It's Finally Spring!

Spring has finally come to the Black Hills!

Jan here, taking you on a visit to Wind Cave National Park.

We went before the rain showers showed up late last week, so the grass is still pretty brown (it's last year's dormant grass,) but you can see the new green shoots in places, like in this prairie dog town.

No, those aren't prairie dogs...

This time of year, the bull bison hang out together in small groups while the cows are off in their own large herds having cinnamon-colored babies.

Isn't this guy impressive? He's filling out on the fresh green grass and shedding his winter coat. He's building his muscles, getting ready for the rut that starts in late July. But until then, it's wallowing in the dust, sleeping in the sun, and watching the occasional tourist.

We went hiking on this lovely spring day, and chose a trail we've driven past but have never hiked. No puppies this time, though. Dogs aren't allowed on the back country trails in the national park.

Our hike took us from the national park service road and trailhead parking lot, across rolling meadows (where we saw plenty of bison in the distance) and up to the top of this ridge.

We had topped the ridge and began walking down the other side, when we heard a sudden snort and scramble.

We had surprised one of those small groups of bull bison.

You never, never want to surprise a bull bison.

I zoomed in on one of them. See that raised head? Those ears turned our way? The eyes zeroing in on a couple foolish people who dared to invade his space?

We were at least 200 feet away from them (a safe distance is 100 feet,) so we turned around and walked back down the trail toward our truck, talking all the way so they could hear us leaving.

We didn't have any problems with them, but we didn't continue any farther along the trail. And I wouldn't even say it was a close call...but it could have been.

Later in the week we came across this guy walking along the road in Custer State Park.

As we got closer to him, the top of his shoulders reached nearly to the top of the window on our truck. I wanted to get a better picture of him on this narrow road, but as we drew up next to him, he turned his head, backed up a step, and looked at us with that huge, dark, intelligent eye.

And I got a very good look at the set of very pointy and very large horns that were tilting toward us menacingly.

No picture. No chatting. We just drove on by.

Man, those are formidable beasts.

But with all of this, we did get our first glimpse of South Dakota's state flower.

These are pasque flowers, or prairie crocus. They bloom around Easter every year (hence the name) and are so beautiful.

Closer to home, we have at least a dozen western meadowlarks nesting around our house. Their song is thrilling!

Turn the volume up!

Yes, spring is finally here.

Jan Drexler is an author by day who is addicted to counted cross stitch and sauntering through the Hills with her dear husband and their puppies - goofy corgi Jack and growing-fast border collie Sam. You can find Jan's books and other fun things on her website: www.JanDrexler.com.

Sausage & Cheese Breakfast Casserole

Spring has definitely come to the Black Hills!

But before we get to that, let me share this great recipe I tried for our church's annual Easter brunch. It's kind of a breakfast sandwich-gone-casserole, and Josh, my son-in-law, gave it two thumbs up.

One great thing about this recipe is that the casserole doesn't need to be refrigerated overnight. Perfect for those holiday weekends when you're short on refrigerator space!

Sausage & Cheese Breakfast Casserole

ingredients:
note - I made this in an 11 x 17 baking dish. If you are using a 9 x 13 dish, use the smaller amounts of the ingredients in parentheses.

8 (5) eggs
1/2 (1/4) cup milk
6 (4) green onions
13 (8) large refrigerated breakfast biscuits (aka "Pillsbury Grands")
1 1/2 (1) cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 pound sausage, browned (optional for non-meat lovers)

Whisk the eggs and milk together in a large mixing bowl.

Cut each biscuit into six pieces. I find that my pizza cutter works great!

Put the biscuit pieces in the egg mixture and let them soak for 10-15 minutes while you get the rest of the ingredients ready.

Clean and slice the green onions and add them to the mixing bowl.

Brown your sausage (I did this part the night before), measure your cheese, and mix everything together. Pour it into your baking dish. Sprinkle a little extra cheese on top.

Bake at 350° for about 25-30 minutes, or until done (center is solid when you jiggle it).

Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes, then serve.

Delicious! And so easy! A definite plus on a busy morning. :)

So here's what else is happening around here.

My dear husband and I are back into our "get up in the Hills and hike every chance we can" routine. On Saturday we did a couple miles on the French Creek trail in Custer State Park.

French Creek is where gold was first discovered in the Black Hills back in 1874, but we didn't find any on our hike. :)

But we did discover one fun thing about this creek - it disappears. At one point in the trail it will look like this...

...but a few yards later...

We found the spot where the creek disappears. It just goes underground! The water follows an underground passage just below this dry stream bed. There is water here sometimes, but only when there has been a lot of rain.

Another piece of great news this spring is that the pine beetle is finally under control.

The pine beetle can devastate a forest, leaving it like this -

And when a fire comes, like it did in the Argyle area last year, it leaves the forest looking like this -

But for several years now, rangers and loggers have been cutting the beetle killed trees and breaking the life cycle by giving the beetles nowhere to go. We see piles of cut logs like these all over the forest -

So now the new, healthy forest can grow, and it's a beautiful sight.

