Birds, Ponies, Chemises, Friends & Toffee Bars

Second Post of the Day

(Like that title? Much better than the usual "Mish Mosh" or "Hodge Podge," right? LOL)

First, I can now confirm that there ARE two baby barn swallows in the nest cup over our front porch.

Here they are, sitting on the edge of the nest and just about ready to fledge. The parents were swooping in and out with food, and at one point I saw all four at once, confirming the presence of the second baby. I suspect they will be leaving the nest soon.

I will really miss watching them.

I've begun sunning the PAF I found during my BreyerFest virtual "CHIN" shopping (a local antique store.) 

There is just a hint of pink on its muzzle, so I've covered it with masking tape to protect the color from fading.

Currently the outside temperatures are moderate so I feel comfortable letting it sit outside and get some sun.

An alarm on my phone is set to go off every two hours to remind me to go outside and check on it, turn it, etc. I think this little foal will look nice when done!

Sewing for The Feast of the Hunters' Moon has begun and the first chemise has been completed.

The ends of the sleeves are pleated when the cuffs are added. (An option would be to gather them, but I prefer the look of pleats.)

I love how pleats look on the finished garment, but pleating two sleeves takes up almost every one of my favorite pins. (Not to worry, I have nine pincushions and more pins if I need them; I just prefer these.)

I love the look of sleeve buttons in the cuffs, too.

Today's sewing plan is to complete another chemise and then either cut out some pockets or to start working on the green cloak that is cut out and prepped.

"I know it's very short notice, but I'm going to be in town tomorrow. Could I stop by around 2:00 for a quick visit?"

When your bestie (who moved away two years ago) sends you that kind of text, you rearrange your schedule and reply, "YES!!

Lisa and I had the best time being together again, and I baked her some toffee bars to nibble on as she drove home.

Here's the recipe:

Toffee Bars 

1 c. butter, softened

1 c. brown sugar

1 egg yolk 

2 c. flour

2 c. chocolate chips (approx.)

chopped almonds (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, brown sugar, and egg yolk. (Do not use the egg white - it will change the consistency of the bars.) Beat in the flour.  Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray (or line with parchment paper - my choice.) Pat the dough evenly into the pan. Bake 20 minutes until firm and golden brown.

Turn off oven and pull the pan out of oven. Immediately top with the chocolate chips, sprinkling them evenly over the top of the bars.  Put the pan back into the oven (leave the door ajar) for 3 - 5 minutes until the chocolate chips are softened. (They will look shiny.) Pull the pan out again and spread the softened chocolate chips over the bars and if you wish, sprinkle with the chopped almonds. Cool, cut, and eat!

Enjoy, and stay 'tooned!

Cherry Blossom Cookies

I love cherries. Cherry pie, Cherry Coke, Cherry Dr. Pepper, maraschino cherries, cherry jam, cherries picked right off the tree...

So, when this recipe from Taste of Home crossed my social media feed, I stopped scrolling and took a closer look. Cherries and chocolate? I was all in!

Immediately I checked for the ingredients in my cupboard and added a jar of maraschino cherries to the grocery list.

But then, I found another recipe for the same cookies.

One where the amounts of some of the ingredients varied slightly. I took a close look at the two, but essentially they were the same cookie.

I decided to try the first recipe and after a quick grocery run by Craig, I got started. (Stay in the house for weeks because of cold and snow, but when cookies are calling, the elements are braved!)

I started by chopping up the maraschino cherries and draining them. Remember my blue hands from the indigo-dyed fabric? Change that color to red and you had my hands! Be sure to keep paper towels handy. You will be glad you did.

I mixed up the ingredients 

and rolled them into balls. The second recipe had you roll those balls in granulated sugar before baking, but the first did not. Next time I make these, I will roll them in sugar. 

I unwrapped the Hershey Kisses while the cookies baked. After 10 minutes in a 350 oven, they were firm but still soft - just what I wanted. (Check the edges. If they look a little brown or dry, pull the cookies out.)

I quickly pressed a Kiss into each one. (Note to self: unwrap more Kisses than cookies for taste testing. Hah!)

And after two minutes, I moved them to cooling racks.

The cookies were good but not as yummy as I'd expected. I again compared the first recipe to the second and combined the two into one recipe that I plan to try again.

