Simple Sunday

~Kids came over for our weekly big breakfast. I think we're going to start shaking up the menu a little.
~Had nice visits with the kids and grandbabies.
~I worked on a Christmas present sewing project. It's going great!
~I assembled that Apple Blueberry Strata. We'll see how it turns out when I bake it for breakfast in the morning.
~Dinner was leftovers - part 3. Heather and Tukker joined us for turkey salad with pecans and dried cranberries on the bread I baked yesterday. And the rest of the sweet potatoes. It was delicious! I tried to take pics but they didn't turn out so great. The turkey is all gone now. We spent $1.50 on lettuce for dinner.

Just another day in paradise. :)

Look what I did today! WITHOUT my Kitchenaid!

(Sorry about the crazy serial posting all weekend long. I guess I just have a lot to tell you! ;) )
One of my PYP pals who blogs over at The Little Red Hen Food Site turned me on to a blog about bread,
A Year In Bread! In the interest of stretching our grocery dollars I checked it out and was excited to try the recipe for Farmhouse White bread. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've made bread the old fashioned, get your hands in the flour and KNEAD way.
The bread is much lighter than the recipe I've been making in the Kitchenaid. More like the kind of bread Roger likes best. I thought it was pretty good too. And kneading the dough by hand was kind of fun and almost meditative.
The recipe makes 3 loaves but I decided at the last minute to try to make buns out of the third portion. Worked like a charm and now I don't have to buy kaiser rolls for our turkey burgers later this week. Nice! And we'll have yummy homemade bread for our turkey salad sandwiches tomorrow night.

Notes on the grocery challenge:
Tonight we had leftovers - part 2 for dinner. Basically cream sauce with some of the leftover turkey and all the leftover gravy stirred in. Served over biscuits.
Roger went to the store for eggs and spent $1.50.

Meal Plan and Grocery Challenge

I've set my goal to finish out the year on less than $500 for groceries (and diapers, health and beauty, cleaning supplies, etc.) . Hopefully FAR less. Even with the added challenge of holiday baking. Wish me luck and watch my progress on that ticker up there at the top.
(Pay no attention to the fact that it's a "fundraising" ticker. LOL It was the closest thing I could find to what I wanted to track.)
I just sent Roger to the water store for water that doesn't need to be chewed before swallowing. So we've spent $3 so far.

I rummaged around the place and came up with the following meal plan based on what we have on hand. For these meals we will only need kaiser rolls, lettuce and eggs. I'll update the ticker when we go shopping.
Oh! I'm going back to cooking breakfast for the kids each morning too. Cereal leaves them hungry long before lunch and it costs more than a hot breakfast too.
And lunch for Roger, Jaxon and I will primarily be leftovers.

Breakfasts~
Pancakes and fruit
Muffins and fruit
French toast
Eggs and toast
Apple Blueberry Strata (I hope this will be good because we have four loaves of apple bread in the freezer that no one will eat as-is. I'll post the recipe if it works out.)

Dinners~
Creamed turkey, biscuits, leftover mashed potatoes and creamy corn.
Turkey, cranberry, pecan salad sandwiches, Leftover sweet potatoes
Grandma's Enchiladas, Spanish Rice, Corn, chips and salsa
Turkey Burgers (like this) , carrots
Crockpot chicken tacos, leftover spanish rice, black beans, chips and salsa
Turkey Soup, Homemade rolls
Crock Pot Potato Soup, Homemade rolls

Leftovers - Part 1

Now that the feast is over, it's time to get pretty serious again about sticking to the budget. To be honest, we're a bit over budget in the grocery category.
Did you know that real maple syrup is about 75 cents per ounce? And we worry about gas prices!
In an effort to salvage the budget and stay on track for an AWESOME debt freedom progress report in January, I'm going to be diligently planning meals and making good use of supplies on hand. Our monthly grocery (plus non-food essentials) budget is $500. Let's see how low I can keep it till the New Year.
I started tonight with Shepard's Pie made mostly from Thanksgiving leftovers.
It's was inspired by Rachel Ray's Smoky Turkey Shepard's Pie.
I sauteed a couple of chopped carrots in 4 Tablespoons butter. Stirred in about 4 Tablespoons flour to make a roux. Added a couple of cups of chicken broth, a couple big spoons full of the leftover creamy corn, a couple of hand fulls of chunked up leftover turkey, a hand full of frozen peas and a sprinkle of smoked paprika. Cooked that till it was thick and bubbly.
Meanwhile I reheated about 4 big scoops of leftover mashed potatoes in the microwave till super hot. Stirred in a couple big scoops of sour cream and one beaten egg.
I put the turkey and veggie mixture in a casserole dish and topped it with the mashed potato mixture.
Racheal taught me to scrape the top of the potatoes with a fork to get some peaks and grooves. Then put the casserole under the broiler till the peaks are nice and browned.
Yum! Served with leftover rolls.
$0 spent at the grocery store today.
Too bad everyone filled up on various leftovers all day and so they weren't very hungry at dinner. So now we have leftover Shepard's Pie. LOL
It'll be good for lunch tomorrow!

P.S. I'd sure love it if Christy would blog her Thanksgiving menu and recipes. 'Cause I heard it was superb. Just sayin'! ;)

Thanksgiving - The Family!

