An Our Prairie Home Easter: Iowa Farm Style

As I've mentioned before in my Thanksgiving and Christmas posts, we are not very formal, when it comes to family gatherings.  You won't find gorgeous tablescapes, fine china, silver, goblets of wine, and flutes of champagne.  Scott is the youngest of four, so when our family all gets together, well, its huge.  All totaled, there are seven adults and fourteen grandchildren, ranging from age 20 to age 4; Ten boys and four girls.  So generally, our focus is to get all the food put out so the men and the boys can pounce on it.  All the boys with the exception of Landon are pre-teen and older, so its like a pack of starving wolves.  LOL  We definitely do buffet style - all the time.  Oh - and paper plates.  LOTS of paper plates.  So we can just enjoy each other and not spend a ton of time cleaning up.


We generally rotate holiday hostess responsibilities, although I haven't hosted for a couple of years now, since we started remodeling everything.  This year, Scott's sister's family invited our family to their farm in Tripoli (pronounced Trah-POLE-lah).

Tammy...

Tammy is in black.  Nancy is in purple.

and her husband, Dwayne 

(or Dewey, as we affectionately call him)...

own and operate Busch Hogs.  They live on a working farm in northeastern Iowa.  Duane owns around 5,000 head of hogs and farms I don't know how many acres of corn and beans.  Tammy also works as a Lab Tech at our local hospital.  They have four children, three boys and one girl, ages sixteen to six.  

We always love to go to Tammy and Duane's.  

Why?  

Because Duane is the best griller EVER. 

Mostly, the men stand outside around watch Duane grill...

And to eat it as fast as it comes off...

All the meat is raised by Duane and Tammy on their farm...  Hamburger, Porkburger, Steak, Pork Chops, and Brats.  They even have their own meat locker on their farm, which is where they cut up and process the meat that they raise for their family's use.  Even the bacon in our sides came from the pork they raise.

Seriously, we are very spoiled.

  

We rarely, if ever, have to buy meat from the store.

I miss my fresh seafood from the coast, but I love our farm grown beef out here.  You can't find steaks like that at the grocery store.

Its pretty much a free-for-all when we all get together.

The older boys play football or ride four wheelers...

because we spend a lot of time shooing them outside. 

With five of the ten boys being wrestlers, 

its inevitable that this happens:

Its gets pretty loud when all five get in on the action.  

Especially when the men start egging them on.  LOL! 

The baby girls play dress up...

and because they are only five months apart, 

we always check to see who's taller...

Its pretty much always a toss up.  ;)

It was quite the celebration when those two came along.  

After nine straight births of boys, 

we had given up that there would ever be more than two girls.  

Needless to say, they are the princesses.  :)

And poor little Landon is usually left to his own devices, 

since he's so much younger than all the other boys.

We all line up and stuff ourselves sick with all the goodies 

that everyone has contributed to our potluck style meal:

This year our menu included:

Meat:  Steaks, Pork Chops, Brats, Hamburger, and Porkburger
Sides:  Green Beans, Fresh Asparagus out of the asparagus patch, Scalloped Corn, Fried Potatoes and Bacon, Baked Bean Casserole, Pasta Salad, Vegetable Tray, Grilled Peppers, Onions, and Mushrooms, Seven Layer Salad, and Grilled Garlic Bread.
Dessert:  Strawberry Pie, and my contributions for the desserts...

Rice Krispy and Cadbury Egg Bundt Cake

And a homemade ice cream cake that was decimated before I thought to take a picture of it:

Recipe:  Two layers of Ice Cream Sandwiches, Cool Whip, and crushed Butterfingers.  Freeze two hours.  Done.  YUMMY

Its always great to get together with the family, so the cousins can spend time together.

Rob, who is the next to oldest grandchild is a Junior at Simpson College and is studying to be a physicist.  Smart boy, that Rob.

Family is just one of the many reasons I love living in Iowa...

Even if Tammy did try to take a picture of me because I was busy being paparazzi all afternoon.  She missed.  LOL 

Easter:  A time to be thankful for our family and more importantly, our Saviour, who's death on the cross saved us all.  

And totally NOT about the Easter baskets I set out when we got home late last night.

