Author Archives: Tracey Somos-Gehring

The Making of OYS

25 Tuesday Jan 2022

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on The Making of OYS

from Tracey

When I learned to knit, I started out with the mindset that I would buy yarn as needed, meaning for the current project I was working on or soon to be working on. And at that time, it was an easy thing to keep in check. I was new and I didn’t know much, so I wasn’t really looking ahead to any other projects, except the immediate ones. It was easy, I had one Rubbermaid plastic tub that fit the job of holding all of my yarn nicely.

Let’s flash-forward to almost 3 years later. Jeremy and I are doing a little more work in what we call The Room of Requirement (Harry Potter reference ?), which was my mom’s room when she was still alive and living with us, that has now become exactly that – The Room of Requirement. It’s a collaboration of all of our things, and things that have no home end up dumped in there. If you’ve ever watched the tv series “Friends”, Monica (the neat freak) has a secret closet – it’s an open-at-your-own-risk kind of thing, it’s where all the clutter ends up, etc. That’s kind of how our Room of Requirement has ended up. Well, now that Harry is getting older, he really wants his own space, instead of the room he currently has upstairs, which is more like a loft area that leads to our master bedroom. To get to my room, you have to go through his – worked great as a baby and toddler, even a young elementary kid – but not so much as an official middle schooler. We’ve decided it’s time to revamp The Room of Requirement to be what it now needs to be, Harry’s space.

So, my goal yesterday was to get all the yarn I’d been keeping in there moved up into my “new” closet space upstairs (we redid the flooring up there and revamped the closet spaces to be more usable). I didn’t count on Jeremy helping me and the upshot of that is that I am now banned from buying any more yarn until I use up a good portion of what I already own.

As I’ve grown in my knitting, more and more projects have become available to me – so I have more projects I want to make now in the queue, which translates to “I found a pattern that I really loved and immediately bought the yarn to make it” or “I bought a bunch of this yarn because it was on clearance, and I just know it’ll make a great sweater when I find the right pattern for it!” Not to mention, those projects seem to get put on hold, because for gifting projects I have to buy more yarn and my stash just sits. My one container of yarn has now grown into um, maybe 10? Give or take a tub or two… This all led to the hilarity that was yesterday’s project: me gathering and moving my yarn containers.

As I’m moving things around to get to my containers of yarn, Jeremy decided to come in and help. He finally got to see just how much yarn I have accumulated in the past 3 years, and it was hilarious. I was laughing so hard I had tears running down my face at his incredulity when seeing container after container of my Official Yarn Stash (henceforth known as OYS).

So, being the one who now needed to defend her OYS from undue criticism, I said “I haven’t bought yarn in ages, well um, aside from the yarn I purchased for the Christmas gifts, and the yarn I just bought recently for the sweater and the yarn for the throw blanket I’m making for myself… I’ve practiced restraint!” To which he replied with “But, you were JUST looking at yarn online not one hour ago!!” And I said, “oh yeah, but did I BUY any? Nope! So there!”

In relating this escapade to Kris later in the day, I also discussed that in all honesty, I too had just discovered just how much yarn I have! Oh, my goodness. I knew what I had, because the bulk of it has been bought for particular projects, but when you see it all together, in one area, it’s a little overwhelming. I had had it all over the place, some here, one container there and so forth. So, when it’s all put in one spot, it’s rather impressive, but also starts to look like a storage problem! I was in a mild panic that it wouldn’t fit where I swore up and down and on my life that it would fit. I can honestly say I wasn’t so sure anymore after seeing it in all it’s multi-container glory, but not that I’d EVER admit that! Nope. So, after some creative consolidation, (thank goodness yarn is squishy!) I made it all (well, almost all – I still have a couple of containers that won’t make it at this time) fit into my designated space. Yay me! Now I just have to get it organized better – like fibers with like fibers etc. But I’m going to let myself enjoy the fact I got almost of it put in one spot!

So, after all of this was accomplished, I was rather pleased. There is something pretty satisfying about knowing you can make almost anything you want to, when you want to because you have the supplies. And when you live in an area where the nearest yarn/craft store is 45 min away, it’s doubly nice to have! For me it’s akin to a well-stocked freezer and pantry – with a much longer expiration date! And it’s just plain fun to have it, it feels like one of the perks of being an Official Knitter. I’ve officially joined the club – I have a REAL stash! An OYS of my very own, it feels like a very important milestone in my knitting adventure! I now just need to stop storing it and start “making” it!!

 

From Kris

When Tracey started relating to me her story of having a serious yarn stash, all I could do was laugh, knowing the scenario way too well.  I also had to own up to the fact that I started her on this lifelong journey of collecting.  Learning to knit is an entry drug into the great big fiber world of colors, textures, possibilities, and imagination. Looking at it practically, however, its a much healthier addiction than alcohol or drugs…though in the long haul it may not be less expensive.

I have been knitting for thirty plus years.  To say that I have accumulated quite a yarn stash is a gross understatement.  Almost every closet in our house has at least some yarn hidden away in it, hence the reason we are currently having a craft room added,  one that has dedicated yarn storage.  In preparation for moving into this new space (this is premature thinking but it makes me happy), I have been cleaning out closets.  I came across a tub that I thought for sure was photo props from when Tracey and I were doing regular food blogs.  I knew it was stuff I didn’t use regularly, preferring to use my real, everyday kitchen items.  I decided that I would just toss the tub and its contents, no problem. Secretly I thought that getting rid of a tub of things I was no longer using would free up space for more yarn.  I opened the tub and…guess what…my wish was immediately granted.  It wasn’t photo props, it was yarn!!!

