Apple Raisin Walnut Breakfast Bars Recipe

Apple-Raisin-Walnut Breakfast Bars

9” x 13” baking dish, sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Sift together, set aside:

2 c. flour

2 tsp. Baking powder

1 ½ tsp. Cinnamon

½ tsp. salt

               

In a large bowl, on medium speed, blend together:

   Approximately 3 minutes or until smooth:

2 c. light-brown sugar

2 eggs

½ c. (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

Reduce speed to low, gradually add flour mixture for 2 minutes.

Stir in:

1 ½ c. diced apple

1 c. oats (not instant)

¾ c. raisins

½ c. chopped walnuts.

Spread into prepared pan.  Bake at 350* for 35 minutes; until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely; cut into bars (18 – 24).  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Have fun with this one; mix and match fruit and nuts for your own favorite.  It's solid enough to be used as a trail bar - but won't break your teeth!

Juanita

Overheard at the Corral This Morning

"Looky there!  That's one of the big neighbors runnin down the middle of the road!"

"He got's no people with him..."

"Wow, he is gunna be in trouble!"

"Ain't he one of them Belgers?"

"Yup.  They are big 'uns for sure."

"No chair on his back, and no bag on his face like last time...  he gets to eat all of the grass!"

"I hate that"
.
.
.

"HAY YOU GUYS!  LOOK! LOOK!  All of the neighbors are out and going the other way"

"We know that Mare.  Do you think we is dummies?  (Say Kid, she is right!  They are ALL out!")

"Say, ain't that Beel coming outa the lodge with a lead rope?  He looks CRANKY."

"Well, you KNOW he hates leaving the lodge before the sun  comes up."
.
.
.

"It seems to be taking longer to catch them this morning."

"That is 'cause they are eating grass out here, and do not want to go home, I bet."
.
.
.
"Well, it looks like they are all back in the pen.  I wish we could'a  go'ed out."

"Someone should 'splain to Beel that Colorado is "Free Range" .  I think that means we gotta be fenced OUT, not fenced IN."

"Lawns are a waste of good graze"

"Yup."

I Love the Sound

I love the sound...
    of a horse tiptoeing down a steep trail.

 

I love the sound...

    of a horse chewing.

I love the sound...

  of an animated conversation.

I love the sound...

   of a water crossing.

I love the sound...

   Of a trail ride.

Bill

A Little Extra Work

B-  Well, we lived through the ride today, Ranger.

R-  Yes Beel, we did.  No thanks to you.

B-  The only problems we had today were in your head, where there is lots of room for problems, because your head's empty.

R-  The problems were real, Beel.  You are just not smart or observant enough to see them.  Like when you first climbed on my back, the tree FELL DOWN and ALMOST HIT US!

B-  The tree was cut down across the street.  You walked by it  five minutes before while they were sawing it.  We were 40 yards away when it fell.  No danger.

R-  The cowboys YELLED, Beel.  And the tree FELL, Beel. And the cowboys WHOOPED and HOLLERED, Beel.  And when I jumped and spun and tried to get away, you made me stop and called me a @$#%$^!
What is a @$#%$!, Beel?

B-  You are, Ranger.

R-  And then you made me cross the street and stand there, RIGHT NEXT TO THE  TREE THAT HAD JUST FALLEN DOWN!  And pieces KEPT BREAKING OFF OF IT!

B-  They were sawing it into logs, you moron.

B-  And then when we did hit the trail, you grabbed a mouthful of grass after stopping  dead in the trail and wouldn't move on!

R-  That was very mean of you to pull my head around and take ALL of the grass out of my mouth.  You did not even eat it.  You just threw it on the ground.  Mean and wasteful.

B-  And when we went on, you were jumping at everything.  Stumps, logs, quaking aspens blowing in the breeze, birds.  BIRDS?  For crying out loud, the only way a bird could hurt you is if you choked on it.


R-  And then you made me touch everything I warned you about.  That was mean.  I should have made you touch the bird...

B- You darn near did you @$#%$!

 R- Hmmm

B-  Hmmm

R-  That was a good ride.  Can we go again tomorrow?

B-  You bet, buddy.  Sleep well.

Just Look'in Around

About 15 minutes ago, we looked out the window and saw a string of horses going down the road.  Probably 15 or 20 of them.

Not really an unusual sight around here.

They were all saddled and on their way.

With no one on their backs.

And empty feed bags on their faces.

Opps.

Team Lodge (Juanita, Bill, and grand-daugher "Autobot") mobilized and headed out to head them off.  In years past, I would have jumped in a truck or minivan to herd them home in, because they would be off at a run.  But these guys were obviously just out for a stroll.  We managed to get them stopped (okay, they stopped themselves at a nice lush patch of grass and tried to eat through their feed bags, with limited, to no success) and grabbed a few to lead them back to the livery.  Reinforcements arrived from the livery, and we got them home in less time than it's taking me to blog about it.

Back to breakfast prep....


Bill

Nothing Bad

This is Ranger.  The horse.

I am mad at Estes-the-other-mare's person, GunDiva.  She went for a ride several darks ago and saw some moose-monsters.  I telled her "DON"T TELL BEEL!"

But she did.

So the day before the last dark "The Kid" and I went for a walk with the chairs on our backs and iron bars in our mouths.

Looking for the moose-monsters AGAIN.

Beel is crazy that way.

It was a good walk, because I got to carry a smaller person.  She was named after some kind of flower or something.  Iris.  Or Daisey.  Or something like that.

