Cream DeMint Cake

There are just some desserts that remind you of Spring! This Cream DeMint Cake is a great kick off to Spring and is perfect for St. Patrick's Day as well.

I always remember my mom making this dessert and taking to work on St. Patrick's Day. We worked at the same facility for several years so it was always a nice treat I looked forward to her making. She also took it to our Easter get togethers with family. 

It's a nice blend of flavors of mint, chocolate all together in a cake with a gooey and fluffy topping.

As St. Patrick's Day arrives, we are also reminded that Spring is well on its way and coming soon. We have our one cold frame planted with transplants and have seeds growing. We have been wanting to put up a second cold frame, so we have been working on that. Our larger cold frame is housing early cold crops. We have lettuce, spinach, arugula, green onions etc planted in there to give our growing season a head start. This new cold frame, a little smaller, will house our peppers and tomatoes to give us a head start to growing them only outside. By growing some tomatoes and peppers in the cold frame, it gives us tomatoes ready to pick about a month or two ahead of planting them just outside. We are looking forward to getting it up and planted.

Cream DeMint Cake

Ingredients:
White cake mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup water
Creme de Menthe
Hershey s Chocolate Fudge Topping
12 Oz container of cool whip
Sprinkles or chopped Andis mints for topping.

Directions:
Mix cake batter as directed on box with the mix, eggs, oil, and water. Add 1/4 cup of Creme de Menthe to the batter. Bake cake as directed on box.
After cake is done, pour 1 can of Hershey chocolate fudge topping over top of cake and spread evenly while cake is warm.
Let cool. 

For the topping, mix 1 12 Oz container of cool whip with 1/4 cup of Creme de Menthe and spread evenly over top of cooled cake and chocolate. Add sprinkles or crushed mints to top. 

Keep refrigerated.

PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE

Take to work to share with coworkers or keep at home for yourself and family. It's a great dessert to enjoy anytime of the year, but especially in the Spring and definitely for St Patrick's Day!

Enjoy a piece this Spring (or anytime of the year really!!)

Easy Cold Weather Vegetables to Grow

Garden season is right around the corner and here at the beginning of March we are anxious for that Spring and Summer weather. I know I am anyway. Well even though you think of garden season not to start for another month or two, it's is a good idea to know when you can start your vegetable seed.

You can extend your growing season by planting these cold weather crops in early Spring (as well as late Fall). The nice thing about cold weather vegetables is that they can be planted outside as soon as the ground can be worked. Cool weather vegetables are meant to be planted in cooler weather. So Spring and Fall. Plant in early Spring for spring harvest and late Summer for Fall harvest.


Several cold weather vegetables can be direct sewn by seed:

• Collards
• Kale 
• Kohlrabi
• Leeks
• Mustard greens
• Parsley
• Radish
• Spinach
• Beets
• Carrot
• Cabbage
• Turnip
• New potatoes
• Lettuce/Salad greens
• Swiss Chard
• Green Onions

An early garden harvest with radishes, green onions, spinach, lettuce, arugula, and kale

Other vegetables do better having a head start planted as a transplants

• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Kohlrabi

There are lots of benefits to gardening in early Spring and late Fall. It's not as hot and humid as in the summer, making working outside a little easier. You don't have to water as much. There are less bugs, especially mosquitoes. Plus there are a ton of great vegetables to grow during this time! Some take a little more work, but today we are going to talk about some of the easier ones to grow. I am in zone 5, but believe these would be fairly easy to grow in any zone with the right conditions. Look at the map to find your zone that you are in. 

We have a cold frame, where we start our earliest seeds in the greenhouse, then we plant them in the cold frame soil to grow. This gives us about an added month to our growing season. But here usually end of March/beginning to mid April (depending on the weather) we direct sow these cold crops outside in the garden. 

Lettuce

The crisp leaves are perfect for every salad. It is wonderful to grow your own lettuce for salads and other meals. There are so many varieties to choose from loose-leaf, butterheads and bibb lettuce, romaine lettuce, and crisp head lettuce. Also, plant a mix for blend of mixed greens. 

Lettuce can be directly seeded as soon as the soil can be worked. Lettuce grows best when the soil is moist and outside temperatures range from 40 to 70 degrees F. Sow lettuce seed about a quarter of a inch deep and roughly and 6 inches apart in rows or a broadcast the seed in a square area for leaf lettuce. Leaf lettuce is ready to harvest in 45 to 55 days. For head lettuce, plant roughly 12 inches apart. It is ready to harvest in about 80 days. 