Here is my modified recipe in case you want to make Cherry Blossom Cookies, too:

Cherry Blossom Cookies

1 c. butter, softened

1 c. powdered sugar

2 c. flour

1/2 c. chopped and drained maraschino cherries (a 10 oz. jar)

1/4 t. salt (optional;  I will probably leave this out)

1 T. maraschino cherry juice

1 t. almond extract

6 drops red food coloring (if desired)

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1 bag of Hershey Kisses 

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Cream butter and powdered sugar together and then slowly add the cherries, salt, juice, almond extract, and food coloring. Mix in the flour a half cup at a time.

Roll the dough into balls and then roll them in the granulated sugar. Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and quickly press a Hershey Kiss into each cookie. Let set a couple of minutes and then remove from cookie sheet and onto racks for cooling.

Yield: 24 cookies

The Winner of the January Give Away

First Post of the Day

And the winner of the January Give Away is...

... apparently not working. Despite that I was able to upload the video of Lukie and Gus playing with the balloon, this one won't load.

Here are two more links. And sorry for the inconvenience. It's Google again. 

https://youtu.be/OoJwWQLb1a8

Congratulations! And also we had two folks who guessed correctly that Mila's favorite dish is potato salad. They will get a little something in the mail from me, too.

Mila's daddy, Curt, also loves potato salad. Here she watches him eating some that I made him for his birthday, hoping that he will share with her. (He did.)

As an extra bonus, here is the recipe for the potato salad that I make for Mila and the rest of my family.

Mila's Favorite Potato Salad

5 - 6 large potatoes

4 - 5 eggs

Small onion, diced

2-3 stalks of celery, sliced thinly or diced

Salt to taste

Mayo 

Paprika

---

Peel and cut the potatoes into cubes. Place in cooking pot and cover with water. Rinse the eggs and then tuck them in among the potatoes. Be sure they, too, are covered with water. Put pot on burner over medium heat and bring to a boil. Chop the onion and celery while waiting for the water to boil. 

Check potatoes for doneness with a fork. When they are almost cooked through, turn off heat and cover. Let sit while finishing up chopping the other ingredients.

Drain the potatoes and leave in drainer. Put the eggs in ice water to cool and then peel and cut them into chunks roughly the same size as the potatoes. Leave one whole.

In large bowl, place 1/3 of the potatoes. Top with 1/3 of the celery, onion, and eggs, sprinkle with salt, and then spread mayo over that layer. Repeat this two more times. Using a large spoon, mix all the ingredients in the bowl together, adding in more mayo if it needs it. Take the remaining egg and slice, then arrange the slices on top. Sprinkle with paprika, cover, and put in fridge. (Or, you can eat it while it's still warm. It's good that way, too!)

HMHSB II Final Prep

First Post of the Day

Finally the fourth book that I ordered as a prize for the Horsie Mama Horsey Super Bowl II has arrived! 

Published in 1970 (so it's 55 years old), it is one I had never seen or read before, so naturally I read it after I opened the package. That makes four books for prizes and then I may add a couple of other things depending on how many entrants there are.

Here's another yummy recipe for a finger food or snack to nibble on as you participate in HMHSB II.

Mountain Mama Jessica's Caprese. She fixed it for us for the holidays and it was quite popular.

I had to laugh when she sent me the "recipe."

Easy peasy! (And good!)

As for HMHSB II, here are the rules and how to play:

 

~ No looking up answers online or in other sources or asking another person. 

~ Take the quiz and record your answers. (An online document, print the quiz and fill it out, a piece of paper, etc.) 

~ Monday I will post the answers so you can self-score your responses. I will score the short answer questions.

~ Take a screenshot or a photo of your scored answers and send them to me at horsiemama8@gmail.com. You can also send a digital file.

~ Anyone who plays and sends me their scored sheet is eligible for some sort of prize regardless of how they score on the quiz. I will do a spin-to-win for all who play.

~ There will be books for prizes to the top scorers and possibly other things as well. That will depend on the number of entrants. 

~ Scoresheets must be received no later than Tuesday at 12:00 noon Eastern time. Sorry, but I don't have flexibility on that due to other things going on that week.

Here is the list of books that quiz questions will be taken from and a reminder that doing a search of those titles on the Horsiemama blog might pay off come quiz time. Just sayin'...

Sleigh Bells for Windy Foot - Frances Frost

Misty of Chincoteague - Marguerite Henry

Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

Sam Savitt question

The Black Stallion - Walter Farley

National Velvet - Enid Bagnold

Brighty - Marguerite Henry

Stormy, Misty’s Foal - Marguerite Henry

The Eighty Dollar Champion - Elizabeth Letts

A Pony for the Winter - Helen Kay

Flip, the Story of a Horse - Wesley Dennis

Born to Trot - Marguerite Henry

I wish I could play, too - it's going to be fun! 

