Horsin' Around

Both Sunshine Girl and Nix Nux Nelli have a tremendous enthusiasm for all things related to horses. It is their dream to have horses of their own one day and if Nix Nux Nelli had her way, there would also be ducks, chickens, goats, cats, dogs and rabbits, to name a few.  Sunshine Girl has the ability to connect with animals in an emotional way and they seem to respond with their trust.  Nix Nux Nelli is the one who wants to play, tease and bother them to no end.  She also say's she is going to be a cowgirl one day and learn to rope and ride, but also to be a vet, just for horses!  

So to truly see if my girls would like to follow those dreams, we thought we should give them some close horse exposure.  After much prayer about riding lessons and a clear answer being given, we found a little spot called Sunshine Valley Stables that is about 10 minutes away.  The lessons are not just for riding, but for all that is involved with caring for a horse.  Grooming, feeding, watering, cleaning stalls and cleaning hooves.  We'll see if the horse fever continues when they see that it isn't all glamorous.  

This is Ghost.  He patiently endured my girls brushing him before and after saddling.

Nix Nux volunteered to go first.  The trainer started by leading the horse around the arena to let Nix Nux Nelli get a feel for the movements.  

Once Nix Nux Nelli was ready, the trainer stood in the middle and had N.N. Nelli guide the horse with the reigns into the circle and farther out of it.

N.N. Nelli had to find her voice when she wanted the horse to stop.  Her "ho" came out pretty timid and weak in the beginning, but was starting to show more confidence after a few tries.

Sunshine Girl was up next, and Ghost, having already done an hours lesson was not going to be quite as agreeable with this one.  Every time he circled around to the gate by his stable he stopped, wanting to be done and get his treat.

Another horse watching the lesson.

Sunshine Girl really caught on quick with all the commands and was able to ride on her own by the end of the hour.  She even had her horse back up!  Yay!

The girls had a super time and are so happy that their next lesson is tomorrow morning!

How about a hot Chili Nacho Supper to warm you up?

For a quick dinner that everyone likes and even feeds a crowd, this is the old standby.  With the cooler and wetter days of autumn setting in, my tendency is to cook the warm comfort foods of soups, chili and stews.  This recipe is for Chili Nacho Supper and is meant to be served over Fritos.  I've cooked it ahead of time and reheated it in a crock pot for gatherings where it was also served over baked potatoes and hot dogs.  For a picnic, I had individual Fritos bags with a couple spoonfuls of chili over the chips, topped with lettuce, cheese, sour cream and salsa for a personalized taco salad.  This is very versatile and you can come up with a number of ways to serve it.  

The ingredients:

2 1/2 pounds ground beef (I used turkey)

3 cans (15 ounces each) tomato sauce

2 cans (16 ounces each) pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (10 ounces) diced tomatoes and green chilies, undrained

2 envelopes chili mix

2 pounds process American cheese, cubed

1 cup whipping cream

2 packages (16 ounces each) corn chips

sour cream

In a Dutch oven, cook the beef (or turkey) until no longer pink; drain.

Rinse and drain the beans.

Add tomato sauce, beans, tomatoes and chili mix to meat mixture, heat through.

Add cheese and cream.

Cook until the cheese is melted.

Serve over chips.  Top with sour cream, if desired.

Yield 14- 16 servings.

Recipe courtesy of Quick Cooking May/June 1999

Caramel Apples

To celebrate the arrival of autumn the girls and I decided to try our hand at making caramel apples on a stick.  Usually these treats are reserved for the specials days we head to the pumpkin patch and tackle a corn maze, but this year we wanted to make sure we had enough to go around.

Heading out this morning to pick up groceries before the expected afternoon downpour of rain arrived, I looked at three places for the popsicle sticks needed for this recipe.  The only ones I could find were colored, so I hope there is nothing toxic in the paint used to color the sticks.  By the way, I didn't think of this until too late, check the apples you buy to see if they will sit flat, otherwise you'll have some interesting results.

Ingredients:

8 - 10 medium tart apples  ( I purchased golden delicious and granny smith)

1 cup butter

2 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Also needed: 8 - 10 wooden sticks.

Step one:  Remove the stickers and wash the apples.

Step two:  Fill a bowl with HOT water.

Three:  Dunk each apple  for about 30 seconds to remove the corn wax so the caramel adheres better.

Here are the caramel ingredients, all ready to go.

Place all the ingredients (except the vanilla and apples) in a heavy 3 quart saucepan.

 Stir to combine.  Bring to boil over medium-high heat.

Cook and stir until the mixture reaches 248 degrees, which is firm-ball stage in candy-making talk, using a candy thermometer.  Once the mixture reaches the desired temperature, remove it from heat and stir in vanilla.  Sorry for the blurry picture, apparently I cannot stir and take a picture at the same time.

If desired, have toppings ready to go.  I used chopped peanuts, but other options are: crushed candy bars, crushed cookies, sprinkles, marshmallows.....  or all of the above.  Get creative!

Insert  the wooden sticks through the stem side of apple about halfway through.

Dip the apple in the hot caramel mixture, turn to coat and use a spoon to cover the spots on top.

Let the excess caramel drip off....

                          

.....roll in desired topping of choice.....

 ....and set on waxed paper to cool.

Once cool, you can really go to town and drizzle on melted chocolate and/or white chocolate and sprinkle with more toppings.

If there is any caramel mixture left in the pan, remove it while it is still soft, otherwise you will spend your evening scrubbing it out.  The left over candy is delicious and can be rolled into caramel candy balls. 

 Be sure you don't have any loose teeth, crowns or fillings before enjoying this :-)

Recipe courtesy of Taste of Home

Family

In August, we were able to spend a few days at my parent's house in Moses Lake and took the opportunity to update our family pictures.  These days it is hard to get all our families together and thankfully one evening worked out that we were all together and well.

Papa and Nana with their four granddaughters.

The Mittelstadt/McCavour families.

Moses Lake isn't that far to go, but now with the school year tying up our time and also bringing its share of illnesses, the trips up that way will be infrequent until Spring/Summer.  These dear ones are daily in our thoughts and prayers and with the telephone and Skype, the time apart doesn't seem so long.