Hello friends,
I would like to start this as though it hasn't been four years since my last post. No long list of excuses for such a long silence. No explaining how busy I've been. Just this...I'm here now. Here to visit with you although I'm not exactly sure that my blog title Jen's Table is an accurate description of what I will be writing about. Due to a very different life than what I had four years ago, I don't spend as much time pouring over recipe books or Pinterest anymore. It sometimes seems more like, what have I not made so often that you guys are sick of eating it? I miss the days of cooking huge feasts for my family and friends but it's a new season. There will be lots of time in the years to come for me to spend days baking and frying... so they say!
I will tell you about my latest adventure/fiasco. Whole30. I have had so many opportunities to explain this idea in the past month but the easiest, less wordy way to put it is basically eating only whole foods for a month. Meats, vegetables, fruits, eggs, and nuts. I did a lot of research on it and it sounded perfect. I got Jonny and Ally both on board with me and we started the last day of February. I had done a lot of reading and pretty much knew to expect some grumpiness and fatigue. I started on a Monday morning and by Wednesday night I was starting to doubt. You see...I actually do not like vegetables. At least, not vegetables the way most people like vegetables. I like them dipped in batter and fried. When I was a kid I remember my Grandma telling me that I needed my vegetables and then taking me to Luby's and letting me get mac n' cheese, fried okra, broccoli with cheese, fried chicken, and a roll. You know...vegetables!
After a few hours on Wednesday night of doubting, I did fine until the following Sunday. That day I almost lost it. I wanted to slap and scream at every human, animal, car, or anything else that got in my way. I cried and tried to talk my family into trying something different. The way it worked with having three of us was that whenever one of us felt weak (mostly me) the others would keep us going. So keeping on going is exactly what I did. The second week was a little better. I tried eating more roasted veggies. That is my favorite healthy way to cook them and the only way I can really eat them at all without batter!
By the end of the third week, instead of feeling stronger and more energetic I began to get down. Really low down. I was craving like crazy even though everyone had said that the cravings would subside after the first or second week. I developed bags under my eyes and lost all of the tiny amount of patience I possess. I was considering stopping just so I could get back to doing school with my kids but I was too embarrassed to stop when so many people knew that I was doing it and were cheering me on. But after a talk with Jonny who by the way did excellent for almost the entire month, he encouraged me to do what was best for me and not what I felt like others expected of me. So I stopped. I stopped and am still telling myself that it's okay. I have figured out that Whole30 is great for some. It's great for people who have food allergies that they aren't aware of. It's great for people who love vegetables. But it wasn't great for me.
A few good things came from it. I lost ten pounds and found the motivation to continue making healthier choices. I also became more aware of just how much I depend on food to comfort me. I do not regret that I tried Whole30. Now I know.
Good night friends. More on a different subject on a different night. Not sure when, but sometime.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Thursday, May 17, 2012
My Story
I realized when I looked back at my posts, that I haven't written here in almost a year! Time goes by incredibly fast when you're having a baby and your house burns down.
I have enough people stop by the old house or call and ask what happened that night. So I thought I would tell you the story right here.
The night of December 22nd we had been invited to some friends house for their Christmas tree lighting ceremony. It was so special and they let each of my many family members choose a Christmas song that was sung by everyone in the room. We came home that night to our beautifully decorated home complete with crackling fireplace, lights twinkling, and home made cookies and candies sitting on the card table that had the game the girls and I were in the middle of.
After we got all the babies put to bed and threw a few logs on the new wood-burning fireplace (we had always used it as a gas fireplace but it was originally built to be wood-burning), Jonny and I went to bed excited for the next few days of Christmas celebration. That night around 1:45 I woke up and thought I could smell smoke. I got up and went downstairs to check the fireplace but all looked fine. I figured I was just not use to the smell of woodsmoke since we had just installed the new fireplace a few days before. I woke Jonny up and he wandered around the house to check on things as well. We both laid back down and drifted off to sleep. Exactly forty-five minutes later, without the sound of a smoke alarm, we were both awakened at the same second.
Neither of us could figure out what woke us up we just knew that for some reason, we were both terrified. We would later discover that it was God himself that woke us up and just in the nick of time too. I grabbed Jonny's arm and whispered "What is it?". He jumped out of the bed and ran downstairs. I knew that there was smoke in the house and ran into the boys room to open the window. Seconds later I heard a pop and a loud hissing sound. All I could think was "Where on earth did he find a fire extinguisher?" I figured that a log had rolled out of the fireplace and he was putting out the fire. I called down to him "Should I get the kids out?" Now understand that Jonny absolutely never reacts. Often I have wished that he would panic more like I do, but he is always calm and never freaks out. So when he ran to the bottom of the stairs and yelled out me "Get 'em out!" I didn't dawdle. I hollered to the girls who were out of the bed in less than a split second. We each grabbed a boy and Molly had woken up during the commotion. I later discovered that Meghan didn't even wake up until she realized she was carrying Charlie and was halfway down the stairs.
I grabbed two blankets and we had all six kids out the door in less than ten seconds. Jonny had the presence of mind to tell me to get the car keys and the girls and I put all the babies in the car. I ran to the next door neighbor, banging on the door begging them to help us. Then I saw Jonny coming out the front door running to the car. We jumped in and he pulled us out into the cul-de-sac. He kept screaming "Do you have them all?" Then I heard him say really low "Oh my goodness" I looked in and the fireplace and Molly's room were engulfed in flames. Jonny saw the mantle blow off the fireplace and fly across the room. It was like a horror scene as we watched our stockings catch on fire and the table of Christmas goodies burn to the ground. Seeing the flames pour out of Molly's room realizing that if we had been five minutes later, she would've been burned to a crisp, was a little more than I could take. I began to lose it. I was not behaving like a calm, put together mother. I was crying and mostly freaking out. I jumped out the of the car and ran to the back neighbors who came running out in a panic. Shirley (my neighbor) grabbed me in a fierce hug and kept asking if I had all the babies. Jonny wouldn't let me bring the kids into their house until I settled down, so I'm telling you that in the space of exactly 1/4 of a second, I pulled myself together.
We hustled little crying people into their house, the girls in a state of silent shock, the boys wailing in complete terror. It seems forever before the firemen arrived. The only funny spot in that nightmare was that when the firemen pulled up, it stopped being scary for the boys and became the most fun thing they had ever witnessed. They loved seeing all the lights and Jonny and I were in a constant state of panic every time we lost one boy behind the curtain, that they had run out to the house. The rest of that hour was like a dream as Mom and Dad pulled up both crying and trying to comfort all of us. As we tried to figure out what to do, how to get to Mom and Dad's without Jimmy's carseat, without the little kids blankets and stuffed animals that they've slept with since I can remember.
Mom and Dad went to Walmart to get us formula, bottles, shoes, underwear, and something for breakfast. We had grabbed absolutely nothing. Jonny took us to Mom and Dad's and helped me tuck scared, confused little people into bed. As I laid Molly down and kissed her goodnight, I almost choked over the smell of smoke that overwhelmed her little body. She had been laying right beside the fireplace that we later discovered was where the fire started.
Jonny and Dad left to go make sure that no one tried to vandalize our home and I laid down in the recliner and tried to sleep. I remember thinking that I needed rest but knowing that it was a hopeless cause. I began to pray. All I could think of was "Lord we need help. Send someone to help us. We can't do this on our own."
As soon as I saw the first rays of light, I pulled on the clothes Mom and found for me and headed for the house, preparing myself as best as I could for the worst, which Jonny had called and told me was what I should expect. I let go of some tears on the way as well, thinking in my ignorance that I just needed a couple of minutes to cry. Later I would discover that I would need a lot more than that. When I pulled up to the house, I was surprised. It barely looked damaged at all. I began to hope that things weren't as bleak as they seemed. One of my neighbors was standing in the yard talking to Jonny. When I pulled up she ran to me crying and gave me a check. It was for $1000. We were shocked. This lady is not a wealthy lady. This was simply the first of many hundreds of people that would be the Lord's tool in answering my prayer for help.
I walked in the front door and burst into tears. The house was ruined. The downstairs living room was burned to a crisp along with everything in it. The Christmas tree that was covered in all of our pre-school ornaments, our Silver Dollar City ornaments, our carefully gathered favorite ornaments that I had been collecting for nearly sixteen years were laying on the ground in a melted, charred mass. I walked through the house as if in a nightmare. Nothing seemed salvageable. What hadn't been burned by the fire, was totally black from smoke. Not the kind of smoke that you could wipe off with a rag, but had been permanently plastered to every surface. I felt totally hopeless. We had nothing except the pajamas that we escaped in.
As I was walking down the stairs, I got a call on my cell phone that Jonny had found under my pillow. It was from a friend from High Street. She told me through her tears, that a group of people had gotten together and wanted to help my family however they could. She listened as I tried my hardest to figure out what we needed most at that moment then told me to call if I thought of anything else. As I was hanging up from her, the phone rang again. More people asking what we needed. I walked outside and discovered that people had been pulling up to the house and calling Jonny's phone. People that we hadn't seen in years, people that we had never even met. Friends, family, neighbors, strangers. More people than we could ever possibly count were stepping in to take care of our family. People that I knew for a fact had nothing and were sacrificing for our family. We were offered places to live, money, clothing, toiletries, food, and more. That evening, my friends from High Street showed up with bags and bags of wrapped gifts, diapers, and most importantly, new blankets for the twins and Molly.
That night my sister-in-law drove up all the way from Arkansas to bring things that she knew our family needed. My in-laws showed up the next morning with a car load of gifts from friends and strangers from Arkansas. Jonny's dad dressed up as Santa and surprised the kids.
The people from our church came with meals,baby items, money, support, encouragement, time, and love. My family did nothing but cry from gratitude for days. Jonny would walk up to me with tears in his eyes and his hands full of money. I would get calls for some weeks from perfect strangers giving us furniture, money, handmade quilts, toys, clothing, food, etc.
I had people take my children shopping for special clothes for Christmas Eve. Friends invited us to come have Christmas lunch with them.
Let me back up enough to describe Christmas Eve day and evening to you. Jonny and I spent that day trying to take care of things the best we could. He spent a lot of the day at the house and I began organizing the treasures we were being brought almost by the minute. That night the stress of trying to find coats, tights, clothes, shoes, and a diaper bag for the Christmas Eve service began to wear on me. It dawned on me that we didn't know what we were doing for Christmas dinner. I called Cracker Barrel to see if they were open Christmas Eve. They were not. I began to despair. Christmas has always been my favorite time of year and it has always been a nightmare of mine that it would come and I would not be ready for it. My nightmare was being lived out in the most horrible way I had ever imagined. There was no Christmas tree, no Christmas feast, no Christmas candy, no Christmas music. Jonny helped me load the kids up in the car and we headed to our Christmas Eve service. I was fighting tears the entire way. Depression was beginning to loom over me. We got to church where I was surrounded by arms of love and words of encouragement. A family showed up during the service and motioned for me to come into the foyer. The man proceeded to tell me that their house had burned down exactly one year ago. He told me that even though it didn't seem so at that moment, we WOULD get through this. Then they handed me a huge stack of restaraunt gift cards. I cried some more.
As we were leaving the service, I had a genius idea. We would stop at Walmart and let the kids get whatever feast foods they wanted. We would have an appetizer dinner! I was so proud of myself. We went across the street to Walmart and Jonny and Ally jumped out. We were all beginning to smile a little. Two minutes later, they walked back to the car and Ally was crying. They were closing their doors and wouldn't let anyone else in. I would find out later that Ally had actually resorted to begging them to let her in. She cried to him that her house had just burned down and her family needed Christmas dinner. If any of you know Ally, then you know that this is TOTALLY unlike her. She was heartbroken.
I was heartbroken for her. It looked like it would cold sandwiches for Christmas Eve. We were driving down Battlefield when Jonny had an idea. Dinner at Oceans Zen. He called to ask their hours and they informed us that they were about to close but that they would go ahead and get a table ready for us, my parents, and Nate and Steph (my brother and sister-in-law) and their kids. We had the best time! Dinner was amazing. They waited on us hand and foot and treated us like royalty.
We went to Mom and Dad's and read the Christmas story, then set out the gifts that people had showered us with. Sadly enough, I can't remember one thing about Christmas Day except that night once the kids were in bed. I have always had a hard time saying goodbye to Christmas. I always get a little down Christmas night after the gifts are all opened and the day is over. This year was excruciatingly difficult. I walked back to the back of the house and started reading all my Facebook messages. One story stood out to me the most. It was a story on the news of a lady who had lost her house that morning to a fire. She like me, had lost everything she owned, but there was something more. Her three little girls and her parents had been in that house when it burned. They were all killed and she was alone.
I walked back to the bedroom where my three boys were sleeping peacefully. All tucked in with their new blankets, snug and secure and happy. I sat on the floor and watched their faces and began to cry. Thanking God for saving my babies. Thanking God that things can be replaced but people can never be.
This has been a very difficult several months, but God has taught me more lessons than I can describe. Jonny and I have both admitted to each other that we would be willing to walk through it all again if God asked us to. We have never felt so loved and taken care of as we have in the past five months. There is nothing that we need that we do not have. No one that we love that is not here. I am so grateful for the lessons that have been learned through this fire. I can truly say "Thank you Lord for sending this fire."
I have enough people stop by the old house or call and ask what happened that night. So I thought I would tell you the story right here.
The night of December 22nd we had been invited to some friends house for their Christmas tree lighting ceremony. It was so special and they let each of my many family members choose a Christmas song that was sung by everyone in the room. We came home that night to our beautifully decorated home complete with crackling fireplace, lights twinkling, and home made cookies and candies sitting on the card table that had the game the girls and I were in the middle of.
