I am very new to the blogging world, but wanted to share with my reader's some other blogs that I have been following and suggest reading as well!
For any newlywed or young lady who is interested in anything do to with life & style I highly recommend either of these blogs. These girls are sisters and I love them both, they remind me of my own sisters. They are both Michigan girls who have moved to North Carolina and both have very different styles, but are so classy. The Small Things Blog is known for the amazing, I mean AMAZING, and easy hair tutorials:
The Small Things Blog
From My Grey Desk
For other farming wives out there, I just stumbled on this blog a few days ago. She has so many great ideas and great posts! Too bad they have John Deere!
Fourth Generation Farm Wife
Anyone really into television such as New Girl, The Bachelor/Bachelorette, 30 Rock, SNL, So You Think You Can Dance or any type of musical I strongly suggest my very talented sister, Lisa's, blog. She's hilarious and does awesome recaps to a lot of tv shows.
The Blonde Blogette
Anyway, those are just a few of the blogs I follow! I usually come across some new ones every now and then so I'll keep sharing them as I go!
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Kewanna Pumpkin Dip and Oops Potatoes
I was just going to call this post "Pumpkin dip" and "potato skins", but due to the change of current events, I realized that I needed to include the entire town of Kewanna in the helping of making the dip and also that sometimes when things go unplanned, it works out for the better.
You see, when you live outside of town 30 + minutes like I do, making a meal or special dish isn't always easy. I find myself often calling the neighbors for a cup of milk, or sending Seth to raid his mom's pantry when I don't have something I need.
Tonight we are having a dinner with some family friends, and I wanted to make pumpkin dip. When I was in college, I got to go to an event with the Purdue Varsity Glee Club (they're amazing, if you are ever in Indiana in December, you have to go catch the Purdue Christmas Show, or any Glee Club show! You won't regret it!) The event was held in the fall, and the people who hosted it always had this delicious pumpkin dip that everyone would gather around until they were literally licking the remains from the bowl. So I decided to make it today to take over, but then realized I didn't have a can of pumpkin in my pantry.
So, I called up a friend to see if she wanted to run into town with me to pick up the ingredients and take her to get any last minute things before her c-section on Wednesday. 2 pedicures, manicures, 100 pound bag of dog food, and Subway sandwich later, we finally got the ingredients but not without Megan having to find half of it for me. There were two almost mental breakdowns in front of the spices when they had "apple pie spice" and "all around spice" but no "pumpkin pie" spice. Apparently pregnancy gives you amazing eagle eye vision to find these things.
I finally got home and went to go pick up Eli when I realized that last time I went to make a dip (chocolate chip cheesecake dip...its also delicious!) that I couldn't find the beaters for my mixer. Thankfully, my mother in law let me borrow hers so I was on my way. I got home, unloaded everything, got the baby down for his nap, and was ready to get my Martha Stewart on when I realized: I forgot the cream cheese! Thankfully, my wonderful husband ran over to our neighbor's house and she had some to spare! Shout out to Lisa for being the best neighbor ever!
Here's the recipe:
1 8 oz package of cream cheese softened
2 cups of confectioners sugar
1 can of pumpkin
1 tsp of frozen orange juice concentrate
1 Tbsp of ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp of pumpkin pie spice
As for the "Oops Potatoes", that is a whole different story. Seth loves potatoes and I never make them because I am still trying to lose the lovely 20 lbs of baby weight hanging on my midsection, so those pesky carbs need to go find someone else! Anyway, I wanted to make potato skins with cream cheese and bacon bits to take over to the party as well. Well, scooping out the potatoes turned into me breaking them apart and at one point I almost just threw all of my stupid potatoes out in the field. Since I was taking advantage of having a mixer, I decided to just make mashed potatoes instead. But as I started beating them, they wouldn't mix. So I added some sour cream. That helped. Then I added milk. then ranch dressing. Then cheese. Then bacon bits. Then since I had added so much milk they were cold, so I put them in a casserole, popped them back in the oven at 350, and took them over to the party. I ended up getting more compliments on those damn potatoes than the pumpkin dip! People kept asking for the recipe. I felt like I earned a new farmer's wife badge to have someone actually ask me for a recipe!
