This is my version of "Fried Ice Cream" often served in Mexican restaurants. So simple and easy to put together. Who needs fried when this is so good without that step, not to mention easier. I have been making this recipe for many years. My husband and I first tried this ice cream in a Mexican restaurant and loved it. We ask the waiter if it was actually fried and he said that it was. The restaurant eventually closed, not sure why, it was always busy when I was there, and the food and atmosphere were great. Hate when that happens.
                                       Fried Ice Cream
                      1 gallon home style vanilla ice cream
                      3 cup frosted corn flakes
                      1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
                      whipped topping
                      chocolate syrup
                      honey
                      whipped topping
                      maraschino cherries

Using plastic kitchen gloves, form the ice cream into balls, place into a large zip-lock bag and place in freezer to firm up. Place the corn flakes and ground cinnamon into your food processor, process until finely ground, place into a medium bowl. Roll the ice cream balls in the corn flake mixture. You can now assemble to serve or place back into the freezer for later. When ready to serve, place ice cream balls into a bowl, drizzle with chocolate syrup and/or honey, I like a little of both toppings. Top ice cream with whipped topping and a cherry. Now dig in and enjoy!

 I would like to wish my son Christopher (Chris) a                                 HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!                           My first born, my baby, whom is all grown up. How time does fly, cherish every moment with your children. Wishing you only the best, always, I Love You! Mom

Ten months old, hanging out with a friend

Bath time, good clean fun

Six years old, so innocent and sweet

All grown up (well working on it)

This post is about another snake encounter, this story involves two snake. An adult snake and a baby snake. When my husband comes across a snake he likes to show them to me, and of course I like to take some pictures. I would have never of thought that I could have been close enough to a snake to take a picture. Anyway this story starts when my husband found these guys in the hay room of the barn. The larger snake had crawled through a garden hose connector, that was pretty snug on his body and to make this story really interesting the larger snake had a bite hold on a baby snake, who in return was biting onto the larger snake. Even though they were being handled, they would not stop biting each other, as you can see in the pictures. We did place them in a grassy area and pour a little water on them to break-up the fight. This did work and the larger snake was able to crawl free of the hose connector. So glad I got pictures of this. I had never seen anything like this before and probably will never again, well maybe never, a lot of first happen around here.

Snake held up to post for good view of everything

This is there bite grip, appears to be a black snake and baby corn snake

Good close-up of hose connector, even some hay in the mix

Placed snakes in the grass and poured a little water on them, to break up the fight

I do not want to freak anyone out, but if you do not like snakes, or faint at the sight of them, you will not want to read on. I by no means find myself in love with snakes, but with that said, I have came a long way in excepting that, we do share our world with some creatures that do have their purpose here and belong here as much as we do. Along with the clear understanding that if you live in the country, you will on occasion cross paths with them. I have a couple of stories that I would like to share, with pictures to follow. 
                                                
                                You have been warned!

My first encounter with one of these creatures, (before I was so excepting) of all places was while riding in my car with my husband, just out for a nice ride, enjoying the day, when all of a sudden a snake crawled out of the space between my car hood and windshield and onto the wiper, and of course it had to be on my side of the windshield.
I tried to scream, but my voice would not work. I was pointing at the windshield. I then drew my legs up into the seat, in my mind, because I had such a clean view of him/her, it seemed as though it was going to drop right into the car. My husband thought I saw a deer or something in the road, I some how managed to get the word snake out, and he saw it on the wiper. Being a man he had total control of the situation, and calmly pulled the car over on the side of the road to save me from this snake. My hero! Still in the fetal position I watched as he came around to my side of the car, by this time the snake had coiled itself around the side mirror of the car (see picture below). My brave husband proceeded to remove the snake from the mirror, so that I could breath again. He grabbed the snake by the tail with his bare hand and tugged on it so that it would let go of the mirror. It worked, but by this time the snake was mad-frightened, and swung back and tried to bite my husband on the hand. My husband of course dropped the snake, and after dancing around like a chicken on hot tar, scared the snake back under the car, it disappeared somewhere back into the motor. My hero! Not!

Picture from inside the car, Yikes!!

Snake on mirror, I did think this snake had beautiful colors 

That's when we decided to go straight home, and yes I was still in the fetal position. We made it home, which seemed to take forever. My husband called my brother-in-law to see if he could help find and remove the snake from the motor. I thought of the water hose, the snake would probably not like the water, good idea, right? It still took over an hour to find the snake, spray it with water, and for it to decide it had enough. We didn't think it was ever going to come out, but it did. Finally it just dropped out of the motor and was gone in a flash. I did not know at the time what kind of snake it was, but with the pictures I had taken and the Internet, quickly found out it was a "Corn Snake". These snakes are non-venomous, have a checkered belly pattern (which I found really cool) are harmless and beneficial to humans. They help control rodent populations. Told you they had a purpose. Corn snakes are mistaken as "Copperheads" (a venomous snake, not as brightly colored, hourglass pattern, no belly pattern, triangular heads) and are often killed. I have lived here for twelve years, I am always outside doing something and have never seen a copperhead, not saying there not here, just have not crossed paths. Another snake story soon.

