Fall On The Hilltop

Even though we aren't anywhere near moving into our new house yet, our porches are finished and I enjoyed doing a little Fall decorating on one little corner of my big wrap-around porch.  I figured as long as I stayed out of the construction zone it would be okay!

I loved using the old mailbox that I nabbed for cheap at a roadside junk sale a number of months ago.  (You can read about that post here.)  It made for fun decorating with my Fall things!

I did a little hiking around our farm for some Fall foliage and really loved the piece of wood with the moss growing on it.  It was my favorite find of the day.

Can you see that awesome huge pot next to the mailbox?  My son and daughter-in-law found it on their eight acres of land when they bought their place about a year ago.  They gave it to me recently and I am so in love with it.  It looks gorgeous full of these beautiful Mums.

I also did a fun Fall display at the entrance to our Farm.  I've never had much luck at making a scarecrow.  They are always so heavy after I fill them with straw that they won't stand up straight.  I love this lady!

She stands up nice and tall and has weathered several heavy rain storms in the last week and she's still as sprightly and happy as ever! 

I happened on an awesome blog post on how to make her...  I don't think I will ever make another scarecrow any other way.  It was such an awesome idea.  You can read the great tutorial here.

I think maybe we made her head a little too big...  oh well, she's perfect to me!

I hosted a Fall Ladies Lunch on my porches last week.  We had about 15 of us for an awesome lunch....  I planned it all out in my head and it was going to be like this:  these amazing tables decorated beautifully out on the porch overlooking the hillside and the beautiful Fall colors.   Instead, it rained buckets of water and was so cold and miserably wet that instead of having lunch on the porch???  I set up my gorgeously set tables under the scaffolding, inside the house under construction.  Therefore, my pictures were terrible.  I do have this one at least.... gives you a little glimpse of the Fall table decorations!

However, I learned a great lesson.  Fellowship with wonderful ladies is just as wonderful under 30 feet of scaffolding as it would've been on the porch! 

And here I am with my darling grand-babies.  There is nothing sweeter or more precious than these little girls (even pumpkins, mums, lunch on the porch, or rainy days)! 

Happy Fall!   

Oh those Amazingly Wonderful Monster Cookies!

In my opinion, you've never had a good cookie til you've had a Monster Cookie!  Today I got to go to my daughter's and keep my precious grand-daughters for the day and making cookies was a definite part of the plan.  Jillian is four and at that age where she is a great help in the cookie making process!

She measured out the M & M's (eating a few), the Chocolate Chips (eating a few of those too)

and the Oats.  She's really starting to get the hang of the measuring thing and had a great time finding the mark on each measuring cup.

And then there is Rosetta.  She helped by playing with the empty oat box and watching us!

This recipe does not call for sprinkles.... but when you're 4 and have your very own sprinkles "for all kinds of yummy things, Gram" then you get to put sprinkles on Monster Cookies!

Ice Tea and Monster Cookies, anyone?

The reason (I think anyway) these are called Monster Cookies is because the original recipe calls for making them HUGE - like the size of a saucer.  I always make them normal size so that I'm okay with eating two of them at one sitting (or three or four).  My family always loves eating these frozen and for some reason they really do taste great that way.  So, make the cookies, bag them up and toss in the freezer for the perfect snack on a hot day!   

Monster Cookies

1 1/2 cups creamy or chunky peanut butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup granulated white sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 1/2 cups old fasioned oats

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup M&M's

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter with the sugars and butter. Use an electric mixer to mix until well combined. Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Mix in the oats and baking soda. Then stir in the chips and M&M's.

Drop the cookies by heaping spoonfuls onto the cookie sheets. This is when you decide how big you want your Monster Cookies to be!  I usually press a few M&M's on top of the cookies at this point, so they look prettier when they come out of the oven.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Do not overbake. Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets until cookies are set. Transfer to wire racks; cool completely before placing in zip lock bags and putting in the freezer.  Or an airtight cookie jar if you'd rather!



Hope you are having a wonderful week.  My husband and I are on the very last stages of the exterior of the home we are building and we are taking a trip next week for our 30th wedding anniversary!  It will be a wonderful break away,  but I will be desperately lonely for my precious little grand-girls and anxious to get back to them I'm sure! 



This week I am linking up to:
Debbie Doos

 

Sewanee for the Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July!

I think maybe, just maybe, we started a new family tradition today.  The July issue of Southern Living Magazine featured the little town of Sewanee, Tennessee.  They had a great one page write-up about the July 4th festivities in this town and when  I realized it is less than an hour from our new home here in the South we decided to go for the day.  

