White Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

The tween queen and our 3 year old nephew/cousin made these for her Spanish teacher’s birthday party tomorrow.

They are rich, chocolatey and delicious!

You can find her recipe and more pictures on my Facebook page here:  White Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Blog Hop

This is a wonderful blog hop to find new blogs to read and to share a featured post of your own.  Take time to visit and find some wonderful new sites!  Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olsen Blog Hop

Beautiful Day on the Farm

Even though it’s 11 degrees out it’s still beautiful with the blue skies and sun!

You can’t tell but the horses have worked a small area in the pasture after each snow fall and it’s actually about 3 feet higher than the actual ground. If they step off into the snow that’s not worked they sink almost up to their bellies.

Poor Blue the goat wanted to come see me at the chicken coop and realized it was over his belly so he turned around and went back to the trail I made for them to use to walk around.

Al and Oreo thought it best to hang in their house and peek their heads out rather than venture out!

Stuff

We took a rare family trip to Cleveland this weekend for 4 hockey games for the boy.  I say “rare” because it’s not very often we take these trips as a family as one of us will stay home to care for the animals especially in the winter when everything is more work because of the cold and snow.  We were only gone for 1 night.

I took these pictures of the things I had packed for an overnight stay and the “baggage” the tween queen packed.  She had more packed for one night then the rest of the family combined.  This picture does not include her purse, blanket, pillow and 2 favorite stuffed animals.

I remember those days being a teen and into my 20’s and early 30’s thinking I needed all of my “stuff”, yearning for more stuff that others had, and always thinking this stuff is good, but I need a few more things for my “stuff” collection to be complete.

Funny how as you get older the needs and desires for more stuff starts to fade away.  The stuff I need now does not store in bags or drawers.  My stuff consists of my family, clothing, and a good book.

I no longer yearn for better stuff.  I am content with the stuff I have.  I think I am growing up 🙂

Easiest Meatloaf

Sometimes taking a shortcut is the only way to go.

This meatloaf is one of those shortcut meals.

1 lb of ground beef (turkey works as well and venison/pork)

1 packet of onion soup mix (any brand is fine)

Mix all together and bake for approximately 40 minutes or until cooked through.

The flavor is fabulous and you won’t have any leftovers!!

Planning Ahead (Kitchen Tips)

Planning ahead is a time saver and leads to eating healthier.  Double win!!

I shared one of the things I do with just a little planning ahead which saved time and made 3 healthy meals on my Facebook page here:  Kitchen Tip

Niagara Falls

We live 15 minutes away from Niagara Falls.  Here are some pictures of what it looks like right now with the pictures from last spring.  The first set of pictures is the Falls.

The second set is a picture of the rapids leading up to the Falls.

It’s an amazing sight to see so I wanted to share it.  You can find more pictures on our local news stations page

here:  Niagara Falls Frozen

Western New York Weekend

This weekend has been frigid.  I am not a complainer and I still will not complain today in -2 F temperatures and getting the 4 wheeler stuck about 1/8 mile away from the house and having to walk back to tell the man of the house (who had told me not to try and get it back there which made it MUCH worse!).

The kids were upset school was closed on Friday as they missed their Valentines parties but that lasted about 45 seconds and they realized it was great to be home and headed out to snowmobile.

Saturday morning we were hit with a snowy blustery day.  In the morning you can see how much it snowed by the snow on the bird feeder and trees.

This railing is waist high showing how much snow we have and drifting which made it a challenging walk to the barn for sure.

The new hens adjusted fine to their move and already are earning their keep!

In the afternoon the boy had a hockey game at a new outdoor hockey arena called Buffalo Riverworks .  It was snowing and blowing like crazy and the temperatures were around 17F but with the wind it was much colder.

The new facility is fabulous and the boys had a blast even though they lost the game and we all bundled up, even Grandma, and stood out there to cheer them on.

The drive home was quite the challenge but it was heavenly coming home to a roaring fire in the woodburner and a nice hot dinner of Turkey Chowder made with the leftover turkey and stock from Thanksgiving.

And tonight we will end the evening with a mom and dad night heading out to dinner at 716

followed by checking out our new Buffalo Sabres player at the game!

Juice Popsicles

Natural Juice pops are very expensive in our area. $4.99 for a 6 pack. But they are sooooo good and we are an all year round popsicle eating family.

Every week I buy a different type of juice and make our own juice pops. This week is Orange Peach Mango juice.

Making your own is a great way to save a few $$’s

I need this sign

We are adding to our little chicken clutch tomorrow.  These cute little ladies will be coming home with me

How could I not when they need a new home?????  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!!!

Now it’s up to the kids to name them 🙂