Christmas Cookies, "Work Christmas Party", and Run Like No One Is Chasing Me!

 Hello again to old friends and new!

It has been on my heart and mind to continue with blog entries as often as possible.  So, here I go!  I LOVE to bake as you may know and especially for the holidays!  A friend asked recently as I posted a photo of "Cookie #12", "What do you do with all of these cookies?"  Well.. here's what I do:

• Platter for where ever we go for an event
• Plate for each local neighbor - I typically do this on Christmas Eve Eve!
• Each of our pastors receive a plate. 
• Small box to each of my cousins, aunts/uncles, siblings, parents
• We ship a big box to far away family and some friends
• Oh and I eat them. More than I should, probably? haha  They are just so tasty!  

Here's a beautiful platter I took to my sister's for Thanksgiving!  

I made a bunch of flavors since then and I have 6-8 more kinds to go if I'm really ambitious!  I think a cookie that is creeping up to be one of my top faves is a new cookie for me as of last year - Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip!  It has big chocolate chips and mini-chocolate chips! I'll keep you posted!  Here's a link to the recipe at BunsInMyOven.com Of course I doubled it but should have tripled it - well except it wouldn't have fit into my mixing bowl!

As you may know, our Affiliate Partners are all over the USA & Canada.  As I mentioned previously, Homestead Miranda works the phones and completes a lot of admin items but does so remotely.  Since Homestead McKenna is local to us and works at our home office in her own space, I decided we needed to have an official "Work Christmas Party"!  I remember old work Christmas parties were so fun!  Usually everyone brought food to share and maybe there was a white elephant gift exchange or a secret Santa.  Yesterday, after chatting with Homestead Phil prior, I announced to Homestead McKenna that we planned on taking some time during her shift to have a "Work Christmas Party"!  I said I'd make some delish food, we'd feast, and enjoy some time together.  She was so excited and planned to wear festive clothes - which I've been doing since Thanksgiving! haha  You probably hardly recognize us without our blue Rent The Chicken shirts on! 

• I made this Short Rib Instant Pot recipe from OhSweetBasil.com  We purchased the ribs right from our local farm friends.  If you don't buy direct from a farmer or from a farmers market. Please consider it!
  
• I use this bbq sauce recipe instead of the one they have in their recipe. Of course I double it. Combine all ingredients in a stove top pot and bring to a low simmer for five minutes. As much as I LOVE Sweet Baby Rays.... this is a million times better!
  

1 c ketchup
1/3 c brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c vinegar
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp paprika

• This AMAZING Gouda based Mac & Cheese recipe. I love it! It's not my go to and I make it only for special occasions like a Work Christmas Party and in my cast iron pan of course! ButterBeReady.com
• I also made this delish go to Cornbread recipe again in a cast iron skillet - BlessThisMessPlease.com
  

WOW! My belly is FULL.... I really should go for a long-ish run today but the full belly is delaying my desire to run.  It is nearly 60F outside though! Decisions Decisions!

The saying "run like someone is chasing me" is not true for me.  I literally run like no one is chasing me If they were, they'd for sure catch me! haha  I participated in my 5th half marathon of 2021 and ever for me in November.  My Mom has been a great pit crew for me for a few races this year and this race was no different!  My cousin Eric carted his mom, my Aunt Mary, and my Mom for the entire race where the trail crossed over a road.  They had a great time and it was super encouraging me to have them cheering for me!  I share the following collage to show off my Rent The Chicken gear and my lovely sparkly skirt that was gifted to me recently. It's not my kind of style at all but I love it!  I receive so many compliments on it!!  The second photo isn't very clear but I see so much strength and determination in my entire being in the photo!  The third photo is of my pit and support crew!  YAY!  And finally... my final race metal of 2021! I participated in 12 races in 2021. 5 half marathons, 2 5ks, 2 10ks, a 100 mile relay, 1 miler, and a 10 miler. 16 months ago, I was excited to make it a mile! As I mentioned previously, I do walk / run intervals so I'm not running the entire distance.  But my foot crosses the finish line every time whether it's a training run or a race just like someone who runs the whole thing.  Praise be to God!

Seize the day!  Reach out to a friend or family member that you haven't chatted with in awhile. Enjoy those around you.  Bake or buy a batch of cookies and give them to a neighbor just because!  Thanks for reading!  You are appreciated!

Merry & Bright?

Hi!

I've been pondering what to write about for this week since I turned over my new blogging leaf last week. I thought I'd keep the new leaf turned over for at least two weeks :)

As you likely know (from last week's entry), I've been baking like crazy over here! Finished up some mini muffins of the Friendship Bread I posted about and these delish Peanut Butter / Oatmeal / Chocolate Chip cookies, too!

