Just Desserts

I saw this recipe the other day and decided to try them. I call them Gobbits as in just gob it on your thighs. They are easy to make. Simply get a box of your favorite brownie mix (I get Duncan Hines Dark Fudge) and mix according to directions. Butter the muffin tin and place some of the mixture in each one. It will make twelve . Push the batter up the sides of the tin and leave an indention in the middle of each. Make your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and place a tablespoon of dough into the brownie and press down slightly. Bake approx. 30 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream or Blue Belle Homemade Vanilla ice cream.

Next time I make these, I will add more cookie dough to it. The brownie sort of overwhelmed the cookie part. I am also going to try a cream cheese filling for a cheesecake brownie. Super Gobbits!

When Whippoorwills Call

I heard a whippoorwill this eve. The first this year. I don't know where they go in winter. I love to hear them with their three distinct whistles. Many songs laud the whippoorwill's call - too many in fact to list here. There are also many early native American legends about the whippoorwill. The Omaha's believed its song was an omen of death while the Ute's thought the whippoorwill was a god of the night. There were also early American legends surrounding the bird. Washington Irving mentions it in THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. One New England legend says the Whippoorwill can sense a soul departing and can capture it as it flees. Who knew? For Earth Day, we should know that this bird is becoming endangered and/or threatened by habitat destruction, predation by feral cat and dog populations and insecticides. They are ground dwellers; build their nests on the ground and you rarely see them - just hear that lonesome whippoorwill...





photo by J.W. Dingel

Sometimes Your The Windshield, Sometimes Your The Bug

What started out as a bucolic spring afternoon, progressed with me upended in chicken shit and broken eggs at the barn. I'd collected the eggs and looked around the hay bales for some stragglers who like to try and trick me and hide their eggs in the goose's nest. I climbed and raided said nest, then began to descend and got snared by fence wire used to hold the hay bales together. As I flew chickenlike through the air, the eggs went flying and my feelings were hurt, not to mention my neck has a crook in it now. So no eggy recipe today. Hope I can turn my head tomorrow. Got to plant the rest of my strawberries. Happy birthday to my dear friend Mary Kay. She's the best egg of all.

SPRING GARDENING

It's that time again! There is an old belief that eating the first asparagus of spring will bring good luck. Yesterday, I did gather a handful of spears and fixed them for supper. I didn't Julia Child it, nor use my silver asparagus tongs. I simply tossed the spears with olive oil, 2 cloves of sliced garlic and a sprinkling of salt. Then, I grated a Spanish Parmesan cheese on top (this cheese is less salty and a little softer than parmesano reggiano). Here's the good part. I did all this on a paper plate and covered it with another one and cooked it in the microwave for 1 minute and 45 seconds. Atop a pile of sticky sprouted brown rice, it was so good, and easy. I'll have to see if the luck legend pans out. I need all I can get right now. However, on the other hand, I guess if I'm still kicking, then perhaps that is luck enough... Anyway, asparagus grows so fast that I'm going to be freezing lots of it in the coming days. Anybody have a good recipe out there?

Come On Down To The Farm

YAHOO! We've been busy lately, working on our new B & B. Can't wait to book you. Really, this is the funniest photo. I just had to show you. Jayme, at the Coop Keeper posted this a few weeks ago and I had to share it with you. We seem to have a lot of these types of residences in this part of the state. This one is hillbilly heaven, I'm sure, or, perhaps a hillbilly highrise. Eat your hearts out New York City. Is that a water attraction I see - and a greenhouse? On second thought, this is the perfect for the family; a room of one's own for everyone. This would never work though in OK. The high winds and/or tornadoes would make piles of rubble out of it.