playing catch-up {still}

 

Thanksgiving 2012

We traveled to Grandma F’s house in Wisconsin…  where Aunt Janice had decided to rearrange the bedrooms.  As in switching beds from this room to that…

  

… and cleaning as they went of course. 

 

   

 

They still had time for sharing a movie with cousin T.

 

It’s not a holiday at Grandma’s without playing table games…

 

Matthew & Jessica and their one-year-old dolly (E)…

 

Ticket to Ride… Settlers of America…

  

 

Some games are invented as they go – the boys are playing with one of those pop-up baby toys, but it was some sort of race … silly boys.

             

 

More UNO Extreme…

         

 

 

A neighbor had an extremely large flag flying on their farm.  Kate said it was lit up at night.

 

Black Friday means buying flannel at JoAnn’s – this year I shopped in Wisconsin.

    

 

 

At home again – December 2012

Before Christmas I took the time to make up some blankets with the older inventory – and catch up with overdue baby gifts  :)  The blankets on the right were for twin boys at church – mama elephants are called cows, right?  almost fit the cowboy/farm theme… ha.

   

This blanket had to go via USPS to a special little girl near Seattle…

Matt & Jess chose this new fabric for little E ~ love those birdies

 

 

And this large blanket went to a big girl who wore her baby blanket to literal shreds over the past several years of constant companionship.  The original blanket flannel had kittens on it, so she called it Kitty.  You can see why I chose this piece for its replacement :)  I thought the extra doll-sized blankie might serve as her new travel companion ~ not sure if her mom persuaded her of that or not.

 

Boys at work… Note the short sleeves and bare ground

  

 

Next up:  the Christmas tree!

march menu

 

Friday – leftovers

Saturday – frozen pizza?

Sunday, March 3 – beef roast, baked potatoes

Monday – tacos

Tuesday – leftover roast

Wednesday – leftover tacos

Thursday – chicken pot pie (on biscuits)

Friday – pizza

Saturday – pancakes, egg casserole

Sunday, March 10 – chili, corn bread

Monday – baked chicken taquitos (Herding Grasshoppers – better with turkey)

Tuesday – beef roast, mashed potatoes & gravy, cole slaw

Wednesday – burgers, sweet potato fries

Thursday – spaghetti

Friday – pizza

Saturday – farmhouse bbq biscuits (Taste of Home, A/M 1994)

{Bake baguettes and dessert for Sunday}

Sunday, March 17 – lasagna dinner at my mom & dad’s

Monday – pepper steak, rice (Taste of Home, A/M 1994)

Tuesday – broccoli cheese soup (Abby’s orthodontist appt)

Wednesday – cheddar baked chicken (all recipes.com)

{Bake egg casserole and muffins for Easter breakfast at church –> Freeze}

Thursday – ‘maid rite’ sandwiches

Friday – Cajun chicken pasta ( all recipes.com – Abby cooks!)

Saturday – pizza

Sunday, March 24 – beef roast

Monday – chicken enchiladas (Taste of Home, A/M 2008)

Tuesday – sausage skillet (polish sausage, potatoes, carrots)

{Cook turkey for Sunday}

Wednesday (Cattleman’s b-day) – cheeseburger soup (Taste of Home, O/N 1996)

Thursday (Popper’s b-day) – chicken/turkey packets (Once-a-Month Cooking)

Friday – pancakes or leftovers

Saturday – calzones (all recipes.com), artichoke-spinach dip and pita chips

Resurrection Sunday, March 31 – turkey, praline sweet potatoes, Caesar salad, butterhorn rolls, and more?

happy homemaker monday 3/11/2013

 

Trying to find blogging time… hoping to post with Sandra more regularly!

 

The Weather:::

Cold, white, and a bit windy.

After a couple days of rain, it changed to snow about 4pm yesterday… as we were leaving for church again.  Thankfully we made it there and home again safely… slowly.  A ditch full of snow is one thing; a ditch full of cold rain water is even less appealing.

This morning’s snow seems to have moved on, but the roads (and our driveway) have not been cleared and public schools are closed.  I hope we can reschedule piano lessons for tomorrow.

