Failure!!!!

Hello Everyone!!

Thanksgiving was a COMPLETE fail on my end. Sad day!

I attempted making the pie, that ending up in the garbage!! Then I get some motivation and just made a dairy free pie and leave the crust alone. That at least resembled a edible pie but still didn't taste "right". I have some ideas to try next time, but am just too upset with myself at this point it will have to wait.

The pie issues kinda ruined my whole weekend, but I do have to say both my mom and my boyfriends mom did make some delicious food, I am thankful I have many caring people in my life that know how to lift me back up.

On to DECEMBER!!! I have been making chocolate covered EVERYTHING!!

I bought a huge container of pretzels, and when I say huge,,,, I'm talking 44oz huge!! I also bought some peanuts and like 10 bags of almond bark!! I have almost half of the pretzels done, 3 gallon bags full!! I also just experimented with the peanuts, I have never made peanut clusters before but have always loved them! I tried just plain peanut clusters, I tried mixing in some marshmallows, and I tried adding some peanut butter in with the white almond bark. All turned out very good!! I am also going to make some Oreo truffles, and some haystacks. I was also introduced to those Ritz cracker/peanut butter sandwich things dipped in chocolate... I may have to try those also!! 

Any of you have any great holiday treats you HAVE to make every year??

Day 2 of Thanksgiving!!

Its getting closer!! Oh I can not wait to get to the farm, the smell of pumpkin pie baking in the farmhouse is the most AMAZING smell in the world!! Here is something funny I found at work ;)

I feel hopeless these days, no energy, no motivation.... but hopefully that changes after the long weekend!! I hope that the time at home will give me the break I have been really needing. When I get back to school on Monday, I will only have 3 more weeks of class for the semester and then its Christmas!! YAY!!

Here is what I have been working with for dinner these days - chicken, mushrooms, and zucchini with some shredded cheese :) YUMMM

I was able to roast my sugar pumpkins... so look tomorrow for the recipe -  "dairy free/gluten free pumpkin pie"!!

Day 1 of Thanksgiving Week!!

Hey Everyone!!

I am so excited that Thanksgiving is only 3 days away!! I love the baking, cooking, the smells, and the company. We will have the farmhouse full this year as there will be 20 of us cramed in. Having a big family is great... except when it comes to a holiday meal. We will have enough room though, thankfully there are a bunch of small kids so they don't take up much room!

This year we will be celebrating on Friday afternoon, as most of my brothers go to their in-laws on Thanksgiving day. I will be at my boyfriends house for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. Their family is very health concious and I was asked to bring a gluten-free, dairy-free... and if possible a sugar-free pumpkin pie. This is the main challenge for the week... trying to figure out how to make pumpkin pie with no gluten, no dairy, and no sugar..... CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!! I have some ideas, but will be posting final results later in the week so stay tuned!!

I have been loving the weather, hopefully it stays nice so we can let the kids play outside after Thanksgiving dinner!

Fall Happenings!!

Hello Everyone!!

Hope you all are enjoying the wonderful fall weather!! I love this time of year, the white stuff (snow) can wait to make an appearance for a few weeks yet. I love this weather for cleaning and getting things organized. The house isn't too hot, I can burn candles and the smell of cinnamon is always around! I have been trying to slowly get my parents house ready for the holidays by cleaning and fixing on the weekends... this weekend is busy with craft fairs and shopping for Thanksgiving so I really hope I can get the house cleaned in time for Thanksgiving dinner on Friday!

The past 2 weekends I was deer hunting with my dad and my brothers, this was my 9th year of hunting and as always, I loved every moment in the woods! This is the only time I ever really have one-on-one contact with my brothers or my dad. I usually do all my communicating with the females in the family. Here is a pic of the Buck my boyfriend shot! It was his second year hunting and this is his first deer!!

I have been helping with fixing tractors and washing since harvest got done so early, we have time to get everything put away properly.. for once!! I have been able to learn how to drive almost everything on the farm, but this is my favorite - a little ford tractor!!

 I will be posting as much as possible the next few weeks, I have lots of recipes and workouts that I have finally perfected or figured out to share with you all!!

Halloween Time!!!!

Fall just keeps getting better and better!! Besides the beautiful colors and activities, the holidays that follow fall are the best!!

