Yummy, Easy Vanilla Sheet Cake

There is nothing tastier that cake.  And this recipe for a Yummy, Easy Vanilla Sheet Cake literally takes the cake for an easy treat!

sheet cake

Yummy, Easy Vanilla Sheet Cake

The Farmer and I are going to celebrate our 20th anniversary this summer.  It’s been a blessed 20 years, years that I can’t imagine going through without him.  Years that have gone so fast and a wedding that just feels like yesterday.

There are very few wedding or shower gifts that I can remember who gifted them to me.  But one stands out and has had much use.

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See all those spatters on the pages? That’s a sure sign I’ve used this recipe a lot!  The recipe book was given to me by my Aunt Donna.  There are some of her family favorites, recipes she has brought to many family meals and a few favorites from my other aunts.  The one pictures is my Aunt Rita’s Vanilla Sheet Cake.  It makes a big jelly roll pan-sized cake so it perfect to take to the field during spring planting and fall harvest.  This cake makes at least 20 pieces, depending on how big you cut the pieces.  It is perfect to field a crowd!

Start by mixing the sugar and flour together in a bowl.

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Boil butter, oil and water in a saucepan on the stove.  Use butter, not margarine.  Trust me, you can notice the difference in taste!

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You’ll add that mixture to the flour combo and blend.  To that add cinnamon, baking soda, 2 eggs, vanilla and buttermilk.  If you don’t have buttermilk, make your own by adding a splash of lemon juice or vinegar to milk!

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Blend all of that and bake at 350 for 20 minutes in a greased and floured jelly roll pan.  While the cake is baking, make the icing by mixing cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla and butter.  This is the best cream cheese icing!

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Once the cake is done, let it cool for just a few minutes.  I like to spread the icing on the cake while it’s still warm.  The icing spreads much easier.

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Doesn’t this look yummy?  Let it cool, if you can resist, and then cut a big piece and enjoy!

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Yummy, Easy Vanilla Sheet Cake
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 20 pieces
 
The best tasting and easiest cake!
Ingredients
  • 2⅔ c. flour
  • 2 c. sugar
  • ½ c. butter
  • ½ c. oil
  • 1 c. water
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1½ tsp. baking soda
  • ⅔ c. buttermilk
  • Cream Cheese Icing
  • ½ c. butter
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 8 oz. cream cheese
  • 1 lb powdered sugar
Instructions
  1. Mix flour and sugar together. Bring butter, oil and water to a boil and pour over flour mixture. Beat together. Add remaining ingredients and beat well. Pour into a greased and floured jellyroll pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
  2. For icing mix all ingredients and spread over warm cake.

 

 

sheet cake

Yummy, Easy Vanilla Sheet Cake

Jeanette2brownsmall

What do Farmers do on the Weekend?

Growing up, I knew if I was going to see my Dad on a weekend, then I was going to need to ride with him as he did hog barn chores.  So I spent many hours in the truck as he went from farm to farm feeding pigs.  Or I followed in his footsteps as he checked on the baby pigs.  But the one thing we rarely had the chance to do was to just hang out at home.  Or go on weekend trips to the zoo.  There weren’t any trips to the park.  There were the hours spent at church and Sunday lunch together.  But we didn’t have the typical weekends that many families experience.

If you’ve read anything I’ve written over the past 5 years, you have heard me say that my Farmer works all of the time.  He is always on call, wether it be the hog barn alarms going off because the barn temperatures may be too hot or cold, the weather knocking the power out, causing my Farmer needing to hook up generators to keep the power going or just the basic everyday chores that have to be done when you have hogs that have to be fed.  There is never a break.  The work is always present.

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Winter brings even harder and longer days around the farm.  This weekend dumped over 6 inches of show around the farm.  Our country roads weren’t getting plowed which means feed trucks weren’t going to be able to get to our various hog barns. So my Farmer had to go and plow a few paths down some snow-covered roads.  And much like I did years ago with my Dad, the kids wanted to follow Dad around.  So the bibs were put own, hats and gloves gathered and off they went to plow snow.  But even more fun for them was to build forts and play in the piled up snow.

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While you may get to enjoy weekend trips and home projects, we don’t.  Our weekends are spent doing much of the same as we do during the week.  It’s a tough life, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Does a Farmer get a Weekend off?

