Fast Pistachio Puff Salad

Crushed Pineapple with all its juice mix this into a medium bowl 1 small box of Jello Instant Pistachio Pudding.  Cover and refrigerate this bowl.  Drain and discard syrup from 3 medium sized cans mandarin oranges for several minutes (set in strainer on a plate) cover and refrigerate this small bowl.  Mix a small carton (1 pint) of whipping cream into stiff peaks in a pre-chilled large mixing bowl.  Stir Pineapple pudding mixture into whipped cream well.  Stir in1/4 cup chopped walnuts and 3/4 cup mini marshmallows and then gently fold in the drained mandarin oranges.  You can eat it right away!  Though, I usually try to refrigerate it as soon as I can and like it to be nice and cold!  You can garnish the top with strawberries, kiwi, or cherries.  Use a large spoon to transfer salad to a serving dish or travel container and you are ready to go.

Substitutions for picky family members may be to omit nuts or marshmallows.  Add different types of fruit, sliced fresh red grapes are good!  Some like cool whip in place of or in addition to the whipped cream, but this does add lots of sweetness.

Tonight  ~just now ~ I put the second Clutch of 2 babies under her while they were all sleeping.  I did make a bit of noise coming into their door with the chicks in my hands they are now over 5 weeks old.

The splash colored Silkie is the broodiest old thing and had adopted the first clutch of 3 babies 2 weeks ago.  Things were going just fine it seemed until one day my husband found the little mottled frizzle chick completely still and curled up in the corner.  Some how it didn’t make it through the night.  It came as a surprise to us, we’d never lost a chick before and 6 weeks seemed kinda late.  Every chicken seemed to be getting along perfectly, the babies were seen running about eating drinking scratching for over a week outdoors following their new momma and aunt chickens around for tips.  Then there were 2…smooth feathered bantam Cochin chicks left.

One Evening our silver laced bantam Cochin started “buk-awk-ing” loud, which led me to believe she wanted some scratch but i thought she usually doesn’t do this at night…I went and with scratch in hand and found one of the baby chicks wedged in t he gold pet fence.  Just int eh middle of the steel square rectangle she thought she could fit through the bars but I guess she plumped up because she was SO tightly wedged with one hip forward and one hip back . I had to play fire fighter and try bend steel with my bare hands!  She squealed as I gently but firmly trying to get her back threw the fence the way it looked like she had made it through best I could without pulling a feather too hard!  Both her wings were stuck in a slightly bent up position, for I don’t know how long! and she had been pushing the sand underneath her out of the way and maybe wasn’t able to get the traction to push herself all the way through once she got stuck. Seems like her “aunt Verde” saved her life by squawking for attention.

These babies are about 7 weeks old and fully feathered out for 3 weeks or so.  It really makes me nervous about using the extendable pet yard /fence that I got at Petco as my main fence for raising chicks. I will need to line the perimeter of it with chicken wire.

So at the moment I am up late worrying about my little white chicks first night in the big coop.  I really hope they all get along and the Silkie momma takes in her new white Cochin chicks with as much ease as she has taken in other clutches.  So right now she is sitting on(with) 2 mottled chicks and 2 white Cochin chicks, one smooth and one frizzle.  Lets see if this frizzle makes it.  There is also the Silkie’s best friend a buff Silkie hen (named “Cracker” by my 5 year old son who also lays in the same big nest box with them.  Its a cute little family of 5 in there.  Hanging out on the perch above them is “Auntie Verde”.  She usually perches about 4 feet off the ground in the coops little rafters all by herself.  I am hoping that at some of these Cochin chicks will grow up to be a perch mate of Verde’s.

~Perfect backyard chickens, or indoor pet chickens if you prefer. Seramas are the smallest breed of chicken in the world. One of the things Seramas are bred for is temperament. They are very personable and enjoy human attention. Most are not very cold hardy and do need protection from extreme cold.~

*Friendly,Easily handled,Calm,Bears confinement well,Quiet,Docile

SO with the first backyard eggs of the year I made my first batch of cake pops ever! They are so very yummy! My family got a cake pop maker for Christmas and its been fun so far!   My favorite out of the 2 flavors that we made on ~nEW YEARS eVE ~is the yellow cake dipped in white chocolate.

My family and I had fun making them and definitely we loved eating them.  We got the Bella cake pop maker from JC Penney with a holiday discount coupon to make the deal even sweeter! Maybe I am a little bit weird, but cake pop makers (like waffle irons) seems like a more sanitary and an easer way than the old fashioned cake ball recipes where you have to crumble and roll the cake by hand, especially if you want to involve kids on the process of making them.  An extra easy step to take is to just use a regular cake mix instead of cooking cake from scratch. The first time we made cake pops it was with Yellow cake mix, white chocolate chips, semi sweet choc. chips, and sprinkles from the grocery store to keep it simple.