You see, when you live outside of town 30 + minutes like I do, making a meal or special dish isn't always easy. I find myself often calling the neighbors for a cup of milk, or sending Seth to raid his mom's pantry when I don't have something I need.
Tonight we are having a dinner with some family friends, and I wanted to make pumpkin dip. When I was in college, I got to go to an event with the Purdue Varsity Glee Club (they're amazing, if you are ever in Indiana in December, you have to go catch the Purdue Christmas Show, or any Glee Club show! You won't regret it!) The event was held in the fall, and the people who hosted it always had this delicious pumpkin dip that everyone would gather around until they were literally licking the remains from the bowl. So I decided to make it today to take over, but then realized I didn't have a can of pumpkin in my pantry.
I finally got home and went to go pick up Eli when I realized that last time I went to make a dip (chocolate chip cheesecake dip...its also delicious!) that I couldn't find the beaters for my mixer. Thankfully, my mother in law let me borrow hers so I was on my way. I got home, unloaded everything, got the baby down for his nap, and was ready to get my Martha Stewart on when I realized: I forgot the cream cheese! Thankfully, my wonderful husband ran over to our neighbor's house and she had some to spare! Shout out to Lisa for being the best neighbor ever!
Here's the recipe:
1 8 oz package of cream cheese softened
2 cups of confectioners sugar
1 can of pumpkin
1 tsp of frozen orange juice concentrate
1 Tbsp of ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp of pumpkin pie spice
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| mix the cream cheese and sugar until soft |
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| Gradually add the pumpkin, spices, and juice concentrate |
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| mix together and let cool in the fridge for 1 hour. serve with apples and graham crackers. enjoy! |
As for the "Oops Potatoes", that is a whole different story. Seth loves potatoes and I never make them because I am still trying to lose the lovely 20 lbs of baby weight hanging on my midsection, so those pesky carbs need to go find someone else! Anyway, I wanted to make potato skins with cream cheese and bacon bits to take over to the party as well. Well, scooping out the potatoes turned into me breaking them apart and at one point I almost just threw all of my stupid potatoes out in the field. Since I was taking advantage of having a mixer, I decided to just make mashed potatoes instead. But as I started beating them, they wouldn't mix. So I added some sour cream. That helped. Then I added milk. then ranch dressing. Then cheese. Then bacon bits. Then since I had added so much milk they were cold, so I put them in a casserole, popped them back in the oven at 350, and took them over to the party. I ended up getting more compliments on those damn potatoes than the pumpkin dip! People kept asking for the recipe. I felt like I earned a new farmer's wife badge to have someone actually ask me for a recipe!
Unfortunately, I don't have any cool pictures to show except for the leftover scrapings in the casserole.
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| It looks kinda gross in this picture, but I swear its really good! |
Harvest is over!
Harvest is officially over! It actually went relatively quick, but it seemed awfully long! Learning to be a farmer's wife with a baby is a lot different than just being a farmer's wife. Lots of very long, lonely nights with not much help....however, we had lots of fun nights riding in the combine or the grain cart and getting family time then. Eli got to spend a lot of time with both of his grandpas, as my dad likes to come up and help run the grain cart since Seth and Grant both work full time and aren't available during the day.
One of the nights I took Eli over to Seth's farm in the next county over, and we got to ride with my dad in the grain cart. It was a very cold and clear night and we kept seeing a funny haze over the sky. At first I thought it was dust from somebody combining beans, but then realized it was too wet for anyone to be harvesting anything but corn. The haze turned green and started to move and we finally realized that we were seeing the Northern Lights! I don't get to see these often, but I see them more than most since we vacation in Minnesota and they are so beautiful! It was like God gave us a good show to help the guys press on to finish up, even if it was at 1 am.