Jeanette2brownsmall

 

16 Pounds Lighter, Yet Miles to Go

I’ve blogged many times about my effort to lose weight.  I’ve been on every diet known to man.  Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Seattle Sutton, Shakeology, Slimfast and others.  Through all of those, I’ve lost a lot of one thing…money.  And yet I’ve managed to gain 90 pounds in the past 12 years.  90.  I’ve put on the weight equivalent to my 11-year-old.  How embarrassing.  I’ve gained weight with each pregnancy.  And the weight never left.

So I’ve finally decided it’s time to stop the madness.  No more crazy diets.  No more shakes.  No more pre-packaged meals.  I’m simply eating less.  And eating better.  So far, I’m down 16 pounds.  Did you hear that??  16 pounds!!  I just lost my 11-year-olds left arm.  I’ll take what I can get.

Dairy Queen and I love each other.  Ice cream is my weakness.  The little pizza shop in the nearby small town makes the best thin crust pizza I’ve ever eaten.  And the seasonal hot dog stand is a week away from opening.  Nothing screams summer than driving under the little orange awning, rolling the window down and enjoying a hot door and root beer while watching the world go by.

And I’ll still enjoy those, but now only occasionally.  The biggest change I’ve had to make it to realize there will always be more of something tomorrow.  I have always had an all or nothing mentality.  If I’m going to eat Oreo’s, I’m going big.  Eat 6 Oreo’s,  not just 1.  There may not be any tomorrow.  Except my college educated brain knows better.  Short of Armageddon, there won’t be a Oreo shortage.  And in my mansion in Heaven, there will be Oreo’s!!  So I’m training my self to slow down, savor the food and know there is always more.

I’m also back in the gym.  I love to lift weights.  It makes me feel so strong and powerful!  And my favorite all-time exercise is running. I should call is “slogging”, slow jogging.  But it is the best medicine I know.  And I get to run on a great trail with a bridge and this view.
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I hope you’ll join me in this final weight loss attitude.  No more diets.  No more pills.  Only the will and determination to get the weight off.  I don’t need to lose 90 pounds in a month.  I expect it to take a year or more.  But slow and steady wins the race.  And I’ll be happy to be a slow loser if the weight finally stays off!

 

Jeanette2brownsmall

 

Where does your pork sausage come from?

It’s a long-standing family tradition that we spend part of our Christmas break butchering hogs.  We only do it for ourselves and family members.  We aren’t a licensed butchering facility, which means we can only butcher for our own consumption.  We can’t sell it.  Although I get many people who want to buy what we process!

I have helped butcher since I was very young.  The first time I can remember helping, I was 4 or 5 years old.  My job was to tape the packages shut!  I got to stand on a chair next to my Grandma while she wrapped the meat.  Then I’d have a zillion pieces of tape all cut and slap them on the package.  Then my Mom would write on the outside what was on the inside.

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This is my Grandpa.  He is in charge of butchering day.  His butchering memories go back to his youth.  He grew up butchering everything they ate.  Hogs, cattle, chickens, and rabbits are just a few.  Now we mainly do hogs, but have done a few cattle as well.  He supervises and overseas everything that takes place!

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When we butcher, we let the hogs hang in the barn and stay very cold.  They may hang for a few days, but the animals must be processed before the weather warms up.  If it gets warm, the meat would be rotten.

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Once the entire family gathers to work up the meat, we start cutting it in to the pork cuts.  This picture shows the ribs, pork chops and hams.

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After each piece of meat is cut into pork chops, ribs, bacon, etc., we have to go through and trim the fat and cut out the bones.  This part is where I get a bit nervous.  The picture shows my Panda trimming fat with a super sharp knife.  Honestly, those knives could slice a finger off if you aren’t paying attention.  This was the first year I let her trim.  And I tried not to panic!  My Farmer does a lot of trim work while my Monkey was checking for bones.

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Then it’s time to make the sausage!  I’ll have a recipe below for my favorite way to use sausage.  Our sausage goes through a double grind process.  Each tub of meat will go though the meat grinder twice.

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We also season our sausage.  So my Panda was mixing in the seasoning before we started wrapping, taping and labeling the packages.

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Monkey did a bunch of the labeling and taping this year!

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And where was my Little Man during all of this?  Supervising with his Great-Grandpa, who he adores!  I let the Little Man help with nearly everything I do, but having him around saws, knives and blades made me a bit nervous.  So he hung out and played with Grandpa for most of the day.

