Mock Apple Pie or Crunch

It starts with a zucchini squash that got to big and ends up as a delicious desert that is worth the labor and all the steps.  (mock apple on the left, normal sized zucchini on the right - both picked from my garden the same day)

Mock Apple Crunch or Pie

Obviously, this is the crunch version.  

The pie version is simple as well and a breeze if you are a great pie crust maker.  I have tried making it a pie with the crunch topping, but my store-bought pie crusts tend to burn.  I am not a pie crust maker.  I am a pie eater though.  But since I have to make this from start to finish I go the crunch version.  

NOTE:  The crunch can be frozen for a delicious desert at Thanksgiving time with a change in the cooking schedule because obviously, you don't want mushy crunch.  If you want to freeze this, utilize a foil pan and wait to do the last cooking step with the addition of crunch until the day you are ready to serve it.  You will want it to be thawed out but really the last 40 minutes with the crunch topping freshly placed is the perfect end to a beautiful meal of turkey leftovers.

INGREDIENTS YOU WILL NEED:

Overly large zucchini or yellow squash, 1 per dish.

brown sugar

white sugar

cinnamon

cream of tartar

cornstarch

quick oats

flour

finely chopped walnuts

1 1/2 sticks of butter or margarine

cool whip, vanilla ice cream or heavy cream (half & half)

You start with your overgrown zucchini or yellow squash.  One is all you need for a pie or 8x10 or 9x9 pan for the crunch.  You will want a baking dish that is deep to keep things from bubbling over.  Fill a small stock pot with water and set it on the stove.  It needs to be a rolling boil by the time you dump the mock apple slices into the water.  Medium-high should be enough time.

Next you peel the zucchini.  If you have food grade gloves for one hand, I suggest using that to keep your hand free of squash skin and slippery zucchini syndrome.  Peel the zucchini and then cut off both ends.

Next, you want to slice the zucchini in half length-wise and "core" the seeds and soft stuff around them out.  You will end up having 2 small "boats" that look like hand hollowed out canoes that have no seeds left inside of them.

I used my glove at this point to hold the zucchini because this is where you really get the squash skin and slipperiness.  But it can happen early on as well which is why I suggest putting it on the hand the does the holding of the squash.

Then you take each half and slice it to make apple slices about 1/4 inch thick.  Obviously my sliced apple I was having for my breakfast while I did this was not cut that thin but I put it there for size reference.

Now they are ready for the boiling water.  You will want to boil them for approximately 7 minutes, over boil them and you have apple sauce squishy squash.  Drain them into a colander and immediately rinse them with cold running water.  Shake in the colander to get as much of the water off as possible.  Dump into a mixing bowl.  I just used the one I had them in after slicing.

Now for the recipe part.  Before was all the getting your mock apple slices prepared.

Preheat your oven to 475 degrees.  Yes that is right, this was not a typo.  475 degrees.  Best to turn it on when you put the zucchini slices in the water because you are going to need the time to get it up to temperature.

Mix in a bowl the following:

2/3 C brown sugar

1/3 C white granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar

2 tbsp of corn starch

Toss with cooked squash until well coated.

Grease your baking dish or pie pan.  Place the squash/sugar mixture into the greased pan.  Dot with butter or margarine and sprinkle with white vinegar (approx 2 tbsp).  I generally pour the vinegar into my cupped hand and then shake it slowly through my fingers as I open my hand.  It gives a more even coverage of the vinegar sprinkle instead of using a tbsp measuring spoon.  So the hand method of measuring is 2 small handfuls.

Bake in oven for 12 minutes and then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake another 35 minutes.  Now is the time to assemble your crunch topping.  Get your dry ingredients in a bowl and mix them well before you add the melted butter/margarine.

CRUNCH TOPPING:

1/2 c brown sugar

1 1/2 c quick oats

1/3 c flour

1/2 c chopped walnuts

1 stick margarine/butter melted

Mix well

Pull out baking dish and add crunch topping to it.  Place back in oven, increase temp to 375 degrees and bake for 40 minutes or until bubbly and brown.

Remove, cool slightly before serving with vanilla ice cream, cool whip, or, my personal favorite, in a bowl with half and half cream.  

You can thank me later when your house smells AMAZING!!!!  It is also a great way to get kids and husbands to eat their veggies, especially squash.  Don't tell them what the apples are made of. 😍

Pie instructions:

Same as above except use a deep pie plate greased, crust on bottom, fill with squash/sugar mixture, dot with margarine/butter and sprinkle with vinegar (just as above).  Top with crust, slits for steam to escape.  Bake the 12 minutes at 475, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.  Watch your crust edges and cover with foil to keep from burning.