An Autumn Pleasure & a Recipe

 Apple spaghetti is an autumn pleasure.

Local Son Curt and his family had recently come over for dinner, and I'd made apple crisp for dessert.

I always save the peelings when I work with apples, and Abby appreciates it when I do.

She looks like she's giving me the side eye here, but what she's really doing is keeping an eye on me and hoping for more as she chews.

Sultanna was getting some apple spaghetti, too, but I realized that she was distracted by something behind me. I turned and looked, didn't see anything, and figured that she was a little on edge because it was very windy and things were blowing around.

But she continued to be watchful and so I turned and looked again. This time I about jumped out of my boots!

We had company! And that company was standing right behind me!

It was Raleigh, a Mastiff mix who lives at the agribusiness next door. He's BIG, much bigger than these photos make him seem, but he's also friendly.

Raleigh wagged his stump of a tail when I said hello to him, and then went back to checking things out.

And Abby went back to eating apple spaghetti.

Lynn's Apple Crisp

Peel and core 5 - 6 Granny Smith apples and place into a buttered 13x9 dish. Pour 1/4 cup hot water over the apples and into the dish.

Mix 1 & 1/2 cups sugar, 1 cup flour, and 1 - 2 teaspoons of cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Slice two sticks (1 cup) of cold butter into cubes of about 1 tablespoon each and drop on top of the sugar/flour mixture. Mix together until the butter is the size of peas or so. (Don't beat it smooth. You want a crumbly mixture.)

Sprinkle the crumbly mixture over the apples. Don't worry if there is some sugar mixture in the bottom of the mixing bowl without butter - just put that over the apples, too. Bake at 400 degrees about 20 minutes or so. The topping should be golden and even a little brown around the edges.

Serve warm. Great with ice cream or whipped cream on top. Can also be eaten when it's cooled.

Notes

The secret to a really good, crumbly topping is to use the butter straight from the fridge. Don't soften it! You may use any variety of cooking apple, but we like the juicy, tart contrast between the Granny Smiths and the topping.

Holiday Horses & a Recipe

Horsiemama's Mercantile is closed for this month so that I can stitch up holiday gifts for my family. Here is a peek at two horsey designs I've been working on.

Before I embroider a design, I always make a test piece. I want to get a feel of how the design comes together, and even more importantly, how the colors work with each other. This takes a little time, but is always worth it in the end. 

 

Isn't this Clydesdale design neat? I didn't like the mailbag's side in the taupe that was called for, so I changed it and stitched it to a lighter color.

I also took the green "stamp" off the top right letter, and used the same color of green for the bell strap that was in the mane ribbons. (They were two very close but different shades of green. I preferred the brighter shade.) 

The final product on an apron. I still need to add the text. (And iron the apron - that fold line functions as a marker to help me center the pattern.)

Does that design remind anyone else of the Hagen Renaker miniature Clydesdale like it does me?

I flipped the photo horizontally so the horses were facing the same way. (Photo from Google Images.)

That design was a success; then there's this one which is still in need of tweaking.

The sled is gorgeous, but the horse is in need of work. I even went back to the design directions and stitched it out a second time to check and be sure I was using the recommended colors. I was, and the design really does call for pine-green shading on the horse. That's got to be changed!

I hope to wrap up the project for the grands who will be here on Thanksgiving in a day or two. When I do, I will share that with you later this week. Stay 'tooned!

Today's recipe is an Isenbarger family staple for the holidays. And not only does it taste good, it is EASY. (No candy thermometer or "beat until glossy" needed.) Originally from the back of a Kraft Marshmallow Creme jar, I've been making this fudge since the 1990s.

Easy Chocolate Fudge

Put 3/4 cup butter or margarine, 3 cups sugar, and 2/3 cups milk* in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat to medium. Keep stirring and let boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Gradually stir in one package of chocolate chips and stir until melted. Add one 7 oz jar of marshmallow creme and a teaspoon of vanilla. (1 cup of chopped nuts, too, if desired.) Mix well.

Pour into greased 13x9 pan and cool.

Important Note: Be sure to lick the spoon and spatula before washing them to get every bit of fudgy goodness!

