An Early Christmas Pressie

 Yummy cookies arrived in the mail for me and mom told me that I didn't have to wait till Christmas and she opened the package!

The ingredients are whole wheat flour, pumpkin puree, peanut butter and chicken stock with no salt~

Each and every cookie has my name on it!  How cool is that!

Yes, please!

Duke's homemade treats are the best and I sure do love an early Christmas pressie!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Tasty Tuesday

 Mom loves her mom's Easter bread.  The thing she doesn't like about it is that you have to shape your loaf instead of it going in a 9x5" pan, which makes it easier to slice and toast in a toaster.   She looked for a sweet bread recipe that was made in a loaf pan and decided to give this one a try.   We halved the recipe and only made one loaf.  

Amish Sweet Bread

Prep Time 1hour hr 45minutes mins

Cook Time 30minutes mins

Total Time 2hours hrs 15minutes mins

Servings2 loaves

Ingredients

  

• 2 cups water
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 5 1/2 to 6 cups All purpose flour

Instructions

 

• Heat 2 cups of water to 110℉. If you don’t have a thermometer try this tip. It works every time. Heat up 1/2 cup of water in a microwave safe bowl for one minute. This will boil the water. Then add tap water from the faucet until you reach 2 cups of water.
• Add the sugar to the water you just heated and stir it.
• Add the yeast to the sugar water and let it set for exactly 10 minutes. It will become frothy. See before and after photos below.
• Mix in the oil and salt into the yeast liquid.
• Slowly add one cup of flour at a time to this yeast mixture. You might not use all of the flour. It depends on how wet the dough is towards the end. You want to get to a good non-sticky dough consistency and it will form a ball.
• Once the dough forms a ball, you will need to knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the surface with flour before you begin. When you feel the dough get sticky, sprinkle more flour over the top of the dough as you are kneading it. When this process is over you should be able to lift a small piece of the dough without it tearing. 
• Spray a large bowl with non stick cooking oil and place the dough into the bowl. Cover this bowl with a damp towel.
• Let this dough rise for about 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.
• After the dough has risen, punch the middle part of the dough and pull the dough from the sides of the bowl.
• Use a dough cutter and split the dough into two equal parts and place them in a greased loaf pan
• Let these loaves sit uncovered for another 3o minutes to rise again.
• Now place them in a preheated oven at 350℉ for about 30 minutes or until they are cooked thoroughly.

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She probably cut into in before it was completely cool. Who doesn't like butter spread on warm homemade bread!

It is very good - not as good as mom's but mom's has butter, sugar and eggs, which makes it richer but this was very good. 

It's a keeper, mom!

Happy Tuesday!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Sunday's Fun on a Monday

I got the snow that I wished for!

Mom told me that shoveling comes first and then playtime.  As luck would have it, Farmer Will arrived to plow while mom was shoveling so that meant that I didn't have to wait so long for fun to begin☺  Thank you, Will!

Snow is so much fun!

My furs were started to get loaded with snowballs in unmentionable areas and mom said it was time to go in as I was walking like a cowboy.

We have below temps arriving so this might be my only day to have fun in my snow.   

Mom found a Christmas card from Landlady Maryanne in the mailbox.  What a cute card!

Happy Monday!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Sunday Selfie

 We love our Christmas cards that come in the mail!  Thank you so much, Miss Laurie, Miss Amy and Ann and Juney♥

Guess what?  Snow is falling in my yard☺

Happy Sunday!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Nature Friday

 We are joining Rosy for Nature Friday~~

We found a lone chestnut on the ground.  Mom told me to be careful because they are prickly if you touch it.

We looked up and discovered that the plant identifier is saying that this is Winter Creeper ( Euonymus fortunei).   Mom thought it was bittersweet.

We found a pretty swag on a mailbox~

On Wednesday's walk, we checked in with Santa and the Unicorn.  They are both under the influence this time☺

At home, two of our African Violets are blooming.  She has six or seven plants and she does all of the right things for them and they only bloom a couple of times a year and not all of them bloom.  She gets discouraged with them a lot.   

Thank you for your beautiful Christmas card, Miss Laurie.  We love it!

