It's 17 degrees F.............. Why am I taking pictures??????

Anna (Formerly Kit Kat)

Peek-A-Boo!

Cocoa's Twin Heifers

Pocket Aka Tinkerbelle

Skeletor (Remember the cartoon He-Man?)

Anna

Anna and Pocket (Mom)

Pocket's Empty Udder

The Family (Cocoa, Miss Swiss, Twins)

Twice Blessed - Photo Gallery

Cocoa's Twin Heifers 2 days old

Big Girl on the left and Little Girl on the right

Big girl getting ready to lie down (that's NOT mom)

Peek-a-boo

Mom giving Big Girl a bath

Little Girl playing

Cottage Cheese with Fresh Cherries

A fabulous summer meal or snack!  This mornings breakfast was a handful of fresh cherries cut in halves, sprinkled with a little sugar and salt and topped with 4% cottage cheese with no gums, stabilizers or fillers.


This also makes a wonderfully easy to go meal if made with frozen fruit.  I can pack a wide mouth, pint size mason jar with frozen fruit and cottage cheese with a single ice pack in a cooler bag and have it just right for eating 8 hours later.


Hearth and Soul Hop
See Ya In The Gumbo

Summertime Coffee Mousse

mousse  (muːs)
1.	a light creamy dessert made with eggs, cream, fruit, etc, set with gelatine

Oh, what a lovely accident!
The temperature was rising and I was in a smoothie mood, so got my blender out.  I was thinking along the lines of  Iced Coffee Nog so I used some leftover coffee that already had gelatin dissolved in it and added some extra milk, 1 egg, a touch of homemade vanilla and sugar.  I blended in a generous portion of ice at the end. What I ended up with was a light, creamy spoon able fluff that was filling, cool and delicious.

Using and working with gelatin

Here I am, sitting at my computer, paying bills. yeah.
Breakfast is what has become an old standard for me, coffee (brewed with a generous pinch of salt) with gelatin, sugar and milk. A complete meal, quick and easy, travels well as long as it doesn't get too cold.  Hard to mess up, really...... but I've manged to do it on occasion.

A few tips for working with gelatin:
Regular, unflavored gelatin powder needs to be dissolved into hot liquid in order to gel.  There are different  ways of going about that.

1. Sprinkle over cold liquid and wait, patiently, until it has absorbed the liquid...then heat up the liquid until the gelatin melts. Serve hot as in a soup or cold as in jello.
2. Stir rapidly with already hot liquid, like fresh brewed coffee.  It helps to mix with other dry ingredients first, like the sugar, to help prevent clumping.  It can then be added to a partial portion of hot liquid until dissolved, then add remaining liquid.  You need room in the vessel (cup, bowl, pot) for the liquid to go up the sides quite a bit from the RAPID stirring.
3. Plop gelatin en masse in a clump into lukewarm liquid and let it sit for a bit, then try to stir. This method will ensure that only the outside of the clump melts, sealing in the rest of the still dry powder into a large chewy ball that is totally inedible.  I don't actually recommend method #3.

Strawberry Crisp - GF

I took the recipe for the peach crisp and switched the peaches with strawberries. Oh, and I accidentally used the whole stick of butter.  Tasty mistake, that one. ;)

The only thing I would change is the addition of a little tart, like lemon zest and/or juice....or rhubarb, perhaps.

Gorgeous, yeah? 

 Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup quick oats
• 1/2 cup white rice flour 
• 2 TBS gelatin
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4-1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter, softened + extra to butter crock (or coconut oil)
• 4-6 cups fresh or frozen strawberries.....honestly, I forgot to measure

Blend everything together except the peaches strawberries. Mix half of the dry ingredients to the peaches strawberries and put in buttered baking dish or crock.  Sprinkle crumble over top of strawberries. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, no preheating required for a toaster oven.

Serve warm with ice cream or whip cream for dessert or with milk for a snack.

