Brambleshire Farm

Meet Hunter.

(Sorry the photos are so blurry, He was really excited).

I do not own Hunter. I don’t know him. Then what is he doing in my car? I “rescued” him. He was running down the middle of the road and heading toward a very busy highway. So… I picked him up. In retrospect, I probably should have been more careful. I don’t know this dog. Does he bite? Will he ride okay in my car? He ended up doing fine. I called the number on his tag and called the owner. No answer. I looked at his tag again and got his address. I decided to drive him home. Hunter lives in a big, beautiful home on a hill that has a wall of windows and glass doors facing West so they have a gorgeous view of the Rocky Mountains. I approached the house cautiously and was puzzled because I couldn’t find the front door. WHERE is their front door. The entire front of the house was glass. Were those glass doors that open to a beautiful deck the FRONT door? There is no doorbell. Hmmm. I decided not to approach the house.  I let Hunter out of the car and he ran immediately to the deck and into his dog house. No fence. No front door or doorbell. Nothing to keep Hunter at the house or alert someone at the house that Hunter was home. I called the number again. Still no answer. I left another message and told them I was dropping off their sweet dog… and drove away watching in the rear view mirror to make sure that Hunter didn’t follow me. Mission accomplished.

As I drove home, I thought about the look on Hunter’s face when I first saw him. He was running full-force down the middle of the road with a wide grin and ears flapping in the wind. He was completely free. He was happy. He did NOT need rescuing. But, as I thought about it, Hunter was blissfully ignorant that he was approaching an extremely busy highway crossroad. The encounter would probably abruptly end his happy jaunt… and probably his life.

All of this made me think about my own life. Aren’t we all like this sometimes? We trek along in our life… blissfully ignorant…. not knowing of any danger ahead.

Let me explain ….

Since we moved to the farm, I make a 60 minute round trip to Taylor’s school each morning and evening. We leave at 6:45am (as long as Taylor’s hair and clothing is perfect by that time), drive to school and I pick her up at 6pm after drama rehearsal. To say the least, I am usually just ready to be home on these trips. I time myself and see if I can beat my last time, without speeding, by taking a slightly different route. The other day, I was heading to pick up Tay and got caught by EVERY red light on the way. I was extremely irritated. THEN, the two-lane road that I usually drive was blocked. It was closed. There were two police cars blocking the road and the officers were directing traffic to turn off onto a side road. I didn’t WANT to be on the side road. I want to just go about 3 more blocks so I could get to Tay. I found myself frantically trying to understand where I was in relation to the theater building at the school. I finally arrived at the school 16 minutes late. I ended up having to go almost to the next town to get around the blocked street. I was not happy… in fact I as angry. I HATE being late. AND I had used up more of my precious gasoline that has now become like gold to us. Grrrr….

I found out the next day, that there had been an accident on my usual road and someone lost their life. There was a drunk driver speeding down the road at nearly 70 miles per hour (mostly residential area) and someone, who was not delayed by traffic lights, ended up in the path of this out-of-control car. Then there was the realization that my being delayed by red light might have actually saved my life. It took my breath away. WOW… talk about a change of attitude.  Without getting too preachy… I believe that I was being watched over that day.  I couldn’t get it out of my head that I needed rescuing… but I had NO idea. I was blissfully ignorant. God intervened… and probably saved my life. I am supremely thankful. So, next time you are caught in traffic, or delayed by red lights, or your teenager can’t find the “perfect shoes” and you leave late… remember Hunter. Nothing happens by accident. There is a reason… and the reason just might be that you are being rescued.

They announced on the news this morning that we are expecting snow tomorrow night. SNOW! I know that, here in Colorado, we expect our first frost in the days surrounding the end of September and the beginning of October… but I’m totally not ready for snow.  Besides the fact that we’ve got a ton to do on the farm before winter, I LOVE Autumn and want to hold on to it as long as I can. The infamous “death grip” would be more like it.  I like crisp days and chilly nights. I love seeing the leaves change to deep red, orange and gold. I love apple picking, corn mazes, and the sun bright in the sky that seems to call you outside to play.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I  like snowy days and cooking cozy dinners of soup or stew with a crusty homemade loaf of bread. But, there is  something about being able to enjoy outside venues like the Fall festivals and farmers markets. I definitely miss football games in central Texas… but, it never seemed to get chilly enough there for me to be completely happy. I mean, wearing shorts and flip flops on Halloween is just wrong.