One of my favorite ways to cook our sausage is in gravy.  It isn’t healthy and there’s no great way to make it healthy.  I do use 2% milk in my recipe instead of half-and-half as most older gravy recipes call for. Give it a try and let me know if you like it!

5 from 1 reviews
Biscuits and Gravy
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 1½ pounds sausage
  • ⅓ cup flour
  • 4 cups milk
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1-2 tsp. of pepper
Instructions
  1. Spray your skillet with non-stick cooking spray. Brown the sausage.
  2. Add the flour to the pan and stir. Once combined, add the milk and stir constantly until thickened.
  3. Once thick, add the salt and pepper. Serve over warmed biscuits and enjoy!

 

How Pork Sausage is Made

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Jeanette2brownsmall

Do We Eat the Pigs on our Farm?

2015-01-02 12.57.53I am often asked if we really eat the hogs that we raise.  It seems the anti-farm crowd is trying to scare consumers into thinking that hogs raised in climate-controlled barns are not worth eating.  They want you to believe that animals raised eating grass instead of the grain based diet we feed means they are better for you.

I disagree.  The hogs on our farm eat a mixture of corn, soybean meal and nutrients.  We can monitor their nutrition needs and provide feed based on their needs and age of the pig.  Our younger pigs get a different feed than our older pigs.  The company we buy feed from provides us a “nutritionist” that helps us develop the best feed plan for our animals.  He is on one of our farms at least twice a week.  He walks through our barns and inspects the animals, looking for pigs that might be underweight or those that need a bit more nutrition.  And he helps us develop a plan for them.

So I know what my pigs eat.  If my pigs were out in grass, they would be eating bugs, larvae, grass, dirt, and whatever else they could find.  Pigs are curious animals and will eat anything.  Growing up, I remember throwing “slop” to our sows (pregnant mother pigs) that we kept in outside lots.  And those pigs would sometime give birth outside, lay on their litters and kill them before we could get to them.  Now that all of our animals are inside, we can closely monitor each one and provide individual nutrition plans if they need it.

So do I eat the meat we raise on our farm?  You bet I do!  And you may too.  If you purchase Indiana Kitchen bacon at the grocery store, those hogs could be from my farm.  That packing facility is just an hour from my farm and it’s where we sell a lot of our hogs.  Those hogs are processed into a local bacon that you can buy in your grocery store for an affordable price.  Some of my farmer friends sell to other facilities, like Tyson.  Another local pork product you can find in major retail grocery stores.

In upcoming weeks, I’ll show you pictures of our family butchering a hog over Christmas break.  And how we make lard, cracklins and popcorn from the pig.  Nothing gets wasted. Because I’m not afraid to eat what we raise on the farm!

Jeanette2brownsmall

 

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Why are friendships so hard?

As I sit and write this, it’s a Saturday night.  Another Saturday night where we are home.  And I’m bored out of my mind.  I can’t stand the thought of doing another load of laundry, washing another dish or monitoring another fight that breaks out amongst the kids.  It’s been a week of snow, blistering cold and snow days where the kids were home more than they were at school.  I worked from home a few days. And when the walls started closing in on me, I drove slowly to the office, taking a 90 minute normal commute, and managing to get to the office in 2 1/2 hours.  The slick roads and blizzard like winds were worth some peace and quiet of my office walls.

All week, The Farmer told me we should plan something Saturday night.  Let it be known we aren’t date people.  It seems frivolous and not worth the effort.  I don’t really care to go out to eat.  And I hate the movie theatre.  I’m just not a TV or movie person.  In my little town, there isn’t much more to do.  So we take a vacation, by ourselves, about once every two years.  That makes up the lack of dates during the year.

So as Saturday night approached, I was ready to do something, go somewhere, anything to get out of the house.  And no one wanted to do anything.  I begged everyone to go to the school basketball game. But the kids weren’t really excited, The Farmer wanted to chill and I started getting more and more down in the dumps.  It’s a night when other families are getting together to play cards, talk, goof off.  Anything.  I feel like I’m surrounded by people who are best friends with everyone but me.  And it sounds childish.  But the feeling is real.

