Pinke Post

New baby visit

2012-02-12T21:59:00.001-06:00

Our girls are in a baby stage. They care for their doll "babies" all the time. The babies go with us on outings and are cared for like their own. But the best babies are...real ones. And this afternoon our girls got a visit from a new "real" baby. Our local friends had their first born three weeks ago and stopped by this afternoon for a visit.

The girls swooned and poked at him. Baby C slept. They gave him gifts. Baby C slept.

Planning Valentine's Day recipes & a meal

2012-02-11T15:40:00.001-06:00

While I don't think all the hoopla of Valentine's Day is always necessary, it is a good day to give a few extra hugs and kisses and share some good food together. I was thinking ahead today that Valentine's Day on Tuesday this upcoming week is going to be hectic because of Hunter's local Science Fair. We'll have to share our Valentine's family meal probably on Wednesday instead together.

What to make to please a family of kids ages 2, 4 and 14 along with steak loving husband?

Sweet tooth ideas first. We discovered our love for Valentine's Cake Pops last year. Auntie Lori made them and sent them to us. If you don't know how to make cake balls or cake pops, Bakerella can teach you how.

Last year for a new dessert at Valentine's Day, I made Almost Famous Chocolate Molten Cake from a Food Network recipe. I am going to make it again this year as a special treat for my sweet tooth chocolate loving family.

Finding joy...in a gym or at the dinner table

2012-02-09T22:55:00.001-06:00

Life is hurried and at times full of hassles. But this winter I've been trying to find joy in the simple things. It sounds easy. But it is not as easy for me as I would like it to be. I am learning to let go, to unwind, to take in the moments and to find joy in the daily life moments.

Tonight our Mustang's boys basketball team won by 20 points to a team that we had lost to just a couple weeks ago in an ugly loss. It was a joyous home court win in the first round of our district tournament.

Miss E found playing in the bleachers with her friends was much more joyous than watching the game.
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WW: Imagination Library and the need for a win

2012-02-08T06:30:00.007-06:00

Imagination Library has come to our small town school district. It's Dolly Parton's nationwide program. Through local fundraising of a few driven community volunteers, each child that signs up ages 0-5 gets a different book once a month. The books are theirs to keep and age appropriate.

Our girls love visits to our small library and are diligent at returning books each week but to now receive their own new books monthly will be a special treat.
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Peek into the new normal...

2012-02-05T18:35:00.003-06:00

It's been a month since I took a drastic jump in careers. A few of you how asked me how it is going. Former colleagues think I have fallen into a gopher hole on the prairie because they have not heard from me. I have not talked about the changes on this blog as often as some of you anticipated because instead of blogging, I have been living the changes.

This past weekend was my first "work" conference, the Dakota Grown Local Foods Conference where I gathered with farmers market managers, farmers, new colleagues and many other stakeholders in the local foods movement in our corner of the prairie. But...I was also with friends.

A few North Dakota blogger friends joined and later this week I will share their blogs and thoughts from our weekend together. The new normal is that I don't travel nearly weekly on airplanes anymore. I don't sit in hotel rooms by myself on a regular basis where much of my past blogging got done late at night.

Instead the new normal has me mostly at home in the evenings. I don't blog as often because I am reading Green Eggs and Ham to Miss A each night and taking Miss E to her weekly Tae Kwan Do class.

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Growing your own food to build community

2012-02-03T11:30:00.002-06:00

I'm a novice gardener and terrible at weeding our summer garden. Thankfully I have help.

I'm a novice at preserving food also. I have more help with canning and freezing, having learned from my mother-in-law, mom and grandma to can and freeze the fresh garden produce so we can enjoy it in the long prairie winter.

WW: Boldly living the road less traveled

2012-01-31T20:30:00.002-06:00

There is a change in the game plan this week. I am not hosting a linky party for Wordless or Wordy Wednesday. It's the first time in well over a year. I'll be back again soon but just needed a blog change this week as the month wraps.

Change is good I have learned. Change forces you into a new place. My life has taken me on the road less traveled. It was not the road I had planned or dreamed of as a young girl. But I have learned to live boldly and to blaze my own trail down the road less traveled.

There have been pitfalls and mistakes on the road less traveled. I have been be deceived. I have failed. I have fallen. But through it all, along the road less traveled, I had met the most wonderful people whether it be in person or through social media. I learned from a former boss, "It's okay if you fall, Katie. We'll pick you back up, put on a Band-Aid on you and let you keep running. We won't let you bleed to death."

I have worn my share of Band-Aids of many forms. I have scars from the road less traveled. But I have kept going and felt the greatest sense of accomplishment in little and big ways by being willing to "keep running" as my former boss told me to do.

No matter where I am on the road less traveled, it's the honest, kind people and the everlasting relationships I have made along the way that stay with me.

From time to time, I like to look back over my shoulder to remind me where I have come from as my past is a strong foundation. Mostly, I look ahead to what the road less traveled has in store for me.

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Ginger Garlic and Buffalo Chicken Wings for Super Bowl Recipes

2012-01-30T22:16:00.004-06:00

With Super Bowl weekend coming right up the starving like a pack of wolves teenager of our house and I decided to experiment with two recipes for homemade chicken wings. We made a fabulous Buffalo Oven Fried Chicken Wings Recipe and a huge hit of Ginger Garlic Buffalo Chicken Wings Recipe. It was an easy step-by-step process that anyone can follow and be the star of Super Bowl Sunday.

This is a large 50+ wing batch. For a smaller version, cut this recipe in half.

You need:

6 pounds whole chicken wings (I bought frozen wings and drummies. Each 3 lb. bags.)

1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
3 tbsp hot sauce
2 tbsp canola oil
2 cup all-purpose flour
non-stick cooking spray
large mixing bowl
aluminum foil
3 sheet pans

I pulled up all three recipes I was going to use and set out all ingredients ahead of time on the counter. It will save time and make sure you have everything on hand.

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large mixing bowl of chicken wings (mine were partially thawed), add the salt, pepper, hot sauce, and oil. Toss to coat the wings evenly. I used my hands. You can use tongs if you'd like.

Find a plastic grocery bag that doesn't have a hole in the bottom of it or a fresh and clean garbage bag. Add the 2 cups of flour. Add the wings to the bag.

Shake them up. Shake them up. Shake them up. Carefully. Line three baking sheets with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Gently shake off the flour and place wings spread evenly across the baking sheets.

My favorite part of this cooking in the kitchen was hanging out with our teenage son. Probably more than hanging out with his mom, he really enjoyed making the wings.

Bake the wings for 30 minutes at 400F in the oven. Turn each wing after 30 minutes and bake for an additional 30 minutes.

While the wings bake you can make your glazes/ sauces.
The Buffalo Sauce is this recipe we found while searching recipes. It was perfectly zippy.

Makes 1 cup of Buffalo Sauce for wings:
1/2 cup Louisiana hot sauce (Such as Frank's brand)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 TBSP white vinegar
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder (I hugely increased this...I love garlic!)
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauc
salt to taste
Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan, and over low heat bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and then turn off. After the wings are cooked, transfer to a large mixing bowl. Pour the sauce over the hot wings and toss with a spoon or spatula to completely coat.

Ginger Garlic Sauce for Chicken Wings: We absolutely love this recipe and I can't wait to make it again for any chicken recipe!

4 garlic cloves, finely minced

3 TBSP finely grated fresh ginger (or powdered if you don't have fresh...but reduce to 3 tsp depending on what conversions you read or if you want plenty of ginger, season to taste. I love ginger.)

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, optional

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp soy sauce

Add the glaze ingredients to a saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat, taste for seasoning, and reserve. When the chicken wings are done, transfer into a clean bowl while still hot, and pour over the glaze. Toss until all the chicken wings are coated well.

After we tossed half the wings in the Buffalo Sauce and the other half of chicken wings in Ginger Garlic Sauce, we thought they weren't crispy enough. We placed the wings back on the pans and broiled each pan for 2-4 minutes at 500F.

Then we had achieved perfection in the chicken wings department. The perfect chicken wing was a big deal to our starving like a pack of wolves boy who fondly remembers last spring eating 50 wings in Athens, Georgia with our friends Randy and Katie.

He didn't eat all 50 chicken wings in one sitting this time. Rather he saved a few for leftovers to eat for a snack tonight. Regardless, we are prepared and ready for Super Bowl Sunday.

What's your favorite party recipe for Super Bowl Sunday?

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Blessed are the peacemakers...who live in chaos

2012-01-29T17:24:00.001-06:00

As I came downstairs for my first cup of (late) coffee today, the stark prairie was preparing for sunrise. I walked outside in freezing temperatures with my camera. It was frosty and peaceful. But I didn't realize how this capture would relate to my day. Sunday mornings are mostly hectic rather than peaceful at our house.

We headed to church where Nathan and I teach pre-school Sunday school weekly where we are studying fruits of the spirit. The kids pretend to be trees except we aren't growing apples, oranges or bananas. We are growing love, joy and today, peace.

Peace is a much talked about word when we listen to news stories about global politics but how many of us actually seek out to be peacemakers? How many of us are growing and sharing peace? Today as we talked about peace with kids aged 2-5, I realized I should make sure I work to be a peacemaker myself rather than just talk about it to young children.
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3 Make Ahead Beef Roasts & Freeze

2012-01-27T07:25:00.004-06:00

I promised I would share a few recipes of the 20 meals I have made ahead of time and froze this month for our family evening meals. For full disclosure, I am a family style cooking mom who is simply trying to put solid meals on the table for my family to sit down together in the evening. My meals won't knock the socks off everyone. But they are made with the best of intentions.

My five goals of a family meal are:

1. To not go broke buying fancy, expensive ingredients

2. Not let cooking be stressful

3. Avoid having oodles of dishes to do

4. Most importantly to feed my family a balanced hearty meal

5. A loose last goal could be that no child of mine refuses to eat a meal and instead has to eat a peanut butter sandwich. But that does happen sometimes.

This brings me to beef roasts. Beef prices are high right now. Cattle numbers are at an all time low across the USA. Farmers and ranchers are getting a great price when they sell their beef cows but the hitch is feed prices are skyrocketing. It is very expensive to be a beef rancher these days. Therefore you might see this at the meat case when buying beef. However, I recommend watching the sales buying beef on sale and I wait for the "mark downs" and "must sell" beef cuts. I bought two beef roasts on sale and brought them home to prepare. Each was about 3.5 lbs. I also buy beef in bulk. If you have freezer space you can purchase 1/4 or 1/2 beef at a local (certified...please I now work down the hall from our state wide meat inspection program and food safety matters) meat locker or butcher shop.

