Recipe Day. .. .

The smoked meatloaf was good, I do not think I seasoned it enough though, it was a little bland.  Next time I will go  a little heavier on the seasonings, I was afraid I would over season.  The boys do not eat my meatloaf so more for the hubbs and I.   We have a pork shoulder for the weekend, I will have to let you know how that one goes. 
I took some mac and cheese to my sister's for Christmas, I tried a new recipe and when I went to buy my macaroni they did not have any left.  There must have been an awful lot of mac and cheese around the tables for Christmas this year.  I am curious to know how many of my readers served the old faithful carb delight this year?  Along with my new recipe I used a different pasta with it.  I used a small penne pasta, I though it was good, the hubbs complained because it was not the traditional elbows.  I always can adapt and overcome when it comes to my recipes. 
Adjusted Mac and Cheese:

1 box of pasta (elbows, mini penne, )
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup flour
3 cups milk (suggest whole but I used 2%)
1 cup heavy cream
1 block shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 Parmesan cheese
smoked paprika

Boil your pasta one minute shy of being done, drain and drizzle with olive oil to coat and set aside,  grease your baking dish and pre heat oven to 350, ( I never preheat) melt your butter in a deep sauce pan, whisk in your flour making a rue, it should be bubbly and golden, gradually add milk and cream whisking so as not to lump your flour mixture, continue whisking once all incorporated add your shredded cheese a little at a time and whisk till smooth.  Save about 2 cups of cheese to top your dish. When your sauce is nice and thick stir in your pasta and coat. 
Pour into your casserole dish and sprinkle bread crumbs and extra cheese this is where I added the Parmesan cheese, I did not do the bread crumbs for mine.  I sprinkled some paprika over the top and baked 30 minutes. 
This was really good. 

Stay tuned the hubbs has a whole lot of smoking recipes to try and we will share our successes and failures.  So far I give this one 2 thumbs up. 

Cooking with the Man. .. . The Hubbs . . . .

The hubbs got a pellet grill for Christmas this year and he has driven me crazy about it.  This was one of those gifts that he wanted and researched and picked out what he thought would be the very best one.  He has done nothing but talk about it for two and half weeks prior to Christmas.  I do not begrudge my sweet hubby something that he wants, he works very hard and we have the cash to buy it and he does do his research on the best brand, type and what company has the best deal.  I am so thankful that the best deal on this grill was local, otherwise we would have been trecking all over to find one. 
It was delivered on Friday and he did the initial burn and then on Saturday he smoked a ham.  Neither of the boys like ham very much but they both raved over the one the hubbs smoked.  I must say it was a pretty good ham.  We went shopping today and I have fixed a meatloaf and it is currently resting with the smoker.   I will share with ya later how it was.  We also bought a pork butt to smoke this weekend.  Hanging out with the family tonight, very low key New Years in our house.  Spending some quality time with the boys. 
This smoker grill thing is pretty high tech, you can sync it with your wifi and your phone and it will send alerts when your food has reached optimal temperature.  I have to admit that is very cool. 
Here are a few pictures of this very tech savy pellet grill and my boys.

My Loves

The Hubbs new love 

The meatloaf  cooking  

I will share later how the loaf was.  I have had smoked meatloaf before at one of our local BBQ restaurants and it was really good.   I hope mine will be good too.  

Stay tuned as we prepare for 2020:  Sprat will have his first official college lacrosse season, Big T will start his junior year lacrosse season,  and I might get to go to Maine and see Sprat play.  