Spinach

Spinach is packed full of nutrients and great to add to a variety of recipes! Spinach is fast growing. 

Spinach can also be direct sown in early Spring or late Summer and plant about half an inch deep.

Spinach leaves are ready to harvest as soon as the leaves are ready to eat, usually in 3 to 5 weeks. To harvest simply cut the outer leaves off about 2 inches from the ground, and let the inner leaves grow until the next cutting. This will allow for longer production. For larger spinach leaves, simply let them grow a little longer. You can harvest leaves and it will continue to grow and provide more. Spinach does tend to bolt when temperatures get warmer than 75 degrees F, so try to harvest as much of your spinach in the cool temperature. 

Radish

There are also so many kinds of radishes! Round, long, white, red, mild taste, or stronger taste. We mainly use radishes for salads or to snack on, but there are also some delicious looking recipes you can use radishes with as well. I prefer the mild tasting radishes, while my husband enjoys the ones with more of a bite to them. 

Direct seed radishes in early Spring and late Summer by planting 1 inch apart in rows. By doing the spacing at planting will save time of thinning out as they get growing. Radishes need the amount of space to develop. 

Radishes are ready to harvest in about 30 days. Be sure to not leave them in the ground too long or they will split, become too hot in taste woody texture. To harvest simply pull the radish out of the ground at the base of the plant, this way the stem shouldn't break off. Radishes store for a long time in the refrigerator in a sealed container so you can enjoy them for a long time. You can also eat the radish leaves. 

Green Onion 

Green onions are great in salads, to add a little sweet oniony flavor to any dish, and to cook with. My husband likes to also eat them raw. 

Green onion can also be direct seeded to the garden as soon as the soil can be worked. Green onions plants can be grown from seed, sets, or transplants. The seeds are very small and take a little longer. We like to use onion sets! They are bigger and so create a little bit of a head start with your green onions. The onion sets, or bulbs can be planted in early Spring or late Fall as well. Actually we plant them all garden season long! But they are a great cold crop vegetable. For the onion sets, we dig a trench then place the onion sets about an inch apart and bury them in. 

Green onions are ready to harvest when the plants are at least 6 inches tall. Green onions are ready to harvest in as little as 30 days. If temperatures are right, let them continue to grow to form a little of the round onion ball at the end. Use the green onion plant as well as the white onion bulb for cooking. 

These are consistent plants in our garden that we plant and enjoy every year! Its very nice to start the growing season with easy crops and also to end the season. There are other great cold weather crops to plant as well (in the list above), but I find that these are the easiest and most commonly eaten. 

You might like a new seed sower and garden gloves to kick off the start to the garden season! 

Do you grow any of these in your garden? 

Texas Sheet Cake

Texas Sheet Cake is a great dessert when you are baking for a crowd! A delicious combination of chocolate cake and brownies in one that everyone will love.

This recipe is another one of my favorites I have learned from my grandma! I know I have said it before with some other recipes, that I am wanting to learn some family recipes that everyone loves and that are favorites of mine. Texas Sheet Cakes are like a family tradition, you might have eaten it as a kid as well as your parents may have as well. Enjoyable every time!

Texas Sheet Cake definitely satisfies that craving for something chocolaty. It's packed with flavor, moist, and buttery. Plus the frosting itself is amazingly tasty!

This cake recipe is baked in a large jelly roll pan creating a large cake, which is why it is perfect for get togethers and potlucks. A sweet treat for dessert and able to serve several.

Texas sheet cake is a easy recipe to put together, but one of the tricks to this yummy dessert is to frost it when the cake is still warm. This allows the frosting to be able to spread well on top of the cake and to soak into the cake as it cools.

Texas Sheet Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Clabber Girl baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
2 sticks margarine - melted
2 cups flour
4 Tbsp cocoa
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups nuts -chopped  (optional - I prefer pecans or walnuts best, but I usually leave the nuts out of the cake and just put in the icing).

Icing:
1 stick margarine - melted
4 Tbsp cocoa
6 Tbsp buttermilk
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup nuts - chopped (optional - I prefer pecans or walnuts best)

Directions: 

In a mixing bowl combine sugar, eggs, salt, baking soda, vanilla and margarine together and mix. Then add the flour, cocoa, buttermilk, and nuts if choosing to. Mix with hand mixer until smooth.

Pour batter into a greased, large jelly roll pan (17"x 12" x 2" or so).