Every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we host our Annual Holiday Dinner. 50+ people come and go for an open house style party with loads of buffet style food. It is one of my FAVORITE days of the year. I love having our house company ready and decorated for Christmas. I LOVE making LOADS of food - a big turkey, homemade noodles, mashed potatoes, "baked corn", gravy, stuffing, oh my! Clearly, this is 2020, so we are not hosting our Annual Holiday Dinner this year as we know it. This is the 20th year for it! So basically, I've been hosting these longer than I've had Homestead Phil around :) (This picture is from last year as our tree is not yet up! haha)

We considered two options for our 20th Annual Holiday Dinner. 1. Zoom - I think most people are zoomed out though, right? 2. Ask which friends within reasonable driving distance are interested in a social distance outdoor visit at their home where we can drop off some of these delicious cookies that I've been baking and Homestead Phil has been tasting! We snap a selfie, enjoy a quick visit, and move on to the next stop! If you know anything about us, we're kinda of "Go Big or Stay Home" kind of people. So we opted for option #2! Sounds more Merry & Bright! (Homestead Phil hasn't said it but I'm sure he would have preferred option #1!)

In addition to this revamped Annual Holiday Dinner, I've tried to brain storm as to how I/we can be an extra blessing to others to help bring them joy or provide some extra "Merry & Bright" in the midst of this bizarre season of life. I put up outside Christmas lights this year. Some years, I do it. Some years, Homestead Phil does it. Some years, we don't put up outside lights. Not many people see them but I wanted to see them and bring a smile to who ever may see them. I've also decided to wear my Christmas shirts around the house even if I'm not going anywhere. Usually I save them to wear them out for parties or shopping, etc. So when I wear them, I'm going to post to my FB wall so I can share my joy with others :)

At the same time, our state just mandated another shut down but they didn't outright say that it's a stay at home order. This announcement just came out yesterday to be in effect as of today. Even more reason to spread some holiday cheer, right?! Some friends are all in to participate in our Holiday Dinner - Revamped! Many, whether they are in or not have expressed out thoughtful, sweet, and generous this is of us. This is about bringing joy to our friends and family but golly... I just LOVE feeding people even if it's just a small box of cookies! Since the announcement by the state yesterday, at least two of my Facebook friends have posted offering help to provide Christmas to a local family to help lessen their burdens this year. Not just some copy and paste post but true heartfelt offer to help especially knowing that restaurants are no longer operating with dine in service which means less or no hours, barely any tips if any, and right at the time when restaurants are usually the busiest.

I don't share this for credit but to remember how this year has been very different and how we can each make some slight changes in our paths to bring some extra joy to others - help it be more Merry & Bright! I'm still brain storming on what else I/we can do and I still have a few things up my sleeve not just for the holidays but beyond! How about you?

An Update from The Homestead

Me oh my oh me! I really LOVE writing here but it has certainly taken a back burner in the last almost year. I could make an empty promise that I'm going to get back to it but... I won't! If you're reading this, I hope you are well and in a good place no matter your circumstances.

I won't try to bring you up to speed of the last year in one blog post. Don't worry! Let's start with my holiday baking plans and tasks since this blog is about Family. FOOD. and Fun!

Every year, we plan a HUGE Annual Holiday Dinner where we invite everyone that we know for an open house / buffet style meal. I use nearly all of my crock pots and roasters. We often raise the turkey ourselves that I cook for our party. Sometimes, I have to use a bungie strap to hold the lid down on the roaster because the turkey is so large! I also bake up a storm to have desserts both for our party, to take with us when we visit family, and to provide as gifts. Unfortunately, we won't be hosting our big party this year BUT I am still baking up a storm! (Whatever that saying even means haha!) I usually bake 10 or so different cookies / desserts. I even put a new one into the rotation. A friend of a friend posted her list of Christmas baking and WOW... 29 cookie types (2-6 batches of each), four candies, and five muffins (2-6 batches of each). Puts my little list of 10 to shame! haha Made me want to expand my list though! I'll dig around for some family favorites that don't always make the cut!

I always start with these ones to ease myself the marathon of holiday baking... Buckeyes! Some people just call them Peanut Butter Balls. I think that's a regional thing though. My step-mom said she likes them best with rice krispies in them! Maybe that can be one of my new options for 2020! Mine aren't always pretty but they are delish! Far too easy to eat :)

Next up like clock work I bust out my recipe for No Bakes short for No Bake Cookies haha! Homestead Phil every time says "Why are they called "No bakes" when you still have to cook them?". Oh Homestead Phil. They aren't called "No Cook Cookies". They are called "No Bakes". :) Every. Time.

Snickerdoodles! This year's Snickerdoodles weren't as good as years past likely because the dough is to chill in the fridge and not camp in there for a week until I found time to bake them! :)

Gobs - it's a Western Pennsylvania thing! Other regions call them Whoopie Pies while other areas call them Moon Pies. Gobs are a soft chocolate cookie sandwich with lovely fluffy filling. It's one of my top fave cookies!

