Sugar Free Peach Cobbler

Wouldn't you like to sink your teeth into a plate of this? I know I would. My mouth is watering just looking at it. Would you believe me if I told you this didn't have any sugar in it?
Well, believe it. It was made with honey. It's heavenly. Try it for yourself and see.

No Sugar Peach Cobbler
Peach mixture:
1/2 cup raw honey
1 tablespoon of corn starch
1/4 tsp cinnamon
5 cups of sliced peaches
1 tsp lemon juice
Topping:
1 cup flour
3 Tablespoons raw honey
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 to 4 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup milk
Mix your peach mixture together and pour into a baking dish (9x13). Mix topping ingredients together until well blended and a bit sticky. Spoon clumps of it over the peaches. It won't spread over the entire peach mixture and you don't need it to. It will puff up and the peaches will boil around the puffs of dough to caramelize and look tasty. Bake at 400 for 20 to 30 min. (My oven cooks hotter than most, so you may want to check it after awhile).
I've found that cooking this with honey creates the topping to be crispier. It's divine and I know you'll love it.
Enjoy!

Open Wide, Mr. Ed.

Little known fact about me; I've only been on a horse once. They set me on one without much instruction and sent me off into the woods to help look for a Christmas tree. Not long after I was thrown from the horse and never set my butt on one again. I've wanted to. I love horses, just never had the opportunity to return to the saddle.
But, hey, I'm good at drawing them. :)
Say hello to Mr. Ed.

Copies of this 11x17 drawing are available for $20. Just email me at qrissyw@gmail.com

The Rendezvous Experience

This last week my family and I attended the Fort Bridger Mountain Man Rendezvous up in the prairies of southwest Wyoming. If you've never attended you should look into stopping by next Labor Day weekend to see what it's all about.
Rendezvous across the country are much the same. People dress up in period clothing (from the late 1700's to the mid 1800's), sleep in tipis (or teepee, depending on how you want to spell it), and hold shooting contests, buy and trade goods and have a merry ol' time. You might wonder what kind of goods they sell, well, anything you'd find during the nineteenth century. Nothing modern. The rules are strict and clearly stated. No plastic. Only items found during the time period.
Because of the strict policy it makes for a historical environment. It smells, looks and feels old.
Authentic.
Nearly every canvas covered shop you enter will hold the scents of metals, leathers, wool and wax. And it's not just a few shops you'll see. Trader's Row is what they call the dirt road that circles around next to the fort and you can meander all day to look over everything the shop owners have to offer and you'll still miss something.
Along with the shops and black powder shooting, hatchet throwing, and arrow shooting contests there are old homes to tour and of course the museum and fort itself. Several times a day over the weekend they have representatives from different Native American tribes show us a thing or two about their heritage by dancing in their traditional costumes. It's a sight worth seeing.

The only downfall of this trip was my camera didn't work as I needed it to. I had planned on taking loads of pictures to share with you all. My camera only worked for an hour before it decided it didn't like me anymore. Here are a few of my pictures worth showing . . .

As you can see we are all dressed up in period clothing. My daughters are wearing the wool cloaks I had made for them. I've spent all summer making an entire wardrobe for my family and because my camera pooped out on me I don't get to show you the rest of our costumes.

Here's my two little ones watching their Uncle made a leather pouch for my son. I wish I could have snapped a shot of his handy work.

Nothing would be right about this until someone wielded a pitchfork.

Stop on by soon and I'll have a drawing posted of a laughing horse I drew.

Talks Funny

Here is another from my Rendezvous collection. His name is Talks Funny. I'd forgotten the reason why he has this mountain man name. I'll have to ask him when I see him next week.

Native American Dancer

Tah dah! It's done!
Last year I attended the Fort Bridger Mountain Man Rendezvous and had a fabulous time taking pictures and enjoying the festivities. For fifteen years I would mention and or beg to attend this rendezvous and my husband would always answer, "Why would I want to go camp with a bunch of people wearing loincloths."

Well, there are men with loincloths, but it's a whole lot more than people dressing up.

This awesome colored pencil drawing is one of the Native American dancers that entertains and give us a gift of their ancestors. It's one of my favorite pictures I took and I knew I needed to draw him. So I did. :)
All summer long I've been preparing to return to the rendezvous by sewing my family an entire wardrobe and drawing work that I hope to sell. When all is done I'll post more pictures.

A Mountain Man named . . . well, see for yourself . . .

I met this man last year at Fort Bridger Mountain Man Rendezvous. If you haven't heard of such a thing, click here and consider attending. It will be worth the trip.
Anyway, these rough and tough mountain men don't exactly go by their given names. Here they are known as a name they earned or nicknamed. For example, my grandpa's name is Wayne Mendenhall, but when he attended the rendezvous he was known as Snowy Owl.
When I asked the man above his name, I wasn't surprised to learn his name is Dammit.
Just as he and Bill Cosby explains, throughout his childhood he thought his parents had called his name every time they spoke to him. "Dammit, get over here!"

Easy No Sugar Ice Cream

Yeah, it's been a while since I posted. For that I'm sorry. I've had issues with my camera (it doesn't work), therefore I can't take pictures of artwork or the food I make to post them here. And because I'm a very visual person I have to have pictures, so I don't post.
I've made several recipes that I would love to share, but I question whether you'll even look at it if it doesn't have a picture to it.
This is my test . . . I will post this recipe I came up with on a whim without a picture to show how divine it is and see how many people check it out. Leave comments if you'd like or share. It always helps me out if you share.

The most important thing you need to be able to make ice cream is an ice cream maker. If you don't have one, buy or borrow one, then come back and follow the recipe.

Easy No Sugar Ice Cream

2 quarts of whipping cream or half and half
1 cup honey (raw is better)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Fruit (raspberries, peaches, strawberries, whatever you like) *optional

Stir together with whisk then add to ice cream mixer. Mix until desired thickness then pop it in the freezer for at least three hours. Heaven in a bowl.