On another weekend, one of the doctors I tech for in surgery brought her family of 3 boys to ride in the combine. They wanted to full farm experience so everybody got to ride in the combine, grain cart, and take a semi ride to see where the grain is unloaded. They were so much fun to have there, and I think we made a farmer out of her oldest son, Jaxon. I was a little worried they may not like it at first, because they followed me up from work in Kokomo, and its a little bit of a drive! When we stopped at our house so I could run in and change I got a text from Dr. Cooper saying that her husband was wondering if I was going to have on overalls and a straw hat when I came back out! I think he ended up thinking it was pretty cool and he got to take a spin on the racing lawnmowers we have!
All in all harvest went pretty smoothly. As far as yields...well....we just won't go there! Beans turned out pretty good, but the corn was pretty bad. This was a conversation on my drive home one day while Seth was harvesting corn in his field:
Me: "How's it going?
Seth: "Guess what my yield is"
Me: "200" (bushels per acre, I was trying to be optimistic)
Seth: "Guess again. Here's a clue, it's the same number as what you weigh"
Me: "Well, then, how much is that?"
Seth: "130! Isn't that awful!?"
Me: "I love you. You're the best husband in the world. Sorry the corn sucks."
And then I went home and made him his favorite dinner.
Next year will be interesting since it will be the first time we will be harvesting the new field that Seth and I purchased! Fingers crossed that next year will be a better year!
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| Three generations of White farmer men! |
On another weekend, one of the doctors I tech for in surgery brought her family of 3 boys to ride in the combine. They wanted to full farm experience so everybody got to ride in the combine, grain cart, and take a semi ride to see where the grain is unloaded. They were so much fun to have there, and I think we made a farmer out of her oldest son, Jaxon. I was a little worried they may not like it at first, because they followed me up from work in Kokomo, and its a little bit of a drive! When we stopped at our house so I could run in and change I got a text from Dr. Cooper saying that her husband was wondering if I was going to have on overalls and a straw hat when I came back out! I think he ended up thinking it was pretty cool and he got to take a spin on the racing lawnmowers we have!
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| Zander, the little semi driver! |
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| The Hanson family comes to experience a day on the farm! |
Me: "How's it going?
Seth: "Guess what my yield is"
Me: "200" (bushels per acre, I was trying to be optimistic)
Seth: "Guess again. Here's a clue, it's the same number as what you weigh"
Me: "Well, then, how much is that?"
Seth: "130! Isn't that awful!?"
Me: "I love you. You're the best husband in the world. Sorry the corn sucks."
And then I went home and made him his favorite dinner.
Next year will be interesting since it will be the first time we will be harvesting the new field that Seth and I purchased! Fingers crossed that next year will be a better year!
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| Celebrating harvest over by finally making it to evening mass and dinner out with my mom |
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| Father and son heading out to the fields. By this time next year, that little guy will be able to hold Seth's hand and walk beside him! |
Friday, October 26, 2012
Pumpkin Patch
All fall I've been wanting to take Eli to go get his first pumpkin, but all the pumpkin patches I could find to go to were over an hour away. Lucky for me, my mom likes to "surf the net" a lot and found one right outside of Winamac called "Two Little Girls Pumpkin Patch". I got my friend Amanda and her adorable little girl, Hayden, to ride along. We got a little lost along the way, but once we found out where the heck we were, we had so much fun! We were the only ones there, but we got to meet one of the "little girls" and she informed us that their pumpkin patch is their college fund and gross about $1,500 a year! And she was probably 7 years old! Makes me think that maybe I should start growing some pumpkins here for Eli!
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| Eli and Hayden's first pumpkin patch experience! |
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| My little pumpkin in the pumkins! |
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| Two Little Girls pumpkin patch outside of Winamac IN |
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| Hayden wasn't picky at all! The first pumpkin she saw, she picked! I have a feeling she will be a very efficient shopper in the future! |
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| However, it looks like she's always gonna need mom to pick up her purchases! |
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| Eli and his pumpkin he picked (drooled all over) |
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| Amanda and Hayden walking through the pumpkins |
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