Thanksgiving Day 2013

Hi There!  

Thanksgiving morning started off with watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, per tradition. 

This year I watched it at home in the living room, while packing a few last minute items during the commercials.

The plan was to get on the road by 1pm to head north, to Valparaiso.

 

We got on the road ahead of schedule.  The day had plenty of sunshine; so much so, that Jean had to set up a curtain to watch a movie.

Gladys and Troy kept busy the entire trip too. Thanks goodness for technology.

Along the way we stopped at Arby's for lunch.  In effort to save room for a big supper, Jean and I split a sandwich.  

Sophie likes to travel with me.  In cold weather, I bring an extra blanket to wrap her up in.

She usually sleeps most of the way, when she isn't site seeing.

 

The Benton County wind farm we pass through on I65 marks the halfway point.  I used to study, promote, and work with the Go Green program and wind energy is fascinating to me. 

 

Looking back, I had dreams of being completely self-sufficient with a little farm of my own.  God had other plans though.

  

Mom's house had a good dusting of snow, it's located about 20 miles south of Lake Michigan. However,  most of the surrounding areas were barren of the white stuff. 

 

Ahh, it's good to be home.

 

 My old room, guess who picked the color?  Yours' truly.  :)

This print hangs in my room.  Isn't it adorable? Babies, babies, babies!

 

As soon as I greeted Mom and dropped my overnight bag off in my room, I had to go visit the cats. This is Bandit:

 

Mom's had Bandit for several years now.  All her cats are outdoor kitties, but she has arranged for them to sleep in the enclosed porch.  This is her newest boarder, Crooked Cat, aka CC: 

 

 And last but not least, meet Mittens aka Mitty, who is Dustball's sister: 

Mitty is a big girl!  She is very mild mannered, just like her brother.

 

After greeting the cats, it was time to go celebrate Thanksgiving at my nephew's wife's mother's house.  My great aunt Shirley was there!  She is a really good cook.

The Jean's hanging out, awaiting the main event:

 

The guy is my nephew, little Robbie.  Him and I grew up wrecking havoc as childhood buddies.  Just a couple years ago, we took off with matching clippie hairstyles and pulled a pretty orange toboggan home from somebody's garbage, on a HARLEY.  Fun Times!

 

Supper was yummy.  Starting at noon and going counter clockwise, we have stuffing, sweet tators, deviled egg, crescent roll, mac n cheese, green bean casserole, corn stuffing; in the middle, ham and broccoli with egg sauce.

 

Robbie's wife, Janet and her Mom, Nancy, seated next to Gladys, were a delight to talk to with.  The evening was fun and went by fast.

 

 

For dessert, pies, pies, pies!  Also, Mom brought her eclairs (will share recipe one of these days), and I brought pumpkin rolls.  Good stuff, lemme tell ya.  I couldn't decide witch pie to choose from, so I had a sliver of each.  Even though I tend to be a traditional gal, surprisingly my favorite pie of the evening was the chocolate pecan.

Mom and little Robbie were talking about our Indian heritage and Blackfoot.  No wonder it seems so natural for me to refer to my young-in's as Indians. 

This sweet kitty of Nancy's is sick and going to heaven Friday.  RIP.

The dogs, Zues and Puppy, liked me. 

The Thanksgiving celebration was fun, and we had a wonderful time.

Pumpkin Bars

Brrrr, it's a chilly 20 something degrees out there!  I'm warming up with a mug of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream, yum. 

 

  

Troy has a girlfriend named Abby J.  He spoke of her every day for the past few weeks and I had to meet her.  So, yesterday we had her over.  She is a delightful girl.  Troy was sooo excited to have her here in our living room that he literally could not stop moving,  Thus, the picture:

 

In other news, I have completed Gladdie's Christmas gift of Barbie furniture.  I gotta say, as far as homemade gifts go, this is one of the easiest I've ever made. 

Barbie found the Styrofoam sofa to be most relaxing.  It's reinforced with metal hardware for stability.  As is the matching loveseat.  Both are upholstered with the finest of Troy's discarded t-shirt.  The same for the table covering and stools.  The base of the stools were varnished with a black Sharpie. 

The rug was made from leftovers of a latch hook project.  It gives the room a groovy feel.  Barbie tested out the dinette set as well.  She thought the cardboard based stools were awesome.  The table is made from a drink mix container (cut in half) and a Country Crock lid.

As you can tell by Barbie's expression, she was very pleased with the set.  I think they will really spruce up her dream house.  

 

 

Speaking of homemade gifts, Troy made these beautiful Thanksgiving place mats at school and gave them to me.  It's so much fun getting artwork from the kids!

Our Thanksgiving this year is going to be celebrated at my nephew's, mother-in-law's house.  Wow, that is a mouthful.  I am very much looking forward to it.  My Grandma's Pumpkin Rolls was what I got the honor of bringing.  They are so delicious that I had to bake a diversion dessert to keep the kids out of the rolls until the time is right.  That diversion dessert, (with less than 24 hrs to go), has served it's purpose very well.  Basically, it's a not-so-fancy pumpkin roll in bar form.  The pumpkin bar:

A soft, brownie like cake, is topped with a cream cheese frosting.  This dessert, from the picture, and somewhat in flavor, mocks my Creamed Cheese Pumpkin Bread .