Cooking again. . . Memories

Sprat made some home fry potatoes today for lunch.  This goes along with his learning to cook before he goes back to school in the Fall.  He used his daddy's potatoes out of the garden to make his potatoes this morning and they were really good.  Big T even ate some and liked them and he never eats them when the hubbs makes them.   I love that Sprat is wanting to learn to cook, he is so excited about it and has a real knack for it too.  I hope I can teach him some of my favorite recipes to take back to Boston with him.
Sprat's girlfriend came for a visit, I must admit, I was not ready for this.  I am not ready for a serious girlfriend, I do not think he has ever been serious about a girl before.  He dated but, he never called one his "girlfriend" before.  This young lady is from Massachusetts and this was her visit to the South.  Sprat took her on the sweet tea tour of North Carolina. He took her to all of his local watering holes and hangouts.  He introduced her to all of his friends.  She loves sweet tea and has called and asked for a recipe, I do believe she is hooked. 
Sprat is getting excited about going to this new school in August, he is a little nervous but very excited.  He has his new schedule and we will go in July for orientation. 
I remember learning to cook when I was Sprat's age, I had helped my mom in the kitchen but I had never cooked a whole meal by myself.  I remember trying Swedish meatballs and I did not eat meat at that time, they were terrible.  I cannot remember if anyone in my family ate them, I think they did but I am not sure.   I do not remember the first thing I made successfully but, I do remember there were many things I made unsuccessful.  I remember a lot of frozen burritos and french fries in college.  I was no cook in college, I fancy myself to be a very good cook now.  I hope I can help my son do better than I did in college with the cooking. In the new school he will have access to a kitchen, so he will be able to cook if he likes. 

Cooking 101 for your College Student . . . Beyond Raymen Noodles. . .

I sold Pampered Chef for a long time and love their products, one of my favorites was their mandolin slicer.  I have the old school model without the finger protection.  I tell you all of that to share that last night while Sprat was helping me fix dinner I sliced my thumb.  All the years I used that thing and never had any trouble with it and I did it while showing Sprat how to use it and how not to slice a finger.  LOL!!  Well, in a round about way, how not to slice a finger. 
We made the zucchini pasta again because, we have zucchini in abundance right now.  Sprat had fun learning how to saute onions and garlic and this time we added a pepper from the garden.  Sprat does not particularly care for zucchini but he enjoyed the cooking and so did I except for the slice and dice I pulled on my thumb. 
Sprat wants to learn to cook other things too, he may try his hand at my amazing homemade alfredo.  He is even going to go to the grocery store for me to pick up all of my ingredients.  I will share my recipe for my alfredo today so that you can try your hand at it too.

Alfredo

1 box angel hair pasta
4 tbs butter
3 cloves garlic pressed
2 cups heavy cream
fresh Parmesan 1 cup
fresh or dried chives to top
1-2 tbs flour
dash of white wine


Melt butter and saute garlic till is smells yummy, add your flour and make  rue, all on med low heat. add a dash of wine and then slowly and while stirring add your heavy cream.  Turn you heat up a little and grate your parmesan and add it to your cream mixture.  It should bubble and get thick, when it does that it is ready to serve over your angel hair pasta.  You can use any pasta you would like and you can add things like broccoli, chicken, shrimp, beef, really anything. 
I have never been a fan of fat noodles so I always use angel hair, it is a texture thing with me.  You can add fresh chives and parsley too when you serve. 
Hope you enjoy my recipes and my funny stories about my kiddos.   Stay tuned Sprat is wanting to learn to cook this Summer and this should be loads of funny posts.

Spring is Right Around the Corner. . .

I must confess that little bit of warm weather we had has given me a little bit of Spring fever.  My very sweet hubby is going to fix me an herb bed right off of our back patio.  I am so excited because it is really going to happen this time.  He has promised this to me for a year but a few weeks ago when we had a dry day he sort of dug out my spot.  It is really going to happen, I cannot wait.  I will have Lavender, Rosemary, and Sage to start.  It will be big enough to add more if I so desire.  I have always loved fresh herbs and we already have a big plant of oregano and lots of mint around the patio.  I do believe I have Spring fever.
I have bought me some seeds to start in the house of a few things that I may just keep in the kitchen. There is nothing like preparing a meal using your very own herbs and spices.   The hubbs has cleaned the garden out so he will be getting it ready for early planting. There is nothing like fresh veggies from your very own garden.

