not so much

Some days you are a success. You feel like a culinary genius when you make something out of nothing. Other days not so much. Sometimes another person has a fresh, or maybe just new, perspective on things. Like today at lunch.

Last night I had made Beef, Chickpea & Tomato soup for supper. I had wanted something warm and comforting for supper. We had spent the afternoon doing yard work and as much as I hate to say it, I was cold when I came in at 5:00. So I threw on some biscuits and we had a delicious supper, everyone was happy, no one complained.

Fast forward back to lunch today. We came home from church with one daughter gone to play and another bringing home a friend. That soup was the perfect leftovers for lunch. At least we all thought, Boo-boo's friend not so much!

The conversation went something like this:

Little friend, fiddling with spoon on her tongue, "I don't like chicken!"

Me, "Well, that's good because this soup doesn't have chicken"

Little friend, who is as cute as can be "Yes it does!"

Me, "Nope just beef, no chicken"

Little friend, thinking "Hmm, I don't like beef"

Boo-boo decides to enter conversation "I LOVE this soup, this is my favorite soup. I don't like all the other soups, but I like this one!"

Little friend, not to be outdone of course "No, I do not like this soup. I like all the other soups, but I do not like this one!"

I almost snorted! Yes, I have done that before.

But seriously, how can you get mad at a 4 year-old who is being honest and doesn't realize that they could possibly be offending someone? To her she was just stating the obvious. It almost read like a book. Sort of had a pattern and a rhyme. Was the logical reply to her friends comments.

Make me laugh! What a good way to keep someone humble. I hope that whatever you might be eating this Thanksgiving weekend brings you comfort and maybe a few laughs along the way.

lunch surprises

Today the girls and I had a visitor in the morning and were gone over the lunch hour.

We came in the door at about 1:20 pm feeling hungry.

I opened the fridge door and thought "Oh no, what for lunch at this late hour?" I am not the biggest fan of sandwiches, unless they have great bread and fixin's.

Anyways, the first thing that I spotted was a single serving of leftover spaghetti sauce. No pasta. Hmm? This was not looking goood. Then I remembered the nann bread that I had.

So I winged it and layered nann bread with light layer of spagetti sauce (that had ground beef in it) and topped it with cheese. When it came out of the oven 10 minutes later the girls thought it looked delicious and 2 minutes later they were thinking I was some sort of culinary genius! Hah! I won't be telling them any different!

So if you are in a pickle and need a quick snack / light meal....you might just want to try it. The possibilities for changing it up are endless!

i'm sticky

This is the pile that awaited me today. I didn't really plan to do it on Labor Day. I just really wanted to can peaches and well, they were ready to go today.

So, with some happy helpers we started our day. I couldn't believe just how much help they were. Both of them were so excited and stayed positive all day. Their job was slipping the peaches from their skins. It really saved me alot of time! YAY! The only fight was when one of them wanted to change places at the sink. Let's just say that did not go over well!

And here is the fruit of our labour, no pun intended! We also made a few quarts of peach pie filling. So I am hoping it will turn out well!

And these are my nails after a day of canning peaches. I add this because last night we were at friends and their teenage daughter wanted to do my nails. Badly! I said "alright" but told her they probably wouldn't make it through the day. Oh well! I looked glamarous while I slept! There has to be some merit in that!

Feeding the Niece

So sometimes you need to take care of the ones you love, even when things might not exactly make sense or be perceived as healthy.

Things like feeding your niece chocolate.

Did I mention that chocolate was on toast?Oh, I should clarify that chocolate was for breakfast!And that since Niece was having chocolate, what kind of mother would I be to decline an opened jawed four-year-old? Really! Boo-Boo was certain she needed this breakfast too. It was like breakfast went to a whole new level for her. She mixed her chocolate with peanut butter.

At this point I did a double take and made sure I didn't just serve her a "Reese Peanut Butter Cup".

And since we mixed up our day with chocolate for breakfast, why not keep going?

When supper rolled around we fried up more than a pound of bacon! I believe Niece's quote was "bacon makes me happy!"But before you write me off totally we are capable of doing dinner in a normal fashion! Really! Here's a peek! Sometimes though it is fun to change it up just a bit.

in our house today

In Canada it is the Victoria Day long weekend.
Usually that doesn't mean much for our family because my husband's business is in full swing. However, this weekend we were going to try and go out to camp in our trailer and join him. Yesterday the weather decided to be difficult and it poured rain for most of the day. It was finally decided that we would stay home, even though we were all packed and ready to go. The bush roads/logging roads can get really messy and slick (not fun for pulling a trailer) and it just wouldn't have been fun to be freezing, wet and cold all weekend. We still can't quite convince our oldest daughter of that rationale however. As of this morning she has still been spontaneously erupting tears.

