Ponderings by Plowgirl

 I made this cake for Ainsley's 4th birthday.  (See blog post July 26, 2009).  Ever since, she has LOVED rolled fondant.   A while back she mentioned that she should make some fondant.  Sunday, she found my recipe and made her own batch of fondant.   If you don't know what fondant is - it's kind of like edible play-dough.  SUPER SWEET edible play-dough!   She still isn't fond of having her picture taken! It takes some muscles and finesse to stir in all that powdered sugar! Knead like you would as if it were bread dough, adding powdered sugar as you go, until it's no longer sticky. Add food coloring and more powdered sugar.  Keep kneading. Edible super sweet play-dough! Recipe below.

 Did you know that pigs have wings??  Neither did I !  Today's Adventures in Grilling features the Pig Wing. A little backstory here..... My neighbor and friend Ben Simon opened a Market in Pittsburg (shameless plug here!!) just as The Virus was shutting the small local businesses down.  Ben, his wife Tammy, son Bryce and dad Jerry have worked their tails off to establish the finest meat market in the area.    https://www.simonmarket.net/ My first purchases were GoRilla Kabobs.  Chicken breast loins with bacon wrapped around them on a kabob stick with ranch seasoning, GoRilla burgers - bacon wrapped cheese infused, seasoned hamburger patty that are about a half pound each.  (It's really hard for this Wildcat to buy products named for a monkey! {Ben is also a KSU grad}). Oh my stars!!!  These are AMAZING products!  I have tried most everything in the product line, and each is high quality and has amazing flavor. On to the Pig Wings!!...

Maybe I should start this up again?  Quite a bit has changed since my last entry! Plowbaby is now 14, and a Freshman in HS.   HS, now being a relative term.  Teachers are still teaching, however, she is learning from my desk in the corner of the living room.  I'm not going to claim to be home schooling.  I'm not.    I'm not teaching Algebra, English, Physical Science, Band, or Business or formal Ag or PE.  However, she's getting a very healthy dose of real-life ag and PE since she's home, and old enough to help on the farm.  She's getting a dose of real life Business too, as she's having to learn how to market her farm fresh chicken eggs. Oh yes, did I just mention farm fresh chicken eggs???  She has 7 hens that are laying, and one rooster of the same age.   We constructed a brooder and now have 22 baby chicks in 3 different age stages.  The oldest - 3 Sapphire Gems and 3 Asian Blacks are 6 weeks old.  (I'm hopin...

  I had these cookies several years back and fell in love with them.  I looked high and low for a recipe to duplicate them.  I came across this one, but never took the time to actually make it!  Boy howdy!!! am I glad I tried it yesterday!!!  This just might be my new favorite. 2 CUPS (that's 4 sticks!) of butter , softened ~ I used 2 sticks of 80% margarine and 2 sticks of unsalted sweet cream butter 2 cups sugar 3 Cups flour 2 tsp cream of tartar 2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt (omit if you use salted butter) 4 cups Rice Krispies 1 c finely chopped pecans (optional) Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Combine dry ingredients. and add gradually to creamed butter mixture. Gently stir in rice krispies and pecans. Roll into 1" balls (I used the small or medium scoop). Place 1" apart. Bake at 350* for 10 mins. Cool 2 mins on pan then transfer to wire rack. This makes a HUGE batch, so be prepared to freeze or share some with friends!

From Celebrations by Lori in Pittsburg, Ks.  I'm sure it's as YUMMY as it is PRETTY!

The following article was written by my Dad's wife, Gloria. Dream of building, flying own airplane comes true for Ionia man By Gloria Garman-Schlaefli Dick Schlaefli, Ionia, has achieved his dream of building and flying his own airplane. It took 15 years to complete, but for Dick being able to now fly his Pietenpol Air Camper was well worth the long wait. Dick developed his love of flying during high school when his three uncles, Ray and Dan Richardson and Jim VanSickle, each had his own airplane and Dick would take frequent rides with them. His interest in flying continued into college and while attending Fort Hays State University, he took lessons and earned his pilot's license. He built model airplanes and did control line flying with them, but hoped some day to be able to fly in his own airplane. It was in a magazine article that he first learned about the Pietenpol airplane. He learned that Bernard Pietenpol designed and built the first Air Camper, in 1929 in Cherry Grov...