This is the beginning of the new herb bed. I will post pictures of the progress.  The hubbs was not very happy with me this morning when I told him I was taking this picture, he said it was just mud. I told him this was a work in progress and I was showing the beginnings and when it is full of wonderful herbs we can look back and see how we started.  He was not amused. 

A New Cookbook for this Pampered Mom. . .

I have watched the movie Julie & Julia several times over the last so many months, and I love it.  No, I am not going to start a cooking blog or cook through any cookbook but, I must confess I did purchase Mastering the Art of French Cooking.   There is a great deal of good tips and tricks in this cookbook and I love this book.  I did make Julia's Boeuf Bourguignon last night.  I would say  I am an average cook, not the best but certainly not the worst.   It took me three hours to prepare this dish and then it cooks for 2 1/2 hours before serving.  We ate dinner at eight o'clock last night.  When the hubbs came home I told him what I was fixing, he was intrigued but not impressed.  He has gotten use to me trying new odd recipes.  I told him that I hoped it was really good and that everyone enjoyed it because I would probably not be making this one again.  The boeuf was really good and yes, I may have to eat my words and make it again.  If I do make it again I will start preparation at noon. Big T even like it and when I try my "new" recipes the hubbs and I are usually the only ones that enjoy them.
There are a couple other recipes that I want to try in my new cookbook, if they turn out I may share them with you.  I have always loved a cheese souffle and I did find an intriguing recipe in my new book.  I have made souffle's before so this one will not be a daunting as the boeuf was.  I may take a stab at pie crust again, I have yet to master that one and maybe with Julia's help I will.

Snow Days and Grumpy Teens. . .

School is out for the next two days and thankfully I am off work too.  The hubs is traveling this week so I am single parenting this ship.  Look out folks there's a woman at the helm.  School is out today and tomorrow so far, not sure how tomorrow will be for Sprat and his college classes.  College campus closed today thank goodness.  We have about four inches, with it still coming down, who knows where our totals will end. 
I use to love snow days, I would get up early and get on ALL of my snow gear and go find my neighbors down the street and we would sled all day or at least until we were too wet to take it any more.  We would go home and wash clothes, eat, get warm and go back at it.  Sprat has been out once for a couple shots at the goal and that is about it.  Sweet Basil went out early this morning to potty and hopefully she will not have to go out again until this evening.  I went out with Sprat to snap a few pictures for him. 
I am so glad I went to the grocery store yesterday, I really did not want to go but I made myself.  It was a regular grocery day for me unfortunately.  I asked the boys, if it snows and school is cancelled what kind of junk food do you want?  Sprat said, hummus and chips.  Big T said oreos and chips.  I wanted pizza but I could not talk either of them into that last night.  So, here I am on a snow day with no pizza, except the frozen kind (no pun intended). 
Plans for the day:  laundry,  baking cookies, making chex mix, making soup and cornbread, and vegging if my boys will allow.

Truly Pampered Mom

I must brag just a bit on my very sweet husband.  He does a lot around the house and he is fully involved with what ever the kids are doing and he cooks now and then.  The other day he announced he was going to make chicken pies.  I did a little double take with the head tilt and confused look on my face. He said again, I am going to make chicken pies.  I said ok, and laughed it off. Well, low and behold,  he made two chicken pies the other day. We froze one and ate the other one.  I must admit it was very good.  We can add chicken pie to his vast repertoire of pancakes, bacon, omelet,  anything on the grill, Greek chicken in the crock pot,  and Latoshia's chili recipe. 
He said he was preparing to retire, he would cook while I worked part time to provide insurance.  He really has been thinking an awful lot about this retirement thing.  He has had a good deal of practice lately with my work schedule and a lot of folks sick at work.  He has really had to be both Mom and Dad  several days these last few months.   He is a trooper though, he rarely complains, maybe sometimes in jest. 

