What's Cooking Wednesday

This is our dinner it is marinated venison steak that is grilled, organic corn from our garden, cottage cheese, and for what's cooking a salad. It is not just any old salad this was a new adventure for us. We were very reluctant to try it. It is grilled hearts of romaine. A warm salad sounded weird to me, but I thought I'll give it a go and see. It was amazing. Now I want all my salads warm. We sliced a romaine heart in half and put a little olive oil on both sides placed it in our grilling basket, and grilled it a couple minutes on each side. Just enough to let the leaves start to wilt. Then we added a small amount of crumbled bacon and a little Parmesan cheese and oh my goodness how good.

Let's start meeting the family part III

This is our beautiful daughter. She is 7 1/2 years old. She is a typical girl. She can be moody, esp. when she is tired. She has been active in cheerleading, tumbling, and horsebackriding. She loves ALL animals. She can't wait until she's 9 and can start handling her own dog in junior showmanship. She loves to cook with her easy bake oven, and make crafts. She did want to be a vet tech like her mom, but I think I have successfully talked her out of that. She now wants to be a model. She had her first published photo this year. She will appear in the Jones Fish Hatchery catalog. Hey you have to start somewhere.

She has always been our sickly child. She has seen a cardiologist for an innocent murmur at 3 months old, a urrologist, and a gastroenterologist. She had a bladder condition called reflux that was diagnosed when she was 10 months old. It is caused by the valve not functioning properly that stops urine from going from the bladder to the kidney. It also made her prone to urinary tract infections. The infections could set up shop in her kidneys due to the weakened values and cause kidney damage. She spent the next 3 years with monthly urine samples and daily antibiotics, that tasted yucky! Every 6 months she had to have kidney ultrasounds and cystograms. Cystograms are terrible procedures where the nurse places a urinary catheter and injects a radioactive solution into her bladder until it is extremely full, then they shoot xrays while the bladder is full and as it empties. All the while it is the parents job to hold down the screaming child keep her still for the photos and convince her it is okay the pee in a pan in front of all these nurses. Real fun. So after 3 years we decided to have the problem corrected surgically. The doctor injects a polymer that slowly biodegrades and forms a lump of scar tissue under the valve in her bladder to position it where it will function normally. The worst part was the anesthesia. I was so nervous. She did not handle recovery well. she vomited from 24 hours afterward and we had to get medication to make her stop. But the surgery was successful. We have been virtually problem free since. We did have one scare last year where a routine urinalysis showed some white blood cells but that proved to be just an artifact thank goodness.

She also has a very sensitive stomach and gets ill very easily. Anywhere from carsickness to just being too tired will cause her to vomit. We never know what we are going to get when we take her out. So we travel with spare clothes and lots of trash bags. Her doctor told us to try to regulated her diet well too.

Since she is our sickly one she gets babied and spoiled, but we still expect alot out of her since she's that oldest. She is my darling and a huge help to me. She is super smart and spunky.

bambi on ice takes out the trash

There is freezing rain outside, my husband is making his usual 45 minute commute home, but the weather has extended that drive to 3 hours. I am snuggled in my warm house with my two kids, until I get the bright idea of taking out the trash. I step off my concrete front porch on to my concrete patio. My heels immediately go over my head. The two trash bags go in opposite directions. luckily my fall is broken by the middle of my back on the concrete step off our front porch. I hobble back inside broken and in PAIN. After a few minutes of feeling sick to my stomach I get up the courage to take a look. I have a huge red mark on the middle of my back that will surely be a rainbow of blues greens and purples in a few days. I also notice a couple spots of missing skin. I call my husband for some much needed sympathy. He reminds me I am lucky I could have hit my head and possibly died from that. How cheery. Since I couldn't get any sympathy I sucked it up and went back out to pick up my strewn trash and take it to the curb, it was trash night after all. This time I walked very gingerly with my dogs out in their play yard barking at me. I yelled at them to got back in their dog houses all I needed was an ACL tear for Christmas from one of them. Anyway today my back still hurts and I also developed a lovely bruise on my rear, but at least my neck's not broke. It warmed up over night and now it is raining and a soggy mess, that's Ohio weather for you. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

What's Cooking Wednesday

This week we have two treats to talk about because one is the one I planned on blogging about this week, and the other is a cake I made for my husband's office that people are asking about. First let's do my planned one. It is pictured above. It is very similar to a rice krispie treat only a million times better. First melt 2 Tablespoons of butter and one package of mini marshmallows in a large pot. After the marshmallows have melted to a smooth consistency remove the pan from the heat and add 6 cups of honey nut cheerios and 1-6oz package of dried cranberries, or just eyeball it like I did. Pour all that into a 9x13 pan and let cool. cut into squares, it should make 24 of them, and enjoy. Each square contains 111 calories. I am known for breaking off small chunks and piecing on a square through out the day.