This is the post where I should have a bunch of pictures of the family.
But the truth is, we were all having such a good time visiting and eating that I forgot to take pictures.
The whole fam damily was here except Caydance and Athena who were with their dad for the day.
And Heather and Tukker who were visiting friends out of town. (Even though I made that sweet potato recipe for her! The nerve! ;) )
We had a great time together and whether it's Thanksgiving or not, I'm always happy to have the people I love most with me.
I hope they all know how much I love and cherish them every day.

Thanksgiving - The Food!

This was absolutely the BEST Thanksgiving dinner I have ever made. Hands down! If I do say so myself. ;) And thanks to some advanced planning, a helpful hubby and some good luck, it was the easiest ever too!

The Menu
Roasted Turkey
Stuffing In The Bird
Stuffing Out Of The Bird
Oyster And Giblet Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Creamy Corn
Maple Cranberry Sweet Potatoes
Fresh Cranberry Sauce
Jellied Cranberry Sauce
Randy's Cranberry Relish
Olives
Rolls
Peach, Pecan, Razzleberry and Cherry Pies
Four Layer Pumpkin Cake

Here's the story.
A couple of weeks ago Heather brought over a magazine which she STOLE from her doctors office. What made her do it, you ask? It was a recipe for Maple Cranberry Sweet Potatoes that she saw and decided she wanted to try. I looked it over and decided it would be a great alternative to our usual candied yams. Which I grew up on and like but they are getting kind of old. One of the things I liked best about the recipe was that it could be assembled the day before and put in the oven on Thanksgiving when the turkey comes out. Here's a link to the magazine website. The recipe also follows the gorgeous photo below! Mostly so I can duplicate this awesome meal next year. LOL But hopefully you'll enjoy it sometime too.

Maple Cranberry Sweet Potatoes

4 pounds of sweet potatoes, peeled
salt
1 cup pure maple syrup
1 1/2 cup fresh cranberries
3 Tablespoons butter

In covered 6 quart sauce pot, heat whole sweet potatoes with one teaspoon salt and enough water to cover to boiling on high heat. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, about 30 minutes or just until potatoes are fork tender. Drain. Set aside until cool enough to handle.

In 1 quart sauce pan heat maple syrup to boiling on high. Reduce heat to medium ands boil gently 10-15 minutes until reduced to about 1/2 cup. Stir in cranberries, butter and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook just until cranberries pop, about 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400*F. Cut cooled potatoes into 1 inch thick slices. Arrange in shallow 3 qt. ceramic or glass baking dish, overlapping if necessary. Spoon maple cranberry syrup evenly over sweet potatoes. Bake uncovered, 20 minutes.

After spooning the maple cranberry syrup over the sweet potatoes, you can cover with plastic wrap and keep one day in refrigerator. Take them out of the fridge for about an hour prior to baking. Then bake 30 minutes at 400*F.

While I was over on that magazine website I had the amazing LUCK to stumble across this great make-ahead gravy recipe! I'm never going back! You can see a video here.

Here's the recipe (Or at least, what I did, based on that video):
In a large stockpot on medium high heat, brown 2 large turkey wings in 1 Tablespoon vegetable or olive oil. When well browned on all sides, add 2 carrots, 2 celery ribs, one onion and 1 clove garlic, all cut into large chunks. Cook and stir till veggies are well browned. Add 1/2 cup dry white wine and scrape bottom of pan to deglaze.
Add 2 cans chicken broth, 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme and 3 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 45 minutes.
Strain broth and discard solids. Let broth sit and allow fat to rise to top. Skim fat from top and reserve.
In a large skillet, heat reserved fat. Add 1/2 cup flour and stir till golden brown. Whisk in the broth, bring to a boil and stir till thickened.
Store in refrigerator.
When ready for gravy, heat the gravy "starter" in a large saucepan. Add pan drippings from roasted turkey and some chicken broth, if necessary, till you get the desired consistency.

I've always made the turkey gravy with pan drippings, a turkey gravy packet and some corn starch. It was okay but THIS gravy is fantastic. It's definitely going to be my new method.
You could do the same thing to make chicken gravy "starter" and even freeze it to have on hand to go with roasted chicken dinners. Really great idea for SUPER rich and flavorful gravy.
BTW I couldn't find any turkey wings at the store. So I used four turkey drumsticks instead. Bonus! I ended up with some nicely cooked turkey leg meat to make our dinner with on Wednesday night. :) Waste not, want not. That's what Roger always says. ;)

I check the Pioneer Woman Cooks website every day. Great site! On Wednesday she had a recipe for last minute fresh cranberry sauce. I've come to have an appreciation for whole berry sauce over the years. Until the past few years I pretty much stuck right to the jellied kind shaped like a can. Now I can't stand the jellied can stuff. I like the whole berry in a can pretty well. But now that I have tried my hand at making it fresh, I might not ever get my sauce from a can again.

So check out the link to PW's recipe. And here's how I made mine.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

1 bag of cranberries
1 cup apple juice
1 cup REAL maple syrup
3 Tablespoons orange juice

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer 10-15 minutes until thickened. Carefully pour into a glass jar. Refrigerate.
This made 1 quart of cranberry sauce.

