This & That

The Fridge Clean Out

It's the last day of July. In a couple of months I can look forward to not having to sit on the AC vents to survive the days. I feel wildly giddy about that. Just the vague future idea of daily temperatures in the 70's and lower gives me hope for the future. An update on the travelers...they did indeed get the 2nd truck fixed and are headed into the wilds. I am in charge of rescuing the first truck when my son heads to the practice's satellite office on Wednesday when he does surgery at the crack of dawn. I may be sitting on the sidewalk outside the car repair place until they open for business.

With an empty house, I have been making my way through the leftovers in the fridge for my dinner. I have munched on some Laramie Loaf, and actually there wasn't as much of that left as I would have liked, thanks to my daughter being home for a bit before leaving for the trip. There was also one little enchilada left for dinner last night, and this is the recipe I made this week for them. Pretty much anything from the Pioneer Woman is good stuff, and Mom Food to boot.

White Chicken Enchiladas

2-1/2 cups cooked, shredded chicken (I used leftover roast chicken from last Sunday's dinner)
2 cups reserved broth from chicken (since I was using leftover chicken that was already cooked, I used canned broth)
3 Tablespoons canola oil
12 whole corn tortillas (I fried the first few tortillas like the recipe said, but I got tired of that pretty quickly and found that warming the whole stack for about 45 seconds in the microwave did just fine making them pliable.)
1 whole large onion, diced
3 whole 4 Oz cans whole green chilies, diced (I used some chopped green chilies I had frozen from the garden and they worked just fine)
1 whole jalapeño, seeded and finely diced
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour
1 cup sour cream
2-1/2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, grated
Salt And Pepper, to taste
Picante Sauce (optional)
Cilantro, Chopped (left this out....not a fan)

Heat 2 tablespoons canola oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Fry tortillas for no longer than 20 seconds, just to soften (do not allow to become crisp.) Place tortillas on a large towel or stack of paper towels to drain.

Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in separate skillet over medium heat. Add onions and jalapenos and saute for 1 minute, just to start the cooking process. Add chicken, half of the green chilies, and 1/2 teaspoon paprika. Stir together. Add 1/2 cup chicken broth and stir. Add cream and stir, allowing mixture to bubble and get hot. Turn off heat and set aside.

In a separate large skillet, melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together and cook over medium heat for one minute. Pour in 1 1/2 cups chicken broth. Whisk together and cook for another minute or two. Stir in the other half of the chilies. Reduce heat, then stir in sour cream. Add 1 1/2 cups grated cheese and stir to melt. Add 1/2 teaspoon paprika. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.

To assemble, spoon chicken mixture on top of tortillas, one by one. Top with plenty of cheese and roll up. Place seam side down in a 9 x 13 casserole dish.

Pour cheese mixture all over the top of the tortillas. Top with extra cheese if you'd like, then bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Sprinkle generously with chopped cilantro.

Serve with picante sauce, if desired. Serves 6-8 

Around Here This Week

Before I get started, let me just say thank you to those of you who stop by and read my ramblings. There was a time a couple of months ago where visits here had dropped off a lot and I considered just stopping the whole blog thing. I mean, even though I write mostly for my children as a way to keep us all connected, it's nice to get a little positive feedback for the time it takes to do it, and things have picked up a bit lately. I appreciate it. :)

Soooo,  around there this week....

Same song, second verse. This is not fun for me....not at all. We are supposed to get a "cool down" into the upper 80's next week. I may need my winter coat if we get all the way down there.

Bryce and my husband had to put some braces under the plum tree branches so they wouldn't break under the massive weight of all the fruit. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all the plums, since a small batch of plum-raspberry jelly would do me just fine, especially since this variety, which the nursery assured me was my requested purple-fleshed plum.....isn't.

The potatoes are struggling. I called the "potato specialist" (and who knew there was such a thing?? But, given that this is Idaho, I should have figured on it) at the county extension service who said, "It's just too darn hot!" Wow. Really?? See? Even the potatoes think so.

There was some apricot jam going on. There haven't been any local apricots for 3 years because of freezes. This year I see trees all over the place with fruit just falling on the ground. I put out a plea on Facebook to see if any of my friends had some they could spare. We don't have a tree and I just needed some for jam....to make my husband happy. He's a big fan of apricot-pineapple jam.

Thanks to the kindness of a couple of friends, my husband can breathe a sigh of relief.

I have a few still left. I'm not quite sure what I'll do with them. Maybe I'll bottle a few or maybe I'll try my hand at some fruit leather. We'll have to see. The summer apples are also coming on one of our trees.

