The Happy Hen House

The other day, little man and I were sitting at the table having lunch.

Grandma (me) was browsing the web.

Because really thats about the only time I can keep him contained long enough to get on my computer.

My favorite little shop had a FB post!

"Im cleaning out the back room!

Hurry, I'm in the gettin rid of it mood!"

I told Jr,

Were going for a ride in grandmas truck!

( he loves riding in gammas truck!)

This is the view when you turn down the lane to visit her store.

You just know its going to be a fun spot to shop.

Then I was greeted by all of this stuff!

Grandma was excited!!

I will show you all of my wonderful treasures!

Do you see a theme here?

Well for one the name of this great little shop is

The Happy Henhouse.

She sure has a lot more than just chicken and rooster items.

(Christmas is the most awesome time to visit!)

But I was in the chicken buying mood.

Why you ask?

Cause' this chick is getting a hen house herself!!

I am so excited!

It is getting delivered with the new garden shed

sometime next month.

Did I mention I was excited?

Time to get my chicken rearing books back out and start

reading up!

Liz

Favorite simple garden recipes

                                      

During this time of garden season

it seems there are always 3 things in abundance,

green onions, lettuce and cucumbers!

I have to say I very rarely ever get tired of eating any of them.

These two recipes have to be the most basic and the most popular around our summer dinner table.

I could probably eat them every night too!

Lettuce Leaves with Warm Bacon Dressing

Fry 4-5 slices of bacon

Remove the bacon from the pan, but save 2 tbsp of the bacon grease.

In the pan you fried the bacon, add the bacon grease back in.

 to that add;

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup  sugar

1/4 cup water

Bring that to a simmer, stirring so the sugar dissolves.

In a big bowl, mix torn lettuce pieces, a couple of sliced green onions and crumbled bacon.

Pour the warm dressing over the salad.

Toss to mix.

I know I could eat this whole bowl!

(not kidding!)

These are good just like this,

with a little salt and pepper sprinkled on top.

Another tried and true favorite is

Cucumber Salad!

4 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced

5 or 6 green onions sliced

Add these to a big bowl

In another bowl mix,

 

1 cup sour cream

I did half greek yogurt and half sour cream

1/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp distilled white vinegar

1 tsp dried dill weed

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Pour over the cucumbers and onions.

Mix well.  

 

I like to chill mine for an hour or so before serving.

Saved this little batch for my lunch.

I was afraid we wouldn't have any leftovers!

I am enjoying every bite of these favorite recipes.

I know that it wont be long before garden season is just a happy memory.

What is your favorite simple garden recipe?

Liz

Cherry Bites

This morning a big cold front blew through!

It is almost chilly enough to throw on a pair  jeans with a sweatshirt.

Actually it was the perfect day to be weeding the garden.

I came across my first pumpkin growing on the vine.

I am so excited!

This is the first time I have had pumpkins in the garden.

When there is a little chill in the air,

it always gets me in the baking mood.

I decided to make a sweet treat for the pipeliner.

He always thinks he needs a little "snack" before bed.

This morning I had came across the last jar of cherry pie filling leftover from last year.

If you ever can any pie filling this stuff is the bomb!

It makes such a thick filling.

And it holds up even after a year!

Just Google it to find the website. They offer some great products!

I didn't want to do a pie.

Then I remembered a quick little dessert that is always a favorite.

Cherry Bites!

Last week I had made a batch of freezer crescent rolls.

If you have never tried these,

may I suggest making them as soon as possible.

YUM!

Anyways, I laid out some of the dough to thaw.

When it was ready I just unrolled the dough.

Put them into a greased muffin tin.

Then added a couple of teaspoons of the cherry pie filling.

Bake them at 375 F. for 12 minutes.

Remove them from the muffin pan to cool.

I use a cup of powdered sugar plus 2 tbsp. of milk to make a frosting for drizzling over the top.

Mmmmm....I bet they will taste good tomorrow morning with a hot cup of coffee!

While waiting for the cherry bites to bake,

a package came to my door.

The material I ordered from ebay!

I am not quite sure what I want to make out of it.

But for now I added some cafe curtain rings

and made a quick window treatment.

It is hanging in the laundry room for now.

I just heard the weatherman say low 50's possibly some upper 40's

predicted for tonight.

Brrrrrrr....

Oh yeah,

I am definitely digging out the sweat shirt!

Liz

Working on it!

The month of July has begun the 

"working on it"

projects.

It began with putting in a culvert pipe for the new driveway.

The pipeliner brought home a back-hoe.

We had it ready to go in a couple of hours.

Even after hand digging around the phone line that runs right by it.

Wouldn't have been a good thing to hit on the 4ht of July weekend!

Then began the process of  putting in the drive-way.

I have decided to call it a lane.

It is long enough.

This will lead to the spot where the new shed is to be built.

Yep, right there in front of the big dirt pile.

Next we cleared a spot for my shed.

The shed is being built.

I am hoping it gets delivered by the end of the month.

I can hardly wait to see it!

Our next project was tearing out the brick sidewalk to the front door.

The bricks just didn't look quite right there.

But we saved them to make a sidewalk in front of my new shed.

This is the pipeliners work in progress.

The grandson calls it the vroom-vroom truck.

Because that is about all it does right now!

Of course the garden is always a 

work in progress.

This is the first year garden.

I am going to be adding lots of compost to it this coming fall!

Today I am working on planting more flowers.

My favorite green house is going out of business.

The last day is Saturday.

I found lots of great deals this morning!

We are hoping that by the end of August our

working on it projects

will be complete.

Then September will be our 

putting up our feet and relaxing month!

I doubt it though!

Liz