That was it for Wednesday. I got the kitchen all cleaned up and ready to go for Thursday.
Thursday morning I decided to make the mashed potatoes ahead of time and keep them warm in the crockpot. So I made my usual heavy on the butter and milk mashed potatoes and scooped them into the crockpot. I also made a small batch of low fat mashed potatoes (for gall bladderless daughter and artificial heart valve aunt) and put them in small serving size custard cups which I pushed right into the top of the high fat ones in the crockpot. Worked great! one of the high pressure parts of the day is trying to get all those potatoes (about 15 pounds in our case) cooked and mashed right at the last minute so they'll be hot and yummy.

I usually just serve buttered corn with Thanksgiving dinner. Why? I don't know. A guilty need to include some kind of vegetable in the fat feast maybe? Or is it because the Indians served corn for the Pilgrims at the original Thanksgiving feast? Is it just one of the many things in life that we do simply because we've always done them? Beats me.
At any rate, I had a second crockpot and a wish for more sophisticated dishes, so I decided to make Racheal Ray's creamy corn recipe which we have had many times, but usually in the summer when fresh corn on the cob is available. I decided to risk it with frozen corn and it was a success!

Creamy Corn

4 ears corn on the cob or 2 boxes frozen corn kernels, 10 oz. each
2 Tablespoons butter
1 rib celery and greens, chopped
1/2 small red bell pepper, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
2 Tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
salt and pepper
1/2 cup half and half

Scrape corn from cob if using fresh.
Heat medium skillet over medium heat. Add butter and chopped vegetables and lightly saute for 3 minutes. Then add corn and season with thyme, salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes. Add half and half. Cover and cook over medium low heat 10 minutes. Uncover and stir. Adjust seasonings.

I made this early and put it in the crockpot on low for a couple hours till dinner was ready. It was great!

We made the stuffing just before it was time to put the turkey in the oven. I always make a great big batch of it. My only secret there is that I use milk in place of half the liquid called for in the recipe on the package. Chicken broth for the other half. I usually use Pepperidge Farms stuffing mix but couldn't find it this year. So I used Mrs. Cubbisons and I was a little disappointed. Back to Pepperidge Farms next year for sure!
Roger makes his Oyster and Giblet stuffing from some of this. He just adds chopped oysters and giblets. Simple! We baked that as well as a casserole dish of "out of the turkey stuffing" with the sweet potatoes after the turkey came out of the oven.

Earlier in the morning I made this Four Layer Pumpkin Cake. I was thinking that I found this recipe on my own but my mom tells me I got it from her. Either way, it's yummy and pretty to look at too.

Luscious Four Layer Pumpkin Cake

1 package (2 layer size) yellow cake mix
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, divided
1 package (8 oz.) Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip whipped topping, thawed
1/4 cup caramel topping
1/4 cup chopped Planters pecans

Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease and flour 2 (9inch) cake pans. Beat cake mix, 1 cup of the pumpkin, the milk, oil, eggs, and 1 teaspoon of the pumpkin pie spice in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Pour evenly into prepared pans.

Bake 20-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese in small bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Add powdered sugar, remaining pumpkin and remaining 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice; mix well. Stir in whipped topping.

Remove cake layers from pans; cut each layer horizontally in half with a serrated knife. Stack the layers on a serving plate, spreading 1/3 of the cream cheese mixture between each layer. Do not frost the top layer. Drizzle top of cake with caramel sauce and pecans. Store in refrigerator.

That's it for the recipes!
The beautiful thing was that there was nothing to do right before dinner except carve the turkey and heat the gravy with the drippings.
That's all!
Usually it's a crazy dance at the stove trying to make mashed potatoes, gravy, heat the corn and carve the turkey. And I'm ocassionally still in my pajamas because I've been cooking all morning and afternoon. And then feeling like a shlumpadinka when everyone arrives dressed nicely for the holiday.
Not this year.
I was showered, dressed, weraing make up AND earrings!
It was a good day.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope you're all having a wonderful day!
I'll report on our big day tomorrow.
But I can tell you this now, thanks to Roger's help, crockpots and good advance planning, we are totally ahead of schedule and not a bit rushed as dinner time draws near.
The kitchen's even clean!
I'll share the helpful tips I've recently learned to finally, after 24 years of married life, prepare Thanksgiving dinner without wearing myself out.
I can actually ENJOY the day!

I wish you could smell this picture!

Or taste it! Mmmm........ So yummy!
I got a great deal on fresh basil and whipping cream this week. While looking for a good way to use it I came across this recipe on FoodNetwork.com. I happened to have some fresh mint and oranges on hand. I was all but destined to make this recipe!
And I'm so glad I did!
OMG...just the smell!
MMMmmmmm.........
Ahem.

So the recipe is by Racheal Ray and it orginally calls for linguini but I had bow tie, so I used bow tie. You've got to try it at least once. It only takes about 20 minutes to prepare. And did I mention that it smells DIVINE? Because it does. All lemony and orangey and minty and basily.
FYI If you're on weight watchers, count this as a zillion points and don't eat again till Christmas.