Sugar Cookies! These cookies are so soft! I used to slather the frosting across each but now I use less and think they look a bit nicer. Although, you may notice, I'm no cookie decorator despite my previous Jenn The Baker status :)

This lovely Friendship Bread recipe was gifted to me likely in 2013. I've only made it maybe once or twice before but I took the plunge on smaller bread pans for cute loaves of Friendship Bread and Pumpkin Bread. Homestead Phil devored a little one of these Friendship Breads in the last 24 hours!

Last cookie so far this season is Homestead Phil's FAVORITE - Peanut Butter Cookies! I probably make these cookies more each year than any other cookies. Someone may be spoiled here at the Homestead!

I have country ribs thawing to pop into the instant pot for dinner tonight so I have to scoot. Maybe I'll share that recipe one day!

What's on your holiday baking list for 2020?

-Homestead Jenn

My business heart hurts.

Is that a thing? "business heart"? Let's say it's a thing. Mine is hurt.

Homestead Phil, each of our Affiliate Partners, and I work really hard to provide these fantastic products of Rent The Chicken and Hatch The Chicken. We strive to have ethical standards of business practices as well as farming / homesteading practices. Certainly our service isn't for everyone! That's OK.

Now and again, potential renters ask "what happens to the chicks / chickens at the end of the rental?". I chuckle and make light saying "We don't have a big barbecue that's for sure!" They chuckle then I provide a more in depth response.

Sometimes, potential renters state "Someone said you kill all of the baby chicks after the rental.". Wait. What? Someone said *WE* do what? Who said that? This week, some one said they read it on a website. Certainly not our website! Those babies are worth more to us and our Affiliate partners as live baby chicks than dead baby chicks. :(

Here are a number of scenarios as to what happens to the baby chicks after our Hatch The Chicken program is complete:

The girls are raised to be hens for Rent The Chicken

The girls are raised as breeding stock for Hatch The Chicken

The boys are raised to be roosters to fertilize eggs for Hatch The Chicken

The girls are raised to lay eggs for our families

The boys are raised to protect our flocks to help keep them safe

The chicks are sold to families looking to expand their flocks

The roosters are sold to families looking to protect their flock

I can't confirm what other organizations do with their baby chicks after a hatching program but I know with my whole heart that all of the chicks hatched with our Hatch The Chicken program provide a purpose following the rental. We value their lives and value what they bring to our business and those who participate in our programs.

Ready or not... 2020 is coming!

Hello!

We made it through Thanksgiving and Christmas and now we are clearly approaching New Years and then for us that means January "workation" and our Rent The Chicken Owners Conference!

This time of year comes with goal setting and reflecting. Are there things that I wanted to happen in 2019 and they just didn't? Of course! At the same time, so many other things were knocked out of the park without expectation! We are blessed! We made some big change personally and professionally which certainly had an impact on exceeding our expectations.

One area was my health. You may not know this but I am overweight. It was just getting to the point that I was having a hard time bending over for long periods of time, getting out of bed, and fitting into areas or "squeezing" through areas that had plenty of space for most people. At the same time, I just lowered my expectations to know that I would just be overweight forever. I lost some weight on accident in 2014 (building 54 coops in the front yard in 3 months!) and in 2017 (keeping up with a 6 year old!). Before that, I only ever tried two diets. One when I was in college which was a true diet saying how much and if what to eat at each meal (think tuna salad and raw veggies). The other one was fairly simple - eat when hungry, stop when full, and pray like crazy in between to not eat! I maintained for a number of years with that philosophy and a well used gym membership. I enjoy going to the gym but gym memberships where we live while working from home are far from convenient. (Yes, that's an excuse! haha) I do enjoy running but don't make it a priority.

Just like there are a number of ways to start with backyard hens, there are a number of ways to lose weight. This time of year many make resolutions to lose weight. My resolution is to keep off the weight I’ve lost in the last few months and continue to lose. However you are working to lose weight or maintain, are you able to continue if you have a major job change? An injury? An emotional life change? I have been overweight most of my married life and sturdy prior to that. Miscarrying babies wrecked my already a mess hormones which didn't help with weight loss / weight gain. One year, I cut out soda (and even now I only drink maybe 1-2 a month if that). It was also when I started running for the first time. After a month of running three times a week 3-6 miles per week and no soda, I lost 2 pounds. People always say the easiest way to lose weight is to stop drinking soda. Well... I proved them wrong! haha