#mockapplecrunch

PINK PUMPKIN MEMORIALS

Pink Pumpkin Memorials for Breast Cancer Survivors and in memory of those who have lost the battle!

This year I am trying something new, I would like to dedicate a pink pumpkin for those who have fought breast cancer, whether they have won the battle or lost the battle.

For every memorial donation to my BCRF fundraising page, I will assign a pink pumpkin with the information provided (First name of Survivor, location, years cancer free or year the battle was lost) on a tag and place it with the pumpkin.

I will be posting the memorial pumpkins here on the page, but am also working on getting them a public recognition place where they can be viewed. I will also send you a picture of your memorial pumpkin if you provide your mailing address but will make the pictures public if you choose to save a copy of it for yourself.

If you have a loved one who lost a battle with another cancer, I have flat stackers and baby boos that can also be part of the memorial pumpkin display.

Message me for more details.

Here is the link to make your memorial donation: http://www.stayclassy.org/nancyspinkpumpkins

Pumpkins & Potions

A new endeavor of mine is making skin creams/balms for a variety of ailments.  It started out finding something for my own perpetually dry skin, diabetic neuropathy pain, lack of healing and it has grown from there.  Everytime I make a batch of "potion" for whatever I need it makes a significant amount.  Then I am pressed to figure out how to store it and how to use it all.  So I started making it available for sale, just trying to get my surplus down to a manageable level.  Amazingly, it has taken off and is being used in ways I could have never imagined.

So I started setting up at a local monthly flea market.  From there I have gotten a lot of new customers.  I have shipped as far west as San Diego, CA and the Puget Sound area in the Pacific Northwest, and as far east as Akron, OH.

Even more amazing is new ways people are finding to use these potions, especially Pain Potion #9.  It has been used on neuropathy pain, insect bites, scalding water burns, adult acne breakouts, unhealing skin sores, shingles, psoriasis, surgical incisional pain, cancer pain, migraine headaches, tension headaches, sunburns, and probably some I am not aware of.

Cowgirl Lessons - March calving season

I am so over losing baby calves to this crazy winter.  I also hate when my husband brings in a newborn calf all wet and cold in its birthday suit.  No blanket, no toweling off.  He has no mothering instinct and he has been doing this way longer than I have been around.

We had a blizzard blow through last night.  A bomb cyclone they called it and I have been out today in the aftermath, more than ever before, bringing in 3 newborns in the back of a mule to the warming box.

Each time I had a blanket to wrap them up in so they weren't shivering and the last time out I even took off one of my sweatshirt jackets and braved the cold myself to wrap it up so it could get drying off.   Running calf bus with more than one passenger is quite the challenge.  A bigger challenge is unloading a calf from the back of the mule 4x4 all by myself and getting it into the shed where the warming box is located.  I definitely do not know the proper way to carry one of these not so little ones.

None of the calves that I have wrapped up and started drying off have died in the warming box.  Maybe it is the mothering instinct I have in me to preserve life and get the baby the best start to life.  The first one (323) has already gone back to momma and was all dry, warm and fluffy.  Baby #2 (161) is in the warming box and baby #3 (???) got to stay out with mom but is in a temporary shed where it is dry and out of the cold wind.

Of course, all my clothes are now in the laundry because baby slime gets on everything.

Baking 101

I recently attempted homemade bread using my mother-in-laws fail safe recipe that she uses constantly.  She says she mixes it up in the bread machine sometimes and sometimes she uses her mixer, just depends on how many batches she is making. . . . .so I thought, okay I can do this with the bread machine and make some homemade wheat bread just like mom-in-law does.

I very carefully followed the directions after going to the grocery store to get a few things I didn't have.  I was so excited when the dough about pushed the door up it was so raised up.  I didn't even really let it raise in the pan other than until the oven was warmed up.

Great now I have 2 loaves stacked on top of each other.  Guess I should have split it and put it in 2 pans.

Great, so lets try again, first time worked out so well.  I followed the instructions and did everything exactly the same, except I managed to get out of bed when my alarm went off instead of turning it off and turning over until I woke up an hour later.  

So this monstrosity is what came out of the bread machine.  I left it to raise thinking it just needed a little more time.  FAIL!!!!

Right? Not even close.  Ok, so maybe if I put it in the bread pan and bake it, then it will raise some in the oven.  NOPE, this is what it looked like afterwards (see above.  BAKING FAILURE!!!  Needless to say, the dogs got a not so yummy treat and the rest went somewhere for the coyotes.

