Part 14 Of Precious Things

Precious, more than gold that wasteth, is the trial of your faith,
Fires of anguish or temptation cannot dim it, cannot scathe!
Your Refiner sitteth watching till His image shineth clear,
For His glory, praise, and honour, when the Saviour shall appear.

Part 13 Of Precious Things

Sons of Zion, ye are precious in your heavenly Father's sight,

Ye are His peculiar treasure, ye His jewels of delight;

Sought and chosen, cleansed and polished, purchased with transcendent cost,

Kept in His royal casket, never, never to be lost.

A Glimpse...

 of some projects that I'll be working on this month...

Can't wait to share!!  :D

Part 12 Of Precious Things

Such His gifts! but mark we dully our responsibility
Unto Him whose name is Holy, infinite in purity;
Sin and self no longer serving, take the precious from the vile,
So His power shalt rest upon thee, thou shalt dwell beneath His Smile.

Another Giveaway!

I just ran across this fun giveaway!  There are 26 prizes, so that means 26 winners!  One of my favorite items in the giveaway is a pair of pink star sapphire glass earrings.

Take a look!

Health Course Giveaway!

Head on over to Cheese Slave and grab some entries for an amazing Health Course Giveaway!

{ Etsy Sale! }

Our good friends at Country Hearts At Home are having an amazing sale in their Etsy Shop!

Go check it out! My favorite items are the Tea Cup and Coffee Cup Pincushions!  What a neat idea!!!

What is your favorite item in their shop?

Happy Thursday!

~~Laura Elizabeth

{ A Recipe }

Caramel Macchiato

I just love Caramel Macchiatos!  Here is my “base” recipe…change it up to taste – you can’t go wrong!

4 Tablespoons Caramel Sauce (Recipe Follows)

1/2 Cup Freshly Brewed Coffee

1 Cup Very Warm Whole Milk

Stir together the Caramel and Coffee in a Large Mug.  Pour the Hot Milk over Caramel Mixture.

Caramel Sauce:

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

1 tablespoon water

In a 3-quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the cream, butter, sugar, and water. Stir over medium heat until the mixture is smooth. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer registers 240 degrees F, about 5 to 7 minutes. Let the mixture cool for 30 seconds.

Hope yall enjoy this!

~~Laura Elizabeth

{ Did Somebody Mention Sledding? }

Here are some of the sledding photos!  Enjoy!

 Yes, you are seeing this photo correctly -- Lizzy and I have our ice skates on....in the driveway....and you know what?  We were able to skate!  

Of course we had to take a silly photo!  haha

Happy Wednesday!

~~Laura Elizabeth

{ Snowed In }

So what do you do when you get snowed in?  You go sledding, of course!!

You take fun photos of your jumbo-size french mugs.....

Which happens to have homemade Caramel Macchiato in it.... 

You decide to get your ice skates and skate on the driveway....yes, our drive was compact enough to skate on!

You also take time to edit photos, and plan tomorrows blog posts :)

Happy Tuesday!

~~Laura Elizabeth

Guess What We Are Doing?

Well, more on all of this later.....I'm heading out to go sled now!  

Yes, those are 3D glasses....and yes, I'll have more explanations and photos later :D

~~Laura Elizabeth

The Shining Light

"The Shining Light, that Shineth more and more unto the Perfect Day"

           by Frances Ridley Havergal

A year ago the gold light

Sweet morning made for me;

A tender and untold light,

Like music on the sea.

Light and music twining

In melodious glory,

A rare and radiant shining

On my changing story.

To-day the golden sunlight

Is full and broad and strong;

The glory of the One light

Must overflow in song'

Song that floweth ever,

Sweeter every day,

Song whose echoes never,

Never die away.

How shall the light be clearer

That is so bright to day?

Hw shall the hope be dearer 

That pours such joyous ray?

I am only waiting

For the answer golden,

What faith is antedating

Shall not be withholden.

**All 4 of these photos were taken on our farm this past year....enjoy!**

~~Laura Elizabeth

Part 11 Of Precious Things

Nor withhold we glad thanksgiving for His mercies ever new,
Precious things of earth and heaven, sun and rain and quickening dew;
Precious fruits and varied crowning of the year His goodness fills,
Chief things of the ancient mountains, precious things of lasting hills.

The House Made Out Of Gingerbread... Part 2

Today we said goodbye to our Gingerbread House!  We tried a new recipe this year, and this was the sturdiest house we had ever made!  It took some MAJOR pulling and pushing to get this house to come down.  As you can see, the roof came off in a big chunk, and only a section of a wall would come off....

Well, for those of you who have only experienced fragile, and frail gingerbread house recipes, I thought I would share ours from this year!  :D

~~  Laura Elizabeth

Gingerbread House

Recipe courtesy Gale Gand

I once made a ginger bread house with my Banquette chef Bill at the Pump Room that was big enough to walk into. It was a life size gingerbread playhouse and took days to build. Have fun!

Prep Time:

2 hr 0 min

Inactive Prep Time:

3 hr 30 min

Cook Time:

15 min

Level:

Difficult

Serves:

1 house

Ingredients

Gingerbread:

• 8 ounces unsalted butter (16 tablespoons or 2 sticks), softened
• 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 6 1/4 cups cake flour
• 4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Gingerbread House Templates, recipe follows

Royal Icing:

• 3 cups confectioners' sugar, plus more as needed
• 2 egg whites*

Assemble and Decorate the House:

• Heavy cardboard base for the house
• Pastry bag with a medium plain tip and a small plain tip
• Frosted shredded mini-wheats for the roof, as needed
• Mini tootsie rolls for a fence, as needed
• White Hershey Kisses for roof top spikes, as needed
• Small candy canes for a lamp post outside the door, as needed
• Granulated sugar for snow drifts, as needed
• Necco Wafers for a cobblestone path, as needed
• 3 large marshmallows, for snow man
• Pretzel sticks, for snowman arms, as needed
• 2 whole cloves, for snowman eyes
• Graham crackers to build a shed, as needed
• Assorted candy such as gum drops, peppermint drops, M & M's, white chocolate chips, red hots, non-pareils or snow caps, silver dragees, green mint jelly leaves, Life Savers, and Animal Crackers

Directions

In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Add the eggs 1 at a time until incorporated. Add the molasses and vanilla and mix.