Here are two methods I prepare the beef roasts I purchased...plus another favorite recipe.

WW Linky: (Proud) Parent's Night

2012-01-24T22:45:00.000-06:00

The 8th grader was called first tonight. He had a blue flower for me. We made our way down the bleachers to the floor for parent's night.

Visiting our old friend & new neighbor

2012-01-22T17:30:00.000-06:00

Snow fell on the south central prairie of North Dakota today. But there was no stopping our Sunday afternoon drive. Miss E was determined to see our old friend from our GriggsDakota family farm who now lives 30 miles down the road from us.

13 Make Ahead Family Meal Tips

2012-01-21T16:38:00.003-06:00

It's late afternoon or maybe you're driving home from work, picking up kids from daycare or a practice, regardless, it's been a long day and you don't have anything planned for dinner, supper...your evening meal. Mac and Cheese, frozen pizza, take out if you have it near you...unlike us, are easy to do options. But...a family meal to sit down to would be ideal. I've learned to make ahead meals and have them available in our deep freeze. In upcoming days and weeks, I'll share recipes I've been using and experimenting with but first here are the basic tips I work off of every few weekends when I make meals ahead of time. In no particular order or fashion...because I am not that organized:

1. Have a few recipes organized and shop for ingredients for those recipes.

2. Utilize recipes with ingredients you might already have on hand. I had ground frozen beef and frozen chicken breasts on hand. I found recipes using those meats.

3. Cook up "mass amounts" at once. Literally, I baked 15 chicken breasts at once and currently have a ham in the oven, a beef roast in the oven and corned beef in the slow cooker. Then I'll organize them into meals to freeze. I'll also cook up potatoes, whole wheat pasta, brown rice to mix up with the meats. I have a few different veggies to mix in also.
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Generations of family birthdays

2012-01-18T21:46:00.002-06:00

Growing up I was surrounded by generations of family. I had a vague understanding that my friends didn't have this same set up in their family. But I was generally self consumed and unaware at how unique my childhood was.
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WW w/ linky: My reality and battles

2012-01-17T22:46:00.000-06:00

I have a new phone and decided to show you my reality in phone photos for a ~~Wordless~~ Wordy Wednesday. I bought 5 gallons of skim milk tonight. No, I don't want a cow because that's not a battle I can undertake. I don't want to milk a cow but I do wish our milk supplier man would stock the shelves with more gallon jugs. It takes a lot of milk these days to keep our hungry like a pack of wolves boy going.

I look sweaty and cross eyed on this quick snap but it was after working out tonight. And that's the infamous Michelle the personal trainer who keeps me accountable to exercise with her at least once a week. This is Michelle's blog debut.
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Why I don't bake very often...

2012-01-15T21:42:00.003-06:00

I spent this afternoon baking and was reminded why I don't bake very often. It takes too much time...and patience. I'm a novice at best. But I will share with you the tips and tricks of banana bread later this week. Yes, I know, basic banana bread but really between Twitter, Facebook and mixing up a few recipes I searched and found, I have finally found a winner of a moist and yummy basic banana bread.

Along with 2 loaves of banana bread, I also made 54 muffins and 2 loaves of this healthy recipe from my blogger friend Robyn of Ranch Wife Chronicles. She lives on the prairies of South Dakota. I added honey, pineapple and pumpkin to the recipe. We'll be enjoying Morning Muffins all winter as I am freezing a few bags of them to have on hand. The kids and my husband can eat them each morning. They'll be my "go to" breakfast on my commute to "The Capitol" as I now say aka booming Bismarck. Baking I learned makes little mouths happy as I saw tonight...
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Winter activities for kids (in the middle of no where)

2012-01-13T13:30:00.001-06:00

When you live 90 miles from the rest of society, opportunities and activities at times can be limited. On the flip side limited opportunities allows participation for all when an opportunity is presented. For example, our son, age 14, throughout the year participates in just about anything offered at our small, rural school from sports to music to academic to drama to civic teams and clubs. There are no cuts in our school. Everyone makes the team.

But there aren't teams for 4 year old children in our rural area. Miss E has been impatiently waiting to participate on some form of a team or in an activity since she could walk and talk. She takes her brother to practice with me, picks him up and has probably already been to 100 games in her lifetime.

Winter is especially important for our kids to have activity I think because our weather is cold and they aren't outside like summer and fall.
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3 things learned from an animal rights activist in an airplane

2012-01-11T22:30:00.003-06:00

Due to weight and balance restrictions on a small plane a couple days ago the flight attendant asked for volunteers in the first seven rows to move to back open seats. No one was moving. I grabbed my purse and bag and moved to the first open aisle seat, 14B. The woman now seated beside me was an attractive blonde woman who made a few comments to me about her boyfriend having his pilot's license and how weight and balance restrictions freaked her out. She was flying into Bismarck from Los Angeles and asked where I was coming from. I explained I had been in Fresno working with women in agriculture and that I previously had worked with farmers across the state. And that's where it all began. As the plane pushed back from the gate from Denver, bound for Bismarck, I thought I was going to shut my eyes for a nap.

Instead, the blonde woman who I'll call Anne for her privacy, said "Oh are the farmers doing better?"
I said, "Better? I'm not sure what you mean?"
Anne replied, "At not abusing their animals. I did a lot of campaigning and fundraising for Prop 2 to pass and we did it. But I'm just wondering if they are still abusing their animals?"

WW w/ linky: Gourmet Dessert Bar Planning

2012-01-10T23:19:00.001-06:00

Have you ever hosted a party and had a dessert bar? I was inspired this past weekend by the gourmet dessert bar at the party I attended in Kingsburg, California following the California Women for Ag event I spoke at and joined friends there. This is definitely an idea I'll be copying for an upcoming 2012 birthday party or BBQ with friends.

Brownie cake pops dipped in chocolate. Yes please.

New age, new views, new chapter

2012-01-09T07:00:00.001-06:00

I watched sunrise yesterday morning in the air somewhere between Fresno and Denver. I gave up the skies, weekly business travel and started my new government agriculture career last week for more time at home. However I am still going to continue speaking to groups on topics around farming, food, family and social media. It's a passion of mine and is connected to my personal and professional life. I had committed in last August to this event and it just happened to fall on my birthday weekend and I never would have known in August that this past week would have brought a new career and so much change to me all at once. However as you read in the previous post, my birthday was not forgotten! My sweet sister, Kirsti, "hacked" the blog to post about my birthday. Only my sister could have found some of those ugly pictures but the message was so sincere and fun to read.

Then I came home to a fabulous surprise yesterday.

HACK ALERT: Happy Birthday Katie Pinke!!

2012-01-06T21:12:00.003-06:00

Hello folks! I'm Kirsti, Katie's favorite (and only) sister, hacking into the PP--that's Pinke Post for those of you not up on my rural North Dakota slang. Cause us country folk have all the cool lingo. What can I say, I've always been this hip:

Now that's some street cred. But I digress.

I hacked into the Post to send a birthday wish to my sista' --see what I did there? sista' not sister? Oh, I'm just too much... :)

Happy birthday to my first friend and my first word (I said Katie before I said Mama!)

Happy birthday to the girl who taught me how to do my hair, style my clothes,

and apply my make-up.

Happy Birthday to my biggest fan, from your biggest fan.

Happy Birthday to the leader of our pack,

to the belle of the ball,

to my right-hand gal,

from your right-hand gal.

Happy Happy Birthday Sister!!!!

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Small Town Sports & A Surprise

2012-01-05T22:09:00.000-06:00

Our week has been filled with a new year, new job for me and new basketball games. Hunter played both Tuesday night and tonight at home.

He was given the opportunity to start both varsity games and is learning the ropes from his teammates. It's a fabulous learning experience.
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WW Linky & Giveaway: Finally My Very Own Starbuck's

2012-01-03T23:19:00.001-06:00

I might live 97 miles from Starbuck's. But there's a new barista on the prairie. He has a brand new espresso maker of his own he received as a Christmas gift.

When The New Chapter Brings Light Instead of Darkness

2012-01-03T06:35:00.012-06:00

Today marks a new chapter. I'm already driving down the prairie highway or maybe I am sitting in my new office. Either way after 10 years of my previous working mom career today is the first day of a new chapter. I've had new chapters before in life. When new chapters of life begin they often occur under circumstances beyond our control. The page turns when we are in a dark moment and the ability to keep moving forward seem impossible. Those are the hardest chapters to start. They are behind me for now.

Today's chapter is different. This chapter is filled with light, figuratively as I feel joyful and literally as the prairie sunrise comes up over the snow-free grasslands.

Where Does Your McDonald's Hamburger Start

2012-01-02T06:00:00.018-06:00

It's a new year and new start. Happy 2012! I came across a video late last night that I have to share this morning. For 20 plus years, my parents owned and operated a small advertising agency. One of our largest clients was McDonald's. My dad and employees did regional advertising and promotions for McDonald's across the upper midwest US.

Source Google Images

It allowed me to have every Happy Meal toy in the 1980's. Every single one. Usually a year ahead of them getting into my friends' Happy Meals.
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Farm Girl Friday: A Caring Cattleman & 2 Cowgirls

2011-12-30T15:47:00.001-06:00

My parents, grandparents and uncle at GriggsDakota now have fresh fallen snow but we remain snow free in our corner of the "southern" North Dakota prairie. Before we drove home yesterday morning from the farm, the girls went with Uncle Jim to say farewell to the two calves, RedBear and Buck, they helped bottle feed last spring and summer.

It's been a journey since the girls started in the calving barn last March to find their "inner cowgirl". But thanks to the consistency of my cattleman Uncle Jim, we have 2 year old and 4 year old cowgirls that learned the process of life, loss when RedBear and Buck's mama cows were lost in flooding this Spring and survival as Jim fed the calves bottles all spring and into the summer.
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Resolving 5 types of Cake Food Coma with Exercise

2011-12-29T21:40:00.001-06:00

Have you been in food coma like me for the past weeks? I have been blissfully eating my way through December. I always have great goals of self discipline, dreams of limiting my caloric intake at holiday parties and feasts. But I am a lover of food.

I find new foods I love every year. My brother made Panna Cotta for Christmas. I couldn't stop eating the custardy cream. It wasn't served in dainty bowls. It was self serve. I ate bowls of it like it was beef stew on a cold day. But instead it was the most refreshing, creamy, sweet custard.

My mom sent me home today with five types of cake which were really intended for our hungry like a pack of wolves teenager but I tried every one and included...

