the farmer and the southern belle

YEA!!!

Monday, November 30, 2009

Me and The Farmer made The Pioneer Woman's Blog!!!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/blog/2009/11/mall_cops_and_me/comment-page-4/#comment-681109

Check it out!! Can you find us in the crowd!??!? :)

Pink Poinsettia!!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Pink, GLITTER Poinsettia..as a matter of fact!! :) Isn't it GORGEOUS?!?! :)

We have finished the outdoor lights!! I hope to get a pic tonight :)

I am headed back to my Office for meetings in the morning and wont be back until Wednesday...Don't miss me too much :) When I get back, I will be super busy making a Gingerbread House, Decorating for and going to our Church's Ladies Brunch on Saturday, going to our town's Winterfest also on Saturday, and attending the Christmas Cantata next Sunday!! Not to mention Choir and Bible Study smashed in there too!! Can't wait for all the excitement! :) I have my big monthly Magazine due soon too, so don't feel too neglected if I get a bit behind on blogging! Ohh, who am I kidding? I always find the time!! :)

Adios for now!!

Colton 6 month portraits!! Hull, Iowa Photography!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

What a CUTIE!!!! This is Colton, our cousin's son! He looks just like his Daddy!! Gotta love those big blue eyes :)

To view all the pics from the shoot head over to the facebook Fan Page!

Peanut Butter Fudge!!!

This is super easy and sooo good!! Melts in your mouth!!! :) I found the recipe here:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easiest-Peanut-Butter-Fudge/Detail.aspx

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
2 1/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and milk. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Pour over confectioners' sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat until smooth; pour into an 8x8 inch dish. Chill until firm and cut into squares.

Melt the butter

put powdered sugar in a separate bowl!

butter melted add the milk and brown sugar!

peanut butter...mmmmm :)

add peanut butter and vanilla

bring to a boil!

smells soo good!

add it to the powdered sugar and mix!

mixed!

put in a pan and let chill!! Don't you love my Fiesta bakeware!! Thanks EDJE'ers!!! I promise I will send a Thank You card as soon as I get my wedding pics back!!!!

Fabulous!!!

up close and personal!!!

I found these plastic canisters at Wal-Mart!! Aren't they great?!?! I brought the fudge, Oreo balls, and some white chocolate covered pretzels to the Cookie Swap with the Farmer's Mommas family last night! It was soo fun, we decorated a million Christmas Cookies, then played games (Buzz Word and Mad Gab - I am much better at Buzz Word!) Then we swapped cookies...I wish I would have taken pics of all the yummy stuff we came home with, but sadly most of it is gone!!! HAHA!!! :) We are going to decorate the outside of our house today!! Stay tuned :)

Guest Food Blogger!!!

Ok, not really, but Lacie Lou emailed me the recipe for these amazing Oreo Balls and I am going to be lazy, yet again, and copy and paste her directions, so it's technically a guest blog!!! :)

You will need:
1 bag Oreos (original...make sure they're not double stuffed, etc)
1 bar cream cheese (8 oz. softened to room temp)
Almond bark/baker's chocolate (you can get white chocolate or original or both...it's up to you)

1 "batch" is about 30ish balls...I think. :) I usually double the recipe, and put it all in one big bowl. It works fine that way.

If you have a food processor, just put the oreos in it and grind them up really finely. If not, get one or borrow one. ha! Trust me, crushing them by hand just isn't fun.

Then with a mixer (or by hand), mix the cookie crumbs and cream cheese. Once mixed, roll the "goo" into small balls, place them on a cookie sheet, and put them in the freezer for about an hour (or less if you're in a hurry).

Melt your chocolate...I just do it in the microwave...it's easier that way. Be sure to stir every 30 or 45 seconds because it won't take as long as you think it will.

Drop the chilled balls into the chocolate and spoon them out onto wax paper. (Some people stick toothpicks into the balls and dip them that way, but I've never had much luck...it is an option, though.)

Once the chocolate hardens a bit, I melt a little bit of the opposite color chocolate in a small zip lock bag. I just put one block of the bark into the bag, microwave for about 20 secs, "squish" it with your finger to "stir," then about 10 more secs. Cut a very tiny bit of the corner off the bag and use it to drizzle the decorative chocolate over the top.

A fancy way to finish them off is by placing them in tiny cupcake papers. You can get them in the candy-making/cake-decorating part of the craft section at Wal-Mart. They look like white mini-muffin liners, and the finished candies fit perfectly into them.

If you have any questions, just let me know! I hope they turn out well! And don't worry if the white chocolate ones don't look pretty...they never do until you get the dark chocolate drizzled over them!

Good luck and LOVES!

Lacie

Now enjoy the pics I took of my Oreo Ball experience!! They are super YUMMY!!!

oopps I used red Christmas Oreos and not original...sorry!! They worked just fine though :)

I melted some milk chocolate chips for the garnish like Lacie mentioned, but it was too thick and didn't look pretty, so I just stuck with the white chocolate coating!

Super easy and soooo tasty!! I also skipped the muffin paper since all I had were Fall themed ones and this is Christmas Candy!!! :)

Thanks Lacie!!! Loves Bettah :)

Pumpkin Spice Trifle!!!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

I decided to make something sweet to take to Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow at the Farmer's Grandmothers. I have been waiting for the chance to use my Pampered Chef Trifle bowl, so this was the perfect recipe...and we all know how much I adore pumpkin!! :)

Here is the recipe:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/pumpkin-spice-trifle/

The cast...