Life Update!

Hey all!

We've had birthdays, goat babies being born, and dance program rehearsals and three performances in the last few weeks!  Thanks for being patient and hanging in there with me!  Here's a little recap...

Pixie, one of our two Nubian dairy goats, and her little doelings (baby girls).  

We haven't named them yet.  

One hasn't figured out the whole nursing thing so 

she's bottle feed mama's milk that I milk out of her twice a day. 

One of our birthday boys, Isaac, (on the left) 

turned 9 and enjoyed a sleepover and thoroughly enjoyed 

the Colts hat his big brother gave him!

Our kiddos had their annual piano recital.  

They're pictured with their piano teacher.

Our two youngest girlies were Hebrew children in their dance program.  

It was about the story of Moses.  It was an awesome production!  

Rebekah (top right) and I were helpers in Abigail's class.

A close up of the girlies!

Rebekah made Noah, today's birthday boy, a cake.  

He's really 16, but got a kick out of the number

 5 candle she decided to put on it.

(We had a gathering with grandparents yesterday.)

I would say the Ray Rice t-shirt was a big hit!  

He's a big Baltimore Ravens Fan since he was born in Maryland.

Well that's about it for now!  After taking last week off for our crazy busy week, I'm back to getting signs for the shop completed.   I'll have a recipe for ya'll this week.  Pinky promise!

Homestead Happenings

Hey all!  Thanks to the rain we've been blessed with lately our grass is green, the daffodils are coming up and spring is finally in the air!

I took the younger two for a wagon ride around the property and we stopped to visit the animals. Abigail is very fond of feeding the chickens grass.  We also fed them their table scraps from dinner and they really enjoyed it!

Samuel, however, really wanted to feed the chickies.  He kept calling for them. 

During spring break and on the weekends hubby and the older kiddos have been helping build an addition to the goat barn so we have some more room for the babies.

I took some video footage of the goat girlies Skippy and Pixie so you could see how ginormous pregnant they are.  They often lay on the straw looking at me like "Help me, please!".  Poor things.

And the Winner is...

The winner of the 

Gooseberry Patch Game Day Fan-Fare cookbook is...

apple blossom

Congrats!

I have sent you an email and will get your cookbook in the mail when I receive your address.

Thanks so much, everyone, for entering the giveaway!

Stick around for a few recipes this next week!

(Winner was drawn using Random.org to pick a random comment number.)

LOVE

There is a lot of sign love going on for the 1 Corinthians scripture sign in my shop!  I have four of them to make this week (along with a few others) and that doesn't count the several I need to make next week!  

♥ ♥ ♥ 

Don't forget to enter for the 

Gooseberry Patch Game Day Fan Fare 

cookbook giveaway! 
Ends tomorrow (Tuesday) at midnight!

Go enter the giveaway HERE!

♥ ♥ ♥

Be sure to go visit other 

Gooseberry Patch giveaways this week over at 

GOODEnessgracious.com

and at

TheCountryCook.com

Good Old-Fashioned Corn Dogs!

Our family loves corn dogs. When perusing the GBP Game-Day Fan Fare cookbook for the review I found a recipe for corn dogs.  I was a bit hesitant to make them since I think if you find something good, don't mess with it.  We had found a yummy brand at the store and I was fearful that the homemade kind would get an "it's okaaaayyy, but..." from the family.  Boy was I wrong!  I got several "You need to make these again!!".  Well, alrighty then!

Corn Dogs

1/2 c. cornmeal

1-1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 c. sugar 

2 t. salt

4 t. baking powder

1 c. milk

1 egg, beaten

8 hot dogs

8 wooden craft sticks

oil for deep frying

In a large bowl, mix together cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.  Stir in milk and egg until smooth; set aside.  Pat hot dogs dry. Insert stick into each hot dog, leaving some exposed for a handle.  Heat about 2 inches of oil to 365 degrees in a deep saucepan over medium-high heat.  Roll  hot dogs in batter until evenly coated.  Fry hot dogs in oil, a few at a time, until golden on all sides.  Drain on paper towels before serving. Makes 8.
  

