Tuesday's Tails - 04/30/2013

This is most definitely NOT the kind of tail we like seeing here at the Lazy J Bar C!

This rattlesnake got himself tangled up in the bird netting covering the dwarf peach tree. Since there was NO WAY I was going to try and cut him free, Jerry sent him to snake heaven with the shotgun. Now, before you guys get to thinking we are snake haters, go here to see how we saved the gopher snake from the bird netting two years ago. This is actually only the second rattlesnake we have seen on our property in the eight years we have lived here.

Random 5 Friday - 04/26/2013

1.  The sky looked like it was on fire Wednesday evening as the sun was setting.

2.  Tomorrow is the Earth Day celebration at the Bisbee Farmer's Market where I set up and sell my baked goods.

3.  There will be a petting zoo, solar cooking demo, live music and lots of vendors. There will also be a May Pole, procession of the animals, drumming and belly dancing.

4.  Cochise County is a pretty conservative ranching and farming area with the largest employer being Fort Huachuca, home of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center...and then there is Bisbee, an old copper mining town down near the border with Mexico that was reborn as an artist colony in the early 1970s.

5.  The residents of Bisbee are a little more colorful and liberal than most of the other folks in Cochise County but they are genuine, friendly and welcoming. I could live there very easily (must be the old hippie coming out in me)...Jerry, not so much. ;)

Linking up with Nancy for Random 5 Friday.

Pie*ography Thursday - 04/25/2013

I thought I would share another portable pie for Pie*ography Thursday this week. The inspiration for these actually came from some packaged goodies I saw recently at the grocery store. I liked the way they were braided and figured I could do that! I started with a little different pastry recipe and used some apple pie filling that I had in the freezer from last fall. I found this lovely post for an Apple Lattice Galette utilizing a Danish braiding technique and knew that that was the effect I was looking for.

Filling               **Click here to print this recipe**

3 pounds apples
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Peel, core and dice apples. Combine sugar, flour, spices and apples. Let stand until juices begin to flow, about 30 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to thicken. Cool completely before using. Store any extra filling in the refrigerator and spoon it over waffles or pancakes. Yum!

Pastry

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold butter cut into chunks
1/4 cup cream cheese
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

Mix the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut the butter and cream cheese into the flour using a pastry cutter. The mixture should look like large crumbs and begin to cling together in clumps. Sprinkle the apple cider vinegar and cold water over the dough and with your hands, mix it in until the dough holds together adding more water if necessary. Roll out the dough to a 12-inch square. Cut into 4 six-inch squares. Follow the excellent directions for making a Danish Braid found here at the bottom of the post. Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar and bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

I guess part of my Pie*ography story is that I get bored making the same thing all the time for the Farmer's Market and I'm always looking for new ideas. These turn out really pretty even if they are a bit fussy. ;)

Pie*ography Thursday, Farmgirl Friday, What I Am Eating.

Barn Parts

We visited some friends in Willcox recently. They live on an old ranch property with a nice old wooden barn. The barn itself is pretty cool but I really like this old door and it's hinges.

Check out all the different types of fasteners holding on this hinge! I would say it's been repaired once or twice, wouldn't you?  ;)

Tuesday Muse, Barn Charm, Rurality Blog Hop.

Random 5 Friday - 04/19/2013

1.  My roses are blooming like crazy! I didn't get around to pruning them over the winter and they seem pretty happy about that fact.

2.  The big storm that brought or is bringing big rain to a lot of you just brought us big winds earlier this week.

3.  I made a new rule, Candy doesn't have to cook supper on Thursday. I do a good job of making meals from scratch the rest of the week but Thursday is kind of like my Friday and I'm tired of being in the kitchen every day by then. I don't care if we go out, eat sandwiches or have leftovers...I'm just not cooking! ;)

4.  The new season of Longmire starts May 27th on A&E! Woo-hoo!

5.  I have started taking my shower at night, there were days when I would still be in my jammies at noon because I would get busy with my baking. Now, I can just get dressed when I get up. When I was young, we always took a bath at night. How about you, do you prefer a bath or a shower, at night or in the morning?

Linking up with Nancy for Random 5 Friday.

Tuesday's Tails - 04/16/2013

I finally have proof that we have a barn cat! Meet Barn Kitty. He is usually VERY camera shy. We see him quite often but usually not close enough to get pictures. These pictures were taken through the kitchen window and the texture is courtesy of the window screen. LOL!!

Well, the other day, Jerry was working down at the barn so Barn Kitty decided he would come up by the house to get a drink of water. We keep his food and water (and Buddy's too) at the barn inside the fenced pasture so that there are no problems with coyotes or javelina stopping by for a snack.

We also have a water dish here at the house but hadn't been filling it up because Buddy and all the neighborhood dogs have been drinking out of the Cowboy Fish Pond. Since Barn Kitty is a little shorter than the dogs, we now keep it full! :)

Linking up with Nancy for Tuesday Muse.