And speaking of new growth!

This little one was brand new - maybe a day or two old! But the next one was a bit older. See the horn buds?

The cows and calves stay together in huge herds, but the bulls either stay alone or in groups of two or three.

Look at that shaggy coat! The birds love to line their nests with the buffalo hair!

And finally, I have to share this with you:

A new bird sighting to add to my life list. A burrowing owl!

We saw two of them, and I was thrilled!

So yes, Spring is definitely here!

What signs of spring are you seeing around your place? or are you already looking for signs of summer?


Oh! Before I forget, the e-book editions of Hannah's Choice and Mattie's Pledge are on sale at your favorite on-line retailer! Stop by my website for the links: www.JanDrexler.com

Jan Drexler loves her family, her home, cooking and just about anything made by hand. But she loves her Lord most of all.

Stop by Jan's website to learn more about her books: www.JanDrexler.com

Laura Ingalls Wilder Buzz: Surviving the Wait

This week in the Carolinas, some homes are still obsessed with Frozen. My granddaughter still insists on being called Elsa. It's been crazy up and down cold while my friends in the Kansas and Nebraska had the 60s and 70s before a major snow storm. People are still talking about the Super Bowl and the dancing shark at half-time who couldn't keep in step. 

But in the Steele house, it's all about Laura Ingalls Wilder. Now we've talked about Laura and her books here on Yankee Belle.  Jan reminded us there are still devastating Long Winters in her October Blizzard Macgyver That Sauce post  .  I followed up with a discussion on all the food featured in Little House books in Book Food: The Little House Connection .

My two favorite Little House books: The Long Winter and These Happy Golden Years.

Surely we don't need to revisit the topic!  

YES, we do!!!!!!  And yes, I'm jumping up and down because Laura Ingalls Wilder is a blockbuster hit yet again, thanks to the South Dakota Historical Society's runaway best-seller, Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Biography, edited by Pamela Smith Hill. A book fans have anticipated for years is finally out.

The book is coffee table sized: 9 inches by 11 and 1.5 inches thick.

But there's a problem. The buzz has exploded for a book with an original printing of only 15,000 copies, 4000 already earmarked. I despaired. Then second printing of 15,000 and the book I ordered in August showed up last week. The buzz is humming like an upset hive of bees (yep, a little boy tangles with one of the Little House books). The third March printing of 45,000 copies and a fourth printing is on the horizon.  Folks are in a frenzy waiting for their book to show up.

A once in a life time book and we are either waiting for or celebrating its arrival. Ack!

How to celebrate now that it's here? and for my friends who are waiting, How to survive until the book arrives?  You can go back and read the original series but the best survival manual for those who cook is the Little House Cookbook. Not only does it has a lot of beloved snippets from the Little House book series, but it is the perfect cookbook for those who need to feed their families food that is as fresh and natural as possible.  Remember, this was plain food in the days before icky chemical preservatives and food additives no one can pronounce.

Such a fun book even if you don't like to cook.

I picked up some bison, thanks to a coupon. I figured since Little House on the Prairie talks about Pa living on the land belonging to Osage Indians and Pioneer Girl details the reality of the situation, it would be a nod to the real life and times of both the Ingalls and the Native Americans who added drama to Laura's books.  

Why yes, we have bison in North Carolina.

I decided to adapt my all meat meatball recipe and make a glaze out of items in my pantry. After all, it's Long Winter time and food stuffs are scarce.

Since bison is very lean, I added a third of a pound of ground pork (a nod to the pig butchering in Little House in the Big Woods) to the pound of bison, one egg to bind the meatballs and keep them gluten-free. I also didn't add seasoning to keep them "neutral" so I could freeze some and pop them into spaghetti sauce and such.

I formed the balls and baked them at 400 degrees in a pan lined with foil to keep mess to a minimum and cooked until brown, about 12-15 minutes.

After putting them in the fridge overnight to cool down, I went off to read more Pioneer Girl and my cookbook to see what sauce Laura might whip up.

Lots of meatball sauces contain ketchup and mustard. Pioneers ate tomatoes but most likely they were cooked. So I was good there. Same with spices like mustard. I added maple syrup, imagining they may have carried a jug as they left the Big Woods.

I used equal amounts of all three but no more ingredients.  The real Ingalls were far more strapped financially than the fictional books let on, even though we readers knew they had their struggles. I heated the combined ingredients, stirring until blended.

After reheating the meatballs, I poured the warm sauce over the hot meatballs, stirring until coated. Voila.

Oops, someone has been snitching the meatballs.

Hopefully Ma Ingalls approves. 

So are you waiting to get Pioneer Girl in your hands? Are you surprised by Pioneer Girl's place on the top of the best seller lists? Have you eaten bison meat or tried other pioneer themed foods? Let's talk.