Notes:


*I was out of craft sticks and wanted to use my Fry Daddy (which my mom calls a P. Daddy...I think she's thinking of P. Diddy?  Either way it's hilarious!) so I made mini corn dogs by cutting the hot dogs in thirds and dipping them in the batter.  Using a fryer made it super easy.  Just fill to the line with shortening (I'm thinking of trying it with coconut oil next time), plug it in and when it's hot (test it by putting in a drop of batter) cook, rolling them around with the special turner that comes with it until they are golden brown on both sides (about 2-3 minutes).

*I used both turkey and beef hot dogs (Oscar Meyer nitrate free) for the corn dogs and we all agreed the beef tasted much better...better than store bought I was told!  Heh.

*Don't forget to pat the hot dogs dry before dipping in the batter. If they are wet the batter won't stick well at all.  I tried dipping some in flour before the batter hoping that the batter would stick a bit better, but it didn't make much of a difference.

*I also made a gluten free version of these for my mom by substituting Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Flour.  She said they were so much better than gluten free corn dogs from the store!  Another bonus! 

*I doubled the recipe and used 18 hot dogs cut into thirds.  Fed our whole family (8 kiddos and 2 adults -- not counting Grandma's gluten free).  Nothing was left and we were all pretty full. (I served them with chips, carrots and cut up apples...pretty easy dinner!)

♥ ♥ ♥

Want to win a copy of this cookbook? 

Go enter the giveaway HERE!

♥ ♥ ♥

Be sure to go visit other 

Gooseberry Patch giveaways this week over at 

 

GOODEnessgracious.com

and at

TheCountryCook.com

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you so much!

Signs, Signs...

This is what I'm up to today!  Painting some pretties for the shop!  I have six new wedding themed signs to add! 

What are you up to today?  Please, leave me a comment! 

Turtle Pie

Welcome to day three of the recipe share from the Gooseberry Patch cookbook Game Day Fan Fare Early Bird Review!

When I told the kiddos that we were having Turtle Pie for dessert they were a bit hesitant.  Hubby asked if it was snapper or box.  Ha!  Well rest assured...it's not that kind of turtle pie.

Two of our girls helped (they didn't get in the pictures this time) and they thought it was super easy!

Edited to add...
A few people had issues with it being called Turtle Pie since there isn't any chocolate in it or on it.  

Here are my thoughts:
a) I just copied the recipe out of the book and made it.  Sounded good.  It was.
b) Sandy R. shared this on Gooseberry Patch's facebook page and I found the same thing on the internet. "Turtle pie came from an old restaurant chain called "the velvet turtle", it was an old school steakhouse that mostly catered to older people, lots of prime rib, beef wellington, Cesar salads and
so their signature dessert was a pie with pecan/praline ice cream and a caramel topping." 

Now...you can't believe everything you read on the internet, but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
c)  If you have an issue with eating Turtle Pie without chocolate in it, by all means...add some chocolate.  *smile*
      


Turtle Pie  (page 216)

1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
1 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. chopped nuts (we used pecans)
1/2 c. butter, melted
14-oz. jar caramel topping, divided
2 qts. (8 cups) vanilla ice cream

In a bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour, nuts and butter.  Spread mixture on a lightly greased baking sheet; bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until crisp.  Cool completely.  Crumble crust and transfer to a 9"x13" baking pan, reserving 1/4 cup for topping.  Pour half the jar of caramel over crumbled crust.  Spread ice cream over caramel.  Drizzle with remaining caramel; sprinkle with reserved crust crumbles. Freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.  Cut into squares.  Serves 24.

Notes:
*I cooked our crust on 375 for 10 minutes and it got a bit crispier than I'd like so keep an eye on it in the oven since temperatures vary
*Served our family of 11 very well with a bit left over.


It was very delicious!  Think of it as a praline pecan ice cream flavor.  Very yummy!  All thumbs were up at our house!

♥ ♥ ♥

Want to win a copy of this cookbook? 

Go enter the giveaway HERE!

♥ ♥ ♥

Be sure to go visit other 

Gooseberry Patch giveaways this week over at 

GOODEnessgracious.com

and at

TheCountryCook.com

Farmer Boy

Our little guy, Samuel, is 17 months old and I'm almost positive he's going to be a farmer some day.  He knows all sorts of farm animal names and sounds.  I thought I'd share a little video I shot of him last week.  It was close to nap time so he was a little sleepy and when the camera comes out he gets extra goofy so this video is hilarious beyond words.   Enjoy!

