This & That

Around Here This Week

So around here this week...

After weeks of very mild winter weather we woke up to a frigid weekend with blowing snow.

And of COURSE, it was the weekend we planned my daughter's drive-by baby shower.

My daughters-in-law helped with the decorating we did, pulling in a great mix of very rustic things.

Marc's wife made the sign, which is a little bit of a double entendre, if you know where we live.

The tent wasn't in the original plan, but my husband was very concerned about us all being out in the cold, so he, Marc, Edward, and Evan set up his favorite camping tent. What was really hilarious was both my boys standing in the tent and inhaling deeply, appreciating the camping smells lingering in the fabric.

Marc said, "One sniff and I'm 12 years old again. My boots don't fit, my pack doesn't feel right, and it's great!" Again, much as I have grumbled about the amount of outdoor time my husband's hobby entails, I can't deny the bond it's built between him and his boys, and now the grandkids. He set up heaters inside so none of us would freeze to death, and even brought a living room chair out for my daughter's comfort.

I love my girl, and while this might not have been the totally cute, coordinated baby shower of her dreams, it was very much Allan-centric (did you notice the antlers on the table???), and enabled more involvement of those who love her and maybe wouldn't have felt comfortable coming to something in-house.

Because she was here, there was a breakfast burrito-making session.

And can you stand another amaryllis picture? I have a new variety popping out. I'm guessing it's going to be white.

My husband has been on an adventure this week, and some "I'm gone." flowers arrived.

I've spent the evenings with Netflix and recipe books.

These boys were here one morning while their mama did a little piano practicing.

My friend and I made a trip to the quilt store about 45 minutes away. Anyone want to guess what this fabric will eventually be?

I was also invited to participate in Isaac's birthday dinner. 

Jude made the most of his cake.

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week, I requested this one of Isaac from his mama when it appeared in her IG feed.

She actually switched it to black and white and I like it both ways. Honestly, he's looking kind of grown up-ish in it. It was taken last August while he was sitting on our pasture fence.

And Now a 7-Year Old

That's right, I have 2 grand boys who have birthdays this week.

Isaac is 7 today!

This boy loves all things dragons and dinosaurs...

...and has seemingly boundless high-level energy. He loves me to read to him...

...and also has a serious, contemplative side that's manifested the older he's gotten.

Mostly, he loves to be on the go, whether it's sliding down a hill, or fishing at the ponds. We love this boy! Happy birthday to our Isaac!!

 

A 2-Year Old

Our grandboy, John is 2 years old today!!

It's always incredible to think how fast the time has gone by, especially since it's been about a year since we've seen him. Thanks, Covid.

I miss him, because Face Time just isn't the same as grandboy hugs.

His favorite things right now are planes...any kind of plane. 

Cars are pretty cool, too. So are his brother's toys and creations.

We love this boy, as we love all of our grandkiddos. Happy 2nd birthday to our John!!

Rice Pilaf

In my quest to get out of whatever cooking rut I've seen myself in recently, I've tried a new side dish or two that we've really liked. I think we should establish that my husband is a rice connoisseur. He spent 2 years living in Japan when he went on his church mission and he's definitely a fan of the Asian sticky rice, but every once in a while we have to broaden our horizons, right?

Yes. Yes, we do.

When I do this, he often meets my attempts with a skeptical look and an aggrieved sigh. This time, though, he ate it without complaint. I'm giving a lot of the credit to the homemade turkey stock I used when I cooked it. I'm still using the stock I made from our ill-fated Thanksgiving turkey. You remember it, right? The turkey I cooked and ate by myself when my husband brought covid home? I wanted a lot of stock and I got a lot of stock...16, 2 cup freezer bags of stock, and to give you an idea of how often I've been using it, I'm down to my last 4 bags. I think I'm going to need to cook another turkey.

It's not what comes to my mind when I think of Rice Pilaf. This version has more vegetables. I found the recipe here and it's something great to have with any kind of meat you want to serve. This says it makes 8-10 servings. 

