Exciting Weekend for our Nieces

This weekend two of our nieces were in the Miss American Coed Pageant in Minneapolis.   I've stolen some of their pictures from Facebook.  They each came home with trophies and $50.  Ryanne won best evening gown and Taylor won the spirit award.  They were both 4th runner up in the queen's court in their age divisions.  Good job girls!  You looked beautiful!  It sounds like they're both looking forward to doing it again next year. 

The girls with their escort (Dad/Dave)

with Mom/Karen

Lots of Smoke

Peggy's barn

Bill

Yesterday the wind and weather was right to burn about 85 acres of CRP ground (Conservation Reserve Program) of Peggy's just south of her house.  Bill lined up firemen that were available.  

I was going to say here what the CRP program is, but it's too long so you can read about it HERE it you'd like to.   These acres are totally black now but will grow back nicely in time for the pheasants to nest.  Burning is supposed to be done by early spring.

They had fire trucks, 4 wheelers, a Gator.   They started lighting it around 2:45 and were finished around 5:30.   Everything went well.  Smoke was seen and smelled for many miles!

looking north toward Peggy's house

looking south from Peggy's house

  

You can see in this last picture a big chunk of the ground after it was burned and the smoke had cleared.

Parts Everywhere

Bill's second cousin, Bryan, arrived to start working with us yesterday.  He has been in college getting a degree in agronomy.  He thinks he might like to move here (from Colorado) and make farming with us his career.  We're excited about it and hope it works out.  He'll be working with us this whole year in all of the seasons of farming.  He's been here the past few summers.

In these pictures, he and Bill are working on the planter and field cultivator.  It's less than a month until we'll be planting, weather permitting.  They're also planning to haul corn from the grain bins to the elevator this week.  

Bill working on the planter

Bryan working on the field cultivator

the field cultivator getting new sweeps

The shed seems big when it's built and when paying for it, but you can see that with the big equipment unfolded in it for working, it is full.

P.E.O. Meeting Refreshments

I had a P.E.O. meeting here at our house Thursday night and kept changing my mind on what I was going to make for refreshments.  We had an officers' meeting first at 5:30 so since that was early for everybody to be here, I made vegetable pizza and had some chips for them.

Then I finally decided to make a green bundt cake.  (no picture)  It was just a yellow cake mix with a small box of pistachio pudding and green food coloring added.  It was a nice and light, green piece of cake.  I made these glazed sugar cookies and also some Cinnamon Spiced Pecans.  Then there was to be coffee, water and Sierra Mist.  One of the guests coming in noticed that the coffee was going all over the countertop!  We don't drink coffee so I only make it for this meeting once a year.  So that was a disaster, and we were down to just water and Sierra Mist.  

If you're like me and not too excited about frosting cut out cookies, you'll have to try this glaze.  This was my first time to try it.  It's a thin icing that you kind of pour on and spread around with a knife.  Your sprinkles and things stick on very nicely.  They do take quite a while to dry.  My second recipe of glaze seemed a little darker and thicker, and I added some tiny green shamrock sprinkles.  I liked them better (no pictures).

  Glaze for Cookies

1 c. powdered sugar
2 T. milk
2 T. corn syrup
1/4 t. almond extract

Place cut out cookies on a rack.  Pour glaze over (may have to also spread with a knife).  
 

Melt in Your Mouth Muffins

I first made these muffins from my Betty Crocker Cookbook years ago and had forgotten about them the past several years.  They are sooooo good.   I think the Betty Crocker Cookbook is the best for good, basic recipes.  Definitely a good one to give to brides who don't know how to cook!  Of course things change - mine is a 1976 version.

The cookbook says "Rich but airy.  Elegant enough for a special brunch or coffee-time treat". 

French Breakfast Muffins

1/3 c. shortening
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. butter, melted

Heat oven to 350.  Grease 15 medium muffin cups.  Mix thoroughly shortening, 1/2 c. sugar and the egg.  Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.  Add dry ingredients alternately with milk.  

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.  Bake 20-25 minutes.  Mix 1/2 c. sugar and the cinnamon together.  Immediately after baking, roll muffins in melted butter, then in cinnamon-sugar mixture***.  Serve hot.  
15 muffins 


*** Bill thought they had too much sugar on them so I'm going to make note in the cookbook to "lightly" roll in the sugar mixture next time.

I made them in the small muffin cups for our girls' lunch last week.

We're having lots of sunny days and, as of yesterday, it's warming up so the snow is really melting. 



 

Friends

These are the friends that the last post was about that I made the chicken salad for last week.  Today we had Bible Study here at our house, had taco salads and grasshopper pie for lunch and then went to Laurens.  These 3 had either never been there or it had been years ago.  There is a nice store there, Heart 'N Home, that we wanted to go to and that's where this picture was taken.  It has been a nice, sunny, relaxing day.  

So happy to have met these friends a year ago.  We're all free to go to lunch if we want to, road trips, and Deanne on the left lives on a lake and likes to take us out in her boat!  Sandi, 2nd from left, is going to take us to her mom's in a couple of weeks so we can see her collection of dishes.  Deb next to me is a stamper so we get together and make cards.

In a few minutes, the local high school, PAC, girls' basketball team will be playing in the semifinal State game in Des Moines.  We can watch it Live via thecube.com.  The team is pretty good and most of the girls are only sophomores so the next couple years should be exciting following them.