Birthday Celebrations...

Here's another update...we all celebrated our birthdays this spring...

Shallen turned 19...

Kelton is 17...

Shawn is the ripe old age of 44...

And me?  Should I even confess?  Okay...a BIG fat 40! (sigh)

Last but not least...Miss Kyri is now 14!

And a good time was had by all!!!

Somewhere Over The Rainbow...

Lately our weather has been sun and showers mixed together.  So it was pretty cool to see this on our way to Bible Study the other night...

But the more we studied it the more we realized the end came right down on the road...

Unfortunately, as we drove on, no pot of gold was found;-).   Maybe next time ...

Why The Silence???

As many of you know, my precious mama went to Papua New Guinea at the beginning of this year.

I thought I'd be strong and brave...and I was

...except my heart went with her.  I left a piece of me in PNG as a child and it was hard to not crawl into her bags and go with her.  But don't get me wrong, she went with my fullest blessing.  I wasn't prepared for the turmoil it would put me in.

Not only did I miss her, achingly so, those first few months, I also lost my own life as well...let me explain.  I discovered the joy had gone out of everything around me.  It seemed so trivial to live in our western culture with its blessings and frivolity, when my mom was sacrificing so much.  My creativity was dead, the meaning in my life felt like a farce.  Although there is truth in everything I've said, I also had to remember that God didn't call me there.  He called me to be married to this man...

...which means sharing his life and his world.  An Arkansas country world...

and this blog is apart of that in a way.  So, with all that said, I've come back to bloggerville and am here to let the creative juices flow.  The next few posts will be catch up time and maybe a bit random and jumbly...

Anyway, 'nough said...until later.

Holly

Fall Has Finally Fallen On Our Farm...

 

             I'm enjoying the feeling of Fall.

           

         And its beauty...it looks like we                 are going to have a nice long one as well.

  I always did love the changing seasons;)

Here's What Is Cookin'...

For those of you who are connected with me on Facebook, you see my random pictures of food...

Here's a sample. Now for the rest of the story. Often I am trying to cook something exotic with just simple cheap ingredients.  So this time instead of a picture, I decided to show some of the steps.

Here is what I am cooking today.

This is a variation of an apple turnover...these came about because I was making these...

Meat and Tator Pasties!

But then I ran out of filling so I remembered the frozen apple slices in the freezer...and now I'm getting ahead of myself.

First things first...

You need a yummy dough...

4 cups of flour

1&1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups shredded cheese

Mix together then add...

3 sticks of softened butter

Mix until crumbly and combined then add...

16oz of sour cream.

Knead together to form dough adding a little flour to keep from getting too sticky.

Then roll out the dough and cut into rounds or whatever shape you want your pasties to have.

Now let's talk about filling...really whatever you want to try...warning...having your fruit frozen first helps it to soften faster in the oven.

...oops...not like this

...but like this:)

I then added a little spice.

cinnamon

nutmeg

fresh lemon zest 

fresh grated ginger

a couple of dollops of yogurt...all I had was flavored, but my favorite would be natural vanilla.

Now you're ready to build each one...

Pop them into the oven on an ungreased sheet at 400* for 20 to 25 minutes or till golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack...enjoy!

Try not to think about all that butter and cheese....I'm not on a diet, not on a diet, NOT ON A DIET!!!

I'm not Ree Drumond, but I hope you've gotten the point.

Holly