There was also a little strawberry-rhubarb jam going on. Now, my husband has survived quite nicely for lo these many years without strawberry-rhubarb jam, but he and my son made some last year and now swear that they can't survive without it. Sort of like those "once in a lifetime" hunts he goes on that have turned into annual events. I am not a jam person. I much prefer honey, so this is a real labor of love, Honey.

My walking buddy and I went over to The Gathering Place quilt store to get some fabric for a quilt for Quincy, which prompted a mini-organizing session in the craft room. I uncovered a couple of older, unfinished projects like this one. Unfortunately, there is no pattern or explanation with it, so I'm going to have to guess how to finish it off. I hate it when that happens.

There is also this one. There are a couple more rows to go on it. Strangely, most of my unfinished quilts are patriotic in nature.

Last week's Project Life app pages.

I haven't told the cabin story yet and I took a bunch of pictures of the boys that I will need to share next week. Jam has been keeping me busy.

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week, I got this one of Evan with Quincy. My boy with his boy....yep, just tugs at my heart.

Collin sent me this picture saying that James' dinner that night consisted of....ketchup.

Marc says that even big boys need to be wrapped up.

And Levi says, "hi!"

My daughter and her husband came up so they could go on the annual horse-pack-trip-with-no-plumbing-whatsoever-trip, aka Outer Darkness. She had an eye exam the last time she was here and she needs a little correction now. She could hardly wait to get her glasses. So much so, that for several days running we got updates as to whether they had arrived or not.

This will be Jake's first big camping-way-back-in-the-wilderness experience. Hopefully it will be fun for everyone, but it's not starting out too well. There was truck trouble with one truck...the same trouble we had when we were trying to get to the open house a couple of weeks ago, so they left it at a repair place and unloaded everything and put it all in the other truck they were taking along as well, so now everyone is nice and cozy in the second truck. About 2 hours down the road, the coolant system explodes and they were stranded in Pocatello last night. A friend who lives there rescued them and the horses they were hauling, and hopefully this morning they can get it fixed and keep moving down the road. The alternative is coming home and probably some cabin time, but I was kind of looking forward to some down time after the busy summer we've had so far. You know, where I don't have to cook at all, I control the TV remote and watch whatever I want, I work on craft/sewing projects until the wee hours, and all I really have to do is keep the garden and the psychotic dogs alive. OK....everybody say a little prayer now, will you??

The Blessing Day

It was a really big weekend when my daughter got married. Not only did we have the wedding, and then the reception in the yard, but since all the brothers were there we had Levi's baby blessing as well. 

This is Marc's little family out on our back deck.

My DIL's parents were there and took these pictures. I think I was running around like a headless chicken at this point. T-minus about 1 hour before the reception.

When they got home, my DIL put Levi in Marc's baby blessing outfit and took some pictures...

...then very kindly sent them to me, because she knows I like to see my people's faces.

Especially cute little faces like this one.

I love these full-circle memories.....like my grandson wearing the outfit I made his daddy to be blessed in, some 27 years ago.

Life is Good...

I don't often post pictures of myself. Do any of us love pictures of ourselves? 

That said, I make allowances for new grandbabies. Anytime. Any place. There is nothing better than new baby snuggling.

Throwback Sunday?

It's not as catchy as Throwback Thursday, but I haven't tried a lot of new recipes lately. Let's face it....life's been a little hectic. No....really??? That said, I have made a couple of favorites this week.

I made this Chicken & Rice Salad with Peanut Sauce. It's a great summer meal and is an awesome way to use up any leftover grilled chicken you have....assuming you might have leftover grilled chicken. I had to cook chicken for this, because my husband tends to get testy if we have chicken more than once a week. I tend to get testy if we have excessive red meat. It's a struggle. 

We also had Double Decker Tacos. Since my daughter is now married (and holy cow that sounds just a little strange in my head), we can have Mexican food-o-rama, complete with beans. And if they happen to be homemade refried beans, so much the better. 

Lastly, let me introduce you to the newest member of our family, little Quincy Wallace.

Well, maybe not so little as he weighed in at 9 pounds, 10 ounces! Mama and baby are doing well and we are so grateful for his safe arrival.

Around Here This Week

So around here this week.....

I'm living life on the AC vents. Yes, I am, and praying for fall. I'm not sure even fresh tomato sandwiches are worth this.

Summer things are blooming, and varying shades of pink seem to be pretty prevalent in my yard. I'm a big fan of perennial flowers. I mean, plant once and it comes back year after year? Yes, please. I planted 2 hollyhocks last year. This one didn't bloom at all last summer and I wondered if it would even come back this year. But it's gorgeous. Love the double bloom varieties of hollyhocks. I know there's a lot of nostalgia for the single types. My mother tells stories of making little doll skirts from them, but I'm liking the frilliness of the doubles.

