Another Fall Picture

I know, another fall picture but soon all the colors will be gone and it will only be snow pictures again. David, Jess, and the boys are on their way up this morning. Our church does a halloween alternative, which we call Christfest. It is always lots of fun. We will be doing it tonight. Kids and adults both usually dress up. I hope to take lots of pictures to show everyone. We will be eating at church for the evening meal. Lunch here will be burgers on the grill with homemade buns, home fries with ranch dressing for lunch. Depending on time, I might make a pumpkin pie-not sure. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy your day. I know I will, lots of MawMaw time. God bless.

October 30, 2010 2

Mr. Squirrel

This little guy was playing hide and seek yesterday while we were at the park. Hubby kept trying to get his picture and he would run away. It was kinda fun trying to catch him in a good pose. Finally, he just gave up and took the shot. I think it turned out good. This question is for Jess-Do you think this could be the one? (It’s a long standing family joke)

The sun is beginning to shine today so maybe we are done with the rainy, dreary days for a while. I really want to hang my clothes outside today. I have them in the machine in hopes of getting them out before the sun decides to hide behind the clouds. Today we will be doing school, as usual, cleaning the house for bible study tomorrow, and hopefully finishes another sack of apples. So I guess I’d better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 28, 2010 3

Roll Recipe

I use my Zojirushi bread machine to make the dough for my rolls. I put 1 cup lukewarm water into the machine, 1/4 cup butter-cut into chunks, 1egg beaten, 3 1/4 cups bread flour, 4 tbsp sugar, 3 tbsp powdered milk, 1tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp yeast. Set the machine to dough cycle and walk away. It takes the machine l hr 50 min. to run through this cycle. Then I take the dough out, punch it down and form the rolls. I get about 15 rolls from 1 batch. Then I spray them with olive oil and let them rise for about 1 hr. Bake 12 min. at 425 degrees. When I take them out of the oven, I brush them with melted butter(being generous with the butter). Half of these never make it to the table. They get eaten as soon as the butter is spread on them. One thing I do a little different from this recipe is I put 1 1/4 cup fresh ground wheat flour and 2 cups bread flour instead of using all bread flour. I also have lowered my heat to 400 degrees because the pans I use are darker pans. I have just discovered they do so much better using 3 round cake pans-8 rolls per pan than they do on a cookie sheet. Hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as we do. God bless.

October 27, 2010 1

Apple Muffins

Here is a picture of the apple muffins I made this morning. They were very good. I definitely will be making them again. Thanks for sharing the recipe, Cheryl. Here is the recipe:

2 cups flour (I used whole wheat), 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 3/4 cup apple juice, 1/3 cup oil, 1 egg and 1 cup diced apples. Combine all ingredients and put into muffin pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 min. Next time I make it I will add nuts but I didn’t this time. Anyway they were really good.

Today has been rain, rain, and then some more rain. Extremely dreary. Hubby is having trouble with the van but has been unable to work on it because of the rain. We did manage to sneak in a picnic lunch over at the park. They have a shed there and we were fortunate enough to get to use the shed, otherwise we would have had to come home. We had hamburgers on the grill, pasta salad and yogurt. We got some more good pictures to share.

I hope you all enjoy your day and God bless.

October 27, 2010 1

Rolls

I thought I would share a picture of my rolls. Always before I have put them on a cookie sheet to bake. When I do this, I get 13-15 rolls. Over the weekend, I tried something different and put them into 3 round cake pans. I get 21-24 rolls using these pans and I think they look and taste better. Yesterdays supper was fried chicken, home canned corn, and gravy. With of course, these rolls.

We worked on the apples some more yesterday. I canned this juice instead of freezing it. Freezing it is much easier but, Praise the Lord, my freezers are getting full. I have to save some space my the deer my Hubby will be getting. Notice my positive thinking! Anyway, we got 5 qts of juice and 2 qts of applesauce. Hopefully, we will be doing more today.

I am trying out a new recipe for apple muffins for breakfast. Thanks Cheryl for sharing. They have just came out of the oven. I think I will go enjoy them. Take care and God bless.

October 27, 2010 2

Juicer/Steamer

Here is a picture of my juicer/steamer in action. Yesterday it was raining very hard. It would have been difficult for me to go outside to do the juice. Hubby set up the propane burner on our enclosed front porch. It worked extremely well. So much better than out in the shed. We just opened up the windows for ventilation. We got another 2 gal. of juice yesterday and 3 qts of applesauce and 4 qts of applebutter. The mountain of apples is getting smaller now. Soon we will be starting on the pears.