As a cure all for ailing emotions and slow weekend mornings I occassionally make Overnight Cinnamon Buns! Yes, I can and do make regular CB's! However, when I want them tomorrow morning I don't feel like staying up late to get them ready. These however take 5 minutes to put together and are ready for the oven in the morning. I love that! Enough time in the morning to put them in the oven, put coffee on and take a shower!

If you interested here is the recipe:

Overnight Cinnamon Buns

20 frozen bread rolls (2 pkgs)

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. vanilla instant pudding

1 T. cinnamon

1/4 c. melted butter

raisins

Grease bundt pan, place rolls inside.

Sprinkle with sugar, pudding, cinnamon and raisins.

Pour melted butter over all.

Cover with damp tea-towel and leave on counter over-night.

In the morning, preheat oven 350 C

Lightly cover with foil, bake 20 min.

Remove foil and bake approx another 5-7 min.

Don't underbake or it won't be cooked in the middle!
Let sit for 5 minutes and then turn out from the bundt pan.
Pour a coffee, put your feet up, grab a book and enjoy!

Not necessarily in that order!

One last note, since it was raining yesterday there was no chance of outside play! No gardening! No housework because I had already tidied up! So, I walked into my sewing room, pulled fabric from two of my cubbies and started to play. Pretty soon the girls followed me in and we all spent the afternoon creating. I will tell you that I pulled yellows and greens and hopefully soon I will have something to show.

just life

Want some supper?

I made these yummy porkchops (which I rarely ever cook) the other day. I actually make pork chops so little that I went on to www.allrecipes.com to look for some ideas. Paired together with fried rice and green beans it was a yummy meal! I also made peanut brownies for dessert! Yum!

Have you made anything yummy lately?

won't you be mine?

i baked cookies

the girls decorated
the girls got little valentine gifts
and kinder surprises
in the package i made each of them a new pillowcase
i had the fairy fabric in my stash and just needed to use it for something
all three pillowcases sewed up in an hour
fast, easy and economical
tonight the big cheese is taking me out for dinner!

how nice....sushi! yum!

might sound impressive

after all my complaining last night

supper this evening actually came together alright

prepped and ready i have

bacon wrapped beef tenderloin

aspargus with bernaise sauce

rice

now, before you start thinking this is a regular meal

sorry...it is not!

we get our beef from a local farmer

and whether it is tenderloin, t-bone or ground beef

it all costs the same

the only difference is I get 50 pkgs of ground beef

and one package of tenderloin

so i guess we can live high class, or at least sound like it,

once a year!

dinner dilema

oh! so painful
i simply couldn't motivate myself to make supper
i wanted to be saved
rotten ronnie's or 1-800-THE-PIZZA sounded really good
so i asked big cheese what he wanted for supper
as he hemmed and hawed
papaya came up with a suggestion
and boo-boo offered her help
she was pretty serious too
she got an apron on, pulled up her chair
and asked "what can i do?"
well....we started making supper, at first i was still pretty cranky
but then we worked together, got it made and enjoyed the time
she was very proud of her efforts, amazing what a 4-year-old can do
as we sat down to a homemade three course dinner
i was truly thankful for the hands that helped to prepare the meal
and that it wasn't take-out

dinner devoured

dinner tonight was pesto prawn pasta,

garlic bread and caesar salad

i really thought i had made way too much

turns out i was wrong

at the end of dinner all that was left was scraps of salad

when boo-boo was offered it,

she, well,....dug in and enjoyed

gave us all a laugh

cookie decorating party

here is one of our family's yearly traditions

some years we even do it twice

almost always in fall, and often again at valentines day

we started it a few years ago, and the girls absolutely love it

it is MUCH easier now that the girls are older

how it works is each of the girls invites a few friends

we had 12 today, including my kids

each friend needs to bring a take home box, container of icing and

decorations to share

i bake up a mess of sugar cookies, believe you me, it is a mess

spread out a disposable tablecloth, cookies and decorations

their friends descend upon our house for a couple of hours and create to their hearts content

and then they take home a container full of decorated cookies to eat and share with their family

it really is a fun tradition, one i think we will keep on doing for a few years to come