After we got all the babies put to bed and threw a few logs on the new wood-burning fireplace (we had always used it as a gas fireplace but it was originally built to be wood-burning), Jonny and I went to bed excited for the next few days of Christmas celebration. That night around 1:45 I woke up and thought I could smell smoke. I got up and went downstairs to check the fireplace but all looked fine. I figured I was just not use to the smell of woodsmoke since we had just installed the new fireplace a few days before. I woke Jonny up and he wandered around the house to check on things as well. We both laid back down and drifted off to sleep. Exactly forty-five minutes later, without the sound of a smoke alarm, we were both awakened at the same second.
Neither of us could figure out what woke us up we just knew that for some reason, we were both terrified. We would later discover that it was God himself that woke us up and just in the nick of time too. I grabbed Jonny's arm and whispered "What is it?". He jumped out of the bed and ran downstairs. I knew that there was smoke in the house and ran into the boys room to open the window. Seconds later I heard a pop and a loud hissing sound. All I could think was "Where on earth did he find a fire extinguisher?" I figured that a log had rolled out of the fireplace and he was putting out the fire. I called down to him "Should I get the kids out?" Now understand that Jonny absolutely never reacts. Often I have wished that he would panic more like I do, but he is always calm and never freaks out. So when he ran to the bottom of the stairs and yelled out me "Get 'em out!" I didn't dawdle. I hollered to the girls who were out of the bed in less than a split second. We each grabbed a boy and Molly had woken up during the commotion. I later discovered that Meghan didn't even wake up until she realized she was carrying Charlie and was halfway down the stairs.
I grabbed two blankets and we had all six kids out the door in less than ten seconds. Jonny had the presence of mind to tell me to get the car keys and the girls and I put all the babies in the car. I ran to the next door neighbor, banging on the door begging them to help us. Then I saw Jonny coming out the front door running to the car. We jumped in and he pulled us out into the cul-de-sac. He kept screaming "Do you have them all?" Then I heard him say really low "Oh my goodness" I looked in and the fireplace and Molly's room were engulfed in flames. Jonny saw the mantle blow off the fireplace and fly across the room. It was like a horror scene as we watched our stockings catch on fire and the table of Christmas goodies burn to the ground. Seeing the flames pour out of Molly's room realizing that if we had been five minutes later, she would've been burned to a crisp, was a little more than I could take. I began to lose it. I was not behaving like a calm, put together mother. I was crying and mostly freaking out. I jumped out the of the car and ran to the back neighbors who came running out in a panic. Shirley (my neighbor) grabbed me in a fierce hug and kept asking if I had all the babies. Jonny wouldn't let me bring the kids into their house until I settled down, so I'm telling you that in the space of exactly 1/4 of a second, I pulled myself together.
We hustled little crying people into their house, the girls in a state of silent shock, the boys wailing in complete terror. It seems forever before the firemen arrived. The only funny spot in that nightmare was that when the firemen pulled up, it stopped being scary for the boys and became the most fun thing they had ever witnessed. They loved seeing all the lights and Jonny and I were in a constant state of panic every time we lost one boy behind the curtain, that they had run out to the house. The rest of that hour was like a dream as Mom and Dad pulled up both crying and trying to comfort all of us. As we tried to figure out what to do, how to get to Mom and Dad's without Jimmy's carseat, without the little kids blankets and stuffed animals that they've slept with since I can remember.
Mom and Dad went to Walmart to get us formula, bottles, shoes, underwear, and something for breakfast. We had grabbed absolutely nothing. Jonny took us to Mom and Dad's and helped me tuck scared, confused little people into bed. As I laid Molly down and kissed her goodnight, I almost choked over the smell of smoke that overwhelmed her little body. She had been laying right beside the fireplace that we later discovered was where the fire started.
Jonny and Dad left to go make sure that no one tried to vandalize our home and I laid down in the recliner and tried to sleep. I remember thinking that I needed rest but knowing that it was a hopeless cause. I began to pray. All I could think of was "Lord we need help. Send someone to help us. We can't do this on our own."
As soon as I saw the first rays of light, I pulled on the clothes Mom and found for me and headed for the house, preparing myself as best as I could for the worst, which Jonny had called and told me was what I should expect. I let go of some tears on the way as well, thinking in my ignorance that I just needed a couple of minutes to cry. Later I would discover that I would need a lot more than that. When I pulled up to the house, I was surprised. It barely looked damaged at all. I began to hope that things weren't as bleak as they seemed. One of my neighbors was standing in the yard talking to Jonny. When I pulled up she ran to me crying and gave me a check. It was for $1000. We were shocked. This lady is not a wealthy lady. This was simply the first of many hundreds of people that would be the Lord's tool in answering my prayer for help.
I walked in the front door and burst into tears. The house was ruined. The downstairs living room was burned to a crisp along with everything in it. The Christmas tree that was covered in all of our pre-school ornaments, our Silver Dollar City ornaments, our carefully gathered favorite ornaments that I had been collecting for nearly sixteen years were laying on the ground in a melted, charred mass. I walked through the house as if in a nightmare. Nothing seemed salvageable. What hadn't been burned by the fire, was totally black from smoke. Not the kind of smoke that you could wipe off with a rag, but had been permanently plastered to every surface. I felt totally hopeless. We had nothing except the pajamas that we escaped in.
As I was walking down the stairs, I got a call on my cell phone that Jonny had found under my pillow. It was from a friend from High Street. She told me through her tears, that a group of people had gotten together and wanted to help my family however they could. She listened as I tried my hardest to figure out what we needed most at that moment then told me to call if I thought of anything else. As I was hanging up from her, the phone rang again. More people asking what we needed. I walked outside and discovered that people had been pulling up to the house and calling Jonny's phone. People that we hadn't seen in years, people that we had never even met. Friends, family, neighbors, strangers. More people than we could ever possibly count were stepping in to take care of our family. People that I knew for a fact had nothing and were sacrificing for our family. We were offered places to live, money, clothing, toiletries, food, and more. That evening, my friends from High Street showed up with bags and bags of wrapped gifts, diapers, and most importantly, new blankets for the twins and Molly.
That night my sister-in-law drove up all the way from Arkansas to bring things that she knew our family needed. My in-laws showed up the next morning with a car load of gifts from friends and strangers from Arkansas. Jonny's dad dressed up as Santa and surprised the kids.
The people from our church came with meals,baby items, money, support, encouragement, time, and love. My family did nothing but cry from gratitude for days. Jonny would walk up to me with tears in his eyes and his hands full of money. I would get calls for some weeks from perfect strangers giving us furniture, money, handmade quilts, toys, clothing, food, etc.
I had people take my children shopping for special clothes for Christmas Eve. Friends invited us to come have Christmas lunch with them.
Let me back up enough to describe Christmas Eve day and evening to you. Jonny and I spent that day trying to take care of things the best we could. He spent a lot of the day at the house and I began organizing the treasures we were being brought almost by the minute. That night the stress of trying to find coats, tights, clothes, shoes, and a diaper bag for the Christmas Eve service began to wear on me. It dawned on me that we didn't know what we were doing for Christmas dinner. I called Cracker Barrel to see if they were open Christmas Eve. They were not. I began to despair. Christmas has always been my favorite time of year and it has always been a nightmare of mine that it would come and I would not be ready for it. My nightmare was being lived out in the most horrible way I had ever imagined. There was no Christmas tree, no Christmas feast, no Christmas candy, no Christmas music. Jonny helped me load the kids up in the car and we headed to our Christmas Eve service. I was fighting tears the entire way. Depression was beginning to loom over me. We got to church where I was surrounded by arms of love and words of encouragement. A family showed up during the service and motioned for me to come into the foyer. The man proceeded to tell me that their house had burned down exactly one year ago. He told me that even though it didn't seem so at that moment, we WOULD get through this. Then they handed me a huge stack of restaraunt gift cards. I cried some more.
As we were leaving the service, I had a genius idea. We would stop at Walmart and let the kids get whatever feast foods they wanted. We would have an appetizer dinner! I was so proud of myself. We went across the street to Walmart and Jonny and Ally jumped out. We were all beginning to smile a little. Two minutes later, they walked back to the car and Ally was crying. They were closing their doors and wouldn't let anyone else in. I would find out later that Ally had actually resorted to begging them to let her in. She cried to him that her house had just burned down and her family needed Christmas dinner. If any of you know Ally, then you know that this is TOTALLY unlike her. She was heartbroken.
I was heartbroken for her. It looked like it would cold sandwiches for Christmas Eve. We were driving down Battlefield when Jonny had an idea. Dinner at Oceans Zen. He called to ask their hours and they informed us that they were about to close but that they would go ahead and get a table ready for us, my parents, and Nate and Steph (my brother and sister-in-law) and their kids. We had the best time! Dinner was amazing. They waited on us hand and foot and treated us like royalty.
We went to Mom and Dad's and read the Christmas story, then set out the gifts that people had showered us with. Sadly enough, I can't remember one thing about Christmas Day except that night once the kids were in bed. I have always had a hard time saying goodbye to Christmas. I always get a little down Christmas night after the gifts are all opened and the day is over. This year was excruciatingly difficult. I walked back to the back of the house and started reading all my Facebook messages. One story stood out to me the most. It was a story on the news of a lady who had lost her house that morning to a fire. She like me, had lost everything she owned, but there was something more. Her three little girls and her parents had been in that house when it burned. They were all killed and she was alone.
I walked back to the bedroom where my three boys were sleeping peacefully. All tucked in with their new blankets, snug and secure and happy. I sat on the floor and watched their faces and began to cry. Thanking God for saving my babies. Thanking God that things can be replaced but people can never be.
This has been a very difficult several months, but God has taught me more lessons than I can describe. Jonny and I have both admitted to each other that we would be willing to walk through it all again if God asked us to. We have never felt so loved and taken care of as we have in the past five months. There is nothing that we need that we do not have. No one that we love that is not here. I am so grateful for the lessons that have been learned through this fire. I can truly say "Thank you Lord for sending this fire."
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Cooking for the Week
Summer is finally here! Pool days, watering flowers, brown babies, grilled burgers, long evenings, fireflies, shaved ice, cooking huge meals...huh? How did that one get in there??!!
One thing I have discovered about all this wonderful summeryness is that I rarely feel like standing in the kitchen. Especially now that my stomach makes reaching the cabinet a bit of a painful chore and I can't seem to find a cool place unless I lock myself in my deep freeze that is stuffed to the brim with sale finds;-)
So this incredible idea came to me last Sunday. I was planning my Monday. Filling it with clipping coupons, sorting coupons, grocery shopping, organizing all my steals, and then I realized that I would have to fit preparing dinner in there somewhere. So I begin to hatch a thought. Why not make the entire weeks meals in one evening? Jonny had stocked me up on ground beef and chicken so I had pretty much everything I needed to make anything I might have a hankerin' for.
So after doing all my couponing stuff ( I hate that word "stuff". I sounds so unimaginative.), I took a short nap and then put the boys and Molly at the table with crayons, paper, and stickers and started cooking up a storm.
I put a big pot of ground chuck on to brown, a big pot of chicken on to boil, filled the fryer with grease, pulled out all the casserole dishes and all the spices and started filling the kitchen with good things to eat.
I made Beef Enchiladas (my own recipe that my family later informed me needs a little tweaking), Fried Chicken, Chicken Spaghetti, and Sour Cream Enchiladas.
It may sound like a ton of work, but amazingly enough it didn't take me any longer than cooking one meal would've taken since everything was cooking at one time. I had Meghan helping me clean up and Ally helping me shred chicken and we had the best time.
It has been so wonderful each evening as dinner time approaches, knowing that dinner is sitting in the fridge waiting to be popped into the oven!
I have heard of ladies that prepare meals for an entire month and then freeze them, but Jonny absolutely despises leftovers and pulling a dish that's been sitting in the freezer for a few weeks is dangerously close to leftovers for my sweet husband. As it is, I wondered how he might feel about being served enchiladas that have been marinating for three days, but he has made no complaints and has appreciated not being asked to stop and get us burgers on those evenings that little "nameless baby" makes cooking seem very unappealing.
I am excited to put together next week's menu which I will try to remember to share with you.
As for right now, I will post the recipe for Sour Cream Enchiladas that many of you have requested. Similar to many of my recipes, I have no measurements for this one, I just dump ingredients in until it looks right. But given that it's little else than cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and cheese, the possibility that you will go wrong is remote.
I simply boil about three pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and let me them cool. Then shred them. In a large bowl, I combine a large container of sour cream and four cans of cream of chicken soup. Then I add about a cup and a half a grated extra sharp cheddar cheese and a small can of green chilies. Then I dump in the chicken and stir it all together.
Next, grease a large casserole dish and make sure your oven is preheated to 350 degrees.
Then put about a half a cup (more or less) in each flour tortilla shell, roll it up and lay it in the casserole dish. Repeat until dish is full. Then pour remaining sauce over shells and cover with grated cheese. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbly. Very easy and most delicious I might add.
Talk to you soon friends!
One thing I have discovered about all this wonderful summeryness is that I rarely feel like standing in the kitchen. Especially now that my stomach makes reaching the cabinet a bit of a painful chore and I can't seem to find a cool place unless I lock myself in my deep freeze that is stuffed to the brim with sale finds;-)
So this incredible idea came to me last Sunday. I was planning my Monday. Filling it with clipping coupons, sorting coupons, grocery shopping, organizing all my steals, and then I realized that I would have to fit preparing dinner in there somewhere. So I begin to hatch a thought. Why not make the entire weeks meals in one evening? Jonny had stocked me up on ground beef and chicken so I had pretty much everything I needed to make anything I might have a hankerin' for.
So after doing all my couponing stuff ( I hate that word "stuff". I sounds so unimaginative.), I took a short nap and then put the boys and Molly at the table with crayons, paper, and stickers and started cooking up a storm.
