Straight From The Source!!

Greeting my readers and followers! Sorry I have yet again been MIA from even weekly updates :( I have been busy, but somewhat productive!
Today, I went out to the Amish Country Pantry to get some more milk, butter, cheese and eggs. I got the first three items on my list, but they were out of eggs. So I asked if there was somewhere I could get them locally from a farm. The sweet Amish girl (young woman) picked up her land-line phone and called someone else to inquire about eggs for me. Well, it turned out that the farm had some available and I could pick them shortly! YAY for farm fresh eggs! So, I drove the mile down the road and picked them up from the farm. A sweet Mennonite girl hopped out of the tractor after I pulled up and had 2 dozen in hand for me - straight from the source! They weren't still warm - but still, I was able to buy them straight from the farm for $2 a dozen - a bargain at double the price in my opinion. And yes she accepted this silly woman's check for $4 - LOL!
I really wanted to take some pictures of their farm, but I didn't have my camera on me and I am sure I would look like an absolute city girl/tourist and a moron.... But they had a nice farm to include an entire pen of deer that they raise for breeding purposes and to repopulate parks as needed (I am sure this is a business venture). But she did stress to me that they did not raise those for fresh venison. I was a country girl that loved to hunt deer growing up, but I guess it would be like eating a pet, she even said so....
Anyway - yay for farm fresh eggs - not factory eggs laid by hens that don't even have a square foot of space :( Plus they are great tasting eggs and there is nothing like eating delicious, local, whole foods!
Until next time!

Milk and Cookies Anyone??

First - greetings! I am sorry it has taken me sooo long to get a new post written :( I have had a lot going on and it's been all I can do to get the cooking done and meet my other obligations. So I have decide to update one saved sentence at time - LOL!
Sweets have been one of my down falls for most of my life - LOL! It's not until I hit my 30's did the my sweet tooth start to catch up with me. You have heard me rail against high fructose corn syrup and this is not another rant against it, though I did see another MANIPULATIVE tv ad the other day......
Most everyone has made cookies before - it's a right of passage in the kitchen whether you are a child, baker, Mom, Dad, etc... But how about really good all natural cookies?? Homemade is better than store bought in terms of knowing what is going in your cookies. But what about knowing what is going into the ingredients that is going into your cookies?? LOL - if you don't care, don't bother to read further, it's no big deal. But I do have a good recipe at the end ;)
Instead of white granulated (over processed) sugar, I use either raw sugar (the coarse variety) or evaporated cane juice (organic cane sugar). ECJ had us going one time when we were reading a recipe! We couldn't figure out what exotic ingredient it was - LOL! It was sugar cane, but not the white processed stuff! I use also organic brown sugar, whole wheat flour, grass fed chicken eggs, real grass fed cow butter instead of margarine, organic chocolate chips, organic rolled oats and coconut oil instead of shortening. The end result - a delicious chocolate chip oatmeal cookie that is good for you! Well, good for you in terms of not using preprocessed or artificial and good for your sweet tooth soul! These are awesome cookies and paired with a glass of cold fresh low pasteurized, non homogenized milk and you have a delicious "traditional" (for the last century or so) snack! It's not full of vegetables kind of good for you - but it's an enjoyable good for that allows you to feel good about what you and your family are eating. Below is the recipe:

1/2 cup of organic evaporated cane juice
1/2 cup of organic brown sugar
1/4 cup of sweet cream butter
1/4 of coconut oil (a little more if you find your mix is too dry)
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 1/2 cup of natural rolled oats
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 cup of organic chocolate chips or raisins

Heat oven to 375, drop cookies 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until done. You can bake longer for crisper cookies or less for chewy.

Enjoy!