Tonight two of our adult Sunday School classes will be having a soup social together at our church. For fun we will be voting on our favorite soups and giving awards in various categories. I printed out certificates to be presented. But... The final BIG award (that Wally so carefully made..) is the "all coveted" Silver Ladel Award! It will be awarded to the class that garners the most overall votes! 
Perhaps it will become a "traveling" trophy and we'll do it each year? 
Here's another fun thing for baking. If at first you don't suceed- try again. I'm glad I followed that motto because the first time I used these molds I did not get a good result. But I decided to try again. Now I think I have a handle on them.
Here's what the molds look like. There is a cap that goes on each edge prior to baking.
I made some bread dough in my bread machine. I divided it into thirds and rolled each third into a log shape and placed each log into the bread mold.
I set them to raise in a warm place. (Usually the oven with the oven light on - it gives off just enough heat to provide a warm - but not too hot - environment for bread to raise. )
The bread dough raised for about 35 - 40 minutes. It has almost filled out the mold.
I placed a cap on both ends and placed them in the oven to bake.
Here they are, finished baking. One of the molds actually pushed the cap off the end during the baking.
Say, doesn't this look fun?
The key here is that the molds were well-greased. I used pam cooking spray.
They will make great little open-faced sandwiches for my homemakers group tomorrow evening. 
They are about 9 inches long and about 3 inches wide. 
First things first. Get out the snowblower.
Clear the driveway; clear the walkway. The blizzard left drifts here and there. It wasn't tons of snows but when it blows, it sure makes for interesting snow removal.
And don't forget the hungry birds!
Sunflower seeds for breakfast. 
Yup, another food blog. Sorry, if you haven't had dinner then you might want to go to another blog. 
Here is the rice cooker. It was just a cheap one from Target but it does the job.
First I cooked the broccoli. I cooked it for 5 minutes in chicken broth, stirring occasionally.
Push the broccoli up the sides and add the raw chicken. The chicken had been in a bowl with soy sauce & vegetable oil. Sprinkle garlic salt on it and stir fry it for about 3 minutes.
This looks more appetizing - the chicken is cooked now.
Push the chicken up the sides and add some mushrooms. Stir fry for a minute.
Push them up and add water chestnuts or bamboo shoots. I had water chestnuts. Stir fry for a minute. After that mix the whole thing together and cook it for another 2 minutes.
Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top and set the wok to warm.
Here is the cooked rice..
and the finished meal. 
If it's not food on this blog, it's grandkiddies ... (or birds and branches)..., so here's two recent pictures of grandchild #7..... he's 14 1/2 months old and very independent, just like his Daddy.
A little ham. 
Okay, Okay, I know I am going to make you hungry again, but I have this interest in baking and taking pictures of the tasty results. Today I made scones and I thought I'd post pictures of it step by step again. Well, I didn't do the first step of mixing the ingredients but here is the picture of the dough rolled out, also it has been brushed with beaten egg whites and sprinkled with sugar before I cut it into the 12 sections. 
They are placed on the cookie sheet are are ready to go into the oven.
This is what they look like when they are finished baking!
A close-up. In case you couldn't guess, I love cookbook with pictures- and I HAVE to make mine look exactly like whatever picture they have, too!
Ah, time for tea. I'm having Mrs. Earl Grey again, from Teavana. 
Today I decided to try my hand at english muffins. I think I had only made them once before, and I had english muffins rings (though you can do it without them too) ... I made the dough in my trusty bread machine and then you roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thick and cut them in circles (using the rings) and let them raise for a while. Here they are going to rest and raise...
Then, after they have raised you cook them on a lightly oiled fry pan or griddle. 5 minutes each side. Corn meal is sprinkled on them beforehand.
They get a nice toasty brown color, don't they?
Cool them on a rack..
Split them open with a fork to encourage all those nooks and crannies that will hold the melted butter!!
Toast them and apply some butter and let it melt in...
Here's a close up! No preservatives! Just wholesome good ingredients. 
For those of you who have been to our home, you know we are fortunate to have a great bird sanctuary... with the leaves gone from the trees, we see so much more bird activity. Yesterday during dinner time we noticed Mr. Owl. It was almost too dark to get a good picture, but we were pleased to get a photograph of him - just as he turned his face towards us. 
And we have had so many cardinal lately! It is wonderful - we have seen 5 males and 3 females at the same time. They are extending their habitat into our territory and we couldn't be happier about that. Right now, they sit out in the trees during our supper hour and it was really fun on Tuesday evening when Daniel and Meghan and the children were here for supper because we all enjoyed counting cardinals.
This is one of the largest birds we have - it is a pileated woodpecker and is about 15 inches in length. This picture doesn't really show how big he is. 
For those of you following along with the restoring of the old truck, here is the latest picture. The truck will be painted red. So far, just the inside is painted. 
Some grandchildren came to Grandma's - and we had a little fun with bread dough. 
Wally remembers when his mom let them make bread dough people.
This is Brooklyn's person.
And this is the baked version of Preston's turtle. The addition of raisins was a big hit.
The end result ... yum yum yum. 