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

As soon as the cake is done, make the icing. In a sauce pan combine margarine, cocoa, and buttermilk together as margarine melts. Then add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir until smooth. Add nuts if choosing to. Pour immediately over the warm cake and spread out to all edges of the cake.

Make it with nuts, any kind of nuts you'd like, or without depending on your liking.

PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE

Next time you need to serve several and thinking of a chocolate, cake, or brownie idea, this Texas Sheet Cake is a perfect and delicious option to bake!

Enjoy!!

       This post is sponsored by Clabber Girl Baking Soda but my

 thoughts/opinions are always 100% my own. 

Garden Pasta Salad

Garden Pasta Salad is one of our favorite side dishes to have with our meals. This recipe is my husband's favorite pasta salad and what a great way to use some vegetables from the garden if you have them, carrots, onion, cucumbers, and tomatoes!

Summer picnics and family reunions will be coming up this summer. This is sure to be a favorite side dish! You know the feeling when you are invited to pot lucks or family reunions and asked to bring a side dish. I don't know about you but sometimes I really ponder over what I want to take. Something easy to make that will feed several and that I think many will enjoy. This pasta salad is a good choice and super easy to double up the recipe to make more.

This recipe comes from my mom, its her go to pasta salad recipe. There are so many different pasta salads, but this one is my farmer's favorite that he always requests. My mom has been making it for years and I remember the first time my husband had it when we were dating. I think he may have first had it at a family reunion picnic. He loved this recipe immediately.

This pasta salad is packed with flavor and so easy to make. Super colorful and delicious too! We especially love it when we can pick produce fresh out of our garden and whip up this pasta salad to enjoy for a few days! With lots of growing in the garden, this recipe is an easy one for us to make. We can gather up the vegetables needed, prepare them, and make the pasta salad in time for the meal that day. We are busy on our farm planning our vegetable gardens and ordering seed, so its fun to think about the recipes we crave in the summer time!

Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

1 lb. tri-color rotini pasta
1/2 cup onion, chopped (use red onion for more color)
1 cup tomato chopped (I use grape tomatoes cut in quarters)
1 cup cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 cup carrots, sliced and chopped
2 oz jar of pimentos

(Dressing)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup sugar
2 tsp mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried parsley

Directions:
Cook your pasta until tender and drain. Place pasta in a large mixing bowl and put in refrigerator to cool. Then mix all the dressing ingredients together. Prepare the onion, tomatoes, cucumber, carrots and mix together with the dressing and pimentos. After this is mixed, combine with the cooled pasta and mix all together. Serve cool.

PRINT RECIPE HERE

How to Plan Your Vegetable Garden

Spring is right around the corner and it will soon be time to brush off those garden tools and garden gloves and get to work.

Here in Indiana we have had several sunshine days and warmer temperatures. Nice weather in January definitely gets you in the Spring mood and ready to be thinking about working outside and fresh vegetables from the garden, among many other things!! 

Seed catalogs start filling up mailboxes makes everyone anxious for fresh produce harvested from the garden. 

So here early on, is the time to start the garden planning. How to plan your vegetable garden?

We grow produce to sell at the farmers market and for our CSA, but when ordering seed and picking varieties we also think about what we like to eat ourselves during the gardening season as well as what I am going to preserve by canning and freezing for the year. For this post, we will address it as in your own personal vegetable garden.

Things to think about when planning out your vegetable garden.

If you have grown a garden in previous years, you may have saved your seed from last season. Go through your seed and see what you have left. You may only need to get a little bit of one variety instead of a larger amount. Write down what you already have available so that you have a list ready when ordering your seed. This will help you know what you already have instead of going back and looking. A lot of time with gardening for several years in a row, you might make notes of what you liked on certain varieties of vegetables. This can also help you decide if you want to order specific varieties again or change it up.

You might be one who preserves the harvest from your garden. If so or want to try, go through your canned goods and your frozen produce and see what you have left. For example, we eat a lot of green beans that I can each summer. It is almost certain that every year we need to plant a good amount of green beans for me to put up several quarts each season. Although, I am the only one in my family that eats pickled beets, and we generally have some left over, so we take note that we don't need to sow as many beet seeds for ourselves.

Review all the seed catalogs that come in the mail. We have favorites we order from and you may too, but we also check out for the best prices and look for different varieties we want to try that another company might not carry.

