Valentines

I love our Valentines traditions. We eat the traditional steak and potatoes meal by candlelight with everyone. (This is the only time every year that I will buy steak.) Ray gives everyone a heart box of chocolate. He wants the girls to be treated with love all the time and it's good for them to have a tangible picture of it on a special occasion. How he treats them now is giving them a standard to expect from their future husbands.

We often draw names to give gifts to our Valentine. It's fun to see the thoughtfulness put into each gift. Rachel actually touched our dog to make a painting for Mary. (If you know Rachel, she doesn't like dogs, at all.)

This was by far the easiest "special dessert" we've ever had. I bought a Sara Lee pound cake and sliced it. Abigail used cookie cutters to make hearts and the word Love to place on a plate around fruit. Then we dipped it in melted chocolate.

What Is My Joy in Life?

Last Fall, our family was offered three tickets to the Georgia football game. If you know us remotely well you'd know that was awesome. There was excitement and lots of questions. Who would go was at the top of the list?

The statement- "I haven't done anything 'fun' in over six weeks," hit me wrong. I was mad and wanted to let everyone know. I turned it back to myself- When have I done anything fun? What do I even do for fun? If I have a free moment, I fill it with cleaning, cooking or doing what someone else wants. Wah, wah, wah...

The path of self pity seemed easy to take. Woe is me. All I ever do is work.

Then I started trying to think about what I would do if someone wanted me to do something just for fun. I had no ideas. When I get free time, I will clean, do some extra cooking, maybe even read. Then I realized that I like to do those things. I like to see the house clean or try new recipes. 

My friend, Michele, has taught herself to knit. And true to what seems to be her personality, there's no part way knitting. It's the real deal - dyeing her on yarn, knitting her own socks, you know, that kind of stuff. I've even been a little jealous that I can't go learn to knit. But, is that what I would want to do if I could?

I had to ask myself some hard questions about all of this. Is my joy in life hobbies, going places, learning new things, entertaining myself or relaxing? My joy in life must be Christ! I like serving others, I like being a wife and mom. I'm glad He called me to this life. (Please note, that I'm not saying if you don't serve others all the time you aren't serving Christ.)

At the retreat last week, another pastor's wife asked me what do I do for myself, you know, "me time". I started trying to grab for something, anything that I could tell her. I felt like I needed to report to her some great thing that I do for myself. I couldn't think of one thing. And I'm okay with that. I like to read some, cook some, clean some and sleep a little.

I can joyfully serve Christ doing things that I like to do.

While I was working on this post, Lydia was reordering her bedroom that she shares with Abigail. She was making it easier for Abigail to get to her toys. Mary rearranged her own room last week. 

Let Them Eat Cake

This triple chocolate buttermilk pound cake is featured on the February issue of Southern Living. Try it! It was great!

Valentine Fun

...and yes, she does wear this dress every day.  This Pinterest project is so easy a three year old can do it.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and lay out a single layer of pretzels.

Painstakingly unwrap lots of Hershey kisses and put them on top of the pretzels.

 Put the pan in the oven for about 3-5 minutes, just until the kisses are hot but not loosing their shape. I did that for her, she isn't that tall.

Separate a bag full of M & M's, using only the red ones.

While the kisses are warm, press the M & M's down into the kisses.

Cool in the fridge to set the kisses hard again. 

They turned out cute, but if you used the Hershey hugs and Valentine colored M & M's they would look more like Valentines.

Another Soy Free Favorite

Cream of Mushroom Soup

8 ounces fresh mushrooms
2 tablespoons onions, chopped
1 -2 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons butter
2 -3 tablespoons flour (separated)
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup light cream or 1 cup evaporated milk (I usually use milk)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg


Directions:
Cut the mushrooms into slices.

Melt butter in large frying pan. Add in onions, garlic, and mushrooms. Cook until onions are soft.

Blend in 2 T. flour and stir. I used more

Add in the chicken broth and heat until slightly thickened while stirring frequently.

Stir cream with additional 1 T. flour and seasonings. Add in cream to soup. Heat to thicken while stirring frequently.

Soy

Hannah has had headaches and fainting spells for a long time. She went through every test that could be taken. After hundreds of dollars and countless doctor's appointments she was still constantly dizzy and randomly fainting. Someone suggested she look up different diets and menus for people with headaches, specifically migraines.

