Afternoon Break

 I've been hard at work sewing a quilt for a Florida client and needed a little break.   My favorite afternoon snack is an icy cold flavored coffee.   A couple days ago I poured the leftover coffee from the morning pot  into an ice cube tray and froze it for my iced coffee.   If you use ice cubes made of water the melting ice cubes dilute the iced coffee.....and I love my coffee flavor to be full and rich, not watered down.

After putting a few coffee cubes in a tall glass, fill the glass just over half way with coffee that has been well chilled.

Then I like to "color" my coffee with organic Silk Milk.    Lookin' good already!   But leave a little room at the top for a surprise.

To sweeten the drink up just a little I add a short squirt of sugar-free vanilla syrup.   Almost there.....

But the thing that puts this over the top for me is a small tablespoon of Breyer's vanilla ice cream.   Except for the ice cream, this drink is pretty low cal.....low cal for a decadent tasting treat.    What's your favorite flavor?   I'm vanilla...all the way.   Ooops!   That is, unless I decide at the last minute to stir in some chocolate syrup.   Oh.  My. 

Back to the sewing machine,
Debbie

Home Baked Bread, There's Nothing Else Like It

I mean, come on, seriously.   Do you know anyone who doesn't love the taste, the aroma, the yeast-y goodness of a loaf of freshly baked bread coming out of the oven?   In the last decade bread has gotten a bad reputation....too many bad carbs, yadda yadda yadda.    Well, if you're buying the white stuff from the grocery store, the nay-sayers are probably right.  But if you do a little research, real bread made from non-GMO grains, and made without chemicals or bleached out flour is actually nutritious.

If you're really brave, pull out your bag of bread from the grocery store and read the ingredient list.   Scary stuff, isn't it?    You can avoid all of that by purchasing just a few basic staples at the grocery store and if you have a bread machine, you can knock out a loaf in under 5 minutes and let the machine do the rest.   If you don't have a bread machine, don't let that be an excuse to miss out on one of life's simple pleasures.    A basic mixer will bring together the dough and once you let it rest, shape it into a loaf and let it rise again in a bread pan it is ready to bake off in the oven.   There are so many resources online that can guide you step by step to that perfect loaf of bread.   Go ahead, give it a try.   Your family will love you for it.

If you are interested you can check out www.kingarthurflour.com for thousands of tutorials and recipes.   And they sell the best flour!   I heartily recommend them.   You don't have to order online because most grocery stores around the country now stock their flours in the baking aisle.  

What do you do when the winds are blowing so hard that the flag is standing straight out from the pole?    Head for your cozy kitchen and bake bread, of course!

Unbleached whole wheat flour, kosher salt, butter, honey(to help feed the yeast), old fashioned oats, some warm water and fresh yeast.....pretty simple ingredients.....

And a few hours later you'll have this!    This particular recipe is Vermont Whole Wheat Oatmeal Honey Bread and can be found on the King Arthur Flour website.   Joel loves this bread toasted which brings out the oat-y-ness (is that even a word?) of the bread.  But let's not stop there.....once you begin playing with yeast breads you will discover a whole world of yummy goodness.

Like this home made pizza.....alright, now stop rolling your eyes at me.  I can see some of you sighing and tsk-tsking.   Just because this post is about bread and baking doesn't mean that bread should be your whole diet.   The point of making your own food is to control the ingredients and make it healthier for your body.   But, as always, moderation is the key.  

Before the pizza even came out of the oven, Joel and I were filling up on a huge, fresh, green salad with homemade dressing.   And we don't eat bread morning, noon and night.   But when we do want a slice it's fresh, nutritious, and ready to eat.   And it can be frozen if you are not ready to eat it all right away.   Since the bread does not have any preservatives, it sometimes gets to the point where it's not so "fresh" any longer.   Now what?

Ha!   Nothing need go to waste.    Make bread crumbs!  I roughly cut up or tear the remaining stale bread and put it in a small baking pan.   The pan simply sits in the oven of our Chambers stove and because there is a pilot light always lit, the nice warm oven gently toasts the bread over a couple of days.....without turning the oven on.  

