Cooking With My Girls

"Big Sis" called me and wanted me to show her how to make my Mom's Potato yeast rolls.
So we decided to devote one night to cook.

I called all of my girls including my Mom, but only 2 of them could come.

Here is "May May" stirring the yeast roll mixture.
That is the hardest part.

We made 2 complete recipes of the rolls.
 We separated it into 3 different bowls so we could share all of it.
The girls were amazed how fast the dough doubled in size.

Then they wanted to make some potato candy.
Evidently it was potato night!!!

This candy is so yummy and easy to make.

After spreading the peanut butter, then you roll in to logs.

Then you cut the candy in to bite size pieces.

Cleaning up with a smile!
"Big Sis" brought us chili for supper too!

I caught you "May May"!!!

These rolls are so easy and delicious. 
My Mom always made these when we went camping.
If you would like the recipe you can go here!

We had so much fun cooking together!!!
We are going to try to do this again next month. I hope that "Trouble, Angel, Sweet Teen & my Mom" can join us next time. 
If you would like the recipe for this Potato candy go here!

Sparta Hilton Update #8

Oh boy!  The Hilton has a new (new to us) refrigerator!
The refrigerator we have already works  but the refrig doesn't get cold enough for me. 
The freezer works fine but we needed another one. 
Our friend, Bruce (the one that is getting married) had a refrigerator that he wasn't using so we went and picked it up.
Thank you Bruce!!!

There is only one problem.  We cannot get it in any of the doors at the Hilton!
I need my hunting buddy D. to come and tell the guys how to do it. lol
Seriously.

I am just thankful to have it so I got started cleaning it up.
Bruce had bought this refrigerator brand new in 1986.
The best part of our Hilton is the shed on the outside so we just put it under the shed.



It looks great even if it is outside. 
We do most of our cooking outside anyway so it really works out well.



The mornings are a little chilly and I love to cook breakfast on the fire.

That morning we had Sausage, gravy, fried potatoes, eggs and biscuits.

It was just the two of us again so I didn't
cook as much as I would with others there.

"Sweet Hunter" bought me this chair to put in my blind.
I don't think he thinks like me.  I need a cup holder!
But it was so sweet. It is easy to carry too.

So "Sweet Hunter" decided that I needed to go sit with him in his blind.
I don't know why.  I do fine in mine with my book and stuff.
But it was a sweet thought.

So here we go.  We walk and walk and walk.
He tells me not to step in the food plot and be really quiet.
Then when we got down in the woods the leaves made a crunching sound as we stepped.
He told me we had to be so quiet.  So I started walking in his footsteps.  My left foot and his left foot stepped at the same time, etc.
It still made a lot of noise.  And then we heard a turkey calling. 
It was the neatest thing.  "Sweet Hunter" knelt down. I thought he was about to pray but what he was doing was listening to try to figure out what kind of call that turkey was making.  He finally told me that it was a "lost" call.
Then we heard another one coming toward it. We were so close but could not see them.
And then it ended.  I guess the hen found the baby.
It was so neat to hear that.

Then we sneak up to his blind.  Quietly.  I am wondering how we are going to both sit in this thing and be happy.
But it was sweet that he wanted me to go with him. 
I love this man more than anything but I was miserable in that little blind. 
My new chair made a crackle and pop everytime I moved.
He would say Quiet!
I told him it was the chair.  I had no book. I had no drink.  We just sat there.
Now he would get me tickled every once in a while. 
But we never saw anything.  Boring.
I like my set up better.

Then we had some relaxing time. 
We set up the horseshoes and played a little bit.
It was so much fun. 
Looks like someone needs to mow that grass!

He thought that I had set the stakes up too far apart but after
walking it off he realized that I was within 1 foot of what the paper says.
Imagine that! lol

I told him that there was some limbs in the way so
he told me to get that long saw and saw them off.
I sawed and sawed and sawed. 

Then he came over with a little bitty saw that he carries in the woods
 and sawed those limbs right down.
I think he just wanted to see if I could do it.
Well if I had known about that little saw he had I am sure that I could have done it too.

Then "Sweet Hunter" cooked us some cheeseburgers on the grill. 
It was so good.  I just love cooking over a fire or charcoal.
It is funny because at home we don't do things like this.
We work so hard during the week that we cannot wait
 to get back to this little shack in the woods.......I mean "Sparta Hilton".
We love our little getaway!

Sparta Hilton Breakfast

Look at these beautiful dishes.  My "Sweet Mother" gave me these dishes a while back.
Now you see why I thought that they were too nice to go to the "Sparta Hilton."

But leave it to my Mom!  She brought me more dishes! 
I LOVE these Coke glasses.  Trouble wanted these but I said NO!

Mom brought these dishes to me to take to the Sparta Hilton. 
They look very nice too.
Thank you Mom!

So here is the first time that we have used these at the Sparta Hilton.
I have the table all set for "Sweet Hunter" when he comes in from hunting.
My sweet Mother in law gave me this tablecloth. 
It is just perfect for this season.
And you can't miss that muscadine jelly on the table!
Our hunting buddies brought that a while back. They haven't got to come lately.
  We might need to tell them to bring some jelly. We love it!