 Do I dare try a third time?  I decided to give it another try.  This time, I did not use my bread machine for the mixing and raising part.  I used my Kitchenaide Mixer with the dough hook and my mom on the phone cheering me on and providing some encouragement and tips.  So when I took it out of the mixer to raise I had a nice dough ball.

 After the proper baking time I had 2 nice smaller loaves of bread that I had split 2/3 in the big pan and 1/3 in a smaller pan.

But as you can see, this method was successful.  I was so excited I cut the smaller loaf before it was even cooled off so I could give it a taste test with some good old fashion butter on the bread.  I do say, it was quite tasty and I will try to make more next week.

Do I use the Mixer or the Bread machine?  Cast your vote in the comment section!  Thanks for laughing right along with me!

Almost decked out

(think the tune "The Way You Look Tonight)

Some day, when its quiet at home, I'll be having coffee on the front deck and be happy that the dirt is covered.

Okay, not really quite working with the song, but you get the idea.  This is the front door "platform."  Eventually (like the very last part) there will be a ramp between the steps and the house that will go clear out to the area where the garage is going to be.  Our thoughts are that eventually we will need that because to be perfectly honest here, we are not getting younger.

The plan for this spring/summer is to connect this front door platform to the east deck (pictured below) with another deck that is about 20 inches lower than the 2 sections it will connect to.  Then you will be able to walk out one door and in the other without ever leaving the deck.

 We are already preparing to start this work by taking down the cattle panels that were between the posts so that my morning glories could climb up them.  I have found an alternative spot out past the driveway and now all that is left to do is to lift each planter with the skid steer and take it to its next location.  Then we can clear out the rest of the things under the porch roof and start setting post block supports.

Then there will be a 3rd set of steps in the open space you can see in this last picture toward the back of the picture, but going in the same direction as these steps. 

The underside of the deck currently has hog panels blocking entrance because the dogs seem to think that is a good place to dig a hole in the summer to lay in the cool dirt.  The problem was, they were digging next to a post support and you get enough dirt dug out and that thing will start to shift, sink and eventually not support the deck.  My plan is to use some old yard fence that I found on the farm all the way around the underside. 

My whole design process on this house has been to reuse and repurpose items on the farm that are no longer being used and to find new purpose for them in cool and creative ways.  Hopefully this time next year, or maybe sooner, I can share a picture of the wrapped around deck on the house.  That will leave only the ramp and the back deck left to build.  Little by little, piece by piece, day by day, we get something done or accomplished.

Preserving the past

As we build this new house that we call home, I continue to try to bring in some of the things from Larry's past to preserve the memory of the farm he grew up on and some of my past to honor my grandmother, who passed just before we met, and whom I believe was the divine intervention bringing Larry and I together. 
One of the ways I am striving to do this is by using some of the best boards from the sheep sheds we dismantled in order to clear the area for the house. 

Bringing my past to the new house is in a more decorative manner.  I inherited some floral pieces from my grandmother's supply.  Since the kitchen is a staple from my past -- grandma making wonderful meals, cookies for grandkids and where everyone seemed to gather when visiting, I decided it would fitting to put the teacup arrangement (a mother's day present for my grandma from me) in the window above the kitchen sink along side the aloe vera plant that is an offshoot from grandma's aunt Selma. 

Anyone who has ever been in an old farmhouse, the window above the sink is the quintessential piece of a kitchen.  It is the place that moms and grandmas on the farm have watched the kids playing in the yard or seen the neighbors driving up for a visit or watching the cows come in for a drink or watching the tractor go by on the way to or from the field.  At least that is what my grandmas saw through their kitchen windows.  So when it came time to design this farm house I knew I wanted the window over the kitchen sink. 

Anyone who knows me knows I hate to spend time in the kitchen; however, I still find comfort in standing at the sink looking out this particular window.  You can see what I see.  There are no kids in the yard playing, I can't see the cows or watch the tractor go by with my husband on it, but it still represents all that I remember of my grandmas, where I always found them, where memories are made.  They may be my memories, but now that both of my grandmas are passed away, the memories are all I have and the little tokens that make it easy to recall the memories.

I hope this brings your own memories of your grandma and those memories bring a smile on your face today.