Rice Pilaf

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 2 celery stalks, finely diced
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 1/2 cup chicken broth or stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups uncooked long-grain white rice
• 4 cups chicken broth or stock
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Minced fresh parsley for garnish, optional

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the vegetables and saute until they start to soften, about 4 minutes. Pour in the 1/2 cup chicken broth. Cook and stir until the liquid is reduced by about half. Add the bay leaf, rice,  the remaining broth, and some salt and pepper. 

Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and let the rice simmer for 18-20 minutes, until the liquid has been absorbed, and the rice is perfectly cooked. (In my experience, it often takes longer than this for the rice to totally cook through....closer to 30 minutes, but I turn it down to simmer on my gas stove.) Turn off the heat, fluff the rice with a fork, sprinkle with the parsley if you want, and serve.

Around Here This Week

So around here this week...

It's been a while since I've had to make bread, and I tried a new recipe for white sandwich bread which turned out quite well. Got a good rise on the loaves. And wow, there's really nothing like the smell  of baking bread on a winter day. 

We had another burger grinding session last weekend.

It went just as efficiently and about 70 pounds of burger was processed in under 2 hours. The guys are starting to get a real feel for getting a good grind, and as long as there are sufficient bodies to help, it happens almost like magic. 

The local families were over for Sunday dinner and during that time we got to see Edward ordained as a teacher. Special moment and wonderful to be able to have it happen at home.

The 3-generation shot.

The amaryllis are still doing their thing. This is the slower-growing pot and it's just now coming into its own. The other pot's big blooms are starting to fade and it's sad to see them go.

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week, here are Gwen and Caroline trying out some writing with...

feathers! They tried some quill pen writing.

Ephraim is definitely in the line-it-up stage. He had his cars all set up for some letter-matching practice,

...and he tried it with crayons. You can see how much of Cookie Monster got colored.

Collin took James and David on a hike and they went "sledding" down a hill. Their pants were a little worse for wear.

There was also a socially distant dinosaur museum experience which was the high point of at least the week for these boys.

Marc's family took a snow weekend.

These rosy-cheeked boys had a great time slipping and sliding.

A nice grin from both Jude and his mama.

They had a great time as is evidenced by the following videos.

This is the up-to-speed version,

But there there's Isaac.....wait for it.

 

Sweet & Salty Corn Pops

Another addicting snack for you today. When I tasted these for the first time a few years ago, I started looking for a recipe. It took a while to find a good one, and then it took a while for me to locate the corn puffs. I finally found them online at Walmart.

So I ordered what I thought were 2 bags to make a batch. What I really ordered was 2 boxes of 6 bags each. Oops. Needless to say, I've been making this every chance I get to use them up. I found the recipe here, and it comes together in just a few minutes. Seriously, 15 minutes from start to finish. And yummy. Really yummy. And by the way, I have a couple of bags you can use if you want to make them.

Sweet & Salty Corn Pops

• 8 ounces puffed corn pops (not the cereal called Corn Pops)--This is about 2 bags
  1 cup butter (2 sticks)
  3 Tablespoons water
  2 Tablespoons corn syrup
  1 cup sugar

Pour the corn pops out into a large bowl. Line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Melt the butter in a medium-sized sauce pan over medium high heat. Add the water, corn syrup, and the sugar. Stir the ingredients together over medium high heat until the candy turns the golden color of honey. It usually takes between 8-10 minutes to make that color happen. Pour the honey colored candy over the top of your corn pops. Stir it all together so that the corn pops are all evenly coated.

Pour the coated pops onto two large cookies sheets and allow them to cool (should take about 10 minutes). Store leftovers in an airtight container.

 

Around Here This Week

So around here this week...

The amaryllis have hit their stride and are putting on quite a show.

A good way to know the grandkids have been here. Other than what you see in the preceding pictures, I've mostly just been trying to set my house back to rights after Christmas. It takes me a while, and generally at this time of year I get an urge to do some organizing. Some of that did happen. It just didn't get photograph because it's not very interesting.

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week, I got this video of John who is as Jurassic as his brothers. He's got the first part of the song down pretty well, especially the rhythm.

From Isaac and Levi, a rather novel way to get down the stairs.

My daughter had a baby shower last weekend.

The theme was "cuties," as in the little oranges, which she actually loves to eat. Her husband's aunt made these amazing work-of-art cookies and shipped them from back east.

