Spring Clean Up, YAY!!!!!!!!

Now each winter the farm tends to get a bit messy, I mean let’s be serious pigs can be such pigs. And I will be honest we do tend to put the clean up task off as long as possible, because it isn’t exactly a pleasant job. But the clean up did allow me to drive around on the tractor and using the scoop. This was the first time I had ever had to really do this so Hubby my prince did swoop in and attempt to teach me how to properly do this, shortly before he just decided to do it himself. This was ok by me as well. So now that the homestead is all spic and span clean we are ready for more piggies to come join the family.

Check me out I am trying to seem to know what I am doing, it appears that someone is closely watching over me.

Big Bro Zach and his driving skills, do you notice a theme of someone watching over us.

Last thought: I just got call from the hubby that there are some new little piglets coming as we speak! Woohoo hopefully I can convince him to take the time to get some great pictures for you.

Spaghetti a la Hubby

Now I don’t know about many of you other wives out there but I happened to marry a meat and potatoes lover. There is nothing that would make him happier than a supper of a pork chop and fried potatoes each night. But every now and then a girl has to have a little bit of what she likes. I, as the pasta lover in this marriage, definitely have a need for a big bowl every now and then. What I have found is that if the sauce is really meaty the hubby can even love the results.

2 carrots diced
4 stalks celery diced
1 onion diced
½ lb Italian pork sausage
½ lb Lean ground beef
1 ½ cup beef stock
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic chopped
A pinch of crushed red pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste 1 cup plus more for topping Italian blend shredded cheese
Angle hair pasta

Sauté the first three ingredients in olive oil until soft, remove from pan. In the same pan brown the meat, once browned drain. Add meat and veggie mixture back to pan and deglaze with beef stock. Add the tomatoes, garlic, red pepper and salt and pepper. Simmer with the lid on until mixture is thick about 30 minutes, then remove the lid and simmer for another 15 minutes. While mixture finishes cook pasta according to package directions. If sauce is to thick for you add a bit of the pasta water. Once you have drained the pasta mix it with the sauce and add cheese stir to combine. And yummy yummy there is a hearty supper.

Last thought: This dish is his preferred way that I make spaghetti, I like it as well but soon I share with you my beloved spaghetti recipe.

Father’s Day Weekend!!!

Wow did we have quite a busy weekend honoring our fathers. From frying fish to eating extreme cake, to breakfast, dinner, and BBQed steak dinner, we tried to fit it all into just two days. Holidays are quite important to both of us, because family is always first; they are so important that we celebrated several times over this weekend. Starting with a fish fry out at the MIL and FIL’s house, I do have to say that the hubby is quite a master of the fryer. But the star of the fish fry had to be SIL Mer and her friend Taylor’s EXTREME FUNFETTI CAKE. It was really fun watching FIL cut into that one. Lunch on father’s day was at my Grandma and Papa Jones’ house, the fried chicken was amazing, thanks to the aunts and my mom. No time to tell you about all that we did but I do want to wish my dad PP a very special father’s day and I can’t wait to go to the game with him. Hope all of you dad’s out there had a great dad’s day!


Check this crazy cake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is my papa with one of my cousins, who happens to be newly engaged congrats Megan!

Chicken Frying Ladies Yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A New Addition to the Farm

Oh the summer litters of baby piggies have started Gertie welcome these cuties just a few days ago and let me tell you I do believe they are my favorite. (But I say that with every litter) You just can't believe how small and cute they are when they are new born. The picture above is when she was still having more but I couldn't resist because it was such a cute picture. I love the litters born in the summer because it isn't freezing cold and ugly outside where you can't enjoy them.

Here is ML delivering one of the piggies while talking on her cell phone, she is seriously talented. (Oh and she threaten my life if I put this pic up but only you guys and me know about it so lets keep it that away)
Have a perfect piggie day!

Who Loves Chocolate I do I do!

And just about every one I work with. These cookies were a special request from one of my co-workers. Ok they weren’t really a request, I definitely owed them to him; he had to do some quick tire changing for me. These cookies were a hit at home as well, but they definitely are rich, a glass of milk is highly recommended. All you dark chocolate lovers out there will also adore these cookies. Enjoy!

For this recipe click here.
Oh I did replace the walnuts with pecans!

Refreshing Summery Veggie Pasta Salad…

As the heat of summer quickly approaches I am trying to get us prepared for that with light and refreshing recipes. This one I made a double batch of to take to a family BBQ, I wanted to have plenty to save back for the hubby’s and my lunch. This pasta salad is super easy and very flavorful. The best thing about this recipe besides the flavor is the fact that you can adjust it to your tastes and likings of veggies. Some of my favorite mix-ins are olives, capers, and mushrooms.

This is the original single batch recipe.
1 box of tri-colored spiral pasta
1 pint box of grape tomatoes
1 bell pepper (any color) diced
1 cucumber diced
3 stalks of celery diced
2 carrots shredded
5 green onions chopped
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 TBSP of Good Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 TBSP of Italian Seasoning
1 Large Bottle of Italian Salad Dressing
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Cook pasta according to package directions, rinse and cool. In a large bowl mix oil and Italian seasoning add veggies and toss. Add cooled pasta and mix, pour on the bottle of salad dressing and toss everything until all is well coated. Then add cheese and salt and pepper, toss, cover and chill. The longer the salad sits the better it gets.

Turning Catastrophe into Cake Eating Celebration!

For most newlyweds enjoying the top tier of their wedding cake on their first anniversary is something they look forward to. Or they look forward to seeing how well their cake had held up in the freezer. This past weekend we kind of had a small tragedy with our deep freezer going out, well our cake top happened to be in that freezer. Luckily hubby was a fast thinker and he rescued it right away, brought it inside and stuck it in the refrigerator. So to reward his fast thinking I cooked him a wonderful meal then we each had a piece of cake. I had envisioned eating the cake out on our porch picnic style feeding it to each other in the most romantic way. Apparently that wasn’t the hubby’s idea. I will report that what cake I did taste was absolutely wonderful, Blaine had picked that flavor and I was a bit uneasy about the orange dream cake.

Blaine thought he would eat the whole cake before he decided to shove it in my face instead!

See the small crumb of cake I managed to get on his face, tiny tiny tiny crumb.

And look at me cake all over my face.

I had to take this one pic so that I would have proof that the cake was really pretty.