Snack Mix and a Giveaway!

Today is day two of the Gooseberry Patch giveaway!  For more details and to enter visit yesterday's post featuring Easy Cheesy Bean Dip HERE.

Today's recipe is yummy, too!  (I've tweaked it a bit here and there so I'll give you the GBP recipe and my tweaks, too. 

Touchdown Toss  (page 45)

3 c. doughnut-shaped oat cereal
     (You know, the one that begins with C-H and ends with E-E-R-I-O-S?)
3 c. bite-size crispy corn cereal squares  (Yep, starts with C-H and ends in E-X.)
3 c. cookie-shaped cereal 
3 c. pretzel sticks, broken
3 c. graham crackers, broken
1 c. sunflower kernals
2 c. candy-coated chocolates (The thirteenth letter of the alphabett squared *wink*)
3 c. salted roasted mixed nuts
3 lbs. white melting chocolate, chopped

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except white chocolate.  Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave on high for one minute; stir well.  Continue to microwave at 30-second intervals until chocolate is completely melted.  Pour metled chocolate over cereal mixture; stir to coat well.  Transfer cereal mixture to 2 ungreased 10"x15" jelly-roll pans.  Spread cereal mixture evenly on pans; refrigerate for about 45 minutes, or until chocolate is set.  Break into pieces.  Makes about 24 cups.

 That's our Rebekah...she made this!  She's quite the handy-dandy helper in the kitchen!

 

Now...here's how we tweaked it!

Since we have some peanut allergies in our family we did a half-and-half sort of mixture.  After mixing together everything except the nuts and chocolate we separated half in one bowl and half in another.  We added 1 1/2 cups nuts to one bowl.  Instead of using 3 lbs. of white melting chocolate we use 1 lb.  It was very tasty!  I think the 3 lbs. would be too sweet.  It was the perfect mix of sweet and salty!  

♥ ♥ ♥

Be sure to go visit other Gooseberry Patch giveaways this week over at 

GOODEnessgracious.com

and at

TheCountryCook.com

 ♥ ♥ ♥

 Visit Old House Mercantile for a little bit of something to make your life a little more special!

Cookbook Love!

The lovely people at Gooseberry Patch have published my Easy Cheesy Bean Dip recipe in one of their new cookbooks that will be out soon!  Check it out over at my Amazon shop HERE.

Oh, and the fine folks over at GBP have given me a copy to giveaway!  Scroll down for details!

Easy Cheesy Bean Dip

1 8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
1 can bean dip
1 c. sour cream
1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 package taco seasoning mix or my homemade mix HERE
1/2 lb. shredded colby-jack cheese

Mix all ingredients except the cheese. Layer in a crock pot or a casserole dish 1/2 the mixture and 1/2 the cheese; repeat. Cook on low for 4 hours or so or bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve with nacho chips, chopped tomatoes, black olives, guacamole, etc.!

Notes: Sometimes I add 1/2 pound browned, ground beef to the mixture to give it a little more protein. A lot of times when we go camping I'll take a crock pot with us and the ingredients. I'll pop it all in the crock pot after breakfast and it's ready by lunchtime!

♥ ♥ ♥

GIVEAWAY SCOOP!

 

One copy of Game Day Fan Fare will be given away!

 Giveaway starts now and ends midnight April 10th

I'll announce the winner Thursday April 11th

ENTRIES

EACH ENTRY MUST BE IN A SEPARATE COMMENT, PLEASE

1 Entry -  Leave me a comment ...

tell me how your day is going, something funny your cat did, etc.

BE SURE TO LEAVE YOUR NAME AND EMAIL 

1 Entry -  Share this post on Facebook

tell me (in a separate comment) that you did and leave me the link

1 Entry - Tweet about this post

leave me your twitter link (in a separate comment)

1 Entry - Post about the giveaway here on your blog

leave a link to your blog (in a separate comment)

♥ ♥ ♥

Be sure to go visit other Gooseberry Patch giveaways this week over at 

GOODEnessgracious.com

and at

TheCountryCook.com


 ♥ ♥ ♥

 Visit Old House Mercantile for a little bit of something to make your life a little more special!