Our weekend happenings, nothing exciting but.....

Look who was relaxing beside the stove!

On Saturday it was chilly in the morning so we lit a fire to take off the chill and since the stove was going we thought we'd better make good use of it. Cortney milled the last of the tomatoes, the we cooked the sauce down until thick enough and I canned it, yielding us 6 more pints. We'd been wanting to try a new dessert recipe Cortney found but hadn't found the time,until this afternoon. We had to modify it some, as it calls for brownie mix and we don't use those, ever! Here is what we did:

Brownies for a crowd

We cut this recipe in half to make the 2- 8" round pans full, otherwise it makes a 15x10x2" pan full. The recipe is as follows;

2c. butter( no substitutes)

8 eggs

4c. sugar

1-1/2 c. cocoa powder

2c. flour

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

2c. chopped nuts( optional)

Melt butter, over low heat, in large sauce pan, add cocoa powder and mix well, remove from heat. Add sugar, mixing well. Add one egg at a time, beating in well.

Add flour, vanilla, salt and nuts, mix thoroughly. Turn into greased and floured pan and bake @ 325-350F for 40 minutes.

Now remember we cut this recipe in half for the new recipe called;

Maple- Mocha Brownie Torte

Mix and bake the above recipe or follow a boxed brownie recipe.

Cool the 2-8" rounds on cooling racks, in the meanwhile mix 2c. heavy whipping cream and 2tsp instant coffee granules, into stiff peaks. Add 1-1/2 tsp maple flavoring, 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 c. packed brown sugar and blend in well until thickness desired for frosting. Spread a generous amount of frosting between the layers and use remaining frosting for top and sides. Refrigerate.

This is a VERY rich and NOT a fat free dessert, but taken in little wedges, for a family of three, we've had it for dessert now 3 day and will finish it tonight. ENJOY, we sure did*wink*

This is our end result, isn't it pretty? Wait until you taste it!
Yesterday it was decided because of the fore cast this coming week we needed to expedite getting the garden cleaned up and tilled under. Here I'm burning off weeds that got away from us while we were busy harvesting and canning. I sure hope this keeps the weeds down next season.
Mike tilling, first this way, then.....
that way, until the entire garden was tilled. He enjoys tilling, it seems to spurn his creativity and thinking/planning. He came up with some really great ideas on future projects, which I'll share when we begin them*wink*
The main garden is all tilled and simply awaiting a good healthy top dressing of composted manure, then a long winter's rest.
One more load of straw/ manure and the garlic will be thoroughly mulched for winter.
Three rows of garlic, YEAH! Blond moment though, I forgot to count how many cloves I planted. Anyway, it was a bunch, so pray for a good crop, won't you.
The salad garden is still a mess and most likely won't be cleaned up this Fall. There are parsnips in the middle rows that will be mulched and overwintered, so it isn't worth tilling around them and then re- tilling in the spring. Sounds good anyhow,LOL!

Today Cortney and I decided we'd get more accomplished if we worked separately so... she's going to cut back the sun chokes and hollyhocks along the end of the main garden and then get straw hauled into the pig hut, in prep for our feeder pigs. We were going to get them yesterday, but the farmer and his family have all been sick and he didn't feel like doing it and we don't blame him, nor do we want to be exposed to their illness. So we made tentative plans to pick them up this coming Sat. morning.

I will be working on apples and if I find the time I really need to work on mudding, taping, sanding, priming and painting around the mud/laundry room window, a corner and the wall behind the washer, so that this coming weekend we can get the cedar wainscoting up and the clothes dryer back in the house. Yes, we do have a dryer, but I only use it in emergency situations, like when the jeans have been on the drying racks for days and are still damp and someone NEEDS a pair. Okay It's now windy as all get out and we need to get barn chores done, Mo put out for his 2 hour grazing period and then back inside to accomplish today's list of things to do.

Take care and blessings for your week