Good Morning all. I hope you have had a great week. Frontier Man and I had a nice productive week-end and it was one of the rare Saturdays where we chose to stay home instead of grocery/errand shop. So instead we were able to get some things done around the place.... such as this: 

Stripping this dead cedar tree for a bottle tree I have been wanting for a long time ( I've been doing my best on emptying the wine from the bottles for it!)

and we planted a catalpa tree too. And when we were all done for the day we headed down to the woods for a wiener roast with Little Miss. Nothin like a good blackened hot dog.... really.

I have been busy with all those pears and have finished the first bushel. I am taking a break and hopefully will be able to do a second batch but here is some of the jam and butter I made with the first.

I have had a few ask what has happened to the "Menu of the Week" and I can assure you that I am still making my menu each week but because of busyness have just failed to post it. Here is the menu for this week though. Lately I have been waiting to see what is on sale and then make my menu over the week-end to accomodate what I purchase. Remember we have to be frugal and wise in our menu making.... especially right now because of the higher costs of groceries.

Big Miss invited Little Miss and myself last week to her college for one of her club meetings of the deaf/hearing. So Little Miss and I took a day off school and had a "field trip" to college. We really soaked in the deaf culture and was was greeted by some of the funniest/friendliest folks there, we visited with hearing as well as deaf and were so grateful for their patience and understanding. We shared some fresh bread and jam and they were so grateful and appreciative. We can't wait to visit again.

Big Miss is excited this week as her car is in the paintshop getting some new paint and it will be out this week and she will be sporting a nice shiny car! (still black, just without leopard spots now)

Little Miss and I have been on the solar system and we were loaned this neat inflatable set that we are enjoying. It is hanging from our living room. The sun has a leak and stays wilted, saturn keeps falling and everyone keeps bumping into the earth! Our galaxy has got some problems, I tell ya.

If you haven't noticed, the holidays seem to be creeping up. Soon, Thanksgiving and Christmas will be upon us. I was thinking that we have a new baby in our family this year and that means we have to get him a stocking made up soon. Do you hear Grand-Doll folks? We have to pick some special fabric out soon.

I have also been working on a fun cute project for Grand-Doll for Christmas and can't wait to share with you all some pictures when I get a little further along.

I thought you might like to see how big the turkeys are now...

Til next time, I hope you all have a great week!

MONDAY:

BBQ stew Meat

Beef Rice

Corn on the cob

TUESDAY:

Sausage

Hash Browns

Eggs

Biscuits/gravy

WEDNESDAY:

Pork chops

Mashed potatoes

Salad

Butterhorn rolls

THURSDAY:

Burritos

Spanish rice

Jills Salsa

FRIDAY:

Taco Soup

Razorback Cornbread

This weeks 2 desserts:

Pear Sweet Bread

Caramel-Apple Walnut Cake

Caramel-Apple Walnut Cake

Chunks of toothsome fresh apple, embedded in a delicious vanilla-scented cake, are complemented by walnuts and caramel. Lightly salting the walnuts adds to the flavor of both nuts and caramel.

Topping

• 1/2 cup walnuts
• salt
• 1/3 cup caramel cut from a block, or about 12 to 15 unwrapped candies
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream or whole milk

Cake

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt
• 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Filling

• 2 large apples, peeled, cored, cut into 8 wedges each
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping

• 2 ounces walnuts
• salt
• 5 ounces caramel cut from a block, or about 12 to 15 unwrapped candies
• 1 1/2 ounces heavy cream or whole milk

Cake

• 7 ounces sugar
• 4 ounces butter
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 4 ounces sour cream or yogurt
• 8 1/2 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Filling

• 2 large apples, peeled, cored, cut into 8 wedges each
• 7/8 ounce sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" round cake pan at least 2" deep; or a 9" springform pan.

2) Spread the walnuts in a single layer in an ungreased pan, and bake them for 8 to 10 minutes, until they're a light golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and sprinkle very lightly with salt. Set them aside.

3) Beat together the sugar, butter, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and vanilla till smooth.

4) Add the eggs. Beat till thoroughly combined.

5) Stir in the sour cream or yogurt alternately with the flour, using the low speed of your mixer. The batter will be stiff.

6) Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula as best you can.

7) Toss the apple wedges with the sugar and vanilla till apples are thoroughly coated.

8) Arrange the apples atop the cake, pushing them into the stiff batter gently so they're partially submerged.

9) Bake the cake for 65 minutes, till it's golden brown on top and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

10) Remove the cake from the oven, and turn it out onto a rack, apple-side up.

11) Place the caramel and cream in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat till the cream is showing bubbles, and the caramel is soft.

12) Stir the caramel and cream till smooth.

13) Spoon the caramel over the cake, dripping it down into the crevices around the apples.

14) Scatter the walnuts on top. Serve warm, or at room temperature.

On Frontier Man's birthday, Little Miss and I made him personalized birthday cards. We decorated them (and enclosed a $100. gift card to Outback Steakhouse that I had won ) and surprised him along with homemade chocolate pie. Chocolate pie is dear to his heart and we wanted to make something special that he would enjoy so not only did we make one , but we made two!

