National Pork Month #Celebrate365 Blog Party

October is one of my favorite times of the year for many reasons:  harvest is in full-swing (or as much as we can this year between rains), it is sweatshirt weather, my birthday is at the end of the month, and it's National Pork Month.  I have been raising pigs with my family and now my husband literally my entire life.  I love sharing about our pigs and delicious ways to prepare pork.  So in recognition of National Pork Month I joined forces with my Celebrate 365 co-hosts (Carlee from Cooking with Carlee, Ellen of Family Around the Table, Jan of The Tip Garden and Nicole of Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom) to host a Pork Recipe Blog Party!

#Celebrate365 Farmers Market Inspiration

Did you know that this week is National Farmers Market Week?  My Celebrate 365 co-hosts (Carlee from Cooking with Carlee, Jan of The Tip Garden and Nicole of Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom) and I were so excited to find out about it that we decided to host a blog party full of garden fresh and farmers market inspired recipes!

Celebrate 365 Ice Cream Social

My favorite, go-to dessert will always be ice cream.  I will eat it all year long but there is something fun about eating ice cream and frozen treats during the summer.  My family even goes on an Ice Cream Road Trip every summer!  So to celebrate summer time and National Ice Cream month, I've joined forces with my Celebrate 365 co-hosts (Carlee from Cooking with Carlee, Jan of The Tip Garden and Nicole of Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom) to throw an Ice Cream Social!

It's Grilling Time with Celebrate 365

School is out.  Summer is here.  And it's time to fire up the grill!  I love grilling in the summertime.  It's quick, it keeps the heat out of the house, and clean up is easy.

Spring Salads with Celebrate 365

Spring brings us amazing produce at our local grocery stores, farmers markets and gardens, and a great way to enjoy the fresh fruits and vegetables is in a spring salad.

Spring Brunch with Celebrate 365

Mother's Day is in two weeks and what better way to celebrate Mom than by making her a nice, homecooked brunch.  So to help you do just that, I have partnered with my Celebrate 365 co-hosts (Carlee from Cooking with Carlee, Jan of The Tip Garden and Nicole of Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom) to host a Spring Brunch Blog Party!

33 for my 33rd

Today I turned 33 years old and I have to say 33 feels pretty good.  I have been married for almost 10 years to my best friend and have four healthy, growing children who give me constant entertainment and love.  My Farmer and I continue to grow our farming operation and have even been recognized for some of our accomplishments.  I feel comfortable where I am in life and at the same time am inspired to do more, do better and help others.

And that is how come, to celebrate my 33rd birthday, I'm vowing to help others and give back through 33 random (and not so random) acts of kindness.  I already have ideas written down and am going to put my plan in action tonight when I run to town to go on a parts run (because when it's your birthday during harvest, you take any excuse to run to town to treat yourself for supper. 😉)

So now this is where you come in to help:  First, please comment below with any random (or not so random) acts of kindness ideas.  If you know someone in particular that could use some encouragement, feel free to reach out to me, as I would love to help that person through you or anonymously.  Secondly, reach out to someone and perform a random act of kindness yourself.  When we help others we not only uplift them, but make our own hearts full too.

I can't wait to hear your suggestions, as well as learn how you paid it forward!  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

Country Fair Blog Party: Celebrations

The kids' egg carton flowers they painted and made for May Day

Happy May Day!  May seems to be the month of Celebrations & why not start with May Day festivities.  The kids and I are going to celebrate by delivering some May Day flowers to our neighbors.  Before I get into May celebrations, let's talk about last month's Think Spring Country Fair Blog Party.

Last month I loved looking at everyone's garden posts.  My favorite garden post was Grow a Good Life's Salsa Garden.  I personally plant a salsa garden and Rachel's post made me wish I had already planted my onions and garlic so they could actually get "full size"...  Maybe next year I'll be better prepared then!  Another great thing about this post is that she shares a salsa recipe I can't wait to try after I harvest this year's garden.