I put a big pot of ground chuck on to brown, a big pot of chicken on to boil, filled the fryer with grease, pulled out all the casserole dishes and all the spices and started filling the kitchen with good things to eat.
I made Beef Enchiladas (my own recipe that my family later informed me needs a little tweaking), Fried Chicken, Chicken Spaghetti, and Sour Cream Enchiladas.
It may sound like a ton of work, but amazingly enough it didn't take me any longer than cooking one meal would've taken since everything was cooking at one time. I had Meghan helping me clean up and Ally helping me shred chicken and we had the best time.
It has been so wonderful each evening as dinner time approaches, knowing that dinner is sitting in the fridge waiting to be popped into the oven!
I have heard of ladies that prepare meals for an entire month and then freeze them, but Jonny absolutely despises leftovers and pulling a dish that's been sitting in the freezer for a few weeks is dangerously close to leftovers for my sweet husband. As it is, I wondered how he might feel about being served enchiladas that have been marinating for three days, but he has made no complaints and has appreciated not being asked to stop and get us burgers on those evenings that little "nameless baby" makes cooking seem very unappealing.
I am excited to put together next week's menu which I will try to remember to share with you.
As for right now, I will post the recipe for Sour Cream Enchiladas that many of you have requested. Similar to many of my recipes, I have no measurements for this one, I just dump ingredients in until it looks right. But given that it's little else than cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and cheese, the possibility that you will go wrong is remote.
I simply boil about three pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and let me them cool. Then shred them. In a large bowl, I combine a large container of sour cream and four cans of cream of chicken soup. Then I add about a cup and a half a grated extra sharp cheddar cheese and a small can of green chilies. Then I dump in the chicken and stir it all together.
Next, grease a large casserole dish and make sure your oven is preheated to 350 degrees.
Then put about a half a cup (more or less) in each flour tortilla shell, roll it up and lay it in the casserole dish. Repeat until dish is full. Then pour remaining sauce over shells and cover with grated cheese. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbly. Very easy and most delicious I might add.
Talk to you soon friends!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Reicpes, recipes, and more recipes!!
Hello out there to all of my faithful readers! I have had so many of you sweet people kindly ask me if I might ever possibly post again and I always feel so guilty because I promised you in the beginning that I would post everyday. That turned into once a week, and we are now somewhere around once every month or two:-(
I do have a good excuse though. Besides struggling to find the time to sit here for more than a few minutes at a time, I cannot seem to get my imagination to work like it use to. It takes me forever to come up with a fresh idea that I haven't used yet (is that redundant?) and then when I finally come up with one, I get interrupted fifty-eleven times and completely lose my train of thought. So when I read back over my post, I'm thinking "What on earth did I mean by that??"
I have decided to bring a recipe back that I get asked about the most often, fried chicken. I have had so many people tell me that they can't find a recipe that they like, or that they simply can't figure out how to fry meat properly. So I am going to explain my recipe step by step. I'm also going to add lemonade cookies and Asian slaw, two favorites that are not my own, but those I have borrowed from other wonderful cooks.
Fried Chicken first:
Step 1: Thaw boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Step 2: Heat an electric skillet filled about 1/3 full with vegetable oil to 350 degrees being sure to not put any chicken in it until sizzles when you sprinkle a drop or two of water into it. Putting plenty of oil in your pan makes the chicken cook more evenly.
Step 3: Find a good size bowl and put 2-3 cups of flour into it (depending on how much chicken you're frying) and then sprinkle in as much pepper as you like. Stir.
Step 4: Salt each side of each piece of chicken. I do quite a bit of salt being that I really like my chicken salty and it makes it more moist.
Step 5: Carefully place chicken in hot grease and cover. I always cover the chicken for the first side to cook, and then leave the cover off for the other side. This makes the crust crispy but keeps the chicken moist. Turn the chicken over as soon as the crust is nice and golden brown.
Step 6: Dry on paper towels to keep from getting greasy.
This is my best attempt at explaining my chicken frying method. If you still find that yours doesn't turn out the way you like it, then call me and we'll have a chicken frying date!!
Lemonade Cookies
This recipe came from one of my magazines, but I must confess to you that I, myself, personally, have never made these. Ally makes these for me on a regular basis and they are truly ADDICTIVE!!!
1 cup unsalted butter softened
1 and 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup sweetened lemonade powder mix
2 eggs
2 tsp lemon zest
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
In a large mixing bowl, combine first three ingredients. Beat at medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs and lemon zest beating well.
In a medium bowl combine dry ingredients. Add this mixture to butter mixture alternately with sour cream beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed blending well after each addition. Divide dough into fourths wrapping each portion in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with wax paper. On a floured surface, roll each portion of chilled dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Using the top of a small glass, cut dough into flat cookies. Place 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake 6-8 minutes and cool completely. Icing recipe follows.
Lemonade Icing
3 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
6 tablespoons frozen lemonade concentrate thawed
In a medium bowl, combine sugar, butter, and lemonade. Beat at low speed until combined. Ice cooled cookies.
I highly recommend giving this recipe a try. It may sound long and tedious, but Ally has never messed it up even a little bit and she has been making this recipe since she was twelve. I guarantee that you will LOVE IT!!!!
Asian Slaw
I'm not exactly sure where this recipe originated, but I got it from my friend Kellye and it is one of my favorite summer salads.
It is very easy to make and gets better the longer it sits.
1 package of coleslaw mix
1 package of ramen noodles uncooked and broken into small bits
1 cup almonds 1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup craisens
1 apple cut up
Dressing:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
Mix and toss with salad.
Super easy huh?!
One last little recipe and then I have to skidoodle off here before my midwife comes.
It's one of my favorites to serve with fried chicken;-)
Honey-buttered rolls
Super simple and takes less then ten minutes.
Simply cook a bag of Sister Schuberts rolls for about seven minutes making sure they're still soft.
While they're cooking mix together a stick of melted butter and around 1/3 cup honey. More or less depending on how sweet you like your bread. Then brush the mixture over your hot rolls. I've gotten a million compliments on these and they're so ridiculously easy!
Well folks,hope this makes up for the long absence and that these recipes keep you busy for the next few nights. Enjoy!!
I do have a good excuse though. Besides struggling to find the time to sit here for more than a few minutes at a time, I cannot seem to get my imagination to work like it use to. It takes me forever to come up with a fresh idea that I haven't used yet (is that redundant?) and then when I finally come up with one, I get interrupted fifty-eleven times and completely lose my train of thought. So when I read back over my post, I'm thinking "What on earth did I mean by that??"
I have decided to bring a recipe back that I get asked about the most often, fried chicken. I have had so many people tell me that they can't find a recipe that they like, or that they simply can't figure out how to fry meat properly. So I am going to explain my recipe step by step. I'm also going to add lemonade cookies and Asian slaw, two favorites that are not my own, but those I have borrowed from other wonderful cooks.
Fried Chicken first:
Step 1: Thaw boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Step 2: Heat an electric skillet filled about 1/3 full with vegetable oil to 350 degrees being sure to not put any chicken in it until sizzles when you sprinkle a drop or two of water into it. Putting plenty of oil in your pan makes the chicken cook more evenly.
Step 3: Find a good size bowl and put 2-3 cups of flour into it (depending on how much chicken you're frying) and then sprinkle in as much pepper as you like. Stir.
Step 4: Salt each side of each piece of chicken. I do quite a bit of salt being that I really like my chicken salty and it makes it more moist.
Step 5: Carefully place chicken in hot grease and cover. I always cover the chicken for the first side to cook, and then leave the cover off for the other side. This makes the crust crispy but keeps the chicken moist. Turn the chicken over as soon as the crust is nice and golden brown.
Step 6: Dry on paper towels to keep from getting greasy.
This is my best attempt at explaining my chicken frying method. If you still find that yours doesn't turn out the way you like it, then call me and we'll have a chicken frying date!!
Lemonade Cookies
This recipe came from one of my magazines, but I must confess to you that I, myself, personally, have never made these. Ally makes these for me on a regular basis and they are truly ADDICTIVE!!!
1 cup unsalted butter softened
1 and 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup sweetened lemonade powder mix
2 eggs
2 tsp lemon zest
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
In a large mixing bowl, combine first three ingredients. Beat at medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs and lemon zest beating well.
In a medium bowl combine dry ingredients. Add this mixture to butter mixture alternately with sour cream beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed blending well after each addition. Divide dough into fourths wrapping each portion in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with wax paper. On a floured surface, roll each portion of chilled dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Using the top of a small glass, cut dough into flat cookies. Place 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake 6-8 minutes and cool completely. Icing recipe follows.
Lemonade Icing
3 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
6 tablespoons frozen lemonade concentrate thawed
In a medium bowl, combine sugar, butter, and lemonade. Beat at low speed until combined. Ice cooled cookies.
I highly recommend giving this recipe a try. It may sound long and tedious, but Ally has never messed it up even a little bit and she has been making this recipe since she was twelve. I guarantee that you will LOVE IT!!!!
Asian Slaw
I'm not exactly sure where this recipe originated, but I got it from my friend Kellye and it is one of my favorite summer salads.
It is very easy to make and gets better the longer it sits.
1 package of coleslaw mix
1 package of ramen noodles uncooked and broken into small bits
1 cup almonds 1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup craisens
1 apple cut up
Dressing:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
Mix and toss with salad.
Super easy huh?!
One last little recipe and then I have to skidoodle off here before my midwife comes.
It's one of my favorites to serve with fried chicken;-)
Honey-buttered rolls
Super simple and takes less then ten minutes.
Simply cook a bag of Sister Schuberts rolls for about seven minutes making sure they're still soft.
While they're cooking mix together a stick of melted butter and around 1/3 cup honey. More or less depending on how sweet you like your bread. Then brush the mixture over your hot rolls. I've gotten a million compliments on these and they're so ridiculously easy!
Well folks,hope this makes up for the long absence and that these recipes keep you busy for the next few nights. Enjoy!!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Tea Time
These are my three girls having tea in Molly's room. I was looking for pictures on the Internet to put on this post, when I found these and decided that they are cuter:-)
What is it about tea parties that make girls and ladies feel so special? Why is it that no matter how old we get, we still get as excited about dressing up and eating delicate food and drinking sparkling drinks out of dainty cups, as we did when we were four?
I still find myself collecting pink cups and saucers for that special tea party, even though there is nothing in my dining room or kitchen that lends itself to matching pink.
Still I hold onto these things in the hopes that one of my girls will grow up and have a pink kitchen.
This week we had some dear friends come over for a sort of tea party. The sort of, being because between the two of us Mom's there were six little ones asking for more goldfish and juice boxes and bringing the toy tractors to the table to "show Mom!".
Still we had a wonderful time pretending during the brief moments of quiet, that we were dignified ladies sitting in the parlor, having a quiet luncheon together.
I served strawberry soup, chicken salad, strawberry spinach salad, and sparkling lemonade and if you will allow me to brag, it was most delicious!
I would like to share these recipes with you.
Strawberry Soup
2 cups of milk
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
3 cups of frozen strawberries
1/2 cup of sour cream
3/4 cup of sugar
Pour all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth and a lovely shade of pink.
I got this recipe some time ago, but have changed the amounts of strawberries and sugar to my taste. I encourage you to do the same! Once you put your spoon in the blender to try a taste, you will have a hard time staying out of it:-)
Chicken Salad
I have absolutely no measurements for anything in this recipe. I learned how to make it from it my Mom. I boil a three pound bag of chicken a little more than you think you should so that it will shred easily when you stir it into the salad. Then I put in tons of purple seedless grapes and about four stalks of celery chopped very small. (I personally do not care for celery, but find it essential in this salad to give it that wonderful crunch. This explains the "very small".)
Then I sprinkle in pepper and salt and some Lawry's seasoning salt. Then I add enough mayo to make it very creamy but in no way runny. Add a little at a time until you get it the way you like. Then I throw in a small bag of sliced almonds and stir some more. Be sure that you don't stir so hard that you smush your grapes. This salad is excellent on any kind of bread, in a pita, or all by itself.
Strawberry Spinach Salad
This is a very common recipe and more than likely, you've got your own version of it. But just in case this is the way I learned to make it.
Use a bag of fresh spinach, being sure to snap the little stems off. Add as many sliced strawberries as you like. Sprinkle in some sliced almonds and a little feta cheese.
For the dressing, in a separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 tsp dry minced onion,
1/4 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp worceshire sauce, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and 1/4 cup cider vinegar. Briskly stir together with a fork. Wait to pour on the salad until you are ready to serve it. Toss.
Sparkling Lemonade
Super simple! All you do is use two frozen cans of strawberry lemonade concentrate (or any other frozen drink that you like), pour in a two liter of club soda and add about 3/4 cup of sugar. You won't believe how deliciously refreshing this is!
Hope you enjoy these recipes and that you find your own excuse to have a tea party at your table very soon!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Blogging in the Rain
Today has, in spite of the rain, been a perfectly wonderful day. I got to sleep in this morning until...well let's just say I got to sleep in.
The house is all tidy which is a major accomplishment with my two little hurricanes who run around disguised as boys messing up everything that looks a little too neat.
The laundry for once was not piled higher than my head.
The boys are starting to seem like after three weeks of trying, they might actually get this potty training thing.
The rain is pouring out of the sky as though God has been filling the clouds with a ten million gallon bucket for the last four years, making everything a brilliant shade of green and sending with it, the hope that the flowers will be even more bright than they have ever been before.
I have only ten more days until I load my family up in the old suburban and head down to see my Nonny and Papa who I have not seen in seven years, and then after that, we're heading down to Destin!
Things seem unusually good today, especially after the meltdown I had just about a week ago at this time. I won't describe the day to you so as not to get you down. Just imagine a nightmare of a day, add gloomy weather and twin three year old boys, a disgusting mishap or two, and you'll just about be there.