Halloween is a time for little kids to dress up and for one short night.... their dreams come true when they get to pretend to be their favorite TV person, hero, or animal! I love seeing my nieces and nephews all dressed up fighting eachother for candy. It is a great sight!!

Since Halloween is on Wednesday this year, that means that this weekend was when most people had their traditional Halloween/costume parties. I had the opportunity to take part in two parties this weekend. One on Friday and one on Saturday evening. I also had two separate "costumes" since I am a cheap college student, and don't live by any costume stores, I decided to get creative with the clothes I already had since the two costumes I did have were being borrowed by friends. The first night I was a cowgirl, which was easy since I have boots, jeans, a button-up shirt, and a hat. The next night was a bit more challenging!! I ended up taking my old NAPA auto parts shirts and created a "NAPA girl" outfit.

I thought it was a very successful weekend!!

Fall Fun/Kiddos

Hello Everyone!!

 Hope you have all had time to go to the pumpkin patch or the apple orchard, this is a wonderful time of year!! This weekend I had to babysit my 4 year old niece and my 11 year old nephew. ..Yippy, those kids really know how to drive me crazy!!

We did everything from going out to eat Chinese, going to the movie theater to see Ice Age 4, and carving pumpkins (more on that tomorrow!) My niece is a real girly girl, so there was a lot of nail painting and make up! My nephew is older and “too cool” to do anything fun, ugh!! I miss the days he use to let me paint is nails and make him look pretty too!! Ha

This weekend I did get away from the kids to have a date night with the boyfriend, his grandparents, his cousin and his cousin’s girlfriend. I have known their family much longer then my boyfriend and I have been together, so it was a very fun evening.

 I also happened to get in the cleaning mood…. This really doesn’t happen often on the weekends! I ended up cleaning and vacuuming out my car and trunk, and then made my way to clean my mother’s bathroom and kitchen spotless. I usually only clean for holidays, but I guess this will make my holiday cleaning a bit easier since I am getting a head start.

Back to school/work tomorrow, graduation cannot come soon enough!! T-minus 6 months!!!

Favorite Foods - Workouts

Hey There,

Happy Monday everyone!! Hope you all had a great weekend.

I am going to let you all in on some of my favoite foods I have discovered these days, first off, lets talk breakfast!!

My regular breakfast use to be granola, berries, and almond milk... lately I have been switching it up and having some french toast made with ezekiel - low sodium spelt bread, with lots of cinammon, earth balance (vegan butter), peanut butter, and bananna slices - YUMM!!

My morning snack has been almonds and prunes - don't judge ;)

Lunch, as I have stated before is usually leftovers from dinner the night before - or a turkey sandwich.

Dinner - lately I have been having lots of chicken and steak, potatoes, squash, and large veggie salads.

My workout very on my energy level - but I have added morning workouts now!

an example of one day of workouts include

5:45am
2.5 miles on the tredmill
200 ab crunch/bike crunch
leg lifts
random arm workouts


7:30pm
2.5-3 miles on the tredmill
200 ab crunch/bike crunch
5 miles on the bike
(I swim 1/2-1 miles once or twice a week usually.... but I currently have an ear infection so I am staying away from the pool!!)

I am now 7 pounds from my goal weight - I am hoping to reach this goal by Nov. 1st... so im hoping to do major work this month!!

Have a great week y'all!

Roasted Seeds!!

Oh hey there!! How is your crisp fall weekend going??? Mine is going wonderfully, as usual.

I have finally gotten ahold of some of the acorn squash that was growing at the farm, and was more then excited to have some yummy roasted squash!! But this year,... I tried something new!!

I have always loved those yummy salted pumpkin seeds you can buy in stores, but since sodium has been a big issue in my diet lately, I decided to recreate this amazing snack!! I decided to research if you could roast squash seeds,,, and yup, you can, and I did!!!

To make these wonderful treats,

Separate seeds from the guts inside the squash/pumpkin.

Now you need to boil seeds in salt water (1 tsp of salt is plenty) for 10 min, bring to boil, then reduce to a simmer.

Strain seeds and pat dry

spread on a jelly roll pan with 1tsp of Olive oil, a pinch of salt (or more if you like) and then whatever seasoning you wish, I used 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice!

Try not to let seeds over lap, bake at 350° for 10 min, stir, then bake for another 5-10 min... watch very closely as they will burn quickly, test a few every few min and get the seeds just crispy.

