Drowsy Water

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Cabin Fever RX: Carrot Cake at Drowsy Water Ranch


The long winter starts getting to me right about now every year. I start getting sick of layering up sweaters and socks to go outside. I start wishing for beaches and sunshine and little paper umbrellas floating in cool, brightly colored drinks.

Lucky for me, we have the perfect prescription here at Drowsy Water Ranch. We share this little secret with our family and friends each summer at our Colorado Dude Ranch. It cures my dreams of islands and my addiction to saltwater.

I'm going to share our cure with you; I'm going to show you how we make our mouth-watering carrot cake. And, let me tell you, this Drowsy Water Ranch Carrot Cake does it all: it warms the belly and the soul, ridding you of any winter time blahs. . .(or any time of year blahs. . .I'm pretty sure I could come up with a darn good reason to eat this stuff any day of the year).

The recipe is actually from the mother of Mark Hammar. Mark worked at the ranch for years and years and was like a big brother to Justin. Mark told me that, one time when he was watching young Justin while Ken and Randy Sue were away, he asked Justin to go choose a book to read before bed. You want to know what the seven-year-old version of my husband brought back? A tractor manual. What a weirdo. He still reads tractor manuals for kicks.

Anyways, thanks to Mark's mother for a wonderful recipe that has been used and enjoyed at Drowsy Water Ranch time and time again.
Back to the cake. . .The best part of this particular carrot cake baking episode was that Jen and Lauren came over to help. We shared a few cups of hot tea, laughs as plentiful as the snowflakes, and smiles as warm as our Colorado sunshine. (okay--that was super corny--but it's true!) We missed Ryan, who is back at school, and you will probably miss Ryan too when you see how unprofessional our photos became without him.

First, we gathered all our goods. We have carrots, of course, and eggs, oil, flour, sugar, baking soda, vanilla, walnuts, and the secret weapons: coconut and pineapple. Then we all got started on cake related jobs.

Jen shredded and cooked the carrots. Yes, cooked them. That is also secret weapon material: cooked carrots. The carrot flavor is sweeter that way.
And, just to reemphasize my point from the Cowboy Cookie entry about not being able to stop yourself from laughing hysterically while someone is taking photos of your hands, check out how funny those silly carrots are to Jen.
And, geez, mixing all those dry ingredients is hilarious. Or at least it is to Lauren! Wha-ha-ha-ha! (evil cackle!) Cinnamon, flour, salt, and baking soda must make a funny combination.

Surprisingly, I was dealing with those initial "wet" ingredients:
the eggs, vanilla, oil, etc. And somehow, my face didn't make it into the shot. Guess I can't make fun of myself. What a bummer. (Note: if I was the seven year old version of myself, I would have entered a big "NOT!!" after the word bummer, but I am way more mature than that now.)
Then, to the wet ingredients, we added those secret, winter-blues-beating weapons: the coconut, the pineapple, and the cooked carrots.

We added the flour mix to the island dream mixture, and then Jen "accidentally" threw her hand into the bowl before "accidentally" thrusting her finger towards her tongue. Wha-ha-ha-ha! (Darn that evil cackle!)
We poured the batter into a cake pan, then baked it at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. While we waited for our creation to solidify, we gathered ourselves and tried to relax our aching sides with a couple cups of tea.

Finally, the timer beeped and we all sighed and stared fondly as we removed our newest golden- brown creation from the oven.
Then we got going on the next delicious chore: the cream cheese frosting. This little concoction of cheese, butter, and sugar is what make the cake just send us over the edge right into palm tree themed paradise.

At last, taste testing time is here. Our mouths watered. Our taste buds swelled. And, alas, our hearts sang.

Drowsy Water Ranch Carrot Cake
1 1/2 C. flour
1 1/4 C. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 C. cooked shredded carrots
2/3 C. oil
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 C. crushed pineapple, drained
2/3 C. shredded coconut
1/2 C. chopped walnuts

Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in bowl. In separate bowl combine carrots, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Add carrot mixture to flour mixture, beat well. Stir in pineapple, coconut, and walnuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool and frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 C. butter, softened
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 C. powdered sugar

Blend cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

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posted by Drowsy Water Ranch at 9:29 AM 2 Comments Links to this post

Monday, February 15, 2010

Ode to Rocky: The King of the Drowsy Water Bovines


We have a lot of animals. And I mean a lot. We have horses, cows, bunnies, cats, dogs, chickens (sometimes), ducks, and other domesticated animals that live with us now and then. Of all of the animals we have, I think the one animal that has the best life, the guy that has it made more than any of our other pampered pets, is Rocky, our bull.

Yep, Rocky has the occupation most males dream of. First of all, Rocky is a big dude. He's a a ten year old Black Angus and Tarentaise cross. He weighs in around 2000 lbs. He eats pretty much all day everyday. So, you want to know why he has the best job here? Well, Rocky's job, albeit an important one, is what most 16-30 year old males dream of doing: his purpose in life is to impregnate 25-30 females of his species every summer.

