Tis the Season for Snowcream Sundaes!

Happy holidays everyone!  Tis the season for all things winter here at Silo Hill Farm and we are loving the snow this time of year! For all of my friends who live in tropical climates...you're missing out on this dish of lusciousness that only comes with the freezing kind of precipitation....

 Nothing makes my heart happier than snow, except when my grandson Jacob spends the night.  When both things happen together...well, I'm ecstatic!  Such was the case last week.  He wanted to play in the snow.

We talked about how there is magic in snow and how that is what you see sparkling in the sun.  (It's a grandmother's job to perpetuate magical myths, right?) I asked him if he had ever eaten ice cream made out of snow.  He had not.  I promised we'd make some as soon as sledding was over.  Took a while, because sledding is just way too much fun and I hope all of my tropical climate friends get to try it at least once in their lives!
Before we came in, we gathered about 6 cups of clean, fresh snow and left it out on the back deck until we were ready.

We rounded up our ingredients.

1/2 C. milk
1/2 C. Half & Half or cream
1/2 C. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

And now...6 year old Jacob will show you how easy it is to make!

Pour it all in a bowl.

Stir it up until the sugar dissolves.

Bring in your 6 cups of fresh clean snow and add it in one cup at a time.

Stir it up some more.  Stirring is serious business.  When you're done it should look kind of like this....

Throw it in the freezer for a few minutes and get your bowls and spoons ready.

Fill them up, adding the toppings of your choice. Believe it or not...Jacob is a purist and likes his ice cream and his snowcream plain.  (All of those toppings like coconut, chocolate chips, whipped cream and a cherry, were for me!)  Now...take a taste.

A good chef will savor the flavor and wait just one moment before giving his  review.

Chef Jacobs opinion of his first ever snow cream?

Wonderful!  There is magic in snow.  You can even taste it!

Pumpkin Harvest Soup and Muenster Sandwiches

Danni here from Silo Hill Farm and I can't tell you how happy I am with this series on soups and sandwiches.  One of the reasons I love fall is because it's the beginning of soup season.  Of course, since I also love pumpkins, I had to make this Pumpkin Harvest Soup.

I cannot lie to you...this soup was inspired by a trip to the supermarket where Food Network magazine caught my eye in the check-out line.  There on the cover of this months issue was a pumpkin-apple soup in a beautiful bread bowl.  Stopped me right in my tracks.   Since the issue also included a bonus booklet called "50 things to make with canned pumpkin", into my cart it went.  (Total impulse purchase, rare for me.)
Now, I'll tell you two things right here and now.  One.. that I always think I can improve on a recipe and this soup was no exception. Two....I'm not making bread bowls.  A regular bowl works just fine for me and I don't need all the extra calories from a bowl you can eat.   
You can find the original recipe in the magazine, but I messed around with it a little and this is the way I made mine.
This soup makes 4-6 servings and the ingredients are not too involved at all...

1/4 C. creamy peanut butter
2 C. chicken broth
1 15oz. can pumpkin
1/2 C. cream
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 apples (cored and chopped into bite size pieces)
3 Tbsp. maple syrup
4 strips cooked crumbled bacon (not pictured..because I forgot)

Cook 1/2 of the chopped apple in butter until soft.
Put the pumpkin in a pan and whisk in the broth, peanut butter, cream, syrup and pumpkin pie spice.  Add sauteed apple.  Simmer ten minutes.
Ladle into 4 soup bowls and top with remaining chopped apple and cooked crumbled bacon.  Serve immediately.

OPEN FACE MUENSTER CHEESE SANDWICHES

Muenster cheese is a semi-soft cheese from the United States.  It is a pale, smooth, easy melting cheese made from cow's milk.  It is very mild in flavor although European versions are much more pungent. I think it's kind of buttery tasting and I love it!  If you can't find it in the packaged cheese section of your grocery store, try the deli.  This is the kind I use..

This sandwich couldn't be easier.  Start with garlic bread, either homemade or store bought.  (Mine came from the bakery section of the grocery store.)

Put it on a small baking pan and bake at 425 for 5 minutes on each side.  Pull it out and add a slice of Muenster cheese to each piece.  Put it back in the oven for about 2 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly.  I particularly like this one with tomato soup!  A quick note for those of you who might be wondering why I don't just use mozzarella cheese...well first, because that would just be cheesy garlic bread.  Second, Muenster cheese, although quite creamy and delicious, is not all stringy like mozzarella and is not nearly as "chewy".

If you have a favorite soup or sandwich recipe (or both) be sure to come back and link it up Monday, Nov. 4th.  We'd love to see what you've made!

In the meantime, check back here next Monday to see what Heather from The Beating Hearth is making!

KIDDING AROUND SERIES - GHOST LEAVES

I have never done a kid craft on my blog.  I'll admit that it's possible some of my projects may have turned out to look like a kid craft, but it was not intentional.  So when the girls at the Inspiration Cafe wanted to do kid-themed crafts.....I totally freaked out.  Totally.  I mean, I've already told you that my 5 year old grandson has the attention span of a gnat, so crafting with him is almost impossible.  But, sometimes things just work out.  Last Sunday, my brother-in-law called and said my awesome nephew, Dain was wanting to come over to see me.  Always exciting! Seriously...this kid will pick up a huge snake.....

He will also make creepy faces in my corn maze for a photo shoot...

You will never be bored around a kid like this!
The wheels started turning in my head.  His attention span is bigger than a gnats...maybe like mosquito-sized.  I decided to ambush him into making a craft with me.
 To get a 9 year old boy to do a craft with you...you had better at least call it something cool...like Ghost Leaves. 
Gather up a few supplies...