I have heard that white chocolate tastes much better than white Wilton’s candy melts as the coating for cake pops. I am eager to try this out for myself! We also mixed semi sweet chocolate chips with white chocolate chips in a small microwave safe bowl and melted them just a minute and stirred then another 15 seconds stirred again and I had a milk chocolate dip that tasted a lot like hostess chocolate donuts. But I really cant wait to try chocolate brownie cake balls dipped in the white chocolate. My daughter and I also have red velvet cake balls at the top of the list. Then Lemon, Almond creme, Carrot cake, Strawberry, Spice, and Pumpkin, and donuts of course. Remember, I have lots of little fresh bantam eggs to use.

There were 10 little differently colored eggs in there with my favorite little Americana hen on top of them waiting to lay her little green one for the day.  She laid it calmly and quietly in front of me and let me take eggs out and pet and watch her all the while!  SO cute!  When she was done she jumped out to get some fresh scratch with her “sisters” AAAAwww!

I brought in my 2 handfuls of eggs to show the little kids and Caity squealed “Oh a PINK ONE!”  Then I proudly held up the freshest green one and we ooo-ed and aaw-ed again!

This could be the most “princess-like” Duchess Catherine has looked since she married Prince William, she does it not disappoint.

At the “Night of Heroes” event at London’s Imperial War Museum to honor members of Britain’s armed forces for heroism. Kate accompanied her husband, and brother-in-law, Prince Harry, on the red carpet, and while the boys looked charming and dapper, Kate totally stole the show.

First off all, let’s discuss the fact that Kate’s dress was velvet. Velvet!  What a fantastic way to spice up an otherwise plain gown. The dress would be gorgeous no matter what material it was made of, but the velvet really takes it over the edge!

The thing that struck me the most about Kate’s look, though, was her ability to look so “fancy” without changing much. Her hair looked the same as it always does — down with loose curls — and her makeup was sort of the same as usual, a little softer perhaps. Overall, she didn’t look that different from how she normally does. What was it that made her look so “royal” then?

It was the jewels.

The usually minimalist Kate opted for a necklace — a real necklace. And earrings and a bracelet.We’re talking jewels fit for royalty. The statement necklace was made of rubies and diamonds and was given to her as a wedding gift, and the bracelet and earrings were diamonds, as well.

Velvet gown, rubies, and diamonds. This is the kind of stuff I’ve been waiting to see Kate in. This is the kind of stuff that reminds us all: She’s not always just like us; sometimes, she really is royalty.

Make sure to check out LIFE The Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton An intimate account of the Royal couple, featuring breathtaking photos from the April 29^th Royal Wedding.

This adorable post was found on Cafe Mom Presents The Stir…

Trying to make something different from the norm for dinner with the same old ingredients, that everyone will love?  I threw together some of everyone’s favorite ingredients into the casserole dish and it turned out PRETTY DARN YUMMY!  Please let me know what you think, or if you have a recipe suggestion that you’d like to share.

Creamy Onion Chicken Noodle Bake Casserole

Ingredients

• 5 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 12 ounces egg noodles
• 1 pouch Lipton onion soup mix
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup milk
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 cup french fried dry onions
• 1/2 shredded cheese

• 2 new potatoes (about 6 ounces)
• 1 small clove garlic (I like it garlicky so used 2 cloves)
• Salt
• 4 teaspoons butter
• Freshly ground pepper

1. Peel potatoes, and slice them very thinly. ( I ised a mandolin for this step for evenly cooked slices) Peel and mince garlic, then mash it, along with a generous pinch of salt, with the flat side of a large knife until it is a paste. Work about 1/2 teaspoon butter into it.

*Add several cloves of garlic mashed with salt to my potatoes.

I came accross this yummy recipe on the adorable website More Than Burnt Toast.

“Oeufs” by Adolphe Millot for Nouveau Larousse Illustré 1897-1904, published in Paris.

To take a look at  the full sized image and individually extracted images of each amazing egg, click on the following link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oeufs002b.jpg

Just like Aunt Bonnie makes!  Moist and sweet, the walnuts and pineapple make it a special treat!  This is a great addition to your fall holiday buffet. 

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3 eggs
• 1 and 3/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup finely shredded carrots
• 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Another trick for picky eaters could be to remove the nuts and top with frosting and you can go all out with decor if you so choose (or get bossed into it by your tiny daughter