Can you just smell Christmas baking!?

I've been baking! I just love to cook and bake! Now that I can't enjoy as much of the goodies as I would like, I'm going to bake for others. I like to put trays together for those who do things for us all year. Our milk hauler, supply delivery guy, mail carrier, and feed truck drivers just to name a few who will get some goodies. A few may get a bit of our cheese tucked in too.

Here are some of the yummy recipes for the goodies I've been baking!

Macaroons

1 1/3 c. flaked coconut

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/3 c. sweetened condensed milk

Combine all ingredients, mixing well. Drop from teaspoonfuls one inch apart onto well greased baking sheet. (I personally use parchment paper). Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove at once from baking sheet.

You may also dip half of the cookies in melted chocolate! YUM!

Apple Cinnamon Bars

1 3/4 c. sugar

2 c. flour

3 eggs

1 c. oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 c. apples, cored, peeled and diced

Garnish: powdered sugar

Combine ingredients together in order listed; pour into a greased 13x9 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes; cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar; cut into squares. Makes about 2 dozen.

Chocolate Peppermint Drops

1 c. margarine, softened

2/3 c. sugar

2/3 c. dark brown sugar, packed

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. peppermint extract

2 eggs, beaten

2 c. flour

3/4 c. baking cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. candy canes, crushed

Combine margarine, sugars, extracts and eggs in a large mixing bowl; mix well.

Add remaining ingredients except candy canes; blend well. Chill for 15 minutes, or until dough is easy to handle. Roll well rounded teaspoons of dough into balls; place on parchment paper lined baking sheets. Bake at 325 degrees for 11-13 minutes, or until cookies are puffed and centers are set. Remove from oven; with the back of a spoon, immediately and gently make a well in the center of cookies. Spoon about 1/2 tsp. crushed candy canes into well. Let stand for 2-3 minutes before removing from baking sheet. Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.

It's that time of year...

Christmas time seems to bring out so many feelings in me. Of course I feel all cozy and excited. But sometimes sad. Christmas eve will be 12 years since my Grandma passed away. She meant so much to me. Still does. I often wonder what she would think of my life right now. And wish she could see Emily. She'd probably wonder if I have lost my mind with making cheese!

I remember how angry I felt that night she passed away. The ride home from the hospital was so hard, seeing all the Christmas lights and decorations the people had left on later than usual because of it being Christmas eve. It didn't seem fair that everyone was so happy and excited, and I had just lost my best friend. Now, 12 years later, I am looking at it differently. Amazed that it worked out so perfectly, since Christmas eve was her favorite, and how nice she was able to spend that Christmas morning with Jesus.

I've been doing some baking, finding it hard to keep all of us out of the cookies that I put in the freezer for later. I made some yummy Chocolate Peppermint cookies last week, and will have to make another batch since we only have about 4 cookies left! Same with the Macaroons (sp??). I don't particularly like coconut, but love those things!!! I'll post recipes later.

We set up our Christmas tree on Sunday night. It looks so pretty. And so very different than how we decorated it several years ago. We used to use all white lights, red bows, red ribbon laced through the branches and only glass balls and special ornaments. Now, we use colored lights, gold and silver garland, and anything that looks remotely like an ornament is put on the tree. Including ponytail holders, headbands, toys, and even a spoon.... Of course between the cat, dog and child, I'm not sure which of the three will bring the tree down before Christmas morning...right now my bet is on Miss Emily, but the cat is coming in a close second after her little stunt this afternoon than included knocking an ornament off and playing with it. The poor tree skirt just doesn't look quite right either. The cat (Miss Kitty) has claimed under the tree as her bed. She won't move from that spot unless she gets hungry, or needs to go outside to do her business.

I did manage to get some lights and decorations set up outside. Looks nice, even though a few nasty words may have crossed my mind (and mouth). I'm not the most patient person when it comes to untangling lights. But, Emily thinks it's a Christmas wonderland, so it was well worth it. Thankfully I finished up just as the rain started.

Cheese sales have been very good this month, thanks to the holidays. Several individual orders going out for gifts. That makes us feel pretty good. We'll start making cheese again around mid-March.

I have barely started Christmas shopping yet. We do have a couple of things for Emily, but that's pretty much it. Money is so tight this year that I'm not sure really how we will be able to do much at all. We're going to concentrate mostly on what we do have. We have a closet full of games, movies and some popcorn. To me, that sounds like more fun than getting all stressed out over what to get or how much we can't spend on each other.

It is past midnight, and I should have been in bed a couple of hours ago (at least!!). A certain little girl isn't sleepy tonight. This seems to be the thing lately. She never has been a good sleeper...I sure hope that someday she learns how to rest all night. I guess I never did like to settle down at night either. I always got in gear to do stuff in the evening.

Good Day at the Farm Market

I had a really good day at the farm market. And not just in sales, although they were very good due to Thanksgiving coming up, but in so many other ways.

I have so many customers that come in every week, and never fail will buy at least one pack of cheese, and they usually have a kind word and respect for the work that us vendors do to be there each week. My regular customers have become more like friends to me, over time I learn about their lives, and who they are. I have one customer, and I honestly never did know his name, and he would come in each week and buy the same size pack of the same type of cheese. Well, he hasn't been in since last spring, and I've been keeping an eye out for him, but worry since he was an older man, and hoping that his health is not keeping him away, or worse. Makes me wish I had his name...

