Life on the Farm is not 'Mighty Laid Back'!!

These beautiful girls were born in late February, and the one on the left nearly didn't make it. The weather was so cold, and my BIL Dwayne and SIL Wendy put them in the barn in a warming container with a hair dryer attached. If they don't get there in time, their little ears will freeze, as well as their tail and sometimes their feet!

I was so grateful to hear they both lived. What an experience!

This little girl's head (below) was lolling back and forth she was so cold...my heart broke.


Here they are in the warming barrel/container/holder, and they were so glad to be together, bein' twins and all!

Everyone should have a chance to visit a farm/ranch during Calving Season.
I have much more respect for farmers/ranchers now! (not that I didn't before!)


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We've already had Thanksgiving!

Now that it's been a few weeks, and our Canadian Thanksgiving is over, I'm beginning to wonder why we can't have another one on November 27!

After all, my family in Washington, California, and Minnesota will be celebrating on that favourite day!
I'm like my Dad, though, because I don't have to make an excuse to eat turkey.
I love it anytime!

I certainly don't know why I didn't take a picture of the table when we were eating and when it was full of food! This picture looks very sparse, and even though I love olives and pickles, this just doesn't cut it!

I thought we had more Thanksgiving decorations, besides the puny little candle holder on the table...sigh....
Guess I'll have to do better next year!

I'm pretty sure I have a mouthful of turkey here as James is stirring the everlasting gravy! I never seem to make gravy thick enough for my husband, but there is nothing worse than gravy tasting like flour! I know, cornstarch does the job, too, but I've never mastered that yet!
Margaret was the chosen 'potato masher' which used to always be my job when I wasn't the Mom. She seems to enjoy her task and put a lot of effort into making it into a lovely tower of hot buttery spuds! They certainly tasted great (with the less than thick gravy!)

This is the first year I decided to serve a bit of champagne to accompany our meal, and everyone had a go (including Ken) at opening the bottle. It was quite tricky, and when Vanessa's boyfriend Jeff (to her left) took his turn, the cork shot up into the loft, and I'm not sure we ever found it again! Which of course meant that we had to drink the entire bottle during Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful meal, and we all gave appropriate thanks for what was happening in our lives, but....I really want to do it all over again!


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Please Don't Let The Summer End!

It truly is so hard to go from this

to this and back again so quickly!

This has been the strangest summer in that you 'pays yer money and takes yer chances"!

We've had wonderful times - Family Reunions, Camping Trips, Golf Games, Ball Games, and there will be more to come! When you live in an area where Summer seems so short, you have to squish all the activities you can in a short amount of time!

I made this casserole from my sister, Penny, at the family reunion, and instead of putting the cheese on top like most recipes call for, this one calls for putting the tater tots on top so they're crispy. The Hall Family manages to come up with the BEST potluck during our 'every two year' reunion, and we all roll out of the hall after we've stuffed ourselves with great down home cookin'! What's great is we have the leftovers the next day for lunch after our Alberta vs British Columbia Slowpitch Tournament.

Gotta fry up the onions good and crispy so people who don't like onions don't know they're there!!

Then you cook the hamburger in with the onion - as gray as it looks, it does get better!!

Then you mix up a couple cans of mushroom soup (s'gotta be Campbells) and mix it with a cup of milk. Now slosh it all over the mixed hamburger and onion in a 9 x 13 casserole.

Now, even though the recipe calls for 2 cups of grated cheese, we make more than that, cuz we love cheese!
Dump and spread the cheese over the top of the soupy mixture.

Toss it in the oven (if it's glass, don't toss it!) and bake at 400 degrees until you see it start to crisp up!
Don't worry if it starts to boil up over the potatoes. There are still enough crispy ones to go 'round!! (I think it's probably because we put in too much cheese, but, Oh well!)

Then you dish it up with a bowl of green salad, and it's Comfort Food in the making!