Just a quick update on things around here. I am officially 21 and 1/2 weeks along in my pregnancy and we found out last week that the newest Jeppsen will be a boy that we will be naming William Dale Jeppsen and calling him "Billy". The Dale is after my Papa and the William is because it's the only name that Jonny and I could agree on and that goes well with Charlie and Danny.
We had a marvelous Easter in spite of the nasty weather. Our church had huge plans of a potluck and Easter egg hunt that got canceled due to the rain. So we just combined our food with a couple of other families food and had a great lunch here at our house. No egg hunt, but fortunately the three youngest seemed to forget about that and no tears were shed.
We let the kids have their Easter baskets the day before Easter for different reasons. The first was to keep the focus of Easter Sunday more on Jesus and less on the Easter bunny. The second being that we simply don't have time to let the kids dig through their Easter baskets along with cooking a big Easter meal, dressing everyone, making sure little nails are painted, and trying to keep the house in order for company coming. And the third reason is that there are simply no child care workers at Great Light that I hate enough to send three sugared up kids into their care. The kids were simply awful that morning after they spent the wee hours of the morning chowing down on chocolate bunnies, lollipops, nerds, and jellybeans.
The computer has been on the fritz for the past couple of months keeping me from being able to update more often, but I will do my very best to get back on here and give you the recipes for my favorite spring tea that some of us ladies will be serving at our mother/daughter luncheon we're having at church the end of June.
Strawberry Soup, Chicken Salad, Quiche, Fresh Fruit, Crusty French Bread, and Iced Tea.
I also need to give you the recipe for Ally's famous Lemonade Cookies. Yes, I will hopefully get back on here in the next day or two. Talk to you soon!!
The house is all tidy which is a major accomplishment with my two little hurricanes who run around disguised as boys messing up everything that looks a little too neat.
The laundry for once was not piled higher than my head.
The boys are starting to seem like after three weeks of trying, they might actually get this potty training thing.
The rain is pouring out of the sky as though God has been filling the clouds with a ten million gallon bucket for the last four years, making everything a brilliant shade of green and sending with it, the hope that the flowers will be even more bright than they have ever been before.
I have only ten more days until I load my family up in the old suburban and head down to see my Nonny and Papa who I have not seen in seven years, and then after that, we're heading down to Destin!
Things seem unusually good today, especially after the meltdown I had just about a week ago at this time. I won't describe the day to you so as not to get you down. Just imagine a nightmare of a day, add gloomy weather and twin three year old boys, a disgusting mishap or two, and you'll just about be there.
Just a quick update on things around here. I am officially 21 and 1/2 weeks along in my pregnancy and we found out last week that the newest Jeppsen will be a boy that we will be naming William Dale Jeppsen and calling him "Billy". The Dale is after my Papa and the William is because it's the only name that Jonny and I could agree on and that goes well with Charlie and Danny.
We had a marvelous Easter in spite of the nasty weather. Our church had huge plans of a potluck and Easter egg hunt that got canceled due to the rain. So we just combined our food with a couple of other families food and had a great lunch here at our house. No egg hunt, but fortunately the three youngest seemed to forget about that and no tears were shed.
We let the kids have their Easter baskets the day before Easter for different reasons. The first was to keep the focus of Easter Sunday more on Jesus and less on the Easter bunny. The second being that we simply don't have time to let the kids dig through their Easter baskets along with cooking a big Easter meal, dressing everyone, making sure little nails are painted, and trying to keep the house in order for company coming. And the third reason is that there are simply no child care workers at Great Light that I hate enough to send three sugared up kids into their care. The kids were simply awful that morning after they spent the wee hours of the morning chowing down on chocolate bunnies, lollipops, nerds, and jellybeans.
The computer has been on the fritz for the past couple of months keeping me from being able to update more often, but I will do my very best to get back on here and give you the recipes for my favorite spring tea that some of us ladies will be serving at our mother/daughter luncheon we're having at church the end of June.
Strawberry Soup, Chicken Salad, Quiche, Fresh Fruit, Crusty French Bread, and Iced Tea.
I also need to give you the recipe for Ally's famous Lemonade Cookies. Yes, I will hopefully get back on here in the next day or two. Talk to you soon!!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Want to know where I've been??
I'm aware that it has been positively forever since I've been on here and for that I apologize. Life in this house as been anything but fun or creative this past month and a half. As I have mentioned before, this baby has been a little unkind in it's treatment of it's Mommy this trimester.
I have been sicker than I was with any of the other babies. In the bed a lot and depending on my selfless daughters and husband to take over ALL the chores including: cooking, cleaning, laundry, school, shopping, and ironing.
Then the kicker came about two weeks ago. Charlie got sick. At this particular moment, my memory escapes me as to what exactly he got sick with. I just remember that he was the start of it all. He stayed sick with fevers, coughs, throw-ups, diarrhea, runny nose for a few days, then he gave it to Danny. Both boys were in my bed with fevers and Charlie still throwing up (on my nice, white, down comforter). A few days later Molly came home from a friends house burning up with fever and saying her head hurt. By that night her temperature had sky rocketed and she was throwing up. She threw up and had seriously high fevers for two days. Then I got the stomach flu and Jonny came down with a sinus infection. Both of us were in the bed bringing whichever little one was crying the hardest with us.
The next morning Meghan started throwing up. Then that same day Molly started having coughing fits and both boys started in with the diarrhea and throwing up again.
By Sunday (a week and a half into it) we thought we were on the mend, when Danny had a diaper blow-out and Charlie called me into his room that night saying "yook!". He was laying in throw-up.
We have watched Charlie lose more weight over the past two weeks than I've ever seen a two year boy lose, we've seen all the blood vessels on Molly's face break from the high fevers and having the dry heaves. We've dealt with crying, whining, fussing, fighting, and everything else that a two year old or four year old does to vent when he or she is feeling bad.
It's now Monday morning and I've taken Charlie to the doctor. He has an ear infection and possibly a little bit of pneumonia.
So far this morning all we've seen is a little coughing from Molly and Charlie, and a couple of diaper blow-outs. But all five kids have eaten very well today and as of yesterday, I am officially in my second trimester with high hopes of being on my way out of all-day sickness.
This is the sad but true most recent account of my life.
Hopefully next time I find time to sit here, I'll have something more interesting and educational to share with you!
I have been sicker than I was with any of the other babies. In the bed a lot and depending on my selfless daughters and husband to take over ALL the chores including: cooking, cleaning, laundry, school, shopping, and ironing.
Then the kicker came about two weeks ago. Charlie got sick. At this particular moment, my memory escapes me as to what exactly he got sick with. I just remember that he was the start of it all. He stayed sick with fevers, coughs, throw-ups, diarrhea, runny nose for a few days, then he gave it to Danny. Both boys were in my bed with fevers and Charlie still throwing up (on my nice, white, down comforter). A few days later Molly came home from a friends house burning up with fever and saying her head hurt. By that night her temperature had sky rocketed and she was throwing up. She threw up and had seriously high fevers for two days. Then I got the stomach flu and Jonny came down with a sinus infection. Both of us were in the bed bringing whichever little one was crying the hardest with us.
The next morning Meghan started throwing up. Then that same day Molly started having coughing fits and both boys started in with the diarrhea and throwing up again.
By Sunday (a week and a half into it) we thought we were on the mend, when Danny had a diaper blow-out and Charlie called me into his room that night saying "yook!". He was laying in throw-up.
We have watched Charlie lose more weight over the past two weeks than I've ever seen a two year boy lose, we've seen all the blood vessels on Molly's face break from the high fevers and having the dry heaves. We've dealt with crying, whining, fussing, fighting, and everything else that a two year old or four year old does to vent when he or she is feeling bad.
It's now Monday morning and I've taken Charlie to the doctor. He has an ear infection and possibly a little bit of pneumonia.
So far this morning all we've seen is a little coughing from Molly and Charlie, and a couple of diaper blow-outs. But all five kids have eaten very well today and as of yesterday, I am officially in my second trimester with high hopes of being on my way out of all-day sickness.
This is the sad but true most recent account of my life.
Hopefully next time I find time to sit here, I'll have something more interesting and educational to share with you!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
My girls
These are my big girls, Ally and Meghan. I could not be more proud of these girls if they grew up to be presidents. They are my gifts from God. They are living proof that if we take the time to train our children, they will use this training to God's glory and our benefits.
Starting last Saturday, morning sickness (or more accurately, all day sickness) began. It has gotten steadily worse each day, until no longer does food sound good and even slightly rocking in the rocking chair is enough to make my stomach turn.
I have been slightly less sick first thing in the morning, so I've been trying to quickly get myself and the babies ready, my bed made and the laundry going. Their school schedules are not difficult because I can make those from my chair.
When I was pregnant with the boys, I was so ill that I was completely bed-ridden for the first and last trimesters. This time around, I am trying my hardest to get myself prettied-up and down to the recliner if for no other reason than to be an adult presence for my kiddos.
In spite of this set back, I just walked downstairs where I found a sparkling house, happy boys, the washer and dryer both going, fresh banana bread baking, and dinner in the oven.
My girls wanted to see me happy and they have been successful.
I remember when they were little and they wanted to help cook or wash the dishes or do the laundry, thinking "I could do this so much faster and so much neater by myself!", but I would take the time to stand over them showing them how to do their jobs well. I was not always patient mind you. I still get frustrated when a job isn't done the way I like it done. Nearly six kids and I'm still way too uptight:-(
The rewards I am now reaping have made those hours well worth it. The girls do a better job at keeping house than I do. They sing while they work, they play games to while away the hours spent at the kitchen sink, they quote favorite movie lines. There is a general attitude of cheerfulness and contentedness while they go about their work.
God promises us that if we "Train up our child in the way he (or she) should go, when they are old they will not depart from it." Although my children are not old yet, I am already seeing Him fulfill His promise to me.
I am so proud of my girls, and so grateful that God gave them to me!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Delicious Dinner!!
Every time I sit down here to write, my first thought is "I wish I had time to do this more often." But life just seems to keep getting in the way of computer time!
Christmas was extremely busy, even though I kept on looking for ways to make it laid back. I will say, that this was the best Christmas our family has ever had. We enjoyed each other so much. Jonny got to take off work basically the entire week of Christmas, Nate and Steph came with their precious babies, the food was delicious, all five little ones were completely quiet while Papa read Luke 2, we got so many gifts that we kept losing children under all the wrapping paper, we watched all the Christmas movies, I made toffee three times due to the high demand, we were all healthy.
I felt God's blessings this year more than I ever have.
I don't usually have as hard of a time going into January as I have this year. I was really sad to see the Christmas decorations come down, to take down the lights, to stop baking, and to have to stop the general attitude in the house of vacation.
Starting school this year has been a little difficult for me and for the girls. This could be partially attributed to the fact that I discovered the day after Christmas that the sixth Jeppsen baby is on their way.
This particular pregnancy has exhausted me so far. No sickness as of yet, just that weary feeling that starts when my eyes open in the morning and lasts until they close again at night. Maybe it's because I'm getting older:-(
Well onto the purpose for this post. I mentioned tonight on Facebook that we were having a feast for dinner, and was asked to put the menu along with recipes on here. So here we go.
Tonight I made Roast Beef with pan gravy, mashed red potatoes, glazed baby carrots, broccoli with cheese sauce, rolls, and chocolate layer cake. I should technically be cutting way back on the fat intake after a rather rich December, but I just love cooking in January! Not to mention that I got a new double oven that I couldn't wait to use.
The recipe for the roast is on one of my first posts entitled "Regarding Roast" and the chocolate layer cake, I'm sad to say, was from a box, but the rest of the recipes I will put on here for you.
Glazed Baby Carrots
Put about 4 cups of baby carrots into a skillet full of boiling water and let boil just about five minutes. Drain the water and add a half a stick of butter to the carrots. Allow the butter to melt and then put in a cup of OJ and 1/4 cup of honey and let simmer about ten minutes stirring every couple of minutes.
Mashed Red Potatoes
My entire cooking life, I have used Russett potatoes for making mashed potatoes. That is until I went to my in-laws the week of Christmas and had my mother-in-laws mashed red potatoes. They were so delicious that I new I had to change my ways. I'm not exactly sure how she made hers, but I just scrubbed and boiled about six pounds of them until they were easy to cut. Then I drained them and put them in my mixer. I had to use the bread hook because they were to thick for my whisk attachment to handle. Then I slowly poured in enough whole milk to make them nice and creamy and added way to much butter and salt to tell you about. You put in as much as you like. They were amazing!! We poured the pan gravy over them that I made with the help of my sister-in-law, using the roast drippings, gravy mix, salt, pepper, and beef broth. Delicious!!!
Broccoli with Cheese Sauce
I just steamed a bunch of broccoli in the microwave for about six minutes and then made the best cheese sauce I've ever tasted. I've always just melted Velveeta and added a little milk to it, but this was a million times better! You put about a cup and a half of extra sharp cheddar cheese, a block of cream cheese, and four slices of American cheese into the food processor. Add about 3 to 4 tablespoons of whole milk and about 5 drops of Tabasco sauce. Blend it until it's completely smooth and then put it in a double boiler and slowly melt it stirring with a whisk until it's nice and creamy. Then pour over the broccoli. Even Jonny liked this recipe and he really prefers his broccoli without cheese.
It really was a delicious dinner although it took me about three hours to make, not to mention the time it's taking the girls to clean up from it. I usually try to keep the kitchen clean while I'm cooking, but because the girls were at art class and I had all three babies by myself, not to mention about ten different foods cooking at the same time, the place looks like a hurricane ran through it. Thank goodness for big girls;-)
I am off now to sit on the couch and try relax despite the fact that the boys destroyed the living room while "watching a movie" this evening. The question is, can I actually sit and ignore it, or will I have to clean it up first. Hhhmmm.....
