A Crud Update

Well both of the girls overcame their sicknesses well and fast.  They of course recovered faster than Papa Bear and I did.  We on the other hand are still getting over our cruds. 

Silly Girl is outside right now enjoying the sunshine playing happily in her sand box.  I am loving this change of weather myself even if the change is temporary. 

On another note I can’t believe that we are almost into March and that means daylight savings all over again.  It seems like daylight savings just ended a couple of months ago.  I guess it will always feel like that now.

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A Day at the Ranch

On Valentine's Day this year we went to our friend's Ranch where they were branding their cattle. Silly Girl was so excited to be able to get on the horse and ride Kappy around for awhile. Kappy is my brother's horse. We spent all day at the ranch eating, herding, talking and the kids were playing. This was just a great day to get out with the family.

 

 

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White Bean Chili

~~~~~~6-8 servings~~~~~~

1 large onion chopped
1 large green pepper chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 Tbs olive oil
3 chicken breasts cooked and cubed
2 14oz. cans great northern beans, or other white beans drained and rinsed
1 14oz. can chicken broth
1 7oz. can diced green chiles
1 teaspoon cumin
6 chicken bouillon cubes or equivalent of granules
1 cup rice
2 cups water
1 cups grated cheddar cheese

1. Sauté onion, green pepper and garlic in olive oil until tender. Put all of the remaining ingredients except cheese into large soup pot, add onion and green pepper. Bring ingredients to a boil. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until rice is done.

2. Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Serve with tortilla chips and extra cheese for topping.

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The House of Crud

The cruddies started in our house about two weeks ago now, we are now starting week three. The ugly cruddies started with Silly Girl and an ear infection and then went on to Lil’ Monster and another ear infection. Then it went on to me and now Papa Bear. So the house is in four different stages of recovery.

I did celebrate my birthday, sort of at least if you count not being able to go bowling and feeling lousy and worn down when it came time for cake. Other than that it was a typical birthday.

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Family Happenings

I was woken up this morning by the sweet noise of my girls talking and playing with each other. When I finally went in to get Lil’ Monster out of her crib this was what I was greeted with. This is the second time Silly Girl has climbed in to play with Lil’ Monster in the morning.

Not to long after we woke up this morning we had snow falling. They were nice big flakes. The snow just kept coming and coming. It snowed for well over one hour. It was beautiful. I of course made Papa Bear go out and take some pictures. The sun is already out and melting the snow. When Papa Bear measured it we had four inches. Snow on my birthday is just an awesome present.

The girls and I are still sick. Silly Girl is on day nine of ten for her antibiotics and Lil’ Monster is on day three of ten. Lil’ Monster has been very difficult to get her meds in her. But of course Daddy comes home and does it so much easier than I can. Both girls have ear infections and colds while I just have a cold. Silly Girl is pretty much back to normal while Lil’ Monster and I taking longer to get over it.

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Really Cool Leftover Idea

I was looking at friends blogs today when I happened on this one for awesome leftover ideas. It was so great that I am looking at adding this one to my menu really soon.

Here's the link: Leftovers Leftover Pockets

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A New Vacuum Cleaner

Krystal was down on the floor playing, rolling and having a good ole' time when we noticed she was a vacuum cleaner for Kelsey our blue Queensland Heeler. Needless to say we decided it was time clean the floors.

 

 

 

 

 

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PD Mac N Cheese with Ham

~~~~~~8 servings~~~~~~

2 cups dried elbow macaroni, 4 cups cooked
grated Cheddar
grated Swiss
grated Jack
grated colby
grated Muenster
grated Gouda
1/2 cup sour cream
4 Tbs butter, cut into pieces
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup milk
1 Nonstick spray
chopped ham

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large pot, bring water to boil. Season water with salt and
cook macaroni until al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain pasta and place in a
large bowl and while pasta is still hot add all the cheese.
3. In a separate medium bowl, using a whisk, combine the sour cream, butter, eggs, salt, pepper, ham and milk and add to the macaroni mixture. Spray casserole dish with nonstick and pour macaroni mixture into the dish. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Top with additional cheese, if desired.

This recipe was originally a Paula Deen recipe that I changed to suit the likes of our family. I just add what ever cheese that I have or what ever I picked up and put in until the amount looks good. I do the same thing for the ham.

This is really the only Mac and Cheese dinner that I like.

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An Experiment

Last Sunday while at Church the Elders Quorum talked about getting our homes together financially ready as well as getting our food and ourselves prepared. One of the things they talked about was storing the stuff that we use often in our food storage. So all the way home we talked about what we could do to have our home ready. We talked all the way through dinner as well.

Then finally after dinner we decided that we would start a little experiment to see what we use on a regular basis. We decided to keep our weekly menus as well our grocery store receipts for three months to see what we use often. We then thought after those three months we would go back and look at what we just learned and then maybe make some changes.

My birthday presents go along with our experiment since I have now finally ordered my steam canner. Now we can make all the applesauce, peaches and other fruit we want. We have been going through applesauce and peaches like crazy lately too. My other birthday present is a Food Saver vacuum sealer to keep our food like bulk flour fresh.

I am so excited to see how this experiment works it self out. It is also exciting to have Jeff see why I keep so much bulk around or so many of certain foods, like our cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soups around.

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Ravioli Lasagna

~~~~~~Serves 6~~~~~~

1 lb ground beef, divided
1 jar spaghetti sauce, divided
1 (25-ounce) bag sausage or cheese ravioli, thawed and divided or 2 13-ounce bags of mini cheese ravioli, frozen
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brown ground beef over medium heat. In a 2 1/2 quart greased dish, layer 1/3 the spaghetti sauce, 1/2 the ravioli, 1/2 the ground beef and 1/2 cup cheese. Repeat, topping with the rest of the spaghetti sauce and remaining 1/2 cup of cheese. Cover and bake for 40-45 minutes.

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Pork Chop Dinner with Apples and Squash

Betty Crocker Slow Cooker Cookbook

~~~~~~4 servings~~~~~~

1 small butternut squash
3 large unpeeled cooking apples
4 pork loin chops, 3/4 inch thick
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Peel squash. Cut squash in half; remove seeds. Cut squash into 1/2-inch slices. Cut apples into fourths; remove cores. Cut apple pieces crosswise in half. Remove excess fat from pork.

2. Layer squash and apples in 3 1/2 to 6 quart slow cooker. Mix remaining ingredients. Coat pork with sugar mixture. Place pork on apples. Sprinkle with any remaining sugar mixture.

3. Cover and cook on low heat setting 8 to 9 hours or until pork in tender.  When I made this for our family the pork came out dry. So if you can change that some how so the pork stays moist then this would be a great dinner. The apples and squash tasted great.

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