It then brings back thoughts I’ve had for the past decade.  If my world were to crash around me, who would be there?  Who are my friends?  I have really nice “scratch the surface” type friendships with a ton of people.  I think I know a zillion people.  If anyone wants their kids bragged on or to talk about school activities, farm, sports, I’m your girl.  I love to brag about the kids my friends hang out with.  And I tell their parents when they do really great things.  But my relationships never go beyond that.  I walk into basketball games and feel like I’m on my own island.  I go to church and feel horribly lonely.  I don’t have community.  And it sucks.

It sucks even more that I don’t know how to fix it.  If the answer was to do more entertaining and invite friends over, I’ve done that. I’ve tried to get to know people.  And I don’t want it to sound so dire.  There are times I sit and talk to people at games.  It’s not all the time that I feel so lonely.  But when I do, the feeling is crushing.

I think it hurts so much because I am, by nature, an extrovert.  But I’ve turned very introvert because I think I’m wierding people out.  So I’m quiet.  And it’s so not me!!  But I don’t know what to do.

I do have some very dear friends.  My Farmer and my kids mean the world to me.  Then there are a few local friends who I know I can call when I need something.  And others that I treasure who are scattered around the US.  Bloomington, Yorktown, Batesville, Greenfield, Little Rock.  All of these places hold the people who I hold most dear.  And those locations are at least one-two hours from me.  But when I get to spend time with those ladies, I treasure every second.  It’s comfort for my soul.  Their laughter fills me with such energy.  But I’ve not really been able to make many of those kind of relationships happen in my own back yard.

I’m not exactly sure why I need to spill my guts here.  It scares me to think what people will think of this.  Maybe some people will think I’m pathetic.  I don’t want pity.  I guess that’s a risk I take.  But maybe someone can relate.  Someone who looks like they are happy-go-lucky on the surface, but really just wants to figure out how better to connect with people.  That extrovert who is struggling to find their voice.  The mother who just wants out of the house on a Saturday night.  The lady waiting to share a cup of coffee with a friend.

Jeanette2brownsmall

What we feed our pigs

I’m often asked why we don’t let our pigs eat grass or roam outside to forage for their food.  While there are people who raise their hogs outside, we choose to keep ours in climate-controlled buildings.  Not only does this allow our livestock to remain comfortable in warm barns, it allows us to monitor what they are eating.

I headed to Google to see what popular information would come up about livestock feed.  And I was frustrated with the results.  The most popular articles talked about pigs eating slop, bugs, larvae and vegetables.  While hogs are curious in nature and will eat about anything in front of their nose, it’s not what most livestock farmers are feeding their animals.

Our hogs eat a mixture or grains.  We raise our own corn and use it as the base of our livestock feed.  We have our own feed mill on the farm.  So we can grind the corn we harvest from our fields.  After it is ground, we add a mixture that includes soybean meal and other vitamins and minerals.  We can grind feed based on the pigs age, weight or any concerns we might have.  Younger pigs can get different feed than the older hogs.

We don’t add any grass or slop to our pig feed.  I do remember a time when I was young when we would throw out some scraps to the hogs in the outside lots.  And they would eat it.  But we’ve come a long way since then.  We’ve learned that slop isn’t the best feed program for us.  We give our human bodies a balance of vitamins, minerals and food.  We think we should do the same for our animals.  It’s a fine-tuned feed program that provides the best nutrition for them.  And still turns out to be some pretty tasty bacon and pork chops.

Jeanette2brownsmall

Vlogging: Unloading Hundreds of Pigs

For most people, the day after Christmas means sleeping in, watching football, playing with the kids toys, card games and naps.  When you live on a farm, life looks a little different.

The Little Man and I spent the morning helping The Farmer unload a semi-load of baby pigs.  We get these pigs when they are about 18-21 days old.  Our farms are set up so the pigs are born on a main farm and then transferred to other barns to finish them out.  Finishing means feeding them until they are six months of age and ready to go to market.

The pigs are loaded onto a semi at our main farm.  The semi is ventilated so the pigs have plenty of fresh air as they move to another barn.  Once they are moved into this barn, they get sorted into pens based on their weight.  They have instant access to feed and water.  And we sort out any pig that looks like it needs some extra TLC and give it whatever vet care it may need.  Sorting them by size allows the smaller pigs to be grouped together with pigs their size so they don’t fight bigger pigs for food.

The video shows how we move them in and sort them.  They sure are cute at this age!

Click on the link below to watch a video of our day!  I’m still working on getting this blog to be a real video site.  A new computer is throwing me for a loop.  Any advice??

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Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas!

