Introducing Somthing Fun

At least it's something I think is fun. It's Food Networkers. Two friends of mine went to see the movie Julie and Julia. After, they thought it would be fun to cook their way through a cook book together. When they had trouble finding a cook book, it was decided they would do recipes from Food Network. Laurie invited me to join in. Since I love to cook, I had to say yes.

I find that with three kids and all these animals, I don't take the time with cooking the way I would like to. Doing this made me slow down a little and enjoy the process and give my family something new for a change.

Steena chose our recipes the time around. We have decided we will do a total of four recipes: An appetizer, a side dish, a main course and a desert. We don't have to make them all for one meal, just over a two week period. So without further ado, here are the stars of our first Food Networkers challenge:

The Appetizer: Mexican Potato Skins. This was not only easy to make, but it made a lot. We had it as a meal. But it would be great for a party appetizer. Everyone loved it. It will be going into our regular rotation.

The Side Dish: Creamy Baked Pumpkin Risotto. This one was OK. Braden loved it. He had FOUR helpings. The girls and I didn't care for the chunks of squash. I would leave those out if I make it again. Although I'm not sure I would make it again. It's a lot of work for a side dish. If it had been a bigger hit with the family, I might. The risotto had a great flavor, aside from the chunks of squash. And it is a good way to get some pumpkin in a savory dish.
The Main Course: Braised Paprika Chicken. This was a huge hit with my family, and very easy to make. I doubled the recipe hoping for plenty of leftovers. All that was left after it was all said ans done was the two smallest thighs. This is one I would love to make for company.

The Dessert: Dessert Pizza. I did not have high hopes for this recipe. I'm not a big fan of baked apple desserts. It may seem unamerican, but I don't even care for apple pie. I was pleasantly surprised. This was delicious. I discovered after I had already started the recipe that I didn't have any vanilla. I substituted a bit of rum extract in it's place. If you only try one of these for recipes, make it this one.
Happy cooking and look for our next round of recipes to be posted two weeks from today.

Check Out The Giveaway

Gotta love free stuff. When this was posted on a message board I belong to, I just had to jump on it. Once you register for this, it takes you to a page with about seven other great giveaway contests you can register for. Just CLICK HERE.

The Ducks

These silly ducks want nothing to do with me in the daylight. However, every night when I go out to close the chicken coop and give one last look around the farm, they follow me everywhere.

Goose is the Pekin, Lucky is the Khaki Campbell, and the brown muscovy is named Coco.

Sometimes I think those Muscovies are just being watch dogs to make sure I don't do anything they don't approve of. Here we have Coco, Chocolate and Duck-Duck.

And here is a much better picture of Goose and Lucky. They came to us in June needing a good home. We love our ducks and they have been a fun addition to the farm.

NEED. MORE. TIME.

This summer has kept me so busy. I'm amazed at how fast the time can go by. I can't believe it's been this long since I blogged. So much for keeping up better with this.

In case anyone out there still reads and might just possibly be wondering what's been happening, here's a quick summary of our summer so far.

I finished a big work project in early July, then flew to Florida. I had never flown, and was very worried. Thankfully my good friend Chris went with me. It was a girls weekend and we had a blast. Worth all of the anxiety over flying for sure.

When I got back, I had one week and then it was Fair time. As in the county fair and my daughters exhibiting and showing animals. We camped there for the week and it really was pretty fun. Jade showed the goats and Teresa, our doe, took Grand Champion Dairy Goat. Megan and Jade also both took second place in their class for chicken showmanship.

Jade sold a pen of three market chickens and also a pen of three market rabbits. She also exhibited three of our bantam chickens and one of her pet rabbits. We came home with two new rabbits. One New Zealand / California buck to breed with our meat does and a Mini Rex buck that Jade wants to use as her showmanship rabbit. He's adorable and as soon as I figure out where I left my camera, I will post some pictures for you.

This past week I thought would be slow and easy. Then I ended up with three appointments, a friend I haven't seen in 20 years stopping by, a trip to see my in-laws at their cottage, another friend to visit, a banquet to attend, and a trip to my moms. I'm really hoping this week will be better.

What has everyone else been up to this summer?