Warm Feet...Happy Heart!

A cool front pushed through our area yesterday leaving fall-like temperatures and cool breezes in place of the hot and humid weather that we have been having.

We spent our evening sitting around a fire in the backyard.

That's me, or shall I say, my feet!

It was so cozy sitting around the fire just relaxing.

The kids sat with us for a while and then they played for a bit. (They love to run around the cornstalks in the garden at night with flashlights.)

Eventually we called it a night.

The warmth of the fire made us all sleepy so we headed to bed.

I'm looking forward to the fast approaching fall season, cooler temps. and many more nights by the fire.

Pimento Cheese Sandwich Spread

Here's the recipe that I talked of earlier in the week. It's the spread that I made to go with the bread.

(That sentence makes me think of the the nursery rhyme The House That Jack Built! :)

This is easy to whip up and tastes so good!

Sorry, it's not the best photo but it will have to do for now!

Hope everyone enjoys the weekend!

Pimento Cheese Spread

1 lb. grated cheedar cheese

4 oz. jar of chopped pimentos (undrained)

4 heaping tbsp. Miracle Whip

4 drops Tobasco sauce

a small sprinkling of Paprika

Mix all together and refrigerate.

A little bit of Fall!

Here's a picture of the fall stitchery that I completed yesterday. Now all I have to do is find a frame for it.

I'm thinking about using brown and orange to paint it and then sand it down. I want the dark brown to show through but would like to see a hint of orange. Not sure if it will look good but I've got to at least try it. If it looks to bad I'll just repaint it.

The pattern for this is by Dianne Cook and can be found HERE. She has lots of free patterns for you to use.

Another sign of Fall approaching is the start of school & today was the day here in our county.

I homeschool my youngest two children but my oldest is in the 8th grade and does attend public schools. Needless to say, he wasn't very happy to be up early and heading back to school.

That's all for today. I've got to get busy on some schooling for the other 2 kids. Have a great day!

Oh So Soft Oatmeal Bread

I love oatmeal bread whether it's store bought or homemade because of it's soft texture and sweet flavor. It's a light bread instead of such a hard dense loaf as some wheat breads can be.

This recipe turned out perfect. Though the next time I make it I may try to add a bit of whole wheat flour to it and see how it turns out.

This along with the spread that I made this weekend was yummy!

(I'll share that recipe later!)

Homemade Oatmeal Bread

1 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp. salt

1/4 cup melted butter

3 tbsp. light molasses

1 cup boiling water

1 pkg. dry yeast

1 cup warm water

4 - 4 1/2 cups flour

In a large bowl, combine first 6 ingredients.

Add yeast, warm water and half of the flour.

Beat till smooth.

Add rest of flour and knead till smooth.

Put dough in a greased bowl.

Cover and let rise until doubled.

Punch dough down.

Cover and let rise another 15 minutes.

Shape into 2 loaves and place in bread pans.

Bake 35 minutes at 350°.

( I used my Kitchen-Aid mixer on this. The dough was a bit sticky but I just greased my hands and bowl well before working with it.)

I WON!

Stephanie over at The Life of a Farmers Wife recently had a giveaway on her blog. This morning as I browsed through my favorite blogs I saw that she had picked the winner and guess what.....It was ME! ☺☺☺

Stop on over to her place to see what I won.

http://thelifeofafarmerswife.blogspot.com/

It's Tomato Time!

I'm up to my ears in tomatoes this year.

I am losing many to blight but trust me I still have plenty to go around.

And speaking of ears, I picked the biggest ear of corn the other day.

It measured 11 inches long which compared to the others was HUGE!

I'm busy canning tomatoes today so this post is rather short & boring but I'll be back tomorrow. I have a few new recipes to share and I'm almost finished with my fall stitchery plus I tried a few new craft ideas this weekend that I'll tell you about.
Have a great day!