Off to clean up!
Christmas was extremely busy, even though I kept on looking for ways to make it laid back. I will say, that this was the best Christmas our family has ever had. We enjoyed each other so much. Jonny got to take off work basically the entire week of Christmas, Nate and Steph came with their precious babies, the food was delicious, all five little ones were completely quiet while Papa read Luke 2, we got so many gifts that we kept losing children under all the wrapping paper, we watched all the Christmas movies, I made toffee three times due to the high demand, we were all healthy.
I felt God's blessings this year more than I ever have.
I don't usually have as hard of a time going into January as I have this year. I was really sad to see the Christmas decorations come down, to take down the lights, to stop baking, and to have to stop the general attitude in the house of vacation.
Starting school this year has been a little difficult for me and for the girls. This could be partially attributed to the fact that I discovered the day after Christmas that the sixth Jeppsen baby is on their way.
This particular pregnancy has exhausted me so far. No sickness as of yet, just that weary feeling that starts when my eyes open in the morning and lasts until they close again at night. Maybe it's because I'm getting older:-(
Well onto the purpose for this post. I mentioned tonight on Facebook that we were having a feast for dinner, and was asked to put the menu along with recipes on here. So here we go.
Tonight I made Roast Beef with pan gravy, mashed red potatoes, glazed baby carrots, broccoli with cheese sauce, rolls, and chocolate layer cake. I should technically be cutting way back on the fat intake after a rather rich December, but I just love cooking in January! Not to mention that I got a new double oven that I couldn't wait to use.
The recipe for the roast is on one of my first posts entitled "Regarding Roast" and the chocolate layer cake, I'm sad to say, was from a box, but the rest of the recipes I will put on here for you.
Glazed Baby Carrots
Put about 4 cups of baby carrots into a skillet full of boiling water and let boil just about five minutes. Drain the water and add a half a stick of butter to the carrots. Allow the butter to melt and then put in a cup of OJ and 1/4 cup of honey and let simmer about ten minutes stirring every couple of minutes.
Mashed Red Potatoes
My entire cooking life, I have used Russett potatoes for making mashed potatoes. That is until I went to my in-laws the week of Christmas and had my mother-in-laws mashed red potatoes. They were so delicious that I new I had to change my ways. I'm not exactly sure how she made hers, but I just scrubbed and boiled about six pounds of them until they were easy to cut. Then I drained them and put them in my mixer. I had to use the bread hook because they were to thick for my whisk attachment to handle. Then I slowly poured in enough whole milk to make them nice and creamy and added way to much butter and salt to tell you about. You put in as much as you like. They were amazing!! We poured the pan gravy over them that I made with the help of my sister-in-law, using the roast drippings, gravy mix, salt, pepper, and beef broth. Delicious!!!
Broccoli with Cheese Sauce
I just steamed a bunch of broccoli in the microwave for about six minutes and then made the best cheese sauce I've ever tasted. I've always just melted Velveeta and added a little milk to it, but this was a million times better! You put about a cup and a half of extra sharp cheddar cheese, a block of cream cheese, and four slices of American cheese into the food processor. Add about 3 to 4 tablespoons of whole milk and about 5 drops of Tabasco sauce. Blend it until it's completely smooth and then put it in a double boiler and slowly melt it stirring with a whisk until it's nice and creamy. Then pour over the broccoli. Even Jonny liked this recipe and he really prefers his broccoli without cheese.
It really was a delicious dinner although it took me about three hours to make, not to mention the time it's taking the girls to clean up from it. I usually try to keep the kitchen clean while I'm cooking, but because the girls were at art class and I had all three babies by myself, not to mention about ten different foods cooking at the same time, the place looks like a hurricane ran through it. Thank goodness for big girls;-)
I am off now to sit on the couch and try relax despite the fact that the boys destroyed the living room while "watching a movie" this evening. The question is, can I actually sit and ignore it, or will I have to clean it up first. Hhhmmm.....
Off to clean up!
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Christmas Traditions
Look at me will you?! Two days in a row!! I am sitting at my desk surrounded by Christmas lights. The fireplace making the room cozy and warm while the wind is whipping outside. The house smells like cinnamon and pomanders. Jonny is heading out to get the four of us bigger folk some dinner so we can have a fun evening sitting in front of the fireplace and watching "A Christmas Story", one of my all time favorites.
Both boys just went down for bed with Vicks in the humidifier to hopefully soothe their atrocious coughs, and Ally is reading a book to Molly so she can head off to cuddle under her covers.
All is peaceful and quiet in the house.
My Christmas shopping is officially done, and as of this afternoon, most of my gifts are wrapped and I got my Christmas cards ready to be put in the mail.
Things feel strangely calm around here.
I thought I would steal a few moments to share with you some of our families favorite traditions. I was recently asked to teach a class on traditions in a friends church, so these are all very fresh in my mind.
When I was first married, Jonny and I put up our very formal tree sometime the beginning of October. I was bound and bent on starting up the fireplace even though it was Indian summer. The house got so hot that we had the air conditioner running and all the windows open as well. I decorated my house with my few pewny what-nots and bought an Ann Murray cassette.
I wanted so badly to have a certain type of Christmas, but being a new bride, I had no idea what that certain type of Christmas should look like.
A few years later, after Ally and Meghan came along, I decided we needed a more friendly tree and so I hit the after Christmas sales and stocked up on snowman, Santa, and candy ornaments.
We also started making Christmas cookies and having a tree-decorating night with Nana and Papa and all kinds of finger foods.
Then as our family continued to grow, I discovered the pickle ornament. After seeing someone open one of these interesting ornaments at an ornament exchange and hearing the oohs and aahs that filled the room, I was instantly curious. The tradition is to hide the pickle somewhere in the depths of the tree and whoever finds it first gets to open the first gift.
In our house, we let whoever finds it, be the gift passer-outer. Our kids really enjoy this tradition.
Another tradition we have is going to Silver Dollar City and having the kids picture made with Santa. Then we pay to have it put in an ornament and hang it on the tree. Our tree is covered with ornaments that start when Meghan was a baby to now having five children surrounding the smiling Santa (which by the way, our family has deemed the "Real Santa").
I have come to the conclusion that by the time our kids are grown, I will have to have a tree that is especially designated to hold the Silver Dollar City ornaments.
Something else we've started in the past few years, is a shopping day with me and the big girls.
When we first started, it consisted of lunch at McDonalds and trying to make their five dollars stretch for everyone on their list. It has now become on of my favorite nights of the year. We went last night and had the best time! The girls now have allowances, not to mention the little odd jobs we've found for them around the house the last couple of months. So they had a nice stash put aside to spend. We started out with a little shopping, then had sushi at Oceans Zen. I quickly figured out that my girls are growing up when the host kept insisting that we wait in the bar and have a drink until our table was ready. We spent dinner laughing over how easy it is to embarrass Ally and how frequently Meghan would look at herself in the mirror to make sure that the face she just made, didn't in any way detract from her lovely outfit.
Then we headed off to the mall to finish our shopping, then ended the night with "The Chronicles of Narnia". It was a marvelous evening!
I have realized through the years that you don't force traditions. Traditions happen slowly and often by accident. You don't necessarily use everyone you grew up with. You make your own. Write them down. I recommend buying a Christmas journal. It might sound silly, but I keep track of every gift I buy each year, how much it cost, what we had for dinner, what parties we hosted, who we sent Christmas cards to, and how God has worked on our family that year to make that particular Christmas different from the one before. I so enjoy pulling it out and reviewing each year.
I hope that you have found your special Christmas traditions that you enjoy with your family. I would love to hear about some of them. I'm always looking for something new to try each year.
Good night readers:-)
Both boys just went down for bed with Vicks in the humidifier to hopefully soothe their atrocious coughs, and Ally is reading a book to Molly so she can head off to cuddle under her covers.
All is peaceful and quiet in the house.
My Christmas shopping is officially done, and as of this afternoon, most of my gifts are wrapped and I got my Christmas cards ready to be put in the mail.
Things feel strangely calm around here.
I thought I would steal a few moments to share with you some of our families favorite traditions. I was recently asked to teach a class on traditions in a friends church, so these are all very fresh in my mind.
When I was first married, Jonny and I put up our very formal tree sometime the beginning of October. I was bound and bent on starting up the fireplace even though it was Indian summer. The house got so hot that we had the air conditioner running and all the windows open as well. I decorated my house with my few pewny what-nots and bought an Ann Murray cassette.
I wanted so badly to have a certain type of Christmas, but being a new bride, I had no idea what that certain type of Christmas should look like.
A few years later, after Ally and Meghan came along, I decided we needed a more friendly tree and so I hit the after Christmas sales and stocked up on snowman, Santa, and candy ornaments.
We also started making Christmas cookies and having a tree-decorating night with Nana and Papa and all kinds of finger foods.
Then as our family continued to grow, I discovered the pickle ornament. After seeing someone open one of these interesting ornaments at an ornament exchange and hearing the oohs and aahs that filled the room, I was instantly curious. The tradition is to hide the pickle somewhere in the depths of the tree and whoever finds it first gets to open the first gift.
In our house, we let whoever finds it, be the gift passer-outer. Our kids really enjoy this tradition.
Another tradition we have is going to Silver Dollar City and having the kids picture made with Santa. Then we pay to have it put in an ornament and hang it on the tree. Our tree is covered with ornaments that start when Meghan was a baby to now having five children surrounding the smiling Santa (which by the way, our family has deemed the "Real Santa").
I have come to the conclusion that by the time our kids are grown, I will have to have a tree that is especially designated to hold the Silver Dollar City ornaments.
Something else we've started in the past few years, is a shopping day with me and the big girls.
When we first started, it consisted of lunch at McDonalds and trying to make their five dollars stretch for everyone on their list. It has now become on of my favorite nights of the year. We went last night and had the best time! The girls now have allowances, not to mention the little odd jobs we've found for them around the house the last couple of months. So they had a nice stash put aside to spend. We started out with a little shopping, then had sushi at Oceans Zen. I quickly figured out that my girls are growing up when the host kept insisting that we wait in the bar and have a drink until our table was ready. We spent dinner laughing over how easy it is to embarrass Ally and how frequently Meghan would look at herself in the mirror to make sure that the face she just made, didn't in any way detract from her lovely outfit.
Then we headed off to the mall to finish our shopping, then ended the night with "The Chronicles of Narnia". It was a marvelous evening!
I have realized through the years that you don't force traditions. Traditions happen slowly and often by accident. You don't necessarily use everyone you grew up with. You make your own. Write them down. I recommend buying a Christmas journal. It might sound silly, but I keep track of every gift I buy each year, how much it cost, what we had for dinner, what parties we hosted, who we sent Christmas cards to, and how God has worked on our family that year to make that particular Christmas different from the one before. I so enjoy pulling it out and reviewing each year.
I hope that you have found your special Christmas traditions that you enjoy with your family. I would love to hear about some of them. I'm always looking for something new to try each year.
Good night readers:-)
Friday, December 10, 2010
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!!
Well I'm finally getting a few minutes together to post about the season that I have been looking foward to posting about since last February. But now that it's upon me, I haven't been able to find two seconds together. My problem is that I'm constantly trying to get everything done well before Christmas so that the days before, I have nothing to do but play board games with my girls, sip hot cocoa, and watch Christmas movies. That day usually comes January 2nd when it's time to start school again:-(
The Springfield News Leader came this past Monday morning and took pictures of our house to feature in the paper Sunday December 19th. So between getting ready for that, shopping for the perfect gifts, wrapping these perfect gifts, making Christmas candy, making sure the pantry is stocked up with all the last minute things that one needs to make Christmas dinner that the store always runs out of, and repairing all of the ornaments that the boys keep breaking, the hot cocoa and board games evenings have been few and far between.
Every year starting in December, I have this nightmare that it's Christmas Eve and I haven't done anything. The tree isn't up, the gifts aren't bought, the food isn't prepared. Ever watched "Christmas with the Kranks"? That is my nightmare so perfectly pictured, that while everyone else is laughing, I'm biting my nails hoping that this year she gets to the ham in time, or that Frosty doesn't fall off the roof, or that the store does have white chocolate.
You needn't worry about me though. I am determined to relax the remainder of this month. I am anxiously anticipating my shopping trip with the big girls tonight along with dinner and a movie. I had a wonderful evening in Branson with Jonny last night looking at lights and eating a delicious dinner. I am stocked up on hot cocoa and I bought a new board game yesterday while Meghan and I were out shopping for winter gear just in case in snows this year.
That is the one bummer about living in this area, is that inevitably, if we buy snow gear it never snows, and if we don't guess what? A snowstorm.
Apparently everyone else in Springfield has realized the same thing. Which is why last year when Christmas Eve day came and the big snow was in the forecast, everyone and their brother, including my husband and daughters ran for the nearest Target or Wal-Mart to see if they could snag a pair of boots or a sled.
Oh well. This year I will be prepared no matter what happens. As Jonny pointed out last night, a Proverbs 31 woman doesn't worry about the cold because her house is dressed in scarves and snow boots;-)
I am planning on redecorating my blog next week after the pictures that the New Leader took are available. It's positively silly how excited I am to see pictures of my own house.
I also am going to try my hardest to get on here again in the next couple of days and post some of my favorite holiday recipes for you.
Strawberry salad, English toffee, popcorn balls, and buckeyes are just some of the recipes I am anxious to share with you.
I need to skidder off now to get myself ready for my night with Ally and Meg. If you're out looking at Christmas lights one night, be sure to drive by and see Jonny's masterpiece. The house looks better than it ever has this year!! He even did the tree house!!!