We cut out lots of different foods and finally found that the biggest culprit is soy and cured meats. She has been some time without fainting, feeling dizzy or debilitating migraines. She had dropped a few pounds (which is not good for her) but her weight seems to have leveled off again.

It was harder than I thought it would be to cut out soy, but once we got used to it, it isn't so bad. The first thing that I learned was that vegetable oil is actually soybean oil. And an olive oil bottle that says contains pure olive oil doesn't actually mean that it's 100 percent olive oil, it means that there is some olive oil in it but that there also may be some soybean oil.

I have appreciated her attitude about the whole thing. When she is in public she tries not to make a big deal about any food that is served. If she can't ask discreetly and politely about the soy, she doesn't eat. (Usually, there is the fresh fruit option.)

I have learned how to cook healthier and have expanded my recipes. The most useful is- I always have a bottle of this available. It's actually really good in chicken salad and on sandwiches.

Italian Salad Dressing

• 1 tablespoon garlic salt
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
• 2 tablespoons salt

Directions

1. In a small bowl, mix together the garlic salt, onion powder, sugar, oregano, pepper, thyme, basil, parsley, celery salt and regular salt. Store in a tightly sealed container.
2. To prepare dressing, whisk together 1/4 cup white vinegar, 2/3 cup canola oil, 2 tablespoons water and 2 tablespoons of the dry mix.

I'm Loving Chinese Cooking!

I'm sure it's way too "Americanized" but we really like it. Since Hannah can't have soy of any kind it doesn't taste exactly like the restaurant version, but you don't get the MSG headache either. Egg rolls are loaded with cabbage, carrots, onions and ginger and fried in canola oil. Add that to stir fried chicken  and broccoli in ginger and you have a delicious Chinese dinner.  When Sarah had her wisdom teeth pulled we got lots of soup from the Chinese restaurant and they loaded us up on those free chips that they put on the table.

Egg rolls are actually fun to make.

The shredded cabbage mixture that goes inside the egg rolls is so good, we eat it as a side dish too.

Christmas Cakes

I love to make cakes, but rarely do because of the time and cost that it takes. So at Christmas, I try really hard to make at least one for some special occasion. The two that I have made the most are the hummingbird cake and caramel cake. They are both delicious and usually turn out to be pretty tasty. What is probably one of the highest compliments that I ever received is many, many years ago, my father-in-law told me that my caramel cake tasted just like his mother used to make. I'm not sure about that, but it certainly encouraged me to keep making it. It has been requested so much that we kind of got tired of it.

I made two completely different cakes this year and both had the huge "wow factor"because they were so pretty. (But definitely not as pretty as the picture in the magazines that I got the recipe from.)

This is the peppermint, white chocolate cake that was featured on the cover of the Paula Deen magazine. The white chocolate layers were amazing, but I didn't love the buttercream frosting. If I make it again, I will try to find a great way to crush peppermint candy. 

Southern Living featured the red velvet white chocolate cheesecake and it certainly looked impressive when it was cut! The alternating layers of red velvet cake and cheesecake were beautiful and the white chocolate icing was delicious! 

I think the conclusion of cake making this year is that I need to make the white chocolate layers and cover the cake with the white chocolate icing.

What We're Having To Eat

It seems like I've gotten in a rut cooking lately, so I decided to write down what we're eating. Writing it down helps me see what I'm skipping and forces me to be a little more creative. I can tell it's fall because there isn't nearly as much fruit as we like and that we aren't eating enough leafy greens. My list also confirmed what I already knew, we eat a lot of leftovers and we eat too many chicken casseroles! My plan now is to see if I can keep from making any type chicken casserole until the end of the year.