But it's not summer here for long. So what does Rocky do the rest of the year? For most of the year, Rocky just hangs out around the ranch. He might hang out in the pen down the road or he might hang out at the ranch in Walden. Wherever he is, he is usually all alone. When he's alone, his day is all on him. If he feels like eating hay for an hour then staring at a post for an hour, he can. If he wants to test how loud he can say "mooo" then have a bathroom break, he can. If he wants to slobber all over himself without moving a muscle in his body, he can. No woman is there to remind him he needs to shave or that he should maybe consider taking a shower. No one is nagging him to to pick up his socks, turn down the t.v., or fold the laundry. He just gets to be 100% male.

Like I mentioned, things get exciting for Rocky in the summer. Come June or so, Randy Sue pushes all of her cows and calves out onto thousands of acres of open space to graze and roam about. Soon after, Rocky is pushed out to chase down and impregnate all those good-lookin' cows. Let me tell ya, he's rearing to go every year. He chases after those cows, bellowing out as he searches for them and those heifers moo back in return.
Rocky does his job, and he does it well. One of the reasons Randy Sue chose Rocky's cross breed was because Tarentaise generally produce smaller calves. So, while Rocky is huge, bulls can be much huge-er (yes, I know that is not a real word). Rocky's size means easier births for the cows and thus a higher survival rate for the calves. Tarentaise are also known for their ability to subsist on what is available to them in their area. Whether they get to eat tall green grass or short sparse shoots and weeds, they tend to turn out okay. And any heifers we keep as replacements have high fertility rates and calve unassisted in most situations. The Tarentaise bred cows also demonstrate strong maternal traits and optimum milk production.

The black angus part of Rocky and the cows mean the calves have sound feet and legs, they usually have no horns, and they can adapt to live in almost all weather conditions. Angus bred calves also have superior feed conversion and natural marbling of their meat.

Rocky, here's to you. Our all-man, all-bull king of bovines.



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posted by Drowsy Water Ranch at 2:39 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Monday, February 1, 2010

Bovine Adventures at Drowsy Water Ranch


Ahhh, the Bovine.

What a wonderful creature. Here at Drowsy Water Ranch, we have one or two of them to play with. In the winter, Randy Sue keeps about 30 mama cows down the road and a few younger "yearlings" up here at the ranch. They eat, a lot. And they moo. And then the food comes out. It sounds boring, I know, but really, they're great fun. The next blog or two will be about keeping cattle at a Colorado Dude Ranch--a fun but time consuming endeavor.

We'll start now, with the little guys that eat and moo and poop just a few feet from where I have parked my rear. (Please, no comments on my rear in relation to a cow's. . .brother John, that especially means you!).

A yearling is cow that was born last spring. Most of the calves born in the spring are sold in the fall to a buyer but, occasionally, we'll keep a few around here for one reason or another. Maybe the calf was too small to sell, maybe she was a little sick or hurt, maybe we need a replacement heifer, or maybe we want to keep a steer for team penning next summer. Whatever the reason, they hang out at the ranch all winter and are fed daily.

Their close proximity to us means they often become quite friendly. How many of you have ever been friends with a bovine? Probably not many of you. They are some of the funniest friends you'll have.

They wash our hands for us. . .
And give us warm kisses. . .
And they LOVE treats!

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posted by Drowsy Water Ranch at 3:47 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Drowsy Water Ranch is Number One!


Big News! Big News!
We just heard that we have been chosen by tripadvisor.com as 2010's Number One All Inclusive resort! We are thrilled, flattered, excited and giddy. Most of all, we want everyone to come find out for themselves what set us apart.







Hope to see you here soon!

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posted by Drowsy Water Ranch at 10:23 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Friday, January 8, 2010

The Famous and Delicious DWR Cowboy Cookie

Today, we're going to discuss a very serious Drowsy Water Ranch topic.

It's something that Drowsy Water Ranch guests go home talking about and something that the staff worships.

It's big. Really big. It's round, it's crunchy and gooey, it's full of chocolate, and, a few hours into an all-day trip atop your trusty, four-hoofed steed, it's all you can think about.

Those of you that have been a guest with us or have worked with us know what I'm referring to:

The Famous and Delicious Drowsy Water Ranch Cowboy Cookie!
Yep, so much for your New Year's diet. We decided it'd been too many months since we'd had one and we NEEDED one. So, Lauren and I got together to make some cookies. And we made Ryan come down too to be the official photographer. Lauren and I had a ball. Ryan took great pictures, but I'm pretty darn sure that he was sick of us giggling broads by the end of the photo shoot.

Before I get started giving you instructions to make your very own cowboy cookies, I want to point out that Lauren and I were inspired for this by our hero--The Pioneer Woman. I could talk about her for hours, but in short--she's a city girl that married a cowboy, has four kids, home-schools her kids, cooks delicious food, has a veggie garden, has a beautiful ranch house, takes amazing photos and, somehow, she has time to have a well-organized, witty, beautiful blog about it all.

Lauren and I love her. We wish we could be her. We almost got to talk to her once. Yep, we did. Lauren, Peyton and I drove clear down to Denver for her cookbook release signing. We anticipated the event being sort of low-key. In our vision, we'd walk into the bookstore, find the Pioneer Woman in some obscure back corner of the bookstore, and sit down and have a 30 minute conversation with her. We'd laugh and talk about ranch life and cowboys.