On Sunday we went for a nice bike ride to Davis -which has Turner Falls and has some surrounding picturesque roads that we love to go on a Sunday ride on. We have done this a few times but this time, I seen something that caught my eye. Along the route, in a little town called Hennepin, there on the side of the road, in the middle of a well kept field was a pear tree that had fruit, but a lot of the fruit littered the ground underneath. Having so much fruit under it, I could only assume that maybe the owners had no plans on using it.

Today, after Little Miss was done with school, she and I drove over to that tree and decided to inquire about it at the closest house. A young man told me that I could have all that I wanted and so Little Miss and I picked a bushel...or maybe a peck (?) anyway, it was a big tub full with plans on going back in a couple weeks to pick again. The plans I have are to make strawberry-pear honey, pear butter, but today it is fresh pear cupcakes with chocolate glaze. Mmmm...

Little Misses prized "weird pear"

Full House Mom and I were out and about (which is a very rare thing these days) the other day when she happened to mention that Pauls Valley has put in a little fabric shop. So we had to go and have a little peek. This is what we found:

Is it not the cutest material ever???

It is called Fruit Ladies and the female fruit "bottoms" are so true. What shape are you? We have plans for it to be a tote purse. Full House Mom wanted something made with it, and I wanted to sew on such a cute fabric (we are weird like that) and so she purchased a yard and we are going to get some deep red to match and we can't wait to see it finished.

Little Miss and I are doing a new science curriculum this year and we are loving it. Little Miss mainly because it has a lot of hands on experiments. We are studying the solar system and so far we have melted chocolate and burned holes in leaves with a magnifying glass (Sun)

We have made lava out of flour and butter (here Little Miss said it smelled so good she was going to have a taste of our lava ) (Venus)

Here we are dropping "asteroids" into our flour to make craters (Mercury)

And now we are on Earth. Tonight we will make a compass for the magnetic pull. I have learned one thing this last month. If the word "flour"is used in the experiment, you best be preparing for a bigfluffycloudypowderywhite kitchen.

Fresh pear cupcakes with chocolate glaze

Ingredients:

4 cups fresh pears (cored and roughly chopped)

1 cup walnuts (chopped)

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

3 cups unbleached flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp  salt

3 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla

chocolate glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tbsp melted butter

3-4 tbsp boiling water

1/8 tsp instant coffee crystals

combine pear, white and brown sugar and walnuts in a medium sized bowl. let stand about an hour. (do not skip this step..this adds to the incredible moistness of these cupcakes).

preheat oven to 350 degrees. spray cupcake pan with cooking spray..add paper cupcake liners and spray again.

meanwhile, in a separate bowl, sift together the remaining dry ingredients. add to the pear mixture and stir until just combined. add the eggs, oil, and vanilla and stir until combined. **note, i use a wooden spoon..not a mixer for the recipe..if you use a mixer, be careful not to over beat***

Fill cupcake sections until even with the top. bake 30-35 minutes until tester inserted in center of cupcakes comes out clean. remove from pan and cool on rack. whisk together all chocolate glaze ingredients in small bowl until glaze is smooth and shiny. place a dollop of chocolate glaze on the top of each cupcake.

Hello there homesteaders! We have been having some mild weather here in Ok and it feels like Fall is not far off. Ya know, I love Fall and so I am good with that. This year we have no pumpkin patch and so we will just have to get creative with what we have to bring in Autumn.

I am still in the middle of jam making but am kinda on hold as I am hoping to find an apple tree someone is not going to pick. It will be a lot more frugal than trying to buy all that fruit to put up.

Yesterday our church, Cornerstone, celebrated its 7th anniversary. We always have a big church gathering and food food food afterwards. Lots of fellowship going on as everyone tries to catch up with everyones lives, especially those that have moved on but still come back to visit on anniversary. My family have been there since its second year.... my, the time has flown by and we have seen alot of blessings and lots of community outreach. That is what Cornerstone is about "helping people build meaningful relationships with God and each other."

Last night Frontier Man and I went for an evening ride and it sure was cool and temperate. I love those night rides with him, the breeze in your face.... it's like....like... rolling your window down in your car, going about 70 and letting the wind hit you full in the face. Theres something about it that feels sooo good. Like Rose, in Titanic when she is standing on the railing of the deck with her arms reaching wide with all that wind blowing on her. Bliss.Thats how good it is!   .... don't look down though cause then you see pavement. Rushing by. Then theres that nasty thought for one split second that if your head meets that ground down there that it is really gonna hurt. And...

 I know, I knowww, too much information.... sorry bout that.

Did you know that it is Frontier Man's birthday next week? Man oh man do I have a surprise for him! Stay tuned because he has a gift that is butter soft, black and LEATHER! Whooeee

Big Miss has been transforming her old dull and dreary bedroom into a lively dance hall apartment room. The colors can only be explained by saying.... well, like....

Oh never mind. Here just see for yerself!

See what I mean???

And then we spent all day Saturday laying this nice plush carpet in there.

Little Miss now has a piano teacher. Caleb is a very talented gentle soul who we were blessed to be able to have for an instructor. He has a couple cd's released that are doing well and he composes all his own stuff. Really beautiful music and already he has inspired Little Miss.

Little Miss, why ya got a cat toy round your foot?? 

Last week the girls were giving me a hand with the laundry. Don't they look sweet out there working away?

Even little Tiger -Little Misses new kitten, was trying to help!

 Tiger: "No, Little Miss, hang this one!"

Happy Birthday Police Son!