what's cooking in my kitchen

Anyone who's followed my blog for any length of time knows that I have a love affair with chocolate. Yup it's true, I do. I just love it, just about in any form. My husband is OK with this too.
The recipe I'm going to show you I love for three reasons. First, it's the best (in my opinion) homemade recipe for chocolate brownies. I've made several, and none of them compare to these wonderfully chocolaty, gooey, satisfy any craving for chocolate you may have, thick, chewy brownies, EVER! Second it's throw it all in one bowl,  beat it, throw it in the oven and wa-la! Third it's simple to make. I don't even like the "box" brownies I used to love. Had some and threw the piece I had in the trash. I'm now officially a brownie snob ;)
My sister in law (believe it or not she has a name) I hang out with quite a bit came over once with them. OMW they were so good. I got the recipe from her who got it from a different friend. And I have no idea where she got the recipe. Follow that?
So on with the pictures. You remember this picture? Yup these are the ones I'm talkin 'bout!

 Finished product! Oh so good!

 To make them, just put everything in your mixing bowl. Beat it well. Then...

Put it in a 9x9 pan and bake it. I like to sprinkle some chocolate chips on top. Just because I'm crazy like that.
Here is the recipe if you want it.

Homemade Brownies
2 C sugar
4 Eggs
1 tes Vanilla
1 1/4 C flour
1 C butter (melted)
3/4 C cocoa
1/4 tes salt

Put it in a mixing bowl, I love my Kitchen Aid, and beat it really well. Put it in a 9x9 pan and bake at 350 for 40 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. If you want a a 9x13 make a batch and a half. They are really thick.
 Simple. Easy. Wonderful. Yup all of the above!

what's cooking in my kitchen

Truth be told, lately not a whole lot.
The weather is changing and I'm not really ready for it to. I'm hoping we get a bit of an Indian summer! That would be great!!
Everything in my garden is water logged with all the rain we've been getting.
Anyways...
I found some homemade Grapenuts at a natural food store. WOW were they good! But they were expensive so I never bought them again. I mean it was a small bag and it was gone in one sitting with all of us eating it. So I decided to look up a recipe that sounded good and had similar ingredients in it as the one I had bought. The search began and I found one. The only thing different in the one I found was there was no oatmeal in it. Well 6 0 1, I figured I'd try it. Yup they were good too! I was pleased. They were great in yogurt or milk, but I liked 'em better in the yogurt, my homemade yogurt at that. I'm picky! haha Everyone liked them too, and it makes a ton. Well maybe not a ton but 5 quarts. So it lasted a while. And so much cheaper to make it myself then to buy it. My Man likes warm Grapenuts in the winter, so now I can make Grapenuts and he can have a warm breakfast before going to work! Not to mention they are filling so the kiddos can have a warm breakfast before school. Something different besides oatmeal!  So lets look at some homemade Grapenuts!!

this is all the ingredients in the bowl ready to be mixed.

next you put the mixture into a 9x13 pan and smoosh is all down

forgot a picture of what it looks like before you blend it all up. Looks like a cake after its cooked.

after it's blended, but still needs to cook more!

finished product, all cooked. smells wonderful and tastes great!

I found the recipe online at a Taste of Home site. I guess it was in one of their magazines. I don't remember the persons name that gave it, but like I said it's at a Taste of Home website! I liked it and have made it a few times, and I liked that it made a lot so I don't have to make it all the time. I am still looking for one with oatmeal, and when I find it, maybe I'll share!! This is not a make it quick recipe either. It needs to cook for 1 hour 35 minutes. So it takes some time, but I think it's worth it!!

