Christmas Party 2009

Grant got to sit on Santa's lap and didn't break it.
Along w/ Mathew,too!

Anna didn't even want to see Santa then at the end she finally went up and talked to him.

Caroline hated the whole experience!

Ella absolutely loved every minute of it!

Happy Birthday Ella!

Ella with her birthday cake on her birthday!

Another AWESOME CAKE make with lots of love from Daddy!

Here is the sweet birthday girl!

We are so blessed to have Ella in our family....She was 4 weeks premature and only weight 5lbs 6oz when she came into the world. She was the best Christmas present that I have ever gotten. She came home on Christmas Day 6yrs ago! We love you Sweetie!

The Cookie Snatcher....

I made peanut butter blossoms tonight! Then I had this really cute cookie snatcher come along and take some! Then she proceeded to stick her fingers in some of the chocolate centers!

But how can you say "NO" to that sweet face.....

Corn Chowder

A few weeks ago I tried a totally new recipe and it was a hit at our house.

2 cups of celery
1 cup onion
sauteed in butter
Then add in 5 medium diced and peeled potatoes
Pour in 2 or 3 cup of water over the veggies until they are just submerged in water
Boil until potatoes are very soft
Then add in 2 chicken bouillon cubes after they are dissolved.
Add in 1 qt of half and half
1 can of cream of corn
2 can of regular corn
1/2 lb of cooked bacon

If your soup isn't very thick just mix 1 c. of water and 1c. of Flour together until it makes a paste and then pour it in the soup.....Within just a few minutes your soup will totally be thick. If it is too thick just add in some regular milk to get the right consistency.
I am not sure of the servings but it feed 7 with leftovers for seconds!

Enjoy!

Homemade Eggnog---

For Family Home Evening, last night Forrest made homemade eggnog for dessert....It was so good. We had it warm just after he finished making it. That was Awesome....But this morning I had some of the leftover just out of the fridge! It was even better than last night. So here is the recipe try it. It was very easy to make.

HOLIDAY EGGNOG

2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 quarts milk
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 cups heavy whipping cream
ground nutmeg
In heavy 4-quart saucepan, with wire whisk, beat eggs, sugar, and salt until blended. Gradually stir in 1 quart milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon well, about 25 minutes (mixture should be about 170 F to 175 F. but do not boil or it will curdle).Pour custard into large bowl; stir in vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, and remaining milk. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, about 3 hours.
To serve, in small bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat heavy or whipping cream until soft peaks form. with wire whisk, gently fold whipped cream into custard mixture.
Pour eggnog into chilled 5-quart punch bowl; sprinkle with ground nutmeg.
Serving Size: 16.

Menu Monday--

I have been trying to get a handle on the food budget. Trying to see what it really is....I am now trying to live by a menu to see if it will help calm the craziness of our lives and budget. I went shopping for two weeks worth of food for the main meals. I also got things for snacks and included some lunch things and breakfast. My grand total for two weeks is approx. $165.00 that was spent. I am also making all our breads and rolls to save $$$$. So here it is!


Menu- Nov 27th thru Dec 11th

Friday- Nov. 27th
Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

Saturday- Nov. 28th
Homemade Mac & Cheese
Salad & rolls

Sunday- Nov. 29th
Chicken Parmesan
Green Beans and Homemade bread

Monday- Nov. 30th
Swedish Meatballs over Rice
Steamed veggies

Tuesday-Dec. 1st
BBQ Chicken w/ baked Potatoes
And Corn

Wednesday- Dec. 2nd
Sloppy Joes
Baked Beans & mixed veggies

Thursday- Dec. 3rd
Pork Chops w/ mashed potatoes
And carrots

Friday- Dec. 4th
Chicken Enchiladas
w/ rice and beans

Saturday- Dec.5th
Shredded pork burritos
w/ lettuce and tomatoes

Sunday- Dec. 6th
Clam Chowder w/ Homemade bread

Monday- Dec. 7th
Spaghetti w/ salad and rolls

Tuesday- Dec. 8th
Beef Stroganoff w/ green beans


Wednesday- Dec. 9th
Meatloaf w/ Roasted Potatoes and Salad


Thursday- Dec. 10th
Corn Chowder w/ Homemade rolls

Friday- Dec. 11th
Grilled chicken w/ Parmesan noodles and spinach

Adventures w/ Miss C

We put up our christmas tree on Friday...Miss C slept through alot of it but when she woke up this was her reaction. She had a grin on her face from ear to ear and wouldn't stop smiling....I think she is going to love Christmas Day!