Pasta del Magnifico alla Graga

1 cup heavy cream
2 Tablespoons cognac or dry sherry
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 orange
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
12 leaves fresh basil, shredded or torn
1/2 pound linguini, cooked to al dente
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

In a skillet over medium low heat, heat cream. Add cognac or sherry, lemon and orange zest and salt. Simmer sauce 7 to 10 minutes. Add mint and basil to sauce. Toss hot, drained pasta with sauce and grated cheese.

2 servings

I'm no good at not sharing!

The past few days have been really productive for me. I've been getting all kinds of GREAT deals and frugal ideas for Christmas. And I wanna share! I really wanna share! But since the gifts are for the people who read this blog I can't. :P
A lot of the credit goes, as always, to PYP for helping me find such awesome deals.
That's all I'm gonna say about that. ;)
I followed a link on Christy's blog to The Grocery Cart Challenge which I had heard a lot of people talk about but had never visited myself. I'm glad I did! She's pretty inspiring.
I enjoy the way she breaks her trips down each week and her meal planning posts.
In the spirit of frgual shopping and my need to SHARE something, I'll share this awesome grocery trip from the past week.

Items and their sale prices
2 cans Black Pearl medium olives 1.58
Hershey Kisses 2.00
Duncan Hines frosting 1.50
Duncan Hines cake mix 1.00
McCormick mushroom gravy mix 1.19
McCormick turkey gravy mix .99
Kellogg's poptarts .99
Mount Olive pickles 2.50
5lb Gold Medal flour 2.39
4- 64oz. bottles Old Orchard apple juice 6.00
4- 8oz.Philadelphia cream cheese 4.00
5- 16 oz Kroger cottage cheese 1.00
1 gallon Meadow Gold 2% milk 2.10
5 pounds Smith's butter 9.45
2 heads of celery 1.00
24pack of 16.9oz bottles of Kroger drinking water 3.99
12 pack of Lipton diet white tea 6.99
5- 12packs of Diet Coke 12.00
13.71 lb. Private Selection Turkey 17.69
13.31 lb. Private Selection Turkey 17.17
19.49 lb. Private Selection Turkey 25.14
21.49 lb. Butterball Turkey 32.02
4 loaves Smith's sandwich bread 5.00
package of bakery bagels 1.29
loaf of french bread 1.50
60 load Liquid Downy fabric softener 5.79
120 sheet box Everyday Living fabric softener 2.79
Sunsilk Conditioner 3.29
Sunsilk Shampoo 3.29
Suave shampoo 1.50
Suave conditioner 1.50
3.90lb ground round 7.90
2 containers (1.75 qts each) Private Selection ice cream 5.00
1 pint Ben and Jerry's ice cream 3.79
2 Dole Ceasar salad kits 3.98
dozen large eggs 1.25
2- 16 oz Kroger sour cream 2.00
2 liter A&W root beer 1.25

Sales Price Total: 203.81
Total paid (after coupons, promotions and tax) 115.64
I'll get $45 of that back in rebates.
Brings my total down to $70.64
Not bad considering there's nearly 70 pounds of turkey in there.
It's like I got all the rest for FREE!!

I LOVE this stuff!

Taggie Book!

It worked! Having all my fabric and craft stuff out where I can see it and touch it relit my creative fire!
My creative side collided with my practical side and together they worked up a plan to make a Christmas present for Thena Bean.
KAYLEIGH!! STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SPOIL THE SURPRISE!!
(Dave Ramsey says that when you're in debt, Christmas IS a craft!)
This took me about 2 hours to put together and it was fun to reminisce about the origins of all the scraps.
The furry cover is some fabric that I bought a LOOOOONG time ago and started helping Emily make a bunny out of. BTW we finished the bunny today too!
The letters and one of the background fabrics is from Jaxon's nursery set that I made.
There are fabrics and trims from Halloweens past. WAAAY past. LOL
The yellow satin is from Kenzie's costume for a school play.
The back cover is fabric from the quilt I made for Tukker.
Lot's of texture and love for my Thena Bean. :)

Today in My Life

Thanks to Roger and Jaxon, I was up before the sun today.
We decided to go to Albertson's for this week's best deals. I thought the early hour would mean no crowds and plenty of product on the shelf. I was right! We found everything we were looking for. And we stopped by Walmart and Ream's on the way home. So I think I've got all my shopping done for the next two weeks. YAY!
I did a bit of online Christmas shopping.
Roger had a football game to watch today so I got started on moving the food storage and sewing stuff down to the basement.
Angel had asked for pics of the basement room and for the life of me I can't find any pics of the room when it was pink. You'll just have to trust me. It was so cute! Pepto pink with black satin curtains with beaded fringe. In fact all Kenzie's bedroom accessories were black and pink. Very DIVA. I can't believe I never took any pics. That's not like me!
So, here's what's left of the pink. I decided that adding a bit of trim molding here would be easier than not getting paint on the carpet.
Here are a few of the freshly painted room.


See that unfinished area at the top of the stairs? That's the future family room!!!!

Here's all the food storage. It's not what it used to be! There was a time when this whole room was full of food storage. But who needs all those brownie mixes and spaghettios anyway, right?


And LOOK! A pretty decent sewing "nook". I've moved about 1/3 of my craft and sewing stuff down here so far. Maybe having my fabric out where I can see it will inspire me to actually use it.

