February Days

February has been busy and going by fast this year.  We had one day that reached 41F all of the rest have been below normal.  This weekend we had another storm move through high winds and snow, school was let out early on Thursday and closed on Friday.  Not looking forward to getting out later in the spring.

I have been canning with a pressure caner for a number of years, but have never cooked with one.  My mom had a pressure cooker I always thought they would be difficult to use.  After seeing a blog where she was using a pressure cooker decided it was time to give it a try.  After doing some looking for a while found a stainless steel 6 quart cooker on sale.

I love it!!

The first thing that I made in it was a pork roast after church one Sunday.  In less then an hour had a complete meal on the table.  I browned the roast in a pan first.

Then put it into the pressure cooker on the rack and added 2 cups of water, onion and bay leaf.

The roast took about 45 minutes to cook.

It was fall apart tender and very good.

Also cooked an old stewing hen that I had in the freezer for chicken stock, I added onion, garlic, carrots, and celery. It cooked for about one hour.  The stock was so nice and dark and made the best chicken soup with out adding anything else to the stock.

Have loved it for making roasts and soups so far and looking forward to trying other recipes.

 Strawberry Cupcakes in a jar.

~Valentine treats for co-workers and friends~

They were easy and fun to do, first you bake strawberry cupcakes ( used a cake mix for this).

 Cut the cupcakes in half through the middle. Put bottom of cupcake in a jelly jar, then add some cool whip, another piece of cupcake, more cool whip, last add the top of a cupcake and more cool whip.  Decorated with Valentine M & M's.

~Also made one for my Valentine~

Waiting for the weather to warm up, our forecast shows below temps into March.

The snow is higher than the garden fence.

Our bench swing is buried under the snow by the thermometer.  One of these days spring will be making an appearance again.  Until then I will enjoy looking at seed catalogs and dreaming of warmer weather to come.

On Friday I was finally able to finish both of the quilts that I have been working on for our son and daughter.  A late Christmas gift!

Now I can start on a baby quilt for a close friend of our daughters.  Have the material, but told myself  I could not start on it until these two quilts were done. 

To every thing there is a season,

and a time to every purpose

under the heaven...

a time to plant,

and a time to pluck up

that which is planted;

Ecclesiastes 3: 1 - 2b

~Cheryl~

Fellowship Dinner

Enjoying a couple of days off from school because of the wind chills.  We are having -35 to -40 today and -40 to -50 tomorrow...brrr

I will enjoy my days off, but am sure it won't be as nice working longer this summer...so far we have three days to make up and the winter is not over yet!

Picture from the patio door in the kitchen, at least the flowers are cover well with snow so the cold temps won't hurt them.

The third Sunday of each month our church has a Fellowship dinner, it is always so fun to see what different dishes there will be.  Some Sundays there is more than we can eat and others we worry if there will be enough, but it always works out.  It is a nice time to sit and visit and get to know people better and just enjoy each others company.

This month I made two new recipes a crock pot chicken and a Flan Cake.  The chicken recipe was given to me from my neighbor, is easy to make and we really like it.  The Flan Cake was from Cooks Country on tv, Bob thought it looked very interesting and wanted me to make one.  It was good, very rich, and takes a while to make.

Magic Chocolate Flan Cake

 

It is called magic because when you put it into the bundt  pan the caramel sauce goes in first, then the chocolate cake mixture, then you pour the Flan on top, during baking the chocolate and flan change places.

The chocolate cake on top of the caramel sauce.

In the oven after the flan was poured on top and bundt pan put into a roasting pan with water.

With baking and cooling it takes about eleven hours from start to finish.

The recipe and a video of the show can be found on Cook's Country web sight.

The Crock Pot Chicken is much easier!

Start with 4 to 6 chicken breast and place them in the crockpot.

 

Mix together in a separate bowl one can golden mushroom soup, one can of water, 1/2 of an 8 oz container of cream cheese with chives and onion, 1/4c. butter (melted), 1 pkg. dry mix Italian or ranch dressing, 1/2 c. white cooking wine.

Pour over chicken, cook on low for 7 hours if chicken is frozen or 4 hours if chicken is thawed.

After it is cooked shred the chicken, I added cooked Penne Rigate noodles to mine.

 

In the original recipe you do not add any water, so it is much thicker and can be served over angel hair noodles, rice, or served on rolls.  I have made it both ways now and we enjoyed them both. Adding the water and noodles made it nice for the Fellowship dinner.

This is the day which, the Lord hath made;

we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

I couldn't help but think of this verse this cold morning, I am rejoicing that I can be home where it is warm today!

Stay Warm,

~Cheryl~

 

2013 behind looking to 2014

The old year is behind us with its trials and blessings.

