Well Bless My Sole!

 

A few weeks ago......well to be honest it's been more on to two months! Time has flown by so fast! My Mom and I took a small road trip to gather fresh veggies. We try to do this every year. Acres of tomatoes and peppers and lots of other vegetables but we were concentrating on those two especially, on this trip.

After a few buckets of tomatoes I was carrying them back to my truck when my shoe blew out it's sole! ;) My favorite "outside" shoes.....I've had them for years and lucky for me I had a old pair of scissors in the truck. I cut the flappy part off and was good to go.....today they are still my favs! ;) 

Tomatoes...they go on and on.......

I picked four pounds of jalapeno peppers. The whole time I was picking them I was dreaming and could even taste the ways I planned on preparing them. Honestly the heat and humidity created a lot of hunger ;)  

I had some bacon, cream cheese and extra sharp cheddar cheese at home just waiting to be joined with those jalapenos! 

First I found some gloves! (playtex) This step is very important when working with peppers! Trust me, your hands will hurt and burn for days and days if you do this with naked hands! I washed the peppers then cut them in half and deseeded them, put them in a colander to dry while I prepared the cheese and bacon. I cut small pieces of cheese and put it off to the side, the bacon, I sliced in half. As you can see in the pics just put a little cheese in the jalapeno half then wrap it with half a slice of bacon. After two pounds of bacon I ran out and had to unwrap most of them and double up on the cheesed peppers, so some of them are actually whole peppers with a mix of cream cheese and sharp cheddar ;) A surprise of flavor! 

I lined them up on a cookie sheet and put wax paper in between each layer so I could freeze them. Once frozen I put them into freezer bags. They won't stick to each other if you freeze them this way first. 

I made a lot so I could freeze them to use when I'm in a hurry, I can just get a few from the freezer, pop them in the oven and YUM! 

You can also grill these. I like my bacon crunchy so I bake them on a broiling pan.

450-500 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes.....depending on your oven and how crunchy you like your bacon ;)

I have to warn you though....these will not last long! A few seem to be missing! My husband came in, just as they came out of the oven and before I could snap a pic! ;)
These aren't hot or spicy at all, which most aren't once the seeds are removed.
If you have a few jalapenos and like cheese and bacon, I hope you'll try these and enjoy them as much as we have.


TTFN!
Until Next Time!
Julie

Roody The Little Roo With A Big Heart

This is Roody, of all the roosters I've had in my life, I have to say he's the best at being a Dad. It's something he takes pride in, he loves it, it's a job he's serious about!
I want to share Roody's story with you ;) Last fall we were overrun with young roosters and if you've ever been around roosters you know they can reek havoc on the hens. When this happens I try to find homes for them but not many people want roosters, so......the inevitable happens :/  They go into the freezer.
Roody was one of those freezer bound fellas, but I had noticed he didn't treat the hens badly, as a matter of fact I actually thought he had a heart problem, LOL. My husband laughed at me when I told him after Roody finished "courting" a hen he went into a daze, staggered around and fell over! I walked over and picked him up and a few seconds later he came around. Now this didn't happen just once but several times (that I saw) so he became my little roo.....he was special. ;)
Roody is a Cochin Bantam Rooster.

Here he is with a few of his little peeps ;)

Before he became an adopted Dad, three of my bantam hens went broody. I wanted   larger hens so I put large eggs under them to hatch instead of bantam eggs and Roody isn't the biological dad either, so these peeps will be large chickens.
I have a large rooster younger than Roody, I keep them separated now because I've had to sew the poor little guy up once and the last time was almost over for him. He was beat so bad his eyes were shut for days...these fights were way before the peeps came to be. I've had Roody for two years now and plan on him living here for many more years! The other roo may not be so lucky ;/

Aren't they cute!? After they were a couple of days old I moved the Moms and peeps into the coop with Roody because something was coming through the fence holes at night (I think it was a rat).
Roody was filled with joy, seriously he really was! He took on the role as Father like no other I had ever seen. He watched over the peeps while the Moms had dust baths and time away! If they chirped too loud he was calling and trying to calm them down.

My niece loves to visit the chickens when she comes over ;)

You wouldn't believe the coaxing I had to do to get him to hold this chick! LOL

Well, as soon as the chicks learned how to fly up on the roost at night the mothers flew the nursery coop! They left the peeps with Roody and joined the old flock of hens! Now they are teens and the poor guy is still hanging in there with them. He still watches over them when they free range and they still sleep under and beside him night after night. ;)

He still is number one! This is them now...look at these teenage peeps! ;)

I have to smile at my Little Roody...he has totally exceeded my expectations as a devoted rooster. He has an amazing heart and soul to put up with this group day in and day out! How does he sleep!?
Happy Father's Day Roody!

Happy Father's Day!!!
TTFN!
Until Next Time,
Enjoy who you are and what you do!
Julie ;)