When the torn bread is completely dried out, it gets poured into a sturdy zip lock bag.   I would love to grind it in my food processor or Vita-Mix, but I still can't find those handy appliances since they remain packed until we get the rest of the kitchen cabinets.   No problem.   Make do with what you have.  

These are the last of the herbs I grew in our Florida garden and dehydrated.   I can't hardly wait to plant our garden here on the farm so I can replenish my stash of fresh herbs.   There's something very satisfying about knowing where your food comes from and that no chemicals or pesticides were used to grow them.   But back to the bag of bread crumbs and herbs.....

 A bag, a rolling pin and a sturdy cutting board.   That's all you need to make seasoned bread crumbs.  Beat the heck out of the bag.....um, gently break up the bread into crumbs.   Add herbs and you've got your very own bread crumbs for making meat loaf or topping a casserole of macaroni and cheese.

Store in an airtight container and these little bits of yumminess will keep for a very long time.

Before moving I had depleted a large part of our pantry and it feels so good to begin the process of restocking the Tupperware and ball jars with home made ingredients.  

Ha ha!  I just noticed the boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese in the bottom drawer!  Yup, Jeremy is back home again and we stocked one of his favorites.  So much for home cooking.....But I am loving the fact that I once again have a pantry to restock.

Oh, yeah, there's one more use for stale bread.....toast little squares in a 350 degree oven after tossing them with fresh herbs, sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil and you have fresh croutons for salads.  They store beautifully in a Ball jar.   Ready for the eating.

So, now you know what rocks my world.   Fresh, nutritious, home grown/home made foods.   It  may be more work but nothing beats the satisfying feeling of providing the best tasting food for my family.   I hope you'll be encouraged to try making bread for you and yours......your taste buds will thank you.   As a matter of fact, those little taste buds may very well do "the happy dance"!  

Baking Fool,
Debbie

Preserved Boxwoods, Anyone?

I know, who ever heard of preserved boxwoods?     Up until a few months ago, preserved boxwoods had not even come close to showing up on my decorating radar.   And then I started to see these luscious green orbs, and wreaths, and topiaries showing up everywhere as I looked at decorating blogs online.   Well, of course I had to do some investigating.  

And am I ever glad that I did.   Preserved boxwoods are just that.......boxwood stems with attached leaves that are preserved so even those with a black thumb can have beautiful greenery in their homes year round.  No fuss, no work, no muss.    They come in all shapes and sizes and are yours for the choosing.

The first one I bought I found at Home Goods for a pretty good price.    It is a little pyramidal tree topiary that resides on my sweet secretary desk which I use for painting watercolors.   And I think the little tree makes the room so cheerful, too.   Don't you agree?

Well I liked the way that one little tree looked so much that I decided to jump in with both feet and look for more.   So I got online and ordered a 10" square wreath, a 10" ball, and 3 round wreaths in graduated sizes.   When they arrived last week and I opened the box they were shipped in I was not disappointed.   

It may be hard to see in this pic but we have a black, cursive letter "R" on the back door and I overlapped the square wreath over the letter.  Because this particular wreath is only 1" thick, it doesn't interfere with the storm door when closed.

 And then I played around with my chalkboard that sits on the sofa table on the porch......it is, after all, almost time for Easter.

Here's a little closer view of the wreath hanging from the top of the repurposed cabinet door.  Because this door is very tall, the wreath helps to "take up" some of the blank space on the upper half of the chalkboard.

But I think my favorite piece of boxwood is the orb.    It's just so lush and full and ......well......so green!

I think that placing the round ball on top of a grapevine wreath and then sitting them both on top of the urn makes more of a statement, don't you?    After digging around in the barn I also found my large grapevine wreath and used that one on the huge white urn which is holding one of the pussy willow bushes I bought 2 weeks ago.  