I made this breakfast casserole a while back and
had it in the freezer so it came with us to the Hilton.
I put it in the ice chest and then in the refrig overnight so it could thaw out. 
You should have smelled the aroma in the Sparta Hilton when this was cooking.

Add some fried potatoes and it makes a perfect breakfast.
Aren't the dishes pretty?
This casserole is so easy and delicious. 
I need to put it on my my cooking blog!

When you see one of these in the woods what would you think it was?
A little tree with a disease that made it lose it's bark?
That is what I thought but "Sweet hunter" has shown me a bunch of these.
Evidently when you see these it means that there is a buck around. 
They rub their antlers on these little trees.
He says this is a sure sign that you have a buck in the area. 
hhhmmmm.....I might need to look around my blind and see if I see any of these!

Sparta Hilton My Way

Here I am with my blind that I am going to hunt out of.
I know nothing about hunting but I do know that those tree stands are way too high for me.
So I have my own camera and my own blind.
So I think that means that I can pick where it goes, right?

"Sweet Hunter" wanted to show me where he wanted
me to put it but I already knew where it was going.
I did look at his spot and I may get another blind to go there
but I already had my spot picked out.
Men....you gotta love em!

So he told me to open it and it would pop up.

And it did!



And got bigger!

So here it is all set up and this is the view that I have looking out my front window.

This is the window view to my left.

This is my view to the right.
 This is also where my trail camera is.

Here is my blind.  I am pretty proud of it. 
You cannot see inside but I already have a chair in there complete with a cup holder!

 I am ready!

"Sweet Hunter" thinks it is too close to the Sparta Hilton.
I guess that is why he is trying to camoflauge it with limbs.

I could have cut my own limbs too but I guess he thought I needed help.

We did a good job didn't we? 
You see, here is the way I think. 
I think it sounds like way too much work to walk way back in the woods
and then have to climb a 15 ft. ladder stand.
So I decided that I would hunt on the ground.  I am on a little hill and can actually see pretty good all the way around.
I really hope that I get one from where I am.
"Sweet Hunter" thinks that I am hilarious because it is so close to the cabin.  He even gave me a compass tonight in case I get lost and can't find my way home.  Ha! Ha!
But here is my thinking.  I won't have to get up as early as he does because I won't have to walk as far.  And when I get my deer I won't have to drag it as far.  If I need to go to the restroom or get a drink out of the refrig. or something to eat then I would be right there at it. Understand?

I set my trail camera close to where I am hunting so I can see what passes by.
I hope I see something on it besides a fox.
Being the "Sweet Hunter" that my husband is,
 he had his own idea where he wanted "my" trail camera to go.
But again I knew exactly where I wanted it.

And another thing.....What if I have a chicken cooking on the grill?

At least if I am close I can run and check on it, right?

Oh by the way, this chicken was delicious. 

I rubbed it with olive oil and salt and pepper.

Then I put it on the grill while it still had a flame to brown it good.

Then I closed the grill and it cooked it like a smoker.

I fixed baked beans and potato salad and a loaf of homemade bread and it was so yummy!

So do you see my point?  I can't cook if I am not close, right?

  I think I can hunt, cook, embroider

 and anything else that needs to be done but I have to do it "My way!"

Sparta Hilton and Embroidery?

This is a desire of my heart.  Embroidery. I never take the time at home to work on this so I decided that this was my project while we were at the Sparta Hilton.
While "Sweet Hunter" was out hunting, I was sitting on Granny's couch and determined
to learn some embroidery stitches.

I didn't exactly know where to start and I thought I brought everything but I forgot my hoop!
I emailed Allie because I thought that I remembered
her telling me that I could embroider without a hoop.
She answered and said that she never uses one.
Thank you Allie. 
 You have got to go and visit her blog. She is amazing.
 Now I am a beginner, so don't laugh.

I think this was the feather stitch.  Look at that first one. It is horrible.  The one on the right is actually my second try.  I think I got worse.  Then I did the middle one.  I thought I better stop there on that one.  I think I did improve.

Then I tried the french knots and did o.k. but I need lots of practice.  The running stitch was easy but need to work on more even stitches.  Oh my goodness. Look at those lazy daisy stitches.  I definately need practice. But this is a start.

I can't remember all these stitches that I practiced but I do know it was fun.  If you will look at the 2 little flowers at the bottom you can see that I did improve some.  The heart is upside down and I can't remember what stitch this is but I did pretty good on it.  Well this was a start anyway.  Is this the way that you learned?  If not, please share any ideas with me. 

These pies don't look the best in this picture but I am telling you they were delicious.
I cooked a lot this last trip and this was the first thing that I made.
We ate one whole pie....just me and "sweet hunter"! 
I put the other one in the freezer for next time.
  If you want the recipe you can go to My Cooking Blog!
Easy and delicious.