So, because I am wanting to suck the last bit of pleasure out of  the outdoor days this year, I’m sharing a simple recipe for you to make while tailgating or at Market Days (if you’re from Wimberley.) or any other outdoor activity in your town. It’s “Walking Tacos”. Now, I started making this recipe a long time ago when I used to buy those big variety packs of the little bags of chips for school lunches. The ones at our house that are ALWAYS left in the bag are Fritos. Not sure why, but nobody wants those. They fight over the Cheetos and Sun Chips and abandon the rest. Poor forgotten Fritos. Well, this is a way to stick up for the underdog! And, of course, keep you from feeding your corn chips to the birds. 😉

This recipe has been passed around a million times and is nothing new. But, sometimes I need to be reminded of those easy meals that the family loves. Maybe you do too? The fun thing about this recipe is that you can whip it up in a flash and be out the door in just minutes. (Though it’s a bit too chilly in the mountains here to camp anymore, these are great for camping too!!)

photo courtesy of the Dallas Observer

AUTUMN Walking Tacos

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• canned pinto beans rinsed and warmed
• 1 package taco seasoning mix or one of your own
• chopped tomato
• shredded lettuce
• salsa
• grated cheese
• sour cream
• guacamole, chopped onions, olives, jalapenos, etc.
• individual lunch-sized bags of nacho chips or corn chips

Directions:

1. Brown and drain ground beef…add taco seasoning and prepare according to directions on package.
2. Prepare and arrange all toppings on a tray…next to the hot meat sauce.
3. To serve…crush an individual bag of corn chips slightly…then open the bag by slicing along the side… OR, if your spoons are long enough,  just open the top. Start adding toppings as desired…beginning with the meat, and adding whatever you desire on your taco salad. Stir up your taco salad …then eat it right out of the bag! DELISH!!!

Now, you should know something. I cheat a little when it comes to the meat in this recipe. I know, I know… shocking, right? Well, cheating might be a strong word. You see, when I get home from the grocery store, I think about how I’m going to be using my ground beef or ground turkey. If the recipes I want use browned ground meat, I go ahead and brown the whole batch with salt, pepper, and garlic. I, then, drain it, cool it, and put it into a freezer container. (Sometimes I put it into half-pound portions and put them in individual freezer bags. Then, when I’m making a dish (like this one) that needs browned meat, I pull it out and heat it up. It takes me like 3 minutes instead of 20. SUPER SIMPLE! The other reason I do this is that I HATE (notice the all capital letters??) wasting food. Have you ever bought meat and stuck it into the fridge to use later that week and, because something came up, you didn’t use it and it went bad?  I vowed to never let that happen again! I do this with lots of different meats… like bacon and sausage, etc. I wouldn’t do this with steak or chicken… just the ground stuff.

Now, want to make this REALLY easy? Same recipe. Leave out the meat and beans. Open a can of chili with beans and heat it up. Ta-da! It’s a walking Frito Pie! 🙂
I hope you enjoy this recipe. Maybe you already make this at your house. I will be sharing some wonderful AUTUMN favorites at our house in the next week or so. You won’t want to miss these! So, go to a fair, watch a football game, hit a corn maze… and enjoy time with your family this Fall while giving a much-needed nod to the Frito! 🙂

TTFN! (Ta-ta for now!)

We’ve still got SO many things to do on the farm before Winter. Lots of those chores are ones that I can’t really do by myself. Keith is TOTALLY the “Mr. Fix-it” around here. But…. If it’s not a bad pain day for me… I can PAINT! And BOY, do we have painting to do. So, today, I painted the entry, the hallway and did some touch-ups in the family room. (Well, “family room”, “Living Room”, “Great Room”, “Not-so-Great” room… whatever you want to call the main gathering room in our little farm house.)

Anyway, I was feeling pretty proud today… UNTIL I decided to paint the front door. Now, something you might not know… I certainly didn’t… is that you have to figure out if your door has been painted with oil based paint or with latex BEFORE you decide to paint over it. You see, if your door was painted with exterior latex paint, then you can paint it easily with latex paint in any color you want. HOWEVER, if your door is painted with oil paint… your latex paint will not stick to it and you’ll end up with a big GIANT mess. Are you getting where I’m going with this? Yep! You guessed it! My door had oil paint on it… and I painted over it with RED latex paint. Take a moment and just imagine me painting and then, as I go over the place I just painted… and the paint peeling up and wrapping up around roller. Oh yea… it was awesome.  😐 I finally just tried to cover the door with one coat and  made plans to buy our new door at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore this weekend.  I would have showed you a photo of  my handiwork on the door… but I’m just too embarrassed!

