Wicked Winter Calls For Comfort Food

I really do enjoy winter, but this winter has been a doozy!  Typically winter allows us to enjoy snowmobiling, skiing, sledding, and snowshoeing, but not so much this year.  We started the winter with a wicked ice storm.  The ice storm was more destructive than any I can remember.  We were very fortunate and didn’t lose our power, but many people in the surrounding counties did lose power for several days.

No sooner did the ice melt and we got dumped on with snow!  Frigid temperatures, blustery winds, and deep snow made taking care of chores outdoors difficult.  Thankfully Brad does all of the outside chores while Claire, Cody and I stay cozy inside J  But, even though I’m not working in the bad weather it still is difficult to get out of the house to run errands, and after a while we all go a little stir crazy!

The good thing about this weather is it gets me in the comfort food mood!  One of my favorite dessert brunch foods is monkey bread.  I have seen many variations of this yummy bread, but this is my favorite and dangerously easy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

·         24 Rhodes Frozen Rolls, thawed but still cold

·         1 small box of non-instant butterscotch pudding mix

·         ½ c. pecans, chopped

·         ¾ c. butter

·         ¾ c. brown sugar

 

Directions:

·         Cut rolls in half then roll in dry pudding mix.

·         Place coated rolls in Bundt pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray.

·         Layer pecans on top of rolls.

·         Sprinkle remaining pudding mix on top of pecans.

·         Combine brown sugar and butter.  Heat in microwave until syrup is formed.  Pour over rolls.

·         Cover pan with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with nonstick spray.

·         Let rise until double in size or until the rolls are at the top of the pan.

·         Remove plastic wrap and bake at 350 for 15- 20 minutes.

·         Cover with foil and continue to bake for an additional 15 minutes.

·         Immediately after cooking invert rolls onto serving plate.

·         Enjoy!  And try to eat just 1 roll J

I thought it would be fun to look through the recipe and figure out exactly how each product ties back to agriculture.  Where did all of those ingredients come from?  They came from the grocery store…..but how did they make it there?

Ø  Pecans grow on trees.  Today the USA produces between 80- 95% of the world’s pecans.

Ø  Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk.  It takes 10 quarts of milk to produce 1 pound of butter.

Ø  Brown sugar is produced by combing sugar and molasses.  The molasses and sugar come from sugar cane.  Sugar cane is a stout fibrous stalk that can grow to be 6- 19 feet tall.  In the USA sugar cane is grown in Florida, Hawaii, Texas, and Louisiana.

Ø  Pudding mix is made up mostly of gelatin and sugar.  Gelatin is a protein that comes from animal bones or connective tissue and has been used especially in desserts since the 1400’s.  Butterscotch flavoring is made after combining brown sugar and butter.

Ø  Frozen bread dough is made up mostly of flour, sugar, butter and yeast.  There are a variety of flours, but most are made with wheat.  Wheat is a grain grown in many parts of the world including the USA.

So there you have it…now you can picture where all the monkey bread ingredients are coming from J

What's Going On In Our Fields Right Now?

When I started this blog almost a year ago, I did some research to learn how to drive readers to the blog.  The number one thing I came across was to post consistently and frequently.  Through my research I read that posts should be done as often as you water house plants if you want to keep your readers “alive”.  Well, I apologize to you readers….if you were house plants you sure are hearty or desert loving plants because I haven’t been regularly “watering” you with posts, ha-ha!  I feel like this fall and beginning of winter has been a whirlwind and unfortunately my blog posts have been lowest on my list of priorities.

So, what’s going on in our fields right now?  Harvest is finished!  So that means that nothing is going on in the fields right now…. YAY!!!  Some fields have been plowed and will lay that way until spring field work.  Other fields are not plowed, but also lay untouched until spring.

I am so excited that harvest is done!  This year harvest seemed to drag on.  We had our fair share of rainy days which slows up harvest significantly.  Even though we had a few bumps in the road I am thankful of several things after this harvest season; here are just a few J

#1:  MOST IMPORTANTLY…. my family remained safe and healthy during harvest.  I know there are a lot of jobs that are hazardous, but according to the CDC, “Every day, about 243 agricultural workers suffer a lost-work-time injury. Five percent of these injuries result in permanent impairment.”  Not only remaining safe is a challenge, but after working such long hours, with no “weekends” as a break many times a person just runs their body down and gets sick, but everyone made through harvest unscathed, and for that I count my blessings!