Grapenuts
7 C whole wheat flour                          3 C brown sugar                         2 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tesp salt                                            2 1/2 C buttermilk                       6 Tbsp butter, melted
2 tsp vanilla                                        1/2 tsp maple syrup

Mix dry ingredients, then add wet. Mix until combined. Spread in 9x13 inch pan** a note about this is coming**
Bake 350 for 35-40 minutes. Cool on racks. Turn oven temp down to 250.
Break mixture up into pices and blend in a food proccesseor. Put back in pans **note it coming**
Bake 1 hour at 250, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool and store in air tight container!
Makes 5 quarts. It really does I tried it and all 5 were full!
**Note**  I cooked it the first time it 2 pans. Then, you are going to need 4-6 9x13 pans. When it's all ground up it makes a lot and stirring it it will spill out all over the oven if they are too full. I think I used 4 pans, and was very careful when I stirred it.
Well that's it!
Happy cooking!!!

not farm stuff... food stuff... today

Because I just don't wanna talk about farming and all the chickens, horses, cow, pigs, and because I've had a piece of sawdust in my eye all day and because I'm feeling a little grumpy and cold, I'm gonna make you all hungry! Or at least I hope I can tempt you a little bit!!  I've been cooking, lots, no big surprise there right?! So I thought I'd share a few of my "go to" foods in a pinch! And the one's I've remembered to take a picture of! The pizza in this picture is not the normal pizza I make, but will make it again sometime, it was good! I lost track of the time and had to scramble to get supper ready. I loose track of the time?! Imagine!;-)  Still didn't eat until after 6! It's been 6:30 - 7 before we eat here lately. Maybe I should keep better tabs on the time late in the day! I have a roast in the fridge I need to do something with now that I think about it! And I know just what to do with it, thanks to my new cookbook!!! Oh and because it's spring, in theory, and I am thinking about BBQ, and all that yummy summer food! So I have a few pictures to share with you. Hope you enjoy looking at it!

My sister came over to have me watch her kiddos one night last minute, and my son was over the moon excited. He loves to play with his cousin he doesn't get to see very often. Then I thought oh no, their vegetarians. I told her to bring over some veggie burgers (b/c I didn't have any) and I'd whip up some homemade hamburger buns, and we'd have burgers, and home french fries. She laughed at me and said she's made them before and you don't just whip them up! They do take some time, but they are wonderful, and taste so much better then the store ones! I was just pulling them out of the oven when she and the kiddos got here. So my family had...

Yummy!!!! Makes the burger look small!

Grass fed beef, from a local farmer! At a decent price too! Home made buns! Tomato, from a local greenhouse! Onion, I have no idea where they came from I just like onion on my burger, lettuce, don't know where that came from either, probably California! Cheese, organic Heinz Ketchup, I'm picky about my ketchup and I like Heinz! mustard, and mayo. And chips, forgot the fries but oh was it good! Just wonderful! I had to squeeze it down to fit it in my mouth, after I got the picture of course! My sisters kiddos had their veggie chicken patties with the buns, chips and fries! Everyone was happy and full! Nope no dessert!

Then I made on a different night...

homemade pizza dough, potato, bacon, leeks, cheese

before it's cooked

after it's cooked!

It's Potato Leek Pizza, and it is really, really good!! I know I thought potato on pizza??!! I'd never had that before, much less leeks, so I thought go for it! 4 out of 6 liked it. My husband was one who liked it, he said it had really good flavor. I really didn't know how he would like it, but he did! Every once in a while I spend a little extra on one meal, and this was it, I used fresh mozzarella cheese, and that's not cheap, and I've only made it once, so yet another reason to make it! The cheese that is! I'll let you know when I brave that task again. I made it once and it came out like rubber! Gross. Really.

Then another night I made...

blueberry pancakes

Every time I make blueberry pancakes Matthew reminds me that it was the first meal I ever made him! We were dating and he was at my parents with me and it was time for supper and my mom told me to make something. Great I thought. Now I gotta feed this guy, and I can't cook! So I made pancakes. My pancakes were NEVER edible.  They used to come out like a lead balloon, and I was scared they would be horrible, but I did it anyways, and I was told they came out just fine! He still tells me they were fine, but I wonder... He still married me! Must be love right?? Hahahahaha

Then I made...

black olives, sour cream, and Colby jack cheese

chili, I just wing it when I make it!

