Roast Beef Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

Spinach Salad with Nectarines & Raspberries

Cherry Refrigerator Cookies

Cherry Refrigerator Cookies
A very festive cookie, especially if you use both the red and green candied cherries.

1 c Unsalted Margarine
1/2 c Sugar
1/2 c Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 t Vanilla
2 3/4 c Flour
1 t Sodium Free Baking Powder
1/4 t Sodium Free Baking Soda
1/8 t Cinnamon
1 c Candied Cherries, Chopped
1/2 c Walnuts, Chopped

Cream margarine and sugars together. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Stir together dry ingredients and add to mixture. Stir in cherries and nuts. Form into rolls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper and chill overnight. Slice 1/4 inch thick. Place on baking sheet 1 inch apart. Bake at 375 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Yield: 60 Servings

Per Serving:
85 Calories
1 g Protein
4 g Total Fat
1 g Saturated Fat
1 g Polyunsaturated Fat
2 g Monounsaturated Fat
12 g Carbohydrates
0.2 g Fiber
4 mg Sodium
34 mg Potassium
0 mg Cholesterol

Wonderful 4th Weekend

Direct my footsteps according to your word. Psalm 119:133

Well, I was right, this last week was crazy busy!!  The first couple of days I tried to make sure laundry and regular stuff was done up.  Wednesday I started baking some quick breads, Thursday I did muffins and more quick breads, Friday I made pies and hubby got the cinnamon rolls started and I finished them.  Wow, that sounds so easy..........but it was a lot of work actually.  I wanted extra baked for Saturday's Farmers Market as it usually is a good one for us.  There was a car and tractor show downtown that morning along with the dog contest, baby show and other activities on the 4th.  July 4th is a big celebration in our little town every year.  One of the high school classes has a pancake feed in the morning, so that seemed to cut down on my cinnamon roll sales.  I sold out of pies, had some bread left and rolls.   But all in all it ended up being a good day for us.

I made cookies for the cookie contest.....but didn't win anything this year.  A couple years ago, Mom won first and I won 3rd out of 35 entries!

After Market we went home and started working on our float for the parade on Saturday evening.  We had quite a bit done, but needed to get it finished up.  Everything went smoothly and we got to town and set up in plenty of time.  We got honorable mention.......which would actually be 4th place, but we were surprised with a $25 prize even for that!  The theme was fairy tales, our float was The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  We made a bridge out of palets and had 3 of our goats on the float.  A friend of ours dressed up as the troll and did a great job!!!  I haven't downloaded pictures yet, but will try to post soon.  It was a lot of fun to do, and people enjoyed the goats.

We rushed the goats home and went back for the fireworks at the park.  It was a really nice display and there were tons of people there. 

Friday evening our church hosted a free bbq, it was the first time to have this event, but will not be the last.  It was an amazing evening.   We provided the hot dogs and hamburgers and everyone brought a side dish.  After the meal there was a Christian band outdoors, with homemade ice cream following the music and then fireworks at dark.  It was for our whole community and there was a great turn out, guessing over 200 people!   I worked really hard to make sure I finished my baking early that day so we could go and it worked out fine.  I made a couple of cakes after we got home.

The most wonderful thing about the weekend was the weather.......there was a threat of rain all weekend, but it didn't rain at all!  It was cloudy and very comfortable, in the 80's ............we so enjoyed it and appreciate it after the heat wave  last week!!  God is Good in All Things!

Tomorrow starts a new week, back to somewhat of a regular schedule around here.  I really hope we can get some fence put up so the goats can have a new area to be moved to.  Also need to worm the does and some kids.

Oh, one more thing to share.  A farmer friend called a week ago and had run into some turkey nests while swathing alfalfa, he wanted to know if I had any hens setting.  I had two, so we ran over and got the eggs and put them under the hens.  On Friday morning 9 had hatched out of 11 eggs in one nest!  The other nest has 11 eggs also, but no way to know how long that hen had been setting, so we will see if they hatch too.  The little ones seem to be doing great.

Country Blessings,

Marilyn~at Heritage Hill Homestead

My interview

Happy 4th of July

Patriotic Fruit Pizza

Patriotic Fruit Pizza

1 (16 1/2 oz.) pkg. refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1 C of sugar, divided
2 T of cornstarch
1/2 C of orange juice
1/4 C of lemon juice
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, room temperature
1 T of milk
1 t orange peel, grated
2/3 C of heavy whipping cream
1 apple, peeled and sliced thin
1 1/2 C of fresh strawberries, halved
1 C seedless dark purple grapes, halved
1 banana, sliced thin
1 C of fresh raspberries
1/2 C of fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the cookie dough and let it stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Carefully spread the dough onto an ungreased pizza pan. Bake the dough 15 minutes or until a golden brown. Remove and allow the dough to cool on the pan.