You may have seen in the news recently about Intermittent Fasting? People who have never been able to lose or never been able to keep it off are losing and keeping it off BUT... the health benefits are astounding! Even people who don't need to lose are fasting for health reasons. Diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure - they are all decreasing! Again not just with weight loss but those who don't need to lose weight have these health benefits from Intermittent Fasting. There are a number of effective intermittent fasting principles. These fasting hours are with water, black coffee, tea without sugar or cream, pickle juice, olives, and possibly homemade bone broth. Some people don't eat for 16 hours (including sleeping of course) and eat meals without snacks during an 8 hour time window. Others build up to 36 or 42 hours of fasting. When some eat, they eat keto or low carb / high fat or just their regular diet at meals without snacking. The huge benefit I see with this program is the higher probability to keep the weight off and continue with the health benefits once goal weight is reached. Since I'm not restricting my regular diet during my eating windows, there's no risk of adding too much "bad foods" as foods are integrated back in if that makes sense? Granted, once goal weight is reached, I will still need to fast a few times a week to maintain but I can plan that around scheduled events without an issue! I can successfully be in a vehicle and not *need* snacks and I baked without taste testing during a fast last weekend. Amazing! Anyway... I could say a whole lot more but I'll save that for another time.

I started this "Way of Life" or "Way of Eating" (or not eating as it may be! haha) on September 19th. I was sick in October and again for 3 weeks from mid-November through beginning of December and was not able to fully fast like I wanted but still did my best. Currently, I'm down about 25 pounds and dropped entire pant size with another size change coming soon!

Here are some helpful tidbits - Buy The Obesity Code by Dr Jason Fung. Read the back two sections first "What to Eat" and "When to Eat". No snacks. Plan your fasts around celebrations to not miss them because of your "diet". Change up your fasting "schedule" to keep it challenging and exciting! (If you are on any medication that requires food intake, please consult your doctor before attempting Intermittent Fasting.) Find a friend who is doing this and be accountable. More people are Intermittent Fasting than you know about! It's kind of a Fight Club mentality of "What happens in Fight Club, stays in Fight Club" but with Intermittent Fasting. There are a lot of myths about it like I'm starving myself and my body isn't getting the nutrients that it needs, etc. My body has plenty of nutrients to feed off of while I'm fasting. Don't worry :) So I'm breaking the rules a bit by publicly outing myself and hoping for not a lot of backlash. Please be kind to me for being open about this as it's working for me and tens of thousands of others (that I know about!).

Happy New Year!

It's not Friday?

Since taking the afternoon off two weeks ago to watch the Downton Abbey movie, it feels like I've been going non-stop! Women's Conference at our church, our little guy's birthday, behind the scenes work for Rent The Chicken, a local Norwex retreat, an online Norwex party, planning for local Rent The Chicken pick-ups, prep for in home Norwex parties, and of course preparing for the launch of our 2020 Rent The Chicken and Hatch The Chicken reservations!

No wonder I didn't get a chance or make the time to check in here last week or yesterday! So let me fill you in on some things... My motto for 2019 has been the "Year of the Harvest". "the Harvest" isn't just about the bounty that comes a few months of the year. It's about putting in the work, preparing, getting others involved, building community, tending to the crops / project, pruning, carefully growing the crops, and then.... THE HARVEST! It doesn't end there. All of the fruit and vegetables in the garden becomes nourishment and deliciousness! Some of it is consumed right away and others is made to last through the year until the next harvest. At the same time, clean up needs to occur and while winding down from the harvest of this year, it's already time to start planning for the next. Although when I claimed "Year of the Harvest" as my motto, I thought it was literally about the actual Harvest and reaping all of the great benefits of harvest-time. Every year we put in the work to build and grow our Rent The Chicken business. Every year we build and grow. This year though.. WOW! We prepared, tilled, planted the right crops, groomed, pruned, nurtured, and and and and...! As expected, because of our Affiliates, our Renters, and God's provision, we had a stellar year of growth and Hatch The Chicken & Rent The Chicken Rentals!

That brings me to the next topic as mentioned above, a LOT of work has been put in for the launch of our 2020 Rent The Chicken and Hatch The Chicken rentals to be available for reservation. Don't hold back... our dates and coops are reserved so quickly and some locations sell out in the first few months after the launch. We've reserved over 20 rentals this week network wide and that was with gentle marketing. What a great start to our 2020 Rental Season!

So of course I would love for everyone who reads this to make a reservation for a 2020 rental but it's more than that! I'm egg-cited for the things to come because of our focus this year. The planning for one harvest overlaps for years to come - both personally and professionally!

Here's a photo of my friend Becky and I at the Women's Conference at our church recently. What a cute photo opp area, right?! You can find Becky's blogs over here: MrsGregWillis.com

I'll leave you with this. There are two songs that have impacted me recently. One last year (Do It Again) and one just very recently (So Will I). I found this YouTube video of both songs here:

*taps the mic* Is this thing on?

It's been a LONG time since I wrote here. Much longer than I expected when I looked yesterday to see how long it really had been.