Hearth and Soul Hop 
Simple Lives Thursday

Easy Peach Crisp - GF

I prefer fresh peaches off the tree, but the late snow may have put a damper on this year's peaches.
Too soon to tell......
This takes 30 minutes in a toaster oven or 3-4 hours in a slow cooker.  Which would you choose? 
I found the original recipe here: Peach Crisp in the Slow Cooker   I modified it to suit my tastes/needs.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup quick oats
• 1/2 cup white rice flour 
• 2 TBS gelatin
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4-1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter, softened + extra to butter crock (or coconut oil)
• 2 large (20 oz) cans peaches, drained well. I prefer the juice sweetened over corn syrup.

Blend everything together except the peaches. Mix half of the dry ingredients to the peaches and put in buttered baking dish or crock.  Sprinkle crumble over top of peaches. For the quick version, bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, no preheating required for a toaster oven.

Serve warm with ice cream or whip cream for dessert or with milk for a snack.

See ya in the Gumbo 
Gluten Free Wednesday

Iced Coffee Nog

The weather is finally getting warm, finally.  We had a tease of an 80 degree day the beginning of May, then it snowed.  It's warming up again, hopefully to stay this time.  It's not really too hot for hot coffee yet, but I can hope, can't I?

Ingredients per serving:
1 egg
1-2 TBS cane sugar
1/2 cup cold, strong coffee
1/2 cup whole milk 
or half and half
pinch of salt


Mix all the ingredients in a blender and serve over ice.  You can blend the ice in, but will need to make the coffee stronger to compensate for the extra water. Tastes like Haagen Daz lite.

Hearth and Soul Hop

Cowboy Cookies - GF

I hate oatmeal.  It's ok going down loaded with butter and sugar, but it never satisfies me.  I am still hungry after eating oatmeal, so I haven't eaten it in years....not kept any in the house either.  I don't even go down the cereal aisle.

Picture me in the fall, with some friends, picnicking on a pontoon boat on the lake on a GORGEOUS "just the right temperature" day.  Picture me being offered a cookie made by someone else introduced as a coconut oil cookie. Picture me trying not to have an "Ewww" face. (I'm not really a cookie person, ice cream is my "go to", and not all women are good bakers and coconut oil is NOT always baking friendly. The cookies I tried to make with coconut oil a while back were horrible.) Picture my eyes popping out of my head at the surprise at how much I like this cookie. An oatmeal cookie that's relatively healthy and not a hockey puck.

Cowboy Cookies

All bagged up to save for later......

Blend:
1 cup coconut oil
1 cup cane sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

In a separate bowl whisk together or sift:
2 cups white rice flour
2-3 TBS unflavored gelatin
1/2-1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2-1 tsp cream of tartar

Blend flour mix into wet mix.

Add:
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup semi or dark chocolate chips (approx 5 oz)

Dough will be crumbly.  Drop by spoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet (actually, I didn't grease).  Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

These bad boys will SPREAD, so give them room to grow.  I used an ice cream scoop to keep them an even size, made hand sized cookies.  The first batch I made I used less gelatin and less cream of tartar, made for a crispier cookie...like a granola bar on the edges.  The second batch I used the larger amounts and it made for chewier cookies.  I also made a double batch and used the Bosch.  We had votes for both variations in our household.  Extras can be frozen and make for convenient snacks and travel food....just add milk.

Would work well for making ice cream sandwiches....just sayin'.

Edited 032013: Not to shock you or anything, but this is NOT a weight loss friendly food....just sayin'. ;)

See ya in the Gumbo 
Scratch Cookin' Tuesday 
Gluten Free Wednesday 
Melt in your Mouth Monday

Milk and Honey AKA Perfection in a Glass

One of my favorite snacks growing up was a tall, cold glass of milk and a spoonful of honey.  We are currently experiencing a glut of fresh, CREAMY milk, so I'd thought I'd share how I am resolving such a serious problem.

The milk MUST be cold.  The whole point is to be able to drink the milk from the spoon while tasting small amounts of honey with each sip.