I am a lucky girl!!  In April we will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary,  it does not seem that long ago.  I love this man more and more each day.  If I could give advice to those engaged or even newlyweds, I would say find someone that makes you laugh and never ever hold anything back.  The hubbs and I do argue but, we argue and get it out and over with.   We are different people and have different opinions and we are not afraid to share that opinion with each other.  We have had our fare share of knock down drag outs but we always feel better after we have voiced our opinions.  Do not change who you are for anyone, your soulmate should know the real you.  

My very sweet hubby said on numerous occasions he loved me because of my fire and my willingness to fight for what I believe in. 

Things have been sporadic for sure here at the Pampered Mom?? but do not fear I am trying to find my way and get back to a regular schedule of posting.  Stay tuned, you know that Sprat is getting ready for College and Big T is finishing that first year of high school.  

I Can do that, I've Seen Mom do it. . .

I can do that, I have seen my Mom do it a hundred times.  This is the the thought that bounces around in my head right before something goes horribly wrong in the kitchen or anywhere really.  Case and point, I grew up watching my Mom make gravy for Sunday lunch and here come those awful words...  I can do that, I have seen Mom do it a thousand times.   Those were the words that I uttered right before my first attempt at making gravy after my sweet hubby and I were married.   Just because you have seen it done does not mean you can do it.   My first attempt at gravy was very sad and bless my dear hubby for trying to eat what I had made.  We could have spackled the walls with that concoction, it was very sad.  I just knew I could make gravy, like I said, I had seen Mom do it a thousand times at least over the years.  There is an art to making gravy though, I am proud to say that after twenty three years of marriage I have perfected that art.  My first successful gravy was, chip beef and gravy, and it was very good and it was many months after that disastrous attempt.
At my first job after the hubbs and I were married, I was always the first person at the office in the mornings.  My boss asked me, since I was the first one in, if I would start the coffee.  My reply was, sure I can, I have seen my Mom do it plenty of times.  I did not drink coffee at this point and I do not drink it often even now, so I really did not know how to make coffee.   I would not dare tell my boss no, that I could not make coffee.  That first morning for my new task was disastrous as par for the course.  They never asked me to make coffee again.
I told you all that to share another coffee catastrophe at work yesterday.   A new co-worker was asked to make coffee, actually he volunteered to make coffee.  I saw him struggling with the pot so I approached to help out.  I still do not drink much coffee and I do not make coffee at all so I really did not know how to help my co-worker.   There was water coming from everywhere and pouring out on to the counter and we could not get it to stop.  It was the blind leading the blind, but I could not just stand there and let him drown in hot water.  (no pun intended)  After almost half of the water had gushed out he realized he had not put the part that had the coffee grounds back where it belonged.  Once he did that every thing was fine.  We both laughed and he admitted that at home his wife made the coffee and I admitted I did not make coffee at all.
I guess today is a tribute to my Mom and all the things I thought I could do because I had watched her do it a million times.  This should make for some very interesting conversation over Thanksgiving.
What does your Mom do well that you thought you could do just because you watched her do it so many times?

My Hubby the Farmer. . .

With no job offers on the table at the present time and lots of backyard just sitting there, my dear sweet hubby has it in his mind to expand our garden.  I am in big trouble!  Our garden is huge now and we can barely keep up with it and now he has decided he wants to grow more peppers and tomatoes.
Our garden has been a huge blessing to us this year, if it were not for the kids the hubbs and I could live out of the garden.   The hubbs and I both have enjoyed our veggies.  I am also very thankful to my brother-in-law for the peppers he started and cultivated so that we could plant them in our garden.  I will share a picture of the peppers that my hubbs picked on Saturday.   He sauted these with some onion for our lunch on Saturday.  I love it when he cooks, there is nothing sexier than a man that knows his way around a kitchen and likes being there.
We had some new peppers this season and they are so good.  I love the orange Popsicle the new ones were:  Jimmy Nordello (long red), Biscayne hybrid,  sweet heat,  and jalapeno.  The jalapeno is the only one that is really hot, the others have a little heat but great flavor.  We used some of these in our salsa.

