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!

How to plan Mother's Day Brunch

Mother's Day is in one week and I don't know what it is about the holiday, but it makes me hungry for brunch!  Maybe it's memories of my sisters and I making breakfast in bed for my Mom, or the fact that Mother's Day is on a Sunday.  But it just feels like the perfect fit to indulge in some eggs, pastries and something a little extra to celebrate.  Check out some of my favorite brunch recipes to help you plan and host your Mother's Day Brunch!

Eggs - A brunch isn't complete without an egg dish or two!

Ham & Cheese Omelette Roll - Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids

If you're entertaining for Mother's Day Brunch then this egg dish should be on the top of your list.  It's creative, eye catching and delicious!

(photo courtesy of The Pork Diaries)

Biscuits & Gravy Casserole - The Pork Diaries

This egg casserole has everything you'd ever want in one bite - biscuit, sausage, egg, and cheese!  Top that with gravy and you'll be scooting your fork all across your plate to make sure you get every bite of this "liquid gold" as my friend Alicia calls it.

Farmers Market Quiche - Corn, Beans, Pigs & Kids

How about another eye appealing egg dish that will be sure to impress at brunch?  I love the creamy and rich flavor of this quiche and the bacon lattice brings it up a notch!

(photo courtesy of Learning As I Go)

Pepper Jack Egg Bake - Learning As I Go

Are you a hashbrown or bread egg bake person?  Well, if you are a hashbrown egg bake person like me you're going to love my friend Katy's Pepper Jack Egg Bake filled with hashbrowns, eggs, ham, bacon and pepper jack cheese!

Green Chili Egg Bake - Corn, Beans, Pigs & Kids

This cheesy, buttery egg bake is a family favorite of ours.  And I love the unique flavor it has from the green chilies and cottage cheese!

Pastries - Pastries are the perfect appetizer and dessert for brunch so you better make more than one!

Easy Pecan Sticky Buns - Corn, Beans, Pigs & Kids

I love how simply these sticky buns come together.  And these will be sure to cover your sweet tooth for brunch, especially with ice cream as one of the ingredients!

(photo courtesy of Food & Swine)

Champion Cinnamon Rolls - Food & Swine

There is something special about cinnamon rolls.  Maybe it's the knowledge of how much time goes into making them, or the memories tied to cinnamon rolls.  No matter the case, my friend Cristen's is sure to be a treat.  Afterall, they are award winning, so have a blue ribbon brunch with these on your table!

Six Week Muffins - Corn, Beans, Pigs & Kids

These bran muffins are a tried and true favorite of our family.  They are a hearty muffin with a slightly sweet flavor.  For brunch they would be perfect to make as mini-muffins.

(photo courtesy of Cooking with Carlee)

Strawberries and Cream Skillet Roll - Cooking with Carlee

This sweet treat would be perfect if you're hosting brunch for Mother's Day.  My friend Carlee says this is a combination of a sweet roll and strawberry cheesecake.

(photo courtesy of Ally's Sweet and Savory Eats)

Double Chocolate Banana Muffins - Ally's Sweet and Savory Eats

Mom deserves a little chocolate, right?  Then you better add my friend Ally's Double Chocolate Banana Muffins to your Mother's Day Brunch Menu!  I love the flavor combination of chocolate and banana, and what makes these even better - they are simple to make!  This would be a great opportunity to get in the kids in the kitchen to help make brunch for their favorite lady.

Something a Little Extra - Every Mother's Day Brunch needs that little something extra - afterall, we're celebrating Mom!

4 Ingredient Sunrise Smoothie - Corn, Beans, Pigs & Kids

Brunch is a great time to make something a little extra special to drink.  This Sunrise Smoothie is a hit for all ages and only has 4 ingredients so it is super simple to make!

(photo courtesy of Family Around the Table)

Hash Brown Potato Pie - Family Around the Table

This hash brown potato pie has simple flavors and ingredients, but yet is everything you want to go along with your brunch.  I also love how this recipe has a special connection to my friend Ellen and her Mom!