FYI If you leave your 9 year old alone with your camera you might find something like this next time you use it.

Angel tagged me.

Rules:
1) Post rules on your blog
2)Answer the six "8" items
3)Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving them a comment

8 Favorite TV shows:
~Grey's Anatomy
~Brothers and Sisters
~Gary Unmarried
~Private Practice
~Big Bang Theory
~How I Met Your Mother
~The New Old Christine
~Evening News

8 Things I did yesterday:
~Dishes
~Laundry
~Scrubbed Jaxon's room floor to ceiling
~Paid our property taxes
~Prepared a new budget for the coming payday
~Chauffeured kids to and fro
~Watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 with the family
~Shampooed carpet in basement bedroom

8 Things I look forward to:
~Going out of the country on vacations
~Being debt free
~Having a family room
~Seeing my kids settle into happy, healthy adult lives
~Having my craft area organized so I can spend more time being creative.
~Meeting our new grandson
~True winter. I think I need some snow to be able to look forward to the holidays.
~Getting a "new to me" vehicle. The van is getting annoying with all it's little issues.

8 Favorite Restaurants:
~New Delhi Palace
~Johnny Carinos
~The Chef's Table
~Thaiphoon
~Sampan
~Costa Vida
~Macaroni Grill
~Del Taco

8 Things on my wish list:
~More time for romance
~More family time
~A "new to me" vehicle
~A family room
~Happy, healthy family
~Happy, healthy me
~A secure future
~Time to accomplish my goals

8 people to tag:
~Amber
~Kayleigh
~Heather
~Christy
~Melanie
~Tawnya
~Becky
~twomoms (Do I even know your real name? LOL)

Lessons of a home owner

I have spent the last several hours doing some cleaning.
I scrubbed Jaxon's room from floor to ceiling. I removed from his room all the baby things that he has outgrown. No further need for monitors, or backpack carriers or crib mobiles. *sniff, sniff*
Washed the walls, scrubbed the floor, etc, etc.
And then I shampooed the carpet in the basement bedroom that will become the food storage/sewing room/wine cellar. It really needs to be replaced but it's good enough for the next purpose of the room.
There are now TWO absolutely, spotlessly clean rooms out of thirteen rooms in this house.
As I was shampooing the carpets I was thinking about what a constant state of metamorphosis this house has been in since the moment it was built.
That room alone, the one I was shampooing, has served the following purposes over the years
1)Bedroom to my brother and his wife
2)Bedroom to Dennis when we separated and prepared to divorce
3)Bedroom to Kayleigh
4)Bedroom to Mackenzie
5)"Coupon Cave" when Misty and I ran a coupon clipping service
6)Storage
And it has served a couple of those purposes more than once!
It's good tho. Change is good. People who move often get lots of opportunities to declutter and reorganize. I suppose the constant transformation of rooms in our house serves the same purpose.

As I cleaned and scrubbed the morning away I had the following thoughts:
~Painted wood floors in the little kids' rooms was absolutely genius. Jaxon's floor could use a fresh coat of paint but that is much more cost effective than having to replace carpets. Which wouldn't clean up nearly as easily as the painted floors do.
~Carpet is kind of unsanitary.
~Kids have too many toys. As I wiped each one down with some Lysol enhanced hot water I felt even more encouraged to pare down Christmas.
~That 4000 sq foot model home we looked at and drooled over last week is not what we need. I can barely keep up with cleaning this "little" 2000 sq foot home.
~I'm grateful for a safe, comfortable home that seems to always find a way to suit our needs.

Dinner from the crock pot tonight!

I found this recipe in an issue of Good Housekeeping magazine quite awhile ago and it has become a family favorite. There's a link to the original recipe over on the left in the "what's for dinner" section.
Here is my slightly tweaked version.

SLOW COOKER LATIN CHICKEN WITH BLACK BEANS AND SWEET POTATOES

About 10 skinless bone-in chicken thighs
2 teaspoons ground cumin (honestly, I use more)
1 Tablespoon chopped chipotle in adobo sauce *
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup salsa
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cans (15-19 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
2 pounds (I use 3 large) sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks*
1 roasted red pepper cut into strips *
1/3 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
lime wedges

1. Sprinkle chicken thighs with ground cumin, salt, and ground black pepper. Heat 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot; add chicken thighs and cook until well browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate. Remove skillet from heat.
2. In same skillet, combine chipotles, allspice, chicken broth, salsa, garlic, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin.
3. In 6-quart slow cooker, combine beans and sweet potatoes. Place chicken on top of potato mixture in slow cooker; pour broth mixture over chicken. Cover slow cooker with lid and cook as manufacturer directs, on low 8 hours or on high 4 hours.
4. With tongs or slotted spoon, remove chicken pieces to large platter. Gently stir roasted red pepper strips into potato mixture. Spoon mixture over chicken. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

*
~I buy my jars of roasted red peppers at the dollar store. $1 versus $4 at the grocery store.
~A can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce goes a really long way. Even if you like it HOT, as we do. I usually use what I need for one recipe out of the can and then freeze the rest in a ziploc bag. Put them in the bag and spread the peppers and sauce out flat to freeze. Then you can break off chunks for subsequent recipes.
~It's important to cut the sweet potatoes in large 2 inch chunks. If you cut them too small they will pretty much disintegrate as they cook.