I like Pansy, because when we all stopped to eat grass, she gave me THREE granola bars!  Beel only ever gives me one, maybe, if that much, and HE eats the rest.  No wonder he weighs so much.  Petunia weighs much less, because of her generous, sharing nature. (Have you ever eated a pear core?  They are so good!)

It was also a good day, because, once again, no moose-monsters were spotted.  In fact, no deers, elks,  sheeps, coyote-dogs, robert-cats, rabbiters, or squirrlies attacked us either.

And when we got home, Dandelion gave me more fresh grass to eat.

Yumm.


Ranger.  The horse.

Trail Maintenance

A few blogs ago, we had pictures of downed trees; lots of downed trees!!!  Well, yesterday we had sort of an impromptu family gathering for Nebalee's birthday - you know, the CAKE thing.  Our youngest son and his fiancee showed up early, complete with a gas powered chain saw.  Yeah!  We could finally get those trees off the trail.

The hike in - with a helper.  We had all wanted to take the horses in, but even though our horses are accustomed to this type of work, it was a busy ride day for the livery and we didn't want to take any chances having 'extra' horses tied in the area.  GunDiva's ride passed us as we were working this spot.

Clearing branches at the first site, for the major cut.

About here?

Then we hiked over to another trail, to find three dead ones that had fallen in a group.

The last two.

A job well done.  Thank you, Junior, for getting the two most used trails passable again.  In the National Forest, or the National Park, you are not allowed to move the trees; only cut a path where the trail is already established.  That's why we hadn't attached a rope and pulled them off to the side.  Besides, when you are trail riding, it's much more fun to go through this stuff than to have 'pristine' trails.
Bionic Cowgirl

Visitors

We haven't meant to be absent so long ... but you all know how things suddenly just get sort of busy; not the kind of mind boggling busy that you can plan, but busy enough ...

We've had lots of fun with visitors - friends and guests.  Momma Fargo and NFL Man came for a visit; what a blast.  She has found herself a pretty good guy, but we are really prejudiced.  We happen to think HE has found a pretty good gal - so does that make them a good pair?  We think so.  Congratulations you two - and don't make yourselves scarce; we expect to see you often.

At the same time we had a guest named Catherine, from Ireland, that I got to go riding with.  See how much things have greened up since we had a tad bit of rain/snow a couple weeks ago.  It looks almost normal.

Also, some of the grandkids came up for their first rides of the season, so it was a busy horse week.

Next we had a couple more Australians come for horse therapy, and ... you guessed it, yours truly got some more major riding in.  Hard to beat this kind of job.

Bill's brother, SIL and niece came next for four days; checking out colleges in the area for graduate work.  How did that happen?  Niece being old enough to be a junior in college, with enough scholarships to pay her way through grad school?  Yep, got her on a horse, too.  I'm on a roll here.  Nobody should come near me who doesn't want thrown on a horse.

Oops, forgot about bringing Queen Estes (GunDiva's horse) back to the mountains.  That led to a day of excitement, as some of you know from Ranger's post.  Estes is more than a bit of a hussy, and came back while in her first heat of the season.  Of course, she wanted nothing to do with Washoe and flirted non-stop with Ranger - until he complied and she bit the tar out of him.  They both are showing many nasty bite marks, but seem to have come to agreements on various issues. I managed to get all the burrs and dreadlocks out of her mane today; it's been a three day process but it's done.  Her feet need some care next; not terrible but not like we want to see them.  Other than that, she looks GREAT!.  Sending her to fat pasture was the right decision.

Time to feed; I can just FEEL their eyes on me even though I can't see them.
Bionic Cowgirl

They Just Do Not Understand

This is Ranger.  The horse.

The peoples have telled me that today is the day "That Other Mare", Estes, is coming back to the herd.  This is a bad thing.  I have been watching how much food goes into the food place, and every day there is just BARELY enough for the three of us to eat.

If another horse comes to stay in our pen, we will not have enough food.  We will all starve.

Other horses have come to stay with us before, and I have had to chase them away from the food.  More hay than usual showed up in the food place, but you really can not count on that.

I will do my best to protect my herd and chase off the inter-lopers.

Maybe she could bring a sack lunch...


Ranger, the horse.

Chocolate Aztec Cookies

It's been a while since I've posted here. I'm still alive (in case you were wondering) and a little bit fatter thanks to finding amazing recipes that I *have* to try out. I was reading Terry Odell's book SAVING SCOTT and her main character was baking some mouth-watering cookies. When I got the end of the book, I was excited to find was became my All. Time. Favorite. Recipe.

All.

Time.

I'm so not kidding. You have to try these.

Spicy Aztec Chocolate Drops

Best cookies EVAH!

1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t cinnamon
1 t finely ground coffee (or instant) <--I prefer instant, because I hate coffee; Mr. Nebalee likes his really strong coffee/espresso gunk
1/4 t cayenne (1/8 if you're a wimp)
1/4 t ground black pepper
1/2 c cocoa powder
3/4 c softened, unsalted butter
1 1/4 c sugar, divided
1 egg
1 t vanilla

Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, coffee, black pepper, cayenne, and cocoa powder. Cream the butter with 1 cup of the sugar until light. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until creamy.

Re-sift the dry ingredients and add to the creamed butter concoction (it works best if you add it incrementally). Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment or foil. Roll a piece of the dough - about the size of a walnut - in the remaining 1/4 c sugar and place on cookie sheet, with about 1 inch between each cookie. (RCC and I use a small cookie scooper and drop the dough directly into the sugar to coat. Mr. Nebalee has come up with his own method involving cupcake trays and sprinkling the sugar instead of rolling it.)

Bake for eight minutes. They will appear to be underbaked, but they are PERFECT!