#2:  The grain bin and dryer are up and operational.  The grain bin and dryer are crucial to our operation.  The construction was quite a big project and didn’t wrap up until after harvest started so that was stressful….but it is done now! J  Here are some pictures of the progression of the grain bin being built.  Over just a few days it was up, but then took quite some time before it was operational.

 

 

 

 

#3: We had bountiful yields!  We don’t have any irrigation systems on the ground we farm so you can only do so much to help the crop along throughout the year; aim for optimal planting times, apply fertilizer, control pests, etc.  But, we still rely on Mother Nature.  This year we couldn’t complain about how the plants matured and the crops yielded!

#4:  Styrofoam take out containers are easy to find!  I know this sounds a bit silly, but these handy containers make my life so much easier when trying to get meals out to the fields.  Getting hearty dinners out to everyone I feel like is essential to keep things running as smooth as possible.  The first year I took food to the fields I tried doing so in nice plastic containers I wanted back, or on paper plates, or wrapped in foil….I tried everything and nothing is as handy as these containers J

#5:  And lastly, but most motivating, is that we will be able to do what we love again next year.  We will learn from hurtles this year, and continue with practices that worked well.  I feel blessed to be doing what we love and raising our kids to work hard, reflect on the good and bad, and persevere!

 

Rainy Halloween

Usually rain during harvest season isn’t welcomed.  Even a little bit of rain can put a damper on soybean harvest and rain means muddy fields for corn harvest which is never good!  But I did jump a little joyfully when it started raining the night before Halloween J  Brad had just called and said they finished harvesting all soybeans and about 30 minutes later the rain began.  And it rained a lot!  But, even though that brought harvest to a standstill it meant we could catch up on some much needed family time (not in the combine, ha-ha).

So it worked out perfectly; Brad couldn’t be in the fields because of the rain so together we took Claire trick or treating.  Going out to do things together, as a normal family would, is a nice change of pace during this time of year!

This year Claire was the Energizer Bunny for Halloween.  If you have spent much time around Claire you know this is very fitting for her.  She just keeps going, and going, and going, ha-ha.  My Grandpa has always said, even when she was very young, that Claire is “perpetual motion”, and he couldn’t be more accurate.

So even though I do like to do a lot of crafty projects I didn’t make much of her costume.  I simply ran out of time.  Instead I pieced together a pink outfit- complete with a pink tutu; even though the real Energizer Bunny doesn’t wear one I thought it was adorable.  Then I added in some black sunglasses, bunny makeup and ears.  The only thing I did make was her drum, which was just an old hat box that I covered with white paper and drew on with Sharpie markers.  The costume was fast and easy and she enjoyed parading around it in J  And, I know she especially enjoyed having her daddy by her side while doing it!

 

"Harvest Widow" Project

With harvest well underway I find myself a “harvest widow”.  This simply means that for the months during the fall I literally don’t get to see or talk to my husband unless it takes place in the field, the shop, the combine, the tractor, or the semi.  He comes home to sleep and that is it.  Even on days when it is rainy or conditions aren’t ideal to be in the fields, there are always crops to be trucked, equipment to maintain or fix, or something that pulls him away and contributes to my “harvest widow” status.

Luckily Claire and I really do enjoy going out to the fields to ride in the combine with Daddy.  Even though our visits with him are short they are still the highlight of our days.  And I think he would easily admit that visits from us are the highlight of his day as well!

Over the years I have come to embrace my alone time during the fall.  I take advantage of this time to catch up on organization projects, deep cleaning, browsing on pinterest, and watching TV shows that I actually want to watch rather than staying on the History or Discovery channels at all times, ha-ha. 

This year I find myself spending a lot of time being inspired on pinterest; anything from recipes, to home organization ideas, to decorating ideas.  I recently found this cute idea someone had posted of a fun way to repurpose an old window.  I really like this sort of decoration, so I decided to give it a whirl. 

 

This is how I did it:

1-    Find an old window that you like.  I had some windows given to me by a relative, but I have seen them at thrift stores, antiques stores, alongside the road for free, etc.

2-   Clean up the window and make it sturdy.  The window I used was not only was dusty and dirty, but it also had flakey paint, and loose window panes.  I like the distressed look of the paint, so I just scraped all the loose paint off with a flat head screw driver and cleaned it up with Windex and a rag.  You could strip, sand, and repaint the window frame if you don’t like the distressed look.  To keep make the panes more solid in the frame; I simply used some caulk adhesive to go around the edge of each frame and pane on the back side of the frame.  It was very easy, cheap, and fast; just the way I like my projects, ha-ha.