Drum Roll Please . . . Salsa . . .

I am not sure where my hubby got this recipe but, he is just like me and tweaks it each time.  He knows it by heart and he seasons to taste.   We have made three batches this year already.  Our tomatoes are really doing well.  We have used roma tomatoes in the past because they are supposed to have more meat in them.  This year we planted celebrity tomatoes and they are really doing well.   The celebrities have a lot of meat and a great flavor.
This is the hubbys baby, he does all the work on this, all I do is work the blender for him and zest the limes.  Here we go, now remember, this recipe has been tweaked and please feel free to add your own taste to yours.  We always add our own zip.

Twenty or so tomatoes
3-5 peppers varying varieties (a few for heat, a few for flavor)
1 medium onion
2-4 cloves of garlic
1 bunch of fresh cilantro
2 limes zested and then juiced

Boil your tomatoes, when the skin pops they are done, remove them from the water and let them set.
Boil your peppers until they are soft, let them set.  Press and saute your garlic until fragrant.  Chop onion and saute until translucent.  Chop your cilantro.
Once your tomatoes have cooled and you can handle them easily peel the skin from them.  We put ours in a strainer over another bowl.  This way you get the meat and not so much juice.  Once the tomatoes are peeled my hubby like to mash the tomatoes with his hands to get a little more juice out of them.  You do not want your salsa to be too runny.  Chop your peppers.  Now depending on how hot you want your salsa you can leave all of your seeds with the peppers or you can seed a couple of your peppers.  The seeds are where the heat is in your peppers.  The hubbs left a few too many seeds for my taste this time but it is still good.   We used some hot peppers and some mild peppers.  I zest the limes into the cilantro and then they are ready to juice.
We use a blender, like you are making a smoothie.  I put a couple scoops of the tomato mush, some of the: garlic, onion, cilantro, peppers and then the hubbs juices half of one lime.  Then I blend this together, once it is blended I pour it into our eight cup mixing bowl.  We repeat this until all of our ingredients have been blended together.   This gives you a beautiful reddish brown mixture.  The hubbs then proceeds to add his seasonings to finish this up.

1 Tbsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp cumin
2 tsp Mexican oregano

He may also add more lime juice if needed.  Keep in mind he juiced two limes during the blending process.
This is really a good recipe and in my opinion could rival any authentic salsa from any restaurant.  I am biased of course.  The hubbs has said that at least one of the boys must learn to make this recipe so that it can be passed down to the next generation of our clan.
Enjoy!

Meatball Sub. . .

Made my amazing meatballs the other night and I make amazing meatballs, if I do say so myself.  I added a new trick to preparing the meatball sub.  If you already know this trick kudos to you, if not you should try it.   I use sub rolls and slice them open and put them in the oven at about 275 until they are a little crispy.  I peel a clove of garlic and after the sub roll comes out of the oven I rub the garlic over the bread.  Sounds simple, right?  It makes the sub so yummy though.  After the garlic rub down add a little sauce to the bread and then your meatballs.  I slice my meatballs in half, it just makes the sub easier to eat.  I add cheese, sometimes Swiss and sometimes mozzarella I will leave that choice up to you.  I then put the sub back in the oven just to melt the cheese.  These are amazing subs and amazing meatballs.  I think I have given the meatball recipe recently but I will share it again because they are that doggone good.

Meat Balls
2lbs. ground beef
1 cup of bread crumbs
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp milk
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp garlic powder

Mix together and make into balls

Sauce
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
2 cups beef broth
2-3 Tbsp tomato paste (I like the kind that comes in the tube)
1 Tbsp ground dry mustard
2 tsp thyme

Place the meatballs gently into the sauce try not to stack them on top of each other.  I use the crock pot because I think the slow cooking makes a big difference.  I cook them on low for at least eight hours.