I grew birdhouse gourds last summer. I was told to plant them near a light source, because moths draw to the light would help to pollinate them. I planted mine near a dust to dawn light. Not sure if it was the advice or they are just easy to grow, or possibly both. Nevertheless, I had lots of gourds from this planting. They are really fun to grow. I used some to make a birdhouses. I hand painted this one with a chickadee and some dogwood flowers, then sprayed it with craft sealer. I need to get it put up outside, I'm seeing birds with nesting material, a true sign of spring.

Ready for the birds

This is another birdhouse gourd that I grew, painted and entered in the fair, it took second place.

Made sausage puffs this morning for my family, shared some with my mother in-law and brother in-law. We all love them, and I enjoy making them. I just use canned biscuits, and to make flattening the biscuit faster and easier, I use my pasta attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer. Speeds up the process quite a bit. This is a delicious and easy recipe. Great for breakfast on the go.                                    

                                   Sausage Puffs

                   1 lb. package pork sausage

                   1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened

                   2 - (10 count) cans of refrigerator biscuits

Brown and thoroughly cook the sausage on medium heat. Drain well, add cooked sausage back to pan, on medium heat add cubed cream cheese, stir until cream cheese is melted and combined. Remove sausage mixture from heat. Run each biscuit through the pasta roller once or twice to flatten. Place some sausage filling in the center of each flattened biscuit. Pull the biscuit up and over the filling, twist and pinch together to seal, press to flatten slightly and place sealed side down on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 to 6 minutes, or until golden brown.

Ready to bake

Hot out of the oven, and perfectly golden brown 

Dinner tonight is meatloaf. Made two, one for dinner and I'll freeze one for later. This recipe is pretty simple and quick, just a basic meatloaf. I'm serving it with mashed potatoes and peas. Let's Eat!!

                                            Meatloaf

                                             

                        4 lbs. ground beef

                        5 eggs

                        2 1/2 cups original bread crumbs

                        1 cup ketchup

                        1 small onion, chopped

                        1 small green bell pepper, chopped

                        2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

                        1/2 teaspoon salt

                        1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients together well. Shape into two loafs. Wrap one in plastic wrap, freeze until form, then wrap in foil, write date and contents on foil and place back in freezer (Thaw in refrigerator before baking) Place the other loaf on a cookie sheet  sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes. I top my meatloaf with ketchup midway through cooking time, return to oven for remainder of cooking time.

Ready to mix, I use my hands

                                        

   One for dinner and one to freeze

                  Dinner's Ready!!                        

My mom had a shoe box full of old negatives that she had received from a family member, whom had found them in the attic space of her old home place. This was negatives from pictures taking by her father, my grandfather many years ago. She believed them to have been taken in the Washington D.C. area, as you will see in some of the photos, this was the case, my grandfather had worked in the D.C. area. Being that I love to take pictures and have most of my life, I ask her if I could have them developed, she said yes. I'm having them developed in small batches until I have them all done, there is well over one hundred total. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do. I made the pictures larger so that you can see them better. More to come later.

The "White House" in the snow

  A flower cart, and horse drawn butter wagon

 
This photo had 16th street from Market Street wrote on the side. Look at the cars.

I got a new airbrush machine, which I love, so that I could use it for decorating cookies. The pictures below are of my first attempt at airbrushing, not bad for my first time. Also you will see a couple of cookies that I hand decorated with my own design, using food coloring markers. Also a few royal icing heart cookies. My sister came for a visit and we spent the day (talking) decorating cookies just for practice. All together we had a great time (talking).

Cookie using the food coloring markers

   A couple of stencil cookies, and food coloring marker        cookies

                        Simple royal icing cookies

Easy Family Meal. This is the perfect recipe for a quick family meal, any day of the week. Four ingredients, easy to prepare, and this in on the table in no time. I have been making this recipe for many years.

Sloppy Joe

3 lbs. ground beef
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons apple cidar vinegar

Brown the ground beef in a large saucepan, on medium heat, drain well. Add drained beef back to saucepan, reducing heat to low. While beef is browning, mix together the ketchup, brown sugar and vinegar, in a small mixing bowl. Add the ketchup mixture to the ground beef, simmer on low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring once. Serve on a hamburger bun. I like to serve my sloppy joe with chips and a pickle.

