I spent an hour last night creating my calendar page for December while watching "The Polar Express" with my family. Mike built a nice fire in the fireplace and made us all hot chocolate too. A wonderful evening!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Thanksgiving
From the 1960 Betty Crocker Party BookI've had a very busy week. I hosted Thanksgiving dinner at my house this year and had 20 people (other than the 4 of us) over for a meal. Friends of ours came and spent a couple of nights here too, so we had a full house from Thursday through Saturday afternoon. We had a wonderful time with everyone. We ate lots, played games and were thankful together for our many blessings. My husband requested that people write in our family book what they were thankful for and here's a few tidbits.
Almost everyone mentioned that they were thankful for friends, family, love, food and shelter. This was a good time to actually express these things that we tend not to think about most of the time but just take for granted. Other things that people were thankful for included:
- that someone invented the dishwasher
- snow
- Bon Jovi was the number one song from the top 80's countdown we watched this weekend
- That there are now lots of sandhill cranes in Michigan (especially since at one time there were only 17 breeding pairs in the state)
- That our girls still like to play in cardboard boxes
- For good jobs
- Scrabble and guacamole dip
- Health insurance and medical technology
- The wonderful hand that Becky just dealt me in Five Crowns
- All the colors of the world (like baby turtle, galapagos green, brushed aluminum, going to the chapel, minced onion, tree moss, northampton putty, crisp khaki, urban legend, cream froth, american cheese and simply white - from Benjamin Moore paint samples)
- The ability to help others
- To have choices in where I live and what I do
- For a second refrigerator when I have large crowds over (this one was obviously mine)
- For the view from my deck which always makes me feel relaxed
Thursday, November 20, 2008
I seem to have fallen off the blogosphere
But I will catch up. We have finished our library project and I have pictures! It is so wonderful to finally be able to refer to books that I have without the hunting game.
I have continued with my art projects, mostly through my online journal class. I will have to scan in pictures of what I've been up to lately, but won't have time until the weekend.
No suppa club lately. The pork ragout is cooked and eaten and we haven't settled on a new recipe. I'm not even sure who's turn it is to pick out a recipe.
With Thanksgiving coming up and 20 people expected at my house, I won't be doing much of anything except preparing for the feast over the next week.
I have continued with my art projects, mostly through my online journal class. I will have to scan in pictures of what I've been up to lately, but won't have time until the weekend.
No suppa club lately. The pork ragout is cooked and eaten and we haven't settled on a new recipe. I'm not even sure who's turn it is to pick out a recipe.
With Thanksgiving coming up and 20 people expected at my house, I won't be doing much of anything except preparing for the feast over the next week.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Donut Muffins
I found a link for Donut Muffins on Bread and Honey Blog and had to try them. My family loves to make homemade donuts on the weekend and we also love muffins so this sounded like the best of both worlds. They were a big hit and we will keep this recipe! I can't wait to make them for a larger crowd now.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Suppa Club Pork Roast with 3 Mushroom Ragout
Suppa Club chose this awesome sounding 3 mushroom ragout. I voted for it because anything with three kinds of mushrooms sounds like something I definetly want to try.
Pork Roast with Three-Mushroom Ragout - from Cooking Light
1 package of shitake mushrooms (3.5 ounces)
2 8-0z packages button mushrooms
1 8-Oz package cremini (baby bella) mushrooms
1 large onion (cut in wedges)
0.5 oz sun-dried tomatoes, packed without oil, quartered (about 6)
1 can of crushed/diced tomatoes
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons thyme
1/2 teaspon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1.75-2 lb boned pork loin roast
Egg noodles
Mix together 1/2 can of tomatoes, flour and thyme in slow cooker. Cut mushrooms in quarters and place on top of tomatoes in slow cooker. Add onion wedges and sun dried tomatoes. Place pork roast on top of mushrooms. Salt and pepper pork roast. Pour rest of tomatoes over roast. Cover and cook on high for one hour. Turn down and cook on low for 7 hours. Slice pork and serve over cooked egg noodles.
