Christmas Trash

 

Christmas is coming; Christmas trash has been made.  This year we used the following ingredients:

 

Frosted Cheerios

Rice Chex

m&m's

Pretzel Sticks

Dry Roasted Peanuts

White candy quick

 

Trash is made with whatever ingredients you have that sound good.  Just mix everything together and cover with melted candy quick.  Spread on a sheet of wax paper to cool.  Then, store in a covered container. 

 

This makes great Christmas gifts.  It usually does not stay around our house long enough to give away.

 

 

December

 After a day of Black Friday shopping, it becomes time to decorate for Christmas.

We spent all day Friday cleaning and getting our home ready for Christmas.

 I took several pictures, but these are the only ones that came out good enough to post. 

My daughter loves decorating for the holidays.

Our home takes on a completely different "feel" once we finish our decorating.

Enjoy@@@

Land Clearing

 My husband's business has been very busy this fall.

We went out a couple of weekends ago to take these pictures of a farm that he cleared.

 It still amazes me what his land clearing machine can do.  This was previously an area that a human could barely walk through.

It looked something like this....

 



 ...and this.

 

 And now, it looks like this.

 

 

 I especially like how the machine is small enough to fit around trees, so that some can be left.

It looks like a park.

See the deer watching us in the background.

Hypertufa Jack-o-lantern

Say hello to the newest addition to my garden.

This is Jack.

Jack was made from the same hypertufa as my garden pots.

I am hoping he will last for several Autumns in my garden.

You can purchase a Hypertufa Jack-o-lantern of your own at the "Spotty Cow"  shop just off the square in Lawrenceburg, TN.

Tennessee Mushrooms

The Big Woods has received more than its fair share of rain this summer.

One good part of the extra moisture is the abundance of fungi that made their appearance this week. 

 Enjoy the pictures.

Onion Rings

There are two things I fondly remember eating at my husband's grandmother's house when we were dating; fried pies and onion rings.

Maw Sanders made the best fried pies. 

I have never eaten a fried pie anywhere else that was like hers.

She also made amazing onion rings.

We ate them at her house with fish every 4th of July.

I am very blessed to have her recipe and to share it with you.

You will need:

1 cup self-rising flour

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 egg

6 Tablespoons water

2 Tablespoon oil

Vidalia onions

Mix all ingredients together, except onions.

Prepare onions by peeling, slicing, and separating.

Use a fork to coat the onions with batter.

Let onions and batter set in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Heat oil and add onions using a fork.

I use canola oil.

I usually stir the onions around with the fork to coat them, before I carefully drop them into the oil.

When the onions brown on one side, carefully turn them to brown on the other side.

Then, remove the onions to paper towels to drain.

I don't try to separate the onions into individual rings; I leave them stuck together in small clusters.

Serve the onion rings hot.

Delicious!!!

My children do not remember Maw.

I remember very well being at Maw's house one day when I was expecting my daughter.

We were discussing the names we had picked out for my daughter.  

We knew her first name would be Emma, but we had not decided on a middle name.

Maw suggested that her middle name should be Grace, because she just loved the name Grace.

The very next day, Maw Sanders passed away.

Of course, my daughter's name is Emma Grace.

The funny thing is how much Emma Grace is like her Great Grandmother.

She loves colorful jewelry; she has a tough side and a soft side; she loves to talk; and she is very independent.

I hope some day my Emma will make these onion rings and know that her Maw would have loved to have met her.