So there you have a few meals that I have made. Nothing real fancy, but we like them. Some of my go to foods and others I just like to try new things. Like the pizza!
Have a great day!

102 and counting

OK, so I noticed that I have put up 101 posts already. This will be 102! Can't believe that, guess I do talk a lot. I would like to say thank you to all my followers, those who "follow" and those who follow openly for reading and posting comments. I love that! I enjoy following all the blogs that I do follow and reading about what other farmers are doing. It's nice to know that there are others out there who are farming and making an effort to be  more self sufficient and be more local aka localvores!!! So thank you for reading about our journey in life as SweetLand Farm grows!

Any guesses what Matthew bought for me? He wanted to get me something for a surprise. This is what it is. Keep reading and I'll tell you what it is...

Our supper last night was this...

I liked the colors

grab a kiddo that had been lurking in the kitchen and wanted to help, and have her stir

yummy!

I asked Matthew what he wanted for a dessert, and he said Oatmeal Raisin cookies, so I made him some!

It's called Pasta e Fagoili. Like the one at the Olive Garden. I have never tried the one there because I like mine and would hate to think differently of mine if I had theirs!! I got the recipe from my grandmother, and I have no idea where she got it from. It's as follows:

1lb hamburg or sausage cooked
1 C onion
1 C carrots (I use my canned carrots so they are already cooked)
1 C celery
2 garlic cloves
1 Qt stewed tomatoes (that is what I use because that is what I have from the garden)
15 oz can of Great Northern Beans
15oz can of Red Kidney Beans
1/2 lb Ditali Noodles, if you can find them, I never can so I use the small pinwheels
15 oz V8 Juice (more)
15 oz Tomato Juice
1 T white vinegar                           1.5 t salt                            1 t Oregano               1 t basil
1/2 t pepper                                 1/2 t Thyme
Cook noodles until al dente.                      
Cook beef/sausage with onion, garlic, celery, S & P.
 Then add thyme, basil, vinegar, oregano.
 In a large pot (it makes a huge amount, so get a big pot!) Mix everything together. Simmer until warm, serve with bread if you want and enjoy!
I usually add more of the V8 Juice and Tomato juice because the noodles soak up some, and it's nice to have some "broth" in the soup. It's very filling and usually tastes better the next day when all the flavors have blended!

Your final clues on my gift!!

got it yet??

Butter molds!! Thank you honey!! I love you!!

whats for supper?????

 Well last night we had fried chicken, the best pasta salad in the world, and bread sticks! I totally cheated and bought the chicken breasts.( I'm not a big fan of eating the wings and thighs, too many bones to eat around. Call me crazy)... Yea I know I've got a freezer full of chicken in the freezer and I bought some!! Less work on my part, OK!? OK!! Sometimes a gal just need the easy street!! I have to admit I was inspired by From The Country Farm to make fried chicken, but not to cut my own bird!! This time anyways... And NO it didn't taste like plastic! LOL

home grown eggs and milk, salt and pepper, throw in the breasts ...

oops forgot to snap a picture of the breading part... anyhow this is the fry part.... in case you didn't know!

oh yea!! they were good!!

This IS the worlds best pasta salad!

 I got this recipe from my mother in law. She had made it one time when were over there for a meal and WOW! Love it, and had to get the recipe! Now I actually follow a recipe when I make pasta salad. I never did before, who knew there was such a thing as a recipe for pasta salad!!! I love pasta!

Yummy bread sticks with garlic salt on them!!! Dipped in Ranch Dressing! Yup!

So what is on SweetLand's menu tonight? Well it's Egg McMuffins, home fries, and chocolate milk!! I gotta go now and start cooking! Enjoy your suppers!!!!

come for a fun ride with me!!