New Year, New Challenges

2019 started off rather disappointing.  I lost my job of almost 6 years without an explanation or any indication leading up to the day my boss walked into the office to hand me my paycheck and tell me that I don't need to come back to the office to work.   (pause for shock factor to set in)

It took me a couple of days to get over the shock of it all but luckily I had been quietly testing the job market in NW Kansas to see what was out there and had an interview set up for the end of that week.  I didn't get that job from the interview I had already set up, but the lady that interviewed me was nice enough to let me know of a couple other jobs in the area she thought I might be interested in.  That led me to 3 positions posted in the county hospital.  At the time of this post writing, I am waiting to hear from the hospital. 

In the meantime, I am back to working full-time doing medical transcription, specifically radiology.  Hopefully I won't get to comfortable in that 2nd shift schedule by the time I get offered a job outside of the home.

These are my challenges: 
1.  Learning to job hunt after age of 50.
2.  Figuring out how to balance my life between my house on my parent's farm and the new house on my husband's farm.
3.  Figuring out what day of the week is by my location and work schedule.

I am still trying to figure out how chaos and upheaval found their way into my quiet life.  I thought by this point I would be settled in a job/career that would have me looking forward to retirement in 25 years. . . . . now I am just hoping to find a job that I can work at for the next 25-30 years.

Been gone to long

I realize that I have not posted anything for 2 years.  But there is a perfectly good reason for that.  We started building a house. 

We being my now husband, Larry Tien and myself with the help of his parents, subcontractors, Larry's uncle and a few neighbors.

 Ready to build a house.

Basement set, let's get  the subfloor and then walls put over this basement.

In August of 2016 we had a house raising party.  On that day we had the hole dug for the basement, the insulated concrete forms set and filled, plumbing roughed in for the basement bathroom and a set of stairs leading out for access both then and now, along with the subfloor for the main floor.  We raised the walls of the main floor in less than 4 hours.  That required the help of church family/neighbors.  A good time was had by everyone, and suddenly the construction project started to take shape. 

The next week our contractor that helped with certain aspects we could not do ourselves got the roof trusses set and started to get the steel put on the roof so we would have protection.

Slowly as the weekends went by we started to frame in rooms, got the inside staircase treads put up so we could use those stairs.

 By the end of September we had all the doors and windows in their proper spots.  We continued to work on getting things closed up before winter, including having the furnace installed.  By Christmas of 2016 we had drywall up on most walls, at least one side, and entertained a house full of guests as Larry's family were all back to celebrate Christmas on the farm.  Nothing was finished but fun was had. 








On March 31, 2017 Larry officially moved into the house as the master bedroom was painted, carpet laid and closet mostly ready.  Internet, TV and phone went in that same weekend.  Next came the kitchen because we had plans for a wedding dinner in the new house to feed 25 people.  Flooring was laid and cabinets were set with finishing touches being put on the night before the wedding and dinner.  Again we had a full house.

We continued to work finishing rooms with the living room being the next one and the office following shortly after that.  Paint, then flooring then trim work and moving in furniture.  By Christmas of 2017 we had the main floor approximately 75% finished, with a lot of trim work still to be done.  Again we had a full house of family visiting. 

Now 2 years after we raised those walls, we have had family filling the house visiting for Easter and Phillpsburg Rodeo (Kansas' Largest Rodeo) already this year.  We are still working on finishing rooms but have moved on to the basement.  Bedrooms are painted and flooring put down.  We are preparing to finish the family room in the basement this winter.


 Still working on trim things in various spots and still have to finish the master bathroom shower stall, but overall, it keeps us busy when I am there on the weekends and now I am back to working medical transcription so have to work around a real job.

We enjoy our house and the wrap around deck is starting to shape up with only one last section to try to finish, hopefully before winter.  That leaves only the back deck off the French doors/dining room to do next spring/summer.  It is will great hope that by this time in 2019 we can finally say things are finished and we can start to really enjoy the home we have built. 

So now you know why I have been gone so long.  If you really want to see the whole story as it has unfolded you could say I have been blogging our progress on the facebook private page. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/172821073086042/

Request to be added and you can see what all was done in order over the last 2 years.  This is just a highlight reel. :)

Smell of spring in a rural small town

The other day I was outside and noticed that there was a scent on the air that was distinctly springtime in my small town.  It was the smell of freshly mown grass and fresh dirt mixed with an air of chain saw shavings from tree trimming.  It got me thinking, this is what small town America smells like.  You can walk outside or downtown, sit on your porch or just drive around with the car windows down and smell springtime in my small town. 

It also got me thinking about the sounds of springtime which mirror the sounds; the mowers running, slow idle sounds of cars on a leisurely drive around the lake, children's laughter as the elementary classes take walks through town for an adventure away from the classroom.  Sometimes there is the occasional zing of a bike pedaling fast through the streets. 