In the Crock Pot
And the finished product
This was a definited winner. It was delicious. I loved all the mushrooms and the meat was nice and moist with good flavor. I mostly followed the directions, except for the addition of garlic cloves. Somehow, once I cut up onions and sun dried tomatoes it seemed like it needed garlic. I put in about 8 cloves of garlic. My husband and in-laws seemed to like it and my kids ate the meat and noodles at least.
Pork Roast with Three-Mushroom Ragout - from Cooking Light
1 package of shitake mushrooms (3.5 ounces)
2 8-0z packages button mushrooms
1 8-Oz package cremini (baby bella) mushrooms
1 large onion (cut in wedges)
0.5 oz sun-dried tomatoes, packed without oil, quartered (about 6)
1 can of crushed/diced tomatoes
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons thyme
1/2 teaspon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1.75-2 lb boned pork loin roast
Egg noodles
Mix together 1/2 can of tomatoes, flour and thyme in slow cooker. Cut mushrooms in quarters and place on top of tomatoes in slow cooker. Add onion wedges and sun dried tomatoes. Place pork roast on top of mushrooms. Salt and pepper pork roast. Pour rest of tomatoes over roast. Cover and cook on high for one hour. Turn down and cook on low for 7 hours. Slice pork and serve over cooked egg noodles.
In the Crock Pot
And the finished product
This was a definited winner. It was delicious. I loved all the mushrooms and the meat was nice and moist with good flavor. I mostly followed the directions, except for the addition of garlic cloves. Somehow, once I cut up onions and sun dried tomatoes it seemed like it needed garlic. I put in about 8 cloves of garlic. My husband and in-laws seemed to like it and my kids ate the meat and noodles at least.
Library Project Interrupted to Bring You This Fantastic Thanksgiving Craft
I was bringing books upstairs to shelve in our new "library" when I found quite a prize. The 1960 Betty Crocker Party Book with "more than 500 recipes, menus and how-to-do-it tips for festive occasions the year 'round." The book opened right up to Thanksgiving! Hey, that's just around the corner. Here's their awesome Thanksgiving centerpiece that we can all do to get ready for our guests and set an elegant tone for our tables.
(Please click to enlarge - you just have to see this thing up close!)
Yikes! That is one heck of a pile of gilded fruit. You can make this lovely gilded centerpiece with fresh pineapple, a variety of fresh fruits and nuts, greens and a can of gold spray paint. And lucky us, because the spray keeps air from the fruit this will keep a week or more and "could grace a side table after Thanksgiving." And for an added touch of elegance, you can place the fruit on a mirror. I don't think I could handle that much elegance!
And here's what the book says about Thanksgiving...
This most American of holidays dates back to 1621, when Governor Bradford of Massachusetts instituted December 13 as a day of feasting and prayer for the colonists to give thanks that they were still alive. Women spent days preparing the feast which included wild turkeys, venison, and many corn dishes.
The mother of our modern Thanksgiving is Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of the famous Godey's Lady's Book, who worked 17 years for a "national day of thanks."
The very mention of Thanksgiving brings thoughts of warm country kitchens and good things to eat.
(Please click to enlarge - you just have to see this thing up close!)Yikes! That is one heck of a pile of gilded fruit. You can make this lovely gilded centerpiece with fresh pineapple, a variety of fresh fruits and nuts, greens and a can of gold spray paint. And lucky us, because the spray keeps air from the fruit this will keep a week or more and "could grace a side table after Thanksgiving." And for an added touch of elegance, you can place the fruit on a mirror. I don't think I could handle that much elegance!
And here's what the book says about Thanksgiving...
This most American of holidays dates back to 1621, when Governor Bradford of Massachusetts instituted December 13 as a day of feasting and prayer for the colonists to give thanks that they were still alive. Women spent days preparing the feast which included wild turkeys, venison, and many corn dishes.
The mother of our modern Thanksgiving is Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of the famous Godey's Lady's Book, who worked 17 years for a "national day of thanks."
The very mention of Thanksgiving brings thoughts of warm country kitchens and good things to eat.
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