This one did bloom last year and it's such an interesting color, and I love the light coming through the petal in this shot.

One disadvantage of the double bloom varieties is that the blossoms seem to be very heavy for the plants once they really get going. Note to self, these need to be staked next year so the weight of the flowers doesn't pull the plant over. The shorter flower there is the hydrangea I planted last year as well. It's coming along.

This is something call Monarda and is supposed to attract butterflies. It's kind of going crazy this year and I get a kick out of the sort of wild, fireworks-looking flowers.

And the Phlox is hitting its stride as well.

Besides wandering around my yard, enjoying the benefits of having worked like a dog to get it ready for the wedding, we are sliding into that canning season. I have documented fully my love/hate relationship with canning and preserving. Yes, it's a good thing and yes, it benefits my family and yes, I am glad I do it.....after it's over, but I admit freely that I have to really gear myself up to get started on it. One of our local stores had strawberries on sale this week, so we did some freezer jam.

The garden is revving up. The trouble with having a downsized family is that when that happens it's really hard to keep up. Even with Evan's family taking half the harvest, I can probably supply the ward with zucchini. Some of it, like the green beans, I can freeze for winter, but there is only so much zucchini I can shred for future zucchini bread or zucchini cupcakes or zucchini bars or zucchini bread (again!...but different).

Sent to me from my kids this week.....well, OK this isn't from one of my kids, but I'm documenting that my sister broke her wrist and had to have surgery. She is recovering well, but this is her left wrist and, like me, she's left-handed. She's also a piano teacher, so it's a little problematic. She broke her other arm several years ago and her husband tells us she is now the Woman of Steel, as her arms now contain 4 plates and a total of 34 screws. 

NOW from my kids this week, Eric's wife sent me some pictures of their kidlets from the 4th.

Everyone had a flag on their means of conveyance.

But this one.....<3.

And Levi is pretty happy as well. 

Not a picture from my married daughter, but I went into our walk-in cooler where my husband hangs the dead things when he gets them. He lets them age a little before he butchers them. TMI?? Anyway, we had stored the flowers for the wedding there because, well, there weren't any dead things so it was a convenient place. This is how my daughter's bouquet looked yesterday. Yes, it helps to have a cooler, but I'm telling you....Canyon Floral does good work. That's almost 2 weeks this has lasted and looked really good. I'll be sad when it starts to wilt. 

Big news, by the time you read this, there will be a new little grandbaby. Evan's wife will be induced on what will be yesterday (I'm typing this on Thursday) and we will be excited to see what flavor it is, since they have chosen not to know ahead of time. 

I will leave you with a little video. You know that my family enjoys and participates in musical things. My boys enjoy singing together, but are rarely all in the same place at the same time. As a surprise for their dad on the wedding weekend, I asked them to sing for him. There wasn't much time for clandestine rehearsal, but it was a very tender moment for me and their dad. Not sure why the video is sideways. My DIL filmed it and turned the camera horizontally and when I look at it on my phone it's fine, but when I uploaded it to youtube.....well.....yeah. So if you just listen and ignore the orientation of the picture, this is how my boys sound together. Eric sings high tenor, Marc sings lead, Collin and Evan are on baritone and Bryce is the bass.

 

 

 

 

 

The Paper Chase

And I'm using the word "paper" very loosely here. I got caught up with my Project Life app pages this week. I also received my second order of physical pages printed from the app and got them filed. Such joy and rejoicing to see the finished product in the album. Happiness abounds. 

Week 28 was not only the 4th, but also WEDDING WEEK. Since I didn't really stress about taking pictures for the wedding, I didn't have that many to try to cram into one page and I didn't end up making multiple pages. There seemed to be a lot of kissing going on. 

And even if I never put another wedding picture in any kind of album, the event is documented in my, sing it with me now....."family history, I am doing it...."

Last week's post-wedding activities....

Including the open house and James' stitches....and more kissing.

I finished off the card kit I've been working on. Again...happiness abounding as I re-entered the paper world. The right design was included on the example sheet. 

I got 12 cards out of these fun, summery-looking papers. The kit also included the "smile" die.

Used the negative space of the postage stamp die to frame a window I cut in the front of the card. You can't tell here, but the yellow paper is sort of shimmery. Yes, the wedding season is over just in time for canning season to begin, so I supposed I should enjoy whatever paper-playing I can get in.