WW Linky & Giveaway: Grandpa Walks Like Santa

2011-12-27T23:15:00.001-06:00

In years past Santa has actually climbed out of our chimney into our living room. This year Miss E didn't think Santa would be traveling as easily on his sleigh with no snow. Santa just rang in the doorbell and stopped by for a visit after our church service on Christmas Eve. He was about to embark on a very busy night. The girls were a little nervous by Santa's presence in the living room but warmed up as he pulled out a few gifts from his bag.
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Brown Christmas with plenty of butter

2011-12-26T16:35:00.002-06:00

If there is one thing consistent every Christmas in my life, it's butter. I eat plenty of it daily and this year has been no different. But even with plenty of butter eating, Christmas on the prairie has been a bit different.

We've been celebrating with out snow. It didn't even freeze last night. Normally we spend hours during Christmas snowmobiling around the farm.

Our Christmas Faith & Hope

2011-12-24T15:30:00.003-06:00

Christmas is full of family time for us today. It's an exceptionally happy, fun loving and an easy going day. I haven't always been so overwhelmed with joy each Christmas as I am this year. I know I have friends that are struggling with loneliness and loss today. When I look back at Christmas time in my past I felt those lost moments and struggles as well. But it's a day like today that brings life's journey full circle for me, to remind me how fortunate we are. We are fed. We have a deep faith. We are family.

We are joyous. We are full of hope.
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Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip Recipe

2011-12-22T12:00:00.025-06:00

Looking for a fresh new recipe to try this Christmas weekend? I was looking for a few new recipes that are crowd pleasing, easy and take a short time to prepare. My friend Karla shared this Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip recipe she had made three times already this holiday season for open houses and a party and raved about what a hit it was with everyone who tried it. I made it and served it at our Christmas Cheer open house for our small business. I'll make it again for Christmas Eve. You definitely want to give it a try!

You need:

1 12 oz package fresh cranberries
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 small jalapeno pepper
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cumin
2 TBSP lemon juice
Dash of salt
(2) 8 oz packages cream cheese (You could also use Neufchatel Cheese for a lighter substitute)

WW Linky: Christmas Food & Home Tour

2011-12-21T00:22:00.003-06:00

It's Wednesday. Wordy or Wordless. Link up any post below from now through Christmas Day. Whether you have a photo of food, family, a tradition, favorite decorations or...snow, I'd love to see what you share. It's definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas on the prairie at our house, complete with mint brownies and chocolate dipped strawberries...

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4 Generations of Basketball Fans

2011-12-20T11:00:00.001-06:00

On Saturday night, Hunter played in a "big town", 85 miles from our home in a local civic center. "Big" refers that they have Wal-Mart and a McDonald's, which allowed me to eat my first McRib in 20 years and drink an egg nog shake. More important than pop culture that I sometimes miss on the prairie, there was a big game with our big family gathered to watch.

It's was easy drive for us as there is no snow and the weather is unseasonably warm. My parents and brothers drove down from the farm, bringing along my Grandpa Sonny. Uncle Jim and Colton came to watch. Nathan's parents, Eldon and Carol drove separately from us and also attended.

Miss E debuting her new "short and cute" as she calls it hair style with an added sweat band accessory.

We were game ready and the girls were set to cheer on their big brother. Before the game started, my brother Joe excited for the game to start said "Let's go!" and Miss E said, "Yes! Let's go home!"
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Hunk of Meat Monday: Traditional Meatballs Recipe

2011-12-19T13:00:00.002-06:00

Meatballs and mashed potatoes are staples in family meals on the prairie. They aren't sexy and probably frowned upon by many food snobs. But I was raised with them. It is comfort food and I love them. When we were in Disney World's Epcot at a princess dinner in "Norway", traditional meatballs were on the menu. Naturally we had to try them. My ancestors came from Norway. Meatballs are in my lineage. Below is just the kids' serving of the "Norway" Epcot meatballs.

It reminded me of home. Last week when we were home and I could cook again I found myself still craving meatballs.

These are meatballs I modify based on what I have available but they fed a hungry teenager, a famished husband, two squirrely girls and me last week. Plus we had leftovers that I froze.

Naughty, Nice & Holiday Party Recipes

2011-12-16T11:00:00.015-06:00

First, thank you for your kind comments this week about my new working mom adventure. Transition is exciting and tough at the same time. I have been encouraged and delighted by your thoughtful comments and emails. Thank you to each and everyone of you. Now onto regularly scheduled blogging...it's Christmas after all. Let's talk Santa and holiday party recipes!

One afternoon when we were in Epcot at Disney World a couple weeks ago, Miss A was sleeping in the stroller and Miss E was awake. We looked over and there was Santa and Mrs. Claus with only THREE people in line. Here's a Disney tip: go in early December. The lines are short and it's amazingly decorated and beautiful.
I kept the photos unedited for you to see Miss E's scratch on her face. That is a direct result of her sister. Miss A is an aggressive 2 year old. She's been on Santa's "naughty" list I'm sure several times this year. Last night Miss E threaten Miss A that Santa was going to bring her coal! But I have a feeling the sweetness is going to ooze out of Miss A now because she does not want coal.

WW linky: Simple Snow Fence Building

2011-12-13T23:21:00.001-06:00

If you build it, maybe...the snow won't come. That's a great theory. This week, my husband and son set out to build a snow fence to keep from snow drifts clogging up our road. It's best to be prepared for future pending snow fall..and blizzards. As my husband informed me, "Katie, you don't just put up a snow fence and hope for the best. There are calculations, simple math, based on the height and distance from what and where you want to keep open..." At this point, my husband looked at me and smiled knowing his math detail was losing my attention and then just said, "it's just simple math!" Okay. Simple math and you can build a snow fence. I hope it doesn't just keep the snow off our road. I hope it keeps the snow from falling in mass quantities!

So does Miss E. Because evidently snow makes her cry.
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Why I'm Making Work Mom Career Changes

2011-12-13T12:00:00.069-06:00

My journey as a mother has always been intertwined with work since age 20 when I had full time work hours combined with getting my college education while being a mom to a two year old. I've had breaks along the way, maternity leaves and wonderful vacations, like the above picture when Miss E snapped my photo at Disney World two weeks ago. Being a working mom is a role I know, appreciate and love.

For the past nearly 10 years, I have worked and grown in a career with ample opportunities given to me by an agriculture marketing communications company, AdFarm. I have worked from our family farm, from an AdFarm office and for the past four years from my prairie home with travel across North America. I know flight schedules. I have Delta's meal options memorized. I can pack for 1-4 nights of travel in one small carry-on. I know I love the DoubleTree's cookies in Modesto and the Citizen Hotel in Sacramento's warm "Welcome Katie Pinke" on my hotel room television screen. Through my extensive travel, I have been privileged to partner with agribusinesses, associations, media, bloggers and farmers from New York to California.

Along the way I have seen a lot of animals, fields, crops and vast sectors of American agriculture. It's truly been a life changing experience that has deepened my love for agriculture, communications, public policy and kept me awake at night about how we are going to feed the world in the future.
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Baby holding, Birthday Cake & Dress Up Day

2011-12-11T21:30:00.000-06:00

Miss E had her "low key" birthday celebration tonight. I had told her we weren't having a big birthday bash since we just returned from a week at Disney World. She reminded me Anika got fireworks and a party at her birthday...which is slightly unfair since Miss A's birthday is just days before our big July 4th celebration. However, I agreed with Miss E that we'd have some friends over for pizza for a birthday supper with no gifts. A few friends brought small gifts though which she appreciated. I bought a cake when I was in Fargo on Friday morning, served leftover appetizers from our family business's Friday night open house and called a few friends. Nathan picked up pizzas. We might live 100 miles from McDonald's but we have take out pizza on the prairie. The kids chased around the house. It was controlled chaos, a state of mind we are used to.

Miss E Turns 4 years old today

2011-12-09T06:20:00.001-06:00

Four years ago, I wrote my second ever blog post right here to announce the arrival of our Miss Elizabeth Carolyn Jane. She arrived early and made her big brother's dreams come true as well as Nathan's and mine of course.

Today she is proudly 4 years old. It doesn't seem possible that time is going this fast. Miss E is a delight, often dramatic and quite the fancy little girl. She's a little shy but once she warms up she never stops talking. She likes to give directions and has a hard time taking your directions at times. Her daddy and I both laugh at her strong personality. Each of our kids have it and they got it from us!

3 ways I am surviving December

2011-12-08T12:00:00.015-06:00

How did December become so crazy? I love Christmas. My mom is Christmas Jane. At least I refer to her as that. She is the best entertainer of Christmas I know. I attempt to take on Christmas with her pizzazz but usually feel overwhelmed by it. Even post vacation with a fairly clean house, thanks to my mom coming to visit, I'm overloaded just thinking of Miss E's birthday, two small business open houses with one at our house and then the Christmas holiday.

Throw in a couple basketball games a week for our son and little things that pop up like this one last night, "Oh Mom, there is a band fundraiser on Friday night. It's a bake sale" and I realize sleep will be less in the coming weeks. But I'm making a few changes to survive December with happiness and grace.

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WW w/ linky: Magical Moments

2011-12-06T22:23:00.000-06:00

We are home from 6 nights in Disney World. Nathan's parents joined us for most of the trip but our teenager stayed home with my parents for basketball and school. Here's a photo filled look at our past week...

Golden Blogging Bday: 6 Reasons Why It's Okay To Be A Working Mom

2011-12-04T07:45:00.001-06:00

Today is my GOLDEN blogging birthday! 4 years of blogging on December 4th. How are we celebrating? With a magical vacation...away from blogging and I will have a lot to share this week when we return. Instead I am sharing a post from year each of blogging. Today is the final revisit from this year.
In 2011, I experienced the most rewarding and challenging year of career combined with motherhood. I need my family to get me through it along with an amazing network of colleagues and clients. It's a tight rope balancing act for me. But I have learned to embrace being a working mom. Here's a blog post I wrote from my hotel room one night in early June...for all moms just trying to survive.

6 Reasons Why It's Okay To Be A Working Mom

The pressure is there to be a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM as the lingo goes). Blogs, articles, chat rooms, friends, relatives all offer up the advantages to being a SAHM. But I don't think there is enough shared and said on why it is okay to be a working mom. Maybe it is because all the moms that are working and balancing the life balance of it all are too busy to write about it. Maybe it is mommy guilt that working moms don't think they are worthy to share that they actually enjoy their job or career. It doesn't make them less of a mother. It probably makes them more of a mother.

