Bleh

This was the week that shall not be named. The barbie toys were grounded for two days. That's big time in our house.

In other news, we did our taxes today. Woohoo!

Boiling Chickens

So I boiled my first chicken today... in preparation for making chicken n' dumplings from scratch...

The boiling was easy...and the chicken was tasty. A benefit to boiling vs. roasting is that you get stock when you're done.

Next step: skim fat from broth. Easier said than done... I wasn't anticipating that it would be difficult, and I had to get Steve to help me.

I added vegetables to the recipe....soup was simmering away. Yum yum yum.

Next step: make the dough for the dumplings.

Nooo problem. Right as I add the last ingredient (the milk of course) and begin stirring, I realize that the recipe called for self rising flour...and I have all purpose flour. ARGH! After some slinging and muttering and huffing (ok, so i'm not a super patient person), i decided to toss the dough. Better to waste 3 cups of flour then to waste the chicken, broth, and vegetables.

So i began again, this time making the appropriate adjustments (which is 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp of salt for every cup of flour).

Dough prepared and cut into little pieces, and then victoriously added to the broth.

In the end, it turned out very tasty, and there was lots of me patting myself on the back.

At Granny's House

the girls just had their first recital with Granny's violin students, and all went well. they must get their love of performing from steve.

also got to spend a few days with mama t, so that was good. we didn't really do much... but i did read 2 novels while i was there...

i've gotten super creative - i've taken all the recipes i've pulled out of magazines, put them in plastic sleeves, and then, BEHOLD, have put those sheets into a 3 ring binder.

this past week i tried some new recipes out on the extended family (1) peachy smothered pork chops... which i thought would be really gross, but were quite tasty (2) blackberry vinaigrette - very tasty (3) chicken and dumplings - a success, but want to try different recipes with this

Bible Verse

Lest you think I've gone heathen, I've decided to remove the daily bible verse from the blog b/c (1) i didn't like how it looked on the page and (2) i'm actually reading the bible right now on a year plan, so no more being lazy and relying on my blog ;)

I'm sure removing it will not shake your faith, but just didn't want anyone to worry. ha!

Ramblings

1. i looked at willow the other day... she's going to be 5 in a couple of weeks... FIVE! I said "can you believe you used to fit in my stomach?" ... i mean, really, it's crazy.... not just how we pro-create, but the fact that my tiny little baby is going to 5. oy.

2. went and played for one of my hospice patients on saturday - i was looking at the pictures up in her room - and i was just struck by how much life this woman used to live... the pictures with her family, the glamour shot from 20 years ago... and now she's child-like and spends her days in her room... i find it interesting that her favorite song is "Jesus Loves Me"...b/c she is very child-like now. This time, I also got her to hum along with "Go Tell it on the Mountain" . The traditional hymns seem to be what she can recall the most...it's tricky, b/c I don't really know anything about her or who she was before dementia... but that's always what draws her out.

3. willow got to spend the night with grammy and paka - good times were had, i'm sure. and yes, we still had 1 kid with us, but she goes to bed early, so we had an in-house date of watching "Coraline". TOTALLY not for willow yet, but so wonderful and imaginative.

4. Today we got to visit with one of my college roomates, her family, and her new baby. It was fun to catch up - it'd been at least 6 years!

5. tonight, newcomers class for church - a chance to learn about them, and ask some questions. i'm looking forward to it, but also just looking forward to the fellowship.

6. mama t's coming up this week, so we'll be at my mom's - looking forward to spending time with her - i think she turns 89 this year (!)...her mom lived to be 101... she still teaches and sings in the choir, and stays infinitely busier than me. go figure.

7. still continuing with the exercise - not sure if i'm ready to bump it up to the "losing weight" level of exercise - right now, i'm at the "maintaining and strengthening" level... and when they say the last 10 lbs are the hardest to lose, THEY ARE NOT KIDDING. oy. but still i plug away.