Dump half of the sugar into a small saucepan. Add the cornstarch and toss slightly to combine. Pour the orange and lemon juice into the mixture.

Place the pan over medium heat bringing the mixture to a steady boil.
Continue boiling for 2 minutes stirring constantly then remove the pan from the heat, setting aside to cool. Cube the cream cheese and place in a large mixing bowl. Pour the milk over the cream cheese. Add the orange peel and the remaining sugar. Beat the mixture until blended together well and smooth.

Place the whipping cream into a small mixing bowl. Beat the whipping cream until soft peaks begin to form. Fold the whipping cream into the cream cheese mixture until blended in well. Spread the mixture over the cooled crust. Place the apple slices around the outside edge of the crust.

Next layer the strawberry halves around the crust. Circle the halved grapes on next. Add the bananas to the ring. Place the raspberries onto the crust next. Finish the ring with the blueberries. Spread the reserved glaze evenly over the all the fruit. Place covered in the refrigerator for about 1 hour or until chilled.

Makes 12 servings

Preparation Time: approximately 30 minutes

Firecracker Cupcakes

Firecracker Cupcakes

1 (18 oz. ) box of devils food cake mix
1 1/4 C of sour cream
3 eggs
1/3 C of canola oil
2 T instant coffee crystals
1/2 t ground chipotle chili pepper
1 (11.5 oz.) pkg. semisweet chocolate chunks
2 t flour
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 C butter, room temperature
1/2 t vanilla
2 1/2 C of powdered sugar
Red and blue food coloring
2 oz. semi sweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 C of whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. Dump the devils food cake mix into a large mixing bowl. Add in the sour cream, eggs, and oil. Sprinkle in the coffee crystals and pepper.

With an electric mixer on low speed beat the ingredients for 45 seconds.
Adjust the speed to medium and continue beating 2 minutes making the batter thick.

Place the flour in a small bowl. Add the chocolate chunks and toss to coat.
Fold the chocolate into the cupcake batter. Fill the prepared muffin cups 3/4 full of the batter.

Bake 20 minutes or until the tops bounce back when lightly touched. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then remove to wire racks to continue cooling.

Place the cream cheese and the butter into a mixing bowl and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the vanilla and beat until combined.
Slowly beat in the powdered sugar until the mixture reaches a frosting consistency.

Separate the frosting into 3 small bowls and tint one bowl with the red food coloring and 1 bowl with the blue food coloring. Frost the cupcakes dividing between the 3 different colors.

Place the chopped chocolate into a small mixing bowl. Heat the whipping cream in a saucepan over low heat to just boiling. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes then whisk until smooth.

Place the mixture into a sealable baggie. Snip one corner of the baggie and drizzle the chocolate over the frosted cupcakes.

Makes 24 cupcakes

Cute Children and pets pictures

My Mom sends me some cute e-mails.  I love these one and had to share with you all.

Who is walking who?

I look like you or is it you look like me?

Ah, can I keep him?  (the dog is asking):

Um mom, why am I wearing clothes and his is not??

Look Mom at what I learned :

Just one little bite that's all:

Are you sure they taste like chicken??

Are you sure they are in here???

That's all for now, Blessings,Mj

7-2-09 Up-date

Kristi was board earlier today and decided to play wii.  She played monopoly with Hope!  Hope is our soon to be 10 year old golden medical alert service dog.  We train the dog to all kinds of stuff some funny and silly but this is too much!

Titus is doing great in his service dog training.  We took him out for the first time to go shopping and he was wonderful.  If we stopped and looked or spoke to someone he would lay down with out being told to.  I thought it was odd, so I kept testing him.  I would walk and stop not look at him he would just lay down .  That is amazing for a six month old puppy to do on his first outing in stores.  I wonder if Kristi is going to teach Titus to play monopoly??

We start training them as soon as they are born.  Also having good parents helps too.  It took me two years to find his parents, to find the lines I was looking for.  Now we need one more female golden.  We might get one from Alex's breeder.

Blessings, Mj