The most profound and simple advice that my crazy hours working attorney mom friend shared with me years ago was "A happy mom makes a happy family."

There are 6 reasons that I love being a working mom as I travel on business this week.

6. The food is fantastic. I get to travel, attend meetings, go out for late dinners and eat fabulous food which being a lover of food, is a delight.

5. I see and learn business. Above is Joe Lange of Lange Twins Winery. This week along with colleagues while en route to a meeting we toured Lange Twins, learning about a family business, risk and putting it all on the line for family business growth and success. As my husband works as a 2nd generation in a family owned business and my family is a 5th generation farming family, I love seeing and expanding my thinking of how other families grow and expand their businesses.

2010 Blog Revisit: The View 90 Miles From Wal-Mart

2011-12-03T09:38:00.001-06:00

I have 878 blog posts to choose from since 4 years ago when I started blogging. That is a crazy number but I have done it for my family, for my love of food and farming and for my sanity. My kids don't have baby books but they have this blog. This 2010 blog post is a favorite. All of our kids spend time on our family farm. They know where their food comes from and they know our family has farmed this land for generations.

They know the view 90 miles from Wal-Mart. We live it and we love it.

Miss E got off the combine after riding with her Grandpa Fred but wasn't ready to go home to take a bath. So we settled in on the edge of the field to watch the barley harvest on top of a row of hay bales. I ended up taking more than twenty of my favorite photos I have ever taken during our time on the bales. It was one of those moments I wanted to box up and save forever.

She told me all about what Grandpa Fred was doing in the field and how she liked helping him "fill the sand (barley) in the trucks".

2009 Blog Revisit: If You Run Out of Gas On The Prairie

2011-12-02T06:32:00.001-06:00

Leading up to my 4 years of blogging on December 4th...I am reminded by this 2009 post that part of the reason I blog is to document the working mom chaos that I often live and to remind myself to not take things too seriously. It also reminds me that when I get in trouble...as I long as I can get cell phone service in the middle of nowhere I have a husband who will come to my rescue!

If you run out of gas on the prairie

If you leave your house in a hurry on a Monday morning after a long holiday weekend with a full cup of coffee and three happy kids in your mini van and then back into your garage door because it had not opened all the way, it is going to be a long day. Even though you could not see the top of the garage door had opened all the way because it was open in your rear view mirror but regardless it is now so bent up that you cannot get out of your garage. You have three kids that need to get to three different places and you have to start your work day. You smile and are thankful for your husband who leaves work to come home and miraculously gets the van out of the garage through the next stall. All kids get to where they need to be. They are healthy and happy. Again, you smile. Deep breath. It is all okay. You do your morning routine of phone calls, quick pack your bag and computer, stop by Gma's house to feed your baby and head out of town. You quickly drive to your husband's office to drop off the infant car seat base and leave to drive 180 miles to get to your meeting. Distracted by emails on your phone, texting and talking, you leave with out filling up your gas tank. You are drinking your second mug of coffee and hurriedly talking on your phone, knowing you will soon reach the dead zone of prairie cell phone land. And only when you have no phone service, only the open road and XM Holiday Traditions radio do you realize...

you are in the middle of the prairie with no gas to keep going much further on your journey

2008 Blog Revisit: Baby Elissa

2011-12-01T06:22:00.000-06:00

This coming up Sunday marks my golden blogging birthday. 4 years of blogging on December 4th. For the next few days I am going to repost one of my favorite past blog posts to remember why I blog. While you are enjoying these blog posts...I am vacationing with my family...without my computer but I do have my phone with me, checking in on things a little...maybe. My mom is keeping things going at our house and I know we'll be coming home to baked goods and folded laundry. A true vacation reward and gift.

The first reason I ever started blogging was because of family. Miss E came into our lives on my second ever blog post. Here was the first blog she ever wrote in January 2008.

Elissa's post

I am well fed and get a lot of cuddling time with my family. And in case you haven't noticed...I am very cute with dimples in my cheeks!

WW w/ linky: The Beauty of Small Town Basketball

2011-11-29T22:54:00.000-06:00

If you have never experienced small town basketball, you should. It's like no other. It's a community event and gathering.

Tonight's kick off of the season was 30 miles away in the gym my mother-in-law grew up in and where Nathan played against his cousins...back in the 80's and 90's. His cousin Kevin is now the head coach for the opposing and home team tonight.

Our teenager, Hunter was relaxed and played well in the JV game. He's just an 8th grader and was a nervous boy tonight for his first night of high school basketball.

When he got in for his first time ever into the varsity game, our neighbor and friend Danny was by his side with the other teammates. His nerves showed but he got through it and made a basket at the end of the 3rd quarter.
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Life Lesson: Don't Cry Over Broken Ornaments

2011-11-28T17:30:00.006-06:00

Do you ever hear a crash literally or figuratively and panic? Sometimes I mentally crash and know I have too much to do and need to keep going...and panic at that feeling. Then there are the literal crashes. I hit a big whitetail deer last winter while driving one early morning by myself. I panicked but survived just fine. I missed a flight and instead got an extra day at home with my kids. Yesterday morning I heard a loud crash downstairs as I was just about to go downstairs and Nathan yelling "No, no, no!" I panicked as I heard our 9 foot fresh Christmas tree in our living room crash and all I could think it was coming down on Miss A. Miss E was with me. All people were okay as they were eating breakfast. Nathan had turned around in the kitchen to see the tree start to sway, stumble and crash for no apparent reason, other than it is a huge tree. Nathan's yelling didn't stop the crash.

There was a disaster of broken ornaments. I shouldn't have spent extra money on the 30 new glass ornaments this year.

Hunk of Meat Monday: Cheeseburger Fries Hotdish

2011-11-27T22:16:00.001-06:00

Tonight I wrote out every basketball game that we have beginning this week through February. Add an upcoming vacation along with holidays I realize my cooking is going to become hurried but I still need a plan for a few family meals a night. I was looking through past blog posts tonight for some Hunk of Meat Monday inspiration and came across this one that I am re-posting for Cheeseburger Fries Hotdish which our kids love. If you aren't from the upper Midwest you would call it a casserole. But we eat hotdish through all seasons but especially on chilly nights and of course they are stand-by staples on busy nights too.

Miss E loves to help me cook. (Note: That is not blood on her nose. It is a heart shaped sticker that she proudly placed there herself.)

One evening this week she was concocting her own recipe which was peanut butter mixed with honey. Her recipe was going smooth until she grabbed some apple cider vinegar and dumped that in and then she didn't think it was so yummy.

I intervened and said she could help me cook. I had the ingredients out to make a new Pioneer Woman recipe but Miss E overruled and said she wanted hotdish.

Now I learned as a freshman in college that people in other parts of the world don't eat hotdish. My roommate from Georgia and suitemates from Ohio and New York were clueless to hotdish. They make and eat casseroles but were in the dark to hotdishes. In the dark until I gave them a good hotdish education.

You see on the prairie we eat hotdish as a family meal, at church potlucks and every funeral has an array of hotdishes. The term casserole is used in our vocabulary. It is mainly a pan or dish that you could put your hotdish in or sometimes a casserole is a side dish to a main meal. But hotdishes are not the same as casseroles on the prairie.

Hotdishes mostly contain meat, a frozen or canned vegetable, maybe an onion or onion powder, salt and pepper, creamed of something condensed soup like chicken, mushroom or celery (I buy low fat and sodium versions) and then a starch such as pasta like bowties, elbow macaroni or rice or potatoes.

I try to be a "healthy as possible" cook so I use whole-wheat pasta and brown rice whenever possible. My kids have no idea how much fiber and whole grain I am sneaking into their diet.

Meat, vegetable, soup, starch. There you have hotdish. It is a main course and served in every household and church I have ever known across the upper Midwest which are most middle class, average American families. We're simple, hotdish eating people.

Somewhere there is a hotdish/ casserole border crossing.

I think it is dotted through Nebraska into Iowa up into Wisconsin. Nowhere south of that crossing do they make hotdish. My colleagues in Kansas City...they knew nothing of hotdish until I shared a hotdish education with them.

I know Martha Stewart...east coast gal would never know hotdish. She also would never cook with condensed soups like we do.

Needless to say, Miss E is not going to be Martha. At least she won't learn from me.

As I have been trying to broaden my cooking skills, E likes the old stand-bys like Nana's hotdishes.

So we whipped up one Hunter and E's favorites recipes we got from Nana. We made Cheeseburger Fries Hotdish instead of my planned Pioneer Woman meal.

Homemade Hot Chocolate & Holiday Decorating

2011-11-26T23:25:00.000-06:00

This afternoon, in the midst of Christmas decorating chaos at our house I offered my husband a Coke, tea or hot cocoa. He chose hot cocoa. I was out of any powdered mix in the pantry and decided to make the real thing. It's like no other hot cocoa you'll ever have. Really it's Hot Chocolate because I don't add cocoa. I have adapted this recipe from a recipe from America's Test Kitchen that my sister-in-law shared with me a few years ago.

Today, hot chocolate was the perfect treat for a pause in our holiday decorating. Miss E said we were "hanging out". Hanging out with hot chocolate. Miss A missed it as she was still napping.

Hunter, the teenager, dipped a sugar cookie in his hot chocolate while pausing from his holiday jobs which included decorating six outdoor pine trees in lights of his school colors, blue and white. We might keep the lights on all winter for basketball games which kick off this week.

The Hot Chocolate Recipe:
3 1/2 cups skim milk
1 cup cream
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 oz. semi-sweet (or milk) chocolate, chopped
1 TBSP sugar (add more to taste if you'd like...I'm a sweet kinda girl)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup strong brewed coffee
4 cinnamon sticks

Leftover Turkey Recipe w/ Linky & 3 Giveaways

2011-11-23T06:09:00.001-06:00

What are you going to do with leftover turkey come Friday morning this week?

Americans cook an average sized 15 pound turkey on Thanksgiving. Rather than boring leftover turkey sandwiches, here is a recipe to try. It's a modified recipe from Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti. Below you can link up a favorite holiday recipe of any kind through Sunday, November 27 at 11:59PM CST from your blog and be sure to leave a comment on why you love that recipe. Then on Monday morning, November 28, I'll draw 3 winners and send of you each a different cookbook. I have many favorites but haven't decided which I will order and send you. Shout out a favorite cookbook if you'd like!

Now get ready to make Turkey Spaghetti instead of Chicken Spaghetti. You need simple and easy ingredients for a family friendly meal that will still allow you plenty of time out of the kitchen this weekend.