It’s a good thing that we live way out in the sticks…. our old HOA would have had a hayday with this. We used to live within a VERY strict HOA. It was so strict that, if you wanted to paint your house, they gave you a diagram of the shape you had to paint your selected colors on your garage so they could approve it. Oh yea… good times! *Blech! Let’s just say that I will be leaving the painting of the new front door to Keith. Lucky, lucky man.

Monday was Keith’s birthday. I love birthdays… Keith, on the other hand, does not. He’d rather just forget that he even has a birthday. I always want to make a big deal of it even though he tries his best to push it into the shadows.

Last year, I threw him a little surprise party at work. I worked with his teammate, Andrew,  and we secured a meeting room and an “important meeting” that Keith had to attend in that room. I was thrilled that we pulled it off… though Keith made me promise that I would never do that again. Hehehe.

As I prepped for the party, I baked lots of little treats. But, one of the favorites, turned out to be my Chocolate Cream-Filled Cupcakes. They were like a delicious, homemade version of the famous chocolate cupcake with the little white swirls on top that we used to bring in our lunches. Well… I never got them, even though I really wanted them and all my friends got them. *tear.

Here is the awesome recipe for those little special cupcakes. Everyone loved them and I think you will too!!

Keith’s “Don’t Ever Surprise Me Again” Birthday Cupcakes

• 1 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vanilla Cream Filling:

• 3 tablespoons shortening
• 3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup light corn syrup

Vanilla Cream Filling: With an electric mixer, beat together the vegetable shortening and butter until blended. Turn the mixer down to its lowest setting and gradually add the confectioners’ sugar. Turn the mixer back up and beat a high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With a drizzle, gradually beat in the vanilla and corn syrup until the filling is the consistency of mayo, about 2 minutes more. Scrape the vanilla cream into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain tip.

Ganache Frosting:

• 5 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

Ganache Frosting: Put the chocolate in a small bowl. In a small saucepan, over medium heat, bring the cream just to the simmering point. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and, working from the center out, gently stir with a whisk to melt the chocolate and blend until smooth.

Directions

Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Using either mini or regular muffin tins, fill pan with cupcake liners.

Into a large bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt together three times. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together at high speed for 15 seconds, until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Continue beating until light and fluffy, about 6 minutes more. With the mixer on its lowest setting, beat in a third of the flour mixture. Beat in the buttermilk and vanilla, then another third of the flour. Beat in the coffee and then the remaining flour. Fill the cups of the muffin tin two-thirds full and bake for 15 minutes, or until the centers spring back when lightly pressed and a cake tester comes out clean. Set the pan on a rack to cool.  Fill with vanilla cream. No need to cut a hole in the cakes… just stick the tip into the top and squeeze. Be sure that there isn’t a lot of filling sitting on top of the cakes. If there is, just use a butter knife and take off any extra.  Chill for 15 minutes. Dunk the cupcakes into the ganache to coat, then place on a rack, frosted side up. Transfer to the refrigerator for 20 minutes to set before serving.
I hope you enjoy these treats. They are absolutely delicious! Happy Baking!!!

-Deena

After Keith worked SO hard finishing the floor on Saturday, I decided to slave away in the kitchen and make a “Farm Fresh Breakfast.” Okay, okay… I didn’t actually, SLAVE away. As much as I’d love to tell you that I worked as hard in the kitchen as Keith did on the flooring… but I didn’t. (shhhh… don’t tell)

Actually, I’ve been making these homemade biscuits for a while now and they are really delicious AND easy to make.

Brambleshire Biscuits

• 2 cups biscuit baking mix (like Bisquick… that’s what I used)
• 1/2 cup sour cream (or yogurt)
• 1/2 cup 7 up soda
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Start by mixing the sour cream with the bisquick in a bowl. Once it’s combined, add the soda. It will come together as a wet dough. Now sprinkle a clean surface with more biscuit mix and drop your dough ball into the middle of  of the mix. Lightly fold your dough just until it is no longer sticky. (It will be very soft) Now shape it into a thick square like this…

Now take a biscuit cutter or a glass and cut your biscuits. (My cutters are all still packed, so I just used a glass this time…. really anything will work. I used to make mine square, just to be different)

Keep cutting biscuits until you have no more dough. You can just keep kneading scraps into another thick flat square… or circle or amoeba… whatever it turns out to be) and keep cutting!

While you’re doing this, melt your butter and pour it into your pan. (I use a glass pan so I can pop the whole thing into the microwave to melt the butter. ) Then, put the biscuits into the butter-coated pan. I make a little indention in my biscuits with my knuckle. I’m not exactly sure why I do it. Again, it’s just what I do to be different. Bake the biscuits at 425 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. Set it for 10 and then check on it. Sometimes it takes 15 minutes… sometimes it takes closer to 12. It just depends on the oven… and the day.