This got me thinking about how a OYS is built:

  • It’s on such a good sale!
  • What a pretty color.  I know I can do something with it.
  • I better buy an extra ball, or three, so I’m sure that I have enough for this project.
  • Friends know the best gift to give you.
  • Tail ends of balls from finished projects accrue.  Yes!  There are finished projects!
  • I’m not sure which color I really want to use so I’ll buy both and see how it goes.
  • It’s a souvenir.  Buy it in the place I am visiting and when (if) I make the something with it, I have double the memories of my trip.
  • I know I had something specific in mind when I bought this but now I can’t remember what.
  • I like it and it makes me happy!

The fact that yarn makes us happy is a good enough reason to buy it, don’t you think? It is such a simple pleasure.  And in the long run, having an OYS is relatively harmless…well…until those tubs start falling out of the closets on top of innocent loved ones or their escaping ends ensnare the unsuspecting limbs of someone innocently rummaging through that closet for a lost mitten.

My girls joke with me all the time about the fact that all they will inherit from me is a ton of yarn.  Maybe so, but discovering it in all of its various hiding places will be the scavenger hunt to remember!  And maybe, just maybe, they’ll take the time to go through those tubs and find that tail end that was from the afghan I made for them when they left for college, or from the hat with ear flaps and braids that was requested in lime green, or from the blanket they wrapped their first baby in when he came home from the hospital, or that afghan that was strewn on my couch for all those years that now is strewn on theirs…

All that to say that having an OYS is a long road to happiness.

 

Sad Realities…

05 Sunday Dec 2021

Posted by in Life Happens

≈ Comments Off on Sad Realities…

from Tracey

Kris and I had planned another post for this week, but most of our conversations over the recent days have revolved around the ever-unfolding school shooting case in my state; that led to discussions on school shootings in general. It touched us both on many levels, aside from the tragedy that is the obvious first thing. We can look at it from many viewpoints, as parents, an educator and as former students ourselves.

As a parent, it’s terrifying to me that my child has to live with “active shooter” drills being a regular part of his educational experience right from the beginning. He’ll never know school-life without them and this very real threat. That makes me incredibly sad too. Active shooter drills shouldn’t be a “thing” at all, because having those drills means that that particular threat is an ever-present possibility. I’m disturbed that I have to worry when a text comes through from the school district announcing that the school is dealing with “an issue” and are going into one of the various levels of lock-down.  To me, even the softest of lockdowns is enough to raise my anxiety levels. My mom didn’t have this worry in her parenting of a school-aged child. And I also have the worry and anxiety over when the school’s communications are somewhat vague.  The “do I send my kid or not today” anxiety jumps in. On one hand if it’s a drill that they are alluding to (maybe, not sure, with the way things are worded), I want him there so he’s not the kid who was absent the day they learned what they are supposed to do during a real situation.  But then, the other part of my parental brain starts spiraling out of control with all the “what-ifs”, some days it feels like a damned if you do, damned if you don’t scenario.

As a former student, I am so glad this wasn’t a thing when I was a kid. We had the usual fire and tornado drills to contend with. (And as a person who has got a phobia regarding tornadoes, even drills could cause my anxiety rise.) Even the occasional bomb threat (or if it was a drill) was something handled like a fire drill – everyone out of the building in an orderly fashion and as far away as possible. I can’t imagine having to deal with practicing what to do if there is an armed intruder in my safe place (school), that is roaming around and actively looking for people to shoot.

I was never fond of the game “hide and seek” because I didn’t like hiding and the anxiety level it raised in the waiting for someone to find me (I also didn’t like games where people jump out at me, yeah, I know I’ve got issues!). So, for me, taking part in that sort of drill where we are hunkered down, hiding and hoping the person(s) don’t find us would be a real test of my coping mechanisms.

If I combine these two perspectives, being a parent and a former student, it makes me really sad that my child doesn’t get the same opportunity I had in my schooling career – having fun with my friends and my biggest worry was simply to get the best grades that I could. No kid should have the daily worry that someone might feel that the only solution to their problem(s) is to bring a loaded weapon to school to fix whatever the wrongs done to them are, either perceived or actual.

There are so many other thoughts that orbit around this topic as well, like what has happened to some of our kids that they feel these solutions are practical and justified? I can honestly say that is something that never popped into my head whatsoever. How does it become a person’s go-to solution at such a young age? Have they lost sight of the fact that it’s a temporary stop on the way to the rest of their life? I know there aren’t really answers to any of these questions, and all of the situations have their own causes etc., but it makes me incredibly sad to see a kid throw their life away on something that is so very temporary –  to lose sight that “this too shall pass”, and that the solution they are choosing is permanent on all levels. And to see parents lose kids to a shooting like this is beyond heartbreaking, to have someone forcibly take your child from your life, in any manner is gut-wrenching. Especially from a place that is supposed to be safe, or at least always used to be, in my experience.

From Kris

My girls graduated from high school in 2007 and 2010.  Though there had been school shootings during their public school days, the most notable being Columbine in 1999, such incidents were not of enough concern that my girls had to endure active shooter drills during their school days.  The mom in me is grateful for that!