The last few days....

I've hardly been on the computer since Wednesday. We've been so busy and gotten so much done. (I wonder if it's related somehow? Nah...)
I had a summons for jury duty last week and was required to call in each night for instructions. Each night, as I dialed the number, I wished and hoped that the message would say to call back the next evening. I lucked out on Monday. Tuesday was Veteran's Day. Didn't have to go in on Wednesday or Thursday. But when I called in on Thursday evening I was told to report to the courthouse on Friday morning. ugh! Luckily Roger was on vacation. So he got to be me and handle things here at home that day. 26 of us showed up for selection and they chose 6. I was one of the lucky six. And from what the judge was saying, the two who didn't even show up were not going to be very lucky at all. Yikes!
Even though I had been dreading having to go in, I'm kind of glad now that I got to be on a jury. It was really interesting. It did take all day. I went in at 8:30 am and got home at 5pm. But I learned a lot and now I'm "immune" for 2 more years.
The weekend has been spent in a paint fume haze.
Kenzie's old room is to become our sewing room/food and general storage/wine cellar now that she has moved up to her new room. As the pink walls were an assault on Roger's manhood or something, we had to paint the room. We hit Home Depot early Saturday morning and bought two $5 cans of "oops" paint. One a pinkish cream color and one a green color. We mixed those together and threw in a gallon of plain white that we had laying around from an old project and we ended up with a sage green color very similar to, but a little lighter than, the living room wall. Which, coincidentally, is also a combination of 2 $5 gallons of "oops" paint.
I guess that if you mix any shade of green with any other color you pretty much get green. Who knew?!
So we did the first coat yesterday. All the odd angles and nooks and crannies took us 4 hours.
After the family breakfast this morning we put on the second coat in about 3 hours.
We are both aching and sore but at least the room is no longer pink.
I'll let it dry till Tuesday and then clean the carpets and begin moving things down there.
I'm determined to declutter as we move rather than just tossing all the odd junk in that room as we have been doing for the past couple of years that we've actually had spare rooms in the house.
Once all this is done we can begin tearing out our two small bedrooms to make a family room. I can't wait!
And then we can tile the kitchen floors!
And then...
And then....
And then...
Does it ever end?
*final note~ I am determined to cash flow all these projects without ever touching the snowball payment. Wish me luck and patience.

If you eat with your eyes first, you'll love this one!

This is another Rachael Ray favorite. Look how pretty it is! Everyone loves it except Amber and Joey. Maybe Lily can convince them how yummy sweet potatoes are. ;)
We've also made this in the dutch oven while camping and it is just as fantastic. Maybe better!
The original recipe (as it is here) claims to make four servings. I guess we're big eaters tho. So I double it. Except for the salsa ingredients. There's plenty of that, as is.

Chili Sweet Potato Hash with Fried Eggs and Fresh Salsa

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
• 1/2 pound bulk breakfast sausage, such as maple sausage
• 1 medium sweet potato, scrubbed clean, cut in 1/2 lengthwise, thinly sliced into 1/2 moons
• 1 large red onion thinly sliced, divided
• 2 teaspoons chili powder, 2/3 palm full
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/3 palm full
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander, 2/3 palm full
• Salt and pepper
• 3 yellow vine ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, a palm full
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley, a few handfuls
• 1 cup grated manchego or extra-sharp Cheddar
• 1 tablespoon butter
  
• 4 large eggs

Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat with 2 turns of the pan of olive oil, about 2 tablespoons. Add the breakfast sausage and break it up with the back of a wooden spoon into little chunks, brown sausage for 3 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes and 3/4 of the chopped red onion to the sausage, season with chili powder, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper, stir frequently and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the potatoes are nice and tender.

While the hash is cooking, in a small bowl combine the tomatoes, jalapeno, and the remaining chopped red onion, cilantro, lime juice and a little salt and pepper.

Once the hash is cooked, add the chopped parsley, stir to combine and transfer hash to a serving platter. Sprinkle with the cheese and cover with aluminum foil, the cheese will melt while you make the fried eggs.

Wipe clean the skillet you made the hash in, return it to the cook top over medium-high heat and add the butter. Once the butter has melted, crack each of the eggs into the skillet, season with a little salt and pepper and fry to desired doneness. Eggs may, of course, be scrambled as well. As you like!

Transfer the fried eggs to the top of the hash, sprinkle with the fresh tomato salsa and serve.