Random 5 Friday - 04/12/2013

This week's post is pretty durn random! Let's see...

1.  One of the hens went broody so I put four eggs under her on Monday. Tuesday morning, I marked them and checked on her. Tuesday evening, there was another egg so I marked it differently. She was fine with no extra eggs Wednesday morning and evening and Thursday morning. Thursday evening, one of the eggs was half eaten so I evicted her. The dog was happy!

2.  We put bird netting over the three dwarf fruit trees yesterday. They all have a lot of fruit starting and we are hoping to actually get a harvest this year.

3.  I'm looking forward to the Farmer's Market tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be GREAT! My baked goods have been selling really well lately and my goal is to completely sell out one of these weeks.

4.  The neighbor lady cancelled her trash service and has been just piling it up on her front porch. With our big winds earlier this week, most of it ended up in our yard and pasture. Grrrr...

5.  Today is Jerry's birthday!! :) He got a pretty sedate cake this year, German Chocolate. If you would like to see the horse cake I made him last year go here.

Linking up with Nancy for Random 5 Friday.

Great Label...

...and the wine was pretty good too! :)

Linking up with Tuesday Muse and Wordless Wednesday.

Shepherd's Pie

Like a lot of people in this country, we don't eat much lamb and I have to confess that I had never made Shepherd's Pie until this week. Actually, I don't think I'd ever even eaten it. All I can say is...boy howdy, was THAT a mistake! I'm really, really looking forward to the leftovers for tonight's supper!

Jerry is so funny, when he looked at what I was making and I told him it was Shepherd's Pie, he said "Why can't we just have that with the mashed potatoes?" He was afraid it was going to be like a pot pie with a pie crust and he is NOT a fan of pot pie. Just so you know, he went back for seconds. ;)

One of the vendors at the Farmer's Market sells his homegrown lamb and beef. He has been out of hamburger so I bought some ground lamb from him last week. Since I had lamb, Shepherd's Pie just seemed like the right thing to make. There are hundreds of recipes out there for Shepherd's Pie but it is basically a ground meat and vegetable mixture topped with a "crust" of mashed potatoes which is then browned in the oven. Here is what I did.

Shepherd's Pie               **Click here to print this recipe**

4 large red-skinned potatoes
1-1/2 tablespoons butter
Milk
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
6 or 7 Baby Bella mushrooms, chopped
1/2 pound ground lamb
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Mediterranean Seasoning (recipe here)
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup beef stock
1/2 cup frozen corn, defrosted
1/2 cup frozen peas, defrosted
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Dice the potatoes and cook in salted, boiling water until tender (I didn't even bother to peel them). Drain well. Add the butter and mash them up a bit. Add enough milk to get a mashed potato consistency. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

While the potatoes are cooking, in a large cast iron skillet, saute the onion, carrot and mushrooms in the olive oil until softened and lightly browned. Add the ground lamb and cook until no longer pink, breaking up the meat as it cooks. Season with salt, pepper and Mediterranean Seasoning. Add the flour and stir to combine, let it cook for a minute or so. Stir in the beef stock to make a gravy. Add more stock if necessary to get the consistency you like. Stir in the corn and peas.

Spread the mashed potatoes over the top of the meat mixture, making sure to go all the way to the edges of the pan. Don't make it perfectly smooth on top, you want the potatoes to have some texture so they will brown. Sprinkle the cheese over the potatoes. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or so until the top is nicely browned.

Linking up with Rurality Blog Hop, Farmgirl Friday, What I Am Eating and Pie*ography Thursday.

 

Tuesday Muse - 04/02/2013

I was really taken with the color of this pansy, the blue was just so beautiful!! :)

Joining Nancy for Tuesday Muse.

What I Did Last Week

It's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but that is actually a royal purple. The expectant mother is very clear that she wants absolutely NO PINK for her little girl and prefers purple and red! :)
I decided to go with a cocoon and matching hat for this baby. When those were finished, there was leftover yarn so I made a diaper cover. I really like the textures in these crocheted pieces.

The yellow afghan I showed last time is for a different little girl due later this summer. I didn't get a chance to work on that one last week but was thankful to get at least one of the gifts finished.

I also did my baking for the Farmer's Market and made some signs for my booth on the computer. I had the signs laminated and hung them from my EZ-Up. They did draw people in.

I forgot to take a picture of my table until I had already sold some things but you can see how much baking I do each week.

Each batch of bread or rolls yields two packages, a batch of muffins yields six, there were six Toaster Tarts, nine packages of Rugelach and 29 packages of cookies.

It keeps me pretty busy each Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, I run a couple of errands, get everything ready for Saturday and print my menu and all my labels. Every item has to have a label per the rules of the Home Baked and Confectionary Goods Program through the state of Arizona. I'm really glad that they now allow the sale of home baked goods. I'm certainly not getting rich doing this but it does buy all the groceries each week, which helps, and I get to pursue my passion of having my own little Bakery! :)

Linking up with Dolly for The Creative Blog Hop this week.