2013 was a hard year but also a blessing.  A couple of the hard parts where my cousins husband pasted away then a few months later my aunt and my sister passed away on the same day in June.  But we can say through it all God has been good.

2013 was a milestone for me turning 60 in September, I look back and wonder where have the years went. 

For my birthday my DH took me on a little road trip up to Door County, one of my favorite places to go.  We stopped at different quilt shops along the way.

Some roadside stands. Had to find my caramel apple and this was the place.

The final destination was the Christmas shop in Door County.  

Before Christmas we celebrated both of the grandson's birthdays.  Always fun having them around, the boys have always hopped up on the counter when I am in the kitchen to watch what I was doing or to help.  As they have gotten older this habit has not been broken but now it has become their place to sit and talk while grandma cooks or bakes.  We have had many a good conversation.

They tell me that they will never be to old to hop up and have a visit, that makes this grandma's heart happy.

It was good being off from school for Christmas break, so good celebrating Christmas with family and friends.  Our daughter was able to come home for a couple of days, family was home for Christmas.

January 2nd came way to fast, and with it the cold weather.  We had two days of school then had two days off because of the cold weather.

The -25 below wouldn't have been bad, it was the wind chills of -45 to -50 that made things hard.  Very happy to be safe and warm at home on those days. Today we are to hit 30 and have some snow. 

 I look forward to see what the Lord has for us in 2014.

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good

work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Colossians 1:10  KJV

~Cheryl~

It's here!

That would be the first day of school.  Off to start the 2013/2014 school year:-) 

This little poem was in our bulletin Sunday.

Mary had a Little Lamb

His fleece was white as snow.  And everywhere

that Mary went the Lamb was sure to go.

He followed her to school each day.

T'wasn't even in the rule.  It made the children

laugh and play, to have the Lamb at school.

And then the rules all changed one day, illegal it

became; to bring the Lamb of God to school, or

even speak His name!  Every day got worse and

worse, and the days turned into years.

Instead of hearing children laugh, we heard gun

shots and tears.  What must we do to stop the

crime, that's in our schools today?  Let's let the

Lamb come back to school and teach our kids to

Pray!

Praying for a good year and that my testimony will show in all that I do.

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever;
with my mouth will I make known
thy faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 89:1

Only Four Days....

Where has the summer went...only four days before school starts again.  I have been enjoying my summer and it is a little hard to think of going back to work.  I love my job working as an aide with the Special Education, but it always takes a while to get use to leaving home everyday again.

The tomatoes have been a little late in ripening this year so right now when it is time to go back to school the tomatoes are starting.  Yesterday I picked a 5 gallon pail.

 

There is still a lot of tomatoes on the vines that are almost ready.  Canned my first batch.

The rest of the tomatoes in the pail need to finish ripening.  There will be plenty to do next week after school.  If only school could start after the garden is done...wishful thinking.

 

Looking forward to a fun weekend.  Tomorrow my DH is taking me to the fair, love looking at the animals, produce, quilting, and all of the 4H displays, along with hopefully finding a caramel apple.  Saturday our daughter is coming home for the weekend, in her words she needs some of her mommies cooking.  Already put in a request for a couple of her favorites, this mom is more than happy to oblige.  We have a shopping trip planned to the Mennonite store and a couple of other places.  I always look forward to having my DH home for a few days.   It will be a fun ending to summer vacation.

Enjoy the last official weekend of summer!

Fermenting Update

As I had posted earlier I have been trying some fermenting this year.  I have been using the Fido Jars and they have worked great for me.   Last night for supper we used some of our first sauerkraut and the fermented dill pickles.  They were both very good.

I have another jar of sauerkraut going along with a jar that has cabbage, carrots, sweet potatoes, and some caraway seed.  Along with four more jars of the dill pickles.  On two of my jars I am trying an air lock, will see how that works for me.

  I start the fermentation in the Fido Jars and when they are ready to go into the refrigerator I take the vegetables from the Fido Jars and put them into canning jars, this way I can reuse them.  I still have some more cabbage to make into sauerkraut and am doing some reading on other vegetable combinations to ferment.  Really like how healthy fermented food is for you. 

To every thing there is a season,

and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time 

to pluck up that which is planted;

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

Kitchen Time

I spent most of my time in the kitchen today.

Had a few pickles that needed to be canned up, along with some summer squash to freeze.  

Then it was on to baking...

Batch of Blueberry Muffins in the large muffin pans.

Carmel Apple Scones

Last Cinnamon Rolls for my DH who just happened to mention last night that we haven't had them for a while.  So I thought they would be a nice surprise for him after work today.   As you can see he got to the pan before the picture was taken.  

I get joy out of spending the day baking for my family...it is a good thing.

Thou wilt show me the path of life: 

in thy presence is fullness of joy;

at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 16:11