3-   Make a shelf.  I found a piece of barn wood lying in our hip roof barn that fit perfectly across my window.  I simply drilled holes and attached a shelf bracket on each side and viola, I had a shelf.

4-   Attach frame hangers.  I attached 2 of the claw like frame hangers to the top of the window frame so hanging on the wall would be easy.

5-   Arrange pictures and embellishments.  I glued (with clear scrapbook glue) the pictures and embellishments onto the burlap.  I don’t know yet, but I am hoping when I want to change the pictures I can just pull the old ones off and glue new ones on?  Because I don’t know how they will come off I did glue copies of the pictures onto the burlap, in case they rip while being removed.

6-   Attach burlap to window frame.  From the back side of the window, I stretched the burlap and used a staple gun to attach the burlap to the frame.

7-   Hang the window on the wall.  This may seem like the easiest part, but it is most challenging for me, ha-ha.  When using anchors in our wall I always ask for Brad’s help because I don’t seem to be very handy with them.  Even though this is a quick task, he isn’t fond of “honey do” projects so it usually takes some coaxing, and possible bribery to get these things done, but I have my ways J

8-   Accessorize your shelf.  I just put fun trinkets on my shelf that I had lying around.  I will keep my eye out while antiquing for any other interesting things that may be more fitting for the shelf.

And that’s it!  My window picture frame is hung right in our entry way.  It is the first thing you see after walking through the door, and it makes all of us smile.  Claire is always pointing out Daddy, and Brad is always saying what a cutie Claire is.  What a fun “harvest widow” project J

What's Going On In Our Fields Right Now?

Soybean harvest has begun!  Harvest definitely is the most tiring and stressful time of our year, but it is my favorite time of year!  Harvest is also Claire’s favorite time of year even though she does miss her Daddy a lot.

The highlight of Claire’s day is going out to the fields, usually with dinner, and getting to see her Daddy, Nana, and Papa, AND getting to ride in the combine.  We typically visit during dinner for a few minutes then ride in the combine for an hour or so.  It may not seem like much, but to Claire it’s her whole day!  If it weren’t for our combine rides in the evening she wouldn’t get to see Brad much in the fall months due to his long hours in the fields.

The combines are very comfortable and safe to ride in with passengers.  The driver has access to all controls on the right hand side of the cab.  On the left side of the cab is a seat for a passenger and ample leg room.  There is heat, air conditioning, radio, and most other common luxuries that you would find in a vehicle.  Claire and I comfortably and safely ride and talk with Brad at the end of our days. 

I just snapped these pictures a few days ago while waiting for the combines at the end of the field.  We didn’t have dinner for everyone that night, but Claire had her hands full of snack size candy bars that she was excited to give to her Daddy and Papa.  I am so happy that Claire enjoys the farm life as much as the rest of our family does J

 



We had waited quite a while for the combines to pick us up. 
I think she was considering eating the candy rather than giving it to Daddy and Papa, haha!



She sees the combines!

Waving and yelling at the combines :)







The Field To Biscuit Story

I was getting Claire’s cereal ready yesterday morning and noticed a cute little blurb on the back of the cereal box.  It was talking about how the cereal originates in the field and eventually makes it to the cereal bowl.  I thought it was a great, simplified version of the “farm to table” story!  Even though the cereal biscuit is dressed in a way that I have never seen any farmer dress in ha-ha, it was still nice to see J

Field Snapshot: Soybeans

It’s that time of year!  The recent weather makes me feel like it’s harvest time J  Cool crisp mornings, sunny days that are comfortable in jeans and a sweatshirt, and clear starry nights.  This is my favorite time of year!  Brad and I were just talking recently about how much of a bummer it is that we don’t really get to sit back and enjoy this season since he is busy working, but it’s great none the less.

The weather isn’t the only clue that harvest time is drawing near.  The soybeans especially are giving hints.  The soybean growing season is done now.  The plants have been nice and green all summer long and have been working hard to fill each of their pods with fat soybeans.  Now the plant dries down and is ready to harvest.  So if you happen to be out and about and notice soybeans turning light green, yellow, or brown in color that is a good thing!  Nothing is wrong with the soybeans; they are just preparing to be harvested. 

I can’t wait for harvest to begin!  Hopefully only a few more weeks J

Soybeans changing- getting ready to be harvested.