The next treat is not very flashy looking so I do not have pictures of it. But it makes up for not being the fanciest looking dish by it's amazing taste. It is called a KY Whiskey Cake. It truly is one of the best cakes I've had. However it is not even close to being healthy for you! Here it is.

cake recipe:

1-2 layer yellow cake mix/ 1-4oz vanilla instant pudding mix/ 4 eggs or 8 egg whites/ 1/2cup of veg oil or 21/2 Tablespoons veg oil and 1/3 cup apple sauce/ 1/2 cup water/ 1 cup chopped pecans/ whiskey topping

mix all ingredients except for topping together place in a well greased angel food pan and bake at 350 for 45 min. when done baking pour topping over cake and cool in the pan. When cool remove to a serving plate.

Topping recipe:

1/4 cup water/ 1/2 cup whiskey of your choice/ 1/2 cup butter/ 1 cup sugar

bring all ingredients to a boil in a small sauce pan then simmer for 3 1/2 min. stirring frequently.

On Sunday We spent the morning baking sugar cookies and making treat bags for my daughter's class Christmas party. She loved rolling the cookies in the sugar and putting on the sprinkles. Then I let her put all the different types of candy in the bags. She had a great time and so did I.

A Fun Weekend

Friday night we went to my husband's work party held in downtown Cincinnati. We had a nice dinner at the Cadillac Ranch. There we watched his co-workers get way too drunk and stupid acting. We hung around and watched them ride the mechanical bull. Very funny. Then after being hassled to get as drunk as they were we decided it was time to go. We went for a lovely carriage ride through the city. Breathtaking!!! Then we enjoyed the lights around the square and in the lobby of our hotel. Then we retired for the night since I had to be at work the next morning at 8.

Furry Friens Fridays

Each Friday I hope to introduce you to a member of our furry household. It will take awhile to get through them all so keep checking back. I really wanted to post some of our more unusual pets, but since this is retriever farm I figured I should put a retriever on it. So first up is Miles see his post under Labrador boys below.

let's start meeting the family part II

I think this photo says it all. This is our son. He recently turned 5. He is 100% boy. He loves all things reptile, amphibian, or butterfly-ish. He loves his transformer, power ranger, bakugan etc. toys. His favorite outdoor activity is football because he gets to tackle mommy. He also loves his wii. Yes we play video games in our house, but we don't do it obsessively. We are much too busy to be inside all the time. We love to play outside and hike in our woods and play with our critters.

He also loves trains. He has been to a day out with Thomas several times. We recently took him to Cincinnati to see the Duke Energy train display, and he loves to ride the train at the zoo.

As I am sure you can tell he loves music. Not that barney crap. He listens to what I listen to. He is the only 5 year old who knows every word to every Def Leppard song. He also listens to all the old 80's and 70's rock that I listen too. But Leppard is by far his favorite. His favorite songs include Pour Some Sugar On Me, Rock Of Ages, Rock On, and Hellraiser. I am sure someone is going to give me flack on this one, but it is innocent he just loves good sounding rock n roll.

He is also a child who knows exactly what he wants, and he won't leave you alone till he gets it. He has his certain foods he likes and everything else is gross he tells me. This child didn't just tell Santa what he wanted or make a list, he took the toy catalog with him to show Santa exactly what he wanted. And he loves to be at home not out shopping. This personality trait sometimes makes him a little hard to reason with, but one day it will lead him to do something great. Something that is exactly what he wants.

On the other hand he is also the most cuddly and affectionate child. Our favorite past time is to cuddle in the computer chair together and watch you tube music videos.

What's Cooking Wednesday

Before ToppingsAll Loaded Up

For those that know me know I love to cook, I just hate doing the dishes. And you also know I have recently lost 40 lbs. So it has been my quest to cook healthy meals that taste great. with lots of flavor but with out all the calories. So here was tonight's dinner simple and fast and not much clean up.