* Original recipe calls for evaporated milk. Regular milk works just fine.

Snickerdoodle & Snickerdoodles! (A Recipe)

Snickerdoodle and the holiday playset have arrived! I had to buy them - not only do I like the mold, but I have spent a lot of time with the horse, Snickerdoodle.

The real Snickerdoodle (left) with Sultanna and Craig. Snickerdoodle is Sultanna's full brother and was bred by Tim, but Tim sold him a few years ago.

The model was wrapped separately from the doll, blanket, and other accessories.

She is lovely! I happen to like pearlies, and her legs, mane, and tail all shimmer.

 

Her face is nicely detailed and I had plans for showing her at my next live show.

Unfortunately, she is not live show quality despite her gorgeous face and shading.

The mane was poorly masked from her withers to her poll.

Her tail has the same issue. So disappointing!

Having said that, showing isn't my priority - collecting and enjoying what I collect, is. And I do like her.

Tomorrow I will share photos of the doll, blanket, and accessories so stay 'tooned. In the meantime, here is my recipe for... what else? Snickerdoodles!

Snickerdoodles

Cream together 1 cup butter, 1 & 1/2 cups sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 2 eggs.

Add 2 & 3/4 cups flour, 2 teaspoons cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. (I omit the salt.)

Mix well. Roll into balls and then roll each ball in a cinnamon sugar mixture. Place balls on parchment paper or greased cookie sheet and bake 8 - 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Note: The original recipe called for whole wheat flour but I have adapted this for white flour. You may wish to bake these at 375 or even 350 degrees, too.

Questions I Get Asked: Part 2 & a Recipe

 I get asked a lot of questions from blog readers. In October, I did a blog post  where I answered some and and then said that I would revisit the topic later. Today is the day!

Blogging is not as popular as it once was and many bloggers no longer write much, if at all. Will you quit writing?

You know that Breyer shirt that says, "I'll quit collecting when I'm dead"? Sub in "blogging" for "collecting" and that is how I feel! 

I began blogging in 2008 when I created my first blog, Teachinmama. It functioned as a journal for me and allowed me to share my life with my children, family, and friends. (My mother especially liked it. Every Christmas until she died, I gifted her with that year's blog done in book form.) 

In 2012, I got Abby and since she sort of "took over" Teachinmama, I started Horsiemama for the horsey aspect of my life. I have always loved to write, and those two blogs soon became three, and then four, until now I have a whopping fifteen blogs! Pepper has her own blog where she writes letters to the woman she guided, and I have a family history blog, one of teaching memories, and more. 

So, in answer to the question, I plan to keep blogging until I'm dead. (Which hopefully won't be for quite a while.)

How did you learn to sew?

I taught myself! Although my mother was a master sewist, she preferred not to teach. She was available for help and questions, though, as was my best friend in high school, Shelly, who started sewing in 4-H when she was nine.

Shelly and me in high school - we had the same last name, were both tall and slender, and people often thought we were twins. So, we fostered that as a joke by dressing alike! 

Shelly is a quilter and sometimes she stitches horsey quilt blocks. (Everything she does is hand pieced and stitched - she did not use a sewing machine on these designs.)

She, too, helped me in high school and college (we roomed together at Purdue) when I had sewing questions. I haven't asked her a sewing question in decades, but she's still there if I need her! 

Isn't the phrase, "stay tuned" and not "stay 'tooned"? 

Yes, it is."Stay tuned" is an old phrase from the early days of television which was often spoken when the show you were watching cut to a commercial break. 

"Stay 'tooned" is a play off of those words and was first found in the 1988 movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Most of the main characters are "Toons" (cartoons) working in a human world and returning to Toontown in the evening. There's more, but that's it in a nutshell.

Will you please share more recipes?

You bet! Try this one - it's a favorite of Local Son Curt. I first made it for Christmas in 1991 and he's been requesting it ever since. (I just made it two weeks ago for Sunday dinner.)

Curt's Pumpkin Bars

Bars: Beat 4 eggs with 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup cooking oil. Blend in 2 cups of pumpkin (or one can.) Add 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons soda, and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Pour into a greased 13 x 9 pan and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. 

Frosting:  Blend together 3 oz. cream cheese, 4 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and 1 & 1/2 cups powdered sugar until smooth. Spread over cooled cake.

Curt and I both prefer these bars without the frosting. I sprinkle a little powdered sugar over the top of them and that's how we like them! Also, this recipe is easily cut in half.