Some Much Needed Rain

We have had very hot & humid days in the 90's all week long but we finally got a little break last night. The storm clouds moved in and we had some good soaking rains for a short time. It's still supposed to be hot and humid today but then the weekend promises cooler temps. and low humidity.

Here's a little project that I started on the other day.

It's going to be a fall harvest stitchery. It's pretty small so I SHOULD be able to complete it quickly. I think I'll coffee stain it and place it in an antiqued frame. I'll share a finished picture when I get it all done.

Well I'm off to get my day started!

Peanut Butter Squares

I've been going through my mother-in-laws recipes recently and I came across this one. I just had to try it.

The ingredients remind me of those that Mee-Mee (my grandmother) used to use when she made peanut butter no-bakes. Chocolate no-bakes are good too but peanut butter are my favorite.

Anyways, I mixed these up yesterday and OH MY!

Peanut Butter Heaven!

They tasted like warm peanut butter fudge with oatmeal.

I decided to place mine in the refrigerator to let cool and then I cut them into squares. They were still good after that but they are best eaten right off the spoon when they are still warm.

These are a good treat to make on a hot summer day when you don't want to turn the oven on and heat the house up. Also, I took advantage of Kroger's add last week and stocked up on their peanut butter while it was on sale for .99¢ so I had plenty to use.

Peanut Butter Squares

4 cups sugar

1 cup milk

2 sticks butter

18 oz. jar of peanut butter

6 cups quick oats

1 tsp. vanilla

Combine sugar, milk & butter in a pan.

Mix and bring to a boil.

Boil for 1 1/2 minutes.

Remove from heat and add peanut butter, oats and vanilla.

Mix and let set for 1 minute.

Pour onto a waxed paper lined cookie sheet.

Let cool and cut into squares.

Another Treat to Help Beat the Heat!

I found this recipe over at Keepin It Simple and thought I'd give it a try.

I wasn't wild about the thought of adding vegetable oil to a drink but we tried it and it was delicious!

My blender isn't used very often so I keep it stored under the counter in it's original box. However, after trying this recipe it now stays on top of my counter because this treat has become a favorite and is often requested.

I had to experiment a little to see what would happen if I cut the oil back and I am happy to say that it worked. My kids and husband all said that it gave it an even bigger chocolate taste.

You can find the original recipe at http://simplysandras.blogspot.com/ under desserts or you can try my trimmed down version below.

Homemade Frosty

1 1/2 cups ice water

2/3 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups non fat dry milk powder

1/4 cup cocoa

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tbsp. oil

5 second spray of (Pam) cooking spray

4-5 cups ice cubes

Place first six ingredients in to blender.

Spray the top with Pam.

Add ice cubes and blend 2 minutes.

ENJOY!

Homemade "Gatorade"

Football season is here which means many evenings sitting in the blazing sun watching practice or games. It has been so hot and humid here for the past week that it is just miserable. When we come home after practice we are just zapped...and I'm talking about ME and the 2 younger kids. The football player himself seems fine, all energized and ready to go. In an attempt to keep cool we have all been slurping away on cold beverages. (More to come later!) I've been making this homemade "Gatorade" for him to take to practice for the past few days and all seem to like it.

I am not a big fan of the taste of Gatorade but surprisingly this doesn't taste too bad. But then again, that just depends on what flavor you make. So far we have tried tropical punch, orange and lemon. My favorite so far is the fruit punch. Give it a try, it makes a good bit more than the store-bought and is a whole lot cheaper.

Homemade "Gatorade"

1 pack unsweetened Kool Aid (any flavor)

2 quarts cold water

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cups orange juice

Mix all together and enjoy!

(I usually double this to make a large family-sized pitcher!)

Bacon Pineapple Pizza

Here is my homemade version of a Hawaiian Pizza. I made four pizzas the other night, one to please each and every picky eater at my house. There was Hawaiian, plain cheese, extra pepperoni and then a white pizza. I figured I would be the only person to eat the bacon & pineapple one so I only made one.