As a teacher at the college level, I think that I was the first one in my family to participate in regular active shooter drills.  They began to be a regular part of our “training” around 2014 or so.  At that point, the following was attached to our passkey lanyards, a daily reminder of the very real possibilities that we faced every day on campus.

I’m not sure which is worse-being a parent worrying about a child at school or being the teacher responsible for keeping other peoples’ children safe.  No matter a student’s age, they are still someone’s child.  And when it comes to being in lockdown with scared students, they all look about five years old.

Fortunately, we never had any actual active shooters on my campus during my tenure, but I did experience three police activity lockdowns due to “imminent danger.”  One was the result of a bank robbery across a field from our campus.  The police thought it likely that the suspect, who was armed, would flee toward campus where people were always mingling about and he could easily disappear into the crowd.  The second lockdown was due to “possible gunshots” near campus, and the third was initiated because of note found in a campus restroom in which a student said they were on campus and threatened to take their own life.  Though none of these situations is as scary as a confirmed active shooter on campus, they were all packed with enough anxiety for me.

With each lockdown incident I experienced, I was in a different place on campus so each required a slightly different response on my part.  For one of them, I was in my office.  When the lockdown notice came across my office computer, I had a few seconds to grab any students who were wandering out in the hall and pull them into my office.  We then turned off all the lights and sat huddled together in a corner on the floor and waited…for either something terrible to happen, or an all clear.

The second lockdown happened while I was in the classroom teaching.  The students and I all got the emergency alert as text messages on our phones.  We quickly turned off all the lights and closed the blinds and barricaded the door with a piano and several desks.  We kept a few desks at hand to throw should anyone actually make it into the classroom.  Again we sat packed together in silence waiting.  After a few minutes, I heard one young female student whisper, “I’m scared.”  I thought the same thing, but couldn’t say it.  We spent nearly two hours like this.  Thankfully, the threat turned out to be just that…a threat that did not materialize.

During my last lockdown experience, I ended up in the Black Box theatre with a bunch of my theatre teaching colleagues.  We had no students with us this time.  If you have to spend time in lockdown, doing so with a bunch of drama queens is the best place to be. 🙂

I am beyond grateful that none of these situations resulted in anyone getting hurt.  But, my head knows that it is just a matter of time.  In 2015, Texas passed the Campus Carry law, allowing licensed gun owners to carry firearms on higher education campuses.  In September of this year, the Texas legislature then decided that no one needs a license to carry so they removed this requirement to gun ownership.  Another sad reality is that these things were contributing factors to my retiring this year.

If you have never personally experienced a real lockdown situation, especially one where you are responsible for the lives of others, be glad.  If you have children who come home from school talking about being scared because of the drill protocol that they experienced, believe them.  This is not the kind of “learning” that should have to be occurring in any of our schools.  Fire drills, tornado drills, even bomb threat drills don’t cause the level of anxiety that the imminent danger or active shooter drills do.

I thought that I wouldn’t have to worry about these things daily now that my kids aren’t in school and I have retired, but I got a text message from daughter Friday evening saying that she had received a communication from her stepson’s school advising parents that school officials had heard a student threatening to bring a gun to school.  The ironic part of this text is that it came on the heels of another text from my daughter asking if Tracey’s son, Harry, had made it home safely from school on Friday after all of the upheaval in the Michigan schools last week.  All of the parents and stepparents are in agreement that if my step-grandson feels apprehensive about going to school because of the recent gun violence threat, he can stay home.  This whole scenario is heartbreaking – for the students, for their parents, for teachers and administrators, and for the child who, for whatever reason, feels the need to make such a threat.

Sad realities.

Will it ever stop?

Mix It Up Monday: Mix Week!

04 Tuesday Jun 2019

Posted by in Mix It Up Monday, Mix Week

≈ Comments Off on Mix It Up Monday: Mix Week!

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

from Tracey G.

Bountiful Pantry Pumpkin Chowder Soup Mix

Well, it looks like this particular mix, the Bountiful Pantry Pumpkin Chowder Soup Mix, is out of stock – it didn’t come up in my search on the KAF site in the soup mix area, so I accessed it via my account from when I ordered it. I did order it last fall apparently, so I’m wondering if it’s just a seasonal product maybe? Either way, I hate it when I buy and make a mix just to find out at the last minute it’s not available for whatever reason. Ugh. But persevere I must…

This soup was super easy to make. You provide just 3 ingredients: water, chicken broth & milk or cream. I used milk when I made it.

It cooks up nicely in about total of 40 minutes. They suggest if you want a creamier soup, that you pop it into the blender ⅓ at a time, and purĂŠe. I wanted to do that, but just used my immersion/stick blender for the job. And I didn’t make it completely smooth – it does have rice in it, so I wanted that to still be apparent!

This is an interesting mix. The flavor is sweet and spiced up as you would expect of pumpkin anything – you know, cinnamon etc. It’s good. And, I really enjoyed it, but it’s something for me that one bowl is good enough. Then I’m done. I have a bunch leftover that I don’t think I’ll eat, which bums me out. I may try freezing it. But it’s a soup I’d enjoy ordering out in a restaurant where I don’t have to deal with leftovers and whatnot.

I’d also say it’s one you’d have to try so you could decide on it, it’s hard to describe – but it’s very distinct. Hopefully if you ever do want to try it, they’ll have it back in stock!

from Kris B.