As soon as the weather stays warm I'll be planting the 2 pussy willow bushes outside, but right now as I type this,  the snow is coming in sideways again!   Yes, I said it's snowing again.   Nothing is sticking, but it is really cold outside today.   And did I already mention..........it's snowing!!!   We've had such nice warm weather for several days now that today is quite a shock.   Oh, well, it won't last long.

Back to the boxwoods........yup, this one is most definitely my favorite.   So if you're looking for something to jazz up your decorating, why not look into a piece or two of preserved boxwood?    You just might like it as much as I do!

Green (and snowy) for today,
Debbie

Happy St. Paddy's Day

Mid-March already!   How is that even possible?    Whew, time is just flying by here on the farm.   Let's see, it's been a week since I last posted so I'll have to fill you in.    First, I'll start off by saying we have a new addition here at Whispering Oaks......Jeremy drove in from South Dakota and arrived here last Tuesday night.   He had finally had enough of the dreadful Arctic chill and was homesick for  mom and dad.   So he and his dog, Winston, are staying with us until Jeremy finds work and can get his own place again.   It sure is good to be able to spend some time with him before he begins his next journey and Joel and I are both glad to have him a little closer to home.

I can't believe we are unloading more boxes!   Yikes!    Thank goodness we can store them on the three season porch at the front of the house.

And Jeremy has offered to help out here on the farm.   I'm really grateful for the help, nothing like another strong pair of arms and a youthful back to help with outdoor chores.    During a warm sunny day last week I trimmed up both huge grape arbors and Jeremy helped me load all the debris in the bed of his truck and we deposited it in the woods.  Thanks, Jeremy!    I sure do appreciate your enthusiastic assistance.   Pretty soon it'll be time to start our first garden here.    Poor kid, he doesn't have a clue what's coming!!!    giggle.....

And we're celebrating St. Paddy's Day today with a touch of green.   No green beer, just green placemats.   Ha!   Sorry, that's all I've got for 'ya.

And maybe a little window dressing for the Chambers.....

And I was able to dig out an Irish dish towel to use for drying the dishes.

But one of my favorites is the apron rack hanging on the wall that holds all my handy aprons.   It's fun to change them out seasonally and the aprons help to keep my clothes from getting food spattered on them while I cook and bake.   I made this St. Patrick's apron a couple years ago and found it the other day in my Valentine's/St. Pat's bin of goodies.  It's nice to keep finding items that make our new house feel like our home.   

Pretty soon I'll show you pictures of the bathroom remodels.   Most of the cabinetry is in, but a few doors had to be redone so I'll wait to show you when everything is completed.   And I just ordered the hardware, so, the cabinets look naked at the moment.    Once the handles and knobs get installed the cabinets will be completed.  

Thank goodness the electrician came last Monday and installed the sconces in both baths.   They look so pretty and I can hardly wait to show them to you.   Joel and I hung the mirrors over the sinks and then all I had to do was scrub things down and arrange soap dishes and towels.   Just in time for Jeremy to arrive.    Whew!   It's been a whirlwind here this last week.   

It's cappuccino time so I'll sign off for now.   More pics to come.  Don't drink too much green beer today,
Deb

Faux Nest

Ok, so I posted this pic a few days ago of the cake plate with a huge glass dome on top sitting out on one of the tables of our back porch.....

 

.....and I wrote that I was looking for some eggs to put on the nest.  You know, robin's eggs or quail eggs (yes, we have a large covey of quail here on the farm!).   Ummmm, I can't find any.  Eggs, that is.   Nadda.   And my "nest" is actually lime green raffia.   But it looks like a nest, doesn't it?   I'm simply trying to urge Spring to get going around here.

Well I finally found some eggs.    At Kroger's.   And they're plastic.    Sigh......looks like I'm going to have to work harder at this Farm Chick thing because I couldn't find a single solitary nest or egg anywhere on the farm.  Ok, I take that back.  There are plenty of nests, but they are carefully tended by the blue birds in the bird houses scattered around the farm and I have no intention of disturbing those hard earned abodes.    I had been hoping to find an abandoned nest in a low-lying tree limb somewhere.   Ummmmm......not happening.