I have a lot to catch you up on but I won't spill the beans on everything at one time! :) The summer was lovely. It was full of laughs, hard decisions, and lots of purposeful visits with friends and family! I'll rewind though! We had a FANTASTIC delivery season since you heard from me last. Across the board with all of our Rent The Chicken Affiliate locations and our own, we met and exceeded goals for both Rent The Chicken and Hatch The Chicken for 2019! We could not have done that without the support of our friends, family, Affiliate partners, and of course our renters!

We were told our RTC SUV needed extensive work right towards the start of our delivery season. We prayed and decided to trade in our little car for a pick up truck and that we'd pay the boat load of money to fix our SUV. Turns out... the shop who quoted the extensive work was off by a few thousand dollars and our regular mechanic had it done for under $100! Granted, we had to take it back within a month for some more work but it hasn't been back to the shop since! So we officially have a fleet of RTC vehicles in Western Pennsylvania! (2 makes a fleet, right? haha) We sold our old little RV and bought a modest pull behind camper and enjoyed a number of small and one larger trip this summer. We had a super great time at our local county fair - The Great Dayton Fair! I'll post more on that another day as there were loads of ribbons earned!

Homestead Phil surprised me with a small and lovely vow renewal for our 10 year wedding anniversary! Our niece, Brooklynn, from Oregon visited again this summer! This time, it was only for 6 weeks rather than 10 like last summer! The garden was great this season with more to come! Loads of onions, about 75# of tomatoes (salsa & spaghetti sauce!), hot peppers, green peppers, and a high yield of weeds!

I continued to help with the Girls Ministries at our church and have taken on a new role which is co-leading the "Friends Club" group for our 6th grade young ladies! I even chaperoned for a Girls' Retreat for the first time! Homestead Phil no... Commander Phillip continues to volunteer his time with the young men of our church with the scout group - Royal Rangers. They are stoked to attend a week long camp next summer call Camporama! We traveled to Indianapolis for Coop Camp with Coop Dreams where we separately held babies goats. Don't get any ideas, Homestead Phil!

We took in a Pittsburgh Pirates game with our little guy and his little friend earlier in the summer. We also went to the Ark Encounter in Kentucky with Brooklynn and two of her little friends. So powerful! We watched a parade then we were IN a parade and we even enjoyed a day at Kennywood! We also experienced our first Sprint Car dirt races! (Only spectating!) It was like motorcycle dirt flat track racing but with cars of varying sizes. Intense!

Givi Kitty is doing fairly well. Lots of partying at night and sleeping all day :) Oh and she thoroughly enjoyed multiple camping trips this summer as well! As if I don't wear enough hats and I don't have enough titles, I added "Norwex Independent Sales Consultant" to my resume! Norwex offers cleaning products without needing the use of chemicals or paper towels in less time! Let me know if you'd like more information or click here to peruse the webstore. And of course I still refer to myself as Homestead Jenn when I'm selling Norwex! :)

And.. I made it my goal to make sure all of the local ice cream shops stayed in business this year. My fav: Hand-dipped Caramel, Chocolate Covered Pretzel in a waffle cone. Wow. The rest weren't awful but that was my fav!

Catch you next time!

2019 Rent The Chicken Owners Conference

The main goal of our recent workation to Florida and back was to prepare for our upcoming 2019 Rent The Chicken Owners Conference. We hammered out about 90% of the details while away including an itinerary, detailed schedule, PowerPoint presentations for each session, team building exercises, ice breakers, restaurant for dinner, and more! Pictured to the right was Homestead Phil's make shift work station.

Fast forward nine days after returning home from workation and we were off to Erie, PA for the Owners Conference! We arrived a day before almost everyone else. It was not a religious Conference but we hosted the Conference at the Benedictine Sisters of Erie's Monastery. They have a great meeting space with living room furniture and hotel-like room accommodations PLUS a staff who makes meals for the sisters! So we paid a fee for the room, for the bedrooms, and for the meals. EASY! Well.. until the snow started piling up :) We are thankful that everyone who registered attended and no one got snowed in while at the Conference!

We had 20 attend including Homestead Phil and I! It was our biggest Conference to date! One of our new Affiliates attended and at the end of the Conference said "I had no idea how you guys were going to talk about chickens for 12 hours over the course of two days... but you did it! And kept it interesting!" haha

We discussed 2018 Year in Review followed by presenting our 2018 Top Performer award to Homestead Kate who serves Toronto & South-Central Ontario with Rent The Chicken and Hatch The Chicken.

We awarded Homestead Monica and Randy in Indianapolis with Most Improved as they quadrupled their rentals from 2017 to 2018!

We also honored Homestead Fletcher, Homestead Kate's son, as the youngest attendee and this was his 3rd Conference. Homestead RayLee was honored for her commitment to supplying photos for us to use on social media - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and now Snapchat!

Our vendor partners and organizations provided fantastic giveaways. Some provided enough for everyone to have one and others gave a bigger donation so we raffled those off to all who attended. From there we had sessions on operating individual Rent The Chicken locations, marketing, time management, and accomplishing tasks now with long-term in mind.