I am beginning to think that I should stick to story telling rather than baking because this post, like many of my recent ones, is about the story rather than the recipe.

As is the case with Tracey’s soup mix, I also ordered this mix for Ancient Grains + Cranberry Bread awhile back and it no longer seems to be available.  Unfortunately though, it is not just out of stock; it is not even listed in the possible King Arthur mixes anymore, which is too bad because the bread is good if you like cranberries and ancient grains – millet, chia, barley, and oats.

I remember buying this Essential Goodness Ancient Grains + Cranberries Super Slice Bread mix because I thought I could get bread with a variety of grains without having to buy and store all of the grains myself.  Seemed reasonable at the time.  Then, when I was ready to photograph the bread from the mix, I decided that the loaf itself looked rather boring.  I knew that I had cranberries and oats, but I’m not a fan of scattering loose ingredients around a finished product.  I decided that I would place the oats and cranberries in small bowls just to add a little extra color and texture to the photo.  When I went to tha pantry to get those two things, I realized that I also had chia, millet, and barley.  Apparently somewhere along the line I forgot the conversation that I had had with myself about not needing to buy all of those things.

After the parceling out of grains into little bowls for the photo, I noticed that I had used such a shallow depth of field that you can’t even tell what they are anyway. 🙂  I could have just as easily, and effectively, used popcorn, chocolate chips, and Rice Krispies!  Oh well…live and learn!

When I realized that I actually had all of the grains that are in this bread mix, I decided to go to the King Arthur Flour recipe search and see if they had a comparable made from scratch bread.  My search yielded:

Ancient Grains Bread 

Score!  Or so I thought.

Nope.  This is a yeast bread rather than a quick bread.  It doesn’t have cranberries.  And, it doesn’t give you the individual measures for each grain.  It relies on King Arthur Flour’s Super 10 Blend, a blend of spelt, millet, rye flakes, barley flakes, quinoa flakes, chia seed, amaranth, teff, buckwheat, and sorghum.  Though this recipe may be very good, it is meant to be a sandwich type bread rather than a snack bread like the mix.

I am disappointed that the Ancient Grains + Cranberry Bread is no longer available.  It is a tasty snack just out of the box, but also included on the box are ways to enhance the basic mix.  The standard mix calls for the addition of 4 eggs, milk, and butter or oil.  However, suggested alternatives are substituting Greek yogurt for some of the milk or bananas for all of it.  The addition of nuts and protein powder is also an option.

I wish that if King Arthur was going to discontinue a good tasting mix, they’d create a close make-from-scratch version of the recipe first!  Oh well.  It was good while it lasted.

Perhaps I can figure out a comparable recipe on my own.  I need to do something with all of those grains!  Stay tuned!

Mix It Up Monday – Pesto, Presto, Posto Part Two-O!

27 Monday May 2019

Posted by in Mix It Up Monday, Mix It Up Monday - Throwback!

≈ Comments Off on Mix It Up Monday – Pesto, Presto, Posto Part Two-O!

Tags

, ,

from Tracey G.

When Kris was telling me of her recipe for last week’s post: Mix It Up Monday – Pesto, Presto, Posto!, I thought of this recipe and we’d discussed adding it to hers. But then I decided since it was actually a Throwback from our old blog, I’d post it for today on its own! It’s one of my favorite chicken dishes. Not only is it it so easy it should be criminal (as I state in my original post!), but the simple ingredients combine to make a sort of au jus/sauce that if I could I’d eat with a spoon by itself, lol!

I don’t think I have run across any recipe, ever, that has surprised me as much as this one. I never expected such flavor from such simple ingredients as are found in this recipe, in this combination. And it’s almost criminal how uncomplicated and effortless this dish is, lol, but yet, tastes like you put hours into it! It’s gone through some changes, and that sounds funny when I think about it, but it had a few other things as toppings along with the cheese, but I found that if I boiled it down to the basics, it was yummier and easier as less ingredients were needed to get it done.

And here we are – the ingredients. Yep. Just 3. Boneless skinless chicken breasts, prepared pesto and provolone cheese. Usually I use shredded, but thisall I could get my hands on were slices and it worked just fine of course, lol. 🙂

Preheat your oven to 400°F. While it’s preheating, time to put this together. Start by placing the chicken breasts in a 9×13 inch baking pan. The recipe calls for 4 breasts, but sometimes I only use 3 so I downsize my pan a bit.

Once the chicken is arranged in the pan, spoon the pesto over the chicken breasts. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup. I ended up using the whole 8 oz jar this time because I wasn’t thinking and contaminated it all with raw chicken by using the same spoon to scoop it out of the bowl and to spread it around on the chicken, lol. Normally I just measure out what’s needed and proceed from there. Oh well, the pesto is the best part and it was just as yummy with all of it as only a 1/2 cup, lol.

Once you get the pesto evenly spread on the chicken, it’s time to bake it. Usually takes about 35-45 minutes for the chicken breasts to be cooked thoroughly, but I always get out my meat thermometer and check at the end of 35-40 minutes or so to see where I’m at with doneness.

After you’ve baked your chicken and it’s the correct temperature for proper doneness (which according to foodsafey.gov is 165°F and can be found here: foodsafety.gov Safe Minimum Cooking Temperatures), it’s time to put on the cheese! Now, here’s where I normally use the shredded provolone, but the deli-style slices worked just fine. Pop them back into the oven for 1-2 min or until the cheese is melted.