You'll need:
Leftover turkey, white and dark meat
1 lb. thin spaghetti, broken into 2" pieces
1 four ounce jar pimentos
1 4 oz. can of sliced mushrooms
1 small onion, chopped
1 green pepper, diced
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp seasoned salt
1/4 tsp or just a pinch cayenne pepper, depending on your tastes
Freshly ground black pepper

My inspiration is this recipe from Pioneer Woman for Chicken Spaghetti.

Preheat your oven to 350F.

10 Turkey Facts & Holiday Recipe Linky

2011-11-22T10:15:00.002-06:00

Are you ready to roast your Thanksgiving turkey this week? I am not. I haven't bought a turkey yet and thankfully my sister and brother-in-law are hosting us in their new oil boom town home in western North Dakota. I am only responsible for bringing a few side dishes, bread and a relish tray. I'll share a recipe tonight as a part of what is usually my Wordless Wednesday linky. Instead today and tomorrow, through the weekend, it will be your favorite holiday recipes linky. I am going to award randomly 3 winners my new copies 3 different favorite cookbooks. More tonight!

As I was searching around for a few recipes while I flew home last night from my...drum roll...last business trip of the calendar year and came across turkey facts. I am so tired right now after fighting a cold/flu for the past week that I am thankful I am not hosting Thanksgiving this year. But I am thankful for antibiotics which are making me healthy again, family and friends, of course turkey, plenty of food for our family and for the farmers that grow it. You can share your FoodThanks this week on Twitter by sharing #FoodThanks or learn more details here.

My best attempt at basting a Thanksgiving turkey came when I hosted my family a few years ago.

With that I bring you my FoodThanks for Turkey and...Top 10 Turkey Facts.

• Approximately 46 million turkeys will be eaten at Thanksgiving. Another 22 million will be eaten at Christmas.

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Egg Nog French Toast Recipe

2011-11-20T07:47:00.003-06:00

Egg Nog French Toast. It's so yummy that you'll want to give this a try today or for an upcoming holiday brunch.

You'll need:
Sliced French Bread, crusty, left out usually over night
4 eggs
1 cup egg nog
1 tsp cinnamon
Powdered sugar to sprinkle or sift

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Working Mom Downside Displays Blessings

2011-11-17T20:56:00.000-06:00

Are there downsides that aren't talked about enough of being a working mom? I think there are. I'm a working mom, a role I take on full boar with pride. But this week I've been a working, business traveling mom. I do it because it's a part of my job, part of my career and part our family life that works because of our support system.

But the downside of being a working mom is you sometimes miss out. You can't always be there to tuck your babies into bed. My flight home tonight was cancelled. I have whined at Delta already. My whining doesn't change anything. I won't get home until very late tonight. I felt like crying. Instead my husband texted me that he was turning on the computer so the kids could Skype with me and I could show them the airport.

The girls didn't know I was sad. They were thrilled to Skype (video conferencing via computer or phone) and said they would keep their eyes open in their bed until I was home. They won't but their sweetness melted me.

Miss E had a song to sing with a shaker to accompany her. They gave me hugs and kisses via Skype and Miss A wanted to tell me secrets. Hunter was busy doing his homework post basketball practice.

A cancelled flight is just a bump in my road tonight. Nothing worth crying over I decided. After all, I know there are downsides to working mom life. Cancelled flights happen. But tonight as I'm alone for an extra few hours in the airport I am feeling blessed, grateful and thankful for all that surrounds, enriches and enlightens me. There are bountiful blessings to soak in and appreciate despite a downside moment.

What's a bountiful blessing in your life?

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WW w/ linky: The Bakery You Can Visit

2011-11-16T00:20:00.002-06:00

I'm traveling on business in Southern California as I type this and soon to be in Northern California. Today my colleague and friend, Sharlene, a native Californian, said to me, as we were driving in eight lanes wide of California traffic, "You know I don't really what the prairie looks like. That's why I have to come visit you." The glitz and the lights of Southern California are far from the prairie I call home. But I thought for a moment about where I would take Sharlene or any of you that would come visit the rural, remote prairie of North Dakota. There are not "destinations" like there are in Southern California...or any populated area. No shopping sprees or Starbuck's.

But there is a bakery I adore we could visit. It sells authentic German from Russia baked goods, made from recipes passed down through generations.

We could eat Blachenda which is like your own personal pie, flaky crust most often with pumpkin filling. My mother-in-law makes her pumpkin filling from the actual orange pumpkins, not just canned pumpkin from the grocery store shelf.

A New Season & Winner

2011-11-14T06:00:00.019-06:00

I often wonder what I'll do in life when there is a "slow down". I think I'll probably look back at these years as golden memories but right now there is no slow down in sight.

The only relative slow down was the past few weeks when there was a pause between sports seasons. Football ended in late October. During that time Hunter practiced piano for his fall festival which was held this weekend. Above is Hunter with Mrs. Erbele, his teacher that patiently fits Hunter's lesson into his school day so he can continue taking lessons. She also reads this blog. Thank you, Mrs Erbele for teaching our son to play piano! This was Hunter's 5th piano festival since we moved to the prairie and he started lessons.

Not everyone loves piano festivals at our house. The girls stayed home with our friend Grace to play dolls, color and dress up as princesses. As you can see the new desk and pink chair are favorites in Miss E's bedroom.

Hunk of Meat Monday: Creamed Pheasant Recipe

2011-11-13T17:00:00.004-06:00

Guest posting and visiting from just 50 miles to the east of me is fellow prairie mama, Val of Wag n' Tales. This is the last post in the Cooking with Wild Game series we have done for Hunk of Meat Mondays and I'll be sure to share a recap post of the venison, elk, duck and pheasant recipes shared by guest bloggers. Pheasants are common in our part of the North Dakota prairie. People travel from afar to hunt them but I mostly just hit them with my vehicle. Therefore, I am happy for people to hunt them. I hadn't cooked pheasant until four years when we moved here and my husband came home with freshly cleaned pheasant. I was clueless but learned from fellow prairie cooks like Val. Please give a warm welcome for North Dakota prairie mama and my dear friend, Val, who shows all how to cook make pheasant into a masterpiece family meal...

Cooking with pheasant isn't the easiest task to accomplish. First of all, the bird really isn't all that big, and it's mostly bones. Second of all, the way that most people end up with pheasant is by hunting and shooting the bird...which now adds BB's as a fun part of the equation.

What do I mean by that? Well, if your bird was shot, then you need to examine your meat, to make sure that one of these little beauties doesn't undo a few years worth of dental work:

Once you get past the cleaning stage of the pheasant, you'll have a Hunk of Meat that looks like this:

And now we're ready to begin our recipe for Creamed Pheasant:

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3 year old's Salute on Veteran's Day Video

2011-11-11T12:09:00.002-06:00

Miss E has a salute on Veteran's Day to share with you in honor of all veterans but especially her Grandpa Eldon and her Great-Grandpa Sonny. She learned this tribute with the teaching and helping of Lori, our famed daycare provider and wanted "have a show" to perform it this morning. Welcome to her 48 second Veteran's Day show...

I've watched the video multiple times and will again. I love how she gets her numbers mixed up but keeps going...and the "I love mama" melts me, of course.

Thank you to generations of veterans and to the families that sacrifice alongside of them for our freedoms.

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Wind Tower Sunrise Hope

2011-11-10T20:10:00.001-06:00

Welcome to my sanctuary of solitude. If I stopped for every sunrise and sunset I watch on the prairie, I wouldn't get anywhere. There are a lot miles in between...anywhere on the prairie. But the skyline is my reward for the miles driven. It's like no other I have ever known.

Tonight as I drove home from the airport I stopped for a split second sunset photo on my phone. But these wind tower sunrise captures came early last Saturday morning as Miss E and I drove together. We pulled over on the side of the highway. I opened my car door with the camera in hand and just took it all in...the crisp air, the silence, the skyline, the sunrise and Miss E saying "whoa Mama look at the sky!"

North Dakota has been in the national news headlines recently. It's the land of opportunity with a growing economy and jobs for anyone who wants to work. I would add the sunrises and sunsets are bonuses to those of us willing to live out here on the last frontier of tranquility. It's not for everyone but it gives me hope that America has future where wind towers dot the prairie scape in between rural areas as small businesses boom with oil booming in between fields of grains and pastures of cattle.

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WW w/ linky: In the chaos I forget...

2011-11-08T23:30:00.001-06:00

It's Wordless or Wordy Wednesday. I'll keep it short today as I'm in need of quick sleep before an early morning breakfast meeting and then a short panel presentation...on two of my favorite topics farming and food. I'm in the midst of a 48 hour work trip. It's chaotic these days with a very jammed packed 14 year old's school, music, drama and next week...basketball schedule, a husband trying to get numerous fall work projects going before snow flies and this little thing I call I career. Add in two very excited toddler daughters who celebrate each and every day with zest and vigor. I feel rather aimless most days. But in the midst of the chaos I capture moments on my camera that remind me to pause...

Treasure Hunting with a 3 year old

2011-11-07T16:45:00.003-06:00

I live 100 miles from a shopping mall but that doesn't mean we can't find treasures on the rural prairie. Early Saturday morning, Miss E and I got up in the dark and were out the door before sunrise. We didn't drive to a mall. We weren't dressed in blaze orange to kick off deer hunting like the few others that were driving on the highway.

Instead, we drove an hour to meet my friend Karla who was visiting her husband's hometown for the weekend where Karla had told me there was the best "barn sale". A local woman refinishes and refurbishes auction sale finds and sells them twice a year. Karla had warned it was a mad rush to get the best deal.

Therefore, we met early to eat a big breakfast to get ready for our treasure hunting. Miss E needed bacon. She believes like me that everything is better with bacon. (All photos were taken on my horrid old Blackberry. iPhone upgrade I hope is pending.)

Karla and Miss E await

We were in line by 9:36AM and doors opened at 10AM. The sale is no longer held in the woman's barn anymore and standing indoors in this line was much better for all.
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Hunk of Meat Monday: Dreamy Venison Stew Recipe

2011-11-06T21:45:00.002-06:00

Today I am very excited to introduce to Jenny from The Magic Farmhouse. Jenny resides in Illinois on a family farm with her husband and three boys. I love her blog for it's diversity in content. From serious to funny motherhood, health related issues, farm family and everyday life stories, Jenny connects with many audiences and I love it. We connected on Twitter and today she is sharing with us her Dreamy Venison Stew which is very appropriate since deer hunting just kicked off this past weekend for us on the North Dakota prairie. She has many pictures and it looks and sounds mouth watering. Plus we all need one of her one of a kind cookers. Read and see for yourself. Welcome Jenny, A Magic Mama!