And we were introduced to some fun games... Has anyone played Exploding Kittens?? What a hoot!

It's safe to say that we all came away exhausted and overloaded with information but inspired to make 2019 the best year yet!

My heart is FULL!

After Our Girl moved abruptly in September, our hearts were very empty. We dove right back into continue growing our businesses of Rent The Chicken and The Chicken Network while volunteering with boys' and girls' ministries at our church. We started #TompkinsPalooza2017 when we had Our Little Guy with us in 2017 to be purposeful about planning, experiencing, and spending time with as many friends and family as possible. That continued with #TompkinsPalooza2018 with Our Girl and niece Brooklynn well into December with our Annual Holiday Dinner.

Mid to late December is slower for us with phone calls and emails compared to other parts of the year so I in particular took advantage of #TompkinsPalooza2018 in being purposeful with activities and spending time with friends and family. I make it a goal to make as many cookies and pumpkin rolls as possible as I like to take a tray of cookies to events, plates of cookies to neighbors, and ship boxes of cookies to Phil's family. Although I'm a bit behind in my baking according to what I prefer, cookies still were shipped early this week as Christmas gifts for Phil's family! *whew*


In the last week or so, I had the pleasure of teaching a mother / daughter duo how to make ladylocks / clothes pin cookies. They are a popular cookie known in Western Pennsylvania but originated from Poland and Germany. The dough is mixed a day ahead of time with the secret ingredient of cottage cheese! (Ew, right?) The next day, the dough is rolled, cut into strips, wrapped onto foiled straight clothespins, baked, removed from clothespins then filled with a delightful filling that has more confection sugar than any recipe I've ever made before! So DELISH! My mom passed the recipe to me from my Aunt Evon who passed in 2011 after a long, long fight of cancer. Usually I only eat the rejects but my friend Debby let us eat even the pretty ones! A double recipe makes about 18-20 dozen. They are so easy to eat though so a few dozen go quickly in a crowd!

I also had the pleasure of teaching a former chicken renter turned friend how to make Pumpkin Rolls! Golly and I didn't even snap a photo of the process or of us making all TEN Pumpkin Rolls! He's next in line on how to make the ladylocks though! He took five home and left me with five as the five niece Mykala and I made before Thanksgiving are long gone! I hope five is enough as I've been sending a half of a Pumpkin Roll out the door like they are going out of style! I doubt I will make any more in the next five days though so they will have to be enough! He was real concerned with some cracking in the roll part so I was sure to send only uncracked ones home with him. All tastes the same to us! Here's a photo from yester-year to show off a representation of what we pulled off in 3.5 hours :)

On Saturday of last week, Homestead Phil had to be at our church for THREE events! I only had to attend one :) First thing in the morning, he had play practice for the Christmas program. He was the lead wise guy... I mean wise man! He came home, rested then we headed back in sporting our superhero garb for a super hero birthday party for our friend Chris!

It was there that I realized I could steal two of the girls in Girls' Ministry to help roll, cut, and frost the sugar cookie dough I had chilling in the fridge! Homestead Phil likes to one up me and this time he said to both girls and their families "Why not just spend the night?!" YAY!!!! Homestead Phil and I took the girls home and then he headed back to church for the Men's Ministry Christmas Party. The girls were so fun! (messy but fun!) We watched youtube for some decorating ideas. It was my first time attempting to use royal icing. In hindsight, maybe trying a new liquidy icing with two 10 year olds wasn't a great choice! hahahaha Eventually we switched to my tried and true frosting recipe and finished the task. Not before they asked for dinner though! They said "How about Taco Bell?" uh... we live in the middle of nowhere. I asked if they saw a Taco Bell in the neighborhood! :) They didn't so I made tacos and it was a win-win! They stayed up giggling far too late when Homestead Phil was in charge of making sure they went to bed while I wrapped some gifts (see below!). They each took a number of cookies home to share with their families!

I've grown pretty attached to a number of the girl kiddos in the Girls' Ministry at our church (including the two who came over for the cookie project!). I self titled my role as "Director of Crafts of Girls' Ministry". As Director, I felt the need to hand craft a little something for each of the girls (seven in total!) for Christmas. When I saw a crocheted pattern for ear warmers in the form of crowns, I knew they'd be perfect for these "daughters of the King"! At first they didn't know what they were and they are ages 6-10 and didn't realize that I hand made each of them! I gave them before service last week which was the same day of the Christmas program! So they opened them before their big performance and it warmed my heart after the service to see so many of them wearing them to go home! I later learned that one slept in hers and another wears it every time she goes outside AND another one wore it to Girls' Ministry on Wednesday. *FULL HEART*

As if those weren't enough events to fill my heart... there's more! Around Thanksgiving when Homestead Phil was traveling, we agreed that after a year, we would reach out to Our Little Guy's (Our first foster care placement) Mom to see if we could give him a few Christmas presents. (When he moved, he moved to his dad's and his dad was not open to being in touch with us.) She one upped me! She offered for us to video chat with us and then invited us to their home to bring his Christmas gifts including a new bicycle! Wow! Talk about FULL HEARTS! He turned 8 recently and remembers so much of his 11 months with us! It was two years ago yesterday that we first met him. Here we are with "Our Little Guy" Gabriel!