Once the cheese is melted and as browned as you’d like, pull it out and let it rest for about 5 minutes  (I’ve let it sit for 10 minutes before and had no ill consequences, lol) before serving.

I served this batch with a garlic-buttered noodle that had some green beans mixed in, it was a bit of overload on green, lol, but it’s one of the few vegetables Harry will eat these days, so I work them in a lot, lol. It is one of my favorite ways to do a quick side dish though, while the noodles are cooking I toss in a handful or two of frozen cut green beans, so that when the noodles are done, so are the beans and they’re already tossed together that way – and then you can season any way you like 🙂

Pesto Baked Chicken

serves 4

Preheat oven to 400°F

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 6 oz each

1/2 c prepared pesto

1 c (4 oz) shredded provolone cheese

Place chicken breasts in an ungreased 9×13-inch baking dish, spoon pesto over chicken.

Bake, uncovered, at 400°F for about 35-45 minutes or internal temperature in the thickest part of the chicken breast reaches 165°F. Remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese. Bake 1-2 minutes longer or until the cheese is melted. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving.

Mix It Up Monday Throwback: Mom Made It – We Loved It!

13 Monday May 2019

Posted by in Mix It Up Monday, Mix It Up Monday - Throwback!

≈ Comments Off on Mix It Up Monday Throwback: Mom Made It – We Loved It!

Tags

, , , , , ,

In honor of Mother’s Day, Kris and I decided to spend the weekend enjoying ourselves and the family! Kris got to spend time with her new baby grandson, and I enjoyed my two boys being home and acting their usual crazy selves! So, we decided it would be fun to go with a Throwback post – albeit it’s a mash up of two different posts, but it IS about a couple recipes our mom’s made, that for us, are the gold standard in these treats we love!

Hope you enjoy!

 

from Kris B.

Despite my admitted coffee addiction, I am not one of those who spends nine months of the year waiting for Starbuck’s to begin making pumpkin spice lattes, but I do spend a good part of the year waiting for fall so that I can make pumpkin bread.  There really is no reason that pumpkin bread can’t be, as Cookie Monster says, “an anytime food,” but I have always thought of it as a fall food, a fall food that I absolutely love. In fact, I prefer pumpkin bread to pumpkin pie ALWAYS.

This recipe is one that was passed down to me from my mother.  Perhaps I still associate pumpkin bread with fall because that is when my mom always made it.  When I was in college, she always sent me a loaf in my midterm care package. I have no idea where my mom originally found the recipe.  She gave it to me on a handwritten recipe card with no reference as to where she had gotten it. In all these years, I have never even tried another pumpkin bread recipe.  To my taste, this one is perfection. And honestly, I have never tasted any pumpkin bread anywhere that beats this one. I’m sure there are some tweaks that could be made, perhaps to make it a bit healthier, but I don’t think I am going to worry about that.  Some things deserve to stay the same; for me, this recipe is one of them.

INGREDIENTS

1 2/3 Cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 1/2 Cups sugar

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 Cup vegetable oil

1/2 Cup water

1 Cup pumpkin

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Grease a loaf pan and set aside.

Sift flour into a large bowl.

Mix in the remainder of the dry ingredients – sugar, salt,  baking soda, baking powder, and spices.

In a medium sized bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients, oil, water, pumpkin and eggs.

Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients stirring until they are mixed well.  Add the vanilla.

Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan or pan(s) of choice. This recipe works well in mini loaf pans or muffin tins also.  Bake for 1 1/2 hours or until knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then remove it from the pan and continue cooling on a wire rack.

I am lazy when it comes to washing dishes so it is always my goal to use as few vessels as possible when I cook.  Since this recipe uses 1/2 cup each of water and oil, it is “efficient” to measure them both into the same measuring cup!

Thanks for reading!

 

from Tracey G.

As Kris and I were getting ready for this “Friday’s” post, everything seemed to just go downhill in my camp, lol. I ended up having to take Harry to the after-hours clinic at our doctor’s office due to ear pain on Thursday evening after a miserable Wednesday night, and come to find out he’s got an ugly ear infection. So, the past few nights since, oh, Wednesday, have involved very little sleep, and every time I get something on a roll after he’s asleep, he’s awake and my work gets put on hold, lol. I am hoping that a couple full days on the antibiotic will start to see some improvement! Poor kid is miserable and the first day of school is Tuesday. What a way to start the year, the doctor wanted to see him back next Friday, so the first week of school he’s either going to be late on that day or absent depending on the efficiency at the doctor’s office, lol.

So, that’s my reason why Food Friday became Food Saturday for me as well!! 😉

Labor Day weekend reminds me of a special dessert my mom would make, not that she made it, every Labor Day weekend, because I couldn’t even tell you if she ever made it on a Labor Day weekend, lol – but simply because it did. Her birthday was just August 22, so I guess she’s been on my mind a lot. But anyway, the dessert would be the Stern Reunion Blueberry Torte, my mom was a Stern so was from her side of the family. I didn’t call it that because to me, and one of my best friends who I think loved it more than me (if that was possible!), it was simply known as my Mom’s Blueberry Torte, lol. The funny thing is, I’ve never made it. My friend requested it as a wedding gift, lol, a pan of it all for her that she didn’t have share – she  may have shared with her new husband, lol, I’ll have to ask her one of these days, but she’s made it through the years, and I can’t believe I never have. It’s not like I didn’t have the recipe, lol. I couldn’t even tell you the last time I’d even had it… So I knew it was time to make it.