I cook when I feel stressed so I may share that salsa recipe this week too.  We are on our third batch of fresh salsa.

Pepper Poppers . . .

Our garden has really been producing this year, we have had good rain and lots of sunshine.  I think our tomatoes are going to do well also.  I am looking forward to the hubbs salsa and if you are good I might share his recipe with you, it is super secret don't you know.   He also makes pepper jelly that is so good.  If you have never had pepper jelly you need to try it, you might have seen it at Christmas over cream cheese or Brie with crackers.  It is usually red but it could be green too.  You can buy it in the grocery store and those fancy specialty shops.  Make sure you do not get the mint jelly because they have that too along the same isle.  Pepper jelly is a blend of sweet and hot and it is yummy with cream cheese and crackers.  I told you I do not can, well I fibbed just a bit, we have canned pepper jelly before successfully.  I hope we will get to make some this year.
Our peppers are just starting to come in and the hubbs is already picking them.  We had them stuffed on the grill over the fourth.  Several years ago we picked up a pepper popper grill pan, it has holes to put your peppers in to hold them upright on your grill.   This is a wonderful pan to have if you like stuffed peppers.   For our peppers, the hubbs browns some ground meat and then blends with a block of cream cheese and a taco seasoning packet.  This goes in the fridge to chill just a bit while he cores his peppers.  The cream cheese mixture needs to chill a bit so it will not run out of your peppers or be to mushy.  Once you have your peppers ready stuff them with your mixture, if your peppers are too small to sit up in the popper pan you can stick a long tooth pick through them to help hold them up.  We do this for the jalapeno peppers because they are usually smaller than the other peppers we use.  I like to dip mine in a little sour cream too when I get ready to eat them.  These are wonderful on the grill.

Next Phase of the Garden. . .

We have almost eaten all of the broccoli and boy it was a lot of broccoli.   We have harvested two batches of peas so far.  These are one of my favorites, I told you about eating them right out of the garden as a kid.  Not much has changed.  I do have one bag in the freezer though from this first batch I picked.  Below is my second picking, I did keep some to eat just right out of the fridge.  I wish my kids like our garden produce as much as the hubbs and I do.  I guess I was older before I appreciated all that my mother did with her garden and all the goodies that came from it.  Sprat does love the potatoes and Big T did love the lettuce.   The hubbs and I are loving it all.
Tonight we will have peas and potatoes, the hubbs loves these.   I use my sweet peas with half water and half chicken broth with a little salt and some cut up potatoes.  You can also throw a little butter or olive oil in there too.  These cook slowly on the stove while preparing the rest of the meal.

These are the ones that I will freeze for this winter.  Yummmm

New Recipe. . .

I have a new favorite recipe for my broccoli.  I found this one on Pinterest, but I did not save it and now I cannot locate it.  I did tweak it just a bit anyway so it is not the exact recipe from Pinterest.   We have a bumper crop of broccoli right now so I am trying to find other ways to eat it than just raw and in salads.  I do love it that way though.  I have done this recipe two different ways and obviously I encourage you to tweak it and make it your own.

1-2 cups chopped broccoli (depending on how many you are going to feed)
2-3 tbsp of olive oil ( I am never exact on this, I do not measure)
2 cloves of garlic pressed ( highly recommend fresh)
1-2 tbsp of water

I whisk the last three ingredients then add the broccoli and toss.  Spread over a baking dish and broil till tender or to the way you like it.  My hubby likes his really done.

This is the one I tried today and it was FABULOUS!!
1-2 cups chopped broccoli
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 lemon zested and then juiced

I whisk the last three ingredients then add the broccoli and toss.  Zest your lemon before you juice it and I only juiced half of my lemon.  This had the best flavor, I could not believe how good it was.  I broiled on 500 till it was very fragrant and a little crisp for my hubby.   When I bring it out of the oven I also sprinkle a little salt.

I think my kids might even like this, I may have to try it again tonight and see.  

What to Cook if it Snows?????

