the Kitchen Shoppe and Sticky Buns!!

Recently, my water aerobic friends and I attended our 2nd annual Lunch and Learn, sponsored by our good friend and fellow swimmer, and owner of the Kitchen Shoppe, Sue Hoffman. It’s a delightful hour and a half when the cooking school’s chef, Amber Clay, prepares lunch and shares her cooking tips with us. It’s a day when we fellowship together outside the walls of the Y and see each other fixed up in street clothes, make up and coiffed hair! (Instead of swimming suits, pale faces and flat hair!)

At some point during every swimming class, I tell the girls a cute joke….usually a blonde joke. If I don’t have a joke, I’m in big trouble! They look forward to the jokes. So on this occasion, they honored me with a card and each enclosed a joke for in my joke arsenal. They are so sweet. We will be enjoying these jokes for weeks to come.

I took advantage of a shopping opportunity at the Kitchen Shoppe while I was there and purchased a new, much needed bread machine. My old Welbuilt was dying after nearly 10 years of hard use. I made many loaves of bread in that machine-it served me well. It also made many, many pizzas, as well as our favorite sticky buns. Mmm!

After a ton of research, I chose a Zojirushi. It was more costly than many other bread machines, but seemed to be a sturdy machine that would withstand whole wheat breads. I am planning to also add a grain grinder to my kitchen collection sometime soon which will take my bread baking to a new level.


You can visit the Kitchen Shoppe at http://www.kitchenshoppe.com/


Sticky Buns

Combine the following ingredients in bread machine:

1 1/4 c. water
3 c. white flour
2 T dry milk
3 T sugar
1 tsp salt
3 T butter
2 tsp yeast

Set machine on dough cycle

Roll out dough into a rectangle on a floured surface.
(Dough will be wet and sticky.)

Filling
1/3 c. soft butter
1 tsp cinnamon

Spread butter on dough and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Preheat the oven to 375* .

Sticky Sauce
¼ c. butter
½ c. brown sugar
¼ c. light corn syrup
½ c. pecans (optional)

Bring sticky sauce to a boil to dissolve ingredients.

Pour sticky sauce into a large baking pan.

Roll dough into a log and cut in equal pieces.

Place slices in sticky sauce.

Cover and allow to rise.
Bake at 375 * for 20-25 min .

Remove from the oven and immediately flip buns out on to serving platter.

Enjoy!
Tammy

Family Bonding

Over the weekend, our family took off to the cabin in the beautiful mountains of the northern part of Pennsylvania-about a 4 hour drive. Although our kids are grown, a trip to the cabin is a wonderful opportunity to bond together as a family. As soon as we breathe in that mountain air we become relaxed and at ease, leaving the troubles and challenges of life behind. The cabin is very rustic, nothing fancy. But we always have a great time, regardless of the weather. Some of us are busy finding activities to do like fishing or hunting, or perhaps mountain biking or dam building in the stream. But some of us just like to relax by the fire, perhaps read or craft. We eat, play games, eat, talk, and eat some more.


When we go to the cabin, we always take our black lab, Mac (short for McKenzie). She loves the water! It usually takes her a few days to recuperate when we get home. She can occupy herself for hours in the stream as you will see on the video below. The kids brought their little Boston terrier. She had a great time and went home exhausted as well!

This year, there was something just a bit different about our trip. Last October, our daughter was married and has since moved to the Pocono area, nearly 3 hours from our home. So when our weekend was over, we parted ways. We came to our home and they went to their home. How sad!

On the way home, I was thinking how we live in a time when we all hope for world peace, and yet families can't get along together. Some don't even speak to each other. It's sad. I was feeling sad, even sorry for myself, about the fact that my daughter and son-in-law are so far away. But at the same time, I was feeling grateful that we have a cabin where we can all gather together,a place to renew our relationships, a place where everyone enjoys being together, a place where we can go for some fun and family bonding, and a place where we can enjoy the great outdoors.

Feeling Blessed!

Tammy

FOTO FRIDAY- SIGN OF SPRING

New Baby Robins arrived while we were on a mini vacation this weekend.

What a sweet surprise!

The Smell of Spring

About two weeks ago, I was out working in the yard when I got a good whiff of freshly turned soil! Ahh, I love that smell. So I looked over in the field, and there was my husband, plowing up the garden. (He loves his tractor!)