There have also been some maternity pictures taken recently.

I maybe pretty partial, but I think they turned out great!

 

 

The Production Line

This could just as easily have been put in Saturday's AHTW post, but I thought it deserved its own, because I think the feat was pretty amazing.

During the sixth season of the year, which is of course hunting season, there is a butcher shop of sorts that sets up in a room just off the garage. My husband and sons butcher the elk/deer/buffalo/antelope and whatever else they have gotten. They save scrap meat for grinding into burger. In the past we've sent this out to "professional" butcher shops to be ground, but the past couple of years they've attempted to grind their own. It's been a learning curve, and this year I think they've hit a pretty good system. What amazed me was the actual production line that got set up in the garage to make it happen. I'll let Evan's wife, Jan, explain:

My husband and the boys started out grinding and when they got some to package, this is how it came together. A couple of things to note here. They processed and wrapped 85 pounds of ground "beef" in about 2 hours, and....Edward is now taller than his mother. That tray in the front holds burgers we grilled for lunch to feed the crew, and I have to say they were really quite good.

While all that was going on, Evan was smoking some of the trout they caught at the ponds in the last few trips. There's a certain sense of satisfaction and stability that goes with the whole "mountain/plain/garden to table" mentality, but right now there's no room in anyone's freezer for anything else.

Bacon Ranch Turkey Roll-Ups

More snack food today. These also made an appearance at the family tea party and I only brought a very few home with me.

There's something about the combination of flavors here...really simple but tasty just the same. They just work together. PLUS, and here's the big plus...they are so easy to put together, and with the holiday season happening, that was what I needed at the time. I'm thinking you could change these up in a bunch of different ways. You could do different meat, different cheese, even some kind of flavored cream cheese, although my boys would say you must always include the bacon.

Bacon Ranch Turkey Roll-ups

• 1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 Tablespoons dry ranch dressing mix
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 to 2 Tbsp milk
• ¾ cup cooked chopped bacon
• ½ pound thinly sliced deli turkey (I used a pepper turkey I can get here)
• 4 (12-inch) large burrito tortillas

Mix softened cream cheese with the ranch dressing mix, cheddar cheese, 1 tablespoon of the milk, and bacon until well combined. Add more milk if desired.

Spread 1/4 of this mixture evenly on each tortilla then lay 3-4 slices of turkey breast flat on top of the cheese mixture to cover in a single layer.

Roll the tortilla up gently, yet tightly to make sure it holds together and keeps its shape.

Refrigerate for about 30 minutes to firm up the softened cheese. Cut off ends of tortilla roll that aren't full of the filling goodness, and cut into 1-inch slices. Makes 2-3 dozen pinwheels, depending on how thick you slice them.

 

Around Here This Week

So around here this week...

Oh yes, there was more fishing.

It was Jude's first time to catch a fish, and he was pretty excited about it.

Marc was decked out in his warm-as-toast camo.

The boys had fun being outside. Catching fish was a bonus.

I love this picture of Levi and Jude.

And here was the big moment. Jude's first fish. He was completely content to reel it in, but he really didn't want to touch it.

We also managed to get the tree undressed and out of the house. What's my husband doing here? He's scooping out water from the tree stand into a big measuring cup.

Fortunately, the local boys were around to lend a hand with the process, complete with Marc's posing. My husband and I would never have managed.

The amaryllis progress is moving along quickly now.

Now that there are flowers, I thought it was time to bring it out where everyone can see it. That top bloom has 3 separate, soon-to-be enormous flowers on it. My mother has always grown amaryllis around the holidays, so I guess I was missing it this year.

Sent to me from my kids and grandkids this week, I got this picture Emmett drew. Their family has been watching Star Trek movies, so it's only logical Spock would be on his mind.

This is a text exchange that took place yesterday with my family. It might be hard to see the title of the book. It's called, "The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing." I laughed hysterically when I saw it. Yeah, not much of that going on with this city girl, but it was so sweet of James to think this was just what I needed.

And the reaction of my family....

And finally, Jude got this set of stuffed dogs that look like Ollie and Gus from Gramma Honey and Grandpa for Christmas. Apparently, he takes them for walks on a regular basis. Love that!