(photo courtesy of Prairie Californian)

Onion Tart - Prairie Californian

This onion tart is pretty much a french onion soup in a pie crust - sounds perfect to me!  I love how my friend Jenny got inspired to create this unique recipe after meeting an onion farmer.  This post not only gives you a delicious recipe, but an inside look at an onion farm!  How cool is that! 

(photo courtesy of Cooking Up Cottage)

Baked French Toast - Cooking Up Cottage

Mother's Day Brunch is a great excuse to indulge and have that something a little extra and my friend Lisa's Baked French Toast fits the bill!  It is simple to make and you can throw it in the oven while you're working on getting other things ready for your company.

(photo courtesy of The Tip Garden)

Cherry Breakfast Cobbler - The Tip Garden

I love how this cobbler uses simple ingredients, yet looks like something that you slaved over.  My friend Jan always comes up with great recipes and I love her story that goes along with it!

So what are you going to choose for your Mother's Day Brunch?  It is going to be a hard choice but I hope I helped you come up with some ideas.  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 Your Heritage with Kringla

* This post has been compensated through the AE Dairy Blog Ambassador program.  All views and opinions shared are my own. *

Mother's Day always makes me think of back home.  I loved growing up on a corn, soybean, pig and sheep farm in Central Iowa.  I lived on the county line, which caused a slight identity crisis growing up, but one great thing about growing up in the middle of literally the entire state, I was close to several cultures and was able to experience Iowa's heritages.  I am proud to have a large German ancestry, but I have to admit, I loved living close to a large Norwegian and Scandinavian area.  Man do the Norsemen know how to bake!  I grew up wanting to have a Norwegian wedding cake on my special day, and I knew which Mom out of my classmates made the best Kringla.

I got to thinking about Kringla this week as I was craving a sweet, yet light, breakfast pastry.  Kringla are a great coffee cookie, or for the non coffee drinkers out there like myself, I love mine with a cup of hot tea or simply a glass of chocolate milk.  And, they aren't just for breakfast.  They're a great cookie for anytime during the day.  I think what makes Kringla rich, yet soft, is the buttermilk.  You can't go wrong with buttermilk!  I love using AE Dairy Buttermilk in chocolate cake, pancakes, and even my onion ring batter.

Iowa Kringla

2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
2 cups AE Buttermilk
7 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda (dissolve in buttermilk)
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vanilla

Cream together sugar and butter; mix in eggs.  Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk.  Chill dough (the longer the better - I would suggest overnight if possible, otherwise at least a couple of hours).  Roll small pieces into a pencil shape on a floured surface and then form into a figure 8.  Bake at 450F until light brown (about 5 minutes).

* I also recommend putting your dough back into the refrigerator between batches to keep it chilled.

So, celebrate Iowa's Scandinavian heritage and have some Kringla with your Mom this Mother's Day.  What ethnic foods do you love?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

A Letter To My Son On Mother's Day

Dear LP,

I am so happy, and feel so blessed, to have you call me Mom.  You always make me feel special - from making my kisses feel like they cure all, to cuddling up on my lap, to still wanting to get a hug from me even it was me that just punished you for something.  Soon our lives will change and there will be two who will call me Mom.  I want you to know that I love you with all my heart and after MP arrives, I will then love two children with all my heart.  Thank you for being such a good little boy that makes me smile every day.  I feel very honored to celebrate Mother's Day because God blessed us with you.

Love,
Mommy

Travel Midwest

I promised in my "Purple, Girls, Healthy and More" post last week that I'd explain about Girls and Healthy at a later time, well today I'm going to explain Girls, as well as talk about the Fly In To Fly Over Country initiative going on right now.

At the beginning of the month I had my annual "Girl's Weekend" with my Mom and sisters.  We do it every year as my Mom's Mother's Day gift.  The criteria for the Girl's Weekend is that it must include massages, lots of good food and drinks, be an overnight, involve at least a little shopping and be a lot of fun!  We have traveled several places in Iowa for our girl's weekend and this year was no different, we celebrated our Girl's Weekend in Dubuque!