I've been very busy. I'm not really a big planner, but I can plan, and do try, sometimes. Well I did try and life got in the way of my plan, as it often does. It's nothing earth shattering or life altering, my plans, or what happens, but it is maddening at times too. The other day I planned on home school, and it was a success, and in the afternoon I was going to dust. No big deal you say?? Well.... let me tell you what happened to my plan. Just hang on for the ride and see if you can keep up. We needed a dryer, ours was not working again, and not worth putting more money into, so we got a new one. I had some towels in the wash that needed to be dried too. In comes this huge monster of a dryer, that is a blessing because it works and we got a good deal on it. Well it needed the cords changed on it to plug it in, 3 prongs verses 4 prongs. So it sat in my, shall we say small living room by the phone shelf, for a day or so, and Matthew was able to change the cord, after speaking with an electrician. So with this huge dryer is in my living room I now had a new obstacle to dust around. I picked a corner and started the dusting, had to skip things around the dryer because I couldn't move the beast, and I got to a window. I looked at it and it needed some serious cleaning. I went into the kitchen to get a drink and wanted some more iced coffee, but decided that some warm tea would be good to warm me up. I put the water in the microwave and got the tea started. I put the tea bags in it and left it to steep, and started cleaning my window, which led me to the other windows in the house, all needing to be washed. Not an easy task either. I forgot about finishing my dusting at that time, in case you hadn't guessed. I went back in the kitchen to check on my tea and it was luke warm. Yuck. So iced tea it was, I put some ice in it and milk and a touch of sugar. I glanced at the clock, plenty of time, or so I thought. I knew what I had planned on for supper, stuffed shells, something that takes time to do, well I put the water on to boil, and cut up the onion for the hamburg, took care of the children's needs, answered the phone, and then  I glanced at the clock, again, almost time to bring the cow in to eat and the horses in before it was too dark. No problem, or so I thought. I've abandoned my window washing now too. I dumped the shells in the water and went outside to get Maggie in to eat. She decided to come running to the gate and stop. She stood there looking at me as I called her, then she mooed and started to munch on grass. So 10 minutes later she comes in the barn and puts her head to the side of the head lock and eats. No point in fighting with her to move her head. After she eats her grain I bribe her with an apple to get her head in the head lock. I run back in the house hoping the shells are not over cooked, and thankfully they were not too bad. I looked at my tea, a lost cause at this point. Watered down, luke warm again, tea. Yuck.  I drank some and dumped the rest opting for cold water instead. I ran back outside to get the horses in before I started cooking the hamburg, and of course Abby, who always comes to me took off running to the other side of the pasture Time Out right behind her! Sigh. I need the exercise anyways and proceeded to chase them around the huge paddock. (It seemed huge in the almost dark, cold, and tall grass I was running in, praying I wouldn't fall)! After awhile Abby came back to me and we went in the barn, and got them put to bed. Yup I put the animals to bed. Returning to the house, and if your wondering about the kids I had put in a movie for them and told them to stay in the house. They were happy to watch a movie and stay in where it is warm. I got supper made and put in the oven, and went back outside to milk Maggie because Matthew was going to be late getting home.  His week at the mill has been, challenging at best. Everything seemed to go wrong over there, and that was one last thing he needed to come home to do, and I was glad to help. I like to milk. The milking chores done, and all the critters "in bed" for the night we finally sat down together and ate.
So I had a plan, but as you can see it didn't turn out the way I planned, but I got the dusting done today, the monster dryer is where it belongs, and I can play catch up on the laundry.  I still haven't finished the windows, but there is always tomorrow, and with all this going on, I again thought to myself, "man some chocolate chip cookies would be real good right now!"

hello!