Yes, you are mostly eating straight honey in the beginning.  It's like a honey lolly pop.  The honey eventually fades (or drips to the bottom of the cup) and each sip has more and more milk.

In the end, if you have enough honey for those last few sips, but not too much, and the milk isn't too sweet from dissolved honey, you have successfully accomplished the art of Milk and Honey.


See Ya In The Gumbo 
Barn Hop 
Fat Tuesday 
Hearth and Soul Hop

Volcano 2013

My special designated Volcano Glass

I thought I would share my current recipe for the "Volcano" the anti viral concoction that actually works.  The current recipe maintains the 1 part ACV to 1 part "flavor covering" liquid with baking soda.  However, sometimes I just do approximately 1 TBS each vs 2 TBS each.  Baking soda stays at 1/2 tsp for my needs.  This change is due to some personal experiences with it reacting so fast, I couldn't swallow any of it. WASTED.  I hate waste.

1 tsp pomegranate concentrate
(found in the back of the cupboard, must have gotten it on sale at some point.)
1 TBS aloe vera juice
1 TBS ACV

1/2 tsp baking soda

Mix liquids first. 

Brace yourself and add 1/2 tsp baking soda, plopped on top and try to shoot it before it reacts.  The first time or even first few times you will FEEL it in your stomach.  Make sure to take it away from meals.  I usually wait a half hour or so.  Make sure it can exit in a timely manner after it's done it's job too.  Not going to go into any details there. ;)

I will be taking this at least every day during flu season....more if needed.

New Pigs on the Block and other Pics

 

Apparently, pigs have a similar sleep schedule to teenage boys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chicken saw me and assumed I was bringing milk.  Sorry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Wilbur decided to see what the hubbub was about.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sooty wasn't leaving the nest.

French Toast - GF

Contrary to popular belief,  french toast is not a way to use up stale bread.  It is also not a way to use up an over abundance of eggs.  It is simply the ultimate vehicle for highlighting the exquisite taste of maple syrup....and butter, lots and lots of butter!  At least in our house. ;)

Ingredients
bread, sliced
eggs
cinnamon (optional)
nutmeg (optional)
vanilla (optional)
cane sugar (optional)
sea salt (optional)

butter
maple syrup

Preheat greased pan to a medium low heat.  Beat the eggs in a wide bottomed bowl....as close to the size of the slice as you can manage.  I use about 2 slices of bread per egg. This is an estimate only.  The size of the slice and the size of the egg can vary.  Any one of the optional ingredients can be added,  if desired.  I don't know that I would add all of them at the same time.  Soak the bread in the egg, coating each side completely, and carefully place in hot pan.  Cook for a few minutes on each side.  Keep warm in a low oven if doing a large batch.  Layer butter between each piece on individual plates.  When butter is melted, drizzle with maple syrup.

Lick plate when done.

See Ya In The Gumbo 
Melt in Your Mouth Monday 
Gluten Free Wednesday

Irish Soda Bread - GF

Ingredients
3 cups rice flour
1-2 TBS unflavored beef gelatin
2 tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup cane sugar (optional)

1 egg
2 cups milk#

1/4 cup melted coconut oil, butter or lard

• Preheat oven to 325* (I skip this step for my toaster oven.)

• Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl.  (Sugar is optional, simply because I forgot to add it the second time I made this and didn't notice.  Ketchup boy noticed.) 

• Set aside.  

• Beat egg and add milk in a separate bowl.  

• Mix egg/milk into dry ingredients and blend.  

• Add melted coconut oil or fat of choice. 

• Blend.  

• Pour ( or plop) bread mix into a greased bread pan.  It rises, but doesn't spread much, so you will need to add it evenly, if you want an even loaf.

• Bake for 65-70 minutes or until toothpick comes clean.  

• Let cool completely on wire rack before cutting.  I made this in the toaster oven in the evening,  let it cool over night and sliced in the morning.

#The original recipe called for buttermilk.  You can sour milk quickly by adding a little ACV, if desired.


Slightly Indulgent Tuesday
Gluten Free Wednesday