Making Farm Beautiful - Barn Quilt Block

When you drive through the countryside you can see farmsteads along the road.  Some have been there for centuries and others not so long.  Perhaps there is an old dwelling and not far a new one reflecting the legacy being carried on.  This is the case of our farmsteads. 

My in laws live in the dwelling that my father-in-law and his twin brother were born in.  He has lived there his entire life except for a few short years.  It has held a couple families during that time where little boys rode their trikes around in a circle through the house, and neighbor kids and cousins hung out.  Additions to the dwelling were made and now it holds only two very special people.  They continued a legacy of farming and they shared it with their children.  My husband being one of them, now he is sharing it with his child to carry on the legacy.

The beauty of the farm may just be in the eye of the beholder, I'm not sure.  I find beauty in different areas of the farm when I'm out in it.  Pride of ownership is another legacy that was passed on in my husband's family.  When I walk through the farmstead, pasture, or take a gander from the road of a field I can see years of hard work, love, and care.  That's important.  That's good. 

This Christmas season I wanted to make sure we gave my husband's parents a gift they could enjoy for a long time.  We are blessed to still have them and they are simple folk. So when searching for a gift we went with homemade.  The best kind of course.  

I had planned for all three of us to help work on it, but it ended up I was unable to participate in the labor part. PV painted some, but mostly Milton made it for his parents.  I just gave him the idea and plans! :)  So I guess it was still a team effort.

A Barn Quilt Block is what we presented to them on Saturday. 

The following weekend Milton hung it on the barn. You can see it from the  roadside or as you come into their drive.  We went with red, white, and blue as they are as American as they come.  They are part of American heritage and I am proud to say I am a part of their family.

It is the first barn quilt block that Milton has done.  Perhaps we will do some more in the future.   I was inspired by my friend Nicole and others that have done them.  We hope they enjoy it and that those that drive by do as well.

This holiday season giving to others is important but as always the true reason for the season is Jesus Christ.  We pray that your family had a happy healthy holiday season.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie and Milton and PV

Christmas in the Country Exchange

This post is to share what I received from this year's Christmas in the Country Exchange 2014!  If you recall from last year I joined a group of bloggers that did a gift exchange.

I love the gift I received!  It is a unique homemade gift, which is  the best I do believe! :)  It came from Suzi over at Chores and Chandeliers.  I can tell from the gift I received that she is one talented lady and after checking out her blog one fun loving momma, wife, and teacher!  Be sure to show her some love and visit her blog!

Suzi is from Nebraska and guess what?!  The blogger I got to send gifts to was from the same great State!  Amanda @ The Barstow's: Our Little House on The Prairie received a gift from us Kansas folk!  Be sure to check out her blog too!

I will probably continue to do this gift exchange as long as they have it.  It's nice to meet other bloggers and hear what they have to say about agriculture and rural life!  Thanks for stopping by!

Julie

Cinnamon Apples

My mother had mentioned that she hadn't had Cinnamon Apples in a long time and they sounded good.  So I decided we would make them for our family Christmas gathering. Actually to be honest, my husband made them.  I was busy setting up the house!

I thought since it had been awhile since we shared a recipe here on the blog from the Entertaining Kitchen I would share this one. Hope you enjoy!

Cinnamon Apples

6-7 apples
1 Cup sugar
3 Tbls. water
6 oz. pkg. cinnamon red hots

Peel and core apples in fourths.  Put in heavy stew post.  Add all ingredients and simmer for about 20 minutes or until apples are tender.

Snow on the Farm & Family Inspiration!

I haven't written over here at the Sunsets since December 7th, and my sweet cousin reminded me of this today!  She is one of those people that when you see her, you can't help but smile, and then when you hear her talk or get close enough you gotta hug her!  :)  Seriously, I'm not kidding. It's one of the perks of marrying into Milton's family, she was actually his cousin first, but I think she secretly likes me more now! ;) Shhh, don't tell him!

Anyway, I asked her what to blog on and she says THE SNOW!  She was shoveling her parent's driveway this morning.  I giggled, but here I am.  I'm writing a blog post about snow and whatever else pops into my head!  Inspired by my sweet lovable Colorado cousin!

(FYI my dear cousin, you can read daily from me at Pushing Forward with Grace too!)

We had about 3 inches here at the farm.  It is really  pretty and PV was so excited about it!  Unfortunately I am not sure she will get to play in it.  She is in school all day and then we have commitments after! :(  Maybe tomorrow if it sticks around we can play in the snow!