Chicken Bacon Ranch & BBQ Chicken Pizzas

2011-11-04T09:15:00.005-05:00

We don't have McDonald's within 90 miles of us on the prairie but we do have pizza. Friday nights are often pizza nights at our house. Sometimes it is from one of our two local pizza shops. Often I make pizza at home though for the sake of cost. Our hungry like a pack of wolves teenager eats a pizza...by himself. I've made many different versions of homemade crusts, frozen dough and turned into crust, pre-made crusts, etc. This week I made pizza mid-week as a quick meal before we attended a school event.

I made two types of pizza with leftover grilled chicken I had put in the freezer some time in the late summer. Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza and BBQ Chicken Pizza.

The Greatest Oxymoron of My Digital Life

2011-11-02T22:16:00.002-05:00

For four plus years I have been hiding a secret in the digital world. I've officially dubbed it as "the greatest oxymoron of my digital life."

Professionally for over ten years I have worked in marketing and communications. I am a lover of all things digital. I speak, train, strategize and plan with groups, coalitions and businesses. I work alongside smart strategists and specialists that are my colleagues and dear friends. I soak up their knowledge as best I can. It's my job and the foundation of my career.

But at the end of the day, I am exhausted and have personal commitments. Kids. Hungry mouths to feed. Volunteer work. This little blog that is my outlet. After talking communications and strategy during the work day, I don't apply the "best practices" I learn professionally to my personal commitments.

Therefore, I am a living oxymoron.

Source: Google Images

WW w/ linky: My Slice of Americana

2011-11-01T21:56:00.000-05:00

I saw a National Geographic statistic today that said 70% of the us will be living in cities by 2050. That leaves us 30% of the kick back and enjoy life on the last frontier of tranquility of rural.

What's A Girl To Do? A Halloween Potty Training Lesson

2011-11-01T07:12:00.001-05:00

What's a girl to do on Halloween on the prairie?

Dressing up like Strawberry Shortcake, cowgirl style with boots and her sidekick a strawberry seemed like the thing to do yesterday.

Miss A was rocking her strawberry costume as a potty trained two year old. Her mama should have thought that through a little more but we were having so much fun.

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Hulkamania Hulk Hogan Costume

2011-10-30T16:00:00.002-05:00

Last night, my husband relived a childhood dream and I was his disco wife as we attended a local costume party. The pictures speak volumes. My costume was not sponsored by Spanx but it should have been. If you are a woman and don't have Spanx in your life yet, you are missing out and I'll blog about my love for Spanx one day soon. And don't ask me how I went to the bathroom in the disco costume. It was a fiasco. But the real star was my husband. For any child or teenage boy of the 1980's...or die hard professional wrestling fan...

Hulkamania was running wild on the prairie last night. Thanks to Ebay and Amazon, Nathan and I pulled together our costumes quite affordable and easily.
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Artichoke Cranberry Pasta Salad

2011-10-28T22:53:00.000-05:00

Tonight for our anniversary dinner at home, I made an Artichoke Cranberry Pasta Salad. It's a salad I make often and it's easy to modify. It's enough for a meal by adding a little chicken. Tonight it was full of artichokes, tomatoes, black olives, dried blueberries and cranberries, sunflower seeds and toasted almonds plus rainbow pasta.

I am linking with A Latte with Ott A for the Ocean Mist Farms artichoke recipe Iron Chef Challenge. I was so excited for this challenge I took a picture at the Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit show in Atlanta where I was for work in front of the Ocean Mist Farms booth. I work with the Know A California Farmer effort and Ocean Mist Farms are a California farm we should know more about I think. Visit them on Facebook.

I am no former Artichoke Queen like Marilyn Monroe was. But I have been through Castroville, California, artichoke capitol of the world. I have seen artichokes fields and absolutely love eating artichokes which have been a treat ever since my sister discovered them decades ago. My mom would steam them for us and we ate fresh artichokes as a family and always on my sister's birthday. There was something very special about California artichokes in our North Dakota kitchen.

Unfortunately, this week I couldn't find any fresh artichokes on the rural North Dakota prairie but I keep cans of artichokes in my pantry. I grabbed two cans of artichokes and drained them for the salad. You'll find this salad easy to prepare and tasty.
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A Love and Marriage Story & Celebration

2011-10-28T07:10:00.005-05:00

I have been asked before "What don't you share in social media?" My simple answer, "I don't talk a lot about my marriage and I don't share a lot of details about our teenager's daily life. Not because there is anything wrong with either my marriage or our teenage son. But simply because I think a few things in life need privacy and space."

Marriage is hard work and doesn't need to be blogged about at our house on regular basis. Being a teenager is hard work and I am quite thankful my mother didn't document my teenage years on a blog so I do the same for our son.

But I do like to document the triumphs and memories for our family. Today is a day to celebrate marriage for Nathan and me.

5 years ago today, Nathan and I were married in Fargo, North Dakota. My farmer dad and weather extraordinaire had told me months ahead of time that October 28, 2006 would be a gray day and 48F.

Join 9PM CST Tonight #RockinRuralWomen

2011-10-27T19:38:00.001-05:00

Tonight from 9PM to 11PM CST I'll be hanging out with women from across North America on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. There will be conversation, connections and a few rockin' rural prizes. My friend Brooke of Rural Gone Urban has created these fabulous features and visuals. She is quite a rockin' rural gone urban woman.

Whether you are a city girl with a dream or history with rural or a rural woman living 97 miles from a Starbuck's like me, I think you'll connect with this group of ladies.

It's community of rockin' women who are passionate about rural and all it entails.

For some, rural is our livelihoods; for others, rural is our dream; for still others, rural is in our

roots.

WW w/ linky: North Dakota Fall Favorites

2011-10-25T21:35:00.001-05:00

Fall is for football that has come to a close,

for a plentiful harvest that is complete,

for fleece jackets and hats,

Enter 12 Times To Win Gooseberry Patch Cookbook GIVEAWAY!

2011-10-25T14:15:00.008-05:00

It's been 3 months since I started cooking from Gooseberry Patch's Comfort Foods cookbook. Now that the chill of autumn has set in there has never been a better time for you to start cooking from this cookbook too. I have highlighted and recapped 10 recipes but I actually cooked many more than the 10 recipes I shared with you. It's a cookbook that offers affordable recipes that will please your family and friends. Below are 12 different ways you can enter to win this cookbook and you can enter 1 time or 12 times from today through November 5th, 2011.

For a comforting sweet treat try this oatmeal cookie recipe...
Southern Oatmeal Cookies

For a crowd pleasing side dish you don't want to miss a solid recipe...
Warm German Potato Salad

Homemade guacamole is officially on my top ten favorite foods list after I made this recipe, right up there with mashed potatoes and medium rare steak. This guacamole recipe is also a hit at any party...
Homemade Guacamole

11 Ways To Find Rest Amid Chaos

2011-10-24T16:55:00.002-05:00

I needed down time this past weekend. It was planned, thanks to my husband. If you are living amid chaos as I am most days, I can tell you stopping to rest is the best medicine.

What did I do to unwind to find rest amid my chaos?

1. I turned off my phone.

2. I left my computer at home.

3. I watched sunrises and sunsets. Even this morning as my home office work day was starting I hung out a second story window without a screen to grab these photos. I don't recommend this photography technique.
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Hunk of Meat Monday: Venison Stew Recipe

2011-10-23T21:20:00.002-05:00

Today you get to hear from Jennifer, deep in the heart of New Mexico, where she blogs from Tales of a Ranchers Wife. She's a city girl turned ranch wife that hunts dove, deer, goose, duck and more and loves to cook for her family. Find her on Facebook and be sure to read her blog.

Tales of a Ranchers Wife's daughter gearing up for her first deer hunt

Hunting season has hit our house in a big way this year. First it starts with me and dove season and then quickly moves on to archery season and now we are looking to the rifle deer season. This year is extra special as our oldest has her first deer hunting coming up in the next few weeks. Hoping to have plenty of pictures to post a great story to go with them in a few weeks!

We have been scouting for a good buck for her and she has a few picked out that she wants to go after. So in honor of her upcoming hunt I’m sharing my recipe for Venison Stew which I am hoping to be able to make often this winter.

Renewing & Recharging like Old Red

2011-10-21T09:25:00.002-05:00

This is Old Red. I learned to drive him in a barley field when I was 11 years old. My uncle gave me some loose directions and my cousin, age 12, sat next to me to make sure I could do it. I remember Old Red started rolling backward down an incline in the field while I was driving him for the first time but I got him going forward again.

Old Red is older than me by a few years. Today on GriggsDakota he needed a little helped. He's tired but thankfully Old Red is feeling recharged by corn harvest. Thanks in part by others rallying to help him out and from the energy he is getting having a new red shiny truck helping him.

I feel like Old Red today. I am tired. I need a little help to get recharged. My husband recognized this need for me to rest and planned a weekend for me that has me doing nothing but recharging. I am not very good at taking time to slow down but thankfully I have others around me that watch out for me and make sure I do take time to recharge and rest. So under strict "encouragement" from my husband, I am taking a few days...offline to clear my head, sleep, read, have face to face conversations with family and sip a little tea.

Enjoy your weekend. I'll be back Monday, recharged and renewed, with an exciting new Hunk of Meat Monday from Tales of a Rancher's Wife.

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Southern Oatmeal Cookies Recipe

2011-10-20T06:45:00.004-05:00

Oatmeal cookies are comfort food. We found a yummy recipe for Southern Oatmeal Cookies in the Gooseberry Patch Comfort Foods cookbook. Southern sounds warm to me. Since it's suddenly cold on the northern prairie, I need warm, comforting recipes. This is the tenth recipe I have shared from the Comfort Foods cook book but I have made more than ten recipes. Next week it will be time to give away a copy of the cookbook to a winner. If you win you'll want to try this cookie recipe.

(Note...the white sugar is off this picture)

You'll need:

1 cup shortening (we used butter because we love butter...LOVE butter)

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour (I'd mix in a little cake flour for some lift next time)

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

3 cups long cooked oats

1 cup walnuts or pecans

WW w/ linky: How to pick a pumpkin on the prairie

2011-10-18T19:50:00.001-05:00

Picking out a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch is an important job.

Agreeing on one is another issue between 2 year old and 3 1/2 year old sisters.