My Mom, Sisters and I at Stone Cliff Winery in Dubuque

We started out our Girl's Weekend by slowly traveling over to Dubuque.  You see my sister Amanda and I live about 100 miles away from each other and my Mom and sister Rachel live in between, so in order to get everyone in one car it takes a little time and usually means we don't take a direct path to where we are going.  So I figured on our way east to Dubuque we should visit my county's town seat, Hampton.  We started our Girl's Weekend by doing plenty of shopping in Hampton.  This town offers a wide variety of specialty shops.  Great shops to check out in Hampton include (but are not limited to) Freckled Dandelion (baby and kids clothing, books and toys boutique), Orange Possum (teen and young female adult clothing and accessories), Wood Cellar (home decor and gifts), Cornerstone Cottage (home decor, books, gifts, bath & body shop) and Cornerstone Cottage Kids (kids books, games and room decor).

After our shopping in Hampton we traveled the rest of the way to Dubuque and got settled in at the historic Hotel Julien.  After checking-in to the hotel we checked out the downtown area including Cable Car Square, went out to eat at Crust, and then drank wine and listened to live music at Stone Cliff Winery and Star Brewery.

Star Brewery and Stone Cliff Winery, Dubuque

My favorite wines at Stone Cliff were their Riesling and Red Fox.  I recommend going to Stone Cliff Winery because besides being a fun atmosphere and good wine, it is right along the Mississippi River and the River Walk.

Mississippi River Walk, Dubuque

On the second day of our Girl's Weekend the big thing we did was get massages at Potosa Spa.  The massages were great and we all loved to spa amenities and atmosphere.

My Mom, Sisters and I love traveling Iowa, and I love exploring Iowa with my family too!  And that is why I encourage all of you to join the Fly In To Fly Over Country: Travel Midwest facebook page.  This campaign was started last month when National Geographic's Aric Queen announced he would be traveling the United States on a "Classic American Roadtrip."  The only downfall of this roadtrip was that it started on the East Coast, went down South and then over to Los Angeles - completing bi-passing the Midwest!  As a child many of my favorite family vacations were in the Midwest including the Badlands, Deadwood and the Corn Palace in South Dakota, Hannibal, St. Louis and Kansas City in Missouri, and Springfield in Illinois.

If the Fly In To Fly Over Country: Travel Midwest facebook page gets 300 likes by next week National Geographic has agreed to talk with Deb Brown from Iowa about traveling to the Midwest.  So please help this effort to showcase why the Midwest is so great by joining the facebook page and spreading the word to your friends.  Also, check out the groups's Pinterest page too.

What do you think makes the Midwest special?  Where have been some of your favorite Midwest vacation spots?

Mother's Day

I had such a great Mother's Day yesterday!

LP (14 months) and I enjoying the beautiful afternoon yesterday

We started off the morning with church, where my Senior High Youth group led the church service.  They did a great job.  I was very proud of all of them.  The service focused on both Mother's Day, as well as a recognizing our graduating senior.

These members of our Senior High Youth group led yesterday's church service

 Following church, we took My Farmer's Mom, as well as Dad, sister, sister's fiance and sister's fiance's daughter out for Mother's Day dinner (whoa! what a mouthful...)  It was good to catch up with everyone and to eat a lot of great food.

My Farmer, LP and my Mother-in-Law

Then we enjoyed some time at home just the three of us!  It was very nice and considerate of My Farmer to take the whole day off from the field, especially since we hadn't finished planting yet.
*** Update on progress *** As I write this blog entry we are finishing planting our last field of corn!  We'll be moving onto soybeans next.

We finished the day off by going out for supper with my Mom, sisters, brother-in-law and one of my sister's boyfriend.  It was another great time hanging out with family and another filling round of good food.

My Mom, LP and me

And the best part of yesterday was what My Farmer and LP gave me - a day of eating by myself, where I didn't have to share my food with anyone or feed anyone beside myself AND a day of being able to go to the bathroom with privacy!  They might sound like funny and small things, but it was the best gift they could give me - it's a Mom thing!  I also got some beautiful flowers.

Thanks for a great Mother's Day!