November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Didn't get to post anything yesterday because my computer was sick. Thanks to Troy it is up and running great! Thank You! Hope everyone had a great day. My family had a great day and their tummies were very happy. Just want to tell everyone that I am so thankful for my family and friends. I am extremely thankful for my mom and so glad Heavenly Father decided she needed to stay with us longer. If all of you didn't know....This is the one year anniversary for my mom and her 4-way bypass surgery.

Love to all and Happy Thanksgiving,

Jodi

Music...

I know that it isn't Christmas yet....But I starting to it early this year. It gets me in a happy mood and I actually want to clean my house. So here is my favorite list of songs just a few days early.

Orders

Today I have been busy filling orders for bread and rolls. After a lot of mishaps yesterday in bread making it is going quite well today. The total count for bread is 14 loaves and 6 dozen rolls for the last two days. Then tomorrow I will be making desserts for Thanksgiving. Hopefully I will have my computer up and running w/ photos for next week posts.

Jodi

Our Ventures on the Farm.....

It all began....With these cute little guys!
As they grew they got uglier and fatter. The guys favorite thing to do beside eat was to torment the dog.

Now this is what happen today! Now we are ready for Thanksgiving this week!

Chicken Tractor

My mom came up w/ a great chicken tractor for me. It is made out of 2 old baby cribs and she used rain gutters for the feeder and water. She is very creative....When Grant was looking at it he said " Now I know where you get it from!" I just laughed and Yep maybe so will you! Thanks mom for all your hard work! Love ya!

Free Find.....

This is the latest addition to my house. I found it on Craiglist for free! It took about an hour to clean but it turned out great. I just love getting a good deal!

Tips of the day!

1. So my new favorite thing is All purpose Holy-Cow Cleaner(it is the pink cleaner in the photo)! It takes out spots in the carpet and in clothes perfectly! Along with being a great cleaner for the kitchen and bathroom. I have also used the window cleaner before and it works great, too!

2. My second tip of the day: when making bread instead of using all honey in the recipe switch out and use half honey and half molasses. It save $$$$ when honey is so expensive. Today I bought 2 lbs of honey for $5.49 and Molasses for $2.50 for a bottle. So it is a good thing to try!

Happy Birthday Forrest!!!

Happy Birthday Sweetie! I love you even more now than I did 17 years ago. Your the best husband and father in the world. I love you!

Meatloaf

Well I found a new recipe for meatloaf a few weeks ago....It is a total hit with the family. So here it goes!

Meatloaf Recipe

2 pounds ground beef
1 box of stove top stuffing mix
2 eggs
1 cup of BBQ Sauce( whatever is your favorite)

Mix it all together and put it in a 9x13 pan in the shape of a loaf and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

For the side we always have either mashed potatoes or baked potatoes. If it is baked potatoes we put them in at the same it w/ the meatloaf and set the timer and walk away!

Hope you enjoy the new recipe!!!

Halloween 2009

Caroline was a fairy!

Mathew went as Indiana Jones.
Grant went as Napoleon Dynamite.


Ella was the classic Ballerina.
Anna went a Strawberry Shortcake.

Our final stop is our yearly tradition of Trick or Treating to Uncle Jerry and Aunt Karen. We have been doing this classic stop since Grant was a baby....That year he was a ghost. Our kids had a great time w/ U. Jerry and A. Karen. Thanks for all the good candies!!!

This are the pumpkins the kids carved....The morning after!!!!

Their final resting spot is a black barrel on the side of the house.

Dear Pumpkins--Thanks for doing you job!

You Tube....

