I moved....

To town that is! I never (again, never say never) thought that would happen. I grew up on a farm, and have always lived in the country until a year ago. Wow, I can't believe its been 1 year this month since I moved to town.

Taking my new job was too far from our family farm (over 1 hour drive) and one of the hiring requirements was to live within the 2 counties I would be working with/in.  I was given 6 months to find a place.

Finding a place to live for one person in a small town is harder than I thought it might be. Growing up near a college town, 1 bedroom apartments were common. I finally (5 months later)  found a studio apartment in a historic limestone building.

I really and truly liked this little place!

 Less space ,means less to clean and less room to fill with "stuff"

This too means, less craft space :(

I was content with my little studio apartment when a duplex closer to work opened. The rent was only $20 more and I would gain an extra bedroom, dining room, and garage. The garage happened to be too small for my vehicle but perfect for crafts & storage. So, I made them move, some days I want to go back to less space to deal with, but I think my duplex is perfect for now.

Things are different in town, not always bad but definitely different. This also explains why my post have been less and the topics are not as "country" as they were before. My job keeps me crazy busy so less time has been devoted to blogging and I am not on the farm daily. However, I am still involved in agriculture on a daily basis. Again, different but not always bad!

Roasted Honey & Cinnamon Sweet Potatoes

This is a perfect fall recipe, well actually its just a perfect recipe for anytime of the year! But with fall being around the corner if you need a little help getting in the spirit try these.

I adapted it from Buns in my Oven blog 

INGREDIENTS:

4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
4 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

*All seasonings can be adjusted according to taste, this is what I went with and the family LOVED them!!

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine the honey, olive oil, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Add the sweet potatoes and toss to coat.
Dump potatoes onto a large rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 25-30 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking.

Crockpot Southwestern Style Chalupas

Last Thursday we had a little cold spell so I kinda started to get excited about crockpots, soups, and all things Fall.

I had been waiting to try a recipe I found called "Southwestern Style Chalupas"

I ended up totally revamping the recipe, starting with the serving size. I really didn't' feel like I wanted to be eating this for a week straight so I downsized the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1 (2lbs) pork loin

1 can  black/pinto beans ( I used black eyed peas)

1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chili peppers

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin seed

2 teaspoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons garlic salt

pepper

1c. water

1 (16 ounce) package corn chips

DIRECTIONS:

1.            In a slow cooker, combine pork, chili peppers, chili powder, cumin seed, oregano, garlic salt, pepper, and water. Cover, and simmer on Low for 4 hours.

2.            Shred meat, removing any bones and fat, add beans Cover, and continue cooking for 2 to 4 more hours. Add more water if necessary.

3.            Place corn chips on serving plates. Spoon pork mixture over chips, and serve with desired toppings.

Iowa State Fair 2014

As Kansas is about to kick off their state fair tomorrow it reminded me I should post about my trip to the Iowa State Fair. I am behind (as usual with blogging).

Disclaimer * we went on the last Saturday of the fair,(+) which is held in the largest city in Iowa= packed, crazy, not easy to see anything, etc*

With the way things went that day, we didn't get to the fair until about 5pm, another crazy choice. Parking, well that's a "fun" challenge. After parking on a random side street we walked the 5 block(surprisingly close) to the entry. Hungry, I thought the first thing I wanted to do was get something fried or unique to Iowa's Fair.

How about a Double Bacon Corn Dog!

Next stop of course had to be the livestock barns.

The Avenue of Breeds was AWESOME! End of story, just plain awesome. 

I like unique/heritage breeds to this was right up my Avenue, ok sorry about the lame joke. 

 The draft horses warming up and moving from barns to show arenas was something that made everyone stop and watch. Brought me back to the days when my family had Belgiums

We watched an llama futurity show, checked out the Boulevard of Dairy Breeds,stopped by the largest boar pen, (he weighed in at 1,400lbs),  visited a few western clothing booths, and spent at least an hour in the 4-H exhibits building. So impressed by what young people are making, creative & talented!

The buildings at the fair grounds are very impressive, and even more so to think they were built just for the fair! 

The Ag Building, originally build in 1904

You can check out this picture and others showing the amazing architectural buildings of the fair at Blue Ribbon Foundation.

Of course we had to check out the Butter Sculpture in the Agriculture Building

As we were getting ready to walk out the gate there was the Exotic Petting Zoo. Pretty happy we stopped :)

Roasted Balsamic Green Beans with Parmesan

These are quite tasty and a perfect way to use all those green beans in the garden or those frozen ones from my previous tutorial 

Recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen via Pinterest

Ingredients:
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced in 1/2 inch slices (you can use canned)
1 lb. fresh green beans, or frozen 
1 1/2 T olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
2 T finely grated parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450F. Wash mushrooms and let drain.While mushrooms are drying, trim ends of beans and cut beans in half so you have bite-sized pieces.  Cut mushrooms into slices 1/2 inch thick.

Put cut beans and mushrooms into a Ziploc bag or plastic bowl. Whisk together olive oil and balsamic vinegar and pour over, then squeeze bag or stir so all the beans and mushrooms are lightly coated with the mixture. Arrange on large cookie sheet, spreading them out well so beans and mushrooms are not crowded. Sprinkle with salt & pepper

Roast 20-30 minutes, starting to check for doneness after 20 minutes. Cook until beans are tender-crisp, mushrooms are cooked, and all liquid on the pan from mushrooms has evaporated. 

 Sprinkle with finely grated Parmesan. Serve hot.

National Zucchini Day & Recipe

So, I heard through the grape Zucchini "vine" that today is National Zucchini Day.

It has always been a joke in our family & community about giving away this veggie. When going to church everyone was told to roll up your windows and keep your doors locked, to keep the....... Zucchini out.  I ran across this cute idea and if we had a plant that was producing like crazy  or if I even had Zucchini growing at my place I think I would do this.

Image & idea from Mavis Garden Blog

How fun would this be to come home to???

If you have more Zukes than you can handle or arrive at home with these on your door, try this recipe. I made this with Hubbard Squash in  previous post but works great with Zucchini!

Happy National Zucchini Day!

National Women Farmer Day

The best examples of women farmers I can think of are the ladies in my family (past & present), Thank you to those tough and amazing women who have gone before us and  grandma and mom! You ladies have set a wonderful example for me!