As I was making it, I had to laugh – mom only made it for special occasions, holidays and whatnot, so I always thought it was labor intensive so therefore, saved for certain occasions – like the pecan tarts she’d make every Christmas, they were special because that was the only time of year we had them, lol. But the torte was REALLY simple to put together and fast, lol. I was reminded of the old Rice Krispies Treat commercial where the mom dusted herself with flour before she took the treats, wearily, out to the family as if it had been one of the most difficult things to produce, yet she and we knew it was one of the easiest. 😉 I knew mom more as a “cooker” instead of dessert maker/baker kind of person, so whatever she did make as a dessert, I guess would be her signature items, lol, like Blueberry Torte or Pecan Tarts. This truly was one of the things I grew up on, she’d made it ever since I was a kid, and eating it was a total blast from the past – and in such a good and yummy way!

The crust ingredients are: flour, brown sugar, vegetable shortening, butter and chopped walnuts.

Mix all of the crust ingredients together and press into the bottom of a 9×13″ pan. Then bake at 400° F for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. While that’s cooling start getting your filling ingredients ready…

The filling ingredients are pretty simple too – the filling part is made up of: vanilla, powdered sugar, cream cheese and Dream Whip prepared per package directions. The “topping” is a can of blueberry pie filling. It’s about 2 cups – so if you wanted to make your own with fresh blueberries sugar, water and cornstarch kind of thing that’s the least amount you’d need. I do have a note in my recipe book to use 1-2 cans of filling, so the amount is another one of those things that can be played with to suit your taste 😉 Next time I make it, I am going to use more, likely 2 cans or make my own blueberry filling/sauce. Oh heck, for that matter, you could use whatever pie filling captures your fancy, I would like to try lemon and also make my own fresh peach filling to try on top…or even a raspberry….I guess I could keep going, lol. But you all get the idea. 😉

With a mixer (either handheld or stationary) combine the powdered sugar, cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. Then, prepare the Dream Whip according to the package directions. If you have the space, you can make the whipped topping ahead of time and refrigerate it until you’re ready to use it.

Fold the whipped topping gently into the cream cheese mixture until thoroughly combined…

…then spread the cream cheese filling, evenly, over the cooled crust. Now, at this point, had I read my little notes on the recipe, I would have read the suggestion from Mom that you can refrigerate the torte at this point for awhile – it would have made the pie filling easier to spread over the top. I battled the cream part wanting to be pulled into the pretty pie filling, lol, and that could have been avoided. 😉

I put the pie filling on in even lines/spoonfuls so that it can then be spread a little easier to cover the top. After you do that, all that’s left is to refrigerate at least 2 hours before you serve. Now, again, here’s a note on that – one that’s not in my book but that I discovered while eating this the same day it’s made – the crust is rather hard, lol. But, the next day, it was perfect, easy to cut and easy to eat. Next time I’ll remember that – and it even just tasted better, lol. 😉

Mom’s Blueberry Torte (a.k.a The Stern Reunion Blueberry Torte)

Crust:

2 c flour

1/2 c brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 c vegetable shortening

1/2 c butter, softened

1 c chopped walnuts

Mix together the ingredients. Press into the bottom of a 9×13″ baking pan and bake at 400° F for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Filling and Topping:

2 pkg Dream Whip whipped topping mix

1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese, softened

1 c powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1-2 cans blueberry pie filling

Mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until well blended and smooth. Prepare the Dream Whip packages according to package directions. Fold into cream cheese mixture until well blended. Spread over top of cooled crust. Top with pie filling. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

(you can refrigerate the crust/cream cheese mixture layer before spreading on the pie filling, makes it easier to spread!)

Friday Faves – Motherhood: One Of The Best & One Of The Worst

10 Friday May 2019

Posted by in Friday Favorites, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

 

from Tracey G.

It is really hard in a way to narrow down to one of each – a best and a worst of being a mom, lol. It’s just a good thing that “the bests” outweigh “the worsts”!!

So if I had to chose one of each at this point I guess it would be these:

The Best – Witnessing or finding out somehow that your child did something in a way you’ve been trying to instill in them, and have been hoping it was working. For example, showing kindness, compassion, tolerance etc. This also tied with “I love you” and squishy hugs…

The Worst – Ugh, the worry. The worrying about your child in ways you never even thought about worrying before! Will they be safe (and will they be safe at school in these crazy times), is he/she kind to people, and on and on and on. Whew. It is stressful!!! But, it comes with the job, occupational hazard I guess!

from Kris B.

The Best – The best thing about being a mother is realizing that you have raised happy, healthy, productive adults who still like you and actually tell you that you do a good job as their mom!

The Worst – Vomit.  Without a doubt, the worst thing about being a mother is vomit!  I kid you not…When Brooke, my oldest, was born, I told her “I don’t do vomit.  Remember that.”  I told Erin the same thing three years later.  In the nearly thirty years that I have been a mother, I’ve only had to clean up vomit one time.  They listened pretty well!

As Tracey said, the good parts of being a mother far outweight the bad!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who are mothers or who are mother figures!