Sift together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves, and salt. Working in batches, and mixing after each addition just until combined, add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture. Shape the dough into a thick disk, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease 2 cookie sheets.

On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough in half and roll each piece out into a large 1/4-inch thick sheet. Transfer the dough sheets to the sheet pans; then cut out the required shapes with your templates (see Gingerbread House Templates below).

Bake until stiff and toast-y, about 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely.

Make the Royal Icing: In a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the confectioners' sugar and egg whites together. Add more sugar, if necessary, to reach a spreadable consistency.

Assemble and Decorate the House: Glue the house walls together by setting them up on the cardboard base, and piping the royal icing at the joints with a medium plain tip from the inside. Prop the sides up with wine or soda bottles and let set for 30 minutes. Attach the roof pieces, using the icing in the same way

Using a spatula to apply the icing, glue the frosted mini-wheats on the roof to look like thatching. Attach the front door, with hinges made from icing (leave it open to be more inviting).

Decorate as you like, following the suggestions in the ingredient list, using the icing as glue, if needed. Use a small plain tip for any filigree style decorative line work, you may want.

*RAW EGG WARNING

Food Network Kitchens suggest caution in consuming raw and lightly-cooked eggs due to the slight risk of Salmonella or other food-borne illness. To reduce this risk, we recommend you use only fresh, properly-refrigerated, clean, grade A or AA eggs with intact shells, and avoid contact between the yolks or whites and the shell.

Gingerbread House Templates:

Brown paper bags, as needed

You'll need to make 7 templates, by drawing the dimensions out on brown paper and cutting them out. Use the templates as a stencil to cut the dough into the required pieces. Here are the templates you'll need:

Two front and rear walls: 5 inches high by 8 inches long. Cut out 2 windows from each wall, and 2 1/2 by 1 1/2-inch door in one.

Two side walls shaped like a house (triangle on a square): 5 inches high by 6 inches long, with a triangle 7 inches high on top (cut all in 1 piece). Cut 1 window out of each side.

Two overhanging roof pieces: 4 1/2 inches wide by 9 inches long.

One door: 2 1/2 inches high by 1 1/2 inches wide.

A Giveaway!

Kathryn Grace Photography is holding a giveaway!  She's giving away a fabulous computer desktop calendar set!!

Head on over to grab your entries!

~~Laura Elizabeth

Part 10 Of Precious Things

Far more precious than the ruby, or the crystal's rainbow light,
Valued not with precious onyx or with pearl and sapphire bright,
Freely given to all who ask it, is the wisdom from above,
Pure and peaceable and gentle, full of fruits of life and love.

{ Just Because }

~~Laura Elizabeth

I Saw This On A Walk...... :)

Then I ran into my lil girly :)  She just had to pose for the camera!  My Cappie has officially turned her namesake "Cappuccino" color!  This awesome horse will turn white for me when the weather gets warmer... but for now, I love that Cappuccino tone :)

~~Laura Elizabeth

A House Made Of Gingerbread

For the second year in a row, we have made a gingerbread house with a friend!  

This year, our wonderful neighbor Renee came over to help out....

We started working on the dough right before lunch, at lunch, put the dough in the oven, took the dough out of the oven, and let it cool.....end of story!  We were talking and laughing so hard during the "rollin out" process, that we ran out of time to decorate!  :D  

Well, we never could find a time to have her back over, so Lizzy and I finished it up.

We decided to make a log gingerbread house -- like our new house here in TN!  Though the scaling isn't correct, and our field here isn't that small, we think it represents our little farm pretty nicely!  haha

Our "puddle" of a pond .....the candies that we melted stuck to the pans and made a sticky mess!

Our "not so healthy" garden!

We really enjoyed making this candy house!

Renee:  we will have to give it another try next year.....and start in the morning next time!  :D

~~Laura

Baby Hats Up In Etsy

I just LOVE baby hats!  Any shape or size will do!  So I decided to make a few
and put them in my etsy shop!

Here are photos of two of them.....more photos and more hats coming soon!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!! 

Winter On The Farm Part 3 ....White Christmas!

Yup!  Title says it all!  Our very first Christmas on a farm.  Our very first Christmas on OUR farm. Our very first WHITE CHRISTMAS!  

So on this very special Christmas, we decided to take a long walk :)

Of course, we had to give our horses some treats while passing

 I know, I know.....no pictures of me because I'm behind the camera....AGAIN......just wait ;-)

 Acting goofy trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue :P

Even Mr. Bingley tagged along for the walk!  He actually LOVES snow!  Who would have thought a TX dog would love playing in the snow!  haha

 If you look REALLY close, you can see our house in the top right corner :)

Reecie waited for us at our gate while we were on our walk....she is such a smart cat 

A quick pose by our barn....er....falling apart barn ;-)

 ...And look who didn't want to stay out of the family photo!  Yup, Reecie made her way into several shots!

Notice her at the bottom left corner behind Lizzy?

 Yay!  A COMPLETE family photo!  At last!  "Why is Bingley staring at the camera?" you ask?  Well, Reecie was sitting behind the camera....and he wanted to go play!  haha  Thanks Reecie for getting Bingley's attention, and thanks "Mr. Fence" for being my tripod!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!

~~Laura