Playing catch up

well, I kept meaning to catch up on older entries and then things got busier and busier and here I am a couple of months later. Lots of things to share and I will add older posts as time allows.

We're gearing up for the holiday season starting to put together halters, leads and reins as Christmas gifts. Shoot me an e-mail if you need something special for your horses or a friend: Natrlhorse@hotmail.com

pecan praline cookies

Trying out another new recipe. These are usually made as drop cookies but I made them as bars.


Ingredients:

1/2 c butter or margarine (softened)
1 1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Directions:
Preheat oven to 360 degrees F. Combine butter and sugar until well mixed, beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually add mix of flour, baking powder and salt until just blended.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheet and flatten each cookie slightly with a fork. Sprinkle each cookie with about 3/4 tsp of pecans. (makes about 4 dozen 2 1/2" cookies)

Or line a pan with parchment and spread the entire batter evenly in the pan for bars then sprinkle evenly with pecans. Bake until golden brown (about 10 min)

When cookies or bars have cooled, drizzle with praline icing.

Icing ingredients:

1 1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c whipping cream
1 cup confectioners sugar

Icing directions:
In a saucepan combine cream and brown sugar over medium heat. Stir constantly until it comes to a boil, about 1 min. Remove from heat and add confectioners sugar, beat until smooth and drizzle on cookies immediately.

Eggs en Cocotte

My sister introduced me to this recipe

Add a bit of butter to some ramekins (or other small bowl) and set those in a bain marie (water bath) over heat. When the butter melts add an egg or two, cheese and fresh herbs of choice. 

Gruyere is the traditional cheese in this dish but any cheese will do. Above is a mix of fresh cilantro, terragon and mixed cheese.

When the egg makes a white ring around the ramekin add some cream or milk, maybe some more cheese, salt and pepper and move your bain marie into a 400 degree oven for 5-7 minutes until they have set but the yolks are still loose.

Prepare some toast and cut into strips. 

When the eggs en cocotte is done, mix it up, dip your toast strips in it and enjoy. 

Some other suggested combinations are basil, tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, or sharp cheddar and sage. Also bacon, ham, or your vegetables of choice... limitless combinations. 

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Fire Training

Firefighter 1 & 2 training today

Our engine and rescue

Green July

All this daily rain is keeping things nice and green

More images from the drive to town today

Lovely clouds

We've been blessed with changing skies all week

A little thunderstorm rolling over the homestead

Big hail storm

We've had active thunderstorms this week, active enough to experiment with photographing lightning. 

At dusk a cloud full of ping pong ball sized hail rolled over. 

This last picture was taken at the same time as the two above but the full moon behind us made a moonbow in the passing hail cloud. And the long exposure made for a surprisingly bright and colorful photo that I did not retouch.

Auntie Heather

We were thrilled that my sister visited before heading South of the border for her next adventure.

 

planting some garlic

Picnic Time

I think everyone had fun at the LCFD #10 picnic on the 9th.

We donated a bunch of silent auction items for the scholarship fund.

Catching up

July has been shaping up to be a busy month. We didn't do anything special for 4th of July weekend. 

There was a big "gully washer" of a rain storm on the 7th that filled up the creek. 

Our friend Brigid came to visit and played with Salsa. 

Hopefully she gleaned some useful tidbits to take home and try with her young mule