Flower tales

"Roses"
Roses are pretty things;
Some white, Some pink,
Maybe some blue.
They smell so good
And look so good too!
I love roses. Don't you?
~ Bri


"My Little Flower"
I picked a little yellow flower
Just yesterday,
so it is very new.
it is very pretty too!
And I like, it wouldn't you?
~Tori

Authoress maybe?

I hope so. I have tried to write books before but I've never really liked them but I'm hoping that that will change. I'm working on a new book right now that is called "Ruby". Will I be satisfied this time?

Also coming up is " Why Did They Let Snakes on the Ark" a talk me, Mom & Dad had, "Petal Tales" that mom thought we should write, That "Treasure Cove" for Andrew, & Short Boy Stories (Don't ask that one's name yet) for Andrew, "How to Make Cleaning Fun" for Tori & me, and (for those who have Nifty knitters) "My Nifty Knitter Lessons" that tell how to make some of the things I've made with mine.

I think I'll get at least one that I like (probably the Nifty Knitter one will be the top one ;)!) That is 1...2...3...4...5...6...7 books!

We love this recipe.....

...Try it!
Thimble Biscuits:
1 cup flour
1 Tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease pan.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt three times (We don't bother to do this ;)).
3. Rub butter into the flour (We cut the butter into the flour).
4. Pour the milk on gradually, mixing all the while with a knife, until a soft dough forms (Perhaps not all the milk will be needed).
5. Turn dough on a well floured board.
6. Pat it with the rolling pin until 1/4 inch thick.
7. Use a large thimble as a cutter,and cut biscuits as close together as possible.
8. Place in pan a little distance apart.
9. Bake about 5 minutes.
10. Enjoy!
We love these biscuits! The two times I've made them there were none left! This does make a small recipe so the second time I made them, I made a double batch. Hope you enjoy!

"Oh Madam, will you let me fix thine dinner tonight?"

That's how it started. The dinner I mean. At eleven-something I started fixing supper. On the menu was: Pasta, bread, corn, and best of all something I've never had before -Carmel Pie! I made the Bread in the bread machine first. It was basic dinner bread. Then came homemade whip cream and by then it was quiet time. When we got up I started the pie. Then I made the pasta. Then I heated up corn and set the table then the meal began......

The recipes were all easy and fun and I think you might want to have them.

The bread:

3/4 cup & 3 Tbsp. water.

2 Tbsp. Dry milk

3 1/2 Tbsp. sugur

1 teaspoon salt

3 Tbsp. butter cut in six pieces

2 teaspoons yeast

Put everything in in the order it comes above. Put on the dough setting of your bread machine. When done, set on the counter for 15 minutes. Put in a pan for 1 hour and 1/2. After that is done, put in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

The Whipped Cream*:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 Tbsp. sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Beat the heavy whipping cream in a chilled bowl slowly at first then more rapidly until stiff. Add the sugar slowly beating all the time (Don't beat the cream too long or it may turn into butter!). STIR in the vanilla. Chill until you are ready to use.

The Caramel Pie*:

3 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 1/2 cup water

2 eggs, separated

1 1/2 cup White sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1 baked pie shell

1. In a bowl dissolve the cornstarch in 3/4 cup water. Beat the egg yolks &stir into the cornstarch mixture. Set aside.

2. Put the sugar, the butter, and the rest of the water (This may cause a cloud of steam so stand back while you add the water) in a big sauce pan.

3. Bring the mixture to a boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved and the butter melted.

4. Stir the cornstarch mixture into the saucepan and bring the mixture to a low boil, stirring it constantly. Continue to boil slowly until the mixture thickens, about 2 minutes.

5. Take the mixture off the heat, stir until smooth, and let cool. Stir in the vanilla and pour the filling into the baked pie shell.

6. Bake at 350 F for about 15 minutes. Put in the freezer until ready to eat (preferably at least two hours).

Makes one pie.
The pasta recipe can be found here.

It was a pleasant dinner and it was fun to do!!!

*Taken from the book "The Anne of Green Gables Treasury.

Yummm...

Tori helped me make these delicious cookies a couple of weeks ago. They are really good!