Just a little bit of information about Sewanee.  It is home to the University of the South; the University is on approximately 14,000 acres of gorgeous Tennessee "mountain" country!  The buildings on the campus are amazing.  I wasn't able to get as many pictures as I would've liked but here is a little glimpse.  Sewanee itself is just a little blip on the map, but what a fun place with gorgeous homes.  

This building is the Administration Building!

My husband and I with our precious grand-daughter on the steps of one of the old churches on the campus. 

One of the things recommended in Southern Living was Julia's Fine Foods Cafe.  We could hardly wait for lunch.  As a matter of fact we were in line before the cafe opened at 11:00!

I absolutely love fish (or shrimp) tacos and have eaten them at so many restaurants that I've combined serveral of my favorites to make my own yummy shrimp tacos.  These Phish Tacos were especially recommended in Southern Living so of course I ordered them.  

All I can say is WOW, WOW, WOW!!!  They were by far the best I've ever eaten.  They also had ice tea that was just amazing!

This darling little shop, The Lemon Fair, looked so fun.  Unfortunately, it was closed.

The one gas station in town.  Love it!

 This is just one of the many beatiful homes along the main road through the little town up to the campus.  There were too many beautiful ones to choose from! 

Best of all was time spent with my precious grand-daughters!

Jillian, Gram, and Rosetta! 

There were all kinds of craft booths.  One was selling darling little old fashioned wooden toys.  We had to get a little duck for Jillian and wooden horses for both girls.  The little wooden horses were only $5.00 each.  Can you believe that?

It was such a perfect day.  Loved everything about the town and the celebration.  Not too many people, lots to see and do, good food, plenty of lemonaide stands (smile), live music, parade and fireworks.  Next year we'll go early and stay late!

What did you do for the wonderful Independence Celebration?  I hope your day was lovely. 

Loaded with Green Chile's

I grew up in New Mexico and one of the things I miss living here in the South is the wonderful New Mexico green chile!  My mother always had fresh green chile in the freezer and we used it all year.  So, this spring I got some Anaheim Green Chile seeds and planted my own.  I don't think they are quite the same as the Hatch Green Chile's from Hatch, New Mexico but they are a close second!  I'm very happy to say that my plants are loaded with green chile.  I thought I would show you the process of roasting, prepping and preserving them in the freezer.  This is how my mother taught me when I was a young girl. 

My mother roasts her green chile in a hot oven.  But, because my husband and I are living in a travel trailer right now and it is the middle of a hot summer, I roasted mine in the barbeque grill and it worked perfectly.  Heat your grill on the hottest setting, let it sit a few minutes to really get the temperature up there. 

Lay your chile out evenly on the grill, put the lid on and let them cook until the skin is a very nice, dark brown color.  Turn them over and do the same on the other side.  

They will get very soft and the skin will wrinkle up.

 Remove them from the grill and place in a bowl or sink of ice cold water.  I actually added ice cubes to my sink of cold water.   This will make the skins immediately start to come off.

I start by pulling off the stem.  Sometimes, if I'm lucky, this will pull out the center membrane.  Most of the time I'm not lucky!  

After removing the stem, I just slit the chile with my fingers and open it up.  If the center membrane didn't pull out with the stem, go ahead and do that now.  Also remove the seeds.  Usually this is done very easily by just rinsing with cold water.

Turn the chile over and pull the skin off.  It is a very easy process.  Don't be overly picky, it doesn't hurt to have a little bit of skin and seeds in your final product!

You can freeze them whole, or you can choose to chop them up.  I chose to chop these up.  On my next batch I will probably freeze them whole.

Chop them into the size you would like.

Bag them up in Ziplok Freezer bags and toss in your freezer.  (I used pint size bags, you can use whatever size you choose.)  Anytime you have a recipe that calls for canned green chile, pull them out of the freezer and throw them in - your meal will taste so much fresher and yummier! 

Being raised in New Mexico Ranch Country, green chile is a very common side dish served with every meal.  My mother also put roasted green chile in grilled cheese sandwiches which I love.  Not to mention all the other wonderful Mexican Food dishes that call for green chile:  Chile Rellanos, Green Chile Enchiladas, a wonderful pot of Green Chile and Pork, Salsa, Relish, Chicken Tortilla Soup, etc...  One of our favorite things growing up was a Green Chile Relish my mother made and seved with fresh Pinto Beans.  Yummmmm.... think I need to cook that soon!

Trivia for you today:  Do you spell chile with an "e" on the end, an "i" on the end, or an "ie" on the end?  What do you think is the correct spelling and does it matter?

This week I am linking up with these fabulous parties:
Homestories A 2 Z