It's actually a better meal for a Winter day, but when it comes to a Potluck at a Hall Reunion on a 30 degree day, it still seemed to work! :o)


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Ken's Birthday

So, we decided to go all out and order pizza on Ken's Birthday night...(we don't mind overdoing the restaurant thing when it comes to the kids, but we can manage to hold back a bit when it's our turn!) I thought Ken liked Carrot Cake, so I decided to jump right in and make it before I asked! (I'm beginning to forget who likes what!)

So I opened up my trusty old Joy of Cooking cookbook (it's so old, it still doesn't think microwaves will be a success) which has the basic recipe for carrot cake and cream cheese icing. The dry stuff is the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder/soda?..

The wet stuff is the eggs, oil, and vanilla... Looks a bit lemony, but that's just a fluke! I think the sugar was in here too. I've slept since then!

Grated carrots from my trusty food processor. I took advantage of the fact that I had some old frozen grated carrot in my freezer. Man, I'm doing really well trying to empty that old thing and start filling it again!

Chopped nuts with a little extra light when the picture was taken!

Mixing the whole danged thing together!

It really doesn't look all that attractive before it bakes, but I hope I know what it's going to look like when it's baked!

Yep, it turned out ok..and smelled good, too!

Here we are after the cake was iced and candled! The three candles represent Health, Wealth, and Happiness - started by my Grammy! The problem was, we were so full from pizza and the danged brownies which came with the pizza, the only one who could manage a piece of Carrot Cake was Moi! No surprise there!

Ken opening his B-day card from his cousin Janice! She remembers everything, and is one of the only people who can make Ken laugh!

Relaxing amidst the inevitable mess after opening presents.
The Carrot Cake is now gone, but I think I ate most of it!
Kenny had another successful birthday, and that's a good thing.

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Billy's Creamed Chicken & Biscuits

Thanks to my buddy Billy Cotton, here's a great recipe for a potluck or a big family.
I, however, decided to make it last night, and there was no one to eat it but Ken and me, so we have a whack of leftovers.....no problem there!

This is definitely a comfort food since, in my mind, if it's got some kind of Campbell's soup in it, it's comfort food....not gourmet food. :o)
Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Two potatoes peeled and cubed. Got a picture quick before the taters turned brown!

Used the JBK Pot Minder so the water wouldn't boil over, and when it rattles and drives you nuts, that's when you take it out of the water and either turn it down or add the vegetables.

Billy's Creamed Chicken & Biscuits

Servings 8

1 1/2 tsps butter
1 lg onion chopped
4 cups frozen vegetables (thawed)
2 med potatoes, cubed
4 cups cooked and shredded chicken (or one whole chicken, cooked, boned, shredded)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
1/2 cup pimiento, chopped - optional (cindy didn't use it)
2 can Ortega green chiles, chopped - optional (cindy didn't use it)
2 can refrigerated biscuits (used one can and cut 'em in half)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 14.5 x 10.5 inch baking dish.

Blanch the cubed potatoes for 3 min in boiling salted water, add the thawed frozen vegetables and let all blanch for another 1-2 minutes.
Drain well and set aside.

Heat butter in a large pot (unlike the relic I used); add the onion and saute till tender.
Add the rest of the ingredients, including the potatoes and vegetables, except the biscuits, to the onion; heat over medium heat just to warm.
Add salt & pepper to taste.

Spoon mixture into prepared baking dish.
Place dish on a cookie sheet and bake in oven for 20 to 30 minutes.
Remove from oven; distribute biscuits closely over the top of the casserole.
Bake till biscuits are golden brown and the sauce is bubbly, about 20 minutes.

Discovered that even when you use a food processor to chop onions, taking the lid off will still make you cry!

I realized that one kind of soup I don't have hanging around the house is the Cheddar Cheese soup...so I had to run out and stand gaping in a soup aisle for about a half hour before I found it!

Dairyland sour cream - the best!

Not particularily appetizing in a too small, harvest gold, retro dutch oven pot!

Lovely salt from Margaret's Mom!

Uh oh, another photo of the retro pot! Not only that, it's wa-ay too full!

It's actually starting to take on a more appetizing look!

Finished product, and I was told by Vanessa it tasted pretty good! I thought so too.

Thanks, Billy!

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