Merry Christmas to you all!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Great Fall Meals
This is without a doubt my favorite time of year! It always seems to make me want to be in my kitchen more than usual. I love pouring over soup recipes, trying out new desserts, and setting out the honey and apple butter to go on whatever bread I put with dinner. I keep a candle burning on the counter and light the old oil lamp to make it feel even cozier. I never feel like grilling or making light meals in October or November. I always find myself craving something more savory and hearty. I have already blogged about different soup recipes and my chili, but there are so many great things to put in the big pot and let simmer all day. This past weekend, I found a huge, bright red, dutch oven at TJMaxx and decided that it belonged on my stove. It is now full of beans and the leftover ham from last night. The whole house smells wonderful and I have the peace of mind that dinner is already prepared and all I have to do is pop some biscuits in the oven this evening.
I found a new soup recipe last year and made it again last week. It's called Taco Soup and is really hearty and delicious. All you do is brown 1 and 1/2 pounds of ground chuck with 1 onion diced, then add a can of pinto beans and a can of chili beans, a large can of diced tomatoes, a can of rotel, two cans of chili with no beans, 1 pound of Velveeta, and a packet of taco seasoning. After this has simmered for just a bit, add in 2 cups of sour cream and heat through. Serve it with cornbread and you have a simple, delicious meal!
Another great meal to remember is ham. It is a little expensive but it goes so far and makes so many meals. Last night, I basted my pre-cooked ham with a sauce made out of yellow mustard, brown sugar, and coke. Then I slow cooked it covered, all afternoon. Right before I served it, I basted it one more time then let it cook without the lid on for about ten minutes.
After that meal, you have ham sandwiches for the next couple of days, and then when you're tired of sandwiches, dump it into a pot with your favorite canned beans, add extra water and some minced onion.
You have just served at least four meals off of one ham!
If you're family likes spicy Cajun food, I found a recipe for jambalaya and changed it up a little. It is one of my family's favorites.
I'll try to give you the recipe as close to the way I make it as possible.
Jambalaya
Brown 2 cloves of garlic and 2 tablespoons of butter in a large pot. Add 2 14 and 1/2 ounce cans of diced tomatoes, 2 cans of chicken broth, and two cups of uncooked instant rice, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer about half an hour. Then add a package of smoked sausage cut up and browned, cooked ham or chicken (whichever your prefer) and a cup or two of shrimp (depending on how much you like shrimp. We LOVE it so I add quite a bit.).
Then add spices to your liking. Salt, pepper, Tony Cacheras, (the more of this you add, the more Cajun it will taste. I put in alot!), garlic salt, whatever spices you like in your Cajun food.
Of course don't forget roast! I posted different roast recipes back in January under "Regarding Roasts" so if you need a new idea for your roast, check back in my blog archives.
Well I have to hop off here now and go start one of the huge baskets of ironing screaming at me from down in the laundry room. I hope this gets you in the cooking mood and if it doesn't, then read "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. If that doesn't get you into your kitchen, then nothing will!
Bye for now!!
I found a new soup recipe last year and made it again last week. It's called Taco Soup and is really hearty and delicious. All you do is brown 1 and 1/2 pounds of ground chuck with 1 onion diced, then add a can of pinto beans and a can of chili beans, a large can of diced tomatoes, a can of rotel, two cans of chili with no beans, 1 pound of Velveeta, and a packet of taco seasoning. After this has simmered for just a bit, add in 2 cups of sour cream and heat through. Serve it with cornbread and you have a simple, delicious meal!
Another great meal to remember is ham. It is a little expensive but it goes so far and makes so many meals. Last night, I basted my pre-cooked ham with a sauce made out of yellow mustard, brown sugar, and coke. Then I slow cooked it covered, all afternoon. Right before I served it, I basted it one more time then let it cook without the lid on for about ten minutes.
After that meal, you have ham sandwiches for the next couple of days, and then when you're tired of sandwiches, dump it into a pot with your favorite canned beans, add extra water and some minced onion.
You have just served at least four meals off of one ham!
If you're family likes spicy Cajun food, I found a recipe for jambalaya and changed it up a little. It is one of my family's favorites.
I'll try to give you the recipe as close to the way I make it as possible.
Jambalaya
Brown 2 cloves of garlic and 2 tablespoons of butter in a large pot. Add 2 14 and 1/2 ounce cans of diced tomatoes, 2 cans of chicken broth, and two cups of uncooked instant rice, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer about half an hour. Then add a package of smoked sausage cut up and browned, cooked ham or chicken (whichever your prefer) and a cup or two of shrimp (depending on how much you like shrimp. We LOVE it so I add quite a bit.).
Then add spices to your liking. Salt, pepper, Tony Cacheras, (the more of this you add, the more Cajun it will taste. I put in alot!), garlic salt, whatever spices you like in your Cajun food.
Of course don't forget roast! I posted different roast recipes back in January under "Regarding Roasts" so if you need a new idea for your roast, check back in my blog archives.
Well I have to hop off here now and go start one of the huge baskets of ironing screaming at me from down in the laundry room. I hope this gets you in the cooking mood and if it doesn't, then read "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. If that doesn't get you into your kitchen, then nothing will!
Bye for now!!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
It's finally chilly outside!! Time for chili inside!!
I am determined to mend my ways when it comes to my blogging habits. I have had my mind fuller than usual with school, schedules, meal planning, church, and other new activities.
But I've really missed getting on here and sharing my thoughts with you!
It has seemed for the past three months, that my imagination has been on vacation or otherwise engaged, keeping me from coming up with any new and exciting ideas to give you. But I must admit that I've been looking forward to fall and holiday posts since I first started blogging.
I absolutely LOVE this time of year!! I find myself marveling at God's ingenious handiwork more than usual when it blinds me every time I get in the car or walk down the road. I love looking at the beautiful colors, taking the kids to the pumpkin place, watching Ally and Meg rake up the front yard then run in and get the little ones to come make a mess of their piles, sitting around the firepit making smores, and making chili.
Which leads me to today's topic. Chili seems to have the widest variety of recipes of any food that you can prepare. There is chicken chili, chili with beans, chili over rice, white chili, spicy chili, turkey chili, slow cooked chili, canned chili, shrimp chili, green chili, and vegetarian chili. I have never in my life tasted two bowls of chili from two different kitchens that tasted even at all the same. I have been to chili cook-offs where there were twenty different kinds of chili and they were all completely different.
I have seen people use all different kinds of secret ingredients to make their chili special. I've heard of peanut butter, sour cream, ground cloves, coke, cider vinegar, mushrooms, brown sugar, cheese, cumin, jalapenos, onion, peppers, barley, and carrots.
What is also funny, is that without fail, that woman's family thinks that their Mom's chili is "The best!". I totally agree!!
When I first got married, my version of chili consisted of ground beef, canned tomatoes and ground cloves. I was perfectly content with that but my poor husband was definitely not. He preferred his chili full of huge kidney beans and poured over rice. Being from the south, I had simply never heard of filling your chili with beans and pouring it over rice. But wanting to make his stomach happy, I decided to come up with my own recipe.
After attending a yearly fall party at some friends house, I was introduced to a very hearty chili recipe. This one was very beany with very little juice in it. The exact opposite of my recipe. Jonny could only have been happier if their had been a large barrel of rice next to it.
I got the recipe from this lady and for a year or so, followed it faithfully. My problem was that I HATE kidney beans!! I think they are way too...thick? Meaty? Beany? Well too something or other.
I also like a little more juice in mine, just in case you want to dip your cracker in or crumble up a little cornbread in it.
So I took this recipe, and did what I very often do. I changed it!
Not everything mind you. This lady had found some great ingredients that add an incredible flavor to any chili. Such as cider vinegar, and sauteed onions.
I have now found the perfect chili for my family. Every single one of us is happy with it. At least, that's what they tell me.
I have never tried to write my recipe down, because I do it a little different every time since it is all in my head. This will be my greatest effort in sharing it with you.
Brown 1 to 1 and 1/2 pounds of ground chuck with 1 or 2 large onions until no pink remains. I don't always drain off the grease unless their is alot of it. If there is just a little in the bottom, it adds really great flavor. Then I add a can of black beans, a can of great northern beans, a can of chili beans, and a can of pinto beans. Be sure and drain these. Next I put in a large can of tomato sauce and a large can of diced petite tomatoes. Then I add a package of mild chili seasoning. Stir all this letting it simmer as you keep adding things. As far as my spices go, this part will certainly frustrate you, because I leave all my spices on the counter and keep adding more of this and more of that until it tastes just right. Which would explain why I'm always full before it's done.
I add lots of chili powder. Probably two tablespoons full. Then I throw in two bay leaves, salt, pepper, parsley, and about three tablespoons of cider vinegar. I also toss in a pinch of dry pepper flakes and cayenne pepper. Just enough to make Jonny happy without killing the rest of us.
The cider vinegar is definitely the trick. Don't leave it out!!
This is the best I can do, and in case you haven't found your secret chili recipe yet, you can share mine. As long as you promise to do a little thing or two to make officially "your own":-)
My goal is to see you next Tuesday around this same time!
But I've really missed getting on here and sharing my thoughts with you!
It has seemed for the past three months, that my imagination has been on vacation or otherwise engaged, keeping me from coming up with any new and exciting ideas to give you. But I must admit that I've been looking forward to fall and holiday posts since I first started blogging.
I absolutely LOVE this time of year!! I find myself marveling at God's ingenious handiwork more than usual when it blinds me every time I get in the car or walk down the road. I love looking at the beautiful colors, taking the kids to the pumpkin place, watching Ally and Meg rake up the front yard then run in and get the little ones to come make a mess of their piles, sitting around the firepit making smores, and making chili.
Which leads me to today's topic. Chili seems to have the widest variety of recipes of any food that you can prepare. There is chicken chili, chili with beans, chili over rice, white chili, spicy chili, turkey chili, slow cooked chili, canned chili, shrimp chili, green chili, and vegetarian chili. I have never in my life tasted two bowls of chili from two different kitchens that tasted even at all the same. I have been to chili cook-offs where there were twenty different kinds of chili and they were all completely different.
I have seen people use all different kinds of secret ingredients to make their chili special. I've heard of peanut butter, sour cream, ground cloves, coke, cider vinegar, mushrooms, brown sugar, cheese, cumin, jalapenos, onion, peppers, barley, and carrots.
What is also funny, is that without fail, that woman's family thinks that their Mom's chili is "The best!". I totally agree!!
When I first got married, my version of chili consisted of ground beef, canned tomatoes and ground cloves. I was perfectly content with that but my poor husband was definitely not. He preferred his chili full of huge kidney beans and poured over rice. Being from the south, I had simply never heard of filling your chili with beans and pouring it over rice. But wanting to make his stomach happy, I decided to come up with my own recipe.
After attending a yearly fall party at some friends house, I was introduced to a very hearty chili recipe. This one was very beany with very little juice in it. The exact opposite of my recipe. Jonny could only have been happier if their had been a large barrel of rice next to it.
I got the recipe from this lady and for a year or so, followed it faithfully. My problem was that I HATE kidney beans!! I think they are way too...thick? Meaty? Beany? Well too something or other.
I also like a little more juice in mine, just in case you want to dip your cracker in or crumble up a little cornbread in it.
So I took this recipe, and did what I very often do. I changed it!
Not everything mind you. This lady had found some great ingredients that add an incredible flavor to any chili. Such as cider vinegar, and sauteed onions.
I have now found the perfect chili for my family. Every single one of us is happy with it. At least, that's what they tell me.
I have never tried to write my recipe down, because I do it a little different every time since it is all in my head. This will be my greatest effort in sharing it with you.
Brown 1 to 1 and 1/2 pounds of ground chuck with 1 or 2 large onions until no pink remains. I don't always drain off the grease unless their is alot of it. If there is just a little in the bottom, it adds really great flavor. Then I add a can of black beans, a can of great northern beans, a can of chili beans, and a can of pinto beans. Be sure and drain these. Next I put in a large can of tomato sauce and a large can of diced petite tomatoes. Then I add a package of mild chili seasoning. Stir all this letting it simmer as you keep adding things. As far as my spices go, this part will certainly frustrate you, because I leave all my spices on the counter and keep adding more of this and more of that until it tastes just right. Which would explain why I'm always full before it's done.
I add lots of chili powder. Probably two tablespoons full. Then I throw in two bay leaves, salt, pepper, parsley, and about three tablespoons of cider vinegar. I also toss in a pinch of dry pepper flakes and cayenne pepper. Just enough to make Jonny happy without killing the rest of us.
The cider vinegar is definitely the trick. Don't leave it out!!
This is the best I can do, and in case you haven't found your secret chili recipe yet, you can share mine. As long as you promise to do a little thing or two to make officially "your own":-)
My goal is to see you next Tuesday around this same time!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Time For School!!
Just to let you know what is going on with us, school has officially begun in the Jeppsen house.
This is my first year to teach three children and I have been a little concerned about the scheduling around here. I have been trying to figure out how I am going to teach both big girls their school, teach Molly how to write her name and read, keep the boys out of trouble and sufficiently entertained, clean house, do laundry, iron, grocery shop, cook, sort fall clothes, give each child the attention they need, etc. Not to mention running each morning, making sure that I have the time I need with God, and time to visit with Jonny.
The stress has gotten to me. But it is times like these that God steps in and gives us wisdom when we ask for it. This time He gave it to me in the form of my Mom and a very experienced couple that we are friends with. These people gave me the best advice on making sure that I am training their character before anything else, making sure not to be so hard on myself that I take no joy in this experience, and the best advice of all...realizing that God is able to equip them for the plans He has for them, even if I do not have the knowledge to give them all that they might need for these plans.
The burden that had been weighing down on me for some weeks, slowly began to lift and along with the burden being lifted, came the ability thus far, to be able to make things work.
Last night I made a schedule for the girls and put it on top of the books that they would need to work with today. My girls really like order and knowing what is expected of them.