Happy Friday!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Almost Wordless Wednesday

 

This is the Christmas wreath on our back door this year~

This was gram's wreath on her office door in 2014~

Happy Wednesday!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Tasty Tuesday

 Mom saw this soup recipe on FB and decided to give it a try~

Italian Sausage Potato Soup with Carrots & Spinach

Ingredients

1 pound Italian sausage – choose mild for a subtle flavor or spicy for a kick

1 medium onion, finely diced

3 cloves garlic, minced for depth of flavor

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes

3 medium carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

4 cups chicken broth (or substitute with vegetable broth for a lighter option)

2 cups heavy cream (or use half-and-half for a lighter, less rich soup)

2 cups fresh spinach, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil, for sautéing

Optional garnish: freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Cook the Sausage

Heat olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat.

Add the Italian sausage and cook, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon, until browned and no longer pink, about 5–7 minutes.

Transfer the sausage to a plate and set aside, leaving a bit of the flavorful drippings in the pot.

2. Sauté the Aromatics

In the same pot, add the diced onion and cook until softened and lightly golden, about 3 minutes.

Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 more minute, until fragrant.

3. Build the Base

Add the diced potatoes and sliced carrots to the pot.

Pour in the chicken broth and bring the mixture to a gentle boil.

Lower the heat, cover, and let it simmer for 15–20 minutes, or until the vegetables are fork-tender.

4. Add the Creaminess

Return the cooked sausage to the pot.

Stir in the heavy cream (or half-and-half), along with oregano, basil, salt, and pepper.

Simmer for about 5 minutes to allow the flavors to meld and the broth to thicken slightly.

5. Finish with Greens

Add the chopped spinach and stir until just wilted, 2–3 minutes.

6. Serve

Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with grated Parmesan, if desired.

Enjoy hot, ideally with crusty bread for dipping.

~~Mom added celery too.   She likes it and I do too!

A carrot too, mom!

The soup is very rich and VERY good and especially when it's so cold outside!

It's Christmas card day today!

We wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Sunday Walk on a Monday

 Our temps were 25 degrees F yesterday and Landlady Maryann's pond is looking frozen.   brrrrr

The full Cold SuperMoon was still out at 7am~

Guess who I saw?

A white unicorn pony and Santa who is having trouble standing on his feets! 

We found a frozen leaf~

We discovered that the price for an Amy and Doug Christmas tree has stayed the same!  

The sun was getting brighter as we were almost home but it sure didn't feel much warmer.  

Happy Monday!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Sunday Selfie

 I'm going to need more snow than this please, Santa!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Nature Friday

 We are joining Rosy this week for Nature Friday~~

Mom bought me a new head collar for Christmas.  She told me that I needed a larger size.   I can assure you that it was NOT on my Christmas list!

On Sunday's walk, we discovered these peeps had Christmas decorations out already!

The sky looked very ominous~

How beautiful this Sycamore bark is!

We forgot to post this picture of the bittersweet berries.   Mom usually cuts them and brings them inside to decorate with but she didn't do that this year.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Wonderful Wednesday

I love having my very own Christmas tree and I have new ornies on my tree this year~

Mom found an English Cocker Spaniel standing on a bone and he has dark furs.  She snatched him up before anyone else noticed him on Ebay~

She loves to buy the dated picture frames so she can have a special photo of me through the years~

Christmas is coming and she said that I was a very good boy to wear the antlers!

Happy Wednesday!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Sunday Ussie

 My favorite peeps were here for Thanksgiving and we had a great time!

Thank you all so much for your wonderful and loving comments about our 19th Blogaversary.   Each and every one of them made mom teary-eyed.  We have the best friends ever♥

Happy Sunday!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Nineteen Years

 Friday was our 19th Blogaversary!   It all started with Maggie and then Mitch came along and then Molly and we all got our chance to blog.   Mom lived with Mackie for almost a year and then Molly and mom moved to their apartment with the fenced in yard.   They saw Mackie a lot when they lived there and there were overnighters and of course, mom continued to groom him for a few years after that.  

Mackie loved his GoDog chartreuse ball.

Maggie loved Mr Carrot and Mitch loved his Macintosh apples and Molly adored her tennis balls♥    The needle feltings were all made by the late Carol Usher.   Mom says that if she was still here on Earth, there would be needle feltings of me too.   She was a very talented and creative person and she is still missed by so many to this day.   

The Airedales have all passed on and mom misses them all but Molly most of all as the girls had each other's backs when they moved away from the only home that Molly ever knew.  

And now it's my turn to carry on and mom says that so far, I've done a great job!

The best part about blogging is all of the friends that we've met along the way and it's been a LOT and for that, we are forever grateful.  

Love ya lots♥

Duke