There is another customer, she is in her mid-seventies, and she spent her life running in marathons worldwide. Still does some too... She always has such an amazing personality when she comes in, always very chatty and never holds still for a minute. She also does ballroom dancing with her grandson. I sure do hope that I am that active when I reach that age. Although, I don't suppose marathon running is something in my future, but hey, who knows about that dancing! ;)

There is a vendor who I feel especially fond of. She is so easy for me to chat with, we seem to feel the same about most things, and our views are very similar. She makes the prettiest aprons, I've bought a few from her, especially for the apron swaps that I participate in. I'm unsure of sewing myself, but I know I can always count on her aprons to be top notch!

I have a lot of heavy coolers to lug into the building each week, but I rarely ever have to carry them. There is usually someone right there ready to help.

Today we had a bean and cornbread lunch. The president of the market and some others cooked beans over an open fire in a large pot. It was delicious! Along with Christmas music playing and all the holiday crafts gave the place a nice feel!

I was given some "bruised" apples from the folks who sell apples and cider. The apples look really good to me! I'm going to make something for Thanksgiving with them. A customer gave me a jar of Apple-Orange Spice, it is like apple butter. Yum!!

I guess going to the farm market sometimes helps me feel pretty good about folks!
No matter how much nasty stuff you hear on the news, amazingly there are still some good people out there.

Getting ready for Christmas!

Here are some recipes (totally not diabetic friendly!!), but delicious!

Perfect Peppermint Patties

1 lb. powdered sugar

3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, softened

2-3 tsp. peppermint extract

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 C. evaporated milk

2 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips (12 oz.)

2 Tbsp. shortening

In a bowl, combine first four ingredients. Add milk and mix well.

Roll into 1 inch balls and place on waxed paper-lined cookie sheet.

Chill for 20 minutes. Flatten using a glass to 1/4 inch; chill for 30 minutes.

In a double boiler or microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate chips and shortening.

Dip patties; place on waxed paper to harden and freeze for a short while.

*I also have used maple, orange and raspberry flavoring. Yummy!!!

Pineapple Nut Cake

20 oz. can crushed pineapple in juice

2 eggs

2 c. flour

2 tsp. vanilla

2 c. sugar

2 tsp. baking soda

1 c. nuts, optional

Mix all ingredients together. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. butter

1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together and frost cake while warm.

Done for the winter

We've finally finished our cheese making for the year! An amazing accomplishment for us.
Now, to drum up some business with a sluggish economy!

Now our focus is getting the cheese house cleaned up completely for next spring, advertise for the upcoming holiday season (which by the way, we are having some special pricing, visit our website if interested! www.buckeyegrovefarmcheese.com ), and making sure our cows are nice and comfy for the winter.

Our daily chores will include hauling a lot of sawdust that thankfully a local pallet wood shop lets us have just to keep their shop cleaned out, making sure the cows have plenty of hay to keep their bellies full, hauling some manure when the weather allows, and we'll need to get a few more loads of firewood from our hayfield fence rows. Plenty of trees fall when a storm blows through.

We had our first good snow last night. Almost 2 inches! We stayed outside for a little bit last night and played in it. Emily had a blast! She seems to find the fun and excitement in just about anything we do.

I've had to change my eating habits lately, I've found that I'm diabetic. So, I will work on posting a few good recipes that I've tried so far. It's actually fun to try new recipes! Not fun having to watch how much sugar I eat though....
It's amazing what a serving size REALLY is. Much smaller than what you will get in a restaurant! I may lose some of these pesky pounds that have found me!

I started some of my Christmas baking (not for me though!). I'm making the cookies and bars ahead of time and freezing them. I keep saying that I will do this each year, and never have. So this year is the year! Hoping that it makes getting the cookie trays ready much easier when it gets closer to Christmas.

Well, now I am off to get a little one ready for bed, get a few odd and end things done, and hopefully get to bed soon! I'm tired tonight.

A Fall Walk

Yesterday evening Emily and I took a nice fall walk. The air smelled just like fall, the beautiful goldenrod were in full bloom, and now Emily is sick today with allergies! Guess that is what happens when you walk right through the goldenrod patch. I never had too much trouble with them, so didn't think about little Em having allergies to them. Now I know!!

We were supposed to make a batch of cheese today, but we didn't get any sleep last night. If Emily don't feel well and can't sleep, she will see to it that the rest of us is up too! Of course today, despite feeling under the weather, she is quite chipper. Ugh! Wish I was.

So, instead of making cheese, I've been working on signs and printing out recipes for the Pumpkin festival next week. I'm getting excited about it! I'll take this afternoon and tomorrow to make sure I have enough cheese cut up for this coming Saturday in Marietta, and then next week starting Sunday evening or Monday, I'll start packing like crazy for that weekend.

I'm actually pretty proud of my signs. I used the computer mostly because I know if I make signs free hand, it would be better to just have Emily make them for me! I'll get some pictures up of those soon.

Fall

A silly, self-portrait family picture...
Emily on the Merry-Go-Round, with (of course) her arm hiding her face!

Having some fun while watching the Olympics
Silly Mommy and Emily self-portrait.

It's not officially fall yet, but it is close. I see some people putting their pumpkins and scarecrows out. I'm a little behind, I guess.



I getting things organized for the Pumpkin Festival. Found a nice piece of material to use as a tablecloth. It has a fall "feel" to it, but not loud and noisy like some of the vinyl table cloths seem to be. Still working on my signs. Just can't get it right. At least I have a little over 2 weeks to get things prepared. This will be my first year going, so it will be somewhat different than going to the weekly farm market. I will be set up Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 10 until 5. But, it is usually busy! Emily will be staying home with daddy, at least the first day or so.



Emily has started writing!! We're so surprised and excited. Her first written word.....Ohio, then shell, Emily, hi, he. She's actually recognizing most of her sight words. Amazing! Of course I am bragging a bit, but I guess that is a mom thing!



Not too much else going on around here in the way of exciting. Just this and that.