Two weeks menu

Tuesday
Breakfast - scrambled eggs with spinach and mushrooms, grits, leftover banana muffins and pumpkin muffins

Lunch- pb and j, leftovers, pita chips and hummus

Supper- eat out with friends, girls ate homemade chicken noodle soup (took some to a sick family too)

Wednesday
Breakfast- scrambled eggs, leftover hash brown casserole, strawberry muffin from a mix

Lunch - leftover chicken noodle soup, pb and j

Supper- taco soup, tortilla chips, tossed salad, apple turnovers (Church supper)

Thursday
Breakfast- scrambled eggs with mushrooms and onions, frozen waffles, sausage

Lunch - leftover chicken noodle soup, ham sandwiches, pb and j

Supper - leftover taco soup, nacho chips and cheese, carrots and celery sticks

Friday
Breakfast- scrambled eggs with sausage, mushrooms, onions and cheese, grits, pumpkin/apple streusel muffins

Lunch- chicken and rice casserole, broccoli

Supper- ham and cheese sandwiches, chips, carrots

Saturday-
Breakfast- eggs scrambled with sausage, grits, leftover pumpkin muffins

Lunch- turkey hot dogs, chips, carrots

Supper- ravioli lasagna, broccoli

Sunday
Breakfast- scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, leftover muffins and toast, mixed frozen fruit

Lunch- eat at friends' house (it was a yummy chicken lasagna)

Supper- chicken pasta salad, grilled cheese sandwiches, pineapple

Monday
Breakfast- breakfast casserole with spinach, mushrooms and bacon, grits, pineapple

Lunch- leftover chicken/pasta salad, nacho chips with cheese, pb and j

Supper- baked ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls

Tuesday
Breakfast- fried egg sandwiches

Lunch- Chik-fil-A

Supper- macaroni and cheese with ham bake, spinach salad with grapes and oranges

Wednesday
Breakfast - eggs scrambled with ham and cheese, grits

Lunch- pb and j, pita chips, hummus

Supper- veggie soup, Mac and cheese, cornbread muffins, spinach salad, fall cookies (Church supper)

Thursday
Breakfast- scrambled eggs, apple/oatmeal muffins, grits

Lunch- eat at a friends house (butternut squash macaroni bake, I loved it)

Supper- leftover veggie soup, cornbread

Friday
Breakfast- leftover muffins, cereal

Lunch- spaghetti, tossed salad, rolls, cupcakes (Abigail's birthday meal)

Supper- leftover spaghetti

Saturday
Breakfast- frozen waffles

Lunch- pb and j, leftovers

Supper- wings, potato wedges, celery, salad, chips and dip

Sunday
Breakfast- scrambled eggs, grits, sausage, pumpkin/apple muffins

Lunch- poppy seed chicken, rice, brussel sprouts, spinach salad, muffins, pumpkin crisp (company came over)

Supper- clean out the fridge leftovers

Monday
Breakfast- grits casserole, pumpkin/apple muffins

Lunch- pb and j, salad, carrots

Supper- shepherds pie, green beans

Tuesday
Breakfast- leftover grits casserole

Lunch- pb and j, cheese quesdillas, carrots

Supper- chicken/broccoli and rice casserole, tossed salad, rolls

Snacks offered through the week- hot chocolate, pretzels, banana bread, raisins, cereal, peanut butter crackers, pita chips and hummus, chocolate chip cookies, oranges, trail mix, milkshakes, pretzels

How's life without all the sports going?

Coming to grips with that question, I realized a few things. Life is busy all the time, with or without added activities and sports. So, if you don't have to drive to practices and games every day, something else will fill that gap quickly. But I also realized that homeschool is really nicely done at - well.... home. It's amazing what children can learn when I'm at home with them and they are at home relaxed and ready to learn. I think it comes about because I'm not always preparing to leave the house for the next event. I'm sure that's coming again soon because Lydia really wants to play basketball, but for now, I'm enjoying homeschool.

Highlights from this week's school have included:

• healthy debates on whether or not Jim Elliot was waiting on God to lead him to marry Elisabeth or if he was just being a dumb guy.
• learning all five of the basic biomes, again, for the fourth time, only this time, Lydia got to draw them.
• real life daily scripture memory, every day.
• actually singing the preposition song, not just looking at it and saying, "oh that's nice, move on."
• Ray reading a book to us every morning at breakfast.
• the girls asking if we could just keep on having devotions.
• actually cooking from real recipes and not throwing random casseroles together. (Okay, that's not homeschool, but it sure is nice since I'm at home more.)

I'm enjoying homeschool so much, who knows, I might even have the girls try to make a diorama this year. It might have been about thirteen years since we've actually tried that!

Y'all, Just Call Me Paula Deen!