 

Right now I am:

sitting here instead of in the shower  :)  -- pretending I have nothing else to do I guess --

 

Thinking:

I need to make plans to start our tax returns!  {which could rosily include meals in the freezer and a quiet house for several days}

 

On my reading pile:::

Bible – still reading through the Psalms, didn’t finish Deuteronomy yet (although I listened to the entire book at least once), and we have begun with James.  Tim wants each of us to read a few verses each day, copy them, write a paraphrase, and list commands or other applications.  Oh, and I would like to read Acts since we are studying that in Sunday school.

Need to reread Confessions of a Transformed Heart

Instead I started The List yesterday, historical fiction set in Philadelphia during the War for Independence.

 

On my tv:::

plenty of obvious dust ~ The kids did watch Bible class earlier  :)

 

Favorite Blog post this week (mine or other):::

The Santos Times ~ I must be ready to put winter away.  Look at that green grass!

 

Something fun to share:::

You can make your own fish food with veggies and fruit, but it sure makes the water look not so clean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the menu for this week:::

Good question … to be answered before I shop groceries tomorrow!

 

On my to do list:::

menu plan, catch up with grading school papers, tax returns, Shutterfly photo book

 

What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating:::

Not much since our sewing marathon the other week.  More flannel waiting to make baby blankets…

 

Homemaking Tips:::

Sweeping the garage and adding several rugs to wipe boots should keep the kitchen floor cleaner longer.  Wouldn’t you agree?

 

Looking around the house:::

Several pieces of trim have been stained and left to dry in the basement {so we could park the Suburban in the garage!}

 

Listening:::

The Popper was practicing piano, just in case we go this afternoon.

The Cowgirl is memorizing science definitions and Newton’s laws by reciting them aloud.

 

From the camera:::

Someone attempted to capture some sun dogs a while back…

And here’s our Cowgirl… with the cows of course  :)

 

On my prayer list:::

several with cancer – in treatment or beyond

 

Bible verse, Devotional:::

• Devotion to the Lord must precede effective service.
• What we will have as our love for Christ matures is a Mary heart and Martha hands. It’s both. It’s not one or the other.
• Don’t make up your own calling. Let God birth that in you. Because if you go into it by yourself, you’ll be on your own when the heat is on, when the pressure is on.

via today’s email from Nancy Leigh deMoss

spinach manicotti

 

{photo by Taste of Home}

Make-Ahead Spinach Manicotti (Taste of Home, F/M 1999)

1 carton (15 oz) ricotta cheese (or substitute cottage cheese)

1 package (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

(We prefer to use 5 or 6 oz of fresh spinach)

1½ cups (6 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided

1 egg

2 tsp minced fresh parsley

½ tsp onion powder

½ tsp pepper

1/8 tsp garlic powder

2 jars (28 oz each) spaghetti sauce with meat

(I add my own browned ground beef to Prego, about 1 ½ jars)

1 ½ cups water

1 package (8 oz) manicotti shells

In a large bowl, combine ricotta, spinach, 1 cup mozzarella, ¼ cup Parmesan, egg, parsley, onion powder, pepper and garlic powder. Combine spaghetti sauce and water; spread 1 cup sauce in an ungreased 13x9x2” baking dish. Stuff uncooked manicotti with spinach mixture; arrange over sauce. [I’ve heard suggested to put mixture into plastic bag, cut a hole, and squeeze into shells.] Pour remaining sauce over manicotti. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 30 min. before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 40-50 min. or until heated through. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Note: When I was without manicotti shells, I used the spinach/cheese mixture in layers with sauce and uncooked lasagna noodles instead. :)

-------------------------

That’s how the recipe looks in my personal cook book.

But for the recent banquet I chose to make the spaghetti sauce from scratch to avoid unwanted ingredients.  We are meat-lovers so I always add meat to the sauce.  For the banquet I used both ground beef and Italian sausage {which the meat counter guys assured me did not have any MSG} – at our house I usually just add ground beef.

If your sauce is saucy enough, you don’t need to add that much water.  The point is to have enough liquid for the pasta to cook well.  But you don’t want your sauce too bland either, so feel free to spice it up!

Abby (a practiced cake decorator) liked using a bag to stuff the manicotti shells.  A spoon worked better for me. 

Note that pieces of chopped fresh spinach do not necessarily flow well out of a pastry bag and tip. 

Also, when you’re grabbing shredded cheese from a five-pound bag, it tends to go on a bit heavier  ;-)  So my manicotti looks a lot cheesier than the photo above.