We have a huge garden, so it takes a while to get the garden prepped and planted. We spent that entire weekend planting onions, potatoes, and peas-Oh my! Also in the ground are a variety of lettuces and radishes as well as green beens.

Planting a garden in the spring is exciting. It takes a lot of work and patience as you wait to realize the fruits of your labor...but oh so worth it!

This Week hubby planted some corn. So now that the bulk of the garden is in, we'll work on all the other stuff that gets planted later like tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, cukes, and more.

We had a few rain showers this week and guess what?.......

...little sprigs of green are popping up everywhere....radishes, onions, lettuce and beans.

My "Lucky Man" This picture reminds me of a song I refer to as

My husband's theme song by country singer Montgomery Gentry.

Lucky Man

I have days where I hate my job,

This little town and the whole world too

And last sunday when the bengals lost

Lord it put me in a bad mood

I have moments when I curse the rain

Then complain when the suns too hot

I look around at what everyone has

And I forget about all I've got

[chorus]

But I know Im a lucky man

Gods given me a pretty fair hand

Got a house and piece of land

A few dollars in a coffee can

My old trucks still runnin' good

My tickers tickin like they say it should

I've got supper in the oven

A good woman's lovin

And one more day to be my little kids dad

Lord knows I'm a lucky man

Got some friends that would be here fast

I could call em any time of day

Got a brother who's got my back

Got a momma who I swears a saint

Got a brand new rod and reel

Got a full week off this year

Dad had a close call last spring

It's a miracle he's still here

My old trucks still runnin' good

My tickers tickin like they say it should

I got supper in the oven

A good womans lovin'

And even my bad days aint that bad

Yeah I'm a lucky man

I'm a lucky, lucky man

To hear Lucky Man

Chicken Noodle Soup

Remember the extra chicken and broth from the corn soup? Today I took it from the freezer and made homemade noodle soup-with homemade noodles. Though I use a recipe for the noodles, the soup just kinda gets thrown together in the pot.

First, I made the noodles, rolled them out, and cut them into the desired size. These have to be made several hours ahead of time to allow the noodle to dry out a bit. (recipe below)

Just like the corn soup, I begin by sauteing some onion, celery, even a little garlic. Then add the broth and some pretty carrots.

Bring broth to a boil and add noodles a few at a time. If more broth is needed, some kind of ready to use broth can be added. Cook until tender, and add the chicken pieces, and a few spices....salt, pepper and parsley. Anything you choose to add desired flavor. Simmer just a bit longer.

ENJOY!

Homemade Noodles

1 egg, beaten

1/2 tsp. salt

2 Tbl. milk

1 c. sifted flour

Combine egg, salt and milk. Add flour a little at a time, enough to make stiff dough. Roll very thin on floured surface. Let stand 20 minutes. Roll up loosely. Slice 1/4 inch wide. Unroll, Spread out and let dry 2 hours.

*I often use half whole wheat, half regular flour with no problem.

*Cutting noodles with a pizza cutter works well!

Have a great Day!

Tammy

Crazy Birds

The birds that call our neighborhood home have been very busy creating a place to raise their young. This year, several robins have chosen some crazy places to build their homes. This nest was built on top of a ladder that hangs in the overhead of my potting shed.

Another nest was constructed on the front porch on the top of my spring wreath. Everytime the door opens, she flies off. But if I'm really quiet, I can peek out at her through the beveled glass of the door.

I was even lucky enough to sneak a picture of her future family!

Sweet!

Have a great day! And take time to enjoy God's Glorious Creation!

Tammy

Chicken Update

As of today, we have 31 chickens! If you remember, we bought 9 chicks at our local farm supply store- 6 sex link, (3 red, 3 black) and 3 polish chicks (2 buff and 1 white crested black). Then we incubated 24 eggs, hatching 16 chicks. And I also bought 6 Aracauna chicks. Now I'm wondering what I am going to do with all those chickens! Although once we can identify which chicks are roosters we can thin the flock.

Check out chicken scrapbook pages I posted at http://www.scrapbookflair.com/.

Who knew chickens could be so cute. My husband and I just hover around the coop mesmerized by their every move. They are so entertaining. It's amazing to me that no one had to teach them to be chickens. They just do it. They scratch, and go through the motions of taking a dust bath. They even practice sparring with one another. And now I'm looking forward to hearing those little roosters crow.

Have a great day.....hope it's something to crow about!

Tammy