Almost the weekend!!

Goodness it is almost weekend again!! WOW I have said it many times, but really cannot believe how fast time is goin by!!  On monday I feel like I have all the time to get ready for my thurs and sat markets and geeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzeeeeeeeee it is gone like ...............that!! gone poof!  Crazy Crazy!!  Today was an absolutely postively one of the most beautful market days (weather wise) just as we were packing up it was getting hot, 94 when I left the parking lot.  I did put the ac back on now this evening it was a bit stuffy in the house and Buster was acting like he was a bit uncomforably warm.  He and my litte Barney boo are laying on the couch next to me!  Bruno and "Mr Naughty Pants" aka Arnold are playing with toys! Oh my I dont think I have introduced yall to our new addition!  "Mr Naughty Pants *LOL* Arnold.  Hubby surprised me a couple of weeks ago with another boston.  This one suppossely "wandered" to his work place and he fell in love!! OK at first I did believe his little story about how this poor little guy was all alone and lost and how he did TRY to find an owner!!  YEAH ok so yall can see where my thinking is now right....... Really we didnt need another dog but he is such a sweetie and has really fit in here in our little family quite nicely.  The boys play play play and "Arnold" is a cuite pie for sure!! He is very attached to hubby and sleeps curled up next to him, on top of him, or on his pillow touching him!  LOL very cute.  So hubby calls him "Boss" but as you already know from above I have another name or two.  LOL   Arnold fits because I have always wanted a pot belly piggy and since growing up watching Green Acres wanted to name him "Arnold" so this litttle guy fits that name quite well.  He does snort thus the name!!  LOL .

This is the newest addition!!  As you can see that yes........is a metal wrench he is hovering over!! He carried that around in his little mouth and then laid on the chair with it.  What a silly goof!  He finds things that I have no clue at all where they come from!  Little scavenger for sure! LOL but a keeper!

And my Buster Brown guarding one of his rawhides! 

This is a small mural I am working on at the flywheelers club we belong to. I have one more side then finishing touches to put on the base before the show starts in 2 weeks!! YIKES!! 2 weeks to go!! WOW!

This side is almost done, just gotta finish the addition on the barn and add a few little odds n ends. 

A garden and little orchard and some rows of corn

and of cource I HAD to just HAD to put some...............chickens on it!! somewhere!! LOL

piped out mocha cookie dough

My mom was the chocolate dipper!!   These are so yummy I could eat em all!!

Smores mini pies

These were done last week weekend, chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, chocolate cake then topped with cream and sprinkles.

mini apple pies with cinnamon crumb topping

my mom and I planted a few moon flowers this spring and they are soooooo pretty!! 

lots of beautiful blooms

This is one of the flowers before it opens, it kind of reminds me of a rose, the center is a lavenderish color and looks like velvet.  So pretty!

peaches ready for going in the cake batter

rustic herbed cheddar biscuit loaf

My mom being the "farmgirl bling" princess glazing the bundt cakes, muffins and dipping all the goodies in chocolate!!  Thanks Mommy I couldnt do this without you! LOVE YA!!

kiss kiss!

lemon glazed lemon muffins

nekked bundt cakes

1/2 glazed it sure adds alot to the cakes

So that's it for now!  I will share more tomorrow or over the weekend with ya!!  I have South Haven Market satuday and I will be taking a bunch of goodies over to my friend's new store in Glenn  Farmhouse Chic Prim Antique!!   She is having a grand opening sat!! 10-6 this saturday!! chic it out!!  like them on facebook too!!  She is a doll and I am so happy to be friends with yet another "craftychick" country gal!!

HUGS til this weekend!!

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

It is hot!!

This week has been so hot here!!  WOW, this is usually july/aug weather~~ not june so not sure what to whill happen next month.  We are scared to be loosing alot of the crops, the corn fields are not looking too good, with this drought we are experiencing and the extreme heat this isnt good.  I am worried about feed prices, they have doubled already from 2 years ago and this week when I bought some it was up $1.49 a 50 pound bag.  Which doesnt seem like alot but we go thru alot and we are small!!  Cant imagine what this will do to our meat prices either!! 

