For over 80 years, Hoard's Dairyman magazine has held an annual Cow Judging Contest. Never heard of it? Last year, over 21,000 people entered! Using a score card and a few instructions about what to look for, entrants judge a series of cows in five classes: Brown Swiss, Holstein, Guernsey, Jersey, and Ayrshire. A judge at Hoard's does an official scoring and entries are ranked based on how close they get to the official score. Winners in the adult, kids, and family categories receive cash prizes from Hoard's - up to $100!

This year we're inviting our customers to enter this fun contest, too. When you enter the Hoard's Cow Judging Contest through one of the Hansen's Dairy stores, you'll also be entering the Hansen's Dairy Cow Judging Contest. Score cards and posters on how to judge are available at the Cedar Falls Outlet and Waterloo Moo Roo. If you drop off a score card by Friday, March 9, we will send your entry to Hoard's. The top five entries in the Hansen's contest (based on Hoard's official judging) will receive cash prizes as well - $50 for first place, $40 for second place, $30 for third place, $20 for fourth place, and $10 for fifth place. Questions? Call our herd manager, Blake Hansen, at (319) 610-1530. Good luck!

Hartig Drug in Independence is now carrying Hansen's milk and cheese curds. Thanks to Joe Olsen, Eric Cornish, and Brent Hansen for working out the details of this partnership!

When the snow falls, I crave comfort foods. This recipe for baked macaroni and cheese is easy to put together, pretty healthy, and you can add all sorts of ingredients to vary the taste and complexity. Try one of the variations listed below - it makes a great dinner with a green salad on the side.

Baked Mac and Cheese

1 egg
1 cup Westby's cottage cheese from Hansen's (low fat)
3/4 cup sour cream (low fat)
1/2 cup Hansen's milk (preferably skim or 1%)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp mustard (optional - brown or dijon)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
2 cups (8 oz) grated cheese (all cheddar or a mix of several types)
4 cups elbow noodles cooked (preferably whole wheat)
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs (preferably whole wheat)
2 tbsp Hansen's butter
pinch of salt, pepper, and paprika

Preheat oven to 375. In a bowl mix the egg, cottage cheese, sour cream, milk, onion powder, mustard, salt, and pepper. Add in the cheese and mix, then fold in the cooked noodles. Spread into a greased 2 quart casserole pan and smooth the top. In a small bowl, melt the butter. Mix in the bread crumbs and additional salt, pepper, and paprika with a fork until combined. Sprinkle over the pasta and cover the pan with foil. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until bubbling. Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes to brown the bread crumbs slightly. TO MAKE AHEAD: Assemble the day or night before, refrigerate, and put in the oven while it's preheating. Add 5 to 10 minutes to the baking time.

Here's the fun part - variations! When you add the cooked noodles, here are some other ingredients you could throw in to change it up. You can saute the vegetables in a bit of butter or olive oil ahead of time, or add them raw.

• 1 to 2 cups diced cooked chicken, a handful of chopped spinach, and 1/2 to 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 to 2 cups diced cooked ham and 1/2 green pepper (finely diced)
• 2 cups mixed chopped veggies - for example, tomatoes, peppers (sweet and hot), zucchini, spinach, broccoli, or peas

Stop in and pick up your snacks for the big game. We have many varieties of cheeses, summer sausage, beef sticks, ice cream, Amish candies, granola and pig-in-a-blankets. Make your own cheese/sausage tray - buy 3 lbs of Cedar Grove Cheese and get $1 off a summer sausage. Offer good Feb. 1-5 at both Moo Roo and the Outlet.

We also have some Valentine's Day specials on Feb. 14.

At Moo Roo, try our signature treat: The Moo Roo (vanilla ice cream rolled in chocolate cake) with your choice of toppings. Share it with your significant other - two spoons, of course!

At the Outlet, buy a pint of ice cream, get 2 spoons, share it with a friend and save $1.

There were no big winners in January. On Feb. 1, we will mark 1 jug with $500 under the label (look inside the jug at your label when it's empty). Your best chance to find it is in the next few days!

Remember, there are still 5 jugs EVERY WEEK marked with a $5.00 prize, so keep your eyes open! View details here on our web site.

There were three $5 winners in January: the Langan family, Waterloo; Megan Yasuda, Cedar Falls; and William Wilkie, Cedar Falls.

We'd like to introduce Linda Heinzel, the newest employee of the Hansen's Outlet in Cedar Falls. Linda started working at the Outlet in December. You're likely to see her in the mornings during the week. Linda lives in Cedar Falls with her husband, Chad and daughters Lily and Stella plus their dog, Tofte. Linda grew up in rural Minnesota, where she graduated from University of Minnesota- Duluth. She worked in Grand Teton National Park as a seasonal ranger naturalist for six summers. Life's adventures brought the Heinzels to Cedar Falls in 2007, which is when she became a Hansen's customer. Now that her children are in school, Linda feels honored to be part of an amazing, local business that enriches the community.

February's Cow of the Month is Oreck. She celebrates her 5th birthday on Feb. 13. She has calved four times: two girls and two boys.

Oreck is a wonderful cow to work with. Last year she got sick with mastitis (a mammary infection) which prevented one of her teats from giving any milk. But the other three teats still milked out 29,000 pounds, which is pretty darn good!

Now that she had had another calf, all four teats work. This year she is projected to reach the 100,000-lb mark for milk production. She is a well-balanced cow with a strong will to overcome any sickness. She has a great heart!

The Iowa Farm Bureau has Teacher Supplement Grants which can be used to purchase agriculture-related videos, toys, equipment or books. Teachers, these grants also may be used to bring your classes out to Hansen's Dairy Farm. The deadline for applying is Feb. 10. Call the Black Hawk County Farm Bureau office at (319) 234-2747 for a link to the simple 1-page application, or visit their website.

Hansen's Dairy Farm is open to tours the beginning of April depending on the weather. Check out our website for more information.

Next month our newsletter will look a bit different and feature some new items. We will focus more on the faces of Hansen Dairy - owners, employees and supporters of our products - but also still bring you the recipes, CA$H COW winners and Cows of the Month you love. We hope you like the new format!