Christmas Baking

I have been very busy planning and baking this week, for our Christmas Eve Party. It has been so much fun and a lot of work, but I truly enjoy every minute of it. Christmas is a special time of year for my family. The kids could not be more excited, even my husband is acting like a kid, go figure! I have to keep a close eye on him around the cookies. He says he can be my taste-tester. How sweet of him! To kick things off, I made Mini Fruitcakes, then it was Fruitcake cookies. The next cookie was Butternuts, then Peppermint Melt Aways, after that Cinnamon Bear cookies. I am also working on some savory recipes in between each cookie that I have baked. My other cookies have been Christmas Cherry cookies (both in red and green) a Chocolate Wow cookie and a Red Velvet Chocolate Chip cookie. As well as Chocolate Cherry Blossom cookies and Peanut Butter Cheesecake Balls (a candy). I also made a Cherry Blossom Fudge, I would use one stick less butter, this fudge was nice and firm, but still creamy and smooth. A Fruited Rice Cream, a Christmas version of rice pudding. Some of the savory treats are Spinach Dip w/ baby carrots and assorted crackers, Sweet and Spicy Cranberry Meatballs, Spicy Lil' Smokies, Chicken Cheese ball w/assorted crackers (www.allrecipes.com), a Ham and Swiss Pinwheels, Sausage Balls, Maple Apple-Chicken Bites and Mini Party Rolls. To wash it all down, Mocha Punch (a favorite from my sister,(www.tasteofhome.com) and a beautiful Crimson Punch (www.tasteofhome.com). Christmas breakfast includes a Hash Brown Casserole and Cinnamon Rolls. Later in the day we are having our traditional ham with homemade potato salad and rolls. May you each have a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! God Bless Us One and All!!

Ready to go in the oven

Mini fruitcake, one of my favorites

Butternut cookies

Fruitcake cookies

Peppermint Melt Aways

Cinnamon Bears

Chocolate Wows

Cherry Blossoms

Christmas Cherry

Christmas Cherry

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip

 One of my girls had a surprise for me

I found a ginormous egg in one of my nest boxes. One of my girls is defiantly putting fourth that special effort. I suspect that one of my Buff Orpington are laying this gorgeous egg, they are the larger of my girls, but I could be wrong. If I'm able to find out which hen is responsible, I defiantly owe her a special treat, maybe a weeks worth of special treats. This egg measured three inches long. Looks more like a duck or goose egg.

Can't close the top on the carton

                           Visitor

We had an unwelcome visitor in the backyard this morning. My two large dogs had this little guy petrified, he was balled up just setting there. Not really playing possum, but not moving a muscle.
I distracted my dogs by giving them some dog biscuits, while my husband got one of our havahart traps. My husband of course had gloves on and rolled this little guy right into the trap. He grawled at us a couple of times, but surrendered without incident.

Poor little guy

He looks so sad, like he's crying

We let him have back his freedom by turning him loose in a wooded area close by.

                    Tree Trimming

Fall cleaning on a large scale. It's that time of year, trimming trees, cleaning gardens, bush hogging and mowing. So that everything looks nice before the cold wind blows. So far we have trimmed seventeen pick up truck loads of just trees limbs. Trimmed trees all around the fence row of the horse fields. Trimmed trees near and around prime hunting spots, and trimmed three 32' crape myrtle. We have also winterized chicken coops for some very spoiled rotten hens. We keep heat lamps on them all winter. Warm hens mean "Happy Hens" and happy hens mean eggs through the winter.

Very Tall

  

Almost done

Really needed a trim, from 32' to about 7'
much better

                    "Smokin Butt"

Pork butt that is. We're smoking five pork butts for a outdoor gathering that we have planned. The weather is suppose to be great, but we are keeping a eye out for some possible strong winds. May need to change our plans, and have everything inside. My husband has been supervising the smoker for a total of about 14 hours. The wind has been somewhat of a problem with the smoker today. Makes it harder to maintain the correct temperature. When I go out on my front porch I can really smell the pork, can't wait. We are having of course the BBQ (pulled pork), homemade slaw, homemade sauce, an assortment of chips, apples, cupcakes and banana pudding (made by another family member).
The wind is forcing us to stay inside. That's O.K., everyone still had a great time. What could be better? Family, great friends and great food.