I challenge you to create your own "Palooza" to be more purposeful with your time, experiences available to you, and being with friends & family that you haven't seen in far too long. We thought we were good about those things before but we realized how much more we planned once we made it a thing. We still have some #TompkinsPalooza2018 left but we are looking forward to #TompkinsPalooza2019 - whatever that has in store for us! It's time for some more cookie baking now that I've finished my blog post for the week and we managed to publish and mail our year in review newsletter. Yes, we are *those* people!

Merry Christmas!
With a FULL heart,
Homestead Jenn

Annual Holiday Dinner

Every year since 2000 around this time of year, I invite everyone we know to join us for a meal. When Phil and I married, we changed the format from joining for a meal to open house style. It is for sure one of my favorite days of the year! It's A LOT of work but so fun! This year, we raised a few turkeys with one to be used at our Annual Holiday Dinner. The most stress I had of the entire day involved this:

Not before adding the majority of this stuffing being added to the turkey! Homestead Phil prefers the stuffing to be baked outside of the turkey which is why not all of it went IN to the turkey! :)

After 4 hours and 45 minutes, I decided to peel the foil off of the turkey above only to find that the turkey was PERFECT! It was so moist and delicious! Currently the frame is soaking in boiling water so we can make some broth to be used through the year. After about 50 friends and family members, lots of great food, many hugs, we ended our 6 hour party with only this much stuffing! It was ranked as one of the favorites of the day! That and Becky's spicy corn dip!

We asked as many friends and family to snag a photo with these create signs that Homestead Phil made like he did last year. The previous few years, we had a photo booth section. Although we really enjoy the photo booth photos, the selfie photos are great too! Here's a photo with me, the sign, and my friend Val.

Givi Kitty enjoys a good party just like I do! She hung out most of the time under the tree or in her cat tree. After everyone we left, snagged a few selfies with our lovely Givi to finish off the evening.

And just like that, our 19th Annual Holiday Dinner is complete. We're already talking about next year! Until then, I need to can the broth that's on the stove and freeze some of the turkey that is leftover in the fridge! Amazingly, of the 25+ pound turkey, we only had less than 5 pounds left!

Creamy Garlic Tomato Soup!

I LOVE making soup in the winter! I make so much at one time that we eat it for days! Or I give some away :) This week, I made Creamy Garlic Tomato Soup based on The Prairie Homestead's Recipe.

Creamy Tomato Garlic Soup

• 2 large cans puree tomatoes (you can use crushed or diced but I like a smoother soup)
• 8 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup chopped onion (again due to texture, I chop these in the food processor)
• 4 tsp minced garlic
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 6 cups whole milk OR half and half or combination of the two or 2% (really whatever milk I have on hand but the whole milk / half & half helps to thicken the soup)
• 4 tsp brown sugar (6 tsp sucanat is what the original recipe calls for but I don't have that on hand)
• 4 tablespoons dried basil
• 2.5 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Shredded Parmesan cheese (for garnish)

Melt butter in a large stock pot (I use 6 qt) then add the onion and garlic until tender. Stir in the flour and cook for 2-3 minutes until it starts to brown some.

In another pot, heat the tomatoes to simmer.

In the flour mixture, add the brown sugar, salt, pepper, and basil. Pour in milk semi-quickly but slow enough to not have clumps of flour. Cook and stir constantly over medium heat until it simmers and begins to thicken. Add heated tomatoes and gently stir. Continue to heat for 5-10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Puree the tomatoes in a blender or food processor. (If you have a hand/immersion blender, you can skip this step. Read on for details.) Place them in a separate saucepan, and bring them to a simmer.

I always top with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and often also make homemade garlic croutons. I didn't make the time for the croutons this time so I used crackers instead. I did; however, make the time to deliver some to my friend Carrie as I'm being purposeful with my time AND it's her favorite!

The Plague!

Wow!

On Thanksgiving, two of our nieces came over for slime making, nail painting, baking, and Christmas decorating. In the midst of that, we took Homestead Phil to the airport to enjoy some warmth in Arizona with good friends and his dad & step-mom. The girls and I went to glow in the dark mini-golf on our way back from the airport! Not a great photo because ... well dark area and forward facing camera without a flash!