You'll need 1 cute kid, some white craft paint, fake leaves,googly-eyes, magnets, a hot glue gun and some glue dots.
You'll want to paint one side those cheesy faux leaves with some white craft paint.

 I love the look on Dain's face when we first start out, but...he quickly warmed up to the whole leaf painting thing.

Paint as many leaves as the mosquito-sized attention span allows.  They dry really fast and are still very flexible. 
Flip them over and put a magnet on the back with a little hot glue.  Hold that magnet down for like 30 seconds and talk about googly-eyes.  Kids love them.  Just knowing they come next makes Dain smile.

Little glue dots are perfect for sticking on googly-eyes.  They're too small for a hot glue gun and you don't want to burn precious fingers that might be needed for picking up a snake.

You can tell that the attention span and picture taking tolerance are running low now, which is a good thing, because this project is over.  We have Ghost Leaves that will stick on your fridge...or your school locker.  Cool....

 .....and fun!
Don't have any googly-eyes??  No problem...a marker works just as well!  How do I know this?  Because after my nephew left I decided to play around and make one myself.  I opted for a Vampire Leaf....

 

Now go play! Please be sure to come back and join us for our Kidding Around link party coming up  Monday, September 16th.

"IT'S A STEAL" SERIES - DANNI BREAKS INTO MELLYWOOD'S MANSION!

Danni here from Silo Hill Farm and it's my turn to steal an idea   and do a knock-off.  Lucky me because I'm stealing from Mel at Mellywoods Mansion.  I've knocked off Mel before, because she's awesome and has so many great ideas!  Truth is, I knew right away which project I wanted to do because I had planned it a long time ago, but just never got around to it!  
Mel made this Pretty Money Box Makeover last year....

Don't you love them?  And who doesn't want a pretty way to save a little cash?  I wanted to make one of these to replace the jar that we have on our bedroom dresser that Sam and I keep throwing change in.  Of course, I wanted to incorporate some of the things that Mel loves, such as.......

SPARKLE

BLACK AND WHITE

RUFFLEY AND FLUFFY

BOTTLE CAPS

AND A LITTLE BLING!

Hmmmmmm.....Mel likes a lot of things! 
(All of the above awesome projects can be found on Mel's gallery and you can get there by clicking HERE)

Can I make this project using a little bit of all of these things and still have it be tasteful, useful and fun?  I gave it my best shot....

Now I have my own bank for change...minus the slot!  I will say this, it is really hard to get a good picture of something that's black and white striped, blingy and tall!  However, I loved the triangular shape of the container I had.  Can you guess what it used to be?

Yep...a box that contained a bottle of Glenfiddich 15 year Scotch.  Life is short people...drink the good stuff!!  Here are the rest of the supplies I used for this knock-off:

Tall container, bottle caps, double stick tape, black tulle, polka dot ribbon, black felt, black and white scrapbook paper, stick-on gems.  Not pictured...hot glue gun.
I used hot glue to attach the paper to the container.  No-brainer there.

To make the tulle flower in the middle, I followed a tutorial from a good friend of Mel's,  Amy at While Wearing Heals.  You can find that tutorial HERE.  I attached it with a little hot glue.

Again using hot glue, I attached one of the bottle caps to the top of the can.  (Hey Mel!  I did NOT choose the cap with the chevron stripe on it!)

Then I just blinged the whole thing out with some stick on gems, which may be a little over the top, but it's a little bit of everything Mel likes and I like it because it reminds me of her!

Mel, thank you for the inspiration and thank you for being such a good friend!  I wouldn't want to go through the blog world without ya girl!  

Go check out Mels pretty money boxes HERE and browse around her blog for awhile and get some inspiration of your own.

Next week....Mel's going to be stealing one of Heather's project ideas and putting her own spin on it.  You won't want to miss it!

If you've got a knock-off project, be sure to come back to the Cafe and link it up on June 10th at our "It's A Steal" link party.  If you don't....get busy and get one going....you've still got 2 weeks!  (Please don't forget to get permission and use proper link backs!)

CARDAMOM COOKIES - KARDEMOMMEKAGER

Cardamom is one of those spices that was kind of  a mystery to me for many years.....until I had Cardamom Cookies.  Oh my!  Now I find myself trying to sneak a little cardamom into more of my baking.  I'm Danish, and we do love our baking, so today, I'm sharing my Cardamom Cookie recipe with you.  (In Danish it's Kardemommekager....just so ya know!)

They're kind of pretty with their crinkly sugared tops! 

 This is one of those easy recipes where you mix it all in one bowl...sweet!  Here's what you need....

 I should make a quick note here...this recipe does not use whole wheat flour.  Wheat Montana is my favorite flour in the world and I loved it so much, I bought a flour jar from their store!  
Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1 Cup sugar
• 1/2 Cup melted butter
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cardamom    
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.   Roll into 1" balls.  (I just use a 1" cookie scoop.)  Place 1 inch apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet.  Dip a small glass or jar sugar and flatten cookie. Bake at 350 for 10-12 min.

Really, they are that easy to make.  Here is a quick tip...to get the sugar to stick to the bottom of the jar/glass you are using to flatten the cookies with, just flatten the first cookie and then dip the jar in the sugar.  (It will pick up enough moisture from the cookie to get you started.)

 I flattened these to just about the diameter of a 50 cent piece.

 If you want a crisper cookie bake them a little longer.  I baked mine about 10 minutes, until they were just lightly brown on top.

 I love these cookies!  Cardemom is wonderful spice and will fill your house with a lovely aroma when you bake these.  

I'm linking this recipe to this fun party today.....

 (Stop by and show Marilyn some love!)

And this great party  which begins on Monday.....

The Inspiration Cafe Girls are having their first link party and we'd love it if you'd come link up a recipe that has special meaning to you on Monday April 29th.   We'd love it if you would!