                     H a l l o w e e n

Almost that time of year again, time has went by so fast this year. But I love this time of year and I love to decorate for Halloween. This year I have little ghost flying around on my porch as well as a skeleton keeping watch over things. The ghost are attached to the ceiling fan arms (blades removed for winter storage) and when I turn it on low, off they go fly around and around, I also have a strobe light on them. Lots of cars passing by slow down to look, pretty neat. For the front lawn I have my witch cut out, with cats and thomb stones.

My "Halloween  Greeter"

One of my inside spooks

                You Looking At Me

I was watering my plants one evening and this little guy came crawling out of one of my bushes. It was trying to grab at the water as it came by him/her, I have never seen one do this before. May have thought the water was a threat. It looked at me a little funny too, I'm sure he saw me as a threat. This was the first praying mantis I have seen this year.

               P I N W H E E L S !!!!

Have you ever found a sale so good that you thought you were going to bust. Well that just happened to me, yesterday. The phone rang and it was my twin sister on the other end, telling me in a calm voice that a local retail store had pinwheels on sale for ten cent each. What!! I could not believe it, they are usually a dollar a piece, if you are lucky you can sometimes find them for half price, but not real often. I told her she had to buy me some (and that's a order) that I would pay her back. Again in a calm voice she said "I got you ten". Well that"s nice and everything but I needed her to understand that I would like to get my hands on as many as I could get. At ten cents each this was just to good a sale to pass up. Ninty-percent savings. Like she needed to go guard them with her life until my husband could get there to buy them.
Yes, there is more to the story for you to totally understand the reason behind wanting so many pinwheels. Having a party? No! I am often ask that when purchasing pinwheels in large quanities. Pinwheels are seasonal, and after the summer months they can be very hard to find, and you can forget a discounted price. We can become very panicked if we see that our supply of pinwheels are getting low, and we check the store and cannot find any, Yikes!
For me they simply bring joy to my son, everyday. He literally plays with pinwheels everyday of his life, they sometimes last a few days to one week before he totally destroys them. But what joy they do bring him. You've heard the saying "Dont leave home without them" for us that is pinwheels, we literally carry them with us everywhere. We have them in our car, they go to school with him, we even have one attached to a small chair with a electric fan blowing on it for those times when he does not feel like holding one, he can still enjoy seeing it spin.
My son is fifteen years old and he has multible disabilities, he fuctions at a two year old level. He is about the size of a ten year old, small for his age. The one thing he has loved his whole life is his pinwheels, I don't thick he will ever out grow that need. The brite colors, the sparkle and movement truely bring him the greatest joy. He can hold a pinwheel and spin it for hours without ever tiring from playing with it.
We ended up getting one-hundred-eighty pinwheels, for eighteen bucks, now that is truely a bargin. I have never found pinwheels this cheap in the past. Truely feel blessed that I was able to get so many. Many days filled with happness for a special boy. Hope you remember this story the next time you see a pinwheel, and the special joy that they bring to a "Very Special Child". Pinwheels rock!!!!! So do sisters that call you when they find great sales. As well as my husband who stopped everything he was doing to go buy them.

My very special son, little pinwheel man

Lots of happiness, big smile makers

              Watermelon Rind Pickles

Making watermelon rind pickles today. I love this recipe, it comes from my Ball Blue Book guide to preserving, so it's my go to recipe for these pickles. I love that you can make use of something that you would other wise throw away. Most everyone that tries theses pickles, likes them. 

                    Watermelon Rind Pickles
4 quarts 1-inch cubed watermelon rind (white portion only)
1 cup Ball pickling salt
2 gallons water, divided
3 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoons whole cloves
1 tablespoon whole allspice
1/4 teaspoon mustard seed
7 cups sugar
1/2 cup thinly sliced lemon (about 1 medium)
2 cups vinegar

Cover watermelon rind with pickling salt and one gallon of water, stirring until salt is dissolved. Let stand over night. Drain; rinse, set aside. Place spices in a spice bag or cheese cloth. Place spice bag, sugar, lemon slices, and vinegar in a large non-metal pot. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or so. Add the watermelon rind to liquid mixture, simmer until the rind becomes transparent in appearance. Remove the spice bag. Pack hot rind pickles with liquid into hot jars, leaving 1/2-inch head space. Adjust the two-piece jar caps. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. This recipe is slightly adapted for the original.