I'm loving my subscription to the Paula Deen Magazine these days, even if I don't get to cook anything out of it. This week I actually tried two new recipes - apple oatmeal cookies and apple cream cheese muffins. Can you guess the apple trees are producing? Actually, I may not get any apple jelly made this year and I'm thinking that a lot of apples will end up rotting.

The apple cream cheese muffin recipe is the best! I can't stop eating them. But beware, for some reason they have upset Abigail's reflux. Even though she has been eating dairy in small amounts, these have her chest gurgling. Also, I made the muffins in regular muffin pans so it made twenty-four muffins and took less time to cook them.

The apple oatmeal cookies were good, but they tasted a little "too healthy." You have to have the powdered sugar icing on them. And I added nuts too.

A Recipe NOT To Try

So, I heard this great recipe to make your own cooking spray. It was cheaper, less expensive, and cleaner. It was -mix one part of cooking oil with five parts of water in a spray bottle. Voila, cooking spray! Right? Wrong! My girls and I have been scrubbing pots and pans for days! Everything sticks to the pans and the muffin pans that I have used for 26 years may not survive. I'm planning to buy steel wool to save them, but I'm wondering if it might be cheaper to but new pans. I know it would be easier!

How to Eat Blueberries

... If you're nineteen months old.

First go to Grandma's house in the Summertime, there is always mounds of them on her dining room table.

Then pretend like you're putting them in freezer bags to save for later.

You have to sneak them into your mouth at first, so she doesn't catch on to what you're doing.

Give her as many big smiles as necessary to keep her off guard.

Then you're home free, and can eat as many as you want. The sky is the limit....or  until your Mommy stops you. 

What Kind of Mom Forgets to Color Easter Eggs?

You guessed it, me! Last year, I almost forgot and we ended up coloring eggs at 10:00 the night before.

Since I had a dozen boiled eggs in the refrigerator, I went searching for a recipe to use them. It turned out to be an Eggs Benedict Casserole of sorts.

8 slices of hard white bread
10 hard boiled eggs
Several hands full of fresh spinach
about 1/2 cup of bacon bits
1 stick butter
4T flour
1 3/4 to 2 C milk
1/2C sour cream
3/4 to 1t Dijon mustard
3/4 to 1t yel­low mustard
1 C shred­ded ched­dar cheese

Butter one side of the bread and place it butter side down in a 9x13. Sprinkle spinach and bacon bits over that. Slice the eggs and layer over the spinach and bacon.

(This part is copied straight from the site as she makes roux a lot more often than I do.) The next step is to make the cheesy mus­tard sauce to go over the top! This will need to be done in a sauce pan on the stove, as you are basi­cally mak­ing a roux. You’ll start the sauce by melt­ing 2T of but­ter over medium-low heat. Add 1T of the flour and mix it in with the but­ter (a wire whisk is good for this). Then, slowly add 1/4C of milk and con­tinue stir­ring. Alter­nate adding in 1T of flour, fol­lowed by 1/4C milk until you have a rea­son­ably thick roux and have used about 4T of flour to about 1 3/4 to 2C of milk. Stir in sour cream & mus­tard. Then, add 1/2 to 3/4C of shred­ded ched­dar cheese (or cheese of your choice).

Pour the roux over the eggs and top with about a half cup of cheese. I let mine sit for about hour to let the roux sink into the bread, but it can be cooked right away or put in the fridge overnight. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until it starts browning and gets bubbly. 

I really liked the change of pace from the typical breakfast casserole. The bread was a little too soggy so I might not let it sit before cooking next time.

Since I didn't have everything the original recipe called for, I gave you what I did. I'm sure hers was good too.

New Recipes

One of my goals for the year was to try to cook something I've never cooked with every month. So in the middle of trying to save time and money on meals, I'm trying to change up the routine too. I would love any suggestions.

This was a recipe for chicken and corn chowder I used last week. It was delicious!

The food that I wanted to try to learn to cook with first off was avocado and I was successful in making guacamole. The few times I had made it before on my own, it turned brown and gross before we could eat all of it. I had used lemon juice and left the pit in, so I guess I wasn't holding my mouth right. This recipe ended up being really good to me and with the eggs, it was a nice source of protein.

Meal Planning

How do you save time on meals? I have been all over the place on time saving for meals and never seem to get it down right.