The farmer went out early this morning to feed the calves, then we had a business meeting together about the farm.  We multi tasked while having the meeting, we were walking for exercise at our new High school gymnasium!  It was nice to walk in climate controlled area, lots of space, and quality time with hubs! It was a good meeting too! :)

He is out hunting as I write this post.  He doesn't get to enjoy his hobbies as much as he would like, so I'm glad he gets to go out today!

SO! My cousin should be happy, I wrote a post today! :) I hope you all are enjoying your week and have some fun in the snow! If you have some in your neck of the woods!

Thanks for stopping by!
Julie

Family Gingerbread House Decorating 2014

It's that time of a year again and we are into the family Christmas traditions at our home. Today we spent the afternoon decorating gingerbread houses. It was a blast!  I highly recommend it!

This year we didn't buy kits like we normally do, we made the houses out of graham crackers.  We made the icing with powdered sugar, water, and merigue powder.  It worked like a charm!  We bought candies and frosting to use as well.

One of my friends offered to be a judge online when we were done.  I decided it would be fun to share on our In Between the Sunsets of Life Facebook page and have lots of people judge them!  

So head over to our Facebook page and check out the photos!  Click like for your favorite! At noon on Tuesday the 9th we will announce the winner!  They get bragging rights for  year! :)

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Julie

Honey Peanut Butter Tortilla- Recipe by PV

I thought it would be fun if PV shared a recipe with you.  She made a request one morning months ago and this has been in my drafts that long!  

 It's simple, it's not candy, and it's kid friendly!

Honey Peanut Butter Tortilla

Take a tortilla, spread peanut butter on it and then add honey.  

She then rolls it  up and eats it.  

She often likes just honey and tortillas together, 

no peanut butter!

Enjoy!

And yes, she tends to like to eat plain tortillas as well!

She is being pretty silly here!

Do you have a kid friendly recipe you would like to share?

Please comment here or our Facebook page!

We love to try new recipes!

To follow us via email, you can check out the top right hand corner of our blog!

Delivered straight to your inbox to read what we posted!

Would you rather follow us on Pinterest or Facebook!

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Thanks for stopping by!

Julie

Birthday Challenge

I'm sending you over to my other blog.  I need some help to celebrate my birthday. Help a gal out will ya!?  :)

Pushing Forward with Grace

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Delivered straight to your inbox to read what we posted!

Would you rather follow us on Pinterest or Facebook!

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Thanks for stopping by!
Julie

Stuffed Italian Mushrooms

I went to a gathering and one of the ladies brought some delicious stuffed mushrooms.  When I asked her for the recipe she told me she just threw it together!  WHAT!  She didn't use a recipe??? I'm the type that normally won't stray from a recipe, but Carla inspired me to live wildly in my kitchen on a weeknight no less! :)

My husband and I love mushrooms, and we were needing to get some used up.  We were grilling steak (he is a trooper, it was like 20 degrees out!) for supper and so while he was feeding calves I started the mushroom experiment! 

Milton loves sausage, I am not a big fan of it, but we had some Italian sausage in the frig.  I remembered we had this great olive oil we picked up on our vacation in Fort Collins, Colorado that we both love.  So there you have it! 

Stuffed Italian mushrooms were created in the Entertaining Kitchen!  Like I said, I'm not a big fan of sausage, but this mixture of yumminess, I ate the left over filling straight from the bowl. THAT'S how good it tasted (at least to me or maybe I was just really hungry!)

So here you go, the recipe is below!  Enjoy or even create your own mixture and come back to share with us here!  We all love new recipes don't we?

Thanks for stopping by!
Julie

Stuffed Italian Mushrooms

12 button mushrooms
1/4 lb italian sausage
1/4 c. onion
4 oz. cream cheese
1/4 c. parmesean cheese
Olive oil or butter


Wipe the mushrooms with a wet paper towel to clean and remove stems. You can chop the stems up into tiny bits and use with sausage and onion mixture or disgard.  

Fry the italian sausage, onion, and diced stems until cooked through.  Mix with cream cheese and parmesean cheese.  

Dip mushrooms into oil oil or brush outer edges with it. Fill the mushrooms with the filling.  Top with panko, place on baking sheet.  I did drizzle olive oil about half way through baking over all the mushrooms.  Next time I think I will use butter for this part, and olive oil for the first part.

Bake at 350 degrees until done, about 25 minutes.