Shrimp Tacos

I buy a bag of shrimp from walmart, they usually have the best prices

I cut those thawed shrimp into bit sized pieces

I cook them in the skillet with Mrs. Dash Chipotle seasoning till the are done

Then I place them on a pita and top with onions tomatoes red cabbage

Get creative with toppings the sky is the limit!

step inside walk this way

Here are some pics of our house. My husband had some buddies requesting to see our home and its many trophies. hey if I have to live with them I am going to have fun with them. We decorate them for Christmas , birthdays, etc. Yes those are hand stenciled deer hooves on our wall. I made the stencil myself and painted them on. The photo of the deer like painting is actually a wall mural that covers one whole wall. I also hung that by myself. it said it needed two people, what do they know. I apologize for the random layout of these photos. I wanted to type in between them but I couldn't figure it out so it came out a little ( ok well a lot) jacked up. Anyway you get the gist. Our house is very outdoorsy.

Let's start meeting the family

I thought I would introduce the people and animals in my life to you slowly since it would take you a full day to read about all of them. I thought I would start with the most important thing in my life, my husband of 13 years. I was very young when we got married and many people have asked me if I felt I missed out on things since I was married so young. I say ABSOLUTELY NOT! We dated when I was in high school and he was in college. He took me to both my junior and senior proms. We then attended college together at Eastern Kentucky University. I studied pre vet and he obtained a masters in wildlife biology. After 2 years we found ourselves back in Ohio I switched to a vet tech major and Chris went off to work. He worked for several years at a very small fish hatchery in Xenia, Ohio. He had always wanted to be a state wildlife officer, but after going through the program 2 times and being an alternate he decided the fish business was for him. Then right before the birth of our first child in 2001 He changed jobs to the largest fish hatchery in the mid west, Jone's Fish Hatchery in Newtown, Ohio. He quickly moved up the ladder and has performed almost every job at the hatchery from driving, to treating ponds, to wildlife consulting. He is currently the production manager. He works mainly third shift (but this time of year is on first shift). He is in charge of ordering all the fish in, he deals with some of the biggest growers in the US. He unloads and loads fish for deliveries, he medicates and is in charge of the feeding program. He also helps edit the hatchery's catalog. He works long hours during the busy season six days a week. Then he usually comes home and spends most of his morning on the phone to fish producers then he is off to bed. I don't see a lot of him in the busy season, but come November he has a lot of time off and I see him lots. He does spend most of his vacation in November in the woods, though. He is an avid deer hunter. He has been hunting since he was 16. He is very good and should probably be on one of those T.V. shows. He does everything to the letter. I can't even wear hand cream to bed because he might get the smell on him. Anyway he provides our family with enough meat to last us all year long. We never buy any beef we eat all venison. We love it and it is so healthy. My husband prefers to hunt with his Hoyt compound bow but will use his muzzle loader if the season is right and the freezer isn't full yet. In fact he even named his first dog Hoyt. He also hunts just about everything else too, but not as passionately as the deer. I am proud of him because he is a huge conservationist not just a trophy hunter ( OK he does like to get a big one, who doesn't) but he tries his best to make great shots and tries to take management deer as much as possible. He is truly a very hard worker and provides all that we need. He is teaching our oldest child about hunting and conservation now and will start with our second child soon. He also helps me plan, plant, and maintain our large garden every spring. He helps with the farm chores and the kids homework. I am truly lucky. Enjoy some photos of my wonderful husband. Bet you can't wait to meet the rest of us.

Welcome

Hello there! I would like to introduce myself and tell you a bit more about myself. I live on my 170 acre family farm in ohio. This farm has been in my family for over 200 years. I live here with my husband and two children. My mom and brother also reside on different parts of the farm. They raise angora goats, and donkeys. I raise akc show line labrador retievers and have done so since 1996. We moved to the farm in 2004. We also have six new zealand white rabbits, six golden comet chickens, two nubian goats, two heritage turkeys, one barn cat, and 5 labradors. We also grow a large amount of our own food in a very large garden we plant every year. We also rent our farmable land to a local farmer who grows soybeans and corn and sometimes wheat for us. We are very busy people. I am also a registered veterianry technician and work part time in a small animal practice. I hope to meet new exciting people and give others insite on farm life, dog breeding, living with labs, and veterinary medicine. I can't wait to share more of my life with you.