With predictions of snow in our immediate future I am thinking what can I fix in the crock pot.  Shocker!   Right?   I do love my crock pot.  I was skimming Pinterst last night to see what yummy things I could put in the Pot.   My hubby picked up a roast early this week and I put it in the freezer for just such a case.   I found a very interesting recipe for a balsamic roast.   There are many crock pot recipes out there for roast, but this one sounded very good to me.  I think the twang of vinegar and the little bit of sweet from the honey will be great.  I have a whole board on Pinterst dedicated to slow cooker recipes and that is where I found this one.  I had pinned it a long time ago.  This recipe is from Robyn Stone at Add a Pinch.  I will let you know how it turns out later this week.  

Here we go . . .

3-4 lb. boneless roast beef (chuck or round)

1 cup of beef broth

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1tbsp Worcestershire

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp honey

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

4 cloves of garlic

Place your roast in the pot.  Mix your other ingredients together and pour over your roast.   Cook on high for 4 hours or low 6-8 hours.   When you are ready to eat, remove your roast to a serving dish and shred with two forks.  Then pour  the juice over your roast.  

In past posts I have left things out of my recipes but, I am pretty sure this one is correct.   Check out 

www.addapinch.com    to see other recipes.  

Until we eat again. . .

Everyone Should Have a Hobby or 12. . .

Everyone should have a hobby, I have many hobbies.  I do not know if they are really hobbies but these are things that I love to do:  knit/crochet, reading, gardening, cooking, DIY (do it yourself stuff), fishing, and shooting.  I guess you could add blogging to that list too.   I have only recently learned how to knit and crochet.  I am not very good but I do enjoy it.  I do mostly scarves and shawls, I have made a hat or two.   I have found since starting to knit and crochet my eyes are really bad.   My distance vision is very good but up close I have to squint and strain, I think this is old age and I do not like it at all.

I have been painting too, this falls under the DIY section.  We have a cute wrought iron table and chair set for our back patio that has some rust and weather wear.  I decided I would steal wool the rust off and seal it with a spray to protect the iron.  Then I  sprayed in a gloss black, it's original color.  I got both chairs done but I have not done the table pedestal yet.  That is on my list to do this summer in between running the boys to and from football workouts.  I will share my chair pictures below.  

 I grew up fishing on our family vacations, I do not like lake fishing, I love salt water fishing.  The hubbs and I enjoy fishing together.  That is how I hooked my hubby.  I know corny right?  We went to the beach with some friends and he wanted to go fishing and he was surprised that I wanted to go too.  I out fished him that weekend and the next week he proposed.   Before we had the kiddos we would take little trips to the beach and go fishing all the time.   One time we even drove to the beach just to eat crab legs and drove back.   We were much more impulsive then, something about having kids that grounds you and makes you more responsible.  I would not trade our six years of impulsiveness for anything though.  That just makes me smile.  

My mom gave the gardening bug when I was little.  Mom always had a garden at the house and later she had one at the barn too.   Mom always had fresh peas, those were my favorite.  She used to get so mad at me because I would go out and sneak and pick her peas and eat them while she was busy in another part of the yard.  That has unfortunately bled over to my poor hubby, I sneak and pick his peas too and eat them before he can put them in the freezer.  I think he knows though, because each year he plants more peas.   I am so glad that my hubby caught his gardening bug from his mom and dad too.   I hope that my kids will learn from their dad and I the joys of gardening and eating fresh veggies.    Sprat loves the potatoes and he does help dig every now and then.  

My newest hobby is shooting.  My father-in-law gave me my first gun, he was worried about me being alone while the hubbs was traveling.  He was also a retired city police officer.  He knew the importance of a woman by herself being able to take care of herself.   I did not know how to shoot so I went to my dad, he took me out below our barn and taught me how to shoot my gun and a couple others.  I have since bought a new one and was in need of some refresher work with it.  I have found a great range that encourages women to learn gun safety and how to shoot well.  

