Dipped Pretzels

~ Grace ~ Leave a comment

Dipped pretzels are a holiday FAVORITE at our house.  They are not only yummy but extremely fun to make.  There are no limits on the varieties you can make, and they also make easy, inexpensive gifts!!  Here are some examples of what we have made so far this Christmas.

Jo’s Chocolate Dipped Pretzels
Little Chef’s vanilla pretzel rods

Dipped pretzels are a great idea for Christmas parties, kids can make them all by themselves and as you can see each pretzel is a masterpiece. 🙂

All you need to make these sweet, salty, crunchy goodies is:

Pretzels – Any shape or size and Almond Bark – Chocolate, Vanilla or both.

Melt the Almond bark in a microwave safe bowl following the directions on the package.  Don’t over heat it!!  You will end up with a HARD, over cooked mess and there will be no dipping and very sad faces (yes, I’m speaking from experience).  When you reach a nice, silky, smooth consistency start dipping, dunking and sprinkling!!  They will cool quickly, so sprinkle fast.  For easy clean up, place them on waxed paper to cool.

I hope your family enjoys these as much as ours does.  Be creative and have fun. 😛

Golden Buff Chicks

~ Grace ~ Leave a comment

When we ordered the chicks we chose Golden Buffs, also known as Golden Comet, Golden Sex Link, Cinnamon Queen, and Red Star.  They lay 5 plus big, brown, eggs a week and are small (around 4 lbs.) and docile hens.  The other great thing about Golden Buffs is  the hatchery is able to tell the sex of the chicks when they hatch by their color.  I don’t want a rooster “YET” so this breed seemed to be the best choice for us.  On July 18th, 18 peeping, puff balls arrived!! The play pen with a heat lamp worked great for keeping them nice and warm.

My girls and I were instantly in love!!  We had a hard time leaving the chicken coop, they were just to much fun to sit and watch.  To my pleasant surprise they were very hardy little buggers.  I thought we might lose a few in the mail or shortly after they arrived but they were all healthy, active and surprisingly loud!

In conclusion we were VERY happy with our little peeps!!  The only bad thing was they all looked identical and trying to name 18 chicks that you can’t tell apart was an impossible task. 😉

 

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

~ Grace ~ 2 Comments

I got this recipe from my mom many years ago, it’s the recipe I grew up on.  So anytime I try to make a different chocolate chip cookie it just doesn’t taste right.  In my opinion THIS is what a chocolate chip cookie should look and taste like!!  I think they’re the best when under cooked just a little….soft and SUPER yummy!!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
 
Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter (softened)
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups oatmeal
  • 2 cups chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Mix together butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla and salt. Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda then add to sugar mixture and blend well. Add oatmeal and chocolate chips mix well.
  2. Drop spoon fulls 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
  3. Bake at 350 for 12 to 15 minutes.
  4. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

 

Fall Wall

~ Grace ~ Leave a comment

When we started school in September I told the girls we would have an art project at least once a week.  We have stuck to that plan and have produced some pretty cool masterpieces!  I like to plan our art projects around the other subjects we are working on.  If I can reinforce a history, science, or bible lesson with an art project that’s just one more way to help them retain the lesson. Kids love to see their art work on display and I don’t know about you but my fridge is pretty FULL!  So we started hanging up some of our art work on a wall in our “class room” it soon became our “Fall Wall”.

 

Little Chef’s Jack O’Lantern

 

Jo’s thankful turkey:o)

Jo worked so hard typing this up and as you can see she loved learning how to change the font and color of her text.

Little Chef’s Columbus Day project

Yesterday Little Chef said “Mom, where are we going to put our winter wall?”

 

Getting Ready for Chickens

~ Grace ~ Leave a comment

Half way through the summer I realized that “getting ready” for chickens was taking to long.  So instead of being completely ready and totally prepared I went ahead and ordered 18 chicks. I figured that if we knew they were on the way it would motivate us into getting a coop ready. It worked!!  We had a place in mind for our chickens.  A small room behind our pump house that had been used for storage.  So it was my job to clean it out.  While cleaning I found an old play pen that was soon to become a temporary home for 18 little peeps.  Chicken coops need to be well ventilated so Digger built a screen door, installed a (recycled, closeable) window and cut out a chicken door. 

I went to town and bought 2 little waterers, 2 little feeders, a bag of chick feed, and a red heat lamp bulb.  At a yard sale I found a shelf that was the right size for nesting boxes (the average size is 12″x12″x12″). You should have at least 1 nesting box for every 4 chickens and this shelf had 10 boxes so that was plenty.  All Digger had to do was add a strip of wood across the front of the boxes to keep the bedding from falling out.  After all Diggers hard work and my shopping spree we were ready for chicks!!

 

Should We Get Chickens?

~ Grace ~ Leave a comment

Should we get chickens?  While pondering this question a memory kept flashing through my head.  I remember gathering eggs when I was little.  You’re probably thinking….awww what a wonderful memory to have of childhood. NO, not so much!  As a young child I was a bit of a……ummm, I guess you could call it “germaphobic?” (I know a germaphobic farm girl…weird huh…my parents thought I was switched at birth)  Anyway, reaching under a pecking, flapping, squawking bird to grab a poop covered egg was absolutely terrifying!!  I don’t remember how old I was when we got rid of all the chickens, but I was relieved.  To my mothers relief I eventually out grew my “germ thing”(REALLY outgrew it!).  That was my last experience with chickens so this question led to a lot of thought, discussion and research.  Finally coming to the conclusion that YES we should get chickens. Why?  This is probably the first and easiest step to becoming self sufficient, and they will be great 4-H projects for the girls.  We eat tons of eggs and whats better than your own fresh, free range, chicken eggs!!

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