On Black Friday, I went to bed feeling like I had a scratchy throat coming on. By morning, it was legit a very sore throat on the way to a sinus infection. I was holding down the fort with the outside animals, giving Givi Kitty an oral antibiotic twice a day, and maintaining the businesses. I powered through for 5 days of a lot of time on the couch until it was time to pick up Homestead Phil from the airport again! Even after that, I would get small bursts of energy but was still pretty dedicated to the couch for another 3.5-4 days. During that time, Homestead Phil made an appointment for me and took me to the doctor. It was clear that this was not going away on its own! Two weeks later, the cough is minimal. I have a few days left of the antibiotic. This time of year is my favorite! Business is a bit slow as expected which means I take some time for myself! Being sick though, I missed out on more than a week of being purposeful with my time to bake, visit with friends, and prepare for our Annual Holiday Dinner! (More on that next week!)

So while I was doing this:

Homestead Phil was doing this:

So I'm back in full swing and ready to be purposeful!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

BRRRRR... It feels very premature for the temps we've been hitting here in Western Pennsylvania recently! Being chilly also means that it's a great time to bake and heat up the house!

Homestead Phil typically plays the trombone during our church services. Recently, he was asked to start playing the electric base which he has not played for about 25 years! He watched some YouTube videos, practiced with the band on a Thursday night, and played with the band on that Sunday morning! I'm so proud of him. He is so musically talented. I have trouble changing stations on the satellite radio sometimes. That's about the extent of my musical talents! I know some of our church friends miss hearing him play on the trombone already. Homestead Phil tells me that they miss hearing the brass but they don't know that they already enjoy the bass. Right now, he's just blending in. I'm sure he'll have a solo in no time! :)

I say all of that to say ... he has been leaving EXTRA early for church services the last two Sundays. I don't need to arrive nearly 2 hours before service. That leaves me on animal duty. I mean.. I do have two extra hours, right? :) I snapped this selfie on Sunday morning while I was traipsing around the animal area making sure I didn't forget anyone! BRRRRR!

After church, this cutie came over to help bake some Pumpkin Rolls! She's my niece Mykala who prefers to be called Myki. After all these years, I still can't bring myself to call my baby girl niece Myki. She's cute and VERY helpful nonetheless! :) Her and older sister are coming over soon to have some girl time and some more baking fun!

I'm semi-famous for the pumpkin rolls. I used to sell them back in the day when I was Jenn The Baker. I could likely still sell them but no time. Back in the day, I would bake nearly if not more than 100 pumpkin rolls from end of October through end of December. Not bad for a little online baking business, right? :) I likely should have snapped a photo of them. Oops. At least I snapped some pics of the kiddo with me! Well... she doesn't prefer to actually take a nice photo so this is what the end result is :)

Meal Planning Update - (Or lack thereof!)

Last week I rambled on about my hopeful plan of starting to meal plan including using up that 7.5# ham! Homestead Phil was out of town for 4 days so I lived on tortilla pizzas and cereal. OOPS! Here's how we munched on that ham for a week:
1. Homestead Phil participated in our church's Men's Annual Chili Cook-off. Chili is his thing so he looks forward to participating every year! It seems to be different every time he makes it so there will not be a recipe provided. :) This year conveniently had ham in it! haha

2. Scalloped Potatoes and Ham based on The Pioneer Women's recipe.

• 3 pounds Russet Or Yukon Gold Potatoes, Washed Thoroughly 
• 2 Tablespoons Butter 
• 1 whole Yellow Onion, Diced 
• 3 cups Diced Ham 
• 3 cups milk (I used 2%) 
• 1/4 cup Flour Black Pepper To Taste 
• 1 cup Grated Cheddar Cheese 
• 1 cup Grated Monterey Jack Cheese 
• Chopped Parsley (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a large casserole dish. Dice ham. Chop onion and slice potatoes thin. (I used my food processor for both.) While food processing, heat butter in a large skillet. Add onions and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until they start to turn translucent. Add ham and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a microwave-safe container and nuke for a minute or so, until no longer cold. Whisk in flour and black pepper until totally combined. Set aside. (You may add salt, but cheese and ham are salty, so add sparingly.)
Combine the two grated cheeses. Set aside.
Layer 1/3 of the potato slices in the buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle on 1/3 of the ham/onion mixture, then 1/3 of the cheese, then pour on 1/3 of the cream mixture.
Repeat this twice more, ending with a sprinkling of cheese and a pouring on of the rest of the cream mixture. I'm heavy handed with the cheese so I needed more than the 2 cups of cheese. It wasn't "au gratin" style as it was more scalloped than cheesy. Cover dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes at least, or until bubbly and hot.
Cut into squares and serve. Sprinkle on chopped parsley if you'd like! (I didn't!)

3. Ham Potpie based on my step mom's recipe. It's one of those "Some of this. Some of that." recipes so I won't be sharing that today but it was delish! It finished up the ham though as we also had a few ham sandwiches and ham and eggs through the week :)

I did save the ham bone and didn't boil it very long for the ham potpie so I may toss that bone in the freezer to make more broth another day!