Wrong move! It was the first pizza tray to be empty. Even my most picky eater gobbled this up!

The first five ingredients are for the dough which will make enough for 2 pizza crusts. The toppings that I listed below were used on just 1 of the crusts so you will need to double the toppings if making more than one pizza or top the second crust with your own favorite toppings!

Bacon & Pineapple Pizza

1 pkg. yeast

2 cups warm water

2 tsp. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. salt

4 tbsp. oil

5 cups flour

Toppings:

1 lb. bacon, fried & crumbled

1 jar pizza or spaghetti sauce

20 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained

8-12 oz. shredded cheese (mozz., colby jack, etc.)

Fry bacon & place on paper towels to absorb extra grease.

Drain pineapple.

In a large bowl, mix yeast & water.

Add sugar & salt.

Stir in oil.

Slowly add flour.

Mix well. (I use my Kitchen-Aid mixer with a dough hook)

Grease hands and form dough into a ball.

Place dough back in bowl, cover with a towel and let rise 5-10 minutes.

Divide dough into 2 balls.

Take each ball and spread out onto a pizza pan.

Top pizza with pizza or spaghetti sauce.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Top with half of the crumbled bacon.

Use hands to "sprinkle" half of the pineapple over top of bacon.

Sprinkle the remaining bacon and pineapple on top.

Bake in oven at 350° for 20 minutes or till crust is browned to your own liking.

Enjoy!

15 years ago....

Wow! Has it really been 15 years?

I guess so!

15 years together has given us

a happy home with

3 great kids,

lots of laughter

and many memories.

Looking forward to many more dear.

Love Ya!

One Lonely Sunflower

Just one little lonely sunflower stands in the middle of my garden.

My garden of weeds that is!

We have been gone for 10 days and boy did the weeds ever take over.

I picked some tomatoes but it looks like the blight is starting in on them so I'm not sure how many I will get this year.

This years corn is the tallest I have ever seen. It stands at about 10 feet tall. The ears are slowly coming on so we will see. If nothing else I will have it to use for decoration this fall.

I lost my first batch of green beans so I planted another round and they are blooming now.

Last but not least, I have never grown cucumbers or squash and gotten anything from them. Last year something got to the roots and they all died. This year I have both and they are doing well. I have lil' cucumbers on the vine and blooms on the squash.

We also have pumpkins & several kinds of peppers, eggplant & sweet potatoes, basil & chives.

This fall I am going to fertilize well and add mulch and hopefully next years garden will do better.

We're HOME!

Here is our kids sitting in front of my Mother-in-Law's house just before we left to return home. We have been out of town for about a week and a half and it is great to be back HOME!

Home now and there is lots to do like unpacking,cutting the grass, working in the garden,grocery shopping, bill paying, laundry & if all that wasn't enough football practice begins today. So why did I say it was great to be back home?

Well the answer to that would simply be that regardless of the hassles/chores/schedules of home.... There is No Place Like Home!

We stayed with my BIN & SIL while packing up all of my mother-in-laws belongings. It has been just over a month since she passed away and it just seems unreal to walk into her house and her not be there.

There was lots of work to do but we also enjoyed the time spent with family. Most evenings we could be found at the pond attempting to catch fish.

I say attempting because some of us (ME) were not very successful.

However, my oldest son was. Here he is with a small bass.

And here is a catfish that he caught. After catching this one, the race was on! He and his Dad were determined to get the BIG one.

Gage on the other hand, just sat back patiently waiting on a bite and if he wasn't doing that then he was waiting for someone else to catch one so he could take it off the hook.

Everyone enjoyed themselves!

Katie kept herself busy on the walking paths behind the house and playing with the neighbor girls.

Nature Girl

A nice change of pace from our everyday life but happy to be home!

It may take me another day or two before I get back into the full swing of things with my blogging but I will be back. I also have lots of catching up to do with all of your blog posts to read.
Enjoy the day!