Frosted Drop Cookies (Taken from the book "The Anne of Green Gables Treasury")
2 cups sifted bread flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. milk
3/4 c. butter
1 c. powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
1 egg white
FROSTING:
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 Tbsp. cream
Tint with food coloring (opt.If using,use 1 drop red, 2-3 drops yellow)
Sift together flour and baking powder. Add vanilla to milk. Cream butter and sugar 2 minutes. Add unbeaten egg yolk and beat one minute more. Beat egg white until stiff. Set aside. Add flour and milk mixture alternately to the creamed butter, sugar and eggs; beat until smooth. Fold in egg white. Drop from spoon onto buttered cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes at 375 degrees. Frost while hot.

"I'm going to have the daintiest things possible...things that will match the spring, you understand...little jelly tarts and lady fingers, and drop cookies frosted with pink and yellow frosting, and buttercup cake. And we must have sandwiches too, though they're not very poetical."    ~From Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery

Cooking Tuesdays with Bethani and Fridays with Tori.....

Bethi and I had a delightful day together the other day. We made these delicious candy bars called Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares from Tammy's Recipes.
These were absolutely delicious! Here is a picture of Bethi and I making them:



And one of my sweet kitchen helper:



And Tori's day...
We made Eggless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. Here's the recipe:

1 stick butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup sugar (optional)
13/4 -2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 a teaspoon salt
1-2 cups chocolate chips
Cream butter with peanut butter. Add honey (you can't substitute sugar for honey, as it is your main liquid.)and sugar if desired. Mix well. Add chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes, or eat raw!
I got this recipe from a pen-pal and her big sister and we love it :) (her big sister's blog is here)!

Here's a picture of Tori taken on our baking day:

Doll house news....

Many of you have not seen the people to the doll house so I took a picture:


Have I mentioned that the doll house people have gotten new additions to their family? They're from Grandma & Grandpa.........

One little barn,

one little groom,

seven little horses.



Isn't it pretty? At the fence is the horse's groom, and the doll house family's cousin who's parents are deceased (because Tori thinks it doesn't fit to have their "real" daughter is over a head taller than her Dad ;)...) so she lives with her cousins. It just so happens that she comes from a very tall family ;).

The horses names are Bullseye, Black Beauty, Sarah, Johnny, Rosy, Gray & Gray Black.
And that completes the line up of the Doll House family (except Edward who is at "camp". Actually... he's lost. Whatever works.)

My (very late) Independence Day post

Well, We were all just hoping that it would stop raining on the last day of June, because that is the day that the lake we watch fireworks at had decided to set fireworks off. Well I must say it did or I might not be writing this post! We left and had a delightful time especially at the lake and even in the car. It wasn't too hot, and we listened to songs of America. Well, it could have been better if only a spider hadn't made his home right where we sat. Daddy had to move him with a stick, and then we girls worried that he'd come back (I so wish I was better with bugs!).
On Independence Day, mother read what I quoted in my last post and right after I posted that I started to fix waters. No, there weren't any more fireworks at the lake, but we were going somewhere to see fireworks :).
Well, we went to Carolina Dreaming to eat, along with some of Daddy's employees, and really enjoyed it!
Then, we went to the house of one of Daddy's employees and Daddy set off fireworks! He got some really good ones too! And one of the nice things is that we didn't have to pay a thing to get the fireworks even though Daddy picked them out! You see, Daddy's store won a lot of money last year for a store party and they still hadn't gotten to use it, so they used it to have an Independence Day party! All in all everyone had a pretty good day!
We had our last celebration by ourselves. It wasn't long but like the others, it was fun! We did some sparklers,and a few fireworks, and then... homemade ICE CREAM! This is an every year thing. The ice cream and sparklers are really the only thing that doesn't change. We always have chocolate ice cream in tiny cones. The rest Daddy might get something different then last year, but these stay the same every year since we got our ice cream maker.

I hope you had a good day too!

Where do you think I found......

76 paper clips on the third of July? O.K., here's the thing: Bethi had paper clips out, dumped them, and stuffed 76 of them in a play kitchen set coffee maker! What a goose! It didn't take as long as you might think to get them out though, even if the opening is small ;). Well, aside from the fact that I stopped to count them :).