Carhartt in my working mom wardrobe

2011-10-17T05:00:00.010-05:00

Fall has set in and it's jacket time on the prairie. I wait as long as possible to actually pull out winter coats. Once we are winter coats in North Dakota, we seem to wear them for five months...or longer. For a new fall jacket, I ordered Carhartt's Women's Sherpa Sweat Jacket when Carhartt offered to give each one of my friends of Real Farmwives and me a new jacket. It seemed like a perfect fall jacket and more stylish than just a sweat shirt to add a layer. I haven't just worn this new versatile Carhartt jacket in North Dakota like I planned.

Engage. Empower. Share your voice.

2011-10-14T20:25:00.002-05:00

A few issues I deeply care about especially when they directly impact my family and business. You probably have a few of those issues too. One issue that was top of mind when we made the decision to go rural with our family was the access to high speed internet. It actually was the decision point, the icing on the cake. My husband said we couldn't go deep into rural North Dakota, taking a huge risk with out high speed internet. Then my boss said the same thing. I needed high speed internet to keep my job and work remotely from home.

I made one phone call to the small town phone company thinking they might have a business option that we could have for high speed internet but I was prepared for them to tell me they offered dial-up service only. Our future was in limbo because of this phone call. My local telephone company not only had internet service, they had broadband internet. High speed. Lightning fast.
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Prairie Mamas Road Trip for Sauerkraut

2011-10-12T22:22:00.000-05:00

Today was one big community event on our corner of the North Dakota prairie. In their true road tripping fashion, three of my prairie mama friends showed up to join me for...Sauerkraut Day.

Fall Decorating with Wheat

2011-10-11T06:00:00.002-05:00

Have you caught the Pinterest bug? It's a virtual pin board allowing you to organize recipes, home decorating ideas, outfit ideas, quotes, wedding ideas or whatever interests you have from items you find and see on the internet. I haven't spent a lot of time pinning but I started a Fall Decor board. I was looking for decorating ideas using what I have around me like the wheat fields, sunflowers, corn, pumpkins and more.

Source: houseandhome.com via Katie on Pinterest

The wheat decor reminds me of our October wedding with wheat that my mom spent weeks (maybe months) five years ago preparing for and it was stunning.

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Hunk of Meat Monday: How to prepare & marinate duck

2011-10-10T12:00:00.006-05:00

Today is a feature from my fellow North Dakotan Al Winmill. He has tips and trick in preparing duck. Take a read...
My love of hunting has spurred many conversations in the social media world and Katie asking me to talk about how I cook duck was something I was interested in. I've heard from a lot of people who say they don't like to eat duck. In my experience those people have had poorly prepared duck. I'm going to share my technique for cooking duck, one that goes over well with people who already know they like it and those who haven't and are skeptical. It's not really a recipe, so bear with me and feel free to use this as a guideline and tweak it as you'd like.

Katie has offered to have me out at she and her husband's North Dakota home to hunt geese, about 180 miles from where I live in Fargo, ND. I'm going to get there, trust me.

When preparing to cook duck, I start out with duck breasts that have been cleaned thoroughly and stored in freezer bags - taking good care of your wild game as soon as you bring it home is one of the keys to having good table fare. They thaw out from the time I go to work until the time I get to work usually, and if they're still a little frozen I run warm water over them in the freezer bags.

After the duck is thawed out, it's time to put some marinade together. I personally don't like the taste of waterfowl as much as I like upland birds like pheasant and grouse, but with a good marinade the meat can turn out pretty amazing. For this I used 3/4 bottle of store bought marinade - it doesn't really matter what kind, I used sesame ginger flavor this time but have used all sorts of different marinades.

I also used about 1/4 cup of riesling wine - this helps tenderize the meat and adds a little more sweetness.

Warm German Potato Salad Recipe

2011-10-09T17:50:00.002-05:00

After a hot and windy October, rain has settled in on the North Dakota prairie. Time for a new recipe of Warm German Potato Salad which is the ninth recipe I have made from the Gooseberry Patch Comfort Foods cookbook. I'll share one more recipe in the next week and then will be giving away a copy of the cookbook to one reader.

The corner of the North Dakota prairie we live on was settled primarily by Germans from Russia. The culture is very much preserved and alive. The food traditions live on and I was reminded that today at our church potluck. Cabbage rolls, strudels, pigs in a blanket, cheese buttons, kuchen and more were all brought by parishioners. I don't know how to cook or bake any of the traditional German Russian recipes. I suppose I will learn soon. I am going to. I will learn. I promise. I think it's important to carry on tradition for my kids. I know the traditional recipes won't be as easy of a recipe as Warm German Potato Salad is though.

I served the potato salad recipe with cheddar venison brats and some fruit salad. It was a big hit at our house.

Start with:

3/4 lb. bacon, diced

2 T. onion, diced

2 T. vinegar

3/4 cup mayonnaise

8 potatoes, cooked and thickly sliced

6 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled and chopped

I almost always have red potatoes because that is what is grown in North Dakota. However these Yukon Gold potatoes were dug from our garden this year and taste like butter to me. Simply divine.

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon and onion until bacon is crisp.
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Farm Girl Friday: Soybean Dust Spa With Roses

2011-10-07T06:00:00.011-05:00

Where do you go to unwind? A spa? A monthly massage appointment? The library? There is something that causes stress to ooze out of me when I am at GriggsDakota (or in our family, it is termed "the farm"). Yesterday was extraordinarily special and I am so renewed from the day. We had a 60th wedding anniversary to celebrate with my grandparents combined with a wide array of family time across five generations. Plus the girls made sure we squeezed soybean harvest into the day.

There were our two combines rolling plus neighbors were there to help out on harvesting soybeans. As I took pictures and video in the first field we were in, Jake pulled up alongside of me in the grain cart and said "Want to ride along?" Jake works on the farm for my parents and grew up nearby. His mom has been a dear friend for decades and we've known Jake his whole life. He was in my sister's class growing up and through high school. As I jumped in with him I realized Jake isn't the "boy" eight years younger than me that I always think of him as but instead he is a young dad and farmer, dumping on the go with four combines as we talked crops, harvest factors and more.

Jake pointed out to me that he hasn't seen me out the fields much this year.

WW w/ linky: In the land of honey & bowling balls

2011-10-04T21:45:00.001-05:00

With an unusually warm fall upon us...as in temperatures in the low to mid 80's F highs, I have noticed the honey bees have been especially busy around our house.

They seem to be soaking up the last of the North Dakota sunshine and warmth before gearing up for their trek south that the bee farmers take them on to California and Texas. Minus an ugly bout of stomach flu that swept through our house last weekend, we've been outside most of our free time as well the past few weeks, relishing in the glorious weather, watching a lot of the teenager's football and now taking in a harvest at GriggsDakota.

But when our activity time moves more inside as winter draw upon us, we now know where to visit to burn off some energy. Our own busy bees found an inside activity they loved and hope to do more of come the long prairie winter.

The girls had their first time bowling at a friend's birthday party. Without fail, both girls bowled strikes the first time they launched the ball.

There was some intense instruction from Daddy which you can see Miss E took seriously and Miss A...not as much.

But practice makes perfect and our busy bees will be bowling again soon at the one and only bowling alley in our corner of the prairie.

It's Wordless or Wordy Wednesday. Please feel free to link up below whether you are feeling wordy or wordless and be sure to visit the other blogs below.

I link up each week with a few favorite WW blogger friends...

Rural voices that empower me #140conf

2011-10-04T06:45:00.016-05:00

There are many mentors I have that have helped empower my voice, teaching and guiding me to share boldly and proudly about our rural life.

Three of them were able to join me for coffee at no other than Starbuck's during my time in Hutchinson, Kansas for the #140conf Small Town event. When you live 97 miles from Starbuck's or any form of pop culture on the North Dakota prairie like our family does, Starbuck's is a treat.

Starbuck's with true friends is an even bigger deal for me. Debbie, Janice, Val and I all met on Twitter. Debbie of Life on Kansas Cattle Ranch has 5 kids, runs a working cattle ranch while her husband has a off farm career. She also wear flip flops while feeding cattle.
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Hunk of Meat Monday: Elk burgers by Marie

2011-10-03T07:30:00.018-05:00

With hunting season upon us on the North Dakota prairie, I am going to feature wild game recipes as much as possible for the next couple months. Today my friend Marie from Oregon shares her elk burgers complete from the elk she shot to the tasty burger recipe she served last week for her birthday dinner.

How to make elk burgers? Learn today from Marie of Oregon Green.

Last January I shot my very first elk with my custom shortened Ruger .270 (Marie size).

I was pretty darn excited mostly because it would fill my sister's and my freezer for the year. After it was all cut and wrapped by my amazing dad, grandpas, mom and grandma there was approximately 300 pounds of delicious elk meat.

A third of that was elk burger which is great because you can use it in tacos, spaghetti or make delicious burgers.

Last Wednesday was my birthday. I made elk burgers. My mom had given me a big game cooking book that covers venison, wild pig and bear.
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Because marriage matters...we celebrate

2011-10-02T14:00:00.001-05:00

In a world of broken families and less focus on the institutional foundation of marriage, I am pausing this week to remember, cherish and honor the longest standing marriage in our family. My maternal grandparents, Oscar and Nola, will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary this week. There won't be a big bash...yet or a band playing in their honor. It will be low key just like they wish. But I have arranged our week to be there on the actual anniversary day with the girls.

I don't know how many people I will ever know in a lifetime that will have the milestone to celebrate 60 years of marriage. But this is my second time in my life. I have clear memories of my great-grandparent's, Odin and Esther's 60th and 65th wedding anniversary parties. They were my Grandma Nola's parents. I know enough to make this an event for our kids to recognize the importance of these special people in their lives and to take enough pictures so when they are old they can remember the moments.
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Prairie Pumpkin Farmers

2011-09-30T21:38:00.000-05:00

Before naps this afternoon, the girls and I went to the "pumpkin patch" as Miss E said. It really was just our (dead) garden which froze early a couple weeks ago. We had two pumpkin plants that we grew from seeds last spring. The sheer excitement and joy is best shown on the pictures. I had no idea last spring that two pumpkin seeds would lead to such rewards for the girls in the fall...or for me to witness.

Cute kids clothes 100 miles from a shopping mall

2011-09-30T08:30:00.001-05:00

After 10 years of having an only child son, I've been additionally dressing up two little daughters for the past few years. But living 100 miles from a mall leads me to 99% of our shopping for clothes online and bargains are the bonus I seek. I shop for size 2T through men's tall sizes for our three kids. Here are a few favorite locations I "shop" online and offline...as in free standing, "real" stores. Please share with me your tips because I'm always up for deals for cute kids clothing.