That's not what went down. We showed up just in time for the book signing and were greeted by a line that stretched from the packed room where the Pioneer Woman was, up the stairs, around the bookshelves, to the front door. We were slightly disgruntled but still convinced the PW would want to talk to us. So we waited. And we waited. And waited. And Peyton started crying. And still, we waited. Finally, after hours in line I acquiesced to the fact that we'd stay there all night if we didn't just go and leave our dreams of being BFF with the PW behind. So we left.
No PW cookbooks.
No PW signature.
No heart-shaped BFF necklace.

However, with inspiration from the superhuman PW, we've decided to go out on our own and share a few ranch recipes on our blog. We thought the Cowboy Cookie would be a great one to start with.

Here we go.

First, make sure you have everything you need:

I'll give you the detailed recipe later but the main characters are chocolate chips, (yes I mention them first-chocolate is my third love--next to my cowboy and my baby girl, of course), butter (and I always prefer real butter to margarine--margarine is for wimps), walnuts (we'll talk about nuts later) and old-fashioned oatmeal. The usual stuff too, flour, salt, eggs, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and brown sugar.

Add all the "wet stuff"

That is: butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla
and cream together.

In a separate bowl, combine your dry ingredients: the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and oats.


Then add the dry stuff to the wet stuff. Lauren is very excited to be doing this. We discovered, during this hilarious endeavor, that modeling cooking is incredibly hard. Try to have someone take a picture of your hands and NOT smile. Really--try it. It's hard not to giggle uncontrollably.

Next, add. . .
(drumroll please)
the prince of sweets,
the healer of heartbreak,
the sign of celebration,
the one and only,
the much loved chocolate chips!

Next, chop up some walnuts. And keep the knife handy. You might need it in a minute.
Add the nuts.
Or, if you prefer cowgirl cookies, leave out the nuts!
Ha! Get it?
That's the oldest joke around here. . .
Okay, now mix in the chocolate and the nuts and, viola! Cowboy cookie dough is complete!
Now, remember I told you to keep that knife handy?
Well, here's why:
somehow, this is when the husband magically appears.
This guy eats cookie dough like a cow eats hay. He'd do it all day, everyday if you let him.

Next, you're going to take the dough and scoop out a big whole hunk of it. Like a heaping quarter cup of it. Your grandmother would be appalled--she likes teaspoon-sized cookies. If we made these teaspoon-size, we'd have to rename 'em Pansy Cookies. We ain't no pansies. These are Cowboy Cookies.
Shape the humongous, mouthwatering, wad of dough into a nice round shape.
Then, place about six gigantic cookie balls on a regular sized, greased cookie sheet. At the ranch, we make these on our super-duper huge sheets so we can make more than six at once.
Okay, this is pretty much the same picture. I just wanted to point out the endearing look on my face. It's like these are my newborn sextuplets. Little balls of joy. The love I have for the cowboy cookie is a love only a mother can know.
Bake these puppies at 350 degrees, waiting an agonizing 10-15 minutes.
I like to take them out when the edges are just barely brown. The center sometimes seems a little soft still, but the cookies stay soft and chewy when cooled that way. Yum!
And, Finally! The judgement time is here. Grab some milk. Break the cookie in half, noticing the chocolate strands stretching between the two halfs. Smell the delicious aroma. Now slowly, dip it in and watch the drops of milk drip off the chewy yet crunchy goodness. Take a bite.
And suddenly, you're back at the ranch.


Drowsy Water Ranch Cowboy Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 cups flour

2 cups old-fashioned oats

6 oz chocolate chips

chopped pecans or walnuts to taste

Beat eggs, sugars, butter, and vanilla together. In separate bowl, combine soda, powder, salt, flour and oats. Add dry ingredients butter mixture. Blend well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts by hand or paddle. Dough will be stiff.

Drop about ¼ cupfuls onto greased baking sheet with 3-4 inches between each cookie. Bake 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees until edges are golden brown but middle is still spongy. Cool for a few minutes before removing from cookie sheet and devouring.

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posted by Drowsy Water Ranch at 12:22 PM 7 Comments Links to this post

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Time for Ranch Chores with the Pink Marshmallow

I suppose most of us that grew up in colder climates went through some kind of mother-inflicted marshmallow phase during childhood. Peyton, our ranch 1 year old, is not exempt from the marshmallow rule. I always wondered what the deal with all the clothes was, but now that I have my own child to dress to go outside when it's 5 degrees, I get it. Here she is, the Pink Marshmallow!

and in this shot, a sneezing pink marshmallow! Bummer timing on the shot, I guess.

All decked out in multiple mommy-inflicted sweaters, coats, hats, and mittens to be out in our bitter cold weather, she is slowly learning to pull her own weight around here (all 25 pounds of it). She's learning to do some chores!

The bunny gets leftover veggie scraps from our kitchens.
So do the ducks.


And the funny little doggies accompany us to make sure that the bunny doesn't escape!

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posted by Drowsy Water Ranch at 3:46 PM 0 Comments Links to this post