OK you critics I am changing my picture. For a while any way. I plan on changing my hair color back to red soon. I do not like the gray. Too blah. And we all know I am anything but blah!

Barrel Racing Time

The days are getting longer and warmer and Mary is getting geared up for barrel racing. It's not as easy as years past when we put on our boots and were ready. Now we have kids to take along,snacks to plan and diaper bags to fill. Saturday we loaded up and hauled to Freemont Nebraska about 60 miles away. We stopped twice along the way. It took us 1 1/2 hours to get there! Oh Mary how you have changed. When it was just the 2 of us Mary would get iritated with me if I dared to stop for a potty break. Now Mary is a mom she she has adapted to the many detours life gives us when we travel with kids. Mariah and Mikayla (cousins) had lots of fun playing in the trailer. It was a beautiful evening and Mary was happy with her run so a good time was had by all!

Paper Pots

Now that I am not "working", I am always looking for free things and now its time to start my seeds indoors I have found a great way to start my plants. Paper pots! A pot maker cost me $10.
I cut news paper into 4 inch strips. Wrap the paper around the pot maker, fold over the end and mash with the bottom of pot maker. press hard and mash back and forth to create friction. This causes the pot to stay molded.
The pots will hold up well till planting time. But treat them gently. They hold moisture very well.
Using our local rag I have come upon news stories and obits that I have wrapped so they show and then those pots become little tributes.
To cut the strips of news paper I use a rotary cutter and a self healing mat. Makes for quick work.
I fill the pots with a lightweight soiless mix. This means there is peat moss and other stuff in it. Fill the pots 3/4 full. Press lightly and give each pot a shot of water. Place a couple of seeds in each pot and cover with more soil. Spray with water that has a shot of Listerine in it. This keeps from mold and mildew from forming in a damp situation. Cover pots and peek daily to check for growth. If they appear too wet take the cover off for a bit every day. Cover at night. As soon as the seeds germinate put them under fluorescent lights hung 2-3 inches above the plants. I know this sounds close but this keeps the plants from getting spindly. Fluorescent lighting is perfect for getting plants started., they don't have the colors of the spectrum to make plants flower very well. The plants once started will only stay indoors a few weeks then they will go outside to a sheltered area to harden off for a week or so before you plant them in the ground.
I will keep you updated on my plants.

I'm Crackers for Crackers!

It's true, I am crackers for crackers! I made my first batch years ago with a recipe I found in a Country Living magazine.

The other day we had no snack food so I fished around on the net and came upon this cite with lots of cracker recipes. The link is a the end of this blog. I made the jalapano cheddar cheese crackers. Instead of jalapanos I had some Mariachi peppers in the freezer that we just didnt like. Too hot. But perfect for these. So easy to make, I use a food processor.

.htmhttp://http//www.garvick.com/recipesmm/cracker_recipes.htm

Salmon Patties

Lent is not the only time to eat fish. My New Years resolution was to eat smarter and keep cost down. My plan is to have beef twice a week, chicken twice a week, fish once, vegetarian twice. The reason we have beef and chicken four days a week is because we produce it on our farm so cost is way down and because we are meat eaters and proud of it! That said now onto new business.

Salmon patties are fast and nutritious. I use the salmon that comes in the easy foil packets. Two packs will make about 8 patties and feed 4 Freemans. Dice up some celery and onion. Add an egg, a cup of crushed saltine crackers, and a little milk. Mix it all up and make patties and fry in a little oil.

I put the patties on a rye bun with a dill sauce that I recreated from a recipe that was given to me via a comment on my Friday Night Pizza blog. I took 1 cup sour cream, small diced red onion, tsp lemon juice, dill weed to taste, salt, pepper. This is a very refreshing alternative to tartar sauce. I sliced an avacodo and cut some of my indoor lettuce and wala very pretty and so Yummy!

Molasses Cookies

I was feeling old fashioned today and decided I needed to make a good old fashioned cookie. Looking in the pantry I spied a nice jar of molasses that looked a little lonely.
Mikayla my help for the day and I got started and within 30 minutes we were tasting the fruits of our labor. Soft and yummy these will not last long.

Molasses Cookies

3/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar, and egg together well add molasses. Combine flour, with the rest of the ingredients . Gradually add to creamed mixture, blending well. Shape dough by spoon fulls into balls and roll in sugar. I used Sugar in the raw. It has larger granules and a molasses type flavor. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Yields 3-5 dozen depending on how big you roll the balls. Give them plenty of room because they spread out as they bake

Apple Goody

Last Sunday the family gathered for diner and I had one more bag of apples in the freezer. Our apple tree produces well everyother year and '08 was it.
I really wanted to show a picture of my last Apple Goody but the vultures were swooping in and I could hardly get to the stove to finish diner! I guess a real compliment to the chef is an empty dish.
This recipe comes from my husbands grandmother Alma Wozniak from Ord Nebraska. It is a classic apple crisp recipe and comes together fast and if you use slightly tart apples that dont turn to mush when cooked you too will have an Apple Goody!

• 3 cups of apples peeled and sliced
• 1 cup of sugar
• heaping Tablespoon flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon and toss with apples. Place apples in 9 x 13 pan
• 3/4 cup oatmeal
• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup butter
• In a bowl mix oatmeal ,brown sugar, flour, soda, baking powder, salt
• cut in butter
• sprinkle over apples
• bake at 350 about 1 hour or till top is browned .
• try to wait till it is cooled a bit to eat.