See the cheesy difference here?   hmmm, more sauce too? ~ 7-8 cups in each pan

When a recipe says “shredded mozzarella,” I almost always use the 3-cheese blend from Stella (mozzarella, cheddar, provolone).  I baked the manicotti as directed, then cooled each pan before freezing.  We made weekly double-batches of manicotti for a month before the banquet.  (Each half-size steam table pan held 12 manicotti noodles, so we put 11 pans together.)

For the gluten-free guests, I made a smaller pan of manicotti using Tinkyada rice lasagna noodles.  I softened the noodles in a dish of very hot water, then wrapped each noodle around a mass of the ricotta-spinach filling.  Sorta messy, but it seemed to work.  I waited until the day of the banquet to bake it, not wanting the rice pasta to get overcooked.

Here was another “What would you do?” conundrum:  The manicotti box says a serving equals three noodles.  I decided to make enough to serve two noodles to ~70 adults.  We served one noodle (with the plan to offer seconds, but we were a bit understaffed and overwhelmed…) – I don’t think anyone left hungry.  We had an amazing amount of leftovers however.

lemon {half} pound cake

 

How could I {melanie} not like to read a blog called Mel’s Kitchen Café?  :)  Well, this other Melanie from Minnesota does have a fun blog for foodies. Y’all should check it out.  Just set your timer first.

And she in turn is a fan of Smitten Kitchen {which my Kate discovered in her quest for cake perfection a couple years back}. 

So a recipe from Smitten Kitchen recommended by Mel’s Kitchen Café?  Ought. to. be. good.  {at least if it’s a lemon pound cake, and that’s what I’m looking for}

This recipe I didn’t do much tweaking with, except I only zested one large lemon, which also yielded me the needed 3-4 T of juice to add to the buttermilk.  Um, and I add powdered buttermilk to the flour mixture and liquid skim milk to the liquids – follow that?  that’s how I do buttermilk here.  :-} 

I also followed some of the pound cake technique suggestions from Better Homes & Gardens May 2009 issue.  :)  Such as counting 20 seconds of mixing time for each egg before moving on to the next one.

I guess there’s more of my own quirkiness to explain…  I used a Bundt pan for 24 servings from each cake – with the entire batch of batter. 

I did not use any powdered sugar glaze.  {I had a corn-free guest at dinner, and didn’t want to restrict her choice of desserts.}  Instead, the whipped cream and raspberry sauce made it more “oh la la” – not to mention “delicious.”

I haven’t yet been convinced of the merits of using unsalted butter, so I guess I’d have to call that optional.  :)  I buy the fancy-schmancy store brand of butter from Fareway anyway.  It works for me.

Oh, and I reduced the amount of syrup to pour over the baked cake… hmm, my memory is foggy now.  Maybe half the amount listed?  Because I’m just a little bit of a miser:  I poured the syrup on the cake once, then moved the cake and its rack to drip on a diff pan and scraped the drippings from the first pan over the cake again.  Not quite so much left to wash away  :)  Not sure how that works if you make the cakes in loaf pans… but I’ve made this look complicated enough already.   On to the recipe!

With an inspiring photo from Mel…

Lemon Pound Cake {Mel’s Kitchen Café}

Ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup grated lemon zest (6 to 8 large lemons)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup plus
• 3 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted.

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 1/2-by-4 1/4-by-2 1/2-inch loaf pans, and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
2. Cream butter and 2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Mixing at medium speed, add eggs, one at a time, and lemon zest.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, buttermilk and vanilla. Add flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to butter and sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Divide batter evenly between pans, smooth tops, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.
4. Combine 1/2 cup sugar with 1/2 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan, and cook over low heat until sugar dissolves.
5. When cakes are done, let them cool 10 minutes. Invert them onto a rack set over a tray, and spoon lemon syrup over cakes. Let cakes cool completely.
6. For glaze, combine confectioners’ sugar and remaining 3 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cakes, and allow glaze to drizzle down the sides.

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2007/12/lemon-pound-cake.html

sewing with my girls :)

 

Abby & the Cattleman were gone for a week plus.  Tim & the Computer Geek left Wednesday to join them for a day and bring them home again.  So our school schedule this week became the unofficial first spring break.  {the real spring break is scheduled for Easter when Kate will be home with us}

So anyway, I had told the Popper that she should sew a pair of PJ culottes this week.  Since her sisters at home recently each sewed some from lovely flannel – and have been slightly ecstatic about their comfort.  :)

And besides, the Popper needs to learn to sew! 

