A Life Without....

A life without fresh eggs is just too hard, so hard that I considered buying laying hens; but paying 10 to 15 dollars a piece was just too much. Thankfully I found a lady needing to down size her flock. Many are older and most are bantams;

But for 2-dollars a piece I was not complaining! And look at this...

Five eggs the very first day!

Out in the Garden

It is a strange year for tomatoes. My plants are tall and healthy;

But no tomatoes, just lots of pretty blooms. I have heard that others are having this same problem.

What I thought was Serrano peppers...

Have turned out to be bell peppers.

My jalapeno peppers that struggled to come up and then struggled to grow....

Are now producing cute little jalapeno peppers. And the onions are still growing despite the fact that I am constantly stepping on the green tops.

With the drought we are having I wasn't sure how well my garden would do, but this years garden is one of the best I have had.

I Miss You

Dear Eggs,

I miss you. Last week we purchased store eggs for the first time in years. You made my day brighter and satisfied my taste like no other.

We hope to see you again in February or March.

Love,

Patty

Another Puppy

In the middle of our busy summer we stopped long enough to enjoy a birthday party.Elizabeth requested I make a puppy for the birthday girl; it was well received.

Granola Bars

Elizabeth has been so anxious to learn to cook but I tend to say "I don't have time" too often. To solve this problem I have begun letting her make simple recipes when I am busy elsewhere. In my recent coupon magazine I found a recipe for homemade granola bars that looked pretty simple to make.

While I was busy in the sewing room Elizabeth took over the kitchen; all in all she spent about an hour and a half preparing them for the oven.

Elizabeth did a great job, all I had to do was answer questions and remind her to measure in a separate bowl before adding ingredients to the mixing bowl. She was scared when measuring the liquid ingredients and had me stand nearby to watch!

How did the granola bars taste? Well, they were good but not very sweet; so we dipped them in honey!

Brown Sugar

I tried making brown sugar for the first time more than 20 years ago and it was a disaster. Recently I decided to give it a try once again.

To make brown sugar you will need white sugar and molasses.Pour sugar in a mixing bowl.

Add some molasses to the sugar and begin mixing.

Continue adding the molasses slowly; roughly a tablespoon or two at one time.

As you add more molasses you will begin to see how the color is changing and how the sugar is beginning to look moist.

When the sugar is as dark as you like stop adding molasses and just let it continue to mix.

Stop mixing when it looks well blended.

Store in an air tight container.

The first time I tried making brown sugar I mixed it by hand, using a mixer really makes a difference; just wish I hadn't waited so long to give it a try again.

Summer Baking

During hot summer days I find a toaster oven to be a very valuable appliance; we can make pizza without heating up the house.And even bake fresh dinner rolls.

This is one appliance that pays for itself over and over again!

Playing Dress Up

This year for the Dress Like A Cow Chick-fil-a day Elizabeth had her cousin visiting.It made dressing up twice the fun.

I so love the promotions Chick-fil-a does.

The kids had a great time eating and playing.

And my sister-in-law and I had a great time visiting and looking at the fun costumes others had made for the big day.

On a Hot Summer Day

Hot weather plus a water hose is a great way to cool off.I even washed her hair before she was ready to come inside.

Carrots

The carrots are growing well and the plants are so tall they are falling over.When I picked a few I was expecting them to taste sweet and juicy; but I was disappointed, they were flavorless.

I'm not sure why, perhaps the dry hot summer weather.

Cucumbers

I was so late getting our cucumbers planted this year...But boy oh boy were they worth the wait....

Crisp and delightful and oh so yummy!

Our Fourth

Our Fourth was spent watching the parade.I love this stagecoach.

And this balloon.

Sadly all fireworks were cancelled due to the drought.

Homemade Ice Cream

Several years ago I tried making homemade ice cream but it had a strong "cream" taste that I didn't like. With the weather being so hot I decided to begin a search once again and settled on this recipe from the Eagle Brand web site.Another reason to make ice cream, aside from the heat, was to try out my new ice cream attachment that fits my KitchenAid mixer. It worked very well and was so simple to use.

The ice cream was delicious! I plan to make this recipe several more times this summer adding fresh strawberries the next time.