This saved them having to come to me all day and ask what they should be doing next. They were able to work quietly all day only needing my help a couple of times.
This was my schedule today:
7:00- Up and at 'em (Me and the big girls)
Quiet time for me, the girls make bed, clean room, get dressed, read Bible
7:30- Boys up, Breakfast
8:00- Girls chores, Boys movie, Me laundry
8:45- Make sure little ones are dressed and house is in order
9:00- Girls schoolwork, Boys play time in the playroom, Me pay bills
10:00- Boys movie, Molly letters and counting
10:30- Boys quiet reading time, Molly flash cards
11:00- All kids outside for half hour, me more quiet time ( I needed more than usual today)
11:30- Girls schoolwork, little kids play together in the bedroom
12:00- Lunch for the little ones then down for a LONG nap
12:30- Lunch with girls and a little TV
1:00- Girls more school, Molly movie, me laundry
That is basically all that was scheduled for today. The girls finished school at about 3:00, boys napped until 3:30, Molly played outside or in her room, and I made dinner and checked schoolwork.
The day was good but extremely long. I'm afraid that bedtime for the entire family is going to come shortly after this post is completed.
Due to this rather busy schedule, I'm afraid that for at least a little while, blogs will continue to be few and far between. Just during this one, I have been interrupted about seven hundred times! Good luck to all you out there who are either just sending all their kids off to school, just starting school at your own house, or taking care of your homes and husbands as summer comes to a close.
Hope to talk to you soon:~)
This is my first year to teach three children and I have been a little concerned about the scheduling around here. I have been trying to figure out how I am going to teach both big girls their school, teach Molly how to write her name and read, keep the boys out of trouble and sufficiently entertained, clean house, do laundry, iron, grocery shop, cook, sort fall clothes, give each child the attention they need, etc. Not to mention running each morning, making sure that I have the time I need with God, and time to visit with Jonny.
The stress has gotten to me. But it is times like these that God steps in and gives us wisdom when we ask for it. This time He gave it to me in the form of my Mom and a very experienced couple that we are friends with. These people gave me the best advice on making sure that I am training their character before anything else, making sure not to be so hard on myself that I take no joy in this experience, and the best advice of all...realizing that God is able to equip them for the plans He has for them, even if I do not have the knowledge to give them all that they might need for these plans.
The burden that had been weighing down on me for some weeks, slowly began to lift and along with the burden being lifted, came the ability thus far, to be able to make things work.
Last night I made a schedule for the girls and put it on top of the books that they would need to work with today. My girls really like order and knowing what is expected of them.
This saved them having to come to me all day and ask what they should be doing next. They were able to work quietly all day only needing my help a couple of times.
This was my schedule today:
7:00- Up and at 'em (Me and the big girls)
Quiet time for me, the girls make bed, clean room, get dressed, read Bible
7:30- Boys up, Breakfast
8:00- Girls chores, Boys movie, Me laundry
8:45- Make sure little ones are dressed and house is in order
9:00- Girls schoolwork, Boys play time in the playroom, Me pay bills
10:00- Boys movie, Molly letters and counting
10:30- Boys quiet reading time, Molly flash cards
11:00- All kids outside for half hour, me more quiet time ( I needed more than usual today)
11:30- Girls schoolwork, little kids play together in the bedroom
12:00- Lunch for the little ones then down for a LONG nap
12:30- Lunch with girls and a little TV
1:00- Girls more school, Molly movie, me laundry
That is basically all that was scheduled for today. The girls finished school at about 3:00, boys napped until 3:30, Molly played outside or in her room, and I made dinner and checked schoolwork.
The day was good but extremely long. I'm afraid that bedtime for the entire family is going to come shortly after this post is completed.
Due to this rather busy schedule, I'm afraid that for at least a little while, blogs will continue to be few and far between. Just during this one, I have been interrupted about seven hundred times! Good luck to all you out there who are either just sending all their kids off to school, just starting school at your own house, or taking care of your homes and husbands as summer comes to a close.
Hope to talk to you soon:~)
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Need Some New Ideas? Try Grilling!
I remember Shop Girl from "You've Got Mail" saying "I like to start my letters as if we're already in the middle of a conversation". I couldn't agree more. Tonight's idea came to me after I just finished off the all-time best steak that I have ever eaten in all my born days. My favorite steak until tonight, has always been the filet at Oceans Zen. No longer. As of tonight, my new favorite is the steak that Jonny threw on the grill and cooked (or shall we say, didn't cook) to perfection. It was a filet and it was perfectly medium rare and seasoned with nothing but salt. It was so amazingly tasty that I'm practically jumping up and down that there is one extra piece to fight over. It's a good thing that I'm the one who stays home during the day;-)
As much as I adore trying out new recipes, mixing up savory stews, baking fresh bread, and pulling cookies out of the oven, I am always ready for the nice break in the summertime.
You see, around here Jonny is the summertime cook. Other than the occasional chicken salad, or fried chicken, we eat grilled food all summer long.
I know that so many people get stuck in a rut and think that grilling means chicken or burgers every night. Not true.
We have, over the years discovered many different delicious foods to throw on the grill.
The more I read, the more I have found that if you can eat it, you can grill it.
Some of our first choices are burgers (done up with Dad's secret sauce) and fresh ears of corn. I have been told that you should first soak your corn in buckets of water, but I never seem to remember this trick until it's time for dinner. I have to admit to you though, that I cannot imagine how Jonny's corn can be improved by soaking it in water. It comes off the grill piping hot and perfectly juicy.
Another idea is steak which can obviously be pricey unless you find it on sail. Steaks are one thing that Jonny is always willing to splurge on being that it is his favorite food. All that he does is rub each side liberally in kosher salt and grill it for just a few minutes over charcoal. Delicious!
Here are some more that are pretty obvious;
Meats
Chicken (try a lemon butter marinade)
Pork Chops (not my personal favorite)
Salmon (make the sour cream/dill sauce)
Shrimp
Ribs (Jonny cooks them in foil for two hours and then pops them in the oven for a bit)
Sausages
Bratwursts
Hot Dog
Brisket (use liquid smoke, soy sauce, and Coke)
Veggies
Squash
Zucchini
New Potatoes
Cherry Tomatoes (not for long!)
Mushrooms (although I HATE those things!!)
Asparagus
Fruits
Pineapple (YUM YUM!!)
Bananas
There are hundreds of other things but these came to mind first. I even saw on the Today show last week, that you can grill watermelon! They simply threw it on the grill and then tossed it with some yellow tomatoes and goat cheese. It looked marvelous!!
Well I hope that this has helped you at least get your mind going in some new directions and given you some new ideas.
Tonight my daughter is breaking in the new tree house, by sleeping there with a friend. I swept it out real well, then filled it with fluffy blankets and strung Christmas lights up in the beams. If it weren't so impossibly hot out there, I would be tempted to join them!
Good night to you my friends.
As much as I adore trying out new recipes, mixing up savory stews, baking fresh bread, and pulling cookies out of the oven, I am always ready for the nice break in the summertime.
You see, around here Jonny is the summertime cook. Other than the occasional chicken salad, or fried chicken, we eat grilled food all summer long.
I know that so many people get stuck in a rut and think that grilling means chicken or burgers every night. Not true.
We have, over the years discovered many different delicious foods to throw on the grill.
The more I read, the more I have found that if you can eat it, you can grill it.
Some of our first choices are burgers (done up with Dad's secret sauce) and fresh ears of corn. I have been told that you should first soak your corn in buckets of water, but I never seem to remember this trick until it's time for dinner. I have to admit to you though, that I cannot imagine how Jonny's corn can be improved by soaking it in water. It comes off the grill piping hot and perfectly juicy.
Another idea is steak which can obviously be pricey unless you find it on sail. Steaks are one thing that Jonny is always willing to splurge on being that it is his favorite food. All that he does is rub each side liberally in kosher salt and grill it for just a few minutes over charcoal. Delicious!
Here are some more that are pretty obvious;
Meats
Chicken (try a lemon butter marinade)
Pork Chops (not my personal favorite)
Salmon (make the sour cream/dill sauce)
Shrimp
Ribs (Jonny cooks them in foil for two hours and then pops them in the oven for a bit)
Sausages
Bratwursts
Hot Dog
Brisket (use liquid smoke, soy sauce, and Coke)
Veggies
Squash
Zucchini
New Potatoes
Cherry Tomatoes (not for long!)
Mushrooms (although I HATE those things!!)
Asparagus
Fruits
Pineapple (YUM YUM!!)
Bananas
There are hundreds of other things but these came to mind first. I even saw on the Today show last week, that you can grill watermelon! They simply threw it on the grill and then tossed it with some yellow tomatoes and goat cheese. It looked marvelous!!
Well I hope that this has helped you at least get your mind going in some new directions and given you some new ideas.
Tonight my daughter is breaking in the new tree house, by sleeping there with a friend. I swept it out real well, then filled it with fluffy blankets and strung Christmas lights up in the beams. If it weren't so impossibly hot out there, I would be tempted to join them!
Good night to you my friends.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Southern Feast!
Tomorrow night my favorite people in the world will all be gathered for a feast that may sound foreign to you. We are all going up to Mom and Dad's with my brother and sister-in-law and their two little ones. We are cooking up one of our all time favorite meals, that we have to start preparing for tomorrow morning.
The menu will be:
Fried Steak
Fried Chicken
Purple Hull Peas
Fried Okra
Fried Squash
New Potatoes
Fresh Tomatoes
Cantaloupe
Fresh Peach Cobbler
Have you ever see the word "fried" so many times in one menu? Obviously we are not worried about our waistlines tomorrow night!
This meal is absolutely impossible to prepare without a trip down south. Most people up here have never even heard of purple hull peas unless their frozen. I've even heard people say that they're the same thing as black-eyed peas. WRONG!!! Purple hull peas are totally different and much, much better than black-eyed. The okra is something else that is difficult to find fresh in this area. As for the tomatoes, well you northerners have absolutely no idea what you are missing until you taste a south Arkansas tomato. There is a stand in Price Cutter that claims to sell them, but they are no where near as good as true southern tomatoes. They are shaped different and instead of being an orangish yellowish color, they are a brilliant red and smell so strong that you could tell it was a fresh tomato even if you had a clothespin on your nose.
They are the only kind of tomatoes that I like to eat sliced with some salt and pepper.
The peaches are another thing that you simply cannot find up this way. I don't care if you find a booth that says "fresh peaches" on the brightly painted sign. If I were to give you a taste of peaches from the south, you would spit these northern peaches out in the dirt. I guarantee it!!
A truly delicious peach should have little red speckles mixed in with the flesh. The juices should run down your arm the entire time you're eating it. It should smell so strong that you can stand back five feet with your eyes closed and still know right where to put your hand.
I am so dreadfully sorry to make your mouth water so profusely and then rub the drool right off your chin with a rough beach towel by telling you that you have to drive three to five hours away to make it a possibility. This will not be considered my kindest post.
As per my hairdressers suggestion, I posted pictures of my house on hgtv.com and I cannot believe how much fun that has been. Constant comments for the past two days! I have been checking my email like a child checks on the cookies in the oven!!
I'm afraid I depend too much on compliments. Oh well, something else for the Lord to work on!
Good Night all!!
The menu will be:
Fried Steak
Fried Chicken
Purple Hull Peas
Fried Okra
Fried Squash
New Potatoes
Fresh Tomatoes
Cantaloupe
Fresh Peach Cobbler
Have you ever see the word "fried" so many times in one menu? Obviously we are not worried about our waistlines tomorrow night!
This meal is absolutely impossible to prepare without a trip down south. Most people up here have never even heard of purple hull peas unless their frozen. I've even heard people say that they're the same thing as black-eyed peas. WRONG!!! Purple hull peas are totally different and much, much better than black-eyed. The okra is something else that is difficult to find fresh in this area. As for the tomatoes, well you northerners have absolutely no idea what you are missing until you taste a south Arkansas tomato. There is a stand in Price Cutter that claims to sell them, but they are no where near as good as true southern tomatoes. They are shaped different and instead of being an orangish yellowish color, they are a brilliant red and smell so strong that you could tell it was a fresh tomato even if you had a clothespin on your nose.
They are the only kind of tomatoes that I like to eat sliced with some salt and pepper.
The peaches are another thing that you simply cannot find up this way. I don't care if you find a booth that says "fresh peaches" on the brightly painted sign. If I were to give you a taste of peaches from the south, you would spit these northern peaches out in the dirt. I guarantee it!!
A truly delicious peach should have little red speckles mixed in with the flesh. The juices should run down your arm the entire time you're eating it. It should smell so strong that you can stand back five feet with your eyes closed and still know right where to put your hand.
I am so dreadfully sorry to make your mouth water so profusely and then rub the drool right off your chin with a rough beach towel by telling you that you have to drive three to five hours away to make it a possibility. This will not be considered my kindest post.
As per my hairdressers suggestion, I posted pictures of my house on hgtv.com and I cannot believe how much fun that has been. Constant comments for the past two days! I have been checking my email like a child checks on the cookies in the oven!!
I'm afraid I depend too much on compliments. Oh well, something else for the Lord to work on!
Good Night all!!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Molly's Antics
This is my Molly. She is doing what she often does, laughing with her sister. Molly has been one of the most interesting adventures that I have ever walked in my thirty one years. Molly was born six years after my second daughter. She was much looked forward to and much prepared for. Her room was everything that a little girl could ever dream of. We couldn't wait for her to enter our world.
And then she came.
Molly hated our world for the first year of her life. She did nothing but scream and cry. She was always demanding attention. I remember the first time she ever sat down in her bouncy seat and didn't cry for a full five minutes. We were so hopeful at that point. As beautiful as she was, I seriously began wondering if I had made a mistake in interrupting our quiet, simple little family of four.
