Christmas '15

This week was Christmas. Big Man once again failed to find a way to keep it from coming, and Fraidy Mutt is glad it's over. All in all it was a good time, we entertained the family (the ones that count anyway) and even had a visit from our cousin's Bill and Francis and their son/wife. We gifted them some boiled custard before sending them home with a trunk full of canned goodies. We went through all three gallons of the boiled custard this week, so we will have to make more for new years.
A house full of family, three tables full of food and a living room full of presents. We are truly blessed.
We start off with Christmas shenanigans, Brother Kevin and the kids piled on poor Jake for a photo op. It was after everyone ate too, so you know it was comfortable.

Jake was very excited to be awake early...

We had to add a picture of Pops, doing his best Minnie Pearl impression....

Before all the presents came out, we had to do work in the kitchen. It's not like we need a holiday to eat well, but when we have an excuse, we "tear out the bone".
Before we got started, we got to use a stocking stuffer. We opened these early, so we could be super hero's in the kitchen.

And super we were. Starting off, we got around to making the red velvet cheesecake from last week. There were just a few calories in this, but man it was worth it. We are sooooo going to keep making these.

From scratch cheesecake. None of that no bake box stuff for us

Red velvet, split in two

Just good eatin

Then we made the holiday tradition of fruit cake. No alcohol in these, and some we made with no walnuts, some we made with no nuts. We try to bake to our audience.

And we had a request for buttermilk pies. Orders were made and filled. They seem to be taking on a life of their own.

Cupcake made her famous cheese balls, sausage balls, deviled eggs and sweet potato casserole.

And Big Man made our manly tradition of fried oysters

Last but not least, we smoked our country ham. We don't know why everyone doesn't smoke their own meat.

Overnight soaking

Notice the thermometer RB?

So moist

After we carved it and served it, we took the ham bone and boiled it on the outside burner for several hours, boiling the meat off. We actually did "tear out the bone"

Future bean meat right there

We put out the buffet and released the masses upon it.

The least excited about the holiday was Fraidy Mutt. She was banished to the outside deck while company was inside the house. She and Big Man talked it over, and she is now willing to wear a deer antler on her head, and pull the Who presents up Mount Krumpet next year if it will keep her inside.

We ended the week with leftovers. Lots and lots of leftovers.
K&K

Cakes and Custard

This week we planned on making a red velvet cheesecake, but out of the blue we had a request for some cakes for a friend of a friend. We made two carrot cakes and one red velvet cake, and covered them all with Big Man's soon to be world famous cream cheese icing. We have not had a report back yet, so we're not planning on quitting our day jobs anytime soon to open a bakery. But it's still flattering to be asked.

For the "Custard" part of our title this week, we spent Sunday making three gallons of boiled custard. It's a good thing we have little egg machines running around in the back yard.

While Big Man worked on the custard, Cupcake made two batches each of molasses cookies and snicker doodles. Then being the over achiever that she is, she made a large peanut butter pinwheel. The kitchen was alive with smells.

Since it was the last weekend before Christmas, we made a special breakfast on Sunday and made deer tenderloin gravy for our biscuits.

Other food notes for the week included steaks for dinner on Thor's Day.

Odds and ends to finish out this week. Somebody (we wont mention any names) couldn't wait until Christmas to open one of her presents, and fired up her new half gallon bourbon and apple candle.

We made a new gallon of laundry detergent.

And on a special note for us, it snowed for the first time this season. Not a lot, but it still counts.

We ended the week with wings.
K&K

TIMMMMBEEEERRRRR!!

It finally happened. Fraidy Mutt has all but ignored the Christmas tree over the past few years, but this year something peaked her interest. We had just turned off the latest episode of "Arrow" when we heard a crash in the living room. We found the mutt hiding behind the couch, and the tree on the floor. We figured there was a shiny squirrel that had passed through the tree before we brought it home. Shiny squirrels are a common thing around The Acre.

And along the dropping of trees thread, Big Man took advantage of the warm weather this week to drop one of the wild cherry trees on the property. They are deadly to cows, so we try to cut them in the winter. Plus they make excellent smoker wood, and we love us some smoked meat.

We did a bit of baking this week. Big Man whipped up another fruit cake.

And Cupcake made a batch of preacher cookies

And another batch of her soon to be world famous sausage balls.

Last week we made a batch of boiled custard, and it turned out so good that we thought we had better make another batch, just to make sure we had the recipe down pat. You know, before Christmas entertaining and all.

One thing we are going to try in the coming week is a recipe that's been going around the Facebook for a while now. Red velvet cheesecake. It's a cheesecake in between two red velvet cakes, topped with what is a close recipe to Big Man's soon to be world famous cream cheese icing. Tune in next week for results.
One thing we have been putting off was our rosemary plant. We had it in an old cast iron pot our family used to boil steel traps in back in the day. We had a sweet potato vine in the same pot, and after the first couple of freezes, the sweet potato vine died and we figured the rosemary would too, but it never did. Since it's been so warm this week, we went ahead and dug the rosemary plant out of the pot and transplanted it in a flower pot, then moved it inside for the winter. We saved the sweet potatoes from the vine as well. We planted the small ones for next year's vines, we will cook up the bigger one for dinner.

We ended the week with wings.
K&K