Well today I posted my first youtube video for my ASL class. It is quite wierd to think that the world gets to see you on the internet....but since I am taking this class on-line that is what is required! Here is the link if you want to watch my cool asl intro!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otlsipQUrNE

Planning for Thanksgiving......

A lot of you might not remember some of my previous post but this is what we bought in March and we will be eating them for Christmas and Thanksgiving this year!

Perfection

After weeks of practice, I have found the perfect recipe and have sucess!

Pictures of Anna Birthday!

Forrest baked and decorated
Anna's cake this year! He is amazing when it comes to how he decorates the cakes!
Anna is posing for pictures for GramE.

This is her new bike!

Anna had a grand 4th birthday. We started partying at 6:30 am and didn't stop until 9 pm that night. Thanks to all who stopped in to visit and all the gifts that were brought, You made her day totally!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Anna !!!

Today is Anna 4th birthday and we are so thankful she is in our family! Anna is very kind and loving to all she meets. She is shy like I was went I was little. But once she knows you, she is a chatterbox! She brings so much joy to our family and she is the best big sister to miss C. Happy Birthday to you my sweetie! I hope you have a rockin Birthday! We love you!

New recipe....

Today is cloud w/ the chance of rain....It feels like a day to cook. So I am trying a new recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies today!!! It comes from NieNie blog: (It is on the sidebar just under I read NieNie)

Peanut
Butter Cookies


INGREDIENTS
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

DIRECTIONS
1. Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in eggs.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter. Put batter in refrigerator for 1 hour.
3. Roll into 1 inch balls and put on baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F oven for about 10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Do not over-bake.

35th

That is right I am officially 35 years young today! Happy Birthday to me!!!

This was one of the better photos of me w/ my brother and sisters!

EZ Wheat Bread

EZ Wheat Bread recipe

1 1/4 cup warm water

1 Tbsp active dry yeast

1/4 cup honey or 1/3 cup sugar

2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup wheat gluten

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp nonfat non instant dry milk

1 Tbsp butter/margarine/oil

1 Tbsp vinegar

1/4 cup potato flakes (NOT potato pearls)

Mix ingredients in order listed in mixing bowl of mixer with dough hook attachment (like kitchen-aid) for 12-15 minutes. Let rise until double, 1- 1 1/2 hours. Punch down, and shape into loaf or rolls. Let rise again until double and bake 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes until golden brown and sounds hollow when lightly tapped.If you are making this recipe in a bread machine, follow your bread machine’s directions for wheat or whole grain selection and add the ingredients in the order listed for their recommendations. (only one loaf will fit in a bread maker)

This lady recipe was made in a kitchen-aid mixer If you are using a Bosch cut the mixing time in half.

This recipe is from the website: Everydayfoodstorage.net

Just want to say I am proud to be an American! Please remember those people who lost their lives on 9/11/01 and never forget we are still fighting today! Thank you to all the servicemen and women who fight to keep me and every other American FREE! May God keep you safe and bring you home soon!

Thank You!

So long....

Sorry it has been so long since I blogged last....I truly didn't realize that it has been so long. So here are the happenings at our house...

Miss C swing from the lamp in the family room. She is walking fairly well but still falls on a regular basis. But is an excellent climber!

My new hobby is making bread.....Thanks to all who have willing tried my experimental loaves before I found the right recipe!

Miss C got her first taste of a chocolate milkshake....I gave her only one sip but I never got it back after that.

AND....THE BIGGEST NEWS!!!!!

ELLA LOST ANOTHER TOOTH!!! She is so cute when she talks and smiles w/ the hole in her mouth.

We have been really busy with all most everyone in school now a days. Even Forrest and I are going back to school online. Forrest is finishing his language for his bachelors and I am barely starting mine. But so far there isn't much we can't handle.

I have a secret.....

As most of you know

I am not one to organize things.

After a good friend cleaned out her storage locker because she moved out of state.


I had to do this...

Clean out my food storage closet.

This is the end result!

So if I haven't returned calls or answer the phone lately I have been busy.....But after it is all done. I really like how it turned out and now I am ready to stock my closet full.