So my mom is doing a bit better today, she has had one issue after another since her surgery.  She got food poisoning this past weekend and it took her by storm, she was so dehydrated the doctor called telling her to go to er asap, she needed fluids quickly.  So we spent the day playing word games on my laptop in the ER while she got bags of fluids.  Thank goodness for laptops!!  I have to say a huge THANK YOU to Holland Hosptial!! the er staff was friendly, prompt, very professional and so caring!! The doctor she had was amazing, he was so compassionate and also he came in at least 4 times while we were there checking on her and kept us updated on how what was going on!! THANK YOU!!

So this week I didnt get alot done, we had spent so many hours running back and forth to doctors appts and so on I only had a few hours at the kitchen. 

One of my menu options was stuffed zucchini.  I cut them in 1/2 then used my small cookie scoop to scoop the innerds out, put them in a shallow pan and just lightly steamed them in a hot water bath.   

Here's what they look like filled.

Susan made my italian herb foccacia which is really the best dough to work with.  A bit on the sticky side this recipe makes 6 pounds of dough and actually my favorite to make. 

Here's the filling for the zucchini.  I cooked some brown and jasmine rice up, meantime sauteed onions, orange red yellow and green peppers, tomatoes,  celery, carrots, and sweet corn plus the innerds of the zucchini, some chopped yellow squash and some dried herbs.  Thyme, oregano, a touch of chili powder,  basil, garlic powder, cracked pepper, and salt then topped each one with a sprinkling of parm cheese and cheddar cheese. 

fitting the foccacia into the sheet pans

my salad fixins  just add dressing and enjoy!!  I also made a cold pasta salad with fresh cut veggies and a delish fresh lemon herbed vinegrette, some black raspberry buttermilk and  blueberry buttermilk muffins, some veggie kabobs(which i forgot to take pics of )  some tater cheese pierogi, and my veggie burgers.  Tomorrow will be a busy day making alot and I will put my camera in my bag tonight so I dont forget to take it with and share more with ya!!

Have a wonderful evening and keep cool and hydrated!!

HUGS

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Baking day today

Hey yall!!!  hope yall are having a great start to a new week!  I have been a bit under the weather lately so sorry I have been neglectful on my blog!! I miss posting! 
Today is a busy full baking day for market tomorrow.   
I am making some build your own tacos, they will get locally made taco shells, lettuce tomatoe and cheeses packaged up and either veggies or meats, plus a pkg of homemade cilantro lime sauce.  My version of a shepherds pie, veggies in a creamy sauce baked with a mound of cheesey taters on top, a farmers casserole, another recipe I made for us at home and it is yummy!   Tomato basil topped flatbread with parmesan and fresh mozzarella.
And a few other things will also be made.  I will post pics tonight when I get home. 
The "boys" are doing great and Buster Brown is in love playing with the little "girls" my mom's 2 puppies.  Abbey and Cissey are growing so quick, we took them for another vet check and puppy shots yesterday and Abbey is 19.1 pounds and little Cissey is 9.4 pounds. 

This is my mom's weeping cherry tree.  I dont think it has ever been so full of beautiful blooms in fact most of the spring flowering trees have been so full, they almost look artificial!!  But oh it is pretty outside!! 

The girls playing with a squeaky ball outside

Another pic of the cherry tree

My Buster taking a break from playing with the girls. 

It is pretty cold out this am I made a fire in the furnace to take the chill out of the house.   We sure have had crazy crazy weather this year.  Yesterday am we had thunderstorms and it was 65 and so windy then during the day it dropped down to 42 and even more blustery out.  We are at 38 this am but it feels a bit cooler out but at least no wind today!!  I heard on the news only gonna be in the 50s and sunny.  The up in MI is getting flurries so glad we arent!!   We had some nice rain over the weekend and the asparagus is almost ready for pickin!!  WOO HOO!! Love fresh asparagus!! Cant wait to start making things with it~~

Hope yall have a super tues!! I will be back very soon!!