 Alright, they don't look half bad, do they?  And looking at the nest makes me think of Spring, which should be just around the corner.

And I even found one of my teal decorative plates to put under the nest.   I know, I just can't seem to help myself.   The decorating bug bit me long ago and I've got the decorating "disease" that never heals.   giggle.....thank goodness for that!

Making our new farmhouse into a home,
(One plate at a time)
Debbie

Fast Nachts Day

Happy Fast Nachts to you!   For those of you who are the uninitiated, Fast Nachts is the Penna. Dutch celebration of eating baked goods the day before Ash Wednesday.   Beginning Ash Wednesday, many folks would give up sweets for the entire season of Lent, so they got their fill of goodies the day before.

 These sticky buns are fresh out of the oven.....ooey, gooey, sweet yeasty goodness!   They've been a family tradition for as long as I can remember.   My Aunt Gladys goes one step further and makes doughnuts as well as the sticky buns!   If you've never had a fresh homemade doughnut you are missing one of life's greatest pleasures.

Wish you could smell how good my kitchen smells this afternoon.   After the cold, snowy, freezing rain, sleet day we had yesterday I decided to bake whole wheat bread for our sandwiches and sticky buns........well, the sticky buns are "just because".  You know what I mean.   But Fast Nachts sounds like a really good reason to bake them, doesn't it?

Yup!   This is what my car looked like yesterday during winter storm Titan.   Our temps dropped below 20 last night.   But now the forecasters are saying we will warm up all this week and by week's end be near 60 again.    So for us, the week is really looking up.   AND, our cabinets should be installed by the end of the week!!   Woo-hoo!

Baking Fool,
Debbie

Mail Box

The weather was absolutely gorgeous today......60 plus degrees and breezy with the sun in and out of the clouds.   We couldn't bear to stay inside so we decided to do an outside project while we had nice weather.   I've had a new mailbox ready to be installed since before we moved here and today seemed like a perfect day to install it.

 It was a little tough using the post hole digger since we had to get thru a layer of hard packed gravel and then some tough clay soil.   Finally we had dug down deep enough to sink the 4"x4" wooden post and then we slipped the PVC post over the wood.  We packed cement around the post and watered it in.  Joel needed to use his Sawzall to saw thru the double metal post that the old mailbox had been mounted onto.   One slight problem, we needed to plug in the saw......way out in front of the house.

Ha!   We solved that by running 5 different construction extension cords from the plug in the front porch.   One way or another, we were going to get this job finished.   While we were replacing the mailbox, a neighbor put-putted by on his tractor.  He just smiled and waved.   I have no idea where he was going but I heard the tractor traveling down the road for quite a while after he passed by us.

Now this is a large, country mailbox!   We get the local paper delivered 3 times a week and it goes in the mailbox along with our regular mail.   This baby can hold all but the largest of packages, saving our mailman from making an extra trip down our lane to our back porch.

Ta-da!   I'm really happy with the way the new mailbox looks next to the lane coming into the farm.   Each time we paint, repair, add on to, or replace something on the farm, we make it more our own.   The new mailbox brings a little bit of our personality to the front of the house.   Next job, paint the shutters black!   

Soon, really soon,
Debbie

Flag Day

Ever since we bought Whispering Oaks, Joel and I have wanted to run an American flag up the flag pole by the pavilion.   We knew, though, that we would probably forget to bring it down some nights before dark.   And for a former Army man, that's a definite No-No.   Proper flag protocol dictates that if the American flag is left out overnight it must be illuminated.   So during our thrice weekly trip to Lowe's yesterday we bought a solar powered spotlight for the flag.

It was fun to finally raise the flag late yesterday and to peek out again late last night and see it waving in the breeze with the bright light shining on it.

 These new solar lights sure beat the older generation lights that were so weak.   This baby uses LED lighting technology and it's bright!

We've also had a new addition here on the farm.   Joel's workshop arrived Wednesday and is all set up....at least on the outside.   Now we have to get it wired and insulated and then his tools can be brought in and arranged.    For the first time in our marriage Joel will have a dedicated place for all his woodworking tools.   It's about time, wouldn't you say?