Give them a try

   Making Homemade Pickles

I have an abundance of cucumbers coming in so I thought I would make some homemade pickles. Today I'm making Lime Pickles, about a two day process, but so worth it. I had theses pickles growing up as a child, and they where like candy to me. The taste of these pickles are as fresh in my mind as if I had them just yesterday. One of my fondest childhood memories, I still remember what they looked like. Beautiful chunks of cucumber somewhat transparent with a emerald green color. Like little gems. The green color comes from adding food coloring to the recipe. I opted not to add the food coloring because I may enter some of these pickles into the local fair next year and they do not allow food coloring. But the food coloring does make them pretty.

                            Lime Pickles
8 lbs. pickling cucumbers, washed and sliced into thick chunks
2 cups hydrated pickling lime (I used Mrs. Wages)
2 gallons water
Syrup:
2 1/2 cups white vinegar
5 1/2 pounds sugar
1 tablespoon pickling salt (I used Mrs. Wages)
1 tablespoon celery seed
2 cinnamon sticks, broken into 2 -inch pieces
1 teaspoon whole cloves

Soak the cucumber chunks in lime and water mixture, in a non-metal container for 24 hours, in the refrigerator. Stir several times during the 24 hour period. After 24 hour, rinse cucumber chunks 3 times. Drain and place in a non-metal container. 

For Syrup: Place vinegar, sugar and pickling salt, into a large non-metal saucepan. Place spices into cheesecloth and tie, place spice bundle into vinegar mixture. Bring to a boil; stirring until all sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Pour mixture over cucumber chunks, allow to set for 24 hours, covered and refrigerated. After 24 hours pour cucumbers and liquid into non-metal pot, bring to a boil, boil for one hour. Pack into 10 to 12 prepared pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch head space. Place seals and rings on each jar, process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

     New Kid, Another Mouth To Feed

Just got an 8 week old Nigerian dwarf buckling. He was one of triplets. He is still taken some milk twice a day and will for about another month or so. We just picked him up yesterday, he did not eat well for us on first try, strange place and I'm sure missing his mama. This morning he took 8 ounces of Kid Milk (milk replacement for goats), and again this afternoon 8 ounces. He caught on like a champ.

All done

                    Nature's Beauty

Is there anything more beautiful than a butterfly? Maybe there is, but for me these are beautiful and I enjoy each and everyone. One of my favorite photograph (taken by me) is a butterfly on a Day Lily. Today I'm sharing them with you, hope they bring some beauty to your day!

My favorite, this one is now framed and hangs on my living room wall

                      Baked Beans

4 - 15 oz. cans Van Camp's pork and beans
1 1/2 cups ketchup
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper (optional)
1/2 pound Applewood bacon cooked, drained and cut into small pieces
cooking spray

Place bacon on a foil lined cookie sheet, bake at 350 for 35 to 45 minutes, until desired crispness is reached. Drain on paper towel.
Drain pork and beans, set aside. Place in a large bowl. Add next four ingredients and mix well. Add chopped onions and/or green peppers. Place mixture in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Top with bacon. Bake at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes.
I been making this baked bean recipe for years.

                 Bag Worms - Yikes!!

These little guys (bag worms) can destroy a tree in no time flat. They make their home in a cocoon (bag) that is attached to the tree limb with web like fibers. When they get hungry they stick their little heads out of the cocoon and proceed to make a meal of the host tree while growing larger with more of an appetite each day, until the tree is dead. A real nuisance, the best way to rid the tree of these pest is to hand pick them off. I wear gloves when doing this, and drop them into a empty milk jug. If you throw them on the grown, they will crawl back the the host tree with cocoon in tow to set up house again. You may have to pick the bag worms off the tree several times. As they grow they are much easier to see. The first couple of times you do this it is easy to miss some. They start out very tiny. Creepy yes, but if you do not deal with them you will lose a tree.

Cocoon they live in

If you look closely you can see the black head sticking out

This one is really coming out for it's meal

Trying to crawl out of the jug, with cocoon in tow

Look how many, I'm starting to get the creeps!