Diving right into Autumn with a touch of Winter

I'm making our family recipe for Hot cranberry punch for the family today.  The kids will be very excited to find a nice hot autumn drink simmering on the stove.

I also took whatever I had on hand and created a delicious pumpkin cake - minus frosting.

 Of course I had to try a small piece to make sure it tasted okay.  With one child now home sick, I have the DVD, "All is Calm" playing on the TV for her and I.  If you love winter scenes, especially peaceful ones, light falling snow, accompanied by peaceful music (some Christmas music), you'll really enjoy it.  In a way, it the music has be getting excited about the upcoming holidays.  It makes me feel like making Christmas tree ornaments instead of cleaning (and what I should be doing right now).

Deer Season ~ Chickens ~ Homemade Noodles

Most of the surrounding corn fields have been harvested, but a few remain.  Yesterday, as I was enjoying my "porch time" I was lucky to see a deer across the property, walking along the edge of a corn field.  I called for the kids to see and they too enjoyed the moment.  Later in the evening, while my 16 year-old was working on the computer, she screamed for me.  I was too late, but two of the kids saw two doe up close and personal.  They came right through our property, from the woods, and crossed the street.  They were not little either.  I caught a glimpse of the backside of the second one running away.

I hope we don't have to bring our porch furniture in too soon this fall, because we are really enjoying the beauty we see out here.  Our barn cats even come to the porch when we have our "porch  time" alone or together.  They seem to enjoy the company.

The chickens however, are getting pretty naughty.  They have discovered the mulch in my front flower beds and have kicked it everywhere.  They are about the healthiest chickens I know, because they are not restricted to where they roam.  Rooster is getting pretty smart too.  As soon as I chase him out of the flower beds, along with his "women" he will run around into a circle, and run right back to the flower beds.  I had to laugh yesterday when they tried to get into the barn cat food, and one cat was eating.  Rooster got chased away and hissed at.

Today, it's raining and cooler out.  I won't be splitting firewood, or hanging my laundry out, but will be focusing on a clutter spot to clean up and writing.  In weather situations like these, I do wash laundry, but hang them on my indoor clothesline and drying racks.

We enjoyed our homemade noodles for dinner last night.  I have to say, the tasted pretty good.  I purchased clearance priced beef stew meat, and cooked it in the slow cooker, creating tasty beef and broth.  The kids, and my husband, all had seconds, and then blamed me for their tummy aches! Ha ha ha ha!  I do believe we will be making homemade noodles on a regular basis.

Fabulous Friday

I'm taking advantage of today's wind.  It's a good day to hang laundry on the line, and then sit back and write.  My son continues to earn more than me on one particular Web site.  I think he's taught me a thing or two about choosing the right topic to write about.  I guess we can all learn from each, regardless of age.

Old Barns ~ A Peek Inside

Here is a peek into the inside of one our our barns.  Amazingly, it's been repaired over the years several times, holding it together.  Look at the tin can lid used to repair the corner.  The roof is the original wood logs, and a bird made a mud nest on a hanging wire.  We think the original house and barns were built around 1954, making this house about 56 years old if we are correct.  I am very intrigued with the barns and will be taking more photos of another barn.

Another Crocheted Blanket ~ Started last Sunday

"Why honey, I have no idea how that yarn ended up in the shopping cart!"

More Garden Bounty ~ Loving It!

The Lord blessed us even more.  Our garden is still producing enough tomatoes to make Spanish rice, along with green peppers.  I also picked several butternut, yellow, and acorn squash.  It will feed us for quite a few meals.  I was also able to pick several cayenne peppers, which will go into the freezer for winter meals.

The chickens have once again blessed us with an abundance of eggs, so another angel food cake and a batch of homemade noodles are in order for this week's chores.  I believe I will go back out and treat my chickens to some garden greens.  Tonight we will enjoy those eggs, scrambled with fried potatoes and onion (and other herbs and spices from my herb gardens.

Today I filled my rosemary jar half way, and have cut even more to dry before the first frost arrives.

I'm baking Butternut Squash Muffins with our home grown squash.  Here's my version of several I have read on the Internet.

Butternut Squash Muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup white granulated or organic sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice (see note*)
Whisk the above ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

Peel and remove seeds from butternut squash.  Chop into 2 cups of butternut squash, place in saucepan with enough water to cover squash.  Boil until tender (20-25 minutes).  Remove from heat, drain excess water, and puree in a blender or food processor.  You could also hand mash them with your potato masher.

In another medium mixing bowl, whisk:
2 eggs, farm fresh or organic
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup non-fat plain yogurt
2 Tbsp. organic or homemade applesauce

Add the squash to the egg/milk mixture.

Gently fold the wet mixture with the dry, until moist.

Spray muffin tins with organic olive oil non-stick spray.  Fill muffin tins with batter, approximately 1/2 full.  Bake at 400°F. for 18-20 minutes or until done (check by inserting a wooden toothpick in the center of a muffin to see if the batter is baked completely).  My muffins only took about 18 minutes to bake.

Note:  Pumpkin pie spice is very expensive and you don't get very much.  Make your own spice mix to save money.  You can also use 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice along with 1 tsp. ground cinnamon and 1 tsp. ground nutmeg.  I'm still tweaking this recipe.  Espeically the flavor.  It seems to need a bit of zip to it or maybe some walnuts added.

Homemade Egg Noodles

Our homemade egg noodles are