Jeanette2brownsmall

 

Oyster Dressing

Christmas is about the birth of a King.  In our house and in our families, that is first and foremost in our celebrations.  And while we celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, we also celebrate our families.  Mine is pretty large with numerous cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins and three wonderful grandparents.  The Farmer’s family is  a bit smaller.  While all of his grandparents have passed away, he is still blessed with his parents, sister, aunts, uncles and cousins.  And yet this year, his family is a bit smaller than last year at this time.

He recently lost his Great Aunt Virginia and just today we said goodbye to his Aunt Judy.  And we weren’t ready for either to be gone.

Judy flowers

 

Both ladies were known for their lovely Christmas family meals.  Later, I’ll tell you about Aunt Virginia’s persimmon pudding.  Today, it’s Aunt Judy’s oyster dressing I’ll share.  In full discloser, I don’t have her recipe yet.  Although we talked about it today during her funeral dinner.  The Farmer and his sister can’t stand the dressing.  My in-laws like it.  And I had never tried it until my first Christmas meal with the Farmer’s family, about 22 years ago!

So while I wait for the family recipe, I’m sharing one I found in a cookbook that I think might be close to my favorite.  Hold your family close.  You never know what tomorrow may bring.

 

Oyster Dressing
 
Ingredients
  • tablespoons butter, divided
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 4 green onions, chopped
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped
  • Pinch cayenne pepper
  • 3 cups crumbled Cornbread
  • 3 cups bread crumbs
  • ½ cup minced fresh parsley
  • Salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste
  • 2 large eggs lightly beaten
  • 1 pint shucked fresh (live) oysters, drained (reserve ½ cup oyster liquid)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly butter a large rectangular baking pan.
  2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Sauté onions and celery in the butter until tender; remove from heat an add a small pinch of cayenne and let cool.
  3. Combine cornbread and breadcrumbs in a large bowl; gently fold in sautéed onions, salt, pepper, and parsley.
  4. Add beaten eggs and toss more; moisten with the reserved oyster liquid until moist but not soggy. Gently stir in the oysters.
  5. Pat the mixture into the prepared baking pan (it should make a 1-inch layer in the pan). Dot with remaining butter and bake about 45 minutes, until golden brown and set in the center.

Why do we Keep our Pigs in a Barn?

I get asked often why my Farmer chooses to raise our hogs inside climate, controlled hog barns.  There is plenty of people raising hogs who choose to keep their animals outside.  They say it’s better for the hogs.  While I choose not to debate how anyone wants to raise their livestock, I do educate people on why I raise our hogs in barns.

Last year, Indiana’s winter was one of the worst ones I can remember.  It started snowing in December and didn’t seem to quit until March.  One particular blizzard left our hog barn buried in snow. When I took this picture, there were already 9 inches of snow on the ground.

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During this storm, the actual temperature outside was miserable.

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The house was getting colder by the minute as our own power was out.

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And while the house would eventually get down to 50 degrees before the power came back on, the hog barns were warm.  They run on generators. So while we were literally freezing in the house, the barns were warm.  And the hogs in the barns were warm, out of the elements of the blowing snow and ice.

hog barn thermostat

Temperature controls are just one reason we keep our hogs in barns.  By having them in barns, as opposed to outside on pasture, we can keep them safe from predators like coyotes.  Keeping our sows  (the mom pigs) inside, means we can monitor them as they are giving birth and protect the baby pigs.  We can watch for any pigs that may be sick and give them extra attention.

Keeping our hogs inside warm barns means we can also monitor what they are eating.  Pigs are by nature curious animals.  They’ll eat anything put in front of them.  But feeding them the vitamins, minerals, corn we raise and additional soybean meal means we can assure they are getting proper nutrition.

As a 4th generation hog farmer, I remember raising hogs outside.  We used to keep some of our sows in outside lots.  And I recall the anguish on my Dads face when we would lose a sow due to terrible temperatures.  Or a sow would give birth in the outside lot, before we could get her moved inside to birth.  And then we would deal with the loss of the piglets, as the sow likely laid on them.

I’ll never tell any person who spends generations farming how they should farm.  Just telling you how we choose to farm and why we think it is best for our multi-generational farm.  And on days when the power is out in our house, the snow is howling and the temperatures are dropping, I may be inside freezing but our hogs are in nice warm barns.  It’s hard to convince me they should be outside instead.

Jeanette2brownsmall