HUGS

Darlene 

  ~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

SW MI farmers market~!~

All I can say is WOW!~ chickawowwow!   We had a wonderful day at South Haven Farmers Market sat!~!~  Even with 11 bakers booths there we sold out of alot of my offferings!   I offered my cheese filled ravioli and pierogies this week which sold out and all my muffins and coconut macaroon pies were a big hit!!  I am just thrilled and so thankful for being able to do this and also make enough to stay in business and grow!! It was a cold day but everyone who tried the watermelon lime ice loved it!!  More to make this week!~!  I sold alot of cookies, my grandmother Rose's slovenien kolachky recipe went over excellent!!  I did them with some of our homemade apricot preserves.  Several hamburger/sandwich buns were sold and actually I had enough to bring a couple home for hubby and I for sandwiches today!!  yeah!! It isnt often I get to bring things home and we enjoy them ourselves.
NEW THIS WEEK!!!  My PB&J cookie pies were a HUGE HIT!!   I used my fluffy soft n chewy peanut butter pies and filled them with some fresh strawberry infused buttercream filling!~!  To use fruit in my buttercream's I simply puree the fresh fruits then cook a bit to thicken them up and then add small amounts to the filling.   YUMMY!!  I am not a big peanut butter fan but I had to have one of these guys!! and they were great!! 
This week I have a girl coming to kitchen to help, scoop out dough and weigh out some ingredients so I can have a nice big variety this sat for the HARBORFESTIVAL IN SOUTH HAVEN MI!! 
My mom and I did 40 pounds of pickeled asparagus "clucking hot' and mild available and are making strawberry peach preserves and more blueberry jalapeno preserves. 
I will put my camera in my bag early tomorrow to be sure I have it with to share out newest creations this week!! FROZEN ICE CREAM PIES AND LAYERED CAKES using locally made ice cream and my made from scratch goods!!!  and more ice's.
Hope yall have a great and peaceful sunday!! we have to go pick up a load of wood to start stockin up for winter and also need to do some farm chores and trim Ms Rosie May's and Beau's hooves!  Soo much to do!!! 
HUGS
Darlene
~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Whats up wed?

HEY YALL!!  We are midway now til the weekend! WOO HOO! so what's up on this fine wed?    I have to say baking this week I havent done any of my scrappin!! and now I am really behind at scrap-friendzy, goodness 4 days worth of pages/cards now!!  I gotta get my schedule tuned in better!  LOL  It was nice to bake all day yesterday though, I did some shortbread hearts, they have to be decorated yet, maybe a dip in 1/2 milk choc and the other 1/2 white and top with a few pretty sprinkles.

This shortbread recipe was posted in dec and it is just my absolute favo to do!! SO yummy, I have to make 2 huge batches one for markets and one for hubby!! he takes  a little bag of em to work and snacks all day, those and my soft n chewy peanut butter are his favos!! 

I dug thru one of my grandma Rose's old country farmhouse cookbooks, it was from 1960 and had some wonderful sounding recipes so my quest is to do a couple each week.  This week so far I made the quick olive bread.  I will share this recipe with ya it really is yummy and who doesnt love quick breads.  It has sauteed onions in it, I used red and candy sweet grown locally and also chopped kalamato black olives.  The texture is a bit cource and a little dry so I am thinkin maybe bump up the sour cream that is in it?  Will try it again and then post the revised recipe.

AHHHHHHHHH my favo cake, this is my cream cheese filled crumb cakes.  This is a fabo recipe and has been made lots and lots here.   I add fresh fruit to it too and blueberries are the best although triple berries are good in this too, red raspberry, blueberry and blackblack berries are yummy!!!   This is similar to the packaged crumb topped cakes but I like to add extra extra cream cheese filling in them.!!   I never met a chocolate or cream cheese I didnt like!!!LOL

Andddddddddd for my furry kids I dipped a box of small milk bones for them to enjoy and of cource added the valentines sprinkles for fun!!  They are so cute I did some up for markets too.  And packaged up they look adorable.  and the boys love em!!

I also made up some flower shaped shortbread then dipped in white choc and of cource topped with those pretty little red white and pink nonpariels.  Love them!!  and they come in so many colors now!!

These actually were made just for the hubbo!  His bday was monday and I made him a cheesecake and these cookies for a treat.  He so deserves alot I dont know where I would be without him.  He is a wonderful man, hubby, my best friend, my boys daddy, and really my true soul mate!! I know gettin a bit sentimental here but I really do love this guy with all my heart!! 

I hope the weather isnt being too rough on yall, we actually are having normal jan weather, cold and snowy and well coooooooooooooooooooooold is it!!  4 degrees tonight is expected, it has been in the teens at night and about 30 during the day.  Snow for this afternoon and tomorrow and fri and sat.

