frost

The kids came running into the house this morning before school and told me they saw a new baby calf.  I thought they had seen a stray puppy by mistake because we weren't expecting any calves for at least a month.  

Sure enough! Ain't she cute? Fresh as frost. Not even 24 hours old.

 

And this is the proud mother.

What an exciting way to start the day. I had the most fun riding the four-wheeler with  #4 and looking at the new baby. Hope you find her as nice and refreshing as I did.

 

More tomatoes. really?

I still have tomatoes coming out of the garden. Plowboy got a little excited and added some more plants this year. But I guess that helped out this weekend because we had a family reunion and a little get together with some church buddies and I made SALSA for both events. I also did a little pinterest hack with Steppy D ( my step daughter or #1) and #2 while #4 was sleeping and #3 was farming with his dad. Caramel Apple Cheesecake bars from .the-girl-who-ate-everything. Hop on over and try those out. They are one more delicious treat.
 Back to the salsa. I am gonna give you the recipe that once again is simply a guideline, cause we all know unless I am baking, I do not follow recipes that closely.

Fresh Salsa:
 3 large chopped tomatoes
 1/2 cup diced onion
 1/2 can green chilies ( of course  some of you may like a little more heat. throw them all in)
 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
 1 tsp salt
 2 tsp lime
Here we go!

 Alrighty, so I didn't use lime juice. Lemon juice worked fine.

 I decided to throw in a little garlic, we liked it.

 In 2009 I grew some serrano chiles. They are so strong  I still have some and that it what I have been using in my salsa.

Yum Yum, Y'all enjoy!

Plowboy's Birthday

Last Tuesday was The Plowboy's birthday. I did some computer research and found some recipes for a cake I thought he would like. Rootbeer, nutella, etc.. When I asked him what he wanted he asked for carrot cake. So much for trying something new but at least I didn't think I could go wrong. I mean creamcheese frosting can never be bad. Pinterest had some different recipes listed but I decided to use the family's tried and true AUNT POLLY'S Carrot Cake.  Aunt Polly is my mother's aunt. She was one of twelve and is the "salt of the earth." I am sure she will be glad to know her tasty treat is being featured on my famous blog. HA HA
   Now the pics may look a little off because I doubled the recipie. I had a birthday to recognize and a nurse and P.A. that needed to be thanked for seeing my sick baby #4 at the last minute the other day.

The recipe is as follows:

Cream together 2 cups of sugar and 4 eggs.

             Helpful Hint: Did you know that eggshell attracts itself? If you ever drop a piece while cracking eggs, as you know it will run away from a spoon but it will not run away from itself. It's true. I use this all the time. Use the half of the cracked egg to scoop the shell out.

Mix with:
  1 1/2 cups of oil (I used canola)
  2 cups of all purpose flour
  2 Teaspoons of cinnamon
  2 teaspoons of baking powder
  2 teaspoons of baking soda
  1 teaspoon salt   (I put everything but the oil thru the sifter)

Add 3 cups grated Carrots
1 Teaspoon Vanilla (ever made your own vanilla? I do. It is the stuff. Is that another post? I think so)
 You can add 1 cup of chopped pecans here but I didn't cause I wasn't sure if the girls would like them.

 My mother-in-law has this little handy dandy grater that came with her  cookware she purchased when she got married. I am actually doing research to try to find one of these puppies or anything close. I fell in love.  This ain't "no woman trying to find a diamond mind, in this world."(name that song and I'll be your biggest fan) I am simple enough that a carrot grater makes me happy. Seriously grated 6 cups of carrots in less than 2 minutes. But once again I digress.

Another little happy. Ice Cream scooper thingies make for the perfect size cupcake and speed that process up.

 Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes and get started on your cream cheese frosting. Make a double batch. You are gonna lick it alot. I mean like it alot. Yea right!

Cream Cheese Icing:
8 ounces cream cheese
1 box powdered sugar
1/2 stick butter
2 teaspoons vanilla

 These are little mini cupcakes because I had extra. I think I will push the icing in the center of them and dip the tops in white chocolate. The white chocolate will harden and hold the icing inside and we have one handed, low mess, feed 'em in the combine carrot cakes. YES, that will make me happy some day when I am running late and want to treat plowboy and his family to a extra treat. They will be waiting in the freezer.

This is what I dropped off at the clinic for my hardworking buddies while I picked the kids up from school. Then it was back home to finish the birthday cake and supper.

I always put a dollop of icing on the cake stand to keep the cake from shifting and then start layering.

 Layer 1 and some pecans. I know the birthday boy likes'em

Layer 2 and kid #2 in the background with a homemade afterschool popsicle treat.

 And Layer 3 and a few finishing touches!

I served the carrot cake after this.