Another favorite blog post was Messy Kennedy's Small Bathroom Remodel with Big Character.  Spring is a great time to not only do spring cleaning, but a great excuse to do some remodeling or at least trying a new arrangement or style to a room.  I love how she reused an old dresser as a vanity in her bathroom.  And I love the sliding barn door as well.  This make me inspired to actually work on a small room in our home, our front porch.  I have so many ideas, I just haven't found the time.  This summer I vow to find the time so we can enjoy our porch all year long!

Lastly, I loved Of Kids and Cows's When You Give a Boy a Calf.  Spring is the time of new life and for Jodi's son, lots of new memories.  She shared why I love raising our kids on the farm.  Farm kids are taught responsibility, work ethic, discipline, compassion, joy, and skills for the future.  I can't wait till my kids are old enough to get involved with programs like Clover Kids and Bottle Lambs.  This post simply made me smile!  Who can't when you see his smile, right?  Love the PJs!

I can't wait to see what great posts get linked up this month as we Celebrate!  Throughout the month of May we are looking for your posts that have anything to do with this month's celebrations - May Day, Mother's Day, Graduation, Memorial Day, End of School, etc.  Man there is a lot to celebrate in May!  I can't wait to see your recipes, crafts, memories, gift ideas, etc. that associate with any celebration during the month.

This blog hop is a great opportunity to check out new blogs, and if you blog yourself, have your posts reach a new audience.  Bloggers, feel free to link up to 3 posts this month and be sure to visit some other party goers and let them know you are stopping by through the Country Fair Blog Party.


Also, be sure to visit my fellow co-hosts:
Country LINKed
Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom
This Uncharted Rhoade
Tip Garden

We're excited to see everything you share this month!  What new blog did you discover through this month's Country Fair Blog Party?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

An InLinkz Link-up

Celebrate with Homemade Ice Cream

I love how food can make us think of special memories and traditions, and in our family, one food that is tied to pretty much every celebration is Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream.  I thought this would be perfect to share today as part of one of my blogger friends, Ally's, virtual baby shower.  Ally blogs at Ally's Sweet and Savory Eats where she shares lots of simple and delicious recipes.  She is expecting her third child in mid-May, and Yudith at Blissfully Delicious and Steph at Been There, Baked That thought it'd be great if some fellow Iowa Food Bloggers put together some recipes for a virtual baby shower for Ally.

Besides Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream being a classic celebration food for my family, I also think it is a must have for every pregnant woman and a perfect treat at a baby shower.  (Plus I know Ally has been craving sweets during this pregnancy!)

Before I share my recipe, I need to clue you into my top two tips to make perfect Homemade Ice Cream:

1. You have to use a good quality vanilla.  I feel like you can never go wrong with Watkins Vanilla.
2. You need to use a classic, 4 qt. or 6 qt., electric ice cream maker like this one.  In my opinion, the older, the better.  I actually use a hand me down ice cream maker from my in-laws that they got at the beginning of their marriage.

Alright, done with the tips, now to dive into a delicious bowl of Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (that is after about 30-40 minutes of letting your ice cream maker turn!)

4 eggs
2 1/2 cups sugar
pinch of salt
2 Tbsp vanilla
1 quart half & half
1/2 gallon whole milk

Whisk eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla and half & half together.  Pour into canister.  Then pour whole milk up to fill line.  Put canister into ice cream bucket with ice and ice cream salt around canister and let run 30-40 minutes until thick and smooth.  Enjoy at your next celebration!

Congratulations early to Ally and be sure to check out the rest of the virtual baby shower recipes by checking out both Yudith and Steph's host pages.  Michelle at Simplify, Live, Love, Kierstan at Life in Iowa, Jenny at In The Kitchen with Jenny and Jenni at Jenni Eats are also all participating in today's virtual baby shower.

When you think about planning a baby shower, what foods would you include?  Remember to Comment for  Cause!

My 100th Blog Post!!!

I just noticed that my last blog post, Tuesday Tasty Pork Recipe, 

was my 100th blog post!  

(I created this word cloud through Wordle - a free word cloud website.)

Just had to celebrate!