Out here on the farm, the sounds and smells are much more dependent on what I have done recently outside.  Nature shares her sounds with me as the pheasants ruffle their feathers making a sound that is similar to a drum roll.  The cackling they do as they talk back and forth to each other.  Sometimes there is a turkey gobble as the hens have made their nests in the windbreak.  I occasionally get the whiff of the farmyard that is freshly mowed.  But my most favorite smell of all is the smell when I walk outside after an early morning rain shower - like Mother Nature took a shower and got all clean to start the day.

So I contemplate how best to share life on the farm with you now.  My life has taken such a different turn in the past 2 years since I started this blog.  I am building a house from the ground up with a farmer friend who might ask me to marry him in the very near future.  He is the one who has been giving me the cowgirl lessons.  I have not had much opportunity for lessons lately but I continue to hone my skills in what I have learned - feeding calves their bottles, pitching hay, driving a tractor and checking cows.  Not much sorting, that has been getting done without me this spring.  I will try to come up with some fun stories to share with you over the next few months as I build a house and see a dream come true.  So stay tuned, you never know what might happen here in My Patches of the Prairie!

Cowgirl Lessons - winter semester

The other weekend Larry comes with a different truck for us to go feed the fall cows and heifers with.  He said it was time for another cowgirl lesson.  It was the truck with the bale picker uppers.  Needless to say, I was not really sure what all this lesson was going to contain.  I am confident in backing up to a bale.  That was the easy step.  Then the real lesson started.

  Just exactly how far to back up so that when the bale arms were extended they were able to grab the bale at the right spot and lift it up.  There is a controller inside the truck that opens and closes the arms, it also bends them in and out.  I have decided that up and down would be much easier to understand versus in and out.  So after a few tries I was backed up to the first bale and managed to get the distance just right.  Then came the extension and opening and closing of the bale arms.  That was an interesting part of the lesson, how to know just when to stop the up/down direction and then closing the arms to grab the bale.

I was amazed at how the truck itself pitched a little when the bale arms started to pick up the bale.  Those big round bales are heavy; I knew this, but never expected it to raise the front of the truck up a few inches under the weight of it.  Bale placed on the flat bed of the truck with arms still holding it and away we go to the first group of cows; the heifers.

Once again, I learned that having a pocket knife is a necessary tool for a cowgirl because inevitably there is twine that needs to be cut.  Lucky for me, being without all the necessary personal equipment did not lower my grade and Larry was happy to share his knife with me.  Although he did indicate that he should probably get me my own in the near future.  After a few times of cutting twine off the bales, I have decided that a pair of heavy scissors would be much easier for me to manage.  I have not shared this with Larry yet and further it could be easily kept in the glove box of the truck so when I feed hay by myself it is there and I don't have to remember to grab them from another location. 

As I sat in the pickup for the first part of the untwining lesson I was equally surprised at how much the cows can push on the bale.  Before we were ready to unroll it, there they were munching on the outer bits of the bale.  Pushing each other, bumping the bale with their heads or noses, and the truck would rock like an old rocking chair on the porch.  Another challenge here is getting the twine pulled off the bale.  You would think that it would easily slide but apparently if the bale has experienced any freezing that almost glues the twine to the bale and makes it nearly impossible to pull off.  Here is where another personal piece of equipment is necessary; a good pair of leather gloves.  Using the controller one must reverse and lift the bale off the flat bed and place it almost on the ground in order to pull the twine.  Once the twine is all removed, there is a hook type hand held tool that Larry uses to loosen the outer layer of hay to facilitate better unrolling of the bale.  I have yet to get to use this tool since Larry is always there helping me with the twine and he just does it.  Old habits of old farmers.

The last step is the unrolling of the big bale. That is fun to watch because the cows are really ready for their meal and seem to be willing to help by standing on the hay and holding it down as I drive forward.  Course some are so rambunctious in the unrolling portion that they jump, wiggle, and kick as the hay is laid out in front of them.  One cow especially was so excited that she was running, jumping and doing a little dance as she followed the truck.  On a side note, one must master the art of driving while running the hydraulic controller to lower the bale arms

So with 3 bales delivered on my lesson I have passed another level in my cowgirl training.  Now the challenge is to put what I learned into practice and someday be able to go through it solo without any help from Larry.  Since my lesson I have practiced portions of this but have not attempted it solo.  It will probably be next winter before I get that opportunity.  Until then, I am slowly honing my other cowgirl skills that I have already learned.