I do have market tomorrow, a meeting tomorrow night, market fri, market sat, dinner with the inlaws maybe sat night and to visit with the grandparents sunday.  WHEWWWW I may have to wait til next week to get back in my studio to scrap and create!!  I so miss it!! maybe I need to get up extra early and work in there,,,,,,,,,,, nay!! this time of year it is too toooooo nice not to have to get up 4-5 am!!  I sleep in til almost 6 these days and so lovin my sleep.  My boys and hubby all snuggled up like little bugs in rugs in our bed is priceless!!  Each of the boys has a pillow and blankie on our big bed but Barney has to be curled up next to his mommy!  LOVE IT!

hope yall have a wonderful wed and be safe out there in the weather!!

HUGS

Darlene

{{PS I just have to add this comment!!  DAVE PRICE I so miss you on the early show!!!  cbs changed their early show staff and we are in withdrawl!! the show is NOT the same without HARRY SMITH, DAVE PRICE and MAGGIE RODRIGUES!! WE MISS YOU ALL!!  the news just isnt the same and this house is sad without them to start the day!! ok I am done complaining!! }}

ALLEGAN MARKET THURS

BRONSON WITNER MARKET KALAMAZOO FRIDAY

GLENN WINTER MARKET SATURDAY

Stop on by!~~

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Fun friday cookie day and a giveaway here!

Hey yall!! Happy friday!!
Gosh it has been a really long time since I did a giveaway huh!!???

I did manage to make some cute little decorated sugar cookies for market tomorrow. just a quickie decorating job and they are cute!   A ghost, a witch hat and a punkin will be bagged up together.  I love decorating and sugar cookies are just fun and fun to eat!  LOL  The girls are back up to laying eggs again after a brief molting period plus our young uns will be layin more regular and regularly shaped eggs too!@!  I always laugh as they start the layin in their lives as you will get the little pullet eggs then as they mature they get the hang of it and slowly they start laying more of what looks like an egg! 

Nekked ghosts!

I like the punkins!

These are my maple apple pecan pies.  Flemings homemade pure maple syrup and some fresh crunchy pecans top a deep dish apple pie.  I used some of our farm's apples and some I bought at market last week.  Each apple pie has some MacIntosh, jonamac, empire, and gala apples for a nice flavorful explosion!  To me that is the only way to have anything apple, use a variety of them in everything.  My mom and I are gonna make some apple pie in a jar this weekend and it is so yummy to just put ontop of some vanilla ice cream or I like to just heat it up and eat right out of the jar!!

More nekked cookies!

(sorry this pic keeps flippin back on it's side!) These are my Grandmother Rose's pumpkin pie muffins topped with cinnamon sugar and pecans.  So yummy out of the oven with some melted butter.  I did cut back on the sugar and used a touch of maple syrup in them. If you like pumpkin then the recipe is perfect it is punkiny!! 

Well it sure did cool off round here compared to last week!  only in the 50s now but more like october weather. 

I will have eggs at market tomorrow in South Haven in wolverine's parking lot along with some breads, cookies, muffins and other goodies.  And I did make some homemade turtles for tomorrow and also I will have some of my jellies with  and we still have a few butternut squash I can bring too. . 
On sunday I want to experiment with some fresh cranberries I bought at a nearby farm, making some cranberry bread pudding and some cranberry orange pound cake.  I will post all about it next week!! 
I hope yall have an awesome HALLOWEEN WEEKEND!~    I kind of miss those days of dressing up and being wild n crazy just for the fun of it! (lol that was only just a couple of years ago ya know) HEE HEE!!  I think if I did dress up for a party I might be......................hmmmmmmmmmm............gosh I am not sure what or who I would be??  The best costume I did was my beau and I at the time went as Rhet and Scarlet Ohara!  I had rented a full burgandy gown with a big ol hoop under and a dark wig. We were in a parade and everyone had a blast.  That was alot of fun!!  What would you dress as if you were goin out on the town? So to the giveaway info!!  All you have to do is  leave your ideas and one lucky person will recieve a prize from me!!  I will draw a name from comments posted after november 8th!!  GOOD LUCK!!  
HUGS everyone!!
Darlene  ~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~