Hello!
 I've been very busy the past few days, seems like the days are flying by! The weekend we spent a great deal of time with our church family, and had a blast! Met some new folks from New York and Oregon. It was very nice to meet new people and talk with them about our very different lives, and some similarities as well. The kids got to meet and play with new kids and had a blast as well! Had lots of food, candy, sugar, laughs, music (mostly blues type) some guys got together and "jammed!" Awesome! Or as some of us ladies like to say "sswweeet!!"
Anyways,
Farm chores are slowing down,  almost done winterizing. Today was beautiful so we worked on winterizing the cow barn. We had snow on Reformation Day (most know it as halloween), and that little bit of snow was well, a touch of reality!  Did some laundry and hung it on the line, but had to put it in the dryer to get the rest of the dampness out, I fear I won't be able to hang them out anymore.  The "boys" went down to a neighboring farm and combined some corn with him. Little Matt sat inside it, and thought that was really fun, while Matthew sat on the outside deck. He said he could see Little Matt asking lots of questions too. Apparently there are lots of buttons on the inside of this combine, and he wanted to know about them. The combine was a John Deere, his favorite!
Supper was cooking in the oven so I milked Maggie while Matthew and Little Matt worked more on the barn this evening. The girls decided they had enough outdoors and asked if they could watch a movie, and I thought that was fine. I'm still working on the applesauce. Hopefully will finish it tomorrow, along with making butter and if I plan, haha, maybe some yogurt!  Tomorrow might bring a new set of challenges as well. We shall see.
So over at From The Country Farm, she's doing a gratitude challenge. So today I'm thankful for a husband who works hard for his family, and a church family that can get together and have loads of fun!

apple picking

There was a crispness in the air this morning as I went to hang out my first load of laundry on the clothes line. I love to hang my clothes out, even this time of year the earth smells wonderful and the clothes pick up that wonderful scent. I don't even mind the typical "scratchy" towels from the line. The cool air made me want to dig out my heavy sweaters, hoodies, and my hand made socks to keep my freezing feet warm. It made me want to start the fire, sit and enjoy it's warmth as I drink some hot chocolate!  The trees are still holding on to the last of their leaves not quite willing to let them all go as the rain and wind demands that they come off. I'm thankful for the seemingly stubbornness of them, because I'm not ready for them to all be gone. We load the kids and buckets into the van and off we go to pick the apples. The kids talk and giggle as we head out. Rachel is in the back happily singing "Apples, apples, apples. We are going to get apples." She is always making up little songs and singing them to us. The kids happily grabbed the buckets and headed for the trees. They climbed up in them and tried to shake them to get more apples off the trees, I snapped a few pictures, and they all were only too glad to stop and pose to get their pictures taken!  Even with the chill in the air that makes you know that winter is coming, we had fun, knowing that we will enjoy this apple cider we plan to make with these apples this winter!

chocolate chip cookies

Have you ever had so many things to do you stop and think in the midst of the chaos called life and think "Oh chocolate chip cookies would be great right now!" So you start the process of making them, with a large load of dishes in the sink to be washed, evening barn chores and dinner looming in the very near future, not to mention clothes on the line to be brought in and a bed to be made...
This afternoon Little Matt and DaLaney were playing outside when they came charging in the house and exclaimed "It smells like the ocean Mommy!" Then they proceed to tell me how they can make their whistles sound like seagulls! They even demonstrated their new found talent to me!  And maybe in a weird sort of way it did sound like a seagull?! Well to begin we live in the country, and have a vast amount of hay fields around us, and the owners of the said fields had some seaweed, lime and something else delivered to fertilize their fields, and they began spreading it today. I went outside and could smell it. It really did smell like the Maine oceans! Much better then the ummmm chicken poo we spread! Matthew commented on the smell when he got home too. He came home to find me out in the barn milking Maggie. I knew he would be home soon, and that he could take over if I needed help. We hand milk for the time being, with one cow, who needs the expense of all that "stuff"! I milked her (Maggie) this morning too. My hands were burning by the time I milked all four quarters let me tell you!! He sat in the barn and we chatted about our days, while the kids ran around outside. DaLaney wanted to help milk, so I let her, and she did a great job. I managed to squirt her in the face too!! She giggled and tried to get me back! It was nice!
We had an unexpected blessing today! The man that owns the field beside us said we could use that field to pasture the horses! That pasture is wonderfully green, thick and lush. He also gave us permission to hay it. Not sure if we will have time to hay it, but just being able to put the horses out on it will be great so we don't have to feed them winter hay!!
...back to the cookies. Yup I got them done very late, but done and they taste wonderful all warm and gooey with a tall glass of fresh cold milk!! Along with all the other various things I had to do today!!