Grilled, chilli rubbed, bacon wrapped, bbq pork loin

twice baked, sour cream cheddar potatoes,

bacon wrapped, catalina green bean bundles

and sister schubert rolls.

By the way, big surprise, but I have been bummed this week because I have gained weight. At least, I don't wonder why.

 Happy Birthday Big Man! I have enjoyed celebrating your last 13 Birthdays with you.

Secret's in the sauce

In my last post, I eluded to trying to can some homemade pizza sauce. Well today I did it. Wanna know how I did it? 
First I put on my trusty dusty tea towel apron. (You can sew grosgain ribbon across the top of any towel and instantly turn it into an apron) (By the way I can not focus on one thing at a time and the parathesis are how I try to seperate my thoughts for y'all.  And just for my readers, so you don't get overwhelmed, I actually omit several "sidebars." I can't keep up with my own brain. I would never expect anyone else to try. Please remember my husband in your prayers.)

Then I stepped through the usual hot boil, cold bath, peel the tomato trick that I used in this post (tomato cold bath peel.)

35-40 tomatoes

Puree the tomatoes

Drain the puree (save the juice, it can be canned also)

 The recepie that I used as (the example) (I have a small problem with following exact directions. Sometimes it is because I am lazy and sometimes I just don't have the correct ingredients) recommened adding an onion, garlic, olive oil puree.
                                                                5 medium onions
                                                     4 Tablespoons chopped garlic
                                                             1/4 cup olive oil
                                                      1 Tablespoon lemon juice (would have used more, but I ran out) and Ms. Christensen also suggested adding some of the tomato juice to help the function of the blender and I concur.

                                        Drop in a few or maybe several more ingredients.
                                                             1/2 Tablespoon pepper
                                                                 1/2 cup brown sugar
                                                               4 Tablespoons parsley
                                                              2 Tablespoons oregano
                                                               1/2 Tablespoon basil
                                                             1 Teaspoon celery salt
                                                                1/2 tablespoon salt
                                                            2 teaspoons garlic powder
                                                                   1 teaspoon savory
                                                            3 large cans tomato paste

 Because I had drained the juice earlier, I decided to add about 2 cups back as the tomatoes cooked down.

                                       I let this simmer for 3 hours before I put it in the jar.

 Just like most canning project I left 1/2 inch headspace then processed for 25 minutes. They are now proudly displayed with my canned tomatoes on top of my kitchen cabinets.

P.S.  Folks I have canned more this year than I have my entire life (due to a bad pickle experience) It's alot of work, but I am enjoying it. Hope you are too!

Our Friday Tradition

   We have started a little family tradition. I honestly can't even remember when  it began, but I'm glad it did. It's not a big deal and perhaps that is part of why I like it the most. It
is nice to know that we can just enjoy the little things in life. So here it is. On Friday's we have homemade pizza. At first, I enjoyed this so much because it was one night that I didn't have to come up with an idea for supper. Now I get a kick out of watching the kids look forward to it. They get to have a sprite and eat picnic style on a blanket in the living room floor. We also let 2 & 3 sleep together. I guess that kinda reveals part of why they like it so much. They are hopped up on sugar and have a mini slumber party.
  Well, yesterday we were out of pizza sauce and I did not want to go to town to get any more. I knew I couldn't cancel pizza night over this and then I had a brain storm. Homemade Sauce. We have tomatoes coming out of our ears. So maybe, just maybe if this works out I can "can" my own. Perfect, kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Use tomatoes and have extra sauce stored up. I went straight to the computer and pulled up pinterest( I want to suport the sites that support me. HA HA HA.) Another recommendation for my blog was for me to post recipies. Small problem there, I don't use them often. I normally look up several different recipies and then combine them in my head. This is what I did tonight.
   I will drop a few photos of the sauce process later when I actually process some jars and I will include a complete recipie. But for this post, just pizza pics.

 For the dough, I use a store bought package. Normally the generic or what is on sale. I think the Betty Crocker is slightly sweeter. My little trick, I add biscuit mix. We need to make two pizzas for this big ole crew so I need more dough, but not enough for two packages and I think the biscuit mix makes the crust kinda flaky. Plowboy thinks its better than Pizza Hut or Dominoes. That's all the aproval I need.

I cover the dough with olive oil and drape a towel over the bowel and then place it on the back eye of the stove because it has a vent to the oven and it helps the dough rise while the oven preheats.

 Last special trick. IRON SKILLET. Grease it with shoretening and put it in the oven while it preheats. This will make the dough nice and crispy. Yummy!

The moral of this story,   try to enjoy each other even if the kids are fussing and the hubby works til 9:00. And if it is pizza night. People please try the iron skillet!


p.s. the sauce was pretty good. Gonna try to can some soon.