Crockpot Stoup. . .

I am posting twice today trying to get caught up.   I decided since our garden is getting ready to take hold I would use some of my items I had frozen from last year and make some vegetable soup.  The hubby and I went to our local meat market and picked up some tip meat and I decided I would throw that in my soup, now a vegetable beef soup.  
I had some peas and some tomato sauce from last years garden in the freezer so I somewhat thawed my tomato sauce to use as my base for my soup.  I also had some beef broth left over from my roast I had made over the weekend and that went in the pot too.  You could call this a cleaning out the freezer and cabinets soup, which means throw everything in that you have.
Here is how it all went in:
tomato sauce from the freezer, about 2 quarts
3-4 cups of left over beef broth
2 cups of frozen green peas from the garden
1 bag of frozen peas and snaps (store)
1 bag of frozen corn(store)
1 bag of frozen okra (store)
1 can of pinto beans (store)
tomato paste, V8 juice, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, thyme, dry mustard.
I added the tip meat last and this cooked about 8 hours on high.    We have eaten some of it but I am freezing a good portion of it for later.
I try very hard to make soup but inevitably it always ends up much thicker than just soup so my hubbs has nicknamed it stoup.  Too think to be soup and a little thin to be stew.  

Looking forward to our garden this year and we are so very thankful that the hubbs brother came and plowed and planted for us.   The hubbs has been out to check things out and yesterday he was out watering and making sure everything was doing well.  Thank you to my sweet brother-in-law.

Bread is Cooking again. . .

I promise I will be posting things other than bread but today, I am in a bread mood.  I found this copycat recipe for Subway bread on Pinterest.  It is easy and I love their bread,  I do hate watching them slap a sandwich together, that is another post though. 
In proper fashion I did not keep to the recipe.  Here are the ingredients: 
1cup warm water (110 F)
1 1/2 tbsp yeast (almost 2 pkgs)
1tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
4tbsp olive oil
3-3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
This recipe uses a mixer.  I do not use metal anything when making bread so I did this by hand. 
Add yeast to your warm water then sugar and salt.  Set aside, in another bowl put one cup of flour then slowly add your yeast mixture a little at a time,  alternating flour and yeast mixture till it is all incorporated adding the olive oil for moisture.  Knead 8 minutes till dough is smooth.  I put mine in a bowl covered with a dish towel to rise for about 40 minutes.  Once it has risen, turn it out and punch it down.  Divide into fourths and shape into long skinny loaves,  cover and let rise  for 1 hour.  Bake 350 for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Take out of oven and rub with butter and cover with dish cloth to cool.  Per the recipe this last step keeps the bread soft.   This was posted on Pinterest by www.blessthismessplease.com  and she has the copycat recipe link.

As you can see I should have made my loaves a little skinnier.  Nothing I make ever turns out the way it is supposed to.  It is always good but never quite looks just so.   It smells absolutely wonderful!!  Cannot wait to try it tonight.  Until we eat again.

Recipes. . .

I am a recipe junkie.  I have so many recipes and the bad part is that none of them are in any kind of order.  I have several groups of recipes on my fridge, most of them I use fairly regularly.  I have a file folder full of recipes that I have torn out of magazines, only a few of these have I made.  I have many cookbooks that I have purchased and been given over the years.  I have one in particular that I have had since I went out on my own after college.  It is a Church cookbook from a Church where I grew up, not my Church but one near by.   These recipes are old and time tested.  I even have a little wooden box with recipe cards in it from various places.  Now that we have the internet we have a whole new recipe box to dig through.
I love the hand me down recipes from my mom and my sister too.
I like to bake and cook, and yes baking is different than cooking.  Baking implies bread or sweets of some sort and cooking refers more to meal type recipes.  I made molasses cookies a couple of weeks ago just because I had a craving for them.  This was a new recipe I found and it was so good.  Today I am making sourdough bread for us.  Dear hubby has been eating my sourdough  bread for breakfast and so have the kids.