I thought you all might enjoy another fall shot. I snapped this as we were going down the road toward Floyd. I thought maybe it would be blurred but it turned out nice, I think. Today we will be working on more apples and school. It is very foggy here today. A dreary day. A day for lighting candles. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 26, 2010 1

Pretty Blue Flowers

This pretty little stream runs through one of the fields below our house. A few blue flowers are still holding on. Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Floyd. Today however we may get some rain. Pretty windy and overcast. The pastors sermon yesterday was on David and Goliath and facing the giants in our own life. It was an excellent sermon. Last nights menu was mostly leftovers from the “critter chompin”. We had a cornbeard casserole, potato cakes, green beans, baked beans, fresh homemade bread, chips and dip, and cake. We always eat sooooo good!

Today, hopefully, we will get some more of our apples worked up, along with school. I am doing laundry but it will have to be dried inside-so sad. I really miss hanging clothes outside. I think they smell so good. Well, I better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 25, 2010 1

More Pictures

A few more fall pictures to enjoy!

Isn’t that sky a beautiful color!

Ain’t that two beautiful girls!

Yesterday was very nice here. Wonderful tempertures, beautiful sunshine. Our church sponsors, once a year, a sportmans banquet, or as we call it a “critter chompin” It is a lot of fun with lots of good fun. We had a guest speaker who brought a good message. We also had some funny stories but of course the highlight of the evening was the food. We really didn’t have much wild “critter” though. One bear dish, mostly deer and just regular food. I took tuna cakes, homemade rolls, a molasses (stack) cake, and some hot cider. There was so much food it would be impossible for me to name it all. I’m so sorry you missed it, Dave.

Today has been another beautiful day. I think though the forecasters are calling for rain the first of the week. I think I better hurry out to my “green swing” and enjoy the beauty that God has created. Take care and God bless.

October 24, 2010 1

Fall Colors

Here is another picture from our outing yesterday. Such beautiful colors. Today has been busy working on the new room. We have the vinyl flooring down. Now I should pause to say “where I come from” we call this linoleum. Here they call it vinyl flooring. Anyway, it is down on the floor. All the trim is cut, painted and on except for the window trim. It is really starting to look like a room. I will try to post a picture of it soon so you all can see our progress.

We did not have ladies bible study today. Two of the ladies were unable to come so we just decided to call it off. Probably for the best, my house is a little cluttered right now. Hopefully, soon it will all be finished and we can get everything back in order. Today has been a beautiful day here in Floyd. Nice temperatures, cool but not too much, lots of sunshine. We did have a fire all day which has felt really nice. I cooked my first kettle of pinto beans on the wood stove today so I guess fall is officially here. There is no better pinto beans than those cooked on a wood stove-in my opinion.

Well, still more to get done. Enjoy your evening and God bless.

October 22, 2010 2

Outdoor Fun

We decided to surprise the girls today and do a picnic lunch. This area is one of their favorite picnic spots and it is close to home. We had a great time. We took so many pictures. I will share them with you all over the next few days. This is the road leading into the park. After lunch we came home and had some difficulties with our stove. As you all know, we have been using it a lot this summer. Hubby only recently replaced all the stove eyes and their receptables. Well, today as the steamer/juicer was busy with our second batch of cider, the receptable shorted out and caught on fire. Praise the Lord, Hubby was here and got everything under control quickly. This does mean, however, that until he can fix it the biggest eye on my stove is not usable. Well, “all things worketh good”. He has been wanting to fix us a place outside to use the propane burner to can on. So today, prompted by need, he got the burner set up and I used it to cook the second batch of apples on. It works really well. I’m not sure how it will do using the pressure canner though. We haven’t tried that yet.

We now have 2 gal. of apple cider. YEAH! We have been running the apples that have cooked down through the roma sauce maker. Yesterday we just used it for applesauce. It is really thick though as all the juice has been cooked out. Today, we decided to try something a little different. We make applebutter out of it. No cooking involved-no simmering for hours praying it does not stick. Just added the sugar and spices AND put it in freezer bags and froze it. I’m not sure how it will be but it certainly was easier. It tasted just like applebutter that had simmered for a long time so I think it will be good.

Well, I am tired so I think I will rest for a while. Oh, I almost forgot, Hubby got the room painted today. I guess the next step is to lay down the rug. Getting closer every day. Enjoy your evening and God bless.

October 21, 2010 2