Midweek In Michigan – Ugh, Deadlines

02 Thursday May 2019

Posted by in Midweek In Michigan

≈ Comments Off on Midweek In Michigan – Ugh, Deadlines

Tags

,

It seems that it’s that time of year again, for both Kris and I actually, where breathing seems to feel like it has a deadline. Well, it kind of does, but that’s another thing entirely.

It’s the point where you start to resent anything, and I mean anything that remotely feels like there’s a specific time it has to be done. We were chatting about our food post and got discussing the whole “deadline” thing. Normally I work well with one – for some reason they help me manage my time (or mismanage it as well). But I know I’ve reached the point where I’m now feeling rebellious.

Dinner has a deadline. Getting Harry up, dressed, fed and driven school all have their own little deadlines. Picking him up from the bus stop. Paying the bills. It’s really feeling like all the “have-to’s” are overtaking the “want-to’s” and my brain is on overload.

When this happens, I get into ruts. I can’t think of a darn thing to make for dinner. At all. Looking for new recipes feels like a “have-to”, instead of a fun “want-to”. It manages to touch everything I do. Even some of my “want-to’s” start to feel like they’ve gone to the Dark Side of “have-to’s”!

It tends to make me feel like a toddler who’s going to sit in her chair, cross her arms, make the sassy face and just say NO – to everything I don’t even remotely feel like doing. Nope. Not gonna do it. I’m going to sit here, in my chair, drink coffee and maybe read or work on my knitting. That’s it. Speak to me at your own risk – and risk my wrath if you ask me for something that has a specific time frame!

And in all honestly, I think that exact thing can be the cure for these kinds of feelings. A day to do ONLY what you want to – everything else can wait. I come first. If I’m not happy it taints everything I try to do, plagues them with mistakes, mishaps and the like.

So maybe my inner toddler DOES know what’s best for me sometimes!!!

Mix It Up Monday – It’s Mix Week!

30 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by in Mix It Up Monday, Mix Week

≈ Comments Off on Mix It Up Monday – It’s Mix Week!

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Frontier Soups Illinois Prairie Corn Chowder

I’ve had this soup in my mix stash for a while. Other mixes seemed to come along that I’d want to make, so this one kept getting put on the proverbial “back burner”. This week being kind of crazy with deadlines, I decided a nice easy soup mix that could take care of itself was the mix of choice. As I did have a couple of soup mixes to choose from, I decided this one was getting its chance!

I will admit I was a bit fuzzy on the ingredients needed – so, I made a few substitutions. were emergency ones and one that I’d planned on.

The first sub I made was in the use of a couple fresh cubes potatoes. I didn’t have any, so I searched the cupboard and found a can of cubed potatoes – perfect! I just waited until near the end of cooking before I added them so they wouldn’t turn to mush with the long cooking time.

Next, grabbed the 32 ounce carton of low-sodium chicken broth and dumped it into my saucepan. Then, I re-read the ingredients-I-supply list and I needed TWO 32 ounce cartons. Oopsies. I didn’t have two, just the one. So, I used 4 cups of water instead and hoped it would work out and not be too bland etc. It worked out wonderfully! I did not miss the extra broth at all!

The final substitute I made was using 1 1/2 cups half & half instead of the 2 cups of heavy/whipping cream it called for. It worked really well and I’d even be brave enough to try using milk next time to lighten it a bit!

As an optional ingredient, you can add corn cut from a couple of cobs, if it’s available. I didn’t do this but it would add another layer of yum to it!

It’s easy to make, if you use fresh, diced potatoes you cook them in the broth first. So, you add your 8 cups (64 ounces) of broth (or half water like I did, lol) and bring it yo boil, add your potatoes, and you let them cook a bit. Next your mix goes in and it simmers covered, for about 45 minutes. At this point you add your cream (or half & half as I used) and let it cook on low about 30 minutes. And then you have yourself a super tasty soup that you have to do very little in making it!

I will definitely be stocking this soup mix in my pantry, I’ve yet to be disappointed by one of these soup mixes, and this one is no exception! Give it a try!

Frontier Soups Illinois Prairie Corn Chowder

 

from Kris B.

Essential Goodness Super Grain Pancake Mix

I have this rule in the kitchen that I don’t buy one-purpose gadgets or appliances.  The reason?  I love such things; if I bought all of the “one-hit wonders” out there, I would need a kitchen ten times larger than the one I have.  Since, when I cook, we almost always have leftovers since it is just the two of us, I am developing similar feelings about food.  Food should work for at least two meals – breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner.  If something will work for all three, like pizza and cake, all the better! 🙂   Pancakes are that perfect food.  In our house, they may show up on the table for breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack , or even dessert!

I almost always have some kind of pancake or waffle mix in the pantry “for an emergency” when I don’t have a meal plan or the day doesn’t go as planned.  At some point, I ordered a box of King Arthur Flour’s Essential Goodness Super Grain Pancake Mix.    The super grains are: sorghum, oats, teff, buckwheat, spelt, as well as chia seeds.  They are definitely packed with grainy goodness!

To the boxed mix, you add vegetable oil, milk, and eggs.  The recipe does not specify what kind of milk to use.  I ended up using a mixture of whole milk, because I had some that needed to be used, and almond milk.  Since I have never made these pancakes before, I’m not sure if this mixture had any affect on the outcome.  The ingredients are stirred together and poured by 1/4 cup measure onto a preheated griddle.