XO,

Edible Easter Nests

Easter time abounds with scrumptious recipes for the kiddos.  The March & April Issue of FOLK Magazine served up one of the cutest and yummiest ones yet.

This featured creation is from Amy at Momma Hen's Frugal Life and it was just so cute, I just had to try it out.

First, assemble your ingredients.

You'll need:

THREE CUPS Large or Mini marshmallows
THREE TBSP Unsalted butter (which I didn't have, but what-ev)
HALF TSP of Vanilla
TWO TSP of Peanut Butter
FOUR CUPS Dry Chow Mein Noodles
Small Egg-like Candy (I used Cadbury Mini-Eggs because they rock.)

First, you're going to grease a muffin pan and set it aside.

Then, in a pot, you're going to combine the marshmallows, butter, and peanut butter like so...

After it melts, you're going to add the vanilla and the dry noodles:

Remove the pot from the heat, apply vegetable oil to your hands (Forget the Pam, it doesn't work as well.  Tried it.), and press the mixture into your muffin cups when the mixture is just cool enough that you don't burn yourself, but not set up yet.

Stick the pan in the fridge and wash up your dishes while you wait for them to cool completely OR sit on the couch and stuff your face with the Cadbury Eggs while watching HGTV...  Whatever works for you.  The Cadbury Eggs were GREAT.  ;)

When they're firm to the touch, put your little eggs in the little nests and admire your work.

Almost too pretty to eat.

This recipe should yield you fourteen, but I only got twelve out of it.  But then again, I'm definitely no cook.  Just ask Scott.  :P

And then sit back, smile, and wave while you accept the Mom of the Year Award.

Even though you totally just staged your kid for your blog post.  :P

It'll almost make up for forgetting to pick your son up from Chorus practice last week...  Or not.  LOL

But at least you feel like you accomplished something today - and put a smile on your kiddos' faces... Until the dryer buzzer goes off and reminds you that you still have a load or two of laundry to fold.

Oh well.  It was great while it lasted.  Right?

Toodles,

The Easter Egg: All Grown Up

A few days ago, I ran across a blog post by Brittany, AKA Pretty Handy Girl.  It was one of those blogs that makes you smack yourself in the head and go, "DUH! Why didn't I think of that?"  I obviously don't think outside of the box much, especially when it comes to thinking beyond traditional uses of items.  Like, Easter eggs. 

In my eighteen years as a parent, do you have any idea how many Easter eggs I have decorated?  Hundreds.  Thousands.  Millions.  Okay, ya got me.  Maybe not millions, but a lot.  A whole lot.  And I never looked outside of the pretty pastel colors that never turn out quite as good as they do on the box.  At least when you're trying to supervise six children at once.

Scott introduced me to the whole poking a hole in the top and bottom and blowing the white and yolk out of the egg back when we were dating.  I had never end heard of that.  Momma always hard boiled the eggs the night before Easter and refrigerated them over night.  Then, after the Easter egg hunt was over the next day, she peeled them and made us gag down the hard boiled egg.  Waste not, want not.  UGH.  There is NOTHING worse than greenish hard boiled eggs.  Although I'm not sure which is worse...  the hard boiled eggs or Scott wanting me to scramble the eggs I have blown out for the kids to eat, which is sure to be mixed with spit.  EW.  Needless to say, I usually blow them out while he is gone, throw them out, and become hard of hearing when he asks if we ate them or not.  There are some things I just won't do.  YUCK.

Anyhoo...

So, I was inspired to make my own Easter eggs for grown ups, last night.  And what says Spring better than a Bluebird's egg?  What I love most about this idea is that the possibilities are endless.

You can make a lovely vignette...

Nestle it in amongst spanish moss in a vase full of flowers...

Be more traditional and snuggle them in real bird's nest that you find in your yard...

Or how about tucking them and some rafia in large glass vessel?

Or how about a feminine Easter egg tree?

Adding painted eggs to a little stick tree with some twinkly lights, paper music garland, and primitive stars left over from Christmas decorating, takes you from snowy temps to...

singing blue birds and warmer weather.

Really, the possibilities are absolutely endless.

From mercury glass...

To decorative nests...

and wire baskets.

Only your imagination is the limit.

Too bad my imagination kept me at kiddie pastels and painted on spots for so long.  ;)  I'm lovin' the Easter egg, all grown up.

XO,