FOTO FRIDAY- Backyard birds

The weather here has been frightful....snowy, cold, and blustery.....just a few adjectives that come to mind.  I have been spending my free time at the desk in front of the window.  I've been catching up on some digi scrapping and some other crafty projects (more on them another day).  Today however, I thought I would share the view from the living room window.  Enjoy!  (Remember to click on the images to enlarge)

Mr. Hawk keeping an eye on my feeders..Grrrrr

FOTO FRIDAY- Rubber Egg?!

I found this rubbery egg in a chicken nest. (the one on the bottom)  It had a membrane, but no shell.

Carlisle Cooks: Hard Boiled Eggs Part 2- Macaroni Salad

Carlisle Cooks: Hard Boiled Eggs Part 2- Macaroni Salad: "I thought I'd share another favorite around here using some of those hard boiled eggs. While I don't exactly use a recipe, I'll do my best t..."

A Winter Tale

A Winter Tale

It's a beautiful day in S. Central P. (pee) A. 

With shoveling and sweeping, I got my workout today.

Mac had a ball leaping thru the snow, 

She ran and she played, jumping to and fro.

Lets not forget the girls, the snow they dislike, 

So momma made a path, and to the feeder they did hike. 

The girls were so happy, they didn't know what to do, 

"I know," exclaimed Gert, "We laid these eggs just for YOU!" 

The end!

Tips for Hard Boiling Eggs- even fresh eggs!

I have found the secret to hard boiling eggs perfectly-every time.  Many folks tend to overcook their eggs creating that nasty green layer on the outside of the yolk.  But one simple tip can fix that.  I can't believe something so simple is not so well-known.  But here it is.............

Are You Ready..................

STEAMING!  

Yep, that's right.  Steaming your eggs is the secret to great hard boiled eggs-EVERY TIME!

You just need one of these...

OR THESE

OR THESE

I used an electric steamer like the one pictured above.  Just place a small amount of water in your pan with the eggs.  (I had to use a bit more than 1 cup in the electric steamer.)  

Steam for 20 minutes.

Cool immediately.  I usually add my eggs to ice and water.

When eggs are cooled,   (It only takes 5 or 10 minutes to cool)  you are ready to Peel.  Even our fresh from the nest eggs peel fairly well, 'cause you know...fresh eggs are a bugger to peel.

I turned these eggs into pickled eggs.  Yum!    

I made pickled eggs with the beets I pickled this summer.

Happy Steaming!

For more recipes, including some Pennsylvania specialties,  go to my cooking blog, Carlisle Cooks.  

The Aftermath

I've been struggling to recoup from the holidays. There's so much to do and so little time. In trying to restore order after the barrage of gifts and food, I found myself getting sidetracked by working on projects that have been shoved to the wayside the last month or so.  While I managed to get the Christmas tree down, the rest of the decorations are still up (except for the fresh pine that was removed the day after). 


My wonderful hubby bought me one of those gadgets to record your old VHS videos onto DVD.  I spent several afternoons and evenings playing with it.  And though I have a long way to go, I got a great start.  It is a project that takes you down memory lane.  Some days I wasn't sure whether to laugh, or to cry.  Here's just a snippet from the good ol' days of having little ones in the house.  This is my little girl (who is now 24 and a mommy of 1) getting down and dirty in the kitchen.  We began the training young around here!

Because I had to set up this new recording device in our office/craft room, I had to do some cleaning and reorganizing first.  And my work/craft table was first on the hit list.


And then I got this brilliant idea as I was sorting through my photos for scrapping, crafts, fabric and sewing projects (that I may never get to). Immediately I had to  stop cleaning and begin sewing.  

click to enlarge

  I'm a trash to treasure girl.  So I was thrilled with the results of my efforts. After several hours, I had 4 of these clever(recycled)grocery bags made from chicken feed bags.  I have one more to make.  Its a beautiful bird food bag with vibrant colors and of course, birds!  Each year at Christmas, I make up a little homemade gift for the sisters-in-law.  There's a good chance they'll get a recycled bag filled with some kind of homemade goodie;)



AND SPEAKING OF THE SISTERS-IN-LAW...Pulling off a nice gift of the homemade variety often takes some planning ahead.  This year I worked all summer to pull off this year's gift.  It turned out to be a really nice gift.  Check it out.

I cut and dried herbs all summer long.  Put the dried herbs in little packages purchased at Michaels. Made vanilla (several months before) using the tips on making homemade vanilla at Tammy's Recipes.  It's wonderful BTW.  Included an herb guide on what each herb is used for.  And wrapped it all up nicely with a Christmas towel purchased at a discount store.  Each SIL also received a tampon angel for a little humor!  

Thats all for now.  Still a lot of projects and organizing to do. Until we meet again............