Sheshemade is a place I go for some custom pieces for the girls. From holiday themes to characters like Elmo you can find monogrammed, custom clothes at She She Made.

Bargains offline...come from TJ Maxx for our family. I LOVE TJ Maxx and it's great that I live 100 miles from one because I rarely go there but whenever I do, there are bargains. The above fall sweater was from there a couple years ago. Miss E wore it first and this year Miss A will wear it.

My absolute favorite custom clothes maker is my own mother. She is creative, gifted and makes many things for our girls. I'm very grateful for the girls to have handmade treasures from a grandma. Other handmade treasures I find are on Etsy.
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17 topics rural rockin' working moms talk about...

2011-09-29T07:00:00.001-05:00

A lightning flash quick trip on business to the west coast had me in Sacramento for a night and I had dinner available to spend time with friends. A couple text messages and suddenly two favorite California friends are on their way to see me. What 17 topics did we cover off on in a few hours over dinner? No wonder we get so much in a day. Over the course of a few hours we had things figured out for careers, our kids, daycares, husbands, and more. Oh yes much more like...

Colleen, myself and Sharlene

Wordless Wednesday w/ Linky: Running Free

2011-09-27T19:46:00.001-05:00

Where would you go if you could run free with out a schedule? Two runaway horses were on our little corner of the prairie as I looked out my home office window a few mornings ago. My husband and I made a few calls and never ended up figuring out who they belonged to or where they belonged. They let me take their picture.

Then I stood in silence staring at both of them and they back at me. I thought about them just young and running free. No plan. No schedule. No timeline. No destination.

Corn Chopping Prairie Princesses

2011-09-26T12:00:00.011-05:00

Fall is official when corn chopping commences. The girls jumped right into freshly chopped corn this weekend as we visited Nathan's Uncle Dale on a Saturday afternoon drive. Nathan's cousin Kevin was haying off in the distance.

In usual fashion, when given the green light to check out the chopped corn pile, Miss E charged right in and Miss A stayed back a bit more cautious. The day was stunning as is today.

Dale was driving his tractor over the chopped corn to push it down and create a huge pile of it which will be used to feed cattle in the long winter on the prairie. There was a neighbor in his combine across the road chopping Dale's corn and a truck delivering it to him. Corn chopping is serious business on the prairie.

Hunk of Meat Monday: Tasty & Popular Venison Steaks

2011-09-25T22:58:00.001-05:00

Venison. Yes, it's deer meat. There's an ample supply around here. My quest in cooking venison is for it to be so tasty that no one knows it is venison. But how to cook venison to accomplish this quest?

Last week, I started with thawed butterfly venison steaks from our freezer. Many homes on the prairie have a freezer full of venison. North Dakota is over-run by deer. We have to hunt them. They are well fed on our grain fields and each fall if not enough are taken it means they suffer through a harsh winter. It also means we hit them with our vehicles on roadways like I did last winter. Plus they eat our crops. But since they do eat our crops, the meat is quite tender and tasty.

I still tenderizer it though. It's like therapy for me at the end of a long day.

Then just two simple ingredients are needed for a marinate. Garlic powder and soy sauce.

Cover the tenderized steaks with the garlic powder and soy sauce in a shallow dish and cover for 30 minutes (or hours, even days) in the refrigerator.
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Double Toffee Coffee Cake Recipe

2011-09-24T11:48:00.001-05:00

Feel like baking an easy recipe today? You can quickly make this quick and easy coffee cake recipe and get raving reviews. I have made two versions of it including a low-fat coffee cake recipe that is equally delicious. This is the eighth Gooseberry Patch Comfort Food cookbook recipe I have shared through The Real Farmwives of America and after my tenth recipe shared I'll be giving away a copy of the cook book. Enjoying comfort foods in the fall is perfect, just like this coffee cake.

You'll need:
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup pecans, finely chopped
1 TBSP cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour (I substituted cake flour according to directions on the box and I also used King Arthur's white wheat flour in the cakes I made.)
3.4 oz package instant vanilla pudding mix
3.4 oz package instant butterscotch pudding mix
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup water
3/4 cup oil (I use canola oil but also substituted apple sauce in one of the coffee cakes I made.)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 eggs (you can use egg replacement or egg whites)

Combine brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon in a small bowl; set aside
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Buying Clothes 100 Miles From A Shopping Mall

2011-09-22T23:00:00.001-05:00

Today on Kelly's Korner, Show Us Your Life, the topic is your favorite online shopping for adults. I live 100 miles from a shopping mall and I'm not an avid shopper in the first place. But I have a career and as much as I would wearing jeans and comfy work out pants every day, I dress up for work and have learned to love dressing up in fashion forward pieces. But the comforts of home is where I do my shopping and I am on a budget. When we are done paying for everything else there isn't much left for "mom's clothes" but I do set aside money for a seasonal "budget" for myself. My mom once told me I had to do this and she is right. When you feel good in what you are wearing, you are happier and more productive.

Here is a lengthy rundown where I shop online, how I shop online and a few favorite pieces.

The above photo shows a few pieces that just arrived this week via Nordstrom. Nordstrom's has free shipping, fabulously easy search features on their site and fantastic sales. The above dress I bought at regular price because I loved it and will wear it multiple times a month for the next six months. My mom picked it out for me over Labor Day weekend while we both online shopped together as the girls napped. The other two items were on sale. I found them and thought they would be great pieces that add to what I already have in my closet.

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Why Family Meals Matter (amid chaos)

2011-09-22T16:00:00.000-05:00

I am completely tapped out in life right now. Can you relate? Literally the to-do list is too long. I can't get it all done. Prioritization is not enough and letting go is a part of what I have learned to do when things get hectic like it is right now.

But what do I do to renew myself, to feed my soul, to bring energy back into my life after a long day?

No matter how difficult it seems in the moment, I cook a family meal. It forces me to be in the kitchen, away from technology and allows me to think over the stove. The meal I made last night will be detailed this coming Monday for Hunk of Meat Monday. It wasn't fancy. It wasn't gourmet.

But the meal forced just the two of us that were home, Hunter and me to sit down together and converse over a family meal.

Normally there are five of us home and things are louder at the table. But last night the girls had dates with Daddy when he went to go to do errands in the big town 100 miles away. They got to eat at Olive Garden together. Hunter said that our meal together was "way better than Olive Garden" except he would have liked me to make some breadsticks. Conversing with Hunter the teenager made me laugh, get his perspective on anything he felt like sharing which mostly includes sports related topics. Plus I had him tell me about his day, football, school, piano and more.

Family meals are the calm in the storm of a hectic day for me. They provide some balance, down time and even if the kitchen is a mess or there are food crumbles on the floor, it is worth it.
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Wordless Wednesday Linky: Technology & Innovation for kids

2011-09-20T20:00:00.004-05:00

It's nearly Wordless Wednesday. By the time you read this I will be driving home 705 miles after attending a small town technology conference. I have sat today listening to a wide array of speakers on a variety of topics. But I am mostly thinking about how technology applies to my kids, to their education and life in a rural area. I have listened to speakers on how they are using technology to engage kids in education and how to protect kids . A favorite quote was "If you don't engage kids, they power off."

Sometimes I am so busy worrying about my kids in the moment we are in that I don't think about engaging them. I don't think about big picture always.
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3 Things For You: Power Panties Love, Bloomberg & Road trip

2011-09-19T08:52:00.001-05:00

There are 3 important things I want to share today. First, we need your help.

Our Real Farmwives of America friend, Leontien, needs love and prayers. She is the midst of her second battle with cancer in her young life. She is known to wear her power skull panties when going to slay cancer.

Please shower her with love by "liking" this Facebook page today and feel free to leave a message of encouragement. Our girls showed their love for Leontien by making her original artwork this past weekend that we are sending her. Miss E prays for her daily along with us now. Showering you with love and prayers, Leontien! Slay cancer.

Secondly for today, my mom has a big moment.
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Germans From Russia Still Sing (Video)

2011-09-17T21:22:00.001-05:00

Our 14 year old son decided to join the choir this year. Tonight was his debut singing in German for a Germans from Russia Heritage Collection tour that came to town. He wasn't particularly proud of performing because he was looking at the music and others knew the words. But Miss E and I attended and we loved the evening. You can watch the two videos to truly get a flavor of what our small school choir director teaches the kids. It keeps the Germans from Russia heritage and culture alive through the generations on the North Dakota prairie. While I make jokes of living in the most elderly county per capita in the country, I am intensely proud to see the youngest generation we have carrying on old traditions and learning the unique culture.

Take a listen...Hunter is the tall boy in the back middle wearing a gray shirt.

Did you just learn a little old German from Russia dialect? I couldn't make this up if I tried. The Germans from Russia culture is alive and well on the North Dakota prairie. But when I walked into the event, I looked over at the choir director, Mrs. Wolff and said, "Jeg snakker litt Norsk." I speak a little Norwegian. But I am so proud to see our son is singing in German on the prairie. Life is good.

My 15 Keys To Surviving 15 Days of September

2011-09-15T16:30:00.003-05:00

It's the middle of September? In usual fashion things are hectic yet everything seems to be ticking along as needed. There are key elements of sanity in my life that have kept me going through a little chaotic scheduling lately. Here are 15 keys to me surviving and thriving so far in first 15 days of September.

1. Visits to the local library. Even though we love collecting books at home, the "new" library books have lengthened at our reading together. The girls have undiscovered treasures at the library. Plus reading to them keeps them in my lap. What mom doesn't want a little extra snuggle time?

2. Online shopping. Over the course of two hour span while the girls had Labor Day weekend naps, my mom and I ordered me a new fall wardrobe. These boxes arrived this week from Nordstrom. I'll be blogging about wardrobe, shopping and deals more soon.

3. Football. The boys haven't won yet but football is iconically fall. Plus it allows weekly road trips and family time for us to and from games.

4. Concession stands. I would be lying if I didn't admit when my kids can eat supper on a Monday night at the football game concession stands I am semi-relived. There's no drive-thru on the prairie. A football concession stand is our replacement and once a week for football season is awesome. Although I still have to feed a hungry like a pack wolves teenager after the game at home. But after a football game the girls are fed, played out (their friend Jared is shown above with them) and ready for early bed.

5. Neighbors. I didn't make pickles this year like I did last year. Time ran out but never fear neighbors are here. I have pickles thanks to friendly neighbors.

6. Help in the garden. It froze last night. It's way too early to freeze but Mother Nature didn't listen to my reasoning. But the girls and Nathan took it upon themselves to gather as much as they could before the freeze.
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