Then let cool and enjoy!!

HAPPY OCTOBER!!!!!!

Hello Everyone!!

It is finally October, my favorite month of the year!! Its the unofficial beginning of fall, I never feel like it is fall till October. It is also now 4th quarter so in banking terms.... my job now SUCKS!! Also, I now don't feel so bad about making pumpkin desserts because with holloween coming its not too early anymore :)

I also usually love October because its "harvest" month... but that is not the case this year as we are now done with harvest... before October... that is a new record in my books!!! Yep, we have all of our crops out of the fields and dry!! Soo crazy!! The only field work that has to be done is disc ripping and spreding fertilizer on the bean ground so we have proper nutrients in the ground for the corn crop that will be plated there next year.

I got to ride in the tractor with the boyfriend lastnight, we were working on disc ripping one of his fields by a lake and to our suprise, we were not alone in that field!! We were working on the headlands (ends of the field) when I noticed a deer in the field with us!! I have been deer hunting many years now so obviously I needed to get closer, it turned out to be a 10 point buck and to say the least I got a little excited!! Even though the deer hunting season is a whole month away... I am ready right now!!

The final, and maybe best part of this whole weekend/first day of October, is the passangers I had in my car when I left the farm... my mother gave me tons of things from her garden including tomatoes, a HUGE zucchini and 5 of my Favorite squash!! YUMM

What I Eat Wednesday!

Hello Everyone!!

Hope everyone's week is flying by as fast as mine is, with things picking up at work and also with school... the days are coming and going faster then I realize!

First off..... I am COMPLETELY excited for tomorrow when I get to go home, pick up my boyfriend, and go to an Eric Church, Kip Moore, and Justin Moore concert!! My man has never been to a concert so I got him these tickets for his birthday!! I might just be more excited then he is - he will understand once we get there!!

Okay - so im going to give you all a little preview of what I eat in a regular weekday - please do not judge, Im just simply giving examples of the foods that my body works well off of.

Breakfast - before work I prepare something easy, usually an egg of some sort for a protein boost to get me up and going. Here is what I have been having a lot of lately - scrambled eggs with a large farm fresh tomato

Morning snack - usually a handfull of grapes, carrot sticks, or some un-salted almonds

Lunch - for the last few weeks I have been making enough supper each night so that I have lunch the next day, it has worked out GREAT!!

Afternoon snack - I usually don't eat a snack in the afternoon unless i get real hungary or if I know Im going to do an intense workout in the evening, examples of what I have is a rice cake, graham crackers, or an apple.

Dinner - This is my favorite meal because I have been doing alot of experimentation lately!! My obsession lately is baked potatoes made in the oven at 400°F for 20-25 min or until tender or.... zucchini julienne sliced and cooked with a tad of olive oil or butter just untill tender!! Delicious!! In this pic I have dill weed/onion baked chicken with some zucchini in a tsp. of alfrado sauce.  YUMM healified chicken alfrado!!

So, there are some examples of my eating habits - I have been really trying to keep my diet clean and healthy with minimal sodium, sugar, gluten, or dairy. I have been very happy with my results the past few weeks!



Hello Fall Harvest!!!

Happy Harvest Time!!!

Hope everyone is taking complete and full advantage of the wonderful weather expected for this week, here in MN we are expecting mid 70's - PERFECT for harvest both in gardens and in the fields!

My favorite time of year is Fall, and for obvious reasons like the wonderful colors! Some other things that make me fall in love with Fall are, pumpkin flavored EVERYTHING, fieldwork, apple crisp and making home made apple sauce (YUMM), and the best part.... knowing the holiday season is just around the corner!

I have made a crazy amount of apple crisp and apple pie's already this season, with MANY more to come and maybe even learning how to freeze some!! I made my first Pumpkin pie this weekend, which only lasted and hour... it got eaten as soon as it was half cooled off!! Needless to say it was DELICIOUS! I am really looking forward to this next weekend as I will be making apple sauce and apple juice/cider! I will also be helping my mother can tomatoes and beets.

This thursday, September 27th..... I will be attending the Eric Church, Kip Moore, and Justin Moore concert here in MN. I am sooo excited!!! Country Music tells the story of my life!!

Happy Fall Ya'll :)

Kids on the Farm!!!