The recipe is from my aunt Annabell, may she RIP.  It's a total crowd pleaser and makes a large cookie sheet of bars.

My healthier alterations to her recipe include swapping 1/2 cup of applesauce for 1/2 cup of the oil,  reducing the sugar by 1/2 cup, omitting the pecans,  reducing the butter to 1/2 cup, and using a full 8oz brick of fat free cream cheese.  Therefore, making each bar about 60 calories according to my calculations.  The really nice thing about the alterations is the bars are just as yummy, yet you can feel better about feeding them to your kids, or your neighbors, or  your fishing buds, or yourself. :)

Hope you give em a try.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Beef Stew & Dumplings

Good Morning!  Breakfast on this sunny day is Cream of Wheat (minus the cream) and apples.  Is it weird that I no longer put milk in my Cream of Wheat?  Or, I guess, I should just say Wheat.  Instead I add cinnamon and use it as a dip for apples.  That's just how I like it.

Hey, did ya notice the blocks of Styrofoam, aka Barbie furniture?   I thought I'd make Gladys some furniture for her Barbies.  Shhhhh, it's a Christmas gift.  A few weeks ago, I was out fishing with Jean and our buddy Donny, when we spotted a gorgeous dream house up for grabs.  It was just sitting out there by the side of the road waiting for someone to take it home, along with a few really nice lawn chairs (real people sized).  Of course, we went and loaded the truck up.  WoooHooo for garbage shopping!!  More on the Barbie furniture later though.

So the other day, I'm surfing through Internet recipes and came across this one pictured below:

 
Photo from Simply Delicious.

It's Beef Stew with Parmesan Dumplings and it looked delicious to me.  I happened to have some beef stew meat on hand, so I gave it a try, making a few adjustments here and there.  To start with, I heated a splash of olive oil to brown the meat. This step gives it a yummy roasty flavor and perks up the pan juices from the start, creating a wonderful foundation.

Then I got a phone call wanting to know if I could go fishing.  Now, how can I pass that up?  "Sure, just lemme speed this up a bit."  Tossed in some celery, onion, garlic, basil, and cilantro.  My house smelled so good, I didn't want to leave; even for fishing!  After browning, I added the liquids and a bay leaf, then stuck the lid on it and turned the burner off.  It was supposed to simmer, but I don't dare leave the stove top on while I'm gone.

I enjoyed being out on the White River.  Catching a few nice tree bass. :) 

 The thought did occur to me that perhaps I should have left my family a note, regarding the stew, in case Jean or the hubby came home for lunch.  "Nahh, who needs a note."  Apparently Jean did, cause a few hours later, I came home and there's an empty bowl in the sink and it appears a large portion of the stew meat is missing! 

I hardly even cooked the meat and still had not added any carrots!  She came home and told me the stew was delicious.  "Wow, she likes it raw, just wait till I cook it the rest of the way and add a few more goodies!"  This is gonna be some yummy stew!  

And it was!  The Parmesan  Dumplings are so very comforting.  Believe it or not, the meat was super tender and cooked all the way through just by staying warm while I was out fishing.  I added the matchstick carrots because it's what I happened to have on hand (for salads mainly), plus they cook fast, as do the dumplings.  It was a super easy supper and I was lucky Jean didn't totally clean it out before I had the chance to add the carrots & dumplings.  :)

Beef Stew & Dumplings
(Modified from Simply Delicious)

Ingredients:

• Beef Stew Meat
• 1 onions, finely chopped
• 1 celery stick, finely chopped
• 1 cup matchstick carrots
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 15oz can tomato sauce
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 bay leaf
• thyme
• basil
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil

Parmesan Dumplings:

• 1 stick butter
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup Parmesan, grated
• 1/2 cup milk
• pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Season the beef with salt and pepper and sear in a heavy-based pot in a splash of oil until browned.
2. Add the onion, celery and garlic.
3. Pour in the tomato sauce, sugar, wine and soy sauce and allow to come up to a simmer.
4. Add the bay leaf, basil and thyme.
5. Turn the heat down, add carrots and cover. Allow to simmer for 2 hours until the beef is tender. 
6. To make the dumplings, place the butter, flour, baking powder, salt and Parmesan in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles rough breadcrumbs.
7. Add milk and form dumplings, just slightly smaller than golf balls.
8. Place the dumplings on top of the simmering stew and cover with the lid. Allow to steam for 10 minutes.
9. When the dumplings are cooked through, remove the lid and serve immediately.

Glady's 10th Birthday!

Are you ready for the Holiday Season?

 

These pets are! Dustball helped put some lights up.

 

 Besides getting ready for the holidays, we have also been celebrating Gladys 10th Birthday! 

 

She picked out this ^ delicious cake from Dairy Queen.  Troy made her a card and he asked me if the Happy Birthday should end with an "excitement" mark (!). 

All Happy Birthday's should end with excitement marks in my opinion.  Gladdie's was no exception. She invited her friend, Bella, to spend Sunday afternoon with us.  Are those just the cutest little colorful fingernails?

Remember the game, Drop the Clothespins?  My kids could not get enough of that game.  I think Gladys is on her 4th round in this pic.

 

 Hope your day is Drop the Clothespins FUN and ends with an excitement mark!