And, because it's my blog and I can insert random pictures where they don't make sense if I want to, here's a pic of Thena Bean. She and Caydance were here today and Athena treated me to lots of smiles and giggles. It's a grandma's duty to snap pictures and brag shamelessly, at times like these. :)

Spicy Black Bean Soup with Limed Up Shrimp

This was one of the first Rachael Ray recipes I ever tried to make. It's from the Express Lane cookbook. I actually made it a couple of years ago on our first camping trip in the new trailer. We loved it and Kenzie has asked for it a time or two since then. Finally the planets aligned and I had all the ingredients around at the same time. I served it with grilled Monterey Jack Cheese sandwiches. (Roger scored the cheese at Smith's a while back. $1.99 for a 2 lb block. Nice! He bought all they had. 10 pounds! Anyone have any great recipes for Mont. Jack cheese? LOL)

Spicy Black Bean Soup with Limed Up Shrimp

5 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
salt and black pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
Zest and juice of 2 limes
1/4 c. fresh flat-leaf parsley
16 jumbo shrimp, peeled, de-veined, and butterflied
2 14 oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 14 oz can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
5 c. chicken stock
1/2 c. heavy cream (optional)
hot sauce (optional)

1. Heat a medium soup pot over medium-high heat with 2 Tbsp of the extra-virgin olive oil. Add the onions, three fourths of the garlic, the chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Cook for about 3-4 minutes or until the onions are tender, stirring frequently.
2. While the onions are cooking, combine the remaining garlic, 3 Tbsp of olive oil, the red pepper flakes, lime zest, parsley, and a little salt in a shallow bowl. Add the shrimp and coat them thoroughly. Let the shrimp sit while you move forward with the soup.
3. Add the black beans to the onions. With a potato masher, smash about half of the beans (the mashed-up beans will thicken the soup). Add the fire-roasted tomatoes, chicken stock, and heavy cream (if using). Stir and bring the soup up to a bubble. Once at a bubble, turn the heat down to a simmer and let it cook for 10-12 minutes. Stir the pot every now and then to make sure it isn't sticking.
4. While the soup is simmering, cook the shrimp in a large skillet over medium heat. Flip the shrimp after 2 to 3 minutes and add the lime juice. Continue to cook them for 2 to 3 more minutes or until the shrimp are opaque.
5. Taste the soup and adjust the seasonings with salt, pepper, and hot sauce. To serve, place a few ladles full of the spice black bean soup in shallow soup bowls, and arrange 4 shrimp standing up in the center of each bowl.

YUM!

I ran away. But I came back.

I took off with Bobbie this weekend to attend a PYP get together. It was about 2 hours away in Logan. I like to pretend it's too far to drive both ways in one day. So every year we take advantage of The Cache Valley Getaway Package.
So for about $100 I was able to enjoy a decent hotel, dinner at a fancy restaurant, breakfast the next morning, gas to get there, and the company of good friends. It was fun!
This was the first time that Jaxon didn't come with me. He didn't seem to mind.
I did have a nagging migraine both mornings but with the help of Imitrex, I managed to have a good weekend anyway.
The weekend was a tiny splurge but well worth it. :)
Now back to reality. And laundry. And dishes. :P

I had a great birthday!

I really did! It was a great day!
(*Believe it or not, some of the credit goes to us and our journey to debt freedom. Really. Most years I get bummed out about spending money we don't have and I say I don't want anything, even if I do. Because I don't want to get further in debt. It's different this year! We have a gift budget and I felt fine asking for what I wanted and getting it. It felt like.....my birthday!!!)
First thing in the morning Emily gave me this beautiful necklace that she made. I LOVE it and I wore it all day long. I received lots of compliments. Emily wondered this morning why I wear the necklaces she makes me the day she gives them to me and then no more. I told her it's because I don't really wear necklaces at all. And that is true. But I'll make an effort to wear this beautiful one more often.

I got calls from all the kids throughout the day and even from a couple of their friends.
And lots of birthday wishes via email and message boards from friends.
My Mom called mid-morning and asked if I'd like to go to lunch for my birthday. So she took Jaxon and I to Johnny Carinos for lunch. We had a nice visit and good conversation about the issues of the election.
Kenzie's gift to me was to babysit Jaxon and Emily so that Roger and I could go out on a date.
One of the things I've been wishing for was to go to the Body Worlds 3 exhibit while it's here in town.
It was incredible! I loved it! Click on that link above and check it out. Amazing stuff.
One part of the exhibit was as amazing as all the rest but also a bit sad. There is a section of fetuses that have been donated. And there are displays of embryos in different stages of development.
Seeing the 8 week old embryo was surreal. A tiny little thing barely the size of the tip of my pinky finger. Approximately the size of the embryo (baby) we lost before we had Jaxon.
I was struck by how HUGE it had been for us to lose such a tiny thing.
As profound as that was, I still enjoyed the display very much. And that connection was in fact one of a series of connections I made.
I wanted to see the cruel little tendon in my elbow that requires excruciatingly painful cortisone shots to restore my ability to hold a water glass without dropping it.
I checked out the difference between a healthy shoulder socket and one that looks like mine feels. ugh!
And we looked for the plantar fascia on all the plastinates to really see where the pain in Roger's foot is coming from.
Of course we had to seek out gallbladders to see what strange little organ it was that "attacked" Amber last month and was consequently removed. Only the size of my thumb.
Funny how the tiniest parts bring the most pain. Maybe not so funny.
There is way too much to even describe. It was just fascinating and I encourage anyone who has the chance to go.
Scattered through out the exhibit were plaques with information and quotes.
One of my favorites:

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye." ~Antoine de Saint Exupéry

After the exhibit we went to Blue Iguana for dinner. Since it was near the exhibit and we had a coupon. ;) Turns out the the Blue Iguana does have a connection to the Red Iguana that Christy mentioned. The back of the menu explained that the original owners opened, first the Red Iguana and then the Blue. However they weren't able to maintain both locations so they closed them both. Later, the Blue Iguana and it's recipes were acquired by a new owner.
This time I had the Enchiladas Amarillas and now I think I need to figure out how to make moles because the mole on these enchiladas was FANTASTIC! mmmmmm.......