ANOTHER FAIR WINNER!! This is a recipe that I made to enter in a special "Red Star Yeast" contest at my local fair. I think they turned out awesome. I took first place and won a year supply of Red Star Yeast, I love making bread and rolls, so this for me was a great prize. I started using this yeast a few years ago, learned about it through the fair. I love this product, works for me every time.

Red Velvet Raised Doughnuts

1/2 cup warm water (100 to 110 degrees 
2- (1/4 oz. packets) active dry yeast 
1 teaspoon granulated sugar 
3/4 cup milk, lukewarm 
1/3 cup vegetable shortening

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons red food coloring paste

4 cups all-purpose flour 

2 quarts vegetable oil for frying

chocolate melts

chopped walnuts

Filling:

2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened

5 cups confectioners sugar

1/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients together well. Fill piping bag fitted with large round tip, inserted into doughnut, squeeze to fill each doughnut.

Note: Any extra filling will be thinned with the addition of more milk, to a glaze consistency. Used to glaze the tops of doughnuts.

1. Pour 1/2 cup of warm water into a small bowl, stir in the two packets of yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Allow the yeast mixture to set for 5 to 10 minutes, until foamy on top.

2. Put the milk and vegetable shortening into another small saucepan, over medium-low heat, cook until the shortening melts and milk has tiny bubbles around the edge. Remove from heat.

3. Place 1/4 cup of sugar and salt into large mixing bowl of stand mixer and pour the milk and shortening into the bowl. Mix on low speed just to dissolve sugar; and allow mixture to stand until warm.

4.Beat in the yeast mixture, eggs, cocoa powder, vinegar, paste food coloring, and 1 cup flour on low speed until dough is smooth. Slowly mix in remaining flour.

5. Continue beating the dough on low speed until dough leaves the sides of the mixing bowl, about 3 minutes.

6. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead by hand (I used kitchen gloves to avoid red hands) until smooth and elastic, 3 more minutes.

7. Form the dough into a ball and place in a large greased bowl. Spray top of dough with thin coating of cooking spray, cover top of bowl with wax paper.Set bowl in a warm place; let rise until doubled in size. This should take 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

8. Punch down the dough and roll out on a floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut doughnuts out using a star shaped cookie cutter. Let rise again on work surface, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

9. Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan to 350 degrees F.

10. Gently place doughnuts into the hot oil, working with one or two at a time, cook for about one minute on each side.

11. Drain on paper towel lined cookie sheet to remove excess oil.

12. After doughnuts have cooled completely, you want to fill each doughnut with the filling. Then after thinning leftover filling to glaze consistency, dip tops of doughnuts into glaze. Allow glaze to set up. Melt the chocolate melts, then drizzle tops of each doughnut, then sprinkle chopped walnuts onto center of each doughnut.

Earlier on my blog I featured a post on "Country Braid" bread, in that post I shared with you that I could not remember the source of the recipe. I believe that I found this recipe somewhere on the Internet when looking for bread recipes, I have had it for a few years and cannot be sure. After posting and trying to figure out the source for this recipe, it has drove me crazy as to where the recipe originated from. I have looked through every cookbook I own, done an extensive search on the Internet and still could not find this recipe. With that said my search did lead me to contact information to the original recipes owner, I was elated. My sister emailed her and ask her if I could feature her story on my blog and she so kindly said "yes". I now have a connection to the recipe. My recipe reads: 2007 CV Fair Best White Bread / First Place Country Braids Sandi Niquette

This is a picture of Sandi when she took first place in a yeast baking contest at the Champlain Valley Fair in 1970 using the Country Braid recipe. She again was so very kind to share this newspaper clipping, what a great surprise. This is what cooking and sharing recipes is all about. It always brings people together. Thank You!! Sandi
   

This picture is of the Country Braid bread I made using Sandi's recipe for a fair yeast bread entry in 2013, for which I took first place.  Next is a picture of the Country Braid bread I made using Sandi's recipe for a fair yeast bread entry in 2013, for which I took first place.

This is a picture of my freshly baked bread, ready for the fair.

FAIR WINNERS!! A few ceramic pieces that I have painted, I also entered each piece in the local fair. Uncle Sam took First Place and Champion. The Indian Vase took Best In Show and First Place. The "Welcome Frog" took First Place and Champion.The white dots on the "Welcome" of Uncle Sam was done by dipping the end of a toothpick in white paint, a little time consuming but worth the effort. Uncle Sam also lights up.


"Uncle Sam"

"Indian Vase"

"Welcome Frog"

Critters That Sometimes Make An Appearance On The Farm

This little guy would come up on my porch for nightly visits, no doubt looking for some bugs.

                                             

Grey Tree Frog

Grey Tree Frog

This Grey Tree Frog was found on a downed tree limb after a storm, this was the first one I had ever seen and the last. Glad I took some pictures.

"Black and Yellow Argiope Spider"

   

"Newly Hatched "Cicada"