 

Sewn Back Together

So in the middle of the truck drama, and the excitement of the open house, there was a little more drama to be had with James.

He apparently tripped on some steps on their patio and Collin sent my husband some consult pictures of the little cut he got for his trouble. He thought it needed stitches, so off they went to get his poor little noggin sewn back together.

He didn't look too unhappy here with Daddy holding the numbing ointment on.

And he certainly got a nice, big bandaid out of it, covering the two little stitches that were put in.

Collin sent me this picture a couple of days later, saying that James wouldn't hold still for a picture of the helmet they were going to make him wear from now on. Then a couple of days after that, I got the following picture with the direct quote from my son:

That James, he's quite the active boy.....

An Opened House

First off, happy birthday to my DIL, Alison! **waving to you out west there** Hope you have a great day!

We headed down to Utah last weekend for a lovely open house put on by Jake's family. 

These two got themselves all dressed up again to meet and greet.

In fact, we all got ourselves put back together in wedding-ish finery. I need to preface this by saying that the weekend did not work out at all like it was supposed to. We had loaded all the wedding gifts from our neck of the woods into the camper on the back of my husband's truck, just like we'd planned, but we ran into some trouble on the way down. The fuel filter got plugged and we ended up stranded about halfway there, trying to get it fixed in a little town on a Saturday morning. We managed to get it done, but it only gave us time to run to my daughter's apartment, throw the gifts into it, grab some lunch and then turn around and head for the open house. Not what we'd planned, but we managed to get everywhere we needed to be....barely.

Feet get tired after a lot of standing.

The gorgeous bouquet.

And the gorgeous cake, which made my daughter very happy.

Cutting the cake.

And then doing the whole feeding thing. It was at about this point that I heard my daughter say, "Just put it in my mouth like a nice person!"

I think she was afraid it would end up all over her face or on the dress.

But since it ended with a kiss, I'm thinking it was all good.

Around Here This Week

So around here this week....

We had a storm roar through here on Sunday....wind howling, temperature drop of 30 degrees, even some hail in places. We anxiously watched the weather reports during the days before the reception, just hoping that the timetable for its arrival wouldn't move into the reception on Saturday night. We considered ourselves very lucky, and I basked in the temperature change. It has since done an about-face and we are back in the "normal" 90° range. Ugh.

We picked the last of the peas this week, and have moved on to the first picking of green beans and zucchini. The squash bugs are back and totally obliterated Evan's 2 pumpkin plants. We hope we have the invasion at least stalled a little bit.

I did some post-wedding things like returning the speakers we used for music, and returning dishes to some dear friends who brought food over for dinner the night before THE EVENT. I hope I thanked them profusely enough.

A couple of Project life pages. These are from the week before WEDDING WEEK. 

We did make a quick run up to the cabin. I honestly didn't think I could go and leave the yard before the reception. I had become just a little neurotic about the deadheading and such. My husband talked me down off the ceiling and assured me that I really needed to go overnight and get away from wedding plans. He was right.

Since the wedding, I actually stepped into the craft room and did something in there that didn't involve stacking and/or storing things for the wedding/luncheon/reception/kids coming to visit. LOOK! I played with paper! I made a couple of cards using a Simon Says Stamp card kit. Both of them are similar to examples on the project page included in the kit. Summery and fun.....and therapeutic.

Sent to me from the kids this week....this picture of James in their empty apartment before their move. His chair is up against the dishwasher on the floor and he has his watermelon lined up like a train.

And here he is in his new backyard in California. Collin and Alison have been fortunate to find a little house to rent near the air base and there is room for James to run. 

Collin's wife sent this picture of Bryce and James. Since there were 2 cars to transport to their new place, Bryce rode with Alison and James as an extra set of hands to help with the long drive. He has apparently earned favorite uncle status for the moment. James has learned his name, "Byce, Byce, Byce....!" I think it's very sweet how he has his hand on Bryce's arm here. Bryce is back home with us now and says he is missing his little buddy.

Isaac's mama sent me this picture of him on free Chick-Fil-A day dressed up like a cow.

 

He apparently enjoyed this quite a bit. We also had a great family moment for Levi during the wedding weekend, but I'm hoping to collect another picture from my DIL before I post pictures of that.

I also received this picture from Isaac's mom with the caption saying that she had asked him to take some stuff off the table after dinner and go put it by the fridge. I'm not sure this is what she had in mind and apparently Isaac is in the line-it-up stage. :)

And lastly, there is this picture. One of my daughter's friends took it after the wedding luncheon was over. It's me in the middle of a group hug with almost all my kids. I had no idea it was taken, but I may frame it and put it in my room. This is what it's all about.