of me......during planting season. Most days go something like this: Up and at 'em after the "birthday's" on the morning show. (Ok, so 6:47 isn't really that early in the whole scheme of things!) Check email, facebook, newspapers. Off to a shower. Wake up Plowbaby and Plowboy, and get both moving. (not necessarily an easy feat!) Change the channel to "toonies" for Plowbaby, and try to get her to eat some breakfast and change her clothes and get ready for work/school. The goal is for her and I to be out the door BY 9. Again, I know....not real early.....but YOU haven't tried to get Miss Pokey around in the morning! Also in the mean time, get some laundry going, and dishes cleaned up from the night before. Drive up to the farm (or the last field from last night) to find the empty NH3 tanks from the night before. Hook up and head toward AgChoice. This is if I haven't already been sent on 3 other missions, before even hooking up the first t...

Well, I had great intentions of blogging a new recipe each week until we got back into the field for corn planting. Yeah, right!........my laptop CRASHED a week and a half ago. I miss it. I miss it dearly. My friend the computer guru says it's either a power issue or the motherboard is bad. I did her recommended steps, and have determined that the motherboard is the culprit. I'm hoping that we can resurrect it by making one working computer out of 2 non-working ones. Here's to hoping the spare one has a good motherboard! Meanwhile, I'm using plowbaby's eMac that Santa brought her for Christmas. It's almost like learning all over again. I have a very STRONG dislike for the one button mouse, and thinking backward about how to do execute an operation is about more than my feeble brain can handle! But our recipes are done and the pictures are taken. I just have yet to figure out how to download pictures onto the mac. Easy Chocolate Eclair "cake...

It has come to my attention that there has been too much time lapse between my blogs.....well, here is a foodie blog. I came across this recipe on allrecipes.com . It looked just too good, so I had to try it out. It is easy and decadent. But give yourself at least a day before you want to serve this dessert, it needs time in the fridge. The cast of characters and step by step directions: Preheat oven to 350*. One box of cake mix.....chocolate. I used chocolate fudge, but I read that German chocolate is good also. Make cake batter according to package directions. cake batter Next step: 4 eggs, 2 pints ricotta cheese, 1 tsp. vanilla and 3/4 c. white sugar (I'm thinking marscapone would be HEAVENLY!!!) second layer Put the cake batter in a greased 9x13 pan. Carefully pour and spread the cheese mixture over the cake batter. It will look something like this: It looks something like this after cooking for 75 minutes. Depending upon your oven, it might need just a little long...

Well, it finally decided to really, honest-to-goodness snow ! For almost a week, the weathermen have been predicting a strong winter storm for yesterday and today. It was going to be as bad as the one we had over Christmas. This morning we awoke to about an inch of the white stuff, and NO SCHOOL? What the heck were they thinking......an inch? Kids go out and play in this stuff, surely they can go to school!! About 30 minutes ago, the flakes got HUGE, and thick. I just wish the picture reflected how big the flakes actually are! It really is a pretty snow, and afterall, I don't have to get out in it, so it really doesn't affect me!!! There is a pot of chili on to cook, and there would be cinny rolls too if'n I had a mixer! :) Enjoy your snow day, plowgirl This is what the yard looks like now that the snow has ceased falling!

I like mixing/serving bowls.....i mean, I REALLY like bowls!!! I'd like to show you a few of my favorites. Of course, bowls are just one of the kitchen accessories that I like.....dishes in general are something that I like to collect. Along with antiques, and primitives. This is the kitchen cabinet that I acquired about a year ago. I've wanted one of these for years.....just had to wait for the right one to come along! Mom had one similar to this, but hers was bigger and all wood, and had more drawers in it. This was an eBay find, and thanks to my friend Bryan for picking it up and storing it for me for a couple of months! The left and the center bowls are currently my favorites. The left one I purchased on an auction from a church that was closing. The center one was a gift from my friend Judy. Both are used for raising dough....the left one for pizza and the center for cinnamon roll dough. I LOVE the center bowl just for the size of it.....it is HUGE! Love to have l...