The Porter House LLC
 
Today we had a treat.  We had venison hamburger spaghetti sauce with home made noodles covered with cheddar and mozzarella cheese.  It was delicious!

For the last few years, we have raised a number of ducks and geese on our farm.  Around the beginning of March, they start to lay eggs.  We start picking the eggs shortly after.  We have the eggs for breakfast, use the eggs for cooking and recently have started making home made noodles with the egg yolks.  Last year the egg laying was happening faster than we could eat them.  I knew the Amish made noodles with the eggs yolks so I started to ask questions about noodle making at our local Amish store.
The Amish lady that runs the store said she was planning to make noodles shortly with a neighbor and ask me if I would like to come over and learn how to make noodles.  I was delighted to get the chance to learn the task from the experts.
My husband and I have made noodles a couple of times since.  Carl, my husband really likes making the noodles.  He thinks it is fun running the dough through the noodle maker.  Now Carl won't eat store boughten noodles.

Making home made noodles will be another common task done at Porter House.  We will be welcoming our new residents and their families to join the fun.
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Pumpkin Recipes 02/18/2010
 
One of our best growing plants in our garden last year were pumpkins.  We had miniature pumpkins, pie size pumpkins and gigantic pumpkins.  Patty, Todd and Todd's family had fun carving several of the gigantic pumpkins last fall.  We had carved pumpkins and miniature pumpkins decorating the whole landscape around the Porter House home.
Today I picked out some of the pie pumpkins stored in our basement and cooked them.  We have some of our own favorite pumpkin recipes, but I wanted to try some different recipes that our new residents may like.  I found a pumpkin muffin recipe that was low in sugar and low in cholesterol.  Although my family which is use to their sugar didn't take to these muffins really well others may just love them.
When we get our new residents, I will be checking with them what their favorite pumpkin recipes are and will be looking forward to baking them.
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Pies in the Oven 02/13/2010
 
Today I made some of my famous strawberry rhubarb pies.  We are having a pie sale at church tomorrow to raise money for the youth group so I made some pies for both them and for our home.  My strawberry rhubarb pies usually top the sale.  They are auctioned off and last time the group got $26 for one of the pies.
I can't take all the credit for the pies.  When I was growing up, my family owned a restaurant.  My mother was famous for her homemade pies.  Early in my marriage I asked my mother to teach me how to make her special crust.  Her home made crust is the best I ever had.  Then since I have been friends with many Amish families, I have learned how to make many good pie fillings.  Our family favorites are strawberry rhubarb, blueberry, blackberry and of course pumpkin.
I can't wait until I can share some of my favorite pies with our residents and their families.

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Here at Porter House, we have several Amish neighbors.  The Van Gheem family have a few very close Amish friends and many other Amish casual friends.  Today I took my Amish friend for a ride to her sister's house.  In exchange for the ride she gave me a loaf of fresh bread.  Of course we ate most the bread right away.  I love having it with the apple butter my daughter-in-law gave me for Christmas.  Carl was happy, he got home just in time from his truck driving to get a piece of bread this time.  Soon I plan to get a baking lesson from this Amish neighbor on baking bread.  Then when time allows I plan to make fresh bread for our residents at Porter House.
Patty and Todd watched 20 plus Wild Turkeys today in the middle of the afternoon.  They were viewed from our large dining and living room windows.
We can't wait until we can share our home made cooking and bird watching with our new Porter House clients.
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