After dinner we went to the bookstore. I had received some coupons via email for this book and another. Unfortunately they were all out of "Audacity of Hope" so I'll have to check another store for that one.
I've been wanting to read these books and the library would have been a more frugal choice. But as a birthday gift the books will be around 20 years from now if the kids want to read about a former president.
I also got this book. I'm 39 now, ya know. And I just saw what happens to bodies that aren't taken care of. It's time I start taking care of mine. I made this goal once before but let's look forward rather than back. Okay? Okay. My goal is to lose weight and get in good shape by my 40th birthday and do what I can to maintain that for the rest of my hopefully long life.
I've seen the authors of this book on several different TV shows and I think that their approach to health and fitness appeals to me for the same reason that Dave Ramsey appeals to me for financial fitness. It seems to be basic, common sense, no bells and whistles, just do it kind of stuff. With some in depth technical info thrown in.
It's working for our money.
Let's see if it works for my body.

So, that was my birthday. It was a great day.
Special credit to my awesome hubby who stayed up way past his bedtime so I could have a nice evening. I love you honey!

An historic day!

Bring on the change! :)

The costumes were worn.

Kayleigh said she was a princess (but since Caydance was a princess, wouldn't that make her a queen?) She frugally used her wedding dress as a costume. I think it is safe to say that it was the most expensive costume we saw all night. LOL
Emily brought back her Zombie Bride costume for a party at her friend's house.
Jaxon was a Dinosaur. Without any older siblings to take out trick or treating we opted to stay in with him. He pretty much thought that the evening was supposed to be all about dressing up, playing with his neices and answering the door to trick or treaters. Which means he didn't end up with a bag full of candy I don't want him to have anyway. And he had a blast! win/win

Katydid was a little princess and was so cute about having her picture taken. She was posing and smiling and happy to cooperate.
Tukker was a cow. Roger was playing along with LONG, LOUD moos and then Tukker finally gave us a few moos of her own before she left.
Miss Lily was the cutest little pumpkin ever. Full of smiles.
Athena was a sweet pink kitten with the cutest little tail.

The pumpkins were carved.

We were a little slow getting ready for Halloween this year.
To be honest, I'm not a big fan of Halloween and I've never decorated much for it.
In years past I have sewn many, many costumes. Teen size Disney Princesses, several clowns, Sylvester and Tweety (which must have earned the prize for ~most often reused~ by now) , flowers, strawberries, the list goes on. And, I confess that there have been a couple of particularly lame years. One that comes to mind was when Kayleigh was 2 years old and we put her inside a pillowcase. With a pillow. I can't even remember now if she was meant to be a pillow or a marshmallow but there were an even number of guesses for both. So we just went with whatever the guesses were at the time.
The lack of decorations started in the early years when we were just too poor to afford them. Especially with Halloween coming just 2 months before Christmas which was already hard on a vry tight budget. Then, later, when times weren't so lean we could afford the decorations. But I quickly learned that a bunch of ghost and goblin trinkets scattered about the house quickly irritated my "no nick nacks because I LOATHE dusting" sensibilities.
Then there's the candy. ugh! I'm too frugal to get excited about spending a ton of money on candy to give to other children. And the argument that we get back as much by trick or treating as we give away holds no water for me. I'd never buy that much candy for my own kids!
LOL Who is the Scrooge for Halloween? I am that.
But this year I actually kind of got into it right at the last minute. As in, yesterday.
I put together the traditional Halloween meal of homemade chili, corn bread, and hot chocolate. Even though I would much prefer to try something new and interesting after all these years. Maybe a Curried Pumpkin Soup. Or Butternut Squash Soup. But I stuck with what the kids have come to expect every year. Because they love it and I love them.
I got the house straightened up and decided to add some decorations to the ones that I had let the kids put up a week or two before.
And I totally loved spending time with the kids and grandkids as they trickled in and out.
Everyone came by to eat and visit for a little while except for Crystal.
It was, in fact, the best Halloween I can remember in the past few years.
Back to the topic of this post...the pumpkins were carved.
Kenzie found a pattern on the internet and helped Emily find one for her pumpkin too. (They've really been getting along alot better just lately. Thank goodness! It was pretty bad there for awhile. LOL)
Emily actually grew her own pumpkin this year! She planted it as an activity at her Earth Day Birthday party last April. I think we'll grow our own pumpkins next year too. The kids had fun watching them grow. And they grew so fast you practically could sit and watch it happen. We were amazed. Unfortunately, bugs got to all but this one. We'll have to see what we can do about that next year.
Jaxon had fun scooping the seeds in and out of his pumpkin for awhile and then I carved it for him. He loved it and made sure that anyone looking at the pumpkins knew that this one was his.
At the end of the evening Kayleigh suggested that I could make chili AND something more gourmet next year. Maybe I will. Maybe the tradition will end up being about a warm meal (of any flavor) and warm memories of having fun together.