Christmas Cookies from Grandma

My mom loves to create things.

She puts a lot of time and care into her creations.

And we eat them quicker than you can say "Bob's your uncle!"

Thank you Grandma!

Christmas Morning Casserole

One of my long time friends asked if I would share my recipe for the Breakfast casserole we have Christmas morning so while Anne with an 'E' and I were preparing it --I took photos so I could make this blog!  But be forwarned: I just kinda wing it and I probably do it a little differently each year.  Improvise!

 Frozen hash browns in the bottom of a buttered casserole dish, I use the OreIda ones because there is so much going on I don't want to make homemade.

Scramble at least 15 eggs for a 9x12 pan. (I never remember to count) I use a larger sized casserole and this year we used 24 eggs.
I add Johnny's seasoning salt and pepper to the eggs.

Fry whatever type sausage you like.  I tried bacon one year and it goes all soggy, not a great addition if you plan on making it the night before.

Shredded cheese is layered right on the hash browns.

Cut or crumble the sausage,

and distribute evenly (or half with - half with out if you have picky eaters.)

Add sour cream to the egg, and pour over the hash browns, cheese and sausage which are already in the casserole dish.

Just cover this with plastic and stick in the fridge.  Then on Christmas morning, you can pop it in the oven and set the timer, (don't forget!) and about the time people realize they are hungry the food is ready!

Bake covered for at least 30 minutes for a 9 x 12(again, I'm not sure about how long it takes) the larger pan we used this year took 45 and we had the foil off for the last 10 minutes or so. Check for doneness by cutting into the middle --it should not be runny at all.

You can also add onion, peppers, broccoli -anything you like with eggs and potatoes! We serve it with salsa or tabasco, and some like catsup or ranch dressing! Enjoy!

Oh--Don't forget the raw milk in goblets or the homemade biscuits and applesauce!
(But that's would be 2 additional posts!)

(Can you identify 3 funny Farrm things going on in this picture?  Maybe they are only funny to me...but I had to ask!)

They're dropping like flies around here!

 Well, it just wasn't meant to be I guess.  This morning Iron Man found Peaches...dead.

She had been maa-ing a lot yesterday, so the kids went out and brought her in to the barn for the night.  It had been raining, so they rubbed her down with a towel and gave her a little extra snack.  She wasn't limping as much as in the past, we thought she was on the mend.  Evidently she wasn't.

Please, don't drop any more animals off at my house...

Christmas Morning

 Our tradition is to spend Christmas eve with the in-laws, and then Christmas day at home with the kids.  Every Christmas I have another tradition, I think it borders on procrastination, but it is a tradition nonetheless:
 Iron Man and I stay up until 4am wrapping Christmas presents.
"The Princess" has been a great helper, every day she asks if she can wrap something, yet there is still plenty she can't wrap.  So there we are, after the Christmas eve festivities and cleanup is over, we lock ourselves in our room and dig everything out of their hiding places.  The wrapping begins, Iron Man says, "I hate this part, do we have to wrap everything?" "Yes we have to wrap everything, it's tradition."  ( I've said this for 20 years!)  But he is a trooper and helps me until the traditional 4am and then the Christmas magic begins:

This is the part he likes.  

Christmas morning came at 9am when Anne with an "E" played a waking rendition of "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!"  Unfortunately, no snow in the Northwest this December.

The excitement was overflowing!

Even occasionally grumpy teenage brothers were in good spirits.

The Bear had a hard time coming out of hibernation but finally made it.

Unique headwear was a hit this year!

Another wonderful Christmas on the Farrm.  Another milestone year as well,  as this is the last Christmas to have Laddie home with the family.  The next two Christmases he will be serving the Lord on a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!  I'm sure we will be watching for all of these "last times" for the rest of the year.  But for now we are enjoying having him here!

 I love you family!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve dinner with the In-laws.

I went way out on a limb this year and was a bit creative with the table deco.

Bear cut holly from a tree in the forest, and gathered some fir branches as well.  

Santa's Elves and kitchen helpers.

Bear went Rambo with the ribbon.

Laddie

Grandma

Grandpa

We set up the tri-pod and took ONE shot.  So this is as good as it gets.

Merry Christmas!

The Christmas Star - By Laddie

Laddie made this star last year and this is the second year he has hung it on the barrn.

We like the message of the star over the barrn.

"Wise men still seek Him."

Christmas gifts 2010

Merry Christmas!

            This special gift has taken, quite literally an Eternity to make!  For my part, I have been involved since April.  This project started when I planted seed in the spring, they grew all summer long, and went to seed themselves.  I carefully gathered seed heads and dried them in the greenhouse, and then the girls helped me collect the seed by hand.    

            You may appreciate a few planting pointers if you are to reap all the blessings of this Christmas     gift.  As a rule of thumb, you plant seeds according to the size of the seed. 

A very small seed can be sprinkled on top of soil and

handful of soil distributed on top. )( Lettuce)

A small seed is planted only ¼ inch below the surface.

(Carrots, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts)
Keep evenly moist until they sprout.

            That is your first miracle.  This speck of brown has now started to grow because it has soil, air and moisture.  That is because you had faith in the seed.  It requires little from you or me to make it germinate, but to get the seedling to continue and grow to produce good fruit, (or vegetables in this case) it will take daily attention, and some skill. 

         There are many great books to reference to learn these skills, seek them out and study them.  Do the things that you learn and you will see great results.  It is that simple. 

            The hard part is willingness.  You will have to decide you want to be a gardener; you want to dig in the earth, to sweat, to pull weeds daily.  But you can do it! And not only will you be rewarded with delicious dinners, but Faith and Knowledge as well.

Merry Christmas! 

With Love and Care,

The Farrm Family

 Here are the photos of the process...

Begin with your best vegetables.

With broccoli you can harvest the main head, and let the side shoots go to seed.
The bees love to visit the yellow flowers all summer long.

Carrots are very easy to grow, harvest and reseed.  

The seed head is a very pretty flower. 

The seed looks like a bug!

Pulling the seed clumps off the seed head was easy.

Brussels can be harvested the first year, and then if it over-winters will go to flower the next spring.

The flowers will turn into seed pods and dry by fall.

Brussels sprouts pods dry out and are full of seeds.

Interesting to see that one of the seeds has already begun to sprout.

Having helpers makes it more fun!

Lettuce will "bolt" in warm weather, which means it goes to seed and turns bitter. So even thought you can't eat it, you can plan for next years crop.

Did you know it would grow as tall as you are?! 
( Well, at least as tall as I am)
The tiny seed forms from the flowers which grow at the top of the plant.  

Wax paper makes great seed packets.  The wax paper is folded, and by tracing the stencil on the top piece it was easy to cut out several at once.

After the seed is gathered and the packets glued they are ready to be filled.

The art work is original.

I have more seed I saved but since I'm not real diligent at labeling what I have, I don't remember what they are!  Last year I thought I planted radishes but ended up with a bunch of really nice bok choy.   Last year I planted tomatoes from the previous harvest with 100% germination.   I also have to continue learning about what varieties cross pollinate and how to prevent that...but generally seed propagation is very successful and I really enjoy it.  There is a great book "Seed to Seed" which I highly recommend if you are interested.