I have a very large family, and with 10 nieces and nephews.... most days there are a few of those rugrats running around the farm.

The kids know the boundaries, they know not to climb on the machinery or go into the cattle pens. For the most part we have yet to have anyone get seriously hurt (knock on wood). They know to stay out of the way of tractors and know not to wonder off behind the barn or behind the house.

We love having the kids out on the farm, helping with chores like feeding calves and picking eggs, it has helped them each be comfortable around the animals and responsibilities.

Here are some of the snap shots I got though out the summer of the kiddos  -

This bottom one is my FAVORITE - if you look close, you can see that this little girl (Beth)  fell asleep with a baby chick sitting on her!! Precious!

Beth seems to be the most photogenic when it comes to picture taking!!

Hope your all having a wonderful First day of FALL!!!!

Aaaamazing Apple Crisp!!!!!

Hello Everyone!!!! Happy FRIDAY!!!!!!!!

After making apple crisp for the past 3 night... I have FINALLY came up with the best Apple Crisp  - at least that is mine and my room mates opinions... testing the family this weekend!!!

Aaaamazing Apple Crisp -
adapted from http://southernfood.about.com/od/applecrisps/r/bl11014d.htm

Preheat oven 375°F

Apples, peeled, cored and sliced (# of Apples depends how you like your apple/crumb ratio, I fill the pan about half full of apple pieces)

Mix apples with juice from 1/2 lemon so they don't turn icky brown. I used a 8x8 pan, if using 9x13 maybe double crumb recipe.

In a medium size bowl mix together...
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon (or 1/2 tsp cinnamon & 1/2 tsp nutmeg)
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 stick cold butter (cut into pads/sliced)

cut butter into flour with a pastry blender or two forks until mixture is crumbly (I used my hands)

Bake for 30-40 min.  - Enjoy!!!!

Terrible Tuesdays!!!

I have come to the conclusion that Tuesdays are by far... the WORST day of the week. There are only memories from the weekend before, but yet no hope for a break for another 3 whole days!!! UGH

The most excitement I get throughout the week is my workouts and the occasional cooking frenzy... yippy!!

My workouts this week have intensified, by adding some swiming. I set a goal in April of this year (2012) that by the beginning of fall semester, which was Aug. 22nd, that I wanted to lose 20 pounds!! I managed to reach that goal by July and surpass it by losing 25 by the dead line. I have now decided that another 15 pounds could be managed by the end of the year. Even though I have now stayed at the same weight for some weeks... I have decided to intensify my workouts in hopes to lose the last few pounds before the sinfull holiday season!!

This week’s workouts include (done in the evening after work, 4 times a week)

2 mile run/jog
300 ab crunches
15 min. misc leg workouts (leg press, calve press, lunges, etc.)
15 min. misc arm workouts (weights, curls, etc.)
1 mile cool down speed walk

THEN - durm-roll please... 1/2 mile freestyle/back-stroke swim  and 10 min. treading water

By the time I get back home its 9:30pm and its time to catch up on homework, and read some Fifty Shades of Gray (my newest addiction!!)

I also got some apples from the farm .... so, anyone have any good crisp recipes?!?!?!

Weekend Happenings

This weekend we are all prepping for the soon to come "Harvest Season"!!

Here is the short version of our weekends for the next few months.... Combining, calves, and cows... Yippy!!!

 

One of our Cows that had this little heifer calf on Saturday night - we usually get 2-3 calves a week!

For those of you "city folk" - a heifer is a young female that has not had a baby yet - a cow is a female that has had babies and produces milk.

We also went out and gathered some corn to test moisture and decide when combing would start. We have already chopped some corn silage, we will soon be combining high moisture and then dry corn. All of which get fed back to our cattle. 

And finally... the star of the farm - this is Bear, an Australian Blue Heeler/Rottweiler cross... we think?

He is the protector of all that live on the farm!!! 

Hope you all are having a great weekend!!

Welcome!!

Hello Everyone!!!

For a little introduction, my name is Rose and I come from a dairy farm in South Central MN. We milk 75 Holsteins and run about 400 acres of crop land. I have a very large family, 5 brothers, 5 sister-in-laws, 5 nieces, and 5 nephews... My parents are very blessed!!

This blog will support almost everything from day to day life on the farm, to healthy recipes and workouts.

I hope you all enjoy it!!