Moving Forward

1. i've been thru the fire this week w/ rose and her tantrums..but i think we're emerging on the other side now... hopefully! biggest help was t. berry brazleton's book on anger and aggression in kids...one chapter was like he was writing about rose... and i think i've found a little technique that works for us. thanks God.

2. enjoying the new church. the people are very friendly, like they were at BRV...it's small and growing...and it seems easy to meet people on sunday... no opportunities yet for get-togethers during the week, but hopefully that will come.

3. rose is developing a sense of humor. it's pretty funny. she's also figured out how to cross her eyes...it's pretty creepy.

4. without either of us killing each other, Willow has learned her next Suzuki song - Lightly Row - she's a smart kid...recital in a couple of weeks, so i really have to actually practice with her...

5. life is otherwise fairly quiet...

R's Galore

1. willow's figured out how to roll her "r"'s. i remember kids in spanish class who couldn't do it, and always felt sorry for them (haha)... and i figured that it was one of those language things - if she heard it, she'd do it... so when she was a baby, i'd roll my r's for her occasionally. yes. i'm weird. for the last couple of weeks, she's been practicing it and announcing "mommy, i just did an r!"...um, not really kid..you were saying "gulag". but finally tonight, she figured it out, and then proceeded to roll her r's without ceasing... we now have a temporary ban on r rolling here...

2. got free milk at kroger as part of a store special...but it's a gallon jug...and we don't drink a lot of milk - we get our calcium from other places - but we make sure to drink enough hormone-d milk so we can become giant genetic mutations and take over the earth..

but i digress.

so we got the gallon, and i used my womanly ingenuity to pour half of it into a half gallon container that was almost empty, and then freeze it. go me. that way we don't waste it.

3. hope the eagles win tonight...and i don't even like football.

Cappucino Pot Roast

Trust me on this one... it may seem a weird mix of ingredients, but it's a delicious and easy crock pot dish... from one of my free magazines...

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Ingredients

3 lb chuck roast

1 lb carrots cut in 1 inch pieces

1 large onion cut in wedges

4 garlic cloves cut in half

1 jalapeno diced

1 cup strong brewed coffee

1 pkg of beef stew seasoning mix

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 beef bouillon cubes

1 bay leaf

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Put the carrots, onions, garlic, and jalapeno in the crock pot.

Season the chuck roast with salt and pepper, and put on top.

Mix the remaining above ingredients and pour over roast in crock pot.

Cook on LOW for 9 hours.

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Take the meat out and let it rest for about 20 minutes.

Spoon out the carrots and set aside for serving.

Strain the juice that's left in the crock pot into a bowl - you need 1 cup of the juice/broth. Add about 4 oz of sour cream to the broth and whisk. Pour some over the roast, and then have the rest for serving at the table.

Top with gremolata.

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Gremolata is the zest of one lemon, a finely diced garlic clove, and 1/4 cup of flat parsley diced all mixed together. I like to use a microplaner to zest the lemon and to grate the garlic so that there aren't large raw chunks... when you serve the roast, you put the roast on your plate (duh), top with the sauce, and then top with the gremolata. You don't have to add the gremolata, but it really gives it a wonderful fresh bite.

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If you feel like you need more food, serving something like mashed potatoes goes very well with this.

A Quiet Week

It was a quiet week...which is not a bad thing at all. Had friends/family over a couple of times... so that was fun...

Rose has been teething like a maniac...those same 2 top front pointy teeth... it's been like 2 months now...they're just barely poking through, the gums are swollen...she'll be grumpy...and then they'll quiet down... just enough to lull us into thinking they'll give us a break...and then...BAM! they're back... This time around seems much more uncomfortable for her... so hopefully the teeth will finally stake their claim and stop messing around...

Willow's excited because she's going to get to spend the night with Aunt Anna next week...and I'm sure we're going to be talking about it ALL DAY EVERY DAY for the next week...but she's under super threat not to talk about it in front of Rose, who I'm sure would be very jealous.

I really need a haircut...I've been thinking shoulder length bob, but I think my layers are still to short for that....and I don't do short well...

Yep..an exciting week :)