IN THIS ISSUE:
*Feature: Bite Me
*Kitchen Extra: Getting My Candy Groove On
*My Favorite Thing Right Now: The CITR 2012 Calendar
*Recent Highlights: Power School Graduation, Silence of the Calves, Stealing Autumn, and More
*Sneak Peek: CITR Retreat 2012
*Farm Bell Recipes: Planning Ahead for the Holidays
*Blast from the Past: Maple Rum-Raisin Cookies
*Newsletter Sponsor:
Still Meadows: Unique primitive shop & greenhouses located right on the farm. Find the perfect gift for shipping to everyone including the ‘hard-to-buy-for’! WV Gift Baskets and More! Starting 11/15/2011!
*Newsletter Stats: 7150 subscribers as of this mailing.
*Feature: Bite Me
Spice the cat and Casper the dog are involved.
Spice: “Hello, lover.”
“You know what I want.”
“Right there.”
“There.”
“There!”
“YES!”
“I’m so embarrassed.”
Casper: “What does embarrassed mean?”
*Kitchen Extra: Getting My Candy Groove On
I always feel as if I’m getting robbed this time of year. I don’t have children young enough to go trick-or-treating anymore, and I don’t live in a neighborhood where I can expect trick-or-treaters at the door. Therefore, I don’t get to “go through the goody bags for safety’s sake” and steal candy from my children, nor do I have any excuse to stock up on candy to supposedly give away to other children. In short, I have no candy and no excuses.
After giving this troubling issue some thought, I realized I just needed a new excuse! I do like to come up with recipes and share recipes. Why am I not working on recipes that involve CANDY? Boy, sometimes I’m really slow.
Snickers Cheesecake:
Crust
2 cups crushed Oreo cookies
1/4 cup butter, melted
Filling
2 large Snickers bars
3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
8 ounces sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
Topping
chocolate or caramel syrup
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Place cookie crumbs in the bottom of the pan. Drizzle melted butter over crumbs; toss with fork until well combined. Firmly press mixture in bottom and up sides of pan to form crust. Cut each candy bar in half lengthwise; cut each half into 8 pieces. Set aside. In large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Beat in sour cream, vanilla and eggs until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl once. Stir in candy pieces. Pour mixture into crust-lined pan. Bake 1 hour 15 minutes or until knife inserted slightly off center comes out clean (center will be slightly jiggly). Cool completely in pan on wire rack, about 1 hour. Carefully remove sides of pan. Refrigerate until chilled before serving, at least 2 hours. Drizzle slices with chocolate syrup.
Optional: You could use a third Snickers bar to chop up and decorate on top. Or just eat the third Snickers bar. Up to you!
Get the printable recipe at Farm Bell Recipes here.
*My Favorite Thing Right Now: The CITR 2012 Calendar
Take CITR with you all year!
The animals have been bad, wild, and bad this year, so in honor of their bad-to-the-bone-ness, I present the Party Animals Edition! Get the scoop and how to order here.
*Recent Highlights: Power School Graduation, Silence of the Calves, Stealing Autumn, and More
Barn: It’s still all about cows here in my battle with the Bad Baby. See me win in Silence of the Calves then it’s Glory Bee’s turn in How to Entertain Yourself If You’re a Heifer. It’s not over yet! Find all my farm animal stories here.
Cooking: So many ways to use one easy-to-make soft cheese. Check out The Joy of Lactic Cheese then come along on my experiment with Pizza Crust Yeast. Don’t miss a thing in my kitchen! Get all my recipes.
Country Living: What am I up to? I have a list of Six Things. I also took a trip to South Carolina in October for a Navy Nuclear Power School Graduation–Ross is on to prototype now! See all my country living stories.
House & Garden: See my wet, wet fall and my attempt to overcome in Stealing Autumn. Browse all my posts in house & garden.
*Sneak Peak: CITR Retreat 2012
Bigger and better than ever.
We have a date! CITR Retreat 2012 is set for September 13-17, with the Party on the Farm on September 16. (Check-in at Camp Sheppard will be September 13, with check-out September 17.) Registration opens in January.
Retreat workshops at Camp Sheppard in 2012 will include cheesemaking, preserving, soapmaking, breadbaking, candlemaking, homemade beauty/skincare products (including sensitive skin and baby), apron-making, spinning, felting, container gardening, photography, painting, quilting, goat milking and husbandry (with goats on site!), shiitake mushroom log inoculating, and dulcimer and psaltery playing.
Evenings will be “freestyle” with craft-sharing time and some very special entertainment. West Virginia dulcimer player and maker Jim Good will entertain us with his music on Friday evening (September 14) and Granny Sue, a real live old-fashioned folk storyteller will regale us with her tales on Saturday night (September 15). See you there! For more info, check out the Retreat 2012 page.
*Farm Bell Recipes: Planning Ahead for the Holidays
Community member CindyP is getting ready for the holidays already–and we should be, too! See Cookie Dough–Bake One, Freeze One and be inspired!
To submit a blog post and enter to win the latest contributor giveaway, go here. The October contributor giveaway winner was Robin from Rurification.
October 2011 Farm Bell Recipes blog contributors:
Amanda — Becker Style
Astrid
Cassie
CindyP — Our Life Simplified
Jayme Payne — Dreaming of Poultry
Jim in Colorado — Granddad’s Corner
Joy
Kathi N — Granddad’s Corner
katieiacobellis
kellyb
Kenya Cook
Kerrie — City Girl Farming
LisaAJB — You Probably Shouldn’t Read This
Mary — Buck ‘N Run Ranch
MrsFuzz
OliviaN — Storkie
Pat
prvrbs31gal — Homesteading on the Homefront
Robin from Rurification — Rurification
Shelley — Twiggity Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats
THANK YOU! Please give them a visit!
*Blast from the Past: Maple Rum-Raisin Cookies
One of my favorite recipes for this time of year.
Raisins soaked in rum and pecans–these cookies taste like autumn in a bite! Get the recipe.
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Thank you for your comments, your support, and just for being there. Here’s hoping to see you on the Chickens in the Road Forum (make friends, have fun, come join us!) and every day on the farmhouse blog!
Love,
Suzanne
*More Handy Links:
CITR on Twitter
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What are you fixing for supper tonight? Browse the goodness at Farm Bell Recipes — your cooking community!
*I’m giving away a Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving about once a week so don’t forget to watch the blog for The Ball Blue Book Project days.