I spread the tops with melted butter when they come out of the oven.  Serve them up with bacon and eggs… butter and honey… ham and mustard… whatever floats your boat… and soak up the praise! Seriously, these are SOOOO yummy and easy enough to make on a school day. Try them! You’ll be happy you did!!!   Happy Baking!!

Oh! I almost forgot the “heebee jeebees” part of the blog.

So… you should know that my sweet husband is the bravest man I know. He takes charge in a very calm head when there is any type of emergency. If someone is lost or in danger… he’s there ready to help in any way. He can stitch up a cut, protect you from the boogyman and fix just about anything no matter how dangerous. That said… I’ve got to share this. On Sunday, Keith and I found ANOTHER black widow spider in the shop. (If you’re counting… that makes 6 so far.) Keith picked it up with a piece of scrap wood.

After he … um… “disposed” of the icky spider, he got a SERIOUS case of the heebee jeebees. He danced around like he was covered with spiders, squealing  and totally creeped out.  He was all “AHHHHHHH!!! THAT IS SOOOOO GROSSSSSSSS!” I laughed so hard I almost couldn’t breathe. I snapped a quick pic…

He’s got a terrific shirt that Taylor and I got him for Christmas. It says “There’s nothing to fear but fear itself…. and spiders.” ROFL!!! Seriously, Keith has to be the funniest person on the planet! He makes my life SO wonderful. 🙂

Okay… that’s all from the farm tonight.  Sleep well… oh! and be sure to check your shoes for spiders in the morning. *wink.

Birthday Trees …

With the big 42 fast approaching me, like a run away train from the depths of hell, heralding that yet another year has passed me by and the grey hairs I am seeing in the mirror are indeed “grey hairs” and not paint from the renovation … Deena and I have decided that for birthdays, anniversaries, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Talk Like a Pirate Day, etc … we would plant a tree on the farm! Today, we planted two Blue Spruce trees in honor of Deena’s birthday, last June, and my birthday, which is fast approaching like a Capuchin Monkey on Crack, lost on the mean streets of some big seedy town, looking for his next hit, working for some guy with a cheesy mustache and organ grinder, sporting dark green lederhosen, which are entirely too tight to contain his substantial girth, only getting 5%:95% split on earnings! I mean, what the hell happened to equal pay for equal work??

Anyways … we got the trees planted and the small back yard that we have fenced off for the pups is starting to look less like Death Valley and more like the lush, green arboreal forests of northern Canada, where the stars wink gayly at you from the heavens and the Northern Lights paint the sky with their kaleidoscope of wonderment and awe.

Pause for cuteness and a contented sigh … … Oh! And world peace. …

I am starting to notice, that as I approach the, what shall now be known as, The Date That Shall Not Be Named, I seem to wander off on more and more bunny trails. <insert the clever anecdote that demonstrates me getting on yet another bunny trail, like above, but I am too lazy to author right now.>

The Grass Is Greener …

One of the harder things we have struggled with in moving to the farm is the loss of the back yard that the pups frolicked in every day. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t miss mowing all that grass and trying to keep the lawn more immaculate than the neighbor’s, all the while desperately trying to avoid getting a demerit from the HOA (also known as The Nosey Neurotic People That Have Nothing Better To Do With Their Lives Than To Stake Out My House And Measure My Lawn To Ensure It Does Not Exceed The Required Maximum Height). However, I have definitely struggled with watching the pups gingerly tip toe around the thorny brush in the back yard. And even once Deena and I cleared all the brush out, we just felt terrible with the babies running around in the dust, etc. So, we decided to buy a little sod, to get the back yard started and give the pups a bit of an oasis to enjoy! They took to the greenery right away, it was pretty wonderful to watch!

And the Obligatory Pics of the Day …

Look at that 41 year old back work! W00T!!

Look how gorgeous my wife is! She makes shovelin’ dirt look good!

Deena Spruce Bustin’ … she took this little guy down in a respectable 2.37 seconds! Awesome job love!

One of our little guys getting a drink. Isn’t he cute? 🙂

Here is Gus relaxing on the grass, pretending not to be super excited by the new greenery.

What is with this dog? Ever time we see her she has her face in the ground! Weird, weird dog.

And that’s the show folks! I am going to put my feet up, ice my back, put on my reading glasses, a blanket in my lap and enjoy a smooth, delicious Ensure Nutrition Shake … it is #1 doctor recommended and is packed with 24 essential vitamins and minerals … it really is a delicious between meal snack that helps this old boy meet his daily nutritional needs.

Wishing everyone a great remainder of your weekend!

Here’s to Love and Life!

K&D