Buying in bulk is great when you need to plant a substantial amount of one variety. A lot of these seed catalogs you can buy in bulk, but also don't forget to check out your local garden shops and centers. A lot of garden centers will have bulk seed you can buy by weight. Seed packets are also available at many stores and garden centers if you only need a little of a specific variety and want to go that route.

Where are you going to plant your garden. You might draw out a diagram of your planting space for your garden. Draw out the complete section and section off where you will plant each vegetable. Grid paper is great for this. You can use the rule that one square is equal to one square foot. If your garden is smaller or larger, you can adjust accordingly. This will also be helpful after planting has been done to remember when you planted things. If planting more than one variety of a vegetable, be sure to indicate on your diagram what variety is planted where and then you will know when the plants come up and grow as well as when the vegetable is harvested.

Seed planting schedule. You can plant several of varieties of vegetables indoors and get an early start. Then transplant them later when it is warmer outside. This is how we get started with our vegetables each year. Refer to your seed catalogs or seed packets of your different varieties of seed as to when to start your seeds either indoors or direct sow outdoors based on days of maturity.

We have the garden season on our minds. These are some of the things we are thinking about as we have been ordering seed and spacing out our garden planting. Looking forward to a great growing season and watching the vegetables grow and enjoying them!!

Loaded Cauliflower Chowder

Loaded Cauliflower Chowder, a simple alternative with a lighter calorie load than a loaded potato soup. Enjoy the great flavors with an added bonus vegetable included. It will really hit the spot on a cool evening and also on a nice summer day.

We don't eat soup often in our home, but it is certainly enjoyed when we do. I would like to incorporate more soup meals in our meal plan. I especially love a variety of soups, but the kids aren't big fans of soup.

A nice bowl of soup is always perfect in the winter months on a cool weather day.

Using fresh produce from the garden in the summer is always a great way to put together dinners as well. We love to use our home grown cauliflower for a variety of different meals. It is a healthy alternative as well to other carbs.

Here in the Midwest in mid January we are doing a lot of planning for the upcoming growing season. Planning out what we want to plant and how much. Getting our seed order prepared also is an important part of our planning. We have our CSA open for sign ups as well. During the busy winter months, a nice warm bowl of soup always is a perfect meal and hits the spot.

We really love this Loaded Cauliflower Chowder, very similar to loaded potato soup, but substituting most of the potatoes with a less calorie option, cauliflower.

Top it off with bacon, cheese and even a dollop of sour cream to complete the yummy dish.

Loaded Cauliflower Chowder

Ingredients
1 cup water
2 cups chicken broth
2 cup milk
2 tbsp butter
1/4 onion - chopped
1/4 cup celery
2 potatoes - peeled and diced (you can also leave the skin on, I like it off more for this recipe)
1 head cauliflower -chopped into florets pieces
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
pepper to taste
6 strips of bacon - or desired amount
sour cream (optional)

Directions
- Fry the bacon until crispy, crumble into small pieces and set aside.
- In a large stock pot, combine water, chicken brother, milk, butter, onion, and celery and cook on medium heat.
- Steam potatoes in microwave until tender and add to stock pot.
- Steam cauliflower in microwave until tender and add to stock pot.
- Bring to a boil. I then use my hand stick blender and blend out the chunks
- Mix in the shredded cheese and add pepper to your liking
- Place in bowls and top off with bacon, cheese, and sour cream to complete the dish.

Enjoy!!

Christmas In The Country Reveal 2015

The Christmas decorations are down as the holiday season has come and gone. I love the joy the holiday season brings! We are in a fresh new year and it's exciting to look forward to a new year as well.

This is my second year participating in Christmas In the Country, a secret gift exchange among bloggers! It's a fun way to give and receive a gift and connect with bloggers.

This year my gift was from Katherine over at Katherine's Corner. I'm glad this exchange linked me to finding her blog and shops on Etsy! An inspiration! I enjoyed reading some of her posts! Katherine really took heed of my cues for the exchange and built her gift on my favorite colors mason jar blue and chartreuse green and the fact that I crochet!! She gifted me a crochet caddy, a crochet hook wallet to store a variety of hooks in, and some super comfy and fun socks!! I love everything and have been using them since they were delivered!! The crochet caddy and hook wallet is super helpful as I take my crochet projects when traveling. I look forward to bringing it along on many trips!

Love everything!!

Fun and cozy socks

Crochet hook organizer

Crochet Project tote - already carrying with my current projects

In addition to receiving a gift, it was equally as fun to put together a gift!! Head over to Home on The Range Exchange to find out what I sent to Lori.