At first, I was  disappointed that these pancakes didn’t “fluff up” like typical buttermilk pancakes.  This may have been caused by my milk substitution???  However, because they are so packed with grains that once I tasted them, I didn’t feel cheated.  Just a couple of pancakes with the traditional butter and maple syrup topping or with syrup and the fruit of your choice were filling and satisfying.

The box made 20 pancakes.  This is 4-5 meals for Weber and me so I packaged and froze the extras, a bonus for busy days.  All I have to do is pop them in the toaster oven!  With a little fruit and whipped topping, one pancake will also make a filling and healthy snack or dessert.

As a bonus to a the healthy meal that these pancakes provide for us, the purchase of King Arthur’s Essential Goodness products help to fight domestic hunger.  Through their partnership with Feeding America, King Arthur has provided over 2.5 million meals.

Give this mix a try!  Feed your family a healthy meal and help someone who might otherwise go hungry!

 

 

 

 

Friday Favorites: In The Garden

26 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by in Friday Favorites, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on Friday Favorites: In The Garden

Tags

, ,

from Tracey G.

It’s been a LONG time since I’ve actively taken care of my various gardens around the yard. Once Harry was born, the hobby Jeremy and I avidly did together and spent almost every weekend working on (I swear o spent more time outside in the spring/summer than I did in the house!) kind of fell by the wayside. It’s a good thing I’m a huge fan of perennials, because it allowed my garden to keep on trucking without much input from me!

But I do have my favorites that I look forward to seeing come up every year!

* Coneflowers/Shasta Daisies – I love any daisy-type flower really, but these two are my #1 favorites. I lumped them together because as far as performance abc looks they’re very close!

* Catmint – Not only is it a big, fluffy mounded plant, that has the prettiest little flowers (and a lot of them!), but cutting it back usually gets you another round of it and my cats love this cousin to Catnip!

* Garden Phlox – And of this beautiful, wonderful smelling and tall plant, my favorite variety is “David”. I love the white blooms and I swear I’d have them all over the place in ever flower bed I have! I think they’re in 3 now…

 

from Kris B.

Since Weber and I got married in 2010, we have remodeled our house, completely landscaped our yard, and built the greenhouse.  Though each was a major accomplishment and got checked off of “the list,” each is also still a work in progress, particularly the landscaping and the greenhouse.  Theoretically, those two things should work together.  This is a big part of our work in progress.  What we have growing in the greenhouse and what we want and need in the yard are not the same things. 🙂  The greenhouse is filled with bonsai, tropicals, a few bromeliads, and some hanging baskets that we wintered over from last year.  The yard needs perennials that flower and a few splashes of annual color.  We should have started the annuals from seeds in the greenhouse several months ago.  Oh well.  Next year.

So like everyone else, I made my spring trek to the garden center to get a few of my favorite plants to fill in some holes in the landscaping.  Some of my favorites – both old and new are:

  • Hydrangea – I love hydrangea, but was not sure how well they would do in the heat of the Texas summer.  Last year I had one in a pot on the patio.  It did well over the summer, with a lot of water, and spent a happy winter in the greenhouse.  This year, I am going to try planting a couple of them in the ground.  Their big blooms makes me smile!
  • Gerbera Daisies – Gerbera Daisies never disappoint.  I have bright oranges ones and they come back year after year.  They are the first flowers to bloom each spring and the last to stop blooming in the fall.
  • Blue Salvia – It’s blue.  Need I say more?  I love the blue, but we planted the blue salvia, along with Lantana and Butterfly Bush to attract bees, hummingbirds, and, yes, butterflies. The different colors of the flowers when they are all in bloom and the fluttering of the colorful winged critters is  glorious.  This spot in our yard is our little corner or paradise.

I still have a lot to do outside in the garden to make it like I want it, but I look forward to planting and weeding and pruning; this never feels like work.  Any time I get to spend outside (without mosquitoes and 100+ degree temps) is a true gift.

What do you enjoy in your garden?

 

Friday Favorites: 10 Ways You Know The Dust Bunnies Have Won

19 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by in Friday Favorites

≈ Comments Off on Friday Favorites: 10 Ways You Know The Dust Bunnies Have Won

Tags

, , ,

We are still working on returning our lives to a normal, productive, and rhythm.  While many other things have been chaotic, housekeeping also has taken a back seat.

And then you wake up one day and think, “Oh my goodness!  What is going on here?!?!”

Today we are sharing…

10 Ways You Know The Dust Bunnies Have Won

10 You consider firing the maid and then realize that YOU DON”T HAVE A MAID…

9. All of the laundry baskets are full and you’ve lost track of what is clean and what is dirty.

8. If you’re wondering where your kid’s missing socks are you start hunting…in the living room.  When checking for said missing socks (or underwear!), you find a candy wrapper and leave it because it’s not what you were looking for…

7. The newspaper, magazine, and catalog stack looks like part of the National Archive.

6. You have convinced yourself that dog and cat hair is a design feature.

7. Spring spiders have ready-made homes in the old cobwebs.

6. The broom and vacuum are considering suing for neglect.

5. You realize that you don’t have cataracts, you just need to clean the windows.

4. The dust is writing “dust me” itself.

3. The bathtub, like the coffee pot, has a fill line.

2. The dish ran away with the spoon.

1. The dust bunnies have names on their food bowls.

 

Happy Easter weekend to us.  We will be spring cleaning!

We hope that you all have a great weekend, spending it with family and friends rather than with dust bunnies!

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial