Birthday Cake Traditions

As I was mixing birthday cake batter for my oldest son's birthday, I thought about the many birthday cakes my mother-in-law baked for our family and friends during her lifetime. For every birthday in our family, she baked an angel food cake and iced it with seven minute frosting. When my sons were little, she would make miniature angel food cakes, frost them and allow the boys to decorate them with sprinkles and eat them with their fingers. Icing would be from head to toe and anything they touched. As the boys grew older, the angel food cake was an expected part of every birthday. Since the passing of my mother-in-law, I now proudly continue the birthday cake tradition. Cody's requested cake today was Chocolate Sheath Cake. I hope that I don't get the request for the seven minute frosting because although it is beautiful to look at, I'm more of a powdered sugar and cream cheese icing kind of dairymom! Chocolate Sheath Cake is a family favorite and a great cake for any occasion.

Chocolate Sheath Cake

Ingredients:

1 stick butter

1/2 cup Crisco

4 Tbsp cocoa

1 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. soda

2 eggs slightly beaten

Bring butter,Crisco,cocoa and water to a rapid boil. Pour over the sugar and flour and beat well.

Add buttermilk and soda, vanilla and eggs. Beat, then bake at 400 degrees F. in metal loaf pan for 20 minutes. Cover with icing.

Icing:

1 stick butter

4 Tbsp cocoa

6 Tbsp milk

1 cup pecans (optional)

1 tsp. vanilla

3 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar

Bring butter,cocoa, and milk to boil. Add the powdered sugar,vanilla and pecans. Beat well and pour over cake while hot.

Just before serving, add a great big dip of vanilla ice cream!

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Earth Day on the downtown Bentonville square was a great time to share how dairy farmers work to produce nutritious milk and protect the environment everyday on the farm. I am thankful for my dairy friends who volunteered their time to share their dairy story with students from local elementary schools.

Double Fun Milking

What can be more fun than watching 500 kids milk Sophia, the Midwest Dairy cow? My answer would be to take a dairy farmer to talk with the kids milking Sophia! I wasn't counting on having a case of allergy related laryngitis when I volunteered for this event, so asking husband/dairy farmer Ryan to assist was a true necessity. Students at the school were learning about Arkansas history and Sophia had an important role in educating students about MILK-the Arkansas state drink!
We arrived at the Apple Glen Elementary in Bentonville at 8:30 to set up and be ready for our students by 9 a.m. As the students arrived, we had sheer organized chaos. Ryan talked with the children briefly about what cows like to eat, how much they drink and then proceeded to assist those that needed help or instruction on how to milk the cow. My job was to give the I Milked a Cow sticker to each child. With each group of children, our dairy talking and milking procedure began to flow with ease.
We had some great conversations with these children and their teachers about how we produce milk on our farm. Sophia was the hit of the day! As we loaded Sophia on the truck and headed for the farm, the dairy farmer decided that a day of milking real cows was a lot less tiring. Can you still see that I'm smiling about my double fun day with the dairy farmer? You can find more information about Arkansas dairy farming and the nutritious product we produce at http://www.midwestdairy.com/.

Every Day is Earth Day to Dairy Farmers

Raise your glass of milk today to dairy farm families across America who are committed everyday to bring science and technology together in an effort to feed more people using less land,water and other natural resources!!

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Farmers celebrate Earth Day everyday! These dairy heifers are anxious to start celebrating with a bite of hay. I'm thankful for this third generation dairy farmer who loves the land and the animals and works everyday to make this world a better place for the next generation.

Dairy Cows Celebrate Earth Day Everyday

How do dairy cows celebrate Earth Day? With Sustainability!! The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy defines sustainability as...

Providing consumers with the nutritious dairy products they want in a way that makes the industry,people,and the earth economically,environmentally and socially better-now and for future generations.

On our dairy farm, the cows celebrate Earth Day everyday by consuming a nutritious,balanced diet to efficiently produce milk while using less of our natural resources and generating less animal waste. Feeding the cows a balanced and nutritious diet is the key to healthy cows and milk production. We sit down once a month with our animal nutritionist to evaluate the feed ingredients and discuss cow production and health records. Efficient feeding and management practices are economically and environmentally beneficial to our farm. Our cows are the very heart of sustainability for our family dairy farm.

Here are some amazing dairy sustainability facts (http://www.plentytothinkabout.org/):

• Since 1944, annual production of milk per cow has quadrupled in the United States


• Every gallon of milk requires 65 percent less water and 90 percent less land than in 1944


• 76 percent less manure is being produced for each gallon of milk sold


• the "carbon footprint" for a gallon of milk in 2007 was 63 percent lower than in 1944

How do you celebrate Earth Day?

Yogurt Casserole for a Crowd

After arriving at Central Presbyterian Church in Ft. Smith for the Arkansas Presbyterian Women's Spring Gathering, my friend and I were offered a delightful continental breakfast prepared by the ladies of the church. You can always be assured of good food when the women of any church are doing the cooking! The presentation of each recipe was beautiful. To my surprise and delight, one of the main dishes presented in a large decorative glass casserole dish was a yogurt parfait. The yogurt was layered with blueberries,strawberries,raspberries,and peaches and topped with granola. It was delicious and a great idea for serving a crowd with a nutritious and tasty dairy recipe. If you need a quick breakfast for yourself or a special treat for your family for Easter, you may want to try Easy to Please Yogurt Parfait!

Easy to Please Yogurt Parfait

Ingredients

1 cup low-fat yogurt

1/2 cup crunchy low-fat cereal or granola,divided

1/2 cup fresh fruit,sliced (i.e. strawberries,blueberries,bananas)

Preparation

To assemble parfait,begin with spooning half of the yogurt in the bottom of a bowl or tall glass.

Add 2 tablespoons cereal and 1/2 cup fruit. Spoon on the rest of the yogurt. Top with remaining 2 tablespoons of cereal.

Substitution Ideas: Use any favorite flavor of yogurt as a base. You can also substitute canned fruit(drained) for fresh fruit.

You can find a variety of yogurt recipes at http://midwestdairy.com/. Have a dairy good week!