He's really excited to have a space of his own instead of sharing a garage with all our other belongings.   It's kinda hard to use huge table saws when you're bumping into the wall or a car parked next to you.   Hopefully, Joel's eyesight issues will not hinder his ability to enjoy his woodworking hobby for many years to come.  

The company that built it for us even matched the green metal roof to our other buildings.   We had them paint the shutters black since I would like to paint the shutters on our house black when the weather warms up a little more.  Then the outbuildings will have a cohesive appearance around the property.   So many fun ideas, now I just need to find the time to accomplish them all.

Little by little, things are coming together,
Debbie

March, Already?

Seriously, where does the time go?    I can't believe we've been here on the farm a whole month already.   This past week I was finally free to do a little sewing and completed the last couple of mini-quilts I've been working on (more off than on) this last year.  They're really cute and I found the right place to display them so folks will see them upon entering the sewing porch.  And they make me smile when I look at them!

So, out with the old month and in with the new.

Let's hope that this severe winter will soon be history!   I'm ready for Spring, how about you?
Deb

Our Chambers Stove is Finally Here!

My "new" old stove is here!   Oh, my goodness.   We picked her out last September and she was loaded onto a transport truck a couple of weeks ago.   The transport company specializes in deliveries of antiques and specialty items and they wait until they have a full load of deliveries before they head out on the road.   We got the call that our stove would be delivered on Tuesday, and sure enough, two strong men wheeled her into my kitchen and put her down in her designated place of honor.

 She was all wrapped up and her finish protected with layers of blankets and foam.

 Then we had to call a plumber to hook her up to the propane.    Joel and I went over the manual to be certain we knew what we were doing before taking her for a test run.   I was really excited to start cooking on her but had to wait another day for the plumber....so I just sat and looked at her!

Isn't she pretty?   She is a 1952 Chambers Model "C".   She comes complete with 3 gas burners and something called a deep well.  More on that later.   There is also a griddle and special broiler and oven.   The beauty of an old Chambers lies in her construction.  Much like the Buicks and Cadillacs of her era, she is all metal....heavy metal.....and weighs in at 450lbs.   And she is so well insulated that the ads of her day bragged that you could set the oven temperature, put your food in to cook and turn the heat off and the oven would maintain it's temperature for 90 minutes....without any power!   You know the saying, "They don't make them like that anymore."

The top of the stove is beautiful, shiny stainless steel.   All her burners have been refurbished and work like a charm.   And I get high BTU's from her so that water boils quickly.

The upper right area of the stove is unique.  It's actually called the deep well and is a precursor to our modern day crock pot.   How about that?     There is a pilot light under the  large pot you see here and you use it much like a crock pot.....letting soup simmer all day in the heavily insulated well.    No burning, no stirring.   I'm going to have to experiment with this one, that's for sure!

 On the left side of the stove is the removable griddle which is heated with a flame from underneath.

The same flame that heats the griddle also acts as a broiler flame for the broiler pan seen here.   We've heard that steaks done in this manner sear beautifully.    I'll let you know how that turns out.

She has an oven on the left and storage for pots and pans on the right.   All the enamel and refurbishing of the stove has been redone by Antique Appliances in Clayton,Georgia and she looks brand new.   They did a beautiful job restoring her and we really appreciate all their insight and help as we made our stove choice.

Even her handles are pretty!   They are solid and are the first child proof handles made for stoves.  You need to depress the small knob above the handle before the handle will turn to light the burners.

At Joel's request, we took her for a spin around the block and initiated her by making pancakes on the griddle.   There is not a single electronic component in this baby....so, if the power goes out we will still be able to cook our meals without any concerns.

Next on the kitchen agenda.....order the proper sized hood for her.   Oh, yeah, and maybe get some kitchen cabinets?   Eventually.    All in good time.   We're one huge step closer to a completed kitchen.

Gettin' my apron on,
Debbie