The bigger girls really struggled with not resenting the fact that we could never go out to eat or to see a movie because Molly would scream the entire time and we would have to take turns pacing and dancing with her. These acts would never make her happy, but would simply make the screaming a little less shrill.
Finally after the longest year of our lives, she turned one. It seemed at that point, she just decided to be happy. Since that day, she has either been wailing dramatically or laughing hysterically. She cannot stand to play by herself and never can seem to get enough snuggling.
She detests wearing anything except "fancy" dresses and hates it when I insist on something "tasual" (casual).
Molly has been making us laugh now for three years almost continuously. I thought that because of the number of comments I get each time I have posted on Facebook, some of the hilarious things that she has said, that I would devote an entire post to some of the more hilarious ones.
There by giving some of you who are just discovering that you have a personality type similar to this one, hope that there will many more days of laughter than there will be of tears. Just to help you understand her language, remember that Molly doesn't say her hard "k" sound so well. She tries her doggondest, but it just won't come out so well.
I will start with my Mom's favorite. It happened last year and is one of the first truly hilarious moments of our families "Mollyisms".
I was sitting in the floor of the nursery changing one of the boys diapers. Molly walks in and says "Where is dat nudder one baby?" Being the game player I frequently am, I asked her "What nudder one baby?" She looks at me as if I'm crazy and says "You know!! Dat nudder one baby dat matches dis one!"
Another one came this spring. Molly had a friend over to play one afternoon and being little girls, there was a little drama going on. Well her friend was busy playing something else and at that moment, not feeling like playing with Molly. So Molly comes up crying to Ally, "She hates me!!" Ally ready to come to the defense of her little sister stand up ready for ultimate big sister protection and asks her "Did she tell you she hates you?". Molly in a rare moment of complete honesty, shrugs her shoulders and remarks "Well, she was finkin' it!"
My next example sounds a little violent, but if you would be good enough to consider that she has been watching "Five Mile Creek" with all of us, you might more understand a four year olds thoughts. Her big sister Meg was doing something which I am sure was not necessarily the kindest thing although I have never been told what exactly it was. So Molly comes into the living room to "tell on her". She proceeds to tell her Daddy all about it, then surprises him by leaning into him and quietly asking "Do you fint we should shoot her?"
Jonny who has a bad habit of not making a big deal out of what I consider to be huge deals, simply says that he doesn't necessarily think that shooting Meg would be the best course of action. He thinks nothing more of it until I came downstairs wondering why Molly had come quietly into my room looking through my closet. When I asked her what she was looking for, thinking she was wanting to get into my jewelry box, she matter of factly announces that she is looking for Dad's gun. (Don't get to upset. It's only a pellet gun.)
Moving right along to a more feminine example. We were walking through the Landing with Mom one spring afternoon and Molly is skipping along behind stopping at every single flower pot to smell the flowers. She starts telling Nana how "these flowers are the most beeaauuutiful flowers" she has ever seen. Nana always the teacher tells her that those are Pansies. A few seconds later we hear her mumbling "Well they loot lite flowers to me".
Our next example will make Ally absolutely blush to the roots of her hair, but must be put on here. Molly was sitting on the potty which she does frequently. If you ask her why she has to go potty so often, she will simply tell you "I'm just a heavy drinker". Well in this particular gas station we were getting to know (we know every single one between here and Florida)
she was having a little trouble. After she finally is done, she looks up at me and with a red little face asks "Was dat diarrhea?" I told her no, it was not. She then wipes her little brow and says "Well dood, tause I was feelin' a little tonstipated!"
Well my memory is failing me now and I cannot think of any other silly Molly stories, although I am pretty sure that you have read enough to give you an idea of what my life has been like raising my precious little rascal.
I am now off to tackle two huge baskets of ironing that seriously make me want to dump them in a closet and pretend like I don't own them. See you soon!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The Best Dinner Experience I've Ever Had
Wow! It has been a REALLY LONG TIME since I have posted anything on here! It has just been a rather busy summer so far. You would think that after this extremely long silence, that I would have this long list of amazing recipes for you. But alas...I have nothing to share with you in the cooking department. At least not tonight.
But I still had to tell you about the Jeppsen's dinner time this evening. Last night while I should have been sleeping to help myself get over the nasty sinus infection my family caught from a hot tub while we were in Branson this past weekend (I advise you to stay away from those nasty things!), I was propped up on my pillows reading an old book that my Mom used when she was raising me and my brother and sister. It is called "Teaching Your Children to Love Each Other" and it is a wonderful book! Anyway, I noticed that at the end of each chapter, there is a discussion question for parents and one for families. Well maybe not exactly a question, more like a discussion idea.
The idea for children struck me as so wonderful, that I decided to give it try tonight at the table.
As soon as the rather noisy prayer was over (our boys believe in intercessory prayer and insist on bowing their little heads and "helping" Daddy pray), I informed the family that tonight we would be going around the table person by person and doing two different things. First each person had to say three things that they like about themselves. Only one of those things could be about the physical appearance. Except of course in Molly's case. She proceeded to tell us how she loves her nose, her lovely eyes, her beautiful blond hair, and so on and so forth. Oh well, she'll get the idea one day.
Absolutely no laughing was permitted after one slight snicker after one of them said she likes how sweet she is. The idea was not bragging, but more speaking positively.
Second, after everyone had gone around the table telling what they like about themselves (Charlie and Danny made it rather clear that they like their ability to smear spaghetti noodles over every single square inch of their little bodies), we then started all over again only this time each person had to say one thing he or she liked about everyone else at the table.
It took the entire mealtime to finish this excercise, but as soon as we were done, I asked everyone how they felt. Everyone, including Jonny admitted that they felt so much better about themselves and were thinking so much more positively. I can't wait to read the next idea tonight. Ally even came and found me later on asking me what other questions the book had.
Funny how little we seem to notice the things that can be said to constantly make others feel less important or incapable, and it was positively wonderful seeing each childs beaming face as I told them right in front of everyone else, what I thought was so special about them.
I highly recommend practices like this whenever you get the chance. I'm so excited to see what it does as far as helping my children learn to love each other.
Well there now. That was a little longer than I expected, but as soon as we were done with dinner, I knew I had to share this with you. So long dear friends. Hopefully we can continue this one sided chat again soon!
But I still had to tell you about the Jeppsen's dinner time this evening. Last night while I should have been sleeping to help myself get over the nasty sinus infection my family caught from a hot tub while we were in Branson this past weekend (I advise you to stay away from those nasty things!), I was propped up on my pillows reading an old book that my Mom used when she was raising me and my brother and sister. It is called "Teaching Your Children to Love Each Other" and it is a wonderful book! Anyway, I noticed that at the end of each chapter, there is a discussion question for parents and one for families. Well maybe not exactly a question, more like a discussion idea.
The idea for children struck me as so wonderful, that I decided to give it try tonight at the table.
As soon as the rather noisy prayer was over (our boys believe in intercessory prayer and insist on bowing their little heads and "helping" Daddy pray), I informed the family that tonight we would be going around the table person by person and doing two different things. First each person had to say three things that they like about themselves. Only one of those things could be about the physical appearance. Except of course in Molly's case. She proceeded to tell us how she loves her nose, her lovely eyes, her beautiful blond hair, and so on and so forth. Oh well, she'll get the idea one day.
Absolutely no laughing was permitted after one slight snicker after one of them said she likes how sweet she is. The idea was not bragging, but more speaking positively.
Second, after everyone had gone around the table telling what they like about themselves (Charlie and Danny made it rather clear that they like their ability to smear spaghetti noodles over every single square inch of their little bodies), we then started all over again only this time each person had to say one thing he or she liked about everyone else at the table.
It took the entire mealtime to finish this excercise, but as soon as we were done, I asked everyone how they felt. Everyone, including Jonny admitted that they felt so much better about themselves and were thinking so much more positively. I can't wait to read the next idea tonight. Ally even came and found me later on asking me what other questions the book had.
Funny how little we seem to notice the things that can be said to constantly make others feel less important or incapable, and it was positively wonderful seeing each childs beaming face as I told them right in front of everyone else, what I thought was so special about them.
I highly recommend practices like this whenever you get the chance. I'm so excited to see what it does as far as helping my children learn to love each other.
Well there now. That was a little longer than I expected, but as soon as we were done with dinner, I knew I had to share this with you. So long dear friends. Hopefully we can continue this one sided chat again soon!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
My Menu for this Week
I have posted pictures of my house on facebook. There are far too many to put on here. I think I posted about 40 to 50 pictures! Feel free to go on my profile and have a look!
I am so excited that everything is finally done and I can now relax in my finished house!
I thought I would post my menu for this week in case some of you needed inspiration for some new dishes.
Tonight I am making my personal all time favorite, Ham and Cheese Rolls! I can't remember if I've posted this recipe before, but just in case I haven't it will be at the end of this post.
Monday Grilled Steak, Baked Potato, Steamed Broccoli, and Grilled Corn
Tuesday We went to the pool and Jonny bought us pizza. So I have moved last nights meal to Friday.
Wednesday Ham and Cheese Rolls, Strawberry Spinach Salad, Frothy Orange Soda, and Shortbread and Sherbet
Thursday Hamburgers, Seven Layer Dip, Fresh Veggies, and Fruit Pizza
Friday Roast Beef, Scalloped Potatoes, Fried Okra, and more Steamed Broccoli
I have really missed cooking for the past four months. Between eating healthy and my house being a wreck, it seems like forever since I have been in my kitchen! I am loving pulling out some old recipes and serving them to my family. Do not get me wrong, we are continuing our efforts to eat healthier. Not to mention getting LOTS more exercise. But I am really ready to do a little of my favorite kind of cooking again.
Now to address some of the dishes I will be serving this week. The sherbet and shortbread might sound a little odd to you unless you are a fan of Pollyanna. Remember the part where Aunt Polly is having a town meeting, and the grumpy cook is in the kitchen whipping up a quick, summertime feast for a hundred or so. Pollyanna is busy dipping soft shortbread cookies into a large bucket of lime sherbet. My girls thought it looked absolutely delicious, and now I enjoy serving it to them on these hot evenings.
The seven layer dip I actually make with eight layers, because I usually add ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning. That goes on the bottom, then refried beans, french onion dip, guacamole, cheese, tomato, lettuce and sliced olives. Serve it with Tostitos whole grain chips and it is most incredible!
The Frothy Orange Soda I got out of a new magazine. The recipe is 1 cup orange juice, 1 cup vanilla ice cream, 1 cup Sprite. In a blender add orange juice and ice cream. Cover and process until smooth. Stir in soda. Serve in chilled glasses.
Last but not least the Ham and Cheese Rolls. These just happen to be my all time favorite food in the entire world!!!! You simply grate up a block of swiss cheese and add four little cans of ham chopped up. Then slice up a bunch of green onion and stir into ham and cheese mixture. Then add enough yellow mustard to make it slightly sticky. I have never measured it, but I would guess about two to three tablespoons. Then form into balls and wrap a crescent roll around each ball. Dip in beaten egg and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Try to keep all your edges closed so your cheese doesn't melt all over the pan. I have also recently discovered that greasing your pan REALLY helps. Bake at 350 until golden brown.
Hope this gives you some new ideas! Don't be afraid of working in your kitchen when the weather is this hot. Just find new things to prepare that don't take your standing over the hot stove for hours. And certainly remember to use your grill as much as you can! Maybe my next post should be "Good Grilling Ideas";-)
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Open House Time!!
I know you were beginning to think it would never come, but we are finally finished with everything and ready to show it off!! Open house is this Saturday from 1:00 to 4:00. The girls and I are making some refreshments so bring your friends and family and stop in and visit us! We would love to see you!
I promise to post more pictures of the rest of the house, but I am waiting until next week after the "Big Reveal".
After realizing that I still had way to much stuff around here, I had my second yard sale week before last, and surprisingly enough, made enough money to go ahead and fix up my family room! I had already prepared myself for not getting to do that for quite a while. But it is now one of very favorite rooms in the house!
On a different note, I made up a new recipe last night. I know, I know, you thought I had forgotten about cooking. But now that everything is done, remodel, trip to Dallas, yard sale, I now have time to cook again. Due to the fact that Jonny gave me a little more money for the Dallas trip than we had agreed on (I just had to have the gorgeous white coffee table from TJMaxx Home Store!), I have once again been trying to use up what I have in the freezer and pantry. This does not always mean the most healthy meals, but we are still trying to do much better about our sugar intake and chips are rarely eaten at the Jeppsen house. Monday night I made tater-tot casserole and as much as my little folks loved it, I feel very unhealthy even admitting to you that I cooked it!
Back to the point. In searching through some of favorite cookbooks last night, trying to figure out what to do with a bag of chicken breasts and very little else, I couldn't find one recipe where I had everything that it called for. So I combined a little of this and a little of that, and PRESTO!! I came up with what we will "Crumbly Chicken Casserole". My entire family loved it and it was as easy as pie. I just boiled the bag of chicken, then shredded it. Then in a separate bowl I combined two cans of Cream of Mushroom soup ( I was out of Cream of Chicken, which is what I really prefer), half a block of Velveeta cut into little pieces, a packet of Ranch DIP mix (not Ranch dressing mix), and threw in the chicken. Then I greased a casserole dish and poured in my mixture. Last I crumbled up a sleeve and a half of Ritz crackers (thank you stock piling!) and sprinkled them over the top and drizzled on a stick of melted butter. Then I baked it until bubbly at 350. Can you feel yourself getting fatter? It was absolutely delicious!! I was so impressed with myself that I just made it up that I had to brag on myself to you today!!!!
Tonight I am making chicken salad in pitas with mangoes and strawberries. I am so loving this summertime weather! Maybe we'll even take the kids for an evening swim!
Good Bye for now!
PS...I think I use to many exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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