We didn’t get started until late Thursday afternoon.  (I was sick earlier in the week :p)

 

 

Ta da!  We finished them Friday morning.

(Love this easy pattern! out of print Simplicity 7409)

The Cowgirl decided she needed a break from writing an exciting classification essay on cereal… :o  and joined the sewing frenzy for the day.

                                          Isn’t she goofy cute?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile I started on a pair of heavy denim culottes for the Popper, which she helped with too.

The Cowgirl thought she needed a pair from the denim also.

                       

 

While we’re at it.  Buried in the closet for how many years … Fabric I had given to the Popper after she received her sewing box.  For pillow cases.  Easy first project.   :D

  

    

(I hope you can see the fun dragon flies in the print)

They opted to keep them each one solid fabric instead of combining the pink and blue.  Faster, ya know?

 

 

The Cowgirl in her new denims, ready to work the cattle  :)

 

 

 

 

She said the Popper helped stitch the hems.  And together they’ve been working some scraps into new doll clothes…

        

flourless chocolate cake {pudding on a plate}

 

Yum.   

I should have a worthy photo or ten of our desserts from last week’s banquet, but I don’t…

so, here’s what we attempted to look like…

except we had to skip the fresh raspberries, and we had whipped cream not white chocolate mousse

{Photo credit:  Judy}

Pretty, yes?  Delicious, yes!

Pretty delicious.

The recipe I used actually came from food52.com  {Judy’s above has beans in it to replace the flour}, but I also took some hints from allrecipes, epicurious, and Mel’s Kitchen Cafe.  Hard work, this business.

Recipe contributor “TasteFood” says: This luscious chocolate cake is made without flour, resulting in a rich truffle-like torte. The key to its intensity and flavor lies in the quality of the few ingredients. Choose a high quality dark chocolate (I prefer Lindt 70%) and use a European-style butter, such as Plugra or Lurpak. The brightness and acidity of the raspberry coulis balances the richness of the cake, while cooling whipped cream smooths out the flavors, allowing you to come back for more.

 

Methods & Ingredients:

1 cup butter

2 cups (12 oz) Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chocolate chips

1 cup sugar

6 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Butter a 9” spring form pan.  Line bottom with buttered parchment paper.  Dust pan with Dutch process unsweetened cocoa powder (or other unsweetened cocoa powder).

Melt butter over low heat in small saucepan.  Turn off heat and add chocolate; stir to melt; return to very low heat if needed to melt chocolate.  (This method replaces the need for a double boiler  :)  so work it carefully.)

Whisk sugar and eggs together in large bowl (First sample cake I whisked ingredients by hand; the cakes for the banquet I used my KitchenAid stand mixer with whisk attachment).  Stir in vanilla.  Add lukewarm chocolate mixture and stir, combining well.

Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake until set and top begins to crack, about 45-50 minutes.  (Center will still be moist.  Cake will rise while baking, then fall as it cools.)  Cool pan on rack until easily handled to remove side.  Transfer cake to cooling rack until completely cool (remove bottom of pan and parchment paper).  Transfer to serving plate, or store tightly covered in the fridge for up to a week.

Serve with small amount of raspberry sauce and whipped cream.  Cake serves 12.

Sweetened, real whipped cream

Raspberry Sauce:  Heat 12 oz of frozen unsweetened raspberries on low to medium heat in saucepan; add 1/2 cup of sugar; heat gently and stir to dissolve sugar (and smoosh raspberries).  I use a stick blender to puree the sauce.

{Option: Press raspberry sauce through a fine-meshed sieve to separate seeds from coulis; discard seeds.} 

Freeze leftover sauce if not used within the week.  This makes enough sauce for 36-48 servings possibly (-?- I didn’t actually do the math on this.  And my brain is still slightly on overload…)

The raspberry sauce is very tasty with lemon pound cake too  :D

fyi, we noticed the texture of the chilled cake to be much more like a cheese cake.  {didn’t notice that when we served the first cake at home without chilling}

 

Special kudos and thanks to Angela for the loan of her T-fal springfrom pan (above on the right) –> very nice to use!  Interesting difference in appearance between the cakes from the diff pans too.  (our pan is a Norpro)