German Chocolate Birthday Cake

Jan, the Mid-Westerner, here, with another birthday cake. At our house, we have birthdays in three months of the year: May, July and November. And today is my husband's birthday!

The bison at Custer State Park were enjoying the sunshine on Saturday.

We celebrated last night, since everyone was going to be at home.

I'm serious. You try getting six adults together when four of them either work two jobs or work plus go to school full time. We're rarely all in the house at the same time.

But Sunday night, after church, we're usually all here.

A Pronghorn buck - the ladies were on the other side of the hill.

Now, my husband's favorite cake is German Chocolate. He loves the blend of chocolate and coconut...and I've found the perfect recipe. I've made every year for the last five or six years.

The original recipe is from the 1980 edition of the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. My copy was a bridal shower gift from a co-worker, and every time I read the inscription I think of her.

"Many happy years of cooking and eating for both of you! Clara 5/9/82"

Do you inscribe books you give as gifts?

Anyway, I've tweeked this recipe, like I do most of the ones that have been around for a few years, and here's the current version:

German Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Ghiradelli 60% Cocoa Chocolate Chips
1/3 cup water

1 2/3 cup cake flour (Swan's Down, Wondra or Soft as Silk)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs, separated
2/3 cup buttermilk or sour milk

Coconut Frosting - recipe follows

Making a cake from scratch is a worthwhile skill to learn. It isn't hard, but it does take time and care.

The results, however, are worth every minute you spend :)

If you've ever watched a cooking show on television, you know how the cooks always have their ingredients pre-measured before they start cooking. Don't they make it look easy?

Well, we're going to do the same thing - it's prep time!

Let's take this step-by-step:

1) Bring the butter to room temperature in the mixing bowl.

2) Melt the chocolate with 1/3 cup water - I use the microwave. Thirty seconds is usually enough. Stir until it's nice and smooth.

3) Measure the flour, baking soda and salt into a medium size bowl. Stir to combine.

4) If you don't have buttermilk, make sour milk by combining 1 teaspoon lemon juice with your 2/3 cup milk. Let sit for five minutes.

5) Prepare your cake pans. I grease them with coconut oil, then lay a piece of parchment paper on the bottom.

6) Separate your 3 eggs. Put the yolks in a small dish, and reserve the whites.

7)Preheat your oven to 350°.

Now that the preliminaries are done, it's time to start making the cake.

Cream the butter for 30 seconds, and then gradually add the sugar and vanilla. Beat until fluffy.

Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition.

Beat in the melted chocolate.

Add the dry ingredients and the milk alternately, about 1/3 of each at a time, beating well after each addition.

Now comes the part that makes a lot more dishes to wash.... You need to beat the egg whites.

In case you don't know this, egg whites and fat of any kind don't mix, so you need to use clean beaters and a clean bowl to beat them.

Transfer you cake batter to a large bowl, and wash your mixer's bowl and beaters.

(The reason my mixer looks so strange is because it's a Bosch. Don't laugh. I can make six loaves of bread at a time with this puppy! He's a workhorse. Makes great smoothies, too, with his blender attachment.)

Now that your mixer is clean, beat those egg whites until stiff peaks form. 

Fold the egg whites into your cake batter, and then pour the batter into the pans.

Bake in a 350° oven for 30-35 minutes.

If you want a refresher on the method for making a cake from scratch, there's another version - a different birthday and a different cake - here.

After the cake is baked, and while it's cooling, it's time to make the frosting. This is what makes this a German Chocolate Cake!

Coconut-Pecan Frosting

or, if you don't have Pecans - just Coconut Frosting

Ingredients:

1 egg

2/3 cup evaporated milk (a 5 1/3-ounce can)

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

dash salt

1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

1/2 cup chopped pecans

In a saucepan, beat the egg slightly. Add the milk, sugar, butter and salt. Over medium-low heat, stir until the butter is melted. Cook and stir for twelve minutes more, or until the frosting is thickened and bubbly. Stir in the coconut and pecans. Cool thoroughly.

This is enough frosting for the tops of two 9-inch layers, or one 9"x13" pan.

We've all seen commercial German Chocolate Cakes with rich, brown frosting. Well, mine always turns out this lovely yellow color. Maybe I could add food coloring, or cook it differently so the sugar browns somewhat...but it tastes so good, I hate to mess with it.

Frost the top of one cake layer, put the second layer on and use the rest of the frosting on it. Don't frost the sides of the cake - German Chocolate Cakes don't have frosting on the side.

But, you know, this cake is so rich, you won't miss that extra frosting at all.

And it's so tasty, I wasn't able to get a picture without parts missing!

Another favorite thing for my husband on his birthday is going up into the Hills. Saturday was the perfect day. We drove up on the Iron Mountain Road and then down to the prairies in Custer State Park. 

Every corner we turn, we just say, "I love living here!"

Mt. Rushmore from an angle you don't often see.

Harney Peak, with the Black Elk Wilderness in the foreground.