Snow day in October?

Skywalker found the only patch of green in the pasture. It was protected by the tree.

It is so ironic that the weather has been 75-80degrees the whole month of September and when it is time for potato harvest,and all of the kids are out of school for harvest break, we get snow and highsof 35. Yikes! The kids are out of school for the whole weekand Shade has actually worked in the potatoes 2 ½ days. It is looking like he won’t be working forthe rest of the week. Those potatofarmers have to be sooo stressed right now.

I went visiting teaching this morning and camehome refreshed after a great visiting teaching lesson this month. When I sat down to read it before we wentthis morning, I could not believe what I was reading. It was like to lesson was written just forme. Another of Heavenly Father’sprecious blessings. It was all about thestripling warriors and how they were taught by their moms in the ways of righteousness. Not only by their moms, but all of the womenin their lives. It taught of theimportance of keeping our covenants, as an example to our children so they willnot doubt that we know. It gave me strengthto be strong and firm in dealing with the kids (mostly Shade), which I neededbecause was grounded this week and I had his phone. He tried every way he could to convince me togive him his phone and let him go out. Let me tell you he is very persuasive! He has been spending some quality time with Shawn; it has been nice tosee.

Anyway, on the way home from visiting teaching Idecided it was a day for homemade donuts! After browsing my new favorite thing—PINTEREST, I found an excellent (orat least I hoped) donut recipe. I didn’twant to use it because it meant I had to boil potatoes, but my other options forrecipes were using store bought biscuits, cutting holes in them, cooking them,and calling them donuts. Plus, I didn’thave any store bought donuts. After spending½ hour with the kids straightening the house, we went to work on thedonuts. Here is the recipe I used, andyes, they were to die for! Oh, and supereasy!

Spudnuts

1 qt. milk

1 c. sugar

1 c. shortening

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 T. vanilla

4 ½ tsp. yeast (2 packets)

1 c. warm potato water

1 c. mashed potatoes

Mix the above ingredients and let set about 30minutes or until foamy. (I scalded mymilk and let the yeast sit in it for a minute or two and it foamed rightup. I didn’t have to wait 30 minutes.

Then add:

4 well beaten eggs

1 T. salt

12 c. flour

Knead, let rise until double in size. (I just left it mixing with the bread arm for5 minutes to knead). Roll out about ¾”thick, cut as for donuts. Let them riseuntil double in size. Cook in hot oil orshortening. Let them cool slightly, thenwhile they are still warm, dip them in glaze.

Glaze recipe:

½ c. boiling water

1 lb. powdered sugar

2 T. butter

2 T. vanilla

I quartered the recipe because the original saidthis recipe would make 150 donuts. I don’tknow if that was a typo or what, but I didn’t want even ½ (75) donuts so Iquartered it. That was a mistake. I got about 15 donuts and holes to go withthem. They were gone while they werestill warm! Next time I will make not lessthan ½ batch.

After taking some to Shawn, Shade and thelandscape crew on the job site, it left not very many for the kids and I toenjoy.

Morgan was very proud of her donut that looked exactly like a store bought one.

Carter got caught sneaking a donut hole while glazing!

Morgan was the cooker.

Aspen was the mess maker.

After the donuts were cooked the kids did a little "might I say cage fighting"! Actually, Carter and Aspen made a corral for Aspen's "horsies", but it ended up being a wrestling ring for Morgan and Carter.