A couple of weeks before I gave birth to Sarah, a friend came over and helped me cook a month's worth of meals in one day. She had gotten the book, Once a Month Cooking, and I bought all of the groceries. Between the two of us we had four small children, and it turned out to be a full day of fun. It was great to have so many meals to pull out whenever I needed them. Ray didn't love all of the meals, but the concept was so helpful.

I started working harder to cook dishes ahead of time to put in the freezer. I often cook double the meat so that I don't have do that, but if I don't pull it aside before it goes on the table, it will get eaten before I can get it in the freezer to save for another meal. Last week I cooked a pound of bacon for supper early in the day and I was left with only three pieces to use for the recipe at supper.

This week, I got a good deal on meat at Sam's so I cooked up two pounds of sausage, eight pounds of ground beef and about five pounds of chicken. I planned a bunch of meals and divided the meat into the meal sized portions. If I stay on my normal schedule and plan the meals for the day early in the morning I can get the food out of the freezer and have it on the table without too much trouble. (Our microwave is broken, so I can't defrost meat quickly anymore.)

Here I go, planning again. It seems like so much of my life runs better if I plan ahead. I need to keep planning and reminding myself Proverbs 16:9.

The heart of man plans his way,

but the LORD establishes his steps.

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

I made a chocolate pound cake recipe for Ray's birthday the first year we were married and he loved it so much that I have made it many times over the twenty five years of our marriage. Lately, it has flopped so I turned to my sister-in-law for a new recipe that she has made a some family events. It was great! Before Ray knew it was a new recipe he said it was my best cake yet. Here is the recipe.

The pound cake is super easy and you can use different flavors of pudding and/or substitute the chocolate chips for nuts or raisins.

1 box of yellow cake mix
1 box (3.9 oz) of instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 cup of sugar
3/4 cup of water
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of chocolate chips (I use the mini chips so that they won't sink to the bottom. I also like the semi-sweet, but you could use milk chocolate if ya'll prefer.)

Powdered sugar for dusting after cake has cooled.

Mix in bowl in order given until well blended. Pour into greased bundt pan. Bake for 55 minutes at 325°F (sometimes I have to add a few minutes to the cook time). After cake has cooled, dust with powdered sugar. My boys can eat a whole cake in one day, easily 

The day I made this cake it took an hour and 15 minutes to cook in my oven.

Santa Hats

Hannah made these cuties and they were yummy!

It's Definitely NOT Chicken Marsala

...but it has the tastes of Fall. I served it with baked pears seasoned with a little cinnamon and brown sugar and white acre peas.

1 medium size spaghetti squash

1 large chicken breast

1 -8 ounce container of fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic or 1 tsp of minced garlic

1/8 cup of apple cider vinegar (I think apple juice or cider would work also.)

Salt to taste

Cut open spaghetti squash, scoop out seeds, place open side down in a small amount of water on a cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30-40 minutes, until fork tender.

Stir fry chicken in oil until browned and nearly done. Add mushrooms, onion, garlic, and apple cider vinegar. Cover and simmer until onions and mushrooms are cooked as done as desired. Add salt as needed.

Scrape the squash out of its rind with a fork and toss with a small amount of olive oil.  Top spaghetti squash with chicken and mushrooms to serve. 

I really enjoyed the  unusual and fresh taste. Everyone else liked it pretty good too, for something different. When I make it again, I'll increase the amount of chicken and try regular apple juice.  There wasn't nearly enough for Ray.

Lydia's Birthday Pictures

For many reasons, we have dramatically changed how we do birthdays. Most of the time now it's just our immediate family. Lydia's birthday was a fun representation of who she is - sometimes fancy, sometimes not, sometimes calm, sometimes not.

Lydia thought the table looked like a fancy restaurant. I had planned on making shrimp and grits for her fancy meal, but she said she felt like chili instead.

She wanted everyone to dress up in fancy dresses and talk in British accents. It's really funny to hear some of us who have very southern accents try to sound British.

Birthday celebrations must include everyone in the house! She and Mary taught us how to do the Virginia Reel.

She wanted ice cream cake, so I tried to dress it up a bit by making brownie cupcakes, slicing them open and putting a scoop of Oreo ice cream in the middle. Then topping them with whipped cream and mini chocolate chips, they looked really fancy.

Since her party had to be early, I also made a fruit pizza for her actual birthday.